NEWCASTLE EXHIBITION.

The idea of the holding of an Engineering and Mining Exhibition in Newcastle-on-Tyne is a happy one, for few districts have had so much to do with the development of the mining and engineering industries as Tyneside. It is the earliest home of mining for one of the greatest of our minerals—coal; it is the centre of a vast lead industry; to it there early gravitated the railway system; and for more than seventy years it has been associated with the construction and development of the locomotive. In that period, also, the North-eastern district has been reconstructed by engineers—rivers have been deepened, harbours made, means of communication by land and sea provided, the deeper working of mines rendered possible and safer, and the whole surface of the land changed. The population has increased, the industries have been widened in area and variety, and a mass of factories, forges, and furnaces has arisen. These, then, furnish of themselves ample field for the exhibits of a Mining and Engineering Exhibition. But there is centred at Newcastle a useful and a comparatively old institute—the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers; and from it sprang the idea, first, of an exhibition which would have been more confined in its area than that to be held. The original proposal met with approval; but it was felt that it was desirable to widen the area both of the exhibits

and of the parts from whence they were to be drawn; and thus there was in the end evolved the Exhibition to be held, which may in some degree claim to be international. In some sections there will be novelties—that of the model coal mine may be said to be one embodying a very happy idea for a coal-mining district—and in others such as that in which the exhibit of the Armstrong Company is, there will be a completeness rarely attained previously, s i that the carrying out of the idea may be said to be already giving ample promise of success.

In April last year a meeting for the promotion of the Exhibition was held in Newcastle, its basis settled, and the sectional committees and guarantee fund agreed upon. A site was fixed upon—the Bull Park—and the Corporation placed it at the disposal of the executive, whilst an additional space was granted a few months later. As President of the Exhibition, Lord Ravensworth was chosen, and as President of the Executive Council Mr. John Daglisli, whilst the first lion, secretary was Mr. Theo. W. Bunning, and the latter Mr. John H. Amos. In August the plans proposed by Mr. William Glover, vice-president of the Northern Architectural Association, were adopted, and in September they were finally passed. The contract for the erection of the building was let to Mr. Walter Scott, of Newcastle, the amount being £21,000; and in February last formal possession was given to the committee. The four courts of the building will form a quadrangle, in the centre of which pleasure grounds, promenade, fountains, and a band-stand are arranged. The four courts—east, west, north, and south—thus arranged give the quadrangle a length of 346ft., and a width of 270ft.; and around the sides of the quadrangle, and extending 9ft. into the open interior space, is a verandah. There was an old reservoir on the site, and this will be utilised, the south-west corner being devoted to life-saving, fire-extinguishing apparatus, and hydraulic exhibits. An ornamental lake will afford facility for an erection that will be one of the attractions of the Exhibition—at any rate, to local sight-seers—a representation of the old bridge across the Tyne prior to 1771. This, with its shops, utilised as at Edinburgh, is expected to afford to many an indication of a structure which has historic and other associations of interest. This old Tyne bridge, planned and supervised by Mr. Messent, of the Tyne Commissioners, is looked upon as one of the “show” pieces of the Exhibition.

The entrance to the building is from the Gusfortli-road, just on the outskirts of Newcastle, and within a mile and a-half from the central station. The entrance is a classic design, constructed of wood, and having a frontage of 150ft., with a portico, 50ft. long, extending to the length of the curve. A pediment with clock and dome, 64ft. in height, surmounts the entrance, and there are also two side turrets, each 70ft. high. The entrance lobby is 50ft. long, by 40ft. wide, opening into a large crush-room. The Exhibition offices are arranged ; on the north of the entrance, cashier’s, post-office, parcels, change-office, stores and ladies’ cloak-room; and on the south side, general office, offices of the superintendent, assistant superintendent, honorary secretary, and council-room. Passing through the entrance lobby, the crush-room is 150ft. by 59ft., and this forms the entrance to the North Court, which will be carried out in three spans of 50ft. in width, with a lean-to 20ft. in width. At the end of the North Court is the organ and concert-room, forming an avenue from the enclosed area to the mining exhibits. The Western Court, with a central span 50ft. in width, and 35ft. in height, is for the machinery in motion, and the boilers and electric lighting machinery will be placed to the west of this. The South Court and East Court similarly constructed, and to the south of the former’ will be the theatre, art saloon, dining-rooms, kitchen and canteen. The covered area for the Exhibition is about 241,000ft., and for mining operations there 59,000ft. covered.

