was

This

hot water, so that when travelling beneath the surface size of the new surface torpedo boats, and it will probably further stoking is dispensed with, and the engines worked be in favour of partial immersion. Some uncertainty by the steam from the heated water in boiler and reservoir, exists as to the effect of the explosion of her own torpedo This is stated to be sufficient for a run of over twelve miles, upon the submarine boat. This will depend on the inter-At each side of the boat is a horizontal screw worked by vening distance. With the spar torpedo it would not a separate small engine. The revolution of these pro- exceed 30ft., which in most instances would cause the pellers causes the boat to descend horizontally when destruction of the boat. The introduction of the locomo-its buoyancy has been sufficiently reduced by the admission tive torpedo allows the interval to be increased to 300 or of water to an iron tank. The reserve of buoyancy, 400 yards, from which point, if of strong construction, she therefore, brings the boat to the surface when the side would be perfectly secure. There seems to be an idea that screws are stopped. A reducing valve acted on by the the torpedo would be discharged when the boat was subpressure of the water is connected with the supply of merged, but as it is impossible to see ahead when under steam to the small engine, and so controls the depth to water, this must be done at the surface, though the boat which the boat descends. A circular opening on top gives may have been previously running submerged. Theprinciple admittance to the interior, and has a thick glass water- of forcing a boat down against a reserve of buoyancy by tight dome over it, through which the helmsman can see to means of side propellers has advantages, but they must direct his course with an ordinary wheel and rudder. The entail a loss of speed, which is a drawback. Mr. Nordenfelt boat is kept horizontal by means of bow rudders. When considers that horizontal rudders cannot be relied upon to closed up there is sufficient air to supply three men for six act with sufficient quickness to check the downward descent hours without causing discomfort, and therefore Mr. if the boat is allowed to leave the horizontal position, and Nordenfelt has not supplemented this by any storage of hence she might descend beyond a safe depth. This is compressed air or restorative chemicals. This boat was quite possible if the descent was made at high speed and exhibited in Sweden before representatives of different large angle from the horizontal; but with due precautions countries, and the general opinion of ho*⁻ capacity seems to in these respects, we are unable to see why horizontal bow have been favourable. She was then sold to the Greeks and stern rudders could not be made sufficiently sensitive early in the present year, who i< not seem eager to to overcome this danger. Even at the speed the White-practically test her qualities themselves, ough in the head torpedo commences its dive, it is not found to reach presence of a committee Mr. 'fortic n;ell s rgent carried any great depth, owing to the action of its horizontal out the various conditions ii oose But the principal rudders, though it will occur if the angle of descent is object of a submarine boat    a locomotive    large. It may be argued that there is no analogy between

torpedo, and this boat having then :<v.    . ans of doing    the two cases, as the impetus of the one would    be so much

so, the Greeks desired this rcfight • added before the in excess of the other; but this can be provided for by purchase was concluded. Mr Norder.felt' original idea increased rudder power to be worked automatically in a seems to have been to have a 1 be -n. iv outside of the similar manner to the torpedo.

boat forward, in which the torpedo sho e be placed, its We have already alluded to most of the    uses of an

discharge being effected when desired ¹    ply admitting    offensive nature to which submarine boats can    be applied,

air to the engines. The torpe lo woulc then propel itself There remains that of coast and harbour defence, for out of the tube, to which the •s de, had B access. This which they are eminently suitable. If stationed at all the would, of course, entail some s;v • ru o-’ levers worked from principal ports there would be little fear of hostile fleets the interior through a watertight j; at. We believe a tube annoying us in the fashion so graphically depicted in the was sent to Greece but proved too ’■ n:• ’>. and we are pages lately of the St. James’s Gazette. unaware whether any ejecting • or .• • ,enl las since been In this country we are proverbially backward in taking applied to her. There are several objections to any up new inventions connected with the science of war, how-external fitting, besides involving a loss of speed and ever meritorious; and we have not departed from our liability to damage. The best place would be to build the traditional policy in this instance. We hope, however, the tube inside the stem, with an orifice similar to the bow eminent naval and military authorities who have expressed discharge of the Polyphemus; and it is a pity this did not approval of Mr. Nordenfelt’s design will exert some influ-form a portion of the original design. When we are told ence to get the matter taken up by our Government, as we a locomotive torpedo is carried outside and discharged are convinced that in future wars submarine boats will be mechanically, we naturally ask what success has attended found capable of efficient and practical service. Mr. this plan; but up to the present we have not heard the Nordenfelt’s new 18-knot boat will probably beat South-result. Such experience, however, seems highly desirable, ampton early next year. The results to be obtained will seeing that Mr. Nordenfelt has built larger boats to carry be looked for with much interest. The engines—to indi-two tubes in a similar manner.    cate some 1300-horse power—are, we believe, complete ;

On Greece obtaining the boat we have described, and the hull, built by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, Turkey ordered two of the larger ones, which, we believe, must be nearly ready for launching.

have been delivered, and should be glad to know whether We cannot conclude these remarks without adverting to torpedo practice from them has been carried out. There h new submarine boat which has just been exhibited is no doubt, however, Mr. Nordenfelt has praci r ally ; in the West India Docks. Not having had an opportunity demonstrated that submarine boats are not imj Lie. of inspecting her, we can only deal in a general way with though the fact of their being able to travel at fixed to eatures of this design as described elsewhere. Subdepth below the surface for some hours does not const ‘ o. mersion appears to be effected by altering the displace-their principal merit. The difficulty of keeping a exact raent by making the boat to a certain extent telescopic, course under water has not been overcome. It r be T does not commend itself to our judgment, as slight kept approximately by compass, but not sufficiently oju y to the mechanism by which this is accomplished accurate to allow such a boat to discharge a torpedo befoi> ;ght prevent its action. Propulsion is given by electric coming to the surface to verify its position. I ib j mot* rs worked by storage batteries, which greatly limits merging the boat until only the glass dome is abovt aer . sphere of operations of the boat. We gather that no she becomes almost invisible, and could thus approa< ! ■    . gs for the working of torpedoes have yet been pro

little chance of being observed. At night it would be i Med, and therefore we can only look upon this boat as in impossible to detect her, owing to the absence of Mse, a p.e'iminary stage in which she has shown her capability sparks, or escaping steam, even with the aid of the .u    , king and rising to the surface with facility. Her

powerful electric light. In this respect she    a    fur > r trials may, however, develope attributes of addi-

decided advantage over the ordinary torpedo-bof and tional value, and we shall be curious to see if they are her employment in this condition will, we believe, realised, prove of greater value than any power of complete mergence. In bad weather, benefit may be derived from navigating below the influence of the waves, and discovered protection could be found in temporary disappearance ; but in the latter eventuality a speedy retreat v • aid be the best course to pursue. Words fail to convey an idea of the excitement the chase of such a boat would

cause. Its alternate appearances and disappearances would assimilate to the time-honoured duck hunt with which all the regattas conclude, but without the certainty of capture this sport recognises. Independent of its employment as a torpedo carrier, the submarine boat has a useful field in scouting and reconnoitring duties. For this service a greater speed is required than any of these boats have yet been given. This necessity will be found only for surface running, as swift navigation under water would be attended with considerable risk. In selecting steam as his motive power, Mr. Nordenfelt has acted wisely, as it gives his boat a more extended sphere of operations, and will enable this increased speed to be obtained without difficulty. A store of compressed air would, however, be useful for discharging a torpedo or ejecting it in the ordinary manner; also for purifying the atmosphere when immersion is prolonged. The addition of an air compressor and reservoir therefore seems desirable, provided room could be made for them. Another question is that of lighting the interior, and here electricity at once exhibits overwhelming advantages, as it does not help to vitiate the atmosphere like other illuminants. A small dynamo and set of accumulators would thus be required. Mr. Nordenfelt, however, thinks otherwise, and in the new boat which is now being constructed for him electricity wifi be used. It may be observed that all this involves a much larger construction than any yet produced, and we are prepared to advocate this extension. After all, it is only returning in a great measure to the principal feature in the original design of the Polyphemus, where partial invisibility was secured by a minimum of hull above the surface. Remove the subsequent additions to that vessel, and we have an excellent model on which to l°ng) propelled by an ordinary marine engine and screw ; ¹ construct an improved submarine boat, speed about nine knots. At each end is an iron reservoir for ¹ We must expect to see a reaction against the excessive

no

SUBMARINE BOATS.

The necessity that has been found to increase the size of torpedo boats, whereby they are less able to approach unobserved and escape the heavy fire directed on them, will no doubt tend to bring into greater favour the submarine vessel. The advantages it possesses in the absence of escaping steam, sparks, and, above all, noise, are so great that it seems strange so little has been done to produce something practicable in this direction. Probably the great advance made in the speed of surface boats diverted attention from the matter, as it was felt they entailed less risk, and sailors are not uncommon in a dislike to travelling in the dark. The design, moreover, of all submarine boats has been hitherto faulty in the respect that they depended chiefly on the admission of water to obtain immersion, an operation easily effected, but necessitating apparatus for getting rid of the liquid when required, which has very often failed at the critical moment. As in later designs this has been obviated, and thus brought the submarine vessel within the range of practical consideration, we propose to offer some remarks on the subject. The idea of navigating a vessel under water dates back, as far as is known, to the reign of J ames I., when such a boat, invented by a man named Drebell, tried on the Thames. It is stated to have been propelled by oars, and the inventor had some liquid composition for purifying the air after use. In 1774, a man named Hay appears to have devised a submarine vessel which went down with him in Plymouth Sound, and was not recovered for some time after. About that time Bushnell, an American, was working at the same idea, and his design seems to be the first in which submarine navigation and torpedo warfare were combined. It consisted of a covered-in wooden boat of great strength but very limited size, so that when sealed up it only contained sufficient air to last one man half an hour. An oar working in a watertight joint was used to propel the boat, which was also furnished with a rudder and compass. When desired to go below the surface, water was admitted by a valve. To ascend, it had to be pumped out by hand, and in case of emergency external ballast could be detached. Her principal mission was to affix a torpedo to the bottom of a vessel, which would explode mechanically after a certain interval, or be ignited by means of an electric wire when the boat had retired to a safe distance. No success seems to have attended the operations of this boat, nor can it be wondered at under the above conditions.

Fulton, who was the first to establish steam navigation in America, then took up the subject whilst in France, and also endeavoured to construct a locomotive torpedo, was a failure, but his submarine boat was certainly an improvement on Bushnell’s. It was larger, and carrying compressed air; the crew were enabled to remain under the water some hours. The motive power was defective, being obtained by means of a wheel worked by hand, and after a considerable number of experiments they were brought to an end by the inventor’s early death.

It has been stated that submarine boats were employed by the Russians in the Crimean War; but we believe this was not the case, and that the explosions our ships encountered were due to small stationary mines. About 1860 a submarine boat was built in France which showed a decided advance over her predecessors. Compressed air was utilised as motive power in working an ordinary propeller, and also in expelling water admitted for submergence. A very important addition was a small horizontal screw on the upper part of the boat, the revolution of which regulated and assisted the boat’s vertical movement under water. This, as will be seen presently, is the leading feature of the latest design. The armament of this French boat was a spar carrying a charge of powder. It is to be presumed, however, this boat was not altogether satisfactory, as a model was placed in the Paris Exhibition of 1867, and she does not appear to have had any successors. In the American Civil War submarine boats were employed with great bravery and pertinacity, as in most instances they caused the destruction of their own crews. They were primitive in design, the great object being rapidity of construction, and their equipment usually consisted of spar torpedoes.

Submarine boats seem of late years to have occupied a great deal of attention in Russia. Between 1860 and 1870 experiments were carried out with one designed by a M. Alexandrofsky, in which compressed air was again the motive power. Other types have been tried since, but none seem to have been altogether satisfactory, and did not command sufficient confidence to be employed against the Turkish ships in the last war. Other designs of submarine boats have from time to time been brought forward, but space will not permit of their description, and they have in few cases got beyond the paper stage. We therefore pass on to more recent efforts which have attained sufficient success to warrant a belief that submarine navigation may become an important element in future naval wars.

About eight years ago a submarine boat was built at Liverpool from the design of a Mr. Garrett, the principal feature of which was the storage of chemicals to purify the air after use. In other respects this boat was too small for efficient service. A larger one was then constructed, in which steam replaced manual labour as the motive power. Some interesting experiments were made in her, but she was unfortunately lost off the Welsh coast. Mr. Nordenfelt, the eminent maker of machine guns, then turned his attention to the subject, and has constructed a boat in which most of the defects exhibited by former designs have been corrected. In an interesting lecture delivered at the Royal United Service Institution last February, he gave a detailed description of his boats, and therefore we do not propose to give more than a bare outline of the chief points connected with their practical use. The first boat constructed was 64ft.

Tl TRIANGULATION AND MEASUREMENT OF THE FORTH BRIDGE.

By Reginald E. Middleton, M.I.C.E.

No. Y.

Descriptive remarks for tables.—The following tables are intended to exemplify the means which have been used for arriving at the conclusions quoted in the body of the paper, and to illustrate the amount of accuracy obtained in the base line measurements, the wire measurements, the several forms of standard as compared with the one fixed standard 540ft. in length marked down in the North British Railway and the triangulations; and to these are added a few notes on the strength of the wire used for the wire measurements.

Table No. 1 is a theoretical statement showing the the relative position of certain stations at the time when the first wire measurement was made between stations XVIII. and XIX., and is deduced from a comparison of the 12ft. rods as used for setting out the wire measurements, with the 300ft. standard laid down with the same rods at the time when the base line P O was measured, along with other considerations, the whole argument of which was explained in the body of the paper. The second table is a similar statement, arrived at by comparison of the 12ft. rods with the 10ft. rods supplied to the order of Sir John Fowler. The tables are introduced to show the small difference between the theoretical and actual measurements.

Table No. 3 is a comparison between the first two tables and the length of the base line I P, as triangulated from the Ordnance measurement A C; it shows the original length taken for the base line I P, the final length arrived at, and the probabe error per rod for each dimension.

Table No. 4 is a comparative statement made between the wire measurements from XVIII. to XIX. and the rods, showing the items which went to make up the error of l*5ft. in the above measurements.

Table No. 5 shows the results obtained from a measure-

ment with corrected rods of the distance on the North British Railway, representing 1700ft., or XYIII.-XIX.

Table No. 6 is a comparison between Mr. Meik’s three 10ft. standard rods, taking them in groups of three, of two, and each separately, showing the error in these rods after the lapse of three years from their construction, in 540ft., and in the length of each rod. A similar comparison is made between a 200ft. steel band, the fixed standard of 540ft., and the steel standard in a length of 200ft.

Table No. 7 is a descriptive statement of the wire measurement between stations XVI. and XVIII.,showing the length measured on the railway on three occasions, and the length given by the wire as between XVI. and XVIII. taken on two occasions, the means of the different measurements, and the comparative errors.

Table No. 8 is, first, a statement of the triangulated distance between certain stations; and, secondly, a comparison between triangulated and direct measurement, with the correct lengths and the greatest and least errors.

Table No. 9 is a statement showing the divergence between two distinct measurements made with the same rods, embracing several points; the whole being compared with a similar measurement made from the steel standard.

Table No. 10 is a record of the testing of a length of 14ft. of the steel wire used for wire measurements for extension and endurance.

Table No. 1.

Theoretical correction of stations as deduced from comparison of wire measurements and length of standard rods with 300ft. standard laid down when base line was measured.

Table No. 5.

Statement of Measurements of Distance Set Out for Wire Measurements of 1700ft., ivith the Corrections made and the Results; the Rods used being Corrected to the 540ft. Standard, that is, to a base line measurement of 4013'897/L

Length as measured by rods .....

Deduct correction in rods = JJ in 540ft.

Table No. 9.

Comparison betivecn Measurements ivith 12ft. Standard Rods along Timber Seating of Steel Standard and Steel Standard, including Distances between Fife and Queensferry Skcwbacks.

June 29th, 1885—

1699 lip 2ft

Add correction lor gradient and angle

Table 6.

1699 915

2ft

1700 Oft

B. M.............

Centre of Fife N.W. skewback B. M.............

Centre of Fife S.W. skewbac'k B. M. ..    ..........

Statement of Comparison of Standard Tools with 540ft. Standard and Steel Standard.

Mr. Meik’s rods = 10/f. rods—

Nos 1, 2, and 3 . ,, 1 and 2 ,, 1 and 3 ,, 2 and 3 Average error No. 1 rod is ,, 2 rod is ,, 3 rod is

in.

ft.

ft.

11 = ‘05469 long on fixed standard in 540

ti= ' vi —

§ = -05208

= -05599 ■00118 long ■0 080 „

•00113 „

Comparison.

05338 063 0

jj

jj

i)

Mr. Meik’s rods—

Rods ftiu. longer than steel standard in 200ft.; temperature 65 deg. Rods longer than steel standard in 540ft.

Correction for temperature (13 deg.)

•014067ft.

•042060ft.

.. 277-0734 . .. 336-0260 .

Centre of Queensferry S.W. skewback ..    .. 422-1068 .

B. M..................... 457 0352 .

471-3080 .

JJ

on steel standard

jj

Centre of Queensferry N.W. skewback .. B. M...................

o-oooo

24 0018 57 0812 60-0041 10S-0063 202-7316 204-0219 238-3292 240-9477 252-0219

276- 0258

277- 0779 336-0297 422"1146 457-0365 471-3047

Comparison of steel standard with marks at 24-0018 and 457-0352.

457-0708 24-0812

455-00IS + 2 0690 24-0018 +    -0794

Add correction for temperature from 52 deg. to 70 deg. ..

432-9896

0463

433-0359 433-0334 433-0347

Fife, S.W. .. 202-7253 202-7316 .. Queensferry, S.W. 422-1068 422T146

N.W. 277-0734 277‘0779

Corresponding readings as above

„ N.W. ..    57-6815    57-6812 ..

ft.

On south side measurement is supposed to bo too long to station IX.

Distance from centre of north to centre of south cantilever pier should be 5349⁻5 will be.. ..    5349’2

684-71 1699-91

•34

Table No. 2.

Correction of stations as deduced from comparison of 10ft. standard rods Fowler’s order with 12ft. standard rods and 300ft. standard laid down when base line was measured.

12ft. rods were found to be |3in. too long in 540ft.

12ft. rods when corrected to above standard were shorter than 300ft. standard §in.

Then on south side measurement is too long to station IX.......

Rods long by observation (average) Difference ......

•056127ft.

•055990ft.

•000137ft.

made to Sir John

ft.

•29

200 ft. Steel Band—

Band long in stoel standard ft in 198ft.; temperature 64 deg. Band longer than steel standard in 540ft.

Correction for temperature........

Band long in fixed standard in 540ft.

by observations

•014210ft.

•038800ft.

J>

..    -053010ft.

..    -046870ft.

•006140ft.

Difference .......

"00614ft. = 1-9 deg. of temperature.

Band is therefore standard at 50 "10 deg. temperature, fixed standard being standard at 52 deg.

145-0468 145-0504 .. Correct length 145-0357 145 "0357 ..

145-0334 145-0367 145-0357 145-0357

Table No. 10.

Record of Experiments made on a piece of Wire used for Wire Measurements to Test its Extension arid Breaking Strain. Length of wire tested 14ft.

Diameter of wire.

Weight on wire

lbs.

11

17

Exten

sion.

in.

Permanent extension per cent, of length, per cent. per cent.

Extension per cent, of length.

6S4⁻75ft. becomes 1700-00ft.    „

Correction north at st tion XX. will be .. Correction north at st tion XIX. will be .. Correction north at st tion XVIII. will be Correction north at st tion XVII. will be Correction north at st tion XVI. will be .. Correction north at st tion XV. will be ..

6349-5 6349 26 6S4-72 1699 924

Table 7.

Wire Measurements.

Average temperature in railway, July 16, 62 deg.; July 22, 69} deg.

in place, July 17, 62 deg.; July 22, 65J deg. Average length measured on railway May 7    ..    .. 1970 0625 )

From south face of clips at north end to mark, May 7 1970"0729 >• 1970"0420 A at south face of clips at south end July 16    ..    .. 1969'9905 j

31

23}

29}

36

424

5i|

67 J

weight removed

0-18

0-17

0'19

0T4

0-10

0-25

0-26

o-is

0112

0T20

0-202

0-212

Table No. 3.

Comparison between Statements Nos. 1 and 2 and the Length of Base Line as Triangulated from Ordnance Survey.

On Railway—Distance of mark on wire from mark A —

July 17,    1st reading ..3}in. + 2}in. + lin. north lgig;n

July 22,    1st    ,,    ..    6};iin.    ’’    7

,,    ,,    2nd    ,,    ..    6gin.    '

„    „    3rd    „    ..    6}Jin.

. >.    „    4th    „    ..    6}}in.

Wire strained between clips at XVI. and XVIII.

Clip at XVI. fin. north of position, clip at XVIII. correct. Distance of mark on wire from face of clip at XVI.

2in.

2ftin.

2|in.

2J gin.

July 17,

July 22, 1st reading

,,    ,, 2nd

„    „ 3rd

Comparison of Results.

J)

north

6] Jin. north

2in. north

2}|in. north

ft

15

ft

•037

•148

T85

•240

•296

•370

•481

•185

•481

weight removed

•203

67}

78J

91

I!

weight removed

• • 1ft

91

97}

103}

110}

117}

123

weight removed

•4S1

•555

•629

•240

• • 1 ft -• 1ft .. 1H -- «#

.. 1}

•• 1ft

•721

•758

•795

•832

•888

•925

•351

Length of base line as set out

ft.

>i

)>

)>

)>

corrected, statemont No. 1    ......

),    „ No. 2    ......

triangulated from Ordnance Survey ..

4013- 2

4014- 002 4013-897 4013-693

July Yttli—

Average distance of mark on wire north of Mark A ..    6|j]

Mark A = 1970'0420ft., deduct distance of mark on wire from clip at XVI.

4} fin.

•4010

123

129}

135}

142

148

• • 1ft

.. If

•925

•962

Iff

ft.

Standard too long in 4013ft. original setting, taking Ordnance Survey as correct Standard too short in 4018ft.,

statement No. 1    ......

Standard too short In 4013ft.

statement No. 2    ..    ..    ..

Standard too long in 4013ft. original setting, taking 10ft.

i-ods as standard ......

Standard too short in 4013ft., Statement No. 1 Standard too long in 4013ft., tliangulation from Ordnance

Survey ..........

From this statement it appears that the 10ft. standard rods, and therefore the 640ft. standard used in the Work are shorter than the Ordnance Purvey standard ..    ........

ft.

Ill

.. 0⁻493, error per rod = '00148 = g₀-y

0-509

0 204

0-697

0-105

0*204

- -00152 =

= -00061 =

114

6250

46

6250

J)

5)

= -00209 =

157

)>

jJ

J)

= *00031 =

= ‘00061 =

23

0250 1D‘

46

6250 ln‘

46

per rod..    ..    -C0061 «=• ^ in.

in 1700 ..    .. -0S667 = lftin.

Table No. 4.

Statements of Corrections of Standard Rods compared with Wire Measurements.

Original

statements.

When the wire measurement from XvTil. to XIX. was made, it is calculated that the real distance between the points of supijorts was ..    ..

The wire longer than length measured on North British Railway

would be ................

"When the rods were checked, after this measurement was made, on the 300it. standard laid down when base line was measured, they were found to bo too long, and were shortened until they were shorter than the standard §in. in 300ft. This reduction in the rods reduced the length measured 1700ft. by 1ft. lin., thus making this

length..................

When the 12ft. rods were checked against the 10ft. standard rods—November 13th— the former were found to be too long in 540ft. in., which is in 1700ft. 2fiin.....

Leaves as representing 1700ft.........

Therefore the 10ft. standard rods are longer than Ordnance measurement in 1700ft.    ..

ditto

By statement No. 3 they are shorter than .. If the first figure be used as the starting point for the correction in the second column the rods will be shorter than Ordnance standard in 1700ft........

s, when tried, 1ft. 6in. the measurement; thus the

ditto

shorter

ft. in,

Figures as worked out In body of paper.

in.

■*1699 9J .. fl699 9|f-

1701 31    .„    1701 3ff

1700 2i ..

m ••

1009 111?    --

* This figure was arrived at by actual measurement, t This figure is calculated from known error in rods.

101

1700 5ft

i-ii

1700 1J3

1M

Tr¹!

Add correction for position of clip at XVI. => fin. ..

Length between XVI. and XVIII. as measured by wire July 22nd^

Average distance of mark on wire north of Mark A..    6}}

Mark A = 1970 0420, deduct distance of mark on wire from clip at XVI.................

1969-6410

•0313

1969-6723

2R

4m.

3333

Add correction for position of clip at XVI. — |in. Length between XVI. and XVIII. as measured by wire

1969-7087

03 L3

1969-7400

Wrire,    Wire,    Trig., Trig.,

July 17th. July 22nd. Nov. 14, ’84. July 7, ’85.

.. 1969-6723 .. 19697400 .. 1969'66 .. 1969 683 19697061ft.

Length XVI. XVIII.

Averages ..    ..

These observations do not take the question of temperature into consideration, as from inspection it seems to affect the wire but slightly.

Table No. 8.

General Statements of Triangulation and Measurements. September October

2nd, 18S4.    13th, 1884. 13th, 1884. 7th, 1885.. 7th, 1885.

..    7943-734    ..    7943'830    ..    7913‘785    ..    7943-852    ..    7943'877

..    6354-808    ..    6354-859    ..    6354'844    ..    6354-851    ..    6354'859

..    6199-814    ..    6199 865    ..    6199-850    ..    6199-857    ..    6199'865

..    4499-890    ..    4499-870    ..    4499'910    ..    4500’098    ..    4500702

..    4229 902    ..    4229-882    ..    4229 922    ..    4230-110    ..    4230714

..    2530-244    ..    2530 274    ..    2530-259    ..    2530’415    ..    2530750

..    2375-250    ..    2375-280    ..    2376'265    ..    2375 421    ..    2375756

.. 1690-380 .. 1690-380 .. 1690712 ..    —    ..    —

.. 1175730 ..

..    436 330 ..

1969-671ft.

October

July

July

IZ.

IXX...

IXIX.

IXVIII.

IXVII.

IXVI.

IXV.

IXIV.

IXI.

12-

IZ.

IXX.

ixix.

IXVIII.

ixvii.

IXVI.

IXV.

IXIV.

IXI.

12.

.. 1175-520 ..

Averages of all Observations.

In 1885.

7943-864 6354-855 6199-861 4500-100 4230714 2530732 2375-438

In 1881.

7943-783

6354-837

6199-843

4499-890

4229-902

2530-250

2375-265

1690-391

1175-475

436-330

All observations. 7943-816 6354-844 6199-850 4499-974 4229-986 2530-329 2375-334

weight removed 154}

.. If

1-017

1-013

1-110

•407

167

If}

Comparison of Measurements.

Greatest error.

XIV. XV. By triangUktioll ..    ..    684-874 .. 0-155 long

By direct measurement 684-862 ..

Least

error.

0 743 long.

0 778 short.

0 C23 long.

1-116

1-295

1-406

1-547

1-757

2ft 2|

2f

•• m

,,    ..    217} broke at turn round fin. bolt at top.

Ultimate strength per square inch Taking the extension from 11 to 67} = "481 as a basis of calculation,

180

193

205

75 tons.

then the extension from 11 to 91 should bo by calculation

•684 per cent, is by measurement ..    ’721 per cent.

..    '925

.. 1-110 .. 1-116 .. 1-757

Taking the same basis of calculation for permanent extension, Extension from 11 to 67} is ..    .. "185 per cent.

