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Auc;. g, 190 1.]

THE CONSTRUCTION AND YSTE-~fATIC MANUFACTURE OF ALTER­NATORS.

By 0. LASCRE, Berlin. I N this and the following articles, the condit ions underlying the construction and systematic manu­facture of alternators of var ious types will be dis­cussed. .F~r ma~hines of the same output consider­able van at10ns 1n the number of revolutions are E:l?~cified (see se?tion 1), and greatly differing con· d1t10ns also obtatn as regards the rotating masses (see section 2), and their arrangement.

. The usual type of cast-ir?n inductors, with pole­pteces scre'!ed on, .often fatls to fulfil the require­men ts of h1gh pen pheral speeds necessary with large flying moments (see section 3).

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In the building of dynamos of about 3 or 4 metres diameter, small elastic deformations become apparent when raising the casings, bored out in a horizontal position. Such deformations are, it is true, in the case of very massive structures still admissible, but in the case of still larger diameters it becomes necessary to stiffen the casing, this being effected either by means of tie-rods or by corn press­ing devices, or further, by the attachment of feet, which, resting on the foundations, support and stiffen the lower por tion of the casing (see section 4).

Uniformity in the manufacture was, however, necessary, in spite of the many and various re­quirements of the driving engine, and at the same time the rigidity of the casing had to be maintained. A departure from t he usual cast-iron casing was t he result, whereby the armature frame, having its dimensions determined by the electric figures, be­came thus the chief constructional element '(Fig. 1). The frame was brought into tension by t ie-rods, and the required constructional weight considerably diminished (see section 5).

. Examples of such t ied machines, when compared with machines having cast-iron casings, showed that with the same stiffness, i .e., with t he same elastic alterations of form, the construction weights of t he former amount to only a small fraction of the weights of the cast-iron casings exposed to the same bending st rain (see section 6).

The economical importance (see section 7) of t he system here in quest~on is, in ~he first. instance, the considerable savmg of we1ght, whiCh plays a very impor tan t part as regards t ranspor t, cus­tom duties, and foundations; and from another point of view this principle of building in_sures a more systematic manufacture and shorter t 1me for delivery.

SECTION 1. T HE MANIFOLD CoNDITIONS FOR STANDARD T YPES AND THE T YPES HITHERTO PROD UCED.

The electric properties of such dynamos : the effi-

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

ciency and regulation ; are generally, with any par­t icular manufacturer, determined figures not subject to change. F urthermore, the greatest possible safety in working, convenience of inspection, cleaning and repair, and the occupation of the smallest possible fl oor space, must each also be regarded as a sine qw1 non.

On the other hand, however, the conditions which the driving power impose are very numerous. These condit ions have, during recent yeo.rs, con­siderably grown and also changed. The out­come of dynamos driven by belting was the high­speed steam dynamo; yet, later on, the low­speed steam engine was returned to. The value at the present day of this speed is, it is true, an ex­ceedingly varying one ; for 1000 horse-power 150 revolutions per minute are considered admissible, and with a large number of intermediate stages, also

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F IG. 1. T HREE-PHASE D YNAMO FOR 500 VOLTS.

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80, 75, and still fewer revolutions are specified for the same output . Varying work ing conditions, as well as the t raining or experience of the operators,

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have to be taken into consideration . Furthermore, considerably varyiug speeds are required by tur­bines, motor-generators, &c., and thus many dif­ferent speeds are unavoidable for outputs varying within very considerable limits.

The steam engines are also arranged with one crank or two cranks at 180 deg. or 90 deg., or three cranks at 120 deg., the differing flying masses being calculated herefrom. Still fur ther advanced in the same direction are the requirements of blast­furnace gas engines(Fig. 8, page 177). The different flying masses require, howevor, varying circum­ferential speeds of the inductor, and so there are required, for the same number of revolutions and output, large variations in the diameter of the dynamo machine. The utilisation of water power, especially with a low fall, requires a further type of dynamo machine, viz. , with a vertical shaft .

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From yet another point of view, the market, with its considerably varying prices of raw material, im­poses constantly new conditions ; also the t imes of delivery of the materials are not the same. Further­more, custom duties vary; and, perhaps, conditions are imposed specifying the obtaining of the raw material from the country in which the order is to be executed; or lastly, it may be specified that the whole machine shall be manufactured in the country of the purchaser.

The older three-phase dynamos were built for the comparatively low tension of 500 volts and even less. F or the distances at first in question the highest volt.age admissible for continuous current, viz. , about 500 to 700 volts, would suffice. These machines resemble the usual continuous·current generator. The stationary frame carries the poles with the exciting coils, whilst the rotor contains the armature winding. The current· is taken off by brushes, and in the place of the commutator of the continuous-current machine a three-ring collector is employed. The magnetic circuit of this machine is shown in F ig. 3 .

As regards the leading off of the alternating current by rings and brushes, it soon became ap­parent that, with the tension constantly increasing, these parts could no longer be constructed with sufficient margin of safety, for the same difficulties occurred with regard to the rotor as in the case of continuous-current machines, with which only ex­ceptional tensions of 500 to 600 volts were exceeded.

The endeavour to avoid the use of slip rings and brushes led to the invention of what is known as the "Inductor ,, alternator, here described as the A and 0 type (Figs. 2 and 7). At the present day, however, one has entirely returned to the use of slip rings, although only for low-tension excit ing current.

In the aforementioned type the exciting coils are stationary, and also the alternate-current coils are located in the stationary casiPg. The mag-

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174

netic circuit of the A. type is shown in F ig. 6, a~d ~hat of the 0 type in Fig. 4. The magnetic c1rcU1t of the most generally used alternator is re­presented in Fig. 6, and shows the direct inversion of Fig. 3.

The manufacture of the A machines revealed difficulties in several directions. As the polo-pieces had to be screwed on to the flywheel of the steam engine, t he maker of the flywheel had to work in conformity with the electric firm. The diameter of the pole-rim had to be accurately maintained, and the division had to be in full accord ; but for high peripheral speeds this eventually became impos­sible, as the securing of the pole-pieces caused a very unfavourable strain on t he attachment screws.

large number of machines were, however, built

E N G I N E E R I N G. [AuG. 9, 1901.

have been supplied (Fig. 8); nothing further than and in the considerable saving of time required the requirements of a proper and systematic manu- for erection. The dynamo was fitted as a complete facture gave occasion for quitting this model and machine, mounted on a common foundation ring of g_oing over to the following new type. The introduc- cast iron. Figs. 9 and 10 show the different dimen­ttOn of the N D M machine took place in the deve- sions of the two types for the same output, and shows lopment period of the manufacture of large dynamos. also the special construction of the step-bearings. Thus it was naturally impossible that t he require- The weights of the rotary parts, the inductor and the ments imposed by the different purposes for which turbine wheel. could only to the smallest extent be the machines were intended could be fully and en- taken up by the water, as by far the greater part tirely considered in the design of the last-mentioned had to be carried by these bearings. The oil enters type. The casing is here arranged as an armature, at an initial pressure of 30 atmospheres between and carries the aHernate-current winding; the the fixed carrying plate and a trave1ling plate exciting coils are located upon separate poles fastened to the inductor, and flows to the extent of which are carried by the rotating cast-iron wheel. about 60 litres per minute between the plates in In designing theN D !VI t ype the requirements of such a manner that the travelling plate moves along production on a large scale could, however, be the top of the oil. The coefficient of friction on the

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F ig. 8, page 177, shows a dynamo of the N D M type in connection with a blast-furnace gas engine of 600 horse-power of the Gas Motor Works, Deutz . In Figs. 11 and 12 are examples of 3000 kilowatts (about 4000 horse-power) as constructed for the Ber­liner E lectricitats W erke. In various power stations there ~re already eight such machines in work or erection, besides many 1000 and 2000 horse-power units of the same construction.

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BY some accountants, fixed plant and machinery are included in the balance-sheet in the same item as buildings: t hus we occasionally find the trade assets, apart from stock, grouped under three heads :

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a. Land. b. Buildings, fixed plant, and machinery. o. Loose plant and tools .

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This is open to greater objection than the plac­ing of land and buildings in t he first group, leav­ing only fixed plant and machinery for the second. There is a great difference in the manner of de­creasing value in machinery, and in the buildings holding it; arising not merely from the varying times the two may last, if proper care is taken in worlcing and ample repairs executed when needed ;

DYNAMO AND BLAST-FURNACE GAs ENGINE SETS.

, but caused far more by the improvements possible, and probable, in the two classes. Architecture is a much more ancient art, or science, than mechani­cal engineering, as now practised: its principles are more fully developed, and the application of them less liable to improvement. Indeed, the tendency in modern buildings is decreased strength, rather than more stable structures, and although orna­mentation may be varied, and sanitary improve­ments made, t he buildings of a century ago will be found to possess equal, if not greater, qualifica­t ions for long-continued use as those of to-day. On the other hand, the mechanical engineer is con­stantly racking his brains to provide machines which will t urn out a better product, work more speedily, or reduce the human labour required for attendance and supervision. The inaccurate group­ing of buildings with fixed plant and machinery must therefore have arisen from ignorance of the conditions of the trade, and is continued through pedantic adherence to precedent.

The highest Yalue of a machine is the price at which a similar and equal machine can be imme­diately bought in the open market, with the cost of foundations and installation added thereto. There are occasional circumstances, such as those which govern the inflated prices of buildings, which may induce a purchaser to pay a higher price for mn.chi­nery fixed on the foundations and ready for use than for new machinery which r equires fixing ; but these instances are exceptional, and frequently disguised under the form of a lump sum paid for a '' going concern: " the new machine generally rules the highest value. The lowest value is the price it will fetch as scrap under the stress of a forced sale, and after making due allowance for the cost of tearing it away from its foundations, if perma­nently fixed to the building. Between these values a loss is interposed, which must be covered by depreciation.

of this type with units of 200, 400, and 800 horse­power (Fig. 2).

This arrangement of the dynamo sufficed, as regards convenience of access and repair, when vertical steam engines were used, but in the case of horizontal engines repairs were exceedingly incon­venient to effect.

The 0 type of machine was, in accordance with t he custom at that time, first manufactured as a fast-speed dynamo for belt and rope-driving; a number of large machines (units of 1000 horse­power) were also built for direct coupling. Thus, one of the power stations of the Berlin Electricity Supply Company received four 0 machines of 1000 horse-power (~ig. 7, page 176). These are ~he only high-tens10n alternators of 3000 volts wh10h have been erected by the Berlin Electricity Supply Company within the city.

The usual type of machine of recent years is, how­ever theN D M revolving field model, with which a gr~at number of large and small power st~tions

taken into consideration, inasmuch as, within certain Jimits, with the same number of revolutions, the r equired higher output was attained merely by widening the machine. The construction of the rotor allowed also a high peripheral speed, as the pole-pieces were not screwed on to the cast-iron wheel, but were carried by a rim of sheet iron.

The building of the power station at Rheinfelden (Figs. 9 and 10, page 177) took place exactly at the time of the transition from the 0 type to the N D M type. This change of the type was coincident with an improvement in the turbines, viz., with an equal head of water a somewhat higher number of revolu­tions could be obtained. The heavy 10-part in­ductor of the 0 machine with its 6-part arm-star, having, on account of the 66 poles, a 6-part in­ductor rim, developed into a light 1-part inductor. The diameter of the inductor dome was limited by the loading gauge of the rail way. Other constructive alterations could also be effected, the value of which became apparent in the reduced cost of manufacture

Scrap price should be taken as pure scrap, and not at some figure the valuer would like to receive. Probably his desires, if uncurbed, would lead him

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AuG. 9, 1901.]

to great, but clelusi ve, expectations. Each machine, implement, or construction, must be "Valued for scrap on its own basis; heavy iron castings and rails will produce a much heavier money return for scrap in proportion to their orignal cost than ca.n be obtained from light castings, or the highly-finished parts of intric!Lte machinery. On the other hand, brass and copper work will yield most valuable scrap, approaching near to the original price of the worked metal, when it is no longer serviceablo for its original purpose.

Exactly as in the case of buildings, the life whereof is dependent on the skill displayed and material used in the construction, so in the case of machinery, the length of time for which it 1uay be expected to be serviceable will be largely governed by the quality of material and labour employed in making it, and the general accuracy with which the various parts g,re fitted. It is, however, difficult, even for a. skilful mechanical engineer, to detect defects in a machine tool or other engine which has not been built under his own supervision ; indeed, a flaw may exist unknown to the makers, if they endeavour to economise by insufficient superintend­ence or the employment of inferior workmen. It is not always possible, prior to purchase, to make such a minute examination of every part as would reveal minor irregularities, and yet these small irregularities set up strains and vibrations which entail extra and more speedy repairs, and also hasten the date at which the machinery must be discarded. It is this consideration which renders the name of an eminent maker so valuable on a name-plate, more valuable, in many cases, than even the monopoly conferred by Letters Patent. Some large railway and dock contractors, who dispose of the major portion of their plant at the end of a contract, will only purchase their appliances from well-known makers, not so much for the better work they expect to obtain themselves, as for the better price they will secure on selling, and the less difficulty they will have in obtaining cus­tomers.

The machine itself, however well constructed, will not economically wear for the full period it should unless it is properly fixed in place. Its frame may be sufficiently st rong to absorb the shocks due to working without suffering undue vibration, but if it is improperly erected, or if the foundations are weak, other strains and vibrations will set up which will equally tend to its deteriora­tion. In anticipating the working life of a machine, therefore, due regard must be given to the manner in which it is fixed, and the character of the walls and foundations which support it, as well as to the design and workmanship of the tool itself.

Deterioration of both machinery and buildings is largely disguised during the firAt year or two of their use. There is no ap~arent damage done to them, and it is difficult to imagine that such per­fectly - running lathes, presses, or shafting are suffering damage with each turn of the engine, or that in the buildings which look so solid and stable disintegration has already commenced in the mortar, and even in the bricks and stone. And yet it is so: it is the secret of the calculus, the variable quantity, the bird on the wing which commences its flight with the first stroke of the piston. It is pardonable for bookkeepers to forget this ; the accomplished engineer should never forget it. With the first stocktaking, or first closing of the financial period, however determined, there must therefore be provision made for the unseen wear and tear which has taken place ; a certain proport ion of the life of the machinery has passed away, and its value must be reduced by such proportion.

Even after the term has been fixed, after careful and skilful consideration for the expected user of the machinery, such term may be seriously altered by a change in the . mode of ~o~king. When th.e velocity of the mottve power 1s mct·ea.sed, an add~­tional strain is thrown upon the framework, partt­cularly in machines which have to withstand con­cussion, and this will rapidly cause shaking, or even partial destruction. High velocities intensify the smallest inequalities, and disclose inexact b~lancing or indifferent fitting, and so when a change 1s made in working from a slow speed to a higher one, the ter1n for useful working must be reconsidered and readjusted from the date of the change. The hours of actual work must also be allowed for; a factory which is habitually running for 18 hours a week overtime cannot be expected to last so long in any of its details as another in which no overtime is

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worked. But in most places this is a variable, and in many an exceedingly variable, quantity, so that it cannot very well be given effect to in anticipa­tion. The better plan is to estimate the expected life on the normal working of the factory, and to correct this at each stocktaking by allowances for the additional hours worked.

An additional elament of disturbance arises from severity of working during a period of inflated business, when large orders and profitable prjcef:i stimulate production to the utmost limits. Not only will t he running be at the highest speed and for the longest hours compatible with safety and good work, but machines will at such times be put to execute heavier work than that for which they were intended, whilst the workmen themselves, under the inducement of piecework prices, will probably strain every mechanical appliance to its utmost limit . To guard against abuses, which may cause accident or breakdown, is a part of workshop management, which will largely depend on the watchful supervision of the engineer and his assistants. To provide for the financial disturb­ance is a part of the burden laid upon him at stocktaking, for which no fixed rule or percentage can be laid down. It should be proportioned to the shortening of life which has taken place, but this shortening must he determined in each indi­vidual case by carefully watching the extra work done and the extra strain involved.

Portions of a machine may become obsolete long before the remainder of it is useless. In a print works the copper rollers, which are in fact port ions of the printing machine, will not only wear out more rapidly than other parts, but will rapidly become useless in consequence of changes in the designs printed upon them. When taken out they will, as scrap, bring 75 per cent. of their new cost, exclusive of the engraving. In some of the best­managed print works it is a rule to charge the engraving to revenue, i .e., trade account, each year; in all well-managed works a very large proportion is debited to revenue, and only a small part added to the value of the rollera. The former is the safer plan; indeed, in cases where special designs are demanded, and the cost thereof charged to the merchants or manufacturers, it is the only correct course. The engraved rollers may remain on hand for some time waiting for orders, but these may never come, and in the n1eantime the engraving has been paid for in the price of the printing and the payment credited to t rade account, whilst the scratchings on the face of the rollers will in no way augment their value when they have eventually to be broken up. When it is remembered that duration of the copper rollers depends chiefly on the caprices of fashion, and not on the volume of printing done, it will be seen that a scale of depreciation which would be sufficient for the remainder of the machine would be totally inade­quate for the rollers. In a rolling-mill, again, the rolls for standard patterns of iron or steel, which universal experience shows will be required without change year after year, may safely be reduced in accordance with the tonnage passed through them ; or if the production is pretty fairly averaged, by the number of years they are in wear. But special rolls for peculiar patterns come within the same category as special copper rollers, and their cost should either be debited against trade account, so as to reduce the profit on the first order, or a very much higher rate of depreciation, based on the anticipations of a few further orders, be allowed.

There are two methods of dealing with these partial machines. First, the machine and rollers (taking the instance of the calico-printing machine) may be written down at the rate given by the ex­pected life of the entire printer, all ~reneu:als of 1·ollers being debited at once, as incurred, to trade account, or the value of the rollers may be deducted on the first purchase from the complete machine and the balance of the cost depreciated as in the first in~tance ; the rollers themselves will then appear as a. separate item, the reduct ion of which will be at a much higher rate, not only on account of the greater wear and tear involved, but also because of the frequent changes in the character of the product demanded. In the instance of a printing machine costing '700l., with rollers costing an additional 300l., the former being expected to continue serviceable for 20 years, and then to realise for scrap 50l., the latter being anticipated to last without renewal for three years, and then to be worth 200l. as scrap, the amounts to be annually written off for deprecia­tion will be as follows : Under the first method

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175 37l. 10s., which at the end of 20 years will reduce the 1000l. to 250l.; all renewed rollers must, how­ever, be charged to trade account as purchased, so that the same number of rollers, though not neces­sarily in the same condition, may be in existence at the end of the period as at the beginning. Under the second method, the amounts will be 32l. 10s. on the machine and S3l. 6s. 8d. on the rollers, reducing the former to 50Z. in 20 years and the latter to 200l. in three years. All purchases of new rollers for replacements will, under this method, be debited to capital expenditure, whilst the old ones will be eliminated therefrom in the form of depre­ciation and sale of scrap. A further element of disturbance arises in the distinction between renewals or replacements and ordinary running repairs. In such cases as that of t he copper rollers, the line may readily be drawn; where new rollers are purchased to replace others which have disap­peared from under capital expenditure, either under the form of depreciation or sale of scrap, there can be no doubt whate,•er as to their being an addition to the plant, so far as it is financially affected. But other cases demand much closer consideration, in order to avoid improper additions to the capital account on the one hand, or undue burdens on revenue on the other. The determining premise is increase of value . If the renewals are such as will restore the machine to its original value, or to some figure between that and its present depreciated value, and such also as will add a corresponding period to its working life, then undoubtedly the charge is a capital one; if, how­ever, the renewals or repairs are only such as will enable the machine to be used for the period origi­nally esti111ated, such in fact as prevent its breaking down and running out of service immediately, then the cost should be borne by current revenue. Yet even this distinction is open to further elaboration. Some motors or machines can be so replaced and rebuilt, first in one part and then in another, as to become in reality two or three successive ones, almost equal to the first construction. Thus a loco­motive will have its wheel tyres renewed, its boiler rebuilt, and other permanent repairs effected, which in the aggregate will cost, perhaps, more than the engine originally did. They are in character capital charges; they tend to lengthen the period for which it is serviceable; they add, and in most cases considerably add, to the value of the engine at the time they were undertaken. If, however, in anticipating the period for which it could be used any credit was taken, either intentionally or unconsciously, for these renewals, then it is evident that they have not been provided for by the depre­ciation written off; that to charge them as capital expenditure, and thereby increase the nominal value of the locomotive, would be a. financial blunder, and a misleading estimate.

It is possible out of data collected in the manner suggested, extending over a sufficiently long period, to frame percentage rates for different classes of buildings and plant, which will approach much nearer to accuracy than those usually adopted. There are great diversities of practice, some so thoroughly absurd as to merit the derision accorded by scientific men; others which have the appear­ance of correctness, and by good fortune often approach it, but which are really not based on carefully-prepared figures and observations. It must be remembered that, if a percentage rate is adopted, it should be founded on the experience of some years, and that it should be periodically cor­rected by the results obtained during the inter­vening years. In some instances 10 per cent. per annum is written off both buildings and machinery ; in others 2! per cent. is deemed sufficient by the authorities. One engineer, of great experience and wide research in such matters, states that in engi­neering factories the deterioration will generally be found between 5 and 10 per cent., or that, where 60 working hours are the maximum week, 5 per cent. will suffice for machinery, crane, and fixed plant of all kinds. For blast -furnaces, if relining is charged to revenue, he thinks a depreciation rate of 5 per cent. will probably prove sufficient, whereas in rolling mills, after the first four years, 7 i per cent. will be inadequate ; a re-valuation will then prove that something between 10 and 20 per cent. will be absolutely needful to meet the repairs and renewals due to wear and tear, and the depreciation which arises from obsolete patterns. It is there­fore worth consideration whether, in the face of such wide divergencies of theory and practice, uniformity may not be purchased at too high a

E N G I N E E R I N G. [AuG. 9, 1901.

THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF ALTERNATORS. (F01· Desc?~ption, see Pct,ge 173.) •

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· FIG. 2. CoNTINuous-CuRRENT GENERATOR .

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A UG. 9, 190!.] E N G I N E E R I N G. 177 •

THE CO STRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF ALTERNATORS.

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Fro . 8. 600 HoRsE-PowER DYNAMO DRIVEN BY BLAST-FURNAOE G.As MoTOR.

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price, if it should detract from accuracy, or mislead is a strong tendency to turn all large and moderate­the engineer as to the prot able value of his factory. sized firms into limited liability companies, and In connection with this part of the subject it should that after corrections of errors of calculations made be remembered that, as already mentioned, there in the previous years do not always fall on the

parties who have benefited by them ; the shares may have changed hands frequently in the mean­time.

The form given in ENGINEERTNG of January 19,

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1894, page 69, and the modified form given herein under th~ head of buildings and wharfs, will be found su1table for the record of depreciation on plant and machinery based on a calculated period of usefulness for each machine.

(To be continued.)

THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.

IN our last issue we gave an account of the first two _day~' proceedings of. the recent meeting of the Instttut10n of Mechan10al Engineers, held at Barrow, our account concluding with the report of the papers and discussions of the sitting of Wed­nesday morning, July 31. Two papers ·had been contributed to the proceedings which, however, were not down for discussion ; both were taken as read. These were both excellent contributions, ~nd, alt~ough of no great length, are full of ~nformat10n. We hope to publish them _in future Issues.

THE BARROW STBEL wORKS.

The first of these two papers was by Mr. Arthur J . While, and was on ''The Barrow Hematite Steel Works., On the afternoon of Wednesday the Barrow Steel Works were visited by a large number of members. The· extracts we now give from Mr. While's paper will serve to give our readers an idea of what members saw there.

The author stated that this company was estab­lished in 1861, with the object of developing on a !arge scale the vast and wealthy deposits of hematite upn ore of the district, and of manufacturing pig iron and all descriptions of Bessemer and Sielnens­Martin qualities of steel. The iron mines owned and worked by the company are situated within 5 miles of the blast-furnaces. The latter are twelve in number, ten being 61 ft. high and 18ft. 6 in. in diameter at the boshes, whilst two are 70 ft. high and of the san1e diameter at the boshes. 'fhe number of tuyeres varies at each furnace from seven to eight ; there are twenty-nine hot-blast stoves, the newest of which are of the · Cowper type, and are 70 ft. high and 28 ft. in diameter ; the temperature of the blast is 1500 deg. Fahr., the average pressure being 5 lb. per square inch, which is produced by condensing beam engines. Each furnace produces 750 tons per week of Bessemer iron. The whole of the iron made durh1g the week is taken direct to a mixer.

The materials for the furnaces are taken to the top by inclined tramways, and charged by hand on to the bell; this is afterwards lowered by the usual counterbalanced beam controlled by a rack and pinion arrangement. The ores smelted consist of both local and best foreign hematite, usually containing 15 per cent. of metallic iron ; the coke comes principally from Durham and Lancashire and from the company's own collieries at .Barnsley ; the limestone is procured from the company's quarries, situated about three miles from the furnaces. A mechanical pig-breaker has just been introduced, but is not yet at work. The pig iron is cast upon the pig-bed in the customary manner, and when cooled it will be picked up by means of a steam travelling crane, and placed upon wagons, by which it is taken to the pig-breaking machine. Here an electric travelling crane will lift the comb of iron on to the breaking girders, between which the feed table reciprocates. The broken pieces fall into a wagon placed under a shoot on the other side of the machine. The mixer, already referred to, has a capacity of 120 tons, nearly 6000 tons passing through it in a week.

The Bessemer shop is one of the most modern in Europe, and contains four converters, each of 20 tons capacity. A centre casting crane is used ; the cranes and the converters, together with the lifts, are worked from a distributing box. The moulds are placed on bogies which move forward under the nozzle of the ladle, the centre crane remaining stationary. The bogies are moved along by means of a finger fixed on a ram which is situated on the floor level. Each mould holds 2 tons, and there is a constant stream of bogies and moulds in circula­tion, so that the moulds become cool by the required time without need of water. There is a machine ingot stripper, and the ingots when stripped are taken by a locomotive to two gas-heated pits, each of which holds about 20 ingots. The doors are of cast iron, lined with brick, and run on wheels, being moved by rack and. pinion actuated by a small hydraulic ram. The Ingots are taken

E N G I N E E R l N G. out of the pit by an hydraulic crane, and are placed upon a train of live rollers, which convey them to the cogging mill ; the latter is a 36-in. train driven by a pair of high-pressure reversing horizontal engines; the roughing mill consists of a 28-in. train, and is alRo driven by horizontal reversing engines. The finishing mill is also a 28-in. train.

Ther e are four Siemens furnace3 of 50 tons capa­city, and producing about 1500 tons of steel weekly. These furnaces are illustrated in the paper. There are 36 gas producers and the usual slabbing and heating furnaces, an hydraulic charger and drawer being worked in conjunction with the former. The slabbing mill is a 36-in. train, with a lift of top roll of 16 in., balanced by hydraulic rams. There are two plate mills- a merchant mill and a tram-rail mill ; besides which are foundries, engineering shops, and other appliances. The total number of hands employed is about 3500 ; this is exclusive of those working in the coal and iron mines, at the wire works, and in various other properties of the company.

FuRNESS RAILWAY LocoMOTIVES.

Mr. W. F . Pettigrew contributed a paper on the '' History of Furness Rail way Locomoti vas." The Furness line is one of considerable antiquity among railways, being more than half a century old. The first portion was opened in 1846, from Kirkby to Dalton and Peel Pier, for mineral traffic. After this various amalgamations and extensions took place, the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway, together with its nine locomotives, being taken over in 1866. The railway has works at Barrow, and the total miles worked by the engines are 170!. In the early days engines of the ''Bury " class were used, and quite recently an example of these old-time locomotives has been erected outside the Barrow Station. It is the No. 3 engine of the company, and was known as '' Old Copper Nob, " on account of its large dome-shaped firebox with copper casing. The first engines of this type were built in 1844. Unfortunately, there are no drawings extant of these locomotives ; but they are said to be practically similar to No. 3, with the exception of the cylinders, which were 13 in. in diameter, and the working pressure was 80 lb. per square inch. The cylinders of ''Copper Nob'' were 14 in. in diameter by 24in. stroke. The pressure was 120 lb. per square inch. The heating surface of the tubes was 805 square feet, and of the fir~box 49 square feet. The grate area was 9 square feet. The total weight empty was 15 tons 11 cwt., and in working order 19 tons 10 cwt.; the total weight of engine and tender in working order was 32 tons 8 cwt. The life of the first two engines was compa­ratively short, No. 1 having its firebox badly burned owing to the fire having been lighted with an empty boiler. No. 3, however, was in service until a year ago, and now appears in good condi­tion, as it stands in honourable retirement outside Banow Station. The wheels are four-coupled, 4 ft. 9 in. in diameter on the tread, a.nd the engine frames are of the bar type, having upper and lower members. The axle-boxes are of gunmetal, and the motion is of the curved link type, the eccentric-rods being coupled direct with crossed rods, and the links suspended from the bottom. The boiler-plates throughout, with the exception of the firebox, consist of Low Moor iron, the barrel being made up of three rings; each ring is of two plates {lf in. thi9k, the back ring being flanged back to JOin the firebox casing. The seams t hroughout are single riveted lap with £-in. rivets ; the :firebox is of copper, semicircular in pla:Q., with a curved crown, and made up of four plates !lf in. thick, the tube-plate being ! in. thick. The sides are stayed throughout by copper stays screwed into both plates and riveted over. The front tube-plate is §- in. thick, and is attached to the barrel by two gusset stays ; the tubes were of brass, 2! in. in external diameter, and pitched to §--in. centres ; the regulator valve is placed inside the dome, and is of the equilibrium type; the main steam pipe is 4 in. in diameter. The tender, which has a capacity of 1000 gallons, has an under frame constructed entirely of oak.

In 1851 the discovery of large ore deposits in the district led to extended demands being made upon the railway, and two more engines were ordered from Messrs. Sharp Brothers, of Man­chester. In 1854 four more engines were ordered from Messrs. Fairbairn and Sons, Manchester. These engines were of the "Bury " type, with dmne-shaped firebox and bar frames ; the cylinders hG\d valves placed on the top, the motion being

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worked by means of rocking shafts. Details of other more recent engines are given, bringing the subject down to the present day. The paper is illustrated by a number of diagrams showing the locomotives described.

· VISITS AND ExcuRSIONS.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, as already stated, a visit was paid to the Barrow Hematite Steel Works, a large number of members attending and being courteously shown over the works by Mr. A. J. While, and members of the staff. Mr. A. J. While's paper so ably describes these works that it leaves us nothing further to say on the subject.

F URNESS LOCOMOTIVE AND CARRIAGE WORKS.

A visit was also paid to the Locomotive Car­riage and Wagon Works of the Furness Rail­way, members inspect ing the shops of these works, under the superintendence of Mr. Alfred Aslett, the general manager, and Mr. W. F. Pettigrew, the locomotive superintendent. These works were founded in 1846, and are situated in Barrow, where they occupy an area of about 30 acres. The large chimney shaft is a conspicuous object in the Salthouse-road, near St. George's­square.

At the present time these carriage and wagon shops are being considerably enlarged. The locomo­tive fitting shop and running shed, laid down when the works were started, is now used as the machine shop and turnery ; adjoining this is the smiths' shop. The second running shed is now used as an erecting shop ; owing to its low roof it has no over­head traveller, the engines being erected over pits. This shop consists of three bays, each 30 ft. span by 160ft. in length; it contains six roads, with engine pits accommodating four engines on each road. The boiler shop contains a 15-ton overhead travelling crane, a steam punching machine, bending rolls, &c. The present running shed is a stone building 310 ft. in length by 150 ft. in width, and capable of holding 60 engines. The coaling sl_led adjoins, and is arranged on the high-level system ; there are two platforms, the coal wagons being in the centre ; four engines can be coaled at one time. The car­riage and wagon shops are at present being added to; the wagori shop is 300 ft. in length and 160 ft. in width ; the carriage paint shop is 195 ft. in length by 40 ft. in width. Near the Barrow Station are four carriage sheds which will hold 152 carriages. In addition to this there is a 6hed for holding the saloon carriages. A large number of the goods and mineral vehicles are of the bogie type, some being 40 ft. in length, and, though they only weigh 10 tons, they are cap­able of carrying 30 to 40 ton loads ; some of the recent iron-ore wagons have been constructed of pressed steel. The company has now 7598 wagons. 'fhe first locomotive superintendent of the Fur~ess Railway was the late Sir J ames Ramsden, a vice­president of the Institution from 1889 to 1896. He was followed by Mr. Richard l\1:ason, and, in t urn, was succeeded in 1897 by Mr. W. F. Pettigrew, who now holds the office.

Thursday was given up entirely to excursions. The Park Mines of the Barrow Hematite Steel Company were visited, under the guidance of ~r. William Kellett, a few members only descendmg the mines. The adjoining mines at Roanhead were also visited, under the guidance of Mr. Myles Kennedy, members being much interested in a fine example of a Cornish engine there at work. The company next proceeded to visit

THE A SKAM I RON wORKS,

which are the property of the Millom an~ Askam Hematite Iron Company, under the guidance of Mr. G. Mure Ritchie. Here there are four furnaces ; three 75 ft. high, and a fourth 90 ft. h!gh. Th.e latter, however, was the chief centre of mterest, .It being entirely new, in fact, it was only blown In on the day of the visit, and its d.esign includes many special features. Mr. A. Sahhn, the ge_neral superintendent of the works, who h~s designed this plant, was present at t~e time of the visit and most courteously explamed to members the 'operation of the various machines and appa­ratus. The new work is designed to a great extent on American lines, and much of the plant has appa­rently been imported fl-om the United States. The new furnace, as already s~ated, is 90 ft . high, 19 ft. wide in the bosh, 11 ft. 111 the hea~·th, and ~4 ft. in diameter at the stock line. It IS fitted wtbh a 10-ft. bell operated by a 20·in. steam cylinder.

