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MINUTES   OF  PROCEEDINGS 


THE   INSTITUTION 


CIVIL    ENGINEERS; 


WITH    OTHER 


SELECTED  AND  ABSTRACTED  PAPERS. 


Vol.   LXXXVI. 


EDITED    BY 

JAMES  FORREST,  Assoc.  Inst.  C.E.,  Secretary. 


LONDON:    "' 
5Publtst)elf  bg  tfje  Ettsttttttttm, 
25,  GREAT  GEORGE  STREET,  WESTMINSTER,  S.W. 

[Telegrams,  "  Institution,  London."    Telephone,  "  3051."] 

1886. 


[The  right  of  Publication  and  of  Translation  is  reserved.] 


TA 
I/,  ft 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  Institution  as  a  body  is  not  responsible  for  the  facts  and 
opinions  advanced  in  the  following  pages. 


LOXDOS  :  rEISTED  BV  WJI.  CLOWES  and  sons,  limited,  stamfokd  street  and  charing  cross 


CONTENTS. 


Sect.  L— MINUTES  OF  PROCEEDINGS. 
20  April,  1886. 

PAGE 

"  Brickinaking."    By  H.  Ward.     (2  plates) 1 

Appendix  to  ditto  :  Tables  of  cost  of  brickmaking  in  various  districts    .      .  23 

Discussion  on  ditto 27 

Correspondence  on  ditto 30 

27  April,  1886. 
(No  meeting,  being  Easter  Tuesday.) 

4  and  11  May,  1886. 

Transfer  of  Associate  to  class  of  Members 39 

Admission  of  Students 39 

Election  of  Members,  Associate  Members,  and  Associate  \ 39 

"  The  Mersey  Railway."     By  F.  Fox  (of  Westminster).    (2  plates,  1  cut)  .  41 
"  The  Hydraulic  Passenger-Lifts  at  the   Underground   Stations  of  the 

Mersey  Railway."    By  W.  E.  Rich.     (1  plate,  4  cuts) 60 

Appendix  to  ditto  :  Calculations  for  balancing,  and  determination  of  varying 

loads  and  stresses  on  chief  working  parts 75 

Discussion  on  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway  Lifts.    (1  cut)  ...  80 

Correspondence  on  ditto 113 

18  May,  1886. 

Transfer  of  Associate  Members  to  class  of  Members 119 

Admission  of  Students 119 

Election  of  Members  and  Associate  Members 119 

"  Modern  Machine-Tools  and  Workshop- Appliances,  for  the  Treatment  of 

Heavy  Forgings  and  Castings."     By  W.  W.  Hulse.     (2  plates)    .     .     .  120 

Discussion  on  ditto.     (1  cut) 137 

Correspondence  on  ditto 149 


IV  CONTENTS. 

25  May,  1886. 

PAGE 

Annual  General  Meeting  :  Election  of  Council 151 

Report  of  the  Council  Session  1885-86 153 

Historical  notice  of  the  Institution  and  its  Proceedings 153 

Constitution 165 

Proceedings  of  the  Session,  1885-86 175 

Abstract  of  Receipts  and  Expenditure  from  1  April,  1885,  to  31  March,  1886  180 

Premiums  awarded,  Session  1885-S6  :  Subjects  for  papers,  Session  1886-87  184 
List  of  Original  Communications  received,  and  of  Donors  to  the  Library, 

from  1  April,  1885,  to  31  March,  1886 192 

List  of  Officers  1886-87 216 


Sect.  II.— OTHER  SELECTED  PAPERS. 

••  The  Stability  of  Voussoir  Arches."  By  H.  A.  Cutler.  (17  cuts)  .  217 
'•  Experiments  on  the  Relative  Strength  of  Cast-iron  Beams."    By  E  C. 

de  Segvndo  and  L.  S.  Robinson.    (3  cuts) 235 

Appendix  to  ditto :  Results  of  experiments  on  Test-pieces  (4  cuts)  .  .  .  247 
"  On  the  Horizontal  Range  of  Tidal  Rivers,  such  as  the  River  Orwell,  witli 

reference  to  Sewage-Discharge."  By  C.  F.  Gower.  (6  cuts) ....  253 
••  On  the  Practical  Strength  of  Columns  and  of  Braced  Struts."     By  T.  C. 

Fidler.    (14  cuts) 261 

Appendix  to  ditto 288 

"  Experiment  on  a  Direct-acting  Steam-Pump."     By  J.  G.  Mair.    (1  plate 
5  cuts) 293 

•  Viaduct  over  the  River  Esk  at  Whitby,  and  the  Embankments  and 

Culverts  in  the  Ravines.''  By  F.  Fox  (of  Westminster).  (1  plate,  4  cuts)  303 
"  Heliography ;  or,  the  Actinic  Copying  of  Engineering  Drawings."     By 

B.  H.  Thwaite.    (3  cuts) 312 

-  Demolition  of  the  North-East  Wall  of  the  Gallions  Basin,  Royal  Albeit 
Docks,   on   the  23rd  of  April,  1886."     By  Col.   B.   H.  Martindale. 

(I  plate) 329 

••  The  Bilbao  Ironworks."    By  N.  Kennedy 336 

"  Experiments  on  the  Steam-Engine  Indicator."  By  Prof.  Dr.  Kirsch  .  341 
■•  Note  on  the  Gold-fields  of  South  Africa,"     By  S.  H.  Farrar  ....     343 

Obituary  : — 345 

Sir  John  Anderson,  346;  William  Fothergill  Batho,  353;  Alexander 
Woodlands  Makinson,  355;  James  Mathias,  356;  Edward  Newcombe, 
357;  Joshua  Richardson,  358;  David  Thomson,  363;  Joseph  Salter 
Olver,  366;  Patrick  Adie,  367;  Lieut.-Col.  Patrick  Montgomerie,  R.E., 
368 ;  Major  and  Brevet  Lieut.-Col.  James  Law  Lushington  Morant,  R.E., 
370  ;  Alexander  Ogilvie,  373  ;  William  Charles  Rickman,  374 ;  Sancton 
Wood,  376. 


CONTENTS.  V 

Sect.  III.— ABSTRACTS  OF  PAPERS  IN  FOREIGN  TRANSACTIONS 
AND  PERIODICALS. 

PAGE 

The  Louisville  Cements 380 

Results  of  Experiments  with  Impregnated  and  Natural  samples  of  Wood. 

Dr.  Boeiime 380 

Recent  Investigations  concerning  the  Dry-rot  Fungus.    Dr.  K.  B.  Lebmann  381 

Experiments  with  respect  to  the  Dry-rot  Fungus 384 

On  Iron  Bridges.     E.  Ebert 384 

Report  on  the  Eesults  of  the  Trials  of  the  Bridge  over  the  Rhine  near  Rhenen  385 

Old  Bridges  under  New  Loads , 386 

Metal  Viaducts  in  Large  Spans.     L.  Leygue 387 

Tests  of  Vehicle-Wheels.    H.  M.  Dubois 387 

Kesistance  of  Trains  on  Railways.    —  Desdouits 389 

Way,  Works,  and  Working  of  Railways 394 

The  Large  Retaining- Walls]of  Cournion,  La  Bastide,  La  Foret,  and  Cerbere  396 

Successive  enlargements  of  the  St.  Lazare  Station  at  Paris 397 

The  Metropolitan  Railway  of  Paris.     Max  de  Nansouty 398 

On  the  formation  of  a  Cultivated  Region  along  the  course  of  the  Trans- 
Caspian  Railway.     L.  Beliavin 400 

The  Trans-Caspian  Military  Railroad.     L.  Schterbakoff 401 

The  Importance  of  Ballast  in  Maintenance  of  Permanent  Way.     — Brnrc- 

hakdt 404 

Jointed  Cross-Sleepers.    J.  W.  Post 406 

Wear  of  Steel  Pails  in  Germany.    —  Couard 407 

Steel  Rails 409 

Conical  Tires  of  Railway  Rolling-Stock  a  cause  of  Resistance  to  Traction, 

and  of  the  Travelling  of  the  Rails.     —  Kruger 410 

Improvements  in  Locomotives  in  France.     —  Ricour 413 

The   most   recently  constructed  Narrow-gauge  Railways   in    Saxony.     C. 

Kopcke  and  P.  Pressler 414 

On   the  Wire-Ropeways   between   Vajda-Hunyad   and  Vadudobri   (Tran- 
sylvania).    —  Bochart  and  —  Lebreton 415 

On   the  Construction  of  the   Locks  in  the  Canals  of  Finland,  and  their 

Maintenance  during  the  Winter.     M.  Levandovsky 418 

Extension,  etc.,  of  that  portion  of  the  Rhine-Marne  Canal  lying  in  French 

Territory.     M.  Volkmann 418 

Navigation  by  Night  on  the  Suez  Canal.     —  Forus 420 

Theories  of  the  Tides.     A.  de  Preacdeau 422 

The  Tides  of  the  Charente.     E.  Decante 423 

Harbour  Studies.     L.  M.  Haupt 424 

The  Ports  of  the  Channel  and  the  North  Sea.   Rear-Admiral  Dumas- Vexce  429 

The  Improvement  of  Port  Empedocle  (Girgenti).     G.  Eossi 430 

Improvement  of  the  Bar  of  the  Senegal.    —  Bouquet  de  la  Grye.      .      .  432 
The  Embankments  across  the  Paradiso  and  Grottarossa  Valleys  in  Sicily. 

A.  Croci 434 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

On  the  Results  obtained  in  seeking  for  a  Supply  of  Pure  Subsoil  Water  for 

Berlin.    Prof.  Dr.  Fixkexer 436 

Report   on  the  Search   for   a  Pure   Supply  of  Spring-water  for  Berlin. 

C.  PlEFKE 437 

The  Spongilla  in  Main  Water-Pipes     Desjioxd  Fitzgerald 439 

Breyer's  Micro-Membrane  Filter.     Dr.  F.  Rexk 439 

Calculation  of  the  Profile  of  Masonry  Reservoir-Dams.    —  Hetier      .      .  440 

The  De-Ferrari-Galliera  Aqueduct  at  Genoa.     L.  Mazzuoli 411 

The  Sewerage  and  Irrigation  Works  of  Berlin   for  the  year  ending  the 

31st  of  March,  1885 442 

Disinfecting-Stoves.     O.  Coertois-Scffit    .                 .  • 443 

Fragers  Water-Meter.     Col.  Goilier 444 

Rating  of  a  New  Type  of  Gyrometer  called  hitherto  a  Hydro-Dynamometer. 

—  de  Perodil 445 

On    the    Heat    of   Combustion    of   Coal.      —    Schecrer-Kestxer    and 

—  Meuxler-Dollfis 447 

Steam-Boilers  and  Furnaces 447 

Performance  of    the   Orvis  Furnace   for  Steam-Boilers.      H.   Walther- 

Meuxier 449 

Experiments  with  Dupuis  Boilers 452 

Performance  of  the  Godillot  Furnace  for  Steam-Boilers.     H.  Walther- 

Mecxier 454 

Experiments   on  Evaporation   (of  Steam-Boilers)  at  the   Dessau   Sugar- 
Refinery     455 

Performance  of  Mulhausen  Waterworks  Pumping-Steam-Engines     .      .      .  456 

Excavator  of  Jacquelin  and  Chevre,  modified  by  Bourdon.     G.  Richou       .  457 

On  Abrasion  by  Grinding.     A.  Martens 458 

A  New  Tubular  Compass.    —  Hildebraxd 459 

Signals  for  Mine-Surveys.     J.  Gretzjiacher 460 

Ore-Dressing  by  means  of  an  Air-Blast.     E.  W.  Neubert 461 

Calorimetric  Study  of  Iron  at  High  Temperatures.     —  Pioxchox    .      .      .  462 

On  the  Blowing  of  Small  Bessemer  Charges.     Prof.  T.  M.  Drown   ...  463 

Gold-Mining  on  the  Saskatchewan.     C.  Levey 467 

The  Desilverization  of   Lead  by   means  of   Zinc  at   Freiberg.      C.   A. 

Plattxer 46S 

Frictional  Resistance   of  Steel  Hoops  shrunk  on  Steel  Tubes.      F.   H. 

Parkee 470 

Austrian  Siege- Artillery .     .  472 

Italian  Field-  and  Siege- Artillery 473 

On  Magnetization.     E.  E.  X.  Mascart 477 

Some  Practical  Formulas  for  designing  Electro-Magnets 478 

On  a  New  Method  for  Determining  the  Time  of  Oscillation  of  a  Magnet. 

G.  Haxsemaxx 479 

Relation  between  the  Coefficient  of  Self-induction  and  the  Magnetic  Action 

of  an'Electro-Magnet.     —  Ledeboer 480 

Practical  Instructions  relative  to  Accumulators.     G.  Pl^nte      ....  480 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAGK 

The  Aymonnet  Battery.     B.  Maeionovitch 481 

On  Kecent  Types  of  Electrical  Cables.    —  Frischen 482 

Experiments  on  the  Action  of  Solenoids  on  Iron  Cores  of  Varied  Forms. 

Dr.  T.  Bruger 483 

Safety-Fuzes  for  Electric  Circuits.     G.  Roux 484 

Experiments  in  Thermo-Electricity.     L.  Pilleur  and  E.  Janxattaz    .     .  485 

On  the  Electrical  Properties  of  German  Silver.     G.  B.  Prescott,  Jun.        .  485 

Electric  Conductivity  of  Chloride  of  Potassium  Solutions.  E.  Bottty  .  .  486 
Law  of  Efficiency  corresponding  to  the   Maximum   of  Useful  Work  in 

Electric  Distribution.     —  Vaschy 48G 

Electric-Lighting  in  Milan 488 

On  the  Theory  of  the  Telephoue.     E.  Mercadier 489 

On  Telephony  and  the  Operation  and  Functions  of  the  Induction-Coil  in 

Transmitters,  and,  Some  Recent  Advances  in  Telephony.    T.  D.  Lockwood  490 

On  Recent  Progress  in  Underground  Telephone-Wires.     W.  W.  Jacques    .  491 

A  Registering  Hygrometer.     A.  Nodon 493 

On  Vapour  and  Cloud.     R.  von  Helmholtz 493 

Experimental  Researches  on  the  Limit  of  Velocity  of  a  Gas  which  passes 

from  a  Higher  to  a  Lower  Pressure.     G.  A.  Hirn 494 


CORRIGENDA. 

Vol.  Ixxxiv.  p.  42G,  line  14  from  bottom,  for  "  20  per  cent."  read  "  2  per  cent." 
„  p.  427,    „      5  „  for  "Table  III."  read11  Table  II." 

„  p.  430,  Table  V.  in  the  last  columns  of  the  series  (160°)  the  velocity 

given   as  "6*80  "  should    be  "6'18." 
,,  p.  432,  line  3,  for  "  0  •  01328  "  read  "0-1328." 

„  p.  44G,    „    17,  for  «  1826  "  read  "  1816." 

Vol.  lxxxv.  p.  341,  lines  18  and  22,  for  "  staging  "  read  "  staying." 
„  p.  396,  line  9,  for  "  Tuck  "  read  "  Suck." 

„  p.   506,   the  name  of  the  Author  of  the  Paper  on  New  Ordnance 

material  should  be  "  Bixby,"  and  not  "  Bixley." 
Vol.  lxxxvi.  p.  226.     The   positions  of  the   letters  G  and  H   in   the  cut  (Fig.  9) 
should  be  transposed. 
„  Plate  8,   Figs.  1.     Diagram  from  engine,  New  Bedford  W.W.,  for 

"  12-83  "read11 15-83." 


THE 

INSTITUTION 


CIVIL    ENGINEERS, 


SESSION    1S85-SC— PART  IV. 


Sect.  I.— MINUTES  OF  PROCEEDINGS. 


20  April,  188G. 

Sir  FREDERICK  J.  BEAMWELL,  F.R.S.,  President, 
in  the  Chair. 


(Paper  No.  2057.) 

"  Brickmaking." 
P>y  Henry  Ward,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

In  hand-brickmaking,  as  now  generally  practised,  some  machinery 
is  nearly  always  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  clay  for  moulding 
the  bricks.  So  long  as  the  brick  is  moulded  by  hand  it  is  called 
a  hand-made  brick,  even  though,  as  with  the  Staffordshire  marls, 
machinery  is  employed  in  the  preparation  of  the  clay,  and  in  the 
pressing  of  the  brick  subsequent  to  its  having  been  moulded  by 
hand.  In  olden  times  all  the  operations  of  brickmaking  were 
done  by  hand,  including  the  digging  and  weathering  of  the  clay ; 
the  tempering,  the  moulding,  and  sometimes  the  dressing  after  the 
brick  was  partially  dried,  though  this  last  operation  was  seldom 
performed  even  with  the  highest  class  of  bricks. 

It  is  proposed,  in  the  first  instance,  to  describe  the  mode  of 
brickmaking  usually  followed  in  the  Home  Counties,  which  is,  in 
the  Author's  opinion,  the  best  example  of  brickmaking  by  hand, 
though  it  has  often  been  severely  criticised.  It  may  be  remarked, 
that  each  of  the  systems  prevailing  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
appears  to  have  been  gradually  adapted,  both  to  the  materials  at 
hand  for  making  and  burning  the  bricks,  and  also  to  the  value  of 
labour,  transport,  and  such-like  conditions,  in  the  locality.  The 
system  adopted  in  the  south  of  England  is  such  that,  practically, 
any  clay  can  bo  made  into  bricks  from  the  strong  clay  in   the 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  B 


2  "WARD   ON  BRICK3IAKING.  [Minutes  of 

north  and  in  the  south  of  London,  down  to  that  which  is  little 
more  than  sand,  as  in  the  Erith  district. 

The  clay  is  first  dug  and  carried  to  tbe  wash-mill,  where  it  is 
mixed  with  water  in  about  equal  parts  by  volume,  and  worked 
up  to  a  thin  slurry.  In  nearly  all  cases  where  stock -bricks  are 
made,  a  chalk-mill  adjoins  the  wash-mill.  The  chalk  is  also  mixed 
with  water  and  worked  or  ground  up  to  a  thin  paste.  Occasionally 
one  mill  is  used  both  for  clay  and  chalk,  where  the  latter  is  soft 
and  soluble.  This  chalk  is  run  into  the  clay-mill,  and  there  it  is 
thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  washed  earth.  The  chalk  is 
added  to  the  extent  of  10  to  15  per  cent,  by  volume,  mainly  for 
the  superior  colour  it  gives  to  stock-bricks,  though  it  also  acts 
as  a  flux  or  binding  material,  without  which  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  make  bricks  out  of  some  of  the  very  sandy  loams  now 
used. 

The  slurry  is  mostly  raised  by  elevators  or  pumps,  so  that  it 
may  run  into  reservoirs,  technically  called  "  wash-backs,"  about 
100  feet  square,  and  5  or  6  feet  deep.  When  the  levels  of  the 
field  will  permit,  the  wash-mills  are  so  placed  that  the  slurry  runs 
into  the  "  backs  "  by  gravitation.  The  backs  are  generally  divided 
into  two  parts,  in  order  that  one  part  may  first  be  filled,  and 
the  slurry  in  it  may  thus  have  more  time  to  dry  and  be  ready  for 
use  at  the  beginning  of  the  season.  Where  the  clay  is  free  from 
stones,  a  layer  some  3  feet  deep  is  often  wheeled  direct  into  the 
backs  before  the  washed  earth  is  allowed  to  run  in.  This  saves 
some  of  the  expense  of  washing,  and  also  allows  the  washed  earth 
to  become  set,  ready  for  moulding,  much  sooner  than  would  other- 
wise be  the  case. 

The  advantages  of  washing  the  earth  are  great,  and  may  be 
thus  enumerated  : — 

1.  The  whole  of  the  brick-earth  (and  chalk,  where  used)  is 
thoroughly  mixed  ;  and  this  is  important  where,  as  is  constantly 
the  case,  the  clay  varies  greatly  in  richness. 

2.  Washing  permits  the  use  of  brick-earth  containing  a  large 
proportion  of  stones. 

3.  Where  clay  has  to  be  transported  a  long  distance  to  the  backs, 
it  is  much  cheaper  to  pump  it  through  pipes  than  to  convey  it  by 
any  other  means. 

Though  the  clay  is  thoroughly  mixed  in  the  wash-mills,  care 
must  be  taken  to  frequently  move  the  point  of  discharge  in  the 
"backs,"  as  the  heavier  sand  has  a  tendency  to  sink,  and  does 
not  flow  so  evenly  over  the  "  back  "  as  the  rest  of  the  brick-earth. 

The  clay  sinks  and  leaves  the  water  on  the  surface,  and  the 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BRICKMAKING.  3 

latter  is  drawn  off  through  an  outlet  in  one  of  the  hanks  forming 
the  "  hack  "  farthest  from  the  point  of  discharge  into  the  "  back." 
If  the  site  and  levels  permit,  the  water  returns  to  the  wash-mill, 
and  is  used  again.  As  the  clay  rises  in  the  "  hack,"  the  gap  cut 
through  the  hank  is  gradually  filled  up  with  spits  of  clay. 
Drains  are  sometimes  (though  seldom)  formed  under  the  floor  of 
the  "  hack,"  to  assist  the  water  to  drain  away. 

In  the  case  of  the  very  strong  clays  in  London  and  the  im- 
mediate neighbourhood,  a  layer  of  "  mac  "  is  deposited  on  the  top 
of  the  clay  in  the  back.  This  is  simply  sweepings  from  mac- 
adamized roads.  It  is  used  like  sand  to  make  the  strong  clays 
milder,  and  to  such  an  extent  that,  in  one  brickfield  arranged  by 
the  Author  at  Hampstead,  as  much  as  33  per  cent,  of  mac  was 
required  to  be  mixed  in  the  clay  to  keep  the  bricks  up  to  their 
proper  size  and  shape,  and  to  prevent  them  cracking.  "Where 
mac  is  used,  little  or  no  washed  clay  is  admitted  into  the  "back," 
though  usually  chalk-water  is  run  on  the  top  of  the  clay  after  it 
has  been  dug  and  has  weathered. 

When  the  clay  has  set  in  the  "  backs  "  a  layer  of  sifted  house-ashes 
called  "  soil "  is  spread  over  the  top,  2  to  3  inches  thick  to  every 
foot  in  depth  of  clay.  Occasionally  a  thin  layer  of  very  fine  coke 
called  "  breeze  "  is  added  to  the  house-ashes,  but  with  an  inferior 
result,  as  the  heat  is  then  too  concentrated,  and  so  often  causes  the 
bricks  to  run  together  when  burning  in  the  clamps. 

The  pug-mills  are  placed  close  to  the  "  back,"  and  by  preference 
some  5  feet  lower,  so  that  the  clay  may  be  run  into  the  pug-mills 
by  barrows  with  as  little  labour  as  possible.  The  pug-mills  are 
either  horizontal  or  vertical. 

Each  moulder  has  one  pug-mill  and  set  of  "  hacks  "  under  control, 
the  whole  being  technically  called  a  "  stool."  Occasionally  double 
pug-mills  are  used  to  keep  two  moulders  at  work  ;  but  the  single 
mills  are  preferable,  as  each  moulder  can  then  have  the  pug-mill 
placed  most  conveniently  for  his  own  "  hacks." 

All  stock-bricks  are  sand-moulded ;  that  is,  the  mould  is  dipped 
in,  and  thoroughly  dusted  with  sand  after  the  brick  has  been 
made.  A  moulder  has  about  ten  or  twelve  "  hacks  "  to  himself,  each 
"hack"  being  from  90  to  100  yards  long;  therefore,  as  the  bricks 
are  stacked  eight  high,  the  hack-ground  will  hold  about  two 
hundred  thousand  bricks  when  full.  The  bricks,  after  becoming 
sufficiently  hard,  are  all  turned  over  ("  skintled  ")  to  promote  their 
drying.  In  summer  the  bricks  are  dry  enough  to  put  into  the 
clamp  about  three  weeks  after  moulding. 

The  clamp  is  made  on  the  ground  with  first  two  layers  of  burnt 

b  2 


4  WARD   ON   BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

bricks,  the  bricks  being  spaced  about  an  inch  apart.  This  space 
is  filled  with  the  coarse  ashes  or  breeze  sifted  from  the  fine  ashes 
previously  mixed  with  the  clay.  A  layer  also  of  coarse  ashes, 
about  3  inches  thick,  is  spread  over  the  clamp  below  the  green 
bricks,  and  occasionally  thinner  layers  are  spread  between  some 
courses  of  the  bricks  higher  up  the  clamps. 

The  outside  of  the  clamp  is  covered  with  burnt  bricks,  and  the 
whole  of  the  sides  are  daubed  over  with  clay  to  make  them  air- 
tight. The  clamps  hold  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  to 
three  million  bricks.  Sometimes  the  fire  is  started  at  one  end  of 
the  clamp,  while  bricks  are  still  being  stacked  at  the  other  end, 
more  and  more  bricks  being  added  as  the  fire  slowly  creeps 
along. 

The  burnt  bricks  are,  as  a  rule,  divided  into  three  qxialities  : 
first  come  the  stock-bricks,  which  are  of  a  good  colour  throughout ; 
then  the  grizzles,  which  have  one  side  or  end  of  good  colour ;  and 
last  the  place-bricks,  which  are  red  all  over,  and  soft,  through 
being  insufficiently  burnt. 

When  a  field  is  so  small  that  there  are  only  three  stools  in  it, 
it  still  pays  to  have  the  wash-mills  and  pug-mills  worked  by 
horses ;  but  with  larger  fields  steam-power  can  be  economically 
used.  From  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  to  one  million 
bricks  per  annum  are  made  in  each  stool. 

Two  systems  of  driving-machinery  are  used  in  these  brickfields, 
one  by  shafting,  the  other  either  entirely  or  partly  by  chains.  In 
most  cases  where  the  field  is  fairly  level  and  of  regular  shape, 
driving  by  shafting  is  the  better  plan.  When  there  is  but  a 
small  thickness  of  clay,  and  the  field  is  irregular  and  uneven, 
driving  by  chains  is  convenient,  as  these  can  be  led  anywhere, 
and  the  pug-mills,  and  even  wash-mills,  may  be  changed  from 
site  to  site  as  the  clay  is  worked  out,  with  very  little  trouble  or 
expense. 

Plate  1,  Fig.  1,  is  the  plan  of  a  brickfield  at  riumstead  belonging 
to  the  South  Metropolitan  Brick  and  Lime  Company.  In  this  case 
all  the  wash-mills  and  pug-mills  are  worked  by  shafting.  Owing 
to  the  irregularity  of  the  levels,  the  shafting  could  not  be  taken 
in  one  straight  line ;  therefore  the  pug-mills  are  placed  on  two 
different  lines,  connected  together  by  an  intermediate  piece  of 
shafting.  The  pug-mills  are  each  2  feet  G  inches  m  diameter,  by 
4  feet  6  inches  long,  with  eight  pug-knives  on  the  shaft.  The 
clay  is  tipped  from  a  barrow  into  a  hopper  at  one  end,  and  is 
continually  carried  forward  and  discharged  at  the  other  end.  The 
double  pug-mills  are  a  feet  in  diameter,  and  5  feet  3  inches  long, 


Proceedings.]  V7AED   ON   BRICKUAKING.  5 

and  in  these  the  receiving-hopper  is  in  the  middle,  while  the  dis- 
charge is  at  either  end  ;  the  knives  are  right-hand  at  one  end  and 
left-hand  at  the  other.  A  wash-mill  is  shown,  also  a  chalk-mill  at 
c,  and  slurry-pumps  at  d.  The  wash-mill  is  about  24  feet  in 
diameter,  with  brick  sides  and  bottom.  There  is  a  revolving 
frame  made  up  of  a  vertical  spindle  and  eight  tee-iron  arms,  tied 
together  with  wrought-iron  rods,  all  driven  by  overhead  bevel- 
gearing.  Three  heavy  iron  harrows,  weighing  6  cwt.  each,  fitted 
with  steel  tines,  are  hung  from  three  of  the  arms  by  chains,  so 
that  they  may  just  clear  the  brick  bottom,  when  the  mill  is  empty, 
and  rise  and  ride  over  the  stones  which  collect  in  the  mill  often  to 
a  depth  of  2  feet  per  day.  The  chalk -mill  is  about  half  the  size  of 
the  wash-mill ;  it  is  placed  at  a  slightly  higher  level,  so  that  the 
chalk-water  may  run  into  the  wash-mill.  The  slurry-pumps  are 
ordinary  three-plunger  pumps,  but  made  with  doors  to  each  valve, 
so  that  the  valves  are  easily  accessible  for  removing  any  obstruc- 
tion. The  "  hacks  "  have  movable  covers  or  caps.  In  some  cases 
fixed  covers  are  used,  but  though  they  are  better,  the  extra  cost 
prevents  their  general  adoption.  Of  the  ash-  or  soil-ground  (It),  a 
considerable  area  is  required  for  sifting  the  ashes.  The  engine- 
and  boiler-house,  i,  is  fitted  with  a  24  nominal  HP.  engine  and  a 
Lancashire  boiler,  the  latter  having  a  specially  large  grate  for 
burning  the  coarser  portion  of  the  ashes,  no  coal  being  used. 
Sufficient  power  has  been  provided  to  allow  for  doubling  the 
present  number  of  stools.  The  shafting  is  driven  at  about  8  to 
10  revolutions  per  minute  by  gearing;  the  pulley-speed  is  reduced 
by  a  pinion-and-spur,  geared  at  a  ratio  of  7  to  1.  A  well-hole 
is  fitted  with  a  hoist  for  raising  the  chalk,  which  lies  about 
100  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground  at  this  point,  and  is 
got  by  mining  in  underground  workings,  similarly  to  coal.  The 
small  chalk  is  used  for  the  chalk-mill,  while  the  large  chalk  is 
burnt  into  lime  in  a  kiln.  The  speed  of  the  pug-mill  shafting,  of 
8  to  10  revolutions  per  minute,  is  a  very  uneconomical  one.  The 
Author  has  more  than  once  proposed  to  alter  it  by  running  a  much 
smaller  shaft  along  the  backs  of  all  the  mills  at  a  speed  of  50  to  60 
revolutions  per  minute,  using  a  pinion-and-spur  at  each  pug-mill 
to  reduce  the  speed.  There  is  a  prejudice  against  this,  and  it  may 
even  be  a  well-founded  one,  since  some  of  the  shaft-bearings  are 
occasionally  covered  with  clay  ;  they  often  run  without  oil,  and 
sometimes  a  piece  of  wood  is  substituted,  with  a  groove  cut  in  it 
for  the  shaft  to  lie  in. 

When  the  system  of  driving  by  chains  is  resorted  to,  chain-gear 
is  erected  close  to  the  engine,  and  it  is  generally  driven  by  a  belt. 


6  WARD   ON  BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

Plate  1,  Figs.  3  and  4  show  a  good  example  of  this  gear.  The 
number  of  grooved  wheels  is  proportional  to  the  number  of  pug- 
mills  to  be  driven,  though  in  some  cases  one  wheel  suffices  for  two 
pug-mills,  the  farther  being  driven  through  the  nearer  mill.  This, 
however,  should  be  avoided,  as  the  driving-chain  is  very  apt  to  slip. 
The  chains  can  be  led  off  at  almost  any  angle  in  the  horizontal  or 
vertical  planes,  which  is  a  great  convenience,  as  they  are  often  led 
over  buildings  and  up  and  down  hill.  This  chain-gear  is  driven 
through  double-purchase  gearing,  the  speed  of  the  vertical  shaft 
being  5  or  6  revolutions  per  minute. 

In  some  fields  the  wash-mills  and  chalk-mills  are  also  driven  by 
chains.  These  are  sometimes  made  entirely  of  iron,  so  that  the 
whole  can  readily  be  moved  from  one  site  to  another  as  the  sur- 
rounding clay  is  worked  out,  and  in  this  case  there  is  no  spur- 
gearing;  the  chain  drives  direct  on  to  a  pulley  about  14  feet  in 
diameter  on  the  vertical  shaft  of  the  wash-mill. 

Pug-mills  driven  by  chains  are  usually  of  the  upright  kind, 
with  a  5-feet  chain-wheel  on  the  top  of  the  spindle,  so  that  it 
makes  about  4  or  5  revolutions  per  minute.  This  is  very  slow. 
Probably  it  was  originally  suggested  as  being  about  the  speed  at 
which  a  horse  would  turn  the  mill  in  walking  round  it.  The 
chains  used  for  driving  are  -^  inch  in  diameter.  These  though 
heavy  are  not  more  so  than  is  needed,  seeing  their  speed  is  only 
75  feet  per  minute. 

The  Author  has  employed  this  chain-gear  not  only  to  drive  pug- 
mills  and  wash-mills,  but  also  hoists  and  pumps  in  different  parts 
of  the  field  at  the  same  time.  To  do  this  properly  it  was  arranged 
to  run  the  chain  at  about  250  feet  per  minute.  In  this  case  hori- 
zontal pug-mills  were  employed,  but  the  pug-shaft  was  kept  to  a 
speed  of  8  to  10  revolutions  per  minute  by  putting  the  chain- 
wheel  on  to  a  pinion-shaft,  gearing  into  a  spur-wheel  on  the 
pug-shaft. 

As  the  wash-  and  chalk-mills  are  only  kept  going  in  the  winter, 
and  the  pug-mills  only  in  the  summer,  it  has  been  the  custom 
hitherto  to  run  the  chain  much  faster  in  winter,  when  driving  the 
wash-mills,  than  in  summer,  and  this  is  done  by  moving  the  strap- 
pulley  from  the  double-purchase  to  the  single-purchase  shaft.  Of 
course  by  arranging,  as  the  Author  has  done,  to  keep  the  chain 
going  at  the  quicker  speed  all  through  the  summer  and  winter,  it 
has  been  possible  to  use  lighter  chains.  The  chain  is  supported 
at  intervals  of  about  15  yards  by  grooved  pulleys,  7  inches  in 
diameter  placed  on  the  top  of  posts  15  feet  above  the  ground.  The 
centres  of  the  driving  and  driven  pulleys  should  not  be  less  than  130 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON  BKICKMAKING.  7 

feet  apart,  preferably  200  feet,  and  the  chain  should  not  he  too 
tight.  It  drives  better  if  allowed  to  sag  some  5  or  6  feet  between 
the  posts.  To  prevent  the  chain  slipping  round  the  grooved  wheels, 
six  or  eight  V-snaPecl  clips  are  bolted  to  the  rims  in  which  the 
chain  may  lie.  Sometimes  single  clips  are  employed  bolted  on 
alternate  sides  of  the  groove,  in  order  that  the  chain  may  be 
pressed,  first  against  one  side  of  the  groove,  and  then  against  the 
other,  thus  assuming  a  slight  wave-form.  In  one  case  the  Author 
has  seen  the  whole  groove  cast  in  this  wave-form. 

Eeferring  to  the  system  of  washing  the  clay,  not  only  does  this 
prepare  it  in  the  best  manner,  and  make  it  possible  to  use  brick- 
earth,  otherwise  valueless ;  but  at  the  same  time  by  reducing  it  to 
the  fluid  state,  it  can  be  pumped  long  distances  through  pipes. 
This  is  a  means  of  transport  seemingly  far  cheaper  than  any  other. 
It  often  occurs,  that  whereas  it  is  most  desirable  to  make  the 
bricks  at  the  water-side  or  by  the  railway-side,  the  clay  to  be  used 
is  a  long  distance  away.  Messrs.  Taylor  and  Neate  have  kindly 
furnished  the  Author  with  a  section  of  piping  1^  mile  long, 
through  which  slurry  is  pumped.  The  piping  is  G  inches  in 
diameter  of  the  spigot-and-faucet  kind,  laid  with  lead  joints.  The 
clay  is  washed  in  a  wash-mill,  and  is  then  pumped  by  two  sets  of 
three-throw  pumps,  to  either  one  of  two  brickfields.  These  pumps 
are  each  8  inches  in  diameter  by  18  inches  length  of  stroke,  and 
are  driven  at  an  average  speed  of  22  strokes  per  minute,  producing 
a  pressure  in  the  pipes  adjoining  the  pumps  of  50  lbs.  per  square 
inch.  To  cleanse  the  pipes  and  to  prevent  them  choking  by  the 
settling  of  sediment,  every  night,  before  stopping  work,  for  about 
twenty  minutes,  clean  water  only  is  pumped.  This  forces  out  the 
slurry  in  front.  The  Avater  is  then  allowed  to  drain  out  of  the 
pipes,  by  opening  valves  at  the  lowest  points,  and  also  by  opening- 
air  inlet-valves  at  the  highest  points,  to  prevent  damage  by  frost. 

Hand-made  red-facing  bricks  are  manufactured  from  clay  gene- 
rally sufficiently  free  from  stones  to  render  it  unnecessary  to  wash 
it.  After  being  weathered  in  the  winter,  this  is  pugged,  moulded, 
and  dried,  similarly  to  the  stock-bricks.  The  red-bricks  are  burnt 
in  kilns,  and  these  are  of  various  types,  sometimes  a  plain  "  Scotch 
kiln  "  is  used,  sometimes  an  open-top  kiln,  and  at  others  a  closed- 
top  kiln.  In  the  last  two  cases  the  fire-holes  are  under  the  floor 
of  the  kiln,  and  they  are  fired  either  from  the  end  or  from  the 
side.  The  floor  is  perforated  for  the  fire  to  come  through,  the 
whole  forming  what  is  known  as  an  up-draught  kiln.  These 
kilns  are  made  to  hold  from  ten  thousand  to  fifty  thousand  bricks. 
The  largest  brickmakers  in  the  kingdom  are  Messrs.  Smead,  Dean 


8  WARD   ON  BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

and  Co.,  who  make  about  eighty  million  annually.  Mr.  Dean 
has  invented  a  new  mould  for  bricks,  constructed  entirely  of  thin 
steel  plate  in  place  of  the  old  mould  made  of  wood  and  iron.  The 
new  mould  is  about  1  lb.  lighter  than  the  old  one.  As  the  work- 
man lifts  it  four  times  in  moulding  each  brick,  and  he  makes 
eight  thousand  to  nine  thousand  bricks  daily,  the  advantage  in 
reducing  the  weight  of  the  mould  is  very  great. 

Turning  now  to  bricks  made  entirely  by  machinery,  there  are 
many  different  systems,  and  it  is  difficult  to  draw  any  clear  dividing- 
lines,  except  between  the  two  distinct  classes  of  plastic  bricks  and 
of  dry  or  semi-dry  bricks.  The  latter  differ  from  the  former  in  that 
they  are  made  so  dry  that  they  can  be  run  direct  into  the  kiln 
from  the  machine  without  previous  drying,  and  can  be  stacked  as 
many  as  thirty  bricks  high  at  once.  All  clays  can  be  manu- 
factured into  plastic  bricks,  but  only  a  small  portion  of  them  can 
be  made  into  semi-dry  bricks,  as  for  these  the  clay  must  be  of  a 
marly  or  shaly  nature  in  order  to  be  ground  to  small  particles. 
In  the  mining-districts,  and  in  the  North  of  England,  suitable 
shales  and  marls  are  plentiful ;  in  the  South,  excluding  the 
West,  there  are  only  three  or  four  semi-dry  brickmaking  works. 
Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  get  the  more  plastic  clay 
through  the  perforated  bottom  of  the  pan-mill.  Burnt  ballast  or 
ashes  have  been  mixed  with  the  clay,  and  it  has  even  been  partially 
dried  on  hot  floors  before  being  put  into  the  pan-mill.  No  prac- 
tical success  has  been  met  with.  The  perforations  in  the  pan 
should  not  be  larger  than  -^  inch  in  diameter  if  round,  or  -jL  inch 
to  -|  inch  broad  if  oblong,  otherwise  the  quality  of  the  brick 
suffers.  So  long  as  the  clay  can  be  got  through  the  perforations, 
the  wetter  it  is  the  better,  though  the  clay  should  not  be  wetted 
afterwards  as  it  would  clog  and  not  drop  into  the  mould  from  the 
feeding-box.  Some  shales  are  so  dry  that  water  is  added,  through 
a  perforated  tube,  during  the  grinding  in  the  pan-mill.  A  rough 
test  as  to  whether  the  clay  is  damp  enough,  is  to  take  a  handful 
when  ground,  and  squeeze  it,  when  it  should  adhere  and  form  a 
ball. 

Probably  the  two  greatest  difficulties  to  contend  with  in  semi- 
dry  brickmaking  are  to  grind  the  clay  small  enough,  and  to  get 
it  equally  moist.  Generally  5  inches  in  depth  of  loose  ground 
clay  in  the  mould  will  compress  to  a  3-inch  brick ;  but  there 
is  always  an  arrangement  by  which  the  5  inches  may  be  increased 
or  diminished,  by  adjusting  the  position  of  the  lower  piston  in  the 
mould  during  the  operation  of  feeding.  This  adjustment  is  a  dif- 
ficulty ;  it  must  be  varied  perpetually,  both  according  to  the  size 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BBICKHAKENG.  9 

of  tlie  particles  of  tlie  clay  and  to  their  state  of  dryness.  The 
drier  the  clay  the  less  is  required  to  make  a  brick.  In  the  older 
type  of  semi-dry  brick-machines  the  top  piston  simply  dropped 
on  to  the  clay  in  the  mould,  or  was  forced  on  to  it  by  steam- 
pressure,  as  by  a  steam-hammer.  If  therefore  there  was  too  much 
or  too  little  clay  in  the  mould,  the  resultant  brick  was  either  too 
thick  or  too  thin,  though  it  was  always  subjected  to  the  same 
pressure.  In  the  machines  for  semi-dry  bricks  built  now-a-days 
the  two  pistons  have  positive  movements ;  thus  the  brick  is  always 
the  same  thickness,  since  when  giving  the  final  pressure  the  pistons 
are  always  the  same  distance  apart.  The  clay  is  often  either  too 
little  pressed  to  make  a  good  brick,  or  too  much  pressed  for  the 
safety  of  the  machine.  Two  holes  are  usually  left  in  the  top 
piston,  through  which  any  superfluous  clay  should  be  squeezed. 
In  actual  practice,  these  holes  constantly  get  plugged  with  dxy 
clay,  and  do  not  act  as  a  safety-valve  as  intended.  It  is  im- 
possible to  feed  the  clay  to  the  machines  constantly  in  the  same 
state  of  dryness,  or  to  ensure  the  particles  being  of  the  same 
size.  When  the  clay  is  discharged  on  to  the  first  floor  from 
the  elevators,  the  larger  particles  drop  on  the  top  of  the  heap  of 
ground  clay,  and  separate  themselves  from  the  finer  particles  by 
rolling  further  away.  There  is  generally  an  attendant  to  feed  the 
clay  into  the  shoots  leading  to  the  machines,  or  to  superintend 
this  being  done  automatically;  still,  it  is  impossible  to  get  equal 
feeding.  In  the  same  way  even  though  all  the  clay  be  delivered 
from  the  pan-mill  equally  moist,  some  of  it,  owing  to  its  being- 
ground  overnight,  or,  to  rolling  to  the  outside  of  the  heap,  gets 
drier  than  the  rest.  Thus,  the  measurement  of  the  clay  in  the 
mould  wants  perpetually  adjusting,  and  at  best  the  bricks  must 
vary  in  quality.  The  layer  of  5  inches  of  loose  clay  is  compressed 
into  one  of  3  inches,  therefore  nearly  50  per  cent,  of  the  original 
bulk  is  air.  It  is  difficult  to  get  rid  of  this  air,  but  it  is  gene- 
rally done  by  working  the  machine  slowly,  limiting  the  number 
of  bricks  made  per  minute  to  some  fifteen  per  mould,  so  as  to  give 
time  for  the  air  to  escape  ;  and  it  is  also  done  by  giving  two  dis- 
tinct pressures  to  each  brick,  with  a  slight  interval  of  time  between. 
The  second  pressure  is  sometimes  obtained  by  transferring  the 
brick  to  a  separate  press,  which  the  Author  thinks  preferable.  It 
increases  the  cost  slightly,  but  the  brick  is  of  superior  quality, 
partly  owing  to  plenty  of  time  being  allowed  for  the  air  to  escape, 
and  partly  also  because  the  press-mould  can  be  kept  in  much 
better  order  than  the  machine-moulds,  as  the  latter  bear  the  brunt 
of  the  work.      The  wear-and-tear  of  the  moulds  and  pistons  is 


1 0  'WARD   ON  BRICKMAKIXG.  [Minutes  of 

considerable,  especially  in  gritty  shales.    A  mould  has  been  known 
to  wear  out  in  two  or  three  days. 

"Where  a  brick  has  been  subjected  to  too  much  pressure,  if  this 
be  possible,  it  is  almost  sure  to  crack  along  its  face  when  relieved 
from  the  pressure,  owing  to  the  escape  of  the  compressed  air, 
which  has  been  shut  up  inside  the  brick.  Those  bricks,  however, 
which  are  cracked  in  the  machine,  if  repressed  become  the  best. 

In  manufacturing  semi-dry  bricks,  to  be  afterwards  treated  in  a 
separate  press,  it  is  well  to  make  them  with  a  deep  frog  or  recess 
in  the  centre,  leaving  a  wall  h  inch  thick,  standing  all  round  the 
brick  as  much  as  f  inch  high.  When  this  is  pressed,  a  good  face 
is  made,  as  the  outside  of  the  brick  is  squeezed  harder  than  the 
inside.  In  completing  the  brick  at  one  operation,  the  clay  has  a 
tendency  to  flow  from  the  outside  to  the  centre  of  the  brick,  owing 
to  the  friction  of  the  sides  of  the  mould,  and  thus  to  make  the 
face  less  pressed  than  the  inside  of  the  brick. 

All  the  pistons  of  semi-dry  brickmaking  machines  are  kept  hot 
by  steam  circulating  through  them.  The  Author  does  not  know 
to  whom  this  invention  is  due,  but  it  is  a  most  important  one. 
The  heat  forms  a  film  of  vapour,  from  the  moisture  in  the  clay,  on 
all  the  metal  surfaces,  which  acts  as  a  lubricant,  and  enables  the 
brick  to  leave  the  mould  and  piston  with  clean  sharp  edges. 
Should  the  steam  be  shut  off  by  any  accident,  the  clay  at  once 
adheres  to  the  metal  surfaces,  and  it  is  impossible  to  proceed  with 
satisfaction. 

Plate  1,  Fig.  2,  is  a  plan  of  the  works  erected  by  the  Author  for 
the  Kent  Brick  and  Tile  Company,  at  Pluckley  Station  near  Ashford, 
Kent,  at  a  cost  of  £25,000.  The  works  are  connected  with  the 
main  line  of  the  South  Eastern  Railway  by  a  siding;  a  is  the 
engine  and  boiler-house,  with  machine-house  adjoining ;  b  is  the 
"  Hoffmann  "  kiln,  capable  of  burning  about  one  hundred  thousand 
bricks  per  week;  c  is  the  hack  ground  for  drying  the  plastic 
bricks ;  d  d  are  the  drying  sheds,  used  principally  for  blue  bricks. 
These  sheds  are  heated  by  the  exhaust-steam,  when  the  engine 
is  at  work.  At  night  live-steam  can  be  blown  under  the  sheds, 
if  it  be  necessary  to  work  them  at  the  maximum  output ;  e  e  are 
four  Staffordshire  kilns  adjoining  one  another;  //are  two  other 
Staffordshire  kilns;  gg  are  Scotch  kilns  for  burning  those  bricks 
which  are  dried  on  the  hack  grounds;  h  is  the  main  line  of 
the  South  Eastern  Railway ;  j  is  a  siding  from  the  same,  leading 
to  the  works.  This  siding  is  divided  into  two,  the  branch  h  being 
kept  on  the  ground-level,  to  allow  the  coals  for  the  boiler  and 
kilns   to   be   brought   in    convenientlv ;    while    the    branch  I  is 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BRICKMAKING.  11 

kept  about  3  feet  below  the  general  surface,  that  the  bricks  may 
be  loaded  more  easily.  The  floor  of  the  trucks  is  about  level  with 
the  floor  of  the  kilns ;  m  m  is  the  clay  hole,  from  which  the  clay  is 
hoisted  to  the  first  floor  of  the  machine-house,  by  an  incline  1  in  5, 
The  clay  is  loaded  into  wagons,  each  containing  about  two 
barrow  loads.  These  wagons  are  carried  on  four  cast-iron  wheels, 
or  disks,  about  9  inches  in  diameter  by  f  inch  broad,  fitted  with 
steel  axles  1  inch  in  diameter.  Each  axle  has  one  wheel  fast,  the 
other  loose,  thus  there  is  no  wear  in  the  bosses  of  the  wheels, 
except  that  due  to  the  slight  differences  of  motion  of  the  two 
wheels,  when  passing  round  curves.  The  advantages  of  these 
small  wagons  over  larger  ones  are  :  (1)  that  as  the  clay  varies,  in 
different  parts  of  the  clay-hole,  a  good  mixture  is  effected  by  using 
wagon-loads  from  each  part  in  rotation.  (2)  As  there  is  a  constant 
stream  of  small  quantities  of  clay,  the  mills  must  be  fed  a  little  at 
a  time  and  often.  This  saves  the  break-downs,  frecpaently  caused 
by  tipping  large  wagon-loads  bodily  into  the  mill.  (3)  The 
wagons  are  light  and  handy,  so  that  a  boy  can  manipulate  them, 
slewing  them  anywhere  on  the  cast-iron  floor-plates,  and  finally 
turning  them  over  when  discharging  them.  A  flat  wrought- 
iron  strap,  2^  inches  by  ^  inch,  projects  4  inches  above  the  top  of 
the  wagon  with  a  vertical  V-groove  cut  into  it.  A  ■£?  inch  con- 
tinuous chain  is  used  for  hauling,  any  vertical  link  of  which  will 
lie  in  the  above  groove,  while  the  next  horizontal  link  bears 
against  the  strap  and  does  the  hauling.  The  weight  of  the  chain 
keeps  it  in  place  in  the  groove,  but  the  wagons  should  not  be  less 
than  15  feet  apart,  otherwise  they  may  slip,  owing  to  the  chain 
jerking  out  of  the  groove.  The  rails  used  are  angle-irons,  with  a 
very  small  vertical  flange,  the  gauge  being  10  inches  only.  The 
endless  hauling-chain  n  n  passes  round  a  5-feet  grooved  pulley, 
on  the  vertical  shaft  of  the  hoistin£-<i-ear  in  the  machine  house 
at  the  top  of  the  incline,  and  round  a  similar  pulley,  on  a  vertical 
shaft  at  the  bottom  of  the  incline.  Two  or  three  other  horizontal 
pulleys  are  fixed  on  this  lower  vertical  shaft,  from  each  of  which 
endless-chains  are  led  to  similar  pulleys  and  shafts  at  the  working 
faces  of  the  clay-hole.  The  full  wagons  are  thus  brought  along 
rails  from  the  face  of  the  clay,  to  the  bottom  of  the  incline.  Here 
a  boy  transfers  them  to  the  chain  working  up  the  incline.  On 
arriving  at  the  top  the  wagons  disengage  themselves  from  the 
chain,  and  after  being  tipped,  are  engaged  with  the  return  chain 
and  sent  to  the  bottom  of  the  incline,  and  thence  to  the  clay- 
face  by  another  chain.  The  hoisting-chain  usually  travels  about 
^  mile  per  hour.     By  using  cone-pulleys  for  driving  the  hoisting- 


12  WABD   ON   BBICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

gear,  the  speed  is  easily  reduced  or  increased,  as  more  or  less  clay- 
is  required. 

Both  semi-dry  and  plastic  fcrickmaking  machines  are  used  in 
the  machine-house.  Everything  is  driven  from  a  line  of  shaft- 
ing extending  from  end  to  end  of  the  house,  and  running  at 
about  100  revolutions  per  minute  ;  and  all  the  clay  is  brought 
into  the  machine-house  on  the  first  floor.  The  semi-dry  bricks, 
after  being  made  and  pressed,  are  run  direct  into  the  Hoffmann 
kiln. 

Plate  1,  Figs.  5  and  6,  represent  the  pan-mill  9  feet  in  diameter. 
This  mill  is  used  exclusively  for  preparing  clay  for  the  semi-dry 
machines.  The  inner  circle  shows  the  solid  bottom  of  the  pan 
on  which  the  rollers  run,  while  all  the  plates  in  the  outer  circle, 
marked  b  b,  are  pierced  everywhere  with  fine  perforations.  The 
crushed  material  is  then  swept  from  under  the  rollers  on  to  the 
perforated  plates  forming  the  outer  circle,  by  a  plough,  fixed  to 
the  cross-arm.  Those  particles  which  are  too  large  to  drop 
through  the  perforations  are  carried  back  under  the  next  roller  by 
a  similar  plough  or  guide. 

After  the  clay  has  passed  through  the  perforated  bottom  into 
the  lower  pan  a  rotating  arm  sweeps  it  into  an  elevator,  by 
which  the  clay  is  raised  to  the  first  floor  of  the  building.  It  is 
then  passed  down  through  shoots  to  three  Chamberlain's  semi-dry 
brick-machines,  and  thence  to  three  power-presses. 

The  Chamberlain  machines,  though  they  did  good  work,  were 
complicated,  and  needed  much  repair.  They  are  not  made  now, 
and  those  at  Pluckley  have  been  altered,  until  they  somewhat 
resemble  the  machine  represented  in  Figs.  7,  8,  and  9.  These 
show  the  machine  constructed  by  Messrs.  Whittaker  and  Co., 
of  Accrington ;  and,  as  it  is,  in  the  Author's  opinion,  one  of  the 
best  machines,  he  has  selected  it  for  illustration.  It  produces 
two  bricks  at  one  operation,  or  a  total  of  about  one  thousand 
five  hundred  per  hour.  The  powdered  clay  is  passed  down  a  trunk 
to  the  feed-box  of  the  machine.  This  slides  over  the  moulds,  fills 
them,  and  returns  under  the  trunk.  The  upper  piston  then  de- 
scends suddenly,  the  rollers  on  the  connecting-rods  having  fallen 
down  the  straight  part  of  the  cam  which  is  on  the  crank-pin. 
The  slot  in  the  connecting-rod  allows  this  operation,  and  thus  the 
full  weight  of  the  cross-head,  pistons  and  rods,  compresses  the 
clay.  Time  is  given  for  the  air  so  compressed  to  escape  before 
the  final  pressure  is  put  on.  This  is  not  done  until  the  crank-pin 
is  passing  the  lowest  point ;  yet  this  final  pressure  lasts  for  one- 
fcwenty-fourth  of  the  whole  revolution,  as  the  actual  vertical  move- 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BEICKMAKING.  IS 

merit  is  only  J  inch  during  this  period.  The  pressure  on  the- 
lower  pistons  is  received  by  the  steel  cam-shaft,  the  overhanging 
portions  of  which  carry  the  driving-wheels.  Cams  are  cast  on 
these  wheels  to  actuate  the  levers,  giving  motion  to  the  feeding- 
box.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  whole  strain  is  taken  by  the  cam-shaft 
and  connecting-rods,  the  framing  carrying  only  the  ends  of  the 
shafts.  After  the  brick  has  been  pressed,  the  action  of  the  central 
cam  lifts  up  the  brick  and  lower  piston  level  with  the  table.  The 
front  of  the  feeding-box,  on  its  forward  movement,  pushes  the  brick 
off  the  piston.  This  immediately  afterwards,  by  the  action  of  the- 
cam,  drops  suddenly,  until  it  is  arrested  by  the  balance-lever,  ready 
to  receive  a  fresh  charge  of  clay.  The  position  of  the  balance- 
lever  is  adjusted  by  a  screw,  worked  by  the  attendant,  and  this 
is  altered  just  as  the  clay  varies  in  moistness  or  in  fineness  of 
grinding.  When  the  feedbox  has  moved  backwards,  the  upper 
piston  falls  as  above  described  on  to  the  clay,  and  carries  it,  the- 
lower  piston,  and  the  balance-lever  down,  until  they  meet  the  camr 
when  the  final  pressure  is  given.  The  lower  piston  has  a  large 
roller  fitted  to  it,  against  which  the  cam  works,  and  the  whole  is 
protected  by  a  hood  from  the  clay  that  would  drop  on  it. 

The  plastic  brickmaking  machine  at  Pluckley  was  made  by 
Messrs.  Middleton  and  Co.  It  consists  of  one  pair  of  slow-running 
hedgehog  rollers,  into  which  the  clay,  after  being  well  watered 
in  the  clay-hole,  is  tipped  from  the  wagons.  The  clay  passes, 
through  a  second  set  of  quicker  running  smooth  rollers,  set  much 
closer  together,  from  whence  it  drops  into  a  horizontal  mixino-- 
trough,  fitted  with  knives,  similar  to  a  pug-mill,  except  that  ife 
is  open-topped.  Should  any  further  water  be  required,  it  is  added 
to  the  clay  here,  through  a  perforated  pipe,  fitted  along  the  trough. 
The  trough  discharges  the  clay  into  a  vertical  pug-mill.  It  is- 
forced  from  this,  in  a  continuous  but  ragged  stream,  through  a 
hole  at  the  bottom.  It  is  here  taken,  on  small  carrying-rollers, 
to  two  large  compressing-rollers  18  inches  in  diameter,  which  force- 
it  through  a  Murray's  die,  in  a  stream  of  the  same  section  as  a 
brick,  on  to  a  Murray's  cutting-table. 

Fig.  10  shows  a  complete  machine,  as  made  by  Messrs.  Clayton, 
Howlett  and  Venables,  for  dealing  with  rough  clays  and  marls, 
such  as  are  found  in  Staffordshire,  and  from  which  the  blue  bricks- 
are  made.  It  consists  of  a  double  crushing  roller-mill,  a  hori- 
zontal mixing-mill,  and  a  brick-machine.  The  marls  are  passed 
through  the  crushing  rollers  dry,  without  previous  soaking  with 
water ;  the  mixing  with  water  takes  place  solely  in  the  mixing- 
mill   after  the  crushing.     The  upper  pair  of  rollers  run  slowly, 


14  WARD    ON    BRICKMAKIXG.  [Minutes  of 

and  are  set  about  §  inch  or  1  inch  apart.  Tliey  have  longitudinal 
strips  on  them,  to  enable  the  clay  to  be  better  gripped.  The 
lower  pair  of  rollers  are  smooth,  and  set  only  about  \  inch  apart, 
and  consequently  have  to  run  much  faster  to  press  the  same 
quantity  of  clay  as  the  upper  ones.  All  rollers  have  scrapers 
working  against  them,  usually  held  up  by  weighted  levers.  The 
brick-machine  has  a  pair  of  rollers  mounted  on  the  top  of  the  pug. 
These  are  set  close  together,  and  force  the  clay  into  the  horizon- 
tal pug  under  pressure.  The  pug-mill  is  fitted  with  the  ordinary 
knives,  except  at  the  end.  Here  one  turn  of  a  screw-blade  is  fixed 
on  the  extremity  of  the  pug-shaft,  in  order  to  get  the  pressure 
necessary  to  force  the  clay  through  the  gradually  reduced  end 
of  the  cylinder,  until  it  issues  from  the  mouth  of  the  die  in  the 
form  of  a  brick  on  to  a  cutting-off  table. 

The  Author  has  used  a  primitive  safety  appliance  for  driving 
the  crushing-rollers,  in  many  cases  with  success.  It  is  impossible 
to  prevent  hard  stones,  pieces  of  old  iron,  &c,  getting  between 
the  rollers.  It  is  better,  therefore,  to  have  some  means  by  which 
the  otherwise  certain  breakage  may  be  avoided.  The  driving- 
pulley  is  loose  on  the  shaft,  but  drives  the  shaft  through  a  wooden 
tpin  fixed  to  a  lever  or  arm  keyed  to  the  shaft.  A  wooden  pin  is 
turned  down  as  a  trial  until  it  just  breaks  with  ordinary  work, 
then  a  pin  twice  as  strong  is  substituted.  A  number  of  similar 
pins  are  kept  in  stock  in  case  of  breakages. 

The  cutting-off  table,  where  the  stream  of  clay  is  divided  into 
bricks,  is  a  very  important  part  of  the  plastic  brick-machine,  and 
most  of  the  tables  now  made  are  very  similar  to  that  invented  by 
Mr.  Murray  some  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  ago.  The  stream  of 
•clay  is  continually  issuing  from  the  die,  and  when  it  becomes  of 
sufficient  length  to  form  ten  bricks,  it  is  cut  off  by  a  single  pre- 
liminary wire.  The  block  of  clay  is  then  pushed  still  further- 
forward  by  hand  on  to  the  zinc-covered  table,  which  is  kept  well 
oiled  with  black  oil.  A  lever  through  a  rack-and-gearing  forces 
the  block  of  clay  through  the  eleven  wires,  forming  it  into  ten 
bricks,  with  a  waste  piece  of  clay  at  each  end.  The  bricks  are 
received  on  a  loose  board,  which  is  at  once  lifted  bodily  on  to  a 
barrow,  while  another  loose  board  is  put  in  its  place.  The  use  of  a 
loose  board  is  a  great  advantage,  as  it  enables  ten  bricks  to  be 
moved  at  once  instead  of  being  handled  singly,  thus  the  output 
is  largely  increased. 

Mr.  Pinfold,  of  Rugby,  has  devised  a  cutting-off  table  ver}7 
similar  to  the  foregoing ;  although  a  little  more  complicated,  it 
has  the  advantage  that  the  bricks  are  cut  from  the  stream  of  clay, 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BMCKHAKING.  15 

while  travelling,  and  so  one  of  the  waste  pieces  at  the  end  of  the 
block  of  clay  is  saved.  This  is  done  by  mounting  the  whole  table 
on  small  wheels  and  rails  to  enable  it  to  have  a  free  longitudinal 
motion  while  the  wires  are  cross-cutting  the  clay.  The  table  is 
pushed  under  the  stream  of  clay,  where  it  is  held  firm,  until 
sufficient  clay  has  been  received  upon  it  to  cut  into  the  required 
number  of  bricks.  The  table  is  then  left  free,  when  the  continu- 
ally travelling  clay  carries  it  along,  while  the  attendant  forces  the 
wire  through  the  clay.  The  bricks  are  received  on  to  the  usual 
loose  board,  and  the  table  is  again  pushed  under  that  portion  of 
the  stream  which  has  in  the  meantime  been  left  without  support, 
owing  to  the  table  having  been  carried  away  from  under  the  die. 

Probably  the  most  important  part  of  the  plastic  brick  machine 
is  the  die,  inasmuch  as  it  is  absolutely  essential  to  have  a  stream 
of  clay  perfect  in  shape.  Much  ingenuity  has  been  expended  in 
devising  an  immense  number  of  different  forms  of  dies,  often  ap- 
parently without  duly  appreciating  the  problem  to  be  overcome. 
It  is  frequently  seen  that  a  die  which  will  answer  perfectly  for 
the  clay  in  one  field,  will  fail  for  the  clay  of  the  field  adjoining. 
No  doubt  the  flow  of  a  plastic  material  like  clay  follows  very 
similar  laws  to  the  flow  of  a  glacier  or  of  water  in  a  stream,  com- 
plicated, however,  in  the  case  of  clay  by  the  fact  that  different 
cdays  have  very  different  coefficients  of  friction.  When  a  stream 
of  clay,  having  about  the  sectional-area  of  a  brick,  is  forced 
through  a  simple  hole,  the  centre  of  the  stream  flows  faster  than 
the  ends  and  corners,  and  these,  therefore,  become  ragged  and 
broken.  This  can  be  obviated  in  two  ways,  either  by  putting 
friction  on  the  centre  of  the  stream  to  retard  it,  as  is  practically 
done  very  successfully  when  perforated  bricks  are  made,  or  by  so 
reducing  the  friction  at  the  ends  and  corners,  that  all  parts  of 
the  clay  flow  with  equal  velocity. 

This  latter  principle  is  the  one  sought  to  be  carried  out,  in 
Murray's  die  (Plate  2,  Figs.  11  and  12).  The  ends  or  sides  of  the 
die  are  made  loose,  and  are  held  in  place  by  set  screws.  The  inside 
faces  of  the  ends  are  made  with  vertical  grooves,  and  these  are 
covered  with  moleskin,  which  can  be  readily  renewed  from  time  to 
time.  The  grooves  are  connected  by  pipes  with  small  watertanks. 
The  moleskin  is  thus  kept  wet,  and  so  lubricates  the  sides  only  of 
the  stream  of  clay.  As  the  nature  of  the  clay  may  require,  more 
or  less  lubricant  can  be  supplied  by  raising  the  tanks  to  give  a 
greater  head  to  the  water,  more  of  which  is  forced  through  the 
moleskin.  A  die,  also  designed  on  the  principle  of  reducing  the 
side-friction,  is  made  by  Messrs.  Clayton,  Howlett  and  Venables. 


16  WARD   ON   BRICKMAKJNG.  [Minutes  of 

The  sides  of  the  die  are  made  up  of  large  rollers,  which  are 
carried  round  by  the  issuing  stream  of  clay.  In  some  cases  even, 
these  rollers  are  rotated  by  power  in  the  same  direction  as  the 
clay  travels,  and  rather  faster,  so  the  stream  is  actually  helped 
to  issue. 

The  Author  has  sometimes  found  a  plain  sheath-die  answer  very 
well.  This  consists  of  an  internal  and  external  case,  with  a  space 
between ;  but  fitted  to  one  another,  so  that  the  front  edge  of  the 
inner  case  fits  closely  to  the  outer,  except  up  the  vertical  sides, 
and  just  round  the  corners  where  a  slight  opening  is  left.  When 
the  clay  commences  to  issue,  water  is  turned  on  to  the  annular 
space,  and  passing  through  only  where  there  is  an  opening,  lubri- 
cates the  sides  and  corners  only  of  the  stream. 

When  very  thin  flat  sheets  of  clay  are  required,  say  for  roofing 
tiles,  lubricating  the  ends  is  of  no  use.  A  good  stream  may  be 
obtained  by  putting  obstructions  across  the  die  in  the  centre,  and 
so  retarding  its  flow.  These  obstructions  must  be  inserted  some 
2  or  3  inches  back  from  the  mouth  of  the  die,  so  as  to  let  the 
clay  thoroughly  unite  again  after  passing  them.  Another  way  of 
p\itting  more  friction  in  the  centre  of  a  thin  flat  stream  is  to 
form  the  die-plate,  say  4  inches  thick  in  the  centre,  and  taper  it 
away  to  say  lh  inch  at  the  sides. 

Besides  the  semi-dry  and  plastic  systems  of  brickmaking,  another 
plan  appears  to  be  coming  largely  into  use.  This  is  a  combina- 
tion of  the  above  two  systems.  The  clay  is  prepared  similarly 
to  that  for  the  semi-dry  process,  that  is,  it  is  reduced  to  fine 
particles  in  a  perforated  pan-mill.  It  has  been  attempted  to 
reduce  the  clay  to  particles  by  passing  it  through  rollers  and 
a  disintegrator ;  but  the  Author  believes  without  arriving  at  any 
generally  successful  plan,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  dividing  the 
clay  evenly  and  finely  enough.  After  passing  the  mill  the  fine 
clay  is  taken  to  a  small  mixer  and  pug-mill,  where  it  is  mixed 
with  just  sufficient  water  to  enable  it  to  be  forced  in  a  plastic  state 
into  a  die,  and  yet  with  so  little  that  the  bricks  can  be  taken  at 
once  direct  to  the  kilns,  and  stacked  twenty  or  thirty  high.  Plate 
2,  Figs.  13  and  14  represent  a  machine  of  this  class,  as  made  by 
Messrs.  Bradley  and  Craven  of  Wakefield.  The  clay  is  first  dis- 
charged into  the  mixer,  and  a  little  water  added,  and  is  then  carried 
forward  to  a  small  vertical  pug-mill,  from  the  bottom  of  which  the 
clay  is  forced  into  a  pair  of  dies,  in  a  horizontal  revolving  table. 

The  table  has  an  intermittent  rotary  motion,  but  it  is  stationary 
while  the  moulds  are  being  filled  under  the  pug.  During  this- 
time  another  pair  of  bricks,  which  have  been  previously  made,  are 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BRICKMAKING.  17 

lifted  out  of  the  moulds  at  another  part  of  the  table,  by  self-acting 
mechanism  raising  the  lower  pistons  of  the  moulds.  These  last 
bricks  are  then  carried  forward  to  be  pressed  in  a  separate  press  ; 
the  action  of  so  doing  pushes  forward  a  pair  of  finished  bricks, 
which  have  just  been  discharged  from  the  press,  and  they  are  at 
once  removed  to  the  kiln.  All  these  motions  are  self-acting,  the 
clay  not  being  touched  by  hand  between  the  mixer  and  the  press. 
Several  somewhat  similar  machines  are  made  in  the  Leeds  district, 
but  the  above  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  this  class  of  machinery. 

Drying  Sheds. 

Nearly  all  the  best  bricks  and  special  goods  are  made  from 
plastic  clay,  and  are  dried  in  sheds,  not  in  hacks  out  in  the  open. 
In  most  cases  these  sheds  are  artificially  warmed  by  heat  applied 
under  a  hollow  floor.  This  enables  the  work  to  go  on  in  winter, 
when  it  would  be  impossible  to  dry  the  bricks  out  of  doors.  Sheds 
heated  by  ordinary  fires  are  generally  from  100  to  200  feet  long, 
the  fires  being  at  one  end. 

In  order  to  get  an  equal  heat  all  along  the  sheds,  the  flues  at 
the  fire  end  are  covered  with  earth  some  12  inches  thick,  which  is 
gradually  reduced  in  thickness  until  it  dies  out  to  nothing  about 
three-fourths  of  the  length  of  the  shed  from  the  end  where  the 
fires  are  situated.  It  has  become  the  custom  of  late  years  to 
utilize  the  exhaust-steam  from  the  engines  for  heating  the  sheds. 
This  is  led  under  a  hollow  floor,  usually  covered  with  iron  plates 
or  stone  flags. 

Many  clays  will  crack  if  laid  on  iron  plates.  Both  these  plates 
and  stone  flags  are  costly,  and  lead  to  a  damp  floor,  as  it  is  im- 
possible to  keep  the  moisture  from  coming  through  the  joints.  A 
hollow  concrete  floor,  floated  over  with  cement,  has  been  tried  at 
Otford  by  Mr.  T.  E.  Crampton,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  but  it  appears  difficult 
to  prevent  this  cracking  and  letting  the  moisture  through,  owing 
to  the  expansion  and  contraction. 

The  Author,  after  having  tried  several  plans,  has  found  the 
hollow  brick  floors  as  used  at  Pluckley  the  best.  By  preference 
a  site  is  chosen  rising  longitudinally,  to  allow  the  condensed 
water  to  drain  away.  A  layer  of  3  inches  of  concrete  is  spread 
all  over  the  site.  Flues  measuring  0  inches  wide  by  4^  inches 
high,  are  formed  along  the  floor  by  laying  rows  of  bricks  on 
edge  9  inches  from  centre  to  centre.  The  bricks  are  laid  with 
open  joints  at  the  ends  that  steam  may  percolate  freely  every- 
where under  the  floor.     Paving  bricks  or  tiles,  lh  inch  to  2  inches 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  C 


18  WARD   ON  BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

thick,  are  used  to  bridge  over  the  flues.  A  bed  of  neat  cement 
covers  the  whole,  and  on  this  is  laid  the  final  paving-course  of  hard 
bricks  2  inches  thick.  This  forms  a  hard  wearing  surface,  while  the 
cement  keeps  the  damp  from  rising,  and  does  not  appear  to  crack. 
The  exhaust-steam  is  taken  between  the  sheds  in  a  main  pipe, 
from  which  cross-branches  controlled  by  throttle-valves  are  led,  at 
intervals  of  about  40  feet.  These  branches  have  holes  opposite 
each  flue ;  should  any  section  of  the  floor  not  be  in  use,  the  steam 
can  be  turned  off.  Live  steam  can  be  turned  into  these  pipes  when 
the  engine  is  not  at  work. 

The  drying-sheds  at  Pluckley  are  used  almost  exclusively  for 
making  blue  bricks.  These  are  moulded  as  follows,  viz.,  a  stream 
of  clay  is  forced  out  of  a  die,  and  cut  by  wires  into  rough  blanks ; 
these  are  taken  to  the  drying-sheds,  where,  after  a  few  hours,  they 
become  dry  enough  to  be  removed  to  the  screw-presses,  which 
finish  them  perfectly  to  any  required  shape.  No  dust  or  colouring 
matter  is  used  in  making  the  bricks. 

In  Staffordshire  nearly  all  the  blue  bricks  are  hand-moulded,  the 
clot  of  clay  and  the  mould  being  dusted  with  a  material,  in  which 
there  is  a  considerable  quantity  of  oxide  of  iron,  to  improve  the 
colour.  In  some  places  it  is  the  moulding  dust  alone  which  gives 
the  blue  colour.  This  is  then  only  skin  deep,  whereas  a  good 
blue  brick  will  be  blue  for  ^  inch  in  from  the  surface.  Fireclay, 
or  any  clay  which  will  stand  heat  sufficient  to  melt  iron,  can 
always  be  made  into  bricks  with  a  blue  face,  by  moulding  it  in 
dust  containing  iron  or  manganese. 

KlLXS. 

At  Pluckley  four  different  types  of  kilns  have  been  tried,  the 
first,  however,  Mr.  Bull's,  being  more  for  experimental  purposes 
than  for  regular  use.  This  kiln  was  erected  to  burn  the  bricks 
of  which  the  works  are  built.  It  has  simply  two  side  walls, 
similar  to  a  Scotch  kiln,  with  side  fires.  The  kiln  is  about  200 
feet  1  long,  by  16  feet  broad  and  10  feet  high,  and  is  worked 
on  the  semi-continuous  principle,  that  is,  the  fires  are  started  at 
one  end,  and  are  gradually  worked  forward  to  the  other  end. 
The  green  bricks  are  stacked  in  a  special  manner,  and  are 
covered  on  the  top  with  a  layer  of  6  inches  of  clay,  in  which  are 
fixed  small  movable  cast-iron  feed-holes,  through  which  dust-coal 
is  fed  to  burn  the  bricks,  the  side  fires  being  used  merely  to  dry 
the  bricks  previously  to  firing  them  from  the  top.  To  get  the 
draught  at  Pluckley,  two  portable  sheet-iron  chimneys  were  used, 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BRICKMAKING.  19 

carried  on  a  small  traveller  spanning  the  side-walls  of  the  kiln. 
The  kiln  was  divided  at  intervals  by  sheet-iron  dampers,  stretching 
across  to  prevent  back  draughts,  and  also  to  keep  the  heat  close  to 
the  bottom  by  only  slightly  lifting  the  dampers  above  the  floor  in 
the  first  instance.  This  kiln  was  badly  built  of  green  bricks,  and 
its  use  was  not  persevered  with  after  it  was  decided  to  erect  a 
Hoffmann  kiln.  It  burnt  only  5  cwt.  of  coals  per  one  .thousand 
bricks.  In  India  these  kilns  appear  to  have  had  considerable 
success,  though  there  the  system  tried  was  somewhat  simpler,  the 
kilns  being  built  on  an  incline  longitudinally  about  1  in  8,  so  that 
they  required  no  chimneys  or  dampers  to  create  or  to  regulate  the 
draught. 

Four  Scotch  kilns  are  shown  on  the  general  plan ;  these  are  used 
for  burning  plastic-made  bricks  dried  under  the  hacks.  They  are 
simply  of  the  ordinary  type,  and  consume  from  8  to  10  cwt.  of  coal 
per  one  thousand  bricks  burnt.  Plate  2,  Figs.  15  and  16  represent 
the  plan  and  section  of  the  kiln,  as  designed  by  Mr.  Hoffmann. 
This  was  carried  out,  except  that  the  external  wall,  enclosing  the 
kiln  in  a  building,  was  omitted,  and  the  chimney  was  built  in  the 
centre  of  the  kiln,  instead  of  at  the  side  ;  the  latter  was  also  built 
square  instead  of  round  as  on  plan.  Plate  2,  Figs.  17,  18  and  19 
show  the  chimney  in  detail  as  built  170  feet  high.  The  Author 
would  direct  attention  to  this  system  of  chimney-building,  which, 
though  common  enough  in  Germany,  does  not  appear  to  be 
followed  in  England.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  brickwork  is 
generalty  only  4h  inches  thick,  the  walls  being  built  of  cellular  work. 
Web-walls,  4i  inches  thick,  unite  at  intervals  the  inner  and  outer 
skins,  each  of  which  is  also  4i  inches  thick.  The  web-walls  are 
joined  together  about  every  10  feet  vertically  by  rough  arching 
or  setting  over  the  bricks.  Ample  stability  is  secured  by  allowing 
a  good  batter  to  the  external  skin,  and  also  a  large  base.  Since 
the  walls  are  hollow  the  base  can  be  built  with  but  slight  expense. 
This  chimney,  as  compared  with  one  built  according  to  the  usual 
English  practice,  has  taken  less  than  one-half  the  number  of 
bricks.  The  Author  attempted  to  build  one  of  a  similar  design 
within  the  radius  controlled  by  the  Metropolitan  Buildings  Act, 
but  it  was  not  permitted.  Another  advantage  of  cellular  chimneys 
appears  to  be  that  there  is  no  cracking  of  brickwork ;  the  inner 
skin  is  freer  than  usual  to  expand  or  to  contract,  while  the  air- 
space lessens  the  strain  on  the  outer  skin,  and  is  a  good  non- 
conductor of  heat.  Cement  is  generally  used  to  build  these 
chimneys  in  Germany ;  but  the  one  at  Pluckley  was  built  with 
exceptionally  good  lime  mortar. 

c  2 


20  "WARD   ON  BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

This  kiln,  though  it  has  Mr.  Hoffmann's  latest  improvements,  is 
fired  on  the  same  principle  as  his  first  one,  that  is,  it  is  fired 
continuously.  It  is  fed  about  every  twenty  minutes  with  dust- 
coal  through  small  holes  covered  with  iron  caps  in  the  top.  The 
air  for  the  combustion  is  heated  to  a  high  degree  beforehand,  by 
passing  through  two  or  three  chambers  full  of  burnt  bricks  which 
require  cooling,  while  all  the  products  of  combustion  are  passed 
through  several  chambers  of  unburnt  bricks  in  various  stages  of 
burning  and  drying,  until  the  products  finally  escape  to  the 
chimney  with  but  little  more  than  sufficient  heat  to  cause  the 
necessary  draught. 

The  kiln  is  now  built  with  fourteen  chambers  instead  of  twelve  as 
was  formerly  the  case,  to  allow  of  more  time  for  drying  the  bricks. 
It  is  also  built  oblong  with  semi-circular  ends  in  place  of  being 
perfectly  circular,  to  save  room  and  expense.  Extra  care  is  needed 
to  prevent  the  fire  cutting  short  round  the  ends.  This  is  effected 
partly  by  setting  the  bricks  closer  at  the  inner  part  of  the  circular 
ends  to  check  the  draught,  and  partly  also  by  feeding  coal  to  a 
greater  number  of  the  outer  circle  of  holes  than  of  the  inner  ones. 
Each  of  the  fourteen  compartments  must  be  provided  with  a 
damper  to  prevent  the  draught  coming  backwards.  This  is  usually 
of  sheet-iron,  in  several  parts,  placed  across  the  whole  section  of 
the  kiln,  so  that  it  can  be  withdrawn  in  pieces  through  the  door 
just  before  the  latter  is  closed.  The  dampers  are  always  fixed 
opposite  the  door  of  each  chamber.  Sometimes  a  solid  wall  is 
built  at  the  end  of  each  chamber  with  four  or  five  flues  through 
it,  each  flue  being  covered  with  a  small  iron  plate.  These  are 
withdrawn  in  the  same  manner  as  the  above  large  dampers. 
Instead  of  iron  dampers,  Mr.  Hoffmann  used  brown  paper  pasted 
all  over  the  bricks  across  the  kiln  at  the  end  of  each  chamber. 
This  is  the  practice  at  Pluckley,  and  it  is  found  to  answer  very 
well ,'  even  newspapers  are  sometimes  used.  The  paper  lasts  long 
enough  to  keep  all  air-tight,  and  is  ultimately  destroyed  either  by 
the  wet  steam  or  the  heat,  when  the  nearest  damper  is  raised  in 
the  flue  leading  to  the  chimney. 

As  the  bricks  to  be  burnt  in  the  Hoffmann  kiln  at  Pluckley  are 
semi-dry  ones,  when  they  are  put  into  the  kiln  they  contain  about 
1  ton  of  water  to  each  thousand  bricks.  This  has  to  be  driven  out 
before  they  can  be  burnt.  To  assist  the  process,  it  was  proposed  to 
bring  hot  air  from  the  chambers,  where  the  bricks  are  cooling,  past 
those  chambers  where  they  are  being  burnt,  and  on  to  those  where 
they  are  being  dried,  by  an  underground  flue  and  suitable  dampers. 
In  practice,  however,  it  was  found  that  the  whole  of  the  heat  of 


Proceedings.]  WARD   ON   BRICKMAKING.  21 

the  cooling  bricks  could  be  taken  off  usefully  by  the  current  of  air 
passing  through  to  the  combustion-chamber.  The  joints  of  all  the 
dampers  in  the  flues  and  feed-hole  caps  are  made  by  the  edge  of 
the  metal  dipping  into  a  trough  of  sand.  Great  care  should  be 
taken  to  lead  all  flues  downwards  until  the  top  of  the  flue  is  below 
the  level  of  the  floor  of  the  kiln  ;  otherwise  the  great  heat  would 
ascend  and  destroy  the  metal.  Valves  in  flues  leading  from  the 
chambers  in  which  bricks  are  actually  burning  are  always  kept 
shut.  It  is  essential  to  have  the  floor  of  the  kiln  quite  dry,  and 
this  is  best  secured  by  building  the  floor  hollow.  About  one 
hundred  thousand  bricks  per  week  can  be  burnt  in  this  kiln  at 
Pluckley,  with  a  consumption  of  4  cwt.  or  5  cwt.  of  coal  per  one 
thousand  bricks,  which  is  a  very  moderate  allowance  when  the 
amount  of  water  to  be  dried  out  of  the  bricks  is  considered. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  improve  the  Hoffmann  kiln. 
To  save  the  trouble  of  loading  and  unloading  the  kiln,  several 
different  patterns  of  railway  kilns  have  been  used.  The  ruling 
principle  of  these  railway  kilns  is  to  load  the  green  bricks  from 
the  machine  on  to  large  railway  trucks,  each  holding  say  10  tons. 
These  are  gradually  passed  through  a  long  kiln  containing  about 
fourteen  trucks  until  they  issue  out  at  the  far  end.  During  their 
passage  the  bricks  go  through  the  various  stages  of  drying,  burning, 
and  cooling  according  to  their  position  in  the  kiln.  The  truck  has 
no  ends  or  sides,  being  simply  an  iron  floor  covered  with  firebrick, 
supported  on  four  wheels.  The  floor  of  the  truck  is  fitted  with  an 
iron  lip  on  each  side,  pointing  downwards,  and  running  in  a 
trough  full  of  sand.  The  trough  is  formed  by  an  angle-iron  built 
into  the  side  of  the  kiln,  one  flange  of  which  stands  some  little 
distance  from  the  side  of  the  kiln  and  points  upwards.  This  makes 
an  air-tight  joint  between  the  truck  and  the  kiln.  A  similar  joint 
is  made  at  the  ends  of  the  trucks  between  one  truck  and  its 
neighbour.  The  bricks  are  piled  on  the  trucks  to  the  same  section 
as  the  cross-section  of  the  kiln  with  as  little  clearance  space  as 
possible.  Iron  doors,  sliding  vertically,  are  fitted  at  each  end  of 
the  kiln,  and  are  only  moved  to  allow  a  fresh  truck  being  pushed 
in  at  one  end,  and  a  finished  one  taken  out  at  the  other  end,  of  the 
kiln.  The  wheels  and  axles  are  kept  fairly  cool  by  the  current  of 
cold  air  circulating  underneath.  Sometimes  these  kilns  are  fired 
from  the  side  with  large  coal,  and  sometimes  with  dust-coal 
dropped  through  holes  in  the  top,  similarly  to  the  Hoffmann  kiln. 
It  will  be  understood  in  the  above  case  that  the  fires  are  stationary, 
and  the  trucks  move.  A  great  effort  is  necessary  to  move  the 
trucks,  as  might  be  expected,  on  account  of  the  hot  and  dirty  state 


22  WAKD   ON   BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

of  the  hearings.  To  get  over  this  difficulty,  Mr.  H.  Dueberg,  of 
Berlin,  has  adopted  a  modification,  which  consists  in  allowing  the 
trucks  to  remain  still  from  the  time  they  are  put  in  the  kiln  until 
they  are  taken  out,  while  the  fire  moves  around  continuously 
as  in  a  Hoffmann  kiln.  This  requires  the  kiln  to  he  either 
square  or  oolong  on  plan. 

Hoffmann  kilns  have  heen  modified  to  use  gas.  None  of  them, 
however,  have  heen  built  in  England,  though  many  have  heen  put 
up  in  Germany  and  in  France,  and  appear  to  give  satisfaction.  Gas 
is  formed  in  any  ordinary  generator,  and  is  introduced,  from 
below  the  floor,  through  vertical  perforated  fire-brick  pipes.  All 
gas-flues  are  controlled  by  valves.  By  means  of  a  flue  running 
along  the  top  of  the  kiln  and  movable  iron  tubes,  any  two  or  more 
chambers  can  be  put  in  connection  with  one  another,  and  thus 
waste  heat  can  be  passed  from  any  of  the  chambers  which  are 
cooling  to  those  in  which  the  bricks  are  being  dried  and  warmed. 

The  Hoffmann  kiln  has  effected  a  great  change  in  brick  manu- 
facture owing  to  its  burning  thoroughly  good  sound  bricks  with 
less  than  half  the  fuel  before  used,  yet  it  is  difficult  to  get  any  of 
the  higher  class  of  facing  bricks  burnt  in  it,  as  the  colour  of  the 
brick  is  generally  inferior.  It  is  said  that  the  use  of  gaseous-fuel 
overcomes  this  defect  to  a  large  extent.  It  can  hardly  do  so 
entirely  if  the  cause  of  the  bad  colour  be  (as  is  generally  under- 
stood) the  bringing  cold  air  into  contact  with  the  hot  bricks,  after 
they  are  burnt,  and  so  cooling  them  too  rapidly. 

In  the  Appendix,  Table  I.  gives  the  cost  of  making  bricks  in 
the  Sittingbourne  district  and  also  in  the  Cowley  and  Southall 
district.  The  bricks  are  moulded  by  hand,  but  the  clay  is  prepared 
and  pugged  by  machinery.  Table  II.  gives  the  cost  for  a  whole 
year  of  brickmaking  per  one  thousand  machine-bricks  made  at  a 
large  works  in  Yorkshire.  The  bricks  were  wire-cut,  and  were 
dried  under  heated  sheds  in  the  winter,  but  under  hacks  in  the 
open  in  the  summer. 

The  cost  of  making  semi-dry  bricks  is  somewhat  less  than  the 
cost  of  making  plastic  bricks,  but  the  wear-and-tear  and  deprecia- 
tion of  machinery  are  greater.  The  cost  of  labour  only  in  making 
semi-dry  bricks  is  from  7s.  to  8s.  per  one  thousand.  Table  III. 
gives  the  crushing  strength  of  some  blue  bricks,  some  semi-dry 
ones  made  of  slate  debris,  also  of  some  red  plastic  bricks. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  numerous  drawings,  from  which 
Plates  1  and  2  have  been  engraved. 

[Appendix. 


Proceedings.] 


WARD    ON    BRICEMAKING. 


23 


APPENDIX. 


Table  I. — Cost  of  Brickmaking  in  the  Sitttngbourne  and  also  in  the 
Cowley  and  Soetiiall  districts,  per  1,000  Bricks  made. 

The  clay  was  prepared  by  machinery ;  the  bricks  were  moulded  by  hand  and 

burnt  in  clamps,  according  to  the  usual  London  practice. 

Per  1,000  Bricks. 


Washing  and  wheeling  earth     . 
Ashes  and  breeze  and  wheeling  on 

Chalk 

Moulding 

Setting 

Skintling 

Engine,  &c,  pugging,  including  fuel  and  stores 

Sand 

Sorting 

Waste 

Wear  and  tear,  tools  and  plant,  including 
hack  caps  and  boards    .... 

Foreman 

Kent,  rates  and  taxes 

Royalty 

Total      .... 


Sitting 

bourne. 

Southall. 

s. 

d. 

£. 

s.    d. 

1 

6 

0 

1     4 

2 

6 

0 

2     9 

0 

9 

0 

1     G 

4 

6 

0 

4  10 

2 

0 

0 

2     1 

0 

3 

0 

0    3 

3       1 

0 

0 

0    9 

0 

6 

0 

0    9 

0 

9 

0 

1     0 

1 

0 

0 

0    9 

0 

6 

0 

1     3 

6 

0 

0    7 

0 

6 

0 

0    6 

2 

0 

0 

1 

2    0 

1!) 

3 

0    4 

Table  II. — Cost  of  Making  Plastic  Bricks  per  1,000  for  One  Year  in 

Yorkshire. 

Per  1,000  Bricks. 

Summer,  Winter, 

April  to  September.  October  to  March. 

s.     d.  £,.   s.      d. 

Wages 9    9f  0  10    3f 

Oil  and  grease 1    4|  0     1     S£ 

Coals 23  047 

Bates  and  taxes 01  001 

Repairs 06  008 

Land  (freehold) 1     5|  0     16 

Interest 12  0     1     4J 

Depreciation 09  009 

Average  each  half  year     .     .     17    4i  10  11? 


These  bricks  were  dried  in  the  open  air  during  the  summer,  but  in  drying- 
sheds  heated  by  fires  in  the  winter. 


24  WARD   ON   BRICKJIAKING.  [IMinutes  of 

Table  II.  (continued)— Detail  of  Coal  tsed  per  1,000  Bricks. 

Cwt. 

In  Hoffmann  kiln  per  1,000  bricks  burnt 3 

„  drying  slied  „  „        dried 4| 

Cost  per  Ton  of  Coals  on  Site.  Per  Ton. 

s.  d. 

Engine  coals 16  0 

Slack  for  drying  shed 6  6 

kiln G  10 


Table  III.— Eesclts  of  Experiments  to  ascertain  the  Resistance  to  a 

GRADUALLY   INCREASING   THRUSTING   STRESS   On   VARIOUS   BRICKS. 

Six  Blue  Bricks  made  by  J.  Hamblet,  West  Beom-wich. 


Base  Area. 

Stress  in  lbs.  when 

Dimensions. 

Cracked 
slightly. 

Cracked 
generally. 

Crushed, 
Steelyard  dropped. 

Inches. 
2-74-9-03x4-36 

,, 
jj 

Inches. 

39-24 

„ 

>> 

378,600 
355,200 
339,100 
319,400 
311,500 
306,800 

532,000 
521,800 
483,000 
411,550 
404,600 
402,000 

689,220 
678,890 
668,310 
636,180 
624,250 
603,420 

Mean 

335,100 

459,158 

650,045 

Lbs.  per  square  inch    . 
Tons  per  square  foot    . 

8,531 

11,689 

16,549 

54S-6 

7517 

1064-2 

Table  III.  [continued) — Six  Blue  Bricks  made  by  Wood  and  Ivert, 
West  Bromwich. 


Stress  in  lbs.  when 

Dimensions. 

Base  Area. 

Cracked 

slightly. 

Cracked 
generally. 

Crushed, 
Steelyard  dropped. 

Inches. 
2-80-8-75x4-12 

)> 
>> 

Inc 
36 

hes. 
•05 

168,000 
155,000 
149,000 
144,000 
133,000 
128,000 

281,000 
264,000 
258,000 
236,000 
223,000 
211,000 

387,520 
382,110 
378,230 
366,210 
347,540 
328,620 

re  inch    . 

146,166 

245,500 

365,038 

Lbs.  per  squa 

4,054 

6,809 

10,125 

Tons  per  squa 

re  foot 

260-7 

457-8 

651-0 

Proceedings.] 


WARD    ON   BRICK3IAKING. 


25 


Table  III.  (continued) — Six  White  Glazed  Terra  Metallic  Bricks  made 
by  Wood  and  Ivery,  West  Bromwich.    (Kecessed  both  sides.) 


Base  Area. 

Stress  in  lbs.  when 

Dimensions. 

Cracked 

slightly. 

Cracked 

generally. 

Crushed, 
Steelyard  dropped. 

Inches. 

Inches. 

3-10-8-80x4-22 

37  14 

156,240 

108,300 

173,460 

3-15-8-65x4-20 

36-33 

141,800 

102,140 

166,380 

3-12-8-80x4-25 

37-40 

137,500 

158,400 

164,220 

3-16-8-65x4-2S 

37-02 

129,770 

148,050 

155,340 

3-18-8-76x4-37 

38-28 

113,840 

147,200 

152,710 

3-16-8-70x4-34 

37-76 

104,120 

133,900 

140,880 

Mean      .     . 

re  incli    . 
re  foot    . 

130,545 

153,098 

158,832 

Lbs.  per  squa 

3,498 

4,102 

4,256 

Tons  per  squa 

225-0 

263-7 

273  7 

Table  III.  (continued) — Six  Bricks  made  of  Slate  debris  by  the  Semi-Dry 
Process  by  J.  Owes,  Glogle,  Wiiitlaxd,  South  Wales. 


Base  Area. 

Stress  in  lbs.  when 

Dimensions. 

Cracked 
slightly. 

Cracked 
generally. 

Crushed, 
Steelyard  dropped. 

Inches. 

Inches. 

2-33-8-70x4-25 

36-98 

355,200 

504,000 

633,180 

?? 

339,500 

495,000 

618,240 

>) 

322,800 

488,400 

614,770 

M 

309,200 

471,000 

607,810 

>> 

298,000 

459,200 

588,260 

n 

295,200 

452,500 

581,920 

319,983 

478,350 

607,363 

Lbs.  per  square  inch    . 

8,653 

12,935 

16,424 

Tons  per  squa 

re  foot    . 

556-4 

831-8 

1,056-2 

26 


WARD    ON    BRICK1TAKING. 


[Minutes  of 


Table  III.  (continued) — Five  Ked  Bricks  made  by  The  Adderley  Park 
Brick  Company,  Saltley,  Birmingham.     (Becessed  one  side.) 


Base  Area. 

Stress  in  lbs.  when 

Dimensions. 

Cracked 
slightly. 

Cracked 
generally. 

Crushed, 
Steelyard  dropped. 

Inches. 
3-20-8-90x4-35 
3-25-9-00x4-40 
3-25-8-95x4-35 
3-20-9-00x4-40 
3-25-8-95x4-40 

Inches. 
3S-71 
39-60 
38-93 
39-60 
39-38 

79,990 
97,150 
93,640 
84,200 
68,400 

112,760 
113,600 
107,720 
104,250 
82,740 

122,040 
119,450 
118,460 
106,400 
84,560 

81,676 

104,214               110,182 

Lbs.  per  square  inch 
Tons  per  square  foot 


2,157 


2.655 


2,5 


138-7 


170-7 


180-5 


All  the  bricks  were  bedded  between  pieces  of  pine  jj  inch  thick  ;  recesses  filled 
with  Portland  cement. 


Table  IV. — Results  of  Experiments  to  ascertain   the  Resistance  to  a 

GRADUALLY  INCREASED  THRUSTING-STRESS    OF  SlX  BRICKS,  MADE   BY  CbAVENS 

Patent  Brickmaking  Machines.  (Bed  brick,  recessed  both  sides, "  Craven  " 
in  recess.) 


Base  Area. 

Stress  in  lbs.  when 

Dimensions. 

Cracked 
slightly. 

Cracked 
generally. 

Crushed. 

Steelyard  dropped. 

Inches. 
2-90-8-75x4-24 
2-95-8-80x4-28 
2-90-8-70x4-20 
2-90-8-75x4-24 
2-90-8-70x4-20 
2-90-8-65x4-15 

Square  Inches. 
37-10 
37-66 
36-54 
37-10 
36-54 
35-90 

236,300 
224,400 
201,900 
197,000 
184,200 
172,800 

288,600 
281,000 
258,000 
235,000 
227,900 
212,400 

328,860 
306,920 
300,780 
271,230 
266,310 
230,160 

Mean 

36-80 

202,766 

250,483 

284,043 

Lbs.  per  square  inch 

5,509 

6,806 

7,718 

Tons  per  squai 

■e  foot     . 

354-2 

437-0 

496-3 

Bedded  between  pieces  of  pine  3  inch  thick.     Recesses  filled  with  cement. 

[Discussion. 


Proceedings.]  DISCUSSION   ON   BRICKMAKING.  27 

Discussion. 

Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  President,  said  the  Paper  dealt  with  Sir  F.  Bram- 
a  manufacture,  the  product  of  which  entered  more  into  English  wel1- 
engineering  construction  than  did  any  other  material,  and  it  was 
one  which,  even  where  stone  was  cheap,  had  the  great  advantage 
of  being  shaped  ready  to  hand,  and  being,  when  thoroughly  well 
made,  trustworthy  for  all  time. 

Mr.  Henry  Ward  called  attention  to  the  samples  of  bricks  on  Mr.  Ward, 
the  table,  and  tracings  of  the  chain-gear.  The  latter,  he  said, 
represented  a  mortar-mill  with  the  pan  removed,  and  chain-wheels, 
about  5  feet  in  diameter,  substituted,  so  that  the  chains  could  be 
led  to  any  position  without  guide-rollers,  having  simply  support- 
ing rollers  at  intervals.  The  Tables  showing  the  cost  of  brick- 
making  had  been  compiled  from  the  actual  cost-sheets.  The 
makers  of  brickmaking  machinery,  he  was  afraid,  would  say  that 
the  cost  was  too  high,  but  he  thought  that,  as  a  rule,  they  did  not 
take  into  account  all  the  considerations  which  ought  to  be  borne 
in  mind  by  those  who  had  to  make  bricks  for  profit.  Among 
other  items  were  the  interest  on  capital,  the  value  of  freehold 
land,  the  renewal  of  plant,  and  the  sinking  fund,  which  nearly 
all  brick-fields  had  to  allow  to  repay  the  capital  when  the  lease 
expired.  With  reference  to  a  statement  in  the  Paper  that  the 
pistons  of  some  dry  brick-machines  were  kept  hot  by  steam,  he 
believed  that  in  a  few  instances  the  moulds,  not  the  pistons,  were 
kept  hot  in  that  way.  Practically,  that  was  very  much  the  same 
thing,  seeing  that  the  pistons  were  in  constant  contact  with  the 
moulds,  and  so  became  hot.  A  film  of  vapour  formed  on  the 
pistons,  which  made  a  lubricating  material,  and  enabled  the  brick 
to  be  easily  discharged. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Venables  said  he  preferred  the  plastic  process,  Mr.  Venables. 
because  of  the  frequent  failure  of  the  semi-dry  process,  the  bricks 
yielded  on  the  face,  and  did  not  stand  the  weather  so  well  as  those 
produced  by  the  plastic  process.  Plastic  bricks  were  made  with 
much  greater  facility  than  semi-dry  bricks.  The  majority  of 
clays  were  found  wet,  and  were  easily  treated  as  such ;  but  by 
the  dry  process  they  had  to  be  partially  dried  before  they  could 
be  treated.  As  the  Author  had  stated,  the  semi-plastic  process 
was  certainly  coming  into  vogue,  and  almost  every  brickmaker 
was  endeavouring  to  use  it.  In  this  process  also,  however,  there 
was  the  difficulty  of  the  clay  not  being  in  a  fit  condition  to  be 
treated  immediately. 


28  DISCUSSION   ON  BEICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

Monson.  Mr.  E.  Monson  had  been  disappointed  to  find  that  the  Paper  was 
not  entirely  devoted  to  brickniaking.  The  first  part  appeared  to  deal 
with  the  stock  brickniaking  process.  No  doubt  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  London  that  system  in  the  past  was  the  best  that  could  be 
adopted ;  but  at  the  present  time  it  was  nearly  going  out,  and  brick- 
makers  wanted  to  know  what  they  were  to  do  under  the  circum- 
stances. For  stock  brickmaking  they  required  wash-mills,  breeze, 
and  so  on,  but  those  things  would  not  be  needed  for  other  processes. 
Very  little  description  had  been  given  of  the  machinery  employed. 
He  was  of  opinion  that  the  semi-dry  process  was  that  which 
would  be  used  henceforth  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  because 
nearly  all  the  brick-earth  had  been  worked  out ;  there  was  none 
in  the  north,  very  little  in  the  south,  and  in  the  west  it  was 
nearly  all  exhausted  up  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Windsor.  The 
question,  therefore,  was  how  to  deal  with  the  London  clay.  For 
the  semi-dry  process  it  would  have  to  go  into  a  9-feet  perforated 
pan,  and  pass  through  it.  The  difficulty  was  that  the  material  as 
it  came  from  the  clay-pit  was  too  wet  to  pass  through  the  per- 
forations. But  that  could  be  got  over  by  drying  the  clay  and  by 
putting  in  diy  materials,  such  as  soft  bricks,  burnt  ballast  or 
clinkers.  The  process  was  easy  enough.  The  clay  went  from 
the  perforated  pan  into  the  mixer,  next  into  the  machine  ;  then 
it  came  out  a  moulded  pressed  brick,  but  it  was  usually  pressed 
again.  He  did  not  think  that  putting  the  bricks  directly  into  the 
kiln  would  be  a  good  plan,  because  they  would  probably  fly,  not 
being  sufficiently  dry ;  and  besides  this  the  steam  from  the  lower 
bricks  would  spoil  those  that  were  above.  Generally  it  was 
necessary  to  put  them  on  drying-floors.  The  Hoffmann  kiln 
appeared  to  be  a  good  one,  but  he  was  told  by  practical  men  that 
there  was  no  gain,  in  regard  to  cost,  by  that  method  of  burning. 
If  it  could  be  kept  regularly  at  work,  burning,  say,  one  hundred 
thousand  bricks  per  week,  it  might  perhaps  be  worked  with 
advantage ;  but  to  ensure  this  it  was  necessary  that  all  the 
orders  should  come  in  in  the  same  regular  way.  By  the  old 
process  a  field  was  skimmed  4  feet  or  5  feet  deep  to  obtain  the 
brick-earth,  which  had  a  good  deal  of  sand  in  it,  so  that  the 
bricks  dried  without  cracking:.  On  account  of  its  being  deficient 
in  sand  the  London  clay  must  be  worked  much  drier,  so  that  the 
semi-dry  or  the  semi-plastic  process  was  needed.  In  working  the 
London  clay,  by  either  of  these  processes,  the  machinery  was  fixed, 
and  it  was  possible  to  go  to  a  great  depth  to  get  the  clay  out ;  but 
where  the  field  was  skimmed  the  machinery  had  to  be  constantly 
moved  about.     He  considered  that  the  list  of  machines  mentioned 


Proceedings.]  DISCUSSION   ON   BRICKMAKING.  29 

in  the  Paper  was  imperfect,  many  that  were  in  the  market  not  Mr.  Monson. 
being  represented. 

Mr.  F.  Howlett  said  the  chief  difficulty  brick-machine  makers  Mr-  Howlett. 
had  to  contend  with  was  the  great  variety  in  the  material  to 
be  dealt  with.  There  were  the  strong  London  clay,  the  very 
sandy  clays,  the  tough  leathery  blue  gault,  the  hard  Staffordshire 
marls,  the  shales,  which  were  almost  like  pieces  of  rock,  and  the 
various  fire-clays.  They  were  expected  to  deal  with  all  kinds 
of  material,  and  it  was  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  brick-machines 
were  not  always  as  successful  as  might  be  desired.  He  had 
placed  on  the  table  a  box  of  samples  of  ninety  different  kinds  of 
clay,  all  of  which  had  been  selected  and  used  for  brickmaking 
purposes,  and  many  more  might  have  been  sent.  Feeding  brick- 
machines  regularly  was,  no  doubt,  an  important  point,  especially 
in  the  case  of  plastic-clay  machines,  for  if  the  clay  was  not 
properly  put  into  the  hopper,  it  could  not  come  out  at  the  other 
end  in  the  form  of  bricks.  That  matter  was  very  often  overlooked 
in  the  brick-yard.  Brick-machine  makers  were  often  required  to 
explain  why  a  particular  machine  did  not  make  as  many  bricks  as 
it  ought  to  do ;  but  on  inquiry  it  generally  turned  out  that  the 
clay  had  not  been  constantly  put  in.  When  that  was  insisted 
upon,  the  machine  made  50  or  100  per  cent,  more  bricks  than 
before.  The  plan  of  feeding  by  small  trucks  was  advisable, 
because  the  clay  was  then  thoroughly  well  mixed.  The  system  of 
drawing  by  chain  was  no  dotibt  very  good,  but  on  the  steep  in- 
clines generally  used,  often  of  1  in  2  or  3,  he  doubted  whether 
the  chains  would  hold  tightly  enough.  Eeference  had  been  made 
in  the  Paper  to  dies,  which  were  lined  inside  with  metal  plates, 
laid  over  one  another  like  scales,  and  with  water  passing  between 
the  scales  at  the  corners  of  the  dies.  That  answered  very  well 
in  many  cases,  but  he  had  sometimes  found  that  water  would  not 
answer,  but  oil  would,  and  in  several  instances,  where  neither 
water  nor  oil  were  successful,  steam  had  overcome  the  difficulty. 
The  Author  had  stated  that  in  Staffordshire  the  blue  bricks  were 
nearly  all  made  by  hand.  Mr.  Howlett  thought  that  many  blue 
bricks  were  now  made  by  machine.  In  one  case  his  firm  had  put 
up  machinery  sufficient  to  make  fifty  thousand  bricks  per  day,  and 
he  knew  of  several  other  works  in  the  same  neighbourhood  where 
a  large  number  of  blue  bricks  were  made  by  machine.  The  Author 
had  also  said  that  good  blue  bricks  should  be  coloured  |  inch  in 
from  the  surface.  Mr.  Howlett  should  not  call  a  brick  blue  for 
only  ^  inch  a  good  blue  brick.  The  best  bricks  were  coloured  blue 
nearly  or  quite  through.     He  had  that  afternoon  broken  a  blue 


30  DISCUSSION  ON  BKICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Hewlett,  "brick  made  by  the  Cakemore  Brick  Company  at  Rowley  Regis, 
and  it  was  blue  quite  through. 

Mr.  Barry.  Mr.  J.  W.  Barry  was  sure  the  importance  of  brickmaking  to 
engineers  would  be  admitted,  especially  where  stone  was  difficult 
and  costly  to  procure.  In  London  they  had  had  the  great  advan- 
tage of  their  predecessors  pointing  out  the  value  of  the  London 
stock-brick,  which  experience  had  shown  to  be  as  good  for  engi- 
neering purposes  as  almost  any  bricks  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
In  the  stock-brick  the  ashes  were  mixed  with  the  clay ;  the  whole 
brick  was  thus  burned  together  and  completely  indurated  by  one 
process  of  firing ;  whereas  other  kinds  of  bricks  were  burned  by 
external  heat  applied  to  them  after  they  had  passed  through  some 
drying  process,  and  they  were  consequently  much  more  dependent 
than  stock-bricks  upon  skill  in  drying  and  firing.  What  engineers 
wanted  brickmakers  to  do  for  them  was  to  produce  a  brick  which 
would  bear  a  high  compressive-strain  in  proportion  to  its  weight, 
and  in  connection  with  other  qualities.  He  protested  against  the 
practice  which  had  been  growing  of  late  years  of  mixing  a  large 
quantity  of  chalk  in  the  preparation  of  stock-bricks.  The  plastic 
clay  overlying  the  London  clay  would  bear  a  certain  proportion  of 
chalk,  but  unless  great  attention  was  given  to  the  mixture  a  weak 
brick  was  produced,  which  would  not  stand  compression  or  the 
effect  of  weather  as  the  old  stock-bricks  made  fifty  years  ago  did. 
He  regretted  that  no  details  had  been  given  of  the  strength  of 
bricks  in  proportion  to  their  weight.  If  such  details  could  be 
added  they  would,  he  thought,  be  very  valuable,  because  weight 
was  a  matter  of  very  great  consequence  to  engineers.  Weight  over 
and  above  that  which  was  necessary  to  produce  a  given  amount  of 
compressive  strength  involved  waste,  not  only  in  labour  (because 
every  brick  had  to  be  handled  and  placed  in  position  by  work- 
men), but  also  waste  in  carriage,  and  unnecessary  cost  in  the 
means  of  supporting  structures,  whether  by  the  use  of  girders 
and  arches  such  as  were  so  frequently  required  in  large  towns, 
or  by  unnecessarily  large  foundations.  The  best  brick  for 
the  smallest  amount  of  weight  should  bo  sought  for.  He  was 
not  sure  that  weight  was  necessarily  an  index  of  compressive 
strength.  He  had  had  heavy  bricks  made  by  the  dry-process, 
which  had  not  stood  a  high  compressive  strain,  but  had  shown  a 
tendency  to  give  way  and  fall  to  pieces.  With  regard  to  the 
large  frog  in  the  brick,  he  was  much  against  such  deep  depres- 
sions, which  could  not  add  to  the  strength  of  the  brick,  but  might 
add  very  much  to  its  weakness,  besides  being  the  receptacle  of 
a  large  and  wasteful  amount  of  mortar,  which  was  objectionable 


Proceedings.]  DISCUSSION   ON  BRICKMAKING.  31 

in  many  ways.  Mortar  was  more  costly  than  the  material  of  Mr.  Barry. 
the  brick  itself,  and  if  the  cavities  were  properly  filled  the 
brickwork  when  built  took  a  long  time  to  dry;  on  the  other 
hand,  if  not  properly  filled,  the  brickwork  was  unsound.  A 
small  depression  in  bricks  was  no  doubt  advantageous  in  giving 
a  key  to  the  mortar,  but  it  ought  not  to  be  much  greater  than 
that  used  in  the  old  London  stock-bricks.  In  the  next  place 
engineers  wanted  a  brick  that  gave  a  suitable  surface  for  securing 
adherence  to  the  mortar  and  cement  used  in  putting  the  brick- 
work together.  They  might  have  a  very  sound  brick,  but  it 
would  not  make  sound  work  unless  it  had  such  a  surface  as  would 
enable  the  mortar  to  adhere  to  it  properly,  and  thoroughly  unite 
all  the  brickwork.  These  matters  to  which  he  had  alluded  might 
appear  small,  but  they  were  really  of  very  great  importance. 
When  it  was  remembered  that  for  1  yard  of  brickwork  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  bricks  had  to  be  united  by  the  skill  of 
the  bricklayer,  and  that  the  cost  of  the  mortar  required  to  unite 
them  had  to  be  taken  into  account,  it  would  be  seen  that  all  such 
matters  of  detail  were  of  consequence,  and  should  be  attended  to 
by  any  brickmaker  who  wished  to  suit  the  requirements  of  the 
engineer  as  much  as  possible. 

Mr.  E.  A.  Cowper  had  noticed  for  many  years,  with  great  Mr.  Cowper. 
interest,  the  gradual  improvements  in  brickmaking  machines.  He 
remembered  the  first  application,  fifty  years  ago,  of  the  mole-skin 
round  the  main  rollers,  to  prevent  the  clay  from  sticking,  as 
introduced  by  the  Marquis  of  Tweeddale,  also  a  machine  by  the 
late  Mr.  John  Hague,  which  had  a  flat,  circular  revolving  table 
with  moulds.  The  clay  was  intended  to  be  pushed  into  the 
moulds,  but  it  did  not  fill  the  moulds.  It  was  not  known  at  that 
time  how  the  mould  could  be  well  filled  with  clay  in  a  proper 
condition.  The  imitation  of  what  brickmakers  did  by  hand, 
namely,  smashing  the  clay  in,  and  shoving  it  down  in  the  corners, 
was  not  very  simply  accomplished  by  a  machine.  In  the  first 
place  the  clay  was  in  a  very  moist  condition,  with  the  express 
view  of  lightening  the  labours  of  the  brickmaker,  but  there  was 
a  great  advantage  in  the  handling  and  drying  after  the  making, 
if  it  was  in  a  stiffer  condition,  and  therefore  machines  were  made 
accordingly,  to  use  the  clay  somewhat  stiffer.  In  many  machines 
there  was  a  difficulty  in  filling  the  extreme  corners  under 
sufficient  pressure,  and  the  reason  was  a  simple  one ;  the  clay 
experienced  much  friction  against  the  sides,  ends  and  bottom 
of  the  mould,  and  being  semi-fluid  it  formed,  so  to  speak,  a 
kind  of  quarter  dome  in  the  extreme  corners,  and  this  had  to  be 


32  DISCUSSION   ON   BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Cowper.  squeezed  down  by  extreme  force  so  as  to  form  sound  corners  in 
the  mould.  Of  late  years,  however,  it  had  been  usual  to  avoid 
such  great  resistances  by  simply  pressing  a  stream  of  clay  of  the 
section  of  a  brick  through  a  die  by  means  of  rollers,  when  the 
angles  of  such  stream  only  had  to  be  brought  up  sharp  by 
pressure,  there  being  no  corners  to  be  filled ;  then  when  the  solid 
stream  was  cut  clean  off  by  wires  (as  now  practised),  the  corners 
of  such  bricks  were  as  sound  as  any  other  part.  The  efficient  way 
in  which  the  clay  was  forced  forward  through  the  die,  by  means 
of  two  rollers  placed  near  together,  depended  of  course  on  the 
powerful  hold  that  they  had  on  the  thin  stream  of  clay  carried 
forward  between  them,  which  was  sufficient  to  fill  almost  any  die. 
Of  late,  the  clay  been  much  better  prepared,  especially  some 
of  the  hard  clays  such  as  gault,  and  others  of  that  description. 
It  required  to  be  much  broken  up,  and  separated,  so  that  almost 
every  particle  might  be  pulled  away  from  its  neighbour,  a  proper 
quantity  of  water  being  introduced  to  bring  the  whole  into  a 
plastic  condition ;  otherwise  it  was  lumpy.  Every  particle  re- 
quired to  be  wetted  before  it  was  brought  into  a  homogeneous 
state ;  that  was  partly  done  in  some  machines  by  cutting  up,  or 
crushing  with  rollers.  He  thought  that  Mr.  T.  E.  Crampton  had 
been  successful,  first  in  cutting  the  clay  by  rollers,  making  about 
two  hundred  revolutions  a  minute,  and  then  in  crushing  it  through 
rollers  and  mixing  it  with  chalk  and  water.  Drying  on  floors  was, 
of  course,  a  modern  invention,  and  was  sometimes  done  by  the 
steam  being  turned  underneath  the  floors  in  flues,  steam-pipes 
not  being  needed.  He  had  seen  several  Hoffmann  kilns,  and  had 
observed  one  fault  about  them ;  they  burnt  the  clay  admirably, 
but  many  of  the  bricks  had  marks  upon  them,  as  though  the 
colour  had  been  stopped  from  developing  by  other  bricks  with 
which  they  had  been  in  contact.  That  was  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  air  was  brought  upon  the  bricks  while  they  were  at  a 
red-heat,  so  that  any  iron  that  was  in  the  clay  in  those  parts 
exposed  to  the  air  became  oxidized  and  red.  Where  the  air  could 
not  get  freely  to  the  bricks,  they  were  not  so  oxidized  and  coloured. 
The  result  was  that  the  bricks  had  bands  and  marks  across  them. 
That,  however,  was  simply  a  fault  in  appearance ;  and  in  the  case 
of  a  garden-wall  it  looked  rather  picturesque  than  otherwise.  The 
bricks  were  none  the  worse  in  quality.  Fire-bricks  were  now 
sometimes  burnt  in  the  long  kiln  like  a  lear  described  in  the 
Paper.  The  bricks  went  in  at  one  end,  got  gradually  warm,  then 
thoroughly  hot,  and  then  passed  out  and  gradually  cooled,  the 
draught  of  air  being  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  of  the  bricks. 


Proceedings.]  DISCUSSION  ON  BRICKMAKING.  33 

Mr.  Arthur  Robottom  exhibited  specimens  of  bricks  glazed  with  Mr.  Robottom. 
boracic  acid,  and  made  from  clay  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ongar.  Boracic  acid,  he  said,  which  was  formerly  sold  at  £140 
per  ton,  could  now  be  obtained  for  £23,  and  glazed  bricks,  there- 
fore, ought  to  be  sold  (according  to  the  Author's  Tables),  at  70 
or  80  per  cent,  less  than  their  present  price.  Such  bricks  were 
extremely  useful  in  passages  and  kitchens.  Boracic  acid  was 
found  in  Italy.  The  vapour  was  forced  up  from  the  interior  to 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  coming  into  a  kind  of  artificial  lake  ; 
the  water  was  run  off  into  tubs,  and  the  crystals  that  formed 
were  boracic  acid. 

Mr.  J.  Coley-Bromfielp  said  he  was  connected  with  a  company  Mr.  Bromfield. 
that  had  introduced  a  brick  made  from  slate  debris,  millions  of 
tons  of  which  disfigured  the  landscape  in  North  and  in  South 
Wales.  It  had  been  stated  that  London  clay  was  all  worked  out : 
here  was  a  clay  in  a  concentrated  form,  which  only  required  the 
use  of  special  machinery  to  convert  it  into  bricks  unsurpassed  for 
compactness,  durability  and  strength,  and  peculiarly  adapted  for 
engineering  purposes,  at  a  cost  about  one-third  less  than  ordinary 
hard  red  bricks.  The  shale  or  waste  slate  was  powdered  to 
very  small  particles  by  machinery  supplied  by  Messrs.  Whitaker. 
It  then  descended  through  perforated  plates  into  a  pit,  from 
which  it  was  lifted  by  elevators  to  a  stage  above,  and  there  forced 
through  a  mixing-trough,  where  a  small  quantity  of  water  was 
added.  It  then  passed  through  another  trough  into  the  hopper 
of  the  brickmaking  machine,  and  when  moulded  it  was  carried 
straight  into  the  kiln  without  any  previous  drying,  and  there 
stacked  at  once ;  the  pressure  was  so  great  that  nearly  all  moisture 
was  forced  out ;  so  that  a  kiln  could  be  fired  on  the  very  day  when 
the  last  lot  of  bricks  was  put  in.  The  bricks,  he  believed,  were 
the  strongest  ever  made  in  the  country,  the  crushing-strain  being 
■equal  to  1,056  tons  per  square  foot,  some  not  breaking  even  at 
that.  He  also  wished  to  direct  attention  to  a  firestone-brick, 
in  which  a  wrought-iron  bolt  had  been  put  when  the  brick 
itself  was  burning,  to  ascertain  what  heat  it  would  stand.  The 
brick,  it  would  be  seen,  was  perfect ;  but  the  iron  bolt  had  been 
melted  into  it.  He  believed  that  those  bricks  would  stand  the 
strongest  heat  ever  required  for  steel  furnaces,  and  several  works 
had  been  supplied  with  them.  Some  of  the  slate  bricks  had 
been  sent  to  London  and  sold  for  the  foundations  of  a  church 
#t  Rotherhithe.  The  company's  present  works  was  the  only 
•establishment  of  the  kind  ;  but  licenses  had  been  given  for  others 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.     Amongst  its  customers  were 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  D 


34  DISCUSSION   ON   BMCKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

Jr.  Bromfield.  the  Great  "Western,  the   London  and  North  "Western,  the   Mid- 
Wales,  and  the  Cardigan  and  "Whitland  Bailways.     At  the  Inter- 
national Inventions  Exhibition  the  company's  brick  was  the  only 
one  that  gained  a  medal. 
Mr.  Giles.      Mr.  A.  Giles,  M.P.,  had  been  somewhat  disappointed  with  the 
figures    given   by  the   Author   as   to   the   cost   of    brickniaking 
by  machinery,   as  they  appeared  to  show  very  little  saving  in 
labour  as  compared  with  the  old  hand-process.     It  would  seem 
from  the  figures  that  the  cost  of  labour  employed  in  making  bricks 
by  hand  was  about  9s.  6cl,  as  against  9s.  9|c7.  for  one  thousand. 
It  was  well  known  that  there  were  bricks  and  bricks.     "When  a 
contractor  bought  a  thousand  bricks,  he  wanted  first  to  know  their 
size,  because  a  brick  might  be  very  good,  but  it  might  be  of  such 
a  size  as  to  make  15  or  20  per  cent,  difference  in  a  cubic  yard  of 
brickwork.       There   had   been  a  wonderful   development  of  the 
brick-trade  since  the  duty  had  been  taken  off.     He  remembered 
buying  a  large  quantity  of  bricks  when  5s.  a  thousand  was  paid 
for  duty,  and  the  whole  cost  was  only  28s.,  including  the  duty  and 
cartage  to  a  distance  of  3  miles.    Seeing  that  machine-made  bricks 
now  cost  17s.  4d.,  and  hand-made  bricks  19s.  3c?.  per  thousand  in 
the  brick-yard,  there  did  not  appear  to  be  much  reduction  in  price 
since  the  time  to  which  he  alluded.     Considering  the  perfection 
which  machinery  had  attained,  he  thought  the  price  ought  to  be 
cheaper.     There  was  certainly  an  advantage  in  making  bricks  by 
machinery,  as  brickmakers  were  by  no  means  the  most  desirable 
set  of  men  to  deal  with.     They  were  hard-working  and  hard- 
drinking  men,  given   to   strikes,  and   very  difficult   to  manage. 
Their  task  was  certainly  most  laborious.    One  man  at  a  stool  would 
make  from  eight  thousand  to  nine  thousand  bricks  in  a  day,  and 
for  that   purpose  he  would   have  to  turn   out  ten  bricks   every 
minute  from  the  mould   during  fifteen  hours.     Considering   the 
exhaustion  produced  by  such  work,  it  was  no  wonder  that  the  men 
were  occasionally  unruly. 
Mr.  Ward.      Mr.  H.  "Ward,  in   reply,  said   it  was  no   doubt  advisable  to 
have  a  light  brick  for  many  purposes;  but  for  some  purposes, 
such  as  foundations  and  retaining- walls,  it  was  better  to  have  a 
heavy  one.     Of  course,  where  stress  was  put  on  foundations,  as  in 
the  case  of  chimney-building,  it  was  important  to  have  as  light  a 
brick  as  possible.  Mr.  Yenables  had  remarked  that  it  was  necessary 
to  dry  clay  artificially  before  it  was  used  in  a  semi-dry  brick- 
machine,  or  passed  through  a  pan.     That  was  not  so.     He  knew 
of  only  two  works  in  the  country  where  that  system  was  used.     He 
believed  it  had  been  employed  for  a  time  at  Mapperly,  in  Notting- 


Proceedings.]  DISCUSSION   ON   BRICKMAKING.  35 

hamshire,  where  same  clay  which  was  too  plastic  to  he  ground  Mr.  Wai-d. 
through  a  perforated  pan-mill,  was  partly  dried  on  a  steam-heated 
floor  on  its  road  to  the  machine-house.  At  Pluckley,  during  the 
winter,  it  was  constantly  found  that  the  clay  was  too  plastic  to  go 
through  the  pan,  hut  there  was  a  very  ready  mode  of  getting  over 
the  difficulty,  namely,  by  mixing  a  little  burnt  ballast,  or  even 
ashes  in  some  cases,  with  the  clay.  The  Hoffmann  kiln  needed  no 
defence  from  him.  It  had  certainly  reduced  the  consumption  of  coal 
to  something  like  one-fourth,  or  one-third  what  it  was  formerly. 
It  had  burned  bricks  with  2  or  3  cwt.  of  coal  per  thousand,  whereas 
the  Scotch  kiln  used  to  burn  8  or  10  cwt.  True,  the  colour  was 
not  the  best,  as  had  been  stated,  but  the  bricks  were  first-rate  for 
engineering  purposes.  It  had  been  said  that  during  the  last  two 
or  three  years  the  difficulty  had  been  overcome  to  a  large  extent 
by  the  use  of  gas  as  fuel,  but  he  was  a  little  doubtful  on  that 
point.  The  difficulty  arose,  he  believed,  as  Mr.  Cowper  had 
explained,  by  bringing  the  air  in  contact  with  red-hot  bricks, 
which  no  doubt  had  a  great  oxidizing  influence.  In  other  kilns, 
where  it  was  important  to  have  a  good  colour,  it  was  the  custom 
directly  the  bricks  were  burnt  to  close  up  every  inlet  to  the  kiln 
through  which  air  might  come,  so  that  the  cooling  process  often 
took  three  or  four  days;  whereas  in  the  Hoffmann  kiln  the 
cooling  was  very  rapid.  As  to  the  size  of  the  brick,  he  thought 
that  bricks  should  be  bought  by  the  cubic  yard  rather  than  by  the 
thousand,  so  that  contractors  would  know  exactly  what  they  were 
buying.  Bricks  in  Scotland  were  made  with  the  joint  4  inches 
thick ;  in  Yorkshire  with  the  joint  3|  inches ;  in  Birmingham  about 
the  same ;  towards  the  south  they  varied  from  3  inches  with  the 
joint  to  3  inches  without  it.  Those  who  bought  bricks  should 
be  careful  in  getting  the  exact  size,  or  a  guaranteed  measure 
per  thousand.  As  to  blue  bricks  being  coloured  right  through, 
he  believed  that  was  the  rarest  thing  possible,  and  the  reason 
was  not  difficult  to  comprehend.  That  which  gave  the  colour 
to  the  bricks  was  practically  the  melted  oxide  of  iron,  and  it 
was  impossible  to  get  the  heat  inside  the  brick  without  over- 
burning  the  outside.  At  any  rate  very  few  clays  would  stand  that 
heat.  If  a  brick  was  blue  a  £  inch  in,  it  was  a  thoroughly  good 
brick.  If  a  brick  was  blue  right  through  it  would  generally 
be  found  that  the  outside  was  more  like  a  cinder,  having  had  all 
the  substance  burnt  out  of  it ;  it  would  be  twisted  and  distorted, 
and  probably  cracked  through.  It  would  be  news  to  Londoners 
to  hear  that  stock-brickmaking  was  going  out.  Machine-makers 
had  been  trying  to  introduce  machinery  for  plastic  clay  in  the 

d  2 


Q 


6  DISCUSSION   ON  BKICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 


Mr.  Ward.  London  and  southern  districts  for  many  years,  but  practically 
with  very  little  success.  Stock-brickinaking  still  held  its  own, 
and  he  believed  would  continue  to  do  so.  Its  advantages  were 
very  great,  especially  in  the  neighbourhood  of  large  towns ; 
the  chief  advantage  being  that  practically  no  fuel,  ordinarily  so 
called,  was  used.  House  ashes  could  be  had  for  nothing,  and  even 
for  less  than  nothing,  for  he  had  known  a  case  in  which  3d.  a  cart- 
load was  paid  for  permission  to  deposit  them  on  a  field.  While  that 
was  the  case  it  was  very  doubtful  whether  any  kiln-bricks  would 
supersede  the  Loudon  stock -bricks,  at  any  rate  in  the  southern 
districts.  With  the  stock-brickmaking  process  it  was  possible 
to  use  clays  that  could  not  be  employed  by  any  other  process — 
clays  so  rich  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  make  them  by  a 
machine  for  plastic  clay,  or  in  any  other  way,  because  they  would 
be  cracked  and  distorted  in  all  directions ;  some  of  them  being 
so  sandy  that  persons  not  accustomed  to  them  might  think  it  im- 
possible to  use  them  at  all  for  bricks.  The  result  was  accom- 
plished by  the  mixture  of  chalk  and  other  substances  with  the 
clay.  In  accordance  with  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  J.  Wolfe  Barry, 
he  submitted  the  following  particulars  of  the  weight  per  1,000  of 
different  bricks  that  had  been  tested.  As  the  bricks  varied  in 
size,  it  had  been  necessary  to  calculate  the  weight  of  the  bricks 
for  the  standard  size  of  8j  inches  by  4j  inches  by  2f  inches  from 
the  actual  weight,  otherwise  a  fair  comparison  of  their  weights 
and  strengths  could  not  be  made. 

Approx.  weight 
Bricks  made  by  per  1000. 

Cwt. 

J.  Haniblet 68 

"Wood  and  Ivcry 70 

J.  Owen 56 

The  Adderley  Park  Brick  Co 56 

Bradley  and  Craven 77 

The  weight  of  London-made  stock-bricks,  of  the  above  size,  was 
about  48  cwt.  per  1,000. 

Correspondence. 

Mr.  Hill.  Mr.  J.  W.  Hill  observed  that  the  method  of  making  bricks  by 
hand  was  too  well  known  to  need  notice,  except  as  to  the  extra- 
ordinary tenacity  of  life  exhibited  by  this  ancient  process.  On 
the  other  hand,  bricks  produced  by  the  semi-dry  process  had  not 
stood  the  test  of  time  nearly  so  well  as  their  ancient  compeers,  the 
mode  of  their  manufacture  inducing  disintegration  in  a  compara- 


Proceedings.]  CORRESPONDENCE   ON   BRICKMAKrNG.  37 

tively  short  time  ;  semi-dry  bricks  were  also  porous  and  absorbed  Mr.  Hill. 
moisture,  causing  damp  walls  and  percolation.  The  direction 
in  which  machinists  of  the  present  day  were  progressing,  was 
that  of  the  serui-plastic  process,  the  happy  medium  between 
the  hand-made  and  the  semi-dry  processes.  The  Author  had 
not  mentioned  the  brickmaking  machine  with  double  screws ; 
this  had  the  great  advantage  over  the  single-screw  machine  of 
performing  twice  or  thrice  the  work  on  the  clay  in  a  given 
time.  The  body  of  the  former  machine  was  considerably 
shortened,  and  the  clay  rendered  more  thoroughly  homogeneous 
than  by  the  single-screw  machine.  Nearly  every  brick-maker 
had  his  own  pet  form  of  brick-die,  but  one  of  the  simplest  and 
most  effective  was  a  plain  parallel  water-die  made  of  soft  wood, 
with  a  depth  of  about  9  inches  from  back  to  front,  and  lined 
with  fustian  in  one  piece,  tacked  round  the  back  of  the  die  and 
left  perfectly  loose  towards  the  front  of  the  die.  A  groove  was 
cut  round  the  wood-work  inside,  about  h  inch  wide  and  §  inch 
deep,  to  allow  the  water  to  flow  from  the  water-can  all  round  the 
die  between  the  wood  and  the  fustian.  By  leaving  the  fustian 
loose,  as  above  described,  it  was  always  perfectly  smooth,  and  did 
not  form  creases  as  it  did  when  the  fustian  was  secured,  nor  did 
it  wear  out  so  fast.  The  pressure  of  the  clay  on  the  fustian 
prevented  the  water  escaping  too  rapidly  from  the  die.  In  all 
methods  of  brickmakincr,  the  utmost  attention  should  be  given  to 
the  proper  digging,  weathering,  watering,  and  pugging  of  the  clay. 
The  action  of  weather  and  water  performed  many  most  important 
functions,  which  could  not  be  exactly  imitated,  nor  the  same  effects 
produced,  by  machinery  ;  and  even  where  this  work  was  attempted 
by  machinery,  it  was  performed  at  a  cost  of  plant  and  wear-and- 
tear  far  in  excess  of  the  natural  processes  of  weathering  and  water- 
ing. Many  intractable  clays  became  amenable  to  treatment  by 
machinery  if  allowed  to  soak  with  water  or  steam  for  a  few  days. 
With  many  clays,  bricks  could  be  produced  by  a  double-screw 
machine  with  the  fustian  die  at  12s.  per  thousand,  including  all 
expenses  except  rent,  royalty,  and  first  cost  of  plant. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Itter  remarked  that,  in  manufacturing  semi-dry  Mr  jtter 
bricks,  a  great  improvement  was  effected  by  having  a  revolving 
screen  placed  on  the  floor  above  the  machine,  so  that  the  elevators 
might  deliver  the  clay  from  the  perforated  pan  direct  into  the 
screen.  The  finer  particles  of  clay  which  fell  through  the  screen 
were  used  in  the  ordinary  manner  to  make  bricks;  while  the 
coarser  particles  which  passed  out  at  the  end  of  the  screen,  were 
returned   to   the  clay-pan   to  be  re-ground.      The  output  of  the 


38  CORRESPONDENCE  ON  BRICKMAKING.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Itter.  machinery  was  increased  as  larger  perforations  were  used  in  the 
clay-pan,  and  the  quality  was  better  than  where  no  screen  was 
used,  as  the  particles  were  more  uniform. 
Mr.  Wedekind.  Mr.  Hermann  Wedekind  stated  that  he  had  been  for  many  years 
closely  connected  with  Mr.  Hoffmann  and  the  kiln  bearing  his 
name.  He  differed  from  the  Author  as  to  the  cause  of  the  so-called 
bad  colour  of  bricks.  The  attempts  in  England  to -exclude  the 
air  after  burning,  by  building  permanent  brick  walls  at  the  end  of 
each  compartment,  leaving  only  sufficient  openings  at  the  bottom 
to  allow  the  air  needful  for  combustion  to  pass  along  the  floor,  did 
not  cure  the  evil  complained  of.  In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand, 
where  the  bricks  were  generally  stacked  drier,  and  heated  and 
afterwards  cooled  more  gradually,  a  very  good  colour  was  obtained. 
Besides,  the  gas-kiln  referred  to  by  the  Author  worked  exactly  on 
the  same  principle  as  the  Hoffmann,  except  that  for  fuel  a  large 
number  of  gas-jets  was  substituted  for  the  small  coal.  In  his 
opinion,  the  discoloration  of  the  bricks  was  caused  solely  by  the 
steam  discharged  from  them  while  heated,  producing  with  the 
carbonic  acid  of  the  fuel  a  chemical  action,  which  showed  itself 
even  after  burning  by  discoloration,  or  by  forming  a  kind  of 
scale.  With  regard  to  machinery  for  semi-plastic  bricks,  English 
engineers  had  taken  the  lead  for  many  years.  Amongst  others, 
Messrs.  Bradley  and  Craven,  of  Wakefield,  had  supplied  their 
machines  to  the  collieries  with  marked  success,  especially  in 
Germany,  utilizing  the  shale  as  raised  to  the  pit's  mouth. 


I 


Frooeedings.] 


ELECTIONS,  ETC. 


39 


4  May,  1886. 

Sir  FEEDEEICK  J.  BEAMWELL,  F.E.S.,  President, 

in  the  Chair. 


THE_following  Associate  has  been  transferred  to  the  class  of 

Members. 
George  Hodson. 

The  following  Candidates  have  "been  admitted  as 

Students. 

Josei>h  Edward  Da  vies.  I   James  Xewsome  Matthews. 

David  Morgan  Jenkins.  |   Walter  Bishop  Purser. 

Arthur  Henry  Wakeford. 

The  following  Candidates  were  balloted  for  and  duly  elected  as 


Joseph  Hobson. 


Members. 

|   James  Young. 


Associate  Members. 


Arthur  Beckwith,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E. 

Philip  George  Biiunton. 

George  Murray  Campbell. 

Charles  Dick. 

John  Gill. 

Edward    Kainford    Jackson,    Stud. 

Inst.  C.E. 
John  Arthur  Dayeell  Lloyd. 
Eichard  Loch. 


James  Meldrum. 

Carl  Emil  Nabholz. 

Eobert  Kobertson,  B.  Sc,  Stud.  Inst. 

C.E. 
Alexander  Charles  Schonberg. 
William  Charles  Ernest  Ssiith. 
James  Thropp. 
John  Alexander  "Warren,  Stud.  Inst. 

C.E. 


Associate. 
George  John  Aemytage. 


40  FOX   ON  THE  MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 


{Paper  No.  2165.) 

"The  Mersey  Kailway."1 

By  Francis  Fox  (of  Westminster),  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

The  Mersey  Kailway  Company  was  incorporated  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment in  the  year  18G6,  with  the  object  of  effecting  a  junction 
between  the  railway  systems  on  each  side  of  the  River  Mersey, 
and  therefore  between  the  city  of  Liverpool  and  the  town  of 
Birkenhead,  situated  on  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  shores  of  the 
Estuary. 

The  authorized  railways  of  the  Company  represent  a  total  length 
of  5\  miles  of  double  line,  on  the  standard  gauge  of  4  feet  8^  inches. 
The  main  line  passes  under  the  River  Mersey  near  the  Woodside 
ferry,  and  forms  a  junction  at  Birkenhead  with  the  London  and 
North- Western  and  Great  Western  joint  railway  from  Chester. 
It  will  also  be  connected  with  the  Wirral  Railway,  Hoy  lake, 
New  Brighton,  the  Dee  Bridge,  Chester  and  North  Wales ;  with 
the  Dock  lines  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  with  the  Central 
Station,  Liverpool.  The  portion  completed,  and  forming  the  sub- 
ject of  this  Paper,  extends  from  a  jimction  at  Union  Street,  with 
the  Joint  Railways  of  the  London  and  North- Western,  and  Great 
Western  Railway  Companies,  under  the  Estuary  of  the  River 
Mersey,  to  Church  Street,  Liverpool,  a  total  length  of  about  3  miles. 

The  works  were  begun  in  December,  1879,  when  a  preliminary 
contract  was  entered  into  with  Major  Isaac,  who  undertook  the 
risk  of  driving  an  experimental  heading  under  the  River  Mersey. 
Borings  taken  with  Sir  John  Ilawkshaw's  machine  had  shown  that 
the  New  Red  Sandstone  rock  extended  generally  across  the  river, 
but  it  was  felt  that  nothing  short  of  an  actual  heading  could  de- 
monstrate the  continuity  of  the  rock,  and  its  freedom  from  fissures. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  May,  1881,  that  this  preliminary 
work  had  advanced  to  such  an  extent  as  to  justify  the  commence- 
ment of  the  permanent  works.  The  necessary  contract  having 
been  made,  the  main  works  were  proceeded  with  in  August,  1881, 
and  having  been  vigorously  prosecuted  by  day  and  by  night,  were 
opened  by  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  on  the  20th  of  January, 
1886,  piiblic  traffic  commencing  on  the  1st  of  February,  1886,  a 
little  over  six  years  from  the  starting  of  the  preliminary  works. 

1  The  discussion  upon  this  Paper  was  taken  together  -with  that  upon  the 
following  one. 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  41 

Owing  to  the  main  tunnel  being  on  a  falling  gradient  towards- 
the  river  (Plate  3),  the  difficulty  of  keeping  the  working  face  free 
from  water  would  have  been  very  great.  "It  was  therefore  proposed 
that  shafts  should  be  sunk  at  Birkenhead  and  Liverpool,  to  such 
a  depth  that  a  special  drainage-heading  could  be  driven  with  a 
slightly  rising  gradient,  so  as  to  meet  the  main  tunnel  under  the 
centre  of  the  river,  and  this  suggestion  has  been  carried  into 
effect.  The  water  thus  gravitates  to  the  bottom  of  the  shafts, 
from  whence  it  is  pumped  to  the  surface.  It  was  also  decided  that 
the  pumping  machinery  should  be  placed  at  the  top  of  the  shafts, 
and  not  underground,  so  as  to  avoid  any  chance  of  the  pumps* 
beinjc  drowned. 


Drainage-Heading  and  Pujiping-Machinery. 

The  works  were  commenced  by  sinking  two  sbafts  (Plate  4),. 
one  at  Liverpool,  15  feet  in  diameter,  and  about  170  feet  in  depth,, 
to  the  bottom  of  the  sump;  and  one  at  Birkenhead,  17  feet 
G  inches  in  diameter,  and  of  similar  depth.  The  distance  between 
the  quay-walls  on  the  two  banks  of  the  Estuary,  at  the  points 
under  which  the  tunnel  passes,  is  1,320  yards,  the  distance 
between  the  pumping-shafts  being  1,770  yards.  The  Liverpool 
shaft  was  lined  with  cast-iron  tubbing,  excepting  those  port  ion  s- 
which  were  in  solid  rock,  not  yielding  much  water. 

The  cast-iron  tubbing  (Plate  4)  is  of  the  ordinary  design,  and 
consists  of  segments  with  the  flanges  on  the  concave  side.  They 
are  fixed  just  as  they  come  rough  from  the  foundry,  the  joints  being 
made  of  red-pine  timber  sheeting,  21  inches  wide  and  §  inch, 
thick,  which,  when  all  the  tubbing  is  in  place,  is  wedged  tight  by 
driving  in  very  diy  timber  wedges,  until  even  a  chisel-point  will 
not  enter.  At  Birkenhead  it  was  found  unnecessary  to  do  more 
than  line  a  portion  of  the  shaft  with  tubbing,  wThere  water-bearing- 
strata  occur  between  layers  of  sound  rock.  In  this  case  a  crib  was 
set  upon  a  properly  prepared  bed,  and  at  the  upper  end  an  "  up- 
over  "  crib  was  fixed  in  a  similar  manner,  except  that  it  was 
reversed,  the  rock-bed  in  the  latter  case  being  on  the  upper  surface 
of  the  cast-iron  crib.  The  space  between  the  tubbing  and  the 
rock  is  usually  filled  with  ordinary  mould,  or  peat  soil,  but  in  this, 
case  no  filling  was  provided.  Under  the  advice  of  Mr.  William 
Coulson,  of  Durham,  a  pipe,  2  inches  in  diameter,  was  provided, 
connecting  the  space  behind  the  tubbing  with  the  open  air;  this 
pipe  being  carried  through  the  upper  crib,  and  continued  up 
the  shaft  to  above  the  ordinary  water-level.     The  object  of  this- 


-42  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

pipe  was  to  allow  any  gas  or  air  to  escape,  which  otherwise  might 
accumulate  behind  the  tubbing,  the  pressure  caused  by  such  an 
accumulation  having  often  proved  destructive  elsewhere.  The 
Author  does  not  attempt  to  explain  how  it  is  that  the  pressure, 
"under  any  circumstances,  should  be  greater  than  that  due  to  the 
hydrostatic  head,  but  such  it  is  stated  to  be  by  those  having 
extensive  experience  of  pit  tubbing. 

Near  the  bottom  of  the  shafts,  standage  headings,  each  having 
a  capacity  of  80,000  gallons,  were  driven,  to  secure  to  the  miners 
.sufficient  time  for  escape,  in  the  event  of  an  accident  to  the  pumps, 
or  a  sudden  influx  of  water. 

The  pumping  machinery  at  Liverpool  consists  of  a  pair  of 
puinps,  20  inches  in  diameter  by  6  feet  length  of  stroke,  connected 
by  means  of  quadrants  with  a  compound-engine  manufactured  by 
Messrs.  Hathom,  Davey  and  Co.,  of  Leeds ;  the  low-pressure 
"Cylinder  has  a  diameter  of  35  inches,  and  the  high-pressure  cylinder 
a  diameter  of  20  inches,  the  length  of  stroke  being  6  feet.  The 
■engine  is  fitted  with  their  differential  valve-gear,  by  which  the 
•supply  of  steam  is  automatically  regulated  according  to  the  actual 
work  done,  and  it  has  saved  the  pumping-machinery  three  times 
out  of  four  when  serious  accidents  threatened  some  portion  of  the 
machinery  ;  also  a  pair  of  pumps  30  inches  in  diameter,  of  a 
similar  character  to  those  used  at  the  well-known  Whitburn 
sinking,  near  Sunderland,  and  driven  by  similar  engines,  having 
•cylinders  60  inches  and  33  inches  in  diameter  respectively,  and 
sa  length  of  stroke  of  10  feet ;  and,  lastly,  of  one  pump  40  inches  in 
diameter  and  15  feet  length  of  stroke,  driven  directly  by  an  over- 
hanging beam-engine,  manufactured  by  Messrs.  Andrew  Barclay 
and  Son,  of  Kilmarnock  (Plate  4).  In  all  cases  care  has  been  taken 
to  provide  pumps  of  sufficient  diameter  to  enable  both  buckets  and 
■clacks  being  drawn  from  the  top  if  required.  The  bucket-  and 
clack-doors  are  also  of  ample  size,  to  allow  of  their  being  changed 
.at  the  door.  The  engine  for  the  40-inch  pump  is  compound ;  the 
high-pressure  cylinder  has  a  diameter  of  36  inches,  with  a  length 
■of  stroke  of  10  feet  6  inches,  and  a  low-pressure  cylinder  55  inches 
in  diameter,  with  a  length  of  stroke  13  feet,  both  cylinders  being 
•double-acting.  This  engine  is  of  the  type  introduced  by  Mr. 
Barclay,  and  was  adopted  on  account  of  its  small  liability  to 
^accident,  and  economy  of  floor-space.  It  is  fixed  vertically  on  its 
foundations  near  the  mouth  of  the  shaft. 

The  balance-beam  of  the  engine  is  placed  between  the  founda- 
tion-walls; this  beam  is  19  feet  long  from  rocking  centre  to  centre 
:at   the  pump-rods,  and  24  feet  6  inches  long  from  the  rocking 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY.  43 

centre  to  the  end,  the  back  end.  "being  furnished  with  a  hox  having 
.sufficient  capacity  to  hold  20  tons  of  balance-weights  ;  its  depth 
is  4  feet  6  inches,  and  it  is  composed  of  steel  plates,  lj  inch  thick, 
securely  bound  with  distance-pieces  of  cast-iron.  The  main  beam 
of  the  engine  is  composed  of  two  plates,  each  32  feet  6  inches  long, 
between  the  extreme  centres. 

A  connecting-rod,  38  feet  9  inches  long,  unites  the  point  of 
the  main-beam  with  the  point  of  the  balance-beam ;  this  rod  is 
composed  of  oak,  with  malleable-iron  straps.  At  each  side  there 
is  a  malleable-iron  rod,  extending  from  the  main-beam  to  a  cast- 
iron  croeshead  below  the  point  of  the  balance-beam.  To  it  the 
pump-rods  are  attached,  thus  bringing  these  rods  directly  on  to  the 
main-beam,  on  which  there  is  but  1 1  inch  of  lateral  motion,  and 
avoiding  the  swing  at  the  point  of  the  balance-beam.  The  fact  of 
the  rods  travelling  upwards  and  downwards,  almost  in  a  direct  line, 
gives  great  smoothness  of  working,  even  with  the  long  stroke  of 
15  feet.  The  pump-rods  are  made  of  wood,  having  four  malleable- 
iron  plates  at  each  joint ;  the  rods  are  bolted  to  malleable-iron  forks, 
having  tapered  ends  turned  and  fitted,  one  end  to  the  cast-it  on 
crosshead  at  the  top,  and  the  other  to  the  plunger  at  the  bottom. 

The  pump  is  of  the  ordinary  plunger  pattern,  having  a  length 
cf  stroke  of  15  feet,  and  a  diameter  of  40  inches,  and  is  turned 
true  throughout  its  entire  length,  the  suction  and  delivery  valves 
are  of  brass,  mounted  with  strong  steel  lids  having  leather  faces, 
malleable-iron  guards,  and  fishing  tackle.  The  working  barrel  is 
bored  its  entire  length,  slightly  larger  than  the  plunger;  the 
clack-seats  are  provided  with  openings,  4  feet  G  inches  by  3  feet 
9  inches,  to  allow  of  easy  access  to  the  valves ;  the  doors  for  these 
openings  are  of  steel.  The  whole  pump  is  set  on  two  massive 
cast-iron  girders,  the  suction  pipe  passing  up  between  them. 
These  girders  rest  at  each  end  on  oak  bedded  in  concrete,  set  on 
strong  cast-iron  boxes  fixed  on  the  solid  rock,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft,  below  the  water-level. 

The  machinery  at  Birkenhead  is  similar  to  that  above  described, 
with  the  addition  of  a  second  40-inch  pump,  with  a  15-feet  length 
of  stroke. 

Arrangements  are  made  by  which  the  water  from  both  sides  of 
the  river  can  be  collected  at  either  shaft,  thus  giving  ample  facilities 
for  any  repairs  to  the  engines  or  pumps.  The  capacity  of  the 
machinery,  at  ordinary  working  speeds,  is  18,800  gallons  per 
minute,  and  the  quantity  of  water,  to  be  permanently  dealt  with, 
is  from  7,000  to  8,000  gallons  per  minute. 

From  each  shaft   the  drainage-heading;  was  driven  under  the 


44  FOX   ON   THE  MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

river  towards  the  centre,  rising  with  gradients  of  1  in  500,  and 
1  in  900.  This  heading  was  at  first  driven  from  both  sides  by- 
hand,  but  the  Birkenhead  face  was  .afterwards  excavated  by 
means  of  the  Beanmont  machine,  which  bored  out  a  circular 
heading  7  feet  4  inches  in  diameter,  somewhat  resembling  in 
appearance  the  rifling  of  a  cannon.  Hand-labour  was  stopped  on 
the  loth  of  February,  1883,  and  the  Beaumont  machine  taken 
down  the  shaft,  and  put  in  position  at  the  face.  The  machine 
started  work  on  the  26th  of  March,  1883,  and  by  the  17th  of 
January,  1884,  the  Birkenhead  heading  had  been  driven  696  lineal 
yards,  and  met  the  Liverpool  heading,  which  was  entirely  driven 
by  hand.  This  gave  an  average  weekly  progress  of  17  yards,  or, 
including  the  time  taken  in  setting  up  the  machine,  of  14^  yards. 
The  maximum  week's  work  in  this  heading  was  34  yards.  The 
machine  was  afterwards  slightly  modified,  and  the  cutters  were 
better  adapted  to  the  rock;  and  during  January  1885  the  rate  of 
progress  was  54  yards  per  week  through  similar  rock  in  a  loop- 
heading.  In  the  softer  rock,  met  with  in  the  Liverpool  ventilation- 
heading,  a  speed  of  65  yards  per  week  was  attained.  The  speed  of 
driving  by  hand  has  been  between  10  and  13  yards  per  week, 
giving  a  9  feet  by  8  feet  heading,  a  size  large  enough  for  working- 
double  roads.  The  heading  of  7  feet  4  inches  diameter,  produced  by 
the  Beaumont  machine,  requires  to  be  both  heightened  and  widened 
before  it  can  be  used,  in  order  to  work  "  break-ups."  Only 
portions  of  the  heading  are  lined,  the  rock  being,  for  a  greater 
part  of  the  length,  strong  and  solid. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  wettest  portions  of  the  driftway  were 
those  under  the  land,  and  that,  so  soon  as  the  work  was  proceeding 
under  the  river,  the  yield  of  water,  in  proportion  to  the  area 
exposed,  diminished.  This  is  believed  to  be  the  result  of  clay  and 
sand  in  the  river  filling  the  interstices  of  the  rock. 

For  a  portion  of  the  drainage-heading,  recourse  was  had  to 
"  plank  tubbing,"  which  answered  admirably. 

The  setting  out  of  this  heading  was  a  matter  of  some  difficulty, 
and  was  carried  out,  with  great  precision,  jointly  by  Mr.  Irvine,  the 
Besident  Engineer,  and  by  Mr.  Davidson,  the  Contractor's  Engi- 
neer. A  correct  survey  was  first  made  of  the  river,  and  the  position s- 
of  the  shafts  were  fixed  by  means  of  triangulation.  As  high  ware- 
houses intervened,  the  centre  line  had  to  be  transferred  to  points 
on  their  roofs.  As  will  be  seen  from  Plate  3,  the  pumping  shafts 
are  not  upon  the  centre  line,  that  at  Liverpool  being  connected 
with  the  heading  by  a  cross-cut  nearly  at  right  angles,  and  30  feet 
long,  and  that  at  Birkenhead  by  a  cross-cut  at  an  angle  of  133°, 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  45 

and  103  feet  long.  It  therefore  became  necessary  to  set  out  lines 
at  the  proper  angles  to  the  shafts  on  the  surface.  German  silver 
wires,  23  B.W.G.,  or  -±&  inch  in  diameter,  were  then  suspended  in 
the  shafts,  weighted  with  plumb-bobs,  weighing  33  lbs.  each,  and 
arranged  in  correct  line  by  means  of  a  fine-threaded  screw-adjust- 
ment, which  allowed  lateral  movement.  The  shafts  being  used  for 
pumping  purposes,  it  was  difficult  to  ascertain  whether  the  wires 
were  hanging  free,  and  it  was  decided  to  test  them  electrically. 
By  interposing  a  galvanometer  between  the  battery  and  the  plunib- 
1  m  .1 1,  it  was  readily  ascertained  whether  the  wires,  at  any  point, 
Avere  in  contact  with  the  surrounding  machinery  or  pumps. 

The  instruments  used  were  a  5-inch  transit  theodolite,  by 
3Iessrs.  Troughton  and  Simms,  and  a  G-inch  transit  theodolite,  by 
Messrs.  Cook  and  Sons,  of  York,  which  latter  was  fitted  with  a 
special  screw-adjustment  under  the  bottom  plate,  by  means  of 
which  the  instrument  (set  up  as  close  to  the  wires  as  possil  >le ) 
could  be  brought  into  the  line  of  the  wires  below,  to  within  one- 
third  of  their  diameter,  or  x^^th  of  an  inch. 

It  was  found  by  trial  that  the  lines  could  be  transferred  down 
the  one  shaft,  which  was  on  the  centre-line  of  the  tunnel,  and 
with  a  wire  base  of  10  feet  5  inches,  with  an  extreme  error  below 
of  no  more  than  I  inch  in  433  feet ;  the  operation  being  performed 
three  times,  starting  each  time  from  the  surface  line.  At  the 
other  shafts,  where  angles  had  to  be  measured  and  re-set  off,  such 
accuracy  could  not  be  expected,  but  was  sought  for  by  taking  the 
mean  of  a  larger  number  of  observations.  The  Birkenhead  lines, 
which  were  prolonged  to  the  junction  of  the  headings,  were  thus 
the  mean  of  eight  observations,  two  of  which,  down  the  pumping- 
shaft,  were  worked  from  a  9  feet  10  inches  wire  base,  and  six 
others,  down  the  working-shaft,  from  a  9  feet  8  inches  base. 
These  were  connected  when  a  staple  shaft  had  been  sunk  from  the 
tunnel  to  the  drainage-heading,  at  470  yards  from  the  shaft.  The 
same  was  done  with  the  Liverpool  lines  at  the  staple  shaft,  295 
yards  riverwards,  past  which  the  mean  of  five  ti'ial  lines  was 
carried  to  the  junction. 

The  headings  met  at  1,115  yards  from  the  Birkenhead  working- 
shaft,  and  639  yards  from  that  at  Liverpool,  with  an  error  of  1  inch 
in  meeting,  and  of  2i  inches  maximum  error  at  the  centre  from 
the  true  line  as  afterwards  ranged  through,  both  lines  having 
diverged  slightly  to  the  south.  As  might  have  been  expected,  there 
was  less  error  in  the  lines  taken  down  by  the  working-shafts, 
95  feet  deep,  than  in  those  through  the  pumping-shafts,  with  bobs 
suspended  at  a  depth  of  163  feet. 


46  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Landwards,  the  lines  were  checked  at  temporary  air-shafts,  at 
490  yards  from  the  Birkenhead  working-shaft,  where,  after  going 
round  28°  of  a  15-chain  curve,  there  was  an  error  of  2^  inches, 
and  at  400  yards  from  the  Liverpool  shaft,  where,  after  going 
round  35°  of  a  10-chain  curve,  there  was  an  error  of  If  inch. 
These  were  so  insignificant  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  alter  the 
lines  below  ground,  the  tangent  being  adhered  to  up  to  the  next 
curve  in  each  case.  Throughout  the  whole  of  this  work  the 
instrument,  although  kept  in  good  adjustment,  was  never  assumed 
to  be  correct,  but  inverse  observations  were  made,  and  the  mean 
point  determined.  This  was  done  repeatedly  for  each  point  in 
transiting,  these  points  being  marked  at  intervals  of  about  80 
yards  as  the  work  went  on,  longer  sights  being  often  prohibited 
by  the  smoky  atmosphere. 

The  levelling  was  an  easier  process;  the  only  special  difficulty 
being  due  to  the  water  from  the  roof  in  wet  places  before  the 
lining  was  built. 

The  width  of  the  river  made  it  practically  useless  to  try  to 
level  across  it,  and  as  small  discrepancies  between  the  neighbour- 
ing Ordnance  benchmarks  were  discovered,  the  datum  was  fixed, 
on  each  side,  from  the  mean  result  of  several  of  them.  The  levels 
were  transferred  down  the  shafts  by  carefully  checked  steel  tapes, 
and  the  final  result  was  that  when  the  headings  met,  on  the  17th 
of  January,  1884,  a  point  which  had  been  fixed  as  being  129*05 
feet  above  datum,  as  levelled  from  Birkenhead,  was  found  to  be 
129 '04  feet  above  datum,  as  levelled  from  Liverpool.  This  afforded 
proof  of  the  general  accuracy  of  the  Ordnance  levels  on  each  side 
of  the  Mersey.  This  work  was  carried  out  under  great  difficulties, 
the  quantity  of  water  being  very  large,  and  the  ventilation  often 
imperfect. 

So  long  as  the  excavation  in  the  tunnel  or  driftway  was  carried 
on  by  hand,  and  blasting  used,  bore-holes  were  kept  in  advance  of 
the  face,  but  when  the  Beaumont  machine  came  into  play,  these 
were  considered  no  longer  necessary.  Safety,  or  flood-doors,  were 
provided,  but,  at  the  request  of  the  workmen,  they  were  removed, 
nor  did  any  occasion  arise  for  their  being  made  use  of. 

The  rock  extends  throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  heading, 
and  is  fairly  homogeneous,  but  rather  harder  on  the  Birkenhead 
than  on  the  Liverpool  side.  Only  one  fissure  was  found;  this 
was  10  inches  in  width,  filled  with  disintegrated  sandstone  and 
clay,  and  close  to  it  the  rock  was  much  broken  up,  necessitating 
careful  timbering.  Much  more  water  was  found  on  the  Liverpool 
side  than  at  Birkenhead,  the  rock  being  considerably  more  broken 


I 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  47 

up  at  Liverpool.  The  beds  in  the  rock  dip  to  the  east,  at  an 
inclination  of  about  1  in  14.  The  heading  -was  connected  with 
the  main  works  of  the  tunnel  by  small  staple  shafts  and  bore- 
holes, by  which  the  works  were  kept  free  from  water. 

It  was  at  one  time  intended  to  run  the  drainage-heading  under- 
neath the  main  tunnel,  below  the  centre  of  the  river,  but  it 
was  afterwards  decided  to  lower  the  levels  of  the  tunnel,  and  loop- 
headings  were  driven  by  the  Beaumont  machine  to  connect  the 
drainage-heading  proper.  The  water  from  the  land  tunnels  is- 
carried  along  the  top  of  the  invert  of  the  main  tunnel  in  a  brick 
culvert,  of  1  foot  9  inches  radius,  until  it  finds  its  way  into  the 
drainage-heading. 

The  drainage  arrangements  have  proved  very  efficient ;  and 
have  resulted  in  the  tunnel  itself  being  remarkably  dry.  On  the 
occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  tunnel  by  H.E.H.  the  Prince  of" 
Wales,  the  tunnel  was  lighted  by  gas,  and  thousands  of  visitors 
walked  through  from  end  to  end,  without  so  much  as  seeing  a 
drop  of  water,  the  only  complaint  being  that  it  was  slightly 
dusty. 

In  the  improbable  event  of  all  the  pumps  (six  distinct  sets) 
stopping  at  the  same  time,  the  standage  capacity  of  the  drainage- 
heading  is  sufficient  to  prevent  the  water  rising  so  higli  as  the- 
rails  in  the  tunnel  for  a  period  of  five  hours,  thus  giving  ample 
time  for  any  ordinary  repairs. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  to  be  encountered  was  to  keep  the 
brickwork  clear  of  the  dripping  water  until  the  cement  had  set. 
This  was  accomplished  by  lining  or  roofing  the  top  of  the  excava- 
tion in  the  tunnel  with  thin  sheet-iron,  or  brattice  cloth.  The 
work  was  veiy  carefully  done,  and  the  water  led  away  to  holes- 
left  near  the  invert.  After  the  cement  had  thoroughly  set,  the 
holes  were  plugged  up.  The  Author  is  of  opinion  that  the 
remarkable  dryness  of  the  tunnel  is,  in  no  small  degree,  due  to 
the  care  and  attention  that  was  devoted  to  this  particular  feature- 
of  the  work. 

River  Tunnel. 

The  tunnel  (Plate  4)  is  26  feet  in  width,  and,  where  in  rock,  is 
lined  and  inverted  with  brickwork  in  cement  2  feet  3  inches  in 
thickness,  the  two  inner  rings  with  headers  being  of  brindle  brick. 
It  is  19  feet  high  from  the  rails  to  the  intrados,  or  23  feet  from 
the  invert  to  the  intrados,  and  it  is  provided  with  recesses  for  the 
platelayers  on  each  side,  at  distances  of  45  yards.  After  the  work 
was  commenced,  additional  intermediate  borings  were  made,  near 


48  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

the  Liverpool  shore,  in  the  positions  pointed  ont  by  local  geologists 
■as  "being  probably  the  ancient  course  of  the  river-bed,  and  it  was 
found  that  there  was  a  depression  in  the  rock  at  this  point. 
The  tunnel  here  has  a  total  cover  of  70  feet ;  but,  for  a  length  of 
66  yards  the  crown  is,  to  the  extent  of  from  3  to  6  feet,  above  the 
level  of  the  sandstone  rock,  and  passes  through  a  thin  layer  of  red 
■clay  and  sand,  covered  with  strong  brown  clay.  The  tunnel  was 
put  in  by  well-timbered  lengths  of  9  feet  only,  and  the  brickwork 
in  the  crown  was  thickened  to  3  feet :  no  difficulty  was  otherwise 
experienced.  The  remainder  of  the  tunnel  was  proved  to  be  in 
rock  by  boring  upwards  from  the  headings  to  a  height  of,  in 
every  case,  15  feet  above  the  crown  of  the  tunnel. 

The  minimum  amount  of  cover  between  the  extrados  of  the 
arch  and  the  bed  of  the  river  is  about  30  feet,  and  the  depth  of 
water  at  high  tide  is  100  feet.  The  tunnel  was  carried  out  by 
means  of  a  heading  driven  through  at  all  speed,  and  numerous 
break-ups,  so  that  at  one  time  work  was  proceeding  from  twenty- 
four  faces,  the  whole  being  well  drained  by  the  arrangements 
previously  described.  Additional  shafts  were  sunk  both  at 
Birkenhead  and  at  Liverpool  for  winding  purposes,  and  these  were 
closed  upon  the  completion  of  the  works.  The  rock  was  brought 
to  these  shafts  by  inclined  planes,  worked  by  steam-engines,  and 
was  then  carted  away,  excepting  such  portions  as  were  used  for 
rubble  masonry  and  bottom  ballast. 

Explosives. 

The  whole  of  the  320,000  cubic  yards  of  rock  excavated  in  the 
tunnel,  and  more  tban  60  per  cent,  of  that  excavated  in  the 
drainage-heading,  were  taken  out  by  hand-labour.  No  large  shots, 
such  as  are  made  use  of  when  using  drilling-machines,  could  have 
been  adopted  without  danger  of  letting  in  too  much  water,  when 
under  the  river,  or  of  annoying  the  neighbourhood,  when  under 
the  town.  Dynamite  was  at  one  time  tried,  but  was  given  up 
because  of  the  noxious  fumes. 

Gelatine,  manufactured  by  the  Nobel  Company,  was  used  to  a 
limited  extent,  and  proved  to  be  very  efficient,  especially  in 
heading-shots.  With  this  explosive  an  increased  rate  of  progress 
of  2  yards  a  week  in  headings  could  be  made,  as  against  other 
explosives  tried.  The  explosive,  however,  which  was  mainly 
depended  on  throughout  was  cotton-powder,  or,  in  mining  par- 
lance, "tonite,"  manufactured  by  the  Cotton  Powder  Company, 
Faversham.     Of  this  explosive  about  120  tons  were  employed,  and 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  49 

it  proved  to  be  both  safe  and  reliable,  as  well  as  most  efficient  in 
doing  its  work  under  exceptional  conditions. 


Land  Tunnels. 

These  tunnels  are  of  similar  dimensions  internally  to  those  of 
the  river  tunnel,  and  are  generally  lined  with  18  inches  of 
brick-work,  no  invert  being  added  where  the  tunnel  is  in  solid 
rock. 

In  some  parts  it  was  necessary  to  thicken  the  lining,  owing  to 
the  rock  being  soft ;  and  at  Birkenhead,  where  the  railway  passes 
under  the  Joint  Railwaj-  in  soft  ground,  special  construction  was 
adopted.  It  was  found  at  this  point  that  the  foundations  would  be 
in  wet  sand,  and  it  was  decided  not  to  attempt  to  underpin  the 
Joint  Eailway,  which  is  itself  in  covered  way. 

The  ground  was  opened  from  the  surface ;  the  covering  and  the 
walls  of  the  railway  were  removed;  balks  were  placed  under 
the  rails,  and  a  closely-timbered  excavation  was  carried  down 
to  the  depth  of  the  foundations.  A  strong  concrete  invert,  sur- 
mounted by  a  tunnel  in  brickwork,  was  then  constructed,  and 
the  works  of  the  Joint  Bailwa}'-  rebuilt. 

Covered  Ways  and  Retaining  "Walls. 

A  portion  of  the  railway  was  constructed  by  cut-and-cover,  that 
under  the  Joint  Eailway  property  having  side-walls  of  concrete 
faced  with  brickwork  and  an  invert  of  concrete,  that  under 
Borough  Road  having  also  side-walls  and  an  invert  of  concrete, 
carrying  wrought-iron  girders  with  brick  arches  between. 

A  short  length  near  the  junction,  and  the  Borough  Boad  station 
ground,  are  retained  by  walls  of  rubble  masonry,  to  a  great  extent 
constructed  of  stone  brought  from  the  tunnel. 

The  total  number  of  bricks  used  in  the  lining  of  the  tunnel  and 
headings,  and  in  the  covered  way,  was  38,000,000.  The  two  inner 
rings  are  of  blue  Staffordshire  bricks,  made  by  Joseph  Hamblet, 
West  Bromwich.  The  four  outer  rings  are  of  red  wire-cut  bricks, 
supplied  by  the  New  Ferry  Company,  Cheshire,  the  New  British 
Company,  Euabon,  and  the  Brymbo  Coal  and  Iron  Company, 
Brymbo.  Buckley  "  brindle  "  bricks  were  also  used  for  the  upper 
rings  of  the  invert,  being  found  to  hold  the  cement  better  than  the 
smoother  blue  bricks.  The  brickwork  is  almost  all  in  cement, 
in  the  proportion  of  either  3,  or  in  some  parts,  2  to  1. 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.   LXXXVI.]  E 


50  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Stations. 

Green  Lane  station  is  partially  open,  the  Joint  Bail-ways  of  the 
London  and  North  Western  Bailway  and  Great  "Western  Bail  way 
Companies  Toeing  carried  over  one  side  of  it,  by  means  of  wrougkt- 
iron  girders.  The  Borough  Boad  station  is  an  "  open-air  "  station, 
and  here  are  situated  the  locomotive-sheds  and  the  carriage-sheds 
of  the  Company,  with  small  repairing-shops,  and  the  necessary 
gas-works,  erected  by  Messrs.  Bintsch  and  Co.,  for  supplying  the 
rolling-stock  with  gas.  The  Hamilton  Street  and  the  James  Street 
(Blate  4)  stations  are  excavated  in  the  solid  rock,  and  being  near 
the  river  are  necessarily  at  great  depth ;  the  rails  at  James  Street 
are  about  90  feet,  and  at  Hamilton  Square  100  feet,  below  the  level 
of  the  booking  halls.  They  are  400  feet  long  by  50  feet  wide  by 
32  feet  high,  and  are  arched  with  brickwork  in  cement,  2  feet 
3  inches  in  thickness,  and  lined,  to  a  height  of  12  feet  above 
platform-level,  with  white  glazed  bricks,  the  subways  hereafter 
referred  to  being  lined  in  like  manner.  The  platforms  are  con- 
nected by  groined  passages  and  a  foot-bridge  with  an  under- 
ground hall.  Prom  this  hall  open  out :  a  foot-subway,  10  feet  in 
width,  leading  by  an  incline  of  about  1  in  9  to  the  surface ;  a 
staircase  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  steps ;  and  three 
passenger-lifts,  each  giving  a  floor-area  of  340  square  feet  in  the 
cage,  and  having  a  stroke  at  Birkenhead  of  87  feet  9  inches,  and 
at  LiverjDool  of  76  feet  6  inches.  These  lifts  and  the  staircase  lead 
to  the  upper  booking-hall,  on  a  level  with  the  public  street,  which 
is  connected  with  the  usual  waiting-rooms  and  other  conveniences. 
The  station  buildings,  the  architectural  details  of  which  were 
prepared  by  Mr.  G.  E.  Grayson,  of  Liverpool,  include  hydraulic 
towers,  in  which  are  placed  the  water-tanks  for  the  working  of 
the  hydraulic  machinery.  At  James  Street  the  upper  floors 
above  the  station  are  utilized  for  extensive  chambers. 

Temporary  sidings  are  laid  in  at  James  Street  for  shunting  the 
trains,  so  that  the  traffic  may  run  for  the  present  between  Green 
Lane  and  James  Street  Stations. 

Hydraulic  Lifts. 

The  lifts,  which  have  been  manufactured  by  Messrs.  Easton 
and  Anderson,  MM.  Inst.  C.E.,  are,  it  is  believed,  the  largest  yet 
constructed  for  passenger  purposes. 

After  careful  consideration  of  different  proposals,  it  was  decided 
that,  to  secure  safety,  a  direct-acting  ram,  working  at  a  compara- 


Proceedings.] 


FOX    ON    THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY. 


51 


tively  low  pressure,  should  be  adopted.  This  necessitated  the 
sinking  of  wells  40  inches  in  diameter  and  90  feet  in  depth,  for 
the  reception  of  the  cylinders,  into  the  lied  Sandstone  rock ;  and, 
as  time  was  of  great  importance,  it  was  decided  to  place  the 
work  at  James  Street,  Liverpool,  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Mather 
and  Piatt,  of  Salford,  whilst  Messrs.  Timmins,  of  Runcorn,  under- 
took the  sinking  of  those  at  Hamilton  Square  Station,  Birkenhead. 
The  method  adopted  by  Messrs.  Timmins  was  to  bore  a  hole, 
18  inches  in  diameter  in  the  first  instance,  to  a  depth  of  90  feet. 
The  hole  was  then  carefully  plumbed  to  ascertain  if  it  was  in  any 
degree  out  of  truth,  and  if  so  to  what  extent.  This  decided  the 
size  of  the  widening-out  bar.  It  was  then  increased  in  diameter 
to  30  inches.  The  plumbing  of  the  holes  involved  a  good  deal 
of  thought,  owing  to  the  wells  being  in  all  cases  full  of  water. 
The  plumb-bob  consisted  of  a  double  cone,  each  cone  being  3  feet 
in  length,  and  39  inches  in  diameter  at  the  centre. 

This  was  suspended  from  a  point  95  feet  above  the  top  of  the  well, 
cross  strings  being  carefully  fixed,  as  at  a  &  in  Fig.  1. 

If  the  plumb-bob  in  its  descent  to  the  bottom 
of  the  well  encountered  any  irregularity,  the 
exact  amount  could  be  calculated  by  the  travel 
of  the  plumb-line  at  the  cross  strings.  In  the 
ease  of  the  Liverpool  wells  the  plumb-bob  was 
also  39  inches  in  diameter.  The  three  wells 
which  were  sunk  at  James  Street  Station  were 
bored  by  Messrs.  Mather  and  Piatt's  earth-boring 
machine,  to  the  full  diameter  of  each  well, 
namely  40  inches,  being  bored  at  one  operation. 
The  bar  when  boring  obtained  the  necessary 
percussive  motion  from  the  steam  percussion- 
cylinder  of  the  boring-machine,  and  after  working 
a  sufficient  time  in  the  bore-hole,  was  withdrawn, 
by  means  of  a  winding  engine,  also  attached  to 
the  machine.  The  shell-pump  was  then  lowered 
by  the  same  winding  engine,  and  by  it  the  material  broken  up  by 
the  cutters  of  the  boring-bar  was  withdrawn.  These  operations 
were  successively  performed  until  the  required  depth  of  the  well 
was  reached.  Each  of  the  holes  when  completed  was  perfectly 
round  and  plumb.  In  No.  1  well  boring  was  commenced  on  the 
23rd  of  March,  1885,  and  finished  on  the  11th  of  April.  The  depth 
bored  was  76  feet  6  inches.  The  number  of  days  occupied  in  boring- 
was  eighteen,  and  the  average  depth  bored  per  working  day  was 
4  feet  3  inches.     The  boring  of  well  No.  2  was  commenced  on  the 

E  2 


52  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

20th  of  April,  18S5,  and  it  finished  on  the  5th  of  May.  The  depth 
bored  was  76  feet  9  inches.  The  number  of  days  occupied  in  boring 
was  fourteen,  and  the  average  depth  bored  per  working  day  was 
5  feet  6  inches.  No.  3  well  was  commenced  on  the  25th  of  May,  and 
it  was  finished  on  the  8th  of  June,  1885.  The  depth  bored  was 
76  feet  10  inches,  the  number  of  days  occupied  in  boring  being 
thirteen.  The  average  depth  bored  per  working  day  was  5  feet 
11  inches,  and  the  work  was  carried  on  night  and  day.  At  Hamilton 
Street  Station  the  wells  were  also  40  inches  in  diameter,  but  the 
depth  was  about  88  feet  in  all  cases,  the  work  being  carried  out  with 
a  heavy  cutter,  which  was  raised  by  means  of  the  friction  of  a  rope 
on  a  constantly  revolving  drum.  By  slacking  the  end  of  the  rope 
which  was  held  by  the  man  in  charge,  the  friction  was  reduced 
and  the  tool  dropped.  This  method  required  far  less  preparation 
than  that  adopted  at  Liverpool,  but  there  was  little  difference  in 
the  date  of  the  completion  of  the  wells  at  the  two  places. 

In  each  of  the  stations  there  are  three  lifts,  each  arranged  to 
accommodate  one  hundred  passengers  at  a  time.  The  time  occupied 
on  the  vertical  journey  is  about  forty-five  seconds,  so  that  a  train- 
load  of  three  hundred  passengers  can  be  brought  from  platform- 
level  to  the  surface  in  one  minute.  The  lift  consists  of  a  room, 
or  cage,  20  feet  long,  17  feet  wide,  and  8  feet  to  10  feet  high, 
with  seats  on  each  side,  and  is  fitted  with  handsome  panelled  sides 
of  teak  and  American  ash,  and  with  a  lantern-roof  surrounded  by 
mirrors,  with  a  central  gas-lamp. 

The  cage  is  supported  on  a  stiff  frame  of  iron  girders,  riveted  to 
a  central  forged-steel  cross,  which  at  its  centre  is  fitted  to  a  hollow 
steel  ram,  18  inches  in  diameter,  which  rises  and  falls  in  a  strong 
hydraulic  cylinder  suspended  in  the  well.  A  safety-bolt,  passing- 
through  the  ram,  is  firmly  secured  to  the  floor  of  the  cage. 

In  the  tower  at  the  stations,  at  a  height  of  about  120  feet  above 
the  pavement,  there  is  a  supply-tank  holding  10,000  gallons  of 
water,  and  at  a  depth  of  about  60  feet  below  the  pavement  there 
is  a  waste  tank  of  similar  capacity.  The  hydraulic  pumping 
machinery  is  fixed  on  a  floor  intermediate  between  the  upper 
and  the  lower  booking-hall  in  the  station.  In  the  engine-room 
at  James  Street  there  are  three  marine  boilers,  and  three  pairs 
of  Messrs.  Easton  and  Anderson's  duplex  pumping-engines,  each 
of  which  is  capable  of  raising  30,000  gallons  of  water  per  hour, 
from  the  waste-tank  below,  back  to  the  supply-tank  in  the  tower 
above.  These  engines  are  also  so  connected  that  they  can  supply 
the  lifts  direct,  either  acting  in  unison  with  or  without  the  supply- 
tank.     An  arrangement  of  interchangeable  valves  and  pipes  in  the 


II 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON    THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  53 

engine-room  enables  any  main  pipe,  pumping-engine  or  lift  to  be 
shut  off  readily  without  disturbing  any  other  part  of  the  system. 
The  lifts  were  severely  tested  by  General  Hutchinson  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  on  the  29th  of  December,  with  loads  equal  to  about  one 
hundred  and  forty  passengers  concentrated  on  one  side  of  the  cage, 
and  they  stood  these  tests  most  satisfactorily. 

Ventilation. 

The  ventilation  of  the  tunnel  and  of  the  stations  has  been 
the  subject  of  much  consideration.  In  the  ventilation  of  mines 
the  great  aim  of  the  mining  engineer  is  to  secure  a  constant 
current  of  fresh  air  in  given  directions,  and  to  ensure  this, 
all  the  roadways  and  workings,  which  branch  off  from  the  main 
air-ways,  are  either  supplied  with  double  doors,  or  are  stopped 
by  being  bricked  up  and  plastered  over.  In  the  Metropolitan  and 
Metropolitan  District  Railways,  holes  have  been  cut  in  the  roof  of 
the  tunnel  communicating  with  the  outer  air.  Through  these 
holes  the  products  of  combustion  are  doubtless  to  some  extent 
expelled,  and  fresh  air  is  drawn  in ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  a  com- 
plete system  of  mechanical  ventilation,  the  result  cannot  be  satis- 
factory. 

The  only  practical  method  of  dealing  with  the  impure  air  in  such 
cases  is,  in  the  Author's  opinion,  the  adoption  of  ventilating  fans 
placed  about  midway  between  the  stations,  by  which  a  steady  and 
continuous  current  of  fresh  air  will  flow  in  at  each  station,  and 
thence  through  the  tunnel  to  the  fan.  The  air  throughout  the 
tunnel  is  thus  changed,  and  not  merely  churned  backwards  and 
forwards. 

The  principle  laid  down  for  the  ventilation  of  the  Mersey 
Tunnel  was  that  fresh  air  should  enter  at  each  station,  and  "  split  " 
each  way  into  the  tunnel.  By  this  means  the  atmosphere  on  the 
platform  is  maintained  in  a  condition  of  purity.  The  air  has  then 
to  travel  towards  a  point  midway  between  the  stations,  whence  it 
has  to  bo  extracted  from  the  tunnel  by  means  of  the  ventilating 
fans. 

The  first  point  to  arrive  at  was  the  quantity  of  air  required. 
Taking  the  consumption  of  fuel  at  40  lbs.  of  coal  per  mile,  the 
service  of  trains  at  five-minute  intervals  in  each  direction, 
equivalent  to  one  train  passing  every  two  and  a  half-minutes,  the 
greatest  distance  between  the  stations,  namely,  from  James  Sti-eet 
to  Hamilton  Square,  as  a  little  over  1  mile,  and  the  quantity  of 
noxious  gas  eliminated  at  29  cubic  feet  per  lb.  of  coal,  the  result  is 


54  FOX   OX   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

464  cubic  feet  of  noxious  gas  generated  per  minute.  This,  diluted 
to  the  extent  of  1  in  500,  would  require  232,000  cubic  feet  of  fresh 
air  per  minute  to  be  drawn  from  the  tunnel,  or  an  average  duty  of 
116,000  cubic  feet  per  minute  by  each  of  the  two  fans  hereafter 
described. 

The  air-drift  was  cut  by  the  Beaumont  boring- machine,  and  is 
circular  in  form,  7  feet  4  inches  in  diameter,  and  almost  as  true 
and  smooth  as  a  gun-barrel.  It  extends  from  Shore  Eoad,  Birken- 
head, to  Whitechapel,  Liverpool,  a  length  of  about  2,250  yards. 

It  is  connected  by  means  of  sliding-doors  with  the  tunnel  and 
the  stations,  so  that  the  air  can  be  extracted  from  any  point 
desired. 

Engines  and  Fans. 

The  fans  are  somewhat  similar  to  the  well-known  Guibal  fans, 
excepting  that  in  the  shutter  (to  which  Guibal  attached  the  chief 
value  of  his  patent)  an  important  alteration  has  been  made.  With 
the  Guibal  shutter  the  top  of  the  opening,  into  the  chimney  from 
the  fan,  has  a  line  parallel  to  that  of  the  fan-shaft  and  of  the 
fan-blades,  and,  as  a  consequence,  as  each  blade  passes  this  shutter, 
the  stoppage  of  the  discharge  of  the  air  is  instantaneous,  and  the 
sudden  change  of  the  pressure  of  the  air  on  the  face  of  the  blade 
whilst  discharging,  and  the  reversal  of  the  pressure,  due  to  the 
vacuum  inside  the  fan-casing,  causes  the  vibration  hitherto  in- 
separable from  this  type  of  ventilator. 

Immediately  at  the  opening  into  the  chimney  (i.e.  at  an  angle  of 
45°  from  the  horizontal  line),  this  regulating-shutter,  which  has  a 
/^-shaped  opening  into  the  chimney,  commences,  and  tapers  to  a 
point  near  the  cross-girder  which  supports  the  chimney.  The 
result  of  this  gradually  decreasing  opening  is  to  allow  the  air  to 
pass  in  a  continuous  stream  into  the  chimney,  instead  of  inter- 
mittently, as  was  formerly  the  case,  and  to  allow  the  change  of 
pressure  from  the  front  to  the  back  of  the  blade  to  be  imperceptible, 
the  action  of  the  fan  being  thus  rendered  noiseless,  and  with  an 
entire  absence  of  vibration.  To  suit  the  varying  circumstances 
under  which  fans  have  to  work,  the  apex  of  the  /y  can  be  raised 
or  lowered. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  effect  of  the  pulsatory  action  of  the 
Guibal  shutter;  a  fan  having  ten  arms  and  running,  say,  sixty 
revolutions  per  minute,  and  working  twenty-four  hours  per  day 
gives  (10  X  60  x  60  X  24  =  )  864,000  blows  per  day  transmitted 
from  the  tip  of  the  fan-vanes  to  the  fan-shaft ;  the  shaft  is  thus  in 
a  constant  state  of  tremor,  and  sooner  or  later  reaches  its  elastic 


Proceedings.]  FOX    ON    THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  55 

limit.  The  consequent  injury  also  to  the  general  structure  of  the 
fan  is  obvious.  The  regulating-shutters  are  practically  inde- 
structible, being  of  wrought-iron  plates,  made  very  strong,  and 
stiffened  where  necessary  with  angles  and  T-irons. 

The  action  of  this  patent  regulating-shutter  has  an  important 
bearing  upon  the  working  of  the  ventilating-fans  in  their  conse- 
quently increased  durability  and  efficiency.  In  towns,  like  Liver- 
pool and  Birkenhead,  any  pulsatory  action  would  be  readily  felt 
by  the  inhabitants.  It  is  difficult  to  detect  any  sound  whatever 
when  standing  close  to  the  buildings  containing  the  fans.  The 
air  is  admitted  on  both  sides,  as  it  is  found  in  practice  that  the 
fans  run  much  more  smoothly,  and  with  the  absence  of  the  side 
thrust  attendant  upon  those  which  have  the  air  admitted  on  one 
side  only. 

The  fans  (Plate  4)  are  four  in  number :  two  are  40  feet  in 
diameter  by  12  feet  wide,  and  two  30  feet  in  diameter  by  10  feet 
wide,  one  of  each  size  being  erected  at  Liverpool  and  at  Birkenhead 
respectively. 

The  engines  for  working  the  fans  are  all  similar  in  design  and 
construction,  and  are  of  the  horizontal  type,  each  fan  having  a 
compound  tandem  condensing  engine  with  a  horizontal  condenser, 
and  also  a  simple  high-pressure  stand-by  engine,  coupled  direct 
to  the  fan-shaft :  a  very  short  time  only  is  required  to  change  from 
one  engine  to  the  other.  For  the  40-feet  fans  the  high-pressure 
and  low-pressure  cylinders  of  the  compound  engine  are  20  inches 
and  33  inches  in  diameter  respectively,  by  2  feet  6  inches  length 
of  stroke.  The  stand-by  engine  has  a  cylinder  33  inches  in 
diameter  by  2  feet  0  inches  length  of  stroke.  The  engines  of  the 
30-feet  fans  have,  for  the  compound  engines,  high-pressure  and 
low-pressure  cylinders,  15  inches  and  24  inches  in  diameter  re- 
spectively, by  2  feet  length  of  stroke.  The  stand-by  engine  has  a 
cylinder  34  inches  diameter,  by  2  feet  length  of  stroke. 

As  water  for  condensing  purposes  is  not  readily  available  for 
the  fan  erected  in  Hamilton  Street,  Birkenhead,  the  exhaust  steam 
is  cushioned,  and  rendered  noiseless  by  being  turned  into  a  receiver 
before  passing  into  the  atmosphere,  but  advantage  is  taken  of  this 
by  placing,  inside  the  receiver,  a  water-heater,  through  which  the 
feed-water  for  the  boilers  passes. 

Each  fan  is  supplied  with  a  Harding's  counter,  worked  by 
means  of  an  eccentric  on  the  fan-shaft,  a  steam-pressure  gauge,  a 
vacuum-gauge,  and  a  water-gauge,  the  latter  having  a  communi- 
cation with  the  fan-drift  by  means  of  a  short  pipe.  The  engines 
throughout  are  made  very  strong,  and  careful  attention  has  been 


56  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

paid  to  every  detail,  so  that  any  accident  thereto  is  of  very 
unlikely  occurrence.  An  overhead  traveller  is  fixed  over  each 
fan-engine. 

For  the  purpose  of  ventilation,  the  tunnel  is  divided  into  four 
sections,  one  of  the  above  fans  being  allotted  to  each ;  but  two  fans 
at  Liverpool  and  one  fan  at  Shore  Eoad,  Birkenhead,  can  at  any 
moment,  through  the  medium  of  doors  in  the  air-headings  and 
passages,  be  made  to  do  each  other's  duty  as  well  as  their  own, 
and  by  this  means  any  complete  stoppage  in  the  ventilation  of  the 
tunnel  is  rendered  impossible. 

The  30-feet  fan  erected  at  Liverpool  ventilates,  through  the 
medium  of  a  portion  of  the  air-heading,  the  James  Street  station 
(connections  being  made  from  the  roof  of  that  station  to  this  air- 
heading)  and  also  the  section  lying  between  the  said  station  and 
the  terminus.  This  fan  exhausts  about  120,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per 
minute. 

The  40-feet  fan  erected  in  Liverpool,  ventilates  the  section  of  the 
tunnel  lying  between  the  James  Street  station  and  the  centre  of 
the  river,  there  being  "  smoke-holes "  at  intervals  between  the 
main  tunnel  and  the  air-heading.  This  fan  exhausts  about  130,000 
cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute. 

The  40-feet  fan  at  Shore  Eoad  does  similar  duty  to  the  40-feet 
fan  working  at  Liverpool,  and  ventilates  the  section  lying  betwixt 
the  middle  of  the  river  and  the  Hamilton  Square  station  at  Birken- 
head, there  being  "  smoke-holes  "  also  connecting  the  main  tunnel 
and  the  air-heading.  This  fan,  in  addition,  will  ventilate  the 
Hamilton  Square  station,  by  means  of  "  smoke-holes  "  in  the  roof, 
which  are  connected  with  the  fan  by  a  separate  air- way.  The  air 
exhausted  by  this  ventilator  is  about  130,000  cubic  feet  per 
minute. 

The  fourth  fan,  of  30-feet  diameter,  exhausting  about  200,000 
cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute,  is  erected  in  Hamilton  Street,  nearly 
midway  betwixt  Hamilton  Square  station  and  Borough  Eoad 
station.  This  fan  is  connected  directly  to  the  main  tunnel  by  a 
shaft  12  feet  in  diameter,  and  a  cross-cut  at  the  bottom  of  the  shaft 
to  the  tunnel  of  similar  sectional-area,  and  ventilates  the  tunnel 
between  the  two  stations  above  named. 

The  fresh  air  enters  through  the  respective  stations,  as  well  as 
through  the  entrances  to  the  tunnel ;  but  to  relieve  the  stations 
from  too  strong  draughts,  the  two  pumping-shafts,  the  one  at 
Liverpool,  and  the  other  at  Birkenhead,  are  also  used  for  the 
admission  of  fresh  air,  the  quantity  of  which  can  be  regulated. 

At  each  of  the  "  smoke-holes  "  connecting  the  stations  and  main 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  57 

tunnel  with  the  air-heading,  doors  are  placed  for  regulating  the 
volume  of  air  passing  through. 

The  total  yield  of  the  four  fans  amounts  to  580,000  cubic  feet  of 
air  per  minute,  or  about  one-seventh  part  of  the  total  cubic  capacity 
of  the  tunnel.  There  is  a  considerable  margin  between  the  duty  of 
the  fans  as  given  above,  and  their  maximum  exhausting  capacity. 

The  ventilating-fans  and  fan-engines  were  made  and  erected 
by  Messrs.  Walker  Brothers,  of  Wigan,  and  the  shutter  already 
described  is  their  patent. 

Lighting  of  Stations. 

Some  surprise  has  been  expressed  at  the  non-adoption  of  elec- 
tric light  for  the  platforms  and  signals.  The  Author  is,  how- 
ever, of  opinion  that,  so  long  as  the  smallest  uncertainty  exists 
as  regards  the  regularity  of  electric  light,  a  Eailway  Company  is 
not  justified  in  employing  electricity  as  a  lighting  agent,  unless 
gas  is  already  laid  on,  so  as  to  be  readily  available  in  case  of  break- 
down of  the  electric-lighting  machinery.  Tenders  were,  however, 
invited  both  for  gas-lighting  and  electric-lighting.  The  result  of 
the  tenders  was  remarkable.  It  was  found  that,  allowing  an 
equivalent  light  in  each  case,  and  excluding  arc-lights,  which  for 
many  reasons  are  objectionable  in  an  underground  railway,  the 
first-cost  of  installing  electric  light  would  have  been  five  times 
that  of  gas,  and  that  the  annual  cost  would  be  three  times  that 
of  gas.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  adopt  gas  lighting ;  and  this 
has  been  efficiently  carried  out  by  Messrs.  Sugg  and  Co.,  who  were 
represented  on  the  work  by  Mr.  S.  R.  Barrett.  A  4-inch  gas-main 
was  laid  through  the  tunnel,  and  connected  at  Liverpool  with  the 
mains  of  the  Liverpool  Gas  Company,  and  at  Birkenhead  direct 
with  the  gas-holder  of  the  Birkenhead  Corporation.  By  these 
means,  ample  pressure  has  been  obtained  for  lighting  the  lowest 
portions  of  the  tunnel,  whilst  any  waste  of  gas  from  the  high 
pressure  is  effectually  prevented  by  the  automatic  governors  fixed 
inside  each  burner. 

