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JAN 21, 1898THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN WIRE

WOUND O R D N A ~ C ENo. 11.

WE may turn now to the construction of the gun, andwe cannot do better than take for description the 12in.gun, as made for the English Go,eroment--see Tut:ENGINEER for December 1 th, 1896-at the Royal GunFactory, and at Elswick, supplementing our descriptionwith other guns of Yarious calibres, and particularly the12in. wire guns, eight of which have been constntcted forthe Fuji Yama and Yashima, of the Japanese Navy, bySir William Armstrong and Co., and which vary inseveral important particulars from the 12in. English guns,made collaterally with them.The 12in. service gun, 1897, consists of a barrel composed of two concentric tubes, known as the inner A tube orliner, and the outer A tube, over which is wound the wire inma.ny layers, passing from one extremity of the gtm tothe other, and thus distinguishing it from all other guns,which arc only reinforced on the breech portion. Outsidethis again are contracted two Yery long rather thin hoopsand a. short connecting colla.r. The great unsteppedlength of the chase hoop giYes the 12in. gun a veryremarkable appearance. The total length of the gunt-om breech to muzzle is 44 ). in. The weight is 46 tons,about one-quarter of this being taken by the wire, whichtherefore represents a length of about 100 miles.The Japanese 12in. gttn is only strengthened with wireat the rear half, about five tons of wire being used. The

T H E ENG I N EE Rthrough them. EYery tube, there fore, on the 12in. gunhas to be forged in this manner. The forgings are madefrom cast steel ingots of particular shape. The illustration, Fig. 5, page 53, of a group of ingots in Messrs. ThomasFirth a.nd Sons' yard, will give an idea of this shape.They are octagonal ttuncated cones, superposed on a.short abruptly-tapered circular base. The nanower partof this ingot is the top, and as it in consequence containsthe light impurities, a. great part of it, about one-third ofthe whole ingot, has to be cut awa,y. The circular base isalso removed. The machines used for cutting the endsoff at Elswick are admirably adapted to the work.The y were made by Messrs. Cra\'en Brothers, Manchester. Each machine-Fig. onsists of a heavyvertical circular face-plate, rotated by a powerful worm.On this face are two tlat steel cheeks, from 1in. to 1ti n .thick, capable of moYcment towards each other. Letinto the edges of these cheeks arc the cutting tools.The action is obvious. A simple automatic gear movesthe cheeks nearer and nearer together, and so feeds thecut. Sometimes supetposed above the first pair of steelplates is a second similar pair so a rranged that a suitableslice from which to cut test piece is ripped off. One ofthese machines, as illustrated, to take an ingot 6ft. indiameter weighs 40 tons. The ingot either passes througha hollow head or is supported in front only. Three largeV blocks carry it. The defective material having beenremoved, a test of the steel for the maker's satisfaction is taken from the slice removed, which is, ofcourse, adjacent, and practically the same as the corresponding face of the material to be used. This proving

Fi; 1- M ESSRS. CRAVEN BROTHERS INGOT RIPPING MACHINE

nrra.ngement of the chase hoops has, therefore, to bedifferent to the English gun to give the necessarystrength . The very long hoops cannot in consequencebe conveniently used, and two shorter hoops with a stepdown are therefore employed. A double barrel is notused in th is gun.The English specification for gun steel is as follows, analteration in one or two points having been made withinthe last eighteen months :-' "l'onsile test pieces for gun forgings.Breaking strains. Elongation.Ton' per square inch. Per cent.Not less than Not. more than Not less tbnn34. 44. 17.Tensile test pieces for breech screws.Brooch-bushes nod axial veotl (obturators).38. 48. 15." Each test piece before testing is to be provided withtwo gauge points accurately adjusted to 2in. apart, and isto be subjected in the testing machine, in the firstinstance, to a load of 21 tons per square inch ; shouldthe machine 1ecord any yielding point before this loadhas been reached, the same is to be noted. The load isthen to be entirely removed, and the test piece measured.The permanent elongation under the load of 21 tons persquare inch is not to exceed 002in. The load on thetest piece is then to be again applied until the breakingpoint is reached. The bending test pieces are to bepressed flatways with a semicircular-ended presser,thtoun-h one or more suitable apertures or guides,furnished or not furnished with anti-friction rollers, atthe option of the contractors or makers of the steel.That flat side of the test piece which was the nearer tothe centre of the gun is to be, in each case, in contactwith the pr esser."This test is to be bome without the outer surface ofthe steel exhibiting an open crack across the whole ofits width. Diameter of end of presser is to be 15in.,and the width of apertwe, or between the guides,2375in." Each tensile test piece is ~ i n long, having acylindrical central part 2in. long by 0533in. diameter.The bending test pieces are 4 in. long, by 075in. wide,and OS75in. t hick.A clause is also included in the specification that allpieces which are to be ultimately pierced with a holegreater than 6in. in diameter must be forged on a mandril, leaving a hole reasonably near to the finished size

satisfactory, the ingot is then trepanned. As every oneknows, a trepanning machine has a hollow instead of asolid boring bar, and the cutting tools attached to theend face of the bar, so that a circulat cut is made, andas the work advances a solid core of steel enters the bar,and is, of course, available for future use. t is veryrarely necessary to trepan a large hole in an ingot. Asthe ingot is short, and the piece to be made from it is long,the whole substance is as a rule required, so that only asu fficiently large hole to insert a mandril powerful enoughto carry the ingot is pierced. An illustration of a finetrepanning machine at 1\Iessrs. T. Firth and Sons' worksis given in Fig. 2, page 53.Of late years hydraulic, or pressure forging, has almostentirely superseded hammer forging for gun work. Ofcourse, where la.rge hammers have been put down atgreat expense they are still used; but no new largehammers are now built. The effect of the press on thesteel is far superior to that of the hammer. With thelatter the material is acted on superficially, the tendencybeing, as anyone who has watched a large hammer atwork on a rectangular block will have noticed, to increasethe area of the surface struck disproportionately to thebody of the material. With the press a reverse effectobtains ; a .recta.ngular block bulging at the sides beingproduced, but at the same time, the disproportion betweenthe action on th e substance and the face is less than witha. hammer. For heavy work a very great hammerpressure is, of course, required, presses acting at from2000 to 5000 tons being not uncommon, and they areusually fed at a Yery high pressure. The ingot is heatedin an immense furnace, usually by producer gas, andwhen hot is lifted out on the mandril by hydraulic cranes.The mandril is slightly tapered and is hollow, a copiousstream of water passing through it continuously. Nearone end of it is at tached a large head, a.nd between thehead and the ingot a la rge block of metal slides on aparallel bar, or portion of the mandril. To remove themandril, ropes or chains are attached to this block. Afew men then draw it forwards towards the ingot, theingot rest ing on the anvil at the time, and a greatnumberof men draw it back smartly against the head of themandril. The mandril is thus hammered out till thetaper allows it to be removed freely.

The hydraulic forging press is always vertical; the beadis rectangular and flat-faced, but the anvil for circular

49work has a large triangular notch, which not only keepsthe work truly in place as it is turned round and round,but distributes the pressure in the most effecthe manner.For revolving a large ingot or forging it is usual to attachto the end of it a great ratchet wheel with a lever andpawl worked by a chain from an hydraulic cylinder . Thisarrangement can be seen in the illustration, Fig. 3, page 53,of forging presses at 1\fessrs. Fi rth and Sons' works, and atthe Ehwick Steel Works, Fig. 6, page 60. The metal to beworked rapidly has to be intensely hot; but, as in the earlierstages of working up from an ingot, the metal is collectedinto a short length, and is consequently very th ick,it retains its heat for a long time. The forgings for thebarrel of the 12in. English gun are about 48ft. long,and for the Japanese gun some 5ft. longer. Some surprise will, perhaps, be felt that such a great length ofsuch small internal diameter, between 9in. and lOin.,can be forged hollow satisfactorily ; but it may bementioned that failures a.re ra re, and that much longerhollow forgings for steamship tail shafts are not infrequently made. Fig. 4 illustrates a magnificent hollowforging made by "Firths," for a 110-ton gun. Thetotal length of it is 46ft., a.nd the weight SOt tons.

PLATE-LATTICE GIRDERS.ALTHOUGH instances unquestionably arise in bridgepractice in which, owing to unavoidable at tendant conditions, the engineer has little ot no choice in the selection of a design, yet very frequently his powers in tha.trespect are practically unlimited. Whence, then-as wehave often heard outsiders observe- comes the remalkable discrepancy to be noticed by the most unobservant in the designs and types of bridges which areerected under circumstances so exactly similar that theymay be regarded as identical I Why is it , says theamateur, that each of the two bridges, separate and distinct, although placed in such loving juxtaposition overthe Thames at Blackfriars, should be constructed on principles so widely diverse as the arch and the horizontalgirder? Are their merits respectively, in a professinalpoint or view, so evenly balanced that it is really a matterof indifference which principle is adopted t will beadmitted that the example put forward is a strong one.Both structures belong to th e samecompany-the London,Chatham, and Dover. The number and dimensions oftheir spans are the same, and each has to carry the sa.meunit load, and is virtually subject to the same conditionsof traffic. As another illustration, the two bridges overthe same river belonging to the South-Eastern Hallwaymay be quoted. These are both designed on the principleof the horizontal girder, but differ in detail. The one atCharing Cross has an open web, and is a " through "bridge ; that at Cannon-street n solid or plate web, and

is a deck" bridge. They were both designed by the sameengineer, which is not the case with the two former structures. t may be pointed out that the " levels " of thetwo bridges at Blackfriars are exactly the same, whereasthey may not be so with the two structwes, one higher upthe stream, and the other lower down, and if not, thatcircumstance might in itself partly account for the difference in the types.Ever since the introduction of wrought iron as a.material for the construction of railway bridges, the latticeand the plate, or the open and solid-sided girders, ha.vobad their respective advocates and opponents. Beyond acertain span, about a couple of hundred feet, the platetype is confessedly out of the running; but the relativemerits of the two classes with respect to the debateablelimits are still a subject of lively and warm discussion.t would appear now that there is an excellent opportunity for the rival factions to terminate their feud, toshake hands with one a.nother, and to accept-if they will- the compromise which now presents itself to themunder the title of our present article. The plate-lattice