Here it may be desirable to state that the exhibits have been grouped into fourteen sections. The first is that important one to the North, “ Coal Mining and Products,” v hich is subdivided into three classes for the working model of a coal mine, mining appliances, and safety appliances, and the treatment of coal for coking, the three being under the chairmanship of Mr. G. B. Forster, Mr. Lindsay Wood, and Mr. David Dale; whilst the section of safety appliances has for chairman Mr. James Willis. The second division is for metalliferous mining and products, the classes including iron ore mining, blast furnaces, and foundries, iron manufacture, steel manufacture, lead, copper, and sundries, and lead manufacture, the

are

are some

chairman of the division being Sir Lowthian Bell. The third division is for machinery, including in its classes steam, conqiressed air, locomotives, tunnelling, and sundry machinery, Mr. W. Boyd officiating as chairman. Marine engineering and machinery and naval architecture is divided into the two classes of marine engines and boilers, and shipbuilding; the chairman being Mr. John Price, of Palmer’s Shipbuilding and Iron Company. The fifth division is that for civil, military, railway, and hydraulic engineering, Mr. Thomas Wrightson, of Stockton, being chairman. In the sixth division are grouped matters connected with the building industries; Mr. Addison Potter is chairman. The next division is the very important one to the Tyne of “ Chemical Industries,” the chairman being Sir C. M. Palmer, and the divisions soda, &c., glass, and paints, oils, &c. The eighth division is for fisheries; the ninth—under the chairmanship of Mr. Jacob Wilson—is for agriculture, horticulture, and arboriculture—and one of the classes includes agricultural implements, and another carts, wagons, saddlery, and stable appliances. Division 10, for hygiene, has Mr. Jas. C. Stevenson, M.P., for chairman, and groups in four classes, warming and ventilation, sanitary appliances, gas lighting and manufacture, and other modes of lighting, and electric lighting. The eleventh division is for food, the chairman being Mr. John Robinson; and it is followed by sundry industries and products—rope, canvas, woollen, silk and lace, hats, boots, leather, paper-printing, coachmaking, india-rubber, tobacco, and other industries —Mr. John Philipson being chairman. The art industries are grouped under the chairmanship of Mr. C. Mitchell; and finally, Division 14 is devoted to science and education, Mr. Thomas Hodgkin being the chairman.

It is as yet too soon to say much as to the exhibits, but the mining exhibits are, under the care of the North of England Institute and Mining and Mechanical Engineers, expected to be very full, both in interest and variety. The model of a working mine will be built up with coal, and will be about 150 yards long by 50ft. wide. Electric safety lamps will be placed in it, and it will show in fac simile the workings of a coal mine, the methods of haulage, of winning, &c. A lead mine is appropriately added. Amongst the mineral exhibits specimens of ore, of coal, and of coke made by various methods, are in course of delivery. In the locomotive class there will be shown one of Worsdell and Yon Borrie’s compound engines, already described in The Engineer ; and some massive exhibits from the Elswick Ordnance Works—in the latter, it is expected the new rapid-fire naval gun of the firm. In the art sections two pictures are to be lent by the Queen from Buckingham Palace and Windsor — “A Florence Gallery,” by Zoffany, being one, and the “ Wolf and the Lamb,” by Mulready, the other. The Prince of Wales has also promised contributions to this section; and from Lambton Castle sixteen pictures by Sir Joshua Beynolds, Sir Edwin Landseer, Calcott, and others, are to be sent by the Earl of Durham; whilst from the galleries of Mr. Carl Bolckow, Mr. Henry Morton, and others, paintings will be sent. The art display will be unquestionably the richest that has yet been shown in the North of England.