AuG. 9, 1901.]

The steel shell r est::> on six cast-iron columns 26 ft. hirrh. Thoro are twelve 6-in . copper tnyeres rest­ing in phosphor-bronze coolers, at a height of 7 ft. above the bottom of the furnace. Two slag notches with Li.irmann 's bronze slag tuyeres are located at opposite sides of the furnace. There is a Vaughan's steam-closing machine, or " mud gun," as it is called for operating the tap-hole. The hear th is surro~nded by a steel casing 1! in. thick and 4 ft. high ; this is quadruple riveted. Resting on this is the well casing formed of 3-in. cast-iron plates, 8 ft. hiah. The tuyeres are held in position by a band of st:el casting collara, bolted and linked together. The bosh has an angle of 7 4 deg. ; it is cooled by nine rows of phosphor-bronze and pipe coil cooling plates. All pipe connections round the hearth and bosh are made by 1! -in. piping. The hot-blast valve is operated by steam. The furnace is 14ft . above the general track level, and W eimer slag gondolas of 200 cubic feet capacity are used. The metal passes across the bridge spanning the slag tracks and on to the casting beds, which are of the ordinary con­struction. When cold, the groups of pigs are lifted whole from the sand by a 10- ton electric crane. The latter runs at a speed of 460 ft. per minute upon an elevated gantry, and commands the cast­ing beds, pig-breaker, and storage yards.

Turning now to the arrangements for charging, we find that the railway wagons are hoisted 40 ft. to the top of the stock-house by a direct-acting ~team lift ; they pass along the inclined elevated tracks by gravity, and are lowered at the far end

H ODBA~AOW M I N£S, tUMb£ALAN0

E N G I N E E R I N G. sure cylinder is of the Corliss type, whilst the low­pressure cylinder has doub~e piston valve~. Steam is heated between the cylinders. R unn1ng at ~6 revolutions, the engines will deliver 40,000 cu btc feet of air per minute under a pressure of 10 lb. per square inch. There is an Edward's co~de_nser built by Messrs. Barclay, S~ms, and Co: , Lnn1ted, of Kilmarnock. The electnc plant cons1sts of one !:let of Messrs. Browett, Lindley, and Co. 's 50-kilo­watt high-speed c?mpound engines ~nd. dynamos, which drive tho pig-bed crane electric hghts, and smaller motors for various purposes.

F u RNESS RAILWAY DoCics. Amongst other visits paid on the morning of

Thursday, the 1st inst., was a very pleasant one to the docks of the Furness Railway Company, under the guidance of Mr. A. Aslett, the general manager, and Mr. Frank Stileman, the engineer. These docks are so well described in Mr. Stileman 's paper, which we shall print in an early issue, that it would be superfluous to refer to them at any length here.

HoDBAltRow MINES, MILLOM.

An extremely interesting visit was paid on the afternoon of Thursday, the 1st inst., to the H od­barrow ore mines at Millom, by invitation of Mr. Cedric Vaugha.n and Mr. William Barratt, of the Hodbarrow Mining Company, and to t he extensive seawall works at Millom, of which Messrs. Coode, Son, and Matthews, are the engineers, and Messrs. J ohu Aird and Co. the contractors. The H od barrow

179

not only under the old high-water mark, but also under the sea-wall and to a dis~nce . of so~e 500 yards beyond it . In order to w1n t~1s ore It ~as necessary to exclude the sea fron1 a stall larger area , and a second sea-wall going beyond the older one has been commenced (see Fig. 1). This extremely interesting piece of wor~ was insp~cted by the visitors during the excurswn, they .being taken o.ut by a. train of trucks to the extremity o.f the work, it for tunately being low water at the tame, S? .that the methods of operation were ~lear~y v1~1ble. This second sea-wall or outer barner will enclose an area of 170 acres.

The original sea wall is a rigid structure of concrete backed by a clay embankment, and ren­clct·ecl watertight by a trench of pudclled cl~y pinned into the clay bed beneath, as shown 1n

F ig. 2. It was ~onstructe.d by Messrs. Lucas an.d A ird to the designs of Su J ohn Coode and his partner, Mr. Matthews. It has proyecl itself to be absolutely eea-proof and water-t1ght. In tl~e year 1898 a bed of quicksand was ta.I?ped 1n the mine ; this established a connect10n be­tween the sea and t he underground workings, a cavity being formed on the outer foresh?re, as shown in Fig. 1. A heavy 1·ush . of tidal water into ~he mine took place, passing many fathoms below the foundations of the sea wall. The inflow was, however, promptly checked by filling up the cavity on the shore with furze and clay ; but not before the sea wall bad shown signs of dis­tress through deflection caused by the undercurrent

HODBARROW HilUS CROSS StCTION 0~ U IC'f'INC S£A WA LL

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Old r,/17641'/1 ey~,

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• Fi9 .3. CROSS SECTION Of OfiUR BARRIER 1 lln.courJe of con61rucr1011}

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of the stock-house by a compressed-air lift. All the limestone and about 76 per cent. of the ore are drawn automatically by gravity from the hoppers into the charging barrows. The coke is directly drawn from the hopper into the inclined hoist, which conveys all materials to the top of the furnace. The materials are discharged into the furnace auto­matically, and are distributed on the bell. The hoist and distributor have a capacity of 1 ton of coke or 2 tons of ore per trip ; the hoist is capable of making fifty trips per hour, giving a capacity of more than 500 tons of material per twenty-four hours. The man in charge, who is in the engine house near the foot of the inclined hoist, operates the bell, sounding rods, and coke hopper, as well as the hoist proper ; this obviates a great amount of labour, no men being required at the furnace top. The hydraulic pig-breaking machine is of the Martin and J ames type and has four cylinders; the first of these breaks four pigs at the centre, the next clamps the pig bed to the anvil, the third breaks the sow, and the fourth moves the bed forward from the feed table. This machine has a capacity of fully 60 tons per hour. It is supplied with fil tered water under ~ pressure of 1000 lb. per square inch .

'There are four blast stoves- two on the Cow per prin­ciple, the other two being of the F ord and Moncur type. The blowing engines consist of three of the upright description, which are kept as a r eserve, but the new furnace will be worked by a new steeple­built cross-compound condensing engine. This fine engine has been constructed by Messrs. Galloways, of Manchester, to the specifications of the Millom and Askam Company; it weighs about 220 tons without the flyweeel, which is 46 tons. The high-pressure cylinder is 42 in., t he low-pressure cylinder 80 in., and the air cylinders 84 in. in diameter; the stroke

· of all is 60 in. The valve gear for the high-pres-

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mines were firE>t discovered in 1845; the late Earl of Lonsdale working one of the veins of ore in the car­boniferous limestone which forms the rocks on the shore at Hodbarrow P oint. He worked by means of an adit level from the shore, but met with little success. The venture was taken up under L ord Lonsdale's licence by the H odbarrow Mining Com­pany, which was formed in 1866. A shaft was sunk, but as the vein was followed it began to nip out. It was observed, however, that the veins converged towards the west , and a borehole being made at a probable point of intersection, proved a 100ft. of solid hematite ore. Another large deposit was found while sinking a well, and this led to other borings being made, when it was found that very large deposits of ore existed.

The first and second deposits are now practically worked out, and it is the larger, or main, deposit which is now being operated. The company's first lease only extended to ordinary high-water mark on the south, and ore was proved to exist right up to this boundary. Through the surface caving in when ore was extracted, it was necessary to leave a barrier of 360ft. wide to protect the mains, as the sea would otherwise have filled the hollows on the surface and eventually have flooded the mine. This barrier was ultimately found to contain over 6,000,000 t ons of ore, and to enable the company to win this a sea wall was erected in 1890 to exclude the sea from the foreshore immediately in front of the mine. Sir John Coo de was the engineer, and it was the last work he finished, just before his death. Lord Lonsdale then gave the company rights to search for ore under the foreshore sea wards, and after boring for some years under considerable difficulty, owing to the heavy seas which frequently washed away the staging and gear, it was satisfac­tori1y proved that the main deposit of ore extend~;~d

of tidal water into the mine. The clay embank· men t behind the wall subsid€d about 5 ft ., and this had an effect of shutting off the connection with the sea, so t hat the influx of tidal wate·r shortly after ceased. Mr. Matthews was at this point consulted, and he advised that the sea wall would stand, provided it were not exposed to heavy shocks from the sea. He therefore designed a wave-breaker, composed of pell-mell blocks of concrete of 20 tons each. This was found to effec­tively fulfil the purpose for which it was designed. The subsided embankment was not only levelled up, but its width and height were increased so as to give it additional weight, with a view to stopping leakage into the mine.

The construction of the outer barrier, which had already been in contemplation, was hastened by this accident occurring. Mr. Matthews, in design­ing the new and larger structure, which had to be both water-tight and sea-proof, concluded t hat a flexible bank would be preferable to a rigid walJ, as this would best provide against any connection between the out er foreshore and the mine should such an unfortunate accident occur again. In Fig. 3 we give a section of the new barrier. It will be seen to consist of a bank of rubble limestone, protected on the seaward side for the greater port ion of its length by an outer covering of 26-ton concrete blocks deposited pell-mell. There is an inner and smaller bank of slag some little distance off, the space between the two being filled in with clay in the manner shown in Fig. 3. Where concrete blocks are not used, the bank is protected by large lumps of limestone weighing from 8 to 15 tons. Under the centre of the clay bank, in order to prevent percolation of water, there is used tongued and grooved sheet piling, varying in length from 18 ft. to 27 ft., or steel piling, consisting of rolled

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r8o E N G I N E E R I N G. [AtJG. 9, I90 t.

LENGTHENING THE STEAM YACHT ''ATNIAH."

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I joists and plates 32 ft . to 25 ft . in length, accord­ing to the n!lture of the foundation. Where the natural clay is near the surface, the p iling is dispensed with and a puddle trench is substituted, the puddle being well keyed into the natural clay ; a puddle wall is also const ructed in the heart of the clay bank as shown. The surface of the clay filling will be covered with slag, and a parapet of concrete blocks will be provided if found necessary. The total length of the barrier is 6870 ft ., or rather more than a mile and a quarter. I t has an extreme height of 40 ft., and its greatest width at the base is 210 ft.

We are indebted for the facts r especting this extremely interest ing work to details contributed by Mr. A. Shelford Bidwell, resident engineer to Messrs. Coode, Son, and Matthews, and to Mr. Cedric V aughan, managing director of the mines.

T.a:E W ORKS OF THE BARRow CoRPORATION.

Three works belonging to the Corporation of Barrow-in-Furness were on the list of those to be visited. The first was the Central Electric Station, situated in Buccleuch-street, near the Central Station. H ere there is an engine-room, boiler-house, battery-room, test-room, stores, &c., with the usual offices. The plant consists of three 75-k ilowatt high-tension continuous-current dynamos, generat­ing at 1100 vol ts, and coupled direct to 125 horse­power universal engines ; two 150-kilowatt low-ten­sion cont inuous· current dynamos generating at 250 or 500 volts each, coupled direct to a three­crank, 250 horse- power, Willan 's engine. A variable ratio transformer is also placed in the engine-room for charging the accumulat9rs . There are four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, and a Wheeler surface condenser with a Klein cooling tower. The switchboard in the engine-room is so arranged that the transformers in the substations are controlled from the generating station. A good deal of the current is used for motive power ; about 30 motors, aggregating 160 horse-power, being con­nected to the mains. The number df 8 candle­power lamps, or their equivalents, connected to the mains n ow exceeds 16,000.

The Barrow Corporation Water Works supply the county b orough of Bar~ow-in-Furn~ss and the district of the urban ooun01l of Dalton-1n-Furness. The population supplied has risen from 3000 in 1862 to 57,589 according to the last census. The supply is obtained from three watersheds, 7 or 8 miles to the nor th-east of the town. There ~re impounding r e3ervoirs, most of the gathenng ground being composed of waste moorland. Th~re are three service r eservoirs, of a total capa01ty of 11,830,000 gallons ; the total storage capa-

(For Desc'ription, see Page 182)

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city of all the corporation reservoirs is equal to 572,230,000 gallons. The estimated available supply is about 37 500,000 gallons per day, of which 400,000 gallons are suppli ed t::> Ulverston. The domestic supply is 21.4 gallons per head, and the trade supply 22.1 gallons per head, making a. total of 43.5 gallons per day per head of the population.

The Barrow Sewage Works are carried out on the duplicate sys tem, the area worked on this system being about 640 acres. All the r emaining drainage areas of the town to the north are drained by a high-level intercepting sewer on the single or combined system, the sewage and rainfall being carried off by the same sewers. This area is situated at a high level. F or the duplicate system there is a sewer which discharges near the Devon­shire Dock basin, and serves 400 acres of town area. The remaining 240 acres are drained by a sewer known a~ the Cavendish Dock Outfall Sewer. The sewage discharge from the 640 acres is, with a certain percentage of rainfall, conveyed by a se wer to the p ump wells of the sewage p umping station at Salthouse, and is there raised by power into the high-level intercepting sewer. Some of the a.rea dealt with is below tide level ; the total length of sewers in the borough is about 80 miles. At the sewage p umping station there is a pair of W olff compound engines, having high-pressure cylinders 12 in. and low-pressure cylinders 20 in. in diameter by 39 in. stroke. There are four single-acting pumps, having 30-in. rams; the speed of pumps is eight strokes per minute, and the delivery of each pump is 150 gallons per stroke ; 3,000,000 gallons of sewage can be raised a height of 25 ft . in ten hours. There is also an engine and centrifugal pump capable of raising 4000 gallons per minute. T he death rate of the town has fallen from 22.84 per thousand in 1879 to 14.10 in 1899. Mr. vV. H. Fox is the borough engineer.

BARROW PULP WORKS.

An impor tant industry in Barrow is oompi'ised in the works of the Kellner-Part ington Paper Pulp Oompany, which are situated at Salthouse. They were started under another name in 1888, and were incorporated in the present company in 1889. The raw material, which is wood, comes chiefly from Sweden, Finland, Russia., and Newfoundland. After the wood ha8 been sawtl and freed from bark, it is taken to the digestor houses, which contain fourteen spherical digestors of 12ft. diameter, lined with an acid-resisting material. In these tho wood chips are cooked with a bisulphite so.lut ion ; t~e chips are heated by steam together w1th the ac1d solut ion, to free them from resin and incrus­tating mn.tter, leaving the ct3lluloso for paper -

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making. The bisulphit e is made on Parting­ton's continuous process, the acid liquors beinu obtained from recovered sulphur and dolomit~ lit_ne. In the bleaching-rooms the pulp is treated w1th a solution of chloride of lime and then stored in large drainers, after which it is dealt with in the ordinary manner. The papermaking plant comprises four large paper machines, with the necessary beating engines, machine and super­calenders, cutte1·s, &c. There are eight Lancashire boilers, and foul' main .engines capable of developing 450 horae-power, bestdes several smaller engines. The works cover 15 acres, and a bout 500 work­people are employed.

GRIFFIN CHILLED WHEELS.

Another works that has been started, quite recently, in Barrow is the establishment of the British Griffin Chilled Iron and Steel Company. The object of the firm is to introduce an American method of manufacture of car wheels into this country. Chilled wheels, as our r eaders are aware, are extensively used in the United States; but hitherto they have not found so much favour with us. The Barrow Works are conducted on Ameri­can lines, so that now, doubtless, the system will have a fair opportunity of proving its value in Great Bl'itain. The works are quite new, opera­t ions having only commenced in April of the present year. Since that time, however, many thousands of wheels have been manufactured for tramways in this country, and for our possessions abroad. The works at Barrow are well equipped with the most modern plant for the manufacture of rail way and tram wheels, and are especially laid out to obtain a continuity of work from the melting-room of the foundry to the machine-finishing shop at the other end of the works. There is a fine overhead elec­tric girder crane for specially heavy work. The moulding and casting floors are commanded by compressed air cranes.

O T HER w ODKS.

Among other works in the district which were open to inspection, but which we have n0t space to more fully refer to, are the Barrow Flax and J uta Works, the Barrow Salt Mines, and the F urnace Brick and Tile Works, and the Corn Mill of MesHa. \Valmsley and Smith.

E xcuRSION TO FL'-lETWOOD AND BLACKPOOL .

On the Friday of the meet ing, August 2, there were t wo excursions. The most impor tant of these, from an engineering point of view, was that made to Fleetwood and Blackpool.

Leaving the Ramsden D.>ck, Barrow, the party,

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Ave. g, Igo1.] 181

R y ROLL I G STOCK. ION TRU jTED BY THE LA J()A 'TER RAIIJ''' AY C <\RRIAG1·~ i \.N]) 'VAGON r l. r. CO~IPANY, LI~IITED, LANCA TER.

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(For Description, see Paye 182.)

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Fio. 1. 20-ToN Low-SIDED WAGON.

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Fio. 2. 30-ToN HIGH-SIDED CoAL WAGON . •

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F1o. 3. 20-ToN CovERED WA<:ON, WITH Gu ARD's CoMPARTMENT.

which was under the charge of Mr. F rank Stile­man, the engineer-in-chief to the Furness Railway CooJpany, were conveyed by the steamer Lady EveJyn·- kindly lent for the occasion by the railway com[Jany j ust named- to Fleetwood, where the graiu elevator belonging to t he Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, and a suction dredger, al t o balonging to that company, were open to in­~p~ction, by permission of Mr. J. A. F . Aspina.ll, general manager, and Mr. \V. B. " ' or thington, chief engineer of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. From Fleetwood t he members pro-

ceedecl- some by rail, but the majority by the Blackpool and Fleetwood electric tram way-to Blackpool, the power house of the tramway com­pany at Bispham being visited on the way.

The grain elevator to which r eference has just been made is situated at Wyre Dock, Fleetwood, and belongs to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. It was constructed from the plans of English engineers, specially sent over to America by the railway company, with the object of combining the best features of pract ice in both coun tries. The elevator may be said to be

on the American principle. It has a storage capa­city of 150,000 quarters in silos each of 1000 quarters capacity. The grain is taken f rom the vessel by means of a. ship's le~ elevator, 40 ft . in length, which has buckets 18 1n. long, ruuning at 600 ft. per minute, and discha1·ging on to a con­veying band 23 in. wide, running at 700 f t . per minute, in a t unnel from the tower to the ware­house. There are two conveying vans in the ba, e­ment, which run the whole length of the building, and carry the grain to any one of four elevators that also run at a speed of 600ft. per minute, and

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

supply receiving hoppers at the top of the building. There are eight of these hoppers, each of which will hold 10 tons . From the hoppers the grain falls into t he weigh -bins, from whence it is fed into a utomatic weighing machines. From here the grain is taken to th e silos through distribut ing tubes to be stored. When the grain has to be de­livered, i t is passed on to delivery silos, and from thence is run into sacks for weighing by ordinary b eam machines.

The Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramways Com­pany's power-h ouse is situated at B ispham, about six miles from F leetwood and two miles from the Black­pool terminus. In the engine-room are five open n1arine type vertical compound engines of 200 horse­power, constructed by lVIessrs. Mather and Platt. 'fhey are coupled direct to five multipolar shunt­wound dynamos, each capable of giving a continuous output of 120 kilowatts at 505 volts. Ledward ejector condensers are used, t he condensing water being cooled by the reservoir at light loads, and by a Klein's cooler at heayy loads. The cooling tower will deal with 70,200 gallons of water per h our, reducing the temperature from 115 deg. to 85 deg. Fahr., when the atmosphere is at 70 deg. Fahr. The r olling stock consists of 30 motor cars and three trailers by the British T homson-Houston Company and by Messrs. Dick, Kerr, and Co. The general mana.gerof the line is Mr. J ohn Cameron, and the electrical engineer is Mr. J oseph MacMahon .

so liberally. Colonel Vickers, M r. Albert Vickers, Mr. James Dunn, 1\ir. McKechnie, Lieut. Dawson, Mr. Stileman, Mr. Cedric Vaughan, Mr. Wadham, and many others will long be remembered by those who attended the meeting for their kindness and amiability in making things pleasant for their visitors. To the kind offices of Mr. Aslett, we have already made reference. Lastly, we must congratulate Mr. Archibald Miller, the honorary secretary to the Reception Committee, on the great success which attended the arrangements which he- in conjunc­tion with Mr. Worthington, t he secretary of the Institution-made for the various visits to works, and oth er excursions. In such a meeting as that held last week an endless number of matters of detail have to be carefully t hought out, and these make heavy demands upon the local secretary, whose work is frequently not recognised as it should be by those who, while enjoying its results, do not fully appreciate t he great energy, combined with discretion and local knowledge, by which alone such results could be secured.

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The Blackpool Corporation Electricity W orks were opened in 1893. The capacity is 2400 kilo­watts, including the traction plant. High-tension alternating current is employed, the pressure at the station is 2000 volts, which is r educed to 200 volts on t he two-wire system for consumption. High-tension twin cables of 0.1 in. diameter, and laid on t he ring system, radiate from the works to thirteen transforming chambers, and mains of 0.062 in . in diameter interconnect these. F or street ligh ting there are 250 arc lamps and 300 incandescent lamps. The tramways have been in operation since 1885, and were on the conduit system ; but the trolley systen1 was adopted in 1899. There are about 14 mile3 of single track of 4 ft. 8t in . gauge. There are forty-one cars of the double·deck type, sixteen bein~ bogie cars and twenty-five single cars. The former seat ninety­.fi ve passengers and t he latter fifty. Each car has two 25 horse-power moters, operated by a series of parallel controllers . The line is fed by 0.3 in. and 0.2 in. single cable fron1 section boxes fixed every half-mile. ~ir. Robert C. Quin is t he electrical engineer to the borough.

For many of the details we have here given we are indebted to the excellent notices of works prepared by the secretary of the Institution.

ExouRsroN TO THE L AKES. The remaining excursion for Friday was by train

to Lakeside, the station at t he lower end of Lake Windermere. Here the party embarked on a steamer and were conveyed to the upper end of the lake. They then proceeded by coach to Grasmere, and, after lunch, drove back again to Ambleside, where the steamer was once more joined. The r eturn journey down the lake was then made to L akeside, and after afternoon tea had been par­taken of in the pavilion on _the water's edge, the party returned to Barrow.

Mr. Alfred Aslett, t he general manager of t he Furness Railway Company, the owners of the steamer on which the trip on the lake was made, kindly accompanied this excursion and added greatly to the enjoyment of members by his presence and the assistance he was able to give. It is, indeed, to Mr. Aslett that a very lar~e part of th e success of the Barrow meeting was due, and the Institution certainly owes to him a. debt of gratitude for h is exertions on its behalf.

The excursion of Friday last brought to a con­clusion the summer n1eeting for 1901, certainly one of the most successful the Institution has ever held. Nowhere, in our experience, which extends back now a considerable number of years, have me1nbers been received with gr~ater

LENGTHENING A STEAM YACHT. MESSRS. WrLLIAl\r BEAltDl\IORE AND Co., Glasgow,

have lately concluded a very succePsful piece of work in the lengthening of Baron Edmund de Rothschild's yacht Atmah, which went on speed trials on the lOth ult., when the speed attained- 16.143 knots­was fully a. nautical mile per hour higher than on the original trial under corresponding conditions of trim, &c. The vessel was built about three years ago by another firm ; but the speed attained was not con­sidered satisfactory, and she was thus placed in the hands of :Messrs. Beardmore, at whose yard ~1r. Edmund Sharer is manager. The hull has been lengthened by 30 f t. 8 in., principally to enable a new double-ended boiler 17 ft. by 18 ft. to be added, with other alterations iu machinery. This makes the vessel one of the la.rgest yachts afioa.t- 340 ft. long over all, 34 ft. 3 in. beam, and 21 ft . deep. At the trial on the lOth ult. t he vessel was loaded down to 15ft. 3 in. draught with a full complement of coal-about 400 tons ; and, notwithstanding the extra weight due to the increased size of hull and extra boiler (about 375 tons in all), the vessel attained a speed of 16.143 knots on the measured mile wit h 160 revolutions. As originally built , with the same revo­lutions, under similar conditions, except as regards displacement, which was less, the speed, as already indicated, was 15 knots. The vessel was under steam for eight hours, the machinery being thoroughly tested. The steering gear, which has been altered to Brown's telemotor system, worked well; and the easy manner in which the vessel steered, and the small size of her turning circle, were noted. Considerable interest has been taken in the work, and many ship­builders and engineeriog experts thought it impossible to make a fair line of sheer if the ship were lengthened ; others said she would have a knot lees speed. None of these opinions ha\e been justified, as the yacht now is a distinct success. Messrs. Beardmore guaran­t eed to lengthen and steam the vessel by t he end of July, so that they are well within the t ime. The vessel's stability in her new condition has been increased to an extent which, while not making her too stiff, will add to her seagoing qualities.

VVe give on page 180 reproductions of two photo. graphs showing the vessel in dock.

RHODESIAN RAILWAY ROLLI NG STOCK. I N the preceding volume of ENGINEERING (pages 698

a.nd 764) we described and fully illustrated a. Rhodesian Railway t1·ain de z,u,xe, conceived with full knowledge of the requirements of t~e passengers on long-.distal?ce runs, and constructed w1th the excellence whiCh w1de experience of detail gives; and now we illustrate on page 181 some typical wagons, aJso constructed by the Lancast er Railway Carriage and V\Tagon Company, Limited, Lancaster. These aJso flhow that in this respect Mr. Cecil Rhodes and those associated ·with him notably • ir Charles l\1etcalfe and Sir Douglas Fox: the engineers of the line, take a liberal view of the prospects and of the need for the most modern conditions for coal and goods traffic.

Fig. 1 shows a 20-ion low-sided wagon, the dimensions of which are as follow :

Length over headstocks .. . ... 82ft. 4 in. Width outside . .. . . . . . . . . . 7 , 3 , Height of sides and ends (from fl?or) 1 , 8~,

· Distance (centre to centre of bog1ea} 22 , 0 , Wheel base of bogies .. . . . . . . . 5 , , 6 , , Diameter of wheels on tread.. . ... 2 ,. 9~, Size of journals... . .. . . . . .. 9 in. by 3t in.

[AuG. 9, 190t.

The wheels have hydraulically forged centres with steel tyres and axles. The axleboxes are adapted for oil lubrication ; and the spiral bearing springs are graduated for varying loads. No cast iron has been used in construction, the axleboxes, centre pivots, side bearings, bogie pillars, and brake hand·wheels being of malleable iron. Automatic vacuum brakes are applied in conjunction with the Thomas patent " eitherside " hand brake.

Fig. 2 is a view of a 30-ton high·sided coal wagon, of which a large number have been constructed, and it will be noticed that the tare weight of this wagon relatively to the load carried is very satisfactory. 1'he dimensions are :

Length over headstocks . . . . .. 37 fb. 0 in. Width outside ... ... ... ... 7 ,, 9 , Height of sides u.nd ends ... ... 3 , 9 , Distance (centra to centre of bogies) 26 , 8 , 'V heel base of bogies . .. . . . .. . 5 , 6 , Diameter of wheels on tread... ... 2 , 9i,, Size of journals... .. . .. . .. . 9 in. by 4! in. Tare weight .. . ... ... .. . 25,400 lb.

The steel channels on which the underframe is built up are 9 in. by 3 in. by 18~ in. per foot, while the sides, side doors, and ends are of corrugated steel plate 11- in. thick, 3 in. by! in. corrugations; and floor stet I plates are r\ in. thick. There are t wo pairs of doors in floor, as shown. The bogies are of bar steel, with flanged steel bolsters and spring planks. The wheels have wrought-iron hydraulically·forged centres, with steel tyres and axles; and the axle-boxes are adapted for oil lubrication. The spiral bearing springs in this case also are graduated for varying loads. Here also the axle, the axle-boxes, centre pivots, side bearings, bogie pillars, and brake hand-wheels are o.f malleable iron, and the brake system is the eame as in the low­sided wagon.

Fig. 3 illustrates the standard 20· ton covered wagon with guard's compartment, the dimensions of which are:

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Length over head stocks .. . .. . 32 ft. 4 in. Width outside body ... ... .. . 7 , 7 , Width over guard's look.out ... 9 , 0 , H eight (floor to roof in centre) .. . 7 ,, 0~ ,, Height (floor to roof at sid6$) ... 6 , 6 ,, Distance (centre to centre of bogie~) 22 , 0 ,, Wheelbase of bogies .. . ... ... 5 , 6 ,, Diameter of wheels on tread ... 2 , 9~ , Size of journals. .. .. . . .. .. . 9 in. by 3! in. Tare weight .. . . . . . .. . .. 24,330 lb.

This wagon is divided into two r.ompartments, the larger being for goods and fitted with a sliding d?or on each side ; and the smaller for the guard, havmg a hinged door on each side, and fitted with screw brake pillar, vacuum release valve and gauge, locker, parcels racks and shelves, roof and side lamps, seats for guard, &c. The underframe, bogies, wheels and axles, &c., are as described for the 20-ton low-sided wagon.

80-TON FLOATING CRANE. THE 80-ton floating crane which this week forms

the subject of our two-page plate, and of the engraving on page 188, has been built an<l designed by the Royal Dutch Forge Company at their works in Leyden (Holland), who are represented in this country by Mr. .Alfred M . Buchanan, Suffolk House, Laurence Pountney-hill, E.C. The crane is intended for the Santos Harbour Works, and was supplied to the order of Messrs. Boiling and Lowe, London. I ts principal dimensions are:

Ft>. In. 100 0 Length of vessel ... ... ... .. .

Beam ... .. . .. . ... . .. Depth .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . Outward overhang of sheerlegs .. . Height of top of sheet legs above water

le vel . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

35 0 7 3

35 3

60 0

The power need€d is supplied by a vertical high· pressure engine, with two cyli~ders, each 12 ~n: .in diameter by 15in. stroke, and takmg steam at an Imttal pressure of 120 lb. per square inch.

The general appearance of the craft is capitally shown by the reproduction from a photograph printed on page 188, whilst the longitudinal section aud ~lan (Figs. 1 and 3 on our two-page p late), and the end v1ew and cross·section (Fjgs. 2 and 4) show clearly the principal features of the construction of the hull and of the arrangement of the machinery.

cordiality t han at Barrow. Th~ enthusiasm with which every one connected wtth the great firm of Vickers worked for the success of the meetina was in itself s ufficient to insure its success, but all who were engaged in the recepti~n of the Institution did their utmost. Members.wlll alwa:ys bear in kindly remembrance the gen1al and- 1n spite of his eighty-three years of age-~ost enthu­si~stic Mayor of Barrow who entcrtamed them

Tare weight . . . . . . . .. . .. 20,030 lb. The underframe is of steel channels, 7 g in. by 2f in., weighing 16 lb. per foot. The si~es, ends, and floor are of Baltic red wood ; and the s1des, as shown, are arranged to fall in three lengths. The bo~ies are of bar iron, with flanged steel bolsters and sprmg planks.

The hoisting gear consists of two sets of wormwheel gearing and two sets of spurwheels. The worms, of forged steel, are driven from tho steam engine. The wormwheels are fitted on intermediate shafts, on which, on the other end, are fixed cast·steel pinions, driving the cast- steel spur wheels bolted to the drums. Each drum, of oast iron, has a diameter of 3 ft. 7 in. by a length of 3 ft. 7 io. between the flanges, and weighs about 4 tons. All shafts are of forged steel ; t he bearings have large sur­faces and are lined with white metal. The sheer­legs ~re constructed of mild steel plates, the diameter in the middle beiug 2ft. 8 in. The upper ends of the sheerlegs are provided with oast -steel top pieces to

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t~ke the upper shaft, which is of forged steel 12t'n . dtameter. ' · m

. T~~ wa~r-ballast tank, having a capacity of 130 tons 1s d1v1ded m to four compartments. Each compartment can be filled separately, and also all compartments tog~ther by a. duplex ballast pump, placed in the engme-room. The hull of the vessel is built of mild stee.l, and .special attention has been paid to the Iongi­tudtnal stltfness of the Yessel.

The crane has. b~en tested on the works with full load by . a comm1s~1on of engineers, and proved satis­factory 10 all respects .

THE ARRANGEMENT AND EQUIPMENT OF SHIPBUILDING WORKS.*

By MR. J AMES D UNN, of London. (Continued from page 170.)

Ol~scd-in v. Open Shipbuilding Berths and the Cranes Ser-vt_ng TMn~ (~-...igs. 12 to 19, page 184).:...The increase in ~he Stze of s~tps, the greater weights of the units now used m C?ns~ructt?n, ~nd the extension of the practice of roun­:elmkhmg, r1 vetms-, and caulking by portable mechanical oo s, ave .ne9essttated an improvement upon the old ~ebhod. ohf r1ggmg up derricks alongside the ship for lift. mg wetg ts on board, or carrying the tools. Many

Fig . .26.