girder-for such is the form that the compromi e assume -is, as its name implies, a combination of the two systemsof the open and the solid web. Even if its advantagesshould ultimately prove to be neither so apparent nor soreal as some people might wish us to believe, yetthe subject is one of interest, and well worthy of professional consideration and attention. This new compoundgirder may be divided into three parts, a central part andtwo end parts. The central length, which is about threefifths of the span, may consist of any description of trussedgirder, though the preference appears to be giYen to theopen web, in which there is only one syst em of triangulation-a . Warren gilder, in fac t. Each of the end lengths,so fat as our information at presentextends, measures onefifth of the span, and constitutes a simple plate girder,which, in the case of both through and deck bridges, maydecrease in depth fl-om its att achment to the central partto the bearings on the suppot-ts. In the first place, thecombination, although carried to a greater extent tha.n hasbeen previously adopted, is not completely novel in thestri ct sense of the term. t has always been the practice,as every dra.ughtsman knows, in designing latti ce gilders,to strengthen them over the bearings by riveting verticalpillars of any section suitable to enable them to act ascompression members, and to place similar pillars at theextremities of the girders. As the actual bearings ofeven girders of considerable spans are co mparati vely ver.vshort, the next step was to insert a piece of plate the fulldepth of the web, rivet it in between the two sets ofpillars, and we have the inception of the plate-latticegirder. There are a few other examples in which thesame details have been carried out; swing bridges, forinstance, of the open-web type are always " plated"over the pivot-bearing pier, and the same or a verysimilar connection is made over any intermediate supports, in the case of continuous girders of the same classof web.The object aimed at in the plate-lattice combination isto effect a reduction in the cost of the girder, regardingthe realisation of which we at present entertain consider-

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50able doubts. It must, in the first place, be kept in viewthat the structural modification affects only th e web ofthe girder , which bears but a comparatively small proportion to that of the two flanges or booms, rarelyexceeding one-third. The idea is to provide for themaximum shearing stresses which occur at and near thesupports, by using a plate web, and for those near and atthe centre, where they reach their minimum, an openweb. The value of this substitution, if it has any, mustbe considered in relation to two other very importantdata respecting the designing of bridges, namely, the deadand the live loads. When the former is uniformly distributed over a bridge, the o . ~ t u a l shearing stress at thecentre of a gil-der or beam of any form or description isequal to zero. Under these circumstances there is nodoubt that the sectional area. of the plate web is in excessof what theory would prescribe, but so also is that of thelattice web, though the statement is only true for thelatter sys tem when the span is small, and when the baysor panels, or distance between the apices of any one seriesof triangulation, is likewise of limited dimensions. Onthe other ha.od, it is something in favour of the solid webthat the shearing stress is accepted and allowed for,rightly or wrongly, for we do not know exactly how itbehaves in its normal direction. But in the open web,which must possess at least one set of diagonal members,the shearing stress is no longer limited to its normalvalue, but is increased in direct proportion to thecosecant of the angle of the inclination of the diagonalmembers to the horizontal. Put this angle at 37 deg.,which is its value in some examples of plate-latticegirders which have come under our notice, and the increased stress to be provided for will be found to begreatly augmented. On treating of a live or rolling load,such, for instance, as that of a. train advancing on to abridge, the conditions attending the stresses on the webare almost completely reversed. When the train reachesthe centre of the span, the maximum shearing st resstakes place there, and is always equal to one-eighth of thetotal rolling load. I f we take, then, as our standard theheavy and powerful Mogul, Consolidation and Lehighlocomotives used in America, and weighing 120 tons whenfully loaded, we can make some estimate of the quantityof metal required in the web at the centre of the girdero.nd near it. There will not be so much loss of materialthere, and, besides, it is frequently erroneously estimated.

I t is not, however, so much with the relative merits ordemerits of the two types we are concerned, although itis necessary to refer to them, as with the wi sdom andutil ity of effecting their combinat ion. How will the compound structure conduct itself with respect to rigidity,deflection, and o. fewotherdetails which mark the peculiarfeatures in which a. plate girder differs from a lattice one.I t is known that the net sectional, or what might be termedthe theoretical weight of a solid web is but a little morethan half that required for the open example, but in1eality thi s advantage is practically nullified by thequantity of material demanded to stiffen the web and coverthe joints. The amount of,this extra. metal, which addsnothing to the strength of the structure, notably augmentswith the depth of the girder, which is a function of thespan, and ultimately puts a limit to the emp loyment ofthat class of bridge. I t is improbable that any realeconomy worth considering will result from the substitution introduced. Again, it is recognised that the solidsided gilder is very much more rigid than the open type,and possesses a far greater power of resistance in preventing the flexure or curvatme of the booms or chords.I t remains to be seen how the three lengths-one openand two solid-sided-of the girders will adjust their jointbehaviour with regard to this difference. In a plategiJ:der, the web appreciably aids in resisting the deflectionof it, whereas in a lattice girder, the resistance offered todeflection by the bars of the web may be considered quitea negligible quantity. After carefully considering thestandard designs for plate-lattice gilder bridges of spansof 100ft. and also of 85ft., adopted by the North PacificRailway Company, we confess we fail to see where thesuperior economy comes in. For the limited spans inquestion, the difference between t he cost of a plate Ol'lattice girder would amount either way to but a triflingsum. In our opinion, a plate-girder bridge would havebeen preferable to either a sim ple lattice or the new combination. I t should be mentioned here that the termlattice applied to the compound design is a misnomer. Alattice girder, in the usually accepted sense of the term,is an open-web girder, in which there must be at leastone-and nearly always more-crossing of the diagonalmembe1s of the web, that is, there must be in the webtwo series of triangulation. There are no such crossingsin the central length a.f the compound standard girder,which is propedy a simple triangular girder, very muchafter the pattern of the old Warren, if the ang le of thediagonal bars were 60 degrees instead of what it is, andthe vertical bars omitted. A glance at the elevation ofthe standard girders cannot fail to show the vivid cont rast between the extreme neatness a.n,d simplicity in bothappearance and workmanship of the plat e, web, andpanels, and those 'of the central open-web length. In

- the former the only rivets used are those joining theweb and flange plates and passing through the connecting angle irons. In the lat ter huge unsightly-lookinggusset plates, with a correspondingly vast number ofrivets, are introduced, and impart rather an unpleasingand patchy appearance to the structure . In one panellength of the open-web central part there are 50 percent. more rivets than in the same length of the plateends. I n confirmation of our own views on this subject,and of our preference for the simple plate girder, wequote from a. well-known American author. :' Plategirders are practically limited to lengths which do notrequire more than two ordinary Bat cars, 83ft. long, fort ransport, i.e., 66ft. span. The length is more rare lyextended to three cars' lengths, or about 100ft . maximum. Tho S t r e a s e . ~ ou Frruncd Stn1cture11," by A. .Jny Du Doi.q,Prof088or of CI\"U Engineering in tho Shoflicld Scien tific School of YoloVni vcl 8ity

T H E ENGINEERThey are riveted at bhe shops, and are preferable to latticegirders, being cheaper, costing less for maintenance, andhaving greater security, as faulty rivets produce lessreduction of strength. They o.re also more free fromcorners, and are therefore cleaner and less exposed tooxidation. The first pa.t-t of the extract is pal'ticular,and refers simply to the limitation of span for platebridges in American practice. The concluding pa.l-t isuniversal, and applicable to the same type of gil-der allover the world. We think also that, from a practical andconstruc tive point of view, the close riveted-up connection between two different systems of design-for they aredifferent systems-is open to some objection.

TH E EARLIEST IRO N-BUILT SHIPS.Wuo was the builder of the first iJ.on ship ever usheredinto its native element, and when did iJ.on ships beginto traverse the open sea? The answer to these interesting-though appearing to some probably rather belate dand needless-questions would seem, even at the presenttim e, to call for some clearness of statement. Glasgowand the Clyde are so inseparably associated with the riseand development of iron shipbuilding, that it perho.pscomes natural to residents in that head-centre of modernshipbuilding and engineering to app ropriate for one ofthemselves the distinction of being the pioneel' of ironshipbuilding. That honour, at all events, was claimednot long ago, in quite a matter-of-fact way, by all thewriters-with one except ion-taking par t in a conespondence on the subject of early iron shipbuilding, whichappeared in the columns of the Glasgow Herald forThomas Wilson, a carpenter of Faskine, near Airdrie,who, during the teens of the present century, and

for a long period thereafter, was in the employ of theForth and Clyde Canal Company. The grounds for thi sassumption consist in the building by him, assisted byhis blacksmith, of the iron passage boat Vulcan in1817- 18, at Farkine, on the banks of the Monkland Canal.The Vulcan was 61ft. long by 11 ft. broad by 4ft. 6in.deep. She was built of plat es and flat bar frames, theframing and stanchions being forged wholly on the anvilby hand labour; suitable tools and appliances being thenof cowse unknown. While engaged in its constructionWilson was frequently jeered at by sceptical fellow-workmen and passing bargemen. ;He was asked derisively -o rironically rather-if be really imagined that iron wouldsoom I His answer merely was that if they wouldcast their empty tea-flasks or cans into the canal theywould see for themselves. H eedless for most pad ofthose jeerers and scoffers, Wilson, like Noa.h of old, wentsteadily on with his shipbuilding, and the Vulcan was notonly safely floated but actually stood the test of betweenfifty and sixty years service in the waters of the canal.General intelligence of these days was not flashedacross country and continents as at present, and thebattle against i nsular ignorance and incredulity had to befought in different quarters. And, unfortuna tely for thevalidity of th e claim made on behalf of the enlightenedand dauntless builder of the Vulcan as being thepioneer of iron shipbuilding, it has to be pointed out as, indeed, was briefly done by the correspondent wholast wrote to the Herald that though Wilson's name isinseparably associated with the substitution of iron forwood in shipbuilding in the district which has been, ifnot the biJ.th-plMe exactly, certainly the cradle andnwsery of iron shipbuilding, he was not by any meansthe earliest shipbuilder in iron. The same ignorantscepticism displayed with regard to Wilson's work hadbeen called forth, and put to shame, over a quarter of acentury earlier by the achievements of J ohn Wilkinson,an ironfounder of Lancashire, who in July , 1787, builtand launched the Trial, a barge of considerable size, constmcted of iron, and the forerunner of many similarcraft, which plied on the Severn and the canals in thevicinity, carrying tubes, cylinders, and other ironworkfor the waterworks of Paris, for which undertakingWilkinson was the contr actor. Although not resultingdirectly in anything practical, as in Wilkinson's case, theidea of building vessels of iron was entertained andexpressly advocated by various individuals in differentplaces simultaneously. Thus, in 1809, Richard Trevithick and Robel-t Stephenson proposed iJ.on vessels, and