Then from 11 to 148 should be "448

JJ

JJ

JJ

i)

•351 per cent.

showing pretty clearly that the cause of ultimate failure was the sharp turn round the bolt, and that at this time the limit of elasticity had not been reached.

JJ

is

ON THE REMARKABLE EFFECTS OF ADDING SACCHARINE MATTER TO MORTARS.

By Samuel Crompton.

A letter from Mr. Thomson Hankey “ On a New Use of Sugar ”—Times, October 13—has given rise to wide discussion and inquiry. At a time when the price of sugar is so low, and, as I shall show, when the use of a very small quantity of it, or of treacle, adds largely to the strength of mortar, and makes Portland cement itself set with great rapidity, it seems to me that I may do a service to engineers by laying before them the scientific grounds on which I was led to experiment on the subject, and the remarkable results which have been obtained.

The practical importance of this addition of saccharine matter to mortar I will state briefly to begin with, and will give a few illustrations:—

I mixed in a small jar some Portland cement and brown sugar, adding water and stirring. I took out a little of the cement for an experiment, and when I tried an hour after to take out more, I found that the remainder had already set.

My neighbour, Mr. Rowland, weighed carefully Portland cement and sand into four small jars. To two he added different sugars, to the third treacle, but to the fourth no saccharine matter. On the following day the cement had set— do not know how much earlier, for it was not examined—in all the jars with saccharine matter. Mr. Holden, jun., the foreman of a builder, examined all of them on the Monday following the Friday on which they had been mixed. On pressing the cement to which the treacle had been added, he said, f" I might press the bottom of the jar out before I can make impression on this.” He then put his finger into the jar in which there was no sacchariue matter, and stirred up the cement which had not set at all, and which did not set till a day or two after. It may be objected that it might not be an advantage that it should set so quickly. This objection will be answered by-and-bye as I proceed, by showing that it is highly probable that the strength of Portland cement will be greatly increased by this addition of saccharine matter.

Mr. Thomson Hankey had experiments made, first by his brickmaker and secondly by a house builder. Both reported

we

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manner.

con-

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At the meeting of the Manchester Association of Engine held j

The Chairman, in opening the discussion, said they had had a This intelligence from India sui    pro, the most posi- ver? interesting paper, full of suggestions What had struck him

tive kind of L e-onnou. sfeng’    •    ;    ,f    sugar when    ^    ^

mixed with mortar. It may be    <    i    t .x .    te    of out limes    nQ£ believe    that the German, French, or    the American engineering

and cements are of themselves goec. < ■    iu n    wffn    ut    it. It is tor    qrms could    produce machines lower or even at as low a price as we

engineers to judge whether thej    be le much better could; but they seemed to have more commercial ability than we

by it, or whether the facts I have gut or d do not show had, and they were able to beat us in the selling department, plainly that there should be an i.    'm-titn    d    by scientific    The manufacturing and the sellmg were    two quite distinct depart-

men to investigate the actual num> •    sugar, and the ments, and it was very difficult to find a man who could efficiently

various conditions under which ,    : whed er for better or perform the duties of both. The foreign competitors of England

worse. For the worse it cannot a    mt sue! an insane use introduced more enterprise into their commercial department

of if be rn.de by addiugtoo much .    p to be itself ^MJ*"***.    ™

mortar The    jaghery sugar used u> not    » ole    m the London    ^ commetcial department was one of the chief causes of the

market at, I think, less than a pe m} a j.k    d is used ior    faHures of English engineers. From experience he had learned

feeding cattle. Treacle seems t<    • * Lost promising the value of the drawing-office and the book-keeping department,

form of saccharine matter. I del ■ L Dcet-root sugar, and it was a great mistake to starve either of these departments. There is a rough unrefined treat    . . <j cheap, and I Mr. Rawlinson thought one of the chief causes of the apathy

should suppose would be exceliBm,. a haApenny-worth of shown by English manufacturers had been that in past years they treacle and water added to a hod ©f mortar would, I conjecture, had been so well supplied with orders that they had been indifferent increase its strength by one-third, if not by one-half. But I about taking up new notions. The man with a new idea had been must leave    the matter in the    hands    of scientific    eompeUed to look outside the ordinary lines to get his wants sup-

engineers. I    think it is very probable that this use    Phed‘ This had opened the door to foreign competition, and it had

•,, ,.    .    ,    . J 1    ,. .,    j . gone on, and competition had grown to such a degree, until it was

of sugar with lime is of extreme antiquity and that a    necessary for the old English firms to turn round and meet

knowledge of it passed from India to Egypt and Rome , and the altered condition of circumstances. We had supplied our com-that these nations used malt for its saccharine matter as a petitors with the means for competing with us, and we must now substitute for sugar. I have shown that the mediceval builders meM- their competition bravely.

used beer in building our cathedrals, and beer is still 1    Mr. Goulty thought that if engineering firms instead of going

plaster of Paris. These I take to be the remnants 0    ' m for the manufacture of all kinds of tools and machines would

tradition. It is said that in the cold winter when Bess    ae their attention to the manufacture of one or two special

wicke died, her masons had to “melt the beer which iney I ! cs> so that they could supply these particular articles better mixed with their mortar.” They would have acted me wLelv -    ^ * lower price than any other firm, they would greatly 1m-

if they had used infusion of malt only, for most of tie. sugar j '    Sha°r°f⁰sa?“tLy wantedXbeJii at the bottom and

must have been converted into alcohol, and lost for the mryoses , , mt wherc they could impiove in their shop systems. There of mortar making. Antiquarians may be able, from < u 'cu- we a grea£ many anomalies in the English system, and one of ments, to throw light upon this subject; but I strongl    ■ the was that they could make tools very much cheaper in York-

that the old Roman mortar had saccharine matter add' t    than they could in Manchester. The organisation of the

and I am of opinion that, in all engineering works    ,    >. ornercial department of a works was more important to-day

great strength, it would be wrong not to take advantag e of facts j ti iv ever it was before; the sending out of good circulars and confirmed by the experience of ages.    ; dialogues was also very essential in securing trade. They had to

>t the fact that the public was now the master of the situation, 0 secure trade they had to study the public. With regard to ' the f iremen in the works, it was necessary that they should have more technical education; he would even say that it was requisite : the foremen should be draughtsmen, and this would be the means j of saving a great deal of time, and the status of the foremen ;hn>i 1 be raised. What was wanted at present was that they An    ,TT tt t> -i 11. t. -j a. ■ j.    t. i s should assist in developing technical education. There was not so

on Saturday Alderman W . H. Bailey,the President ml    - much technical education in America as there was on the Conan interesting paper on “ System in Engineering Works    ; tiasnfc, but there was more reading amongst the men in America

by Mr. Hans Renold. The work of an engineering bus    n there was amongst the men in England. He would suggest

said, might be summed up in these three questions :—How to ge    formation of small drawing classes in connection with works,

orders? how have they to be taken in hand to get the U-sf •    . '--il the providing of libraries with suitable technical books for the

; use f the men.

Mr. Follows could quite support what previous speakers had said with reference to the importance of the commercial aspect of the question; and with regard to travellers, he might add that it was essential they should thoroughly understand the things they had to sell, the importance of which was sometimes not sufficiently enforced.

Mr. Daniels asked if technical education was to be the great thing of the future, whether hard work was going to be done away with. He thought our chief want was more cheek ard ability to sell.

Mr. Nasmith said the tendency of the present day was in the direction of large works manufacturing one or two articles only, and laying themselves out specially for the manufacture of these particular articles. With regard to technical education, the necessity for this was rapidly increasing; and as to the commercial question, we wanted an improvement in our selling abilities, and this would have to be attained by increased knowledge joined with tact.

Mr. Geo. Richards said there was one feature in connection with American manufacturers which was not very often found in this country. When a new article was being introduced the question was'what price it could be sold at in the market, and the manufacturer then laid himself out to produce it at this price. In England the price of an article was very often based on what it had cost to produce the first half dozen. As to cheap production, this, he might add, was not always associated with lowness of wages. He believed that dear wages in the United States had been the cause of the cheap production, because it had necessitated thorough attention to the workmen. He believed in a works being so amply equipped with tools, that the men were never allowed to be idle. It was better that some of their tools should be idle so long as their men were kept at work, for they must remember that the workman was the most expensive tool in the shop.

Mr. Thos. Ashbury, C.E., in moving a vote of thanks to the reader of the paper, said many large English firms had not condescended to study the wants of their customers, and another great failing amongst many English firms was the want of proper representation in the commercial department.

Mr. Daniels seconded the vote of thanks, and this having been unanimously passed,

Mr. Renold briefly replied, and said he would strongly urge importance of engineering firms concentrating themselves upon the manufacture of one or two special tools or machines, rather than laying themselves out to produce a large number of different things.

that the addition of sugar made a common lime equal to Portland cement.

The bearing of these facts will be plain to every engineer, but I cannot forbear mentioning here a startling incident. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners built for the late Bishop Fraser, of Manchester, on his coming into the diocese, a lodge like that at Lambeth, with a lofty archway set in Portland cement. A clerk of the works appointed by the architect of the Commissioners superintended it. After a due time the scaffolding was removed. One day—perhaps that day—the bishop walked through and had just got beyond danger, when the whole of the archway fell. If he had been under it, he would have been killed, and his grand career as a bishop would have been cut short at the outset. Your readers, as I proceed with my statement, will judge for themselves whether the addition of a few shillings-worth of treacle would not have made all secure, and have saved the expense of doing this work over again.

I have to explain how it is that sugar, or rather saccharine matter of any kind, produces this remarkable effect on lime. Here I ought to mention that I am a retired physician, and that the idea of putting the matter to the proof arose in the following In medicine we have two kinds of lime water: one, the common lime water that can be got by mixing lime and water. It is to be particularly noted that, add as much lime as you like, it is impossible to get water to dissolve more than half a grain of lime in one ounce, or about two small tablespoonfuls, of water. But by adding two parts of white sugar to one part of lime, we obtain a solution containing about 14£ times more lime in the same quantity of water. Here it is to be observed— and it is a most important point—that there are hot limes, such as Buxton lime, which, if the sugar be incautiously mixed with them, will burn the sugar, make it a deep brown colour, and vert it into other chemical forms, and possibly, and I think probably, will destroy its value in mortar. The way to use sugar with such limes is to dissolve it first in the water. I dwell particularly upon this, because a gentleman referred to me by Mr. Thomson Hankey, in writing to thank me for the information I had given him, casually observed that his cement had turned nearly black by the addition of the sugar. Probably many other experimenters with sugar and hot limes have had the same result, and are in the belief that all is right. Our strong medical saccharated lime water looks like water.

Ten or fifteen years ago I had been experimenting with lime and sugar, but not in reference to mortar, and I spoke about that time to my friend, the late E. W. Binney, F.R.S., about this property of sugar. He said that it was very curious, and that it was new to him ; and he told me this anecdote, that in his grandfather’s time an Italian architect came down to Worksop to erect a building for a nobleman, and insisted on being supplied with malt to make his mortar with: the malt was supplied and used. Many years afterwards, this building had to be taken down ; but, said Binney, “ they could not pull it down, do what they would, and they had to use gunpowder.” I said, it would be the saccharine matter in the malt that produced this result. He agreed with me.

A few months ago I was at Peterborough, and went to see the progress of the restoration of the cathedral, where I made the acquaintance of Mr. Irvine, Mr. Pearson’s clerk of the works. Mr. Irvine was for more than a quarter of a century with Sir Gilbert Scott, and possesses a greater knowledge of architecture, and antiquity bearing on English architecture, than anyone I ever met with. One day I said to him that I had been to Fotheringay. He replied that he had seen every other church than that in the neighbourhood of Peterborough. I asked him to go with me on his Saturday’s half-holiday, as my visit to the church had been a hurried one, and I wished to make some further inquiries. Besides, I was glad to have the companionship of one who was so thorough a master of the subject. The chancel of this fine church, built before the nave, and so late as 1410, has entirely perished ; and it had been so badly built that even in the time of Queen Elizabeth it had fallen in and was then in ruins. The chancel and tower exist, but the tower is unsafe, and if the church be not soon restored this grand historical monument may suffer or be destroyed. As Mr. Irvine and I walked to the railway station, I asked him whether he was aware of the chemical fact that the addition of sugar to water makes it take up about sixteen times more lime than water by itself does—I might have said a little more than fourteen times, He replied that he did not know this fact, and that he had never heard of it, and that he did not believe that it had been so used in mortars. I then told him what Mr. Binney had told me regarding the building erected by the Italian architect near Worksop. He said that he had been clerk of the works in the restoration of several cathedrals, in the books of which he had met with old entries of payments “ For beer for the masons,” and that he had found one entry where it was written, “ For beer to mix with the mortar.” I said that that would be for the saccharine matter in it; and, I added, that a few years ago I had seen in a newspaper that the vintage in Spain had been so abundant that the people had not casks enough, and were using the wine to mix with their mortar. It flashed across my mind that this traditional use of saccharine matter was probably the explanation of the exceptional hardness of the old Roman mortar, and had been handed down from generation to generation, and had at length been forgotten, in England at any rate. A few days afterwards I was pondering as I walked along the street in Peterborough on this matter, when suddenly I'said to myself, “ Why not try the experiment ?” I went into a grocer’s shop and bought a pound of exceedingly finely powdered loaf sugar and some beeswax—of the wax I will speak some other time. I took the sugar to the hut in the cathedral yard, where I found the foreman of the contractor and Mr. Irvine. Laughing, I said, “ I have come to teach you to suck eggs.” After explaining to the intelligent foreman my views, he and Mr. Irvine kindly agreed to try the experiment. Some powdered lias lime and some of the sugar were being mixed together in an iron basin. Water was added, and Mr. Irvine began to stir them with a trowel. No sooner had he done so than he exclaimed, “ Look, look ! It is beginning to set already.” I said, “Is not that usual !” He replied, “ No ; something very uncommon.” The mortar was poured out on the end of a beam, where it set. Some more was then made much thinner, and a little sand 'added to it. With this, which was about the consistency of m, two largish fragments of the broken stone tracery of an old window were joined, and so were two bricks, two pieces of glass, and two slates. It would be about five o’clock in the evening. As I was going to leave Peterborough about noon on the following day, 1 called at the cathedral about ten in the morning to see the results. Mr. Irvine said it was too early to judge. He felt at the stone tracery very tenderly. Holding the upper fragment, he then tilted the tracery sideways, and as the stones held together, he then took hold of the upper fragment with both hands and lifted the whole stone without the lower fragment falling off In like manner, in lifting both bricks the lower brick did not fall off The slate and the glass seemed also set. So that the experiments seemed to confirm

remarkably the view I had formed, on theoretical and chemical grounds chiefly, that saccharine matter added to mortar would be of great value, and that an important discovery had been made. I wrote to my brother-in-law* Mr. Guildford Molesworth, engineer-in-chief to the State Railways in India, and author of “ The Engineer’s Pocket Book,” telling him what w'e had done. From him I received a letter dated SimD, August 28th, 1886, giving me the following interesting particulars:— “ With regard to your addition of sugar to mortar, it is a practice that has been in use in the Madras Presidency from time immemorial.” The following is an extract from the Roorha (?) “Treatise on Civil Engineering,” vol. i., page 150, third edition : “ It is common in this country to mix a small quantity of the coarsest sugar—‘goor,’ or ‘ jaghery,’ as it is termed in India—with the water used for working up mortar. Where fat limes alone can be procured, their bad qualities may in some degree be corrected by it, as its influence is very great in the first solidification of mortar. Captain Smith attributes the fact that mortars made of shell lime have stood the action of the weather for centuries, to this mixture of jaghery in their composition. He made experiments on bricks joined together by mortar consisting of 1 part of common shell lime to of sand. One pound of jaghery was mixed with each gallon of water with which the mortar was mixed. The bricks were left for thirteen hours, and after that time the average breaking weight of the joints in twenty trials was 63 lb. per square inch. In twenty-one specimens joined with the same mortar, but without jaghery, the breaking weight was 4-J-lb per square, inch.”

Mr. Molesworth then adds': “The use* ■ , or jaghery was known to me when I was in Ceyh o tw*. years ago. The masons who came over from Madras . - I to make most beautiful plaster work, almost like enamel! tiles, of shell lime mixed with jaghery. The surface took a hue •dish, and was as hard as marble ; but it required a good 1! >f : it manipulation well suited to the national character.’

Cranley, Surrey, November 30th, 1886.

SYSTEM IN ENGINEERING WORKS

LITERATURE.

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

15.397. Blinds and Shades for Shops, R. H. Hughes,

SYSTEM IN ENGINEERING WORKS

most economical results ? and how to make the most of man’s skill ? In dealing with the subject of his paper, Mr divided it also under three heads:—The commercial p t. the technical part, and the practical or workshop department. The duties of the commercial department were the buying the raw materials and the selling of the manufactured article; and the last few years of depression and German and American encroachments had shown that in future this department would have to bestir itself to find out where our markets were; if direct, or through what agencies the largest number of customers could be reached; and, again, to study the means of transit, the safe packing, and to consult the tastes of the customers more closely than has hitherto been done. To his mind, however, the technical department was the one most neglected. The duties of the technical or drawing-office department might be broadly described:—(1) As trying to thoroughly understand the wants of a customer; (2) the ability to construct any machine or tool that might be required upon the drawing-board; and (3) the preparing of such plans as were needful to convey an exact and complete idea of the machine or tool to the workshop which would be at once simple and intelligible to an ordinary workman. There ought really to be three classes of drawings :—(1) A plan which was simply intended to give a general idea of the machine, and upon which no details should appear not necessary to explain its general functions; (2) a number of plans, each representing a part of the machine, and upon such plans all details should, if not fully shown, at least be indicated; and (3) number of plans giving one or more views of each detail, shown separate and detached. To the drawing-office also belonged the further duty of preparing the shop order book, and a ruled and printed shop order book, with its divisions judiciously chosen, would soon be found to give a saving in labour, a greatly increased production, whilst it would so avoid confusion that after a very few months’ trial its benefit would become so apparent that no one would willingly give it up. Apart from the shop order book ruled to suit a few staple articles, he would recommend the adoption of a general engineering shop order book, which would convey the orders to the foreman clearly and concisely in all the different details; and which, in addition, would contain a column for small pencil-coloured sketches that would convey to the foreman a very much quicker general idea of the work to be done than any description. Mr. Renold then sketched out at some length a system of working with such a book as he had referred to, under which the only booking the foreman was required to do was:—(1) To enter into the weight column such stock as he gets parted off in the lathe; (2) the writing of the order number and the man’s name— his occupation of “ turner,” “ shaper,” Ac., being printed thereon;

and (3) Ihe checking of the time spent upon the work when the man returns the finished article. The numerous duties of the foreman could only be efficiently performed when he was in possession of a clear and concise order book; in the system he had laid down there might, perhaps, be more headwork demanded than many of our foremen would like, but the success of foreign competition in many articles showed clearly that we were not giving that care and ingenuity to the handling of the work which some of our foreign competitors were doing. There could be no doubt that we had as splendid a set of willing, hard-working, and practical foremen as any nation, but nobody would deny that they could become still more efficient had they had the advantage of a technical training. Our schools ought long ago to have made it possible for such technical knowledge to be obtained, so that our workmen might thus be trained to attack their work in a more systematic manner; and he should also like to think of all foremen having a well-lighted and commodious office in the Works where they were engaged, and he would urge that the really important position they held should be better recognised than in many cases it was at present. In conclusion, Mr. Renold referred to the want of standard sizes for the various machines in use, whilst in the small tools so often used the gain or loss incurred by having them in good or bad condition could not be estimated. In every engineering works it must be a special study which shape, form, and kind of tool for the lathe, drilling, shaping, or other machine was best suited for the class of work to be done. He had often wondered why a set of such approved tools was not carefully kept as a standard for reference. He had found it a great saving to keep such a collection. When an old tool had to be repaired or a new one made, the standard was simply taken down from the wall and handed to the tool smith or fitter, and no drawing or description could possibly be as efficient as the finished article itself. Such a collection of approved tools had also another advantage: when similar tools were hanging side by side, they could see at a glance wherein such tools were alike and wherein they differed, and very often, when making such comparison, improvements suggested themselves which otherwise would never have been thought of.

the

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IRRIGATION IN EGYPT.

No. I.

The interests of Egypt are so closely allied with those of Europe, and the events of the last few years have brought it so prominently into notice, that politicians and economists have studied it under almost every aspect. Attention has, however, been less turned to the subject of irrigation, which is the of all its agricultural riches and prosperity.

From its soil and climate, as also from its dependence upon its great river, Egypt requires especial measures for cultivation. The Minister of Public Works is now engaged upon important schemes for the progressive transformation of its system of irrigation. The utility of these works, the object of which is a better utilisation of the waters of the Nile and the extension of cultivation, cannot be doubted. It would be impossible to describe within reasonable limits the various projects which have been examined, realised, or are in course of execution; we shall confine ourselves, therefore, to the description of two great establishments which have been set up on the borders of the Nile for supplying the canals of the province of Behera. The machinery has not long been pleted, and was in action for the first time during the late paign. For our information we are indebted to our contemporary Le Genie Civil.

Egypt depends entirely upon the Nile; its alluvial soil is created entirely by its inundations ; beyond their demarcations lies the desert. A constant struggle goes on between its waters and the sand, which has, unfortunately, been for centuries narrowing the bed of the river, reducing more and more the narrow areas on either side, which are cultivated by it.

The extent of land inhabited and cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, including Ethiopia and the island of Meroe, was incontestably five times greater than that under cultivation at the present day. The cause of this may be found in the changes which have taken place in the Nile itself ; it has, undoubtedly, in the course of centuries deepened its bed, and thus lowered the level of its waters. There existed, as proved by hieroglyphic inscriptions, a natural dam at Gebel Selselah—first cataract— which raised the level, and spread the waters over vast lands which are now a desert waste ; this, and others, have in the course of time been swept away. This fact is sufficient to explain the enormous reduction of the superficial area now under cultivation.

In dealing with the system of irrigation at present in use, Egypt should, be divided into two distinct parts—Upper Egypt, which comprises all the country south of Cairo between that place and the first cataracts at Assouan ; and Lower Egypt, which extends from Cairo to the sea.

Up to the middle of the present century the whole of Egypt was cultivated by means of inundation reservoirs. At this . period Mehemet Ali Pacha, wishing to create fresh districts of cultivation which could not be produced so long as irrigation was confined to the Nile’s overflows, conceived the project of a complete intersection of canals which would insure irrigation at all times. This was attended with the happiest results. The whole of Lower Egypt is now intersected by canals drawing their supplies from the Nile. It may be remarked that, as a consequence of this transformation in the mode of cultivation in Lower Egypt, the lands are not, with some exceptions, enriched by a deposit of soil; and this involves the necessity of employing manures, a need more and more felt. Further, the construction of some of the canals is such that they can only be fed at the time of the river’s rise. This is evidently a great disadvantage, and it has been proposed to

lower them, that they might be supplied at all seasons. The use of machinery would not, however, be thus dispensed with ; the desideratum would be to have the waters in the canals sufficiently high to be able to dispense with it. In order to do so, Mehemet Ali undertook the construction of the great dam of Saidieh, which was to raise the water 4^ metres, and thus feed all the canals.

Lower Egypt is divided by the Nile into three distinct parts:— (1) The Delta, properly so called, that is to say, the whole of the central region as comprised between the two branches of the Nile. (2) The most westerly province, that of Behera, in which the town of Alexandr ia is situated, comprising the whole of the south-west territory of the Rosetta branch. (3) The provinces situated to the east of Damietta, extending to the Suez Canal.

Each of these three regions should, according to the complete project, be supplied by a canal called Rayah, which branches off above the dam. Two arms of this canal—that of the centre called Rayah Menonfieh, which supplied the Delta, and that of the West, or Rayah of Behera, watering the province of the same name already exist. As to the third, it was scarcely commenced when it was abandoned; but the Minister of Works has recently decided to excavate it. The dam of Saidieh, which is the work of a French engineer, M. Mougel Bey, invited to Egypt by Mehemet Ali, is still one of the finest works of the kind now existing. At the time of its erection it was the boldest work which had been conceived, and does honour to its projector. The works were commenced under the direction of M. Mougel Bey, but, quitting the service of the Government, they were not completed under him. The plans were completed in 1843, the construction commenced in 1847, and it was finished in 1862. The dam is constructed at the point of the Delta where the Nile is divided into its two branches flowing to Rosetta and Damietta. It is composed, properly speaking, of two perfectly distinct works, each placed upon one of the branches of the Nile, and separated from each other by a distance of several hundred metres.

The two works are situated in almost a straight line; that of the Rosetta branch, composed of sixty-one arches of 5 metres span, and of two locks at each extremity of 465 metres in length; that of the Damietta branch is larger, measuring 515 metres. The dam is entirely constructed of solid masonry, but it is unfortunately apparent that the wall is not entirely executed according to the original plan, and it would not be prudent to charge it with the weight it was originally intended to bear. The down stream wall not being sufficiently protected by rock-work, the current, quickened by the fall of water, has worn away and weakened it. The first arches on the south-west side are those which have been most affected. Such fears were entertained as to the powers of resistance of the dam in 1884, when Colonel Scott-Moncrieff took the direction of public works, that he decided to have the necessary repairs carried out. Sir John Fowler’s exhaustive report of 1876 proposed the addition of a second movable dam which would have given a reserve of 3 metres, making with the existing one, 4 metres 50 c. The large estimate of 25,800,000f., however, prevented the adoption of the project, and the dam left unrepairable was but partially utilised.

M. Raussian Pacha, Under Secretary of State for Public Works, explained in his remarkable pamphlet of 1883 on Public Works relating to irrigation in Egypt, the use made of the works. “ The dam as it now is,” said he, “ may, however, be serviceable.” The Minister of Public Works proposes to make a different of it from that at first intended, and with this view it is quite possible to utilise it as it is, with such repairs as the service required of it would demand.

The object is to use the dam as a distributor at high water, to distribute the waters in suitable proportions between the two branches of Rosetta and Damietta. The latter has a tendency to sink, and would now be quite dry if it were not for the resistance set up annually at the west dam. From this branch flow all the canals of the Delta, with the exception of the one at Bahr Saidi, and those of course of the eastern provinces. The present amount of water must therefore be maintained and assured for the future in the western dam. The necessary change could be effected by raising the wall ; to this would have to be added a new system of gates suitably placed. Nothing would have to be done to the eastern dam, except perhaps to maintain it as a bridge. The canal of Rayah, from the nature of the soil, fills up so rapidly with sand that it has at great expense to be cleaned every year. The forced service of nearly 20,000 men for fifty days annually from other provinces has had to be employed at Rayah, in order to assure a supply to the Khatatbeh Canal, the principal branch of the irrigations of the province.

In order to remedy this state of things, the Government, renouncing the use of the Rayah at the time of low water, granted to an English engineer a concession by virtue of which he undertook to set up on the borders of the Nile, near the village of Khatatbeh, about forty kilometres to the north of the dam, the necessary works for raising the water of the river, for the direct supply of the canal of Khatatbeh without the help of the Rayah.

We give above a view of the Saidieh Barrage, from a recent photograph. It differs in certain respects from a view given by our contemporary Le Genie Civil, as extracted from a work by M. Felix Papinot on Egypt.

