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July 4, 1884.

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THE ENGINEER

MACHINERY AND MEGHAN AT THE INTERNATIONAL BITION.

(2m APPLIANCES HEALTH EXHI-

No. VII.

Messrs. A. M. Perkins and Sons, Seaford-street, Gray’s-inn-road, W.C., occupy a large space in the bakery department, where they show a number of heating appliances for domestic and other purposes. One of the most interesting of the former is an ordinary register grate in which the bars are made of iron pipes, forming, in connection with a coil at the back, part of a system by which the waste heat is utilised for warming a second or third room or an entrance hall, as well as for giving a supply of hot water. The pipes exposed to the pressure are fin. internal diameter and /^in. thick, the joints being made

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mounted on wheels for facility in transport. To provide hot water, for baking and other puposes on the march, a small boiler is fixed at the base of the chimney so as to receive some of the heat that would otherwise be wasted. The fore carriage is fitted with a patent compensating arrangement, for keeping the oven horizontal when travelling over uneven ground. The wheels are of special construction, the rim consisting of a U-iron filled up with teak, the spokes being rivetted into the iron, and held by check nuts screwed up against the wood. The nave is of cast steel. These wheels have been subjected to very stringent trials at Aldershot in competition, and were adopted on account of their durability, and the ease with which they could be repaired in case of accident. The portable oven—which will bake for 1000 men—is very largely used by the War Department, and has been employed in all the recent campaigns. It can be heated with green wood, or any other sort of fuel, and can be used on the march as well as in camp. In addition to these exhibits,

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a supply of over 12,000 gallons per hour being obtained. The water is extremely clear. This well was fixed in less than two hours.

An improved machine for beating carpets is shown by Messrs. Simmons and Tullidge, King’s Cross. It consists of a roller revolving at a high speed within a wood casing,! and having attached to it a number of leather ropes. The carpet to be beaten is supported on a horse, and the ropes as they come round strike the carpet, and beat out the dust. The horse consists of a wooden frame, open at the parts on which the ropes strike, and the carpet is here supported only by leather straps stretched across the frame, so that the dust can fall freely away. The action of the beaters suffices to draw the carpet forward into the machine. The casing is connected with a fan, which carries off the dust and discharges it into a chamber, when it can be precipitated by water, or dealt with in some other manner. If, as we are assured, the work is done better than by hand, and with no more damage to the material, the machine would seem to meet a want which has certainly been felt by most of these dwelling in highly populated districts.

Messrs. H. Stopes and Co., Southwrark-street, S.E., exhibit among other things the Echangeur air apparatus

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inch, an expansion pipe or safety valve being provided in order to prevent this being exceeded. The heated water circulates through a coil in a 50-gallon tank at a suitable elevation, and through other coils placed in the apartments it is desired to warm, the arrangement being such that each coil can be brought into action independently of the other. The combination, so far as we know, is new, and it certainly seems to be good both as regards its convenience and economy. It is stated that the cost of fuel for such a fire is Is. per day for coal and 2s. 6d. for gas. The latter is used at the Exhibition, as the authorities would not sanction the use of coal. Above we illustrate ordinary 10-busliel baker’s oven on Perkins’ system, which is shown in operation in connection with a mechanical bakery worked by Messrs. Harris and Co., Edgware-road. The baking plate is 10ft. long and 8ft. wide, and we understand that ninety sacks of flour can be baked per week at a cost of only 15s. for fuel. The oven can be lighted and brought up to 500 deg. Fah. in about one and a-half hours, and the heat is easily regulated by means of dampers, the temperature being indicated by pyrometers. By referring to the sections it will be seen that the heating arrangement consists of two rows of steam pipes, above the baking plate and one below. Each pipe is independent, being sealed at both ends, and contains somewhere about a pint of water, the ends project through the brickwork into the fireplace, the lower tier forming the fire-bars, and the tubes are placed on a slope inclining towards the furnace, so as to keep the water at the fire end. The pipes are of the same dimensions as those previously mentioned, and are tested to 3000 lb. per square inch, the working pressure being about 700 lb. Besides extreme economy in fuel consumption, many advantages are claimed for this system of heating. It is stated that the cost for repairs is much less than usual, and that as there is an entire absence of all fumes in the baking chamber, the bread, which readily absorbs gases, is purer and wholesome. Messrs. Perkins and Sons also exhibit a patent ship oven capable of baking for 2000 persons, at a cost, it is stated, of 6d. per day for fuel. The same heating system is employed as in the brick oven, there being two tiers of twenty-two pipes each, one above and below the baking plate, the whole being enclosed in an iron case carefully lagged with silicate cotton and supported on cast iron standards. A somewhat similar arrangement is adopted in the portable steam oven, only in this case it is

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there is a large collection of heating coils of various forms, and many samples of pipes, showing the method of jointing, and how they can be twisted, and bent into all sorts of forms without affecting their strength. As we have previously stated, Messrs. Perkins test all the j pipes to a very high pressure, and they! exhibit an ingenious testing apparatus, by which an electric bell is set ringing as soon as the desired pressure is reached. A small force-pump, worked by hand, supplies the pressure. Accuracy of finish and first-rate workmanship are noticeable in all these exhibits, and if, as we are told, the pipes are practically indestructible, we have no doubt the system will receive very extended application. At the present time it is used very largely by the War Department, numerous dock and public companies, as well as by many private firms.

Messrs. C. Isler and Co., .artesian well ■ ! lb'll

engineers, Southwark-street, S.E., show a II ^    The last meeting of the Council of the Royal Agricul-

large variety of their tube wells, and appli-    1    !jj Se H    tural Society, previous to the now rapidly approaching

ances used in connection therewith. The    |    T!ijf| [HI    Show, was held on Wednesday, under the presidency of

engraving represents an improved ap-    |P Sir Brandreth Gibbs. Reports of various committees were

paratus for driving the tubes, which is sim-    received and adopted ; and one governor and 134 new

pie and effective. The tripod and ropes    wi/Sm    members were    elected, including many    Shropshire

and pulleys are entirely dispensed with, the    residents. The    stewards of implements at Shrewsbury

monkey being raised direct by hand and    |rfl|    are Lord Moreton, M.P., Sir John Thorold, Bart., and the

guided on a steel spindle. There are also a    ul    Hon. Cecil T. Parker, while Mr. Robt. Neville again acts

great number of tube well points for dealing | . i|    as steward of engineering,’and Mr. Jacob Wilson fulfils

with different soils, sandy or otherwise, or    1    his accustomed post of steward of general arrangements,

with chalybeate waters, which are apt to |!l I Only a few matters of detail now remain to be dealt cause corrosion and stop up the perforations    11    with before the entire preparations for the gathering on

in the points. It often occurs that layers    j|lg    the Shrewsbury Racecourse will be completed. So far,

of stone oi* rock, or other hard strata which    j$®    everything has been carried out in the most harmonious

cannot be penetrated by the ordinary point,    |i|*    spirit, the local committee vieing with the Royal Agricul-

are met with at considerable depths from    flM    tural Society and all concerned to promote the success

the surface; and in order to meet this emer-    M    which now seems well assured, if only we may for once

gency a set of small boring tools has been    AjjB    place confidence in that most untrustworthy of all elements

specially designed for military or private    v"W    —the weather. So far as human endeavours can avail, no

expeditionary forces, to be worked with the    \W    effort has been spared, and it would be pitiful indeed if

Him or 2in. tube wells, so reducing the    ... ...I -.. heavy rain should now mar what is otherwise certain to

chance of failure. These are exhibited, and    " '    be a gathering    distinguished by unequalled    prosperity,

a great variety of hand lift and force pumps, all connected Up to the present time singularly few    difficulties

with tube well work. Messrs. Isler have driven at their have presented themselves ; those that have stand a 2in. well to a distance of 21ft. fiom the surface, up have been of

for cooling large volumes of air by the evaporation of a liquid such as water. The liquid is placed in a trough, in which is revolved, a cylinder having a diameter slightly less than the trough, and made of perforated sheet iron in several layers, the lower portion of the periphery being immersed. Air is driven or drawn by a fan through the wet meshes of the cylinder, and by its capacity for holding moisture in solution induces evaporation, so causing a reduction of temperature, additional cooling power being obtained when the temperature than the air. The apparatus is also useful for imparting moisture to dry air. It is stated that about one gallon of water will cool about 100,000 cubic feet of water, the reduction being usually about 8 deg. or 10 deg. Fah. Messrs. Stopes also exhibit some special thermometers for brewers’ use, and a magnetic screen for extracting nails, broken wire, and other metallic substances from grain.

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THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW AT SHREWSBURY.

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been quickly and pleasantly overcome, other hand, many circumstances have combined to produce an eminently satisfactory result. Since the last show of the Royal, held at York twelve months ago, the railway concessions to exhibitors have been materially enlarged, the terms for the conveyance of unsold live stock and implements being extended to all the exhibits that remain unsold. All exhibits sent to Shrewsbury will be subject to the usual full charges for carriage both going to and returning from the Show in the event of their having been sold; but the whole of the unsold exhibits will oidy be charged half rates on the return journey upon production of a certificate from the secretary of the Show that the exhibits are really unsold. Moreover, by a comparatively recent concession which the Royal Agricultural Society has been successful in obtaining from the railway companies, persons bona fide in charge of live stock will be allowed to travel free by the same train with the animals, one man for each consignment or for each vehicle if necessary on the prescribed forms being duly filled up.

Next week many of the officials and some hundreds of exhibitors or their assistants will be at Shrewsbury, and that week will be an exceedingly busy one inside the showyard, as it is a work involving much time to arrange the stands in the attractive manner that many exhibitors are wont to do. The secretary and his staff are expected to arrive on Monday; a day or two afterwards some of the stewards will arrive; and the gentlemen—three in number—to whom is assigned the important function of adjudicating upon the 3242 implements, which will be displayed on 367 stands, will reach Shrewsbury not later than Wednesday night. These judges are expected to begin their duties at nine o’clock on the morning of Thursday, July 10th, and they have been instructed to deliver to the stewards their final and complete awards of prizes and medals immediately after their decisions are completed. They will decide on the merits of the work done by any implements to which steam or other power is applied, and it is an instruction to them that in every case where practicable in the trial of implements, steam power should be adopted instead of horses, as the most accurate test of the relative working of machinery. They will visit every stand of implements in its numerical order, and place on the notice boards each evening the number of the stand with which they will commence their inspection on the following morning, and at one o’clock each day the number of the stand from which they will proceed at two o’clock.

All machinery, implements, and other articles, except carriages and seeds, roots, models, and samples of manures and feeding stuffs, are required not only to be in the show-yard, but to be arranged in complete order before five o’clock in the afternoon of Wednesday next, but the excepted articles need not be in their places until the corresponding hour on Saturday. No painting, however, will be allowed after Wednesday evening, and all painting must be of such a nature as to be dry by the following morning, at the hour when the judges commence their inspection.

It will be convenient here to give a brief statement as to the premiums offered in the various departments. The trials specially assigned to this year are of sheaf-binding machinery, and ensilage elevators and cutters; and it will be to the thirty-six competing inventors that the judges and agriculturists in general will chiefly direct their attention.

In the first, or sheaf-binding section, there are two classes, one for sheaf-binding reapers—first prize, iff 00, and second prize, £‘50—and the other for separate sheaf-binders— prize £25—but in both cases it is stipulated that the binding material is to be other than wire. In Class 1 there are twenty-two entries by eight competitors, and in Class 2 there are three entries by two competitors. These trials will, as have been previously announced, not take place until harvesting time. We understand that suitable crops, on which to test the merits of the competing machines, have been secured in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury.

The second, or ensilage section, will certainly not be of secondary interest in the eyes of many visitors. In competition for the £25 offered for an efficient machine for cutting and elevating materials to be preserved in silos, nine different makers have entered eleven machines. The exact arrangements for the trials of these inventions in the hands of the judges and stewards; but it is extremely probable that they will take place in the course of next week.

In addition to the foregoing, there are ten silver medals, the award of which the judges have the power of mending in cases of sufficient merit in new implements exhibited at the Shrewsbury Show. These medals cannot in any case be awarded to any instrument unless the principle of the instrument, or the improvement of it, be entirely new. No medal will be awarded by the judges without the consent of the stewards, and the judges are prohibited from giving commendation to miscellaneous articles. The judges are also empowered to make special awards of medals for efficient modes of guarding or shielding machinery, especially when worked by steam, from contact with persons immediately engaged in attending to such machinery while at work. No medal will be awarded to any implement or miscellaneous article capable of trial until it has been subjected to such trial as the stewards may direct.

The live stock prizes reach a total of .£4746, of which horses are apportioned iff 510; cattle are entitled to receive £1985; sheep are allotted £‘891, and the remaining £360 going to pigs.

VISIT TO THE MIDLAND RAILWAY WORKS, DERBY.

The members of the Society of Engineers commenced their summer excursions to engineering works of interest by a visit on the 26th idt. to the great locomotive and carriage building works of the Midland Railway Company at Derby. Leaving St. Pancras at about ten o’clock, they arrived at Derby about 1 p.m., and were met by Mr. S. W. Johnson, M.I.C.E., locomotive superintendent, and Mr. T.

Clayton, superintendent of the carriage department, by whom they were at once conducted to the works, first entering the locomotive department offices, where, amongst other things, they were shown a collection of photographs of the various kinds of engines which have been and which are made for or by the company for use on its lines. The growth in the size and power of the engines, especially those for the express passenger service, was one of the points most noticed, this growth having been necessarily accompanied by the adoption of the four-wheel leading bogie instead of the single pair of wheels, the load on which became too great. From the office they were conducted to the laboratory, a large and well-appointed department in which all metals, oils, paints, and other materials used in the works are analysed and tested. It was here mentioned that by the substitution of the red-brown oxide of iron paint for the green paint hitherto used for the locomotives a clear saving of £3000 per year had been made. Hence the green colour by which these engines have long been known will soon be entirely superseded by the red-brown, which costs less, is more durable, and retains its colour better and does not show the oily dirt so quickly.

From this department the visitors passed to the copper-smithy, lamp shop, and stores, passing on the way a fine weighing machine with platform in short lengths, connected to separate steel yards, so that the weight on each pair of wheels of a locomotive can be separately ascertained and the springs adjusted to the required tension. Now entering the works, some idea was obtained of the extent of the operations conducted under the guidance of the locomotive superintendent. When it is known that the Midland Company employs about 46,000 servants of all grades, and that about 10,000 of these are under the control of Mr. Johnson, it will be understood that the duties of his office not only render it a heavy responsibility, considering that, unlike a similar number of soldiers, all these men are continually employed, but that the works at Derby must be of great extent. The company possesses no less than 1700 locomotives, a fact which further helps to a comprehension of the necessary area of the Derby central works, where also other work is carried These locomotives may be taken as representing about a million horse-power, but of course they really represent more than this, inasmuch as a million or any other number of horses could not do the work at the speeds.

Passing into the foundry, the moulding of chairs was seen, and to the surprise of some visitors this work is done by hand. With boxes or flasks about 2in. wider and longer than the exterior dimension of the chairs, the quantity of sand used is not large. The iron pattern is laid on a board, the flask placed round it, a little facing sand put in covered with body sand with a shovel, the handle of which is formed into a rather large pegging rammer. A little more sand is thrown in, flat rammed with the shovel, and scraped off with it. The operation is thus wholly of the ordinary kind, but it is performed so quickly, the top part of the mould being only a struck top, that the cost of the moulding is but 2s. per ton of chairs. The pattern easily leaves the sand, and the loose pieces by which the jaw is formed leave without any trouble. This cost of moulding does not leave much room for economy by machine moulding, and it is argued that when the foundry is small and the cost of keeping machines in order taken into account, the possible saving is not material. A new foundry is, however, being erected, chiefly for chair and fire-bar making, but whether the extra room so obtained will afford any inducement to adopt machine moulding is not yet known. At present from 230 to 250 tons of chairs are made in the existing foundry per week.

While passing through another part of the foundry, the unusual appearance in this department of a locomotive crank shaft in a moulding box was observed. Inspection showed that it had had the four excentric sheaves cast upon it in their proper positions. The excentric sheaves are moulded in a box provided with guides for moulding them with the pattern in the right position, so that when the real crank shaft is afterwards put into the box, it is held with thecranks at the proper angle with respect tothelonger excentric diameter of the sheave to be cast on. The shaft is placed in a vertical position, the part which is to receive the sheave having been only rough turned. This gives the sheave sufficient hold when it has shrunk on. This method has been adopted about a year, and so far with success, although some fear of blown castings, chill next the shaft, and of bursting after the sheaves were turned up, might reasonably have been entertained, especially as, we were informed, the shaft is not heated at all when put into the mould.

Passing into the boiler shops, some excellent work was seen, steam rivetters being used, and suspended machines employed for tapping and screwing in the fire-box stays. These machines, or some of a similar kind, were illustrated in The Engineer of July 6th, 1883. The screwed copper stays are reduced in diameter at that part which is between the plates when screwed in, so that the time occupied in screwing them in is lessened, and the stays are not so liable to break. At another part of the shop a simple machine was seen fixed to a wall, for facing those parts of the boiler upon which the gauge glass and other fittings have to be fastened. The joint is thus quickly and easily well made. Copper fire-boxes and brass tubes are used. The water used on the greater part of the line makes it impossible to use iron tubes. Amongst the engines in course of construction in the erecting shops were seen some of the new type for heavy express passenger traffic. These have cylinders 19in. by 26in. The two cylinders are made in one casting, by which a good deal of weight and work are saved, but this has only become possible by the adoption of the Joy valve gear. These engines have 7ft. driving wheels coupled, and with 9ft. centres. They are very fine engines, and have some very heavy work to do at a high speed. Some fine mineral engines were also seen; engines weighing about 46 tons without the tender, and capable of hauling a train of 600 tons, including engine, at a high speed along the heavy road to London. These erecting shops, like the adjoining turnery and machine shops, are 450ft. in length, and are provided with 25-ton travelling cranes worked by constantly running endless cotton ropes. The shafting in these shops is driven by fine wall engines supplied with steam from locomotive boilers at a pressure of 140 lb. per square inch. They are excellent engines coupled, direct to the shafting, but steam is exhausted at rather a higher pressure than would agree with the notions of most constructors of economical engines. In the turnery are groups of lathes of different sizes, four and six in a group, contained in one standard with overhead secondary shafts. In this one turnery are 450 hands.

In the machine shops were seen several emery-wheel shaping machines, shaping and finishing the surfaces of the guides for the axle-boxes of the locomotives, guide bars, and other parts. The use of these machines permits the use of chilled cast iron where so very durable and cheap a material could not otherwise be used, and the extent to which this class of machine is now used is worthy of remark. The holes in the boiler tube plates are drilled with large twist drills guided by large thick templates, but twist drills are not in general use yet. The fire-box roof bridges are of wrought iron, and are drilled from the under side about 2'5in. deep, and are tapped by the same machine. The stays are screwed into them from within the box. About ninety of these roof bridges were seen in one large planing machine, on which the ends where they rest on the vertical plates of the box, were being shaped at one operation. A new machine by Messrs. Craven Bros., for slotting out the crank dip and rough turning the pin of the cranks, was seen in operation. Attached to the periphery of a strong disc is a number of round-nosed tools, which successively come into operation as the disc slowly revolves like a big cutterhead, while the crank itself, when the pin is being shaped, is also slowly revolved. The pin is in this way rough turned, and the total cost of turning this is thus lessened. Wrought iron cranks are used, experience being that warning of their failure is more often given than with steel. A lot of special machines for drilling through the bodies of the wheels into the tires, tapping the holes and screwing therein the studs by which the tires are prevented from moving, were seen at work, and amongst other things it was observed that cast iron is used for the bodies of the wheels of shunting engines.

In a separate shop for case-hardening were seen long tanks containing water for cooling the coupling rod ends and other parts of locomotives when taken out of iron retorts in which they are heated, the noticeable feature in this shop being that the tanks are provided with two screws, one at either end on vertical shafts, by which the liquid is kept in rapid circulation. This secures a much better result than can be obtained when the water is not properly kept in motion. Tilghman’s sand blast process is used for sharpening files, and cleaning castings which have to be turned, such as the inside of axle brasses, to which it is necessary to make the bearing metal adhere. Throughout the whole works it was observable that those controlling them fully appreciate the best and most economical modern methods of doing work.

From the locomotive department the visitors were conducted to and over the carriage and wagon department by the superintendent, Mr. T. E. Clayton. Here an area of more than 14 acres is covered by a splendid series of new workshops, fitted with the best modern plant and with timber stores, and outside the shops is one of the largest stocks of timber to be seen in the country. An account of the greater part of these works was given in The Engineer, vol. xlv.,1878, with illustrations and description of most of the machinery. Very large quantities of American oak are used, and in the drying stores were seen what would seem to be enough frame pieces, buffer beams, sole pieces, planks, and so on, for wagons and carriages to stock the whole of the railways of the kingdom, but a little further progress through the carriage and wagon shops, where are hundreds of these in course of construction, soon dispelled this idea. It was noticed that the ends of these pieces of converted timber were coated with white-lead paint, as a means of preventing the ends from drying more quickly than the other parts, and thus causing splitting. The different ideas and methods of those who have the control of timber yards are, on this subject, almost as numerous as the controllers, some of the older men having, on this subject at least, some curious “ fads.” The visitors were shown some of one lot of a hundred new carriages of most recent form and type, elegantly finished and designed with every attention to strength and comfort, and fitted with the Pintsch system of oil gas lighting apparatus. The Midland Company has already five trains thus fitted now running on its metropolitan service, and the excellence of the light is remarked by everyone, while not only is the cost per light much less than with lamps, but the cost for attention is exceedingly small. Some idea of the necessary area of the wagon repairing shops may be gathered from the fact that, added to the wagon stock already in its possession, the Midland Company recently purchased about 60,000 of the wagons belonging to private owners, but running on its lines. The visitors dined at the Station Hotel in the latter pari, of the afternoon, and returned to London in the saloon carriages specially provided for their use.

TORPEDO BOATS FOR THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT.

On page 6 will be found engravings of the boiler and condenser of the Russian torpedo boats, engravings of the engines, &c., of which have already appeared in our pages. The engravings explain themselves. The small detail cut at the end of the box shows the joint at the end of the condenser, and the strengthening ring with which the thin copper cylinder is supported, in section.

Death of General Todleben.—General Count Todleben died on Wednesday at Soden, a watering-place near Wiesbaden. The General had for a long time been in a very weak state of health.

July 4, 1884.

THE ENGINEER

THE MECHANICAL ASPECTS OF A STEAM TRAWLING CRUISE.

During the summer season trawling in the North Sea is carried on chiefly over the extensive shoal ground known as the Dogger Bank; but in winter, when fish is not so liable to deteriorate by being preserved in ice, the trawlers go farther away to the coasts of Norway and Denmark. The more seaworthy qualities and elaborate fishing tackle of a modern steam trawler enable her to make longer and more hazardous voyages than those undertaken by the old type of trawling smack. Fig. 1, which is a combined sketch taken by the writer from some old superannuated vessels rotting away their existences in the Grimsby Docks, will give a very fair idea of the deck arrangement adopted in trawlers of the transition period when ketchrigging first began to be introduced. The mechanical appliances carried by the old-fashioned trawler for handling her net gear were very primitive. The towing warp was wound in and paid out through a port-hole* over a bollard B, by the aid of a capstan C, and the dandy bridles fastened to the trawling beam were manipulated over a double-purchase winch D standing to starboard of the poop. The modern steam trawler carries much more elaborate gear, a good example of which I had every opportunity of seeing in operation during a trawling expedition made in the autumn of last year, and in this article I shall endeavour to describe the more interesting mechanical aspects of my cruise.

Favoured by an early tide, and following the wake of the autumn gale, at eight o’clock on the morning of September 4th I stepped from off the Grimsby Pier-head on board the steam trawler Cecily, a vessel built, engined, and owned by Messrs. T. Charlton, of Great Grimsby. The Cecily is a shapely boat, 80ft. in length, 19ft. in breadth, and 10ft. in depth to top of floors. Unlike the older sort of fishing smack, she is not bluff-bowed and full-waisted, but spare and finely drawn, after the style which fishermen denominate “yachty.” Her accommodation, however, is not such as would tempt any but those ready to welcome a taste of seafaring life. Forward she has a small cabin, along the sides of which are arranged eight or ten bunks, spacious enough to admit of a full stretch or a “ turn-over,” and provided with sliding doors, enabling the sleeper to secure his retreat against the tumultuous undulation of a “ yarn,” or the stifling fumes of tobacco smoke which envelope the cabin like a morning mist. When the hour of “ turn-in ” arrives, the trawler casts himself in full rig upon the hard boards of his bunk, and shrouding himself in a homely rug, sinks uncoaxed into profound slumber. Callously indifferent to rules of ventilation, sanitation, or hygiene, he closes his sliding door and, so to speak, seals himself hermetically in sleep.

The general deck arrangement of a modern steam trawler differs from that of the old smack, not in having a different, but a better class of fishing furniture. Aft of the fore cabin of the Cecily, just described, comes the first cargo hold, partitioned into a number of compartments called “ pounds,” into which the fish, after it has been gutted and cleaned, is lowered and distributed according to its kind. Intervening layers of ground ice are mixed with the fish in the proportions of one layer of ice to every fifteen baskets of haddock and every ten baskets of plaice. Soles and other prime fish require greater quantities of ice.

At the back of the front cargo hold is the ice room, where ice is kept in blocks, and when required, ground down smaller between the teeth of a revolving cylinder and the sides of a mouse mill.

Next to the ice room lies the aft cargo hold, considerably more roomy than the fore compartment. This space is too close to the engine room to be of much use in hot weather, but in winter, or when the vessel is being utilised as a steam carrier to a fleet, this additional storage is found very useful. Over this hold and central on deck stands a steam winch, which serves to wind in and pay out the warp over the periphery of a drum. This winch is also fitted with a pair of double-coned heads, upon which can be wound or unwound any ropes or bridles connected with the ship’s rigging or net gear. Aft of the second cargo hold comes the engine room, containing a compound surface condensing engine of the inverted vertical type directly actuating the propeller shaft.

The crew of the Cecily consisted of skipper Nichols, a second hand, a third hand, a “ deck chap,” a cook, and two mechanics to attend to the working of the machinery on board.

On the evening of the first day, after steaming about fifty knots, we let go the net in about ten fathoms of water on shoal ground north-east of Grimsby port; but finding few fish in these waters we at once steamed 120 miles farther out, following the same point of the compass. Here we trawled to and fro for the better part of a fortnight, shooting the net, as a rule, thrice every twenty-four hours.

It may be interesting to give here a short description of a trawling net, an inverted plan of which, looking upwards from the sea bottom, is roughly represented in Fig. 2. The upper part or “ back ” of the net is attached to a long beam about 9in. in diameter and 56ft. in length, at the ends of which two closed iron frames called “ heads,” which, when the net is down, rest upon the ground and carry the beam. In instances these heads are made in the form of wheels. The net floats behind the beam like a lo ously narrowing bag. Its “ mouth ” 'is formed by the heads lying at the sides, the beam taking the place of the upper, and the ground rope that of the lower, lip. The beam is held by the heads about 3ft. 6in. above the bottom. The fish pass in through the mouth between the beam and the ground rope, and gliding over the false bellies of the net, find it almost impossible to effect their escape. In consequence of constant friction upon the sandy bottom of the sea the under surfaces of the iron heads to faces as bright as silver. For this reason loose running wheels would seem better adapted for the work than the closed iron frames which are so extensively and generally used. On the other hand, loose wheels could not be so easily managed deck, and would be liable to slip round and get away from the hold when being hauled over the bulwarks. The dimensions of an ordinary net are—length from line of beam to line of ground rope, 45ft.; from line of ground rope to beginning of cod end, 32ft.; and from beginning of cod end to tail of net, 12ft.; its width along the beam is about 55ft., embracing 220 meshes the “back” and 200 across the “belly.” The meshes vary in size from 3in. on the back to l£in. on the belly, belly meshes are made smaller, as the fish is more apt to wriggle through that part of the net.

For the sake of easy trawling, and in order not to expose the net to the continual danger of breakage, the ground worked upon must be of a soft or sandy nature. Therefore, prior to shooting the net occasional soundings arc taken to ascertain the kind of bottom and the number of fathoms of underlying water. If the ground be found good, the men take up their allotted

* The port-hole in a modem trawler would be placed abaft of, not under the ladder, where it tends to weaken the bulwarks.

posts along the beam, the skipper standing at the aft and the j afloat that this magnificent allowance is to be reduced to mate at the front head. The forward bridle is first let go, j shilling rate, whilst the aft head is held fast by the hind bridle till the beam floats square to the length of the vessel, when at a given signal from the skipper the whole gear is set free and the heads in the act of sinking carry down the entire apparatus to the bottom of the sea. At the same time a steel wire warp, to which the main and dandy bridles are shackled, is paid out to the extent of two and a-half times the fathoms of water sounded. The vessel then begins to tow.

A fleeting smack remains out eight weeks, after which time its crew acquires the right of returning home to spend a week on shore. Thus, a fleeter passes six weeks out of twelve months in civilised society and the companionship of his family and friends, the remainder he drags out in a kind of transportation on board a fishing galley ! In season and out of season, in fair weather and foul, away from all that is dear to him, fed on hard biscuit and salt junk, snatching sleep when he can, paid at a During the time that the net is down, which varies rate incommensurate with the risk and suffering he undergoes, and

removed from all chance of satisfying his most innocent and legitimate passions, the poor fleeter leads a life which for severity can only be compared to that of a man undergoing servitude for crime. If fleeting were pursued only for a part of the year, say during the summer months when the weather is fine and gales of wind infrequent, the fleeter’s lot might be tolerable ; but it seems simply inconceivable that the Board of Trade should allow fleeting to go on the whole year through, exposing the smacks, which trawl all together in one line, to the constant danger of collision, and continually endangering the lives of the fishermen for the sake of satisfying the rapacity of certain smack owners. I am glad to state that labour, calling for the full exercise of his physical strength up all the Grimsby owners have finally renounced this barbarous to its maximum limit, the unrelieved strain of which brings out system during the stormy months of the year. But other upon him, even in the coldest weather, a continual downpour of owners have not as yet followed their good example, if we except perspiration—a loss repaired only by imbibing large quantities the fact that a strike among the fleeters of the Great

Northern or Hull fleet obliged that company to yield with a bad grace for one season.

“ Single boating ” ought to be enforced from the end of September to the beginning of April, and fleeting confined to the other months of the year. Anyone who has seen a fleet of

from five to ten hours, according to the scarcity or abundance of fish, the men are employed in gutting, washing, gathering into baskets, and lowering into the hold, the fish of the previous take. When the vessel is making short hauls thrice every twenty-four hours, the men get very little rest, but when fish is scarce or the weather too rough for trawling, they secure their full allowance of sleep. There is no idle time; the operations of hauling-in, gutting, cleaning, net repairing, and swabbing the deck, made as slippery as ice by the accumulation of fish scales, consume all the hours of the day not set apart for meals or sleep. This unbroken continuity of work constitutes a hard life for the North Sea fisherman, whose vocation is manual

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smacks numbering, as in the case of Barking fleet, some 110 vessels, huddled together in a narrow span of water, and lit up at night like the fires of a compact city, will realise the imminent danger there is, when the waves soar high and hailstorms shorten the vision, of the smacks colliding one against the other. Skilful seamanship is of little avail in these emergencies. The skipper must trust more or less to chance to save his vessel and the lives of his crew

I was fortunate enough to pass through two of these large fleets—the Great Northern and Barking contingents. Moreovei, I received an invitation to tea on board one of the smacks of the latter fleet, so that I had every opportunity of judging their life from a very near standpoint, The Barking fleet, as most of the others, is attended by a “Bethel ship,” where every Sunday divine service is read and the men are exhorted to lead

good moral lives. I was struck by the number of fishermen who responded to this call. Out of the ten guests present at the hospitable board of our skipper nine were what the fishermen characteristically term “ religious,” that is, they read tracts and sing hymns over their work, avoid intoxicating liquors, and resist the prevalent habit of swearing when things go wrong. I do not mean to imply that the tenth man was the black sheep of the fold. On the contrary, he was a rare good sort of fellow, none the worse because his peculiar constitution prohibited him from partaking of the same spiritual food as his neighbours. I do not know, but I dare say he believed in the idea that on certain occasions a skipper is bound to swear. It is the only weapon, he might argue, fit to make an impression on men who live hard lives and sleep little, and who therefore need a strong stimulant to rouse them from lethargy into action. I should mention that a “ Bethel ship ” is not tlie only escort vessel of a fleet. Not far from the Bethel you are sure to find a small smack with a flag on her mizzen, the sign-board of the “ pub ” of the fleet. A fleeter, therefore, can make his choice between Bethel and Coper. On board the former he can replenish himself with spiritual wisdom; on board the latter he can supply himself with shag at a shilling a pound, or if he has a mind to soar higher, he can purchase cigars at the rate of five shillings the hundred. These Copers generally hail from Dutch ports. The skipper of a fishing smack is not paid by the day or week. Much the same as in other walks of life, everything depends upon success ; and one of the first conditions of success is good fishing ground. If the first haul contains few fish and many “ sluthers,” the skipper must away to ply his trade in more propitious waters. His earnings depend upon his hauls, of the proceeds of which he receives an agreed share. The tearing of the net in the act of landing a good catch may mean the loss of £20 or £30 worth of fish. It was my fortune to witness an enormous loss of this kind. The net had been trawling all night for ten hours in waters teeming with fish. Under ordinary circumstances the skipper would have hauled in about midnight, but the accidental drawing of a ferule of one of the condensing tubes decided him not to haul till daylight. Thus the net was full of fish, containing on an estimate about sixty baskets of all descriptions, including prime fish such as turbot, brill, and sole, as well as offal fish, such as cod, haddock, and plaice. A basket weighs on an average about 6 stone, so that the catch exceeded 2 tons in weight. All went well till the bag was hoisted in the air almost high enough to be canted over on the deck, when the net began to show signs of yielding just under the hauling rope attachment. In a trice the small tear had widened to a mighty gap, and away, like a living torrent, went the fish back into their native bed. A few only, lying at j the bottom of the net, were saved. The loss of a haul is the ,,    grand crux of a fisherman’s life, and it had a saddening effect

₍₍ ® ,mo,, unhaPPy . e ,<raj. s the poor, unfortunate upon me to witness the poor man’s earnings slipping from his ee er. A fleet consists of from one to two hundred honest grasp, when in another moment he had counted them his smac s, which trawl together under the command of an own. But our skipper bore up bravely⁷, and tried every pos-at mnal. All these vessels shoot and haul simultaneously, at sible means of saving the bag. As soon as the first mesh broke imes corresponding to signals given . from the admiral’s he at once lowered the net to water so as to relieve the weight, smack, which, for a, distinguishing mark, flies a flag from the jib. Then he passed supporting ropes underneath and called upon le .ic miral of a fleet holds a very responsible post, but it can the hands to haul, but in spite of all these precautions the fish scarce y be said that Ins remuneration is on a par either with continued to escape. Thus, seeing the uselessness of his efforts, ns igmty or responsibility. Formerly, in addition to his his zeal to save turned to comic desperation, which found vent ordinary earnings as a skipper, he received half-a-erown each in various exclamations, and the remark, “ Never mind, time he shot his net. At the present moment rumours are I lads, let them go—they don’t belong to us !” Judging by n>y

OLD FASHIONED TRAWLING SMACK

of brackish, unwholesome water. In the intervals of rest many of these men, like our brave skipper, were too worn out to climb iuto their bunks, and so cast themselves down on the lockers or bare boards of the cabin; only a few are in the regular habit of turning in; and yet fishermen on board steam trawlers hold a privilege in their class. They enjoy the blessing of sleeping on shore two, and sometimes three and four, nights out of twelve. This is reduced for fishermen on board sailing smacks to three or four nights out of twenty'. But

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own feelings, the expressive language of the skipper, and the looks of the crew, the sense of loss on board must have been very keen.