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E N G I N E E R I N G. ~ork; the shearstrake plates of the Celtic were l t in shtde plating 1i in. to 1 in., the bottom plating 1 in ' and t e keelplate 11 in. .,

The sys~em 9arried o~t ab the Union Iron W orks ab San FranOJsco 1s sh<?wn m Fig. 14. Here there are over­head cranes tra!elhng . the full length of the building b~rtb, and a. senes of mdependent jibs for carrying the ~trder on wh1ch th.e hydraulic riveter is sup~orted. This mvo~ves a~ ext~n~1ve structure, the foundattons of which on ~1tber ~1de hmtt the number of shipbuilding berths for a g tven wtdth. The berth is not closed in, hub the num­ber ~nd the great :9ectional area of the trusses for sup­portmg the tra.velhng o:ane a~ecb the lighting of the berth. These trusse3, wtth the1r supporbin~ posts are plac~d ab 12 ft. centres; the uprights are utilised f~r the st~s:ang, and. they carry, with the use of suspension-rods, a Jlb. on wh1c~ a. trolley r~ns for supporting the girder carrymg the rtvetang machmes. The girder and riveters have to. be moved frol?l one pair of the jihq to the other as requued. The we1g~t of .the h~vier riveters in use is only 1~00 lb., to work s·ID. rivets wtth a 30-in. gap. The travelhng ~ran~s hav~ a lifting capacity of 5 tons; the speed longttudmally 1s 180 ft. per minute horizontally 00 ft., and for elevating 90 H. The structur~ seems elabo­rate fo~ the duty done_. This system of two crAnes placed alongstde ea.ch other mvolves a considerable increase in the strength of t~e truss at the centre to support one·half of the crane and 1ts load. In the case of the San Francisco s tructure another objection has been ingeniously over-

claimed for. these stru?t.ures that there is a saving in the cosb of shonng and faumg tpe vessels, but such saving need not be confined to thts parbicular form. Messrs . Sw~n and ~unter have provided large horizontal jibs to their ~ravelhng cr~nes, which revolve below the oranes, ~ut w1thal there 1s 8: gap in the centre line. The out­~Jde crane of the cantilever type commands a apace 600ft. m I~ngth ~nd 65ft. in breadth.

Fig. 19 11lustr~tes. a GerJ?lan design for building berths. Here als~ the Jtb JS oa.~ned below t?e main tra.versin~ crane, b~1ng suspended m a baJI-bearmg; the horizontal ~ressure ts t aken up by Ii ve rollers. The lifting gear con­SI~ts of a. double set of spurwheels and a. rope drum wtth turned . g!ooves. The. crane has a capacity of 3 to~s, ~he hftmg speed bemg 66 ft. per minute, the long1tudmal traverse 197 fb. per minute, the hori­zontal trav.erse 10~. fb. per minute, and the rotating of the hor1zontal Jtb 295 ft. ; the lifting motor is of 20 horse-power, and the motor for horizontal traverse 1_3 ~orae· power. But here again the load is oompara.ti vely hmtted, and there are between 4 fb. and 5 ft. in the centre of the ship which are not commanded by the crane. ThE~~e overhead systems generally involve a Iight­

excludmg struc.ture over. the ~hip; and, most important of all, ~he maxtmum we1ght hfted is not great. While they g1ve t~e . adva~tage o~ two ?ranes for each ship, these are !tmtted m their radius across the ship al~houg~ bh1s may not be a serious objection, espeoiaJly wtth twm-screw steamera. The Wellman-Seaver Eogi-

RoPES REQUIRED PER CRANE.

·~~ l~. _::-:-:-: ..: -:-:.::.-,,- .. ·-·-·u:...-.. ··-......... f.~ .0.-:..c~:~ .. ?.- -· - -·-· .. _ .. _ ... _ .. £:.um B - ···- · _ ... ~G sag Uzrru.rs H -·- ·- ·..nt, ~ ... ··- - --- ·- ··- ··-· ··-···-· ···- ···- .. _ .. ·-···_.,.,______

, _ • r• , . ... ,.,_., .,,_ . v ·-....-..;:.- *-••·- ·· ·- ·-._, ~ " ·- ····- ···- ··- ·· ·- ....... -·- ...... .. _ . - ~ ·- · - - ·- \ - ·- - --- ~'8· ropes J Rf!P.CN' .. . -·-·-· -··· .... ..,._ .. - ···- · ·- ·~~ - · ·- ·· - ···- · ·- ··- · ·-·- ·- -·--.-·~ ~ ···-···-···-- j

cc a, 8 ropes ~-in. plough steel 626 ft. long. Socket at one end, to be put on in field.

"b" 2 ropes !·in. plough steel 80 ft. long. Socket at on~ end, e~e and bent plate at one end, put both fnstenmgs on m field. ·-· ··--· ·· -~ :::.=:;.;. ... - ... - .... - ··- ··-··- ·· - ··-··- ··- ·· - ··- ·· - ··- ··- · .... ··- · - ·- ·- ·-...... - ·- ·- ·- ·- - ···- ···- ··- ···-

~ "' Shcat~es C DrUT1'L A . She4Yts C - ·- ·- ·- .--·- ·- - · .:.:::-.:.:::.::.:.-=.::·:;; "":! \

\ Opcralor~ hous1 lh/s Std~.

Tohoistload bolh Engine Drums turn indirection indiaf6d by arrow.

Plan. view showing lead. of ropes from eJtd sluaNc support3 w trollq.

r- ·· - · · - ·-· · - · - · - ·· - · - ·· - · -· · - · - · - · -· -~¥S~:::=------ - .... ·- ·· .. ·-····- . ··-·. ··- ·. ··- ·· ··- ····-· .. -····- . ···- ····-····- ·· ··- ···· . ··- ···..:...... ·=-.. :=· -· . ·-· - · ·-· . . .. -·~ ·-···- ···- ···-·-·-···- ··- ···- ··- ···- ···- ···- ···- ···- .. .,._ «-·- ···-- · ··- ···-····- -··- ····- ····- ···-····- ····- ····- ·· .. - ····-····-···- " .. : - ··-··-Qi· ~~-~ .. =·.:..:..:··~= •-4 .......... ••·~···-· · · .......--·· - ·· - · ·· - ··-··- ·· - · · - - · - ·· - · ··-·· - ·· • - · ' __ ,~...._. - · ·· - · · ·-···-···-···-···-- · - ··· - · ··-·· · - ···-···-··· '10 ·-·- ·- ·--- ·- ·- · . . --~

• • This std• oflrolley nesrelt fQ 11por~l'ors house.

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DrwnB - ····-···· - ·· - ··- ·· ...

- ··· - ···· "' ,. -,.-l ~-

"'· - ./ ···- ···- t.l "'

I;' ·~ .

-···- ····- -l-~

- -·-··- ·· ·- ·- ·

·- ---- - ·-

(s~.~~~J D~ A.

--t~ Suppor tsA .,.

• • ~ :!lrope.

- i ·-·-~ Support8 ,_......,

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" c, 4 ropes ~-in. plough steel 6 ft. a i!l. long. Sockets both encfs, put on in flelde.

Ropes "n" are main ropes running from engine to trolley. Ro~es " b " are hoist. ropes on trolley. Ropee cc o" are tll.tl ropes connecting each pair of sheave supports " A."

Wben the trolley drums are at the centre of the crane, and the load is lifted half way up, all ropes .. a." have the same length on drums A and B.

When the load is lifted to the limit of its motion, ropes · and · · · have 1! turns each Of! trolley drums 0 and D, the f'6-in. score for the i·m. rope .. b" is full, and the remainder of drums 0 and D is full of ropes · · and · · . -

To ADJUST RoPEs Run the trolley to the centre of the bridge and

ehorten the ropes by means of adjusting scre~s at sheave supports 0 until tbe rope . . and - .. · have about 4ft. sag in the span from the trolley to the end of the bridge.

In adjusting ropes, adjustment should be obtained by using the screws in both sheave supports 0.

To RmVE RoPEB. When rieving ropes, run the trolley to the limit of

l~ travel at that end of the bridge which is to the r1gbt of the operator ae he stands at the levers and facing the bridge. Fasten trolley drume eo that they cannot revolve. Put on the ~-in. hoist rope "b " first giving it two turns on the trolley drum wh~n the oentre of the hoist block is hangine- 28 ft~ below the centre of the trolley drum. Leavmg the hoist blocks in the position just noted, each of the eight l·in. ropes will have the following turns on the trolley dntms and engine drums respectively : Each rope marked · will have 11 turns on the trolley druw and 27 turns on the engine drum ; each rope marked · · · will have 11 turns on the trolley drum and li turns on the engine drum. For the ropes marlted · · and · · · put on as many wraps on both engine drum and trolley drums as the number of scores on the drums will allow without overwinding ; this will give about two wraps for each of these ropes on the trolley drums. For the ropes

- one will have about 6 turns on engme drum and the other about 11 turns. For the ropes - · · · · one will have about 31! turns on the engine drum and the other about 87 turns.

syatem1J for accomplishing this end have been adopbed, and most have advantages to commend them.

One of bhe first wa.s bbab in use at Messrs. Harland and Wolff's (Figs. 12 and 13, page 184). The gantry crane illustrated has a clear head way from rail level to the underside of the cross-girders of 98 fb., while the clear width is 96 fb. For the purpose of lifting weights on board, separate jibs are carried on each of the four corners of bhe sbructare, swinging through an ang-le of 180 deg., and able to place their load of 4 tons withm the shell of the ship, 40ft. distant from the axis of the jib, without moving the crane. The gantry is used primarily for the carrying of h1draulio riveters, and only incident­ally for traversing w1th loads to their position within the ship, so that it would seem that this large structure is limited in its utility. For carrying the hydraulic riveters there are three hydraulio travelling cranes running on the cross-girders, two of them on the upper and one on the lower boom, an arrangement which enables two riveters to be brought! closely together. In the building of the Celtic the heaviest weight oa.rried by the travelling­crane gear wa.s understood to be the hydraulic rivetera of 7! tons, and the heaviest weight lifted by the jibs was 3~ tons; ab the Barrow Works 15-ton loads are dealt with in building warships on the alip. With their gantry Messrs. Harland and WoJff were enabled to rivet expe­peditiously and economicall.y the top.sides and keelplate, the centre plate, the tank mteroostals, and flange-plate frames and the upper deck stringers in the Celtic, while similar work is done on other large ships. The thickness of the plating may also be given in connection with the weights requiring to be dealb wibh in large merchant

come; usually the two cranes are equal in length, and because of their supports there is a consideral:ile S(>ace at the centre line of the berth-just over the keel-nght fore and aft, over which the crane has no direct control. But, as will be seen from Fig. 14, the apex of the truss is 3 ft. from the centre line, and thus the crane to the right of the section is 6 fb. longer than the other, and commands the keel. At the same time there is still a small section of the width of the ship which is not commanded by the cranes overhP.ad.

Fig. 17, page 184, illustrates a structure which has been erected quite recently ab the Vuloan shipbuilding yards at Stettin, and here also the cranes are made of different lengths. The structure is of steelwork without roofiug. and the motors are electrically driven. Ea.ch crane lifts 4 tons, and the speed of longitudinal traverse is 262 h. per minute. ·

Neither the berth ab San Francisco nor either of those ab the V ulcan Works in Gbrmany is closed in, and in this respect they differ from the arrangement adopted by Messrs. Swan and Hunter, who like one or two foreign firms, prefer that the berths should be roofed over, as shown in Fig. 18. There are advantages in suoh arrange­ment where severe weather oonditions obtain, especially where the snowfall is considerable or the rain incessant for long periods ; bu b aparb from the great cost, in view of the loade to be supported, there is always the dis­advantage of restricted light, because glazing cannot always be kept clean, and artificial light is at best a. poor substitute, and the general result may be conduoive to idleness. There is also the probabilioy of draughts, and although it is said that this has not been experienced to any great extent ab Messrs. Swan and Hunter's, experi­ence of wind-swept Barrow suggests bhab this solution might involve inconvenience and discomfort. It is

nearing Comp~ny, of Cleveland, Ohio, who have fitted in some American lake yards gantry cranes of the cantilever type corresponding in general arrangement to the Brown system, have made an arrangement overcoming this diffi· culty by overlapping tJhe travelling cranes, and support­ing the lifting trolley on the lower flange of the girders forming the travellers (Fig~. 15 and 16, page 184).

Oantitever Cranea at Barrow (Brown) (Figs. 20 to 25, pages 184 and 185).-The system which has been adopted ab the Naval Construction Works at Barrow· in-~'urness is that known as the Brown patent balance cantilever ty~, and a section of tJhe building berths is shown on Fig. 20. This system consists of a light trestle work placed between two shipbuilding berths, on which tliere travels a crane whose c~ntilever arms stretch over the ship on either side of the trestle. The trestle for one of the cranes is 729 fb. long, and it will be some time before ship3 exceed this length ; the other is 647 fb., and both can easily be extended at any time without even temporary inconvenience. The whole of the ship is immediately under the control of the crane hook, the total span or outreach of the hook being 190ft., while the clearance above the deck structure is equal to the depth of the ship itself. The same principle is applied for dealing with the plates, timber, &c., at the parb of the works where the material is stored. as shown on Fig. 21, the outreach of the hook being 318ft.

In the d~ign of the Brown cranes as fitted ao Ba.rrow the wind area wa~ reduced as much as possible so as to minimise the material for a given maxtmum strength. This also lessened the cost and incidentally admioted the fullest measure of daylight. The trestle has also been designed to avoid interference with operations along the side of the ship. The uprights are all a.ttaohed to their foundatiens, and to the crogs connections a.b the top by

* Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engi­neers.

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pm JOtnts, so that the entire structure may expand or contract longitudinally. The members of the structure are. held v~rtically by the centre panel of the trestle, wh1ch consiSts of a large A brace extending upwards from the foot of one column to the centre of the panel and down to the foob of ~he oth.er column. Fig. 22 •. page 185, shows the. form of thts bracmg. The only posstble inter­f~renoe wtth the work alon~side of the ship is ab the up­rtghtR where the ship abta.ms its maximum breadth and evenhere it~sm~. '

The cr~ne is wo~ked ~y one 85 ~orse-power electric motor (Ftg. 23). wtth suitable gearmg for the several movemen ts. For traversing the crane along the track on the t~esble, power ~s. transmitted through bevel gears and shaftmg to the drtvmg gears on the truck, which is con­trolled by suitable brakes and clutches. The trolley travel. along the cantile~e~ a~ms is accomplished by the revolvmg of two drums wmduig wire rope connected to the trolley. These two drums are on one sbn.fb which runs ~lwa.ys in t~e same direction. When one drum is thrown m to gea.r wtbh the driving shaft the other is disconnected and remains idle, so that while one winds the other '' P~Y.S ou~., The drums a.re kept in the same relative post t10n. to one ano~her . by the us~ of a retu~n loop or a. small w1re rope, wh1?h 1s wound m an oppos1te direction to the. ropes connec~mg the trolley. The hoisting is ac­comP.hshed by a smgle drum; the lowering is through gra.v1t~ alone, gov~rned bv brakes. The speeds vary accordtngto loa.d, w1th thefollowing minimaand maxima;

Feet pbr Minute. H ois ting . .. . .. ... .. . .. . lOO tJo 600 Trolley or transverse travelling .. . 400 , 800 Track or horizontal travel ... ... 400 ,. 700

The cranes lift 10,000 lb. (4i tons) at the extreme travel of the tro1ley, and 30,000 lb. (about 13~ tons) at a. distance of 60 ft. from the centre of the crane. The resultant force ~f ~he crane under the load is . kept within the proper hmtts by the ~se of a counterwetghb running on a. track along the cantilever arms and above the track on which the hoisting trolley travels. It is connected by ropes to th~ t~olley, so tha.t whatever ma.y be the position of the ~olStmg trolley o~ one arm of ~he crane, the counterweight IS at tlie same t1me automab10a.lly brought to a similar position on the other arm. For extra. heavy loads there IS an additional weight which is added with little trouble to the norma.! counterweight of 4000 lb. To raise heavy loads a b 60ft. from the centre the counterweigh t is ad­justed so that instead of being 60ft. it is 90 ft. from the centre, or a.t the extreme of the opposite arm. This is easily accomplished: the trolley is brought to the centre of the crane, and the counterweight automatically also comes to the centre ; the counterweight is then unclamped from the ropes which connect it t o the bra veiling trolley and the trolley moved out 30ft. on the cantilever opposite to that on which the heavy loa.J is to be lifted, and the counter­wei~ht is there re-clamped. This operation occupies but a mmute or two. Thus, when the lifting trolley travels to the load it p~ses through 90 H. in coming from 30 ft. on one side and going to 60 fb. out on tha other a.rm where the load ha.s to be raised. The counterweight naturally travels simulta.neousy through its 90 ft. 1 which will be from the centre to the extreme of the arm opposite to the load. Thu.s the full lever arm is utilised and the full effect of counterweight obtained.

Fig. 21, page 184~ and Fig. 25, page 185, illustrate one of the cant ilever yard cranes. The main point to be noted in the construJnion of these cranes is the open trestle structure, allo\Ving pieces of 60 fb. in length to be carried through the pier without turning. To avoid twisting there have been adopted what really amounts to two trolleys, which carry their loads at two points, and which travel at exactly tJhe sa.me speed. Actually, however, these two blocks form parb of a single trolley which is operated by two drums. The rope system employed is somewhat complicated, but the diagrams, Fig. 26, page 183, for which the author is indebted to the Brown Company, indicate the general method of weaving the lines. The oa.pR.city a.nd dimensions of the yard cranes are as follows :

Trolley t ravel 159 ft . 1! in. each way from the centre of the crane, or, in other words, a total of 318 ft. 3 in. centre to centre of the ext reme position of the hoist block.

The maximum Joad is 11,000 lb. (5 tons). which ca.n be lifted and travelled through the entire length of the travel of tho trolley on the runway.

The double tracks on which these cranes run are gauged 30 ft. 6 in. centre to centre.

The power which is necessary to run one of these cantilevers is 85 horae-power arranged for 200-volb tension direct current.

The motor will lift the maximum load 11,000 lb. a.b the rate of 200 fb. per minute, will traverse the crane along the tracks at about 300 ft. per minute, and travel the trolley to any desired speed up to 750 fb. per minute.

The high speed of horizontal and longitudinal traverse of the cantilever system in operation a.b the Barrow works more tba.n compensates for the duplication of cranes in the instances already indicated.

T he Utility of Build,ilng.Berth Oranes.- Itl will be seen that these cantilever berth cranes serve all the purposes for lifting material on board, while as regards the sup­p orting of hydraulic riveters for double bottom and keel­strake work, t he usual method of a gantry running on the inner bottom or flooring of the ship wilJ, as formerly, be aP.plie:i. For supporting the riveter for working the btlge and sheerstrake there is no reason why j ibs should not be carried on the trestles of the cantilever cranes, a.nd on special uprig.hts. on the o~dide of the ship; the pneu­matic tools for r1vetmg, caulk mg, &c., are easily supported u pan the deck beam~ beoa.~se of their light weig.ht. .

The primary constderatton was to seoure o. w1de rad1us

E N G I N E E R I N G. of action and a reasonably large lifting power a.b high ~pe~d, because of the important desiderata which were 1~dtoated ab the commencement of this paper, and par­t.to~larly because of the economy which results from the hftmg of as much .of the maoh~nery and internal equip­~ent on b~ard while the vessel1s on the slip. Thus, for mstance, 1b l?ecomes a simple matter in the future to put on h<?ard qu10kly, and thus economically, all auxiliary ma~hmery, t he greater part of the water- tu be boiler ~QUlJ?ment, the bedpla.tes of the main engines, the shaft­InS: rtght up to the thrust-block, and ma.ny other details. It ts. true thn t part of this . work has been done in the past, but tb ha.s been accomphsbed at considerable coat with temporary sheerlegs, which had to be moved from time to t1me. The principal limiting condition to the work done before floating the ship is the ultimate weight to be launched. In the first place there is the load on the launching ways, which has nob hitherto exceeded to a.ny extent 3 tons per square foot, but it is more frequently le~s than 2~ to~s,, ~o that. there is, from ~his point of view, still some posst~tlity of mcrease. Agam, the dip of the stern of the sh.Ip ab launching is a determining factor. At the launcbmg ground ab Barrow, however there is sufficient margin for carryiag out the ultimate ~im.

(To be continued. )

NOTES FROM THE NORTH. GLASGOW, W ednesday.

Glasgow Pig-Iron Market.- At the forenoon session of the pig-iron market last Thursday some 7000 tons of iron were sold. Cleveland was forced a.way at the close a.nd the price fell 5~d. per ton, Scotch ~iving way l~d: per ton; but hematite iron made another 9d. per ton. A good business was done in the afternoon, close on 15 000 tons changing hands. P rices were better, Scotch clo~ing 4~d. up from the forenoon, Cleveland 3d., and hematite iron also 3d. per ton. Cleveland was dealt in at 46s. to 45s. lld. two months. The settlement prices were ; ~catch 54s. ; C~evela.nd, 45s. 7~d .; hema.tite iron, 603. per ton: Scotch u onmasters generally have followed the advance of Is. per ton made last Wednesday by Messrs. William Baiid and Co. Glasgow pig-iron market was q uite idle on Friday forenoon, only one lot of Cleveland being dealt in ab 45s. lld. cash per ton, an improvement of l !d. per ton. Scotch warrants were q uoted 3! d. per ton lower for cash at 54s. l~d. per ton sellers, but unchanged for one month ab 54s. per ton sellers. In the afternoon about 4000 tons changed hands, the market closing with a steadier tone. Scotch warrant$ closed only l id. down on the day at 54s. 3d. per ton cash sellers, while Cleveland finished up ab 45s. lO~d. per ton cash and hematite iron at 60s. 6d. per ton sellers one month. The settlement prif.Jes were : 54s., 45s. lO~d., and 60s. per ton. Owing to the occurrence of Saint Lubbock's Day, business was suspended on Monday, hub it was resumed in the forenoon of Tuesday. A moderate amount of dealing was engaged in, confined to 6000 tons of Cleve­land iron, and prices were firm in sympathy with American a.d vices. Scotch was unchanged from Friday but Cleveland made 6d. per ton, and hematite iron 3d. A small amount of business wa.s done in the afternoon, a.nd the tone was a ~bade easier, Cleveland giving way 1~d. from the forenoon cloae. The sales amounted to 6000 tons, including Scotch at 52s. 9d. and 52s. lOd. for the end of the yea.r, and Cleveland at 46s. 3d. to 46s. ld. two months: Tbeclosing settlementprices were : 54s., 46s. 4,d., and 60s. lO~d . per ton. The warrant ma.rkeb wa.s tdle this forenoon. Some 6000 tons, all Cleveland, were dealt in, and the price gave wa.y l~d. per ton. At the afternoon session about 2000 tons changed hands, and Cleveland recovered ~d. Several lots of ClevelR.nd were also done at 46s. 2~d. to 46s. 3d. two monthe. The settlement prices were : 54s., 46s. l ! d., and 60.s. 3d. per ton. The following are the market quotations of makers' No. 1 iron: Clyde, 66s. per ton ; Ga.rtsherrie, 66s. 6d. ; L angloan, 67s. ; Calder, 67s. 6d. ; Summerlee, 703. 6d.; Coltness, 72s. 6d.-the foregoing all shipped ab Glasgow; Glen­garnock (shipped a.t Ardrosse.n), 66s.; Shotts (shipped a.t L eith), 70s.; Carron (shipped at Grangemouth), 67s. 6d. per ton. In the early part of last week there were glow­mg reports from a.ll the iron and steel districts of the kingdom-England, Scotland, a.nd Wales ; and spurred on by these reports and aided by the congested state of the '' bear" account, the warrant market for the rest of the week, especially for Cleveland and hemati be iron, showed great livelinesP, a.nd a considerable amount of business wa.s transacted. It is quite sa.fe to say that all round, during the last fortni~ht, there has been a. good sound improvement in the u on trade, with consumers everywhere freely covering; but to represen't a. sudden spurt in buying as a genuine wave of a.n onward t rade movement is going a. little too far, and a little time should be given to test the permanency of this very sudden im­provement. It is also important to take into account the state of the Continental demand, as reports from Ger­many, Belgium, and France are duller than ever. Trade reports from America show a disbincb weakness, and the etrike there, with all i ts baleful influences, may throw some American pig iron into some of our home and foreign markets. Scotch makers are generally higher in ~rice, but cannot be described a~ holding firmly for tbetr ad­vances except for hematite iron, which is in strong de­mand, and commands sellers' prices. Both steel­makers and founders here are buying more freely. Messra. Connal and Co.'s public warrant stores contained 59,110 tons of iron yesterday afternoon, as compared wi th 50,110 tons yesterday week, thus showing no change for the week.

Death of Mr. Hugh Ba'rclay, of Oalde1· Iron Works.­Mr. Hugh Barclay, general manager of the Calder Iron Works, belonging to Messrs. Dixon. Limited, died at his residence, a.t the works, early yesterday morning. He

[AuG. 9, 1901. - -belonged t~ Tighua.bru.aich, in the Kyles of Bute, and after studymg theorettoa.l a.nd J?ract10a.l chemistry in one of . the Glasgo~ la.borator1es, be took service under S tr J ames Bam and Co., ab Ha.rrington Iron­\VOrks, Cumberland. About nine years ag:o he joined th~ ()alder \Vorks as manager, and while there be butlt a new blast - furnace, and carried out other iz;nprovements, i~?luding the manufacture of spiejel­eisen and ferro-s1licon for the steelmaker~. Mr. Bar­clay had. a. f~w weeks ago intend~d to take a voyage ~o AmencR, m the hope that h1s health might be 1mproved. He was a foundation member and a. member of council of the West of Scotland Iron and Steel Insti­tute .. His death will be much regretted by a large circle of busmess and other friends. H e is survived by a. widow and two young children.

Dominion I ron for the Clyde-Within the {>8Sb few days two steamers have been chartered to bnng from 7000 to 8000 tons of Dominion pig iron from Cape Breton to the Clyde.

. Finished, Iron a;nd ~teel.-A firmer feeling is reported m Scotch steel trade 01rcles for ship· plates, the makers of which are now holding for 6l. 5s. per ton, less 5 per cent. In the Cambusla.ng district the steel trade ha~ for some time back been anything but brisk, but rosier outlooks a.re now reported. Some of the millmen employed a.t the Hallside .Works by the ~teal Company of Scotland have, along wtth other sectiOns, made a. start this week the first since the Fa.ir holidays. The Clydebridg~ Steel Works, near Cambuslang, have started after a much longer holiday. It was stated lately in one of the Glasgow papers that Messrs. H arland and Wolff Belfast, shipbuilders, had purchased the Clydebridg~ Works, but there is no truth in the report. Some of the makers of malleable iron are fairly well supplied with orders and are busily engaged on them.

Sulphate of Ammonia.-There is a fairly brisk demand for this commodity a.b lOl. 12s. 6d. to l Ol. 15s. per ton. Last week's shipment from Leibh amounted to 500 tons. Ne1~ Bo~t anuJ, Rivet W:orks at A irdrie.- On Monday, a.t

the A1rdne Dean of Guild Court, the North-West Rivet Bolt, and Nut Factory, Limited, had plans passed and lining grante~ fo.r the erection of ala.rge new factory at Bellsdyke, Audne, on the lands of Mr. John Wilson, M.P. Operations are being started a.t once for the erec­tion of the works, which are to expected to afford employ­ment to a large number of people in the district.

T he Late E x.-Lord Provost Ure.-Death has just carried away ex-Lord P rovost U re, LL.D., whose health had for the better part of a year given aome anxiety to his friends. ~e was in. his seventy-eighth yea.r, began li fe as a. baker m the Br1ggate of Glasgow, and then went into the mill­ing business, in which he was really the largest miller in Scotland. When the milling trade was a.b a low ebb a. number of years ago, Mr. U re took a. trip to America to learn what wa~ doing there with metal rollers in the production of flour. He came back to Glasgow a.nd had his Wa~hington -street mills entirely adapted to the new system of milling, and, so confident was he that he was on the right track, that he built another mill -the "Regent "-wbioh has been _pronounced as the finest in the northern kingdom. It is lighted with electricity, and is fitted on the roller system, the flour being of the very highest quality. As a city governor ~1r. U re attained to a .very high position, and was long m office. After he ret1red from the Town Council the 1Jniversity made him a.n LL.D., a.nd for the rest of his hfe he was deputy-chairman of the Clyde Trust, in which body he did excellent service, and in him a worthy, honourable, and successful career has come to an end.

The Technical (JoUege.-A few days ago,· wben ,''report­ing progress." in reference to t~e subscription being raised for the erectiOn of a new techmcal college. the chairman's committee announced that Mrs. J ohn E lder had pro­mised to contribute 5000l. towards the building fund, and bha.b the Scotch Education Department had agreed to make a grant of 5000l. so soon as the subscription list amounted to 98, OOOl. The build in~ fund now stands a.b 98,051l. 13s. 2d., including a donat10n of 2000l. from the Nobel's Explosives Company.

NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE. SHE!!'PIELD, W ednesday.

Election of Master Ouiler.-On Tuesday the annua.l meeting of the Cutlers1 Company of Hallamsbire was held ab Sheffield, when Mr. Arthur Robert Ellin was elected master for the ensuing year. Mr. Ellin comes of an old Sheffield family. who ba.ve been engaged in the cutlery trade for considerably more than a. century, and he ts the third member of the family to hold t he office of master cutler. His grandfather, who commenced business in 1784. was elected to the position in 1833, a.nd h is father in 1841. When the grandfather decided to erect premises in Sylvester Gardens, now a densely populated pa.rt of the city, a. field of corn had to be cleared a.way before building operations could be commenced.

R eports of Local Com.panies.-The directors of Samuel Fox and Co., Limited, report a profit for the year of 34,631l., whioh, added to 17,925l. from last year, gives a. total available balance of 52,556l. It is proposed to declare a dividend for the year of 12 per cent., free from income­tax. This will absorb 36,000l., leaving 16,556l. to be carried to nexb account.-The annual meeting of J. Gray­son Lowood and Co., Limited, was held on Tuesday a.t Sheffield, Mr. Stuarb Wortley, M.P., presiding. The adoption of the report , which showed a. profit on the year's working of 725ll., was moved by the chairman, who remarked that effect bad been given in this yeaes accounts to the capital reduction soheme. Altogether

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42,000l. ha.d been written off. He trusted the company were now beginning to see an end of their recent diffi­culties. The report was adopted, and a. dividend of 5 per cent. per annum on the reduced paid-up capital of 45,000l. was declared, leaving 205l. to be carried forward.

Iron and Steel.-For some years a movement a.mongsb the leading firms in Sheffield has been spreading for con­centrating the holidays as much as possible. Ib has been found to be extremely inconvenient for a few men to be away a.t a time, and for the holidays to be spread praoti­oa.lly over the summer. They have therefore adopted the plan of closing the works during Bank Holiday week, and the men, knowing that such a holiday is coming, P.repa.re for it, and they work all the more regularly when 1t is over. Except in the departments having Govern­men~ contracts on hand, there is no great pressure. Some crucible steel manufacturers report that they are rather better off for orders, and should the strike in America. continue, a very considerable accession of business may be looked for.

South Yorkshire Coal Trade.-Little business is being done this week in some branches of the coal trade. Those colliery owners who have export contracts on hand have had their pits working fairly well, but others, who failed to secure a. renewal of last year's favours, are nob working more than two or two and a half days a week. A good many of the gas-coal contracts are still unplaced, the companies pressing for a lar~er concession than the 2s. 6d. offered by the owners. Owmg to the holidays the demand this week for coal for manufacturing purposes has been quieter. The house-coal pits are doing better, although the laying in of stooks for winter has scarcely commenced. Prices all round are rather firmer. The reduction of the output at many collieries has caused a scarcity of coke-making material, with a result that much less is being produced, and prices are still moving upwards. During the last two months blast-furnace coke has gone up 3s. per ton, and the quotations for steel-making cokes show an upward t endency.

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE NORTHERN COUNTIES.

MIDDLESBROUGH, Wednesday. The (J[eveland I ron T 1·ade.-Yesterday there was only

a small attendance on 'Change, many of the habitues being absent on J?leasure bent; and this, of course, to some extent curtailed business. The tone of the market>, however, was most cheerful, and quotations all round were firm. Pig- iron makers, most of whom have recently made good contracts, were in no hurry to do business, some of them, in fact, preferring to hold off for the present in the confident belief thab quotations will further advance in the early future. Merchants sold No. 3 g. m. b. Cleveland pig iron at 1-6s. for prompt f.o.b. delivery, and that was the general market quotation, though some of the leadin_g producers were not inclined to quote below 46s. 6d. No. 1 Cleveland pig was 48s.; No. 4 foundry, 44s. 6d.; grey forge, 43s. 6d. to 44s.; mottled, 43s. ; and white, 423. 6d. A very good demand for East Coast bematite pig wa.."i reported, and many buyers complained that they experience consider­able difficulty in obtaining what they need to meeb their early requirements. Some of the makers were said to be so full of work that they could not enter into further contracts for delivery over the present quarter. Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were put a.t 57s. 6d. for early delivery . Spanish ore was a little stronger in sympathy with the improvement in pig iron. Rubio was 15s. 6d. delivered at wharf here. To-day the market was firm, but prices was not quotably changed.