These, then, are the outlines already discernible of the Royal Mining, Engineering, and Industrial Exhibition, “ International and Colonial,” at Newcastle, the story of which is above stated. There have been slight and sectional exhibitions in the north-east previously, but there has been none either with the promise or the claims to support of that to be opened by the Duke of Cambridge on the lltli of May. In the land of the Stephensons, the Hawthorns, and the Hedleys such an Exhibition must be expected to be complete, especially in its engineering sections; and in that large shipbuilding district which has been made famous in some thirty years there ought to be a grouping of naval engineering and constructional models such as Liverpool could not pretend to give. The area in which this Newcastle Exhibition is, is a tolerably populous one, though it cannot compare with the places where similar shows will be held concurrently; but to the mining and mechanical class, from the Tyne to the Tees, there should be an educational influence in the Exhibition which should make it of value to the district for long, and might fairly be expected to contribute in no small degree to the further development of that district, which in mining, metallurgy, and engineering, has played no unimportant part.

amalgamated engineers, boilermakers, iron shipbuilders, and miners, whose numbers are great, have for the most part abandoned their old-time policy of striking to attain their objects, and almost invariably refer all matters in dispute to a board of arbitration or conciliation consisting of two members representing the employers, two members representing the employes, and an umpire. This plan differs from the one in general use by the absence of a sliding scale. The benefit of this system of arbitration to both employers and workmen is incalculable, and it is owing to it that the great coal and iron industries have been up to recently so free from the demoralisation attendant upon strikes. At the present time the system of arbitration in this district, as in others, shows signs of breaking down, and there are strikes going on, the most important being that of the colliers, numbering over 14,000, to resist a proposed reduction of wages to the amount of 15 per cent. In 1878 business in all branches was much depressed. Shipbuilding, one of the greatest pillars in Newcastle’s prosperity, was in a languishing state, the coal trade was suffering, chemicals were lower than they had ever been, ironworks were short of orders, and in everything there was a dulness that seemed insuperable. A gradual improvement took place until the middle of 1883, when business never was so good. Manufacturers of all kinds increased their production, new shipyards were established, and old ones enlarged, the other trades regained their former prosperity, and wages were everywhere increased. This improvement did not last. There was too great an eagerness to get into all sorts of business, and the inevitable results followed. Trade began to fall off, buyers decreased, the entire business community considered that everything had been overdone, and there was a rush in the opposite direction, with a result that in the middle of 1884 the condition of trade on the Tyne was worse than in 1878, and has not yet recovered. The relations existing between employers and employed are of the most amicable nature ; employers do not, as a rule, simply require the regular attendance of their employes and the faithful discharge of their duties, but interest themselves in the home life of their workpeople in many ways. In speaking of the habits of the working classes, it must be understood that in this district there are a great many miners whose hours of work are necessarily irregular, and blast furnacemen, glass workers, and iron puddlers, whose work is done in shifts. This system throws men into greater temptations than does the system of a continuous day’s work in the strictly manufacturing districts. All things taken into consideration, the working classes here may be safely said to be steady and trustworthy.

Wages Paid per week of Fifty-four Hours in Newcastle-on-Tyne— General Trades.

Lowest. Standard, s. d.

s.

Bricklayers.......

Carpenters.......

Masons .......

Blacksmiths    ... .

Strikers.......

Horseshoers    ... .

Ironmoulders ...

... 33 ... 33 ... 33

32

18

22 2 ... 21 10

„    Darlington... 28 10

Tinsmiths ......

Labourers ......