The great attraction in a trawling expedition is of course the haul, which 1 saw under all its varying aspects and at all hours of the day and night. It is a magnificent privilege to witness a full-blown bag of fish floating high above deck, like a huge balloon, suddenly open its vast jaws and belch forth a moving mass of live fish, scattering it all around in glistening heaps. To look upon this scene by day is enrapturing, but to gaze at midnight upon the quivering sheen of a trembling mass of fish, dashed on deck and lit up by the rays of the harvest moon, is nothing short of sublime. Myriads of fish, surpassing all adequate description, are cast at our feet; the kingly turbot; the monster cod; the winged ray, with his saw-toothed tail; the plaice, gifted with nine lives; the shark-like dog fish; the cat fish, with his rhinoceros hide; the jelly fish, vulgo sluther; the haddock, the codling, the whiting, the hake, and the rest whose name is legion, which never reach our shores, but are at once recommitted to the deep. The excitement of the haul compensates somewhat for the monotonous routine of life on board a trawler. Another source of distraction is the coming alongside of a friendly smack. It is surprising to learn how quickly fishermen descry and recognise the smacks of their friends. To an ordinary, unpractised eye North Sea trawlers are all much of the same build and rig. Their outfit is identical, and their form so nearly the same that it becomes a perfect enigma to explain how one vessel is so readily distinguished from another. One learns easily enough how to distinguish a “ herringer,” Hutch or English, for she is either lugger-rigged or, if ketch-rigged, very clumsily trimmed. Moreover if her endless straight net, suspended on floating kegs, and stretching sometimes in one line over two miles in length, happen to be out, she keeps her foremast struck as a warning to trawless not to cross her path. But how a skipper so readily distinguishes between trawlers hailing from the same port and too far away for him to read their numbers, is a mystery to my uninitiated mind.

A fairly-sized outshore trawler averages 80 tons carrrying capacity, and inshore boats from 18 to 20 tons. Outshore boats go as far as 300 to 500 miles from the Humber mouth, to the Faroe islands and the coast of Norway Dried codders make longer voyages, and stay out four or five months at a time.

As a rule a trawler works only one net, keeping a second in reserve lest the first should become entangled in dfbris or rocks and be swept away. As might be surmised a trawl net engulfs stranger things than fish. Sometimes it vomits upon deck shell-crusted spars, the wreckage of vessels that have gone down, boxes and portmanteaus, packing cases, jewellery, suits of clothes and apparel, and occasionally the gnawed and maculated corpses of drowned men, victims of a recent gale. I have stated that, os a rule, a trawler carries only one net. Recently, however, a double set of gear has been introduced on board the steam trawler Leo, owned by the Great Grimsby Company, and built and engined by Messrs. T. Charlton. This vessel uses her two nets alternately, and thus economises the time formerly wasted in making good faults after the net had been hauled in.

High speed is a useful adjunct, and we might say almost a necessary quality, of a steam trawler, as it often enables her to save the good Thursday and Friday markets when a slower vessel would run the risk of having to dispose of her fish in the declining markets of Mondays and Saturdays.

All trawling vessels, both screw steamers and sailing smacks, are ketch-rigged. It is interesting to note the origin of this form of rigging. Formerly a smack had only one mast for a mainsail, forward of which were the ordinary jibs and foresails. But as the dimensions of the trawler grew concurrently with the requirements of a developing trade, the boom of the mainsail had to be lengthened till it became on account of its great length a source of trouble, danger, and inconvenience. It was therefore cut in two, and the parts apportioned to separate masts called main and mizzen.

Before a fair wind a fully ketch-rigged steam trawler can disconnect her screw, bank up her fires, and make way under sail alone. This contributes to the economical working of the vessel on the principle that wind is cheaper than steam. Sail is also a useful auxiliary to a steam vessel when towing, as it helps her to lie-to close under the wind for that purpose, and, if need be, to change her tack so as to take the fish in another line. Changing tack when towing is a very delicate operation, which must be performed gradually for fear of upsetting the trawl. The tiller must be manipulated as little as possible in order to allow the vessel gently to head her net. The rate for towing is about two or three miles an hour.

As I have before mentioned, the fish, after it has been hauled up and thrown upon deck, is gutted, washed, and classified, then gathered into baskets and lowered into the hold, where it is distributed into large partitioned receptacles called “ pounds.” Here it remains packed in ice till the return to port, where it is again put into baskets, landed, and transferred to boxes, in which shape it is sold by Dutch auction on the pontoon. At Grimsby these sales are held between the hours of nine and ten in the morning, when it is interesting to watch the commotion among the buyers hurrying from one salesman to another at the traditional call of “ turbot buyers, cod buyers, haddock buyers, lemon sole buyers !” It is not less interesting, if somewhat painful, to hear the din and clatter made by the auctioneers and feel your tympanum vibrate under the stentorian tones of such a salesman as James Allward, as he rattles down the descending scale of pounds, shillings, and pence. The suddenness in which he halts at the faintest whisper of a bid is truly wonderful, and can only be compared to the pause of swift shot before the impenetrable surface of steel-armoured plate.

Trawlers go to sea in all seasons, but they cannot work in heavy weather owing to the pitching of the vessel, which lifts the net off the bottom above the level of the fish. I have mentioned that jelly fish form another source of trouble. In fine weather these fish can be seen floating on the surface of the water, but in stormy or cloudy weather they precipitate themselves to the bottom, enter the net, and by buoying it up prevent the capture of more marketable sort. As a rule few edible species are found in the vicinity of “ sluthers ;” hence, a haul in which jelly fish abound gives the sign for a change of ground.

Before ending this article it affords me much pleasure to acknowledge that I am indebted for means of obtaining the information it contains to Mr. John Charlton, of the firm of Messrs. T. Charlton, iron shipbuilders, Great Grimsby, and for much concerning the mechanical operations of steam trawling to Skipper Nichols, of the Cecily. I have throughout avoided all mention of the habits, customs, or kind of life led by the fishermen, for this is a part of the subject which can scarcely be said to share in its engineering aspect. But, as I find that the writer of a series of articles published by a contemporary holds that the Scotch and Cornish fishermen are “simple-minded and kindly, and as different as can be from the North Sea trawlermen,” I feel it incumbent to state that the experience of a fortnight’s hospitality on board a North Sea trawler does not at all confirm this low estimate of the character of its crew. The fishermen of our North-east coast are a hospitable and obliging race. Being an entire stranger to them, I have no reason to think that they made any change in their rules on my account, and I had no sooner got on board than one man came forward to offer me a waterproof suit of blue serge, another to put his best Sou’wester at my disposal, whilst a third volunteered to fit me out in high boots. Every morning the cook brought me a bucket of salt water for a bath, after which the worthy skipper condescended to fry—as he only knew how—a fresh-caught sole for my breakfast. And in stormy weather, when crossing the deck presents a problem of some difficulty to a landsman, two of the hands would graciously form themselves into pillars, one on either side. Therefore I have every reason to vindicate the noble traits in the character of our North-east coast fishermen.

R. H. G.

COLONEL MAITLAND ON HEAVY GUNS.

The discussion on Colonel Maitland’s paper—published in our last impression—on guns was continued on Thursday afternoon, June 26th last.

Mr. Longridge said that he had listened to the paper with alarm and disappointment. Once we used to be told our guns were the best in the world, but now Colonel Maitland took credit for lagging behind other Powers, and our future is to depend on our watching other nations. May we not be caught napping in the next eight or ten years ! One big gun takes fifteen months to make. While we apparently follow Elswick or other nations, another system has come to the front, namely, the wire construction. What has been done in this during the last two years? Mr. Longridge disbelieved in suiting powder to weak guns. Weight for weight, high-pressure in guns gave the same superiority as high-pressure in engines. Energy per ton of gun was a wrong mode of estimation; weight was needed to check recoil. Guns with large chambers, however, are necessarily heavier in consequence. Weight for weight, a 43-ton gun with 33 tons pressure would, with a 413 lb. charge, develope 33,000 foot-tons energy, instead of the 24,000 of the present 43-ton gun. Again, Mr. Longridge objected to the expression that a thing could be right in an engineering and wrong in an artillery point of view. He differed fundamentally from Woolwich and Elswick in considering the longitudinal strain together with the tangential—that is, he dealt with each separately. The idea of two strings to a bow was only confusion of ideas. He observed that no allusion had been made to mode or pitch of rifling. He believed that Sir Joseph Whitworth was correct in employing a long projectile and a high velocity of rotation. He desired to see no more haphazard work, and guns made systematically to meet 30 to 35 tons per inch strain.

Mr. Edmonds, of the Royal Gun Factories, said that we were not lagging behind other nations, at all events in the question of wire, for none had adopted it. As concerns the use of formula) to calculate the strength of a gun, he would point out that much discrimination was necessary. Those of ltankine and others, for example, were intended for the case of a cylinder subject to uniform pressure, and in other respects differing from the case of a gun. Formula) especially failed when calculations made for elementary portions were applied to structures where each part received support from those adjacent to it. Some results illustrating this had been obtained with two 9in. guns tried in the Gun Factory. In wire guns little mutual support can be given by one section to another. He pointed out that the different books on the subject, from Mallet’s, written in 1860, onwards, had been studied in the Gun Factories, and that the construction given to guns had been suited to the requirements of the day. The short guns, for example, of earlier days were suited to the quick powder employed with them. Should wire now come into service, it will not be on the ground on which Mr. Longridge advocates it, namely, to meet high pressures, but rather in the form of pieces with long chambers and low pressures, with low deflectional strain. We have now wire bearing 80 tons resistance per square inch before any permanent set is produced.

Captain Andrew Noble said that he agreed with so much of the paper, that it seemed ungracious to criticise the parts from which he differed. He considered that Colonel Maitland had correctly formulated the requirements of powder. This matter was well understood fifteen years ago by the committee who investigated the subject; they were not able, however, to obtain the powder desired. In fact, Germany and Italy have both been more successful in manufacturing powder than our English makers. Captain Noble, while concurring in the statement that increased proportional length in a powder charge gives increased pressure, did not admit that the fact could not be explained, although the explanation was not of a character to deal with in a few words. Neither did Captain Noble concur in the statement that the same results might not be obtained from muzzleloading and breech-loading guns. He admitted that they required different treatment. He had, with Sir F. Abel, discussed the holding back of shot in their Royal Society paper. More rapid powder in muzzle-loading guns may be made to yield nearly the same result as slower powder with the grip of breechloading guns. The two 8in. Elswick guns lent to the Government som6 years ago gave to 1801b. shot velocities of about 2092ft. and 2096ft. and were equal in all essentials. With regard to obturation, there has been much more experience with the Elswick system than the De Bange in large guns, and the former has some advantages, especially that it requires much less power to work the breech ; it has, under some conditions, been found that the De Bange required five times as much power to work it as the Elswick system. He might add that the Government system of ignition, Captain Noble thought more complicated and less safe than the Elswick one. Re-coppering is not a serious inconvenience. It has only been carried out four times at Elswick on guns—two of these were for purposes of instruction. It was no more trouble than re-bushing a vent. Captain Noble would have employed different language from Colonel Maitland as to the history of the development of guns. He approved of the Government system of construction. Riband, he thought, was more valuable used in conjunction with solid metal for longitudinal strength. Over forty wire guns from lOin. to 6in. calibre have been issued, besides some field guns. The wire at Elswick had not so high a tenacity as that used in the Gun Factories, because it was specially desired that it should extend permanently if it yielded. With regard to the development of ballistic powers, this country had taken a leading part; in 1877, at Elswick, were designed two guns of about 78 cwt., which were completed early in 1878; velocities were then obtained of 2056ft. and 2182ft., while 1600ft. was still an achievement the Continent. Captain Noble would not measure chamber capacity by calibres, but rather by expansions. In real length estimated in this way, it will be found that the length in old guns is much greater than in new ones. As to chambering which came in when space without additional length was required, Captain Noble had little to add to the remarks of Mr. Rendel.

One 12in. gun with a long chamber had exhibited wave pressure, but chambers of the same proportions have exhibited nothing of the kind in the 100-ton guns with Fossano and cocoa powder. French and German chambers are apt to be very long. He desired also to make a correction in the figures furnished by Els wick to Colonel Maitland for his table. The 17in. gun, instead of 46,600 foot-tons energy, developes 51,900 foot-tons with 15 tons pressure, and the 16’25in. gun, instead of 50,924, developes 61,200 foot-tons energy.

Mr. W. H. Smith, in vacating the chair at this point in the discussion, observed that he trusted all would feel it to be their duty to further the end of securing the best weapons by every means. The chair was occupied by Admiral Boys.

Lieutenant-Colonel Morris could not see the force of Sir F. Bramwell’s remarks, and thought that they furnished no answer to what Colonel Hope had said, which he thought called for investigation experimentally. He asked for results obtained with powder in a closed cylinder. The inability of the committee to understand the question was to be specially regretted when an answer containing a flaw is offered in discussion. Before we are to be limited to 3.7 calibres length in one chamber, we ought to show how Colonel Hope is wrong in his chamber 15 calibres long.

Mr. Barlow asserted that Colonel Hope had furnished no explanation of the particular point raised, as noticed by Sir F. Bramwell. Before concluding, he would direct attention specially to the table which Colonel Maitland had putbefore them from which he thought it was clearly shown by the standard of energy per ton of gun that the wire system called for further development.

Admiral Selwyn observed that it was hard that Captain Engstrom, of the Swedish Navy, should not get the credit of the breech-closing arrangement now adopted under the name of the French system. He had exhibited that system in 1861. He sympathised also with Mr. Longridge as to impropriety of distinguishing between artillery and engineering principles. As he understood, Colonel Maitland argued that the longer a gun was and the weaker was the powder the better was the condition of things. He maintained that with stronger guns higher pressure was better. Under some circumstances, such as Moncrietf gun pits and broadsides of guns, length might be a great evil. We have inconvenient guns in order to burn bad powder. Wire ought to have come in long ago. We appear to take credit to ourselves for feeling our way awkwardly to results even after we have come round to the ideas put forward by inventors, instead of asking them for their own advice with regard to their own proposals. He would say it was only due to Mr. Longridge to try a wire gun made just as he would design it.

Colonel Moncrieff observed that though his pits were designed for short guns and best suited to them, his hydro-pneumatic carriages were better adapted for new type guns, and he specially called attention to the recommendations of the latter system for naval guns.

Captain Noble, on being called upon to reply to points raised on the ballistic aspect of the question, said that Colonel Hope was right in viewing the action of powder surrounded by fluid at a high pressure as abnormal, but he agreed with Sir F. Bramwell that the question he raised had not been explained. The highest pressure obtained in a closed cylinder by Captain Noble and Sir F. Abel was 70 tons per square inch. He had seen powder ignited at many different places with very variable results.

Colonel Maitland, being called upon to reply, said that he hardly thought the word “ life ” of a gun applicable, because the gun could be relined when it suffered from wear, and in the meantime the question was one of accuracy, not of safety. He could not say how often relining might be found necessary; probably when a ship was paid off her guns should be relined. He spoke of some 6in. guns which had fired 1800 rounds and were still perfectly good; also of an 8in. 12-ton gun that had had some rapid firing—sixty-seven rounds one day between breakfast and lunch. With regard to what Mr. Itendel had said on chambering, he admitted that it was undesirable to carry it further than necessary. He gave an example of the irregular results obtained in the case of a 10 Ain. breech-loading gun with charges of 260 lb., 240 lb., and 220 lb. of cocoa powder respectively ; two gauges were used in each round, and a 462 lb. projectile. The pressures registered by the gauges, and the velocities were as follows:—With 260 lb. charge, 22⁻5 and 22⁻2 tons pressure and 2213ft. velocity ; with 240 lb. charge, 24’0 and 24‘0 tons pressure and 2149ft. velocity; and with 220 lb. charge, 15⁻2 and 15'3 tons pressure and 1923ft. velocity. This irregularity argued wave action. He would ask Colonel Hope if he lit his charge at a great number of places in the recent French trials. On Colonel Hope assenting, Colonel Maitland remarked that he had received records of pressures which argued irregularity and wave action in a high degree. Colonel Hope objected to Colonel Maitland’s figures as not authentic and incorrect. With regard to the Elswick obturation, coppering had several times been found necessary ; he admitted that it was not a more troublesome operation than re-venting, but that he considered troublesome enough to be objectionable. He could not admit Captain Engstrom’s claim to the French breech-closing system, for we had interrupted screws in American guns supplied to us just at the end of the Crimean war.

The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to Colonel Maitland.

TO CHICAGO IN EIGHTEEN HOURS*

NOTES AND MEMORANDA.

Jos. Bernays, M.I.C.E.

the arrangement of a bridge with a movable roadway

TO CHICAGO IN EIGHTEEN HOURS*

By Robert Grimshaw, M.E.

(Concluded from page 465.)

The connection between engine and tender should not be rigid, as on curves this causes the flanges of the forward engine truck and of the rear tender truck to crowd the outside rail, and the drivers and the forward tender truck to crowd the inner rail, unless the tender-truck axles are radial, which they ought to be in any case. For the heavier curves and grades, the regular hauling engine is to bo supplemented by a six-coupled “bank engine,” which will lie with full steam up, on a siding a few miles in advance of the tough place. The instant the train passes the siding, the bank engine starts out to catch it, and gradually increasing its speed until slightly greater than that of the train, it catches the rear of the last car, which is supplied with extra strong buffer springs, and the bank is taken with the aid of the extra engine. Main headlight to be electrical—receiving current from a dynamo direct driven by a pony engine—and supplemented by a side lighting oil headlight above it; both lamps swivelling sidewise by a lever from the cab. Weight of engine ready for service 96,000 lb., of which from 48,000 lb. up to 64,000 lb. may be equally divided between axles by a shifting fulcrum, and the rest, 48,0001b. down to 32,6001b., equally divided between the leading and trailing ponies. The piston area of each cylinder is 254'5 square inches; displacement, 6108 cubic inches; the driver circumference 18‘85ft., or 226in. Putting on the drivers two-tliirds of the total weight of 48 net tons, we have, as the cylinder capacity to 32x5 = 160 cubic inches, or 160 x 226 = 36,160 cubic inches per revolution ; giving 36,160 4-4=9040 cubic inches piston displacement required per revolution. This calls for 9040 4- 254‘5=35'5in. stroke for 18in. piston diameter, or 9040 -f 24 = 376’67 square inches

• Read at the Stated Meeting of the Franklin Institute, April, 1884,

376-67 0-7854

cylinder diameter, with 24in. stroke, with the 32 tons on drivers. If only half the total weight, or 24 net tons, were put on drivers, there would be required 6780 cubic inches piston displacement in each cylinder, and this we might put either 18in. x 26'6in. or 18"25in. x 24in. We may, then, assume that cylinders 18 x 24 require only 48,000 lb. on drivers. Tender frame and body of steel, carried on light 33in. steel-tired wheels. Capacity of tank, 3000 gallons; of coal box, 15,0001b. Weight of tender, empty, 20,000 lb.;* loaded, 59,0001b. Fitted with water scoop. Tender wheels “ independent,” or else axles capable of assuming radial positions on curves—Fig 7. Connections between tender and for-

piston area for 24in. stroke. This requires

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cF

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Fig 7.—Independent Paper Centred Wheels.

ward car should be by a coupling similar to that between cars; thus making a continuous pull, without the usual jerk when the slack back of the tender is tautened. The maximum tractive

power of the 18 x 24 engine with 72in. driver is -*■—-

for each lb. of mean effective pressure upon the pistons. 912 miles in eighteen hours is 50"67 miles per hour including stoppages, allowing two hours for delays and stoppages, it is just 57 miles per hour while running ; and counting loss from five slow-ups and startings, it makes it necessary to make 60 miles an hour right along when at full speed on levels. While this cannot be held on up grades, dashes can be made down grades, to keep up tbe average of 60 miles. The line of the Pennsylvania Railroad proper, between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, runs—as per official figures by the courtesy of Mr. Charles E. Pugh, general manager— as follows : Starting at Philadelphia, and assuming as the datum line the ordinary high tide in the Schuylkill river, the gradients in feet per mile, the distances in miles, and the heights above the datum line, are respectively

18- x 24

= 108 lb.

Distances.

Heights.

Grades.

Stations. Going West.

Betw. Sta.

Worst up over 25ft.

Bet. Total.

Total.

Av. ft.

per

mile.

Broad-street Rosemont Malvern . v Downington Parkesburg Gap .. Lancaster.. Mt. Joy .. Oonewago Harrisburg Petersburg Barre Bell’s Mills Altoona .. Gallitzin .. Bolivar St. Clare .. Radebaugli Turtle Creek Homewood Pittsburg..

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200

109

1128

400

178

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388

539

259

530

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15-1

23-3

20-9

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11-11

0-70

0-3

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3-41

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18-66

14-75

81-92

29-00

3-93

3-90

26-67

21-63

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Length.

Ft. per mile.

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0-4    40

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354

2979    2295

Philada. to Pittsburg ......|

354

084

I 1-93

100

It will be seen that in the total distance between Philadelphia and Pittsburg there is a rise of 684ft., the highest point on the line— Gallitzin—being 2100ft. above Philadelphia. The average gradient is only l'!)3ft. per mile, but the worst grade is 100ft., for 0'3 mile of the distance between Altoona and Gallitzin. The following table gives the distances taken up by rising grades—going West— from 20ft. to 30ft. per mile, from 30ft. to 40ft., &c. distances are measured from an official profile, to a scale of 10 miles per inch

These

Up-grades, going West.

Over 20ft. and under 30ft. per mile „ 30ft.

„ 40ft.

„ 50ft.

„ 00ft.

„ 70ft.

„ soft.

„ 90ft.

100ft. per mile

Miles.

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50ft.

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this point on, for any road of importance, will be of steel of some kind or another, say in their favour, or to the detriment of steel rails as at present used, on the ground of economy, durability, and safety, I am willing to hear them; but, so far as I am concerned, we are at present in favour of steel. Whether it be Bessemer or Siemens-Martin, or some other present or yet unmade kind, I leave out of the question for the present. When it comes to lengths it as though the mechanical difficulties of making and handling longer rails, even of the heaviest sections, were rapidly disappearing ; and if the majority of the rails laid were in lengths of 60ft. and upwards, we would obviate the expense and risk attendant upon the use of a great many splices. Even the most rabid advocate of patent rail joints must admit, when you get him down to it, that the best joint is no joint at all, and that the fewer joints there are, even of the most improved type attainable at any price, the less will be the wear and tear of rails, flanges, and treads, breakage of springs, cutting of journals and trees, and noise, dust, and discomfort to passengers. I am aware that the question of expansion will be raised, but anticipate this by saying that the present allowance on a 30ft. rail is not so much to cover the expansion as to allow for bad spring of fish-plate holes. Whatever joint is used, however, must be strongly trussed against vertical strains, and this can only be properly accomplished by a stiffening member under the flange. As regards sections, consideration of that ought to include both head and flange. There are those who are in favour of perfectly flat treads, and others who call for a gentle curve all the way across. Still others wish right and left-hand rails. What the rail head shall be, depends, of course, upon whether the wheel treads are cylindrical or coned, and that is an oft mooted and still undecided subject—not altogether disconnected, by the-bye, from that of rigid versus loose wheels. The admirable reports of my friend, Professor P. H. Dudley, point to the great desirability of increasing the flange width, with a view to lengthening the life and usefulness of wooden cross-ties; and this is well worth looking into, because it means not only cheaper ties in the end, but decreased liability to spreading of track. It is very certain that whatever rail section be adopted, it should be such as to comport best with the curve at the base of the wheel flanges. I say comport best, and by this wish it is very distinctly to be understood, not correspond with but work well with. I have serious doubts whether a rail and a wheel which have equal curvatures or correspond like templates, would curve well together. In this I am heretical; but it is not my fault, nor yet a criminal offence. Rail weight, of course, depends upon rail material, and upon the weight, frequency, speed, and character of the trains passing over the line. The question of material I will assume to be settled; and will also assume that the train will consist of a well-balanced and well-equalised locomotive, having no greater weight than 33,0001b. per driving axle, rigid wheel base of 7ft. 6in. maximum, and no greater speed than 350 strokes per minute; hauling a train consisting of tender and five cars, each car weighing, with its load, 40,0001b., and having its weight distributed their three-wheeled trucks 20ft. between centres. For this I propose as a starter a rail section with 6in. flange, and giving a weight of 751b. per yard. There is no doubt among master mechanics, road masters, superintendents of rolling stock, and master car builders that there is an undue amount of friction between rail heads and wheel flanges at all times, and at all points along the track, but particularly when at high speed and on curves. Neither is there any doubt among passengers that the noise and motion are from this cause greatly increased, and the discomforts of travel thus varied and multiplied. It is generally admitted that the principal cause of this roughness of riding and wear and tear of rails and wheel flanges, is the primitive custom of having both wheels pressed fast upon the axle, so that whether or not the wheels upon the opposite ends of an axle are of the same diameter, or of the same taper on the treads, or are round, or are concentric with the axle, or no matter whether the outer wheel on a curve has further to go than the inner, the two wheels are compelled to revolve together. It is needless to rehearse in detail the evil effects of this pernicious custom; but it may be useful and interesting to my hearers to present one of the more recent forms of loose or independent wheels, designed to allow the outer wheel when on a curve to revolve more rapidly than the inner, while at the same time preserving a higher degree of safety and not introducing undue cost and complication of parts. In the type herewith illustrated, the wheel itself is of the well-known Allen construction, with steel tires and compressed paper web or centre, bolted between steel plates and cast iron hub, or the wheels and axles may rotate as a unit, and of course at the same rate, in the regular outer boxes ; or one wheel may revolve with and the other on the axle. Lubrication of the large inner bush and journal is insured by oil passages FF, leading from the oil box to an oil chamber E, cut in the journalled wheel seat. The Babbitted bush of the bore is held against end motion by circumferential ribs, and is flanged up at the ends ; the inner flange of each wheel being protected by a wrought iron collar A, butting against the shoulder of the wheel seat, and the outer end having also a wrought iron collar B, one and one-half inches long, threaded upon the axle between the outer journal C, and the wheel seat journal. These threaded collars B are held from turning by pins F F, rivetted at each end. The hubs D are each strengthened by six ribs GG, &c.”

If the advocates of iron rails have anything to

seems

upon

Discussion.

Mr. W. Barnet LeVan : Mr. Grimshaw has stated that he

1( Oft.

5'6

0-3

93-1

‘‘ At first I was met with more sneers than encouragement, when I broached the subject of engines to make the transit of 900 to 950 miles in eighteen hours, including stoppages. Then master mechanics and locomotive builders, looking at the thing soberly, and acknowledging the defects of existing types of engines, announced their entire ability to produce engines which would be able to do the work month in and month out, on some ideal road, on which the grades, curves, optices, and ballast were adapted to the somewhat severe requirements. But it was gravely announced that no such track existed, and that the chances were that no such track could be laid down at any price. Next, the concession was made that such a track could be put down, but that it wouldn’t pay. It having been brought to the mind of objectors to the project that such a track was already down in England and did pay, the ball was tossed over again to the engine; and it was gravely, though anonymously, asserted, in a semi - practical journal, that existing engines had all they could do to knock out thirty-five miles an hour. Up steps an English engineer with figures to prove that in the London and North-Western freight trains, sandwiched in between fast through passenger trains, knock out forty-two miles an hour between London and Liverpool ; and at present the discouragement seems to be principally aimed at the permanent way, with a slight digression in reference to the insane Ohio laws about stopping at all grade crossings. The question of permanent way should be discussed from first alignment to ballast-tamping, to find out if it is not perfectly feasible and profitable to lay and maintain a track which will stand all the racket to be imposed upon it by any respectable fast train. The matter of curves and grades requires special attention. Existing practice, particularly in the direction of curves, is particularly unpractical. Next .comes the question of material, length weight and section of rail, mode of splicing, ties, ballast, and tamping; frogs and switches, and, lastly, bridges. As regards rail material, I suppose that it is about settled that all iron rails are to be things of the past; and that whatever metals are put down, from

This weight is about 8000 lb. less than most estimates, but is based upon a peculiar proposed construction.

proposes to dispense entirely with the link motion. Now, if dispensing with links entirely, what will be his position in the event of having to run on a siding or have a break-down ? How does he expect to back his engine ?

Mr. Grimshaw : I don’t know what is meant by this question. I simply cannot answer it. It assumes that the Joy is not a reversible gear, or is more easily crippled than the link. As a matter of fact the Joy is a reversible gear, and I have no knowledge that it is more easily crippled than the link, owing to the fact that I do not know of any of them having been crippled.

Mr. LeVan : Where will you find the Joy link motion in use in this country ? To my knowledge there are only one or two in use on locomotives, and they are very unsatisfactory.

Mr. Grimshaw: I have seen letters from master mechanics of several American roads commending the Joy gear, and stating that they purpose adopting it. I have elsewhere answered the question as to its success on the Reading Railroad, and will only add that Mr. Joy says : “ When Mr. Paxson sent me his blue print I saw it would only injure the gear. I told him the centre fixing and hang would never do. If they will make bad designs failure is a matter of course.”

Mr. George S. Strong criticised one point on the locomotive. Mr. Grimshaw proposes for fast trains, i.e., the pony, or two-wheel truck as a leading truck, stating that he feared it would not be capable of keeping the rail if detached from the [rest of the locomotive, as is a four-wheeled truck, which will keep the rail and forms a truck within itself, at the same time it presents two wheels to take the blow of striking a curve, while the other only presents one. He was afraid that a pony truck for very high speeds would be more liable to break loose from the locomotive and swivel across the track and wreck the whole engine. He also described a locomotive engine with extended smoke-box and other special features, now being built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.

Mr. Grimshaw: Engineers on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, quoted by Mr. Strong as one on which a two-wheeled truck would not take curves at high speeds, say that they do take them, and safely. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad runs pony truck engines at forty-five miles an hour perfectly safely on their curves. It only requires that the pony wheels be equalised with the front drivers, as now done with perfect success on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.