Permanent  Way. 

This  railway  having  necessarily  steep  gradients,  namely,  a  short 
length  of  1  in  27,  and  considerable  lengths  of  1  in  30,  with  curves 
of  8  and  9  chains  on  the  main  line,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to 
adopt  permanent  way  of  great  strength. 

The  rails  are  of  steel,  of  the  bull-head  section,  weighing  86  lbs. 
to  the  yard,  with  deep  fish-plates,  and  fixed  in  chairs  weighing 


58  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

54  lbs.  each.  The  rails  bear  upon  wooden  cushions  recessed  into 
the  chairs.  To  meet  the  requirements  of  the  Corporations  of 
Birkenhead  and  of  Liverpool,  two  thicknesses  of  felt  are  inserted 
under  each  chair. 

The  sleepers,  10  feet  long  by  5  inches,  are  creosoted,  and  are  laid 
closer  together  than  usual,  namely,  thirteen  sleepers  to  each  30  feet 
of  rail.  The  ballast  is  composed  of  sandstone  rock  from  the  tunnel, 
carefully  packed  by  hand  into  the  invert  to  within  4  inches  of  the 
bottom  sleeper,  then  of  broken  sandstone  rock  for  a  thickness  of 
4  inches,  the  top  ballast  being  dry  clinker  ashes,  6  inches  in 
thickness. 

Signals  and  Telegraph. 

The  signals  were  manufactured  by  the  Bailway-Signal  Com- 
pany, Bazakerly ;  the  telegraph,  telephone,  and  electric-repeating 
arrangements  having  been  carried  out  by  Mr.  John  Lavender,  of 
Manchester.  Catch-points  are  inserted  at  several  places,  and  the 
signals  in  the  tunnel  are  fitted  with  gongs  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  driver. 

Locomotives  and  Bolling-Stock. 

The  locomotives,  which  have  been  specially  designed  for  this 
railway,  have  been  manufactured  by  Messrs.  Beyer,  Peacock,  and 
Co.,  and  the  carriages  by  the  Ashbury  Carriage  Company.  The 
locomotives  are  six-wheeled,  coupled  tank-engines,  with  a  four- 
wheeled  bogie,  making  ten  wheels  in  all,  and  have  inside-cylinders, 
21  inches  in  diameter,  by  26  inches  length  of  stroke. 

They  weigh,  when  in  full  working  order,  67  tons  17  cwt.  1  qr., 
thus  distributed— 

Tons.  cwt.  qrs. 

Leading  wheels 16  16  3 

Driving        „           17  10  0 

Trailing      „          17  5  0 

Bogie           „          16  5  2 

Each  locomotive  is  provided  with  a  powerful  steam-brake,  as 
well  as  with  an  automatic  vacuum-brake,  and  with  the  condensing- 
apparatus  as  used  on  the  Metropolitan  Eailway.  They  are  designed 
for  trains  of  130  tons  gross,  exclusive  of  their  own  weight. 

The  passenger-carriages  are  carried  on  four  wheels,  and  are 
27  feet  long  over  the  bodies,  by  8  feet  wide.  The  wheels  are  of 
special  manufacture,  giving  increased  strength  to  resist  torsion. 
The  wheel-base  is  15  feet  6  inches. 

The  trains  are  fitted  with  the  automatic  vacuum-brake,  and 
lighted  by  gas  upon  Pintsch's  system. 


Proceedings.]  FOX   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  59 

Extensions. 

The  Company  is  now  proceeding  with  its  authorized  exten- 
sions, as  already  described.  The  necessary  junctions  with  the 
main  line  for  these  extensions  have  been  already  constructed,  so 
far  as  excavation  and  brickwork  are  concerned. 

The  junction  at  Birkenhead  is  an  ordinary  double  junction,  and 
the  one  at  Liverpool  is  a  "  fly-over  "  junction,  to  avoid  any  crossing 
on  the  level  on  the  steep  gradients. 


Conclusion. 

The  work  herein  described,  including  the  purchase  of  property, 
rolling-stock,  Parliamentary  and  all  contingent  expenses,  has  cost 
about  £500,000  per  mile  of  double  railway.  The  work  on  the 
whole,  considering  its  special  and  somewhat  difficult  character,  has 
been  remarkably  free  from  accident. 

The  Inspector  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Major-General  Hutchinson, 
B.E.,  sums  up  his  report  upon  it  as  follows : — "  In  conclusion,  I 
think  it  only  just  to  remark  that  great  credit  appears  to  be  due  to 
the  Engineers  and  Contractors,  who  have  so  ably  carried  out,  and 
brought  to  so  satisfactory  a  conclusion,  this  great  and  important 
work." 

The  Chairman  of  the  Company  is  the  Bight  Hon.  Henry  Cecil 
Baikes,  M.B.,  and  the  Deputy-Chairman  the  Bight  Hon.  E.  Bleydell 
Bouverie;  the  joint  Engineers  of  the  Company  are,  Sir  James 
Brunlees,  Past-President,  and  Sir  Douglas  Fox,  M.  Inst.  C.E., 
assisted  by  the  Author ;  the  Besident  Engineer  is  Mr.  Archibald 
H.  Irvine,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  assisted  by  Mr.  Ernest  S.  Wilcox  ;  and 
the  Contractors  are  Major  Samuel  Isaac,  and  Messrs.  Waddell  and 
Sons,  represented  by  Messrs.  James  Brentice  and  D.  A.  Davidson. 

This  communication  is  accompanied  by  several  diagrams,  from 
which  Blates  3  and  4  and  the  Fi<r.  in  the  text  have  been  engraved. 


60  RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  [Minutes  of 


(Paper  No.  2177.) 

"  The  Hydraulic  Passenger  Lifts  at  the  Underground 
Stations  of  the  Mersey  Railway."  * 
By  William  Edmund  Rich,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

A  novel  feature  of  the  Mersey  Railway,  is  the  introduction  of 
large  hydraulic  lifts  for  conveying  passengers  and  their  luggage, 
from  the  deep  underground  stations  at  James  Street  and  Hamilton 
Street,  to  the  daylight  stations  at  the  street-level  above.  In  such 
situations  these  lifts  may  be  looked  upon  practically  as  vertical 
branch-railways,  and  as  such,  a  more  detailed  description  of  them, 
and  of  the  apparatus  connected  with  them  (Plate  5),  than  that 
given  in  Mr.  Francis  Fox's  Paper  on  the  Mersey  Railway  Works 
generally,  may  be  of  interest  to  the  Institution. 

The  rails,  which  rise  with  steep  gradients  in  both  directions 
from  the  centre  of  the  tunnel,  reach  James  Street  Station  near  the 
Liverpool  Exchange,  at  a  depth  of  92  feet  below  the  streetdevel, 
and  at  Hamilton  Street  Station  (the  nearest  to  the  river  on  the 
Birkenhead  side)  the  rails  are  103  feet  below  the  street. 

The  object  of  the  lifts  is  to  relieve  passengers  making  use  of 
these  stations  of  most  of  the  fatigue  of  walking  up  and  downstairs 
through  the  above  vertical  distances,  and  to  convey  them  up  and 
down  much  more  quickly  than  would  otherwise  be  possible. 

In  each  station  there  are  three  lifts  (Plate  5,  Figs.  1,  2,  3),  which 
are  worked  quite  independently  of  one  another,  and  are  each  capable 
of  raising  one  hundred  passengers  at  a  time.  The  average  journey 
is  accomplished  in  from  thirty  to  forty  seconds,  and  the  three  lifts, 
working  simultaneously,  are  capable  of  raising  a  train  load  of  three 
hundred  passengers  to  the  surface  in  about  a  minute.  The  lifts  are 
of  the  direct-acting  ram  type,  having  hollow  steel  rams  18  inches 
in  diameter,  with  balance-chains  and  counterweights  at  the  sides. 
The  ascending-room,  or  cage,  in  each  lift  is  19  feet  6  inches 
long,  by  16  feet  6  inches  wide,  and  8  feet  to  10  feet  high,  all  inside 
dimensions,  and  is  constructed  with  handsomely  panelled  sides  and 
roof  of  teak  and  American  ash,  with  seats  for  twenty- four  passengers 
along  the  sides,  and  a  large  gas  lamp  in  the  centre  of  the  roof. 

1  The  discussion  upon  this  Paper  was  taken  together  with  that  upon  the 
preceding  one. 


Proceedings.]      EICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  61 

The  motive-power  is  water  at  a  low  pressure  derived  partly  from 
a  tower-tank  holding  10,000  gallons,  and  partly  from  steam- 
pumping  engines,  discharging  direct  into  the  lift  supply-pipes. 

On  the  downward  journey  the  water  is  discharged  into  the 
underground  waste  tank,  from  which  it  is  pumped  back  to  the 
upper  tank  by  the  engines.  The  lifts  at  James  Street  have  a 
stroke  of  76*6  feet,  and  those  at  Hamilton  Street  of  87  '7  feet. 

In  consideration  of  the  greater  traffic  which  may  be  always 
expected  at  James  Street,  there  are  three  boilers  and  three  sets 
of  pumping  engines  there,  as  against  two  boilers  and  two  sets 
of  engines  at  Hamilton  Street;  and  the  arrangement  of  this 
machinery  in  plan  at  the  two  stations  is  somewhat  different ;  but 
for  the  purposes  of  this  Paper  it  will  be  sufficient  generally 
to  concentrate  attention  on  the  detailed  arrangements  at  James 
Street.  The  station-buildings  there  are  on  the  west  side  of  the 
street.  The  booking-hall  on  the  ground  floor  is  46  feet  long, 
33  feet  wide,  and  19  feet  high.  On  the  south  side  are  entrance 
doorways  to  the  A  and  B  lifts ;  and  on  the  north  side  are  doorways 
leading  to  the  C  lift,  and  a  flight  of  stairs  which  also  leads  to 
the  lower  hall  76 -6  feet  beneath  (Plate  5,  Fig.  1). 

The  engine-room  is  intermediate  between  these  two  floors,  being 
at  a  height  of  27  •  2  feet  above  the  lower  hall.  The  remaining 
space  between  the  engine-room  and  the  booking-hall  floors  is 
occupied  with  floors  for  luggage,  stores,  porter's  room,  &c. 

The  lower  hall  is  very  similar  in  plan  to  the  booking-hall  above 
having  doors  similarly  placed  for  access  to  the  lifts  and  stairs,  and 
in  addition  an  arched  opening  on  the  west  side  forms  the  entrance 
to  an  inclined  subway,  leading  towards  the  Exchange.  On  the 
east  side  are  two  open  arches  about  12  feet  wide.  The  most 
northerly  of  these  leads  by  a  flight  of  broad  winding  steps  to  the 
up-line  platform  at  a  level  of  12  feet  10  inches  below  the  lower 
hall  floor.  The  other  arch  gives  access  to  the  down  platform  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  tunnel  station  by  means  of  a  lattice-girder 
foot-bridge. 

The  station  buildings  are  carried  up  to  a  considerable  height 
above  the  booking-hall,  and  will  probably  be  let  out  in  offices,  for 
the  convenience  of  which  a  small  passenger  lift  is  provided.  A 
tower  rises  above  the  main  block  of  buildings,  and  contains  at  its 
upper  end  the  top  tank,  15  feet  6  inches  diameter,  9  feet  deep, 
which  holds  10,000  gallons  of  water.  The  waste-tank  of  similar 
capacity  is  excavated  out  of  the  rock  beneath  the  engine-room 
floor,  and  lined  with  brick  in  cement. 

The  several  lifts  are  contained  in  rectangular  vertical  shafts, 


62  EICH    ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  [Minutes  of 

21  feet  long  and  19  feet  wide,  partly  excavated  out  of  the  solid  red 
sandstone  rock,  which  stands  with  clean  dry  vertical  surfaces 
without  lining,  and  partly  enclosed  in  walls  of  brick  in  cement, 
which  separate  the  shafts  from  one  another,  and  from  the  engine- 
room,  booking-hall,  &c. 

Each  shaft  descends  to  a  depth  of  8  feet  below  the  lower-hall 
floor,  and  rises  to  a  height  of  about  20  feet  above  the  upper 
booking-hall  floor.  On  each  side  of  the  shaft  four  vertical  rows  of 
wooden  bricks,  Figs.  3  (p.  66),  are  fixed  in  the  walls  with  thin  fold- 
ing wedges.  These  bricks  are  cut  out  of  pine  sleepers,  of  a  section 
10  inches  by  5  inches,  and  they  are  let  into  the  walls,  and  project 
outwards  from  the  faces  of  them.  They  are  spaced  at  5  feet  apart 
vertically  from  centre  to  centre.  To  these  wooden  bricks  eight 
lines  of  rails  are  attached  with  coach-screws ;  four  of  these  rails 
serve  for  guiding  the  cage,  and  the  remaining  four  for  guiding  the 
counterweights.  These  rails  are  of  steel  of  the  section  shown  in 
Figs.  3  (p.  66),  and  are  in  15-feet  and  10-feet  lengths,  connected 
by  fish-plates.  They  were  all  specially  straightened,  and  fixed 
accurately  to  gauges,  so  as  to  form  very  true  guiding  surfaces. 
The  advantage  of  the  V-shaped  guiding  surfaces  is  that  the  guide- 
brackets,  which  slide  over  them,  can  be  efficiently  adjusted  as  they 
wear,  by  packing  them  out  in  one  direction  only. 

In  the  centre  of  each  lift  space,  and  vertically  downwards  from 
beneath  its  floor,  a  boring  has  been  carried  down  to  a  depth  of 
75  feet,  for  receiving  the  lift-cylinders.  The  three  borings,  at 
Hamilton  Street,  were  constructed  by  Messrs.  Timmins,  of  Euncorn, 
with  the  old-fashioned  jumping  tackle,  and  they  are  about  35 
inches  inside  diameter  and  86  feet  deep.  Those  at  James  Street 
were  constructed  by  Messrs.  Mather  and  Piatt,  with  their  well- 
known  boring-tackle,  with  large  boring  heads  specially  constructed 
for  the  purpose ;  these  borings  are  40  inches  diameter. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Messrs.  Mather  and  Piatt's  tackle 
was  much  more  elaborate  than  that  of  Messrs.  Timmins,  and 
many  weeks  were  occupied  in  getting  it  rigged  ready  to  start;  but 
when  once  started,  the  rate  of  progress  was  more  than  twice  as 
fast,  and  the  work  was  more  accurate,  as  regards  verticality.  It 
is  of  the  utmost  consequence  that  the  cylinders  of  hydraulic  lifts 
should  stand  truly  vertically,  and  hence  it  is  essential  that  the 
borings  for  receiving  them  must  be  as  nearly  plumb  as  possible, 
and  sufficient  extra  diameter  beyond  that  of  the  cylinder-flanges 
must  be  given  to  the  boring,  to  provide  for  its  possible  lack  of 
verticabity.  In  London  the  Author  has  of  late  years  adopted 
wells,  3  feet  in  internal  diameter,  for  receiving  lift  cylinders,  in 


Proceedings.]        RICH    ON    THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY    LIFTS.  63 

preference  to  borings,  which  give  great  trouble  when  they  are 
out  of  plumb. 

The  cast-iron  lift-cylinders  are  21  inches  in  internal  diameter,  and 
1  Jr  inch  thick,  with  strongly  bracketed  flanges,  29  inches  in  diameter, 
and  they  are  bolted  together  in  12-feet  lengths,  with  sixteen  bolts 
1 1-  inch  in  diameter  to  each  joint,  and  suspended  in  the  boring  from 
the  top  length,  which  is  furnished  with  a  large  bell-foot,  4  feet 
8  inches  in  diameter,  which  rests  on  the  floor  of  the  lift  space. 
This  top  length  also  has  a  tee-branch  on  the  front  side,  for  con- 
necting it  with  the  starting-valve,  and  at  its  top  end  it  is  bored  out 
18  inches  in  diameter,  and  fitted  with  a  hat-shaped  leather  for  making 
the  joint  round  the  ram.  The  ram,  which  descends  into  the 
cylinder,  is  18-inches  outside  diameter,  and  ^  inch  finished  thick- 
ness, constructed  of  mild  steel  tubes,  in  lengths  of  about  11  feet 
6  inches.  These  tubes  are  turned  and  polished,  and  connected  to- 
gether by  internal  screwed  ferrules,  6  inches  long,  and  15j-inches 
internal  diameter,  the  screw-threads  being  eight  to  the  inch.  The 
bottom  end  of  the  ram  is  a  tough  heavy  casting,  with  hemispherical 
bottom,  and  as  an  additional  security,  rods,  1^  inch  in  diameter  at 
the  smallest  part,  are  attached  to  this  bottom  casting,  and  carried 
up  the  centre  of  the  ram,  so  as  to  securely  grasp  the  boss  of  the 
main  cage-cross  at  its  top  end. 

The  tubes  for  these  rams  were  forged  by  Messrs.  James  Russell 
and  Co.,  of  Wednesbury,  from  Landore-Siemens  steel  plates,  finch 
thick.  They  were  lap-welded  in  short  lengths  of  a  few  inches  at 
a  time  under  a  hydraulic  press.  The  steel  w^as  tested  by  Professor 
Kennedy,  and  was  found  to  break  with  a  load  of  63,000  lbs.  per 
square  inch,  the  average  extension  being  about  29  per  cent.,  and 
the  contraction  at  the  point  of  fracture  47  per  cent.  The  ram 
preserves  its  uniform  diameter  of  18  inches  to  its  top  end,  and 
there  enters  the  boss  of  the  steel  cage-cross,  and  is  attached  to  it 
with  four  1^-inch  turned  bolts  writh  nuts  and  guard-pins. 

The  cage-crosses,  which  are  shown  in  Figs.  2  (p.  64),  were 
forged  by  Messrs.  Clay,  Inman  and  Co.,  of  the  Birkenhead  Forge, 
and  are  considered  very  fine  specimens  of  complicated  steel 
forgings.  Each  cross  in  its  finished  state  weighs  21^  cwt., 
and  was  forged  out  of  an  ingot  weighing  originally  about 
3*4  tons,  supplied  by  the  Steel  Company  of  Scotland.  Mr. 
Salmon,  the  managing  director  of  the  Birkenhead  Forge  Company, 
has  furnished  the  Author  with  the  outlines  of  the  successive 
stages  by  which  these  crosses  were  forged  (Figs.  2).  He  made  a 
great  point  of  discarding  as  a  matter  of  course  several  inches  of 
the  original  ingot  near  its  top  end,  and  before  anything  was  done 


64  RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY  LIFTS.  [Minutes  of 

the  side  surfaces  of  the  ingot  were  carefully  examined,  and  any 

Figs.  2. 


I   N    C  O  T 
3-4-      TONS 


!=£!  © 


FINISHED      WEIGHT 
21    5     CWT. 


parts  showing  a  spongy  texture  or  surface  cracks  were  cut  away 
"by  milling  or  slotting  machines.     In  the  first  place  the  ingot  was 


Proceedings.]        RICH    ON    THE    MERSEY   RAILWAY    LIFTS.  65 

drawn  out  under  the  hammer,  and  dented  at  a  a.  Secondly, 
the  holes  b  cc  were  drilled,  and  the  pieces  d  d  slotted  out ;  next 
the  arms  were  drawn  out  straight  to  their  full  length ;  then  the 
boss  was  bored,  and  its  outside  edges  and  the  junctions  of  the  arms 
with  it  were  neatly  slotted  round.  Finally  the  arms  were  bent 
away  to  form  the  feet,  and  the  faces  of  these  feet  were  planed  off 
to  gauge.  Each  cross  measures  9  feet  6^  inches  wide  over  the  feet, 
and  11  feet  long,  and  the  boss  is  15  inches  deep  and  2  inches 
thick.  The  arms  are  2  inches  thick  near  the  boss,  and  1^  inch 
thick,  and  11  inches  deep  at  their  outer  ends.  The  cross  is 
riveted  by  means  of  the  four  feet  at  the  ends  of  its  arms  to  the 
vertical  webs  of  two  thick  English  rolled  joists  of  H-section, 
18  feet  8  inches  long,  1-i  inches  deep,  and  6  inches  wide;  and 
these  girders  are  further  strengthened  by  riveting  on  to  their  top 
and  bottom  flanges  iron  plates,  12  inches  wide,  ^  inch  thick. 

These  foundation  girders  are  laid  transversely  beneath  the  lift- 
cages  and  are  extended  beyond  their  sides,  to  enable  the  counter- 
balance chains  to  be  attached  at  their  outer  ends.  The  floor  of 
the  cage  or  ascending-room  consists  of  eight  pitch-pine  joists, 
101  inches  deep,  those  at  the  sides  being  5^  inches  thick,  and 
the  others  3f  inches  thick.  Each  of  these  is  attached  to  the 
top  plates  of  the  main  girders  mentioned  above  by  four  stirrups 
of  f-inch  iron,  screwed  at  the  ends,  and  fitted  with  nuts  beneath 
the  flanges.  At  the  front  and  the  back  of  the  cage  these  wooden 
joists  are  morticed  into  transverse  timbers  of  the  same  depth 
as  themselves,  and  5^  inches  thick.  A  teak  floor,  l£  inch  thick, 
is  laid  on  this  timber  framing,  and  the  sides  and  ends  of  the  cage 
formed  of  teak  frames,  3  inches  thick,  with  American  ash  panels, 
^  inch  thick,  are  built  upon  it. 

The  roof  of  the  cage  is  also  panelled,  with  looking-glasses  in  the 
inclined  panels  to  reflect  the  light  of  the  central  gas-lamp  down- 
wards. For  a  width  of  2  feet  round  the  sides  the  roof  is  of  extra 
strength,  having  double  boarding,  so  as  to  form  a  good  gang- 
way for  inspection  of  and  access  to  the  working  gear,  and  to 
support  any  loads  which  it  may  be  convenient  to  lay  upon  them, 
in  the  case  of  overhauls  or  replacing  chains,  &c.  There  are 
spline  seats  on  each  side  of  the  cage,  and  on  the  front  side  is 
the  doorway,  4  feet  wide,  with  sliding-door  fitted  with  clear  glass 
panels. 

The  ornamental  panel-work  was  designed  by  Mr.  Grayson,  of 
Liverpool,  the  Architect  for  the  station  buildings,  and  the  wood- 
work of  the  cages  was  constructed  by  the  Starbuck  Car  Company, 
of  Birkenhead. 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  F 


66 


RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.         [Minutes  of 


The  cage  is  kept  in  position,  and  guided  from  top  to  bottom 
of  its  stroke,  "by  four  cast-iron  V  guide  brackets,  16  inches  long, 
bolted  to  the  flat  sides  of  the  vertical  webs  of  the  girders  at 
their  ends,  and  adjusted  with  wooden  packings,  so  as  to  bear  on  the 
four  steel  rails  above  mentioned  (Figs.  3).  They  can  be  easily 
removed,  and  thicker  packings  added  as  they  wear  away. 

Above  the  lift-cage,  at  the  top  of  its  stroke,  two  Butterley  rolled- 
joists,  16  inches  deep  and  5^  inches  wide,  span  the  lift-space  cross- 
wise, and  on  the  ends  of  these,  at  a  distance  of  5  inches  from  the 

Figs.  3. 


walls,  two  other  joists  of  the  same  section  are  seated  and  securely 
bolted  to  them.  From  each  of  these  side  girders  two  chain 
pulleys,  4  feet  8  inches  in  diameter,  are  suspended  by  means  of 
stirrups  of  forged  plate-steel,  with  central  turned  bolts,  3  inches  in 
diameter,  furnished  with  trebly-secured  attachments  at  their  ends. 

Between  each  pair  of  pulleys  a  counterweight  is  suspended  by 
two  li-inch  short  link  chains,  with  an  eyebolt  and  double  nuts 
at  one  end  of  each,  for  attaching  it  to  the  weight. 

Each  main  weight  weighs  7,620  lbs.,  and  is  fitted  with  recesses 
for  receiving   thirty-nine  or  any  smaller  number  of  weights  of 


Proceedings.]        RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS. 


67 


90  lbs.  each  for  balancing  the  lift ;  these  may  be  very  easily  put 
on  or  removed  by  an  attendant  on  the  cage  top. 

The  chains  pass  over  the  pulleys  above-mentioned,  and  are 
attached  by  long  U-shaped  shackles  and  cotters  (Figs.  4),  to  the 
ends  of  the  cage  girders. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  no  ordinary  shackle  will  pass  through  the 
links  of  short-link  chain.  With  these,  however,  a  chain  can  be 
cut  anywhere,  and  attached  more  securely  than  with  common 
shackles,  which  the  Author  considers  weak  and  unreliable  devices 
for  such  responsible  duties.  The  lift  starting-valve  is  placed  on 
the  bottom  floor  of  the  lift  space,  vertically,  beneath  the  cage 

Figs.  4. 


door ;  it  consists  of  a  gun-metal  slide-valve,  working  on  a  cast- 
iron  face.  The  supply  port  is  shaped  so  as  to  enable  the  valve 
to  be  closed  and  opened  without  causing  sudden  shocks  in  the 
water,  and  throiagh  it  to  the  lift-ram.  The  valve  is  actuated  by 
a  pinion  working  into  the  teeth  of  a  rack  cast  on  the  back  of  the 
slide.  The  pinion  is  cast  in  one  with  the  spindle,  which  passes 
through  two  stuffing-boxes  in  the  sides  of  the  cover,  with  a  4-feet 
rope- wheel  on  one  end  of  it. 

A  hempen  hand-rope,  with  wire-rope  core,  is  attached  at  its  two 
ends  to  this  wheel,  each  end  lapping  three-quarters  round  it  at 
half-stroke.     This  rope  passes  up  through  the  lift-cage,  on  each 

f  2 


68  RICH   ON   THE  MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  [Minutes  of 

side  of  the  doorway,  and  over  two  pulleys  fixed  at  the  top  of  the 
lift-space.  The  rope  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  doorway 
looking  out  is  fitted  with  stops ;  so  that  the  lift  is  arrested  as  it 
approaches  the  top  and  bottom  floors  by  engagement  with  these 
stops,  and  so  closes  the  valve. 

A  large  self-acting  flap-valve  admits  water  automatically  to  the 
lift-cylinder  from  the  exhaust,  if  the  star  ting- valve  is  closed  too 
suddenly  during  the  ascent  of  the  lift ;  and  as  the  full  stroke  of 
the  hand-rope  from  full  pressure  to  full  exhaust  is  9  feet,  it  is 
found  that  the  lift  starts  and  stops  with  great  quietude  and 
comfort  to  the  passengers.  A  lock  on  the  hand-rope  in  the  cage 
prevents  any  unauthorized  person  from  actuating  the  starting- 
valve. 

The  floor  of  the  engine-room  is  27*2  feet  above  the  Lower  Hall, 
and  is  constructed  of  wrought-iron  girders  and  Mallet  plates,  with 
concrete  above  them.  A  safe  floor  of  similar  but  lighter  construc- 
tion is  formed  at  a  depth  of  5-9  feet  below  the  engine-room,  and 
serves  to  give  access  to  the  waste-tank  and  many  of  the  pipes,  &c. 

The  plan  of  the  engine-room  at  James  Street  is  shown  in  Plate 
5,  Fig.  2.  There  are  three  boilers  and  three  pairs  of  pumping- 
engines,  arranged  symmetrically,  with  steam-pipes  so  placed  that 
any  engine,  boiler,  or  pipe  can  be  shut  off  for  repairs  without 
stopping  the  rest.  The  boilers  are  of  the  return-tube  type,  each 
6  feet  6  inches  in  diameter,  1 1  feet  long,  with  a  single  flue  3  ■  0 
feet  in  diameter,  and  3-inch  tubes.  They  are  constructed  of  mild- 
steel  plates,  and  are  loaded  to  60  lbs.  per  square  inch  on  the 
safety-valves.  An  iron  flue  over  their  front  ends  conveys  their 
waste  gases  to  the  chimney  in  the  corner  of  the  engine-room. 

The  pumping-engines  (Figs.  5)  are  of  the  duplex  type,  each  with 
two  steam-jacketed  cylinders  11  inches  in  diameter,  and  20  inches 
length  of  stroke,  working  direct  off  their  piston-rods,  two  double- 
acting  piston  pumps  7^  inches  in  diameter,  and  20  inches  length  of 
stroke.  The  slide-valve  of  each  cylinder  is  worked  by  a  lever  from 
the  piston-rod  of  the  other,  so  that  there  are  no  dead  centres,  and 
they  are  so  arranged  that  the  pistons  cannot  strike  the  cylinder 
ends.  So  long  as  the  gross  pressure  on  each  steam-piston  exceeds 
the  resistance  against  the  pump-piston,  due  to  the  water-pressure 
against  it,  together  with  the  friction  of  the  working  parts,  these 
engines  will  keep  working,  pumping  water  from  the  waste  tank 
into  the  system  of  pipes,  which  connects  the  top  tank  with  the 
lifts.  Any  reduction  of  pressure  in  the  pumps  increases  the 
speed ;  but  immediately  the  above  pressures  and  resistances  are 
equalized,  either  by  closing  a  valve  on  the  delivery  side  of  the 


Proceedings.]        LTCH    ON    THE    MERSEY    RAILWAY    LIFTS.  69 

pumps,  or   in   any  other  way,  the  engines  stop  "dead."      They 


Figs.  5. 


• 


%■*■•■•■« 


start   again,  however,   automatically  at   full   speed,  directly  the 


70  RICH  ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY  LIFTS.  [Minutes  of 

resistance  to  the  pump  action  is  relieved  by  opening  the  valve  or 
otherwise,  even  though  they  may  have  been  standing  for  hours 
in  the  interval.  The  valve  or  other  resistance  may  be  any  distance, 
even  miles  off.  As  there  is  very  little  inertia  in  the  working 
parts,  the  pressure  against  the  pumps  may  be  put  on  or  taken  off 
with  the  greatest  rapidity  without  injury  to  anything. 

Engines  of  this  type  have  been  used  by  Messrs.  Easton.  and 
Anderson,  MM.  Inst.  C.E.,  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  for 
a  great  variety  of  purposes,  such  as  waterworks  with  and  without 
reservoirs,  naphtha-pumping  through  long  mains,  working  lifts, 
hydraulic  presses,  riveting-plant  and  gun-carriages,  and  as  bilge- 
pumps  and  fire-engines  on  board  ship.  Their  details  and  pro- 
portions have  been  considerably  varied  and  improved  by  "  natural 
selection,"  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  the  interval,  but  the  original 
principle  remains. 

Each  set  of  engines  at  the  Mersey  works  is  proportioned  to 
give  a  hydraulic  pressure  of  about  1*6  time  the  boiler  pressure 
when  discharging  500  gallons  per  minute,  rising  to  1  •  9  time  that 
pressure  when  working  "  dead  slow."  Pending  the  completion  of 
the  tower  for  receiving  the  top  tank,  the  several  lifts  at  James 
Street  have  been  worked  so  far  direct  from  these  engines  without 
any  supply  tank.  The  steam  stop-valves  on  the  engines  are  left 
wide  open  from  morning  to  night,  and  their  action  is  entirely 
controlled  by  the  lift  starting-valves.  There  is  an  air-vessel  on 
each  set  of  pumps,  and  a  small  one  on  each  lift-valve,  and  these 
suffice  to  neutralize  all  irregularity  of  flow,  so  that  no  pulsations 
are  noticeable  in  the  lifts. 

At  Hamilton  Street  the  tank  and  engines  are  now  in  full 
working  order,  and  jointly  supplying  the  lifts. 

The  normal  duty  of  the  engines  is  to  automatically  keep  the 
top  tank  full,  and  to  assist  it  to  work  any  lift  whose  starting- 
valve  is  open  for  ascending.  In  case  of  an  excessive  load  beyond 
the  powers  of  the  tank-pressure  to  deal  with,  the  engines  imme- 
diately take  the  entire  duty  of  raising  the  lift  so  loaded. 

The  system  of  main-pipes  and  of  change-valves  between  the 
tanks,  pumps,  and  lifts,  is  shown  in  skeleton  in  Plate  5,  Fig.  1. 
Three  7 -inch  mains  descend  from  the  tank -bottom  to  the  several 
lifts,  one  to  each. 

Beneath  the  tank  these  pipes  have  sluice-cocks,  AAA,  and 
self-acting  valves,  B  B  B,  which  prevent  flow  through  them 
towards  the  tank.  Branches  beyond  these  lead  to  ball-valves, 
C  C  C,  for  supplying  the  tank  and  shutting  off  the  water  when  it 
is  full. 


Proceedings.]       RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  71 

In  the  engine-room  multiple  crosses  are  introduced  in  these 
mains,  with  branches  to  the  pumps  and  connections  between  the 
several  main  pipes,  and  eleven  7 -inch  sluice-cocks  so  arranged 
that  the  engineer  in  charge  can  readily  shut  off  any  tank-main 
with  the  cocks  DDD,  or  any  pump  with  the  cocks  E  E  E,  or  any 
lift  with  the  cocks  FPF,  still  leaving  everything  else  at  work. 
With  the  cocks  GG  on  the  junction  pipes  he  can  cut  off  the 
connection  between  the  mains,  leaving  each  lift-system  complete 
in  itself,  with  its  own  tank  main  and  pumping  engine.  In  normal 
working,  however,  it  is  best  to  leave  them  and  all  the  other  cocks 
fully  open,  as  each  lift  then  gets  the  benefit  of  all  three  supply 
mains  and  all  the  pumping-engines  which  may  be  under  steam 
at  the  time.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  concentration  of  these 
change  cocks  and  mains,  in  accessible  positions,  and  in  a  sym- 
metrical and  intelligible  order,  will  prevent  many  mistakes  on 
the  part  of  the  attendants. 

The  above  pumping  engines  work  at  high  pressure,  and  discharge 
their  exhaust  steam  through  a  feed- water  heater  into  the  chimney. 
Donkey-engines  of  the  small  duplex  type  are  to  be  added  shortly, 
and  short-stroke  unbalanced  ram-lifts  are  to  be  fixed  on  the 
platforms  for  raising  luggage  to  the  foot-bridges,  from  which  the 
trolleys  can  be  easily  wheeled  into  the  large  lifts.  Small  hydraulic 
ash  lifts  for  raising  the  ashes  produced  in  the  engine-room  are  also 
in  contemplation.  All  will  be  worked  from  the  same  system  of 
mains  in  the  engine-room. 

The  office  passenger-lift  is  of  the  type  generally  adopted  by 
Messrs.  Easton  and  Anderson,  with  a  TJr-inch  wrought-iron  ram 
£-inch  thick,  a  forged-iron  cross  at  its  top  end,  a  steel-plated  cage 
with  domed  steel-plate  roof,  and  a  heavy  chain  and  counterweight. 
The  roof  of  this  lift-cage  will  be  serviceable  for  giving  access 
to  the  pipes  from  the  tank  which  pass  down  the  lift-space  beside 
it  to  the  enadne-room  below. 


General  Remarks. 

The  lifts  described  in  this  Paper  were  designed  by  the  Author 
and  constructed  by  his  firm,  Messrs.  Easton  and  Anderson,  to 
meet  the  specified  requirements  of  Sir  James  Brunlees  and  Sir 
Douglas  Fox,  the  Engineers  of  the  Mersey  E  ail  way,  under  whose 
supervision  the  whole  of  the  works  were  carried  out.  The 
machinery  was  erected  by  Mr.  C.  E.  May,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E., 
as  Eesident  for  the  Contractors. 

Each  lift  is  very  similar  in  construction  to  the  large  lift  at  the 


72  RICH    ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  [Minutes  of 

Army  and  Navy  Stores  in  Westminster,  but  about  four  times  its 
capacity  and  power. 

The  number  of  lifts  at  each  station,  viz.  three,  was  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Francis  Fox,  after  consideration  of  lift-practice  on 
a  smaller  scale  in  the  large  hotels  of  the  United  States.  If  it 
had  been  convenient  to  put  surface  stations  on  each  side  of  James 
Street  and  Hamilton  Street,  two  separate  lifts  might  have  been 
carried  down  to  each  platform ;  but  probably  few  passengers  will 
object  to  walking  upstairs  to  the  foot-bridge  level,  and  the  station 
staff  is  certainly  reduced  by  concentrating  the  lifts  in  one  building. 
In  some  respects  it  would  have  been  convenient  if  the  three  lifts 
could  have  been  placed  symmetrically  side  by  side,  but  the  sites 
of  the  stations  did  not  lend  themselves  well  to  this  arrangement. 

Several  considerations  led  to  the  adoption  of  low  pressure 
instead  of  high  pressure  for  working  the  lifts.  A  single  direct- 
acting  ram  was  from  the  first  selected  by  the  Author  as  the  safest 
and  best  principle  to  adopt.  The  average  passenger  probably 
weighs  less  than  10  stones,  or  140  lbs.  Each  lift  was  proportioned 
to  raise  a  maximum  load  of  one  hundred  passengers  of  about 
150  lbs.  weight,  or  15,000  lbs.,  when  working  with  the  tank- 
pressure.  A  large  cage  was  indispensable  for  so  many,  and  they 
might  crowd  to  one  side,  or  at  one  end  of  it.  With  660  lbs. 
hydraulic  pressure  per  square  inch,  a  6-inch  solid  steel  ram  might 
be  used  to  give  the  above  lifting  power ;  but  a  full  load  on  one 
side  of  the  cage  would  break  such  a  ram  at  once  transversely,  and 
even  as  a  central  load  the  ram,  considered  as  a  column  jointed 
at  one  end,  would  be  extremely  weak  at  the  joints.  The  18-inch 
ram  has  a  margin  of  safety  of  about  30  as  a  column,  and  about 
6' 6  under  transverse  strain,  with  the  full  load  concentrated  at 
5  feet  from  the  centre  of  the  cage,  towards  one  side. 

The  10,000-gallon  supply  tank  at  James  Street  gives  an  accumu- 
lator storage-power  equal  to  twelve  journeys ;  to  give  the  same 
reserve  power  with  a  ram  accumulator  for  working  6-inch  high- 
pressure  lifts  would  have  necessitated  a  30-inch  ram,  36  "7  feet 
length  of  stroke,  and  a  load  on  it  of  208  tons.  No  doubt  Sir 
William  Armstrong  was  right  in  adopting  high  pressures  and 
accumulators  for  scattered  duties,  but  for  concentrated  lift-service 
the  present  arrangement,  which  is  very  similar  to  that  first 
adopted  by  Sir  William  Armstrong  at  the  Grimsby  Docks,  has 
many  advantages. 

Great  economy  of  power  and  freedom  in  working  is  obtained  by 
the  adoption  of  leathers  instead  of  packings  for  the  main  ram- 
glands.     So  far  not  a  single  leather  has  required  renewal,  and  the 


Proceedings.]        RICH    ON    THE    MERSEY   RAILWAY    LIFTS.  73 

Author  thinks  it  probable,  from  similar  experiences,  that  their 
average  life  will  be  about  two  years.  Packings  combined  with 
high  pressure  are  very  liable  to  score  the  rams,  and  with  careless 
attendants  they  entail  enormous  losses  of  power  in  friction,  espe- 
cially in  low-pressure  lifts. 

The  water  is  used  over  and  over  again  with  very  slight  waste, 
and  getting  greasy,  much  assists  the  lubrication  of  the  rams, 
and  makes  the  hand-starting  valves  work  very  easily.  With  fresh 
water  every  time,  no  doubt  such  large  valves  would  work  heavily. 
The  valve  faces  are  purposely  made  of  dissimilar  rnetals,  as  the 
Author  has  found  great  tendency  to  "  seize  "  when  flat  surfaces  of 
the  same  metal  rub  heavily  on  one  another  in  clean  water. 

The  internal  cage-floor  area  is  322  square  feet,  or  3*22  square 
feet  per  passenger.  On  several  occasions  crowds  of  one  hundred 
and  forty  passengers  have  travelled  up  in  a  cage,  and  once  one 
hundred  and  seventy-one  are  said  to  have  crowded  into  one, 
though  strict  orders  are  in  force  limiting  the  number  to  one 
hundred.  Sir  J.  W.  Bazalgette  and  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell  once 
tested  the  density  of  a  packed  London  crowd,  and  obtained  a 
load  of  lj  cwt.  per  square  foot,  or  one  person  of  10  stone  per 
square  foot.  Thus  the  normal  space  allowed  in  these  cages 
per  passenger  is  3*2  times  that  for  a  dense  crowd. 

Speed. — A  convenient  speed  in  these  lifts  is  about  2  feet  per 
second,  corresponding  to  thirty-eight  seconds  per  journey  at  James 
Street,  and  forty-four  seconds  at  Hamilton  Street.  They  are 
capable  of  working  faster,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  often  do  so ; 
but  the  Author  does  not  think  high  speeds  desirable,  considering 
the  great  inertia  of  the  moving  loads,  and  the  responsibilities 
involved.  The  total  moving  mass  when  a  lift  is  fully  loaded  is 
nearly  30  tons.  The  V-shaped  ports  and  the  self-acting  flap  in 
the  starting-valve  make  the  starting  and  stopping  extremely 
smooth  and  pleasant  for  the  passengers. 

G utiles. — The  Author  always  prefers  sliding  guides  in  preference 
to  rollers,  which  almost  invariably  wear  in  flats,  and  are  difficult 
to  adjust  and  keep  from  grinding  on  their  flanges. 

The  accident  to  a  lift  at  the  Grand  Hotel  in  Paris  led  to  many 
inventions  for  doing  away  with  balancing  chains,  but,  the  Author 
thinks,  without  sufficient  reason.  The  accident  in  question  was 
due  to  defective  construction,  such  as  would  never  be  tolerated 
in  English  practice.  Hydraulic  balancing  leads  to  greater  com- 
plication of  parts,  and  leaves  risks  quite  as  great  as  those  which 
are  avoided.  The  chains  in  the  present  case,  combined  with  the 
counterweights,    serve   a   very   important   duty,   as    they   almost 


74  RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  [Miuutes  of 

entirely  relieve  the  ram  of  transverse  strain,  when  a  crowd  is 
concentrated  at  the  front  or  back  of  the  cage,  as  the  weights 
must  he  entirely  supported  by  the  tighter  chains  before  any 
appreciable  transverse  strain  can  be  communicated  to  the  ram. 
In  the  Mersey  lifts  each  chain  weighs  13  "3  lbs.  per  lineal  foot, 
so  that  2  lineal  feet  of  all  four  chains  just  about  balances  the  loss 
of  pressure  due  to  the  ram  rising  1  foot. 

Attachments. — The  Author  assigns  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
security  of  the  attachments  in  lift-construction,  especially  those 
of  the  cage-frame  to  the  ram,  the  chains  to  the  frame  and  the 
counterweight,  and  the  pins  in  the  chain-pulleys.  All  these  are 
specially  guarded,  and  are  easily  accessible  for  inspection. 

The  platforms  round  the  roofs  of  the  cages  give  great  facilities 
for  the  inspection  of  working  parts,  oiling  and  cleaning  of  guides 
and  pulley-pins,  and  for  adjusting  the  counterweights  without 
risk  to  the  attendants. 

Tests. — The  lifts  were  tested  by  General  Hutchinson,  E.E., 
on  the  29th  of  December,  1885,  with  a  load  of  about  19,000  lbs. 
dead  weight  in  each.  This  load  was  shifted  close  to  one  side  of 
the  cage  by  his  direction,  and  the  lift  (worked  direct  by  the 
engines)  raised  it  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  satisfactorily  without 
the  slightest  appreciable  racking  of  the  cage  or  hard  rubbing 
on  the  guides. 

The  total  cost  of  the  six  lifts,  with  all  their  attendant  machinery, 
was  about  £20,000. 

The  first  cylinder  was  lowered  into  place  at  the  end  of  August, 
1885,  and  the  lifts  were  officially  tested  and  passed  for  work  on 
the  29th  of  December,  1885. 

The  outline  calculations  for  the  balancing  and  variations  of 
loads  on  the  chief  working  parts  are  given  in  an  Appendix. 

The  Pajter  is  accompanied  by  several  drawings,  from  which 
Plate  5  and  the  Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


[Appendix. 


Proceedings.]        RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS. 


APPENDIX. 


Calculations  for  balancing,  and  determination  of  varying  Loads  and 
Stresses  on  chief  working  parts. 


James  Street. 


Levels  above  datum. 


Hamilton  Street. 


Levels  above  datum. 


High-water  level  in  tower  tank   . 

Bottom  ditto 

Average  summit  level  of  waste-pipes 
from  lifts  discharging  into  waste- 
tank    

Bottom  of  waste-tank 

Upper  booking-hall  floor  .... 

Lower  hall  floor 

Station  platform  level 

Engine-room  floor 

Bottom  of  boring 

Kam-bottom  at  top  of  stroke  . 

Ditto,  ditto,  at  bottom  of  stroke   . 


Feet. 

390-6 

382-1 

214-1 

205-3 
271-6 
195  0 
182-2 
222-2 
111-5 
190-6 
1140 


Feet. 

414-0 

405-5 

250-0 

241-0 
292-2 
204-5 
191-7 
261-8 
109-8 
200-0 
112-3 


Stroke  of  lift  in  feet      .... 

Effective  head  of  water  available  for"!  / 
working  lifts  from  top  tank .      .      .  /  \ 

Corresponding  pressure  per  sq.  inch . 

Area  of  ram,  bare  18  inches  diameter 

Load  which  could  be  lifted  in  perfect  "1 
frictionless  lift  infinitely  slowly     .  J 

Practical  efficiency  allowed  for,  con-l 
sidering  that  lift  must  be  able  to> 
descend  when  empty  . ) 

Effective  lifting  power  on  up  stroke  "I 
with  this  efficiency J 

Average  difference  between  loads  oU) 
cage  and  counterweight  sides  of 
chain  pulleys,  to  produce  motion  up- 
wards when  cage  is  fully  loaded,  and 
pressure  from  top  tank  is  on  ram ; 
and  also  to  produce  motion  down- 
wards when  cage  is  empty  and  cylin- 
der discharging  into  waste-tank ;  = 
half  above  difference,  or  10  per  cent, 
of  effective  load  in  perfect  machine. 

Weight  of  water  displaced  by  1  foot \ 
length  of  ram J 


76-6 

390-6-  214-1 

=  176-5  feet 

76-4  lbs. 

254  sq.  inches 

19,405  lbs. 

0-8 
15,524  lbs. 


19,405  -  15,524 

2 

=  1,940  lbs. 


Ditto  displaced  in  full  stroke  of  ram 

Weight  of   four   l^-inch  chains  to- 
gether, per  foot    .... 

For  perfect  balance  in  all  positions,V(' 
weight  of  chains  per  foot  should  be/  { 


H 


110  lbs.  =  11  gals. 

76-6x110  = 

8,430  lbs. 

4  x  13-35 

=  53-4  lbs. 

110         -^  IV. 

— —  =  55  lbs. 


87-7 

414  -  250 

=  164  feet 

71  lbs. 

254  sq.  inches. 

18,034  lbs. 

o-s 

14,427  lbs. 


18,034  -  14,427 

2 

=  1,803  lbs. 


110  lbs.  =  11  gals. 

S7-7  X  110  = 
9,650  lbs. 

53-4  lbs. 
55  lbs. 


76 


RICH    OX    THE    MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS. 


[Minutes  of 


James  Street. 


Hamilton  Street. 


Pressure  from  supply-tank  on  ram- 
bottom,  at  bottom  of  stroke  going 
up 

Ditto  at  top,  going  up  (=  subtracting 
ram  displacement  from  last)    . 

Ditto  from  waste-tank  on  ram-bottom, 
when  at  top  of  stroke  and  descending 

Ditto  at  bottom,  descending  (add  dis- 
placement to  last)      


Weights  affecting  Stresses. 

Earn  and  centre  bolt 

Forged  cross  under  cage  floor. 

2  girders  under  cage  floor,  rivets,  &c. 

Iron  stirrups 

4  guide  brackets 

Woodwork  in  cage  and  seats   . 
Lamp,  &c 


Total 


Weight  of  Chains. 

"Weight  on  cage   side  of  pulleys  at 
bottom  of  stroke  .... 

Ditto  at  top  of  stroke    . 

Ditto  on  counterweight  side  at  bottom) 
of  stroke 

Ditto,  ditto,  at  top  of  stroke    . 


}{ 


To  determine  Weight  of  Counterweights 

Put  empty  cage  at  top  of  stroke  and 
descending  very  slowly.  Then  total 
load  on  cage  side  of  pulleys — 

=  ram,  cross,  cage,  &c.  as  above  . 

Cbains  on  cage  side 

Total  weight  on  that  side 
Deduct  pressure  on  ram-bottom  from 
head  of   water  in   waste-pipe    as 
above  


Deduct  weight  of  chains  on  counter- 
weight side  at  same  time     . 


Deduct  allowance  as  above  for  fric-) 
tion  and  to  produce  motion       .     .  / 

Then  total  counterweights  = 


390-6  -  114-0 

=  276-6  feet 

=  119-8  lbs.  sq.in. 

=  30,430  lbs. 

22,000  lbs. 

214-1-  190-6 
=  23-5  feet 
=  10-2  lbs.  sq.in. 
=  2,590  lbs. 

11,020  lbs. 


Lbs. 

9,470 

2,400 

3,600 

210 

270 

13.100 

150 

29,200 


93-3  X534 

=  4.980 
890 

620 

4,710 


29,200 
890 


30,090 
2,590 

27,500 
4,710 

22,790 
1,890 

20,900 


414  -  112-3 

=  301-7  feet 
130-6  lbs.  sq.in. 
=  33,170  lbs. 

23,520 

250  -  200 

=  50  feet 

=  21*6  lbs.  sq.  in. 

=  5,490  lbs. 

15,140  lbs. 


Lbs. 

10,730 

2,400 

3,600 

210 

270 

13,100 

150 


30,460 


104-4  x  53-4 

=  5,570 

890 


620 
5,310 


30,460 
890 

31,350 

5,490 

25,860 
5,310 

20,550 
1,800 

18,750 


Proceedings.]        RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY  LIFTS. 


James  Street. 


Hamilton  Street. 


Check  at  bottom  of  stroke,  cage  de- 
scending— 
Eam,  cage,  &c.  as  above     .... 
Chains  on  cage  side 


Deduct  pressure  on  ram  from  head  inl 
waste-pipe J 

Deduct  weight  of  chains  on  counter-1 
weight  side J 


Lbs. 


Deduct  allowance  as  above  for  fric-'l 
tion  and  to  produce  motion .      .      .  J 


N.B. — Differences  in  above  estimates 
due  to  deficiency  in  weight  of  chains 
(  =  3  •  2  lbs.  per  foot  of  stroke)  . 

Taking  mean  of  above  figures  the) 
counterweights  on  each  side  of  lift  > 
should  amount  to ) 

Variation  of  pressure  upwards  at 
centre  of  cross  due  to  pressure  on 
ram  bottom,  less  weight  of  ram,  and 
say  i  of  friction  allowance— 

Lift  at  bottom,  fully  loaded,  rising 
slowly — 

Pressure  on  ram-bottom,  as  above 

Less  weight  of  ram  and  centre  bolts,  do. 


Less  i  of  friction  allowance     . 

Lift  at  top,  fully  loaded,  rising — 

Pressure  on  ram 

Less  weight  of  ram,  &c.  +  I  friction  1 
as  above / 

Lift  empty  at  top  descending  slowly — 
Pressure  on  ram-bottom     .... 
Less  weight  of  ram 


Add  i  friction  allowance 


Lift  empty  at  bottom,  descending — 
Pressure  on  rain-bottom 
Less  weight  of  ram,  &c. 


29,200 
4,980 

30,460 
5,570 

34,180 
11,020 

36,030 
15,140 

23,100 
620 

20,890 
620 

22,540 
1,890 

20,270 
1,800 

20,650 

18,470 

250 


10,390 


30,430 
9,470 


20,960 
630 


+20,330 


22,000 
10,100 


+  11,900 


OS!) 


9,300 


33,170 
10,730 


22,440 

600 


+21,840 


23,520 
11,330 


+  12,190 


2,590 
9,470 

-6,8S0 
+     630 


-  6,250 

in  tension 

downwards. 


5,490 
10,730 


-5,240 
+     600 


11,020 
9,470 


Add  for  friction . 


+  1,550 
+  630 


+  2,180 


-  4,640 


15,140 
10,730 


4,410 
+  600 


+  5,010 


78 


RICH    ON    THE    MERSEY    RAILWAY   LIFTS. 


[Minutes  of 


James  Street. 


Hamilton  Street. 


Variation  of  shearing  force  at  junction 
of  each   corner  foot  of  cage-cross 
with  floor-girder. 

Shearing  force  with  lift  at  bottom, 
going  up  slowly  loaded — 

Push  on  cross  centre,  as  above 

Lbs. 

20,330 
2,400 

Lbs. 
+  4,480 

Lbs. 

21,840 
2,400 

Lbs. 

This  divided  by  4  for  number  of  feet 

17,930 
=  say 

=  5,200 

160 

19,440 
say 

4,650 
160 

+  4,860 

Shearing  force  at  top,  going  up  loaded,) 
by  similar  calculations    .      .            .J 

+  2,370 

+  2,450 

Shearing  force  at  top,  descending  empt) 

-  2,170 

+  2,610 

Shearing  force  at  bottom  „            „ 

-       110 

+       660 

Pull  upwards  by  each  chain  on  end  of 

cage  girder. 
Lift  at  bottom  and  rising — 
Load  on  weight  side,  h  counterweight 
Chain 

3,960 

5,360 

4,810 
150 

Less  long  chain  on  cage  side  . 

5,200 
1,240 

4,660 
1,390 

3,270 

5,360 

5.200 
800 

4,810 

4,660 
800 

Ditto  with    lift   at   top  and   rising, \ 

6,000 

5,610 

Ditto  ditto  descending                  „ 

6,320 

5,910 

Ditto  at  bottom     „                       ,, 

4,280 

3,570 

Load  on  each  chain-pulley  pin  with 

cage  at  lottom  ascending — 
Load  on  counterweight  side  of  top) 

Weight  of  pulley      ....       say 

11,360 

10,270 

27,440 
1,330 

25,620 
1,330 

Ditto  with  cage  at  top  and  ascending,  \ 

13,400 

12,610 

Ditto  ditto  ditto,  descending  . 

13,720 

12,810 

Ditto  ditto,  bottom      „          ... 

11,680 

10,570 

Maximum  load  on  each  stirrup  girder 
is  with  cage  at  top  and  descending — 
Load  on  2  pulley-pins  together    . 
Weight  of  2  stirrups,  and  girder  itself 

28,770 

96  950 

1 

Proceedings.]        RICH   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY  LIFTS. 


79 


James  Street. 


Hamilton  Street. 


Maximum  pull  on  chain  on  cage 
side  of  top  pulley,  with  lift  at  top 
and  descending I 

Proof  test  of  chains  which    are    of 


"[ 


1^-inch  iron 

Maximum  bending-moment   on  armi 

of   cage  cross  at  12  inches  from; 

centre  of  ram ) 

Section  of  arm  at  that  point  (steel  \ 

forging) 

Probable  margin  of  safety   at  that 

point,   supposed  to  be  its  weakest 

section 


Maximum  bending-moment  on  ram,' 
supposing  full  load  concentrated  at 
60  inches  to  one  side  of  centre  of, 
cage , 

Ultimate  moment  of  resistance  of-j 
18-inch  mild  steel  ram  f-inch  mini- 
mum thickness  at  screw  threads., 
(Rankine,  /  =  as  per  test  63,000  lbs. 
per  square  inch) > 

Margin  of  safety 


Maximum  load  on  top  of  ram  as  a 
strut  at  top  of  stroke  (see  tbrust  on 
cross-centre  as  above)     .... 

Ultimate  strength  of  ram  as  a  strut 
iixed  at  one  end  and  jointed  at  the 
other,  taking  it  as  |-inch  minimum 
thickness  at  screw  threads,  and  only 
allowing  mild  steel  same  strengths 
as  wrought-iron  (Rankine)  . 

Margin  of  safety 


Lbs. 
6,540 

Tons. 

15-12 

Lbs.    Inches. 
4,480  x  70 
:  313, 600  inch-lbs. 

15  inches  deep    \ 
2  inches  thick    J 

14-3 


15.000  X  60 
900,000  inch-lbs 


5,900,000  inch-lbs. 
66 

11,900  lbs. 

370,000  lbs. 
31 


Lbs. 
6,130 

Tons. 
1512 

Lbs.     Inches. 
4,860  X  70 
:  340, 200  inch-lbs. 

Ins.    lna. 
15  X  2 

13-2 


12,190  lbs. 


515,000  lbs. 


20 


[Discussion. 


80  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 


Discussion. 


Mr.  Fox.      ]y[r.  Francis  Fox  said  that  the  subject  of  his  Paper  was  one  full 
of  novelty  ;  the  ventilation,  lifts,  pumping,  locomotives,  and  other 
matters  involving  many  new  features.     The  problem  to  be  solved 
by  the  Company's  Engineers  was  how  to  compete  satisfactorily 
with  the  excellent  ferry-boats  that  traversed  the  Estuary  of  the 
Mersey.     Celerity  and  comfort  were  the  two  things  to   be   con- 
sidered.    Passengers  from  the  heart  of  Liverpool  to  the  heart  of 
Birkenhead  using  the  ferry-boats  occupied  a  certain  time,  which 
the  tunnel  had  now  reduced  by  fully  fifteen  minutes  each  way. 
The  trains  ran  from  station  to  station  in  three  and  a  half  minutes, 
and,  allowing  one  and  a  half  minute  for  going  down  comfortably 
from  the  level  of  the    street   in  the  lifts,   and  getting   into  the 
train,  and  one  and  a  half  minute   at  the  other  end  for  getting 
out  and  going  up  into  the  street,  the  total  time  occupied  from  the 
heart  of  Liverpool  to  the  heart  of  Birkenhead  was  six  and  a  half 
minutes.     One  important  feature,  of  course,  was  the  ventilation. 
The  Company  had  to  compete  with  the  ferry-boats  which  had  the 
benefit  of  the  pure  breezes  on  the  river ;   and  it  was   therefore 
essential  that  special  attention  should  be  devoted  to  this  subject. 
The  figures  given  in  the  Paper  showed  an  estimated  total  yield  of 
the  fans  of  580,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute.     Within  the  last 
few  days  preliminary  experiments  had  been  carried  out,  the  results 
of  which,  as  given  in  the  annexed  Table  (p.  81),  showed  an  increase 
to  651,420  cubic  feet.     It  would  be  observed  that  there  were  some 
inequalities  in  the  yields,  and  also  in  the  velocities  obtained  ;  but 
that  was  due  to  certain   circumstances  which  he  need  not  then 
detail.      The   interesting  feature  was,  that  through  the  circular 
heading  having  an  area  of  41  square  feet,  and  with  a  water  gauge 
of  2*2  inches,  the  air  attained  a  velocity  nearly  as  high  as  3,300 
lineal  feet  per  minute.      It  was  thought  that  the  cheapest  and 
best  way  of  ventilating  the  tunnel  would  be  by  mechanical  means, 
and    that    the    most   expensive   means   would   be   to   rely  upon 
natural  ventilation.     He  had  omitted  to  state  that  the  credit  of 
the  fans  was  due  to  Messrs.  Walker  Bros,  of  Wigan.     He  might 
also  be  permitted  to  bear  his  testimony  to  the  energy,  skill  and 
constant  attention  which  Messrs.  Waddell  and  Sons  had  devoted  to 
every  detail. 

Mr.  Rich.  Mr.  W.  E.  Bich  said  that  the  Birkenhead  Forge  Company 
elected  to  make  the  cage-crosses  of  steel  in  preference  to  iron,  as 
being  by  far  the  more  trustworthy  material  for  so  complicated  a 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS. 


81 


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[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.] 


82  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Rich,  forging.  In  wrought  iron,  welds  would  have  been  necessary,  and 
they  were  always  objectionable  in  such  large  sections.  A  great 
deal  of  the  shaping  was  done  by  the  slotting-machine,  as  he 
believed  was  usual  in  some  of  the  best  forges  of  the  day.  He  had 
sent  to  the  forge  to  ask  what  was  considered  to  be  the  strength 
of  the  steel  in  the  finished  forging,  and  the  reply  was  that  it  was 
from  28  to  34  tons  per  square  inch,  with  elongation  20  per  cent. ; 
the  amount  of  carbon  in  the  steel  being  about  0  23  per  cent. 
His  desire  was  to  have  everything  as  strong  as  possible  in  pro- 
portion to  the  weight,  and  he  intended  to  have  adopted  teak  for 
the  floor  joists  of  the  cages ;  but  on  reference  to  the  directors  of 
the  Starbuck  Company,  who  constructed  the  ascending  rooms  or 
cages,  they  showed  him  some  interesting  experiments  by  Mr. 
Slater,  of  the  Gloucester  Wagon  Works,  upon  the  transverse 
strengths  of  various  timbers,  which  proved  pitch  pine  to  be 
vastly  stronger  transversely  than  teak  or  oak,  or  any  other  wood 
ordinarily  used.  He  had  placed  upon  the  table  a  section  of  the 
steel  ram,  and  members  could  see  where  the  weld  was ;  also  a 
section  of  the  rail  which  was  used  for  the  guides ;  it  was  made 
with  a  V-shaped  top  flange,  so  that  the  guides  could  be  adjusted 
upon  it.  In  discussing  the  merits  of  the  low-pressure  system  of 
hydraulics  for  sundry  lift-duties  such  as  those  referred  to,  he  by 
no  means  wished  to  speak  against  the  system  of  high-pressure 
hydraulics  for  more  scattered  duties,  or  to  detract  from  the  credit 
due  to  Sir  William  Armstrong  for  introducing  the  pressure  of 
700  lbs.  per  square  inch,  which  was  now  almost  universal. 
Mr.  Eckersley.  Mr.  W.  Eckersley  asked  Mr.  Fox,  what  was  the  mode  of  proceed- 
ing in  the  construction  of  the  tunnel  under  those  parts  of  the  river 
where  the  rock  was  sound,  and  where  there  was  a  moderately  thick 
cover  of  rock  ?  Mr.  Fox  had  said  that,  in  the  portion  of  the  tunnel 
where  the  old  river-course  was,  the  rock  was  excavated  in  lengths 
of  9  feet,  which  were  heavily  timbered ;  but  what  was  the  mode  of 
dealing  with  other  portions  of  the  tunnel  where  the  rock  was 
good?  Were  the  lengths  much  greater?  and  what  timber  was 
used?  He  would  also  like  Mr.  Fox  to  state  what  had  been 
the  cost  of  the  rock-work  and  brick -work,  particularly  with  re- 
ference to  the  excavation  of  the  rock- work  under  the  river-bed  ? 
Also  what  had  been  the  cost  of  pumping  during  the  construction 
of  the  tunnel,  what  percentage  he  thought  it  added  to  the  various 
classes  of  work,  and  what  was  his  estimate  of  the  cost  of  puinping 
after  the  line  was  finished,  and  in  course  of  working,  and  the  con- 
sequent addition  to  the  working  expenses  ?  Further,  it  would  be 
interesting  to  know  what  the  ventilating  was  likely  to  cost. 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON  THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY  LIFTS.  83 

Mr.  W.  Siielford  said  that  a  somewhat  critical  examination  of  Mr.  Shelford. 
the  cross-sections  of  the  tunnel  (Plate  3)  Lad  convinced  him  that 
there  was  a  difference  in  the  general  cross-section  of  the  tunnel  on 
the  Birkenhead  side,  as  compared  with  the  Liverpool  side.  It  was 
not  very  great,  but  still  it  was  important.  On  the  Birkenhead  side 
the  top  consisted  of  a  semicircular  arch,  and  on  the  Liverpool  side 
that  arch  had  been  raised  in  the  haunches,  apparently  to  give  more 
room  for  the  rolling-stock.  It  seemed  to  him  desirable  to  know 
which  was  the  original  section,  and  which  was  the  amended  and 
more  recently  approved  form.  He  presumed  both  sections  were  not 
designed  at  the  same  time.  If  the  Liverpool  section  was  the  first 
adopted,  then  it  looked  as  if  it  had  been  necessary  to  strengthen 
the  tunnel  by  altering  the  form  somewhat  on  the  Birkenhead  side. 
He  should  think  that  more  likely  the  converse  was  the  case,  and 
that  the  haimch  on  the  Liverpool  side  was  raised  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  more  room  for  the  rolling-stock.  Many  years  had 
passed  since  a  discussion  upon  tunnels  took  place  in  the  Institu- 
tion, and  it  might  be  worth  while  to  direct  attention  to  the  some- 
what altered  circumstances  which  had  since  arisen.  When  rail- 
ways were  first  formed,  he  thought  the  general  or  the  best 
practice  was  to  make  tall  and  narrow  tunnels — tall  for  the  purpose 
of  allowing  space  for  the  smoke  to  accumulate  and  pass  off, 
and  narrow  because  the  rolling-stock  was  narrower  than  it  was 
now.  Tunnels  were  now  made  wider  and  lower.  There  was  first 
in  1837  the  important  Kilsby  timnel,  on  the  London  and  Birming- 
ham Bailway,  which  was  23  feet  G  inches  in  height,  and  21  feet 
wide.  Then  in  1860  there  was  the  Sydenham  tunnel,  on  the 
Chatham  and  Dover  Railway.  Both  of  those  tunnels  gave  con- 
siderable trouble  in  their  construction.  The  Sydenham  tunnel 
was  21  feet  high,  and  24  feet  in  width.  About  that  time  many 
tunnels  were  made  very  similar  to  it  in  dimensions  and  form.  The 
Mersey  tunnel  upon  the  Liverpool  side  was  26  feet  wide  and  only 
19  feet  high ;  but  it  gave  what  the  others  did  not,  namely,  the 
width  of  25  feet,  at  a  height  of  10  feet  6  inches  above  the  rails, 
which  he  thought  the  Board  of  Trade  requirements  now  made 
necessary.  The  earlier  practice  was  to  make  the  tunnel  an 
ellipse  with  its  major  axis  vertical,  the  idea  being  that  it  would 
better  sustain  the  top  weight;  but  he  believed  experience  in 
tunnelling  (certainly  his  own  experience)  had  shown  that  as  much 
strength  was  wanted  upon  the  sides  as  at  the  top  ;  that  the  pressure 
was  pretty  uniform  all  round,  and  consequently  that  the  elliptical 
section  was  very  liable  to  give  way.  The  Sydenham  tunnel  in 
1860  was   first  constructed  upon  the  elliptical  section,  and  was 

g  2 


84  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

3lr.  Shelford.  afterwards  altered  very  considerably,  in  the  manner  described  in  a 
Paper  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Baldwin.1  A  tunnel  made  two  years  later 
under  his  superintendence  in  the  same  hill,  on  the  Crystal  Palace 
High  Level  Railway,  was  of  a  semicircular  section,  which  corre- 
sponded nearly  with  that  of  the  Mersey  tunnel.  The  effect  of  the 
change  in  the  form  was  enormous — so  much  so  that  whereas  with 
the  former  section  ten  rings  of  brick-work  were  crushed,  the 
section  with  a  semicircular  arch  stood  well  with  six  rings.  The 
Sydenham  tunnel  was  2,200  yards  in  length,  he  considered  that 
nearly  one-half  its  cost  would  have  been  saved  if  the  semicircular 
form  had  been  adopted  instead  of  the  elliptical  one.  He  thought 
this  was  important ;  but  there  was  another  point  in  connection 
with  it  which  appeared  to  him  to  be  worth  thinking  about, 
namely,  whether  there  was  really  any  necessity  to  leave  a  space 
above  the  trains  for  the  accumulation  of  smoke.  Those  who  were 
experienced  in  such  matters  knew  that  smoke  clung  to  the  roof 
of  the  tunnel ;  but  judging  from  the  modern  practice  he  gathered 
that  most  engineers  were  of  opinion  that  it  was  no  longer 
necessary  to  leave  a  space  for  the  accumulation  of  smoke.  He 
presumed  that  Mr.  Fox,  Sir  James  Brunlees,  and  Sir  Douglas  Fox 
relied  upon  the  artificial,  mechanical  ventilation  from  the  outside  : 
but  he  should  be  glad  to  know  whether  they  thought  it  was- 
necessary  to  make  tunnels  higher  than  the  rolling-stock  required, 
in  order  to  allow  more  space  in  cases  where  mechanical  ventilation 
was  not  used.  He  understood  the  verdict  of  Engineers  to  be 
against  the  practice. 

Capt.  Galton.  Captain  Galtox  had  listened  with  great  attention  to  the  part 
of  Mr.  Fox's  Paper  relating  to  ventilation  ;  but  it  appeared  to 
him  that  in  an  entirely  new  railway — especially  a  short  line 
not  exceeding  a  mile  in  length  in  which  the  trains  were  con- 
tinually running  from  end  to  end  only — it  would  be  simpler  to 
use  the  power  of  the  train  itself  to  ventilate  the  tunnel  in- 
stead of  adopting  a  system  of  mechanical  fans.  If  the  tunnel 
(reduced  in  height  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Shelford)  were  divided 
by  means  of  a  diaphragm,  each  train  would  act  as  a  piston  to 
drive  out  the  foul  air  before  it  and  draw  in  the  fresh  air  after 
it.  He  could  not  see  why  such  a  system  could  not  be  econo- 
mically adopted  instead  of  having  a  double  line  in  one  tunnel. 
The  present  process,  as  Mr.  Fox  had  stated,  was  one  of  continually 
churning  up  the  foul  air  which  the  trains  created  inside  the 
tunnel.    By  using  the  tunnel  as  its  own  cylinder  and  piston,  the 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  xlix.  p.  232. 


Proceedings.]        DISCUSSION    ON    THE    MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  85 

necessity  of  having  ventilating  fans  and  other  arrangements  would  Capt.  Galton. 
be  avoided.  Of  course  that  could  not  be  done  in  a  tunnel  beyond 
a  certain  length,  or  which  was  of  old  construction,  or  with  mixed 
trains ;  but  in  an  entirely  new  undertaking,  for  passenger  traffic 
between  two  termini,  it  seemed  a  pity  not  to  take  advantage  of 
the  effect  which  the  trains  themselves  produced. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Lewis  said  he  was  present  at  the  opening  of  the  Mr.  Lewis. 
Mersey  tunnel,  and  was  delighted  with  the  effect  of  the  ventila- 
tion arrangements.  He  wished  to  ask  whether  Captain  Galton's 
plan  would  not  necessitate  a  wider  tunnel  (which  would  of  course 
increase  the  exjoense),  and  whether  there  was  any  other  tunnel  so 
freely  ventilated  as  the  Mersey  tunnel  ?  In  the  case  of  the  Metro- 
politan District  Eailway  the  openings  were  doubtless  good  and 
necessary,  but  he  believed  they  had  not  been  so  successful  as  the 
plan  adopted  by  Sir  James  Brunlees  and  Sir  Douglas  Fox.  Mr. 
Shelford  had  omitted  to  refer  to  the  material  in  which  the  tunnels 
he  instanced  were  constructed.  In  1849  Mr.  Lewis  was  engaged 
upon  a  tunnel  in  clay.  That  tunnel,  at  that  date,  had  a  semicircular 
top,  which  it  became  necessary  to  raise  a  little,  because  not- 
withstanding the  great  pressure  all  round,  the  top  weight  was 
found  to  be  the  greatest ;  it  was  a  troublesome  place,  where  the 
timbers  were  broken  from  below  as  well  as  from  above.  In  the 
case  of  the  solid  rock  under  the  Merse}7,  simply  a  good  form 
that  would  stand  the  hydrostatic  pressure  was  required.  A 
form  approaching  the  circular  would  be  the  best.  He  believed 
that  the  Sydenham  tunnel  was  made  circular,  not  with  a  view 
to  accommodate  the  smoke,  nor  from  supposing  that  the  smoke 
could  be  dealt  with  differently,  but  because  the  clay  required  it 
to  be  so  made.  He  was  sure  that  every  one  who  visited  the 
Mersey  tunnel  would  see  how  excellent  it  was,  and  how  care- 
fully everything  had  been  considered  and  carried  out. 

Mr.  W.  Shelford  wished  to  explain  that  the  two  tunnels   to  Mr.  Shelford. 
which  he  had  specially  referred  were  through  the  same  hill — in 
London  Clay. 

Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  President,  said  that  Mr.  Fox,  having  Sir  F.  Bram- 
put  up  an  additional  diagram,  wished  to  give  some  explanation.      weH* 

Mr.  F.  Fox  observed  that  as  some  questions  had  been  asked  with  Mr.  Fux. 
reference  to  the  ventilation,  he  exhibited  a  diagramatic  sketch, 
which  with  a  brief  explanation  would  serve  to  render  the  sub- 
ject much  clearer.  It  niust  be  taken  purely  as  a  diagram,  and 
with  that  view  he  had  kept  the  40-feet  fan  and  the  30-feet 
fan  separate.  As  a  matter  of  fact  they  were  really  in  the 
same   building.      It   was    intended    that    the    drainage-heading 


86  DISCUSSION   ON   THE  MERSEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Fox.  should  have  "been  immediately  under  the  tunnel  for  its  whole 
length,  hut,  owing  to  the  rails  having  "been  lowered,  it  was 
ahsorhed  into  the  tunnel  and  became  the  bottom  heading  for 
the  tunnel  proper.  Consequently,  it  was  necessary  to  have  an 
additional  heading  for  drainage  purposes,  and  this  was  driven  on 
one  side  and  called  the  "  Loop  heading,"  and  it  was  turned  into 
the  original  drainage-heading  so  soon  as  the  gradient  of  the 
tunnel  allowed  the  junction  to  be  effected.  The  "  Loop  heading  'r 
served  both  for  drainage  and  ventilation.  It  was  continued  as  a 
ventilation-heading  up  to  the  fans,  and  smoke-holes  were  provided 
between  the  tunnel  and  the  ventilation-heading  at  stated  intervals, 
three  or  four  on  each  side  of  the  centre  of  the  river.  The  object 
of  these  smoke-holes  was,  that  in  the  event  of  anything  interfering 
with  the  draught  owing  to  the  open  end  of  the  tunnel  (which  was- 
a  matter  of  some  difficulty),  by  opening  or  closing  these  doors  there 
would  be  absolute  control  over  the  ventilation.  The  system,  as  ex- 
plained in  the  Paper,  was  that  the  fresh  air  should  enter  at  the 
station.  The  air  then  divided,  one-half  going  one  way,  and  one- 
half  the  other,  so  that  the  products  of  combustion  were  immediately 
swept  into  the  tunnel,  and  the  platforms  were  kept  clear.  The  air 
travelled  to  the  centre  of  the  tunnel,  and  was  drawn  out  through 
the  ventilation-heading  by  the  40-feet  fan.  The  30-feet  fan  venti- 
lated the  land  portions  of  the  railway.  He  had  doors  placed  between 
the  two  fans,  so  that  in  the  event  of  anything  going  wrong,  a  most 
improbable  occurrence,  and  one  fan  getting  out  of  order,  by  throw- 
ing these  doors  open,  the  other  fan  could  perform,  to  a  modified 
extent,  the  work  of  both,  and  ventilate  both  sections  of  the  tunnel. 
There  was  a  small  smoke-hole  at  each  end  of  the  top  of  the  station 
arch  which  was  in  communication  with  the  30-feet  fan,  and,  by 
opening  a  door  by  means  of  a  chain,  any  foul  air  that  happened 
to  accumulate  in  the  soffit  of  the  arch  could  be  removed. 
When  a  locomotive  was  standing  at  either  end  of  the  station  its 
products  of  combustion,  instead  of  fouling  the  air  of  the  station, 
were  immediately  swept  away  by  the  30-feet  fan.  He  exhibited  a 
photograph  of  the  locomotive,  of  which  Messrs.  Beyer  and  Peacock 
were  the  builders — an  excellent  engine  in  every  respect  —  and  he 
wished  to  take  that  opportunity  of  stating  how  generously  they 
had  acted  throughout  the  whole  proceedings.  There  was  a  great 
deal  of  novelty  about  the  engine,  and  any  little  trifling  matter 
that  wanted  putting  to  rights  they  immediately  attended  to.  He 
desired  to  say  a  word  about  the  air-pipe  for  letting  air  escape  from 
between  the  two  wedging  cribs  in  the  shaft-tubbing.  He  did 
not  attempt  to  explain  why  it  was  necessary,  but  he  had  a  letter 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  87 

from  Mr.  A.  L.  Steavenson,  the  well-known  mining  engineer  of  Mr.  Fox. 
Durham,  on  the  subject.  He  said  that  evidence  was  given  before 
the  Royal  Commission  on  Mines,  that  blowers  of  gas  had  been 
met  with  in  working  collieries  at  a  pressure  of  400  lbs.  per  square 
inch,  and  the  reason  why  the  tubbing  was  so  often  cracked  and 
broken — it  could  not  be  broken  by  the  mere  hydrostatic  head — was 
due  to  the  gas  being  penned  up  behind  the  tubbing  under  some 
of  these  tremendous  pressures. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Barry  observed  that  considering  the  monumental  Mr.  Barry, 
nature  of  this  work,  and  its  possible  future  as  a  means  of  com- 
munication between  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,  he  regretted  that 
the  gradients  were  of  necessity  so  steep,  because  in  future  this 
would  no  doubt  become  a  serious  matter  in  working  expenses. 
But  apart  from  that,  and  regarding  the  railway  as  a  means  of 
communication  for  the  populations  of  the  two  great  towns  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  river,  he  was  struck  with  what  he  foresaw 
would  be  the  very  serious  annual  costs  compared  with  those  of  other 
passenger  lines,  such  as  those  in  the  metropolis.  These  annual  costs 
were  divided  into  the  cost  of  pumping  the  water,  the  ccst  of  the 
ventilation,  and  the  cost  of  the  lifts ;  and  in  considering  questions 
which  might  come  before  many  engineers  as  to  the  advisability  of 
recommending  either  a  tunnel  or  a  bridge  for  crossing  a  river, 
these  points  should  not  be  lost  sight  of.  He  hoped  the  Author 
would  state  the  annual  cost  of  pumping,  of  ventilation,  and  of 
working  the  lifts.  He  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  railways  which 
carried  the  population  of  London  at  remarkably  low  fares,  the 
capital  cost  of  which  lines  was  not  very  seriously  different  per  mile 
to  the  cost  of  this  undertaking.  He  knew  there  how  serious  a 
matter  it  was  to  be  saddled  with  annual  outgoings  other  than 
ordinary  locomotive-  and  traffic-expenses.  On  the  Metropolitan 
District  Eailway  there  were  some  expenses  in  pumping,  but 
they  were  very  small  indeed  as  compared  with  the  similar  ex- 
penses of  the  Mersey  tunnel.  Perhaps  the  Author  would  be  kind 
enough  to  mention  the  quantity  and  the  quality  of  the  water 
raised,  and  the  pressure  brought  upon  the  brickwork  if  the  pumps 
were  stopped.  He  had  some  little  knowledge  of  the  pressure 
which  had  been  experienced  in  the  Severn  tunnel,  and  it  would  be 
interesting  to  know  whether  any  registration  of  the  pressure  due 
to  the  water  had  been  arrived  at  in  the  Mersey  tunnel.  With 
regard  to  ventilation,  no  one  who  had  seen  the  ingenious  way  in 
which  it  was  managed  for  the  Mersey  tunnel  could  help  being 
struck  with  the  ability  with  which  it  had  been  grappled  with. 
On  the  other  hand  he  was  bound  to  take  exception  to  the  state- 


88 


DISCUSSION    ON   THE    MERSEY   RAILWAY. 


[Minutes  of 


Mr.  Barry,  ment  by  the  Author,  that  on  the  Metropolitan  District  Eailway 
the  holes  cut  in  the  roof  of  the  tunnel  communicating  -with  the 
outer  air  were  comparatively  ineffective ;  and  that  though  the 
products  of  combustion  were  to  some  extent  expelled  and  fresh 
air  was  drawn  in,  yet  in  the  absence  of  a  complete  system  of 
mechanical  ventilation  the  result  could  not  be  satisfactory.  He 
was  obliged  rather  to  challenge  that  statement  because  some 
misapprehension  had  evidently  crept  into  the  mind  of  Mr.  Fox 
and  of  other  persons  upon  that  point.  In  the  case  of  the  ten 
ventilators  of  the  Metropolitan  District  Eailway,  there  was  a  total 
in-draught  of  392,000  cubic  feet  of  fresh  air,  and  an  expulsion  of 
432,000  cubic  feet  of  foul  air  per  train,  giving  an  average  of 
40,000  cubic  feet  per  ventilator  taking  expulsion  and  in-draught 
only.     He  agreed  with  Mr.  Fox  that  if  by  ventilation  of  any  kind 

Metropolitan  District  Eailway  Ventilators. 
Summary  of  in-  and  out-draught  of  air  per  train. 


Ventilation. 

In-draught  in  Cubic 
Feet. 

Out-draught  in  Cubic 
Feet. 

No.    1 

43,538 

29,235 

,,     2 

25,263 

19,550 

„     3 

39,325 

26,560 

,,     4 

67,037 

35,200 

„     5 

41,990 

33,310 

»     6 

64,050 

84,017 

„     7 

37,050 

29,390 

„     8 

44,034 

57,761 

,.     9 

21,S35 

17,320 

„   10 

S,222 

100,030 

Total 

392,344 

432,373 

the  results  were  from  about  20  to  22  parts  of  carbonic  acid  and 
sulphurous  acid  gas  in  10,000  parts  of  air  there  would  be  a  very 
fair  amount  of  purity,  and  no  great  cause  of  complaiut.  A  calcu- 
lation of  the  area  of  a  cross-section  of  tunnel,  and  of  the  length 
of  the  tunnels  between  the  District  Eailway  ventilators,  would 
show  that  taking  the  out-draught  or  in-draught  of  air  only,  and 
taking  the  tunnel-mouths  into  account  on  each  side  of  the  venti- 
lators, the  air  was  changed  about  every  4^  trains  that  passed. 
Each  train  gave  out  per  foot  of  travel  about  5  parts  of  carbonic 
acid  and  sulphurous  acid  gas  in  10,000  parts  of  the  area  of  the 
cross-section  of  this  tunnel.  If  5  was  multiplied  by  4A-  the  result 
would  be  21  parts  in  10,000  of  the  impurities  due  to  the  passage 
of  trains  on  the  District  Eailway.     That  was  about  the  standard 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  89 

■of  purity  reached  "by  ventilators  in  the  Mersey  tunnel,  and  it  was  Mr.  Barry, 
quite  good  enough,  although  he  should  not  he  sorry  to  see  it  a 
little  better.  By  careful  chemical  analysis  of  the  air  in  the 
Metropolitan  District  Railway  tunnels,  it  was  found  that  after 
the  opening  of  the  new  ventilators  the  impurities  were  about  21 
in  10,000,  which  agreed  with  the  other  calculation.  Before  the 
ventilators  were  made  the  impurities  were  found  to  be  about  50 
parts  in  10,000.  The  result  was  that  instead  of  the  District 
Railway  ventilators  being  a  failure,  or  a  comparative  failure, 
almost  precisely  the  same  degree  of  purity  was  obtained  as  by  the 
ventilating  fans  on  the  Mersey  Railway.  But  there  was  one 
great  advantage  about  the  ventilators  on  the  District  Railway, 
namely,  that  the  motive  power  of  the  trains  was  utilized  for 
effecting  the  ventilation,  and  the  more  trains  were  run  the  more 
power  was  brought  in  to  carry  on  the  ventilation.  He  did  not 
mean  to  put  it  so  highly  as  to  say  that  if  the  number  of  trains  was 
doubled  there  would  be  an  equal  amount  of  purity,  because  the 
fouling  power  would  increase  at  a  larger  rate  than  the  expulsion 
or  in-draught  of  fresh  air ;  but  that  amount  of  power  was  obtained 
merely  from  the  passage  of  trains,  and  to  some  extent  in  relief  of 
the  passage  of  trains,  because  owing  to  letting  air  out  of  the  ven- 
tilators the  resistance  of  the  air  to  the  passage  of  the  trains 
was  less  than  if  there  were  no  ventilators  in  the  roof.  He 
thought  therefore  that  some  qualification  was  required  of  the 
statement  in  the  Taper,  that  without  mechanical  ventilation 
things  could  not  be  satisfactory.  The  District  Railway  venti- 
lators were  very  satisfactory  from  a  ventilating  point  of  view,  and 
the  air  which  issued  from  the  ventilators  Avas  by  no  means  foul, 
seeing  that  it  was  only  21  parts  of  foul  mixture  in  10,000.  The 
air  was  in  fact  as  good  as  on  the  Mersey  Railway,  which  had  been 
described  as  leaving  little  to  be  desired.  He  did  not  compare  the 
Metropolitan  Railway  with  the  Metropolitan  District  Railway, 
because,  owing  to  circumstances,  the  Metropolitan  was  not  so  well 
off  in  having  ventilating  spaces  as  the  Metropolitan  District,  and 
he  confined  his  remarks  entirely  to  the  District  line.  There 
had  been  a  considerable  amount  of  opposition  to  these  venti- 
lators, and  a  great  many  objections  had  been  taken  to  them.  It 
was  said  not  only  that  they  would  be  inefficient  but  also  that 
they  would  destroy  the  foliage  of  the  trees,  that  nothing  could 
grow  near  them,  and  that  they  would  be  most  offensive  to  passers 
by.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  these  things  had  turned  out  to  be 
entirely  illusory ;  no  plants  could  grow  better  than  those  that  grew 
round  the  ventilators  on  the  Thames  Embankment,  and  the  air  was 


90  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   JIEESEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Barry,  so  comparatively  pure,  the  impurity  being  reduced  as  it  was  to  2 1 
parts  in  10,000,  that  there  was  little  or  no  smell.  Captain  Douglas 
Galton  seemed  to  think  that  a  tunnel  of  the  length  of  the  Mersey 
tunnel  could  be  ventilated  by  dividing  it  into  two  tunnels  and 
trusting  to  the  action  of  the  trains,  but  Mr.  Barry  did  not  agree 
with  that  view.  A  short  single-line  tunnel  would  no  doubt  be 
able  to  ventilate  itself  by  the  action  of  the  train  pushing  or 
pulling  the  air  in,  but  the  experience  acquired  on  the  Under- 
ground Eailway  of  fans  was  this,  that  any  system  of  ventilation 
of  long  tunnels  was  liable  to  be  upset  by  a  strong  wind,  which 
appeared  to  render  almost  nugatory  the  action  of  a  fan  in  one 
direction.  The  same  result  would  follow  if  it  were  attempted  to 
rely  on  the  piston  action  of  the  train  in  a  long  tunnel,  but  the 
action  of  the  trains  was  quite  satisfactory  in  short  tunnels  or  in 
the  lengths  between  the  various  ventilating  holes.  As  far  as  his 
experience  went,  the  difficulty  belonging  to  all  mechanical  means 
of  ventilation  of  a  tunnel,  where  the  ends  were  open,  that  the 
whole  sj-stem  became  liable  to  be  upset  by  strong  winds,  could 
not  be  obviated.  That  difficulty  did  not  so  much  occur  in  a  rail- 
way so  far  underground  as  the  Mersey  Eailway,  but  for  one  near  the 
surface  these  effects  were  most  perceptible,  and  if  instead  of  a  large 
tunnel  for  a  double  line  of  rails  there  was  a  tunnel  for  a  single  line, 
the  effect  of  the  wind,  if  blowing  against  the  passage  of  the  train, 
would  be  most  pronounced.  He  had  no  doubt  that  in  a  long  single- 
line  tunnel,  heavily  worked,  which  was  dependent  merely  upon  the 
action  of  the  train  in  it,  the  air  would  be  found  to  be  so  foul  at 
times  as  to  be  almost  insupportable.  That  had  been  found  by 
experience  of  single-line  tunnels  in  many  parts  of  the  country; 
in  some,  under  certain  conditions  of  wind,  the  air  was  very  pure 
indeed,  but  in  other  cases  it  was  very  bad  indeed ;  and  he  recol- 
lected travelling  in  a  single-line  tunnel  in  France,  where  the 
engine-driver  was  found  in  a  fainting  fit  from  the  bad  air  on 
arriving  at  the  end  of  the  tunnel,  and  the  stoker  was  very 
nearly  in  the  same  condition.  Eetuming,  however,  to  the  subject 
of  the  Paper,  his  experience  of  railways,  which  carried  passengers 
at  a  very  cheap  rate,  led  him  to  believe  that  the  annual  outgoings 
would  be  serious  in  the  Mersey  tunnel.  It  was  a  very  difficult 
matter  in  London  to  carry  the  travelling  public  at  a  profit  when 
merely  paying  locomotive  and  traffic  expenses.  The  other  fixed 
costs  at  Liverpool  must  be  serious,  and  further  included  the  costs 
of  the  lifts.  Every  man  who  was  brought  to  a  station  in  London 
found  his  way  in  and  out,  on  his  legs ;  but  in  this  case  the 
passengers  had  to  be  raised  or  lowered  by  hydraulic  lifts.     These 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  91 

matters  were,  however,  incident  to  the  position,  and  he  did  not  Mr.  Barry, 
wish  to  say  more  in  the  way  of  criticism.     The  work  was  a  very 
difficult  one,  but  the  difficulties  had  been  met  in  the  most  able 
way,  and  he  congratulated  the  engineers  who  had  carried  out  the 
work  so  successfully. 

Mr.  B.  Baker  said  a  few  evenings  ago  he  had  to  admit  that  Mr.  Baker. 
English  bridge-builders  had  been  rather  worsted  in  an  international 
competition  about  an  important  bridge.  He  was  glad  to  claim 
that  to-night  they  had  got  the  best  of  it,  for  the  Mersey  tunnel 
was  really  the  first  important  subaqueous  tunnel  that  had  ever 
been  opened  for  public  traffic.  The  Americans  began  two  rather 
important  tunnels,  one  under  the  Hudson  River,  and  one  at 
Detroit,  and  in  both  cases  they  had  to  abandon  them,  and  they 
remained  now  partially  constructed  tunnels.  He  was  certain 
that  the  Taper  would  be  read  with  great  interest  by  American 
and  Continental  engineers  as  the  first  example  of  an  important 
tunnel  under  water.  It  was  specially  interesting  to  him,  because 
the  execution  of  the  work  solved  a  great  many  conundrums  to 
which  he  had  to  address  himself  some  years  ago,  in  considering 
with  Sir  John  Fowler  another  tunnel  under  the  Mersey.  With 
steel  plates  at  £0  a  ton  it  was  very  natural  to  consider  the  prac- 
ticability of  a  bridge  before  accepting  the  unknown  contingencies 
of  a  tunnel,  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  their  predecessors 
in  engineering  adopted  the  reverse  coiirse,  and  though  timorous 
as  regarded  large  bridges  they  were  really  far  less  nervous  about 
undertaking  subaqueous  tunnels  than  engineers  of  this  genera- 
tion. He  had  seen  at  Edinburgh,  some  two  or  three  years  ago,  an 
engraving,  with  a  printed  description  and  estimate,  dated  1803, 
of  a  proposed  tunnel  under  the  Forth.  There  were  two  tunnels 
15  feet  wide;  the  estimates  were  carried  out  in  great  detail,  and 
by  practical  miners,  who  were  prepared  to  execute  those  tunnels 
for  £30  a  yard.  They  did  not  expect  to  find  much  water,  as 
a  few  miles  up  the  Forth,  at  Bowness,  a  heading  had  been  driven 
for  more  than  a  mile  under  the  Forth,  and  at  Whitehaven  a 
heading  had  been  driven  under  the  sea  for  about  h  mile.  In 
both  cases  they  had  the  same  experience  that  Mr.  Fox  had  at 
the  Mersey,  and  Sir  John  Hawkshaw  had  at  the  Severn ;  naniely, 
that  there  was  less  water  under  the  sea  than  under  the  land  por- 
tion of  the  work.  He  thought  that  might  be  taken  as  being 
practically  proved  to  be  generally  so  in  rocky  strata,  and  the  fact 
had  an  important  bearing  upon  any  future  contemplated  sub- 
marine tunnel,  such  as  a  Channel  tunnel,  or  anything  on  a  bigger 
scale — a  tunnel  to  Ireland  perhaps.     One  of  the  most  interesting 


92  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Baker,  of  the  conundrums  which  had  puzzled  him  some  years  ago  as 
to  the  Mersey  tunnel,  hut  which  had  now  heen  solved,  was  the 
quantity  of  water  to  he  pumped.  Mr.  Fox  having  given  the 
actual  quantities,  he  turned  up  his  own  figures  with  some  curiosity, 
to  see  what  he  said  ahout  it  fifteen  years  ago,  and  found  that  he 
had  had  a  sanguine  fit  upon  him,  and  also  a  despondent  one,  and 
the  estimates  varied  correspondingly.  Upon  a  sanguine  view  of 
the  possibilities,  he  had  estimated  the  quantity  at  8,300  gallons 
per  minute.  Mr.  Fox  said  between  7,000  and  8,000  was  what 
it  was  thought  would  he  permanently  pumped,  and  plant  had 
heen  laid  down  for  pumping  18,700.  When  he  was  despondent, 
and  assumed  that  the  wettest  piece  of  rock  from  which  he  had 
obtained  data  would  extend  right  across  the  river,  his  figures 
came  up  to  36,700,  which  he  held  would  not  prevent  the  successful 
completion,  though  it  would  necessitate  very  powerful  pumping 
machinery.  The  more  sanguine  of  his  associates  considered  that 
4,000  gallons  a  minute  would  be  the  quantity,  and  finally  the 
promoters  went  to  Parliament  saying  that  they  expected  4,000, 
and  would  provide  machinery  for  8,000  gallons.  If  the}'  had 
adopted  the  ordinary  British  jury  plan,  and  taken  a  mean  of  the 
numerous  estimates  of  promoters  and  opponents,  it  would  have  come 
out  very  nearly  the  actual  figures  given  by  Mr.  Fox.  Something 
had  been  said  about  the  cost.  The  estimated  parliamentary  cost 
ranged  from  £133  a  yard  up  to  £400.  Mr.  Fox  did  not  give  the 
actual  cost.  It  would  not  have  been  possible,  perhaps,  for  him  to 
do  it,  because  so  many  items  were  included  that  it  would  be  very 
often  more  misleading  than  saying  nothing  at  all,  and  he  should 
not  be  surprised  if  Mr.  Fox  elected  to  say  nothing  about  the  cost 
per  yard.  Then  as  to  the  work  of  ventilation.  That  was  a  very 
interesting  subject  to  which  he  had  given  much  consideration. 
The  ventilation  required  was  dependent  upon  the  amount  of 
fouling  which  the  air  underwent,  and  that  was  largely  dependent 
upon  the  gradients.  In  this  case  the  gradients  between  the  stations 
at  Hamilton  Square  and  James  Street  were  extremely  favourable 
for  working  with  a  small  exj^enditure  of  fuel,  and  therefore  favour- 
able for  ventilation  also.  It  would  be  entirely  wrong  to  suppose 
that  the  fouling  of  the  air  with  such  dipping  gradients  need  at 
all  approach  that  on  the  Metropolitan  Eailway.  There  could  be 
nothing  better  than  the  dipping  gradients  between  stations,  because 
then  the  gradients  did  a  good  deal  of  the  work  of  the  engines. 
Thus  the  falling  gradient  was  equivalent  to  a  heavy  tractive  force 
of  the  engines,  and  got  them  up  to  a  high  velocity ;  and  ascending 
the  gradient  on  the  other  side,  pulled  up  the  train,  without  much 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MEBSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  93 

use  of  tile  brakes.  He  considered  trie  Mersey  tunnel  an  extremely  Mr.  Baker. 
favourable  line  to  work,  as  regarded  the  portion  between  Hamilton 
Square  and  James  Street.  Some  years  ago  he  made  some  careful 
experiments  on  the  working  of  the  Underground  Eailway  engines, 
noting  exactly  what  became  of  the  power  of  the  engines,  following 
up,  as  it  were,  the  expenditure  of  the  different  units  of  heat  as 
they  went  round  the  varying  gradients  from  Moorgate  Street  to 
the  Mansion  House.  He  found  that  on  a  level  line,  with  ^-mile 
stops,  and  36  lbs.  of  fuel  per  train-mile  burnt  by  the  engine,  about 
15  lbs.  were  utilized  in  overcoming  the  frictional  resistance,  and 
21  lbs.,  or  over  60  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  were  expended  in  getting 
up  the  speed,  and  by  the  brakes  in  pulling  up.  In  this  case,  of 
course,  most  of  the  latter  expenditure  would  be  obviated.  There 
was  a  smart  falling  gradient  to  get  up  speed,  and  a  rising  gradient 
to  pull  up  the  train,  so  he  thought  the  portion  of  the  line  between 
these  two  stations  could  be  worked  with  certainly  one-half  the 
combustion  of  fuel,  and  therefore  one-half  the  fouling  of  the  air, 
that  was  experienced  in  the  ordinary  i-mile  stoppages  of  the 
Metropolitan.  He  had  found  that  with  a  "  hog-backed  "  gradient 
of  1  in  100,  and  with  the  same  expenditure  of  fuel  as  on  the 
level,  the  speed  fell  off  10  per  cent.;  but  on  a  dipping  gradient 
it  was  increased  50  per  cent.,  the  stations  being  i-mile  apart. 
It  was  rather  singular,  but  in  1833  some  ingenious  man  had 
made  a  model  of  a  little  spring  locomotive,  and  a  length  of  rail- 
way like  this  with  dipping  gradients,  and  by  experiment  he 
found  that,  as  compared  with  the  level  line,  the  little  model 
train  traversed  the  distance  between  the  two  stations  in  two- 
thirds  of  the  time ;  that  was,  he  got  50  per  cent,  increase  of 
speed  with  the  same  power,  or  exactly  the  same  as  subsequent 
experience  on  a  large  scale  had  shown  to  be  the  case.  It  made 
such  an  impression  upon  the  public,  that  a  body  of  the  share- 
holders of  the  London  and  Birmingham  Railway  memorialized  the 
Directors  to  stop  the  construction  of  the  line,  and  to  proceed  with 
the  Liverpool  and  Birmingham  Railway  upon  this  plan  of  dipping 
gradients.  Of  course  the  fallacy  was  that  there  was  no  advantage 
in  running  down  and  up  again,  unless  there  was  a  station  at  each 
end,  at  which  it  was  wanted  to  pull  up.  In  the  case  of  the  Mersey 
Tunnel  there  was  a  station  at  each  end,  and  in  his  opinion  the 
gradients  between  Hamilton  Square  and  James  Street,  though 
they  appeared  at  first  glance  severe,  were  preferable  even  to  a 
level  line.  Mr.  Fox  gave  an  estimate  of  the  quantity  of  noxious 
gas  put  into  the  tunnel,  but  there  need  not  be  so  much  coal 
burnt   in   the   tunnel,  between  the  two  stations,  as  he  had  cal- 


94  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Baker,  ciliated.  On  the  other  hand,  of  course  every  one  would  understand 
noxious  gases  did  not  mean  what  might  he  called  the  smoke 
coming  out  of  the  funnel,  which  would  he  ten  times  as  much  as 
Mr.  Fox's  figures,  which  referred,  no  douht,  to  carbonic  acid  gas 
and  sulphurous  acid  gas.  The  possible  physical  difficulties  of  a 
line  like  the  Mersey  railway  were  very  great,  and  no  doubt  delayed 
the  construction  of  the  tunnel  for  fifty  years.  A  tunnel  under 
the  Mersey  was  spoken  of  at  the  time  that  the  Thames  tunnel 
was  under  construction,  and  it  was  said  that  it  would  have  been 
built  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  great  trouble  experienced  in  the 
Thames  tunnel.  The  periodicals  of  fifty  years  ago  made  frequent 
references  to  the  proposed  tunnel  under  the  Mersey.  It  was  ex- 
tremely difficult,  apart  from  physical  considerations,  to  carry  out 
a  work  of  that  kind,  unless  there  was  some  powerful  railway 
company  or  public  body  to  support  the  scheme.  In  the  case  of  the 
Severn  tunnel  there  was  the  Great  Western  Railway  Company, 
but  there  was  no  powerful  railway  company  behind  the  back  of 
the  Mersey  tunnel.  The  greatest  credit  was  therefore  due  to 
everybody  concerned ;  not  merely  the  engineers,  but  to  the  financial 
people  and  others,  who  had  made  this  long-discussed  project  a 
practical  fact  of  which  all  engineers  might  be  proud. 

Mr.  Ward.  Mr.  Hexry  "Ward  said  mention  had  been  made  of  the  cost  of 
electric  lighting,  as  against  the  cost  of  gas-lighting.  In  an  insti- 
tution with  which  he  was  connected  tenders  were  lately  received 
for  both  systems  of  lighting.  The  tender  for  gas  was  £1,200,  and 
that  for  electric  light,  by  the  incandescent  system,  £2,500,  but 
that  £2,500  did  not  include  the  buildings.  Nevertheless,  it  bore  a 
very  favourable  comparison  with  the  5  to  1  ratio  which  the  Author 
gave  as  being  the  ratio  of  the  cost  of  electric  light  to  gas.  With 
reference  to  ventilation,  it  seemed  to  him  that  at  best  this  tunnel 
was  only  ventilated  by  openings,  something  like  ^  mile  apart. 
When  mechanical  ventilation  was  used,  he  could  not  see  why  a 
more  perfect  system  should  not  be  adopted.  Mr.  Shelford  had 
spoken  of  the  section  of  a  tunnel  made  in  1837  as  having  a  very 
high  section,  probably  high  in  order  to  allow  space  above  the 
trains  for  the  collection  of  bad  gases.  He  could  not  see  why,  in  a 
tunnel  of  that  kind,  where  mechanical  ventilation  was  used,  an 
iron  tube  should  not  be  put  along  the  centre  of  the  tunnel  over- 
head, inside  above  the  centre  of  the  6-foot  way.  It  would  be  clear 
of  the  trains,  and  by  frequent  openings  the  bad  gases  could  be 
extracted  as  they  were  formed.  That  had  many  advantages,  in 
that  the  gases  would  be  hot  just  as  they  were  discharged  from  the 
locomotive,  instead  of,  as  at  present,  having  to  travel  for,  perhaps, 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY   LIFTS.  95 

J  mile  in  the  tunnel,  being  mixed  up  with  pure  air,  and  so  cooled  Mr.  Ward. 
and  very  possibly  allowed  to  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  tunnel. 
With  reference  to  Mr.  Eich's  Paper,  it  seemed  that  the  working- 
expenses  on  the  railway  were  very  heavy,  and  he  wished  to  draw 
attention  to  the  use  of  the  uneconomical  pumps  to  work  the  accu- 
mulators. He  was  surprised  that  neither  a  compound  engine  had 
been  used  for  the  work,  nor  a  simple  engine,  capable  of  using  the 
steam  expansively.  These  duplex  pumps  had  to  work  against  a 
fixed  head  of  water  ;  it  was  therefore  evident  that  there  could  be 
practically  no  expansion  of  steam  ;  the  steam  must  be  admitted  in 
each  case  up  to  the  end  of  the  stroke,  or  very  nearly  so.  That 
could  not  be  at  all  economical,  and  with  six  pairs  of  pumps 
working  continuously,  the  cost  of  coal  for  the  lifts  would  be 
double  or  treble  what  it  might  be,  and  the  total  amount  must  be 
serious.  Another  weak  point  about  the  pumps  was  the  fact  that, 
in  common  with  all  other  duplex  pumps,  neither  cylinder  had  any 
control  over  its  own  valve.  One  valve  was  thrown  over  by  the 
piston  of  the  other  cylinder,  no  matter  where  its  own  piston 
might  be.  The  result  was  that  the  length  of  stroke  could  never  be 
very  certain.  There  could  be  nothing  like  a  pump  controlled  by  a 
crank  for  certainty  in  the  length  of  the  stroke.  In  all  pumps  of 
the  simple  reciprocating  chai'acter  the  length  of  the  stroke  de- 
pended also  on  the  speed  at  which  they  worked.  At  high  speeds 
the  stroke  was  always  a  little  longer  than  at  low  speeds,  owing  to 
the  momentum  acquired  by  the  moving  parts.  Two  or  three  sug- 
gestions had  been  made  that  the  cost  of  certain  parts  of  the  work 
should  be  given.  That  really  would  be  most  helpful,  especially 
to  those  who  were  connected  with  contractors  :  a  statement  of  the 
cost  per  cubic  yard  of  the  rock  excavation,  the  cost  of  pumping,  or 
the  average  cost  of  pumping  per  cubic  yard  would  be  an  immense 
help  to  many  engineers. 

Mr.  James  N.  Shoolbred  said  his  long  residence  in  Liverpool,  Mr.  Shoolbre< 
particularly  at  the  time  when  the  late  Sir  Charles  Fox  obtained 
the  sanction  of  Parliament  to  this  undertaking,  had  led  him  to 
take  considerable  interest  in  it,  and  he  had  followed  it  with  much 
attention.  He  thought,  in  the  first  place,  the  engineers  and  those 
connected  with  the  railway  must  be  congratulated  on  the  nature 
of  the  bed  of  the  river,  as  it  had  turned  out.  Only  a  single  fault 
had  been  encountered  instead  of  the  numerous  ones  which  had 
been  predicted  in  consequence  of  the  broken  condition  of  the 
sand-stone  rock  in  the  foundations  of  the  Northern  Docks  in 
Liverpool.  A  very  interesting  feature,  geologically,  in  the  bed 
of  the  river  was  the  large  bed  of  boulder  clay  between  the  Liver- 


96  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Shoolbred.  pool  side  and  the  centre  of  the  river.  It  was  stated  to  have  "been 
originally  the  site  of  an  old  pre-glacial  bed  of  the  river  by  Mr.  T. 
Mellard  Eeade,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  who  predicted  its  being  found 
there,  basing  his  conclusion  on  the  fact  of  having  discovered  traces 
of  the  same  pre-glacial  bed  higher  np  the  river  at  Widnes,  and  again 
below  at  Runcorn.  His  prediction,  made  long  before  the  tunnel 
operations,  had  been  completely  verified  by  facts.  With  regard  to 
the  bed  of  the  river,  it  was  a  matter  of  some  interest,  as  showing 
the  porons  nature  of  the  rock,  that  the  quantity  of  water 
pumped  varied  sensibly  with  the  head  of  water  according  to  the 
state  of  the  tide,  and  also  the  amplitude  of  the  tides.  From 
information  kindly  furnished  him  while  examining  some  of  the 
pumping  machinery,  he  calculated  that,  at  neap-tides,  about 
3^  million  gallons  of  drainage-water  had  to  be  dealt  with  during 
the  whole  twelve-hours'  tide.  Of  course  a  large  portion  of  that 
water  was  land-water,  as  probably  it  was  drier  under  the  river 
than  elsewhere.  In  high  spring-tides  this  quantity  came  up  to 
about  4  million  gallons ;  the  difference,  therefore,  between  low  and 
high  tides  was  a  little  over  J  million  gallons.  The  ventilation 
arrangements,  which  he  had  also  examined,  seemed  very  satis- 
factory. The  subways  that  were  spoken  of,  as  having  been  erected 
lately  at  Liverpool  and  Birkenhead,  had  made  a  very  material 
difference  in  the  access  of  fresh  air.  They  acted  as  inlets,  and 
assisted  materially  in  keeping  the  stations  clear.  Of  course,  those 
circumstances  of  ventilation,  as  had  been  remarked,  were  very 
much  disturbed  at  an  open  end,  particularly  at  Hamilton  Square — ■ 
the  only  open  end  at  present — when  the  wind  blew  in  certain 
directions.  The  lighting  arrangements  by  gas,  as  carried  out  by 
Mr.  Sugg,  were  satisfactory.  The  gas  itself  sustained  no  material 
loss  of  pressure  at  that  low  depth,  only  about  1  inch ;  but  this 
might  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that,  both  on  the.  Liverpool  and 
the  Birkenhead  side,  it  was  supplied  direct  from  the  gasholder, 
and,  therefore,  the  loss  due  to  a  long  circuit  through  the  mains 
was  avoided.  As  Mr.  Fox  had  conferred  with  him  as  to  the 
possibility  of  lighting  the  stations,  &c,  by  electric  light,  he  felt 
bound  to  take  exception  to  the  statements  made  in  the  Paper,  or 
rather  to  the  inference  which  might  be  drawn  from  them,  which 
made  it  appear  as  if  electric  light  was  very  expensive  as  com- 
pared with  gas.  He  knew  that  in  contemplating  electricity  for 
that  particular  place  great  precautions  were  required,  and 
naturally  so,  to  prevent  any  extinction  taking  place,  and  therefore 
the  installation  would  have  been  of  an  exceptionally  expensive 
character.     It  was  not  fair  to  compare  an  installation  where  two 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  97 

hundred  lights  and  a  special  generating  station  were  required,  Mr.  Shoolbred 
with  a  large  commercial  undertaking  supplying,  on  the  Liver- 
pool side,  something  like  three  million  lights,  and  needing  no 
special  arrangements  other  than  to  carry  the  gas  direct  from  the 
ordinary  producers  into  the  tunnel.  Instead  of  lighting  by 
electricity  under  those  circumstances  appearing  so  much  more 
expensive,  he  would  assert,  if  a  similar  installation  of  gas  were  laid 
down  for  that  small  requirement,  most  unhesitatingly,  and  on  the 
authority  of  gas  engineers  of  considerable  experience,  that  the  gas 
would  be  more  expensive  to  lay  down,  and  also  to  work  afterwards. 
With  regard  to  the  effect  that  the  Mersey  Eailway  had  upon  the 
traffic  between  the  two  towns,  the  facilities  given  by  the  railway 
for  getting  from  one  town  to  the  centre  of  the  other,  without  the 
trouble  of  going  down  the  river,  were  telling  very  largely,  and 
people  were  availing  themselves  of  them.  He  understood  that  the 
effect  of  the  competition  was  very  much  to  the  detriment  of  the 
steam-boat  traffic. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Ellington  wished  to  say  a  few  words  on  Mr.  Eich's  Mr.  Ellington. 
Paper.  The  lifts  therein  described  were  the  first  that  had  been 
used  for  dealing  with  large  railway  traffic.  They  were  likely  to 
form  a  start  to  a  new  field  in  the  use  of  lifts.  In  many  other 
cases  similar  lifts  would  be  needed,  and  it  would  be  worth  while 
to  inquire,  therefore,  how  far  the  system  which  Mr.  Eich  had 
adopted  was  the  best  with  regard  to  safety,  to  general  efficiency, 
and  to  economy  in  working.  It  was  certain  that  the  results 
obtained  by  Mr.  Eich  would  be  the  best  that  could  be  had 
by  the  system  adopted.  But  he  submitted  that  it  was  not 
possible  to  obtain  so  good  a  result  with  lifts  working  with  low- 
pressure  as  it  would  be  if  they  were  worked  at  a  considerably 
higher  pressure.  He  could  not  think  that  the  reasons  which  had 
been  assigned  for  the  adoption  of  low-pressure  in  this  case  were 
conclusive.  He  regretted  that  the  full  particulars  had  not  been 
given  as  to  the  tests  made  with  this  machinery,  for  it  was  some- 
what difficult  to  compare  the  results  obtained  with  what  might  be 
expected  from  high-pressure,  without  those  details.  It  was  of 
very  little  value  to  have  a  statement  made  that  "the  average 
journey  is  accomplished  in  from  thirty  to  forty  seconds,  and  the 
three  lifts,  working  simultaneously,  are  capable  of  raising  a  heavy 
train  load  of  three  hundred  passengers  to  the  surface  in  about  a 
minute."  Was  it  intended  to  convey  the  impression  that  thirty 
seconds  was  the  maximum  speed,  or  were  greater  speeds  obtained, 
for  the  question  of  speed  was  a  very  important  one  ?  The  con- 
ditions under  which  these  lifts  had  to  work  seemed  to  be  eminently 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  H 


98  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY    RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Ur.  Ellington,  adapted  for  high  speeds.  They  had  to  rise  a  considerable  height 
without  any  intermediate  stops  :  and  certainly  everything  which 
could  reduce  the  time  in  the  transit  of  passengers  from  one  side  of 
the  river  to  the  other  was  a  decided  advantage.  He  should  also 
like  to  know  whether  the  speed  of  from  thirty  to  forty  seconds 
was  obtained  with  a  full  load  of  passengers,  because  if  the  maxi- 
mum speed  was  thirty  seconds  with  only  two  or  three  passengers 
in  the  cage,  it  was  manifest  that  a  much  reduced  speed  would  be 
obtained  with  a  full  load.  His  own  view  was  that  it  was  im- 
possible with  these  low  pressures  to  obtain  a  quick  working  speed 
with  a  direct-acting  ram  constructed  as  described.  Mr.  Eich  had 
given  the  calculations  upon  which  the  lifts  were  constructed ;  but 
accepting  the  particulars  he  thought  that  the  efficiency  there  stated 
could  hardly  be  realized  in  practice  with  a  full  load  of  passengers. 
The  size  of  ram  adopted,  18  inches  in  diameter,  with  the  height  of 
lift  of  87  feet,  rising  in  thirty  seconds,  would  involve  a  flow  of 
water  of  1,916  gallons  a  minute  during  the  ascent  of  the  lift,  and 
as  that  quantity  was  supplied  through  the  7-inch  pipe,  the  speed 
of  the  water  in  the  pipe  would  be  1,150  feet  per  minute.  It  was 
true  that  when  all  the  valves  were  open,  and  only  one  lift  was 
working,  the  velocity  of  water  in  the  three  pipes  would  be  reduced 
to  one-third  ;  but  that  showed  the  importance  of  having  the  exact 
data  in  order  to  compare  the  efficiency  of  these  machines.  In  fact, 
Mr.  Eich  stated  that  one  pipe  was  provided  for  each  machine,  and 
that  there  might  be  two  or  three — he  supposed  ordinarily  not 
more  than  two — travelling  at  the  same  time.  At  any  rate  there 
would  be  two  machines  travelling  at  the  same  time.  Comparing 
the  quantity  of  water  used  at  high-pressure,  700  or  800  lbs.  per 
square  inch,  as  against  76  in  the  case  of  the  Hamilton  Square  lifts, 
it  would  be  seen  the  quantity  of  water  would  be  only  one-tenth, 
and  it  was  obvious  that  the  friction  from  the  water  in  such  a  case 
would  be  very  much  less,  and  to  that  degree  there  would  be  greater 
economy.  But  that  was  not  the  only  point  in  dealing  with  these 
ram-lifts.  The  speed  of  the  motion  of  the  ram  lifting  90  feet  in 
thirty  seconds  was  very  considerable,  and  at  starting  the  whole  of 
the  length  of  the  ram,  90  feet,  was  immersed  in  the  water  of  the 
lift  cylinder.  The  water  had  also  to  pass  down  from  the  entering 
pipe  at  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the  ram,  so  that  there  was  a 
double  speed  of  water  passing  the  ram,  and  the  friction  of  the 
water  at  that  speed  was  considerable.  There  again  there  was  loss 
of  power,  and  this  loss  of  power  necessitated,  for  the  economical 
working  of  the  lift,  the  reduction  of  the  ram  to  the  smallest 
size  compatible  with  safety.      "Was  it  necessary  to  use  a  ram  of 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY   LIFTS.  99 

such  a  diameter  as  18  inches?  lie  could  not  follow  the  arguments  Mr.  Ellington, 
which  had  been  adduced  to  show  it  was  necessary.  Mr.  Eich  had 
stated  that  a  G-inch  ram  would  be  sufficient  to  carry  the  direct 
load,  but  that  it  would  be  very  weak  under  a  transverse  strain. 
Obviously  there  was  some  mistake  here,  not  with  reference  to 
the  particular  design  which  had  been  adopted  for  these  lifts, 
but  to  the  general  principle  upon  which  such  lifts  should  be 
constructed.  There  should  be  surely  no  possibility  under  the 
ordinary  conditions  of  working,  or  under  any  working  at  all, 
of  a  transverse  strain  coming  upon  the  ram  of  a  lift ;  and  later  on 
in  the  Taper  Mr.  Eich  said  that  his  method  of  construction  did 
remove  the  transverse  strain  in  consequence  of  the  chains  and 
counterbalance  weight,  which  kept  the  ram  and  the  cage  in  a  per- 
pendicular position.  If  Mr.  Rick's  design  was  examined,  it  would 
be  seen  that  there  was  very  little  guiding  at  the  guides.  The 
length  of  the  arm  of  the  guide  was  a  very  small  fraction  of  the 
width  of  the  cage,  and  he  would  submit  that  in  that  particular 
design,  the  guides  acted  more  to  prevent  the  twisting  of  the  cage 
than  to  keep  the  ram  itself  in  the  vertical  position,  and  to  ensure 
the  strain  passing  through  its  centre.  If  the  cage  was  thoroughly 
well  guided,  how  could  any  transverse  strain  come  upon  the  ram  ? 
but  even  if  that  transverse  strain  were  to  be  taken  into  account,  a 
ram  about  9  inches  in  diameter,  but  solid,  would  be  equally  as 
strong  as  the  18-inch  ram  used  by  Mr.  Eich.  The  use  of  a  ram  of 
9  inches  would  very  much  diminish  the  friction,  and  a  much 
higher  pressure  could  be  employed,  leading  to  greater  economical 
results.  He  thought  it  might  be  laid  down  as  a  rule,  in  all  cases 
where  hydraulic  pressure  was  employed,  that  it  was  desirable  to 
use  the  highest  pressure  that  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
admitted  of.  There  did  not  appear  to  be  anything  in  the  case  of 
the  Mersey  tunnel  lifts  which  should  have  led  to  the  adoption  of 
such  a  low  pressure  of  water,  especially  considering  the  great  cost 
which  had  to  be  incurred  in  order  to  produce  that  pressure.  The 
large  towers,  120  feet  high,  with  tanks  on  the  top  weighing 
50  tons,  were  surely  a  more  objectionable  feature  than  an  accumu- 
lator weighing  100  tons  in  the  basement ;  Mr.  Eich  mentioned 
200  tons — a  most  extravagant  estimate.  Merely  as  a  matter  of 
expense  and  strain,  there  did  not  seem  to  be  any  advantage  in 
putting  50  tons  on  the  top  of  a  tower  120  feet  high  in  order  to 
save  100  tons  down  below ;  and  which  could  be  very  much  reduced 
without  sacrificing  efficiency.  As  Mr.  Eich  had  spoken  on  the 
sacrifice  of  safety  in  doing  away  with  counterbalance  chains  and 
weights,  he  should  like  to  say  a  word  or  two  upon  that  point, 

h  2 


100  DISCUSSION   ON   THE  MEESEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Ellington,  because  the  counterbalance  chains  and  -weights  in  a  ram  lift  very 
much  altered  the  character  of  the  lift.  To  a  large  extent  it 
became  a  suspended  lift,  and  the  water-pressure  upon  the  ram 
simply  balanced  a  certain  quantity  of  weight  of  the  ram  and  cage, 
and  the  whole  lift  of  the  load  was  clone  by  gravity  acting  upon  the 
counterbalance  weights.  A  large  ram  necessitated  the  use  of 
very  heavy  and  large  chains  in  order  to  counterbalance  the  vary- 
ing displacement  of  the  ram.  The  use  of  large  chains  was  another 
impediment  in  the  way  of  a  high  speed  in  working  the  lift, 
because  it  produced  a  rough  unpleasant  motion  in  running 
machines  at  high  speed,  and  doubled  the  weight  of  the  moving 
parts.  He  noticed  from  the  calculation  that  Mr.  Eich  considered  it 
necessary  to  balance  the  whole  of  the  displacement.  He  had  not 
found  that  to  be  the  case  ;  in  fact,  he  had  found  when  a  ram-lift 
was  worked  at  high  speed,  that  while  it  was  desirable  in  point  of 
economy  to  balance  a  portion  of  the  displacement  the  difference  in 
the  friction  of  the  ram  immersed  in  the  cylinder — the  friction  of 
the  water — and  during  the  latter  part  of  the  stroke  the  friction 
in  air  was  sufficient  to  balance  a  considerable  amount  of  that  dis- 
placement. Of  course,  though  this  apparently  eliminated  the 
effect  of  the  loss  by  displacement,  the  loss  itself  in  the  economy 
of  the  lift  remained,  and  that  loss  increased  with  the  size  of  the 
ram  used.  With  these  long  ram-lifts  there  was  very  great  diffi- 
culty in  dealing  with  the  problems,  and  it  might  in  some  cases  be 
necessary  to  use  a  certain  amount  of  counterbalance  weight  and 
chains  or  wire  ropes.  The  only  way  in  which  they  could  be  used 
to  secure  safety  and  efficiency  in  working  was  for  balancing  that 
portion  of  the  displacement  which  was  necessary  to  be  balanced, 
while  the  lifting  power  of  the  machine  should  be  always  accom- 
plished by  the  hydraulic  pressure,  that  was,  the  ram  when  used 
should  be  always  in  compression  and  never  hanging.  Mr.  Eich 
had  referred  to  the  hydraulic  balancing  which  Mr.  Ellington  had 
introduced  of  late,  and  especially  as  to  its  being  the  intention 
of  that  arrangement  to  get  rid  of  the  weights  and  chains  to 
prevent  accident.  It  was  in  his  opinion  much  safer  to  do  without 
chains  or  wire  ropes  where  possible,  but  that  was  not  the  whole 
intention ;  the  further  intention  was  to  devise  a  system  which 
would  enable  a  ram  to  be  used  of  any  size  required  for  strength 
without  reference  to  the  working  pressure  employed,  and  that  had 
been  accomplished.  There  was  one  other  argument  which  he 
would  use  in  reference  to  high  pressure  as  against  low  pressure, 
and  that  was  the  public  distribution  of  hydraulic  power,  which 
had  been  in  successful  operation  on  a  large  scale  in  London  for  the 


Proceedings.]      DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY  LIFTS.  101 

last  three  years,  and  which  was  spreading  to  other  towns.  In  Mr.  Ellington 
many  instances  the  supply  of  power  from  the  public  mains  had 
resulted  in  an  economy  to  the  consumer  over  the  cost  of  erecting 
and  working  private  plant  upon  the  different  premises.  With  a 
view  to  the  full  advantage  of  this  public  supply  of  power  being 
obtained,  it  was  desirable  that  for  all  private  hydi-aulic  plant 
erected  hereafter,  some  standard  of  pressure  should  be  adopted. 
That  standard  had  practically  been  fixed  by  Sir  William  Arm- 
strong through  his  practice  over  the  last  thirty  years.  He  began 
with  low  pressure  and  abandoned  it  for  high  pressure.  It  was 
extremely  inconvenient  to  have  so  many  what  might  be  termed 
breaks  of  gauge  in  the  different  pressures  employed  by  different 
people  with  their  own  private  plant ;  and  when  the  question  arose 
of  reaping  economy  from  the  public  supply,  the  differences  in 
pressure  introduced  a  considerable  element  of  cost  and  difficulty 
into  the  process.  That  would  be  an  additional  reason  why  high 
pressure  should  be  employed  in  cases  such  as  the  Mersey  tunnel. 
He,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Woodall,  was  about  to  put  down  a 
system  of  pipes  in  Liverpool  on  the  same  system  as  that  at  work 
in  London.  He  should  much  like  to  know  whether  it  was  ad- 
visable to  adopt  a  working  pressure  of  700  to  800  lbs.  per  square 
inch.  If  so  he  failed  to  see  any  validity  in  the  argument  derived 
from  concentrated  duties  on  which  Mr.  Rich  relied  in  support  of 
his  selection  of  low-pressure  hydraulic  machinery. 

Mr.  W.  A.  Gibson  proposed  to  confine  his  remarks  to  the  Paper  Mr.  Gibson, 
of  Mr.  Eich  upon  the  "  Hydraulic  Passenger  Lifts  at  the  Under- 
ground Stations  of  the  Mersey  Railway."  If  the  matter  were 
merely  a  question  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  work  had  been 
done,  he  was  sure  that  there  would  be  only  room  for  the  language 
of  approval.  No  doubt  the  lifts  in  question  would  show  as  high  a 
degree  of  merit  and  efficiency  as  lifts  of  that  kind  could  possibly 
do.  His  main  purpose,  however,  was  to  bring  forward  what  he 
conceived  to  be  a  better  practice,  and  one  by  which  higher  results 
could  be  secured  at  a  less  cost.  For  a  few  years  past  the  tendency 
had  been  to  avoid  the  use  of  ram  lifts,  in  which  the  weight  of  the 
ram  and  cage  was  counterbalanced  by  means  of  weights  and  chain, 
and  to  employ  what  was  thought  to  be  a  safer  method,  viz.,  the 
hydraulic  balance.  The  firm  whose  work  was  under  consideration 
had  adhered,  however,  to  the  type  now  under  discussion,  and 
sought  to  avoid  any  dangers  attaching  to  that  method  by  excel- 
lence in  workmanship.  No  doubt  the  result  had  been  successful, 
so  far  as  excellence  of  workmanship  could  ensure  success ;  and  he 
did  not  mean  to  say  that  the  lifts  under  consideration  were  not 


102  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Gibson,  safe.  The  chains  which  attached  the  counterbalance  weights  to 
the  lift  were  as  strong  as  their  weakest  link.  It  did  not  appear 
from  anything  in  the  Paper  what  would  be  the  effect  of  the  break- 
ing of  the  hand-rope  ;  nor  that  there  was  any  arrangement  in  such 
a  case  to  cut  off  the  pressure  or  close  the  valve  at  the  end  of  the 
stroke.  He  confined  his  attention  for  the  present  purpose  to  the 
three  lifts  at  the  James  Street  Station.  It  was  stated  that  these 
lifts  had  a  stroke  of  76*6  feet,  and  that  each  one  was  designed  to 
lift  one  hundred  passengers.  The  rate  of  motion  was  given  as  being 
2  feet  per  second,  corresponding  to  thirty-eight  seconds  for  the 
rise.  Making  a  proper  allowance  for  the  time  consumed  in  receiv- 
ing one  hundred  passengers  into  the  cage,  discharging  them  at  the 
top,  receiving  other  passengers  wishing  to  descend,  and  discharg- 
ing them  at  the  bottom,  it  would  appear  that  about  twenty-five 
journeys  per  hour  could  be  accomplished  each  way ;  and  that 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  passengers  could  in  that  time  be 
lifted  in  the  three  lifts  to  the  upper  level.  He  did  not  go  into  the 
question  of  the  cost  of  doing  this,  preferring  to  assume  that  the 
highest  possible  efficiency  and  economy  had  been  secured  of  which 
this  type  of  lift  was  capable.  He  should  have  preferred  to  fix  in 
the  space  occupied  by  these  three  lifts,  either  three  lifts  of  much 
less  area,  or,  if  the  same  area  were  required,  not  less  than  six  lifts. 
The  lifts  now  there  were  moving  at  the  rate  of  2  feet  per  second, 
or  120  feet  per  minute ;  which  rate  of  speed  Mr.  Eich  conceived 
to  be  fast  enough,  "  considering  the  great  inertia  of  the  moving 
loads,  and  the  responsibilities  involved.  The  total  moving  mass 
when  a  lift  is  fully  loaded  is  nearly  30  tons."  He  was  not  in 
possession  of  any  information  as  to  the  amount  of  traffic  actually 
accomplished  or  expected.  It  was  safe  to  assume  that  the  traffic 
was  great  at  certain  hours  of  the  day,  and  considerably  less  at 
certain  other  hours.  Using  six  lifts,  having  a  combined  area  the 
same  as  that  of  the  three  now  employed,  he  would  move  them 
at  a  speed  of  say  350  feet  per  minute,  and  each  of  them  should 
carry  fifty  passengers,  assigning  to  each  passenger  the  same  space 
as  that  now  provided.  If  it  was  thought  that  a  speed  of  350  feet 
per  minute  was  too  great,  he  had  only  to  say  that  with  an 
experience,  extending  over  many  years,  he  had  invariably  found 
that  with  men  of  business  the  highest  attainable  speed  was  de- 
manded. It  was  fair  to  assume  that  nearly  all  those  who  would 
use  these  lifts  at  the  Mersey  tunnel  would  use  them  habitually, 
and  while  it  might  be  true  that  those  using  the  lift  for  the  first 
time  did  not  desire  high  speed,  it  was  quite  true — even  in  the  case 
of  ladies — that  as  soon  as  they  became  a  little  accustomed  to  it 


Proceedings.]        DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.         103 

they   preferred    it.      In   the   important    business   office-buildings  Mr.  Gibson. 

of  Xew  York,  the  speed  was  from  300  to  400  feet  per  minute, 

in  some  cases  even  greater  than  400  feet.      In  these  instances 

it  was   required   to  stop  at   the  different  floors.     In  the  tunnel 

lifts  there  was  this  additional   reason  in  favour  of  high  speed, 

that  there  were  no  intermediate  stops.     With  six  lifts,  in  place 

of  three,  moving  at   that   high   speed,  and   each   able   to   carry 

fifty  passengers,  the  duty  which  could  be  accomplished,  making 

the  same  proportional  allowances  for  time  consumed  in  receiving 

and  discharging  passengers  at  the  end  of  the  stroke,  would  be  sixty 

journeys  per  hour  each  way.  Each  one  of  the  lifts  could  raise  three 

thousand   passengers   per   hour ;  three  of  them  could  raise  nine 

thousand  per  hour — fifteen  hundred   more   than   the   three  now 

used ;  and  the  six  could  raise  eighteen  thousand  passengers  per 

hour.      The   machinery  made  to  do  this  would   show  the  same 

efficiency  as  that  which  had  been  constructed.     It  had  been  stated 

in  the  Paper  that  "  the  total  cost  of  the  six  lifts,  with  all  their 

attendant  machinery,  was  about  £20,000."     He  had  not,  of  course, 

gone  into  any  careful  computation  of  the  cost  of  doing  the  work, 

but  he  had  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  American  Elevator 

Company  would  bo  very  happy  to  take  a  contract  at  that  price  ; 

to   furnish  six   lifts,  having   the   power  just  described ;   and  the 

result  would  be  eminently  satisfactory  as  to  profit.     The  expense 

of  boring  would  be  avoided.     There  would  be  no  troubles  as  to  the 

obtaining,  or  the  possible  disturbance  of,  verticality  of  cylinders ; 

and,  in  the  opinion  of  many  eminent  engineers,  this  might  be  done 

with  at  least  as  low  a  cost  for  power  as  had  been  reached,  and 

with  a  degree  of  safety  unsurpassed.     If  the  three  existing  lifts 

could  perform  all  the  service  required,  then  three  of  the  rapid  lifts 

to  which  he  was  referring  would  perform  an  even  greater  service, 

and  the  expense  of  the  plant  would  be  proportionally  diminished. 

The  total  moving  mass  of  one  of  these  cages,  if  made  for   fifty 

passengers,  would  be  about  S  •  5  tons,  as  against  the  nearly  30  tons 

involved  in  each  of  the  present  lifts ;  or  if  there  were  three  cages, 

each  cage  designed  to  lift  one  hundred  passengers,  the  total  moving 

mass  would  be  16*95  tons;  and  these  figures  had  their  proper 

bearing  upon  the  question   of  speed.      He   hoped  to  be  able  to 

enlist  serious  attention  to  this  matter  of  rapid  lifts,  of  the  type 

called   the  Standard  Hydraulic   Elevator.      It  might  be   known 

to  few  of  the  members  that  his  company  was  connected  with  the 

largest  makers  of  lifts  in  the  United  States.    There  were  now  about 

four  thousand  of  these  hydraulic  lifts  in  working.     At  the  end  of 

the  first  half  of  the  year  1884  there  were  in  the  city  of  New  York 


104  DISCUSSION   ON   THE  MERSEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Gibson,  alone  five  hundred  and  twenty-one  of  these  lifts  for  passengers, 
and  nine  hundred  and  seventy-six  exclusively  for  goods.  A 
careful  estimate  had  been  made  of  the  amount  of  duty  done  by 
these  lifts  in  New  York  alone,  and  it  had  been  estimated  that  the 
goods  lifts  were  carrying  daily  more  than  10,000  tons  of  merchan- 
dise ;  and  that  the  passenger  lifts  were  carrying  daily  more  than 
four  hundred  thousand  passengers.  It  might  give  a  better  idea 
of  the  amount  of  this  service  if  he  remarked  that  at  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Inner  Circle  Eailway,  in  September  1884,  Sir  Edward 
Watkin  said  that  in  the  preceding  year  the  Metropolitan  Eailway 
had  carried  eighty-five  millions,  and  the  Metropolitan  District 
Eailway  forty  millions,  making  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
millions  per  annum ;  or,  three  hundred  and  forty-two  thousand 
four  hundred  and  sixty -six  per  day ;  so  that  therefore  these  lifts 
were  carrying  in  New  York  more  people  per  day  than  the 
Underground  Eailways  of  London.  This  was,  as  he  said  before, 
estimated,  but  the  estimate  had  been  carefully  made,  and  he  had 
no  doubt  as  to  its  accuracy. 

Sir  D.  Fox.  Sir  Douglas  Fox  said  that  Sir  James  Brunlees  and  he  felt 
that  it  was  appropriate  that  his  brother  Mr.  Francis  Fox  should 
be  the  Author  of  that  Paper,  because  they  were  both  much  in- 
debted to  him  for  his  watchful  care  over  the  details  of  the 
work.  Mr.  Baker  touched  the  key-note  with  reference  to  this 
enterprise  when  he  said,  while  speaking  about  the  way  in  which 
physical  difficulties  had  been  met,  that  there  were  no  doubt  other 
and  greater  difficulties  to  be  faced,  before  the  work  was  carried  to 
completion.  He  thought  it  was  his  duty  therefore  to  emphasize 
very  distinctly  the  words  which  were  found  on  the  first  page  of  the 
Paper,  where  the  financial  difficulties  were  spoken  of.  All  who  were 
in  any  way  connected  with  the  Mersey  Eailway  realized  that  it 
would  never  have  come  into  being,  at  any  rate  at  that  time,  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  enterprise  of  Major  Isaac,  who  came  forward 
when  not  only,  he  was  sorry  to  say,  a  great  many  engineers,  but 
the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Liverpool  and  Birkenhead  were 
opposed  to  the  project,  not  as  a  question  of  traffic — they  all  be- 
lieved in  that — but  from  the  notion  that  the  river  was  impassable. 
This  gentleman,  with  his  friends,  risked  over  £100,000  in  order 
to  prove  distinctly,  that  it  was  possible  to  put  this  tunnel  under 
the  river.  He  should  also  like  to  say  that  the  Engineers  of  the 
Company  were  most  fortunate  in  the  fact,  that  the  work  which 
they  had  to  surpervise  was  entrusted  to  such  eminently  practical 
men  as  Messrs.  Waddell  and  Sons  of  Edinburgh.  They  imported 
into  the  work  a  great  experience  in  tunnel  construction,  together 


Proceedings.]      DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MEESEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.  105 

•with  that  energy  which  was  found  so  often  on  the  other  side  Sir  D.  Fox. 
of  the  Tweed ;  and  they  also  "brought  with  it  a  very  important 
characteristic,  namely,  extreme  caution  ;  the  consequence  was  that, 
with  their  assistance,  the  engineers  were  able  satisfactorily  to  com- 
pass the  difficulties  which  arose  during  the  progress  of  the  tunnel. 
The  quantity  of  water  met  with  was  given  in  the  Paper  as  be- 
tween 7,000  and  8,000  gallons  per  minute,  and  no  doubt  the  water 
from  the  first  was  brackish,  or  slightly  brackish.  It  was  quite 
true,  as  Mr.  Shoolbred  had  pointed  out,  that  the  volume  of  water 
was  affected  by  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide.  The  company  had 
"been  rather  unfortunate  with  reference  to  water,  for  the  largest 
feeders  that  were  met  with  had  been  tapped  directly  the  first 
shaft  had  been  sunk  at  Liverpool.  A  great  deal  of  the  success 
with  which  the  work  had  been  carried  out  had  been  due  to  the 
resolution  that  was  come  to  at  first  to  drive  a  drainage-heading, 
and  not  to  attempt  to  deal  with  the  water  in  the  face  of  the 
working.  This  heading  was  driven  from  shaft  to  shaft,  with 
gradients  falling  towards  the  shafts,  and  the  water  was  thus 
carried  away  from  the  men  as  they  worked.  The  heading  at  that 
time  was  a  very  interesting  sight,  as  showing  the  energy  with 
which  contractors  could  deal  with  work  of  that  class.  The  sight 
was  also  very  interesting  when  the  tunnel  was  in  full  work,  after 
the  drainage-heading  had  been  driven,  and  the  top-heading  in 
the  tunnel  was  proceeding  with  no  less  than  twenty-four  faces 
opened  at  the  same  time.  It  was  "by  that  means  that  the  com- 
pletion of  the  main  tunnel  followed  so  rapidly  upon  the  drainage- 
heading.  When  the  work  was  first  proposed,  all  sorts  of  diffi- 
culties were  suggested,  the  chief  one  being  that  everybody  was 
quite  certain  that  the  sandstone  was  full  of  fissures,  and  that, 
through  those  fissures,  the  river  Mersey  would  immediately  come 
in  upon  the  tunnel.  It  was  only  fair  to  point  to  the  evidence  of 
Sir  John  Fowler,  Past-President  Inst.  C.E.,  who,  in  connection 
with  a  similar  Bill  for  crossing  the  river  a  little  higher  up,  at 
the  same  time  when  the  Mersey  Eailway  first  came  into  existence 
as  an  authorized  work,  stated  that,  in  his  opinion,  there  might  be 
fissures,  but  if  there  were,  they  would  be  the  driest  part  of  the 
work.  That  had  always  been  also  his  opinion.  Only  one  fissure 
had  been  encountered,  and  that  certainly  was  drier  than  most 
other  parts  of  the  work;  therefore  the  prophecy,  as  far  as  that 
was  concerned,  came  true.  With  reference  to  the  steep  gradients, 
it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  have  gradients  which  would  bring 
the  line,  at  any  rate,  at  the  further  end  of  Liverpool  and  Birken- 
head, somewhere  near  the  surface.     Even  the  gradients  that  had 


10G  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Sir  D.  Fox.  been  adopted  led  to  considerable  difficulties  at  two  of  the  stations, 
and  to  what  certainly  never  had  been  done  before,  namely,  tho 
construction  of  passenger  stations  for  a  very  large  traffic,  at  a 
depth  of  about  80  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  But 
those  gradients  were  not  so  exceptionally  difficult,  because,  as 
Mr.  Baker  had  pointed  out,  they  fell  in  one  direction  and  rose 
in  the  other,  and  there  was  no  intermediate  station.  The  loco- 
motives ran  down  the  bank  with  just  the  least  touch  of  the 
automatic  brake  upon  the  train,  the  consequence  being  that  the 
other  gradient  was  half  conquered  before  the  engine  felt  it.  Ab 
a  matter  of  experience,  he  wished  to  emphasize  what  was  said  in 
the  Paper  with  reference  to  the  use  of  blue  and  of  brindle  bricks. 
Where  the  pressure  was  great,  and  cement  used  for  the  brick- 
work, the  rough  brindle  brick,  a  cheaper  brick  than  the  best  blue 
Staffordshire,  was  much  more  efficient  in  holding  the  cement. 
"With  reference  to  the  point  raised  by  Captain  Galton,  the  adoption 
of  two  single  tunnels  instead  of  a  double  tunnel,  he  need  hardly 
point  out  to  practical  engineers  that  two  single  tunnels  would  be 
more  costly  than  one  double  one.  The  matter  had  been  carefully 
considered  by  Sir  James  Brunlees  and  himself  before  recommending 
the  precise  form  of  tunnel  that  was  adopted.  Another  point  was 
this.  It  was  a  fallacy  to  imagine  that  a  single  tunnel  would 
be  ventilated  by  the  action  of  the  train ;  his  experience  went  to 
the  contrary.  Those  who  had  occasion  to  travel  over  the  tem- 
porary railway  on  Mont  Cenis,  would  remember  their  experience 
in  that  respect.  They  had  to  pass  through  single  avalanche 
galleries,  and  the  effect  was  most  oppressive.  A  short  time  since 
evidence  was  given  with  respect  to  the  Ledbury  tunnel,  a  single 
line,  that  the  men  were  often  found  lying  on  the  foot-plate 
of  the  locomotive  when  they  arrived  at  the  end,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  noxious  fumes.  The  fact  was  that  a  single  tunnel 
would  not  be  ventilated  with  only  the  passage  of  the  trains, 
and  mechanical  ventilation  must  be  applied,  as  in  the  case]  of  a 
double  tunnel,  to  obtain  efficient  ventilation.  He  had  listened 
with  great  interest  to  what  Mr.  Barry  said  with  reference  to 
the  Metropolitan  District  Eailway.  There  was  nothing  further 
from  his  wish  than  to  make  any  comparison  between  the  two 
systems  of  ventilation  as  carried  out  in  London  and  in  Liver- 
pool. He  might,  however,  point  out  that  in  the  case  of  the 
Mersey  Eailway,  for  a  considerable  length  blow-holes  were  im- 
possible, and  in  reference  to  the  other  part  of  the  railway, 
whether  it  was  prejudice  on  their  part,  or  not,  the  Corpo- 
rations  of   Liverpool    and   Birkenhead   declined    to   allow   them 


Proceedings.]        DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY   LIFTS.         107 

to  be  opened,  on  any  terms,  into  the  streets,  and  therefore  the  Sir  D.  Fox. 
noxious  gases  had  to  be  dealt  with  in  some  other  way.  Not  only 
so,  but  the  company  had  to  compete  with  a  most  efficient  ferry 
crossing  the  river,  and,  if  it  had  been  attempted  to  make  the  public 
put  up  with  what  perhaj^s  might  have  been  satisfactory  in  com- 
parison with  the  fogs  in  London,  he  was  quite  sure  the  passengers 
would  not  have  been  satisfied.  "With  reference  to  the  lifts  he 
would  not  go  into  detail,  but  would  only  say  that  Sir  James 
Brunlees  and  he  had  very  carefully  considered  several  proposals 
from  the  leading  English  niamifacturers  of  hydraulic  machinery, 
before  adopting  the  one  now  at  work,  and  which  was  giving 
great  satisfaction.  He  was  sorry  that  they  did  not  receive  an 
offer  from  the  American  Elevator  Company.  He  had  the  greatest 
respect  for  everything  done  in  America,  and  he  felt  it  a  great 
honour  to  be  a  member  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers. 
They  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  system  adopted  was,  on  the 
whole,  the  safest,  which  was  the  chief  thing  to  be  considered. 
They  felt  that  they  were  trying  to  some  extent  an  experiment. 
Each  lift  carried  one  hundred  passengers,  and  in  fact  three  hundred 
could  be  carried  at  a  time,  because  there  were  three  lifts  at  each 
station,  and  they  could  all  be  worked  together.  The  consequence 
was  that,  if  a  train  came  in  with  three  hundred  passengers,  they 
could  be  taken  to  the  top  without  delay.  To  do  that,  the  direct- 
acting  lift  with  its  large  ram,  with  a  safety  -bolt  which  had  been 
rather  lost  sight  of  in  the  discussion,  an  iron  bolt  running  up  the 
middle  of  the  ram,  was  considered  to  be,  on  the  whole,  the  safest 
thing  that  could  be  selected.  Great  credit  was  due  to  Messrs. 
Beyer,  Peacock  and  Co.  for  the  way  in  which  they  had  carried  out 
the  design  of  the  locomotives.  They  were  by  far  the  largest,  or 
at  any  rate  the  heaviest,  engines  that  had  been  made.  He  did 
not  say  that  was  an  advantage,  but  it  was  necessary  in  this  case, 
and  they  had  done  their  work  admirably.  They  not  only  con- 
densed well,  but  they  gave  just  the  tractive  force  that  was 
required.  They  could  stop  or  start  with  their  train  on  a  gradient 
of  1  in  27.  They  surmounted  the  inclines  and  took  the  curves 
with  the  greatest  ease,  and  though  they  were  so  heavy  and 
seemingly  so  cumbersome,  yet  when  in  actual  work  they  were 
completely  under  control.  There  was  not  anything  very  new 
about  the  section  of  the  tunnel ;  for  it  was  much  the  same  as 
Mr.  Barlow's  tunnel  at  Haverstock  Hill.  It  turned  out  very 
satisfactory ;  it  gave  all  the  strength  needed,  and  all  the  space 
for  fresh  air  that  was  required.  He  felt  sure  that,  if  any  of  the 
Members  would  go  down  to  Liverpool,  and  look  over  the  Mersey 


108  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Sir  D.  Fox.  Railway,  they  would  agree  that  the  work  that  had  been  executed 

"by  the  Contractors  was  as  good  as  even  England  had  ever  seen. 
Mr.  F.  Fox.  Mr.  Francis  Fox,  in  repty  upon  the  discussion,  said  that  the 
cross-section  of  the  Eiver  Tunnel  was  the  same  throughout,  except 
for  a  short  distance  where  the  tunnel  had  to  be  lowered,  in  which 
case  one  section  was  coned  into  the  other.  With  reference  to  the 
suggestion  that  the  tunnel  should  be  divided  longitudinally  by  a 
vertical  diaphragm,  the  experiment  was,  he  understood,  tried  on 
the  Metropolitan  Railway,  where,  owing  to  the  tunnel  having 
been  originally  made  for  the  broad  gauge  of  the  Great  Western 
Railway,  sufficient  width  existed  to  enable  it  to  be  tested.  It 
proved,  however,  to  be  worse  than  useless.  The  train  acted  to 
some  extent  as  a  piston,  and  forced  the  smoky  contents  of  the 
tunnel  into  the  station  beyond ;  but  it  also  left  sufficient  smoke 
behind  in  its  trail  to  cause  inconvenience  to  the  train  following. 

The  other  objections  to  this  suggestion  were  that  the  tunnel 
required  to  be  constructed  of  an  additional  width  of  5  to  6  feet ; 
and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  if  the  train  had  to  act  as  a 
piston  additional  power  would  have  to  be  provided.  It  was, 
therefore,  best  to  apply  this  power  in  the  form  of  a  fan  engine, 
and  to  take  away  the  smoke  by  a  special  ventilating  air-way. 
Mr.  Barry  had  referred  in  such  a  kindly  manner  to  the  subject  of 
ventilation,  that  he  preferred  not  to  draw  any  comparison  between 
the  Mersey  Railway  and  the  Metropolitan  Railways  of  London. 
There  was  a  more  delicate  means  of  indicating  the  presence  of 
bad  air  than  any  chemical  test,  which  was  readily  applicable  and 
in  the  possession  of  every  one ;  the  lungs  and  throat  would  discern 
the  presence  of  sulphur  when  the  most  delicate  chemical  test  failed 
to  do  so. 

In  addition  to  the  passenger  lifts  there  were  at  each  station  a 
staircase  and  an  inclined  subway,  both  of  which  were  largely  used. 
Undoubtedly  the  cost  of  pumping  and  ventilating  were  additional 
charges  upon  the  cost  of  working  the  railway  as  compared  with 
ordinary  railways,  and  it  was  to  meet  these  and  other  expenses 
that  Parliament  authorized  the  Company  to  charge  a  5-mile  toll 
over  the  1  mile  of  railway  beneath  the  Mersey.  At  present  the 
traffic  was  purely  local,  but  so  soon  as  the  contemplated  junctions 
were  effected,  enabling  through-passenger  and  goods  traffic  to  be 
conveyed  at  through  rates,  the  additional  charges  would  not,  it 
was  anticipated,  bring  up  the  percentage  of  working  expenses  to 
the  average  of  other  railways.  In  reply  to  Mr.  Baker's  remarks 
as  to  the  quantity  of  water  to  be  pumped,  the  "  feeder,"  as  given 
in  the  Paper,  was  between  7,000  and  8,000  gallons  per  minute. 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY   LIFTS.         109 

He  was  strongly  of  opinion  that  an  ample  margin  of  power  should  Mr.  F.  Fox. 
always  be  provided  in  such  cases,  so  as  to  allow  for  accidents  and 
for  repairs.  For  each  1,000  gallons  that  had  to  he  pumped,  pro- 
vision should  he  made  for  2,000  or  2,500  gallons,  and  hence  the 
figxiro  of  18,800  gallons  was  given,  not  as  the  probable  extent  of 
the  feeders,  but  as  the  margin  of  power  provided.  In  reply  to  a 
suggestion  that  it  would  be  better  to  fix  an  iron  tube  along  the 
soffit  of  the  tunnel,  over  the  engine  funnel,  into  which  the  pro- 
ducts of  combustion  would  be  thrown,  and  drawn  out  by  the  fans 
before  mixing  with  the  air  of  the  tunnel,  this  was  carefully  con- 
sidered ;  and  the  conclusion  was  that,  although  at  some  future 
time,  when  the  traffic  became  very  heavy,  it  might  be  desirable, 
at  the  present  time  it  was  unnecessary.  The  corrosion  of  long 
iron  tubes  over  the  trains  would  be  rapid,  and  the  effect  on  the 
ventilation  was  open  to  some  doubt. 

The  Author  considered  it  due  to  Mr.  Shoolbred  to  admit  frankly 
that,  had  the  cost  of  gasworks  been  included  in  the  comparative 
costs  between  gas  and  electric  lighting,  the  difference  would  have 
been  very  much  less.  But  what  the  Company  had  to  consider 
was  what  the  comparative  cost  would  be  of  gas  or  of  electric 
lighting.  In  the  former  case  gas  was  available  on  the  spot, 
whereas,  had  electricity  been  adopted,  complete  generating  plant 
would  have  been  necessary.  It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten 
that  the  price  charged  for  1,000  cubic  feet  of  gas  included  interest 
on  the  capital  expended  by  the  Gas  Company.  Much  credit  was 
due  to  Mr.  Mellard  Eeade  for  his  scientific  foresight  in  predicting 
the  existence  of  the  old  river-bed,  which  was  encountered  in  the 
construction  of  the  tunnel. 

It  might  be  interesting  to  mention  that,  on  the  recent  occasion 
of  the  visit  of  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  to  Liverpool,  the  number  of 
passengers  who  passed  through  the  tunnel  on  one  day  was  between 
49,000  and  50,000,  the  greater  number  of  whom  travelled  between 
five  p.m.  and  midnight,  thus  proving  that  with  a  more  distributed 
traffic  the  capacity  of  the  tunnel  would  bo  very  large. 

Mr.  Kich,  in  reply  upon  the  discussion,  said  it  was  a  matter  of  Mr.  Rich. 
no  small  satisfaction  to  him  that  all  those  who  had  commented 
upon  the  lifts  had  practically  admitted  that  they  had  been  carefully 
designed,  and  were  safe  for  passengers'  use.  Mr.  "Ward  had  ex- 
pressed surprise  that  duplex-pumping  engines,  working  without 
expansion,  had  been  adopted ;  and  he  commented  on  the  variation 
in  length  of  stroke  in  all  engines  of  this  type.  Mr.  Rich  admitted 
that,  for  steady  pumping-duties,  engines  more  economical  than 
these  in  their  steam  consumption  might  have  been  adopted ;  but 


110  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Rich,  the  engines  in  question  were  called  upon  to  stop  and  to  start  in  a 
fraction  of  a  second,  and  during  five  months  they  had  worked  the 
lifts  direct,  without  the  assistance  of  any  top  tank  or  accumulator. 
He  thought  it  would  he  very  inconvenient  to  apply  rotative- 
pumping  engines  to  work  the  lifts  in  so  direct  a  manner.  More- 
over, the  great  simplicity  of  the  engines  gave  advantages  more 
than  equivalent  to  the  value  of  a  little  extra  coal.  In  duplex- 
engines  with  long  strokes  of  pistons  and  valve-rods,  and  steam- 
jacketed  cylinders,  such  as  those  described  in  his  Paper,  the 
variation  in  length  of  stroke  was  very  slight.  It  was  thought  by 
Mr.  Ellington  that  a  considerably  higher  hydraulic  pressure  from 
an  accumulator,  and  greater  speed,  should  have  been  adopted,  and 
also  that  the  lift-rams  should  under  no  possibility  be  subject  to 
transverse  strains,  that  they  should  never  be  in  tension,  and  that 
9-inch  solid  rams  would  have  been  preferable  to  the  18-inch  hollow 
rams  adopted.  It  was  easy  to  prescribe  such  modifications,  but 
what  would  be  the  effect  of  adopting  a  9-inch  solid  ram  in  one  of  the 
James  Street  lifts  ?  Let  it  be  nearing  the  top  of  its  stroke,  with 
the  cage  empt}r,  and  still  some  thrust  upwards  upon  the  cage 
bottom.  Then  the  weight  of  the  counterweights  and  chains  or 
ropes  must  be  very  much  reduced,  and  the  solid  ram,  which  would 
weigh  about  17,600  lbs.,  or  86  per  cent,  more  than  the  hollow 
rani,  must  either  be  unbalanced  altogether,  or  some  complicated 
hydraulic  apparatus  must  be  introduced  to  balance  it.  If  hydraulic 
balancing  were  adopted  with  a  9-inch  solid  ram,  the  thrust  at  the 
top  end  of  the  ram,  with  the  lift  fully  loaded,  and  rising,  would  be 
increased  from  11,900  lbs.,  as  in  the  present  lifts,  to  34,700  lbs., 
and  the  margin  of  safety  in  the  ram  as  a  column  would  be  reduced 
from  31,  its  present  amount,  to  4*1,  which  he  would  consider 
inadmissible.  At  the  same  time  the  margin  of  safety  to  resist 
unequal  loading,  as  shown  in  the  Appendix,  would  be  reduced 
from  6-6  to  3'1.  If  a  9-inch  ram,  balanced  with  chains  and 
counterweights,  as  in  the  present  lifts,  were  adopted,  the  counter- 
weights would  have  to  be  increased  60  per  cent.,  and  the  chains,  of 
suitable  size  to  balance  the  displacement,  would  be  loaded  to  more 
than  "  proof "  load.  Mr.  Ellington  considered  that  transverse 
loading  on  the  ram  should  be  impossible.  The  Author  was  fully 
aware  that  with  a  high  and  very  stiff  cage,  and  with  guides,  top 
and  bottom,  it  would  be  possible  to  eliminate  transverse  strains  ; 
but  in  view  of  wear  of  guides  and  other  contingencies,  he  would 
consider  it  imprudent  even  then  to  provide  for  no  transverse 
strains  being  brought  upon  the  ram ;  and  in  view  of  the  large 
area  of  the  cage  in  this  case,  he  believed  the  system  of  four  guides 


Proceedings.]       DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY  RAILWAY   LIFTS.        Ill 

acting  in  one  plane,  at  the  cage-frame  level,  was  by  far  the  best  Mr.  Rich, 
and  safest  to  adopt.  The  chains  were  passed  through  hot  oil 
before  they  were  erected,  and  they  worked  over  large  pulleys  with 
moderate  loads  on  them,  and  in  practice  they  caused  no  noise  nor 
vibration.  "With  regard  to  the  speeds,  numerous  records  had  been 
taken,  showing  that  in  practice  the  attendants  regulated  the  lifts 
to  work  at  an  average  of  rather  over  2  feet  per  second.  When 
last  at  Liverpool  he  entered  B  lift  on  an  ordinary  journey  with 
forty-two  passengers,  and  noted  that  it  went  from  bottom  to  top 
in  thirty-three  seconds,  and  he  thought  that  no  advantage  would 
be  gained  from  working  faster.  Considerably  more  time  was 
occupied  by  passengers  in  entering  and  leaving  the  lifts  than  was 
required  for  the  actual  journeys  up  and  down.  Referring  again  to 
the  question  of  hydraulic  pressure,  he  saw  no  advantage  in  adopting 
700-lbs.  pressure  when  lifts  only  were  to  be  worked.  The  packings 
and  wearing-surfaces  certainly  required  veiy  much  more  attention 
with  high  pressure,  and  such  pressure  could  not  be  applied  to  work 
a  long-stroke  ram  direct.  For  such  large  demands  as  those  under 
consideration,  the  Mersey  Eailway  Company  could  certainly  do 
the  pumping  at  considerably  less  cost  than  it  could  buy  high- 
pressure  water-power  from  any  independent  company,  and 
consequently  there  was  no  object  in  using  an  inconvenient 
pressure  in  this  case.  Besides,  he  understood  that  the  quotations 
submitted  for  high-pressure  lifts,  with  all  their  attendant  apparatus, 
were  much  greater  than  for  the  low-pressure  system  adopted. 
As  regarded  the  mechanical  efficiency  of  the  lifts,  he  had  found, 
by  careful  experiments  on  F  lift,  that  the  ultimate  efficiency  at 
low  speeds  was  86  per  cent. ;  in  other  words,  the  foot-lbs.  of  useful 
work  done  in  raising  the  maximum  load  which  could  be  raised 
with  the  tank  full  of  water,  and  the  pumps  shut  off,  was 
86  per  cent,  of  the  foot-lLs.  expended  in  allowing  the  water 
used  to  pass  from  high-water  level  in  the  top  tank  to  the  dis- 
charge-pipe orifice  in  the  bottom  tank,  the  lift  at  the  same  time 
being  so  counterweighted  that  it  would  descend  freely  when 
empty.  Mr.  Ellington  had  elsewhere  shown  that  he  would 
consider  this  93  per  cent,  efficiency 1 ;  but  certainly  one  complete 
cycle  of  operations  must  always  be  taken  to  determine  such 
mechanical  efficiencies,  which  must  be  the  ratio  of  the  useful  work 
done  to  the  potential  energy  expended.  In  practice,  the  lifts 
alwaj's  readily  raised  the  maximum  loads.  At  a  speed  of  1  •  2  foot 
per  second,  working  from  the  tank  only,  with  the  engines  shut 


1  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers.     Proceedings.     1SS2.    p.  119. 


112  DISCUSSION   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Rich,  off,  the  efficiency  was  78  per  cent.  "With  loads  of  11,486  lbs.  in 
F  lift,  and  of  450  lbs.  in  E  lift,  at  Birkenhead,  rising  simul- 
taneously, with  one  engine  only  at  work,  the  journeys  were  accom- 
plished in  fifty-four  and  thirty-two  seconds  respectively.  With 
a  load  of  19,283  lbs.  in  F  lift,  corresponding  to  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  passengers,  of  10  stones  each,  the  tank-pressure  became 
valueless,  but  the  engines  raised  it  readily.  Mr.  Ellington  com- 
mented on  the  friction  due  to  the  passage  of  water  down  the  annular 
space  between  the  ram  and  the  cylinders,  but  he  would  remind 
him  that  the  cylinders  were  of  3  inches  larger  diameter  than  the 
rams.  In  all  the  above  considerations  it  must  be  remembered  that, 
in  practice,  the  engines  discharged  their  quota  into  the  lift  supply- 
mains  at  their  bottom  ends  near  the  lifts,  so  that  a  great  deal  of 
the  pipe  friction  was  neutralized  in  that  way.  The  cages  were 
longest  from  back  to  front,  and  the  chains  and  counterweights 
neutralized  transverse  strains  on  the  ram  from  crowding  towards 
the  back  or  the  front.  Side  crowding  alone,  which  was  less  likely 
to  occur,  was  resisted  by  the  transverse  strength  of  the  rams. 

The  remarks  of  Mr.  Gibson  were  mainly  directed  to  advocating 
the  superior  qualities  of  his  American  elevators,  which  the  Author 
understood  to  be  suspended  lifts,  depending  partly  for  their  safety 
on  automatic  safety-gears  for  gripping  the  guides  if  the  ropes 
broke  or  became  detached.  From  an  experience  of  over  thirty 
years  in  the  construction  and  working  of  various  types  of  lifts, 
by  Messrs.  Easton  and  Anderson,  he  must  certainly  protest  strongly 
against  the  use  of  suspended  lifts  of  any  kind  for  such  works  as  those 
under  consideration.  They  were  necessarily  much  more  complicated 
in  details,  and  the  safety-gears  in  practice  could  not  be  depended 
upon.  They  would  most  probably  be  effective  if  the  ropes  were  cut 
suddenly  immediately  above  the  cage  ;  but  there  was  considerable 
chance  of  their  failing  to  come  into  action  quickly  enough  if  a  detail 
of  the  apparatus  at  a  distance  gave  way,  leaving  some  residual  strain 
on  the  suspending  ropes  at  the  cage  top.  Sluggishness  in  coming 
into  action  allowed  the  cage  to  gain  in  velocity,  and  if  stopped 
abruptly  after  that,  its  inertia  would  probably  cany  away  guides 
and  safety  apparatus  together.  Mr.  Gibson  talked  of  a  regular  speed 
of  350  feet  per  minute  ;  but  he  evidently  had  adopted  much  lower 
speeds  in  such  lifts  of  his  construction  as  the  Author  had  seen  in 
this  country.  In  his  ideal  lift,  Mr.  Gibson  proposed  to  receive 
fifty  passengers,  to  raise  them  77  to  88  feet,  to  discharge 
them,  to  take  in  another  load  for  the  down  journey,  to  descend 
with  them,  to  discharge  them  into  the  lower  hall,  and  be  ready  to 
take  in  another  up-going  load,  in  one  minute  for  the  whole  cycle  of 


Proceedings.]     CORRESPONDENCE  ON  THE  MERSEY  RAILWAY  LIFTS.     113 

operations,  and  to  continue  such  rate  of  service  for  hours.  The  Mr.  Rich, 
proposition  was  simply  impracticable.  Mr.  Gibson  had  asked  what 
would  happen  in  the  Mersey  lifts  if  the  hand-rope  broke?  In 
such  a  contingency  the  lift  would  simply  rise  till  the  cage  was  a 
few  inches  above  the  top  floor,  when  either  the  counterweights 
would  ground,  or  water  would  be  blown  harmlessly  out  of  the 
gland  surrounding  the  lift-ram. 

Correspondence. 

Mr.  F.  Colyer  remarked  that  in  his  practice  he  had  fixed  the  Mr.  Colyer. 
maximum  speed  of  passenger-lifts  at  120  feet  per  minute,  as 
beyond  this  rate  the  motion  was  disagreeable  to  most  people. 
Taking  the  average  stroke  of  the  lifts  under  discussion  at 
82  feet,  the  speed  was  140  feet  per  minute,  which,  for  ordinary 
working,  he  considered  too  high.  The  average  speed  which  he 
had  adopted  for  ordinary  passenger-lifts  was  about  90  to  100  feet 
per  minute.  He  thought  all  lifts  should  be  periodically  inspected 
by  a  Government  official,  and  the  speed  regulated.  With  regard 
to  the  position  of  the  counterbalances  at  the  side  of  the  lift, 
he  believed  he  first  used  this  plan  now  about  seventeen  years 
ago,  when  he  determined  to  do  away  with  all  overhead  gear 
of  any  kind.  As  many  engineers  had  since  followed  in  the 
same  line,  he  assumed  the  plan  had  met  with  approval.  As 
a  means  of  attaching  the  guide-bars  to  the  side  walls,  he 
thought  stone  templates,  with  bolts  let  in  and  secured  by  lead, 
and  the  guide-bars  fixed  by  nuts,  would  be  in  all  cases  preferable 
to  wooden  bricks,  which  were  liable  to  shrinkage.  In  some  half- 
dozen  lifts  designed  by  him  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  ago,  the 
guide-bars  were  fixed  direct  to  stone,  and  they  were  as  sound  now 
as  the  day  they  were  first  fixed.  The  V  guide-bar  was  undoubtedly 
the  best  form  ;  he  thought  Messrs.  Easton  and  Anderson  had  been 
the  first  to  introduce  it.  In  Mr.  Colyer's  practice  the  bars  were 
planed  at  the  back,  where  they  rested  on  the  stone,  as  well  as  at 
the  front  or  V  faces ;  they  were  also  planed  at  the  ends  where  they 
butted.  The  stones  to  which  they  were  fixed  were  left  f -inch  clear 
of  the  wall,  and  were  dressed  off  to  a  dead  plumb-line,  thus  ensur- 
ing that  the  guides  were  absolutely  vertical.  About  the  same 
time  he  had  adopted  the  3-feet  well,  as  he  had  the  same  objection 
as  Mr.  Eich  to  small  "  bore "  holes,  which  were  seldom  plumb. 
This  was  a  very  important  matter,  as  the  cylinder  of  the  lift 
should  hang  free  of  the  well,  and  be  absolutely  plumb. 

The  "  hat"  shaped  leather  packing  for  the  ram  was  superior  to 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  I 


114  CORRESPONDENCE   ON   THE  MERSEY   KAIL  WAT.        [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Colyer.  the  U-shaped,  as  it  caused  rather  less  friction.  Leathers  of  the 
latter  shape  had  been  worked  continuously  in  rams  9  inches  in 
diameter  by  65  feet  length  of  stroke,  in  passenger  lifts  of  his 
design,  for  at  least  nine  years  without  removal. 

He  did  not  like  the  construction  of  the  cage,  or  ascending  room, 
especially  the  cross-forging  and  girders  at  the  bottom ;  the  cross, 
made  as  described,  seemed  very  risky.  He  should  prefer  a  cast- 
steel  boss  clipped  between  two  wrought-iron  riveted  girders,  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  cage  framed  in  wrought-iron  or  steel,  without 
any  timber,  except  for  the  floor  and  the  lining  of  the  sides.  He 
preferred  to  make  the  top  of  the  cage  of  plate-iron,  to  prevent 
injury  to  persons  inside  the  cage,  should  anything  fall  from  the 
top  of  the  well-hole. 

The  projecting  parts,  for  attaching  the  counterbalance  chain 
in  Mr.  Colyer's  plan,  worked  in  a  groove  in  the  brick-work.  The 
counterbalanced  weights  also  moved  in  a  groove,  and  slid  in 
angle-iron  guides  attached  to  the  side  of  the  recesses,  in  the 
same  way  as  the  main  guide-bars  before  described :  by  this 
plan  absolute  security  to  passengers  from  injury  was  ensured,  in 
the  event  of  breakage  of  chains.  He  preferred  keeping  the 
sliding  guides  up  to  the  faces  of  the  guide-bars  by  spiral 
springs ;  it  gave  a  little  elasticity,  and  prevented  any  grinding, 
especially  when  the  cage  was  unequally  loaded.  Some  years 
ao-o  he  used  disks  of  india-rubber  and  steel  plates,  but  the  oil 
destroyed  the  rubber.  He  understood  that  overhead  girders  were 
used  in  Mr.  Rich's  lifts,  but  he  thought  it  would  have  been 
better  to  have  fixed  the  chain- wheels  on  the  side  walls,  and  let  the 
chains  work  in  recesses,  as  he  had  before  described.  For  further 
safety,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  constructing  a  strong  floor  on  a  level 
with  the  bottom  of  the  wheels,  to  prevent  anything  falling  on  to 
the  top  of  the  cage. 

He  did  not  consider  the  starting-valve  mentioned  to  be  so 
good  a  form  of  valve  as  the  solid  piston  kind,  made  on  much 
the  same  plan  as  that  of  Sir  W.  G.  Armstrong  and  Co.  In 
this  case  the  valve-pistons  were  made  of  hard  bell  metal,  and  the 
valve-seats  of  the  same  kind  of  metal ;  very  little  surface  was 
given  at  the  seat.  About  nine  years  ago  Mr.  Colyer  tried  another 
plan,  by  facing  the  bottom  of  the  piston  with  leather  or  india- 
rubber,  i-inch  to  f-inch  thick,  and  letting  them  seat  upon  flat 
bell-metal  faces.  In  the  case  of  water  containing  fine  sand,  these 
valves  stood  the  longest  without  leakage.  He  considered  the 
valve-gear  to  be  the  most  important  part  of  a  lift ;  the  mar 
working  it   should  have   absolute  control  of  the  apparatus,  but 


Proceedings.]    CORRESPONDENCE  ON  THE  MERSEY  RAILWAY  LIFTS.    115 

the  "  cam "  motion  actuating  the  valves  should  be  arranged  to  Mr.  Colyer. 
open  and  close  them  very  gradually.  An  air-vessel  placed  be- 
tween the  valve-box  and  the  ram-cylinder  prevented  any  shock 
in  the  cage  from  the  passage  of  the  water  being  opened  and 
closed,  or  turned  to  the  waste-pipe.  He  thought  that  the  gear-rod 
or  rope  should  not  have  more  than  3  to  4  feet  range,  so  that 
the  man  working  the  lift  might  have  proper  control  over  it. 

The  pumping  machinery  seemed  most  efficient,  and  the  automatic 
arrangements  for  stopping  and  starting  it  were  very  good.  Mr. 
Eich  had  said  "  a  single  direct-acting  ram  was  from  the  first 
^elected  by  the  Author  as  the  safest  and  best  principle  to  adopt." 
|He  fully  endorsed  this ;  it  was  the  plan  he  had  advocated 
|for  many  years.  He  also  thought  with  Mr.  Eich  that  a  6-inch 
solid  steel  ram  would  have  been  unsafe,  especially  on  account  of 
ithe  weakness  at  the  joints.  Mr.  Colyer  always  condemned  the 
use  of  any  kind  of  hemp  or  metallic  packing.  He  had  never  used 
[anything  but  leather ;  the  common  packing  not  only  much  in- 
; creased  the  friction,  but  scored  the  ram  in  the  way  described  in 
the  Paper.  "While  on  the  subject  of  friction,  he  might  say  that 
careful  experiments  made  in  some  passenger-lifts  of  his  design, 
with  rams  9  inches  in  diameter  and  about  70  feet  length  of  stroke, 
showed  that  it  did  not  exceed  5  per  cent.  This  included  all  fric- 
tion in  the  lifts,  which  were  almost  new,  and  where  the  guide- 
bars  and  all  rubbing  parts  were  very  closely  fitted. 

Sliding-guides  were,  without  doubt,  the  best,  and  his  experience 
coincided  with  the  Author's  as  to  the  friction  of  wheels  and  rollers  ; 
these  should  at  all  times  be  avoided.  The  gun-metal  linings  of 
the  sliding-guides  should  be  slightly  rounded  at  the  top  and  the 
bottom,  to  prevent  them  ploughing  on  the  side  guide-bars. 

He  had  seen  the  lift  a  few  days  after  the  accident  at  the  Grand 
Hotel,  Paris,  and  agreed  that  defective  design  and  construction 
was  the  cause,  and  that  with  the  leading  makers  of  English  lifts 
such  a  thing  could  not  have  occurred.  He  was  sorry,  however, 
that  cheapness,  and  not  efficient  and  good  work,  had  been  the  chief 
aim  of  some  people  of  late  years.  Where  human  life  was  at  stake, 
false  economy  at  the  outset  was  much  to  be  deprecated.  After  an 
experience  of  at  least  twenty  years,  he  had  never  known  of  any 
failure  or  serious  accident  to  any  hydraulic  ram -lift  made  by  any 
of  the  leading  first-class  firms.  In  his  opinion  the  most  suitable 
form  of  lift  for  the  purpose  had  been  chosen.  The  care  taken  in 
the  design  was  evident  from  the  description  given  in  the  Paper. 
Considering  the  magnitude  and  the  high  class  of  the  work,  he 

I  2 


116  CORRESPONDENCE   ON   THE   MERSEY   RAILWAY.         [Minutes  ot 

Mr.  Coh-er.  considered  the  time  occupied  in  the  erection  of  the  lifts  to  have 
been  small,  and  their  cost  moderate. 
Major  English.  Major  T.  English,  E.E.,  stated  that  the  tunnelling  machine 
alluded  to  as  the  Beaumont  was  one  patented  by  him,  and  was 
worked  by  Colonel  Beaumont  in  the  Mersey  tunnel,  under  a 
license  from  him,  which  had  since  been  withdrawn.  The  Tunnel- 
Driving  Company,  Limited,  now  held  his  sole  license  to  use  it. 
Mr.  Reade.  Mr.  T.  Mellard  Eeade  wished  to  make  a  few  remarks  as  to  the 
geological  aspect  of  the  Mersey  tunnel.  In  1872  he  read  a  Paper 
before  the  Liverpool  Geological  Society  on  "  The  Buried  Valley  of 
the  Mersey,"  in  which  he  expressed  his  opinion  that  a  buried  rock- 
channel  of  the  pre- glacial  river  existed  between  Liverpool  and 
Birkenhead,  which  would  very  likely  be  intersected  by  the  pro- 
jected tunnel  works.  In  a  letter  to  the  Builder,  February  4th, 
1882,  while  the  tunnel  works  were  in  progress,  this  view  was 
more  strongly  insisted  upon,  and  it  was  also  restated  frequently 
at  public  lectures.  The  grounds  upon  which  this  view  was  based 
was  the  existence  of  a  deep  channel,  filled  with  boulder  clay, 
under  the  town  of  "Widnes,  proved  by  many  well-sinkings.  These 
borings  showed  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  lacustrine  deposits, 
and  it  was  therefore  concluded  that  it  was  a  veritable  river 
channel,  and  not  a  lake  basin,  and  further  considerations  of  a 
rather  complex  character  led  to  the  belief  that  this  pre-glacial 
river  had  its  outlet  in  the  present  estuary  between  Liverpool  and 
Birkenhead.  As  showing  the  bearing  of  scientific  geology  upon 
engineering  work,  the  verification  of  this  prediction  was  interest- 
ing. Sir  Douglas  Fox  indicated  that  the  borings  in  the  river  were 
undertaken  because  of  the  prevalence  of  this  belief,  and  that  the 
tunnel  works  were  lowered  10  feet.  This  was  an  important  result, 
as  the  consequent  difference  in  the  extent  and  nature  of  the  section 
of  glacial  drift  through  which  the  tunnel  was  carried  might  mean 
the  difference  between  a  great  success  or  a  failure. 
Mr.  Upward.  Mr.  A.  Upward,  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  the  ventilation 
of  tunnels  in  which  locomotive  engines  were  employed,  or,  in  fact, 
in  any  confined  spaces  in  which  fuel  was  consumed,  observed  that 
the  purer  the  fuel  consumed  in  such  spaces,  the  better  it  would  be 
for  all  concerned,  both  as  regarded  passengers  and  those  who  were 
responsible  for  keeping  such  confined  spaces  clear  of  obnoxious 
gases.  The  fuel  to  which  he  desired  to  direct  attention  was  that 
made  many  years  ago  at  some  coke  works  at  Llanelly,  in  South 
Wales,  and  called  "  anthracite  coke,"  which  Avas  reported  to  be 
entirely  free  from  sulphur.  If  fuel  of  this  description  were  used 
in  such  cases  as  in  the  Mersey  tunnel,  it  would  certainly  render 


Proceedings.]     CORRESPONDENCE  ON  THE  MERSEY  RAILWAY  LIFTS.    117 

easier  the  task  of  keeping  it  free  from  sulphurous  acid  gas,  and  Mr.  Upward. 

consequently  it  could  he  hetter  and  more  economically  ventilated. 

This  fuel  was   made  of  pitch,  produced  from   gas-tar  and   pure 

anthracite  culm,  of  which   there  were  large    deposits   in  South 

Wales  of  little  commercial  value.     At  the  tim  e  he  was  speaking 

of,  he  obtained  it  at  about  2s.  6d.  per  ton,  and  he  had  no  reason 

to  believe  that  it  had  since  risen  in  price,  and    as  gas-tar  pitch 

was  also  a  cheap  substance,  this  fuel  was  produ  ced  at  a  cost  of 

from  7s.  to  8s.  per  ton.     He  believed  the  specific  gravity  of  the 

anthracite  coke  was  from  1*200  to  1-500,  while  that  of  the  best 

oven  coke,  produced  in  the  district  named,  was  about  0*980. 

The  Locomotive  Superintendent  of  the  Llanelly  Eailway  and 
Dock  Company  reported  on  this  coke  in  1861,  and  stated  that  the 
coke  in  question  was  superior  to  any  his  company  had  used  for 
locomotive-purposes.  He  might  add  that  a  Manager  of  iron- 
works at  Aberdare  had  reported,  on  this  coke,  that  he  had  obtained 
highly  satisfactory  results,  both  as  regarded  economy  and  the 
superior  quality  of  iron  produced  by  its  use.  Other  persons  in 
the  iron  trade  in  Wales  had  reported  that  this  fuel  was  a  desir- 
able substance  to  be  employed  in  producing  and  remelting  iron, 
it  being  entirely  free  from  sulphur.  He  would  suggest  that  if 
such  fuel  could  be  now  used  in  underground  railways,  both  the 
passengers  and  the  railway  officials,  who  had  to  pass  so  much  of 
their  lives  in  these  confined  spaces,  more  or  less  charged  with 
obnoxious  gases,  would  be  greatly  benefited. 

Mr.  Eich,  in  reply  to  the  correspondence,  said  he  was  glad  to  Mr-  Rich- 
find  that  Mr.  Colyer's  experiences  on  many  points  agreed  so  nearly 
with  his  own.  Many  of  Mr.  Colyer's  remarks  were  answered  by 
his  reply  on  the  discussion.  Leather  packings  for  the  main  ram 
glands  and  side  counterweights  had  been  used  by  Messrs.  Easton 
and  Anderson  at  dates  considerably  earlier  than  those  mentioned 
by  Mr.  Colyer,  and  they  had  adopted  a  steel-plate  roof  for  the  cage 
in  nearly  every  case  when  the  balance-chain  was  central  over  it. 
He  preferred  attaching  lift-guides  to  wooden  sleepers  rather  than 
to  stone,  as  they  formed  a  more  elastic  bed,  and  he  had  found 
little  inconvenience  from  their  shrinkage.  He  had  used  piston- 
starting  valves,  but  they  were  difficult  to  keep  water-tight,  and 
were  generally  inferior  to  those  adopted  on  the  Mersey  works. 
He  considered  spiral  springs  to  the  guide-brackets  would  be  too 
lively  in  such  large  and  heavy  cages  as  these,  though  he  ordinarily 
adopted  them  in  small  lifts.  The  guides,  as  arranged,  worked 
admirably. 


118  DISCUSSION  ON  THE  MERSEY   RAILWAY.  [Minutes  of 

11  May,  1886. 

Sir  FEEDEEICK  J.  BEAMWELL,  F.E.S.,  Fresident, 

in  the  Chair. 


The  discussion  on  the  Eapers,  on  "  The  Mersey  Eailway "  by 
Mr.  F.  Fox,  and  on  "  The  Mersey  Eailway  Lifts "  "by  Mr.  W.  E. 
Eich,  occupied  the  whole  evening. 


Proceedings.] 


ELECTIONS,    ETC. 


119 


18  May,  1886. 

Sir  FREDERICK  J.  BRAMWELL,  F.R.S.,  President, 

in  the  Chair. 


The  following  Associate  Members  have  "been  transferred  to  the 
class  of 


Henry  Taylor  Bovey,  M.A. 
Hexry  Deane,  M.A. 

Andrew  Johnston. 


Members. 


Joseph  Lobley. 
Tog  arm  ah  Rees. 
John  James  Webster. 


The  following;  Candidates  have  been  admitted  as 


Students. 


Arthur  Joseph  Edwin  Arch. 
Joseph  Peter  Brazil. 
Clarence  Gordon  Broomfield. 
Leslie  Everitt  Clift. 
Frederick  William  Cowie. 
Frank  Whinfield  Crawter. 
James  Henlng  Cuming. 
George  Herbert  Dawson. 
Arthur  Lennox  Drummond. 
William  Farrington. 
Malcolm  Cumbernauld  Flemyng. 
George  Edwin  Fletcher. 


Hector  William  Baillie  Henderson. 

John  Llewellyn  Holmes. 

Samuel  Joyce,  Jun. 

John  George  Gale  Kerry. 

Edward  Newdigate. 

Francis  Reilly. 

Edward  Richardson. 

Frederic  David  Sharp. 

William  James  Taylor. 

Francis  Herbert  Tyacke. 

Charles  Stanley  White. 

John  Woodside. 


The  following  Candidates  were  balloted  for  and  duly  elected  as 

Members. 


Rookes  Evelyn  Bell  Crompton. 
Stephen  Holman. 
Francis  William  Martin. 


I   James  William  Restler. 
Peter  William  Willans. 


Associate  Members. 


Henry  Crowqltll  Aykis,  Stud.  Inst. 

C.E. 
John  Charles  Beahan. 
John  Stennitt  Bean,  Wh.  Sc. 
Orient  Bell,  Stud.  List.  C.E. 


Harry  Robertson  Best,  Stud.  Inst. 

C.E. 
Nasarvanji  Dorabji  Bhada,  Ll.E. 
Henry  Richard  Carleton,  B.E. 
Charles  Harwood  Clarke. 


120 


HULSE    ON    MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS. 


[Minutes  of 


Associate  Members — continued. 


Vivian  Bolton  Douglas  Cooper. 

Ernest  George  Craven. 

William  Cross. 

Henry  Herbert  Gahan. 

William  Hill. 

Charles  Herbert  Hopkinson. 

John  George  Howard. 

Fernando    Harry    Whitehead 

Livesey,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E. 
Robert  Lundon. 
William  James  Martin. 


eobert  comins  puckering. 
William    John  Patrickson   Storey, 

Stud.  Inst.  C.E. 
Edwin  Arthur   Slade    Templeton, 

M.A.,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E. 
Harry  James  Thompson,  Stud.  lust. 

C.E. 
John  Wakeford. 
John  Duncan  Watson. 
Wilhem  Wlllink. 


(Paper  No.  2158.) 

"  Modern  Machine-Tools  and  Workshop-Appliances,  for 
the  Treatment  of  Heavy  Forgings  and  Castings." 

By  William  Wilson  Hulse,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

The  greatly  extended  employment  of  steel,  and  the  increase  in 
the  weight  and  magnitude  of  forgings  and  castings  both  of  steel 
and  of  iron,  characteristic  of  late  years  of  various  branches  of 
engineering,  have  led  to  important  changes  in  machine-tools, 
in  order  to  prevent  a  decrease  in  the  quantity  of  work  turned 
out.  For  not  only  is  steel  specially  obdurate  to  the  action  of 
cutting,  but  it  is  usual,  in  steel  forgings,  to  leave  an  excessive 
thickness  of  metal  to  be  cut  away,  for  the  sake  of  economy  in 
the  forging  and  of  the  enhanced  value  of  coarse  steel  cuttings 
in  re-melting,  as  compared  with  fine  ones.  The  requirements  in 
machine-tools  therefore  have  comprised  increased  power,  strength, 
and  massiveness ;  greater  firmness  of  grip  upon  the  work  and 
upon  the  cutting  tools ;  and  also  important*  modifications  in  the 
mechanical  arrangements,  one  aim  kept  in  view  being,  as  far  as 
practicable,  to  machine  heavy  forgings  or  castings  at  a  single 
setting,  and  thus  to  reduce  the  number  of  removals  and  re-settings 
to  a  minimum.  Naturally  the  changes  which  have  enabled 
machine-tools  to  turn  out  as  much  work  in  steel  as  they  formerly 
did  in  iron  have  at  the  same  time  improved  their  productive 
power  when  dealing  with  iron  and  other  materials  less  tenacious 
than  steel.  Workshop-appliances  for  the  treatment  of  heavy  work 
have  likewise  undergone  important  modifications,  which  will  be 
referred  to  later  on. 

As  examples  of  the  machine-tools  and  workshop-appliances  in 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON   MODEEN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  121 

question,  the  Author  has  selected  the  following  for  illustration  and 
description,  viz. : — ■ 

A  powerful  40-inch  lathe,  with  four  cutting-tools  and  fixed  twin 
screws. 

A  34-inch  lathe  of  extra  strength  and  power,  with  eight  cutting- 
tools  and  fixed  twin  guide-screws. 

A  large  universal  planing-machine,  arranged  for  planing  length- 
wise, or  crosswise,  or  vertically,  as  in  slotting. 

A  combined  horizontal  boring-machine  and  lathe. 

A  combined  vertical  and  horizontal  planing-machine  of  great 
size  and  power. 

A  universal  horizontal  drilling-  tapping-  and  boring-machine. 

A  combined  vertical  milling-  and  drilling-machine. 

A  ribbon-sawing  machine  for  sawing  off  "  deadheads,"  and 
sawing  metal  in  general  in  the  cold  state. 

A  30-ton  power  travelling-crane,  specially  adapted  for  an 
engineer's  fitting-  and  erecting-shop,  and  for  steel-houses  and 
foundries. 

Spirit-levels  used  in  erecting  and  fitting  shops. 

Plate  6,  Figs.  1,  2,  3,  4  show  the  40-inch  lathe,  with  four 
cutting  tools  for  turning  steel  guns,  propeller-shafts,  ingot-blocks, 
&c.  The  lathe  is  75  feet  long,  and  weighs  about  100  tons.  It  is 
adapted  for  screwing,  sliding  parallel  or  taper  work,  and  surfacing. 
It  will  take  in  objects  between  the  centres,  and  over  its  sliding 
carriages,  up  to  60  feet  in  length  and  5  feet  in  diameter,  and  it  has 
been  used  for  turning  pieces  weighing  more  than  60  tons.  In 
order  to  diminish  the  load  upon  the  centres  when  such  heavy 
objects  are  being  operated  on,  an  intermediate  stay  (Plate  6, 
Fig.  1)  fitted  with  two  rollers,  adjustable  towards  or  away  from 
the  axis  of  the  lathe,  is  fixed  on  the  bed,  the  adjustment  of  the 
rollers  being  effected  by  diagonal  screws.  The  fast  head-stock 
has  distinct  single,  double,  and  treble  gear  wheel-powers,  each 
having  five  different  changes  of  strap-power  in  the  cone  pulley, 
and  two  in  the  top  driving  apparatus,  making  in  all  thirty  various 
powers  or  speeds  available  to  suit  the  resistances  to  be  overcome, 
which  of  course  will  vary  according  to  the  size  and  nature  of  the- 
work,  and  the  amount  of  metal  to  be  removed  in  a  given  time. 
For  giving  great  strength  to  the  bed,  it  is  made  with  two  deep 
longitudinal  box-girders,  united  by  numerous  transverse  box- 
girders  of  less  depth.  It  is  constructed  in  three  lengths,  secured 
together  by  numerous  bolts,  which  act  also  as  steady  pins  for  pre- 
serving perfect  alignment.  The  width  of  the  bed  is  5  feet  6  inches, 
and  its  depth  2  feet.     The  main  spindle  is  of  hammered  crucible 


122  HULSE   ON   MODERN  MACHINE-TOOLS.  [Minutes  of 

steel,  the  principal  journal  being  13  inches  in  diameter  by  21  inches 
long,  and  the  outer  journal  is  formed  with  grooves,  like  a  propeller 
shaft,  to  take  the  end  thrust.  The  face-plate  is  of  cellular  con- 
struction ;  it  has  both  external  and  internal  gearing,  and  is 
fitted  with  four  steel  jaws,  operated  by  independent  screws,  for 
gripping  the  work.  The  treble  gear  has  a  wheel-power  of  150  to 
1,  and  the  cone  driving-pulley,  whose  largest  diameter  is  39  inches, 
carries  a  double  belt  7  inches  wide.  The  spindle  of  the  movable 
head-stock  is  actuated  by  hand  through  a  worm  and  worm-wheel, 
which  give  the  power  requisite  for  forcing  the  centre  into  the 
countersink  of  the  work.  Two  sliding-carriages  are  provided,  each 
carrying  a  pair  of  duplex  compound  slide-rests  and  two  cutting- 
tools,  or  four  in  all.  Each  tool  takes  a  "cut"  l1  inch  deep  and 
over  ^  inch  thick  at  the  rate  of  6  to  7  lineal  feet  per  minute.  This 
size  and  rate  of  "  cut,"  if  maintained  continuously,  would  yield 
about  5  cwt.  of  steel  turnings  per  hour  for  each  tool,  or  a  total 
weight  of  10  tons  of  steel  removed  by  all  the  tools  per  day  of  ten 
hours  continuous  working.  Deduction,  however,  must  of  course 
be  made  on  account  of  stoppages  for  changing  tools  and  for  other 
contingencies.  Besides  the  great  weight,  strength,  and  cutting- 
power  of  the  lathe,  there  are  several  noticeable  features  in  the 
mechanical  arrangement.  Thus  the  sliding-carriages  are  operated 
by  twin  fixed  guide-screws,  placed  one  at  the  back  and  the  other 
at  the  front  of  the  bed  on  the  outside,  and  of  rotating  nuts,  which 
work  upon  the  screws.  Each  sliding- carriage  has  two  such  rotating 
nuts,  and  is  thus  acted  upon  at  two  points  widely  separated  from 
each  other.  This  arrangement  prevents  the  sliding-carriage  from 
horizontal  cross-winding  on  the  bed,  and  diminishes  the  factional 
resistance  which  would  result  from  the  traversing  of  the  carriage 
along  the  bed,  if  propelled  by  only  a  single  guide-screw,  acting  at 
one  side  as  is  usual.  The  guide-screws  are  made  in  two  lengths, 
secured  in  bearings  cast  to  the  bed  at  the  ends,  so  as  to  prevent  it 
from  rotating,  and  to  receive  the  end  pressure.  The  two  lengths 
are  joined  together  to  ensure  their  alignment  one  with  the  other; 
but,  as  each  length  is  held  fast  at  the  outer  end,  the  joint  is  not 
siibjected  to  torsional  stress.  The  two  rotating  nuts  in  each 
sliding-carriage  are  driven  simultaneously  through  gearing  and 
shafts  (carried  by  the  sliding-carriage),  actuated  from  a  longi- 
tudinal steel  shaft  situated  inside  the  bed.  This  shaft  is  rotated 
through  change-wheels  driven  by  the  main  spindle  of  the  fast 
head-stock.  The  direction  in  which  the  nuts  rotate,  and  therefore 
that  in  which  the  sliding-carriages  traverse  along  the  bed,  is 
regulated  in  each  carriage  independently,  by  means  of  a  clutch, 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON  MODERN  MACHINE-TOOLS.  123 

operated  by  the  workman  at  the  front  of  the  lathe.  The  com- 
plete independence  with  which  each  sliding-carriage  can  thus  be 
traversed  in  either  direction,  or  be  kept  stationary  without  regard 
to  the  other,  is  an  important  advantage  resulting  from  the  employ- 
ment of  stationary,  instead  of  rotating,  guide-screws.  In  order  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  screw-cutting,  each  clutch  is  made  so 
that  its  teeth  will  engage  in  one  relative  position  only.  For  the 
purpose  of  contending  more  effectually  with  the  great  upward 
stress  to  which  the  slide-rests  at  the  back  of  the  lathe  are  some- 
times subjected,  the  front  dove-tail  of  each  of  the  top  slides  is 
pointed  downwards  as  shown  in  Fig.  3.  For  turning  taper  objects, 
the  sliding-carriage  is  fitted  with  mechanism,  comprising  a  swing- 
frame  and  change  worm-wheels,  by  which  the  cutting  tools  can 
be  simultaneously  traversed  transversely  and  longitudinally  at 
different  speeds,  according  to  the  degree  of  taper  required.  For 
cutting  off  "  deadheads "  or  surplus  lengths  of  objects,  such  as 
large  guns,  propeller  shafts,  &c,  the  duplex  compound  slide-rests 
of  one  of  the  sliding-carriages  are  temporarily  removed,  and  two 
parting-tool  rests  are  substituted.  Each  of  these  latter  carries  a 
parting-tool  6  or  7  inches  deep  by  1  inch  thick,  and  may  overhang 
the  rest  by  as  much  as  15  inches,  being  supported  by  a  steel  bar  of 
similar  section  fixed  in  the  rest  along  with  it,  but  with  rather 
less  overhang.  The  two  tools  are  fed  inwards  simultaneously 
from  opposite  sides,  the  strains  produced  thus  being  balanced,  and 
the  cutting-off  is  effected  smoothly  and  without  vibration. 