“ Soft Centre Steel.”—That part of the address of Dr. Percy, President of the British Iron and Steel Institute, in which he describes a piece of a ploughshare which he exhibited must, says the American Manufacturer, be “somewhat amusing to our American steel manufacturers. With a minuteness of detail that would characterise the description of a new species or a new mineral, the eminent President describes a piece of soft-centre steel, such as has been made in Pittsburgh for safes and ploughs for nearly twenty years, under the patents of John Lane, of Chicago. If we mistake not, it has been made for years in England as well. ‘From these indications,’ says Dr. Percy in describing the piece of steel, ‘ it is inferred that the ploughshare had been made by casting steel of some kind on both surfaces of a plate of malleable iron, in fact representing in miniature a steel-faced armour plate except that the steel was on both sides.’ The specimen had been shown to a distinguished American metallurgist, but it was quite novel to him, and was probably produced in one of the South-western States. Any American metallurgist worthy of the title ‘ distinguished’ should have recognised ‘soft-centre’ steel at once. Prof. Percy could, upon reference to the list of U.S. patents somewhere about 1865 or 1866, to which doubtless he has access, have ascertained that this product was patented so long ago that the patent has expired, and as for it being made in the South-western States, while it is probable that the plough, of which the share formed a part, was made in some South-western State, the steel itself was probably made in Pittsburgh.” Our contemporary would do well to remember certain lines in the Orpheus C. Kerr papers:—

John P. Robinson he,

Says they do not know everything down in Judee.

As the American Manufacturer has not seen the particular sped of which Dr. Percy spoke, his remarks are, to say the least, “rather previous.” We are not entirely unacquainted in this country with composite spades, shovels, and ploughshares, and the fact that Dr. Percy found something new in this particular instance should have intimated to our contemporary that invention has not stood still even in the United States since 1866.

LARGE PUNCHING AND SHEAKING MACHINE.

MESSRS. BENNIE AND CO., GLASGOW, ENGINEERS.

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tions, are certified by Mr. W. C. Ennis, Master Mechanic of the road, to have shown a consumption of 61,000 against 71,000 lb. of coal, a difference in favour of the engine fitted with the damper of 10,000 lb., or over 16 per cent. Both of these engines were used for heavy coal trains, and were taxed to the utmost of their capacity in regard to speed and power.” The above is as we find it in the journal referred to. The damper is made by H. A. Luttgens, of Paterson, N. J.

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The flask, which we illustrate by the accompanying engraving, is one which will commend itself not only to those engaged in engineering or building work away from towns, but to engineers and geologists on survey or other outdoor work where houses are few. From the section, Fig. 1, it will be at once seen that it comprises a flask and a spirit lamp, the chimney for the lamp passing through and heating the liquid. Fig. 2 shows the

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outside of the flask, and the perforated cover of the space for the lamp. In another form the flask is made with a flat top, and of a shape somewhat better fitted for carrying in a coat pocket. It is an article which will be found very useful by all travellers, and it is not expensive. It is made under a patent of Messrs. Goodwin and Eaton by the Anglo-American Tin Stamping Company, Southport.

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We illustrate, from the American Sanitary Engineer, a new tool for cutting lead pipe. It is the invention of Mr. F. H. Connor, a journeyman plumber in the employ of George W. Knapp and Co., of Worcester, Mass. Its operation will be apparent, as

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avoided. It also takes up little room in a plumber’s kit. The HlllsScU    knives may be replaced when dull.

LARGE PUNCHING AD) I: EARING MACHINE.

Owing to the great breadth aj well ___.gth of steel plates

which shipbuilders can now procure, and which it has been found most advantageous in many ways to adopt—particularly in the plating of large vessels—a necessity has arisen for punching and shearing machines with gaps of a depth not hitherto thought of. The machine which we now illustrate has to punch and shear l^in. steel plates, but the power required to do that is not the only element which renders necessary so large and heavy a machine. The depth of the gap, more than anything else, regulates the size and weight of such a tool ; and as the gaps on the above machine are 42in. deep, admitting of punching holes in the centre of a plate 7ft. wide, some idea may be formed of the proportions of the machine. Messrs. James Bennie and Co. have just completed two of these for Messrs. Harland and Wolff’s extensive shipyard at Belfast, and one of them has been at work for some weeks past.

One peculiar feature in the arrangement is the design adopted for the cranes. In a machine of this kind of course cranes are requisite with jibs having range enough to deal with plates up to 27ft. length, and strong enough to carry upwards of two tons at the point of the jib safely. But hitherto, with the “ cam and lever ” type of machine, now so greatly preferred by ship platers, it has been difficult to get cranes with freedom to swing in all positions without coming in the way of the driving belt. This difficulty has been overcome in the machine under notice by carrying the strap over guide pulleys on a framing up over the ordinary driving pulleys, and at such height as clears the cranes altogether. The latter are thus free to slew in all directions, without being interfered with by the driving belt. This arrangement was found to answer admirably in the case of a machine which Messrs. Bennie made for the same firm some two years ago, and it is adopted in the above instances, as well as in those of other machines now in course of construction. The design will be readily understood from the illustration, although, to save space, the cranes are shown with the jibs cut off short. It is well known that, for obvious reasons, it is a bad practice to carry the upper end of a crane post up to the roof of the building for support there. By the above arrangement the framing cai rying the guide pulleys is made to form a substantial support for the top end of the crane post, and thus the machine becomes self-contained, and might be placed in any outside shed or building.

LUTTGENS’ VARIABLE EXHAUST DAMPER.

^ The device illustrated, which we reproduce from the Railroad Gazette, “is designed to accomplish the same end as a variable exhaust nozzle in a simpler and more acceptable way, by placing a damper at the base of the smoke-stack, through which

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WROUGHT IRON CASTINGS.

. “Mitis ” wrought iron metal, as explained by Mr. T. Norden-castings, which take the place of the ordinary smoke-p.pe ,    :0 the Iron and Steel Institute, represent an entirely new

saddle. It is applicable to every style of locomotive stacks by    ; method of producing iron or steel, especially mild steel, in forms

merely making new castings. The engineer, byoperatin    tu    ,,r objects which have not up to the present been attained

P ''g,1 a ₁ia?⁽^ e pUced within the cab, moden    the    \ as cheaply and as perfectly as is desirable. He submitted

effect of the draft upon the fire at pleasure, by ■    dug    ian,ples of wrought iron castings, which he contended were

the circular valve B preferably made of brass place over flexible and weldable to a degree which had hitherto only been apertures which it covers or uncovers, and which communicate    rodi .eed by the very highest class of wrought iron forgings,

with the inside of the stack. The direction of the cu of    he main point claimed was making a commercial success of

i melted wrought iron, or rather iron with a low percentage of j carbon, and casting it into the shapes required by the trade. | Mr. Nordenfeldt calls the product “ wrought iron castings,”

: because they are made of wrought iron alone, without any other addition than such “ physics ”—i.e., chemicals—as have been found suitable for the purposes, and they are called “ Mitis ” castings in order to give them a name which specifically applies to their qualities. The invention originated in this way :—Mr. Nordenfeldt had at Carlsvik, in Stockholm, a malleable iron foundry which fairly succeeded in producing good malleable castings ; these, however, were not so absolutely free from faults that he could use them in his gun manufacture. The trade for malleable castings in a small country like Sweden being limited, he adopted the method originated by Mr. Wittenstroem, assisted by Mr. Ludwig Nobel, and the results of a couple of years’ experiments by Messrs. Faust-man and Ostberg, and himself, with the guidance of Mr. Wittenstroem, were the “ Mitis ” castings. The raw material first used was Swedish wrought iron scrap, such as horseshoes, riyets, &c., and the castings obtained from this raw material were found to have about 20 per cent, higher tensile strength than the wrought iron used, the tensile strength being 24 tons per square inch and upwards ; and this percentage of gain in strength has been maintained when other raw materials have been used. It is not asserted that the chemical properties of the material used are altered to any considerable extent. A leading Sheffield steel manufacturer of the olden time used to say, “If you put the Devil into the pot, nothing but the Devil can come out of it,” and Mr. Nordenfelt admits that what “we put into the pot we get out of it, with such alterations only as are caused by the treatment to which we subject it.” From iron free from all impurities exceedingly good castings are obtained ; iron with a very large percentage of phosphorus produces castings proportionately brittle and unsatisfactory. Experiments were made with different qualities of English iron, and it was found that whereas the most impure scrap gave castings too brittle for practical use, a purer iron—such as refined iron from Middlesbrough—gave castings to all intents and purposes as good as the best English forgings, while from such perfect raw material as hematite puddle bars, were produced castings which were equally as good as, if not better in every respect, than those produced from Swedish wrought iron scrap. Raw material

can be admitted in any volume desired. The damper is carried

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air is indicated by the arrows. Advantages claimed for the device are that it is very effectual as a spark arrester ; that it softens the sound of the exhaust; that it places the steam pressure under the control of the engineer, and that even when the engine is working hard it may be used at any place of danger from sparks without materially affecting the steam pressure. Tests of one week’s duration on the New York, Susquehanna and Western, between two twin engines of similar age and propor-

we generally—although or seven times, The

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regularity of this furnace is so great that we can almost work it by the clock, instead of by watching the melting The treatment of the molten metal is in this way: Wrought iron is melted _ The. great progress which has been made with tea cultivation and poured into castings of any desired shape, without changing jn India and some of our colonies, more especially of late years its quality of wrought iron in any way, and thus are obtained in Ceylon, has caused much attention to be given to the subject castings that are practically solid. To make a casting the metal : °f machinery , for the proper preparation of the leaf. It is of must be superheated, i.e.,heated acertain number of degrees above j the greatest importance that the teas which reach the home its melting point. If the melting point of wrought iron is \ market should suit the public taste, and that issue is perhaps 4000 deg., and it is heated to that temperature exactly, it is im- : more dependent upon the process through which the green leaf possible to remove it six inches from the furnace before it passed than even upon the qualities of the soil whereupon it becomes solidified, and a casting cannot be made. If it is super- is grown. Many machines have been devised to meet the needs heated only a little it may be carried in its fluid state a few feet to the moulds, but it cannot be poured. To handle the metal and pour it into castings, particularly thin ones, it is thus needful to have the metal considerably superheated. This is done by gradually raising the temperature above the melting point, and it is during this operation that the metal takes up gases from the surrounding atmosphere. Practically speaking, no gases are absorbed when the metal is solid. It is after the melting that oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbonic oxide are taken up ; and for reducing the injury they cause many admixtures have been used, all of which to a certain extent remedy the evil, but at the same time change the nature of the metal.

In the “ Mitis ” process the idea is to superheat the metal some 300 deg. to 400 deg. without raising the temperature above the melting point, so as to give no opportunity for gases to be taken up. This is done on the principle that alloys melt at a lower temperature than would be expected from the melting point of the ingredients. Wrought iron melts at 4000 deg., but if carbon—which cannot be melted at all—is added to the extent of one per cent., there is produced tool steel, which melts at about 1000 deg. 1

influence upon iron in this direction, and the addition of aluminium in sufficient quantity for the purpose has no detrimental influence upon the iron. It is of this property of aluminium to which recourse is had. The wrought iron is heated just to melting, but not more, and then, as soon as the metal is molten, there is added a small quantity of aluminium, from 0'05 to _0‘1 of one per cent., thereby providing a sudden lowering or melting point, and obtaining a superheating

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containing a quarter per cent, of phosphorus was too impure to prevent brittleness in the castings; but when there were mixed two-thirds of scrap containing a quarter per cent, of phosphorus with one-third of refined iron, hematite, or Swedish iron, there were obtained castings quite satisfactory for general purposes ; mixed half-and-half, there were obtained castings quite as ductile as ordinary forgings and much stronger; using refined Yorkshire iron, hematite, or Swedish iron alone, the castings were of extra quality, while their strength was fully 20 per cent, greater in all directions than the best wrought iron forgings. All these mixtures, with less than a quarter per cent, of phosphorus, yielded castings which could be welded and mended like wrought iron without trouble. “ Ic seems to me,” adds Mr. Nordenfelt, “that what we do might be said to be that we make exceedingly mild steel by melting the wrought iron almost free from carbon, instead of making mild steel by decarbonising pig iron, which contains about three per cent, of carbon ; ” an unusually clean surface is obtained, and the iron runs, perhaps, more perfectly than in the best cast iron castings. For this a very great heat is required, which is obtained by melting the wrought iron in crucibles placed in furnaces each containing six crucibles. Each furnace has one tire, and two crucibles are worked together; the pair farthest away from the fire is warmed to a certain degree by the waste heat, the second pair is heated also by the waste heat to a point where the scrap approaches its melting temperature, and in the pair nearest to the fire the wrought iron is completely melted. As this last pair is lifted out the second pair is moved forward into its place, the third pair is moved forward into the place of the second, and a fresh pair of filled crucibles is placed in the compartment farthest away from the fire. In order to obtain quickly the great heat required, the residuum of petroleum—“naphtha”—is used as fuel. This residuum has been tried from American petroleum, from Glasgow, and from Baku, and they all work with equal satisfaction, Other forms of volatile fuel have been found to work well with slight modifications in the furnaces. From these furnaces can be drawn eight to ten pairs of crucibles per day of twelve hours, and, working day and night shifts, there can be castings fifteen to twenty times every twenty-four hours. Mr. Nordenfelt regards this as a considerable gain. “I believe,” he says, “ that in Sheffield the crucibles are taken out only about three times in twelve hours; and we have the further advantage that we refill each crucible every time with afull charge of about 66 lb. of scrap, whereas in Sheffield a full charge, 60 lb., is only put into a new crucible, their second charge being about 50 lb., their third about 45 lb., and so on.” The iron having been brought to this extreme heat, has to be dealt wflth. This is done with a moulding and facing sand, and use is made of water moulds of a special construction when a great number of castings have to be made to the same pattern. To do this quickly and cheaply a ladle is used, in which the iron is kept at its full heat by means of a surface blast of very hot gases, and a number of moulds are fixed around the circumference of a turntable in such a manner that one mould can be filled after the other as it is brought under the lip of the ladle, and the castings are immediately taken out of the moulds, so that each mould is ready for refilling as it comes round again under the lip of the ladle. The raw material being wrought iron only, the castings do not require to be in any \yay annealed, but are simply cleaned up by emery wheels or otherwise, and delivered to the purchaser. By the “Mitis” process it is held that a contractor is enabled to make much bolder designs, and of more different forms, knowing that such designs may be easily and cheaply carried out. Advantage is here found in being able easily to weld the castings, as parts can be cast which would be difficult to forge, or which would require much machining, and then welding them on to a bar or rod as required. Some of the samples exhibited to the Iron and Steel Institute showed links, bearings, and clutches used in this way. Mr. Nordenfelt contends that the “ Mitis ” castings cover a much wider field of work than castings made of malleable iron, and can be used for purposes for which malleable castings could not even be thought of. His firm have also made steel castings with a higher percentage of carbon, which have been tried successfully for ordinary edged tools. They cast some of their tools for the gun factory in Stockholm —cast them ready to shape, after which they have only to harden and grind in order to make them ready to put into use. He did not affirm that tools can be made better by this method than by the ordinary methot., but urges that it is a more direct way than to make wrought iron bars into blister steel and then melt this blister steel in a crucible.

The whole process of making “ Mitis ” castings from wrought iron or steel is detailed with great minuteness in a paper read by Petter Ostberg, M.E., of Stockholm, Sweden, at the meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, held at Pittsburg, in February, 1886. There is used, he says, a patented moulding material, which is perfectly fireproof at the temperature of molten wrought iron. It is made from pure and good fire-clay alone, hard burnt, finely ground, and mixed with sugar or molasses as binding material, which does not, like clay water, impair the infusibility. Wrought iron requires a temperature of about 4000 deg. for melting, and Mr. Ostberg contends that prior to the “Mitis” process no one had practically succeeded in melting wrought iron. He gives an elaborate description of the furnace, which he says is constructed upon the same principles as a common petroleum lamp. Although it has for years been the easiest thing in the world to burn liquid fuel in a lamp without smoke, and with maximum efficiency, the same long-searched for result in furnaces was accomplished only a couple of years ago by Mr. L. Noble, of St. Petersburg, with the assistance of Mr. C. Wittenstroem, of Stockholm. “ Instead of, as in the lamp, changing the area of oil exposed to the flame, we keep a constant surface of oil exposed, having the area of the chimney in proportion thereto and regulate the air-inlet up to the point of smoking, thus obtaining complete combustion and maximum efficiency. I may add that this regulation is as easy, as efficient, and as convenient, as the regulating of the wick in any petroleum lamp. The manner in which we expose a constant surface of oil is by means of horizontal trough-like fire-bars, placed one above another, on which the fuel is maintained at a constant level by means of supply and overflow. The efficiency of this crucible furnace is really surprising. At a distance of about 1ft. from the fire-bars we melt full crucibles of wrought iron at the rate of about eleven meltings in twelve hours, the last meltings taking only fifty minutes—exceptionally only forty minutes. Steel melters generally require three to four hours for each melting, although steel melts at a much lower temperature than wrought iron ; and whereas we charge the crucible full—67 lb. each time —steel melters charge, in the same size of crucibles, 60 lb. the first time, 501b. the second, and only 451b. the third time; and whereas crucibles in other furnaces can be used only exceptionally more than three times, melting wrought iron—use them '

The metal aluminium has a very effective

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of, say 300 deg., 400 deg., or 500 deg., sufficient to be able to handle the metal in a practical way and pour it into castings. Thus the necessary superheating is produced, not by gradually increasing the temperature above the melting point, but by suddenly lowering the melting point of the metal, thus obtaining it superheated in respect to its new melting point. To a small extent the gases are, however, taken up during the melting, but they are released by the suddenly increased fluidity, due to the superheating effect, which changes the consistency of the metal from something like syrup to the fluidity of water. The mechanical appliances for handling the metal include a casting ladle, provided with a cover and with means for producing a flame of high temperature within the ladle. The production of the flame is quite independent of the tipping of the ladle or the opening of the cover. By making the lining of this ladle so thick that the loss of heat through radiation need not be taken into account, heating the ladle to the same temperature as the metal, and, after the metal is run in, maintaining a flame of about the same temperature, the metal is kept in a proper state for pouring any length of time that may be required. By keeping the flame slightly reducing, the surface of the metal is protected from oxidation without having it covered with slag, and can therefore pour from the lip. The flame has its outlet over the pouring lip, and thereby protects even the jet of metal when pouring.

It is specially claimed for these castings that they do not require any annealing, like malleable castings ; they are ready for use when taken out of the mould, there is no uncertainty about the quality, and that the tensile strength is generally from 20 to 50 per cent, greater than the raw material. The petroleum furnace can melt hard steel in thirty to thirty-five minutes, cast iron in about twenty minutes, and brass in less than fifteen minutes. Messrs. Faustman and Ostberg’s “ Mitis ” foundry in Stockholm has rendered their malleable ironfoundry useless, and it has been taken down. Companies are already successfully working the patent on the Continent and in America. At Sheffield, Messrs. Hansell and Co., of the Canal Steelworks, are laying down special apparatus in a new building erected for the purpose; and in conjunction with Messrs. Seebohm and Dieck-stahl, of the Dannemora Steelworks, are the sole licensees here. In their announcements they claim that the “ Mitis ” castings are applicable for the purposes of engineers, machinists, railway, tramway, locomotive, and wagon builders, agricultural implement makers, cycle manufacturers, general contractors, “ and a thousand of manufactures of every imaginable class of machinery and general appliances where strength, lightness, and durability are necessary, and where such as smiths’ forgings have alone been previously applicable.”

BROWN’S PATENT TEA DRIER.

of tea-curers ; and we illustrate this week one of the latest, and

as it seems to us one of the most efficient of such machines that has come under our notice.

The designing of these is by no means a simple problem. The leaf of the tea plant is exceedingly delicate, and its flavour likely to be extremely prejudiced by over or unequal heating. Mr. Brown has therefore designed his air heating furnace for location exterior to the building in which the sensitive leaf is exposed in the drier, so that in no way can the latter come into contact with the fumes emitted. The arrangement of the furnace in which the air is heated will be readily seen from the drawings A B, C D and E. The air, which is drawn through the whole system by the fan j, enters the furnace at U on section A B ; guided by the lock plates inserted between the flue tubes, it passes alternately backwards and forwards between the rows of tubes, as shown by the arrows, until it enters at a temperature of about 180 deg.—through the orificep, section G lithe air chamber g of the desiccating or drying machine. The tea to be exposed to its action is spread upon wire gauze trays numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, these being entered by hand upon the projecting rails K to the left of section G H, and propelled at suitable intervals until they have passed through the finishing tray plate No. 1.

As will be seen by the direction of the arrows on the same section G H, the heated air is drawn downwards through trays 1 and 2, an evenness of temperature being secured by this method unattainable when the volume of heated air is allowed to ascend by the force only of its relative density. After passing through trays 1 and 2, it is directed upwards by the dividing

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S, and, passing through tray 3, it impinges upon the base plate q of the hot air chamber g, taking up from this any heat it may have parted with in its passage through the moist leaf in trays 1, 2, and 3. This capacity for reheating is an essential particular of the design. Brought up to the standard temperature once more, the air re-assumes a downward course through tray 4, when, deflected by the second dividing screen m, it re-ascends through tray 5 and passes out through the fan exit. By this method of passing the air through the same tea, first downwards and then upwards, the leaf is exposed to a thorough current from alternate sides, and its mass dried as effectually as if hand or mechanical turning was employed to spread the leaf.

This mechanism is said to be capable of turning out 100 lb. of made tea per hour on a consumption of from 80 lb. to 90 lb. of wood fuel. It seems to be singularly free from the complications accompany the generality of tea-driers, inasmuch as there is with it none of the gearing usually employed to keep the tea properly spread and turned. Practical working has shown that the temperature of 180 deg. in no way injuriously affects the tubes of the air-heating furnace. These are pushed into the tube plates and packed with a string of asbestos, and the simplicity of such packing enables any defective tube to be readily removed and replaced by another. The air current, however, always passing between the crown plates d of the furnace and the lowermost tubes, effectually prevents any heating to redness of any of the series, and a burnt tube has been quite unknown hitherto. Several of these machines have already undergone severe tests in Ceylon, where the tea planters appear to be well satisfied with the results obtained by their use.

The American Iron and Steel Trade.—That there has been a great revival in this trade is abundantly evidenced by statistics recently issued. These statistics show the imports of iron and steel into the United States for the eight months ending August last. The imports of iron ore amounted to 715,667 tons, as compared with 257,994 tons in 1885; pig iron, 262,967 tons, as compared with 94,430 tons; iron scrap, 49,812 tons, as compared with 8664 tons; steel rails, 14,232 tons as compared with 1883 tons ; steel ingots, billets, bars, &c., 64,974 tons, as compared with 14,966 tons; tin plates, 190,433 tons, as compared with 162,434 tons; and wire rods, 96,586 tons, as compared with 54,131 tons last year. There was a marked increase in the imports of every description except cotton ties. It is believed, however, that the figures for September and October will, when published, show a still larger increase in comparison with the preceding months. According to the Iron Age, the figures published fail to convey an idea of the magnitude of the American purchases of foreign iron and steel made during the present year,

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This case raised an important question as to the rating of premises containing machinery used for the purpose of carrying on a trade or business. The question was raised in a case stated for the opinion of the Court by the Northumberland Quarter Sessions.

The Tyne Boiler Works Company were rated to the relief of the poor of the parish of Longbenton on the 28th of June, 1884, in respect of their premises, described as “Boiler Works; Land,” the rateable value being placed at £501. The company appealed on the ground that they were overrated. The premises of the Tyne Boiler Works occupied 5100 square yards of land upon the banks of the Tyne, part consisting of a large roofed building, and the rest, with the exception of boiler and engine sheds, being open.

The proximity to the Tyne rendered the premises suitable for boiler works. The company occupied the premises under a lease from the Corporation of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The premises contained machinery for boiler making, part of the machinery being affixed to the soil, but part, such as a hydraulic rivet-ting machine, two hand-power travelling cranes, and shear legs with engine and boiler, was not attached either to the soil or the building, but rested by their own weight. There was a boiler set on a brick seating outside the main building, and the main engine was fixed by iron screw bolts to masonry foundations, in which a well was constructed for the fly-wheel, and other machinery was affixed by bolts or brackets to the walls, or to a foundation of stone or cement. As to the machinery that was not affixed to the soil or building, the hydraulic rivetting machine rested upon cement or stone foundations, the travelling along the whole length of the main building on rails laid on balks

of timber lesting upon brackets, and the shear legs were placed on not overrule the cases, decided, as they were, by judges specially the edge of a, timber jetty on the river. _ The main shafting ran conversant with the subject, but would look to them as guides in along the entire length of the main building, and all the machines deciding this case. Looking at the cases, the same principle or were worked by belts from the main shafting. All the machinery idea was in the minds of the judges who decided them, though and plant belonged to the company, and were arranged and there was the difficulty always felt of expressing themselves in adapted for use upon the premises lor the manufacturing and similar language in different cases. In “Reg. v. Haslam” Mr. setting up of boilers, but there was no intention of permanently Justice Patteson did not think it necessary to inquire whether or annexing them to the soil or premises. Each of the machines was not the things were annexed to the freehold. In “Reg. v. separate, and was from time to time removed for repairs or other- Southampton Dock Company” Lord Campbell said that such real without injury to themselves or structural damage to the property—that is, buildings to which machinery was attached for premises, the object of the attachment above described being to the purpose of trade—ought to be assessed according to its existing steady the machines when working. _ The mode in which the value as combined with the machinery, without considering rateable value of the premises was arrived at was by ascertaining whether the machinery was real or personal property. The word the gross estimated rental which a tenant from year to year might “ attached ” was not used in the sense that they were fixtures, reasonably be expected to be willing to give for the use of them— Then, in “ Reg. v. Lee,” Mr. Justice Blackburn mentioned three inclusive of the machinery and plant—and by making the statutory classes of things :—(1) Things movable, such as movable furniture, deductions from such rental The question raised was whether which no one thought ought to be taken into account; (2) things that principle was right, the company contending that the so attached to the freehold as to be part of the premises, which no machinery and plant were not any of their part of the freehold, but one doubted ought to be taken into account; (3) an intermediate were chattels, and that they were not rateable or to be taken into class, things attached to the premises so that it was intended that consideration as enhancing the rateable value of the hereditaments; they should remain permanently connected with them, though the assessment commffitee of the Tynemouth Union contending there might be a right to remove them, and which were to be that the machinery and plant were necessary to the beneficial treated for that purpose as part of the premises, and so must occupation of the premises as boiler works, and ought to be taken be taken into account. He used the work “ attached,” but into consideration. The Quarter Sessions considered that the whole the things were as a fact attached, and so it was not necesssary for of the machinery and plant had been rightly taken into considera- him to say more. Mr. Justice Lush used the words “ fixed and tion as enhancing the rateable value within the decision in “ Laing annexed,” but he did not mean so as to become part of the free-i;. Bishop Wearmouth ( L.E., 3. Q. B. D., 299), and confirmed hold. Then came “Laing v. Bishop Wearmouth” decided by the rate. I he Divisional Court having affirmed this order, the some of the same Judges, who expressly said that they followed company appealed. It was agreed that if the whole or any part of the rule applied in the former eases. There machinery, some hot the machinery and plant ought not to have been taken into con- fastened, but resting by its own weight, in shipbuilding premises, lri:‘99ieSSlng the P,r.emii[es> the rateable value should be was taken into consideration, it being essentially necessary to the reduced by £221 or a proportionate part thereof    business, and intended to remain permanently attached to the

Twi,i H^E I\)AfVE\’utrp ‘    T.B«d,Q.O., and Mr. Cyril premises as long as the business was carried on. “Attached”

, • Y* ■, imv or the Tyne Boiler Works Company, said :—In could not mean physically affixed, as then a thing weighing many • i °    ®.or buildings, machinery which has been affixed to the tons, if resting by its own weight, must not be taken into considera

,    _>P ^ i⁸⁶⁸’ wkek*Jer lords fixtures, or tenants fixtures, tion, while if fastened down, though the fastening might be wholly

iVxtures’ .can tal5en lnto consideration as enhancing the unnecessary, it must be taken into consideration. Physical attach-value of the premises ; but loose machinery has never been held to ment therefore could not be the turning point in each case. The ?r e    mi° consideration at all. The test of rule might be laid down thus :-Things which were on the premises

AVrmm +w.° SUC ,aidl(des a? these is, are they part of the premises ? to be rated, which were there for the purpose of making and which nn(1 +or,A. PasT, / a demise of the premises as between landlord made the premises fit as premises for the particular purpose for raiAflhlp w    and X!°!u c‘ ⁸³> personal property was which they were used, such things ought to be taken into considera-

^ that statute said that personal property was not to tion as enhancing the rateable value of those premises. He had Tv, »1 hemachinery ¹¹¹ this case would not pass with a demise purposely omitted from the above statement the words “attached,” hlw S?unts 5 the hypothetical tenant might give a “affixed,” “annexed,” &c. The moment things were brought into thp rna.Mmi! the premises by having the opportunity of taking the above category they would pass by demise from landlord to f n achin!ry> .but they are not part of the premises. The Court tenant, unless a term of the agreement expressly excluded them ?f+?Ponteri SeSfS1°nlby sa?mg thatJ th,e machinery was to be taken and this was stated to be the test by Mr. Justice Lush. Therefore’ Lnnuana?ue of°ntheaTn rat^ the.machinery, and taken the considering the question asked in this case, and c^iderSag each annual value of the machinery. [Lord Esher.—That cannot be of these things, all of them, whether physically attached or not

Wearmouth”⁶ TeheVToSntofethLtthTLf0ll0WWL Laint^'BiS-h0p ' Cami,e wit£in *he PrinciPle or category above mentioned, and confdderatinri 1 Tl, J p    7 how they took the machinery into j ought to be taken into consideration as enhancing the rateable

Will TV !    t-P    Assessment ¹⁸³⁶ (6 and 7 value of the premises. The judgment of the Divisional Court

Will. IV., c. 96) section 1 ha,d said tha,t the “ hereditaments are was right, and must be affirmed, to he rated, and several cases, decided since that Act, have gone The Lords Justices concurred.'