e v e ~ s u ~ g e s t e masts, yards, and spars of iJ.on plates,ant1c1patmg by very many years the almost universalpractice at the present time as regal'ds this feature inshipbuilding.Those earlier projects and achievements apa1-t, however, th ere appears good grounds for 1egarding \V'ilson'sVulcan a i an epoch-making production. Built andq u i p p as a passage boat she was probably the firstuon vessel regularly employed in passenger canying.Wilson undertook her construction on behalf of the thenFol-tb and Clyde Can al Company, and it appears that forthe s i g n of her hull, Sir John Robertson, of Edinburgh,was m some way responsible. Built in 1817- 18 shecommenced plying in the Forth and Clyde Canal 'as apassage boat in 1819, and was only broken up so late ly

as .somewhere in the seventies. According to Mr. D. M.Wils.on, of Boness, t ~ e .son of this early iJ.on shipbuilder,be did not long remam m the trade. He was advised bythe superintendent of the Forth and Clyde Canal toapply for, and he received, the appointment of overseerfor the east district of the canal. While serving in thi scapacity he superintended the repairina of vessels anda l s ~ built several iro.n s s c ~ g e boats f ~ r his c o m p ~ n y atthe1r works at Tophill, Fo.lkirk. In 1888 he was transfe.rred to a . n ~ e m o . u ~ b w ~ e r e be superintended, underS1r John McNeill, mv il engmeer, the making of the firstw ~ t dock at that port. After a service of over fifty yearsWlth the canal company he retired in his eighty-seventhon a well-e?'med pension, and died at Grangemouthm 1873 at the npe old age of ninety-two.By the time the Vulcan had began to ply on th e co.nal-1 81 19.- the mode of progression, of course, beingborse-tract10n- the propulsion of boats by steam had

J N 21, 1898become somewhat securely established on the Clyde andother rivers, while also about that time the Rob Roybegan to ply across channel to Belfast. But all thesteamers as yet turned out were of wood, the employment of the steam engine for propulsion apparently constituting an innovation so all-engrossing as to preclude fora time any interest or effort in bringing about the substitution of iron for wood in th e construction of steamers'hulls. But the transition from wood to iron came abouteventually more thoroughly and universally than eventhe adoption of steam in place of sails.The first iron steamer of which we have record wasthe Aaron Ma.nby, built, not at Glasgow or Greenock,as one's sense of the natwal fitness of things wouldsuggest should have been the case, but at Tipton, Staffordshire, at the Ho rsely Ironworks there, in 1820. She wasnamed after her designer and constructor, and her hullwas sent in pieces to the Thames and put together a.t theSurrey Docks. Her service was not confined to rivernavigation, but she went a voyage to Paris, landing therea cargo of ro.pe seed at the Port Royale, over the Seine.She was followed by several other iron steamers, constructed by Mr. Manby at the Horsely works and at hisworks a t Charenton, near Paris.It was not till 1827 tbo.t an iron steamer was broughtinto existence in the Clyde district, thi s being the Aglaia,of 30 tons bUlthen, which plied on Loch Eck, Argylesbire. The first iron steamer to regularly ply on theClyde proper was th e FaiJ.y Queen, built in 1831 byMessrs. Neilson, of the Oakbank Foundry, then in Cowcaddens. The bull was built by the side of the Ga.rscuberoad, on a site to which the public had free access. Onewho, as a. boy, watched her construction with interest,thus describes he r : - The hull all over was riveted asboilers were, the rivet heads projecting, not countersunkas the practice now is. After the ironwork of the hullwas finished it was taken on lonies, down by way ofCowcaddens and Buchanan-street, and launched broadside-on into the Clyde at the west side of Glasgow Bridge.The engines were oscillating; the first made in Glasgowand also by Messrs. Neilson, the plans for which wereobtained by one of the young Mr. Neilsons going up toLondon and copying t hose made by John Penn on boardthe above-bridge steamers on the Thames.From th e last-mentioned fact it will be seen that th eClyde engineers of those days went afield to glean factsfor tbeiJ. guidance, and this forwardness of marineengineering development elsewhere than on the Clydealso had its counterpart in the progress made in otherdistricts by men of note with the substitution of iron forwood in shipbuilding. Thus, a large share of the creditattaching to th e introduction of iron for shipbuilding isdue to Mr. John Laird, founder, with his father, of therenowned firm of shipbuilders of Bukenhead. In 1829Mr. Laird built a lighter 60ft. long, 13ft. 4in. beam, and6ft. depth of hold; and in 1833 a paddle steamer of 148tons, the Lady Lansdowne, 133ft. long, 17 ft . broad, and9tft. deep, which was sent from Birkenhead in pieces ,and put together on the banks of L och Deig in Ireland.In the following year he constructed a second paddlesteamer, the Jolm Randolph by name, to th e order ofMr. G. B. L amar, of Savannah, U .S., which was the firstiron vessel ever seen in American waters. She wasshipped in pieces at Liverpool, and riveted together onthe ::iavannah River, where for several years thereaftershe was used as a tug boat. Up to 1834 Mr. Laird hadconstructed six iron vessels, the largest of which was theGarryowen of 300 tons, built for the City of DublinSteam Packet Company.Sometime also during the year 1829, Mr.-afterwards,Sir William-Fa.irba.irn, who had a.lrea.dy become extensively known as a scientific mechanic, was asked by theCouncil of the Forth and Clyde Canal to conduct a s eriesof experiments with barges to determine the law of tractionand solve difficulties as to horse-power, which had e e ~raised by Mr. Houston of Johnstone, who had experimented with a barge on the Ardrossan Canal. The firstexperiments were mad e with vessels of wood, but theyeventually led to the construction of iJ.on vessels on n.large scale. The results proved most valuable, and hadthe effect of directing special attention to the employmentiron in .shipbuilding. J 'aiJ.ba.irn himself fully appreCiated the unportance of the use of iron for this purpose,and const ructed an iron steamer at his works at Manchester, which went to sea in 1831. The success of th is~ e s s e was such as to induce him to begin iron shipbuildmg on a large scale. In 1836 he established extensiveworks at w a ~ on the Tha.mes-a.fterwards occupied byScott Ru ssell, m whose yard the renowned steamshipGreat Eastern was constructed- where, in the coUl'se ofsome fourteen years, he built upwards of a hundred-andtwenty hon ships, some of them above 2000 tons burthen.Most of the early productions of Laird, of BiJ.kenhead Fairbairn, of the Thames ; and of others perhapswere almost contemporaneous, were for river or inlandnavigation, the ocean-going iron ship being still a matterof the f u t u ~ e . To people of the present day, who regardthe ocean liner of 5000 and 6000 tons weight as quite o.

m a t t e ~ ?f COUl'Se, the a . m ~ u n t of distrust in and positiveoppos1t10n to even those limited ventures can scarcely bemade to appear credible. The derision which ThomasWilson's work evoked hom the more opinionated and incredulous of his fellow canal-workers in 1818 was echoedand re-echoed in different localities while the evolution ofthe iron ship was proceeding. The idea was witheringlyscoffed at that our merchantmen, and even the woodenwalls of o.ld England, .would ever be supplan ted by

v e s s e l ~ built of a. matenal that would naturally sinkEven m compa.ratlvely late times the Chief Constructorof one of OUl' Royal Dockyards declared to Mr. ScotliR u s s ~ l l wi th a feeling so strong and an indignation sogenome that the latter never forget it Don't talk to mea b o u sh i)?S of. ; it is contrary to 'nature I "~ 1 t 1 0 . n ol?- the part of many to regard il'on

b u i l d m _ g v10latmg the laws of natu re, and 'irt uallyS l l l C i d ~ l still ~ g e r e d when in 1837-38 it was proposedto build an tron steamer for regular deep-sea service


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JAN. 1898Thi s was actually done by Messrs. Tod and 1\lcGregorwho, beginning iron shipbuilding in 1835, htwe beendesignated " the fathers of iron shipbuilding on theClyde "-and the result was the steamer Royal Sovereign,launched in 1839, nnd, thereafter engaged in the servicebetween Glasgow and Liverpool. She was followedshor tly after by the Royal George and the PrincessRoyal, by the ame builders, the latter being 194tft. longby 26ft. Sin. beam by 16ft. 2in. deep. These, and another' 'e el-the Rainbow, of 600 tons, built in 1838 by l\Ir.Laird for the General Steam Navigation Company, ofLondon, for service between London and Ram sgate, afterwards extended from London to Antwerp-ma.y be considcred the pioneer iron ocean steamers.

LOCOMO TIVES SUPPLI ED BY BRIT ISH FIRMSTO AMERICAN RAILROADS.PAnT I .