Plate  6,  Figs.  5,  6  show  the  34-inch  lathe  with  eight  cutting 
tools.  In  this  case  the  fixed  guide-screws  are  situated  inside  the 
bed  between  its  two  outer  girders,  and  each  sliding-carriage  is 
connected  with  only  one  of  them,  there  being  two  sliding-carriages 
at  the  front  of  the  lathe  connected  with  the  front  guide-screw, 
and  two  at  the  back  connected  with  the  back  guide-screw.  The 
spindle  is  of  similar  construction  to  that  in  the  40-inch  lathe,  but 
of  greater  strength,  the  main  journal  being  15  inches  in  diameter 
and  22  inches  long.  The  bed  is  in  two  lengths  bolted  together, 
each  length  being  formed  of  four  longitudinal  girders  disposed  in 
pairs,  equidistant  from,  and  parallel  to,  the  centre  line  of  lathe, 
and  connected  together  by  numerous  cross-girders,  all  of  box  form. 
It  is  of  enormous  strength.  The  two  front  girders  support  and 
guide  the  front  sliding-carriages  and  tools,  and  the  two  back 
girders  those  at  the  back  of  the  lathe,  the  front  and  back 
carriages  being  free  to  pass  by  each  other  when  traversing  along 
the  bed.  Each  sliding-carriage  carries  one  compound  slide-rest 
fitted  with  two   top  slides,  holding  one  cutting  tool  each,  thus 


124  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACEONE-TOOLS.  [Minutes  of 

making  eight  cutting  tools  in  all.  The  cutting-tools  may  be 
traversed  either  longitudinally  or  transversely,  automatically  or 
by  hand,  and  in  either  direction,  or  the  action  of  any  one  may  be 
suspended  independently  of  the  others.  For  actuating  the 
mechanism,  in  the  front  and  back  sliding-carriages,  through  which 
the  nuts  are  rotated,  two  longitudinal  shafts,  driven  by  change- 
wheels,  are  employed,  one  shaft  at  the  front  of  the  bed,  and  the 
other  at  the  back,  on  the  outside.  Twenty-four  different  chariges 
can  be  made  in  the  rate  of  rotation  of  the  main  spindle  to  suit 
different  requirements,  and  varying  the  power  from  a  maximum 
of  200  to  1  to  a  minimum  of  14  to  1.  Both  the  size  and  the  rate 
of  "  cut "  are  the  same  as  in  the  40-inch  lathe,  but,  as  the  number 
of  tools  is  doubled,  the  weight  of  turnings  which  can  be  cut  off  in 
a  given  time,  when  all  the  tools  are  at  work,  is  also  doubled,  and 
amounts  in  the  course  of  ten  hours'  continuous  working  to  a 
maximum  of  20  tons  of  metal  removed.  The  length  of  this  lathe 
is  45  feet  6  inches,  and  the  weight  about  80  tons.  The  class  of 
work  for  which  it  is  specially  designed  is  the  turning  steel  ingots 
or  heavy  steel  forgings  in  the  rough.  It  represents  also  the  type 
of  lathe  used  for  turning  large  crank-shafts,  except  as  to  the 
height  of  centres,  which  for  such  objects  must  be  considerably 
greater  than  in  this  lathe. 

Plate  7,  Figs.  7,  8,  9  illustrate  the  large  universal  planing- 
machine,  capable  of  planing  30  feet  long,  11  feet  wide,  and  10  feet 
high.  There  are  two  tool-carriages  on  the  cross-slide,  each  actuated 
by  a  separate  screw.  The  bed  (which  is  cast  with  two  longitudinal 
and  numerous  transverse  box-girders)  is  40  feet  long,  made  in 
two  lengths.  The  table  is  33  feet  long,  cast  in  one  piece  strongly 
ribbed  underneath,  and  has  tee-grooves  on  the  top  face,  planed  to 
gauge,  and  at  uniform  distances  apart.  The  machine  is  partly 
supported  by  two  transverse  girders,  situated  under,  and  bolted  to, 
both  the  bed  and  the  uprights ;  these  girders  serve  to  strengthen 
the  bed  against  the  transverse  bending-strains  to  which  it  is  sub- 
jected, by  the  overhanging  weight  of  the  uprights  and  cross-slide. 
It  is  arranged  for  planing  objects  lengthwise,  or  crosswise,  or 
vertically  as  in  slotting.  The  possession  of  the  two  latter 
functions  renders  the  machine  capable  of  treating,  at  a  single 
setting,  heavy  objects,  which  otherwise  might  require  several 
removals  to,  and  re-settings  on,  other  machines.  The  separate 
lengths,  which  compose  the  beds  of  the  lathes  already  described, 
and  which  require  to  be  accurately  planed  or  slotted  at  the  ends 
forming  the  joints,  are  examples  of  such  objects.  The  transverse- 
planing    operations    are    performed   by   imparting   reciprocating 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  125 

motion  to  one  or  both  of  the  tool-carriages  along  the  cross-slide  ; 
and  for  planing  vertically  as  in  slotting,  the  vertical  tool-holder 
slides  are  made  of  increased  length,  and  are  traversed  up  and 
down  by  their  screws,  driven  by  a  shaft  in  the  cross-slide.  The 
mechanism  for  performing  these  transverse  and  vertical  planing 
operations  is,  as  shown  in  the  Figs.,  actuated  from  a  special  driving 
apparatus,  carried  at  the  top  of  one  of  the  uprights.  The  revers- 
ing of  the  reciprocating  motions  is  produced  by  means  of  a  spirally 
grooved  barrel,  rotated  through  a  worm  and  worm-wheel,  at  a  slow 
speed,  from  an  overhead  driving  apparatus  ;  two  adjustable  stops 
are  secured  in  the  spiral  groove,  and  alternately  come  in  contact 
with  a  block,  which  slides  in  the  spiral  groove,  and  is  traversed 
thereby.  Each  time  one  of  the  stops  comes  in  contact  writh  the 
sliding-block  (which  is  carried  and  guided  by  a  square  bar)  the 
driving-belt  is  shifted  from  one  fast  pulley  to  the  other,  and  the 
direction  of  motion  of  the  driving  mechanism  and  of  the  spirally 
grooved  barrel  is  reversed.  The  spiral  groove  makes  four  turns 
round  the  barrel ;  this  number  being  sufficient  for  producing  the 
reversals  of  the  longest  strokes  which  can  be  taken,  either  cross- 
wise or  vertically.  In  planing  a  horizontal  surface  crosswise,  the 
table  is  traversed  intermittently  along  the  bed,  for  producing  the 
cutting  feed,  but  if  the  surface  is  vertical,  then  the  tool-holder 
slides  are  traversed  vertically  for  this  purpose.  Again,  in 
planing  vertically  as  in  slotting  lengthwise,  the  intermittent 
cutting  feed  is  obtained  by  traversing  the  table ;  and  in  similar 
planing  crosswise,  by  traversing  the  tool-carriages  along  the  cross- 
slide.  In  all  these  cases  automatic  mechanism  is  provided  for 
producing  the  cutting-feed.  For  planing  lengthwise,  the  table  is 
reciprocated  by  means  of  a  large  steel  screw  and  travelling  nut 
(in  wider  machines  two  screws  and  nuts  are  employed),  the  screw 
being  driven  at  one  end  of  the  machine,  through  two  friction 
cone-pulleys,  carried  by  the  driving  shaft ;  one  of  these  cone- 
pulleys  serves  for  the  forward  or  cutting  traverse  of  the  table, 
and  the  other  for  its  return  traverse.  The  steps  of  the  cone 
driving-pulleys  enable  the  speeds  of  the  forward  and  backward 
traversing  to  be  varied  independently  of  each  other,  so  as  to  suit 
the  material  under  operation,  in  the  case  of  the  forward  or  cutting 
traverse,  and  to  suit  the  weight  of  the  object  in  that  of  the  return 
traverse.  The  end  thrust  of  the  table-screw  in  either  direction  is 
taken  by  adjustable  tail  pins,  and  the  screw,  being  of  great  length 
and  weight,  is  supported  between  the  end  bearings  by  adjustable 
cylindrical  rollers,  placed  at  each  side,  at  intervals  of  about  10  feet 
apart.     The  rollers  dip  in  oil,  and,  being  rotated  as  the  screw 


126  HULSE   ON  MODERN  MACHINE-TOOLS.  [Minutes  of 

rotates,  carry  up  oil  to  the  screw,  to  be  distributed  by  the  travelling 
nut  as  it  passes  along.     The  travelling  nut  is  partly  cut  away 
(without    destroying   the    continuity   of    the   thread),   so    as   to 
allow  it  to  pass  by  the  supporting  rollers  without  colliding  with 
them.     The  V  slide-surfaces  of  the  table  and  bed  are  inclined  to 
the  horizontal  line    at  an  angle  of  only   15°,  and  for  lubricating 
them   a   series  of  other   cylindrical   rollers,    dipping  in   oil,    and 
mounted  upon  axles  parallel  with  the  inclined  surfaces  of  the  V 
slides,  are  introduced.     These  rollers  are  arranged  in  pairs,  each 
roller  being  free  to  revolve  on    its    own  small  axle,   and,  being 
pressed   against   the   surfaces   by  springs,  the  oil  is   carried   up 
and  distributed  by  the  table  as  it  travels  along  and  rotates  the 
rollers.     In  this  arrangement  the  rollers  are  in  mere  rolling  con- 
tact with   the    table,  and   are  an  improvement  upon  the  double 
conical  rollers  often  employed,  which  have  the  drawback  of  being 
in  sliding  or  frictional  contact  with  the  V  slides.     The  mechanism 
for   producing    the  cutting-feed,    when    the   machine   is   planing 
longitudinally,    is    actuated   by   adjustable  stops   secured   to   the 
right-hand  side  of  the  table,  which,  as  the  table  traverses  to  and 
fro,  alternately  propel  a  rack  backwards  and  forwards  through 
a  greater  or  less  distance,  according  to  the  positions  in  which  they 
are  secured  to  the  table.     The  rack  gears  into,  and  drives  first  in 
one  direction  then  in  the  other,  a  spur-wheel,  and  through  it  a 
ratchet  action  :  the  arrangement  being  such  that  the  feed-screws 
in  the  cross-slide,  or  tool-holder  slide,  as  the  case  may  be,  remain 
stationary  during  the  cutting  traverse,  and  are  rotated  only  during 
the  backward  or  non-cutting  traverse.     The  extent  of  the  feed  is 
regulated  by  the  distance  the  rack  is  traversed,  and  by  the  number 
of  turns  it  causes  the  spur-wheel  to  make.     During  the  backward 
traverse  of  the  table  the  tools  are  lifted  clear  of  the  work.    By  this 
means,  the  "  cut "  may  be  varied  by  gradations  of  -^  inch  up  to 
2  inches  broad.     It  is  applied  only  during  the  backward  traverse 
of  the  table ;  whereas,  under  the  system  which  has  hitherto  been 
common,  it  is  applied  suddenly,  during  the  short  time  the  driving- 
belt  is  being  shifted  for  reversing  the  backward  traverse  of  the 
table,  and  the  utmost  range  in  the  width  of  "  cut  "  is  so  restricted, 
that  for  broad  cutting  it  has  to  be  supplemented  by  hand.     The 
machine,  while  having  its  tool-holder  slides  made  to  swivel  in  the 
ordinary  manner,  is  also  fitted  with  mechanism  for  planing  inclined 
surfaces  by  means  of  change-wheels,  which  transmit  simultaneous 
feed-traverse  at  different  relative  rates  to  the  screws  of  the  tool- 
holder  slides  and  of  the  cross-slide  respectively,  according  to  the 
inclination  of  the  surface  to  be  produced.     With  the  aid  of  this 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON   MODERN  MACHINE-TOOLS.  127 

additional  arrangement,  surfaces  of  any  inclination  can  be  planed ; 
whereas,  with  the  swivelling  tool-holders  only,  the  range  of  angles 
which  can  be  produced  is  limited.  The  machine  under  consi- 
deration is  arranged  to  plane  at  from  10  to  16  lineal  feet  per 
minute,  returning  at  from  30  to  40  feet  per  minute,  according  to 
the  nature  and  weight  of  the  object  operated  on.  At  the  slower 
traverses,  objects  weighing  GO  or  70  tons  may  be  safely  dealt  with, 
and  this  weight  is  not  likely  to  be  exceeded  in  practice.  The 
machine  is  designed  for  planing  the  heavy  foundation  beds  and 
frames  of  marine  and  stationary  engines,  machine-tools,  armour- 
plates,  &c.  The  cutting-tools  used  in  this  planing  machine  and 
in  the  two  lathes,  already  described,  vary  from  2^  to  4  inches 
square,  and  are  very  powerfully  gripped  to  the  clapper,  or  tool- 
slide,  as  the  case  may  be.  For  such  heavy  cutting  as  is  done  by 
these  machines,  tool-holding  bars  with  cutters  fixed  in  them  are 
inadequate. 

Plate  7,  Figs.  10,  11  represent  the  combined  horizontal  boring- 
machine  and  lathe,  designed  for  boring  and  facing  medium-sized 
engine  cylinders,  and  for  work  in  general.  It  is  likewise  adapted 
for  use  as  a  surfacing  and  sliding-latke.  Fast  and  movable  head- 
stocks  are  provided  as  in  a  lathe,  each  mounted  upon  a  standard 
secured  permanently  to  the  foundation-plate.  The  fast  head- 
stock  has  single,  double,  and  treble  powers,  and  a  great  variety 
of  speeds,  so  as  to  meet  the  different  classes  of  boring  and  turning 
the  machine  may  be  required  to  do.  The  main  spindle  is  of  steel, 
with  its  outer  bearing  formed  with  grooves,  as  in  a  propeller  shaft, 
to  take  the  end  thrust.  Between  the  two  standards,  and  bolted 
to  them  both,  is  a  horizontal  slide-bed,  which  carries  the  sliding- 
carriage.  This  latter  is  traversed  longitudinally  along  the  bed 
by  hand  or  power,  by  means  of  the  guide-screw,  and  is  provided 
with  a  tee-grooved  table  on  which  the  work  to  be  bored  is  secured, 
and  which  has  a  cross-slide  and  screw  for  transverse  movements. 
The  two  standards  have  vertical  tee-grooves  on  their  inner  faces 
for  receiving  the  bolts  which  secure  the  horizontal  bed  to  them, 
and  if  these  are  loosened,  the  horizontal  bed  can  be  raised  or 
lowered  by  means  of  two  vertical  screws,  thus  affording  an 
adjustment  to  suit  different  heights  and  kinds  of  work.  The 
vertical  screws  are  actuated  either  by  hand  or  by  power  through 
a  long  horizontal  shaft,  as  shown,  carrying  two  worms,  which 
gear  into  worm-wheels  on  the  two  screws  respectively.  The 
transverse  and  vertical  adjustments  of  the  tee-grooved  table  enable 
the  work  to  be  readily  brought  into  correct  position  for  boring, 
and  an  automatic  movement  longitudinally  produces  the  cutting 


128  HULSE    ON    MODERN    MACHEN'E-TOOLS.  [Minutes  of 

traverse  for  boring  and  sliding.  The  boring  bars,  with  cutters, 
are  held  between  the  centres  of  the  head-stocks,  and  rotated 
by  the  face-plate  and  a  driver ;  the  object  to  be  bored  being  fixed 
to  the  tee-grooved  table,  and  traversed  automatically  or  by  hand 
in  either  direction.  The  hand-traverse  is  effected  through  a  handle 
or  shaft  situated  on  the  sliding-carriage.  The  bars  for  boring 
engine-cylinders  are  provided  with  an  arm  and  radial  slide,  carry- 
ing cutting-tools,  for  turning  the  faces  and  rims  of  cylinders,  &c, 
the  arm  being  movable  along  the  bar  to  any  position.  When 
it  is  required  to  use  the  machine  either  as  a  surfacing-  or  as  a 
slidino'-lathe,  a  compound  slide-rest  is  secured  to  the  tee-grooved 
table,  the  cutting-tool  being  made  to  operate  on  the  revolving 
work,  whether  fixed  to  the  face-plate  or  between  the  centres. 
The  longitudinal  cutting-traverse  employed  for  boring  serves  also 
for  sliding,  and  that  for  surfacing  is  transmitted,  through  a  crank 
and  chain,  from  the  fast  head-stock  to  an  ordinary  ratchet  action 
applied  to  the  transverse  screw  of  the  sliding-carriage.  The 
machine  described  is  capable  of  boring  engine-cylinders  up  to 
30  inches  in  diameter,  and  of  turning  and  surfacing  work  up  to 
48  inches  in  diameter  ;  and  the  power  and  strength  are  unusually 
great  for  its  capacity.  This  combination  of  a  cylinder  boring- 
machine  and  lathe  is  intended  to  meet  cases  where  the  number 
of  cylinders,  or  other  objects  to  be  bored,  is  not  sufficient  to 
employ  the  machine  solely  on  such  work.  When,  however,  there 
is  sufficient  of  it,  the  slide-rest  and  other  parts  specially  adapted 
for  turning  purposes  are  omitted,  leaving  then  a  machine  specially 
adapted  for  boring  and  facing  cylinders,  plummer-blocks,  and  such 
like  objects  of  moderate  size. 

Plate  6,  Figs.  12,  13  represent  the  combined  vertical  and  hori- 
zontal planing-machine.  It  weighs  about  90  tons,  and  is  capable 
of  operating  over  a  vertical  plane  20  feet  long,  by  15  feet  high,  and 
over  a  horizontal  one  20  feet  long,  by  3  feet  wide ;  the  "  cut "  in 
the  former  case  being  taken  either  in  a  horizontal  or  in  a  vertical 
direction.  The  cutting-tool  is  fixed  to  a  compound  slide,  which  is 
traversed  vertically  by  a  guide-screw  working  in  a  vertical  slide- 
bed,  and  is  balanced  by  a  weight  suspended  inside  this  bed  by  a 
chain.  The  vertical  slide-bed  is  secured  to  two  carriages,  which 
traverse  upon  two  horizontal  slide-beds.  The  traverse  along 
these  beds  is  produced  by  means  of  two  guide-screws,  rotated 
simultaneously  by  a  vertical  shaft  and  bevel-gearing,  actuated 
from  the  driving  apparatus,  which,  through  a  horizontal  shaft  and 
bevel-gearing,  also  operates,  alternatively,  the  vertical  guide-screw. 
The  two  horizontal  slide-beds  are  made  separately  (for  convenience 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  129 

of  transport),  and  are  bolted  together  so  as  to  form  a  complete 
frame,  which  is  bolted  to  three  strong  uprights.  These  are  of 
box-section,  having  at  the  bottom  projecting  spurs  to  which  is 
bolted  a  tee-grooved  bed,  on  which  the  work  is  secured.  There 
are  three  distinct  automatic  cutting-feed  actions,  one  for  planing 
vertically  lengthwise,  another  for  planing  horizontally  length- 
wise, and  the  third  for  planing  vertically  crosswise.  The  first 
two  actions  are  effected  by  respective  ratchet-wheels,  actuated 
through  shafts  and  adjustable  stops,  connected  with  the  par- 
ticular traverse  motion  which  may  be  in  operation.  The  third 
action  is  obtained  by  a  star-wheel,  which,  at  each  stroke  of  the 
compound  tool-slide,  comes  in  contact  with  an  adjustable  stop, 
fixed  in  a  groove  formed  in  the  vertical  slide-bed.  The  tool- 
holder  has  a  swivel-slide,  as  in  an  ordinary  planing-machine, 
by  which  the  tool  can  be  set  so  as  to  plane  angular  work,  the 
cutting-feed  of  this  slide  being  non-automatic.  The  whole  of  the 
mechanism  is  operated  from  one  driving  apparatus,  conveniently 
placed  at  one  side  of  the  machine,  and  provided  with  two  fast 
pulleys  and  one  loose  one,  the  former  transmitting  motion  to  the 
mechanism,  in  either  direction,  through  differential  spur-gearing, 
which  gives  a  slow  cutting  traverse,  and  a  quick  return  movement 
to  the  cutting-tool.  These  differential  motions  are  transmitted  by 
means  of  bevel-gearing,  either  to  the  vertical  or  to  the  horizontal 
shaft,  previously  mentioned,  according  to  the  direction  in  which 
it  is  required  to  perform  the  planing  operation.  For  some  descrip- 
tions of  work,  it  is  useful  to  fix  on  the  bed  a  tee-grooved  table 
about  8  feet  square,  having  compound  rectilinear  and  circular 
slides,  as  in  a  slotting-machine  table,  to  enable  circular  and  curved, 
as  well  as  flat  work,  to  be  planed.  This  addition  likewise  gives 
greater  facility  in  "  chucking  "  the  smaller  class  of  objects,  and  in 
adjusting  them  to  the  tool,  and  renders  frequent  resettings,  when 
there  are  several  surfaces  to  be  planed  on  the  same  object,  unne- 
cessary. These  combined  vertical  and  horizontal  planing-machines, 
are  principally  used  for  machining  cylinders,  standards,  bed-plates 
and  other  large  objects  in  marine-engine  establishments. 

Plate  6,  Figs.  14,  15  represent  the  universal  horizontal-drilling, 
tapping-  and  boring-machine.  It  will  operate  over  an  area  16  feet 
long  by  10  feet  high,  and  is  designed  for  dealing  with  such 
objects  as  the  main  frames,  bed-plate,  cjdinders,  condensers,  and 
other  parts  of  engines.  There  are  two  standards  which  can  be 
traversed  horizontally  to  and  fro  along  a  slide-bed  by  means  of  a 
fixed  screw,  acted  upon  by  rotatory  nuts  carried  by  the  standards. 
The  work  is  secured  upon  a  tee-grooved  foundation-bed  bolted  to 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  K 


130  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACHETE-TOOLS.  [Minutes  of 

the  slide-bed.  Each  of  the  standards  is  provided  with  a  drilling, 
tapping  and  boring  spindle,  mounted  on  a  carriage,  movable  up 
and  down  the  standard  automatically  by  a  rotating  vertical  screw, 
For  drilling  and  boring,  the  spindle  is  provided  with  variable 
automatic  feed  and  quick-hand  actions,  and,  when  tapping  work, 
the  automatic  mechanism  is  put  out  of  gear,  the  spindle  being  left 
free  to  slide  inwards  and  outwards  under  the  influence  of  the  tap, 
while  the  latter  is  cutting  or  returning.  For  rotating  the  spindles 
of  the  two  carriages,  two  sets  of  driving  apparatus,  having  both 
single  and  double  gear,  with  four-speed  cone-pulleys,  are  provided 
at  opposite  ends  of  the  machine,  the  motion  being  transmitted  to 
the  spindles  through  shafts  and  gearing.  For  traversing  the 
standards  along  the  slide-beds,  and  the  spindle-carriages  up  and 
down  the  standards,  a  horizontal  shaft  common  to  both  standards 
is  employed.  Each  standard  is  connected  with  this  horizontal 
shaft  through  two  sets  of  clutch  bevel- wheels ;  one  set  traverses 
the  standard  along  the  slide-bed,  through  a  pair  of  spur-wheels 
driven  in  either  direction,  and  actuating  the  rotatory  nuts  ;  and 
the  other  traverses  the  spindle-carriage  up  and  down  the  standard 
through  a  vertical  shaft,  driven  in  either  direction,  which  actuates 
the  vertical  screw,  through  a  pair  of  spur-wheels.  The  spindle- 
carriages  are  furnished  with  platforms,  on  which  the  attendants 
stand,  and  are  carried  about,  having  always  within  convenient 
reach  the  hand-wheels  and  levers  for  putting  in  action  or  suspend- 
ing each  and  every  function  of  the  machine.  In  some  of  these 
machines  one  vertical  standard  only,  with  its  traversing  and 
drilling  mechanism,  is  employed ;  but  in  such  machines  the  range 
or  capacity  is  less  than  in  the  one  described. 

Plate  7,  Figs.  16,  17  represent  the  combined  vertical  milling - 
and  drilling-machine.  Its  weight  is  6  tons.  The  main  frame  is  of 
strong  box-form,  the  spindle  projects  21  inches,  and  has  a  vertical 
movement  of  18  inches.  The  means  adopted  to  keep  the  lower  end 
of  the  spindle  rigidly  supported  against  the  lateral  pressure  of  the 
"  cut "  at  all  points  of  the  spindle's  traverse,  is  a  noticeable  feature  ; 
the  object  being  to  give  greater  hold  upon,  and  steadiness  of  action 
to,  the  milling-cutters,  and  thereby  to  ensure  better  work  and 
more  of  it.  The  spindle,  instead  of  running  in  bearings  fixed  to 
the  body  of  the  machine,  works  in  two  conical  bearings  within  a 
hollow  square  slide,  which  is  movable  vertically  through  square 
guides  formed  in  the  body  of  the  machine,  and  carries  the  spindle 
along  with  it.  The  lower  conical  bearing  is  close  to  the  head  of 
the  spindle,  and  a  locking-screw  is  provided  for  holding  the  square 
slide  firmly  in  position  at  any  desired  point  of  the  vertical  adjust- 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  131 

ment.  The  vertical  slide,  spindle,  &c.,  are  over-balanced  by  a 
weight  suspended  to  a  chain  passing  over  a  pulley,  so  as  always  to 
maintain  a  limited  pressure  upwards  against  a  screw,  provided  for 
traversing  the  spindle,  &c.  The  spindle  is  rotated  by  a  long  spur- 
pinion  keyed  to  a  vertical  shaft,  and  gearing  into  a  spur-wheel  of 
ordinary  width  keyed  upon  the  spindle.  This  latter  wheel  traverses 
along  with  the  spindle,  and  the  length  of  the  pinion  which  drives 
it  is  such  that  both  are  constantly  kept  in  gear.  The  vertical 
square  slide  and  spindle  are  moved  up  or  down  automatically,  or  by 
hand,  by  means  of  the  screw  already  mentioned,  which  is  situated 
immediately  above  the  slide,  and  is  connected  thereto.  In  most 
milling  operations  a  continuous  traverse  of  the  spindle  downwards 
is  not  required,  and  consequently,  after  adjustment,  the  vertical 
slide  may  in  these  cases  be  firmly  locked  in  position,  and  released 
when  an  additional  feed  is  required.  A  separate  self-acting  con- 
tinuous-feeding mechanism  is  provided  for  drilling  or  boring,  to  be 
brought  into  play  when  required.  The  table  on  which  the  work 
is  secured  consists  of  a  tee-grooved  top  (sxirmounted  by  a  trough  to 
receive  the  cutting  lubricant),  and  two  pairs  of  horizontal  trans- 
verse-slides, with  a  worm-wheel  between  them.  The  worm-wheel 
works  round  in  circular  guides  fixed  to  the  top  slide  of  the  lower 
pair,  and  its  upper  face  is  formed  as  a  slide,  with  bevelled  edges, 
to  serve  as  a  guide  for  the  bottom  slide  of  the  upper  pair.  The 
upper  pair  of  slides  and  screws  is  provided  for  the  purpose  of 
readily  adjusting  the  position  of  the  work,  in  relation  to  the  axis 
of  the  worm-wheel,  with  accuracy,  and  without  removal  after  it 
has  been  secured  upon  the  table.  When  the  work  has  been 
adjusted,  the  two  slides  of  the  upper  pair  are  made  fast  by  means 
of  locking-screws  and  pads,  acting  against  the  bevelled  edges, 
which,  in  this  pair  of  slides,  are  unusually  acute.  In  straight 
line,  or  circular  work,  the  lower  slides  and  the  worm-wheel,  by 
means  of  their  screws  and  worm  respectively,  traverse  and  guide 
the  work  against  the  cutting  edge  of  the  revolving  cutter,  and  the 
profile  of  the  work,  in  plan  view,  is  determined  thereby.  For 
curvilineal,  or  irregular  profiles  in  plan  view,  the  bottom  slide  of 
the  lower  pair  is  disconnected  from  its  screw,  and  is  made  free  to 
traverse  horizontally ;  and,  by  means  of  a  balance- weight,  a 
"model "  of  the  outline  is  kept  pressed  against  a  circular  "  former," 
whilst  at  the  same  time  the  object  is  kept  pressed  against  the 
revolving  cutter.  The  "  model "  is  usually  fixed  on  the  table, 
and  the  circular  "  former "  to  the  spindle  or  the  vertical  slide. 
Profiling  processes  are  extensively  adopted  in  machining  the  sides 
and  ends  of  cranks,  levers,  &c.     The  circumferential  speed  of  the 

K  2 


132  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  [Minutes  of 

cutters  averages  about  35  to  40  lineal  feet  per  minute  in  cutting 
iron,  and  somewhat  slower  in  cutting  steel,  and  the  gearing  is 
arranged  for  the  driving-strap  to  run  between  250  and  400  feet  per 
minute.  In  larger  machines  the  power  is  increased.  The  working 
parts,  viz.,  the  cutter,  spindle,  &c,  are  also  made  larger  and 
stronger,  and  the  cutter  is  supported  by  a  bearing  underneath,  where 
practicable,  as  well  as  by  the  two  bearings  in  the  square  slide.  In 
other  respects  the  design  and  general  arrangement  of  the  machine 
are  as  in  that  represented  in  Plate  7,  Figs.  16  and  17.  Some 
machines,  especially  adapted  for  profiling  work,  are  designed  more 
after  the  style  of  a  planing-machine.  They  are  provided  with  a  slide- 
bed,  traversing  grooved  table,  uprights,  and  cross-slide.  The 
revolving  cutter  and  spindle  are  carried  by  a  vertical-slide,  and 
traversed  up  and  down  by  hand,  or  (when  cutting  profiles  in 
elevational  view)  acted  upon  by  a  weight.  This  vertical-slide  is 
in  turn  carried  by  a  horizontal  one,  fitted  to  the  cross-slide,  and 
traversable  across  by  hand  or  by  balance-weight.  The  object  to 
be  profiled  is  fixed  to  the  traversing  table,  with  the  "  model " 
alongside  (when  one  is  employed) ;  the  "  former "  being  fixed 
beside  the  cutter-spindle  on  the  vertical-slide.  The  table  is 
traversed  automatically  along  the  slide-bed,  the  extent  of  the 
traverse  being  controlled  by  stops,  which  arrest  the  action. 

Plate  7,  Figs.  18,  19  represent  the  ribbon  sawing-machine  for 
sawing  off  ingot  heads,  and  for  sawing  metals  in  the  cold  state  in 
general.  The  ribbon-saw  overhangs  the  frame  nearly  8  feet,  is 
2^  inches  wide,  and  is  carried  by  two  pulleys,  each  8  feet  in  diameter, 
with  the  centres  about  9  feet  apart,  and  making  about  4  revolutions 
per  minute.  The  upper  pulley  is  secured  upon  a  revolving  spindle, 
carried  by  a  sliding-block,  which  is  free  to  move  vertically,  in  guides 
formed  in  the  standard  of  the  machine.  The  block  is  raised  or 
lowered  by  screw  and  nut,  and  is  connected  with  a  balance-weight 
and  lever  which  pull  at  it  in  an  upward  direction,  and  hold 
the  ribbon-saw  in  tension  to  the  requisite  degree.  The  lower,  or 
driving-pulley  has  a  large  spur-wheel  cast  on  one  side  of  it,  and 
is  rotated  by  a  cone  pulley  and  double  gearing,  which  impart 
the  requisite  power  and  speed  to  suit  different  depths  and 
kinds  of  work.  For  carrying  the  work  there  are  two  sliding- 
tables,  placed  side  by  side  parallel  to  each  other,  in  the  same 
horizontal  plane,  and  mounted  upon  two  slide-beds.  They  are 
arranged  with  a  narrow  space  between  them,  forming  a  gateway 
for  the  saw,  are  both  formed  with  tee-grooved  tops,  and  are 
traversed  simultaneously  when  the  sawing  operations  are  being 
performed.    The  traversing  is  effected  by  screws,  driven  by  change- 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON   MODERN  MACHINE-TOOLS.  133 

wheels,  through  a  worm  and  wheel.  The  worm  can  he  put  in  or 
out  of  gear  for  starting  or  suspending  the  traverse  of  the  sliding- 
tables,  by  a  rod  placed  alongside  one  of  the  slide-beds.  The 
engagement  of  the  worm  is  effected  by  hand  only,  but  the  dis- 
engagement may  be  performed  either  by  hand  or  automatically. 
In  the  latter  case  a  stop  on  one  of  the  sliding-tables  comes  in 
contact,  at  the  right  moment,  with  an  adjustable  stop  on  the 
sliding- rod,  and  pushes  it  along  until  the  worm  is  disengaged. 
Two  rollers,  one  above  and  the  other  below  the  plane  of  the 
sliding-tables,  are  provided,  for  supporting  the  saw  when  in 
operation ;  the  upper  roller  being  adjustable  vertically,  to  suit 
different  depths  of  work.  The  greatest  depth  of  work  through 
which  the  machine  is  adapted  to  saw  is  15  inches,  the  speed  of 
the  saw  is  about  40  to  50  lineal  feet  per  minute,  and  the  pitch  of  its 
teeth  varies  from  -J-  inch  for  shallow  cutting,  to  £  inch  for  deep 
cutting.  The  machine  is  a  large  and  powerful  one  of  its  class, 
and  the  framing  is  heavy  and  strong,  so  as  to  prevent  vibration 
and  save  the  saw.  It  is  used  for  removing  "  deadheads "  from 
heavy  steel  castings,  and  for  work  in  general.  In  some  cases  the 
ribbon-saw  is  supplanted  by  a  circular-cutting  disk,  or  saw,  0  feet 
or  upwards  in  diameter,  revolving  between  the  two  sliding-tables, 
and  carried  upon  a  horizontal  spindle  (situated  below  the  slide- 
beds),  driven  by  a  worm  and  worm-wheel.  Ten  to  forty  bar- 
cutters  (according  to  the  nature  of  the  work),  are  fixed  by  screws 
in  recesses  formed  in  the  two  faces  of  the  disk  alternately.  In 
this  arrangement  no  part  of  the  machine,  except  the  disk,  stands 
higher  than  the  sliding-tables,  so  that  any  size  or  shape  of 
work  can  be  treated  upon  it.  A  lathe,  where  applicable,  is  prefer- 
able to  any  other  machine  for  cutting  off  "  deadheads  "  and  the 
like ;  but  with  such  forms  as  stern-posts,  propeller-blades,  &c, 
which  cannot  be  readily  chucked  and  rotated  in  the  lathe,  circular- 
cutting  or  ribbon  sa wing-machines  are  preferred  for  the  cutting-off 
operations  to  either  slotting  or  drilling. 

Plate  7,  Figs.  20,  21  represent  the  30-ton  traveller  crane,  having 
a  span  of  30  feet,  and  one  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  which  is 
that  the  crab  is  a  fixture  upon  the  traveller,  instead  of  being  movable 
along  it,  and  that  a  "  bogie  carriage  "  is  employed  for  traversing 
the  load  transversely.  This  enables  the  crane  to  operate  over  a 
wider  area  of  workshop  floor  than  is  possible  with  the  movable 
crab  usually  employed,  because  of  the  greater  length  of  the  latter. 
In  the  Figs,  the  crab  is  shown  fixed  on  the  top  of  the  traveller,  at 
one  end  of  it.  In  some  cases,  however,  it  is  more  convenient  to 
have  it  fixed  either  in  the  middle  of  the  traveller,  on  the  top  side, 


134  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  [Minutes  of 

or  at  one'end  of  the  traveller,  on  the  under  side,  for  the  purpose  of 
saving  head-room.  Another  feature  is  the  arrangement  of  the 
chain  for  lifting  and  lowering,  which  is  all  in  one  length,  but  led 
in  two  symmetrical  lines,  so  that  the  load  always  hangs  centrally 
between  the  two  transverse  girders  and  strains  each  line  of  chain, 
and  each  transverse  girder,  equally  with  the  other.  The  two  ends 
of  the  chain  are  connected  to  the  barrel  at  points  equidistant  from 
the  ends  of  the  latter ;  and  the  two  lines  of  chain,  after  leaving 
the  barrel,  extend  across  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  traveller,  where 
they  take  a  part  turn  round  two  vertical  sheaves  on  the  traveller- 
framing.  Thence  they  extend  first  to  vertical  sheaves  in  the 
bogie  carriage,  and  in  the  lifting-hook  block  suspended  there- 
from, and  next,  and  last,  to  a  horizontal  sheave  on  the  traveller- 
framins:,  under  the  crab.  This  horizontal  sheave  thus  receives  the 
chain  at  the  middle  of  its  length,  and  acts  in  a  compensatory 
manner,  so  as  always  to  keep  each  line  of  chain  strained  equally  with 
the  other.  The  barrel  is  grooved  spirally  to  the  right  hand  at  one 
end,  and  to  the  left  hand  at  the  other,  for  directing  the  lapping 
around  it  of  the  two  lines  of  chain.  The  bogie  carriage  is 
traversed  by  a  chain  carried  over  two  sheaves,  one  on  the 
traveller-framing  and  the  other  in  the  crab,  the  one  in  the  crab 
being  formed  with  teeth,  for  driving  the  chain  in  either  direc- 
tion. To  enable  the  barrel  to  be  kept  low  down,  without 
interfering  with  the  chain  which  actuates  the  bogie  carriage, 
the  barrel  is  formed  with  a  deep  groove  in  the  middle,  which 
allows  the  traversing-chain  to  pass.  A  quick-running  rope  is 
employed  for  driving  the  crane,  and  all  the  various  movements  are 
transmitted  through  a  horizontal  shaft  in  the  crab.  This  shaft  is 
provided  with  three  sets  of  friction-clutch  bevel-wheels,  through 
one  set  the  barrel  is  actuated  for  lifting  and  lowering ;  through 
another  the  bogie  carriage  is  traversed  transversely,  and  through 
the  third  the  traveller  is  traversed  longitudinally.  In  each  case  a 
worm  and  worm-wheel  are  employed  for  reducing  the  speed  of 
rotation,  and  for  retaining  a  hold  of  the  load  and  of  the  traversing 
parts.  In  the  case  of  the  lifting  and  lowering  mechanism,  two 
changes  of  spur-wheels  are  also  provided  for  varying  the  speed. 
The  three  clutches  are  operated  through  three  hand-levers, 
situated  close  together,  and  having  concentric  axes.  The  at- 
tendant stands  upon  a  platform,  so  arranged  that  he  can  readily 
observe  what  is  going  on  below,  and  at  the  same  time  control  and 
work  the  levers.  As  the  crab  is  fixed  to  the  traveller,  the  shaft 
which  runs  along  the  cross-girders,  for  traversing  it  longitudinally, 
does  not  require  to  have  its  intermediate  bearings  made  movable, 


Proceedings.]  HULSE   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  135 

as  in  previous  practice.  When  the  lifting-chain  is  required  to  be 
of  such  length  that  it  cannot  conveniently  be  lapped  upon  a  barrel, 
two  cable-holders  (as  in  a  ship's  anchor-capstan)  are  employed 
instead  of  a  barrel,  and  lockers  are  provided  for  the  slack  chain. 
These  cranes  are  in  some  cases  arranged  to  be  driven  by  a  long 
shaft,  or  else  by  a  steam-engine  carried  upon  the  crab,  either  of  these 
systems  being  preferable  to  the  quick-running  rope  for  steel-  and 
iron-foundries.  The  working  of  the  crane  is  remarkably  smooth 
and  noiseless,  and  its  several  actions  can  be  started,  reversed,  or 
stopped  instantly,  and  can  be  worked,  in  any  order  of  combination, 
with  perfect  ease  and  precision,  by  an  ordinary  labourer.  Added 
to  this,  the  peculiar  construction  of  the  friction-clutches  enables 
them  to  be  worked  steadily,  with  such  amount  of  slip  as  may 
be  desired,  so  that  the  loads  can  be  adjusted,  either  vertically  or 
horizontally,  and  gradually  and  with  such  nicety,  as  to  render  the 
crane  of  great  value  in  erecting  and  fitting  together  work  of  the 
heaviest  description.  For  steel-melting  houses,  foundries,  &c, 
this  type  of  crane  is  well  adapted,  because  the  attendant  is  not 
exposed  to  the  fumes  and  heat  rising  direct  from  the  molten  metal 
as  he  stands  at  the  side  of  the  building  opposite  to  the  furnaces. 
The  levers,  moreover,  may  be  actuated  from  the  ground  when 
preferred.  In  the  Figs,  the  traveller  and  the  bogie  carriage  are 
shown  carried  iipon  four  travelling- wheels ;  but  in  cranes  for 
lifting  weights  of  100  tons  or  upwards  each  would  be  carried  on 
eight  wheels,  coupled  in  pairs  by  compensating  beams,  so  as  to 
ensure  that  every  wheel  shall  have  its  due  share  of  the  load. 

Plate  6,  Figs.  22,  23,  24,  25  represent  two  kinds  of  spirit-levels 
as  used  in  the  Author's  fitting-  and  erecting-shops.  One  is  for  test- 
ing horizontal  lines  and  surfaces,  and  the  other  vertical  ones.  In 
both  cases  the  tubes  are  graduated  with  divisions  so  proportioned 
that  when  the  work  tested  is  not  truly  horizontal  or  vertical,  as 
the  case  may  be,  the  extent  of  the  deviations,  measured  in  ^1^  inch 
per  foot  of  length,  is  shown  by  the  number  of  divisions  by  which 
the  bubble  in  the  tube  deviates  from  the  central  position.  This 
method  of  testing  lines  and  surfaces  in  constructional  work  is 
highly  approved  of  in  practice  by  the  workmen.  Since  its  intro- 
duction the  use  of  squares  in  the  Author's  workshops  has  been 
greatly  reduced,  and  that  of  parallel  straight-edges  (formerly  used 
as  winding  strips)  has  almost  died  out. 

Rectangular  surface-plates,  cylindrical  gauges  of  size,  table 
chucks,  and  other  workshop-appliances  remain  unaltered  in  prin- 
ciple and  design,  but  their  size  has  of  course  been  increased  in 
harmony  with  that  of  the  work  to  be  treated. 


136 


HULSE    ON   MODEEN   MACHINE-TOOLS. 


[Minutes  of 


In  concluding  this  Paper,  the  Author  would  explain  that  his 
object  has  been,  not  to  give  an  exhaustive  account  of  the  subject 
treated,  but  rather  to  make  prominent  such  portions  of  it  as 
appeared  of  chief  importance,  and  therefore  most  likely  to  interest 
the  members  of  the  Institution. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  numerous  tracings,  from  which 
Plates  6  and  7  have  been  prepared. 


[Discussion. 


Proceedings.]      DISCUSSION    ON   MODEKN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  137 

Discussion. 

Mr.  W.  Hulse   wished  to  explain  that  of  the  two  levels,  one  Mr.  Hulse. 
was  the  ordinary  long  spirit-level,  and  the  other  with  a  leg  at 
right-angles  to  it.    The  latter  was  for  levelling  vertical  surfaces, 
and  the  former  for  the  ordinary  horizontal  surfaces.     Both  were 
acting  very  well. 

Mr.  Alfred  Muir  considered  some  of  the  diagrams  very  im-  Mr.  Muir. 
perfect  in  the  details.  The  large  lathe  showed  a  bearing  for 
the  pinion  which  drove  the  face-plate  with  no  cap  to  it ;  this  was 
wrong  in  construction,  as  in  case  of  a  gall  the  hearing  would  have 
to  he  cut  away  to  get  the  shaft  out,  and  in  case  of  the  shaft  wearing 
it  would  need  renewal,  whereas  with  a  cap  it  could  be  closed.  As 
to  the  boring-machine  and  lathe  combined,  there  was  a  long  bed 
supported  at  each  end  by  two  screws ;  this  was  a  very  faulty  con- 
struction, and  he  would  defy  any  one  to  make  two  screws  in  the 
ordinary  way  perfectly  true.  The  gearing  also  to  work  these  two 
screws  was  an  element  of  inaccuracy ;  the  result  would  be  that 
in  lowering  or  in  raising  the  table,  it  would  not  be  parallel  with 
the  spindle  of  the  lathe.  In  the  vertical  and  horizontal  planing- 
machine,  he  thought  the  table  was  extremely  weak ;  if  a  bridge 
were  made  on  the  same  system  he  should  expect  a  disaster  like  the 
one  at  the  Tay  Bridge.  He  considered  the  vertical  milling-  and 
drilling-machine  an  abortion ;  with  the  very  unequal  wear  there 
would  be  on  the  long  pinion  it  would  in  time  be  like  a  crooked 
stick.     He  regarded  the  crane  as  neither  bad  nor  yet  good. 

Mr.  B.  H.  Tweddell  thought  that  a  Paper  like  the  present  one  Mr.  Tweddell. 
should  be  treated  in  a  broad  and  general  spirit,  not  so  much  with 
reference  to  the  many  minute  details,  which  the  Author  had  so 
generously  supplied,  as  to  the  general  advancement  of  knowledge 
in  that  branch  of  engineering.  He  would  therefore  confine  his 
remarks  to  the  subject  of  the  necessity  of  labour-saving  machinery. 
He  had  had  the  honour,  three  years  ago,  of  submitting  a  Paper 
on  that  subject,  in  which  he  had  remarked  :  "  At  present  a  large 
amount  of  lifting  is  done  by  manual  labour,  especially  in  putting 
on,  adjusting,  and  taking  the  article  off  the  machine;  in  this 
there  is  great  room  for  improvement."  1  The  Author  had  not 
been  long  in  responding  to  that  challenge,  one  of  his  objects 
being  "  to  machine  heavy  forgings  and  castings  at  a  single  setting, 
and  thus  reduce  the  number  of  removals  and  re-settings  to  a 
minimum."      That  was   only   another   way   of  doing   what   Mr. 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  Ixxiii.  p.. 71. 


138  DISCUSSION   OX   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.        [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Tweddell.  Tweddell  had  spoken  of  in  his  Paper.  The  Author,  by  diminish- 
ing the  number  of  settings  and  re-settings,  naturally  reduced  the 
number  of  liftings  and  takings-off.  Where  he  had  advocated 
putting  down  an  increased  number  of  small  cranes  and  lifting 
appliances,  the  Author  had  brought  out  a  class  of  machinery 
calculated  to  deal  with  objects  which,  when  once  placed  in  the 
lathe,  required  as  little  shifting  as  possible.  He  should  have  been 
glad  if  the  Author,  with  his  great  experience,  had  said  something 
as  to  how  far  it  was  wise  to  go  on  increasing  the  size  of  castings 
and  objects  now  requiring  to  be  manipulated.  Castings  were  now 
made  of  enormous  dimensions,  involving  considerable  risk  and 
great  expense  for  railway-carriage,  which  was  a  serious  matter  in 
meeting  foreign  competition.  It  was  time  that  this  and  other 
questions  should  be  taken  seriously  into  consideration.  If  an 
accident,  for  example,  occurred  to  one  of  the  enormous  propeller 
shafts  now  made,  the  cost  of  replacing  it  was  so  great  that  it  was 
worth  considering  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  have  more 
couplings  and  connections,  and  a  greater  number  of  parts,  thus 
reducing  the  size  of  the  pieces  affected.  As  another  example  of 
the  ever-increasing  dimensions  of  machine  tools,  engineers  were 
now  putting  150  tons  on  a  rivet-head  at  each  operation,  while 
twenty  years  ago  20  tons  was  thought  enormous.  This  Paper 
was  of  great  value  as  indicating  an  epoch  in  machine-tool  manu- 
facture. The  last  Paper  of  the  kind  which  he  remembered  was 
one  read  by  Mr.  James  Fletcher  before  a  kindred  Institution  in 
Glasgow  in  1864,1  and  it  was  as  interesting  at  that  time  as  the 
Author's  was  to-day.  Mr.  Fletcher's  Paper  treated  of  the  change 
from  wood  to  iron  in  ship  construction;  the  Author's  on  the 
change  from  iron  to  steel,  and  the  increased  power  of  machine- 
tools  required  to  deal  with  the  new  material.  Additional  interest 
would  be  given  to  the  Paper  if  some  data  were  afforded  as  to  the 
power  required  to  work  steel  as  compared  with  iron — the  increased 
resistance  offered  by  the  new  material,  especially  the  softer  kind, 
in  comparison  with  the  best  iron.  He  very  much  questioned 
whether  the  resistance  in  the  softer  kinds  of  steel  was  as  much 
greater  as  was  generally  supposed.  The  30-ton  travelling  crane 
was  certainly  a  good  example  of  that  kind  of  crane,  but  he 
thought  there  was  not  much  novelty  in  keeping  the  driving-gear 
apart  from  the  travelling  monkey,  at  all  events  not  to  hydraulic 


1  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  Proceedings,  1864,  p.  189.  "On 
improvements  in  heavy  tools  for  general  engineering  and  iron  shipbuilding 
work." 


I 


Proceedings.]     DISCUSSION   ON  MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  139 

engineers,  because  they  seldom  combined  them.     He  would  suggest  Mr.  Tweddell. 
that  a  carefully  prepared  historical  collection,  showing  the  pro- 
gress and  development   of  machine-tools   during   the   past  half- 
century,  would  form   a  valuable  addition  to  the  Library  of  the 
Institution. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Appleby  held  that  the  users  of  machine-tools  were  Mr.  Appleby. 
largely  indebted  to  the  Author  of  the  Paper  and  to  his  family  for 
the  sound  practice  in  the  construction  of  such  machines,  wherever 
they  might  be  made.  There  could  be.  no  doubt  that  the  large  out- 
put, and  the  accuracy  of  the  work  produced  by  the  tools  which  had 
been  described,  were  highly  necessary  in  these  days  of  keen  com- 
petition. Probably  most  engineers  would  like  to  substitute  the 
!  types  under  consideration  for  their  old  machinery  ;  but  many  could 
not  afford  to  do  this,  and  must  thus  work  at  considerable  disad- 
vantage. He  believed  he  had  seen  some  of  the  tools  referred  to  by 
the  Author,  and,  as  regarded  the  40-inch  lathe,  it  was  astonishing 
to  see  the  mass  of  steel  it  removed — not  fine  turnings,  the  cut 
being  so  heavy  that  the  whole  of  the  metal  removed  was  scrap  fit 
for  re-melting,  and  worth  several  pounds  a  ton  more  than  ordinary 
turnings.  As  regards  the  crane,  he  thought  the  design  did  not 
compare  favourably  with  that  of  the  other  labour-saving  machines 
to  which  attention  had  been  directed.  A  span  of  30  feet  seemed 
to  him  a  short  one  for  a  30-ton  traveller ;  but  even  with  this  short 
span,  the  position  of  the  driver  at  one  end  was  unfavourable  to  the 
accuracy  in  working  to  be  desired  in  erecting  shops,  where  such 
machines  were  generally  required.  The  tendency  was  to  increase 
the  width  of  shops  where  large  work  was  produced,  the  width 
varying  from  40  to  60  feet,  or  a  little  more — 20  metres  was  a  span 
of  shops  which  had  recently  come  under  his  notice  several  times. 
Of  course,  the  inconvenience  referred  to  increased  with  the  width 
of  the  shop  and  involved  more  signalling  than  was  desirable, 
especially  if  some  large  machine  should  be  between  the  driver  and 
the  work  he  had  to  do.  He  preferred  having  the  driver  over  his 
work  where  practicable,  or  in  any  case  centrally  in  the  span  of  the 
crane  ;  he  did  not  remember  an  instance  where  this  could  not  be 
arranged,  either  by  providing  a  platform  along  the  whole  length 
of  the  traveller-girder,  or  by  one  suspended  from  the  crab.  No 
doubt  in  foundries,  melting-houses,  &c,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
driver  should  be  at  that  end  of  the  crane  where  he  would  be  the 
least  exposed  to  the  fumes  and  heat  arising  from  the  floor ;  but 
even  in  that  case,  he  thought  it  was  better  to  have  a  platform 
below  the  traveller-girders  than  above,  as  shown  in  Fig.  21.  There 
could  be  no  doubt  that  friction  clutches  were  the  best  means  for 


140  DISCUSSION   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.         [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Appleby,  driving  the  traversing  and  travelling  motions,  and  he  believed  the 
Author  had  been  the  first  to  use  this  arrangement.  He  did  not 
see  any  provision  for  coiling  and  uncoiling  the  lifting-chain  when 
the  load  was  being  traversed  from  one  side  to  the  other.  Some 
experiments  which  he  had  made  had  convinced  him  that  such  an 
arrangement  was  most  desirable,  especially  for  heavy  cranes. 
The  power  required  to  work  the  coiling  and  uncoiling  gear  was 
very  small,  whilst  the  coefficient  of  friction  in  the  traversing 
motion  was  reduced  by  nearly  40  per  cent.,  the  wear  and  tear 
of  the  chain  being  also  much  less  than  when  it  was  fixed,  as 
indicated  in  the  diagram.  The  "  cup  or  capstan-drum  "  was  un- 
doubtedly an  excellent  device,  and  admitted  of  working  under 
conditions  which  would  be  almost  impossible  if  the  chain  were 
coiled  on  a  barrel  in  the  usual  manner.  The  links  of  the  chain 
could  not  become  distorted  as  they  often  were  when  coiled  on  a 
barrel ;  but  the  great  advantage  was,  that  it  was  immaterial  what 
length  of  chain  was  used.  By  way  of  illustration,  he  might  refer 
to  a  crane  made  by  him  some  years  ago,  which  he  had  recently 
seen.  It  was  of  15-ton  power,  and  about  68  feet  span,  the  height 
of  lift  varying  from  10  to  265  feet.  It  had  been  in  constant  work 
for  a  long  time,  and  neither  chain  nor  any  other  part  had  required 
renewal.  This  crane  was  driven  by  rope,  and  the  power  trans- 
mitted by  friction-clutches.  The  preference  which  the  Author 
seemed  to  entertain  for  shaft  transmission  was  well  founded  where 
there  was  much  grit  or  dust.  He  had  used  it  for  about  eight  years, 
and  during  that  time  there  had  been  no  renewal ;  but  he  thought 
much  might  be  due  to  the  kind  of  bearings.  The  life  of  a  shaft 
used  in  transmitting  power  for  working  cranes  was  of  course  much 
greater  than  that  of  the  rope  used  for  transmission  ;  but  the  cost 
of  the  former  was  much  higher  than  the  latter,  and  there  were 
other  considerations  which  led  him  to  think  that,  in  many  cases, 
the  balance  of  advantage  was  in  favour  of  rope-transmission. 

Mr.  Cowper.  Mr.  E.  A.  Cowper  thought  that  the  members  were  much  indebted 
to  the  Author  for  giving  this  record  of  the  improvements  in  heavy 
tools.  The  question  was  not  simply  one  as  between  steel  and  iron : 
it  was  partly  in  reference  to  the  large  castings  and  forgings  now 
in  use,  especially  for  marine  purposes  and  guns,  which  could  not 
be  dealt  with  otherwise  than  by  large  tools.  It  was  impossible  to 
do  good  work  with  light  and  springy  tools,  and  it  was  most 
expensive  to  attempt  to  do  it,  as  only  the  lightest  cuts  could  be 
taken,  and  even  then  the  work  was  not  true.  In  regard  to  the 
40-inch  lathe  described  in  the  Paper,  the  bearing  was  said  to  be 
12  inches  in  diameter  and  21  inches  long.     He  did  not  take  excep- 


Proceedings.]      DISCUSSION   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS. 


141 


40-Feet  Face-Plate  Lat^ie. 
1  inch  =  5  feet. 


142  DISCUSSION   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.         [Minutes  of 

Mr,  Cowper.  tion  to  the  diameter,  but  lie  did  to  the  length,  for  he  did  not 
think  that  the  bearing  would  take  the  whole  of  the  heavy  weight 
at  the  front.  He  should  make  it  rather  larger  in  diameter  and 
rather  shorter  in  length.  The  improvement  in  the  milling-machine 
was  excellent.  He  noticed  also,  that  in  most  of  the  descriptions 
of  the  tools  tee-grooves  were  used.  He  quite  approved  of  them, 
and  had  used  them  himself  for  many  years.  The  use  of  the  two 
screws  for  the  sliding-carriage  of  the  lathe  was  a  new  departure 
and  a  really  good  one.  He  did  not  agree  with  a  previous  speaker 
in  thinking  that  they  could  not  be  worked  together.  Screws  could 
now  be  made  reasonably  true.  "With  reference  to  the  circular 
cutters  formed  of  tools  fixed  in  disks  referred  to  by  the  Author, 
they  were  not,  he  believed,  put  forward  as  new.  Mr.  Cowper  had 
used  them  in  different  forms  for  forty  years.  He  had  had  them 
18  inches  in  diameter  with  twenty  tools  in  them,  and  4  feet 
6  inches  in  diameter  with  forty  or  fifty  tools.  It  was  a  tool  that 
removed  the  metal  very  expeditiously,  and  was  extremely  useful 
for  facing  joints  in  large  work.  The  annexed  Fig.  (p.  141)  repre- 
sented a  lathe  which  he  had  made  for  a  special  purpose,  namely, 
for  turning  36-feet  turn-plates  and  roller-paths  for  bridges,  in 
about  the  year  1845.  The  lathe  was  driven  with  a  friction-clutch, 
which  he  approved  of  for  such  tools,  because  when  the  machinery 
was  going  at  full  speed  it  was  dangerous  to  start  a  lathe  carrying 
30  tons  at  once.  If  a  heavy  strap  was  put  on  carelessly,  it  was 
apt  to  give  too  much  strain  for  the  moment;  but  with  a  friction - 
clutch  there  was  safety  in  case  of  anything  jamming.  The  angle 
ought  to  be  under  1  in  8.  Then  the  machine  started  in  a  satis- 
factory manner  without  any  jolt  or  jar.  He  ventured  to  turn  the 
heavy  cast-iron  underframes  of  swing-bridges  on  it,  such  as  the 
swing-bridge  at  Perth,  and  the  Shannon  bridge,  &c.  The  weight 
hanging  on  the  face-plate  was  about  30  tons  in  such  cases,  and 
about  36  feet  or  more  in  diameter  over  the  angles,  the  pit  being 
capable  of  taking  an  article  40  feet  in  diameter.  It  was  a  very 
cheap  lathe.  The  mandrel  was  of  cast-iron,  30  inches  in  diameter, 
and  12  inches  long  in  the  bearing,  and  the  length  8  feet  over  the 
back-bearing;  the  face-plate  had  a  key  fitted  into  it,  and  the 
mandril,  under  the  root  of  each  rib  on  the  face-plate,  and  this,  he 
believed,  gave  great  stiffness  to  the  face-plate.  The  gearing  had 
true  epicycloidal  teeth  throughout,  but  not  pitched  and  trimmed, 
and  although  the  pitch  circle  of  the  gearing  in  the  face-plate  was 
only  12  feet  in  diameter,  the  motion  was  most  steady,  with  two 
slide-rests  and  two  goods  cuts  and  a  boring  bar  at  work  at  once. 
He  attributed  this  to  the  correct  form  and  pitch  of  the  teeth. 


Proceedings.]     DISCUSSION   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  143 

Mr.  W.  S.  Tomkins  said  he  had  some  hesitation  in  criticizing  the  Mr.  Tomkins. 
Paper,  being  a  competitor  of  the  Author's.  He  should  have  pre- 
ferred to  see  the  slide-rests  of  the  lathe  when  turning  the  largest 
diameters  better  supported.  It  was  evident  that  they  would  be 
considerably  beyond  the  ribs  of  the  bed,  and  would  be  so  far  ill- 
supported.  In  a  lathe  that  he  had  constructed  the  bed  was,  he 
believed,  formed  of  four  distinct  ribs  placed  at  a  much  greater 
distance  apart  than  in  the  Author's.  He  was  much  indebted  to 
the  Author  for  what  he  had  said  about  heavy  tools  for  heavy 
work,  for  it  was  evident  that  there  must  be  tools  of  increasing 
weight  to  deal  with  the  masses  to  be  coped  with.  It  was  not  in 
the  hands  of  the  tool-makers  to  fix  the  limit ;  it  was  their  province 
to  supply  what  was  required.  He  greatly  admired  the  ingenuity 
of  the  Author's  constructions.  There  was  of  course  no  motion 
which  a  mechanic  could  not  perform  if  required  ;  but  the  question 
was  whether  it  could  be  performed  advantageously.  As  to  the 
universal  planing-machine,  he  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to 
perform  all  those  separate  operations  in  one  machine.  He  under- 
stood the  disadvantage  of  having  to  shift  the  piece  operated  on 
several  times,  but  he  did  not  think  that  the  several  operations 
could  be  advantageously  combined.  It  was  good  mechanically, 
but  it  was  bad  commercially.  Tool- makers  had  great  difficulty 
in  persuading  purchasers  of  the  merits  of  thoroughly  good  heavy 
tools.  It  was  comparatively  easy  to  make  a  good  and  substantial 
tool,  but  it  was  another  thing  to  sell  it.  Like  the  Author,  ho 
should  be  always  delighted  to  do  his  best  to  provide  thoroughly 
substantial  tools,  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  between  them  they 
would  be  able  to  cope  with  anything  that  they  might  be  called 
upon  to  deal  with. 

Mr.  Loftus  Perkins  said  that  reference  had  been  made  to  the  Mr.  Perkins, 
power  required  to  cut  steel.  He  had  lately  been  using  Whitworth 
metal.  It  seemed  very  soft,  but  it  was  very  hard  to  work — twice 
as  hard  as  iron,  taking  double  the  power.  There  was  one  tool 
which  t&ol-makers  wanted  but  had  not  had  given  to  them — a 
planing-machine  by  which  they  could  plane  a  screw.  Latterly 
he  had  to  make  a  screw-propeller  and  had  tried  to  make  it  true. 
That  could  be  done,  he  thought,  with  a  machine  like  the  Author's 
if,  instead  of  having  a  movable  table,  he  had  the  same  table  as 
the  milling-machine — a  planing-machine  with  the  table  of  the 
slotting-machine.  With  that  moulds  of  every  description  could 
be  planed,  which  with  ordinary  machines  could  not  be  done. 
Messrs.  Whitworth,  who  made  the  screws  for  him,  had  to  plane 
them  flat  first  and  then  bend  them  into  shape.     The  only  thing 


144  DISCUSSION   ON  MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.         [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Perkins,  approaching  such  a  tool  as  he  had  mentioned  was  a  wall  planing- 
rnachine,  which  did  not  extend  far  enough  to  take  in  the  large 
diameter. 

Mr.  Maudslay.  Mr.  Hexry  Maudslay  remarked  that  the  large  face-lathe 
described  by  Mr.  Cowper  was  similar  to  one  that  could  be 
seen  at  Messrs.  Maudslay  Sons  and  Field's  wharf — it  had  been 
designed  and  constructed  by  his  grandfather,  Henry  Maudslay, 
who  died  in  1831.  The  principal  bearing  of  the  mandrel  was 
9h  inches  in  diameter,  and  it  was  solid.  The  diameter  of  the 
face-plate,  or  chuck,  was  9  feet,  and  the  depth  of  pit  to  the  centre 
of  the  mandrel  was  20  feet ;  it  was  used  to  turn  the  outer  rim  of 
fly-wheels  for  land-engines.  There  were  two  methods  of  driving 
this  lathe.  It  was  also  used  for  boring,  and  had  actually  bored 
cylinders  for  steam-engines  up  to  10  feet  in  diameter,  by  placing 
a  large  boring  bar  between  the  heads.  In  fact,  it  was  almost  of 
a  universal  character.  It  was  of  great  antiquity,  it  worked 
thoroughly  well,  and  he  believed  that  this  lathe,  having  been 
at  work  day  and  night,  had  done  more  work  than  any  existing 
lathe.  With  reference  to  the  table  of  the  large  universal  planing- 
machine  (Fig.  8),  there  was  shown  an  end  view  of  the  table 
moving  along  in  grooves  or  portions  of  a  concave  or  dished  surfaces, 
which  did  not  appear  to  him  to  give  that  amount  of  resistance 
sideways  to  the  movement  of  the  table,  which  a  more  frequent 
form  of  /^-shaped  bar  would  give.  If  chippings  and  dirt  got  into 
the  groove  form,  they  would  remain  there ;  but  with  a  ^-shape  it 
was  easy  to  put  a  lump  of  tow  and  oil  in  front  of  the  traversing 
body,  by  means  of  which  all  the  dust  and  dirt  would  be  wiped 
off  the  four  faces  of  the  two  guide-bars. 

Mr.  Carbutt.  Mr.  E.  H.  Carbutt,  M.P.,  said  that  Mr.  Tweddell  had  asked 
when  makers  were  going  to  stop  making  larger  and  larger  machine- 
tools.  He  would  answer  it  by  asking  another  question.  "When 
were  they  going  to  stop  making  larger  and  larger  steamboats,  and 
requiring  them  to  go  faster  and  faster?  During  the  last  ten  years 
the  speed  between  Xew  York  and  Liverpool  had  been  increased 
from  loh  to  19^  knots  per  hour,  and  the  size  of  the  steamboats 
had  increased  50  per  cent.  When  it  was  remembered  that  that 
referred  to  one  class  of  ships  making  four  hundred  voyages  a  year, 
almost  without  a  break-down,  it  would  be  seen  that  some  very 
good  tools  were  required  for  work  of  that  kind.  He  had  been  a 
little  disappointed,  knowing  that  the  Author  had  come  from 
Messrs.  Whitworth,  that  he  had  not  given  some  account  of  the 
hydraulic  forging-press,  which  was  no  doubt  the  most  valuable 
workshop  tool.     Although  he  was  a  steam-hammer  maker,  when 


Proceedings.]        DISCUSSION   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  145 

lie  first  saw  the  hydraulic-press  at  work,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  Mr.  Carbutt. 
that  the  days  of  the  steam-hammer  were  gone.  "Very  large 
forging-pr esses  were  being  made  in  this  country.  He  had  re- 
cently seen  one  of  4,500  tons,  which  was  calculated  to  be  equal 
to  a  150-ton  hammer;  and  as  there  was  nothing  beyond  a  25-ton 
hammer,  it  was  evident  that  some  large  forgings  would  be  made, 
and  that  some  good  tools  would  be  required.  He  well  remem- 
bered when  a  lad  being  taken  round  Messrs.  Whitworth's  by  the 
Author,  who  explained  to  him  that  the  tools  showed  the  character 
of  the  men  who  designed  them,  as  much  as  the  bumps  on  their 
heads.  That  made  a  great  impression  on  him  at  the  time,  and  he 
was  glad,  after  so  many  years,  to  find  the  Author  still  to  the  fore 
in  designing  workshop-tools. 

Mr.  W.  Hulse,  in  reply,  observed  tbat  Mr.  Muir,  who  had  opened  Mr.  Hulse. 
the  discussion,  thought  the  bearing  of  the  pinion  which  drove  the 
face-plate  with  no  cap  to  it  was  wrong  in  construction.  The 
solid  bearing  was,  however,  preferred  in  these  lathes  on  account 
of  the  exceedingly  heavy  work  they  had  to  do,  and  the  consequent 
necessity  of  attaining  the  greatest  possible  rigidity  in  all  the 
resisting  parts.  Several  of  such  lathes  were  in  use  doing  the 
work  described  in  the  Paper,  and  exemplified  to  some  extent  by 
the  cuttings  exhibited.  As  regarded  the  two  screws  in  the  com- 
bined boring-machine  and  lathe,  which  Mr.  Muir  would  defy  any 
one  to  make  perfectly  true,  no  such  difficulty  in  doing  this  had 
been  experienced  by  the  Author,  and  as  an  example  of  such 
construction  in  e very-day  practice,  the  ordinary  planing-machine 
might  be  mentioned,  with  its  two  screws  and  gearing  for  lifting 
and  lowering  the  cross-slides.  Of  the  "  vertical  and  horizontal 
planing-machine,"  the  table  of  which  Mr.  Muir  thought  extremely 
weak,  upwards  of  thirty  were  in  use,  and  the  Author  had  not 
heard  of  any  such  complaint  from  the  users.  It  was  difficult  to 
understand  what  was  in  Mr.  Muir's  mind  when  alluding  to  the 
Tay  bridge.  The  vertical  milling-  and  drilling-machine,  con- 
sidered by  Mr.  Muir  an  abortion,  but  pronounced  excellent  by  Mr. 
Cowper,  was  in  extensive  and  increasing  use,  and  was  appreciated 
for  the  steadiness  of  action  referred  to  in  the  Paper.  The  employ- 
ment of  a  long  pinion  obviated  the  necessity  of  one  sliding  on  a 
shaft,  which,  owing  to  wear  between  the  key  and  key-way,  would 
soon  give  rise  to  slackness  between  the  driving-strap  and  the 
cutter,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  work  both  in  quality  and  in 
quantity.  No  inconvenience  had  arisen  in  practice  from  the  use 
of  the  long  pinions,  nor  had  they  ever  come  to  resemble  "  a 
crooked  stick."     Mr.  Tweddell  wished  that  something  had  been 

[THK  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.l  L 


146  DISCUSSION   ON  MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.      [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Hulse.  said  about  tlie  increasing  size  of  machine-tools,  and  as  to  how  far 
it  was  wise  to  go  on  increasing  the  size  of  castings  and  objects 
manipulated.  The  Author  saw  no  sign  that  the  limit  of  size  of 
machine-tools  had  been  reached.  He  thought  tool-makers  would 
be  able  to  meet  any  demand  for  bigger  tools.  The  system  of 
constructing  the  larger  pieces  of  the  tools  in  parts  securely  joined 
together  was  now  well  understood,  and  met  the  question  of  trans- 
port. The  castings  and  forgings  manipulated  by  machine-tools 
could  be,  and  were  being,  similarly  constructed  in  parts,  so  as  to 
meet  the  transport  and  other  difficulties.  Nor  did  it  seem  unwise 
to  encourage  increasing  sizes,  as  long  as  they  were  in  demand, 
especially  as  the  so-called  building-up  system  afforded  such  ready 
facilities.  As  regarded  dealing  with  steel,  the  Author's  expe- 
rience was,  that  in  every  variety  there  was,  compared  with  iron, 
a  greater  resistance  to  the  cutting  action,  due  to,  and  correspond- 
ing with,  its  tenacity  and  "  temper  "  ;  and  speaking  generally  he 
had  found  that  working  steel  of  average  quality,  with  the 
machine-tools  ordinarily  used  for  iron,  cost  about  double  what  it 
would  on  the  stronger  and  more  powerful  tools,  specially  designed, 
as  indicated  in  the  Paper.  He  was  mucli  obliged  to  Mr.  Appleby 
for  his  generous  personal  remarks.  As  regarded  substituting  the 
types  of  machine-tools  under  consideration,  for  old  machinery,  in 
the  case  of  engineers  with  limited  capital,  he  thought  that  such 
changes  might  be  made  gradually,  by  clearing  out  the  lighter 
tools  at  first,  retaining  the  medium  ones,  and  putting  in,  from 
time  to  time,  other  tools  of  the  strength,  weight  and  power 
requisite  for  securing  a  large  out-put  combined  with  accuracy  of 
work.  As  to  the  30-ton  crane,  it  was  of  course  not  the  Author's 
fault  that  the  shop  was  only  30  feet  wide.  Experience  had  shown 
that  with  a  crane  of  this  width,  the  driver,  standing  at  one  end 
of  the  traveller,  worked  the  crane  with  facility  and  with  the 
precision  required  in  an  erecting  shop.  In  the  case  of  a  traveller 
60  feet  wide,  the  platform  for  the  driver  would  be  placed  centrally 
in  the  span  of  the  crane  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Appleby;  the 
arrangement  of  the  hand-levers  for  working  the  friction-clutches 
being  such  that  the  levers  might  be  situated  at  any  point  in  the 
length  of  the  traveller.  The  platform  was  not  above  the  traveller- 
girders  as  supposed  by  Mr.  Appleby;  this  would  be  seen  on 
reference  to  the  elevation  (Fig.  20).  No  arrangement  for  coiling 
and  uncoiling  the  lifting-chain  when  traversing  the  load  had  been 
introduced  into  the  crane,  and  the  Author  would  hardly  have 
supposed  that  the  advantages  of  such  an  arrangement  could 
compensate  for  the  additional  cost  and  complication  involved.     In 


Proceedings.]        DISCUSSION   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.  147 

deciding  whether  to  use  a  shaft  or  a  rope  for  transmitting  power  Mr.  Hulse. 
to  a  traveller-crane,  he  would  take  into  consideration  the  circum- 
stances appertaining  to  each  particular  case ;  but  his  experience 
was,  that  in  the  long  run,  a  shaft,  where  there  was  no  special 
obstacle  to  its  use,  gave  the  most  satisfactory  and  economical 
results.  He  appreciated  the  opinions  expressed  by  Mr.  Cowper 
with  reference  to  the  long  front-bearing  in  the  40-inch  lathe,  as 
compared  with  the  exceedingly  short  one  shown  by  Mr.  Cowper  in 
the  Fig.,  p.  142,  of  his  own  lathe.  He  would  say  that  the  increase 
in  the  length  of  such  bearings  had  been  going  on  for  years.  Both 
the  diameter  and  the  length  were  now  made  much  greater  than 
formerly,  the  latest  proportions  for  a  40-inch  lathe  being  a  diameter 
of  13  inches  and  a  length  of  21  inches.  The  surfaces  of  both  brass- 
bearings  of  the  spindle  were  carefully  scraped,  so  as  to  bear  upon 
the  spindle  uniformly  throughout,  and  their  area  was  proportioned 
to  suit  the  work  to  be  done.  Friction-clutches  for  starting  heavy 
lathes  were  now  infrequent,  as  the  strap-shifting  apparatus  was 
improved  so  as  to  work  the  straps  gradually  from  the  loose  to  the 
fast  pulley.  Mr.  Tomkins  urged  that  the  slide-rests  in  the  40-inch 
lathe  would  be  insufficiently  supported  when  turning  the  largest 
diameters.  In  answer  to  this,  he  would  point  out  that  the  sliding- 
carriages  of  the  lathe  in  question,  being  of  deep  section,  and 
extending  across  the  bed,  gave  adequate  support  to  the  slide- 
rests,  even  when  they  overhung  the  bed.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  the  lathe  being  designed  specially  for  objects  of  great 
length  (and  not  of  large  diameter)  such  as  guns  and  propeller- 
shafts,  it  was  only  seldom  that  the  slide-rests  were  required  to 
work  in  the  overhanging  position.  The  form  of  bed  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Tomkins  was  like  that  of  the  34-inch  lathe,  which  was  de- 
scribed in  the  Paper  as  having  four  longitudinal  girders,  and  as 
being  made  of  great  width,  so  that  the  slide-rests  never  overhung 
the  bed.  In  this  case  the  sliding-carriages  only  extended  partly 
across  the  bed.  With  reference  to  the  universal  planing-machine 
to  which  Mr.  Tomkins  referred,  the  Author  thought  it  would  not  be 
questioned  that  in  dealing  with  such  objects  as  large  engine  and 
machine  tool-beds,  considerable  advantage,  in  point  of  economy  as 
well  as  in  accuracy,  was  attained  by  performing  several  operations 
upon  them  at  a  single  setting ;  and  this  practice  was  now  being 
largely  adopted.  He  was  pleased  to  find  that  Mr.  Perkins  and  he 
were  agreed  as  to  the  large  increase  of  power  required  in  dealing 
with  steel,  as  compared  with  iron,  however  soft  the  steel  might 
appear  to  be  ;  and  he  thanked  Mr.  Perkins  for  his  hint  as  to  further 
requirements  in  planing-machines.     He  was  sure  that  tool-makers 

L  2 


148  DISCUSSION   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.         [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Hulse.  were  prepared,  as  soon  as  a  demand  was  manifested,  to  meet  it  to 
the  Lest  of  their  power.  The  40-feet  lathe  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Maudslay,  had  been  described  by  Mr.  Cowper.  He  thought  it  could 
scarcely  be  regarded  as  illustrative  of  modern  practice  in  machine- 
tools.  The  slide-surfaces  of  the  planing-machine  table  were  not 
concave  or  dished,  as  supposed  by  Mr.  Maudslay,  but  of  the  usual 
V  shape,  the  peculiarity  being  that  the  V  was  a  very  flat  one,  the 
angle  enclosed  measuring  150°.  The  lines  of  the  diagram  which 
appear  to  have  misled  Mr.  Maudslay,  represented  brushes  fixed  at 
the  ends  of  the  bed,  for  removing  oil  from  the  table  as  it  traversed 
along,  and  thus  preventing  it  from  dripping  on  the  floor.  He  was 
gratified  by  Mr.  Carbutt's  observations,  and  had  it  been  within 
the  scope  of  the  Paper,  he  would  certainly  have  made  mention  of 
hydraulic  forging-presses.  The  Paper,  however,  was  restricted  to 
dealing  with  machine-tools  and  workshop  appliances,  for  manipu- 
lating heavy  forgings  and  castings  after  they  had  left  the  forge, 
foundry,  or  melting  house,  as  the  case  might  be. 
Sir  F.  Bram-  Sir  Frederick  J.  Bramwell,  President,  said  that  so  thoroughly 
wel1-  had  the  Author  kept  himself  in  the  background,  that  had  it  not 

been  for  Mr.  Hulse's  great  reputation,  no  one  who  had  listened  to 
his  Paper  could  have  gathered  that  he  was  a  tool-maker  and  was 
commercially  interested. 

He  could  not  on  that  the  last  occasion  on  which  he  should  have 
the  honour  of  presiding  at  an  Ordinary  Meeting,  leave  the  Chair 
without  expressing  his  gratitude  to  those  who  had  attended  the 
meetings  during  his  Presidency,  for  the  excellent  manner  in  which 
they  had,  as  a  rule,  spoken  on  the  Papers  under  discussion,  and 
had  thus  conveyed  to  the  members  knowledge  which  they  did  not 
previously  possess;  and  he  felt  sure  that  when  the  Volumes 
relating  to  that  period  were  referred  to  it  would  be  found  that 
they  had  not  fallen  off  from  the  high  standard  of  excellence 
previously  attained.  Nor  could  he  leave  the  Chair  without  ex- 
pressing that  gratitude  to  those  who  had  attended  the  meetings 
for  their  kindness  to  himself.  If  on  any  occasion  it  had  been  his 
duty  to  exercise  the  chairman's  authority  his  ruling  had  been  most 
readily  accpiiesced  in,  and  he  desired  to  thank  most  heartily  all 
the  members  for  the  great  indulgence  he  had  experienced  at  their 
hands  while  presiding  over  these  meetings. 


Proceedings.]      CORRESPONDENCE   ON  MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.       149 


Correspondence. 

Mr.  G.  Wilson  wished  to  point  out,  what  lie  considered  from  his  Mr.  Wilson, 
own  experience  to  be  a  grave  defect  in  the  planing-machine,  and 
that  was  the  great  distance  between  the  uprights  for  carrying  the 
saddle  and  the  V  slides  on  which  the  table  moved.  The  overhang 
of  wide  and  heavy  work  seemed  to  be,  to  judge  from  the  design 
exhibited,  in  excess  of  that  usually  employed.  The  tool-boxes 
were  made  to  travel,  as  was  usual,  to  the  ends  of  the  saddle ; 
therefore,  it  was  fair  to  assume  that,  at  times,  work  had  to  be 
planed  of  that  width  which  only  just  cleared  the  uprights.  This 
being  the  case  it  was  impossible  to  plane  a  true  and  level  surface, 
or  to  work  strictly  to  the  marking  off;  for  when  a  cut  was  taken 
on  the  outside  edge  of  wide  widths,  the  table  was  sprung  down,  or 
canted,  turning  as  on  a  hinge  on  the  V  slide  nearest  the  tool. 
This  "  spring "  or  "  cant "  gradually  decreased  until  the  tool 
came  over,  or  in  between  the  V  slides,  when  a  dead  cut  was  taken, 
without  any  spring  at  all  (excepting  that  due  to  a  long  saddle 
which  was  almost  imperceptible,  and  need  not  be  taken  into 
account  with  a  well-made  machine),  consequently  the  planed 
surface  was  curved  instead  of  being  level  transversely. 

There  were  numbers  of  machines  in  existence,  some  turned  out 
by  the  best  manufacturers,  that  could  not  plane  a  level  surface, 
and  chiefly  for  the  reason  above  mentioned.  In  these  machines  the 
"  spring "  could  easily  be  detected  when  a  heavy  cut  was  being 
taken,  by  the  bevelled  edge  of  the  work,  the  tool  striking  on  the 
mark,  say,  and  then  appearing  to  glide  upwards,  and  dropping 
down  again  when  it  came  off  the  material  at  the  opposite  end. 
This  same  defect  also  accounted  for  the  "  digging  in,"  and  "  varying" 
planing,  experienced  with  some  machines,  which  was  owing  to  the 
inequality  of  the  material  being  worked,  the  table  tending  to  right 
itself  at  the  soft  places,  and  again  to  give  at  the  hard. 

He  would  also  mention  that  the  V  slides  seemed  to  be  too 
shallow,  and  he  was  afraid  that  a  heavy  side-cut  would  tend 
to  displace  the  table  more  than  if  deeper  V's  were  used.  In 
the  milling-machine  the  Author  appeared  to  have  carefully  pro- 
vided against  any  "  spring "  when  working,  by  carrying  the 
spindle  in  a  sliding-trunk  so  that  the  tool  was  always  well  sup- 
ported near  the  cutter.  This  was  no  doubt  a  good  plan,  and  he 
thought  the  same  idea  should  have  been  carried  out  with  regard  to 
the  planing-machine,  only  that  the  work  in  this  case  should  be  as 
well  supported  as  the  tool. 


150  CORRESPONDENCE   ON   MODERN   MACHINE-TOOLS.      [Minutes  of 

Mr.  Hulse.  Mr.  Hulse,  in  reply  to  Mr.  G.  Wilson,  who  urged  that  there 
was  a  grave  defect  in  the  planing-machine  "by  reason  of  the  great 
distance  between  the  uprights  for  carrying  the  saddle  and  the 
V  slides  on  which  the  table  moved — a  defect  which,  when  planing 
at  the  outside  edge  of  wide  widths,  would  result  in  the  table 
being  sprung  down  or  canted — stated,  that  although  such  conse- 
quences might  be  anticipated  in  planing-machines  of  light  make, 
they  were  avoided  in  the  one  described  in  the  Paper,  by  the  table 
being  made  strong  enough  to  prevent  springing  and  heavy  enough 
to  prevent  canting.  The  weight  of  the  table  was  about  30  tons, 
and  was  sufficient  not  only  to  prevent  canting,  but  also  any  lateral 
displacement,  which  might  otherwise  result  from  the  shallowness 
of  the  V  slides.  These  were  made  to  contain  the  largest  possible 
angle  consistent  with  the  requisite  lateral  stability  of  the  table 
under  the  heaviest  side  cutting,  in  order  to  minimise  friction.  In 
using  planing-machines  of  the  proportions  shown,  the  Author  had 
experienced  no  difficulty  in  planing  level  surfaces,  nor  had  he 
found  any  "  digging  in  "  or  "  varying  "  planing.  The  proportion 
of  overhang  beyond  the  V's  in  the  planing  machine  described  was 
approximately  that  which  the  Author  adopted  for  large  machines, 
say  7  feet  wide  and  upwards.  In  smaller  machines  the  overhang 
was  less,  and  the  table  wider  proportionately,  this  latter  being  in 
order  to  afford  increased  support  to  the  wide  objects  which  fre- 
quently came  on  such  machines,  and  which  objects  were  frequently 
not  strong  enough  of  themselves  to  resist  the  cut  without  springing. 
The  increased  width  of  the  table  in  such  machines  also  enabled  a 
maximum  number  of  separate  objects  to  be  fixed  and  planed  at 
the  same  time. 


Proceedings.]  ANNUAL   GENERAL   MEETING.  151 


ANNUAL    GENERAL    MEETING. 


25  May,  1886. 

Sir  FREDERICK  J.  BRAMWELL,  F.R.S.,  President, 
in  the  Chair. 

The  Minutes  of  the  Annual  General  Meeting  of  2nd  June,  1885, 
were  read  and  confirmed,  and  the  Notice  convening  the  present 
Meeting  having  also  been  read,  it  was  moved,  seconded,  and 
resolved,— That  Messrs.  R.  W.  P.  Birch,  0.  Brown,  F.  S.  Courtney, 
J.  M.  Dobson,  II.  Faija,  W.  Matthews,  C.  S.  T.  Molecey,  E.  Perrett, 
H.  S.  Ridings,  W.  II.  Thelwall,  and  R.  II.  Thorpe  be  requested 
to  act  as  Scrutineers  for  the  election  of  the  President,  of  four 
Vice-Presidents,  and  of  fifteon  Other  Members  of  Council  for  the 
ensiling  year ;  and  that,  in  order  to  facilitate  their  labours,  the 
Balloting-papers  should  be  removed  at  intervals  during  the  hour 
the  ballot  remained  open. 

The  Ballot  having  been  declared  open,  the  Secretary  read  the 
Report  of  the  Council  upon  the  general  condition  of  the  Insti- 
tution and  upon  the  proceedings  during  the  Session  1885-86. 

Resolved, — That  the  Report  of  the  Council  be  received  and 
approved,  and  that  it  be  printed  in  the  "  Minutes  of  Proceedings  " 
in  the  usual  manner. 

Resolved, — That  the  best  thanks  of  the  members  be  accorded 
to  the  Vice-Presidents  and  other  Members  of  Council  for  their 
assiduous  and  constant  attention  to  the  affairs  of  the  Institution. 

Mr.  Edward  Woods,  the  senior  Vice-President,  replied  on  behalf 
of  himself  and  his  colleagues. 

Resolved  unanimously, — That  this  meeting  desires  to  record  the 
high  sense  of  its  indebtedness  to  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  F.R.S., 
President,  for  devoting  so  much  of  his  valuable  time  and  talents 
to  promote  in  every  way  the  efficiency  of  the  Institution ;  and  for 
the  marked  ability  and  genial  manner  with  which  he  has  con- 
ducted the  business  at  the  Meetings. 

Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  F.R.S.,  President,  expressed  his  ac- 
knowledgments for  this  resolution. 

Resolved, — That   the  thanks  of  the   Institution  be   presented 


152  ANNUAL   GENERAL   MEETING.  [Minutes  of 

to  Messrs.  Hilary  Bauerinan  and  H.  G.  Harris,  the  Auditors,  for 
the  careful  manner  in  which  they  have  examined  and  audited  the 
accounts  ;  and  that  Messrs.  H.  G.  Harris  and  E.  Harry  Woods  be 
requested  to  act  as  Auditors  for  the  ensuing  year. 

Mr.  Hilary  Bauer  man  returned  thanks. 

Resolved, — That  the  thanks  of  the  members  be  given  to 
Dr.  William  Pole,  F.R.SS.  L.  and  E.,  Honorary  Secretary,  and 
to  Mr.  James  Forrest,  the  Secretary,  for  the  able  manner  in 
which  they  have  discharged  the  duties  of  their  offices,  and  for  their 
assiduous  attention  to  the  affairs  of  the  Institution. 

Mr.  Forrest  responded. 

The  Scrutineers  then  announced  that  the  following  gentlemen 
had  been  duly  elected : 

President. 

EDWARD  WOODS. 


Vice-Presidents. 


George  Barclay  Bruce. 
Sir  John  Coode. 


George  Berkley. 
Harrison  Hayter. 


Other  Members  of  Council. 


William  Anderson,  of  Erith. 

Benjamin  Baker. 

John  Wolfe  Barry. 

Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  F.R.S. 

Edward  Alfred  Cowper. 

Sir  James  Nicholas  Douglass. 

Sir  C.  Douglas  Fox. 

Alfred  Giles,  M.P. 


James  Mansergh. 
William  Henry  Preece,  F.R.S. 
Sir  Robert  Rawlinson,  C.B. 
Sir  Edward  James  Reed, K. C.B. , 

F.R.S.,  M.P. 
Francis  Croughton  Stileman. 
Sir  W.  Thomson,  F.R.SS.L.  &E- 
Sir  Jos.Whitworth,  Bart.,  F.R.S. 


Resolved, — That  the  thanks  of  the  meeting  be  given  to  the 
Scrutineers,  for  the  efficient  manner  in  which  they  had  discharged 
their  task  ;  and  that  the  Ballot-Papers  be  destroyed. 


[Report  of  the  Council. 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   or   THE   COUNCIL.  153 


EEPOBT  OF  THE  COUNCIL,  SESSION  1S85-8G. 


HISTORICAL  NOTICE  OF  THE  INSTITUTION  AND  ITS 
PROCEEDINGS. 

It  is  now  exactly  fifty  years  since  the  existence  of  The  Institution 
of  Civil  Engineers  was  first  announced  to  the  world  by  the  pub- 
lication of  its  proceedings.  It  may  therefore  not  be  inopportune 
to  submit  to  the  members  a  condensed  notice,  tracing  the  various 
steps  of  its  career,  and  explaining  generally  its  present  constitution 
and  position. 

The  honour  of  having  originated  the  Institution  is  often  assigned 
to  Smeaton,  or  to  Telford,  but  the  idea  is  erroneous  in  both  cases. 
Smeaton  died  many  years  before  it  was  thought  of,  and  Telford 
only  joined  it  after  its  establishment. 

A  Society  of  Engineers,  still  existing,  was  founded  by  Smeaton 
in  1771  ;  it  includes  many  of  the  most  eminent  members  of  the 
profession,  but  it  is  rather  of  the  nature  of  a  social  club  than  of  a 
scientific  association,  and  has  no  connection  with  this  Institution. 
It  was  indeed  of  too  exclusive  a  nature  to  meet  the  wants  of  so  large 
and  mixed  a  body  as  soon  became  engaged  in  engineering ;  and 
early  in  the  present  century  a  feeling  began  to  be  entertained  that 
an  Institution  on  a  larger  scale,  having  for  its  object  the  further- 
ance of  professional  knowledge,  might  be  made  eminently  useful. 

The  persons  who  took  the  initiative  in  the  matter  were  six  young 
men,  then  beginning  their  engineering  life,  William  Maudslay, 
Joshua  Field,  Henry  Robinson  Palmer,  James  Jones,  Charles 
Collinge,  and  James  Ashwell.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1817, 
they,  impressed  with  the  difficulties  of  gaining  the  knowledge 
necessary  for  the  diversified  practice  of  engineering,  resolved  to 
form  a  Society  for  promoting  regular  intercourse  between  persons 
engaged  in  the  profession,  to  the  end  that  such  persons  might 
mutually  benefit  by  the  interchange  of  individual  observation  and 
experience. 

The  first  formal  meeting  was  held  at  the  Kendal  Coffee  House,  in 
Fleet  Street,  on  the  2nd  January,  1818.  The  proposal  was  favour- 
ably received  ;  the  Society  was  established  ;  other  engineers  joined, 
and  rules  were  framed  for  its   government.      During  two   years 


154  KEPOKT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

it  continued  to  meet,  and  the  result  of  its  experience  of  the 
value  of  the  meetings  was  such  as  to  warrant  an  effort  being- 
made  to  extend  the  limits  of  the  Society.  It  was  perceived  that 
a  principal  step  towards  this  extension  would  be  to  obtain  the 
direct  patronage  of  some  eminent  and  popular  professional  man. 
Accordingly,  on  the  23rd  of  January,  1820,  the  following  resolu- 
tion was  passed  :— 

"  That  in  order  to  give  effect  to  the  principle  pf  the  Institution,  and  to  render 
its  advantages  more  general  both  to  the  members  and  the  country  at  large,  it  is 
expedient  to  extend  its  provisions  by  the  election  of  a  President  whose  exten- 
sive practice  as  a  Civil  Engineer  has  gained  him  the  first-rate  celebrity  ;".... 
"  and  that  a  respectful  communication  be  made  to  Thomas  Telford,  Esq.,  Civil 
Engineer,  requesting  him  to  patronize  this  Institution  by  taking  upon  himself 
the  office  of  President." 

So  little  was  the  Society  known  up  to  this  time,  that  Telford 
had  never  heard  of  it  when  the  foregoing  resolution  was  announced 
to  him ;  but  appreciating,  with  characteristic  judgment,  the  value 
of  such  an  Institution,  and  the  useful  results  it  was  capable  of 
yielding,  he  accepted  the  proffered  chair  without  hesitation,  and 
was  formally  installed  on  the  21st  of  March  following. 

Telford's  name  gave  an  impulse  to  the  progress  of  the  Society, 
which  grew  rapidly  in  importance  under  his  fostering  care,  until, 
on  the  3rd  of  June,  1828,  it  received  a  Charter  of  Incorporation 
under  the  Great  Seal,  by  the  title  of  The  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers.  Telford  died  on  the  2nd  of  September,  1834.  A  few 
years  before  his  death  he  had  begun  to  contract  his  engagements, 
and  as  he  gradually  withdrew  from  the  toils  of  business,  his 
attention  became  more  and  more  concentrated  on  this  Society.  It 
was,  indeed,  the  last  object  of  his  solicitude,  and  gave  employment 
to  his  mind  in  the  evening  of  his  days.  Its  collections  were 
enriched  by  his  bounty,  and  when,  full  of  years  and  of  honours, 
he  felt  the  close  of  life  approaching,  he  endowed  the  Institution 
with  the  munificent  bequest  which  has  since  done  so  much  to 
encourage  the  production  of  Original  Communications,  for  reading 
at  the  meetings  and  for  publication  in  the  "  Minutes  of  Pro- 
ceedings." 

In  1835  the  Chair  was  taken,  in  succession  to  Mr.  Telford,  by 
another  engineer  of  acknowledged  eminence,  Mr.  James  Walker. 

In  1836  the  first  Volume  of  the  "  Transactions"  was  published. 
It  was  a  handsome  Quarto  of  325  pages,  illustrated  by  28  elaborate 
engraved  plates,  and  it  contained  28  selected  communications,  for 
the  most  part  of  high  character,  and  written  by  men  of  con- 
siderable eminence.     There  were  also  added  copies  of  the  Charter 


I 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.        '  155 

and  subsidiary  Regulations,  with  a  list  of  members,  and  in  the 
preface  a  short  history  was  given.1  From  the  data  in  this- 
volume  the  state  of  the  Institution  at  that  time  can  he  correctly 
ascertained. 

According  to  the  "  Regulations, "  as  they  were  then  called,  the 
Institution  was  declared  to  have  been  formed  "  for  facilitating  the 
acquirement  of  professional  knowledge,  and  for  promoting  me- 
chanical philosophy." 

It  consisted  essentially  of  three  classes  : 

1.  Members,  being  persons  engaged  in  the  practice  of  Civil  Engi- 
neering (those  who  lived  out  of  London  being  called  Corresponding. 
Members). 

2.  Associates,  persons  whose  pursuits  constituted  branches  of 
Engineering,  but  Avho  were  not  considered  as  Engineers  by 
profession. 

3.  Honorary  Members. 

There  were  four  Vice-Presidents:  William  Cubitt,  Bryan  Donkin, 
Joshua  Field,  and  Henry  Robinson  Palmer;  and  seven  other 
Members  of  Council,  among  whom  were  I.  K.  Brunei,  Robert 
Stephenson,  James  Simpson,  and  John  Macneill.  The  Secretary 
was  William  Gittins. 

The  Members  were  140  in  number,  and  among  them  are  found 
the  names  of  Bramah,  Brunei  (Senr.),  Tiemey  Clark,  Gravatt,  Tenn, 
Perkins,  Seaward,  Vignoles,  Bidder,  Bodmer,  Buck,  Fairbairn, 
Grainger,  Thos.  E.  Harrison,  Hick,  Leather,  Leslie,  Locke,  Murray, 
Aaron  Manby,  Rastrick,  Rendel,  Sopwith,  Smith  of  Deanston,  the 
Stevensons  of  Edinburgh,  Nicholas  Wood,  Arthur  Woolf,  and 
others  well  known  in  the  profession.  The  Associates  (many 
of  whom  afterwards  became  Members)  numbered  100,  and  the 
Honorary  Members  14.  The  whole  strength  of  the  Institution  was- 
therefore  254. 

In  1837  the  publication  of  the  smaller  "  Minutes  of  Pro- 
ceedings," in  Octavo,  was  commenced.  This  publication  was  at 
that  time  intended  to  give  only  Abstracts  of  the  Papers,  and  of 
the  discussions  (or,  as  they  were  then  termed,  "  Conversations  ")> 
that  took  place  thereon.  The  Papers  themselves  were  submitted 
to  the  consideration  of  the  Council,  and  a  certain  number  were 
selected  for  publication  in  full  in  the  Quarto  form. 

In  the  Report  for  1837  (the  first  published)  the  Council  dwelt 
with  satisfaction  on  the  increasing  success  of  the  Institution,  and 


1  A  second  edition  of  this  volume  was  published  by  Mr.  Weale  in  1S42,  but 
the  book  is  now  very  scarce. 


156  EEPOET   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

expressed  a  hope  that  the  profession  generally  would  unite  in 
advancing  the  objects  which  the  original  projectors  had  in 
view. 

During  this  year  Mr.  Thomas  Webster,  M.A.,  a  well-known 
barrister,  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  Secretary. 

In  the  Report  for  1838  the  Council  gave  an  account  of  some 
important  changes  which  had,  during  the  Session,  been  made  in 
the  By-Laws  and  Regulations,  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  them 
more  definite  and  consistent  with  the  Charter.  The  qualifications 
•of  Members  and  of  Associates  were  modified,  and  the  class  of  Cor- 
responding Members  was  merged  in  that  of  Ordinary  Members. 
A  new  class  was  formed  under  the  name  of  "  Graduates  " ;  these 
were  young  men  in  course  of  education  as  Engineers,  like  the 
present  "  Students,"  but,  differing  from  the  course  subsequently 
pursued  with  the  Students,  full  corporate  privileges  were  given 
to  the  Graduates — a  step  which  afterwards  led  to  much  incon- 
venience. 

The  composition  of  the  governing  body  was  also  altered.  It 
had  hitherto  consisted  (including  the  President  and  four  Vice- 
Presidents)  of  twelve  Councillors,  chosen  entirely  from  the  class 
of  Members,  but  it  was  thought  advisable  to  add  two  selected  from 
the  Associate  class,  and  one  additional  from  the  Member  class, 
making  the  total  number  fifteen. 

In  the  same  year  a  Second  Volume  of  Quarto  "  Transactions  " 
appeared,  on  a  similar  scale  to  the  first.  It  contained  20  Selected 
Papers,  illustrated,  as  before,  by  33  steel  engravings. 

The  Institution  at  first  occupied  rooms  hired  at  15,  Buckingham 
Street,  Adelphi.  In  1834  a  small  house  was  taken,  at  No.  1,  Cannon 
Row,  Westminster,  but  as  the  numbers  increased  the  accommoda- 
tion was  found  to  be  too  limited.  It  was  then  attempted  to  obtain 
from  the  Government,  as  other  scientific  societies  had  done,  apart- 
ments in  Somerset  House,  but  fortunately  this  application  was 
unsuccessful,  and  suitable  premises  had  to  be  sought  elsewhere. 
It  happened,  just  at  this  time,  that  a  house  was  found  in  perhaps 
the  most  appropriate  situation  that  could  have  been  selected,  and 
at  Christmas,  1838,  the  Institution  entered  upon  the  premises  it 
now  occupies  in  Great  George  Street,  where  a  meeting-room,  about 
30  feet  square,  was  built  in  the  rear  of  the  front  house.  Although 
the  expenses  attending  the  change  were,  for  the  then  moderate 
income,  somewhat  onerous,  the  difficulty  was  met  by  the  members, 
who,  when  appealed  to,  answered  the  call  very  liberally. 

In  the  Session  1839-10  some  further  alterations  were  effected  in 
the  By-laws,  the  chief  one  being  that  the  total  number  of  the 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF  THE   COUNCIL.  157 

Council  was  increased  to  seventeen,  of  "whom  two  were  selected 
from  the  class  of  Associates  as  before. 

During  this  Session  there  was  an  important  change  regarding 
the  office  of  Secretary.  It  appeared  to  the  Council  that  the  in- 
creasing business  was  such  as  to  require  the  whole  and  undivided 
time  and  attention  of  a  properly  qualified  gentleman  to  fill  this 
position  as  a  paid  officer,  and  it  was  taken  on  this  condition  by 
Mr.  Charles  Manby,  who  entered  upon  the  duties  at  Midsummer, 
1839. 

In  1842  a  Third  Quarto  Volume  of  "  Transactions  "  was  pub- 
lished, and  this  was  the  last  that  appeared.  A  fourth  volume 
had  been  contemplated,  but  on  account  of  the  great  cost  attending 
this  form  of  publication,  the  Council  deemed  it  right  to  refer  the 
subject  to  a  Committee  for  consideration.  The  report  of  this 
Committee,  mentioned  in  the  Report  of  the  Council  for  the 
Session  1845,  represented  that  the  quarto  form,  with  elaborate 
plates,  was  found,  as  it  had  been  in  other  societies,  too  expensive ; 
that  the  selection  of  certain  Papers,  to  the  exclusion  of  others, 
might  be  considered  invidious  ;  that  the  delay  in  the  publication 
of  the  Papers  was  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  Authors, 
and  had  prevented  many  valuable  communications  from  beino- 
read  at  the  meetings ;  and  that  the  character  of  the  quarto 
volumes  prevented  their  circulation  from  being  as  extensive  as 
was  consistent  with  the  objects  of  the  Institution.  These  and 
other  arguments  appeared  conclusive  against  the  continuance  of 
the  double  form  of  publication ;  and  it  was  decided  that  from  the 
12th  of  March,  1844,  the  Papers  should  be  published  in  octavo 
in  full,  or  with  only  such  curtailment  as  could  be  practised  with- 
out injury  to  the  Authors'  views,  and  that  such  illustrations  should 
be  given  as  were  necessary.  In  this  way  the  publication  of  the 
Minutes  of  Proceedings  has  been  regularly  continued,  and  they 
contain,  in  their  long  and  ample  series  of  volumes,  now  numbering 
eighty-four,  a  full  account  of  the  progress  of  the  Institution,  and 
of  the  matters  which  have  engaged  attention  at  the  Ordinary 
Meetings. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1844,  an  alteration  was  made  which 
materially  influenced  the  future  of  the  Institution ;  this  was  a 
change  in  the  duration  of  the  Presidentship.  Mr.  Walker  had 
occupied  the  chair  since  the  death  of  Telford,  a  term  of  ten  years, 
and,  although  the  regulations  required  annual  election,  there  was 
an  implied  understanding  that  the  appointment  was  a  permanent 
one.  It  had,  however,  been  forcibly  represented  to  the  Council 
that  a  shorter  period  for  the  tenure  of  the  office  of  President, 


158  REPORT    OF    THE    COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

and  of  the  other  posts  in  the  Council,  would  he  advantageous. 
The  question  was  fully  discussed  at  a  meeting  on  the  23rd  of 
December,  and,  in  consequence  of  resolutions  then  passed,  a 
communication  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Walker,  which  led  to  his 
objecting  to  be  put  in  nomination  again  for  the  office  of  President. 
Notwithstanding  this,  however,  at  the  Annual  General  Meeting 
on  the  21st  of  January,  1845,  Mr.  Walker  was  chosen;  but  on 
his  declining  to  serve,  the  meeting  was  adjourned  till  the  27th, 
when  Sir  John  Eennie  was  duly  elected,  taking  his  seat  at  the 
next  Ordinary  Meeting  on  the  4th  of  February. 

On  the  Gth  and  27th  of  January,  1846,  Special  General  Meetings 
were  held,  at  which  the  change  regarding  the  Presidentship  was 
incorporated  in  the  By-laws.  It  was  enacted  that  in  future  no 
Member  should  be  nominated  by  the  Council  for  election  to  the 
office  of  President  more  than  two  years  consecutively,  and  that  at 
the  expiration  of  such  two  years  he  should  not  be  re-eligible  for 
three  years. 

At  the  Fame  time  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  admis- 
sion were  more  .accurately  defined,  those  of  Members  being  made 
somewhat  more  strict,  while  those  of  Associates  were  widened,  so 
as  to  comprehend  a  larger  range  of  individuals.  The  corporate 
privileges  of  the  class  of  Graduates  were  now  curtailed.  They 
were  prohibited  from  voting  at  the  elections  of  the  Council  and 
Officers,  or  from  taking  any  active  share  in  the  direction  and 
control  of  the  affairs  of  the  Institution.  In  fact,  it  was  virtually 
decided  to  allow  this  class  gradually  to  become  extinct;  no 
other  elections  into  it  took  place,  and  some  years  later  the 
remaining  Graduates  were  transferred  to  other  Classes.  It  was 
arranged  to  admit  young  engineers  as  Associates,  from  which 
•class  they  could  subsequently  be  transferred  to  the  grade  of 
Members. 

It  had  been  found  during  this  Session  that,  owing  to  the  increase 
in  numbers,  and  to  the  consequent  larger  attendance  at  the 
meetings,  the  accommodation  was  insufficient.  On  the  28th  July, 
1846,  a  Special  General  Meeting  was  held,  to  consider  some  plan  of 
meeting  the  difficulty.  A  Report  of  the  Council  having  been  read 
and  discussed,  inquiries  were  ordered  to  be  set  on  foot  to  obtain  a 
site  on  which  to  erect  a  building  suitable  for  the  wants  of  the 
Society.  At  an  adjourned  meeting,  held  on  the  11th  of  August,  a 
.second  Eeport  of  the  Council  was  received.  It  stated  the  impos- 
sibility of  finding  a  piece  of  ground  possessing  the  advantages  of 
the  present  situation,  except  on  terms  which  it  would  be  unwise 
to  entertain.     It  was   therefore  decided  to  enlarge  the  meeting- 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  159 

room,  and  to  make  such  other  alterations  in  the  existing  building 
as  should  render  it  more  convenient  for  the  purposes  of  the 
Institution.  These  works  were  carried  out  during  the  recess,  at  a 
cost  of  £4,350.  To  meet  this  outlay,  it  was  arranged  that  every 
Member  should  subscribe  £7  7s.,  and  every  Associate  £4  4s.,  and 
that  new  Members  and  Associates  should  enter  into  an  obligation 
to  contribute  like  sums  to  form  a  "Building  Fund"  for  defraying 
future  expenses  of  the  same  kind.  In  the  meantime  Debenture 
Bonds  of  £100  each  were  issued  to  the  extent  of  £2,500  to  provide 
for  the  immediate  requirements.  Some  of  these  bonds  were  after- 
wards voluntarily  cancelled,  and  in  other  cases  the  holders,  or 
their  nominees,  were  placed  on  the  books  as  Life  Subscribers,  in 
consideration  of  their  surrender,  so  that  in  one  way  or  other  the 
whole  of  the  bonds  have  disappeared. 

A  Special  General  Meeting  was  held  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1855, 
in  compliance  with  a  formal  requisition,  to  consider  propositions  for 
making  certain  changes  in  the  constitution  of  the  Council,  such 
as  causing  a  certain  number  of  the  Members  of  Council  to  retire 
every  second  year.  Biit  after  full  discussion,  these  propositions 
were  withdrawn. 

In  June  1856,  Mr.  Manby,  who  had  held  the  post  of  Secretary 
for  seventeen  years,  tendered  his  resignation,  having  accepted  a 
professional  engagement  which  prevented  his  devoting  the  neces- 
sary attention  to  the  work  of  the  office.  He  agreed,  however, 
to  continue  to  act  gratuitously,  and  subsequently  was  appointed 
Honorary  Secretary,  a  position  he  held  till  his  death,  on  the 
31st  of  July,  1884.  The  present  Secretary,  Mr.  James  Forrest 
(who  had  been  for  fourteen  years  more  or  less  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  Institution,  in  which  he  was  to  some  extent 
brought  up)  was  appointed  Assistant  Secretary  at  Midsummer 
1856,  his  position  being  changed  to  that  of  Secretary  on  the  3rd  of 
January,  1860. 

In  the  course  of  1866  the  Council  was  led  to  consider  the 
possibility  of  allowing  engineering  students  to  benefit  by  access  to 
the  Institution,  a  subject  which  had  been  in  abeyance  since  the 
virtual  abandonment  of  the  class  of  Graduates  in  1846.  The 
Council  thought  that  the  object  might  be  accomplished  by  the 
establishment  of  a  class  similar  to  the  former  Graduates,  but  with 
certain  modifications ;  and  brought  the  subject  before  a  Special 
General  Meeting,  with  a  view  to  the  necessary  provisions  being 
made  in  the  By-Laws.  This  Meeting  was  held  on  the  26th  of  June, 
1867,  when  the  proposed  alterations  were  passed,  the  essence  of 
the  provisions  being,  that  the  members  of  the  new  class,  though 


160  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

attached  to  the  Institution  and  enjoying  many  special  privileges, 
should  have  no  corporate  rights,  and  should  only  be  admitted 
by,  and  remain  Students  during  the  pleasure  of,  the  Council. 
The  class  was  accordingly  constituted,  and,  under  the  arrange- 
ments adopted,  has  been  entirely  successful. 

Even  before  this  decision  -was  arrived  at,  it  had  been  found  that 
the  accommodation  was  insufficient,  and  at  the  Annual  General 
Meeting,  on  the  19th  of  December,  1865,  it  was  resolved — 

"  That  the  new  Council  be  requested  to  mature  a  plan  for 
providing  additional  accommodation  for  carrying  on  the 
business  of  the  Institution,  and  to  report  to  a  Special 
General  Meeting  at  the  earliest  opportunity." 

Acting  upon  this  Resolution,  the  subject  received  the  constant 
and  serious  consideration  of  the  Council.  Various  sites  were 
examined  and  investigated,  among  others,  that  of  the  existing 
premises.  The  result  was  the  recommendation  of  the  purchase  of 
Kos.  15  and  16  Great  George  Street  (which  happened  then  to  be 
available),  and  the  erection  on  that  site  of  an  entirely  new 
building.  It  was  pointed  out  that  these  two  houses  covered  an 
area  about  twice  as  large  as  that  of  the  house  then  occupied, 
that  the  situation  was  admirable,  and  that  it  had  the  peculiar 
merit  of  three  open  frontages.  Also,  that  the  cost  of  this  proposal 
for  acquiring  the  freehold,  and  for  erecting  and  furnishing  the 
building,  would  amount  to  about  £66,000,  a  cost  which  it  was 
proposed  to  defray  partly  by  private  subscriptions,  partly  out  of 
the  funds,  and  partly  by  raising  money  on  mortgage. 

Two  Special  General  Meetings  were  held  on  the  5th  and  the 
26th  of  June  1866,  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  Eeport  (of 
which  the  above  is  the  substance,)  upon  the  building  question, 
when  it  was  decided  that  the  consideration  of  the  subject  be 
not  further  proceeded  with,  and  that  the  Subscription  List — 
which  amounted  to  about  £25,000 — should  be  withdrawn  and 
cancelled. 

The  matter  was  then  allowed  to  remain  in  abeyance  for  a 
short  time ;  but  the  Council  elected  in  December  1867,  pre- 
sented a  Eeport  to  a  Special  General  Meeting  held  on  the  7th 
of  April,  1868,  in  which  two  projects  were  described  and  con- 
trasted. One  of  these  was  the  enlargement  of  the  then  existing 
premises  in  Great  George  Street,  the  other  was  the  acquisition  of 
an  entirely  new  site  on  a  vacant  piece  of  ground  in  Victoria 
Street,  which,  bike  the  one  formerly  proposed,  had  the  advantage 
of  three  open  frontages. 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF  THE   COUNCIL.  1C1 

The  proposition  for  enlarging  the  building  on  the  existing  site, 
with  the  addition  of  the  back  part  of  the  adjacent  house,  No.  24, 
was  adopted,  and  the  meeting  gave  authority  to  the  Council  to 
enter  into  arrangements  for  a  lease  of  ninety-nine  years  for  each 
of  those  premises,  and  to  proceed  with  the  rebuilding  according 
to  the  designs  that  had  been  prepared.  The  works  were  executed 
during  the  ensuing  recess,  forming  the  building  essentially  as  it 
at  present  exists.  The  cost,  inclusive  of  furniture,  amounted  to 
between  £17,000  and  £18,000.  To  meet  this  expenditure,  the 
Council  decided,  in  the  first  instance  to  dispose  of  the  "  Building 
Fund,"  next  to  realize  the  unconditional  bequests,  and  lastly,  to 
sell  so  much  as  might  be  required  of  the  Institution  Investments. 
This  still  left  stock  of  the  nominal  value  of  about  £3,000  to 
provide  for  future  contingencies. 

It  should  be  stated  that  the  freehold  of  No.  25,  Great  George 
Street,  might  have  been  acquired  for  £12,000,  and  that  of  the 
back  part  of  No.  24,  Great  George  Street,  for  £4,166  13s.  4c?.,1  but 
the  Council  decided  not  to  purchase.  The  rent  of  the  former, 
which  had  been  £375  per  annum,  was  increased  to  £450  for  a 
term  of  99  years,  being  at  the  rate  of  3f  per  cent,  on  the  purchase 
money,  that  of  the  other  being  £208  7s.  for  a  like  term,  or  5  per 
cent,  on  its  value  as  above. 

In  the  Keport  of  the  Council  presented  at  the  Annual  General 
Meeting  in  December  1868,  it  was  stated  that  an  inquiry  had 
been  instituted  into  the  systems  of  engineering  education  (other 
than  military  engineering)  in  different  countries ;  the  cost  to  the 
students  and  to  the  respective  governments,  and  the  effect,  or  pre- 
sumed effect,  of  such  preparatory  training  on  the  profession.  Data 
had  been  collected  from  various  sources,  and  the  work  of  arranging 
and  comparing  them  was  entrusted  to  Dr.  William  Pole,  F.E.S. 
The  result  was  the  preparation  of  an  Octavo  volume  on  "  The 
Education  and  Status  of  Civil  Engineers  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  in  Foreign  Countries,"  which  was  published  by  the  Insti- 
tution in  1870. 

In  the  Session  of  1871  a  numerous  body  of  members  proposed 
that  the  number  of  the  Council  should  be  increased  to  twenty  (the 
maximum  permitted  by  the  Charter),  and  that  a  broader  basis  of 
election  should  be  adopted.  Two  Special  General  Meetings  were 
held,  at  the  first  of  which  the  proposed  increase  was  carried,  and 


1  The  estimated  value  was  £7,000,  but  Mr.  G.  K.  Stephenson  gave  to  the 
Institution  his  share  of  one-third,  and  Mr.  Bidder  £500  in  diminution  of  his 
share  also  of  one-third. 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  M 


162  EEPORT   OF  THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

at  the  second  it  was  resolved  to  alter  the  mode  of  preparing  and 
printing  the  balloting  lists. 

Two  years  afterwards  it  was  suggested  that  absent  members 
should  have  the  power  of  voting  for  members  of  Council  by  voting 
papers ;  but  it  was  found  that,  apart  from  the  merits  or  otherwise 
of  the  proposal,  such  a  proceeding  would  be  inconsistent  with 
the  provisions  of  the  Charter.  The  suggestion  was  renewed  in 
1883,  with  the  same  result. 

In  the  Eeport  for  1873,  the  Council  foreshadowed  some  im- 
portant extensions  and  improvements  in  regard  to  the  publications 
of  the  Institution.  These  were  matured  and  carried  into  effect  in 
the  following  year,  and  were  described  in  the  Eeport  presented  at 
the  Annual  General  Meeting  in  December  1874. 

For  many  years  the  "  Minutes  of  Proceedings  "  of  each  Session 
had  been  contained  in  one  Octavo  Volume ;  but  as  the  Papers  and 
discussions  had  been  gradually  increasing,  it  became  necessary, 
in  the  year  1870,  to  issue  two  volumes  for  each  Session. 

Three  years  later,  it  was  thought  desirable  to  introduce  some 
material  extensions.  Hitherto,  only  those  Papers  were  printed 
which  had  been  read  and  discussed;  but  these  were  necessarily 
limited  in  number,  and  many  communications  were  received 
which,  though  they  could  not  be  brought  forward  at  the  meet- 
ings, were  yet  of  such  importance  as  to  demand  publication. 
And  indeed,  the  Council  had  at  various  times  expressly  invited 
the  members  to  send  in  "engineering  notes"  on  any  topics  of 
professional  information  which  might  be  useful  to  their  brethren ; 
and  many  such  were  frequently  received.  It  was  accordingly 
decided  to  add  to  the  Minutes  a  second  section,  for  communica- 
tions not  read  at  the  meetings,  to  be  called  "  Other  Selected 
Papers."  This  was  commenced  in  vol.  xxxix.,  being  the  first 
part  for  the  session  1874-75,  and  has  been  highly  appreciated. 

At  the  same  time  a  further  addition  was  determined  on,  which, 
though  it  involved  a  great  change  in  the  established  usage,  was 
recommended  by  the  benefits  which  had  attended  its  practice  in 
other  societies;  namely,  the  organization  of  a  scheme  by  which 
the  Minutes  should  contain  a  summary  of  information,  gathered 
from  the  transactions  of  foreign  engineering  societies  and  from 
foreign  scientific  periodicals,  on  all  branches  of  professional  know- 
ledge, so  as  to  afford  a  perfect  record,  however  brief,  from  year 
to  year,  of  the  progress  of  engineering  science.  This  scheme  was 
carried  out,  giving  rise  to  the  third  section  of  the  Minutes,  entitled 
"Abstracts  of  Papers  in  Foreign  Transactions  and  Periodicals." 
The  Minutes  were  then  enlarged  to  four  volumes  annually,  brought 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  163 

out  at  as  nearly  equal  intervals  as  circumstances  would  admit,  but 
always  in  advance  of  the  succeeding  Session. 

These  changes  necessarily  involved  a  great  increase  of  expense, 
not  only  for  printing  and  engraving,  but  also  for  a  staff  of 
abstractors  (thirty  or  forty  in  number)  and  for  some  addition  to 
the  Secretary's  staff;  but  it  was  considered  to  be  justified  by  the 
services  that  would  be  rendered  to  the  members  and  by  the 
fact  that  the  funds  were  sufficient  to  support  the  expense. 

In  December  1878,  an  alteration,  or  rather  an  amendment,  of 
much  importance  was  made  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Society. 

Since  the  extinction  of  the  class  of  Graduates,  the  Institution 
had  consisted  essentially  of  two  classes,  called  "  Members  "  and 
"  Associates."  The  persons  composing  the  latter  class  were  defined 
to  be  "not  necessarily  Civil  Engineers  by  profession,  but  whose 
pursuits  constitute  branches  of  Engineering,  or  who  are  by  their 
connection  with  Science  or  the  Arts,  qualified  to  concur  with 
Civil  Engineers  in  the  advancement  of  professional  knowledge." 
It  was  the  custom  to  confine  the  admission  to  the  class  of 
Members  to  persons  who  had  acquired  some  eminence  and 
standing  in  the  profession,  and  to  place  young  practitioners  in  the 
Associate  class  till  they  were  considered  qualified  for  the  higher 
one,  when  they  were  "  transferred."  But  many  of  the  Associates 
thought  it  a  hardship  that  they  should  be  called  by  a  name  which 
did  not  imply  full  fellowship,  and  should  be  classed  with  persons 
"not  necessarily  Civil  Engineers."  This  complaint  had  been 
noticed  in  the  Eeport  of  the  Council  presented  in  December  1874, 
when  it  was  suggested  that  somo  change  might  be  advisable. 
Two  years  later,  the  matter  having  become  more  urgent,  a 
scheme  was  submitted  which,  however,  was  negatived  at  a  Special 
General  Meeting  on  the  25th  of  April,  1877.  The  new  Council, 
on  their  election  at  the  end  of  that  year,  prepared,  with  legal 
assistance,  another  set  of  proposals,  which  with  slight  modifica- 
tions were  agreed  to,  and  were  incorporated  in  the  By-laws,  on  the 
2nd  of  December,  1878.  This  fixed  the  present  Constitution  of 
the  Society,  which  is,  that  the  Corporation  consists  of  Members,  of 
Associates  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  Corporate  Membership,  and 
of  Honorary  Members. 

It  was  further  provided  that  every  candidate  for  election  into 
the  class  of  Associates  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  Corporate 
Membership  should  have  been  regularly  educated  as  a  Civil 
Engineer,  and  should  be  actually  engaged  in  the  design,  or  in 
the  construction  of  such  works  as  are  comprised  within  the  pro- 
fession of  a  Civil  Engineer  as  defined  by  the  Charter ;  and  that 

m  2 


164  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

only  those  Associates  on  the  Eegister  at  the  date  named  who 
were  Civil  Engineers  by  profession,  and  those  thereafter  elected 
as  Corporate  Associates,  should  be  regarded  as  Associate  Members. 
The  class  of  simple  Associates  was  retained,  but  without  corporate 
rights. 

In  the  year  1879,  Dr.  (afterwards  Sir  William)  Siemens, 
Member  of  Council,  offered  a  sum  of  £10,000  to  form  the  nucleus 
of  a  fund  for  providing  a  suitable  building  wherein  the  Applied- 
Science  Societies  might  be  assembled  under  one  roof.  This 
munificent  offer  called  forth  warm  expressions  of  gratitude  ;  but 
the  difficulties  in  carrying  out  such  a  comprehensive  scheme,  and 
at  the  same  time  of  preserving  the  individuality  and  the  pro- 
perty of  each  society,  were  so  great,  that  the  idea  had  to  be 
abandoned.  It  had,  however,  long  before  been  pointed  out,  and 
was  still  fully  acknowledged,  that  there  would  be  great  advantage 
in  bringing  the  many  societies  formed  for  the  study  of  various 
branches  of  Engineering  into  closer  union  with  this,  the  parent 
Institution. 

In  the  Eeport  for  1880,  the  Council  alluded  to  the  existence  of 
a  general  feeling  that  it  would  be  desirable  for  a  President  in 
future  to  hold  office  for  one  year  only,  and  that  the  practice  of 
nominating  the  same  person  for  two  years  consecutively  should  be 
discontinued.  In  consequence  of  this  feeling,  the  then  President, 
Mr.  William  Henry  Barlow,  F.E.S.,  intimated  that  he  did  not  wish 
to  be  proposed  for  President  a  second  time.  Since  that  date  there 
has  been  an  understanding  that  the  Presidents  should  hold  office 
for  one  year  only,  although  there  has  been  no  change  on  the 
subject  in  the  By-laws. 

Of  late  years  a  new  element  has  been  introduced  into  the 
proceedings.  About  1868  it  was  proposed  that  some  measures 
should  be  taken  for  the  improvement  in  professional  knowledge 
of  the  Students  by  the  establishment  of  "  Eeaderships  "  in  par- 
ticular branches  of  Engineering.  The  idea  was,  however,  not 
carried  out.  In  August  1879,  the  expediency  of  instituting,  in 
addition  to  the  Ordinary  Meetings,  Lectures  on  special  subjects  of 
Engineering  was  mooted.  But  it  was  only  in  March,  1882,  that 
the  Council  resolved  to  arrange  for  a  limited  series  of  Lectures,  to 
be  delivered  by  men  of  eminence,  not  on  the  elementary  subjects 
of  the  Class  Eoom,  but  on  the  principles  involved  in  the  action  of 
"  the  Great  Sources  of  Power  in  Nature,"  and  their  practical  appli- 
cations. 

Accordingly,  in  1883,  six  lectures  were  delivered  "On  the 
Practical  Applications  of  Electricity ; "   which  were  followed  in 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  165 

1884  by  others  on  "  Heat  in  its  Mechanical  Applications  ; "  and 
in  1885  by  those  on  "  The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Hydro- 
Mechanics."  Each  of  these  series  has  been  published  in  a 
separate  volume. 

In  January,  1885,  Dr.  William  Pole,  F.K.S.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  was 
appointed  Honorary  Secretary  in  succession  to  Mr.  Manby. 

On  the  28th  of  April,  1885,  a  Special  General  Meeting  was 
held,  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  altering  the  date  of  the  Annual 
General  Meeting.  This  had  formerly  been  held  in  the  latter  part 
of  December,  but  that  period  had  been  found  inconvenient,  and  it 
was  altered  to  the  close  of  the  Session. 

Having  now  traced  the  steps  by  which  the  Institution  has 
arrived  at  its  present  position,  it  may  be  desirable  to  give  some 
account  of  its  constitution,  of  the  objects  for  which  it  was  estab- 
lished, and  of  the  way  in  which  those  objects  are  sought  to  be 
carried  out. 

CONSTITUTION. 

The  persons  for  whose  benefit  the  Society  has  been  formed  are 
defined  by  its  chartered  title  The  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers. 
As  the  exact  meaning  of  the  words  "  Civil  Engineers "  is  very 
important,  and  has  given  rise  to  much  discussion,  the  Council 
considers  it  desirable  to  state  the  sense  attached  to  them  by  the 
Institution. 

The  Charter  defines  "  the  profession  of  a  Civil  Engineer "  as 
"  The  art  of  directing  the  Great  Sources  of  Power  in  Nature  for  the 
use  and  convenience  of  man,"  and  some  examples  of  this  definition 
are  given.  But  it  was  pointed  out  by  Thomas  Tredgold,  who 
drew  up  the  "  Description  of  a  Civil  Engineer,"  partly  embodied 
in  the  Charter,  that  "  the  scope  and  utility  of  Civil  Engineering 
will  be  increased  with  every  discovery  in  philosophy,  and  its 
resources  with  every  invention  in  mechanical  or  chemical  science." 
Consequently,  since  the  Charter  was  drawn,  the  range  of  practice 
of  the  profession  has  become  much  enlarged. 

Thus  the  practitioners  in  this  art  may  now  have  to  do  with 
many  classes  of  works ;  for  example  : — 

1.  Works  for  facilitating  and  improving  internal  communications 
— as  roads,  railways,  tramways,  navigation  by  canals  and  rivers, 
bridges,  and  telegraphs  of  various  kinds. 

2.  Works  connected  with  the  sea-coast,  and  for  facilitating 
communication  between  the  sea  and  the  land,  such  as  harbours, 
docks,  piers,  breakwaters,  sea-walls,  lighthouses,  &c. 


1G6  REPORT   OF   THE   COUXCIL.  [Minutes  of 

3.  Works  for  facilitating  communication  across  the  seas;  in- 
cluding naval  architecture,  iron  shipbuilding,  and  the  construction 
and  laying  of  submarine  telegraph  cables. 

4.  Works  for  the  reclamation,  irrigation,  or  drainage  of  land ; 
and  for  the  prevention  or  the  regulation  of  floods,  including  the 
improvement  of  rivers  as  arterial  drains. 

5.  Works  for  cities  and  towns,  such  as  sewerage,  water  supply, 
lighting,  and  street  improvements. 

6.  Large  and  massive  buildings  generally,  in  their  scientific 
and  mechanical  arrangements. 

7.  The  operations  of  mining  and  of  metallurgy,  so  far  as  they 
involve  the  application  of  mechanical  science. 

8.  The  design  and  construction  of  the  mechanical  prime-movers 
— such  as  steam-engines,  water-wheels  and  other  hydraulic  motors, 
windmills,  electric  and  other  engines. 

9.  The  design,  construction,  and  adaptation  to  practical  use  of 
machinery  and  mechanical  appliances  of  all  kinds. 

10.  The  design  and  manufacture  generally  of  all  large  and 
important  metallic  structures,  including  artillery,  and  other  large 
munitions  of  war. 

This  is  a  comprehensive  but  by  no  means  complete  catalogue, 
and  if  an  estimate  is  attempted  to  be  formed  of  the  work  done 
under  it  during  the  last  century,  and  of  the  effect  this  work  has 
had  on  the  development  of  trade  and  commerce,  on  finance,  on 
government,  on  every  branch  of  industry,  and  indeed  on  every 
possible  aspect  of  human  interest,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
profession  of  Civil  Engineering  has  become  truly  a  great  power. 

It  is  important  to  define  accurately  what  is  meant  by  the  prefix 
"  Civil." 

There  has  sometimes  been  a  disposition  to  confine  the  word 
"  civil "  to  those  who  practise  in  works  of  building  and  earthwork 
construction,  such  as  railways,  roads,  harbours,  docks,  river  im- 
provements, and  so  on,  to  the  exclusion  of  engineers  who  are 
engaged  in  some  of  the  other  branches  of  engineering  enume- 
rated. 

There  is  no  authority  or  warrant  for  such  a  limitation.  The 
meaning  of  the  word  "  civil "  is  quite  clear  when  the  history  of  the 
profession  is  borne  in  mind. 

The  earliest  application  of  the  term  "Engineer"  was  to  persons 
in  military  service,  and  down  to  a  comparatively  recent  period  it 
was  only  known  in  this  application.  But  when  the  construction 
of  public  works  in  England  for  civil  purposes  began  to  take  a 
large  development,  their  designers,  finding  their  work  analogous 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF  THE   COUNCIL.  1C7 

to  that  of  military  engineers,  adopted  the  same  term,  using  the 
prefix  "civil"  to  distinguish  them.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  Smeaton  was  the  first  civil  constructor  of  large  public  works 
who  called  himself  an  engineer,  and  who  used  accordingly  the 
distinguishing  compound  title. 

The  term  "  Civil  Engineer  "  means,  therefore,  an  engineer  who 
is  a  civilian,  as  distinguished  from  a  military  engineer. 

This  Corporation  is  intended  to  include  all  classes  of  engineers 
wbo  do  not  belong  to  the  military  service. 

The  remark  has  sometimes  been  made  that  officers  of  the  Royal 
Engineers  and  of  the  Royal  Artillery  might  complain  of  their 
exclusion  from  corporate  rights  in  this  body.  Such  a  complaint 
would  be  as  unreasonable  as  it  would  be  for  a  Civil  Engineer  to 
complain  of  his  exclusion  from  the  privileges  of  Chatham  or  of 
Woolwich ;  and  it  must  always  be  recollected  that  the  Institution 
is  able  and  most  willing  to  welcome,  and  to  attach  to  its  body, 
in  the  Class  of  Associates,  individuals  whoso  pursuits  and  know- 
ledge are  akin  to  its  own. 

To  comply,  therefore,  with  the  wording  of  the  Charter  and  the 
spirit  of  the  Institution,  those  constituting  the  body  corporate 
must  be  persons  actually  following  the  profession  of  a  Civil 
Engineer ;  and  these  may  be,  Eirst,  Members,  persons  who  are  of 
considerable  standing  in  the  profession;  secondly,  Associate- 
Members,  persons  who  are  of  less  standing,  but  who  may  bo 
transferred  to  the  superior  grade  whenever  they  become  qualified. 
Honorary  Members,  who  are  persons  of  distinction,  enabled  to 
render  assistance  in  the  prosecution  of  Public  Works,  are  also 
given  corporate  privileges  as  a  matter  of  courtesy. 

There  is  also,  as  already  alluded  to,  the  important  class  of 
Associates,  attached  to  the  Institution,  but  without  corporate 
rights.  These  are  persons  not  Civil  Engineers  by  profession, 
but  who,  by  connection  with  Science  or  the  Arts,  or  otherwise,  are 
qualified  to  concur  with  Civil  Engineers  in  the  advancement  of 
professional  knowledge.  The  Council  has  thought  it  expedient  to 
raise  the  standard  of  this  attached  class,  and  with  this  object  to 
recommend  for  election  only  such  persons  as  are  distinguished  in 
their  particular  walks  of  life.  Into  this  class  eminent  scientific 
men,  contractors,  railway  managers,  military  engineers,  architects, 
and  others,  are  gladly  received. 

There  is  also  the  class  of  Students  ;  those  composing  this  class 
are  allowed  certain  special  privileges,  and  may  remain  in  it  until 
they  become  eligible  by  age  for  admission  as  Associate  Members. 

Every  member  of  the  Institution  has  the  right  to  append  to  his 


REPORT    OF   THE    COUNCIL. 


[Minutes  of 


name  a  certain  abbreviated  designation  corresponding  to  the  class 
to  which  he  belongs.1 

The  Members,  Associate  Members,  Honorary  Members,  and 
Associates  are  elected  (their  classification  having  been  previously 
determined  by  the  Council)  by  the  ballot  of  the  general  body ;  the 
transfer  from  the  grade  of  Associate-Member  to  that  of  Member  is 
effected  by  the  Council,  by  whom  also  the  Students  are  admitted. 


The  Eoll  of  the  Institution. 

The  numbers  of  members  of  different  classes  at  intervals  of  ten 
years  are  shown  in  the  following  Table : — 


Date. 

Honorary 
Members. 

Members. 

Co"        Associate 
Members.  meml3ers- 

Asso- 
ciates. 

Gra- 
duates. 

Stu- 
dents. 

Total 

of  all 

Classes. 

Actual 
Increase. 

1836 

14 

45 

91 

88 

•• 

238 

862 

1846 

35 

207 

314 

44 

COO 

197 

1856 

26 

2S9 

466 

16 

797 

542 

1866 

20 

541 

771 

7 

1 ,339 

1,505 

1876 

11 

8G4 

. , 

1,582 

,, 

3S4 

2,844 

2,256 

1886 

20 

1,542 

..       1   2,111 

1 

501 

92G 

5,100 

Contributions  to  the  Funds. 

The  following  Table  shows  the  rates  of  Annual  Subscription — 
those  persons  being  considered  residents  whose  place  of  business  or 
whose  residence  is  within  10  miles  of  the  General  Post  Office, 
London : — 


Resident    . 
Non-Resident , 


Member. 

£  s.  d. 
4  4  0 
3    3    0 


Associate  Member 
and  Associate. 

£  s.  d. 
3  3  0 
2  12     6 


Student. 

£  g.  d. 
2  2  0 
1  11     6 


Every  new  Member  and  Associate,  on  admission,  has  to  pay  a 
fee  of  ten  guineas ;  but  no  payment,  other  than  the  increased 
annual  subscription,  is  due  from  an  Associate  on  his  transfer  to 
Membership. 


1  The  use  of  the  simple  letters  "C.E."  is  expressly  discountenanced  by  the 
Institution,  as  not  founded  on  any  qualification,  and  as  being  calculated  to 
mislead. 


Proceedings.] 


REPORT    OF   THE    COUNCIL. 


169 


In  1836, 

the 

receipts 

from  all 

sources 

amounted  to 

713 

„  1846 

1,771 

„  185G 

2,018 

„  186G 

6,717 

„  1S7G 

11,177 

„  18SG 

19,915 

In  the  year  1860  the  first  investment  was  made  on  Capital 
Account,  Toeing  the  sums  derived  from  Life  Compositions  (in  lieu 
of  annual  subscriptions)  and  from  Fees  on  entrance,  neither  of 
these  receipts  being  considered  in  the  light  of  annual  income. 
The  practice  has  since  been  regularly  continued,  and  has  resulted 
in  the  Institution  at  present  being  possessed  of  Stocks  of  the 
nominal,  or  par,  value  of  £57,000,  their  market  value  being  about 
£66,000.  During  this  period  the  Life  Compositions  and  Admission- 
fees  together  realized  £50,045,  while  the  unconditional  bequests 
amounted  to  very  nearly  £8,988.1  The  cost  of  rebuilding  the 
premises  in  1868  has  therefore  been  practically  paid  for  out  of 
income,  although  there  had  been  no  increase  in  the  annual  sub- 
scriptions since  they  were  fixed  in  December  1837. 

The  premises  are  insured  in  the  Guardian  Fire  Office  for 
£12,000,  and  the  other  effects  in  the  Sun  Fire  Office  for  £20,000. 


Management. 

The  affairs  of  the  Institution  are  managed  by  a  Council  con- 
sisting of  twenty  persons,  viz. : — 

One  President,  4  Vice-Presidents,  and  15  other  members. 

These  are  elected  at  the  Annual  General  Meeting,  and  by 
custom,  from  the  class  of  "  Members,"  although  according  to  the 
By-laws  all  Corporate  Members  are  eligible. 

The  President  may  hold  office  for  two  years  in  succession ;  but, 
as  already  stated,  it  has  become  lately  the  custom  for  him  to  retire 
after  the  first  year,  when  the  senior  Vice-President  in  duration  of 
office  is  nominated  in  the  ballotirig  list  to  fill  his  place. 


!  These  Unconditional  Bequests  were  as  follows  : — 

1860.  Eobert  Stephenson  Bequest 
1862.  Miller 

„      Errington 
1864.  Botfield 

1868.  Locke 

1869.  Burnell 

1870.  Appold  Bequests 
1880.  Napier  Bequest  . 
1S83.  Beattie  Legacy    . 


2,000  0  0 

2,000  0  0 

1,000  0  0 

28  0  0 

2,000  0  0 

10  10  0 

1,800  0  0 

99  19  0 

49  2  9 

£8,987  11  9 


170  LEPOKT   OF  THE  COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

At  the  Ordinary  Meeting  next  but  one  before  the  Annual 
General  Meeting,  the  Council  are  required  to  present  a  list  of 
persons  whom  they  nominate  as  suitable  for  the  various  offices 
in  the  Council  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  this  list  has  to  be  dis- 
tributed to  the  members  eight  days  before  the  day  of  election. 
In  the  preparation  of  the  balloting-list,  it  is  sought  to  make  it 
representative  of  every  branch  of  engineering,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  of  every  influential  centre  of  engineering.  Irrespective 
of  the  President  and  the  four  Vice-Presidents,  the  list,  in  accordance 
with  the  By-laws,  contains  the  names  of  twenty- four  members,  while 
only  fifteen  have  to  be  returned ;  but  it  is  competent  for  the  electors 
to  substitute  any  name  or  names  for  those  included  in  the  list, 
provided  such  substituted  names  are  those  of  Corporate  Members. 

There  are  also  two  Auditors  appointed  by  the  Annual  General 
Meeting,  while  the  Treasurer  and  the  Secretaries  are  appointed 
annually  by  the  Council. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Presidents  to  the  present  time  : — 

1820-34 Thomas  Telford. 

1835-45 James  Walker. 

1845-48 Sir  John  Rennie. 

184S-50 Joshua  Field. 

1850-52 Sir  William  Cubitt. 

1852-54 James  Meadows  liendel. 

1854-56 James  Simpson. 

1856-58 Robert  Stephenson. 

1858-60 Joseph  Locke. 

1860-62 George  Parker  Bidder. 

1862-64 John  Hawkskaw. 

1864—66 John  Robinson  McClean. 

1866-68 John  Fowler. 

1868-70 Charles  Hutton  Gregory. 

1870-72 Charles  Blacker  Yignoles. 

1872-74 Thomas  Hawksley. 

1874-76 Thomas  Elliot  Harrison. 

1876-78 George  Robert  Stephenson. 

1878-80 Tohn  Frederic  Bateman. 

1880         William  Henry  Barlow. 

1881         James  Aberncthy. 

1882         Sir  William  George  Armstrong. 

1883         James  Brunlees. 

1884         Sir  Joseph  William  Bazalgette. 

1885-86 Sir  Frederick  Joseph  Bramwell. 

The  following  Members  (in  addition  to  those  who  became 
Presidents)  have  served  on  the  Council  at  various  periods  since 
1836:— 

Bryan  Donkin,  Henry  Robinson  Palmer,  Francis  Bramah,  Isambard  Kingdom 
Brunei,  George  Lowe,  Sir  John  Macueill,  William  Alexander  Provis,  William 
Carpmael,  Joseph  Miller,  Josiah  Parkes,  Thomas  Wicksteed,  Alfred  Burgee, 
Samuel  Seaward,  Robert  Sibley,  William  Tierney  Clark,  George  Rennie,  John 


Proceedings.]  EEPOKT   OF   THE  COUNCIL.  171 

Taylor,  Francis  Giles,  William  Chadwell  Mylne,  Benjamin  Cubitt,  Thomas 
Sopwith,  Joseph  Cubitt,  Charles  May,  John  Edward  Errington,  John  Scott 
Eussell,  John  Penn,  Sir  Joseph  Whitworth,  Bart.,  Nicholas  Wood,  George 
Willoughby  Hemans,  John  Murray,  Nathaniel  Bcardmore,  Edward  Woods, 
George  Barclay  Bruce,  Sir  William  Siemens,  George  Berkley,  Sir  John  Coode, 
Wdliam  Pole  (now  Hon.  Secretary),  William  Baker,  George  Fosbery  Lyster, 
William  Froude,  Sir  Isaac  Lowthian  Bell,  Bart.,  Harrison  Hayter,  David 
Stevenson,  Alfred  Giles,  Sir  Kobert  Itawlinson,  Edward  Alfred  Cowper,  Sir  Charles 
A.  Hartley,  Sir  William  Thomson,  Alexander  Meadows  Kendel,  Benjamin 
Baker,  Sir  Jas.  N.  Douglass,  John  Wolfe  Barry,  Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  Sir 
Douglas  Fox,  William  Henry  Preece,  Sir  E.  J.  Eeed,  Francis  Croughton 
Stileman,  and  James  Mansergh. 

The  Sessions  and  Meetings. 

The  Session  commences  in  November  and  ends  in  the  following 
May. 

During  this  time  Ordinary  Meetings  are  held  on  every  Tuesday 
evening.  At  these  meetings  the  Papers  selected  by  the  Council, 
from  the  large  number  sent  in,  are  read  and  discussed,  the  discussions 
often  extending  over  several  evenings.  A  short-hand  writer  is  in 
attendance  who  takes  full  notes  of  the  discussions,  and  the  whole, 
after  proper  correction,  are  printed  in  the  Minutes  of  Proceedings. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  discussions,  proof  copies  of  the  Papers 
are  supplied  to  any  persons,  whether  members  or  not,  who  are 
supposed  to  be  specially  conversant  with  the  matters  treated. 

It  has  often  been  found  that  persons  unavoidably  absent 
have  wished  to  make  remarks,  and  the  Council  has  therefore 
authorized  them  to  communicate  such  remarks  to  the  Secretary, 
when  they  are  printed,  with  the  discussions,  under  the  head  of 
"  Correspondence." 

Students'  Meetings. 

To  encourage  the  Students,  Supplemental  Meetings  have  been 
established,  at  which  Papers  prepared  by  the  Students  are  read 
and  discussed,  some  Member  of  Council  or  other  prominent  Member 
taking  the  Chair,  but  with  this  exception  only  Students  are  per- 
mitted to  be  present.  These  meetings  have  answered  very  well, 
and  have  fostered  a  wholesome  spirit  of  emulation.  Some  of  these 
Papers  have  shown  great  merit,  and  have  been  published  in  the 
Minutes  of  Proceedings. 

As  it  is  impracticable  for  Students  in  the  provinces  to  take 
advantage  of  the  meetings  of  their  class  in  Westminster,  local 
Associations  have  been  established  at  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  Man- 
chester, and  Hull,  so  that  some  of  the  non-resident  Students  may 
have  opportunities  of  meeting  one  another  and  of  discussing  pro- 
fessional subjects. 


172  EEPOKT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

Minutes  of  Proceedings. 

These  have  been  already  generally  described. 

The  Proceedings  for  the  Session  1884-85  comprised  four  Octavo 
Volumes,  containing  together  1,855  pages,  and  illustrated  with 
41  plates  and  236  cuts  in  the  text.  Of  these  929  pages  were 
devoted  to  the  Meetings,  509  to  other  Selected  Papers,  and  417 
to  Abstracts  from  Foreign  Periodicals. 

Copies  of  the  Minutes  are  sent  post-free,  to  every  member  of 
every  class,  wherever  resident,  and  185  copies  are  presented  to 
other  Institutions  and  Public  Libraries  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 

They  are  not  published  in  the  ordinary  sense,  and  are  therefore 
not  on  sale  to  the  public. 

The  cost  of  the  Proceedings  for  1884-85,  including  postage,  was 
about  £6,500. 

It  should  be  added  that  not  only  is  each  volume  furnished  with 
a  proper  Index,  but  that  General  Indexes,  extending  over  a  large 
series  of  volumes,  have  been  prepared,  with  much  care  and 
labour.  These  are  arranged  both  for  subjects  and  names,  so  that 
any  subject  contained  in  the  Minutes  can  be  at  once  referred  to, 
and  the  name  of  every  writer  of  a  Paper,  as  well  as  of  every 
speaker  in  the  discussions,  is  also  classified,  along  with  the  subject- 
matter  of  his  essay  or  his  remarks.  This  facility  of  reference  gives 
a  largely  increased  value  to  the  Minutes  of  Proceedings. 

House  and  Library. 

The  present  house  contains  a  handsome  Meeting-Koom,  60  feet 
long  by  40  feet  wide  and  30  feet  high,  which  will  accommodate 
450  persons.  Below  this  there  are  a  spacious  Reading  and  Writing 
Eoom — where  all  English  and  foreign  periodicals  likely  to  be 
interesting  to  the  members  will  be  found — and  a  Council  Eoom. 
The  front  of  the  house  is  chiefly  devoted  to  the  Library  and  to 
the  offices  of  the  staff. 

Although  the  Meeting-Eoom  is  fairly  large  enough,  except  on 
extraordinary  occasions,  this  cannot  be  said  of  the  Library,  where 
many  of  the  books  are  inaccessible  at  short  notice.  The  office- 
accommodation  is  also  very  insufficient  and  unsuitable  for  the 
ever-increasing  business,  and  all  that  there  is  has  to  be  utilized  on 
meeting-nights  for  the  subsidiary  purposes  of  the  meetings. 

The  Library  is  a  feature  of  which  the  members  have  just 
reason  to  be  proud.  Originating  with  a  present  of  books  from 
Telford,  on  his  accepting  the  Presidency,  it  contained  in  1851, 


Proceedings.]  REPORT  OF  THE  COUNCIL.  173 

when  a  catalogue  was  first  published,  3,000  volumes  and  1,500 
tracts.  Fifteen  years  later,  a  second  edition  was  issued,  and  the 
numbers  then  were  5,500  volumes  and  3,200  tracts.  In  1873  it 
was  ascertained  by  actual  enumeration  that  the  number  of  volumes 
was  10,443,  including  320  volumes  of  tracts,  and  at  the  present 
time  it  consists  of  about  21,000  volumes,  occupying  2,238  lineal 
feet  of  shelves.  It  may  be  said  to  include  most  English  works, 
and  a  great  many  foreign  ones,  on  Engineering  or  allied  subjects, 
together  with  an  ample  provision  of  standard  scientific  works. 
Indeed  it  has  been  the  aim  of  the  management  to  take  care  that 
any  treatise  an  engineer  may  reasonably  want  for  his  professional 
work,  shall  be  found  in  the  Institution.  There  is  a  MS.  Catalogue 
of  the  Library,  in  three  thick  folio  volumes  devoted  to  Authors,  and 
one  volume  to  subjects. 

Trust  Funds  and  Premiums. 

The  Trust  Funds  under  the  charge  of  the  Institution  include 
the  bequest  of  Thomas  Telford,  the  donation  of  Charles  Manby, 
and  the  bequests  of  Joseph  Miller  and  of  Thomas  Howard. 

The  Telford  Fund  was  left  "  in  trust,  the  interest  to  be  expended 
in  annual  premiums  under  the  direction  of  the  Council."  The 
sum  bequeathed  was  £2,000,  and  this  was  invested,  in  1835,  in 
£1,945  19s.  Three  Per  Cent.  Consols.  On  the  division  of  the  re- 
siduary estate  of  Telford  further  sums  were  received,  namely :  in 
1850,  £605  16s.  Wd.  Consols,  and  £2,342  17s.  Id.  Reduced;  in  1867, 
£287  15s.  Consols,  and  £227  8s.  Reduced;  and,  in  1874,  a  final 
apportionment  of  £15  15s.  lOd.  Reduced.  These  sums,  with  the 
original  investment,  amounting  together  to  £2,839  10s.  10c?. 
Consols,  and  £2,586  0s.  lid.  Reduced,  were  transferred,  in  1883, 
into  one  Stock,  namely  : — £5,425  lis.  9d.  Consols,  representing  the 
Bequest.  In  1862  a  sum  of  £1,669  8s.  6d. — being  the  balance  of 
Unexpended  dividends  from  1835  to  that  date — was  invested  in 
£1,775  19s.  Sd.  Consols.  This,  and  further  similar  sums  invested 
from  time  to  time  up  to  the  year  1879,  increased  the  Stocks  to 
£2,377  10s.  5d.  Consols,  and  £913  2s.  Id.  Reduced,  which  were 
transferred,  in  1883,  into  one  Stock,  namely: — £3,290  13s.  Reduced, 
representing  the  Unexpended  dividends.  The  annual  income  from 
these  combined  sources  is  about  £250. 

The  Manby  Donation,  given  "to  form  a  Fund  for  an  annual 
premium  or  premiums  for  Papers  read  at  the  Meetings,"  is  invested 
in  £250  Great  Eastern  Railway  Four  Per  Cent.  Debenture  Stock. 
The  Miller  Fund  originated  in  a  bequest  of  £3,000,  received  in 


174  EEPOItT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

1860,  "  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  Fund  (which  I  desire  may  he 
called  the  '  Miller  Fund '),  for  providing  premiums  or  prizes  for 
the  Students  of  the  said  Institution,  upon  the  principle  of  the 
'  Telford  Fund.' "  In  the  following  year  this  was  invested  in 
£2,000  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Eailway  and  £1,100  Norfolk 
(Great  Eastern)  Eailway  Four  Per  Cent.  Debenture  Stocks,  which 
were  transferred,  in  1879,  to  Institution-account  in  exchange  for 
£3,125  New  Three  Per  Cents.,  which  had  been  purchased  at  a  cost 
of  £3,000.  The  Unexpended  dividends  which  accumulated  in 
the  years  preceding  the  establishment  of  the  Student  class  were 
invested  in  £643  19s.  8d.  Consols,  and  £1,355  14s.  lid.  Eeduced, 
now,  by  a  transfer  effected  in  1883,  represented  by  one  security, 
namely,  £1,999  14s.  Id.  Three  Per  Cent.  Eeduced.  The  income  of 
these  two  investments  is  nearly  £150  per  annum. 

The  Howard  Bequest,  received  at  the  end  of  1872,  consisted 
of  a  sum  of  £500  free  of  legacy  duty,  which  was  invested  in 
£551  14s.  6d.  New  Three  Per  Cents.  The  interest  on  this  sum  was 
directed  "  to  be  applied  in  such  manner  and  under  such  conditions 
and  restrictions  as  the  Council  of  the  said  Institution  may  think 
most  expedient,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  periodically  a  Prize 
or  Medal  to  the  Author  of  a  treatise  on  any  of  the  Uses  or 
Properties  of  Iron,  or  to  the  inventor  of  some  new  and  valuable 
process  relating  thereto,  such  author  or  inventor  being  a  Member, 
Graduate,  or  Associate  of  the  said  Institution."  It  was  arranged 
to  award  this  Prize  every  five  years,  commencing  from  1877.  The 
recipients  have  been  Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  F.E.S.,  and  the  late 
Sir  William  Siemens.     The  next  award  will  be  made  in  1887. 

The  nominal  capital  of  these  several  Trust  Funds  (inclusive  of 
Unexpended  dividends)  is  £14,642  13s.  10d.,  which  in  the  year 
ending  the  31st  of  March,  1886,  produced  an  income  of  £427  lis.  9d. 

In  1884,  the  Council  accepted  a  bequest  (subject  to  a  life 
interest)  from  the  widow  of  Henry  Eobinson  Palmer,  Vice-Presi- 
dent, of  the  income  of  £1.381  Is.  6d.  Three  Per  Cent.  Metropolitan 
Consolidated  Stock.  This  is  to  be  devoted  to  the  foundation  of  a 
scholarship  at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  to  be  called  the 
Palmer  Scholarship,  tenable  only  by  the  son  of  a  Civil  Engineer 
in  need  of  help.  The  Council  is  to  have  the  nomination  to  the 
scholarship. 

The  Annual  Dinner. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  held  on  the  21st  of  January,  1823,  it 
was  resolved  to  commemorate  the  establishment  of  the  Institution 
by  the  members  and  their  friends  dining  together.     The  dinner 


Proceedings.] 


REPORT   OF   THE    COUNCIL. 


175 


took  place  on  the  7th  of  the  following  month  at  the  London  Coffee 
House,  Ludgate  Hill;  and  it  was  continued  annually  till  1827, 
after  which  it  seems  to  have  fallen  into  abeyance.  In  1862  the 
Council  revived  the  practice,  and  it  has  "been  continued  without 
intermission  to  the  present  time.  This  year  the  dinner  was  held 
on  the  27th  of  March  in  the  Hall  of  the  Society  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  by  the  very  kind  permission  of  the  Treasurer  and  Benchers, 
and  was  attended  by  their  Eoyal  Highnesses  the  Prince  of  "Wales, 
Prince  Albert  Victor,  and  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  by  other 
distinguished  guests,  and  by  many  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
profession. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  SESSION,  1885-86. 

Eeferring  now  more  particularly  to  the  proceedings  of  the  past 
Session,  it  may  be  stated  that  in  the  twelve  months  ending  the 
31st  of  March  last,  the  changes 1  that  occurred  in  the  Poll  of  the 


1  These  changes  are  shown  in  detail  in  the  following  Table : — 


Dec.  1, 

1884,  to  Mar.  31,  1885. 

April  1, 

1885,  to  March  31,  1886. 

>>m 

D    to 

3 

>>n 

o  to 

CO 

a 

5 

*    g 

a 

-  o 

h 

%  t 

d 

a  a 

.a 

a 

s  a 

o 

Totals. 

c  a 

J3 

a 

o  -9 

g  a 

o 

Totals. 

O    (U 

OJ 

m  <o 

O    ZJ 

xs 

s 

<■£, 

< 

=  a 

a 

31 

< 

Numbers   at 1 

commence-  > 

20 

1,4161,844 

502 

3,7S2 

20    1,485,1, 

507 

3,944 

ment   .     . ) 

Transferred  j 
to  Members] 

37 

2 

•• 

•• 

40 

Do.  to  Asso-I 

ciate  Mem-> 

,, 

.. 

.. 

2 

bers      .     . ) 

Elections     . 

B  # 

33 

132 

Ill 

2 

52 

263 

211 

Restored   to| 
Register    .  J 

•• 

1 

2 

••[ 

179 

•• 

1 

2 

1 

342 

Deaths  . 

3 

5 

3I 

2 

24 

19 

8) 

Resignations 

1 

4 

1 

-17 

11 

14 

13 

-112 

Erased  .     . 

20 

1,485 

1,932 

.J 

507 

1G2 

20 

1 

1,542 

15 
2,111 

5j 

501 

230 

Numbers  at\ 
termination/ 

3,944 

4,174 

The  Deceases  have  been  : — 

Honorary  Members : — Vjscount  Halifax,  G.C.B. ;  and  Henri  Tresca. 

Members : — Frederick  Morris  Avern ;  Peter  William  Barlow,  F.R.S. ;  Frederick 
Barry;  Peter  Duckworth  Bennett;  James  Bolland;  William  Bayley  Bray; 
Robert  Davison  ;  Robert  Handcock ;  George  Willoughby  Hemans ;  Aiisa  Janson ; 


176  EEPORT   OY  THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

Institution  included  the  elections  of  52  Members,  263  Associate 
Members,  2  Honorary  Members,  and  21  Associates;  and  the 
restoration  to  the  register  of  1  Member,  2  Associate  Members,  and 
1  Associate,  together  342 ;  while  the  losses  by  deaths,  resignations 
and  erasures  have  been  112,  leaving  a  net  increase  of  230,  or  at 
the  rate  of  nearly  6  per  cent. 

In  the  same  period  230  Candidates  were  admitted  as  Students, 
and  147  Students  were  withdrawn  from  the  list,  showing  an 
increase  of  83,  and  bringing  up  the  total  number  to  926. 

Twenty-five  Ordinary  Meetings  have  been  held  in  the  present 
Session,  and  eighteen  Papers,  treating  of  twelve  different  subjects, 
have  been  read  and  discussed.  These  related  to  the  "  Steam- 
Engine  Indicator,"  "  High-Speed  Motors  "  and  "  Dynamo-Electric 
Machines,"  "  Construction  in  Earthquake  Countries,"  "  Gas-Pro- 
ducers," "  The  Injurious  Effect  of  a  Blue  Heat  on  Steel  and  Iron," 
"  The  Eiver  Seine,"  "  The  Explosion  of  Gaseous  Mixtures  in  a 


Professor  Henry  Charles  Fleeming  Jenkin,  F.E.SS.  L.  &.  E. ;  James  Kitson  ; 
John  Towlerton  Leather ;  Joseph  Leece ;  Francis  Mathew ;  Edward  Newconibe  ; 
George  Gordon  Page ;  William  Khodes ;  Joshua  Eichardson ;  Joseph  d'Aguilar 
Samuda ;  David  Scott ;  Thomas  Macdougall  Smith ;  Frederick  Swanwick ;  and 
George  Wilson  (Sheffield). 

Associate  Members  : — Alan  Charles  Bagot ;  Nathaniel  St.  Bernard  Beardmore  ; 
John  George  Blackett;  Herbert  Chapman ;  Bernard  Culbard ;  John  Henry 
Eykyn ;  Charles  Cockburn  Gibbons ;  William  Jackson ;  Frank  James ;  Thomas 
Nesham  Khkham,  Jun. ;  Alexander  Anderson  Kyd ;  Samuel  Eobert  Linging ; 
David  Manuel ;  Samuel  Pontifex ;  Arthur  Sulivan ;  Benjamin  Warnes  Thurston ; 
Albert  Harrison  Turner ;  James  Henry  Waller ;  and  John  Eobson  Warham. 

Associates : — Major  Ambrose  Awdrey,  E.E. ;  Thoinas  Bagnall ;  Edwin  Crosley ; 
Charles  Frewer ;  Frederick  William  Hartley;  Lt.-Col.  Patrick  Montgomerie, 
E.E. ;  Alexander  Ogilvie ;  and  Michael  Patterson. 

Tlie  Resignations  were : — 

Members : — Charles  William  Archibald ;  Walter  Marr  Brydone ;  William 
Bellingham  Carter ;  William  Langton  Coke  ;  Jackson  Golding ;  Henry  Gooch  ; 
Charles  Buchanan  Ker ;  Francis  Charles  Liddell ;  William  Neill ;  Eobert 
Tyndall ;  and  Clifford  Wigram. 

Associate  Members : — William  Borrer,  Jun. ;  Francis  Eustace  Burke ;  George 
Ealph  Fitz-Eoy  Cole;  William  Young  Craig;  Godfrey  Darbishire;  Charles 
William  Dempsey;  Sidengham  Duer,  B.Sc. ;  Telford  Field;  Charles  James; 
William  John  Adamson  Parker ;  Eobert  Ormiston  Paterson  ;  Arthur  John 
Peele ;  Walter  Thomas  Shute ;  and  Charles  Henry  Alexander  Twidale. 

Associates: — William  Atchison;  William  Darnbrough  Cameron;  Lt.-Gen. 
Anthony  Charles  Cooke,  C.B.,  E.E. ;  Fung  Yee ;  Sydney  Gedge,  M.A. ;  Maj.- 
Gen.  Edward  Charles  Acheson  Gordon,  E.E. ;  Samuel  Hunter ;  Henry  Augustin 
Ornano  Mackenzie ;  John  Marshman ;  Charles  Marshall  Poole ;  Maj.-Gen.  Sir 
Peter  Henry  Scratchley,  K.C.M.G.,  E.E. ;  Joseph  Smith;  and  Walter  Williams. 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL,  177 

Closed  Vessel,"  "Railways  in  Newly-Developed  and  in  Moun- 
tainous Countries,"  "  Water  Purification,"  "  Brickinaking  by 
Machinery,"  "  The  Mersey  Eailway,"  "  The  Mersey  Railway 
Lifts,"  and  "  Modern  Machine  Tools." 

For  some  of  the  above  communications,  the  Council  has  had 
the  satisfaction  to  award,  out  of  the  Trust  Funds  appropriated  for 
the  purpose,  Medals  and  Premiums  as  under : — a  Telford  Medal 
and  a  Telford  Premium  to  Gisbert  Kapp,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E. ; 
a  Telford  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium  to  Charles  Edmund 
Stromeyer,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  a  "Watt  Medal  and  a  Telford 
Premium  to  John  Imray,  M.A.,  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  a  Telford  Medal 
and  a  Telford  Premium  to  Leveson  Francis  Yernon-Harcourt, 
M.  A.,  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  a  Telford  Premium  to  Dugald  Clerk ;  a 
George  Stephenson  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium  to  Francis  Fox 
(of  Westminster),  M.  Inst.  C.E.;  a  Watt  Medal  and  a  Telford 
Premium  to  William  Wilson  Hulse,  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  Telford  Pre- 
miums to  William  Edmund  Bich,  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  Henry  Ward, 
Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  and  Professor  Osborne  Reynolds,  M.A., 
F.R.S.,  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  and  the  Manby  Premium  to  Arthur  William 
Brightmore,  B.Sc,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E. 

For  Papers  printed  in  the  second  section  of  the  Proceedings 
without  being  publicly  discussed  the  following  awards  have  been 
made  : — a  George  Stephenson  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium 
to  Stanislao  Fadda;  and  Telford  Premiums  to  James  Strachan, 
M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  Robert  Hunter  Rhind,  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  Thoma.s 
Andrews,  F.R.S.E.,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  Bryan  Donkin,  Jun., 
31.  Inst.  C.E. ;  Frank  Salter,  B.Sc,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E. ;  and  to 
John  George  Mair,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

During  the  past  session  thirteen  Papers  were  read  at  twelve 
Students'  Meetings,  the  subjects  having  been  fairly  representative 
of  the  varied  character  and  the  advanced  position  of  engineering 
of  the  present  day.  The  attendance  of  Students  at  their  special 
meetings  on  Friday  evenings  has  been  very  good. 

Miller  Prizes  have  been  awarded  to  the  Authors  of  several  of 
the  Papers  read  at  the  Supplemental  Meetings  of  Students,  namely, 
John  Goodman,  Wh.  Sc,  Henry  Albert  Cutler,  Leslie  Stephen 
Robinson,  and  Edward  Carstensen  de  Segundo,  Williim  Andrew 
Legg,  Gilbert  Macintyre  Hunter,  Llewelyn  Birchall  Atkinson, 
Rudolph  Emil  von  Lengerke,  David  Sing  Capper,  M.A.,  Maurice 
FitzMaurice,  and  Ernest  William  Moir. 

A  series  of  nine  visits  to  engineering  works  of  magnitude  was 
organized  in  the  spring,  and  the  Council  wishes  to  put  on  record 
its  appreciation  of  the  kindness  which  prompted  the  heads  of  these 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  N 


178 


REPOHT    OF    THE    COUNCIL. 


[Minutes  of 


establishments  to  afford  facilities  to  the  Students  for  becoming 
acquainted  with  some  of  the  important  practical  works  of  the 
profession. 

Income  and  Expenditure. 

Briefly  stated,  the  accounts  for  the  Session  1885-86,  as  appended 
to  this  Eeport,  show  that  the  receipts  from  all  sources  amounted 
to  £19,945  15s.  9d.,  against  payments,  (including  an  investment 
on  capital  account,)  aggregating  £19,113  17s.  Id.,  so  that  the 
balances  on  deposit,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer  and  of 
the  Secretary,  are  £831  18s.  8cZ.  in  excess  of  what  they  were  on  the 
31st  of  March,  1885.  These  balances  now  aggregate  £4,067  17s.  5d., 
and  it  is  estimated  that  this  amount  and  the  major  part  of  sums 
still  to  be  received,  will  be  required  to  meet  the  expenditure 
during  the  remaining  nine  months  of  the  current  year. 

The  gross  receipts  and  payments  are  presented  under  three 
heads  on  each  side  of  the  financial  statement,  and  may  be  tabulated 
as  under : — 


Receipts 


Payments. 


Excess  of  Receipts 
over  Payments. 


Income  .  .  15,691  8  G  General  .  .  15,487  0  1 
Capital  .  .  3,813  12  0  Investment  .  3,281  5  0 
Trust  Funds  .  440  15    3     Trust  Funds.  345  12    0 


£. 

204 

s. 

8 

d. 
5 

532 

7 

0 

95 

3 

3 

Totals 


'19,945  15     9 


£19,113  17     1  |  £831  18    8 


Of  the  income,  £2,041  5s.  2d.  arose  from  dividends  on  capital 
investments ;  the  capital  receipts  include  Admission  Fees  and 
Life  Compositions  ;  and  the  dividends  on  Trust  Funds  comprised 
those  produced  by  the  Telford,  the  Manby,  the  Miller,  and  the 
Howard  Bequests.  As  regards  the  general  expenditure,  three-fifths 
nearly  (or  £9,178  4s.  lie?,  actually),  will  be  found  debited  to 
publications,  representing  the  cost  of  four  and  a  half  volumes  of 
Minutes  of  Proceedings,  of  two  of  the  series  of  lectures,  namely, 
those  on  Heat  and  on  Hydro- Mechanics,  and  of  new  copies  of  the 
Charter,  with  By-Laws  and  lists  of  Members.  The  entire  cost  of 
the  first  volume  of  the  Proceedings  for  the  Session  1885-86  is 
included  in  the  above  amount,  having  been  paid  for  in  the  first 
quarter  of  1886,  and  it  is  intended  that  the  remaining  three 
volumes  shall  be  defrayed  out  of  the  current  year's  receipts,  so 


Proceedings.]  ItEPOET   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  179 

that  the  income  of  any  particular  year,  mainly  arising  from 
Annual  Subscriptions,  shall  bear  the  cost  of  the  publications  of 
that  year,  as  it  has  done  for  some  time,  but  which  it  did  not 
precisely  do  in  the  twelve  months  under  review. 

On  the  20th  of  October  last  a  demand  was  made  by  the  Inland 
Revenue  Department  for  a  return  of  the  property  of  the  Institution 
liable  to  assessment  under  "  The  Customs  and  Inland  Eevenue 
Act,  1885."  This  demand  was  referred  to  the  Solicitors,  who  took 
the  opinions  of  the  most  eminent  Counsel,  by  whom  the  Council 
was  advised  that  the  Institution  is  entitled  to  claim  exemption  for 
the  whole  of  its  property  under  Section  XI.,  sub-section  3  of  the 
Act,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  all  legally  appropriated  and  applied 
for  the  promotion  of  education  and  of  science.  A  return  was 
accordingly  made  to  the  Inland  lie  venue  Department  to  the  above 
effoct.  After  some  further  correspondence,  the  Department  on 
the  19th  of  April  last,  notified  that,  in  accordance  with  Section 
XVIII.,  sub-section  1  of  the  Act,  they  had  assessed  the  Institution 
in  the  sum  of  £80  19s.  lid.  Against  this  assessment  notice  of 
appeal  has  been  lodged. 

The  present  year  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  Jubilee  Year  of  the 
Institution,  and  a  reference  to  the  Historical  and  Descriptive 
Notice  now  given  will  show  that  the  members  have  good  reason 
to  be  proud  of  the  progress  it  has  made  in  the  half-century,  and 
may  be  well  satisfied  with  its  present  position. 


[Receipts  and  Expenditure. 
n  2 


180  REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

ABSTEACT  of  RECEIPTS  and  EXPENDITURE 


RECEIPTS. 

Br.  -•      s.  d. 
To  Balance,  Mar.  31,  1SS5,  viz.  :— 

On  Deposit  at  Bankers 2,000    0  0 

Cash  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer 935     6  5 

„              „              Secretary 300  12  4 

Income. 

—  Subscriptions: —  £.     s.    d. 

Arrears 375  18    0 

Current 12,690     0    6 

Advance 129  19    6 

13,195  18    0 

—  Library-Fund 205     4     6 

—  Minutes    of   Proceedings: — Re-}  0„1     „    „ 

payment  for  Binding,  &c.  .      .  / 

—  Publication  Fund 330 

—  Interest  on  Deposit  Account 13  17    2 

—  Miscellaneous  Receipts 0  12    6 

—  Dividends :  1  year  on 

£.  Institution  Investments. 

6,000  New  Three  per  Cents.     .  174  8  6 

3,000  Metropolitan    Board     of\  im  ,,,  Q 

Works  3£%  Stock       ./  1U1  1-  6 

3,000  Caledonian  Railway  i%\  nG  1  g 

Debenture  Stock    .      .  / 

6,000  Great  Eastern  Ditto.      .  232  10  0 

3,000  Great  Northern  Ditto     .  116  5  0 

6,000  Great  Western  Ditto       .  232  10  0 

3,000  Highland  Ditto    ...  116  1  9 

6,000  Lanes,  and  Yorks.  Ditto  232  10  0 

1,500  L.  B.  &  S.  C.  Ditto  .     .  58  2  6 

6,000  L.&N.W.  Ditto       .      .  232  10  0 

3,000  Midland  Ditto      ...  116  5  0 

3,000  North  Eastern  Ditto       .  116  5  0 

1,500  L.  B.  &  S.  C.  4^  %  Ditto  65  7  10 

3,000  Man.  Shef.  &  L.  Ditto    .  130  15  7 


New  Purchase. 

3,000    Metropolitan    Board   of' 
Works  3J%  Stock  .      .J 


0     0     0 


s.    d. 


3,235  18    9 


£57,000  Total  nominal  or  par  value. 


2,041     5    2 


15,691     8     6 


Carried  forward £18,927    7    3 


Proceedings.]  REPORT   OF  THE   COUNCIL.  181 

from  the  1st  APRIL,  1885,  to  the  31st  MAECH,  188G. 


EXPENDITURE. 

Cr. 

General  Expenditure. 

By  House  and  Establishment  Charges: —  £.     s.  d. 

Repairs,  General 293    7  3 

Rent C37     3  7 

Rates  and  Taxes 418    3  4 

Insurance 45  11  6 

Rent  of  Telephone 23  13  0 

Fixtures  and  Furniture 3  15  0 

Lighting  and  Warming 133  14  9 

Refreshment  at  Meetings 70  16  10 

Assistance  at  Meetings 35  14  0 

„             Students' Meetings 19  11  0 

Household  Expenses 170    0  10 

—  Postages,  Telegrams,  and  Parcels 210  12  3 

—  Stationery  and  Printing COO    2  1 

—  Watt  Medal 276 

—  George  Stephenson  Medal 2     7  6 

—  Diplomas 55  10  1 

—  Annual  Dinner  (Official  Invitations,  &c.)  .      .      .  277  19  2 

—  Salaries 1,900    0  0 

—  Clerks,  Messengers,  and  Housekeeper   ....  751  18  4 

—  Donation  to  late  Housekeeper 30    0  0 

—  Library : — 

Books 167    7  5 

Periodicals 100    3  4 

Binding 170  15  7 

Checking  and  Revising  Catalogue     ....  90    0  0 


1,851  11     1 


1,151  18    7 


2,6S1  18    4 


-      528    6    4 


Publications : — 

"  Minutes    of   Proceedings,"   Vols,    lxxix.-)  „  -, 0     g  ^ 

(balance),  Ixxx.,  lxxxi.,  lxxxii.  and  lxxiii. ) 

Lectures  on  "  Heat " 644    9  7 

Lectures  on  "  Hydro-Mechanics  "       ....         721  18  8 

Charter,  By-Laws,  and  Lists  of  Members  .      .      .         257    7  2 

Manby  Portrait 41     0  0 

9,178    4  11 

Legal  Expenses 92    0  10 

Carried  forward £15,487    0     1 


182 


REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  [Minutes  of 

ABSTRACT  of  RECEIPTS  and  EXPENDITURE 


RECEIPTS— continued. 

Dr.  £.       s.    d. 

Brought  forward 18,927    7    3 

Capital.  £.     e.    d. 

To  Admission-Fees 3,446    2    0 

—  Life-Compositions 3G7  10    0 

3,813  12     0 

Trust- Funds. 
Telford  Fund.       e      s      (j 

—  Balance  of  Telford  Premium  .  13    3    6 

—  Dividends : — 

£.      s.    d. 
5,425  11     9  Three  %  Consols  .     .  157     G  10 
3,290  13    0  Three  %  Reduced  (Un-j  95  n  n 
expended  Dividends)/ 

8,716    4    9     Total  nominal  or  par  value.  2G6    2    3 

Manlnj  Donation. 

250     0     0  Great  Eastern  Ry.  Four)  0  ]0     9 
%  Debenture  Stock./      •     •     •     • 

Miller  Fund. 

3,125     0    0   New  Three  per  Cents.  90  16    2 

1,999  14     7    Three  %  Reduced  (Un-i         gg     3     g 

expended  Dividends)/       ' 

5,124  14    7  Total  nominal  or  par  value.  148  19    4 

Howard  Bequest. 

55114    6    New  Three  per  Cents 15  19  11 

440  15    3 

£23,181  14    6 

Summary  of  Investments. 

£.      s.    d.        £.       8.    d. 
Institution-Investments      .     .     .  57,000    0     0 

Trust-Funds — 

Telfcrd  Fund  .      .      .      .      .      .     S, 716     4     9 

Manby  Donation 250     0     0 

Miller  Fund 5,124  14     7 

Howard  Bequest 551  14     6 

14,642  13  10 

£71,642  13  10 


Proceedings.]  KEPOET   OF   THE   COUNCIL.  183 

from  the  1st  APEIL,  1885,  to  the  31st  MAECH,  1886. 


EXPENDITURE— continued. 
Cr.  £.      «.     d. 

Brought  forward 15,487     0    1 


Capital-Investments. 
£. 
By  3,000    Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  3  J  %  Stock  ....       3,281     5    0 


Trcst-Fcxds. 

£.    s.     d.         £.     s.     d. 
By  Telford  Premiums 1 90  14     1 

—  Telford  Medals GOO 

202  14     1 

—  Miller  Scholarship 40    0    0 

—  Miller  Prizes 102  17  11 

142  17  11 

345  12     0 


19,113  17     1 
—  Balance,  March  31st,  1SSG,  viz.  :— 

On  Deposit  at  Bankers 3,000     0     0 

Cash  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer    .      .      .     1,058  17    0 
„  ,,  Secretary    ...  905 

4,067  17    5 


£23,181  14    6 


Examined  with  the  Books  and  found  correct. 


(Signed)  H.  BAUERMAN,U(^ors> 

II.  G.  HARRIS,   ) 


JAMES  FORREST,  Secretary. 
5th  May,  188G. 


184  PEE3ITUMS   AWAEDED.  [Minutes  of 


PREMIUMS  AWARDED. 

Session  1885-86. 


The  Council  of  The  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  have  awarded 
the  following  Premiums  : 

Eor  Papers  Eead  and  discussed  at  the  Ordinary  Meetings. 

1.  A  Telford  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium  to  Gishert   Kapp, 

Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  on  "  Modern  Continuous- 
Current  Dynamo-Electric  Machines  and  their  Engines." 

2.  [A  Telford  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium,  to  Charles  Edmund 

Stromeyer,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  on  "  The 
Injurious  Effect  of  a  Blue  Heat  on  Steel  and  Iron." 

3.  A  Watt  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium  to  John  Imray,  M.A., 

M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  on  "  High-Speed  Motors." 
-A.  A  Telford  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium  to  Eeveson  Francis 
Yernon-Harcourt,1  M.A.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  on  "  The 
Eiver  Seine." 

5.  A  Telford  Premium  to  Dugald  Clerk,2  for  his  Paper  "  On  the 

Explosion  of  Homogeneous  Gaseous  Mixtures." 

6.  A    George    Stephenson   Medal   and    a    Telford    Premium    to 

Francis  Fox  (of  Westminster),  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  on 
"  The  Mersey  Eailway." 

7.  A  Watt   Medal   and   a   Telford   Premium  to  William  Wilson 

Hulse,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  on  "  Modern  Machine-tools 
and  Workshop-appliances,  for  the  treatment  of  Heavy 
Forgings  and  Castings." 

8.  A  Telford  Premium  to  William  Edmund  Eich,  M.  Inst.  C.E., 

for  his  Paper   on  "  The   Hydraulic   Passenger-Lifts  at  the 
.    Underground  Stations  of  the  Mersey  Eailway." 

9.  A  Telford  Premium  to  Henry  Ward,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for 

his  Paper  on  "  Brickmaking." 

10.  A   Telford  Premium  to   Professor   Osborne   Reynolds,    M.A., 

F.R.S.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  "  On  the  Theory  of  the 
Indicator,  and  the  Errors  in  Indicator-Diagrams." 


1  Has  previously  received  a  Telford  Premium  and  a  Manby  Premium. 

2  Has  previously  received  a  Watt  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium. 


Proceedings.]  PREMIUMS   AWARDED.  185 

11.  The  Manby  Premium  to  Arthur  William  Brightrnore,  B.Sc., 
Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  "  Experiments  on  the  Steam- 
Ena-ine  Indicator." 


For  Papers  Printed  in  the  Proceedings  without  being 
Discussed. 

1.  A  George  Stephenson  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium  to  Stanislao 

Fadda,  for  his  Paper  on  "  The  Design  and  Construction  of 
Eailway  Boiling-stock  in  Italy." 

2.  A  Telford  Premium  to  James  Strachan,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his 

Paper  on  "  The  Karachi  Waterworks." 

3.  A  Telford  Premium  to  Eohert  Hunter  Ehind,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for 

his  Paper  "  Coefficients  of  Discharge  applicable  to  certain 
Submerged  Weirs  of  large  Dimensions." 

4.  A  Telford  Premium  to  Thomas  Andrews,  F.K.S.E.,1  Assoc.  M. 

Inst.  C.E.,  for  his  Paper  "  Effect  of  Temperature  on  the 
Strength  of  Eailway- Axles." 

5.  A  Telford  Premium  to  Bryan  Donkin,  jun.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  and 

a  Telford  Premium  to  Frank  Salter,2  B.Sc,  Assoc.  M.  Inst. 
C.E.,  for  their  joint  Paper  "  Experiments  on  the  Measurement 
of  Water  over  Weirs." 

6.  A  Telford  Premium  to  John  George  Mair,3  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his 

Paper  "  Experiments  on  the  discharge  of  Water  of  different 
Temperatures." 

For  Papers  Eead  at  the  Supplemental  Meetings  of  Students. 

1.  A  Miller  Prize  to  John  Goodman,  Wh.  Sc,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  for 

his  Paper  on  "  Eecent  Eesearches  in  Friction." 

2.  A  Miller  Prize  to  Henry  Albert  Cutler,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his 

Paper  "  The  Stability  of  Voussoir  Arches." 

3.  A  Miller  Prize  to  Leslie  Stephen  Eobinson,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  and 

a  Miller  Prize  to  Edward  Carstensen  de  Segundo,  Stud.  Inst. 
C.E.,  for  their  joint  Paper  "  Experiments  on  the  Eelative 
Strength  of  Cast-iron  Beams." 

4.  A  Miller  Prize  to  William  Andrew  Legg,   Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  for 

his  Paper  on  "  The  Construction  of  the  Hirnant  Tunnel  on 
the  Line  of  Aqueduct  of  the  Vyrnwy  Waterworks  for  the 
supply  of  Liverpool." 


1  Has  previously  received  a  Telford  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium. 

5  Has  previously  received  a  Miller  Prize. 

3  Has  previously  received  a  "Watt  Medal  and  a  Telford  Premium. 


186  PREMIUMS   AWARDED.  [Minutes  of 

5.  A  Miller  Prize  to  Gilbert  Macintyre  Hunter,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E., 

for  his  Paper  on  "  Locomotive  Engine-  and  Carriage-Sheds,  as 
used  on  the  Caledonian  Railway." 

6.  A  Miller  Prize  to  Llewelyn  Birchall  Atkinson,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E., 

for  his  Paper  on  "  Electrical-measuring  Instruments." 

7.  A  Miller  Prize  to  Eudolph  Emil  von  Lengerke,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E., 

for  his  Paper  on  "A  Graphic  Method  of  Determining  the 
Plow  of  Water  in  Pipes." 

8.  A  Miller  Prize  to  David  Sing  Capper,  M.A.,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E., 

for  his  Paper  on  "  Continuous  Railway-Brakes." 

9.  A  Miller  Prize  to  Maurice  Fitz  Maurice,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  his 

Paper  on  "  The  Foundations  of  the  Forth  Bridge." 

10.  A  Miller  Prize  to  Ernest  William  Moir,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  for 

his  Paper  on  "  The  Building,  Launching  and  Sinking  of  the 
Queensferry  Pneumatic  Caissons  at  the  Forth  Bridge." 


Proceedings.]  SUBJECTS  FOR   PAPERS.  187 


SUBJECTS  FOE  PAPEES. 

Session  188G-87. 


The  Council  of  The  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  invite  Original 
Communications  on  any  of  the  Subjects  included  in  the  follow- 
ing list,  as  well  as  on  other  questions  of  professional  interest. 
For  approved  Papers  the  Council  have  power  to  award  Premiums, 
arising  out  of  Special  Funds  bequeathed  for  the  purpose,  the 
particulars  of  which  are  as  under  : — 

1.  The  Telford  Fund,  left  "  in  trust,  the  Interest  to  be  ex- 
pended in  Annual  Premiums,  under  the  direction  of  the  Council." 
This  bequest  (with  accumulations  of  dividends)  produces  £260 
annually. 

2.  The  Manby  Donation,  of  the  value  of  about  £10  a  year,  given 
"  to  form  a  Fund  for  an  Annual  Premium  or  Premiums  for  Papers 
read  at  the  meetings." 

3.  The  Miller  Fund,  bequeathed  by  the  testator  "  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  Fund  for  providing  Premiums  or  Prizes  for 
the  Students  of  the  said  Institution,  upon  the  principle  of  the 
'Telford  Fund.'  "  This  Fund  (with  accumulations  of  dividends) 
realises  £150  per  annum.  Out  of  this  Fund  the  Council  have 
established  a  Scholarship, — called  "  The  Miller  Scholarship  of  The 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers," — and  are  prepared  to  award  one 
such  Scholarship,  not  exceeding  £40  in  value,  each  year,  and 
tenable  for  three  years. 

4.  The  Howard  Bequest,  directed  by  the  testator  to  be  applied 
"  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  periodically  a  Prize  or  Medal  to  the 
author  of  a  treatise  on  any  of  the  Uses  or  Properties  of  Iron  or 
to  the  inventor  of  some  new  and  valuable  process  relating  thereto, 
such  author  or  inventor  being  a  Member,  Graduate,  or  Associate 
of  the  said  Institution."  The  annual  income  amounts  to  nearly 
£16.  It  has  been  arranged  to  award  this  prize  every  five  years, 
commencing  from  1877.  The  next  award  will  therefore  be  made  in 
1887. 


188  SUBJECTS   FOR  PAPERS.  [Minutes  of 

The  Council  will  not  make  any  award  unless  a  communication 
of  adequate  merit  is  received,  but  will  give  more  than  one 
Premium  if  there  are  several  deserving  memoirs  on  the  same 
subject.  In  the  adjudication  of  the  Premiums  no  distinction 
will  be  made  (except  in  the  cases  of  the  Miller  and  the  Howard 
bequests,  which  are  limited  by  the  donors)  between  essays  from 
any  person,  whether  belonging  to  the  Institution  or  not,  or 
whether  a  Kative  or  a  Foreigner. 


List. 

1.  The  Principle  of  Work   applied   to   the   Calculation   of  the 

Strength  of  Structures. 

2.  The  Construction  and  Testing  of  Air-locks  and  Shaft-tubes  for 

Sinking  Foundations. 

3.  Concrete-work  under  water. 

4.  The  Physical  Properties  of  Materials  under  Stress. 

5.  The  Thermic    Properties  of   Metals    commonly  used   in   the 

Arts,  especially  with  respect  to  Conductivity  and  Diatherm- 
ancy at  high  temperatures. 

6.  The  manufacture,   properties,   and  use   of  Castings   of  Mal- 

leable Cast-iron  and  Cast-Steel. 

7.  The  Present  Position  of  the  Manufacture  of  Steel — its  defects, 

and  suggestions  for  its  improvement. 

8.  The  various  Processes  of  Tempering  Steel,  and  their  effects. 

9.  Methods  of  Compressing  Steel  while  in  a  Fluid  state. 

10.  On  Forging  by  Hydraulic  Pressure. 

11.  The  Independent  Testing  of  different  types  of  Steam-Engines, 

including     Triple-Expansion      and     Quadruple-Expansion 
Engines. 

12.  The  Production  of  Heating-Gas  from  Coal. 

13.  Compressed  Oil  Gas,  and  its  applications. 

14.  Modern  Appliances  for  the  Consumption  of  Liquid  Fuel  for 

Steam-Boilers  and  other  Industrial  Uses. 

15.  The  Application  of  Steel  for  Sleepers,  and  the  best  means  of 

attaching  the  rails  to  them. 

16.  The  Application  of  the  Compound  Principle  to  Locomotive 

and  Portable  Engines. 

17.  The  Driving-axles  of  Locomotive  Engines. 


Proceedings.]  SUBJECTS   FOR  PAPEES.  189 

18.  The  Design  of  Boiling  Stock  for  the  more  Economical  Convey- 

ance of  Goods  on  Kail  ways. 

19.  Steering  and  other  Small  Engines  for  use  on  board  ship. 

20.  The  Machinery  of  Modern  War  Ships. 

21.  Machine-Guns. 

22.  On   Built-np  Crank-Shafts  for  Marine  Engines,  and  on  the 

liability  of  crank-  and  screw-shafts  to  fracture. 

23.  The  Structural  and  other  Defects  to  which  Iron  and  Steel 

Ships  are  subject,  and  their  Causes. 

24.  Tools  used  in  the  Building  of  Iron  and  Steel  Ships. 

25.  Kecent  Investigations  on  the  Tides. 

26.  Dredging-Operations  and  Appliances. 

27.  The  Construction  of  Hydraulic  Cranes  for  Docks,  with  special 

reference  to  economy  of  Quay  Space. 

28.  Uniformity  in  system  (international)  of  Coast-Lighting  by 

lighthouses,  light-vessels,  and  their  auxiliaries,  automatic 
lighted  beacons  and  buoys. 

29.  The  relative  advantages  of  High  Masonry  Dams   compared 

with  Earthen  Banks  for  impounding  Water. 

30.  Water-Supply  from  the  Chalk  and  other  geological  formations. 

31.  Water  Meters  and  the  Sale  of  Water  by  Measure. 

32.  Machinery  and  Arrangements  for  Distilling  Water  by  multiple 

effect. 

33.  Eilter-Bresses  for  separating  Solids  from  Fluids,  particularly 

for  the  treatment  of  Sewage-Sludge,  and  ultimate  Sewage- 
Treatment  and  Disposal. 

34.  Accidents  in  Mines;  their  Causes,  Warnings,  and  Brevention. 

35.  Winding-Machinery  and  Balancing- Apparatus  for  Mines,  and 

the  cost  per  ton  of  winding  under  different  conditions  and 
varying  depths. 

36.  Underground  Haulage,  especially  on  the  application  of  com- 

pressed air  and  of  electrical  power. 

37.  The  Mining  of  Bock  Salt  and  Brine-punrping,  including  the 

manufacture  of  common  salt. 

38.  Gold-Quartz  crushing  and  amalgamating-appliances. 

39.  The  Manufacture  and  Desilverization  of  Lead. 

40.  Appliances  for  the  rapid  Shipment  of  Coals,  with  a  comparison 

of  different  methods. 


100  SUBJECTS   FOR   PAPERS.  [Minutes  of 

41.  Electro-Motors;  tlieir  theory,  practical  construction,  efficiency, 

and  power. 

42.  The  Construction  and  Maintenance  of  Secondary  Batteries. 

43.  The  Distribution  of  Electric  Currents  for  the  Electric  Light- 

ing of  Towns. 

44.  Therrno-Electric  Batteries,  and  their  Application  to  Electro- 

plating and  other  purposes. 

45.  The  Application  of  Dynamo-Electric  Machines  to  the  Electro- 

deposition  of  Metals  from  their  ores. 


Instructions  for  Preparing  Communications. 

In  writing  these  Essays  the  use  of  the  first  person  should  be 
avoided.  They  should  be  legibly  transcribed  on  foolscap  paper, 
on  one  side  only,  leaving  a  margin  on  the  left  side,  in  order  that 
the  sheets  may  be  bound.  Every  Paper  must  be  prefaced  by  an 
Abstract  of  its  contents  not  exceeding  1500  words  in  length. 

Illustrations,  when  necessary,  should  be  drawn  on  tracing-paper, 
to  as  small  a  scale  as  is  consistent  with  distinctness,  and  ready 
to  be  engraved.  When  an  illustrated  communication  is  accepted 
for  reading,  a  series  of  Diagrams  will  be  required  sufficiently  large 
and  boldly  coloured  to  be  clearly  visible  at  a  distance  of  60  feet. 
These  diagrams  will  be  returned. 

Papers  which  have  been  read  at  the  Meetings  of  other  Societies, 
or  have  been  published,  cannot  be  read  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Insti- 
tution, nor  be  admitted  in  competition  for  the  Premiums. 