26

32

29

I—L    OO CDCOOr¹

Highest, s. d.

30 5 39 10

—    ... 30

10 3 ... 14

CM

... 18 3

Wages Paid to Members of Trade Unions.

Highest.

s. d. 0 8 0 8

26 0 ... 36 0

s. d.

Carpenters, Sunderland, per hour Masons,    ,,    ,,

Ironfounders, Gateshead, per week ...

Wages Paid 'per Week of from Fifty-four to Eiglity-four Hours in Factories or Mills in Newcastle-on-Tyne in the Chemical Trade.

Highest.

Boilersmiths, per week of fifty-four hours Enginemen, per week of eighty-four to ninety-four hours Millwrights Platelayers...

Smiths......

Strikers ...

Labourers ...

Lowest, s. d.

Standard;

s. d.

V-

d.

... 22 10 ... 27 4 ...

83

27 0

32 5

Bull Furnace House, per Week of Seventy-two Hours.

Lowest. Standard.

s. d.

s. d.

Bogie mixers and revolvers,

per ton .....

Tanks ... .

Highest, s. d.

WAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN.

No. IX.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.—Newcastle owes its prosperity to its convenient situation upon a tidal river, and to the immense stores of coal in the neighbourhood, which, besides being largely exported, have stimulated a variety of industries dependent on their use. The river for a distance of ten miles from its mouth is lined on both sides with chemical works, furnaces, manufactories, quays, and shipbuilding yards. Besides coal mining, there are within the town or its immediate neighbourhood numerous blast furnaces and important malleable ironworks, anchor and cable works, engineering and machinery shops, lead works, manufactories of files, nails, shovels, spades, and ordnance works. All these branches of manufacture are very extensive, and possess great facilities both from the abundance and cheapness of coal as well as from the means of transport. The principal exports are chemicals, coal, coke, hardware, iron, lead, pig and sheet, machinery. The imports include chemical substances and ores. The various industries and trades in the North of England are most powerfully organised, and these associations are a power in the community. Their influence is very great, and mai’ks itself on every possible occasion. In some societies rates of wages are fixed and maintained by the united action of the members, who not only determine what wages they shall receive themselves, but also what shall be paid to those who are not members of their organisation. The largest associations, such as the

— ... 1 2 ... — ... 22 3 ... 24 3 ... 26 4

Bleaching Powder, per Week of Seventy-two Hours. Lowest.

Chambermen ... Lime burners ... Lime timpsers ... Still men ......

Standard, s. d.

s.

Black Salt, per Week of Seventy-two Hours.

Lowest. Standard. Highest, s. d.

s. d.

s. d.

Drawers of carbonate Limestone crushing, per ton Pans on revolver work ...

Chambers—

Burner men, fifty-six hours 23    3    ...    25    4    ...    27    4

Column men, eighty-four,, 25    0    ...    25    5    ...    26    0

White Alkali, per Week of Seventy-two Hours.

Lowest. Standard, s. d.

Drier ............

Dissolvers ......per ton

Evaporating .........

Grinders    ... per ton

Mothers ............

s. d.

30 5 ... 0 6 ... 23 3 ...

0 44 ... 23 3“ ...

Highest, s. d.

Wages paid per week of Fifty-four Hours in Pailway Companies Works in. Newcastle.

Lowest.

s. d.

Standard.

d.

Engineering department:—

Gangers .........

Inspectors ..,    ...    ...

Navvies, pickmen ... shovellers ...

... 23 10 , 30 5 18 8 18 8

s.

0 ... 32 4 ... 50 10 ... 27 10 ... 27

CO o ©

'O

Lowest, s. d.

Standard, s. d

Platelayers... .

Highest, s. d.

Signal fitters

Smiths.......

Strikers ...    .

Locomotive works repairing department:—•

... 21 10 ... 29 9 ... 36 4 ... 15 ... 28 ... 18 ... 27 ... 26

Blacksmiths

Strikers.......