Manuj actwred I ron and Steet.- In the manufactured iron and steel trades there is now very considerable activity. Nearly all the firms in the district have re­cently booked a good number of orders, and pretty full employment over the autumn months is now assured. Quotations have a. strong upward tendency and may be further advanced any day. Common iron bars are 6l . 5s., best bars 6l. 15s., iron ship-plates 6l. 17s. 6d., steel ship­plates 6l. 5s., steel hoop 7l., and steel sheets 8l. 10s.-a.ll leas the customary 2i per oenb. discount for cash. Heavy sections of steel rails are 5l. lOa. net at works.

Coal and Coke.-Coal may be described as steady. The demand for gas qualities is improving, and quotations are firm. Bunker coal is very plentiful, but the large demand keeps prices up. Household coal very flat. Coke in excellent request1 and average blast-furnace qualities are fully 15s. 6d. dehvered here, while for besb kinds up to 16s. 6d. has been realised.

Pease amd Partners.- To-day Sir Joseph Pease, Bart., M .P ., presided ab the annual meeting of Pease and Partners, Limited, which was held ab Da.rlington, and attended br over 40 shareholders. The directors present were: Sir David Dale, Bart., and Messrs. Pike Pease, M.P., Joseph Albert Pease, M.P., Arthur Fra.nois Pease, Albert Ed ward Pease. and Ed ward Lloyd Pease. Sir Joseph Pease, Bart., M.P., in moving the adoption of the report, commented upon the faob that when they appealed to the public with their prospectus they gave a guarantee that a certain return should be forthcoming. They had been able to fully maintain that undertaking, and he l)Ointed out thab although the profits for the pasb year had been abnormal, they must remember that in one branch of the trade the sale had also been abnormal, a fact which might not again occur. In view of that emer­gency, the directors recommended that a larger amount should be placed to the reserve fund, and in that way they would strengthen their position so as to enable them to meet any de:pression in trade which might arrive. Sir David Dale se~onded the motion to adopt the report7

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

which was agreed to. Sir J o~eph P~~ae then mov.ed t~at a dividend of 25s. per share m add1t10n t? the .mterim dividend of 10s. per share be declared. ~~.r Dav.td Dale seconded and it was adopted. The retumg duectors, Sir Joseph Pease and Sir Dav_id Dale, w~re re-elected, and the directors thanked for thetr past serv10es.

NOTES FROM 'J.1HE SOUTH-WEST. CardiO'. -The steam coal trade has shown a firm tone,

as supplies promise to be somewhat scarce. The best steam coal has been making 18~. 6d. to 198. 6d. per ton, while secondary qualities have brought 17s. to 18s. per ton. House coal has shown little change ; No. 3 Rhondda large has made 15s. 9d. to lG~. per ton. Foundry ~oke has been quoted at 183. to 198. per ton. As regards u on ore the best Rubio has made 14s. Gd. per ton, while T afna has been quoted ab 15s. to 153. 6d. per ton.

Bristol and South Wales Wagon Company, Limited.­The half-yearly meeting of this company was held .at Bristol on Friday, Colonel Savile presiding. The ohau­man moved the adoption of the report, an? .congratulated the shareholders on the fact that the dtvtdend was the same as it had been for seventy-nine half-yearly meetings. A dividend ab the rate of 10 p er cent. per annum free .of income-tax was decla red, and M essrs. Almond and Sav1le were re-appointed direcbors.

Taunton T1·amways.-It is expected that the official in­spection of the T aunton electric tramways will be made to-morrow (Saturday), and thab the oars will be running next week.

Dartmoo1· Water.-Mr. W. Ingha.m, C.E., borough water engineer of Torquay, has read a paper to the Devon­shire Association upon "Statistics Dealing with Evapora­tion, Rainfall, and D elivery of Streams in Devonshire." Mr. Ingham stated that the evaporation from the surface of the 'forquay reservoir (82! acres) was about 37,500,000 gallons per annum, equal in weight to 165,220 tons. Evaporatio!l from land surface in Devonshire varied between 14 in. to 18 in. per annum. The Torquay water­shed was situated between 780 ft. and 1170 ft. above the Ordnance datum. The driest year was 1887, with a rain­fall of 27.54 in. The wettest year was 1882, with a rain­fall of 52.17 in. Speaking generally, the latter part of the morning was the driest part of the day in Devonshire. The rainfall was much less on the north-east side of Dart­moor than on the south-west side. It was a peculiar fen.~ ture of the Torquay watershed that the rainfall decreased as the height of the gauges above the sea level in­creased. Ib was an uncommon event at such low levels, and was due to the influence of the adjoining range of Dartmoor. De\'onshire's population might be taken ab 660,000. At 25 gallons per day, t he quantity of water used would be 5,967,000,000 gallons per annum. Taking Da.rbmoor at 240 square miles, and the mean rain­fall at 55 in. per annum, the total fall would be 190,080,000,000 gallons annually. But supposing only one-half of this was available for water supply, Dartmoor was capable of supplying 10,400,000 persons with 25 gallons per bead per day. Under the circumstances, Devonshire need n ob be afraid of inviting London to partake of its supply of pure water.

Gas at Oan·diff. - Tbe price of gas for public lighting at Cardiff was commented upon at the last sitting of the electric light committee of the town council on Thursday. It was stated that the price in Cardiff was 3s. per 1000 cubic feet, while Merthyr pa id 3s. 4d., Bristol 23. 1d.t Portsmouth 3s. Swansea. 3s., Liverpool 2s. 11d., ana Gloucester 2s. 6d.

Barry-Rhymney .Railway.- This new line is an exten­sion of the Ba.rry system, and will have bhe effeob o augmenting mineral traffic to Barry, as it opens up communication with the Abor, Rhymney, and T aff­Bargoed valleys. The new line does away altogether with the necessity for usinfl' the Ta.ff line, and consider­ably reduces the run over the Rhymney, the traffic being taken over by the Barry at Penrhos Junction, and con­veyed direct to Barry. The contractors for the new line were Messrs. Price and Wills, who were also the con­tractors of the Ba .. ry No. 2 D ock and the Barry Island Railway, the work being carried out under the super­vision of Mr. J. Bell, the engineer of the Ba.rry Company.

Oard~O' Tra;mways.-An arrangement has been arrived ab between the Cardiff Tramway Company n.nd the tram­ways committee of the Cardiff Town Council, by which the purchase price of the undertaking is fixed at 40, OOOl. If the council confirms the action of the committee, there will be no arbitration.

Vale of GlfJITMrg(J/Jt .Railway.-The directors recommend a dividend at the rate of 3t per cent. per annum. The award in an arbitration between the company and the contractors has been delivered. In directs the I,>ayment to the contractors of 29, 716l. with the costs of thetr claim, and that the contractors shall pay to the company the costs of a counterclaim. Differences between the company and the Barry Railway Company are now the su bjeot of negotiations between the two Boards.

N ewport Tramways.-Messrs. S. Andrews and Son's lease of the Newport tramway system having expired, the lines have reverted to the town council, which will work them in future. The oars, horses, stook, &o., have been taken ab a valuation. Until completely equipped for electric traction, the oars are to be drawn by horses.

L ondon and South· Western Railway. -The ratio of the working expenses to the traffic receiplis upon the London and South-Western Railway in the first half of this year were 63.12 per cent., a-s compared with 60.08 per cent. in the firet half of 1900. The steamboat receipts showed au

increase in the first half of t~is ye_ar of 3190l., while the expenses increased 4793l., entnely tn consequence of_ the enhanced cost of coal. The Basingstoke and Alton LtghtJ Railway has been opened for traffic! and the A:mesbury and Military Camp Light Railway IS appro.aohiDg com-

letion. The works of the Meon. Valler lme and the ~xmouth and Salterton line are bemg aottvely pro.ceeded with. The doubling of the Farnham and Al~n h~e has been brought into use, and a. new fly-ov~r JUnotlOn at Pirbrighb, for the accommodatiOn o~ up.trams from Alder­shot and for the relief of the mam hne, has also been ~pe~ed. Widenings of the line between Waterloo ~nd Clapham Junction, between Hampton Courb and Wok1~g, and between W oking and ~asingstoke, ar~ proceedmg satisfactorily. The expenditure made dunng the first half-year for additional working stook was 67. 090l., the whole outlay made under this head to the close of June, 1901 being carried in consequence to 5,240,055l. The number of locomotives upon the system ~t the. close ?f June, 1901, was 733. The number of vehtoles m use m the coaching department a.t the same date was 3948; and the number of vehicles in use for the conveyance of mer· ohandise and minerals was 13,727. The cost of locomo­tive power in the first half of this year was 417,753l., as compared with 359, 711l. in the first half of 1900. T~e aggregate distance run by trains in the. first half of t.hts year was 8,557,360 miles, as compared wtbh 8, 629,488 miles m the firso half of 1900.

Ba1·ry Rail1vay.-The accounts for the pasb half-year show a balance of 5!,265l. available for divid~n? on the ordinary stook. The directors recommend a diVIdend ab the rate of 7 per cent. pe~ annum, absor~ing 52, 922l., and leaving 1343l. to be carrted to the oredtb of the our­rent half-year. The deep look was re-ope~ed Febr uary 25. In view of the fact that the wall wh10h has been restored has been g reatly strengthened, ~nd that ot.her new works have been executed in oonneot10n thereWith, 20 OOOl. of the cost has been charged against capital J the balance, 32,631l ., being placed to the debit of. the net revenue account. The accounts show that the 1tems of capital expenditure for the pasb half.yea.r also include 5229l. for additional accommodation, 1062l. for a new rolling bridge, 1], OOOl. in respect of dock No. 2, 2700l, for a new locomotive, 39,4 l4l. on account of the new Rhym. ney branch, and GOOOl. as a contribution towards doubling the Brecon and Merbhyr Company's Rhymney branch.

PROPOSED SumrAlUNE NAPHTHA PRODUCTION.-During the last few yes.rs the possibili ty of obtaining naphtha. from submarine deposits has attracted considerable atten­tion in Russia, and the matter has been specially reported upon and laid before a committee. That important sub­marine naphtha dAposit3 exist is hardly quesnionable. The peninsula of Absoheronforms the basisoftheBaku naphtha. industry, but there is no reason to suppose thab the naphtha deposits should stop ab B aku; on the contrary, they probably continue in an eastern direction, below the seahthere being many circumstances which indicate that sue is the case. The possibility of extending Baku's naphtha industry below the sea is therefore under serious contemplation. Two coast areas in particular are re­ceiving special attention, viz. : Bibi-Eiba.t, and the coast of the island of Swjitoi, both districts form the geological continuation of the naphtha-carrying layers of Baku. The depbh of water at the island of Swjitoi ranges from 14ft. to 50 ft., and ab Bibi-Eibat to some 30 h. The questions which have offered themselves for consideration are, in the first instance, t>be collecting and storing of large quantities of naphtha, the complete regulation of the springs, guarantee against any risk from fire, the comple­tiOn without danger of the necessary works, and, finally, that the submarine naphtha production must not interfere with or do harm to the existmg naphtha industry. The plant and other requisites will, to a great extent, be the same for the submarine naphtha industry as used on land; naphtha reservoirs, power stations, pumping stations, &o., will be wanted just as on shore. As ohere appears bo be every reason to believe that the submarine naphtha deJ?osits may be just as n ob as those on shore, the instal­la tiOns for the former musb naturally be on a similar scale. Transport by means of boats is not looked upon as prac­ticable, partly on account of the large quantities of sand, which the fountains generally throw up together with the naphtha, and partly because it would entail considerable danger and be very difficult with a rough sea, such as mighb frequently be expected in winter time. CrS\ft worked by steam engines would also incur considerable risk in an atmosphere full of naphtha vapours, and so would boats with naphtha or kerosene motors. The risk might be re­duced, but cannot be removed altogether. Every precaution against fire must be taken, and the reservoirs must be built of a material capable of resisting both £re and water. The committee, which has been considering this question, has, under the circumstances, arrived ab the conclusion bhab an exploitation of the submarine naphtha deposits will be both troublesome and risky from the surface of the sea, and ib therefore reports in favour of closin~ off the district in qnestion from the sea, and working 1t in the ordinary manner. This damming off is, however, a. somewhat costly business, and the question remains~ how remuner&ti ve an undertaking of this kind will prove. In all probability the firsb attempt of drawing naphtha. from submarine soil will, however, be made at Romany L ake, one of the centres of the B aku naphtha industry. It is p roposed to empty and lay dry the lake in question, and several groups of naphtha. firms have already tried to secure the concession, but the Orown does not find their offers sufficiently good. The committee which is dealing with this question therefore proposes that the Crown shall itself lay dry the lake, and then let the area. in the usual ml:\nner.

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8 0 - T 0 N F L 0 AT I N G CRAN E F 0 R THE SA N T 0 S HA R B 0 U R W 0 R K S.

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AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING." AUSTR.tA, Vienna. : Lehma.nn and Wenbzel, Karbnerstrasse. CAPE ToWN : Gordon and Goooh. EDINBUR.GR: John Menzies and Oo., 12, Hanover-sbreet. FR.ANOB, Paris : Boyveau and Chevillet, Librairie Ebra.ngere, 22,

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TELEGR.tlPBIO ADDRRSB-ENGINEERING, LONDON.

TELEPHONE NUMBER-3663 GePI'&I'd.

• CONTENTS, PAGB

The Construction and Syste­matic Manufacture of Alternators (Illustrated) 173

Engineering V a.luations . . . . 17 4 Tbe Institution of Mecha­

nical Engineers (lllm. ) .. 178 Lengtheoinga Steam Yacht

(Illustrated) . . . ... - · . . 182 Rhodesian Railway Rolling

Stook (lllmtrated) . . . . . . 182 80-Ton Floating Crane (Il­

lustrated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 182 The Arrangement and

Equipment of Shipbuild-ing Works (lll'U8t'rated) .. 183

Notes from the North .... 186 Notes from South Yorkshire 186 Notes from Cleveland and

the Northern Counties .. 187 Notes from the South-West 187

PAGE The Naval Manoouvres .... 189 Opposition to Private Bills 190 The 0Prtification of Boiler

and Engine Attendants.. 191 The Westing house Electrical

Company in Eo gland . . . . 192 Notes .•....••.•.•..•••••• 198 Notes from the United

States . .. .•. .. . ....... .• 194 The Responsibility for

Damage by Floods . . . . . . 194 Prevention of Corruption . . 194 The DO rr Boiler • .. . .. .. .. 19~ Hi~h Explosives in Shells . . 196 Miecellanea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Indust rial Notes .... .. .. .• 197 Naval Ordnance (Jllus.) . ... 199 " En~eering " Patent Re-

cord (lllustrat.ed) .• ••.... 203

With a Two-Pagt Engramng of a-n 80-TON FLOATING CIU.NB FOR TBE SANTOS HARBOUR WORKS.

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E N G I N E E R I N G. -0 .

TRACTION and TRANSMISSION. (Published on the jin·st Tuesd4y in eaoh month.)

No. 6 NOW R•EADY. PRIOB 28., Net; POST .FRBB 28. 4d.

Published at the Offices of ENGINEERING, 86 and 86, Bedford Street, Strand, London, W. C.

CONTENTS OF No. 5. COMPLETING VOL. I. PltiOE 12s. 6d.

l'AOE 1. Notes on the Glasgow Corpom·

t!on Tmmways. By J ohn Young, Ge11eml Mannger ........ .... .. 240

2. Munlolpa.l Trtuling: (a) By the Editor of the Muni­

ctpa t J ourtr a£ (b) By Sydn ey Morse (oJ By E. 0 . Smith .......... 244

3. GlJAsoow CoRPORA1 JON T RAM· WAYS (PII\tes LX. to LXXXVIII. o.nd Tllustro.tlons In Text) ...... 258

I'AOE Electric Power at &rrow-ln-

Furness ........................ '187 The La.u caahtre E teotrlo Power

Col t1J).t\llY • • . • • • • • • • . • . • • . • • • • • • 9.89 ELECTRIO P OWER SUPPLY ON 'r vNE·

BIDE. (Plates LXXXIX. to XOVli., and Dlustratlona in Text} . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Notes fl'' m South Statrordsb Ire a t&d Dlstr tr t .......... •. .. . .... . 303

INDEX 'fO VOL. T.

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Plymouth and Devon port, A •tgust 12 to 17. Visi~ to His M!l'jesty's Dockyard, Devonport; H.M.S. O~mbrirlge (gunnet'y sbtp) and H.M..S. Defiance (torpedo school sbtp); Keyham Dockyar~ Ex~n­sion WorkR ; KPyham Steam Yard and Royal Naval Engmeermg College; Royal Wllliam Victualling Yard ; Saltaeb Tubular Bridge ; and other works and places of engineering interest in the neighbourhood. The Summer Dinner of t he Institution takes place at the Hotel Oontioenta1, P lymouth, on Friday, August 16.

ENGINEERING. FRID.A. Y, AUGUST 9, 1901.

THE NAVAL MANCEUVRES. THE naval manceuvres for 1901 were brought to a

conclusion on Monday last by an engagement fought off the Cornish coast, and which would appear to have resulted- the decision of the umpires is not yet announced-in the victory of the ''X" Fleet, corn­manded by Admiral Wilson. It will be evident that the chief object of make-pretend warfare is to learn '' how not to do it," for the conditions must be so different from those which would be present with the real thing, that we must look to negative rather than to positive results. In this respect the authorities who govern the destinies of the Navy do not always appear to take full advan­tage of the harvest of experience which these opera­t ions spread before them year after year ; though doubtless many changes find their way into the pro­cedure of the Fleet which might be traced to the lessons of the manreuvres, though in our ignorance we fail to recognise the fact.

In all sham fights-as it used to be the fashion a generation ago to style what we now call man­amvres-there must always be absent the one great element of success and failure of all real fights, the test of accuracy of gun fire. Let umpires be ever so prescient, they can never allow for this. It is both a snare and an ad vantage ; it makes the task of those who plan the general idea more easy, because it enables an old and comparatively obso­lete vessel to be put on an equality with one of modern date. That is the plain advantage ; the snare is equally obvious, for the practice inclines us to be forgetful of the undoubted defects of many of the ships upon which we place reliance for the safe­guarding of the country. We are always too apt­perhaps, more especially Parliamentarians and Admiralty Boards, are too apt-to gauge our naval strength by a peace standard; to judge the efficiency of the Fleet by the sole duties it has been called upon to perform for nigh upon a century, with very few exceptions. Since the year 1805, when the great sea fight was fought off Cape Trafalgar, no serious call has been made upon the British Navy to put forth its might in battle array; and, indeed, the world yet lacks a great practical object-lesson of naval warfare under modern conditions of steam, armour, rifled ordnance, and high explosives. Long may it continue to do so !

But though peace operations cannot prove gun efficiency, either in regard to the effect of projec-

' ' ... ~ --tiles fired or the handling of the weapons, there is one great element of naval power that can ~e fairly well tested by naval manoouvres, and that IS

sea speed. If we turn to the list of ships e!lgag~d in this year·s operations, we find on one s1de-1n the . '' X " Fleet of Admiral Wilson-a compact and homogeneous squadron of modern .battleships opposed to a laro-er miscellaneous collectiOn of more or less obsolete ~easels, the "B" Fleet of Adm~ral Sir Gerard Noel. This defect of the defending force was strongly emphasized in the final engage­ment off the Lizard.

Rapid steaming, h~weve~, is a less. importa~t element of efficiency m shtps of the lme than m cruisers and we find again a wider divergence of speed b~tween the vessels of "B" Flee_t th~n in those of .Admiral Wilson's command. ThiS divergence, however is of smaller consequence for tactical purpose; than in the case of ships of the line, because the duties of cruisers lead to their more often acting singly, and when accompanying the Fleet their speed is nearly always sufficient to enable them to keep pace with the battleships. Such a consideration does not detract from the seriousness of having no first-class cruiser on either side with a designed speed on trial so high as 21 knots. In one case, however, a squadron of cruisers stood a good chance of failing to engage on advantageous terms through having to wait for the slower vessels. Indeed, the effect of speed in the cruiser class would appear to be emphasised as a result of the operations.

In general design the scope of the manoou vres just concluded, is similar to that of last year. The operations have led to more conclusive results, and the field of warfare was changed from the coast of Ireland to the Channel. The " B" Fleet of Admiral Sir Gerard Noel was cruising in the North Sea at the time war was declared ; but had de­tachments of cruisers and torpedo craft at Plymouth, Portland, and P ortsmouth. The task it had to perform was to obtain cotnmand of the E nglish Channel and its approaches, as well as those of the Irish Sea, and to protect the commerce converging towards our western and southern ports. The duty of the "X" Fleet was to destroy British commerce and drive in the opposing ships. Portsmouth, Portland, and Plymouth were the bases of "B" Fleet, and of its two subsidiary squadrons "C" and "D" of smaller craft. These ports were supposed to be in a complete state of military defence, but not altogether impregnable. Ireland, the Scilly Isles, and the Channel Islands formed the territory of the " X " Fleet, with its special squadrons "Y" and " Z," and a con­vention of absolute impregnability was awarded to these bases. In making a comparison of forces, it is found that "B" had twelve battle­ships as against eight of '' X ;" but, for reasons already referred to, there can be little doubt that Admiral Wilson directed the more powerful vessels had it been " the real thing .. " Each of the twa Admirals commanded five first-class cruisers : Admiral Noel had two more second-class cruisers than Admiral Wilson-seven against five; ''X" had two third-class cruisers against one of "B ;" and each had one torpedo-gunboat. Admiral Wilson had 32 destroyers, whilst Admiral Noel commanded only 28. Of torpedo-boats there were ten on each side.

In one feature a closer approach was at­tempted to the conditions of real warfare. It was laid down that the conditions under which ships would be put out of action would not be governed by definite rules. ''Each case must be decided on its merits by the umpires on the basis of what would be probable in war. . . . When either side considers that he has beaten the other

' he should signal ' propose reference to urn pires.' If the other agrees to the reference, the action is to cease. If the other does not agree the action may continue, but not for more than ~ reasonable time, which is to be determined by the senior officer present." The "reasonable time" is more definitely expressed as an hour for large craft and half-an-hour for torpedo vessels. When reference to the umpire has been agreed to, the senior officer present determines what ships on either side are to proceed to port to await t he decision of the

• ump1re. I t. would be profitless, with the imperfect infor­

matiOn we at presen~ possess, to trace in detail the movements of the opposing fleets. A good deal of attention appears to have been devoted to the bus­banding of coal; a most desirable economy of fight-

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

OPPOSITION TO PRIVATE BILLS.

[Ave. 9, 1901.

reported case relating to the opposition by a gas company to the promotion of a scheme for electric

ing force, but one that may easily be carried too far. Fog and hazy weather evidently played a part in the operations, although they did not effectually decide the issue, as on a former occasion. The Apollo and Latona of the "B "Fleet fell victims to this cause, being surprised by five "X " cruisers.

The value of signalling by wireless telegraphy has again been strongly emphasised by these manreuvres, information of great value being con­stantly transmitted and received in this way. It is, apparent, however, ths.t a secret code must be used for important communications. Several merchant vessels were captured, an eventuality that must be the accompaniment, for us, of any naval war between forces approximately well matched, and one which the nation would, in real hostilities, have to support with such philosophy as it could command; as it has had to do in past times. In naval manoouvres, however, the capture of a merchant vessel is largely a matter of form, as the traders take no trouble to keep out of sight, and do not care much whether they are brought-to or not. This is one of the unrealities of sham warfare.

TnE casual student of Parliamentary procedure lighting is th&t of the Hull Lighting Bill. There might be led to suppose that the Committees are the Corporation of the Borough of Kingston­guided by no well-defined principles in deciding upon- Hull, who alleged that their local Act whether to allow persons to be heard in opposition enabled them to provide for street lighting within to the private Bills which are brought before them. the borough by means of gas, oil, "or other­Each year enterprises of a new type spring up wise," sought statutory powers to raise money for which require Parliamentary sanction ; and before the purpose of public lighting by electricity. The a Committee of either House is left to decide Bill was opposed on the ground of competition by whether the necessary powers shall be granted to three gas companies which lighted different parts the promoters, it is necessary to consider the of the borough ; and on their behalf it was urged persons, orclasses of persons, who have a locus c;tandi, that under the local Act, as under the Public i .e., who are entitled to be heard in opposition to Health Act, 1875, the Corporation could not do the scheme. By having this question determined more than contract for a supply of the means of before the case for the promoters comes on for lighting, whether derived from gas, electricity, or hearing, the expense of entering a petition, instruct- other sources; and that a competition with private ing counsel, and of bringing forward witnesses to enterprise carried on by the help of the public support the opposition may be saved. rates stood on a different footing from a compe-

A reference to what are known as the loctldJ statndi tition between gas companies. It was decided that reports, a new number of which has recently been the petitioners were entitled to come in and oppose published by Messrs. Sanders and Austin, enables the Bill. It has also been established that a gas a would-be petitioner against a Bill to obtain company is entitled to oppose an electric-lighting some information as to his right to come in and scheme, although the promoters allege (a) that the oppose. Of course, it leaves the question whether gas company has no monopoly of lighting; (b) that his opposition is likely to be successful or not quite the principles applying to gas and electricity are open. In railway, tramway, and electric-lighting quite distinct from each other; and (c) that a cases, which are perhaps of the most general statutory gas company is not entitled to be heard interest at the present time, it is difficult to point against an electric-lighting order. [See the F ern­to any hard-and-fast principles by which the loc'l.t.S dale Gas Light and Coke and Water Works Com­stwndi committee is guided, as much depends upon pany, Limited, 1 S. and A. 314.]

An important part of the scheme of operations was the blockading, by Admiral Noel, of the Channel Islands, but this blockade was successfully 1·aised by Admiral Wilson, who brought nearly the whole of his ships to the task, so that the block­aders, who were not in such force, stood really no chance. Admiral Wilson appears to have been well served by his scouts; at any rate, he received aood information which enabled him to bring the ~aising of the blockade to a successful issue, and thus deprive his opponent of an important part of his force; indeed, after this, the merchant shipping in the Channel was in a parlous state.

The chief and crowning event of the manoou vres was the action off the Lizard. The operations so far had followed the almost inevitable course of naval warfare, real or sham, the opening hos­tilities being between cruisers and the smaller craft. But on Monday last at midday the opposing fleets met, and a grand naval engagement was fought at a spot that may, perhaps, some day se~ great issues decided. The full force of battleships was engaged on both sides, namely, twelve vessels of the "B ,, Fleet and eight of the "X ,, Fleet . The latter, however, had a marked superiority in cruisers and smaller craft ; there being five cruisers and but one destroyer in "B" under Admiral Noel as against twelve cruisers and five d.estroyers . attached to Admiral Wilson,s fleet. If sh1ps of their respec­tive classes had been equal, the tactical superiority manifestly rested with the defenders of t he Channel and shipping, "B ;" but ships were by no means equal, and the heterogeneou~ nature of Sir Gerard Noel's line of battle led to his defeat, so far as can be judged at present.. The diffic~lty .o~ carry­ing out tactical operatiOns ~nd m~tam1ng .a~y definite line of battle with sh1ps of var10us quaht1es was soon manifest, and this enabled Admiral Wilson to make most effective use of his cruisers. The two armoured cruisers of the "B ,, Fleet were also placed in the line of battle. This gave Admiral Wilson a manifest advantage for manoouvre purposes; but how it will be looked on by the um­pires remains to be seen. The slower ~peed ?f some of Admiral Noel's ships enabled Admu~l Wllson to concentrate his fire on a few vessels, a crrcumstance that in real warfare could have had but one result. The battle doubtless will prove useful, ~ven though the lessons it impressed are as old as shtps and guns themselves for it will impress still more strongly the need of homogeneity in the line of battle. The whole of the manoouvres have indeed been full of instruct ion, and the other great want of a fleet has once more been made manifest-the absolute neces­sity for fast cruisers. A blind man cannot expect to beat one who keeps his sight. Sir Gerard Noel had undoubtedly the more difficult task, and he appears to have had the worst of the luck. The fact that he failed to clear the Channel mus~ br no means be taken to indicate that Englan~ IS ~n a more insecure position than w~s formerly Imagined by some; but it may serve to brmg home to the many that there is need to make t~e Royal Navy ~ore complete than it now is; that 1t s~oul~ be orgaruse~ on an orderly and scientific bas1s, Wl~h each unit desirned for a definite duty, and no un1t absent. . ~ incident of the manceuyres of a dram3:t10

nature was the loss of the VIper t~rough g~mg ashore off Alderney in a. fog. Ha:pp1ly, ~o hves

lost and probably the Admrralty will take were , · . . d d d bt d t 8ae of the s1tuat10n to or er a new an ou -

a van o · 11 d d t les3 improved steam turbine-prope e es royer.

the evidence which a petitioner is able to bring 2. Opposition by Ratepaye1·s.- Where ratepayers forward. We can, however, suggest the following seek to oppose some Bill which is promoted by the general rules, which have been deduced from the local authority, the referees will generally satisfy consideration of a number of cases decided by the themselves that the opponents are representative "locus stcundi Committees." of the inhabitants at large.

Persons or companies are entitled to oppose: In a Welsh case, which was heard in 1899, the 1. When t.he object of the Bill is to authorise an promoters sought power to supply electricity within

undertaking which will compete with a similar un- the district of a local authority. They were opposed dertaking of the petitioners. Thus, one electric- by a number of ratepayers, whose right to be heard lighting company can oppose another, or a gas corn- was contested on the ground that they were not pany can oppose an electric-lighting scheme ; simi- representative of the general body of ratepayers. larly, an omnibus company may oppose the estab- It was also argued that, inasmuch as the local lishment of electric tramways over their line of authority had con~ented to the scheme, the objec­route. tion of the ratepayers was futile. It was held that

2. When they are representative of the body of the ratepayers could not be hea1·d. ratepayers who oppose the local authority in under- The salient rule that rival undertakings may taking the work. oppose each other does not seem to apply unless

3. When the proposed works will involve the the opposers' district is identical with that of the uprooting of streets, the duty of repairing which promoters. In the Bermondsey and Marylebone is on the opponent. Opposition of this kind is No. 12 Bill (1 S. and A., 249), the promoters, who usually met by protective clauses; on the other were the local authority of the district, sought to hand, no loc·us standi will be granted, so that it confirm an order authorising them to supply eleo­calls for no further comment. trio light within their district. The petitioners

4. When the undertaking is one which the pro- were two electric-lighting companies outside the posed opponents cannot lawfully carry on. district, who sought an opportunity to raise the

5. When the interest of the opponents in the question whether, when there is a statutory corn-scheme is of a merely general nature. pany already carrying on its business, powers

6. When the competition alleged is that which should be given to the local authority to enable it might exist between an electric tramway and a rail- to enter into competition with the existing corn­way, there having been in existence previously a pany. The promoters contended that the parties horse tramway continuously competing with the to be heard are the companies already supplying tramway. If, however, the electric tramway co~ers electric light within the district, but that the a long distance, it seems that a competing railway petitioners had no rights within the area, and were will be allowed to come in and oppose. not entitled to be heard. The petitioners were not

In illustration of the foregoing hypotheses it may allowed to oppose. be useful to refer to the following cases. It is a With regard to electric railways which involve distinctive feature of loc·tts stcundi cases that the the laying of wires, whether overhead or under­committee never give any reason for allowing or ground, in the streets, it was at one time decided disallowing the locus stcundi . The reason has to be that a gas company is entitled to loc'tts standi to enforced from the evidence and arguments adduced oppose any clauses in the Bill which affect their on either side. mains and pipes. Thus, in the Kidderminster

1. Oases in ·which the Pl'oposed Scheme is to Oom- Tramways Bill, 1896, the petitioners were a gas pete with One Owned by the Petitione1·s.- In the company, who alleged that the Bill would authorise Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway (Steamboat) the promoters to interfere with the access to, and Bill, 1865, in which the promoters sought power the maintenance of, their mains and pipes. They to provide and use steamboats in the transmission alleged that it would be impossible to work the of traffic between certain ports in Wales and any tramway without a liability to explosions, which ports in Ireland w~ch th~y. might think fit, th.e recent experience had shown might take place Steamship Owners A.sso01at10n of London pet1- through sparking. The promoters contended that tioned against the Bill, alleging that they repre- the petitioners were sufficiently protected by the sented parties who were owners of steamships and model clauses in the Bill. In spite of this, the gas other vessels engaged in carrying on communica- company were allowed to come in and oppose. tion between England and Ireland, and that the Opposition on this ground would not now be per­powers sought by the Bill, .if .all?wed to pass, wo~ld mitted. In the Airdrie Tramways Bill ( 1900) a authorise the company to lDJUrwusly compete with water company who supplied water in the district the petitioners. It was held that they were en- alleged that as they had mains and pipes benen.th titled to appear and oppose the Bill before the Corn- the road along which the tramways were to run, mittee. their interests would be prejudiced. The pro-

The plainest cases of the right to locus standi are moters pointed out (a) that the petitioners were those in which the opponents of a proposed measure amply protected both by the Tramways Act, 1870, are themselves the proprie~ors of, or interested in, sub-sections 30 a.nd 32, ~n~ by the Bill which incor­some undertaking of a similar character. Thus, as porated the spe01al provisions of the model clauses has been observed, a gas co~pany may oppos~ an whic~ were dr~wn on the re~ommendation of Lord electric-lighting scheme, and vtce ver$d. The ear best . Oross s Commlttee, and wh1ch secured gas and

AUG. 9, I90I.J

water companies from the effects of electrolysis. In consequence of this the Committee decided that there was no locus standi.