The  Communications  must  be  forwarded  to  the  Secretaiy  of  the 
Institution,  from  whom  any  further  information  may  be  obtained. 
There  is  no  specified  date  for  the  delivery  of  MSS.,  as  when  a 
Paper  is  not  in  time  for  one  session  it  is  dealt  with  in  the 
succeeding  one. 

"William  Pole,  Honorary  Secretary. 
James  Forrest,  Secretary. 

The  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers, 

25,  Great  George  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
August,  1886. 


Proceedings.]  SUBJECTS   FOR   PAPEES.  191 


Excerpt  By-Laws,  Section  XV.,  Clause  3. 

"  Every  Paper,  Map,  Plan,  Drawing,  or  Model,  presented  to  the 
Institution,  shall  be  considered  the  property  thereof,  unless  there 
shall  have  been  some  previous  arrangement  to  the  contrary,  and 
the  Council  may  publish  the  same  in  any  way  and  at  any  time 
they  may  think  proper.  But  should  the  Council  refuse  or  delay 
the  publication  of  such  Paper  beyond  a  reasonable  time,  the  Author 
thereof  shall  have  a  right  to  copy  the  same,  and  to  publish  it  as 
he  may  think  fit,  having  previously  given  notice,  in  writing,  to 
the  Secretary  of  his  intention.  Except  as  hereinbefore  provided, 
no  person  shall  publish,  or  give  his  consent  for  the  publication  of 
any  communication  presented  and  belonging  to  the  Institution, 
without  the  previous  consent  of  the  Council." 


Notice. 

It  has  frequently  occurred  that  in  Papers  which  have  been  con- 
sidered deserving  of  being  read  and  published,  and  have  even 
had  Premiums  awarded  to  them,  the  Authors  have  advanced 
somewhat  doubtful  theories,  or  have  arrived  at  conclusions 
at  variance  with  received  opinions.  The  Council  would  there- 
fore emphatically  repeat,  that  the  Institution  as  a  body  must 
not  be  considered  responsible  for  the  facts  and  opinions  ad- 
vanced in  the  Papers  or  in  the  consequent  Discussions;  and 
it  must  be  understood,  that  such  Papers  may  have  Medals  and 
Premiums  awarded  to  them,  on  account  of  the  Science,  Talent, 
or  Industry  displayed  in  the  consideration  of  the  subject,  and 
for  the  good  which  may  be  expected  to  result  from  the  inquiry ; 
but  that  such  notice,  or  award,  must  not  be  regarded  as  an 
expression  of  opinion,  on  the  part  of  the  Institution,  of  the 
correctness  of  any  of  the  views  entertained  by  the  Authors  of 
the  Papers. 


192  ORIGINAL   COMMUNICATIONS.  [Minutes  of 


ORIGINAL    COMMUNICATIONS 
KECEIVED  BETWEEN  APEIL  1,  1S85,  AND  MAKCH  31,  188G. 


AUTHORS. 

Addison,  P.  L.  No.  2,120. — Economy  in  Iron-Ore  Mining  in  Cum- 
berland.    "With  1  Sheet  of  Illustrations. 

.     No.  2,130. — Methods  employed  in   securing  large  and 

irregular-shaped  Mineral  Workings.     With  Illustrations. 

Anderson,  W.  (Erith).  No.  2,077.— On  the  Purification  of  Water  by 
means  of  Iron  on  the  large  scale.    (Vol.  lxxxi.,  p.  279.) 

Andrews,  T.  No.  2,076. — Corrosion  of  Metals  during  long  ex- 
posure in  Sea-water.  With  4  Drawings.  (Vol.  lxxxii., 
p.  281.) 

.     No.  2,123.— Effect  of  Temperature  on  the  Strength  of 

Railway  Axles. 

Appleby,  C.  J.  No.  2,141. — On  Cranes  for  Goods-Traffic,  and 
other  purposes. 

Aspinall,  J.  A.  F.  No.  2,138. — Friction  of  Locomotive  Slide- 
valves.     With  4  Sheets  of  Illustrations. 

Basshaw,  W.  No.  2,135.— Friction  Clutches.— With  10  Sheets  of 
Illustrations. 

Bauerman,  H.  No.  2,132.— The  Salt-Industry  of  Stassfurt.  (Vol. 
lxxxiii.,  p.  415.) 

Beckingsale,  E.  W.     No.  2,153. — Greenock  Electric-Lighting. 

Birch,  B.  W.  P.  No.  2,078.— The  Effect  of  the  Drought  of  1884 
upon  the  Pollution  of  the  River  Thames  below  London. 
With  Appendix  and  1  Drawing.     (Vol.  lxxxi.,  p.  295.) 

Boulnois,  H.  P,     No.  2,168.— Footpaths. 

Brady,  A.  B.  No.  2,129. — The  Design  and  Construction  of 
Locomotive-Engine  Sheds.      With  5  Sheets  of  Drawings. 

.     No.  2,166. — Graphic  Statics,  and  its  practical  application 

to  the  Design  of  Iron  Girders.  With  4  Sheets  of 
Drawings. 

•Bruoe,  A.  F.  No.  2,084.— Spanish  Tidal  Flour-Mills.  With  1 
tracing.     (Vol.  lxxxi.,  p.  315.) 

Chad  wick,  G.  B.  No.  2,102.— On  tbe  Progress  of  Light-Railway 
Construction  in  the  Province  of  Sao  Pedro  do  Rio  Grande 
do  Sul,  Brazil.     With  a  large  Map. 


Proceedings.]  ORIGINAL   COMMUNICATIONS.  193 

AUTHORS. 

Clerk,  D.     No.  2,075. — On  the  Explosion  of  Homogeneous  Gaseous 

Mixtures.     With  3  Sheets  of  Drawings.     (Vol.  lxxxv., 

p.l.) 
Colyer,  F.     No.  2,085. — On  the  Application  of  Mechanical  Power 

to   Lifting   Passengers   and  Goods  in  Hospitals,  Public 

Institutions,  Warehouses,  and  Dwelling  Houses. 
.     No.  2,096. — The  Construction    of   a  Brewery  worked 

upon  the  Yorkshire  System.     With  2  lithographs. 
.      No.    2,115. — On    the    Construction    of   a    70-Quarter 

Brewery  upon  the  Burton  System,  at  Burton-on-Trent. 

With  2  Sheets  of  Drawings. 
Coventry,  W.    B.     No.    2,110.  — The   Design    and    Stability    of 

Masonry  Dams.    With  1  Sheet  of  Drawings.    (Vol.  lxxxv., 

p.  281.) 
Cowan,  D.     No.  2,102.— The  Carron  Ironworks.     With  12  Sheets 

of  Illustrations. 
Craig,  J.     No.  2,109. — On   the   Action   of  a  Moving  Load   on   a 

Horizontal  Elastic  Beam. 
Crimp,  W.   S.      No.  2,121. — Filter-Presses  for   separating   Solids 

from  Fluids,  particularly  as  applied  for  the  treatment  of 

Sewage  Sludge.     With  4  Sheets  of  Illustrations. 
Cuningham,    G.    C.      No.    2,094. — On    the   Construction    of    the 

Canadian    Pacific   liailway    (Rocky   Mountain   Division) 

during  the   season  of  1884.      With  1   Drawing.      (Vol. 

lxxxv.,  p.  100.) 
Deprez,  M.     No.  2,124. — Transmission  of  Energy. 
Dobson,   E.     No.   2,160. — Hydrology    of  the    Canterbury   Plains, 

New  Zealand.     With  36  Drawings. 
Donkin,  B.,  jun.,  and  Salter,  F.     No.  2,089. — Experiments  on  the 

Measurement  of  Water  over  Weirs.     With  16  Sheets  of 

Drawings.    (Vol.  lxxxiii.,  p.  377.) 
Fadda,  S.     No.  2,081. — The  Design  and  Construction  of  Railway 

Rolling  Stock  in  Italy.     With  52  Sheets  of  Drawings. 

(Vol.  lxxxiii.,  p.  351.) 
Fidler,  T.  C.     No.  2,170.— On  the  Practical  Strength  of  Columns 

and  of  Braced  Struts.     With  3   Sheets  of  Illustrations. 

(Vol.  lxxxvi.,  post.) 
Fox,  F.  (Westminster).    No.  2,117. — Viaduct  over  the  River  Esk 

at  Whitby,  and  the  Embankments  and  Culverts  in  the 

Ravines.     With  1  Drawing.     (Vol.  lxxxvi.,  post.') 
.     No.    2,165.— The   Mersey   Railway.     With   1    Sheet   of 

Illustrations.     (Vol.  lxxxvi.,  p.  40.) 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  0 


194  ORIGINAL   COMMUNICATIONS.  [Minutes  of 

AUTHORS. 

Fox,  W.  No.  2,106. — Particulars  of  Borings  in  the  Chalk  at 
Bushey,  Herts,  and  quantity  of  water  obtained  there- 
from.    "With  2  Drawings. 

Bowler,  J.  No.  2,159. — Statement  of  the  Works  carried  out  for 
the  Improvement  of  the  Navigation  of  the  Biv'er  Tees 
during  the  last  Thirty  Years.     With  6  Drawings. 

Frankland,  P.  F.  No.  2,150. — Water-Eurification  ;  its  Biological 
and  Chemical  Basis.     (Vol.  lxxxv.,  p.  197.) 

Gordon,  B.  No.  2,104. — On  the  Economical  Construction  and 
Operation  of  Bailways  in  Countries  where  small  returns 
are  expected,  as  exemplified  by  American  practice.  With 
3  Blates  and  8  Cuts.     (Vol.  lxxxv.,  p.  54.) 

Gower,  C.  F.  No.  2,145.— On  the  Horizontal  Eange  of  Tidal 
Bivers  with  reference  to  Sewage  Discharge.  With 
1  Sheet  of  Drawings.     (Vol.  lxxxvi.,  post.*) 

Grover,  J.  Wr.  No.  2,118. — Chalk  Springs  in  the  London  Basin, 
illustrated  by  the  Newbury,  Wokingham,  and  Leather- 
head  Waterworks.     With  13  Sheets  of  Illustrations. 

Guerard,  A.  No.  2,088.— Mouth  of  the  Biver  Ehone.  (Vol. 
lxxxii.,  p.  305.) 

Harvey,  B.  No.  2,086. — Machinery  for  the  Manufacture  of 
Nitrate  of  Soda  in  the  Bamirez  Nitrate  Factoiy,  Northern 
Chili.    With  4  Sheets  of  Drawings.    (Vol.  lxxxii.,  p.  337.) 

HasweU,  C.  H.  No.  2,090.— On  Built  Crank-shafts  for  Marine 
Engines,  and  on  the  Liability  of  Crank-  and  Screw-Shafts 
to  Fracture. 

.     No.  2,156. — On  the  Deposit  of  Silt,  etc.,  in  the  Harbour 

and  Bay  of  New  York,  and  its  effect  on  the  Bar  at  Sandy 
Hook. 

Hawgood,  H.  No.  2,091.— Bemoval  of  Shoals  by  Bropeller- 
Sluicing,  on  the  Columbia  Biver,  Oregon,  U.S.  With 
1  Drawing.     (Vol.  lxxxiii.,  p.  386.) 

Hetherington,  J.  No.  2,146. — On  Utilizing  Waste  Air  in  Filter 
Bressing ;  with  some  results  of  pressing  Sewage-Sludge 
at  Chiswick. 

Hulse,  W.  W.  No.  2,158. — Modern  Machine-Tools  and  Workshop- 
Appliances  for  the  Treatment  of  Heavy  Forgings  and 
Castings.     With  10  Drawings.     (Vol.  lxxxvi.,  p.  120.) 

Imray,  J.  No.  2,107.— High-Speed  Motors.  WTith  2  Drawings. 
(Vol.  lxxxiii.,  p.  106.) 

Jacobs,  C.  M.  No.  2,147. — Manufacture  of  Artificial  Fuel  from 
Small  Coal. 


Proceedings.]  ORIGINAL   COMMUNICATIONS.  195 

AUTHORS. 

Kapp,  G.  No.  2,113. — Modern  Continuous-Current  Dynamo- 
Electric  Machines  and  their  Engines.  (Vol.  lxxxiii., 
p.  123.) 

Kennedy,  N.     No.  2,161. — The  Bilbao  Ironworks. 

Kyle,  J.  No.  2,164. — History  and  Description  of  the  Colombo 
Breakwater  and  Harbour,  Ceylon.  With  7  Cartoon 
Drawings  and  2  Appendices. 

Leslie,  B.  No.  2,111.— On  an  Improved  Method  of  Lighting 
Vessels  under  Way  at  Night.     (Vol.  lxxxiii.,  p.  401.) 

Macfarlane,  T.  J.  M.  No.  2,131.— The  Vaal  Bridge,  West  Barkly, 
Cape  Colony.     With  1  Photograph  and  1  Tracing. 

Mair,  J.  G.  No.  2,163. — Experiments  on  the  Discharge  of  Water 
of  different  Temperatures.  With  an  Appendix.  (Vol. 
lxxxiv.,  p.  424.) 

Manby,  E.  J.  T.  No.  2,152.— The  Granada  Earthquake  of  De- 
cember 25th,  1884.     (Vol.  lxxxv.,  p.  275.) 

Milne,  J.  No.  2,108. — On  Construction  in  Earthquake  Countries. 
With  3  Drawings  and  a  Photograph.  (Vol.  lxxxiii., 
p.  278.) 

Mosse,  J.  P.  No.  2,098. — The  Principles  to  be  Observed  in  the 
Laying  out,  Construction,  and  Equipment  of  Kail- 
ways  in  Newly-developed  Countries.  (Vol.  lxxxv., 
p.  86.) 

O'Donnell,  J.  P.  No.  2,151.— The  Theory  of  Railway-Signalling, 
with  special  reference  to  Interlocking. 

Ogston,  G.  H.  No.  2,077a.— On  the  Purification  of  Water  by 
Metallic  Iron  in  Mr.  Anderson's  Revolving  Apparatus. 
(Vol.  lxxxi.,  p.  285.) 

Phillips,  D.  No.  2,169.— On  the  Effects  of  various  kinds  of 
Liquids,  Hot  and  Cold,  on  Iron,  and  the  best  means  of 
preserving  it  under  such  conditions  from  Corrosion. 
With  3  Sheets  of  Tables,  and  1  Sheet  of  Illustrations. 
(Vol.  lxxxv.,  p.  295.) 

Pidgeon,  D.     No.  2,134. — Agricultural  Machinery. 

Price,  J.     No.  2,167. — To  Draw   a  Line  equal  in  length  to  the 

Circumference  of  a  Circle. 
Rawson,  T.  H.  No.  2,093. — Subsidence  of  a  Railway  Embank- 
ment, Foxton,  New  Plymouth  Railway,  New  Zealand. 
With  1  Drawing. 
Reckenzaun,  A.  No.  2,116. — Electro-motors,  their  Theory,  Con- 
struction, Efficiency,  and  Power.  With  4  Sheets  of 
Illustrations. 

o  2 


196  ORIGINAL   COMMUNICATIONS.  [Minutes  of 

AUTHORS. 

Eedo-rave,   G.    B.     No.   2,097. — The   Semicircular   Timber   Boof- 

Truss,  designed  by  the   late  Captain   F.  Fowke,  E.E. 

(Vol.  lxxxii.,  p.  301.) 
Ehind,  E.  H.     No.  2,171. — Coefficients  of  Discharge  applicable  to 

certain    Submerged  Weirs  of  large  dimensions.      (Vol. 

lxxxv.,  p.  307.) 
Eowan,  F.  J.     No.  2,083. — On   Gas-Producers.     With   25    Small 

Photographs   and  1  Sheet  of  Tracings.      (Vol.  lxxxiv., 

p.  2.) 
Sandberg,  C.   P.     No.   2,137.— On   Eail-Joints   and   Steel   Bails. 

With  6  Sheets  of  Illustrations.     (Vol.  lxxxiv.,  p.  365.) 
,    Supplementary    Paper.      With    1    Drawing.       (Ibid.y 

p.  390.) 
Shield,   W.      No.    2,082. — Harbour- Works   in   Algoa    Bay,    Cape 

Colony.     With  6  Sheets  of  Drawings. 
Siccama,  H.,  and  Anderson,  W.  (Erith).    No.  2,154.    Investigation 

into  the  Strength  of  Steel  and   Wrought-iron  Girders. 
(Vol.  lxxxiv.,  p.  412.) 
Smith,  S.  B.   No.  2,119. — The  Present  Position  of  the  Manufacture 

of  Steel,  its  Defects,  and  Suggestions   for  its  Improve- 
ment. 
Smith,  W.     No.  2,099. — Concrete-Building  at  Simla,  India.     With 

2  Sheets  of  Drawings.     (Vol.  lxxxiii.,  p.  390.) 
Snell,  W.  H.     No.  2,112.— On  the  Working  and  Cost  of  the  Treble- 

and  Double-Wire  Systems   of  Distributing  Currents  for 

Electric  Eighting.     With  2   Drawings  and   1   Indicator 

Diagram. 
Stoess,   C.  A.      No.    2,092. — Description    of  Howe-Truss   Bridge 

over  the  First  Crossing  of  the  Columbia  Biver,  Canadian 

Pacific    Bail  way.     With   3   Sheets  of  Drawings.      (Vol. 

lxxxii.,  p.  345.) 
Stokes,  W.     No.  2,095. — Ventilation  of  the  Underground  Eailway. 
Strachan,  G.  B.     No.    2,133.— Sewer-Ventilation.     (Vol.  lxxxiv., 

p.  362.) 
Stromeyer,  C.  E.    No.  2,139. — The  Injurious  Effect  of  a  Blue  Heat 

on  Steel  and  Iron.     (Vol.  lxxxiv.,  p.  114.) 
Stroudley,  W.     No.  2,103. — Electric  Eighting  for  Eailway  Trains. 

With  1  Sheet  of  Drawings.     (Vol.  lxxxiii.,  p.  329.) 
Strype,  W.  G.     No.  2,125. — Wicklow  Harbour  Improvements. 
Thwaite,  B.  H.     No.  2,100. — Heliography;    or  the  Sun-Copying 

of  Engineering    Drawings.       With    1    Drawing.      (Vol. 

lxxxvi.,  %>ost.) 


Proceedings.]  ORIGINAL   COMMUNICATIONS.  197 

AUTHORS. 

Unwin,  W.  C.  No.  2,149. — On  the  Eate  of  Hardening  of  Cement 
and  Cement  Mortars.  With  3  Drawings.  (Vol.  lxxxiv., 
p.  399.) 

Vasilieff,  F.  No.  2,126.— The  Oil-Weils  of  Baku.  With  an 
Appendix  as  to  a  Naphtha  pipe-line  from  the  Caspian  to 
the  Black  Sea.     (Vol.  lxxxiii.,  pp.  405  and  412.) 

Vernon-Harcourt,  L.  F.  No.  2,122.— The  Paver  Seine.  With 
7  Sheets  of  Illustrations.     (Vol.  lxxxiv.,  p.  210.) 

.     No.  2,143. — Blasting-Operations  at  Hell-Gate, 

New  York.  With  a  Sheet  of  Illustrations.  (Vol.  lxxxv., 
p.  204.) 

Walther-Meunier,  H.  P.  No.  2,079. — Brauer's  Dynamometric 
Brake.     With  1  Drawing.     (Vol.  lxxx.,  p.  2G6.) 

Wanklyn,  F.  L.  No.  2,144. — Description  of  Iron  and  Brass  Foun- 
dries at  the  Grand  Trunk  Kail  way  Company's  Works, 
Montreal,  and  Cost  of  Moulding  and  Casting.  With 
1  Drawing,  and  Specimen  Sheets  of  Accounts. 

Webb,  F.  W.  No.  2,080.— Description  of  Steel  Permanent  Way, 
as  used  on  the  London  and  North- Western  Kailway. 
With  1  Drawing  and  1  Photograph.    (Vol.  lxxxi.,  p.  299.) 

Webster,  J.  J.  No.  2,157. — Dredging-Operations  and  Appliances. 
With  7  Sheets  of  Illustrations,  and  1  Photograph. 


198 


LIST    OF    DONORS    TO    THE    LIBRARY. 


[Minutes  of 


LIST   OF   DONOES   TO    THE   LIBRARY. 

From  Apeil  1,  1885,  to  March  31,  1886. 


Abel,  Sir  F.,  C.B.,  F.R.S. 

Academie  Roy  ale  de  Bel- 
gique. 

Accadernia  Pontifica  de  Nuovi 
Lincei. 

Ackernian,  A.  W. 

Adams,  Prof.  W.  G. 

Admiralty. 

Aeronautical  Society  of  Great 
Britain. 

Akademie  der  Wissenschaften, 
Munich. 

Allen,  C.  H. 

Allievi,  L. 

American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences. 

"  American  Engineer." 

American  Institute  of  Mining 
Engineers. 

American  Railway  Master  Me- 
chanics' Association. 

American  Society  of  Civil  En- 
gineers. 

American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers. 

Ammen,  Rear-Admiral  Daniel. 

"  Anales  de  Obras  Piiblicas." 

Anderson,  R. 

Anderson,  W. 

Andrew,  Horace. 

"  Annales  des  Mines." 

"  Annales  Industrielles." 

Aramburu,  Fernando. 

Architekten-  und  Ingenieur- 
Yerein,  Frankfurt. 


Architekten-  und  Ingenieur- 
Verein,  Hannover. 

Armstrong,  Prof.  G.  F.,  M.A. 

Art  Union  of  London. 

Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal. 

Association  Alsacienne  des  Pro- 
prietai  res  d' Appareils  a  Vapeur. 

Association  Amicale  des  Anciens 
Eleves  de  l'Ecole  Centrale. 

Association  des  Ingenieurs  sortis 
de  l'Ecole  de  Liege. 

Association  of  Engineering 
Societies,  U.S. 

Association  of  Municipal  and 
Sanitary  Engineers  and  Sur- 
veyors. 

Astronomer  Royal. 

"  Athenaeum,  The." 


Baker,  B. 

Bancroft,  R.  M.  and  F.  J. 

Barnaby,  S.  W. 

Barnes,  P. 

Barra,  Carlos  de  la. 

Bashforth,  T. 

Bateman,  J.  F.  La  Trobe. 

Bauerman,  H. 

Belelubsky,  N. 

Ben'et,  Brigadier-Gen.  S.  Y. 

Beranger,  C. 

Bigg,  H. 

Bignami-Sormani,  E. 

Birt,  W. 

Blackett,  J. 

Blanco,  Gen.  Guzman. 

Blanford,  H.  F. 


Proceedings.] 


LIST   OF   DONORS    TO    THE    LIBRARY. 


199 


Board  of  Eailroad  Commis- 
sioners, U.S.A. 

Bomches,  F. 

Bolton,  Col.  Sir  F. 

Bombay  Port  Trust. 

Bonney,  Prof.  T.  G.,  F.B.S. 

Boulton,  S.  B. 

Bouscaren,  G. 

Bowie,  A.  J. 

Brandreth,  Lieut.-Col.  A.  M. 

Brasher,  A. 

Bridgman,  H.  H. 

British  Association. 

Brooks,  F. 

Buck,  J.  H.  Watson. 

Bulletin  du  Canal  de  Suez. 

Bulletin  du  Canal  Inter- 
oceanique. 

Bunte,  H. 

Burke,  Bev.  J.  Y. 

Burnett,  C. 

Butler,  M.  J. 

Buzzi,  Dr. 


Cambridge  Philosophical  So- 
ciety. 

Cameron,  H. 

Canadian  Institute. 

Canevari,  K. 

Cannon,  H.  M. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  Govern- 
ment. 

Carusso,  C.  D. 

Caulfeild,  F.  St.  George. 

"  Centralblatt  der  Bauverwal- 
tung." 

Centralbureau  fiir  Meteorologie 
u.  Hydrographie. 

Chaney,  H.  J. 

Chapman,  Henry. 

Chemical  Society. 

Chesbrough,  E.  S. 


Chesterfield  and  Midland  Coun- 
ties Institute  of  Engineers. 

Chief  of  Engineers,  U.S.A. 

Chief  of  Ordnance,  U.S.A. 

Chief  Signal  Officer,  U.S.A. 

Christy,  J.  B. 

Churruca,  Evaristo  de. 

City    and    Guilds    of    London 
Institute. 

Clark,  L. 

Clark,  Muirhead  &  Co. 

Clarke,  Eliot  C. 

Clarke,    Major-Gen.    Sir    A., 
G.C.M.G.,  E.E. 

Clerc,  A. 

Clericetti,  C. 

Cleveland    Institute    of    Engi- 
neers. 

Collegio  degli  Architetti  ed  In- 
gegneri  in  Firenze. 

Collegio     deali     Architetti    ed 


Ingegneri  in  Eoma. 


ed 


Collegio     degli 

Architetti  in  Milano. 

Collignon,  E. 

Collins,  J.  II. 

Collins,  L. 

Collyer,  Col.  G.C.,  E.E. 

Colonial  Secretary,  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

Colyer,  F. 

Comite  des  Forges  de  France. 

Conder,  F.  E. 

Congres  International  de  Navi- 
gation Interieure,  Bruxelles. 

Considere,  J. 

Cornell  University. 

Corporation     of     the     City    of 
London. 

Corthell,  E.  S. 

Cossoux,  L. 

Crawford  and  Balcarres,  Earl  of. 

Cregier,  De  Witt  C. 


200 


LIST    OF   CONORS    TO    THE   LIBRARY. 


[Minutes  of 


Crichton,  W.  B. 
Croes,  J.  J.  B. 
Cunningham,  Maj.  A.,  E.E. 
Cunningham,  D. 
Cutler,  F.  J. 


Dana,  J.  D.  and  E.  F. 

Davis,  A.  T. 

Davis,  T.  H. 

Dawson  &  Sons. 

Deacon,  G.  F. 

Deas,  J. 

Delorme,  E. 

De  Mey,  P. 

Denny,  William. 

Department      of      Mines      and 

Water-Supply,  Victoria. 
Department  of  Mines,  U.S.A. 
Department  of  State,  U.S.A. 
Department  of  the  Navy,  U.S.A. 
Department    of     the     Interior, 

U.S.A. 
Department  of  War,  U.S.A. 
De  Penning,  G.  A. 
De  Pree,  G.  C. 
Desnoyers,  P.  Croizette. 
"  Deutsche  Bauzeitung." 
Dietrich,  E. 

Director  of  Mint,  U.S.A. 
Doherck,  W. 
Dorsey,  E.  B. 
Douglas,  Jno. 
Douglass,  Sir  J.  N. 
Doyle,  Patrick. 
Dredge,  James. 
Dundee  Free  Library. 
Durham  College  of  Science. 
Dyckerhoff  and  Sons. 

E. 
Eads,  J.  B. 
East  India  Association. 


Easton,  E. 

Ecole  des  Mines,  Paris. 

Ecole  des  Ponts  et  Chaussees, 
Paris. 

Ecole  Poly  technique  de  Delft. 

Edge,  F.  5". 

Edmondson,  J. 

Egleston,  Prof.  T. 

Eisenwerth,  A.  S.  von. 

"  Electrical  Engineer,  The." 

"  Electrical  Eeview,  The." 

"  Electrician,  The." 

"  Electricien,  L'." 

Engine,  Boiler,  and  Employers' 
Liability  Insurance  Co. 

"  Engineer,  The." 

"  Eng-ineerino;." 

Engineering  News  Publishing 
Co. 

Engineers'  Club  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

Engineers'  Club  of  the  North- 
West. 

Engineers'  Society  of  Western 
Pennsylvania. 

Ericsson,  J. 

Evelegh,  L.  F. 


Farrar,  Sidney  H. 
Ferraris,  A.  C.  M. 
Fichet,  A. 
Fincham,  J. 
Fink,  A. 

Flower,  Major  L. 
Flynn,  P.  J. 
Foster,  C.  Le  Neve. 
Fowler,  F. 
Franklin  Institute. 
Fraser,  A.  T. 

Free  Public  Library  and  Walker 
Art  Gallery,  Liverjjool. 


Proceedings] 


LIST    OF   DONORS   TO    THE   LIBRARY. 


201 


Gait,  W. 

Gamble,  J.  G. 

Gaskin,  D.  M.  F. 

"  Gas-Light  Journal." 

Gaudard,  J. 

"  Genie  Civil,  Le." 

Geological  Society. 

Gilbert,  J.  H. 

"  Giornale  dei  Lavori  Pubblici." 

"  Giornale  del  Genio  Civile." 

"  Glaser's  Annalen  fiir  Gewerbe 

und  Bauwesen." 
Glasgow  University. 
Gordon,  E. 
Greenwood,  W.  H. 
Greig,  Andrew. 
Grey,  Col.  L.  I.  H. 
Griffith,  J.  P. 
Guerard,  A. 
Gunther,  W. 
Guppy,  T.  E. 
Gutienez,  Marcos  F. 


H. 

Halbertsma,  H.  P.  N. 

Hamilton,  W. 

Hartley,  Sir  C.  A.,  K.C.M.G. 

Harvey,  E. 

Hauck,  G. 

Haughton,  B. 

Haupt,  Prof.  L.  M. 

Hayter,  Hon.  H.  H. 

Haywood,  Col.  W. 

Health     Department,    City    of 

Baltimore. 
Hector,  Dr.  J.,  C.M.G.,  F.E.S. 
Hedges,  K. 
Henderson,  W.  H. 
Higgin,  Geo. 
Hills,  Capt.  G.  II. 


Him,  G.  A. 

Homersham,  Collett. 
Horsley,  S. 
Hoyle,  Lieut.  Eli.  D. 
Hutton,  T.  E. 


Imperial  Eussian  Technical 
Society. 

India  Office. 

"  Ingegneria  Civile." 

Ingeniors  Forening. 

Inglis,  J.  C. 

Innes,  Lieut.-Col.  P.  E. 

Inspector-General  of  Customs, 
Pekin. 

Institute  of  Patent- Agents. 

Institution  of  Civil  Engineers, 
Ireland. 

Institution  of  Engineers  and 
Shipbuilders  in  Scotland. 

Institution  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers. 

Institution  of  Naval  Architects. 

"  Iron." 

Iron  and  Steel  Institute. 

Isherwood,  B.  F. 

J. 
Jervois,  Sir  W.  F.  D.,  G.C.M.G., 

E.E. 
Johnson,  H. 
Johnson,  J.  B. 
Joly,  C. 
Jordan,  W.  L. 
"  Journal  des  Travaux  Publics." 


K. 


Eapteyn,  A.  P. 
Kaven,  A.  v. 
Keating,  E.  H. 
Kennedy,  John. 


202 


LIST    OF   DONORS   TO    THE   LIBRARY. 


[Minutes  of 


Kent,  G. 

Kenward,  J. 

Key,  William. 

Kew  Observatory. 

Kick,  F. 

King,  P.  S. 

K.  K.  Technische  Hochschnle 
in  Wien. 

Knight,  J.  G.  D. 

K.  Technische  Hochschule, 
Hannover. 

K.  Technische  Hochschule,  Ber- 
lin. 

Koninklijk  Instituut  van  Inge- 
nieurs. 

Kunstadter,  J.  J. 

L. 

Lane,  D. 

Langevin,  Sir  Hector  L. 

Laroche,  M. 

Lass,  A. 

Lastarria,  V.  Aurelio. 

Lavalard,  E. 

Leeds  Free  Public  Library. 

Lehigh  University. 

"  Library  Journal." 

Lighthouse  Board,  U.S.A. 

Lindley,  W.  H. 

Literary  and  Philosophical  So- 
ciety, Liverpool. 

Liverpool  Engineering  Society. 

London  Hydraulic  Power  Com- 
pany. 

Longridge,  J.  A. 

Lopes,  Dr.  Castro. 

Lovegrove,  James. 

Low,  S.  &  Co. 

Ludlow,  W. 

Luiggi,  L. 

M. 

McCallum,  J.  B. 
McGregor,  W. 


McKie,  H.  U. 

Mackinlay,  Major  G. 

Maginnis,  A.  J.    . 

Magyar  Mernok. 

Mair,  J.  G. 

Mallard,  M. 

Malo,  Leon. 

Manara,  Enrico. 

Manchester  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society. 

Manchester  Steam  Users'  Asso- 
ciation. 

Marks,  Prof.  W.  D. 

Marshall,  W.  P. 

Martin,  E. 

Mason,  Clayton  T. 

Mason      Science-College,      Bir- 
mingham. 

Massachusetts    Drainage    Com- 
mittee. 

Massachusetts     Institution     of 
Technology. 

Master  Car-Builders' Association. 

Matheson,  E. 

Maynard,  G.  W. 

Meade,  Hon.  E.,  C.B. 

Meilbek,  J. 

Merchant,  S.  L.  and  Co. 

Merriman,  M. 

Meteorological  Office,  Carlsruhe. 

Meteorological  Office,  London. 

Meyer  and  Zeller. 

Miliary,  E. 

Mines  Office,  Tasmania. 

Mining  Association   and   Insti- 
tute of  Cornwall. 

Mining  Institution  of  Scotland. 

Minister     of    Marine    and    the 
Colonies,  France. 

Minister    of    Public   Works, 
France. 

Mitchell     Library    Committee, 
Glasgow. 


Proceedings.] 


LIST    OF   DONORS   TO    THE   LIBRARY. 


203 


Mohr,  Professor. 
Molesworth,  G.  L.,  CLE. 
Morsing,  C.  A. 
Mountain,  A.  C. 

"Mouvement  Industriel  Beige, 
Le." 

N. 

National  Association  of  British 
and  Irish  Millers. 

National  Boiler-Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

Newbigging,  T. 

Newcastle  Public  Library. 

New  Zealand  Institute. 

Nisbet,  W.  D. 

Norske  Ingenior  og  Architekt 
Forening. 

North,  E.  P. 

North  of  England  Institute  of 
Mining  and  Mechanical  En- 
gineers. 

Nursey,  Perry  F. 

Nyberg,  Alfred. 


Oakes,  Sir  K.  L.,  Bart. 
Oesterreichischer  Ingenieur.und 

Architekten- Verein . 
Oficina  Nacional  de  Deposito  y 

Beparto  de  Publicaciones. 
Osborne,  James. 


Paasch,  Captain  IT. 
Page,  G.  G. 
Palmer,  George. 
Parker-Bhodes,  C.  E. 
Passos,  Dr.  F.  P. 
Pasqueau,  M. 
Patereon,  M. 


Paur,  H. 

Peabody  Institution. 

Pearse,  J.  Walter. 

Penman,  W. 

Pennsylvania  Bailroad  Co. 

Percy,  Dr.,  F.E.S. 

Perry,  Eev.  S.  J. 

Peterson,  P.  Alexander. 

Phillips,  J.  0. 

Philosophical   Society  of  Glas- 
gow. 

Photographic  Society  of  Great 
Britain. 

Physical  Society  of  London. 

Pilkington,  W. 

Pimm,  A. 

Pinkas,  Julio. 

Pitman,  C.  E. 

Pogson,  E.  Isis. 

Pole,  Dr.  W.  (Hon.  Sec.) 

"  Politecnico,  II." 

Pooley  and  Son. 

Preece,  W.  H. 

Pressel,  W. 

Preston,  Eev.  T.  A. 

Prestwich,  Prof.  J.,  F.E.S. 

Price-Williams,  E. 

Prindle,  F.  C. 

Proell,  E. 

Public   Free   Library,   Barrow- 
in-Furness. 

Public  Free  Library,  Bradford. 

Public     Free      Library,     Man- 
chester. 

Public     Free     Library,     West 
Bromwich. 

Public      Works     Department, 
N.W.P.,  India. 


Q. 

Queen's  College  and  University, 
Kingston,  Canada. 


204 


LIST   OF   DONORS    TO    THE    LIBRARY. 


[Minutes  of 


E. 


Eailroad  Commissioners,  U.S.A. 

Railway  Clearing  House. 

"  Railway  Engineer,  The." 

Rawlinson,  Sir  R.,  C.B. 

Reale  Accademia  dei  Lincei. 

Reale  Istituto,  Lonibardo. 

Reid,  R.  C. 

Reilly,  H. 

Remfry,  H.  H. 

Rensselaer  Society  of  Engineers. 

"  Revista  de  Engenheira." 

"Bevista  de  Obras  Publicas 
(Lisbon)." 

"Revista  de  Obras  Publioas 
(Madrid)." 

'•Revue  Generale  de  1' Architec- 
ture." 

•'Revue  Generale  des  Chemins 
de  fer." 

;'  Revue  Universelle  des  Mines." 

Richardsou,  W.  W.  and  G. 

Ritter,  A. 

Robertson,  F.  E. 

Robins,  E.  C. 

Robinson,  H. 

Rochdale  Free  Public  Library. 

Roelands,  J.  J. 

Bolide,  B.  T. 

Bossi,  Professor  M.  S.  de. 

Bo  wan,  F.  J. 

Bowe,  J.  A. 

Boyal  Agricultural  and  Com- 
mercial Society  of  British 
Guiana. 

Royal  Agricultural  Society  of 
England. 

Royal  Artillery  Institution. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society. 

Royal  Colonial  Institute. 

Royal  Cornwall  Polytechnic 
Society. 


Royal  Dublin  Society. 

Royal  Engineers'  Institute. 

Royal  Geographical  Society. 

Royal  Geological  Society. 

Royal  Geological  Society  of 
Ireland. 

Royal  Horticultural  Society. 

Royal  Indian  Engineering  Col- 
lege. 

Royal  Institute  of  British  Archi- 
tects. 

Royal  Institute  of  Great  Britain. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society. 

Royal  Scottish  Society. 

Royal  Society  of  London. 

Royal  Society  of  New  South 
Wales. 

Royal  Society  of  Queensland. 

Royal  Society  of  South  Aus- 
tralia. 

Royal  Society  of  Victoria. 

Royal  United  Service  Institu- 
tion. 

Royers,  G. 

Eiihlmann,  Moritz. 


s. 

Sacre,  Alfred  L. 

St.  Helen's  Free  Public  Library. 
"  Sanitary  Engineer." 
Sanitary     Institute     of     Great 

Britain. 
Sassoon  Mechanics'  Institution. 
Schlich,  W. 
Schneider,  J.  F.  L. 
School     of    Practical     Science, 

Ontario. 
Schreiber,  C. 
Schwackhofer,  F. 
Schwebele,  E. 
Schweizerische  Bauzeitung;. 


Proceedings.]  LIST    OF   DONORS    TO    THE    LIBRARY. 


205 


"  Science." 

Scott,  J. 

Scott,  E.  H.,  M.A.,  F.R.S. 

Scottish  Geographical  Society. 

Seisniological  Society  of  Japan. 

Selwyn,  A.  E.  C. 

Sennett,  E. 

Seyrig,  T. 

Shaw,  Bernard. 

Shaw,  Capt.  Eyre,  C.B. 

Shone,  I. 

Siccama,  II.  T.  H. 

Silva,  D.  S.  S. 

Simpkin,  Marshall  &  Co. 

Simplex  Telegraph  Code  Co. 

Smith,  Professor  E.  H. 

Smith,  Willougkby. 

Smithsonian  Institution. 

Smyth,  C.  Piazzi. 

Smythies,  J.  P. 

Sociedad  Cientifica  Argentina. 

Societa  degli  Ingegneri  e  degli 

Industriali  di  Torino. 
Societe  beige  d'Electriciens. 
Societe  des  Ingenieurs  Civils  de 

Paris. 
Societe    Industrielle     de     Mul- 

house. 
Societe    Scientifique    et    Indus- 
trielle de  Marseille. 
Societe  Technique  de  l'lndustrie 

du  Gaz. 
Society  for  Psychical  Eesearch. 
Society  of  Arts. 
Society  of  Chemical  Industry. 
Society  of  Engineers. 
Society  of  Telegraph  Engineers 

and  Electricians. 
SmelUe,  T.  D. 
South      African      Philosophical 

Society. 
South  Wales   Institute   of  En- 


South  "West  of  England  District 
Association  of  Gas  Managers. 

Spencer,  J.  F. 

Spindler,  H.  L. 

Spooner,  C.  E. 

Spratt,  Vice- Admiral  T.  A.  B. 

State  Board  of  Health  Lunacy 
and  Charity,  Massachusetts. 

Statistical  Society  of  London. 

Stearns,  F.  P. 

Stephenson,  T. 

Stevens  and  Hayes. 

Stoney,  B.  B. 

Stothert  and  Pitt. 

Surgeon-General,  U.S.  Army. 

Surveyors'  Institution. 

Symons,  G.  J. 

T. 

Tanner,  II. 

Tarbotton,  M.  0. 

Taylor,  H.  E. 

Taylor,  E.  H. 

Technical  Society  of  the  Pacific 
Coast. 

Technische  Hochschule  zu 
Aachen. 

Technische  Hochschule  zu  Ber- 
lin. 

Tekniske  Furenings. 

Tetmajer,  L. 

Thomas,  E.  C.  G. 

Thomason  Civil  Engineering 
College. 

Thurston,  Prof.  E.  II. 

Thwaite,  B.  II. 

Tidy,  Dr.  C.  M. 

Topley,  W. 

Tower,  Beauchamp. 

Traill,  T.  W. 

Trelat,  E. 

Trendell,  A.  J.  E. 

Tripp,  W.  B. 

Triibner  &  Co. 


206 


LIST    OF   DONORS    TO    THE    LIBRARY. 


[Minutes  of 


U. 
United  States  Government. 
United     States     Light     House 

Board. 
United  States  Naval  Institute. 
University  College,  Bristol. 
University  College,  Dundee. 
University  College,  London. 
University  of  Michigan. 
University  of  Tokio. 
Unwin,  Prof.  W.  C,  F.E.S. 
Usill,  G.  W. 

V. 
Van  Xostrand,  D.  (the  late). 
Yauthier,  L.  L. 
Yawser,  Bobert. 
Yernon-Harcourt,  L.  F.,  M.A. 
Yictorian  Government. 
Yogel,  H.  &  Co. 


w. 

Waddington,  J. 

Walker,  A.  T. 

Walsall  Free  Library. 

Waring,  F.  J. 

Waring,  G.  E.,  jun. 

War  Department,  U.S.A. 

Waugh,  John. 

Weedon,  J.  F. 

Weinschenck,  G.  B. 

Werther,  G. 

Whitaker,  W. 

White,  Sir  G. 

Whitton,  John. 

Whitworth,  Sir  J.,  Bart.,  F.E.S. 

Williams,  B.  B.  W. 

Wilson,  Alexander. 

Wilson,  Bros.  &  Co. 

Woods,  E.  Harry. 


Proceedings.] 


DONATIONS    TO    LIBEARY   FUND. 


207 


The  Donations  to  the  Library  Fund  were  as  nnder : — 


£. 

s. 

d. 

£. 

s.     d. 

Amor,  J.  V.  W.    .      . 

2 

0 

0 

Brought  forward 

85 

10      0 

Anderson,  Th. 

5 

0 

0 

Hingeston,  C.  H.  jun 

.     2 

2     0 

Anley,  G.  A.  d'A.      . 

2 

2 

0 

Hudleston,  F. 

2 

7     6 

Argyle,  John 

1 

1 

0 

Hutton,  B.  J. 

2 

2     0 

Armstrong,  L.  H.  G. 

1 

1 

0 

Keating,  H.    . 

1 

7     6 

Bastos,  J.  J.  de  C. 

3 

5 

0 

Langmuir,  J. 

1 

1     0 

Bayliss,  T.  R.       . 

.   10 

10 

0 

Lapage,  K.  H. 

2 

2     0 

Becher,  H.  M.      . 

.     3 

3 

0 

Le  Lievre,  C. 

1 

1     0 

Boulton,  J.  F.      . 

3 

3 

0 

Lomax,  W.  J. 

1 

1     0 

Brinckman,  W.  H. 

.      1 

17 

6 

McCurrick,  J.  M. 

2 

2     0 

Brown,  C.  E.  .      . 

2 

2 

0 

McEwen,  T.  S.     . 

.      3 

3     0 

Burr,  W.  H.   .      . 

9 

2 

0 

Man,  CD.      .      . 

2 

2     0 

0 

10 

0 

Mappin,  F.  T. 

5 

5     0 

Caulfeild,  F.  St.  G. 

.      5 

0 

0 

Masterman,  C.  E. 

1 

1     0 

Chester,  A.  B.  A. 

.      1 

1 

0 

May,  C.  R.      .      . 

5 

0     0 

Colfox,  T.  A.  .      . 

.      1 

1 

0 

Metcalfe,  Sir  C.  H.  1 

\    2 

2     0 

Constable,  A. 

2 

2 

0 

Moore,  E.  J.   .      . 

7 

7     0 

Crofton,  Lt.-Gen.  J. 

2 

2 

0 

Morris,  E.  L.  . 

1 

1     0 

Dangerfield,  P.  W. 

2 

2 

0 

Napier,  J.  M.  .      . 

.      6 

0     0 

Davidson,  J.  Y.    . 

.      5 

0 

0 

Nettlefold,  H.       . 

.     3 

3     0 

Doig,  D.    .      .      . 

1 

0 

0 

Newton,  W.  G.     . 

2 

2     0 

Duncan,  D.  J.  K. 

.      5 

0 

0 

Ollis,  W.  B.    .      . 

2 

2     0 

Duncan,  B. 

.      1 

1 

0 

Ogilvie,  G.  T.       . 

2 

0     0 

Duncan  son,  T. 

.      1 

10 

0 

Ormerod,  R.  O.     . 

.      1 

1     0 

3 

0 

Ough,  H.  .      .      . 

.      1 

1     0 

English,  T.  A.      . 

.      0 

11 

0 

Palliser,  H.  G.      . 

.     3 

3     0 

Everard,  J.  B. 

2 

2 

0 

Palmer,  C.  S.  B.  . 

.      1 

10     0 

Froggatt,  Wm.     . 

2 

7 

6 

Perkins,  H.  F.      . 

1 

1     0 

Gallwey,  L.  P.  P. 

2 

2 

0 

Radford,  W.  H.    . 

.      1 

1     0 

Gibbons,  T.  H.     . 

.      1 

1 

0 

Rankin,  G. 

.      1 

1     0 

Greenhill,  F.  M.  . 

2 

2 

0 

Ravenhill,  T. .      . 

2 

2     0 

Guillemard,  A.  F. 

.      1 

0 

0 

Ritson,  T.  N.  . 

.      1 

1     0 

Hassell,  L. 

.      1 

1 

0 

Sartoris,  L. 

5 

0     0 

Hellins,  H.  H.     . 

1 

1 

0 

Scott,  W.  Hewlett 

.      1 

1     0 

Henderson,  Wm.  . 

2 

2 

0 

Scriven,  C.  W.      . 

.      1 

1     0 

Hill,  A.     .      .      . 

2 

2 

0 

Shuttleworth,  F.  H. 

.      1 

1     0 

Carried  forward    85  10     0 


Carried  forward  164     8     0 


208                                 DONATIONS 

TO 

LIBRARY    FUND. 

[Minutes 

of 

£. 

,Q. 

fl. 

£. 

8. 

d. 

Brought  forward 

104 

8 

0 

Brought  forwai 

d     186 

2 

0 

Simmons,  J.    . 

1 

1 

0 

Turner,  J.  H. . 

.      1 

1 

0 

Simpson,  J.  T. 

2 

4 

0 

Vacher,  H.  P. 

.     2 

2 

0 

Smedley,  G.  B.     . 

1 

1 

0 

Wallis,  B.  G.  . 

.     1 

0 

0 

Souza,  A.  P.  C.  de 

1 

7 

6 

Watkeys,  G.   . 

2 

2 

0 

Spencer,  F.  W.     . 

2 

12 

6 

Whieldon,  J.  H. 

.      1 

1 

0 

Spooner,  H.  J. 

1  • 

1 

0 

Wolfe,  J.  E.    . 

.     3 

3 

0 

Taylor,  Chas. . 

5 

5 

0 

Worthington,  E. 

.     1 

1 

0 

Thomas,  P.  A.      . 

2 

2 

0 

Wright,  J.  W. 

.     3 

3 

0 

Thurshy,  C.  E.     . 

5 

0 

0 

Young,  B.  H. 

Tota 

.     4 

9 

6 

Carried  forward 

18G 

2 

0 

L    £205 

4 

6 

Proceedings.]    LIST  OF  FOREIGN  AND  COLONIAL  TRANSACTIONS.  209 


LIST   OF    FOREIGN,   INDIAN   AND   COLONIAL   TRANSACTIONS 
AND  PERIODICALS  IN  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE  INSTITUTION. 

May,  1886. 


Argentine. 

Anales  de  la  Sociedad  cientifica  argentina.     Buenos  Aires. 

Austria. — Hungary. 

Allgemeine  Baxizeitung.     Wien. 
Berg-  und  kiittenmannisckes  Jakrbuck.      Wien. 
Denksckriften  der  k.  Akademie  der  Wissensckaften.     Wien. 
Mittkeilungen  aus  dem  Gebiete  des  Seewesens.     Pola. 
Mittkeilungen  der  k.  k.   Central-Commission    fiir  Erforsckung 

und  Erkaltung  der  Knnst-  und  kistoriscken  Denkmale.    Wien. 
Mittkeilungen  des  Arckitekten-  und  Ingenieur-Vereines  in  Buk- 

men.     Prag. 
Mittkeilungen    iiber  Gegenstande   des   Artillerie-    und   Genie- 

Wesens.     Wien. 
Oesterreickiscke  Zeitsckrift  fiir  Berg-  und  Hiittenwesen.      Wien. 
Sitzungsberickte  der  k.  Akademie  der  Wissensckaften.      Wien. 
Statistiscke    Nackrickten     von    den    Oesterreick-Ungariscken 

Eisenbaknen.      Wien. 
Teckniscke  Blatter.     Prag. 
Wockensckrift  des  osterreickiscken  Ingenieur-  und  Arckitekten- 

Vereins.     Wien. 
Zeitsckrift    des    osterreickiscken    Ingenieur-    und  Arckitekten 

Vereins.     Wien. 

Belgium. 

Annales   de    l'Association    des    Ingenieui's     sortis    des    Ecoles 

speciales  de  Gand.     Bruxelles. 
Annales  des  Travaus  publics  de  Belgique.     Bruxelles. 
Annuaire  de  l'Association  des  Ingenieurs   sortis   de  l'Ecole  de 

Liege.     Liege. 
Bulletin    de     l'Academie    royale   des     Sciences   de    Belgique. 

Bruxelles. 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  P 


210  LIST  OF  FOEEIGN  AND  COLONIAL  TEANS ACTIONS.       [Minutes  of 

Belgium — continued. 

Bulletin    de    1' Association  des   Ingenieurs  sortis  de  l'Ecole  de 

Liege.     Liege. 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  beige  d'Electriciens.     Brnxelles. 
Le  Mouvement  Industriel.     Bruxelles. 
Memoires  couronnes  publies  par  l'Academie  royale  de  Belgique. 

Bruxelles. 
Bevue  universelle  des  Mines  et  de  la  Metallurgie.     Liege. 

Brazil. 

Bevista  de  Ingenharia.     Bio  de  Janeiro. 

Canada. 

Canadian  Magazine.     31ontreal. 

Broceedings  of  the  Canadian  Institute.     Toronto. 

France. 

Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Bhysique.     Paris. 

Annales  des  Mines.     Paris. 

Annales  des  Fonts  et  Chaussees.     Paris. 

Annales  des  Travaux  publics.     Paris. 

Annales  industrielles.     Paris. 

Annales  telegraphiques.     Paris. 

Bulletin  de  la  Societe  d'Encouragement.     Paris. 

Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de  l'lndustrie  minerale  de  Saint  Etienne. 

Saint  Etienne. 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  industrielle  de  Bouen.     Bouen. 
Bulletin   de    la    Societe  industrielle   de    Saint-Quentin.     Saint 

Quentin. 
Bulletin   de    la    Societe    scientifique  industrielle  de  Marseille. 

Marseille. 
Bulletin  du  Canal  Interoceanique.     Paris. 
Bulletin  du  Comite  des  Forges  de  France.    Paris. 
Bulletin  mensuel  de  1' Association  amicale  des  anciens  Elevas  de 

l'Ecole  centrale  des  Arts  et  Manufactures.     Paris. 
Canal  de  Suez  (Le),  Bulletin  decadaire.     Paris. 
Compte  rendu  de  1' Association  franchise  pour  l'Avancement  des 

Sciences.     Paris. 
Compte  rendu  de  la  Societe  technique  de  l'lndustrie  du  Gaz  en 

France.     Paris. 
Comptes  rendus  des  Seances  de  l'Academie  des  Sciences.     Paris. 
Cosmos.     Paris. 


Proceedings.]    LIST  OF  FOREIGN  AND  COLONIAL  TRANSACTIONS.  211 

France — continued. 

Genie  Civil  (Le).     Paris. 

Journal  de  l'Eclairage  au  Gaz.     Paris. 

Journal  de  l'Ecole  polytechnique.     Paris. 

Journal  de  Matheinatiques  pures  et  appliquees.     Paris. 

Journal  de  Physique.     Paris. 

Journal  des  Travaux  Publics.     Paris. 

Journal  des  Usines  a  Gaz.     Paris. 

L'Electricien.     Paris. 

Lumiere  electrique  (La).     Paris. 

Memoires  de   la   Societe    nationale   des  Sciences  naturelles   et 

matheinatiques  de  Cherbourg.     Cherbourg. 
Memoires  et  Comptes  rendus  de  la  Societe  des  Ingenieurs-civils. 

Paris. 
Memorial  de  l'Artillerie  de  la  Marine.     Paris. 
Nature  (La).     Paris. 

Nouvelles  Annales  de  la  Construction.  Paris. 
Portefeuille  economique  des  Machines.  Paris. 
Eevue  d'Artillerie.     Paris. 

Eevue  generale  de  1' Architecture  et  des  Travaux  Publics.    Paris. 
Eevue  generale  des  Chemins  de  fer.     Paris. 
Eevue  industrielle.     Paris. 
Eevue  maritime  et  coloniale.     Paris. 

Germany. 

Abhandlungen  der  k.  Bayerischen  Akademie  der  Wissenschaften. 

Miinchen. 
Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie.     Leipzig. 
Archiv  fiir  die  Artillerie-  und  Ingenieur-Offiziere  des  deutschen 

Eeichsheeres.     Berlin. 
Berg-  und  klittenmannische  Zeitung.     Leipzig. 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  indtistrielle  de  Mulhouse.     Muhlhausen. 
Centralblatt  der  Bauverwaltung.     Berlin. 
Civilingenieur,  Der.     Leipzig. 
Deutsche  Bauzeitung.     Berlin. 
Deutsche   Vierteljahrschrift   fiir    uffentliche  Gesundheitsj)flege. 

Braunschoeig. 
Dingler's  Polytechnisches  Journal.     Augsburg. 
Elektrotechnische  Zeitschrift.     Berlin. 
Fortschritte  der  Physik.     Berlin. 
Gesundheits-Ingenieur.     Berlin. 
Glaser's  Annalen  fur  Gewerbe-  und  Bauwesen.     Berlin. 


212  LIST  OF  FOREIGN  AND  COLONIAL  TRANSACTIONS.     [Minutes  of 

Germany — continued. 

Journal  fiir  die  reine  unci  angewandte  Matkeinatik.     Berlin. 

Journal  fiir  Gasbeleucktung.     Miinchen. 

Mittkeilungen  aus    den    k.   teckniscken    Yersucksanstallen    zu 

Berlin.     Berlin. 
Mittkeilungen    aus  der  Praxis   des  Dainpfkessel-  und    Dainpf- 

rnasckinen-Betriebes.     Berlin. 
Mittkeilung-en  aus    der   Tagesliteratur    des    Eisenbaknwesens. 

Berlin. 
Mittkeilungen    des    siicksiscken    Ingenieur-  und    Arckitekten 

Yereins.     Dresden. 
Monatsberickte    der    k.    preussiscken    Akademie    der    Yvissen- 

ckaften.     Berlin. 
Neues  Jakrbuck  fiir  Mineralogie,  Geologie   und  Palaeontologie. 

Stuttgart. 
Organ  fiir  die  Fortsckritte  des  Eisenbaknwesens.      Wiesbaden. 
Polyteckniscke  Bibliotkek.     Leipzig. 
Eepertorium  der  Pkysik.     Miinchen. 
Sitzungsberickte    der    k.   bayeriscken   Akademie   der    Wissen- 

sckaften.     Miinchen. 
Stakl  und  Eisen.     Diisseldorf. 
Statistiscke   Xackrickten   von  den  preussiscken   Eeisenbaknen. 

Berlin. 
Verkandlungen  des  Yereins  zur  Beforderung  des  Gewerbfleisses. 

Berlin. 
"Wockensckrift  des  Yereines  deutscker  Ingenieure.     Berlin. 
Zeitsckrift  des  Arckitekten-  und  Ingenieur- Yereins  zu  Hannover. 

Hannover. 
Zeitsckrift  des  Yereines  deutscker  Ingenieure.     Berlin. 
Zeitsckrift  fiir  Angewandte  Elektricitiitslekre.     Miinchen. 
Zeitsckrift  fiir  Baukunde.     Miinchen. 
Zeitsckrift  fiir  Bauwesen.     Berlin. 

Zeitsckrift  fiir  das  Berg-,  Hiitten-  und  Salinen-YVesen.     Berlin. 
Zeitsckrift  fiir  Yermessungswesen.     Stuttgart. 
Zeitung  des  Yereins  deutscker  Eisenbaknverwaltungen.    Berlin. 

Holland. 

Annales  de  l'Ecole  Polytecknique  de  Delft.     Leiden. 

Jaarboek   van    ket   Mijnwesen   in   Nederlandsck    Oost  -  Indie. 

Amsterdam. 
Tijdsckrift    van    ket    Koninklijk    Instituut    van    Ingenieurs. 

s' Gravenhage. 


Proceedings.]    LIST  OF  FOREIGN  AND  COLONIAL  TRANSACTIONS.  213 

Hungary. 

A  magyar  mernok  es  epitesz-egylet  kozlunye.     Budapest. 

India. 

Journal    and    Proceedings  of  the  Asiatic  Society    of    Bengal. 

Calcutta. 
Journal    and   Proceedings  of  the  Asiatic    Society   of  Bengal, 

Bombay  Branch.     Bombay. 
Professional  Papers  on  Indian  Engineering.     Roorhee. 

Italy. 

Atti    del   Collegio  degli   Architetti  ed  Ingegneri    in    Firenze. 

Firenze. 
Atti   del  Collegio   degli    Ingegneri    ed    Architetti   in    Milano. 

Milano. 
Atti  del  Collegio  degli  Ingegneri  ed  Architetti  in  Eoma.     Roma. 
Atti  della  R.  Accademia  dei  Lincei.     Roma. 
Atti  della  Societa  degli  Ingegneri  e  degli  Industriali  di  Torino. 

Torino. 
Giornale  dei  Lavori  pubblici  e  delle  Strade  ferrate.     Roma. 
Giornale  del  Genio  civile.     Roma. 
L7  Ingegneria  civile  e  le  Arti  industriali.      Torino. 
Memorie  del  Reale  Istituto  Louibardo.     Milano. 
Politecnico  (II).     Milano. 
Eendiconti  del  Eeale  Istituto  Lombardo.     Milano. 

New  South  Wales. 

Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales.  Sydney. 

New  Zealand. 

Transactions  and   Proceedings  of  the   New  Zealand   Institute. 
Wellington. 

Portugal. 

Revista  de  Obras  publicas.    Lisboa. 

Russia. 

Gorny  Journal.     (Mining  Journal.)     St.  Petersburg. 

Ingener.     St.  Petersburg. 

Morskoy  Sbornik  (Naval  Repertory).     St.  Petersburg. 

Notizblatt  des  technischen  Vereins  zu  Riga.     Riga. 

Zapisky  Imperatorskavo  russkavo  tekhnitcheskavo  Obstchestva. 

(Transactions   of  the   Imperial  Russian  Technical  Society.) 

St.  Petersburg. 


214  LIST  OF  FOREIGN  AND  COLONIAL  TRANSACTIONS.     [Minutes  of 

Scandinavia. 

Ingeniors-Foreningens  Forkantllingar.     Stockholm. 
Jernkontorets  Annaler.     Stockholm. 

Norske  Ingenior  og  Arckitekt  Forenings  Organ.     Kristiania. 
Polyteknisk  Tidsskrift.     Kristiania. 

Spain. 

Anales  de  Obras  publicas,  Memorias  y  Documentos.     Madrid. 
Eevista  de  Obras  publicas.     Madrid. 

Switzerland. 

Bulletin  de  la  Societe  vaudoise  des  Ingenieurs  et  des  Arckitectes. 

Lausanne. 
Sckweizeriscke  Bauzeitung.     Zurich. 

United  States. 

American  Engineer.     Chicago. 

American  Gas-Ligkt  Journal.     New  TorJc. 

American  Journal  of  Matkematics,  pure  and  applied.     Baltimore. 

American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts.     New  Haven. 

American  Mackinist.     New  York. 

American  Manufacturer  and  Iron  World.     Pittsburg. 

Electrician  and  Electrical  Engineer.    New  York. 

Engineering  and  Mining  Journal.     New  York. 

Engineering  News.     New  York. 

Journal  of  tke  Association  of  Engineering  Societies.     New  York. 

Journal  of  tke  Franklin  Institute.     Philadelphia. 

Montkly  Weatker  Review.      Washington. 

Proceedings  of  tke  American  Academy   of  Arts  and   Sciences. 

Boston. 
Proceedings  of  tke  American  Association  for  tke  Advancement 

of  Science.     Salem. 
Proceedings  of  tke  Civil   Engineers'  Club    of   tke  Nortkwest, 

Chicago. 
Proceedings  of  tke  Engineers'  Club  of  Pkiladelpkia.  Philadelphia. 
Proceedings  of  tke  Engineers'  Society,  of  Western  Pennsylvania. 

Philadelphia. 
Railroad  Gazette.     New  York. 
Railway  Review.     Chicago. 
Sanitary  Engineer.     New  York. 
Sckool  of  Mines,  Quarterly.     New  York. 


Proceedings.]    LIST  OF  FOREIGN  AND  COLONIAL  TRANSACTIONS.  215 

United  States — continued. 

Scientific  American.     New  York. 

Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge.      Washington. 

Transactions  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers. 

Easton. 
Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers.     New 

Tori. 
Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers. 

New  York. 
Van  Nostrand's  Engineering  Magazine.     New  York. 

Victoria. 

Transactions  and  Proceedings  of  the  Eoyal  Society  of  Victoria. 
Melbourne. 


216 


LIST    OF    OFFICERS. 


[Minutes  of 
Proceedings. 


OFFICERS.— 1886-87. 


Control : 

PRESIDENT. 
EDWARD  WOODS. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
George  Barclay  Bruce,  I   George  Berkley, 

Sir  John  Coode,  K.C.M.G.,  |   Harrison  Hayter. 


MEMBERS. 


William  Anderson  (Eritli), 
Benjamin  Baker, 
John  Wolfe  Barry, 
Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  F.R.S., 
Edward  Alfred  Cowper, 
Sir  James  Nicholas  Douglass, 
Sir  Charles  Douglas  Fox, 
Alfred  Giles,  M.P., 


James  Mansergh 

William  Henry  Preece,  F.R.S., 

Sir  Robert  Rawlinson,  C.B., 

Sir  Edward  James  Reed,  K.C.B., 

F.R.S.,  M.P., 
Francis  Croughton  Stileman, 
Sir  Wm.  Thomson,  F.R.SS.  L.  &  E., 
Sir  Jos.  Whitworth,  Bt.,  F.R.S. 


Tin's  Council  will  continue  till  May  1887. 


Uflitonirg  Coimrillors : 

PAST  PRESIDENTS. 
Sir  John  Hawkshaw,  F.R.S., 
Sir  John  Fowler,  K.C.M.G., 
Sir    Charles    Hutton     Gregory, 

K.C.M.G., 
Thomas  Hawksley,  F.R.S., 
Thomas  Elliot  Harrison, 
George  Robert  Stephenson, 
J.  F.  La  Trobe  Bateman,  F.R.SS. 

L.  &  E., 


William  Henry  Barlow,  F.R.S., 

James  Abeknethy,  F.R.S. E., 

Sir  William  G.  Armstrong,  C.B., 

LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S., 
Sir  James  Brunlees,  F.R.S.E., 
Sir  Joseph  Wm.  Bazalgette,  C.B., 
Sir  Frederick  J.  Bramwell,  D.C.L., 

F.R.S. 


Officers  : 

AUDITORS. 

Henry  Graham  Harris,  |  Edward  Henry  Woods. 

TREASURER. 
Hugh  Lindsay  Antrobus. 

HONORARY  SECRETARY.  SECRETARY. 

William  Pole,  F.R.SS.  L.  &  E.      |  James  Forrest. 


Selected  CUTLER    ON   STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES.  217 

Papers.] 


Sect.  II.— OTHER  SELECTED  PAPERS. 


(Students'  Paper,  No.  208.) 

"  The  Stability  of  Voussoir  Arches."1 

By  Henry  Albert  Cutler,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E. 

The  stability  of  arched  structures,  although  in  many  cases  im- 
perfectly considered,  is  fully  deserving  of  close  investigation. 

In  ordinary  cases  a  practical  man  may  use  a  rule-of-thumb 
method  with  some  degree  of  approximate  accuracy ;  but  in  all 
cases  the  Author  -would  advise  a  thorough  investigation,  which 
will  not  only  give  an  engineer  confidence  in  his  work,  but  will 
often  prove  a  great  source  of  economy. 

The  mathematical  analysis  of  stresses  would  no  doubt  be  pre- 
ferred by  the  mathematician,  as  being  more  strictly  accurate,  but 
the  graphic  method,  selected  by  the  Author  for  this  Paper,  will 
commend  itself  to  the  practical  man,  not  only  for  its  simplicity 
and  expedition  of  solution,  but  also  for  the  readiness  with  which 
errors  can  be  detected. 

The  small  errors,  likely  to  occur  in  measuring  strains  from  a 
diagram  where  the  angles  are  very  acute  or  obtuse,  will  be  of  no 
practical  importance  if  care  be  taken,  as  the  factor  of  safety 
required  in  practice  limits  the  application  of  theory  to  practical 
purposes,  thus  making  rigid  accuracy  in  the  determination  of 
stresses  unnecessary. 

To  avoid  ambiguity,  arched  structures  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes,  namely,  the  voussoir  arch,  and  the  rigid  arch ;  but  the 
Author  has  dealt  only  with  the  voussoir  arch,  in  order  to  give 
that  portion  of  the  subject  a  more  thorough  investigation. 

The  voussoir  arch  (the  tenacity  of  the  mortar  being  disregarded) 
is  not  capable  of  resisting  a  bending  moment,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered as  hinged  at  every  bed-joint  in  the  arch-ring.  To  investi- 
gate the  stability  of  an  arched  structure  by  the  graphic  method, 
it  is  first  necessary  to  find  the  correct  curve  of  equilibrium  for  the 


1  This  Paper  was  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Students  on  the  26th  of  February, 
1886. 


218  CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR  ARCHES.  [Selected 

dead  load  or  -weight  of  the  structure,  and  then,  generally,  to  assume 
the  live  load  as  acting  on  one-half  the  arch,  while  the  remaining 
half  is  unloaded,  and  to  construct  a  second  curve,  both  of  which 
curves  should  satisfy  the  condition  hereafter  mentioned. 

The  curve  of  equilibrium  of  an  arch  is  its  position  of  rest,  con- 
sidering the  arch  to  be  a  polygon  with  an  infinite  number  of  sides, 
and  jointed  at  all  the  intersections.  In  voussoir  arches,  in  almost 
all  cases,  both  the  dead  and  the  moving  load  may  be  considered  as 
acting  vertically ;  and  when  an  arch  is  subjected  to  vertical  loads 
only,  the  horizontal  thrust  from  the  load,  considered  as  split  up 
and  acting  at  the  joints  of  a  hinged  polygon,  will  be  the  same  at 
each  point  throughout  the  curve. 

The  curve  of  equilibrium  may  be  better  understood  by  con- 
sidering a  cord  (Figs.  1),  weighted  with  equal  weights  at  1,  2,  3,  &c, 
to  be  suspended  between  two  points ;  then  the  position  of  rest 
assumed  by  the  cord  will  be  a  curve  of  equilibrium,  which,  if 
inverted  (Figs.  2),  would  also  be  a  curve  of  equilibrium  for  an 
arch  of  the  same  span  and  loaded  in  the  same  manner. 

B}T  reference  to  the  diagram,  it  will  be  seen  that  two  curves 
have  been  drawn  for  the  same  loading;  but  by  varying  the 
deflection  or  rise  of  the  curve,  as  the  case  may  be,  an  infinite 
number  of  curves  can  be  drawn,  all  of  which  are  true  curves  of 
equilibrium. 

The  elements  of  the  curves  in  Figs.  1  and  2  are  drawn  by 
plotting  on  the  vertical  line  A  B,  with  a  scale  of  loads  the  distances 
a  a1,  a1  a2,  &c,  equal  to  the  loads  acting  on  the  cord.  The  loads 
being  equal  and  symmetrically  distributed,  the  reactions  of  each 
support  will  be  equal,  and  therefore  the  apices  (C  and  E)  will  be 
equidistant  between  A  and  B,  so  that  the  lines  C  D  and  D  E,  which 
measure  the  horizontal  thrusts,  will  exactly  bisect  A  B ;  therefore 
C  D  and  D  E  are  drawn  equal  to  the  horizontal  thrusts  which  the 
curves  are  required  to  have,  and  lines  joining  C  and  E  with  points 
a,  a1,  a2,  &c,  will  give  the  elements  of  the  curves,  which  are  pro- 
duced by  drawing  lines  www,  &c,  between  0,  1,  2,  &c,  parallel 
to  the  lines  C  a,  &c. 

The  bines  on  the  right  and  on  the  left  of  the  verticals  form  two 
separate  force  diagrams,  one  for  each  curve ;  but  as  the  -weights 
are  the  same  in  each,  they  have  both  been  drawn  on  the  same 
load  line. 

The  horizontal  thrust  of  an  arch  varies  inversely  as  the  rise  of 
the  arch,  for  the  two  curves,  which  are  drawn  with  horizontal 
thrusts  of  4  tons  and  8  tons  respectively,  give  rises  of  5  feet  and 
2  feet  6  inches  respectively;  so  that,  with  a  constant  span  and 


Papers.] 


CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR    ARCHES. 


219 


load,  after  having  drawn  one  curve,  the  horizontal  thrust  of  a 
curve  with  any  given  rise,  or  the  rise  of  a  curve  with  any  given 
horizontal  thrust,  can  easily  be  calculated.  For  instance,  to  find 
the  rise  of  curve  for  the  same  span  and  loading  as  shown  in 
Figs.  1  and  2  with  a  horizontal  thrust  of  3  tons ;  where  E  =  rise 


Figs.  1. 


Figs.  2. 


1 

X 

^ 

-^k. 

as 

£j-< 

// 

obtained,  E1  =  rise  required,  T  =  horizontal  thrust  obtained,  and 
T1  =  horizontal  thrust  required,  T1 :  T  : :  E  :  E1 ; 

TE 

X  2-5 


therefore 


E1  = 


and  by  substituting  E1 


=  6-7  feet, 


To  find  the  horizontal  thrust  with  a  rise  of  6  •  7  feet,  E1  :  E 
T:  T1; 

ET 

2-5  x  8 


therefore 


T1  = 


and  by  substituting,  T1 


G-7 


=  3  tons. 


As  it  is  possible  to  draw  such  a  variety  of  curves,  it  is  a  matter 
of  considerable  importance  that  the  proper  curve  should  be  selected 
for  the  structure  under  consideration. 

When  the  curve  of  equilibrium  does  not  fall  within  the  arch- 
ring,  a  bending  moment  is  produced,  tending  to  increase  the 
curvature  of  the  arch  if  lying  inside  the  neutral  line;  and  to 
diminish  it  if  lying  outside.  In  Fig.  3  the  dotted  lines  represent 
the  way  in  which  the  arch  would  fail  if  acted  upon  by  a  curve  of 
pressiTre  A  A  A  A. 


220 


CUTLER    ON    STABILITY    OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES.  [Selected 


Masonry  and  brick,  or  voussoir  arches  not  being  capable  of 
resisting  a  bending  moment,  the  condition  to  be  fulfilled  is  that 
the  curve  of  equilibrium  must  practically  coincide  with  the  neutral 
line.  Disregarding  the  elasticity  of  the  material,  the  arch  would 
not  collapse  so  long  as  the  curve  was  everywhere  within  the  depth 
of  the  arch-ring,  but  when  close  to  the  edge,  nearly  all  the  strain 
is  taken  through  a  small  portion  of  the  voussoir,  while  the  remain- 
ing portion  is  nearly  relieved  from  pressure.  Professor  Eankine 
has  limited  the  curve  of  equilibrium  to  the  middle  third  of  the 
arch-ring,  which  is  a  simple  practical  rule.  In  Fig.  4  the  middle 
third  is  represented  by  the  space  between  the  dotted  lines. 

Fig.  3. 


Fig.  4. 


The  curve  of  equilibrium  to  satisfy  the  above  condition  is  found 
by  fixing  points  in  the  curve  somewhere  within  the  middle  third 
at  the  crown  and  springing ;  if  the  deviation  of  the  curve  from  the 
neutral  line  is  not  within  the  limit  at  every  other  point,  generally, 
either  the  loading,  the  curve  of  the  arch,  or  the  depth  of  the 
voussoir,  must  be  altered  until  the  condition  is  fulfilled. 

To  draw  the  curve  of  equilibrium,  the  neutral  line  of  the  arch 
(Fig.  5)  must  be  divided  into  a  convenient  number  of  parts  of  equal 
horizontal  distance ;  the  dead  load  acting  upon  each  division  can 
then  be  calculated  by  drawing  perpendicular  lines  up  through  the 
arch  from  the  points  of  division,  and  proportioning  the  weights  to 
the  areas  between  the  perpendicular  lines. 


Papers.]  CUTLER    ON    STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES. 


221 


It  is  not  necessary  that  the  arch  should  be  divided  into  equal 
horizontal  portions,  but  the  calculation  of  weights  is  much  facili- 
tated thereby.  The  loads  thus  obtained  may  now  be  considered  as 
acting  at  points  in  the  centre  of  each  division,  as  shown  by  the 
vertical  lines  z,  z,  z,  and  the  centre  of  gravity  of  each  half-arch 
can  be  found  by  taking  moments  round  the  abutments  ;  that  is, 
by  multiplying  each  weight  in  the  half-arch  by  its  horizontal 
distance  from  one  of  the  abutments,  and  dividing  the  sum  of  these 
products  by  the  total  weight  of  the  half-arch,  which  will  give  the 
horizontal  distance  of  its  centre  of  gravity  from  the  abutment 
round  which  moments  have  been  taken.  When  an  arch  is  sym- 
metrically loaded  on  each  side  of  the  centre,  it  will  only  be 
necessary  to  deal  with  one  half,  as  the  two  halves  will  be  identical. 

Fig.  5. 


The  vertical  line  A  A  must  now  be  drawn  through  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  load,  and  the  line  of  thrust  B  at  the  crown  (which 
may  be  anywhere  within  the  middle  third,  and  which  with  sym- 
metrical loads  will  be  horizontal)  produced  until  it  cuts  the  vertical 
A  A ;  then  the  line  C  C,  connecting  this  point  of  intersection  with 
the  springing-point,  will  complete  the  curve  of  equilibrium  for  the 
load,  assuming  that  it  is  acting  at  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  half- 
arch  ;  the  direction  of  the  thrusts  at  the  crown  and  springing  thus 
being  fixed,  their  magnitudes  can  easily  be  determined  by  plotting 
the  weight  of  the  half-arch  on  the  vertical  line  A  A  from  C  down- 
wards, and  completing  the  triangle  of  forces  CCA. 

By  producing  the  line  of  thrust  B  C  to  D,  and  drawing  D  E  and 
E  E  parallel  to  C  A  and  C  C,  a  triangle  of  forces  for  each  weight 
acting  separately  can  be  drawn,  which  will  give  the  elements  of 


222 


CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF   YOUSSOIR   ARCHES.        [Selected 


the  curve  of  equilibrium,  and  also  measure  the  strain  in  any  part 
of  the  arch. 

The  vertical  line  C  A  being  equal  to  the  total  load  on  the  half- 
arch,  the  line  D  E  in  the  force  diagram  being  drawn  equal  and 
parallel  to  it,  can  be  divided  into  a  number  of  parts  a  a1,  a1  a2,  &c, 
equal  to  the  different  weights  mating  up  the  total  load;  com- 
mencing at  the  top  set-off  a  a1,  equal  to  the  weight  nearest  the 
crown,  and  a1  a2,  &c,  equal  to  the  remaining  weights  ;  then  lines 
joining  the  points  a1  a2,  &c,  with  the  point  F  will  complete  the 
force  diagram. 

To  construct  the  curve  of  equilibrium,  draw  lines  parallel  to 
a1  F,  a2  F,  &c,  between  the  lines  z,  z,  z,  commencing  with  a1  F, 
which  must  be  drawn  from  the  intersection  of  the  line  of  thrust  at 
the  crown  with  the  first  vertical  line  z,  that  is,  at  point  X ;  and  on 
completing  the  diagram,  if  drawn  correctly,  the  line  a 9  F  will 
exactly  coincide  with  the  line  C  C.     In  drawing  a  curve  of  equi- 

Fig.  6. 


librium,  it  is  usual  to  take  the  neutral  line  of  the  arch-ring  at  the 
crown  and  springing  for  fixed  points  in  the  curve ;  but  when  the 
curve  thus  drawn  does  not  quite  fall  within  the  middle  third, 
another  curve  may  sometimes  be  drawn,  by  varying  these  points 
(within  the  prescribed  limits)  which  will  satisfy  the  required  con- 
dition. An  example  of  this  will  be  seen  in  Fig.  6,  which  has  two 
curves  of  equilibrium.  No.  1,  which  was  drawn  by  fixing  points 
in  the  neutral  line  at  the  crown  and  springing,  did  not  quite 
satisfy  the  above  conditions  between  A  and  B,  but  by  altering  the 
fixed  points  in  the  crown  and  springing  to  the  lower  limit  of  the 
middle  third,  and  drawing  curve  No.  2,  the  required  result  was 
obtained. 

In  dealing  with  arches  which  are  not  loaded  symmetrically,  the 
diagrams  become  rather  more  complicated,  but  yet  are  easily  con- 
structed ;  for  example,  Fig.  7  represents  an  arch  which  has  a 
uniform  dead  load,  together  with  a  live  load  on  one  half  the  arch 
only.     In  this  case  it  is  necessary  to  draw  diagrams  for  both  sides, 


Papers.]  CUTLER    ON   STABILITY    OF   VOUSSOIR    ARCHES. 


22; 


as  the  curve  will  be  different,  and  the  line  of  thrust  at  the  crown 
will  not  he  horizontal,  as  is  the  case  with  symmetrical  loads. 

Suppose  it  he  required  to  find  the  curve  of  equilibrium  for  a 
span  of  18  feet  with  loads  of  1  ton  acting  at  each  line  of  division 
z,  z,  z,  z,  from  the  left  abutment  to  the  crown,  and  loads  of  2  tons  on 
each  line  of  division  from  the  crown  to  the  right  abutment ;  then 
by  finding  the  sum  of  the  moments  of  all  the  weights  round  the 
left  abutment,  and  dividing  their  sum  by  the  sum  of  the  weights, 
the  distance  of  the  centre  of  gravity,  A  A  from  the  left  abutment 
will  be  obtained  ;  and  by  repeating  the  process  for  the  weights  in 
the  left  half  of  the  arch  round  the  left  abutment  and  the  right 
half  round  the  right  abutment,  the  results  will  be  the  distances  of 
the  centres  of  gravity  B  B  and  C  C  from  their  respective  abut- 
ments. 

By  assuming  the  whole  of  the  load  to  be  acting  at  A  in  the 


centre  of  gravity  of  the  load,  the  curve  of  equilibrium  would 
be  two  straight  lines  X  Y  and  X  Z,  which  must  be  drawn  tenta- 
tively until  they  have  been  so  fixed  that  a  line  connecting  the 
points  of  intersection  W  W  with  lines  B  B  and  C  C  falls  on  the 
fixed  point,  at  the  crown  of  the  arch  through  which  it  is  intended 
the  curve  of  equilibrium  shall  pass ;  then  the  polygon  YWWZ 
will  be  the  curve  of  equilibrium  for  the  load,  considering  it  con- 
centrated at  two  points  B  and  C,  and  the  line  W  W  will  represent 
the  direction  of  the  thrust  at  the  crown. 

By  producing  WW  toD  and  E,  and  drawing  D  F  and  E  I 
parallel  to  B  B  and  C  C  and  equal  to  the  respective  loads  on  each 
half-arch,  the  lines  F  G  and  H  I,  drawn  from  points  F  and  I 
parallel  to  X  Y  and  X  Z,  will  complete  the  triangles  of  force 
D  F  G  and  E  H  I,  and  the  elements  of  the  curve  will  be  found  by 
dividing  the  verticals  D  F  and  E  I  into  portions  a,  a1,  a2,  &c, 


224 


CUTLER    ON    STABILITY   OF   YOUSSOIR   ARCHES.         [Selected 


equal  to  the  weights,  and  drawing  lines  a1  G,  a2  G,  &c,  and  a1  II, 
a2  H,  &c,  as  for  the  previous  examples. 

Having  considered  the  stability  of  arches  under  vertical  loads, 
in  which  the  horizontal  pressure  is  the  same  throughout  the 
curve,  it  will  be  necessaiy,  before  proceeding  to  investigate  the 
stability  of  abutment  walls,  to  inquire  into  the  stability  of  arches 
which  are  acted  upon  by  oblique  pressures,  and  in  which  the  hori- 
zontal thrust  varies  from  point  to  point ;  not  that  such  cases  are 
of  frequent  occurrence  in  practice,  but  that  it  is  necessary  to  the 
investigation  of  the  stability  of  abutment  walls. 

Figs.  8  represent  an  arch  acted  upon  by  oblique  pressures 
everywhere  normal  to  the  surface,  as  would  be  the  case  with  fluid 
pressure ;  for  simplicity,  loads  of  uniform  density  have  been  con- 
sidered as  acting  at  each  line  z,  z,  z,  &c. 

Both  sides  of  the  arch  being  loaded  symmetrically,  and  therefore 


the  thrust  at  the  crown  being  horizontal,  it  will  only  be  necessary 
to  draw  the  curve  for  one-half  the  arch.  In  this  case  the  direction  of 
the  resultant  of  the  loads  acting  at  the  centre  of  pressure  will  be 
inclined,  to  find  which  it  is  necessary  to  resolve  all  the  oblique 
pressures  into  two  others,  horizontal  and  vertical. 

Take  any  point  Z  (2  Fig.  8)  and  draw  lines  y  Z,  y1  Z,  &c, 
parallel  to  the  pressures  z,  z,  z,  acting  on  the  arch,  commencing 
with  the  pressure  nearest  the  crown,  then  by  plotting  the 
pressures  on  these  lines  (from  Z  upwards)  with  a  scale  of  tons 
and  letting  fall  perpendiculars  y  1,  yl  2,  &c.,  to  the  line  Z  X,  the 
vertical  and  horizontal  components  of  each  pressure  can  be 
obtained  with  the  scale. 

To  ascertain  the  point  through  which  the  oblique  resultant  passes, 
it  is  necessaiy  to  fix  its  horizontal  distance  and  also  its  vertical 
height  from  the  springing.  To  obtain  the  horizontal  distance  of 
the  centre  of  pressure,  moments  must  be  taken  with  the  vertical 
pressures  round  the  abutment,  and  the  sum  of  the  moments  must  be 
divided  by  the  total  vertical  pressure  as  for  the  previous  examples. 

The  vertical  height  is  also  fixed  by  the  same  method,  only  in 


Papers.]  CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES.  225 

this  case  multiplying  the  horizontal  pressures  by  their  vertical 
distances  from  the  springing-line  and  dividing  the  sum  of  the 
moments  by  the  total  horizontal  pressure  ;  the  two  distances  thus 
found  when  drawn  on  the  diagram  intersect  at  a  point  A  (Fig.  8). 

If  the  vertical  pressure  A  B  now  be  plotted  from  A  downwards 
with  a  scale  of  tons,  and  a  horizontal  line  B  C  be  drawn  measuring 
the  horizontal  pressure,  a  line  drawn  through  the  points  A  G  will 
give  the  direction  of  the  resultant  and  the  length  A  C  will  measure 
its  force. 

The  line  of  pressure  D  (at  the  crown  of  the  arch)  which  is 
horizontal,  can  now  be  drawn,  and  from  E  where  it  intersects  the 
resultant,  draw  the  line  E  F,  which  gives  the  direction  of  thrust 
at  the  springing,  and  completes  the  curve  of  equilibrium  for  the 
residtant  of  the  forces. 

To  find  the  thrust  at  the  crown  and  springing,  make  E  G  equal 
to  A  C,  and  draw  G  H  from  G  parallel  to  the  thrust  at  the  crown, 
then  G  H  and  H  E  represent  the  thrust  at  the  crown  and  the 
springing  respectively. 

The  force  diagram  for  each  weight  acting  separately,  from 
which  the  curve  of  equilibrium  is  produced,  is  drawn  by  producing 
the  line  of  thrust  D  at  the  crown  to  J,  and  making  I  J,  J  K  and 
K  I  equal  and  parallel  to  G  H,  EG  and  E  H  respectively.  Then 
by  drawing  lines  a  a1,  a1  a2,  &c,  from  J  equal  and  parallel  to  the 
external  pressures,  commencing  with  the  pressure  nearest  the 
crown,  and  joining  the  points  a1,  a2,  &c,  thus  found  with  the  point 
I,  the  lines  a1  I,  a2  I  will  be  parallel  to  the  various  parts  of  the 
curve  of  equilibrium.  This  can  now  be  constructed  as  in  the 
previous  examples,  only  taking  care  that  the  elements  of  the 
curve  a,  I,  a1  I,  &c,  are  drawn  between  the  oblique  lines  z,  z,  z,  &c, 
and  not  between  the  vertical  ordinates,  which  in  the  previous 
examples  indicated  the  direction  of  the  pressures  as  well  as  the 
position  of  the  loads. 

If  the  diagram  is  drawn  correctly,  the  external  forces  a  a1, 
a1  a2,  &c,  will  join  exactly  at  the  two  points  J  and  K,  and  will 
therefore  balance  the  resultant,  and  the  line  a4  I,  when  drawn  in 
the  curve,  will  coincide  with  F  E,  the  direction  of  the  pressure  at 
the  springing.  With  a  clear  understanding  of  this  last  example, 
it  will  be  a  simple  matter  to  investigate  the  stability  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  abutment- wall  above  the  springing  of  the  arch,  which 
in  many  cases  may  be  unstable  when  the  wall  below  the  springing 
is  quite  strong  enough,  and  under  certain  conditions  with  this  in 
view  it  is  necessary  to  make  two  separate  calculations. 

The  foregoing  examples  have  been  given  in  order  to  demon- 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  Q 


226 


CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR  ARCHES.         [Selected 


strate  an  easy  and  ready  method,  which  occurred  to  the  Author,  of 
proportioning  the  thickness  of  retaining  walls  to  the  thrust  of 
arches  when  the  curve  of  equilibrium  for  the  vertical  forces  does 
not  fall  within  the  arch-ring. 

Fig.  9  is  an  example  of  an  arch  which  was  built  and  failed 
soon  after  construction.  In  this  case  the  wall  below  the  springing 
is  quite  stable,  while  that  portion  of  the  wall  above  the  springing 
is  liable  to  be  overthrown  by  the  lateral  pressure  of  the  arch 
between  the  springing  and  the  crown.  By  the  following  investi- 
gation the  thickness  of  the  wall  necessary  for  such  an  arch  may 
be  easily  calculated : — Diagram  1,  Fig.  9,  is  the  force  diagram 
drawn  from  the  actual  vertical  loads  on  the  structure  acting  at 
z,  z,  z,  &c,  and  AAA  the  corresponding  curve  of  equilibrium.  It 
will  readily  be  seen  that  unless  some  extraneous  force  is  acting 


Fig.  9. 


on  the  structure  other  than  that  due  to  the  vertical  load,  the  arch 
must  collapse  by  being  forced  out  between  the  haunches  and  the 
crown,  owing  to  the  curve  of  equilibrium  falling  considerably 
below  the  soffit  of  the  arch  at  that  point ;  it  therefore  becomes 
necessary  to  ascertain  whether  the  lateral  resistance  opposed  by 
the  wall  B  between  the  springing  and  the  crown  is  sufficient  to 
resist  the  outward  thrust  of  the  arch. 

As  before  stated  the  curve  of  equilibrium  should  fall  within  the 
middle  third  of  the  arch-ring,  and  it  will  generally  be  found  that 
if  a  curve  be  drawn  (for  the  dead  load  only)  which  practically 
coincides  with  the  neutral  line,  the  addition  of  the  live  load,  will 
not  cause  the  curve  to  fall  without  the  proper  limit ;  therefore 
instead  of  calculating  the  resistance  of  the  wall  shown  in  the 
diagram  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  sufficiently  strong  to  overcome 
the  resistance  of  the  arch,  the  Author  has  assumed  a  curve  which 
practically  coincides  with  the  neutral  line,  and  by  reversing  the 


Papers.]  CUTLER    ON    STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES.  227 

order  of  the  preceding  calculations  has  arrived  at  the  external 
forces  required  to  balance  such  a  curve,  and  by  the  resolution  of 
forces  has  deducted  the  permanent  vertical  loads,  thus  leaving  the 
forces  which  the  wall  has  to  resist. 

The  arch  being  loaded  symmetrically  and  the  thrust  at  the 
crown  horizontal,  draw  a  horizontal  line  C  C,  and  produce  D  x 
(the  direction  of  the  thrust  at  the  springing)  until  it  cuts  the 
line  C  C  in  D.  There  being  no  solid  backing  behind  the  first 
four  divisions  from  the  crown,  no  horizontal  thrust  can  be  trans- 
mitted, and  the  first  four  vertical  loads  will  remain  unaltered ; 
therefore  from  any  point  E,  draw  lines  E  a4  E  t,  &c,  parallel  to 
the  lines  yl  y5,  &c,  in  the  curve  of  equilibrium,  omitting  the  first 
three  from  the  crown ;  then  by  drawing  C  a4  vertical  and  equal  to 
the  first  four  loads,  at  such  a  distance  from  E  that  it  exactly  fits 
between  the  lines  E  a  and  E  a4,  the  three  lines  which  were  at  first 
omitted  can  be  drawn  from  E  to  points  a1,  a2  and  «3,  which  measure 
the  permanent  loads  on  the  first  four  divisions. 

Let  the  line  C  a4  be  produced  and  divided  into  portions  a5,  a6, 
&c,  equal  to  the  remaining  permanent  vertical  loads  ;  and  let 
horizontal  lines  be  drawn  from  the  points  a4,  a5,  &c,  until  they 
cut  the  force  lines  in  t  t  t,  &c,  then  lines  u  u,  &c,  connecting 
these  points  will  give  the  directions  and  amounts  of  the  external 
forces  necessary  to  maintain  the  assumed  curve  of  equilibrium. 

As  there  are  only  vertical  loads  on  the  arch  and  it  will  be  more 
convenient  to  calculate  the  strength  of  the  wall  to  resist  horizontal 
pressures,  it  will  be  necessary  to  resolve  all  the  oblique  forces  into 
two  others,  vertical  and  horizontal. 

The  parallel  lines  a5  i,  a6  t,  &c,  being  drawn  from  the  points 
a5,  a6,  &a,  the  distances  between  which  on  a  scale  of  tons  measure 
the  pressure  of  each  permanent  vertical  force  already  on  the  arch, 
lines  drawn  vertically  from  the  points  of  intersection  t  t  t,  &c,  to 
the  next  horizontal  line  above,  will  also  measure  the  pressure  of 
the  respective  loads,  and  will  therefore  be  the  vertical  components 
of  the  oblique  forces  to  which  they  correspond  ;  and  the  lines 
n  t,  n  t,  &c,  which  complete  the  triangles  of  force  will  measure  the 
horizontal  components,  all  the  vertical  forces  can  therefore  be  dis- 
regarded as  not  entering  into  the  calculation,  being  supplied  by, 
and  made  equal  in  the  force  diagram  to  the  weight  of,  the 
structure. 

The  resistance  of  the  arch  to  be  overcome  is  now  all  horizontal, 
and  equal  to  pressures  n  a4,  n  t,  &c,  acting  at  the  points  x,  x,  x,  in 
the  arch;  and  the  thickness  of  the  abutment- wall  at  the  springing 
should  be  such  that  the  sum  of  its  moments,  that  is,  its  weight 

Q   2 


228 


CUTLER    ON    STABILITY    OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES.        [Selected 


multiplied  by  the  distance  of  its  centre  of  gravity  from  point  F 
(the  thickness  of  the  wall  being  fixed  tentatively),  should  be 
equal  to  the  sum  of  the  moments  of  the  forces  n  a4,  n  t,  &c,  about 
the  springing.  By  these  calculations  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
thickness  of  the  wall  for  the  arch  referred  to  should  have  been 
6  feet  3  inches  at  the  springing. 

It  has  been  previously  stated  that  if  the  curve  of  equilibrium 
for  the  dead  load  of  an  arch  practically  coincided  with  the  neutral 
line,  the  curve  for  the  dead  load  and  live  load  together  would 
generally  fall  within  the  middle  third,  and  a  reference  to  Fig.  10 
will  prove  the  truth  of  this  statement  relative  to  the  structure 
under  examination. 

Having  obtained  the  necessary  horizontal  resistance,  to  maintain 

Fig.  10. 


the  curve  of  equilibrium  in  Fig.  9,  to  which  the  wall  has  been 
proportioned,  and  it  now  only  being  necessary  to  find  the 
alteration  in  the  curve  produced  by  the  addition  of  the  live 
load,  all  the  external  forces  acting  on  the  arch  will  be  known 
quantities ;  the  investigation  can  therefore  be  proceeded  with  in 
the  ordinary  way  instead  of  reversing  it  as  for  Fig.  9.  First  draw 
A  B  horizontal  from  the  crown  of  the  arch,  then  by  plotting  the 
horizontal  and  vertical  distances  of  the  resultant  from  the  abut- 
ment, which  will  be  found  as  before  by  taking  moments  with  the 
vertical  and  horizontal  forces,  and  from  the  point  C  so  found 
plotting  the  total  vertical  load  C  D,  and  from  D  to  E  the  total 
horizontal  force,  a  line  joining  C  E  will  give  the  direction  and 
amount  of  the  resultant,  which  if  produced  to  F,  a  line  joining 


Papers.]         CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES.  229 

F  G  will  give  the  direction  of  the  thrust  at  the  springing.  From 
the  point  F  mark  off  F  H  equal  to  C  E,  and  from  H  draw  HG1; 
then  H  G1  and  G1  F  will  measure  the  forces  at  the  crown  and  the 
springing  respectively,  and  by  setting  off  from  B  —  B  I  equal  to 
H  G1,  and  I  K  equal  and  parallel  to  F  G\  the  force  diagram  can  be 
constructed  in  the  following  manner  :  Draw  the  line  B  L  equal  to 
the  vertical  forces  (that  is,  the  sum  of  the  dead  and  of  the  live 
loads)  and  divide  it  into  parts  a  a1,  a1  a2,  &c,  respectively  equal 
to  the  dead  and  the  live  load  acting  at  the  points  in  the  curve 
z,  z,  z,  &c. ;  next  draw  a  b,  a6  b',  &c,  horizontal,  making  a8  b3  equal 
to  the  sum  of  the  horizontal  forces  (which  will  be  the  same  as 
for  Fig.  9),  and  divide  it  into  parts  L  x,  L  x1,  &c,  each  equal  to  the 
horizontal  forces,  commencing  witli  L  x,  which  should  be  equal 
to  the  horizontal  force  acting  at  Y  ;  then  lines  drawn  vertically 
upwards  will  cut  the  lines  a5  b,  a6  b',  &c,  at  points  b  61,  &c,  lines 
w,  to,  10,  to,  connecting  which  will  give  the  oblique  resultant  pres- 
sures from  the  horizontal  and  the  vertical  components. 

If  the  diagram  is  drawn  correctly  the  point  &3  should  exactly 
coincide  with  the  point  K  ;  lines  I  a1,  I  a2,  &c,  and  I  b  and  1 6l,  &c, 
will  now  give  the  elements  of  the  curve  M  M  M,  which  it  will 
be  seen  just  falls  within  the  middle  third  indicated  by  the  two 
dotted  lines  in  the  arch-ring. 

In  describing  this  curve  as  in  Fig.  8,  when  the  point  Y  is 
reached  care  must  be  taken  to  draw  the  elements  of  the  curve 
between  the  oblique  lines  indicating  the  direction  of  the  pressure, 
which  should  be  made  parallel  to  the  lines  w,  w,  w,  to,  before 
drawing  the  curve. 

In  the  above  example  a  live  load  of  uniform  density  and 
equally  distributed  over  the  whole  of  the  arch  has  been  taken ; 
for  as  the  traffic  traversed  the  arch  longitudinally,  it  would  be 
highly  improbable  that  one  half  of  the  arch  would  have  its  maxi- 
mum live  load  while  the  other  half  would  be  free  from  load,  as 
would  be  the  case  when  a  crowd  of  people  or  a  regiment  of 
soldiers  were  crossing  an  arch  with  its  axis  at  right-angles  with 
the  line  of  traffic. 

Although  by  these  calculations  it  appears  that  the  walls  of  the 
arch  referred  to  should  have  a  thickness  of  6  feet  3  inches  at  the 
springing,  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  arch  would  collapse 
if  they  were  of  lighter  construction. 

Many  arches  have  been  constructed  and  are  still  standing  with- 
out signs  of  failure,  in  which  the  curve  of  equilibrium  is  con- 
siderably outside  the  middle  third,  and  if  these  calculations  had 
been  made,  giving  a  wider  limit  for  the  curve,  it  would  have  been 


230  CUTLER    OX    STABILITY    OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES.         [Selected 

found  that  walls  of  lighter  construction  would  have  balanced  the 
arch ;  but  as  the  limit  taken  in  this  Paper  has  been  proposed  by 
such  an  authority  as  Rankine  there  is  good  reason  for  adopting 
it,  and  as  the  walls  only  just  balance  the  curve  by  keeping  it 
within  that  limit  a  margin  of  safety  is  allowed  for. 

The  stability  of  arches  and  of  the  walls  retaining  them  having 
been  considered  down  to  the  springing-line,  it  now  becomes 
necessary  to  investigate  that  portion  of  the  abutment-wall  below 
the  springing. 

In  arches  such  as  Fig.  9,  where  the  curve  of  equilibrium  is  kept 
in  position  by  the  wall  above  the  springing,  the  thrust  of  the  arch 
at  the  abutment,  together  with  the  resultant  of  the  upper  wall, 
must  be  overcome  by  the  moment  of  the  wall  below  the  springing, 
the  stability  of  which  is  not  augmented  by  the  upper  portion,  as 
that  is  already  in  use  in  balancing  the  curve. 

Fig.  11  represents  an  abutment  wall,  where  no  horizontal  pressure 
is  exerted  against  the  upper  wall.  Through  the  centre  of  gravity 
of  the  wall  draw  A  B,  and  from  point  C,  where  it  intersects  the 
line  of  thrust,  make  C  D  equal  to  the  thrust  of  the  arch,  and 
draw  D  E  vertical  and  equal  to  the  weight  of  the  wall ;  then  F  C 
will  measure  the  direction  and  amount  of  the  resultant.  If  the 
resultant  falls  within  the  base  of  the  wall,  it  will  be  stable,  and  if 
outside,  as  in  Fig.  12,  it  will  cause  the  wall  to  overturn.  To  pre- 
vent putting  too  much  pressure  on  the  outside  of  the  wall  (which 
might  crush  the  material),  and  also  to  ensure  sufficient  stability, 
the  resultant  should  in  all  cases  fall  considerably  within  the  base 
of  the  wall. 

The  lower  portions  of  abutment-walls  of  arches,  such  as  are 
indicated  in  Fig.  9,  where  the  wall  above  the  springing  is  utilized 
in  maintaining  the  curve  of  equilibrium,  can  best  be  treated  by 
moments. 

If,  as  in  this  Paper,  the  walls  are  designed  to  exactly  balance 
the  pressures  of  the  arch  (any  factor  of  safety  being  added  after 
if  required),  the  horizontal  pressure  overcome  by  the  wall,  which 
is  indicated  by  line  t  as  in  the  force  diagram,  will  be  transmitted 
to  point  F,  round  which  moments  have  been  taken;  also  the 
vertical  forces ;  but  as  point  F  will  fall  vertically  over  the  point 
G,  round  which  moments  must  be  taken  for  the  lower  portion  of 
the  wall,  the  vertical  forces  will  produce  no  effect.  Therefore  dis- 
regarding the  weight  of  the  wall  above  F,  the  weight  of  the  wall 
between  F  and  G,  multiplied  by  the  distance  of  its  centre  of 
gravity  from  G,  and  added  to  the  force  D  D  multiplied  by  its 
leverage  G  H  (which  is  drawn   at  right  angles  to  DD  through 


Papers]  CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES. 


231 


point  Gr),  should  be  greater  than  the  horizontal  force  t  as  multiplied 
by  its  leverage  F  G.  Fig.  9  will  be  found  to  amply  satisfy  this 
condition. 

In  arches  such  as  Fig.  5,  where  the  curve  of  equilibrium  (from 
the  vertical  load  alone)  falls  within  the  arch-ring,  any  wall  that 
may  be  above  the  springing  will  have  to  sustain  no  lateral  thrust 
from  the  arch,  and  will  therefore  augment  the  stability  of  the 
lower  portion.  In  such  cases,  instead  of  calculating  only  that 
portion  of  the  wall  below  the  springing  to  resist  the  thrust  of  the 
arch,  the  whole  of  the  wall  from  top  to  bottom  will  enter  into  the 
calculation. 

Throughout  the  various  investigations  in  this  Paper,  no  allow- 


Fig.  11. 


Fig.  12. 


'ance  has  been  made  for  the  cohesive  strength  of  mortar  or  cement, 
which  is  undoubtedly  the  general  rule ;  but  in  comparing  the 
results  obtained  for  the  thickness  of  abutment-walls  by  the  method 
of  Mr.  W.  H.  Barlow,  Past-President,  Inst.  C.E.1  with  the  results 
obtained  by  the  method  advocated  in  this  Paper,  a  very  important 
difference  arises. 

The  portion  of  the  arch  which  falls  within  the  vertical  line 
A  B  produced  to  C,  Fig.  13,  is  assumed  by  Mr.  Barlow  to  form 
part  of  the  abutment,  the  arch  is  therefore  considered  as  springing 
from  D,  and  the  line  of  thrust  tending  to  overturn  the  abutment 


Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  v.  p.  162. 


232 


CUTLER    ON    STABILITY    OF   YOTJSSOIR   ARCHES.  [Selected 


is  indicated  by  E  F,  -which  would  cause  the  abutment  to  be  over- 
thrown immediately  below  point  Gr.  The  graphic  method  used  for 
this  Fig.  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Barlow's  Paper,  and  therefore  will 
not  need  explanation. 

Starting  on  the  same  basis ;  that  is,  considering  the  arch  to 
spring  from  A,  Fig.  14,  and  using  the  method  advocated  by  the 


Fig.  13. 


Fig.  14. 


Author,  it  will  be  seen  that  exactly  the  same  result  is  arrived  at,. 
and  that  the  point  B,  where  the  line  of  thrust  C  D  cuts  the  outer 
side  of  the  abutment,  is  exactly  the  same  distance  from  the  spring- 
ing line  as  point  (x  in  Fig.  13. 

If  the  arch  below  A  is  considered  as  part  of  the  abutment, 
Fig.  15  will  indicate  the  way  in  which  failure  would  take  place; 
but  as  there  is  no  bond  along  the  joint  H  I,  it  will  readily  be  seen 
that  such  a  condition  of  failure  must  entirely  depend  upon  the 


Papers.]  CUTLER   ON   STABILITY    OF   VOUSSOIR   ARCHES. 


233 


cohesive  strength   of  the  mortar  or  cement  firmly  uniting  that 
portion  of  the  arch  to  the  abutment. 

By  disregarding  any  assistance  from  the  mortar  or  cement, 
failure  can  take  place  in  no  other  way  than  that  indicated  in 
Fig.  16 ;  and  instead  of  the  whole  mass  turning  about  one  point 
C,  the  arch  will  turn  about  a  point  D,  and  the  wall  about  a  point 


Fig.  16. 


E,  thus  reducing  the  leverage,  which  will  also  cause  the  moment 
of  resistance  to  be  reduced. 

Eeferring  to  Fig.  17,  which  is  calculated  by  the  method  advo- 
cated by  the  Author,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  line  of  thrust  A  B  of 
the  arch,  without  taking  into  account  the  weight  of  the  abutment, 
falls  within  the  base  of  the  wall,  and  as  the  arch  and  the  loads  are 
the  same  for  Figs.  13,  14,  and  17,  it  might  be  expected  that  the 
lines  of  thrust  in  both  would  be  identical;  but  then  Fig.  17  is 
calculated  without  any  allowance  being  made  for  the  cohesion  of 
the  mortar,  and  therefore  the  calculations  are  made  from  the  true 
spfinging  of  the  arch;  whereas  in  Figs.  13  and  14,  the  arch  is 
assumed  to  spring  from  the  points  D  A,  and  the  cohesion  of  the 
mortar  is  taken  into  consideration  along  the  joint  H  I. 

Although  in  Fig.  17  the  line  of  thrust  falls  within  the  base,  by 
completing  the  investigation  as  in  Fig.  9  it  would  be  found  that 
the  wall  was  not  stable  above  the  springing,  and  would  have 
to  be  increased  in  thickness  to  ensure  equilibrium ;  whereas  by 
Mr.  Barlow's  method  the  structure  apparently  could  be  rendered 
perfectly  stable  by  making  an  addition  to  the  bottom  of  the  wall, 
as  shown  in  Fig;.  13. 


234 


CUTLER   ON   STABILITY   OF  VOUSSOHt   ARCHES.         [Selected 


Throughout  the  investigation  in  Mr.  Barlow's,  Mr.  G.  Snell's,1  and 
other  Papers,  no  allowance  has  been  made  for  the  adhesion  of  the 
mortar  in  the  bed-joints,  such  as  C  D,  Fig.  15 ;  hut  where  the  line 
of  thrust  falls  outside  the  wall,  it  has  been  considered  necessary  to 
so  alter  the  design  as  to  prevent  such  occurring ;  and  why  the 


Fig.  17. 


tenacity  of  the  mortar  should  be   considered   in  one  part   of  a 
structure,  and  not  in  another  becomes  an  important  question. 

In  preparing  this  Paper,  the  Author  has  not  assumed  that 
failure  would  take  place  in  the  manner  shown  in  Fig.  1 6  ;  but  by 
the  careful  investigation  of  a  fallen  structure,  in  which  the  mortar 
inside  the  walls  had  not  set  at  the  time  of  the  failure,  he  has 
ascertained  beyond  a  doubt  that  failure  took  place  as  indicated. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  numerous  diagrams,  from  which 
the  Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  v.  p.  439. 


Papers.]         SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.  235 


(Students'  Paper,  No.  212.) 

"  Experiments  on  the  Eelative  Strength  of  Cast-Iron 
Beams."1 

By  Edward  Carstensen  de  Segundo,  and  Leslie  Stephen" 
Eobinson,  Studs.  Inst.  C.E. 

It  is  evident  that,  after  the  exhaustive  lahours  of  Messrs.  Barlow, 
Hodgkinson,  and  others,  the  effect  of  any  experiments  designed 
only  to  measure  the  strength  of  cast-iron  beams  of  well-known 
sections  would  be  merely  to  multiply  examples  and  not  to  intro- 
duce anything  new.  It  is  hoj)ed  by  the  Authors  that  they  are 
guilty  neither  of  presumption  nor  of  ignorance  of  existing 
authorities  in  instituting  these  experiments,  inasmuch  as  their 
object  is  not  so  much  to  determine  the  absolute  strength  of  the 
pieces,  as  to  compare  the  behaviour  of  the  beams  under  similar 
conditions ;  and  to  determine,  among  other  things,  if  theory  is 
right  in  asserting  that  certain  changes  of  form  of  the  section  can 
be  made  without  affecting  the  strength  or  general  behaviour  of 
the  beam.  For  example,  according  to  theory2  a  beam  of  hollow 
circular  section  ought  to  give  results  identical  with  those  of  a 
beam  having  the  same  sectional  area,  the  form  of  the  section, 
however,  being  arrived  at  by  massing  up  the  metal  of  the  hollow 
cylinder  about  a  diameter  parallel  to  the  line  of  application  of  the 
load.  Also,  the  double  tee-section  (C)  ought  to  behave  in  the 
same  way  as  the  box-section  (E). 

The  different  sections  experimented  upon  were  the  following : — 
The  small  double  tee-section  (C)  is  to  compare  with  the  box- 
section  (E),  the  box-section  being  arrived  at  by  dividing  the  web 
and  placing  one-half  to  form  each  of  the  vertical  sides  of  the  box. 


1  This  Paper  was  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Students  on  the  16th  of  April,  188G. 

-  The  Authors  wish  it  to  he  understood,  that  in  speaking  of  theory,  they  mean 
theory  as  far  as  mathematicians  have  succeeded  in  employing  it.  For  theory  is 
to  practice  what  algebra  is  to  geometry,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  were 
the  theory  of  any  subject  complete,  it  would  be  possible  not  only  to  account  for, 
but  to  calculate  ami  be  ready  for,  every  incident  that  could  occur  in  the  practical 
working  of  that  subject. 


236 


SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.      [Selected 


The  solid  circular  sections  L  and  M  (L  "being  turned  in  order  to 
remove  the  skin)  compare  with — 

(1)  The  hollow  circular  sections  N  and  P  (P  being  turned  in 
order  to  remove  the  skin). 

(2)  The  hollow  cylindrical  section  massed  up  about  a  diameter 
parallel  to  the  line  of  application  of  the  load  (K). 


Fig.  1. 


n 


Upwards  of  sixty  pieces  were  cast  of  the  various  sections  just 
alluded  to,  and  also  ten  test-pieces,  15  inches  long  and  l£  inch  in 
diameter,  for  the  determination  of  the  specific  extension,  specific 
compression,  and  crushing  load  of  the  material.  All  the  pieces 
were,  of  course,  cast  from  the  same  ladle,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  three  36  inches  by  1  inch  by  1  inch  bars,  all  were  cast  on  end.1 


1  This  cast-iron  was  composed  of :— 1  part  Damelton,  5  parts  best  scrap. 


Papers.]      SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.  237 

All  the  beams,  except  those  marked  F  and  S,  were  designed  to 
have  a  sectional  area  of  3  square  inches. 

Ten  beams  were  rectangular  in  section  (A  and  B),  six  were 
tested  as  they  came  from  the  foundry,  and  four  were  planed  all 
over  so  as  to  remove  the  skin. 

Three,  four,  or  five  of  each  of  the  other  sections  were  cast,  and 
one  specimen  of  each  section  was  kept  in  reserve  until  the  Authors 
had  satisfied  themselves  that  any  apparently  abnormal  results 
were  really  due  to  the  form  of  the  bar,  and  not  to  the  quality  of 
the  casting. 

A  special  allowance  was  made  in  the  patterns  of  those  beams 
which  were  to  be  machined  (A,  B,  L,  P),  so  that  ultimately  the 
sectional-area  of  these  beams  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  un- 
machined  ones. 

Two  beams  were  designed  to  have  a  constant  strength  along  the 
whole  span.     This  result  was  arrived  at  in  two  different  ways : — 

(1)  By  varying  the  depth  (H). 

(2)  By  varying  the  breadth  (K). 

The  dimensions  of  the  beam  marked  S  are  reduced  from  those 
of  the  beam  found  practically  to  be  the  strongest  of  the  double 
tees  with  unequal  flanges  by  Mr.  Hodgkinson. 

As  regards  the  theoretical  shape  of  the  double  tee-section,  it 
might  be  interesting  to  point  out  one  or  two  details. 

If  the  assumptions  upon  which  the  beam  theory  is  founded  are 
admitted  as  correct,  it  can  be  shown  mathematically  that,  in  order 
to  dispose  of  the  metal  in  the  best  way,  it  must  be  so  arranged 
that  the  neutral-axis  divides  the  depth  in  the  ratio  of  the 
breaking-stress  in  tension  to  the  breaking-stress  in  compression, 
and  if  the  area  of  the  web  is  neglected,  the  areas  of  the  flanges 
must  also  be  in  this  proportion. 

The  actual  form  of  this  section,  arrived  at  by  purely  theoretical 
investigations,  is  due  to  Professor  Karl  Pearson,  M.A.,  L.L.B.,  of 
University  College.  Mr.  Pearson  finds  that  section  to  be  theoreti- 
cally the  strongest  in  which  not  only  are  the  before-mentioned 
conditions  fulfilled,  but  where  also  the  difference  in  the  thicknesses 
of  the  upper  and  the  lower  flanges  is  as  great  as  possible.  This 
means,  in  mathematical  language,  where  the  tipper  flange  has  a 
finite  and  the  lower  an  infinitely  small  thickness,  or  where  the 
one  has  a  finite  and  the  other  an  infinitely  great  thickness. 

All  the  pieces  to  be  subjected  to  transverse-stress  were  provided 
with  small  faces  at  suitable  points.  These  faces  were  planed  true, 
and  afforded  proper  bearings  for  the  knife-edges  of  the  testing- 
machine. 


238  SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.      [Selected 

The  whole  of  the  experiments  were  made  in  the  Engineering 
Laboratory  of  University  College,  Gower  Street,  with  one  of 
Greenwood  and  Batley's  100,000  lbs.  horizontal  testing-machines.1 
It  is  needless  to  go  into  any  detail  concerning  this  machine,  as  it 
has  now  become  well  known,  although  the  particular  machine 
referred  to  here  was  the  first  of  its  type,  and  was  especially  con- 
structed for  Professor  Alex.  B.  W.  Kennedy,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  by  the 
above-mentioned  firm.  The  load  is  applied  by  a  hydraulic  ram,  and 
balanced  by  a  dead  weight.  The  machine  has  been  frequently 
calibrated  and  found  to  be  correct. 

The  tensile-  and  the  compressive-strains,  as  well  as  a  large 
number  of  deflections,  were  measured  by  an  ingenious  mechanism, 
the  design  of  Professor  Kennedy,  which  has  been  fully  described 
and  illustrated  by  Mr.  P.  V.  Appleby,  Stud.  Inst.  C.E.,  in  a  Paper 
on  "  Experiments  on  iron  and  steel."  2  As  this  gear  is  of  rather 
delicate  construction,  and  could  not  be  left  on  the  piece  until 
fracture  occurred,  and  as  it  was  desirable  to  measure  the  de- 
flection at  the  instant  of  fracture,  another  gear  was  contrived 
by  the  Authors  for  the  purpose.  It  consists  of  a  pointer  A  B 
(Fig.  2),  one  end  A  of  which  is  kept  lightly  pressing  on  the  beam 
at  the  centre  of  the  span ;  the  other  end  B  holds  a  pencil,  which 
rests  on  the  surface  of  a  piece  of  prepared  paper  stretched  on  a 
drum,  the  axis  of  which  is  at  right  angles  to  the  mean  position  of 
the  pointer.  It  has  been  mentioned  before  that  the  pull  of  the 
hydraulic  ram  is  balanced  by  a  dead  weight.  This  weight  is 
attached  to  a  carriage,  which  runs  along  a  steel-yard ;  thus  the 
position  of  the  carriage  at  any  moment  is  proportional  to  the  load, 
and  therefore  to  the  stress  at  that  moment.  A  fine  strong  silk 
cord  was  attached  to  the  carriage,  was  next  passed  round  the  two 
pulleys  E  and  F,  and  was  then  allowed  to  hang  freely,  a  small 
weight  being  attached  to  the  end  by  an  elastic  band,  in  order  to 
secure  as  nearly  uniform  tension  as  possible  throughout  the  whole 
length  of  the  cord.  Both  the  spindles  G  and  S,  as  well  as  the 
pivot  of  the  pointer,  moved  on  centres,  which  were  rigidly  con- 
nected to  the  cross-head  of  the  machine.  Thus,  as  the  load  on  the 
beam  increased,  the  end  B  of  the  pointer  moved  nearly  parallel  to 
the  axis  of  the  drum,  while  the  motion  of  the  carriage  on  the  steel- 
yard caused  the  spindle  G  to  rotate,  which  rotation  was  communi- 
cated to  the  drum  by  means  of  the  silk  band  K.     In  this  way  a 


1  For  description  of  this  machine  see  "  Engineering,"  of  the  26th  of  September, 
1879. 

2  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  lxxiv.  p.  258. 


Papers.]       SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS. 


239 


curve  was  drawn  upon  the  paper  on  the  drum,  more  or  less  steep, 
according  to  the  stiffness  of  the  beam. 

At  the  instant  of  fracture  the  pointer  was  jerked  suddenly  for- 

Fig.  2. 


ward,  showing  a  distinct  break  in  the  curve,  thus  enabling  the 

deflection  at  that  point  to  be  measured  with  considerable  accuracy. 

The  method  adopted  in  testing  the  specimens  was  to  strain  them 


240  SEGTTNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.     [Selected 

between  two  limits  until  the  set  was  practically  eliminated,  and 
then  a  series  of  readings  was  taken  from  which  calculations  were 
made.  The  beams  were  all  tested  on  a  span  of  20  inches,  and  the 
loadjwas  applied  at  the  centre. 

The  results  are  fully  recorded  in  the  Tables  which  accompany 
this  Paper,  and  it  will  only  be  needful  to  touch  upon  one  or  two 
details. 

The  results  of  the  machined  beams  of  rectangular  section  (A 
and  B)  are  confirmatory  of  the  law  that  the  breaking  loads  of 
beams  vary  as  the  square  of  the  depth  and  as  the  breadth.  The 
four  planed-up  specimens  were  2*93  inches  by  0*9  inch,  therefore 
A  was  3*26  times  as  deep  as  broad,  and  B  was  3-26  times  as  broad 
as  deep.     Hence  the  breaking-load  of  A  ought  to  be  equal  to  the 

/q  ,  Of!  A3 

breaking-load  of  B  X  ,  or  A's  breaking-load  ought  to  be 

3*26  times  as  large    as  B's.      The   mean   breaking-load   of  the 

machined  A's  was  4*82  tons,  and  of  the  machined  B's  1*50  ton, 

4*82 

and =  3*21,  which  practically  agrees  with  3-26. 

1  *50 

The  reason  of  this  law  is  readily  understood  on  considering  the 
resisting  efficiency  of  these  sections  as  determined  graphically. 
(For  an  explanation  of  the  graphic  method  see  Appendix.) 

If  a  beam  be  twice  as  deep,  but  of  the  same  breadth,  as  another, 
not  only  is  the  area  of  the  equivalent  figure  doubled,  but  the  arm 
of  the  resisting  couple  is  also  doubled  ;  hence  the  beam  becomes 
2x2  =  4  times  as  strong  when  the  depth  is  doubled  without 
altering  the  breadth.  Now  suppose  the  breadth  to  be  doubled 
while  the  depth  remains  unaltered,  then  the  area  of  the  equivalent 
figure  is  doubled ;  but  the  arm  of  the  resisting  couple  is  not  altered, 
hence  it  becomes  only  twice  as  strong  when  the  breadth  is  doubled. 

The  results  of  the  double  tee  (C)  tested  upright  and  on  its  side 
(D)  show  clearly  the  greater  resisting  efficiency  of  the  material 
when  placed  at  as  great  a  distance  as  possible  from  the  neutral 
axis.  The  double  tee  (C)  broke  under  2*63  times  as  great  a  load 
as  D,  and  was  considerably  stiffer.  It  is  difficult  to  state  what  is 
the  depth,  and  what  the  breadth  of  such  sections  as  these ;  and  it 
seems  not  unreasonable  to  consider  the  mean  breadth  of  the 
equivalent  figure  (see  Appendix),  and  the  arm  of  the  couple  of 
internal  resistance,  as  the  equivalents  of  the  breadth  and  the  depth 
of  the  section.  Unfortunately,  it  is  impossible  to  test  the  accuracy 
of  this  suggestion  by  a  comparison  of  the  results  given  by  these 
particular  pieces,  as  several  of  them  exhibited  very  unsound 
fractures.     But  in  former  experiments  on  the  transverse  strength 


Papers.]        SEGUN.UO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.  241 

of  various  materials  the  Authors  tested  some  beams  of  similar 
sections,  and  an  examination  of  the  results  then  obtained  will 
serve  to  determine  the  point. 

On  a  span  of  20  inches  the  double  tee  broke  at  9,500  lbs.  on  the 
centre  of  the  span,  and  the  double  tee  tested  on  its  side  broke 
"with  a  load  of  2,190  lbs.,  or  about  £-§  of  the  breaking-load  of  the 
first.  On  a  span  of  9  inches  the  respective  breaking-loads  were 
28,440  lbs.  and  5,760  lbs.,  the  double  tee  when  on  its  side  breaking 
with  about  one-fifth  the  load  it  could  bear  when  upright.  These 
results  show  the  double  tee  upright  to  be  nearly  five  times  as 
strong  as  the  double  tee  on  its  side. 

Now  the  mean  breadth  of  the  equivalent  figure  of  the  double 
tee  upright  was  0  ■  5  inch,  and  the  arm  of  the  couple  of  internal 
resistance  was  1  ■  88  inch.  The  respective  values  of  these  quantities 
in  the  other  beam  were  0*5  inch  and  0-84  inch.      Hence  the 

breaking-loads  ought  to  be  in  the  ratio  (  — —  )    X  jr- =  =  5  •  00, 

which  is  practically  correct. 

The  behaviour  of  the  double  tee  (C)  and  the  box-section  (E) 
shows  that,  as  far  as  this  modification  of  the  form  of  the  section 
is  concerned,  the  theory  is  correct  that  the  strength  of  the  beam 
remains  unaltered,  of  course  within  the  limits  of  reasonable  design. 
They  are  equally  stiff,  equally  strong,  yield  the  same  transverse 
modulus,  and  behave  generally  in  the  same  way  under  stress. 

The  results  given  by  the  beams  designed  to  have  constant 
strength  throughout  the  whole  span  (H  and  K),  (1)  by  varying 
the  breadth  only  (K),  (2)  by  varying  the  depth  only  (H),  show 
equal  stiffness  in  both  sections,  and  equal  values  of  the  ratio  of  the 
breaking-load  to  the  weight  of  the  beam. 

Owing  to  practical  considerations,  the  ends  of  the  parabolic 
girder  became  much  stiffer  than  they  ought  to  have  been ;  thus 
these  two  beams  cannot  be  said  to  compare  satisfactorily  one  with 
the  other. 

The  behaviour  of  those  beams  of  circular  section,  and  its  modi- 
fications (L,  M,  N,  P,  E),  may  be  compared  with  considerable 
accuracy,  inasmuch  as  their  sectional-areas  varied  only  to  the 
extent  of  about  3  per  cent,  from  the  area  for  which  they  were 
designed,  namely,  3  square  inches.  For  convenience  in  reference, 
the  solid  circular  section  will  be  denoted  by  M;  solid  circular 
turned,  in  order  to  remove  the  skin,  L;  hollow  circular  section,  N; 
hollow  circular  section  turned,  P ;  hollow  circular  massed  up  about 
a  diameter  parallel  to  the  line  of  application  of  the  load,  R. 

Of  these  five,  M  shows  the  lowest  mean  breaking-load,  but  M 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.J  R 


242  SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.       [Selected 

and  L  are  very  nearly  equal  as  regards  strength.  L  shows  a 
higher  ultimate  deflection,  due  possibly  to  the  fact  of  the  skin 
having  been  removed,  which  circumstance  would  naturally  render 
the  outer  fibre  more  free  to  extend.  The  same  thing  is  noticed  in 
the  behaviour  of  P,  but  it  is  not  so  marked  as  in  the  case  of  L. 

The  stiffness  of  M  and  X  are  about  the  same,  but  the  breaking- 
load  of  N  is  higher  than  that  of  M,  which  is  only  to  be  expected, 
the  metal  being  more  advantageously  placed  in  N  than  in  M. 

L  and  P  show  a  similar  difference,  but  not  quite  so  marked, 
possibly  because  the  ratio  of  the  depth  of  the  skin  to  the  total 
depth  of  the  beam  is  not  so  large  in  P  as  in  L. 

E  has  a  lower  mean  breaking-load  than  either  P  or  N,  the  pro- 
gression being  X  >  P  >  E,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  E  is  decidedly 
stiffer.  This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  of  the  shape  of  the  section 
approaching  somewhat  to  the  form  of  a  double  tee. 

Theoretically,  that  is  so  far  as  theory  is  employed,  N,  P,  and  E, 
ought  to  be  identical  in  their  behaviour.  Practically,  however, 
they  differ  in  strength  and  in  stiffness. 

Calling  the  breaking-load  of  X  unity, 

N  =  1-000 
P  =  0-908 
E=  0-872 

the  breaking-loads  being  in  each  case  the  mean  of  the  results 
given  by  three  beams  exhibiting  sound  fractures. 

The  order  of  stifthess  (calculated  from  the  ultimate  deflection) 
is : — 

E  =  1  •  000 

N  =  0-793 

M  =  0-763 

P  =  0-730 

L  =  0-574 

The  order  of  values  of  ratio 


weight  of  beam 

N  =  l'OOO 
P  =  0-920 
E  =0-850 
L  =  0-695 
M=  0-65-1 


This  shows  that  of  these  five  sections  X  behaves  on  the  whole  in 
the  most  satisfactory  manner,  exhibiting  the  highest  breaking- 


Papers.]        SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.  243 

load,  and  the  highest  value  of  the  ratio  of  the  breaking-load  to 
the  weight  of  beam,  and  being  second  in  order  of  stiffness. 

In  small  structures,  where  the  depth  of  the  skin  bears  an 
appreciable  ratio  to  the  total  thickness  of  the  piece,  the  skin 
materially  enhances  the  ultimate  strength.  The  results  of  the 
pieces  tested  with  and  without  the  skin  are  given  below. 

The  modulus  of  elasticity  in  tension  is  denoted  by  ET,  and  that 
in  compression  by  Ec : — 

E0  j obtained  from  test-pieces )   =  15570000. 

Ex  {     with  the  skin   .      .      .  j  .=  13950000. 

Ec  =  1-116  ET. 

Ec  (obtained     from     turned)   =  13900000. 

ET  j     test-pieces  .      .      .      .  J   =  12470000. 

Ec  =  1-114  ET. 

Ec  with  skin  =  1  -12  Ec  without. 
ET  with  skin  =  1-1187  ET  without. 

It  appears  from  this  that  the  modulus  in  compression  is  about 
12  per  cent,  higher  than  the  modulus  in  tension  under  both  con- 
ditions, that  is,  with  skin  and  without ;  but  that  the  respective 
values  of  Ec  and  ET  are  smaller  when  obtained  from  test-pieces 
with  the  skin  removed. 

It  appears  also  that  the  skin  influences  the  ultimate  transverse 
strength. 

The  mean  breaking-load  of  Au  and  A15  reduced  to  the  mean 
area  of  An  and  A12  is  5*83  tons. 

The  mean  breaking-load  of  Bu  and  B15  reduced  to  the  mean 
area  of  Bn  and  B12  is  1*77  ton. 

The  mean  breaking-load  of  Au  and  A12  =  6*6  tons. 

Do.  do.  Bu  and  B12  =  2-11  tons. 

Batio  of  non-machined  to  machined  in  first  case  =  =  1*  13. 

5-83 

2-11 

Batio  of  non-machined  to  machined  in  second  case  = =  1-19. 

1-77 

It  might  perhaps  be  not  uninteresting  to  consider  the  tendency 
of  the  results  of  these  experiments  with  regard  to  the  ordinarily 
accepted  theory,  by  means  of  which  the  stresses  in  a  beam  are 
commonly  calculated.  The  following  remarks,  it  must  be  under- 
stood, apply  solely  to  cast-iron. 

This  theory  is  based  upon  the  assumption — 

(1)  That  the  stress  varies  directly  as  the  distance  from  the 
neutral-axis. 

R  2 


244  SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.      [Selected 

(2)  That  the  tensile-modulus  is  equal  to  the  corupressive- 
modulus. 

(3)  That  every  plane  section  of  a  beam  remains  a  plane  section 
after  flexure. 

(4)  That  the  shear  is  inappreciable. 

Now  formulae  based  on  these  assumptions  give  values  which 
agree  very  fairly  with  values  obtained  by  experiment,  as  long  as 
the  load  on  the  beam  is  well  within  the  maximum  load  that  the 
piece  will  bear.  "When,  however,  the  load  approaches  the  breaking- 
load,  values  of  the  deflection  obtained  from  the  formulae  are  no 
longer  reliable ;  they  are  smaller  than  those  actually  measured. 
The  ultimate  tensile-stress  on  the  outer  fibre  calculated  from  the 

formula :  bending   moment  =  stress  X  -  (where   I  =  moment   of 

y 

inertia  of  section,  and  y  =  distance  of  the  outer  fibre  from  the 
neutral  axis)  is  invariably  greater  than  the  ultimate  breaking- 
stress  obtained  from  a  bar  pulled  asunder  in  direct  tension. 
(For   convenience   in   future    reference  this  ratio  will  be  called 

breaking-stress  from  beam 
breaking-stress  from  test-piece 

Now,  of  course,  the  question  arises,  does  this  abnormal  stress 
really  exist  in  the  outer  fibre,  or  is  it  only  an  inaccurate  result 
brought  about  by  mathematical  reasoning  based  on  insufficient 
premises  ? 

If  the  assumptions  are  not  of  themselves  sufficiently  incorrect 
to  account  for  so  large  a  discrepancy  as  is  sometimes  exhibited — 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  Authors  are  justified  in  taking  this 
view,  the  cause  of  this  discrepancy  must  be  sought  in  the  existence 
of  other  sources  of  strength,  left  out  of  account  in  the  ordinary 
calculations,  and  in  the  fact  that  the  tensile-modulus  of  cast-iron 
decreases  as  the  stress  increases.  The  tendency  of  these  results  is 
to  show  that  this  discrepancy  decreases  as  the  stiffness  increases, 
that  is,  those  sections  which  were  relatively  the  stiffest  show  the 
least  ratio  6.  Individual  pieces  of  the  same  section  show  also  a 
variation  of  6  in  the  same  direction  as  the  stiffness.  In  Fig.  3 
the  values  of  ratio  9  are  plotted  to  a  horizontal  scale  of  maximum 
deflections,  and  a  line  drawn  through  these  points  so  as  to  take  an 
average,  as  it  were,  is  nearly  straight  and  rises  gradually.  Of 
course  it  is  now  impossible  to  estimate  how  much  of  these  ultimate 
deflections  was  set,  but  still  from  the  general  behaviour  of  the 
pieces,  and  from  the  results  of  other  experiments,  it  appears  highly 
probable  that  the  ratio  0  varies  in  the  same  direction  as  the  relative 
stiffness.      Thus  it  might  be  concluded  that,  collectively,  these 


Papers.]       SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS. 


245 


sources  of  strength,  and  the  relative  stiffness  or  the  deflection,  are 
functionally  connected. 

It  is  certain  that  the  tensile-modulus  of  cast-iron  decreases  as 
the  stress  increases.  This  is  shown  by  the  results  of  Mr.  Hodg- 
kinson's  experiments  on  the  tensile-strength  of  cast-iron,  and  is 
corroborated  in  some  very  careful  determinations  of  the  extension 
of  cast-iron  under  increasing  loads  by  Professor  Kennedy. 

It  is  also  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  a  fibre,  by  virtue  of 
its  being  molecularly  connected  to  less  strained  material,  becomes 
capable  of  enduring  a  greater  stress  without  breaking  than  if  it 
were  pulled  in  direct  tension. 

Fig.  3. 


"     " "   ---T-  !.■;■!                         ;                                                          I        ^V 

'                    il                                                                                              •-     ^ 

-     ■-  ■                  1                                                                                              \.*" 

1           ±±     Z^Z  T       [!                                     -                   -X-             *''-             £ 

it.~.    £r    '     :    i         :               ±              -              : 

i**      :"*£2:           _x                         i       :      :: 

Then  again  the  results  of  experiments,  carried  out  by  Professor 
Kennedy,  with  a  view  to  measure  the  change  of  angle  of  the 
corners  of  a  beam  when  bent,  point  to  the  fact  that  originally 
square  corners  do  not  remain  square  after  flexure.  The  change  of 
angle  is,  however,  not  sufficiently  great  to  account  for  the  dis- 
crepancy. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  ordinary  beam  theory  is  a 
greatly  simplified  form  of  a  complex  problem,  for  it  only  takes 
account  of  the  horizontal  and  the  vertical  components  of  the  many 
stresses  existing  in  a  beam  when  loaded. 

Taking  these  things   into  consideration,  it  may  be  concluded 


246  SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.      [Selected 

that,  at  all  events,  it  is  known  in  what  direction  to  look  for  a 
means  of  clearing  tip  this  difficulty,  but,  at  the  same  time,  the 
means  may  be  of  so  complex  a  character,  involving  the  use  of  so 
high  mathematical  reasoning,  as  to  render  it  doubtful  whether 
the  end  justifies  the  means ;  and  whether  it  would  not  be  more 
advisable,  at  least  for  practical  purposes,  to  introduce  an  empirical 
coefficient  in  the  formulae,  which  would  allow  for  the  stresses 
acting  along  the  principal  axes,  the  change  of  modulus,  &c,  and 
so  give  approximately  correct  values. 

The  Authors  wish  to  express  their  great  indebtedness  to  Pro- 
fessor Kennedy  for  the  interest  manifested  by  him  in  these  experi- 
ments, and  for  many  valuable  suggestions  as  regards  the  method 
of  testing  the  specimens. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  several  diagrams,  from  which  the 
Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


r  Appendix. 


Papers.]        SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS. 


247 


APPENDIX. 


Kesttlts  of  Experiments  on  Test-pieces. 


No. 

Description. 

Area 
in  Square 
Inches. 

Specific 
Extension 
in  l.oooths 
of  an  Inch. 

Specific 
Com- 
pression 
in  l,000ths 
of  an  Inch. 

lbs.  per 
Square  Inch. 

Ec 

lbs.  per 

Square  Inch. 

Breaking- 
Stress." 

Tons  per 
Square 
Inch. 

10 

With  skin   . 

1-112 

0-730 

0  650 

13,700,000 

15,400,000! 

10 

Turned  . 

0-967 

0-78S 

0-687 

12,700,000 

14,500,000     11-82 

11 

With  skin   . 

1-090 

12 

» 

1-090 

0-625 

16,000,000 

11-50 

13 

?> 

1-100 

0-633 

•  • 

15,800,000 

■  ■ 

13 

Turned  . 

0-862 

0-644 

15,530,000 

11-85 

14 

With  skin  . 

1-149 

.. 

|     11-45 

15 

„ 

1  •  150 

0-687 

0-625 

14,550,000 

16,000,000 

15 

Turned  . 

0-790 

0-850 

0-834 

11,700,000 

12,000,000     10-20 

1G 

With  skin  . 

1-120 

V 

ery  unsound 

.. 

17 

,, 

1-160 

•• 

10-60 

18 

»> 

1-149 

0-746 

0-632 

13,400,00015,800,000 

18 

Turned  . 

1-000 

0-760 

0-055 

13,180,00015,200,000 

10-04 

19 

„       •      • 

0-862 

0-770 

13,000,000 

11-40 

Mean  breaking-stress  with    skin 
„  „       without   „ 


-11*  18  tons  per  sq.  in. 
=11-06    „ 


Mean  modulus  in  tension  —  Et    .      .      .  =14,6S0,000  lbs.  per  sq.  inch. 
,,  in  compression  =  Ec        .=15,000,000       ,,  ,, 

Crushing-load  of  struts,  2  inches  long  and  0-86-inch  diameter  = 

68,600  lbs.  =  53  tons  per  square  inch. 
Crushing-load  of  a  similar  piece  =  66,500  lbs.  =  50  tons  per  sq.  in. 

Both  these  pieces  were  cut  from  test-pieces  which  had  been  broken 
in  tension. 


248  SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.      [Selected 


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Papers.]  SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.  249 


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250 


SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.       [Selected 


Graphic  method  of  determining  the  Moment  of  Internal  ^Resistance  of 
any  Choss-section  of  a  Beam. 

(See  B.  Baker  "On  the  Strength  of  Beams,  Columns,  and  Arches.") 

Since  one  moment  can  only  be  completely  balanced  by  another,  the  bending 
moments  of  the  external  forces  acting  on  a  beam  can  only  be  equilibrated  by  a 
moment  of  internal  resistance.  In  the  ordinary  process  of  finding  this  internal 
resistance,  only  the  tensile  and  the  compressive  couple  are  taken  into  account, 
other  sources  of  resistance,  such  as  shear,  being  practically  of  no  consequence, 
and  others  such  as  values  of  principal  stresses  being  very  small  and  difficult  to 
determine.  From  the  fact  that  one  side  of  a  bent  beam  exhibits  tension  and  the 
opposite  side  compression,  it  follows  that  there  must  exist  one  longitudinal 
section  whose  length  remains  unaltered  during  the  process  of  bending.  This 
section  is  known  as  the  neutral  plane.  By  Hooke's  law  the  stress  varies  as  the 
distance  from  the  neutral  plane  ;  thus,  considering  a  cross-section  of  a  beam  and 
a  section  of  a  very  thin  plane  A  B  C  D  (Fig.  4),  so  that  the  stress  may  be 
assumed  to  remain  constant  over  the  area  A  B  C  D,  the  intensity  of  stress  over 
A  B  C  D  will  be  equivalent  to  the  intensity  of  stress  in  the  extreme  outer  plane 


Fig.  4. 


Fig.  5. 


A 

n 

M 

c 

p 

O 

D 


reduced  in  the  ratio  of  the  distance  of  A  B  C  D  from  the  neutral  plane  to  the 
distance  of  the  outer  plane  from  N  P ;  or 

Stress  in  A  B  C  D  =  stress  in  outer  plane  x  rr-Ty 

Consider  now  the  whole  section  divided  into  sections  of  planes,  which,  for  the 
moment,  may  be  considered  to  have  first  an  appreciable  thickness,  and  let 
A  B  C  D  E  (Fig.  5),  be  the  mid  points  of  tbese  sections  of  the  planes  ;  also 
consider  the  planes  to  be  so  thin  that  the  stress  may  be  considered  constant 
over  the  respective  areas. 

Let  S  =  intensity  of  stress  in  the  extreme  outer  rectangle. 

Let  n  —  area  of  extreme  outer  rectangle,  then  the  stress  in  the — 

1st  rectangle      .      .      .      .       =  n  S 

BO 


2nd 


frd 


4th 


5th 


S 


=  n  S 


=  n  S 


=  »S 


A  O 
CO 
AO 
DjO 
AO 
EO 
AO 


Papers.]        SEGUNDO  AND  BOBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS. 


251 


So  the  total  stress  in  that  section — 

=  raS  +  nS*J4J  +  &c. 


-■( 


ra +  „_._  +  „ 


CO 


DO  EO> 

A  0  +  KAO; 


The  expression  put  in  this  form  shows  that  instead  of  reducing  the  stress  in 
the  ratio  of  the  distance  of  the  rectangle  from  N  P,  the  stress  may  be  considered 
as  constant,  and  the  areas  of  these  rectangles  may  be  reduced  in  that  ratio.  If 
that  be  done  a  diagram  is  obtained  such  as  the  following  shaded  one  (Fig.  6), 

where  A  B 


MKOD- 


Now  where  the  planes  become  infinitely  thin  the  diagram  becomes  a  triangle 
(Fig.  7),  and  if  the  area  A  B  0  is  then  multiplied  by  the  intensity  of  stress  in 
the  extreme  outer  fibre,  the  total  effective  stressed  area  of  that  half  of  the 
section  is  obtained. 

If  the  modulus  of  elasticity  in  tension  be  equal  to  the  modulus  in  compression, 
the  compressed  portion  of  the  section  must  contribute  as  much  to  the  internal 

Fig.  7. 


resistance  as  the  extended  portion ;  hence  the  effective  stressed  area  on  each  side 
of  the  N  P  must  be  equal ;  hence  the  N  P  must  pass  through  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  whole  section. 

The  resistance  of  the  stressed  areas  may  be  considered  as  concentrated  at  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  this  shaded  area  (called  the  equivalent  figure) ;  hence  the 
area  of  either  half  of  the  equivalent  figure  multiplied  by  the  distance  between 
the  centres  of  gravity  of  each  half,  and  multiplied  by  the  stress,  constitutes  the 
moment  of  internal  resistance. 

The  quantity  (area  of  half  equivalent  fig.  X  arm)  is  called  Z.  Thus  A  B  0  x 
CP  =  Z. 

Let         b  =  breadth  of  rectangular  section  =  A  B. 
d  =  depth  =  B  K, 

then  A  B  O  =  ™  and  0  P  =  |  d, 


hence 


Z  =  AB  O  x  CP  = 


2bd? 
12 


bjr 
6 


S  Z  being  the  moment  of  internal  resistance  must  be  equal  and  opposite  to  the 


252  SEGUNDO  AND  ROBINSON  ON  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS.       [Selected 

bending  moment,  in  order  that  the  beam  may  be  in  equilibrium  under  the  load. 
Let  M  =  bending  moment ; 

then  M-SZ  must  =  O. 

M  =  SZ 

o       M 

S  =  Z' 

hence,  knowing  M  and  Z  it  is  possible  to  calculate  S,  the  stress  in  the  outer 
fibre. 

Now  the  moment  of  inertia  of  this  section  about  N  0  P  is  1  „  b  d3  which  can  be 

written  -n  b  d2  X  - 
0  'A 

-zd 

2" 

So  M  =  S  I  ~. 

It  can  be  shown  that  the  equation  M  =  S  I  y  holds  for  any  section,  y  being 
the  distance  of  the  outer  fibre  of  the  half  of  the  equivalent  fig.  considered  from 
the  neutral  axis. 

In  symmetrical  sections  it  does  not  matter  whether  the  length  of  the  outer 
fibre  on  the  upper  or  lower  side  of  the  beam  be  taken  to  represent  graphically 
the  stress  in  that  fibre :  but  in  sections  such  as  that  of  a  tee-iron,  the  choice  of 
the  length  of  the  fibre  on  the  extended,  or  on  the  compressed  side  of  the  beam, 
materially  alters  the  appearance  of  the  equivalent  figure,  though  uot  the  value 
of  the  quantity  Z.  An  explanation  of  this  will  be  found  in  Mr.  B.  Baker's 
work  "  On  the  Strength  of  Beams,  Columns,  and  Arches." 


Papers.]  GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OF  TIDAL  RIVERS.        253 


(Paper  No.  2145.) 

"  On  the  Horizontal  Eange  of  Tidal  Eivers,  such  as  the 
Eiver  Orwell,  with  reference  to  Sewage  Discharge." 

By  Charles  Foote  Gowee,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

The  horizontal  range  of  tidal-water  in  rivers  is  a  term  requiring 
some  explanation  as  to  the  precise  meaning  intended  to  be  con- 
veyed. Speaking  generally,  it  may  be  understood  to  refer  to  the 
distance  that  the  tidal-water  travels  up  and  down  a  river.  This 
definition,  however,  is  not  sufficiently  explicit  in  dealing  with 
the  question  of  tidal-action,  and  its  effects  on  sewage  discharge. 

The  distance  traversed  by  a  tidal  stream  may  be  taken  to  mean 
that  which,  from  a  given  point  in  the  river,  or  from  its  point  of 
junction  with  the  sea,  a  floating  body  would  go  up,  or  come  down, 
in  the  strength  of  the  current  on  the  flood-  or  the  ebb-tide.  A 
floating  body,  however,  will  travel  a  less  distance  near  the  side  than 
in  the  centre  of  the  channel ;  and,  in  different  parts  of  the  river,  the 
space  passed  over  will  be  found  to  vary  with  local  peculiarities.  It 
is  necessary,  therefore,  to  be  precise  in  stating  whether  the  distance 
travelled  by  a  floating  body  at  the  centre  or  at  the  side  of  the 
channel  is  to  be  taken ;  or,  whether  the  average  distance  traversed 
by  all  the  particles  of  water,  in  a  given  cross-section  of  the  river, 
is  to  be  accepted  as  the  meaning  of  the  term  horizontal  range; 
and  further,  whether  it  is  at  the  point  of  juncture  with  the  sea,  or 
at  some  point  higher  up  the  river,  that  the  term  is  intended  to 
apply. 

Now  the  maximum  or  minimum  distance,  traversed  by  the 
particles  of  tidal-water  in  a  river-channel,  can  only  be  arrived  at 
by  experiments,  giving  approximate  and  uncertain  results  ;  the 
mean  or  average  distance,  however,  passed  through  by  all  the 
particles  of  water  in  a  given  cross-section  of  the  tideway,  can  be 
ascertained  with  accuracy  by  computation,  and  is  therefore  that 
which  commends  itself  to  the  Author  as  the  proper  interpretation 
of  the  term  horizontal  range,  as  applied  to  tidal  rivers ;  the  maxi- 
mum and  minimum  being  so  much  more  or  less  than  the  mean 
horizontal  range,  as  experiment  may  determine. 

The  horizontal  range  of  the  tide  manifestly  depends  on  the 
vertical  range,  that  is,  upon  the  quantity  of  tidal-water  passing  in, 


254      GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OF  TIDAL  RIVERS.     [Selected 

or  passing  out  to  sea,  with  each  flow  and  ebb.  Thus  if  the  vertical 
range  be  increased  or  diminished,  the  horizontal  range  will  be 
affected  in  like  manner.  The  horizontal  range  also  depends,  to  a 
certain  extent,  upon  the  depth  and  capacity  of  the  channel  below 
low-water  line. 

In  Fig.  1,  the  unshaded  portion,  C2,  shows  the  tidal-capacity  of 
a  river  between  hi°:h-  and  low- water  line,  1,679,000,000  cubic  feet, 


Fig.  1. 


~ ~~"  ~~ ~~ 


Fig. 


and  the  shaded  portion,  C,  shows  the  capacity  of  the  channel  below 
low-water  line,  1,283,000,000  cubic  feet.  On  the  tide  coming 
in,  the  shaded  part,  C,  will  be  pushed  up,  at  high-water,  to  the 
position  C,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2.  E  S  is  the  measure  of  the  hori- 
zontal range,  E  being  the  average  distance  to  which  the  particles 
of  tidal-water,  in  a  given  cross-section  of  the  channel,  will  travel 
from  S.  The  maximum  distance  that  a  floating  body  may  be  sup- 
posed to  travel  in  the  centre,  and  the  minimum  distance,  near  the 
side  of  the  channel,  is  shown  in  plan  at  X  and  Y,  Fig.  3,  where 
the  unshaded  portion,  C2,  represents  the  tidal-water  penetrating 
like  a  wedge  into  the  shaded  part  C,  as  it  pushes  it  up  to  high- 


Papers.]    GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OF  TIDAL  RIVERS.       255 

water  line,  shown  in  Fig.  2.  Between  X  and  Y,  a  mixing  of  tidal- 
and  river- water,  it  will  be  noticed,  must  of  necessity  take  place ; 
while  all  water  below  Y  will  be  sea- water  of  full  strength,  and 
above  X  it  will  be  entirely  fresh.  This  at  least  will  be  the  effect 
produced  by  a  single  tide. 

In  Fig.  4,  the  horizontal  range  at  a  point  S2,  higher  up  than  S, 
is  shown ;  the  unshaded  part  C2  represents  the  tidal-capacity 
of  a  river  above  a  point  S2,  between  high-  and  low-water  line, 
753,000,000  cubic  feet;  the  shaded  part  C  shows  the  capacity, 
above  the  same  point,  of  the  river-channel  below  low-water  line, 
313,000,000  cubic  feet.  In  Fig.  5  are  shown  the  respective  positions 
of  C2,  the  unshaded,  and  C  the  shaded  portion,  at  high- water,  E  S2 


Fig.  4. 


being  the  horizontal  range ;  the  latter,  it  will  be  observed,  is  less 
than  E  S  in  Fig.  2.  This  reduction  of  range  becomes  obviously 
more  marked  as  the  point  S2  is  brought  nearer  to  the  head  of  the 
tidal  column.  The  foregoing  examples,  it  should  be  observed,  are 
computed  approximately  from  cross- sections  of  the  Orwell,  a  river, 
the  tidal  portion  of  which  has  a  somewhat  abrupt  termination 
near  Ipswich,  the  upland  stream  coming  into  it  being  canalized, 
and  comparatively  of  insignificant  quantity.  Where  the  tidal 
portion  of  a  river  comes  to  a  less  abrupt  termination,  a  more  equal 
length  of  horizontal  range  would  prevail  in  all  parts  of  the 
river. 

The  horizontal  ranges  of  the  tide,  at  each  mile  from  the  sea 
upward,  are  shown  in  Fig.  6.  The  cubic  contents,  given  between 
high-  and  low-water  line,  as  well  as  below  low-water  line,  cor- 


256    GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OF  TIDAL  RIVERS.     [Selected 


respond  approximately  to  those  of  the  Orwell ;  and  from  these  the 
horizontal  ranges  are  computed  in  the  following  manner : — 


Total  tidal-water  passing  S,  millions,  cubic  feet  . 


Space  this  will  occupy  between  each  cross- 
section  1  mile  apart 


1,679 


To  make  up  total  . 
Space  due  to  90  =  0-29 


mile 


1,589  =  4       miles. 
90  =  0-29    „ 


1,679  =  4-29    „ 


In  working  ont  the  above  computation,  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  eifect  of  upland-water  has  been  disregarded,  and  consequently 


.o  -a „ 

.-   -ll-SO- 


Fig.  6. 


N   B     THE    CO*TEHTS    flf*E    GIVE* 
/«   MiLUOfS   Of   CUB'C   f£E7 


Jrs     /4-0       Q     ISO       ^    162      ,^     111       |(o    m       J       18'       ;c>    >64-     .'^     189      \        135     \e* 


5'5 


the  mean  distance  travelled  by  the  tidal-water  on  the  flood  will 
be  exactly  equal  to  that  on  the  ebb-tide,  because  the  same  volume 
of  water  that  passes  up  on  the  flood,  at  any  point,  must  also  pass 
down  on  the  ebb  to  the  same  low-water  line.  The  horizontal 
ranges  of  the  tide,  as  shown  in  Fig.  6  at  each  mile  upwards  from 
the  sea,  are  all  worked  out  as  the  foregoing  example.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  observe  that  they  will  be  affected  in  various  ways,  by 
dredging  and  by  other  operations  that  enlarge  or  diminish  the  tidal- 
capacity  of  the  river,  or  the  depth  and  capacity  of  the  channel 
below  low-water  line. 

Some  experiments  tried  by  the  Author,  with  a  model  trough, 
made  to  such  a  scale  that  1  cubic  inch  corresponded  to  10,000,000 


Papers.]        GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OP  TIDAL  RIVERS.  257 

cubic  feet  of  the  diagram,  Fig.  6,  showed,  that  floats  went  up  in 
the  centre  of  the  trough  from  30  to  60  per  cent,  greater  distances 
than  the  computed  horizontal  ranges  there  given ;  that  they 
travelled  pretty  nearly  the  same  distance  whether  the  tidal-water 
was  admitted  quickly  or  slowly ;  and,  as  was  to  he  expected,  that 
the  length  of  tidal-range  fell  off  towards  the  upper  end  of  the 
tiough.  A  float  put  in  at  S  would  go  up  nearly  to  the  7th  mile, 
whether  the  tidal-water  was  admitted  in  sixty  seconds  or  one 
hundred  and  twenty  seconds — provided,  of  course,  that  the  same 
volume  of  water  passed  up. 

It  will  be  seen  from  Fig.  6,  that  the  space  below  low-water  line, 
between  the  9th  and  10th  mile,  is  equal  to  37,000,000  cubic  feet. 
Supposing,  therefore,  this  quantity  to  represent  upland-water, 
let  in  at  the  head  of  the  river,  it  is  obvious  that  it  will  occupy  an 
equal  space,  and  must  cause  an  equal  volume  to  flow  into  the  next 
space  below  it,  between  the  8th  and  9th  mile,  and  so  on  till  the 
sea  is  reached.  The  spaces  shaded  in  opposite  directions,  below 
low-water  line,  in  Fig.  6,  thirty-five  in  number,  are  each  equal  to 
37,000,000  cubic  feet ;  and  as  the  river  widens  and  deepens,  each 
succeeding  space  downwards  represents  a  less  distance  passed 
through  by  the  upland-water. 

If,  therefore,  on  each  tide,  37,000,000  cubic  feet  be  admitted  at 
the  head  of  the  river,  the  water  let  in  on  the  first  tide  will,  at  the 
thirty-fifth  tide,  be  pushed  just  far  enough  down  the  channel  to 
reach  the  sea  at  the  period  of  low- water,  while  at  high- water  it 
will  be  pushed  back  by  the  flood-tide  into  the  position  shown  by 
the  shaded  part  C,  Fig.  2,  or,  more  correctly,  by  x  and  y  in  Fig.  3. 

In  this  way,  it  will  be  understood,  the  river-water  oscillates 
backwards  and  forwards  with  each  flow  and  ebb,  pushing  out  to 
sea  37,000,000  cubic  feet  at  each  pulsation.  The  effect  of  the 
upland-water  upon  the  river,  in  this  condition  of  things,  is  to 
raise  slightly  the  low-water  line,  and  thereby  to  diminish  some- 
what the  horizontal  range  of  the  tide. 

This  action  of  the  tide  and  of  the  upland- water  is  not,  however, 
strictly  in  accordance  with  fact.  It  is  true  only  on  the  assumption 
that  no  penetration  or  mixing  takes  place  between  the  sea-water 
and  the  river-water,  and  that  a  vertical  plane  of  demarcation  is  at 
all  times  maintained  between  them.  If  this  assumption  were 
correct,  the  tidal-water  would  simply  act  as  a  solid  piston  to  push 
the  water  up  and  down  in  the  river,  at  each  pulsation,  with  the 
monotony  of  a  machine  ;  but  this  is  not  the  case. 

On  admitting  a  small  quantity  of  coloured  water  into  the  model 
trough,  already  mentioned,  on  the  flood  or  ebb,  it  was  noticed  that 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  S 


258  GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OF  TIDAL  RIVERS.      [Selected 

it  penetrated  into  the  uncoloured,  or  plain,  water,  in  a  long  tongue, 
to  a  considerable  distance  in  the  centre  of  the  trough,  showing 
that  sea-water  may,  in  a  similar  manner,  pass  up  into  a  river  in 
the  centre  of  the  current,  to  a  much  greater  distance  than  would 
otherwise  be  supposed ;  and  also  that  the  passage  of  land-water 
out  to  sea  may  be  accelerated,  in  some  measure,  by  being  drawn 
into  the  central  current  of  the  outgoing  tide.  It  was  further 
observed,  on  filling  the  model  trough  with  coloured  water  up  to 
low-water  line,  corresponding  with  the  shaded  part  of  the  diagram, 
Fig.  6,  and  admitting  plain  water  in  quantity  to  correspond  with 
the  unshaded  part,  that  the  uncoloured  water  from  the  sea  (a  box 
into  which  water  was  admitted  or  withdrawn  by  two  taps),  flowed 
up,  in  a  long  tongue  or  wedge  form,  in  the  centre  of  the  trough,  at 
the  same  time  driving  the  coloured  water  forward  to  the  head  of 
the  trough  to  high-water  line,  as  shown  in  Figs.  2  and  3  by  the 
shaded  part  C.  On  the  ebb  (when  the  water  was  withdrawn  by 
the  other  tap)  the  opposite  action  took  place,  the  coloured  water 
penetrating  downwards,  in  a  tongue-like  form,  into  the  uncoloured 
water,  a  portion  of  the  former  passing  out  to  sea  (into  the  box)  as 
it  reached  low-water  line.  On  the  experiment  being  repeated 
several  times,  it  was  noticed  that  the  colour  was  gradually  dis- 
appearing from  the  water  in  the  trough,  and  that  by  the  twenty- 
fifth  tide  it  was  hardly  distinguishable.  Judging  from  these 
experiments,  about  4  per  cent,  of  the  coloured  water  was  removed 
from  the  trough  on  each  tide,  its  place  being  filled  by  uncoloured 
water;  that  is  to  say,  river- water  was  exchanged  for  sea-water, 
at  the  rate  of  one  twenty-fifth  part  with  each  tide.  On  admitting 
upland-water,  uncoloured,  at  the  head  of  the  trough,  it  was  found 
that  the  coloured  water  was  accelerated  in  its  passage  seaward  in 
proportion  to  the  cpiantity  admitted  at  the  upper  end. 

The  movements  of  floats,  when  placed  in  the  centre  of  a  tideway, 
have  already  been  remarked  upon.  They  pass  up  a  certain 
distance  with  the  flood-tide,  and  down  again  with  the  ebb,  but 
make  no  advance  seawards,  except  when  assisted  by  the  down- 
ward preponderance  of  land-water.  The  movements  of  sub- 
stances that  rest  lightly  on  the  bottom  are  similar  to  those  of 
floating  bodies  at  the  surface,  only  much  more  restricted,  the 
distances  they  travel  upwards  and  downwards,  by  rolling  or 
sliding,  being  but  a  small  fraction  of  that  which  a  float  would 
pass  over.  Like  floating  bodies,  these  heavier  substances  seem  to 
make  no  greater  progress  on  the  ebb-  than  on  the  flood-tide,  and 
it  is  only  by  the  aid  of  a  considerable  cpuantity  of  upland-water 
that  they  will  travel  towards   the  sea ;   their  movements  may, 


Papers.]        GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OF  TIDAL  RIVERS.  259 

however,  be  influenced  a  good  deal  by  chance  circumstances. 
Thus,  when  stirred  by  the  passage  of  a  steamer,  or  by  other  dis- 
turbance of  the  water,  they  will  be  carried  along  in  whichever 
direction  the  stream  may  be  running  at  the  time,  to  be  deposited 
again  as  the  tide  ceases. 

With  reference  to  the  discharge  of  sewage  into  a  tidal  river,  it  is 
necessary  to  regard  it  as  subdivided,  roughly,  into  three  distinct 
divisions.  The  first  division  consists  of  the  floating  debris,  the 
most  offensive  part  of  sewage,  which  is  carried  upwards  and  down- 
wards by  the  tide,  and  which,  unless  its  downward  movement  is 
strongly  influenced  by  flood-water,  never  leaves  the  river,  but 
sooner  or  later  is  stranded,  to  decompose  gradually  upon  the 
exposed  mudbanks  and  foreshore. 

The  second  division  consists  of  the  heavier  mineral  matter, 
mixed  with  some  portion  of  putrescible  filth,  which  sinks  to  the 
bottom,  and  is  only  moved  slowly  up  and  down  to  a  comparatively 
short  distance  by  the  tide,  until  it  finally  becomes  deposited,  form- 
ing shoals  of  more  or  less  offensive  mud,  in  those  places  where  the 
velocity  of  the  current  is  not  sufficient  to  keep  it  in  motion. 

The  third  division  consists  of  the  soluble  portion  of  the  sewage, 
which  becomes  mixed  with  the  water  into  which  it  is  discharged, 
and  the  action  of  which,  in  a  tideway,  is  totally  different  from  that 
of  the  floating  debris,  or  of  the  heavier  matter  which  sinks  to  the 
bottom.  It  acts  in  a  similar  manner  to  the  coloured  water  referred 
to  in  the  trough  experiments,  mixing  with  the  incoming  or  out- 
going tide  ;  a  portion  of  it  is  carried  down  with  each  ebb,  and  it 
would,  after  a  time,  but  for  the  admission  of  fresh  sewage,  entirely 
disappear  from  the  river. 

To  what  extent  the  analogy  between  the  above  experiments,  with 
a  trough  10  feet  long,  and  the  action  of  a  tidal  river,  of  as  many 
miles,  in  renovating  itself  by  an  interchange  of  fresh  sea-water 
Avith  every  tide,  may  be  borne  out,  it  is  not  possible  to  say ;  but, 
that  a  certain  amount  of  exchange  between  the  sea-  and  the  river- 
water  does  take  place  at  each  tide,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  even  at 
a  time  when  no  upland-water  is  passing  through.  The  salt-test 
adopted  by  Mr.  E.  W.  P.  Birch,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  for  determining  "  the 
passage  of  Upland  Water  through  a  Tidal  Estuary,"1  might,  per- 
haps, be  of  use  in  throwing  more  light  on  this  point ;  but  whatever 
the  exact  effect  of  tidal-action  may  be  in  removing  the  soluble  part, 
forming  the  third  division  of  the  sewage,  it  has  no  effect  in  remov- 
ing the  floating  substances,  nor  the  heavier  matter,  forming  the 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  Isxviii.  p.  212. 

s  2 


260     GOWER  ON  THE  HORIZONTAL  RANGE  OF  TIDAL  RIVERS.    [Selected 

first  and  second  divisions,  except  when  assisted  by  upland -water 
passing  out  to  sea.  In  the  absence  of  upland-water,  these  latter, 
the  floating  debris  and  that  which  sinks,  remain  in  the  river  for  an 
indefinite  period,  a  source  of  nuisance  and  disgust. 

In  order,  with  reference  to  the  discharge  of  sewage  into  a  tidal 
river,  to  maintain  the  latter  in  such  a  condition  as  to  be,  at  least, 
inoffensive  to  the  senses,  the  Author  is  of  opinion  that  all  floating 
debris,  mineral  and  putrescible  matter,  should  be  first  separated 
from  the  sewage,  by  screening  and  deposition,  before  it  is  allowed 
to  be  discharged,  and  that  where  the  quantity  to  be  admitted  into 
the  river  on  any  one  tide  exceeds,  say,  1  per  cent,  of  the  tidal- 
volume  at  the  point  of  discharge,  it  should  also  be  clarified  by 
land-filtration,  chemical,  or  other  appropriate  treatment,  as  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  may  require ;  and  further  that  the  point 
of  discharge  shall  be  such  that  the  horizontal  range  of  the  tide 
shall  not  carry  the  sewage  effluent  upwards  beyond  a  certain  limit, 
to  be  defined  in  each  particular  instance. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  several  tracings,  from  which  the 
Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


Papers.]        FIDLER   ON  PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.  2G1 


{Paper  No.  2170.) 

"  On  the  Practical  Strength  of  Columns,  and  of  Braced 
Stmts." 

By  Thoiias  Claxton  Fidler,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

It  is  known  experimentally  that  the  strength  of  iron  and  of  steel 
columns  will  sometimes  be  greatly  affected  by  apparently  minute 
changes  in  the  conditions  of  the  bar  or  of  the  experiment.  This 
has  been  clearly  illustrated  by  certain  tests  recently  made  in 
America,  and  particularly  those  recorded  by  Mr.  James  Christie,1 
which  have  shown  that  struts  with  hinged  ends,  fixed  ends,  and 
flat  ends,  will  sometimes  behave  in  a  very  unexpected  manner,  and 
that  in  practice  their  strength  is  influenced  by  causes  which  have 
commonly  been  regarded  as  of  no  appreciable  importance. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  in  making  use  of  those  well-known 
empirical  formulas  which  have  been  constructed  to  represent  the 
average  results  of  experiments,  an  important  question  will  arise, 
whether  the  actual  conditions  of  the  strut  in  the  contemplated 
structure  will  be  exactly  the  same  as  in  the  experiments  relied  on 
— and  if  not,  what  will  be  the  effect  of  such  variations  as  may  be 
expected  to  take  place  in  those  conditions. 

In  addition  to  this  uncertainty,  it  must  also  be  remarked  that 
some  further  information  is  needed  as  to  the  distribution  of  the 
direct  and  the  shearing  stresses  in  different  parts  of  the  column. 
Thus,  in  the  case  of  the  bridge  recently  proposed  for  crossing  the 
St.  Lawrence  at  Quebec,  some  of  the  compression  members  of  the 
web-bracing  were  formed  of  four  steel  columns  180  feet  in  height, 
and  united  by  cross-bracing  ;  and  in  this  case  it  was  necessary  to 
estimate  by  some  process  what  shearing-stress  should  be  provided 
for  in  the  secondary  bracing  of  these  large  struts. 

The  existing  lack  of  information  on  these  questions  points  to 
the  necessity  for  further  experiments,  and  also  for  further  mathe- 
matical investigation ;  but,  until  these  are  forthcoming,  practical 
men  are  obliged  to  make  the  best  use  of  what  they  have,  and  it  is 


1  Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  1SS1.     April  and 
September. 


0 

262  FIDLEK   OX   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF  COLUMNS.      [Selected 

in  this  sense  that  the  following  observations  are  submitted  as  an 
endeavour  to  find  a  reasonable  answer  to  some  of  these  questions. 

1.  The  theory  of  Euler  proceeds  upon  the  assumption  of  a  purely 
ideal  column,  i.e.,  a  column  consisting  of  a  uniformly  elastic 
material,  or  one  in  which  the  modulus  of  elasticity  is  the  same  for 
each  longitudinal  fibre,  so  that  in  the  straight  column  the  resultant 
line  of  the  elastic  resistances  (or  reactions)  coincides  with  the  axis 
of  the  column  and  with  the  line  of  pressure  of  the  load ;  and  if 
this  hypothesis  be  true,  the  deductions  of  the  theory  in  regard 
to  the  failure  of  long  columns  by  transverse  flexure  must  be 
correct. 

2.  These  deductions,  which  are  certainly  at  variance  with  the 
results  of  experiment,  depend  entirely  upon  the  hypothesis  above 
mentioned  :  and  if  the  modulus  of  elasticity  varies  to  a  very  small 
extent  in  different  parts  of  the  column,  or  if,  in  a  braced  strut, 
the  modulus  is  slightly  different  in  the  different  legs  of  the  strut, 
it  may  be  shown  that  the  theoretical  strength  will  be  greatly 
reduced.  Thus,  for  example,  in  a  solid  cylindrical  column,  the 
line  of  the  elastic  resultant  may  have  an  eccentricity  equal  to 
-j-^o  of  the  diameter,  if  the  modulus  is  supposed  to  vary  by 
2  per  cent,  above  and  below  its  mean  value  ;  and  the  theoretical 
strength  would  then  be  reduced  (in  a  column  of  certain  propor- 
tions) by  as  much  as  26  per  cent.  A  greater  variation  of  modulus 
does  not  appear  to  produce  a  proportionately  greater  reduction  of 
strength  ;  but  if  the  variation  of  modulus  and  the  eccentricity  of 
elastic  resistance  are  three  times  as  great  as  above  supposed,  the 
strength  of  the  column  will  be  reduced  by  about  36  per  cent. 

3.  The  consequences  of  such  a  variation  of  modulus  may  be 
traced  out  by  means  of  the  graphic  theory  of  deflection,  recentlj- 
desciibed  by  the  Author  in  a  Paper  on  "Continuous  Girder 
Bridges,1  and  its  effect  will  be  found  to  depend  very  greatly  upon 
the  ratio  of  length  to  diameter  of  column.  In  very  long  columns, 
or  in  very  short  ones,  the  effect  of  any  inequality  of  modulus  is 
almost  imperceptible,  but  its  greatest  effect  takes  place  in  columns 
of  the  most  usual  proportions. 

4.  \\  hen  the  consequences  of  such  a  small  variation  of  modulus 
are  followed  out,  it  appears  that  the  theoretical  deflection,  unlike 
that  of  the  ideal  column,  will  be  in  accordance  with  experiment ; 
while  the  observed  breaking  weight  of  columns  of  different 
materials  and  proportions  will  agree  very  well  with  theory,  and 
will  be  consistent  with  the  natural  supposition  that  the  ultimate 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lxxiv.  p.  196. 


Tapers.]        FIDLER    ON   PRACTICAL    STRENGTH    OF   COLUMNS. 


2G< 


Fig.  1. 


strength  or  ultimate  stress  in  any  given  material  depends  only 
upon  the  material,  and  not  on  the  shape  of  the  column. 

5.  It  will  follow  that  the  strength  of  a  column  depends,  not 
wholly  upon  the  ultimate  strength  of  the  material,  nor  wholly 
upon,  its  modulus  of  elasticity,  as  implied  by  Euler's  theory,  but 
upon  both  these  quantities  taken  together,  and  also  upon  the 
extent  of  local  variations  of  modulus. 

The  Ideal  Column. — When  a  column  with  rounded  ends  is  bent 
to  a  moderate  deflection  under  the  action  of  a 
vertical  load  P,  as  shown  in  Fig.  1,  the  conditions 
which  govern  the  equilibrium  of  the  opposed  forces, 
may  be  found  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  elastic  de- 
flection, and  thus  the  value  of  the  equilibrated  load 
P  may  be  determined.  The  action  of  the  load 
m:ght  in  fact  be  replaced  by  the  tension  of  a  string 
AC,  and  the  load  P  can  be  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  tension  which  would  be  exerted  upon  the 
string  by  the  resilient  force  (P)  of  the  bow,  acting 
in  the  line  A  C.  It  may  readily  be  shown,  by 
the  graphic  theorem  of  deflection,  that  the  force 
P,  or  tension  of  the  string,  is  practically  a 
constant  quantity  independent  of  the  extent  of  de- 
flection.1 

Let  the  curve  ABC  represent  the  axis  of  the 
colimn  (originally  straight) ;  then  the  bending 
moment  at  any  point,  G,  will  be  equal  to  the 
ordinate  G  K  multiplied  by  the  force  P,  or  by  the 
equilibrated  load.  The  curve  ABC  may  therefore 
be  regarded  as  a  diagram  of  bending  moments ;  and  the  peculiar 
feature  of  the  bent  column  is  that  the  curve  of  deflection  and  the 
curve  of  moments  must  be  identical.  The  ordinate  BD  =  8  is 
not  only  a  measure  of  the  deflection,  but  also  of  the  bending 
moments  producing  that  deflection. 

The  graphic  theorem,  above  referred  to,  shows  that  in  any  beam 
of  uniform  section,  the  curve  of  deflection  may  be  constructed  from 
the  diagram  of  moments,  in  the  same  way  that  the  curve  of 
moments  is  constructed  from  a  diagram  of  the  distributed  load  ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  slope  of  the  beam  will  be  proportional  to  the 


1  This  may  not  perhaps  be  accurately  true  if  the  column  is  regarded  as  a 
perfectly  elastic  spring,  which  is  capable  of  being  bent  double  or  tied  in  a  knot 
without  impairing  its  elasticity  ;  but  it  is  practically  true  for  the  deflection  of 
ordinary  columns  within  the  elastic  limit. 


264  FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.       [Selected 

area  of  the  diagram  of  moments,  and  the  deflection  will  he  propor- 
tional to  the  moment  of  that  area. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  curve  of  the  hent  column  must 
have  the  following  properties,  viz.,  if  a  tangent  F  B  N  he  drawn 
(parallel  to  the  chord  AC),  the  inclination  of  the  curve  at  any 
point  G,  must  be  proportional  to  the  area  BDGK,  while  the  deflec- 
tion N  G  must  he  proportional  to  the  moment  of  that  area  about 
G  K  as  an  axis.  By  the  same  rule  the  inclination  of  the  tangent 
A  T  must  he  proportional  to  the  area  A  B  D,  and  the  deflection 
FA=  BD  =  8  must  be  proportional  to  the  moment  of  that  area 
about  the  point  A,  while  the  sub-tangent  F  T  must  consequently 
represent  the  vertical  distance  from  A  to  the  centre  of  gravity  of 
the  area  ABD.  These  equations  indicate  that  the  required  curze 
is  the  "  curve  of  sines  "  whose  properties  are  given  for  reference  in 
the  Appendix.  But  without  examining  the  precise  nature  of  tiie 
curve,  it  is  evident  that  if  the  length  A  C  is  regarded  as  being 
sensibly  constant,  the  area  of  the  diagram  and  its  moment  about  A 
will  be  simply  proportional  to  the  central  ordinate  B  D  =  S,  repre- 
senting the  maximum  bending  moment  B8.  But  8  is  also  the 
elastic  deflection,  and  therefore  8  cc  B  8,  which  shows  at  once  that  B 
is  a  constant  quantity  independent  of  the  deflection. 

The  exact  value  of  B  is  readily  found  by  measxirement  of  the 
curve,  and  it  is  shown  in  the  Appendix  that  if  I  denotes  the  length 

of  the  chord  A  C,  the  length  of  the  subtangent  F  T  will  be  Jc  =  -  ; 

•K 

18 
while  the  area  of  the  half  segment  ABD   will  be  equal  to  — . 

IT 

Therefore  at  the  point  A,  the  moment  of  the  diagram  of  bending 
moments  will  be  B  8  — - ;    and  the  elastic  deflection  B  D  will  be 


It 


7?  8      Z2 
expressed  by  8  =  -=-^_  •  — ,  in  which  I  is  the  moment  of  inertia. 

follows,  therefore,  that  the  equilibrated  load,  or  the  resilient  force 
B,  will  be 

B  =  EI  •  j2 (1) 

Dividing  by  the  sectional  area  of  the  column,  the  resilient 
force  (or  tension  of  the  string)  may  be  expressed  in  lbs.  per 
square  inch  of  the  column's  section,  by 

,  =  -*-  =  «**.£ (la) 

area  V 

in  which  r  denotes  the  radius  of  gyration.     These  expressions  are 


Tapers.]        FIDLER   ON   PEACTICAL   STRENGTH    OF   COLUMNS.  265 

in  accordance  with  Eider's  theory ;  and  the  following  propositions 
may  be  deduced  in  regard  to  the  behaviour  of  the  ideal  column. 

1st.  Using  P  to  denote  any  arbitrary  load,  it  will  follow  that  so 
long  as  the  load  P  is  less  than  B,  there  will  be  no  deflection  of 
the  column  whatever ;  and  if  such  a  deflection  is  forcibly  produced 
by  applying  a  lateral  pressure  at  the  centre,  the  bow  will  always 
straighten  itself  again  as  soon  as  the  pressure  is  removed,  and  will 
lift  the  incumbent  load  by  reason  of  the  excess  of  B  over  P. 

2nd.  If  the  load  P  is  now  increased  until  it  is  exactly  equal  to  B, 
the  behaviour  of  the  column  will  be  different ;  the  load  itself  will 
not  produce  any  deflection,  but  the  smallest  conceivable  force 
applied  laterally  at  the  centre  will  be  sufficient  to  bend  it  to  any 
required  extent ;  and  if  the  column  is  so  bent  and  the  lateral 
pressure  removed,  it  will  not  now  recover  itself  as  heretofore, 
neither  will  it  yield  any  further,  but  it  will  remain  supporting 
the  load  in  any  bent  position  in  which  it  may  be  placed.  In 
fact,  the  column  will  be  in  a  condition  of  indifferent  equilibrium,1 
and  will  carry  the  load  just  as  well  in  one  position  as  in  another. 

These  deductions  may  easily  be  verified  by  experiment,  if  only 
sufficient  care  is  taken  to  conform  to  the  conditions  of  an  ideal 
column  by  first  straightening  or  rather  adjusting  the  bar  so 
that  the  line  of  resistance  coincides  exactly  with  the  line^  of 
2>ressure ;  but  unless  this  is  done  the  bar  will  not  behave  in  the 
manner  described,  even  though  it  may  appear  to  be  perfectly 
straight  and  accurately  centred. 

3rd.  If  the  load  P  is  now  increased  by  the  smallest  amount,  the 
excess  of  P  over  B  will  place  the  column  at  once  in  a  condition 
of  unstable  equilibrium,  and  it  will  either  be  broken  or  bent 
double ;  and  therefore  the  resilient  force  B  is  the  measure  of  the 
breaking  load.  It  follows,  of  course,  that  the  strength  of  a  long 
(ideal)  column  is  independent  of  the  ultimate  strength  of  the 
material,  and  depends  only  upon  the  modulus  of  elasticity  E.  Thus 
a  long  column  of  the  strongest  steel  would  be  little  or  no  stronger 
than  a  similar  column  of  wrought  iron,  because  the  modulus  of 
elasticity  is  nearly  the  same  in  both  materials ;  and  however 
great  the  ultimate  resistance  of  the  steel  may  be,  the  crushing 
stress  will  inevitably  be  reached  at  some  period  of  the  increasing 
bending  strain,  if  only  the  load  is  sufficient  to  overcome  the 
resilient  force  of  the  bow,  and  to  set  up  the  ever-increasing 
deflection.  

1  It  may  be  remarked  that  when  the  deflection  is  carried  so  far  as  to  sensibly 
shorten  the  chord  A  C,  the  column  passes  into  a  condition  of  unstable  equilibrium, 
because  practically  the  limit  of  elasticity  will  then  be  exceeded. 


266 


FIDLER   OX   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 


The  only  difference  that  may  be  theoretically  expected  between 
the  two  is  that  the  steel  column  would  take  a  greater  ultimate 
deflection  than  the  wrought-iron  column,  before  it  became  actually 
crushed  or  crippled  on  the  concave  side ;  but  the  breaking  weight 
would  be  the  same  for  both. 

4th.  If,  however,  the  column  is  a  very  short  one,  or  if  the  ratio 
of  length  to  radius  of  gyration  is  less  than  a  certain  quantity, 
the  column  will  not  be  bent  at  all,  as  the  load  required  to  bend 
it  would  be  greater  than  the  load  which  would  crush  it.  Within 
these  limits  the  strength  of  the  column  would  of  course  be  deter- 
mined by  the  ultimate  strength  of  the  material. 

These  theoretical  results  for  the  ideal  column  may  be  illustrated 
by  a  diagram,  such  as  ABC,  Fig.  2.     In  this  Fig.,  as  in  all  the 

Fig.  2. 


following   diagrams,  the   abscissas   represent   the   values   of  the 

ratio  -,  while  the  ordinates  give  the  corresponding  values  of  the 

breaking-weight  in  lbs.  per  square  inch.     The  curve  B  C  denotes 

the  value  of  the  resilient  force  p  =  tt2  E  y,  and  is  intersected  at  B 

by  the  straight  line  ABD,  representing  the  constant  value  of  /, 
or  the  ultimate  crushing  strength.  If  it  is  assumed  that  the 
crushing-stress  will  always  have  the  same  value  (on  the  concave 
side),  then  G  H  denotes  the  stress  due  to  the  direct  load,  and 
H  E.  the  stress  due  to  the  ultimate  deflection  or  ultimate  bending 
moment. 

TJie  Practical  Deflection  of  Columns. — The  ultimate  strength  of 
a  column  must  certainly  depend  in  large  measure  upon  its  deflec- 
tion ;  but,  according  to  the  propositions  just  stated,  there  is  no 
assignable  value  for  the  elastic  deflection  of  a  column  under  any 
given  load.  If  the  load  P  is  less  than  the  constant  quantity  B, 
there  is  no  deflection  at  all ;  and  if  the  load  is  equal  to  or  greater 
than  R,  the  deflection  has  practically  no  limits. 


Tapers.]       FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS. 


2G7 


Fig.  3. 


These  propositions,  however,  will  only  hold  good  so  long  as  the 
conditions  are  precisely  those  which  are  assumed  in  the  ideal 
column.  In  practice  these  conditions  will  seldom  or  never  he 
perfectly  complied  with;  and  if  they  are  departed  from  to  the 
smallest  extent,  the  deflection  will  take  place  according  to  a 
different  law. 

As  a  simple  illustration,  let  it  be  supposed  that  the  neutral 
axis  of  the  unstrained  column  is  not  exactly  a  straight  line,  hut 
slightly  curved,  as  shown  by  the  dotted  line  A  K  C,  Fig.  3. 
Such  a  curvature  may  either  be  regarded  as  an 
initial  deflection,  or  as  permanent  set,  which  may 
have  been  developed  unseen  during  the  course  of 
an  experiment,  and  which  would  entail  the  same 
consequences  as  though  it  had  been  noted  at  the 
beginning  of  the  experiment.  In  this  case  it  may 
be  assumed  that  the  curve  of  permanent  set  A  K  C, 
like  the  curve  ABC,  will  be  nearly  proportional 
to  the  ordinates  of  the  curve  of  sines. 

Then  the  elastic  deflection  of  the  column  at  any 
point  will  be  represented  by  the  space  between  the 
two  curves ;  but  the  diagram  of  moments  will  be 
the  whole  segmental  area  ABCD.  These  two 
geometrical  areas  will  therefore  not  coincide  with 
each  other  as  in  the  ideal  column  ;  but  applying  the 
same  geometrical  theorem,  the  elastic  deflection  B  K 
must  be  proportional  to  the  moment  of  the  half 
segmental  area  ABD;  and  the  equilibrated  load  P 
will  be  less  than  the  value  B  (as  previously  deter- 
mined) in  the  proportion  ofBKtoBD. 

Let  It  denote  the  resilient  force  of  the  ideal  column,  equal  to 

2 

7T 

E  I—;   and  let  e  denote  the   initial   deflection   D  K,  and  8  the 
elastic  deflection  B  K. 


Then 
and 


P  =  It 

8=  e 


S+e 

P 
R-  P 


(2) 
(3) 


Therefore  the  deflection  will  now  have  a  certain  assignable  value 
depending  on  the  load ;  and  if  the  load  P  is  gradually  increased, 
the  column  will  exhibit  an  increasing  deflection  for  each  increasing 
value  of  the  load.     Within  the  elastic  limit  the  column  will  always 


2G8 


FIDLEE   OX   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.     [Selected 


be  in  stable  equilibrium ;  and  it  is  evident  tbat  when  the  load  P 
approaches  to  the  value  of  It,  a  very  small  initial  curvature  will 
be  sufficient  to  produce  a  very  large  deflection  of  the  column.  It 
is  not  necessary,  however,  to  assume  the  existence  of  any  initial 
curvature.  Experiment  has  shown  that  test-pieces,  even  when 
cut  from  different  parts  of  the  same  bar,  will  sometimes  exhibit 
considerable  differences  in  the  modulus  of  elasticity ;  and  it  ruay 
be  shown  that  the  deflection  of  the  column  will  follow  a  similar 
law  if  the  modulus  is  somewhat  greater  on  one  side  than  on  the 
other. 

The  effect  of  such  an  inequality  of  modulus  is  most  easily  seen 

in  the  case  of  a  strut,  consisting  of  two  flanges  (or  legs)  braced 

together  as  a  girder,  Fig.  4.     The  flanges  will  be  of  equal  sectional 

area,  and  the  radius  of  gyration  will  be  equal  to  half 

Fig.  4.    the  depth  of  the  girder. 


Let  c1  =  the  specific  compression  of  inner  flange  = 


do. 


do. 


of  outer  flange  = 


i 

e: 


Then   it    is    shown    in   the   Appendix   that   the   central 
deflection  will  be 


*  =  " 


e,  —  e., 


ei+  e2      B-P 


(4) 


If  the  two  flanges  were  shortened  by  the  same  amount 
under  compressive  stress,  their  resistances  would  be  re- 
spectively as  E1  to  E2,  and  the  resultant  line  of  resistance 
would  be  moved  from  the  axis  of  the  strut  by  the  eccen- 

tricity  r  •  — -.     Therefore  equations  (4)  and  (3)  show 

that  the  deflection  of  the  strut  is  the  same  as  if  it  had  an  initial 
deflection  e  equivalent  to  the  eccentricity  of  the  resultant  multi- 
plied by  ^. 

Or  again,  the  analogy  between  the  two  cases  may  be  stated  in 
another  form.  If  the  two  flanges  are  to  exert  the  same  com- 
pressive stress,  one  flange  must  be  shortened  more  than  the  other 
in  the  proportion  of  ex  to  e2  ;  and  this  will  happen  when  the  column 
is  curved  to  the  dotted  line  A  K  C,  Fig.  3.  So  that  the  moment  of 
the  elastic  resisting  stresses,  and  the  equilibrated  load,  will  only 
be  proportional  to  the  residual  deflection  B  K. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  deflection  of  a  column  under  an 


Papers.]       FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS. 


269 


increasing  load  will  be  expressed  by  the  formula  8  =  c  •   — , 

JX  ~—  Jr 

in  which  c  is  a  constant  depending  on  inaccuracy  of  form  or  of 
centreing,  and  if  neither  of  these  exists,  depending  on  the 
inequality  of  modulus. 

The  curve,  Fig.  5,  having  8  and  P  for  its  co-ordinates,  illustrates 
the  general  law  according  to  which  the  deflection  should  increase 
with  the  load ;  and  it  may  be  remarked  that  this  curve  appears 
to  correspond  very  nearly  with  the  results  of  experiment,  although 
in  each  individual  case  the  vertical  scale  will  vary  according  to 
the  value  of  c,  which  may  naturally  be  expected  to  show  a 
considerable  variation  in  different  bars.  In  the  ideal  column,  c  =  0, 
and  the  diagram  then  consists  of  the  two  straight  lines  0  X  and 
X  Y ;  but  such  a  case  is  hardly  ever  recorded  in  practice  ;  on  the 
contrary,  the  experiments  of  Mr.  Hodgkinson,  Mr.  Christie,  and 

Fig.  5. 


other  observers,  are  almost  always  accompanied  by  a  table  of 
observed  deflections,  increasing  with  the  load  in  the  manner 
shown  by  the  curve  of  the  diagram ; *  and  this  fact  is  sufficient  to 
demonstrate  that  a  certain  eccentricity,  or  inequality  of  modulus, 
is  always  present  and  governs  the  deflection  of  the  column  in  the 
manner  above  described. 

Tlie   Practical   Strength   of  Columns. — In   formula  (4),  putting 
6.  —  e.-i 


0   = 


and    expressing    P  and    B    in    lbs.  per    square 


2      ex+el 
inch  of  sectional  area,  by  p  and  p,  the  central  deflection  of  the 


1  The  recent  experiments  of  Mr.  Christie  have  shown  that  by  feeling  for  the 
line  of  elastic  resistance,  and  applying  the  load  accordingly  in  a  somewhat 
eccentric  position,  the  resistance  of  the  column  may  be  considerably  increased, 
and  its  behaviour  will  then  approximate  to  that  of  the  ideal  column. 


270  FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 

braced  strut  will  be  8  =  cpr  ■  -^—  ;  the  intensity  of  flange- stress 

p  -p 

<pp2 

due  to  tlie  bending  rnoment  P  8  will  therefore  be  ±  /x  =  ■ ; 

p  -  p 

and  tbe  maximum  intensity  of  compressive-stress  on  tbe  inner 

flange  due  to  the  load  and  to  the  bending  moment  will  be 

/-,+/i-,(i+^)   .  .  ...  w 

This  expression  represents  the  relation  between  the  apparent 
stress  p  and  the  greatest  actual  compressive-stress  /  in  the  concave 
flange  of  the  girder-shaped  strut ;  and  if  /  is  now  taken  to  denote 
the  crushing-stress  of  the  material,  it  will  follow  (by  reduction) 
that  the  breaking-weight  of  the  column  in  lbs.  per  square  inch 
will  be  expressed  by 


*  =  -  2(1-0) •      '     (b) 

According  to  this  formula,  the  strength  of  columns  will  be  re- 
presented by  a  wave-line  curve,  such  as  the  curve  A  T  C, 
Fig.  2,  or  any  of  the  curves  A  C  in  the  several  large  diagrams. 
At  A  the  curve  touches  the  straight  line  A  B,  and  at  C  it  ap- 
proaches indefinitely  near  to  the  curve  of  the  ideal  column ;  so 
that  if  the  column  is  very  short  or  very  long,  the  practical 
strength  is  equal  to  the  theoretical  strength  of  the  ideal  column. 

But  with  intermediate  values  of  the  ratio  -,  the  presence  of  any 

eccentricity  or  inequality  of  modulus  produces  a  marked  reduc- 
tion in  the  theoretical  strength,  the  reduction  being  greatest  at  the 
point  B  in  the  diagram,  where  f  —  p,  and  where 

1  -  V<P  /,.   X 

P=fT^J- ^ 

The  curve  A  T  C,  Fig.  2,  may  be  understood  as  representing 
the  strength  of  struts,  on  the  supposition  that  the  difference 
between  the  modulus  of  elasticity  in  the  two  flanges  is  equal  to 
the  greatest  difference  commonly  observed  in  the  modulus  of  the 
given  material.  If  the  inequality  of  modulus  is  less  than  this, 
the  curve  A  T  G  will  approach  nearer  to  the  curve  of  the  ideal 
column,  and  will  coincide  with  the  line  A  B  C  if  0  is  taken  as 
nothing.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  strength  of  columns 
cannot  be  defined  by  any  hard  and  fast  line,  even  when  the 
modulus  for  the  whole  column  and  the  ultimate  strength  of  the 


Papers.]        FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL  STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.  271 

material  are  accurately  known ;  but  on  the  contrary,  the  strength 
may  have  any  value  less  than  that  of  the  ideal  column  within 
certain  limits.  The  strength  of  columns  must,  therefore,  he 
represented  by  an  area,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2,  within  which  the 
results  of  individual  experiments  may  be  expected  to  place  them- 
selves at  hap-hazard.  The  upper  limit  will  be  the  line  of  the  ideal 
column  ABC,  and  it  remains  to  determine  for  each  material  the 
position  of  the  lower  limit  A  T  C,  which  must  evidently  be  regarded 
as  the  greatest  reliable  strength  of  the  column. 

Wrougld-iron  columns. — The   average  value  of  the   modulus   of 
elasticity  in  wrought-iron  is  about  26,000,000  lbs.;  and,  therefore, 

p  =  26,000,000  7T3  •  — .  But  the  modulus  is  known  to  vary  com- 
monly between  23  and  29  millions,  and  occasionally  the  range  is 
somewhat    greater.      Adopting    these    figures    for    the    greatest 

probable  inequality,   the  fraction   — -  =  0'117;    so   that  the 

greatest  probable  eccentricity  of  elastic  reaction  will  be  about  |th 
of  the  radius  of  gyration.  Thus,  in  a  solid  cylindrical  column 
1  inch  in  diameter,  the  eccentricity  would  be  about  ^th  of  an 
inch. 