Engine painters

Erectors .......

Fitters .......

Foremen .......

Machine men ... Patternmakers ...

Tinsmiths.......

Turners .......

Wagon builders Labourers.......

COOOOOOLO

tvCocoQoooa^iM^o

26 0

Hours.

Engineer’s fan ... 72 ,, hauling 66-72 ,, locomotive 72 ,,    pumping 72

,,    winding 48

Fitters......

Furnacemen Hand putters Hewers Keekers Pony putters Screeners ...

Shifters Stone men ... Labourers ...

s.

23

24

26

24

24

... 54 ... 48 60-66 42-45 60-66 60-66 60-66 ... 48 ... 48 60-66

22

16

24

28

19

19

17

19

23

17

OCHDOOOO5OOvO0?OO

Wages Paid per Week of Fifty Hours to men vn the employ of the Corporation of Newcastle-on- Tyne.

Lowest, s. d.

Standard, s. d.

Cranemen.....

Foremen .....

Horseshoers

Paviours .....

Platelayers Road engineman

Smiths........

Strikers.....

Weighman.....

Labourers .....

Highest.

Many of the above classes of workmen are supplied with free houses and coal, subject to a payment of 6d. per fortnight for loading the coal. In some districts notice has been given that in future rent will have to be paid for the houses. The average earnings per week at two coal pits in North Durham are 21s. 6d.; at two coal pits in South Durham 23s., with in both cases free coals and house.

Wages Paid per Week of Fifty-four Hours in Iron Shipbuilding Yards at Newcastle-on-Tyne.

s. d.

29 2 19 0

Wages Paid per Week at Blast Furnaces in Ironworks in the District of Neiccasllc.

Lowest.

s. d.

Highest, s. d.

Standard.

... 21 6 ... 28 0 ... 34 0

Barrow-men

Blast engine-men ...... 29    0    ...    30    6    ...    32    6

Chargers

Hoist enginemen ...... 18    6    ...    21    0    ...    23    0

Keepers

Limestone breakers......

Metal carriers (pig iron

men) ............

Onsetters (men at hoist or

lift) ............

Slaggers .........

Stovemcn .........

Tipping minerals Weighing minerals ...

Labourers..........

... 26 0 ... 34 0 ... 41 6

... 41 6 ... 54 6 ... 68 0

... 21 0 ... —

Blacksmiths Strikers... Brassfinishers ,, moulders Caulkers ... Coppersmiths Drillers Enginemen Fitters Flangers ... Holders-up Ironmoulders Machinemen Painters ... Patternmakers Planers Platers Ri vetters ... Tool repairers Labourers...

21 1

s. d. . 31 6 . 21 2 . 32 5 . 30 5 . 32 0 . 33 0 . 22 9 . 24 7 . 32 3 . 37 10 . 27 1 . 30 7 . 29 10 . 26 2 . 34 0 . 25 5 . 37 4 . 34 0 . 32 3 . 20 4

... 23 6 ...

Wages Paid per Week at Forges in Ironworks in the District of Newcastle.

Lowest,

s. d.

Bogieing hot puddled bars 25 0 ...

Breaking pig iron ...... 35    0    ...

Burning tap cinder......    —

Charging bulldog kilns ... 24 0 ...

Drawing    ,,    ... 24 0 ...

Filling taps ......

Forge boilermen

engineman ...

hammer attendants 17 4 ...

... 19 9 ...

... 61 10 ...

... 24 0 ...

... 39 6 ...

... 21 0 ...

... 45 0 ...

... 15 0 ...

... 25 0 ...

... 20 3 ...

Grind

Hammermen Assistant

Puddlers ......

Underhand ...

Rollers ......

Assistant......

Shearers ......

Stocking hot puddled bars 25 0

Wheeling ashes......... 22    0    ...

... 22 0 ...