4. Whe?·e Petitioners have no L egal Right to Oa.trry on the Proposed Work.-An instance of a company being denied right of audience on this ground was afiorded by the Tyldesley Gas Bill in 1865. There, the local board sought powers to su_Pply gas to. certain districts. A gas company tned to obtam leave to oppose; but as it was shown that they had no power to break up streets in the affected areas, they were held to have no locus standi. -

5. Opposition of a Gene1'al Nature.-Those who oppose a .tramway or other scheme on general gr?unds w1ll generally have an opportunity of d01ng so by appearing as witnesses, though their locus standi as petitioners aaainst the Bill may be disallowed. o

6. Opposition of Railways to T1·am,ways.-Parlia­mentary Committees have shown a decided reluct­ance to allow any railway company to oppose the development of tramways which may compete with them. The development of electric tramways over long distances seems to have modified the rigour of this rule in recent years .

.In the Dublin United Tramwa.ys(Electrical.Power) B1ll [1897, 1 S. and A. 157], the Bill authorised the use of electrical motive power on the tramways of the promoters, who had also another Bill before Parlia­ment for the construction of further tramways. The petitioners, a railway company, alleged that provisions contained in a former Act were wholly omitted from this Bill, and that they would suffer by competition. In a former case, the same peti­tioners had been refused a locus st011tdi on similar allegations. The petitioners now contended that that decision should not be followed, on the ground that subsequent events had not proved that what was then considered to be merely an improvement of existing competition was in reality an entirely new form of competition. The promoters contended that the principal object of the Bill was to authorise substitution of electrical for animal power on their tram ways ; and they pointed out that the Court had already decided that this was merely an im­provement on existing competition, and that the petitioners were not therefore entitled to be heard. It was decided that the probable com­petition in this case would be so small as not to warrant the Committee in giving a locus stamdi. (Sectts, that in a case where stronger evidence of competition was put forward, the right to oppose would not be denied.) The principle here laid down was modified in the Airdrie and Coat­bridge Tramways Bill (March 20, 1900), which authorised the construction of tramways within the burghs of Airdrie and Coatbridge, to be worked by electrical power. The local authority of Coatbridge having refused their consent, the Standing Orders Committee struck out that portion of the Bill. The petitioners were two railway companies, who alleged that they were entitled to be heard against the Bill, as originally deposited, on the ground of competition. The promoters contended that there was no such competition in the Bill in the form in which it now came before Parliament as entitled the petitioners to be heard; and they further contended that, even assuming there was competition, it was contrary to the practice of the Court to allow railway companies to be heard against a street tramway on the ground of competition. It was held by the Court that the petitioners were entitled to be heard on the ground of competition. In the course of the argument the chairman said : '' It. must not be considered that we do not allow rail way companies a locus statuli against a tram way: that depends on the individual case. If the competition were merely with a short tramway within a particular borough, then, perhaps, the railway company could not make out a case; but an extensive tramway, to be worked at great speed by electrical energy, might become a formidable competitor to the rail way. "

The same argument was successfully used by the Great Western Railway, who sought to oppose the junction of the Uxbridge and Hanwell tram­ways. It was shown that by uniting these two systems, a tramway son1e 18 miles in length would come into serious competition with the company's passenger traffic from Uxbridge to London, and to intermediate stations.

The principle that a rail way company may in certain circumstances oppose an electric tram way applies also where an omnibus company is likely to be injured by electric!\} tram ways. Thus, in the

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

London County Council Tramways (No. 1) Bill (May 22, 1900), it was shown that the Bill autho­rises the promoters to construct tramways to be worked by electric traction, and to reconstruct other tramways. The petitioners were owners of practically the whole of the omnibuses working in London, and they claimed to be heard on the ground of competition and interference with streets. The promoters contended that the Bill would merely improve existing competition by converting horse tram ways, and that the petitioners were not entitled to be heard. The omnibus companies, however, were allowed to appeal.

THE CERTIFICATION OF BOILER AND ENGINE ATTENDANTS.

THE Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to consider the Steam Engines and Boilers (Persons in Charge) Bill have issued their report. In it they state that certificates have been required for engineers in seagoing steamships since 1862. Passenger and cargo steamers plying on lakes, canals, and rivers, and cargo vessels em­ployed within hoxne trade limits- that is, around the British Isles and the Continent of Europe, between the River El be and Brest-do not, however, require to can'y a certificated engineer. This distinction, it was held, seems to indi­cate that the certificate has been regarded as unnecessary where the steamships are under the more frequent and immediate control of the owners. The Committee report that the evidence given by the representatives of the trade unions, and the resolutions passed at their annual congresses, indicate that a desire exists on the part of those they represent that a system of certificates for persons in charge or control of certain classes of land boilers and engines should be established. The Committee, however, consider that if such a. system were to be established, it would require to include all boilers and engines, whether worked by steam, oil, gas, or electricity, no evidence having been brought forward by those in favour of the Bill to show why any particular class or classes of engines or boilers should be excluded. They also consider t hat if that was the case, certificates might with equal reason be required for persons in charge of cranes, hoists, steam hammers, and other similar machines.

In the opinion of the Committee there is no necessity for any such system of certificates, seeing that the facts and figures brought to their know­ledge indicate that great care appears to be taken in the selection of capable, trustworthy, and quali­fied persons to take charge of engines and boilers, and that the owner of the engine or boiler on whom the liability rests in case of accidents and explosion, is the person on whom the absolute responsibility of selection should continue to be placed. Th~y con­sider that if a system limiting the charge and control of boilers and engines to certificated persons were established, it would unduly restrict the opportunitieb of selection, especially in outlying localities ; and whilst such certificates would offer some guarantee of technical knowledge, there would be a danger that less attention would be paid to the more important questions as to the practical experience, moral character, nerve, and common sense of an individual applicant. Having regard to the enormous nu m her of boilers in use, the figures for recent years, the Committee point out, do not indicate that accidents arising from ignor­ance on the part of the persons in charge are numerous. The Committee, in view of the opinions they have expressed in the report, have therefore not considered it necessary to suggest amendments in the Bill which was referred to them.

This decision is of great importance, and it is interesting to review the evidence upon which it is based. And first it may be said that the Committee consisted of the following members: Mr. William Allan, Mr. Baldwin, Sir John Brunner, Mr. Crean, Mr. Galloway, Sir Alfred Hickman, Mr. Jacoby, Mr. N annetti, Lieutenant-Colonel Pilkington, Sir Francis Powell, Mr. Renshaw, Colonel Royds, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. John Wilson (Durham), and Sir Thomas Wrightson. Several sittings were held. Mr. H. S. Cunynghame, Assistant Under Secretary at the Home Office, who was amongst the most important witnesses, said that the general view of that department was that the necessity for legisla­tive interference in cases of danger depended on the danger to life which was shown to actually exist. Comparatively very few accidents occurred in con-

nection with steam engines. He handed in to the chairman a memorandum containing all the informa­tion on the subject of the inquiry at the disposal of the Home Office.

Mr. Carey, secretary of the United Alkali Com­pany, Limited, said he appeared also at the request of the Alkali Association. His company had 528 boilers, working at pressures varying from 10 lb. to 100lb. The definition of a boiler in the Bill was not, he thought, satisfactory. He suggested that it should be defined as '' any closed vessel used for genera­ting steam or for heating water or other liquids by direct fire," and should include the necessary fit­tings. He thought that boilers used for agricultural purposes and those for travelling shows were far more likely to be inefficiently managed than boilers in factories, and should be included in the Bill. The proposal that persons in charge of boilers should hold certificates was, in his opinion, quite uncalled for, and was likely to harass trade. He agreed that boilers should be periodically inspected by competent and independent inspectors, such as those by insurance and inspection societies ; and further, he thought a register should be kept. Travelling boilers should not be granted permits to work before a certificate of an inspector had been produced to the local authority or the police. In his experience, accidents were not due to the in­competency of the men in charge, but to the negli­gence of employers and the use of inefficient boilers.

Mr. E. G. Hiller, chief engineer of the National Boiler and General Insurance Company, said that in their experience it was found that the ignorance as regards technical matters on the part of those in charge very seldom affected the safety of the boilers and their working. The cause of explosions generally came under two main heads. One was defective condition, and was mainly controllable by efficient inspection. The other was mistakes, negligence, and mismanagement on the part of those in charge of the boilers. Some of the oases that occurred might be attributable to a lack of technical knowledge, but it was exceedingly un­common at the present time to meet with a boiler attendant who was not fully alive to the importance of seeing that the safety valve was free and reliable in its action by test. He had never met with an attendant who did not realise the danger of allow­ing the boiler t.o get short of water. Overheating through deposit and the presence of grease had sometimes caused explosions. The evidence afforded by the number of boiler explosions which had occurred indicated that such legislat'ion as the Bill proposed was not required, and that a majority of explosions due to mistakes, negligence, and mis­management were attributable rather to ordinary carelessness than to the lack of technical know ledge, and would be just as likely to occur to men who had certificates as to those who had not.

Turning to the details of the Bill, witness men­tioned that the term '' boiler " evidently would include hot-water boilers at chapels and schools, and certificated attendants would be necessary in such cases. This would cause great difficulties in working, the number of these boilers being so very large. The fact that he had not been able to find that boiler explosions were due to the lack of tech­nical knowledge on the part of the attendants had led him to doubt whether any object would be gained by giving certificates.

Mr. J. W. Restle1·, C.E., engineer to the South­wark and Vauxhall Water Company, said that at their various stations his company had about ninety­five boilers in use, working at pressures ranging from 40 lb. to 200 lb. per square inch. There was a resident engineer at each station, and in some cases he held a Board of Trade certificate. The stokers and attendants were trustworthy men, who h~d been in the company's employ for many years. If anything unusual was reported, an inspection was made by skilled men. Weekly reports by the men in charge were made, and entries were kept in a register, which were carefully considered from time to time. The metropolitan water companies were strongly opposed to the registration of boiler and engine attendants. If certificates were re­quired, the number of men available would be seriously restricted, combination would be assisted, and, in the event of a strike, the boilers could only be kept going with difficulty. The water com­panies had duties to the public to perform, and he thought they should be excluded from the operations of the Bill, especially as they did every­thing possible to secure safety. The responsibility

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for his company's boilers rested upon himself, and there had been no serious accident for the last ten years. If the attendants were certificated, in his opinion it did not follow that they would be more competent. He looked upon the certificates pro­posed to be granted by the Bill as very dangerous documents. He would place no reliance on a cer­tificate granted, as proposed, on the recommenda­tion of t wo employers, wit hout proper examination.

Mr. C. Dykes, general manager and secretary of the Rochdale Oanal Association, submitted that th~ Hill would, by giving their enginemen and boiler attendants a sort of rank which would entitle them to refuse other sorts of work, throw an impediment in t he way of carrying on their business, and be injurious. Canal companies, being on the same footing as railway companies, should be exempted, as they were, from the provisions of the Bill. Certificated men would not necessarily be more competent . He objected to compulsory cer tificates, but. wo?ld not object to men passing voluntary exatnmatwns for certificates of compe­tency, though he would no t accept these necessarily as evidence of their owners' qualifications.

Mr. Rigby, manager and engineer to the Salt Union, Limited, owning a large number of boilers and engines at their various works, said that it was absolutely necessary that an employer should have a free hand in selecting the perRons he wished to employ. The Bill was very ill-conceived and showed a great want of technical knowledge in its preparation. .

Mr. Hunter, chief engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal, said he did not think that this Bill, if it were passed, would contribute one iota to the safety of the public, so far as the engines and boilers of the Ship Canal or kindred companies were concerned ; it would rather tend, he thought, to divide the responsibility, and also impose addi­t ional burdens where there were at present quite enough. He was afraid that another effect of the Bill might be to form enginemen and boiler men into a corporation similar to that of pilots on the Mersey. At present the Ship Canal Company took on a man when he was comparatively young. At first he was an engine cleaner, then a stoker, next he was put on lihe list of spare drivers, and, finally, he became an engineman. He was then under close supervision and inspection for a long time before he was put in charge of an engine or boiler. He did not see how the Bill would do anything to add to the man's competency. Further, the Bill would limit the area of selection of men whom the Ship Canal, f0r instance, would require to look after their engines and boilers. Rail way companies were exempted from the operations of the Bill, and he contended that canal and dock companies should also be exempted.

Mr. W. H. Lambton, representing the Durham County Colliery Enginemen and Boilermen's Association, said t hat that body had over 2000 members, and included practically all the engine­men and boiler men in the county. He thought that a large proportion of the accidents from defec­tive engines and boilers would be avoided if those in charge were properly qualified. He failed to Aee how the Bill would harass employers, and he did not think there would be any scarcity of engine­men if a certificate of competency were made neces­sary. A cer tificate he held was a certain guarantee of knowledge.

Mr. W. B. Charlton, winding engineman at Helton Colliery, Durham, and President of the National Federation of Enginemen and Boilermen, said that that federation had instituted in Durham a system of selection of persons whom t hey thought were fit to be employed to mind engines and boilers. The number of doubtful men had thereby been much diminished, but it was not entirely satisfac­tory to them, because now and ag~in a m~nager, finding that there was only the uruon beh1nd the test of fitness, disregarded their selection.

Mr. Watson, Secretary of the Lancashire Engine­men and Boilermen's Association, supported the BilJ believing that such legislation would tend to diminish the number of accidents in connection with engines and boiler~. He said that many winding accidents at m1nes were not reported, bec~use they had not cause~ injury_ to life or limb. He remembered an ac01dent wh1~h occurred in 1899 at a Lancashire colliery, and wh10h re~ulted in a loss to the firm of nearly 3000l. ; but 1t was not mentioned in the report of the inspector for the district. Witness was in favour of g1:anting certificates of competency because he dtd not

E· NGINEERING

think that the Mines Act made provision for the strict exarllination which there ought to be in con­nection with the selection of competent enginemen at collieries. He did not regard the question of technical knowledge as of equal importance to the question of moral courage: he would consider it as supplemental. A colliery manager, though he might be ,·ery careful in his selection of men to attend to the engines and boilers, was not fi tted to judge as to what a qualified engineman was. Therefore he was in favour of some system of examination by an independent authority. He did not entertain the opinion t hat the granting of certificates would cause a diminution of the field from which competent men could be drawn.

Mr. Forshaw, '~igan, assistant-secretary to the Lancashire Federation of Enginemen and Boiler­men, practically agreed with the previous witness. He estimated that 90 per cent. of the members of that association would be able to obtain certificates of competency.

Mr. Oarter, Castleford,. secretary of the National F ederation of Enginemen and Boilermen's Associa­tions, was in favour of the general provi8ions of the Bill.

Mr. Copley, Rotherham, general secretary of the National Amalgamated Union of Enginemen, re­ferred in his evidence to various winding accidents at collieries which he attributed to lack of experi­ence and judgment on the part of the enginemen. To avoid such accidents he wished men who were employed at colliery engines to be subjected to a Board of Trade examination as to their character, nerve, and fitness for such positions. He thought it necessary that persons in charge of boilers should not only pass an examination in technical know­ledge, but should prove their practical fitness for the post.

1\'Ir. Green, smoke inspector to t.he Sheffield Corporation, representing the National Union of Eoginemen, Carmen, and Boilermen of Great Britain, said his experience as a smoke inspector had convinced him that a more general knowledge of the elementary lawE of heat would tend to a diminution of the smoke nuisance. He did not think that a single thorough inspection of boilers and engines in the course of the year was sufficient. He did not believe that the compulsory certifica­tion of persons in charge of boilers and engines would harass industry. At first there might be some difficulty in gatting a sufficient number of certificated men, but afterwards there would be a greater supply than there was a demand for.

Mr. T. Ratcliffe Ellis, Wigan, secretary of the Mining Association of Great Britain, said that mineowners agreed that the qualifications required by a man for attending winding engines were good health, good nerve, and care, and that with these qualities little technical knowledge was required. In fact, the special qualifications for engine winders were such as would not be discoverable by exami­nation. H e had been assured that the regulations as to mines were now sufficiently stringent to pro­vide for the competency of the engineers. Re­ferring to accidents from overwinding, and acci­dents in shafts, he did not gather that any of the cases were such as would have been prevented by the provision of more competent enginemen. The evidence showed that most of the cases were due to the mental condition of the man in charge, and consequently no examination would have prevented such accidents. He was of opinion that the Bill, if passed, would tend to displace competent men, and that others who had only a theoretical know­ledge would be appointed. It would, he felt, create a difficulty in the event of a strike of certi­ficated men taking place, inasmuch as it would not be easy to get hands to replace those on strike. His main objection to the Bill was not that he feared the effect of a strike, but that it would not conduce to any greater safety than existed at the prusent time. In many cases, he believed, that the locomotive men at collieries were old enginemen from rail ways. The Bill would prevent their being employed at the collieries unless they passed an examination. Witness added that 196,000,000 perAons were lowered down and wound up the shafts of coal mines in Great Britain every y~ar, and the average number of fatal accidents was only three.

Mr. A. G. Lyster, engineer-in-chief to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, said he was responsible for the whole of the 240 engines and 273 boilers belonging to the dock estate, all of which were of varied types. Every man employed in connection

[AuG. 9, 1901.

with these boilers and engines was appointed after special interviews and examinations. Many of them had had experience in the work elsewhere, and were able to present good references, while others were trained on the Dock estate. All the boilers were thoroughly inspected by their own mechanical staff, and the more important of them were also subject to the inspection and guarantee of the Manchester Steam Users' Association, who also examined their new boilers during construc­tion. Their floating boilers were supervised by outside parties, some by Lloyds' and some by the Steam Users' Association. Both in regard to the examination of the boilers and the selection and supervision of the men in charge, the Board's regu­lations went further than any legislative provision that could be passed. He was of opinion that the Mersey Board, and other dock authorities similarly situated, should be exempted from t he operations of the Bill. The Board's system of inspection, control, and attendance was as close and effeoti ve as that of the railway companies or any other body whom it was proposed to exempt. If the employ­ment of certificated men were compulsory, the Board might sometimes experience difficulty in obtaining such men. Their men were often chang­ing, and certificated men might not always be available. The result would be delay and incon­venience. He had been in communication with a great many dock authorities, and they had requested that his evidence should be received on behalf of them all. The operations connected with t heir steam engines and boilers did not involve any great or special risks to the public or the employes. He had never known of a boiler explosion on the Dock estate, and the few accidents which had arisen in connection with engines were not due to causes which might have been avoided if the persons in charge had possessed certificates of competency. They had been caused rather by carelessness, engendered by familiarity. The Dock Board did not consider that the possession of a first or second­class certificate would afford any guarantee of the capacity of the man who held it. The question of administration involved in the case of the Mersey Board was the same as was involved in the case of every dock authority, and the claim to exemp­tion was made on the same ground. He was further opposed to the Bill on general grounds, for he thought that the substitution of the responsibility of the Secretary of State for the responsibility of the employer was unsound in principle. The certificate depended upon the Secretary of State, and hence his responsibility.

Sir William Arrol, M.P., of the firm of Sir William Arrol and Co., Glasgow, who incidentally informed the Committee that he began Jife as a fireman, said he thought that the owners of boilers should be left entirely alone as regarded the persons they employed. H e objected to any interference with the responsibility of the employer. His firm had always plenty of men, belonging to the superior class of labourers, who were entitled to a better job as soon as there was one, and he thought it would be a great hardship if these men were pre­vented obtaining promotion. He regarded the technical knowledge supposed to be necessary to make a competent engfneman or competent boiler attendant as of less importance to an employer than the question of his moral character, nerve, and judgment.

THE WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY IN ENGLAND.

ON July 14,1899 (see ENGI~EERING, vol.lxviii., page 51), we gave, under the above title, an outline of the scheme the British W estinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, Limited, with regard to the la1·ge works they contemplated putting down at Trafford Park, Manchester.

Since that date, the installation has been carried on apace, and the following data concerning the works, given by the British W estinghouse Com­pany, will be found of interest :

The company was formed in July, 1899, with a capital of 1, 750,000l. ; the site chosen at Traff0rd Park covers an area of 130 acres, and affords great facilities for t he bringing in of raw material and the delivery of manufactured articles. The con­struction·of the buildings will take up 15,000 tons of steel and 10 million t.:ubic feet of timber. About 3000 workmen are at present engaged in completing the installation, and some 27 miles of t rack are laid on the ground for the distribution of the

AUG. g, 1901.]

building material. The works will consist of an iron foundry, to the east, 170 ft. wide and 680 ft. ~ong; next to it is the brass foundry, malleable uon foundry, pattern shop, steel foundry, and forge. The engineering shop is contained in another building, 430 ft. wide and 900 ft. long ; it will be equipped with the most modern tools, all electri­cally operated. This building is divided longi­tudinally into bays, the side bays having two storeys for fitting and finishing the smaller ma­chinery. Two other buildings will cover the offices and stores. T.he works will employ about 6000 British workmen, and will be mainly devoted to the construction of W est inghouse electric machines, both alternating and direct current; tramway and railway motors ; converters; transformers, &c. I t is stated also that a large portion of the plant will be devoted to the construction of gas engines.

Electric construction work will be started a few months hence, and if the size of the installat ion, and especially the "go" which animates the whole place, are taken- as they can perfectly be- as criteria of the number of kilowatts and of the horse-power which will be turned out regularly every year, the nightmare of foreign competition in one of the most important branches of industry will not lay heavily upon us.

Nor have the British Westinghouse Company been unmindful of the welfare of their men ; they have acquired about 120 acres of land just outside their works, on which they cont emplate putting down from 2600 to 3000 dwellings. Schools, clubs, and recreation-grounds will also be provided. They state, with regard to this part of their undertaking, that "it is important to remember, in this connec­t ion, that the careful attention given to the securing of health and happiness of the employee is held to be an essential condition for business success, and is not by any means a matter of philanthropy." This is genuine American frankness.

On Saturday last, the 3rd inst., the corner-stone of one of the main buildings was laid by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Frank Green, supported by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Thomas Briggs, J.P., by Alderman W. Va.ugha.n Morga.n and Mr. Joseph Lawrence, M.P., Sheriffs of the Oity of London, and by the Hon. Robert P. Porter, of New York. The speeches delivered on this occasion afforded a fresh testimony of the most cordial relations which exist between British and American enterprise, energy, and capital. Of these speeches that of the last-named gentleman contained many suggestive sentences bearing strongly on the commercial competitive positions of this country and the United States. The more important of these we have summarised below.

Mr. Po1t er pointed out that these great modern industrial enterprises staggered political economists. The American Protectionist used to point to the establishment of British works in America as proving the benefits of a. protective tariff.

He eupp~sed, wit~ equal right, . the British free-~rader might attl'tbute tbts great W eating house enterpnse to the policy of fr~e trade. ~be faot is the mag~ntude .of modern industr1al enterpnses, the march of tndustru~l events, made it necessary to revise. our text-books of political economy. Our free-trade fnends had told us we could not become a great exporting country under protection, yet v.:e had x:eaohed our nO?nday sun of _eros­perity under a sbtffer tar1ff law than etther the tartff of 1883 or the McKinley Law of 1890. Reference had been made tJo the fact that British capital or British labour under American direction were erecting those mighty shops whiob, when completed, would employ five or six thousand workmen. The ways of English experience, capital, a~d co~ervatism, . when interwoven with American mgenutty, enterpnse, a1;1d energy, made a fabric strong enough to compete wtth the rest of the world. After all, England was America's largest customer, for over half the enormous exports from that country went tJo England and ~er poss~ions. While the W ~Btl· inghouse ooncem was tnberna.blO':lal, and had estabh.sh­ments in France, Germany, Russta, and other countries, suoh a du'Qlica.te as this of the enormous works in Pitts­burgh, U.S.A., at a time wh~n. the industrial worl~ w~s changing from steam tJo eleotrtotty, must be produo1llve m both countries of better feeling, mutual benefits, and a more comprehensive way .of. handling the frea~ problem of traction and tra.nsmtsaton of power. tWill be strange if the combined brain power and organising force of England and America cannot solve the great problem of cheap~ and effective power and keep ahead of the times. It is claimed by some tbat Engla~d is behi~dh~nd in the electrical industry, in modern engmes, and m usmg the latest devices for the transmission of power. Such an international enterprise as this is the best remedy. The interchange of ideas, like the interchange of mechanical parts, often makes things go better. The e~idemio ~f mdustrial pessimism in the daily Press of England ts not justifiable-certainly not in the Manchester district,

E N G ·1 N E E R 1 N G. where Trafford Park had in a few years been converted into a hive of human industry and endeavour. Old "David Harum, had said, "a reasonable amount of fleas was good for a dog, if only tJo keep him from brooding over the fact that he was a dog." So a reasonable amount of industrial pessimism might be good for a country if only to lower the temperature of conceit; but in the pre­sence of suoh new and splendid industries as were to be seen in the northern districts of G reab Britain, there waa little, if any, oa.use in England for gloomy forebodings, but muoh oo.use for reasonable rejoicing.

NOTES. THE ELECTRO-TEORNIOAL INDUSTRY IN GERMANY.

THE electro-technical industry of the German Empire maintained its rapid developn1ent dur­ing the year 1900. On March 1 of that year there were a total of 662 electric centrals, with an aggregate of about 260,000 kilowatts. Of this total about 63 per cent. were applied to light­ing, and 37 per cent. to power. On October 1 last year the total had grown to 712 electric centres, which means an increase of 60 centres within a period of seven months. I t is worth noticing in this connection that the increase of the electricity required for motors is more rapid than the increase in the consumption for lighting purposes. Electric working is being more and more universally adopted in large factories in all parts of Germany. Also, a regards electric railways and tramways, there is a marked increase in the consumption of electricity. On September 14, 1900, there were electric tram­ways in operation in 99 German towns, with an aggregate mileage of 2660 miles, and with 6994 motor carriages. In various other towns there are electric tramways in course of con­struction, which already have been or will be opened for traffic during the present year. Of special interest are the electric railway between Berlin and Zehlendorf, with its electrically-worked traffic, and the new (about 19 miles long) electric experimental railway between Berlin and Zossen. Of the 662 electric stations which were in operat ion on March 1, 1900, only 27 hail from a time before 1889. Out of the total of 662, 166 are owned by town or rural municipalities, whilst 463 are in the rrossession of private individuals or companies. There was a total of 2,623,893 incandescent lamps, 60,070 arc lamps, 106,368 electric motors, and 68,667 electric meters. In the Kingdom of Saxony there was in 1896 a total of 66 miles of electric tramways, whilst it had risen to 142 miles in 1899. The number of passengers carried increased from an aggregate of 34,614,979, or 188,313 per day, in 1896 to an aggregate of 113,592,390, or 371,697 per day, in 1899.

NEW Sou·ru W .ALES IRON AND CoAL. We drew attention some little time ago to the

efforts in progress in New South Wales to estab­lish an iron manufacturing industry which would permit the Colony to Hupply part at least of its many and growing requirements of iron and steel goods. The occasion was the compact between the Government and a Tasmanian company, whereby, in consideration of the erection of large works by the latter, the former undertook to purchase its output of rails up to a given quantity at a. price to be agreed upon. In the annual report of the Department of Mines we have evidence of sustained activity in this direction. In view of possible de­velopments, it was desirable that the extent of the Colony's iron-ore deposits should be accurately gauged, and Mr. Jacquet, of the Geological Survey, was instructed to examine those known to be easily accessible. That gentleman has now completed his work, and his investigations show, acco1·ding to the report, that " extensive deposits of ore suitable for the manufacture of steel exist," and it is hoped that the establishment of smelting works on a large scale will shortly be commenced- a matter which we thought was assured under the compact referred to. The actual output during the year was not large; but when the demand begins in real earnest, the supply will a~parently ~ot fail it. In a general way, Coghlan s informat1on on the subject of ore supplies is useful. He says that magnetite is widely distributed throughout New South Wales. The results of a number of analyses made from deposits at Brown's Creek, in the county of Bathurst, and at Wallerawa.ng, where veins were opened out a few years ago, show that the samples of ore yielded from 40. 89 to 66. 86 per oent. of metallic iron. At Wallerawang a variety of garnet, containing a large percentage of metal, occurs in conjunction with the

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ore in the veins, which is described as '' ext remely well adapted for reduction in the blast furnace. " Brown hematite occurs in very extensive deposits in the Blue Mountain Ranges, the principal centres so far explored being situated at Mit ta.gong, Picton, Berrima, Lithgow Valley, Wallerawang, in the Rylstone and Mudgee districts, and in the vicinity of Port Stephens. The result of a number of analyses of this kind of Ol'e denotes that it is very rich in metallic iron, containing a proportion of 42.69 to 64.48 per cent., and in the majority of cases over 66 per cent. of metal. The value of these deposits is enhanced by their almost invariable occurrence in proximity to limestone and coal-beds, while the main lines of railway pass through the regions where the deposits are most easily worked . The production of coal last year reached 6,607,497 tons- a record total, and 910,469 tons more than in 1899. The coke-making industry also continues to expand, the output for last year being 126,213 tons, valued a.t 109,620l., an increase of 32,490l. in value over that of the previous year. A large number of additional ovens were in course of erection at the close of 1900, and further progress is assured for the current year.

A SEQUEL TO THE TAFF VAl ,E RAILWAY C ASE.

One by one t he props which have hither to sup­ported some of the less honourable t rade unions seem to be aiving way under the calm judicial scrutiny of tite H ouse of Lords. In the case of Leatham v. Quinn and others, which was decided before that august tribunal, it was held that while it may be lawful for A to persuade B to do that which B has a legal right to do, although it injures C, yet it is illegal for A to conspire with other persons for such a purpose ; and an action may be brought against him and his eo-conspirators by C. The facts of the case which is an authorit.y for the above impor tant proposit ion were short ly these. The plaintiff was a butcher at Lisburn, near Belfast, who for some twenty years had carried on a prosperous trade. One of his customers was a man named Munce, to whom he had been in the habit of sending between 20l. and 30l. worth of meat in each week. In 1893 a t rade union callei '' the Belfast Journeymen Butchers' and Assistants' Association" was formed, of which three of the defendants were president, treasurer, and secretary respectively. This society called upon the plaintiff to dismiss certain non-union men in his employ­ment. This the plaintiff r efused to do. Thereupon the defendants sent letters to Munce, at B elfast, informing him that unless he stopped dealing with the plaintiff they would call out the non­union men in his (Munco's) employment. Munce objected very strongly, but was eventually com­pelled to submit ; with the result that the plaintiff's business was ruined. The defendants also pub­lished "black lists," which contained the names of the plaintiff and those who were employed by him, and who were his customers. He thereupon brought an action, which was heard by Lord Justice Fitzgibbon and a jury at Belfast, in which he claimed damages against the defendants: (1) F or procuring Munce to break his contracts ; (2) for the publication of plaintiff's name in the black lists ; (3) for the intiJnidation of Munce and others to break their contracts ; and (4) for the coercion of Dickie and other servants to leave the plaintiff. He also alleged that the defendants had conspired together to do all the above things. The jury found that this was so, and awarded substantial damages. Lord Justice Fitzgibbon, the Irish Court of Appeal, and, finally, the H ouse of Lords, have all decided that there was a good cause of action, and that the plaintiff was entitled to judgment. A doubt was naturally felt that t.he case might have been covered by Allen v. Flood. But the Lord Chancellor dis­tinguished that case on the ground that no con­spiracy had there been alleged or proved. Lord Justice Lindley clearly states the reason for his judgment in Leatha.m v. Quinn in the following terms: "A threat to call men out given by a trade union official to an employer of men belonging to the union and willing to work with him is a form of coercion, intimidation, molestation, or annoy­ance to them and to him, very difficult to resist, and to say the least, requiring j ustifica.tion. None was offered in this case. It is said that con­duct which is not actionable on the part of one person cannot be actionable if it is that of several acting in concert. This may be so when

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I94 many do no more than one is supposed to do. But numbers may annoy and coerce where one may not., Referring to the Trade Union. Acts, Lor.d Justice Lindley said that he did not tlunk a combi­nation to persuade a man's customers to leave him was one which had been rendered legal by that Act. We have dealt at considerable length in a recent number with the Taff Vale R~ilway case, where it was held that the union may be made liable for torts in its corporate ~apacit~. Coupli~g that decision with the princtple latd down 1n Leatham v. Quinn, and we find that the trade union may be held responsible if its members con­spire together to injure any individual. Every act of a trade union is to some extent the result of con­spiracy on the par~ of the members ; .they will be well advised to hes1tate before they g1ve counten­ance to acts which have brought Quinn and his eo­defendants within reach of the law.

NOTES FROM THE UNI'rED STATES. PHILADELPHI.A, July 31.