W ITHIN the last twelve months or so it has been realisedby st udents of railway his tory and others in tere tcd in th oorigin and development of our present vast systems of steamlocomotion, with an almost startling feeling of regret, thatma ny of the old records and mementoes of what at it sinception was practically a British institution, have disappeared from this country for good. The system of locomotion originally due in a practical form to the inventic geniusof Trevithick, and s ubsequently fostered and developed byHedley, the Stephcnsons, and many other engineers, until atthe present day it may in the retrospect be justly enoughcredited with a principal share in the commercial and socialprosperity, not of this country alone but of the whole world ,had undoubtedly its origin in Great Britain; and it wouldseem only fitting that the records of its birth and subseouentdevelopment should be securely housed under the roof ofsome State building immediately accessible to the inhabitantsof the country of which it was a native. So fa.r from thisbeing the case, however, we are now face to face with themelancholy and ir reparable fact that many of the mostvaluable of those records arc now in the hands of those whomwithout discourtesy wo ma.y term fore igners, a.nd aredeposited beyond reca.ll in museums and other institutionswhich are, for all pro.ctical purposes, inaccessible to Englishmen.

THE ENGINEERSeven locomotivesteam engines will be employed, and, on theplanes, five stationary engines and breakers." The rails, asoriginally laid, were of flat iron, 2tin. wide and in. thick,spiked to longitudinal stringers, and were brought fromEngland. John B. Jcrvis was the engineer. Earlyin the year 1828 Mr. Horo.tio Allen, who previously hadbeen a civil engineer on the Carbondale line, was sent toEngland by the onnnl company for the purpose of s tudyingEnglish railroad practice, and to purchase rails and locomotives. Of the latter he ordered four at th is time, three froml\Icssrs. Fos ter and Rast rick, of Stourbridge, and the fourthfrom Stcphenson, the latter being the engine already alludedto. Of those ordered from 1\fcsr.rs. Fos ter and Rnstrick, thefirst to be delivered was the Stourbridgo Lion, shown in tboaccompanying illm.tration, and th is, though it arrived afterthe delivery of tho Stophenson engine, was actually the first

51were never sent to the Co,npany's road, and i t is notknown what became of them."The engine ordered from 1\Icssrs. R. Stephenson and Co., towhich allusion has already been made, was named Aruerica,and 'as No. 12 in the books of its makers. It was built inthe year 1828, and was shipped to New York on board theship Columbia, arriving in January, 1829, or several monthsbefore the tourbridge Lion, so that, though the latter wnsactually the fb.t practical locomothe which ran on metalsin the United St ates, the America was the first to be seen.From the nccompanying illustration, which is an exact copyof one of Stephcnson's working drawings, it may be noticedthat the America was a four-wheeled coupled engine withoutside cylinders and a. bar frame. This latter point isworthy of special at tention on account of the claims sometim es made that the bar frame, almost invariably in use on

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There is no intention, so far as th is article is concerned, toseck to lay blame on those who may have contributed to thisstate of things by disposing of these records. Neither does itcome within our province in th is place to urge thenecessity for the formation of a national museum for thepreservation and storage of such records and other relics asare still held in this country. The absence of such an institu tion, and- until quite recently-of any apparent generalinterest in the matter, successfully disposes once and for all,in our opinion, of the que tion of blame to be attributed to the possessors of relics who, finding no place oflodgment for their treasures here, disposed of them toAmerican or other agencies for exhibition in foreign museums.I t is better, indeed, that the relics should be on view even inth e Field 1\Iuseum at Chicago than that they should have beenconsigned to tho fire or the paper maker in this country.

R STEPHEN 30N ANO CO. d AMER ICA, No. 12 1828, DELAWARE ANO HUDSON C CCMPAN

With this brief preamble, then, we will proceed to ourreal purpose, which is the restoration, in a. necessarilysomewhat incomplete form, of some of those records whichare now no longer accessible in th is country. The subjectchosen for this articl that of the locomotives supplied byBritish firms to American railroads is one of considerablein terest on one or two accow1ts. While American locomotive practice has for upwards of hall a century proceededon lines widely divergent from those in force here, it shouldnot be forgotten that that practice bad its origin in theengines sup plied by British firms, and that subsequent divergences were adopted in gradua,J sequence solely to meetspecial local requirements that called for special local modifications. I n fact, it may beurged with equal justice thatthe ame general conditionshave caused an almost equalprocess of evolution on thisside of the Atlantic, our exist-ing locomotives having pre-cisely the same parentage astheir prototypes across thewater, and being well nigh asdissimilar from their ancestraloriginals.

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to turn a wheel on an American railroad. Built in 1828, itarrived in New York in May of the following year, and madeits fir:.t trip at H ooc:.dalc, Pa., on August 9th, 1829. 1\fr.Alien thus describes this memorable ocoa ion:- " When thetime came, and the steam was of the right pressure and allwas ready, I took my position on the platform of the locomotive alone, and, with my hand on the throttle valve handle,said, ' If thoro is any danger in this ride, it is not necessarythat the life nndlimbs of more than one should be subjectedto that clangor.' The locomotive, having no train behind it,answered at onco to the movement of the band. Soon thest raight lino was run over, tho curve was reached and pnssedbefore there was time to think as to its not being passed safely,and soon I was out o sight in the three miles' ride alone inthe woods of Pennsylvania. I bad never run a locomotive orany other engine before. I have never run one since."

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Prior to the first shipment ofa locomotive from England tothe United States, the Americans had produced no railroadengine of a pra ct ical character.In 1804, Oliver Evans hadinvented a steam " motor-car"for use on ordinary roads, towhich was given theawe-inspiring name of "Eructor Amphibolis," to express the factthat it was to almost an equaldegree a steamboat. This doduplex, amphibious charactergave to the machine little incommon with a railroad locomotive. For more than twentyyea rs the"E ruotorAmphibolis"had no successor, until in 1825,Colonel John Stevens, of Ho-

FOSTER & RASTRICK'S STOURBRIDGE LION, 1828, DELAWARE & HUDSON CANAL CO.

boken,N.J.,designed and builta rack rail locomotive which mayfairly enough have credit a.s being the first railroad enginewhich carried passengers in the United States. But, all thesame, it can scarcely, even by a most liberal stretch ofimagination, be described as a practicallocomoti'l"e.The first genuine railroad locomotive seen in the UnitedStates was imported from England, and was built by the firmof R. Stephcnson and Co., of Newoa.stle-on-Tyne. Oddlyenough, however, it was not the first to be put to actual work,and on that account it must be passed over for a brief space

in favour of another English-built engine to which that important distinction belongs, both engines being supplied tothe sa.mo railroad, tho second oldest in the United States, andpart of the Delaware and H udson Canal Company's system.Thi s railroad, now known as the "Gravity Railroad," is thusdescribed in a publication da ted :March 20th, 1828 :- " Thera ilway commences a t the termination of the canal, and runsover Moosio Mountain to the coal mines on the Lo.cka:wanna,in length 16 mil es, and overcoming an elevation of S58ft.

But this heroic feat produced little direct resul t, in thesense that this particular engine had to rest content with asolitary distinction. Practically it was a failure. I t weighedseven tons, too much for the light track on which it ran , nodthe posi tion of its 86in. stroke cylinders, with their heavybcamR, nnd the general faultiness of de. ign and con


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52Colliery Company, and in th ls era h e built nine locomotivesfor private owners at their own works. In 1823 he enteredinto the firm of Ro bert St ephenson and Co., a t the presentF orth-street Works, and the set of books th en started showeda total of thirty-seven engines completed up to December,1830, of which one, America, No. 12, was built for anAmerican road. A change of partnership took place at thlsda te, and with the year 1831 a new set of books was opened,with all the engines turned out from January 1st onwardda ted in consecutive order up to the present day. At fhetime, however, there were twelve engines contract ed for byth e old firm, of which four were for American roads, stillundergoing construction, the numbers of which would haveranged from Nos. 38 to 49. In the new and present set ofbooks, ho wever, they wers allotted Nos. 14 to 25, the oldnumbers being cancelled, so that we have the apparent discrepancy of engines dating from 1831 having la ter numbersthan tliose of 1832. Irr the present article all the numbersexcept that of America, No. 17, are those contained in theexisting set of books of the firm.To resume, the Pennsylvania was a 4-wheeled single-drivingloc omo tive, having leading wheels 3ft. 6in., and driving wheels5ft. in diameter, with inside cylinders llin. by 16in., and,according to Wood, a boiler 6ft. 6in. long by 3ft. in diameter,

c ? n ~ a i n i n g 110 tubes.of l i iJ? ..diameter. ~ h e Virginia was as ~ i l a . r type, but w ~ t h dnvmg wheels m. smaller, and 9m.cylmders. The boiler seems also to have had 6in. lessdiameter, and to have contained only sixty-six tubes, theh eating su rface being: fire-box, 30 8 square feet; tubes, 1907square feet ; total, 221 5 squa.re feet ; with a grate area of5 37 square feet. The weigh t in working order was about5 tons 11 cwt. 1 qr. These two engines were built in 1832and 1833 respectively.In 18S1l\fessrs. R. Stcphenson and Co. completed No. 24,one of th e old series, for the Mohawk and H udson Railroad,to whlch the .oa.me of J ohn Bull was given. This was anenginewith inside cylinders measuring lOin. by 14in., and with

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T N G I N Rmineral matters suspended in water, and when these sodiumsalts are combined with a small proportion of tannin, asin "soluble tannate of soda," a compound is producedwhich perfectly prevents depos its of mineral . ~ a t t e . r s ,while at the same ti me it disso lves and loosens ex1stmg mcrustation of calcareous and magnesic salts. No matter. bo.whard or thick may be th e incrustation, this compound WJll mtime loosen it from the metal to which it has become attached.Tlie. process of m a . k i n ~ this sol.uble tan?ate of soda asearned ou t by a firm m tho 1\ Jdlo.nds, IS as follows :- Adrum of solid caustic soda is broken up into pieces of 2lb. or3lb. each, these are put into an iron boiler in which a st eampipe is fitted, and steam is in jected until the caustic soda isdissolved , and the fluid hydrate of soda th us produced registersabout 25 per cent. Baume. Thi s fluid hydrate of soda is thenrun off into an iron tank in which one or two iron wirebaskets filled with leather scrap can be lower ed. The objectof using tho leather scrap is to impart a. quantity of tanninto the soda hydrate, and also to disguise its colour, whlcb willbecome a deep blackish-brown. The soluble tannate of sodathus produced is ready for use, and is run off into iron drumswhenever an order is received for same. I t is very caustic,and should bo of about 26 per cent. Baume. For use, a pin t oftbo fluid per horse-power is put into the feed-wa ter of theengine about once a fortnight, and, as occasion requires, themud or slush that forms is blown off with the water.Now, it is not absolu tely necessary to have the soda salt inthe form of a tannate of soda, as a strongsolution of carbonateof soda, sulphate of soda, or a caustic soda, will prevent thedeposit of fur in steam boilers, but they are somewhat slowerin their action than the above described compound. That is,these last-mentioned sodic salts a.:> not chemically energeticenough to reac t on tho calcareous depos it in a. sufficientlysho rt time, therefore hydrated caustic soda.,

0 + ~ 2 No + HOcaustic soda. plus water equals sodic hydrateis used instead.