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tion is reduced. The reverse action also occurs. Let us illustrate this in the case of the county which is most keenly feeling the dulness just now—the county of Northumberland. It is a district where the restrictive policy has never been generally adopted; it is one more dependent on the export demand than on any other, and that demand has, on the whole, tended upwards, so that the record of the county is one which is less than most a test of the general demand—as that general demand does not imprint itself on the production. But in Northumberland, when the price of coal began to fall in 1875, the production fell off from 6,700,000 tons for three years, when it was 1,200,000 tons less. In the next year there set in the American “ boom,” followed by the demand for Bteam shipping, and thus for five years the production of coal in Northumberland rose until it reached 7,500,000 tons, since which with dull trade it has declined and seems to be still declining. Now what do these figures prove ? They show that commercial restriction acts on the output. When it is unprofitable to produce coals, or when there is a decrease of moment in the price, some of the collieries less favourably situated must close ; they cannot long go on at a loss, and the inevitable is reached. This is commercial restriction—the survival of the strongest. It operates in every trade and in every part, and it is a cause which is unyielding, but on the whole beneficial to the great trades and industries, for it throws the supply into the hands of those best fitted to produce cheaply without long loss of capital. If other districts produce coals more cheaply in the long run than the northern county named, then there are markets which will take their supply therefrom instead of from the North of England, and the latter, failing to find fresh consumers, must close pits or work them partially only. This restriction shows itself very speedily. It displays its effects whenever a colliery has to be idle for want of trade, and it is thus that the corrective is given to excessive development of the coal trade or of any other industry, labour interruptions, or the adoption of “ those the miners favour, may interfere with the operation of the law we have named, and there are other circumstances which may also delay ; but it is delay only, and in the end that law works, and it is far wiser to trust to its discriminatory working than to the rude attempt to arrest the engine by the mere insertion of a bar in one of the wheels.

THE SEVERN TUNNEL.

On Wednesday, the 1st inst., the Severn Tunnel was opened to passenger train service. The ceremony of turning the first sod in the commencement of this, the most difficult bit of tunnel engineering ever entered upon, took place in March, 1873, now nearly fourteen years ago. The passenger service would, however, have been commenced some time since, but for the delay in the completion of the lines connecting the tunnel with the main system, a delay dictated by prudence when the stupendous difficulties in the prosecution of the work caused the delay in the completion of the tunnel itself, and some fear that considerable time might elapse before the whole of the difficulties could be overcome. The greatest caution has been exercised, and although the very able contractor, Mr. T. A. Walker, had completed the tunnel, the engineers deemed it advisable to start with goods service only for a short time. In his report to the Board of Trade Colonel Rich says:—“ The works appear to be very good and substantial, and to have been carried out with great care and judgment. The difficulties of dealing with the large quantities of water, and particularly of dealing with the underground stream, which runs at a great velocity, have been considerable, but have been successfully overcome, and the result is a tunnel of unusually large dimensions which is particularly dry. The top of the tunnel is about 145ft. under the level of high-water spring tide, and about 50ft. under the bed of the river at the deepest point. The means of ventilation ample.” The fan for the latter purpose, we may mention, is 40ft. in diameter, and is made, like those for the Mersey Tunnel, by Messrs. Walker Brothers, Wigan, to exhaust 400,000 to 500,000 cubic feet of air per minute. The difficulties which have been encountered in this work we have from time to time described, and we need not now refer to them. The pumping machinery for keeping the enormous water influx down is of remarkable capacity, capable, it is said, of raising 25,000,000 of gallons per day. The tunnel has been lined with vitrified bricks set in cement, about 75,000,000 bricks having been used for this work alone; but with a head of 170ft. some good work is necessary to keep water out. The passenger service commenced without ceremony, as some connecting lines for the main service have yet to be made.

LITERATURE.

Supplement to the Steam Engine Catechism: being a Series of Direct Practiced Answers to Direct Practical Questions. By Robert Grimshaw, M.E., &c. New York: John Wiley and Sons; London: Trubner and Co. 1886.

This is a small. octavo volume of 176 pages, and is, as stated on the title-page, “ mainly intended for the use of young engineers.” It gives us pleasure to be able to speak in high terms of this little addition to engineering literature. It takes up ground but little occupied as yet°though the want of books of the kind has long been felt by young men whose parents were too poor to afford them a good technical science education, and who got into the business of mechanical engineering “ somehow,” and who manage to pick up a living, also “ somehow,” either as indifferent fitters or as third-class draughtsmen, but who, from lack of money and time, have never been able to rise to better things. We are far from being advocates of superficial education. The existing system of crams and competitive examinations we believe are productive of great evils. Knowledge acquired in a race against time is, as a rule, extremely superficial. In the little work before us nothing of this is to be found. The information it gives is sound, practical, and useful—useful to men long out of their pupilage, in the conventional sense of the term. It is not the first book on the same subject published in catechism form. Similar works have been published many years ago, and this volume itself is but, as the title expresses, a supplement. It treats in a clear and succinct manner of a great variety of subjects, and we think the contents would have been improved if classified a little more, and divided more clearly into separate sections. There is no real break in the letter-press from end to end; and this, of itself, imparts.a confusing appearance to it, though a very comprehensive index aids reference considerably. As to the nature of the subject-matter, it comprises such subjects as absolute temperatures and pressures; time of admission of steam to get required grades of expansion; balancing slide valves and fly-wheels; compound engines, and how to calculate the powers of Woolf, McNaught, and ordinary compound engines, giving examples of calculations both in extenso and as formulae. It treats of dry and of wet steam; the indicator and diagrams; the duty of engines; and the necessary points to bear in mind in contracting to purchase or supply an engine to give a certain duty, which we quote, as follows:—

“ Q. How should the economy of an engine be expressed, and why?—A. The economy of an engine should be expressed in pounds of dry steam per hour per horse-power; because expressing economy in pounds of fuel per hour per horse-power depends on the boiler too, rather than on the engine alone. Thus, one boiler might require 600 lb. of coal to evaporate 3600 lb. of water from 62 deg. to 310 deg. Eah., and produce, say, 120-horse power in a certain engine; another boiler might require only 335 lb. of coal to produce the same amount of steam and power.

“ Q. In buying an engine, when the rating is given in pounds of steam per hour, what should be specified?—A. In rating an engine in pounds of steam per hour, it should be specified that the steam should be either saturated, dry, or superheated, and the initial pressure, point of cut-off, and load should be stated.”

It is impossible in the limited space at our disposal to even enumerate the numerous subjects dealt—and well dealt—with in this excellent little volume. It deserves a place in every young engineer’s book-case.

Letters of an Engineer while on Service in Syria in Connection with the Proposed Euphrates Valley Railway ancl the Beyrout Waterworks. London: Marcus Ward and Co. 1886. Although these are the letters of an engineer, they do not possess the least professional interest, being merely freshly-written and bright descriptions of the people among whom Mr. William John Leigh Maxwell was thrown during hi3 labours in the East. The work is only intended as a tribute to his memory, and to place on record the few facts of a not particularly eventful life. Mr. Maxwell died at sea, on his way home from Naples, in 1880.

LEGAL INTELLIGENCE.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL.

[Before the Master of the Rolls and Lords Justices Lindley and Lopes.)

THE QUEEN V. THE TYNE BOILER WORKS COMPANY, LIMITED.

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beyond the language of the statute. The premises may be more valuable because the tenant has the opportunity of taking the machinery, and so far it must be taken into consideration, but the question here goes further than that, as the rateable value of the premises was arrived at by ascertaining the rental which a tenant from year to year would give for the use of them, inclusive of the machinery. They cited “ Rex v. St. Nicholas, Gloucester ” (L “ T. R.” 723); “Reg. v. Lumsdaine” (10 “Ad. and E.,” 257); “Reg. v. Haslam ” (17 Q. B. 220); “Reg. v. Southampton Dock Company” (14 Q.B. 587); “Reg. v. Overseers of Lee” (7 “B. and S.” 188, “L.R.” 1, Q. B. 241); “Reg. v. Halstead” (31 J. P , 273); and “Laing v. Bishop Wearmouth ” (“L.R.” 3, Q. B. D. 299); in “ Chidley v. West Ham” (32 L. T. N. S. 486), large tanks in a distillery, which formed the roof of the building, not physically attached, but resting by their own weight, were hold not to be rated.

The Attorney-General, Sir R. E. Webster, Q.C. (Mr. W. Graham, Mr. Hans Hamilton, and Mr. R. A. Bennett with him), for the Assessment Committee of the Tynemouth Union, said :— The real question here is whether this machinery is to be taken into consideration in rating the premises—not whether it is in itself rateable. Machinery which is necessary for the use of the premises, as boiler works, whether fixed or resting by its own weight, must be taken into consideration. The fact of the machinery being fixed is not the dividing line nor the test, but the machinery being adapted for the manufacturing of boilers is the test, and it must then be taken into consideration. In “ Laing v. Bishop Wearmouth,” part of the machinery was not fixed, but merely rested by its own weight, and yet it was taken into consideration. In “ Reg. v. Overseers of Lee,” Mr. Justice Lush says that the psemises to be rated are to be taken as they are, with all the fittings and appliances by which the owner has adapted them to a particular use, and which would pass as part of the premises if they were demised to a tenant. “Demise of the premises” means in this case a demise of the premises known as the Boiler Works in the occupation of the Tyne Boiler Works Company. Lord Blackburn and Mr. Justice Lush both used the word “affixed” or “attached;” but they mean placed in connection with, not physically attached. It means articles so placed or adapted as to indicate an intention to use them with the premises so long as the premises are used for the purposes of the business. If so, they form part of the rateable premises. “ Chidley v. West Ham ” depended upon the special question asked of the Court in that case. The appellants ask the Court in effect to overrule a series of cases from “Reg. v. Guest ” (7 “Ad. and E.” 951) (decided in 1838). They also cited “ D’Eyncourt v. Gregory” (“L. R.,”3Eq.,382).

Sir Horace Davey, Q C., said in reply: The test is what would by a demise of the premises, as stated by Mr. Justice Lush in “Reg. v. Lee.” That test is accepted by the other side. But it is said that “ premises ” mean boiler works. The subject of the demise can only be the hereditaments mentioned in the parochial assessment with all its advantages of position, and of the business carried on there. The hereditament must be rated with all its advantages and appurtenances. This machinery is not part of the hereditaments in the above sense. The sessions have rated the hereditaments, plus the machinery.

The Court affirmed the judgment of the Queen’s Bench Division.

The Master of the Rolls said that the first difficulty was to determine what was the question raised in the case. The Court was confined to the question asked, and must not be led away by any argument which really discussed another question. Looking at the contentions on each side, the question in dispute was whether or not this machinery ought to be taken into account as enhancing the rateable value of the premises. On one side it was said that they were mere chattels, and so ought not to be taken into consideration; on the other side it was said that they ought. The question before the Court was not how they ought to be taken into consideration. That became clear from the reasons why the Sessions stated the case, namely, to test the soundness of the principle alleged to have been enunciated by the case of “ Laing v. Bishop Wearmouth.” The argument in the Divisional Court also went upon that ground. The question being whether these articles were to be taken into consideration as enhancing the value of the premises, it was obvious that the appellants’ contention was that “ Laing’s ” case went beyond the former cases. If that case did not go beyond the former cases, then the argument amounted to this, that the former cases were themselves wrongly decided. The 3 and 4 Viet., c. 89, said that the chattels were not to be rated, but it did not touch the question how real property be rated. Therefore the statute did not touch this case, and all the authorities as to the mode of arriving at the rateable value of real property remained untouched. The Court therefore would

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Indian State Railways. With each pair are to be supplied 658 bolts, for cylinders and caps; 207 bolts, for bracing. With TOUNGCO AND MANDALAY RAILWAY.—BRIDGE PIERS each 150ft. span are to be supplied117 bolts, for kerbs ; 117 AND BRIDGES.    bolts, for sleepers; 63 bolts, for rollers and bearings ; and 18 bolts,

T„« conditions of contract are the same as for Indian State ^tCorterlT; dT boltttTpIS? Sd'‘jl h.S ^&₍^tSrre^Knder this specidcation com- hjfc With each ’«*. -pan are

ofwsi£tz uzsrsffigstf»™.*°ts.i’.s'b

whole of the ironwork for font bridge piers, consist,ng of cast iron    fopplfed*with the different spans, in the follow-

cylinders, 6ft and 8ft. in diameter, lengths tapering from 8ft to    ._With each    pier, 281b. of bolts and    nuts,    and

6ft in diameter, caps wrought iron curbs, and bracings, &c.; ten    mg proportions^ _ w    p    ’ i cwt. of bolts    and nuts,

plate girder spans of 40ft. in the clear; five triangulated girder    ±“D: ⁰¹ wasners, wun e    innfe Lon o„wt nf    wits    and

spans of 100ft. in the clear; five triangulated girder spans of    and J cwt of washers; with eachi    100ft. span

150ft. in the clear. All rivets and bolts required to com- nuts, and 1$ ewit. of! wasters.; and with ea(* “Gft. sp^, b owfcot

Plete the erection of the piers and bridges, all bolts required to ^^nt^ay aretot included in the contract! The spans are secure the sleepers to the girders with, in each case, an allowance    ^yfi^e    of drawiDgS) ^hich may be seen at the

of 50 per cent, on the net quantity of rivets required for waste, aennearea on nve sueets oi uia 5 ,    j We illustrate

The 100ft. and 150ft. spans are as previously illustrated by us for office of the Director-General of S 0    ,

CONTRACTS OPEN.

the piers for the larger spans and the girders of the smaller spans. The contractor will be required to take his own copies of those drawings, and also to prepare, at his own expense, such further drawings as in his opinion, or in that of the Inspector-Greneral, may be necessary for the proper execution of the work. The drawing so prepared must receive the approval of the Inspector-General before being worked to.    ,    ,    , ,

Materials.— The quality of materials and tests are to be usual for India State Railway specifications.

Manufacture.—It is to be expressly understood that the greatest accuracy is to be observed in every part of the work, a main object of the design being to facilitate the erection in India by perfection of workmanship in this country. All corresponding parts of all spans must be made exactly similar and unchangeable. Each length of cylinder is to be cast perfectly round, and all similar lengths to be exactly the same diameter. The meeting faces are to be turned. The caps are to be cast in halves and planed at the joints. The upper faces of the wrought iron curbs are to be turned. All bolt holes must be drilled, or, in the case of cast iron, may, at

same

the option of the contractor, be cast in moulds of a diameter jin. less than the finished size, and then enlarged with the drill. They must be truly centred, so that any length will fit any other similar length, and any wrought iron will fit any cast iron cylinder. Templates, with studs in them to represent the bolts, must be supplied by the contractor, and will be applied in each case. All bolts must be a good fit in the holes. The inner and outer angle bars in the curbs are each to be welded into a complete ring. All plates and bars must be rolled to the full sections, and the angle irons to the full widths and weights per foot shown on the drawings. All angle irons which do not hold their full widths and weights from end to end, or which have rough, jagged, or imperfect edges or ends, will be rejected. All plates, bars, and angle irons must be carefully levelled and straightened—the angle bars by pressure, and not by hammering—before and after they are punched or drilled. All edges of all plates, and the ends of angle irons and bars, must be planed dead true to the dimensions, or, where planing is impossible, they must be dressed off fair with hammer, chisel, and file. No rough edges, fresh from the shears, will be permitted anywhere throughout the work. All rivet holes to be filled in in India are to be drilled. All other rivet holes may be either drilled or punched, at the option of the contractor ; but any plate or bar in which the holes are not accurately in place will be rejected. The holes through which any one rivet passes must correspond in any number of plates or bars. All holes to be punched must be marked off with a centre punch and punched with a nipple punch. In all cover plates, except the webs, the fibre of the iron must run in the direction of the length of the span. The contractor is to supply with this contract the usual seven sets of tracings, together with twenty well-executed, unmounted photographs to a large scale, two views, as erected complete, showing the erection marks very clearly.

Quantities (not guaranteed).—Supposed quantities in one span of 150ft.:—

t. c.

Wrought iron in main girders..........

,,    ,, cross girders..........

,,    ,,    rail girders ..........

,,    ,,    curl girders..........

footing girders ........

floor plates ..........

hand rail *    ..........

Total............

capping girder ........

Quantities in one set of roller expansion gear

Cast iron....................

Steel......................

Forging in roller frames ..........

Bolts, including 10 per cent, extra........

Total............

Supposed quantities in one set of fixed resting gear:— Cast iron Bolts ..

80

17- 0 14    0

4    1

6 10 16 12 3 12

WI-tCOOMOp

LB.

18

22

10

27

19

it

150 16    2    2

15    0    5

2 15    3    0

0 18 2 0 0 1 0 11

Total............

Wrought iron in 100ft. span, including main crop, rail and curl girders, flooring, bed plates,

bolts, &c...................

Supposed quantities in 40ft. span, total weight..

Bridge piers—

Total cast iron in one pier............

Total wrought iron in one pier ........

Tenders are to be made on the usual form, to be obtained at the India-office, and to be delivered before 2 p.m. on 7th December.

0 19    2 11

73 14 2 0 15 18 1 22

79 1 2 12 5 17 3 0

ON THE PURIFICATION OF WATER BY AGITATION WITH IRON AND BY SAND FILTRATION. ¹

By W. Anderson, M. Inst. C.E.

The fact that iron possesses the property of removing from impure waters colouring matter and organic contamination has been known for these thirty years. In 1857 Dr. Medlock took out a patent, according to which water was to be purified by suspending iron in the tanks containing it; but no practical results followed till some eighteen years ago, when Professor G. Bischof took the matter up, and contrived the domestic filter, which now enjoys a deservedly high reputation. In these filters the water, after a rough preliminary filtration, passes through a layer of iron in a coarsely granular condition, then through a stratum of native peroxide of manganese, and finally through a layer of filtering sand. In applying iron to the purification of water upon a large scale, Professor Bischof adopts a different arrangement. The water first passes through a layer of ordinary filter sand, by which the mechanical impurities are separated, then through a layer composed of a mixture of three parts, by measure, of coarse gravel to one part of the granular iron, and, finally, the water is made to flow through an ordinary sand filter. In the layer of gravel and iron a chemical reaction takes place. The iron is slowly dissolved by the water through the combined agency of the free oxygen and carbonic acid, which are always present, in variable quantities, in natural waters; the carbonate of iron and low hydrated oxides of the metal which are formed, afterwards pass into a higher state of oxidation at the expense of the free oxygen in the water, or of that taken up from the air after the passage of the water through the iron and gravel mixture. I will not attempt to determine the precise nature of the purifying action, but the fact remains that iron is first dissolved in the water to the extent of about one-tenth of a grain to the gallon, and that, during this process and the subsequent deposition, a powerful effect is produced on organic matters held in solution.

Professor Bischofs system was, for some time, in operation large scale as the Antwerp Waterworks, and left nothing to be desired so far as the cleansing effect on the water was concerned. But the river Nethe, from which the supply is taken, is a greatly polluted stream, the iron therefore had an abnormal amount of work to do, and in consequence the upper layers of the iron and gravel mixture got choked, comparatively quickly, with the dissolved impurities separated from the water. It was curious to note the appearance of the iron filters. All that could be seen from above, when the water had been drawn off, was the ordinary surface of a sand filter, which had to be cleaned in the usual way about every fortnight. On digging through the sand change could be detected till the spade arrived within a couple of inches of the iron mixture, when discoloration became apparent, and this continued to increase till the layer of iron reached. For 6in. or Sin. the gravel and iron particles were thickly coated and mixed with a reddish, slimy substance, the product of the. chemical action of the iron. Deeper down the mixture was of an intense black, and had apparently remained unchanged during the four years the filters had worked.

on a

no

was

The upper 6in. of the iron mixture had to be removed and washed about every six months, but no difficulty was experienced from any concreting together of the mass. There is very little doubt but that with purer water the inconvenience and expense caused by the great deposition of slimy matter would have been less severely felt, and I believe that in the case of domestic supplies and moderate sized installations Professor Bischof’s system is the best yet introduced. The behaviour of the filters at Antwerp demonstrates conclusively that a true chemical action takes place, because the water, before it reached the iron, had undergone twelve hours’ subsidence and ordinary filtration through 2ft. deep of sand, and must therefore have been deprived of all the mechanical suspended impurities which, sand was capable of taking from it; and yet the remaining impurities, when acted on by the iron, were sufficient to cause the clogging up of a very open mixture of gravel and iron, much too coarse to act as a filter, and which, as a matter of fact, permitted

Read before the Society of Arts, Wednesday, November 24th, 1886.

the water to issue on the sand filters in the muddy condition which it must have acquired in passing through. The rate of filtration was not nearly so rapid as was expected from preliminary experiments. It was thought that the water could be purified at the rate of 150 gallons per square foot per twenty-four hours. In reality, however, the rate did not exceed half that amount. For small installations, and with fairly clean water, it would be safe, I think, to make the iron and sand filters each have an area of such extent as to filter at the rate of 80 gallons per square foot per twenty-four hours.

The water, as it comes from the iron filters, should be allowed to fall in a shallow cascade or a balloon jet into the sand filter, so as to bring as large a surface as possible into contact with the air; with some kinds of water it is very difficult to remove a faint marshy taste and smell; in such cases, the blowing of a considerable volume of air through the water after treatment with iron, by of perforated pipes, has been found beneficial, and the same method is efficacious in hastening the deposit of iron where there is not sufficient space to allow time for natural aeration. The depth over the sand should be such as to allow about four hours before the inflowing water reaches the sand. Thus, if the filtration be at the rate of 6in. deep per hour, or 74J gallons per square foot per twenty-four hours, the water over the sand should not be less than 2ft. deep. Over the filters the water assumes a reddish hue, and a slimy deposit is left on the surface of the sand; this has to be removed from time to time in the usual manner, the frequency depending on the purity of the water to be treated, and generally also on the season of the year. When a filter begins to run sluggishly, its life may be increased by about 25 per cent, by trailing a light chain over the surface of the sand, and by that means breaking up the slimy de.posit.

After four years’ working, the demand for water by the city of Antwerp had increased to an extent which rendered it imperative that the means of purification should be extended. To double the existing arrangements would have involved the employment of 900 tons more iron and an extension of space which would have led to immense expenditure. Under these circumstances I determined to try a suggestion, first made to me by Sir Frederick Abel, of treating the water by agitation with iron instead of by filtration through it. Sir Frederick had pointed out that the action of the iron was of a chemical nature, and that it was desirable to present it continually to the water in the cleanest condition possible, and, at the same time, to cause the clean metal surfaces to come into contact with fresh quantities of the water under treatment; and that these conditions could be best secured by causing the iron particles to tumble about in a cylinder through which the water was caused to flow very slowly. The difficulty in the way of adopting Sir Frederick Abel’s suggestion arose from the idea which prevailed, though not with him, that very prolonged contact, as much as three-quarters of an hour, between the water and the iron was indispensable,hencethe scheme seemed almost impracticable for large volumes of water. Notwithstanding this prejudice, however, an experimental revolving cylinder was at last made, and it was very soon proved that even the impure waters of the Nethe could be perfectly dealt with by agitation with clean iron with a contact of three and a-half minutes only. In working out this process I have been greatly indebted to Mr. G. H. Ogston, who had been associated with me from the first, who made all the analyses, and who had previously tested and condemned many other plans for attaining the object in view. The “revolver,” as the purifying apparatus is called, consists of an iron cylinder arranged to revolve on its long axis on hollow trunnions secured to each end. The trunnions are fitted with pipes, connected to them by means of ordinary stuffing-boxes and glands, so that the pipes remain stationary while the trunnions revolve water-tight round them. The trunnions are supported on ordinary pedestals, and a slow rotary motion is given to the cylinder by means of a spur ring, secured round one end, and driven by a pinion actuated by a suitable train of wheel work. The inlet pipe opens into the cylinder against a disc, which forces the water to spread evenly in a radial direction, and the outlet pipe commences in the cylinder in the form of an inverted funnel, up which the water streams so slowly that none but the finest particles of iron are carried away. The inside of the revolver is fitted with curved shelves or ledges arranged in sets to hit and miss each other ; these serve to scoop up the iron and shower it down again, almost continuously, through the water. One-tenth of the volume of the cylinder is filled with coarsely sub-divided iron, either Professor Bischof’s granular, so-called, spongy material, or iron cast into small bullets, or iron granulated by being poured into water, or by ordinary coarse cast iron turnings, or borings from engineers’ shops. The last form of iron is found, so far, to be the most efficient. The motion of the cylinder is very slow. The Antwerp revolvers, which are 5ft. diameter and 15ft. long, with lOin. inlet and outlet pipes, capable of purifying 500 gallons per minute, revolve once a minute, and require about J-horse power to drive them.