Mr. J. W. Nystrom : I fully appreciate the importance of Mr. Grimshaw’s paper, and believe it feasible to run a train with the high

over-

speed heproposes. I wouldask that the diagram of the proposedloco-motive be reproduced on the screen for further remarks on the same. [The diagram was reproduced, and Mr. Nystrom continued.] The greatest difficulty with the locomotive has always been its incomplete combustion, and consequently waste of fuel, by throwing out smoke and sparks, setting fire to houses and other combustibles near the railroad. This evil is caused by an excessive draught through a thick fire on a too small fire-grate. I spoke on this subject at a meeting of the Institute some twenty years ago, and remarked that the locomotive engineers are behind the times in steam engineering. The principal defect of the locomotive consists in the smallness of its fire-grate, which is confined between the driving wheels, and it cannot be conveniently increased in length. In order to overcome this defect, Mr. Wootten placed the fire-grate above the driving wheels, where there is space enough to make it of the required or proper size. Mr. Wootten’s arrangement was illustrated and explained at a meeting of the Institute a few years ago, when I remarked that the fire-grate should be placed over the trailing truck, instead of over the large drivers, which raises the boiler up too high. My suggestion was not considered feasible by some members of the Institute. Now, Mr. Grimshaw produces a sketch of a locomotive with the fire-grate above the truck, but he still confines the width of the grate between the driving wheels. By moving the boiler back a little, so that the furnace will clear the driving wheels, the fire-grate can be made wide enough for proper combustion without excessive draught, and thus avoid smoke and sparks, which will result in economy of consumption of fuel. Mr. Grimshaw proposes to make the fire-grate about 10ft. deep by 4ft. 4in. wide, making 43 square feet grate surface. It is very difficult to keep a clean and even fire upon a grate 10ft. deep ; but if the fire-box is cut off so as to clear the driving wheels and make the grate Oft. deep by 7ft. wide, making 63 square feet grate surface ; or, perhaps better, to make the grate 8ft. square, or 64 square feet surface, the boiler would be more economical on fuel, and of much greater steaming capacity. About the cylindrical valves of which Mr. Grimshaw speaks, I would ask if he means piston valves. [Mr. Grimshaw produced a drawing of the valves on the screen, to which Mr. Nystrom remarked]: They are Corliss valves, but Mr. Grimshaw says that he will run the valves in oil under steam pressure, and I cannot see how that can be done without driving the oil into the cylinder.

Mr. Nystrom added: There are many details proposed by Mr. Grimshaw which, whether good or not, have no important bearing on speed of the train, which is a function of power, and that additional power can be obtained by proper arrangement of the firegrate, as before stated. A small fire-grate requires a stronger draught and thicker fire, which is extravagant of fuel, whilst a larger grate surface requires less draught and a thinner fire, by which the combustion will be more complete. I may refer to a case where I constructed a steamboat with compound engines, and was not allowed to make the fire-grate as large as I desired. After the boat had run about a year, the boiler was taken out, and another one with larger fire-grate was substituted, which resulted in better steaming capacity,with greater economy of fuel, although the amount of heating surface was the same in both boilers. I cannot see the economy in creating the draught by superheated live steam, instead of by the exhaust, as proposed by Mr. Grimshaw.

Mr. Le Van: Mr. Grimshaw has stated that a large gratesurface is essential for the rapid production of steam for fast running locomotives. It does not seem to have occurred to him that any boiler may be economical or otherwise, in respect to fuel, according to the rate of evaporation, and that in the case of a locomotive boiler, this rate is, of necessity, almost always varying. For a given rate of evaporation I may have with equally good reason a large fire-grate of 58 square feet and a slow rate of combustion, as in the case of the Wootten boilers, as used on the Bound Brook route; or, a small grate, 35 square feet, as in Class K Pennsylvania Railroad, and a quicker combustion. In both these cases, from reliable information, the same amount of fuel is burned in the time and performing the same service. This shows that the same quantity of heat is taken up by the water ; consequently, so far as mere economy of fuel is concerned, one boiler will be as good as the other. As for heating surface, this has really nothing to do with grate area, but merely with the quantity of fuel burned in a given time. Heating surface, or rather the fire-box plate or flues, through the substance of which heat is transmitted, is only effective in proportion to the difference of temperature on the opposite side of the plate. Numerous experiments and researches have shown that the thick -of the plate has no influence on the coefficient of conduction; thus the thin tubes of tubular boilers transmit no more heat per surface unit than thick plates of a fire-box boiler. In high-speeded locomotives the engines are the greatest drawback. Taking the indicator diagrams of the Wootten and Class K engines, you will find the former to show over 81b. average back pressure before compression commences, while the latter shows but 6 lb. when performing the same amount of work and running at the same speed; and the initial steam pressure in the former being 841b., with a boiler pressure of 1231b. per square inch, and the latter 1201b. initial, with a boiler pressure of 1401b. per square inch. The former only realises 55 and the latter 63 per cent., whereas if they were up to the best stationary practice they should at least show 90 per cent, efficiency. As regards the Joy valve gear, so far it does not seem to have made much progress in this country. I know of only two in use on locomotives, and they do not seem to give satisfaction; the plan adopted by Mr. Strong is a much better arrangement, as I understand it. Mr. Grimshaw also says the smoke-box should be of the extended class. Now, I maintain, in the first place, that an extension of the smoke-box to a length of over, say, 42in. from tube head is essentially and radically wrong and injurious; further, that if the fire-box is of proper size and construction it is needless, and if not, it is, as Mr. Parry of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, said about the swing trucks “ helping to remedy a wrong by making another wrong.” It is nothing more or less than a receptacle for unconsumed fuel carried through the tubes, and the claim that it can have any effect whatever—other than a detrimental one—on consumption of fuel, evolution of smoke, or steaming qualities of boilers is, on its face, absurdly false. No practice was or ever can be successful which runs counter to a well settled theory, and this does violence to the plainest laws governing the movement of fluids, and to their action, as observed in every boiler. We do not put a 12in. elbow on a 6in. water pipe, and if we expand the smoke-box of a locomotive to hold sparks, it is impossible, to say the least, that it shall produce any beneficial result on combustion, and I claim, as a matter of fact, that it does the reverse. The experiments with the Shaw locomotive proved this conclusively. With it she would not give satisfaction; as soon as it was removed and the old arrangement substituted, everything went lovely. The fact is, if the deflector plate was removed the result would be quite different. With a deflector and a 42in. extension the results are the same as with a 72in. extension. It is a notorious fact that locomotives do not steam as well after the substitution of the extended smoke stack as before, as I have been repeatedly told by engineers, who thought they could speak the truth without danger of removal. Several of the engineers of the New York West Shore and Buffalo Railroad said that their boilers were steaming poorly from the fact of being handicapped by the late Howard Fry with these abortions, and that it was all they could do to get 90 lb. out of them when they ought to be at least 130 lb. The majority of engineers on the Pennsylvania Railroad will corroborate these statements, when they can do so without risk of losing their positions. The only logical and common sense plan is the ret*i» of the sparks back into the fire-box, as done by Pike’s system.

Mr. Grimshaw: I beg to differ diametrically from Mr. Le Van as to the value of large grate surface. Properly managed, and so long as there is sufficient heating surface in flues, large grates give the best economic results. As competitive tests between the Wootten and the Pennsylvania Railroad standard type of loco*

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concerning tlieir working, and was informed that without these axles it would be next to impossible to operate the road. I annex a sketch to show the construction of the axles, and how much they resemble the Harrison. In principle of action they are identical. Is it not strange that while the Americans, with their boasted mechanical ingenuity, have been disputing the utility and advantage of such things, we find a small obscure road in the Himalayas using—and as I said, the only road in the world—independent wheels. When I say that in the whole forty miles in the mountains there is not a single length of straight track longer than

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200ft., and if all the straight parts were put together they would not aggregate half a mile, you can form some idea of the crooked-of this little line. If a road was made on purpose to test loose wheels, it could not improve on the Darjeeling and Himalayan Railway.”

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CROSSHEADS AND GUIDES.

The editor of the American Journal of Railivay Appliances writes :—“We should like some of our readers to give their usages and preferences in the way of crossheads and guides—whether the former should be vertical or horizontal; whether the latter should be one, two, or four in number; and whether the piston-rod should

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motives are now—May 12—being conducted, the public will have interesting figures in this connection. Grate area of necessity gives larger fire-box heating surface. Thin tubes give quickness of steaming power in starting, and quick recuperative power after hard pulls on-curves and grades. Private advices from England show the Joy gear to be giving the highest satisfaction on the best roads. The modification thereof, adopted on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, was, I understand, protested against by Mr. Joy and its failure predicted. I took careful advice as to the extended smoke-box. It may be “remedying an evil at the wrong end,” but sometimes we do not have choice of ends. It is better to remedy an evil at the worst end than to refuse to remedy it because that is not the end we would prefer. The figures on nearly every road where it has been adopted show saving by its use. The statement that “ no practice was ever or could be successful which ran counter to a well settled theory ” is too much at variance with the history of progress to need any detailed refutation.

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come between or below the central line of the guides ? Here are prevailing arrangements—which is right ?” In this country, Fig. 3 is the favourite arrangement for inside and outside cylinders. Fig. 5 is used for outside cylinders, and so is Fig. 1 to a limited extent.

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THE DEANE PUMP.

We illustrate by the accompanying engravings the vertical form of the Deane pump, made by the Pulsometer Engineering Company, and as employed for deep wells. The steam cylinders of the engines illustrated are lOin. diameter by 30in. stroke; both the up and the down stroke are adjustable specially by means of suitable throttles. The plunger is 5in. diameter by 30in. stroke, and the rising main 3in. diameter. In many situations this form of pumping machine offers great advantages over deep well pumps driven by an engine in the ordinary way, because there are far fewer moving parts in both engine and pumps. No roller guides are required, and it takes very little room in the shaft. The wooden spear rods are very easy to fix or repair, and for driving artesian well pumps this form of engine seems specially suited, as it can be made to swing aside so as to withdraw the rod without disturbing the pipes. The pump is made so that it will run very slowly if desired, so that it can be regulated to just the feed of the well. The engravings, Fig. 2, illustrate the arrangement usually adopted for ordinary well work of this kind.

A RECENT IMPROVEMENT IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

For

several years past photographers have been injuring their eyesight by the low red light in which they habitually develope highly sensitive gelatino-bromide plates, past, however, much attention has been given by photographic journals and societies to some practical methods introduced by Mr. W. E. Debenham, of Haverstock Hill, of obtaining safe lights of a higher degree of refrangibility. He uses light of low intensity, produced by means of a translucent screen or otherwise; he also passes it through

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ge-coloured film and a sheet of pale green glass. At the last meeting of the Photographic Society of London he exhibited a white light with no blue in it, but composed of the complementary colours, red and

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Mr. Debenham then exhibited contained two lamps A B, with glass faces at K and N. The glass at K was of a deep and somewhat yellowish - green colour j whilst that at N red, with a superimposed sheet of a very pale yellowgreen. The light from these lamps fell upon the surface D, which was of a deep yellow colour, and by this surface was reflected through the opening E F. When this

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opening was covered with white tissue paper the light appeared nearly white, but had so little photographic effect that a very sensitive plate placed at a reading distance before it for a quarter

of an hour showed scarcely a trace of an image. When a a Chinese line of telegraph has been constructed and is now yellow fabric was substituted at E F, an hour’s exposure failed working between Canton and Lungchou—ninety miles south of to produce more than the slightest mark on the plate, whilst Nanning—on the Tonquinese frontier.

giving sufficient light with which to work.    Cradock Waterworks, South Africa.—The Municipality of

Cradock have approved of the scheme submitted by Messrs. G. B. Nicholls and Sons, civil engineers, of Albert-buildings, Queen Victoria-street, London, E.C., and Colmore-row, Birmingham, for the water supply of that town. The supply is to be derived from permanent springs at Drie Fontein, about five miles from Cradock, on land belonging to Herr Janse Van Rensburg, M.L.A. The water is diverted from the stream into filtering chambers constructed in connection with a service reservoir, and conducted into the town by gravitation on the constant service system, distributed by means of cast iron pipes with standpost hydrants. In the Market-square it is proposed to erect a handsome stone fountain for drinking purposes and for the use of cattle.

Naval Engineer Appointments.—The following have been appointed acting assistant-engineers in the Royal Navy:—Messrs. Samuel W. F. Morrish, Alfred R. Pattison, Walter W. H. Rawlingson, John H. Dalrymple, Samuel Godbear, Benjamin J. Watkins, Frank D. Thomsett, Ernest M. Thomson, Henry Humphreys, Albert E. Tompkins, William J. Hender, Alfred Hills, Edward Swinney, Robert K. Herbert, John W. Ham, Ernest S. F. Sparks, John S. Gibson, Richard W. Torman, William Onyon, Harold Gaisford, Edward A. Short, Frederick G. Jacobs, John T. H. Ward, James D. Elliott, William B. Ransome, Frederick Hore, Alexander Baker, David Peacock, William W. Lawrence, Percy F. Faulkner, Tom E. B. Brown, James T. Willoughby, John Richardson, Thomas R. Reynolds, Charles J. Hay, Leonard Buckler, Edward J. Murphy, Ernest A. W. Heads, Alfred E. Cox, Jasper W. A. Parrott, Henry C. Peel, William W. Hardwicke, Arthur F. Kingsnortli, Lemuel C. Saywell, Henry Abbott, Frank A. Allden, Lawrence Bell, Joseph M. Crowle, Hamilton J. Coad, and William Ryan.

Yorkshire College Coal Mining Class.—The work of the session concluded on Saturday last, when the students accompanied by Mr. Lupton, the instructor, visited the Aldwarke Main Colliery, Rotherham, by the kind invitation of Mr. C. E. Rhodes, the manager. This gentleman explained his apparatus for testing safety lamps, the principle of which is directing upon them a current of gas and air mixed in explosive proportions; most of the safety lamps which are known and in ordinary use become red hot when subjected to this current for a few seconds and then ignited, the explosive mixture causing a miniature colliery explosion. Mr. Rhodes tested a number of lamps in the presence of his visitors ; the common Davy lamp exploded in three seconds, other lamps took a longer time, and some resisted the trial for forty-five seconds, which was the longest period for which the test could be applied. These interesting and instructive experiments were watched with great interest, and a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Rhodes at the conclusion. At an earlier period in the session, the students visited the Newstead Colliery, near Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, where the party was received and hospitably entertained after their journey by Mr. Robert Stevenson, the engineer and manager, who subsequently took his visitors down the mine and explained the machinery and mode of working. It would be difficult to find any colliery where We were un- all the arrangements for safety and eeonomy of working are more effectively and ingeniously executed. The fan, which produces a current of 230,000 cubic feet of air a minute, is perhaps, one of the most efficient ventilating machines now in use. Thefollowing day the party visited the well-known Clifton Colliery, on the banks of the Trent, near Nottingham ; through the courtesy of Mr. Henry Fisher, the manager, the students had the opportunity of seeing the system of underground haulage, designed by Mr. Fisher ; by means of endless ropes, the coal is hauled up long inclines from the working places to the pit. The cages are unloaded at the surface by an ingenious arrangement of machinery worked by compressed air.

IMPROVED SHIFTING SPANNER.

The accompanying engraving represents a spanner manufactured by Messrs. Turner, Naylor, and Marples, Northern Tool Works, Sheffield. For this design it is claimed that being fitted with the Clyburn spanner motion, but otherwise having rigid parts, it can be adjusted to its work easily, and when set will remain so. It is also pointed out that in the ordinary wrench the screw on the leg and the cutting in the body to admit the ring, weaken the tool where strength is most required, while in this wrench these defects are removed, and the whole

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strength of the tool is made available. Another defect of the ordinary wrench is avoided in that illustrated, namely, the handle is made fast to the body, which gives the user a more certain grip of the tool and a more confident command of it. The firmness of the wrench in work makes it unnecessary to cut the jaws, so that it can be applied to bright work without injury.

AN INDIAN MOUNTAIN RAILWAY.

A correspondent of the American Journal of Raihoay Appliances thus describes the Darjeeling Railway:—“ Since my last I have indulged in an excursion to Darjeeling, a town in the Himalaya mountains, some 300 miles to the north of Calcutta. Leaving Calcutta, a railway ride of fifteen hours brings us to a town called Silliguri, at the foot of the mountains. Here we take the Darjee-ling-Himalayan Railway. The road is, to my mind, one of the most wonderful pieces of railroad building that it has been my fortune to inspect. Although almost a toy in appearance, the gauge being only 24in., and the cars not much bigger than an ordinary two-seated carriage, yet it steadily climbs the mountain with grades of 2(i0ft. to the mile, and round curves of 90ft. radius, until it reaches Darjeeling, 7200ft. above the sea, and distant from Silliguri, forty-eight miles, though less than twenty miles in a direct line.

“ As our Mt. Washington is only 6000ft. high, you can see how much higher we are; but then consider that Darjeeling is in a valley, for close by the snowy peak of Kinchinganga, 29,000ft. high, rises far above the surrounding mountains, and Mount Everest, 30,000ft. high, the highest in the world, is distant about eighty miles, and on clear days can easily be seen, fortunate enough in having a cloudy day, which, of course, marred our pleasure, although for a few minutes we had a sight of the huge peaks.

“The Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway was laid at first as anexperi-the Government cart road, but, like many other experiments, has passed that stage, and is an established and paying fact. The curious part of it is that it is the only road in the world on which loose or independent wheels are used exclusively. The entire rolling stock is equipped with a loose wheel on axles, identical with the Harrison patent of the United States. I made a thorough inspection of the axles and wheels, and made inquiries

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New South Wales has an area of 308,000 square miles, and, in 1882, had 817,468 inhabitants and 1315 miles of railway, whose average cost was £12,161 per mile. Their gross earnings in 1882 £1,658,864; their net earnings £764,229, which is equivalent to £1477*6 gross and £812 16s. net per mile, £235 more net than the earnings of railroads in the United States. The net earnings were 5$ per cent, on the capital expended—an eminently satisfactory result, as the interest paid by the Government is less than that. The Government had authorised the expenditure of £11,000,000 more for railroad construction, of which £3,000,000 negotiated last year. This is the only Australian colony that

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has adopted the English and American standard gauge of 4ft. 8Jin. A connection of the Victorian railroads is almost completed, and one with Queensland, the colony next north, is in progress.

Our Birmingham correspondent writes :—“ Traders here express satisfaction that at the meeting in London, last Friday, between the general managers of the Midland, Great Western, and London and North-Western Railway Companies, and the deputation from the South Staffordshire Railway and Canal Freighters’ Association, the managers agreed to recommend their directors to make some concessions in the present freightage scale. The deputation was an influential one, representing as it did the raw and manufactured iron trades, the heavy pipe-founding industry, and the hardware industries of South Staffordshire, and the matter was gone into at considerable detail. Upon the most important point, however,

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at present, by diligence or ox-cart, in any to ten days. There are no other railways in the Republic either open or in course of construction, but a project for a railway from Santo Thomas to Guatemala is being actively prosecuted by the Government. It is proposed to build this railway entirely by a national forced and voluntary subscription. Everybody is at liberty to buy shares, and natives who do not do so voluntarily become shareholders by compulsion under an income tax law which came into force on January 1st, 1884. The cost of the line is estimated at 12,000,000 dols., which are to be raised during the ten years required for the construction of the railway. 1 relirninary works have already been commenced.

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At a recent meeting of the Berlin Physical Society, Professor Vogel gave the results of his years of work and renewed attempts to obtain coloured photographs. Sensitised plates are only affected by the more refrangible rays, hence blue comes out white and yellow and red, black. He has, however, at last succeeded in obtaining in eosine, and more especially its various derivatives, colouring substances winch scarcely possess more than a broad absorption band in the yellow, and which led to the desired result. When these bodies were mixed in due proportion with the dry gelatine plates, the yellow of the coloured objects already appeared quite clear on the photograph; but the blue was still always brighter. Herr Vogel inserted between the object and the camera a yellow glass, which partly absorbs the blue rays while leaving the yellow unimpaired, and obtained photographs in which the blue, as well as the green and yellow, and partly even the red parts of the coloured objects, presented to the observer’s eye the same vivid effects as the original. A series of photographs exhibited by Herr Vogel side by side with the orginal pictures attest, Nature says, the good results with which this method may be carried out in practice.

An interesting paper on “ Engineering Photography,” read before the Engineers’ Club of St. Louis, appears in the American Journal Photography.

The ship Port Jackson recently arrived at Liverpool from Sydney, New South Wales, with a cargo of 3100 tons of Australian cannel coal for the Liverpool Gas Company. It is understood that the company have received previous cargoes of this cannel, which is credited with great gas producing qualities.

It has been decided to commence relief works in Sydney, to meet the demands for employment which are being made upon the Government. One would have thought that gregarious habits would have been sufficiently overcome in Australia to make men move from the towns to the country when things looked so bad as this.

It is estimated there are more than 400,000 tons of shipping laid up in this country ; yet Messrs. Bolling and Ivowe say in their Iron Trade lifts) rt:—“Increased plant to produce steel for shipbuilding purposes is being put down. The advocates of steel vessels will in future be able to have ships promptly constructed, and with full benefit of increased competition. Several of our largest and leading steamship companies have recently held their meetings, and in some instances no dividends were declared, in others, the financial year lias closed with a loss. Foreign Governments, anxious to-develope their maritime power, are beginning to subsidise their mercantile navy; France has done so already, and at this moment, Germany, Italy,and the United States are following in her wake.”

The Dover Standard states that the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company has under consideration a very important project for the construction of a new harbour at Sandwich, by a cut from Old Haven to a point about equi-distant between Sandwich and Deal, and the making of a line of railway from the main system of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. It is calculated that the harbour, which can be very quickly and cheaply made, owing to the favourable nature and situation of the land, will have an important effect upon the district. In addition to this, the passage to Flushing from this point would be very much less than the present route from Queenboro’. Its proximity to the Downs would also make the harbour exceedingly valuable for vessels passing in the Channel.

The first two of four hopper barges—one of which was built by Messrs. J. and W. B. Harvey, of Littlehampton, and the other by Messrs. Austin and Parkins, of Swansea—have recently been launched from their yards. These crafts, which were designed by Captain Swales, harbour master of Shoreliam, who has had considerable practical experience in dredging operations, are being built for the Dundee Dredging Company, and will carry about 330 tons dead weight. They are constructed of most substantial material, consisting chiefly of pitchpine and solid English oak,- and are also fastened equal to the highest-class ship at Lloyd’s. The remaining two, now being built by the above firms, are in an advanced state and will be pushed forward in order to be launched in the course of a couple of months. The essential difference between these hoppers designed especially for the Dundee Dredging * Company, is that, instead of their being fiat-bottomed barges—at all times dangerous at sea, and particularly so when they have to navigate bar harbours—they are designed as sea-going hoppers, and on lines not dissimilar from ordinary ships engaged in mercantile pursuits,

KAILWAY MATTERS.

The Taff Vale directors have passed a resolution taking over theTreferig Valley Railway, and will pay the shareholders 4 per cent.

The proposals of the Porte to the Societe d’Exploitation with respect to the Eastern railways junction, will in a few days be officially communicated to the company. The concession is to be given for thirty-eight years.

According to the estimate of Mr. Hansell, the quantity of laminated springs at present in use on English, Scotch, and Welsh railways is 231,920 tons, and there are used annually nearly 12,000 tons. Sheffield makers producing about 10,000 tons.

In 1882 the colony of Victoria was required by the courts to pay £120,000 to persons injured by accidents on the States railroads, of which it had 1355 miles. This sum was 17 per cent, of the total net earnings of its railroads. Most of these accidents were on one comparatively short line, and the payments for injuries exceeded the net earnings of this line by about £25,000.

The last rail has been laid of the Ontario and Quebec Railway, which forms the connecting link between the eastern and western sections of the Canadian Pacific system. Grading on the railway was commenced in August, 1882, and has been vigorously pushed from that time through the somewhat severe winters of 1882 and 1883, the work on many sections being very heavy.

The announcement that the Dudley, Sedgley, and Wolverhampton Steam Tramways Bill is to be opposed in the Upper House, seeing that it has already passed the Lower House, is not received with satisfaction by the inhabitants along the route. These have determined to promote a monster petition to the House of Lords, urging that the district is more suitable for steam than for animal traffic.

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the question of freights to the ports, the managers were unprepared to give a decision, since they stated that this matter would have to be further discussed by themselves and their directors.”

A striking illustration of the imnortance of the railway rates question is afforded in the removal which has been determined upon, because of excessive freights and low selling prices of the patent wrought nail trade from the Wolverhampton district to Newport, Mon. The entire industry in this country will bo concentrated in the hands of a single joint stock company under the title of J. J. Cordes and Co. There are at present five distinct firms engaged in this manufacture, with an aggregate productive power of about 300 tons weekly. The amalgamation applies only to the patent nail manufacture, and such of the five firms as are engaged in other manufacturing branches will carry them on separately as heretofore. Quotations of Messrs. Cordes’ brands of nails will be unchanged, but on all the other brands a 5 per cent, advance will take place.

We learn from Stockholm, in reference to the railway from Lulea to Ofoten and the iron mines of Lapland, that great progress has been made in carrying out this scheme. The Northern of Europe Railway Company has been formed in London for the purpose of constructing the line from Luba, in the Gulf of Bothnia, to Goten Fjord, in the North Atlantic Ocean, and of opening up the rich stores of mineral wealth in that part of Lapland, and especially in the mines of Kirunavaard, Luosavaara, and Gelli-vaard. In accordance with the terms of the Royal Concession, the company has deposited the sums of money required by the Government, as a guarantee for the construction of the railway. The works will be commenced at Lulea at once, and there is every probability that one-third of the line on the first section—Lulea-Gellivaard, will be completed before the end of the year, as the country is fiat and easily traversed.

The Victorian Government makes its railways pay for the Westinghouse brake. The Colonies and India says:—“ There has been a dispute between the Customs department and Messrs. Imray, Hirscli, and Kaeppel, relative to the value of the Westing-house brake fittings, imported for use on the Victorian railways. In the original entries made by the consignees House, the fittings for engines were valued at £20, and those for carriages and vans at £10, or a total of £2510 for the shipment, assessment which the department challenged. After some delay the department valued the articles at £55 and £20 respectively, or a total of £5443, and demanded a total duty of £1496 16s. fid., instead of an amount of £690 5s., which had already been paid by the agents. The department arrived at this estimate from the scheduled prices of the Westinghouse Company, which in England were £55 and £20 respectively. After further deliberation, the department modified its demands. The value of the brake fittings for engines has been fixed at £44 Is., and those for carriages and vans at £14 11s. The total value of the goods this basis is £4055, which, with the usual 10 per cent, added, brings the total amount upon which duty is charged up to £44(51 5s. 5d, The total amount of duty, which the agents have paid under protest, is £1115 6s. 4d., or £425 Is. 4d. more than they considered the department justified in charging.”

The railway in course of construction in Guatemala from the port of San Jose to the capital is progressing rapidly. Numberless difficulties have been encountered by the engineers, amongst which may be mentioned many bridges over “barrancos”—deep and wide fissures of volcanic origin—the enormous quantity of water accumulating suddenly in the rainy season, the unhealthiness of the lower parts of the line near the coast, the building of an embankment across the lake of Amatitlan, and a rise of 5000ft. from the sea to the capital, a distance of about eighty miles, 4000ft. of which have to be surmounted in the last fifty miles. The line is practically finished for three-quarters of the distance, and by September next at the latest, unless some unforeseen accident occurs, the trains will reach the capital—Guatemala—-enabling passengers and merchandise to reach the port in three or four hours, instead of, as time from twelve 1

NOTES AND MEMORANDA.

Woods and Forests gives the following, which is known to most, but not all, our readers:—“ Any person may easily get at the exact height of a tree when the sun shines, or during bright moonlight, by marking two lines on the ground, 3ft. apart, and then placing in the ground on the line nearest to the sun a stick that shall stand exactly 3ft. out of the soil. When the end of the shadow of the stick exactly touches the furthest line, then also the shadow of the tree will be exactly in length the same measurement as its height.”

In the week ending June 21st the deaths registered in twenty-eight great towns of England and Wales correspond to an annual rate of 18'7 per 1000 of their aggregate population, which is estimated at 8,702,354 persons in the middle of this year. The three healthiest places were Derby, Brighton, and Norwich. In London 2615 births and 1371 deaths were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the births were twenty-two and the deaths eighty below the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of the last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which had been 19*2, 18'9, and 18‘8 per 1000 in the three preceding weeks, declined to 17'8. During the first twelve weeks of the current quarter the death-rate averaged 20*0 per 1000, against 19*6 and 20'0 in the corresponding periods of 1882 and 1883.

In a lecture on the fixed stars, Dr. David Gill, F.R.S., said:— “ Light takes almost exactly 500 seconds of time to come from the sun; this is a figure easy to remember, and is probably exact to a single unit. The sun is ninety-three millions of miles distant, and this figure I believe to be exact within 200,000 miles. Quite recently the accuracy of these figures has been confirmed in a very remarkable way by different kinds of investigations by different observers, otherwise I should not have quoted them with so much confidence. The parallax of a Centauri is three-quarters of a second of arc; therefore its distance is 275,000 times the distance of the earth from the sun, and therefore light, which travels to the earth from the sun in 500 seconds—i.e., in 8.| minutes—would take 4'3(i, or a little more than 4-jj years to come from a Centauri.”

Rubennick’s process for metalising wood consists in steeping the wood in a caustic alkali for two or three days, according to its degree of permeability, at a temperature between 164 deg. and 197 deg. Fah. The wood is then placed in a second bath of hydrosulphate of calcium, to which is added, after twenty-four or thirty-eight hours, a concentrated solution of sulphur. After forty-eight hours the wood is immersed in a third bath of acetate of lead at a temperature between 95 deg. and 122 deg. Fah., where it remains from thirty to fifty hours. After a complete drying the wood thus treated is susceptible of a very fine polish, especially if its surface is rubbed with a piece of lead, tin or zinc, and finally finished with a burnisher of glass or porcelain. It then looks like a metallic mirror, and is completely sheltered from all the deteriorating effects of moisture.

A PAPEB on “ The Formation of Sugar in the Sugar-cane,” was recently read by M. Aime Girard before the Paris Academy of Sciences. By comparative investigations of the amount of cane sugar and grape sugar in different parts of the sugar-cane in the afternoon and before sunrise, the author has found that only in the substance of the leaves does this quantity vary, and that the quantity of cane sugar sinks during the night to one-half, whilst the quantity of reducing sugar remains almost unaltered, finds further that the quantity of cane sugar in the leaves increases with the illumination, on very bright days reaching nearly one per cent., considerably lesson dull ones, and in either case diminishing during the night by one half. From this the author concludes that the formation of saccharose from glucose takes place entirely in the leaves under the influence of sunlight, and that the saccharose thereupon ascends the cane through the petioles, &c., and collects there.

A paper was read on the 19th June, before the Chemical Society, “ On the effect of High Temperatures on Petroleum Hydrocarbons,” by Drs. Armstrong and Miller. In this paper the authors describe the results of their examination of the liquid obtained on compressing oil gas. They point out that their material is in every respect similar to that examined by F'araday in 1825, and in which he discovered benzene. Besides benzene and its homologues, the liquid from oil-gas contains hydrocarbons of the ethylene and ascetylene series. From the fractions boiling below benzene, two hydrocarbons of the acetylene series have been isolated—methylallene, C H₃. G H. C. C H._>, identical with the crotonylene separated by Caventon from the mixture of hydrocarbons condensed by compression of coal-gas and hexoylene, Co H₁₀, identical with that described by Schorlemmer. The crystalline tetrabromides of these hydrocarbons have both been obtained in large quantity, in a pure condition. As yet it has not been found possible to isolate the intermediate hydrocarbon Cj H₈. The fractions below benzene contain two olefines, amylene and hexylene. A study of their oxidation products shows that both of these are the normal hydrocarbons, the amelene furnishing on oxidation with permanganate normal butyric acid, the hexylene being converted into normal valeric acid; in other words, the amylene is normal propyl-ethylene, the hexylene, normal butylethylene.

From a report by the British Secretary of Legation, at Berne, it appears that the business of watchmaking dates back from the year 1587, taking its rise in Geneva, and gradually spreading north and east to the neighbouring cantons of Neuchfitel, Berne and Vaud. There appears to be an absence of reliable statistical information on the subject of watchmaking in Switzerland, but from calculations which were made in 1866, as to the number of workmen employed and the watches turned out, it appeared that in the canton of Neuchatel there were 13,706 workmen, turning out yearly nearly 1,000,000 watches, valued at 50,000,000 francs; in the Jura Vaudois, 2700 workmen; in the rest of this canton there were 5000 workmen engaged in this manufacture and in that of musical-boxes; in Berne, about 1300 artificers, producing watches valued at 30,000,000 fanes. At the present day, it is estimated that the total annual production of watches in Switzerland exceeds 1,600,000, with an aggregate value of 88,000,000 francs, the total number of workmen employed averaging 40,000. The total exportation of watches in 1882 was 154,500 kilogrammes, or 25,300 more than in 1881, while 46,400 kilogrammes were imported; the latter, however, were chiefly articles in the rough, intended to be finished and re-exported. Mr. Thornton, in conclusion, says that a novel kind of watch has been recently invented by Mr. Paul Kramer, at Neuchatel, but owing to the defective state of the law in Switzerland, the inventor has been obliged to patent it in France. This watch is called d aiguilles univcrsrllcs, and indicates simulutaneously the times of different countries; one, for example, shows the different times for Paris, Suez, Bombay and Hud, another for New York and San Francisco.

MISCELLANEA.

The production of coal in France last year is officially returned at 20,887,092 tons, as compared with 20,040,796 tons in 1882, showing an increase of 820,296 tons last year. The production of lignites in France in 1883 was 559,107 tons as compared with 556,908 tons in 1882, showing an increase of 2199 tons last year.

People go to the Crystal Palace and find that for various parts of the entertainment they have to pay extra fees. They do not manage things like this at the Healtheries, and consequently people go again. The number of visitors to this Exhibition for the week ending June 28th, was 159,132 ; total since the opening, 871,213.