It  is  shown  in  the  Appendix,  that  for  columns  of  any  section,' 
the  maximum  compressive-stress  on  the  extreme  fibre,  due  to  the 

bending  moment,  will  be  expressed-  by  the  formula  /■  =  — - — ,  if 

p-jp 

<p  is  taken  to  represent  the  value  -  •  -  •     *       2,  in  which  y  is  the 

V        a         6j  -f-  <?2 

distance  of  the  extreme  fibre  from  the  neutral  axis.  Therefore, 
the  breaking-weight  of  any  column  may  be  expressed  by  formula 
(6),  if  <f)  is  understood  to  have  that  value  in  every  case ;  but  it  is 
unfortunate  that  the  case  of  wrought-iron  can  only  be  examined 
upon  somewhat  arbitrary  assumptions. 

The  ultimate  strength  of  wrought-iron  in  compression,  or  the 
stress  which  causes  failure  in  short  specimens  by  bulging  or 
crippling,  may  provisionally  be  taken  as  varying  from  36,000  to 
50,000  lbs.  ;*  and  as  the  object  is  to  define  the  lower  limit  in  the 
strength  of  columns,  the  lower  of  these  values  of/  will  be  first 
taken,  and  the  results  of  formula  (6)  may  then  be  compared  with 
actual  experiment. 

The  most  complete  series  of  experiments  on  wrought-iron  and 
steel  struts,  known  to  the  Author,  are  those  recently  made  by 


See  concluding  observations. 


272 


FIDLER   ON  PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.       [Selected 


Mr.  J.  Christie,1    at  the   Pencoyd  Ironworks,  Pennsylvania.     In 
these  experiments,  the  round-ended  struts  were  chiefly  of  T-section, 


Fig.  0. 


40         60        60        100      120        '40      160      180      200      220      240     260     280     300     320     34-0     360     3S0      400 

Ratio  of  Length  to  Radius  of  fiyration. 

Wbotjght-Ibon  C'oloixs.    Round  Exds. 


Fig.  7. 


o  Phoenix  columns, Cincinnati  RfC?s experiments 

x  American  Briose  C°*  o° o° ,. d?  . 

.  Solid  square  section,....  M" Hcdgkivsons o° 

u  Channel  section, Watertowh  &  Pencoyd  D9. 

i-i  Beam  section Watertown       a?. 

f:\ANCLES  AND   TlES, PeNCOYO D°. 

♦  Angles  with  fixed  ends...  o° d" 


20   40   60   60   100   120   140   16°  '80  200  220  2*0  260  280  300  320  340  360  3B0  400 


Ratio  of  Length  to  Eadius  of  Gyration. 
"Wkought-Iron  Columns.    Fixed  Ends. 


and  the  factor  -  was  in  general  ahout  2*2,  so  that  the  greatest 
r 


1  Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  18S4.     April  to 
September. 


Papers.]         FIDLER   ON  PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS. 


273 


probable  value  of  <£  is  0-4  nearly,  and  the  breaking-weight  will 
then  be — 


P  = 


/+P-y(/+p)2-2-4/p 
1-2 


.     (6b) 


This  lower  limit  of  the  theoretical  strength  is  shown  in  the 
diagram,  Fig.  6,  by  the  wave-line  curve  A  C  ;  while  the  upper 
limit,  or  curve  for  the  ideal  column,  is  described  by  the  line  ABC. 


Fig.  S. 


ZO   40   60   80   100   120   l+O  '60   '80  TOO  220  240  260  260  300  320  340  360  I 


Ratio  of  Length  to  Radius  of  Gyration. 

Cast-Iron  Columns.    Bound  Ends. 

The  actual  values  of  the  individual  experiments  are  given  by  the 
constellation  of  tees,  which  spread  themselves  over  the  area,  and 
in  a  few  instances,  lie  somewhat  beyond  the  limits,  but  adjacent 
to  them.  The  lower  limit  applies,  of  course,  to  iron  with  an 
ultimate  strength  of  36,000  lbs. ;  and  in  order  to  extend  the 
diagram  for  any  greater  strength  of  material  up  to  50,000  lbs.  it 
[the  lnst.  c.e.  vol.  lxxxvl]  t 


274 


FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 


is  only  necessary  to  continue  the  ideal  curve  C  B  until  it  intersects 
the  straight  line  A1  B1  drawn  at  50,000  lbs. ;  for  it  has  already 
been  shown  that  the  greatest  strength  of  the  column  will  not  be 
increased  in  the  slightest  degree  by  the  increased  strength  of 
material,  except  in  the  small  area  A1B1  A  B. 

The  entire   envelope  Ax  Bx  C  A,  should  therefore   include  the 
results    for    every    strength    of    material    between    36,000    and 


20       «0      GO       80        IOO     ISO      140      160     180     20O     220     2*0     260     260      300    320     340     360    380     400 


Ratio  of  LeDgth  to  Radius  of  Gyration. 

Cast-Ieox  Columns.    Fixed  Exds. 


50,000  lbs.,  and   it  will   be   seen   that  practically  it  forms  very 
nearly  the  boundary  of  the  actual  results  of  experiment.1 

The  Author  would  submit  that  if  this  formula  expresses  approxi- 
mately the  real  physical  conditions  which  govern  the  deflection  and 


1  The  abnormal  exceptions  lying  just  outside  the  boundary  may  of  course^be 
readily  accounted  for,  if  in  these  cases  the  average  modulus  is  a  little  higher  or 
lower  than  26,000,000  lbs. 


Papers.]       FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS. 


275 


bending-stress  of  columns,  it  must  be  applicable  to  columns  of  other 
materials  when  the  proper  coefficients  are  introduced.  The  several 
diagrams,  Figs.  6,  7,  8,  9, 10,  and  11,  represent  the  theoretic  limits, 
and  also  the  results  of  experiment  in  columns  of  wrought-iron, 
cast-iron,  and  of  mild  and  hard  steel ;  and  it  will  be  seen  that  in 
every  case  the  theory  coincides  as  closely  with  experiment  as 
could  be  expected,  if  some  allowance  is  made  for  the  widely  vary- 
ing strength  of  the  material  known  as  mild  steel.  Further 
reference  will  be  made  to  these  diagrams;  but  it  may  be  noted 
that  in  Fig.  7,  which  contains  a  great  number  of  experiments,  the 
recorded  results  are  crowded  pretty  closely  about  the  lower  limit, 

Fig.  10. 


20       40       60       60        100      <2U       «*0      160      ISO     200     220     2+0     260     260     300     320      3*0    360     380     400 


Ratio  of  Length  to  Radius  of  Gyration. 
Columns  of  Mild  Steel.     Fixed  Ends. 

and  only  a  few  come  near  to  the  strength  of  the  ideal  column. 
This  is  what  might  be  expected,  for  it  may  be  shown  that  a 
moderate  decrease  in  the  assumed  value  of  4>,  will  only  raise  the 
line  AC  by  a  very  small  amount ;  and  for  this  reason  the  same 
value  of  0  has  been  adopted  as  the  limit  for  columns  of  any 
section.1 


1  With  the  same  inequality  of  modulus,  the  value  of  <j>  for  the  different 
sections  -will  range  between  0-4  for  T  bars,  and  0-3  for  Phoenix  columns.  If  the 
latter  value  is  taken  for  Phoenix  columns,  the  two  cases  represented  in  Fig.  6 
will  be  found  to  lie  very  close  to  the  altered  theoretical  limit. 

T  2 


276 


FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.     [Selected 


Columns  with  fixed  ends. — When  the  ends  of  the  column  are  fixed, 
it  is  commonly  assumed  that  the  points  of  contrary  flexure  A  and 
C,  in  Fig.  12,  will  occur  at  one-fourth  and  three-fourths  of  the 
total  length  FG,  so  that  the  curve  AB  is  similar  to  the  curve 
AF,  and  the  effective  length  of  the  bow  AC  is  equal  to  half 
the  total  length.     But   this   assumption   again  is  only   true  in 

Fig.  11. 


Ratio  of  Length  to  Radius  of  Gyration. 
Columns  of  Hard  Steel.    Fixed  Ends. 

the  case  of  the  ideal  column.  If  the  average  modulus  of  elas- 
ticity Ex  for  the  bow  AC  is  greater  than  the  average  modulus 
E2  for  the  ends  AF  and  CG,  it  will  follow  by  the  geometric 
theorem,  that  the  area  ABD  will  be  to  the  area  AFK  as  E2 
is  to  Ex,  because  the  slope  at  A  is  common  to  both  curves.  But 
ao-ain,  if  the  inequality  of  modulus  takes  place  in  the  other 
direction,  i.e.  if  the  modulus  in  one  flange  of  the  strut  is  through- 


Papers.]       FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.  277 

out  greater  than  in  the  other  flange,  it  will  follow  that  the  area 
ABD  must  be  greater  than  the  area  A  F  K  (or  vice  versa)  by  a 
constant  quantity.     In  the  latter  case,  the  reduction  of 
strength  in  short  columns  would  be  relatively  greater     Fig.  12. 
than  in  long  columns;  and  a  very  short  column  with     f,— ,k 
fixed  ends  would  be  theoretically   less   strong  than   a 
similar  column  with  round  ends.1     For  practical  pur- 
poses,   however,   the    limiting    effect   of   these    contin- 
gencies, as  well  as  that  of  imperfect  fixity  of  the  ends, 
may  roughly  be  covered  by  taking  the  effective  length 
of  the  bow  AC,  as  equal  to  six-tenths  of  the  total  length 
FG ;  and  the  diagrams  for  the  theoretical  limits  of  fixed- 
ended  columns  are  accordingly  constructed  as  parallel 
projections  of  the  curves  for  round-ended  columns. 

Cast-iron  Columns. — The  average  value  of  the  modulus 
of  elasticity  in  cast-iron,  is  about  14,000,000  lbs.,  and 
therefore  for  the  ideal  cast-iron  column,  p  =  14,000,000  it2 

r2 
- ;  while  the  variation,  commonly  observed  in  the  modulus 

of  different  specimens,  bears  nearly  the  same  proportion 
to  the  average  modulus  as  it  does  in  wrought-iron  and 
in  steel.  Therefore,  in  all  these  materials,  0  will  have 
the  same  value,  and  the  general  formula  (6&)  will  repre- 
sent in  all  cases  the  value  of  the  load  or  apparent  stress 
which  produces  the  ultimate  crushing-stress  /  on  the 
concave  side  of  the  column.  In  good  cast-iron,  the 
crushing-stress  will  range  from  80,000  to  100,000  lbs., 
or  somewhat  higher;  and  taking  the  lower  value  as  before,  the 
curve  AC  in  Figs.  8  and  9  describes  the  lower  theoretical  limit  for 
columns  with  round  ends  and  fixed  ends  respectively.  But  owin«- 
to  the  comparative  weakness  of  cast-iron  under  tensile  stress,  the 
column  may  be  expected  to  give  way  by  tension  on  the  convex 
side  if  the  length  exceeds  a  certain  ratio.  For  the  stress  on  the 
extreme  fibre  will  be  expressed  by — 

'-*0-A) «> 

which  will  be  either  compression  or  tension,  according  as  it  has  a 
positive  or  a  negative  value  ;  and  putting  ft  =  the  ultimate  tensile 


1  Mr.  Christie  finds  this  to  be  an  experimental  fact  in  the  case  of  the  L  bars 
tested  by  him. 


278  FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 

stress,  it  will  follow  that  the  apparent  stress  px,  "which  is  capable 
of  destroying  the  column  by  tension,  will  be  given  by — ■ 


k  = 2TTT?) '    '   (8) 

The  tensile  strength  of  cast-iron  may  be  taken  at  14,000  lbs.  j1 
and  the  resulting  values  of  the  breaking  load  are  represented  by 
the  lower  curve  in  Figs.  8  and  9,  marked  "  Failure  by  Tension." 
It  appears,  therefore,  from  the  diagrams,  that  the  column  may  be 
theoretically  expected  to  give  way  by  tension  on  the  convex 
side  if  the  ratio  of  length  to  radius  of  gyration  is  greater  than 
50  in  round-ended  columns,  or  than  83  in  columns  with  fixed  ends. 
The  results  of  Mr.  Hodgkinson's  experiments  with  solid  and  with 
hollow  cylindrical  columns  are  given  in  the  diagrams,  and  coin- 
cide practically  with  the  theoretical  limits  at  all  proportions  ,of 
length  to  diameter ;  so  that  there  appears  to  be  no  necessity  for 
separate  formulas  applicable  to  certain  lengths. 

Steel  Columns. — According  to  some  experiments  the  modulus  of 

elasticity  in  steel  is  no  greater  than  in  wrought-iron,  but  on  the 

average  it  may  probably  be  credited  with  a  somewhat  higher 

modulus,  which  will  be  taken  at  29,000,000  lbs.     The  strength  of 

r2 
the  ideal  column,  or  p  =  29,000,000  ir-  •  j^,  will  therefore  be  only 

slightly  greater  than  in  wrought-iron. 

The  ultimate  strength  of  steel,  whether  in  tension  or  compression, 
is  known  to  vary  within  very  wide  limits ;  but,  as  before  stated, 
this  will  not  in  any  way  affect  the  curve  B  C  forming  the  upper 
limit  of  Figs.  10  and  11.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  fix  some 
value  of/ for  the  probable  lower  limit.2  Mr.  Kirkaldy  finds  that 
the  ratio  of  tensile  to  compressive  strength  in  steel  is  the  same  as 
in  wrought-iron ;  and  therefore  if  /  is  taken  at  70,000  lbs.  for 
hard  steel,  it  will  correspond  with  a  tensile  strength  of  about 
40  tons.  AVith  this  value  of  /,  the  lower  limit  for  columns  of 
hard  steel  with  fixed  ends  will  be  described  by  the  wave-line 
curve  AC  in  Fig.  11;  and  the  same  limit  for  columns  of  mild 
steel  will  be  defined  by  the  curve  A  C,  Fig.  10,  supposing  /  to 
have  a  value  of  48,000  lbs.     But  it  must  be  remarked  that  the 


1  This  value,  however,  is  derived  from  experiments  in  direct  tension.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  more  correct  to  take  the  much  higher  value  given  by  experiments  on 
cross-breaking.  In  this  case,  the  curve  of  "  failure  by  tension"  would  lie  still 
nearer  to  the  curve  of  "  failure  by  crushing." 

2  See  concluding  observations. 


Papers.]       FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS. 


279 


material  known  as  mild  steel  may  have  any  strength  between 
25  and  36  tons.  The  experiments  shown  in  the  diagrams  are 
those  of  Mr.  Christie,  made  with  bars  of  L  and  I  section,  in 
which  the  percentage  of  carbon  averaged  0*36  in  the  hard  steel, 
and  0  •  12  in  the  mild  steel. 

Practical  Breaking  Weight  of  Columns.- — As  nothing  can  be  pre- 
dicted with  certainty  in  regard  to  the  actual  variation  of  modulus, 
and  as  no  allowance  has  been  made  in  the  assumed  value  of  <f>  for 
any  imperfection  of  workmanship,  the  lower  limit  in  each  diagram 
must  be  taken  as  the  only  measure  of  strength  that  can  safely  be 
relied  on  ;  and  the  following  Tables  will  then  give  the  strength  for 
each  material  as  calculated  by  the  formulas  above  given,  and  for 
ordinary  proportions  of  length  to  diameter  these  values  will  be 
found  to  agree  very  closely  with  the  Tables  containing  the  results 
deduced  from  experiment  by  Mr.  Christie  and  others. 

Table  I. — Strength  of  Columns  with  Bound  Ends,  in  lbs.  per  Square 
Inch  of  Sectional  Area. 


Ratio  -. 
r 

Cast-Iron. 

Wrought-Irun. 

Mild  Steel. 

Hard  Steel. 

20 

72,300 

35,200 

46,700 

67,200 

40 

50,800 

32,600 

42,700 

58,600 

GO 

30,000 

28,400 

36,000 

45,500 

80 

17,600 

23,200 

2S,300 

33,000 

100 

11,700 

18,200 

21,500 

23,700 

120 

8,300 

14,100 

16,400 

17,500 

140 

6,300 

11,100 

12,700 

13,300 

160 

4,900 

8,800 

10,100 

10,400 

180 

3,900 

7,200 

8,160 

8,300 

200 

3,200 

5,900 

6,710 

6,850 

220 

2,680 

4,970 

5,620 

5,710 

240 

2,270 

4,210 

4,750 

4,820 

260 

1,950 

3,640 

4,0SO 

4,130 

280 

1,690 

3,140 

3,550 

3,570 

300 

1,480 

2,750 

3,100 

3,130 

320 

1,300 

2,430 

2,730 

2,740 

340 

1,160 

2,160 

2,430 

2,440 

360 

1,040 

1,940 

2,190 

2,190 

380 

940 

1,730 

1,960 

1,960 

400 

850 

1,570 

1,760 

1,760 

280 


FILLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 


Table  II.— Strength  of  Columns  with  Fixed  Ends,  in  lbs.  per  Soxare 
Inch  of  Sectional  Area. 


Ratio  -. 
r 

Cast-Iron. 

Wrought-Iron. 

Mild  Steel. 

Hard  Steel. 

20 

77,600 

35,800 

47,400 

68,700 

40 

67,800 

34,900 

45,700 

65,800 

60 

54,700 

33,400 

43,300 

60,500 

80 

42,000 

31,100 

39,900 

53,600 

100 

30,000 

28,400 

36,000 

45,500 

120 

21,200 

25,300 

31,000 

37,400 

140 

16,000 

22,200 

26,500 

30,500 

160 

12,600 

19,200 

22,500 

25,000 

180 

10,200 

16,500 

19,100 

20,900 

200 

8,300 

14,100 

16,400 

17,500 

220 

6,900 

12,100 

13,900 

14,900 

240 

5,700 

10,500 

12,000 

12,600 

260 

5,000 

9,300 

10,400 

11,000 

280 

4,400 

8,200 

9,100 

9,500 

300 

3,900 

7,200 

8,200 

8,400 

320 

3,400 

6,300 

7,200 

7,300 

340 

3,000 

5,600 

6,300 

6,500 

360 

2,700 

5,100 

5,500 

5,700 

380 

2,470 

4,600 

5,100 

5,200 

400 

2,270 

4,210 

4,750 

4,S00 

These  calculations  merely  exhibit  the  consequences  that  follow 
from  a  certain  assumption ;  viz.,  that  the  modulus  is  subject  to 
local  variation  with  in  the  stated  limits ;  and  the  result  of  this 
assumption  (which  is  certainly  more  reasonable  than  the  contrary 
one),  has  been  shown  to  agree  very  well  with  experiment,  not 
only  in  regard  to  deflection,  but  also  in  regard  to  the  breaking 
weight  of  columns  of  all  proportions  and  in  each  material. 

If  the  theory  is  correct  in  principle,  it  may  perhaps  be  usefully 
employed  to  elucidate  the  following  points  on  which  experiments 
are  still  wanting. 

Braced  Struts  and  Piers. — If  the  girder-shaped  strut,  Fig.  4, 
were  intended  to  be  used  as  a  girder,  it  would  not  be  con- 
sidered sufficient  to  calculate  only  its  maximum  section  by  a  single 
formula,  but  each  member  would  be  proportioned  to  the  greatest 
stress  it  has  to  bear. 

In  Fig.  2,  let  O  G  represent  the  ratio  -  in  any  braced  strut  with 

round  ends.  Then,  if  the  strut  is  loaded  with  the  breaking- weight, 
the  ordinate  G  M  will  represent  the  flange-stress  due  to  the 
direct  load,  and  M  K  will  represent  the  flange-stress  at  the  centre 


Papers.]        FIDLER   ON  PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS. 


281 


of  the  girder  due  to  the  bending  moment.  It  appears,  therefore, 
that  theoretically  the  sectional  area  of  flange  may  be  reduced  at 
the  ends  in  the  proportion  of  GMtoG  K,  as  shown 
in  the  diagram  of  flange-stress  Fig.  13,  in  which 
the  ordinates  of  the  curve  of  sines  ABC  repre- 
sent stress  due  to  bending  moment,  while  the 
rectangle  A  0  N  C  represents  the  constant  stress 
due  to  the  direct  load.  This  diagram  would  apply 
to  the  case  of  greatest  variation  of  modulus  if 
B  D  is  made  proportional  M  K,  Fig.  2 ;  while  in 
the  case  of  an  ideal  column  with  no  variation  of 
modulus,  it  would  only  be  necessary  to  make  B  D 
proportional  to  H  K.  It  appears,  however,  that 
each  flange  of  the  braced  strut  must  itself  be  con- 
sidered as  a  column  having  points  of  contrary 
flexure  at  each  intersection  of  the  bracing.  Thus 
each  bay  of  the  flange  would  first  be  considered  as 
a  round-ended  column  having  its  own  small  moment 
of  inertia ;  and  its  individual  breaking-weight  having  been  found 
(in  lbs.  per  square  inch),  this  value  would  be  substituted  in  place 
of  /  in  the  general  formula  for  the  strength  of  the  entire  strut. 

"With  regard  to  the  diagonal  bracing,  it  is  evident  that  the- 
theoretic  shearing-stress  may  easily  be  computed  from  the  diagram 

of  flange-stress,  Fig.  13.    When  the  ratio  -  is  indefinitely  great, 

r 

the  distribution  of  stress  in  the  flanges  and  web  approximates 

very  nearly  to  that  which  occurs  in  a  girder  uniformly  loaded 

and  supported  at  each   end.     But  with  moderate  proportions  of 

length  to  breadth,  the  theoretic  shearing-stress  is  relatively  small, 

and  in  many  cases  will  form  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  stress  in 

the  diagonals  due  to  other  and  quite  different  causes.     Thus  it  is 

well  known  that  in  certain  arrangements  of  bracing,  the  diagonals 

will  partake  in  the  general  compression  of  the  entire  column,  and 

the  stress  due  to  this  cause  may  be  separately  computed.     Again, 

in  the  case  of  the  braced  piers  of  a  viaduct,  which  are  fixed  at  the 

base  and  practically  free  at  the  top,  the  effective  length  of  the 

bow  A  C  will  of  course  be  twice  the  height  of  the  pier,  and  the 

small  shearing-stress  due  to  the  vertical  load  may  be  computed ; 

but  this  will  be  quite  distinct  from  the  greater  shearing-stress  due 

to  horizontal  wind-pressure ;  and  the  same  remark  will  apply  to 

any  strut  which  is  intended  to  act  as  a  stiffener  of  the  general 

structure  in  either  a  longitudinal  or  a  transverse  plane. 

Working-Strength  of  Columns. — Much  has  recently  been  written, 


282  FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 

and  especially  by  German  engineers,  in  regard  to  the  so-called 
"  fatigue "  of  iron,  and  the  principles  which  should  govern  the 
arbitrary  determination  of  the  working-stress,  or  working-load. 
It  would  be  impossible  here  to  enter  upon  so  wide  a  question,  but 
the  following  points  may  be  worthy  of  brief  notice. 

1.  It  is  evident  that  the  strength  of  a  long  column  depends 
chiefly  upon  the  modulus  of  elasticity,  and  to  some  extent  upon 
the  value  of  that  modulus  for  stresses  beyond  the  elastic  limit. 
It  is  also  known  that  for  such  stresses  the  value  of  the  modulus 
is  raised  by  the  repeated  application  of  stress ;  and  it  is  therefore 
probable  that  the  effect  of  such  repetitions  of  stress  would  be 
rather  to  increase  than  to  diminish  the  strength  of  a  moderately 
long  column. 

2.  It  appears  that  the  estimated  flange-stress  /  which  finally 
cripples  the  column  is  the  same  for  all  proportions  of  length  to 
diameter;  and  the  apparent  breaking-stress,  or  breaking  load  p, 
is  the  load  which  produces  the  stress  /  in  the  extreme  fibre.  But  it 
may  be  urged  that  instead  of  the  crushing-strength  /,  the  elastic 
limit  or  proof  strength  e  ought  to  be  taken  as  the  starting  point  for 
fixing  the  proper  working-load.  In  this  case  the  value  of  the  load 
or  apparent  stress  pe  producing  the  proof-stress  e,  would  be  given 
by  merely  substituting  e  in  place  of /in  the  formula  (6&),  and  the 
resulting  values  of  pe  are  represented  in  each  diagram  by  the 
dotted  curve  marked  "  limit  of  elasticity." 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  this  would  lead  to  a  totally  different 
result  for  the  working-strength  of  all  columns  except  very  short 
ones  ;  indeed  the  diagrams  show  that  in  long  columns  pe  is  nearly 
equal  to  p.  That  is  to  say  a  load  pe  producing  the  proof-stress  e 
would  be  very  nearly  sufficient  to  produce  the  much  greater  stress 
f,  and  therefore  would  only  require  to  be  augmented  by  a  very 
small  quantity  in  order  to  break  the  column.  This  is  readily 
explained  by  the  fact  that  the  deflection,  the  bending  moment, 
and  the  flange-stress  increase  much  more  rapidly  than  the  load ; 
and  therefore  in  any  question  relating  to  the  working-strength  of 
columns,  the  working-load  must  be  distinguished  from  the  working- 
stress. 

The  way  in  which  the  stress  increases  with  the  load  may  be 
illustrated  by  means  of  the  load-stress  diagram  Fig.  14,  in  which 
the  vertical  ordinates  a  o1?  &c,  represent  the  maximum  flange-stress 
due  to  any  load  0  a,  the  co-ordinates  being  measured  on  the  same 
scale  in  lbs.  per  square  inch. 

In  the  case  of  a  very  short  wrought-iron  column  the  stress 
is  proportional  to  the  load,  and  the  diagram  is  the  straight  line  0<ji 


Papers.]       FTDLER   ON  PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS. 


283 


inclined  at  45° ;  the  breaking-load  is  denoted  by  0  g,  which,  is 
equal  to  the  breaking-stress  g  gu  or  say  36,000  lbs.  per  square  inch. 
But  in  longer  columns  the  load-stress  diagram  will  be  a  curve 
rising  more  or  less  rapidly  (according  to  the  length  of  column) 
above  the  tangent  Ogr.     Thus,  for  example,  the  ordinates  of  the 

curve  Odlf  represent  the  total  flange-stress/  =  p  (  1  -| —  )  for 

the  case  of  a  solid  cylindrical  column  (round  ends)  in  which  the 

length  is  25  times  the  diameter,  which  gives  -  =  100,  and  p  = 

r 

25,600  lbs.     In  this  case  the  breaking-load  is  denoted  by  O  d  equal 


to  18,200  lbs.,  which  corresponds  with  the  value  given  in  Fig.  6, 
while  the  breaking-stress  is  denoted  by  d  du  which  is  equal  to  g  glt 
or  36,000  lbs.,  and  is  made  up  of  the  direct  stress  dm,  due  to  the 
load,  and  the  additional  stress  m  dl  due  to  the  bending  moment. 

Eeferring  to  this  figure  it  would  appear  that  the  question  of 
working-strength  may  conceivably  be  treated  in  several  different 
ways ;  viz. 

a.  A  factor  of  safety  Fx  =  4  may  perhaps  be  taken,  and  the 
working-load  may  be  made  equal  to  one-fourth  of  the  breaking- 
load  :  so  that  in  a  very  short  column  the  working-load  would  be 

36,000       A 

— - —  =  9,000  lbs.,  or  4  tons  per  square  inch. 


284  FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 

b.  The  limit  of  elasticity  may  be  taken  at  about  §  the  ultimate 
compressive-stress  (or  10  to  11  tons),  and  a  proportionately 
smaller  factor  of  safety,  or  F2  =  •§,  may  be  applied  to  the  proof- 
load,  or  the  load  which  strains  the  flange  up  to  the  elastic  limit ; 
and  by  this  method  again  the  working  load  for  the  short  column 
will  be  24,000  X  |  =  9,000  lbs.  per  square  inch  as  before. 

c.  The  maximum  working  flange-stress  may  be  taken  at  one- 
fourth  the  ultimate  stress,  or  f  of  the  proof  stress  ;  and  it  is  evident 
that  this  method  also  would  give  the  same  working-load  as  before 
in  the  case  of  the  short  column. 

But  in  a  longer  column  these  three  methods  would  give  three 

different  results.     Thus  in  the  case  illustrated  by  the  curve  O*^ 

18  200 
the  first  method  would  give  a  working  load  of  — ^ —  =  4,500 

lbs.,  or  2  tons  per  square  inch,  as  denoted  by  the  abscissa  O  a  ;  and 
the  diagram  shows  that  in  this  case  the  maximum  flange-stress 
would  be  about  5,000  lbs.  only,  as  indicated  by  the  ordinate  a  ax. 

To  apply  the  second  method,  a  horizontal  line  may  be  drawn  at 
the  elastic  limit  intersecting  the  curve  at  er,  so  that  ee1  denotes  a 
stress  of  24,000  lbs.,  and  the  proof  load  O  e  is  found  to  be  about 
15,200  lbs.,  which  corresponds  with  the  ordinate  in  Fig.  6  ;  so  that 
by  this  method  the  working-load  would  be  15,200  X  f  =  5,700  lbs. 
and  the  working-stress  bb  appears  then  to  be  about  6,700  lbs.,  or 
3  tons  per  square  inch. 

To  apply  the  third  method,  a  horizontal  line  is  drawn  at  the 
working-stress  of  9,000  lbs.,  intersecting  the  curve  at  cu  and  the 
working-load  will  then  be  denoted  by  the  abscissa  O  c,  and  will  be 
about  7,500  lbs.  per  square  inch. 

It  is  not  by  any  means  intended  to  suggest  that  the  last-named 

method  could  be  safely  adopted  in  practice  ;  for  it   has  already 

been  shown  that  in  very  long  struts  this  method  would  reduce 

xl      j,    .       -r,  breaking-load   ,  ,.  .        ., 

tne  lactor  .b ,,  or  ,  .       , — t  to  something  dangerously  near  to 

1  working-load  &         a  J 

unity.  The  first  method,  which  is  that  usually  adopted,  is  un- 
doubtedly the  safest  in  the  case  of  long  columns ;  but  if  this 
method  is  applied  to  struts  of  all  proportions,  the  working-stress 
in  long  columns  will  be  so  small  that  it  will  probably  be  quite 
safe  to  disregard  the  demoralising  effect  which  is  supposed  to  be 
produced  by  alternations,  or  repetitions  of  stress  according  to  the 
well-known  views  of  Wohler  and  other  German  engineers. 

Finally,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  working-strength  of 
columns  cannot  be  fixed  with  any  logical  precision  until  it  has 
been  determined  what  are  the  intended  objects  and  functions  of  a 


Papers.]       FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.  285 

factor  of  safety.  If  the  factor  is  intended  only  to  cover  any  un- 
certainty as  to  the  load,  or  direct  straining-force,  the  first  method 
is  obviously  the  correct  one  ;  but  if  there  are  to  be  no  mistakes  in 
the  computed  load,  but  only  in  the  computed  resistance  of  the 
material,  that  method  could  hardly  be  applied  consistently  to 
columns  of  all  proportions. 

Concluding  Observations. — The  Author  is  well  aware  that  the 
modified  application  of  Euler's  theory,  above  suggested,  amounts 
only  to  a  partial  and  imperfect  treatment  of  the  subject.  The 
chief  object  has  been  to  examine  the  bending  stress  which  results 
from  unequal  elasticity,  as  affecting  the  strength  of  a  column  of 
ordinary  proportions  ;  excluding,  as  useless  for  this  purpose,  any 
reference  to  the  exceptional  features  which  arise  in  extreme  cases 
— such  as  the  looped  curvature  which  the  column  may  assume  if 
its  proportions  are  attenuated  to  those  of  a  piano-wire ;  or  the 
exceptional  resistance  which  it  offers  when  its  proportions  are 
reduced  to  those  of  a  wafer,  and  which  is  evidently  due  to  causes 
unconnected  with  the  intrinsic  strength  of  the  material.  Within 
these  limits,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  strength  of  struts,  as  affected 
by  bending  stress,  has  been  calculated  upon  two  assumptions, 
viz.,  that  the  inequality  of  modulus  in  any  given  bar  is  a  constant 
quantity,  and  that  the  failure  of  the  strut  is  marked  by  the ' 
insistence  of  a  certain  maximum  stress/,  which  is  regarded  as  the 
ultimate  compressive-strength  of  the  given  material.  In  the  case 
of  cast-iron,  neither  of  these  assumptions  is  open  to  any  serious 
objection ;  but  in  ductile  or  compressible  materials,  such  as 
wrought-iron  and  steel,  they  are  certainly  arbitrary,  and  may  be 
incorrect.  In  the  case  of  these  materials,  there  is  of  course  some 
difficulty  in  fixing  the  value  of  the  ultimate  compressive-stress ; 
and  when  the  deflection  of  the  column  passes  beyond  the  elastic 
limit,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  inequality  of  modulus  is 
subject  to  a  progressive  increase.  The  load-deflection  diagrams 
taken  from  Mr.  Christie's  experiments,  show  that  in  some  cases 
the  inequality  exists  from  the  commencement,  though  in  others  it 
increases  with  the  load ;  but  the  calculation  can  only  indicate 
what  would  be  the  results  of  a  given  inequality,  regardless  of  the 
steps  by  which  it  may  have  been  reached. 

If  there  is  really  no  definable  compressive-strength  to  be  attributed 
to  such  materials  as  wrought-iron  and  steel,  the  only  alternative 
must  be  to  define  the  failure  of  the  column  by  tracing  the  point  at 
which  it  passes  from  stable  to  unstable  equilibrium ;  and  if  the 
requisite  data,  in  regard  to  the  stress-strain  relations  beyond  the 
elastic  limit,  were  at  hand,  this  method  might  no  doubt  be  applied, 


286  FIDLER   OX   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.       [Selected 

and  "would  be  far  more  complete.  In  the  meantime,  however,  if 
the  transition  is  examined  with  the  aid  of  such  information  as  can 
be  gathered  from  the  load-deflection  diagrams,  it  seems  probable 
that  this  alternative  method  -would  end  in  substantially  confirming 
the  results  already  obtained.  The  point  of  transition,  or  the  point 
of  indifferent  equilibrium,  may  or  may  not  coincide  exactly  with 
the  assumed  stress/,  but  it  will  at  all  events  coincide  pretty  closely 
■with  the  calculated  breahing-load  p.  For  when  the  column  ap- 
proaches the  condition  of  indifferent  equilibrium,  as  indicated  by 
the  increasing  inclination  of  the  curve,  Fig.  5,  becoming  nearly 
vertical  at  the  right  extremity,  the  deflection  and  the  fibre-stress 
rise  together  very  rapidly  through  a  considerable  range,  while  the 
load p  undergoes  very  little  alteration;  and  therefore  the  correct- 
ness of  the  calculated  breaking-load  does  not  depend,  except  in  a 
minor  degree,  upon  an  exact  estimate  of  the  ultimate  stress  /,  so 
that  the  assumption  of  a  constant  compressive-strength,  whether 
real  or  unreal,  can  hardly  lead  to  any  serious  error  discoverable  by 
this  method. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  question  is  -whether  the  strength  of  struts 
must  be  regarded  as  an  experimental  quantity,  varying  in  some 
unexplained  manner  -with  each  change  in  the  proportions  of  the 
strut,  or  whether,  like  the  strength  of  girders,  it  can  be  calculated 
from  the  maximum  local  stress,  on  the  assumption  of  a  constant 
strength  of  material  -which  does  not  vary  -with  each  change  of 
dimensions.  In  the  case  of  cast-iron  there  is  no  ambiguity  about 
the  value  of  the  crushing-stress/;  and  the  diagram,  Fig.  8,  shows 
that  columns  of  all  proportions  give  way  at  the  moment  when  the 
crushing-stress  is  theoretically  reached,  or  nearly  so.  In  the  case 
of  wrought-iron,  the  "  bulging  or  crippling  stress  "  is  of  course  not 
marked  by  any  such  distinct  failure  of  the  material;  but  the 
column  gives  way  at  a  moment  when  this  particular  stress  is 
theoretically  reached,  or  nearly  so.  The  results  of  experiment  are 
not  inconsistent  with  the  assumption  that  the  ultimate  compressive 
strength  is  nearly  constant,  and  subject  to  no  greater  variations 
than  the  ultimate  tensile  strength  of  the  same  material.  Of  course 
the  ascertained  results  of  experiment  must  always  be  regarded  as 
the  ultimate  test  of  any  theory ;  and  they  afford  in  themselves  the 
best  possible  guide  to  practice,  so  long  as  the  conditions  of  the  ex- 
periment are  the  same  as  those  which  will  obtain  in  the  proposed 
structure.  But  this  cannot  be  said  in  regard  to  many  of  the 
bending-stresses,  which  commonly  take  effect  in  compression 
members.  For  example,  when  the  lattice-bars  of  a  girder  are 
riveted  to  the  flanges,  the  deflection  of  the  girder  is  known  to 


Papers.        FIDLER   ON  PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.  287 

induce  a  bending  moment  at  each  end  of  the  strut,  which  must 
greatly  modify  the  stresses  throughout  its  entire  length.  The 
strength  of  the  strut,  as  affected  by  this  bending  stress,  may  be 
estimated  by  theory,  but  it  cannot  be  inferred  from  experiments 
made  with  a  strong  and  nearly  rigid  testing-machine. 

In  the  same  way  there  are  other  bending  stresses,  whose  effects 
(in  addition  to  those  of  unequal  elasticity)  may  be  computed  on 
the  same  principles,  if  the  assumption  of  a  definite  compressive 
strength  of  material  may  be  permitted  ;  and  the  error  which  may 
result  from  making  the  calculation  on  this  assumption  could  hardly 
be  so  great  as  would  follow  from  not  making  it  at  all.  At  the  same 
time  it  may  readily  be  admitted  that  a  more  complete  investiga- 
tion for  the  case  of  wrought-iron  and  steel  is  much  to  be  desired. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  several  diagrams,  from  which  the 
Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


[Appendix. 


288  FIDLER    ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 


APPENDIX. 


Curve  of  the  Elastic  Column. — Let  the  curve  A  B  C,  Fig.  1,  be  constructed  in 
the  following  manner.  Divide  the  length  of  the  chord  AC  =  I  into  any  con- 
venient number  of  equal  parts ;  and  suppose  a  semicircular  arc  of  the  same  length, 

and  described  with  the  radius  h  =  -,  to  be  also  divided  into  the  same  number  of 

7T 

equal  parts.  Then  at  each  point  of  division  on  the  straight  line  A  C,  set  off  the 
ordinates  B  D,  K  C,  &c,  proportional  to  the  sine  of  the  corresponding  angle  or 
arc  on  the  circular  curve.  Thus  if  the  length  A  C  is  divided  into  180  equal 
parts,  and  if  the  central  ordinate  B  D  =  8  is  taken  as  unity,  the  values  of  the 
ordinates  will  be  given  by  any  table  of  natural  sines. 

Then  taking  A  as  the  origin,  and  denoting  the  co-ordinates  by  x  and  y,  the 
equation  of  the  curve  will  be — 

y  =  5  sin  | (9) 

and  the  curve  will  have  the  following  properties. 

If  a  tangent  F  B  N  is  drawn  parallel  to  A  C,  the  inclination  of  the  curve  at 
any  point  G  will  be  proportional  to  the  area  B  D  K  G,  and  the  off-set  G  N  will 
be  proportional  to  the  moment  of  that  area  about  KG  as  an  axis.  Thus  at  the 
point  A  the  inclination  of  the  tangent  A  T  will  be  a  the  area  A  B  D,  and  the 
off-set  F  T  =  B  D  =  5  will  be  a  the  moment  of  that  area  about  A. 

For,  differentiating  y  in  respect  of  x,  the  inclination  of  the  curve  at  any  point 

will  be  expressed  by — 

dy       B        x 

^r  -  j  cos  Y (10) 

dx      k         h 

AF 

and  putting  z  —  0,  the  inclination  of  the  tangent  A  T,  or  the  fraction  =-=  will 

be— 

:>i  ■  <*» 

(The  length  of  the  subtangent  F  T  is  therefore  equal  to  7;.) 
The  integral  of  the  general  equation  will  be — 

f ydx  -5h(l  -  cos^\ (11) 

and  the  area  of  the  half-segment  ABC  will  be — 

'                            51 
f2ydx  =  Sk  =  — (11a) 

Jo  * 

while  the  moment  of  that  area  about  A  is  given  by — 


/ 


lxydx  =  5ir- =  $-. (12) 


(The  distance  from  A  to  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  area  is  therefore  equal 
tofc.) 

The  area  of  the  half  segment  ABC  is  therefore  equal  to  the  inclination  at  A 
multiplied  by  h2 ;  and  the  moment  of  that  area  is  equal  to  the  off-set  F  T 
multiplied  by  h2. 


Papers.]       FIDLEB   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.  289 

To  show  that  tbe  same  proportion  exists  at  all  points  in  the  curve,  the  point  D 

may  be  taken  as  the  origin,  and  the  equation  of  the  curve  will  then  be  y  =  5  cos  -. 

The  area  of  the  figure  BDKG  will  then  be  expressed  by  f   ydx  =  Sk  sin  -, 

J  u  k' 

which  is  equal  to  the  inclination  at  G  multiplied  by  k2 ;  while  the  distance  x  to 

the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  figure  will  be — 

J     xydx                  1  —  cos  -^ 
X0  =  JL =  x_fc____ (13) 

f   ydx  sin  - 

Therefore,  multiplying  the  area  of  the  figure  by  the  arm  x  —  xo,  its  moment 
about  K  G  as  an  axis  will  be  given  by  5  k2  (1  —  cos   ) ;  which  is  equal  to  the  off-set 

G  N  multiplied  by  k2. 

When  the  elastic  column  (with  round  ends)  is  bent  under  the  application  of  a 
vertical  load  P,  the  curve  ABC  of  the  bent  column  is  itself  the  diagram  of 
bending  moments,  so  that  at  any  point  G  the  bending  moment  is  M  =  P  y. 

In  calculating  the  deflection  curve  for  any  known  set  of  bending  moments,  it 
is  generally  assumed  that  the  length  of  the  curved  beam  ABC  is  practically 
equal  to  the  chord  A  C.  If  the  deflection  were  very  great  this  would  not  be 
strictly  true,  but  for  all  practical  deflections  of  beams  or  columns  it  is  sufficiently 
accurate;  and  making  this  usual  assumption  it  is  shown  by  the  geometric 
theorem  (referred  to  above)  that  the  inclination  of  the  beam  at  any  point  G  must 
be  proportional  to  the  area  of  the  diagram  of  moments  B  D  G  K,  and  that  the 
deflection  G  N  must  be  proportional  to  the  moment  of  that  area  about  G  K  as  an 
axis. 

It  follows  therefore  that  the  sinusoidal  cm-ve  above  described  is  the  curve  of 
elastic  deflection  for  any  beam  (of  uniform  section)  under  a  set  of  bending 
moments  proportional  to  the  varying  deflection  y  measured  from  the  chord  A  C ; 
and  is  therefore  the  curve  of  the  elastic  column. 

Equilibrium  of  the  bent  Column. — Assuming  as  before  that  the  deflection  of 
columns  within  the  elastic  limit  is  in  practice  too  small  to  diminish  sensibly  the 
length  of  the  chord  A  C,  it  will  follow  from  the  geometric  theory  of  deflection 
that  the  slope  of  the  beam  at  A  must  be  equal  to  the  area  of  the  diagram  of 
moments  A  B  D  divided  by  E  I,  or  by  the  modulus  of  elasticity,  and  by  the 
moment  of  inertia  of  the  beam.     The  maximum  bending  moment  at  B  is  P  S, 

2 
while  the  average  value  of  P  y  is  equal  to  P  8  - ;  the  area  of  the  diagram  of 

7T 

moments  is  therefore  represented  by  P  5  k,  and  the  slope  at  A  must  be  equal 
.    PSk 

t0-E~r 

The  elastic  deflection  F  A  is  equal  to  that  inclination  multiplied  by  the  length 
of  the  subtangent  F  T,  and  is  therefore — 

*A  =  S  =  ^ (H) 

Or  more  directly  by  the  same  geometric  theorem,  the!deflection  F  A  is  equal  to 
the  moment  of  the  area  A  B  D  (of  bending  moments)  divided  by  E  I, 

"--$?•  ' 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  U 


290  FIDLER   ON  PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF  COLUMNS.      [Selected 

It  follows  therefore  that  the  equilibrated  load  P  can  have  only  one  value, 
or  P  =  ^  =  EI^ (15) 

This  result  arises  of  course  from  the  fact  that  the  bent  column  exhibits  its  own 
diagram  of  moments,  as  well  as  its  own  deflection  curve,  so  that  the  ordinate  8  is 
at  once  the  measure  of  the  bending  moment  and  the  measure  of  the  deflection. 

If  the  ends  of  the  column  were  united  by  a  string  A  C  the  equilibrated  load 
P  represents  the  tension  that  would  be  exerted  upon  the  string  by  the  resilient 
force  of'  the  bow  ABC,  acting  in  the  line  A  C.  The  resilient  force  B  is  there- 
fore a  constant  quantity  for  all  moderate  deflections  of  the  bow,  and  is  fixed  by 

the  equation  B  =  E I  ,^ ;  or  expressing  B  in  lbs.  per  square  inch  of  the  columns 

section  by  p, 

P  =  *-Ej_ (16) 

in  which  r  denotes  the  radius  of  gyration. 

So  long  as  the  chord  A  C  is  sensibly  equal  to  the  length  of  the  column,  the 
deflection  due  to  any  load  cannot  be  calculated,  and  in  any  case  if  the  load  P  is 
less  than  B,  there  can  be  no  deflection  whatever. 

If  the  column  were  a  perfectly  elastic  spring,  it  might  perhaps  be  shown  that 
a  load  P  which  is  greater  than  B  by  an  exceedingly  small  quantity,  would  be 
supported  in  equilibrium  by  the  bent  spring  under  a  deflection  great  enough  to 
sensibly  shorten  the  chord  A  C  ;  but  in  practice  columns  are  not  perfectly  elastic 
watch-springs,  and  when  bent  to  such  an  extent  as  to  sensibly  affect  the  above 
assumption,  the  limit  of  elasticity  will  be  already  exceeded,  and  the  modulus  of 
elasticity  being  thus  reduced  (on  the  concave  side  at  least),  the  resilient  force 
will  be  diminished  rather  than  increased,  and  therefore  B  is  practically  the 
breaking-weight  of  the  column. 

Deflection  of  a  braced  strut  with  flanges  of  unequal  stiffness. — If  the  round- 
ended  strut  illustrated  in  Fig.  4  is  constructed  as  a  girder  with  two  flanges  of 
equal  sectional  area  united  by  cross-bracing,  the  modulus  of  elasticity  in  one 
flange  may  be  somewhat  greater  than  in  the  other. 

Let  ex  =  w  denote  the  specific  compression  of  the  inner  flange  ; 

e,  =  yr  denote  the  specific  compression  of  the  outer  flange  ; 

e   =  -=,  denote  the  average  compression  or  — s — - ; 
Jit  Z 

p  =  the  direct  load  in  lbs.  per  square  inch  of  total  sectional  area  ; 

r  =  the  radius  of  gyration,  or  in  this  case  half  the  depth  of  the  girder. 

Then  the  greatest  bending  moment  being  M  =  PS,  the  intensity  of  flange- 
stress  due  to  that  moment  will  be  ±/,  =*— ,  and  the  average  value  of  that 

stress  throughout  the  length  of  the  flange  will  be  ±  -  •  — .    Therefore  the 

TV  T 

average  stress  on  the  inner  flange  will  be  p  ( 1  H J,  and  on  the  outer  flange 


Papers.]         FIDLEE   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.  291 

Taking  the  half  length  A  B,  the  difference  between  the  lengths  of  the  two 
flanges  will  be 

pi  I  ,   >      ,      N  2  S\      p  I 1  4  8\ 

Dividing  by  the  depth  of  girder,  or  2  r,  the  slope  at  A  will  then  be 
4    (  +  ei  ~  e2 ) >"  an(i  multiplying  the  slope  by  the  length  of  the  subtangent 

F  T  =  h,  the  deflection  F  A  will  be  given  by — 

Deflection  FA  =  8=^(4f5  +  e.-  e.\ 

4  r   \  tt  r  ') 

=  P±eV      pi* 

r-  4  r 

or  putting  p  =  ir-  E-  -  ^, 

p$      pile  , 

p  —  p       4  r 

or  S  =  -r-  •  -J 2         J  ...     (1/) 

2       c,  +  e,      p-p 

If  the  two  flanges  were  subjected  to  the  same  compressive  strain,  their  resist- 
ances would  be  respectively  as  Ev  to  E2,  and  the  line  of  the  resultant  resistance 

would  be  moved  from  the  axis  of  the  strut  by  the  eccentricity  e  =  r  •  -L— — - : 

ei  +  esi 

therefore  the  above  formula  may  be  written 

8  =  ^.      P (18) 

2      p-p  K    J 

The  elastic  deflection  5  will  therefore  now  have  an  assignable  value,  varying 
with  the  load  p,  but  increasing  very  rapidly  as  p  approaches  to  the  value  of  p. 

The  deflection  of  the  girder-shaped  strut,  as  above  determined,  will  vbe  the 
same  as  that  of  a  column  of  any  solid  section  having  the  same  moment  of  inertia. 
Thus  a  column  of  any  symmetric  cross-section  may  for  this  purpose  be  supposed 
to  have  the  sectional  area  on  each  side  of  the  neutral  axis  concentrated  in  two 
thin  flanges,  whose  distance  from  the  neutral  axis  is  equal  to  the  radius  of 
gyration  of  the  actual  section. 

In  a  column  of  solid  section  it  is  of  course  conceivable  that  the  modulus  of 
elasticity  may  vary  in  different  parts  of  the  section  in  a  thousand  different  ways  ; 
but  to  estimate  the  limiting  effect  of  such  inequalities  it  may  be  supposed  that 
the  specific  compressions  eY  and  e2  apply  respectively  to  the  effective  flanges  of 
the  section  placed  as  above  described ;  and  the  deflection  for  a  column  of  any 
section  will  then  be  given  by  formula  (17)  in  which  r  is  the  radius  of  gyration. 

This  is  equivalent  to  the  assumption  that  the  greatest  probable  eccentricity  of 
elastic  reaction  is  in  all  sections  a  certain  fraction  of  the  radius  of  gyration. 

Strength  of  Columns  with  inequality  of  modulus. — In  a  round-ended  column  the 
greatest  bending  moment  (at  the  centre  of  its  length)  will  be  M  =  P  S  ;  and  if 
y  denotes  the  distance  of  the  extreme  fibre  from  the  neutral  axis,  the  stress  in 
that  fibre  due  to  the  moment  M   will  be — 


,f  _Psy  _  »  .  V  m  6i  —  %  ,     i»*    . 

•^         r-         2      r     ex  +  e2     p  —  p' 


U  2 


292  FIDLER   ON   PRACTICAL   STRENGTH   OF   COLUMNS.      [Selected 

or  putting  <p  =  -  •  -  •  €l  ~    2,  the  stress  may  be  expressed  by  ±/t  =     _     \ 

and  therefore  the  total  compressive  stress  on  the  concave  side,  due  to  the  direct 
load  and  to  the  bending  moment,  will  be 

/-*+/.=*(i  +  ^ ™ 

This  formula  expresses  the  relation  between  the  load  or  apparent  stress  p,  and 
the  greatest  actual  stress  /  on  the  concave  side  of  the  strut ;  and  if/  is  now  taken 
to  denote  the  ultimate  crushing  stress  or  crippling  stress  of  the  material,  the 

breaking-load  p  will  be  expressed  by  p  ( 1  +  —     j  =  / ;  and  solving  the  implied 

quadratic,  this  gives  for  the  breakingdoad 


_  _  P+f-  V(p+/)2--t/p  (!-<?>) 

P~  2(1  -  0)  ■      •      *     ^U; 

Therefore  taking  the  greatest  probable  variation  of  modulus,  and  inserting  the 
corresponding  value  of  </>,  this  equation  gives  the  lower  limit  for  the  breaking- 
weight  of  a  column  in  lbs.  per  square  inch. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  variation  of  modulus  may  either  be  regarded  as  a 
constant  quantity  existing  from  the  commencement,  or  as  a  varying  quantity 
caused  by  deflection  beyond  the  elastic  limit.  To  examine  the  effect  in  the  latter 
case  would  certainly  be  more  difficult,  and  the  results  could  only  apply  to  the 
further  deflection  of  the  column  beyond  the  elastic  limit,  and  not  to  any  deflection 
within  that  limit.  But  the  actual  strength  of  the  column  appears  to  be  limited 
by  the  presence  of  the  in  itial  inequality  of  modulus  ;  because  without  it  the  deflec- 
tion could  never  reach  the  elastic  limit  until  the  load  was  practically  equal  to  the 
theoretic  breaking-load  R  of  the  ideal  column.  The  value  of  <p  is  therefore  taken 
as  a  constant  quantity,  and  the  tables  given  in  the  Paper  are  calculated  on  the 
assumption  that  the  stated  inequality  of  modulus  exists  from  the  commencement. 
If  the  inequality  increases  after  the  deflection  has  passed  the  elastic  limit,  the 
result  would  be  to  lower  the  curve  A  C,  but  it  may  be  observed  that  a  consider- 
able increase  in  the  value  of  <p  (beyond  the  stated  value)  would  only  produce  a 
comparatively  slight  alteration  in  the  curve. 


Papers.]  MAIR   ON   A   DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM-PU1IP.  293 


(Paper  No.  2187.) 

"  Experiments  on  a  Direct-acting  Steam-Pump." 
By  John  George  Mair,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1885  the  Author  casually  heard  that  a  system 
of  pumping,  invented  by  Mr.  C.  C.  Worthington,  of  the  firm  of 
Henry  E.  Worthington,  of  New  York,  was  in  use  in  the  United 
States,  enabling  a  Worthington  direct-acting  steam-pump  to  work 
with  as  high  a  rate  of  expansion  as  any  type  of  crank  and  fly- 
wheel engine,  and  at  the  same  time  exert  a  steady  and  uniform 
pressure  on  the  pump-plunger.  He  therefore  determined  to  investi- 
gate and  test  its  working.  The  motions  of  both  a  steam-piston 
and  a  water-plunger  being  rectilinear,  a  connecting-rod,  crank  and 
fly-wheel  having  a  rotative  motion,  are  superfluous  except  for  the 
purposes  of  expansive  working  or  controlling  the  length  of  stroke. 
Mr.  E.  D.  Leavitt,  jun.,  who  has  a  large  and  varied  practice  as  a 
hydraulic  engineer  in  America,  explained  to  the  Author  generally 
the  peculiarity  of  the  design  of  the  engine,  expressed  himself  in 
the  highest  terms  of  its  mechanical  efficiency,  and  kindly  offered 
to  assist  in  any  experiments  it  was  proposed  to  carry  out. 

The  Author  took  as  an  assistant,  Mr.  Henry  Smith,  Assoc.  M. 
Inst.  C.E.,  and  in  order  that  no  question  should  be  raised  as  to  the 
accuracy  of  the  necessary  testing  instruments,  a  circular  orifice, 
through  which  to  measure  the  air-pump  discharge,  three  Kew- 
tested  thermometers,  an  indicator,  and  also  three  tested  Bourdon- 
gauges  for  water  and  steam  pressures,  were  sent  from  England. 

The  inventor  kindly  placed  an  engine  and  its  boiler  entirely  at 
the  service  of  the  Author,  and  expressed  a  wish  that  the  trials 
shoidd  be  as  complete  and  exhaustive  as  it  was  possible  to  make 
them.  The  engine  was  at  work  at  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  was 
put  up  solely  for  experimental  purposes.  It  pumped  out  of  a  well, 
and  through  weighted  relief-valves  back  to  the  well,  so  that  trials 
could  be  made  which  would  have  been  impossible  had  the  engine 
been  performing  the  ordinary  duty  at  a  waterworks.  To  pump 
about  1,700  gallons  a  minute  through  weighted  and  spring- valves 
is  a  more  difficult  service  than  pumping  against  a  head  of  water  in 
a  main.  It  was,  therefore,  evident  that  whatever  results  were 
obtained  on  the  trials,  they  could  be  readily  repeated  and  improved 


294  MAIR   ON   A   DIRECT-ACTING  STEAM-PUMP.  [Selected 

upon  in  practice.  Nearly  twenty-five  years  have  passed  since  the 
first  Worthington  compound-condensing  engine  was  erected  and 
set  to  work  in  America;  since  then  great  improvements  have 
been  made,  and  now  these  machines  pump  40  per  cent,  of  the  total 
water-supply  of  the  United  States.  The  system,  however,  is  not 
much  known  in  England,  and  so  little  attention  has  it  attracted, 
that  there  are  no  records  of  it  in  the  Proceedings  of  this  Institu- 
tion, or  in  those  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  In  fact, 
it  has  not  even  been  alluded  to  by  the  Authors  of  the  various  papers 
on  pumping-engines  that  have  been  published  from  time  to  time. 
Practically  the  system  consists  of  two  independent  engines  and 
pumps  lying  side  by  side,  the  motion  of  one  engine  actuating  the 
valves  of  the  other.  The  delivery  of  water  from  the  pumps  is 
almost  absolutely  uniform,  and  although  an  air  vessel  is  usually 

Fig.  1. 

Mgary'VeCodfy 


One  Stroke-      Jl . I. 


L.    One    Stroke.    .. ^1 

Flow  from  Worthixgtox  Pcmp. 


placed  on  the  discharge  chamber,  it  is  generally  water-logged,  and 
the  Author  could  not  tell  the  difference  in  working  either  with  or 
without  air. 

Fig.  1  rej)resents,  approximately,  the  flow  from  a  Worthington 
pump  at  each  point  of  the  stroke.  As  soon  as  one  pump  begins 
to  slow  down  at  the  end  of  the  stroke  the  other  pump  starts,  so 
that  by  combining  the  flow  it  will  be  seen  how  uniform  it  is. 
With  any  pump  driven  by  a  crank  and  connecting-rod,  and  even 
when  two  pumps  are  coupled  on  one  crank-shaft  at  right-angles, 
great  variation  exists  in  the  quantity  of  water  delivered  at  different 
parts  of  the  stroke,  owing  to  the  varying  speed  of  the  pistons, 
necessitating  an  air-vessel  being  placed  on  the  delivery  main. 

The  delivery  from  a  compound  rotative  engine,  with  cranks  at 
right-angles,  working  two  double-acting  pumps,  supposing  the 
connecting-rod  to  be  indefinitely  long,  is  shown  by  Fig.  2.  The 
deliveries  are  added  together  and  shown  in  full  lines ;  the  variation 
of  flow  in  this  case  is  sufficient  to  make  the  pressures  fluctuate  to 
such  an  extent  that  accidents  are  very  liable  to  occur  when  work- 
ing without  air.  The  Author,  in  his  own  practice,  has  met  with 
many  cases  where  accidents  have  happened  to  the  pump-work  and 
rising  mains,  when  through  carelessness  no  air  was  in  the  vessel ; 


Papers.] 


MAIR   ON   A   DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM-PUMP. 


295 


but  with  the  uniform  delivery  of  the  type  of  twin-pumps  before  de- 
scribed an  air-vessel  is  not  needed,  and  it  is  this  uniform  delivery 
that  permits  the  use  of  the  engine  for  pumping  through  the  oil-pipe 
lines  where  the  friction  in  the  mains  amounts  to  3,450  feet  head  at 
normal  speed.  With  the  single-  or  double-acting  pumps  first  used 
for  this  service,  where  the  flow  ceased  at  the  end  of  the  stroke, 
the  pressure  gauge  fluctuated  hundreds  of  pounds  on  the  square 
inch  with  a  corresponding  result  of  broken  pipes  and  pumps. 

The  oil-pipe  lines  are  of  different  diameters  and  lengths,  and, 
taking  as  an  example  one  that  came  under  the  personal  notice  of 
the  Author,  namely,  6  inches  in  diameter  and  about  30  miles  long, 
through  which  two  10-inch  double  plunger-pumps  were  forcing  oil, 


Fig.  2. 


Mfxiw 


VeLoab^ 


30°                          180°                           210° 
l( . «. .... Oner  RevpliitioTV ._ 

Velocity  Diagrams. 
Two  Double-acting  Pumps  with  Cranks  at  Eight  Angles. 


the  main  would  contain,  if  filled  with  oil  at  a  specific  gravity  of  0  ■  87, 
over  750  tons,  and  as  this  weight  may  be  considered  as  attached  to 
the  pump-piston,  a  very  simple  calculation  will  show  what  excessive 
pressures  are  set  up  when  such  a  weight  is  moved  at  a  variable 
velocity,  and  also  as  the  pressure  in  the  pump  is  nearly  all  due  to 
friction  in  the  main,  which  increases  or  decreases  practically  as  the 
square  of  the  speed  of  the  flow  in  it,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  only 
system  of  pumping  capable  of  working  with  safety  is  that  in  which 
the  delivery  from  the  pump  is  uniform  and  regular  at  every  part 
of  the  stroke.  There  are  now  on  the  oil  lines  some  sixty  or  seventy 
compound  condensing  engines  of  various  powers  up  to  600  or  800 
HP.  The  service  is  a  peculiar  one,  and  the  difficulties  that  have 
been  overcome  reflect  the  greatest  credit  on  the  engineers  of  the  line. 


296  HAIE   ON   A   DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM-PUMP.  [Selected 

The  Worthington  engine  just  referred  to,  although  as  economi- 
cal in  fuel  as  an  ordinary  Cornish  engine,  and  more  so  if  the  first 
cost  and  the  expense  of  foundations  and  houses  is  taken  into 
account,  can  be  beaten  in  economy  of  fuel  by  a  well-designed 
compound  rotative-engine  working  at  a  high  rate  of  expansion. 
Mr.  C.  C.  Worthington  therefore  applied  ;himself  to  attach  to  his 
engine  a  form  of  compensation  which  would  absorb  or  store  up  the 
excess  of  power  at  the  steam  end  during  the  first  part  of  the  stroke, 
and  give  it  out  again  during  the  last  part  of  the  stroke,  when  owing 
to  expansion  the  steam-pressure  falls  below  the  water-pressure. 

Now  the  main  point  to  be  observed  in  designing  such  an 
arrangement,  is  to  obtain  a  perfectly  uniform  pressure  on  the  pump 
plunger,  so  as  to  get  a  steady  delivery  of  water.  To  effect  this, 
compensators  of  many  varied  forms  were  schemed,  and  an  experi- 
mental engine  was  made  that  would  work  up  to  about  150  HP., 
and  a  boiler  arranged  specially  to  supply  it  with  steam.  As  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  obtain  from  the  waterworks  sufficient 
water  for  the  engine,  a  well  was  sunk,  the  entire  plant  with  ex- 
periments having  cost  about  £10,000.  The  engine  was  worked 
for  about  a  year  and  a  half  continuously,  and  found  to  be  such  a 
perfect  success  that  several  are  now  at  work,  and  many  others  are 
being  made  on  the  system  that  was  in  practice  found  best. 

If  the  steam-pressure  diagrams  of  an  expansive  compound-engine 
are  combined  together,  it  will  be  found  that  there  is  an  excess  of 
pressure  a  6  at  the  commencement  of  the  stroke  (Plate  8,  Figs.  1) 
over  the  mean  pressure  decreasing  to  half-stroke,  and  after  that 
point  there  is  an  increasing  deficiency  of  pressure  b  c.  This  varia- 
tion with  a  rotative-engine  is  taken  up  by  the  fly-wheel,  but  in  the 
high-duty  Worthington  engine  there  are  two  small  cylinders  (by 
preference  oscillating)  which  are  attached  to  the  piston-rod,  con- 
taining water  or  air  under  pressure.  Referring  to  Plate  8,  Figs.  2, 
it  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  excess  of  work  a  b,  which  is  a  maxi- 
mum at  the  commencement  of  the  stroke  and  decreases  to  nothing 
at  half-stroke,  is  taken  up  by  these  small  cylinders.  Directly  after 
half-stroke,  when  the  steam- pressure  is  below  the  water-pressure, 
they  give  out  work  h  &,  which  increases  to  the  end  of  the  stroke,  so 
that  if  the  work  absorbed  or  given  out  in  the  compensators  is 
combined  with  the  steam  diagrams,  a  perfectly  steady  pressure- 
line  is  obtained,  and  the  engine  makes  its  stroke  at  a  uniform  speed, 
so  that  a  straight  pump-diagram  is  obtained.  The  diagrams,  Plate 
8,  Figs.  1,  were  taken  from  a  high-duty  pumping  engine,  working 
under  ordinary  service  at  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  U.S.A.,  the  steam 
being  expanded  during  the  time  it  was  taken  some  10  or  12  times. 


Papers.]  MAIR   ON   A   DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM-PUMP.  297 

Engine  Trials. — These  trials  were  all  carried  out  in  a  similar 
manner  to  those  before  made  by  the  Author.1  Plate  8,  Figs.  3, 
give  the  general  arrangement,  plan  of  the  boiler,  engine,  and 
pump,  together  with  the  position  and  details  of  the  measuring 
tanks.  The  engine  and  pump  are  shown  in  Plate  8,  Fig.  4.  The 
feed  water  was  measured  in  a  cast-iron  pipe,  Plate  8,  Pig.  5,  with 
an  overflow  pipe  in  it,  and  its  contents  to  the  level  of  the  pipe  were 
weighed  on  tested  scales  many  times  over,  the  temperature  being 
noted  each  time,  so  that  the  quantity  of  water  in  the  pipe  which 
was  used  as  a  feed  measuring-tank  may  be  relied  on  as  accurate. 
From  the  pipe  the  water  was  run  into  a  wooden  tank,  out  of  which 
it  was  taken  by  the  feed  donkey  and  pumped  into  the  boiler.  Mr. 
C.  C.  Worthington  placed  one  of  his  water-meters  between  the 
feed-pump  and  the  boiler,  and  the  meter  readings  agreed  within 
4_  per  cent,  with  the  measurements  made  by  the  Author. 

The  boiler  was  of  the  Corliss  type,  vertical,  5  feet  4  inches  in 
diameter  by  14  feet  high,  with  vertical  tubes  ;  and  as  the  heat 
went  direct  from  the  fire  through  the  tubes,  and  so  heated  the 
steam  above  the  water-level,  the  steam  was  slightly  superheated. 
A  thermometer  was  fixed  in  the  steam-pipe  in  the  engine-house,  the 
readings  of  which  are  given  in  the  Tables.  The  steam-pipe  went 
across  a  yard  in  the  open  air,  but  being  well  covered  with  non- 
conducting composition,  and  the  steam  being  slightly  super- 
heated, condensation  to  any  marked  extent  was  prevented.  The 
steam-jackets  drained  into  a  tank,  which  was  carefully  measured, 
and  when  full  the  condensed  water  was  discharged  into  a  drain, 
and  the  time  noted.  The  working-steam,  after  leaving  the 
engine,  passed  through  the  eduction  pipe  to  an  independent  air- 
pump  and  condenser,  worked  by  a  separate  engine.  Both  the 
feed-donkey  and  the  air-pump  engine  were  supplied  with  steam 
from  a  separate  boiler,  so  that,  in  taking  the  efficiency  of  the 
engine  into  account,  the  work  done  by  these  pumps  should  bo 
deducted.  Their  having  a  separate  steam-supply  did  not,  of 
course,  affect  the  heat  used  by  the  main  engine  itself,  but  only 
the  efficiency,  that  is,  the  relation  of  the  indicated  HP.  to  the 
pump  HP.  The  steam  from  the  main  engine,  after  being 
condensed  and  passing  through  the  air-pump,  was  delivered 
through  a  short  length  of  pipe  to  the  discharge-tank  (Plate  8, 
Fig.  6),  where  it  was  gauged  through  a  circular  orifice  3  inches  in 
diameter.  The  temperatures  of  injection  and  air-pump  discharge 
were  read,  and   the   head   measured   every  quarter  of  an  hour. 


Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vols.  lxx.  and  lxxix. 


208  MAIR   ON  A  DIRECT- ACTING   STEAM-PUMP.  [Selected 

Eight  new  indicators,  made  by  the  American  Steam-Gauge  Co. 
(and  which  were  checked  with  the  English  one)  were  on  the 
steam-cylinders  fixed  close  up  to  each  head,  and  the  diagrams 
were  averaged  by  ordinates  in  New  York,  and  checked  by  plani- 
meters  in  England.  Two  counters  were  on  the  engine,  which 
checked  each  other,  and  two  tested  water-pressure  gauges  were 
fixed  on  the  delivery-main. 

Eive  assistants  were  in  the  engine-room,  and  four  in  the  boiler- 
house.  A  ship's  chronometer  was  used  for  the  time,  and  every 
quarter  of  an  hour  throughout  all  the  tests  gongs  were  sounded, 
one  in  the  engine-room  and  one  in  the  boiler-house,  so  that  all 
observations  were  taken  at  the  same  instant,  and  the  Author 
took  personal  observations  all  round  every  half-hour,  so  that 
no  error  could  have  crept  in.  Such  detailed  care  was,  however, 
not  necessary,  as  the  rejected  heat  was  measured,  and  that 
gives  the  best  check  on  the  boiler-supply.  The  stroke  was  kept 
the  full  length,  touching  the  cylinder-heads  each  time;  and  so 
regularly  did  the  engine  run  that,  for  each  trial,  all  observations 
were  almost  exact  counterparts  of  each  other.  Independently 
of  measuring  the  heat-supply,  many  interesting  experiments 
were  made ;  the  engine  was  slowed  down  until  it  made  one 
double  stroke  in  a  minute  and  a  half.  The  pump  had  its  pressure 
suddenly  released,  to  show  the  safety  of  the  engine,  and  the  air- 
vessel  was  filled  with  air,  and  was  also  water-logged ;  the  compen- 
sators were  put  out  of  gear ;  in  fact,  every  experiment  was  tried 
that  was  of  value.  The  Author  made  nine  full  trials,  and  Mr. 
Smith  made  three  more  after  the  Author  had  left  New  York. 
These  trials  were  so  regular  that  it  is  sufficient  to  give  the  details 
of  three. 

The  absolute  quantity  of  water  delivered  by  the  pumps  could 
not  be  exactly  ascertained ;  but  even  if  the  full  displacement  of 
the  plunger  was  not  made,  it  would  not  affect  the  results  of  the 
trials,  as  the  pump  HP.  was  taken  from  the  actual  pressure  in 
the  delivery  main  (as  recorded  by  the  gauges  tested  in  England) 
against  the  area  of  the  plunger,  all  connections  and  by-passes 
being  carefully  shut  off  and  plugged  before  the  trials.  At  the  end 
of  each  stroke  a  pause  is  made,  which  allows  the  pump-valves  to 
close  before  the  return-stroke,  and  so  prevents  slip  through  them. 

The  average  efficiency  on  the  three  trials  is  91 '5  per  cent.,  but, 
from  this  has  to  be  deducted  the  power  it  would  require  to  work 
the  air-  and  feed-pumps,  and  taking  this  at  3J  per  cent,  would 
give  a  net  result  of  88  per  cent,  efficiency,  or  a  higher  value  than 
is  generally  obtained  by  a  crank  and  fly-wheel  engine  when  the 


Papers.]  MAIR   ON   A   DIRECT- ACTING   STEAM-PUMP.  299 

pump- valves  are  tight.     This  is  what  would  be  expected,  as  the 

Fig.  3. 

JBoila-R-essure.59.3  Uo> 


Scale  J-. 


pistons  of  the  compensating  cylinders  and  trunnions  certainly  pro 


300 


MAIR   ON   A   DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM-PUMP.  [Selected 


duce  less  friction  than  the  crank-shaft  bearings,  crank  and  cross- 
head  pins,  guide-bars,  eccentric  straps,  etc.,  of  a  fly-wheel  engine. 

The  piston-speed,  as  compared  with  the  English  practice,  is 
very  low,  and  naturally  the  repairs  and  renewals  with  these 
engines  are  of  a  most  trivial  character,  even  over  long  and  ex- 
tended periods  of  working.  The  foundations  are  simple,  as  the 
stresses  are  self-contained  ;  in  fact,  the  engine  experimented  with 
by  the  Author  was  hardly  on  any  foundation,  and  when  doing  165 
indicated  HP.,  as  it  did  on  one  of  the  trials,  it  was  perfectly  steady, 
and  worked  without  noise  or  vibration. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  three  trials  :— No.  1  on  December 
24th,  No.  2  on  December  19th,  and  No.  3  on  December  22nd,  1885 
(Figs.  3,  4,  5). 


No.  of  trial 

Double  strokes  per  minute 

Boiler-pressure -lbs. 

Feed-water  per  minute  (tank  measurement)  I 

(Plate  8,  Fig.  5y lbs./ 

Jacket  drains  per  minute  ....         „ 

Temperature  of  steam 

Pressure  on  pump,  including  suction       lbs. 
,,        in  compensators  ....         ,, 
Mean  pressure  in  bigh-pressure  cylinder    „ 
„  in  low-pressure  cylinder     ,, 

Temperature  of  injection 

„              air-pump  discharge  . 
Head  over  centres  of  orifice     .      .      .      .ft. 
Air-pump  discharge  per  minute  .      .       lbs. 
Injection  water ,, 


1 

450 
59-3 

34-12 

4-22 

359° 
78-5 

162-5 
34-19 
11-44 
57-18° 
84-95° 
1-727 

,174-0 

,144-0 


2 
39-26 
80-4 

30-33 

4-15 

376° 
80-5 
195-0 
37-40 
11-43 
57-10° 
81-06° 
1-802 
1,197-0 
1,171-0 


3 
40-10 
101-0 

36-26 

4-57 
390° 
97-0 
250-5 
41-53 
14-17 
57-30° 
89-50° 
1-397 
1,056-0 
1,024-0 


Heat  passing  through  Engine  per  minute — 
T  U  from  boiler,  saturated  steam  through  "> 
cylinders     ...      .  j 
„            „      superheat  in  steam    . 
„            „      condensation  iu  jackets  . 

35.1320 

853-0 
3,794-0 

30,919-0 

772-0 
3,677-0 

37,553-0 

906-0 
4,003-0 

Total     .      . 

39,779-0  1  35,368-0  )  42,462-0 

Heat  retained  in  condensed  steam. 
,,    absorbed  by  injection-water  . 
„                ,,        indicated  work  . 
„                „        radiation       .... 

1,585-0 

31,769-0 

5,096-0 

440-0 
889-0 

1,283-0 
2S.057-0 

4,621-0 
440-0 
967-0 

1,822-0 

32,972-0 

5,579-0 

440-0 

1,649-0 

Total.      . 

39,779-0 

35,368-0 

42,462-0 

Percentage  of  error  to  total  heat  passing*! 
through  engine  per  minute    .      .      .      ./ 

2-2               2-7 

3-8 

Papers.] 


MAIR   ON    A    DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM-PUMP. 


301 


Indicated  HP 

Pump  HP 

Efficiency  per  cent 

Feed  per  LHP.  per  hour  through  cylinders 

,,  ,,  ,,        jackets 

Piston  speed  per  minute  per  engine  .      .   ft. 

Boiler-pressure lbs. 

Number  of  expansions 

T  U  per  LHP.  per  minute      ..... 
Donkin's  coefficient 


119-2 

109-3 

91-7 

15-05 

2-12 

97-5 

59-3 

9-2 

334-0 

273-5 


108-1 

97-9 

90-6 

14  53 

2-30 

85-0 

80-4 

13-2 

327-0 

2G5-2 


130-5 
120-4 

92-3 

14-57 
2-10 

86-9 
1010 

141 
325-0 
260-6 


T  U  per  LHP.  per   minute  calculated  from   the"! 

temperature  of  the  air-pump  discharge  .  .  .  / 
Lbs.  of  coal  per  LHP.  per   hour,  supposing  feedj 

taken  from  hot  well  and  the  coal  to  give   up> 

11,000  TU  per  lb.1 ( 

Duty  in  1,000,000   foot-lbs.  of  water  raised  per} 

112  lbs.  of  coal  taking  88  per  cent,  efficiency      ./ 

Disposal  of  Heat  used — 

As  indicated  work per  cent. 

Rejected  heat  and  error ,, 

Radiation ,, 


320-0 

315-0 

1-74 

1-72 

112-1 

113-4 

13-3 

85-5 
1-2 

13-5 

85-2 
1-3 

3110 
1-70 
114-8 


13-7 

85-2 

1-1 


In  order  to  ascertain  exactly  the  dimensions  of  the  engine  and 
pump  under  test,  the  cylinder  and  pump-covers  were  taken  off, 
and  gauges  made  of  the  diameters  of  the  four  cylinders  and  their 
piston-rods,  and  of  the  two  pump-plungers  and  their  rods  ;  these 
gauges  were  brought  to  London  and  measured  with  a  standard 
Whitworth  rule,  the  mean  areas  and  lengths  being  as  follow  : — 


Low-pressure  cylinders,  area     . 
High        ,,  „  „ 

Pump  plungers  „ 

Stroke,  length 

Clearance  in  low-pressure  cylinder 
,,  high      „  „ 


1,013-0  sq.  ins. 
251-0      „ 
235-75    „ 
26-00  ins. 
596-0  cub.  ins. 
336-0 


As  before  stated,  the  coal  was  not  weighed ;  and  in  the  Table 
above  11,000  TU  is  taken,  so  that  these  trials  can  be  compared 
with  those  previously  made  by  the  Author.2 

The  engine  worked  perfectly  on  all  the  trials;  was  easily 
handled,  and  fully  justified  the  opinion  of  its  merits  expressed  by 
Mr.  E.  D.  Leavitt,  jun.,  and  the  inventor  is  to  be  congratulated 
on  having  achieved  a  result  which  could  only  have  been  arrived 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lxx.  p.  336. 

2  Ibid.  vols.  lxx.  and  lxxix. 


302 


MAIR   ON   A   DIRECT-ACTING   STEAM-PUMP. 


[Selected 


at  by  a  thorough  knowledge  of  mechanics,  coupled  with  great 
perseverance  and  enterprise. 

In  conclusion,  the  Author  begs  to  tender  his  best  thanks  to 
Mr.  C.  C.  Worthington ;  to  his  partner  Mr.  W.  A.  Perry,  and  also 
to  Mr.  Barr,  Mr.  Koot,  and  other  members  of  the  staff,  for  their 
kind  assistance,  and  for  the  careful  manner  in  which  they  carried 
out  the  instructions  of  the  Author  relative  to  preparing  the  engine 
for  testing. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  several  diagrams,  from  which 
Plate  8,  and  the  Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


Papers.]  FOX   ON   VIADUCT   OVER   RIVER   ESK.  30< 


(Paper  No.  2117.) 

"  Viaduct  over  the  Eiver  Esk  at  Whitby,  and  the  Embank- 
ments and  Culverts  in  the  Eavines." 

By  Francis  Fox  (of  Westminster),  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

On  looking  through  the  Proceedings  of  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  the  Author  has  found  a  marked  deficiency  in  Papers 
which  might  serve  as  guides  for  the  erection  of  an  important 
brick  viaduct,  and  it  therefore  occurred  to  him  that  a  brief  de- 
scription of  the  work  in  question  might  prove  of  some  service 
to  the  members  of  the  Institution. 

The  viaduct  forming  the  subject  of  this  Paper  carries  the  single 
line  of  the  Scarborough  and  Whitby  Railway  over  the  valley  of 
the  Esk  near  Whitby,  and  in  addition  to  spanning  the  river  itself, 
crosses  over  the  main  line  of  the  North  Eastern  Railway  Company's 
Esk  Valley  Railway,  and  the  Whitby,  Redcar,  and  Middlesbrough 
Union  Railway. 

In  designing  this  work  it  was  necessary  to  provide  for  a  struc- 
ture, not  only  thoroughly  substantial,  but  acceptable  to  the 
North  Eastern  Railway  Company,  and  with  this  view  it  was 
decided  to  follow  as  closely  as  possible  the  general  features  of 
the  graceful  brick  viaduct  which  carries  the  Cleveland  Branch 
of  the  North  Eastern  Railway  over  the  Skelton  Beck  near 
Saltburn-by-the-Sea. 

The  Author  desires  to  take  this  opportunity  of  thanking  Mr. 
Thomas  Elliot  Harrison,  Past-President  Inst.  C.E.,  the  Engineer 
to  the  North  Eastern  Railway  Company,  for  his  courtesy  in 
placing  at  his  disposal  the  drawings  of  the  Saltburn  Viaduct. 
When,  however,  the  design  of  the  Esk  Viaduct  came  to  be  made, 
it  was  found  necessary  to  depart  from  this  type  considerably. 

The  Harbour  Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade  required 
considerable  alterations  in  the  plan  of  the  river  piers ;  the  North 
Eastern  Railway  Company,  for  the  purposes  of  their  two  railways, 
called  for  other  variations ;  the  level  of  the  rails  on  the  viaduct 
was  raised  some  20^  feet,  and  these,  with  the  peculiar  nature 
of  the  foundations,  all  tended  to  change  the  character  of  the 
structure. 


304  FOX   ON   VIADUCT   OYER  RIVER   ESK.  [Selected 

Borings  were  taken  on  the  site  of  each  pier  and  abutment,  and 
in  the  case  of  all  the  piers  rock  was  reached.  In  the  case  of  the 
river  piers  the  "boring-tool  failed  to  indicate  anything  except  silt 
between  the  bed  of  the  river  and  the  rock,  so  that  no  difficulty 
was  apprehended  with  the  foundation. 

Owing  to  the  proximity  of  the  viaduct  to  the  sea,  and  the 
consequent  exposure  to  corrosion,  it  was  decided  to  avoid  the  use 
of  ironwork,  and  to  make  a  solid  structure  of  brick  in  cement. 
The  arches  were  designed  to  be  approximately  of  60-feet  span, 
and  the  thickness  of  the  piers  at  springing-line  was  kept  as  small 
as  consistent  with  strength,  their  width  being  at  that  level  5  feet 

6  inches.     Piers  Xos.  7,  8  and  9  being  on  the  skew,  and  having 
unequal  thrust,  were  thickened  to  7  feet  on  the  skew,  or  6  feet 

7  inches  on  square  section  at  springing-line. 

The  greatest  height  from  the  bed  of  the  river  to  rail-level  is 
120  feet.  The  number  of  arches  is  thirteen,  and  the  total  length 
of  the  viaduct  is  915  feet  (Plate  9).  The  land  piers  were  sunk 
without  difficulty  by  ordinary  excavation,  and  a  thoroughly  satis- 
factory foundation  upon  the  rock  was  secured  in  all  cases,  concrete 
made  of  broken  slag  with  cement  being  placed  under  each  pier 
to  distribute  the  weight. 

It  was  decided  to  adopt  the  Indian  system  of  brick  wells  for 
the  river  piers,  and  as  at  low-tide  there  was  a  depth  of  only 
about  5  feet  of  water  in  the  river,  these  were  placed  in  position 
without  difficulty. 

A  wrought-iron  cutting  edge  was  provided,  the  triangular  space 
between  the  two  sides  of  the  shoe  being  filled  with  concrete  in 
cement.  On  the  top  of  this  was  built  brickwork  in  cement  of  a 
cylindrical  form  on  the  outside,  and  corbelling  inwards  on  the 
inside,  until  a  brick  well  of  3  feet  in  thickness  of  wall  was 
attained.  By  means  of  "  grabbing  "  out  the  inside,  the  well  was 
gradually  sunk,  and  as  it  descended  brickwork  was  added  at  the 
top. 

It  was  soon  found,  however,  that  the  "  Priestman "  grab  or 
digger,  although  an  excellent  tool  for  removing  material  from  the 
core,  was  useless  for  removing  it  from  under  the  cutting  edge, 
and  in  consequence  of  this  Messrs.  John  TYaddell  and  Sons,  the 
Contractors  for  the  railway,  and  to  whose  skill  and  energy  the 
success  of  the  work  is  greatly  due,  decided  to  make  use  of  the 
grab  described  in  the  Paper  on  the  Empress  Bridge  over  the  Sutlej.1 
By  means  of  this  excellent  device  the  material  was  most  efficiently 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst  C.E.  vol.  lsv.  p.  248. 


Papers.]  FOX   ON   VIADUCT   OVER   RIVER   ESK.  305 

removed  and  the  cylinder  sunk  some  depth.  But  a  much  greater 
difficulty  was  to  be  encountered  before  the  cylinder  reached  the 
rock,  and  this  was  due  to  a  forest  of  old  oak  trees  buried  in  the  bed 
of  the  river.  These  oak  trees  were  chiefly  lying  in  a  horizontal 
position  and  were  of  considerable  size,  many  being  from  2  to  3  feet 
in  diameter.  They  were  exceedingly  tough  and  difficult  to  remove. 
An  endeavour  was  made  to  remove  these  trees  by  the  grab,  but 
the  attempt  failed,  nor  could  the  water  be  pumped  from  the 
cylinders  so  as  to  allow  them  to  bo  excavated  in  the  dry.  Dyna- 
mite was  used,  but  the  fear  of  injuring  the  cylinders  prevented 
the  employment  of  heavy  charges,  and  consequently  no  satisfactory 
effect  was  produced. 

It  was  feared  that  the  pneumatic  system  of  compressed  air 
might  have  to  be  adopted,  but  as  this  should  only  be  used  when 
all  other  means  have  failed,  Messrs.  Waddell  and  Sons  sent  an 
experienced  diver  to  remove  the  trees  under  water.  The  trees 
were  chiefly  cut  out  by  saw,  the  resistance  of  the  water  preventing 
any  percussive  action  being  very  effectual.  When  a  large  tree  was 
encountered  by  the  cutting  edge  of  the  cylinder,  the  diver  scooped 
out  a  hole  underneath,  and  having  got  into  it,  sawed  upwards. 
To  do  this  the  diver  had  frequently  to  get  outside  of  the  cylinder, 
and  when  he  had  cut  in  as  deep  as  he  thought  was  safe,  the  chain 
from  the  steam  crane  was  attached,  and  with  a  strong  pull  the 
end  frequently  broke  off;  but  sometimes  the  operation  had  to  be 
repeated. 

When  the  tree  was  across  both  cutting  edges,  the  diver  had 
to  saw  right  through  at  one  end,  which  was  very  tedious  work. 
One  large  Scotch  fir,  in  particular,  occupied  from  two  to  three 
weeks  in  being  removed.  When  sawing  failed,  the  chisel  and 
hammer  were  used,  the  chisel  being  a  large  one,  and  the  hammer 
having  a  short  handle  with  a  very  heavy  head.  The  axe  was  not 
much  used.  The  steam  crane,  a  powerful  machine,  proved  very 
serviceable. 

This  was  hazardous  work,  as  the  diver  ran  a  great  risk  of 
having  the  air-tube  cut ;  but  so  well  did  he  complete  his  work, 
that  in  every  case  the  cylinders  were  finally  bedded  on  the  rock, 
although  in  some  of  the  piers  the  depth  of  oak  timber  to  be 
penetrated  was  as  much  as  30  feet.  Piers  Nos.  6  and  10  are  some- 
what triangular  in  plan,  they  being  the  piers  adjacent  to  the  four 
skew  arches  over  the  river.  Pier  No.  6  had  therefore  to  be  dif- 
ferently designed  to  the  others,  and  for  this  purpose  two  brick 
cylinders  20  feet  in  diameter  were  sunk,  the  interior  being  filled 
with  concrete  in  cement. 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  X 


306  FOX   ON   VIADUCT   OYER  RIVER  ESK.  [Selected 

The  behaviour  of  the  brick  cylinders  during  sinking  presented 
some  curious  features.  A  cylinder,  say,  30  feet  down  would  hang 
immovable  for  days,  held  entirely  by  the  side  friction  of  the  silt ; 
this,  too,  although  everything  had  been  carefully  cleared  away 
from  under  the  cutting  edge,  and  as  deep  a  hole  as  possible  taken 
out  below  it  with  the  grab,  and  several  hundred  tons  of  rails 
stacked  on  it.  Suddenly,  without  warning  of  any  kind,  when 
nothing  was  being  done,  the  cylinder  would  silently  and  swiftly 
sink  several  feet.  These  unexpected  but  welcome  subsidences 
(which  were  not  the  rule,  however),  generally  occurred  about 
the  half-ebb  following  a  high -tide.  Generally  the  cylinders 
sank  gradually  and  almost  imperceptibly  when  cleared  of  the 
ancient  timber.  The  greatest  difficulty  encountered  was  that  of 
keeping  the  cylinders  as  they  sunk  for  the  first  15  feet  vertical 
and  in  true  position ;  this  difficulty  was  owing  to  the  buried 
tree-trunks  constantly  encountering  the  cutting  edges  at  one  point 
and  tilting  the  cylinders,  an  action  greatly  assisted  by  the  heavy 
"  freshets  "  to  which  the  river  is  liable  in  the  autumn  and  winter 
months,  and  the  rapid  scouring  round  the  cylinders  caused  thereby. 
The  difficulty  was  met  by  careful  watching  and  constant  checking, 
and  overcome  by  weighting  the  cylinders  with  rails  on  their  high 
sides,  or  even  grabbing  the  river-bed  outside  to  draw  them  back. 
When,  however,  the  cylinders  had  reached  a  depth  of  15  or  20  feet, 
neither  the  trees  nor  the  floods  disturbed  them  any  more. 

It  was  considered  unadvisable  to  employ  pumps  during  the 
process  of  concreting,  consequently  the  concrete  was  lowered  into 
the  water  in  "  pigeon  trap  "  boxes,  and,  after  being  by  this  method 
deposited  at  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder,  it  was  carefully  levelled 
in  and  trodden  dowm  by  the  diver.  It  was  found  that  when  a 
layer  of  concrete  of  4  feet  in  thickness  had  been  placed  in  position 
and  allowed  to  set,  the  cylinders  could  be  pumped  free  of  water, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  concrete  put  in  dry. 

Piers  Nos.  5,  7,  8,  and  9,  each  consist  of  three  brick  wells 
14  feet  in  external  diameter,  and  all  these  were  sunk  and  con- 
creted in  a  similar  manner.  In  the  case  of  pier  No.  9,  as  the 
cylinders  when  in  permanent  position  were  near  the  face  of  the 
rock  in  the  ancient  bed  of  the  river,  the  gravel  and  silt  in  the 
existing  river-bed  were  removed  until  the  rock  was  exposed  at 
the  face  of  the  pier,  and  a  concrete  apron  was  put  in  to  provide 
against  the  possibility  of  injury  from  scour  in  the  river. 

When  the  brick  cylinders  were  brought  up  to  above  low-water 
mark,  and  had  been  filled  with  concrete,  semi-circular  arches  were 
turned  betwreen  the  cylinders,  and  upon  these  was  constructed  a 


Papers.] 


FOX   ON  VIADUCT   OVER  RIVER   ESK. 


307 


continuous  pier  of  brickwork.  In  order  to  ensure  the  two  outside 
cylinders  receiving  their  proper  share  of  the  weight,  the  pier  was 
tapered  upward. 

Stone  springer-beds  were  provided  for  the  skew  arches,  and  in 
these  "  checks  "  were  cut  to  receive  the  various  rings  of  brick- 
work. The  entire  structure,  with  the  exception  of  the  haunching 
of  the  arches,  is  built  in  cement. 

The  arches  are  seven  rings,  2  feet  9  inches  in  thickness. 
The  spans  vary  from  55  to  65  feet,  with  a  uniform  rise  of  27  feet 

Figs.  1. 


6  inches.  The  arches  are  backed  up  with  brickwork  in  mortar, 
which  with  the  arches  were  coated  with  asphalt  about  f  inch  in 
thickness,  laid  on  in  two  coats  ;  the  intervening  space  between 
the  brickwork  and  the  permanent-way  is  filled  with  clean  ashes. 
Independent  centres  being  necessary,  eleven  of  the  arches  were 
thus  centred  at  the  same  time,  the  remaining  two  being  provided 
with  the  centres  of  arches  Nos.  1  and  2. 

Figs.  1  represent  the  description  of  centre  employed.     This  was 
of  pitch  pine,  and  consisted  of  four  ribs ;  each  rib  was  carried  on 

x  2 


30S  FOX   ON   VIADUCT   OYER   RIVER   ESK.  [Selected 

a  foot-beam  built  into  the  piers  at  the  end,  and  these  foot-beams 
were  further  strengthened  by  diagonal  struts  from  the  piers,  in 
which  lengths  of  steel  rails  were  built  for  the  purpose.  Lateral 
stability  (until  the  weight  of  the  arches  came  on)  was  obtained 
by  steel- wire  ropes,  secured  by  tightening  screws  to  anchor  piles 
driven  into  the  ground. 

In  consequence  of  the  exposed  position  of  the  viaduct,  it  was 
necessary  that  all  the  arches  should,  when  once  commenced,  be 
keyed  in  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  brickwork  of  the  arches  was 
commenced  on  the  13th  of  May,  1884,  and  the  last  arch  was  keyed 
in  September  of  same  year. 

The  width  of  the  viaduct  between  the  parapets  is  14  feet 
6  inches  on  the  straight,  and  15  feet  on  the  curve. 

The  parapets  are  4  feet  6  inches  in  height  above  the  rail,  and 
are  18  inches  in  thickness. 

Eefuges  for  the  plate-layers  are  provided  over  each  pier. 

The  quantities  of  work  in  the  structure  are  as  follow  : — 

Cubic  yards. 

Excavation  in  foundations  of  abutments  and  land  piers       .  3,446 

„            cylinders  and  apron 3,726 

Concrete  in  cement  in  foundations 1 ,  733 

„                „            cylinder  and  apron 1,444 

Brickwork  in  cement  (li  to  1)  in  cylinders  and  jack  arches  2,887 

„                  „        (4  to  1)  in  interior  of  cylinders     .     .  206 

6tol 7,170 

„                   „        inarches 2,69S 

„                lime  in  haunching 976 

Ashlar  in  springers  of  skew  arches  and  coping    ....  2,627  cub.ft. 

Timber 1,473     „ 

Ironwork  in  drain-pipes,  &c 17  cwt. 

Ashes,  filling-in  of  spandrels 1 ,  24S  c.  yds. 

Total  number  of  bricks  in  structure  about      .      .      .      .  5 ,  000 ,  000 

Tons. 

„     weight  of  entire  structure 25,700 

Pressure  per  square  foot  on  cylinders  at  level  of  river  bed  .  34 

,,  „  „  bottom  ....  5J 

,,  „  brickwork  at  springing  of  arches  7-9 

,,  „  „  crown  ,,  3 

For  the  purposes  of  calculating  the  stability  of  the  structure 
under  wind-pressure,  an  isolated  pier,  No.  4,  with  its  two  adjacent 
half-arches,  was  taken,  and  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  structure, 
including  a  passing  train,  a  pressure  of  56  lbs.  per  square  foot 
was  assumed.     The  results  are  as  follow : — 

Foot -tons. 

The  moment  of  stability =21,600 

And  the  moment  of  overturning =     5,037 

Giving  a  factor  of  safety  of 4  ■  2S 


Papers.] 


FOX    ON    VIADUCT    OVER   RIVER   ESK. 


309 


In  the  above  no  credit  lias  been  taken  for  the  horizontal  con- 
tinuity of  the  structure,  which  in  fact  acts  as  a  girder,  held  at 
each  end  by  the  abutments,  thus  offering  great  resistance  to  any 
horizontal  force. 

The  first  spadeful  of  earth  was  turned  in  the  foundations  early 
in  October,  1882,  and  the  first  engine  ran  on  the  bridge  on  the 
24th  of  October,  1884,  a  period  of  a  little  over  two  years. 

The  whole  structure  was  completed  without  the  loss  of  a  single 
life.  Only  two  serious  accidents  occurred  to  the  men  employed ; 
both  were  falls  from  the  piers,  and  both  men  recovered. 

On  the  same  railway  several  deep  ravines  had  to  be  crossed ; 
and,  as  the  formation  is  glacial  drift,  it  was  decided  to  fill  these 
with  solid  embankments   rather   than  run  the  risk  of  the  bad 

Figs.  2. 


at  i2  r:  «a  off 


foundations  which  would  have  been  encountered  had  viaducts 
been  adopted.  The  height  of  one  of  these  embankments  was 
85  feet  on  the  centre  line  (or  100  feet  at  the  lower  foot  of  the 
slope),  and  others  were  76  feet  and  74  feet. 

To  avoid  risk  of  slips,  these  embankments  were  tipped  with 
varying  slopes.  Thus  for  the  bottom  third  of  the  height  the 
slopes  are  3  to  1,  for  the  middle  third  2  to  1,  and  for  the  remaining 
or  upper  third  1^  to  1.  This  precaution  was  fully  justified  by  the 
treacherous  character  of  the  clay,  and  the  result  has  been  most 
satisfactory. 

Cross- sections  of  two  of  the  ravines  or  becks  are  shown  by 
Figs.  2. 

The  culverts  for  these  high  embankments  gave  rise  to  much 
careful  investigation.  The  largest  is  that  carrying  Mill  Beck, 
Fig.  3 ;  it  is  10  feet  in  width,  with  a  height  of  7  feet  6  inches, 


310 


FOX   ON    VIADUCT   OVER   RIVER   ESK- 


[Selected 


the  height  of  rails  above  the  invert  of  the  culvert  being  86  feet. 
The  barrel  of  the  arch  consists  of  ashlar  masonry  18  inches  in 


I3M   36  CM   MILL    BECK  . 
_A  deep  &  narrrnr  qorqc,  with'  perpendicular 
Shalcsules.  fall  Tin/ 5S>,  Lenylh  uf  Culvert  330.il' 

Scale  8  Feet  ■=  7  Inch/. 


?pFeeb 


thickness,  strengthened  by  a  covering  of  rubble  concrete  in  cement. 
Owing  to  the  liability  of  heavy  floods,  an  invert  9  inches  in 
thickness  was  provided.     The  length  is  330  feet. 


.  12  M  A7  C»s  ALLISON     HEAD    BECK 
A  ynda  &  dssp  ravine', iviOv  treacherous 
slipping  side?  ofa/ slope  of  Zf2  to  7 
fall  of  beck/lui.  oi-^ngOuof  OdverV 
375'.0' 


In  the  case  of  the  Allison  Head  Beck  (Fig.  4),  the  height  of  the 
rails  above  the  invert  of  the  culvert  is  95  feet.     The  arch  is  6  feet 


Papers.]  FOX   OX   VIADUCT   OVER  RIVER   ESK.  311 

span,  with,  five  rings  of  brick  in  cement,  protected  by  a  covering 
of  rubble  concrete  in  cement.     The  length  is  375  feet. 

Screens  of  iron  rails  are  provided  above  the  upper  entrance  to 
these  culverts,  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  trees  and  debris. 

In  carrying  forward  the  high  embankments  from  each  side  of  the 
ravines,  the  precaution  was  always  taken  of  previously  covering 
the  culverts  from  end  to  end  with  a  depth  of  from  20  to  30  (or 
even  more)  feet  of  earth,  tipped  down  a  spout  and  wheeled  forward 
over  the  culvert.  This  was  to  protect  the  culvert  from  the  side- 
long thrust  and  irresistible  "  ploughshare  "  action  of  the  advancing 
toe  of  the  embankment  in  the  soft  and  treacherous  ground.  The 
becks  crossed  were  generally  of  a  steep  gradient,  and  had  very 
steep  slopes,  heavily  wooded  ;  hence  it  was  necessary  not  only  to 
provide  for  permanently,  but  to  contend  with  several  times  whilst 
the  culverts  were  in  progress,  floods  which  would  convert  in  an 
hour  a  trickling  rivulet  into  a  raging  torrent  3  or  4  feet  deep, 
carrying  along  with  it  a  mass  of  debris,  gravel,  and  boulders. 
The  foundations  of  the  culverts  were  everywhere  taken  down  to 
rock  or  strong  clay,  and  the  faces  protected  by  pitched  aprons  and 
wing-walls. 

Mr.  Charles  Arthur  Rowlandson,  to  whom  much  of  the  credit  of 
the  work  was  due,  was  the  Eesident  Engineer.  The  Contractors, 
Messrs.  John  Waddell  and  Sons,  were  well  represented  by  Mr. 
Percy  N.  Meares. 

The  Paper  is  illustrated  by  several  drawings,  from  which 
Plate  9  and  the  Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


>12  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPH Y.  [Selected 


(Paper  No.  2100.) 

"  Heliography ;   or,  the  Actinic  Copying  of  Engineering 
Drawings." 

By  Benjamin  Howahth  Thwaite,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

The  advantages  of  rapidity  and  fidelity  of  reproduction  possessed 
by  the  actinic  copying  method  are  already  well  known ;  but  the 
following  notes  on  the  most  modern  practice  may  be  interesting  to 
engineers. 

Sir  John  Herschel,  who  was  probably  the  first  to  employ  photo- 
graphic printing  for  purely  scientific  purposes,  used  a  cyanotype 
process  for  reproducing  his  astronomical  tables. 

In  1840,  a  Paper  was  submitted  to  the  Institution  by  Mr. 
Alexander  Gordon,  entitled,  "  Photography  as  applicable  to  Engi- 
neering," in  which  Mr.  Gordon  described  Daguerre's  discovery, 
pointing  out  the  advantages  it  offered  to  the  engineering  profes- 
sion, and  recommending  the  silver  printing  as  a  ready  means  of 
obtaining  duplicates  of  drawings.1  Engineers  did  not,  however, 
employ  heliography  to  any  great  extent  until  the  ferro-prussiate, 
or  cyanotype,  commonly  called  the  blue-copy  process,  was  intro- 
duced, when  the  advantages  of  cyanotype  heliography  became 
manifest ;  and,  in  some  instances,  the  simple  apparatus  required 
for  this  method  has  been  extended  into  complete  photographic 
studios.  The  Midland  Railway  Company ;  Krupp,  of  Essen ;  Sir 
W.  Armstrong  and  Co.,  of  Newcastle ;  and  Siemens  and  Halske, 
of  Berlin,  have  photographic  departments.  The  latter  firm,  in  its 
Berlin  establishment,  employs  a  powerful  electric  arc-light  of 
6,000  candles,  around  which  the  printing-frames  are  placed ;  and 
both  the  platinotype  and  Pellet  processes,  have  given  successful 
results  with  the  arc-light. 

The  heliographic  apparatus  includes  tracing  paper  or  cloth, 
printing-frames,  a  developing  bath,  non-actinic  arrangements,  and 
cases  for  storing  paper. 

Thin  bluish  tracing-paper  is  the  best ;  the  more  translucent  it 
is,  and  the  stronger,  the  better.     After  the  tracing  has  been  made, 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  voL  i.  (1840),  p.  57. 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPH Y.  313 

it  should  be  preserved  from  light,  as  exposure  to  light  gradually 
renders  tracing-paper  more  opaque.     The  tracing  should  never  he 
folded,  but  kept  perfectly  flat,  or  rolled.     Drawings  on  ordinary 
drawing-paper,  or  from  illustrated  papers,  can  be  copied  if  they 
are  exposed  to  the  light  sufficiently  long,  the  duration  of  exposure 
depending  on  the  thickness  or  transparency  of  the  paper.     When 
the  drawing  only  shows  half  the  section  of  the  figure  to  be  traced, 
the  full  section  can  be  shown  by  tracing  the  other  half  on  the 
back  of  the  tracing-paper ;  the  sun-copying  reproduction  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  if  the   tracing  had  only  been   made  on   one 
side ;  and  all  the  writing  and  dimension  should  be  on  the  front 
side.     Translucent  drawing  parchment  paper,  specially  prepared 
for  the  sun-copying  processes,  can  now  be  obtained.     The  dimen- 
sion-lines for  the  ferro-prussiate,  or  cyanotype  negative,  should 
either  be  dotted  or  ruled  in  Indian  ink,  chrome  yellow,  or  raw 
sienna ;  or  if  in  Prussian  blue  or  carmine,  the  colours  should  be 
made  more  opaque  by  a  slight  admixture  of  flake,  or  Chinese  white. 
In  copying  by  the   ferro-prussiate   or   cyanotype   processes,   the 
sectional  parts  of  the  figure  should  be  cross-hatched ;  or  the  sec- 
tional parts  can  be  coloured  with  shades  slightly  less  opaque  than 
the  linear  portions,  by  the  addition  of  an  opaque  colour,  such  as 
Chinese  white ;  and  as  these  sectional  parts  of  the  print  are  repro- 
duced almost  white,  they  can  be  coloured  with  the  usual  conven- 
tional colours,  which   could   hardly  be  done    on  a  blue  ground. 
The  Pellet  and  Shawcross  methods  allow  of  the  ordinary  conven- 
tional colours  being  used  without  this  preliminary  preparation. 
The  best  Indian  ink  should  be  employed,  its  opacity  being  increased 
by  the  addition  of  gamboge  or  chrome  yellow. 

The  printing-frame  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  apparatus, 
as  upon  its  merits  depends  much  of  the  success,  both  as  regards 
accuracy  and  legibility.  If  the  tracing  and  the  sensitized  paper 
are  not  brought  into  close  contact  with  each  other,  the  actinic 
rays  pass  under  the  lines  of  the  drawing,  which  are  thus  either 
obliterated  or  contorted.  The  pressure  should  be  uniformly  dis- 
tributed, to  bring  the  sensitive  and  tracing  papers  into  close 
contact^  as  any  local  pressure  produces  irregularities  and  false 
impressions,  causing  wrinkles  in  the  tracing-paper,  the  shadows 
of  which  are  reproduced.  In  order  to  test  the  shrinkage  of  the 
paper,  the  scales  should  be  drawn  on  the  tracing  in  two  directions, 
at  right  angles.  The  shrinkage  of  strong  Pellet  or  cyanotype 
paper  is  equal  to  0-005. 

The  form  of  frame  is  very  simple.  The  glass  should  be  ^-inch 
plate,  free  from  blemishes ;  and  the  Author  has  used  26-oz.  glass 


314 


THWAITE    ON   HELIOGEAPHY. 


[Selected 


for  small  frames.  A  piece  of  soft  felt,  i  inch  thick,  the  full  size- 
of  the  frames,  should  be  used  to  equalise  the  pressure,  or  a  piece 
of  folded  flannel  will  serve  the  purpose  admirably ;  and  it  is  well 
to  use  indiarubber  sheets,  sewn  to  the  edges  of  the  flannel  or  felt. 

The  most  useful  sizes  for  the  printing- frame  are  12  by  14, 
19  by  26  for  Eoyal,  22  by  30  for  Imperial,  30  by  43  for  Double- 
Elephant,  and  40  by  56  inches. 

The  method  devised  by  the  Author  for  hanging  the  printing- 
frames  is  shown  in  Fig.  1,  whereby  the  printing-frame  can  be 
inclined  at  any  angle.  This  frame  is  adapted  for  offices  in  which 
space  is  limited,  and  in  combination  with  the  Author's  arrange- 


Fig.  1. 


Fig.  2. 


ment  of  developing  batb,  forms  all  the  apparatus  necessary  for  the 
Herschel,  cyanotype,  and  Shawcross  processes.  Where  diffused 
light  alone  reaches  the  office,  owing  to  the  obstruction  of  neigh- 
bouring buildings,  reflecting  frames  can  be  used  (Fig.  1) ;  or  the 
printing-frame  may  be  hoisted  to  the  roof  fanlight  by  pulleys 
(Fig-  2). 

The  tracing  is  placed  with  its  figured  face  next  the  glass,  and 
the  sensitized  paper,  "with  its  prepared  face  next  to  the  tracing,  is 
carefully  and  uniformly  pressed  into  contact  with  it.  The  felt  is 
next  laid  upon  the  paper,  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  disturb  the 
position  of  the  tracing  or  the  sensitized  paper.  The  back  board  i& 
then  placed  on  the  felt,  the  clamping-bars  are  fixed  in  position, 
and  the  face  of  the  frame  is  exposed  to  the  sun  at  such  an  angle  as 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPH Y.  315 

to  be  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right-angles  to  the  solar  rays.  There 
should  not  be  any  obstacle,  such  as  window-mullions,  &c,  inter- 
vening between  the  printing-frame  and  the  source  of  light,  as  any 
partial  obstruction  of  the  rays  would  produce  an  imperfect  copy. 
Where  practicable,  the  printing-frame  should  be  exposed  in  the 
open  air,  to  the  full  rays  of  the  sun,  or  to  the  brightest  part  of  the 
sky,  preferably  placing  the  face  of  the  frame  flat,  so  as  to  get  the 
direct  rays  from  the  zenith,  and  with  no  wall  near  it  to  obstruct 
the  light.  If  such  a  wall  exists,  it  should  be  coloured  white,  to 
reflect  as  much  of  the  actinic  light  as  possible.  If  this  is  not 
possible,  the  frame  should  be  exposed  for  half  the  time  of  exposure 
turned  in  one  direction,  and  then  reversed  end  for  end  for  the 
remainder. 

Instead  of  springs  or  clamps  on  the  printing-frame,  use  may  be 
made  of  Street's  copying-frames,  with  an  air-cushion  inflated  by 
simply  blowing,  and  exerting  a  uniform  pressure  over  the  whole 
surface  of  the  frame. 

The  sensitive  paper  should  bo  taken  from  its  case  in  non-actinic 
light.  This  is  especially  important  with  papers  sensitized  by 
processes  Nos.  3,  4,  5,  and  G,  described  further  on. 

The  Author  has  employed  yellow  window-blinds,  which  have 
proved  sufficiently  effective  in  obstructing  actinic  light ;  and 
amber-coloured  glass  may  be  used,  or  ordinary  windows  can  be 
converted  into  non-actinic  ones  by  being  covered  with  ruby, 
yellow,  or  amber-coloured  glacial  paper.  The  light  of  any  office 
can  thus  be  made  non-actinic  at  a  slight  expense.  The  Author 
sensitizes  the  paper  in  the  evening,  using  a  ruby  lantern.  When 
the  paper  has  been  prepared  by  the  cyanotype  processes,  or  the 
gallic  acid  process,  non-actinic  arrangements  are  superfluous,  as 
these  papers  may  be  freely  handled  in  the  diffused  light  of  an 
office  for  the  short  time  required  to  cut  and  place  the  sensitized 
paper  in  the  printing-frame. 

The  developing  bath  should  be  slightly  larger  than  the  paper 
to  be  treated.  For  acid  solutions,  the  bath  should  be  of  earthen- 
ware, papier-mache,  vulcanite,  or  enamelled  iron  ;  but  for  most  of 
the  solutions  mentioned  in  this  Paper,  the  bath  may  be  of  zinc,  or 
of  wood  lined  with  guttapercha,  or  sheet  lead. 

For  the  Pellet  process,  two  trays  lined  with  guttapercha,  and 
one  zinc  tray,  will  be  required.  A  copious  supply  of  water  to  the 
bath,  from  a  1-inch  rubber  tube  attached  to  a  water-tap,  will  be 
found  a  great  advantage.  The  print,  on  its  removal  from  the 
frame,  should  be  rapidly  transferred  to  the  bath,  and  after  being 
immersed  in  pure  water  until  it  is  completely  developed,  should 


316 


THWAITE    ON    HELIOGRAPHY. 


[Selected 


be  withdrawn  and  hung  up  on  a  line,  or  on  glass  rods  with  clips, 
until  the  water  has  drained  off;  and  blotting-paper  will  then 
effectually  remove  the  remaining  moisture. 

A  wooden  bath  may  be  employed  if,  when  perfectly  dry,  it  is 
treated  with  a  varnish  of  ^  lb.  of  common  brown  resin  and  2  oz. 
of  beeswax.  The  developing  bath  designed  by  the  Author 
(Fig.  3)  is  well  suited  for  offices  where  space  is  limited,  as  it  is 
more  portable  than  the  flat  form  of  bath,  and  occupies  little  space ; 
the  water  clears  itself  from  the  dissolved  salts,  and  the  prints  are 
more  easily  developed.  The  prints,  when  in  the  bath,  are  removed 
from  the  light,  and  when  withdrawn  they  can  be  hung  on  the 

Fig.  3. 


Developing  Bath. 


drying-rods  at  the  sides  of  the  bath,  the  water  draining  into  the 
troughs  at  each  side. 

The  sensitized  paper  should  be  preserved  from  damp  and  the 
light  in  zinc  cases.  Where  the  locality  is  a  damp  one,  it  is  a  good 
plan  to  have  the  lid  fitted  to  hold  a  piece  of  calcic  chloride,  to 
absorb  the  moisture. 

No.  1. — Cyanotype  Sensitizing  Process  (HersclieVs). — White  lines  are 
produced  on  a  blue  ground  with  a  solution  of  140  grains  of  ferric- 
ammonic  citrate,  120  grains  of  potassic  ferri-cyanide,  and  2  oz. 
of  distilled  water ;  and  the  solution  should  be  kept  in  a  stoneware 
vessel. 

This  process  depends  upon  the  actinic  action  of  light  reducing 
the  ferric  salts  to  a  ferrous  state  under  certain  conditions,  one  of 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGKAPHY.  317 

which  is  the  presence  of  organic  matter,  such  as  the  albumen  or 
other  size  contained  in  the  paper.  The  ferrous  salt  then  combines 
with  the  potassic  salt  to  form  Prussian  blue,  which  is  insoluble. 

The  sensitizing  solution  should  be  applied  to  cream-laid  paper, 
rolled  and  well  sized  by  a  flat  damping  brush,  6  inches  wide,  or 
a  tuft  of  cotton- waste ;  and  the  paper  should  be  allowed  to  dry  in 
the  dark.  The  solution  should  be  applied  uniformly,  and  suffi- 
ciently just  to  cover  the  surface  of  the  paper.  After  drying  in 
the  dark,  the  paper  should  be  rolled  and  stored  in  special  cases. 

Two  or  three  minutes'  exposure  to  the  sun  at  noon,  and  thirty 
minutes  in  the  afternoon,  is  sufficient  when  newly-made  sensitized 
paper  is  used.  The  exact  degree  of  printing  during  exposure  can 
be  ascertained  by  the  use  of  a  small  printing-frame,  in  which 
sensitized  paper  should  be  exposed  along  with  that  in  the  larger 
frame,  and  under  precisely  similar  conditions.  Another  method  is 
to  allow  a  part  of  the  sensitizing  paper  to  protrude  from  behind 
the  tracing.  The  effect  of  the  degree  of  exposure  can  be  ascer- 
tained by  watching  the  varying  colours  of  the  paper,  which,  with 
the  blue  negative  cyanotype  processes,  change  from  an  initial 
yellowish  green  to  a  bluish  green,  then  to  bluish  grey,  and  finally 
to  an  olive  green,  when  the  exposure  is  complete. 

A  6,000-candle  arc-light  is  equal  to  half  the  actinic  effect  of 
ordinary  sunless  noonday  light,  and  equal  to  one-sixth  of  the 
actinic  effect  of  unclouded  sunlight.  At  a  distance  of  5  feet  from 
an  electric  arc-light  of  6,000  candles,  an  exposure  of  thirty 
minutes  is  required  for  paper  sensitized  by  the  Pellet  process,  and 
a  little  longer  for  the  other  cyanotype  processes.  As  the  argentic 
paper  is  four  times  more  sensitive  than  the  cyanotype  jiaper,  about 
ten  minutes'  exposure  only  is  needed  for  paper  sensitized  by  the 
argentic  nitrate  process.  By  arranging  several  printing-frames  in 
a  circle  of  10  feet  around  the  arc- light,  as  many  as  eight  lar«-o 
copies  can  be  made  at  the  same  time. 

When  it  is  required  to  copy  during  dark  days,  and  where 
electric  arc-light  is  not  available,  actinic  light  may  be  produced 
by  a  deflagrating  mixture  of  8  parts  of  potassic  chlorate,  4  parts 
of  antimony  sulphide,  2  parts  of  sulphur,  and  2  parts  of  magne- 
sium dust ;  but  it  is  only  suitable  for  the  highly  sensitive  argentic 
nitrate,  and  piatinotype  processes,  and  must  not  be  pounded  or 
otherwise  mixed  in  a  mortar. 

The  development  is  effected  by  thoroughly  washing  the  print 
in  pure  water,  in  the  bath,  for  a  few  minutes.  A  little  hydric 
chloride  is  occasionally  added  to  the  water  to  increase  the  inten- 
sity of  the  blue  ground,  which  may  be  converted  into  black  by 


318  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGEAPHY.  [Selected 

first  immersing  it  in  a  bath  of  caustic  potash,  and  afterwards  in 
one  of  tannic  acid.  Development  is  considerably  accelerated  by 
the  nse  of  water  at  90°  to  100°  Fahrenheit.  Only  sufficient  paper 
for  two  months'  use  should  be  obtained. 

No.  2. — Cyanotype  Process  (Mario7is). — White  lines  on  a  blue 
c-round  are  also  produced  by  a  sensitizing  solution  composed  of 
9|  oz.  of  ferric-ammonic  citrate,  and  6^  oz.  of  potassic-ferric 
oxide,  dissolved  separately  in  pure  water,  and  then  made  up  to 
1  quart. 

Both  processes  Nos.  1  and  2  give  good  results.     "When  positive 
prints  (or  blue  lines  on  a  white  ground)  are  required,  the  sensitive 
paper  should  lie  of  the   thinnest   possible  description  that  will 
permit   the    solution  to  be  applied  without   sinking   through  it. 
This  thin  paper  should  be  then  used  in  the  manner  described  for 
taking  a  negative  copy  (or  white  lines  on  a  blue  ground),  this 
negative  copy  being  used  instead  of  the  tracing,  and  the  ordinary 
sensitized  paper  placed  behind  it  in  the  ordinary  manner.     The 
exposure   must   be    considerably  prolonged   (from   three   to   four 
times  at  least) ;  and  the  development  also  occupies  a  longer  time. 
To  effect  alterations  or  additions  on  negative  prints,  the  follow- 
ing methods  may  be  adopted.     "White  lines  may  be  obliterated  by 
applying  a  quill-pen  or  brush  dipped  in  the  sensitizing  solution, 
and  then  exposing  and  developing  as  already  described.    Additions 
may  be  made  with  flake,  or  Chinese  white ;  but  a  more  effectual 
method  is  to  use  a  quill-pen,  or  brush,  dipped  into  a  solution  of 
40  grains  of  potassic  carbonate  in  1  oz.  of  water.     Immediately 
after  applying  the  potash,  the  paper  must  be  carefully  dried  with 
blotting-paper,  otherwise  the  effect  of  the  solution  will  spread. 

No.  3. — Positive  Cyanotype  Process  (Pellet's.  Blue  lines  on  a  white 
ground). — According  to  an  admirable  treatise,1  this  process  is  the 
most  important  of  the  existing  sun-copying  or  photographic-tracing 
methods.  It  is  widely  used  by  engineers  on  the  Continent ;  it 
gives  very  distinct  prints,  and  depends  upon  the  reduction  of  an 
organic  ferric  salt  to  a  ferrous  salt  by  actinism.  Prussian  blue  is 
formed  by  the  reaction  of  ferric  compounds  with  potassic  ferro- 
eyanide ;  and  white  ferrous  compounds  form  a  white  salt  with  the 
same  reagent.  If  the  paper  sensitized  by  the  Pellet  process  was 
introduced  into  the  ferrocyanide  developer  without  exposure,  it 
would  become  entirely  blue,  owing  to  the  uniform  deposition  of 
Prussian  blue.     Should  any  part  have  been  sufficiently  exposed  to 


1  "  Die  Modernen  Lichtpaus  Verfuhren,  zur  Herstellung  exacter  Copien  nach 
Zeichnungen  sjticlien,"  &c 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPHT.  319 

the  light,  the  paper  will  remain  white  owing  to  the  complete 
reduction  of  the  iron  from  the  ferric  to  the  ferrous  state,  the 
persalt  of  iron  becoming  reduced  to  the  state  of  protosalt  wherever 
the  sensitive  paper  is  unprotected  by  the  opaque  lines  of  the 
tracinf.  Hence  the  Pellet  process  produces  dark  blue  lines  on  a 
white  oround.  The  solution  is  made  with  3  parts  of  sodic  chloride, 
8  parts  of  ferric  chloride,  4  parts  of  hydrogen  tartrate,  and  100 
parts  of  water ;  and  it  is  thickened  by  the  addition  of  25  parts 
of  powdered  gum-arabic.  The  paper  should  be  fastened  down  by 
pins,  and  the  solution  applied  in  the  usual  manner.  The  paper 
should  be  dried  as  quickly  as  possible,  to  keep  the  sensitive 
coating  as  much  as  possible  on  the  surface  of  the  paper. 

In  full  sunlight,  one  to  two  minutes'  exposure  is  sufficient ;  but 
in  dull  weather,  considerably  longer  time  is  required.  With  the 
electric  arc-light,  the  time  of  exposure  varies  from  twenty  minutes 
to  half  an  hour.  The  progress  of  actinic  action  on  the  Pellet 
paper  may  be  tested  by  inserting  several  test-slips  beneath  a 
similar  piece  of  tracing-paper,  on  which  some  lines  have  been 
drawn,  withdrawing  these  slips  at  different  periods  during  the 
exposure  and  inserting  them  in  potassic  ferrocyanide,  until  the 
exposure  is  found  to  be  sufficient.  By  adopting  this  simple 
actinographic  method,  much  disappointment  may  be  prevented. 

The  paper  sensitized  by  this  process  will  keep  for  days  after 
exposure  before  developing,  so  that  when  a  considerable  number 
of  sun-copies  are  required,  it  is  advisable  to  expose  all  of  them 
when  the  light  is  good,  and  to  develop  them  subsequently  at 
leisure.  The  print  should  be  transferred  into  a  saturated  solution 
of  potassic  ferrocyanide,  not  immersed,  but  floated  with  the  pre- 
pared face  next  the  solution.  By  simply  turning  up  the  edges  of 
the  print,  the  developing  solution  is  prevented  from  reaching  the 
back  of  the  print.  The  development  is  rapid,  one  minute  being 
generally  sufficient.  A  blue  coloration  of  the  ground  is  a  proof 
of  insufficient  exposure ;  while  weakness  of  the  lines  indicates  over- 
exposure. If  the  exposure  has  been  sufficient,  the  paper  may  be 
left  for  a  considerable  time  in  the  developing  bath,  to  increase  the 
definition  of  the  lines.  On  the  contrary,  should  the  exposure  have 
been  weak,  the  print  must  be  submitted  for  a  short  time  only  to 
the  influence  of  the  potassic  ferrocyanide,  to  avoid  blue  spots 
caused  by  unreduced  particles  of  iron. 

After  the  completion  of  the  development,  the  print  should  be 
floated  face  downwards  upon  clean  water ;  and  in  about  two 
minutes,  it  should  be  immersed  in  an  acid  bath,  composed  of  8  parts 
of  hydric  chloride,  3  parts  of  hydric  sulphate,  and  100  parts  of 


! 


320  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPHY.  [Selected 

water.  From  six  to  eight  minutes  is  sufficient  time  to  allow  for 
the  acid  reaction  on  the  iron  compounds,  and  for  the  removal  of 
the  redundant  iron  compounds  by  the  acid.  The  print  should 
next  be  thoroughly  washed  with  water,  and  dried.  Any  blue 
discoloration  may  be  remedied  by  a  dilute  solution  of  potassic 
hydrate,  applied  with  a  quill-pen,  or  brush,  and  blotted. 

The  potash  solution  is  composed  of  1  part  of  potassic  hydrate 
and  28  parts  of  water.  A  solution,  termed  blue  solving,  is  provided 
for  making  alterations,  or  additions,  on  paper  prepared  by  this 
process. 

When  the  helios  produced  by  the  Pellet  process  are  discoloured, 
they  may  be  effectually  bleached  by  a  4  per  cent,  solution  of 
hydric  sulphate  in  summer ;  and  in  winter  this  may  be  increased 
to  6  per  cent. 

When  the  cyanotype,  the  Pellet,  or  Shawcross  prints  are  intended 
for  the  workshop,  they  should  be  saturated  with  white,  hard 
varnish.  This  will  prevent  the  penetration  of  oily  matters, 
grease,  &c,  and  the  adhesion  of  dirt.  For  rough  work,  the  prints 
should  be  mounted  on  linen,  with  fresh,  white  paste,  entirely  free 
from  acid  and  alum,  applied  to  the  back  of  the  print. 

No.  4. — Positive  Cyanotype  Process  (PizzigMUis'.  Park  blue  lines 
on  a  ivhite  ground). — This  process  is  very  similar  to  Pellet's;  the 
solution  consists  of  5  parts  of  powdered  gum-arabic  dissolved  in 
25  parts  of  water,  1  part  of  ferric-ammonic  citrate  with  2  parts  of 
water,  and  1  part  of  ferric  chloride  with  2  parts  of  water,  mixed  in 
the  proportion  of  30  parts  of  the  first,  8  of  the  second,  and  5  of 
the  last.  At  first  the  mixture  is  limpid,  but  it  soon  grows 
thicker.  It  should  be  applied  to  the  paper  immediately  after 
mixing. 

The  exposure  is  the  same  as  for  Pellet  prints. 

The  developing  solution  is  composed  of  1  part  of  potassic  ferro- 
cyanide  and  5  parts  of  water.  This  solution  should  be  carefully 
applied  to  the  face  of  the  print  with  a  large  camel's-hair  brush, 
when  the  delineations  in  dark  blue  will  at  once  appear.  As  soon 
as  the  drawing  is  quite  clear,  the  prints  should  be  placed  in  a 
solution  of  12  parts  of  hydric  chloride  and  10  parts  of  water. 
The  ground  will  then  become  quite  clear  and  white,  and  the  gum 
will  be  removed.  The  print  should  be  finally  washed  in  clean 
rain-water. 

No.  5. — Nigrographic  Process  (Black  lines  on  a  ivhite  ground). — 
This  process,  although  complicated,  and  requiring  scrupulous  care 
in  manipulation,  is  worthy  of  a  place,  because  of  the  peculiarity 
of  the  reagents  used,  and  the  method  of  operation. 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPHY.  321 

The  solution  employed  consists  of  25  parts  of  gum-arabic, 
7  parts  of  potassic  bichromate,  1  part  of  alcohol,  and  100  parts 
of  water.  This  solution  should  be  applied  to  thoroughly  sized 
paper,  dried,  and  kept  in  a  dark  place. 

The  exposure  is  the  same  as  in  the  ferro-prussiate,  or  cyanotype 
processes.  After  exposure,  it  should  be  placed  in  cold  water  for 
twenty  minutes,  to  wash  out  the  unchanged  bichromated  gum. 
After  drying,  it  should  be  treated  with  a  mixture  of  5  parts  of 
shellac,  100  parts  of  alcohol,  and  15  parts  of  finely  ground  lamp- 
black. This  black  mixture  should  be  carefully  applied,  by  means 
of  a  sponge,  to  the  face  of  the  print,  which  should  then  be  im- 
mersed in  an  acid  solution  of  100  parts  of  water  and  3  parts  of 
hydric  sulphate.  The  superfluous  black  colour  can  be  removed 
by  a  soft  camel's-hair  brush ;  and  the  delineations  appear  in  black 
lines  on  a  white  ground. 

No.  6. — Platinotype  Process  (Willis's.  White  lines  on  a  black 
ground).— This  process  is  based  on  the  reducing  action  of  a  ferrous 
salt,  when  exj)osed  to  actinic  light,  on  metallic  chlorides,  especially 
that  of  platinum. 

The  sensitizing  solution  is  composed  of  60  grains  of  potassic 
platinous  chloride,  GO  grains  of  ferric  oxalate,  and  1  oz.  of  water. 

The  proper  time  of  exposure  is  about  one- third  of  that  required 
for  the  argentic-nitrate  process.  During  the  exposure,  the  initial 
yellow  colour  of  the  sensitized  paper  becomes  pale  greyish  brown, 
and  finally  of  a  dull  orange  hue.  The  last  change  indicates  that 
the  iron  salt  has  been  almost  completely  reduced.  If  the  prints 
are  not  immediately  developed,  they  should  be  preserved  from 
moisture  by  being  placed  in  cases  in  which  there  is  a  lid  contain- 
ing calcic  chloride. 

The  print  should  be  developed,  in  non-actinic  light,  in  a  solution 
of  130  grains  of  potassic  oxalate  and  1  oz.  of  water,  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  from  150°  to  200°  F.  The  print  should  be  floated  in  the 
developing  solution  for  not  less  than  four  seconds,  with  the  printed 
face  next  to  the  developing  solution.  As  soon  as  the  print  has  been 
properly  developed  in  the  above  solution,  it  should  be  washed,  either 
in  1  part  of  hydric  chloride  with  60  parts  of  water,  or  in  10  parts 
of  citric  acid  with  100  parts  of  water ;  the  hydric  chloride  solution 
being  the  best.  The  print  should  be  washed  in  the  dilute  acid 
solution  for  about  ten  minutes,  or  until  it  does  not  communicate 
the  slightest  tinge  of  colour  to  the  bath ;  if  it  does,  it  should  be 
re-immersed  in  the  bath,  or,  better  still,  in  a  fresh-made  dilute  acid 
solution,  which  should  remove  all  traces  of  iron  salts  from  the 
paper.     The  prints  should  be  finally  washed  in  copious  relays  of 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  Y 


o22  THWAITE   ON  HELIoaRAPHY.  [Selected 

clean  water  for  at  least  fifteen  minutes.  This  process  is  used  by 
the  Midland,  and  London  and  North- Western  Eailway  Companies, 
upon  the  Ordnance  Survey,  and  by  the  Eoyal  Engineers,  and 
gives  most  exquisite  prints. 

No.  7.  Gallic  Acid  Process  (Shaivcross's  direct  positive.  Black  lines 
on  a  while  ground). — This  process  is  one  of  those  now  employed  by 
the  Author ;  and  by  giving  a  direct  positive  black  copy,  has  a  con- 
siderable advantage  over  the  other  processes  described.  The  re- 
agents employed  are  inexpensive ;  and  the  process  is  comparatively 
simple.  A  gallo-tannate  of  iron  is  formed  by  the  combination  of 
gallic  or  tannic  acid  with  a  ferric  salt ;  and  this  latter  salt,  on 
exposure  to  light,  is  converted  into  the  ferrous  state.  The  part  of 
the  paper  preserved  from  light,  not  being  changed  by  actinism 
into  the  ferrous  state,  is  ready  to  combine  immediately  with  the 
gallic  acid  on  immersion  in  a  suitable  solvent  such  as  water. 

The  sensitizing  solution  consists  of  150  parts  of  gelatine,  60  parts 
of  ferric  sulphate,  94  parts  of  sodic  chloride,  18*8  parts  of  hydrogen 
tartrate,  150  parts  of  ferric  chloride,  and  110  parts  of  water. 
The  solution  should  be  uniformly  spread  over  the  surface  of  the 
paper  by  means  of  a  roller  pad,  or  flat  brush  (the  roller  pad  being 
preferable),  and  the  paper  dried  in  the  dark.  It  should  then  be 
dusted  over  with  finely-powdered  gallic  or  tannic  acid ;  and  the 
powder  should  then  be  thoroughly  rubbed  on  the  paper  until  it  is. 
brought  into  contact  with  every  part  of  the  sensitive  surface ;  it 
is  now  ready  for  use. 

As  soon  as  the  yellowish  colour  of  the  paper  is  converted  into 
white,  the  exposure  is  complete.  The  lines  of  the  drawing  will 
appear  in  the  initial  yellow  colour  until  the  print  is  immersed  in 
the  developing  bath  of  water,  when  the  yellow  lines  will  at  once 
be  converted  into  a  dark  colour  approaching  to  black.  If  exposed 
too  long,  the  yellow  lines  of  the  drawing  will  entirely  disappear. 
The  prints  should  be  thoroughly  washed  in  two  relays  of  water, 
the  surface  of  the  print  being  carefully  rubbed  over  with  a  stiff 
brush  while  submerged  in  the  water  of  the  bath.  The  more 
thorough  the  washing,  the  better  is  the  print ;  and  although 
the  print  may  appear  white  after  the  first  washing,  subsequent 
exposure  to  sunlight  will  probably  show  disagreeable  discolora- 
tions  in  the  white  surface.  Lines  may  be  altered,  or  stains  removed, 
by  using  a  1  per  cent,  solution  of  hydric  sulphate.  When  a  more 
rapidly  sensitizing  solution  is  required,  either  glucose  or  dextrine 
may  be  substituted  for  the  gelatine,  which  will  give  a  violet  or 
purple  hue  to  the  reproduced  lines  on  the  sun-copy.  Blue  lines 
can   be   produced  by  substituting  potassic  ferrocyanide  for  the 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPH Y.  323 

gallic  acid;  red  lines  by  substituting  potassic  sulpkocyanide  for 
the  gallic  acid ;  and  green  lines  with  caoutchouc. 

The  Author  strongly  recommends  the  use  of  this  process,  which 
is  the  invention  of  Mr.  Shawcross,  of  the  Water  Engineer's  Office, 
Liverpool ;  for  it  does  not  require  an  acid  solution  for  development ; 
the  exposure  may  be  determined  by  simple  examination ;  it  gives 
a  direct  positive,  and  practically  black  copy ;  coloured  tracings 
may  be  reproduced,  as  it  reproduces  half  tones ;  and  the  copy  is  in 
ink  (gallo-tannate  of  iron),  and  is  permanent. 

No.  8.  Argentic  Nitrate  Process  (Wliitc  lines  on  a  Made  ground,  or 
vice  versa). — This  process,  although  far  more  expensive  than  the 
other  processes  described,  is  advantageous  when  small,  intricate, 
and  delicate  drawings  require  to  be  reproduced. 

When  organic  matter,  such  as  the  albumen  of  albumenized  paper, 
is  brought  into  contact  with  a  soluble  salt  of  silver,  a  definite 
compound  of  argentic  albuminate  is  formed,  which  on  exposure  to 
light  becomes  dark-coloured.  It  is  inferred,  from  chemical  con- 
siderations, that  although  the  dark  compound  is  not  argentic 
Oxide,  yet  the  coloration  is  dependent  on  the  formation  of  argentic 
oxide.  Argentic  albuminate  is  white,  but  becomes  dark  red-brick 
colour  in  the  presence  of  actinic  light.  If  gelatine  is  used  as  the 
size  instead  of  albumen,  it  combines  with  the  silver,  and  on  ex- 
posure to  light  assumes  a  red  tint.  If  starch  is  used  for  the  size, 
exposure  to  actinic  light  converts  argentic  starch  compounds  into 
a  dark  violet  colour. 

The  sensitizing  solution  consists  of  GO  grains  of  argentic  nitrate, 
and  1  oz.  of  distilled  water,  with  the  addition  of  10  drops  of  a 
saturated  solution  of  citric  acid  for  each  ounce  of  argentic  nitrate. 
This  solution  should  be  poured  into  an  earthenware  bath  for  a 
depth  of  J  inch,  and  is  prepared  by  thoroughly  mixing  together 
154 '3  grains  (10  grams)  of  amnionic  chloride,  0*2G4  pint  (15  c.cs.) 
of  alcohol,  and  2*37  pints  (135  c.cs.)  of  water,  and  then  gradually 
adding  8  pints  (450  c.cs.)  of  albumen.  Its  application  should 
be  effected  as  follows : — The  paper  should  be  held  by  the  two 
opposite  corners,  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  first  touch  the  surface 
of  the  solution  on  a  line  between  the  two  corners  not  held  by 
the  hands.  The  two  corners  held  in  the  hands  are  then  dropped, 
first  one  and  then  the  other.  Any  air-bubbles  can  be  removed  by 
gently  moving  the  paper,  while  half  is  held  out  of  the  solution. 
If  the  edges  of  the  paper  curl  away  from  the  solution,  they  may 
be  gently  blown  down  to  the  surface.  The  paper  should  be 
gently  drawn  from  the  solution  by  the  adjacent  corners,  so  that 
it  may  be  drained  while  it  is  lifted ;  and  it  should  then  be  dried. 

Y  2 


324  THWAITE   OX  HELIOGRAPHY.  [Selected 

A  few  minutes'  exposure  in  sunlight  is  sufficient ;  and  when  the 
colour  of  the  print  becomes  a  deep  chocolate  tint  with  metallic 
reflections,  it  is  sufficiently  exposed. 

After  removal  from  the  printing-frame,  the  print  should  be 
thoroughly  washed  in  copious  relays  of  water.  The  print  may  be 
toned  in  a  solution  of  1  grain  of  auric  chloride,  30  grains  of  sodic 
acetate,  and  10  oz.  of  water;  and  it  should  be  allowed  to  remain 
in  this  solution  for  fifteen  minutes.  After  again  washing  in  rain, 
or  distilled  water,  the  print  should  be  immersed  in  a  fixing  solution 
of  4  oz.  of  sodic  hyposulphite  and  1  pint  of  water,  for  fifteen 
minutes,  and  afterwards  thoroughly  washed  in  several  changes  of 
water,  or  with  a  copious  supply  of  water  from  an  india-rubber 
tube. 

Xo.  9.  Uranium  Salt  Process  (Brown  or  grey  lines  on  a  white 
ground). — This  process  is  based  upon  the  reduction  of  uranic  nitrate 
to  the  uranous  state  in  the  presence  of  organic  matter,  such  as 
the  size  contained  in  the  paper,  and  under  exposure  to  actinic 
light. 

The  sensitizing  solution  consists  of  G17"2  grains  (40  grams) 
of  uranic  nitrate,  and  4-4  pints  (250  c.cs.)  of  distilled  water.  The 
paper  should  be  floated,  as  in  the  argentic  process,  for  about  eight 
minutes,  in  a  bath  of  the  above  solution,  and  after  drying  is  ready 
for  use. 

The  time  of  exposure  required  for  this  paper  is  rather  longer 
than  that  required  for  the  argentic  process. 

If  a  brown  copy  is  required,  the  exposed  side  of  the  paper  is 
floated  for  about  five  minutes,  or  until  the  details  are  completely 
visible,  on  a  developing  solution  consisting  of  15 '43  grains 
(1  gram)  of  potassic  ferricyanide,  2  drops  of  hydric  nitrate,  and 
4-4  pints  (250  c.cs.)  of  water;  and  the  print  should  then  be 
thoroughly  washed  in  slightly  acidulated  water. 

If  grey  lines  are  required,  the  developing  solution  should  be 
made  with  30*86  grains  (2  grams)  of  argentic  nitrate,  3  or  4 
drops  of  acetic  acid,  and  0  ■  54  pint  (40  c.cs.)  of  water.  The  print 
should  be  floated  on  this  solution,  when  the  delineation  will 
rapidly  become  visible.  If  the  lines  are  weak,  they  may  be 
strengthened  by  adding  a  few  drops  of  a  saturated  solution  of 
gallic  acid.  The  print,  when  fully  developed,  should  be  thoroughly 
washed  in  pure  soft  water  free  from  carbonates  or  chlorides. 

No.  10.   Gelatine  Process  (Poitevin's). — This  process  is  based  on 
the  peculiar  property  possessed  by  the  ferric  salt,  of  rendering 
gelatine  insoluble,  so  long  as  it  is  not  exposed  to  actinic  rays. 
The   sensitizing   solution   is   composed   of  10   parts    of    ferric 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPHY.  325 

chloride,  3  parts  of  hydrogen  tartrate,  and  100  parts  of  water. 
Before  the  paper  is  coated  with  the  sensitizing  solution,  it  should 
he  floated  on  a  6  per  cent,  solution  of  gelatine  while  this  is  still 
warm,  and  with  which  is  mixed  any  suitable  pigment,  of  the 
desired  colour,  such  as  lamp-black.  When  dry,  it  should  he 
immersed  in  the  sensitizing  solution,  and  afterwards  dried  ;  and  it 
is  then  ready  for  use.  The  paper  should  be  sensitized  and  dried 
in  non- actinic  light. 

The  sensitized  paper  should  be  placed  behind  the  tracing,  or 
drawing,  reversed  as  regards  right  and  left.  The  time  of  exposure 
varies  from  half  a  minute  to  several  hours,  according  to  the 
intensity  of  the  light  and  the  thickness  of  the  paper.  The 
gelatine  surface  which  is  not  covered  by  the  lines  of  the  drawing 
becomes  soluble  in  hot  water  on  exposure  to  the  light. 

After  the  paper  is  removed  from  the  printing-frame,  it  should 
be  immersed  in  water  at  a  temperature  of  80°  Fahrenheit,  when 
the  soluble  gelatine  will  run  off  the  paper. 

No.  11.  Amnionic  Bichromate  Process  (Cros  and  Vergercuid's. 
Dark  brown  lines  on  a  white  ground). — The  theory  of  this  in- 
genious process,  communicated  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,1  is 
probably  as  follows.  The  action  of  actinic  light  converts  the 
bichromate,  in  the  presence  of  organic  matter,  into  chromium,  and 
renders  the  organic  matter  insoluble.  The  ammonium  is  dissolved 
in  the  solvent;  and  the  chromium,  in  the  presence  of  argentic 
nitrate,  becomes  converted  into  argentic  bichromate. 

The  sensitizing  solution  consists  of  30*86  grains  (2  grams)  of 
amnionic  bichromate,  231*48  grains  (15  grams)  of  glucose,  and 
1,543*2  grains  (100  grains)  of  water. 

The  time  of  exposure  is  similar  to  that  of  the  Pellet  process,  and 
should  be  continued  until  the  initial  yellow  colour  of  the  sensitized 
ground  is  converted  into  grey.  The  print  should  then  be  im- 
mersed in  a  solution  consisting  of  10  parts  of  acetic  acid,  88  parts 
of  water,  and  1  part  of  argentic  nitrate.  The  lines  will  come  out 
of  a  red  colour,  which,  on  drying,  will  become  converted  into 
dark  red. 

Printing  on  Fabrics. — The  best  description  of  textile  fabrics  for 
this  purpose  is  fine  linen,  or  the  finer  kinds  of  cotton  fabrics 
(Nainsook,  for  example).  When  silk  is  used,  the  denser  kinds  of 
sarsanet,  and  the  soft  silks  are  the  best. 

To  albuminize  or  size  the  fabric,  it  should  be  boiled  in  water 
made  alkaline  by  the  addition  of  a  little  potash,  and  after  drying, 


Coraptes  Kendus  Hebdomadaires  des  Seances.     1883.     Tome  96,  p.  254. 


326  THWAITE   ON  HELIOGRAPHY.  [Selected 

it  should  "be  coated  with  a  sizing  solution  composed  of  30  •  8G  grains 
(2  grams)  of  amnionic  chloride,  4*4  pints  (250  c.  cs.)  of  water, 
and  the  white  of  two  eggs. 

The  sensitizing  operations  by  the  various  processes  can  he 
performed  as  for  paper,  with  the  exception  that,  with  the  argentic 
nitrate  process,  70  grains  of  argentic  nitrate  should  he  used  instead 
of  60.  The  exposure  and  developing  operations  are  the  same  as 
for  paper,  with  the  exception  that,  with  the  platinotype  process, 
the  acid  solution  should  he  composed  of  1  part  of  hydric  chloride 
and  45  parts  of  water.  The  Platinotype  Company  prepares  special 
solutions  for  the  application  of  the  platinotype  process  to  fabrics. 
If  treated  with  the  platinotype  solution,  the  printed  fabric  can, 
according  to  Mr.  Willis,  be  washed  when  soiled  without  injury  to 
the  image. 

Fabrics  should  be  sensitized  in  non-actinic  light,  or  by  gas  or 
lamplight.  A  good  method  is  to  lay  the  fabric  on  a  glass  plate, 
and  apply  the  sensitizing  solution  by  means  of  a  sponge  until  the 
fabric  is  thoroughly  saturated.  The  material  should  then  be 
carefully  dried,  by  gently  waving  it  backwards  and  forwards 
before  a  stove  until  it  is  quite  dry.  The  fabric  should  not  be 
brought  nearer  than  2  feet  from  the  drying-stove,  otherwise  the 
sensitizing  solution  will  undergo  decomposition.  After  sensitizing, 
the  fabrics  should  be  preserved  from  damp. 

No.  12.  Zincographic  Process. — This  process  is  used  in  some  of 
the  continental  drawing-offices,  amongst  others,  that  of  the  Belgian 
department  of  the  Ponts  et  Chaussees.  It  has  this  advantage  over 
the  other  processes  described,  that  when  once  a  zincograph  copy 
has  been  obtained,  any  number  of  duplicates  can  be  reproduced  by 
sending  the  copy  to  a  lithographic  copper-plate  printer. 

Asphaltum,  or  bitumen,  is  the  sensitive  agent,  and  was  dis- 
covered by  Kiepce  de  St.  Victor.  Its  application  for  the  produc- 
tion of  photographic  images  was  the  forerunner  of  the  invention, 
by  his  coadjutor  Daguerre,  of  using  the  iodide  of  silver  as  the 
sensitive  agent.  Asphaltum,  when  exposed  to  light,  becomes 
insoluble  to  ordinary  solvents  ;  so  that  when  it  is  exposed  under 
a  tracing,  the  opaque  lines  of  the  drawing  prevent  the  asphaltum 
from  becoming  insoluble.  The  best  asphaltum  for  this  purpose  is 
that  obtained  from  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea  in  Syria,  and  is 
commonly  known  as  Jews'  pitch  ;  but  it  is  also  obtained  from  the 
islands  of  Cuba  and  Trinidad.  To  prepare  the  asphaltum  for  use, 
it  should  be  dissolved  in  turpentine  or  benzole,  quite  free  from 
water;  and  to  this  should  be  added  10  per  cent,  of  oil  of  lemons. 
The  quantity  of  asphaltum  should  not  exceed  5  per  cent,  of  the 


Papers.]  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGRAPHY.  327 

"benzole.  Only  sufficient  solution  should  be  prepared  to  serve  for 
immediate  use;  and  the  sensitizing  solution  should  be  prepared 
in  non-actinic  light,  and  allowed  to  settle.  A  zinc  plate  should 
be  used  of  the  same  size  as  the  tracing  to  be  reproduced,  and 
should  be  evenly  covered  with  a  film  of  the  sensitizing  solution. 
In  order  to  obtain  a  perfectly  even  film,  the  plates  should  be 
placed  on  a  horizontal  table  or  board,  which  can  be  quickly  turned 
or  spun  round  by  hand.  As  soon  as  the  sensitizing  film  is  even 
and  uniform,  it  should  be  allowed  to  dry ;  and  if  turpentine  has 
been  used  to  dissolve  the  asphaltum,  this  will  take  an  hour,  or 
perhaps  more.  If  benzole  is  used,  it  will  dry  far  more  quickly ; 
and  the  drying  operation  can  be  controlled  by  the  use  of  oil  of 
lemons,  &c. 

The  tracing,  reversed  as  regards  left  to  right,  should  be  placed 
in  the  printing- frame ;  and  the  zinc  plate  should  be  placed  with  its 
sensitized  surface  next  to  the  tracing,  and  clamped  down  or  other- 
wise pressed  to  it.  To  prevent  the  adhesion  of  the  sensitized 
surface  to  that  of  the  tracing,  the  former  should  be  rubbed  over 
with  powdered  French  chalk.  The  time  of  exposure  varies  with 
the  degree  of  intensity  of  the  light,  and  the  thickness  of  the 
asphaltum  film;  but  in  sunlight,  thirty  minutes  at  least  are 
required,  even  with  the  thinnest  films.  Longer  periods,  varying 
from  two  hours  to  twenty-four  hours,  are  needed  for  thicker  films. 
By  using  an  actinograph,  similar  to  the  method  recommended  for 
the  other  processes,  the  progress  can  be  watched.  A  small  piece  of 
zinc,  covered  with  the  same  solution  of  as  near  as  possible  the 
same  thickness,  should  be  applied  under  identical  conditions.  If 
by  rubbing  it  with  a  piece  of  cotton-waste  dipped  in  turpentine 
or  benzole,  the  cotton  becomes  discoloured,  the  exposure  is  not 
complete.  The  edge  of  the  zinc  plate  can  also  be  tested  in  the 
same  way. 

The  plate  should  be  developed  by  the  aid  of  a  ruby  lantern. 
The  development  is  effected  by  gently  rubbing  over  the  sensitized 
surface  with  a  tuft  of  cotton  dipped  in  olive  oil.  After  the 
expiration  of  a  few  minutes,  it  should  be  gently  rubbed  over  with 
turpentine.  The  image  will  gradually  appear  ;  and  the  alternate 
process  of  rubbing  with  oil  and  turpentine  should  be  continued 
until  the  soluble  parts  are  cleared.  The  plate  should  then  be 
washed  with  soap  and  water,  and  finally  washed  in  a  copious 
supply  of  clean  water,  and  then  dried,  after  absorbing  the  water 
with  blotting-paper. 

Another  method  consists  in  filling  a  bath  with  turpentine,  and 
immersing  the  plate  therein,  gently  rocking  the  plate  until  the 


328  THWAITE   ON   HELIOGEAPHY.  [Selected 

soluble  parts  of  the  asphaltum  are  washed  off;  but  care  must  be 
taken  not  to  allow  the  turpentine  to  dissolve  the  parts  which 
should  be  insoluble.  The  plate  should  be  finally  rinsed  with  clean 
turpentine,  and  then  washed  with  water  until  the  soluble  parts 
are  cleared  off,  and  lastly  dried.  This  immersion  operation 
requires  more  care  than  the  nibbing  method,  but  it  is  more  rapid. 
A  solution  of  nitric  acid,  made  by  adding  to  it  twice  its  volume  of 
water,  should  then  be  applied,  either  with  a  quill  or  a  tuft  of 
cotton-waste,  to  the  exposed  parts  of  the  zinc  plate,  until  it  is 
sufficiently  etched  for  printing  by  a  copper-plate  printer. 

In  the  preparation  of  asphaltum  it  is  found  that  a  greater 
degree  of  sensitiveness  and  sharpness  of  definition  is  effected  by 
adopting  the  following  process.  The  asphaltum  is  dissolved  in 
rectified  oil  of  turpentine  until  the  solution  attains  a  syrupy 
consistency.  After  resting  a  few  days,  ether  is  added  to  the 
solution  to  the  extent  of  three  to  four  volumes,  and  two  days 
subsequently  the  resulting  precipitate  is  removed  and  washed 
with  ether  and  dried ;  it  is  then  redissolved  in  pure  benzole,  to 
which  1  •  5  per  cent,  of  Venice  turpentine  is  added  to  produce 
a  more  flexible  coating,  and  it  is  then  ready  for  use.  The 
exposure  and  the  development  are  the  same  as  for  the  asphaltum 
prepared  in  the  ordinary  manner. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  several  diagrams,  from  which  the 
Figs,  in  the  text  have  been  prepared. 


Papers.]     MAItTINDALE  ON  DEMOLITION  OF  GALLIONS  BASIN  WALL.     329 


(Paper  No.  2183.) 

"Demolition  of  the  North-East  Wall  of  the  Gallions  Basin, 
Eoyal  Albert  Docks,  on  the  23rd  of  April,  1886." 

By  Col.  Benjamin  Hay  Martindale,  C.B.,  Assoc.  Inst.  C.E. 

In  1883  the  directors  of  the  London  and  St.  Katharine  Docks 
Company  decided  to  construct  a  second  entrance  from  the  Thames 
into  the  Gallions  basin.  The  Bill  giving  the  necessary  powers 
received  the  Eoyal  Assent  on  the  12th  of  May,  1884.  The  works 
were  then  taken  in  hand,  and  it  is  not  intended  in  this  Paper  to 
give  any  account  of  them.  At  some  future  time,  perhaps,  an 
opportunity  may  be  sought  to  lay  a  brief  statement  of  any  points 
of  interest  before  the  Institution.  Here,  it  is  only  necessaiy 
to  say  that  the  works  consist  of  a  new  entrance,  with  a  wharf 
stretching  from  it  1,120  feet  down  the  Thames,  and  of  an  exten- 
sion of  the  existing  basin,  Plate  10,  Fig.  1  ;  and  that  in  order  to 
connect  the  new  with  the  old  part  of  the  basin,  and  to  give 
access  from  the  new  entrance  into  the  basin  and  so  into  the 
Eoyal  Victoria  and  Albert  Docks,  the  wall  shown  on  plan  had 
to  be  removed. 

This  wall  was  520  feet  long,  and,  like  the  rest  of  that  surround- 
ing the  basin,  was  38  feet  deep,  19  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  and 
5  feet  wide  at  the  top.  The  face  had  a  batter  of  1  in  27  for 
25  feet,  then  of  1  in  6  for  G  feet,  and  then  sloped  forward  for 
3  feet  at  an  angle  of  45°,  with  an  apron  14  feet  wide  and  6  feet 
deep.  The  back  of  the  wall  Avas  thickened  by  four  steps;  the 
first  2  feet  wide,  and  3  feet  from  the  top ;  the  next  two  steps,  each 
2  feet  4  inches  wide,  and  7  feet  deep ;  the  last,  2  feet  4  inches 
wide,  but  only  3  feet  6  inches  below  the  third  step.  The  wall 
was  then  straight  to  the  bottom,  Fig.  2.  It  was  made  of  concrete 
composed  of  6  parts  gravel  and  1  part  Portland  cement,  and  was 
of  great  hardness  and  strength.  The  water,  at  Trinity  high- 
water,  was  6  feet  below  the  top  of  the  wall ;  the  ground  was 
level  with  it  behind,  and  formed  the  quay.  At  40  feet  from  the 
edge  stood  a  corrugated-iron  warehouse,  264  feet  long  by  60  feet 
wide,  the  roof  supported  on  piles,  and  having  railway  lines  in 
front  and  rear,  Fig.  2.  This  warehouse,  being  in  the  way,  was 
removed  at  an  early  period  of  the  works,  but  the  piles  were  left 
which  had  supported  the  roof  in  front. 


330     MARTTNDALE  ON  DEMOLITION  OF  GALLIONS  BASIN  WALL.   [Selected 

The  Gallions  "basin  was  incessantly  in  use,  the  largest  steamers 
trading  to  the  Tort  of  London — such  as  the  Peninsular  and 
Oriental,  the  British  India,  and  similar  lines — passing  close  to 
the  south  end  of  the  wall  when  being  docked  and  undocked, 
the  entrance  to  the  lock  being  within  130  feet  of  this  end.  The 
loading-berth  of  the  Orient  line  adjoined  the  north-west  end  of 
the  wall ;  at  the  other  side  of  the  basin  were  two  loading-berths 
for  similar  steamers,  and  craft  in  large  numbers  were  constantly 
present.  The  inner  lock-gates  of  the  existing  lock  and  of  the  new 
lock  were  within  180  feet.  The  office  and  stores  of  the  Orient 
line,  a  two-storied  corrugated-iron  building,  were  within  70  feet 
of  the  north-west  end,  the  Gallions  Eailway  Station  within 
160  feet,  and  the  Gallions  Hotel  within  2G0  feet.  Adjoining 
the  office  and  stores  was  a  corrugated-iron  warehouse,  264  feet 
long,  and  60  feet  wide,  lighted  by  a  skylight  extending  the  whole 
length  of  the  roof;  a  large  pumping-station  was  about  450  feet 
distant ;  and  the  dock-masters  houses  about  630  feet.  Two  corru- 
gated-iron sheds,  of  similar  dimensions  to  that  above  named,  were 
about  500  feet  off,  on  the  side  of  the  basin  opposite  to  the  wall, 
and  there  were  other  minor  buildings  in  the  vicinity. 

The  problem  was,  effectually  to  crumble  away  the  wall  without 
any  interruption  to  the  dock  business,  without  damage  to  the 
adjacent  premises,  and  without  injury  to  those  employed  at  the 
docks,  or  to  the  public. 

The  directors  had  entrusted  the  execution  of  the  works  to 
Mr.  Eobert  Carr,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  the  Company's  Engineer,  and 
Mr.  Joseph  Thomas,  the  Company's  Assistant-Engineer,  with  the 
supervision  of  the  Author.  "When  the  time  arrived  to  consider 
how  best  to  remove  the  wall,  several  conferences  were  held,  and 
the  result  was  the  following  plan,  the  main  burden  of  carrying 
it  out  falling  on  Mr.  Thomas,  by  whom  most  of  the  following 
details  have  been  supplied  : — 

A  line  of  timber  sheet-piling,  14  inches  square,  was  driven  about 
4  feet  from  the  back  of  the  bottom  of  the  wall,  thus  revetting  the 
earth  from  quay  level  to  the  bottom  of  the  wall,  and  forming  a 
sort  of  inner  dam.  A  second  row  of  piles  was  driven  about  24  feet 
in  rear  of  the  sheet-piling,  but  12  feet  apart,  the  piles  which  had 
supported  the  roof  of  the  warehouse  at  24  feet  apart  coming  here 
again  into  use.  A  line  of  waling  was  fixed  near  the  top  and  along 
the  front  of  the  sheet-piling,  and  another  line  of  waling  along  the 
back  of  the  rear  piles,  and  the  whole  was  tied  together  by  tie-rods 
2  inches  in  diameter  with  9  inches  cast-iron  washers  (Plate  10, 
Eigs.  3  and  4). 


Papers.]    MARTINDALE  ON  DEMOLITION  OF  GALLIONS  BASIN  WALL.      331 

As  soon  as  a  sufficient  part  of  the  revetment  had  been  completed, 
the  excavation  of  the  earth  between  the  wall  and  the  revetment 
was  commenced,  and  gradually  extended  until  men  were  at  work 
along  the  whole  length  of  the  wall.  Simultaneously  with  the 
excavation  of  the  earth,  the  off-sets  of  the  wall  were  cut  away 
perpendicularly,  till  it  stood  throughout  its  entire  length  and 
depth  at  a  mean  thickness  of  about  6  feet  (Plate  10,  Fig.  3).  The 
first  off-set  was  removed  by  charges  of  about  ^  lb.  of  powder  each, 
in  holes  about  2  feet  deep.  Subsequently  such  charges  were 
employed  as  sufficed  just  to  break  the  off-sets  away,  the  fragments 
varying  from  2  tons  downwards,  the  average  being  about  1  ton. 
These  charges  were  placed  in  holes  bored  perpendicularly  in  the 
off-sets,  from  2  to  5  feet  in  depth,  and  from  1^  inch  io  3  inches 
in  diameter.  The  charges  varied  from  h  lb.  to  li  lb.  of  powder 
or  compressed  cartridge ;  the  dynamite  was  used  in  ^  lb.  charges. 
About  seven  to  nine  charges  were  fired  at  one  time.  "Warnings 
were  given  by  bugle  calls  before  any  charges  were  fired. 

For  thinning  the  wall  as  above  stated,  the  number  of  holes 
drilled  was  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  of  a 
total  length  of  11,765  feet.  The  explosives  used  in  these  holes 
consisted  of  1,900  lbs.  of  J.  Hall  and  Son's  pebble  powder,  L.  G.  B., 
1,050  lbs.  of  J.  Hall  and  Son's  patent  compressed  powder  cartridges, 
and  105  lbs.  of  Nobel's  patent  gelatine  dynamite.  The  fuze  employed 
was  Bickford,  Smith  and  Co.'s  patent  gutta  percha  fuze,  No.  13. 
The  powder  and  compressed  cartridges  were  used  in  preference  to 
dynamite,  as  being  less  likely  to  shake  the  part  of  the  wall  which 
it  was  desired  to  leave  intact  until  the  end,  except  where  the  holes 
were  wet,  and  for  the  purpose  of  trying  the  effect  of  the  dynamite 
on  this  wall. 

The  drainage  of  the  space  between  the  wall  and  the  revetment 
was  very  effectually  maintained  as  follows  : — A  sump  was  formed 
at  each  end  of  the  wall,  and  at  the  bottom  of  each  sump  a  15-inch 
iron  pipe  was  connected  with  the  15-inch  earthenware  pipe  which 
carried  the  water  from  the  works  to  the  main  sump.  Each  pipe 
was  fitted  with  a  15-inch  valve,  so  that  in  the  event  of  any  in-rush 
of  water  from  the  basin  these  valves  could  be  closed,  and  the  water 
out  off  from  the  works. 

Protecting  piles  were  driven  1-1  feet  in  front  of  the  wall  in  the 
basin,  with  a  waling  running  from  end  to  end  to  prevent  craft 
striking  against  the  wall  as  the  work  progressed.  As  the  excavation 
proceeded,  lines  of  waling  were  run  along  the  back  of  the  wall, 
and  five  rows  of  struts  were  placed  from  these  to  corresponding 
walings  in  front  of  the  revetment.    These  struts  were  9  feet  3  inches 


i 


332     MA.BTINDALE  OX  DEMOLITION  OF  GALLIONS  BASIN  WALL.    [Selected 

apart,  and  extended  over  the  whole  length  and  depth  of  the  wall 
(Plate  10,  Fig.  3).  They  assisted  the  wall  to  withstand  the  pressure 
of  the  water  in  the  basin,  as  the  tie-rods  helped  the  revetment  to 
resist  the  earth-pressure.  The  whole  system  stood  admirably, 
but  the  struts  had  to  be  carefully  watched,  and  at  one  time  some 
of  the  upper  ones  had  to  be  removed,  as  there  were  indications  of 
too  great  pressure  against  the  top  of  the  wall  from  the  earth.  It 
was  found  by  careful  theodolite  observations  that  variations  in 
the  weather  sensibly  affected  the  ground  and  struts,  so  much  so, 
that  the  revetment  sometimes  gave  as  much  as  2^  inches  near  the 
top,  and  the  wall  in  the  centre  moved  in  response  to  it. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  water  came  through  slight  cracks  in 
the  wall,  and  increased  or  decreased  with  any  movement  in  it. 
But  this  percolation  was  easily  kept  back  by  the  following  means: — 
A  small  box  filled  with  stable  manure,  breeze,  and  sawdust,  and 
fitted  with  a  sliding  cover,  to  which  a  lever  was  fixed,  was  let 
down  into  the  water  over  the  face  of  the  crack.  As  the  cover  was 
removed,  the  mixture  filled  the  crack,  and  so  stopped  the  water. 

The  arrangements  for  the  final  demolition  of  the  wall  were  as 
follow  (Fig.  5)  : — Holes  were  first  drilled  vertically  into  the  centre 
of  the  coping  about  3  feet  deep,  and  then  as  the  thinning  of  the 
wall  progressed  holes  were  drilled  in  the  back  of  it,  partly  b}*  hand 
and  partly  by  Ingersoll  rock  drills.  These  holes  were  4  feet 
apart,  and  placed  alternately  beneath  one  another.  They  were 
driven  at  an  angle  of  45°  towards  the  water,  with  the  object 
of  throwing  the  wall  in  the  first  instance  forward,  as  it  measured 
in  front  about  525  feet,  and  in  the  back  about  515  feet  only,  and 
it  was  desired  to  avoid  anything  like  a  jam  at  either  end.  To 
ensure  the  wall  being  broken  off  tolerably  straight  at  the  ends, 
it  was  pierced  to  within  1  foot  of  the  face  by  holes  drilled  down 
the  back  at  intervals  of  about  a  foot  apart,  so  that  the  rear  of  the 
wall  to  be  demolished  resembled  at  each  end  a  magnified  postage 
stamp.  These  holes  were  not  charged.  The  number  of  holes 
drilled  for  the  final  demolition  was  one  thousand  four  hundred 
and  fifty,  of  a  total  length  of  6,381  feet.  This,  added  to  the 
length  already  stated,  gives  a  total  length  of  holes  drilled  of 
3  miles  34  chains  62  feet,  approximating  to  4  miles. 

The  explosive  used  was  Nobel's  patent  gelatine  dynamite ;  the 
quantity  employed  was  about  2,900  lbs.,  in  charges  of  from  ^  lb.  to 
3  lbs.,  with  one  row  of  6  lbs.  The  fuzes  were  Sir  Frederick  Abel's 
high-tension  electric  fuzes,  supplied  by  Messrs.  Powell  of  Plumstead, 
of  an  average  resistance  of  3,000  ohms.  Each  fuze  was  carefully 
tested  before  beins;  used. 


Papers.]    MARTLNDALE  ON  DEMOLITION  OF  GALLIONS  BASIN  WALL.       333 

The  following  arrangements  were  adopted  in  charging  the 
holes  : — As  considerahle  apprehension  existed  that  some  of  the 
gelatine  dynamite,  which  freezes  at  40°  Fahrenheit,  might  be 
frozen,  as  indeed  proved  to  be  the  case,  warming-pans  were  pro- 
vided, and  great  care  was  taken  to  render  the  dynamite  pliable 
and  fit  for  loading  the  holes.  One  of  Abel's  high-tension  electric 
fazes,  with  a  detonator  containing  10  grams  of  fulminate  of 
mercury,  was  soldered  to  two  10-feet  lengths  of  insulated  copper 
wire,  which  passed  through  two  perforations  in  an  india-rubber 
bung,  the  bung  being  fastened  close  to  the  head  of  the  fuze  by  the 
wires  being  cemented  in  with  Chatterton's  cement.  A  waterproof 
bag  containing  a  cartridge  of  about  1J?  oz.  of  gelatine  dynamite 
having  been  prepared  as  a  primer,  and  a  hole  made  in  the  gelatine 
by  a  "  former "  for  the  reception  of  the  fuze,  the  bung  with  the 
fuze  attached  was  then  fitted  into  the  waterproof  bag,  the  mouth 
of  the  bag  and  the  bung  having  previously  been  smeared  with 
india-rubber  cement  to  render  the  whole  waterproof.  Each  hole, 
as  it  was  charged,  was  carefully  tamped  with  dried  clay. 

The  6-lb.  charges  were  used  to  overcome  the  batter  of  the  wall, 
and  also  to  counteract  in  part  the  direct  action  of  the  3-lb.  charges 
above  them,  and  to  tilt  the  wall  forward.  To  assist  the  force  of 
the  explosion,  water  was  let  into  the  ditch  at  the  back  of  the  wall 
to  a  depth  of  10  feet,  but  not  deeper,  for  several  reasons,  among 
others,  that  the  pressure  of  the  water  in  the  basin  was  wanted  to 
force  the  wall,  as  it  fell,  against  the  revetment,  and  so  prevent 
its  spreading  into  the  basin  and  hindering  the  navigation. 
Mr.  Toye,  one  of  Messrs.  Nobel's  inspectors,  was  employed  to 
superintend  the  warming  of  the  dynamite  and  charging  and 
tamping  of  the  holes,  and  performed  this  duty  very  efficiently. 

The  arrangements  for  simultaneously  exploding  the  charges 
were  as  follow : — The  Eoyal  Albert  Docks  are  lighted  throughout 
by  electricity  distributed  from  four  stations,  one  of  which  was 
within  300  yards  of  the  wall.  From  this  two  well-insulated  main 
leads  of  copper  wire  were  brought  into  the  basin;  these,  at  a 
point  about  75  feet  from  the  wall,  branched  into  six  leads,  which 
were  connected  at  each  end  and  in  the  centre  of  the  wall  with 
the  network  of  wires  attached  to  the  fuzes,  thus  making  three 
distinct  connections.  This  network  again  was  connected  in  com- 
pound series,  with  about  twenty  fuzes  in  a  series,  connecting  the 
lines  of  holes  perpendicularly,  and  so  duplicated  that,  in  the 
event  of  one  series  failing  through  a  faulty  fuze,  it  would  derive 
its  current  from  the  next  series,  thus  preventing  the  possibility 
of  a  whole  series  missing  fire  through  having  a  faulty  fuze  in  it 


334     HARTINDALE  ON  DEMOLITION  OF  GALLIONS  BASIN  WALL.    [Selected 

(Plate  10,  Fig.  6).  The  necessary  force  was  provided  by  one  of 
Siemens  alternating-current  machines,  used  for  lighting  the  docks, 
and  giving  about  1,200  volts  and  16  amperes.  The  amount  of 
wire  in  the  leads  exceeded  a  mile,  with  about  6  miles  of  branch 
wire,  involving  about  three  thousand  joints.  Every  joint  was 
carefully  insulated,  as  three  rows  of  holes  were  under  water  at 
the  time  of  the  explosion.  The  two  leads  into  the  basin  were 
connected  near  the  Manor  Way  bridge,  about  570  feet  from  the 
wall,  with  a  tumbler-switch  or  firing-key,  which,  by  pressure 
upon  a  button,  completed  the  circuit  and  fired  the  charges.  The 
wire  for  the  leads  and  network  was  supplied  by  Messrs.  Siemens 
Bros.,  by  whose  representatives,  Messrs.  Barnes  and  Kingston, 
everything  connected  with  this  important  part  of  the  work  was 
most  effectually  carried  out.  The  charges  were  fired  by  Mr.  Albert 
G.  Sandeman,  Chairman  of  the  London  and  St.  Katharine  Docks 
Company,  at  ten  minutes  past  six  a.m.,  on  Good  Friday,  the  23rd  of 
April,  1886.  This  time  was  specially  selected  to  minimize  the  chance 
of  injury  to  those  employed  in  the  docks  or  to  the  public,  to  avoid 
interruption  to  the  dock  traffic,  and  to  infringe  as  little  as  possible 
upon  the  da}\  It  also  gave  time  to  search  the  basin  to  see  whether 
any  fragments  of  the  wall  might  lie  in  the  way  of  shipping. 

The  explosion  produced  exactly  the  intended  effect,  as  the  wall 
crumbled  in  a  heap  into  the  vacant  space  in  its  rear,  and  into  the 
water  immediately  in  its  front,  none  of  it  projecting  more  than 
35  feet  beyond  its  base  (Plate  10,  Fig.  4).  No  interruption  took 
place  to  the  dock  business.  Two  large  ocean-going  steamers  were 
undocked  from  the  basin  at  4.30  a.m.,  and  at  6.10  a.m.,  as  already 
stated,  the  charges  were  fired,  and  from  the  reports  of  the  divers, 
who  descended  immediately  after  the  explosion,  it  was  evident 
that  the  ordinary  work  of  the  dock  might  have  been  at  once 
resumed.  It  was  resumed  the  first  thing  on  Saturday  morning, 
Good  Friday  being  a  dock  holiday.  No  injury  occurred  to  person 
or  property — not  even  a  window  in  the  Orient  store  and  office, 
the  nearest  adjacent  building,  was  cracked.  Very  little  vibration 
was  perceptible,  and  the  report  was  not  louder  than  the  quick 
firing  of  two  or  three  Gardner  guns,  the  sound  of  which  it  much 
resembled.  Some  light  boards,  used  to  prevent  persons  trespassing 
on  the  works,  were  blown  from  20  to  30  feet  vertically  into  the 
air,  with  a  cloud  of  smoke,  dust,  spray,  and  small  debris,  along 
the  whole  length  of  the  wall.  A  small  wave  was  raised  in  the 
basin,  perhaps  2  feet  high,  which  was  expended  before  it  reached 
the  opposite  side.  Out  of  four  dummies,  made  from  divers'  dresses 
stuffed  with  straw,  and  placed  on  the  ground  about  35  feet  behind 


Papers.]     MARTINDALE  ON  DEMOLITION  OF  GALLIONS  BASIN  WALL.      335 

the  face  of  the  wall,  three  remained  unmoved.  The  centre  one  was 
knocked  over  by  a  block  of  the  concrete  coping,  some  large 
fragments  of  which  lay  perilously  near  the  others  also. 

After  the  explosion,  sections  were  taken  by  careful  soundings, 
and  it  will  be  seen  from  Fig.  4  within  how  limited  an  area  the 
wall  fell.  The  fragments  vary  from  3  tons  downwards;  the 
majority  are  about  1  ton.  The  large  fragments  are  from  the  con- 
crete coping.  The  action  of  the  C-lb.  charges  appears  to  have 
been  to  reduce  the  concrete  to  small  stuff,  capable  of  being  easily 
dredged  by  ordinary  dredging. 

The  Author  was  strongly  and  persistently  urged  to  fill  in  the 
space  between  the  wall  and  the  revetment  with  water,  and  to 
remove  the  upper  part  of  the  wall,  so  as  to  place  the  remainder 
also  under  water,  and  very  dismal  prognostications  were  uttered 
as  to  what  would  happen  if  the  wall  was  demolished  in  the  way 
adopted. 

The  theory  adopted  was  that  the  wall  would  move  at  first 
slightly  towards  the  basin,  and  then  be  forced  by  the  water  into 
the  vacant  space  between  it  and  the  revetment,  and  this  exactly 
took  place,  the  whole  power  of  the  dynamite  being  absorbed,  as 
it  was  calculated  it  would  be,  in  doing  the  work  it  was  intended 
to  do. 

The  Paper  is  illustrated  by  several  tracings  and  photographs, 
from  which  Plate  10  has  been  prepared. 


336  KENNEDY  ON  THE  BILBAO  IRONWORKS.  [Selected 


{Paper  No.  2161.) 

"The  Bilbao  Ironworks." 
By  Neil  Kennedy,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

It  is  "beyond  the  scope  of  this  communication  to  enter  upon  a 
notice  of  the  antiquity  of  the  iron  industry  which  has  made  Spain 
well  known  all  over  Europe.  It  will  suffice  to  mention  that  during 
several  centuries  Vizcaya,  the  province  of  which  Bilbao  is  the 
capital,  was  the  centre  of  a  comparatively  large  commerce  in  fine 
qualities  of  iron,  principally  destined  to  warlike  and  agricultural 
uses.  In  those  olden  times,  when  this  part  of  Spain  was  to  all 
intents  an  independent  republic,  its  laws  were  strongly  protective, 
and  the  penalty  of  death  was  imposed  upon  the  person  who 
exported,  or  who  attempted  to  export,  the  fine  soft  ore  now  so  well 
known  to  all  European  ironmasters.  At  the  present  time  Bilbao 
supplies  a  large  percentage,  it  is  believed  nearly  one-sixth,  of  the 
iron  ore  used  in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  many  of  the  principal 
works  would  be  paralyzed  to-morrow  if  this  supply  were  stopped. 
Mr.  William  Gill,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  presented,  in  1882,  to  the  Iron 
and  Steel  Institute,  such  an  exhaustive  report  on  the  iron-ore 
mining-  and  transport-industries  of  the  Bilbao  district  that  nothing 
is  left  to  be  said  on  that  head.1 

The  river-improvements  have  been  such  an  important  factor  in 
the  question  of  establishing  ironworks,  that  a  slight  notice  of 
these  is  imperative.  Before  they  were  commenced,  the  establish- 
ment of  ironworks  in  Bilbao  on  an  important  scale  was  simply  out 
of  the  question,  as  the  uncertainty  of  the  passage  of  the  bar  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  was  such  that  the  reserve  stocks  of  coke  neces- 
sary to  meet  the  various  contingencies  would  have  represented  a 
standing  capital  producing  nothing  but  waste,  and  would  have 
swamped  any  ordinary  concern  in  a  very  short  period.  The 
measure  of  river  improvements  is  the  commercial  result  they  give 
to  the  shipping  interests,  and  looking  at  the  Bilbao  river  from 
this  standpoint,  the  following  is  what  has  been  obtained.  In  1879 
the  largest  cargo  which  crossed  the  bar  was  1,658  tons  of  iron-ore, 
on  a  draught  of  15-}-°-  feet.  In  188-1  the  largest  cargo  was  3,219 
tons  on  20]°,  feet,  or  an  increase  of  1,561  tons  burthen  and  5  feet 


The  Journal  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  1S82,  p.  63. 


Papers.]  KENNEDY  ON  THE  BILBAO  IRONWORKS.  337 

draught.  In  1879  all  traffic  over  the  bar  was  stopped  for  weeks, 
and  even  months,  at  a  time;  whilst  in  1884  and  1885  the  time  lost 
to  ships  for  the  same  reason  could  be  counted  in  days.  Such  a 
result  as  this,  in  five  years,  is  a  great  credit  to  the  Harbour  Board 
and  to  their  engineer. 

It  will  now  be  understood  why  the  establishment  of  modern 
ironworks  has  been  so  long  delayed  in  the  Bilbao  district.  It  is  a 
curious  coincidence  that  whilst  nearly  all  the  capital  invested  in 
the  mining  undertakings  is  foreign,  yet  the  whole  of  that  laid  out 
for  manufacturing  purposes  is  Spanish. 

Before  proceeding  to  describe  the  modern  works,  it  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  mention  that  one  of  the  ancient  methods  of  making 
iron  was  that  known  as  the  Catalan  forge  process,  by  which 
malleable  iron  is  manufactured  direct  from  the  ore,  without  the 
intermediary  casting.  Some  of  the  old  works  are  still  in  operation 
where  ore  is  cheaply  obtained,  and  where  water  and  charcoal  are 
abundant.  Mr.  J.  A.  Phillips,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  in  his  text-book  on 
metallurgy,  gives  an  excellent  description  of  one  of  these  relics  of 
ancient  practice.  Although  this  art  is  being  lost  so  rapidly  that 
in  a  few  years  it  will  probably  have  become  unknown,  and  ought 
long  ago  to  have  become  extinct  on  account  of  its  wastefulness,  yet 
one  can  hardly  see  work  going  on  in  these  dreary  weird  old  forges 
without  recalling  the  times  when  Englishmen  made  use  of  their 
produce  with  avidity,  and  in  more  ways  than  one.1 

To  understand  the  excellent  quality  of  the  ore  produced  in  this 
district,  the  following  statement  will  probably  be  more  intelligible, 
and  certainly  be  more  interesting  to  most  people,  than  a  compli- 
cated chemical  demonstration.  Mr.  Philip  Sewell,  M.  Inst.  C.E., 
has  told  the  Author  that  about  thirty  years  ago  a  Basque  smith, 
in  his  presence,  made  a  piece  of  malleable-iron  direct  from  a 
lump  of  roasted  ore.  Mr.  Sewell  still  has  in  his  possession  the 
piece  of  iron  then  made  in  a  simple  little  hearth,  with  the  ordinary 
charcoal  fire  of  the  country,  and  with  a  wretched  bellows. 

Possessing  in  abundance  a  superior  qxiality  of  iron-ore  and  lime- 
stone, and  now  being  able  regularly  to  import  the  best  English 
coke  at  reasonable  prices,  the  people  of  Bilbao  have  not  been  long 
in  endeavouring  to  make  use  of  these  advantages.  The  following 
three  first-rate  establishments  are  now  hard  at  work  making 
haematite  pig-iron,  one  of  them  even  making  steel  rails. 


1  Pistol's  sword,  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  I.,  Scene  1,  and  the  instrument 
of  torture,  Hamlet,  Act  V.,  Scene  2,  undoubtedly  received  their  names  from  the 
place  in  which  the  iron  of  which  they  were  made  was  manufactured. 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  Z 


338  KENNEDY  ON  THE  BILBAO  IRONWORKS.  [Selected 

Vizcaya  Company. 

This  company  possesses  two  blast-furnaces,  designed  and  erected 
by  Messrs.  Cockerill,  of  Seraing,  Belgium.  Both  were  put  in 
blast  during  1885.  They  are  67  feet  high,  6^  feet  in  diameter 
in  the  crucible,  19f  feet  in  diameter  in  the  boshes,  and  16  feet  in 
diameter  at  the  top.  The  blast  enters  through  four  tuyeres,  after 
being  heated  by  Whitwell  stoves  to  1,300°  Fahrenheit.  These 
stoves  are  40  feet  high  and  20  feet  in  diameter,  and  there  are  six 
of  them  to  each  furnace.  The  gas  is  withdrawn  through  the  bell 
by  means  of  a  sliding  arrangement,  which  looks  clumsy,  but  may 
be  effective.  It  is  utilized  for  producing  steam  and  heating  the 
stoves  in  the  usual  way.  The  blast-engines  are  of  the  vertical 
type,  Seraing  No.  3,  and  are  condensing,  as  salt  water  has  to  be 
used  in  the  absence  of  a  sufficient  quantity  of  fresh.  The  pressure 
of  the  blast  is  about  5  to  5h  lbs.  per  square  inch. 

The  production  of  pig-iron  is  at  present  about  600  tons  per 
week  per  furnace,  on  a  consumption  of  about  18  cwt.  of  coke  per 
ton  of  iron.  This  company  intend  to  lay  down  a  Siemens-Martin 
steel  plant  whenever  their  furnace-business  has  settled  down 
quietly.  Their  furnaces  have  been  raised  above  ground-level,  so 
as  to  enable  the  conduction  of  the  molten  metal  to  the  converters 
in  a  suitable  ladle. 

San  Francisco   WorJcs. 

At  these  works,  the  property  of  the  Marquis  of  Mudela,  there 
are  four  furnaces,  which  were  designed  by  Mr.  F.  Stephens.  They 
commenced  work  in  1882.  They  are  56  feet  high,  6^  feet  in 
diameter  in  the  crucible,  and  16^  feet  in  diameter  in  the  boshes. 
The  gases  are  taken  off  and  utilized  in  the  usual  way.  The 
blast  is  heated  to  a  temperature  of  1,200°  Fahrenheit  by  means  of 
thirteen  Whitwell  stoves,  all  communicating  into  one  main  tube. 
The  stoves  are  25  feet  high,  and  12  feet  in  diameter.  One  of  the 
blast-engines  is  vertical,  and  the  other  is  of  the  beam  type.  The 
production  of  each  furnace  is  at  the  present  time  about  300  tons  of 
pig-iron  per  week,  with  a  consumption  of  19  to  20  ,cwt.  of  coke 
per  ton.  The  coke,  after  being  discharged  from  the  steamers,  is 
carried  by  wire  ropeways  to  large  bunkers,  out  of  which  it  runs 
automatically  into  the  feeding-barrows. 

Altos  Homos  Company. 

This  company  was  started  to  take  over  and  transform  older 
works  belonging  to  Messrs.  Ibarra.     The  antiquated  blast-furnaces 


Papers.]  KENNEDY  ON  THE  BILBAO  IRONWORKS.  339 

were  abandoned,  and  two  new  ones,  of  the  ordinary  Middlesborough 
type,  have  been  erected  and  brought  into  blast  during  1885.  They 
are  80  feet  high,  9  feet  in  diameter  in  the  crucible,  161  feet  in 
diameter  in  the  boshes,  and  14^  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top.  Each 
furnace  has  eight  tuyeres,  and  the  blast  is  heated  by  means  of 
Cowper  stoves,  two  to  each  furnace.  These  stoves,  about  70  feet 
high  and  20  feet  in  diameter,  are  capable  of  raising  the  blast  to  a 
temperature  of  1,300°  Fahrenheit.  The  gases  are  withdrawn 
through  two  side  openings  at  the  level  of  the  bell,  and  are  used 
for  heating  the  blast  and  raising  steam  in  the  whole  establishment, 
without  the  necessity  of  coal,  when  the  furnaces  are  working  well. 
The  blast-engines  are  of  the  vertical  type.  The  production  of  pig- 
iron  is  about  600  tons  per  week  per  furnace,  and  the  consumption 
of  coke  is  from  17  to  18  cwt.  per  ton  of  pig.  Near  these  furnaces 
are  two  9-ton  Bessemer  converters,  room  being  left  for  a  third. 
There  are  three  Spiegel  cupolas. 

The  rail-mill  in  connection  with  the  above  plant  was  started 
in  January.  The  engine  of  this  mill  is  said  to  be  one  of  the 
largest,  if  not  the  largest,  ever  laid  down  for  this  purpose,  and 
develops  8,000  HP.  There  is  a  roughing-mill,  a  39-inch  blooming- 
mill,  a  30-inch  rail  finishing-mill,  for  turning  out  rails  of  the 
heaviest  sections  in  use,  and  in  lengths  of  180  feet,  and  a  bloom 
shearing-machine  capable  of  shearing  steel  blooms  1  foot  square. 
All  this  plant,  that  is,  the  Bessemer  converters,  cranes,  rail-mills, 
&c,  has  been  supplied  and  erected  by  the  best  English  manufac- 
turers, and  is  of  the  most  modern  and  most  approved  style.  Mr. 
E.  W.  Eichards,  M.   Inst.  C.E.,  supplied  the  designs. 

This  company  also  carries  on  a  lucrative  business  in  the  manu- 
facture of  ordinary  commercial  iron,  utilizing  for  this  purpose  the 
old  rolling-mills,  somewhat  improved  and  added  to. 

Besides  these  three  principal  establishments  of  which  a  short 
notice  has  been  given,  there  are  spread  through  the  country  small 
works  whose  produce  is  insignificant,  and  which  are  now  dedicating 
themselves  to  work  up  the  pig  made  in  the  more  important 
smelting-furnaces. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  seen  that  at  the  present  day 
the  manufacture  of  haematite  pig-iron  is  carried  on  in  Bilbao  at  the 
rate  of  about  180,000  tons  per  annum,  and  that  a  very  powerful 
steel-rail  manufactory  has  been  started  this  year.  In  December 
last  this  rail-mill  secured  an  order  for  12,000  tons  of  steel  rails,  to 
be  delivered  in  Spanish  Mediterranean  ports  at  the  price  of 
141  pesetas  per  ton  (say  £5  8s.  at  present  exchange),  which  was 
12  pesetas,  or  2s.  Qd.  below  the  tenders  of  twenty  English,  Belgian, 

z  2 


340  KENNEDY  ON  THE  BILBAO  IRONWORKS.  [Selected 

and  German  manufacturers.  It  must  be  understood  that  there  is 
an  import  duty  in  Spain  on  foreign  rails ;  hut,  notwithstanding, 
the  result  is  simply  this,  that  the  Spanish  market  is  practically 
lost  to  outsiders,  and  if  prices  ever  go  up  an  amount  equal  to  these 
import  duties,  Bilbao  rails  can  compete  well  all  over  the  world,  as 
freights  from  Bilbao  are  now  extremely  favourable  on  account  of 
the  river  improvements  already  mentioned.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
quality  of  the  rails  is  the  same  as  those  of  English  make,  because, 
as  shown,  the  same  machinery,  the  same  ores,  and  the  same  com- 
bustibles are  to  all  intents  used. 

The  haematite  pig-iron  produced  will  also  be  easily  disposed  of, 
as  its  quality  is  first-class,  and  its  production  could  no  doubt  be 
raised  to  250,000  tons  per  annum  with  the  present  plant.  The 
price  of  making  pig  is  not  very  easily  arrived  at  with  accuracy,  as 
of  course  the  companies  are  not  willing  to  publish  these  secrets  to 
the  general  public ;  but  it  is  thought  that  very  little  is  put  on 
board  ship  which  does  not  cost  37s.  6d.  per  ton.  This  price  does 
not  leave  much  margin  in  the  present  depressing  times,  but  yet 
sales  are  regularly  being  made,  and  probably  English  makers  of 
good  brands  find  more  difficulties  in  disposing  of  their  produce 
than  their  Bilbao  confreres,  although  these  latter  are  fresh  in  the 
competition. 

It  will  always  be  interesting  to  watch  the  ultimate  success  or 
failure  of  these  new  undertakings,  in  which  1  ton  of  coke  is  taken 
from  England  to  Spain  to  obtain  the  same  results,  and  to  compete 
with  2  tons  of  iron  ore  taken  from  Spain  to  England. 


Papers.]  KIRSCH  ON  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  INDICATOR.  341 


{Paper  No.  2192.) 

"Experiments  omthe  Steam-Engine  Indicator." 

By  Professor  Dr.  Kirsch,  of  Chemnitz. 

The  corrections  for  the  various  errors  adopted  by  Professor 
Osborne  Eeynolds  in  his  Paper  "  On  the  Theory  of  the  Indicator, 
and  the  Errors  in  Indicator-Diagrams, "  *  having  attracted  the 
attention  of  Dr.  Berndt,  of  Chemnitz,  who  has  been  working  in 
the  same  direction,  the  Author  made  the  following  observations 
with  a  view  to  bring  the  results  of  these  two  experimenters  into 
accord. 

In  the  experimental  engine,  p  =  4*5  atmospheres  (66*15  lbs. 
per  square  inch),  the  cut-off  ratio  is  E,  the  mean  back-pressure 
0-21  atmosphere  (3*087  lbs.  per  square  inch),  the  clearance-space 
5  per  cent,  of  the  cylinder- volume ;  then  the  work  done  by  the 
steam  is  proportional  to  the  values — 

A,  =1-554       2-304       2-770       3-306       3-640 
ForE  =  0-1  0-2  0-3  0-4  0-5 

If  in  consequence  of  the  drum-friction  the  paper-cylinder 
remains  stationary  for  a  short  time  at  every  change  of  stroke,  so 
that,  for  instance,  the  diagram  is  shortened  by  2,  4,  6  per  cent,  of 
its  length,  the  area  of  the  diagrams  will  be  less  than  the  above 
figures  represent,  and  in  place  of  the  latter  are  obtained — 

For  2  per  cent,  pause      1-468     2-218     2-684     3-220     3-554 
„    4         „  „         1-382     2-134     2-598     3-134     3-468 

„    6         „  „         1-296     2-046     2-512     3-048     3-382 

When  running  without  a  load  the  engine  works  with  wire-drawn 
steam  of  1  •  2  atmosphere  (17-64  lbs.  per  square  inch)  pressure  and 
a  cut-off  0-1,  which  gives  as  corresponding  factor  for  the  work 
done  the  value  A0  =  0*260. 

If,  however,  the  drum  remains  stationary  at  the  change  of  stroke, 
the  area  of  this  diagram  will  also  be  less,  and  becomes  for  2  per 
cent.  0-240;  for  4  per  cent.  0*220  ;  for  6  per  cent.  0*201. 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lxxxiii.  p.  1. 


342 


KIRSCH  OX  THE  STEAM-ENGINE  INDICATOR. 


[Selectee? 