In March, 1885, three of these revolvers were started at Antwerp, and the original iron and gravel beds were converted into ordinary sand filters; by this change the capacity of the works was at once doubled. The total weight of iron in use at one time was reduced from 900 tons to 3| tons, and all the expenses connected with digging over and washing the purifying materials were done away with. When pure water is passed through a revolver, a certain amount of iron is dissolved, and then the water flows out a light grey colour. After two or three hours the colour changes to a reddish brown, and a deposit of rust takes place at the bottom of the vessel. If filtered at once, on escaping from the revolver, the liquid will generally be clear at first, but after a time it will sometimes get cloudy and the deposit of rust will take place, showing that the iron existed, in the first instance, in solution, and was afterwards precipitated by [the action of atmospheric oxygen. If the water be impure, coloured, and charged with dissolved organic matter, it will issue from the revolver of a dark grey colour, and this will increase to an inky black in the case of very bad water, so that it is possible to judge of the quality of the water by the colour assumed during its treatment. If the impurities are not more than the iron can deal with, the liquid, on standing for some three or four hours, becomes lighter and lighter in colour, a black precipitate forms and sinks very slowly to the bottom, the colour becomes a dirty grey, and then the water will filter quite clear and bright. If the impurities overpower the iron, or are of a nature which the iron cannot effectually attack, a purplish colour remains, and the liquid will not filter colourless. As in the case of the Bischof filter, the time of repose and exposure to the air before filtration is obtained by providing a sufficient depth of water over the sand of the filter beds. In addition to its chemical action, iron possesses the property of causing the very finely-divided particles of matter, which cause opalescence and cloudiness, to coagulate to such an extent that they can be removed by filtration. The waters of the Nile, for instance, which will not subside clear in any reasonable time, and which cannot be filtered bright by sand filters, yield a beautiful clear water if agitated with iron before filtration through sand.

From the nature of the case, the system described is absolutely permanent and constant in its action. The surfaces of the particles of iron are necessarily preserved bright and effective, and, the slow waste being made good by periodic additions of fresh iron, the revolver, once set to work, will go on acting in the same manner for an indefinite time.

The effects of the treatment of water by iron may be classed under three heads :—(1) The invariable result is that the organic matter is altered in its chemical nature, and the albumenoid ammonia is reduced to from one-half to one-fifth of its original amount. (2) A reaction analogous to that in Clark’s softening process appears, in many cases, to go on. The iron oxide which is produced, by combining with some of the carbonic acid which holds the carbonates of lime and magnesia in solution in the water, causes some precipitation of these to take place, and hence an appreciable amount of softening generally results. Thus, at

means

Antwerp, the boilers of the pumping station were originally fed with untreated water, a hard scale was consequently formed in them; but when the arrangements were altered, and the treated and filtered water was supplied, the scale was greatly reduced in quantity and became of a very open friable character, which does not adhere to the boiler plates. In the same way, when water contains much iron in solution, the treatment with iron causes a deposition of the metal on account of the removal of free carbonic acid, so that the waters of the Nethe have less iron in them after treatment than before. It is very remarkable how completely the iron is deposited from solution in this process ; the merest trace only remains—an amount not greater than the Kent Company’s water, for example, contains. An idea prevails that because iron is used in purification, the water resulting must necessarily be unfit for many purposes, such as washing lmen, paper-making, and so on. I have not been able to find any grounds for this prejudice. Fish live and thrive in the water, it is used exclusively by the famous “Zoological Gardens” at Antwerp, aquaria are supplied with it, and no complaints about its injurious effect on linen have ever been received. (3) Treatment with iron appears to destroy or remove much of the infusorial life. According to Dr. Frankland, Bischof, Voelcker, G. H. Ogston, and others, who have experimented in the laboratory, the treatment with iron prevents the development of that kind of microscopic life which is the cause of putrefaction of animal substances; and Mr. Ogston’s experiments with sterilised infusions placed in sterilised chambers, and also with Dr. Koch’s method, prove that the microbes causing fermentation and putrefaction are destroyed or removed.

At Antwerp, during the autumn of last year, the unusual drought, coupled with the great influx of visitors in consequence of the International Exhibition, made so severe a demand upon the purifying arrangements of the water company that it proved impossible at times to remove entirely the marshy taste in the water. This caused considerable alarm, because the cholera was raging in Spain, and great fears were entertained lest it should travel eastward; the Town Council therefore appointed a Commission of five distinguished Belgian chemists to report on the condition of the water. The Commission made a very exhaustive examination, and reported that there was nothing deleterious in the water, that it was absolutely sterile to Koch’s gelatine tests, although life was developed by cultivation on potato slices. I do not venture to pronounce any opinion as to whether it is desirable or not to remove all infusorial life from water. There is no proof whatever, as yet, that it would be any advantage to do so, while there is evidence that microscopic life has the effect of naturally purifying water, and analogy would lead us to suspect that, just as small birds keep down insect pests, so some kinds of microbes, harmless in themselves, may be of great use in destroying dangerous germs.

It is well known that iron is inimical to vegetable and animal life. The presence of salts of iron in the soil produces sterility. Iron must not be used in the construction of aquaria, or of the pipes and pumps connected with them, for even creatures as hardy as eel fry show such strong repugnance to the water as it issues from the revolvers that they make the most persevering efforts to crawl out of it, even up the vertical sides of the iron tank in which the water flows. It is not surprising, therefore, that it should prove inimical to microscopic life. It has been suggested that the presence of iron deprives the water of its free oxygen, and thus smothers animal life; and again, it is thought that the slimy precipitate which is formed carries down and entangles the infusoria, and prevents them getting through the sand filters. However that may be, this property of iron is undoubtedly established, and would lead to the inference that, supposing dangerous, as well as harmless, germs to be destroyed, the worst water treated by iron is safer for dietetic purposes than the best natural supplies, because tection from contamination of water ait.iiiuaiiy purified is under the complete control of the establishment supplying it, for it can be kept in covered reservoirs and pipes beyond all risk of pollution; whereas the best natural supplies, used in their natural condition, those from deep wells not excepted, are more or less open to contamination; witness the number of wells that have had to be abandoned in the outskirts of London, and the obvious ways in which springs and watercourses can be defiled.

The adoption of iron purification by waterworks deriving their supplies from rivers liable to periodic muddiness and discoloration from floods, would obviate the necessity of having large intake reservoirs for the purpose of storing up water, when the source is in a good condition, for use when it is too discoloured and polluted to be drawn upon. Not only would such a course save a vast amount of valuable space, but it would remove the danger which must accompany the exposure of a vast surface of water to the contaminating influence of the atmosphere of large towns; and who can tell how fatal this may be on the outbreak of epidemic disease? The practice adopted largely in London, for example, is to convert running streams into stagnant ponds, situated in the midst of a dense population and surrounded by factories, and make such ponds the real source of supply.

The system which I have had the honour of bringing before you is now in operation on the large scale at Antwerp, at Gouda, and Dordrecht, in Holland, and at the great ironworks of Messrs. Cail and Co., in Paris, where the waters of the Seine, considerably polluted by sewage and by the floating washhouses, is taken from opposite the factory on the Quai Grenelle, and purified for the supply of the factory and the workmen’s cottages. In addition experimental apparatus of large size is in operation in Berlin, and at Ostend. In the case of the latter town, the object is to determine whether an abundant supply of good water, which the town stands much in need of, can be obtained at J abbeke from a canal, the water in which, usually about the same quality as that of the Nethe, from which the Antwerp supply is derived, is subject to periodical pollution by the Espierre, a stream which drains a large manufacturing district. The apparatus has been at work since last spring, and has given very satisfactory results, the purified canal water being superior to any at present in use in the town.

A table of analysis, showing the degree of purification attained, is appended:—

Etfect of Purification by Iron.

Organic

matter.

Ammonia.

Alburn enoid.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

pro-

Free.

Before.

After.

Antwerp

Dordrecht

Gouda

Ostend (single purification) (double

Paris

77

34

151

135

31    -27    '08    -40    -00

14    -14    -05    -12    -00

85    '41    ‘23    -05    -03

76

40

•5S

•22    1-30    -12

•19

•23

51    25 I -16 ; -06

•40 HO

The distinguished Antwerp chemist, Professor Kemna, has found that in the case of bad waters, a double purification is possible, the water being twice passed through the revolver and twice sand filtered. The results, in the case of Ostend, are given in the table. In his capacity as consulting chemist to the Antwerp Waterworks, Mr. Kemna has devoted much time and research to the process, and to him as well as Mr. Devonshire, the resident engineer, I am much indebted for many useful investigations and suggestions.

The cost of applying this method of purification depends, of course, upon local circumstances and the quality of the water to be treated, but the capital outlay, where filters exist already, may

be taken as £1000 per million gallons per twenty-four hours, while the working expenses are merely nominal, the revolvers running without any attention beyond

once a week, of a fresh supply of iron. The cost of

George Hatton.

not-e curves

con-

X. Y. Z.

never said so when the steam was performing work. Mr. Mar-chant, I believe, allows one third of his steam to go to the condenser, and to the remaining two-thirds he mixes the necessary amount of feed-water, and forces everything back into the boiler. Under these conditions “ L. P. B.’s” diagram would be completely altered. Mr, Perkins’ red-hot water has nothing to do with my argument, viz., that saturated steam cannot be compressed into a liquid state unless the heat of compression be abstracted.

Anthony S. Bower.

so as to allow the nut for

R. H.

as

ones.

as sta-

pressure cylinder.

St. Neot’s, November 27th.

mean

mean one

regular oiling, and the addition,

__„ „ ,f.j of iron. The cost of the water at

Antwerp, delivered into the town main under a pressure of 280ft., does not exceed three-quarters of a penny per thousand gallons in working expenses of all kinds. Where filter-beds exist, as at Dordrecht and Gouda, in Holland, the revolving purifiers can be added without any substantial alteration, and the filter-beds can generally be worked at a greater rate than when the untreated water is to be made reasonably fit for use.

The paper was illustrated by a laboratory apparatus, which was engaged in purifying some highly coloured and contaminated water, and by numerous samples of the materials used, and specimens of water from Paris and elsewhere.

LETTEES TO THE EDIT0E.

[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents. J

SIDE-BLOWN FIXED CONVERTERS V. BOTTOM-BLOWN TIPPING CONVERTERS.

Sir,—I regret I have only just read the concluding remarks of your special correspondent reporting on the iron and coal industries of the North of England in your issue of the 15th Oct., in which he says, referring to the Iron and Steel Institute meeting: “It was conclusively proved last week that whatever can be done in the way of obtaining pure metal by the latter process—speaking of fixed converters—can be as well done by the ordinary converter, and more cheaply,” evidently giving his opinion as a conclusively established fact. The question was discussed at the Iron and Steel Institute meeting, and the only facts quoted as to actual working were distinctly in favour of the fixed side-blown converter for the production of pure, soft material. I allude to the analyses of silicons quoted by Mr. Hardisty as found in soft steel made in his small bottom-blown tipping vessel, and those quoted afterwards by myself as found in soft steel produced in my fixed converter, the silicons in my steel averaging 50 per cent, less than the best results quoted by Mr. Hardisty. The difference is even greater when comparing the silicons found in soft steel made in large tipping vessels. I have since the meeting met with further evidence, having had the opportunity of seeing the silicon estimations of a great number of blows madeinalarge tippingvessel making soft material. The variation from blow to blow is remarkable, fully bearing out Mr. Barnett’s remarks at the meeting when he said that he did not deny that it was possible to occasionally obtain very low silicon in a large vessel, but that he did contend that very low silicons were not obtained with certainty or regularly. This may not be important to a firm making large quantities of steel, because they select the very soft steel for purposes for which it is required, and any blows not sufficiently low in carbon or silicon can with equal advantage be used up for other purposes; but in the case of firms desiring to make only a moderate quantity, and this for one specific purpose, the question of uniformily low silicons is an all-important one.

It is unfortunate that you omitted my statement on the question of silicons in your report of the discussion in the same issue, as they were confirmed by the subsequent remarks of Mr. Gilchrist. Mr. Stead’s remarks may perhaps be construed into supporting the conclusion of your correspondent, but though Mr. Stead gave it as his opinion that the same article could be made in the larger vessel, he did not assert that a large vessel could be run continuously on this very soft material and make nothing else. The method proposed for obtaining it, namely, by a short after-blow, is decidedly objectionable, and, as Mr. Stead subsequently explained, there is great danger in pouring very soft metal from a tipping vessel, owing to the admixture in the ladle of the steel and slag, the oxide of iron in the slag continuing, the oxidation process often robbing the bath of metal of the whole of the manganese additions, producing burnt and red-short steel. This misfortune is not likely to occur with the fixed converter, where the metal is tapped from below, and the bulk of it is in the ladle before any slag reaches it.

Bilston, 1886.

RAILWAY GAUGE IN CEYLON.

SIR,—Having had some experience with narrow-gauge roads, I am glad to see this subject, under the above heading, raised in your article dated September 17th, and would be pleased if you can find room in your valuable columns for a few words.

Not long ago I was engaged upon some tramways—miniature railways—worked by locomotives. A great portion of the lines had been laid before my connection with them. The gauge was 2ft.; the sleepers supplied were 4ft. by 9in. by 3in., of creosoted pine. The locomotives weighed 10 tons; width over all, 6ft. 6in.; the clearance required in cuttings, at least 8ft. Portions of the line had been worked anterior to my arrival, with unsatisfactory results. I found after careful investigation that it would be necessary to substitute for the 4ft. creosoted pine sleepers native hard wood sleepers of at least 5ft. 6in. by 8in. by 4[jin., as the ends of the original sleepers, if they did not break under the rail, as they often did, were forced by the overhanging weight of the locomotives into the ballast, the ballast being in this case the best material which could be found at hand. The substituting of these sleepers for those originally supplied and laid meant widening the banks, which in some places meant heavy work; and as grades of 1 in 35 to 1 in 40 upwards of 2 kilos, in extent, and curves of 100 metres radius, were not uncommon, it can be imagined that the country was not the easiest in the world to pass through, and that withstanding the steepness of the grades and the radii of th employed, heavy banks were necessary.

Now if we have given a track, whose cuttings must be of a certain width to enable the freight to be carried through them, and which must—particularly in a tropical country—have an extra width for drainage, and whose banks must be of a width, not only to give base to a sleeper, the length of which experience has shown must be approximately equal to the overall width of the locomotive, but must also be sufficiently wide to allow for boxing up, where is the advantage in the 2ft. gauge over a gauge of 3ft. 3gin. —one metre ?

The metre gauge merely means spiking the rails to the sleeper 7'7in.—approximately—further out on either side; it makes no alteration in cuttings or banks, but it makes a great difference in the equilibrium of wagons highly loaded with overhanging material.

With the metre gauge we can employ powerful engines, to which curves of 100 to 120 metres radius and grades of one in forty do not come amiss, timbers of 40ft. to 60ft. in length can be easily hauled, and in this country—comparatively a new one—the metre gauge has been chosen by experience to be the best in practice. There are railways, as you are well aware, of from 5ft. 6in. gauge downwards, but all the prolongations are being constructed to the metre gauge.

The statement that “ very careful estimating ” has demonstrated that between the cost of a railway of 5ft. 6in. gauge and one of 3ft. 6in. or of the metre gauge in the hill country of Ceylon, there is only a margin of £1000 per mile, is certainly striking, and more so when it is contended that when the reduction in gauge is brought so low as 2ft., the difference in first cost will approximate to £10,000 per mile. This difference is the more extraordinary when we know of examples of railways in this country which have been constructed—metre gauge—and equipped with rolling stock, stations &c., at a cost of less than half this difference per mile.

Experience has shown that heavy traffic cannot be economically worked on what are called light railways; pictorial advertisements have shown us the ease with which rails, with sleepers attached, can he carried and laid in any given direction. I fear we have yet to find the country abounding in these apparently endless level planes in which to lay our tramways intended for heavy traffic, and to be worked by locomotives.

In a province in this Empire it was decided a few months ago that certain tramways to be worked by locomotives should be constructed ; the gauge, after some discussion, was fixed at 2ft. The work of the construction of this tramway was sublet; the tractors carried out their work with plant of a metre gauge, and subsequently respiked the gauge to 2ft. The traffic that this tramway was required to carry was about 400 tons per day. This I saw, and this fairly bears out my own ideas on the subject of the economy of the 2ft. gauge in construction, leaving out of the question that the maintenance both of rolling stock and permanent way on the metre gauge is less expensive.

Finally, I would ask the chief engineer of the Festiniog Railway, the gauge of which is 1ft. ll|in.—which railway I had the pleasure of visiting some ten years ago—the following questions, viz. :—

The size of the sleepers he employs ? The weight of the rail he employs ? And, lastly, the question, that if he had the offer of new locomotives, new rolling-stock, new repairing shops, the change—if he wished for change—to cost nothing, what gauge he would alter the present one to, taking the railway per se, without taking any consideration of possible connection with other railways ?

Brazil, November 5th, 1886.

THE MARCHANT ENGINE.

Sir,—I am sorry if I have imputed anything to “ L. P. B.” that he did not intend to say. There is one statement in “ L. P. B.’s ” letter that could not be construed differently from the manner in which I did. It runs thus :—“ Now Clausius has shown that the specific heat of saturated steam is negative, and that therefore saturated steam, if suffered to expand in a non-conducting cylinder, must partially condense, and conversely, if compressed, it will be superheated. This is contrary to the views held by Rankine, at one time at least.” To this statement I take exception. A little farther on “ L. P. B.” clenches this by saying, “Thus, for instance, although it is now known that steam is condensed by expansion, Rankine held and taught that it was superheated.” Rankine

St. Neots, November 30th.

HORIZONTAL ENGINES.

Sir,—“Long Piston Rod’s ” query relative to the value of tail rods and slipper guides in floating the piston in horizontal cylinders, so as to prevent downward wear of the former, is one of interest. My experience teaches me that, in a great many cases, the tail-end of piston rod had been made far too “light”—ie., weak—to be of any value as a support, more especially when the tail rod is reduced in diameter consequent on the base of the coning starting from the diameter of rod, or perhaps a less diameter, to give a shoulder, plus allowance for depth of threads, tightening the piston on the cone to pass over the tail rod. Such, no doubt, is wretched practice, but has, nevertheless, been carried out. Both front and tail end should be of the same diameter, enlarged for the cone and screw for the piston, and should be of such ample transverse strength that the weight of itself and the piston should cause no deflection whatever in the span from the front guides to the slipper guide of the tail end, ignoring the value of the stuffing boxes altogether. If tail rods are dispensed with, better make the piston with broad soles at the bottom for about one-sixth circumference on both piston flange and junk ring. Corresponding recesses must, of course, be made on the covers, as the case may be; or have a thick and broad packing ring, with a light block fitted for about one-sixth circumference in lieu of springs between the packing ring and the body of the piston; or by getting piston with a block cast on as above—of course “ cored out ” for lightness—and turned to the diameter of cylinder minus thickness of packing. ring. The latter will in such cases carry the weight of the piston, but, of course, wearing the cylinder at the bottom. There needs no ghost come to tell us that of course the tail rod and slipper guide would be best practice if properly carried out, large bearing surface to guides, no deflection of piston rod, the resultant thrust due to connecting rod acts on upper guide, no trouble from wear of cylinder.

Cork, November 23rd.

TRIPLE EXPANSION ENGINES.

Sir,—I have carefully read your leader in last week’s Engineer, entitled “ Condensation in Steam Cylinders.” I certainly agree with you that a trial should be made with non-conducting cylinders. Theoretically I suppose the curve of expansion would be adiabatic, and p being the pressure, and r the rate of expansion, p would vary as rJ₆°. Steam would be condensed in proportion to the work done during expansion, but the water in the cylinder at the end of the stroke would not be re-evaporated, nor would the incoming fresh steam be condensed—this is of course supposing the material employed to be absolutely non-conducting. Now in a steam-jacketted single-cylinder engine steam is admitted at boiler pressure and temperature, or nearly so; it is cut off at a certain point, expansion commences, and the temperature keeps falling to the end of the stroke. Water is deposited on the cylinder walls, and the steam itself becomes moist. The exhaust valve opens, and a further reduction in pressure and temperature takes place, which continues until compression commences. Now, if there were no jacket the temperature of the cylinder walls would be a mean of all the different temperatures throughout this cycle. As a jacket exists, the temperature of the cylinder walls will be somewhere between this mean and that of the steam in the jacket. Now the jacket, though willing, cannot exert its influence advantageously. High-pressure steam first entering the cylinder is partially condensed, the cylinder walls are cooler than it. The jacket has to both reevaporate this water and prevent the expanding steam from condensing. In this there is no doubt that it does not succeed. The best steam jacket could only make nearly dry steam, as steam when perfectly dry is very loth indeed to accept heat. Now when the exhaust valve opens a fall of temperature and pressure takes place, and a great difference existing between the contents of the cylinder and its walls, rapid re-evaporation sets in, to the cost of the steam in the jacket. All this heat passes irrecoverably to waste in the condenser. Here is one point in favour of early compression in single engines, anyway. In fact, the waste work of the jacket is probably two or three times that of the useful work. Theoretically, a point might be reached where the steam might be made very nearly dry. Condensation takes place most rapidly immediately after the cut off, for two reasons; one, because at that moment the cylinder walls are cooler than it; and another, that a large amount of work is performed per unit of space swept through by the piston. Now as the piston moves on, less and less work is done per unit of space swept through. The heat of the cylinder wall comes rapidly into play, the exposed surface is increasing, as also the differences in temperature between the contents of the cylinder and its walls. Theoretically, if this were carried far enough nearly all the condensed water might be removed by the jacket; and so when the exhaust took place the steam would be dry, and not in a condition to rob the jacket of much heat and carry it to the condenser. It is the alternation of hot and cool steam that makes the efficiency of the jacket so small. Now Mr. Wyllie says jacketting is not so efficient in triple expansion engines as in single expansion I think precisely the reverse of this. In the first place, the jacketted surface is greater; the difference of temperature of admission and exhaust in each cylinder is less, and the jacket is better able to perform its duty. The exhaust from No. 1 cylinder in its moist state, including the re-evaporated steam from the cylinder walls, does not go to waste to the condenser, but passes to No. 2, where it encounters an extended heating surface at a much higher temperature than itself; and so, by the time it is done with, it is nearly dry. In the same manner the exhaust from No. 2 passes to No. 3, where the heated surface is still greater and hotter than itself, and so is rendered perfectly dry, and not in a fit condition, when passing to the condenser, to rob the jacket of much heat. It is only too well known that moist steam will take away heat rapidly from the surrounding walls, while dry—or nearly dry—steam will not. The jacket in No. 1 cylinder is not of much use, probably because of the small difference in temperature existing between it and the cylinder walls, and also because of the comparatively small surface exposed. Still, however, I do not see how the use of a non-conducting cylinder, as proposed by Professor Kennedy, could in any way prevent a large amount of water from passing over to No. 2. It would only pre-vent re-evaporation on the return stroke. In a single-cylinder engine this would be an advantage, as the heat of re-evaporation would not then be lost in the condenser. In triple expansion engines this does not matter much, as the heat of re-evaporation in No. 1 passes to No. 2, that of No. 2 to No. 3—where, tistics show, there is none. In fine, Sir, I think that there are four reasons why the triple expansion engine has proved itself so economical:—(1) The increased pressure that has been employed ; (2) the increased jacketted surface; (3) the manner in which the expanding steam is heated—viz., in stages; (4) the fact that the exhaust steam in the low-pressure cylinder is perfectly dry, and abstracts little heat from the cylinder walls, which are thus enabled to accumulate heat ready for the next charge from the medium-

Anthony S. Bower.

THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF HIGH-SPEED ENGINES.

Sir,—In your comments upon the interesting and successful trial of Messrs. Davey, Paxman, and Company’s compound noncondensing engine at South Kensington, doubt is expressed whether, with the exception of certain trials conducted by yourself some years since, any other really definite and scientifically-conducted trials have been made of this class of engine by independent and competent observers; and it is implied that the claims to economy made in behalf of various engines are chiefly based upon “ private trials.”

Will you allow us to point out that a report of economy trials of a Willans compound non-condensing engine, scarcely less definite and exhaustive than those by Mr. Rich and Professor Kennedy, and signed by observers no less independent and competent than Mr. J. Macfarlane Gray, Dr. J. A. Fleming, and Mr. E. H. Liveing —representing Mr. W. H. Massey—was published in your contemporary, the Electrician, so recently as the 9th April last, and the results were even more remarkable than those obtained at South Kensington.

The trials were not held at our request, nor were any of the arrangements made by us. They were held at the works of the purchasers, Messrs. R. E. Crompton and Co., and although Mr. Willans was present, it was as a spectator. Though the claim to special credit for the South Kensington engines on the ground that they were tried under fair working conditions, and after three seasons’ use, is a perfectly fair one, it must be borne in mind, to the credit of the Willans engine at Chelmsford, that many of the circumstances there were much less favourable than at South Kensington. The boilers were overworked, so that the steam was of doubtful dryness; the engine was run without a governor, with varying steam pressures; it was worked at little more than two-thirds of its full power, under the actual circumstances of revolutions and boiler pressure, and therefore with too low a mean pressure for economy; and its newness was not from our point of view an advantage, but the reverse. It may be added that it was not fitted with variable expansion gear, and that the cylinders were not jacketted.

It happens that the power developed was nearly the same as at South Kensington, averaging 112'62 I.H.P., and ranging from 101’57 to 130'47. (Planimeter measurements of the diagrams, taken by Mr. Macfarlane Gray, gave a mean of 113'98 I.H.P.; Mr. Liveing, by ordinates, brought the mean power to 110'76; the of these determinations was taken.) The water evaporated, based upon the mean I.H.P.—112'62—was 23'21b. per I.H.P. per hour, or '95 lb. less than at South Kensington. It is unfortunate that at Chelmsford the evaporative efficiency of the boilers was low, owing to deposit, but we are at present only concerned with the engine performance, measured in steam.

The Willans engine ran at an average speed of 344 revolutions per minute. At its intended speed of 400 revolutions the economy would have been greater.

In conclusion we would ask you to find space for the following extracts from the report:—“The total weight of water evaporated during the actual trial, lasting two hours two minutes, was 5 '3201b.; the results in lb. of water per horse-power, and per electrical horse-power per hour, viz , 23'2 lb. and 31 ‘31 lb. respectively, are exceedingly good—in fact, there are no published results which show even an approximate approach to this measure of steam consumption per electrical horse-power.

“ Good though these results are, it would hardly be fair, either to the engine or dynamo, to take them as representing their maximum efficiency, for the boilers were not sufficiently powerful, and could not be cleaned for the trials. . . . The steam was probably rather wet from insensible priming due to the forcing of the boilers. Moreover the condensation in the steam pipes was considerable, owing to the temporary nature of the connections. . . . These trials show that the view held for so many years, that a high-speed engine must necessarily be wasteful, must be definitely given up, for in this case we have a high-speed engine showing under not the most favourable circumstances an economical use of steam which need not fear comparison with that of any other slow-speed engine.”

In the face of this opinion we had ceased to look upon the results obtained as in any way a remarkable performance for a high-speed engine, and as we are about to commence a series of trials which we expect will show a considerably smaller consumption of water, we only allude to them now in order to point out that Messrs. Davey, Paxman, and Co. ’s figures are not unprecedented.

The consumption of steam per electrical horse-power, if it speaks well for the dynamo, also speaks eloquently for direct driving in preference to driving through belts, while it certainly proves that had brake tests been applied they could not' have been other than favourable to the engine.    Willans and Robinson.

Ferry Works, Thames Ditton, Surrey, November 29th.

[We have commented on this letter in another page.—Ed. E.]

THE CORNGREAVES IRONAYORKS.

Sir,—In your issue of yesterday’s date we observe an article descriptive of our works and manufactures, and in this we notice the following passage, viz.:—“A considerable portion of pig iron produced at these works is of the description known as ‘ cold blast.’ Though this term was originally applied to iron smelted without the blast being heated, it is now generally understood to made from materials selected with more than ordinary care; and it is in this sense that the term is here understood, the pure charge being melted in the smaller furnace.”