Cl'S

coals...    .

pig iron to puddling furnaces 35 0 ... taps ...

Labourers.......

Standard.

s. d.

31 6 35 6

30    0 24 6 24 6

20    9

21    0 26 0 20 3 20 9 80 3 33 9 42 3

23    0 73 6

24    0

31    6 31 6 23 0 23 0

Highest.

s. d.

... 33 0 ... 36 0

... 25 0 ... 25 0

... 21 9

... 22 9 ... 21 9 ... 96 6 ... 43 6 ... 45 0 ... 25 0 ... 102 0 ... 63 0 ... 33 0 ... 33 6 ... 24 0 ... 24 0

20 0

Average Piecework Earnings per Week at some Representative Iron Shipbuilding Yards on the Tyne and Wear.

Blacksmiths ...

Caulkers.......

Platers .......

Rivetters.......

s.

Wages Paid per Week to Engineers of Steamers by the Tyne Steam Slapping Company.

... 15 0 ...

35 6 24 0 18 0

... 36 0

... 21 0

Wages paid per week at Plate Mills in Ironworks in the district of Newcastle.

Lowest, s. d.

Dentatus, who pierced through a marble quarry in order to enable the Velino to flow into the river Nera. The pressure of water used in the works is 18 atmospheres, and this was the reason why compressed air was selected as a motive power instead of steam to operate the great hammer and cranes, besides the smaller ones and several other motors. In order to create the necessary quantity of compressed air for the whole arrangement, four groups of Dubois-Francois compressors were erected. Each of these four groups of compressors has two air cylinders 800 mm. in diameter, with a stroke of 1200 mm., which are driven by two water cylinders of 340 mm. diameter, with the same stroke as those for the air. Between each pair of cylinders in each group a fly-wheel is placed to regulate their action. Each of the four groups of compressors consumes 175 litres of water, and 0‘8 cubic metres of air, at 6 atmospheres pressure per second. The volume of water injected at each stroke amounts to 0'01 of the cubic contents of the cylinder. The compressed air is conducted into a receiver 1'61 m. in diameter and 5 m. high, containing therefore about 12 cubic metres, from which the distribution takes place to the hammers and different machines. But, in order to ensure a regular action, a sufficiently large volume of air must be at disposal, and for that reason two regulators, containing together 1000 cubic metres of air, are attached to the above-named air receiver. These two regulators are made of cast iron 1‘25 mm. diameter, are each 400 m. long, and are connected to a water tank placed 51 m. higher, by a sort of syphon pipe of 600 mm. diameter, so that when irregularities in the quantity of air pumped occur, it is kept nearly of the same pressure as that in store.

The 100-ton hammer stands in the middle of an iron building of nearly circular form, 50 m. in diameter, so that besides this there is room for four Siemens gas welding furnaces, two on either side, and the two cranes for the service of them. By this arrangement the hammer is perfectly free, and can be easily worked from both sides of the anvil. As above stated, the hammer has a falling weight of 100 tons, has a stroke of 5 m., an air cylinder of l'92m., and a piston rod of 360mm. diameter. The anvil block weighs 1000 tons, is cast in one piece, is 4⁻42 in. in height, area of base 42 square metres, and area of top 9'3 square metres. The hammer and all its parts are very massively constructed, but especially so the standards, and it weighs 287 tons. It is necessary that it should be very strong and solid, because above and over the centre of the cylinder the standards are brought together in order to carry a vertical pivot in the centre line of the hammer, on and about which the two cranes turn round in a circle of 42‘2 m. diameter. One of the cranes has a lifting power of 100 tons and the other of 150 tons. The chain blocks can run up to within 1'75 m. of the anvil and away from it 20‘4m., and so carry the objects to be forged from the furnaces to the hammer in a very convenient manner. All the movements of the cranes are produced by compressed air, which is conducted to the several points required through the pivot above the hammer, and both the cranes and the hammer work admirably with this motive power.