The  actual  difference  between  indicated  work  with,  and  indicated 
work  without,  a  load,  is  therefore — 


For 

E  =  0-1 

0-2 

0-3 

0-4 

0-5 

A,  - 

A0  =  1-294 

2-044 

2-510 

3-046 

3-380 

and  if  it  he  assumed  that  the  additional  friction  is  in  reality  13  per 
cent,  of  the  effective  work,  the  following  proportional  values  are 
obtained  for  the  actual  effective  work, 


r  B  =  0  •  1 

0*2 

0-3 

0-4 

0-5 

A,  =  1-145 

1-809 

2-221 

2-696 

2-991 

If  it  be  now  assumed  that  the  drum  is  retarded  for  a  portion  of 
the  stroke  at  every  change  of  the  latter,  there  follow,  with  the 
help  of  the  above  apparent  indicated  work  and  also  the  apparent 
work  without  a  load,  the  differences — 


For  2  per  cent,  pause 

1-228 

1-978 

2-444 

2-980 

3-314 

4 

r»   ^      55        55 

1-162 

1-912 

2-378 

2-914 

3-248 

,,    6    „      „ 

1-095 

1-845 

2-311 

2-847 

3-181 

If  these  values,  taken  from  the  false  diagrams,  of  the  apparent 
differences  A,  —  A0  are  compared  with  the  above  correct  values  of 
the  effective  work,  the  amount  by  which  the  apparent  A,-  —  A0  is 
greater  than  the  correct  Ae  will  be  found  to  be  no  longer  of  course 
exactly  13  per  cent,  but  respectively — 

For  2  per  cent,  pause  4- 7  ■  3  +9-3  +10-0  +10-5   4-10-8  percent. 
„    4         „  „       +1-5  4-5-7   +   7-0   +  8-1  +  8-6       „ 

„    6  „       -4-4  +2-0   4-  4-0   +  5-6   4-   6-3       „ 

This  would  explain  in  a  very  simple  manner  why  the  additional 
friction,  with  a  very  high  degree  of  expansion,  may  even  have  an 
apparently  negative  value,  a  fact  which  has  actually  been  frequently 
observed  by  Professor  Berndt. 


Tapers.]       FARRAR  ON  THE  GOLD-FIELDS  OF  SOUTH  AFEICA.  343 


(Paper  No.  2,199.) 

"Note  on  the  Gold-fields  of  South  Africa." 
By  Sidney  Howard  Farrae. 

The  Gold-fields  visited  "by  the  Author  include  those  at  Pilgrims 
Eest,  N.E.  of  Lydenburg ;  Lydenburg,  E.  of  Lydenburg ;  De 
Kaap,  S.E.  of  Lydenburg ;  and  Witte  Water  Rand,  situated  about 
30  miles  S.W.  of  Pretoria,  and  only  recently  discovered. 

In  addition  to  these,  fields  have  been  opened  since  March 
1886  close  to  Griqua  Town,  and  in  the  Hoogeberg,  a  short 
distance  from  the  port  of  Knysna.  These  two  latter  fields  are, 
however,  as  yet  not  sufficiently  developed  to  justify  any  comments. 
At  the  De  Kaap  Fields  (and  these  remarks  apply  to  Nos.  1  and  2 
also)  timber  is  a  luxury,  and  the  water-supply,  though  fairly  good, 
will  not  be  sufficient  to  provide  power  for  any  large  development 
of  these  fields,  which  is  going  on  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Large  coal- 
beds,  however,  exist  within  60  miles  of  the  De  Kaap  Fields,  and  in 
the  opening  up  of  these  coal-beds,  and  the  laying  down  of  lines  of 
communication,  there  will  undoubtedly  be  a  good  deal  of  work  for 
engineers.  Then  again,  it  is  quite  certain  that  in  a  short  time 
these  fields  will  be  of  such  importance,  that  a  railway  will  be  con- 
structed either  to  meet  the  Natal  system  at  Estcourt,  or,  more 
probably,  to  join  the  line  about  to  be  constructed  from  Delagoa 
Bay  to  Pretoria.  At  present  the  water-power  existing  on  these 
fields  is  the  sole  means  of  working  the  machinery.  It  is  difficult 
to  over-rate  their  future  importance.  People  there  are  keeping 
matters  very  quiet ;  but  in  a  few  months  there  will  be  a  large 
influx  of  population,  and  probably  work  for  engineers. 

The  De  Kaap  Fields  (the  most  promising),  are  reached  from 
Natal  in  about  six  days.  There  is  a  good  weekly  post-cart  service 
from  Estcourt,  where  the  rail  ends,  and  the  cost  of  the  journey 
from  Durban  to  De  Kaap,  including  living  expenses,  is  about  £30. 

The  climate  is  healthy,  except  from  March  to  May  when  fever 
is  rife,  but  this  may  be  avoided  by  keeping  to  the  high  ground. 
As  to  the  richness  of  these  fields,  on  one  property  which  was 
opened  up  about  eighteen  months  ago,  gold  has  been  found  to  "the 
value  of  £2,000  per  month,  the  working  expenses  being   £900. 


344         FARRAR   ON   THE   GOLD-FIELDS   OF   SOUTH   AFRICA.     [Selected 

The  average  yield  of  the  De  Kaap  Fields  is  from  2^  to  If  oz.  per 
ton. 

A  large  Company  has  been  formed  in  the  Colony  to  work  claims 
on  Hoodie's  Beef,  and  plans  for  the  machinery  are  now  being  pre- 
pared. As  water  is  scarce,  full  advantage  has  been  taken  of  the 
available  fall,  750  feet,  which  renders  the  question  of  the  motor 
supply-pipes  a  serious  one.  These  will  be  of  wrought-iron.  The 
motor  proposed  to  be  used  is  a  Californian  wheel,  which  is 
thought  in  such  cases  to  be  preferable  to  a  tangential  turbine. 
The  quartz  has  to  be  conveyed  some  distance  to  the  machine  site, 
and  the  present  claim-holders,  who  are  working  in  a  primitive 
manner,  take  it  down  in  bags.  A  wire  ropeway  has  been  arranged 
with  two  fixed  ropes,  and  the  buckets  working  by  gravitation. 
The  span  will  be  900  yards,  and  the  fall  about  300.  In  some 
specimens  furnished  by  the  Author  the  quartz  weighed  17  oz., 
and  the  gold  58^  grains,  showing  a  yield  of  230  oz.  per  ton. 
The  average  yield  of  the  claims  belonging  to  the  Company  re- 
ferred to  is  3  oz.,  but  the  yield  is  estimated  at  1-75  oz.,  because  at 
present  the  people  are  only  crushing  picked  lumps  of  quartz. 
With  good  machinery,  by  crushing  quartz  which  is  now  wasted, 
the  yield  per  ton  will  be  less,  but  the  gold  gained  will  be  more. 

At  Bray's  Quarry,  near  Hoodie's  Eeef,  7  oz.  per  ton  have  been 
obtained.  The  Author  anticipated  this  result,  as  the  quartz  is  very 
rich;  but  as  it  will  have  to  be  carted  7  miles  in  order  to  bring 
the  battery  within  reach  of  water-power,  the  working  expenses 
will  be  very  high.  The  only  chance  of  economical  power  is  to 
erect  turbines  alongside  a  small  river  which  runs  past  the  quarry, 
distant  about  6  or  7  miles,  and  which  has  a  considerable  fall. 

A  Company  has  recently  been  formed  to  work  the  "  Sheba  Eeef," 
in  the  De  Kaap  Fields,  with  a  capital  of  £12,000.  The  first  clear- 
up  has  now  taken  place,  and  400  tons  of  quartz  have  yielded  £8,000 
of  gold  (at  71s.  per  oz.),  with  the  result  that  one  thousand  £1 
shares  in  the  Company  changed  hands  at  £14  each,  and  shortly  after 
an  offer  of  £25,000  was  made  for  them.  The  expenses  attendant 
on  working  this  reef  are  heavy,  but  it  is  stated  that  a  tram-line  is 
being  laid  down  to  convey  the  quartz  to  the  Crocodile  Eiver,  7  miles 
distant,  where,  as  anticipated,  turbines  are  to  be  erected  for 
working  the  necessary  batteries,  &c.  There  is  some  talk  of  working 
the  coal-beds  known  to  exist  some  60  miles  off;  so  these  fields 
promise  well  for  engineers.  The  strike  of  the  reef  is  mostly  east 
and  west,  and  the  dip  mainly  vertical.  The  geological  features 
of  the  country  have  been  so  fully  described  that  it  is  unnecessary 
to  go  into  the  question. 


Papers.]        FARRAR    ON    THE    GOLD-FIELDS    OF    SOUTH   AFRICA.        345 

At  present  (June  1886)  there  are  about  two  hundred  diggers 
on  the  Knysna  Fields  ;  but  as  they  have  not  got  down  to  the  older 
alluvial  beds  yet,  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  opinion.  The  results, 
so  far,  are  poor,  but  there  are  indications  of  reefs,  and  the  yields 
improve  in  the  alluvial  the  deeper  the  diggers  get. 

All  the  Companies  at  De  Kaap  are  doing  well,  excepting  one, 
which  appears  to  have  got  into  the  leg  of  a  "  saddle  "  reef  which 
it  has  worked  out,  leaving  the  real  paying  portion  to  its  neigh- 
bours. 

The  reports  from  the  Knysna  Gold-fields  are  of  a  promising 
nature,  and  as  diggers  get  down  into  the  alluvial  soil  the  yields,  as 
was  anticipated,  are  improving.  Nuggets  of  from  ^  to  1  oz.  are 
being  found,  and,  contrary  to  expectation,  these  fields  bid  fair  to  turn 
out  a  "  poor  man's  "  diggings.  The  country  is  well  timbered,  with 
abundance  of  water.  Prospecting  is  difficult  and  expensive,  as  the 
alluvial  soil  is  covered  with  a  rich  black  loam,  thickly  wooded.  As 
these  fields  are  close  to  the  port  of  Mossel  Bay  and  equally  near  to  a 
fine  natural  harbour  (Knysna),  they  bid  fair  to  take  a  leading  position 
among  South  African  gold-fields.  It  is  too  early  yet  for  sanguine 
views  to  be  justified,  but  the  indications  are  good,  and  lately  good 
discoveries  have  been  made.  It  appears  evident  that  a  very  large 
tract  of  country  in  the  Mossel  Bay  district  is  more  or  less  auriferous. 
There  are  five  hundred  to  seven  hundred  diggers  there  already ; 
but  as  few  of  them  had  any  idea  how  to  work,  up  till  lately 
but  little  good  has  been  done.  A  few  experienced  men  have  how- 
ever gone  down,  and  as  the  others  have  gained  experience,  matters 
have  gradually  improved.  It  is  proved  beyond  doubt  that  men 
willing  and  able  to  work  can  pay  expenses  there  easily.  Com- 
panies are  in  course  of  formation  to  work  various  claims  by 
"  hydraulicking ;  "  but  this  system  requires  large  capital  and  very 
careful  preliminary  investigation,  so  it  will  be  some  time  before 
much  is  done  in  this  direction.  A  "  Ball "  (Bazin)  dredger  has 
been  worked  in  the  attempt  to  discover  gold  in  the  beds  of  the 
rivers,  but  the  presence  of  large  boulders  prevented  its  successful 
operation,  and  the  experiment  has  been  temporarily  abandoned. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  a  large  map  of  South  Africa, 
published  by  J.  C.  Juta  and  Co.,  of  Cape  Town,  in  1885,  and 
specimens  of  auriferous  quartz  from  the  De  Kaap  Gold-fields. 


34G  JOHN   ANDERSON.  [Obituary. 


OBITUARY 


Sir  JOHN  ANDERSON,  who  died  on  the  28th  of  July,  1886,  was 
elected  a  Member  of  the  Institution  on  the  4th  of  February,  1862. 
His  career  was  one  well  calculated  to  encourage  young  engineers, 
as  it  affords  an  instance  of  steady  success  attained  by  a  clear  brain 
with  determined  concentration  of  mind  on  the  matter  in  hand.  Sir 
John  had  so  worn  himself  out  in  the  service  of  his  country  that, 
for  many  years  before  his  death,  he  had  been  compelled  to  seek  the 
rest  and  quiet  which  his  health  imperatively  demanded  ;  and  thus 
it  happened  that  his  name  was  latterly  less  before  the  public  than 
was  once  the  case. 

Born  at  Woodside,  near  Aberdeen,  on  the  9th  of  December,  1814, 
three  months  after  the  death  of  his  father,  he  was  known  when 
veiy  young  by  his  genial  spirits  and  affectionate  nature,  as  well 
as  by  the  vigour  with  which  he  threw  himself  into  all  the  amuse- 
ments of  the  boys  of  the  village,  among  whom  indeed  he  generally 
acted  as  a  leader.  He  received  at  the  village  school  the  usual 
good  education  which  has  long  been  the  advantage  possessed  by 
children  of  every  rank  in  Scotland.  When  at  home  he  was  care- 
fully looked  after  by  his  mother,  a  woman  of  a  remarkably  affec- 
tionate nature,  and  also  by  his  stepfather,  Mr.  Irvine  Kempt,  a  man 
held  in  high  esteem  in  the  neighbourhood  for  extreme  uprightness- 
of  character,  as  well  as  for  being  possessed  of  an  extensive  general 
knowledge  far  above  the  average.  It  was  probably  from  the 
influence  which  he  exercised  on  the  young  boy  that  he,  like  his 
stepfather,  developed  a  taste  for  reading  and  a  great  desire  to 
acquire  knowledge.  This  love  for  books  induced  him  at  a  very 
early  period  to  become  the  honorary  librarian  of  the  church 
library  at  Woodside,  and  people  who  were  readers  then,  and  have 
now  grown  old,  relate  how  pleased  and  able  the  librarian  was  to 
advise  them  as  to  the  books  they  should  select.  Sir  John  Anderson 
seems  never  to  have  forgotten  this  part  of  his  yoiithful  experience, 
for  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  actuated  by  the  desire  that  the 
youth  of  his  native  village  should  cultivate  a  habit  of  reading  from 
which  he  himself  had  drawn  so  much  pleasure  and  advantage, 
he  erected  at  Woodside  a  free  library,  well  stocked  with  the  best 
literature  of  the  day,  every  volume  of  which  had  been  specially 
selected  by  himself. 

Near  to  Woodside,  which  stands  on  the  banks  of  the  Eiver  Don,. 


Obituary]  JOHN   ANDERSON.  347 

were  large  cotton-mills,  and  in  these  Mr.  Kempt  held  a  responsible 
position  as  Manager  of  the  engineering-shops.  It  was  through  his 
influence  that  his  stepson  was  taken  into  these  mills,  first  as  a 
hoy  clerk,  and  afterwards  to  serve  an  apprenticeship  of  seven  years 
as  an  artizan  in  the  shops.  In  these  workshops  the  young  lad  was 
under  the  same  kind  and  intellectual  eye  as  in  his  home,  and  he 
rapidly  grew  to  be  an  excellent  workman.  From  the  first  he  took 
great  interest  in  machinery.  While  an  apprentice,  in  his  spare 
hours,  among  other  things  he  made  for  one  of  his  friends  a  wooden 
clock  which  kept  good  time,  and  to  another  he  presented  a  lathe 
of  his  own  manufacture.  But  he  did  not  occupy  all  his  spare  time 
in  these  amusements ;  regularly  in  the  evenings  he  walked  into 
the  city  of  Aberdeen,  2  miles  distant,  to  attend  at  the  Mechanics 
Institute  the  classes  for  mechanical  drawing  and  other  subjects. 
He  was  also  at  this  time  the  centre  of  a  small  number  of  kindred 
spirits  about  his  own  age,  who  met  in  the  evening  to  discuss 
chemical  and  scientific  questions,  and  to  solve,  as  best  they  could, 
difficulties  with  which  they  had  no  better  means  of  grappling. 
As  the  term  of  his  apprenticeship  drew  to  an  end,  he  resolved 
that  there  was  at  Woodside  no  sufficient  scope  for  a  career,  and  he 
determined  to  go  south,  so  that  he  might  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  best  mechanism,  and  the  modes  of  executing 
work  in  the  first  workshops  of  the  kingdom,  and  obtain,  if  he 
could,  a  situation  which  would  give  him  a  favourable  opening. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  on  the  day  his  apprenticeship 
ended,  he  left  Woodside  for  Manchester,  and  went  to  work  with 
Messrs.  Fairbairn,  a  firm  to  which  he  had  been  recommended  by 
his  stepfather.  He  did  not,  however,  remain  there  many  months, 
but  having  seen  what  he  wanted,  he  left  and  worked  in  succession 
with  Messrs.  Sharpe  Pioberts  and  Co.,  Manchester,  Messrs.  Penn 
of  Greenwich,  and  Mr.  Napier  of  London.  During  this  period, 
which  lasted  from  1839  to  1842,  the  young  man  was  storing  his 
mind  with  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  various  metals,  and  their 
best  treatment  under  various  circumstances.  He  was  not,  however, 
without  anxiety  as  to  his  future.  The  state  of  trade  was  at  the 
time  particularly  bad,  and  many  men  were  being  discharged.  So 
gloomy  indeed  was  the  outlook,  that  Mr.  Anderson  seriously 
contemplated  going  abroad  to  push  his  fortune  in  the  Colonies ; 
but  before  he  could  carry  out  this  resolution,  the  circumstances 
arose  which  determined  the  course  of  his  future  life.  Mr. 
D.  Napier,  in  whose  works  he  was  employed  in  the  spring  of 
1842,  had,  it  appears,  been  employed  from  time  to  time  by  the 
Ordnance  Department,  and  was  then  engaged  in  constructing  an 


34S  JOHN   AXDEP.SOX.  [Obituary. 

engine  for  the  Royal  Brass  Foundry  in  the  Arsenal.  In  connection 
with  this,  General  Dundas,  the  then  Inspector  of  Artillery,  had 
called  on  Mr.  Napier  at  his  works,  and  the  General  mentioned 
incidentally  that  he  was  looking  for  a  young  engineer  to  take 
charge  of  the  brass-gun  manufacture,  and  of  some  new  works  in 
connection  with  it  at  the  Arsenal.  Mr.  Anderson  was  at  once 
suggested  by  Mr.  Napier  as  being  a  suitable  person ;  but  the 
General  hesitated  when  he  noticed  the  apparently  extreme  youth 
of  the  pale-faced  young  man  pointed  out  to  him.  It  was,  however, 
settled  then  and  there  that  Mr.  Anderson  should  be  sent  to  the 
Brass  Gun  Foundry,  to  have  charge  of  the  erection  of  the  engine, 
and  the  General  would  then  have  ample  opportunity  for  observing 
how  he  managed  matters,  and  be  able  to  judge  of  his  fitness  for  the 
vacant  post.  The  erection  of  the  engine,  for  some  reason,  entailed 
more  than  the  ordinary  trouble,  and  so  conspicuous  was  Mr. 
Anderson's  earnestness  in  the  matter,  that  General  Dundas 
determined  to  offer  him  the  appointment  of  Engineer  of  the  Royal 
Brass  Foundry.  The  pay  attached  to  the  office  was  low,  indeed  less 
than  he  was  earning  at  Mr.  Napier's,  but  the  field  in  the  Arsenal  was 
so  open  and  inviting  to  an  enthusiast  in  his  profession,  that  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  accept  the  offer.  This  being,  as  it  were,  the  point 
of  departure  in  his  life  for  the  special  work  he  was  to  perform  for 
the  country,  it  may  be  convenient  to  note  the  conditions  of  the 
situation.  On  the  one  hand,  there  was  an  energetic  mechanic 
burning  with  desire  to  succeed,  who  from  the  appenticeship  he  had 
served,  and  from  what  he  had  seen  in  the  best  workshops  of  the 
country,  possessed  a  thorough  knowledge  of  mechanical  construc- 
tion in  all  its  branches.  Besides  this,  he  was  a  good  draughtsman 
and  calculator,  for  although  he  had  never  learned  to  use  the  higher 
mathematics,  he  possessed  a  rare  faculty  in  working  out,  by  the 
simplest  rules,  questions  of  strains  and  similar  problems  of  con- 
siderable complexity.  He  had  also  acquired,  in  the  various  ways 
above  described,  a  sound  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  gases  and 
liquids,  and  besides  all  this,  his  excellent  memory  was  stored  with 
general  information.  He  was,  however,  devoid  of  experience  in 
conducting  work,  for,  as  has  been  shown,  he  never  remained 
beyond  a  few  months  in  any  of  the  large  establishments  where 
he  might  have  had  an  opportunity  of  rising  to  a  superior  position. 
He  also  possessed  a  natural  modesty  which,  at  first  at  least,  led  him 
to  feel  diffident  of  his  powers.  The  work  before  him  was  to  effect 
a  revolution  in  the  gun-factories.  The  state  of  the  gun-factories 
in  1842  was  very  unsatisfactory;  since  the  close  of  the  war  in 
1815,  things  had  been  in  a  quiescent  state;  the  plant  had  become 


Obituary.]  JOHN   ANDERSON.  349 

obsolete,  and  the  staff  naturally  somewhat  indolent.  The  time  had 
come  when  this  was  to  end.  The  shops  had  to  be  enormously- 
increased  in  size,  and  filled  with  machine-tools,  and  the  workmen 
in  them,  growing  in  number  to  thousands,  had  to  be  trained  to 
perform  operations  of  the  greatest  delicacy.  There  was  therefore 
an  ample  field  for  the  full  play  of  the  energy  of  the  young 
mechanic.  Mr.  Anderson  set  about  his  work  with  vigour.  As 
he  had  a  special  aptitude  for  invention,  new  machine-tools,  such 
as  were  specially  adapted  to  the  various  processes  in  gun-manu- 
facture, soon  made  their  appearance  in  the  shops,  and  the  class 
of  man  who  handled  them  was  of  a  higher  type  than  the  old 
workmen.  Mr.  Anderson  was  from  the  first  imbued  with  the 
conviction  that  properly  designed  machines  could  be  made  to 
relieve  mankind  of  much  manual  labour,  and  later  in  life  he  often 
spoke  of  the  development  of  labour-saving  machinery,  expressing 
his  conviction  that  enormous  strides  would  yet  be  made  in  that 
direction.  The  introduction  of  machine-tools  was  one  of  his  steady 
aims  throughout  his  service  in  the  War  Department,  and  it  is 
believed  that  it  was  in  the  Arsenal  that  their  advantages  were 
first  clearly  seen  and  brought  into  play.  Although  it  is  impos- 
sible here  to  refer  to  the  many  and  varied  machines  invented 
by  Mr.  Anderson  at  this  time,  one  of  them,  the  bullet-making 
machine,  must  be  mentioned.  It  is  unnecessary  here  to  describe 
it  in  detail,  but  it  profoundly  impressed  the  War  Office  authorities 
with  the  mechanical  genius  which  Mr.  Anderson  possessed.  From 
his  first  entry  to  the  Arsenal  his  daily  labour  was  excessive. 
Actively  superintending  during  the  day,  and  inventing  in  his 
quiet  home  at  night,  was  for  eight  years,  with  little  rest,  the 
record  of  his  life.  For  not  only  had  he  the  care  of  the  gun- 
foundry,  but  the  authorities,  finding  that  they  had  in  Mr.  Anderson 
an  engineer  of  rare  talent,  entrusted  him  with  the  preparation 
of  new  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  powder  at  Waltham 
Abbey.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  elaborate  action  of 
the  granulating-machine,  incorporating-mills,  dusting-machinery, 
&c,  required  for  its  perfecting  much  anxious  thought,  but  one 
by  one  the  difficulties  were  overcome,  and  the  manufacture  was 
brought  to  a  high  pitch  of  efficiency. 

But  though  he  had  his  hands  full  of  hard  practical  work  in- 
doors and  out,  he  found  time  to  give  lectures  to  the  Cadets  in  the 
Eoyal  Military  Academy  on  practical  mechanics.  These  lectures, 
many  officers  have  testified,  were  always  interesting  and  instructive. 
The  lecturer,  as  he  went  on,  became  more  and  more  warm  and 
enthusiastic  over  his  subject,  and  it  was  difficult  for  the  most  indif- 


350  JOHN   ANDERSON.  [Obituary. 

ferent  to  "be  unaffected  by  the  fervour  of  his  address.  The  whole 
subject  of  applied  mechanics  was  so  familiar  to  him,  that  he  rarely 
went  through  the  fixed  programme  of  the  lecture,  hut  would  often 
he  induced  largely  to  amplify  some  part  of  the  subject  as  he  went 
along,  and  those  unintended  digressions  were  generally  the  most 
brilliant  parts  of  his  address.  There  was,  besides  the  natural 
enthusiasm  of  the  lecturer,  another  reason  for  the  popularity  of 
these  lectures ;  the  practical  knowledge  which  he  possessed  of  the 
things  he  spoke  ahout,  gave  a  force  and  solidity  to  his  remarks 
which  are  always  wanting  in  one  speaking  from  a  purely  theoretical 
and  literary  knowledge. 

The  duties  above  described  filled  up  the  period  from  1849  to 
1853,  and  the  time  when  the  still  greater  effort  was  to  be  called 
for  was  at  hand.  His  diffidence  in  himself  had  now  gone,  and  he 
had  become  as  bold  and  far-sighted  in  the  application  of  machinery 
as  he  was  learned  in  its  details.  He  was  also  actuated  by  a  spirit 
of  patriotism  as  pure  as  ever  filled  the  heart  of  a  soldier.  The  war 
with  Eussia  was  imminent,  and  the  Ordnance  Board  were  beginning 
to  realize  how  unprepared  the  Arsenal  was  to  furnish  war  material 
in  large  quantities.  The  Board  at  once  consulted  Mr.  Anderson, 
who,  in  what  was  called  his  leisure  time,  was  asked  to  prepare  a 
report  on  the  introduction  of  steam-power  into  the  Eoyal  Labora- 
tory. Immediately  after  this  he  had  to  report  on  the  construction  of 
a  manufactory  for  making  muskets  by  machinery.  These  reports, 
which  led  to  the  complete  reconstruction  of  the  laboratory  plant 
of  the  Arsenal,  and  to  the  erection  of  the  small-arms  factory  at 
Enfield,  were  written  in  snatches  of  time  taken  from  the  numerous 
duties  which  then  rested  on  his  shoulders.  In  1854,  he,  with  two 
Artillery  officers,  visited  America  and  minutely  examined  the 
American  system  of  small-arms  manufacture ;  a  large  quantity  of 
machinery  was  purchased,  and  an  American  engineer  engaged  to 
come  over  to  England  and  take  charge  of  the  new  factory  at 
Enfield.  He  had  hardly  returned  when,  towards  the  end  of  1854,  a 
pressing  demand  came  from  the  Crimea  for  Lancaster  shells.  Mr. 
Anderson  at  once  promised  the  Board  of  Ordnance  that  he  could 
erect  a  factory  filled  with  machinery  and  plant,  and  have  it  in 
operation  in  two  months.  As  the  shells  were  formed  of  a  single 
piece  of  wrought-iron,  in  shape  like  a  champagne-bottle,  this  was 
a  formidable  task;  but  before  two  months  were  out,  a  shed  of 
30,000  square  feet,  containing  four  steam-engines,  seven  steam- 
hammers,  and  forty  machines  of  various  sorts — many  of  them 
original — were  at  work ;  and  all  this  was  done  during  a  stormy 
winter  season.     Mr.  Anderson  himself  has  written,  "  the  tear  and 


Obituary.]  JOHN   ANDERSON.  351 

wear  of  mind  and  body  to  accomplish,  that  task  cannot  be  recorded." 
Another  work  which  may  be  mentioned,  out  of  the  many  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  was  the  preparation  of  a  floating  factory 
for  the  Crimea.  This  was  fitted  out  in  ten  weeks,  and  dispatched 
with  a  picked  body  of  artizans,  and  excited  the  admiration  of 
foreign  officers  more  perhaps  than  anything  else  done  in  the 
Crimea,  as  showing  the  determination  of  this  countiy  to  be  finally 
■victorious.  Many  services  cannot  be  here  recorded ;  some  may 
be  named.  Saw-mills  had  to  be  sent  out  to  the  Black  Sea  ; 
supplies  to  the  army  of  shot  and  shell  had  to  be  maintained  ;  a 
new  foundry  and  boring-mill  had  to  be  designed  and  erected  in 
the  Arsenal,  and  afterwards  an  extensive  gas-works  for  the  War 
Department  in  Woolwich. 

In  1855,  Mr.  Anderson  formed  one  of  a  Commission  which  visited 
the  Continent,  and  reported  on  the  manufacture  of  ordnance  abroad, 
and  finally  he  was  a  member  of  the  Ordnance  Select  Committee,  a 
body  of  officers  specially  charged  with  the  investigation,  for  the 
guidance  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  of  new  suggestions  or  inven- 
tions in  war  material.  Sir  John  during  this  period,  1853-57, 
made  a  surrender  to  duty  of  every  minute  not  required  for  rest. 
He  was  therefore  glad  when  there  came  a  short  period  of  com- 
parative rest,  as  the  superintendence  of  the  War  Department 
machinery,  after  1857,  for  some  time  did  not  require  exceptional 
exertion.  This  however  did  not  last  long,  for  in  1859  it  was 
determined  by  the  War  Office,  after  many  consultations  at  which 
Mr.  Anderson  assisted,  to  commence,  in  accordance  with  Sir  W. 
Armstrong's  views,  the  construction  of  rifled  guns  at  the  Arsenal. 
Mr.  Anderson  was  selected  to  superintend  the  work  while  the 
system  was  being  introduced,  and  the  entire  conduct  of  an  esta- 
blishment of  about  three  thousand  workmen  was  placed  in  his 
hands.  Once  more  his  energies  were  in  full  play,  and  so  quickly 
were  the  new  appliances  brought  into  working  order,  that  within 
twelve  months  one  hundred  and  three  12-pounder  guns  were  read}' 
for  service.  When  these  extensive  factories  had  been  brought, 
in  1863,  as  near  perfection  both  in  efficiency  and  economy  as  Mr. 
Anderson  could  bring  them,  they  were  handed  over  to  Eoya] 
Artillery  officers  to  carry  on,  and  he  resumed  his  proper  work  of 
Superintendent  of  Machinery  generally. 

With  the  completion  of  the  Armstrong  Gun  factories  that  period 
of  intense  exertion  in  the  Arsenal,  which  had  begun  in  1 842,  came 
to  a  close,  but  Mr.  Anderson  was  by  no  means  idle.  Apart  from 
the  ordinary  duties  of  Superintendent  of  Machinery  a  variety  of 
promiscuous  occupations  filled  up  his  time.     He  wrote  a  book  on 


352  JOHN   ANDERSON.  [Obituary. 

the  Strength  of  Materials  which  has  had  a  wide  circulation.  He 
delivered  one  of  the  series  of  Cantor  Lectures  for  the  Society  of  Arts, 
and  for  several  years  lectured  on  Applied  Mechanics  to  the  Eoyal 
School  of  Naval  Architecture.  He  also  acted  as  an  Examiner  to  the 
Science  and  Art  Department.  He  found  time  to  devise  improve- 
ments in  the  construction  of  railway  plant,  and  held  patents  for 
these  inventions.  He  was  also  consulted  both  as  an  arbitrator  and 
adviser  in  the  planning  of  engineering  establishments,  and  in  this 
latter  capacity  he  rendered  much  assistance  to  the  Turkish 
Government.  But  the  employment  which  gave  him  most  pleasure 
was  that  connected  with  the  International  Exhibitions,  where 
his  wide  knowledge  of  machine  construction  made  him  a  most 
reliable  person  to  determine  the  merits  of  the  various  exhibits. 
In  London,  in  18G2,  and  Paris,  in  1867,  he  acted  as  a  juror.  At 
Vienna,  in  1873,  he  occupied  the  more  important  post  of  Vice-Pre- 
sident of  the  Jury  for  Machinery;  while  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876, 
and  in  Paris,  in  1878,  he  was  President  of  the  Machinery  Group, 
and  materially  assisted  the  executive  in  the  general  management 
of  that  department.  This  work  was  thoroughly  congenial  to  him, 
and  his  success  in  it  may  be  attested  by  the  fact  that  he  was 
appointed  an  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honour  by  the  French,  and  a 
Commander  of  the  Order  of  Franz  Josef,  by  the  Austrian  Emperor. 
After  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1878  he  was  knighted  by  Her 
Majesty.  He  had  been  before  this  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Eoyal 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  University  of  St.  Andrew's  had,  in 
1871,  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  Subse- 
quently, in  1881,  he  was  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  City 
of  Aberdeen,  an  honour  which  he  highly  prized,  as  it  has  been 
but  rarely  bestowed. 

Sir  John  left  the  public  service  in  1872.  The  great  expendi- 
ture of  strength  both  of  body  and  mind  which  had  been  put  forth 
in  the  years  1842  to  1866,  began  gradually  from  the  end  of  that 
period  to  be  felt.  Attacks  of  asthma  and  bronchitis  from  time  to 
time  began  to  trouble  him  and  required  that  he  should  be  most 
careful  of  his  health.  He  therefore  retired  to  St.  Leonards  with 
his  books.  It  was  difficult  to  believe  that  the  once  strong  man, 
familiar  with  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  life,  could  easily  settle 
down  to  quiet  retirement ;  but  as  his  strength  of  body  gradually 
failed  he  seemed  to  accept  the  situation  with  resignation  and  even 
content.  "When  at  home  at  St.  Leonards,  his  days  were  spent  in 
reading ;  works  of  a  philosophic  character,  such  as  "  Buckle's  His-  J 
tory  of  Civilization,"  were  his  greatest  favourites.  He  had  never  i 
any  great  liking  for  what  may  be  called  general  society,  but  among  j 


Obituary.]  JOHN   ANDERSON.  353 

friends  who  would  converse  with  him  on  some  serious  subject  his 
manner  was  most  charming  and  enthusiastic,  and  his  remarks  were 
always  characterized  by  modesty,  great  breadth  of  view  and 
liberality.  He  had  married,  in  1842,  a  wife  by  whose  affectionate 
care  he  found  in  the  busy  part  of  his  life  always  a  peaceful  home, 
and  by  whom  during  his  last  years  he  was  nursed  with  tenderness 
and  patience.1 


WILLIAM  FOTHEEGILL  BATHO  was  one  of  those  born 
mechanics  in  whom  the  faculty  of  invention  is  inherent,  and 
sj)eaks  with  too  loud  a  voice  to  allow  of  any  doubt  or  hesitation 
in  the  choice  of  a  career.  He  was  the  son  of  an  engineer  and  tool- 
maker  in  Manchester,  where  he  first  saw  the  light,  on  the  11th  of 
January,  1828.  At  the  age  of  eleven  he  was  apprenticed  to  his 
father  for  five  years,  and  followed  the  usual  routine  of  foundry, 
bench,  and  drawing-office.  On  the  completion  of  his  apprenticeship 
he  was  engaged  for  a  year  by  the  late  Mr.  C.  E.  Cawley,  M.P.,  as 
an  Assistant  on  the  East  Lancashire  Eailway,  after  which  he 
returned  to  his  father's  works.  Subsequently,  in  1846,  he  entered 
the  drawing-office  of  Messrs.  Sharp  Brothers  and  Co.,  under  the 
late  Mr.  C.  F.  Beyer,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  where  he  remained  for  about  a 
year.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  emigrated  to  South  Africa,  with 
the  intention  of  growing  cotton  in  Natal.  Considering  his  youth, 
it  is  scarcely  matter  for  surprise  that  he  failed  in  this  undertaking, 
and,  after  trying  several  ways  of  gaining  a  living,  he  finally  settled 
down  as  a  Government  Surveyor.  In  this  capacity  his  duty  was 
to  survey,  trigonometrically,  the  original  grants  given  by  Sir 
Harry  Smith  to  the  Dutch  Boers,  who  at  that  time  formed,  the 
principal  population  of  Natal.  In  1853  Mr.  Batho  returned  to 
England,  and  found  congenial  employment  in  designing  machines 
and  tools,  being  for  the  next  five  years  mainly  employed  with  the 
firm  of  Messrs.  Sharp  Stewart  and  Co.,  for  whom  he  designed,  among 
other  labour-saving  appliances,  the  slot-drill.  Being  now  desirous 
of  enlarging  his  sphere  of  action,  he  went  into  business  on  his  own 
account  as  an  engineer  and  tool-maker,  but  his  mechanical  talent 
was  greater  than  his  business  method,  and  after  five  years  he 
relinquished  his  engagements  to  take  the  management  of  Messrs. 
Peyton  and  Peyton's  tube-works  at  Birmingham.  Four  years 
later  he  became  Manager  of  the  world-renowned  screw-  and  tube- 


1  A  very  interesting  autobiographical  "  Statement  of  Services  Performed," 
from  1842  up  to  1873,  by  the  subject  of  tHris  Memoir,  is  contained  in  Inst.  C.E. 
Tracts,  Svo.  vol.  240,  in  the  Library  of  the  Institution. 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2    A 


354  WILLIAM   FOTHERGILL   BATHO.  [Obituary. 

works  of  Messrs.    Nettlefold,  where    likewise  he  remained  four 
years.    During  this  time  he  also  practised  as  a  consulting  engineer, 
and  in  conjunction  with  his  friend  the  late  Mr.  William  Clark, 
M.  Inst.  C.E.,  he  designed  and  patented  the  steam  road-roller  since 
made,  under  license,  by  Messrs.  Aveling  and  Porter,  of  Eochester. 
He  also  had  charge  during  their  construction  of  the  pumping- 
engines  and  machinery  ordered  by  the  Municipality  of  Calcutta  for 
the  drainage,  and  subsequently  of  other  machinery  for  the  water- 
supply  of  that  city.     Mr.  Batho  left  Messrs.  Nettlefold's  to  become 
managing  partner  of  Sir  Josiah  Mason's  steel-pen  works,  and  to  be 
engineering  adviser  in  connection  with  the  charitable  institutions 
founded  by  that   eminent  philanthropist.      For  the   last   fifteen 
years  of  his  life  Mr.  Batho  practised  as  a  consulting  engineer  in 
London,  latterly  in  partnership  with  Mr.  J.  W.  H.  James,  M.  Inst. 
C.E.,  and  achieved  a  considerable  measure  of  success,  his  attention 
being  largely  devoted  to  the  development  of  his  numerous  patents. 
In  conjunction  with  Mr.  Clark,  he  acted  as  engineering  adviser 
and  agent  to  the  Municipality  of  Calcutta,  and  for  the  Calcutta 
Port   Trust  Commissioners,  and  continued  in  that  capacity  after 
the  death  of  Mr.  Clark.     In  association  with  Mr.  "William  Duff 
Bruce,  Vice-Chairman  of  the  Calcutta  Port  Trust,  he  introduced 
the  hydraulic  dredger  known  by  their  joint  names,  which  has  met 
with  an  extended  and  very  successful  application,  insomuch  that 
the  price  of  dredging  in  sand  has  been  by  its  use  carried  as  low 
as    Id.    a   cubic   yard.1      Mr.    Batho   was   also    Joint    Consulting 
Engineer  with  Mr.  Clark  to  the  Oude  and  Eohilkund  Bailway,  and 
designed  the  great  bridge  across  the  Ganges  at  Benares.     More 
recently  his  name  became  widely  known  in  connection  with  the 
open-hearth  steel-melting  furnace,  which  has  been  introduced  as 
the  Batho  furnace,  and  is  now  in  successful  operation  in  many 
steel-works  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

Some  few  years  ago  his  health  began  to  fail,  and  after  a 
lengthened  illness  he  died  at  Bournemouth,  on  the  16th  of  May, 
1886,  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight.  He  was  elected  a  Member  of  the 
Institution  on  the  6th  of  April,  1880. 

In  an  exceedingly  well-filled  professional  life,  extending  over 
more  than  forty  years,  Mr.  Batho  both  saw  and  did  much  ;  but  it 
was  only  during  the  latter  period  of  his  career  that  he  had  full 
scope  for  his  energies.  Doubtless  had  he  lived  he  would  have 
risen  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  profession ;  as  it  was  he  attained 
to  within  measurable  distance  of  it.     It  is  impossible  in  a  short 


Engineering,  Dec.  5,  1SS4. 


Obituary.]  "WILLIAM    FOTHERGILL   BATHO.  355 

notice  like  this  to  corrvey  an  adequate  idea  of  his  eager  intelligence 
and  mental  activity,  "but  both  are  attested  in  the  record  of  his 
patents.  Of  these  the  most  notable,  and  those  by  which  he  will 
Toe  remembered,  are  the  double-traversing  grooving-  arid  drilling- 
machine  ;l  the  nut-shaping  machine  ;2  the  steam  road-roller  ;3  the 
open-hearth  steel-melting  furnace,  and  the  hydraulic  dredger- 
excavator4  ;  all  of  which  were  eminently  successful  practical 
inventions. 

ALEX  ANDES  WOODLANDS  M  AKIN  SOX  was  born  at  Higher 
Broughton,  Manchester,  on   the  30th  of  July,   1822,  and  was  a 
spectator  of  the  opening  of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Bail- 
way.     Leaving  the  Manchester  Grammar  School  at  an  early  age, 
he  was  apprenticed  for  five  years  to  the  Surveyor  to  the  extensive 
Clowes   estates,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  became  the 
pupil  of  Mr.  G.  W.  Buck,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  by  whom  he  was  set  to 
work  on  the  Watford   section  of  the   London  and  Birmingham 
Bail  way.     At   the   expiration  of  his  pupilage  in    1842,  he  went 
through  a  three  years'  course  in  the  engineering  department  at 
King's  College,  London,  from  whence  he  proceeded  to  Lowestoft 
to  take  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  pier  for  the  Eastern 
Counties     Bailway,    of    which     the    late     Mr.    James     Samuel, 
M.  Inst.  C.E.,  was  Chief  Engineer,  and  by  whom  he  was  engaged 
to  superintend  the  survey  and  construction  of  the  Newmarket  and 
Ely  and  Hartingdon  Railways,  and  in  preparing  the  plans  for  a 
proposed  water-supply  for  London  from  the  Bala  lake.    About  this 
time  Mr.  Makinson  was  employed  under  Sir  James  Brunlees,  Bast- 
Bresident  Inst.  C.E.,  on  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway. 
In  1851,  having  assisted  the  late  Sir  Goldsworthy  Gurney  in  the 
ventilation  of  the  Houses  of  Barliament,  he  entered  into  partner- 
ship with  the  late  Mr.  W.  Clark,  M.  Inst.   C.E.,  as  sanitary  and 
ventilating   engineers,   the   partnership   expiring   on    Mr.    Clark 
receiving  the  appointment  of  Engineer  to  the  Municipal  Council 
of  Calcutta.     Mr.  Makinson  was  then  occupied  for  some  years  in 
superintending  the  construction  of,  and  afterwards  as   Resident 
Engineer  on,  the  Llanelly  and  Vale  of  Towy  Railways ;  he  also 
went  to  Switzerland  in  1854  for  a  few  months  under  the  late  Mr. 
Hemans,  Vice-Bresident   Inst.    C.E.      In    1859    he   received   the 
appointment  of  Chief  Engineer  on  the  Calcutta  and  South-Eastem 


1  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers.    Proceedings.  1856.  p.  111. 

2  Ibid.  1869.  p.  312.  3  Ibid.  1S70.  p.  109. 
4  Engineering,  Oct.  3,  1879, 

2  A  2 


356  ALEXANDER   WOODLANDS   MAKINSON.  [Obituary. 

Railway,  but  was  obliged  to  resign  after  about  a  year's  service 
owing  to  fever  and  ague,  being  also  obliged  for  tbe  same  reason  to 
decline  tbe  appointment  of  Cbief  Engineer  to  tbe  Bombay  and 
Baroda  Bail  way.  Soon  after  bis  return  from  India,  Mr.  Makinson 
proceeded  witb  Mr.  Samuel  and  several  otber  engineers  to  tbe 
Istbmus  of  Banama,  to  cbeck  tbe  surveys  of  tbe  Frencb  engineers 
for  tbe  Atlantic  and  Bacific  Sbip  Canal,  projected  by  tbe  late 
Emperor  Napoleon  III. ;  and  at  Greytown,  perhaps  tbe  most 
unhealthy  spot  in  the  world,  he  contracted  malarial  fever,  which 
incapacitated  him  for  a  long  time  from  actively  following  the 
duties  of  his  profession.  He  was  consequently  only  able  to  work 
at  intervals  during  the  period  from  1860  to  1867  in  making 
surveys  for  several  proposed  new  lines,  such  as  the  Birkenhead 
Docks  and  Cheshire  Bailway,  the  widening  of  the  Altrincham 
and  Sheffield  Junction  Bailway,  tbe  Liverpool  Extension  Bailway, 
the  Manchester  Central  Station,  and  the  Hooton  Branch  of  the 
Manchester,  Sheffield,  and  Lincolnshire  Bailway.  During  1866-70 
3Jr.  Makinson  acted  as  Besident  Engineer  on  the  Carnarvon  and 
Llanberis  Bailway,  which  was  subsequently  incorporated  with  the 
London  and  North- Western  Bailway  system.  In  1871  be  was 
engaged  in  laying  out  and  superintending  the  construction 
of  the  Halmstad-Nassjo  Bailway,  in  Sweden,  120  miles  long, 
with  which  be  was  concerned  till  1877,  when,  owing  to  the 
failure  of  the  Swedish  Bank,  which  had  purchased  the  bonds  of 
the  line,  the  work  came  to  a  standstill,  80  miles  having  then  been 
completed  and  opened  for  traffic.  During  the  latter  years  of  his 
life  Mr.  Makinson  withdrew  from  professional  work  and  employed 
himself  in  farming  in  Sweden,  where  he  expired  at  Herrestad 
Karda,  after  a  short  illness,  on  the  14th  of  April,  1886.  Gifted 
witb  brilliant  mathematical  powers,  combined  witb  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  his  profession,  remarkable  for  integrity  of  life  and 
aim,  he  lived  and  died  a  Christian  gentleman  of  the  highest  type> 
leaving  a  memory  which,  to  quote  tbe  words  of  a  friend,  in  itself 
constitutes  a  rich  inheritance  for  bis  children. 

Mr.  Makinson  was  elected  a  Member  of  the  Institution  on  the 
1st  of  February,  1859,  and  received  a  Telford  Bremium  for  a 
Baper  "  On  some  of  the  Internal  Disturbing  Forces  of  Locomotive 
Engines,"  read  on  the  2nd  of  December,  1862. 


JAMES  MATHIAS,  tbe  seventh  son  of  the  late  Charles  Mathias  of 
Lamphey  Court,  Bembrokeshire,  was  born  on  the  23rd  of  November, 
1823.     He  was  educated  at  Bruton  School,  in  Somersetshire,  under 


Obituary.]  JAMES   MATHIAS.  357 

the  Eev.  John  Hoskins  Abrahall,  from  whence  he  entered  the 
College  of  Civil  Engineers,  at  Putney,  in  1841.  He  left  that  insti- 
tution in  1844,  and,  having  become  a  pupil  of  Mr.  (now  Sir  John) 
Hawkshaw,  he  commenced  work  under  Mr.  Gouch,  the  Engineer  of 
the  Manchester  and  Leeds  Kail  way,  and,  in  1845,  became  actively 
engaged  as  Eesident  Engineer  on  the  Miles  Platting  and  Ashton- 
under-Line  branch;  he  was  also  given  charge  of  the  Oldham 
Extension.  In  184G,  when  Mr.  Gouch  retired  from  the  service  of 
the  Company,  which  became  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  Mr. 
Mathias  was  engaged  on  the  parliamentary  work  of  the  Sheffield, 
Eotherham,  Barnsley,  Huddersfield,  Wakefield  and  Gould  railways 
for  two  or  three  years,  and  was  then  appointed  Eesident  Engineer 
of  the  Halifax  division  of  the  West  Eiding  Union  Eailway.  About 
the  year  1852  he  became  Chief  Engineer  to  the  Wigan  and  South- 
port  branch  of  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Eailway,  and  com- 
pleted the  Avorks  of  this  branch  in  the  years  1853  and  1854.  He 
afterwards  determined  to  visit  the  East,  and  travelled  in  Egypt 
during  the  years  1857  and  1858.  In  1859  he  was  again  in 
England,  engaged  in  surveying  railways  in  South  Wales;  and 
from  1862  to  1865  he  was  the  Engineer  of  the  Pembroke  and 
Tenby  Eailway  and  Extensions.  Subsequently  he  set  out  a  railway 
in  Prussia,  and  works  in  Holland  in  the  winter  of  1869.  Here  he 
was  attacked  with  illness  from  exposure  to  cold  from  which  he  never 
recovered,  and  from  that  time  he  was  practically  out  of  business ; 
occujfied  with  the  management  of  some  landed  property  which  he 
had  inherited,  and  to  which  he  made  considerable  additions,  the 
details  of  building  and  the  general  management  of  his  private 
affairs  for  some  years  before  his  death  constituting  his  sole  employ- 
ment. He  was  a  man  of  very  retiring  disposition,  but  always 
kind  and  generous  to  those  who  served  under  him,  taking  an  in- 
terest in  all  his  staff  and  dependents.  He  was  elected  a  Member 
of  the  Institution  on  the  7th  of  April  1868,  and  he  died  on  the 
5th  of  June  1886. 


EDWAED  NEWCOMBE  was  the  second  son  of  Mr.  W.  L.  New- 
combe,  Traffic  Manager  of  the  Midland  Eailway,  and  was  born  at 
York  on  the  1st  of  September,  1843.  He  was  educated  at  Shrews- 
bury Grammar  School ;  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the 
locomotive  department  of  the  Midland  Eailway,  under  the  late 
Mr.  Matthew  Kirtley.  Five  years  later  he  became  a  pupil  of  the 
late  Mr.  John  Crossley,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Mid- 


358  EDWARD   NEWCOHBE.  [Obituary, 


land  Railway  Company,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  an  assistant 
engineer  on  the  construction  of  the  Chesterfield  and  Sheffield 
Railway.  In  1870  Mr.  Newcombe  became  an  assistant  resident 
engineer  on  the  Settle  and  Carlisle  line,  and  in  the  following 
year  Resident  Engineer.  In  1873  he  left  England  for  Japan,  on 
his  appointment  by  the  Japanese  Imperial  Government,  under 
Mr.  R.  Yicars  Boyle,  C.S.I.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.  Here  he  was  engaged 
in  locating  and  setting  out  a  line  of  railway  through  a  close  and 
difficult  country,  being  chiefly  occupied  on  the  Kioto,  Surunga 
and  Nagasendo  and  Owari  lines.  On  the  completion  of  this  work 
Mr.  Newcoinbe  started  for  England;  but  on  arriving  at  Hong 
Kong  he  was  induced  by  the  Surveyor-General  to  superintend  the 
construction  of  harbour  works  then  in  progress.  However,  a 
change  of  Colonial  Government  in  1877  put  a  temporary  stop  to 
the  work,  and  Mr.  Newcombe  returned  home  at  the  end  of  that 
year,  and  re-entered  the  service  of  the  Midland  Railway  Com- 
pany as  Resident  Engineer  on  the  South  Wales  lines. 

Mr.  Newcombe  was  distinguished  for  his  extreme  gentleness  of 
character  and  winning  manner,  and  gained  the  esteem  and  regard 
of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  He  was  universally  beloved 
by  his  men,  to  whom  it  was  said  he  never  used  a  harsh  word. 
His  early  death  and  long  sufferings  may  be  attributed  to  his 
devotion  to  his  duties.  He  first  contracted  a  severe  form  of 
rheumatic  arthritis  by  long  exposure  to  the  weather  during  the 
heavy  snow-storms  of  the  winter  of  1881.  This  gradually 
increased  in  severity  until  he  became  completely  crippled,  not- 
withstanding which  he  fought  against  the  disease,  whilst  still 
performing  his  duties  to  the  utmost.  Mr.  Newcombe  died  at 
Bournemouth  on  the  17th  of  January,  1886.  He  was  elected  a 
Member  of  the  Institution  in  February,  1878. 


' 


JOSHUA  RICHARDSON,  one  of  the  oldest  Members  of  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  was  born  at  Bishop  Wearmouth,  in 
the  county  of  Durham,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1799.  Ho  was 
descended  from  a  family  long  noted  in  the  north  of  England  for 
upright  conduct,  sound  judgment,  and  great  decision  of  character. 
His  father,  John  Richardson,  in  1814,  was  one  of  the  first  men 
who  introduced  steam-power  for  the  grinding  of  bark  in  his  tan- 
yard,  and  utilizing  it  as  the  motive-power  in  his  flour-mills.  The 
novelty  of  this  adaptation  created  great  interest  in  the  district, 
and  numerous  visitors  from  a  distance  came  to  witness  the  suc- 
cessful application  of  this  powerful  accessory  to  science. 


Obituary.]  JOSHUA   RICHARDSON.  359 

Joshua  Richardson  received  a  sound  education ;  his  mental 
development  was  not  rapid,  but  he  was  very  persevering,  and 
being  of  a  reflective  temperament,  studious  habits,  and  a  hard 
reader,  associating  also  with  intelligent  companions,  he  obtained 
much  information  in  scientific  knowledge,  natural  philosophy, 
and  general  literature,  also  in  geology.  He  always  traced  his 
predilection  to  engineering  to  the  delight  he  had  as  a  boy  watch- 
ing day  by  day  the  progress  of  the  erection  of  the  high-level 
bridge  at  Sunderland,  over  the  river  Wear,  at  that  time  regarded 
as  a  marvel  of  engineering  skill.  He  was  trained  in  youth  for 
mercantile  pursuits,  and  it  was  not  till  early  manhood  that  he 
resolved  to  pursue  the  profession  of  a  civil  engineer. 

He  became  an  articled  pupil  of  George  and  Robert  Stephenson, 
about  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  Stockton  and  Darlington 
Railway,  when  the  railway  system  was   about  being  generally 
adopted  in  the  country.     He  had  the  privilege  of  close  intercourse 
with  Robert  Stephenson,  to  whom  he  was  much  attached,  also  of 
being  introduced  to  some  of  the  leading  engineers  at  that  time. 
He  prized  the  opportunity  afforded  of  becoming  acquainted  with 
practical  engineering  in  the  factory  and  drawing-offices  of  Robert 
Stephenson  and   Co.,  at   Newcastle,  and   used  to  advert   to  the 
instruction  gained  there  as  being  of  service  to  him  in  his  after- 
career.     He  assisted  in  surveying  several  of  the  early  railways, 
and  had  to  give  evidence  on  the  levels  of  the  Newcastle  and  Carlisle 
Railway  before  a  Parliamentary  Committee.     His  first  appoint- 
ment, as  Resident  Engineer,  was  under  Robert  Stephenson,  on  the 
Canterbury  and  Whitstable  Railway  and  harbour.     The  gradients 
of  the  railway  were  such  as  to  require  a  tunnel,  and  a  steep  incline 
was  worked   by  means  of  a  stationary  engine   and  rope.     This 
railway  was  the  first  in  the  south  of  England  opened  for  general 
traffic.     He  took  an  active  part  in  the  arrangements,  and  its  com- 
pletion was  the  cause  of  great  rejoicing  in  Canterbury  and  the 
vicinity. 

On  the  opening  of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway,  as 
belonging  to  the  engineering  staff,  he  was  placed  on  one  of  the 
locomotives  in  the  processsion.  In  after-life  he  would  dilate  on 
the  triumphant  success  of  the  enterprise — though  sadly,  clouded 
by  the  melancholy  death  of  Mr.  Huskisson,  of  which  mournful 
event  he  was  an  eye-witness.  He  surveyed  a  line  of  railway  from 
Newcastle  to  Shields,  and  was  employed  on  some  of  the  Midland 
railways.  After  completing  his  term  of  pupilage,  he  was  appointed 
Engineer  and  Manager  of  the  works  of  the  Canterbury  and  Whit- 
stable Railway.    In  1832  he  settled  in  the  North.     He  was  elected 


360  JOSHUA   RICHARDSON.  [Obituary. 

a  Member  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  on  the  28th  of 
January,  1834,  and  took  great  interest,  when  opportunity  offered, 
in  attending  the  meetings.  He  was  appointed  Engineer  of  the 
new  Water  Company  in  Newcastle,  and  prepared  the  Parliamentary 
plans  and  estimates  for  the  waterworks,  and  superintended  their 
construction.  The  Commissioners  of  the  Eiver  Tyne  and  the  New- 
castle Corporation  engaged  him  to  survey  and  report  on  the  deep- 
ening of  the  river.  In  1836  he  published  his  report  "  On  the  best 
practical  means  of  improving  the  navigation  of  the  Eiver  Tyne, 
with  an  appendix  on  the  Eiver  Clyde  at  Glasgow."  Previous  to 
this,  the  second  edition  of  his  "Observations  on  the  proposed 
Eailway  from  Newcastle-on-Tyne  to  North  Shields  "  was  issued. 
For  several  years  his  time  was  devoted  to  the  promotion  and  pre- 
liminary surveys  and  plans  of  railways  in  the  North  of  England 
and  Scotland,  also  in  colliery  practice. 

Desirous  for  the  improvement  of  the  colliers  and  others  resident 
in  the  North  Durham  district,  with  the  aid  of  the  late  Mr.  Hutt, 
M.P.,  and  some  local  gentlemen,  he  took  an  active  part  in  establish- 
ing the  Literary  and  Mechanical   Institution  in  Burnopfield,  of 
which   he   became   Yice-President.     The   Newcastle   Corporation 
awarded  him  a  premium  for  the  original  plan  of  the  steam-boat 
jetty  erected  on  the  Eiver  Tyne,  the  principle  of  which  was  after- 
wards adopted  in  several  other  seaports.     On  the  completion  of 
the  London  and  Croydon  Eailway  in  1839,  he  was  elected  Engineer 
of  the  Company  and  Manager  of  the  working  details  of  the  line. 
Subsequently  he   removed  into   Wales,   on    his    appointment   as 
Engineer  and  Manag-ino;  Director  of  extensive  collieries  and  rail- 
ways  in  Glamorganshire.     He  was  also  engaged  to  select,  and  to 
survey,  the  line  of  the  Yale  of  Neath  and  Merthyr  Eailway,  and  he 
prepared   the  necessary  plans   and   estimates ;    the   works   were 
afterwards  executed  under  the  patronage  of  the  Great  Western 
Eailway,  to  whom  the  line  is  now  leased.  He  obtained  the  premium 
offered  for  the  best  plan  of  the  Burnham  Docks  and  Harbour  in 
Somersetshire.     He  had  considerable  practice  in  reporting  on  the 
coal-fields,  and  the  best  mode  of  working  the  coal  of  North  and 
South  Wales,  the  Forest  of  Dean,  and  the  West  of  England,  and 
was  engaged  on  slate  quarries,  lead,  iron,  and  copper  mines.     He 
had  professional  employment  in  Belgium  and  in  France,  where  he 
furnished  a  report  "  On  the  extensive  deposit  of  magnetic  iron  ore 
at  Dielette,  near  Cherbourg,  and  the  best  mode  of  working  and 
converting  it,  with  estimates,  plans,  and  sections."     This  report 
was   published  in  1866.     For  a  long  series  of  years  he  was  the 
Consulting  Engineer  of  the  late  Lord  Craven  for  his  coal-fields  in 


Obituary.]  JOSHUA   RICHARDSON.  3G1 

the  Clee  Hills,  Shropshire,  and  at  Coventry  in  Warwickshire.  He 
acted  in  the  same  capacity  for  Sir  William  E.  Clayton,  Sir  Charles 
Boughton,  the  Neath  Abbey  Coal  Company,  and  many  others.  In 
the  valuation  of  coal  property  and  colliery  plant  he  was  often 
applied  to  as  a  trustworthy  authority.  In  law,  in  arbitration,  and 
in  Chancery  suits  connected  with  engineering,  he  had  much  ex- 
perience, and  was  frequently  required  to  examine,  report  on,  and 
give  evidence  in  the  public  Courts. 

Of  his  publications,  the  work  "  On  the  Prevention  of  Accidents 
in  Mines "  was  a  subject  he  had  naturally  considered,  and  felt 
convinced  that  if  the  sanitary  measures  practised  in  the  best 
regulated  collieries  were  legally  enforced,  they  would  tend  to 
diminish  suffering  and  loss  of  life.  The  book  wras  very  favourably 
reviewed  by  the  press.  It  had  a  wide  circulation,  and  obtained 
the  attention  of  several  members  of  the  Government.  LordWharn- 
cliffe  wrote  to  him  respecting  its  object,  and  arranged  for  his 
giving  evidence  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Lords  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  subject  of  inspection  of  mines.  After  the  Bill 
enforcing  inspection  was  passed,  Joshua  Richardson  had  frequent 
intercourse  on  professional  subjects  with  the  newly-appointed  in- 
spectors, especially  with  his  old  experienced  acquaintance,  Mr. 
Matthias  Dunn,  of  the  Northern  district,  and  with  Mr.  Herbert 
Mackworth,  of  South  Wales,  who  always  enjoyed  conferring  and 
consulting  with  him  on  topics  affecting  the  safety  of  mining- 
operations.  He  was  extremely  neat  and  methodical  in  the 
arrangement  of  his  books,  papers,  plans,  and  correspondence  ;  noted 
for  writing  clear,  explicit,  and  comprehensive  reports,  and  often 
surprised  those  who  consulted  him  by  the  correctness  of  his 
geological  and  engineering  knowledge. 

He  was  the  Author  of  four  Papers  communicated  to  the  Institu- 
tion ;  namely,  1.  "  On  the  Ventilation  of  Mines,"  read  on  the  23rd 
of  March,  1847  j1  2.  "  The  Coal-field  and  the  Coal  of  South  Wales," 
read  on  the  13th  of  February,  1849.2  At  a  time  when  the  rapid 
exhaustion  of  the  coal  in  Great  Britain  was  occupying  the  public 
mind  and  creating  alarm,  this  Paper  attracted  much  attention, 
and  was,  by  permission  of  the  Council,  re-published  in  the  Bristol 
and  Glamorgan  Directory.  3.  "  On  the  Explosion  of  Fire-damp 
which  occurred  in  the  Eaglebush,  or  Eskyn  Colliery,  near  Neath, 
South  Wales,  on  the  29th  of  March,  1848,"  read  on  the  20th  of 
February,  1849.3     4.  "On  the  Pneumatics  of  Mines,"  read  on  the 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  vi.  p.  160. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  p.  82.  3  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  p.  118. 


362  JOSHUA   RICHARDSON.  [Obituary. 

1st  of  February,  1S53.1  For  the  first  of  these  papers  he  received 
a  Telford  medal,  and  for  the  others  premiums  of  hooks.  He 
much  valued  the  Minutes  of  Proceedings  of  the  Institution,  which 
were  to  him  treasures  of  science,  and  each  volume  was  duly- 
read  and  the  plans  examined.  He  had  the  whole  series  from 
the  beginning,  neatly  bound  and  arranged,  and  until  late  in  life 
he  would  comment  with  enthusiasm  on  the  amount  of  practical 
engineering  they  embodied.  Desirous  of  spreading  the  advantages 
of  the  Institution,  he  frequently  recommended  young  rising 
engineers  to  become  candidates  for  admission,  taking  care  that  none 
but  those  who  fulfilled  the  stipulated  conditions  should  aspire  to 
the  honour.  He  was  warmly  interested  in  young  men  entering  on 
active  life,  especially  in  those  employed  by  him,  watching  over  and 
advising  them  for  good.  He  showed  much  tact  in  managing  and 
organizing  bodies  of  working  men,  maintaining  his  authority  and 
yet  gaining  their  respect  and  regard.  For  many  years  he  was  a 
contributor  to  the  columns  of  the  "  Mining  Journal,"  discussing 
the  various  topics  engrossing  the  attention  of  engineers. 

In  1846  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Society.  He 
was  a  good  walker,  and  occasionally  accomplished  40  miles  a  day ; 
the  exploring  of  rocks,  examining  the  strata,  collecting  fossils  and 
other  specimens,  were  all  sources  of  pure  pleasure,  as  well  as  being 
serviceable  in  mining  and  engineering  operations.  He  would  often 
encourage  his  younger  friends  to  pursue  this  branch  of  knowledge, 
so  as  to  enhance  the  interest  of  their  excursions  and  pedestrian 
tours. 

Xot  only  as  a  man  of  science  was  Joshua  Richardson  active  and 
energetic,  but  he  was  equally  so  in  the  cause  of  philanthropy. 
Kindness  and  tenderness  of  heart  were  his  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics, and  he  could  not  witness  misery  and  suffering  without 
desiring  so  relieve  it ;  as  far  as  circumstances  warranted,  he  was 
prompt  to  succour  the  distressed.  He  had  not  wealth  to  bestow, 
but  he  had  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer ;  was  a  good  and  fluent 
speaker,  and  could  eloquently  plead  the  claims  of  justice  and 
humanity.  Often  solicited  to  take  part  on  the  platform  in  public 
matters,  he  was  bold  to  speak  according  to  his  convictions,  but  was 
no  blind  partizan.  Trained  as  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
and  sound  in  the  faith  of  that  Christian  body,  he  maintained  and 
advocated  the  doctrine  of  peace  and  good-will  to  all  mankind,  and 
he  was  local  Secretary  of  the  Peace  Society.  He  took  part  as  well 
in  the  Anti-Slavery  cause.     He  was  deeply  imbued  with  the  love 


■ 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  xii.  p.  272. 


Obituary.]  JOSHUA  RICHARDSON.  363 

of  the  Bible,  and  the  sublime  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  for  ten 
years  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Neath  Auxiliary  Bible  Society.  He 
united  with  others  in  forming  a  Benevolent  Society  in  Neath  for 
the  relief  of  the  deserving  poor,  and  acted  as  secretary.  He  was 
eminently  the  friend  of  education,  believing  it  to  be  the  basis 
on  which  mainly  depended  the  progress  and  elevation  of  the  lower 
classes.  The  ignorance  prevailing  in  some  parts  of  Wales,  especially 
amongst  the  colliers,  deeply  impressed  him  with  the  need  of 
elementary  schools.  Encouraged  and  assisted  by  some  of  the  best 
and  most  benevolent  men  in  the  district,  and  by  their  generous 
co-operation,  he  was  instrumental  in  establishing  the  "  Neath  School 
Society,"  of  which  the  British  School,  with  similar  schools,  were 
the  results.  He  with  others  took  a  warm  interest  in  the  erection 
of  commodious  schools  for  boys,  girls,  and  infants.  For  upwards 
of  twenty  years  he  acted  as  Government  correspondent,  manager, 
and  honorary  secretary,  and  was  said  to  be  "  the  mainspring  of  the 
movement."  He  was  also  Honorary  Secretary  to  the  school  in 
connection  with  the  Neath  Abbey  Ironworks.  In  1872,  at  a 
numerous  meeting  at  the  Town  Hall,  Neath,  he  was  presented  by 
the  friends  of  education,  as  a  testimonial  of  their  approval,  with 
a  silver  tea-  and  coffee-service  of  elegant  design,  on  which  the 
following  inscription  was  engraved :  "  Presented  to  Joshua 
Bichardson,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  F.G.S.,  in  recognition  of  his  services 
in  the  cause  of  unsectarian  education  in  Neath,  1872." 

Though  of  a  retiring,  unobtrusive  disposition,  he  was  cordial, 
courteous,  and  refined,  with  a  well-stored  mind  full  of  resources, 
and  ho  possessed  good  conversational  powers.  He  was  thoroughly 
domestic  in  his  habits  ;  home  was  his  delight,  and  his  chief  earthly 
happiness  was  in  the  bosom  of  his  family.  The  one  great  sorrow 
of  his  life  was  the  loss  of  his  only  son,  of  whom  he  could  rarely 
speak  in  after-life  without  deep  emotion.  He  died  on  the  22nd  of 
March,  188G,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven. 


DAVID  THOMSON  was  born  on  the  15th  of  November,  1816, 
at  Maxton  Manse  in  Boxburgshire,  his  father,  the  Bev.  John 
Thomson,  being  the  parish  minister  of  that  place.  After  receiving 
a  good  ordinary  school  education,  as  his  abilities  and  inclinations 
appeared  to  tend  towards  a  mechanical  career,  he  passed  through 
a  suitable  scientific  curriculum  at  Glasgow  University,  and  was 
afterwards  apprenticed  to  the  mechanical  engineering  firm  of 
Messrs.  Claud  Gird  wood  and  Co.,  of  Glasgow,  removing,  on  the 


364 


DAVID    THOMSON. 


[Obituary. 


closing  of  tliat  establishment,  to  the  well-known  factory  of  Messrs. 
ISasmyth,  Gaskell  and  Co.,  of  Patricroft,  Manchester. 

He  was  afterwards  employed  temporarily  by  the  Peninsular  and 
Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company,  and  one  or  two  other  firms, 
when  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  late  Mr.  Archibald  Slate, 
M.  Inst.  C.E.,  who,  discovering  in  him  an  extraordinary  mechanical 
ability,  induced  him  to  come  to  London,  and  obtained  for  him  in 
1845  the  important  post  of  Manager  of  the  large  engineering 
works  of  Messrs.  "William  Simpson  and  Co.,  then  in  the  Belgrave 
Eoad,  Pimlico.  Here  he  remained  for  twenty  years,  during  which 
time  he  had  responsible  charge  of  the  design  and  construction  of 
a  very  large  quantity  of  engines,  machinery,  and  iron  structures 
of  various  kinds,  which  for  correctness  of  principle  and  excellence 
of  workmanship,  obtained  for  the  firm  the  highest  character  in 
the  engineering  profession.  In  July  18G5,  he  took  a  similar  position 
with  the  old-established  firm  of  Messrs.  Eichard  Moreland  and  Son, 
mechanical  engineers,  in  the  Goswell  Eoad,  where  he  remained  till 
1877.  For  the  first  two  years  of  this  period  he  was  also  engineer 
in  charge  of  the  purnping  arrangements,  and  the  driving  of  an 
adit  about  3  miles  long,  at  Lichfield,  for  the  South  Staffordshire 
Waterworks.  In  1877,  finding  his  health  giving  way,  he  relin- 
quished his  active  position  at  the  manufactory,  but  still  continued 
to  give  the  firm  the  benefit  of  his  occasional  advice  and  assistance 
so  far  as  he  was  able,  until  September  1881.  He  died  at  his 
residence,  Craighead,  Belvedere,  Kent,  on  the  11th  of  April,  1886. 

Mr.  Thomson  was  a  man  of  great  intellectual  capacity.  He  was 
well  grounded  in  mathematical  and  physical  science,  and  applied 
this  knowledge  with  good  judgment  and  common  sense  to  prac- 
tical engineering.  This  was  shown  by  the  satisfactory  and 
successful  results  of  the  works  designed  and  manufactured  under 
his  direction  during  his  long  term  of  practice,  some  of  the  most 
inrportant  of  which  may  be  mentioned  here. 

About  1848  the  first  great  step  was  made  in  the  modern  im- 
provement of  the  London  Water-Supply,  by  the  removal  of  the 
intake  to  a  position  above  the  tide-way  of  the  Eiver  Thames.  The 
pioneers  in  this  were  the  Lambeth  Water  Company,  under  the 
guidance  of  their  Engineer,  Mr.  James  Simpson,  Past-President 
Inst.  C.E.  The  water  was  taken  from  the  river  at  a  point  near 
Thames  Ditton,  and  had  to  be  conveyed  along  a  large  main 
10  miles  long,  from  thence  to  the  company's  reservoirs  at  Brixton 
and  Streatham.  This  involved  important  considerations  in  regard 
to  the  pumping  arrangements,  and  Mr.  Simpson  confided  to  Mr. 
David    Thomson,    in    conjunction    with   Mr.   William   Pole   (now 


Obituary.]  DAVID   THOMSON.  365 

Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers),  the 
task  of  investigating  the  matter.  After  many  enquiries  and  experi- 
ments, they  recommended  the  use,  for  the  purpose,  of  compound- 
cylinder  engines.  This  form  of  engine,  although  an  old  inven- 
tion, was  at  that  time  imperfectly  understood,  and  the  specimens 
of  it  in  existence  showed  little  trace  of  the  advantages  that  have 
since  been  derived  from  it.  Mr.  Thomson  and  his  coadjutor 
pointed  out,  however,  that  the  principle  was  capable  of  highly 
beneficial  use,  and  that  it  was,  moreover,  for  many  reasons, 
peculiarly  applicable  to  the  case  in  question.  Their  recommenda- 
tion was  adopted  by  Mr.  Simpson,  and  Mr.  Thomson  undertook 
to  design  and  manufacture  engines  for  the  purpose.  There  were 
two  pairs  of  engines,  giving  a  total  of  600  HP. ;  they  were  set 
to  work  in  1852,  and  were  successful  in  all  points  of  view.1  They 
were  afterwards  copied  for  many  other  large  waterworks,  where 
circumstances  were  favourable  for  their  use.  In  the  course  of  this 
work  Mr.  Thomson  introduced  a  new  form  of  double-acting  pump, 
called  the  "  Bucket  and  Plunger  Pump."  The  principle  of  it  had 
been  indicated  in  a  rough  form  by  Smeaton  in  1759,2  and  Mr. 
Thomson,  finding  it  offered  special  advantages  for  waterworks 
purposes,  took  it  up  and  perfected  its  design  in  modern  form. 
It  has  since  been  much  used.  He  made  large  numbers  of  steam- 
engines  for  waterworks  and  other  purposes,  some  of  considerable 
magnitude,  and  he  evinced  great  skill  in  adapting  them,  so  as 
to  produce  the  maximum  efficiency  for  the  work  they  had  to  do. 
For  some  special  cases  he  designed  an  improved  form  of  tubular 
boiler,  for  which  he  took  out  a  patent  in  18G8. 

He  was  one  of  the  best  authorities  on  waterworks  machinery, 
great  quantities  of  which  of  all  kinds  were  made  under  his  direc- 
tion, and  all  of  a  high  degree  of  efficiency.  He  took  great  interest 
in  the  development,  for  useful  practical  purposes,  of  the  centrifugal 
pump,  in  which  he  made  and  patented  valuable  improvements. 
Between  1867  and  1874  he  constructed  large  hydraulic  appli- 
ances of  various  kinds  for  the  Metropolitan  Main  Drainage  Works, 
and  he  introduced  therein  a  new  form  of  pump-valve  of  large 
dimensions,  which  has  since  been  extensively  used. 

Among  the  miscellaneous  works  designed  by  him  may  be 
mentioned  an  improved  road  roller  of  large  size,  built  for  H.M. 
Office   of  Works    and    elsewhere ;    power-capstans   for   Chatham 


1  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers.     Proceedings.     1862,  pp.  242,  259. 

2  "  An  Experimental  Enquiry  concerning  the  Natural  Powers  of  Water  and 
Wind  to  turn  Mills,  &c."     Phil.  Trans,  vol.  li.  p.  100. 


366  DAVID   THOMSON.  [Obituary. 

Dockyard ;  coal-tips  for  Leith  Docks ;  dredging  engines ;  tanks 
for  large  submarine  cables ;  and  new  entrance-gates  for  the  Bute 
Docks,  Cardiff. 

In  1876  he  was  made  a  Director  of  the  Crystal  Palace ;  he  gave 
great  attention  to  the  many  and  important  engineering  works  of 
the  establishment,  and  during  certain  periods  of  anxious  doubt 
as  to  the  policy  and  management  of  that  great  undertaking,  he 
exerted  himself  actively  in  the  investigations  that  were  made,  and 
his  judgment  carried  great  weight  with  his  colleagues. 

Mr.  Thomson  always  maintained  a  high  personal  character, 
which  commanded  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him.  He  was 
fully  master  of  his  business  subjects,  not  only  in  their  scientific 
and  constructive  aspects,  but  also  in  their  commercial  bearings ; 
and  his  aid  was  often  sought  in  arbitrations  and  disputes  where 
high  integrity  and  sound  judgment  were  required.  He  never 
aspired  to  an  ostentatious  position,  but  he  was  one  of  those  whose 
works  have  gained  for  Great  Britain  the  character  of  the  first 
mechanical  nation  in  the  world. 

He  was  elected  an  Associate  of  this  Institution  in  March  1845, 
and  was  transferred  to  the  class  of  Member  in  January  1878.  He 
presented  an  Original  Communication  to  the  Institution  on  "  Cen- 
trifugal Pumps,"1  which  was  read  on  the  14th  of  February,  1871. 
He  was  a  frequent  attendant  at  the  meetings,  and  often  gave  his 
professional  brethren,  in  the  discussions,  the  benefit  of  his  ample 
store  of  knowledge.  He  married,  in  1846,  the  daughter  of  the 
Eev.  Archibald  Bruce,  of  Stirling,  and  several  of  his  sons  hold 
appointments  under  Government. 


!' 


JOSEPH  SALTER  OLVER  was  bora  at  Falmouth  on  the 
18th  of  November,  1818.  He  served  a  pupilage  of  three  years 
(1834-37)  as  a  surveyor  and  civil  engineer  to  a  Mr.  Eutger  of 
Penzance,  with  whom  he  subsequently  remained  for  some  tim 
as  an  assistant  in  several  undertakings  in  Cornwall  and  Devon 
shire.  Afterwards,  until  1840,  he  was  employed  by  a  firm  of 
builders  and  contractors  to  the  members  of  which  he  was  related ; 
he  also  attained  some  local  repute  as  a  surveyor  at  this  time.  In 
1840,  when  the  extension  of  the  railway  system  into  Cornwall  was 
first  mooted,  Mr.  Olver  was  engaged  by  Capt.  W.  S.  Moorsom  and 
Mr.  Brunei  to  assist  in  the  preliminary  surveys,  and,  with  the 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  xxsii.  p.  26. 


Obituary.]  JOSEPH   SALTER   OLVEK.  367 

exception  of  an  interval  when  he  was  employed  by  Mr.  Bendel  on 
the  Falmouth  Harbour  works,  he  remained  on  the  Cornwall 
Eailway  until  the  system  was  practically  completed  in  1855. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  Crimean  war,  in  1855-1856,  Mr.  Olver 
obtained  an  appointment  as  Assistant  Superintendent  of  (Works 
under  the  late  Mr.  W.  T.  Doyne,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  who  was  engaged 
under  the  War  Office,  and  after  the  Proclamation  of  Peace,  re- 
mained for  some  time  in  the  same  department.  Subsequently, 
until  1863,  he  was  employed  by  Messrs.  Walker  and  Burges,  and 
by  Mr.  Fowler,  Past  President  Inst.  C.E.,  also  in  the  engineering 
department  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works.  In  the  year 
named  he  became  assistant  to  Sir  John  (then  Mr.)  Coode,  Vice- 
President  Inst.  C.E.,  and  was  engaged  in  preparing  designs  for 
coastworks,  railways,  drainage,  and  on  various  surveys,  &c. 
Eventually  he  was  employed  by  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works 
under  Sir  Joseph  Bazalgette  till  December,  1885. 

Although  making  no  claim  to  be  other  than  one  of  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  profession,  Mr.  Olver  was  a  competent  engineer,  and  in 
the  course  of  nearly  half  a  century  of  active  life  he  gained  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  all  those  with  whom  he  became  associated. 
He  was  elected  an  Associate  Member  of  the  Institution  on  the 
2nd  of  February,  1875,  and  died  on  the  17th  of  March,  1886. 


PATEICK  ADIE  was  the  youngest  son  of  the  late  Alexander 
James  Adie,  F.E.S.E.,  optician  of  Edinburgh,  and  brother  of  the 
late  Engineer  of  the  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  and  other  railways. 
He  was  born  in  1821,  and  was  educated  at  the  High  School  of 
Edinburgh.  On  leaving  he  went  to  the  workshops  of  Messrs. 
Milne  and  Son,  gas  engineers,  in  that  city,  where  he  gained  his 
first  mechanical  experience.  The  next  four  years  were  spent  in  his 
father's  workshop  in  Edinburgh,  with  the  exception  of  six  months, 
which  he  passed  in  Sir  Thomas  Macdougall  Brisbane's  observa- 
tory, near  Kelso,  where  he  gained  valuable  information,  and  made 
the  acquaintance  of  the  late  Mr.  John  Welsh,  subsequently 
Superintendent  of  the  Kew  Observatory.  About  18-17  he  came  to 
London,  and  a  few  years  afterwards  set  up  in  business  as  an 
optician  and  surveying-instrument  maker,  which  business  he  con- 
tinued till  the  time  of  his  death.  He  designed  and  supplied 
many  of  the  instruments  used  by  the  engineers  engaged  in  the 
great  trigonometrical  survey  of  India,  and  also  in  the  construction 
of  many  railways,  both  in  this  country  and  abroad.     He  gained 


168 


PATRICK   ADIE. 


[Obituary. 


medals  at  the  Exhibitions  of  1851  (London),  1855  (Paris),  1862 
(London),  &c,  for  excellence  of  these  instruments.  For  meteor- 
ological instruments  his  reputation  was  fully  sustained,  many 
certificates  heing  received  from  Kew  Observatory,  showing  that 
they  were  without  error.  That  Mr.  A  die  possessed  great  inventive 
power  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  took  out  no  less  than  twelve 
patents,  many  of  which  are  well  known,  and  have  proved  very 
successful.  One  of  these  patents  he  was  engaged  in  perfecting 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  It  consists  in  the  employment  of 
corrugated  steel  belting,  in  lieu  of  leather,  which  he  believed 
would  effect  a  large  saving  both  in  power  and  cost.  In  this 
opinion  he  was  supported  by  some  eminent  Members  of  the 
Institution,  to  whom  he  was  well  known,  and  who  frequently 
sought  the  advice  which  his  great  experience  enabled  him  to  give. 
During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  he  had  suffered  from 
bronchitis  and  heart  disease.  He  died  suddenly  on  the  18th  of 
May,  1886.  He  was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Institution  on  the 
2nd  of  May,  1865. 


Lieutenant-Colonel  PATRICK  MONTGOMERIE,  R.E.,  was 
born  on  the  26th  of  October,  1837.  He  obtained  his  first  com 
mission  as  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Madras  Engineers  on  the 
13th  June,  1856,  and  after  the  usual  course  of  practical  instruc 
tion  at  the  School  of  Military  Engineering,  Chatham,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  India,  and  reached  Madras  in  June,  1858.  Arriving  in 
India  after  the  Mutiny,  and  being  posted  to  the  most  peaceful  of  the 
Presidencies,  it  was  not  his  fortune  to  see  any  active  service  in  the 
field.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  promotion  he  rose  in  military 
rank  as  follows  :  viz.,  First  Lieutenant,  27th  August,  1858  ;  Captain, 
7th  March,  1868  ;  Major,  3rd  February,  1875  ;  Brevet  Lieutenant 
Colonel,  3rd  February,  18S2 ;  Regimental  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
4th  June,  1883. 

His  first  occupation  in  civil  duties  appears  to  have  been  in 
conducting  some  boat  experiments  under  the  immediate  order  of 
the  then  Chief  Engineer,  Colonel  (afterwards  Sir  Arthur)  Cotton. 
In  November  1860  he  was  transferred  as  Assistant  Engineer  to 
the  Godavery  District ;  a  chief  centre  of  irrigation  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  great  dam  and  system  of  canals,  which  had  been 
projected  and  carried  out  under  Sir  Arthur  and  his  brother 
Frederick  Cotton ;  and  there  he  laid  the  foundation  of  that 
practical   knowledge   of  irrigation   engineering  which  made   his 


Obituary.]  LIEUT.-COLONEL   PATKICK  3IONTGOHEFJE.  369 

services  so  valuable  in  that  special  branch,  to  which  he  remained 
devoted  throughout  his  career.  He  left  the  Madras  Presidency  for 
the  Central  Provinces  in  June  1864,  obtaining  promotion  as  an 
Executive  Engineer,  4th  Grade,  in  November,  but  was  driven 
home  by  ill  health  in  October  18G5.  Eeturning  to  duty  in 
December  1868,  he  was  employed  for  upwards  of  four  years  in 
the  irrigation  districts  of  Tanjore  and  Trichinopoly,  where  he 
had  charge  of  the  works  in  connection  with  the  Kiver  Cauvery, 
originated  by  native  engineers  under  a  former  government,  but 
put  into  their  present  state  of  efficiency  by  Sir  Arthur  Cotton 
and  the  school  of  engineers  who  are  still  proud  to  look  up  to  him 
as  their  chief.  It  showed  appreciation  of  his  abilities  and  good 
work  that  Captain  Montgomerie  was  called  up  to  Madras  in  March 
1873  to  fill  the  post  of  Deputy  Chief  Engineer  and  Under- 
Secretary  to  Government  in  the  Department  of  Public  "Works, 
which  he  held  till  he  went  home  on  two-years'  furlough  in  March 
1874;  and  neither  on  this  nor  on  the  subsequent  occasion  when  he 
filled  a  similar  office  in  the  irrigation  branch,  from  September 
1877  to  March  1879,  did  he  fail  to  recommend  himself  by  his 
efficiency  and  genial  character,  not  only  to  his  immediate  chiefs, 
but  also  to  the  members  of  government,  and  to  the  body  of  officers 
whose  interests  he  to  some  extent  represented.  He  gained  the 
respect  and  esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  had  to  transact  depart- 
mental business.  In  fact,  he  was  an  officer  of  varied  resources, 
and  officiated  as  District  Engineer  of  Madras  itself,  and  as  Con- 
sulting Architect  to  Government,  from  the  date  of  his  return 
from  furlough  in  March  1876  till  nearly  the  end  of  that  year, 
spending  the  next  twelvemonth  in  the  Salem  district.  His 
subsequent  appointments  were  as  follows,  viz. :  Acting  Superin- 
tending Engineer,  4th  Circle,  March  1879 ;  on  special  duty, 
Tanjore  Delta,  July  1880  ;  furlough  two  years — March  1881  to 
February  1883;  on  special  duty  in  connection  with  the  Tanks 
Maintenance  Scheme,  February  1883;  concluding  finally  with 
the  charge  of  the  First  Superintending  Engineer's  Circle  from 
May  1884;  in  which  was  included  the  Godavery  Irrigation  Works 
on  which  he  gained  his  first  experience. 

It  was  while  on  one  of  his  tours  of  duty  as  a  Superintending 
Engineer  that  he  was  carried  off  by  a  sudden  attack  of  illness 
at  Waltair,  near  Vizagapatam,  on  the  8th  of  January  1886,  to  the 
deep  regret  of  all  who  knew  him. 

"  The  most  notable  work  that  he  did,"  writes  one  most  com- 
petent to  judge,  "was  the  investigation  in  1880  of  the  cause  of 
the  great  floods  in  the  Coleroon  and  Cauveiy  Kivers.    This  special 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2    B 


370 


LIEUT.-COLOXEL   PATRICK   MONTGOMEEIE. 


[Obituary. 


work  was  most  ably  carried  out :  and  the  report  is  a  most  valuable 
contribution  to  the  literature  of  river  floods,  their  causes,  and 
their  proper  treatment.  On  the  information  collected  by  him  the 
design  for  the  Cauvery  and  Vennar  Eegulators  at  the  Grand 
Annicut  near  Trichinopoly,  was  modified,  and  the  estimates  were 
sanctioned  by  the  Government  of  India.  These  great  works  must 
now  be  nearly  if  not  quite  completed." 

The  Tanks  Maintenance  Scheme  was  one  also  on  which  Colonel 
Montgoinerie  bestowed  much  thoughtful  attention.  It  was  a 
subject  of  great  financial  importance,  inasmuch  as  the  revenue 
dependent  on  these  (comparatively)  minor  irrigation  works  of 
the  Madras  Presidency,  is  36  per  cent,  more  than  that  derived 
from  the  whole  of  the  great  delta  systems,  and  amounts  to  three 
fifths  of  the  entire  irrigation  revenue.  But  it  was  a  matte: 
requiring  to  be  handled  by  an  expert  in  Irrigation  Engineering ; 
and  the  Government  Order  disposing  of  his  report  acknowledged 
that  it  was  the  first  time  that  this  important  question  had  been 
systematically  and  scientifically  treated.  Colonel  Montgomerie's 
able  report  showed  what  could  and  what  should  be  done  to  bring  up 
every  irrigation  work  in  the  presidency  to  a  proper  standard  of 
efficiency,  and  to  maintain  them  in  it :  and  his  recommendations 
are  to  be  carried  out,  though  such  action  was  not  thought  to 
necessitate  any  such  radical  changes  in  the  constitution  of  the  Public 
"Works  Department  as  his  further  proposals  involved. 

The  deceased  officer  was  married  in  1875  to  a  daughter  of 
General  Macleverty,  formerly  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Madras 
Army,  whom  he  left  a  widow  with  two  young  children.  Colonel 
Montgomerie  was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Institution  on  the 
oth  of  May  1868. 


Major  and  Brevet  Lieut.-Colokel  JAMES  LAW  LUSHINGTON 
MOBANT,  E.E.,  obtained  his  commission  as  Lieutenant  on  the 
10th  of  June,  1859,  was  promoted  Captain  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1871,  and  Major  on  the  22nd  of  August,  1877,  receiving  his  brevet 
rank  as  usual  seven  years  later.  The  son  of  a  Madras  Army  Chap- 
lain, he  naturally  selected  that  Presidency  as  his  sphere  of  work. 
Here  he  was  posted  to  do  duty  with  the  Sajjpers  and  Miners  in 
January,  1862.  But  his  first  einployrnent  on  Civil  duties  was  in 
Bombay,  where  great  activity  prevailed  in  the  Public  Works 
Department,  under  the  energetic  rule  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  who 
insisted  on  the  appropriation  for  local  purposes  of  a  portion  of  the 


Obituary.]   LIEUT. -COLONEL  JAMES  LAW  LUSHINGTON  MORANT.         371 

large  sums  realized  by  the  sale  of  the  valuable  building  sites  pre- 
viously occupied  by  the  obsolete  fortifications  of  that  city ;  and 
Lieutenant  Morant's  services  were  requisitioned  from  Madras  to 
help  in  the  prosecution  of  the  New  Harbour  Defences,  at  which 
he  worked  first  as  a  sj^ecial  assistant,  and  afterwards  as  Executive 
Engineer,  4th  Grade,  from  January  1864  to  December  1865.  He 
was  then  appointed  to  the  Mitron  Canals,  in  Sind,  with  a  step 
in  departmental  rank,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  joined,  and  was 
employed  at  Kaira,  in  Guzerat,  till  October  1866.  From  this  date 
till  his  return  to  his  own  Presidency,  in  June  1869,  he  was  in  sole 
charge  of  the  new  road  from  Belgaum  to  the  coast,  via  the  Ambolee 
or  Parpoolee  Ghaut. 

The  experience  gained  in  building  operations  at  Bombay  and  in 
the  engineering  of  mountain  passes  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  his 
new  location  on  the  Neilgherry  Hills,  which  he  only  left  to  take  a 
well-earned  furlough  in  September  1880.  The  Lawrence  Asylum 
works  at  Ootacamund  were  there  completed  under  his  super- 
vision; the  Military  Barracks  at  Wellington  were  under  his 
charge ;  the  New  Coonoor  Ghaut  required  to  be  metalled  and  con- 
stantly attended  to  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  Ghaut  Boads  to  Kotah- 
gherry,  the  Wynaad,  and  Mysore,  all  laid  out  on  elaborate  traces 
and  exposed  to  the  action  of  heavy  monsoons ;  and  the  numerous 
civil  buildings  at  Ootacamund,  the  seat  of  Government  for  six 
months  in  the  year.  It  was  a  sphere  of  work  for  which  he  was 
peculiarly  fitted  by  those  qualities  which  constituted  him  an  Hono- 
rary Associate  of  the  Institute  of  British  Architects,  as  well  as  an 
Associate  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers.  At  the  same  time 
it  was  an  onerous  charge,  which  he  successfully  sustained  for  a 
period  of  eleven  years,  rising  to  the  1st  Grade  of  Executive  Engi- 
neers. 

On  his  return  from  furlough  in  October,  1883,  he  was  appointed 
Civil  Architect  to  the  Government  for  eighteen  months,  in  the 
place  of  Mr.  Chisholm  ;  and  then  for  twelve  months  after  that 
gentleman's  return  to  duty  he  became  Superintendent  of  Works  on 
the  Buckingham  Canal,  with  a  short  interval  spent  in  acting  as 
Superintending  Engineer  of  the  Kistnah  Division.  The  work  of 
the  canal  suited  neither  his  habits  nor  his  health,  and  he  was 
forced  to  give  it  up  in  April  1886,  and  proceed  to  Australia  in 
hopes  that  the  sea  voyage  and  change  of  climate  would  conduce  to 
his  recovery  from  the  liver  complaint,  which  it  had  developed. 
His  medical  attendant  and  friends  were  far  from  anxious  about 
him,  and  his  return  in  health  was  so  confidently  expected  that  in 
his  absence  he  was  appointed  to  succeed  Mr.  Chisholm  permanently 

2  b  2 


279 


LIEUT. -COLONEL  JAMES  LAW  LESHINGTON  MORANT.    [Obituary. 


as  Civil  Architect  to  Government,  as  the  fitting  reward  for  the 
ability  with  which  he  had  filled  that  gentleman's  place,  with  the 
carrying  out  of  whose  elaborate  designs  for  the  new  post  and  tele- 
graph offices  at  Madras  he  had  much  to  do.  But  in  spite  of  every 
care  and  attention  paid  him  by  relatives  at  Melbourne  the  disease 
grew  upon  him,   and  had  a  fatal  termination  on  the  17th  of  June. 

Colonel  Morant  took  much  interest  in  all  branches  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  was  a  valued  contributor  to  the  Indian  Engineering 
Papers,  published  at  Boorkee  (the  Professional  Papers  of  the  Madras 
Engineers  having  long  since  ceased  to  appear).  Although  he  was 
never  employed  on  railway  works  he  was  well  read  on  the  subject ; 
and  when  the  question  of  extending  the  Madras  Railway  from  the 
foot  of  the  Coonoor  Ghaut  to  its  crest  at  Coonoor,  a  rise  of  5,000  feet, 
came  seriously  to  be  entertained,  he  spared  no  pains,  while  Execu- 
tive Engineer  on  the  Neilgkerry  Hills,  to  have  the  project  worked 
out  to  a  practical  issue.  His  Eeport  to  the  Madras  Government  on 
the  subject,  printed  with  their  Order,  No.  1,213,  of  the  30th  of 
April,  1875,  was  a  voluminous  and  exhaustive  document,  entering 
into  detailed  comparisons  of  the  suitability  of  the  various  existing 
systems  of  railways  working  on  steep  inclines  to  the  special  locality 
in  view,  and  of  their  cost  of  construction  and  maintenance ;  and 
concluding  that  the  Eigi  system  was  best  calculated  for  the 
purpose.  This  report  was  followed  up  subsequently  by  a  visit,  at 
Colonel  Morant's  instigation,  of  Mr.  Biggenbach,  the  inventor  of 
the  Eigi  system,  to  Coonoor,  and  his  submission  of  detailed  plans 
and  estimates  for  construction  of  the  short  line,  at  a  cost  which 
would  not  have  exceeded  £20,000  a  mile.  A  company  was 
formed  to  carry  out  the  work,  but  what  with  indifferent  manage- 
ment of  its  affairs,  want  of  liberal  concessions  by  the  Government 
of  India,  and  a  lack  of  spirit  on  the  part  of  Neilgherry  landowners, 
householders,  and  traders,  who  might  have  dispensed  with  any 
guarantee  in  view  of  the  favourable  statistics  of  traffic,  the  railway 
has  not  yet  been  started.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  had 
Colonel  Morant's  project  been  for  the  benefit  of  a  hill  sanatorium 
in  the  north  of  India,  the  trouble  and  pains  that  he  took  in  this 
matter  would  not  have  been  thrown  away,  as  has  hitherto  been 
been  the  case.  The  Neilgherries  would  have  had  their  railway  ere 
this,  as  well  as  Darjeeling. 

In  his  capacity  as  an  architect  Colonel  Morant  entered  into  the 
competition  for  the  Municipal  Hall  and  offices  at  Bombay,  which 
opened  in  the  year  1884,  and  his  plans  obtained  the  second  prize 
of  Es.  3,000  in  that  competition,  the  successful  competitor  being 
Mr.  Chisholm.     The  buildings  as  designed  by  him  were  to  have 


Obituary.]   LIEUT.-COLONEL  JAMES  LAW  LUSHINGTOX  MORANT.  373 

covered  a  space  of  3,300  square  yards;  the  hall  -was  to  have  been 
80  feet  by  40  feet  by  35^  feet  in  height ;  there  were  to  have  been 
two  domes  in  the  building,  one  dome  114  feet  in  height;  and  the 
total  cost  was  to  have  been  5  lakhs  of  rupees. 

Colonel  Morant  was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Institution  of 
Oivil  Engineers  on  the  5th  of  December,  1872. 


ALEXANDER  OGILVIE  was  born  at  Clocksbriggs,  in  the  county 
of  Forfar,  on  the  15th  of  February  1812.  He  died  on  the 
same  date  in  1886.  His  education  was  first  conducted  at  the 
High  School  of  Edinburgh,  where  at  an  early  age  he  evinced  that 
talent  for  figures,  and  acute  comprehension  of  results  which  was 
one  of  his  most  marked  characteristics  through  life,  and  which 
enabled  him  in  future  years  to  carry  out  very  large  works  with 
success,  even  in  seasons  of  great  and  universal  depression.  After 
studying  at  the  High  School  for  some  years,  Mr.  Ogilvie 
graduated  with  honours  at  the  Edinburgh  University,  and  thence, 
determining  to  make  England  the  stage  of  his  active  work,  went 
into  Cheshire  to  learn  practical  engineering  under  Mr.  S.  Fowls, 
M.  Inst.  C.E.,  Engineer  to  the  Trustees  of  the  River  Weaver  and 
Bridge-master  of  the  County  of  Chester.  It  was  here  that  he 
first  became  acquainted  with  the  late  Mr.  Brassey,  with  whom 
ever  afterwards  he  was,  almost  from  that  period,  most  closely  asso- 
ciated. Each  recognized  in  the  other  the  existence  of  those  sound 
qualities  of  which  successful  men  are  made,  and  it  was  at  no  dis- 
tant date  that  a  partnership  was  entered  into  that  lasted  through 
life,  and  was  to  the  mutual  advantage  of  both.  The  union  of  these 
two  men  was  brought  about  in  a  curiously  characteristic  fashion. 
Both  were  invited  to  tender  for  a  large  contract,  but  before  the 
day  arrived  for  giving  in  the  estimates,  Mr.  Brassey  called  on  Mr. 
Ogilvie,  and  said,  "  It's  no  use  making  two  bites  of  a  cherry  ;  let's 
go  in  together,  or  one  of  us  retire."  And  so  it  was ;  and  during 
the  life  of  Mr.  Brassey  Mr.  Ogilvie  had  him  as  a  partner  in  all  the 
works  he  engaged  in.  To  the  credit  of  both  it  may  be  here 
related  that,  almost  without  exception,  every  one  of  the  numerous 
contracts  jointly  undertaken  were  financially  successful.  Averse 
to  society,  and  strongly  attached  to  his  own  home,  he  rarely  mixed 
with  his  fellow  men  in  the  social  sense,  but  he  was  ever  willing  to 
help  with  a  generous  hand  those  who  needed  aid :  reticent  and 
guarded  in  speech,  he  was  a  typical  Scotchman  of  the  best  order. 
The  English  railway  contracts  undertaken  by  Mr.  Ogilvie,  in 


374  ALEXANDER   OGILVIE.  [Obituary. 


partnership  •with  other  contractors,  were  mainly  in  the  various 
systems  now  grouped  under  the  Great  Eastern,  and  London  and 
South- Western  Railways;  amongst  the  former  may  he  named  the 
Colchester  and  Ipswich,  the  Ipswich  and  Bury,  the  Haughley  and 
Norwich,  the  Sudbury,  Bury  St.  Edmunds  and  Cambridge,  the 
Epping,  and  Dunniow  Railways ;  amougst  the  latter  the  North 
Devon,  the  Portsmouth  direct,  and  the  Salisbury  and  Yeovil 
Railways.  Outside  of  these,  the  Runcorn  Branch  Railway,  on  the 
London  and  North- Western  system,  with  its  important  bridge 
over  the  Mersey,  a  portion  of  the  Thames  Embankment,  and  the 
Metropolitan  Mid-level  sewer,  may  be  mentioned.  The  chief 
foreign  works  undertaken  by  him  were  the  Mauritius,  the  Central 
Argentine,  and  the  Buenos  Ayres  and  Ensenada,  Railways,  and  the 
Rio  de  Janeiro  drainage.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  state  that  Mr. 
Ogilvie  executed  over  £10,000,000  worth  of  work,  out  of  a  total  of 
over  £30,000,000  tendered  for,  and  that  the  actual  practical  control 
in  the  varioiis  partnerships  fell  very  largely  into  his  hands.  He 
was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Institution  on  the  7th  of  May 
1850,  and  served  as  a  Member  of  the  Council  in  the  Session 
1864-65. 


WILLIAM  CHARLES  RICKMAN,  who  was  born  on  the  12th  of 
January,  1812,  met  with  instantaneous  death  on  the  21st  of  June 
1886,  as  the  result  of  a  carriage  accident,  in  his  seventy-fifth 
year.  Mr.  Rickman  has  special  claim  to  notice  from  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  son  of  Telford's  executor,  and  the  editor  of  the  mag- 
nificent work  descriptive  of  the  labours  of  the  first  President  of 
the  Institution. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  educated  at  Dr.  Buckland's,  Lale- 
ham,  at  Westminster  School,  and  -  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
obtaining  his  B.A.  degree  in  1831 ;  he  also  noviciated  as  an  archi- 
tect, having  served  a  pupilage  to  Mr.  Decimus  Burton,  the  well- 
known  architect,  and  had  made  the  European  travelling  round 
of  study  ;  but,  possessed  of  independent  means,  he  never  seriously 
followed  the  profession  as  a  vocation.  Before  his  school  days  he 
turned  out  a  fire-engine  and  a  reproduction  of  the  Roman  catapult. 
In  1834  he  was  engaged  in  an  experimental  enquiry  respecting 
the  best  position  for  weight  as  regarded  draught  of  vessels,  in 
which  no  doubt  he  was  in  touch  with  his  intimate  ally,  old  school- 
fellow and  friend,  Eroude.  In  1836  he  was  stationed  at  St.  Cathe- 
rine's, Isle  of  Wight,  as  a  volunteer,  from  being  on  very  intimate 
terms  with  Mr.  Walker,  Past-President  Inst.  C.E.,  the  Engineer  to 


Obituary.]  'WILLIAM   CHARLES   EIOKMAN.  375 

the  Trinity  Corporation,  who  was  then  erecting  the  present  ornate 
tower  and  dwellings,  taking  the  place  of  the  early  tower  on  the 
Downs  from  the  last  being  so  frequently  obscured  by  fog.  These 
buildings,  designed  or  worked  out  by  Mr.  M.  A.  Borthwick,  are  of 
a  bastard  castellated  Gothic  type,  and  Eickman  from  his  education 
was  well  adapted  to  overlook  the  working  out  of  their  details. 
The  buildings  were  founded  on  the  Undercliif,  a  mass  of  rock  of 
unusual  size  in  the  debris  being  selected  as  the  foundation  for  the 
base  of  the  octagonal  tower.  When  the  lantern  was  being  fixed, 
and  the  keeper's  dwellings  were  being  slated,  some  ugly  but 
minute  fissures  made  their  appearance  on  the  landward  side  of  the 
site  of  those  buildings,  and  it  was  found  that  the  tower  had  in- 
clined slightly  seaward.  A  careful  survey  was  made  of  all  the 
surface  fissures,  in  which  Eickman  assisted,  resulting  in  the  adop- 
tion of.  surface  contour  drains  to  assist  the  drainage  from  the 
upper  cliffs  and  convey  it  seaward  around  the  flanks  of  the  site. 
The  drains  were  so  far  successful  that;  after  half  a  century's  usage, 
the  works  are  intact.  Here  Eickman  displayed  that  kindness  and 
philanthropic  spirit  he  afterwards  showed  in  his  own  neighbour- 
hood, by  directing  the  studies  and  lending  books  to  the  more 
ambitious  of  the  workmen  employed  by  the  contractors  to  the 
Trinity  Corporation.  In  his  own  private  circle,  his  intimacy  with 
such  men  as  Lefroy,  the  Secretary  to  the  Speaker ;  the  Eev.  Cyril 
Page,  the  first  incumbent  of  Christ's  Church,  Westminster ;  William 
Froude,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  and  some  others,  who  were  all  members  of 
a  social  club,  founded  by  them,  is  indicative  of  the  man's  character. 

He  passed  a  great  portion  of  his  middle  life  abroad.  Marrying 
somewhat  late,  and  settling  down  in  Charles  Kingsley's  nook  of 
Hampshire,  and  in  his  own  parish  of  Lithanger,  near  Petersfield, 
he  erected  schools  and  devoted  time  to  the  education  of  the 
children  of  his  fellow-parishioners,  and  to  popular  readings  and 
addresses.  The  great  advantages  he  had  himself  derived  from 
superior  educational  facilities,  combined  with  very  engaging- 
manners  and  a  remarkably  handsome  presence,  rendered  him 
essentially  effective  in  such  endeavours,  which,  however,  mainly 
emanated  from  very  earnest  religious  feelings. 

From  1848  to  1851  he  was  engaged  on  various  naval  investiga- 
tions and  improvements ;  the  "  American  keel "  amongst  others, 
which  ho  tested  in  Wexford  harbour,  where  he  assisted  a  friend 
in  1851  to  start  a  yard  for  the  manufacture  of  drain  tiles.  About 
this  period  he  read  a  Paper  before  the  British  Archaeological 
Association  on  the  probable  means  employed  to  move  the  mono- 
liths to  and  at  Stonehenge.     Several  national  industrial  exhibits 


376  WILLIAM   CHARLES  BICKMAN.  [Obituary. 

were  sent  by  him  to  the  Great  Exhihition  of  1851  from  Ireland, 
and  numerous  mechanical  contrivances,  in  his  house  at  Lithanger 
built  by  him  in  18-19,  testify  to  his  genius  in  this  respect. 

In  a  funeral  sermon  preached  by  the  Eev.  Evelyn  Joseph 
Hone,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  St.  John,  Deptford,  at  Empshot,  Hants,  on 
the  Sunday  following  his  death,  passages  occur  referring  to  his 
absolute  integrity,  his  invincible  kindness,  his  indefatigable  energy, 
and  his  faith  ;  for  although  "  he  had  his  seasons  of  depression — 
seasons  of  anxiety  and  of  fear — yet  his  faith  never  failed,  and  for 
the  most  part  it  was  simply  triumphant."  An  eloquent  tribute  was 
offered  to  his  natural  and  acquired  abilities,  to  his  originality 
in  mechanical  contrivance,  to  his  fine  cultivated  taste  in  art,  to 
his  knowledge  of  ancient  and  modern  poetry,  to  his  eminence 
as  a  reader  from  sympathy  with  author  and  audience,  and  to  his 
grace  in  letter  writing. 

Mr.  Eickman  was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Institution  on  the 
24th  of  April,  1838. 


SANCTON  WOOD  was  born  at  Hackney,  in  the  year  1815.  His 
father,  Mr.  John  "Wood,  who  was  a  member  of  an  old  and  pros- 
perous Cumberland  family,  had,  when  a  young  man,  quitted  his 
native  county  to  enter  into  business  in  London  as  a  "  Manchester 
Merchant ;  "  from  thence  he  married  a  Miss  Harriet  Eussell,  niece  of 
the  eminent  painter,  Mr.  Eichard  Smirke,  E.A. 

Six  children  were  born  of  this  marriage,  the  youngest  child  and 
only  son  taking  his  distinctive  Christian  name  from  an  uncle,  Mr. 
Ehilip  Sancton,  a  successful  London  Merchant,  who  had  married 
his  father's  sister.  As  a  boy,  Sancton  Wood  does  not  appear  to 
have  received  any  great  educational  advantages  so  far  as  school 
life  was  concerned ;  he  was  first  placed  by  his  father  at  a  small 
private  school  in  Devonshire,  and  was  afterwards  transferred  to  a 
school  in  Birmingham  presided  over  by  Mr.  T.  E.  Hill,  the  father 
of  Sir  Eowland  Hill,  C.B.  This  school  was  conducted  on  a  some- 
what unique  "  Voluntary  "  system,  which  attracted  some  attention 
at  the  time,  and  certainly  had  its  measure  of  success,  if  Mr.  Hill's 
own  sons  may  be  taken  as  examples.  It  is  to  be  doubted,  however, 
whether  such  a  system  could  possibly  produce  high  results  with 
the  majority  of  boys,  and  Mr.  Sancton  Wood  was  wont  to  declare 
that  he  fully  entered  into  its  spirit  by  volunteering  to  do  as  little 
as  possible  in  the  way  of  serious  study ;  however  this  may  be,  it  is 
certain  that  his  general  acquirements  at  the  time  he  left  school 


Obituary.  SANCTON   WOOD.  377 

failed  to  inspire  his  friends  with  any  great  hope  of  future 
success. 

The  lad  was  destined,  however,  to  meet  with  greater  advantages 
and  more  vigorous  discipline  in  his  professional  education,  and  the 
connection  with  the  Smirke  family  above  referred  to  proved  a  most 
valuable  influence  in  determining  his  career. 

Having  manifested  a  taste  for  drawing,  he  was,  through  his 
mother's  influence,  admitted  into  the  office  of  his  cousin,  Sir 
Eobert  Smirke,  K.A.,  who  was  then  one  of  the  leading  London 
architects  ;  from  this  office  he  was  transferred  to  that  of  Mr.  Sydney 
Smirke,  E.A.,  who  succeeded  to  his  brother's  practice.  He  re- 
mained with  Mr.  Sydney  Smirke  for  several  years  after  the  expira- 
tion of  his  articles,  and  was  engaged  upon  the  drawings  of  many 
important  works ;  amongst  others  may  be  mentioned  the  sketches 
of  the  designs  for  rebuilding  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  which  Sir 
Eobert  Smirke  had  prepared  for  Sir  Eobert  Peel's  government 
before  the  House  of  Commons  decided  in  favour  of  an  open  com- 
petition. Whilst  with  Mr.  Smirke,  Sancton  Wood  became  a  student 
in  the  Antique  School  at  the  Eoyal  Academy  ;  subsequently  he 
travelled  on  the  Continent,  spending  considerable  time  in  Spain 
and  Portugal,  collecting  numerous  drawings  of  the  most  important 
buildings  he  had  seen,  and  making  many  sketches,  all  of  which 
possess  artistic  merit. 

In  the  offices  of  the  two  Soiirkes  he  had  been  well  drilled  in  the 
highest  class  of  work,  and  his  taste  always  bore  the  stamp  of  re- 
finement which  it  there  received. 

About  the  time  he  commenced  practice  for  himself,  tho  railway 
system  of  these  Islands  was  advancing  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
offering  great  opportunities  to  those  architects  who  were  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  employed,  and  Sancton  Wood,  partly  by  com- 
petition, partly  by  recommendation,  secured  a  large  share  of  the 
work. 

In  1838  he  was  engaged  by  Mr.  John  Braithwaite,  M.  Inst.  C.E., 
to  design  the  buildings  for  the  Eastern  Counties  Railway,  including 
the  old  terminus  at  Shoreditch ;  his  designs  for  the  latter,  however, 
were  considerably  modified,  owing  to  financial  difficulties.  The 
first  premium  of  £100  was  awarded  to  him  for  his  design  for 
the  station  at  Ipswich,  and  several  of  the  stations  on  the  Eastern 
Union  Eailway  were  designed  by  him  for  Mr.  Peter  Bruff,  M.  Inst. 
C.E.  In  1845  his  design  for  the  terminal  station  in  Dublin  of 
the  Great  Southern  and  Western  Eailway  was  accepted  in  a  com- 
petition in  which  sixty-five  competitors  were  engaged,  and  this 
building,  and  nearly  all  the  intermediate  stations  from  Dublin  to 


378  SANCTON   WOOD.  [Obituary. 


I 


I 


Cork,  were  erected  from  his  designs  and  under  his  superintendence. 
He  was  also  architect  to  the  Limerick  Junction  line,  and  to  tho 
Grand  Racing  Stand  at  the  Curragh. 

Mr.  Charles  Liddell  engaged  his  services  in  the  design  and 
superintendence  of  several  stations  on  two  branches  of  the  Midland 
and  North  Western  Railways.  In  1846  Mr.  Wood  obtained  a 
premium  of  £100  for  his  design  for  the  Blackburn  Railway 
Station. 

His  work,  however,  was  by  no  means  confined  to  railway 
architecture  ;  the  streets  and  terraces  known  as  Upper  Hyde  Park 
Gardens  were  laid  out  by  him  for  Messrs.  J.  and  C.  Rigby,  who 
built  all  the  houses  on  the  estate  from  his  designs  and  specifica- 
tions. He  was  also  architect  to  the  block  of  offices  at  the  south- 
west corner  of  King  Street  and  Gresham  Street.  His  practice  was 
now  of  a  very  extensive  character,  and  it  would  be  tedious  to 
mention  all  the  numerous  buildings  erected  from  his  designs  in 
London  and  in  the  provinces;  they  comprise,  churches,  schools, 
dwelling-houses,  warehouses,  offices,  stables,  and  buildings  of 
almost  every  class,  many  of  them  of  considerable  importance  and 
excellence  of  design.  In  addition  to  the  above  works,  Mr.  Sancton 
Wood  was  surveyor  to  several  building  estates  in  different  parts  of 
London  and  the  suburbs,  amongst  the  most  successful  of  which  was 
the  Lime  Grove  Estate,  Putney  ;  this  estate  was  laid  out  by  him 
and  entirely  covered  under  his  superintendence,  several  houses 
upon  it  being  built  from  his  own  designs. 

Mr.  Wood  formerly  held  the  appointment  of  District  Surveyor 
of  Putney  and  Roehampton,  and  for  the  last  twenty-four  years  was 
District  Surveyor  of  St.  Luke's,  Chelsea.  In  1861,  he  was  a  can- 
didate for  the  office  of  Superintending  Architect  to  the  Metropolitan 
Board  of  Works,  and  was  only  defeated  by  Mr.  George  Vulliamy 
by  three  votes. 

His  long  and  varied  experience,  coupled  with  his  reliable  judg- 
ment and  rapid  perception,  eminently  qualified  him  for  the  sur- 
veying branch  of  his  profession,  and  he  was  very  largely  occupied 
with  arbitrations,  valuations  and  compensation  cases  ;  in  later  life 
his  architectural  practice  was  almost  relinquished  for  this  more 
profitable  class  of  work. 

Mr.  Wood  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British 
Architects,  on  the  Council  of  which  he  served  in  1850  and  1851, 
and  a  Fellow  of  the  Institute  of  Architects  of  Ireland ;  he  was  also 
a  Member  of  the  Institute  of  Surveyors.  He  was  elected  an 
Associate  of  this  Institution  on  the  4th  of  April  1848,  and  served 
on  the  Council  in  the  Session  1857-58. 


Obituary.]  SANCTON  WOOD.  379 

Although  of  too  quiet  and  retiring  a  disposition  to  make  the  at- 
tainment of  office  a  matter  of  ambition,  still,  like  many  other  busy 
men,  he  did  not  shirk  such  voluntarily  imposed  duties.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  Examining  Board  for  District  Surveyors,  the 
duties  of  which  post  he  performed  up  to  the  last. 

For  many  years  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  Directorate  of 
the  Provident  Clerks  Assurance  Company,  in  which  he  took  a  con- 
siderable interest.  He  was  an  eminently  successful  man  in  most 
things  that  he  undertook,  an  able  administrator  with  a  clear,  sound 
judgment,  and  a  quick  and  accurate  perception  of  facts.  Although 
of  a  somewhat  nervous  and  excitable  temperament  he  was  possessed 
of  considerable  vigour  of  mind,  and  great  refinement  and  delicacy 
of  feeling,  and  his  unimpeachable  integrity  of  character  and  cour- 
tesy of  manner  won  him  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  men  who 
came  into  contact  with  him. 

He  died  at  his  residence  at  Putney  Hill  on  the  18th  of  April, 
1886,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age,  after  an  illness  of  two 
or  three  days. 


*#*  The  following  deaths  have  occurred  since  the  31st  of  March 
last,  in  addition  to  those  included  in  the  foregoing  notices  : — 


J/<  mh,  /.<. 


Adams,  William  (of  Cardiff). 
Childe,  Rowland. 
Fulton,  Hamilton  Henry. 


Stevenson,  David. 
Wade,  William  Burton. 
Williams,  Edward. 


Associate  Members. 


Catton,  John  Edward. 
Cock,  William  Henry. 
Hatward,  Joseph. 
Morgan,  Charles  William. 


MuRrnY,  James. 
Newman,  Frederick. 
Yeo,  George  Jope. 


Associates. 
Kelk,  Sir  John,  Bart.  Price,  Astley  Paston. 

Knight,  John  Peake.  | 

Information  respecting  the  careers  and  leading  characteristics  of 
any  of  the  above  is  solicited,  to  aid  in  the  preparation  of  future 
Obituary  Notices. — Sec.  Inst.  C.E. 


380 


THE    LOUISVILLE    CEMENTS. 


[Foreign 


Sect.  III. 

ABSTRACTS  OF  PAPEES  IN  FOEEIGN  TRANSACTION; 
AND  PEEIODICALS. 


The  Louisville  Cements. 

(Journal  of  the  Association  of  Engineering  Societies,  1886,  p.  187.) 

Fully  95  per  cent,  of  the  natural  cement  used  in  the  district  of 
St.  Louis,  U.S.,  is  Louisville  cement.  The  stone  from  which  this 
is  manufactured  belongs  to  the  Devonian  formation,  and  its  pro- 
perties were  first  noted  in  1828,  in  the  course  of  construction  of 
the  Louisville  and  Portland  Canal.  The  cement  derived  from 
the  upper  stratum  is  quicker  setting  and  darker  than  that  from 
the  lower,  and  requires  harder  burning. 

In  1870  (prior  to  which  no  record  exists)  the  output  was 
320,000  barrels,  and  this  has  now  increased  to  nearly  900,000. 
The  chief  markets  are  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Pittsburg, 
Cleveland,  and  Detroit. 

The  general  condition  stated  in  specifications  for  this  cement  is 
that  it  shall  have  a  tensile  strength  of  not  less  than  40  lbs.  per 
square  inch  when  mixed  pure,  made  into  test-bars,  and  exposed 
thirty  minutes  in  air  and  twenty-four  hours  or  more  under  water. 
A  series  of  nearly  four  thousand  tests  of  the  seven  chief  brands 
gave  the  following:  results  : — 


Highest  tensile  strength 

Highest  average  tensile  strength  of  1 

any  brand J 

Average  of  all  brands  tested     . 


Exposed  30  Minutes  in  Air. 


24  Hours 
under 
Water. 

2  Days 
under 
AVater. 

3  Days 
under 
Water. 

50  Days 
under 
Water. 

Lbs. 
16S-0 

Lbs. 
160-0 

Lbs. 
100-0 

Lbs. 
202-0 

92-7 

96-8 

86-0 

164-3 

72-2 

7S-7 

73-2 

150-6 

P. 

W.  B. 

Results  of  Experiments  with  Impregnated  and  Natural  Samples 
of  Wood.     By  Dr.  Boehme. 

(Mittheilungen  aus  der  Prlifungsstation  ftir  Bau-materialien,  1886,  p.  26.) 

The  object  of  these  experiments  was  to  ascertain  the  relative 
effect  on  impregnated  and  natural  pine  wood  samples  of  various 
treatment,  corresponding  as  nearly  as  possible  to  that  to  which 
wood-paving  is  subjected. 

The  investigations  were  directed  to  the  following  points  : — 


Abstracts.]  EXPERIMENTS  WITH  IMPREGNATED  AND  NATURAL  WOOD.   381 

(1)  The  effect  of  acids,  urine,  and  liquid  horse-dung,  on  im- 
pregnated samples. 

(2)  The  effect  of  atmospheric  influences  on  the  same. 

(3)  The  hydraulic  ahsorption  of  impregnated  and  natural  samples. 

(4)  Expansion  in  consequence  of  absorption. 

(5)  Kesistance  to  bending  1   of  impregnated   and   natural 

(6)  Eesistance  to  compression  J       samples. 

The  acids  used  were  hydrochloric,  sulphuric,  nitric,  and  phos- 
phoric, all  with  a  strength  of  10  per  cent.  The  impregnated 
samples,  after  subjection  for  fourteen  days  to  the  various  sub- 
stances named,  were  found,  on  careful  examination  with  a  micro- 
scope, to  be  unaffected  by  them. 

Atmospheric  influences  were  artificially  produced.  The  samples 
were  (a)  slowly  heated  in  water  to  boiling-point,  kept  for  some 
time  at  this  temperature,  and  then  suddenly  cooled  by  plunging 
into  cold  water ;  (6)  boiled  half  an  hour  in  a  15  per  cent,  solution 
of  salt,  and  frequently  cooled  suddenly  during  this  time ;  (c)  boiled 
half  an  hour  in  a  5  per  cent,  potash  solution  ;  (tZ)  boiled  half  an 
hour  in  the  same  solution,  with  an  addition  of  1  per  cent,  sulphide 
of  ammonia ;  (e)  boiled  half  an  hour  in  a  solution  containing 
2  per  cent,  sulphate  of  iron,  2  per  cent,  sulphate  of  copper,  and 
10  per  cent,  of  common  salt.  The  samples  were  not  injuriously 
affected  by  this  treatment. 

Impregnated  samples  of  wood  absorbed  much  less  water  than 
those  in  a  natural  condition. 

The  increase  in  volume,  in  consequence  of  the  absorption  of 
water,  was  less  in  the  impregnated  than  in  the  natural  samples. 

The  tests  on  the  bending-strength  of  the  samples  showed  that 
those  impregnated  were  stronger  by  about  15  per  cent,  than  the 
others. 

The  resistance  to  compression  of  the  impregnated  samples  was 
greater  by  about  22  per  cent,  than  that  of  the  natural  samples. 

Before  testing  for  absorption,  all  the  samples  were  thoroughly 
dried. 

The  method  of  impregnation,  at  the  request  of  the  manu- 
facturers, is  not  described. 

In  the  original,  all  the  detail  results  of  the  experiments  are 
given  in  a  tabular  form. 

G.  K.  B. 


Recent  investigations  concerning  the  Dry-rot  Fungus  (Merulius 
lachrymans).     By  Dr.  K.  B.  Lehmann  of  Munich. 

(Gesundheits-Ingenieur,  1886,  p.  359.) 

This  fungus1  does  not  occur  either  on  the  growing  timber  or 
upon  decaying  wood  in  the  forests  themselves  ;  it  belongs  entirely 
to  the  dwellings  of  civilized  communities,  and  it  is  so  susceptible 

1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lxxx.  p.  419. 


382        INVESTIGATIONS  CONCERNING  TEE  DRY-ROT  FUNGUS.     [Foreign 


to  the  influence  of  air  and  light  and  of  heat  and  cold,  that  it  could 
scarcely  exist  in  the  forests  of  Northern  Europe.  It  is  very  difficult 
to  say  where  it  originally  came  from,  hut  at  present  it  is  introduced 
solely  hy  the  use  of  infected  timher  from  old  buildings ;  or  possibly 
the  spores,  four  millions  of  -which  would  only  occupy  the  space  of 
a  cubic  millimetre,  may  be  conveyed  into  new  houses  on  the  clothes, 
boots,  or  tools,  of  the  workmen.  Hitherto  all  attempts  to  cultivate 
the  fungus  from  its  spores  have  failed,  and  Professor  Poleck,  of 
Breslau,  is  the  first  observer  who  has  succeeded  in  producing 
vigorous  growth  of  the  merulius  on  fir  timber.  The  mode  of 
growth  is  explained  by  reference  to  illustrations,  and  certain  pecu- 
liarities in  the  structure  of  the  fungus  which  have  been  found  ir 
no  other  vegetation  of  the  same  kind,  more  especially  the  develop- 
ment of  little  side  branches  (Aestchen)  from  the  buckle-cells  are 
pointed  out.  Professor  Hartig  has  shown  that  the  fungus  throws 
out  broad  tubular  chains  of  cells,  apparently  destined  for  the  con- 
veyance of  water  to  a  distance ;  and  he  has  proved  that  the  mycel- 
lium  of  the  meruhus  offers  far  greater  resistance  to  drying  influences 
than  that  of  the  common  mildew.  He  states  further  that  the 
fungus  can  only  assimilate  the  mineral  matter  of  the  cell-walls  of 
the  timber  when  it  is  in  contact  wdth  it,  and  that  it  is  unable  to 
extract  the  inorganic  constituents  of  the  wrood  cells  from  any 
distance.  The  component  matters  of  the  cell-walls- — coniferin  and 
cellulose— are  absorbed,  but  the  tannin  and  the  wood-gum  or  resin 
appear  to  remain  unattached  by  the  fungus.  The  albuminous 
matters  contained  in  the  cells  are  consumed,  but  where  the  supply 
of  albumen  is  scanty  the  merulius  appears  to  prey  upon  the 
decaying  protoplasm  of  former  growths  of  the  fungus,  so  that  in 
timber  which  has  been  strongly  exposed  to  attack  scarcely  an] 
traces  of  the  mycellium  are  distinguishable.  Analyses  are  given 
of  the  mycelliuni  and  of  the  spores,  from  which  it  would  appear 
that  while  the  barren  mycellium  is  rich  in  insoluble  phosphates  of 
iron  and  of  lime  these  salts  are  wanting  in  the  spore-beds,  and  are 
replaced  by  enormous  quantities  of  phosphate  of  potash.  It  was 
in  consequence  of  the  results  of  these  analyses  that  Professor  Poleck 
was  induced  to  examine  the  ashes  of  timber  felled  in  the  winter 
and  in  the  summer,  and  that  he  was  led  to  assert  that  the  summer- 
felled  timber  affords  a  better  supply  of  nourishment  to  the  fungus 
than  that  felled  in  winter,  the  former,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
Table,  being  five  times  as  rich  in  potash,  and  eight  times  as  rich 
in  phosphoric  acid  as  the  latter : — 
One  Hundred  Grams  of  socnd  Pine  Timber  dried  at  110°  Centigrade. 


In  ask 

Percentage  soluble  in  water 
Containing  potash.  . 

„  phosphoric  acid 


Taken  from 

a 

Taken  from  a 

Pine  felled  in 

the 

Pine  felled  iu 

Winter. 

April. 

Grams. 

Grams. 

0-19 

022 

7-89 

24-08 

2-67 

11-57 

0-76 

5-S5 

Abstracts.]   INVESTIGATIONS  CONCERNING  THE  DRY-ROT  FUNGUS.      383 

Experiments  which  confirmed  this  view  were  conducted  with  blocks 
of  timber  enclosed  in  casks.  In  opposition  to  the  theory  of  Poleck, 
a  number  of  experiments  carried  out  by  Hartig  are  recorded.  In 
the  first  place,  Hartig  shows  that  at  the  end  of  April  the  sap  has 
not  risen  in  the  timber,  and  that  no  mineral  matters  can  have  been 
stored  up  in  the  wood-cells  which  were  not  present  at  the  beginning 
of  the  winter ;  and  that  true  summer-felled  timber  must,  if  any- 
thing, be  poorer  in  mineral  salts  than  that  felled  in  the  winter 
time.  The  analyses  he  made  confirm  this  view,  for  he  found  in 
the  ashes  of  the  winter  wood  8  ■  42  per  cent,  of  phosphoric  acid, 
and  only  5*89  per  cent,  in  the  summer  wood.  Moreover,  the 
experiments  of  Poleck  pointed  to  a  necessity  for  phosphoric  acid 
and  potash  to  encourage  the  growth  of  the  fungus,  while  Hartig 
insists  only  upon  the  presence  of  ammonia  or  potash-salts,  and 
makes  no  mention  of  phosphates. 

Hartig's  practical  experiments,  which  were  carried  out  in  a 
specially  constructed  cellar,  were  made  both  with  pine  and  fir 
timber  felled  for  the  purpose.  Small  specimens  of  each  kind  of 
wood  were  enclosed  along  with  wood  containing  live  mycelliuni  of 
the  merulius  in  glass  vessels,  and  also  in  contact  with  various 
materials,  such  as  garden  mould,  sand,  coal-dust,  ashes,  &c.  They 
remained  thus  enclosed  from  the  8th  of  July  until  the  20th  of 
December,  and  the  condition  of  each  sample  was  examined  on  the 
6th  of  August  and  on  the  11th  of  September.  At  the  end  of  the 
experiment  the  loss  in  weight  of  the  sound  and  of  the  infected 
wood  was  noted,  also  the  loss  in  bulk,  and  the  amount  of  moisture 
present  in  each  specimen.  These  observations  are  set  forth  in 
numerous  Tables,  the  general  resxalt  being  that  both  winter-  and 
summer-felled  damp  fir  and  pine  (the  different  kinds  of  timber 
behaved  alike)  lost  equally  in  weight.  When,  however,  dry  winter- 
wood  was  contrasted  with  wet  winter-wood  the  results  were 
astonishingly  different.  In  the  case  of  fir,  while  the  dry  wood  lost 
11  per  cent,  in  weight,  the  wet  wood,  as  might  be  expected,  lost 
23*1  per  cent. ;  but  in  the  case  of  pine  the  loss  on  the  dry  wood 
was  13*3  per  cent.,  while  on  the  wet  wood  it  was  only  13*6  per 
cent.  Comparative  experiments  with  the  heart  timber  in  fir  and 
pine  as  contrasted  with  the  outside  planks  showed  that  while  in  fir 
the  heart  was  destroyed  more  rapidly  than  the  outer  layers,  the 
reverse  was  the  case  in  pine.  Very  unexpected  results  have  been 
obtained  when  the  wood  was  in  contact  with  the  various  substances 
already  enumerated  ;  and  it  would  seem  that  clean  sand  is  a  worse 
material  for  filling  in  between  the  joists  than  a  mixture  of  sand 
and  plaster,  while  dry  rubbish  from  old  buildings  takes  a  much 
better  place  than  coal-dust.  Numerous  observations  are  given  of 
the  loss  of  the  timber  in  bulk  and  weight,  and  of  the  nature  of 
the  changes  which  arise  from  the  growth  of  the  dry  rot.  On  the 
subject  of  the  injury  to  health  caused  by  the  fungus  in  houses,  the 
present  opinion  is  that  positive  proof  is  wanting.  A  long  list  of 
precautionary  measures  follows,  setting  forth  the  best  known 
means  of  combating  the  spread  of  dry  rot;  and  the  Author  con- 


384  EXPERIMENTS  CONCERNING  THE  DRY-ROT  FUNGUS.        [Foreig 

siclers  the  effect  of  the  different  specifics  and  preservative  solutions, 
of  which  creosote  oil  appears  to  be  the  best.  Tests  of  various 
kinds  with  preservatives  are  recorded,  but  a  general  warning  is 
given  against  trusting  to  any  of  these  proposed  remedies. 

Gr.  B.  B. 


Experiments  with  respect  to  the  Dry-rot  Fungus  (Merulius 
lachrymans.) 

(Gesundheits-Ingenieur,  1886,  p.  471.) 

Professor  Br.  Meidinger  states  that  Professor  Poleck  has  dis- 
covered that  the  timber  procured  for  him  purporting  to  be  winter- 
felled  wood,  was  in  reality  raft-timber,  floated  down  the  river,  and 
he  has  ascertained  that  timber  which  has  been  thus  immersed  is  no 
longer  liable  to  the  attach  of  dry  rot.  So  much  so  is  this  the 
case  that  in  Alsace  it  is  customary  to  specify  that  only  raft-limbei 
shall  be  employed.  The  water  slowly  dissolves  out  the  albumei 
and  salts,  and  thus  deprives  the  fungus  of  the  nutriment  needful 
for  its  development.  A  French  savant  has  found  by  experiment 
that  whereas  fresh  sawdust,  when  buried  in  damp  earth  rots  away 
in  a  few  years,  sawdust  which  has  been  soaked  for  some  time 
in  water,  and  has  been  thereby  deprived  of  soluble  matters,  will 
remain  in  the  ground  under  similar  circumstances  wholly  un- 
changed, and  only  slightly  tinged  on  the  exterior  with  earthy 
matters  dissolved  from  the  soil. 

G.  K.  E. 


On  Iron  Bridges.     By  E.  Ebert. 

(Yierteljahrsschrift  der  Poly  tech.  Vereins  in  Miinchen,  1886,  II.) 

This  communication  deals  with  the  development  of  iron  bridges 
from  the  time  when  cast-iron  was  largely  used  in  their  construction 
to  the  present  day. 

The  results  of  the  experiments  of  Wohler  on  the  fatigue  of  metals 
were  calculated  to  shake  the  faith  engineers  had  placed  in  iron  as 
a  material  for  the  construction  of  bridges;  the  Author,  however, 
is  convinced  that  any  structure  of  iron  designed  and  erected 
on  correct  principles,  in  which  only  good  iron  is  employed,  and 
where  the  stress  caused  by  the  maximum  load  the  bridge  is  to  bear, 
is  well  within  the  limit  of  elasticity,  will  last  for  ever,  provided 
also  the  formation  of  rust  be  prevented. 

The  iron  used  for  bridge-construction  on  the  Bavarian  State 
Eailway  must  possess  a  tensile  strength  of  at  least  320  tons  per 
square  decimetre  (20*5  tons  per  square  inch).  The  material  used 
for  rivets  must  be  capable  of  being  bent  double,  and  a  cylinder  of 
height  equal  to  two  diameters  must  be  capable  of  being  worked 


Abstracts.]  ON   IRON   BRIDGES.  385 

cold  to  half  its  height  without,  in  either  case,  any  cracks  or  signs 
of  extreme  distress  being  visible  in  the  iron.  Only  cast-steel  is 
used  where  steel  is  required.  To  prevent  the  formation  of  rust 
the  iron  is  treated  in  the  following  way  before  being  put  together  : 
It  is  dipped  in  dilute  acid,  washed  in  lime-water,  well  rubbed  until 
clean,  immersed  in  boiling-water ;  and  when  it  has  acquired  the 
temperature  of  the  water,  it  is  taken  out,  painted  with  hot  linseed 
oil  and  then  with  non-corrosive  paint.  As  deteriorating  agents,  the 
vibrations  and  sudden  shocks  due  to  a  live  load  are  second  only, 
in  importance,  to  the  formation  of  rust.  The  Author  condemns  the 
practice  of  connecting  the  rails  rigidly  to  the  main  girders;  an 
elastic  medium,  such  as  wooden  sleepers,  ought  to  be  interposed. 
The  Author  considers  it  of  vital  importance  to  adopt  some  means 
of  ascertaining  the  extent  to  which  a  bridge  is  deteriorating.  The 
increase  in  the  permanent  deflection  is  not  a  reliable  criterion,  as 
even  serious  defects  in  the  bracing  would  not  be  readily  recogniz- 
able by  this  method.  The  Author  suggests  that  means  of  examining 
every  part  of  the  bridge  without  danger  to  life  be  considered  in 
the  design ;  that  the  examination  of  a  bridge  be  undertaken  by 
specialists  only,  and  that  a  record  be  kept  of  every  incident  subse- 
quent to  the  opening  of  the  bridge  for  traffic. 

The  Paper  is  accompanied  by  numerous  diagrams  illustrative  of 
the  various  forms  of  girder  which  have  been  designed,  and  of 
several  methods  of  measuring  the  deflection  of  a  bridge  when 
testing  it. 

E.  C.  S. 


Report  on  the  Results  of  the  Trials  of  the  Bridge  over  the  Rhine 
near  Rhenen. 

(Tijdschrift  van  het  Kouinklijk  Instituut  van  Ingenieurs,  1885-6,  p.  89.) 

The  bridge  consists  of  three  openings  of  ninety  metres  span,  and 
of  four  openings  of  45  metres.  The  distance  between  the  supports 
in  the  large  openings  is  93  ■  55  metres  ;  of  the  smaller  ones,  47  •  52 
metres.  In  the  larger  openings  the  top-girder  booms  are  curved 
to  the  arc  of  a  circle;  in  the  smaller  openings,  top  and  bottom 
booms  are  parallel. 

According  to  the  specification,  the  trial-loads  for  the  large 
openings  were  to  be  4,000  kilograms  per  lineal  ineire,  and  for 
the  smaller  spans  4,300  kilograms  per  lineal  metre. 

During  the  trials  the  following  points  were  specially  investi- 
gated : — 

a.  The  deflection  in  the  centres  of  all  the  girders. 

b.  The  deflection  on  one  of  the  larger  spans  at  distances  from 
the  supports  of  one-fourth  the  span. 

c.  The  lateral  deflection  of  the  lower  beams  in  the  large  spans, 
and  of  the  top  beams  on  the  smaller  spans. 

d.  The  lateral  movements  in  the  main  girders  at  the  end 
verticals  on  pier  3  and  the  southern  abutment. 

[THE    INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2    C 


386  TRIALS   OF   THE   BRIDGE   OVER   THE   RHINE.  [Foreign 

e.  The  increase  in  length  of  the  bottom  flanges  of  all  the  spans. 

/.  The  increase  in  length  of  the  collective  longitudinal  floor- 
girders  in  the  three  longest  spans. 

g.  The  deflection  of  four  longitudinal  floor-girders  of  one  large 
span,  and  of  one  cross-girder  of  the  large  spans. 

h.  The  radial  movement  of  the  ends  over  the  supports  on  pier  1 
and  of  the  cross-girder  b  of  the  first  opening  round  the  axis  u 
support  in  the  bottom  beam. 

*.  The  lateral  deflection  of  a  vertical. 

1c.  The  strains  in  the  top  and  bottom  beams,  diagonals,  and 
verticals,  and  in  four  longitudinal  floor-beams  of  one  bay  of  the 
north  span  of  93*5  metre. 

The  observations  as  to  deflection  were  made  by  direct  measure- 
ment, and  by  means  of  spirit-levels.  In  the  experiments  &,  the 
tension  or  extension  measuring  instruments  of  Frankel  and  of 
Manet  were  used. 

The  results  of  the  observations  are  collected  in  thirteen  Tables 
and  several  drawings  accompany  the  Paper. 

IT.  S 


Old  Bridges  under  New  Loads. 

[(Journal  of  the  Association  of  Engineering  Societies,  1886,  p.  159.) 

With  the  increased  speed  demanded  by  the  development  of 
traffic  in  late  years,  and  rendered  practicable  by  the  more  efficient 
control  obtained  by  the  adoption  of  automatic  brakes,  both  loco- 
motives and  cars  are  now  constructed  of  considerably  greater 
weight  than  was  customary  when  the  largest  percentage  of 
existing  bridges  was  erected.  In  freight  and  passenger  locomo- 
tives the  increase  in  weight  during  the  last  ten  years  has  been 
about  50  per  cent.,  and  in  cars  nearly  80  per  cent.  Bridges  built 
for  standard  loads  in  1876  are  now,  therefore,  overstrained  from 
25  to  50  per  cent,  in  different  members. 

This  is  in  relation  simply  to  dead  load.  With  regard  to  the 
mechanical  effect  of  moving  load,  expressed  by  the  formula 

E  =  2  ~  W  sin  .  a, 
2G 

(E  being  directly  proportional  to  the  square  of  the  velocity)  where 
the  speed  is  doubled,  the  mechanical  effect  is  multiplied  by  4. 
With  a  speed  increased  within  the  last  ten  years  by  nearly 
50  per  cent.,  and  the  increased  dead  weight  of  rolling-stock,  the 
strain  on  bridges  designed  under  the  old  conditions  is  now  multi- 
plied by  3. 

P.  W.  B. 


Abstracts.]  METAL   VIADUCTS   IN   LARGE   SPANS.  387 

Metal  Viaducts  in  Large  Spans.     By  L.  Leygue. 

(Annales  des  Ponts  et  Chaussees,  vol.  xi.,  1866,  p.  304,  1  plate  and  17  woodcuts.) 

Eecent  practice  has  given  the  preference  to  straight  girders, 
over  arches,  for  metal  viaducts  crossing  deep  valleys,  owing  to  the 
saving  of  material,  and  facility  in  erection.  Assuming,  then,  the 
superiority  of  straight  girders,  it  is  necessary  to  determine  whether 
the  piers  shall  be  of  masonry  or  metal ;  what  shall  be  the  number 
of  spans ;  whether  the  bridge  shall  be  of  iron  or  steel,  and  what 
shall  be  the  method  of  erection.  As  regards  the  piers,  it  is  ad- 
mitted that  masonry  is  preferable  to  metal  up  to  heights  of  about 
130  feet ;  the  advantage  of  masonry  above  that  height  depends 
upon  its  resistance  to  crushing ;  but  as  hard  stone  is  generally 
found  in  country  rugged  enough  to  require  high  viaducts,  the  use 
of  metal  piers  may  be  considered  exceptional.  The  cost  of  a 
viaduct,  for  crossing  any  given  valley,  increases  with  the  number 
of  piers,  and  decreases  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  spans ; 
and  it  is  found,  taking  the  special  case  of  a  valley  1,110  feet  wide, 
and  piers  averaging  262  feet  in  height,  that  four  spans  would  be 
the  most  economical ;  but  as  a  pier  in  the  lowest  point  of  the  valley 
would  be  both  unadvisable  and  unsightly,  five  spans  would  be  the 
best.  The  use  of  steel  instead  of  iron  for  large  spans  offers  the 
following  advantages ;  the  height  of  the  girders  can  be  reduced  in 
the  ratio  of  0" 859,  which  is  of  importance  for  heights  of  33  feet 
and  upwards ;  the  sectional  area  of  the  flanges  can  be  reduced  in 
the  ration  of  0-812,  and  of  the  trellis-bars  in  the  ratio  of  0*693  ; 
and  the  weight  of  the  roadway  can  be  reduced  two-tenths.  More- 
over, as  there  is  a  larger  margin  in  steel  between  the  safe  load 
and  the  limit  of  elasticity,  those  portions  which  are  overstrained 
in  rolling  out  the  girder  will  be  in  less  danger  of  taking  any 
permanent  set.  Erection  by  rolling  out  becomes  very  difficult  for 
spans  exceeding  330  feet,  and  it  is  expedient  for  such  spans  to 
adopt  semi-continuous  girders  with  a  central  junction.  Formulas 
and  diagrams  are  used  in  the  process  of  arriving  at  the  above 
conclusions ;  and  the  article  concludes  with  an  application  of  the 
formulas  to  the  design  of  the  viaduct  of  Yiaur. 

L.  V.  H. 


Tests  of  Vehicle-Wheels.    By  H.  M.  Dubois. 

(The  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  July  1886,  p.  36.) 

Several  of  the  largest  manufacturers  of  wheels  in  the  United 
States,  in  view  of  the  numerous  varieties  of  wheels  in  use, 
combined  to  institute  a  series  of  scientific  tests  of  wheels,  in  order 
to  test  their  carrying  capacity  and  their  respective  merits.  The 
Author  conducted  these  tests. 

An   assortment   of  wheels  was  received,  uniform  in  size  and 

2  c  2 


388  TESTS   OF   VEHICLE-WHEELS.  [Foreign 

general  dimensions,  representing  all  the  kinds  of  vehicle- wheels  in 
common  use.  It  was  decided  that  each  specimen  should  be  tired 
as  for  regular  travel,  and  subjected  first  to  a  test  for  the  weight 
required  to  dish  the  wheel  backwards  to  the  extent  of  1^  inch, 
which  is  the  extreme  limit  in  practice  when  the  tire  ceases  to 
be  a  factor.  The  pressure  was  then  to  be  removed,  and  the  re- 
action noted.  By  a  second  application  of  pressure  the  wheel  was 
to  be  tested  to  rupture,  or  until  it  became  wholly  useless.  The 
testing-machine  of  Messrs.  Eiehle  Brothers  was  employed  for 
this  purpose,  the  wheel  being  placed  face  downwards  on  the  face- 
plate of  the  machine,  taking  a  bearing  at  the  rim ;  and  the  load 
being  applied  through  a  suspending  bolt  to  the  nave  of  the  wheel. 
A  special  face-plate  was  prepared  to  take  wheels  as  large  as  4  feet 
in  diameter. 

The  wheel  having  a  "  banded  wood  hub,"  or  nave,  is  the  most 
popular  for  fine  carriage- work.  Into  a  wooden  centre  radiating 
spokes  are  driven,  supporting  the  ring  or  felly,  the  whole  bound 
together  by  a  metal  band  or  tire.  Wheels  of  greater  strength 
were  designed,  dependent  upon  the  mode  of  placing  the  spokes  in 
the  hub.  In  the  Sarven  hub,  a  series  of  spokes  are  driven  into  a 
small  wooden  core,  and  mitred  to  form  a  solid  arch  of  wood  around 
this  core.  Against  the  back  and  face  of  these  spokes  a  metal 
flange  is  forced  by  hydraulic  pressure  and  securely  riveted,  forming 
an  apparently  indestructible  wheel.  In  the  Warner  wheel,  the 
sj)okes  are  driven  through  a  metal  mortise-ring  into  a  wooden  hub 
— evidently  a  stronger  construction  than  that  of  the  banded  wood 
hub  wheel.  This  wheel,  though  not  so  rigid  and  stiff  as  the 
Sarven  wheel,  is  open,  in  common  with  this  wheel,  to  the  objection 
that  the  vibration  due  to  rapid  motion  is  conveyed  to  the  carriage- 
body,  and  that  there  is  more  rapid  wear  of  the  tires  and  rims  than 
in  the  earlier  wheel.  After  years  of  trial,  both  those  systems  of 
wheel  have  been  condemned  for  carriage-wheels,  whilst  they 
steadily  increase  in  popularity  as  wheels  for  conveying  merchandise 
and  heavy  burdens. 

The  latest  form  of  wheel  for  carriage- work,  invented  by  Mr. 
Jared  Maris,  is  called  Brown's  shell-band  wheel,  or  the  "  B.S.B." 
wheel.  It  consists  of  a  metal  shell  round  the  hub,  having  internal 
ribs  which  enter  the  grooves  in  the  hub,  and  perforated  to  receive 
the  spokes,  which  enter  the  hub  of  their  full  undiminished  section. 

The  order-numbers  of  the  tests,  and  the  designation  of  the 
wheels  tested,  with  the  number  of  spokes  and  the  original  dish,  are 
as  follows.  The  tests  Nos.  1  to  8  were  for  strength  of  dish ; 
Nos.  9  and  10  were  made  to  determine  the  comparative  holding 
powers  of  tenons. 

It  is  remarkable  that  all  the  wheels  lost  their  original  dish, 
and  the  spokes  became  "  straight,"  under  a  load  of  300  lbs. ; 
excepting  No.  6,  which  became  straight  under  a  load  of  250  lbs. 
When  loaded  for  1  ^  inch  of  backward  or  reverse  dish,  Nos.  1,  4, 
5,  6  and  7,  bore  a  load  of  1,300  lbs.  Under  this  load  No.  4  yielded 
If  inch   back,  and  No.  8  yielded  If  inch.      The  B.S.B.  wheels, 


Abstracts.] 


TESTS    OF   VEHICLE- WHEELS. 


389 


Nos.  1  and  5,  were  the  only  wheels  which  recovered  their  original 
dish  when  released ;  the  others  fell  short  of  their  original  dish. 


No.  of 
Teste. 

Style  of  Wheel. 

Number  of 
Spokes. 

Original 
Dish. 

1 
2 

3 
4 
5 
6 

7 
8 
9 

10 

B.S.B 

B.S.B 

Band  wood  hub       \ 
Compressed  tenun  / 

14 
16 
14 
14 
14 
16 
14 
14 
14 

14 

Inch. 

1 

2 
5 
8 
3 

s 
13 

i 

l 

2 

1 

1 

X 
2 

For  the  second  course  of  tests- 
were  the  results. 


-to  destruction — the  fullowinsr 


- 

Maximum 
Pressure. 

Backward 
Dish. 

State  of  Wheel. 

.    No. 
1 

lbs. 
2,400 

Inches. 
4 

(Returned  to  original  dish,  sound  in  every 
\     part. 

2 

2,400 

4 

All  the  spokes  drew  from  hub. 

3 

2,000 

4 

Two  spokes  started  from  hub;  one  split. 

4 

1,950 

34 

Wheel  collapsed  ;  hub  split. 

5 

2,600 

5| 

/Two  spokes  broken  in  barrel,  but  sound  in 
\     hub. 

6 

2,650 

4 

Iii vets  pulled  and  spokes  broken. 

7 

2,200 

4 

One  spoke  started. 

8 

1,550 

2g 

One  spoke  broke,  and  eight  drew  from  hub. 

9 

5 

(Three  spokes  drawn  from  hub,  and  one 
\     started. 

10 

5 

Eleven  spokes  drew  from  hub. 

No.  5  was  afterwards  placed  on  supports  under  the  spokes 
12  inches  from  the  huh.  It  resisted  a  load  of  3,750  lbs.,  when  one 
spoke  was  drawn  out. 

It  appears  that  the  B.S.B.  wheel  No.  1  was  the  only  one  which 
withstood  all  the  stress,  and  retained  its  elasticity  unimpaired. 

D.  K.  C. 


Resistance  of  Trains  on  Baihvays.    By  - —  Desdouits. 

(Annales  des  Mines,  8e  serie,  vol.  viii.,  1S85,  p.  481.) 

In  this  article  the  Author  gives  the  results  of  a  long  series  of 
experimental  investigations  of  the  resistance  of  locomotives  and 
trains  on  railways. 


390 


RESISTANCE    OF    TRAINS   ON    RAILWAYS. 


[Foreign 


The  resistances  due  to  the  rolling  of  the  -wheel-flanges  and  the 
sliding  of  the  axles  in  the  bearings  are  taken  together  as  the 
resistance  to  rolling,  the  one  and  the  other  element  being  taken  as 
proportional  to  the  load,  and  the  joint  resistance  being  taken  at  so 
much  per  ton.  But  the  resistance  of  the  atmosphere  varies  in 
wide  proportions,  not  with  the  load,  but  with  the  forms  and  the 
grouping  of  the  vehicles.  Besides,  the  element  of  atmospheric 
resistance  considerably  preponderates  in  the  composition  of  the 
total  resistance — for  high-speed  trains  at  least. 

From  a  geometrical  point  of  view,  trains  of  all  kinds  belong  to 
one  of  two  classes — passenger- trains  and  goods-trains.  The  first 
are  regularly  and  compactly  formed,  the  second  are  irregular  and 
more  widely  connected.  The  elementary  train,  as  it  is  called — 
engine,  tender,  and  brake-van — is  the  first  submitted  to  experi- 
mental investigation.  For  resistance  at  veiy  low  speeds,  when 
atmospheric  resistance  is  a  minimum  and  may  be  neglected  ;  and 
afterwards  at  high  speeds,  when  the  law  of  atmospheric  resistance 
may  he  determined.  For  each  experiment  the  engine  is  in  steam, 
and  the  regulator  is  slightly  opened,  so  as  to  obtain  a  conveniently 
low  initial  speed  of  from  oj  miles  to  5  miles  per  hour  (6  to  8  kilo- 
metres) ;  then  steam  is  shut  off,  and  the  stopping  of  the  engine 
by  its  own  proper  resistance  is  observed.  The  four  series  of 
engines  in  regular  service  have  been  submitted  to  experiment,  of 
which  the  leading  features  are  here  tabulated : — 


Designation  of 
Locomotive. 


1.  High  speed 

2.  Mixed       . 

3.  Goods.      . 

4.  „     .     . 


Wheels. 
Diameter. 


Diam.     Stroke. 


Ft.    Ins.   Indies. 

3  axles,  2  coupled    6      7|    17-3 
3      „      coupled        4     1U    l 


18-5 
177 
213 


Inches. 
25-6 

23-6 

25-6 

26-0 


Weight. 


Engine.  Tender.    Total. 


Tons. 

36 

32 

3G 
54 


Tons. 
16 

16 

If? 

16 


Tons. 
52 

48 

52 
70 


The  cylinders  of  all  these  engines  are  outside.  The  high-speed 
engines  have  the  Stephenson  link-motion,  with  valves  of  two 
kinds — ordinary  slide  and  cylindrical.  The  mixed  engines  have 
ordinary  slides.  The  three-axle  goods  engines  have  the  same,  and 
the  four-axle  engines  have  cylindrical  valves. 

A  dynamometer  of  special  construction,  with  pendulum  move- 
ment, was  fixed  on  the  platform  of  the  tender.  The  regulator  was 
gently  opened,  so  as  to  give  a  sj^eed  of  about  6  miles  per  hour ; 
then  suddenly  closed,  when  the  engine  was  left  to  come  to  a  state 
of  rest  without  the  use  of  the  brake  on  the  tender.  A  diagram  of 
uniform  resistance  was  described.  The  observation  was  repeated 
three  or  four  times  backward  and  forward  on  the  same  piece  of 
line,  making  a  passage  of  from  110  yards  to  160  yards.  According 
to  another  system  of  observation,  the  time  taken  for  each  revolu- 


Abstracts.] 


RESISTANCE    OF   TRAINS    ON    RAILWAYS. 


391 


tion  of  the  driving-wheels  in  the  course  of  the  run  was  noted,  and 
thence  the  speed  and  the  retardation  were  calculated. 

It  is  of  essential  importance  that  the  state  of  the  experimental 
way  should  be,  if  not  perfect,  at  least  in  average  condition  as  for 
a  portion  of  the  main  line.  This  condition  is  often  but  imperfectly 
realized  in  stations  and  goods  yards.  The  locomotive  also  should 
be  in  at  least  average  good  order,  working  freely,  stuffing-boxes 
not  unduly  tight,  bearings  free,  lubrication  good,  tender-brake 
quite  clear.  The  engine  should  have  made  a  run  since  being 
lighted  up,  in  order  to  bring  all  the  moving  parts  into  a  proper 
state  of  lubrication,  and  to  their  normal  temperature.  An  engine 
cold,  and  taken  direct  from  a  state  of  rest,  though  well  oiled, 
usually  has  a  surplus  of  resistance  of  from  30  to  50  per  cent. 
Newly-repaired  engines  have  shown  nearly  double  the  normal 
resistance.  The  state  of  the  atmosphere  affects  the  resistance. 
A  head  wind  of  16  feet  per  second  would  suffice  to  double  the 
resistance  at  a  speed  of  5  miles  per  hour.  The  resistances  are 
deduced  from  velocities  diminishing  from  5  miles  to  2\  miles  per 
hour. 

From  the  detailed  Tables  given  of  the  observed  resistances  of 
the  engines  tried,  the  following  summary  of  the  resistances  in 
lbs.  per  ton  of  gross  weight  of  engine  and  tender  has  been  pre- 
pared : — 


Designation  of  Engines. 

Resistance  per  ton  of  Engine  and  Tender. 

Slide-valves. 

Stephenson 
link. 

Cylindrical  Valves. 

Stephenson 
link. 

Walchaerts 
(Jear. 

1.  High  speed . 

lbs. 

6-94 

lbs. 

lbs 

5-82 

2.  Mixed     .... 

S-06 

S-OG 

3.  Goods  (3-axle)  . 

10-53 

4.       „       (4-   „  )  .      • 

9-1S 

It  appears  that  the  engines  fitted  with  cylindrical  valves  and 
the  Walchaerts  gear  have  a  marked  advantage  over  those  of  the 
ordinary  type  of  gear.  Comparing  the  two  high-speed  engines, 
there  is  an  advantage  in  reduction  of  resistance  with  the  modified 
gear  of  1*12  lb.  per  ton,  or  16  per  cent.  Again,  the  four-axle 
goods  engine,  having  the  modified  gear,  has  1  ■  34  lb.  per  ton  less 
resistance  than  the  three-axle  goods,  although  the  four-axle  engine 
has  the  smaller  wheel,  and  the  larger  dimensions  of  cylinders  and 
mechanism.  The  mixed  engines  have  equal  resistances  of  about 
8  lbs.  per  ton.  In  this  case  the  transformation  was  only  partial, 
and   with   the    introduction   of    the    cylindrical   valves   the   old 


392 


RESISTANCE    OF    TRAINS    CN    RAILWAYS. 


[Foreign 


Stephenson  gear  was  retained,  and  it  was  constructed  with  a 
return  movement.  The  diameter  of  the  cylinders  also  was 
augmented.  These  causes  of  supplementary  resistance  are  com- 
pensated by  the  modification  of  the  valve  gear. 

The  resistances  above  announced  are  noticeably  less  than  those 
which  are  generally  assigned  to  like  engines  according  to  earlier 
experiments.  The  difference  probably  arises,  for  the  most  part, 
from  the  higher  speeds  at  which  these  were  made. 

Resistance  of  the  Machinery  of  Locomotives. — Experiments  were 
made  with  a  high-speed  engine,  a  mixed  engine,  and  a  four-axle 
engine.  For  each  experiment  an  auxiliary  engine  in  steam  was 
employed  to  get  up  the  speed  of  the  engine  on  trial — from  4  to  5 
miles  per  hour — afterwards  putting  on  its  brake.  The  retarded 
movement  of  the  engine  was  then  noted.  The  reverse  movement 
was  given  by  a  second  auxiliary  engine.  Each  engine  in  working 
order  was  also  tried  in  steam.  The  results  are  here  tabulated  as 
follows : — 

Machinery-Resistance. 


Designation  and  Conditions. 


1.  High-speed  engine,  with  flat  slide-valves,  entire]}') 
mounted,  in  steam  (weight,  includiug   tender,) 

52  tons) ) 

The  same  engine,  connecting-rods,  valve-gear,  and^ 
coupling-rods  dismounted ) 


Resistance 

per  Ton. 


Say,  for  all  the  movable  piecefl 


Mixed  engine,  with  flat  slide-valves,  entirely! 
mounted,  in  steam  (weight,  including  tender,) 
48  tons) ) 

The  same  engine,  connecting-rods  and  valve-gear) 
dismounted J 

Say,  for  the  mechanism 

The    same    engine,    with    the    connecting 
coupling-rods,  and  valve-gear  dismounted 


■rods, 


':} 


Goods  engine,  4-axles  coupled,  with  cylindrical 
valves,  entirely  mounted,  in  steam  (weight,  in- 
cluding tender,  70  tons) J 

Same  engine,  connecting  rods  and  valve-gear,  dis- 
mounted     i 

Say,  for  the  mechanism 

Same  engine,  connecting-rods,  coupling- rods,  and) 
valve-gear,  dismounted J 


7-17 


5-26 


1-Ul 


8-OG 
5-04 


3  02 

4-93 


S-9G 
G-94 


2-02 
G-94 


Total 
Resistaiic 


lbs. 
373 

274 


99 


387 
242 


145 
236 


C27 
48G 


141 
48G 


These  results  show  that  the  mechanism  absorbs  from  27  to  22 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  resistance  of  the  engine.  For  the  mixed 
engine  and  the  four-axle  engine  the  resistances  are  nearly  the 
same.     The  influence  of  the  coupling  rods  is  scarcely  appreciable. 


Abstracts.]  RESISTANCE    OF    TRAINS    ON   RAILWAYS.  393 

Resistance  of  the  Tender  alone. — The  results  of  trials  made  with 
tenders  separated  from  the  engines  give  from  5*60  to  6*27  lbs. 
per  ton  for  resistance,  ranging  about  the  same  as  that  of  the 
engines  or  carriages. 

Resistance  of  Passenger-Carriages  and  Vans. — From  the  results  of 
trials  with  trains  of  seven  and  eight  vehicles,  lubricated  with 
colza  oil  and  with  mineral  oil,  the  resistance  was  at  the  rate  of 
3-47  lbs.  and  3*58  lbs.  The  wheels  were  3  feet  5  inches  in 
diameter,  with  journals  3^  inches  by  7  inches,  and  loaded  to  4  and 
5  tons  respectively  per  axle.  The  temperature  during  the  trials 
was  59°  Fahrenheit. 

Resistance  of  Goods  Wagons. — A  train  of  thirty  wagons,  weighing 
iu  gross  300  tons,  was  tried.  It  was  lubricated  with  colza  oil, 
having  wheels  and  journals  like  those  of  the  carriages.  The 
resistance  of  the  engine,  tender,  and  train — the  engine  and  tender 
weighing  70  tons — was  at  the  rate  of  4' 93  lbs.  per  ton,  or  for  the 
train  separately  4-10  lbs.  per  ton. 

It  is  concluded  generally  for  all  sorts  of  vehicles,  under  con- 
ditions of  lubrication  like  the  vehicles  tested,  that  a  resistance 
without  speed  of  from  3-36  to  4*03  lbs.  (1-50  to  1*80  kilograms 
per  tonne)  per  ton  may  be  accepted,  with  an  extreme  limit  of 
4^  lbs.  per  ton.  Greater  resistances  than  these  arise  from  defective 
lubrication  or  atmospheric  resistance. 

Resistances  at  high  speeds :  Atmospheric  resistance. — Experiments 
were  made  on  the  resistance  of  the  air  to  flat  boards  suspended 
laterally  from  a  train,  movable  on  axes  and  counterweighted.  The 
train  was  run  at  increasing  velocities,  and  the  instant  was  noted 
when  the  resistance  of  the  air  preponderating  caused  the  lifting  of 
the  weights  and  reversal  of  the  board.  It  was  deduced  from 
experimental  results  that  (1)  the  resistance  on  a  surface  1  deci- 
metre square  (3*94  inches  square)  in  absolutely  calm  weather,  at 
a  speed  of  44^  miles  per  hour,  amounted  to  0"52  kilogram,  or 
1*14  lb.,  being  at  the  rate  of  106  lbs.  per  square  foot.  For  other 
velocities  the  variation  of  resistance  is  sensibly  as  the  square  of 
the  speed ;  and,  within  practical  limits,  the  extent  of  the  surface 
does  not  sensibly  affect  the  coefficient  of  resistance. 

The  resistance  to  pressure  may  be  reduced  one-half  by  the 
adaptation  of  angular  prows.  A  locomotive  was  fitted  with 
angular  prows  on  the  smoke-box,  buffer-beam,  foot-plate  fence, 
and  other  parts.  The  back  of  the  tender  was  fitted  with  an 
angular  tail-piece,  and  the  wheel-spokes  were  covered  in  with 
sheet-iron.  The  resistance  at  a  speed  of  43^  miles  per  hour  was, 
by  means  of  these  fittings,  reduced  9  lbs.  per  ton.  This  engine 
thus  fitted  was  kept  on  regular  duty  for  a  period  of  six  months, 
working  omnibus  trains.  The  results  compared  with  the  average 
results  from  four  engines  of  the  same  class  in  ordinary  condition 
were  as  follows — 

Average  Consumption 

Tonnage.  per  Jlile. 
Four  engines,  in  average  condition  .  .  93  tons  22  lbs. 
Modified  engine 94    „  19    „ 


394 


RESISTANCE    OF    TRAIN'S    ON    RAILWAYS. 


[Foreign 


showing  an  economy  of  about  1-4  per  cent,  in  favour  of  the  modified 
engine. 

The  Author  proceeds  to  develop  formulas  for  the  resistances  of 
engines  and  trains  at  high  speed.  He  recognizes  the  principle  of 
the  variation  of  all  the  resistances  as  a  whole  as  the  square  of  the 
speed. 

D.  K.  C. 


Way,  Works,  and  Working  of  Railways.1 

(Congres  des  Chemins  de  Fer.     Compte  rendu  General,  vol.  i.  1886.) 

The  object  of  the  Eailway  Congress  which  met  at  Brussels, 
August  8  to  15,  1885,  was  to  aid  in  the  amelioration  and  develop- 
ment of  improvements  in  the  construction  and  the  working  of 
railways ;  by  the  free  discussion  of  questions  on  the  way  and 
works,  traction,  and  material,  working,  and  questions  of  a  general 
character. 

The  first  question  related  to  types  of  metal,  permanent  way. 
Mr.  Bricka  (France)  stated  that  transverse  metal  sleepers  were  in 
use  on  railways  in  Germany,  Holland,  and  Switzerland,  as  follows  : 


— 

Companies. 

Length  of 
Lines. 

Total  Length 
of  Way. 

Length  of 
Way  laid  on 
Metal  Cross- 
Sleepers. 

Holland 

9 
4 
4 

Miles. 
8,644 

1,250 

1,026 

Miles. 
14,758 

2,083 

1,530 

Miles. 

1,806 

181 

49 

Totals    .      .      . 

17 

10,920 

IS, 371 

2,036 

At  the  end  of  1883,  the  total  length  of  way  laid  in  transverse 
metal  sleepers  amounted  to  2,500  miles.  One  of  the  Swiss 
companies — the  Xorth-Eastern  Bailway  of  Switzerland — has  de- 
finitively adopted  transverse  metal  sleepers  for  new  way  and  for 
renewals.  Longitudinal  metal  sleepers  have  been  laid  in  Germany, 
but  they  are  being  gradually  abandoned. 

Transverse  metal  sleepers  weighing  1  cwt.  have  proved  to  be 
quite  satisfactory.  Sleepers  weighing  77  pounds  were  tried  at 
first,  but  they,  as  well  as  others  weighing  88  pounds  each,  proved 
to  be  too  light.     On  a  few  lines,  much  heavier  transverse  sleepers 

1  The  original  is  in  the  Library  Inst.  C.E. 


Abstracts.]      WAY,    WORKS,    AND    WORKING   OF   RAILWAYS.  395 

are  used.  For  instance,  on  the  State  Railway  of  Wurtemburg, 
sleepers  of  128  pounds  each  are  used.  But  the  great  majority  of 
German  and  Dutch  engineers  consider  that  sleepers  of  112  pounds 
each  are  sufficient ;  and  that  with  them  a  perfectly  steady  way 
can  he  laid  and  easily  maintained. 

Mr.  Kalff  (Holland)  stated  that  metal  sleepers  laid  down  twenty 
years  ago  were  in  perfect  condition.  The  metal  sleeper  acted  best 
on  firm  ground.  Thus,  on  the  Liege-Limbourg  line,  there  were 
twenty  thousand  metal  sleepers  which  had  not  been  touched  for 
twenty-two  months,  and  the  way  continued  in  a  most  satisfactory 
condition,  working  trains  at  a  maximum  speed  of  38  miles  per 
hour. 

Faults  of  construction  in  iron  sleepers  were  eliminated  in  those 
made  of  steel,  which  were  free  from  the  liability  to  split  and  break 
incidental  to  iron  sleepers. 

Considerable  discussion  took  place  on  the  practical  methods 
which  had  been  proposed  for  comparing,  with  regard  to  cost  of 
construction  and  working  expenses,  different  projects  for  a  railway 
embodying  different  conditions  of  plan  and  profile. 

Then  follows  a  discussion  of  the  principles  to  be  observed  in  the 
construction  of  rolling-stock,  in  view  of  facilitating  and  regulating 
exchanges.  Mr.  Hubert,  the  reporter  on  the  question,  begins 
with  an  exposition  of  the  difficulties  which,  since  the  origin  of 
railways,  had  existed  in  the  way  of  exchanges  of  material  between 
neighbouring  railway-systems.  Mr.  Dietler,  delegate  from  the 
conference  of  Berne,  stated  that  the  conference  had  been  occupied 
principally  with  the  dimensions  to  be  settled  for  the  rolling-stock 
for  free  exchange ;  of  which  one  of  the  most  important  was  the 
space  between  the  wheels,  which  must  correspond  with  the  gauge 
of  the  way. 

On  the  wide  question  of  the  reduction  of  the  working  expenses, 
Mr.  J.  Dejaer,  and  Mr.  De  Busschere,  submitted  an  elaborate  report 
ending  with  a  series  of  thirty-three  questions,  bearing  on  the 
proportions  and  details  of  construction  of  the  way  and  the  works, 
engine-mileage,  quantity  of  carriage  and  wagon  stock ;  cost  of 
fuel  and  lubricants  ;  working  secondary  lines ;  speed  in  passing 
through  junctions ;  gasdighting  and  electricdighting  of  trains  ; 
continuous  brakes,  marshalling  of  trains,  &c.  Mr.  Banderali 
drew  attention  to  the  great  importance  of  matching  the  steel  used 
for  the  rails  with  the  steel  used  for  the  wheel-tires.  They  should 
be  of  the  same  quality ;  and  he  adduced  many  cases  in  which, 
whilst  the  rails  were  of  hard  steel,  the  tires  were  of  a  soft  quality 
of  steel,  and  were  worn  out  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  The 
special  point,  he  maintained,  was  to  ascertain  what  ought  to  be  the 
qualitative  relations  between  the  rail-steel,  and  the  tire-steel.  A 
resolution  was  adopted  recommending  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  question.  Cylindrical  versus  conical  wheel-tires,  were  dis- 
cussed, with  the  usual  diversity  of  opinion'.  The  substitution  of 
cylindrical  tires  for  conical  tires  on  the  old  four-wheel  carriages 
with  a  short  base,  had  been  found  by  Mr.  Middelberg  (Netherlands) 


396  WAY,  WORKS,  AND  WORKING  OF  RAILWAYS.  [Foreign 

to  lie  of  great  advantage  in  steadying  the  motion  of  the  carriages 
at  high  speeds. 

Very  full  Eeports  of  the  discussions  are  given  in  this  volume,  of 
600  j>ages. 

D.  K.  C. 


The  Large  Betaining-Walls  of  Cournion,  La  Bastide,  La  Foret, 
and  Cerbere. 

(Le  Genie  Civil,  vol.  i.w,  18S6,  p.  145,  4  woodcuts.) 

Important  improvements  in  the  construction  of  retaining-walls 
have  recently  heen  effected  on  the  Southern  Eailway  of  France. 
The  retaining-walls  of  Cournion,  La  Bastide,  and  La  Foret  are  on 
the  railway  from  Mazamet  to  Bedarieux,  already  partially  opened, 
and  to  be  completed  in  1887.  They  .have  all  been  built  on  a 
specially  economical  type,  consisting  of  a  sloping  face-wall  with 
nearly  parallel  faces,  and  strengthened  at  the  back  by  triangular 
counterforts,  extending  out  to  or  beyond  the  amount  of  overhang. 
The  space  between  the  counterforts  is  filled  in  with  dry  rubble 
walling,  or  with  well-punned  earth  brought  up  in  layers  8  inches 
thick.  By  this  means  a  prism  is  formed  behind  the  face-wall, 
exerting  no  thrust,  and  of  which  the  weight  and  adhesion  to  the 
counterforts  increase  the  stability  of  the  wall  in  proportion  as  the 
batter  of  the  face-wall  is  increased ;  also  the  thrust  of  the  soil  is 
thrown  against  the  side-faces  of  the  counterforts,  and  the  cost  of 
the  masonry  is  reduced.  In  fact,  as  the  batter  of  the  face-wall  is 
increased,  the  resultant  pressure  of  the  earth  is  reduced ;  and  the 
necessary  increase  of  the  counterforts  and  of  the  backing  is  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  the  reduction  in  thickness  of  the  face-wall, 
and  eventually  the  thickness  of  the  face-wall  might  be  theoretically 
reduced  to  nothing,  and  serve  only  for  protecting  the  surface  at 
the  back,  resembling  then  the  consolidation  of  cuttings  by  trans- 
verse buttresses.  The  Cournion  wall  retains  an  embankment  of 
hard  limestone;  it  varies  in  height  from  5  feet  to  62^  feet,  and 
has  a  length  of  1,390  feet.  At  the  highest  portion,  the  wall  has 
a  thickness  of  A\  feet  at  the  top ;  the  face-wall  has  a  batter  of 
1  in  5  at  the  back  throughout,  and  a  batter  in  front  of  1  in  5  for 
30  feet  down,  and  1  in  3  below ;  and  the  counterforts  are  placed 
19  feet  apart,  and  are  4^  feet  thick.  The  intervals  between  the 
counterforts  are  filled  with  limestone  laid  by  hand.  The  mean 
thickness  of  this  wall  is  7  j  feet,  whereas  the  usxial  formulas  would 
indicate  11^  feet  as  the  proper  thickness,  so  that  the  new  tyj)e 
effects  a  saving  of  about  one-third.  The  Bastide  wall,  133  feet 
long  and  from  18  to  24  feet  high,  has  a  face-wall  1  foot  thick  at 
the  top,  with  a  batter  of  1  in  4  in  front,  and  1  in  4^  at  the  back ; 
and  its  counterforts,  1-j  feet  thick,  are  16|  feet  apart,  with  an 
intermediate  backing  of  dry  rubble.  Its  average  thickness  is 
1  foot  10^  inches,  instead  of  Gj  feet  as  indicated  by  formula;  so 


Abstracts.]    RETAINING -WALLS  OF  COURNION,  LA  BASTILE,  ETC.         397 

that  the  large  saving  of  over  two-thirds  has  been  accomplished  in 
this  instance.  The  Foret  wall,  202  feet  long  and  16^-  feet  high, 
supports  an  embankment  of  schistose  and  gneiss  rock  ;  its  face-wall 
has  a  batter  of  1  in  5,  and  a  uniform  thickness  of  3^  feet ;  and  its 
counterforts  are  13  feet  apart,  with  intermediate  backing  of  the 
materials  of  the  embankment  laid  by  hand  or  with  a  hammer.  Its 
mean  thickness  is  3  feet  8^  inches,  as  compared  with  the  theoretical 
thickness  of  5  feet  7  inches,  affording  a  saving  of  one-third.  The 
Cerbere  wall,  built  for  the  Southern  Eailway  at  the  Spanish 
frontier,  is  both  a  retaining- wall  and  a  two-storied  viaduct ;  it  has 
a  total  length  of  1,755  feet,  of  which  a  central  portion,  1,010  feet 
long,  is  arched,  and  the  rest  at  each  end  is  solid.  It  is  from  59  to 
75^  feet  high,  and  the  piers  of  the  viaduct  are  39^  feet  apart ;  it 
contains  39,000  cubic  yards  of  masonry,  and  its  contract  price  was 
£40,000.  The  front  of  the  viaduct  faces  the  sea ;  and  the  back 
supports  the  embankment,  which,  taking  its  natural  slope,  rests 
upon  the  lower  story  of  the  viaduct,  its  foot  being  maintained  by 
a  dwarf-wall  on  the  front  face ;  and  below,  the  slope  is  steepened 
by  dry  stone  pitching,  quarried  from  the  neighbouring  rocks,  so  as 
to  reduce,  as  much  as  possible,  the  width  of  the  viaduct. 

L.  V.  H. 


Successive  enlargements  of  the  St.  Lazare  Station  at  Paris. 

(La  Genie  Civil,  vol.  ix.,  1886,  p.  196,  1  woodcut.) 

The  St.  Lazare  station  is  the  oldest  in  Paris,  and  was  built  for 
the  St.  Germain  Eailway,  opened  in  1837.  Five  plans  of  the 
station,  in  1837,  18-42,  1854,  1867,  and  with  the  present  works 
completed,  respective^',  indicate  its  gradual  growth.  A  temporary 
station  was  erected  in  1837;  and  it  was  only  in  1842  that  the 
station  abutting  the  Eue  St.  Lazare  was  opened  for  traffic.  In 
1843,  it  had  to  be  enlarged  to  accommodate  the  new  Eouen  Eail- 
way, which  joined  the  St.  Germain  Eailway  at  Colombes.  The 
Brittany  Eailway,  coming  by  Versailles,  also  ran  into  the  St. 
Lazare  station,  which  was  thus  used  by  three  distinct  companies. 
These  companies  were  amalgamated  into  the  Western  Eailway 
Company  in  1855,  when  the  large  Pas-Perdus  hall  was  built, 
which  was  enlarged  in  1867.  The  lines  were  first  roofed  over  in 
1847;  and  an  important  enlargement  was  effected  in  1854  for  the 
new  Auteuil  Eailway,  and  another  in  1867  for  the  railway  round 
Paris ;  and  the  tunnel  under  the  Place  de  l'Europe  was  converted 
into  an  open  cutting  in  1865.  Eleven  railways  come  into  the 
station,  and  the  Moulineaux  and  Metropolitan  lines  will  soon  be 
added.  Two  hundred  trains  leave,  and  as  many  enter  the  station 
per  day.  The  number  of  passengers  using  the  St.  Lazare  station 
was  about  twenty-five  millions  in  1885,  two  and  a  half  times  that 
of  the  Est-Bastile  station,  the  next  most  frequented  station  in 
Paris ;  whilst  the  six  other  termini  of  Paris  together,  including 


398  SUCCESSIVE  ENLARGEMENTS  OF  ST.  LAZARE  STATION.      [Foreign 

the  Est-Bastile,  only  accommodated  thirty-four  million  passengers 
in  1885.  The  new  station  works,  in  course  of  construction,  are 
described  with  illustrations  in  the  preceding  article  by  Mr.  E. 
Boca.  Their  cost,  exclusive  of  machinery  and  hydraulic  appliances, 
is  estimated  at  £110,000;  and  they  will  jjrovide  twenty-five  lines 
of  way  alongside  platforms,  instead  of  eighteen  as  at  present.  The 
total  cost  of  the  new  works  is  estimated  at  £141,(300. 

L.  V.  H. 


TJie  Metropolitan  Railway  of  Paris.     By  Max  de  Nansouty. 

(Le  Genie  Civil,  vol.  viii.,  188G,  pp.  382  and  400,  1  plate  and  4  woodcuts.) 

A  concession  has  been  granted  to  Mr.  Christophle,  Governor  of  the 
Credit  Foncier,  for  the  construction  of  a  metropolitan  railway  in 
Paris,  under  the  direction  of  the  State,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  scheme  submitted  to  and  approved  by  the  Chambers  at  the 
instance  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Works.  The  railway  comprises 
four  distinct  lines,  namely,  an  inner  circle  and  three  transverse 
lines.  The  inner  circle  consists  of  a  continuous  line  of  about 
12  j  miles,  from  1^  to  3  miles  inside  the  suburban  railway  en- 
circling the  outskirts  of  Paris,  to  be  constructed  partly  on  viaducts, 
and  the  remainder,  half  in  tunnel  and  half  in  open  cutting.  It 
will  cross  over  the  Seine  near  the  Champs  de  Mars,  and  also  above 
the  Austerlitz  bridge ;  it  will  pass  close  to  the  stations  of  the 
Northern,  Yincennes,  Lyons,  Orleans,  and  Western  Eailways, 
being  connected  by  junctions  with  these  railways,  and  also  with 
the  outer  circle ;  and  it  will  pass  under  the  Trocadero  and  the 
Place  de  l'Etoile.  One  of  the  transverse  lines,  starting  from  the 
St.  Lazare  station,  and  passing  near  the  Opera  and  the  Drouet 
cross-roads,  joins  the  inner  circle  close  to  the  Northern  Railway 
station ;  it  is  If  mile  long,  and  will  be  mainly  on  viaduct.  A 
second  line,  starting  from  a  junction  with  the  first  at  the  Drouet 
cross-roads,  passes  through  the  heart  of  Paris ;  and  going  near  the 
great  Boulevards,  the  Post-office,  the  market-place,  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  and  the  Bastile,  terminates  in  a  junction  with  the  inner 
circle  at  the  Vincennes  station.  It  is  about  2f  miles  long  ;  and  it 
is  designed  for  four  lines  of  way,  and  to  be  on  a  viaduct  through- 
out. It  will  enable  travellers  by  the  Paris,  Lyons,  and  Mediter- 
ranean, the  Orleans,  and  the  Vincennes  railways,  to  reach  the 
centre  of  Paris.  The  third  transverse  line  runs  nearly  north  and 
south,  from  the  Place  de  Strasbourg  to  Place  Denfert-Rochereau, 
joining  the  Strasburg  Railway  at  the  northern  end,  and  the 
Sceaux  Railway  at  the  southern  end;  and  it  forms  two  junctions 
with  the  inner  circle  near  Cluny.  It  is  to  be  underground  through- 
out, and  will  pass  under  the  Seine  at  the  Palais  de  Justice ;  and  its 
total  length  is  four  miles.  The  sharpest  curves  on  the  railway  are 
not  to  have  a  less  radius  than  1\  chains  ;  and  the  steepest  gradient 
is  fixed  at  1  in  50,  except  for  the  portion  dipping  under  the  Seine, 
where  the  maximum  gradient  will  be  1  in  33  for  rather  less  than 


Abstracts.]  THE   METROPOLITAN    RAILWAY   OF   PARIS.  399 

a  utile.  All  the  proposed  lines  and  stations  are  clearly  indicated 
on  the  plan,  together  with  the  proposed  junctions  with  all  the 
railways  converging  to  Paris.  Twenty-eight  of  the  stations  will 
be  on  viaduct,  fifteen  in  open  cutting,  and  twenty-one  under- 
ground ;  and  the  stations  will  he  about  550  yards  apart,  on  the 
average,  which  is  the  minimum  radius  of  attraction  of  a  metro- 
politan station  as  indicated  by  the  existing  means  of  locomotion. 

The  works  are  to  be  executed  in  two  separate  sections.  The 
first  section  comprises  the  inner  circle,  the  transverse  line  between 
the  St.  Lazare  station  and  the  Place  Eoubaix  station  close  to  the 
Northern  Eailway  station,  and  the  underground  line  between  Place 
de  Strasbourg  and  Place  Denfert,  having  a  total  length  of  18  miles  ; 
and  these  lines  are  to  be  completed  in  time  for  the  Exhibition  of 
1889,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  £8,400,000.  The  second  section, 
'1?,  miles  long,  passing  through  some  of  the  most  valuable  parts  of 
Paris,  is  estimated  at  £8,600,000,  and  will  be  commenced  directly 
after  the  close  of  the  Exhibition.  To  these  estimates  for  works 
and  land,  however,  have  to  be  added  £2,000,000  to  defray  the 
interest  on  capital  during  construction,  and  preliminary  and 
general  expenses,  raising  the  cost  of  the  first  section  to  £9,400,000, 
and  of  the  second  section  to  £9,600,000,  and  making  the  total 
estimated  cost  £19,000,000.  The  State  guarantees  interest  at 
the  rate  of  4  per  cent,  on  the  £2,000,000,  and  4\  per  cent,  on  the 
£17,000,000  for  works,  or  a  yearly  amount  of  £800,000  ;  but  during 
the  earlier  years,  when  the  first  section  alone  will  be  open,  the 
guarantee  will  be  only  £434,500  per  annum ;  and  the  advances 
made  under  this  guarantee  will  be  repayable  as  soon  as  the  net 
receipts  of  the  company  exceed  the  guaranteed  revenue.  As  more 
than  50  per  cent,  of  the  population  will  be  within  a  radius  of 
550  yards  from  the  several  stations,  and  300  million  persons  are 
transported  annually  in  Paris  by  the  various  means  of  conveyance, 
and  assuming  that  the  number  of  travellers  is  proportional  to  the 
number  of  inhabitants,  the  number  of  passengers  on  the  metro- 
politan railway  would  be  150  millions.  Some,  however,  of  the 
anticipated  increase  of  traffic  from  the  formation  of  this  railway 
would  flow  into  parts  of  Paris  not  served  by  it,  so  the  number 
of  passengers  may  be  reduced  to  100  millions.  Now  the  large 
railway  companies  have  agreed  to  form  junctions  with  the  metro- 
politan railway,  to  run  their  trains  over  it,  and  to  pay  a  minimum 
yearly  toll  of  £280,000  for  the  passengers  they  bring  on  to  the 
line.  Assuming  the  number  thus  brought  on  at  30  millions, 
there  would  remain  70  million  passengers,  reckoned  to  pay  each 
at  least  1  ■  9cl,  or  about  £560,000  altogether  in  the  year,  afford- 
ing a  total  of  £840,000  gross  receipts.  Deducting  £200,000  for 
working  expenses,  the  net  revenue  would  be  £640,000,  leaving 
only  £160,000,  at  the  most,  at  the  opening  of  the  whole  rail- 
way, to  be  provided  by  the  State,  and  which  probably,  with 
the  increase  of  traffic,  will  cease  to  be  requirecl  at  all  after  a 
very  few  years. 

L.  V.  H. 


400  CULTIVATION  ALONG  THE  TRANS-CASPLAN  RAILWAY.       [Foreign 


On  the  formation  of  a  Cultivated  Begion  along  the  course  of  the 
Trans-Caspian  Railway.     L.  Beliavix. 

(Ingeuer,  St.  Petersburg,   188G,  p.  782.) 

The  Transcaspian  Railway,  starting  from  Mehailoff  Bay,  follows 
the  northern  slope  of  the  Kopet  Dag  hills,  and  passes  through 
Kasil-Arvat,  Aschabad,  Dushak  and  Merv.  The  section  to 
Aschabad  is  finished,  the  earthworks  are  completed  as  far  as  the 
terminus,  so  that  the  entire  line  may  he  opened  during  March  of 
the  present  year. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  which  beset  the  undertaking  was 
the  want  of  water,  but  by  various  means  it  has  been  overcome, 
and  even  in  many  places  a  sufficient  supply  has  been  assured  to 
render  it  possible  to  think  of  irrigation. 

The  first  section  of  the  line,  from  the  Caspian  to  the  foot  of  the 
hills,  is  very  deficient  in  water,  but  artesian  wells  have  been  sunk 
with  good  results,  especially  at  Mulakbar  station,  where  an 
enormous  quantity  of  water  has  been  obtained. 

The  second  section,  running  along  the  foot-hills,  is  also  deficient 
in  water,  but  Professor  Mushketoff  is  of  opinion  that  under  the 
upper  clays  will  be  found  a  water-bearing  tertiary  formation 
resting  on  compact  blue  clay.  All  along  the  slopes  of  the  hills 
springs  are  met  with,  and  the  engineers  engaged  on  the  works 
have  found  water,  not  always  sweet,  however,  several  miles  away. 

The  rainfall  in  the  district  being  small,  the  true  source  of 
subterranean  water  must  be  in  the  distant  hills,  in  which  the 
rainfall  is  very  considerable. 

After  skirting  the  hills  for  some  distance  the  railway  leaves 
them,  and  crosses  the  oasis  of  the  rivers  Tedjen  and  Murghab. 

The  River  Tedjen,  which  is  still  very  little  known,  carries 
a  considerable  quantity  of  water,  as  much  as  14,000  cubic  feet  per 
second  during  the  months  of  March,  April,  May  and  June ;  but  in 
the  autumn  and  winter  it  becomes  quite  dry,  though  it  is  believed 
that  a  large  body  of  water  flows  underground  through  the  })orous 
strata  forming  the  river-bed,  and  means  are  being  considered  of 
intercepting  this  flow  and  bringing  it  again  to  the  surface.  In 
any  case  the  valley  of  the  Tedjen  abounds  with  water  sufficient 
even  for  irrigation. 

The  River  Murghab  has  been  well  explored.  In  spring  and 
summer  it  carries  about  10,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  and  in 
winter  3,000  cubic  feet.  It  is  about  280  feet  broad,  and  from 
3  feet  6  inches  to  7  feet  deep.  Ancient  dams,  constructed  in  the 
most  primitive  manner,  exist  for  irrigating  the  Merv  oasis.  By 
improving  these  dams,  and  by  constructing  proper  irrigation 
channels,  it  will  be  possible  to  bring  more  than  1^  million 
additional  acres  under  cultivation.  On  this  account  plans  have 
been  made  for  a  stone  weir  with  movable  crest,  to  be  placed  near 
old  Merv,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  £12,000. 


Abstracts.]    CULTIVATION  ALONG  THE  TRANS-CASPIAN  RAILWAY.        401 

Upon  the  whole  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  but  that  it  will  be 
possible  to  find  water  enough  to  make  the  environs  of  the  railway, 
thanks  to  the  climate,  so  productive  that  it  will  change  from 
„,  purely  military  line  to  an  important  highway  of  commerce.  In 
the  Merv  oasis  wheat  and  rice  produce  from  seventy-  to  eighty- 
fold,  and  cotton  thrives  exceedingly. 

The  proposed  extension  of  the  line  to  the  Amu-Daria  will  be 
under  totally  different  circumstances ;  a  desert  of  perfectly  barren 
shifting  sands  will  have  to  be  crossed,  storms,  with  hot  winds 
rising  1o  147°  Fahrenheit,  will  have  to  be  encountered,  and 
although  it  may  be  possible  to  obtain  water  enough  for  the 
needs  of  the  railway,  there  is  no  use  in  even  thinking  of  irri- 
gation. 

W.  A. 


Tlie  Trans-Caspian  Military  Railroad.    By  L.  Schtehbakoff. 

(Ingener,  St.  Petersburg,  1886.     From  Students'  Reports,  p.  792.) 

The  construction  of  the  Aschabad  section  of  the  Trans-Caspian 
Military  Eailway  is  not  remarkable  for  any  specially  interesting- 
engineering  features  ;  these  notes,  therefore,  have  reference  chiefly 
to  the  methods  of  construction,  and  to  descriptions  of  the  work- 
people employed.  The  Author  of  the  reports,  having  been  in 
charge  of  various  sections  of  the  line,  was  in  a  peculiarly  favourable 
position  for  describing  all  the  minute  details  which  are  of  so  much 
importance  with  reference  to  estimates  and  plans  for  similar 
works. 

The  report  commences  with  a  general  description  of  the  line 
which  skirts  the  Kopet-dag  hills  at  a  distance  of  about  2  miles.  The 
earthworks  are  very  insignificant,  and  the  bridges  confined  to  mere 
culverts ;  the  rails,  rolled  at  the  Putiloff  works,  are  about  62  lbs. 
to  the  yard,  laid  on  wooden  cross-sleepers. 

The  line  is  single.  The  ground  is  sandy  clay,  into  which  rain- 
water penetrates  to  a  depth  of  10  feet,  so  that,  after  the  rare  tro- 
pical storms,  all  communications  are  rendered  impossible,  men  and 
horses  alike  sinking  into  the  ground  from  3  to  4  feet.  This  circum- 
stance gave  rise  to  great  anxiety  respecting  the  future  of  the  line  ; 
for  the  embankments  are  made  out  of  side-cuttings,  and  the  foun- 
dations of  the  bridges  are  laid  only  about  4  feet  3  inches  below  the 
normal  surface,  which,  in  the  Achal-Tekinsk  oasis,  is  from  210  feet 
to  350  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  yet  in  six  places,  on 
sinking  wells,  bitterly  salt  water  was  reached  at  from  84  feet  to 
112  feet  below  the  surface.  Only  on  the  third  section  of  the  line, 
in  two  places,  was  fresh  water  found,  and  that  at  a  height  of 
more  than  280  feet  above  the  Caspian  level.  Throughout  the  depth 
of  the  excavation  sea  shells  and  water-worn  gravel  abounded, 
which,  together  with  other  indications,  prove  that  the  Caspian 
must,  at  one  time,  have  extended  to  the  foot  of  the  Koept-dag 
hills. 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2   D 


402  THE    TRANS-CASPIAN    MILITARY   RAILROAD.  [Foreign 

The  mean  height  of  the  embankments  was  2  feet  3  inches,  the 
maximum  7  feet  9  inches,  and  the  deepest  cutting  was  1  foot 
6  inches.  The  total  quantity  of  earthwork  in  the  first  23 
miles  was  199,377  cubic  yards,  executed  at  a  cost  of  4|d.  per 
cubic  yard.  On  the  third  and  fourth  sections  37  miles  long,  there 
were  344,068  cubic  yards  of  earthwork,  executed  at  the  same  rate. 