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J N. 21, 1898ment, th e first day being occupied in getting out pr ovisionsand ammunition . I n thirty-four working days both vesselswere com pleted, their machinery tried under steam, and gunsmounted ready for action. .This recordwork was not, bowever,got through w1tbout greatrisk to the health of those engaged in it ,as fever very early asserted itself; the two officers- Lieuts. l\Iolvill and B el la irs-appointod to command the v ~ s s e l s being fir st a t t a c ~ e d , .tillfinally two-thirds of the wh1te men were on the SICk h st ,all officers and men, having occasional recurrences of thefe;er. The naval doctor and a local one - the latter a native-were , however, most assiduous in minimising the ravages ofthe attacks.Previous to the F rutera leaving Cbatbam, Engineer T. S.Guyer, R.N., and four engine-room artificers, bad beendetailed by tho.. Admiralty to gather as much .knowledge aspossible of the construction of th e gunboats, which s tood themin good stead when putting them toge ther, it having enabledthe Consul at Wa.rri- wbo gave most valuable assistancetho roughly to imbue the mind of the local native chief intothe be1ief that Engineer Guyer was not like other men, as hebad only io wave his umbrella over a case, when steel plates ,rivets, and all other items of construction were evolved .Rumour also has it that the same local chief assisted in thedevelopment of the work of construction, by being allowed toset the syrens howling, th us gatheri ng greater authority withhi s followers.The Kr oomen worked remarkably well, there being a. sortof self-assertiveness about them whlcb is a source of strengthto our Empire. When punishment is necessary to any ofthem, it is effected through the head Krooman, who generallyadministers what is known as " fum-fum," with a pie ce of2in. rope. The distinctive mark of tho Krooman is tbohaving a red arrow tattooed on hi s templo. I t is worthrecording that the H eron and Jackdaw have boon built without the assis tnnce of "fum-fum," and that thoro has beennothlng but good humour, wet shirts, and grinning milk-

R. STEPHENSON AND CO.'S MARYLAND, No . 28, 1832 R. STEPHENSON AND CO .'S SINGLE-DRIVER DELAWARE, 23 , 1831four co_upled wheels, each 4ft. in diameter. An early print,purportmg. to rel?resent this engine drawing a train, in chargoof an Enghsh dr1ver named John Hampson, shows a desianvery similar to that of the West Point locomotive De WlttClinton, having a small, low-pitched boiler with a huae steamdom e, and the second pair of driving wheels behind the firebox. I n the absence of direct proof, however, we really seono reason to assume this to be a correct representation.

~ ~ i s t s .are not?riously at sea in dealing with locomotives, and1t 1s q UJ te poss1ble that whoever drew tb s illus tration took ashis J?Odel the De Witt Clinton, and filled in details accordingto h1s own fancy. At a ll events, there is no visible sirn ofthe Stephenson imprint in any one detail of the reputedJohn Bull. :t'his engine began service between Albany and

c b e ~ e c t a d y m October , 8 ~ 1 , and is generally credited withworktog the .first f u l 1 e q m p p e passen,ger train hauled bys t ~ a m power m t ~ e U m t ~ d States on a. regular service. I t issa.1d to ha ve earned a daily av erage of 387 passengers duringthe year 1832.

A year or two later, in 1834, two more engines were built atNewcastle for the Mohawk and Hudson, numbered 60 and 61in the makers' books, and named Brother J onathan andRobert F ulton respectively. They each bad inside cylindersm e a s ~ ~ g 1 ~ i n . by 14in., d r i v ~ g a single pair of wheels,4ft . ~ i n . m d1a.meter, placed behmd the fire-box. As originally built, motion was communicat'ed in the first instance toa. bell-crank arrangement in front of the fire-box w h e ~ cconnectin,g-rods transmitted what must have been 'an oscil

l a . t i ~ g motion and c ~ n v e r t e it into the necessary rotarym ot on at the c r a ~ k pto.. The fore part of the engine wasearned on a bog1o runrung on in the case of No. 60 -four 2ft. Sin. wheels, and in the case of No. 61 fourwheels, ~ i n . larger .in dia.meter. T h ~ ~ o i l e r s appear to havebeen of small dimens10ns, conta.mtog seventy-four 1fin.tu bes, and the fire-box and grate areas in each engine wereonly 34 09 and 5 4 souare feet respectively. Apparently thebell-crank arrangement did not give satisfaction. At alleven t s, the American engineers substituted a direct actionwith the cylinders placed outside. '

STEAM BOILER I NCRUSTATION.Tru: was te of fuel and of time which occurs in raising

wa ter into steam through a th ick layer of incrustated mineralsalts on the interior of the boiler tubes is a matter of seriousimportance to all users of steam power . 1\'lany compounds

a r ~ ?n the market for ~ e m o v i n g deposits that are alreadyeXJstmg, or for preventmg fur ther deposits from wa tersalready charged with mineral matters ; each of these compoundsclaims. some specialmeri.t, su ch as being suited for chalybeate,ferru.gmous, or else marme waters, but there is none of themthat equalssoluble tannate of soda. for its general adaptability.Soda. are best anti-incrustator known, owing to thechemcal react10ns that occur with soda salts and the

The chemical reaction that takes place when this "solubletnnnatc of soda" is mixed with the feed-water of the boileris that the tannate of soda that is kept constantly present intho boiler water decomposes the carbonates of lime andmagnesia. as they enter the boiler when fresh water is fed intowhereby the lime and magnesia. salts are convertednto tannates which are in soluble, and are precipitatedm a light fiocculent accumulation as mud or slush in th emud drum, from whence it should be blown off from time toti me. As the tannin in the sodium tannate forsa,kes thesodium and disp laces the carbon dioxide in the lime andmagnesia salts, these two bodies unite to form carbonate ofsoda; th is remains in solution and becomes converted intob ~ c a ~ b o n a t e .>Y imbibing the f.ree carbonic acid i.e. carbondtox1de,C02) 10 the water, thus bicarbonate of soda reverts intothe insoluble calcic sulphite, converting into calcic carbonateand soda sulphate; the calcic carbonate is reacted on by freshportions of sodium tannate, and th us there is a constantchemical reaction occurring between the solid matters in thefeed-water and the sodium ta.unate, whereby the iron is protec ted from any injurious action of the tannic ac id, and theconstant alkalinity of the tl.uid will keep the iron from corrosion. I f there is already an incrustation or scale on theinterior of the boiler, the sodium tannate will slowly reacton it, and couvert it into mud, or loosen it so much as tocause it to fall away from th e metnl. Th o writer has seens c a . ~ e over an inch in thickness removed by the use of thissod1um tannate. Of course, the solvent action i s longer outhe hard scale than it is on the solid impurities in thefeed-water, but it is nevertheless sure.

BRITISH GUNBOATS ON THE NIGER.. As public attention at the present t ime is being muchduected to the st ate of affairs ou the West Coast of Africait may interest our readers to know how the action of ouAdmiralty in providing gunboats for service on the Niaer is. 0progressmg.I t will be remembered that Messrs. Yarrow and Co., ofPoplar, were. c?mmissioned some few months ago by theNaval Authon 1e s to construct severa.llight-draugh gunboatsfor the above-named service. I n a. short time two of themthe ~ e r o u and the Jackdaw, together with their pr opelling