Mr. STANLEY, the explorer, has transferred the site of his station of Vivi to a table-land some 1500 metres to the north; and a railway from the new station to the Congo is in course of construction. A new station called Sette-Cana, has also been established at the mouth of the small river Sette. Numerous small wooden houses are being made in Belgium to be transported to the new Vivi.

The following is a list of the guns now in course of construction for Spain:—In England, fourteen Armstrongs and eighteen Nordenfelts; in Germany, sixteen Krupps; in France, thirty-nine steel guns, principally of twelve and ten centimetres, and in the Spanish national manufactory eight of sixteen centimetres and two of twenty centimetres. More artillery is being contracted for abroad.

Messrs. J. A. Younu and Company, of Westminster, have issued a catalogue which reminds one of some of the American price lists of railway bridges up to any span kept in stock. It is chiefly descriptive of simultaneous acting gates for railway level crossings and interlocked with the signalling apparatus, small cross-over and other bridges, roofs and roof principals, sheds, and so on.

The recent change of Ministry in Belgium, from Liberal to Conservative, has brought about some changes in the administrative departments. There is a new Ministry of railways, posts and telegraphs, and another of agriculture, industry and public works, including the departments of bridges, roads, and mines. Before the late Ministry went out of power, however, two new laws were promulgated containing revised regulations as to steam engines and the working of mines.

The necessity for a pocket edition of a catalogue of machinery and machine tools, except for the use of the few representatives of any firm, is not at first obvious. Several firms have, how ever, published these, illustrated with numerous very small engravings, so it may lie concluded that they are wanted. The-most neatly got-up, comprehensive, and nicely finished is that of Messrs. Tangye, just published. It is a little larger than a Moles-worth, and contains about 300 pages.

The Times Berlin correspondent hears that the German Government has just concluded a contract with Messrs. Yarrow and Co., of Poplar, for the supply of a large sea-going torpedo boat, to be fitted with double torpedo launching apparatus. This will be one of the largest torpedo boats ever built, and will have unusually large coal-carrying capacity. It will thus be seen that, in spite of much late boasting to the contrary, the German Navy has not yet been rendered independent of British industry.

Th e P. and O. steamer, Tasmania, the latest addition to the P. and (). Company’s fleet, has just made her trial trip at Greenock, an average speed of 15^ knots, or 17'8 miles, being obtained. This vessel is 400ft. long, has 45ft. beam, and is 31Aft. deep, the gross tonnage being 4500 tons, and the horse-power, 4000 effective. The Tasmania, which has been built and engined by Messrs. Caird and Co., of Greenock, is of steel, and has been fitted with the electric light by Messrs. Siemens Brothers. She will carry about 200 passengers and 3800 tons of cargo, and will leave London on the 16th of July next in connection with the India, China, and Australian mail services.

The principal business at a meeting in Wolverhampton, on Tuesday, of the Mines Drainage Commissioners was a proposal to borrow £60,000 to pay off loans amounting to £30,000, and to complete the requisite works for the underground drainage. The chairman—Mr. Walter Williams—stated that the increased expenditure was due to the putting up of two new big engines. One would be ready in three months and the other at Christmas. Then the Commission would be able to work at less cost, since when the new engine was at blast they would be able to dispense with about six of the sixteen engines at present working only at half-blast. The proposal was carried.

[Supplement to THE ENGINEER, July 4, 1884 ]

COMPOUND ENGINES OF TIIE RIACHUELO, BRAZILIAN ARMOURED TURRET SHIP.

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belief. It is possible to see butter made, bread baked, chocolate and cocoa, and soda water and sweetmeats prepared. Is the visitor really any better off because he has seen these things? We fear not. As regards the supply of pure air, &c., we were told that the Exhibition was to contain two houses, one fitted up with every desirable appliance, the other to be a truthful example of jerry building. The houses are there, but they have not been opened yet. Some difficulty has, we believe, been met with in the attempt to make the bad house bad enough. Certain fittings and appliances, for example, which the sanatarians thought miserable, have been held to be much too good by those who are practically acquainted with the lnibits and mode of life of the jerry builder. Meanwhile, the houses being shut up, the Health Exhibition teaches nothing.

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FOREIGN AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE ENGINEER.

PARIS.—Madame Boyveaxj, Rue de la Ranque.

BERLIN.—Asher and Co., 5, Unter den Linden.

VIENNA.—Messrs. Gerold and Co., Booksellers.

LEIPSIC.—A. Twietmeyer, Bookseller.

NEW YORK.—The Willmer and Rogers News Company, SI, Beekman-street.

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE.

*** With this week's number is issued as a Supplement a two-page Engraving of Compound Twin-Screw Engines for the Riachuelo, Brazilian Armoured Turret Ship. Every copy as issued by the Publisher contains this Supplement, and subscribers are requested to notify the fact should they not receive it.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

*** In order to avoid trouble and confusion, we find it necessary to inform correspondents that letters of inquiry addressed to the public, and intended for insertion in this column, must, in all cases, be accompanied by a large envelope legibly directed by the writer to himself, and bearing a Id. postage stamp, in order that answers received by us may be forwarded to their destination. No notice will be taken of communications which do not comply with these instructions.

*** All letters intended for insertion in The Engineer, or containing questions, must be accompanied by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a proof of good faith. No notice whatever will be taken of anonymous communications.

The Inventor.—Yes. The sale must be registered at the Patent-office.

W. J. S.—The address of Messrs. Simpkin and Marshall is Stationers'-hall-court, Ludgate-hill, London, E. C.

One Who Wants to Help Himself.—Apply at the City and Guilds of London Technical College, Finsbury.

J. A.— Wilson’s work on chimneys will probably answer your purpose. It is published by Messrs. Spon, Charing-cross.

E. R. B.—On a small scale the joint you show would work well. We doubt its success on a large scale, and it would be expensive to make.

Errata.—In a letter on elevators in our last impression, in the tenth paragraph, eleventh line, the word “descends” should be “ascends," and the word “ rises" should be “ descends.”

BUCKLEY’S PATENT PISTON SPRINGS.

(To the Editor of The Engineer.)

Sir,—Will any reader kindly give me the address of the maker of Buckley’s patent piston springs?    P. B. W. G.

(To the Editor of The Engineer.)

Sir,—Permit me to ask through the medium of your columns what is the strength of cast steel gearing compared to that of cast iron, the wheels being cast from the same pattern.    H. P R

Porto Rico, June 10th.

THE BRIDGE OVER THE THEISS AT SZEGEDIN.

(To the Editor of The Engineer.)

Monsieur le Redacteur,—A la suite de I’article paru dans votre journal The Engineer, on date du 29 Fevrier, 1884, page 159 sur les etablissements de la Socibtd Autr. Ilongr. Priv. des Cliemins de for de 1 Etat 4 Resicza (Hongrie), M. G. Eiffel constructeur, nous a addresso une reclamation relativement au passage concernant le pont sur la Theiss a Szegedin.

Cette reclamation utant de tous points justifiee, nous vous prions de vouloir inseres dans votre proehain numero l’observations suivante • & savoir, que M. Eiffel, constructeur a Paris, otait charge de la descente des caissons et des montage des travees du pont de Szegedin, tandis que notre Societe n a fait que livrer la construction metallique d’apres les dessins qui lui ont etc transmis et dresses par M. Eiffel.

Agree/, je vous prie, Monsieur le Rbdacteur, l’assurance de faite estime.

Wien, am 27 Juin.

SUBSCRIPTIONS.

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nniff. .re!atlng 1°, Advcrtisements and the Publishing Department of the paper a/re to be addressed to the Publisher, Mr. George Leopold Riche - alt otherletters to be addressed to the Editor of The Engineer, 163, Strand’.

MEETING NEXT WEEK.

?f!it,⁸aaiUrdry' tha 10th> ,llth> and 12th July. Business : Thursday It 10.15a.m., Council meeting at engineer’s office, Town Hall- 11 am reception by the Mayor of Newcastle-on-Tyne ; 11 30 a m annual re™,IV ’ election of officers, general business; the¹^President’s Address * ATper will be read, should time permit, “On Inspecting and Testing the Sanitary Arrangements of Houses,” by Mr. J. P Spencer AMC V-

F.R.S., of Newcastle-on-Tyne. At 3.30 p.m., visit to pC of interest in ₍the town, at 6.30 p.m., the annual dinner. Friday, llth, at 10 a m reading and discussion of papers on “Steam on Tramways,” by Mr jas’ Hah Borough Surveyor, Stockton-on-Tees. “ Sewage Disposal ” bv Jueut -Co onel JoneS’ V.C., Wrexham. “The Cost of Local Government an£ the Distribution of the Funds,” by Mr. F. S. Brunton, Assoc. M. list Rl,⁽*™ond- At 2 p.m., visit to the Elswick Ordnance and Engine Works, the Swan and Edison Electric Light Company’s factorv at Upu. well, and the Elswick Colliery. Saturday, 12th, at 10.30 a.m., members will assemble in the Council Chamber for the closing business of the meeting ; at 11 a.m., the Tyne Commissioners’ steamer, J. C. Stevenson will leave the Corporation Fish Quay to go down the river, calling on the vay at the Coloration Cattle Lairs, St. Laurence; Messrs. Walter Scott wn t'n-fi V,clriew, W.°^ks> the Tyne Commissioners’ Yard at Howdon the ^“>1olnt C°A Staithes, the New Coble Dene Dock Works, and the 1 leis at Tynemouth. At 3 p.m. the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade

wreck wiff be exliibTted    ’ ” hl Which thc wllol° process of rcscllc f>'o

DEATH.

EAMW'

THE ENGINEER.

JULY 4, 1884.

THE HEALTH EXHIBITION.

The outbreak of cholera at Toulon accentuates the position and promise of the Health Exhibition. Attention will very properly be directed to the carrying out of such measures as may best enable us to avert a considerable danger, and the Health Exhibition is supposed to be competent; to supply the practical instruction which we all in theory, at least, need. The sanitarians have for some time had their own way, and we should be the last to dispute that they have done a great deal of good; but it may perhaps be worth while to ask whether it has been effected quite in the fashion they suppose. The assumption is that man is beset by insidious foes, who assail him in the air he breathes, the earth he walks on, the food he eats, and the drink—no matter what it may be—that he imbibes. It is furthermore taken for granted that man possesses little or no natural power of contending with these foes, and he is warned that the only way to retain even a modicum of safety is to wage unceasing war on bacteria, vibrios, and that awful mystery, the disease germ. It is pointed out that by doing this, even in a perfunctory and inadequate way, longevity has been greatly promoted, and the national death-rate reduced; and it is carefully explained to us that our safety is due altogether to the exclusion of this or that form of foe, according to the school to which our teacher belongs. No doubt there is a vast amount of truth in all this, but there is also, we regret to add, much that is not true, or rather we should say, much, the truth of which is not proved. Thus, for example, we are told on the one hand that water once contaminated with sewage never can become pure again ; while equally great authorities assure us that sewage contamination is eliminated from a running stream in a few hours. The fact seems to be that if people lead clean, wholesome lives, they will live longer than is possible when they have bad air and but little of it to breathe, and bad food and but little of it to eat. It is not essential that we should go to bacteria for an explanation of the cause of divers diseases. No one has ever yet proved that bacteria, or germs of any kind, caused typhoid fever, let us say. At a time when the reign of the bacteria theory was all-powerful, and people were warned to shun them as they would the plague—of which, indeed, they were the proximate cause—one enterprising authority pushed his researches very far. It was argued by some persons that the bacterium was not omnipresent. He set this fond notion at rest by proving that we draw in bacteria in myriads every time we inhale even a so-called pure mountain air. He overdid the thing. When men heard him, they saw that it was useless to fight the foe any longer. Indeed, he lost nearly all his terrors. We inhale the enemy from the cradle to the grave, and seem to be none the worse.

We have said that if men and women and children lead what are called healthy lives, the chances are that they will escape disease. If a thinly clad girl leaves a hot ballroom and gets a chill, we need not go in search of bacteria to account for her death by inflammation of the lungs. If a whole family live in one wretched room, without clothes or fire, on very little food, some of the members will in all probability die young, and we need not seek for any special cause of death. It is well known that every plant and animal depends for its existence on the conditions which surround it, and that each and all possess powers of accommodating themselves, more or less, to these conditions. A well-fed, well-nourished man, for example, can bear up against ditions which would prove fatal to one not so well prepared to contend against malign influences. The conditions most favourable to life are pure air, pure food, pure drink, and a proper temperature. The want of this last kills more people than the sanitarians take countof. The supply of these things is the beginning and end of sanitation. It may amuse, interest,or instruct, to hunt the bacterium to his lair,or dragthe disease germ from its lurking hole; but the practical householder need take no care for these things. If he provides pure air and plenty of it, pure food, pure drink, and a proper temperature, he may let bacteria, vibrios, and germs urge their wild career where they please, they will not harm him. The natural power of recuperation, which enables a broken bone to knit, or a cut finger to heal, will come in and aid him. Man can stand a great many assaults, as everyday experience tells us, and maugre the sanitarians, be none the worse for them.

In so far as the Health Exhibition shows us how these things can be best provided, it will fulfil the object for which it was ostensibly called into existence ; but it is very difficult to walk through it and inspect its contents without arriving at the conclusion that it does not teachquite so much as we were led to expect it would. Food is provided, of course, in all forms; but the average visitor is certainly not placed in a position to know whether what he sees is good, bad, or only indifferent. Piles upon piles of tins, for example, are to be seen; but who can say what the nature of their contents may be ? We do not doubt that it is excellent, but we would rather not be asked to give a reason for our

We might pursue this line of argument if it were necessary, but we think it is not. The Health Exhibition is extremely interesting and attractive, and the management of it is admirable; but as an Exhibition it teaches very little sanitation indeed. We do not find fault with it for this, simply because we do not think that sanitation can be taught by Exhibitions, or, indeed, can be taught at all. It is either too simple or too complicated. An Exhibition is not needed to tell us that we ought to put on warm clothes in winter, and it cannot teach any one what is the best way to dispose of the sewage of our towns. One is not needed to prove that we should not pollute our air with carbonic oxide and carbonic acid; but no Exhibition can teach us how to burn coals or fuel of any available kind without producing both. A display of pipes, however huge, will not enable the average householder to decide whether his habitation is or is not properly drained. In a word, we fear that to expect that health can be promoted by Exhi-tions is to expect too much. On the other hand, however, there is a great deal about this one to amuse, interest, and instruct the visitor. A day might be spent in “old London,” and something would be left unseen which ought to have been seen. It is impossible for any intelligent person to live even a few hours in the various buildings, which nearly cover the whilome gardens, without coming away better informed, for the time at all events, than he ever was before on various matters. The Exhibition is deservedly popular; but too much must not be expected, and the last things perhaps to be learned are those lessons in sanitation, which it was supposed that it would teach in a very prominent way. We are not sure, indeed, that we have found anything sanitary put forward on a comprehensive scale. Of course it goes without saying that the manufacturers and inventors of all kinds of foods, drinks, baths, furniture, ventilators, et hoc genus omne, are present in multitudes; but the average Englishman will find it very difficult to decide among the rival claimants who is to be preferred. We fear that in one sense the Exhibition must be regarded as a failure; that is to say, it is not didactic in the proper way, but it is very instructive, nevertheless, and that in a host of ways which have little or nothing to do with health; and it is very amusing, which cannot be said of all Exhibitions.

GAS SUPPLY.

Amalgamation continues to reduce the number of the Metropolitan Gas Companies, while sanguine electricians may anticipate the period when, by a process more powerful than amalgamation, the companies will be made to disappear altogether. But the day when gas will depart is probably too remote to influence present arrangements, while, on the other hand, amalgamation is still an active force. The London Gas Companies are now reduced to the curt category of three—the Chartered, the Commercial, and the South Metropolitan. The effort to absorb the last-mentioned into the first having failed, an attempt is now being made by the South Metropolitan to take in the two Woolwich companies. Thus the suburbs are being invaded, and there is the chance that some important parts of the “outer ring” of gas companies may be ultimately attached to the centre. Mr. John Field, in drawing up his valuable yearly “ Analysis,” is placed under the necessity of extending his sphere of observation in order to produce a really presentable record. After 1879 he found it expedient to go into the suburbs, and the present issue of his handbook makes reference to the provinces. The gas sold in the metropolis continues to increase, the quantity in 1883 being more than 20,000 millions of cubic feet. The quantity is vast, and the consumption of coal is proportionate, the weight carbonised being more than 2,000,000 tons. But the quantity of cannel coal is diminished by more than one-third, as compared with the previous year. The suburban companies particularised fourteen in number, and the provincial ten, beside eight Municipal Corporations. The eighteen provincial undertakings employ less capital than the three London panies, the latter requiring nearly £14,000,000, while the eighteen take less than £12,000,000. The Chartered Company has a capital of £10,733,000, while in the provinces the Birmingham Corporation stands at the head, with a capital of £2,282,000, being a little in excess of the South Metropolitan. The suburban companies have employed capital of £2,173,000, or less than that of Birmingham alone. Adding this to the capital of the eighteen provincial undertakings, we get a total slightly exceeding that of the metropolitan companies.

Amalgamation having been carried so far, it seems strange that a company like the Commercial, with a capital of only £746,000, should continue to exist separate undertaking in the metropolis. But it would be possible to lay hold of the figures adduced by Mr. Field, and make it appear that large undertakings are not always the most satisfactory. For every thousand feet of gas sold, the Commercial Company employs only 9s. 4d. of capital, while the South Metropolitan requires 11s. Id., and the Chartered 14s. 6d. Accordingly it might be argued that the larger the company the worse the economy. However, if we go back to 1869, before any amalgamation had began to operate, we find that the Chartered Company, then less than one-seventh of its present size, had a capital amounting to as much as 20s. 3d. per thousand feet of gas sold, and the average of all the London companies 15s. 10d., this last ratio being now 13s. 5d. That amalgamation has been really beneficial to the gas consumer may be further proved, if we compare the capital employed with the quantity of coal carbonised. Taking all London, this was £6 13s. 8d. per ton in 1869, whereas now—that is to say, in 1883—we see a falling off to £6 7s. lid. The difference is not great, but it is in the right direction. The South Metropolitan shows an increase in the ratio, between 1869 and 1883, to the extent of 7s. 6d. per ton. As there was a marked rise in 1880, immediately following the amalgamation with the Phoenix, we may presume that the heavy capital of the latter company affected the financial aspect of the South Metropolitan. But London at large was not injured, the burden being merely shifted from one company to another.

or ‘37 of a horse-power. In the latter case we have

or say, '64 of a horse-power. This is rather too

continually. It is instructive to put a single arc lamp in circuit, and then watch the hand of an ampere-meter. This will seldom or never be quite at rest. If the carbon is a bad one, the hand will jump through comparatively large ranges; each sputter of the carbon being attended by a jump. When there are a good many lamps in series, a little over-feeding or a little under-feeding may considerably alter the resistance; and unless there is plenty of power and a good governor, the result will be unsatisfactory. Thus, for example, let us suppose that a little overfeeding takes place. The resistance is diminished, the quantity of current augmented, and more load is thrown on the engine. If it is properly governed, it will keep its speed constant, and the lamps have a chance of recovering themselves. If, on the contrary, the speed falls off, the lamps will get worse and worse. It is only too often assumed that arc lights do not need regular speeds; but this is quite a fallacy. They want it quite as much as the incandescent system.

Thus

was

as a means

to quote any,

g into space which cannot be spared. The naturalist, as well as engineer and the physicist, will see that the author is an observer of more than usual scientific exactness, and all interested in well-told accounts of travels will feel themselves carried from page to page with sustained interest. Although from time to time provided with a few soldiers, such as they wei’e, the actual conflict with Indians was insignificant; but the adventure element is sufficient to please even those who look most for this in travels. rIhe wildness that even now characterises the heart of South America is well pictured in the course of this account of journeyings from station to station, or fort to fort, over sandy plains, up mountain sides ten thousand feet above the sea level, from earthquake-destroyed cities to virgin soils, from the infernal fires of the Andes to the eternal snows, from parched lands to floods that washed the camps almost away, and frosts that sometimes froze their drenched beds to the ground after the day sun which runs the thermometer up to 107 deg. in the shade.

Nearly ninety pages of the book is occupied with appendices which give valuable information of the geodetic, geographic, and engineering features of the country surveyed. An account, with ample statistic detail, of the railways save those most recently completed, is also given. Since the publication of thevolume, it maybe mentioned that recent advices from Buenos Ayres report the completion* of the Andine Railway to the town of Mendoza—the capital of the province of that name—situated at the foot of the Andes. The line now extends from the Parana to the Cordilleras, and opens up a zone of immense natural wealth. Mendoza is one of the richest provinces of the Republic; it covers an area of about five thousand square leagues of land at the foot of the Andes, with a populati estimated at 150,000. With this short notice of Mr. Crawford’s book, we must close it, but must mention that it has a good index, and is well got up.

we

Asa matter of fact, the Commercial Company has preeminence over its two metropolitan colleagues in economy of results. The South Metropolitan conies next, and the Chartered last. That amalgamation has been for the benefit of the metropolis thus far, is perfectly consistent with this state of the case. Yet it may be true that amalgamation has gone far enough. The presence of the Commercial Company shows how much can be got out of a certain amount of capital, and the South Metropolitan is also a good example of economy. If all wei’e blended together, London might be none the worse for the change; but the stimulus of competition would be wanting. It is worthy of remark that the gas supplied by the Commercial Company last year was of higher lighting power than any other, excepting, of course, the cannel gas of the Chartered Company. Compared with the South Metropolitan, the Commercial gas was four-tenths of a candle higher in the scale—a result accounted for by the larger proportion of cannel coal used by the Commercial. The disadvantage attendant on small undertakings is shown by the operations of the suburban companies. Not one of these is equal in size to the Commercial, and the capital employed exceeds, on an average, £7 per ton, or 15s. per 1000ft. of gas sold. At Barnet the capital actually amounts very nearly to £2 per 1000ft. The Woolwich Consumers’ Company does well, showing results about equal to those of the Commercial in London.

In the provinces we find the companies comparing favourably, in some respects, with the corporations. The former are nearly nineteen shillings below the latter in the amount of capital per ton of coal, and very nearly half-a-crown below them in the ratio per 1000ft. of gas. The companies also get more gas out of a ton of coal than the corporations, and make a slightly better proportion of coke. For their residuals they get less. In management charges the corporations have the advantage, their ratio per ton of coal being less than half that of the companies. In manufactory charges the latter show a moderate excess. The corporations have a charge of £299 for auditors only, while the companies expend £11,364 for auditors and directors. The corporations get a larger profit on the sale of gas than the companies, but when we come to the net profit—that is to say, after allowing for insurance, depreciation, annuities, and interest on borrowed moneys—the companies have the advantage, the latter clearing tenpenee per 1000ft.,and the corporations less than sevenpence. In their charge for gas, the corporations slightly exceed the companies. The average is about 4id. below that of the metropolis, and that, again, is lid. below the suburban average. Perhaps it is right we should specify that the corporations in question, in addition to Birmingham, already mentioned, are those of Boston, Halifax, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Oldham, and Salford. The provincial companies are those of Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Derby, Liverpool, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Plymouth, Portsea, Preston, and Sheffield. The statistics thus furnished are valuable, and will help to settle some of the tangled controversies which occasionally arise on the question of the gas supply.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING.

Although no more is heard of the formation of companies and huge undertakings for lighting whole cities, electric lighting continues to make steady progress. It is impossible to see the magnificent display at the Health Exhibition without feeling that a system of artificial illumination which can do so much, must be independent to a large extent of the success or failure of mere speculators. It is beyond all question, we think, that the electric light has a great future before it; and the fears which have been expressed that it must fail to meet with popular approval may be dismissed as of little or no moment. The course of events during the last few months in connection with electric lighting may be very easily stated. In incandescent lighting no important improvement of any kind has been introduced—we do not now refer to means of generating or distributing current, but to the lamps. It would seem, indeed, as though finality in this direction had been reached ; lamps of very high resistance are in the market, and the durability of lamps all round seems to be fairly satisfactory. Whether it is or not, however, there is no evidence to show that better lamps can be produced than those now made. It is possible, of course, that improvements may be efleeted, but it is at least very doubtful. It is a noteworthy fact, moreover, that arc lighting is coming daily into more efficient rivalry with the incandescent system, and justly so. Let our readers who visit the Health Exhibition contrast the lighting of the great hall by star lamps along the roof, with the lighting of courts where arc lamps of really good quality are employed, and we think that it will be impossible to avoid the conclusion that the arc has the best of it. Nothing, for example, can excel the tempered glory of the sun lamps in and about the water comoanies’ pavilion, but there are other arc lights to be seen which are quite equal to them. For domestic lighting nothing exists at present equal in quality to the incandescent lamp, but it is open to question whether it may not meet with a rival of importance even in its own special province. Long since we have pointed out that it might be found quite possible to produce arc lamps of small size which would answer admirably for domestic lighting. Those who remember the first Werderman lamp, in which a small pencil of carbon was pressed against a disc of the same material, know that a step was made in the right direction. Messrs. Siemens are now, we understand, pushing further on this road, and producing a little arc lamp which works with a current of about two amperes. For large, or comparatively large buildings, arc lighting is matchless, and arc lamps are now made by Crompton, Brockie, Bowman, and others, which leave nothing in this respect to be desired. Much of the success which has been achieved in arc lighting is due to the improvement which has been effected in the manufacture of carbons, an art still kept a secret, and by no means yet brought to the perfection of which it is capable. A few words on this point will not be out of place here.

The two greatest defects which arc lighting can have are flickering and noise. Variations in the amount of light are of secondary importance. If a lamp flickers, the defect is simply fatal. As a rule flickering is not caused by a defect in the lamp, but by the imperfection of the carbons, or the improper manner of using them. It seems to be proved that on the whole the best results are got by using carbons about 10 or 11 millimetres in diameter below and 12 millimetres above, the upper carbon being, of course, the positive, with a current of 8 to 12 amperes, and an electro-motive force of 35 to 40 volts. The horse-power in the first case will be 8 X 35

746

12 x 40 74(T

much for carbons of the stated size, and it will be found almost impossible to make the lamp burn steadily and without noise. The large current tears the carbon points to pieces. If it is still further augmented flaming sets in, and the light is positively reduced instead of being augmented. Now every carbon requires a special current and electro-motive force, which will give a better result than any other; and when the current is kept small, and the electro-motive force moderately high, absolute steadiness may be secured, as illustrated by Clark and Bowman’s lamp at Brixton, or the Brockie lamps shown last year at the Crystal Palace. In neither case has any attempt been made to get absolutely the greatest possible quantity of light out of the lamp. The struggle to do this has, indeed, ruined the reputation of many good lamps. No matter what the current may be, some carbons will never burn quietly, the reason being either that gases are occluded in the carbon, or that substances are left in it which will produce them. In estimating the good qualities of a carbon, the first thing to be considered is its conductivity; if this does not exist in a high degree, it must be rejected without ceremony, no matter how good it may be in other respects. It will become very hot when the current passes through it, and will rapidly waste, tapering away to a point from its proper thickness for a length of 2in. or Sin. The carbon holder of the lamp may be burned, and much mischief done. We have seen carbons quite silent, and giving out a magnificent light, which were worthless because of their high resistance. Attempts are made to get over the difficulty by coppering the carbons by the electrotype process, but the result is not satisfactory. No adequate explanation of the causes of want of conductivity or the reverse has ever reached us. Two carbons made by the same process, at the same time, and from the same materials, may he found, one of which will prove excellent, while the other will not conduct at all. So far as can be gathered, the conducting power depends more on the molecular structure of the carbon than on anything else.

Conductivity secured, the next thing to be sought for is silence and absence of flickering; and these can be had in only one way, namely, by purifying the coke in the first instance from which the carbons are made. The best material seems to be the linings of gas retorts; but this ought to be treated with caustic potash, and carefully washed. This is not the place to go into the details of manufacture. We must content ourselves with general principles. The best carbons and the best lamps will give bad results if, as we have said before, the current is not just right; and one point, frequently neglected, ought to be insisted on—namely, that the speed of the dynamo shall be kept constant. The resistance of the arc varies

THE RAILWAY HALF-YEAR.

The termination of the half-year of the chief English railways— for several of the Scottish railways close their accounts a month later—enables an approximate estimate to be formed of the results of their working. It can only be an approximate estimate, for there are several days yet to be reported on. But assuming that these days showed no great change, it may be said that there are increased traffic receipts on the Great Eastern, the Midland, the Great Western, Lancashire and Yorkshire, London and Brighton, Metropolitan, and one or two other lines, but these increases are not large, except in the case of the first-named line. On the other hand, there are decreased receipts in the cases of several lines, culminating in comparatively heavy falls in those of the London and North-Western and the North-Eastern. To set against the decreases there will be, probably, lessened expenditure, and to set against the increases the working charges must be expected to be higher. But in both cases there are higher capital charges owing to the enlargements of the capital; and when the legislation that is threatened is borne in mind—and in some extent that legislation will in all probability be carried out in an early session—it must be acknowledged that so far as the improvements of lines and works that are open for traffic is concerned, the capital expenditure is called for, and must for some time go on. the fair deduction is that on the whole the dividends of the railways for the half-year now completed must be slightly less than those for the corresponding half of the past year. But the prospects of the railways are still good. The great lines pay dividends that are fairly remunerative to the capital, when other investment returns are remembered ; and the most profitable branch of traffic—the passenger traffic—is likely to increase still further, whilst some railways, such as the Metropolitan, will derive great benefit from lines that approach completion. The public claims greater facilities—the law will sanction these, and the railways must either voluntarily or compulsorily give them—but on the whole the returns will be favourable, and increased safety will lessen one and the worst of of the charges—compensation.

TRACTION ENGINES IN SHEFFIELD.

The Sheffield Corporation appear determined to wage uncompromising warfare with the owners of traction- engines. The Highway Committee recommend the Council to rescind the byelaw made by them on the 11th October, 1882, as to the hours during which locomotives are not to pass over certain specified highways within the borough, and to make a new byelaw in lieu thereof, prohibiting such locomotives from passing over any highway within the borough between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. in every day. This resolution came before the last Council, which referred it back to the Highway Committee for consideration as to whether some provision could not be made for rural districts. The Highway Committee has again met and confirmed the resolution originally passed, to have no traction engines on the borough thoroughfares between the hours of nine o’clock in the morning and five in the evening, the only exception to be the Corporation steam roller.

LITERATURE.

Across the Pampas and the Andes. By Robert Crawford,

M.A., M.l.C.E. London: Longmans, Green, and: Co., 1884.

344pp.

Engineers may be accounted travellers ; not a few have made more voyages, crossed more virgin soil, opened up more wild country, and bared to daylight more ancient remains than many of the so-called travellers. Yet few engineers have written of what they have seen, and fewer have written a book that those not engineers can read for the pleasure of the thing. Mr. Crawford—or, as our author occupies the Civil Engineering Chair in the Dublin University, we must perhaps say, Professor Crawford— has written such a book. His work is an account of a journey across South America commenced in 1871, for the purpose of exploring and surveying a route for the then proposed Transandine Railway. Accepting the position of engineer-in-chief of the expedition, Professor Crawford proceeded to the ltiver Plate in March, 1871, and the difficulties which beset the survey began upon his arrival at Monte Video, at a time when yellow fever was raging, the Government gone from Buenos Ayres, just as did what in England was called the Government when it left London for Oxford in 1665, and no business of any kind done. After great loss of time, however, the expedition made a start, and was continued under great difficulties; owing to the state of the country, the difficulty of obtaining the necessary military escort, rendered necessary chiefly through the depredations of the marauding Indians; trouble in obtaining and transporting supplies and water, the heavy rains, burning sun, and freezing nights when on the mountains. When, however, a start had been made from the almost depopulated city of Buenos Ayres at the end of October, these difficulties were lightly considered, and are lightly touched upon in the book. The expedition consisted of seven engineers, a doctor, captain in charge of the transport service, a Government commissioner and his assistant, an interpreter, a storekeeper, besides thirty-three Europeans, and two North Americans for surveying purposes, and eighteen Gauchos, or natives, for driving the bullock-carts and horses. The means of transport were thirteen bullock-carts, six horse-carts, and a troop of 230 horses and bullocks, some of the latter being for food, a butcher being obtained by appointing one of the Gauchos who developed a very sanguinary character soon after the start, and Professor Crawford appointed him to this work of satisfying his evident rage for knifework. Of the actual surveying we are told but little, but of the country, the climate, vegetable and animal life, and incidents of the journeys, the author gives a most entertaining account. Were we to begin to refer in detail to these, or should find our notice of the book runnin

nil

A steam boiler in use at a village near Drayton, Ohio, in a flour mill exploded on Friday last. Of forty persons who were working there, seven were killed and others injured—three of them fatally.

-•in'

This

The case

Sir,—A lengthy letter upon the above subject appearing in your last issue, and signed by the American Elevator Company, should not, we think, be passed unnoticed by the lift manufacturers of this country. A lift which deserves painting in such roseate hues as those lavished upon the “ Standard Hydraulic Elevator ” should speedily find its way into all our new public buildings; and yet the American lift does not make such headway as your readers might be led to expect. An unprejudiced public will naturally set Mr. Gibson’s interested opinions against our interested ditto, and we therefore think it better to quote the opinions of others. Our system of hydraulic balance lifts has on several occasions been submitted to eminent consulting engineers with the especial object of comparison with the American lift, and invariably with the same result—the American suspended system has been rejected. In the cases of at least nine lifts, the purchasers were led by their professional advisers to decline the Standard elevator, and adopt the Stevens and Major system.