We fear that this passage is very apt to be misunderstood by your numerous readers, and to convey the meaning that whereas originally cold blast pig was understood to be iron smelted by cold blast, it is now generally understood to mean only iron made from materials selected with more than ordinary care, but smelted with hot blast.

As large manufacturers of cold blast pig iron, we must protest

(For the Widnes Foundry Company.) Chas. Robinson.

M. AM Ende.

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shipping tackle and other iron goods dependent upon the trade of the Clyde, the Tyne, and the Tees, are in receipt of more orders, and report that their contract books are looking better than for some time past, owing to a slight increase of activity in the home shipbuilding yards. Ironfounders engaged in the cast-iron hollow-ware trade are becoming livelier, and export orders are looking up, mainly from the Colonies and from foreign countries. Artistic light ironfounders hereabouts are making great progress in competition with importers of German and American artistic castings in the oil lamp and many other branches. Birmingham and South Staffordshire can now produce anything equal to the imported articles, and at less money.

Efforts are being made to secure for this district some large contracts for cast iron pipes. They include mains and special castings for the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, and

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against such an impression being conveyed, and we would further say that in common with every respectable firm of cold blast pig makers, we do not make, nor have ever made, a single ounce of cold blast pig which is not smelted by unheated blast, as well as being made from the purest and best selected materials. We know it is only necessary to draw your attention to the matter to have it corrected, and we trust in your next issue you will kindly give prominence to our wish that the wording may be so put as to convey the correct facts of the case.

The New British Iron Company, Limited,

Per George Allan, General Manager.

The Corngreaves Ironworks, November 27th.

P.S.—The 700 tons output of coal is, of course, per diem.

[We do not say, and did not mean, that the charge was smelted by the aid of a heated blast; but, to make the matter perfectly clear, we insert our correspondent’s letter.—Er>. E.]

AN OLD PUZZLE ABOUT TIIE STRENGTH OF BEAMS.

Sir,—In reference to Mr. Douglas’ query as to mode of testing and strength of iron of the test bars referred to by me in a former letter, I may say that various machines were used, some being arranged for dead-weight action and others for lever and moving weight; no special mixtures of iron were used, as they were the ordinary mixtures used by Glasgow pipe founders.

Your correspondent “J.” speaks of wedge-shaped pieces of iron being forced out of the compressed side of the bar on breaking. I may say that I have broken thousands of test bars, but have never observed such a fracture. The bars break in two pieces, which readily fit together. The forms of the fractures vary, in some cases they are straight and at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bar, in others they are curved. The forms of fracture I found to indicate the position of fracture, straight fractures occurring at centre of span and curved fractures away from centre.

Glasgow, November 29th.    _ W. J. Millar.

PNEUMATIC RIYETTERS.

Sir,—Your Lancashire correspondent, in your issue of 26th inst., calls attention to a pneumatic rivetter recently adopted by Messrs. De Bergue and Co., of Manchester, as “the first imported into this country.” In correction we beg to say we adopted Allan’s pneumatic rivetter three years ago, and have done with it a large amount of such work as it is adapted for.

Widnes, November 29th.

THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL HALL.

Silt,—In reply to Mr. J. W. Burns’ polite criticism, I beg to state that the reason why the engineers did not place the abutment frame under the springing of the arch is that this space was wanted for the visitors to the hall; and the reason why in other respects they did not carry out the plan advocated by Mr. Burns is that his plan would have necessitated large anchorages, built of masonry, which, as the structure stands now, are entirely saved.

3, Westminster-chambers, Victoria-street, S.W.,

November 30th.

NORTH COUNTRY SHEET MILLS.

SIR,—Your North of England correspondent, in your last week’s issue, in writing of the iron manufactures of this district, expresses his wonder that thinner sheets than 20 gauge are not made, saying, “ nothing from 20 to 26 gauge is made in the North.” •

Now, we think it is only fair to state that the works now owned by this company made iron sheets to 28 gauge from the time of their erection in 1882, and we think was the first to do so in quantities.

Another works at Jarrow, owned by the Don Sheet Company, make thin sheet iron; and another company, the Redheugh Sheet Company, also, we think, make thinner sheets than named. Furthermore, we are of opinion that the Ayrton Mills are prepared to make thin sheets; and we are astonished at your correspondent’s want of knowledge of what we presume is his native district, which, we think, does not lack enterprise in any way.

J. M. Scott.

For Northern Sheet Iron and Steel Co,, Limited.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, December 1st.

A DESERVING CASE.

Sir,—At the present time there is an old man living in Rugby in almost destitute circumstances, who made all the mechanical appliances for the experimental telegraph as carried out by Mr. Highton at Rugby, in his garden. Mr. Highton was then head of one of the Rugby Sohool boarding houses, and Higgs was a watchmaker in the town. Since electricity has made such rapid strides poor Higgs is left in the cold to starve.    Enterprise.

December 1st.

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

Last week Messrs. R. Thompson and Sons, Southwick, Sunderland, launched the Euscalduno, an iron screw steamer, for Senor MM. de Arrotegui, of Bilbao. The following are the dimensions: —Length, 290ft.; breadth, 38ft. fiin.; depth, 27ft. fiin.; built under special survey at Lloyd’s to class 100 A 1, also the highest class at Veritas. The engines are by J. Dickinson, of 250-horse power, which will drive the vessel about 11 to 12 knots. She has two iron decks, the upper one being covered with wood right fore and aft; four large hatchways, with four powerful steam winches, by Clarke, Chapman, Parsons, and Co.; Cochran’s patent donkey boiler; Baxter’s patent capstan windlass; Clark, Chapman, Parsons, and Co.’s patent steam steering gear amidships; water ballast, on the cellular double-bottom principle, right fore and aft. The captain and a few passengers are placed aft in a large iron deckhouse, the officers and engineers under bridge, and petty officers, sailors, and firemen in forecastle.

On Friday, November 2Cth, the steamship Lilydale, owned by Messrs. Geipel and Co., left the Tyne after being refitted with a first-class new steel boiler, built by the Tyne Boiler Works Company, Low Walker-on-Tyne, of the following dimensions: Diameter, 18ft; length, 10ft.; shell made in four plates, each end being in three plates; three furnaces, 3ft. 3in. inside diameter, made in one plate each, and fitted with Martin’s patent furnaces for burning small coal; working pressure, 80 lb. per square inch; built under Lloyd’s inspection. The whole of the work in connection with taking out and putting in the boiler for this boat was carried out by the above company under the able and immediate inspection of Mr. A. J. Farina, the boiler never being touched by the makers after raising steam—the vessel leaving the Tyne within four months from the date of placing the order for the boiler, including a week’s docking, as well as taking in a cargo of coal and coke. The above company is the same that has just lost the rating case in the Court of Appeal.

Waste of Water in Town Water Supplies—In the last paragraph of the article on this subject in our last impression, it was stated that the water companies could, if they adopted the waste water prevention system, save about ten out of thirty gallons per head passed into their mains, “ but the cost to the companies remains practically the same.” This last line should read, “practically the same for distribution.” In other words, the gain to be made from the saving would be at least as much to the benefit of the consumers as to the companies, for the latter would gain on the pumping, and the consumers would gain by preventing the necessity for extension of works and new sources of supply.

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

(From our own Correspondent.)

Having arrived at the last month of the year—a month which for all practical purposes can be said to number hardly more than twenty-one working days—it is not to be expected that, in the next few weeks, we shall see any great increase in the orders now upon the books. The market is therefore preparing for a quiet time as regards the placing of new business between now and Christmas. None the less, however, the tone continues steady, and on ’Change this—Thursday—afternoon in Birmingham and yesterday in Wolverhampton ironmasters were firm and entertained good anticipations of the early spring demand. There was no departure from the better prices that have recently prevailed, other than by a few firms who are wanting orders.

Most of the finished iron makers have enough orders on their books to carry them well through December. The sheet makers are booked a good deal beyond December. Specifications at present are coming in well for most descriptions of iron, though in a week or two’s time some curtailment may be expected, as consumers will be preparing for stocktaking. The merchant orders for export that are arriving are largely for shipment early next year. As to these no urgency of execution attaches, but all home demands require to be filled at once.

Sheet makers reported to-day that inquiries continue to be expressed in large numbers, and that, through local firmness in prices, many of them are passing into other districts. Makers prefer for the present that this should be so rather than that they should tie their hands by accepting business farther ahead than they deem prudent. All producers are anxious to be in a position to take the earliest advantage of a probable further advance in prices in January or February. Prices this week are again £6 5s. to £6 10s. for 24 g., and £7 to £7 5s. for 27 g. Their demands upon customers have been dictated by a spirit of moderation; but such is now the extent of customers’ needs that some black sheet firms hold that they would be wholly justified in requiring considerably higher terms.

Galvanisers keep fully engaged, and are booking further orders on colonial and foreign account. Whether we are to have an extension of the galvanising industry at an early date by the entry into it of other local black sheet firms, as is suggested, will depend upon the character of the outlook which business may present after the Christmas holidays. Prices need to further considerably advance before they can be considered in any way good. £10 5s. is still quoted, delivered Mersey, and £10 7s. 6d. to £10 10s. delivered Thames. Orders are somewhat unequally distributed, but they are steadily levelling up, and if the black sheet firms should carry out the action which certain of them are advocating and put up prices, the smaller galvanising concerns will have to bring their quotations somewhat nearer to those of the more promiment establishment. Certain of, these latter this week report orders for galvanised iron as plentiful as they had lately become scarce, with realised prices improved fully 20s. per ton over the bottom rates of some six weeks ago. Messrs. More-wood and Co., of the Lion Galvanising Works, Birmingham, together with smaller firms, are holding out for, and in the past few days have obtained, a further advance. To-day the view of the market was that galvanised iron will see in the next few months sensibly higher prices than those which now generally rule.

Orders for thin sheets for working up and stamping purposes are fairly good on export and home account, and makers are freely realising £9 to £10 per ton. Best tin-plates are in steady call at the East Worcestershire mills. The new tin-plate works near Newport, Mon., which Messrs. Baldwin, of Wilden, and others, who have formed a joint stock company, are erecting, are understood to be nearly ready for a start. Orders which Me Baldwin have been unable to accept at their present Worcestershire establishments will then be accepted and rolled at Newport.

Makers of second and third-class bars are moderately engaged. Some firms in the past few days have picked up an encouraging number of small orders, and they speak hopefully of the prospects of the home demand. Contracts on Australian and other export account are being rolled at certain of the large works with regularity and activity. The slight rise in the value of silver is bringing forward better orders from distant markets in the East than have been noticeable for four or five years past. Best bars keep at £7 to £7 12s. 6d., second qualities £6, general merchant bars £5 10s., and common £4 15s. to £5.

The demand for hoops and strips is not large, and this week the mills are only irregularly employed. £5 5s. is about the average for common hoops, and £6 for superior sorts. Narrow tube strips are £4 15s. at the minimum, and range up to £5 2s. 6d. Puddled bars are realising 2s. 6d. advance on the prices prevailing before the revival in trade set in, and a quicker sale is going on at about £3 5s to £3 7s. 6d. per ton. Some makers quote as much as £310s. per ton, but buyers will not consent to give this price.

Steel prices were buoyant in Birmingham to-day on the basis quotations of £4 5s. for good Bessemer imported blooms, Sin. by 7in.; £4 7s. fid. for billets 2Jin. square; and £4 15s. for tin bars 7in. wide. Immediate sales were not large, but vendors are indifferent about effecting further sales at present, makers being well supplied with orders.

The pig market is this week again assisted by the continued strength of the Cleveland centre. Local makers are getting out heavier weekly quantities than for a long time past; some exceptional firms, indeed, state that they have not been so busy as now since the prosperous times of 1871-2. In such instances improvement relates to both puddling and to foundry iron. Certain firms are booked three or four months ahead, deliveries to be made rapidly. Production has long been at a very low point, but this week Messrs. I. and T. Bradley Bros, have blown in another furnace at their Capponfield Works, and several other firms are pushing on with arrangements for blowing in furnaces which are now out of blast. Prices are stiff, but without quotable advance. Messrs. A. Hickman and Son, of the Spring Yale Furnaces, who are the largest Staffordshire producers, quote on the open market: Hydrates, 47s. 6d.; part-mines, 40s.; and common, 30s. The firm are sold several months ahead. Some makers will accept 27s. fid. for common forge, and 30s. for common foundry pigs.

Imported pigs arc not meeting with much new business at date, but good deliveries are coming into the district from Midland furnaces. Prices keep strong at 36s. 6d. upwards for Northampton and 37s, to 38s. for Derbyshire kinds.

Native ironstone and imported ore are in better request, at stiffened rates. Coal is in somewhat improved request, both for manufacturing and also for domestic purposes. Quotations in the latter branch are decidedly stronger.

The miners in the Midland Counties have this week formed themselves into a federation. Upwards of 10,000 men have joined, and an endeavour is being made to extend its influence in every possible way. A conference will be held at Wolverhampton the 20th inst.

Makers of a large quantity of socket and spigot pipes for the Stowmarket Waterworks.

The chainmakers at Cradley Heath are receiving much practica sympathy in their strike for the 4s. list. They are likewise con sidering other proposals for improving their position, one of them being to call the attention of the Government to their distressed condition, and they are about to frame a memorial for presentation to the House of Commons in favour of an Act closing the workshops between the hours of five and six in the evening.

It rests with the Bromsgrove nailers themselves whether they will be relieved from their present poverty. An agreement is being signed by the masters to pay an advance in wages of 10 per cent.; but the men are likely to lose this concession if they follow the tendency of recent meetings of their order and “ask for more.”

NOTES FROM LANCASHIRE.

(From our own Correspondent.)

Manchester.—The business doing in the iron trade of this district continues only very limited in weight. The reaction which a couple of weeks back set in after the recent large buying is now being followed by the usual contraction of requirements with the approaching close of the year, and in the place of giving out orders consumers are already beginning to talk of restricting deliveries on account of their existing contracts. Here and there a somewhat despondent feeling with regard to the future finds expression, but, on the whole, a fairly healthy tone prevails, and there is a disposition to take a hopeful view of the prospects for next year. Although business, so far as home requirements are concerned, is exceedingly quiet, foreign business is showing signs of more activity, and confident expectations fair trade coming forward from America. The steadiness with which prices are being maintained is certainly a healthy feature. Makers of pig iron have not given way to any very appreciable extent; and although it is true that second-hand lots of iron can be bought at under current rates, the weight of iron which is really being pushed for sale in the market is very small, considering the large quantity which is undoubtedly held by merchants and speculators. There has been a strong effort on the part of buyers to beat down price, but so far they have been successful only to a very limited extent.

There was about a full average attendance on the Manchester iron market on Tuesday, but the business doing was of very small dimensions. For pig iron there were one or two moderate inquiries, but these were either for longer forward delivery or at lower prices than makers cared to entertain, and the actual selling going on was of the most limited proportions possible. For Lancashire pig iron makers’ quotations remained firm at 37s. for No. 4 forge, and 38s. for No. 3 foundry, less 2J, delivered equal to Manchester. In district brands prices in some instances were a trifle easier; for Derbyshire foundry iron delivered equal to Manchester quotations remained at about 39s. fid. to 40s. per ton less 2J, but forge Lincolnshire could be got at 36s. to 36s. fid., with foundry qualities not averaging more than 37s. 6d. less 2J, delivered, quoted prices for outside brands offering in this market remained much about the same; there was, however, little or nothing doing in either Scotch or Middlesbrough iron to really test prices, but sellers in some instances were prepared to book orders at under makers’ full rates.

In hematites the business doing here continues only small, and there are sellers at rather lower figures. Here and there mak still hold to 54s. fid., less 2J, for No. 3 foundry delivered into the Manchester district, but there are good brands which could be bought at Is. to 2s. per ton under this figure.

A steady business is still being done in the finished iron trade, and the leading makers in this district, who are kept busily employed, report that the weight of orders coming forward is being fully maintained. A good many of the Lancashire forges are, however, only indifferently off for work, and there is no general briskness in this branch of trade. Prices, however, to be firmly established on the basis of £5 per ton for bars, £5 5s. fid. to £5 7s. 6d. for hoops, and about £6 10s. for sheets, delivered into the Manchester district.

Some of the machinists in this district are getting fairly busy, and there is a perceptible improvement in this branch of trade. The leading tool makers are also being kept tolerably well employed. So far, however, as the ordinary run of general engineering work is concerned, trade continues very slack, and there is no present indication of improvement.

I have just received a copy of a special report by Mr. Joseph Dickinson, her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Mines, on the recent explosion at the Bedford Colliery, Leigh, near Manchester, by which it will be remembered thirty-eight lives were lost, and in connection with which there was the extraordinary circumstance that one of the survivors actually witnessed the of the explosion by the gas being “ fired at a Davy” lamp. In the course of his report Mr. Dickinson states that the liability of the Davy lamp to pass flame through the gauze in an explosive current has been long and well known; the difficulty, however, had been to get a lamp which under all circumstances was better known than the Davy; and this had been the subject of great anxiety to all concerned for some years past. Improved lamps, which gave a better light and withstood quick currents, had been largely coming into use; but they were not found so reliable for testing as the Davy, whilst being composed of many parts, having glass to depend upon, and the bonnet screen preventing ready examination of the lamj), there were still many persons who did not trust them so implicitly as the Davy. The lamps in use at the Bedford Colliery were the Davy, with tinned plate shields encircling two-thirds of the lower gauze to a height of from 2Jin. to 3in., but not up to the cap gauze, which had long been known to be insecure in quick explosive currents. The explosion commenced evidently at an issue of gas from the strata where a large number of props were being withdrawn; and the lighting of it was attributable first to the men not ceasing work and reporting the gas when it appeared time before the explosion; and secondly, to the miner losing his presence of mind when the gas blazed in his lamp, and instead of lowering his lamp to the floor, taking it steadily into fresh air —which was close at hand—and not attempting to blow it out, the rule requires, he raised the lamp, shook it, and blew at it, which passed the flame outside and ignited the gas that was coming from the breaking roof; the explosion thus commenced became extended by other gas that was lodging in the goaf, menting upon a recommendation made in a report by Mr. Woods, miners’ agent, to the Lancashire Miners’ Federation, in connection with the Bedford explosion, to the effect that Government should insist upon a preliminary examination as to the practical knowledge possessed by every applicant for work in a mine, Mr. Dickinson expresses the opinion that to preclude all applicants from working in mines unless they possess practical knowledge of mining, would prevent them entering the only school where the knowledge of mining and presence of mind for emergencies was to be obtained; and he adds that his opinion had been often expressed that boys were now kept out of mines until too late in life, and they did not keep up with the old-fashioned precautions, and that they were having too much book-learning instead of the technical and practical training for the craft they had to follow. In conclusion, Mr. Dickinson states that the fact that the Davy lamp, without a shield, would not resist an explosive current exceeding certain velocities, was well known to the owner of the Bedford colliery, but he did not know the exact velocity, nor the particular kind of shield required. In continuing to use the lamp under such circumstances, he was certainly not alone, there being still a large number of the owners in the district who used them exclusively in all their pits, with others who used them in pits; therefore any condemnation which might fall upon him that account must be shared by many others in the district.

Whilst touching upon the question of safety lamps, I may men-

once ex-

not do so; yet there is an quarters which was noticeable a month ago.

An anonymous correspondent, who signs himself “ Steel,” has

(From our own Correspondent.)

Steel sleepers, the trade, or one of the principal trades, of the future, have not yet replaced wooden in the affection of home railways, and business is only being done in little experimental spurts. But I am glad to hear that some good foreign orders being placed.

The exports of the week include several substantial cargoes of blooms to America, a parcel of old rails to Philadelphia, and a cargo of rails to Buenos Ayres.

At length the Severn Tunnel has been opened for passenger traffic, and Bristol is brought closer to Cardiff thereby. At present this will be the chief passenger advantage, but fast trains to London will soon follow.

The coal trade is decidedly better, and larger exports have taken place at all the principal ports. Cardiff totalled up over 16,000 written a letter in which he states that “ the War-office are asking j tons, and Swansea and Newport show satisfactorily; but so far for 18in. steel plates, and that no one in this country can be found there is not a shade of improvement in price, the only tendency to make them,” and he goes on to ask the Sheffield manufacturers that way seems to be in house coal, which is certainly looking to inquire as to the results of certain trials at the Gunnery School, better.

Shoeburyness, with Chrome shells on their plates. Mr. J. D. Ellis, The great event in railway enterprise in Wales of 1887 is now the chairman of John Brown and Co., Atlas Steel and Ironworks, showing a head. Plans have been finally lodged of the “ Cardiff replies that he is in constant communication with the War-office and Monmouthshire Valley Railway,” and it will soon be known authorities, and he is certain they have never asked any manufac- what kind of opposition is likely.

turer for 18in. steel plates. He adds further that if they did Rhondda collieries and ironworks collieries are doing better of require them there would be no difficulty in obtaining them in late. The house coal men of Caerphilly have decided to pay 6d. Sheffield. Mr. Ellis, without entering into the merits of per man next pay day towards the sliding scale, steel-faced plates and those made of all steel, thinks “it only The tin-plate trade is passing through a severe ordeal. Along right to say that the former, being much harder in the face, have the Glamorgan coast and in the Monmouthshire district things are always broken up the shot more than the all-steel plates.” After very unsettled, and at one time last week it was notified that a full inquiry in Sheffield, I am bound to state that “ Steel” must dozen works were likely to stop.

be wrong in his statement that 18in. steel plates have been asked I fear this will be carried out in many places, as some of the work-for in this country and could not be procured. Every leading steel men have conceded a reduction in several works, and this handicaps house replies that no such request has ever reached them. The the rest. Trade otherwise is good, and Swansea exports in particular Sheffield Telegraph, in dealing with the subject, quotes The have been considerable, but prices are low, and new business—coke Engineer’s leading articles on “Steel v. Compound Armour- —is difficult to get over 12s. 9d. to 13s. A few makers of good plates,” which appeared on November 12th and 19th.    brands have still a lot of business at better prices, and express a

A deputation from the Sheffield Cutlers’ Company, consisting of determination not to take any orders for less, the Master Cutler—Mr. G. F. Lockwood; the ex-Master Cutler— Patent fuel is in good demand. Foreign ore is advancing, and Mr. Charles Beek ; and Mr. Herbert Hughes, had an interview on Rubio is quoted 3s. more than last week.

Friday with Baron Henry de Worms, the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, on the subject of the proposed Government Bill dealing with false marking. The Government intend to introduce a Bill to meet such evils as exist, to be called the Merchandise Fraudulent Marking Bill. Baron Henry de Worms said the Government regarded the Bill as one of primary importance, and it would be introduced at the earliest possible moment in the

The iron markets of Germany and all the bordering States have quite a firm tone. Pig iron in Silesia was raised in price a little ,Tr.    .    ......... last week without checking purchasers, and the rolling mills are

ensuing session While differing to some extent in its drafting Btm full of work caused by a desire on the part of thi buyers to from that introduced by Mr. Mundella in June of 1885, the Bill utilise the water ways for delivery before winter sets in, as well as would be an equally strong, if not a still more effective measure, by whisperings of a rise in the prices of wr ought iron. However, the object being thoroughly to suppress all fraudulent contracts have been made at the old prices for the first quarter in practices with regard to the marking of goods. To attain next year. Improvements are being carried out both at the blast that end the Government would exercise every possible furnaCes and rolling mills to better meet competition from endeavour. This intimation will give much satisfaction locally, as abroad) and this gives a little more work to foundries and con-it seals the exertions of the Cutlers Company, who having at structive works. In the latter, more of the immense tanks are being Home secured protection for the word ^hefheld in foreign | madefor storing petroleum. Common bars are selling at 85, coke countries, are now about to see the other plank in their platform ; plates 130> better sorts 140 and thin sheets at 135 M. p.t. list j*ecHy,a comprehensive and workable extension of the Merchan- priceSi The steel works have now also sufficient orders to keep dise Bill, dealing with certain malpractices which are believed to exist at home.

tion that Mr. Miles Settle has further developed his lamp for effectually protecting the electric light in coal mines, which, as I briefly described it a short time back, consisted in surrounding the small incandescent lamp by a second glass filled with water, which by means of a float kept up the electric circuit, but immediately on the breaking of the lamp, and the consequent liberation of the water, the electric circuit was broken, and the light at tinguished; or in the event of the inner lamp being broken, the light was at once extinguished by the water. Mr. Settle can now fill his lamp with carbonic acid gas or ordinary air under pressure; and by means of a valve instead of a float, precisely the same results are obtained as with the water, the breaking of the outer glass releasing the pressure of the gas or air, and destroying the circuit; or by the breaking of the inner lamp the light is extinguished by the carbonic acid gas.

In the coal trade business remains in much the same depressed condition as last reported, but notwithstanding this, the leading colliery firms in the Manchester district have announced an advance on their pit and wharf prices of Is. 8d. per ton on house fire coals, lOd. per ton on furnace coal, engine nuts, and burgy, with a proportionate advance on the delivered rates which were partially advanced last month. This advance, which has come as a surprise, has only been partially followed in other surrounding districts, and the South-West Lancashire coalowners have not as yet made any definite upward move on their November rates; the market at present is consequently in a very unsettled condition and, for the moment prices are so irregular that there is scarcely any reliable basis for an average quotation.

Accompanying the advance in prices, the Manchester firms have advanced the wages of the men about 10 per cent.

Barrow.—There is a fair demand for all qualities of hematite pig iron, although there is still a continuance of the quieter tone which set in a week or two ago. The market throughout is firm, and as makers are well employed on orders which will not only furnish them with employment during the winter months, but also well into the spring of next year, most of the trade now being done is for forward delivery well in advance. But some sales have lately been made by merchants or others who could not hold stocks much longer, or who saw favourable opportunities to realise. In some of these cases business has been done at 44s. fid. per ton net prompt deliveries, but the largest makers and all those who are favourably situated for orders are firm, and are likely to remain so. Their quotation for mixed parcels of Bessemer iron net at makers’ works, for prompt delivery, is 45s. 6d. per ton, while for forge and foundry No. 3 it remains at 44s. 9d. per ton. Stocks have in some instances been reduced, but in the aggregate they represent as large a bulk as at any recent date, although probably the greatest proportion of the stocks held is in the hands of speculators or merchants who are expecting a rise or who are holding, as in the case of makers, for deliveries at an early date next year. The steel trade is exceptionally busy on railway material, and prices for ordinary heavy sections are firm at £317s. 6d. per ton. Makers are well sold forward, and orders are offering from America, the Colonies, and the Continent, as well as from home consumers. Other departments of the steel trade are better employed than they have been for some time, and it is probable that the trade in shipbuilding material will also improve. No improvement can be noted in shipbuilding, and few orders are offering. There is, however, an improved outlook in the engineering trade, and in the marine department, especially, there are prospects of a busy season in 1887. There is a quiet tone in boilermaking, ironfoundry, and in forge work. Iron ore finds a good market at from 9s. per ton for common qualities, to 11s. per ton for the superior description at mines. Finished iron is in rather better enquiry. Coal and coke firmer, with a tendency to better prices. Shipping fairly employed on improving freights.

THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The tone of the Cleveland market is still of a favourable kind, and prices are firm; but the quantity of iron actually changing hands is at present quite insignificant.

At the market held at Middlesbrough on Tuesday last some sales of No. 3 g.m.b. were effected at 32s. 4^d. per ton, for immediate delivery; but for delivery to the end of the year merchants were all quoting 32s. 6d. Makers are not pressing sales, and in no case are they willing to accept less than 33s. per ton for prompt delivery. Buyers offer 33s. to 33s. 3d. for delivery over the first half of next year, but few sellers care to commit themselves so far ahead.