The  surveys  showed  that  the  railway  ought  to  be  carried  near 
the  hills,  on  account  of  the  valley,  which  attains  a  horizontal  cross- 
section  about  5  miles  from  them,  forming  a  bottom  in  which  the 
water  draining  from  the  hills  collects,  and  only  disappears  by  slow 
soakage  into  the  ground  and  by  evaporation. 

The  fall  of  rain  is  not  nearly  so  rare  as  Mr.  Lessar  reported  it 
to  be,  so  that  considerable  difficulties  have  been  experienced  in 
establishing  the  line  on  the  slopes,  on  account  of  the  irresistible 
torrents  which  occasionally  sweep  down  from  the  mountains.  The 
silty  nature  of  the  ground  rendered  it  impossible  to  control  these 
torrents,  so  that  an  immense  number  of  culverts,  of  from  7  to 
14  feet  wide,  had  to  be  constructed,  a  bridge  being  placed  at  every 
spot  where  the  water  was  likely  to  make  its  way.  The  construction 
of  the  Aschabad  section  of  the  line  137  miles  long,  forming  the 
extension  of  the  first  section  of  the  Trans-Caspian  Railway, 
143  miles  long,  was  commenced  at  the  end  of  May  1885.  At  first 
there  were  no  Russian  workmen  ;  Persian  labourers  were  attracted 
by  the  promise  of  "  baksheesh  ; "  the  local  tribes  at  first  refused 
to  work  on  any  terms,  though  later  on  they  became  tolerable 
navvies.  The  first  drafts  of  men  were  divided  into  squads  of  one- 
hundred  and  twenty-five ;  each  squad  had  its  ganger  at  £8  to  £10 
per  month,  an  under- ganger  at  from  £4  to  £5  per  month,  and  a 
storekeeper,  who  often  acted  as  caterer  and  interpreter,  at  from  £3 
to  £4  per  month.  The  men  declined  to  work  at  per  cubic  yard  or 
per  lineal  yard,  and  at  first  nearly  the  whole  of  the  earthwork 
was  done  by  the  day,  the  men  receiving  from  £1  8s.  to  £1  12s.  per 
month  of  twenty-six  days.  The  quantity  of  work  done  was  most 
unsatisfactory  on  account  of  the  incorrigible  laziness  of  the 
Persians.  About  1  •  9  cubic  yards  of  earth,  carried  from  side- 
cutting,  was  all  that  could  be  accomplished,  and  no  appliances 
of  any  kind  except  small  wooden  boxes  carried  on  the  shoulders 
would  be  used.  It  became  evident  that  work  could  not  go  on  in 
this  way,  some  kind  of  piece-work  must  be  established,  and  at  last 
the  plan  of  marking  off  a  certain  volume  to  be  worked  out  by 
each  man  was,  in  the  end,  found  successful,  payment  in  full  being 
made  as  soon  as  the  work  was  finished  instead  of  once  a  month, 
the  result  being  that  the  men  earned  about  60  per  cent,  more 
money.  At  first,  under  the  day-work  system,  the  working  hours 
were  fixed,  on  account  of  the  heat,  from  4  a.m.  to  7,  from  7.30 
to  10,  and  from  4  p.m.  to  8.15  ;  but  when  piece-work  was  established 
the  men  turned  out  at  2  a.m.  and  worked  till  11.30,  and  again 
from  1  p.m.  to  9,  and  even,  on  moonlight  nights,  they  often 
worked  all  night.  The  men  ate  sparingly,  their  only  food  being 
"  churek,"  a  coarse  kind  of  bread  like  a  thick  pancake,  hard  to 


Abstracts.]         THE    TRANS-CASPIAN   MILITARY   RAILROAD.  403 

digest,  and  water  they  had  very  little  of,  and  that  little  was 
often  a  day  late  in  arriving.  They  slept  occasionally  in  their 
tents,  but  more  often  simply  in  the  newly-made  slopes  of  the 
embankments.  The  quantity  of  work  done  by  each  man  at  last 
rose  to  4  cubic  yards,  and  he  earned  double  as  much  money  as  he 
could  do  by  day-work.  The  number  of  men  in  each  gang  continued 
to  increase  as  the  works  advanced,  and  the  difficulty  of  supplying 
water  increased  in  proportion.  There  were  very  few  horses  ;  camels, 
costing  £6  to  £7  apiece,  carried  each  about  07  gallons  in  two  casks. 
Attempts  were  make  to  break  the  camels  into  harness,  but  failed, 
with  few  exceptions.  The  Persians,  under  all  these  difficulties, 
worked  remarkably  well ;  a  whole  gang  could  never  be  seen  at 
once,  a  cloud  of  dust  enveloped  it,  and  only  now  and  then  the  gleam 
of  a  spade  or  a  tawny  perspiring  face  could  be  made  out.  The 
engineers  could  only  fix  the  levels  and  measure  up  the  work  during 
the  dinner-hour,  that  is,  in  the  extreme  heat  of  the  day.  The 
masonry  was  all  rubble,  built  of  stones  brought  from  the  hills,  laid 
in  mortar  composed  of  two  parts  sand,  one  part  slacked  lime  and 
one-fourth  part  hydraulic  cement.  The  stone  cost  about  23d.  per 
cubic  yard,  so  long  as  the  line  ran  near  the  hills,  but,  on  approach- 
ing Aschabad,  where  it  turns  away  from  them,  the  cost  was  nearly 
trebled  on  account  of  the  length  of  transport.  Excellent  lime  was 
burned  on  the  spot ;  the  fuel  used  was  a  kind  of  scrub  called  "  sak- 
saool ;"  the  cost  ranged  from  £2  to  £l  per  ton ;  the  stones  were 
often  at  132°  Fahrenheit  when  put  into  the  kilns.  The  cement  was 
brought  from  Moscow.  Two  gangs  of  stonemasons,  numbering 
eighteen  men  each,  were  formed  of  Armenians,  under  Eussian 
foremen;  they  received  from  £4  to  £6  per  month.  Forty-six 
bridges  were  built  under  the  Author's  supervision,  each  bridge 
averaging  about  76  cubic  yards  of  masonry. 

The  laying  of  the  permanent  way  was  commenced  in  the  begin- 
ning of  July,  in  the  presence  of  Generals  Komaroff  and  Annenkoff", 
after  a  solemn  religious  service,  by  the  2nd  and  4th  Companies  of 
the  Second  Trans-Caspian  Railway  Battalion,  numbering  two- 
hundred  men.  The  rate  of  laying  ranged  from  li  to  2  miles  per 
day.  A  train  carrying  the  materials  arrived  in  the  morning  and 
discharged  its  load  on  both  sides  of  the  line.  The  sleepers  and  rails 
were  carried  forward  on  trollies,  the  sleepers  were  then  recessed 
to  templates,  for  the  rails  which  were  laid  down,  bolted  together, 
spiked,  straightened,  and  set  up  with  ballast,  each  operation  being- 
performed  by  special  gangs.  At  noon  a  second  train  arrived,  and 
was  treated  in  the  same  manner.  Later  on  considerable  assistance 
was  given  by  a  light,  portable  railway,  laid  ahead  by  the  side 
of  the  main  line,  along  which  the  sleepers  and  rails  were  carried 
m  advance.  The  third  company  of  the  railway  corps  was  em- 
ployed in  laying  the  sidings  at  the  stations  in  advance  of  the  line, 
the  materials  for  this  purpose  being  brought  up,  from  the  end  of 
the  main  line,  by  horse  and  camel  traction.  The  importance  of 
preparing  the  stations  in  advance  was  very  manifest,  the  work 
requiring  much  more  care  and  labour,  absorbed  the  energy  of  five 

2  D  2 


404  THE   TRANS-CASPIAN   MILITARY  RAILROAD.  [Foreign 

hundred  men.  As  soon  as  the  line  came  up  to  a  station  the  forty- 
five  house  wagons  were  moved  up  and  a  fresh  depot  of  materials 
was  formed.  No  station-houses  have  yet  been  built.  At  the  second- 
class  station,  Kodsh,  a  wooden  house,  14  feet  by  21  feet,  has  been 
erected,  and  a  water-supply  of  about  12,000  gallons  a  day  has  been 
secured  from  a  spring  at  the  foot  of  the  hills  about  1^  mile  oif. 
Temporary  water-supplies  were  obtained  from  the  water-courses 
crossing  the  line,  the  water  being  pumped  by  hand  into  tanks 
raised  on  piles  of  sleepers. 

However  successful  the  line  may  be  in  point  of  solidity  and 
cheapness,  much  is  still  wanting.  There  is  a  total  absence  of  fuel, 
and  the  Bay  of  Michailoff  is  so  shallow  that  sea-going  craft  have  to 
transfer  their  cargoes  to  shallow-draught  vessels  at  Krasnovodsk, 
and  the  difficulties  arising  from  this  operation,  and  the  want  of 
vessels,  frequently  caused  serious  delays.  Until  the  line  has  its 
own  supply  of  naphtha,  and  is  extended  to  the  port  of  Krasnovodsk, 
it  cannot  be  worked  regularly  and  with  advantage. 

W.  A. 


The  Importance  of  Ballast  in  Maintenance  of  Permanent  Way. 
By  —  Burkiiardt. 

(Organ  fur  die  Fortschritte  des  Eisenbahmvesen,  1886,  p.  79.) 

As  a  result  of  experience  with  iron  sleepers  increased  attention 
has  of  late  been  given  to  the  condition  of  the  ballast. 

Lengths  of  ballast  of  medium  quality,  in  which  wooden  sleepers 
appeared  to  be  dry,  have  proved  unsatisfactory  with  iron  sleepers. 
By  means  of  their  pumping-action  the  latter  draw  the  wet  up  from 
below,  and  work  the  ballast  up  into  mud,  making  a  solid  bed 
impossible.  This  working  up  into  mud  occurs  also  with  wooden 
sleepers,  but  only  after  the  ballast,  having  become  completely 
impermeable  for  water,  requires  renewing. 

The  reasons  for  this  difference  may  be  stated  as  follows  : 

1.  The  iron  sleeper  has  twice  the  deflection  of  the  wooden  one. 

2.  On  account  of  the  accurate  fastening  of  the  rail  to  the  iron 
sleeper  it  shares  the  whole  vertical  motion  of  the  rail,  whereas 
with  wooden  sleepers  the  play  of  the  foot  of  the  rail  in  the  dogs, 
and  the  compressibility  of  the  timber,  both  tend  to  lessen  the 
deflection  of  the  sleeper. 

3.  The  hollow  body  of  the  iron  sleeper  is  very  favourable  to  the 
formation  of  an  air-tight  cavity,  inducing  the  pumping  action 
above  referred  to. 

4.  The  under  surface  of  the  wooden  sleeper  lies  twice  as  deep  as 
that  of  the  iron  one. 

The  working  up  of  the  ballast  into  mud  by  iron  sleepers  on 
certain  trial  lengths  has  interfered  with  their  more  general  in- 
troduction, whereas  the  failure  should  have  been  put  down  to  the 


Abstracts.]  THE    MAINTENANCE    OP   PERMANENT    WAY. 


405 


inferiority  of  the  ballast  and  its  impermeability  to  water.  It 
would  be  found  that  in  similar  ballast  there  is  wet  at  the  bottom 
of  wooden  sleepers.  These  considerations  lead  to  the  question,  Is 
enough  attention  given  in  Germany  to  the  nature  of  ballast  in  the 
construction  and  maintenance  of  railways  ? 

The  free-lying  ballast  introduced  by  Stephenson  on  English 
railways  is  now  the  universal  rule  in  Germany  ;  the  old  German 
system  ("  Koffer-system "),  or  curved-surface  system,  being  en- 
tirely superseded ;  but  not  only  in  the  form,  but  also  as  to  the 
material  of  the  ballast  the  English  chose  right  at  first. 

Very  little  broken  stone  is  used  for  ballasting  German  railways, 
as  is  shown  by  the  prices  of  ballast  as  taken  from  "  Statistics  of 
the  Railways  of  Germany,"  and  given  in  the  following  Table  : — 


Date. 

Price  per  cubic  yard. 

Average. 

Maximum. 

Minimum. 

1881-2 

1882-3 

1883-4 

s.     d. 
1     5 

1     5J 

1     5 

s.     d. 
4     8 

4  7 

5  0 

s.     d. 
0     3 

0    2| 

0    3 

The  bulk  of  the  prices  range  between  9d.  and  2s.  o\d.  per  cubic 
yard  ;  this  shows  that  there  cannot  be  much  broken  stone  used,  the 
bulk  of  the  ballast  being  land-  and  river-gravel,  sand  or  cinders. 
The  advantages  of  the  use  of  broken  stone  ballast  is  not  as  yet 
appreciated  in  Germany,  the  ballast  material  being  chosen  on 
account  of  cheapness  in  first  cost.  The  Author  considers  that 
broken  stone  is  to  be  preferred  to  gravel  in  all  cases.  Good  ballast 
must  fulfil  the  two  following  conditions  : — ■ 

1.  It  must  be  capable  of  being  beaten  up  under  the  sleeper  into 
a  firm  mass  so  as  to  afford  the  greatest  possible  resistance  to 
the  deflection  when  the  load  comes  upon  the  sleeper,  and  also  the 
greatest  possible  resistance  to  shaking  loose. 

2.  At  the  same  time  the  material  must  be  such  that  between 
the  sleepers  there  may  be  among  it  interstices  fur  the  passage  of 
water,  but  also  the  greatest  possible  cohesion  and  friction  to 
prevent  slipping,  and  to  distribute  equally  the  pressure  of  the 
load. 

Broken  stone  fulfils  the  conditions  in  a  much  higher  degree  than 
gravel.  There  is  much  more  friction  between  the  various  angular 
fragments  of  the  broken  stone  than  between  the  round  pebbles  of 
gravel,  and  on  this  account  the  broken  stone  when  once  beaten 
up  retains  its  place  better  than  the  gravel  which  constantly  shakes 
loose.  No  doubt  a  firm  bed  for  the  sleeper  is  more  easily  obtained 
in  the  first  instance  with  gravel  as  the  small  stones  and  sand  fill 
up  the  interstices  between  the  larger  ones,  but  this  is  far  out- 


406  THE   MAINTENANCE   OF   PERMANENT   WAY.  [Foreign 

■weighed  "by  the  great  advantage  of  the  superior  drainage  resulting 
from  the  use  of  broken  stone. 

It  is  usual  in  Germany  for  the  ballast  to  be  laid  to  not  more 
than  10  inches  below  the  underside  of  the  sleepers.  With  gravel 
ballast  this  is  too  little,  as  owing  to  capillary  attraction  the 
water  stands  in  the  gravel,  and  also  drains  off  very  slowly.  The 
depth  should  be  12  to  14  inches  below  the  bottom  of  the  sleeper, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  formation.  Usually  no  attention 
is  paid  to  this,  the  thickness  of  ballast  being  uniform  throughout, 
whereas  the  line  stands  much  better  when  the  formation  is 
permeable  than  when  it  is  not,  however  excellent  the  drainage 
may  be. 

The  Author  considers  that  instead  of  the  ballast  being  renewed 
when  the  line  is  relaid  as  is  now  usually  the  case,  the  lower 
portion  of  it  being  then  choked  with  fine  matter  and  impermeable, 
it  should  be  kept  constantly  clean  by  being  from  time  to  time 
opened  out  and  screened,  the  fine  matter  being  removed,  and  the 
coarse  replaced,  the  deficiency  being  made  up  with  new  material. 
This  method  would  be  more  in  accordance  than  is  the  present 
practice  with  the  principle  that  ought  to  guide  permanent-way 
maintenance,  namely,  that  every  part  of  the  permanent-way  must 
always  be  kept  in  a  condition  answering  to  its  function,  the 
maintenance  being  prospective  and  continuous. 

W.  B.  W. 


Jointed  Cross-Sleepers.     By  J.  W.  Post. 

(Organ  fiir  die  Fortschritte  des  Eisenbahnwesens,  1386,  p.  60.) 

Mr.  C.  Benson,  Sectional  Engineer  on  the  Netherlands  State 
Bailways,  has  invented  and  had  in  use  since  1882,  a  system  of 
using  up  old  wooden  sleepers,  thereby  effecting  a  considerable 
saving  in  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  permanent  way.  In  looking 
at  old  sleepers  of  half-round  or  rectangular  cross-section,  it  is  seen 
that  most  of  them  have  failed  because  of  defects  where  the  rail 
rests  on  the  sleeper,  while  in  most  there  is  a  length  of  from  3  feet 
to  3  feet  3  inches  between  the  rails  where  the  sleeper  is  pretty 
good.  Mr.  Benson  joins  together  two  such  pieces,  laid  end  to 
end,  and  inclined  inwards  so  as  to  give  to  a  rail  laid  across  each 
the  necessary  1  in  20  cant,  by  a  length  of  inverted  channel  iron 
let  into  the  timber,  so  that  its  web  lies  upon  the  upper  surface, 
and  bent  at  its  half-length  so  as  to  keep  the  two  half  sleepers  at 
their  correct  1  in  20  inclination.  The  rail  rests  on  the  channel 
iron,  which  thus  prevents  it  from  wearing  into  the  sleeper. 

The  sawing,  dressing,  boring,  and  putting  together  of  these 
compound  wood  and  iron  sleepers  can  be  done  by  the  platelayers 
in  wet  weather,  and  the  cost  is  therefore  very  small.  The  laying 
and  beating  up  are  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  ordinary  wood 
sleepers. 


Abstracts.]  JOINTED   CROSS-SLEEPERS.  407 

The  two  discarded  ends  of  the  old  wood  sleeper  may  be  used  up 
in  various  ways ;  the  best  of  them  being  available  for  use  in 
similar  compound  wood  and  iron  sleepers  for  tramways  and  narrow- 
gauge  lines. 

As  these  compound  sleepers  have  four  end-faces,  they  offer  more 
resistance  to  lateral  motion  than  the  ordinary  wood  sleeper. 

In  July  1882,  Mr.  Benson  laid  a  quantity  of  these  sleepers  in 
a  main  line  through  a  station  :  and  in  September  of  the  same  year 
a  further  number  on  a  main-line  curve  of  50  chains  radius,  and  a 
gradient  of  1  in  62,  over  which  thirty  trains  a  day  ran,  some  of 
them  expresses.  Both  these  lengths  have  required  no  different 
treatment  from  the  adjoining  lengths  laid  with  ordinary  wood 
sleepers,  while  the  gauge  has  remained  exactly  true. 

In  the  making  of  steel  cross-sleepers  there  are  always  some 
waste-pieces,  for  which  hitherto  little  use  has  been  found.  Many 
makers  who  cannot  conveniently  use  them  up,  sell  them  very 
cheaply.  In  order  to  reduce  the  price  of  normal  steel  sleepers, 
and  to  provide  a  cheap  steel  sleeper  for  tertiary  and  secondary 
lines,  it  has  been  attempted  to  produce  a  cheap  cross-sleeper  out  of 
these  waste-pieces  by  riveting  together  two  short  pieces.  This 
attempt  may  now  be  looked  upon  as  entirely  successful,  and  the 
practicability  of  it  proved,  and  the  cheap  production  of  such 
sleepers  is  possible  at  all  steel-works  which  have  plenty  of  waste, 
and  the  necessary  machinery  for  riveting  the  joints  quickly, 
cheaply,  and  well. 

The  Netherlands  State  Bail  ways  Company,  in  June  1885,  laid  a 
number  of  such  sleepers  on  a  curve  of  20  chains  radius,  on  a 
gradient  of  1  in  62.  These  sleepers  have  shown  no  disadvantages 
during  loading,  unloading,  laying,  or  beating  up,  and  required  no 
more  beating  up  than  the  ordinary  steel  or  wood  sleepers  near 
them.  As  the  riveting  is  at  some  distance  from  the  rails,  and 
consequently  not  much  affected  by  the  vibration,  it  is  expected  to 
stand  well.  There  are  six  different  types  of  these  riveted  sleepers, 
in  all  of  which  the  rivets  are  0*79  inch  diameter.  The  joint  may 
be  6  inches  from  the  centre  of  the  sleeper,  so  as  to  allow  of  short 
pieces  being  used  up. 

The  Taper  is  accompanied  by  a  number  of  drawings,  giving 
details  of  the  various  methods  of  making  the  joints. 

W.  B.  W. 


Wear  of  Steel  Bails  in  Germany.     By  —  Couard. 

(Revue  Generate  des  Chemins  de  fer,  April  188G,  p.  260.) 

Mr.  Couard  refers  to  his  previous  article  on  the  wear  of  rails,1 
in  which  he  drew  the  deduction  that  the  wear  of  rails  is  relative 
rather  to  the  number  of  trains  than  to  the  tonnage  weight.     In 


£ee  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  lxxix.  p.  439. 


408 


"WEAR    OF    STEEL   KAILS    IX    GERMANY. 


[Foreign 


the  present  article  he  shows  that,  on  this  basis  of  comparison,  steel 
rails  wear  out  faster  in  Germany  than  in  France,  and  that  the 
wear  does  not  depend  only  on  the  chemical  composition,  but  also 
on  their  section  and  on  their  substructure.  The  steel  of  the 
German  rails  may  be  milder,  less  resistant  to  flexure  vertically, 
and  supported  on  sleepers  more  widely  apart. 

Dealing  first  with  ordinary  rails  laid  on  transverse  wood  sleepers, 
he  gives  a  Table  of  the  wear  of  rails  in  Germany ;  and  he  draws 
the  general  conclusion  that  a  steel  rail  appears  to  wear  more  quickly 
in  proportion  as  it  is  deflected  by  the  passage  of  trains.  Thus  also 
he  explains  the  fact,  before  noticed,  of  the  greater  wear  of  the 
outer  rails  of  a  double  line  of  way,  under  which  the  packing  of  the 
sleepers  is  less  perfect  than  under  the  inner  rails  next  the  "  six- 
foot." 

Here  follows  in  the  article  a  Table  of  the  wear  of  steel  rails 
on  the  Paris,  Lyons,  and  Mediterranean  Bail  way,  deduced  from 
measurements  taken  in  March,  1885.  There  are  rails  of  two 
sections,  weighing  respectively  78*6  lbs.  and  68-5  lbs.  per  yard, 
laid  on  2,150  and  1,881  sleepers  per  mile  respectively.  It  is 
shown  that  the  wear  of  such  rails  on  these  two  sections  as  are 
produced  at  the  same  factory  is  sensibly  the  same ;  and  it  is 
concluded  that,  beyond  the  conditions  of  the  lighter  of  the  two 
rails,  additions  of  strength  do  not  sensibly  augment  the  resistance 
of  the  rails  to  wear.  Now,  the  wear  of  the  68*5-lbs.  rails  just 
noted  varies  between  215,000  and  128,000  trains  per  millimetre 
(^5  inch)  of  height,  or  per  60  square  millimetres  of  section 
(0*093  square  inch),  whilst  the  resistance  to  wear  of  the  German 
rails,  weighing  76  lbs.  per  yard,  laid  on  1,935  sleepers  per  mile,  is 
only  measured  by  the  passage  of  from  151,700  to  82,700  trains, 
showing  that  the  durability  of  the  French  rails  is  50  per  cent, 
greater  than  that  of  the  German  rails. 

The  difference  of  durability  is  explained  by  the  chemical  com- 
positions of  the  two  rails,  which  are  here  averaged  as  follows : — 


Percentages. 

Cart  «n. 

Man-      Total, 
ganese. 

Sihtium.       phofus 

Sulphur. 

Copper. 

German  r;iils    \ 
(five  samples)  J    ' 

French  rails     \ 
(four  samples)  / 

0-31 
0-S3 

0-33      0G4 
0-C9      1-52 

0-0S         0-09 
0-15         0-05 

0-02 
0-05 

o-ii 

The  French  rails  have  more  than  twice  as  much  carbon  and 
manganese  in  their  composition,  and  wear  longer  than  the  German 
rails.  This  is  a  conclusion  corroborative  of  that  at  which  the 
Author  had  previously  arrived.  It  applies  only  to  rails  on  ways 
of  low  gradients  and  curves  of  large  radius,  clear  of  tunnels  and 
stations. 

German  Ways  entirely  of  Metal. — A  comparative  Table  is  given 
showing  the  respective  durability  of  ordinary  ways  on  transverse 


Abstracts.]  WEAR   OF   STEEL   RAILS   IN   GERMANY.  409 

wood  sleepers,  and  ways  on  metal  sleepers : — the  Yautherin,  the 
Hohenegger,  longitudinal  sleepers  '-Y1  feet  long,  with  a  transverse 
sleeper  to  each  length ;  the  Hilf,  longitudinal  sleepers  24^  feet 
and  29h  feet  long,  with  a  transverse  sleeper  to  each  length.  The 
comparative  results  of  wear  show,  (1),  that  with  the  Yautherin 
sleeper  the  wear  is  three  times  as  much  as  with  wood  sleepers  ; 
(2)  with  the  Hohenegger  way  the  wear  is  four  times  as  rapid  as 
with  wood  sleepers ;  (3)  with  the  Hilf  way  the  wear  of  the  rails 
is  from  four  to  five  times  as  great  as  with  wood  sleepers. 

D.  K.  C. 


Steel  Rails. 

(Ingener,  St.  Petersburg,  1886,  pp.  305  and  G19.) 

A  Commission,  consisting  of  representatives  of  the  Ministiy 
of  Ways  of  Communication,  of  the  Mine  Corps  of  the  Imperial 
Eussian  Technical  Society,  of  various  Eailway  Companies  and 
Steel  Works,  held  its  first  meeting  on  the  15th  of  January  1885. 

The  object  of  the  Commission  is  to  determine  the  tests  to  he 
applied  to  steel  rails,  the  duration  of  guarantees  to  be  given  by 
the  makers,  to  establish  standard  sections  and  lengths,  and  to 
define  the  chemical  composition  and  physical  properties  of  steel 
in  tires  and  axles. 

Mr.  Annitchkoff  laid  before  the  Commission  data  collected  by 
the  Ministry  of  Ways  of  Communication,  from  which  it  would 
appear  that  the  Eussian  rails  are  less  durable  than  those  made 
abroad,  on  account  of  milder  material  used  in  their  manufacture, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  necessary  in  order  to  meet  the  con- 
ditions of  severe  cold  to  which  the  rails  are  subjected  in  winter. 
Experience,  however,  has  shown  that  the  Eussian  rails  do  not  enjoy 
greater  immunity  from  fracture  than  others,  and  that  consequently 
it  would  be  desirable  to  amend  the  specifications  so  as  to  attain 
greater  durability. 

Mr.  Verchofsky  read  a  report  prepared  by  a  Committee  of  the 
Imperial  Eussian  Technical  Society,  on  the  investigations  made 
on  steel  rails  taken  up  from  roads  under  various  conditions.  The 
specimens  were  tested  chemically  and  mechanically,  and  the  results 
tabulated.  The  comparison  of  the  data  so  obtained,  revealed  an 
apparent  absence  of  general  laws  connecting  the  chemical  with  the 
mechanical  properties  of  steel,  yet  the  conclusion  is  arrived  at  that 
steel  rails  may  be  hard  and  yet  not  brittle,  and  that  the  best  rails 
may  possess  a  degree  of  hardness  exceeding  even  that  of  rails 
which,  on  account  of  their  brittleness,  are  unfit  for  service,  and 
that  the  best  rails  contain  more  carbon  and  manganese  than  those 
which  wear  out  quickly. 

Professor  Belelubsky  presented  a  report  on  the  work,  similar  to 
that  which  had  been  undertaken  by  the  Commission,  which  was 
being  done  abroad,  especially  in  Germany,  and  after  some  dis- 
cussion it  was  agreed  that  the  quality  of  rails  as  defined  by  the 


410  STEEL   RAILS.  [Foreign 

existing  specifications  was  unsatisfactory,  and  two  Committees 
were  appointed,  one  to  draw  up  a  new  specification,  and  the  other 
to  work  out  standard  sections  and  lengths  of  rails.  Copies  of  the 
various  reports  alluded  to  had  been  circulated  among  those  inte- 
rested in  the  subject  under  consideration. 

W.  A. 


Conical  Tires  of  Railway  Rolling -Stock  a  cause  of  Resistance  to 
Traction,  and  of  the  Travelling  of 'the  Rails. 

By  —  Kruger. 

(Organ  fur  die  Fortschritte  des  Eisenbahnwesens,  1886,  p.  132.) 

The  movement  of  a  free  cone  (complete  or  truncated)  lying  on 
a  plane,  and  having  motion  imparted  to  it,  is  always  in  revolutions 
round  its  apex.  Any  other  motion  requires  the  continuous  appli- 
cation of  outside  forces,  and  is  accompanied  by  definite  resistance. 

Let  the  cone  whose  axis  is  A  S  be  forced  to  move,  while  rolling 
on  a  plane,  in  a  direction  at  right  angles  to  its  axis.  The  axis 
will  move  parallel  with  itself.  When  the  base  has  rolled  one 
complete  revolution  without  sliding,  the  axis  will  be  in  the 
position  Ax  Sv  the  length  A  Ax  being  2  r  -k  if  r  is  the  radius  of  the 
base  of  the  cone. 

The  apex  S  will  have  slid  upon  the  plane  from  S  to  Sx 
[S  Sx  =  2  r  tt]. 

Let  ry  be  the  radius  of  the  cross-section  of  the  cone  at  a  distance 
b  from  the  apex,  then  if  H  is  the  height  of  the  cone, 
b 

When  the  cone  has  reached  the  position  A3  Sx  the  cross-section 
at  b  will  have  rolled  a  distance  of  2  rx  -,  and  slid  a  distance  of 
2*<r-r1). 

Join  the  points  S  Kx  by  a  straight  line.  A  line  parallel  to 
A  Ax  and  distant  b  from  the  apex  of  the  cone  represents  the 
path  upon  the  plane  of  the  section  of  the  cone  at  distance  b  from 
the  apex.  This  line  is  divided  into  two  parts  by  the  line  S  Ax, 
the  portion  lying  in  the  plane  A  S  A,  [  =  2  rx  if\  is  the  distance 
rolled,  while  the  part  lying  in  the  plane  SA1S1[=  2  it  (r  —  r,)] 
is  the  distance  slid.  From  the  above  it  follows  that  a  force  (Z), 
causing  a  forward  motion  of  a  cone  in  a  straight  line,  has  to 
overcome  a  certain  amount  of  friction  due  to  the  weight  of  the 
cone  (Gtj).  If  the  cone  is  supposed  to  be  weighted  with  a  load 
G3  uniformly  distributed  over  its  whole  length,  the  friction  will 
be  proportionately  increased.  Let  this  load  be  represented  by 
a  cylinder  of  the  same  height  and  the  same  density  (p)  as  the 
cone. 

In  that  which  follows  only  the  truncated  cone  will  be  considered, 
as  it  only  is  of  importance  in  practice. 


Abstracts.]        CONICAL  TIRES  OF  RAILWAY  ROLLING-STOCK.  411 

The  radius  (a)  of  the  load-cylinder  is  given  "by 

G3  =  p  a2  ir  Ji, 

where  h  is  the  height  of  the  truncated  cone,  whose  base  has  a 
radius  r  and  top  radius  r,. 

If  ix  is  the  coefficient  of  friction,  the  work  done  by  the  force  Z 
in  rolling  the  truncated  cone  in  a  direction  at  right  angles  to  its 
axis  is — 

H    Cr 

A  =  2  7r2  p  fi  —        (a2  +  x2)  (r  —  x)  d  x, 

H  7* 

or  since  —  =  

r        r  —  i\ 

A  =  2  7T2  p  ix  7-^—  I   To;2  (r  -  x)  d  x  +  a2    P(r  -  x)  d  x\, 

from  which 

7T  r         li-nr  r3  -  r*       irr1  n 

A  =  ir  **  p  -.-  ~= — : *r  /*  p  }v  w*  +  «■  /*  (r  -  »-i)  p  a-  77  /<. 


3     r  —  r 


7T  ll  T       "—     V 

In  this,  however,  p  —    —  is  the  weight  G,  of  the  truncated 

o      r  —  rx 

cone,  and  further  p  o\2  ir  h  is  the  weight  G2  of  a  cylinder  of  the 

height  h  of  the  truncated  cone  and  radius  rx  (the  radius  of  the  top 

of  the  truncated  cone)  while  p  a2  it-  h  is  the  weight  G3  of  the  load 

cylinder. 

Hence  A  =  ^  !r  Ga  -  r,  Q2  +  2  (r  -  rj  G3}  ; 


7r  7*  r3  —  r^ 


+  2  (r  -  >',)  G3       .     (I.) 


If  the  velocity  (the  distance  travelled  by  the  cone  in  a  second) 
be  v,  and  if  the  base  of  the  cone  makes  n  revolutions  in  a  second — ■ 

z  =  ±±  =  -A_ (ii.) 

v  2  r  tv 

The  Author  proceeds  to  apply  the  above  results  to  find  the 
resistance  to  motion  caused  by  the  conical  form  of  the  tires  of 
railway  rolling-stock. 

If  two  truncated  cones  are  imagined  connected  at  their  bases, 
rolling  along  two  intersecting  inclined  planes,  the  difference  of 


412  CONICAL  TERES  OF  KAIL-WAY  ROLLING-STOCK.  [Foreign 

length,  of  path  2  -  (r  —  rx)  rolled  by  the  two  ends  of  each  cone  in 
one  revolution  may  be  made  up  in  two  ways.  If  the  small  end  of 
the  cone  rolls  without  slipping,  the  difference  is  made  up  by  the 
larger  end  slipping  with  the  rolling;  while  if  the  larger  end  rolls 
without  slipping,  the  smaller  end  must  be  pushed  along  sliding. 
The  different  manner  in  which  the  difference  is  made  up  in  these 
two  cases  seems  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  a  third  condition, 
under  which  the  middle  section  of  the  frustum  should  roll  without 
slipping. 

The  latter  of  the  two  modes  of  making  up  the  difference 
2  7T  (r  —  )\),  requires,  as  shown  above,  a  force  Z  working  on  the 
axis  of  the  cone  in  the  direction  of  its  motion,  which,  in  the  case 
of  railway  rolling-stock,  is  provided  by  the  draught  of  the  engine. 
The  former  mode,  however,  would  require  the  action  of  forces  which 
could  turn  the  cone  on  its  axis,  and  whose  point  of  application 
must  therefore  be  without  the  axis.  Forces  of  this  nature  are  not 
in  operation  on  the  axles  of  moving  railway  carriages,  with  the 
exception  of  the  force  imparted  to  the  axles  by  turning  them. 
The  action  of  this  last  upon  an  axle  drawn  by  an  outside  force  and 
rolling,  can  only  come  in  when  the  friction  caused  by  this  move- 
ment on  the  edge  of  the  wheel  is  greater  than  the  whole  friction 
[i.  G3,  no  account  being  taken  of  the  weight  of  the  cone  itself.  The 
amount  of  this  friction  may,  however,  be  obtained  from  equations 
(I.)  and  (II.; 

Z  =  /j.  G3 


which  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  total  friction  //.  G3. 

From  the  condition  Z  /_  /j.  G3,  it  follows  that  the  two  cones 
roll  without  their  largest  base  sliding,  and  that  the  difference 
2  —  (r  —  Tj)  is  made  up  by  the  smaller  end  of  the  cone  being  pushed 
forward  sliding  in  the  direction  of  motion.  So  the  resistance  to 
pulling  forward  offered  by  the  conical  form  of  wheel  tires  may  be 
got  from  (II.),  A  being  obtained  from  (I.).  These  two  formulas 
hold  good  for  any  number  of  pairs  of  connected  cones  drawn  for- 
ward, if  the  total  weight  of  all  the  pairs  be  put  for  G.  It  must  be 
noted  that  G1  is  the  weight  of  the  tires  only ;  the  weight  of  the 
axles  and  bodies  of  the  wheels  being  included  in  G3. 

Some  examples  are  worked  out  to  show  that  from  6  to  20  per 
cent,  of  the  total  resistance  is  due  in  various  cases  to  the  coning 
of  the  wheel  tires. 

Cylindrical  wheel-tires  would  do  away  with  this  loss  of  power, 
and  consequently  reduce  the  cost  of  haulage.  Their  .use  would 
also  lessen  considerably  the  wear  and  tear  on  tires  and  rails. 

The  slipping  motion  of  the  lesser  end  of  the  cone  in  the  direc- 
tion of  motion  of  the  train  is  probably  the  explanation  of  the 
creeping  of  the  rails  in  the  direction  of  the  traffic.  The  great 
loads  which  are  being  continuously  drawn  with  a  sliding  friction 
give  the  rails  an  impulse  in  the  same  direction. 

W.  B.  W. 


Abstracts.]      IMPKOVEMENTS  EN  LOCOMOTIVES  IN  FEANCE.  413 

Improvements  in  Locomotives  in  France.    By  —  Kicoun. 

(Compte-rendu  de  la  Societe  des  Ingenieurs-civils,  1885,  p.  684.) 

Mr.  Eicour  refers  to  a  preceding  article  on  the  subject  in  the 
Compte-rendu  for  June  1884,  and  he  now  communicates  the  results 
of  additional  experience. 

Piston-,  or  cylindrical  valves,  wear  at  the  rate  of  1  millimetre 
for  200,000  kilometres  run  Qg  inch  for  125,000  miles),  whilst 
with  the  slide-valve  the  same  extent  of  wear  takes  place  after 
2,060  miles  are  run,  or  about  one-sixtieth  of  the  mileage-run. 
The  wear  of  the  valve-gear  is  reduced  in  the  same  proj)ortion. 
The  effect  of  the  change  in  reducing  the  consumption  of  fuel 
is  proved  by  the  returns  made  at  the  Saintes  station,  which 
show  that  in  the  year  1882,  when  all  the  engines  worked  with 
slide-valves,  the  coal  consumed  per  1000  tons  conveyed  1  mile 
was  266  lbs.,  against  234  lbs.  in  the  year  1884,  when  thirty  out  of 
forty  locomotives  had  been  fitted  with  cylindrical  valves : — 
showing  an  economy  of  12  per  cent,  in  fuel. 

The  brick  arch  or  partition,  commonly  erected  in  the  fire-boxes 
of  locomotives  in  England,  has  been  introduced  on  the  State 
railways  of  France.  The  bricks  of  which  the  partition  is  formed 
are  supported  on  water-tubes,  rising  from  the  lower  part  of  the 
tube-plate  to  the  crown-plate,  so  disposed  that  the  partition  takes 
the  form  of  the  letter  V,  and  tends,  by  its  form,  to  direct  the  flame 
towards  the  sides  of  the  fire-box. 

The  Author  has  made  experiments  on  the  resistance  of  the 
atmosphere  to  railway  trains,  by  means  of  balances  placed  to  the 
right  and  to  the  left  of  the  cab  or  shelter  on  the  foot-plate,  having 
disks  of  1  decimetre  (about  4  inches)  square,  and  a  needle  showing 
the  resistance  on  a  spring.  The  resistance  varies  as  the  square 
of  the  speed.  At  a  speed  of  44  miles  per  hour,  the  resistance 
is  equal  to  10  lbs.  per  square  foot.  The  resisting-surface  of  a 
locomotive  with  its  tender,  in  the  direction  of  motion,  is  about 
135  square  feet,  and  the  total  resistance  at  the  above  rate  would 
amount  to  (135  x  10  =)  1,350  lbs.  This  resistance  could  be 
considerably  reduced  by  the  adoption  of  inclined  surfaces,  which 
have  already  been  applied  to  some  engines.  Mr.  Eicour  estimates 
that  an  increase  of  13  per  cent,  of  useful  work  would  be  effected 
by  their  adoption  ;  and  he  estimates  that,  if  all  the  stock  of  the 
State  railways  were  modified  as  he  has  indicated,  the  cost  of 
traction  would  be  reduced  £160  per  engine  per  year  ;  and  the  total 
reduction  for  all  the  seven  thousand  locomotives  now  in  France 
would  amount  to  upwards  of  one  million  sterling. 

D.  K.  C. 


414  NARROW-GAUGE  RAILWAYS  IN  SAXONY.  [Foreign 

The  most  recently  constructed  Narrow-gauge  Railways  in  Saxony. 

By  C.  Kopcke  and  P.  Pressler. 

(Der  Civilingenieur,  1886,  p.  161.) 

This  is  the  last  of  a  series  of  articles  in  which  the  Authors  de- 
scribe a  group  of  recently  constructed  narrow-gauge  railways. 
Abstracts  of  two  of  these  have  already  appeared,1  and  this, 
the  fourth,  refers  to  the  Eadebeul  and  Eadeberg  line,  which 
commences  at  Eadebeul,  at  the  south-east  end  of  the  station  of 
that  name,  upon  the  main  line  from  Leipzic  to  Dresden,  and 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  latter  city.  It  runs  northward, 
through  a  district,  either  agricultural  or  forest,  the  soil  being 
alluvial  excepting  in  the  highest  lying  ground,  where  granite  is 
met  with.  The  population  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  line 
is  about  9,300,  including  the  town  of  Eadeberg  (2,750),  and  the 
picturesque  character  of  the  country  traversed  serves  to  attract 
additional  passenger  traffic. 

The  gauge  of  the  railway  is  2  feet  5^  inches  and  its  length 
10*34  miles,  of  which  7-94  miles,  or  77  per  cent.,  is  straight, 
and  2 '4  miles,  or  23  per  cent.,  is  in  curves,  of  which  0*4  mile 
(639  metres),  or  3-3  per  cent.,  is  of  the  minimum  radius,  viz., 
246  feet. 

As  regards  gradients  4*64  miles,  or  45  per  cent.,  is  on  the 
level,  and  5*  7  miles,  or  55  per  cent.,  on  inclines,  the  steepest  being 
1  in  60. 

A  longitudinal  section  gives  the  levels  and  the  positions  of  the 
eight  stations ;  these  are  from  1  mile  to  1*85  mile  apart.  The 
level  of  the  line  (above  sea)  at  the  commencement  is  370  feet, 
at  the  summit  near  Dippelsdorf  607  feet,  and  at  the  terminus 
Eadeberg,  4S5  feet.  Plans  of  the  station  yards  at  these  places, 
and  also  sketches  of  the  buildings,  are  given,  together  with  their 
cost. 

At  Eadebeul  the  arrangements  for  transferring  goods  from  the 
narrow  to  the  normal  gauge  wagons  are  of  a  simple  character. 
The  trans-shipment  is  effected  either  by  a  transfer  platform, 
situated  between  a  normal-  and  a  narrow-gauge  track,  with  its 
surface  inclined  transversely,  and  its  edges  of  a  height  suitable 
to  the  rolling-stock  of  each  gauge ;  or  the  narrow-gauge  line  is 
raised  above  the  normal-gauge  track  sufficiently  to  bring  the 
wagon  floors  of  each  to  the  same  level.  Narrow-gauge  wagons 
or  engines  may  be  run  into  normal-gauge  trucks,  by  an  arrange- 
ment similar  to  an  ordinary  carriage-dock. 

Sketches  of  occupation  bridges  and  cross-sections  of  the  line  are 
given,  also  Tables  of  Bridges ;  culverts  and  retaining-walls,  with 
their  dimensions   and   cost ;    also  the   deflection   of  the  girders 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  lxxxv.  p.  428. 


Abstracts.]  NARROW-GAUGE  RAILWAYS  IN  SAXONY.  415 

under  the  test-load  of  one  or  more  three-axled  locomotives  of 
5  feet  11  inches  wheel-base,  and  a  weight  of  5  tons  per  axle. 

The  rolling-stock  comprises  three  locomotives,  twenty  passenger 
carriages,  seven  covered  goods  wagons,  thirty  open  wagons,  four 
cattle  trucks,  two  pairs  of  timber  trucks,  &c. 

The  cost  of  the  railway  was  as  follows  : — 

£  s.  d.  Marks. 

Laud  .........  3,102  7  6  62,047  54 

Earthwork,  including  rock  aud  re-)  q  ^^  o  9  ,0o  o^o  -17 

taining  walls /  ' 

Fencing,    exclusive    of    that    atl  „i  13  9  400  ~± 

stations / 

Level  crossings  aud  road  bridges  .  1 ,  849  7  5  36 ,  987  39 

Bridges  and  culverts      ....  2,770  17  9  55,41773 

Permanent  way 13,540  14  2  270,814  13 

Signals  and  cabins 256  3  1  5,123  OS 

Stations  and  platforms,  &c.       .      .  5,447  6  8  108,946  6S 

Rolling-stock 7,140  2  7  142, S02  64 

Superintendence 4,927  9  10  98,549  S2 

Sundries 107  12  10  2,152  80 

Interest  during  construction    .      .  546  18  5  10,938  44 

Total     .      .      .     46,129    7     2  922,587  16 


This  gives   a   cost   of  £4,459  14s.  per  mile  (55,400  marks  per 
kilometre). 

The  works  were  commenced  in  September  1883,  and  the  line 
opened  the  following  September. 

D.  G. 


On  the  Wire  Ropeways  between  Vajda-Hunyad  and  Vadudohri 
{Transylvania).     By  —  Bochart  and  —  Lkbreton. 

(Annales  des  Mines,  vol.  ix.,  1885,  p.  185.) 

The  transport  of  material  from  Vadudobri,  whence  is  obtained 
the  charcoal  used  in  the  furnaces,  and  Gyalar,  the  centre  of  the 
ironstone  mines,  to  the  Hungarian  State  ironworks  at  Vajda- 
Hunyad,  presents  some  special  difficulties.  The  construction  of 
even  a  narrow-gauge  railway  would  have  involved  enormous 
expense,  owing  to  the  difficult  nature  of  the  country  to  be  traversed, 
while  the  only  road,  and  that  a  very  bad  one,  has  to  make  a 
detour  of  30  kilometres  (18^  miles),  to  accomplish  a  distance  of 
10  kilometres  (6j  miles)  as  the  crow  flies.  It  was,  therefore, 
necessary  to  adopt  a  special  system  of  cable-transport,  which,  in 
consequence  of  the  difficult  nature  of  the  problem,  presents  several 
points  of  peculiar  interest. 

As  a  simple  system  on  the  Hodgson  plan,  in  which  a  single 
travelling-rope  serves  both  to  carry  and  to  transport  the  loads, 
was  out  of  the  question,  owing  to  the  gradients,  which  average 
about  1  in  30,  and  in  special  places  are  as  severe  as  1  in  7  or  1  in  8, 
it  was  necessary  to  adopt  a  pair  of  parallel  carrying-cables  for  the 


416 


ON    WIRE   ROPEWAYS. 


[Foreign 


up   and  down  lines,  each  served  by  a  hauling-rope  placed  at  a 
lower  level,  but  in  the  same  vertical  plane. 

The  local  variations  in  the  gradients  and  in  the  quantities  of 
material  to  be  transported,  the  enormous  strain  on  the  hauling- 
rope  that  would  have  been  required  to  work  the  whole  distance  of 
nearly  31  kilometres  (19  miles)  in  a  single  length,  and  the  inipos- 
sil  >ility  of  maintaining  such  a  length  of  carrying-cables  sufficiently 
rigid,  necessitated  a  subdivision  into  sections  as  shown  in  the 
annexed  Table  ;  the  length  of  each  section,  and  the  height  of 
each  station  above  Yajda-Hunyad  being  given  in  metres.  From 
Yadudobri  to  Gruniuli,  the  line  ascends;  but  from  Gruniuli  to 
Vajda-Hunyad,  the  descent  is  continuous. 


S?ction. 

Height  in 

metres 

above  Vajda- 

Hunyad. 

Xamcs  of  Stations. 

Length  of                . 

Section  in              ^T  g? 
Metres.                Gradient. 

1 

797 

Vadudobri  to  Gruniuli 

2,404             1  in  25 

2 

892 

Gruniuli      „   Plaiuli     . 

4.418             1 

,    45 

3 

793 

Plaiuli 

,    1',  nulla 

4,277             1 

,    53 

4 

713 

Bunila 

,    Pojinitza. 

4,291              1 

,    64 

5 

646 

Pojinitza 

,    Uuda 

1,S82             1 

,    67 

6 

618 

Paula 

,    Gvalar     . 

3,603             1 

,    18 

7 

416 

Gyalar 

,    Catsenas  . 

5,347              1 

,    24 

8 

192 

Catsenas 

,   Vajda-Hunvad  . 

4,320              1 

,    23 

Total     .     . 

30,542 

The  motive-power  stations  are  distinguished  by  italics,  the 
others  being  merely  shunting  or  transfer-stations.  Each  hauling- 
engine  works  two  sections  of  road,  except  at  Catsenas,  where  it 
was  found  preferable  to  have  two  engines  and  two  boilers.  The 
total  motive-power  at  the  four  stations  is  35  HP.  Between  Vadu- 
dobri and  Gyalar  only  charcoal,  and  in  some  cases  water  for  the 
boilers,  has  to  be  transported  ;  but  both  charcoal  and  ironstone 
are  carried  between  Gyalar  and  Yajda-Hunyad.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  the  most  important  stations — Vadudobri,  Gyalar,  and  Yajda- 
Hunyad — are  not  encumbered  with  engines  or  hauling- machinery. 

On  section  7  there  is  a  single  span  of  470  metres  (514  yards), 
with  a  gradient  of  1  in  6  J ;  on  section  8,  a  single  span  of  420 
metres  (356  yards),  with  a  gradient  of  1  in  11^;  and  on  section  5, 
two  single  spans  of  205  metres  (224  yards),  and  333  metres 
(364  yards)  respectively.  In  such  cases  three,  and  even  four, 
supporting-frames  for  the  cables  are  placed  close  together  side  by 
side ;  but  elsewhere,  where  the  spans  are  much  shorter,  they  are 
placed  singly.  These  supporting  frames  consist  of  two  upright 
posts  of  oak  or  hornbeam,  which  are  cheaply  procured  on  the  spot, 
united  by  two  cross-beams,  from  the  upper  one  of  which  is  sus- 
pended a  frame  provided  with  two  small  pulleys,  on  which  the 
carrying- cables  rest,  while  the  lower  one  carries  two  rollers  for  the 
hauling-ropes.     The  height,  and  the  size  of  the  timbers,  vary  con- 


Abstracts.]  ON   WIRE  ROPEWAYS.  417 

siderably  according  to  circumstances ;  but  they  may  easily  be  carried 
up  to,  say  23  feet,  two  or  more  raking  struts  being  added  where 
necessary. 

The  carrying-cables — of  steel,  1  inch  diameter — are  heavily 
loaded  at  each  end  with  weights  proportionate  to  the  lengths, 
gradients,  spans,  and  loads  to  be  carried,  which,  as  has  been  seen, 
vary  considerably  in  different  sections,  and  are  supported  on  small 
rollers  so  as  to  be  free  to  move  under  the  influences  of  expansion, 
contraction,  and  deflection  under  varying  loads. 

The  hauling  is  effected  by  a  single  endless  steel  rope  (of  ^-inch 
diameter)  for  each  section,  serving  both  up  and  down  lines.  At 
the  driving  end  it  passes  round  a  horizontal  grooved  pulley, 
2  metres  ((3  feet  Gf  inches)  diameter  (corresponding  to  the  distance 
apart  of  the  ropes)  driven  by  the  engine,  and  at  the  other  end 
round  a  pulley  of  similar  size  mounted  on  a  sliding-frame  weighted 
with  a  heavy  counterpoise  for  keeping  the  rope  taut.  On  it,  at 
regular  distances  of  134  metres  (147  yards)  on  the  sections  between 
Vadudobri  and  Gyalar,  and  of  54  metres  (59  yards)  on  the  sections 
between  Gyalar  and  Vajda-Hunyad,  where  the  traffic  is  the 
heaviest,  are  fixed  small  steel  clips,  which  are  gripped  by  an 
ingenious  apparatus  attached  to  each  tub,  an  automatic  releasing 
arrangement  being  provided  at  the  end  of  each  section  of  line, 
where  the  tubs  are  guided  off  the  carrying-cables  on  to  fixed 
rails  of  peculiar  construction,  until  they  are  transferred  to  the 
next  section  and  gripped  on  to  the  hauling-rope  by  the  man  in 
charge  at  each  station.  Wooden  carrying-rollers  are  provided  for 
the  hauling-ropes  when  not  in  use,  or  when  they  sag  to  any  con- 
siderable extent ;  but  when  in  action  they  are  supported  by  the 
tubs  themselves. 

The  tubs,  which  are  carried  on  trunnions  so  as  to  be  easily 
tipped,  are  of  bucket  form,  suspended  from  two  grooved  wheels 
travelling  on  the  carrying  cables  by  a  frame  which  also  carries 
the  gripping  apparatus  above  referred  to.  An  empty  tub  weighs 
about  4  cwt.,  and  will  contain  about  G  cwt.  of  ironstone,  or  about 
2  cwt.  (say  14  bushels)  of  charcoal.  There  are,  at  one  time,  240 
tubs  of  ironstone,  and  434  tubs  of  charcoal  (including  returning 
empties)  in  circulation,  travelling  at  about  2f  miles  per  hour,  and 
capable  of  delivering  about  160  tons  of  ironstone,  and  4,400  bushels 
of  charcoal  per  day  of  ten  hours. 

It  is  not  easy  to  estimate  the  cost  of  transport  with  any  great 
accuracy,  as  the  system  has  only  been  in  operation  for  a  very  short 
period,  and  the  data  obtainable  are  incomplete ;  but  it  probably 
averages  about  0-89  and  0-92  franc  per  ton  per  kilometre  (Is.  lfc?. 
and  Is.  1\<l.  per  ton  per  mile)  for  ironstone  and  charcoal  resjDec- 
tively,  due  allowance  being  made  for  depreciation  and  interest  on 
capital.  This  is  about  one-half  the  cost  of  transport  in  bullock 
carts. 

The  Paper  is  illustrated  by  engravings  showing  sections  of  the 
line,  and  details  of  the  carrying-frames,  tubs,  gripping  apparatus, 
and  hauling-  and  shunting-stations.  "W.  S.  H. 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2    E 


418       CONSTRUCTION  OF  LOCKS  IN  THE  CANALS  OF  FINLAND.      [Foreign 

On  the  Construction  of  the  Locks  in  the  Canals  of  Finland,  and 
their  Maintenance  during  the  Winter. 

By  M.  Levandovsky. 

(Ingener,  St.  Petersburg,  1886,  p.  232.) 

The  Paper  commences  by  a  brief  description  of  the  two  principal 
canals  in  the  south-eastern  parts  of  Finland.  The  canal  of  the 
Saima  connects  a  chain  of  lakes  with  the  gulf  of  Finland,  by  a 
waterway  37  miles  long,  with  a  fall  of  260  feet.  The  fifteen  locks 
are  all  of  substantial  masonry,  and  are  fitted  with  wooden  gates, 
the  use  of  iron,  in  connection  with  the  stonework,  being  dispensed 
with  as  much  as  possible,  on  account  of  its  considerable  changes 
pf  volume,  due  to  the  great  range  of  temperature  to  which  it  is 
exposed.  The  masonry,  though  built  in  hydraulic  cement, 
suffered  considerably  from  the  severe  cold  of  winter ;  but  in  the 
year  1870,  the  plan  was  adopted  of  covering  the  lock  chambers  by 
means  of  2-inch  planks,  and  allowing  the  water  to  flow  perpetually 
through  the  two  gate  sluices.  Snow  is  allowed  to  accumulate  over 
the  temporary  covers,  and  as  the  water  running  through  has  a 
mean  temperature  of  39~  Fahrenheit,  the  lock  chambers  are  readily 
kept  at  a  temperature  a  little  above  the  freezing-point.  The 
levels  between  the  locks  are  kept  full  all  winter ;  the  Author 
points  out  that  the  practice  of  running  out  the  water  is  destructive 
to  the  banks. 

The  canal  of  the  Pielis,  connects  two  lakes ;  it  is  40  miles 
long,  and  has  a  fall  of  62  feet,  surmounted  by  ten  wooden  locks, 
the  structure  of  which  is  described,  the  Author  pointing  out  the 
advantages  derived  from  making  the  lock  chambers  entirely  self- 
contained  and  independent  of  the  ground  they  are  sunk  in.  The 
cribwork  of  the  walls  is  loaded  with  stone,  and  not  clay  or  earth, 
as  is  commonly  the  case,  in  consequence  of  which  the  woodwork 
is  not  forced  out  of  place  by  the  expansion  of  the  frozen  filling, 
and  does  not  rot  so  quickly.  The  Paper  is  illustrated  by  a  map 
and  four  sheets  of  plates. 

W.  A. 


Extension,  etc.,  of  that  portion  of  tlie  Bhine-Marne  Canal  lying 
in  French  Territory.    By  M.  Yoloiann. 

(Zeitschrift  des  Architekten  und  Ingenieur  Vereins  zu  Hannover,  188G,  p.  337.) 

During  the  past  ten  years  extensive  works  have  been  carried 
out  in  connection  with  this  system  of  canals,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  important  in  France,  these  works  include  the  construction 
of  the  Eastern  Canal.  The  raising  the  water-level  of  the  whole 
system,  and  the  provision  of  an  increased  supply  of  water,  neces- 


Abstracts.]         EXTENSION    OF    THE    RHINE-MAHNE    CANAL.  419 

sitated  by  this  increase  in  depth,  and  a  desire  that  the  sources  of 
supply  should  be  situated  within  French  territory. 

A  map  and  longitudinal  section  of  the  system,  including  the 
new  Eastern  Canal,  and  various  diagrams,  accompany  the  Paper. 
The  original  canal  was  constructed  between  the  years  1838  and 
1853,  and  commences  by  a  junction  with  the  Upper  Marne  Canal 
at  Yitry-le-Francais,  and  terminates  by  a  junction  with  the  river 
111  and  the  Ehine  Canal,  near  Strasburg,  thus  connecting  the 
valleys  of  the  Seine  and  the  Ehine,  and  also  the  intervening  rivers, 
which  include  the  Maas,  Moselle,  Saar,  &c.  Its  length,  between 
Vitry  and  Strasburg,  is  193J  miles,  and  it  crosses  the  four  water- 
sheds dividing  the  catchment  basins  of  the  Marne,  Maas,  Moselle, 
Saar,  and  Ehine  ;  there  are,  however,  only  two  summit  reaches,  as 
the  divides  between  the  Maas  and  Moselle,  and  the  Saar  and 
Ehine,  are  tunnelled  through  at  Foug  and  Arzweiler  respectively. 
There  are  altogether  five  tunnels,  with  a  total  length  of  5.J?  miles. 

The  level  of  the  water  above  the  sea  is,  at  Vitry,  332  ■  62  feet 
at  the  Mauvages  summit  tunnel,  through  the  Marne-Maas  divide, 
922-75  feet;  at  Nancy,  648-10  feet;  at  the  Vosges  summit  level, 
873-93  feet;  and  at  Strasburg,  444-18  feet. 

A  Table  of  the  various  chains  of  locks  is  given,  together  with 
the  levels;  their  number  is  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  and 
the  mean  rise  of  each  8  ■  60  feet. 

Some  years  since  it  was  contemplated  to  increase  the  water- 
supply,  but  the  improvements  were  delayed  by  the  Franco-German 
war,  which  resulted  in  a  transfer  to  Germany  of  the  Alsatian 
portion  of  the  canal,  and  also  of  one  of  the  most  important  sources 
of  supply,  viz.,  the  river  Saar.  To  render  the  system  independent 
of  this  latter  portion,  in  1874  the  construction  of  the  East  Canal 
was  authorized.  This  commences  at  Givet,  on  the  Belgian  frontier, 
joins  the  Ehine-Marne  Canal  at  Troussey,  and  again  leaving  the 
latter  canal  at  Toul,  follows  the  course  of  the  Upper  Moselle  to 
Epinal,  where  it  branches  off  in  a  south-westerly  direction  to  its 
termination  at  Port-sur-Saone.  The  depth  of  water  in  this  canal 
was  fixed  at  6  feet  6  inches. 

The  Ehine  Marne  Canal  had  originally  a  depth  of  5  feet  3  inches, 
a  breadth  at  bottom  of  32  feet  10  inches,  and  sides  sloped  at  1^  to  1. 
This  depth  has  been  increased  to  6  feet  6  inches,  the  canal  bed 
cleaned  and  lined  with  concrete,  6J  inches  to  8^  inches  thick 
where  necessary,  and  the  headway  of  bridges  and  tunnels  raised 
to  12  feet  2  inches  above  the  new  water-level.  Through  the 
Mauvages  Tunnel  a  chain  has  been  laid,  and  all  the  traffic  is 
worked  by  two  chain  steam-tugs  with  tireless  boilers  (Francq's 
patent). 

The  most  important  of  the  new  works  are  those  for  the  addi- 
tional supply  of  water.  They  comprise  pumping-stations  at 
Pierre-la-Treiche  and  Valcourt,  near  Toul,  at  both  of  which  the 
pumps  are  actuated  by  turbines,  and  a  steam-pumping  station  at 
Vacon,  also  ducts  for  conveying  the  water  from  the  pumping- 
stations  to  the  canal,  and  an  impounding  reservoir  at  Paroy. 

2  E  2 


420  EXTENSION   OF   THE   EHEN'E-MAKXE   CAXAL.  [Foreign 

Gallons.  Cubic  metres. 

The  tojal  amonntof  water  required  annually}  x  364  G20,000    (6,200,000) 
for  the  Bhme  Marne  Caual  is  ....  J      '        '        '  v  '       ' 


Th 
for 


e  total  amount  of  water  required  annually}      74g  3i0  000    (3  400  000) 
or  the  East  L anal J  '        '  v   ' 


2,112,960,000    (9,600,000) 
In  addition  to  which  there  is  the  Meurthe}        ^g9  2jq  qoo    (2  100  000) 
branch  requiring /  '       '  *■  '       ' 

2,575,170,000    (11,700,000) 


Besides  the  above  artificial  sources,  tlie  canals  are  fed  by  springs 
at  Vacon,  and  "by  the  Moselle,  &c. 

The  arrangements  at  Pierre-la-Treiche  and  at  Valcourt  are 
nearly  similar.  There  are  two  turbines  actuating  force-pumps, 
capable  of  raising  from  143  to  198  gallons  per  second  to  a  height 
of  131  feet  3  inches,  through  a  line  of  cast-iron  pipes  of  2  feet  7^ 
inches  diameter,  delivering  into  an  open  duct  connecting  with  the 
east  end  of  the  Pagny  Eeach  of  the  canal.  This  duct  commences 
at  Pierre-la-Treiche,  and  is  8^  miles  long,  and  feeds  both  canals. 


£.  Marks. 

The  cost  of  these  works  was 51,920(1,038,400) 

Of  which  the  pumping  station  at  Pierre-la-Treiche  cost    15 ,  616      (312 ,  320) 
„  „        Yalcourt  .      .      .  „      26,908      (538,160) 


The  steam  pumping-station  at  Yacon  is  near  the  west  end  of 
the  Pagny  Eeach.  The  pumps  are  250  HP.,  and  capable  of  lifting 
8,804,000  gallons  per  twenty-four  hours  to  a  height  of  121  feet 
4  inches,  or  110  gallons  per  second.  The  water  is  conveyed  into 
a  duct,  which  also  conducts  the  water  from  the  Yacon  springs, 
and  empties  into  the  Pagny  Eeach. 

The  reservoir  at  Paroy  has  an  area  of  180  acres,  and  contains 
376,371,000  gallons.  The  dam  is  1,378  feet  long,  and  18  fest 
3  inches  high  ;  the  cost  of  construction  was  £20,800. 

Descriptions  are  given  of  two  other  reservoirs  which  are  yet  to 
be  constructed,  and  also  details  of  the  canal  traffic,  which  in  1884 
amounted  to  634,936  tons. 

D.  G. 


Navigation  by  Night  on  the  Suez  Canal.    By  —  Foeis. 

(Le  Genie  Civil,  vol.  ix.,  1886,  p.  161,  15  woodcuts.) 

During  the  commercial  depression  of  1882-85,  the  traffic  on  the 
Suez  Canal  continued  to  increase  so  steadily  that  the  Company 
had  to  consider  how  they  could  provide  for  the  augmentation  of 
traffic  on  the  revival  of  trade.  Besides  contemplating  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  canal,1  they  have  endeavoured  to  shorten  the  time  of 
transit,  so  as  to  meet  present  requirements,  by  establishing  navi- 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  lxxxiv.  p.  473. 


Abstracts.]      NAVIGATION   BY   NIGHT   ON   THE   SUEZ   CANAL.  421 

gation  by  night.  Experiments  were  conducted  for  two  years ;  and 
by  fitting  up  electric  lamps  on  a  tug  and  some  barges,  projecting 
a  beam  of  liglit,  the  conditions  necessary  for  safe  transit  were  ascer- 
tained. Accordingly,  at  the  close  of  1885,  vessels  of  war  and  those 
carrying  mails  were  permitted  to  pass  by  night  between  Port  Said, 
and  the  fifty-fourth  kilometre  (29  nautical  miles),  provided  they 
exhibited  an  electric  beam  in  front  with  a  range  of  1,300  yards,  an 
electric  lamp  astern  capable  of  illuminating  a  circular  area  of  from 
220  to  330  yards  in  diameter,  and  an  electric  lamp  with  reflector 
on  each  side.  During  April,  1886,  several  vessels  passed  by  night 
from  Port  Said  to  Ismailia,  and  traversed  from  sea  to  sea  in  sixteen 
to  eighteen  hours,  thus  saving  from  eighteen  to  twenty  hours  on 
the  average  time  of  transit.  Special  pilots  are  provided  by  the 
Company  to  steer  the  vessels  through  the  canal,  in  which  they  are 
aided  by  buoys  on  each  side,  and  by  an  even  number  of  buoys  of 
two  different  colours  at  the  entrance  to  a  channel ;  but  care  is 
needed  to  keep  a  vessel,  over  330  feet  long,  of  26  feet  draught,  and 
39  to  43  feet  wide,  in  the  centre  of  the  canal,  having  a  bottom 
width  of  72  feet,  and  a  depth  of  28^  to  29^  feet.  Light-giving 
buoys  have  been  placed  at  the  entrances  to  channels,  lighted  with 
compressed  gas  on  Pintsch's  system,  and  showing  a  green  light  to 
starboard  and  a  red  light  to  port.  A  white  light,  hung  from  a 
high  post  opposite  each  passing  place,  indicates  the  direction  on 
the  straight  portion  of  the  canal  at  every  5  or  6  knots ;  and  as  it 
is  clearly  visible  up  and  down  the  canal  to  a  distance  of  7  or  8 
knots,  a  vessel  comes  within  sight  of  the  following  light  when 
about  a  knot  off  the  nearest  one.  A  set  of  three  red  lights  is  hung 
from  a  projecting  arm  at  the  top  of  the  iron  trellis  post,  and,  by 
the  number  exhibited  and  their  position,  afford  the  means  of 
signalling  to  passing  vessels.  These  lights  are  33  to  36  feet  above 
the  water-level  of  the  canal.  The  beam  of  electric  light  projected 
from  the  bows  of  the  vessel,  with  its  range  of  1,300  yards,  lights 
up  the  banks  and  about  three  to  four  pairs  of  buoys  or  beacons, 
and  shows  whether  the  path  is  clear  in  front.  In  the  straight 
reaches,  lights  can  be  instantly  exhibited  at  each  side  of  the  vessel, 
and  astern,  to  show  the  pilot  the  exact  position  of  the  stern  of  the 
vessel  in  relation  to  the  banks  or  a  vessel  being  passed,  by  lighting 
up  the  buoys  on  each  side  and  the  banks  behind.  Along  the 
curves,  no  lights  are  exhibited  on  shore ;  but  the  projecting  beam 
indicates  the  banks  and  buoys  in  front,  and  the  side  and  stern 
lights,  which  are  then  kept  alight,  show  the  banks  and  buoys 
alongside  and  behind.  The  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Company 
have  been  furnished,  by  Messrs.  Sautter,  Lemonnier  &  Co.,  with 
movable  apparatus,  which  is  taken  on  board  on  entering  the  canal 
and  landed  at  the  other  end.  The  electricity  is  generated  by  a 
Gramme  dynamo  with  compound  coils,  worked  by  a  Brotherhood 
motor,  and  capable  of  producing  a  current  exceeding  75  amperes 
at  a  tension  of  70  volts,  45  amperes  being  devoted  to  the  light  at 
the  bows,  8  for  each  side-light,  and  14  for  the  stern-light.  The 
pilot  is  in  telephonic  communication  with  the  man  who  regulates 


422 


NAVIGATION   BY  NIGHT   ON   THE   SUEZ   CANAL.         [Foreign 


the  projecting  "beam  of  light,  and,  "by  commutators  within  his 
reach,  can  extinguish  or  light  the  side  and  stern  lamps.  The 
front  lamp  has  a  flat  Mangin  mirror,  1^  foot  in  diameter,  and  is 
fitted  in  front  with  piano-cylindrical  lenses,  affording  a  suitable 
divergence  of  rays,  and  it  is  placed  on  a  movable  plank  at  a  height 
of  10  feet  above  the  water-level,  on  which  also  the  man  stands 
who  adjusts  the  carbon  points  and  changes  the  direction  of  the 
beam  of  light  as  directed  by  the  pilot.  The  first  night  trip  was 
accomplished  by  the  P.  and  0.  steamer  "  Carthage,"  from  Port 
Said  to  Ismailia,  in  nine  and  a  quarter  hours  ;  and  including  two 
hours  of  stoppages,  the  whole  passage  through  the  canal  was 
effected  in  eighteen  hours,  giving  an  average  speed  of  5*43  knots 
per  hour.  The  success  which  has  attended  the  navigation  by 
night  between  Port  Said  and  Ismailia  ensures  its  easy  extension 
to  the  passage  of  the  large  Bitter  Lakes  ;  and  it  is  probable  that, 
with  suitable  tides,  Suez  could  be  reached.  Though  this  progress 
does  not  double  the  accommodation  of  the  canal,  yet  it  enables  the 
mail-packets  and  vessels  of  war,  constituting  22  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  number  of  vessels  using  the  canal,  to  pass  through  the 
canal  in  a  single  day. 

L.  V.  H. 


Theories  of  the  Tides.     By  A.  de  Preaudeau. 

(Annales  des  Pouts  et  Chaussees,  6th  series,  vol.  xi.,  1886,  p.  262.) 

Newton,  in  his  theory  of  the  tides,  adopted  the  inexact  hypo- 
thesis that  the  waters  of  the  globe  assumed,  at  each  instant,  the 
position  of  equilibrium  due  to  the  forces  acting  on  them ;  whilst 
Laplace  considered  that  the  moving  water,  owing  to  its  acquired 
velocitj^,  passed  the  position  of  equilibrium,  and  made  oscillations 
whose  period  was  proportional  to  the  disturbing  forces.  Laplace, 
however,  like  Newton,  based  his  calculations  on  the  assumption  of 
a  globe  entirely  covered  with  water,  which  therefore  do  not 
manifest  the  working  of  the  phenomenon.  Assuming  therefore  a 
spherical  globe,  with  the  vertical  passing  through  its  centre  in 
the  ordinary  conditions  of  equilibrium,  and  neglecting  the  density 
of  the  water  as  compared  with  that  of  the  earth,  then  the  infini- 
tesimal divergences  of  the  vertical  under  the  attraction  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  which  are  the  primary  causes  of  the  tides,  will 
depend  solely  on  these  attractions.  According  to  Mr.  Keller,  the 
tidal  currents  are  the  result  of  transmitted  differences  of  pressure, 
caused  in  the  first  instance  by  variations  in  the  force  of  gravity 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  moon  on  the  particles  of  water,  owing 
to  the  difference  between  their  distance  from  the  moon  and  that  of 
the  centre  of  the  earth.  Mr.  Hatt,  on  the  contrary,  in  his  work 
"  Notions  sur  le  Phenomene  des  Marees,"  of  which  this  article  is 
mainly  a  summary,  considers  that  the  tide  is  due  essentially  to  a 
change  in  the  direction  of  the  vertical,  and  not  to  the  inappreciable 
alteration  of  the  force  of  gravity.     The  attraction  of  the  moon 


Abstracts.]  THEOEIES   OF   THE   TIDES.  423 

averages  one  twelve-mill  ionth  that  of  gravity,  and  that  of  the  sun 
is  a  half  less ;  whereas,  when  the  declination  of  the  moon  is  zero, 
it  can  deviate  the  vertical  near  the  equator  about  a  third.  The 
first  theory  is  veiy  suitable  for  affording  an  elementary  idea  of  the 
phenomenon  ;  whilst  the  second  conceives  the  tide  as  the  result  of 
currents  produced  by  the  deviation  from  the  vertical  under  the 
attraction  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  the  variations  in  height 
as  the  consequence  of  the  conflict  of  the  currents  and  of  their 
changes.  The  movements  must  evidently  be  oscillatory,  and  the 
vertical  displacements  generally  very  feeble  compared  to  the  hori- 
zontal ones ;  and  the  semi-diurnal  forces  produce  motions  of  the 
same  period  aloug  the  equatorial  zone,  but,  owing  to  the  inequality 
of  the  solar  and  lunar  periods,  the  lunar  tide  is  stronger  than  the 
relative  attractions  of  the  two  bodies  would  indicate.  The  oscil- 
latory motion  is  considerably  modified  in  limited  seas,  so  that  the 
relation  and  relative  situations  of  the  solar  and  lunar  waves  may 
be  greatly  changed,  which  explains  in  principle  the  retardation,  or 
age,  of  the  tide  observed  on  the  western  coasts  of  Europe.  A 
general  formula  for  the  tides  on  these  coasts  is — 

V  -  b0  +  &i  cos  (x  —  aj)  +  62  cos  (2  x  —  a2)  +  \  cos  (4  a  —  a4) 
-j-  hQ  cos  (6  a;-  a6) 

where  y  is  the  rise  of  tide,  x  the  horary  angle  of  the  imaginary 
heavenly  body  producing  the  tide,  and  b0  bx  b,2,  av  a2,  coefficients  to 
be  determined  by  observation,  the  number  of  terms  being  larger 
in  proportion  as  the  port  is  further  inland.  Local  observations 
only  indicate  the  results  of  the  attractions  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
and  of  the  littoral  disturbances ;  so  that  it  is  important  to  study 
the  influences  'of  the  former  in  order  to  appreciate  properly  the 
effects  of  the  latter. 

L.  V.  H. 


The  Tides  of  the  Charente.     By  E.  Decante. 

(Revue  Maritime  et  Coloniale,  vol.  Ixxxix.,  1886,  p.  132,  4  woodcuts.) 

Fears  have  been  entertained  that  the  deepening  of  the  river 
Charente,  undertaken  between  Eochefort  and  the  sea,  might 
modify  the  beneficial  tidal  regimen  which  has  hitherto  been  so  con- 
stant. From  tide-gauge  observations,  extending  over  three  years, 
before  the  works  were  commenced  at  the  end  of  1883,  it  appears 
that  the  mean  heights  of  high  and  low-water  were,  19  •  39  and 
6-86  feet  at  Eochefort,  and  18-67  and  5-77  feet  at  Fort  Bayard 
in  the  roadstead  outside  the  mouth  of  the  river,  giving  average 
ranges  of  tide  of  12-53  feet  and  12-90  feet  respectively.  Though 
the  limited  duration  of  the  tidal  observations  has  prevented  the 
establishment  of  the  port  (reckoned  at  4  hours  8  minutes  for 
Eochefort  and  3  hours  51  minutes  in  the  roadstead),  and  the  unit 
of  height  of  tide  (calculated  at  8-99  feet  for  both  places),  from 
being  determined  with  precision,  yet  the  minima  heights  of  low- 


424  THE   TIDES   OF   THE   CHARENTE.  [Foreign 

water  at  Bocliefort  early  in  1882,  falling  on  several  occasions  to 
between  4-53  and  4*92  feet,  prove  that  the  idea  that  the  tide  had 
been  lowered  by  the  improvement  works  towards  the  close  of  1884 
was  unfounded.  The  principal  impediments  to  navigation,  which 
are  being  removed  between  Eochefort  and  the  sea,  are  the  shallows 
of  Avant-Garde,  the  rock  of  Gombeau,  near  Soubise,  and  the  shoal 
of  Fougueux,  at  distances  of  about  f ,  4j,  and  5^  miles  respectively 
from  the  arsenal,  and  with  depths  of  1\,  5,  and  2^  feet  below  the  zero 
of  the  marine  charts.  These  shoals  are  being  lowered  to  depths  of 
12\  and  ll£  feet  below  the  same  level  by  the  removal  of  146,142 
cubic  yards  of  rock  and  187,021  cubic  yards  of  silt,  an  insignificant 
quantity  compared  wTith  the  bed  of  the  Charente,  and  which  might 
be  augmented  "without  producing  any  lowering  of  the  low-water, 
since  shoals  lower  down  maintain  the  same  opening  at  the  mouth. 
Moreover  the  mean  and  minima  levels  of  low-water  in  December 
1884,  were  higher  than  those  of  February  1882,  though  the  dis- 
charge of  the  river  at  the  latter  time  was  somewhat  greater 
than  at  the  former,  whilst  no  other  atmospheric  influences  can 
account  for  the  difference.  Under  normal  conditions,  low-water  at 
Eochefort  takes  place  on  the  average  1  hour  34  minutes  after  the 
turn  of  the  tide  in  the  roadstead  of  Aix  Island,  at  which  time  the 
water-level  is  higher  outside  than  at  Eochefort.  As  the  attraction 
of  the  sun  and  moon  determine  the  volume  of  water  coming  up,  there 
could  be  no  objection  to  the  increase  of  the  depth  at  the  mouth 
at  the  expense  of  the  width,  provided  the  section  and  discharge 
remain  the  same.  Nevertheless  the  lowering  of  the  shoals  of  Lupin 
and  Fouras,  lower  down  the  river,  would  be  both  a  more  thorough 
and  a  cheaper  expedient.  At  neap-tides,  the  low-water  level  at 
Eochefort  is  below  that  of  the  roadstead,  whereas  wfhen  the  tides 
improve  the  two  become  equal,  and  at  spring-tides  the  level  at 
Eochefort  is  always  the  highest.  As,  therefore,  the  introduction  of 
a  larger  volume  of  water  into  the  river  raises  the  level  of  low- 
water  at  Eochefort,  owing  to  the  greater  quantity  of  water,  some 
of  which  is  carried  up  further,  being  unable  to  get  away  before 
the  turn  of  the  tide,  it  follows  that  by  facilitating  the  access  of 
the  tide  up  the  river  by  the  removal  of  shoals  near  its  mouth,  the 
low-water  level  at  Eochefort  would  be  raised,  instead  of  being 
lowered  as  was  supposed. 

L.  V.  H. 


Harbour  Studies.     By  L.  M.  Haupt. 

(Proceedings  of  the  Engineers'  Club,  Philadelphia,  1886,  p.  285.) 

Parts  1  and  2. 

Need  of  Beeper  Water. — 3,000  miles  of  deeply-indented  Atlantic: 
coast-line  from  New  York  to  Mexico  "would  appear  to  furnish 
frequent  retreats  for  shelter."  The  inlet  "bottoms,"  however, 
generally  reveal  submerged  obstructions;  millions  of  money  re- 


Abstracts.]  HARBOUR   STUDIES.  425 

quired  to  give  entrance  to  a  roadstead  "  even  at  a  few  distant 
points."  A  list  of  the  harbours  along  this  coast  shows  a  general 
depth  of  10  to  12  feet  at  low  water  over  the  bars,  and  reaching 
higher  in  a  few  exceptional  cases,  viz.,  New  York,  23  feet ;  Nor- 
folk, 21  feet;  Port  Eoyal,  21  feet;  Tyber  Eoads,  20  feet. 

As  the  largest  ocean  vessels  draw  from  26  to  28 \  feet  even  at 
high  water  at  New  York,  with  a  rise  of  4*8  feet,  "  there  would  be 
danger  of  striking  bottom  even  in  still  water."  The  greatest 
depth  over  crest  of  bar,  accompanied  by  the  greatest  distance 
from  the  shore,  show  quantities  varying  with  volume,  direction 
and  velocity  of  discharge.  The  tidal  receptacles  parallel  to  the 
shore  "  may  be  appropriately  styled  the  twyers  of  the  inlet,  or 
the  lungs  of  the  ocean." 

The  Author  advocates  shaded  zones  for  submarine  topography 
instead  of  the  present  intricate  system  of  dotted  lines  ;  also  with 
justice  equal  scales  for  maps  of  the  same  locality,  and  equal  time 
intervals  of  survey,  say,  every  five  or  ten  years,  and  the  scales 
400  feet  to  1  inch  =  g-.^Vfr* 

After  examining  the  physical  laws  as  a  guide  to  the  general 
solution  of  the  question,  he  states  that  in  tidal  waters  submerged 
jetties  permit  the  dissipation  of  the  most  vital  parts  of  the  force 
they  are  intended  to  conserve. 

That  there  is  on  the  part  of  the  land  forces  a  tendency  to  scour 
out  in  channels,  and  of  the  naval  forces  to  build  a  bar.  That 
efforts  should  be  allied  to  first  and  opposed  to  last.  He  compares 
the  action  of  wind  and  wave  on  a  sandy  bottom  to  the  western 
prairie  snow-storms,  when  it  is  invariably  found  that  the  wind- 
ward slopes  are  swept  clean,  while  to  the  leeward  of  obstruction, 
even  though  they  be  merely  fences,  the  snow  curls  over  and  is 
banked  up  in  drifts  many  feet  deep.  The  ocean  forces  are  recog- 
nised by  him  as — 

1.  The  Gulf  Stream,  flowing  from  the  Florida  Keys,  where  it 
has  a  velocity  of  3  to  5  miles  per  hour,  diminishing  to  about 
1  mile  off  Hatteras  as  the  stream  expands.  The  walls  of  this 
stream  are  well  defined,  and  its  force  is  very  variable  both  in 
direction  and  intensity.     Its  bed  is  beyond  the  100-foot  contour. 

2.  A  cold  arctic  shore-current  in  an  opposite  direction,  forming 
along  the  river-wall  numerous  eddies,  and  along  the  coast  compli- 
cated currents. 

3.  These  streams  both  modified  by  tidal  wave  of  diurnal  vari- 
ations of  ebb  and  flow. 

4.  The  opposition  to  the  fresh- water  discharge  impounded  by 
the  ocean  in  lagoons,  bays,  sounds  and  estuaries,  resulting  in 
deposit  before  reaching  deep  water. 

5.  Force  of  winds  and  waves,  which  be  estimates  for  first  at 
50  lbs.  per  foot,  and  of  last  at  2  to  3  tons. 

He  refers  to  effects  of  wind  in  movement  of  sand  dunes  100  feet 
high  on  Carritade  beach,  the  direction  always  indicated  by  the 
steepest  side  under  the  lee  of  the  dune.  Galveston  and  Charleston 
are  quoted  to  illustrate  the  problematical  results   attendant   on 


426  HAEBOUK   STUDIES.  [Foreign 

low-water  training-jetties.  At  the  first,  after  eleven  years'  labour 
and  two  million  of  dollars  expenditure,  and  4^  miles  of  submerged 
jetties,  about  1  foot  has  been  gained,  the  depth  being  increased 
from  12  to  13  feet  at  low  water.  At  Charleston  the  result  is  still 
more  negative,  as  ^  foot  of  water  has  been  lost  to  navigation. 
These  so-called  "improvements"  were  commenced  in  1878  at  an 
estimated  expenditure  of  from  two  to  three  million  dollars.  From 
a  report  in  1884  the  sand  is  invariably  more  piled  up  on  the  sea 
sides  than  on  the  inner  sides  of  the  jetties,  and  the  effect  of  the 
flood  in  piling  up  sand  is  greater  than  the  ebb  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  jetties. 

"  Yet  it  is  proposed  to  build  a  half-tide  dyke  5  miles  long  at  the 
entrance  to  the  lower  bay  of  New  York  harbour,  and  so  create  a 
general  disturbance  of  all  the  channels  which  are  considered 
permanent  and  improving.  This  is  a  case  where  a  local  concen- 
tration of  forces  upon  some  one  outlet  would  be,  in  our  opinion, 
a  far  more  successful  treatment."  In  conclusion,  the  Author 
quotes  the  case  of  Cromarty  Firth,  where  at  50  feet  depth  the 
flood-velocities  appeared  to  be  more  than  doubled,  and  on  the  ebb 
nearly  as  at  surface,  as  showing  the  danger  of  trusting  implicitly 
to  surface  velocities. 

A  dyke  rising  to  half-tide  would,  it  is  suggested,  merely  result 
in  removal  of  crest  of  bar  to  seaward,  without  necessarily  pro- 
ducing a  better  channel,  and  if  only  built  to  low-water  level  the 
source  of  great  dangers. 

Not  daunted  by  the  previous  collapse  of  all  such  attempts  by 
Captain  Taylor,  Colonel  Parlby,  W.  H.  Smith  and  others  in  this 
country  during  the  last  half  century,  a  system  of  anchored, 
vertical,  flexible  deflectors  is  suggested  as  superior  to  submerged 
jetties. 

Trautwine  is  quoted  as  regards  amount  of  scour  produced  by 
contraction  caused  by  piers,  who  observes  that  anterior  to  erection 
of  obstruction  the  velocity  is  greatest  at  surface,  diminishing 
gradually  to  bottom,  but  when  a  pier,  &c,  is  built,  the  surface 
velocity  actually  becomes  least,  and  is  nearly  uniform  throughout 
entire  depth,  causing  a  much  greater  wearing-action  at  bottom 
than  is  generally  supposed,  and  rarely  adverted  to  by  authors. 
The  conclusion  that  the  removal  of  shingle  and  sand  from  the  bar 
will  require  the  development  of  a  bottom  velocity  of  about  3  miles 
per  hour,  and  that  the  concentration  of  the  ebb  stream  by  the 
suggested  deflectors  can  be  done  to  any  desired  extent. 

Finally,  these  floating  deflectors  are  proposed  for  the  Mississippi 
as  likely  to  produce  what  is  above  all  wanted,  viz.,  a  uniform 
velocity.  Of  this  river  it  is  said,  "  In  many  places  the  jetties, 
wing-dams,  dykes,  revetments,  &c,  have  worked  very  satisfac- 
torily, and  in  others  they  have  been  of  no  avail." 

"  The  proposed  deflectors,  it  is  believed,  will  accomplish  this 
result  (a  relatively  permanent  condition)  more  effectively  and 
cheaply  than  any  other  known  device,  thus  converting  what  may 
be  styled  a  horizontal  or  lateral  treatment  into  a  vertical  one,  and 


Abstracts.]  HAEBOUE  STUDIES.  427 

thereby  securing  the  full  effect  of  gravity  and  momentum  in 
regulating  the  discharge,  by  creating  and  maintaining  a  more 
nearly  uniform  velocity." 


Part  III. — Delaware  Breakwater  Harbour.1 

Three  hundred  miles  of  the  New  Jersey  shore  is  much  exposed, 
and  suffering  much  from  recent  storms,  and  the  only  available 
harbour  along  this  dangerous  stretch  of  shore  is  that  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Delaware  river.  The  breakwater  was  projected  prior  to 
1828,  and  its  construction  authorized  in  May  of  that  year,  when 
the  demands  were  insignificant  compared  with  requirements  of  to- 
day, and  its  capacity  then  greater  than  now,  due  to  subsequent 
shoaling. 

The  breakwater  was  based  on  the  Cherbourg  and  Plymouth 
experiences,  and  sections  will  be  found  in  our  Parliamentary  Blue 
Books  on  "  Harbours  of  Eefuge,"  a  voluminous  literature  of  its 
own.  First  load  of  stone  delivered  18th  April,  1829.  Length, 
2,558  feet  on  top,  "  extending  in  a  straight  line,  which,  if  produced, 
would  have  been  a  tangent  to  the  shore  of  the  Cape  at  the  time 
the  work  was  projected.  The  distance,  therefore,  was  about 
4,200  feet.  There  is  also  an  ice-breaker  1,359  feet  long,  making 
an  angle  of  140°  15'  with  the  line  of  the  breakwater,  which  would 
intersect  it  near  the  middle  if  prolonged.  Between  the  eastern  end 
of  ice-breaker  and  western  end  of  the  breakwater,  there  was  left  a 
gap  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile." 

Cross-sections. — The  same — viz.,  22  feet  on  top,  ICO  feet  at  base, 
and  14  feet  above  mean  low-water. 

Eifraf  of  stones  varying  from  £  to  7  tons  in  weight  was  de- 
posited between  1829  and  1839;  835,000  tons  =  400,000  cubic 
yards  in  place,  at  a  cost  of  $1,800,000 ;  but  the  real  completion 
extended  to  1869,  when  the  expenditure  amounted  to  $2,123,000. 

Effect  on  Harbour. — In  1828  the  24-feet  curve  was  £  mile  south- 
west, and  nearly  parallel  to  breakwater,  giving  "  ample  and  good 
anchorage." 

In  1879-1881  this  curve  wound  from  the  east  end  of  breakwater 
towards  the  Cape,  and  "  near  the  middle  of  the  harbour  there  are 
now  but  about  16  feet  of  water,  where  there  were  formerly 
27  or  28  feet." 

During  forty  years  the  Author  estimates  the  deposit  inside  the 
harbour  at  8,200,000  cubic  yards,  giving  an  average  of  205,000 
cubic  yards  per  annum. 

Taking  the  harbour  area  at  3,500,000  square  yards,  and  average 
depth  18  feet,  or  6  yards,  the  original  harbour-volume  was 
21,000,000  cubic  yards.  The  shoaling  thus  represents  38  per  cent, 
of  original  volume,  and  the  yearly  rate   over  entire  area  about 


1  This  paper  is  of  great  interest  as  giving  analogous  results  to  those  on  the 
Kentish  shore  in  Dover  Bay  produced  by  like  artificial  causes. — J.  B.  K. 


428  HAEBOUR   STUDIES.  [Foreign 

2 '16  inches  in  depth.  "  The  average  depth  of  shoaling  during  the 
forty  years  will  be  7*2  feet.  It  is  not  correct  to  assume  that  the 
deposits  occurred  at  this  average  rate,  however,  since  the  shoaling 
was  very  rapid  during  the  construction  of  the  works,  and  has  been 
more  gradual  since.  The  scour  from  the  southern  end  of  the 
breakwater  of  nearly  300,000  cubic  yards  represents  a  portion  of 
the  work  done  by  the  ebb  below  the  30  feet  curve.  It  is  the 
result  of  the  '  head,'  due  to  the  contraction  at  this  section." 

Plans  for  improvement — Necessity  of  remedial  measures  apparent 
before  completion. — The  closure  of  the  gap  between  the  ice-breaker 
and  the  breakwater  was  one  of  the  first  suggestions.  "  All  the 
reports  since  1836  recommended  either  the  closure  of  the  gap,  or 
its  protection  by  an  external  apron." 

As  regards  remedies,  the  Author  insists  "  that  no  structure 
should  be  permitted  which  creates  injurious  modifications  of  the 
currents."  The  problem  here  was  "  how  to  protect  vessels  from 
the  winds,  waves,  and  ice,  without  interfering  with  the  currents. 
As  the  winds  and  waves  generally  came  from  one  quarter,  and  the 
ice  and  currents  from  another,  it  was  apparently  separated  into 
these  two  factors,  and  the  result  was  the  two  isolated  barriers." 

"  The  principal  defect,  then,  in  the  plan  of  the  breakwater 
harbour  consisted  in  placing  the  ice-breakwater  athwart  the 
currents,  and  so  inducing  an  extensive  and  protracted  shoaling  of 
the  harbour." 

The  Author  suggests  its  removal,  and  its  substitution  by  floating 
ice-breakers. 

Tlie  Gap. — "  The  greatest  scour  in  the  entire  harbour  is  found  to 
be  during  the  last  two  quarters  of  the  flood-tide,  as  it  runs  into 
the  gap  past  the  north-west  end  of  the  breakwater.  The  result  is 
a  hole  on  the  outside,  just  under  the  end  of  the  breakwater,  reach- 
ing at  one  time  to  50  feet  in  depth,  and  a  bar  on  the  inside  with 
only  11  feet  of  water." 

Again  he  says — "  At  the  end  of  the  ice-breaker  is  found  another 
50  feet  hole,  most  of  the  material  from  which  has  gone  to  the  bar, 
extending  from  the  middle  of  this  barrier  to  the  11  feet  spot,  near 
the  north-west  corner  of  the  breakwater." 

He  concludes  the  gap  should  be  closed,  and  the  ice-breaker 
removed,  "  taking  the  material  already  at  hand,  and  dumping  it 
into  the  opening." 

He  describes  the  "  gorge,"  or  opening  between  the  east  end  of 
the  breakwater  and  the  shore,  the  distance  \  mile,  and  sectional 
area  as  57,168  square  feet;  in  relation  thereto  he  describes  two 
valleys  within  the  enclosed  harbour  area,  "  one  parallel  to  the 
shore,  the  other  near  the  jetty,  with  a  low,  flat  spur  between  them." 

He  subsequently  says — "  Here,  then,  is  an  instance  of  a  jetty 
placed  in  the  open  sea,  scouring  out  and  maintaining  a  channel  of 
over  30  feet  in  depth,  and  for  a  distance  of  more  than  3,000  feet. 
It  will  also  be  observed  that  the  eddies  formed  by  the  currents 
passing  the  ends  of  the  jetties  have  scoured  to  depths  of  between 
50  and  54  feet.     The  hole  in  New  York  harbour,  which  we  attri- 


Abstracts.]  HARBOUR   STUDIES.  429 

buted  to  eddy  action,  is  52  feet.  This  would  seem,  then,  to  be  the 
limit  of  such  scour  under  these  conditions  of  velocity  and  con- 
traction." 

He  attributes  the  deep  water  at  the  "  gorge  "  to  the  outset  ebb 
currents. 

Enclosing  the  Harbour. — A  close  structure  to  enclose  the  harbour 
at  its  upper  end  and  keep  out  sediment  would  exclude  the  con- 
servative tidal  currents ;  it  would  produce  a  current  and  scour  in 
the  portion  remaining  open,  and  on  completion  the  flood  and  ebb 
at  the  "  gorge  "  would  be  equal.  The  cost  of  enclosure  put  clown 
at  $1,500,000,  exclusive  of  dredging  ;  the  closure  of  the  "  gap  "  put 
at  $500,000  more— in  all,  $2,000,000,  exclusive  of  dredging.  The 
Author  suggests  the  transfer  of  sufficient  of  "  ice-breaker  "  to  fill 
up,  and  iron  caissons,  or  booms,  as  protection  from  ice,  opening  the 
harbour  to  ebb  scour,  and  "  could  be  materially  assisted  by  pro- 
j>erly  angulated,  temporary,  or  floating  jetties  and  deflectors." 

An  Act  of  Congress,  passed  2nd  August,  1882,  to  appropriate 
$125,000  "  to  commence  the  work  of  closing  the  gap,"  begun  soon 
after;  but  frequent  delays  and  official  changes,  and  the  Author 
estimates  that  at  the  rate  of  progress  and  expenditure  to  Mid- 
summer, 1885,  when  11,500  cubic  yards  of  mattresses  and  stone 
had  been  deposited,  or  11  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  that  the  cost 
would  mount  up  to  $503,300,  and  the  time  to  close  the  gap  to 
twenty-two  or  twenty-five  years.  He  adds — "  The  total  expendi- 
tures from  1829  to  30th  June,  1885,  have  been  $2,422,195,  and  the 
harbour  is  almost  useless  for  large  draught  vessels."  He  concludes 
with  some  caustic  reflections  on  "  the  present  method  of  doling  out 
the  Government  appropriations  piecemeal  for  every  creek,  river, 
pond,  lake,  or  harbour  which  may  be  considered  worthy  of 
attention." 

J.  B.  E. 


The  Ports  of  the  Channel  and  the  North  Sea. 

By  Eear-Admiral  Dumas- Yexce. 

(Revue  Maritime  et  Coloniale,  vol.  Ixxxix.,  1886,  p.  22,  4  plates 
and  8  woodcuts.) 

This  article,  which  forms  the  continuation  of  a  report  made  some 
years  ago,  relates  mainly  to  Dunkirk.  The  conclusions  of  the 
previous  report  are  first  given  in  full,  and  then  the  condition  and 
projects  for  the  improvement  of  Dunkirk  and  the  adjacent  ports 
are  considered.  The  previous  report  winds  up  by  advocating  the 
system  of  large  closed  harbours  in  which  the  entrances  are  main- 
tained by  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  on  the  principle  of  some 
English  harbours  referred  to.  This  is  the  system  which  is  being 
carried  out  at  Boulogne,  and  has  been  proposed  for  other  northern 
French  ports.  Any  deposits  of  silt  in  the  harbour  could  be  removed 
by   dredging.      Any  interference  with   the   alongshore   channel, 


430  POETS  OF  THE  CHANNEL  AND  THE  NOKTH  SEA.  [Foreign 

between  the  pier-heads  of  the  Dunkirk  jetties  and  the  sandbank 
beyond,  would  imperil  the  access  to  the  port ;  and  it  is  proposed 
that  a  large  outer  harbour  should  be  formed,  with  converging 
breakwaters  whose  extremities  would  not  project  beyond  the 
present  pier-heads.  Such  a  harbour  would  greatly  facilitate  the 
access  to  the  docks,  would  furnish  a  scouring-basin  for  maintaining 
the  entrance,  and  would  not  interfere  with  the  currents  in  the 
roadstead  outside. 

L.  V.  H. 


The  Improvement  of  Port  Empedocle  (Girgenti).     By  G.  Eossi. 

(Giornale  del  Genio  Civile,  1886,  p.  73.) 

The  town  of  Girgenti  lies  in  a  shallow  bay  facing  south-east 
and  south,  having  a  slight  promontory  on  the  south-west.  From 
this  a  mule  was  run  out  in  the  years  1749  to  1763.  This  mole  is 
of  the  shape  of  the  perimeter  of  a  half-hexagon,  projecting  towards 
the  south-east,  turning  then  to  south-west,  and  finally  to  the  east. 
Its  total  length  is  1,312  feet.  It  affords  protection  from  western 
and  southern  storms  to  an  area  of  from  12  to  15  acres  of  water, 
having  a  depth  of  10  to  13  feet. 

As  the  prevailing  winds  are  those  from  the  third  quadrant,  the 
design  of  the  mole  is  so  far  correct,  but  the  basin  is  open  towards 
the  east,  and  the  currents  soon  brought  an  accumulation  of  deposit 
which  reduced  the  depth.  For  many  years  dredging  operations 
were  carried  on.  An  opening  was  made  through  the  mole,  in 
the  hope  that  a  stream  of  water  driven  in  from  the  westward 
would  scour  away  the  deposits,  but  this  produced  no  good  results. 

The  port  has  since  1830  acquired  greatly  increased  importance, 
owing  to  the  great  development  of  the  sulphur  industry  in  the 
island.  The  tonnage  is  now — imports  23,000  tons,  exports  133,000 
tons.  For  many  years,  however,  the  condition  of  the  harbour  was 
very  inconvenient,  and  even  dangerous,  owing  principally  to  the 
silting  up,  and  the  problem  of  dealing  with  it  in  a  satisfactory 
manner  was  a  very  difficult  one.  The  shore,  both  to  the  east  and 
west,  is  constantly  undergoing  erosion  to  a  large  extent,  furnishing 
abundant  material  for  deposit,  which  is  shifted  backwards  and 
forwards  by  the  currents,  so  that,  in  whatever  direction  new  break- 
waters might  be  placed,  silting  up  during  their  construction  could 
hardly  be  prevented.  At  the  same  time  it  was  felt  that  the  port 
was  much  too  important  to  be  abandoned,  and  that  works  for  its 
improvement  must  be  undertaken. 

From  the  year  1830  various  proposals  were  discussed,  but  it  was 
not  till  18G7  that  new  works  were  actually  commenced.  It  was  then 
decided  to  construct  a  breakwater  to  the  eastward  of  that  already 
existing,  of  a  somewhat  similar  shape,  but  much  longer,  carried 
out  first  towards  the  south  to  some  distance  beyond  it,  then  bending 
first  towards  the  east,  and  then  for  a  short  distance  towards  the 


Abstracts.]         THE  IMPROVEMENT   OF   PORT   EMPEDOCLE.  431 

north  west,  so  as  to  form  with  the  old  work  an  enclosed  harbour 
with  an  entrance  protected  from  the  southern  and  south-western 
winds.  The  total  length  of  the  new  work  was  to  be  4,600  feet. 
Its  width  at  the  top  was  20  feet  at  the  shore  end,  and  33  feet  at 
the  far  end ;  its  height  above  sea-level  from  8  to  10  feet ;  slopes, 
1  to  1  on  the  harbour  side ;  1 J  to  1  to  2  to  1  on  the  seaward  side. 

Owing  to  disputes  with  the  contractors,  and  other  causes  of 
delay,  the  progress  of  the  works  was  very  slow.  Various  modifica- 
tions were  introduced  in  the  design  with  a  view  to  improving  the 
harbour.  In  1875  the  breakwater  was  so  far  advanced  as  to 
project  beyond  the  point  at  which  the  old  mole  protected  it 
from  the  force  of  the  west  and  south-west  winds,  and  the  result 
was  that  these  drove  the  sea  against  the  new  work  with  such 
violence  as  to  make  it  rebound  into  the  harbour  and  force  several 
ships  from  their  anchorage.  The  silting  up  also,  which  had  been 
arrested  during  the  progress  of  the  breakwater  up  to  this  point, 
now  recommenced.  These  effects  so  alarmed  those  interested  in 
the  shipping-trade  that  it  was  considered  advisable  to  stop  the 
works,  and  re-study  the  whole  question  of  the  harbour. 

The  result  of  the  new  investigations  was  that  the  work  already 
under  construction  was  to  be  prolonged  in  a  south-westerly 
direction,  and  a  second  breakwater  was  to  be  built,  starting  about 
650  feet  west  of  the  old  mole,  running  out  first  towards  the  south, 
then  towards  the  south-south-west,  till  it  slightly  overlapped  the 
other,  the  two  new  breakwaters  thus  enclosing  between  them  a 
harbour  of  considerable  size,  with  an  entrance,  facing  south-east, 
in  25  to  30  feet  of  water. 

The  objects  to  be  attained  by  these  works  were  : — 1st.  To  protect 
the  harbour  from  the  prevailing  winds  of  the  third  quadrant.  2nd. 
To  place  the  entrance  in  deep  water,  and  in  the  most  favourable 
condition  as  to  silting  up.  3rd.  To  afford  easy  entrance  to  ships. 
4th.  To  allow  the  waves,  when  driven  in  from  the  second  quadrant, 
to  flow  towards  a  part  of  the  harbour  not  required  for  shipping, 
and  to  expend  their  energy  upon  the  shallow  shore  opposite  the 
entrance,  and  avoid  all  danger  of  their  being  reflected  back  into 
the  harbour  proper.  5th.  To  allow  the  suspended  matter  brought 
by  the  waves  from  the  west  to  pass  freely  away  towards  the  east 
without  depositing  in  the  harbour.  6th.  As  far  as  is  consistent 
with  the  above  more  important  points,  to  allow  suspended  matter 
brought  from  the  east  to  pass  away  to  the  west.  The  works  have 
now  been  executed,  and  are  found  to  answer  the  purpose  for  which 
they  were  designed. 

The  slopes  given  to  the  breakwater  were  determined  from  obser- 
vations made  upon  the  works  previously  carried  out.  The  outer 
slope  from  the  top  of  the  wall  (8  feet  above  the  surface  of  the 
water),  to  the  depth  of  10  feet,  was  3  to  1,  and  from  that  depth  to 
the  bottom  2  to  1.  The  inner  slope  was  1^  to  1.  These  slopes 
were  varied  to  some  extent  according  to  the  direction  of  the  wall, 
so  that,  when  the  breakwater  faced  towards  the  south,  for  the 
upper  slope  on  the  outer  side  1^  to  1  was  found  sufficient,  and  1£ 


432  THE   niPEOYEHENT   OF   POET   EJIPEDOCLE.  [Foreign 

on  the  inner  side.  The  width  at  the  top  was  33  feet  at  a  height  of 
8  feet  above  the  water.  Four  rows  of  concrete  blocks  were  laid  at 
this  level,  the  blocks  (of  350  cubic  feet  each)  being  formed  in  situ, 
laid  as  headers,  the  spaces  between  them  being  filled  in  with  con- 
crete and  rubble. 

The  Author  then  describes  the  method  of  carrying  out  the 
works.  The  stone  was  quarried  from  a  neighbouring  hill,  and 
conveyed  on  a  line  of  railway  laid  down  for  the  purpose  on  a 
gradient  of  1  in  21.  The  loaded  wagons,  after  being  braked  down 
this  incline,  were  drawn  to  their  destination  by  engines  weighing 
15  tons,  and  drawn  back  to  the  quarries  by  the  same  engines. 
Three  systems  of  quarrying  were  adopted  :  the  first,  that  of  blast- 
ing large  masses  by  means  of  mines  charged  with  from  3,000  to 
10,000  lbs.  of  powder,  with  the  result  that  from  2  to  2*65  cubic 
metres  of  stone  were  got  per  kilogram  of  powder  used.  The  second 
method  was  that  of  drilling  2\  or  3-inch  holes  at  a  distance  of  30 
to  40  feet  from  the  face  of  the  rock,  to  a  depth  of  50  feet.  Chambers 
were  then  formed  at  the  lower  ends  of  these  holes,  by  exploding  in 
them  successive  charges  of  powder,  beginning  with  a  charge  of 
1  lb.,  followed  by  6,  25,  88,  and  330  lbs.  When  a  sufficient  cavity 
had  been  formed,  a  charge  of  about  3,000  lbs.  was  introduced,  and 
oreat  masses  of  rock  were  thus  blown  down.  The  cost  of  labour 
was  small,  and  from  3  to  4  cubic  metres  of  stone  were  obtained 
per  kilogram  of  powder.  Powder  was  used  in  preference  to  dyna- 
mite, as  it  was  found  more  statable  to  the  nature  of  the  rock.  In 
the  third  method  no  explosives  were  used ;  the  rock  was  cut  and 
got  out  by  means  of  picks,  wedges,  and  levers,  blocks  of  over  8  tons 
being  readily  obtained  with  very  little  waste. 

The  stone  was  all  delivered  on  to  the  breakwater  by  rail,  and  a 
statement  is  given  of  the  comparative  advantages  of  this  system 
and  of  that  of  carrying  it  out  in  boats. 

Throughout  the  progress  of  the  works,  delay  and  heavy  expendi- 
ture has  been  caused  by  litigation  between  the  authorities  and  the 
contractors,  and  the  latter  appear  always  to  have  got  the  best  of  it. 

W.  H.  T. 


Improvement  of  the  Bar  of  the  Senegal. 
By  —  Bouquet  de  la  Grye. 

(Comptes  rendus  de  l'Acadeniie  des  Sciences,  vol.  cii.,  1886,  p.  1420.) 

The  bar  of  the  Senegal  is  occasioned  by  the  river-water  meeting 
the  waves  from  the  ocean  ;  the  sand  brought  up  by  the  latter,  and 
carried  forward  by  a  current  from  the  north,  is  deposited  and 
forms  a  large  circular  bar  around  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The 
waves  break  upon  this,  rendering  the  navigation  always  difficult, 
and  sometimes  impossible,  from  November  to  May.  Ships  are 
often  delayed  for  two  months  before  being  able  to  enter  the  river. 
The  bar  of  the  Senegal  ceases  to  be  dangerous  during  the  summer 


Abstracts.]       IMPROVEMENT  OP  THE  BAR  OP  THE  SENEGAL.  433 

of  the  northern  hemisphere,  the  storms  then  occurring  but  seldom, 
and  lasting  for  a  short  time  only.  The  waves  coming  regularly 
during  our  winter  from  one  direction,  that  of  north-west,  and 
supporting,  so  to  speak,  the  mouth  of  the  river,  in  the  midst  of 
moving  sands,  turns  it  away  more  and  more  to  the  south,  com- 
pelling the  river  to  run  along  the  lee  shore  until  the  vis  viva  of 
the  ebb  tide,  which  constantly  diminishes,  becomes  inferior  to 
that  of  the  waves.  The  moutli  stops  up  from  the  deposit  of  sand 
from  the  outside,  the  level  of  the  water  inside  rises,  and  a  new 
opening  is  produced,  at  a  point  to  the  north  of  that  which  becomes 
closed,  and  frequently  12  to  15  miles  from  it.  The  oscillatory 
movement  recommences  slowly  from  north  to  south,  quickly  from 
south  to  north.  During  the  winter  season,  which  in  the  Senegal 
lasts  from  June  to  October,  the  river,  swollen  with  the  rains,  has 
its  water  loaded  with  mud,  the  bores  cease,  the  bar  flattens,  and 
resembles  more  that  of  the  mouth  of  the  Nile.  The  improvement 
of  such  a  condition  must  be  effected  in  two  stages.  In  the  first 
the  movements  which  have  carried  the  mouth  60  miles  away  from 
its  natural  position  must  be  prevented.  The  position  chosen  for 
the  new  entrance  should  correspond  with  the  theoretical  definition 
of  the  maximum  of  the  quantity  of  the  motion  of  the  ebb  tide,  and 
must  not  be  opposed  to  the  commercial  necessities  of  the  estab- 
lishments on  the  river.  The  form  of  the  work  is  given  by  this 
quantity  of  movement,  which  necessitates  the  adoption  for  the 
southern  jetty  of  a  radius  of  curvature  of  about  1^  mile.  When 
once  the  mouth  is  made  permanent,  there  will  be  a  great  improve- 
ment in  the  entrance  ;  but  the  exterior  bar,  which  has  been  pro- 
duced by  the  deposit  of  sand,  may  be  removed  by  directing  the 
ebb  tide  perpendicularly  against  the  waves  from  the  sea,  that  is, 
to  the  south-west,  constructing,  to  the  north  of  the  entrance,  a 
seabank  isolated  from  the  mainland.  The  radius  of  curvature  of 
this  external  jetty  will  also  be  1^  mile,  and  will  give  a  second 
portion 'of  the  "sinusoid"  traced  by  the  channel  of  the  river. 
Under  these  conditions  the  waves,  which  travel  from  north-west 
to  south-east,  carrying  with  them  the  sand  from  the  shore,  push 
the  sand  along  the  mainland,  where  it  will  accumulate  on  one 
side,  whilst  on  the  other  it  will  be  eaten  away  by  the  current  of 
the  ebb  tide.  The  inner  portions  of  the  beach,  being  incessantly 
dragged  away  along  the  concavity  of  the  northern  jetty,  will  be 
pushed  back  eventually  by  the  waves,  which  will  carry  them 
southward.  Under  these  conditions  no  deposit  will  form  near  the 
extremity  of  this  jetty,  and  there  will  be,  along  the  ships'  course, 
depth  compatible  with  the  flow  of  the  river. 

E.  F.  B. 


[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2   F 


434  EMBANKMENTS   ACEOSS  VALLEYS  LN   SICILY.  [Foreign 


The  Embankments  across  the  Paradise-  and  Grottarossa  Valleys 
in  Sicihj.     By  A.  Croci. 

(L'Ingegneria  Civile  e  le  Arti  industrial!,  1886,  p.  38.) 

In  a  former  Paper,1  a  general  description  was  given  of  the  works 
executed  upon  the  Sicilian  railways  in  dealing  with  ground  of  a 
very  treacherous  description.  The  present  article  gives  particulars 
of  the  application  of  the  principles  adopted  in  the  case  of  two 
lofty  embankments.  In  the  case  of  the  Paradiso  Valley  the 
ground  upon  which  the  embankment  was  constructed  slipped, 
while  in  that  of  the  Grottarossa  ravine  the  bank  itself  failed  after 
its  original  construction.  In  both  the  slipping  was  caused  by  the 
action  of  water  either  percolating  through  the  natural  ground  or 
soaking  into  the  earthwork  and  reducing  it  to  a  pulpy  condition. 
The  Paradiso  Valley,  where  crossed  by  the  railway,  is  about 
1,300  feet  wide,  the  bank  being  between  30  and  40  feet  high.  The 
ground  consists  of  chalky,  flinty  rock,  and  in  places  of  chalky  marl 
with  foraminifera.  The  bottom  is  clay  marl  of  the  upper  eocene 
formation.  For  a  depth  of  20  to  25  feet  it  is  very  pervious,  and  very 
compressible,  while  below  it  is  firm  and  compact.  The  first  move- 
ment took  place  when  the  culvert  passing  through  the  bank  was 
finished  and  a  part  of  the  earthwork  executed  to  formation  level. 
The  culvert  was  partly  destroyed,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the 
bank  was  carried  away  by  the  moving  ground.  A  series  of  trial- 
holes  showed  that  water  was  passing  over  the  surface  which  sepa- 
rates the  pervious  earth  from  the  more  compact  underlying 
stratum  of  marl.  Works  were  evidently  necessary  for  the  three- 
fold object  of  arresting  the  movement  of  the  upper  upon  the  lower 
stratum,  rendering  the  upper  layers  capable  of  resisting  the  pres- 
sure of  the  embankment,  and  partially  reconstructing  the  bank 
with  better  materials.  A  drain  was  cut  right  across  the  valley 
above  the  embankment.  "Where  its  depth  did  not  exceed  30  feet 
it  was  made  in  open  cutting  4  feet  wide.  A  masonry  culvert 
16  inches  square  was  built  at  the  bottom  and  the  whole  cutting 
filled  with  dry  stone.  At  greater  depths  (a  considerable  portion 
being  about  55  feet  deep)  shafts  were  made  at  intervals,  adits  were 
driven  from  shaft  to  shaft,  a  similar  culvert  was  built  along  them, 
and  a  quantity  of  dry  stone  was  filled  in  over  the  culvert  and  up 
to  the  top  of  the  shafts.  From  this  main  drain  four  transverse 
drains,  constructed  in  the  same  way,  were  carried  across  the  seat 
of  the  embankment,  discharging  at  a  considerable  distance  below 
it  into  the  valley.  All  these  drains  were  carried  down  into  the 
solid  ground  as  determined  by  the  trial  holes.  A  series  of  ten 
more  drains  were  cut  through  the  seat  at  various  angles,  dis- 
charging by  collecting  drains  into  the  main  stream. 

The  bank  itself  was  to  a  large  extent  reconstructed  with  selected 


Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  lxxv.  p.  313. 


Abstracts.]       EMBANKMENTS   ACKOSS   VALLEYS   IN   SICILY.  435 

materials,  and  the  slope  on  the  down-stream  side  was  formed  with 
four  benches,  the  lowest  30  feet  wide,  the  highest  5  feet.  A 
masonry  5  feet  culvert  passes  through  the  embankment,  and  a 
masonry  channel  is  prolonged  to  a  distance  of  more  than  150  feet 
beyond  the  toe  of  the  slope.  The  foundations  of  the  culvert  are 
carried  through  the  slipping  ground  down  to  the  solid,  and  three 
curtain  walls,  at  distances  of  about  55  feet  apart  in  the  line  of  the 
channel,  are  also  carried  down  to  the  solid.  Ditches  lined  with 
masonry  are  formed  along  the  foot  of  the  bank  on  both  sides.  The 
works  required  a  considerable  time  for  their  execution ;  the  first 
slips  occurred  in  the  autumn  of  1876,  and  the  works  were  not 
finished  till  February  1879.  During  their  construction  the  line 
was  carried  along  a  diversion,  which  was  so  injured  by  further 
slips  that  a  second  had  to  be  made,  long  timber  scaffoldings  being 
adopted  in  each  case. 

The  cost  of  the  work  is  given  as  :  for  the  culvert,  £3,900 ;  for 
the  diversions,  £3,000 ;  for  the  new  earthwork  in  the  embankment, 
excavations,  and  stonework  in  drains,  £17,500 ;  the  total  cost  being 
at  the  rate  of  about  £60  per  lineal  yard  of  line. 

The  Grottarossa  ravine  is  crossed  by  the  railway  on  an  embank- 
ment 650  feet  long  and  52  feet  high.  The  sides  and  bottom  of  the 
valley  are  formed  of  siliceous  limestone  of  the  miocene  period,  which 
has  been  exposed  by  the  denuding  action  of  water.  The  seat  of 
the  embankment  is,  therefore,  perfectly  stable,  and  capable  of 
resisting  the  pressure  upon  it.  In  constructing  the  bank,  the 
central  portion  was  made  up  of  clayey  material  run  out  from  the 
adjacent  cutting  in  wagons,  while  the  slopes  were  made  up  later 
on  of  rocky  detritus  from  the  foundations  of  a  station  at  the  other 
end  of  the  bank,  and  to  this  careless  method  of  construction  the 
failure  of  the  work  was  doubtless  due  to  a  considerable  extent. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  line  the  slopes  on  both  sides  of  the 
bank  began  to  slip  away.  A  section  is  given  showing  that  the 
lines  of  slip  on  each  side  coincided  very  nearly  with  a  cycloidal 
curve  formed  by  a  rolling  circle,  having  for  its  diameter  the  height 
of  the  bank,  and  for  origin  the  commencement  of  the  slip  at  its  top. 
In  repairing  the  work  the  material  which  had  slipped  was  cleared 
away,  massive  counterforts  of  dry  stone  standing  on  masonry  drains 
were  built  deep  into  the  solid  part  of  the  bank,  at  intervals  of 
30  or  40  feet ;  three  benches  were  formed  with  stone  drains  running 
along  them  on  one  side,  and  two  benches  on  the  other.  At  the 
foot  of  the  slope  on  each  side  a  ditch  lined  with  masonry  was 
formed.  The  cost  of  the  works  amounted  to  £30  per  lineal  yard 
of  embankment.  The  Author,  having  lately  revisited  the  works, 
found  them  in  excellent  condition. 

The  Paper  deals  also  with  the  general  subject  of  earthwork 
construction  in  treacherous  ground,  and  is  illustrated  by  a  number 
of  sections  of  the  work. 

W.  H.  T. 


2  f  2 


436     SEARCH  FOE  A  SUPPLY  OF  SPRING-WATER  FOR  BERLIN.     [Foreign 

On  the  Results  obtained  in  seeking  for  a  Supply  of  Pure  Subsoil 
Water  for  Berlin.1    By  Professor  Dr.  Finkener. 

'Four  trial-wells  were  sunk  near  Berlin,  denoted  as  A,  B,  C,  and  D. 
The  water  when  drawn  was  clear  and  colourless,  hut  on  standing 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  samples  manifested  a  whitish  opal- 
escence, and  in  A,  D,  and  B,  a  reddish  deposit  was  formed.  A  depth 
of  10  inches  of  the  water  from  C  was  found  to  impart  a  cloudy- 
whiteness  to  the  bottom  of  a  glass  vessel.  Corresponding  with 
these  appearances  the  beds  of  the  watercourses  fed  by  A,  D,  and  B, 
were  of  a  reddish  colour,  which  was  not  the  case  with  that  from  C. 
The  water  from  A  was  palatable ;  B  and  D  when  freshly  pumped 
had  a  taste  of  iron,  and  were  insipid ;  the  insipidity  of  C  was  less 
marked.  Analyses  of  each  sample  are  set  forth  in  a  Table,  and 
the  Author  compares  them  with  the  water  from  the  Spree  and  the 
Havel.  After  long  continued  pumping  the  percentage  of  mineral 
matters  in  A,  C,  and  D,  increased ;  in  the  case  of  B  it  sank  at  first, 
but  subsequently  remained  constant.  The  chlorine  increased  in 
A  and  D,  sank  in  B,  and  remained  constant  in  C.  The  amount  of 
lime  remained  constant  in  A,  became  diminished  at  first  in  B,  but 
was  afterwards  constant,  and  rose  in  C  and  D.  Iron  increased  in 
A  and  C,  but  sank  in  B  and  D.  Silicic  acid  rose  in  A  and  C,  but 
decreased  in  B  and  D.  Sulphuric  acid  increased  in  A  and  C,  but 
remained  constant  in  B  and  D.  The  oxygen  became  augmented 
in  B  and  C,  but  rose  and  sank  again  in  D,  fell  at  first  in  A,  and 
then  increased  in  volume.  As  the  result  of  the  continuous  pumping 
for  three  months,  all  the  water  became  more  or  less  changed  in 
character,  but  the  changes  were  not  uniform.  The  Author  dis- 
cusses exhaustively  the  movements  of  wrater  through  homogeneous 
sand,  from  one  confined  space  to  another ;  the  movements  of  water 
in  natural  soil ;  the  movements  of  water  towards  a  spring  or  well 
in  uniform  strata,  and  through  strata  of  variable  character.  The 
chemical  changes  which  water  undergoes  in  its  passage  through 
the  soil  are  described,  and  it  is  shown  that  rain-water  entering 
the  ground  with  6  cubic  centimetres  of  oxygen  to  the  litre  is- 
gradually  deprived  of  its  oxygen  by  the  decaying  vegetable  matters 
in  the  superficial  layers  of  soil,  and  absorbs  carbonic  acid  gas.  It 
is  thus  enabled  to  attack  the  debris  of  the  silicates,  and  dissolves 
lime,  alkalies,  and  also  silicic  acid,  and  with  its  still  remaining 
oxygen  converts  the  protoxide  of  iron  into  peroxide.  As  it  sinks 
lower  into  the  soil  it  loses  all  its  oxygen,  and  can  now  dissolve 
protoxide  of  iron  from  the  silicates ;  and  if  it  still  contains  organic 
matter  in  solution  it  may  convert  the  peroxide  of  iron  into 
protoxide.  The  richer  it  is  in  carbonic  acid  the  more  energetically 
does  it  lay  hold  on  the  silicates.  The  carbonic  acid  is  of  course 
derived  from  the  oxidisation  of  organic  matters,  and  as  these  also 
bring  iron  into  solution  it  naturally  follows  that  water  which  has 


The  original  is  in  the  Library  of  the  Inst.  C.E. 


Abstracts.]   SEARCH  FOE  A  SUPPLY  OF  SPRING-WATER  FOR  BERLIN.    437 

traversed  a  soil  rich,  in  humus  yields  for  both  reasons  a  liquid 
richer  in  the  protoxide  of  iron  than  that  which  has  passed  through 
a  sterile  soil.  Moreover,  the  sulphate  of  lime  dissolved  in  the  water 
is  deprived  of  part  of  its  oxygen,  and  is  converted  into  sulphide 
of  calcium,  and  this  again  is  broken  up  by  the  carbonic  acid,  and 
is  converted  into  carbonate  of  lime  and  sulphuretted  hydrogen. 
But  this  latter  state  of  things  can  only  exist  in  water  which  is  no 
longer  in  contact  with  strata  containing  hydra  ted  peroxide  of  iron. 
The  changes  brought  about  in  the  circulation  of  the  water  in  a 
given  district  caused  by  pumping  are  discussed ;  and  it  is  stated 
in  conclusion  that  a  selected  area  only  yields  a  suitable  drinking 
water  when  the  trial-well  becomes  filled  from  the  outset  with 
usable  water.  It  is  likewise  indispensable  that  the  water  should 
be  free  from  the  protoxide  of  iron. 

G.  E.  E. 


Report  on  the  Search  for  a  Pure  Supply  of  Spring-water1  for 
Berlin.    By  C.  Piefke. 

It  having' been  resolved  by  a  commission,  appointed  by  the 
Municipal  Council  of  Berlin,  to  carry  out  a  series  of  experiments 
in  the  tract  of  country  between  the  Spree  and  the  Dahme,  in  order 
to  ascertain  the  possibility  of  procuring  thence  a  supply  of  drinking 
water  for  the  City  of  Berlin,  the  author  details  the  results  of  these 
trials,  made  during  the  course  of  the  year  1884.  By  reference  to 
a  coloured  map  the  position  of  the  various  trial-holes  and  sinkings 
is  explained.  The  total  length  of  the  various  borings  was  799 
metres,  divided  amongst  twelve  wells,  and  fifty-seven  stand-pipes 
for  observing  the  level  of  the  subsoil  water.  In  the  course  of  the 
inquiry  an  accurate  survey  was  made  of  the  stratification  and  of 
the  character  of  the  different  beds  of  sand  passed  through.  The 
mechanical  properties  of  the  sand  are  considered  at  great  length, 
and  the  fluctuations  in  the  level  of  the  subsoil  water,  as  also  its 
chemical  composition,  and  the  nature  of  the  impurities  therein, 
are  set  forth  in  detail. 

The  bore-holes  in  the  alluvial  and  diluvial  soil  of  the  valley  of 
the  Spree  and  of  the  Dahme  never  exceeded  25  metres  in  depth. 
Over  nearly  the  entire  area,  at  a  depth  of  about  10  metres  below 
the  bed  of  the  valley,  is  a  layer  of  gravel,  situated  between  the 
coarse  and  the  fine-grained  sand,  which  varies  but  little  in  thick- 
ness, and  forms  the  water-bearing  stratum  of  the  district. 
Between  4  and  5  per  cent,  of  the  area  was  covered  with  peat  bogs 
or  morass.  Analyses  are  given  of  the  different  beds  of  sand,  and 
a  special  series  of  experiments  was  carried  on  to  test  the  relative 
proportions  of  the  different  oxides  of  iron  present  in  the  soil  at 
various  depths.    It  was  found  that  in  nearly  all  cases  the  quantity 


The  original  is  in  the  Library  of  the  Inst.  C.E. 


438     SEAECH  FOR  A  SUPPLY  OF  SPRING- WATER  FOR  BERLIN.    [Foreign 

of  peroxide  of  iron  gradually  decreased  with  the  depth  until  it 
disappeared,  while  the  protoxide  of  iron  increases  in  like  propor- 
tion ;  and  the  Author  points  out  that  the  transition  of  the  iron 
from  the  state  of  peroxide  to  protoxide  marked  the  gradual  ex- 
haustion of  the  oxygen  in  the  subsoil  water,  until  the  depth  is 
reached  to  which  no  oxygen  can  penetrate.  In  the  upper  strata 
the  sand  is  ruddy  in  colour,  and  the  particles  of  quartz,  when  seen 
under  the  magnifying  glass,  appear  dull  and  coated  with  a  pig- 
ment. Below  the  border  line  the  sand  grains  are  gray  in  colour, 
and  this  change  represents  approximately  the  limits  of  the  oxygen- 
zone  throughout  the  district.  Kext  in  point  of  importance,  from  a 
hydro-geological  point  of  view,  is  the  contents  of  the  sand-layers 
in  lime,  which  in  the  diluvial  sand  varies  from  2  to  3  per  cent. 
The  percentages  of  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  sand  at  various  depths 
are  set  forth  in  a  Table.  Traces  of  the  gradual  impoverishment 
of  the  soil  in  lime,  as  the  beds  approach  the  surface,  are  clearly 
seen  in  the  analyses.  The  organic  matters  found  in  the  soil  have 
a  somewhat  important  bearing  also  on  the  question. 

In  discussing  the  mechanical  properties  of  the  sand-layers,  the 
Author  shows  the  percentage  of  each  layer  in  grains  of  T^  milli- 
metre and  upwards  in  diameter,  varying  from  3  per  cent,  of  the 
finest  grains  in  the  gravel  to  80  per  cent,  in  the  very  fine  sand. 
The  circulation  of  the  subsoil  water  at  different  depths  is  discussed, 
and  the  direction  and  speed  of  the  underground  currents,  and  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  water  moves  at  various  depths,  and  in 
the  different  kinds  of  sand  encountered  in  the  numerous  trial  wells, 
are  exhaustively  dealt  with.  The  available  proportion  of  the 
rainfall  of  the  district  is  examined,  and  the  Author  sums  up  in 
conclusion  the  qualities  peculiar  to  the  water  of  the  locality  as 
follows :  (1)  A  variable  but  never  absent  percentage  of  iron  in  an 
unstable  form,  and  one  readily  decomposed  on  exposure  to  the  air. 
This  gives  rise  to  the  turbidity  of  the  water  after  it  is  drawn, 
and  while  it  may  often  occasion  a  scarcely  perceptible  blueish 
opalescence,  at  other  times  it  gives  rise  to  the  separation  of  copious 
brownish  flakes.  All  surfaces  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  water 
become  sooner  or  later  coated  with  an  incrustation.  (2)  Where 
iron  is  abundant  there  is  associated  with  it,  as  a  rule,  a  considerable 
quantity  of  dissolved  organic  matter,  due  to  the  excess  of  im- 
purities in  the  soil  beyond  its  power  of  oxidization.  (3)  Coincident 
with  the  above  conditions  is  the  presence  of  a  notable  quantity  of 
sulphuretted  hydrogen,  in  many  cases  scarcely  perceptible  to  the 
sense  of  smell,  though  in  others  sufficient  to  cause  the  water  to 
to  be  offensive.  (4)  In  the  best  samples  of  water  there  is  a 
marked  absence  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  in  the  worst  samples 
there  is  an  excess  of  this  gas.  These  results  the  Author  considers 
to  be  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  mineral  constituents  of  the  soil, 
and  the  character  of  the  peaty  matters  present  in  certain  districts. 
It  would  be  impossible,  except  by  chemical  processes,  to  free  the 
water  from  the  above-named  impurities. 

G.  E.  E. 


Abstracts.]  THE   SPONGILLA   IN   MAIN   WATER-PIPES.  439 

The  Spongilla  in  Main  Water-Pipes.    By  Desmond  Fitzgerald. 

(Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  1886,  p.  337.) 

Passing  by,  meantime,  the  question  of  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  spongilla  in  lakes,  reservoirs,  &c.,  the  writer  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  of  the  growth  of  the  spongilla  lacustris  in  the 
pipes  of  a  water-system.  When  the  sponge  is  present  in  the 
sources  of  supply,  pieces  of  it  find  their  way  into  the  pipes.  These, 
decaying,  give  an  offensive  cucumber-  or  fishy-taste  to  the  water. 
The  sponge  is  really  an  animal,  and  lays  eggs,  which  float  down 
with  the  water,  and  attach  themselves  in  large  quantities  to  the 
interior  surfaces  of  the  pipes.  The  eggs  mass  themselves  in 
traceries  like  lacework.  Sponge  is  brought  forth,  and  grows  in 
circular  patches  of  green.  Large  mains,  under  a  pressure  of 
100  feet,  have  been  filled  with  offensive  masses  of  sponge  closely 
packed  between  and  around  the  tubercles.  Flushing  does  not 
remove  this  growth,  and  it  results  in  an  increase  of  the  taste. 
Scrapers  or  wire-brushes  are  necessary. 

D.  K.  C. 


Breyer's  Micro-Membrane  Filter.     By  Dr.  F.  Bene. 

(Gesvmdheits-Ingenieur,  1886,  p.  419.) 

Additional  particulars  are  given  respecting  this  filter.1  The 
construction  of  the  gratings  on  which  the  sheets  of  filtering 
material  rest  is  explained  by  reference  to  illustrations.  These 
gratings  are  stamped  out  of  sheet  brass,  and  are  then  nickel-plated. 
They  are  prepared  in  duplicate,  and  are  soldered  together  so  as  to 
preserve  a  small  space  between  them,  having  outlet-pipes  on  either 
edge.  Sheets  of  fine  wire-gauze  are  then  attached  to  the  exterior 
of  the  gratings,  to  serve  as  supports  to  the  filter-sheets.  Upon 
these  gauzes  the  filter-sheets  are  stuck  by  means  of  a  solution  of 
shellac  in  spirits-of-wine,  or  caoutchouc  dissolved  in  benzine.  The 
preparation  of  the  sheets,  which  requires  great  care,  is  explained  in 
detail.  For  this  purpose  the  best  glossy,  fibrous  asbestos  is  first 
reduced  to  a  fine  powder.  This  powder  is  then  made  into  a  thin 
slip  with  water  and  crystalline  carbonate  of  lime,  and  is  again 
ground  in  a  special  mill.  The  lime  is  subsequently  dissolved  out 
by  means  of  hydrochloric  acid,  in  consequence  of  which  treatment 
a  still  further  separation  of  the  particles  of  asbestos  is  effected,  and 
the  mass  is  then  carefully  washed.  An  illustration  shows  the 
extreme  minuteness  of  the  fibres  of  asbestos  thus  treated,  as  com- 
pared with  silk,  spider's   web,  and   spun-glass,   each  multiplied 


Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lsxxv.  p.  -170. 


440  BEEYEr's   MICRO-MEMBRANE   FILTER.  [Foreign 

1,000  diameters.  This  emulsion  of  asbestos  is  formed  into  thin 
leaves  by  suspending  it  in  a  vessel  of  water,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  is  a  sheet  of  fine  tulle,  strained  over  a  wire  gauze  in  a 
movable  metal  framework.  The  water  is  allowed  to  flow  away, 
through  an  orifice  at  the  bottom  of  the  vessel,  with  a  suction 
varying  from  1  to  10  metres.  When  the  leaf  becomes  of  the 
proper  thickness,  owing  to  the  deposit  upon  it  of  asbestos  particles, 
it  is  lifted  out  on  the  gauze  and  dried  at  150°  Centigrade.  The 
tulle  then  enables  it  to  be  taken  off  the  wire-gauze,  after  which  it 
is  cut  up  into  sheets  of  the  proper  size. 

The  filter-plates  thus  formed  are  finally  fastened,  tulle  down- 
wards, against  the  wire-gauze  on  the  gratings.  Illustrations  are 
given  to  show  each  process.  Special  arrangements  of  the  apparatus 
have  been  devised  for  the  use  of  troops,  tourists,  &c,  also  for  appli- 
cation on  a  large  scale,  for  which  latter  purpose  several  series  of 
gratings  are  fixed  side-by-side  in  a  tank,  the  exit-pipes  from  each 
chamber  being  led  into  a  delivery-pipe  common  to  all.  Breyer 
can  in  this  way  prepare  a  filter  capable  of  yielding  30,000  litres  of 
water  per  hour.  Filters  are  also  furnished,  which  can  be  used 
under  a  high  pressure  such  as  occurs  in  an  ordinary  town-supply. 
These  have  a  slightly  modified  arrangement  of  the  filter-chamber. 

G.  E.  K. 


Calculation  of  the  Profile  of  Masonry  Reservoir-Dams.1 
By  —  Hetier. 

(Annales  des  Ponts  et  Chaussees,  Gth  series,  vol.  si.,  1886,  p.  615,  9  woodcuts.) 

In  a  recent  article,  the  Author  pointed  out  the  necessity  of 
considering  the  pressures  in  the  oblique  sections  of  retaining- walls, 
for  which  empirical  methods  of  determination  were  given  ;2  and 
the  present  article  supplements  the  preceding  one  by  furnishing  a 
method  of  calculating  the  exact  profile  of  a  reservoir-dam,  with 
the  inner  face  vertical,  by  considering  oblique  sections  of  maximum 
pressure.  After  a  careful  analytical  investigation  of  the  question 
by  the  aid  of  diagrams,  the  following  conclusions  are  arrived  at. 
As  the  smallest  fissure  in  a  masonry  reservoir-dam  is  dangerous, 
no  tensional  strains  should  be  admissible ;  and  for  dams  not 
exceeding  115  feet  in  height,  the  profile  may  be  the  curve  of  equal 
nullity  of  tension  determined  by  horizontal  sections.  For  large 
dams  of  greater  height,  the  pressures  in  oblique  sections  must  be 
taken  into  consideration  ;  and  in  the  case  of  a  vertical  inner  face, 
the  outer  profile  may  be  determined  by  the  method  given  in  the 
article.  A  section  of  a  special  example  of  dam  investigated,  where 
the  head  of  water  is  164  feet,  the  tension  nil,  the  greatest  pressure 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lxxxiv.  p.  458. 

2  Annales  des  Pouts  et  Chausse'es,  Gth  series,  vol.  ix.  p.  795. 


Abstracts.]  PROFILE    OF   MASONRY   RESERVOIR-DAMS.  441 

7-4  tons  per  square  foot,  and  the  -weight  of  the  masonry  li  tons 
per  cubic  yard,  shows  to  what  extent  the  profile  calculated  from 
oblique  sections  of  maximum  pressure  differs  from  the  profile 
determined  by  horizontal  sections.  On  the  inner  face,  there  is 
neither  pressure  nor  tension  down  to  a  depth  of  131  feet  below  the 
water-level;  but  beyond  this  depth,  the  masonry  is  exposed  to 
slight  pressures.  On  the  outer  face,  the  pressure  increases  down 
to  83jj  feet  below  the  water-level  of  the  reservoir,  where  it  attains 
7  •  4  tons  per  square  foot,  and,  with  the  calculated  profile,  continues 
constant  down  to  the  bottom.  The  outer  face,  however,  of  the 
dam,  whose  profile  is  determined  by  horizontal  sections,  is  exposed 
to  greater  pressures  below  the  83^  feet,  for  its  width  is  less  beyond 
this  point  than  the  calculated  section,  amounting  to  a  maximum 
reduction  in  width  of  about  14  feet,  out  of  a  total  width  of  99  feet 
in  the  calculated  section,  at  121J  feet  below  the  water-level  of  the 
reservoir,  and  diminishing  again  to  a  difference  of  only  about 
5  feet,  out  of  a  total  width  of  129|  feet  at  the  bottom,  164  feet 
below  the  water-level. 

L.  V.  H. 


TJie  Be-Ferrari-Galliera  Aqueduct  at  Genoa. 

By  L.  MAZZUOLI,  Engineer. 

(Annali  di  Agricoltura  1885,  Florence  18S3,  p.  118.) 

By  the  completion  of  the  De-Ferrari  aqueduct,  Genoa  not  only 
receives  an  additional  supply  of  water,  but  a  large  amount  of 
motive  power  is  now  available  in  the  valley  of  the  Polcevera  for 
manufacturing  purposes.  The  supply  for  this  aqueduct  is  obtained 
from  a  large  reservoir  which  has  been  constructed  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  Gorzente,  a  torrent  the  waters  of  which,  flowiDg  into 
the  Orba  and  Bormida,  ultimately  reach  the  Po.  This  reservoir 
was  formed  by  throwing  a  masonry  dam,  150  metres  (492  feet) 
long;  30  metres  (98-42  feet)  thick  at  base;  and  7  metres  (22-97 
feet)  at  top,  across  the  valley.  The  geological  formation  of  this 
district  belongs  to  the  lower  trias,  the  site  of  the  reservoir  being 
serpentine.  The  artificial  lake  so  formed  covers  an  area  of 
262,000  square  metres  (64-71  acres),  the  top-water  level  being 
650  metres  (2,132  feet)  above  the  sea.  Its  available  capacity  is 
2,835,000  cubic  metres  (100,120,860  cubic  feet),  and  the  area  of 
the  natural  catchwater  basin  by  which  it  is  supplied  is  17,687,500 
square  metres  (4,368*81  acres).  A  tunnel  driven  at  a  depth  of 
20  metres  (65-61  feet)  below  toji-level  serves  as  outlet  to  the 
reservoir,  and  passes  under  the  Apennines  in  a  south-easterly 
direction  for  a  distance  of  2,283  metres  (7,488  ■  24  feet).  In  making 
this  tunnel  a  considerable  quantity  of  water  was  met  with,  and 
which,  now  considerably  diminished,  still  yields  about  50  litres 
(11  gallons)  per  second.    From  the  south-east  end  of  the  tunnel  the 


442  THE  DE-FERRAEI-GALLIERA  AQUEDUCT  AT  GENOA.      [Foreign 

"water  is  conveyed  to  Genoa  by  a  line  of  cast-iron  mains  20  kilo- 
metres (12*43  miles)  in  length,  and  60  centimetres  (23 '62  inches) 
in  diameter.  The  thickness  of  these  pipes  varies  from  0*016  to 
0*032  metre  (0*63  to  1*26  inch),  and  are  subject  to  a  maximum 
pressure  due  to  a  head  of  136  metres  (446  feet),  which  can 
eventually  be  increased  to  250  metres  (820  feet).  The  maximum 
discharge  of  this  aqueduct  is  375  litres  per  second  (82  *  5  gallons). 

P.  L.  N.  F. 


The  Sewerage  and  Irrigation  Worlcs  of  Berlin  for  the  year 
ending  the  olst  of  March,  1885. 

(Deutsche  Vierteljahrsschrift  far  offentliche  Gesundheitspflege,  1886, 
p.  255.) 

The  record  of  the  further  progress  of  these  works  shows  that 
two  thousand  and  six  additional  house-connections  have  been  made, 
and  the  number  of  inhabited  areas  drained  into  the  various  systems 
is  now  fourteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-one.  In  the 
Eadial  Systems  I.  to  V.,  the  total  volume  of  sewage-water  for  the 
twelve  months  was  32,484,783  cubic  metres,  or  a  daily  volume  of 
89,000  cubic  metres,  equivalent  to  100*28  litres  (22  gallons)  per 
head  of  the  contributory  population.  The  working  expenses  of  the 
interception  system  attained  a  total  of  594,903  marks  (£29,745), 
distributed  as  follows  : — 

Marks. 

General  management 34,057 

Pumpiug-stations 346,344 

Street-mains  and  house-connections.     .     .     214,502 


Total    ....    Marks  594,903 


Of  the  total  area  of  land  acquired  for  irrigation-purposes  for 
Eadial  Systems  I.  to  VII.,  amounting  to  4,453  hectares,  3,156 
hectares  or  70*9  per  cent.,  have  been  prepared  for  irrigation,  and 
2,252  hectares  of  this  latter  surface,  equal  to  71*3  per  cent.,  have 
been  systematically  drained. 

An  analysis  of  the  various  crops  grown  on  the  farms  is  given, 
among  which  cereals  were  raised  on  1414*68  hectares,  and  1230*91 
hectares  were  allotted  to  meadow-land.  The  entire  area  of  the 
various  properties  round  Berlin  devoted  to  the  treatment  of  the 
sewage-water  is  5374*49  hectares ;  of  which  3142  *  98  hectares  have 
been  prepared  for  irrigation,  and  1469  *  62  hectares  are  cultivated 
in  the  ordinary  way.  The  results  of  the  sales  of  produce  from  the 
meadows,  garden-plots,  and  reservoirs  are  given  in  detail.  The' 
weight  of  grass  has  in  all  cases  exceeded  that  of  the  previous 
year,  and  ranged  from  15*27  centners  per  are  on  the  Falkenberg 
farm,  to  9*71  centners  per  are  at  Heinersdorf.  In  the  garden-plots 
hemp  and  chicory  were  grown  to  a  large  extent,  also  beetroot 


Abstracts.]     SEWERAGE  AND  IRRIGATION-WORKS  OF  BERLEST.  443 

and  market-garden  produce.  The  area  of  the  reservoirs  has  been 
considerably  extended,  and  crops  of  hemp,  rye,  wheat,  beet,  &c, 
have  been  grown  on  them  with  fair  profit.  The  cost  of  the  irriga- 
tion-works are  set  forth  as  follows  : — 

Marks. 
Keceipts  from  the  irrigated  areas  .     .     1 ,  G08 ,  310  •  17 

Expenses  of  working     .      .      .      .      .  1,662,684-87 

Sinking  fund 165,264-00 

Interest  on  capital 366,226-97 

Unforeseen  expenses 8 ,  836 '  52 

Marks  2,203,012-36 

Excess  of  outlay  on  receipts  .      .      .      .     594,702-19  (£29,735) 

The  gross  receipts  and  expenditure  upon  the  entire  outlay  for 
drainage  and  sewage  disposal,  amounting  to  about  04  millions  of 
marks,  are  thus  stated  : — 

Marks. 

Eeceipts 3,292,341-93 

Expenditure 5,067,672-79 

Making  the  year's  cost  .      .      Marks    1, 775, 330 -S6  (£88,766) 

The  chemical  investigation  of  the  sub-soil  drainage  from  the 
irrigation-works  to  the  south  of  Berlin,  has  been  undertaken  by 
Dr.  Salkowski,  and  out  of  nineteen  sets  of  samples  examined  by 
him,  all  but  one  complied  with  the  requisite  conditions,  as  respect 
purification,  and  demonstrated  that  the  process  had  been  perfectly 
satisfactory.  The  effluent  from  the  reservoirs  was  again  this  year 
open  to  objection  in  point  of  quality.  Samples  from  the  areas  to 
the  north  of  Berlin  have  been  regularly  tested,  and  the  results, 
though  inferior  in  point  of  purity  to  those  on  the  south  of  the 
city,  are  considered  favourable.  The  health  of  the  population  of 
the  district  under  irrigation  has  been  very  good;  among  the  775 
men,  277  women,  and  414  children,  there  were  412  cases  of  illness, 
and  23  deaths.  The  death-rate  of  15*7  per  thousand  was  thus 
little  more  than  half  that  of  Berlin,  which  amounted  to  26*5  per 
thousand  for  the  year  1884. 

(jr.    E.    R. 


Disinfecting  Stoves.     By  O.  Courtois-Suffit. 

(Nouvelles  Annales  de  la  Construction,  1886,  p.  97.) 

Whatever  theory  may  be  propounded  with  respect  to  the  manner 
in  which  contagious  diseases  are  propagated,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  fact  that  the  clothes  and  linen  soiled  by  the  patient  con- 
tain numerous  sources  of  infection,  and  it  becomes  important  to 
public  authorities  to  be  in  possession  of  methods  of  disinfection 
capable  of  destroying  all  possible  germs  and  virus  in  any  objects 


444  DISINFECTING-STOVES.  [Foreign 

requiring  to  be  thus  dealt  with,  arid  to  "be  able  to  do  so  without 
injury  to  the  linen.     Though  chemical  processes  might  be  adopted 
in  certain  cases,  they  would  not,  for  such  a  purpose  as  this,  be 
equally  efficacious  as  heat  applied  for  a  sufficient  time  and  under 
proper  precautions.     Numerous   systems   have  been  proposed   in 
which  beat  is  employed  for  this  purpose,  and  the  Author  shows 
how  the}7  have  in  various  ways  failed  to  accomplish  the  object  in 
view.     Nothing  has  been  so  successful  as  high-pressure  steam,  and 
the  Author  states  that  some  experiments  have  been  recently  con- 
ducted by  a  scientific  commission,  appointed  by  the  French  Govern- 
ment sanitary  authorities,  with  the  stoves  designed  by  the  firm  of 
Geneste  and  Herscher,  of  Paris.     These  experiments  were  supple- 
mented by  others  conducted  in  the  laboratory  of  Mr.  Pasteur.     The 
Commission  reported  that,  "  The  stove  supplied  with  high-pressure 
moist  steam  (vapeur  humide),  manufactured  by  Messrs.  Geneste  and 
Herscher,  of  Paris,  is  an  excellent  disinfecting  apparatus,  and  it  is 
only  necessary  to  raise  the  temperature  in  this  stove  to  106°  Centi- 
grade (which  can  readily  be  done),  in  order  to  destroy  effectually 
every  pathogenic  germ,  even  in  the  centre   of  a  mattress ;  it  is 
worthy  of  the  utmost  confidence,  and   its   use   is   recommended 
wherever  it  is  possible  to  set  -it  in  operation."     By  reference  to 
diagrams,   the   construction   of  this   apparatus   is   explained.     It 
consists  of  a  wrought-iron  cylinder,  2-25  metres  in  length  and 
1  •  3  metre  in  diameter,  with  special  arrangements  for  the  genera- 
tion, in  a  detached  boiler,  of  the  supply  of  steam,  as  also  for  the 
introduction  and  removal  of  the  linen  to  be  treated.     The  working 
of  the  disinfecting  process  is   explained ;    the  time  required  for 
the  disinfection  of  a  bulky  substance,  such  as  a  mattress,  is  fifteen 
minutes.      In   addition   to   this,  twenty  minutes   suffice   for   the 
subsequent  dessication,  and  a  few  minutes  are  needed  for  putting 
in  and  taking  the  things  out  of  the  stove.     The  drying  is  done  in 
the  stove  itself  by  simply  opening  the  door  of  the  chamber. 

G.  E.  E. 


Frager's  Water-Meter.    By  Colonel  Gotjlier., 

(Bulletin  de  la  Societc  d'Eacouragement,  1886,  p.  11G.) 

The  water-meters,  on  Frager's  system,  constructed  by  Mr.  Charles 
Michel,  are  on  the  positive  principle  of  direct  measurement ;  two 
vertical  cylinders  side  by  side  with  reciprocating  pistons.  The 
pistons,  one  to  each  cylinder,  have  no  rods,  and  are  made  specially 
deep  enough  to  guide  themselves.  They  are  fitted  each  with  two 
washers  or  disks  of  india-rubber  in  contact,  the  free  edges  of 
which  spread  upwards  and  downwards  against  the  interior  of  the 
cylinder.  Each  disk  is  thus  fairly  placed  to  oppose  the  pressure 
of  the  water  alternating  above  and  below  the  piston,  and  under 
this  pressure  to  lap  closely  on  the  surface  of  the  cylinder,  and 
make  the  piston  water-tight.     The  cylinders  are  separated  by  a 


Abstracts.]  FRAGER'S   WATER-METER.  445 

partition  from  the  "  cap,"  or  upper  chamber,  in  which  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  water  is  effected.  Above  each  cylinder  there  are 
three  ports,  analogous  to  those  of  an  ordinary  steam-engine 
cylinder,  with  a  slide-valve,  which  is  reciprocated  vertically  by 
means  of  a  rod  passing  through  a  stuffing-box  in  the  partition,  and 
commanded  by  the  piston.  The  piston  is  formed  with  a  trunk, 
which  is  closed  at  the  lower  end,  in  which  the  valve-rod  is  located. 
When  the  piston  ascends,  and  arrives  near  the  end  of  its  upward 
stroke,  it  taps  the  valve-rod,  lifting  it  to  the  extent  of  from  £inch 
to  1^  inch,  according  to  the  size  of  the  meter,  and  so  shifting  the 
valve  in  the  upper  chamber.  When  the  piston  arrives  near  the 
end  of  its  downward  stroke,  a  ferule  on  the  lower  end  of  the  valve- 
rod  is  caught  by  the  upper  end  of  the  trunk,  and  the  valve  is 
shifted  downwards.  The  middle  ports  under  the  valves  are  always 
covered,  and  in  free  communication  with  the  discharges,  whilst 
the  extreme  ports  by  which  the  water  is  admitted,  are  in  com- 
munication, not  with  the  cylinder  directly  under  them,  but  with 
the  alternate  cylinders ;  and  thus  each  piston  moves  the  valve  for 
the  admission  and  discharge  of  water  to  and  from  the  neighbouring 
cylinder. 

Each  period,  or  cycle  of  operations,  thus  comprises  four  alternate 
movements  of  pistons,  during  which  four  cylinderfuls  of  water 
pass  from  the  entering-pipe  into  the  discharge-pipe.  A  head  of 
pressure  of  1  metre,  equivalent  to  1  •  43  lb.  per  square  inch,  suffices 
to  keep  the  meter  in  action.  The  apparatus  works  automatically, 
without  requiring  any  lubrication.  The  registration  of  the  number 
of  periods  is  effected  by  means  of  a  finger  on  the  upper  end  of  one 
of  the  valve-rods,  by  which  a  rachet-wheel  is  turned  by  one  tooth 
at  each  descent,  whence  the  movement  is  transmitted  by  suitable 
gearing  to  the  needles  of  the  counter. 

The  system  of  meter  just  described,  having  vertical  cylinders, 
is  an  improved  modification  of  a  like  system  in  which  the  cylinders 
are  horizontal.  Of  these,  upwards  of  60,000  have  been  manu- 
factured. 

D.  K.  C. 


Bating  of  a  New  Type  of  Gyrometer,  called  hitherto  a  Hydro- 
Dynamometer.1     By  —  de  Perodil. 

(Annales  des  Ponts  et  Chaussees,  6th  series,  vol.  xi.,  1886,  p.  773,  1  plate.) 

The  Author  proposes  to  call  this  instrument  henceforward  a 
gyrometer,  since  it  measures  the  forces  of  gyrations  or  eddies. 
This  new  type  of  instrument  is  more  convenient  and  exact  than 
the  one  previously  described,2  and  drawings  of  it  accompany  the 
article.     The  rating  experiments  were  made  with  three  different 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  lx.  p.  430. 

2  Annales  des  Ponts  et  Chausse'es,  5th  Series,  vol.  xix.  p.  11. 


446  EATING   OF   A  NEW   TYPE   OF   GYROMETER.  [Foreign 

sizes  of  palettes,  or  disks,1  and  the  results  are  given  in  a  table,  in 
which  the  angle  of  torsion  is  expressed  in  grades  or  hundredths 
of  a  right  angle,  and  the  number  of  grades  is  represented  by  X. 
The  velocity  of  flow  is  0  •  034  V  N  for_the  large  palette,  0  •  103  V ^ 
for  the  medium  palette,  and  0*310  VN  for  the  small  palette.  The 
values  of  the  coefficient  K,  for  each  palette,  calculated  by  a  formula 
given  in  a  previous  article,2  are  1  ■  38  for  the  large  palette,  1  •  18  for 
the  medium  palette,  and  1*01  for  the  small  one.  Before  com- 
paring the  angles  of  torsion  with  the  velocities  of  flow  pro- 
ducing them,  it  was  ascertained  that  they  were  exactly  proportional 
to  the  turning  forces  applied  to  the  instrument.  If  there  were 
three  similar  gyrometers,  one  a  fifth  of,  and  another  five  times 
larger  than  an  intermediate  one,  so  that  in  homologous  dimensions 
a,  b,  c,  the  relative  proportions,  25  a  =  5  b  =  c,  always  existed,  and 
forces  P0,  Pj,  Pe  were  applied  to  each,  such  that  252  Pa  =  52  P,,  =  Pc, 
the  three  homologous  displacements  fa  fb  fc  would  be  such  that 
25  fa  =  5  fb  =  fe.  As  the  forces  P  produce  the  same  angle  of  torsion, 
it  is  evident  that,  disregarding  the  variation  of  the  coefficient  K, 
the  three  forces  would  be  due  to  the  same  velocity  of  flow,  since 
the  pressure  on  a  palette  is  proportional  to  its  surface ;  and  conse- 
quently the  three  gyrations  would  serve  to  measure  velocities 
within  the  same  limits,  provided  the  three  corresponding  series  of 
three  palettes  were  retained.  By  diminishing,  however,  the  palette 
in  the  large  gyrometer,  greater  velocities  could  be  measured ;  whilst 
by  increasing  the  palette  in  the  small  gyrometer,  smaller  velocities 
of  the  flow  of  water  could  be  measured,  or  even  of  a  current  of  air ; 
so  that  the  former  could  serve  for  navigation  on  the  sea,  and  the 
latter  in  the  air.  As  the  angle  of  torsion  must  not  be  large  enough 
to  alter  the  elasticity  of  the  steel  wire,  its  arc  must  be  less  than 
double  the  radius,  or  an  angle  of  127*3  grades,  so  that  80  grades 
is  a  safe  limit.  If  the  larger  of  the  three  assumed  gyrometers  was 
fitted  with  the  small  palette  of  the  intermediate  gyrometer,  having 
a  diameter  of  1^  inch,  it  could  measure  a  velocity  of  102  feet  per 
second,  or  GO  knots  an  hour,  which  is  about  four  times  the  speed  of 
steamers.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  small  gyrometer  was  fitted 
with  a  palette  homologous  to  the  small  palette  of  the  intermediate 
gyrometer,  namely,  with  an  arm  of  0  *  39  of  an  inch  in  length,  and 
a  diameter  of  \  inch,  a  maximum  velocity  of  flow  could  be  measured 
of  9  feet  per  second  in  water,  and  288  feet  per  second  in  air.  If 
the  greatest  velocity  of  an  aerial  machine  did  not  exceed  12^  miles 
an  hour,  or  18 j  feet  per  second,  the  palette  could  be  given  an  arm 
of  2 \  inches,  and  a  diameter  of  1  *  53  inches. 

L.  V.  H. 

1  From  the  drawings,  it  appears  that  the  diameter  of  the  large  palette  is 
about  5  inches,  of  the  medium  palette  2  J  inches,  and  of  the  small  one  1| 
inches. — L.  V.  H. 

2  Annales  des  Ponts  et  Chausse'es,  5th  Series,  vol.  xiii.  p.  472. 


Abstracts.]         ON   THE   HEAT   OF   COMBUSTION   OF   COAL.  447 

On  the  Heat  of  Combustion  of  Coal. 
By  —  Scheurer-Kestner,  and  —  Meunier-Dollfus. 

(Armales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  vol.  viii.,  1886,  p.  267.) 

About  the  year  1870  the  Authors  made  experiments  on  the  heat 
of  combustion  of  coal,  and  drew  attention  to  the  circumstance  that 
this  cannot  be  calculated  even  approximately  from  its  chemical 
composition.  Dulong's  formula,  which  makes  allowance  for  the 
hydrogen  in  the  form  of  water  in  coal,  gives  results  too  low; 
whilst  if  all  the  hydrogen  is  taken  credit  for,  the  results  of  calcu- 
lation are  sometimes  below,  and  at  others  above  those  of  experi- 
ment. In  their  previous  experiments,  the  Authors  used  the  coal 
in  the  form  of  powder ;  in  the  present  case,  in  small  pieces,  in 
which  state  the  coal  burns  more  easily  in  the  calorimeter.  The 
gases  used  (compounds  of  oxygen  and  nitrogen)  to  burn  the  coal 
were  always  carefully  dried,  and  the  cinders  were  weighed  after 
combustion.  The  present  results  confirm  those  previously  recorded. 
The  coals  experimented  upon  were  of  the  most  various  character, 
the  carbon  ranging  from  96*66  to  76*87 ;  the  hydrogen  from  5-1 
to  1*35,  and  the  oxj^gen,  nitrogen,  and  sulphur  from  18*45  to  1*99 
per  cent.  The  Authors  give  a  complete  Table  of  the  results  of 
their  experiments,  and  compare  them  with  the  heat  of  combustion 
according  to  Dulong's  formula.  The  lowest  result,  8,259  Centi- 
grade units  (pure  carbon  being  8080),  was  obtained  from  a  coal 
having  the  largest  proportion  of  carbon,  96*66;  the  lowest  of 
hydrogen,  1  *  35,  and  the  lowest  of  oxygen,  nitrogen,  and  sulphur, 
1*99  ;  whilst  the  highest,  9,623,  from  one  having  88*48  of  carbon, 
4*41  of  hydrogen,  and  7*11  of  oxygen,  nitrogen,  and  sulphur. 
Only  9,163  units  were  obtained  from  a  coal  of  the  composition 
89*96  carbon,  5*09  hydrogen,  and  4*95  oxygen,  nitrogen,  and 
sulphur,  which  from  its  chemical  analysis  would  appear  to  be  a 
superior  coal  to  the  previous  one. 

E.  F.  B. 


Steam-Boilers  and  Furnaces. 

(Compte  rendu  des  Seances  du  9m0  Congres  des  Ingenieurs  en  chef  des  Associations 
de  Proprietaires  d'Appareils  a  Vapeur,  in  November  1884.     Paris,  1886.) 

The  ninth  congress  of  Engineers  of  Steam  Users'  Associations  in 
France  and  Alsatia,  was  held  in  Paris  in  1884;  Mr.  Walther- 
Meunier,  president.  Twenty-two  questions  were  raised  for 
discussion. 

The  first  question,  on  the  employment  of  steel  in  the  construc- 
tion of  steam  boilers,  was  held  over.  The  second  question  related 
to  the  deformation  of  one  of  the  heaters  (bouilleurs)  of  a  French 


448  STEA3I-B0ILEES   AND   FURNACES.  [Foreign 

boiler,  over  the  fire,  immediately  in  front  of  the  bridge.  The 
boiler  was  constructed  of  steel.  The  drift  of  the  discussion 
appeared  to  show  that  the  deformation,  or  downward  bulging  of 
the  plate,  was  caused  by  overheating  due  to  deposit  of  sand,  and 
to  a  less  extent  to  the  unusual  height  of  the  bridge.  It  was 
maintained  that  considerable  deposition  of  sand  generally  takes 
place  in  the  heaters,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  forward  com- 
municating-pipe, which  rises  from  the  heater  to  the  boiler.  The 
forward  pipe,  in  this  case,  was  over  the  back  part  of  the  furnace, 
and  so  conduced  to  the  accident.  The  president  remarked  that 
in  Alsatia,  the  communicating-pipes  are  all  placed  behind  the 
bridge,  and  that  he  had  found  deposits  16  inches  in  advance  of 
them. 

The  third  question  related  to  the  Orvis  furnace  (post,  p.  449). 
The  fourth  question  dealt  with  mechanical  stokers  in  England,  in 
a  communication  from  Mr.  Waltker-Meunier,  prefaced  by  remarks 
on  the  Ten  Brink  and  Schultz-Eoeber  furnaces,  already  noticed.1 
After  describing  the  mechanical  stokers  of  Proctor,  Bennis,  Vicars, 
Henderson,  Taylor,  Knap,  MacDougall  and  Sinclair,  the  speaker 
summarised  the  opinions  of  certain  English  experts  as  follows : — 
Mechanical  stokers  are  serviceable  when  continuous  and  regular 
work  is  required,  and  at  collieries  for  burning  up  the  sweepings. 
For  smoke-prevention  they  are  not  satisfactory  where  the  fires  are 
pushed.  Where  the  demand  for  steam  is  variable,  it  is  necessary 
to  supplement  the  mechanical  stokers  with  boilers  fired  by  hand, 
in  the  ratio  of  one  for  every  three  boilers  mechanically  stoked. 
These  were  identically  the  conclusions  already  arrived  at  on  the 
Ten  Brink  and  Schultz-Eocher  furnaces.  The  speaker  testified 
to  the  efficiency  of  alternate  side-firing,  first  recommended  by 
C.  Wye  Williams,  giving  the  results  of  observations  he  had  made 
on  the  firing  of  a  battery  of  three  Lancashire  boilers  in  Manchester. 
The  stoker,  going  from  right  to  left,  charged  the  left  side  of  each 
of  the  six  fire-grates ;  then  similarly  charged  the  right  side  of 
each  grate.  Air  was  admitted  at  the  bridges.  The  consumption 
of  coal  was  at  the  rate  of  2,132  lbs.  per  hour,  or  19^  lbs.  per  square 
foot  of  grate  per  hour — charged  every  ten  minutes.  After  each 
charge,  very  light  grey  smoke  was  emitted,  lasting  two  minutes 
twenty  seconds.  The  air  was  admitted  through  fifteen  circular 
orifices  about  2T5y  inches  in  diameter,  giving  a  total  area  of 
106  square  inches,  or  5*8  square  inches  per  square  foot  of  fire- 
grate, which  was  18*16  square  feet  in  area.  Mr.  Bour  stated  that 
in  Germany  the  combustion  of  lignite  without  smoke  with 
mechanical  stoking  was  only  effected  by  the  admission  of  a  large 
excess  of  air ;  for  it  was  found  that  whilst  in  ordinary  furnaces 
25  per  cent,  was  sufficient,  with  mechanical  stokers  an  excess  of 
from  100  to  250  per  cent,  was  admitted. 

The   fifth   question  bears  upon  the  Ten  Brink  furnace.     Mr. 


1  Minute*  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  Ixxiv.  p.  345  ;  vol.  lxxvii.  p.  438. 


Abstracts.]  STEAM-BOILERS   AND   FURNACES.  449 

Walther-Meunier  states  that,  in  Alsatia,  all  the  furnaces  of  this 
construction  have  been  removed  and  abandoned,  in  consequence  of 
the  labour  and  inconvenience  of  management,  and  the  absence  of 
economy  of  cost  for  fuel ;  but  that  the  prevention  of  smoke  was 
completely  effected. 

Question  twelve  relates  to  a  trial  of  Quiri's  portable  engines, 
already  noticed.1 

Question  fourteen  deals  with  the  results  of  the  trials  of  a  Corliss 
engine  at  Creusot,  already  noticed.2  In  the  course  of  the  discussion 
Mr.  Cornut  insisted  on  the  advantage  of  sufficient  compression  of 
steam  in  the  cylinder  to  counterbalance  and  bring  to  a  state  of 
rest  the  reciprocating  members,  and  to  minimise  the  stress  on  the 
foundations.  The  compression,  he  maintained,  should  be  a  function 
of  the  velocity  and  the  quantity  of  matter  in  movement. 

Other  questions  deal  with  Pindray's  furnace,  having  expanding 
flues  and  very  deep  fire-bars ;  several  systems  of  removable  tubes  ; 
systems  of  heating  feed- water ;  and  Perret's  immersed  fire-grate. 

D.  K.  C. 


Performance  of  the  Orvis  Furnace  for  Steam-Boilers. 
By  H.  TValther-Meunier. 

(Bulletin  de  la  Society  industrielle  de  Mulhouse,  1886,  p.  135.) 

According  to  the  Orvis  system  of  furnace,  air  is  introduced  into 
the  fireplace  above  the  fuel,  through  three  tubes  at  the  front,  over 
the  doorway.  The  outer  ends  of  these  tubes  are  directed  down- 
wards. A  jet  of  steam  at  the  bend  of  each  tube  is  discharged 
through  the  horizontal  limb  into  the  furnace  over  the  fire,  so  as  to 
draw  and  drive  currents  of  air  into  the  fire  amongst  the  smoke, 
with  the  object,  at  the  same  time,  of  accelerating  the  draught  over 
the  bridge. 

The  Orvis  system  was  applied  to  a  battery  of  four  steam-boilers, 
at  the  factory  of  Messrs.  Hartmann,  Son  and.  Co.,  Munster,  having 
a  total  heating  surface  of  2,014  square  feet,  provided  with  a 
Green's  Economiser  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  pipes.  Trials 
were  made  before  and  after  the  application  of  the  Orvis  system. 
First,  on  the  8th,  9th,  and  10th  of  December,  1885  ;  and  secondly, 
on  the  15th,  16th,  and  17th.  The  steam  for  the  service  of  the 
Orvis  apparatus  was  supplied  and  measured  from  a  separate  boiler. 

The  coal  used  was  Eonchamp,  Griesborn  III.,  and  Petite  Eos- 
selle  III.,  in  the  proportion  of  one-fifth,  three-fifths,  and  one-fifth 
respectively.  The  leading  results  of  the  two  series  of  trials  were 
as  follows  : — 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  Ixsxi.  p.  388. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  lxxx.  p.  425. 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVT.]  2 


450 


TEE   ORVIS   FUEXACE  FOR  STEAM-BOILERS. 


[Foreign 


Before. 


After. 


Total  quantity  of  coal  consumed,  net  weight,  deducting"! 

ash,  clinker,  and  humidity J 

Water  as  at  32°  Fahrenheit,  evaporated  into  steam) 

of  4  '20  atmospheres / 

Water  evaporated  per  lb.  of  net  weight  of  coal 
Steam  consumed  by  the  Orvis  apparatus      .... 
Coal  consumed  by  the  Orvis  apparatus,  assuming  an) 

evaporation  of  S  -45  lbs.  of  water  per  lb.  of  coal  .      .  I 
Total  weight  of  coal  consumed  during  the  working  of) 

the  Orvis  system / 

Difference  in  favour  of  the  Orvis  system      .... 

,,  „  ,,  ,,    as  a  percentage 

Smoke  after  each  charge  of  coal  lasted : — 

Black 

Brown 

Light  or  clear 

Analysis  of  the  burnt  gases,  between  charges : — 

Carbonic  acid 

Oxygen 

Carbonic  Oxide 

Analysis  of  the  burnt  gases,  average  sample  : — 

Carbonic  acid 

Oxygen 

Carbonic  oxide 

Temperature  of  the  burnt  gases  on  leaving  Green's) 
economiser j 


lbs. 
26,239 

215,802 
8-245 


Min.     Sec. 
4  2 

7    "    0 
Per  cent. 

7-95 
11-11 

0-00 

7-47 

12-46 

0-00 

Fahrenheit. 
385° 


lbs. 
23,984 

216,117 

9-018 
9,438 

1,144 

25,128 
1,111 

Per  cent. 
Min.     Sec. 

1  21 

2  41 

Per  cent. 

8-22 
10-54 

0-00 

7-81 

10-49 

0-00 

Fatirenheit. 

417° 


From  the  above  results  it  appears  that,  making  allowance  for 
the  steam  consumed  by  the  Orvis  apparatus,  a  net  economy  of 
4^  per  cent,  of  fuel  was  effected.  Omitting  this  allowance,  the 
actual  evaporative  efficiency  with  the  Orvis  system  was  to  that 
without  the  apparatus  as  9*018  to  8*245  per  cent.,  or  9*4  per  cent, 
more.  Yet  combustion  was  complete  in  both  cases,  there  being  an 
entire  absence  of  carbonic  oxide  gas. 

The  foregoing  trials  were  made  in  consequence  of  results, 
apparently  contradictory,  which  had  been  obtained  from  previous 
trials  with  the  Orvis  apparatus,  conducted  in  1884  by  Mr.  Walther- 
Meunier.1  The  first  of  these  trials  was  made  on  the  3rd  and  4th 
of  September,  1884,  at  Bale,  on  an  ordinary  boiler  of  the  French 
type,  well  attended  to  and  well  worked.  The  coal  used  was 
Sarrebruck.  The  boiler  was  worked  on  the  first  day  without  the 
Orvis  apparatus,  and  on  the  second  day  with  it. 

1st  Day.  2nd  Day. 

Coal,  as  dried,  consumed  per  square  foot  of  heating-1  0.  <q  n        n-f^TThs 

surface  per  hour J 

Coal,  as  dried,  consumed  per  square  foot  of  rlre-\  Q  r- ,  -no* 

grate  per  hour J  S  '*  "    ll  *°    " 

Water,  as  at  32°  Fahrenheit,  evaporated  per  lb.  coal, )   r  ot-  -  10 

as  dried /  b'"D  »      °  1J    " 


1  The  results  of  these  trials  are  published  in  the  "  Compfe  rendu  des  Seances 
du  9me  Congi-es  des  Ingenieurs  en  Chef  des  Associations  de  Proprie'taires 
d'Appareils  a  Yapeur,"  November  18S4. 


Abstracts.]         THE   ORVIS  FURNACE  FOR   STEAM-BOILERS. 


451 


Showing  less  efficiency  for  the  Orvis  apparatus.  The  degrees  of 
smoke  prevention  were  the  same  on  hoth  days.  The  Orvis  appa- 
ratus consumed  steam  at  the  rate  of  about  300  lbs.  per  hour. 

A  series  of  comparative  trials,  of  twelve  hours  each,  was  made 
in  October  and  November,  1884,  with  the  six  boilers  at  the  paper- 
works of  Messrs.  Zuber,  Eieder  and  Co.,  on  the  Ile-Napoleon.  The 
coal  used  was  Sarrebruck  von  der  Heyt  III.,  composed  of  57*2 
per  cent,  of  carbon,  5  •  8  per  cent,  of  hydrogen,  8  ■  2  per  cent,  of 
oxygen,  1*2  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  1*1  per  cent,  of  sulphur,  3*3 
per  cent,  of  water,  and  13*2  per  cent,  of  ash.  The  coal  yields 
63  •  65  per  cent,  of  coke. 

The  following  Table  contains  in  brief  the  comparative  results 
of  the  trials  : — 


Conditions. 

With  Orvis. 

Continuous. 

Without  Orvis. 

With  Orvis. 
Intermittent. 

Without  Orvis. 

Date  of  trial     .     .    . 

Oct.  1 

Oct.  2 

Oct.  3 

Oct.  4 

Oct.  6 

Oct.  1 

Nov.  19 

Nov.  20 

Coal  (dry)  per  sq.  ft.  \ 
or  fire-grate  .     lbs./ 

9-18 

10-35 

9-30 

10-25 

12-54 

12-30 

G-72 

7-13 

Weight  per  charge  „ 

26-4 

24-9 

26-8 

24-4 

25-7 

27-1 

19-9 

21-1 

Intervals,        average! 

min.j 

Pressure  of  steam     \ 

atmo.j 

Water  as  from  32°  F.  1 

7.0 

5.8 

7.0 

5.8 

5.0 

5.5 

7.00 

7.00 

4-4G 

4-30 

4-32 

4-34 

4-37 

4-40 

5-00 

5-00 

evaporated  per  lb.| 

5-99 

5-43 

5-82 

G-23 

5-54 

5-49 

5-SO 

5-52 

of  coal  .      .      lbs.) 

Temperature    of  the) 
escaping  gases  Fah.J 

-173° 

504° 

4S9° 

507° 

531° 

538° 

437° 

442° 

Smoke  duration : — 

M.     S. 

M.     s. 

M.     s. 

M.     S. 

M.     S. 

M.     S. 

.. 

.. 

Black      .     .      . 

0     0 

0     0 

1     31 

1     22 

0    0 

0    0 

Brown     . 

0     0 

0     0 

1     25 

0    56 

0     0 

0    0 

.. 

Light      .     . 

1     52 

2     0 

2     39 

2    37 

1     20 

1     28 

Very  clear    . 

4     25 

3  12 

.. 

2    52 

3    14 

Analysis  of  escaping 

gases     .... 

Percent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Percent. 

Percent. 

Percent. 

Carbonic  acid    . 

8-7 

8-7 

G-3 

6-3 

8-0 

8-0 

,, 

Oxygen  .      .      . 

9-6 

9-6 

13-0 

13-0 

10-2 

10-2 

Carbonic  oxide  . 

o-o 

00 

o-o 

o-o 

o-o 

o-o 

■• 

With  respect  to  economy  of  fuel,  it  does  not  appear  in  this 
series  of  results  that  there  is  any  advantage  in  the  use  of  the 
Orvis  system.  Thus,  to  abstract  the  mean  weights  of  water 
evaporated  per  lb.  of  coal,  they  are  as  follows  : — 

Water  per  lb. 
of  coal. 
With  the  Orvis  apparatus  at  work  continuously    .     .         5*71  lbs. 

Without  the  Orvis  apparatus 6-03,, 

With  the  Orvis  intermittently 5 -52     „ 

Without  the  Orvis  apparatus 5-GG    „ 

But  evidently  the  Orvis  apparatus  was  effective  for  the  pre- 
vention of  smoke,  and  it  was  effective  also  in  improving  com- 
bustion. 

2  G  2 


452  THE    OBYIS    FURNACE   FOE   STEAM-BOFLEES.  [Foreign 

Subsequently,  the  more  recent  trials  noticed  in  the  first  part  of 
this  abstract  were  instituted  with  a  view  to  a  final  settlement  of 
the  comparative  merits  of  the  Orvis  system. 

D.  K.  C. 


Experiments  with  D lipids  Boilers. 

(Zeitschrift  des  Verbandes  der  Dampfkessel-Uebenvadmngs-Yereine,  1886,  p.  7.) 

This  is  a  report  of  experiments  undertaken  by  the  Silesian 
branch  of  the  Society  with  two  "  Dupuis "  boilers,  on  the  24th 
and  25th  July  of  this  year.  The  boilers  were  both  alike,  and 
built  by  the  same  firm,  A.  Leinveber  and  Co.,  of  Gluwitz,  in  1884; 
they  were  licensed  to  work  with  a  pressure  of  5  atmospheres 
(73*5  lbs.  per  square  inch). 

Each  boiler  consists  of  a  nearly -horizontal  cylindrical  main- 
boiler  26  feet  7  inches  long,  and  4  feet  11  inches  diameter,  to 
which  is  connected  by  a  horizontal  tube  2  feet  diameter,  a  vertical 
tubular  boiler  10  feet  2  inches  high,  and  7  feet  2\  inches  diameter, 
with  one  hundred  and  twelve  vertical  tubes,  3  inches  diameter ; 
below  these,  and  parallel  with  the  main-boiler,  is  a  cylindrical 
"  economiser,"  connected  both  to  the  main-  and  tubular-boilers  by 
vertical  tubes.  The  "economiser"  has  a  length  of  21  feet 
8  inches,  and  a  diameter  of  2  feet  11^  inches. 

The  feed- water  is  introduced  vertically  through  the  main-boiler 
into  the  "  economiser,"  descending  through  the  tube  connecting  the 
latter  to  the  former ;  from  the  "  economiser  "  it  circulates  through 
the  vertical  boiler.  The  circulation  is  promoted  by  a  special  feed 
apparatus,  by  means  of  which  the  entering  water  draws  down  with 
it  that  in  the  main-boiler. 

The  grate  is  an  ordinary  one,  6  feet  3  inches  long,  by  4  feet 
11  inches  broad,  with  narrow  firebars.  The  products  of  com- 
bustion pass  first  under  the  main-boiler,  then  downwards  and 
along  the  "  economiser,"  finally  upwards  through  the  tubes  of 
the  vertical  boiler  into  the  main-flue.  The  two  upper  boilers  are 
suspended  from  wrought-iron  brackets,  while  the  economiser  rests 
on  cast-iron  earners. 

The  following  are  the  most  important  dimensions  and  propor- 
tions of  the  boilers  : — 

^onl'boiler6  !*  <^wt^^}      112  sq.  metres  =  1,205-6      sq.  feet. 

Water  space 23-63  cub.     „  =      834-53  cub.   „ 

Steam     „ 9-22     „        „  =      325-62    „  „ 

Evaporative  surface 16-17   sq.      „  =      174*05  sq.  „ 

Total  grate  area 2-85    „       „  =        30-68    „  „ 

Free       „        „ 0-9       „        „  =  9-69    „  „ 

Eatio  of  grate  area  to  beating  surface =1:39-3 

The  first  experiment  was  made  with  both  boilers,  and  lasted 
eleven  hours  ;  the  fuel  burned  was  small  coal  (Stanhltolile). 

The  feed-water  used  was  both  measured  and  weighed ;  the  coal 


Abstracts.]  EXPERIMENTS  WITH  DUPTJIS   BOILERS.  453 

weighed  independently  by  two  observers.  The  following  are  some 
of  the  more  important  results  obtained  : — 

Water  evaporated  per  kilogram  of  coal  from  55-44°  Centigrade"!     p.oo  vio 

to  steam  at  3  •  87  atmospheres J  -is. 

Do.  do.        deducting  ashes 7-02    „ 

Water  evaporated  per  square  metre  heating-surface  per  hour  .  15  "14    „ 

(„        „      foot  per  hour) (3,102  lbs.) 

Coal  burned  per  square  metre  grate  area  per  hour    ....  95*7  kilos. 

„        „      („        „      foot  per  hour) (19597  lbs.) 

,,        „         ,,        „      metre  heating-surface  per  hour      .      .       2  •  44  kilos. 
„        ,,      (  „        „      foot  per  hour) (0*5  lb.) 

An  analysis  of  the  coal  used  was  made,  and  the  heating  power, 
calculated  by  Dulong's  formula,  found  to  be  6162  calories  per 
kilogram  (11,091-6  B.T.U.  per  pound). 

The  efficiency,  as  calculated  from  the  preceding  data,  was  found 
to  be  60-25  per  cent. 

The  second  and  third  experiments  were  made  with  one  boiler 
only,  and  with  the  object  of  ascertaining  whether  it  were  possible 
with  this  type  of  boiler  to  evaporate  regularly  20  kilograms  of 
water  per  square  metre  heating  surface  per  hour  (-4  ■  1  lbs.  per 
square  foot). 

^;For  the  second  experiment  the  same  class  of  coal  was  used  as 
for  the  first,  but  in  the  third,  nut-coal  (Nuss-lcohle)  was  employed, 
for  which  the  grate  was  reduced  to  §  of  its  original  length. 

The  experiments  lasted  5j  hours  ;  the  following  are  some  of  the 
more  important  results. 

Experiment  II.    Experiment  III. 

Centigrade.  Centigrade. 

Temperature  of  feed- water  before  injector    .       20°  25-84° 

after        „          .       40 -3°  46-58° 

of  gases  at  damper  ....     320-76°  310-8° 

,,          of  air  in  boiler-house     .      .      .       16°  16° 

Steam  pressure 4-285  atm.  4-13  atm. 

say  4  •  3  atm. 
Experiment  II. 

Water  evaporated  per  kilogram   coal  from  40-3°  Centigrade \     ~ .  ™  viios 
to  steam  at  43  atmospheres  =  154-3°  Centigrade      .     .      ./ 

Do.  do.        deducting  ashes 7-13    ,, 

Water  evaporated  per  square  metre  heating-surface  per  hour  .     21-6      „ 

(„        „      foot  per  hour) (4-428  lbs.) 

Coal  burned  per  square  metre,  grate  area,  per  hour  .     .     .     .   140*35  kilos. 

„        ,,      (  ,,        ,,      foot  per  hour) (28-76  lbs.) 

„        ,,         ,,        ,,      metre,  heating-surface,  per  hour     .      .       3-57  kilos. 
„        „      (  „        „      foot  per  hour) (0-73  lb.) 

Experiment  III. 

Water  evaporated  per  kilogram  coal  from  46-58°  Centigrade!     7.37  kilos 
to  steam  at  4-13  atmospheres  =  153-2°  Centigrade    .      .      ./ 

Do.  do.        deducting  ashes 7*73    „ 

Water  evaporated  per  square  metre,  heating-surface,  per  hour.     21  -72    ,, 

„        („        „      foot  per  hour) (4-452  lbs.) 

Coal  burned  per  square  metre,  grate  area,  per  hour  .      .      .      .   173-2  kilos. 

„        „      (  „        „      foot  per  hour) (35-49  lbs.) 

,,        ,,         ,,        ,,      metre,  heating-surface,  per  hour    .      .       2-95  kilos. 
„        „      („        „      foot  per  hour) (0-604  lbs.) 


454  EXPERIMENTS    "WITH   DUPTJIS   BOILERS.  [Foreign 

Experiment  II.  Experiment  III. 

Efficiency 60  per  cent.  69*  7  per  cent. 

Loss  through  chimney       .      .      .   1,777  Calories.  980  Calories. 

„    by  radiation  and  conduction      666       ,,  957        ,, 

In  the  third  experiment,  it  was  found  that  the  ratio  of  the 
quantity  of  air  actually  used  to  that  required  by  theory  was  only 
1*15 — a  very  exceptional  result. 

G.  B.  B. 


Performance  of  the  Godillot  Furnace  for  Steam-Boilers. 
By  H.  Walther-Meunier. 

(Bulletin  de  la  Societe  industrielle  de  Mulhouse,  March-April,  1886,  p.  134.) 

The  Godillot  furnace  is  designed  for  burning  oak-chips  (the 
humid  refuse  of  tan-pits)  which  contain  62*3  per  cent,  of  water. 
The  boilers  were  two  in  number,  semi-tubular,  having  each 
1,076  square  feet  of  heating  surface.  The  following  are  the  chief 
results  of  two  days'  trials  : — 

Date  of  trial June  3, 1S85  June  4,  1885. 

Duration  of  trial       .      ." 11  hours.  12  hours. 

Weight  of  wet  oak-chips  consumed     .      .      .  12,152  lbs.  31,960  lbs. 

Loss  of  weight  after  sixty  hours  of  drying     .  62-3  per  cent.  62-3  per  cent. 

Weight  of  water  contained  in  the  chips   .      .  7,570  lbs.   ,  19,910  lbs. 

Xetweight  ofchips  after  sixty  hours  of  drying  4,582     ,,  12,050     ,, 

Weight  of  water  fed  to  boiler IS, 348     „  47,487     „ 

Temperature  of  feed-water 77-5°  Fahr.  60-8°  Fahr. 

Working-pressure  of  steam 5-50  atmos.  3-82  atmos. 

Water  as  at  32=  Fahrenheit,  evaporated  perl         x . 4-  ^  V4S  ^ 

lb.  of  fuel,  wet J 

Water,  as  at  32°  Fahrenheit,  evaporated  per\        0.Q.  q.q± 

lb.  of  fuel,  dried .}        °  8i    "  3  Si    » 

Wet  fuel  consumed  per  square  foot  of  heating  \        q.-,  ,  ,„, 

surface  per  hour /  " 

Steam  generated  per  square  foot  of  heating!         n  •  74  1  •  79 

surface  per  hour /  " 

Temperature  of  the  escaping  burnt  gases      .  242-6°  Fahr.  350-6°  Fahr. 

On  the  first  day,  the  engine  alone  was  driven,  and  required  less 
steam  than  was  used  on  the  second  day,  when  the  machinery  also 
was  at  work.  The  evaporative  efficiencies  were,  it  is  noticeable, 
identical,  being  for  both  days,  1  ■  45  lbs.  of  water  per  lb.  of  wet 
fuel,  and  3*84  lbs.  for  dry  fuel.  This  identity  is  explained  by  the 
enormous  dead  weight  of  water  evaporated  out  of  the  fuel  in 
each  case. 

D.  K.  C. 


Abstracts.]    EXPERIMENTS  ON  EVAPORATION  OF  STEAM-BOILERS.        455 

Experiments  on  Evaporation  (of  Steam-Boilers)  at  the  Dessau 
Sugar-Piefinery. 

(Zeitschrift  des  Verbandes  der  Dampfkessel-Ueber-wachungs-Vereine,  1886,  p.  47.) 

The  object  of  these  experiments  was  to  ascertain  and  compare 
the  effect  of  various  systems  of  firing.  Nine  boilers  were  made  the 
subject  of  experiment ;  some  of  these  were  of  the  ordinary  Lanca- 
shire type  with  the  exception  of  the  grates,  others  a  combination 
of  that  type  with  the  tubular  boiler. 

The  systems  of  firing  were  as  follow : — 

I.  Three  boilers  with  ordinary  step-grate. 

II.  One  boiler  with  horizontal  grate  below  step-grate. 

III.  Semi-gas-firing  with  central  burner  (Voelcker's  patent). 

IV.  Ordinary  step-grate  with  central  burner  with  and  without 
heated  air-supply. 

With  two  exceptions  the  fuel  used  was  a  clear  brown  coal  from 
one  mine  (Grube  Louise  at  Bitterfeld)  ;  in  the  two  exceptional  cases 
a  different  kind  of  brown  coal  from  other  mines  was  employed. 

From  each  experiment  the  same  quantity  of  coal  150  centners 
(7  tons  7  •  62  cwt.)  was  carefully  weighed  out  and  burned,  except 
during  one  week  when  the  quantity  was  100  centners  (4  tons 
18-42  cwts.). 

Three  samples  of  the  coal  were  taken  for  analysis  on  each  day 
during  the  experiments,  and  from  these  an  average  sample  for  the 
whole  time  made  up.  The  moisture  was  determined  in  each  daily 
sample.  Cinders  and  ashes  were  weighed  daily  and  samples 
analyzed  for  carbon.  The  feedwater  was  heated  and  its  tempera- 
ture measured ;  it  was  supplied  to  the  boiler  by  a  steam-pump 
drawing  from  a  tank  ;  a  certain  quantity  of  water  was  carefully 
weighed  and  placed  in  the  latter  for  each  feed. 

The  steam  generated  was  used  for  driving  three  steam-pumps, 
requiring  170  IHP. ;  care  was  taken  to  maintain  the  speed  as  con- 
stant as  possible. 

The  boilers  were  carefully  cleaned  internally  and  externally, 
and  put  to  work  for  thirty  hours  before  the  experiments  com- 
menced. 

In  the  combined  Lancashire  and  tubular  boilers  the  products  of 
combustion  pass  first  through  the  internal  flues,  then  upwards  at 
the  back  end  of  the  boiler,  returning  through  the  tubes  to  the  front, 
and  finally  along  the  outside  of  both  boilers  and  the  steam-drum 
into  the  chimney. 

The  system  of  firing  with  Voelcker's  central  burner  consists  in 
supplying  heated  air  through  the  internal  flues  to  the  fire  gases. 

In  each  flue  is  a  cast-iron  tube,  resting  on  low  brackets,  and  tra- 
versing the  whole  length ;  this  tube  terminates  at  the  front  end 
in  a  hollow  cast-iron  semicircular  head,  with  slots  in  the  cir- 
cumference and  a  large  orifice  at  the  end,  through  -which  the  air 

In 

drawn  from  the  boiler-house,  on  which  the  other  end  of  the  tube 
opens,  after  being  heated  in  the  latter,  is  supplied. 


456 


EXPERIMENTS  ON  EVAPORATION  OF  STEAM-BOILERS.    [Foreign 


In  the  case  of  one  boiler,  in  order  to  heat  the  air  supplied  to  a 
still  higher  degree,  it  was  first  passed  through  a  coil  of  tube  placed 
in  the  main  flue. 

The  most  economical  results  were  obtained  by  boilers  with  semi- 
gas-firing  and  central  burner,  the  efficiency  being  as  high  as  80  per 
cent. 

The  pressure  was  in  most  cases  nearly  the  same,  about  5*5 
atmospheres. 

The  chief  dimensions  of  all  the  simple  Lancashire  boilers  were 
similar,  but  the  heating  surface  of  the  combined  Lancashire  and 
tubular  boilers  was  much  in  excess  of  the  former. 

Very  exhaustive  tables  of  dimensions  and  results  are  given  in 
the  original,  from  which  the  following  short  summary  of  the  most 
salient  results  has  been  compiled. 


Water  Evapo- 

rated from  0°  to 

Steam  of  100°  C. 

System  of  Firing. 

Heating- 
Surface. 

Grate- 
Area. 

Effi- 

System of  Boiler. 

Per  lb. 

of 
Coal. 

PerSq. 
Foot  of 

ciency 
of  Coal. 

Heating 

Surface. 

Square 

Square 

lbs. 

Lbs.  per 

Per 

feet. 

Feet. 

Hour. 

Cent. 

Ordinary  Lancashire 

Step-grate     . 

805-82 

35-52 

2-10 

4-908 

65-25 

Combined  Lancashire) 
and  tubular      .      ./ 

(Horizontal  below) 
\     step-grate        .  J 

2,282-0 

57-2G 

2-72 

2-526 

84-63 

Do.             do. 

Step-grate     . 

2,282-0 

55-54 

2-38 

2-318 

74-06 

Ordinary  Lancashire 

J  Step-grate    with) 
\     central  burner/ 
i  Step-grate    with\ 
|     central  burner! 

843-70 

36-38 

2-42 

4-633 

75-30 

>■>                >> 

1     air     -     supply  I 
1     heated  in  main  I 
I    flue      .     .      J 

843-70 

36-38 

2-57 

4-342 

79-83 

>>                )> 

Step-grate     . 
iSemi-  gas -firing) 

843-70 

36-38 

2-21 

4-526 

68-58 

>>                >> 

<     with      central  > 

871-90 

44-07 

2-68 

4-449 

78-52 

1     burner       .      . ) 

>>                ?> 

Step-grate    .     . 