THE strike in the steel industry has not assumed any radical change, although on Monday the announce­ment was made that by the close of the wee~ peace would be proclaimed as the result of the meetmg be­tween the head of the Amalgamated Association and J\1r. :Morgn.n. The iron and steel indust~y, as a w~o~e, is well employed, well oversold; and high.a~thonties reiterate the frequently expressed conv1ct10n that autumn requirements will . be exceedi~gly lar~e : sufficient to continue the stratn on producbve capac1ty that has continued so long. The fight against unionism is intensifying t he union spirit. Expansions of capa­city continue to be the order of the day. Contracts are now being placed for machinery to largely increase the capacity of the Youngstown Iron, Sheet, and Tube Company at Sharon, Pa. A company is being organised at Connellsville, Pa., with 10,000,000 dols. capital, to erect a tinplate mill, one of the largest, which will employ 1200 men.

In order to intimidate union men at Coalesville, Pa. , sixty men in the pipe-mill were discharged, and ordered not to hang around the premises. This C~ris­tian spirit is not infrequently shown. Word recei_ved by wire to-day from Alabama shows that cast-1ron pipe works, foundries, machine shops, brass foundries, and rolling-mills are all crowded with work. Two new furnaces will soon be in blast. The steel·rail mill is almost completed. There are no threatened labour troubles in the South. The American Steel Castings Campany, near this cit.y, is the basis and nucleus of a national combination of steel-castings makers, which will organise under a capitalisation of 15,000,000 dols. The companie3 in the combination will make steel castings for raih·oads. There are about a hundred styles of car couplers in use, and a movement is under way to standardise these.

Tinplate is selling in Baltimore at 5.25 dols. a bore against 4.15 dols. a few months ago, on account of the strike. There is very little demand at present for tin. Quantity afloat for Atlantic ports, 2165 tons.

Indications accumulate that railroad building in 1902 will be larger than this year. By that time the railroad managers will have harmonised sufficiently to import a homogeneous character to about 100,000 miles of road. The managers will then be in a. position to intelligently determine what amotmt of mileage will be necessary, and where it will be wanted. It is also hoped and believed that by that time more reasonable prices for rails will prevail.

FRENCH RAILWAYS.-The length of line in operation upon the six great French systems is 23,391 miles, as compared with 23,216 miles at the correspond­ing date of 1900. The aggregate revenue acquired upon the six systems to June 10 tl:iis year was 23,223,640l., as compared with 24,019,584l. in the corresponding period of 1900, showing a decrease of 795,944t. this year. This falling off is, no doubb, largely accounted for by the ab­sence this year of the special exhibition traffic which so greatly helped up the revenue of 1900.

RussiAN RAILwAY PROJECTS.- Russian engineers have of late years shown much activity and enterprise, and amongst other projects the two following are at present under the consideration of the Ruesian authorities: The one is an electrical aerial railway Letween St. Petersbur~ and Moscow, the unusual straightness of the Nioolas Railway lending itself uncommonly well to this plan. The cost 18 calculated at 90,000,000 roubles, and the annual working expenses at about 14,000,000 roubles. The average speed should be 120 kilometres, or about 75 miles, an hour, and the fare to be charged 2 kopeka per kilometre. The other plan, which the Traffic Ministry views very favourably, 1s a" Ringbahn" circular railway for St. Petersburg. The plan is to construct an elevated double-lined railway at an elevation of from 17ft. to 33 fb. above the level of the street. Nob less than eleven bridges will have to be built across the N eva. The project of this circular railway is connected with the building of a central railway statiOn, for which the site of the Obuchow Hospital has been de­signated. The cost is calculated at 190,000,000 roubles.

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

THE R·ESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE BY FLOODS.

IN the case of Ambler and Sons v. the C<?rporation of Bradford in which Mr. Justice Joyce gave JUdgment on Saturday' la~b, a curious point arose as to who m~st be held liable for the damage occasioned by an extraordn:~ary flood. The recent flood which in~ndated the Metropohta.n Rail way at King's Cross bears mtness. to the consequences which may result if the pent up ram of three ~onths falls down in the course of an afternoon. The Circum­stances of the Bradford case (the hearing of which lasted seven days in July} were shortly t~ese: In. October, 1899, the Corporation undertook oerba1n works 1n connec­tion with a stream known as the Bradford Beck. They built high brick walls along both aides of t~e stream, and erected sluices across the channel at a pOint f;\b~ut 300 yards below the plaintiffs' premises. The plamttffs are the well-known firm of worsted spinners, who ha.ve owned the Midland Mills ab Valley-road, Bradford, stnce 1863. The beck runs u~dcr a part of the plaintiffs' premises. On July_ 12 1900 there was a violent storm in and around Bradford, during which, it is said,. rain fell ab the rate of 2! in. an hour for twenty mmutes. The result was that the beck overflowed 1ts banks to such an extent that the plaintiffs' premises wer~ flooded. Large quantities of mohair, worsted, and machmery were spoilt and damage was done to the extent of about 30,000l. The plaintiffs alleged that th~ flood h~J:d been caused by the acts of the defendants m narrowmg the channel of, and placing sluices across, the beck. The defendants, on the other hand, argued that the r~u.lt . of their workings had been to increase rather than dimtmsh the size of th.e beck, and that as the sluices were all open at the time of the flood, it was not their fault that the plaintiffs bad been injur~d. ~hey also pleaded that the disaster was caused by vu maJor, for wh10h no one could be held responsible. . . . .

Mr. Justice J oyce, after hearmg oonfbcting evtdence from a number of experts, gave judgment for the defendants. The unfortunate plaintiffs will therefore have to pay the costs of the corporation as betwee.n solicitor and client, and make good the dama~e to theu premises as best they can. Had the learned JUdge come to the conclusion that the sluices contributed to the disaster by checking the fi<?w ?f water1 he must have. en­tered:judgmenb for the pl~mtlffs. It IS a. well-reco~msed principle of law that any one who puts an obstacle m the way of a stream which may cause that stream to overflow in time of flood, must answer for the consequences. Curiously enough, this P.rinoiple w!ls applied in an f;\Ction brought against the Midland Railway Company m re­spect of damage caused by the same storm ~t KeighleY., in Yorkshire. In the case of Ferrand v. Mtdland Ratl­way, which was heard at the Leeds Spring Assizes, it was proved that owing to a culvert under the railway embankment nob having been made large enough, the waters of a beck were dammed up, with the result that a vast quantity of st?nes and mud ~e~e deposited on c~r­tain fields belongmg to the plamttffs. Mr. J ust1ce Kennedy held that the railway company were liable to defray the cost of removing the material so deposited.

LEICESTER ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS. - There has been some difference of opinion as to whether a separate central power station should be provided for the electric traction system of the Corporation, but at a special meet­ing of the Town Council on the 3rd inst. the recommen­dation of the borou~h engineer and surveyor, Mr. E. George Mawbey, whiCh was approved by the consultin~ electrical engineer, Mr. E. Manville, was adopted. Thts recommendation, now adopted, was in favour of a sepa­rate station at Lero. Agreements have also been com­pleted for the taking over of the company's lined, and Mr. Mawbey is now preparing the necessary plans and estimates to be deposited in Parliament this year.

CA'l'ALOGUES.-The Sunderland Forge and Engineering Company, Limited, of Pallion, , Sunderland, have issued a new catalogue containing illustrations of work executed in their electrical department. The products of the firm include combined plants, dynamos, motorea, and motor­driven tools and cranes.-The Haslam Foundry and Engineering Company, Limited, of the U nion Foundry, Derby, have sent us a copy of their abridged list of ice-making and refrigerating machinery in which anhydrous ammonia is used as the working agent. The firm also make machines working on the ammonia absorp­tion system, or with dry air, or with carbonic anhydride; but in this abridged catalogue ammonia compression plants only are referred to. The standard sizes range from machines with an output of i ton of ice per day up to one of 100 tons.-Messrs. Spencer and Co., Limited, of Melksham, Wiltshire, have sent us a copy of n. pamphlet they have recently issued, illustrating grain and seed-handling plant erected by them in different localities.-The Pressed Steel Car Company, of Pittsbur~, Pa., U .S.A., have issued a. new catalogue describing then standard makes of '' hopper, " '' box," '' gondola," and other cars. Some of these oars are of remarkable capa­city, the standard pattern for ore and coal being capable of carrying no less than 120,000 lb. of paying load on a tare of but 29,0000 lb. Engravings showing the effects of certain collisions demonstrate that the steel cars have been practically undamaged in accidents in which wooden oars were completely wrecked.- We have received from Mr. E. S. Hindley, of Bourton, Dorset, a copy of his new general catalogue. The catalogue bears striking testimony to the wide range of products sent out from Mr. Hindley's shops. Best known, perhaps, as a builder of boilers and small steam engines, Mr. Hindley also makes pumps, dy· namos, saw benches, and lifting machinery.

[AuG. 9, I90t.

PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION. T o THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.

SIR -I have been rending with g_reab interest your articl~ in the i.Esue of July 12 on "Prevention of Cor-ro~tion." .

The Bill of the Lord Chief J ust10e appears to be one of those definitely abandoned as far as . th~ present Par­liamentary session is concerned; .and 1~ ts to be hope.d that it will meet with careful cons1derat10n by the pubho before being re-introduced. .

In my humble opinion, the Act, ,~f such a B1ll w~re passed mto law, would be a "terr~r; b?b nob nec~anly only to evildoers. To deal with brtbes as given to " Parent, husband, wife or child, '~ appears to be to oarr;r the war against corrupt business mto the homes of bus~­ness men in a manner quite uncalled for. To make It ille~nl to give gra.~uitous a~vice to bu~ 'Yhen th~ person givmg the adviCe ts to recetve a oommtss1on ~UJ?dlSolosed~ upon the sale, would put an end to.all commtss1on agents business without any oorrespondmg advantage to the trade of the country. . . .

The net appears to be spread much t9o mde, and if Ib be found that it catches large shoals of mno~nt persons, the Act will infallibly becom~ a d~a~ letter,. hke so many of its predecessors framed mth stmdar obJects, and the guilty will continue to escape "Soot free.,,

The giving of appointments ~ a re~ard for . bene.fits reoei ved. or afterwards to be obtamed, IS a pract10e dtfl:i­cult to prove and difficult to punish; and as long as it ia one of the recognised means of political corruption on the part of both parties in the State, it seems .somewhat un· fair to penalise it when applied to mere busiDesa.

But the real crux of the whole question is how corrupt practices are to be defined and detected. . As long as you provide for the punishment of both the gwer and the re-ceiver neither will be caught. . .

The receiver may be an offiCial of Government or mum­ci pali ty, or technical adviser or any other person in. a fiduciary position, and he sits in his office and bakes com of the realm handed to him by the giver across the table. No third p~rty is present. Neither of those two men will ever disclose that transaction so long as the law threatens both equally. They may quarrel or they may remain friends, but neither will ever telL

Nothing stops '' peaohing " in a school so quickly as a head master's cane applied impartially to the boy who tells and the boy told upon.

The only way in which .these de~estable C<?rrupb prac­tices can ever be stopped 1s to punlSh one stde and nob the other. Who, then, should be punished? The traveller who must sell to live, and who in many oases musb bribe in order to sell, and who, after all, is serving his em· ploy er's interests; or the sa.laried man, who already receives his livelihood from his office or his employment, and who is betraying his employer's trust when he takes the bribe?

It seems to me it cannot take long to decide which of these two should be punished.

The man in the fiduciary position, whatever it may be, the man who is already paid to buy, or to give advice how to buy, is the man to fall upon with all the severity of the Lord Chancellor's Bill ; and in order to catch him it is a necessity (an unpleasant necessity it may be) to let the giver of the bribe go free. Then sooner or later the matter will come to light.

Corruption id insidious, underground, difficult to catch. Let us aim at it in its grossest, commonest form; nob stretch the net wide to catoh every transaction remotely resembling it; or who would go free?

If bribery, pure and simple, could be arrested in its present growth in this country-stamped out-made too dangerous for any man with a reputation to save, too unsafe for any architect or any engineer to risk, then this good country of ours would take a step forward in the world, and all ' professional men of honour would have cause for great rejoicing. After that it would be tlme enough to tackle the parents, wives and children, cousins and aunts I

Corrupt djrectors and town councillors are already pro­vjded for by special laws, hub they have this great defect, that they punish both the giver and the receiver, and hence such men are practically never brought to justice.

Yours obediently, No LAWYER.

21, Springfield Mount, Leeds, July 27, 1901.

THE DtRR BOILER. To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.

SIR, -The description of this boiler in your valuable paper is exceedingly interesting and instructive, and de· serves the thanks of all interested in water-tube boilers, more especially as this type of boiler has been selected by the Admiralty for test, showing that the Lords are alive to the importance of selecting a boiler in which the gene­rating tubes are free to ex{>and and contract, also are easily removable, and one in whiCh the water is gradually heated up by passing first through the internal circulating tubes before bein~ exposed to heat in the annular spaces around the ciroulatmg tubes, where it comes into the direct action of the fire.

In boilers of the DUrr class some difficulty arises as to the cleaning the internal parts of the tubes, and also in emptying them. The method described in your notice of the Dlirr boiler-viz 1 the removal of the metal caps at the ends of the generatmg tubes-is necessarily a tedious process, and by no means unattended with danger, the threads on the tubes or caps in time becoming worn and slack. Should one or more of these be forced off by the internal pressure, the effect would be extremely injurious, as has unfortunately been lately illustrated by the occur­rence of a similar kind of accident on board one of His Majesty's vessels, in which one life was sacrificed and several men severely scalded.

AuG. 9, I9o1.] Ibis obvious that the fewer screw joints there are in a

boiler, the smaller will be the chances of such accidents; also that the cleaner the internal surfaces exposed to the fire are, the longer will the boiler last, and the evapo­ratin&' power be maintained.

It IS to these points that I wish particularly to draw attention and to the means of overcoming them.

I n the boiler patented by M . Serve and myself provi­sion has been made by which the entire circulation of the water in the generating tubes can be reveraed and the contents blown out through a coo~ provided for t?e pur­pose-a very simple method. If thiS be used occasiOnally, a-s required, deposib will be impossible, as all dirty water, &c., will be expelled. This is effected in a very simple manner by the movement of a specially designed valve in connection wibh the '' closed chamber," the special fea­ture of this boiler.

T he acbiop of this has been most conclusively proved by means of a working model, a description of which has appeared in the Times and other papers.

Forced " water circulation " can also be applied in the " Okes-Serve " boiler by this arrangement, should a high air pressure be required under the boiler.

Your~, &c., J. c. R. OKES.

63, Queen V ictoria-street, E. C.

H IGH EXPLOSIVES IN SHELLS. To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.

Snt,-Referring to the very interesting and instructive article on "High Explosives in Shells," which ap~eared in E NGINEERING of August 2, I would say that I con­ducted a very long series of experimen ts in the years 1888, 1889, and 1890. T l:.ese experiments were conducted with a view t \> ascertaining how high explosives, espe­cially those of the nitro class, could be rendered less liable to go off by shook. A ll the nitre compounds that could be purchased in London at that time were ex­perimented on . The experiments proved conclusively t hat the sensitiveness of all these could be reduced to any desil:ed ex ten b by mixing them with various kinds of greases, viz , vaseline, castor oil, paraffin wax, &c. Various mixtures of tri-nitro-glycerine, tri-nitro-cellulose, and tri-nitro phenol (picric acid ) were made, and all were modified exacbly in the same manner. The nitro-glycerine, however, was gene­rally mixed with a. large proportion of gun-cotton, and sometimes with picric acid. Picric acid was also com­bined ' with various other high explosives of the nitre class, ~and all were modified in the same manner. I men­tion this because in your article you did not mention picric acid as having been ex~erimented on by me. As to the amount of grease whiCh is necessary to render picric acid insensitive to shook, I should say that some­thing less than the amount of vaseline, viz, 5 per cent., which is used in Government cordite, would suffice. I think it would always be safe with 4 per cent. The melt­ing point of picric acid can be greatly reduced by mixing with it about 12 per cent. of a similar nitre, viz., di-nitro benzol.

Yours truly. HIRAM s. MAXIM.

18, Queetl'd·gate-pla.ce, L ondon, S.W., August 7, 1901.

THE ELECTRIC L IGHT AT SUNDERLAND.-The net profit worked out by the Electric Light Committee of the Sun­derland Town Council for the half-year ending March 31, 1901, was 1533l., after {>roviding for interest and sinking fund. The C\>rrespondmg net profit for the year ending M arch 31, 1902, is estimated at 1954l.

HULL CORPORATION TRAMWAYS.-An official report has j ust been issuad on the working of the Hull Corpora­tion tramways for the twelve months ending March 31, 1901. The number of train-miles run during the year wa-s 1,647,026, and the number of passengers carried was 17,264,013, giving a daily average of 47,298. The greatesb number carried in one day was 123,946, on October 13. The average numb3r of oars running daily was 48, and each oar carried 687 4 passengers per week, and earned in fares 28l. 123. 10d. T he aggregate takings of the oars for the year were 71,933l., to which was added 447l. for other receipts. As regards the working expenditure of the year, 6034l. was paid out for the generation of electricity, while repairs, wages, and general charges amounted to 26,383l. Interest and sinking fund absorbed 12,281l., leaving a final net profit of 27,680l., which was applied in reduction of the borough rate.

T HE PROJECTED CANAL BETWEEN THE CASPIAN AND THE BLACK SEA.-TheRussian Hydro-Technical Congress ha.s recently considered the project of constructing a canal between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The indus­trial centre of Russia keeps steadily moving southwa!ds, owing to the development of the naphtha and the u on and the coal industries. At present the yield of napht ha in that parb of the Empire amoun ts to some 400,000,000 poods annually, and that of coal to 600,000,000 poods; ab the same time the metallurgical industry and the trade with Central Asiatic cotton are rapidly increasing. The existing railways are even now unable to satisfa~tot:ilY handle the large traffic, and new means of commumcat10n are wanted. The projected canal is proposed to have a depth of 22 ft. and a. breadth of 150 ft.; it is to com­mence at Astraohnn, and its terminus is to be at the roads of Taganrog on the A zov Sea. The costs are esti­mated at 40,000,000 rouble.~. The projected canal will not only greatly facilitate commercial intercourse and transport, .but it .will al~o prove a b~on from. a~ a~ri­cultural pomt of VIew, as 1t would lend 1tself to 1rr1gat10n purpoees.

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

MISCELLANEA. THE Russian Government have at length ~eoided. to

build a. pipe line from Baku to Ba.toum, a prOJect whi~h has been under consideration for many years. T he d~s­tanoe between the two points is 560 miles .. The Imi?ertal deoree directs thab the pipes and the pumpmg maohmery must all be of Russian manufacture.

Owing to the increase in the consumption of water in Copenhagen, the construction of new additional ~ater works has been decided upon. The new ~orks w11l be located outside the town, at a .Place convemenb f_or some new water-carrying land wh10h . the C~rporat10n b~s secured. Besides the new pumpmg statiOn, there wtll be constructed two new water pipes to the town of respectively 24 in. and 21 in. in diameter.

Mr. Shaff~r, the head of the Amalgamated Association of Steel Workers, has issued a notice to members that work is to cease on Saturday next unless the employers concede the demands of the union. It is es~im~te~ that aboub 100 000 men will be affected. The strtke 1s bke so many in ~ecenb years, not for increased pay or lessened labour but rather an attempt to secure in the union hands the co~trol and manageme!lt of the works. ~s this has become more obvious, pubho support to the stinkers seems to be lessening, so that it ~s ~robable that the movement will come to an early termmat10n, though hardly, we fear, without violence.

P owera are being sought for the construction of a rail­way from P orb Madoc to the foot of ~nowdon O? its south side. It is proposed to work the ltne electriCally, and for that purpose to impound the waters of Llyn Llydaw and Llyn Teyrn, two mountain tarns on the eastern slope of the mountain. As usual, the well-endowed classes, who appear to consider that they alone ha~e a. right t9 the enjoy.ment of natura~ scenery, !lre up In arms aga.mst the proJecb, the executiOn of w.?Ioh would bring the mountain within easy rang~ of the t<?Ilers of _the towns. Ibis to be trusted that Parhament w11l nob yiel~ to this exhibition of class selfishness, masked though It be under a pretence of a solicitude for the preservation of natural scenery.

Automatic couplers have for some time past been ap­plied to .all classes of rolling stock _in America under legal compulsiOn. Much trouble has a.nsen, however, from the carelessness of makers in not following the standards adopted after much discussion by the American railways. These standards are designed to permit of the couplers swinging 14 deg. either side.of the centre line, an amount of play sufficient to enable a train to pass round practically all curves on any railway li~e without straining the couplings. A test of a number of new couplers made by Mr. R. P. C. Sanderson has shown, however, that many of them would not, when coupled, swing more than 2! deg. on either side of the centre, whilst in other cases, though not so bad, the couplers still failed to pass the contour gauges.

Fair progress is being made with the masonry for the great oa.nt1lever bridge to be erected across the St. Lawrence, near Quebec. At the site chosen for the bridge the river is 2000 ft. wide at low tide, and about 800 fb. more at high water. The channel at the point selected is very deep, and the main span will therefore be 1800 ft. wide, or 100 ft. more than the main spans of the Forth BTidge. Like the latter, the new bridge is to be a cantilever structure, the de{>bh of the trusses over the piers being 300 f.b. The bridge 1s to support two lines of railway, two street-car tracks, and two highways for vehicles and pedestrians. The total amount of steel in the main span and anchor arms will be about 25,000 tons, and the contract for this portion of the work has been let to the Phrenix Bridge Company. The masonry for the piers, anchorages, and abutments will be in the main of Portland cement concrete, the total a~gregating 40,000 cubic yards. The facing will be of gramte. The plenum process is being used for founding the piers, and the caisson for the first of these was successfully grounded in June last.

Mr. J. G. Rhodin, of Manchester, has recently de­scribed a method which he has employed for the manu­facture on a commercial scale of potassium salts from felspar. The process consists simply in heating a mixture of the finely-ground felspar with slaked lime and sodium chloride at a temperature of 900 deg. Cent., whereby from 80 to 90 per cent. of the potassium in the mineral is obtained in the form of potassium chloride. The explanation of the reaction which occurs is not yet com­pletely made out, but it seems to be clearly established that a paying yield of potassium chloride can be ob­tained. 'l'he most impor tant q uestion of the supJ?lY of material is solved by the fact that immense quant1t1es of this mineral occur in Sweden and Norway, which cannot be used for any other purpose, and, already, experiments preliminary to the opening of a factory in S weden have been carried oub. A further important feature of the process is that the insoluble matter left after extraction of the potassium and sodium salts by water forms an ex­cellent material for the manufacture of glass by the addi­tion of a little sand and alkali.

The Eiffel Tower forms a meteorological station of ex­ceptional value, and ever since its completion in 1889 careful records have been taken of the condition of the air at its summit. Being so much above the surround­ing country, the strength of the wind and the temperature are absolutely different from what they are near the ground level. The meteorological instruments are all fixed on the topmost platform of the tower, and are connected electri­cally with a station below. In this way hourly records can be obtained from all these instruments without the

195

necessity of ascending the tower. It. is ouriou~ to note that i b has proved impossible to o.btatn any ~atlSfactor_y record of the rainfall at the summit. .The wtn~ there IS so strong that the rain drops move pract~cally honzo?tall£, and do not fall into the gauge. Even In heavy ra~ns t e gauge has registered nothing; and, further, . all boriZOil;ta.l surface3 in the neighbo.urhood have been _qu1te dry, whilist water has been streammg from the vert1oal surfaces. . n ordinary weather the speed of the wind ~t the summ~ of the tower proves to be more than three t1mes as muc as ab a level of 70ft. above the gro':lnd. For 59 per cent. of the year thi~ spe~d exceeds 18 miles per hour : a matter o~ importano~ m v1e~ of recen t attempts at the construe tion of B ymg maobmes.

Mr. Gibbs, of the Pennsylvania Railroad CoiD:pany, stabes that steel oar axles were first used on. that hne 1n 1861, but proved unsatisfactory, .Partly owmg. to. a bad design, in which the metal was Improperly dtstnbuted, and partly due to the use of too sofb a steel. ~h~ constant failures of these soft steel axles led to a revtSion of the specifications, and in January, 1896, a very hard ~teel was adopted. In the five years that have elapsed smoe that date, only three out of 300,000 such axles hav~ broken. These three were all made by one firm, and. fatled f~om internal flaws within a few months of ~emg. put mto service. At the same time as the new speCifioattons were issued a series of fatigue tests of a~le steel were ~om­menced and have been made contmuously ever smce. In th~se experiments round bars loaded at . one end are revolved until failure t akes place by fatigue. These experiments s~ow that ~th a fibre stre~s of 21,000 lb. per square mob the hfe of the axle wtll. be determined by wear and not from breakage. The h1gh carbon steel used appears brittle under a drop. test, but stands fatigue much better than softer axles, '!hic~ w~uld be judged superior if the drop test we~e a fau or1t.erion; The present specifications of the Amer1can Ca~ Bmlders Association require that axle steel shall conta.m 0.4 per cent. of carbon.

In a recent issue of ENGINEERING (see page 810, vol.lxxi. ), a notice was given of the gr~at electrical po'!er. station at N ewoastle. and a detailed Illustrated descnption of the same installation appears in the August part of T RACTION AND TRANSMISSION. An interesting detail in connec­tion with these works is the application of mag­nesia coverings to the steam piping.. This clot~­ing which is manufactured by the Washm~ton Chem1-oal' Company, of Wa-shington, County Durham, . is formed of moulded blocks of carbonate of magnesia, strengthened with asbestos fibre, and held in place by iron straps. The material formed the subject of a. paper read before the American Institute of Mining Engineers some time since. Magnesium carbonate has certain interest­ing physical characteristics that were mentioned in this paper. Moulded bricks 2 in. by 4 in. by 8 in., weighing from 140 to 175 grammes (5 oz. to 6 oz.), absorbed many times their weight of water; thus such a brick, weighing 155 grammes when dry, absorbed 983 grammes of water, showing the existence of nearly 94 per cent. of air cells in the structure. As may be expected, careful tests, con­ducted by the author of the paper, showed that this material possesses a very high value as a non-conducting covering, a fact demonstra ted by wide and successful application for several years.

A correspondent writes to the Times that, contrary to statements that have been largely circulated, M . Santos­Dumont's balloon is heavier than the air, and is raised solely by means of the propeller, and therein lies the secret of its success. When filled with hydrogen, and with 100 kilogrammes of ballast and the inventor in his basket on board, the whole balloon weighs from 15 to 20 kilogrammes more than the air, so that on a. calm day it rests gently on the ground until the propeller is pub in motion. When once in the air, a balance weight decides whether it ·rises, descends, or remains at the same eleva­tion. This balance weight can be moved in a horizontal direction at will, so that the balloon may be pointed up­wards or downwards, or it may be so fixed that it keeps the same elevation automatioa.lly. In t he course of one of his trials M. Santos-Dumont remained for nearly five hours a t an altitude of 270 metres without throwing out any ballast, and therefore without any loss of hydrogen. His experience convinces him that on his system balloon­ing can now be utilised almost immediately, and with oom{>arative safety and certainty, for the purpose of scout­ing m time of war. He does not seem to think that the wind will offer a serious difficulty. The movement of the air being quite local and fan-like, the navigable balloon has but to rise or sink to choose a favourable wind. M. Alberto Santos-Dumont, the inventor, is only twenty­eight years of age, and is the youngest 130n of a coffee­planter in Brazil. The present machine is the fifth that he has made in four years with the object of solving the problem of aerial navigation.

FRENCH STEAM NAVIOATION.-The French General Transatlantic Company has arranged wit h the French Minister of Commerce for a continuance of its postal service t o the W est Indies.

PERSONAL -The Parker Foundry Company. of Derby, have appointed Mr. Frank Fairman, of 93, Hope-street, Glasgow, their representative for Gla~gow and district. The Parker Foundry Company make a speciality of engineers' castings in malleable oast iron and steel. -Messrs. Paterson, Downs, and J ardine, of Coats Iron and Steel Works, Coatbridge, N.B., have appointed Mr. Alfred M. Buchanan, of Suffolk House, Laurence Pountney Hill, London, E .C., their export and L ondon agent for the sale of their various brands of bar iron.

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

MOUNTINGS FOR NAVAL (Fo1· Descrip ftion, see Page 198o)

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• ' BARBETTE MOUNTINGS FOR NAVAL 0 R DNA N C E. •

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INDUSTRIAIJ NOTES. THE Ironworkers' J OU'rnal for August continues its

report of the proceedings of the delegate meeting for the revision of rules, and gives an account of the various demonstrations and annual gatherings usual about this period of the year. It also contains reports of the meetings of the North of England Conciliation and Arbitration Board and the Midland Wages Board. At the former a question of average earnings was reported ; the sub-committee bad spent considerable time in the investigation of the case at West Hartle­pool, and the matter was adjourned to give time to verify some of the statements made. This shows how carefully and impartially the board does its duty to all concerned. At the Midland Board claims for damages were made by employers ; in oue case because the " roller " at a mill had not carried on the mill as he ought to have done; in the other case the puddlers had left work. In the first case 25l. was claimed; the employers did not press for the whole claim. It was found that the employers' claim was a good one, and that the workman responsible did not use his best endeavours to carry on the mill. In the latter case it was decided that the puddlers were not justified in leaving work. An apology and promise not to offend again satisfied the employers. The way in which these and similar cases are dealt with by those two boards shows how collective bargaining can be advan­tageously carried on by mutual arrangement, under the direction of a. properly constituted tribunal, whose :final decision is accepted by law and by the representa­tives of the respective part&es.

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The report of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives gives a rather gloomy account of the state of trade. It says: "The reports from our branches show, with but very few exceptions indeed, that there is a dearth of employment for those engaged in our industry." l\1any operatives are on three-quarter time or half time, with no prospect of better times in store. To make matters worse, one of the large fizms in the Midlands, employing about 800 persons, bad their factory burnt down, thus throwing all the work­people idle. It is described as one of the best-equipped factories in the Midlands, and the report expresses deep regret at the unfortunate occurrence. The dis­putes during the month were few, and none of them serious. In most cases the officials of the union were able to arrange terms and avert a strike. "State­ments" were arranged at Chesterfield and Bishops Auckland by the president, and at Barnsley and Heckmondwike some differences which had arisen were disposed of without any stoppage of work. In one or two cases the employers offered to keep th~ men on at full time if they would consent to a reduction in wages. The union men did not see their way clear to agree to the proposal. After some negotiation, the firms agreed to continue to pay the old prices. Two arbitration cases are given in the report, one affecting the whole union at Leicester, as to terms of notice in case newer conditions are sought as to wages, &c. It was decided that the award was for a fixed period of three years, and that notices of other conditions could only be given at the end of that period-notice req_uired being three months. The award is also g1ven in the

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Glasgow dispute as to a minimum rate of wages, overtime, and extras.

The Federation of Master Cotton Spir ners' Associa­tions bad its annual meeting in ManchestEr last week, when suggestions were made as to a "raw-cotton market in Manchester," and also for joining together all the associations into one body for the purpose of dealing with labour and other questions. Reports were made as to the Factory Bill, the Steam Engines and Boilers (Persons in Charge) Bill, and the movement in favour of closing all mills at twelve o'clock on Satur­day. It was reported to the meeting "that your committe~ is doing all in its power to prevent the pro­posal being carried into law." The questions of fencing machinery, and compensation to workmen injured in the course of their employment, also came before the meeting. The report l€\ts us know that negotiations are still going on between the joint sub-committee and the Cardroom Amalga­mation for the completion of a complete universal card and blowing-room list. Fresh proposals have been made by the Employers' Federation and t he Operatives' Committee respectively, which are before the bodies for consideration. Complaint is made in the report as to the delay and the cost incurred in preparing such list; but it is hoped that the nego­tiations will end satisfactorily at no distant date. No prolonged strike had occurred during the past year, but several disputes had been arranged by the joint committee. The negotiations as to the revision of the Brooklands' agreement, or proposals thereupon, were also reported. It would seem that the desire for some

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permanent form of association for dealing with all labour questions still holds good; and it is probable that some agreement will be arrived at which will do for the cotton industry what the conciliation boards have done in the iron trades in averting strikes.

The iron trade in the Wolverhampton district was more buoyant in tone during the past week than of late, though the business done in finished iron was chiefly on home account. Marked bars were firm at official rates, while unmarked iron was fairly firm at the recent advance, Black sheets were in demand in heavy lots, both for galvanising and wor king-up pur­poses. This keeps up the rates in sheets for all purposes. Hoop iron is in good demand and firm in price. Steelmakers complain of German and Belgian competition at low rates, but local makers maintain their quotations. In the engineering and allied trades there is little change. In nearly all sections employ­ment is good-with engineers, ironfounders, boiler­makers, t ank and gasmeter makers, bridge aud girder constructors, smiths and strikers, and with men of all sections in the railway sheds. In the general run of hard ware trades and other industries using iron and steel, if not coming within that category, employment is fairly good all round. In a few instances trade was comparatively quiet, but not to the extent of being depressed ; and while some branches were less pressed with work, others had improved. On the whole, therefore, the position is favourable and the prospects encouraging.