Warrants are offered at 32s. 9d. free on trucks at Middlesbrough; but it is reported that at Glasgow they have been sold at as low a price as 32s. 6d.

.On Monday, the 29bh ult., Messrs. Connal and Co.’s stocks of pig iron stood as follows, viz.: At Middlesbrough, 299,394 tons, or a decrease since the 22nd of 130 tons; at Glasgow, 839,780 tons, or an increase of 1760 tons.

Pig iron shipments continue at a fairly satisfactory rate, but they are naturally far behind those for October. Between the 1st and 29th ult. 67,568 tons left Middlesbrough, whereof 36,720 tons went to Scotland. In the corresponding portion of October 81,572 tons, and of November, 1885, 64,974 tons were exported.

The Board of Arbitration accountant has issued his certificate, setting forth the prices of finished iron realised during the months of September and October, and the quantities sold. The net average selling price of iron rails, plates, bars, and angles was fdlls.G^d. per ton, being Is. 0'32d. less than during the preceding two months, and the lowest figure reached in the entire history of the trade^ The total output for the two months was, however, 48,655ij tons, against a total of 45,558 tons during the months of July and August. The quantities and prices in detail were as follows, viz.:—Rails, 368|tons, at £4 6s. 2 79d., against 447^ tons, at £4 4s. 4'61d.; plates, 27,191| tons, at £4 9s. 4Td., against 25,459f tons, at £410s. 2'73d.; bars, 15,172 tons, at £4 16s. 5*78d., against 13,8831 tons, at £4 18s. 8T3d.; and angles, 5922* tons, at £4 9s. l'65d., against 5767^ tons, at £4 8s. 8‘2d. per ton.

The papers recently read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, on “Concrete and the Machinery used in connection therewith,” and the discussion which has taken place thereon, have been of peculiar interest to the engineers of the North-East coast. Some of the earliest and greatest works constructed with this material are to be found between the Tyne and the Tees inclusive; and the most gigantic cranes and other appliances which have been referred to are those made for the Tynemouth and Hartlepool breakwaters. As far back as 1857, or nearly thirty years ago, when Mr. Ure was engineer to the Tyne Conservancy Commissioners, and Mr. Messent resident engineer at the Tynemouth Pier Works, huge concrete blocks were being made and deposited to form the core of the breakwater, to be afterwards faced with ashlar masonry. There were at that time no such appliances as Messrs. Stothart and Pitt’s 350-ton Titans, carrying 50-ton weights at a distance of 80ft. from a swinging centre. Everything had to be done by an ordinary crane, on a timber staging; and this was liable every now and then to be carried bodily away, and afterwards found in fragments within a few miles up or down the coast.

The Hartlepool Pier works are scarcely of less magnitude and importance than those at Tynemouth, but being more recently undertaken, the engineer has had all the advantages of more accumulated experience to go upon, and infinitely better appliances to aid him.

The South Gare Breakwater, which has only recently been completed at the mouth of the Tees, furnishes an example of a work which could not possibly have been brought to a successful issue without the use of concrete. In vain were many thousands of tons of slag tipped at the end of the point during each succeeding summer. The storms of the next winter always cut off the end of the embankment as clean as if it had been a straw, and scattered the slag in small pieces for a long distance on either side. At last, by the use of concrete blocks of various weights ranging up to 250 tons, and by making the outer or sea side of the breakwater of solid concrete formed in situ, the work was completed, and it remains to this day safe and sound and unaffected by the heaviest seas which ever attack that exposed part of the coast.

THE SHEFFIELD DISTRICT.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The pressure in season orders still continues, and the plated trades are in an unusually satisfactory state, both on home and foreign account. There is an increase in the better qualities of goods now being asked for, and this in spite of silver values having gone up. Within the past month the metropolitan market has yielded very important orders, and there is also a good deal more doing in the country markets. Cutlery, edge tools, and files are in better demand; and the shear manufacturers have nothing to complain of. In the iron and kindred industries there is not quite so buoyant a feeling. Values have not lowered, and probably will absence of the animation in certain

NOTES FROM SCOTLAND.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The tone of business in the Scotch pig iron market this week has been very flat, and the trade appears to have sunk back into a state of dulness, although the prices have been fairly well maintained. The backward condition of the speculative market is due to the disappointing nature of the shipments, which in the past week have amounted to only 4870 tons, as compared with 5899 in the preceding week and 6670 in the corresponding week of last year. The exports for Canada are now practically at an end for the season, and our chief remaining customers are the United States and the Australian Colonies. There is rather less iron being sent into the warrant stores in consequence of the damping of a number of furnaces, which has been rendered necessary by strikes of workmen for advance of wages that the employers do not consider the state of trade warrants them in conceding.

Business was done in the warrant market on Friday at 42s. lid. cash, while Monday’s transactions were at 42s. 2d. to 41s. lO^d. On Tuesday the market was very quiet at 41s. ll|d. cash. On Wednesday transactions occurred at 41s. lid. to 42s. ljd. cash. To-day—Thursday—business took place at 42s. Id. to 42s. 2|d., closing with sellers at the latter price.

Makers’ iron has been in small demand, yet the prices do not show much variation:—Gartsherrie, f.o.b. at Glasgow, per ton, No. 1, is quoted at 46s. 6d.; No. 3, 43s.; Coltness, 50s. and 44s.; Langloan, 47s. and 44s. 6d.; Summerlee, 49s. and 44s.; Calder, 47s. 6d. and 43s.; Carnbroe, 44s. and 41s.; Clyde, 45s. and 41s.; Monkland, 43s. and 39s.; Govan, at Broomielaw, 43s. and 39s.; Shotts, at Leith, 46s. and 44s. 6d.; Carron, at Grangemouth, 46s. 6d. and 43s. 6d.; Glengarnock, at Ardrossan, 44s. and 41s.; Eglinton, 42s. and 39s.; Dalmellington, 43s. 6d. and 40s.

Messrs. Rankin and Blackmore, engineers, Guernsey, have contracted for machinery of 2700 indicated horse-power for a large Canadian paddle steamer.

The malleable iron and steel trades continue busy, particularly the latter. The Siemens works are chiefly engaged on shipbuilding contracts. They are taking no part in competitions for rails, upon which scarcely anything is to be made at present prices, except in cases where a very large amount of work can be undertaken.

Some of the locomotive engineering works are at present very slack; and at one of these in Glasgow a large number of workmen have been discharged, while those retained have been placed on short time.

The past week’s shipments of iron and steel goods from Glasgow embraced machinery to the value of £2400; sewing machines, £5080; locomotives for Calcutta, £6756; ditto for Monte Video, £800; steel goods, £6500—of which £2852 were plates, slabs, and billets for Halifax and Baltimore; general iron manufactures, £20,320, of which £6480 was bridge work for Calcutta, and £6700 ditto for Bombay.

There is a fair business in the Scotch coal trade, although the shipments are not so large as they were at this time last year. The quantity despatched from Glasgow in the past week was 23,222 tons; Greenock, 47; Ayr, 7458; Irvine, 2036; Troon, 3907; Burntisland, 21,863; Leith, 3292; Grangemouth, 12,543; andBo’ness, 2436—total, 77,304, as compared with 83,009 tons in the corresponding week of 1885. The demand for splint coals is particularly good, but for other qualities there is not quite so much inquiry. Despite the fact that the colliers are working only five days a week, the output is found sufficient by the coalmasters for all requirements. There has been no change in price for the last six weeks, except in the case of household coals, which have been advanced about Is. to Is. 6d. per ton delivered, an increase of which is quite usual at this time of the year.

The refusal of the Fife coalmasters to grant an advance of wages was under the consideration of the Executive Board of the Miners’ Association at Dunfermline a few days ago, when it was resolved that, “ Keeping in view the present state of the trade, and the improved prices now being obtained for coal, the Board considers the action of the employers in again refusing to concede an advance of wages altogether unwarrantable; but having regard to the advanced period of the shipping season, agrees to use every possible effort to get the men to restrict their daily output, in order to prevent an accumulation of stocks at the pits.¹’

WALES AND ADJOINING COUNTIES.

are

NOTES FROM GERMANY.

(From our own Correspondent.)

them going some time. In Rheinland-Westphalia prices are almost unchanged from last report, but sales are abundant and the former bargaining for concessions has ceased. There is every appearance that we have no more to do with a spurt, but that a real improvement is setting in, based on actual requirements, and that prices must shortly permanently rise. The air is just now full of conventions. Scarcely was the girder convention of the S.W. district announced, when one for Rheinland-Westphalia was resolved upon, Silesia following suit, and now it is reported that the Belgians, who were so dissatisfied with the last, are expressing a wish for a renewal of the former international rail convention; and, finally, private correspondence from England says that in some quarters there a similar desire is manifested. However this may be, it is certain that the present competition from all sides, if continued longer, must help to ruin the works here, which take the orders at the prices now ruling. Pig iron, including spiegel, is moving off well at enhanced prices, and stocks have nearly vanished, with prospects of a still better market in the spring. The demand for wrought iron keeps up steadily, and is M. 1 to 1£ p.t. dearer, and at these prices the works will not contract for forward delivery in face of the contemplated new convention. The most competent judges consider the worst point is now passed. Plates are not so much inquired after. Thin sheets have risen to M. 128 p.t., and orders are abundant at that figure. For the rest there is no change to report.

The great meeting of coal-mine owners, mentioned in a former letter, took place at Bochum on the 19th ult., with the result that a policy of restriction of output was resolved upon by over 90 per cent, of those interested. Mines which export or send coals to the North and East ports are, however, to be allowed freedom in their transactions, and this is just where the matter becomes of importance to English coal-shippers, because, of course, at the same time as much pressure as possible will be brought to bear upon the railways, in order to bring still lower the freights to these localities, and in this way it will be possible to compete against the English coals, the import of which amounts to more than two million tons per annum. Experience has shown that no convention of the sort ever in the long run either raised or maintained prices, and it requires no great genius to prophesy that this one will share the fate of its predecessors, especially as the full 100 per cent, of the meeting was not of one mind. But another scheme has been unofficially mooted, which from the English coal-shippers’ point of view might have more serious consequences. The fundamental idea of this plan is that in reality there is no over-production at all of coal in the Westphalian field, but that it only appears so, because of the absurd way in which every large or small order is scrambled for by a number of mines, each endeavouring to secure it by one underbidding the other; so that, in this way, if twenty or thirty bid for, say, 1000 tons of coal, this is like offering for sale 20,000 to 30,000 tons—which, in the course of the year, makes the output of the mines appear to be twenty or thirty times beyond what it actually is. To remedy this state of things it is proposed to form one trading company, composed of the whole of the mines, which alone shall have the sale of the whole of the coal raised in the district, thereby creating a practical monopoly for the Westphalian coals. This plan, of course, would enable the company to sell coals to the ports, or for export at a low price; to compete with the English coals effectively, either with or without the aid of lower freights by the railways, because they could recoup themselves for any loss there through their trade in the interior of the country. Of course such a scheme is possible, but knowing something of the sentiments of the parties, it is hardly likely that those proprietors who are of long standing, are rich, have extensive private customers of their own of old date, and rich mines which have, perhaps, already paid for themselves, will agree to give up all these advantages to be managed by a sort of public company of mine proprietors, some of whom are but of small account. For the present, at least, it would not appear that English interests will be much affected by one plan or the other, and if in the meantime the iron and other coal-consuming industries revive, probably nothing injurious to them will occur, and nothing be heard of either plan till the next cycle of depression reappears.

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Jersey or by the satisfactory arrangement with existing lines. This company as well as the Pennsylvania Company is pushing extensive construction schemes in the North-west. The Baltimore and Ohio Company will build heavy steamers for lake service between Detroit and Duluth. The other trunk lines are increasing their mileage on account of the increasing traffic between New York and Chicago in all directions from the evidences of a current traffic, and this is the basis of the urgent demand for all kinds of material. During the past week contracts have been let for the building of 4000 freight cars. Jay Gould has ore ted 20,000 tom of steel rails from abroad, and other contracts i were heard of within the past fe- days iu American mills which will foot up about OO.dOO tons The standard quotations to-day are 36 -,1s. Old rails are very scarce, and spot lots at 22'50 dols. The receipts o nute-'a)

abroad are increasing. Large < ders v , :_____

be placed during the next two or three weeks by cable. Pig iron is selling at 16 dols. to 17 dols. for forge; 18 dols. for No. 2 foundry; and 19 50 dols. for No. 1. Merchant bar is selling at 175c. to 2c. Nails at 2 dols. to 2"20 dols. Bridge iron at 2’30c. to 3c., according to shape. Ihe iron and steel is in active demand in all markets east and west. The Lake ore season is about over, and stocks are not very large among uteel makers. It is probable that some large contracts will be placed in American shipyards for coastwise tonnage this winter.

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TION or

AMERICAN NOTES.

(From our own Correspondent.)

New York, Nov. 21st.

Comparatively little new business in iron and steel has been done either in or out of the Exchange during the past week. Consumers are halting between two opinions. On one side they are alarmed by the evidences of advancing prices, and on the other by the indications of a very heavy consumptive demand throughout the winter. One thousand ton lots of mill iron have been taken at furnace of 16'50dols. In Pennsylvania 500 ton lots of foundry iron have been contracted for at 19 ’50 dols. and 20 dols. at furnace. Old iron rails are offered at 22‘25 dols. afloat in New York, or at 22‘50 dols. for shipment. Stocks are exhausted and demand is urgent. Blooms are quoted at 27 dols. for steel and 30 dols. for nails and plates. Crop ends are quoted at 2150 dols. Steel rails 34'50 dols. to 36 dols. Spiegeleisen at 27 dols. to 27'50 dols. Bessemer pig 19'50dols. to 20'50 dols. No. 2 iron 16'50 dols. to 17 dols. Angle iron 2'15 dols. to 2'25 dols. Skelp 1'95 dols. Puddle bars 31 dole, at mill. Throughout Pennsylvania there are favourable reports coming from railroad buyers, car builders, and ship and boat builders. There is every encouragement offered for an increase in production. Throughout the New England States the demand for crude and finished iron is also improving. Manufacturers of machinery placing large orders for merchant steel, thousand freight cars were ordered last week, besides one or two large orders for coal There is an urgent demand for all kinds of material, including lumber and coal. The coal trade has improved very rapidly since the coming of cool weather. The production will reach fully 35,000,000 tons in the anthracite region. The bituminous operators in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia attempted a combination last week in Baltimore with a view of advancing prices 25c. per ton on the supplies shipped to tide water between Baltimore and Boston. Telegraphic and mail advices from as far west as Chicago show a very active industrial condition in the manufacturing and building trades. A great deal of railway construction has been projected recently, and railway and bridge material will be in demand.

The latest reports from Pennsylvania and Ohio iron and steel makers show that orders doming in for execution during the first quarter of next year. The chief demand comes from railroad companies. A great deal of future work is talked of. The Baltimore and Ohio Company is making extensive purchases of material, as well of real estate, and according to a recent announcement of the president of that company, terminal facilities will be established here early next season, either by the construction of a line across the State of New

are

NEW COMPANIES.

Thk following companies have just been registered •—

Hull Central Dry Dock and Engineering Works, Limited.

This company proposes to acquire the business and assets of Aiessrs. Humphrey and Son, King-ston-upon-Hull, and to trade as dry or graving dock owners, shipbuilders, and repairers. It was registered on the 18th inst., with a capital of £30,000, in £10 shares, of which 1900 are preference shares. The subscribers

The number of directors is not to be less than four nor more than six; the first six subscribers are appointed directors ; qualification, ten shares or £100 stock; remuneration, £250 per annum, commission of 15 per cent, upon the residue of the annual profits after payment of 7 per cent, upon both classes of shares. Air. T. R. Humphrey is appointed managing director for three years, at a salary of £400 per annum, and a percentage of tfie profits similar to that to be paid to the ordinary directors.

Forbes' Patent Hydrocarbon Light Company, Limited.

This is the conversion to a company of the business carried on by Aiessrs. Baines and Co., at 1 alace-chambers, Westminster, for working and developing an invention known as “improve ments in producing and utilising hydrocarbon gas,” and to acquire letters patent granted In respect of the said invention. It was registered on the 24th inst., with a capital of £2000, in £1 The subscribers

Thomas Baines, Palace-chambers, Westminster..

H. C. Bowman, Higher Broughton, Manchester,

stockbroker ................

A. T. Bowman, Higher Broughton, Manchester, stockbroker ................

G.    W. Gilroy, Heaton Chapel, estate agent

H.    G. Nicholson, 100, King-street, Manchester,

chartered accountant ............

R. Gilroy, Higher Broughton, estate agent .. .i H. Bowman, Higher Broughton ...... ...

Registered without special articles.

Formby Bath Brick and Silicious Clay Company, Limited.

This company proposes to acquire freehold land at Formby, Lancaster, and the exclusive right to use certain patents connected with the manufacture of bricks and other of clay or of silicious earth. It was registered on the 20th inst., with a capital of £20,000, in £1 shares. The subscribers are

Shares.

John Shaw, 14, Frinces-terrace, Birkenhead,

engineer ............ ......

G. F. Ransome, 172, Scotland-road, Liverpool ..    20

T. Henderson, 40, Castle-street, Liverpool, engineer ........

W. Box, Crosby, engineer G. B. Kirkland, Collingwood Foundry, Liverpool 20

T. Evans, 129, Kensington, Liverpool, contractor 20

R. W. Taylor, Great Crosby ..

Registered without special articles.

London Saloon Steamboat Company, Limited. This company proposes to carry on upon the river Thames and elsewhere, the business of a steamship company. It was registered on the 22nd inst., with a capital of £150,000, in £10 shares. The subscribers are:—

Shares.

Francis Bennoch, 5, Tavistock-square, director of

a company............

W. W. Trinder, 47, Cornhill, solicitor

The number of directors is not to be less than five nor more than ten; the subscribers are to nominate the first five; qualification for subsequent directors—£500 in shares or stock; remuneration, £1400 per annum, and a further £500 for every 5 per cent, dividend in excess of 10 per cent, per annum.

Pacific Telegraph Company, Limited.

On the 23rd inst. this company was registered with a capital of £2,000,090, in £10 shares, to establish and work telegraphic, telephonic, or other communication (as well overland as submarine) from, in and between Australia, New Zealand, and other islands and places in Australasia, or the Pacific Ocean, Africa, America, Europe, or acy of them. The subscribers are

Shares.

Sir Alfred Shu

36, Er ton-square .. X

directors is nut to be less tnan three nor more than nine; the subscribers are to appoint the first and act ad interim; the company in general meeting will determine remuneration.

Jennings’ Cool Air Drying Patents, Limited.

This company proposes to acquire the letters patent for Belgium, Germany, Fiance, Austria, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and other letters patent other than for the United Kingdom, the United States of America, or India, granted in respect of Jennings, of drying and seasoning all classes and kinds of goods and materials. It registered on the 24th inst., with a capital of £150,000, in £1 shares. The subscribers are :—

8. Slater, 32, Queen Victoria-street, accountant.. 1

The number of directors is not to be less than three nor more than seven; the first are the subscribers denoted by an asterisk; the company in general meeting will determine remuneration.

King’s College Engineering Society,—At general meeting, held on Tuesday, November 23rd, the President in the chair, Mr. C. S. Brown read a paper on “Permanent Way.” The paper commenced with the conditions necessary for _ good foundation, mentioning that the slopes are generally from 1 in 1 to 1 in 4. The drainage of the line was next entered into, and the importance of efficient drainage dwelt upon. It is in this point that the English railways are better than the American. The materials used for ballast are chiefly gravel, broken stones, and burnt clay. A really good ballasting ought to be from 12ft. wide for a double line and 2ft, deop. The question of sleepers was next dealt with, giving the material used and the best means of preserving it. 1 he new 1 rench iron or steel sleeper was recommended. Chairs made of cast iron have proved to be the best, whilst the new steel keys used by the London and North-Western line have effected a saving of £6 per mile per year. A long discussion then took place, in which Messrs. Fisher, \ aughan, Heathcote, Long, and Bridges took part, and the meeting adjourned.

THE PATENT J0UBNAL.

Condensed from the Journal of the Commissioners of Patents.

Applications for Letters Patent.

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

23rd November, 1886.

15.215.    Purifying Water, H. J. Allison.—(J. H. Blessing, United States.)

15.216.    Water Purifying Apparatus, H. J. Altison. —(/. H. Blessing, United States.)

15.217.    Mailing Cases for containing Liquids, J. Davis and N. W. Stearns, London.

15.218.    Supplying Fresh Feed-water to Boilers, &c., W. W. Beaumont, London.

15.219.    Shedding Motion for Looms for Weaving, R. and T. Greenwood and W. H. Hayhurst, Halifax.

15.220.    Locking Nuts, J. Gaskell and J. B. Barlow, Manchester.

15.221.    Loose Reed &c., for Looms for Weaving, C. Catlow, Halifax.

15.222.    Purifying Sewage, <fcc., W. Burns, Leith.

15.223.    Brakes for Railway Wagons, W. Davison, Stockton-on-Tees.

15.224.    Indicator for Railway Carriage, &c., Door Fastenings, J. Whitehead, Birmingham.

15.225.    Rods for holding Carpets on Stairs, A. Barr, Glasgow.

15.226.    Regulating Outlets of Reaction Turbines,

S. Harrison, Ripon.

15.227.    Sash and Casement Fastener, E. and J. M. Verity and B. Banks, Leeds.

15.228.    Cones for Taps, B. Blundstone, Manchester.

15.229.    Hydrants or Stand-pipes, F. Ashton, Halifax.

15.230.    Field Magnets, L. Hanson, Halifax.

15.231.    Flooring, <fec., to prevent Warping, Ac., H. Ker, Glasgow.

15.232.    Taps, W. Bradley, Sheffield.

15.233.    Tile Grates with the Tile Frames in One Piece, C. H. Perrot, A. Habershon, and J. C. Richmond, Rotherham.

16.234.    Down Light Oil Lamp, J. H. Ross and W. A. Evans, Dublin.

15.235.    Couplings for Railway Trucks, R. H. Hamp-son, Manchester.

15.236.    Floats for Fishing, E. F. Maitland, London.

15.237.    Regulating the Flow of Tar, &c., for Heat-Gab Retorts, G. Pettigrew and G. Harper,

Sligo.

15.238.    Elevators and Coal Mine Cages, W. H. Blakeney, Dundee.

15.239.    Motivb-powkr Machine, T. Hubble, London.

15.240.    DeodorioIng, Ac., Medium, O. Bowen and J. Cobeldick, London.

15.241.    Cable Tramways, &c., J. J. Butcher, New-castle-on-Tyne.

15.242.    Venetian Blind Cord Actions, H. A. Walker, London.

15.243.    Fastenings for Braces, Bands, &c.. A. Heald, London.

15.244.    Composition for Preventing Disintegration of Roads, Ac., G. Weston, Sheffield.

15.245.    Alpine Crank, W. Armstrong, Belfast.

15.246.    Iron Bars, Plates, Ac., F. B. Felt, London.

15.247.    Kitchen Ashpans, Ac., R. Rowbotham, London.

15.248.    Ambulance, M. Hammond, London.

¹⁵L⁴⁹'d LlGHT Emittino Frames, Ac., F. J. Biggs,

15.250.    Drawing Up and Down Venetian Blinds, J. M. Allen, London.

15.251.    Steam Boilers, G. Eggers, London.

15.252.    Turret Clip, W. H. miscoe, Birmingham.

15.253.    Fire-Escapes, M. Waterman, London.

15.254.    Pocket Pen and Pencil-case, Ac., W. Murray, London.

15.255.    Submerging Vessels, C. Allan and H. W.

Jones, London.    s

•15,256. Closing of Shutters, C. J. Mayhew, London.

15.257.    Glass Pictures, O. Lessing, London.

15.258.    Self-acting Mules and Twiners, W. T. Watts and W. Storra, London.

Foundation Piles, H. J. C. Keymer, Gorleston. ?s for Burning Hydrocarbon, H. D. Cuu-London.

iing Machines, A. Kapteyn.—(U. Okhuy-

id.)

,    ING Grain, J. Leslie.—{IV. Leslie, Canada.)

j    THING, Ac., Wood, W. P. Thompson.-(P.

United States.)

Lamps, A. Horne, Liverpool.

' , • - -i-Lamps, a. Horne, Liverpool.

15.266.    Couplers, A. J. Boult.—(7'. L. McKeen, United States.)

15.267.    Padlocks, W. I. Alvord, London.

15.268.    Heating Air, Ac., A. J. Boult.—iS. N. Carvalho, United States.)

¹⁵Lond *NDICATING the TliIE of Clocks, J. Schober,

15 270. Cupola Smelting Furnaces, F. A. Herbertz London.

15^71 Regulating the Flow of Electric Currents, H. IT. Lake.—(F. 'Ihothpson, United States.)

15,272. Hammkrlebs Sporting Breach-loading Firearms, E. Harrison, London.

Eyei*°- FI. Leigh.—(/. G. Watmough, United States.)

¹⁵^4.^i Automatic Cut-off, W. H. and C. E. Kimball,

Apparatus, W. R. Park, London.

15.276.    Wire Work, K. W. Boyd, London.

15.277.    Pens, H. J. Haddan.—{/. H. F. Prillwitz, many.)

15.278.    Cheffoniers, Ac., H. J. Haddan.—(J. Galtier, France.)

15.279.    Automatically Extinguishing Oil Lamps when Upset, F. V. Smythe, Gravesend.

Jc’no?' Weighing Machines, C. H. Bingham, London.

15.281.    Automatically Extinguishing Oil Lamps when Upset, F. V. Smythe, Gravesend.

15.282.    Envelopes and Postal Wrappers, E. H. Heinke, London.

> E°LI8HINO Needles, Ac., M. J. Rice, London. 15,284. Removing Greases from Coat Sleeves, E. G. Sim, London.    ’

Washing, Ac., Wool, T. Zebrowski, London. i5 286. Manganese Sulphate, J. J. Hood and A. G Salamon, London.

Apparatus for Lighting and Heating, J. S. Sellon, London.

¹⁵bHu, NevM.f’ L K Loeh ~(X T- and

15,289. Adjustment for Swing Looking Glasses, L. Allen, London.

ia’oo?’ Fislsding Lace, Ac., L. Lindley, London.

Irking Places in Books, K. Levy, London. 15,292. Ihermostats, G. Weatinghouse, jun., and F.

Moore, London.    ’ *    ’

15,29k Revolving Fire-grates for Furnaces, G. Alexis Godillot, London.

15 294. Manufacture of Articles from Pulp, F. B Howard, Loudon.    .

15,29j. Wine Bins, G. Kiug and W. A. Smith, London.

24 th November, 1886.

15,296. Needles, J. H. Hollinghurat, London.

^Halif Eleak1ko Railway Lines, C. Thompson,

15.298.    Mechanical Advertising Attractions, T. McGrah, Sheffield.

15.299.    Churns, J. Bryce and T. Cosaar, Glasgow.

15.300.    Preventing Vibration in Spindles, J. Bai bour and J. B. Pirrie, Belfast.

15,801. Oil Lamps, E. Sherring,- Mancheater.

15.302.    Paper-cutting Machines, H. P. Trueman and J. G. New, Birmingham.

15.303.    Carbonisino, &c., Raos, J. Illingworth and G. Tolaon, Halifax.

15,804. Obtaining Liqht from Hydrocarbons, W. Wells, Glasgow.