871-90 

45-21 

2-18 

4-664 

68-20 

»        •      • 

871-90 

45-21 

2-23 

5-520 

69-40 

G.  E.  B. 


Performance  of  Mulhausen  Waterworks  Pumping  Steam-Engines. 
By  H.  "Walther-Meuxier. 

(Bulletin  de  la  Socie'te  industrielle  de  Mulhouse,  1886,  p.  133.)  ] 

The  pumping  steam-engines  of  the  low-service  waterworks  of 
Mulhausen,  constructed  by  the  Alsatian  Society,  were  tested  for 
economy  and  performance  by  Mr.  Walther-Meunier,  in  1885.  The 
engines    are  horizontal,  compound   receiver  condensing  engines. 


Abstracts.]  MULHAUSEN   WATERWORKS  PUMPING  STEAM-ENGINES.  457 

The  puinps  are  connected  directly  to  the  piston-rod  of  each 
cylinder.  The  cylinders  are  18-7  inches  and  26-6  inches  in 
diameter,  with  a  stroke  of  1  metre,  or  39-37  inches.  The  pumps 
are  9  J-  inches  in  diameter,  with  39  ■  37  inches  of  stroke. 

The  chief  results  of  the  performance  of  No.  1  pumping-engine 
in  ordinary  working  condition,  were  as  follows : — 

Working-pressure  in  the  boiler  6^  atmospheres,  or  about  97  lbs. 
per  square  inch  absolute;  number  of  revolutions  per  minute, 
27-42;  speed  of  piston,  180  feet  per  minute;  indicator-power, 
65-1  HP. ;  steam  consumed  per  IHP.  per  hour,  16-38  lbs.;  water 
delivered  by  the  pumps  per  minute,  1,001,220  gallons,  raised  to 
a  height  of  183-44  feet;  power  developed  in  useful  work  done, 
55-64  HP. ;  steam  consumed  per  HP.  of  work  clone,  19*196  lbs.; 
efficiency,  or  ratio  of  the  useful  work  to  the  indicated  power, 
85*3  per  cent. 

In  a  preliminary  trial,  indicator-diagrams  were  taken  from  the 
pumps  at  the  same  time  as  those  from  the  engine  ;  and  the  results 
showed  the  efficiency  of  the  engine  89  ■  6  per  cent. ;  and  that  of  the 
pumps,  95  •  2  per  cent. 

D.  K.  C. 


Excavator  of  Jacquelin  and  Chevre,  modified  by  Bourdon. 
By  G.  Eichou. 

(Le  Genie  Civil,  vol.  ix.  1886,  p.  107,  4  woodcuts.) 

The  excavator  designed  by  Messrs.  Jacquelin  and  Chevre  for 
excavating  deep  cuttings  from  the  bottom,  has  been  described  in 
detail  in  a  previous  article  ;l  but  its  working  at  the  Panama  Canal 
showed  that  certain  modifications  were  desirable  to  enable  it  to  work 
well  in  the  enlargement  of  cuttings.  The  engine  and  boiler,  placed 
on  a  truck  on  the  prolongation  of  the  line  of  way,  formed  a  suitable 
counterpoise  when  the  chain  of  buckets  worked  in  opening  out  a 
cutting ;  but  the  stability  of  the  excavator  was  considerably 
reduced,  by  the  shortening  of  the  lever  arm  of  the  counterpoise, 
when  the  buckets  worked  sideways  in  enlargements.  Also  a 
special  motor  for  the  progression  of  the  excavator,  which  is  inter- 
mittent, was  unnecessary,  and  could  be  effected  by  a  hand-winch. 
The  engine  and  its  boiler  are  now  placed  on  the  same  revolving 
platform  as  the  beam  supporting  the  chain  of  buckets,  so  that  the 
chain  of  buckets  is  fully  counterpoised  in  any  position  ;  the  length 
of  the  truck  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  the  motor  for  progression 
is  dispensed  with.  The  working  of  the  drum  by  bands,  to  avoid 
breakages  from  sudden  impediments  in  working,  the  discharge  of 
the  material  in  the  central  axis  of  the  revolving  frame,  and  the 
special  arrangements  for  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  buckets, 


Le  Genie  Civil,  vol.  v.  p.  357. 


458  EXCAVATOR  OF  JACQUELIN  AND  CHEVRE.  [Foreign 

already  described,1  are  retained.  The  modified  excavator  only 
weighs  30  tons,  and  consists  of  light  parts  easily  transported. 
The  materials  are  discharged  into  wagons,  either  by  means  of  a 
shoot,  or  by  a  transporter  with  a  travelling-band.  In  the  first 
case,  a  platform  on  wheels,  with  two  turntables  on  it,  follows  the 
excavator ;  a  space  is  left  for  a  wagon  to  go  under  the  shoot 
on  a  cross-road  between  the  turntables ;  and  the  up  and  down 
lines  for  the  empty  and  full  wagons  are  connected  with  the  turn- 
tables by  little  inclined  planes.  Whilst  the  central  wagon  under 
the  shoot  is  being  filled,  the  full  wagon  on  the  turntable  of  the 
down  line  is  pushed  down  the  inclined  plane,  and  by  means  of  a 
cable  passing  round  pulleys,  draws  up  the  next  empty  wagon,  on 
the  up  line,  on  to  the  other  turntable,  ready  to  take  its  place  under 
the  shoot.  The  transporter  rests  at  one  extremity  on  the  pivot  of 
the  excavator,  and  near  the  other  end  on  a  wide  support,  so  that  it 
can  be  pulled  over  either  line  of  way  for  filling  the  wagons  under- 
neath. Both  systems  work  equally  well ;  but  the  first,  owing  to 
its  simplicity  and  moderate  price,  seems  a  most  useful  accessory  of 
the  excavator. 

L.  V.  H. 


On  Abrasion  by  Grinding.    By  A.  Martens. 

(Mittheilungen  aus  der  mechanisch-technischen  Versuchsanstalt,  Berlin.  1S86,  p.  3.) 

The  importance  of  determining  the  resistance  to  mechanical 
wear  or  abrasion  of  materials  used  in  the  technical  arts  is  generally 
admitted ;  the  methods  usually  applied  for  testing  this  have  been 
grinding  and  boring,  but  in  most  cases  they  have  proved  unsatis- 
factory. 

A  great  many  circumstances  have  to  be  taken  into  account  in 
making  experiments  on  abrasion,  and  according  to  the  conditions 
under  which  they  are  carried  out  the  relative  results  may  be  very 
different. 

In  most  cases  in  which  inquiries  were  received  by  the  Experi- 
mental Institute  for  tests  of  this  kind,  they  led  to  no  result,  as 
success  could  not  be  guaranteed  beforehand. 

In  one  case,  however,  some  samples  of  linoleum  were  submitted 
for  testing  by  a  firm,  and  the  experiments  successfully  carried  out. 

A  grindstone  of  347  millimetres  (13*66  inches)  was  fixed  in  a 
double-geared  lathe,  and  above  it  a  cast-iron  stamp  connected  with 
a  parallel  motion,  so  arranged  that  it  could  be  brought  nearer  to 
or  further  from  the  stone  at  pleasure ;  on  the  top  of  this  stamp 
was  a  cylindrical  wrought-iron  rod,  over  which  lead  weights,  with 
a  circular  hole  in  the  centre,  could  be  placed,  to  exert  pressure  on 
the  stamp.  The  surface  at  the  lower  end  of  the  stamp  was  curved 
to   the   radius   of  the   grindstone,  and  had  an  area  of  5  X  5  = 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lxxs.  p.  399. 


Abstracts.]  ON   ABRASION   BY   GRINDING.  459 

25  square  centimetres  (3  "875  square  inches).  The  piece  of  lino- 
leum to  be  tested  was  attached  to  this  surface  with  shellac,  and 
would  he  pressed  against  the  grindstone  by  the  weight  of  the 
stamp,  plus  half  that  of  the  parallel  motion,  its  whole  area  being 
in  contact  with  the  stone.  The  number  of  revolutions  were 
recorded  by  a  counter  in  connection  with  the  lathe. 

It  was  found,  by  preliminary  experiments,  that  with  continued 
grinding  the  stone  lost  its  sharpness,  and  to  remedy  this  fine  sand 
was  constantly  sprinkled  over  the  surface,  and  had  the  effect  of 
keeping  the  latter  in  good  condition.  A  simple  arrangement  for 
regulating  the  supply  of  sand  in  the  first  instance,  and  afterwards 
ensuring  its  constancy,  was  made.  Thirty  drops  of  water  per 
minute  were  allowed  to  fall  on  the  stone. 

The  measurement  of  the  amount  of  abrasion  taking  place  was 
effected  every  ten  minutes,  by  means  of  a  gauge  furnished  with 
micrometer  adjustment ;  the  distance  measured  was  that  between 
the  top  of  the  flanges  holding  the  grindstone  on  either  side,  and  a 
horizontal  steel  bar  attached  to  the  stamp.  The  details  of  results 
are  given  in  a  tabular  form.  The  standard  of  comparison  for  the 
various  samples  tested  was  the  amount  of  abrasion  for  100  metres 
traversed  by  the  surface  of  the  stone. 

G.  K.  B. 


A  New  Tubular  Compass.    By  —  Hildebrand. 

(Oesterreichische  Zeitschrift.  fur  Berg- und  Hiittenwesen,  vol.  xxxiv.  188G,  pp.  83-86.) 

For  extensive  mine  surveys,  the  magnetic  needle  is  usually 
employed  in  conjunction  with  the  theodolite.  For  this  purpose, 
in  theodolites  of  German  make,  a  rectangular  box-compass  is  placed 
between  the  telescope  supports,  and  is  read  by  means  of  a  mag- 
nifying-glass.  Good  illumination  of  this  compass  is,  however, 
hardly  possible;  the  reading  is  difficult,  and  the  results  are  not 
sufficiently  accurate.  At  the  same  time,  the  introduction  of  the 
compass  renders  the  theodolite  more  complicated,  and  its  manipu- 
lation more  difficult.  ;  In  order  to  obviate  these  difficulties  various 
methods  have  been  adopted.  These  may  be  divided  into  two  classes. 
In  the  first,  the  needle  is  suspended  by  means  of  a  silk  fibre ;  and 
with  instruments  of  this  kind,  when  firmly  fixed,  excellent  results 
are  obtained ;  but,  as  portable  accessories  to  the  theodolite,  their 
manipulation  requires  great  skill,  and  they  have  not  come  into 
general  use.  The  second  group  includes  compasses  of  various 
kinds,  in  which  the  needle  is  supported  on  a  steel  point.  Of  these, 
the  tubular  compass  is  the  best.  This  consists  of  a  tubular  case, 
the  north  end  of  which  is  closed  with  a  ground  glass,  on  which  a 
fine  scale  is  marked.  By  means  of  a  lens  at  the  south  end  of  the 
tube,  this  scale  appears  slightly  magnified,  and  in  front  of  this 
swings  the  north  point  of  the  needle,  which  is  bent  upwards  so 
that  it  can  be  easily  read  with  precision  in  the  mine.  The  compass 
can  easily  be  adapted  to  the  theodolite,  since  it  is  not  necessary  to 


460  A  NEW   TUBULAR  COMPASS.  [Foreign 

read  it  from  above,  but  by  looking  through  it  in  the  same  way 
as  an  ordinary  telescope.  Unfortunately,  for  exact  measurements 
it  cannot  be  employed,  as  only  one  end  of  the  needle  is  seen. 

This  disadvantage  has  induced  the  Author  to  construct  a  new 
form  of  tubular  compass.  In  this,  both  ends  of  the  needle  are 
seen  at  once,  magnified  ten  times  ;  the  graduation  also  appearing 
magnified  to  the  same  degree.  The  compass  can  easily  be  read  to 
a  single  minute,  both  by  daylight  and  in  the  mine,  the  light  of 
a  candle  at  a  distance  of  a  yard  being  sufficient  underground.  The 
tube  is  rectangular,  and  in  it  a  magnetic  needle  4*32  inches  long 
swings  on  a  steel  point.  Close  by  the  south  end  of  the  needle  is  a 
glass  micrometer,  and  in  front  of  this  is  a  micrometer  eye-piece 
magnifying  ten  times.  Between  the  south  end  and  the  centre  of 
the  needle  is  a  small  telescope  objective.  By  means  of  the  eye- 
piece, the  glass  micrometer  and  the  south  end  of  the  needle  are 
seen  magnified  ten  times ;  the  magnified  inverted  optical  image 
of  the  north  end,  formed  by  the  objective,  being  also  visible.  In 
other  words,  by  means  of  the  eye-piece  both  the  north  and  south 
ends  of  the  needle  are  seen  passing  before  the  glass  micrometer. 
The  latter  is  divided  into  tenths  of  a  millimetre ;  one  division  as 
seen  through  the  eye-pieces  consequently  appearing  equal  to 
one  millimetre.  The  middle  line  of  the  scale — the  zero  line — is 
lengthened  in  both  directions.  When  the  needle  is  properly  ad- 
justed, the  image  of  the  south  end  and  of  the  inverted  north  end  will 
appear  on  this  line.  But  if  the  needle  gets  out  of  adjustment,  its 
centre  and  the  north  and  south  points  are  no  longer  in  the  same 
plane,  and  the  two  ends  will  not  coincide  with  the  zero  line.  In 
order  to  eliminate  this  error,  the  compass  must  be  placed  in  such 
a  way  that  the  north  end  and  the  south  end  are  at  the  same  dis- 
tance from  the  zero  line.  The  north  end  of  the  compass-case  is 
protected  from  dust  by  a  glass-plate,  in  front  of  which  is  hinged  a 
plate  of  ground  glass,  by  means  of  which  the  artificial  illumination 
is  assisted. 

If  the  ground-glass  plate  and  the  glass  protecting  the  north  end 
of  the  case  are  replaced  by  a  tube  with  an  objective  at  the  end,  a 
terrestrial  telescope  is  obtained,  in  which  the  optical  part  of  the 
tubular  compass  forms  the  eye-piece,  and  its  glass  micrometer 
represents  the  crossed  wires.  If  a  telescope  of  this  kind  is  mounted 
on  a  vertical  axis,  and  a  graduated  horizontal  staff  fixed  at  a  suitable 
distance  along  the  line  of  sight,  the  instrument  may  be  employed 
for  observing  the  diurnal  declination. 

B.  H.  B. 


Signals  for  Mine-Surveys.    By  J.  Gretzmacher. 

(Oesterreichische  Zeitschrift  fiir  Berg-  und  Hiittenwesen,  vol.  xxsiv.  1886,  p.  239.) 

In  mine-surveys  it  is  not  advisable  to  employ  candle-flames  as 
angular  objects  for  bines  that  are  less  than  30  to  40  fathoms  in 
length.     It  is  best  in  such  a  case  to  sight  a  plumb-line  suspended 


Abstracts.]  SIGNALS   FOR   MINE-SURVEYS.  461 

from  the  angular  point.  This  will  appear  as  a  black  line  on  a 
light  ground,  if  a  clean  sheet  of  paper  soaked  in  oil  is  held  behind 
it,  and  illuminated  by  a  candle.  It  is  found,  however,  that  exact 
pointing  cannot  be  effected  by  this  method  in  the  case  of  very 
short  lines.  Both  the  vertical  wire  of  the  telescope,  and  the 
plumb-line  appearing  as  black  lines,  it  is  impossible  to  halve  the 
plumb-line  with  precision.  The  Author,  therefore,  advocates,  for 
surveys  where  great  accuracy  is  required,  the  employment,  as 
signal,  of  a  plate  of  sheet-iron  suspended  from  the  plumb-line.  In 
this  plate,  three  circular  or  square  holes  are  bored  in  the  longi- 
tudinal axis  of  the  plumb-line.  The  plate  is  about  8  inches  in 
diameter,  and  the  holes  0-4  inch,  0*4  inch,  and  0-07  inch  in 
diameter ;  one  of  the  larger  apertures  being  covered  with  a  piece 
of  ground-glass.  For  very  short  distances,  the  flame  of  an  ordinary 
mining  lamp  is  held  behind  the  small  aperture ;  for  greater  dis- 
tances the  larger  aperture  covered  with  ground-glass  is  used ; 
while  for  still  greater  distances  the  ground-glass  is  dispensed  with. 

B.  H.  B. 


Ore-Dressing  hy  means  of  an  Air-Blast.    By  E.  W.  Neubert. 

(Jahrbuch  fur  das  Berg-  und  Hiittenwesen  im  Konigreiche  Sachsen,  1880,  p.  71.) 

In  the  methods  of  dry  concentration  hitherto  employed,  the  ore 
to  be  treated  has  been  allowed  to  fall  through  a  free  space,  into 
which  compressed  air  is  passed.  This  separates  the  various  con- 
stituents of  the  ore,  according  to  their  specific  gravity.  In  the 
recent  experiments  carried  out  by  the  Author  at  the  Himmelsfiirst 
mine,  Freiberg,  a  new  method  has  been  adopted.  The  ore  is 
spread  over  a  moving  endless  band,  and  air-currents  passed  over 
it.  The  endless  band  is  of  india-rubber;  it  is  1  foot  6  inches 
broad,  and  moves  at  a  velocity  of  4-32  to  4-72  inches  per  second. 
On  one  of  the  long  sides  of  the  band  is  the  blast-main,  with  five 
twyers,  through  which  the  blast  is  directed  over  the  ore  spread  on 
the  band.  The  orifices  of  the  twyers  are  9  ■  84  inches  long.  The 
ore  passes  from  a  hopper  through  distributing-rolls  on  to  the  end- 
less band.  In  order  to  equally  distribute  the  mass,  four  leather 
straps,  0  •  2  inch  wide,  are  stretched  across  the  band  between  the 
twyers.  The  surface  of  the  band,  constantly  subjected  to  the 
blast,  is  6  feet  2  inches  long.  Opposite  the  twyers,  on  the  other 
long  side  of  the  band,  are  five  bunkers,  into  which  the  products 
are  blown.  The  blast  is  supplied  from  a  fan,  with  13*  39-inch 
vane,  worked  by  a  small  steam-engine,  and  making  1,250  to 
1,300  revolutions  per  minute. 

The  products  vary  according  to  the  nature  of  the  raw  ore. 
With  masses  of  little  value,  containing  a  large  quantity  of  gneiss, 
the  first  and  second  twyers  give  deads,  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
intermediate  products,  while  the  material  remaining  on  the  end- 
less band,  and  passing  into  a  bunker  at  the  end,  may  be  good  ore. 
The  intermediate   products   are   worked   again.     The  process   is 


462  ORE-DRESSING  BY  MEANS  OF  AN  AIR-BLAST.  [Foreign 

exactly  similar  to  washing  on  inclined  planes,  complex  ores  having 
to  be  treated  repeatedly,  in  order  to  separate  the  different  con- 
stituents. For  large  establishments  it  would  be  advisable  to 
employ  two  or  three  concentrators,  with  five  twyers  each,  rather 
than  a  single  concentrator  with  ten  to  fifteen  twyers.  It  is  im- 
portant that  the  material  to  be  treated  shall  be  perfectly  dry,  well 
sized,  and  free  from  dust. 

The  Author  gives  the  results  of  twenty  experiments  made  with 
various  ores,  analyses  being  given  of  the  original  ore,  of  the  con- 
centrated products,  and  of  the  deads.  In  one  experiment,  coarse 
ores  of  0*06  to  0*1  inch  grain  was  employed.  This  contained 
0  •  1  per  cent,  of  silver,  1  per  cent,  of  lead,  and  6  per  cent,  of  zinc. 
The  results  were  satisfactory,  as  showing  that  poor  ores  can  be 
treated  by  the  dry  process.  The  production  was  12  •  39  per  cent,  of 
concentrated  ore,  containing  0  ■  032  per  cent,  of  silver,  5  per  cent, 
of  lead,  28-4  per  cent,  of  sulphur,  and  10  per  cent,  of  zinc.  The 
products  from  the  first  two  twyers,  the  deads,  were  completely 
free  from  lead  ;  the  intermediate  product  was  also  worthless.  In 
another  experiment,  ore  of  0*04-  to  0*06  inch  grain,  containing 
0*012  per  cent,  of  silver,  0*5  per  cent,  of  lead,  7*4  per  cent,  of 
sulphur,  and  6  per  cent,  of  zinc,  gave  10*35  per  cent,  of  concen- 
trated ore,  with  0*032  per  cent,  of  silver,  7  per  cent,  of  lead, 
23*8  per  cent,  of  sulphur,  and  11  per  cent,  of  zinc.  This  yield  is 
2  per  cent,  greater  than  that  from  the  percussion  table.  The 
experiments  show  that  the  method  of  air-separation  may  be 
employed  with  advantage  for  the  concentration  of  ores.  Galena 
especially  concentrates  well,  and  can  be  separated  to  a  minimum 
from  the  other  constituents  of  the  raw  mass.  Iron  pyrites  and 
blende  cannot  be  separated  by  this  method.  The  preliminary 
work  presents  several  difficulties.  Comminution  by  dry  stamping 
is  entirely  out  of  the  question,  from  the  fact  that  50  to  60  per 
cent,  of  the  mass  is  reduced  to  a  powder  of  less  than  0*  08-inch 
grain,  which  could  not  be  separated  by  the  blast.  The  cost  of  the 
method  described  is  higher  than  with  wet  stamping  and  washing, 
but  not  so  high  as  with  breaking,  and  crushing  in  rolls.  Crushed 
ore  with  5  per  cent,  of  lead  may,  consequently,  be  treated  with 
advantage  by  this  method. 

B.  H.  B. 


Calorimetric  Study  of  Iron  at  Sigh  Temperatures. 

By  —  Pioxchox. 

(Comptes  rendus  de  l'Academie  des  Sciences,  toI.  cii.  1886,  p.  1454.) 

The  Author's  experiments  were  made  upon  almost  pure  iron, 
with  only  the  slightest  traces  of  carbon  and  silicon.  From  0°  to 
660^  Centigrade,  the  quantity  of  heat  required  to  raise  its  temper- 
ature is  given  by  the  formula — 

0*11012^  +  0*  0000253  f  -f-  0  *  00000005466664  £ ; 


Abstracts.]  CALOKIMETMC  STUDY  OF  IRON  AT  HIGH  TEMPERATURES.  463 

between   660°  and- 723°,  the   increase   in   the  quantity  of  heat 
required  is  much  more  rapid — 

0 •  57803  t-  0-001435987  i2  +  0-000001195;f3; 

whilst  from  723°  to  1000°,  the  quantity  of  heat  is  represented  by 
the  linear  equation, 

0-218*-  39. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  the  specific  heat  of  iron  (0*218)  in  the 
last  interval  of  temperatures,  is  double  of  what  it  is  about  0°. 

Measures  made  with  copper  between  660°  and  723°,  showed  no 
change  similar  to  that  observed  with  iron.  To  discover  whether 
it  effected  the  substance,  or  only  the  structure  of  the  metal,  ex- 
periments were  made  on  spongy  iron,  reduced  from  pure  sesqui- 
oxide  of  iron  by  hydrogen,  the  results  agreeing  perfectly  with 
those  obtained  previously.  The  fact  of  a  change  in  the  state  of 
iron  occurring  at  about  the  temperature  of  700°  being  thus  esta- 
blished, the  Author  proposes  to  extend  his  researches  on  the  in- 
fluence which  this  change  of  state  may  have  on  the  different 
properties  of  this  metal,  and  on  steel.  Mr.  Becquerel  remarked  that 
iron  about  the  temperature  of  600°,  presented  another  very  remark- 
able change  in  its  physical  properties,  namely,  the  diminution  in 
the  attractive  influence  upon  it  of  magnets.  Nickel  and  cobalt,  at 
400°  and  at  white-heat  respectively,  are  similarly  influenced,  and 
it  would  be  interesting,  he  thought,  to  discover  whether  their 
capacity  for  heat  changed  at  these  temperatures  in  a  manner 
analogous  to  that  of  iron. 

E.  F.  B. 


On  the  Blowing  of  Small  Bessemer  Charges. 
By  Prof.  T.  M.  Drown. 

(Proceedings  of  Society  of  Arts  of  Massachusetts  Institution  of  Technology,  1885-G, 

p.  141.) 

The  Little  Bessemer  process  was  first  tried  at  Avesta,  in 
Sweden,  some  eight  or  nine  years  ago,  with  the  design  of  making 
a  sort  of  iron  sponge  to  use  in  the  Martin  process.  The  high 
temperature  developed,  and  the  fluid  character  of  the  final  pro- 
duct were  a  surprise  to  the  projectors  of  the  process,  which  proved 
so  satisfactory  that  the  intention  of  putting  up  a  Martin  plant 
was  abandoned. 

The  process  was  first  described  by  Professor  Josef  von  Ehren- 
werth,1  of  Leoben,  in  Austria,  who  visited  the  Avesta  works  in  1884. 
There  were  then  two  converters,  movable  on  their  axes  by  hand- 
power.     Their  height  is  from  51  to  54  inches,  and  the  diameter 


Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.,  vol.  lxxix.  p.  434. 


464 


ON  THE  BLOWING  OF  SMALL  BESSEMER  CHARGES.       [Foreign 


39  inches.  The  bottom,  which  is  secured  by  a  screw,  is  made  of 
one  piece,  containing  about  90  twyers,  0-12  to  0-13  inch  in 
diameter,  distributed  in  a  circle  of  only  eight  inches,  and  inclined 
at  an  angle  of  45°  to  50°. 

The  moulds  are  filled  direct  from  the  converters,  no  ladle  being 
used,  and  steel  and  cinder  are  poured  out  together.  The  blast  is 
supplied  by  the  same  engines  that  supply  the  blast-furnace,  with 
a  pressure  of  15  lbs.  to  the  square  inch.  The  charge  of  from 
365  to  1,700  lbs. — on  an  average,  say  about  1,000  lbs. — is  taken 
direct  from  the  blast-furnace,  and  forty-five  to  fifty  charges  are 
blown  in  each  converter  in  twenty-four  hours,  including  the  neces- 
sary changes  of  converters  and  bottoms.  The  blows  seen  by 
Ehrenwerth  lasted  131  and  9  minutes  respectively.  The  course  of 
the  blow  is  essentially  the  same  as  in  the  regular  Bessemer  process, 
except  that  it  is  completed  with  low  pressure  of  blast. 

Although  cold  charges  are  often  blown,  and  notwithstanding  the 
small  amount  of  metal  in  the  vessel,  the  steel  is  thoroughly  and 
normally  hot  at  the  finish.  At  the  end  of  the  blow,  8  per  cent, 
of  ferro-manganese  is  added  in  small  pieces,  cold  (the  vessel  being 
on  its  side),  the  mixture  is  rabbled  with  a  stick  of  wood,  allowed 
to  stand  quietly  for  some  minutes,  and  then  slowly  poured  into 
the  moulds  without  any  attempt  to  hold  back  the  cinder. 

As  the  result  of  a  year's  working  (1879),  there  was  87-4  per 
cent,  of  ingots  produced  to  12*6  per  cent,  loss  on  the  pig-iron 
used,  and  since  then  a  better  record  has  been  shown.  There  is 
no  loss  by  skulls  in  ladles,  and  as  the  slag  is  poured  with  the 
steel  into  the  moulds,  there  is  less  loss  at  the  top  of  the  ingot. 
(In  more  recent  working  the  greater  part  of  the  cinder  is  re- 
tained by  inserting  a  brick  in  the  mouth  of  the  converter.) 

The  product  is  exclusively  ingot  iron,  with  carbon  from  0  •  2  to 
0*55  per  cent.,  and  according  to  Ehrenwerth,  it  is  characterized 
by  its  excellent  quality,  by  its  uniformity  in  strength,  and  above 
all,  by  its  fibrous,  or  rather  silky,  texture,  in  which  respects  it 
surpasses  the  best  varieties  of  refined  or  puddled  iron. 

Analyses  of  the  pig-iron,  and  of  the  final  product,  give  the 
following  results  : — 


Carbon 
Silicon 
Manganese 
Phosphorus 
Sulphur    . 
Slag    .      . 


Pig  Iron. 


? 
1-40 
0-63 
0-043 
0-01 


? 
1-46 
0-47 
0-047 

o-oo 


Bessemer  Iron. 


0-20 

0-05 

0-31 

0-051 

0-00 

0-05 


0-25 
0-11 
0-31 
0-05 
000 
0-5 


Ehrenwerth  considers  this  product  to  be  distinguished  chemi- 
cally by  the  presence  of  slag  and  the  absence  of  sulphur.  The 
amount  of  silicon  is  higher  than  might  be  expected,  and.  some  of  it 
is  probably  due  to  intermingled  slag. 


Abstracts.]      ON  THE  BLOWING  OF  SMALL  BESSEMER  CHARGES.  465 

The  physical  properties  of  the  metal  are — tensile  strength  per 
square  inch,  50,000  to  53,000  lbs. ;  elongation  in  eight  inches,  25 
to  30  per  cent. ;  contraction  of  area,  60  to  68  per  cent. 

According  to  Ehrenwerth,  the  essential  characteristics  of  this 
process  are — 

1.  Small  but  numerous  twyers,  in  an  inclined  position,  giving  a 
better  distribution  of  blast,  and  ensuring  its  complete,  utilization. 

2.  Pouring  from  the  hot  retort. 

3.  In  general,  a  better  heating  of  the  retort,  particularly  in  its 
upper  part. 

4.  High  gas-pressure  in  the  retort,  owing  to  its  narrow  neck. 
Shortly  after  Ehrenwerth's  description  of  the  Avesta  process, 

experiments  in  blowing  small  charges  were  made  at  the  Bessemer 
works  at  Prevali,  in  Austria,  under  the  direction  of  W.  Hupfeld. 
The  first  converter  was  constructed  inside  a  regular  Bessemer 
vessel,  and  took  a  charge  of  from  1,300  to  1,400  lbs.  The  softest 
metal  made  in  this  experimental  converter  contained  0*14  per 
cent,  of  silicon,  and  0*12  per  cent,  of  carbon,  and  the  hardest 
0*075  per  cent,  of  silicon  and  0*71  of  carbon.  Here  again  there  is 
a  probable  error  in  the  silicon  determinations  owing  to  inter- 
mingled slag. 

In  a  second  series  of  experiments,  with  a  new  converter,  near 
the  blast  furnace,  the  small  charge,  1,400  to  1,600  lbs.,  was  taken 
from  the  ladle  which  supplied  the  large  converters,  and  thus  a 
large  and  a  small  charge  were  blown  at  the  same  time  from  iden- 
tically the  same  iron.  This  gave  an  opportunity  for  a  direct 
comparison  of  the  products,  and  it  was  found  that  the  metal  made 
in  the  small  converter  was  always  better  than  that  blown  in  the 
large  converter.  Large  cpuantities  of  the  product  of  the  small 
vessel  were  made  into  wire,  sheets,  and  boiler-plate.  It  was 
decidedly  tougher  than  puddled  iron,  while  its  weldability  was 
perfectly  satisfactory. 

Of  sixty  consecutive  charges  blown  for  soft  metal  in  this  con- 
verter, the  average  amount  of  silicon  was  0*0281  per  cent.;  of 
carbon,  0*1166  per  cent.  The  lowest  silicon  was  0*014,  and  the 
carbon  varied  from  0*08  to  0*16  per  cent.  Of  the  corresponding- 
charges  in  the  large  converter,  when  the  same  degree  of  softness 
was  aimed  at,  the  average  was  0  *  055  per  cent,  of  silicon,  and  0  *  126 
of  carbon.  The  extremes  of  silicon  in  the  metal  made  in  the  large 
converters  are,  unfortunately,  not  given  by  Hupfeld,  who  shows 
from  these  comparative  experiments  that  when  in  the  Little 
Bessemer  process  the  carbon  is  brought  down  to  the  same  point  as 
in  the  regular  process,  the  silicon  is  more  completely  eliminated. 

In  the  Clapp-Griffith  process,  in  which  also  small  charges  are 
treated,  the  converter  is  of  the  original  Swedish  pattern,  its 
peculiar  feature  being  a  slag  tap-hole,  at  such  a  height  in  relation 
to  the  metal  under  treatment,  that  when  the  cinder  is  formed  and 
boils  up  as  the  blow  progresses,  it  can  be  run  off  and  thus  be 
removed  from  contact  with  the  iron,  and  will  also  be  out  of  the 
way  when  the  decarbonized  metal  is  tapped  into  the  casting-ladle 

[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2   H 


466  ON  THE  BLOWING  OF  SMALL  BESSEMER  CHARGES.        [Foreign 

and  the  manganiferous  alloy  added.  The  twyers  are  situated 
around  the  body  of  the  vessel,  and  enter  the  interior  at  some 
distance  above  the  bottom.  At  the  completion  of  the  operation 
the  metal  is  tapped  into  a  ladle,  and  is  there  mixed  with  the  ferro- 
manganese,  and  then  cast  into  ingots  in  the  usual  way.  A  slow 
pressure  of  blast,  from  5  to  8  lbs.,  is  used. 

The  product  of  the  Clapp-Griffith  converter  is  also  low  in 
silicon,  which  seldom  exceeds  0  ■  02  per  cent.,  and  it  is  claimed  that 
this  low  proportion  is  a  necessary  result  of  this  system  of  blowing. 
Unfortunately  the  records  of  analyses  of  Clapp-Griffith  metal 
low  in  phosphorus,  are  too  few  in  number  to  afford  a  trustworthy 
comparison  of  its  physical  properties  with  those  of  the  metal  made 
in  the  small  converters  at  Avesta  and  Prevali. 

While  the  high  quality  of  the  products  of  small  converters, 
especially  as  regards  softness  and  ductility,  appears  to  be  generally 
conceded  by  competent  judges,  the  reason  for  its  excellence  is  not 
so  apparent.  Ehrenwerth  has  no  explanation  to  give  of  the 
superior  quality  of  the  Avesta  metal  other  than  the  fact  that 
pig-iron  low  in  silicon  is  used,  and  that  the  wind  is  more 
thoroughly  mixed  with  the  iron  owing  to  the  large  number  of 
very  small  twyers.  Hupfeld's  view  is,  that  it  is  due  to  the  more 
complete  elimination  of  silicon  in  the  Little  Bessemer,  and  says 
that  the  only  respect  in  which  the  soft  Bessemer  metal  ordinarily 
made  in  Austria  is  inferior  to  basic  or  Martin  steel,  is  the  some- 
what higher  percentage  of  silicon,  namely,  0*035  to  0*06  per 
cent.  As  has  been  already  seen,  none  of  the  metal  from  the 
small  converter  at  Prevali  contained  more  than  0*05  per  cent, 
of  silicon,  and  in  two-thirds  of  it  the  silicon  was  not  more  than 
0*03  per  cent.,  while  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the  Clapp- 
Griffith  metal  is  yet  lower  in  silicon. 

What,  then,  are  the  essentially  different  conditions  in  the 
small  converter,  so  that  it  necessarily  produces  metal  lower  in 
silicon?  It  seems  to  be  generally  admitted  that  a  very  high 
temperature  in  the  Bessemer  converter  is  unfavourable  for  the 
complete  elimination  of  silicon,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  silicon, 
which  has  already  been  oxidized,  may  be  again  reduced  and  united 
with  the  iron.  But  if  the  simple  solution  of  the  success  of  the 
Little  Bessemer  is,  as  Hupfeld  suggests,  that  the  charges  blow  cold, 
it  would  not  be  a  difficult  condition  to  imitate  in  the  larger  vessel. 
The  following  interesting  particulars,  furnished  by  Mr.  P.  W. 
Moen,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  seem  to  confirm  this  view  : — 

"  Some  time  ago,  at  the  Domnarfvet  Works,  Sweden,  in  attempting 
to  turn  down  their  converter,  the  turning  arrangement  gave  out, 
and  the  converter  was  held  suspended  in  such  a  position  that  it 
was  necessary  to  keep  on  the  blast  in  order  to  prevent  the  metal 
from  flowing  back  into  the  twyer  holes.  It  was  naturally  thought 
that  the  blow  would  be  a  loss,  but  very  much  to  the  surprise  of 
the  engineers  it  was  discovered  that  the  iron  was  very  soft, 
unusually  so,  and  that,  contrary  to  the  general  rule  with  them,  it 
was  quite  free  from  red-shortness,  due  to  the  presence  of  oxide  of 


Abstracts.]     ON  THE  BLOWING  OF  SHALL  BESSEMER  CHARGES.  467 

iron.  The  after-blow,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  was  made  with  a 
portion  of  the  tuyeres  (not  all)  above  the  surface  of  the  bath,  and 
undoubtedly  caused  a  motion  of  rotation  in  the  bath." 

This  practice  was  continued  for  above  a  year,  whenever  un- 
usually soft  iron  was  required,  but  was  ultimately  abandoned, 
partly  on  account  of  the  greater  waste  due  to  the  excessive  oxida- 
tion of  the  iron.  This,  it  may  be  remarked,  would  tend  to  make 
the  cinder  more  basic  and  abundant,  and  thus  to  retain  all  the 
oxidized  silicon. 

The  conclusion  seems  inevitable,  that  in  the  large  converter, 
ingot-iron  can  be  made  as  soft  and  ductile  in  every  respect  as  in 
the  small  converter,  by  conforming  to  the  same  conditions ;  but 
that  in  the  blowing  of  small  charges  the  conditions  for  the 
production  of  soft  metal  are  inherent,  so  that  the  Little  Bessemer 
has  the  merit  of  producing  extra  soft  iron,  because  it  cannot 
help  it. 

The  pig-irons  thus  far  used  in  Europe  in  the  Little  Bessemer 
have  been  exclusively  those  used  in  the  regular  process.  But  in 
the  Clapp-Griffith  converter,  in  America,  pig-irons  high  in  phos- 
phorus have  been  experimented  on,  and  have  given  a  metal  of 
unexpected  ductility,  and  it  is  consequently  claimed  that  phos- 
phoric irons  can  be  successfully  treated  by  that  process. 

W.  S.  H. 


Gold-Mining  on  the  Saskatchewan.    By  Charles  Levey. 

(Proceedings  of  the  Canadian  Institute,  1886,  p.  267.) 

The  gold-fields  referred  to  are  at  and  near  Edmonton,  on  the 
North  Saskatchewan  river,  N.W.T.  Canada.  The  deposit,  through 
which  the  present  river  cuts,  is  said  to  extend  some  60  miles  east 
and  west.  The  northern  and  southern  limits  are  not  known. 
The  thickness  of  the  deposit  is  partly  seen  by  the  height  of  the 
river  banks,  which,  at  the  point  referred  to,  are  at  least  200  feet 
high.  At  the  highest  points,  on  some  of  these  banks,  gold  can  be 
washed  out,  but  the  quantity  per  cubic  yard  of  dirt  increases  as 
the  present  water-level  is  approached.  On  the  gravel  bars  the 
yield  by  hand-working  is  about  ^1'60  per  cubic  yard.  The  gold 
is  in  the  shape  of  very  fine  dust  and  minute  nuggets.  The  largest 
of  these  nuggets  is  not  larger  than  the  smallest  mustard  seed. 
The  gold  is  separated  from  the  dirt  by  hand.  A  dump-box  is 
filled  with  gravel,  after  which  water  is  dashed  upon  it  by  the  aid 
of  a  long-handled  dipper.  The  coarse  parts  fall  on  either  side  of 
a  double-inclined  grate,  while  the  finer  parts  fall  through  the 
grates  on  to  blankets  in  a  box  ;  all  but  the  black  sand  and  the  gold 
are  discharged.  The  latter  adheres  to  the  blankets.  The  dump- 
box  is  filled  and  emptied  repeatedly  for,  say,  ten  hours,  after 
which  the  blanket  is  washed  in  an  ordinary  tub,  to  the  bottom  of 
which  the  gold  and  black  sand  fall.     The  water  is  next  poured  off, 

2  ii  2 


468  GOLD-MINING   ON   THE   SASKATCHEWAN.  [Foreign 

and  two  or  three  charges  of  fresh  water  are  poured  into  and  out  of 
the  tub,  in  order  to  further  cleanse  the  gold  and  black  sand. 
When  these  are  sufficiently  clean,  they  are  removed  from  the  tub 
to  the  gold -pan.  This  is  done  by  tipping  the  tub  over  the  pan, 
and  then  by  dashing  water  from  the  pan  into  the  tub.  The  gold 
cannot  be  successfully  removed  from  the  tub  in  any  other  way. 
The  pan  is  now  held  under  water,  and  shaken  until  the  mass  it 
contains  is  much  reduced  in  bulk  by  the  separation  of  the  lighter 
portions  of  the  sand.  Some  quicksilver  is  poured  in,  together 
with  clean  water,  and  the  pan  is  shaken  until  the  quicksilver  has 
taken  up  all  the  gold.  It  is  then  again  placed  under  water,  and 
violently  shaken,  to  remove  all  the  black  sand.  The  remaining 
contents  are  then  poured  into  a  washleather,  which  has  been  pre- 
viously wetted  and  stretched.  The  edges  of  the  leather  are 
secured  in  the  right  hand,  when  the  centre  of  it  assumes  the  shape 
of  a  pounce.  The  neck  of  this  is  wrung  until  all  the  free  quick- 
silver is  squeezed  through  the  pores  of  the  leather,  and  falls  in  fine 
beads  into  the  pan  placed  for  its  reception.  When  opened,  the  bag- 
is  found  to  contain  a  ball  of  amalgam,  of  silver  colour,  and  of 
about  the  consistency  of  putty.  This  is  moulded  in  the  fingers  to 
the  required  shape,  and  then  placed  upon  an  iron  shovel.  Heat  is 
applied  beneath  the  shovel  to  drive  off  the  quicksilver  that  could 
not  be  removed  by  pressure.  After  a  sufficient  application  of  heat, 
the  button  of  amalgam  assumes  a  gold  colour,  and  is  allowed  to 
cool.  This  is  the  gold  amalgam  of  commerce.  The  rest  of  the 
Paper  is  descriptive  of  the  machine  methods  of  recovering  the 
gold. 

The  Author  remarks  that  handwork  has  been  going  on  for 
nine  years,  and  machinery  work  five  years ;  the  first  was  not  com- 
monly satisfactory,  and  the  other  produced  about  $6  per  day ; 
that  the  tract  was  200  miles  north  of  Calgary,  and  extended 
50  miles  ;  that  the  yield  per  pan  was  about  2  cents ;  that  the  sand 
contained  magnetic  iron  and  a  little  platinum ;  that  there  were 
from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  settlers ;  that  there  were 
large  boulders  of  gneiss  and  granite,  which,  he  thought,  came  from 
the  Lauren tian  to  the  north-east,  and  he  thought  hydraulic  mining 
would  pay  after  a  very  large  expenditure. 


The  Desilverization  of  Lead  by  means  of  Zinc  at  Freiberg. 
By  C.  A.  Plattneh. 

(Jahrbuch  fiir  das  Berg-  unJ  Hiittenwe^en  im  Konigreiehe  Sachsen,  188G, 
p.  133.) 

The  Parkes  process  has  recently  been  introduced  at  the  Royal 
Muldener  works  at  Freiberg,  in  conjunction  with  the  Pattinson 
process.  The  latter  cannot  be  entirely  dispensed  with  at  these 
works,  on  account  of  the  bismuth  in  the  argentiferous  lead.     The 


Abstracts.]  THE   DESILVEMZATION   OF   LEAD.  469 

combined  Pattinson-Parkes  plant  is  as  follows  : — For  the  Pattin- 
son  process  there  are  two  batteries  of  nine  cast-iron  pots,  5  feet 
8  inches  in  diameter,  2  feet  11  inches  deep,  and  with  a  capacity 
of  15  tons.  For  the  Parkes  process  there  are  two  cast-iron  de- 
silverizing pots,  6  feet  5  inches  in  diameter,  3  feet  3  inches  deep, 
and  with  a  capacity  of  20  tons ;  three  cast-iron  hemispherical 
liquation  pots,  1  foot  9  inches  in  diameter ;  one  refining  furnace, 
with  a  fire-brick  bottom  9  feet  10  inches  long,  6  feet  6  inches 
broad,  and  1  foot  5  inches  deep,  for  separating  the  zinc  from  the 
poor  lead ;  and  one  cast-iron  tapping-pot,  5  feet  14  inches  in 
diameter  and  3  feet  3  inches  deep,  for  receiving  the  lead  from 
which  the  silver  has  been  removed.  The  lead  containing  0  ■  1  per 
cent,  of  silver,  to  be  treated  by  the  Parkes  process,  is  removed 
from  the  last  Pattinson  pot  by  means  of  Eusing's  steam  lead- 
pump.1  Lastly,  there  are  two  furnaces  for  distilling  the  rich 
argentiferous  crusts  obtained  in  the  Parkes  process.  These  are 
air-furnaces,  each  containing  a  plumbago  crucible  and  an  iron 
condenser. 

The  mode  of  procedure  is  as  follows  : — The  refined  argentiferous 
lead,  with  more  than  0  •  1  per  cent,  of  silver,  is  charged  into  the 
pot  of  the  Pattinson  battery,  corresponding  to  its  percentage  of 
silver  and  is  converted,  by  the  usual  method  of  thirds,  into  a  rich 
lead  with  2  per  cent.,  and  a  poor  lead  with  0  ■  1  per  cent.,  of  silver. 
The  rich  lead  is  cupelled,  and  the  poor  argentiferous  lead  is 
treated  by  the  Parkes  process.  The  time  occupied  by  the  de- 
silverization  is  not  more  than  twenty  hours,  five  hours  being 
required  for  the  melting  of  the  argentiferous  lead  and  collection 
of  the  argentiferous  zinc  crusts,  and  five  hours  for  each  period  of 
desilverization,  that  is,  from  one  addition  of  zinc  to  the  next.  The 
lead  from  the  Pattinson  process,  with  0  ■  1  per  cent,  of  silver, 
requires  at  most  three  additions  of  zinc.  Each  charge  of  20  tons 
of  lead,  with  0  ■  1  per  cent,  of  silver,  requires  -173  lbs.  of  zinc, 
220  lbs.  for  the  first  addition,  1G5  lbs.  for  the  second,  and  88  lbs. 
for  the  third.  The  original  proportion  of  0  •  1  per  cent,  of  silver, 
and  0  •  00-1  per  cent,  of  gold,  in  the  argentiferous  lead,  is  reduced, 
after  the  first  addition  of  zinc,  to  0  ■  025  per  cent,  of  silver  and  a 
trace  of  gold;  after  the  second  addition,  to  0*002  per  cent.,  and 
after  the  third  addition  to  0*0007  per  cent,  of  silver,  and  no  gold. 

The  following  figures,  giving  the  results  obtained  by  treating 
Freiberg  leads  with  the  maximum  (0*8)  and  minimum  (0*4)  per- 
centage of  auriferous  silver,  show  how  the  combined  Pattinson- 
Parkes  process  compares  with  the  simple  Pattinson  process  hitherto 
in  use. 

1.  Lead  containing  0  *  84  per  cent,  of  auriferous  silver  gave,  with 
the  Pattinson  process  in  sixteen  pots  :  rich  lead,  41  per  cent.,  with 
2  per  cent,  of  auriferous  silver ;  commercial  lead,  49  per  cent., 
with  0  *  001  per  cent,  of  silver  ;  and  lead,  in  intermediate  products, 
10  per  cent.,  with  0*2  per  cent,  of  silver.     Of  the  gold  and  silver 


1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  Inst.  C.E.  vol.  lxxxiv.  p.  512. 


470  THE   DESILYEEIZATION    OF   LEAD.  [Foreign 

present,  there  was  collected  97  •  6  per  cent,  in  the  rich  lead,  0  ■  1  per 
cent,  in  the  commercial  lead,  and  2  •  3  in  the  intermediate  products. 
The  cost  was  7-53i7.  per  cwt.  of  argentiferous  lead.  With  the 
combined  Pattinson-Parkes  process,  with  nine  pots,  there  was 
obtained  :  rich  lead,  38  ■  9  per  cent.,  with  2  •  11  per  cent,  of  auriferous 
silver;  commercial  lead,  52 "5  per  cent.,  with  0*001  per  cent,  of 
silver;  lead,  in  intermediate  products,  8-6  percent.,  with  0-18 per 
cent,  of  silver.  Of  the  gold  and  silver  present,  there  was  collected 
99-1  per  cent,  in  the  rich  lead,  0*1  per  cent,  in  the  commercial 
lead,  and  0*8  per  cent,  in  the  intermediate  products.  The  cost 
was  6*34c7.  per  cwt. 

2.  Lead,  with  0-42  per  cent,  of  auriferous  silver,  gave,  with 
the  Pattinson  process  in  sixteen  pots:  rich  lead,  20-5  percent., 
with  2*0  per  cent,  of  auriferous  silver;  commercial  lead,  69*3  per 
cent.,  with  0  •  001  per  cent,  of  silver ;  lead  in  intermediate  products, 
10-2  per  cent.,  with  0-1  per  cent,  of  silver.  Of  the  gold  and 
silver  present,  there  was  collected  :  97  •  6  per  cent,  in  the  rich  lead, 
0-1  per  cent,  in  the  commercial  lead,  and  2*3  per  cent,  in  the 
intermediate  products.  The  cost  was  7  ■  04cL  per  cwt.  of  argen- 
tiferous lead.  With  the  combined  Pattinson-Parkes  process,  with 
only  eight  Pattinson  pots,  there  was  obtained:  rich  lead,  17*16 
per  cent.,  with  2  ■  39  per  cent,  of  auriferous  silver ;  commercial 
lead,  73-52  per  cent.,  with  0-001  per  cent,  of  silver;  lead  in  inter- 
mediate products,  9-32  per  cent.,  with  0-08  per  cent,  of  silver. 
Of  the  gold  and  silver  present  there  was  collected  98  per  cent,  in 
the  rich  lead,  0-1  per  cent,  in  the  commercial  lead,  and  1-9  per 
cent,  in  the  intermediate  products.  The  cost  was  5  •  53d.  per  cwt. 
of  argentiferous  lead. 

In  comparison  with  the  simple  Pattinson  process,  the  combined 
process  in  the  above  two  cases  gave : — 

1.  2. 

Rich  lead 2-1  3*31  per  cent.  less. 

Commercial  lead  ...       3- 5  4-22         ,,         more. 

Intermediate  products     .       1*4  U'bS         ,,         less. 

Cost 18*0  21-45 

Instead  of  the  twenty-seven  workmen  formerly  required  for  the 
sixteen  Pattinson  pots,  only  twenty-two  are  now  required  for  the 
desilverization  and  distillation,  and  the  yield  of  rich  and  commer- 
cial lead  per  working  day  has  increased  18*3  per  cent. 

B.  H.  B. 


Frictional  Resistance  of  Steel  Hoops  shrunk  on  Steel  Tubes. 
By  F.  H.  Parker. 

(Proceedings  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  1886,  p.  45.) 

The  test  for  frictional  resistance  to  longitudinal  removal  of  steel 
hoops  which  were  shrunk  on  steel  tubes,  was  conducted  by  Major 
F.  II.  Parker,    of  the   United   States   Ordnance   Department,   at 


Abstracts.]  EMOTIONAL  RESISTANCE  OF  STEEL  HOOPS.  471 

Watertown  Arsenal,  Mass.  The  specimens  were  prepared  at  "West 
Point  foundry.  Two  pieces  of  tube,  8  inches  in  bore,  15  J  inches  in 
external  diameter,  and  5^  inches  and  Gh  inches  in  length  respec- 
tively, had  two  hoops  shrunk  upon  them  respectively  3  inches  and 
4  inches  wide,  and  2  ^  inches  thick.  The  temperature  of  the 
3-inch  hoop  when  taken  from  the  furnace  to  "  assemble,"  was 
estimated  at  470°  Fahrenheit ;  and  that  of  the  4-inch  hoop  at 
515°  Fahrenheit.  The  unhooping,  or  forcing  off  of  the  hoop  from 
each  tube,  was  done  in  the  direction  of  their  axes,  in  the  United 
States  testing-machine,  having  a  capacity  of  800,000  lbs.,  at  the 
arsenal.  One  end  of  the  tube  rested  against  the  flat  platform  of 
the  testing-machine,  and  a  cast-iron  ring  was  interposed  between 
the  opposite  platform  and  the  hoop.  The  external  diameter  of  each 
hoop,  and  the  internal  diameter  of  each  tube  was  measured  before 
unhooping,  and  again  after  unhooping.     They  were  as  follows  : — 

External  Average  Diameter. 

Before  unhooping.     After  unhooping.  Restoration. 

Ins.  Ins.  Ins. 

3-inch  hoop.      .      .         20-0157  20-003825  0-011*75 

4-inch     „     .      .      .         20-023625  20-012541  0-01ln*4 

Internal  Average  Diameter. 

Before  unhooping.     After  unhooping.  Restoration. 

Ins.  Ins.  Ins. 

Tube -with  3-inch  hoop       7-995958  7-99S06G  0-002108 

„        „    4    „        „  7-991441  7-991025  0-002584 

Internal  Diameter  of  Hoors  after  unhooping. 

3-inch  hoop 15-745791  inches. 

4    „       „  15-746092 

External  Diameters  of  Tubes  after  unhooping. 

Tube  with  3-inch  hoop 15-762225  inches. 

„     4     „        „         15-702442 

Difference  in  Shrinkage  Diameters  after  unhooping. 

3-inch  Loop  and  tube 0-01G434  inches. 

4    „  „  0-010350       „ 

The  given  values  of  the  diameters  arc  in  each  instance  an 
average  of  four  measurements  at  equal  angles  round  the  circle. 

The  hoops  did  not  slip  over  the  tubes  with  a  smooth  continuous 
movement,  but  with  a  series  of  sudden  slips  or  throbs,  during 
which  there  were  fluctuations  of  the  resistance  and  the  load. 

Maximum  Frictional  Eesistance. 

3-inch  hoop  and  tube 265,800  lbs. 

4    „        „  „  404,100     „ 

D.  K.  C. 


472  AUSTRIAN   SIEGE-ARTILLERY.  [Foreign 

Austrian  Siege- Artillery. 

(Revue  d'Artillerie,  1885,  p.  125.) 

By  the  adoption,  under  an  Imperial  decree  of  April  1885  of  a 
5  •  9-inch  mortar,  the  Austrian  siege  artillery  has  heen  completed. 
The  series  comprises  guns  of  4  ■  7-inch  and  5  •  9-inch  bore,  7-inch 
short  guns,  and  mortars  of  3-5-inch,  5 "9-inch,  and  8 "25-inch 
"bore. 

The  7-inch  guns  and  3  ■  5-inch  and  5  •  9-inch  mortars  are  cast  in 
one  piece.  The  8 "25-inch  mortar  has  a  tube  with  trunnion  hoop 
shrunk  on.  The  4" 7  and  5 '9-inch  guns  are  strengthened  by  hoops 
of  steel  bronze  over  the  chamber  in  front  of  the  breech-block. 

The  rifling  of  the  3  ■  5-inch  mortar  is  of  uniform  twist,  and  the 
same  projectiles  are  fired  as  for  the  3  ■  5-inch  gun  ;  they  are  fitted 
with  four  rings  of  copper  wire.  The  remainder  have  progressive 
twist,  which  is  carried  into  the  conical  shot-chamber,  the  depth 
of  the  rifling  being  0"059  inch  in  the  bore  and  0-039  inch  in  the 
shot-chamber ;  this  allows  the  shot  to  be  centred  at  the  moment 
of  starting. 

The  breech  is  the  wedge  form,  with  copper  Broadwell  obturator. 
The  breech-blocks  carry  a  charging  guide,  but  as  the  mortars 
require  shorter  blocks  to  enable  them  to  pass  between  the  sides 
of  the  carriages,  the  3  •  5-inch  is  fitted  with  a  fixed  support,  and 
the  5'9-inch  and  8-25-inch  with  movable  guides.  Axial  ignition, 
with  obturating  igniter,  is  used.  The  4-7-inch,  5-9-inch,  and 
7-inch  guns  fire  common  and  shrapnel  shell,  the  3-5-inch  case- 
shot,  and  the  5  •  9-inch  piercing  and  incendiary  shells.  The  pro- 
jectiles have  two  rings,  one  as  a  guide  and  one  for  driving. 

The  common  shells  are  charged  from  the  rear,  and  the  opening 
is  closed  by  a  steel  screw  and  lead  ring.  The  shrapnel  has  lead  balls, 
and  is  very  little  heavier  than  ordinary  shell,  being  shorter. 

The  5  •  9-inch  incendiary  shell  is  the  same  as  the  common  shell, 
and  uses  the  same  fuze,  but  it  has  three  holes  in  the  head  to 
allow  the  passage  of  flame.  The  piercing  shell  is  of  chilled  iron, 
with  a  smaller  chamber  than  the  common  shell.  Only  one  band 
is  used  with  this,  the  guiding  being  performed  by  a  swelling  near 
the  head  cast  with  the  shell. 

The  4  •  7-inch  case-shot  has  zinc  balls  1  ■  1  inch  diameter, 
weighing  3  ■  3  ounces.  For  the  3  ■  5-inch  mortars,  experiments  are 
being  made  with  shrapnel  shell,  having  steel  cylinders  for  the 
bodies,  and  an  iron  head  screwed  in.  The  5-9-inch  mortar  and 
gun  fire  the  same  ammunition. 

The  8  •  25-inch  mortar  fires  shell  like  the  5  ■  9 -inch  gun,  but  as 
the  carriage  does  not  allow  firing  except  at  angles  above  45°,  the 
time  of  flight  is  too  great  (with  shrapnel)  for  the  service  time  fuzes, 
and  very  satisfactory  results,  more  accurate  aim  can  be  obtained 
with  the  7-inch  gun,  firing  at  20°  with  reduced  charge.  The 
carriages  for  the   18S0  pattern  guns  are  formed  of  two  parallel 


Abstracts.]  AUSTRIAN   SIEGE-ARTILLERY.  473 

checks  in  plate,  strengthened  by  angle-irons,  and  joined  together 
by  tie-pieces.  The  elevating  apparatus  consists  of  a  double  screw ; 
in  the  4* 7-inch  and  5 '9-inch  guns  it  is  attached  to  the  gun-hoop 
by  a  bolt,  to  prevent  the  muzzle  dropping.  The  short  7-inch 
gun  lies  on  the  head  of  the  internal  screw,  which  is  joined 
to  the  carriage  by  a  forked  link,  otherwise  the  carriage  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  5  ■  9  and  7-inch  guns.  In  these  carriages  the 
extremities  of  the  axles  are  joined  to  the  sides  by  thrust-rods ;  to 
facilitate  loading,  a  folding  foot-boarcl  is  attached  to  the  side  of 
the  carriage. 

The  3*5  and  5 "9-inch  mortar  carriages  consist  of  two  cheeks  of 
plate,  strengthened  with  angle-iron.  The  8*  25-inch  carriage 
sides  are  double,  and  have  a  frame-piece  riveted  to  the  edges.  A 
bracket  on  the  left  side  receives  the  wedge  when  the  breech  is 
opened.  The  3*5  and  5* 9-inch  mortars  are  elevated  by  toothed 
arcs,  the  8  •  25-inch  by  a  screw,  allowing  a  range  of  fire  from  45° 
to  65°  only.  A  toothed  arc  on  each  side  of  the  carriage  changes 
the  gun  from  firing  to  loading  position. 

For  transport  the  mortars  are  furnished  with  axles  and  two 
wooden  wheels ;  the  5*9  and  8* 25-inch  also  have  limbers.  The 
3  •  5-inch  is  moved  like  a  wheel-barrow,  and  by  means  of  a  pair  of 
shafts  can  be  drawn  by  one  man ;  for  short  distances  in  trenches 
it  can  be  carried  by  three  men.  The  4*7,  5*9,  and  7-inch  gun- 
carriages,  and  the  5*  9-inch  mortars  are  fitted  with  hydraulic 
brakes.  Specially  adapted  platforms  are  used  for  these  gun- 
carriages  and  mortars. 

The  4- 7-inch  gun  is  the  light  siege  piece  used  in  batteries. 
The  5* 9-inch  is  used  where  direct  but  more  powerful  fire  is 
required.  The  7-inch  gun  is  used  for  vertical  fire.  The  3  ■  5-inch 
mortar  is  used  in  trenches  for  distances  below  1,640  yards  to  reach 
behind  earthworks.  The  5  *  9-inch  mortar  is  used  for  the  same 
object  at  gi-eater  distances  and  for  vertical  fire. 

The  8*  25-inch  mortar  is  available  for  the  destruction  of  maga- 
zines, shelters,  and  bombardment  up  to  7,218  yards  range. 

Detailed  tables  of  dimensions  and  weights  of  the  mortars  and 
their  carriages  and  ammunition  are  given. 

J.  H.  E.  W. 


Italian  Field-  and  Siege- Artillery. 

(Revue  d'Artillerie,  1S8G,  p.  337.) 

The  Italian  Government  having  made  a  number  of  experiments 
to  determine  the  construction  of  the  various  kinds  of  artillery 
required  for  the  defence  of  the  country,  the  '  Eevue  d'Artillerie ' 
publishes  the  details  of  the  mountain,  field,  siege  guns,  guns  ot 
position,  and  coast-defence  guns  which  it  has  been  decided  to 
adopt. 

The   mountain-gun   is   a   bronze   breech-loader   2^-inches  bore 


474  ITALIAN   FIELD-  AND   SIEGE -AETELLERY.  [Foreign 

The  carriage  is  of  steel  plate,  on  the  Engelhart  system,  weighs 
322  lbs.,  and  with  its  fittings  336  lbs.  Each  wheel  weighs  61  £  lbs., 
the  diameter  being  37*63  inches.  The  tests  for  reception  consists 
of  a  series  of  five  rounds  with  ordinary  charges,  two  rounds  at  an 
angle  of  5°,  and  three  rounds  at  the  maximum  of  20°,  the  wheels 
being  skidded  on  the  ground.  The  ammunition  for  the  moun- 
tain- and  field-guns  is  not  yet  decided.  The  ammunition-boxes 
are  made  of  wood,  and  weigh  29|Tbs.  Each  contains  four  common 
shells,  six  shrapnel,  and  eleven  cartridges.  The  supply  of  ammu- 
nition to  each  battery  allows  234  rounds  per  gun.  The  gun- 
mule  carries  313  lbs.  including  the  weight  of  the  saddle.  The 
mule  carrying  the  ammunition-boxes  carries  the  greatest  load, 
viz.,  374f  ibs. 

The  charge  of  tbe  gun  is  0*66  lb.,  the  weight  of  projectile 
9  lbs.  6  ozs.  The  initial  velocity  is  840  feet.  The  maximum  range 
is  4,078  yards  at  40°  elevation.  Shrapnel  can  be  fired  up  to 
2,187  yards.  At  1,094  yards,  the  common  shell  penetrates  39-375 
inches  of  earth,  or  a  9*  75-inch  brick  wall.  At  2,188  yards,  the 
penetration  is  equal  to  19  ■  68  inches  of  earthen  parapet,  and  at  437 
yards  it  is  ecpual  to  15  •  75  inches  of  oak. 

Field-Guns. — During  the  last  two  years,  the  three  and  a  half  field- 
batteries  and  the  horse  artillery  have  been  fitted  with  metal 
carriages  and  limbers.  All  the  steel-hooped  guns  of  3^-inch  bore 
have  been  replaced  by  breech-loading  bronze  guns. 

The  2f-ineh  bronze  breech-loading  gun  is  of  1872  pattern,  with 
a  sight  similar  to  that  used  in  the  mountain  gun. 

The  battery  of  these  guns  consists  of  eight  pieces,  each  gun 
having  70  shells,  6Q  shrapnel,  and  6  case  shot,  or  a  total  of  142 
projectiles.  The  sides  of  several  carriages  showing  cracks  after 
firing  about  400  rounds,  and  the  wagons  being  almost  always 
damaged  by  the  tests  for  travelling,  it  was  decided  to  make  all 
the  horse  battery  carriages  of  metal.  The  sides  are  of  steel 
0  •  24  inch  thick ;  the  edges  are  flanged  inwards,  parallel  to  the 
breech,  and  then  converge  towards  the  trail.  They  are  stayed 
by  steel  transoms.  The  axle  is  of  iron  3  ■  3  inches  in  diameter, 
fastened  to  the  sides  by  thrust-bars.  The  wheels  are  41*1  inches 
in  diameter ;  the  tire  is  wider  than  the  wheel  to  allow  for  dragging 
over  soft  ground.  The  carriage  is  fitted  with  both  drag  and 
screw-brakes,  carries  no  seats,  but  two  boxes  are  fixed  on  the  axle, 
one  for  gun  accessories,  the  other  for  two  rounds  of  case  shot. 
The  limber  is  of  plate  and  angle-iron,  has  a  prismatic  axle  of 
iron,  and  wheels  similar  to  the  carriage.  The  ammunition-box 
carries  44  cartridges  and  40  projectiles. 

The  limber  of  the  ammunition-wagon  is  of  iron  and  angle- 
iron,  with  the  same  axle  and  wheels  as  the  carriage-limber. 
One  large  box  for  ammunition,  and  one  small  box  with  accessories 
for  marching  and  camping,  is  fitted  on  each  frame.  Tbe  box 
carries  sixty  charges  and  fifty-five  projectiles.  Guard-irons  and 
footboards  are  fitted  to  all  the  ammunition-boxes. 

The  two  limbers,  both  for  gun  and  wagon,  are  connected  by 


Abstracts.]  ITALIAN   FIELD-  AND   SIEGE-ARTILLERY/.  475 

means  of  a  spring  coupling,  which  has  been  frequently  objected  to, 
it  has  been  more  particularly  urged  that  the  suspension  spring- 
would  rapidly  lose  its  elasticity,  and  that  the  trail  would  drop. 
Experiments  made  both  with  elastic  and  rigid  couplings  show  that 
after  a  run  of  nearly  400  miles  at  various  speeds,  and  over  different 
ground,  the  springs  lost  none  of  their  elasticity,  and  that  the  lower- 
ing of  the  trail  was  only  from  2|  to  4  inches,  whereas  with  the 
rigid  coupling  it  varied  from  4  to  8  inches.  This  determined  the 
adoption  of  the  elastic  spring  which  was  strengthened  a  little. 
To  provide  against  any  lowering  of  the  trail  the  futchel  was 
thinned  at  its  extremity,  and  fitted  with  an  iron  cap  which  ter- 
minated at  the  end  with  a  nut  in  which  a  vertical  screw  worked, 
held  by  two  plates  fixed  on  the  arms  of  the  fork  ;  by  Avorking 
the  screw  the  futchel-end  could  be  raised  or  lowered,  at  the  same 
time  causing  the  height  of  the  end  of  the  trail  to  be  varied  up  to 
19  "08  inches. 

The  tests  for  reception  consist  of  1,000  rounds  fired  under 
various  conditions. 

The  3J-inch  breech-loading  gun-carriage  is  of  steel  plate.  4000 
rounds  have  been  fired  from  it  without  any  serious  damage,  and 
with  slight  modifications  it  has  been  adopted.  The  limbers 
and  wagons  have  been  considerably  modified  to  enable  the  ammu- 
nition to  be  more  readily  drawn  out  in  time  of  action.  The 
weight  of  the  trail  on  the  ground  has  been  reduced  from  1  cwt. 
2  qrs.  14|  lbs.  to  1  cwt.  1  qr.  25  lbs.,  thus  making  the  training  of 
the  gun  more  easy.  130  projectiles,  viz.,  62  common  shells,  62 
shrapnel,  and  6  case  shot,  are  allotted  to  each  gun  in  the  battery. 

The  bodies  of  the  shrapnel  shell  are  made  of  steel,  the  heads  of 
cast-iron  ;  the  results  obtained  have  been  much  superior  to  those 
with  iron,  heavier  projectiles,  larger  bursting-charges,  and  a 
greater  number  of  bullets  being  obtained  whilst  the  price  is  in- 
creased by  about  two  shillings. 

At  1,190  yards,  2^-inch  shell  penetrate  11*8  inches  of  brick- 
work, 23- 6  inches  of  wood,  and  59  inches  of  earth.  The  3j-inch 
gun  penetrates  19-6  inches  of  brickwork,  39*3  inches  of  wood, 
and  98-34  inches  of  earth. 

Siege-Guns  and  Guns  of  Position. — These  are  of  4*  7  inches  and 
5  •  9  inches  calibre. 

In  1883  some  experiments  were  made  with  these  guns  with  a 
uniform  twist  of  rifling  and  parabolic  rifling.  The  5'  9-inch  gun 
with  a  final  twist  of  35  calibres  wras  found  to  be  no  better  than 
with  the  uniform  twist.  The  4*  7-inch  bronze  breech-loader  with 
increasing  twist  ending  with,  thirty  calibres  showed  a  slight 
superiority  to  the  same  gun  with  uniform  twist,  but  this  was  not 
maintained  with  another  cast-iron  gun  of  the  same  bore  with  a 
final  twist  of  35  calibres.  In  face  of  the  very  slight  and  doubt- 
fully advantageous  results  obtained,  it  was  decided  to  adopt  the 
uniform  twist. 

Experiments  were  made  with  cast-iron  guns  heavier  than  the 
hooped  guns    in  the  hope   of  being   able    to   produce   the    large 


476  ITALIAN   FIELD-  AND   SIEGE-ARTILLERY.  [Foreign 

number  required  for  defence  more  economically.  The  charge  being 
reduced,  the  ballistic  qualities  were  diminished.  Other  experi- 
ments were  made  with  the  object  of  making  the  gun-blocks  of 
steel  of  Italian  manufacture.  In  1883  the  Gregorini  firm  delivered 
two  4' 7  inch  guns,  one  in  steel,  not  oil  tempered,  the  other  tempered. 
The  analysis  of  the  metal  showed  a  want  of  uniformity  in  the 
first;  after  firing  1,200  rounds  with  normal  charges,  and  others 
giving  a  pressure  of  over  16  tons  per  square  inch,  the  powder 
chamber  was  eroded,  and  the  diameter  increased  0*27  inch. 

The  second  gun  was  fired  in  comparison  with  two  Krupp  steel 
breech-loading  guns.  After  1000  rounds  the  Krupp  guns  were 
deteriorated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  interrupt  the  trial,  the  Gre- 
gorini, though  slightly  damaged,  was  able  to  continue  firing.  The 
results  showed  that  these  guns  could  be  supplied  by  the  national 
industry. 

After  numerous  attempts  to  check  the  recoil  of  the  siege-gun 
carriages  by  means  of  hydraulic  brakes,  or  compression  of  springs, 
which  were  unsatisfactory,  a  brake  acting  on  the  tires  has  been 
adopted  with  advantage,  also  doing  away  with  the  necessity  of 
attachments  for  the  hydraulic  brake  in  the  earthworks  or  parapets. 

In  a  very  short  time  all  the  siege  guns  will  use  powder  of 
0  •  27  to  0  •  43-inch  cube  in  place  of  the  progressive  0  •  78  to  0  •  94  inch 
powder,  because,  though  the  latter  gives  slightly  superior  results, 
it  cannot  be  employed  in  mortars  and  howitzers,  so  for  simplicity 
only  one  kind  of  ammunition  will  be  employed.  Experiments  are 
in  hand  to  determine  a  modification  of  the  rear  ring  of  the  pro- 
jectiles in  order  to  fix  their  position  more  accurately  in  the  bore. 
A  base  fuze  is  being  tried  for  the  4*  7-inch  bursting  shell. 

The  navy  having  shown  by  experiments  the  superiority  of  steel 
shell  over  those  in  iron,  it  was  attempted  to  replace  the  chilled 
iron  4  •  7-inch  shells  with  steel  made  in  the  country.  In  1884  a 
trial  was  made  of  two  Gregorini  shells,  and  two  of  Krupp's, 
against  a  chilled  plate  placed  at  131  feet  from  the  gun.  The 
charge  was  15  lbs.  6  ozs.  of  progressive  powder.  The  ogival 
headed  Gregorini  indented  the  plate  to  a  depth  of  0  •  5  inch  by 
2*36  inches  diameter,  causing  three  short  and  very  fine  cracks; 
the  Krupp  shell  made  a  hole  7*87  inches  deep  by  11*8  long,  with 
five  large  cracks.  A  cylindrical  projectile  of  each  maker  was  fired, 
the  Krupp  doing  most  damage.  As  the  result  of  the  experiments 
it  was  determined  to  use  chilled  iron  until  steel  shells  equal  to  the 
foreign  shells  could  be  made  in  Italy. 

Platforms  are  used  for  the  4 "7-inch,  and  5* 9-inch  siege  guns; 
they  are  composed  of  two  parts,  the  forward  portion  being 
horizontal  for  a  length  of  13  feet  3  inch  and  the  rear  portion  for 
0-6  inches  is  inclined  at  the  rate  of  1*91  inch  per  foot.  They 
are  composed  of  timber.  For  the  guns  of  position  there  are  five 
types  of  platform,  viz.,  (1)  for  the  barbette  carriage,  placed  on  the 
earth ;  (2)  similar  to  the  last,  but  with  reduced  range  of  fire  ;  (3) 
with  masonry  foundations ;  (4)  similar  to  3,  but  with  reduced 
range  of  fire ;    (5)  casemate  platform.       The  masonry  platforms 


Abstracts.]  ITALIAN   FIELD-  AND   SIEGE-ARTILLERY.  477 

are  only  intended  for  works  that  will  be  permanent  throughout  tho 
operations.  Provision  was  originally  made  for  a  7  ■  48-inch  hooped 
cast-iron  rifled  breech-loader  as  a  siege-  and  position-gun,  but  as  an 
8*25  howitzer  was  adopted,  it  was  decided  to  make  the  gun  of  tho 
same  calibre.  For  economical  reasons  it  was  made  of  cast-iron, 
not  hooped.  The  weight  is  nearly  8  tons  7  cwts.  It  fires  a  shell 
weighing  about  174  lbs.  with  a  bursting  charge  of  10*46  lbs.,  or  a 
shrapnel  of  209  '6  lbs.  An  initial  velocity  of  1,352  feet  is  obtained 
from  this  gun,  without  exceeding  about  10i  tons  chamber-pressure. 
With  an  angle  of  30°  the  range  is  over  8,750  yards.  In  this  gun  the 
best  results  have  been  obtained  with  progressive  powder  of  0-78 
to  0  •  94  inch  cube ;  the  smaller  powder  would  not  give  the  velocity 
without  excess  of  pressure,  and  the  range  was  about  550  yards 
short.  But  for  the  same  reason  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  guns, 
viz.,  simplicity  of  service,  the  smaller  powder  is  likely  to  be 
adopted. 

A  metal  carriage  has  been  made  at  Turin  for  this  howitzer  which 
allows  of  firing  at  angles  of  —  5°  to  -f-  32°.  The  platforms  are  similar 
to  those  for  other  guns.  The  4*  7-inch  and  5-  9-inch  guns  were  fired 
for  penetration  in  earth  and  sand,  and  also  against  masonry:  the 
following  results  were  obtained.  The  4  ■  7-inch  bronze  gun  made 
a  hole  39 '375  inches  deep  in  a  brick  wall  when  the  striking- 
force  of  the  projectile  corresponded  to  a  velocity  at  impact  of 
1,076  feet,  and  a  range  of  656  yards.  Under  the  same  conditions 
seventy-two  rounds  were  necessary  to  make  a  hole  in  a  stone  wall 
9  feet  10  inches  thick.  The  4 "7-inch  cast-iron  and  steel  breech- 
loading  guns  are  a  little  more  powerful.  The  5 -9-inch  cast-iron 
gun  made  a  hole  39*375  inches  deep  in  a  brick  wall  when  the 
velocity  on  impact  was  1,378  feet,  at  a  range  of  765  yards;  whilst 
a  stone  wall  9  feet  10  inches  thick  was  destroyed  for  a  width  of 
13  feet  ia  twenty-eight  rounds. 

J.  II.  E.  W. 


On  Magnetization.     By  E.  E.  N.  Hascart. 

(Comptes  rendus  de  l'Academie  des  Sciences,  vol.  cii.,  1886,  pp.  991-995.) 

When  a  feebly  magnetic  and  isotropic  body  is  placed  in  a 
uniform  field,  it  takes  a  magnetization  parallel  to  the  field,  and  its 
coefficient  of  magnetization  Jc  is  the  ratio  of  the  magnetic  moment 
per  unit  of  volume,  or  the  intensity  of  magnetization  to  the  intensity 
of  the  field.  With  very  magnetic  substances,  as  iron,  nickel  and 
cobalt,  on  the  contrary,  we  should  take  into  account  the  reaction 
produced  by  the  induced  magnetism,  and  the  preceding  definition  is 
only  applicable  for  cylinders  of  indefinite  length  magnetized 
longitudinally,  or  for  closed  rings.  The  calculation  of  the  mag- 
netizing force  in  function  of  the  external  field  is  very  simple  in  the 
case  of  the  sphere,  of  the  ellipsoid,  or  of  an  indefinite  cylinder 
magnetized  transversely;  but,  unless  with  very  elongated  ellip- 


478  OX   MAGNETIZATION.  [Foreign 

soids,  the  coefficient  of  magnetization  may  vary  within  very  wide 
limits  without  sensible  modification  of  the  magnetic  moment  of 
the  body.  The  least  defects  of  homogeneity  are  then  of  considerable 
influence.  The  coefficient  of  magnetization  is  often  determined 
by  the  use  of  cylinders  arranged  parallel  to  the  field,  that  are 
assimilated  to  indefinite  cylinders,  or  to  ellipsoids  of  the  same 
length  and  same  median  section  ;  there  is  then  measured  either 
the  magnetic  moment  of  the  body,  or  the  induced  discharge  in  a 
bobbin  surrounding  the  mean  section  when  the  magnetism  is 
reversed.  "With  rings  there  can  be  used  only  induced  discharges, 
and  generally  the  coefficients  obtained  are  much  higher.  The 
question  then  arises  whether  one  of  the  methods  is  defective ;  for 
example,  whether  there  is  produced  with  closed  rings  a  particular 
phenomenon  that  exaggerates  the  effects  of  induction.  To  resolve 
this  problem  the  Author  has  employed,  with  the  same  metal, 
closed  rings  and  a  series  of  cylinders  in  which  the  ratio  of  the 
length  to  the  diameter  varied  between  very  wide  limits ;  and  the 
details  and  the  theoretical  consideration  of  the  experiments  are 
given.  It  is  found  that  two  mean  coefficients  obtained  by  experi- 
ment, differing  widely  for  short  cylinders,  approximate  more  and 
more  as  the  length  of  the  cylinder  increases.  At  the  same  time 
their  greatest  values  correspond  to  the  more  feebler  fields.  Finally, 
the  values  of  these  coefficients  furnished  by  very  long  cylinders 
are  equal  to  the  coefficient  Tc  given  by  closed  rings.  The  knowledge 
of  these  mean  coefficients  referred  to,  furnishes  a  correct  means 
for  calculating  the  effect  of  the  magnetism  induced  by  the  earth, 
on  the  oscillations  of  a  magnetic  bar,  in  the  observations  relative 
to  the  absolute  measurement  of  the  terrestrial  field. 

P.  H. 


Some  Practical  Formulas  for  designing  Electro-magnets. 

(Centralblatt  fur  Electrotechnik,  vol.  viii.,  1886,  pp.  155-175.) 

Given  the  dimensions  of  an  electro-magnet,  what  will  be  its 
magnetic  moment  for  a  given  strength  of  current  ?  This  is  the 
question,  to  the  practical  and  at  the  same  time  simple  solution  of 
which  the  equations  given  by  the  Author  will  lead.  From  laws 
empirically  determined  by  various  authorities,  are  obtained  equa- 
tions which  combined  give  for  the  magnetic  moment  the  expression 
y  =  h  A/ 1'  d.  ni,  where  I  and  d  are  the  length  and  diameter  of  the 
core ;  n  the  number  of  convolutions  of  the  wire,  through  which 
flows  the  current  of  intensity  i ;  Tc,  is  a  constant,  the  mean  value  of 
which,  from  the  Author's  own  experiments,  is  0*135.  The  satura- 
tion-point is  given  as  212-5  C.  G.  S.  units  per  gram,  or  for  iron 
cores  1298  Id2 ;  and  if  there  are  m  windings  per  centimetre  of  length 

of  the  core,  then  the  percentage  of  saturation  =  0- 01041  -  j ~  m  i. 

These  formulas  apply  to  uniform  cylinders,  but  the  effect  of  adding 


Abstracts.]      FORMULAS  FOE  DESIGNING  ELECTRO-MAGNETS.  479 

pole-pieces  is  discussed,  and  apparently  increases  the  percentage 
of  saturation,  but  reduces  the  magnetic  moment  as  compared 
with  a  uniform  cylinder  of  the  same  weight ;  an  experiment 
on  this  point,  given  dn  the  Paper,  results  in  an  approximate 
expression 

T  +  2^ 


M'  =  M  . 

where  M'  is  the  moment  of  the  magnet  with  added  pole-pieces  of 
the  weight  p,  and  m  the  moment  of  the  uniform  cylinder  alone 
of  the  weight  P. 

F.  J. 


On  a  Neiv  Method  for  Determining  the  Time  of  Oscillation  of  a 
Magnet.     By  Gr.  Hansemanx. 

(Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie,  vol.  x.xviii.,  188C,  p.  245.) 

This  method,  which  can  be  adopted  for  any  similar  purposes, 
consists  of  an  ingenious  application  of  photography  for  record- 
ing the  differences  of  agreement  in  position  between  the  magnet 
under  observation,  and  a  seconds-pendulum.  The  magnet  is 
provided  with  a  mirror  in  the  ordinary  way,  by  reflection  from 
which  the  divisions  of  a  scale  mounted  before  it  can  be  read  off 
in  a  telescope.  A  small  mirror  fixed  to  the  pendulum  and  parallel 
with  its  plane  of  oscillation,  reflects  when  at  rest  the  beam  of 
an  electric-light  on  to  a  prism,  provided  with  a  broad  slit  crossed 
by  a  narrow  vertical  bar  ;  from  the  prism  the  light  is  reflected  on 
the  mirror  of  the  magnet,  from  which,  when  near  its  neutral 
position  the  barred  slit  is  focussed  in  the  small  photographic 
camera  specially  constructed  for  the  purpose.  The  slide  of  the 
latter  is  furnished  with  a  micrometer  screw,  so  that  the  plate  can 
be  moved  through  a  known  distance  between  any  two  exposures. 
The  elongations  can  be  read  on  the  telescope  in  the  usual  way, 
and  by  measurement  of  the  distance  between  the  images  on  the 
negative,  the  number  of  oscillations  of  the  magnet  corresponding 
to  a  given  number  of  those  of  the  pendulum,  can  be  accurately 
determined,  if  the  times  of  exposure  are  chosen  when  the  pen- 
dulum and  magnet  are  both  near  their  positions  of  rest.  This 
method  naturally  admits  of  extreme  accuracy  in  the  determina- 
tion of  the  quantities  sought  for,  besides  reducing  the  time  re- 
cprired  as  compared  with  the  ordinary  methods.  The  description 
of  the  apparatus  with  diagrams  appended,  as  well  as  the  calcu- 
lations necessary  for  educing  the  results  from  the  observations, 
are  given  in  full  detail. 

F.J. 


480  COEFFICIENT   OF   SELF-IXDUCTION.  [Foreign 


Relation  oetween  the  Coefficient  of  Self-induction  and  the 
Magnetic  Action  of  an  Electro-Magnet.    By  —  Ledeboer. 

(Comptes  renJus  de  1'Academie  des  Sciences,  vol.  cii.,  188*3,  p.  1375.) 

The  magnetic  moment  and  the  coefficient  of  self-induction  of  a 
coil  surrounding  an  iron  core  were  simultaneously  determined,  the 
former  by  Gauss's,  and  the  latter  by  the  Author's  method,  to  find 
out  to  what  degree  the  theoretical  proportion  between  the  mag- 
netic field  and  the  product  of  the  coefficient  of  self-induction  into 
the  intensity  of  the  current  in  the  coils  exists  in  practice.  The 
results  are  given  in  diagrams.  For  a  coil  without  a  core,  the  mag- 
netic moment  and  the  extra  current  are  represented  by  a  straight 
line,  which  is  in  agreement  with  theory  ;  the  coefficient  of  self- 
induction,  being  constant,  is  represented  by  a  straight  line  parallel 
to  the  axis  of  abscissas. 

For  a  coil  containing  an  iron  core,  the  two  curves  are  found  to 
be  similar,  and  superpose  when  the  ordinates  are  reduced  in  a 
given  ratio.     In  this  case  the  two  effects  are  proportionate. 

A  second  set  of  experiments  was  made  upon  a  system  of  in- 
ductors similar  to  that  of  a  Siemens  dynamo,  having  all  the 
dimensions  reduced  in  the  same  proportion.  Curves  indicating 
the  variations  of  the  intensity  of  the  magnetic  field,  and  of  the 
extra  current,  are  given,  and  the  latter  show  how  the  field  becomes 
saturated. 

E.  F.  B. 


Practical  Instructions  relative  to  Accumulators. 
By  G.  Plante. 

(La  Lumiere  Electrique,  vol.  xx.,  1886,  p.  247.) 

The  method  of  separation  of  the  electrodes  is  of  great  import- 
ance. Since  1860  the  Author  has  employed  several  arrangements, 
but  the  last  is  the  most  simple  in  which  the  lead-plates  are  kept 
apart  by  a  series  of  double  buttons  of  gutta-percha,  about  10  centi- 
metres distance  from  one  another.  To  attach  these  buttons  the 
odd  or  even  plates  are  perforated.  Against  each  perforation,  on 
both  sides  of  the  plate,  are  applied  small  cubes  of  gutta-percha 
about  a  centimetre  thick,  previously  softened  by  heat  so  as  to 
allow  the  percha  to  penetrate  the  hole ;  the  two  cubes  unite  and 
form  a  fixed  and  solid  bottom.  Only  the  odd  or  even  plates  are 
thus  provided. 

The  lead-plates  are  suspended  by  the  aid  of  lead  wires  to  bars  of 
wood  resting  on  the  edges  of  the  cells.  So  that  these  wires  may 
not  touch,  the  wires  of  the  odd  and  of  the  even  plates  are  arranged 
at  different  intervals.     The  lugs  of  the  plates  are  varnished  with  a 


Abstracts.]       INSTRUCTIONS   RELATIVE   TO   ACCUMULATORS.  481 

resinous  mastic,  and  furnished  with  screws  of  copper  or  of  type- 
metal,  connected  by  wires  to  metallic  pieces  uniting  a  certain 
number  of  plates.  The  independence  of  each  plate  is  thus  secured  ; 
a  single  plate  may  be  removed  without  disarranging  the  re- 
mainder. 

In  1872  the  Author  advised  attention  to  be  paid  to  galvanic 
deposits  of  lead.  Because  there  have  been  obtained  only  spongy, 
lamellar,  or  arborescent  deposits,  without  coherence  or  adherence,  it 
does  not  appear  impossible  to  obtain  a  deposit  of  lead,  united,  thick 
and  coherent,  similar  to  that  deposit  obtained  in  plating  copper 
and  silver.  If  a  good  deposit  could  be  produced,  it  would  be  an 
interesting  result,  for  this  deposit  would  be  easily  oxidisible  or 
reducible  throughout  its  depth,  in  consequence  of  the  porosity  of 
electro-chemical  deposits.  It  could  also  be  produced  on  any 
support,  as  a  plate  of  mica,  thus  obtaining  electrodes  of  exceptional 
lightness.  But  it  is  to  be  feared  that,  by  reason  of  the  manner  in 
which  electrolytic  actions  operate,  in  spite  of  the  apparent  adherence 
presented  by  a  good  electro-chemical  deposit,  the  work  of  electro- 
lysis, tending  always  to  operate  by  the  shortest  road,  connection 
between  the  metallic  or  metallised  support  would  cease.  The 
Author  has,  therefore,  thought  the  more  perfect  mode  of  formation 
is  that  of  peroxidising  or  reducing  the  metal  of  the  electrode  itself, 
and  that  electrodes  well  "  formed  "  in  this  manner,  presenting  no 
deposit  for  disaggregation,  are  so  to  say  indestructible. 

P.  H. 


Tlie  Aumonnet  Battery.     By  B.  Marionovitcii. 

(La  Lumi&re  Electrique,  vol.  xx.,  188G,  p.  204.) 

This  battery  is  employed  to  light  electrically  the  Gobelins 
theatre,  but  it  is  stated  that  electric  lighting  is  not  the  main 
object  of  the  generation  of  the  current,  which  is  used  to  produce  a 
chemical  product  in  considerable  demand.  The  battery,  as 
arranged,  consists  of  two  series  of  elements,  a  series  of  large 
elements  A,  with  negative  electrodes  of  iron,  and  positive  electrodes 
of  carbon,  the  exciting  liquid  being  dilute  aqua  regia.  These 
elements  communicate  so  that  the  exciting  liquid  can  flow  through 
them  in  succession.  From  the  end  cell  it  is  pumped  to  the 
beginning  of  a  series  of  smaller  cells  D,  also  provided  with  iron 
and  carbon  electrodes,  but  in  which  the  exciting  fluid  is  per- 
chloride  of  iron.  From  the  end  cell  of  this  series  the  liquid  flows 
into  a  tank  where  it  forms  a  commercial  product,  or  may  be  ao-ain 
used  in  the  cells  D.     In  the  elements  A  the  action  is 

2  Fe+3HC1  +  N05H0  =  Fe2  Cl3  -f  %  HO  +  N02. 

At  the  same  time  there  is  formed  a  small  quantity  of  nitrate  of 
iron  and  sesquioxide  of  iron,  which  is  dissolved  in  the  perchloride 
of  iron.     A  fan,  driven  by  a  small  Gramme  dynamo,  draws  the 

[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2   I 


482  THE   AYMONNET   BATTERY.  [Foreign 

nitrous  vapours  into  a  chimney  filled  with  coke  and  furnished 
with  a  water-spray.  The  binoxide  of  nitrogen  is  transformed  into 
hyponitric  acid  and  nitric  acid,  so  that  the  latter  is  nearly  wholly 
regenerated.  The  liquid  issuing  from  the  elements  A,  and  pumped 
into  those  of  series  D,  is  perchloride  of  iron,  containing  small 
quantities  of  nitrate  of  iron.  In  the  elements  D  there  is  formed 
principally  4  Fe2  Cl3  +  Fe  =  3  Fe3  Cl4  and  partially  Fe2  Cl3  +  Fe 
=  3  Fe  CI ;  3  Fe  ON  05  +  5  Fe  =  4  Fe2  03  +  3  N02  ;  the  binoxide  of 
nitrogen  dissolves  in  the  protochloride  of  iron  and  the  sesquioxide 
of  iron  in  the  magnetic  perchloride  of  iron  Fe,  Cl4,  which  is  the 
commercial  product.  "When  the  production  exceeds  the  demand, 
this  product  is  allowed  to  remain  in  contact  with  air  and  water,  when 
the  following  reactions  occur :  2  Fe2  Cl4  +  8  HO  4-0  =  3  Fe0  03 
+  8  H  CI ;  Fe2  03  4-  3  H  CI  =  Fe?  Cl3  4-  3  HO,  whilst  the  binoxide 
of  nitrogen  is  transformed  into  nitric  acid.  There  remains  in  the 
receptacle  where  this  action  takes  place,  a  deposit  of  sesquioxide 
of  iron,  and  there  is  returned  to  the  small  elements  dissolved  per- 
chloride of  iron  with  a  certain  quantity  of  nitric  acid.  The  product 
issuing  from  the  elements  D  is  a  very  energetic  disinfectant ;  it  is 
also  employed  in  dyeing  and  in  agriculture.  The  chief  interest 
lies  in  the  production  of  what  Mr.  Aymonnet  terms  the  magnetic 
perchloride  of  iron,  a  new  product  as  confirmed  by  Mr.  Wiirtz. 

P.  H. 


On  Becent  Types  of  Electrical  Cables.    By  —  Frischen. 

(Elektrotechnische  Zeitschrift,  1886,  p.  236.) 

Gutta-percha  has  up  to  the  present  maintained  its  position  as 
the  best  insulator  of  electrical  conductors,  but  unfortunately  it 
softens  at  comparatively  low  temperatures,  and  requires  a  pro- 
tective sheathing  against  mechanical  damage.  The  adoption  of 
the  so-named  "  lead "  cables,  recently  introduced  by  Messrs. 
Siemens  and  Halske,  obviates  these  failings,  while  they  are 
cheaper,  and  not  inferior  in  electrical  qualities,  to  gutta-percha. 
The  conductor  is  covered  with  a  layer  of  jute,  which  is  carefully 
desiccated  and  saturated  with  some  insulating  compound,  which 
is  fluid  when  heated,  the  whole  being  enclosed  in  a  leaden  tube, 
which  is  formed  under  hydraulic  pressure  from  a  solid  block  of 
cold  lead.  This  process  of  manufacture  is  applicable  to  conductors 
of  any  size,  from  the  largest  to  the  smallest.  The  unit  lengths, 
limited  by  the  capacity  of  the  hydraulic  press,  are  perfectly  joined 
together  by  ordinary  methods  without  any  difficulty.  Usually 
the  covering  of  the  lead  with  a  layer  of  "  compounded  "  jute  is 
sufficient,  but  for  special  purposes  the  cable  can  be  iron-sheathed 
with  wires,  or,  better  still,  with  overlapping  spirals  of  strip.  For 
electric  light  conductors  of  large  section,  an  insulated  conductor  is 
laid  up  in  the  copper  strand,  to  serve  for  the  measurement  of 
tension  at  any  given  point. 


Abstracts.]  RECENT   TYPES   OF   ELECTRICAL   CABLES.  483 

In  installations  the  joints  between  the  main  and  branch  wires 
are  made  with  iron  junction-pieces,  which,  after  the  conductor  is 
joined,  are  made  damp-tight  by  a  filling  of  asphalt,  or  some  such 
material.  For  multiple  connections  iron  boxes  are  used,  the  in- 
troductions for  the  cable  ends  and  the  cover  being  packed  with 
india-rubber.  To  eliminate  the  effect  of  alternate  currents  on  the 
neighbouring  circuits,  a  return  wire  must  be  used,  and  this  is 
formed  by  a  conductor  of  annular  section  surrounding  the  main 
conductor,  and  enclosed  in  the  same  outer  covering. 

For  telephone  cables  to  eliminate  electro-static  disturbance,  it  is 
sufficient  that  each  conductor  be  surrounded  with  a  metallic  shield, 
e.g.,  tinfoil  or  copper ;  but  in  the  case  of  electro-magnetic  disturb- 
ance the  protection  is  not  so  easily  effected,  and  the  metallic 
sheath  must  act  also  as  the  return  wire,  and  its  resistance  be 
approximately  equal  to  that  of  the  internal  conductor ;  this,  how- 
ever, by  increasing  the  electro-static  capacity  of  the  circuit,  reduces 
the  clearness  of  telephonic  articulation. 

Special  experiments  have  for  some  time  been  in  progress  as  to 
the  best  type  of  cable  for  such  communication,  the  latest  manu- 
factured being  the  "  fan  "  cable,  where  the  conductors  lie  in  con- 
centric circles,  those  in  the  same  circle  being  separated  from  each 
other  by  copper  strips,  extending  fan-wise  from  the  centre. 

After  the  reading  of  the  Paper,  Dr.  W.  Siemens  mentioned  that 
he  was  led  to  this  use  of  jute  by  Sir  W.  Thomson's  statement  that 
vegetable  fibre  in  a  dry  state  was  an  excellent  insulator. 

F.  J. 


Experiments  on  the  Action  of  Solenoids  on  Iron  Cores  of  Varied 
Forms.     By  Dr.  T.  Bruger  of  Darmstadt- 

(Electrotechnische  Zeitschrift,  1886,  p.  199.) 

This  is  an  account  of  a  comprehensive  investigation  into  the 
attraction  by  a  solenoidal  coil,  through  which  a  current  is  flowing, 
of  iron  cores  of  different  longitudinal  sections.  The  results  plotted 
in  diagrammatic  curves  show  that,  with  cores  of  a  length  more 
than  double  that  of  the  solenoid,  the  point  of  maximum  attraction 
only  slightly  alters  in  position,  and  occurs  when  the  lower  ends  of 
core  and  solenoid  coincide  ;  and  further  that,  for  a  cylindrical  core 
of  even  section,  this  point  is  independent  of  the  strength  of  the 
current.  With  cores  formed  of  two  cones  placed  base  to  base,  the 
curves  of  attraction  for  different  positions,  sugar-loaf  in  form,  are  not 
essentially  altered  ;  but  with  single  cones,  the  small  end  entering 
first,  the  point  of  maximum  attraction  varies  somewhat  with  the 
strength  of  the  current,  but  the  apex  of  the  curve  is  considerably 
lowered,  so  that  the  fall  on  each  side  of  the  maximum  is  not  so 
rapid.  Thus  if  the  stroke  of  the  core  be  limited  to  about  one- 
third  of  its  whole  length,  and  be  across  the  maximum  point,  the 
variation  of  attraction  for  cylindrical,  biconical,  and  conical  cores 

2  I  2 


484  ACTION  OF  SOLENOIDS  ON  IEON  COEES.  [Foreign 

is  about  50,  40,  and  15  per  cent,  respectively  from  the  maximum. 
Experiments  to  determine  a  core  which  would  give  an  attraction 
of  practically  constant  values  for  some  considerable  portion  of  its 
length,  led  to  the  production  of  a  core  of  peculiar  and  special 
form,  a  cone  of  slight  taper  with  swellings  at  definite  points 
(figure  illustrated),  with  which  for  rather  more  than  a  third  of  its 
length  the  attraction  did  not  vary  more  than  5  per  cent. ;  a  trial 
of  the  reproduction  of  such  a  core,  by  mechanical  copying  in  the- 
workshop,  resulted  in  a  curve  not  quite  so  regular,  and  its  weight 
was  somewhat  less. 

Similar  carves,  but  of  course  with  considerably  less  attractive- 
force  for  the  same  current,  were  obtained  with  cast-iron  cores ; 
annealing  the  wrought-iron  core  did  not  introduce  any  practical 
difference. 

F.  J. 


Safety-Fuzes  for  Electric  Circuits.     By  G.  Eoux. 

(L'Electricien,  1886,  p.  419.) 

In  electric  light  installations  it  is  usual  to  insert  a  fusible  safety- 
plug,  which  melts,  and  so  interrupts  the  circuit  before  any  damage 
can  arise  from  overheating  the  conductors.  The  equation  which 
gives  the  relation  between  the  size  of  a  wire  of  circular  section  of 
the  fusible  material,  and  the  current  by  which  it  will  be  fused,  is, 

^4  I2  =  c  (6  -  t)  2  7T  r  I, 

7r  r-  ' 

the  left-hand  member  representing  the  heat  developed  by  the  current 
of  intensity  I  through  a  wire  of  length  I  and  semidiameter  r,  a  being 
the  specific  resistance  of  the  material ;  and  the  right-hand  member 
representing  the  radiated  heat,  0  being  the  temperature  of  fusion 
(for  lead,  335°  Centigrade,  or  635°  Fahrenheit),  t  that  of  the  sur- 
rounding air  (say  15°  Centigrade,  or  59°  Fahrenheit)  and  c  the 
coefficient  of  cooling,  from  which 


=    /».()-^.tl) 


where  h  is  a  constant,  and  can  be  determined  by  experiment  on 
wires  of  length  sufficiently  great  to  neglect  the  influence  of  the 
connections  at  either  end,  and  for  lead  h  equals  100. 

Experiments  by  Mr.  Grassot  show  that  for  lengths  above  8  cen- 
timetres (3 "15  inches)  and  of  diameters  between  1  and  0*5  milli- 
metres (^3-  to  Jjj  of  an  inch)  the  results  agree  exactly  with  the 
values  calculated  by  the  equations  given  above ;  but  the  current 
necessary  for  fusion  increases  with  the  reduction  of  length,  which  is 
due  to  the  cooling-effect  of  the  connecting  clamps. 

F.  J. 


Abstracts.]  EXPERIMENTS   IN   THERMO-ELECTRICITY.  485 

Experiments  in  Thermo-Eleciricity. 
By  L.  Pilleur  and  E.  Jannattaz. 

(Journal  de  Physique,  1886,  p.  172.) 

The  Authors  found  that  thermo-electric  currents  were  produced 
in  conductors  which  are  rolled  out  so  as  to  have  a  schistose  texture. 
Experiments  were  made  on  zinc,  tin,  iron,  and  copper.  A  point 
A  was  heated  in  the  centre  of  the  plate,  and  one  connection  was 
made  at  a  point  B  situated  on  the  other  face,  at  the  extremity 
of  the  line  joining  the  hot  point,  across  the  grain  of  the  metal, 
and  the  other  at  a  point  C  situated  at  the  extremity  of  the  line 
joining  the  hot  point  A  along  the  grain  of  the  metal.  The 
current  has  always  been  from  B  to  C  through  the  external  circuit. 
The  intensity  of  the  current  for  each  metal  depends  on  the  amount 
that  the  metal  is  drawn  out.  Thus  zinc  drawn  out  to  four  times 
its  length  has  given  a  weaker  current  than  one  drawn  out  six 
times ;  zinc  gave  the  strongest,  and  copper  the  weakest  currents. 
The  currents  themselves  are  difficult  to  determine,  doubtless  owing 
to  the  ease  with  which  they  can  pass  through  the  substance  of 
the  plate ;  much  more  intense  eifects  can  be  obtained  by  cutting 
the  two  extremities  of  the  square  out  of  the  metallic  plate,  a 
square  of  which  one  branch  takes  the  grain  of  the  metal  in  its 
length,  and  the  other  across,  and  connecting  by  means  of  an  ex- 
ternal circuit. 

E.  F.  B. 


On  the  Electrical  Properties  of  German  Silver. 
By  G.  B.  Prescott,  Jun. 

(Electrician  and  Electrical  Engineer,  New  York,  1886,  p.  12G.) 

The  Author  is  surprised  that  the  early,  and  even  later  experi- 
menters, with  hardly  any  exception,  fail  to  mention  the  proportion 
of  the  constituents  (copper,  nickel,  and  zinc)  of  the  alloy  termed 
German  silver,  though  it  is  well  known  that  its  electrical  properties 
vary  considerably.  Thus  a  Table,  wherein  are  contained  the 
results  culled  from  various  sources,  shows  the  specific  resistance  of 
German  silver  to  vary  from  10,672  to  17,83-1  lbs.  per  mile-ohm.1 

In  a  Paper  recently  read  before  the  Koyal  Society  of  London, 
Mr.  J.  T.  Bottomley  has  described  a  new  alloy  termed  Platinoid, 
invented  by  F.  W.  Martino,  as  consisting  practically  of  .German 
silver,  Avith  2  per  cent,  of  tungsten  added,  and  as  having  a  specific 
resistance  one  and  a  half  time  that  of  German  silver,  while  its 
temperature   coefficient   is   only   half  as  much.     This   discovery 


1  Weight  in  lbs.  of  1  mile  of  wire  having  1  ohm  resistance. 


486  ELECTRICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  GERMAN  SILVER.  [Foreign 

being  of  such  importance,  an  investigation  of  the  variation  of  the 
proportions  of  the  alloys  termed  C4erman  silver,  as  affecting  the 
electrical  properties,  was  undertaken  by  Mr.  Edward  Weston. 
His  results  show  that  the  addition  of  tungsten  has  not  the  slightest 
effect  on  the  electrical  properties,  while  the  resistance  varies 
almost  directly,  and  the  temperature  coefficient  inversely  as  the 
quantity  of  nickel ;  the  presence  of  zinc  merely  renders  the  alloy 
more  ductile. 

A  Table  exhibiting  Mr.  Weston's  results  gives  the  quantities  of 
copper,  nickel,  and  zinc  in  the  alloy,  and  the  corresponding  specific 
resistances  at  the  standard  temperature.  This  varies  from  11,572 
to  24,485  lbs.  per  mile-ohm,  the  proportion  of  nickel  being  12  and 
34  per  cent,  respectively  in  the  two  cases. 

The  importance  to  manufacturers  and  others  of  specifying  the 
particular  alloy  required  is  specially  dwelt  on ;  thus,  for  example, 
double  the  price  could  be  paid  for  wire  having  twice  the  specific 
resistance. 

F.  J. 


Electric  Conductivity  of  Chloride  of  Potassium  solutions. 
By  E.  Bouty. 

(Comptes  rendus  de  l'Academie  des  Sciences,  vol.  cii.,  1886,  p.  1097.) 

The  Author  deduces  the  specific  resistance  of  a  normal  solution 
of  chloride  of  potassium  containing  74*59  gram  (an  equivalent) 
of  the  salt  per  litre,  to  be  15*415  ohms. 

P.  H. 


Laiv  of  Efficiency  corresponding  to  the  Maximum  of  Useful 
Work  in  Electric  Distribution.     By  —  Vaschy. 

(Comptes  rendus  de  l'Academie  des  Sciences,  vol.  cii.,  1886,  p.  1235.) 

If  there  be  employed  an  electric  generator,  battery,  or  magneto- 
machine,  of  constant  electromotive  force  E  to  heat  a  conductor  of 
resistance  B,  to  charge  an  accumulator  of  electromotive  force  E', 
or  to  produce  mechanical  work,  the  energy  utilized  (Bi2  or  ~E'i,  as 
the  case  may  be)  varies  with  the  values  given  to  E  or  E',  and  this 
energy  is  at  a  maximum  when  the  fall  of  potential  utilized  (Ri  or 
E')  is  half  the  electromotive  force  E.  It  results  that  the  efficiency 
corresponding  to  the  maximum  of  useful  work  is  £.  This  is 
Jacobi's  law. 

When  the  generator  is  a  dynamo,  the  electromotive  force  of 
which  is  a  function  of  the  current  traversing  it,  this  law  is  no 
longer  exact.  It  is  replaced  by  another  more  complicated.  These 
laws   have   been   demonstrated   for   only    simple   circuits.      The 


Abstracts.]        USEFUL  WORK   IN   ELECTRICAL   DISTRIBUTION.  487 

Author  proposes  to  generalize  them  by  considering  any  electric- 
network  with  a  number  N  of  branches,  including  :  (1)  generators 
of  electromotive  forces  Ex,  E2  .  .  .  .  Ex,  and  of  resistances 
J*!,  r2  .  .  .  rN  (comprised  by,  besides  other  inert  resistances,  con- 
necting-wires, &c.) ;  (2)  resistances  to  be  heated,  Kx  B2  .  .  .  . 
(lamps,   &c),    or  contrary   electromotive   forces  to  be  overcome, 

El       TT" 

If  iv  i2  .  .  .  .  are  the  currents  in  these  several  branches,  the 
energy  expended  is 

Wm=  Ex  *!  +  E2  i2  -f-  .  .  .  =  %  E  i. 

The  energy  utilized  may  be  written  under  the  form 
(2)  W„  =  3(B-rO». 

First  case. — If  the  electromotive  forces  Ex  E2  .  .  .  .  are  con- 
stant (batteries  or  magnetos) — 

(3)  d  W.  =  %  (E  -  2  r  i)  d  i  =  0. 

Considering  this  equation  in  connection  with  Kirchhon's  law,  the 

W 

Author   deduces   that   the   efficiency   ==-  corresponding    to    the 

maximum  of  Wu  is  equal  to  ^ ;  and  he  also  arrives  at  the  same 
result  by  another  method.  Thus  W„  is  maximum  when  the  fall 
of  potential  E',  utilized  in  each  branch,  is  equal  to  half  E. 
Then— 

2  E  *  =  2  2  E1  i  or  Wm  =  2  W„, 

which  is  Jacobi's  law  generalised.  It  applies  even  when  the  fall 
of  potential  E'  is  due  to  an  intercalated  resistance  K.  The  con- 
dition E  =  2  E'  becomes  in  this  case  E  =  2  Hi. 

Second  case. — If  the  electromotive  force  E  of  the  generators 
depends  upon  the  current  i  traversing  them  (following  a  known 
law  that  may  be  represented  graphically  by  a  characteristic),  the 
condition  of  maximum  of  AV„  becomes 

(31)  d  Wt(  =  2  ME -f  t-^5--  2  r  A  di  =  0; 

and  from  the  previous  consideration  the  Author  deduces 

Wm  =  2Wu+2Cl^2. 
d  i 

The  efficiency  here  is  no  longer  half,  the  work  expended  Wm  ex- 

d  T1 

ceeding  double  the  work  utilized  W„  by  the  value  2  — t~.   i2,  which 

di 

may  be  considered  as  the  work  absorbed  by  the  fictive  resistances 
d  "F 

-r-r-  placed  in  the  several  branches  of  the  network.  These  resist- 
ances may  be  some  positive,  if  the  electromotive  force  E  increases 


488  USEFUL   "WORK   IN   ELECTRICAL   DISTRIBUTION.        [Foreign 

with  the  current  i  (ascending  part  of  the  characteristic),  or  nega- 
tive (descending  part),  or  nil  if  E  is  maximum  (vertex  of  charac- 

tenstic).     The  efficiency  -==-  corresponding  to  the  maximum  of 

useful  work  may  then  be  inferior  or  superior,  or  even,  exception- 
ally, equal  to  half.  To  learn  its  value,  it  is  required  to  calculate 
the  currents  iv  i2  .  .  .  .,  upon  which  depends  the  quantity 
d  E 

in  •  ■  p.  h. 


2 


Electric-Lighting  in  Milan. 

[k(Il  Politecnico,  March-April  1886,  p.  180.) 

No  city  in  Europe  possesses  so  large  and  complete  an  installation 
of  electric  light  as  Milan.  The  works  were  commenced  in  October 
1882,  and  the  lighting  was  inaugurated  in  June  1883.  In  Sep- 
tember 1883  seven  hundred  lamps  were  supplied  from  the  central 
station.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1884,  the  theatre  of  La  Scala  was 
lighted,  and  in  April  of  the  present  year  there  were  7,598  glow- 
and  96  arc-lamps.  The  latter  range  from  1,400  to  5,000  candle 
power.  Eeducing  the  whole  of  the  lights  to  the  equivalent  of  six- 
teen candles  each,  the  number  of  lamp-hours  in  the  first  three 
months  of  the  present  year  was  3,141,850  (or  double  the  quantity 
during  the  corresponding  quarter  last  year).  The  receipts  of  the 
quarter  were  about  £4,800.  The  greatest  number  of  lamps 
burning  at  a  time  is  at  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when 
it  reaches  7,100,  diminishing  to  540  at  about  two  in  the  morning. 
The  rates  charged  are  as  follows  :  For  each  lamp  of  16  candles 
an  annual  charge  of  28s.,  and  a  rate  of  §  of  a  penny  per  hour 
(equivalent  to  T8g-  of  a  penny  per  ampere.)  For  each  lamp  of 
10  candles  the  annual  charge  is  18s.,  and  a  rate  of  T\  of  a  penny 
per  hour.  Lamps  of  8  and  32  candles  in  proportion.  At  first, 
contracts  were  made  at  a  charge  per  annum  for  each  lamp  cal- 
culated approximately  on  the  above  rates,  but  a  system  of 
payment  by  meter  has  since  been  introduced,  and  is  largely 
adopted,  the  meters  giving  results  of  the  greatest  accuracy.  The 
greatest  length  of  any  conductor  is  about  2,100  feet.  There 
would  be  no  technical  difficulty  in  prolonging  this  considerably, 
but  the  cost  of  the  light  would  be  greater  for  glow-lamps  but  not 
for  arcs.  The  Thompson-Houston  machines  and  lamps  are  used 
for  the  arc-lights. 

W.  H.  T. 


Abstracts.]  ON   THE   THEORY   OF   THE   TELEPHONE.  489 

On  the  Tlieory  of  the  Telephone.    By  E.  Mercadier. 

(Journal  de  Physique,  1886,  p.  141.) 

The  Author  considers  the  diaphragm  of  the  telephone,  both  as 
regards  its  elasticity  and  the  transformation  of  energy  which 
results  from  its  movements.  As  regards  the  former,  he  concludes 
that  the  mechanism,  owing  to  which  telephonic  diaphragms  move, 
is  analogous,  if  not  identical,  with  that  by  which  solid  bodies 
transmit  to  one  of  their  surfaces  all  the  vibratory  movements 
produced  by  air  in  contact  with  the  other  surface,  whether  simple 
or  complex,  successive  or  simultaneous,  and  having  a  continuous 
or  discontinuous  period.  In  diaphragms  of  sufficient  thickness 
this  kind  of  motion  would  be  alone  produced,  the  diaphragms  acting 
as  simple  transmitters  of  vibratory  movements,  independently  of 
their  geometrical  form.  But  as  regards  thin  diaphragms,  they 
would  always  act  in  the  same  manner,  and  also  at  times  in  a  more 
active,  and,  as  it  were,  special  manner,  according  to  the  laws  of 
elasticity  relating  to  their  geometric  forms,  modified  to  a  certain 
extent  by  the  heterogeneity  of  their  molecular  constitution,  and 
the  more  or  less  regular  way  in  which  they  are  fixed.  In  this 
manner  one  may  account  for  the  general  and  complex  movements 
of  transmitting  telephonic  diaphragms,  allowing  of  the  reproduc- 
tion of  a  continuous  scale  of  successive  sounds,  superposed  by 
musical  chords  or  series,  such  as  are  required  in  the  explanation 
of  timbre ;  and  in  this  way  may  also  be  explained  the  increase 
produced  by  the  use  of  very  thin  diaphragms  in  certain  points  of 
the  scale,  and  the  alterations  of  timbre  generally  accompanying 
them. 

As  regards  the  use  of  the  diaphragm  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  transformation  of  energy  resulting  from  its  movements,  the 
Author  materialized,  so  to  speak,  the  magnetic  field  with  iron 
filings  scattered  over  the  pole  or  poles  of  a  telephone,  and  obtained 
the  following  remarkable  result,  that  musical  sounds  and  articulate 
speech  were  reproduced,  from  which  he  concludes  that  rigid 
metallic  diaphragms  are  not  indispensable  for  the  production  of 
telephonic  effects,  but  are  useful  in  increasing  their  intensity,  by 
presenting  a  larger  number  of  magnetic  molecules  per  unit  of 
volume  to  the  action  of  the  interior  forces,  or  by  producing  a 
greater  concentration  of  the  lines  of  force  of  the  magnetic  field. 

Hence  for  the  reception,  as  well  as  for  the  transmission  of 
sounds,  the  rigidity  of  the  diaphragm  is  not  indispensable ;  it  is 
necessary  to  give  a  material  support  to  the  rapid  modifications 
produced  in  the  magnetic  field  of  the  receiver  by  the  current 
induced  in  the  helix.  This  may  be  done  simply  by  using  iron 
filings,  which  place  themselves  in  the  lines  of  force  ;  the  diaphragm 
serves  to  increase  the  intensity  of  the  effects,  in  the  first  place  by 
concentrating  the  lines  of  force  of  the  magnetic  field,  and  in  the 
second  place  by  augmenting  the  mass  of  air  to  which  is  trans- 


490  ON    THE    THEOEY    OF    THE    TELEPHONE.  [Foreign 

mitted  the  movements  resulting  from  the  transformation  of  energy 
which  operates  at  various  points  of  the  magnetic  field. 

As  regards  thick  and  thin  diaphragms,  in  the  latter  there  is  lost 
in  quality  that  which  may  he  gained  in  quantity  or  intensity,  but 
there  is  always  a  certain  thickness  of  diaphragm  which,  for  a  field 
of  given  intensity,  gives  a  maximum  telephonic  effect.  This 
result,  analogous  to  that  found  in  other  electromagnet  phenomena, 
may  explain  the  want  of  success  of  many  attempts  made  to  increase 
the  intensity  of  the  effects  of  electro-magnetic  telephonic  receivers. 

E.  F.  B. 


On  Telephonij  and  the  Operation  and  Functions  of  the  Induction- 
Coil  in  Transmitters,  and, 
Some  Recent  Advances  in  Telephony. 

By  T.  D.  Lockwood. 

(Electrician  and  Electrical  Engineer,  New  York,  1886,  pp.  124,  164, 
204,  218.) 

After  a  short  account  of  Professor  Bell's  discovery  of  the  tele- 
phone as  a  transmitter  of  vocal  sounds,  the  Author  alludes  to  the 
fact  that  the  currents  from  the  magneto-telephone,  generated  when 
it  is  used  as  a  transmitter,  are  weakened  by  the  reverse  currents 
generated  in  the  receiving  telephone  on  which  it  acts.  The  same 
effect  also  follows  the  use  of  battery  currents,  but  as  these 
latter  are  much  stronger  than  the  former,  they  are  not  affected  to 
the  same  extent.  The  direct  application  to  a  telephonic  circuit  of 
currents,  rendered  undulatory  by  some  resistance-varying  appa- 
ratus, is  not  satisfactory,  as  the  variation  of  resistance  in  the 
apparatus  is  small  compared  with  the  resistance  of  the  line.  The 
Hunnings  transmitter  is  partially  successful  in  this  case,  as  great 
variations  in  the  resistance  of  the  granulated  medium  are  pro- 
duced by  the  air-vibrations,  but  it  requires  excessive  battery 
power.  The  adoption  of  the  induction-coil,  however,  removes  all 
these  objections,  as  the  varying  resistance  is  then  part  of  a  circuit 
of  low  resistance,  and  by  proper  adjustment  of  the  winding  of  the 
primary  and  secondary  coils,  the  effect  on  the  line  wire  is  thus 
considerably  increased.  It  is  remarked  that  the  transmission  is 
also  similar  in  form  to  that  effected  by  the  magneto-telephone 
itself,  as  the  action  of  the  coil  is  principally  due  to  the  magneto- 
electric  currents  induced  by  the  core. 

The  different  methods  of  arranging  the  primary  and  secondary 
wires  on  the  core,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  latter  in  a  permanent 
magnetic  state,  are  described  and  illustrated.  The  most  effective 
form  is  that  of  a  horse-shoe  for  the  core,  with  the  secondary  coils 
on  its  ends,  the  primary  coil  being  wound  either  half  on  each  leg 
or  altogether  on  the  bend ;  the  addition  of  a  soft  iron  armature 


Abstracts.]    ON   TELEPHONY   AND   RECENT   ADVANCES   THEREIN.       491 

across  the  poles  of  the  horse-shoe  increases  the  induced  currents  by 
25  per  cent. 

The  latter  Paper  was  read  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  and,  among  other  matter,  contains  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  different  methods  in  use  for  connecting  telephonic 
exchanges  by  trunk-wires.  The  trunk-line  must  he  on  the  double- 
wire  system ;  the  connection  of  the  subscribers  of  an  exchange, 
where  the  wires  are  only  single,  can  be  effected  by  inserting 
induction  coils  at  each  end  of  the  trunk-wire,  the  primary  coils  of 
which  have  one  end  to  earth  and  the  other  connected  at  will  to 
any  subscriber's  line,  or  instead  of  using  the  earth,  a  special  return 
circuit-wire  can  be  laid  down,  providing  thus  a  double,  but  not  a 
parallel  return  wire,  for  each  subscriber.  Where  the  subscribers 
are  connected  by  double  parallel  wires  to  the  exchange,  each  wire 
can  be  connected  to  the  separate  trunk-wires  without  th»  inter- 
vention of  the  induction-coil. 

F.  J. 


On  Beeent  Progress  in  Underground  Telephone-  Wires. 
By  W.  W.  Jacques. 

(Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Arts  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
1885-6,  p.  20.) 

Ten  years  ago  the  number  of  wires  in  use  for  ordinary  tele- 
graphic communication  in  American  cities  was  comparatively 
small,  while  electric  lighting  had  not  yet  come  into  practical  use, 
and  the  telephone,  the  wires  connected  with  which  outnumber 
those  used  for  all  other  purposes  in  cities,  was  entirely  unknown. 
The  many  objections  to  overhead  wires,  the  annual  cost  of  repairs 
to  which  in  cities  is  not  less  than  30  per  cent,  of  the  first  cost  of 
construction,  are  well  known ;  and  in  their  own  interest,  quite  as 
much  as  for  the  public  benefit,  the  American  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pany have  spent  large  sums  in  endeavouring  to  find  a  practical 
method  of  placing  the  wires  of  an  exchange  system  underground. 

If  two  or  more  telegraph  wires  are  bunched  together  in  a  cable 
of  such  length  as  that  used  in  large  cities,  each  wire  works 
practically  as  well  as  before,  and  is  entirely  independent  of  the 
neighbouring  wires  in  the  same  cable.  But  with  telephone  wires 
it  was  found  not  only  that  conversation  was  very  much  lowered 
in  intensity,  owing  to  retardation,  but  also  that  conversation 
carried  on  over  one  wire  was  heard  with  equal  facility  on  all  the 
other  wires  in  the  same  cable.  This  may  be  owing  either  to  direct 
leakage  or  to  induction,  which,  though  not  sufficient  to  affect  even 
the  most  delicate  telegraphic  apparatus  in  use,  is  amply  sufficient 
for  overhearing  in  the  case  of  the  telephone. 

The  annexed  Table  shows  the  specific  inductive  capacity  and 
insulation  of  various  insulators.    All  the  measurements  were  made 


492 


PROGRESS  IX  UNDERGROUND  TELEPHONE  WIRES.        [Foreign 


on  a  -wire  0*05  inch  in  diameter,  coated  with  insulation  to  a 
thickness  of  0*  10  inch  : — 


Cable. 

Maker. 

Insulation  1      Specific 
per  Mile  in  1   Inductive 
Megohms.       capacity. 

Gutta-percha  . 
India-rubber   . 
Kerite  . 
Faraday     . 
Patterson  . 
Brooks . 

Siemens  Brothers,  London     .... 

A.  G.  Day  &  Co.,  New  York  .     . 
Faraday  Cable  works,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
"Western  Electric  Co.,  Chicago    . 
David  Brooks,  Philadelphia  .... 

190 
170 
150 

15,000 
450 

4-2 
37 
4-0 
1-6 
3-1 
2-8 

According  to  this  Tahle,  it  ought  to  he  possible  to  talk  three 
times  as  far  with  a  Faraday  as  with  a  gutta-percha  cable,  and 
experiment  has  shown  that  while  conversation  over  a  2-mile  gutta- 
percha cable  was  continually  disturbed  by  cross-talk,  no  such 
inconvenience  was  found  with  a  Faraday  cable  5  miles  in  length. 
German  counterparts  of  the  Faraday  cable  have  been  in  use  for 
six  or  seven  years  without  any  material  deterioration  in  insulating 
power. 

India-rubber  and  kerite,  though  extensively  used  for  telegraph 
cables,  are  equally  unfit  with  gutta-percha  for  telephonic  work. 

The  Patterson  cable,  which  under  diiferent  names  has  been 
extensively  used  for  some  years  past  in  France,  Germany,  and 
elsewhere,  consists  of  cotton-covered  wires  soaked  in  paraffin,  and 
drawn  into  a  lead  pipe.  Unfortunately  it  has  been  found  that 
the  insulation,  though  high  at  first,  gradually  decreases,  and  after 
several  years  falls  so  low  that  cross-talk,  due  to  direct  leakage, 
easily  appears. 

The  Brooks  cable  consists  of  copper-covered  wires  wound  with 
cotton  and  drawn  into  iron  pipes,  which  are  then  filled  with 
petroleum.  When  the  pipes,  and  the  cables  before  being  drawn 
in,  are  thoroughly  dried,  and  the  pipes  filled  with  dry  oil,  the 
insulation  is  enormous,  and  the  cable  gives  wonderfully  good 
results  for  telephonic  purposes,  being  remarkably  free  both  from 
retardation  and  cross-talk.  But  it  is  almost  impossible  to  make 
the  pipes  so  tight  that  the  petroleum  does  not  leak  out,  or  water 
leak  in,  and  consequently  the  insulation  falls  continually ;  and 
after  three  or  six  months,  if  the  cable  be  of  any  considerable  length, 
will  have  fallen  so  low  that  cross-talk  from  direct  leakage  will  be 
easily  heard  on  all  the  conductors  assembled  together.  For  this 
reason  no  value  has  been  assigned  to  the  insulation  of  this  cable, 
as  stated  in  the  comparative  Table  above  given. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  Paris  telephone  exchange,  which  counts 
over  three  thousand  subscribers,  gutta-percha  cables  placed  under- 
ground are  used.  But  these  cables  are  constructed  in  a  peculiar 
way,  consisting  of  two  insulated  wires  twisted  spirally,  the  current 
soin";  over  one  wire  and  returning  over  the  other.     As  in  each 


Abstracts.]     PROGRESS  IN  UNDERGROUND  TELEPHONE-WIRES.  493' 

pair  of  conductors  the  equal  and  opposite  currents  would  tend, 
either  by  leakage  or  induction,  to  produce  equal  and  opposite 
currents,  or  in  other  words  no  current  at  all,  in  either  branch  of 
any  neighbouring  conductor,  there  is  no  tendency  to  cross-talk. 
But  in  addition  to  the  increased  cost,  owing  to  two  wires  being 
required  for  each  subscriber,  there  has  not  yet  been  devised  a  real 
practicable  method  of  connecting  a  metallic  circuit  system  with  a 
single  circuit  system,  so  that  conversation  could  not  be  carried  on 
between  persons  in  two  neighbouring  cities,  unless  the  system  of 
each  city,  as  well  as  the  intervening  trunk  lines,  were  constructed 
with  metallic  circuits. 

Although  with  suitable  cables  there  are  no  technical  obstacles 
to  placing  all  the  wires  of  a  telephonic  exchange  underground,  it 
would  not  be  economically  practical,  as  the  cost  for  excavating, 
laying  the  conduit,  and  refilling,  is  nearly  as  much  for  one  wire  as 
for  fifty.  But  it  is  practicable  to  extend  wires  from  the  central 
office  underground  to  a  considerable  number  of  points,  some  one  of 
which  shall  bo  easily  accessible  by  a  short  overhead  line  from  any 
subscriber's  station ;  and  such  a  system,  requiring  practically  no 
expenditure  for  repairs,  and  being  always  in  good  order,  would 
probably  in  the  long  run  prove  more  economical  than  to  carry  the 
wires  entirely  overhead. 

W.  S.  H. 


A  Begistering  Hygrometer.    By  Alb.  Nodon. 

(Comptes  rendus  de  l'Academie  des  Sciences,  vol.  cii.,  188G,  p.  1371.) 

The  principle  of  this  instrument  is  similar  to  that  of  Breguet's 
metallic  thermometer,  the  helix  being  formed  of  two  substances 
unequally  hygrometric.  The  inventor  finds  that  the  angles  through 
which  the  spirals  unroll  are  proportional  to  the  hygrometric  state 
of  the  atmosphere ;  that  ordinary  atmospheric  variations  of  tem- 
perature have  no  influence  on  the  indications  of  the  hygrometer ; 
the  instrument  is  absolutely  constant,  and  takes  only  one  minute 
to  place  itself  in  hygrometric  equilibrium  with  the  surrounding- 
atmosphere  ;  it  may  be  made  as  sensitive  as  desired  by  a  propor- 
tional increase  in  the  number  of  spirals  of  the  helix. 

E.  F.  B. 


On  Vapour  and  Cloud.    By  K.  von  Heuiholtz. 

(Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie,  vol.  xsvii.,  18S6,  p.  508.) 

The  theoretical  and  experimental  treatment  of  the  subject  in 
this  Taper  shows  that  the  formation  of  cloud  in  moist  air  does  not 
commence  exactly  with  the  arrival  at  its  normal  saturation,  but  at 
a  somewhat  higher  point,  which  depends  partly  on  the  fact  that 
the  vapour  tension  over  the  convex  surfaces  of  the  cloud-masses  is 


494  ON   VAPOUR  AND   CLOUD.  [Foreign 

o-reater  than  over  a  plain  surface.  Introducing  a  correction  for 
such  variation,  then  the  formation  of  cloud  is  a  delicate  and  accu- 
rate test  of  saturation,  provided  that  the  air  contains  a  normal 
quantity  of  dust  particles,  i.e.,  that  it  he  unfiltered  and  renewed 
at  intervals,  and  that  it  he  free  from  salt  particles  or  acid  vapours, 
which  would  act  chemically  on  the  water-vapour ;  with  these 
conditions  fulfilled,  adiabatic  cooling  affords  a  ready  means  for 
determining  the  degree  of  saturation  of  the  air,  and  thus  the 
vapour-tension  of  solutions.  At  low  temperatures,  say  under 
30°  Centigrade  (86°  Fahrenheit),  the  values  of  the  reduction  of 
vapour-tension  agree  with  those  obtained  by  barometric  measure- 
ments, but  at  higher  temperatures,  before  sufficient  accuracy  can 
be  expected,  the  ratio  of  the  specific  heats  of  water-vapour  must 
be  more  closely  determined. 

F.  J. 


Experimental  Researches  on  the  Limit  of  Velocity  of  a  Gas  which 
passes  from  a  Higher  to  a  Lower  Pressure. 

By  G.  A.  Hirn. 

(Annales  de  Chiinie  et  de  Physique,  vol.  vii.  1886,  p.  289.) 

The  Author  commences  with  the  construction  of  the  various 
equations  that  have  been  proposed  to  represent  the  movement  of 
elastic  and  non-elastic  fluids,  deducing  therefrom  the  importance 
and  necessity  of  his  researches.  All  the  experiments  were  made  on 
atmospheric  air  taken  at  barometric  pressure,  increased  by  that  of 
the  charge  in  the  gasometer.  Five  different  forms  of  orifice  were 
subjected  to  experiment ;  two  were  very  obtuse  cones  formed  in  the 
thin  metal  of  the  reservoir,  two  were  converging  cones,  the  one  at 
an  angle  of  13°,  and  the  other  of  9°  to  the  axis,  whilst  the  last  had 
a  cylindrical  tube  of  glass  connected  to  a  converging  cone.  The 
experiments  made  were  with  the  object  of  determining,  in  the 
first  instance,  the  effective  section  of  aperture,  and  are  given  in 
full  detail,  as  well  as  in  a  general  Table  and  diagram,  and  from 
them  the  Author  criticises  the  various  equations  hitherto  proposed, 
and  places  the  experimental  and  theoretical  numbers  obtained  in 
Tables  in  juxtaposition. 

As  a  resume  of  his  experimental  work,  the  Author  considers, 

1st.  That  neither  Weisbach's  law  for  volumes,  nor  any  pre- 
viously proposed  law,  gives  even  approximately  the  volume  of  a 
gas  which  flows  through  a  given  aperture,  from  a  reservoir  where 
the  pressure  is  P0  into  another  where  the  pressure  is  F1  <  P0,  when 
P0  is  much  greater  than  P15  whilst  they  give  almost  exact  results 
when  P0  and  Tl  are  nearly  equal. 

2nd.  That  Weisbach's  law  for  velocity  is  absolutely  false,  when 

p 
P.  becomes  very  small,  or  more  generally  when  the  ratio  of  p-  is 

very  small. 


Abstracts.]  LIMIT    OF   VELOCITY    OF   A    GAS.  495 

The  true  law  of  the  flow  of  gases  for  any  difference  of  pressure 
(P0  —  Px)  is,  in  the  Author's  opinion,  unknown.  With  his  experi- 
mental data  he  might  have  proposed  an  empirical  law,  which 
would  represent  the  phenomena  approximately,  but  considers  such 
determinations  as  superfluous  in  the  actual  condition  of  the  physical 
and  mechanical  sciences. 

Of  several  important  considerations  resulting  from  his  experi- 
mental work,  he  refers  only  at  present  to  the  kinetic  theory  of 
gases. 

Suppose  a  gas,  atmospheric  air,  for  instance,  to  be  enclosed  in  a 
reservoir  and  submitted  to  constant  pressure,  and  that  the  reservoir 
is  connected  up  to  another  in  which  there  is  a  perfect  vacuum,  it 
is  evident  that  the  velocity  of  flow  can  neither  be  greater  nor  less 
than  the  specific  velocity  of  the  gaseous  particles  at  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  gas.  The  theoretical  velocity  for  atmospheric  air, 
passing  into  an  absolute  vacuum,  is  485  metres  per  second,  whilst 
the  Author  has  actually  obtained  a  velocity  of  flow  of  6,000  metres 
against  a  certain  amount  of  pressure.  In  the  Author's  view,  the 
kinetic  theory  is  thus  in  direct  opposition  to  experimental  results. 

E.  F.  B. 


(    497     ) 


INDEX 

TO  THK 

MINUTES    OF    PROCEEDINGS, 
1885-86.— Part  IV. 


Abrasion  by  grinding,  45S. 

Accumulators,  practical  instructions  relative  to,  4S0. 

Atlie,  P.,  memoir  of,  367. 

Africa,  South,  gold-fields  of,  343. 

Air-blast,  an,  as  a  means  of  ore-dressing,  461. 

Altos  Hornos  ironworks  company,  Bilbao,  338. 

Anderson,  Sir  J.,  memoir  of,  346. 

W.  (of  Eritb),  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 

Andrews,  T.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  185. 

Annual  dinner  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  174. 

general  meeting,  151. 

Anthracite  coke.     See  Coke. 

Appleby,  C.  J. — Discussion  on  modern  macliine-tools  and  workshop  appliances : 
Amount  of  steel  removed  by  the  40-inch  lathe,  139. — Objections  to  the  30-ton 
traveller  crane,  139. — Rope-transmission  preferable  to  shaft-transmission,  140. 

Aqueduct,  the  De-Ferrari-Galliera,  at  Genoa,  441. 

Arch,  A.  J.  E.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Arches.  "  The  Stability  of  Voussoir  Arches"  H.  A.  Cutler  (S.),  217. — Convenience 
of  the  graphic  method  of  investigating  the  stability  of  an  arched  structure, 
217. — Stability  of  arches  under  vertical  loads,  218. — Stability  of  arches  under 
oblique  pressures,  224. — Stability  of  the  abutment-walls  of  arches,  230. 

of  the  viaduct  over  the  river  Esk  at  Whitby,  307. 

Armytage,  G.  J.,  elected  associate,  39. 

Artillery,  Austrian  siege-,  472. — Italian  field-  and  siege-ditto,  473. 

Atkinson,  L.  B.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  186. 

Austrian  siege-artillery,  472. 

Aymonnet  battery,  the,  481. 

Ayris,  H.  C,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Baker,  B. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Bailicay-lifts :  The 
first  important  subaqueous  tunnel,  91. — Proposed  tunnel  under  the  Forth,  91. 
— Less  water  under  the  sea  than  under  the  land  in  rocky  strata,  91. — Quantity 
of  water  to  be  pumped,  92. — Ventilation,  92. — Experiments  on  the  working  of 
the  Metropolitan  Railway  engines,  93. — Advantage  of  severe  gradients  on  the 
Mersey  Railway,  93.— Difficulties  of  the  tunnel,  94.— Elected  member  of 
council,  152,  216. 
[THE  INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2   K 


498  INDEX. 

Ballast,  importance  of,  in  maintenance  of  permanent  'way,  404. 

Bar  of  the  Senegal.     See  Kiver  Senegal. 

Barry,  J.  W. — Discussion  on  brickmdking :  Value  of  the  London  stock-brick  for 
engineering  purposes,  30. — Disadvantage  of  mixing  a  large  quantity  of  chalk 
with  the  clay  in  the  preparation  of  stock-bricks,  30. — Weight  not  necessarily 
an  index  of  compressive  strength,  30. — Objections  to  deep  depressions  in 
bricks,  30. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway-lifts  ; 
Annual  charges  compared  with  those  of  other  passenger  lines,  87,  90. — Ven- 
tilation, 87. — Exception  taken  to  the  Author's  statement  that  the  blow-holes 
of  the  Metropolitan  District  Railway  were  ineffective,  S8. — Mechanical  ven- 
tilation adversely  affected  by  strong  -winds,  90. — Elected  member  of  council, 
152,  216. 

Batho,  W.  F.,  memoir  of,  353. 

Battery,  the  Ayroonnet,  481. 

Bauerman,  H.,  auditor,  vote  of  thanks  to,  152. 

Beahan,  J.  C,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Bean,  J.  S.,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Beams.  "Experiments  on  the  Relative  Strength  of  Cast-Iron  Beams"  E.  C. 
de  Segundo  and  L.  S.  Bobinson  (S.),  235. — Sections  experimented  upon,  235. — 
Mechanism  for  measuring  deflections,  238. — Method  of  testing,  239. — Results, 
240. — Tendency  of  results  with  regard  to  the  common  theory  of  calculating 
stresses  in  a  beam,  243. — Appendix:  Results  of  experiments  on  test-pieces, 
247. — Results  of  experiments  on  beams,  248. — Graphic  method  of  determining 
the  moment  of  internal  resistance  of  any  cross-section  of  a  beam,  250. 

"  Beaumont"  tunnelling  machine  patented  by  Major  English,  116. 

Beckwith,  A.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Beliavin,  L.,  on  the  formation  of  a  cultivated  region  along  the  course  of  the 
Trans-Caspian  railway,  400. 

Bell,  O.,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Berkley,  G.,  elected  vice-president,  152,  216. 

Berlin,  pure  subsoil  water  for,  436. — Spring-water  for,  437. — Sewerage  and 
irrigation  works  of,  442. 

Berndt,  Dr.,  his  experiments  on  the  steam-engine  indicator,  341. 

Bessemer,  Sir  H.,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 

Bessemer  charges,  small,  on  the  blowing  of,  463. 

Best,  H.  R.,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Bhada,  N.  D.,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Bilbao  ironworks.     See  Ironworks. 

Birch,  R.  "W.  P.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Black  process  for  copying  drawings,  320. 

Blasting  of  the  north-east  wall  of  the  Gallions  Basin,  Royal  Albert  Docks,  329. 

Bochart,  — ,  and  Lebreton,  — ,  on  the  wire-ropeways  between  Vaj da-Hun yad 
and  Vadudobri  (Transylvania),  415. 

Boehme,  Dr.,  results  of  experiments  with  impregnated  and  natural  samples  of 
wood,  380. 

Boilers.     See  Steam-boilers. 

Boring-machine,  combined  horizontal,  and  lathe,  127. — Universal  horizontal 
drilling-,  tapping-,  and,  129. 

Bouquet  de  la  Grye,  — ,  improvement  of  the  bar  of  the  Senegal,  432. 

Bourdon's  modification  of  Jacquelin  and  Chevre's  excavator,  457. 

Bouty,  E.,  electric  conductivity  of  chloride  of  potassium  solutions,  4S6. 


INDEX.  499 

Bovey,  H.  T.,  transferred  member,  119. 

Bramwell,  Sir  F.  J.,  President.— Discussion  on  brickmdking :  Opening  remarks, 
27. — Discu:aion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway  lifts:  Remark  as 
to  additional  diagram,  85. — Discussion  on  modern  machine-tools  and  workshop 
appliances :  Bemarks  on  closing  the  discussion,  148. — Valedictory  address  on 
the  occasion  of  presiding  for  the  last  time  at  an  ordinary  meeting,  148. — Vote 
of  thanks  to,  151. 

Brazil,  J.  P.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Breyer'a  micro-membrane  filter,  439. 

w  Brickmdking,"  H.Ward,  1. — Use  of  machinery  in  hand-brickmaking,  1. — Brick- 
making  in  the  home  counties,  1. — Advantages  of  washing  the  earth,  2. — Brick- 
fields of  the  South  Metropolitan  Brick  and  Lime  Co.  at  Plumstead,  4. — Driving 
by  chains,  5. — Further  advantages  of  washing  clay,  7. — Hand-made  red-bricks, 
7. — Dean's  new  mould,  8. — Bricks  made  entirely  by  machinery,  8. — Difficulties 
of  semi-dry  brickmaking,  8. — Works  of  the  Kent  Brick  and  Tile  Co.  at 
Pluckley,  10. — Whittaker  and  Co.'s  machine,  12. — Middle  ton  and  Co.'s  plastic 
brickmaking  machine,  13. — Clayton,  Howlett,  and  Venables'  machine  for 
rough  clays  and  marls,  13. — Safety  appliance  for  driving  crushing-rollers,  14. 
Cutting-off  table  of  the  plastic  brick-machine,  14. — Pinfold's  cutting-off  table, 
14. — Die  of  the  plastic  brick-machine,  15. — Murray's  die,  15. — Combination 
of  the  semi-dry  and  plastic  systems,  1G. — Drying-sheds,  17. — Kilns,  18. — 
Appendix :  Cost  of  brickmaking  in  the  Sittingbourne  and  in  the  Cowley  and 
Southall  districts,  23. — Cost  of  plastic  bricks  in  Yorkshire,  23. — Besults  of 
experiments  on  resistance  of  bricks  to  stress,  24. — Resistance  of  Craven's  bricks 
to  stress,  26.— Discussion :  Sir  F.  J.  Bramwell,  27 ;  H.  Ward,  27,  34  ;  W.  H. 
Venables,  27;  E.  Monson,  28;  F.  Howlett,  29;  J.  W.  Barry,  30;  E.  A. 
Cowper,  31 ;  A.  Bobottom,  33 ;  J.  Coley-Bromfield,  33 ;  A.  Giles,  M.P.,  34.— 
Correspondence :  J.  W.  Hill,  36  ;  A.  W.  Itter,  37 ;  H.  Wedekind,  38. 

Brick  wells,  Indian  system  of,  adopted  for  the  river-piers  of  the  viaduct  over  the 
Esk  at  Whitby,  304. 

Bridge  over  the  Rhine  near  Rhenen,  report  on  the  results  of  the  trials  of  the, 
385. 

Bridges.     Old  bridges  under  new  loads,  3S6. 

,  iron.     On  iron  bridges,  384. 

Brightmore,  A.  W.,  Manby  premium  awarded  to,  177,  185. 

Broomfield,  C.  G.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Brown  0.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Bruce,  G.  B.,  elected  vice-president,  152,  216. 

Bruger,  Dr.  T.,  experiments  on  the  action  of  solenoids  on  iron  cores  of  varied 
forms,  483. 

Brunton,  P.  G.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Burkhardt,  — ,  the  importance  of  ballast  in  maintenance  of  permanent  |way, 
404. 

Cables,  electrical,  recent  types  of,  482. 
Calorimetric  study  of  iron  at  high  temperatures,  462. 
Campbell,  G.  M.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 
Canal,  Rhine-Marne,  extension  of  the,  418. 

,  Suez,  navigation  by  night  on  the,  420. 

Canals  of  Finland,  construction  of  the  locks  in  the,  418. 
Capper,  D.  S„  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177, 186. 

2  K  2 


500  INDEX. 

Carbutt,  E.  H.,  M.P.,  Discussioyi  on  modem  machine-tools  and  ivorkshop-appli- 
ances:  Steam-hammer  being  superseded  by  the  hydraulic  forging-press,  144. 

Carleton,  H.  E.,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Castings,  heavy,  modern  machine-tools  and  -workshop  appliances  for  the  treat- 
ment of,  120  et  seq. — Desirability  of  limiting  the  size  of,  13S. 

Cements.     The  Louisville  cements,  380. 

Cerbere,  retaining-walls  of,  396. 

Chevre,  — .     See  Jacquelin. 

Chloride  of  potassium  solutions,  electric  conductivity  of,  4S6. 

Christie,  J.,  his  experiments  on  wrought-iron  and  steel  struts,  271  et  seq. 

Clarke,  C.  H.,  elected  associate  member,  119. 

Clay,  advantages  of  washing,  in  brickmaking,  2  et  seq. 

Clerk,  D.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  184. 

Clift,  L.  E.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Cloud,  vapour  and,  493. 

Coal,  heat  of  combustion  of,  447. 

Coke,  anthracite,  advantage  of,  for  ventilation  purposes,  as  fuel  in  tunnels,  116. 

Coley-Bromfield,  J. — Discussion  on  brickmaking :  Bricks  made  from  the  slate 
refuse  of  Wales,  33. 

Columns.  "  On  the  Practical  Strength  of  Columns,  and  of  Braced  Struts,"  T.  C. 
Fidler  (S.),  261.— Euler's  theory,  262.— Ideal  column,  263.— Practical  deflec- 
tion of  columns,  266. — Practical  strength  of  columns,  269. — Wrought-iron 
columns,  271.  —  Mr.  J.  Christie's  experiments  on  wrought-iron  and  steel 
struts,  271. — Columns  -with  fixed  ends,  276. — Cast-iron  columns,  277. — Steel 
columns,  278. — Practical  breaking  weight  of  columns,  279. — Braced  struts  and 
piers,  2S0. — Working-strength  of  columns,  281. — Concluding  observations,  285. 
— Appendix :  Curve  of  the  elastic  column,  288. — Equilibrium  of  the  bent 
column,  2S9. — Deflection  of  a  braced  strut  with  flanges  of  unequal  stiffness, 
290. — Strength  of  columns  with  inequality  of  modulus,  291. 

Colyer,  F. — Correspondence  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  the  Mersey  Railway-lifts: 
Speed  of  the  Mersey  passenger-lifts  limited  to  120  feet  per  minute,  113. — 
Stone  versus  wooden  bricks  for  fixing  guide-bars,  113. —  Construction  of  the 
cage,  114. — Chains,  114. — Yalve-gear,  114.— Friction,  115. 

Combustion,  heat  of,  of  coal,  447. 

Compass,  a  new  tubular,  459. 

Constitution  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  165. 

Coode,  Sir  J.,  elected  vice-president,  152,  216. 

Cooper,  V.  B.  D.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Cores,  iron,  action  of  solenoids  on,  483. 
Coiiard,  — ,  wear  of  steel  rails  in  Germany,  407. 

Council,  election  of,  for  1886-87,  152,  2*16.— Report  of  the,  for  1885-86,  153.— 

Ditto  ordered  to  be  printed,  151. 
Cournion,  retaining-walls  of,  396. 

Courtney,  F.  S.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  Council,  151. 
Courtois-Suffit,  O.,  disinfecting-stoves,  443. 
Cowie,  F.  W.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Cowper,  E.  A. — Discussion  on  brickmaking :  Improvements  in  brickmaking 
machines,  31. — Mr.  T.  B.  Crampton's  system  of  cutting  and  crushing  clay 
by  rollers,  32.  Imperfect  colouring  of  bricks  in  Hoffmann  kilns,  32.— Dis- 
cussion on  modern  machine-tools  and  workshop-appliances:  Exception  taken  to 
length  of  40-inch  lathe,  140.— Usefulness  of  cutters  fixed  in  disks,  141.— 


INDEX.  501 

Description  of  a  40-feet  face-plate  lathe,  141. — Elected  member  of  Council, 

152,  216. 
Crane,  30-ton  traveller,  1B3  et  seq. 
Craven,  E.  G.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 
Crawter,  F.  W.,  admitted  student,  119. 
Croci,  A.,  the  embankments  across  the  Paradiso  and  Grottarossa  valleys  iu  Sicily, 

434. 
Crompton,  R.  E.  B.,  elected  member,  119. 

Cros  and  Vergeraud's  amnionic  bichromate  process  of,  copying  drawings,  325. 
Cross,  W.  (of  Leamington),  elected  associate  member,  120. 
Culverts  of  the  viaduct  over  the  river  Esk  at  Whitby,  309. 
Cuming,  J.  H.,  admitted  student,  119. 
Cutler,  H.  A.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  185. — "  TJie  Stability  of  Voussoir 

Arches  "  (S.),  217. 

Dawson,  G.  H.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Deane,  H.,  transferred  member,  119. 

Decante,  E.,  the  tides  of  the  Charente,  423. 

Demolition  of  the  north-east  wall  of  the  Gallions  Basin,  Royal  Albert  Docks,  329. 

Desdouits,  — ,  resistance  of  trains  on  railways,  389. 

Desilverization  of  lead.     See  Lead . 

Dick,  C,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Diainfecting-stoves,  443. 

Dobson,  J.  M.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Docks.     "  Demolition  of  the  north-east  icall  of  the  Gallions  Basin,  Itoyal  Albert 

Docks,  on  the  23rcl  of  April,  1886,"  Col.  B.  H.  Martindale,  C.B.  (S.),  329.— 

Description  of  the  wall,  329. — Gallions  Basin,  330. — Plan  of  demolition,  380. 

— Final  demolition,   332. — Arrangements  for  simultaneously  exploding   tl.e 

charges,  333. — Explosion,  334. 
Donkin,  B.,  Jun.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  185. 
Douglass,  Sir  J.  N.,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 
Drainage-heading  of  the  Mersey  Railway,  41  et  seq. 
Drilling-machine,  universal  horizontal  tapping-,  boring-,  and,  129. — Combined 

vertical  milling-  and,  130. 
Drown,  Prof.  T.  M.,  on  the  blowing  of  small  Bessemer  charges,  463. 
Drummond,  A.  L.,  admitted  student,  119. 
Drying-sheds  for  brickmaking,  17. 
Dry-rot   fungus,  recent  investigations  concerning  the,  381.— Experiments  with 

respect  to  the  ditto,  384. 
Dubois,  H.  M.,  tests  of  vehicle-wheels,  387. 

Dumas-Vence,  Rear-Adm.,  the  ports  of  the  Channel  and  the  North  Sea,  429. 
Dupuis  boilers,  experiments  with,  452. 

Ebert,  E.,  on  iron  bridges,  384. 

Eckersley,  W. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Eailicay-lifts  : 
Questions  as  to  construction  of  tunnel  through  sound  rock ;  and  cost  of  rock- 
work,  pumping  and  ventilation,  82. 

Electric  circuits,  safety-fuzes  for,  484. 

conductivity  of  chloride  of  potassium  solutions,  486. 

distribution,  law  of  efficiency  corresponding  to  the  maximum  of  useful 


work  in,  486. 


502  INDEX. 

Electric-lighting  in  Milan,  48S. 

Electrical  cables.     See  Cables. 

prcperties  of  German  silver,  485. 

Electro-magnet,  relation  between  the  coefficient  of  self-induction  and  the  magnetic 
action  of  an  electro-magnet,  480. 

Electro-magnets,  some  practical  formulas  for  designing,  478. 

Ellington,  E.  B. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Raihcay  and  Mersey  Railway-lifts : 
High-  and  low-pressure  in  the  working  of  lifts,  97. — Objections  to  ram-lifts,  98. 
— Diameter  of  ram,  98. — Counterbalance  chains  and  weights,  99. — Hydraulic 
balancing,  100. — Public  distribution  of  hydraulic  power  an  argument  in  favour 
of  high-pressure,  100. — Standard  of  pressure  to  be  adopted,  101. 

Embankments  across  the  Paradiso  and  Grottarossa  valleys  in  Sicily,  434. 

, of  the  Whitby  and  Scarborough  railway,  near  Whitby,  309. 

English,  Major,  E.E. — Correspondence  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Rail- 
way-lifts :  Beaumont  tunnelling  machine,  116. 

Euler,  L.,  his  theory  as  to  the  practical  strength  of  columns,  262  et  seq. 

Evaporation  of  steam-boilers.     See  Steam-boilers. 

Excavator  of  Jacquelin  and  Chevre,  modified  by  Bourdon,  457. 

Eadda,  S.,  George  Stephenson  medal  and  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  185. 

Faija,  H,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Farrar,  S.  H.     "  Note  on  the  Gold-fields  of  South  Africa  "  (S.),  343. 

Earrington,  W.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Fidler,  T.  O.     "  On  the  Practical  Strength  of  Columns,  and  of  Braced  Struts  " 

(S.),  261. 
Filter,  Breyer's  micro-membrane,  439. 
Finkener,  Prof.,  on  the  results  obtained  in  seeking  for  a  supply  of  pure  subsoil 

water  for  Berlin,  436. 
Finland,  construction  of  locks  in  the  canals  of,  418. 
Fitzgerald,  D.,  the  spongilla  in  main  water-pipes,  439. 
FitzMaurice,  M.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  186. 
Fleinyng,  M.  C,  admitted  student,  119. 
Fletcher,  G.  E.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Forgings,  heavy,  modem  machine-tools  and  workshop-appliances  for  the  treat- 
ment of,  120  et  seq. 
Foris,  — ,  navigation  by  night  on  the  Suez  canal,  420. 
Forrest,  J.,  Secretary,  vote  of  thanks  to,  152. 

Foundations  of  the  viaduct  over  the  river  Esk  at  Whitby,  303  et  seq. 
Fox,  Sir  C.  D. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway-lifts: 
Enterprise  of  the  promoters,  104. — Quantity  of  water  pumped,  105. — Drainage- 
Leading,  105.— Necessity  of  steep  gradients,  105. — Fallacy  of  the  idea  of 
ventilating  a  single  tunnel  by  the  action  of  the  train,  106. — Blow-holes 
impossible  on  the  Mersey  Eailway,  106.— Safety  of  the  lift-system  adopted, 
107.  —  Type  of  locomotive  employed,  107.  —  Elected  member  of  council, 
'    152,216. 

F.  (of  Westminster),  "  The   Mersey  Raihcay,"  40.— Discussion  on  ditto: 

Saving  of  fifteen  minutes  in  the  transit  by  tunnel  as  against  the  ferry-boats,  80. 
— Ventilation,  80. — Drainage-  and  ventilation-headings,  85.— Air-escape  in  the 
shaft-tubbing,  86. — Objections  to  the  suggestion  that,  for  ventilating  purposes, 
a  tunnel  should  be  divided  longitudinally  by  a  vertical  diaphragm,  108.— 
Quantity  of  water  to  be  pumped,  108. — Comparative  cost  of  gas  and  electric- 


INDEX.  503 

lighting,  109. — Traffic-capacity  of  the  tunnel,  109. — George  Stephenson  medal 
and  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  184. — "  Viaduct  over  the  River  Esh  at 
Whitby,  and  the  Embankments  and  Culverts  in  the  Ravines  "  (S.),  303. 

Frager's  water-meter,  444. 

Frischen,  — ,  on  recent  types  of  electrical  cables,  482. 

Fuel  in  tunnels,  advantage,  for  ventilation  purposes,  of  anthracite  coke  as,  116. 

Funds  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  168. 

Furnace,  Godillot,  for  steam-boilers,  454. 

,  Orvis,  for  steam-boilers,  449. 

Furnaces,  steam-boilers  and  (France),  447. 

Fuzes,  safety-,  for  electric  circuits,  484. 

Gahan,  H.  H.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Gallions  Basin,  Royal  Albert  Docks,  demolition  of  the  north-east  wall  of,  329. 

Galton,  Capt. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway  lifts: 

Suggestion  that  the  tunnel  should  be  divided  by  means  of  a  diaphragm  to 

enable  the  train  itself  to  effect  the  ventilation,  84. 
Gas,  limit  of  velocity  of  a,  which  passes  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  pressure,  494. 
German  silver,  electrical  properties  of,  485. 
Germany,  wear  of  steel  rails  in,  407. 
Gibson,  W.  A. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway  lifts: 

His  preference  for  six  instead  of  three  lifts,  102. — Desirability  of  the  highest 

attainable  speed  in  lifts,  102. — Standard  hydraulic  elevators  in  New  York,  103. 
Giles,  A.,  M.P. — Discussion  on  brichnaking  :  Little  saving  in  labour  in  making 

bricks  by  machinery,  34. — Price  of  bricks,  34. — Elected  member  of  council, 

152,  21G. 
Gill,  J.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 
Godillot  furnace  for  steam-boilers,  454. 

Gold-fields.     "Note  on  the  Gold-fields  of  South  Africa,"  S.  H.  Farrar  (S.),  343. 
Gold-mining.     See  Mining. 
Goodman,  J.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  185. 
Goulier,  Col.,  Frager's  water-meter,  444. 
Gower,  C.  F. — "  On  the  Horizontal  Range  of  Tidal  Rivers,  such  as  the  River 

Onvell,  with  reference  to  Sewage-Discharge" (S.),  253. 
Gretzmacher,  J.,  signals  for  mine-surveys,  460. 
Grinding,  abrasion  by,  458. 
Gyromcter,  rating  of  a  new  type  of,  called  hitherto  a  hydro-dynamometer,  445. 

Hansemann,  G.,  on  a  new  method  for  determining  the  time  of  oscillation  of  a 

magnet,  479. 
Harbour  studies,  424. 
Harris,  H.  G.,  auditor,  vote  of  thanks  to,  152. — Appointed  auditor  for  1886-87, 

152,  216. 
Haupt,  L.  M.,  harbour  studies,  424. 
Hayter,  H.,  elected  vice-president,  152,  216. 
Heliography.   " Heliography ;  or,  the  Actinic  Copying  of  Engineering  Drawings" 

B.  H.  Thwaite  (S.),  312. — Apparatus  and  mode  of  working,  312. — Various 

processes,  315  et  seq. — Printing  on  fabrics,  325. 
Helmholtz,  R.  von,  on  vapour  and  cloud,  493. 
Henderson,  H.  W.  B.,  admitted  student,  119. 
Herschel,  Sir  J.,  his  cyanotype  sensitizing-process,  316. 


504  INDEX. 

Hetier,  — ,  calculation  of  the  profile  of  masonry  reservoir-dams,  440. 

Hildebrand,  — ,  a  new  tubular  compass,  459. 

Hill,  J.  W. — Correspondence  on  hriekmahing :  Life  of  hand-made  bricks  longer 
than  that  of  bricks  made  by  the  semi-dry  process,  36. — Advantage  of  the 
double-screw  machine,  37. — Description  of  parallel  water-die,  37. 

,  W.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Hirn,  G.  A.,  experimental  researches  on  the  limit^of  velocity  of  a  gas  which 
passes  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  pressure,  404. 

Hobson,  J.,  elected  member,  39. 

Hodson,  G.,  transferred  member,  39. 

Hoffmann  kiln,  35  et  seq. 

Holman,  S.,  elected  member,  119. 

Holmes,  J.  L.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Hoops,  steel,  frictional  resistance  of,  shrunk  on  steel  tubes,  470. 

Hopkinson,  O.  H.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

House  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  172. 

Howard,  J.  G.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Howlett,  F. — Discussion  on  brichmahing :  Diversity  of  material  the  chief  diffi- 
culty of  brickmakers,  29. — Importance  of  feeding  brick-machines  regularly, 
29. — Blue  bricks  made  by  machinery,  29. 

Hulse,  W.  W.,  "  Modern  Machine-Tools  and  Worhshop-Appliances,  for  the  Treat- 
ment of  Heavy  Forgings  and  Castings,"  120. — Discussion  on  ditto :  Explanation 
of  levels,  137. — Limit  of  size  of  machine-tools  not  yet  reached,  146. — Greater 
resistance  of  steel  than  of  iron  to  cutting-action,  146. — Reply  to  the  objections 
to  the  30-ton  traveller  crane,  146. — Further  remarks  on  the  40-inch  lathe,  and 
on  the  34-inch  lathe,  147. — Maudslay's  large  universal  planing-machine,  148. 
Correspondence :  Alleged  defects  of  the  large  universal  planing-machine,  150. 
— Watt  medal  and  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  1S4. 

Hunter,  G.  M.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177, 1S6. 

Hydro-dynamometer.    See  Gyrometer. 

Hygrometer,  a  registering,  493. 

Imray,  J.,  Watt  Medal  and  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  184. 

Indian  system  of  brick  wells  adopted  for  the  river  piers  of  the  viaduct  over  thc- 

Esk  at  Whitby,  304. 
Indicator.    "  Experiments  on  the  Steam-Engine  Indicator"  Prof.  Kirsch  (S.),  341. 
Institution,  historical  notice  of  the,  and  its  proceedings,  153. — Constitution,  165. 

— Roll,  168. — Management,  169. — Sessions  and  meetings,  171. — Minutes  of 

Proceedings,  172. — House  and  library,  172. — Trust  Funds  and  Premiums,  173. 

— Annual  dinner,  174. — Income  and  expenditure,  178. 
Iron,  calorimetric  study  of,  at  high  temperatures,  462. 

cast-,  beam.    See  Beams. 

Ironworks.     "  The  Bilbao  Ironivorks,"  N.  Kennedy  (S.),  336. — Vizcaya  Company, 

338. — San  Francisco  works,  338. — Altos  Hornos  Company,  338. 
Irrigation-works  of  Berlin,  442. 
Italian  field-  and  siege-artillery,  473. 
Itter,  A.  W. — Correspondence  on  hriekmahing :  Advantage  of  a  revolving  screen 

in  manufacturing  semi-dry  bricks,  37. 

Jackson,  E.  R.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Jacquelin  and  Chevre's  excavator,  modified  by  Bourdon,  457. 


INDEX.  505 

Jacques,  W.  W.,  on  recent  progress  in  underground  telephone-wires,  49 1 . 
Jannattaz,  E.     See  Pilleur. 
Jenkins,  D.  M.,  admitted  student,  39. 
Johnston,  A.,  transferred  member,  119. 
Joyce,  S.,  jun.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Kapp,  G.,  Telford  medal  and  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  184. 

Kennedy,  N.,  "  The  Bilbao  Ironworks,"  (S.),  336. 

Kerry,  J.  G.  G.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Kiln,  Hoffmann,  35. 

Kilns,  brickmaking,  18,  35. 

Kirsch,  Prof.     "  Experiments  on  the  Sleam-Engine  Indicator  "  (S.),  341. 

Kopcke,   0.,  and    Pressler,   P.,  the  'most   recently   constructed    narrow-gaugx? 

railways  in  Saxony,  414. 
Kriiger,  — ,  conical  tires  of  railway  rolling-stock  a  cause  of  resistance  to  traction, 

and  of  the  travelling  of  the  rails,  410. 

La  Bastide,  retaining-walls  of,  396. 

La  Foret,  retaining-walls  of,  396. 

Lathe,  combined  horizontal  boring-machine  and,  127. — 40-feet  face-plate,  141. — 
34-inch  do.,  123,  147. — 40-inch  do.,  121  et  scq. — Large  face-plate,  at  Messrs. 
Maudslay  Sons  and  Field's  wharf,  144. 

Lead,  desilverization  of,  by  means  of  zinc,  468. 

Lebreton,  — .     See  Bocbart. 

Ledeboer,  — ,  relation  between  the  coefficient  of  self-induction  and  the  magnetic 
action  of  an  electro-magnet,  480. 

Legg,  W.  A.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  185. 

LeLmann,  Dr.  K.  B.,  recent  investigations  concerning  the  dry-rot  fungus 
(merulius  lachrymans),  3S1. 

Lengerke,  R.  E.  von,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  186. 

Levandovsky,  M.,  on  the  construction  of  the  locks  in  the  canals  of  Finland,  and 
their  maintenance  during  the  winter,  418. 

Levels,  spirit-,  for  testing  horizontal  and  vertical  surfaces,  135. 

Levey,  0.,  gold-mining  on  the  Saskatchewan,  467. 

Lewis,  W.  B. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway-lifts: 
Ventilation  question,  85. — Sydenham  tunnel,  London,  Chatham,  and  Dover 
Railway,  85. 

Leygue,  L.,  metal  viaducts  in  large  spans,  387. 

Library  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  172. — Donors 
to  the,  18S5-S6, 198. — List  of  foreign  and  colonial  Transactions  and  Periodicals 
in  the,  209. 

Lifts,  hydraulic.  "  The  Hydraulic  Passenger  Lifts  at  the  Underground  Stations 
of  the  Mersey  Railway"  W.  E.  Rich,  60. — General  description,  60. — Shafts,  61. 
Borings,  62. — Cylinders,  63. — Cage-crosses,  63. — Chain-pulleys,  66.— Pumping- 
engines,  68. — Number  of  lifts,  72. — Reasons  for  the  adoption  of  low  pressure 
for  working  the  lifts,  72. — Internal  cage-floor  area,  73. — Speed,  73. — Guides, 
73. — Attachments,  74. — Tests,  74. — Total  cost,  74. — Appendix :  Calculations 
for  balancing,  and  determination  of  varying  loads  and  stresses  on  chief  working 
parts,  75. — Discussion  (taken  in  conjunction  with  "  Fox  on  the  Mersey  Railway") : 
F.  Fox,  80,  85,  108 ;  W.  E.  Rich,  SO,  109 ;  W.  Eckersley,  82 ;  W.  Shelford, 
83,  85 ;   Capt.  Galton,  84 ;    W.  B.  Lewis,  85  ;    Sir  F.  J.  Bramwell,  85  ;   J.  W. 


506  INDEX. 

Barry,  87 ;  B.  Baker,  91 ;  H.  Ward,  94  ;  J.  N.  Shoclbred,  95 ;  E.  B.  Ellington, 
97 ;  W.  A.  Gibson,  101 ;  Sir  D.  Fox,  104.— Correspondence :  F.  Colyer,  113  ; 
Major  English,  11G;  T.  M.  Keade,  116;  A.  Upward,  116;  W.  E.  Rich, 
117. 

Lifts,  hydraulic,  in  New  York,  103. 

Lighting,  electric.     See  Electric  lighting. 

Livesey,  F.  H.  W.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Lloyd,  J.  A.  D.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Loads.     Old  bridges  under  new  loads,  386. 

Lobley,  J.,  transferred  member,  119. 

Loch,  B.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Locks  in  the  canals  of  Finland,  construction  of  the,  418. 

Lockwood,  T.  D.,  on  telephony  and  the  operations  and  functions  of  the  induction- 
coil  in  transmitters,  and  some  recent  advances  in  telephony,  490. 

Locomotives  in  France,  improvements  in,  413. 

of  the  Mersey  Kailway,  58,  107. — Of  the  Metropolitan  Kailway, 

experiments  on  the  working  of,  93. 

Louisville  Cements.     See  Cements. 

Lundon,  R.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Magnet,  time  of  oscillation  of  a,  new  method  for  determining  the,  479. 

Magnetization,  477. 

Magnets,  electro-.     See  Electro-magnets. 

Mair,  J.  G.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  1S5. — "Experiments  on  a  Direct- 
acting  Steam-Pump  "  (S.),  293. 

Makinson,  A.  W.,  memoir  of,  355. 

Mansergh,  J.,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 

Marion's,  his  cyanotype  process  of  copying  drawings,  318. 

Marionovitch,  B.,  the  Aymonnet  battery,  481. 

Martens,  A.,  on  abrasion  by  grinding,  458. 

Martin,  F.  W.,  elected  member,  119. 

,  W.  J.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Martindale,  Col.  B.  H.,  C.B.  "  Demolition  of  the  Nortli-East  Wall  of  the  Gallions 
Basin,  Royal  Albert  Docks,  on  the  23rd  of  April,  1886"  (S.),  329. 

Mascart,  E.  E.  N.,  on  magnetization,  477. 

Mathias,  J.,  memoir  of,  356. 

Matthews,  J.  N.,  admitted  student,  39. 

,  W.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Maudslay,  H. — Discussion  on  modern  machine-tools  and  workshop  appliances : 
Large  face-lathe  at  Messrs.  Maudslay  Sons  and  Field's  wharf,  144. — Suggestion 
as  to  the  table  of  the  large  universal  planing-machine,  144. 

Mazzuoli,  L.,  the  De-Ferrari-Galliera  aqueduct  at  Genoa,  441. 

Medals  awarded,  session  1885-86,  177,  184. 

Meetings  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  171. 

Meldrum,  J.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Mercadier,  E.,  on  the  theory  of  the  telephone,  4S9. 

Meunier-Dollfus,  — .     See  Scheurer-Kestner. 

Milan,  electric-lighting  in,  488. 

Milling-machine,  combined  vertical  drilling-  and,  130. 

Mine-surveys,  signals  for,  460. 

Mining,  gold-,  on  the  Saskatchewan,  467. 


INDEX.  507 

Minutes  of  Proceedings  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the 
council,  172. 

Moir,  E.  W.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  1SG. 

Molecey,  C.  S.  T.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Monson,  E. — Discussion  on  brickmakincj :  Probable  future  employment  of  the 
semi-dry  process  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  28. — How  to  deal  with 
London  clay,  28. 

Montgomery,  Lt.-Col.  P.,  R.E.,  memoir  of,  368. 

Morant,  Lt.-Col.  J.  L.  L.,  R.E.,  memoir  of,  370. 

Muir,  A. — Discussion  on  modem  machine-tools  and  workshop-appliances:  Sug- 
gested defects  in  some  of  the  machines  under  consideration,  137. 

Nabholz,  K.  E.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Nansouty,  M.  de,  the  metropolitan  railway  of  Paris,  398. 

Navigation  by  night  on  the  Suez  canal,  420. 

Neubert,  E.  W.,  ore-dressing  by  means  of  an  air-blast,  461. 

Newcombe,  E.,  memoir  of,  357. 

Newdigate,  E.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Nodon,  A.,  a  registering  hygrometer,  493. 

Ogilvie,  A.,  memoir  of,  373. 
Olver,  J.  S.,  memoir  of,  366. 
Ore-dressing  by  means  of  an  air-blast,  461. 
Orvis  furnace  for  steam-boilers,  449. 

Papers,  subjects  for,  1886-87,  187.— Ditto  received,  1885-86,  192. 

Paris,  enlargements  of  the  St.  Nazare  station  at,  397. 

,  metropolitan  railway  of,  398. 

Parker,  F.  H.,  frictional  resistance  of  steel  hoops  shrunk  on  steel  tubes,  470. 

Pellet's  positive  cyanotype  process  of  copying  drawings,  318. 

Periodicals,  list  of  foreign  and  colonial  in  the  library  of  the  Institution,  209. 

Perkins,  L. — Discussion  on  modem  machine-tools  and  workshop-appliances : 
Whitworth  metal  twice  as  hard  to  work  as  iron,  143. — Need  of  a  planing- 
machine  by  which  to  plane  a  screw,  143. 

Permanent  way,  importance  of  ballast  in  maintenance  of,  404. 

of  the  Mersey  Railway,  57.  -, 

Perodil,  —  de,  rating  of  a  new  type  of  gyrometer,  called  hitherto  a  hydro-dynamo- 
meter, 445. 

Perrett,  E.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Piefke,  C,  report  on  the  search  for  a  pure  supply  of  spring-water  for  Berlin,  437. 

Pilleur,  L.,  and  Jannattaz,  E.,  experiments  in  thermo-electricity,  485. 

Pionchon,  — ,  calorimetric  study  of  iron  at  high  temperatures,  462. 

Pizzighilli's  positive  cyanotype  process  of  copying  drawings,  320. 

Planing-machine,  large  universal,  124  et  sea. — Combined  vertical  and  horizontal, 
128. 

Plante',  G.,  practical  instructions  relative  to  accumulators,  480. 

Plattner,  C.  A.,  the  desilverization  of  lead  by  means  of  zinc  at  Freiberg,  46S. 

Poitevin's  gelatine  process  of  copying  drawings,  324. 

Pole,  Dr.  W..  honorary  secretary,  vote  of  thanks  to,  152. 

Port  Empedocle  (Girgenti),  improvement  of,  430. 

Ports  of  the  Channel  and  the  North  Sea,  429. 


508  INDEX. 

Post,  J.  W.,  jointed  cross-sleepers,  406. 

Potassium,  chloride  of,  electric  conductivity  of  solutions  of,  486. 

Preaudeau,  A.  de,  theories  of  the  tides,  422. 

Preece,  W.  H.,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 

Premiums  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  173. — 

Awarded,  session  1885-8G,  177,  1S4. 
Prescott,  G.  B.,  Jun.,  on  the  electrical  properties  of  German  silver,  485. 
Pressler,  P.     See  Kopcke. 
Prizes  awarded,  session  1SS5-86,  177,  1S4. 
Puckering,  P.  C,  elected  associate  member,  120. 
Pumping-steam-engines  at  Mulhausen  waterworks,  456. 
Pumping-machinery  of  the  Mersey  Railway,  41  et  seq. 
Purser,  W.  B.,  admitted  student,  39. 

Rails,  steel,  409. 

,  ,  wear  of,  in  Germany,  407. 

,  travelling  of,  caused  by  conical  tires  of  railway  rolling-stock,  410. 

Railway-lifts.     See  Lifts. 

Railway,  Mersey.  "  Tlie  Mersey  Railway,"  F.  Fox  (of  Westminster),  40. — 
General  and  historical  description,  40. — Drainage-heading  and  pumping- 
machinery,  41. — River-tunnel,  47. — Explosives,  48. — Land-tunnels,  49. — 
Covered  ways  and  retaining-walls,  49. — Stations,  50. — Hydraulic  lifts,  ,50. — 
Ventilation,  53. — Engines  and  fans,  54. — Lighting  of  stations,  57. — Permanent 
way,  57. — Signals  and  telegraph,  58. — Locomotives  and  rolling-stock,  58. — 
Extensions,  59. — Cost  per  mile,  59. — Discussion  (taken  in  conjunction  with 
"Rich  on  the  Hydraulic  Passenger  Lifts  at  the  Underground  Stations  of  the 
Mersey  Railway  ") :  F.  Fox,  80,  85,  108  ;  W.  E.  Rich,  80,  109  ;  W.  Eckersley, 
82 ;  W.  Shelford,  83,  85  ;  Capt.  Galton,  84 ;  W.  B.  Lewis,  85  ;  Sir  F.  J.  Bram- 
well,  85 ;  J.  W.  Barry,  87  ;  B.  Baker,  91 ;  H.  Ward,  94  ;  J.  N.  Shoolbred,  95  ; 

E.  B.  Ellington,  97 ;  W.  A.  Gibson,  101 ;  Sir  C.  D.  Fox,  104.— Correspondence : 

F.  Colyer,  113;  Major  English,  116  ;  T.  M.  Reade,  116;  A.  Upward,  116  ;  W. 
E.  Rich,  117. 

,  ventilation  of,  85  et  seq. 

, ,  of  Paris,  398. 

—  permanent  way,  importance  of  ballast  in  maintenance  of,  404. 

rolling  stock,  conical  tires  of,  a  cause  of  resistance  to  traction,  410. 

sleepers.     Jointed  cross-sleepers,  406. 

station,  enlargements  of  the  St.  Lazare,  at  Paris,  397. 

,  Trans-Caspian,  formation  of  a  cultivated  region  along  the  course  of  the, 


400. 


military,  401. 


Railways,  narrow-gauge,  in  Saxony,  414. 

,  resistance  of  trains  on,  389. 

,  way,  works,  and  working  of,  391. 

Rawlinson,  Sir  R.,  C.  B.,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 

Reade,  T.  M. — Correspondence  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway-lifts  , 

Geological  aspect  of  the  Mersey  tunnel,  116. 
Receipts  and  expenditure  of  the  Institution,  1885-S6,  178. — Abstract  of,  180. 
Reed,  Sir  E.  J.,  K.C.B.,  M.P.,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 
Rees,  T.,  transferred  member,  119. 
Reilly,  F.,  admitted  student,  119. 


INDEX.  509 

Eenk,  Dr.  F.,  Breyer's  micro-membrane  filter,  439. 

Report  of  the  council  for  1885-8G,  153. — Historical  notice  of  the  Institution  and 
and  its  proceedings,  153. — Constitution,  165. — The  roll  of  the  Institution,  168. 
— Contributions  to  the  funds,  and  finance,  168. — Management,  169. — Sessions 
and  meetings,  171. — Students'  meetings,  171. — Minutes  of  Proceedings,  172. — 
House  and  library,  172. — Trust  Funds  and  Premiums,  173. — Annual  dinner,  174. 
— Proceedings  of  the  session  1885-S6,  175. — Income  and  expenditure,  178. — 
Abstract  of  receipts  and  expenditure  for  1885-86,  180. 

Reservoir-dams,  masonry,  calculation  of  the  profile  of,  440. 

Resistance,  frictional,  of  eteel  hoops  shrunk  on  steel  tubes,  470. 

Restler,  J.  W.,  elected  member,  119. 

Retaining-walls.     See  Walls. 

Reynolds,  Prof.  O.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  184. 

Rhenen,  bridge  over  the  Rhine  near,  385. 

Rhind,  R.  H.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  185. 

Rhine,  bridge  over  the,  near  Rhenen,  385. 

Marne  Canal,  extension  of  the,  41 8. 

Rich,  W.  E.,  "  The  Hydraulic  Passenger-Lifts  at  the  Underground  Stations  of  the 
Mersey  Railway"  GO. — Discussion  on  ditto :  Cage-crosses  made  of  steel  in  pre- 
ference to  iron,  80. — Pitch-pine  stronger  transversely  than  any  other  wood 
ordinarily  used,  82. — Advantages  of  duplex-pumping  engines,  109. — Objections 
to  modifications  suggested  by  Mr.  E.  13.  Ellington,  110. — Protest  against  the 
use  of  suspended  lifts,  112. — Alleged  liability  of  the  hand-rope  to  break,  113. 
— Correspondence:  Use  of  leather  packings,  117. — Preference  for  wooden 
bricks  for  attaching  the  guides  to,  117. — Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177, 184. 

Richardson,  E.,  admitted  student,  119. 

,  J.,  memoir  of,  358. 

Richou,  G.,  excavator  of  Jacquelin  and  Chevre,  modified  by  Bourdon,  457. 

Rickman,  W.  C,  memoir  of,  374. 

Ricour,  — ,  improvements  in  locomotives  in  France,  413. 

Ridings,  H.  S.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

River  Charente,  tides  of  the,  423. 

Esk,  viaduct  over  the,  at  Whitby,  303. 

Senegal,  improvement  of  the  bar  of  the,  432. 

Rivers.  "  On  the  Horizontal  Range  of  Tidal  Rivers,  such  as  the  River  Orv>  //, 
with  reference  to  Sewage  Discharge"  C.  F.  Gower  (S.),  253. — Explanation  of  the 
term  horizontal  range  of  tidal-water,  253. — Examples,  254. — Method  of  com- 
putation of  horizontal  ranges,  255. — Experiments,  256. — Discharge  of  sewage 
into  a  tidal-river,  259. 

Robertson,  R.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Robinson,  L.  S.,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  185. — and  Segundo,  E.  C.  de. 
"  Experiments  on  the  Relcdive  Strength  of  Cast-iron  Beams  "  (S.),  235. 

Robottom,  A. — Discussion  on  hrichmaking :  Bricks  glazed  with  boracic  acid,  33. 

Rolling-stock,  conical  tires  of  railway,  410. 

of  the  Mersey  railway,  58. 

Ropeway,  wire,  between  Vajda-Hunyad  and  Vadudobri  (Transylvania),  415. 

Rossi,  G.,  the  improvement  of  Port  Empedocle  (Girgenti),  430. 

Roux,  G.,  safety-fuzes  for  electric  circuits,  4S4. 

Safety-fuzes  for  electric  circuits,  484. 

St.  Lazare  station  at  Paris,  enlargements  of  the,  397. 


510 


IXDEX. 


Salter,  F.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  1S5. 

San  Francisco  ironworks,  Bilbao,  338. 

Sawing-machine,  ribbon,  132. 

Saxony,  narrow-gauge  railways  in,  414. 

Scheurer-Kestner,  — ,  and  Meunier-Dollfus,  — ,  on  the  heat  of  combustion  of 

coal,  447. 
Schonberg,  A.  C,  elected  associate  member,  39. 
Schterbakoff,  L.,  the  Trans-Caspian  military  railroad,  401. 
Segundo,  E.  C.  de,  Miller  prize  awarded  to,  177,  1S5. — and  Eobinson,  L.  S. : 

"  Experiments  on  the  Relative  Strength  of  Cast-iron  Beams,"  (S.),  235. 
Sessions  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  171. 
Sewage  discharge,  horizontal  range  of  tidal  rivers  with  reference  to,  253. 
Sewerage  and  irrigation  works  of  Berlin,  442. 
Sharp,  F.  D.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Shawcross,  — ,  his  gallic  acid  process  for  copying  drawings,  322. 
Sheds,  drying-,  for  brickmaking,  17. 
Shelford,    W. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway-lifts: 

Difference  in  the  cross-sections  of  the  Birkenhead  and  Liverpool  tunnels,  83. 

— Kilsby  tunnel,  83. — Sydenham  tunnel,  83,  85. — Crystal  Palace  High  Level 

tunnel,  84,  85. — Ventilation,  SI. 
Shoolbred,  J.  N. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway-lifts : 

Bed  of  boulder-clay  between  the  Liverpool  side  and  the  centre  of  the  Mersey, 

95. — Variation  in  the  quantity  of  water  pumped,  96. — Comparative  cost  of 

gas  and  electric  lighting,  96. 
Signals  for  mine-surveys,  460. 
Silver,  nitrate  process  of  copying  drawings,  323. 
Sleepers.     See  Kailway  sleepers. 
Smith,  "W.  C.  E.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 
Solenoids,  action  of,  on  iron  cores,  483.; 
South  African  gold-fields,  343. 
Spirit-levels.     See  Levels. 
Spongilla,  the,  in  main  water-pipes,  439. 
Stability  of  Youssoir  arches.     See  Arches. 
Steam-boilers,  Dupuis,  experiments  with,  452. 

,  evaporation  of,  at  the  Dessau  sugar-refinery,  455. 

and  furnaces  (France),  447. 

■ ,  performance  of  the  Godillot  furnace  for,  454. 

, Orvis  furnace  for,  449. 

engine  indicator.    See  Indicator. 

engines  (pumping-),  at  Mulhausen  waterworks,  456. 

-pumps.     "Experiments  on  a  Direct-acting  Steam-Pump,"  J.  G.  Mair  (S.), 


293. — Worthington  direct-acting  steam-pump,  293. — Testing-instruments,  293 

— Engine-trials,  297. — Summary  of  trials,  300. 
Steel.    Blowing  of  small  Bessemer  charges,  463. 
Stdeman,  F.  C,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 
Storey,  "W.  J.  P.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 
Stoves,  disinfecting-,  443. 

Strachan,  J.,  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  185. 
Stress,  resistance  of  bricks  to,  24  et  seq. 

Stromeyer,  C.  E.,  Telford  medal  and  Telford  premium  awarded  to,  177,  184. 
Struts,  braced,  practical  strength  of,  261. 


INDEX.  511 

Struts,  wrought-iron  and  steel,  experiments  on,  271  et  seq. 
Students,  meetings  of,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  171. 
Suez  canal,  navigation  by  night  on  the,  420. 

Tapping-machine,  universal  horizontal  drilling-,  boring-,  and,  129. 

Taylor,  W.  J„  admitted  student,  119. 

Telephone,  theory  of  the,  489. 

-wires,  underground,  recent  progress  in,  491. 

Telephony  and  the  operations  and  functions  of  the  induction-coil  in  transmitters, 
490. 

some  recent  advances  in,  490. 

Templeton,  E.  A.  S.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Thelwall,  W.  H.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Thermo-electricity,  experiments  in,  485. 

Thompson,  H.  J.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

Thomson,  D.,  memoir  of,  363. 

Sir  W.,  elected  member  of  council,  152,  216. 

Thorpe,  K.  H.,  appointed  scrutineer  of  the  ballot  for  council,  151. 

Thropp,  J.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Thwaite,  B.  H.  "  Heliography ;  or,  the  Actinic  Copying  of  Engineering  Draw- 
ings," (S.),  312. 

Tides  of  the  Oharente,  423. 

,  theories  of  the,  422. 

Tires,  conical,  of  railway  rolling-stock,  a  cause  of  resistance  to  traction,  410. 

Tomkins,  W.  S. — Discussion  on  modem  machine-tools  and  icorhshop-appliances : 
Brief  remarks  on  some  of  tbe  machines  under  consideration,  143. 

Tools,  machine-.  "Modem  Machine-tools  and  Workshop- Appliances,  for  the 
Treatment  of  Heavy  Forgings  and  Castings,"  W.  W.  Hulse,  120. — Bequire- 
ments  of  machine-tools,  120. — Examples  of  machine-tools  and  workshop- 
appliances,  121. — 40-inch  lathe,  121. — 34-inch  lathe,  123. — Large  universal 
planing-machine,  124. — Combined  horizontal  boring-machine  and  lathe,  127. — 
Combined  vertical  and  horizontal  planing-machine,  128. — Universal  horizontal 
drilling-,  tapping-  and  boring-machine,  129. — Combined  vertical  nulling-  and 
drilling-machine,  130. — Kibbon  sawing-machine,  132. — 30-ton  traveller  crane, 
133. — Spirit-levels  for  testing  horizontal  and  vertical  surfaces,  135. — Discus- 
sion: W.  W.  Hulse,  137,  145;  A.  Muir,  137;  E.  H.  Tweddell,  137;  C.  J. 
Appleby,  139 ;  E.  A.  Cowper,  140 ;  W.  S.  Tomkins,  143 ;  L.  Perkins,  143 ; 
H.  Maudsiay,  144;  E.  H.  Carbutt,  M.P.,  144;  Sir  F.  Bramwcll,  148.— Corre- 
spondence: G.  Wilson,  149;  W.  W.  Hulse,  150. 

Traction,  conical  tires  of  railway  rolling-stock  a  cause  of  resistance  to,  410. 

Trains,  resistance  of,  on  railways,  389. 

Transactions,  list  of  foreign  and  colonial,  in  the  Library  of  the  Institution,  209. 

Trust  funds  of  the  Institution,  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  council,  173. 

Tunnel,  Forth,  proposed,  91. 

,  Kilsby,  London  and  Birmingham  Eailway,  83. 

,  Sydenham,  Crystal  Palace  High  Level  Railway,  84. 

, ,  London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Eailway,  83,  85. 

Tunnelling-machine,  patented  by  Major  English,  116. 

Tunnels  of  the  Mersey  Eailway,  47  et  seq. 

Tweddell,  E.  H. — Discussion  on  modern  machine-tools  and  worltshop-appliances : 
Necessity  of  labour-saving  machinery,  137.— Desirability  of  limiting  the  size 


512  INDEX. 

of  castings,  13S. — Data  needed  as  to  the  power  required  to  work  steel  as 
compared  with  iron,  13S. — 30-ton  traveller  crane,  138. 
Tyacke,  F.  H.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Upward,  A. — Correspondence  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey  Railway  lifts : 

Advantage  for  ventilation  purposes  of  anthracite  coke  as  fuel  in  tunnels,  116. 
Uranium-salt  process  of  copying  drawings,  324. 

Vapour  and  cloud,  493. 

Vaschy,  — ,  law  of  efficiency  corresponding  to  the  maximum  of  useful  work  in 
electric  distribution,  486. 

Yenables,  W.  H. — Discussion  on  brickmaking :  Preference  of  the  plastic  to  the 
semi-dry  process,  27. 

Tentilation  of  the  Mersey  Railway,  53  et  seq. 

Metropolitan  District  Railway,  85  et  seq. 

Yergeraud.     See  Cros. 

Vernon-Harcourt,  L.  F.,  Telford  medal  and  Telford  premium  awarded  to. 
177,  184. 

Yiaduct.  "  Viaduct  over  the  River  Eslc  at  Whitby,  and  the  Embankments  and 
Culverts  in  the  Ravines,"  F.  Fox  (of  Westminster)  (S.),  303. — Indian  system 
of  brick-wells  adopted  for  the  river  piers,  304. — Difficulty  in  bedding  the 
cylinders  on  the  rock,  305. — Arches,  307. — Quantities  of  work  in  the  structure, 
308. — Stability  of  the  structure  under  wind-pressure,  308. — Embankments  and 
Culverts,  309. 

Viaducts.     Metal  viaducts  in  large  spans,  3S7. 

Yizcaya  ironworks  company,  Bilbao,  338. 

Volkmann,  M.,  extension,  &c,  of  that  portion  of  the  Rhine-Marne  canal  lying  in 
French  territory,  418. 

Voussoir  arches.     See  Arches. 

Wakeford,  A.  H.,  admitted  student,  39. 

■ ,  J.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 

"Walls,  retaining-.  The  large  retaining-walls  of  Cournion,  La  Bastide,  La  Foret, 
and  Cerbere,  396. 

Walther-Meunier,  H.,  performance  of  the  Orvis  furnace  for  steam-boilers,  449. — 
Ditto  of  the  Godillot  furnace,  454. — Performance  of  the  pumping-engines  of 
the  Mulhausen  waterworks,  456. 

"Ward,  H.,  " Brickmaking,'"  1. — Discussion  on  ditto:  Cost  of  brickmaking,  27. — 
Not  necessary  to  dry  clay  artificially,  34. — Advantages  of  the  Hoffmann  kiln, 
35. — Size  of  bricks,  35. — Colour,  35. — Advantages  of  stock-brickmaking,  36. — •. 
Weight  of  bricks  compared,  36. — Discussion  on  the  Mersey  Railway  and  Mersey 
Railway-lifts :  Comparative  cost  of  gas  and  of  electric  lighting,  94. — Ventila- 
tion, 94. — Objections  to  the  duplex  pumping-engines,  95. — Telford  premium 
awarded  to,  177,  184. 

"Warren,  J.  A.,  elected  associate  member,  39. 

Water-die  for  brickmaking,  37. 

WTater-meter,  Frager's,  444. 

Water-pipes,  main,  the  spongilla  in,  439. 

Water-supply,  Berlin,  pure  subsoil,  436. — Spring-water,  437. 

Waterworks,  Mulhausen,  pumping-engines  of  the,  456. 

Watson,  J.  D.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 


INDEX.  513 

Webster,  J.  J.,  transferred  member,  119. 

Wedekiud,  H. — Correspondence  on  brickmdking :  Cause  of  the  discoloration  of 

bricks  made  in  the  Hoffmann  kiln.  38. — English  machinery  for  semi-plastic 

bricks,  38. 
Wheels.     Tests  of  vehicle-wheels,  387. 
White,  C.  S.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Whitworth,  Sir  J.,  Bart.,  elected  member  of  council.  152,  216. 
Willans,  P.  W.,  elected  member,  119. 
Willink,  W.,  elected  associate  member,  120. 
Willis,  — ,  his  platinotype  process  of  copying  drawings,  321. 
Wilson,  G. — Correspondence  on  modern  machine-tools  and  workshop  appliance*  : 

Objections  to  the  large  universal  planing-machine,  149. 
Wire  ropeways.     See  Ropeways. 

Wood,  results  of  experiments  with  impregnated  and  natural  samples  of,  380. 
Wood,  S.,  memoir  of,  376. 
Woods,  E.,  elected  president,  152,  216. 

E.  H.,  appointed  auditor  of  accounts  for  1886-87,  152,  21c. 

Woodside,  J.,  admitted  student,  119. 

Working  of  railways.     See  Railways. 

Workshop-appliances  for  the  treatmenl    of  heavy  forgings  and   eastings.    120 

et  sea. 
Worthington,  C.  C,  his  direct-acting  steam-pump,  experiments  on.  293. 

Young,  J.,  elected  member.  39. 

Zineographic  process  of  copying  drawing.-'.  326. 


[THE   INST.  C.E.  VOL.  LXXXVI.]  2    L 


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TA      Institution  of  Civil 

1       Engineers,  London 

14-79       Minutes  of  proceedings 

v. 86 

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Engin. 


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