The compressors deliver air sufficient to allow the hammer to make two strokes per minute. The air regulator containing 1000 and the hammer consuming 14 cubic metres, at 5‘5 to 6 atmospheres pressure, it can therefore make 70 strokes even the compressors should be standing still. It will be seen that between the heats the compressed air could be used as an accumulator if desired. For fear of disturbing the brickwork of the furnaces, which are placed as near as possible to the hammer, through its concussion, the foundations of the former have been completely isolated from that of the latter.

The arrangements of this forge and of the works in general, with the unimportant exceptions of those for lifting up the heavy forge furnace-doors and for manipulating the blocks of steel backwards and forwards from furnace to hammer, are considered to be as perfect as any in Europe, and taking into account that the technical management is excellent and the crude iron tools employed are of the best, there is no reason why it should not be able to hold its own in the manufacture of big guns and armour-plates against all foreign countries, So, at least, the authorities think. Of course compressed air as a motive power has frequently been used for many purposes before, but this last application of it will serve as a reminder that, where an abundant supply of water is available, and therefore an unavoidable waste of power is permissible, there are places where compressed air could be advantageously employed for iron and other works, and in the above circumstances it has in some respects for these advantages over steam, which upon consideration will occur to most readers of The Engineer.

s.

First Engineer Second ,,

Third

Co-operation has made great strides in Newcastle, and provisions are consequently cheap. Nearly the whole of Newcastle has been rebuilt; and through the demolition of property for improvements and sanitary purposes, and the converting of houses into business premises and warehouses, the poorer classes are being driven into the suburbs. This, added to the desire of the artisans to be near their work, causes houses in the centre of the city to be in great demand, and rents are consequently high—as much as 3s. per week being sometimes charged for a single cellar. The majority of the working classes live in tenement houses of one or two rooms. There are a large number of these tenement houses built in two storeys, each storey containing a complete house of from one to three rooms. Rents are: Of two-roomed houses, from 3s. 6d. to 5s. a week; four-roomed houses, from 5s. to 7s. a week; six-roomed houses, from 8s. to 10s. 2d. a week. In the only block of industrial dwellings in Newcastle, the rent of a single room is 2s. 6d. a week, of two rooms 3s. 3d. a week. In the suburbs, the rents of two-roomed houses are from 4s. to 4s. 6d. a week. Board and lodging for males is from 12s. 2d. to 16s. 2d. a week; for females, from 9s. 2d. to 12s. 2d. a week. Coal is from 12s. 2d. to 15s. 2d. per ton. Gas is Is. lOjd. per 1000 cubic feet.

--

J)

Highest, s. d.

... 36 0 ... 31 0 ... 26 0 ... 97 0

Standard,

s. d.

Bogiomen ......

Cold chargers ...

Coal wheelers ...

Heaters ......

Assistant......

Hot chargers Mill boilermen ...

„ enginemen

Pilers.........

Plate inspectors Plate loaders

Reverse crabmen ...... 30 3 ... 32 0

Rollers Assistants

Scrap wheeler ...

Shearmen ......

Assistants

Steam crane attendants ...    19    6    ...    20    6

Wheeling iron to benches    33    0    ...    37    3

Labourer ...

Wages paid per week of Fifty-four Hours in Lead Works at Newcastle.

Lowest, s d.

Standard. Highest.

s. d.

THE TERNI STEEL WORKS.

RAILWAY DISASTERS IN THE UNITED STATES.

Coopers, piecework ...    .

Enginemen...

Mechanics ...

Millman, head, piecework istant .....

s. d.

... 35 4 ... ... 27 4 ...

... 30 5 ...

... 33 4

,, ass Pipe makers Potmen Red lead men, piecework Refiners Smelters White lead women ...    .

Labourers ...

... 50 0 ... ... 39 0 ...

... 25 0 ... ... 30 5 ...