~ a c b l l - e r y , &c., were completed at Poplar-they being builtm sect10ns-and subsequently delivered in Chatba.m dock?'ard. . ~ o r e the ~ ~ c t i o n s of their bulls, machinery, guns,ammumt10n, provisions, &c., were stowed in the hold of avessel named the Frutera., which sh ortly afterwards leftChatham for Forcados at the m ou th of the Nigor. Arrivedthere the Frutora proceeded some fifty miles up the river toWarri, where the work of putting the gunboats together waseffected. Some stx ty men of all grades were enga.acd in theirreconstruction, thirty of them being Kroomen. 0Th e vessels had to be put toget her in a 5-knot current butall hands worked together with a will from the c o m m ~ n c e

white tee th among the natives employed, contrastings trongly with the state of things in connection with theconstruction of a similar though smaller type of boat onthe same continent, which has, we h ear, necessitated shootings, floggings, burning of buts, and impressment of womenand children as labourers. Our own thirty bluejackets atWa rri would never have countenanced or allowed such scenes,as English officers a.nd men generally start the "pullybauly," and never let it flag for want of muscle.By advices of December 7th ult., the Heron and Jackdawwere coaled ready to proceed, and n.s they were tried in theThames and easily attained their contract speed whileburning wood, they will be practically independent of co alsupply. They are probably now well up the Niger River,showing the wbi te ensign, and " making for peace." Thehealth of the shlps' companies, when ready to proceed, wasas good as could be expected, but the fever not being a birdof passage, this little episode in Empire building may yet bodearly paid for by the vessel's crew.THE MAGNOLIA METAL PATENT.- In the year 1893 Mr. Hovcler,the manager of the 1'andem Smelting Syndicnte, Limited, presented n. petition for the revocation of the British Patent, No. 8655of 1890, granted for the manufacture of this metal. The proceedings upon the petition were unusun.lly protracted, '0 that it was notuntil the 13th inst. that .Mr. J ustice Rome r delivered judgment. He has ordered the patent to be revoked, on the ground,lirst, that metal made o.ccording to the patented process was soldin the ordinary way of business in this country before the date ofthe patent, n.nd, further, that a competent analyst using reasonablecare could hn.ve ascertained the composition of the metal so soldespecially the presence of bismuth therein. We understand thn.tthe learned judge stayed the execution of the order for a few daysto enable the respondents to consider their position.SOUTH STAH'ORDSBlllE INSTITUTE OF IRON AND STEEL WOltKS.- Mr. H. W. Ravenshaw, Assoc. Mem. C.E. - Messrs. Booth andRlwenshaw, London- delivered an address before the Institute, atDudley, on .Sn..turday last, o ~ . The A p p l ~ c a t i o n of Electricity tothe TransmiSSIOn of Power. Many eng10es took from 60 lb. to70 lb., or even more, of steam per horse-power hour. Steam pipes

were a great source of loss, every hundred square feet of uncoveredsurface condensing at least 30 lb. of steam, and req11irio.g 4 lb. ofcon. per hour, or seven tons of coal a. year; besides this loss, thewet st.ea.m suppli11d to the eJ,giue reduced its efficiency, nodincreased the consumption of steam. In order to reduce these losses:1 S far as possible, electricity was being supplied in many cases withgreat success. Transmission of power by electricity was decidedlyeconomical, the loss in a good dynamo being not more than 7 percent., and another 5 cent. need only be lost in the cableswithina n\dius of half a mtle ; and the loss in the motor and genr forreducing the speed to about 100 re,,olutions per minute need notbo more than 12 per cent. These figures gave a total efficiency ofabout 76 per cent., and with boilers evaporating about 8 lb. ofwater per lb. of coni, and engines using 24lb. of steam per brokehorse-power hour, a consumption of less than 4 lb. of coal perbrake horse-power dolivored to the machine could be obtained.I n the course of discussion it was stated that electricity was alreadyapplied to the driving of rolls in iron and steel works on theContinent, and that there was a t least one firm where this wasdone also n England, though the name was not allowed to transpire,


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\ V I R E W O U N D ORDNAN C E MES S R S. THO NA S F I R T H A N D S O KS WORK S, S H E F F I E L D(F(n' d p tion u J< J 11)

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F ig . 2- TREPANNING MACHINE . Fig. 3> FORGING PRESS

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7Jn-Fig . 4 FOROING FOR 110TON GUN Fig 5 5T ACK OF STEEl INGOTS

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TRADE UNIONS 1896 .THE ninth report by the chie f labour correspondent of theBoard of Trade appears in an unaccustomed guise. Thelarge, unhan dy folio volume in which previous issues wereproduced has been replaced by an octavo volume uniformwi th th e other publications of the Department. For thiswise change not a little gratitude will bo felt. Several newinternal alterations have ta.ken place, which have rendered iteasier to a.rrhe at interesting {Q.Cts a.nd figures than it was inprevious years . One of the new important features is thestatement for each trade union, of the date of formation,:.bowing tho number and membership of the tradeunions still in existence at the end of 1806, which

were formed iu each decennial period since the repealof the Combination La w:;. t is to be understoodthat th ese tables do not show the actual number ofsocieties which were formed duxing each period, but relatesolely to the period of formation of such soc ieties as havesurvi\"ed to the present time. A few of these we select. nmining a.nd quarrying trades the Quarrymen's Trade Association, Gateshead, was first in the field, being formed in 1842.I ts membership, wh ich never reached 300, is on the decline.The first coal miners' union was the Yorkshire Miners'Association, formed in 1858, and having at the endof 1896 a total of 50,000 members. Between 1880-80thirty-eigh t new miners' unions were started. The totalmembership of mining and quarrying unions was, at the endof 1896, 284,806, which is far ahead of any other trades,building coming next with 196,000 odd, followed by cotton,and then by engineering with 139,482 members. Of thelatter th e oldest union is the Steam Engine Makers' Society,founded in 1824, and numbering at present over 8000 members.The Amalgamated Society was started in 1851; it had at theend of 1896 577 branches, and a total roll of 87,313 members .The total membership of the hundred principal metal, engineering, and shipbuilding tr ades is about 301,506. Of these130,482 belong to the engineering trades, and 67,500 to ship

~ u i l d i n g industries. The following paragraph from th emtroductory chapter will be read with in terest:- Th us itappears that on the whole the average age of the tradeunions now in existence is about eighteen years, and that themajority of the societies in existence have been formed since1880. If , however, due weight be given to member hip, wefind that the average age is over thirty years, the societiescomprising the bulk of membership st ill in existence havingbeen formed in the period from 1850 to 1889. The figuresseem to indicate that large numbers of sm all local tradesocieties are formed every yeax, ma.ny of which have onlya. short existence, being frequeutlv meraed in the laraeam&lgamated societies." o oTurning now to another impol"tant point, namely, thefinances, we find a " summary of accounts of 100 principaltrade unions for 1892-1896." From these we aain take~ i n i n g and quanying and metal, engineering and ~ h i p b u i l d mg. Fomteeo unions are included in each. For the first,the f o n r t e e ~ unjons repre ented in 1892 201,696 members;the total mcome was 265,363, and the expenditure225,799. In 1806 the membership of the same unions hadfallen to 195,653, the income to 221,640, and the expenditureto 156,472. Of the expenditure of 1892 3 0 per cent. wentin "unemployed, &c.," benefits, 51 5 per cent. on disputes.In 1896 270 per cent. of the expenditure went to the W1-empl?yed, and ~ h e same ~ o u n t on disputes. The greatest expenditure on dtsputes wa-s m 1893, when it reached 68 2 percent., by far the highest reached by any union. In tbe metaJengineeting, and shipbuilding unions in 1892, the totaiexpenditure was 510,297, of whi ch 42 5 per cent. was ex

p ~ n d e d in "u?employed, &c.," benefits, only 5 1 per cent. ondisputes, whilst 13 4 per cent. went on superannuationbenefit. Iu 1806, out of the 473,991 spent, 277 per cent.' ~ e n t toward "unemployed, &c.," funds, 7 3 per cent. tod1spute benefit, and 19 5 per cent. on superannuation . In 1894 the largest percentage expenditure on unemployedbenefit occurred, the figures being 462 per cent. out of atotal of 577,251, the largest expenditure in the five ye arsenumerated. In 1896 the largest dispute benefit is recordednamely, 73 per cent. What will it bo for '07 98? 'Thus at the time recorded the engineering trades showedthe lowest expenditure on disputes and the highest unemployed benefit. The total income of 1,675,645 produced bythe one h undred selected unions ha s been raised m ainly bythe contributions of tho 966,953 members at an a,verage r&teof 1 14s. 8d. per head. The trade groups which approachmost nearly to this. average aro the building trades,1 14s. lOd. ; the text1lc trades, 1 l ls. 10d. ; the printingtrades, 1 17s. 6d.; and the woodworking and furnishingtrades, 1. 1_8s. 1Qid. which fall below this averageare t he mmmg and quarrymg group, 1 2s. 8d. ; the clothingtr ades, 1 4s. 1 0 ~ d . ; and unskilled labour a.nd mi scellaneousgrou ps. The metal, engineering, and shipbuilding groupsta.nds, however, far above the general average with an income. 3s. 1 ~ d . per member.Th1s.1s accounted f o ~ by the fact ~ a t the engineering unions

' ~ e r e formed at a penod when fn endly benefits were conSidered at least as tmportant as trade benefits and a lib eralscale of contributions was laid down most 'of the otherskil led u nions do not provide so many benefits, and consequently do not require so large an income per head. Thebalance of f unds in hand of the 100 unions wa-s 2,168,989, or 4s . ltd. per member. Th e older unions pr esent the~ ~ g ~ ~ s ~ average of in hand, though it is doubtful, ifliab1lit1es ~ r e taken mto account, whether ma.ny of them arereally so nob as ~ h e u_nions with fewer liabilities sho wing lossfunds. The engmeermg, &c., group held funds averaging3. 7s. Sfd . per member, and the textile group 3 4s. ld .,while a.t the other end of the scale the s c e l l a n ~ o u s tradesonly average 16s. 7 d.

The following ta.ble is of considerable interes t when takenin conjunction with data already given :-

D e o o 6 t . c.Uncmployod, &c., bone fit ..Dispute bcnoftt . . . .81ck aud nccidcut bonofitil ..::Superanuuntton benefit.. . .Funeral benefit . . ..Other bene6 t_ . . . .Working and other ex po118cs

Total . .

Totalexpenditure. Amount Pcrce11tageper hc.'\d. of totnrcxpouditurc.s. d. Per cont... o 6 ., tso. . 0 3 2k . . I 2 6. . 0 6 1, . . J l l.. o 211 .. nv. o 1 . u 1

.2S.S,2i7~ ~ . 128241i,838141,98375,895-1,681 . . 0 1 4 (j 2270 4t8 . . 0 5 7 '" 218

1,299,230 . . 1 5 .. 1000W e regret that space does not permit us to givo furtherextracts fro m th is m ost va luable and important repor t. We

TH EN G I N EERmust, however, quote the following, which answers twofrequently a-sked que stions, viz., the total number. of t r a ~ eunionists and the proportion borne by them to the mdustl'lalpopulation of the United Kingdom."The first question is practically answered for the firstt ime in the present report. A few societies no doubt havenot been traced, but it is unlikely that their addition wouldincrease the total membership to more than a million anda-hall, at which it may be safely stated. To the secondquestion, ho wever, no complete answer can be returned inthe absence of accurate statistics of the nun1bcr of themanual labour classes who could properly be included in thetotal for tho purpose of comparison."" So ftw as the department has been able to make anestimate fr om the sources available, the total. for the UnitedKin gdom would appear to bo about 7,000,000, and if th isfigure be accepted in tho absence of a better , it would appearthat of tho mon in the United Kingdom belonging to theclasses from which train unionists &re dmwu, roughly one iufive actually belonged at the end of 1896 to a trade unjon.In certain industries, e.g., shipbuilding, mining, building,&c., of course the proportion is very much higher, thegeneral proportion given being depressed by tho inclusion ofagricultural labourers and other cla.sses, who are practicallyunorganised." In this estimate women are not included.