15.305.    Stud Sleeve Button, &c., F. F. Abbey, Huddersfield.

15.306.    Wrought Iron Fence Standard, &c., T. and W. Peake, Liverpool.

15.307.    Gas Engines, J. Bobson, Bradford.

15.308.    Separation, <5ec., of Metals, C. W. Crossley London.

15.309.    Ink Eetainers for Pens, B. Hoyland, Sheffield.

15.310.    Scavengers’ Carts, R. 0. Sayer, Newport.

15.311.    Kettles, S. J. Fellows, Birmingham.

16.312.    Flushing Apparatus for Water-closets, &c., G. Ewing, Liverpool.

15.313.    Bobbins or Tubes, E. Charnley and T. Pinder, London.

15.314.    Ladies’ Mantles, &c., H. Frankenburg, London.

15.315.    Medical Electric Machine, F. Bosshardt.— (L. Revol, France.)

15.316.    Removing Sand or Mud from Rivers, N. R. Griffith, Liverpool.

15.317.    Removing Sand or Mud from Rivers, N. R. Griffith, Liverpool.

15.318.    Urinals, W. H. Tylor, London.

15.319.    Explosive Engines, H. A. Stuart and C. R. Binney, London.

15.320.    Coating Metallic Sheets, H. A. Stuart and C.

R.    Binney, London.

15.321.    Metal Tanks, R. C. Jay, London.

15.322.    Aluminium, &c., E. C. Kleiner-Fiertz, London.

15.323.    Dentist’s Saliva Pump, G. G. Forster and W. Barry, London.

15.324.    Compound Marine Steam Engines, J. Tweedy, London.

15.325.    Electric Shade Holder, J. Taylor and G. E. Tucker, London

15.326.    Starting Tramcars, R. J. Meek, London.

15.327.    Gas Motor Engine, J. Taylor, London.

15.328.    Burners for Generating Gas from Oils, R. Wallwork, London.

15.329.    Stopping and Starting Tramcars, &c., D. K. West and J. Dyer, London.

15.330.    Valves for Controlling the Flow of Water through Pipes, H. Bamford, Loudon.

15.331.    Unstoppering Bottles, E. T. Smith, London.

15.332.    Boxes, <&c., H. G. Noakes, London.

15.333.    Cocks and Valves, J. J. Day and T. I. Day, London.

15.334.    Switches for Electrical Shunts, C. Browett, London.

15.335.    Endless Bands of Cat-gut, J. W. Humble, Manchester.

15.336.    Preparing Bales of Wool for Sorting, G. Bottomley and W. H. Greenwood, London.

15.337.    Press, J. Eaton, F. S. Morris, and J. C. Cottam, London.

15.338.    Boots and Shoes, M. L. Lion, London.

15.339.    Scarves, &c., G. F. Redfern.—(A. Be Waele, Belgium.)

15.340.    Machines for Printing, W. H. Turner, London.

15.341.    Treatment of Sewage, J. Mayer, London.

15.342.    Rotary Steam Generators, A. Musil, London.

15.343.    Treating Textile Materials with Liquids, &e., W. Mather, London.

15.344.    Automatic Switch and Governor for Electric Lighting, A. M. Clark.—(The Etectrotechnische Fabrik Cannstatt [ Wirth and Co.}, Germany.)

25th November, 1886.

15.345.    Delivering Cigarettes from Handles of Walking-sticks, &c., A. J. Willis, London.

15.346.    Tea, &c., Trap for Preventing Pipes of Teapots Melting when Water is low, J. Gullery, Bel fast.

15.347.    Ornamental Granite Marble Mosaic, L. Schlentheim, London.

15.348.    Sight Feed Lubricator, A. Fieldwick, Manchester.

15.349.    Pianofortes, A. Craig, Belfast,

15.350.    Preventing Racing in Marine, &c., Engines,

B.    Dadley, London.

15.351.    Railway Sleeping Compartments, J. W. Jackson, Brighton.

15.352.    Bicarbonate, &c., of Soda, W. Burns, Leith.

15.353.    Lathes, W. Sehischkar and G.

Halifax.

15.354.    Mineral Composition, J. R. Fletcher, Monk-wearmouth.

15.355.    Cleansing, &c., Printed and Dyed Fabrics, T. O. Arntield, Manchester.

15.356.    Indicating Quantity of Pulp Supplied and used in Paper-machines, J. Robertson, Manchester.

15.357.    Making steel, J. T. King.—(D. Brose, United States.)

15.358.    Middlings Purifiers, A. M. Robinson, Liver pool.

15.359.    Motor Cars, R. McGhee and J. Magee Glasgow.

15.360.    Motor, J. Y. Johnson.—(P. Cote, France.)

15.361.    Lamps and Lanterns, G. R. Postlethwaite, Birmingham.

15.362.    Shaping Wood, R. Cooper and J. Craig, Glasgow.

15.363.    Applying Colouring Matters to Textile Fabrics, D. Stewart, Glasgow.

15.364.    Fastening Picture Plates, &c., W. Curthoys, \V ol verhampton.

15.365.    Measuring Liquids, M. R. Waddlo and W. Newton, Bradford.

15.366.    Boots and Shoes, W. H. Stevens and J. Underod, Leicester.

15.367.    Button Fasteners, J. F. Corbett, Birmingham.

15.368.    Pocket Gauge for Drills, R Riley, London.

15.369.    Securing Motties in Colliery Corves, W. Galoe, Sheffield.

15.370.    Holding Bibs, &c., in Position, W. R. Kane

15^37L°T>apes| E. Yates, Birmingham.

15.372.    Dog Biscuit, T. L Callender, Beverley.

15.373.    Automatic Railway Couplings, T. E. Kent Dover, and A. Masson, Calais.

15.374.    Ventilators, W. P. Buchan, Glasgow.

15.375.    Horseshoe and Frost Plate, D. McKellar, London.

15.376.    Pocket Knives, R. Lord, London.

15.377.    Leather and other Driving Belting, B Binks, Halifax.

15.378.    Waxing Yarns for Knitting Machines, Rhodes, Halifax.

15.379.    Protecting Parts of Machines, P. R. Allen, London.

15.380.    Reversible Self-cleaning Water Filter, S.

S.    Bromhead.—(J. H. Seed, United States.)

15.381.    Velocipedes, A. L. Brieknell, London.

15.382.    Opening Tins, W. R. Gibson, London.

15.383.    Sliding Gas Chandeliers, &c., G. Rainsford, London.

15.384.    Velocipedes, E. G. Sheward, London.

15.385.    Field Magnets for Dynamo-electric Machines, P. B. Elwell, Wolverhampton.

15.386.    Indicator Bolts or Fastenings for Doors, A Iliidge, London.

15.387.    Velocipedes, J. R. Trigwell, London.

15.388.    Oil Lamps, R. R. Harper, London.

15.389.    Cruet stands, H. J. Haddan.—(0. Cesare Italy.)

15.390.    Preventing Condensation in the Cylinders of Steam Engines, D. Joy, London.

15.391.    Distillation of Ammoniacal Liquors, A. A. Croll, London.

15.392.    Suspending Curtains in connection with Cornice Poles, G. and W. Timmins, London.

15.393.    Connecting Pins to Tickets or Show Cards,

F. Jones, London.

15.394.    Producing Changing Effects of Illumina-_ _ Colouring in Pictures, &c., A. Tuck and

C.    White, London.

15.395.    Conveying Electric Currents for Working Electric Railways, Sic., A. L. Lineff and W. Jones, London.

on.

on.

on.

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[348,7231

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(3) In a measuring instrument, the combination of the frame A, having the graduations a and 6, and the hinged board G, having the lines c and d, with the straight edge H, having the graduations e, the hinge I, having the concentric grooves K and K¹, and the screws or bolts J and Ji, substantially as shown and described. (4) In a measuring instrument, the combination of the frame A, having the graduations a and b, and the hinged board G, having the lines c and d, with the straight edge H, having the graduations e, the hinge I, having the concentric grooves K and K¹, the screws or bolts J and Ji, and the adjustable mitre block P, substantially as shown described.

348,788. Shell and Method of Making the Same, George F. Simonds, Fitchburg, Mass.—Filed April 8th, 1886.

Claim —(1) A hollow projectile rolled to form and the metal condensed and hardened all at one operation, substantially as set forth. (2) The method of making a hollow projectile or similar structure, ccn-

[348-7881

. Arm.?’- hi • sii ... < Ri.-pvr i Machines,

August Sossard, New York, N.Y.—Filed May 20th, 1886.

Claim.—(1) An armature for dynamo-electric machines, comprising a series of separate and independent sections fitted between discs or heads, each section composed of a soft iron trough or box containing a number of short soft iron wires forming divisions of the core, the sides of said troughs or boxes projecting radially to or near the periphery of the armature, so as to bring the core fully within the magnetic field, substantially as and for the purpose described. (2) In

[348.8831

an armature for dynamo-electric machines, a core composed of short lengths of soft iron wire, in combination with the surrounding spools or bobbins, and with troughs, boxes, or frames whose side flanges lie between the bobbins and terminate at or near the periphery of the armature, substantially as described. (3) In an armature for dynamo-electric machines, the combination, with the heads or discs having radial parts, the armature core, and the spools or bobbins, of plates or flanges separating and embracing said bobbins or spools, said plates or flanges having their ends recessed, bent, or indented, so as to form sockets for the reception of bolts or screws by which they are fastened to the armature heads.

348,892. Boiler Feeder, Nelson Curtis, Boston> Mass.—Filed May 13th, 1886.

Claim.—The combination, with steam-tight water chamber A, provided with float B, of inlet and outlet passage ways D and E, the valve casing C, containing

one upon another successively by passing through dies, beginning with the next smallest in size and repeating

tv

the closing in or contracting operations until the shells are all combined, substantially as herein described.

348,723. Instrument for Obtaining Lengths and Bevels of Rafters, Harrison Conlee, Petersburgh, III.—Filed May 4111, 1886.

Claim.—(1) In a measuring instrument, the combination of a frame A, having the graduations a and 6, with the hinged board G, having lines c and d, and the protractor E, on which the board G can be held at any desired angle, substantially as shown and described. (2) In a measuring instrument, the combination of frame A, having the graduations a and b, with the hinged board G, having the lines c and d, the protractor E, on which the board G can be held at any desired angle, and the hinged straight edge H, having the graduation e, substantially as shown and described.

IP

near the other end, so as to form a spring stop, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

sisting ia roi’ing a tubular blank, thereby drawing J one end together to form the forward end ->f the projectile and U icl oning and condensing the walls of j 5he projectile at the same time, substantially as described.

arrange is exerted u

combination, with a pair of pawls, of a shaft provided with a crank pin and a slotted plate adapted to be operated by the said crank pin, for the purpose of controlling the said pawls, substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified. (4) The combination,

15.396.    Automatic Speed Regulating Gear, L-Higginbottom and T. Mannock, London.

15.397.    Blinds and Shades for Shops, R. H. Hughes, London.

15 398. Automatic Goods Selling Apparatus, C. H. Russell, London.

15 399. Bicycles and Tricycles, B. Green and S. Lee, London.

15.400.    Multiple Effect Apparatus, J. Hornung, C. Rabe, and F. J. Weiss, London.

15.401.    Compound Traction Locomotive, W. Hornsby and F. J. Cribb, Grantham.

15.402.    Device for Pipes, Matches, &c., H. H. Lake. —(C. Orsini, Italy.)

15.403.    Preparing Organic Matter for Metallisation, A. J. Boult.—(La Socicte anonyme de metallisation artistique des animaux, v&getaux, on autres corps, France.)

15.404.    Gas, &c , Controlling Apparatus, H. W. and A. F. Cole, Lond

26ill November, 1886.

15.405.    Portable Electric Alarm, W. B. Olpherts, jond

15 406. Velocipedes, H. E. Millar, London.

15.407.    Pneumatic Lamp Extinguisher, C. Bellingham ind H. B. Maples, London.

15.408.    Sliding Adjustable Door Drop, J. and J. B. Sawyer, Southampton.

l',4 9. Sliding Adjustable Door Drop, J. and J. B. bawyer, Southampton.

15.410.    Metallic Vessels for Liquids, T. S. Marriage, London.

15.411.    Slow Motion Gearing, J. Williams and G. L. Morris, Landore.

15.412.    Twisting Yarns, R. Boyd and E. Lepainteur, Glasgow.

15.413.    Twisting Yarns, J. Morrison and E. Hargreaves, Halifax.

15,414 Hinges, W. Smith, D. Marks, and R. Watson, Yorkshire.

15.415.    Shearing Machines, E. Martin, T. F. Drake, and J. W. Johnson, London.

15.416.    Stopping Bottles, D. Rylands, Barnsley.

15.417.    Cash Tills, G. R. Stokes, W. Loney, and T. M. Favil, Staffordshire.

15.418.    ISeck Ties, J. C. Lindop, London.

15.419.    Rim Locks, J. Hodges, Bloxwich.

15.420.    Looms, A. Levy, Manchester.

15.421.    Lamp Attachments, H. J. Hart, Birmingham.

15.422.    Dyking Blue, E. Edwards.—{L. Gevaert, Belgium.)

15.423.    Hydro-carbon Lamps, W. W. Kay, Birmingham.

15,42*. Drilling Machines, A. Yates Halifax.,

15.425.    Fixing Garden and other Borders, R. H. Padbury, London.

15.426.    Baling Pressure, W. Turner and G. Lewis, Manchester.

15.427.    Traps, W. Burgess, Malvern Wells.

15.428.    Deep Sea Net Fishing, &c., D. M. Gammie, Glasgow.

15.429.    Guides for Pulleys, W. Atkinson and E. Tattersall, Yorkshire.

15.430.    Paper-making Machines, G. A. BOdart, Paris.

15.431.    Ambulance Stretcher, C. R. Gorman and C. J. Fletcher, Birmingham.

15.432.    Folding Hoods of Perambulators, &c., C. R. Gorman and C. J. Fletcher, Birmingham.

15.433.    Oil and Spirit Lamps, E. R. Bailer, Birmingham.

15.414.    Cardboard Boxes, G. Lynch, London.

15.435.    Dyeing Warps Turkey Red, &c., R. Holt. Halifax.

15.436.    Tannic Acid, &c., H. Byk, London.

15.437.    Figured Cloth, D. Greenhalgh, London.

15.438.    Lamps, E. J. Scanlan, London.

15.439.    Securing Buttons, &c., to Garments, H. Frankenburg, London.

15.440.    Combined Upper and Sole Leather Skiving Machines, R. B. Mills, London.

15.441.    Photographic Dry Plates, W. J. Wilson, London.

15 442. Steam Trap, G. Ekelund, London.

15,a43. Shawl Straps, &c , G. Adolf. London.

15.444.    Cooking Apparatus, O. Wehle, London.

15.445.    Railway Car Journal-box, J. Kritch, London.

15.446.    Norfolk Latches, C Steer and J. H. Stubbs, London.

15 447. Stoppers for Bottles, C. II. Pugh, London.

15.448.    Lamps for Burning Petroleum, S. Holmes, London.

15.449.    Lamps for Burning Petroleum, S. Holmes, London.

15.450.    Lamps for Burning Petroleum, S. Holmes, London.

15.451.    Preventing Horsls, &c., Slipping, H. Wheeler, Birmingham.

15.452.    Self-locking Beer or Spirit Tap, A. Butler, Leeds.

15.453.    Lanterns, G. Brewer.—(L. B. Wood, United States.)

15.454.    Stocking, &c., Suspenders, H. M. Knight, London.

15    455. Marking Leather, Ac., D. Doyle, London.

15,*56. Heating Chambers, C. Appleby, Lond

16    457. Slide Valve, C. H. Baker, Loudon.

15.458.    Treat ng Membranous Parts of Animals, J. Pujos, London.

15.459.    Pocket Lock-stitch Sewing Machine, S. Isaac, London.

15 460. Taps R. W. James, London.

15 *61. Retaining Bed Clothing upon a Bed, W. L. Wise.—(Y. L Remy, Betgium.)

15.462.    Desiccating Insulating Coverings, N. J. Raffard, London.

15.463.    Tobacco Pipes, T. Craddock, London.

15.464.    Treating Leguminous Seeds, F. Krietsch, sen., London.

15.465.    Striking Part of Pianoforte Hammers, R. K. Boyle, London.

15.466.    Transportation of Liquids, J. B. Andrews, London.

15.467.    Flue Caps for Stove Pipes, F. E. Heinig, London.

15.468.    Carding Machines, J. Y. Johnson.—(M. Des-cards, France.)

15.469.    Boots and Shoes, J. Day, Egremont.

15.470.    Distributing Types, P. D. Hedderwick, London.

15.471.    Mincing Meat, C. Reinhardt and T. Atkinson, London.

15.472.    Gas Motor Engines, J. Southall, London.

15.473.    Moulding Building Blocks, J. Winkler, London.

15.474.    Type-writers, P. R. Allen and J. La Mert, London.

15.475.    Pump Buckets and Valves, S. B. Goslin, London.

15.476.    Compound Armour-plates, A. Wilson, London.

15.477.    Coating Metals with other Metals, E. More-wood, Llanelly.

15.478.    Purification of Illuminating Gas, F. Lux, London.

15.479.    Compressed Air, M. Vinning, London.

15.480.    Lighting, Heating, and Cooking, A. Martin, London.

2tWi November, 1886.

15.481.    Postcards, R. A. Fuller-Maitland, London.

15.482.    Cooking and other Stoves, R. Nisbet, Glasgow.

¹⁵.483.    Moving, &c., Air, W. G. and G. P. Gass, Bolton.

15.484.    Gas and other IlluMinant Pillars, J. Hor-rocks, Southport.

15.485.    Ornamenting Metals, J. Mallol, Birmingham.

15.486.    Furnace or Grate-bars, J. Henderson, Wakefield.

¹⁵’stok VALVESt &Ct’ J’ W‘ flartley and w- Freakley,

15,488. Sulphate of Soda and Bleach, W. Burns Leith.

15.489.    Memorandum, &c. , Books, A. H. Megaon, Man-

15.490.    Lamps, T. F. Wiley, Bradford.

15.491.    Reaping and Mowing Machines, A. Douglas, Stran raer.

15.492.    Thrust Block, J. Blower, Cardiff.

15.493.    Lavatories or Washhand Basins, J. Shanks, Glasgow.

15.494.    Apparatus for use in Swimming, W. L. Dampier, London.

15.495.    Fitting Strings to Violins, &c., G. F. H. Garrett, London.

15.496.    Velocipedes, J. Dring, London.

15.497.    Sewing Machine, C. Noble, H. Haes, and G.

L.    Roff, London.

15.498.    Treating Solutions of Chloride of Calcium to Obtain Chloride of Magnesium, &c., W. Bramley and W. P. Cochrane. Redcar.

15.499.    Pumping Machinery, T. H. Ward, Tipton.

15.500.    Preparations for Treating Skin Diseases, H. V. Knaggs, London.

15.501.    Supports for Bicycle, &c., Lamps, J. Hawkins, London.

15.502.    Cycle Pedal, T. Cooke, London.

15.503.    Covered Pors, Jars, &c., R. B. Breidenbacli, London.

15,604. Curling, &c., Brims of Hats, H. H. and A. Turner and W. H. Blackwell, London.

15.505.    Cigars, H. H. and A. Turner and W. H. Blackwell, London.

15.506.    Machines for Mincing Meat, W. Wright, Sheffield.

15.507.    Hydrocarbon Gas Motors, C. T. Wordsworth and J Wolstenholme, London.

15.508.    Post-office Pillar Stamping Apparatus, G. C. Bingham, London.

15.509.    Electric Lamps, M. Wheeler, London.

15.510.    Making Blank Cartridges, &c., R. White, London.

15.511.    Machinery with Chucks, &c., P. R. Allen, London.

15.512.    Tricycles, <fec., W. J. Lloyd and W. Priest, London.

15.513.    Armour Plate for Ships, &c., J. Platts, London.

15.514.    Cases, <fcc., Parts of Watches, S. Leighton, Liverpool.

15.515.    Reducing Mineral Ores to Powder, C. Appleby, London.

15.516.    Teaching Animal Physiology, &c., D. T. Lee, London.

15.517.    Jointing the Bucket Chains of Dredges, A.

M.    Clark.—(J. L. Robert, France,)

15.518.    Rotary Engines, C. F. Sleigh, H. V. and W. W. Smith, London.

15.519.    Tramway Vehicles, H. H. Lake.—(Messrs. Wirth and Co., agents for E. Petsch, Germany.)

15.520.    Automatically Regulating the Supply of Air to Furnaces, W. J. Clark, London.

15.521.    Wax Vesta Matches, &c., J. J. Masters, London.

15.522.    Step for Wheeled Vehicles, H. Carter and G.

T. Bishop, London.

15 523. Electric Short Circuiting Switches, A. Bernstein, London.

15.524.    Electric Tramways and Railways, F. C. All-sopp, London.

15.525.    Table Top for Sewing Machines, J. Wertlieim, London.

29th November, 1886.

15,526. Spinning Expansion Thread Guide, J. Gul-lery, Belfast.

15,527 Nailing, &c., Heels of Boots, C. H. and F. J. Dale, Leicester.

15.528.    Charging Beer with Carbonic Acid Gas, T. F. Wiley.—(A. Frolich and Captain Fischer, Denmark.)

15.529.    Applying Tension to Weft Thread Bobbins, J. H. Cooper, W. J. Ford, W. M. Richards, and G. Blunt, Leicester.

15.530.    Breech-loading Small-arms, T. Woodward, Birmingham.

15.531.    Buffers, E. C. Ibbotson, Sheffield.

15.532.    Isochrom tic Emulsion PlvTes, H. W. Vogel, London.

15.533.    File Cutting, W. Handley, Leeds.

15.534.    Metallurgical Furnaces, &c., A. E. Tucker and F. W. Harbord, Smethwick.

15.535.    Purifying Coal, &c., R. Dixon, Stockton-on-Tees.

15 536. Belts and Ropes for Driving Machinery, W. W. Oldfield, Glasgow.

15.537.    Hanging Pictures, W. H. Fogg, Leeds.

15.538.    Connecting to Sewing Machine Spindle and Spool of the Spinning Wheel. W. Johnson, Shetland.

15.539.    Bed-pans, H. Haertel, Germany.

15.540.    Trivets for Gas Fires, T. Fletcher and A. Clare, Manchester.

15 541. Stair Rod Eyes F. R. Silk, Birmingham.

15.542.    Latch for Gates, <fcc., J. E. Fisher, Birmingham.

15.543.    Packing and Making Up Soap, F. H. Gossage, Liverpool.

15 544. Holder for Gas Globes, J. H. Watson, Birmingham.

15,545. Distribution of Electric Energy, R. Dick and R. Kennedy, Glasgow.

15 546. Syphon Trap Closet Pan?, A. C. Henderson. —(A. de la Escalera, Spain.)

15.547.    Holder for Brushes, T. D. Hollick and R. Greenshields, London.

15.548.    Bell Attachments, R. Chanomy, London.

15.549.    Steam Pumps, E. Korting, London.

15.550.    Linings for Furnaces, &c., F. I. Ricardo-Seaver, London.

15.551.    Electric Alarm, W. G. Olpherts, London.

15.552.    Tiles, H. W. Lowden, Reigate.

15.553.    Locks, W. S. Frost, London.

15.554.    Kettle Lids and Handles, W. G. Honey, London.

15.555.    Printing in Bronze, A. Finger and W. Menzel, London.

15.556.    Dividing Rules, <fcc., C. Denger-Troger, London.

15.557.    Tumbling Barrel, J. Henderson, London.

15.558.    Forced Draught Apparatus, R. Fraser and J. B. Edmiston, Liverpool.

15.559.    Breech-loading, &c., Fire-arms, H. A. Schlund, London.

15.560.    Lighting with Petroleum, &c., J. Schweiser and P. E. Huber, London.

15.561.    Anti-fouling Composition, W. Carter, London.

15.562.    Time-pieces, W. Hardy, London.

15.563.    Magnetic Galvanic Battery, W. H. Cannon. —(A. M. Richardson, United States.)

15.564.    Edging or Pointing Cutting or Boring Tools, R. K. Boyle, London.

15.565.    Metal Staging and Tables for Plant Houses, W. E. Berry, London.

15.566.    Preparing Material for Destroying Insects, H. Fuchs, London.

15.567.    Retaining a Constant Level of Water in Boilers, A. Daussin, London.

15.568.    Hop Trellis, W. Norris, London.

15.569.    Grain Tester, P. Grobecker, London.

15.570.    Flushing Cisterns, W. White, London.

SELECTED AMERICAN PATENTS.

(From the United States' Patent Office official Gazette.)

348,719. Method of Making Ordnance, William H.

Brown, New York, N.Y.—Filed July 15th, 1885.

Claim.—The improvement in the method of making a gun or barrel, consisting in first producing, by cupping and drawing with mandrels and dies, a series of seamless shells, which are substantially closed at one end, and are of such size as to enter easily one into another, and in then placing the smaller shell upon a mandrel and closing in or contracting the shells a main and a branch steam passage way, with main valve V and auxiliary valve v therein, and an outlet steam passage way with valve hl therein, and a lever

f348,892l

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connection between said auxiliary valve v and said float, substantially as described.

348,819. Chill for Use in Casting Cross-heads, J. Barclay, Erie, Pa.—Filed November 30th, 1885.

Brief.—The pattern is moulded in a two-part fla^k and then withdrawn and the chill put in place in the

[34a8l9l

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mould, thus filling part of the mould cavity made bv

349,004. Fastening for Couplings or Joint Pi vs Morrison Renshaw and William H. Horner St Louis, Mo.—Filed June 24th, 1886.    ¹

Claim.—A coupling pin having a head or stop at one end and a spring secured in a pocketed recess at or

1349,004,1

349,005 Device for Adjusting Shafts, Frank P.

Sargent, New Haven, Conn.—Filed April 21st, 1886.

Claim.—The herein-described invention, consisting in the combination, with a shaft within a sleeve or collar and with said collar, of two set screws passing through said sleeve or collar and adapted to impinge

[349.005.1

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upon    " :d a or upon said shaft, so

,    - pres    ■ each of said set screws

ipoiA    iui lirection to one side <,f

: .it Siiiigo—t w, a uuwe concentric therewith, substantially as set forth.

349,007. Racket Wrench, John E. Sinclair, Worcester, Mass.—Filed April 10th, 1886.

Claim.—(1) The shaft F, having an excentric or crank pin, and the sliding plate E, adapted to be operated by the excentric or crank pin, in combination with a pair of pawls operating together, substantially as and for the purpose specified. (2) The combination, with the socket head of a wrench having a ratchet wheel and a pair of pawls, of a shaft having means of operating the said pawls, the shaft projecting through the frame containing the said socket head, substantially as and for the purpose specified. (3) The

1349.007.1

with a pair of pawls, of a shaft provided with a era pin and a sliding plate having a slot so adjusted to the travel of the crank pin that the plate will be locked at each end of its travel by the crank pin going beyond the centre and striking the end of the slot, substantially in the manner and for the pupose specified.

Epps’s Cocoa.—Grateful and Comforting.—“ By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application of the fine properties of well-selected Cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up until strong enough to resist every tendency to disease. Hundreds of subtle maladies are floating around us ready to attack wherever there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properly nourished frame.” — Civil Service Gazette. Made simply with boiling water or milk. Sold only in packets, by grocers, labelled—“ James Epps & Co., Homoeopathic Chemists, London.”—Also makers of Epps’s Afternoon Chocolate Essence.—[Advt.]

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