At one large London building where one of the Standard elevators had been working three or four years a second passenger lift was required, and a Stevens and Major hydraulic balance was adopted. We have received a letter from the management of the building in question, in which they express their unqualified approbation of lift, and say that though they previously had an American lift in the building, they are quite satisfied that in adopting ours they made a proper selection.

Two considerable contracts for lifts are now pending in London,

our

lifts make from 180 to 200

occurs

the

Janus Works, Queen’s-road, Battersea. London, June 30th.

an

96, Newgate-street, London, June 28th.

Sir,—Having noticed the somewhat lengthy but none the less interesting letter on this subject in your last issue by the American Elevator Company, I propose with your permission to supplement the same by a few remarks, and to point out what I consider are rather serious defects in American practice generally in connection with the working of hydraulic elevators. I do not refer to any particular make or firm, but state this as the result of my own observations in various parts of the United States, New York, Washington, New Orleans, and other important centres, the defect being that the speed is excessive, and that in many cases the starting gear operates too quickly; these two points combined, I should imagine, being conducive to a much greater number of casualties and accidents than is common with us, and in the case of eldetly persons must cause a severe strain on th

e nervous system, for after all in going up a lift one does not care to think that he is having to pay the penalty by either leaving his coat-tails behind him, or that for the moment he is to be converted into a kind of involuntary projectile.

In America elevators are considerably more in vogue than in this

case

Cylinder.

HEAVY GUNS.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our correspondents. ] hydraulic lifts.

Sir,—Messrs. Waygood and Co. have now had ample time to respond to my inquiry for practical results, had they considered it desirable to publish them. As they have not done so, perhaps you will allow me to state in detail the objections shadowed forth in my former letters.

In the old type of direct-acting ram lift with overhead balance chains and wheels, and suspended balance weights, it was always recognised that the gradual protrusion of the ram as the lift ascended caused the former to be continually robbed of hydraulic support, by reason of the continually decreasing head of water, measured from the point of the ram to the driving tank. In the case of some low-pressure lifts this loss of support would be the equivalent of twice the net load lifted. The defect was met by making the chains carrying the balance weight much heavier than considerations of strength alone would have required. These heavy chains were so proportioned that as they were paid over from the ram side of the wheel to the weight side, their weight being gradually deducted from the ram and added to the balance weight, the difference of balancing effect so obtained compensated for the protrusion of the ram. Within a very recent period it occurred to three or four inventors that it would be desirable to dispense with the overhead balance chains, weights, and wheels, with their extreme tensional strains, and arrange the balance in different way. The several systems of what is now known as hydraulic balancing were the result of the movement.

The earlier introducers of the new type of balance, either from the date of the first conception of their ideas, or very shortly afterwards, saw the necessity for providing for the loss of effect due to protrusion of rams, and coupled with their balancing cylinders a compensating arrangement to do duty for the heavy overhead chains which had been removed. The compensating systems may be classified as (1) heavy weights moving into positions of varying effectiveness; (2) so arranging and proportioning cylinders, strokes and pressures, that the various rams should have reverse protrusions, and should ultimately mutually compensate each other. In the old direct-acting lift with weights and chains, in multiplying cylinder lifts, and in the newer hydraulic balance lifts with compensating arrangements, the net efficiency has in all cases approximated with singular closeness to 60 per cent., the variation among good lifts not exceeding 1 or 2 per cent. But in Messrs. Waygood’s hydraulic balance with the “ Economiser” there is apparently no compensation for emergence provided by either of the above named system or in any other way. Let us estimate the amount of the loss involved in a lift to raise 10 cwt. 70ft. high, the stroke of the balance or driving ram being 9ft. Hydrostatic pressure due to 70ft. of protrusion is 30’31b. per square inch. The diameter of ram which has been used in such cases is 5in., having an area of 19'63 square inches, gives a loss of support due to protrusion 594 lb. But the driving cylinders, instead of counteracting some of this, will in the case of the “ Economiser ” add a farther loss of effect equivalent to 301b. on the lift ram, making a gross loss of 6241b. or 56 per cent, of the gross load lifted.

If Messrs. Waygood’s lift were required to take water from a tank, or from the street main, at comparatively low pressures—so far as I understand the “ Economiser ”—it appears to me unadapted to the purpose, and would require such modification as would alter its nature. For information as to the arrangement used in such a case, I have referred to the blue-book relating to Messrs. Waygood’s patent; and applying the same figures to the apparatus there described, the loss on the main ram is of course the same. But assuming a driving pressure of 30 lb. per square inch, the balance rams then, by their motion, give out an increasing effect as the lift ram rises to the extent of the equivalent of 273 lb. on the lift ram. Subtracting this from 594 lb., we get 321 lb. as the net loss still remaining, or 29 per cent, of the useful load lifted, selected is fairly representative of a London lift.

Messrs. Waygood and Co. stated in their letter that under some conditions a fair degree of economy was obtained. From the above calculation it is seen that the low-pressure lift has an advantage owing to the measure of compensation obtained by the balance cylinders. The only conceivable conditions which would conduce to the economy spoken of, would be such a proportioning of the rams as would make them mutually compensate, but that arrangement is the subject of a patent owned by one of Messrs. Waygood’s competitors.

It does not therefore appear that the name of “ Economiser ” and the implied claim can be justified by the facts. If any statement of mine in this letter can be shown to be unwarranted, I shall be pleased to have it corrected. I have just received details of the test of a hydraulic balanced lift with compensating apparatus, in which an efficiency of 71 per cent, has been obtained.

A letter from Mr. Gibson, of the American Elevator Company, appearing in your paper of yesterday’s date, appears to require a reply on my part, which I will make as brief as possible. In only one case are complete figures given to enable your readers to check the efficiency; the result there obtained is 71 per cent., and this is equalled by other types. That result was found after twelve months’ wear, probably the most efficient period in the life of a lift. Mr. Gibson gives the repairs for two years, but this does not include new ropes, which must be getting rather insecure and near their date of renewal. Some considerable sum should have been added on that account. I note that the packing is internal, and somewhat difficult of access. Will Mr. Gibson tell us something of the cost of repacking one of his pistons? Having repacked, what means exist for ascertaining that the piston is tight and does not pass water into the exhaust, thus using more water than the calculated quantity? The probable time for such leakage would be during the ascent of the car, and as at that time exhaust water should be running full bore, an examination of the exhaust pipe would yield no information.

Mr. Gibson passes lightly over the method of suspension, viz., wire rope, the life of which is generally considered shorter than that of any other suspending medium in use, though it conduces to smooth working; and he appears to need reminding that safety gears do fail.    Economiser.

London, June 28th.

and in each, under the advice of engineers, the American and all other suspended lifts are excluded from competition after having had their claims submitted, and the question is now only between one hydraulic balance lift or another. There are in the North of England at least four contracts in precisely the same condition at the time of writing.

Now to give one or two reasons for this state of independent opinion. Except in one or two matters of detail the so-called American lift is no new thing in this country. Twenty-five years ago we were making hydraulic lifts with bored cylinders, internal packings, piston valves, and wire ropes, and by experience found that these features were one and all bad; and they were gradually dropped out of our practice, only to be re-introduced twenty years later as portions of a new and improved American system.

We at once admit that the type is a smooth working one, and that when in good condition it is economical, though not more so than lifts we are now erecting. With your permission we will now examine the American Company’s description a little more closely. Generally it appears to have been written for that very small section of your readers who do not know anything of hydraulic lift details. The majority, however, will know that many of the points of advantage claimed are common to every hydraulic lift made by a respectable house. For instance :—(a) Always ready, being supplied by water from an elevated tank; it might be an accumulator, or public supply, (b) Descending car the only motive power for descent, and therefore no fear of parts overrunning the car. (c) Automatic closing of valves at extremes of journey, (d) The parts are all made with a considerable margin of safety !!    (e) The car when down rests on supports and cannot

get lower. Examining the statement of cost for water for the Alliance Assurance Company’s lift. This is given as a rate of £20 per annum; and farther on in a calculation relating to the same lift, it is implied that the lift makes ten journeys per hour. This at ten hours per day for 300 working days per year, with water at Is. per 1000 gallons—the average rate in London—would cost £135. At the same rate £20 worth of water will allow of fifteen journeys only per day. Some of our journeys per day.

As to the quantity of water used. There are two ways of getting at this. First, calculating how much the lift ought to use, having regard to its capacity; and Secondly, measuring the actual quantity passed, say, in a day. Our experience with internally packed lifts, with the packing and the leakage both hidden from view, tells us that a large difference may be expected between the two results. The first method is a very seductive one for advertising purposes. We never use internal packings; when a leakage it then makes itself so apparent that it is at once stopped. Respecting cost of repairs, Mr .Gibson quotes some very short bills. We can show him lifts of ours which have run for five and six years, in which the only repairs have been the re-scraping of a valve, in one case once and in the other twice. But Mr. Gibson’s accounts obviously omit all allowance for replacing ropes. Colliery ropes are renewed every three years; their conditions of working are infinitely superior to those of any lift rope, owing to the larger diameter of the wheels. How much will it cost, how many men will be required, and how great delay will it cause, to re-rig one of the Standard elevators?

Does Mr. Gibson consider repacking the piston a repair ? In one of our externally packed lifts where the gland is withdrawn by the ordinary attendant, and re-packed in two hours at the outside, operation is obviously not a repair ; but in the case of the Standard elevator, can the attendant, and does he, do corresponding work ? Is it not, on the other hand, necessary to call in the engineer, and does not the process of repacking sometimes occupy three or four men a period only measured by days ? The experience of users would be valuable upon the point.

Your correspondent gives prominence to the uniformity of pressure obtained throughout the stroke of piston, and informs us that the superior economy is in that way accounted for. As there is no superior economy, the statement is gratuitous. Having, for reasons which are not apparent, adopted the objectionable device of a very long bored cylinder for the Standard elevator, its designer was compelled to introduce some arrangement to give uniformity of pressure, or the lift would have exhibited great inferiority to other systems, whereas now it is simply reinstated in a level position. The arrangement of “solid water on both sides of the piston ” is only another type of compensation for emergence, which principle takes in other lifts the form of heavy compensating chains; of special relationship among strokes and diameters of rams and pressures of water, or of variable balance weights.

Other points might be enlarged upon would your space allow, such as reliance upon refractory wire ropes ; that a rope may have every wire severed, and yet not part as a whole, if another rope relieved it of strain ; and therefore the first rope to break may be the last rope which had a sound wire in it; and the ultimate dependence upon that broken reed, a safety gear.

In conclusion, will you permit us to say that we are aware that there are many cases where for sundry reasons it is a question of a suspended lift, or no lift; and to meet such a demand we are supplying a lift which is as economical, works as smoothly, is as noiseless, and is fully as safe as the American lift, and costs about half the money. We offer the additional advantages of external packing, with opportunity of observing leakage, and what we claim to be a more reliable controlling valve.

Archd. Smith and Stevens.

Sir,—I have read with considerable interest the letter inserted in your last issue from the “ American Elevator Company,” and desire with this to say that as far back as 1871 I designed hydraulic lift on precisely the same principle as that now introduced by your correspondents. I had at that time been written to by a Bristol engineer—a Mr. Whiteliouse, since dead—who requested me to tender for a lift worked from the water in a tank about 62ft. above ground, and on condition that the hydraulic cylinder was not to reach to a greater depth than 20ft. below ground. It was required for an hotel then in course of erection, and my design sent in at the time, together with a tender, bears considerable general likeness to that submitted now by the Elevator Company, though my design was not carried out. I used, moreover, an arrangement of differential pulleys fitted to the top of the piston-rod, which enabled me to regulate the travel of the cage and of the piston to any ratio desired—in our case 3 to 1. This seems to me still in advance of the American design, which, except by complicating matters, can only work with the fixed ratio of 2 to 1. My design was not patented. I shall feel obliged for the insertion of this note in your next issue, for which I render thanks in advance.

Jos. Bernays, M.I.C.E.

country, and with the two important exceptions above referred to their lifts are very carefully fitted up and luxuriously furnished. On the score of economy in working, the New York elevators would also doubtless compare favourably with anything we are doing here in London, but in the matter of lifts safety takes precedence of the question of either first cost or working expenses.

27, Leadenhall-street, London,    John Hayes.

E.C., July 2nd. _

THE PROSPECTS OF YOUNG ENGINEERS.

Sir,—I am pleased to see that the above subject has been taken up by some of the readers of your valuable paper. I am fully convinced that it is a question of the greatest importance, and as so much of the future welfare of our nation depends upon young engineers, surely everything possible should be done to help them in their profession. I know too well that there are many engineers who simply take pupils for their premiums, and who accept as pupils any one who will hand over a £100 or £150 cheque—as the may be—heedless of the abilities of the intended engineer. The pupil who has paid a premium naturally expects that, after he has served his articles, he will be able to take a responsible position; and he may, either by influence or favouritism, obtain a place for which he is totally unfit.

As a rule, our engineers do not take a sufficient interest in their pupils. They allow them to do almost angthing they please through their articles, leaving them, in some cases, entirely in the hands of their assistants. I have known pupils to stick in an office for the whole period of their articles, and although work of importance has been going on outside, they have never been allowed to see it. The engineer seems to think that, by saying his pupil has been with him while such-and-such work has been carried out, it is an ample sufficiency for him to obtain an appointment, although when the work was being carried out he may have been confined to the office tracing plans, and acting as servant to the assistants—in fact doing the work of an ordinary office boy. I decidedly think that the young engineer ought to be well drilled in the drawing office, but it is quite essential that he should have practical experience besides. Too much office work becomes monotonous, and makes the pupil detest the profession he would otherwise have taken great interest in. If engineers would only take more interest in their pupils, and abandon the rule of taking pupils unfit for the profession, our country would be blessed with more competent and reliable engineers.    Experiencia.

W. Bromwich, June 30th. -

Sir,—I hope you will kindly favour me by allowing space for these very few lines in The Engineer. I have just read the letter on this subject by your correspondent “ Self Help.” He begins by saying that the subject has not created the interest it seems to claim. Now this I cannot understand, for it is only a very few weeks since Mr. Audain’s first letter appeared, and since then three or four letters have appeared every week on this subject. “Self Help” seems to think that young engineers, as a rule, are satisfied with becoming mere mechanics or draughtsmen. He also thinks that as a rule they do not care to attend the classes where they would gain great knowledge of the theoretical part of their profession, &c. He also says that as a rule they perform their duties as machines or like parrots, thereby implying that they do a certain thing in such and such a way, merely because it is done so, but not knowing why it is done so, or anything about it. Now I do not dispute the fact that many young engineers pass their apprenticeships like your correspondent states, but when he says that as a rule they pass their time in this manner he does them a very great injustice, and also clearly shows that his experience, if he has had any, has not brought him in contact with many young engineers.

I should like to inform him that although he seems to have been unable to hear of Mr. Audain at 42, Devonshire-chambers, anyone in possession of their wits, on going to that address will not fail to hear of Mr. Audain or his office. I shall, Sir, look upon it as a very great favour if you will insert this.

July 1st.    -

THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXHIBITION.

Sir,—Referring to the concluding remarks in your notice of the above, I am much pleased to find that the grossly shameful manner in which this is being misconducted has at last been ventilated. It might almost as well have been held in the backwoods of America as at the Crystal Palace, for there are comparatively no visitors, except the season ticket holders, and these are not of much commercial value to the exhibitors. IVliat is the reason of this? Simply the fact that but very few have any knowledge of its existence, and no effort is being made to make it known, except a few posters sparsely distributed at the railway stations in and around the metropolis, and a very few on hoardings; while you cannot enter any railway station in the kingdom of moderate size, or walk in any medium-sized town, but you have the Health Exhibition prominently brought to notice. As the representative of a firm who are exhibitors, and who have gone to some considerable expense, I protest, not only against this inactive state, but the misleading manner in which the whole concern has been promoted. Circulars and advertisements were issued inviting applications for space, and these were signed by a person styling himself “ Executive Commissioner for the Crystal Palace, under the authority of the Directors of the Crystal Palace,” thus conveying to my mind the idea that the Exhibition was being promoted by the Crystal Palace Company, instead of which I learn it is simply a private speculation. Surely .the directors, if only for the sake of their reputation, will do something, and at once, to remedy this exceedingly unsatisfactory state of affairs, and not let it be thought that they allow their name to appear in a matter in which, up to the present, a confiding public are victimised. Arthur Jacobs.

Styrian Steel Warehouse, Sheffield, June 30th

Sir,—It is conceded that the superior materials suitable for the heavy guns and the admirable workmanship have accomplished some part of a success. But having recently seen the difficulty of extracting the breech piece after the gun has been fired, I am in a position to certify very grave objections to the continuance of the so-called system of the Woolwich gun, and protest against the method of igniting the charge as defective. Very important improvements can also be introduced with practical advantage in the system of breech-loading and obturation. I brought forward the subject of large grained gunpowder adapted for long guns before the Royal United Service Institution over twenty-one years, at an evening meeting, and have frequently submitted my inventions to the War-office, with the usual results. My experience of the Ordnance Department extends over many years, and consequently I have some idea of official obstruction. The general public may be congratulated upon the few experimental guns now on trial and found defective, and with some good reason keep back the money till matured plans are entertained.    Arthur Gearing.

Red House, Camden Hill-road,

Upper Norwood, June 30th.

THE AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS.

Sir,—On Wednesday last an action in which our Society was defendant was tried in the Salford Court of Record, before Mr. Thomas Jordan, sitting in place of the Recorder, Mr. West, Q.C., M.P., who was unfortunately absent. In the course of the case Mr. Jordan thought fit to pass some very severe strictures upon our Society and some of its rules. All his most pungent remarks were published by the general press of the country, and by your paper in common with others. Of this we do not complain. Originality or eccentricity in a judge, even of Mr. Jordan’s standing, are sure to excite attention and remark.

To some of this judge’s expressed opinions we trust you will give us through your columns the same publicity of reply as you accorded

us.

our

He thus

eal to the committee of liis branch

or recovering

cer-

Jno. Lewthwaite.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The most important feature of trade this week is the strike or lock-out—for the dispute virtually assumes both phases—in the coal trade. Undeterred by the resolution of the masters, declaring a lock-out if the men should still persist in refusing to accept the drop of 4d. per day or “ stint” in the thick coal seams, and 2d. in the thin coal seams, awarded by the arbitrator. The colliers refused on Monday to begin work at those pits where the managers declined to concede the old terms. A partial strike has, therefore, taken place. The number of men out is variously estimated, but it is probably about 10,000, out of the total of 14,000 or 10,000 who would come under the declaration of the award. The principal masters are determined to enforce the drop. The pits where the men remain in are in the hands of small owners and butties. The action of this small minority will not, however, it is anticipated, much influence the ultimate upshot of the struggle. At mass meetings of the men which have been held during the week it has been determined “ to contest the legality of the notices ; and further to allow all men who can obtain the old rate of wages to continue at work.” The effect of the strike upon the iron trade is not marked, for the ironmasters are able to keep their works going by the aid of accumulated stocks of fuel and of the large supplies which are available at cheap prices.

On ’Change this—Thursday—afternoon in Birmingham and yesterday in Wolverhampton ironmasters reported that sheets, hoops, and bars were in most demand. But the inquiries this week are not large either on local or foreign account, for buyers continue the action to which I referred in my last report, viz., withholding the placing of further orders until after the quarterly meetings which come off next week.

It is unlikely that crucial prices will be changed at these gatherings, but buyers prefer to await the course of events. The selling prices of common iron will probably be rather stronger than otherwise, in face of the colliers’ strike.

Prompt deliveries are difficult, owing to the incapacity of the puddlers, with the present hot weather prevailing, to remain as long as usual before the furnaces. This the masters do not mind, since it necessarily limits output. The thin sheet and tin-plate makers are best employed, certain of these not being able to execute orders fast enough. Best bars are £8 2s. 6d. to £7, and common, £6 5s. to £5 15s. Sheets—singles—are £7 to £7 5s., and hoops, £6 to £0 10s. at works. Boiler plates are £8 10s. to £9, and superior sorts, £9 10s. to £10.

Galvanised sheet makers did not to-day report much increase of business. The export markets are particularly slow in buying at date. Prices are in buyers’ favour, and are irregular. The Red Star brand of galvanised sheets was quoted £11 15s. for 18 and 20 b.g., £12 15s. for 24 b.g., £14 15s. for 26 b.g., and £16 15s. for 28 b.g. The Red Diamond brand was £12 for 18 and 20 b.g., £13 for 24 b.g., £15 for 26 b.g., and £17 for 28 b.g. The Lion brand, double best, close annealed, flat sheets were £20, £21, £23, and £24 per ton according to the respective gauges. The Anchor brand, of single best sheets, £17, £18, £20, and £21; while the Woodford Crown brand, of flat sheets, were £15, £16, £18, and £19 respectively, all delivered at out ports.

Pig iron was tame at, for Staffordshire part mines, 45s., and cinder pigs 37s. Od. Derbyshires were 42s. 6d., andNorthamptons about 6d. less per ton. The continued depression in the pig trade has now induced the Barbor’s Field Iron Company, Bilston, to blow out its remaining furnace.

Considering the limited current demand for all kinds of metal, steel more than holds its own. It is in request as blooms to be rolled down for tin-plate and other uses; while in the more advanced stage of bars it is likewise sought, not only by the tin- to restart automatically, and its principal feature is the “split” plate firms, but also by the edge tool and other manufacturers for nozzle, the action of which is as follows: When not working the plating purposes. For drawing down into strips to be worked up “flap ’ hangs open, leaving a large area for the egress of steam, at the tube works, it is in heavier request than at any earlier date, which, when turned on, rushes through this area and out of the

The consumers of drawn tubes are stimulating the inquiry in injector by way of the overflow, carrying with it a portion of the this last-mentioned department, since many of those who were air, and thus forming a vacuum into which the water rises. This at one time satisfied with a good drawn tube of iron, now ask for water, mingling with the steam, a stronger vacuum is formed, and steel tubes. Of steel tubes so admirably welded that it is next to this sucks the flap on to its seat, the nozzle being then practically impossible to distinguish between a welded and a solid-drawn solid. On the jet being broken in any way, the flap opens and the specimen there is an excellent and diversified supply in Birming- above process is repeated. The automatic restarting thus secured ham and in portions of South Staffordshire, but solid cold-drawn I is an important feature in the application of injectors to marine tubes of steel are in most call. Indeed, it is impossible to supply engines, where ordinary injectors have hitherto made but little with the needed rapidity the demand which, for such tubing needed headway, owing to the rolling of the vessel frequently causing a by the bicycle manufacturers, is now and has been for some time stoppage of the operation of the injector, which has then to

the demand

on, but even where pig iron makers ate have orders on their books which under

to his remarks. We should have claimed this right of reply at an earlier date, but were advised by our solicitor to wait, as by public reply we might prejudice further proceedings to be taken in the case.

The case of Collinge v. Amalgamated Society of Engineers, &c., as your readers will remember, was not decided on the merits, but a verdict was given in our favour on a point of law raised by Why we put forward this technical defence I will briefly explain. When Robert Collinge, the plaintiff in this action, entered — Society, he did what is done by every person admitted to membership. He signed a declaration that lie would abide by all its rules, and would, in matters of trade interest, give up his personal opinion to the united wishes of his fellow members, as expressed through the constitutional channels of the Society, entered into a written contract with the Society. He undertook certain obligations, and in return the Society agreed to pay certain benefits, and to extend to him protection in trade matters. In doing this Collinge had perfect ‘ ‘ freedom of contract,” which he used by becoming a member of our Society.

For fourteen or fifteen years all went smoothly. Collinge faithfully discharged all the duties required of him, and in at least one case was an active collector for a strike fund. In April, 1882, a movement for an advance of wages took place all over the country, which was generally obtained. The movement naturally extended to Radcliffe Bridge, where we have a branch, and where Collinge was employed as foreman or manager for Mr. Stead, an employer in our trade. Mr. Stead refused to give an advance of wages, and our Radcliffe Committee decided that the men must strike if the advance was not obtained. The advance was refused, and the members of our Society came out on strike. Collinge being a foreman was allowed to remain in the shop on the distinct understanding that, if he himself did any work with the tools of the trade, or taught non-society men introduced in place of our members how to work, he would be liable to withdrawal from his situation by the Society, or would be excluded from membership. After the strike had gone on some time, the Radcliffe Bridge Committee charged him with violating these conditions, and summoned him to appear and answer the charge. This he failed to do, but returned his summons unopened. It was clear to the committee that he had induced non-society men to start in the shop, and as his own brother went in and started at the advanced rate in opposition to the majority of the members on strike, it was evident to the committee that Collinge was using undue influence against the Society. A resolution of exclusion was, therefore, passed upon him by the committee. Now, as Collinge was not present when the committee thus excluded him, the local council of the Society ordered another committee meeting to be held to again go over the case, and have Collinge again summoned as well ns his brother. Again Collinge declined to appear, and having had full opportunity of defending himself thus allowed, he was excluded by the committee, acting with perfect legality under one of the rules which Collinge had undertaken to obey as one of the conditions of membership.

Possibly, the statements made and evidence given before the committee were not correct, if so, Collinge could have told the committee; but as he declined to go to the committee judgment went against him by default, just as he would have gone against us if we had failed, from any reason whatever, to appear before Judge Jordan. If Collinge was aggrieved by this decision he had a remedy provided by our rules. Our law of appeal is liberal in in its scope and explicit in its terms, as will be seen from a quotation from Rule 35, as follows

1. Any member of this Society, or persons claiming on account of a member, finding himself or themselves aggrieved, or having any complaint against the officers or members, or who may be excluded for arrears or benefits improperly received, may app for redress, within four weeks from the date of such dispute, or from the dato of his exclusion; all such appeals must bo made in writing. If not satisfied ho or they may appeal to the next summoned meeting of their branch, and if he or they do not receive satisfaction, an appeal may be made to the local executive council, if notice of appeal be given to the secretary, and such appeal be made within fourteen weeks from the date of the decision of the branch. Tho secretary shall furnish no other evidence to the local executive council than that heard before the branch, and shall submit the same to his branch before sending it to the local executive council. The local executive council's decision to be final, unless reversed by the general executive council or delegate meeting.

If Collinge hail been loyal to his obligations as a member, lie had here the fullest freedom of appeal, and if he could have shown to the local council that he had been excluded on false or insufficient evidence, lie would certainly have been reinstated in his membership. But he did nothing of this : to all appearance he accepted his exclusion. He made no further payment into the Society, and was duly published as an excluded member in the Society’s reports. From the rule above quoted it will be seen that appeal, if any, should have been made to the local council within fourteen days from the date of exclusion. We never heard a word from Collinge until the 5th of September, 1883, fifteen months after his exclusion, and nine months after he had lost his situation, owing to tho death of Mr. Stead—but for which we should never again have heard of his case. He then called in person at our office, and left a long written statement on the facts of the case.

It was pointed out to him that he had allowed his right of appeal to the local council to lapse by not being in time, but he was assured that his statement should be laid before the general council, the next court of appeal above the local council. He appeared to assent to this proposal, but shortly after, and before the general council met, astounded us by placing his case in the hands of a solicitor, who entered an action against us for £20 4s. of donation benefit, due to Collinge, as he alleged, for fifty-three weeks he had been out of employment. Now, if Collinge had been in every respect still a full member of the Society, and not in arrears, he had absolutely no claim under our rules to this benefit; because the donation rule requires—first, that a member must inform his secretary that he has been thrown out of work; second, that he must claim donation at branch meeting; and third, that he must each day sign the vacant-book, not one of which conditions had been observed by Collinge. Nor did he ask to be allowed to comply with these rules. Knowing all this, and knowing that he had never offered to pay us a farthing from before the time of his exclusion, this man has the impudence to sue us in a Court of Law, over the head of all our tribunals, for £20. 4s.

With such a plaintiff as this, Sir, who treated all our rules with contempt, we put in as one of our defences the 4th section of the Trades’ Union Act, which distinctly provides, and was intended to provide, for all such cases as this. The clause is as follows:—

Nothing in this Act shall enable any Court to entertain any legal proceeding instituted with the object of directly enforcing

damages for the breach of any of the following agreements......

(3) Any agreement for the application of the funds of a Trade Union (a) to provide benefits to members.

Of this clause in a well-known Act of Parliament Judge Jordan was in utter ignorance until it was pointed out to him by the barristers engaged in the case.

From the above statement it will be seen that all violation of rule and contract has been on the side of the plaintiff in the case and not on ours. Judge Jordan made an onslaught on one of our rules for the regulation of piece-work. He misconstrued this rule, and I am sorry to say the twelve jurymen in the box accepted his misinterpretation as correct. He said, under this rule, if a man working by the piece on any job is able to earn £5 per week, the Society’s rules require that he shall give up £3 10s. of that sum to be divided among other men working by the day, and earning only £1 10s. per week. A moment’s consideration might have shown the judge that men, even trade unionists, are not absolute fools, as they would be if they subjected themselves to such conditions as these.

Let me explain what this much abused rule amounts to. In some districts piecework is the prevailing system. In many shops tain portions of work are taken for execution at a given price by a set or number of men. One man acts as intermediary between the men on the job and the firm, and is charge-man. Each week the men are paid only time wages for the hours they have worked. If, when the contract is finished a surplus of money remains over what has been paid in time wages by the firm, it ought in justice to be shared among all the men engaged on the work in proportion to their wages and time, and not be pocketted by the charge-man. This is the simple principle of equity between man and man which our rule lays down. That it is absolutely fair and just is shown by the fact that in most of the large firms of Lancashire the surplus earnings of the men are duly apportioned by the employers themselves and paid to each man through the office.

I trust to your high sense of impartiality for an insertion of our defence to remarks made where we had no chance of reply.

John Burnett, Gen. Sec.

General Office: 90, Blackfriars-road, London, S.E., July 2.

WATER TUBE BOILERS.

Sir,—I am glad to see that Mr. Babcock has been able to send you so good an account of the Babcock water-tube boiler, as it confirms all I have hitherto said in favour of water-tube boilers for high pressed steam. My experience, however, has been with the Root boiler, many of which I have passed through my hands, and from which better results as regards economy have been obtained than with other types; but it is absolutely necessary that the tubes should be kept free from incrustation, otherwise the boiler will not maintain its superiority.

The Stollwerck’s apparatus, as mentioned by Mr. Knap in his recent letter to you, should be of great advantage to boilers in general, but more particularly to water-tube boilers, to enable them to compete successfully with the ordinary types, under the conditions that are generally met with as regards quality of water.

G. Allan, M. Inst. C.E.

10, Austin Friars, London, July 2nd.

WORKING REFRACTORY TITANIC ORES.

Sir,—Under this heading, in yours of the 20th inst., your correspondent, Mr. Jas. Davis, for some reason makes startling statements as to working titanic sands in a Siemens’ rotary furnace, and that he has “ found nothing so well adapted to treat direct as these sands.” He also states that “although so much has been expended in these countries—referring to New Zealand and Canada —in experiments to work up these sands, he has not yet read of any proving successful.” Nor has any one else, for even Stenson’s process was not practical or profitable, and to the present, save the Hindoo and the Catalan forge systems, no method of smelting these ores direct has succeeded.

Knowing something about these titanic sands and ores, I must confess my scepticism as to the result of the little improvements in the Siemens’ furnace which Mr. Davis so confidently heralds, and relegate the further consideration of his chimera to the time when he shall have favoured your readers—myself amongst the number —with the name of the talented gentleman who furnished the analysis at the end of his letter.

Union "Works, Mount-street, Halifax,

June 30tli.

THE IRON, COAL, AND GENERAL TRADES OF BIRMINGHAM, WOLVERHAMPTON, AND OTHER DISTRICTS.

past expressed. The article realises high prices, as much as Is. 3d. a foot; indeed, 2s. 6d. per lb. is not seldom secured.

Steadily the out-turn of steel plates, also, in Staffordshire is growing. These are needed in larger quantities in other districts than in this. Steel plates are being now rolled in the mills of the Staffordshire Steel and Ingot Iron Company, for use in the building of torpedo boats. They are of varied dimensions and thicknesses. Some are a ton in weight and lljin. thick. This, the newest concern in this district, reports a steadily augmenting inquiry for both partially manufactured and also completed steel, and the conductors of the business express confidence that the numerous requests for samples will be followed by orders, which must every week become more sensibly felt in the aggregate output.

Economies, resulting from a more intelligent adoption of mechanical contrivances, are in vogue at the steel works, at Spring Vale, of the Staffordshire Company, Wolverhampton, which it is reasonable to assume will soon be reflected in the management of other steel and ironworks. The most widely applicable is an arrangement of three-cylinder steam engine and worm gear, by which the top roll in cogging and plate mills can be raised and lowered with a nicety, a facility, and a rapidity impossible with the clumsy hand gear very generally adopted. In the preparing and the manipulating of the converters there are bottom stove and hydraulic ram devices in application, which are not to be found in other steel works, but which ought not long to remain peculiar to the Staffordshire concern since it is not desired, as to the devices which have been patented by Messrs. Gilchrist and Fitzmaurice, upon whom the practical conduct of the works devolves, that other converterusing firms should be debarred from adopting them.

Pipe founders note with satisfaction the inquiry of the Bombay Municipality for 5800 tons of cast iron pipes, varying in diameter from 24in. downwards, as also for other ironwork. Business should also come to this district from the valuable miscellaneous inquiry now on the market from the Oude and Rohilkund Railway Company.