In the Birmingham district the iron trade was dull

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at the close of last week, on the eve of t he holidays. At a meeting of the Midland Iron and Steel U a­marked Bs.r Association the price of ordinary iron was advanced 5s. per ton; the basis now being 6l . 153. per ton. The reasons assigned for the advance were the cost of production and the dispari ty betw~en the rates in the North of England. The Standmg Committee of the Midland Wages Board had before them the accountant's certificate, which showed a considerable drop in the average price ; but in consequence of the iron and steelworkers not seeking an advance when they were entitled to it, the Standing Committee decided not to press now for the reduc­tion to which, as prices have ruled, the employers were entitled. This reciprocity of feeling is an excel­lent sign of the times- mutual consideration in labour matters. The position of the engineering and allied industries remains about the same; employment con­tinues to be, on the whole, fairly good. In most of the other iron, steel, and metal-using industries em­ployment is fairly good, though a little unequal. Yery few complain of trade being bad ; but some describe it as quiet, some slack, many as moderate.

In the La.ncashire districts, complaints continue to be heard of a slackening-off in orders in certain branches; but in others, especially electrical engi:­neering, locomotive building, and some other sec­tions, there is a sufficiency of orders on hand to keep the men well employed for a. long time ahead. In some of t he branches where orders have slackened off there is a considerable amount of work on hand, so that workerg will not acutely feel any d ifference for some time to come. 1 t would appear also that in some sections of the textile ma.chine·making industry there is a slight improvement, or t endency in that direction. Boilermakers and ironfounders report trade as moderate, but very few have been really out of em­ployment; the stoppages have been, as a general rule, temporarily only. In the iron trade a stronger tone was manifest last week. Actual buying was not, it appears, largely increased, but the demand was greater, and there seemed to be a desire to place orders at prices higher than would have been g iven a few weeks since. The demand for forge qualities of iron is greater than local mak ers can undertake at present, a slight advance being charged. Finished ironmakers report more business offering. On the whole t he prospects appear to have brightened some­what all round.

The question of importing t~e military in~o t~e district affected by the Penrhyn dtspute was raised 10

Parliament on Friday in last week, and was strongly condemned by several members. The H ome Secretary defended the action taken on the ground that it was necessary to aid the local police to maintain order. It is to be regretted that any excuse should have been given for calling out the military.. .

Th'3 Bristol traruwaymen's st nke has resulted m several prosecutions for throwing missiles at the men employed, and otherwise. The dispute hg.s caused a good deal of excitement in the city, and a little un­easiness. The tramway system is regarded as the best, on t he whole, that we have in this country ; but it has been sadly disorganised b.Y the strike, fewer and fewer cars running because of fear.

The employ6s of the London County Council still threat en to strike unless the increase in wages asked for is conceded. There is a growing feeling that the men are pressing their claims too far, and are usiog political influence to enforce their claims.

The London Trades Council adopted at its last meet­ing the programme of the London Qounty Council employes, namely, a minimum wage of 303. per week for all adult males; twelve days' annual leave or holiday, with full pay;. half wages '~hen . absent through illness ; and medtcal treatment m s10kness. The resolution was ordered to be sent to all members of the London County Council, with the suggestion that no further increase of salary be granted to any officer who is in receipt of 150l. a year, for two years, to help to pay the increased cost of the above.

It is complained in labour circles that the section termed anarchists in Italy are by their general action and violence retarding the beneficent intentions of the Government, whose idea seems to be to favour labour associations but at the same time put down violence. This is the' true policy. V iolence has always done harm to labour.

The direct r epresentation of labour in Parliament is recognised as a good thing generally, not only for la bour but for the nation. in Borne quarters, how­ever there is a plea for sectionalising labour represen­tati~n by insisting upon it for various employments. The postal en1ployes want a. pos~man or ex-postman, as railway men wanted and obta.med a seat for one of their own body. This policy ie not a h~althful .one, and will not help, buti retard, the ext.ensio~ of direct labour representation, for few constituencies are of one class or Eection.

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

NAVAL ORDNANCE.* By Lieutenant A. TREVOR DAWSON, of London.

(Continued j1·om page 150.) THE MOTIVE PowER ~~oR WoRKING LARGE GuNs

WITHIN TURRETS OR BARBETTES. H ydraulic v. Stearn, A ir, a;nd Electric Mot~1·e Power.­

The mountin~ for the gun is as important as the gun itself or as It~ breeoh mechanism, because upon the efficiency of the mounting the rate of fire depends.. The structure, while extremely mobile, must be suffi01ently strong to transmit to the ship the strains that result from the enormous energies developed when the gun is fired. The rapidity and accuracy of aimed-fire are con­trolled to a large extent by machinery- the eleva.~ing and training gear, the means of supplying the gun with pro­jectiles and powder, the hoist, the rammers, &c. '£he motive power by which this machinery is operated con­siderably influences the general efficiency of the ~n:ot;tnb­ing, and on this point there is much difference of opmton . This is one of the several questions where the vaned ex­perience of the mechanical engineer can assist the ord­nance designer. Varying circumstances affect the general rules and necessitate special divergence from any prin~iple laid down ; but the author is much inclit;ied in favour of hydraulic power for the ~~neral operat10n .of the mounting, in preference to electn01ty, compressed atr, or steam.

Steam Power.-For sea. service it is very important to avoid any system which will cause the lower de~k and compartments in the sb~p to be~ome h~ate?, espemally as there is usually great dtfficulty m ven.tilatin.g such .Pla~es to make them habitable. Steam engmes wtbh the1r ptpe leads, valves, &c., which must radiate m~ch h~a~, are impracticable from this cause alone ;, but~~ add.1t19D to this disadvantage, they are next to tmposstb.le mstde a turret, owi~g to th~ danger of ~h~ gunn~rs bemg scalded in the posstble. contl.ngency of.JOll}tS bemg damaged or pipes broken m acb10n. Agam, m consequ.en~e o~ the mternrittentl nature of the work done, there 1s likelihood of failure owing to the steam condensing in the cylinders and steam leads. This might be overcome by a pro­perly designed system of draining, hub this would add complica.t10ns.

Compressed A ir Power.-Compressed air has one gr~a.b advantage in comparison with steam-no retur.n p1pe system is required, as all machines may exh.aust mt? t~e atmosphere, and by so doing would ~atenally assist m the ventilation of the turret. The notse, however, made by the free exhaust is very objectionable. Compressed air to be economical, must be worked ab a very high pr~ssure, and a dam~ged pipe mighp therefore. cauee an explosion with serious ~esults. Au-compres~mg en­gines are usually run ab a h1gh speed, and necessitate the employment of gear trains-a condition extravagant and

• nmsy. . Electric Power.-Electricity, when ~ompared WI~h steam

and air has many advantages; no ptpes are requued, the conductors are extremely light as compared with the pipes which they would djsplace, and they <'an be led ~ay­where. On the other hand, there are a number of senous disadvantages involved. All electric motora of reason­able weight and size !or . the purpose must. run a~ a very high speed, necessitatmg heavy gear trams, wh.tch involve much loss of power and a great deal of nmse. Difficulty, too, is frequently experienced in discovering the cauRe of failure which occasionally occurs either in the motor, controller, or conductors. Special safe~y cut-ou~ are required to prevent .motors fr?~ over-h~a~mg. It IS also practically impossible to u~tlise el~~tn01ty for ru~­ning heavy guns back. to the finn~ .POSition af.ter recm~. In training and elevatmg by electn01ty, great difficulty IS always experienced in getting dea!l slow movements to enable the gun .to be perf~ctly sighted on the targey. Many devices have been mtroduced to overcome t hts drawback, hub none have proved quite satisfactory; an electric motor can scarcely be started at slow speed. Again, it is generall~ stated as on~ of th~ ad vantage~ 9£ electric over hyd:aubc I>_m·yer that If a. wue break~, 1t ~s more easily repau ed. This, however, IS not the expen­ence of the author, a~ it bas often proved most difficult to detect quickly a short or broken circuit. With hydraulic power the escape of water is certain and is easily dis­covered ; and, since the introduction of fle~ible pipmg, a. broken pipe is quickly repaired by replacmg the whole piece between the two sbop.coc~s. .

Hydrautio Power.-Hydrauhc power has practiCally none of the disadvantages enumerated for the other systems of power described. Pipes can be laid anywhere, they give out no heat, if they are damaged no explosion takes place, .and the damag~ can ea:'ilY be di~covered and quickly. repa~red. Hydraul~c machm~s can ID mo~b c~es be apphed ~·:ect for elevatmg,. runnu:~g ~ut and u:~, hfb­ing a.mmumt10n, and for bauhng proJectiles, &c., ID the shell rooms and other parts of the ship. They work prac­tically in silence. The vertical and hori:mntal running of the gun is under perfect control, the dead slow movement required being obtained with the greatest facility and

• • preClSlOD. For sea service, the source of the hydraulic power on

board ship is usua!Jy a pumping engine, so designed .as t.o obviate the necessity for an accumulator. One engine IS fitted for each turret and placed in a compartment below the armour deck, the arrangement of valves being such that either or both can work any or both of the mount­ings. These engines are of the compound tandem type, each with four cylinders and two pumps placed in line. They are provided with speed n.nd pressure governors to admit of variations in the speed from 3 to 110 revolutions per minute, with pressures within 1000 lb. and 1100 lb. per square inch. 'l1he pumps ar~ single-acting for suction

* Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

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work, double·acting for deliverr. L~rge tanks ~uilt it;1to the ship are provided for stormg fresh wa.ter, .m whwh there is a slight admixture of sofb soap and oil for the lubricating of internal ~u:faceP. Salt water may be .used in an emergency, but this1s not commendable. D~phcate sets of piping are provided throughout the shtp. To keep down weight, these are usually made of manganese bronze, a material of about twice the strength of the copper formerly adopted.

GuN ~IOUNTINGS. After due consideration has been given to strength and

adaptability, the principal J>Oinb in the general arrange­ment of gun mountings, as m the mechanism of the gun itself is tio attain the highest possible aimed rate of fire. This 'indeed is the dominant consideration in the design­in~ of all Vickers' ~un mountings, and the at~inmenb. of th1s result is esta.bhshed by r eference to the IllustratiOn on pa.~e 196 of the mounting for two 12·in. breech-loading guns mstalled in several British first·class battleships. The distinctive feature of the arrangement admits of the gun being loaded at any angle of ele~ation, and the load­ing is quite independent of the laymg of the gun. In earlier types it was necessary after the gun was fired ~o elevate it again to a fixed angle in order to reload. Thts not only threw ~he we~pon off the line of sig~t, hub took quite a.n appr~CJable tu~1e to .perfo~m, reducmg the pos­sible rate of a1med fire ID a. g1 ven ttme.

In British ships the 12-in. guns are invariably mo.unted in pairs, and the arran~ement illustrated by F1g. 21 admits of four rounds bemg tired from each barbetteo, or ab the rate of 149,241 foot-tons per minute. With guns of this calibre it would seem desirable to always mount them in pairfl, so that if the range is nob found quite co~­recb with the first ~rojectile from the one gun, there 18 immediate opportuntty of rectifying the error discovered, and thus the gun layer will seldom fail to hit with the second shot. It is the case over again of the ordinary barrelled gun; if you miss with one barrel you always have a second: in the case of the battleship, if you hit with the first gun, the chance is you will also hit with the second.

Vickers' Ba;rbette Mowntirlg for T 1.oo 12·ln. Breech-Load­ing Guns for British Service.- ln the barbette mounting for two 12-in. breech-loading guns of the British type, illus­trated by Fig. 2L, page 196, the guns are mounted on a turntable, carried on a. live roller-ring, and are protected by an armoured shield secured to the upper surface of the turntable. The followin~ is a detailed description:

The turntable A is built up of steel plates and angles, and is provided with suitable machined surfaces for the attachment of the brackets supporting the ~un mountings and for the upper roller path a secured to Its lower face. The lower roller path b is fixed to a structure separate from and within the barbette wall, and thereby will nob be affected by any distortion of the latter.

The shell cbambet C is attached to the under side of the turntable, and revolves with it.

The trunk D is attached to the floor of the shell chamber, and revolves with it and the turntable.

The rollers Bare provided with flanges at both ends to take the horizontal thrust, and are bound together by a ring to which the roller axles are secured.

The training rack E is abtached to the turntable, and gears with the training pinions e, which are actuated from below. The turntable is arranged to be rotated either by hydraulic or hand power, and provision is made so that only one form of power can be in operation at the same time. For training by hydraulic power two three-cylinder hydraulic engines F are provided, which may act either in conjunction or separately; they are situated in a com­partment immediately below the shell chamber, and are controlled from the sighting stations.

The handles G for hand working are situated in the same compartment as the hydraulic engines., and are suitably connected by gearin~ to the training shaHs f. An automatic brake d is provided, which will always he in actrion when the band or hydraulic power is nob actually at work, and the locking bolt z is arranged to secure the turntable when nob in use.

The guns are mounted in cradles W, which slide during recoil upon slide-frames I t built up of steel plates and angles. The slide frames are supported by trunnions g in bearings on suitable brackets attached to the upper part of the turntable.

The recoil presses H nre fixed to the slide frames, two to each gun. These presses are provided with pistons and rods, the latter being attached to the cradle. During recoil, ~he liquid in ~he press is for~ed through an opening of varymg area. to give an approDmate constant pressure t hroughout the period of recoil. The gun may be run out or in either by hydraulic or hand power. For running out or in by hydraulic power, two presses are provided, one for each operation. These are fixed inside the slide frame under the ~un, and have a single ram working between them, which is secured to a sleeve on the under side of the ~un cradle, and moves with it. The operating valves are sttuated on the gun platform.

For hand-power run "out " and "in" hand-pumps J are provided in the chamber below the turntable, and are suitably connected up to the" run in and out cylinders." These pumps are also used for hand "elevating, " connec­tions being l~kewise provid~d to the elevating presses L L.

For elevatm~ by hydraohc power, a bracket K attached to the under Bide of the slide frame in front is connected by means of two links k to the ram of a press L L, which is attached to the floor of the turntable. This press is operated either from the sighting J>la.tform or the gun platform. The hydraulic supply IS conveyed to the revolving turntable by means of the swivel pipes PP.

Automatic sightin~ gear is provided on the gun mount· ing, and is .a.rr~nged ID duplica:te for each gun.

The proJectiles and explosive charges are conveyed from the shell-rooms and magazine to the shell-chamber

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Auc. 9, 1901.] E N G I N E E R I N G. in ~ag~ which travel along guides in the t runk. The I axis, is kept by a spring in its lower position out of the proJectiles are transferred froiD; the overhead t raveller y way of the gun when ib recoils. This tray is raised by a. m the shell-room on to two bog1es Y ab the base of the cam on the ammunition cage, and swung around its hori­trunk. These bogies are provided with gear for running zontal axis into the bore of the gun after the breech has them round relabi~e to the ship or to ~be ~evolvi~g trunk, been opened, and in this position effectively protects the a~d have bolts which supp~rt t?e proJectile, whtch, when threads of the breech-screw during the passage of the wtt~d~wn, al!ow the pro]ecttles to roll down on to a projectile and powder charges into the gun. At the rear reoe~vmg tray_ m the cage. The cages in the trunk travel of this loa<iing tray a. chain ram mer V is provided, worked vert1ca.lly untll they reach the cbf;\mber below the turn- by means of an hydraulic motor, the arrangement being table, w_hereupo? the trays carrymg the projectiles are that the rammer is always in line with the longitudinal auto_m_e.t1cally tllted so that the projectiles roll on to axis of the gun for loading ab any angle of elevation. rece1vmg trays n1. These trays are themselves tilted on The motor for working the rammer is attached to the

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• a. horizontal axis until they come in line with the inclined arm I 2, which carries the lending tray, and connected trays n !:! leading to the ammunition cages, which carry by bevel gear v to the rammer. the ammunition from the shell chamber to the gun Should the motor or other part of the gear fail, a clear breeches. space may be provided for hand-loading from e. bogie R 2

The rails S, S leading from the shell chamber to the at the rear of the gun, by lowering the gearing and its g un platform have their upper parts curved concentric connection by means of a. screw. with the trunnions, so that the projectile carried on the All the ammunition cages are worked by hydra.ulic cage is always radial in the upper part of its course, and cranes. The main ammumtion cages abut against fixed ma.r be brought in line with the bore of the gun whatever stops on the rearward extension of the slide frame, eo be Its elevation. that the projectile is brought exactly in line with the

The powder cha.rges ara raised from the magazine, bore of the gun, thus insuring that the gun may be which is situated immediately above the shell-room, to loaded at any angle of elevation, whether in motion or ab the shell chamber in c&ges Q, which travel up guides in rest. the trunk in e. similar manner to the shell cages. The The mounting is inclosed by a shield M securely charges are then lifted out and placed in the main ammu- attached to the upper floor of the turntable by suitable nibion hoists R 1 leading to the gun breeches. plates and angles. The front and aides are sloping. The

A loading tra.y T, arranged to work on a horizontal rear part is extendEd to provide space for the gun's crew,

199

and also serves to balance the mounting. The ot:ening between the shield and the barbette wall is made water­tight by means of a flexible leather apron m, which may be adjusted by means of screws.

There are two sighting hoods and one look-out hood at the rear.

Foreign Service Vickers Mownting for T1vo 12-I-n . . Brecc?t­Loading Gu-ns.-The diagram (Fig. 22, pa.ge 196) d1ffers 1n one important respect from the arrangement for t~e British ships just described. Each charge for the mam hoist is transferred direct to the gun hois t, the elevator trunk being splayed outwards at the top, so that the pro­jectiles are brought up exactly in line with the axis of each gun. In this arrangement nine projectiles are always kept in motion in various positions, and the guns constantly kept supplied with ammunition , so that they may be virtua.lly considered quick -firers. It is only neces­Aary to describe in detail that pa.rt of the ammunition hoist which differs from the arrangement in the mounting shown in Fig. 21.

The cages N in the conical trunk travel upwards on slightly inclined rails m, until they reach the chamber below the turntable, a.nd the projectiles which they carry are now in line with the guns. The cages are provided with tra.ys carrying the projectiles, which are automatic­ally tilted when the cage has ascended, so that the pro­jectiles slide off into fixed receiving trays p in the sheJl chamber, where they remain until the ammunition cages R, which ca.rry the ammunition from the shell chamber to the gun breeches have descended and automatically set free the stops which retained them in position, per­mitting the projectiles to slide into the ammunit ion ca.gee.

9.2-In. Gwn Barbette Moumting.-On F ig. 23, page 197, there is illustrated the equipment for a. medium calibre gun specially suited for armoured cruisers, and which, for its size, has attained the greatest rate of fire of any gun at present moun ted in H.M. Navy. This is a 9.2-in. equip­ment, which is to all practical purposes similar to the guns Messrs. Vickers, Sons, and Maxim have now under manu­facture, with their mountings, for t he Turkish battleship Meesudijeh. A general description of the mounting 1s given, as it is of special construction, and is capable of attaining a rate of fire of five rounds per minute. The mounting itself would not prc;>duce this extraordinary rate of fire; it is due to the construction of the breech mecha­nism illustrated by Fig:. 12, l?age 160 ante, and described on pnge 148, in combinat1on w1tli the general arrangement of the mounting. The breech mechanism oa.n be operated, either in openin~ or closing, in about two seconds, so that very little time IS wa~ted in performing the whole opera­tion. No hydraulic nor other mechanical device is needed, as the arrangement of levers gives ample power when worked by hand. The following is a detailed description of the mounting as illustrated by F ig. 23:

The turntable A is builb up of steel plates and angles. The upper roller path a is riveted to 1ts under face and machined up true in position. The lower roller path b is secured to a machined surface on the floor of the barbette. The rollers B, B a.re provided with flanges at both ends to take the horizontal thrust, and are bound together by a ring of plate steel, to which the roller axles are attached.

The turntable is arranged to be rotated either by hy­drau lie or hand power, the former by means of a three­cylinder hydraulic motor F, gearing with a rack E, attached to the lower roller path, and the la.tter by means of ha.ndles D situated on the gun J?latform. The shaft carrying the pinion which gears w1th the training rack is arranged vertically, and carries two spur wheels !It ! 2 loosely thereon, to one of which is geared e. pinion on the shaft of the hydraulic motor, and to the other is geared a pinion connected to the hand gear. T he wheels are connected to the shaft by means of a clutch /3, so arranged that only one can be in operation ab the same time.

A ha.nd brake is provided for securing the turntable when changing from hydraulic to band power, and vice ve'rsa. The hydraulic motor is controlled from the sight­ing station by means of the band wheel N.

The gun is mounted on a slide frame S built up of steel plates and angles, provided with bearings upon which the gun slides during recoil. The slide frame is supported by trunnions on bearings g, in suitable brackets G secured to the upper parts of the turntable.

_The recoil presees H, two in number, are fixed to the shde frame. These presses are provided with pistons and rods h, the latter being attached to the lug band C secured to the gun, and arranged to slide on a prolonga­tion of the slide frame. The presses have an orifice of va.rying area to allow the liquid in the cylinder to pa~s from one end to the other during recoil ab an approxi­mately constant pressure.

The gun is provided with two rows of recuperator springs placed mside the slide frame, which hold the gun in the firing position, a.nd a.re of sufficient power to return the g~n a.fter ~re to the firing position at all angles of elevat10n. Suitable arrangements are made in the recoil cylinders to prevenh the shock when returning to the firing position with the gun horizontal or depressed.

The gun is arranged to be elevated either by hand or hydraulic power. rrhe eleva.tin~ prees pis secur~d to the turnta.ble below the gun, and is connected by links p to the bracket R on the underside of the slide frame. 'fhe p_!'ess is controlled by e. lever n from the sighting station. Ha.nd wheels are provided at the sighting station for elevating by hand I~t and also from e. secondary position in the gun platform I 2. They are connected by worm and other ~ea.ring to the elevating arcs K attached to the unders1de of the slide frame, two pinions q on the worm­wheel shaft being gea.red thereto. An automatic arrange­ment is provided for disconnecting the hand gear when the hydraulic power is employed.

Automatic sights 3 s are provided on the gun mounting, and an indicator &ituated at the @ighting station shows

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200 E N G I N E E R I N G. •

[AuG. 9, 1901 .

TURRET AND BARBETTE JYIOUNTINGS FOR NAVAL ORDNANCE.

Fro.25: BARB£TT£. MOUNTING

FOR ' 13/N AHb 8 IN.GUNS

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the position of the tnonnting relative to ship when training.

An arm Q attached to the gun slide supports the loading tray L

2 on to which the projectiles are placed for loading.

The mechanism of the loading apparatus is such ~hat the projectile always remains parallel with the axis of the pun when the tray with shell is swung into the breech of the gun. .

From the under floor of the turntable a trunk T 1 1s arranged to extend down into the interior of the ship to the level of the ammunition chambers. It is rectangular in section, and the inte~or is used s.a a pa.ssa~E;-way ~nd band-up. Tbe guide ra1ls r r for the ammumt10n h01sts

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13 JN GUNS IN U S NAV"

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are £xed to the outside. A platform T2 is attached to The projectiles and powder charges in case of necessity the underside of the turntable, and revolves with it, from can be raised by hand through the ladder-ways to the which a ladder L1 extends to the gun platform ; it may gun platform. ~e used for carrying the spare ammunition for hand- The mounting is enclosed by a shield M securely mg up. attached to the upper floor of the turntable by plates and

The projectiles are delivered on one side of the gun and angles. Ibis provided with a sighting hood, and is fitted the powder charges ab the other, one projectile and two with a leather apron m, with screws and brackets for half chare-es being conveyed ab a time. The shells slide making it watertight with the barbette. down an mclined trough Ta from the cage to a convenient Krup_p Ba;ruette Mownting for 24-0entimetre (9.45-In.) positio~ ab the rear. of the gun, from whence they are ~wn.-In dealing .with the mountings of heavy erdnance lifte? mto the loadmg tray. The powder charges are 1b may n_ob be am1~s to refPr to a type of 24-centimetre earned rouncl by band to the rear of the gun. Both gun dPslgned by Messrs. Krupp, of Ess~n. of which a hoists are worked by hydraulic preeses. I general diagram is given on Fig. 24, page 199. The main

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AuG. g, xgo1.] E N G I N E E R I N G. 201

BARBETTE MOUNTING FOR NAVAL ORDNANCE.

Fig. 21. •

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operations of this mounting are performed electrically, but the mechanism can be q oiokly disconnected to enable the gun to be worked by hand. The recoil of the gun is overcome by a hydro pneumatic device, and the rammer is worked by hydraulic power. Messrs. Krupp thus fit three power systems for performing different operations in connection with the working of one mountin~. The breech mechanism of the gun is of Messra. Krupp's u~ual wedge type, and is worked by hand. It is claimed for the mounting that it will fire one round every 20 seconds; that is, starting with the gun loaded, four rounds in the first minute and then one round every 20 s~conds thereafter. The turntable itself revolves on a. ball race, and the mounting g~nera.lly is well protected by the highest quality of armour. The maximum rate of fire obtained from the Vickers 9.2-in. mountings wa..s five rounds in one minute, starting wibh the gun loaded, and, as already pointed out, this extraordinary rate of fire from such a heavy weapon ha.s been accomplished by the combination of the general arrangement of the mounting with the mechanism of the gun, and the abolition alto­gether of the metallic cartridge case. The following is a detailed description of the Krupp ba.rbette mounting_ for 24 centimetre breech-loading gun, as illustrated by Fig. 24, page 199.

The mounting consists essentially of the following parts :

'Ihe turntable A for loadin~ the ammunition hoist. The rotating trunk B carrymg the gun platform C and

carriage D. Training and elevating gear E. Ammunition-hoisting gear F and rammer G. Gun shield H. The turntable, which is rotated by band power on a.

live roller path, is built up of pla.teg and angles, and oar· ries tw€nty-four projectile holders K arranged in a. circle and secured by clips. The trunk, which rotates inde­pendently of the turntable, is centred at its lower end by a pivot L, which rotates in a. fixed bearing. Rails attached to the trunk guide the cap M while it is being elevated. The upper part of the trunk is circular, and is strengthened by cross-girders Nand angles to carry the gun platform and carriage. A ball path fixed to the underside of the platform rests on a. racer P fixed to the deck, and provided with steel balls, which thus support the trunk and gun mounting, while clips fitting under­neath a.n internal flange on the racer prevent the ball pR-t h um.ea.ting when firing.

The traversing rack Q, which gears with the travers~ng pinion, is formed on the outside of the racer. Travers10g may be effeotetl either by electric or hand power; the crank handles R for the latter are placed in a. pit imme­diately below the platform, and connected to the travers­ing shaft by a chain drive and double-speed gear. Access to this pit is obtained through hatchways in the platform. When the maximum traverse has been reached in either direction, the platform comes in contact with a. spring buffer, and the motor is a.utomatioa.lly thrown ont of gear. A powerful electro-magnetic brake is also provided.

The elevating arcs attached to the cradle crosshead are

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provided with graduated seotora S, and gear with the elevating pinion, actuated either by a.n electric motor T or by hand power, and an indicator U actuated by the sight, registers the angle of elevation required. The move­ment of the arcs is limited by stops, the motor being autom~tioally thrown out of gear when maximum eleva­tion or depression is reached, and a.n arrangemenb is provided for looking the gun at the elevation necessary for loading.

The controlling levers for the traversing and elevating motors are actuated from the sighting station, and the change from electric to band power is accomplished in a few seconds by means of clutches.

The gun is mounted in a cast-steel cradle V, and the cradle supported in the carriage by trunnions, so that during recoil the gun slides in the cradle. The two recoil cylinders are formed on a. crosshel\d, fixed to the cradle, and the running-out cylinder placed between them; each recoil cylinder is provided with a piston and rod, the latter attache:d to the horn on the gun. During recoil the liquid in these cylinders iti forced through a.n opening of varying area, to give an approximately uniform pres­sure throughout the period of recoil. Compressed air in the running-out cylinder, being further compressed during recoil, serves for running out the gun. The air cylinder is provided with regulating valve and manometer gauge.

A range-finder and automatic sight are fitted to the mounting.

One projectile and one charge are elevated simulta­neously from the turntable to ramming position, the in­clination of the hoist tray W being controlled by the guide rails fixed on the trunk. The tray is pivoted m the hoist cage, and has two divisions-the upper, which is movable for the charge, and the lower, which is fixed for the pro­jectile. The charge is placed in a. swing carrier and secured by a clip, which is automatically pushed back on bringing the carrier into position for loading the tray. The projectile in its bolder is lifted up by means of a. hook and lever into a. position which allows it to be pushed into a carrier Y fixed on the trunk, where it is secured by a spring catch, which on withdrawal allows the projectile to ~ pushed into the lower division of the tray. The cage is elevated by a. rope Z coiling on a drum actu­ated by the electric motor F. The' motor is slowly started by hand, nnd the cage on rising automatically throws in the full current; on reaching the gun platform, the tray out3 out the current, and is then brought to rest in position for ramming the projectile by a stop, the cage being held in this position by a.n automatic clutch. At the lower part of the trunk an arrangement is provided which indicates the position of the tray in the hoist, together wibh a. bel~ speaking tube, and telegraph for communicating with the gun platform.

The ra.mmer is arranged to be iu line with the gun's axis, and consists of a. series of telescopic rams actuated by com~re.ssed air or by hand. After the shell is rammed, a lever ts withdrawn which allows the charge to fall into the position previously occupied by the projectile.

When the elevating tray is loaded, a slight rotation of the turntable brings another projectile opposite the ..

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BARBETT£ MOUIVTIIVG F'OR

2-6 INCH Q . F. GUNS.

•

carrier Y, in which the projectile may be placed in readi­ness for the descent of the tray, and at the same time an empty holder is brought OPI,>OSite a loading table where it receives a. projectile, and IS replaced in position on the turntable by an overhead trolley and swing link X.

An arrangement of a trolley running on rails ooncentri\3 with the trunk, combined with a swing link J, is provided for loading direct from the depOts.

The mounting is ~nclosed in a. shield securely attached to the gun platform by stretchers and angles, the front sloping and the rear extending over the barbette to provide space for ramming. The shield extends down­wards to the top of the barbette WE:ll, and is provided with a. sighting hood and manhole atJ the rear.

The Superi'lnposed Twrret M ounti 11g adopted in the Unittd States Battleships.-Reference should be made to the unique system of superimposed turret mounting as adopted by the U nited Sba.tes Government for the battle­ships Kearsage and Kentucky, n.s illustrated by Fig. 25, page 200. This system of mounting heavy guns has the grea.tJ advantage of concentration of heavy gun-fire right ahead or right astern, nnd for a considerable a.ro on the beams of the vessel. This utilisation of the heavy gun­fire capacity of a ship through so great an a.ro cannot be lost sight of by the artillerist. The increase in weight of armour necessary for the protection of the four guns is proportionately much less than if the ~uns were placed m pairs or singly in turrets, and the sav1ng thus effected may be utilised in other directions to add to the fighting efficiency of the ship. Another advantage of the super­imposed turret system is that all four guns can be fired from one sighting position, so that one gunner may suffice for their laying and for their simultaneous firing. The gun layer in the first instance lays one of the guns for the correct elevation, and the other weapons are then brought to the same inclination by the man in charge of each. The four weapons may then be fired, either together or sepa­rately, by the captain of the turret.

The disadvantages, however, of the superimposed turret system may, perhaps, be said to outweigh the advantages, a.s any serious damage to the turret would render four guns useless. The weight of armour protection of the four guns concentrated at a. great height involves a. pro­blem for the ship constructor. The area of the super­imposed gun turret presents a large target for attack. If it became necessary to repair one of the heavy guns, it might become a. somewhat difficult operation to remove it, although {in the case of the Kearsage, one of the 13-in. guns was very smartly withdrawn for repairs recently without removing the upper works. The firing of four guns simultaneously necessitates considernble construc­tlional strength of the ship in order to stand the heavy strains. This cannot, however, be put down as a serious objection, as these strains have been efficiently met by good construction in the American ships.

The following is a detailed description of this ba.rbette mounting for two 13-in. and two 8-in. breech-loading guns in superposed gun turrets a.s adopted in the United Sba.tes N a.vy, and illustrated by Fig. 25, page 200 :

The two S·in. guns are superposed upon the housing of

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202

the 13-in. guns. The 8-in. turret M., being rigidly a ttached to the roof of the lower turret M2, is moved in unison with the mobi.on of the latter, so tha.tJ all four guns must be brought to bear in the same direction. The guns with their housings are carried on a. turn ttl.ble A, arranged to revolve on a live roller ring B.

The turntable A is built up of steel plates and angles, and is specially consbructed for the attachment of the heavy armour-plates composing the lower gun-house. The main girders and upper surface are provided with suitable fa-cing3 for the attachment of the brackets which support the gun mountings. The rollers B which support the turntable are provided with flanges ab both ends to take the horizontal thrust. They are bound together by rings of plate steel, to which the roller axles are secured, the whole formin@' the live roller ring.

Electric power 1s provided for the horizontal training of the guns. The training shaf ts, of which there are two, are carried vertically in the turntable, and have pinions at their lower ends, gearing with the braining rack, which is secured to the lower roller -path structure.

The electric motors are situated inside the turntable, one at either side, and are connected by worm and other gearing to the training shaf~. The driving worms are carried on a horizon tal shaft supported inside the turn­table, and arranged so that the end thrust of the worms is directly opposed the one to the other, and thereby balanced. The wormwheels are connected to the braining shafts by a system of friction gear, which prevents undue stress on the gearing when the gons are fired separately.