THE STRIKE AND LOCK-OGT.THI:: dema.nd for a.n eight houxs day having been officiallywithdrawn, the representatives of the federated employersmet on Wednesday, at the Westminster Palace Ho tel, toconsider the si tuation, Colonel Dyer being absent on theContinent. The chair was taken by I\Ir. Si nclair Scott.Communications were addressed to the Joint Con'lmittee ofthe Allied Trades, as follows :-" Th e Federation of Engineering Employers' AssociationsExecutive Committee.J anua.ry 19th, 1898."To Mr. David Brown, Secre tary of the Joint Committeeof the Allied Unions, Lord Nelson, Nelson-squaxe, Blackfriars,S.E." Dear Sir,- Youx letter of the 15th inst. ha s been submitted to a meeting of the Executive Committee of theFederated Engineering Employers, h eld to-day. They arepleased to note the withdrawal of the demand for a fortyeight hour week. In reply, we are instructed to say that,su bject to hearing from the Allied Trades Unions confirmingthe acceptance of the conditions of management mutuallyadjusted at the recent Westminster confetcnce, and on theunderstanding that there will be a resumption of worksimultaneously in all workshops of the Federated Employers,the employers are prepared to reopen their works to membersof the allied unions on 1\Iouday morning next, the 24th inst.,at the usual starting hour. In the firs t instance, theemployers can only res tart a portion of the men, but whenever they are in a position to do so the remaining vacancieswill be filled up as rapidly as possible. Iu order to enable usto make the necessary an-angements, it is necessary for us tohear not later than noon of Friday, the 21st current, at theHotel 1\Ietropole, Northumbedand-avenue.- W e are, yourstruly,

" THOMAS BIG G.\RT,) J . t s . t . - ," J A IU:S R OBINSON, i Olll ecre an e:;.n reply to Mr. Bames's letter the following was sent:" To Mr. Geo. N. Bames, Gen . eo., Amalgamated ociety ofEngineers, 89, Stamford-street, S.E."Dear Sir,- Iu further reply to yours of tho 17th, we havepleasure in handing you a copy of oux reply which has to-daybeen addressed to 1\Ir. David Brown, secretary of the jointcommittee of the allied trades.- We are, yours truly,

"1'HOMAS BIGGABT,) J . t S t . ," J AMES RosrnsoN, J om ecre a.nes.Meetings were held yesterday-Thuxsday-of th e executivecommittee of the .Amalgamated Engineers' Society and theAllied Trades to deal with these letters. Up to the momentat wbich we go to pr ess nothing had been wade public concerning the results.

. A w e l l - ~ t t e n d e d meeting of representative:> of the engiueermg firms m B a r n ~ l e y and the district was held at Barnsleyyesterday, when tt was agreed to throw in th eir lot with theEmployers' Federation. A deputation from Wakefieldattended, and gave an encouraging report of th e position inthat t o ~ v n . The owners resolved to post lock-out notices atthe vanous works on Saturday, giving no tice to 25 per cent.of the union men, and like notices to 75 per cent. on the following week. This is the first move the employers ha vemade in Barusley.

In July las t the membership of the unions affected wasas follows:-Am.'\lgamated Society of Engb1eer$.. . . . . . . 'll, ll lSteam-engine Makers' Society . . . . . . . , . . . . 8,400Allllllg:unatedSocloty of Toolmakers . . . . . . . . :?,3 10Uuited Mnchine Workorg s . ~ o c l u t l . . . . 4,12 1United Socioty of SmilhH nnd Hruumetmon . . . . 960London and Provlucial C o p p e r s m i . . . . . . 41J ondou and District Society of Drillen< . SWLondon United Society of lll"ll$ 6uishon; . . . . SiJ.oudon aud Provincial Hnmmennen . . . . 253SciouWh: lnslrurucut M1kons tiooiety : : . . . . 1HI'rota m e r n b e r t ~ h i p .. . .. .. . 10\l,S ?. 'fhe mean bonustn. all cases was at the rate of 4 9 per cent. on wages, ns comparedw1th 4:7 per cent. in 1895.

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JAN. 21, 1898LETTERS T THE EDITOR(We do not lwld o u r s e l ~ ~ a respowsilJltcorrup011 dtntd ) for tltt opi oioM o Ot,,

AMERICA>'\ PERMANENT WAY AND LOCOMOTl YJ::S.Sm, - l n recent numbers of TH& E i t there are so mereferences to American milwo.ys which need a little qualification.Mr. , tretton , in n. letter published December 3rd, states that" 'l'ho American ballast is large broken stone, and is, therefore,P.erfeetly dry ," thlli i m p l y i n ~ that this i,; the general practice.f bis, however, is far from bcmg the case, for while stone and shlg,which are equally good for drainage, arc extensively used onmany of the busiest divisions of the mo:;t important milwoys, yetby for the greater proportion of b allast on lines of every degree o [importance is grnvcl. 'l'bis materinl is of ve ry va rying tunlity,

ranging from clean, comse gravel, which is almost as good :1S :;tone,to dirty gnwel, which is li ttle better t-han the e: ,mcludmg runs on the New York Central Railroad, the Lake Shoreand Michigan Southern Railway, the Union Pacific Railway, andothers.Again, there is a greater diver>Sity of tvpes of locomotives onAmet;can railways than might be imagined from the remarks inyour issue of December lOth ; in fact, they are probably nearly or

q ~ i t e as u u m ~ r o u as England. This may_ be seen from thedtagrams of e1ght or rune standard types publi::;hed with a letterfrom me in TH E EN:pcs w ~ r e s p e c i a . l ~ y d ~ v i s e d to meet special requirements.Then.> agam, var1?11S mo


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56 TH ENG INEER J N 21 1898~p A I E N G E H. T E A H I p

)JE::iSR:-3. A.. XD J. IXGLI:i, G L A ~ G O \ \ ' Bt;lLD.J::R::i A ~ D EXGIXEBHS

THE X E W F O U ~ D L ~ D A ~ D ~ O Y A SCOTL-\.P A . S S E ~ G E R S T E A ~ BRUCE.

fEssns . A. A.'\D J. bGLIS, shipbuilders and engineers, ofPointhouse, Glasgow, have recently built a somewhat unique,and certainly interesting, steamer, for the conveyance ofpassengers between Port au Basque, in Newfoundland, andSydney, Cape Breton, in connection with the Newfoundlandand Canadian systems of railways. The distance from portto port is about 100 miles, and the vessel has been designedto make the run in six hours. 1\fessrs. Reid, of Newfoundland, who hav e founded the line of steamers to performthis service, entrusted to 1\Iessrs. I nglis the task of producinga vessel in all respects suitable for the work to be accomplished. The s.s. Bruce, the pioneer steamer, an illustrationof which we are enabled to produce, is the result. The navigation of the waters in which thi s vessel will be employed isattended with some difficulties. Not only are storms offrequent occurrence, but in the months of winter and springlarge quantities of drift ice are commonly encountered.To obtain the necessary speed and carry all that was required on a suitable draught of water, it was e sential thatthe Bruce should be built of steel, but in ..,;cw of the severestructural and local stresses to which she must inevitably besubjected when at sea, it was necessary to afford adequatestiffening and means for pre\enting penetration or abrasionby ice. Hence the frames are more closely spaced than isusual in vessels of her size, numerous web frames associatedwith arched supports at the main deck and adjacent to thewater-line are fitted throughout her entire length, and a beltof Sin. greenheart planking, with a. steel sheathing over it atthe fore part of the vessel, is further provided. Indted,throughout the vessel, every precaution has been taken with

a. view to ensure her efficiency and safety when runningswiftly from port to port, while, at the same time, thematerial' employed hav e been most wisely, judiciously, andeconomically distributed.The dimensions of tho Bruce are 230ft. long, 32ft. Gin.broad, and 22ft. deep, her gross tonnage being 1260 tous. Shehas been built with very fine lines, a considerable rise of floorand with a graceful outline, which gives her the a p p e a r a n c ~of a large yacht. Our illustration shows the Bruce whenrunning at a. speed of upwards of 15 knots on the measuredmile at Wemyss Bay. Not only has the structure of thevessel b ~ e n skilfully designed, but her internal fittingsare a d ~ l l l r a b l y a ~ r a n g e d : I t is really most interesting tonote wtth what tngcnUtty pa scnger accommodation of asomewhat extensive character has been provided in so small

a vessel. The Bruce has berths for seventy first-class andone hundred .econd-class passengers, and the accommodationis of a very luxurious kind. The berths are bet ween theawning and main decks, where there is also a special ap;.rtment set apart for ladies, and at the fore end for the officers'quarters. Besides these a large and handsome dining saloonis situated on the main deck, richly upholstered and fittedwith unique little window recesses, which, besides adding toth e appearance of the apartment, furni shes additional dining~ c o m m O O : a t i o n . I t is done 1 -P in dark mahogany panels,frmged \vtth gold. The cham, arc upholstered in bluemorocco, and the Boor is laid with a Turkey carpet. All theother r ooms are in dark polished oak. A large smoking-roomis also provided on the main deck.