Railway fastening firms in Wolverhampton report restricted and their machinery only partially employed.

This-—Thursday—afternoon a meeting of railway freighters, convened by the Council of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, was held to consider Mr. Chamberlain’s Railway Bill. Mr. Elliott, of the Elliott Metal Company, presided. By resolution the meeting pledged itself to heartily support the Bill, providing that the terminal charges clause was withdrawn, and that clause 25 was so modified as to allow of one appeal only in each case on questions of law.

Trade in North Staffordshire is slightly better. The home buyers are a little more buoyant, and the export merchants are giving out a few orders. At the majority of the works rather fuller time is being made, most of the mills averaging four or five turns. The bar houses are realising from £7 10s. to £7 for crown qualities, but common sorts are £(i 5s. In boiler plates the Lancashire demand is pretty good. Still the mills arc only running irregularly. Hoops appear to be almost at a standstill as regards large foreign buyers.

NOTES FROM LANCASHIRE.

(From our own Correspondent.)

Manchester.—The continued depression in the iron trade of this district and the apparent impossibility of getting orders at anything like remunerative prices is compelling makers to face the problem whether they will not lose less by blowing out furnaces than by attempting to keep works going in the present condition of tlie market. The really weak point in the market is the continued stagnation of the finished iron trade, which has so seriously affected the demand for the raw material that not only is there very little buying going tolerably well sold and ordinary circumstances would be sufficient to keep them fairly well employed, they are unable to get their customers to take deliveries, and the output which ought to be going a way against contracts, is either being thrown into stock or has to be forced for sale in a falling market. In this district the production of pig iron is already practically reduced to a minimum, not only by furnaces being out of blast, but by others having been put on to spiegel, and in the Lincolnshire district, which is one of the chief competitors here, the blowing out of furnaces is under consideration. As regards the finished iron trade, with one or two exceptions, the forges in this district are on short time, and the same applies to North Staffordshire, from which a large quantity of the manufactured iron comes into this district.

There was a very dull iron market at Manchester on Tuesday, with the tendency of prices downwards, although nominally the quoted rates were without material change. The average price for both local and district brands of pig iron is about 42s. (id. to 43s., less 2.j for forge and foundry qualities delivered equal to Manchester, but at these figures comparatively little or no business is being done. At about Is. per ton less, fairly large offers for delivery up to the end of the year are reported, but at present makers hesitate about accepting business on so low a basis as this.

Hematites still meet with little or no inquiry except at prices which makers apparently do not care to accept.

In the finished iron trade £515s. remains the basis of the quoted prices of good Lancashire and North Staffordshire bars delivered here, and there are a few makers who decline to entertain offers at anything under this figure, but for good specifications there are sellers at as low as £5 12s. 6d., and in common bars prices have a tendency to touch about £5 10s. per ton.

There is not much to add to my last week’s report of the condition of the engineering trades generally; there is still a very fair amount of work on hand, and in the ordinary run of work tool-makers are still kept tolerably well employed. There is, however, no new work of any weight going out, and the tendency of trade continues in the direction of decreasing activity, some of the large firms which have been kept busy up to the present reporting a marked slackening off in the new orders coming in.

The success which has attended the experiments that have been made with ensilage is necessitating the attention of agricultural machinists to the adaptation of implements to meet the requirements of this special class of work, and one of the local firms, Messrs. Richmond and Chandler, have just completed for exhibition, at the ensuing Royal Show, a new chaff-cutter, specially designed for dealing with ensilage. This is fitted with elevators and a new form of rising cover; as chaff-cutters are usually constructed, the space between the mouth and the front of the frame is too narrow to admit of long lengths being cut, particularly in green stuff, without clogging. To overcome this difficulty, the frame has been constructed with an opening of lfiin.; it is also fitted with an endless creeper to carry away the stuff after it has been cut, and it will be shown with a short length of elevator, which, however, can be made of any size to meet requirements.

The Exhaust Injector Company, of Manchester, has brought out a new “live” steam injector, somewhat similar in principle to the exhaust steam injector, which has already been described in the columns of The Engineer. The new injector is constructed

The

each.

Relief Fund, which is doing excellent work in the South Yorkshire colliery district.

A trade mark case of great interest to Sheffield was decided on Tuesday, in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. It was an application made on behalf of Messrs. Heaton and Adkins, of Brades Steel and Iron AYorks, near Oldbury, for the registration of the “ Hoop L” trade mark. The application opposed by the Baron de Gier, of Leufsta, Sweden, who claims the exclusive right to the mark under a registration in 1878, when, he states, he supplied iron so marked to Messrs. Thomas Firth, and Sons, Norfolk AVorks, Sheffield. The application was dismissed with costs.

The Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, and Great Northern Railways have been running two trains per day each way between London and Sheffield, timed to accomplish the distance—157 miles —in three hours and twenty-five minutes. It has now been decided that one of them each way shall perform the journey in three hours and twelve minutes, and the new fast trains started on the 1st July. The engines make only one stop—at Grantham—and run 106 i miles without a stop.

A singular feature of Sheffield trade is in the production of Grosses of what are known as blanks go to Germany from Sheffield and back again—after being ground out there—for two (1) The labour is cheaper; (2) the grinding is undoubtedly very regular, but it is said that the finish of the whole razor suffers. Messrs. George Butler and Co., of Trinity AVorks, have just brought out a speciality in this line which they have called Butler’s keen razor. It is claimed for this razor, which is made of the finest silver steel, that it does not require setting or whetting, and never gets out of order. For upwards of a hundred years Messrs. Butler and Co. have produced table and pocket cutlery, razors and scissors, of a quality which has been a credit to the The grinding and finish of the keen razor is said to be superior to anything done in Germany, If an earlier effort had been made in the improvement of grinding, Sheffield might have enjoyed an entire monopoly of the manufacture, and the term “ German ground” never been heard of. Messrs. Butler and Co.’s selection of razors and cutlery sent to the Calcutta Exhibition got a first-class award.

The Chesterfield and Derbyshire Institute of Engineers have abandoned their intention of removing their head-quarters to Sheffield, and will remain in the City of the Crooked Steeple as heretofore.

was

razors.

reasons:

town.

THE NOETH OF ENGLAND.

NOTES FROM SCOTLAND.

(From our own Correspondent.)

Since last report the Glasgow pig iron market has been very quiet. The fluctuations in prices have not been very large, but they steadily tended downward. This was so in respect to warrants. The quotations of makers’ pigs, on the other hand, have been pretty well maintained; indeed, in some cases they have been quite firm. The week’s shipments were, however, disappointing, aggregating only 8133 tons, as compared with 13,324 in the corresponding week of 1883. The foreign demand has been drooping in a marked degree, but a revival in a few weeks would not occasion much surprise. It is a good feature of the business that stocks are not increasing to any great extent. Those in Messrs. Connal and Co.’s Glasgow stores show a decrease for the week of about 200 tons. There are 95 furnaces in blast, against 113’at this date last year.

Business was done in the warrant market on Friday at 41s. 2Jd. cash, and on Monday at 41s. l|d. to 41s. 2d. Tuesday’s market was quiet at the same rates, with scarcely any business doing.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The demand for Cleveland pig iron has been somewhat quieter during the past week, but as most of the makers are well sold for the present, they have been able to steadily maintain their prices.

Merchants are doing all that lies in their power to force down values, but their action has little effect, as they hold but small quantities.

At the market held at Middlesbrough on Tuesday last, No. 3 g.m.b. could not be had from makers for less than 37s. per ton, and even 37s. fid. per ton was asked by some, and obtained for special brands. Gray forge iron is only in moderate request, but quotations continue firm at 35s. fid. per ton.

Messrs. Connal and Co.’s stock of Cleveland pig iron at Middlesbrough decreased 281 tons during the week ending Monday last.

The quantity then held was 57,926 tons. At Glasgow their stock of pig iron declined 265 tons.

The exports from the Tees of pig and manufactured iron and steel were fairly satisfactory last month, but not equal to those in May. The total quantity of pig iron shipped was 80,116 tons, being a falling off of about 12,600 tons. The principal export items were as follows:—Scotland took 23,060 tons; AVales, 5843 tons;

Germany, 14,309 tons; Russia, 12,150 tons; and France, 7055 tons.

Of manufactured iron and steel 36,880 tons were sent away.

The condition of the finished iron trade is still very gloomy. It is scarcely likely that prices will be lower, but, nevertheless, orders are exceedingly scarce, and there is great difficulty in keeping in operation the few mills and forges that have not been laid off.

Quotations are as follows:—Ship plates, £5 to £5 2s. 6d.; angle iron, £4 15s. to £4 17s. fid.; and common bars, £5 2s. fid. to £5 5s. per ton; all free on trucks at makers’ works, cash 10th of month following delivery, less 2£ per cent. Puddled bars are £3 5s. to £3 7s. fid. net on trucks. Steel rails remain at £4 12s. 6d. per ton, but orders are not forthcoming.

A new firm, to be styled the Darlington AVagon and Engineering Company, is being formed at Darlington. The company will acquire and amalgamate the businesses of the Albert Hill AYagon AYorks and Messrs. AVilson Brothers and Co., engineers, and will build railway wagons, bridges, &c. Both works are at Neetfield,

Darlington. The company was registered on the 21st ult., with a capital of £50,000 in £10 shares.

The men in the Hartlepool and Tees-side shipyards received notice of a 10 per cent, reduction, which was to come into force on July 1st. They intimated that they would not submit to so great a reduction, and considered 5 per cent, ought to satisfy the masters.

Representatives of the men have had interviews with the employers, and after considerable discussion the following compromise has been effected, viz.:—7\ per cent, reduction on all work except

rivetting, which is only to be reduced 5 per cent. The smaller p>urt demonstration, which is to come off this summer. Many matters which the notice includes are left to be separately dealt subjects were sketched out, some political, others social; but the with. Time wages are to be reduced Is. per week all round, chief were those affecting the immediate interests of the colliers— These arrangements are to be subject to a month’s notice time of working, length and “ pay,” improvements in the Liability on either side, terminating with the New Year’s holidays of and Regulation (Mines) Acts, &c. &c. One grievance of the colliers January, 1885.    ^    is that they are not sufficiently well represented in the House, and

The plate makers of the North of England are determined to this is to be brought under the notice of the visitors. But colliers take advantage of the present depression of the iron trade in have themselves to blame. Mr. AV. T. Lewis offered himself for effecting if possible a substantial reduction in plate rollers’ earn- election some time ago, and was rejected. Up to the present time ings. These men get from 15s. to £3 fis. clear per shift. Consider- colliers have held the belief that dissenting ministers were the best ₎ ing the present unprofitable state of the finished iron trade, it is guides, even in politics. They are rapidly altering their views now. thought that 15s. per shift should be ample for them Notices    In the Swansea district trade is quiet,    but satisfactory on the

were sent in to the Standing Committee of the Board of Arbitra-    whole_ The coal business with Fra‘ce is    progressing, 10,000 tons

tion to have the rates referred to exempted from the ensuing wages havi been sent thence during the week. The patent fuel trade settlement with a view to revision. Mr Trow the operative is brisk. Tin-plate remains much about the same, and the only secretary objected to these notices on purely technical grounds, difference abm& prices is that the market tone is slightly weaker, hoping thereby to stave off interference for another three months.    T ,.    ,,,,,,,    .. c    , ° ,

The legal point in question, after fruitless discussion by the Stand-    ^ mentioned lately that notice of a, reduction had been given to

ing Committee, was finally referred for decision to Mr. Dale, the puddlers of Llanelly. Last week the notice expired, and a referee. After hearing what could be said on both sides and rectuction was offered to the men, but they refused to accept it, taking time to consider, he gave his decision on Monday last in and to the number of 90 they are now on strike. The ironworkers favour of the employers. Action will therefore be at once taken Tondu are also on strike ; they were offered a reduction of b per by the latter, and their cases will be brought before the Standing ce, > but refused.    , ,

Committee without further delay.    An important company lias been started at Neath, called the

Neath Abbey and Duffryn Estates Colliery Company, with a capital of £120,000 in £10 shares. Most of the subscribers are London capitalists.

The Landore works are to supply 12,000 tons of the steel required for the new bridge that is to span the Firth of Forth.

In the late colliery accident at Abercarn one man was killed and several injured. At the inquest held this week a verdict of accidental death was returned, and it transpired that deceased—a single member of the Miners’ Provident Fund, and that £20

over

pay.

undergo manipulation for restarting. A novel application of this injector lias also recently been made by adapting it for fire extinguishing, with the result that with steam at atmospheric pressure the injector forced the water to a height of 55ft. through a gin. nozzle.

Messrs. Goodbrand and Holland have just completed for Messrs. Smith and Hutton, of Bradford, one of the Excelsior pumps similar in construction, but not so large in size as the one sent away to Calcutta which I described a few weeks back, and the result of the test made will be of interest. The mill is a building 95 yards in length, 42 yards wide, and 45ft. high, with a chimney about 120ft. high. The pump supplied is a 5in., with 8in. stroke; with three |in. jets attached, water was thrown as high as the chimney top, and the same result was obtained with two lin. jets; with a lin. jet horizontal against the wind, the water was discharged a distance of 120ft., and with the wind a distance of 150ft.; the water pressure was 70 lb. through the single lin. jet and 75 lb. through the three fin. jets, and the quantity of water discharged was 194 gallons per minute from the lin. jet at 701b. pressure, and 266 gallons per minute through two fin. jets at 100 lb. pressure.

The coal trade continues very quiet all round, all classes of round coal, especially, being bad to move, and stocks accumulating with pits working barely four days a week. As I intimated last week, the month has opened with a downward movement in prices. In the Manchester district, the delivered rates for house fire coal have been reduced 10d., and for engine fuel 5d. per ton; but pit and wharf prices are practically unchanged. In other districts, pit prices generally are nominally unaltered, but concessions on list rates are in most cases made to secure orders. At the pit mouth best coal averages 8s. 6d. to 9s.; seconds, 6s. 6d. to 7s.; common round coal, 5s. to 5s. 6d.; burgy, 4s. 6d. to 4s. 9d.; best slack, 4s. to 4s. 3d.; and ordinary qualities, 3s. fid. to 3s. 9d. per ton.

Tn the shipping trade there is a moderate weight of business doing; but there is so much coal offering in the market that prices have to be cut very low to secure orders, and 7s. is about an average figure for ordinary Lancashire steam coal, delivered at the high level, Liverpool, or the Garston Docks.

I hear that Mr. C. Jackson, the owner of the coal, is restarting a portion of the mines recently worked by the New Hall Coal and Cannel Company near AVigan, but there does not appear to be any prospect of the company recommencing operations.

I stated in my last letter that the AVest Lancashire colliery proprietors had decided to put in force a reduction in wages; this week notices have been posted at most of the collieries of a reduction of 10 per cent. AVhat action the men will take is at present doubtful. The matter is being somewhat complicated by the introduction of a dispute respecting the permanent relief fund, and it is probable that there will be a short stoppage of work at some of the pits, but a general strike is not anticipated.

Barrow.—I have to report an unchanged state of the hematite pig iron trade of the North Lancashire district. On home account very little business is doing, and makers are very backward in placing out orders, seeming to wait rather for a further reduction in prices. The tonnage now conveyed over local railways is extremely small for the time of the year. Foreign makers are doing but little business except for immediate wants, and the shipments are small. Makers are very firm in prices, and do not care to do business at lower prices than those now ruling. Quotations this week are at about 48s. for No, 1 Bessemer samples per ton net at works; No. 2, 47s. 6d.; and No. 3, 47s. per ton. The weight of metal now stored at makers is considerable. The output, although not what it was a few months ago, is well maintained, and stocks are not diminishing. The steel trade of the district is in very low state, and no business of importance is coming to hand. Rails are quiet at last week’s rates. Merchant qualities and wire are also asked for. Engineers and boiler-makers quiet. Shipbuilding very quiet. Iron ore in demand at about 9s. per ton net at mines. Stocks are heavy.

THE SHEFFIELD DISTRICT.

(From our own Correspondent.)

A pleasing event, which has been most favourably commented upon, deserves notice as evidence of the marked improvement which has taken place in the relations of master and workmen at the Birley Collieries—Sheffield Coal Company. On Saturday the workmen, numbering 2200 persons, with their wives and sweethearts, had an excursion to Liverpool. The men were conveyed in three trains, starting from the collieries at five a.m. managing director, Mr. J. R. Gainsford, remained at the colliery all night. The manager, Mr. Hargreaves AValters, was on the spot at three o’clock in the morning, and with the other officials worked most assiduously in seeing that all had a good breakfast before they started. From the closely packed trains, before they left the collieries, came hearty cheers for Mr. Gainsford and Mr. AValters for their efforts on behalf of the workmen. These collieries, which now yield 1700 tons of coal per day, have been the scene of several severe strikes, and the incident of Saturday is a hopeful indication of a better feeling prevailing.

The Nunnery Colliery Company is now quoting at its Soap-house Depot, Blast-lane, as follows: — Hand-picked Silkstoue brand, 13s.; best Silkstone brand, 11s. 3d.; best Silkstone screened, 10s. 5d.; second Silkstone screened, 9s. 2d.; screened Silkstone nuts, 7s. Id. There is a very fair business doing, considering the weather which is now prevailing. A number of gas coal contracts have been placed since my last letter, and they all appear to have made last year’s prices at least. At Unstone, in Derbyshire, the Unstone Coal and Coke Company’s Collieries have been asked to make several concessions to the men; but Mr. Hewitt, the manager, could not see his way to do so, and the men have resolved to continue the strike, which has now lasted sixteen weeks. Generally *n.Yorkshire the coalfield is free from any disturbance or agitation.

. ® , J': Schott, consul at Sheffield for Belgium, has received a circular from his Excellency the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, intimating that the period during which applications for space may ie made in the Antwerp Exhibition has been extended to the 1st of August.

The Dore and Chinley Railway Bill lias at length been passed, and while it affords an independent line betwixt Manchester and -ondon for the Midland, it will open up a most beautiful country to tourists as well as to trade. At present the coal is mainly carted, though traction engines are largely employed; and the grindstones, which form a large portion of Derbyshire industry tna,t way> have to be similarly conveyed to the nearest railway station. There have been rejoicings at Hathersage, Castleton, and ° her villages which the new line will bring into touch with the rest of the world.

^r‘    ^ atson, the acting official on behalf of the Miners’ Per

manent Relief bund, reports that the institution has already been he means of providing allowances in 12,000 cases of disablement o 103 widows and 237 children, besides paying funeral claims in J a instances, to married men £5, unmarried £23, and boys £12 Ur ; , .Drift Pit, the other day, a miner named Fielding received fatal injuries. He had been a member of the Thorncliffe •Branch of the Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund about twelve months, and his widow and children, five in number, are now entitled to a weekly allowance of 15s. until the eldest, aged nine, is thirteen years of age. This allowance is equal to m C]luJ,eri^ lr(terest on £1000 invested capital; and it may be af ed that when the eldest child is thirteen, four years hence,

•    ie.re will still be 13s. a week paid to the family until the next one attains the same age, when a further reduction will be nai e of 2s., leaving 11s. weekly. The support of the miners’

n ( ren from the Society is, to each child, 2s. per week up to thir-en years of age, and every widow receives 5s. weekly in addition ° wtime of widowhood. The experience of similar vl 'i ^h/’WS„the Oration of widowhood to average twelve years.

•    i itzwilliam and the Earl of AVharncliffe, who are largely interested in collieries, warmly support the Miners’ Permanent

Business was done on Wednesday at 41s. 5d. cash, and 41s. 7d. one month. To-day—Thursday—the quotations were 41s. 5d. to 41s. 6d., closing at 41s. 4Jd. cash.

The values of makers’ iron are comparatively firm as follow Gartsherrie, f.o.b. at Glasgow, per ton, No. 1, 51s. 9d.; No. 3, 50s.; Coltness, 57s. 6d. and 51s.; Langloan, 53s. 6d. and 51s.; Summerlee, 51s. and 47s.; Calder, 52s. and 46s. 6d.; Carnbroe, 50s. 6d. and 47s.; Clyde, 48s. and 45s.; Monkland, 43s. 6d. and 40s. 3d.; Quarter, 42s. 6d. and 40s. 3d.; Govan, at Broomielaw, 42s. 6d. and 40s. 3d.; Shotts, at Leith, 51s. fid. and 51s.; Carron, at Grangemouth, 48s. (specially selected, 54s.) and 47s. fid.; Kinneil, at Bo’ness, 44s. and 43s.; Glengarnock, at Ardrossan, 50s. and 43s. 6d.; Eglinton, 44s. 6d. and 41s.; Dalmellington, 46s. fid. and 42s. 6d.

The malleable iron and steel trades continue very slack, and it is not expected that much improvement xvill result from the few additional shipbuilding orders that have been received in the course of the last week or two. Mr. J. AV. Ormis-ton, of the Castlehill Ironworks, Carluke, Lanarkshire, has placed all his workmen on a single day’s notice, and the trade at many of the works is little better than of a hand-to-mouth description. Iron bars, plates, rounds, and squares are quoted by merchants at £5 5s. per ton; nail rods, £5 17s. fid.; angles, £5 5s.; sheets, £7 2s. fid.; ship plates, £6; boiler plates, £6 17s. fid.

In the western mining districts the colliers are working steadily in anticipation of the annual trade holidays, which are now at hand. A reduction of 74 per cent, has been made in the wages of the miners employed at Hill of Beith Colliery, Fifeshire. In AVeir the secretary of the Fife and Clackmannan Miners’ Association has addressed a letter to Mr. Connal, the secretary of the Coalmasters’ Association, in which he intimated that the men are prepared to appoint a deputation to confer with employers on the question of a sliding scale for wages. He suggests that the rates paid f.o.b. for coal at Burntisland from 1st November to 1st February last might form the standard selling prices, and that the wages at the collieries in the same period be also accepted as a standard, and that for every advance or decrease of 3d. a ton on the price of coals, the wages rise or fall by 2£ per cent.

A few days ago an examination made of the Niddrie. Coalpits disclosed the fact that they were still on fire, so that it will not be possible to resume work for several weeks at the soonest.

The new shipping launched from the Clyde in the past six months amounts to 148,825 tons, being 46,877 tons less than in the first half of 1883.

WALES AND ADJOINING COUNTIES.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The coal output is well maintained, and I see that high pressure, long shown at the Rhondda Valley, is extending into the Monmouthshire district. At the Sir George Elliott pit, New Tredegar, 1000 tons were raised one day last week. From Cardiff the weekly total shipped is now bordering on 170,000 tons, and a fair average is maintained at all the ports.

Of late the Taff Vale Railway has managed its enormous traffic with ease, and to show its capacity for more, arrangements have been made with the Powell Duffryn and other collieries to run their coal to Cardiff. This coal hitherto has been worked by the Great Western and Rhymney Companies, and the loss to them is a serious one.

I hear that the opening of the Newport, Caerphilly, and Tre-forest line, known locally as the Sir George Elliott line, is postponed for a little while. Still, whenever ready the Taff is prepared to undertake its working.

I have to report the settlement of the long dispute on the Taff between the trainmen and directors with regard to time. Henceforth one hour’s work less daily has been allowed without affecting

In iron a little more has been done of late in merchant and steel bar, but serious delays have taken place on account of the scarcity of water, and a good many small, but important, orders have had to be postponed. Dowlais in particular has felt this, and the works are nearly at a standstill. It is now ten years since we had such extreme heat in this district, and then the works were also stopped for a short time. Cyfartlifa, which is well placed as regards water, is unaffected so far, and the make of pig iron and merchant bars continues briskly.

I note that the Barry Dock Bill has been read a third time. In the meantime there is no faltering in the endeavour to grapple with the increasing coal traffic, and the progress of the new docks is rapid. The contractors under Mr. Nelson for supplying stones are Messrs. Mitchell and Scott, and this week a large blast took place at their Caerphilly quarries. The charge was 15 cwt. of gunpowder placed in a hole 50ft. deep, and the stone displaced amounted to 10,000 tons. It was noticed that the force was altogether lateral, and not even a fragment of stone was thrown into the air.

It is gratifying to remark the peaceful attitude of the AVelsh colliers at present. The sliding scale has effectually quieted the turbulent spirits who used to seize upon every occasion for a strike. The only difficulty now existing is a small one at Bwllfa, in the Dare Valley; but this is hot expected to last. The Rhondda colliers last week drew out a programme for the Bradlaugh and

man—was a would be given to his relations.

Vernon AVorks have been acquired by Mr. Edgar E. Morgan, and will be started forthwith.

South Kensington Museum.—Visitors during the week ending June 28th, 1884:—On Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, free, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Museum, 9215; mercantile marine, Indian section, and other collections, 3483. On AVednesday, Thursday, and Friday, admission fid., from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Museum, 1876: mercantile marine, Indian section, and other collections, 187. Total, 14,761. Average of corresponding week in former years, 19,316. Total from the opening of the Museum, 21,157,147.

THE PATENT JOURNAL.

Condensed from the Journal of the Commissioners of Patents.

*** It has come to our notice that some applicants of the Patent-office Sales Department, for Patent Specifications, have caused much unnecessary trouble and annoyance, both to themselves and to the Patent-office Officials, by giving the number of the page o/The Engineer at which the Specification they require is referred to, instead of giving the proper number of the Specification. The mistake has been made by looking at The Engineer Index, and giving the numbers there found, which only refer to the pages, in place of turning trading the numbers of the Specification.

to those pages and

Applications for Letters Patent.

*** When patents have been “ communicated,” the name and address of the communicating party are printed in italics.

24th June, 1884.

9327.    Forging Nails, B. P. Walker, Moseley, and C. B. Ketley, Birmingham.

9328.    Melting Furnaces, F. Monks, T. Hall, and T. Burton, Warrington, and W. Burton, Aspul.

9329.    Drawing Rollers of Spinning Machines, A. Hollings, Fairfield.

9330.    Joint for Sewage Pipes, J. Parsons, Carlton.

9331.    Suspending Venetian Blinds, C. Catlow, Burnley.

9332.    Cooking Ranges, J. Napier, Kirkintilloch.

9333.    Buckles, A. E. Hancock, Aston-juxta-Birming-ham.

9334.    Lathe, J. T. Nelson, Leeds.

9335.    Fire-escapes, A. B. Fisher, Liverpool.

9336.    Envelopes, D. T. Lee, London.

9837. Lubricators, A. M. Clark.—(W.

Jersey, U.S.)

9338.    Safety Sash Fastening, F. R. Wildegose, London.

9339.    Circular Knitting Machines, T. Coltinan, Leicester.

9340.    Electrical Motors, J. H. Johnson.— (A. W. Adams, St. Louis, U.S.)

9341.    Electric Motors, J. H. Johnson.—(A. W. Adams, St. Louis, U.S.)

9342.    String-cutter, J. Darling, Glasgow.

9343.    Stretchers, J. Furley, Ashford.

9344.    Regulating Electric Currents, L. A. V. Pelle-grin, London.—(G. Curette, Paris.)—3rd April, 1884.

9345.    Warp, R. H. Hewitt, Gomersall.

9346.    Baling Presses, H. J. Allison.—(A. S. Robi and A. Schell, Albany, U.S.)

9347.    Cash Carrying System, J. W. Flagg, Worcester, U.S.

9348.    Dynamometers, A. Wilson, New York.

9349.    Clip or Grip, W. W. Lunt, Wolverhampton.

9350.    Bottle-packing, H. J. Haddan.—(C. Schliiter, C. Forster, and 0. Long, New York.)

9351.    Journal Boxes, H. J. Haddan.—(E. K. Wilcox, Cleveland, U.S.)

9352.    Pocket Knives, H. J. Haddan.—(C. Helsner, Saxony.)

9353.    Electric Brush, W. Tapp, Bristol.

9354.    Mounting Swing Frames, W. Trobridge, Birmingham.

9355.    Lubricating Steam and Water Cocks, <fec., J. E. Walsh.—(M. Schneider, Boos.)

9356.    Cord Twisting Machines, &c., W. E. Gedge.— (Schreiber and Co., Fienna.)

9357.    Kilns for Burning Limestone, &c., S. de la G. Williams, Malvern, and J. A. B. Bennett, Llyndale.

9358.    Smiths’ Hearths and Forges, W. Allday, jun., Birmingham.

9359.    Portable Stands for Photographic Cameras, G. Smith, London.

9560. Furnace Fire-door Liners, T. Dugard.—(J. Mailer, San Francisco.)

9361.    Producing Ornamental Devices, E. and F. Smith, London.

9362.    Concentrating Sulphuric Acid, A. J. Boult.— (M. Willett, Newport.)

9363.    Bicycles, W. F. Healy, Bridgeport, U.S.

9364.    Compressing Ensilage, E. T. Blunt, London.

9365.    Magneto-Dynamo Electric Generators, A. Shippey and J. E. Wyder, London.

9366.    Brace-ends, P. W. Martin, Birmingham.

9367.    Vessels for Holding Oils, G. A. J. Schott, Bradford.

9368.    Flue Tubes of Steam Boilers, W. Clark, Plum-stead.—31st March, 1884.

9369.    Electric Belts, C. B. Harness, London.

9370.    Curing King’s Lynn.

9371.    Preserving Milk, G. A. Maples, London.

9372.    Latches and Locks, W. Rockliffe, Sunderland.

9373.    Destroying Vegetable Substances in Wool, G. S. Jarmain, Huddersfield.

9374.    Indicating the Speed of Rotating Shafts, B. Tower, London.

9375.    Soap, A. Domeier and B. Nickels, London.

9376.    Refrigerating Machines, H. Walker and F. J. Garnish, London.

A. Boy den,

nxnn

or Salting Meat, &c., W. P. Savage,

25th June, 1884.

9377.    Rotary Hair Brushes, W. Tapp, Bristol.

9378.    Stoppers for Tubes of Steam Boilers, W. Latham, Liverpool.

9379.    Pipes or Conduits, H. Shelmerdine, Liverpool.

9380.    Stringing up Pianos, T. Doddrell, Slough.

9381.    Printing Dados on Painted Walls, W. Glassey, Liverpool.

9382.    Turbines, J. Ritchie, Edinburgh.

9883. Circular Drum Boxes for Salt, A. L. Altman, Dublin.

9384.    Preventing Shuttles Flying from Looms, W. E. Heys.—(J. Mayer and H. Aufderheide, Bavaria.)

9385.    Tricycles, B. W. Stevens, Birmingham.

9386.    Clocks and Watches, E. E. Pickard, Lond

9387.    Knitting Elastic Bandages, J. H. Haywood, Nottingham, and T. Whomsley, Carlton.

9388.    Composing Music, M. Paris, Ramsgate.

9389.    Clench Grooving Tool for Shoeing Horses, R.

S.    Bird, Brandon.

9390.    Gas Governor and Regulator, &c., W. Potter, Silvertown, and E. L. White, Ilford.

9391.    Hair Brushes, S. J. Hill, Bristol.

9392.    Kilns for Burning Bricks, &c., H. Knowles, Woodville.

9393.    Thermometer for Measuring High Temperatures, J. Murrie, Glasgow.

9394.    Propelling Road Vehicles, &c., W. Paddock, Birmingham.

9395.    Feed-water Heaters, J. S. Taylor and J. Withinshaw, Birmingham.

9396.    Velocipedes, T. Rigg, Rochdale.

9397.    Distilling Alcohols, J. C. Mewbum.—(B. A. Barbet, France.)

9398.    Appliance for Gripping Wire Ropes, T. Cope, jun., Essiugton.

9399.    Lowering Weights, S. McAndrew, Bromley.

9400.    Combined Hand and Steam Steering Gear, G. Davidson, Gateshead, and R. Turnbull, Durham.

9401.    Acorn Beer, &c., G. P. Pond, London.

9)02. Roofing Tiles F. I. Nibbq London.

9403.    Composition for Preventing Mildew, A. Myall. —(II. B'Espalungue, Paris.)

9404.    Holding Flexible Material in Suspension, A.

T.    Finch, London.

9405.    Sash Bars, W. H. Luther, Glasgow.

9406.    Springs for Wearing Apparel, H. M. Knight, London.

9407.    Feed Apparatus for Fire-arms, H. S. Maxim, London.

9408.    Weavers’ Shuttles, W. R. Lake.—(/. II. Nolan, Boston, U.S.)

9109. Electric Generators, A. Spdrel, Broslau.

9410.    Saloon Weaving Apparatus, M. Fabian and G. Walther, Brandenburg.

9411.    Maintaining Uniform Arc in Electric Lamps, W. Rowbotham, Woolwich.

oil.

9412.    Refreshing Galvanic Batteries, A. M. Clark. —(A. Bun, Frankfort.)

9413.    Turning Over Leaves of Music, E. Negroni, London.

9414.    Making Slabs, &c., J. C. Bromfield, London.

9415.    Electric Fuses, J. Macnab and J. H. Bland, London.

26tli June, 1884.

9416.    Passenger Indicator, &c., J. Bisset, jun., Aberdeen.

9417.    Photographic Lens Mount, S. D. Nl^elCellen, Manchester.

9418.    Steam Pressure, &c., Gauges, R. Marsden, Sheffield.

9419.    Cloth Weavers’ Bobbins, H. W. Vick, Uley. 9429. Railway Chairs 9421. Horseshoes, E.

5, J. Poyser, Mansfield.

Burke, Brighton.