The two 13-in. guns are supported in cradles S11 which are circular in section. The cradles are in two parts, an upper and lower, and are bolted together along the hori­zon tal axis; bearing strips are provided in the cradles, along which the guns slide during recoil. The forward end of eaoh cradle is provided with t runnions g, arranged to rest on brackets G 11 secured to the upper part of the turntable. The recoil and run-out spring-tubes H lt H1, of "hich there are four to each 13-in. gun, are on the hydraulic s:ystem, in combination with heavy recuperator springs wh10h run the gun out after firing; they are dis­posed in pairs, two being attached to the upper part of the cradle and two to the lower portion. Suitable brackets are provided on the cradles to receive the tubes .

The spring-rods are attached to lugs provided on a band D seoured to the rear end of the gun.

The t wo 8-in. guns are mounted in cradles similar to the 13-in. guns. The cradles are supported by trunnions on brackets G2 attached to the roof of the 13-in. gun­house. Two recoil and run-out spring tubes H 2 are pro­vided for each gun, and are fixed to the underside of the cradles. The guns are arran~ed to be elevated by hand and electric power. Separate elevating gear is provided for each gun. The brackets carrying the elevating mechanism for the 13-in. guns are secured to the main girders of the turntable below the guns. A crosshead, guided in the supporting bracket, is operated by means of a helical screw and is connected by links to a bracket on the under­side ~f the gun cradle. The screw is worked by the electro-motor Q attached to t~e lower end of the elevating bracket, and by handles proVl~ed on ea~h gun platform. The elevating gear for the 8-1n. guns 1s secured to the roof of the lower gun-house.

The projectiles and powder charges are conveyed directly from the ammunition chambers in t~e interi~r of the ship to the gun breeches by means of smtable hmsts. Separate hoists are provided for each gun, the 8-in. botsts being loaded in the chamber immediately above the 13-in. ammunition chamber.

The ammunition cages are raised by electro-motors T 1 T2 and are arranged to take up one projectile und th~ po~der charges ab ~ach op~~ation. They are guided on rails r 1, 1·2 to the loadmg pos1t1ons ab the gu~ breech~s. Transporting rails tlt ~' a~4 runners and loadmg bo~1es are provide? in the ammumtic:>D: chambers for transferrmg t he projecttles to the ammumt10n cages.

The guns are arrange~ to be loade~ at a. fixed loading position. The telescopic rammer, situated at the rear. of the shield, is in line with the bore of the gun ab the loadmg angle. These rammers are operated by me_ans of electro· motor~, provision being a19o made for working by hand.

An Am.eriaan 13-I n. Breech-Loading Gwn, Ba;rbette Mo1vnting.-Another type o! Ameri~an !Dounting, illus­trated by Fig. 26, pa~e 200, 1s now bemg mstalled .for the 13.in. guns of the Ill1nois class. As is ~h.e cas~ With t~e superposed turret system,, the. power utihsed 1s electric. The special novelby cons1sts ~n th~ m.eans adopted for overcoming the energy of ~e~oll, wh1ch Is. effected by f9ur hydraulic cylinders contammg also spnngs for runmng the gun out aft,er recoil. This is one 9f the first types of mountings for such he~vy gu.ns ~ .13-m. weap9ns, where the ordinary recoil cyhnder IS utilised for ta~mg up the energy of recoil in .eo m bina._tion w~ th the sprmg retur~. This recoil system lS very Simple m arrangeme~t and IS not likely to get oub of order. It, how~ver, entatls a !ery heavy cradle and a large number of sprm~s: The sprmgs con tained in two cylinders are amply suffi01ent to run. the gun out in a horizontal position, ~nd th~s several sprmgs may break before the Slstem ent1rely fa.tls. ~be author, however, prefers the British systet:n of takmg up ~he energy of recoil with twosepar~te cyhnders a.!ld of runmng the gun in or out by the ordmary bydrauhc ram. The U nited States Government. have, h~wever, a?opted elec­tricity for the genera:! work~ng of the~r mou!l~mgs, and ~o not consider it expedteJ?-t to mt!oduce m ad~1t10n hydra.ul~c p::>wer in conuecbio~ ~1th recml and r?~nmg out. T he1r arrangement of brmgmg the ammm;nt1on UJ? to S: fixed position, which they elect to be. honzontal, 1s ~ectdedly superior to the system under wht~h the gun ~equtres to be elevated to a. high fixed angle, as 1s th.e case m manJ:' load­ing systems for heavy guns. By loadmg the guns m the horizontal plane it seldom becomes nece~ary . under normal conditions to re· lay the gun after lo!ldmg, If there

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E N G I N E E R I N G. •

is any motion at all to the ship. The system, however, cannot be regarded as equal to that adopted by the British Government of loading at all a.n~Ies of eleva­tion which is suitable for the f.Olition m which the gun is at any time being fought. As the gun can thus be loaded at any position the gun layer can always keep both his gun laid in elevation and direction and fire it immediately the word is passed that the gun is loaded. When i t is necessary with other systems to change the gun even to a small angle of inclination for loading, the gun layer, after i t is char~ed, often experienoes consider­able difficulty in getting hts si~hts "on,, and sometimes, in rough weather, even in findmg the target. This condi­tion never arises when the gunner's eye is always along the sight and always looking at the ta rget during the pro­cess of loading, as is possible with the .British system.t

The details of the barbette mounting for t wo 13-in. ~reeoh-loading g~ns (U.S.A. type) may be described as 1llustrated by F1g. 26, page 200. The two guns are mounted on a. turntable A, carried on a live roller ring, and are protected by a heavily armoured shield M, which is built to the upper surface of t he turntable.

The turntable A is built up of steel plates and angles, and is specially constructed for the attachment of the heavy armour-plates. The main girders and upper sur­face of the turntable are provided with suitable facings for the attachment of the brackets G, which support the gun mounting. On the under3ide of the turntable a suit­able seating is provided for the attachment of the upper roller path a, which is secured by bolts. 1'he lower path b is fixed to a. structure C, separate from and within the barbette walls. The rollers B, which support the turn­table, are provided with flanges at both ends to take the horizontal thrust. They are bound together by rings of plate steel, to which the roller axles are secured, the whole forming the live roller ring.

Electric power is .Provided for the horizon tal training of the guns. The traming shafts, of which there are two, a re carried vertically in the turntable, and have pinions at their lower ends gearing with the training rack E, which iR secured to the lower roller-path structure. The electro· motors are situated inside the turntable, one at either side, and are connected by worm and other gearing to the training shafts. The driving worms are carried on a hori­zontal shaft supported inside the turntable, and arranged so that the end thrust of the worms is directly oppoeed the one to the other, and thereby balanced. The worm­wheels are connected to the traimng shafts by a. system of friction gear which prevents undue stress on the gearing when the guns are fired se{>arately.

The g uns are supported m cradles S, which are circular in section. T he cradles are in two parts, an upper and a lower, and are bolted to~ether along the horizontal axis, bearing strips being prov1ded in the cradles along which the gun slides durins- recoil. The forward end of each cradle is provided w1th trunnions g, arranged to rest on brackets G! secured to the upper part of the turntable.

The recml and run-out sprmg tubes H, H, of which there are four to each gun, are on the hydraulic system in combination with heavy recuperator sprinss which run the gun out after firing; they are disposed m pairs, two being attached to the upper part of the cradle, and two to the lower portion. Su1table brackets h, h are provided on the cradles to receive the tubes. The s_pring rods F are attached to lugs provided on a band D, secured to the rear end of t be gun.

The guns are arranged to be elevated by hand and elec­tric power. Separate elevating gear is provided for each gun. The brackets K, carrying the elevating mechanism, are secured to the main girders of the turntable, below the guns. A crosshead L, guided in the supp()rting bracket, is operated by ruea.ns of a helical screw N:• and is connected by links P to a bracket on the understde of the gun cradle. The screw is worked by the eJectro­motor Q. attached to the lower end of the elevating bracket. The 'handles J for hand working are situated 9n the g un platf<?rm, and are suitably connected by gea.r ­mg to the elevatmg screw.

T he projectiles and P<?wder charge~ are . con~eyed directly from the ammumt1on chambers m t~e mter1~r of the ship to the gun bree,ohes by means of sm,table ho1s~. Separate hoists are provtded for each gun. 'I be am mum· tion cages R are raised by electromotora, and are arranged to take up one projectile. and the ~owder charges ab e~ch operation. They are gmded on ratls 1\ r t~ the l_oadmg position at the gun bre.eches. Tr~nspo_rtmg rails an? runners and loading bogtes ~re proVIded 1.n t~e a.mmum­t ion chambers for transferrmg the proJectiles to the ammunition cages.

The guns are arranged to be loa.de~ at a fixed loading position. T he telescopic rammer W situated ab the rear of the shield is in line with the bore of the gun at the load­ing angle. This ram mer is operated by means of . an electromotor w, provision being also made for workmg by hand. .

T win Quick-Firing Guns in _Barbette fllom~t1-ngs.-In the case of cruiaert~, where savmg of wetght 1s of great impor tance, it is desirable to ~ounb in .the f~re and after barbettes quick-firing guns smgly or m pau~. . ~here t wo are to be mounted on forecastle and poop, 1t 1s Impor­tant to have them on separate moun~ings, nob t9o close together, as otherwise one gun m~y mt~rfere With the other whilst loading. ~hen thus m patrs the processes of elevation and trammg are earned out. tog_ether, and the ~uns loaded simultaneously. But m v1ew of the necess1ty of being able to attack at very l?ng rang~s, the author would substitute for. the tw<? 6 ~n. gnns m many cruisers a 7.5-in. weapon firmg a proJecttle of doubl~ the weight of the 6-in. at more than double the energy.

*Since this was written it has been .a.nnounce~ that b~e Admiralty have decided to make thiS ch1m~e m the e1x new cru!s~rs of the Monmouth class to be butlt shortly.

[AuG. 9, 1901.

From such a single gun a greater rate of fire would be obtained than is possible with the twin 6-in. guns, because t~e close proxinuty of the two guns must hinder opera­tiOns greatly. The advan tage gained by utilising the heavier projectile at long range would fully compensate for any advantages of the t win guns of lighter calibre.

Fig. 27, page 201, illustrates t he 6-in. twin quick-firing gun ba.rbette mounting, of which the following is a de-tailed description: ·

The two guns are aiTanged close together in one cradle ; they are mounted on a turntable carried on live roller~ and are protected by an armoured shield secured to th~ upper surface of the turntable.

The turntable A is built up of steel plates and angles well riveted together ; on the upper face of the turntable sui table machined faces are proVIded for the attachment of the brackets G supporting the mounting. The upper roller path a, of special forged steel, is riveted to the under face of the turntable, and machined up true in position. The lower roller path b is secured to a machined surface on the floor of the barbette.

Rollers B of special forged steel support the turntable; tbe:y are provided with flanges on both sides to take the hor17.ontal thrust ; they are bound together by a ring of plate steel, to which the roller axles are secured, the whole forming a live roller ring.

The turntable is arranged to be rotated both by hand and electric gear. A vertical shaft C carries a pinion F at i ts lower end, gearing with the training rack E attached to the lower roller path. On the eame shaft the necessary gear is provided for connection to the electro­motor and to the hand gear. Provision is also made so that only one form of power can be in operation ab the same time.

The electromotor N is of the armourclad, watertight, shunt-wound type; it is con t rolled from the sighting stations ab each side of the mounting.

H andles P are provided for men at the rear of the turntable behind the guns i they are connected to a worm­wheel on the vertical trainmg shaft by means of suitable

• gearmg. The mounting consists of the forged steel cradles S of

semi-circular section, with bronze bearing strips at fron t and rear securely bolted together. Forged steel caps Rare fitted over the front parts of the cradle to retain the guns and to facilita te removal. The cradles are pro­vided with trunnions g arranged to rest on brackets G built up of steel plates and ang1es and steel forgings.

The elevating arc is placed below the guns, the upper end being attached to the rear part of the mounting, while the lower end is connected by forged steel links to the fron t of the cradles between the guns. A pinion on a transverse shaft below the guns is provided for actuating the guns. The outer end of the shaft is furnished with a wormwheel attached to the shaft by means of friction plates. The worm which gears with the wheel is arranged to be worked by two hand wheels p ab the sighting stations, one on either side of the mounting, and from a secondary hand-wheel q. I ndependent recoil cylinders and run-out springs are fitted for each gun.

The recoil cylinders H are of cast manganese brom:e, and are rigidly attached to the underside of the gun cradles. They are constructed to unite in the centre between the guns and are bound together with securing bolts at the junction.

The piston-rods are of forged steel attached to the log on the gun ; an orifice in the piston provides for the pas­sage of liquid from one side of the piston to the other when the gun recoils after fire. -

Two recuperator s~rings K are provided for each gun, placed one on each s1de of the recoil cylinder ; they are of sufficient power to ensure the gun running out at all angles of fire, even with a considerable heel of ship.

Two sighting stations are provided, one on each side of the mounting, with hand wheels arranged so that tLe gnns can be operated from either side. The sights s, s are supported by a rigid structure W from the floor of the turntable, independent of the moun t ing. An arm 'W, fixed to the gun cradle and moving therewith, operates the rear si~ht bar on each side.

To proVIde for the rapid supply of projectiles, a carrier D is arranged inside the barbette, outside the turntable, and connected thereto by means of suitable gearing. This gearing is a rranged to rotate the carrier ring, bringing the projectiles underneath the openings prov1ded in the gun platform so that they can be readily transferred to the breech of the gun for loading. The carrier ring shown on the drawing is arranged to carry 163 projectiles.

Provision is made for a constant supply of powder charges from the magazines to the gun platform. A chain hoist Y, with suitable receptacles v, is arranged to take up the powder charges in a horizontal position. The chains are arranged to pass over sprocket wheels at the top and bottom of the revolving trunk T attached to and revolvin~ with the turntable. The charges are delivered at each s1de of the gun mounting. On one side they pass over the sprocket wheels, and are received in an inclined tray. An auxiliary chain and tray, driven at a greater velocity than the hoist, lifts every alternate charge and delivers it on the opposite side of the gun mountin~. If necessary, projectiles could be arranged to be earn ed in every alternate receptacle, so that the latter might be de­livered on one side of the mounting and powder charges on the other side. The hoist is actuated by means of a.n eleotro-motor situated at the base of the revolving trunk, with all necessary attachments and gearing.

The mounting is enclosed by an armoured shield 1\I, securely attached to the upper floor of the turn table by a suitable steel angle-bar frame. The shield is fitted with a leather apron m, with suitable screws and brackets for making it watertight with the barbette. Two sighting hoods are provided.

{To be continued )

AuG. g, 190L]

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT RECORD.

COMPIL~D BY w. LLOYD WISE. SELECTED ABSTRACTS OF RECENT PUBLISHED SPEOIFlOATIONS

UNDER THE ACTS OF 1883- 1888. The tlumber oj vie1us given in the Specification Dm.ituilngs is Rtated

in each case ; where rnme are mentioned, tJte Specification is not illUBt>·ated.

Whm·e inventi0118 are communicated Jrom ab>·oa4. the Names d:c., of the Communicators are giv~n. in 1'talics. ' '

C(}piu of SpeC"iji.cations may be obtained at the Patent OOlce Sale Brancl~, 96, So!l-thampton Build~'ngs, 0/tontcm·y-lano, lf. C., at the umform pnce of Bel.

The date of the advertisement OJ the acceptance OJ a Complete Specification is, in each case, given after the abstract, unlus the Patent has been sealed, tohen the date of sealing is given .

..4. ny persoo1 f!1 av, at any time within t·wo months from the date of tl~e adv~tMement of the acceptance of a Co1711'lete Speciflcatioo-,, gtVe tlottce at the Patent Office of oppositio·n. to the grant of a Patent on any of the grounds mentioned in the .Acts.

ELECTRICAL APPARATUS.

14,704. E. G. G. Braunerhjelm, Stockholm, Sweden. Wireless Telegraphy. [7 P1igs.J January 26, 1900.-Witb the. objeot of imp~oving t~e signals in coherer telegraphy, the rad1ating or rece1vtng port1on of the aerbl conductor is wholly

. .f. Fig.4.

or in part enclosed in an exhausted vessel of non·conduoting material. Means may be used to diminish radiation or reception by parts of the nerial conductor not so enclosed. (.Accepted J une 19, 1901.)

9987. J. W. Gould, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.A. Electric Cables. [10 Figs.] May 14, 1901.-0ables for transmitting eleotrio energy or for signalling purposes are, according to this invent.ion, provided throughout their len~th with a tibermostatic

Fig.2.

alarm conductor having a fusible core, the rupture of which through excessive eleotrical beating of the conductor, or by reason of a fire occurring, causes an alarm to be given by means of appa· ratus provided for that purpose. (Accepted June 19, 1901.)

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E N G I N E E R I N G. 203

two.armed lever which first opens and then closes the breeob tively, alternately, and almost simultaneously the two rows of action, the bolt being turned slightly to unlook and to look it. boles, as the movements of the piston deoide. The part of the valve In the example illustrated, mov.emen~ of the t rigger nlso sets and between the fitting parts has boles drilled through it so that corn­releases a flnng hammer ; but, 1f desJred, instead of the hammer, munica.tion with the larger end of the oylinder may be established a fi ring sprin~ and block within the bolt may be pro\'ided. (.Ac. fl·om either row of boles driJJed in the piston. The end of the ct"ptecl June 19, 1901.)

16,443. A. Reichwald. London. (Fn'rd. Krupp, Essen, GeY·many. ) Sighting Attachments. [7 Figs.] , 'eptember 15, 1900.-In the usual gun-sight telescope attachments the length of the telescope considerably exceeds that of t he bearing surface afforded by the attachment head upon wbioh it is mounted, the result being that vibrations set up in the partially SUJ:· ported telescope by the firing and moving of the gun, ult.i·

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mately spring the telescope out of truth with the attachment head, and thus render the whole attachment useless. According to this invention, this disadvantage is eliminated by employing a "Porro" prism telescope for the sighting telescope of the attach­ment, wbu~h, by reason of its special construction (not being longer than the ordinary bearing surface of the attachment bead), can be supported along its whole length by the latter. (.Accepted J ttne 19, 1901.)

GAS ENGINES, PRODUCERS, HOLDERS, &c.

15,175. A. G. Bloxam, London. (A. Schoelle1·, Frank· fort· 01'1r·the-!Jfain, Germ.arny.) Igniter for Explosion En· gines. [1 Fig.) August 25, 1900.-An eleotrio igniter for explosion en~ines is, according to this invention, provided with two ourrents, one for fi ring the explosive mixture by means of a self·induction

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valve furthest away from the la.r~er end of the cylinder has only a small bole C?mmunioating with the larger. end of the oy llnder, so tbat the part1al compression and rarefaotaon of the air in the valve race at thnt part will destroy the momentum of the \'alve and prevent rebounding. (Accepted Jttll'l.e 19, 1901.)

5783. S. G. B. Cook, London. (0. II. H. She,·man Waslt· ington, D.O., U.S.A.) Large Shaftlng Wheels. (7 Figs.] March ~9, 1901.-;-~egme~tal flywheel~ an~ main driving wheels are, accordang to th1s mvent1on, made w1th r1m segments having shear

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lugs (preferably integral) at the joining ends, members for em­bracing the lugs and developing their shearing resistance, and means for attaching the embracing members to the rim segments and perhaps also to the spokes of the wheel. (Accepted June 19, 1901.)

STEAM ENGINES, BOILERS, EVAPORATORS, &c.

12.t4S7. B. B. Lake, London. (C. H. Cowley and H . u. Ooope1·, Chan·le8to1un, ltfass. , U.S.A.) Steam Boilers. [2 Figs.] July 10, 1900.-In tbis boiler the combustion ~ases pass firs t around a number of cylindrical water·containing shells and then through fire tubes in the shells. The tubes are at~aobed to

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4719. J. Marr and W. C. Laidler, Pallion, Sunder- {lS,tuJ ~...-_______________ _J

land, Electro ·Motors. [3 Figs.] March 13, 1900.-\

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Electro-motors for use in situations where they are liable to be stopped by excessive load are, according to t his invention made lspark, and the other for electromagnetically separating tbe con­with both magnetically reacting parts mounted upon an axle, one 1 tacts within the explosion chamber. The said currents are either part serving under normal conditions to drive, and the other ·of alternating or pulsating character, and are conveniently fur· part then being prevented from rCitating by means of a olutcb. . nished by a small ma~neto mnohine bo.ving a doubly-wound arma­The olutch is so constituted that should the normally rotating tu re. (Accepted June 19, 1901.) part be unduly retarded, the normally stationary part iso.llowed to

0

rotate at a cer tain (perhapa controlled) speed in such l!lanner that there is sufficient reaotion to start the normally rotating part at once should the excessive load which has stopped it become re­duced the starting of this part then causing the clutch to engage, motio~ of the normally stationary part being thereby ~rrested. Io one arrangement the field magnets nre attached to a casmg from wbiob power may be transmitted and constitute the normally r~ta· ting po.rt, while the armature is normally prevented from rotat1on by the action of a magnetic clutch at the end of the shaft. (A.c· cepted June 19, 1901.)

GUNS AND EXPLOSIVES.

8281. A. J. Boult, London. (Socitte Lu.m~re, Brussels.) Mantle Supports. [2 Figs.) April 22, "1901.- Acoordiug to this invention, the manUe is hung upon a wire crook whose lower

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endplates of special form in order that any set of tubes with its plates may be' removed. The boiler is primarily intended for marine purposes. The furnace gases may, when the tubes need inspection, be caused to pass direotly from the top of the sh~ll casmg to the flue. (Acctpted June 26, 1001.) 11496. F. Fortelka and W. Leitner, Vienna, Aus·

tri&. Magazine Firearms. [7 Pigs.] June 25, 1900.- end is held in a sliding roto.table ring capnble of being moved upon the burner tube and provided with meo.ns by whloh it may 6093. J. Brown and Co., Limited, and J. Ncdd~r be retained in nny desired position thereon. (Accepted J'une 19 Sheftleld. BoUer Furnaces. and Flues. [1 J 1. '·

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This invention provides a trigger-operated breech-bolt notion for magazine pistols. The t rigger during n long pull operates a

1901 ) ' 1 March 22, 1901.-In corrugated botler furnaces and ftues the

· parts of larger diameter should be proportionately thicker than

MACHINE AND OTHER TOOLS, SHAFTING, &c. 14,628. J. Dunlop, Manchester. Pneumatic

• Hammers. [2 Figs.] August 14, 1900.-According to this • invention, the inertia valve and J?aBSa.ges in a pneumatic hammer " of the kind described in Specification No. 1986 of 1877 are modified

, in construction and arrangement. The apparatus comprises a differential piston slid in~ in a cylinder , in suob manner that com­pressed air can operate between the cylinder and the larger

I aiameter of the piston. Through the smaller diameter of the piston nod near to the larger diameter a row of holes is drilled cir· cumferentially to communicate with a valve race bored in tbe centre of the piston. Near the other end of the emaller diameter of the piston a similar row of holes is drilled, these also communicating with the valve raoe. In the valve race slides a hollow inertia piston vnlve, having- fittif!g parts th_!lt cover aud U'lcover ree~pec-

the parts of smaller diameter in order, it is stated, thnt they moy be capable of withstanding the working pressure equally well. In such furnaces and flues, as made by expanding the corruga·

,

tions from a plain cylinder, they are thinner at the parts of larger diameter than at the parts of smaller diameter · and with the object of overcoming t his defect the flat plate is ~oiled with alternate corrugations and flat parts, in such manner that the parts of larger diameter in the finished furnaces or flues mo.de from suoh plntes o.re thicker than the pa.rts of smaller diameter the fbt parts being of least thickpees, and the tops of the corru~

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stations. being of the greatest thickness, the thickness gradually inoreas10g from the fta~ parts to the tops of the corrugations, wher~by the strength 1s made properly profortional to the workmg pressure throughout, injurious loca expansion and contraction during work being perhaps decreased. (Accepted June 19, 1901.)

21,520. J. E •. B. Bannister, Southsea. Water-Tube BoUe.rs. [6 F1gs.) November 28, 1900.- Aocordlng to this lnventton, each vertical row of water tubes in a tubulcus boiler is made from a pair of corrugated and ftanged plates riveted to

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one another and also to ftanged downcomer and upgoer conduit.P. ln one arrangement the corrugated plates nre united by strops in such wise t hat the inner ends of t he rivets nre in contact with the water, the effect of this provision being that they are pre­vented from burning, (.4-ccepted J une 19, 1901.)

E N G I N E E R I N G. 936t. A. F. Yarrow, London. Water-Tube BoUera.

(5 Figs.) May 6, 1901.-ln a water-tube boiler of the Yarrow class, fl red at both ends, and having a dividing wall between the inner ends of the furnaces, according to this invention t he di\'iding wall is strengthened or held together by water-tubes

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passing tbrou~h or over it. The claim Is broadly for : .. Support­JOg the. partitton wall which separntes the two fire r hambers of a water-tube boiler by tubes extending down throu~h the wnJI or on each side of the wall, substantially as described." (A ccepted Jm1e 19, 1901.)

98'15. G. Durr, Ratlngen, Germa11y. Boiler· Furnace Doors. [3 F·igs.J May 6, 1901.- 'l'bis invention relates to firedoors adapted to turn on n horizontal axis, nod more particularly to those which open by turnin~ il!ward ; its object being to provide convenient menns for seourmg the doors in any d esired posi tion. The firedoor is suspended from a horizontal axle, on which is mounted ~a disc or SE'gment provided with a

00

[Auc. 9, 1901.

discharged on the p1·essure side of the pump before the remainder passes to the ozone producer. (.Accepted. June 26, 1901.)

10,28'1. c. F. von Schltchtegroll, Berll.D. Rectify· lng Spirit. May 17, 1901.-This invention bas for object to separate alcohol from other substances di88olved therein by a refrige ration and fll t rn.tion process. The mixture is cooled to minus 60 deg. or 70 deg. Cent., and is then pa88ed through a charcoal filter, which may afterwards at ordinnry temperatures be cleansed from fusel oU or other such impurity by means of a small quantity of alcohol. The cleansing nloohol if pure will, it is stated, difsolve so much fusel oil that the oil may in greater pnrt be precipitnted by addition of water. (Accepted Jtme 26, 1901.)

1926. The Earl of Dundonald, London. Infusers. [4 F'igs.] Jnnunry 28, 1901.- In making ten and coffee it is desir­able that the water should extract just that nmount of the nro· matic constituents of the leaves or berries as the drinker may require; and that when the infusion is made, it should not remnin in contaot with the leaves or berries, which would then only C{ive it a coarse flavour and in many oases produce a liquid harmful to the drinker. I t is stated that it is aJso often desirable to have a pot that can be used aa a teapot, BB a coffee pot, or as n kettle. This invention relates to the construction of a pot In such a manner that t he infus1on is separated from the ten leaves or berriE's whenever required, and that the wnter can nlso be boiled in the same pot in which the iofnsion is made. The pot is made of web n shape that it can stand either on ita bottom or on its back, and within, and running roughly paraJlel with, the upper side of the pot. Where the lid is

.Ft{JI Ft9 2

21.'181. E. Bolle, Manchester. (A. Scha?'ffe, Tient~in, China. ) Generating Steam. [9 Figs. ) December 1, 1900. -A~cording to this invention, high-pressure steam, vapou r, or

· gBB 18 generated on the flnsh ~oystem by the employment of highly hE>ate<1 fluid having a boiling point above that of the water or oth~r substance which is to furnish the working fluid of the e_ngtne. Compl~te apparatus is described in which steam genera· tJOn from water ts effected by the use of bot oil, the engine compris· 0

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ing pumping, condensing, and other devices intended to tft'ect the mixin'f and subsequent separation and return of the two dis· &imilar flutds. A simple apparatus, according to this invention, comprises at u rbine motor in which the fluids nre mixed in the approach to the nozzle. 'Ihe advantage claimed in the use of the invention is that less danger of di8B8trous explosion exists than when a large body of highly expansive fluid such as steam is stored, as in a boiler. (A ccepted J une 19, 1901.)

5969. W. E. Dickey, New York City, U.S.A. Water­Tube Boners. (S .Figs.) March 21, 1901.- Jn this boiler com­bination, intended for use on n motor cnr, t here are inter ior nod exterior shells, tubes of different lengths arranged radially within the interior shell nod a hen.t('r or vaporising burner for consum-

Ftg.t. ..... ...... ____ ..................... ...

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fng petroleum or the like so nrranged t hat the vapour-generntlng portlon thereof extends through the body of the boiler whilst the burner proper is located beneat h the water tubes. The outer shell of the boiler can be taken off when it is desired to clean the tubes. (Accepted Jtm.e 19, 1901.)

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tapering groove. Above the disc is a lever\\ hich carries a wed se­shaped projection or heel-piece and is preferably provided w1th n. heavy ball or disc to increase its weight. The weight of the lever presaes a projection into the grooves whereby the disc, ar.d consequently the fi redoor, is fixed or looked in position. The axle of the lever is h£-ld in a pair of beario,::s fixed to the frame of the furnace door as shown. (i!cceptect Ju.ne 19, 1901.)

TEXTILE MACHINERY.

12.061. J. and H. C. Dalgllsh, Pollockshaws, Scotland. Yarn-Drying Macbtne. [5 Figs.) July 4. 1900.-This Invention relates to a continuous drying machine for yarn in hanks and chains, and has for object to construct the mnchine in such mnoner BB to prevent the fouling of the hnnks or chains when travelling from end to end. The machine com­prises a superstructure of ~team pipe or metal rod from which

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is suspended a framework of rails containing an endless chain, on which a re fixed at lntervnls spindles which revolve with the bobbins on which the yarn is bung. The chain is set in motion by means of " sbnfting and genring or any other suitable form of power," and the yarn is carried through the stove from end to end BB often as may be required, and is dried by hented ai r after which it is taken off "while t he wet yarn is put on." (.Ac: ceptcd June 26, 1901. )

MISCELLANEOUS.

9183. A. G. Bloxam, London. (Ernst Dillan, Be)·lin.} Ozonising. (1 Fig.] May 3, 1901.- fn this apparatuP, ozonised air which hBB been passed through npparatus in which ozone is consumed, but which has not entirely lost its rzone, is in part

. -·--- -------

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allowed to escape, nnd in pnr t mixed with fresh air before being passed through the ozone producer. In the nppnrntus illustrnted. the pump is caused to draw all t he pnrtly deozonised air and some fresh air with it, a proportionate part of the mixture being

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usually fitted, there is provided n compartment hnving Ita side or sides of perforated metal or wire gauze, and having nn openio~ at or near the spout end of the pot., which opening may be provided with a lid. Staoding the pot on its back, the tea lea\'es or coffee a re placed in the compnr tment, nod wntE'r (which passes through the len\'eS or ccft'ee into the other part (If the pot) is then poured in. When the Infusion is made. the pot cnn bet urned so that it stnnds on Ita bottom, where the liquid is collected clear of the tea leaves or coffee, and whence it can he pour Ed tbrc.ug h the spout in the uwal way. The infusion can also be made by placi n~r the tea leaves or coffee iu the pervioug compartment nnd boiling th e water in the pot, nod when the water boils turning the pot on end to br ing the water in contact with the ten or cc.tTee-turn­it again on its bottom when tbe infusicn is completed . (A ccepted. June 26, 1901.)

1i,505. W. Warner, Nottingham. Refuse Destruc­tors. [4 Figs. ) August 14, 1900.-Wbeo towns' refuse is burned in furnaces known as refuse destructors, there is con· siderable labour in feed in~ and taking away the clinker and fine BBhes. The object of this mvention is to reduce the cost of feed­ing nnd t he cost of clearing away clinker and ashes. Tbe feedin~ hopper of each furnnce is made sufficiently large to bold a da) 'd supply, and a lnr~e cover is provided for each hopper, couoter­bnlanced nnd havmg a lever or ohaio to be easily worked by the furnace-man or van-man , in order to prevent cold air passing into

the furnace a t times when the refuse does not constitute the nir seal In front of the cells is placed a large trough with a creeper inside arranged in such manner that it also forms a water tank. Th~ top or the trough is provided with balnnced doors opposite each furnace mouth. Tbe clinker nod ash are drawn direct into tbe t rough , the doors closed, nnd the burnt refuse is then conveyed by means of the creeper through water and then to n part of the works where lt is required to be deposited. The t rough is connected to the intake of the fans used for forced draught and thus the nuisnnce of escnping steam nnd dust is avoided: (Ji ccepted J u·ne 26, 1901.)

UNITED STATES PATENTS AND PATENT PRAOTIOE. Descriptions with ill~strntions of inventions patented in the

United Stnt~s of Amertcn. from 1847 to the present time, nnd reports of tnal~ of patent law oases in the United States, may be consulted, g t·atts, nt the offices of ENOINJ<lBJHNo 86 and 36 Bedford-stl'cet1 Strand • '

TnE NI~Po~ Y uSEN KAISHA.-This important Japanese steam navigation company realised during the past half­year a ~e~ profit of 2,804,~341., increased to 3,404,4521. by the addition of a subst_ant1a~ reliquat of 599,918/. brought for'Yard from the previous SIX monthP. From this balance of 3,404,452l., 140,226l. was carried to the ordinary re· serve, 500, OOOl. to the reserve for~e~ for eq ua.lising di vi~ dends, and 7331 7~9l. to the depremat1on fund. Directors' fees and commtsstons amounted to 78,5261. A dividend of 1~ per cent. absorbed 1,320, 000/., and 631 9691. was carried for war,.,. '

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