T h ~ Br.uce _i.. furth er fitted. with a compl ete installation ofelectnc l t ~ h ~ m together wtth an electric search-light ; ha sL ord Kelvm s deep sea sounding a p p a r a ~ u and compasses,

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\I

abo Caldwell"s t.team steering gear and winches, Weir'sevapora tors and pumps, Alley and feedwater filter:>, and l lowden 's forced draught. . he is steamheated throughout, and in every detail of the sanitaryarrangements the health and comfort of the passengers havebeen attended to. Six lifeboats, having accomm odation for250 people, are hung in davits. When fully laden she carries350 ton s of cargo in her holds and 250 tons of coal in herbunkers.The contract speed for the Bruce was 15knots-and to obtainthi s Messrs. Inglis fitted her with triple-expansion engines,which we shall illust ra te in another impression, havingcylindets 26in., 42in., and 65in. in diameter, with a 42in.stroke. Steam is supplied from four boilers loaded to apressure of 160 lb. per square inch. When on the measuredmile a mean speed of about 15; knots was obtained with anindicated horse-power of 2200, the eng ines running at 90revolutions per minute.The vessel has arrhed safely at Newfoundland, havingperformed the voyage at a mean speed of \ery little under15 knots, a most satisfactory performance . She has beenrunning some little time on her route and been gi \ing mostsat isfactory results.

T H ~ 1 A S D. RIDLEY.\\"t: regret to record the dea th of Thomas o w ~ o nRidley, A.M. Inst. C.E ., of Middlesbrough and Redcar, a wellknown engineer and contractor in the North of England. Mr.Ridley has been out of health for some time past, but it w sonly at the close of last month that be reti red from activework, transferring hi s extens ive busin ess, as was announcedin these columns, to his John Hindm l.rsh,Thomas W., and Charles A. Ridley.The late Mr. Jticllcy, who was born at Acklington,Northumberland with which county his family have beenassociated for generations-in 1825, was connected withengineering from early lifo, his father having been associatedwith the constr uction of some of the earliest railways inEngland, among others, M assist ant engineer in the layingdown of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, th e BrandlingJu nction line, the Newcastle and North Shields, the BorderCounti es line, &c. His ~ o n , the subject of th is obituary,commenced his career with ~ r . Henry Welch, C.E.,county surveyor of Northumberland. Afterwards he wasengaged in connection with the earliest works at WarkworthHarbour, designed by Sir J ohn Rennie, and from there heproceeded in 18 5 to the Whitehaven Ju nct ion Railway, thenin course of construction, with 1\lr. John Dixon, of Darlington,one of George Stephenson 'b nssbtants, as engineer. In 1846and 18 7 the late Ridley was engaged as one of the contractors in the construction of the reservoirs at Harlow H illfor the Newcastle and Ga te. head Water Company. Far subsequent to 1848 he conducted various engineering, &c.,operations in the Newcastle distr ict , among them being t heerection of a portion of the engineering and shipbuildingworks established bv what is now Pnhner's Shipbuildill"and Ir on Company, Limited. Mr. Ridley wab engineer andmanager afterwards in the construction of the SwainsonDock at West Hartlepool, and subseouently he was connectedwith the lay ing down of part of the BordeJ; Counties Railway, near Hoxbnm. Then he constructed the WaskerleyDeviation of the Stocktou and Darlingtou Railway, and also

the line from e w c ~ t l e t o n to Ri ;:carton for the Borderllnion Railway, this la-.t being a very difficult and a u ~ i o u ...undertaking. I n 186 he became engineer and manager forthe cont ractor for th e conc;truction of that portion of th eThames Embankment between Wa terloo Bridge and thoTemple Gardens. 1\Ir. Ridley de,;igued the cofferdams provided for excluding the water, and these were adopted, thoughat first the engineer-in-chief, Sir J. W. Bazalgettc, favouredthe employment of caissons. Afterwards Mr. R i d l read apaper on these cofferdams at t\ meeting of the In stitutionof Civil Engineers, and the C ~ u n c i l awarded to him a Telfordl\Ieda land Premium.From 18G9 to 1874 lllr. R idley carried out the variousworks in connect ion with tho extension of Middlesbroughdock, and since then has constructed a section of theWhitby, Redcar, and Middlesbrough Union Railway- nowamalgamated with the North-Eastcm Railway; the railwayworks for th e (J reat Eastern Hailway, near Chingford; thepiling and excavations at Parkeston , Harwich, in connectionwith the continental traffic of the Great Ea ste rn Ra ilway;a. new branch railway in Durham for the North-EastemRa ilway Company; th e graving dock at Cargo Fleet for theTees Con >ervancy Commissioners ; the new ferry work, a tMiddlesbrough for the Corporation ; heayy w o r k ~ of piling,concret e, and masonry for the construction of the newDowlais Iron and tecl Works, at Cardiff; filter ponds forthe Cardiff Corporation ; the extension of the 'llnion Dock atWe t Hartlepool ; large extensions of the Consett I ron andSteel Works; piling works for the Bute Dock Company; theerect ion of ,alt, chemical, and steel works at P ort Clarencefor 1\Ies::;rs. Bell Brothers, Limited ; besides numerous othercontracts for the extension of industrial work .The late Mr. Ridlcy was at one time chairman of theKirklea tham Local Board ; a member of the KirkleathamSchool Board ; a governor of the Coatham Grammar School ;a memb er of the Middlesbrough Free Li brary Committee;president of the Hedcar and Coatham L iterary I nst itute, &c.Ho will bo much 111issed in business circles on Tees-side,whete his geniality and high professional in tegr ity gainedhim many friends.

L\ l"SCII. Ewlc's Shipbuilding and Engineering < ; >mpany ha this wock launched from their yard nt Hull the four steam trawler,;Kitty, Lily, Plove r, and Htarling, two heing for the F'leetwoocl"tcal'l l< ishing Company, nod two fc>r the Pioneer F.


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62his worst a. pe. tilent rogue who should be kicked out of thegates.The total Ios of its funds ha left the AmalgamatedSociety of Engineers in uch a position that it is no longerworth while to remain a member. t is true that we aretold that some .60,000 i intact. I this i. really thecase, it may be good polic.' fot the older men toremain members on the chance that they will saYe some.thing out of the fire. Hut it must not be forgotten thatlarge . ums hMe been borrowed, and year must elapsebefore any substantin.l addition can be made to the benefitfund c: of the union, while it is certain that Yery heavylevies must be the nlle for years to come. The facts concerning the financial position of the union will only leakout by degrees. flut we ha\'e little doubt that the wholestructure of the Society will have to he remodelled, with,in all probability, a great reduction in th e number ofmembers, due cithct to Rimple desertion m the process offissute, which we see now beginning on the Clyde, newand small unions springing up. I n nl l th is lies th eopportunity for the employers, who should take im.mediate steps to supply to their workmen all the" benefit that a union can g iYe, and something more.t is particularly desiaable, we may add, that foremenshould be wholly withdaawn from union influence, and weare happy to see that a detennined effort in that directioni being made.

E X E U T RAl\K FOR N.W .\L F.NGI :: 1EF.R FoR many thoughtful men have felt that theexi ting system, undet which a naval engineer has noexecuti\e rank or power l, was anomalous, incongruous,and likely to be Yer.Y mischie,ous under citcum tanceswhich not only might ari le, but would be certain to a.rif;ein time of war. An influential committee reported in

favour of a clange a. quarter of a century ago, and thesubject is constantly being brought up again for considera.tion. Once more it begins to atttact the attention itreally desenes. The Service journals are taking it up,and we are glad to see tbat they advocate, not adherencet the existing ann.ngement, but the introduction of asystem which would give the engineet officers of a shipaic q 1ate authority over the artisans and stokers, forwhose conduct they are really tesponsible. A very goodletter upon this subject appeared in the nny and Navyazelle for th e 8th instant, which has aroused considerable comment it1 the Service papets, coming, as it does,at a time when the necessity for modifying the existingposition of na.vn.l engineers, in regard to command andexecutive rank, appears urgent. Obviously " Engineerwrites from his own point of Yiew. Nevertheless, it isimpossible to read his letter without feeling that his argument is most convincing; and we fully endorse hisopinion that the naval engineer on board ship occupiesan anomalous position." In point of fact, we are inclinedto belie,e that these words very inadequately express theexisting condition of the naval engineer as regards his1ela.tions with the men under his orders-we cannot saycommand. The writer goes on to say that this position'has been clearly recognised for many years, both b_yengineers and b,v executi,c officers." By the former,cert.linly, for each class recognises its own grievance ;by the latter we fear not, a.t least to any appreciableextent, or the ma.ttet would have been taken in band longago. He re, we believe, is the main point of the difficulty.A considerable proportion of the advisers upon navalquestions are sti ll officers who belong to the past as wellas to the present; and, in respect to questions of discipline and command, they are obstinately wedded to viewswh ich held good in the middle of the centlll'y, when steamwas an auxiliary power m1d sails were the means of propulsion. 1\foteover, the obsolete and exploded ideas ofdiscipline which obtain ed a mongst older captains andadmirals have been transmitted. unchanged, to theexecutive branch of the present day, n.lthough modernteaching on nil other heads, such as tactics, gunnery, &c.,has been entirely remodelled. Here and there a fewenlightened officers, such as the late Admiral ('. Fellowesand Admiral Cooper Ke,r, have endeavoured to introducereforms in the constitution of the naval engineer's bmncha regards mnk and dic:cipline, but some of the executi,,cofficers of the highest rank at the present day, includinge,en a proportion of those at headquat-terl, are opposedto any change.Before we ptocecd to point out the reasons which existfor making such a change, let us dwell for a momentnpon the system which now pte,ails upon a commissioned esse, wh ethet ship of war or trooper. Wepurposely introduce the ''trooper " element into thequestion, because we belie,e it is possible, by showingthe anomalies which ate permitted to obtain on boanr atrooper, in respect to nMn.l llnd military con101an d, toILI'engthen out contention as to the position of the navalengineer. I ndeed. the conAict which sometimes occlll'son board commissioned troopers a very strong point inom nrg

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