9422.    Furnaces, T. Shuttleworth, Stockport.

9423.    Lawn-tennis Nets, E. J. Hatton, Hereford.

9424.    Trunk, C. A. Farwig, London.

9425.    Mule Spinning Machinery, C. Redfern and E. Williams, Rochdale.

9426.    Detecting Inequalities, &c., in Yarn, J. Smith, Shipley.

9427.    Washing Liquor, J. J. Fanning, Manchester.

9428.    Lappet Muslins, &c., D. Ligat, jun., and R. Ligat, Glasgow.

9429.    Automatic Motor, J. Wilson, Belfast.

9430.    Cabs, &c., C. W. Barnard, Belfast.

9431.    Shearing, Ac., Metals, E. Fletcher, Salford.

9432.    Machine Tool, E. M. Eckardt, Dresden.

9433.    Furnaces, H. C. Bull, London.

9434.    Tobacco-pipe Mouthpieces, J. D. Carter, London.

9435.    Flat Drills, J. D. Carter, London.

9436.    Collar-stud, R. R. S. Waraker, Cambridge.

9437.    Fastening for Trunks, Ac., J. Perry, Wolverhampton.

9438.    Registering Distance Travelled, G. C. Wild-man, Wolverhampton.

9439.    Banjoes, S. W. Kemp, London.

9440.    Drying Photographic Plates, L. A. Groth.— (L. Micciullo, Bassano.)

9441.    Union Joints, G. Pollard, London.

9442.    Reproducing Drawings upon Glass, G. McCarthy, Glasgow.

9443.    Flower Holder, J. Campbell, Edinburgh.

9444.    Taps, Ac., D. Hancock, Stratford.

9445.    Rudder Attachment for Boats, W. Johnson, East Molesey.

9446.    Filling, Ac., Bottles with Liquids, F. G. Riley, London.

9447.    Spinning and Twisting Frames, P. Speak, Queensbury.

9448.    Portable Orchestras, H. Marsden, Bradford.

9449.    Making Umbrella Ribs, Ac., H. Young, London.

9450.    Ventilating Buildings, M. Tobin, Uxbridge.

9451.    Construction, Ac., of Ships’ Davits, W. S. Winans, London.

9452.    Lawn Weeder, A. C. Sterry, Redhill.

9453.    Safety Lamps, Ac., W. E. Gedge.—(A. S. l'ama, Nice.)

9454.    Magazines for Fire-arms, W. R. Lake.—(G. F. Fosbery, Liege.)

9455.    Quoits, C. B. Hayes, London.

9456.    Screw-forging Apparatus, C. Fairbairn, Manchester.

9457.    Grinding Phosphates, I. Brown, Edinburgh.

9458.    Sulphite of Soda, E. Carey and H. Gaskell, jun. —(Partly a communication from F. Hurter, Paris.)

9459.    Working Dynamo Machines, F. Thornton and F. V. Andersen, London.

9460.    Chromium Alloys, T. Slater, London.

9461.    Panoramic Photograph Camera, A. M. Clark. —(P. Mocssard, Paris.)

9462.    Automatically Completing, Ac., Circuits, F. Thornton and F. V. Andersen, London.

9463.    Preparing Surgical Dressings, W. R. Lake.— (P. Hartmann, Wurtemberg.)

9464.    Reflecting Stand, E. Tomlinson, London.

9465.    Locks, Ac., J. H. King, Liverpool.

27th June, 1884.

9466.    Leno or Cross Weaving, J. Eccles, Preston.

9467.    Braces, J. Lawrence, Birmingham.

9468.    Door Knobs and Attachments, J. Brooks, West Bromwich.

9469.    Umbrellas and Parasols, W. Crow, Birmingham.

9470.    Cooling, &c., Rifle Barrels, T. B. Burns, Camelford.

9471.    Membrane Telephones, S. P. Thompson and P. Jolin, Bristol.

9472.    Producing Light and Heat, &c., G. Rydill, Highgate.

9473.    Incrustation Composition, G. Jaques, Armley.

9474.    Mules for Spinning Fibres, W. Houghton and

E. Knowles, Gomersal.

9475.    Harvesting Machinery, J. Hornsby and J. Innocent, Grantham.

9476.    Calculating Machine, J. W. Stanley and T. Shaw, Crewe.

9477.    Pottery Kiln, J. Broadhurst, Fenton.

9478.    Driving Mechanism for Bicycles, F. G. Myers, W ellingborough.

9479.    Dwarf Window Blinds and Screens, A. Shepherd, Birmingham.

9480.    Preparing Stereotypes for Printing Machines, A. G. Jeans, Liverpool.

9481.    Tricycle, B. Fowell, Poynton.

9482.    Dyeing Fabrics, A. J. Butler and W. Jennings, Nottingham.

9483.    Flower-pot Saucer, J. Knight, near Epsom.

9484.    Damping and Stamping Envelopes, H. S. Edwards, London.

9485.    Securing Broom Handles, &c., J. W. Kenyon, Manchester.

9486.    Handles for Spades, &c., D. Yardley, Stourbridge.

9487.    Braces, <fcc., D. Power, Walsall.

9488.    Secondary Batteries, A. Tribe and A. P. Price, London.

9489.    Secondary Batteries, A. Tribe, London.

9490.    Boots and Shoes, D. Hollin and Z. Anderson, Stafford.

9491.    Driving Gear for Tricycles, &c., W. E. Parry, Redland.

9492.    Rolling Mills, H. Haddan.—(H. Sack, Saxony.)

9493.    Brilliant White Powder, H. J. Haddan.— (—. Najark and —. Pratorius, Saxony.)

9494.    Cop and Pirn Winding Machine, I. Vermandel, Belgium.

9495.    Washing and Scouring Wool, E. Tremsal, Brussels.

9496.    Ventilating Marine Vessels, A. M. Clark.— (J. M. J. Barton, Australia.)

9497.    Unstoppering of Bottles, J. Johnson and J. P. West, London.

9498.    Furnace, A. M. Clark.—(J. Gamier, Paris.)

9499.    Power Hammers, A. M. Clark.—(G. N. Schoenberg, France.)

9500.    Converters, G. Hatton, Hagley.

9501.    Making Cigarettes, S. Lamb, London.

9502.    Regulating the Pressure of Fluids, J. L. Milne and C. S. E. Crakanthorp, Edinburgh.

9503.    Boots and Shoes, P. Purdie and G. Purdie, Glasgow.

9504.    Gas Stoves, C. H. Robinson, Glasgow.

9505.    Combined Album and Programme, C. Linz, London.

9506.    Tamping of Blast Holes, W. Walker, Saltbum-by-the-Sea.

9507.    Fire-arms, W. S. Riley, Birmingham.—8th April, 1883.

9508.    Sheaf-binding Reaping Machines, G. Kearsley and G. T. Rutter, Ripon.

Pulp, S. Pitt.—(II. P. Pictet, Geneva, and G. L. Brilaz, Switzerland.)

9510.    Treatment of Oils, C. E. Bell, Durham.

9511.    Nutmeg Grater, S. Grafton, Birmingham.

9512.    Sliding Scales, E. G. Colton.—(71. C. Smith and H. Fox, Neic York.)

9509.

9513.    Flyers for Spinning, &c., Wool, T. Broughton, Keighley.

9514.    Blinds, J. F. Spong, London.

‘28 th June, 1884.

9515.    Roving, &c., Cotton, &c., P. Wallace, Armitage Bridge.

9516.    Railway Signalling, T. Abbott and M. Haw-thomthwaite, Lancaster.

9517.    Dressing Warps, J. W. Blakeley,

Leeds.

9518.    Colouring Matters, J. Erskine. — (Farben-fabriken normals Friedrich Bayer and Co., Elberfeld, Germany.)

9519.    Umbrellas and Parasols, C. J. Lee, Croydon.

9520.    Willow Peeler, R. Walpole, Leicester.

9521.    Lamps, F. R. Baker, Birmingh

9522.    Combined Bedstead, Wardrobe, <fcc. berg, Berlin, and T. Bath, Pomerania.

9523.    Lifting, &c., Liquids, &c., C. T. Powell, Hands-worth, and J. Csete, Edgbaston.

Bottle-stoppers, C. Wingfield, Sheffield.

Birstal, near

am.

S. Hirsch-

9524.

9525.    Cigarette-making Apparatus, F. Bloor, Sheffield.

9526.    Water-heater, A. H. Hearington, London.

9527.    Water-heater, A. H. Hearington, London.

9528.    Gas-burners, A. H. Hearington, London.

9529.    Finger Plates, J. A. Lawley, Birmingham.

9530.    Metallic Brooches, J. H. Jahncke, J. Ginzler, and H. W. Herbst, London.

9531.    Photography, A. G. Brookes.—(T. S. Nowell, rn, U.S.)

Obtaining Gas from Hydrocarbons, J. F.

5062. Perspectographs, G. Macaulay-Cruikshank, Glasgow.—24th October, 1883.—(A communication from A. Ritter, Frankfort.) 6d.

Relates to an instrument for reproducing in perspective or otherwise, and to varying scales according to the adjustment of the parts of the instrument, pictures, drawings, plans, and the like.

5160. Bleaching of Paper Pulp, &c., J. H. John son, London.—30th October, 1883.—(A communication from E. H. Hermite, Rouen.) Oct.

The process consists in electrolytically decomposing chloride of sodium or potassium in the presence of a metal, preferably lead or zinc, so as to obtain an alkali—caustic soda or potash—and a chloride of lead or other metal, which is used for bleaching purposes by being subjected to electrolysis in the presence of the material to be bleached.

5175. Steam and Hot-air Generator, W. Turnbull New Hampton.—31st October,

Consists, First, in utilising tin furnace of a steam boiler for heating and storing compressed air in a hot-air receiver; Secondly, in using a portion of the heat of the furnace of a steam boiler which has not been utilised in conjunction with the waste heat escaping from such furnace for the purpose of increasing the temperature of the waste gases transmitting heat to the compressed air in the hot-air receiver.

1883. 8d.

e waste gases from the

Bosto

9532.

Schnell, J. Read, J. Warwick, and W. Darbyshire, Manchester.

9533.    Starting Vehicles, H. M. Martin, London.

9534.    Guides for the Rope of Rope Traction Railways, H. M. Martin, London.

9535.    Brakes, H. M. Martin, London.

9536.    Ring Armatures, R. E. Dunston, London.

9537.    Wheels, C. D. Abel.—(L. Arbel, Loire, France.)

9538.    Disinfecting Compounds, G. R. Tweedie, London, and Hartin’s Crimson Salt Company, Limited, Worcester.

9539.    Winding Apparatus for Sewing Machines, A. J. Boult.—(C. Hosch, Bohemia.)

9540.    Raising and Lowering, J. W. Porritt, London.

9541.    Combs, W. Spence.—(L. M. Chorier, Pams.)

9542.    Fixing the Ends upon Bobbins, E. Edwards.— (L. A. Bourguignon, France.)

9543.    Locking or Bolting Mechanism, J. M. Hart, London.

9544.    Gas Engines, J. Magee, Glasgow.

9545.    Automatic Railway Couplings, E. G. Brewer. (A. Koppel, Germany.)

9546.    Cooling Apparatus for Malting, E. G. Brewer. —(A. Koppel, Germany.)

9547.    Mode of Driving Bicycles, &c., J. E. Holloway, London.

9548.    Automatically Working Fog Horns, W. Fox and H. P. Fenby, Leeds.

9549.    Attaching Buttons to Leather, W. L. Wise.— (G. Klotz, Germany.)

9550.    Reproduction at a Distance of Characters, &c., T. Tubini, London.

9551.    Reproduction at a Distance of Characters, &c., T. Tubini, London.

9552.    Controlling Supply of Water, G. H. and S. London.

of Water, G. H. and S.

Jennings, and J. Morley,

9553.    Cotrolling Supply Jennings, London.

9554.    Coffins, G. F. Redfem.—(Messrs. Wirth and Co., Germany.)

9555.    Apparatus for Spinning, <Sic., Wool, J. H. Clap-ham, Shipley

9556.    Planing Pistons of Pumps, &c., T. H. Thwaites, Bradford.

30th June, 1884.

9557.    Cooling Oii. in order to Congeal Paraffin, N. McF. Henderson, Broxburn.

9558.    Disinfecting Van, <tc., Fibres, J. Illingworth, Batley.

9559.    Burners for the Combustion of Gas, T. McCracken, Londonderry.

9560.    Drawing Tubes or Bars, J. Short, Birmingham.

9561.    Chain Links, T. Bedington, Small Heath.

9562.    Contrivance for Blindfolding Horses, J. Lytle, Belfast.

9563.    Wet Gas Meters, J. H. Portbury, Exeter.

9564.    Covering Cord with Cotton, &c., J. and W. Peacock, Paisley.

9565.    Open Hearth Steel Furnaces, <tc., J. Riley, Glasgow.

9566.    Bottles for Containing Aerated Liquids, J. M. Day, Dublin.

9567.    Combined Measuring and Filling Apparatus for Liquid, W. R. Maud, Pontefract.

9568.    Suspending, &c., Venetian Blinds, C. Catlow, Burnley.

9569.    Sewing Machines, E. Kohler,

9570.    Manufacturing Extracts of Rimmer, Liverpool.

9571.    Apparatus for Driving Tricycles, &c., W. P. Pinder, Westgate.

9572.    Self-regulating Feeds for Rollers, J. E. Walsh, London.

9673. Drawing Air out of Ships, <fcc., J. C. Baker, Liverpool.

9574. Wood-cutting Machine, A. McDonald and T. W. Kendall, Liverpool.

9975. Fire Alarm, W. 8. Richmond and W. A. Balcon, London.

9576.    Carburetting Gas, J. Kidd.—(IF. J. Kidd, U.S.)

9577.    Compound Projectiles, C. D. Abel.—(IF. Lorenz, Germany.)

9578.    Applying Magnetic to produce Electro-Chemical Action, F. J. Bolton and R. H. Woodley, London.

9579.    Spray Producers, H. J. Haddan.—(P. Lochman, Saxony.)

9580.    Feeding Apparatus for Carding Machines, H. J. Haddan.—(C. Schreiter, Saxony.)

9581.    Discharging Drop-stoppered Bottles, W. J. T. Higgitt, London.

9582.    Bleaching Piece Goods, J. Worrall, Ordsall.

9583.    Shoemaker’s Awl, A. V. Newton.—(./. Keats, Germany.)

9584.    Connecting Large Welded Tubes, H. H. Lake. —(Schulz, Knaudt, and Co.)

9585.    Safety Rudders, J. H. Fock, Germany.

9586.    Washing Clothes, R. Norton, Gateshead, and S. W. Snowden, London.

9587.    Treating Sewage for the purpose of Deodoris-> ing, J. Hanson, Wakefield.

9588.    Cultivation of Land, J. Coulson and W. A. Todd, Stamford.

9589.    Treating Leather to render it Waterproof, J. Cove and W. P. Sherwood, Northampton.

9590.    Opera Glass, A. M. Clark.—(C. Rothacker, jun., Germany.)

9591.    Storm-resisting Espaliers, A. J. Boult.— (C. Schwend, Germany.)

9592.    Making-up of Cigars, O. Bamsdale, Nottingham.

9593.    Utilising Expansive Gases as a Motive Power, F. J. Harrison, London.

U.S.

Fustic, &c., H.

ABSTKAOTS OF SPECIFICATIONS.

Prepared by ourselves expressly for The Engineer at the office of Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Patents.

5088. Arrangements of Circuits and Apparatus for the Distribution of Electricity, J. S. Beeman, London.— 26tli October, 1883.    6d.

This relates to distributing and translating electricity by means of suitable generators placed in series, the circuits between which are closed by interposing between the positive and negative poles of adjacent generators, suitable resistances and translating devices. The invention is illustrated by eleven diagrams.

5199. Bicycles, R. C. Thomson, London, and W.

Spence, Surbiton.—1st November, 1883. (id.

Consists in the combination with the steering fprk of a bicycle, of extensions or arms attached rigidly to the lower extremities of the said fork, or ma*re in one therewith, passing beyond and clear of the path described by the cranks and pedals, and rising at either side of the steering fork at such a distance therefrom as to admit the rider’s legs between them and the fork, said arms or extensions having handles attached to their upper ends.

5202. Electric Meters, R. Belfleld, London.—lit November, 1883.    6d.

The instrument used for releasing alternating currents is somewhat similar to a Thomson electrometer, and has four double quadrants mounted upon an insulated base and connected together in pairs, the opposite quadrants forming a pair. A needle is suspended by a wire between the upper and lower surfaces of the double quadrants. One terminal of the generator is connected with one pair of quadrants and the other terminal with the other pair, the needle is also connected with one terminal through the suspending wire. In a modification two plates are mutually attracted. Several other modifications are described.

5207. Production of Designs upon Waterproof Fabrics, C. Moseley, Manchester.—2nd November, 1883. 2d.

Relates to textile and other fabrics rendered waterproof by a coating of india-rubber, and subsequently coated or covered with farina or other substance capable of creating a like effect, and consists in producing an ornamental or other design upon the coated surface either before or during the process of vulcanisation.

5222. Grinding the treads of Railway and Tram-

London.—26th from A. IF.

way Wheels, &c., B. P. Alexander, November, 1883.—(A communication Mclnt

yre, Chicago.)—(Complete.)

Relates, First, to mechanism whereby the work can be placed accurately in position and be securely sustained during the grinding operation; Secondly, to means for imparting a uniform steady revolution to the object to be ground; Thirdly, to mechanism for sustaining and operating the grinding or cutting wheels; Fourthly, to mechanism for automatically compensating for the wearing away of the grinding wheels, and thus keeping the same constantly up to their work; Fifthly, to providing the grinding or cutting wheels with improved hoods and exhaust apparatus, whereby the dust from the work and the wheels may be collected and withdrawn, and the liability of accident from the bursting of carelessly placed wheels shall be avoided; Sixthly, to the construction of the grinding wheels and the means for centreing and securing the same on their mandrils.

5238. Electric Generators, II. J. Haddan, London. —blh November, 1883.—(A communication from Bain Electric Company, Chicago, U.S.) lOd.

This relates to a generator having two or more field magnets with the cores, pole pieces, and yoke pieces all turned from a common centre, and secured to a base plate by a clamping ring. The armature consists of a spider frame having blades, upon which the iron wires are wound to form the core, the coils of copper wire being wound outside these. Various modifications and methods of connecting the coils are described and illustrated.

5244. Apparatus for Producing Intense White Light, C. D. Abel, London.—5th November, 1883.— (A communication from C. Clamond, Paris.) 6d.

Relates to the arrangement of the various passages and chambers for heating the air supply to the gas jets.

5249. Steam Engines, T. Hunt, Manchester. — 5th November, 1883. 6d.

Relates, First, in locomotive steam engines to placing the uptake of the engine boiler at the side farthest from or opposite to the fire-door, and providing the intervening space with pendent tubes or water spaces; Secondly, to constructing the chimney in two parts or tubes one within the other, with a space between them, in which is contained a substance capable of acting as a non-conductor of sound or an absorber of vibrations; Thirdly, the combination with the blast pipe of a valve for automatically varying the area of escape for the exhaust steam in accordance with the pressure thereof; Fourthly, to the arrangement of the water tanks ; Fifthly, to the arrangement of the reversing gear.

\0d.

the

5267. Hatching and Rearing Viparous Animals, &c., C. E. Hearson, London.—6th November, 1883. Is. Relates to improvements in the general construction of incubators.

5301. Multiple Drilling, Boring, Turning, and Tapping Machines, T. Carver, Nottingham.—9th tvember, 1883. 6d.

tes to improvements in the general arrangement of the parts of the machines.

5306. Manufacture of Pulp, &c., G. B. Walker, London.—0th November, 1883. 6d.

Refers to the treatment of a species of cactus known as the Yucca draconis, or Yucca puberula, or Yucca crevifolia, or Sotal tree, for the manufacture of pulp or stock for paper manufacture.

No

Holt

5309. Manufacturing Elastic Webbing, &c., L. Turner, Leicester.—0th November, 1883. 6d.

Consists in the weaving of elastic webbing and other narrow fabrics with transverse stripes or bars of colour, and with a speckled or plain ground, by the aid of a single shuttle.

5318. Apparatus for Signalling at Sea, W. Batch, London.—10th November, 1883.    6d.

Relates to the construction of rockets, and to apparatus for discharging the same.

5327- Cleaning Knives and Forks, E. Greenfield, Bromley.—10<A November, 1883.    6d.

Relates to the arrangement of apparatus for cleaning knives and forks, consisting of a polishing surface either horizontal or inclined, in combination with a cylinder or cylinders.

5333. Retaining and Releasing Window-blind Cords, <kc., IF. P. Kelly, Mount Brandon, Ireland. —12th November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to an apparatus for retaining and releasing window-blind cords and the like, consisting of a box of suitable material adapted to be fixed to a window frame, the said cords passing through holes or slots in the said box, and through or against a friction block '

A*

4-

contained in the said box, and kept pressed against the said cords by a suitable spring.

6348. Bridges, &c., IF. R. Kinipple, Greenock.—12th November, 1883. Is.

Relates partly to

8d.

con-

coal, mixed with an alkali or

fit/

Novembe

Crouan,

•om H. M. L.

5383.    Tempering the Bobbins on Spinning and Twisting Frames, II. S. Boase, Dundee.—15(/i November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.)

This relates to means for tempering or dragging bobbins on spinning and twisting frames, and it < sists in attaching the rail which carries the temper cords at the back of the bobbin boards to the said board by links, so that it is parallel to the board, and can be moved to or from it laterally and endwise simultaneously.

5384.    Steering and Propelling Boats, &c., F. B.

Heathorn, London.—15(A November, 1883. 6d.

The rudder has one part pivotted s set at any angle, and by causing the rudder to move to and fro it can be used to propel the vessel.

6385. Exhaust Ventilators, IF. Walker, Birkenhead. 5th November,

The object is to f

2d.

the expanding portion of the

crosse

las

London.—15 th November,

2d.

t “W/otcm 5 Jo

A bar of

Ion

linders n each

curve

5404. Communicating Motion to any Shaft for the

Surrey.—16th

down strokes, so as to cause said

to prevent violent move-

ore

for

an umbrella capable of closing automatically, and which requires no special mechanism to remain closed, while the frame is adapted to turn freely on the stick.

of converting petro-

I'."

Novembe This rela the purpose of from their seats,

ent the at the

scarf or nec throat.

uction

same, and subsequently tained into a solid condition.

The teaseled wool is

screw on

5421

pan to a pan

5424.    Automatic Sale and Delivery of Cigarettes, <fcc., IF. P. Keeson, London.—17(7t November, 1883.— (Not proceeded with.) 2d.

The cigarettes or other articles to be delivered at an openinginthe apparatus are arranged on a band which is caused to travel upon a coin being inserted in a slit in such apparatus.

5425.    Automatic Feeding of Boilers, A. Mayhew, London.—17th November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to apparatus for feeding boilers with water automatically cutting off the supply when the

pro

5427. Discharging Vessels containing Liquids, H. L. Orr, Belfast.—17th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Air is forced into the vessel, and acting upon the liquid, forces it out through a suitable discharge pipe.

Cumnver, Detroit.) .

Relates, First, to such and exhaust valves that lower than the cylinder, thereby draining the cylinder; Secondly, an arrangement of the main steam a exhaust valves whereby all may be operated neously by one excentric, excentric rod, and rocker arm, and whereby all the valve motion and all the valves are located upon one side of the engine; Thirdly, to combine with the main exhaust valve ondary valves, which distribute the exhaust to the auxiliary heater and a condenser, the l tions of the sa

sec

and the ble of

ail-

■2d.

5436. Treatment of Waste Materials to Obtain Useful Products and Motive Power therefrom,

_G. Epstein, London.—17th November, 1883. 6d.

starchy matters are

rin

wi

Relates and uncou

CRUS

5456. Washing Machines, J. Bryson,

November, 1S83.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Consists in securing a hollow metal tube in the centre of the bottom ot the tube, which tube extends vertically upwards for about one-third of the depth. The “ dolly ” shaft or spindle, which is formed of metal, is continued beyond the legs, and the lower portion is inserted in the tube and rests upon a conical

5461.

in which a e circuit of

the arrangement of a bridge with a movable roadway consisting of overhead or high level girders whereon the carriages on rollers are capable of being travelled longitudinally backwards and forwards, and from which carriages the meeting ends of the girders of the two movable parts of the roadway are suspended, the Shore ends of the said girders carrying the movable parts of the roadway, being also supported on rollers on the adjacent fixed spans or on the solid masonry pier or quay, constituting the shore or land ends of the bridge. Other improvements are described.

5349. Connection of Pipes for Communicating Fluid Pressure to Work Brakes on Railway Trains, C. 1). Abel, London.—13th November, 1883. —(A communication from G. Westinghouse,jun., Pittsburgh, U.S.) fid.

Consists partly in combination with two sets of flexible hose or jointed pipes connecting carriage to carriage with a single intermediate separable coupling, the use of two pairs of valve boxes, each of the one pair communicating with one part of the coupling, and each provided with a duplex valve.

5351. Lowering, Raising, and Releasing Ships’ Boats, C. J.Fox, Birkenhead.—12th November, 1883.

The apparatus consists essentially of a rocking arm, a supporting bar, and a crutch, which bears the boat by a boat hook, all in duplicate.

5357. Hydrocarbon Furnaces, A. J. Boult, London.— 13th November, 1883.—(A communication from 0. D. Orris, Chicago.) 8d.

Relates partly to the method of utilising hydrocarbon liquids for heating purposes, the same consisting in forcing said liquid by means of steam into a. retort, heated directly by the furnace, in which retort the hydrocarbons rise and escape only in a vaporous form to the fire chamber.

5361. Manufacture of Ammonia and Hydrocarbon Gases, IF. R. Lake, London.—13th November, 1883. —(A communication from T. B. Fogarty, Brooklyn.)

Mainly consists in converting the atmospheric nitrogen discharged with the hydrocarbon gases and other products of furnace combustion into ammoniacal gas, removing the ammonia from the said gases, and then passing the remaining nitrogenous gas, deprived of carbonic oxide and carbonic acid, into retorts taining bituminous

alkaline earths, while undergoing the process of destructive distillation for the generation of illuminating and heating gas, or either of them if desired.

5373. Controlling an Engraving, Cutting, or Impression Tool, according to Pattern, &c., II. J. Ho.ddan, London.—14th November, 1883.—(A communication from the Bain Electric Company, cago, U.S.) fid.

This relates to the moans for controlling an engraving tool by light or heat rays, so that the operations of the tool correspond to the varying conditions of a pattern through which the rays are passed. The rays received upon a selenium cell forming part of the circuit of an electro-magnet, whose armature actuates the engraving tool.

5381. Hydraulic Lifts, J. II. Johnson, London.—Uth r, 1883.—(A communication ft Paris.) lod.

Relates partly to the employment of distributing apparatus operated by excentrie studs causing either of two main valves to open and at the same time maintaining the other main valve closed, according as the controlling wheel is turned in one direction or the other; the said main valves being provided with xiliary or relieving valves and trunks working in cylinders and with pendant cylindrical or other pro-ections on the lower side, whereby the flow of water s graduated.

the o that it can be

1883. 6d.

orm a ventilator or chimney top which will cause an upward current in the shaft in whatever direction the wind blows, and it consists in providing the top with corrugated surfaces, directing the wind in an oblique direction into or past the orifice.

5387.    Preparation of Rags for the Manufacture of Mungo, &c., R. Suckle, Shipley.—15th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

The rags are cut into strips by being pressed against a revolving knife, in order to cut out the linings and seams.

5388.    Blinds for Windows, <fcc., II. A. Goodall, London.—15th November, 1883. fid.

Relates to the combination of parts consisting of an expanding wood blind or screen and longitudinal grooved or channelled protective guiding and strengthening rails attached to side supports, and receiving within suitable grooves or channels the ends of the d strips forming

blind.

5390.    Sewing Machine, T. J. Denne, Selhurst.—15th November, 1883. fid.

The object is to enable sewing machines to sew both heavy and light materials, and it consists in the general construction of the mechanism.

5391.    Excluding the Entrance of Draughts, Rain, <fec., to Rooms, J. Warhurst, London.—loth November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to the novel adaptation to hinged doors, ements, and the like of a base board or shutter for hiding draughts, rain or dust, which is actuated as the door is opened or closed to rise and fall in a direct perpendicular line.

5394.    Sewing Machines, J. Imray, London.—15th November, 1883.—(A communication from S. Y. Love, Pittsburg, U.S.) 6d.

This relates to mechanism for imparting a vertical reciprocal movement and also a horizontal reciprocation tra nsversely to the line of feed of the fabric to the needle of the sewing machine, so as to cause it to descend alternately in opposite sides of the line of feed when required to produce a button-hole stitch or other ornamental stitch, the mechanism which effects the transverse movement being capable of being thrown out of action when the machine is used for straight stitching.

5395.    Pumps, J. Imray,

1883.—(A communication from G. Hanarte, Belgium.)—(Not proceeded with.)

This relates to the arrangement of the passages in pumps employed for forcing liquids to a great height or with a great velocity, so that a gradual increase in speed is imparted to the liquid, retarding it as it passes through the valves, so that it acts on them mostly by pressure.

5396.    Heels for Boots and Shoes, IF. II. Stevens, Leicester.—15£7i November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

The heels are made by compressing vegetable fibre

<*/

or leather waste in moulds, atop piece of leather being applied to the heels by placing it in the bottom of the mould.

5397.    Drills, &c., J. Harrington, Coventry.—Ibth November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

steel of circular section has two opposite gitudinal V-shaped grooves, and when formed into a drill these grooves facilitate the clearance of the metal cut.

5398.    Drying Apparatus, C. F. C. Morris, T. II. Baker, and IF. Francis, London,—loth November,

3.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

This consists in a conical kiln having a perforated floor to receive the material to be dried, and. through which a hot blast is caused to pass.

5399. Steam Engines, A. M. Clark, London.—15th November, 1883.—(A communication from A. Eber-hart, Philadelphia, U.S.) 6d.

This consists in a steam engine having two cyi d to the arc of a circle, and two pistons i cylinder, the pistons being coupled in pairs (one in each cylinder) by curved rods completing the circle. These rods are connected to radius arms with sliding crossheads connected by rods to crank pins. Four valves control the inlet and outlet ports of the two cylinders, and are connected in pairs by rods, which are geared together.

5400. Telephone Apparatus, M. Kotyra, Cardiff.— 15th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

A permanent, or electro-magnet of C-shape has fixed on to the ends of its poles other smaller permanent or electro-magnets.

5402.    Separating and Collecting Dust from Air, A. Lund and T. F. Hind, Preston.—15th November,

3.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

A revolving cylindrical drum is covered with cloth and enclosed in a case, which the dust-laden air is caused to enter by suction or fan pressure, and, passing through the cloth, deposits the dust thereon, such dust being removed as deposited by a revolving brush.

5403.    Propelling Ships, &c., IF. Lockwood, Sheffield. —15th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

The blades, vanes, or arms of the propellers are made hollow, and have one or more openings formed therein, through which water, supplied by suitable means to a hollow shaft, on which the blades are mounted, is caused to issue, and cause the propeller to revolve.

Transmission of Power, IF. Ross,

November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

This relates to the employment of a reciprocating piston, provided with means for actuating a shaft both on its up and

shaft to rotate always in the same direction.

5405.    Steering Gear, J. Hastie, Greenock.—16(It November, 1883. 8d.

This relates to combined hand and steam or hydraulic steering gear, the main object being to disconnect the hand steering gear when power is used, or vice versd. The steering wheel is on a shaft, with right and left-handed screws, which carry two blocks, guided on rods, connected by links to a crosshead on the rudder stock. Pins which connect the links to the blocks are removed when power is used, and a light frame is fixed on the guide rods, and guides the free ends of the links. A brake block ments of the rudder is described, and also a special connection for the chains for transmitting motion from the power gear to the rudder stock.

5406.    Gas Motor Engines, G. G. Picking and IF.

Hopkins, London.-—16th November, 1883. 6d.

The pressure in the cylinder resulting from the explosion of the charge is caused to act upon the piston, and move it about one-fifth of its stroke before the piston commences to compress the charge, f which purpose the exhaust or a discharge port is kept open, or a partial vacuum is formed in the cylinder to utilise the further expansion of the gases therein.

5407. Obtaining Copper from Cupreous Solutions, A. P. Price, London.—16th November, 1883. 2d.

This consists in effecting the precipitation of copper from solutions of the same, by the employment of metallic zinc when in a fine state of division.

5409.    Manufacture of Wire Netting, H. J. Haddan’ London.—16th November, 1883.—(A communication from E. Kretschmann, Leipzig.) 6d.

This relates to machines for manufacturing wire netting with hexagonal cells or meshes; and it consists in a system of spindles formed of semi-cylindrical parts, which cover each other in pairs, and are adapted to rotate together, in order to perform the meshing process, the upper spindles of each pair carrying bobbins, from which the wire to form one part is wound off, while the lower spindles are perforated at their rear, and receive the wire to form the other part from bobbins.

5410.    Umbrellas, H. J. Haddan, London.—8th November, 1883.—(A communication from Knauth and Co., R. Geisler, and IF. Jaedicke, Germany.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

This relates to

6411. Petroleum Heating Apparatus, R. Schulz, Dresden.—16£A November, 1883. fid.

Relates partly to the method leum or other hydrocarbon into spray through an ejector, by means of compressed air or steam, for the purpose of attaining a rational perfect combustion in heating arrangements.

5441. Stoppering and Discharging Apparatus for Bottles, G. C. and A. G. Thompson, Sheffield.— ier, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d. tes to a cap with a discharging nozzle for forcing internal stoppers of bottles and discharging the contents thereof.

5412. Mounts or Holders for Glasses, Jugs, &e. , J. Dawson and T. F. D. Heap, London.—16th November, 1883.—( Void.) 2d.

This relates to a frame for holding glasses or jugs, the frame having a spring clip to grasp the rim of the vessel, and being provided with a handles for lifting or holding the same.

5413.    Retaining Stud for Scarfs, J. Dalziel, Glasgow.—16th November, 1883. 4d.

This relates to a stud or clip to be applied to the collar stud, and which is formed so as to previ cktie rising or riding up the collar

5414.    Beds, J. G. Davison, Sunderland.—16(It November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

This relates to a folding bed, the head of which is fixed to the floor or wall of the room in which it is placed.

5415.    Lawn Mowers, G. IF. Carr, New York.—16th November, 1883.—(A communication from Messrs. Carr and Hobson, Limited, New York.) fid.

Relates, First, to the method of mounting and fixing the handle; Secondly, to the construction of the rotary cutter or wiper; Thirdly, to fixing the cross bar and the back regulating roller by a single bolt at each end; Fourthly, to the driving gear; Fifthly, to means for regulating the position of the fixed blade or cutter in relation to the rotary cutter or wiper.

5416.    Production of Zinc, A. P. Price, London.—16(A November, 1883. 2d.

The inventor claims the manufacture or prod of zinc by first volatilising the zinc contained in ores, compounds, or products, and then condensing the converting the zinc so ob-

5452. Smelting Ores, <fcc., S. R. Smyth, London.—19th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Consists in the application of liquid hydrocarbon and liquid oxyhydro-compounds; also liquid alkali

compounds to the smelting of iron and other ores and metals, by first accumulating and afterwards atomising nd distributing the same either by hot or cold air blast; or by atomised water or vapour, or superheated steam, or by carburetted hydrogen or carbonic oxide gas, or by oxygen or hydrogen, or any or either of them alone or combined acting as carriers.

5418. Unteaseling Woollen Fibres, IF. A. Barlow, London.—16th November, 1883.—(A communication fromF. Overend, Paris.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

passed between rollers held slightly apart, so that the teasel in its whole state cannot pass between them without being subjected to pressure, but the wool on account of its elasticity will pass through the space without being retarded in its course.

5420. Tool Holders for Lathes, &c., M. C. Despard, Esher.—17th November, 1883.—(A communication from G. S. Jones, Cawnpore.) fid.

Relates to the construction of tool holders with a cylindrical swivel head carrying an internal plug through slots, in both of which the tool is to be passed, and with a screw bolt to screw through the stem of the swivel head and bear against the plug, so as to grip and hold the tool, and also with a separate screw nut to to the exterior of the stem of the swivel head and lock the swivel head to the shank.

. Closet-pan Apparatus, E. Hurley, Birmingham. —17th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d. This relates to an apparatus in which the urine is separated from the solid excrement, and by raising valve the urine passes from an upper beneath in which the solid matter collects, and thereby flushes the same.

5422. Dynamo-electric Machines and Electromotors, Sir C. T. Bright, London.—17th November, 1883. 6d.

This relates to improvements of patent 2280, of 1883, and consists in dividing an iron shaft into two parts by a piece of brass, and expanding the magnetic parts of the shaft at each of their central ends into discs, from the outer ends of which spaces are cut dividing the discs, for a suitable depth, into radial arms, which thus form poles N on one side of the non-magnetic division and 8 on the other. The armature coils are stationary.

and

working level is obtained.

5426. Closing Vessels, Doors, tic., Air-tight, E. Leinert, Dresden.—17(7t November, 1883.—(Not ceeded with.) 2d.

This apparatus consists of an upper and a lower plate, the latter being provided with means for turning it, and having a spiral coil which gears with teeth on sliding arms in the top plate, so as to cause the arms to move outwards from the centre, and by pressing on a packing ring, close the opening to which it is applied quite air-tight.

5428. Manufacture of Sulphuretted Hydrogen, &c., D. Urquhart, Westminster.—17th November, 1883. id.

The inventor claims, First, the manufacture of sulphuretted hydrogen and monohydrates of the alkaline earths by first roasting the sulphates of such earths to sulphides, and then treating these with superheated steam; and Secondly, in the manufacture of monohydrates of the alkaline earth in the manner described in first claim, the use of a cupola furnace with hearth in a bath of molten metal.

5431. Steam Engines, IF. P. Thompson, Liverpool.— 17th November, 1883.—(A communication from F. D. Detroit.) 8 d.

n arrangement of the steam the latter shall be on a level

steam and simulta-

steam

•y heater and a condenser, the propor-id distributing valves aDd their ports to their seat ports, and their adjustments as to times of opening and closing in relation to each other main exhaust valves, being such or being capa such adjustment that the steam, after passing th main exhaust valves, is distributed to the auxiliary heater and to the condenser in such a way that the feed-water is heated to a temperature corresponding very nearly with the terminal temperature of the steam in the cylinder at the time of release, and without causing any increase of back pressure or variation in the exhaust line upon an indicator diagram taken from the engine.

5433. Velocipedes, <fcc., E. C. F. Otto, London.—17th November, 1883. 8d.

Relates, First, to the employment of a swinging frame; Secondly, the mode of driving and steering by means of clutches and brakes in connection with the driving wheels, which are also steering wheels; Thirdly, the employment of the undulating or helical tensional spokes of highly elastic steel or other suitable metal.

5434. Ventilating and Filtering the Air of Carriages, Bedsteads, &c., IF. A. Barlow, London.— 17th November, 1883.—(A communication from E. Sandow, Hamburg.) fid.

Relates to providing for the supply of filtered air or r impregnated with medical ingredients to the interior of carriages, invalid chairs, or bedsteads by means of an improved covering attached to the frame of the carriage roof or on top of the invalid chair or bedstead.

5435. Transmitting Motion to Machinery, P. A. Doliis, Paris.—17th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.)

This relates to the introduction of a regulator accumulator in the course of the transmission of power to the machinery to be actuated, so as to take up irregularities. For animal power the regulator may consist of a train of gearing arranged to wind by springs, and for wind or other engines an air pump and reservoir may be employed.

Waste materials containing treated with sulphuric acid and heated for the purpose of converting such matters into sugar. The mixture is then allowed to cool down to the temperature requisite for fermentation, by which fermentation carbonic acid is developed, and may be utilised for obtaining motive power, or for any other purpose to which it is applicable. The residue forms a valuable material for manure.

5437. Filter-press Plates, J. Pcdder, Lancashire.— 17th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded, with.) 2d.

This relates to attaching filter cloths by metallic igs to the press plates, the joints of which are made th roll-packing or other flexible material laced to the outer flange of the recessed joint.

5438.    Apparatus for Ventilation, T. E. Bladon and IF. Matthews, Birmingham.—17th November, 1883. 2d.

This consists of a fan with inclined vanes working in connection with a tube for conveying away vitiated air or vapour, the fan being driven by clockwork or other motor.

5439.    Bicycles, &c., J. and J. Bradshaw, ingan.— 17th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d,

This relates to gearing for producing speed or power as required.

5440.    Rollers for Grinding Mills, IF. R. Lake, London.—17th November, 1883.—(A communication from F. Prokop, Bohemia.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Conical rollers with straight grooves are arranged with the small end of one near the large end of the other, and with their axes slightly inclined in relation to each other, whereby the sharp edges of the groo in the rollers, whose adjacent surfaces move in opposite direction, meet along the contact line of the two rollers in an inclined position and produce a shearing action.

5442.    Pianofortes, H. J. Haddan, London.—19th November, 1883.—\A communication from E. Hoflng-hoff, Bavaria.) 6d.

Consists in a contrivance which enables the piano player to change at will the original tone of the piano into the tone of the harp or other musical instruments by treading on a pedal made for this purpose.

5443.    Pressure Gauges, II. J. Hadda.n, London.— 19th November, 1883.—(A communication from L. Carton, El Kseur, Algeria.—(Not proceeded with.

2d.

The gauge is provided with adjustable contact stops, so as to signal the maximum and minimum pressures.

5444. Examining the Germinative Properties of Grain, &c., II. J. Haddan, London.—19th November 1883.—\A communication from 0. Coldewe and L. Schonjahn, Brunswick.) (id.

Relates to the process of producing or promoting the germination of grains or seeds by causing the water and other substances necessary for the development of the germ to penetrate the grain or seeds in form of vapour.

5446. Facilitating the Coupling and Uncoupling of Railway' Vehicles, G. IF. von Nawrocki, Berlin. —19th November, 1883.—(A communication from P. Madsen, Berlin.) 6d.

to appliances for facilitating the coupling pling of the draw-bars and safety chains of railway vehicles, and consists chiefly of a coupling chain, a suitable system of levers to be governed from the side of a vehicle, and screw mechanism serving for the tightening of the coupling.

5448. Telephonic or Microphonic Apparatus, H.

H. Lake, London.—19th November, 1883.—(A communication from J. Berliner, Hanover.) 6d. lis relates to a method of completing the circuit through pulverised or granulated material which is a conductor of electricity, and is used under pressure, either in a dry state, or moistened with water or other suitable liquid.

5449. Instruments for Ascertaining Levels, A. J. Boult, London.—19th November, 1883.—(A communication from C. C. Goetze, Germany.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to the construction of an apparatus which can be folded up and placed in a case or in the pocket.

5450. Preparation of Organic Bases suitable for the Manufacture of Dye Stuffs, &c., J. H. Johnson, London.—19£7t November, 1883.—(A communica.-tionfrom A. Kern, Switzerland.) id.

The inventor claims, First, the preparation of tetra-methlyldiamidobenzhydrol and of tetraethyldiamido-benzhydrol by reducing the corresponding ketone biises (or tetraalkalised para diamido compounds of benzophenone) in alcohol solution with zinc dust and tic alkalies ; Secondly, the preparation of “leuko-bases ” (or amido compounds of triphenylmethane and analogous hydrocarbons suitable for the manufacture of dye stuffs or colouring matters) by the condensation of tetramethyldiamidouenzhydrol or of tetraethyl-diarnidobenzhydrol witli primary, secondary,or tertiary aromatic amines.

5382. Compound Marine Engines, IF. B. Thompson, Dundee.—15t7t November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

The object is to balance the driving power applied to the fore and aft cranks of triple compound marine engines. Over each cylinder corresponding to the high and low-pressure cylinders of ordinary compound engines a high-pressure cylinder is placed, and both receive steam direct from the boiler, and alternately exhaust the same into the casing of the second cylinder, whence it passes to the largest or lowest pressure cylinder.

Bolton.—20 (A

footstep at the bottom.

5457.    Washing and Drying Grain, J. G. Walker, Leith.—29th November, 1883. 6d.

The inventor claims in the treatment of grain to remove the outer rind or husk, the effecting of this object as a continuous operation or as a continuous series of operations by the combined use of washing and drying apparatus.

5458.    Boots and Shoes, St. J. V. Day, Glasgoic.—20th November, 1883.—(A communication from J. Pop-ham, Montreal.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to the means of forming the seams.

5459.    Breech-loading Guns and Gun Looks, H. J. Haddan, London.—20th November, 1883.—(A communication from J. P. Burkhard and F. Novotuey, Minnesota, U.S.) 8d.

The objects of the invention are, First, to provide means for automatically cocking the hammers when the barrels of breech-loading guns are tilted up at the breech to receive the cartridges ; Secondly, to provide means for cocking and locking the hammers when the barrels are tilted ; Thirdly, to provide means for unlocking the hammer when required to discharge the gun; Fourthly, to provide simple and compact locks, composed of few parts all secured to the side plates of the gun and adapted to be removed therefrom; Fifthly, to provide safety mechanism to prevent premature explosion in case the sear should break or become accidentally disengaged from the hammer; Sixthly, to provide automatic indicators, so situated as to enable the gunner to ascertain instantly whether the right or left or both hammers are locked ; and lastly, to provide means for securing the barrels to the stock.

5460. Hammers for Pianofortes, H. J. Haddan, London.—20(7i November, 1883.—(A communication from M. Jungcr, Leipzig.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d. Relates to the general construction of the hammer.

Unfermented Drinks, E. Perrins, Birmingham. —20(A November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d. The object is to manufacture unfermented drinks from malt and hops.

5463. Heating Beer, <fcc., E. Birch and P. J. Catterall, Manchester.—20th November, 1883.—(Alot proceeded with.) 2d.

The object is to enable hot or cold beer or other liquid to be drawn at will from the same barrel or vessel by the use of one and the same pump or lift. 5462. Railway Signalling, II. Morris, Manchester.— 20th November, 1883. 6d.

This relates to that class of signalling shifting rail is employed to complete th

5469. Secondary Batteries, F. M. Lyte, London.— 20th November, 1883.    4d.

Relates to improvements on patent No. 3452 of 1883, and consists in supporting the active material, formed as studs or prisms, on plates of non-conducting material, having interposed between them a plate of lead, to which the studs are secured in suitable manner. The circuit connections are made to the lead platos.

5471. Telegraph and Telephone Lines, die., H. H. Lake, London.—20th November, 1883.—{A communication from J. C. Chambers, Cincinnatti, and N. C. Qridley, Chicago, U.S.) (id.

Consists in combining with the working circuit one or more induction wires arranged in electrical proximity to the circuit and insulated from it, the supports, and the earth, so as not to form a closed circuit. The induction wires are preferably bare.

5472. Electric Lamps, II. H. Lake, London.—20f/t November, 1883.— {A communication from T. J. McTighc and J. T. McConnell, Pittsburg, Penn., U.S.) 6d.

Consists in providing in an arc lamp a normally open path of low resistance around the arc having two points of closure, one of which is made by the abnormal movement of the armature of the usual regulating helix, and the other by the lower carbon, the latter bei carbon on

etc.

5512. Ship Railways and Carriages, J. B. Eads, London.—24£/i November, 1883. Is.

Relates to the use in connection with ship railways of a rigid lifting platform or dock operated by primary rams and fitted with secondary rams, in combination with a multiple track or section of the line fixed on the lifting platform, and a wheel carriage provided

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From the United States' Patent Office Official Gazette.

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Wilhelm A.

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electrical apparatus, carried on the locomotive itself, and is more particularly intended to replace the present system of “fogging.” Deference is made to patents Nos. 1796 of 1881, and 1527 of 1882.

5464.    Producing Coloured Photographs, &c., A. Kepler, A. M. de Premion, and A. Pigeau, London. 20th November, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to the preparation of a solution or compound.

5465.    Meter for Electric Currents, A. M. Clark, London.—20th November, 1883.—{A communication from L. Hours-Humbert, Besanpon, France.) 6d.

This relates to an instrument for measuring the time during which the current passes through any or all of the translating devices in the working circuit; and consists of a combination of a rotating contact arm, actuated by clockwork, and a series of contact points; these, with the arm, being in sub-derivations of the primary derivations. An electro-magnet advances a registering apparatus every time the contact arm closes a circuit.

5466.    Indicating and Registering Apparatus for Looms, &c., /. II. Johnson, London.— 20th November, 1883.—(A communication from Ateliers de Construction de Mwlhov.se, Mulhouse,. Alsatia.)—{Not proceeded with.) 4d.

Relates to electrical apparatus for automatically indicating the times during which the machines have been at work and stopped.

5467- Plastic Compounds, M. Mackay, London.—20th November, 1883. 4d.

The compositions are manufactured from a mixture of gum sandrac or gum kauri (singly or in combination) shellac, with or without rosin, carbon or asplial-tum, and asbestos, or other fibrous material or silicates.

5468. Rivetted Joints, J. A. Rowe, North Shields.— 20th November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to the construction of rivetted joints between plates of steam boilers, receivers, or other vessels required to resist internal or external pressure, so as to leave between the edges of the adjoining plates a space sufficient to allow of caulking the edges of the plates against the butt straps with a closely pitched line of rivets next edges, thereby' obtaining a thoroughly tight joint with a large percentage of strength.

ng broken by the pressure of the upper . the lower one.

5473. Manufacture of Oxide of Zinc, A. P. Price, London.—21sf November, 1883. 2d.

This relates to the manufacture and production of oxide of zinc by effecting the combustion and oxidation of metallic zinc contained in the combustible and other gaseous products arising from the treatment of ores, compounds, or products containing zinc.

5475. Steam Hammers, J. Cochrane, Barrhead, A.B.— 21st November, 1888. 6d.

Relates to the making of the edges of the valve and of the ports by which steam enters the top of the hammer cylinder of an angular form, combined with arrangements for turning the valve independently of its longitudinal movements.

5477.    Tenterino or other Machines for Finishing Fabrics, J. Chadwick, Littleborough.—21«( November, 1883. 4d.

The object is to improve the machine so that the selvedges of the fabric will be dried in about the same time as the middle portion.

5478.    Apparatus for Cleaning Boots and Shoes, T. 0. Jones, London.—21s£ November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to the arrangement of circular brushes and polishing cylinders.

5479.    Preventing the Tearing of Material in

which Button-holes are Formed, H. H. Lake, London.—21st November, 1883.—{A communication from E. Hambuger and J. Koch, Detroit, U.S.)    4d.

The inventor claims as a means for preventing the material around button-holes from tearing, a corrugated wire secured between the lining and fronts of the article, and arranged to present one of the corrugations in front of each button-hole of a series, the opposite portion of the wire being bent upon itself at right angles.

5480.    Food for Young Animals, C. Simpson, London. —21 st November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to the treatment of the celestial bean (Soja Hispada) to obtain a substitute for milk.

5481.    Hand Fire Engines, S. Bauer, Bonn.—22nd

November, 1883.    6d.

The object is the production of a continuous or nearly continuous stream of water from the jet after a few strokes of the pump piston; also the means of readily connecting and disconnecting the said pump to a tank or other suitable reservoir.

5482.    Electrodes used in the Electro-amalgamation of Gold and Silver, &c., R. Barker, gun., London.—22nd November, 1883.—(Not proceeded icith.) 2d.

It is proposed to face the electrodes with platinum, gold, or aluminium.

5483.    Obtaining Thiocyanates from the Material used for the Purification of Gas, II. J. Haddan, London.—22nd November, 1883.—(A communication from Dr. S. Marasse, Berlin.)—(Not proceeded with.)

2d.

Relates to improvements in the general treatment of residues from gas works.

5484.    Tricycles, J. G. Parker, London.—22nd November, 1883. 2d.

Consists, First, in the combination of a pair of adjustable treadles adapted to bo operated in a standing position, with a double crank shaft, and a pair of connecting rods ; Secondly, the combination of a pair of adjustable treadles adapted to be operated in a standing position, with a spring, a double crank shaft, and a pair of connecting rods.

5485.    Elastic Pad for Wet Stamps, E. J. Walsh, Halifax.—22nd November, 1883.—(A communication from A. Callewaert, Brussels.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates principally to a pad composed of an elastic paste.

5486.    Velocipedes, T. Lawson, Rochester.—22nd November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to improvements in the steering gear.

5488. Furnaces for Heating Ingots, &c., E. W. Richards, Middlesbrougli-on-Tees.—22nd November, 1883. 8d.

Relates to the use for heating ingots and other articles, such as slabs of steel, in an equable manner, of a furnace provided with chambers to contain the articles to be heated in a vertical position, and so connected with one another and with the source of heat that the heating medium is caused to travel over the entire length of each ingot or article to be heated.

5489. Treatment of Alkaline Salts at High Temperature, &c., C. A. Faure, Paris.—22nd November, 1883.    6d.

This relates to improvements on patent 6058 of 1882, and consists in forming the reverberatory vessel of compressed magnesia and imbedding in the bottom of the pan electric conductors, terminating at the sides in pole pieces, to which are attached the conducting mains.

5490.    Velocipedes, <fcc., N. Salomon, London, and A. G. Meeze, Redhill.—22nd November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to improvements in the construction of velocipedes in which central three-throw cranks are used for driving the machine.

5491.    Cutting, Gumming, and Perforating Letter, Note, and Memorandum Forms, B. C. Scott, London.—22nd November, 1888.—{Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to mechanism, tho construction and combination of which is designed for the purpose of producing out of a continuous length or roll of paper, novel designs or forms of letter, note, or memorandum forms, which are self-contained, and can be used for the purpose of correspondence through the post or otherwise, without separate enclosure or envelope.

5492.    Affixing Postage Stamps, Labels, &c., J. C. S. Wallace, London.—22nd November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to the construction of apparatus for damping and affixing the stamps.

5494.    Sugar-cane Mills, F. M. Rogers, London.— 23rd November, 1883.—(A communication from A. Leblanc, Cuba.) 6d.

Relates, First, to tho arrangement of rollers; Secondly, the position of injecting knives or chests on the underside only of the bagass, the knife having two or moro chambers, and the openings being oblique, so as to prevent the retention of acid liquid ; Thirdly, the arrangement of brake by which both ends of the roller can be slackened or tightened up at the same time.

5495.    Looms, T. II. Blamires, Huddersfield.—23rd November, 1883. 6d.

Relates to the combination of the warp beam and delivery roller or drum arranged in such manner that the warp beam is resting upon and in contact with tho “letting-off” roller or drum, for the purpose of unwinding and delivering the warp with uniform regularity, notwithstanding the varying diameter of the warp beam.

5497. Preserving Milk, Cream, (fee., R. Ilornby, Notting Hill.—28rd November, 1883.—{Void.) 2d. Relates partly to the mode of condensing the milk,

5498.    Bicycles, E. K. Dutton, Manchester.—23rd November, 1883.—{A communication from J. Lewis.)— {Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to the steering gear of bicycles.

5499.    Gloves, L. Rogers, London.—23rd November, 1883. —(Provisional protection not allowed.) 2d.

The glove is provided with a pocket for containing a railway ticket or money.

5500.    Production of Mineral Phosphates from Slag, <fec., C. D. Abel, London.—23rd November, 1883.—{A communication from J. Brandi, Berlin.)— {Not proceeded with.) 4d.

This invention is based on the treatment of phosphate of iron by means of chloride of calcium at a high temperature, and if necessary, of the presence of air or steam.

5501.    Book Sewing Machines, R. Frank, Hamburg.— 23rd November, 1883. lOd.

Relates, First, to the employment of a number of needles operating in combination with one shuttle; Secondly, to the arrangement of such needles in sets, which alternately come into operation; Thirdly, to means for operating successively the needles belonging to the same set; Fourthly, to the employment of a reciprocating needle plate; and Fifthly, to means for facilitating the passage of the needles through tho paper by puncturing or pricking tho same before the needles come into action thereon.

5502.    Blast Furnaces, G. G. M. Hardingham, London. —23rd November, 1883.—(A communication from L. D. York, Portsmouth, U.S.) 6d.

The inventor claims in combination with the blast furnace and air-heating stove and its connections for driving heated air into the blast furnace, a gas producing source and stove and their connections, for driving the gas at a high temperature into the blast furnace.

5503.    Telegraphic and Telephonic Apparatus, H. H. Lake, London.—23rd November, 1883.—{A communication from F. Van Rysselberghe, Schaerbeck, Belgium.) 8d.

This relates to combinations and arrangements of telephonic and telegraphic apparatus by which ordinary telegrams sent by the Morse, Wheatstone, or other telegraphic apparatus, and telephonic conversations may be simultaneously transmitted by tho samo wire or wires over long distances.

5504.    Electrical Cut-outs, F. G. Howard, Crickle-wood.—24th November, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.)

•V.

The circuit is completed through mercury, and this being released by a plug when the current becomes abnormal, flows away and breaks the circuit.

5505. Obtaining Volatile Hydrocarbons from Coal Gas, &c., E. Dreic, London.—24th November, 1883.— (Void.) 2d.

In extracting light hydrocarbons for coal or shale gas the inventor causes the gas to bubble through, or pass in close contact with heavy oil, but the gas is caused to be in a greatly compressed state while in contact with the heavy oil.

5506. Non-alcoholic Beverages, A. C. L. Weigel, Brighton.—24th November, 1883.—(Not proceeded with.) 2d,

Relates to manufacturing non-alcoholic beverages from grapes.

5508.    Checking the Receipt of Money in Public Vehicles, &c., B. C. Scott, London.—24th November, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to the construction of a portable box or case designed for containing rolls or continuous strips of blank paper which can be printed upon, delivered and severed intermittently, and given to passengers riding in public vehicles or persons entering places of amusement as cheques for the receipt of money.

5509.    Miners’ Lamps, E. Evans, Llanrwst.—24t/i November, 1883. 6d.

Consists partly of a cylinder enclosing a large air space, and suspended by an easily-fused or easily-burned connection, placed near the wire gauze on the inside, in such manner, that if gas begins burning in the inside, the link shall be destroyed, and thus the connection shall be broken, and all intercourse between the lamp and combustion chamber and the outside air shall be cut off.

5511. Cigar-holders, Cigarette-holders, and Pipes, E. Edwards, London.—24th November, 1883.—(A communication from F. Bailac, Toulouse.)—(Not proceeded with.) 2d.

Relates to providing a paper cylinder containing cotton wool saturated with astringent substances acting as antidotes to the nicotine.

with an adjustable frame or cradle, whereby the weight of the vessel when lifted on its cradle may he transferred from the secondary rams to the wh carriage and uniformly distributed and maintained thereon.

5513.    Flues, <fcc., R. Evans, London.—24th November, 1883. {Void.) 2d.

The flues are arranged for downward draught, all those of one building, or block of buildings, descending to a channel below, which is in communication with an upcast shaft.

5514.    Looms, A. P. Dickinson and J. Conlong, Blackburn.—24th November, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.)

2d.

The object is to stop the loom automatically when a float or break in the cloth occurs.

5520. Burners for Increasing the Luminosity of Gas Flames, F. Siemens, Dresden.—26th November, 1883. 6d.

Consists in gas burners wherein the gas issues in a series of small jets, in inclosing the lower part of the flame by a metal casing that serves to take up the heat radiated by such inclosed part of the flame, and to impart the same to the gas and air supply.

5523. Velocipedes, W. Hillman, Coventry.—26th November, 1883. 6d.

Relates, First, to the construction of the framework of a tricycle; Secondly, to the construction of a ball pedal.

5524.    Secondary Batteries, G. F. Prescott, Dublin.— 26th November, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.) 2d.

An oxide of lead and metallic lead are intimately mixed together while under a high temperature, the plates being formed, by compression, from the mass.

5525.    Substitute for Bisulphide of Carbon, P. G. W. Typke, W. R. King, T. 1. P. B. Warren, London.—26th November, 1883. 4d.

Relates to tho production from petroleum of a substitute for bisulphide of carbon, and which can be used for extracting oils and anthracine for dissolving gums, resins, and analogous substances for waterproofing and for vulcanising india-rubber, in conjunction with chloride of sulphur or other vulcanising agents.

5529. Electrical Railways and Tramways, J. Enright, London.—26th November, 1884.—{Not proceeded with.) 2d.

The circuit is completed through a number of brushes fixed to an insulated conductor laid along the line, making contact with a conductor fixed on the train, preferably its whole length.

5540. Secondary Voltaic Batteries, A. Khotinsky, London.—21th November, 1883. 4d.

The cell is made in the form of a shallow trough divided by a low zig-zag partition into two compartments having branches interspaced with one another, each compartment containing a sheet or shallow layer of one of the elements, and both being covered over the partition with the exciting liquid.

5545. Microphones, F. J. Semal, Mons, Belgium.— 27th November, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.) 4d.

A small ball of carbon completes the circuit between a number of cylinders of carbon attached to a suitable sound-board, on the board being caused to vibrate. 5562. Generating Electric Currents, A. B. Cunning-hum, London.—28th November, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.) 2d.

To prevent waste tho generating machinery is covered with a hood of non-conducting material. 5584. Electric Igniting Apparatus, II. J. Haddan, London.—3Oth November, 1883.—{A communication from F. Witte, Vienna.) 6d..

A small elctrophore is provided with a handle and tubes containing blotting paper saturated with thio-alcohol. The flame produced flashes out of a hole in the tube and ignites the wick of a small lamp.

5592. File Wheel for Grinding Cards, E. Duf-riche-Miroude, Paris.—1st December, 1883. 6d.

This relates to the steel blades mounted rollers so as to form file wheels, arranged independently and alternately upon the roller, the first set being made of steel and magnetised on both sides of the angle forming the cutting edge by electricity while working, the second set, also of steel, being shaped on one side only, and having the other side covered with emery.

5623. Detecting Burglars, &c., G. L. Pearson, London.—4th December, 1883.—{Not proceeded with.)

2d.

An electric circuit embracing a revolving lamp outside the house and bells within the house is completed on any of the doors or windows being opened.

5874. Electrical Conductors, R. H. Brandon, Paris. —27th December, 1883.—(A communication from H. F. Campbell, Concord, N.II., U.S.A.) 6d.

The conductor is provided with a covering of insulating material, and this is inclosed within an anti-inductive shield forming an envelope and composed of paramagnetic and diamagnetic substances, tho shield also forms part of a complete electric circuit, independent of the inclosed conductor. The shield may be wound spirally on the cable.

5899. Arrangement of Tiles, &c., for Educational Purposes, D. Clarke, Birmingham, and P. Shra.p-nel, London.—28th December, 1883.—{Complete.) 2d.

This consists in applying tiles to the walls of schools or other buildings, such tiles being decorated with suitable designs for educational purposes.

SELECTED AMERICAN PATENTS.

299,098. Fan Blower, Frederick C. Anderton, San Francisco.—Filed March 7th, 1882.

Claim.—(1) In a fan blower, the combination, with the main fan F, set in line with the blower case, of the two smaller auxiliary fans E, set one on each side of the main fan, and each having one side exposed to the atmosphere without cover, and having blades e, drawing in the air and delivering it to the centre of

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the main fan, as set forth. (2) In a fan blower, the combination of the blower case and annular discs or plates B, having the wide flanges B¹, surrounding the circular openings, the yokes y y, shaft D, central fan F, and side fans E, revolving in the circular openings surrounded by the flanges B¹, substantially as set forth.

299,117. Construction of Electric Machines, Philip Diehl, Elizabeth, N.J.—Filed April 5th, 1883.

Claim.—(1) An electric machine having a driving pulley, in combination with pivottal supports for said machine, and with means for adjusting the height of one of said supports, and thus varying tho tension

of the driving belt for said pulley, substantially described. (2) An electric machine having a drivin pulley, and constructed with a fixed pivottal suppo at one end and an adjustable support at the oth

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combined with means for changing the height of adjustable support, and thus varying the ten of the driving belt for the said pulley, substant as described.

299,467. Electric Circuit Connection, David E Drake, Newark, N.J.—Filed October 4th, 1883.

Claim.—(1) The combination, with a socket contain ing recesses or grooves, and contact strips, formin the terminals of a circuit secured therein, of a plu and raised contact strips secured thereon, an arranged to register with the grooves in the socket, and for the purpose set forth. (2) The combinatio

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with an insulating cup or socket having grooves o in its walls, and contact strips contained therein of a circular plug, raised contact strips secured thereto, and conductors passing through the plug and connected to the contact strips, as and for the purpose specified.

299,470. Self-adjusting Pulley,

Grondahl, Portland, Or eg.—Filed November 24th, 1883.

Claim.- A pulley having a huh 6, with an intermediate ring c, fastened to b by taps or spokes cl c¹, which are fastened to the ring c by keys or pins or other suitable mechanism, and allowed to swing in the

[299.470

D-hub b, the taps or spokes eH eU fastened to d in a similar way as cl cl to c, and d allowed to swing on taps or spokes <jU ell, all substantially as set forth, and for the purposes specified.

CONTENTS.

The Engineer, July 4th, 1884.

Machinery at the Health Exhibition. No. VII.

(Illustrated.)................

The Royal Agricultural Society’s Show at

Shrewsbury ..................

The Midland Railway Works..........

Russian Torpedo Boats. (Illustrated.)......

The Mechanical Aspects of a Steam Trawling

Cruise. (Illustrated.) ............

Colonel Maitland on Heavy Guns ......

New York to Chicago in Eighteen Hours.

(Illustrated.)..................

Railway Matters..........

Notes and Memoranda ......

Miscellanea............

Leading Articles—

The Health Exhibition......

Gas Supply.......... ..

Electric Lighting........

The Railway Half-year......

Traction Engines in Sheffield ..

Literature—

Across the Pampas and Andes The Brazilian Ironclad Riachuelo. (Illus.) .. 11 Volta and Magneto-electric Induction Royal Irish Agricultural Society’s Show

Tenders ................

Letters to the Editor—

Hydraulic Lifts ..........

Prospects of Young Engineers ..

Crystal Palace Exhibition......

Heavy Guns..............

Amalgamated Society of Engineers......13

Water-Tube Boilers ............

Working Titanic Ores............

The Iron, Coal, and General Trades of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and District .. 14

Notes from Lancashire .......... ..

Notes from Sheffield ..'..........

Notes from Scotland..............

Notes from the North of England......

Notes from Wales and Adjoining Counties .. 13 The Patent Journal Abstracts of Patent Specifications. (Illus.).. 18 Abstracts of Patent American Specifications. 18 Paragraphs—

Death of Todhben .....

Cradock Waterworks.....

Naval Engineer Appointments

Yorkshire College .....

School of Mines......* .

The Late Sir William Siemens