... 29 2 ... 37 6

>>

... 21 3 ...

... 30 5 ... ... 33 10 ... ... 38 0 ... ... 12 6 ...

... 25 0

Wages paid per week in Coal Alines in Durham and Northumberland. Hours.

Blacksmiths Boilersmiths Coke drawers ...    48    ...

,, fillers ... 48 ... Deputies ...... 48    ...

s. d.

Some readers of The Engineer will perhaps recollect having seen at the Antwerp Exhibition, in 1885, a model of it 20m. high, with a 5m. stroke, made by the Cockerill Company, of Seraing, and who, without having especially examined it, will have taken it for a steam hammer, which it was not, but destined to be worked by compressed air. A Government small-arms factory had been in existence for some years at Terni, which is situated about a three hours’ journey on the railroad from Rome to Ancona, when starting from the former city, when a company “ Societfi Anonima degli Alti Forni Acciaieria e Fonderia de Terni” was formed, in which, it is believed, the Italian Government, and the firm of Schneider and Company of Creusot are interested. The works have been established with the object of manufacturing steel armour plates, heavy ordnance and rails, which hitherto had been imported from abroad, mostly from France, and so of making Italy independent of foreign countries. The Terni works consist of puddling furnaces and rolling mills, Bessemer converters, Siemens-Martin furnaces, accessories and the hammer and cranes which are described below more in detail. The establishment has the command of a very large water power, and some moderately good lignite beds, and up to the present, has been in the habit of working up pig iron, partly imported from England and partly from Bilbao, as well as ingots from Creusot, before the Bessemer and Martin steel works were put into operation. But, in order to be as independent as possible of foreign sources, preparations are being made at Civita Vechia for building blast furnaces, which will be supplied with ores from Elba and cokes from England.

The water power at the disposition of the works, as observed, is very considerable,being the cascade, “Cascata della Marmora,” of the river Velino above Terni, with a fall of upwards of 60 metres. This waterfall was created by the Roman Curius

The American railroad journals are, as was to be expected, giving full details of the catastrophes—we cannot call them accidents—which have recently taken place in the United States, and concerning which we have recently written. The reports which reach us make the case even worse for American engineers than we expected. The failure of the bridge on the Boston and Providence Railroad claims attention first. The action taken in the matter by the Engineering Nexus bears testimony at once to the energy of the United States press and the curious laxity which is manifested by officials. “ When,” says our contemporary, “ the first report of the Boston and Providence catastrophe reached this city we engaged Mr. William Pritchard, a practical bridge engineer and experienced bridge inspector, to go to Boston and critically examine the structure on our behalf. He reached the ground twenty-seven hours after the accident, found that the fragments of the wreck were being rapidly removed by a large gang of men, spotted at once the broken hangers as the probable cause of the disaster, noted that they lay neglected at the point where they first fell; noted also that they began to rust badly by a day’s exposure in clear weather, and that snow was coming on, which might destroy their value as evidence; noted also that they might be scrapped with the rest of the wreck; asked a workman to knock them free for him with the sledge, which he did; carried off his relics, with a long string of other relic hunters to the nearest express office, and expressed them to this office, all within an hour.” We have here a curious picture of American life. We need scarcely say that if an English engineer was caught in this country running away with portions of a railway bridge which had caused loss of life by its fall, he would find himself in prison for theft in an exceedingly short space of time. Here we have what may be of the last importance to the railway company on the one side and to the claimants for compensation on the other carried off bodily by an irresponsible individual. Verily they manage these things strangely on the other side of the Atlantic.

The bridge in question is now known as the “ tin bridge.” It seems to be almost incredible that a railway train should ever have been permitted to run over such a structure. We give on

BRIDGE ON THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAILWAY.

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“ The floor-beams nearest to the Boston abutment were suspended from the top chord of truss by two hangers. One end of each of these hangers went between the two beams which composed the top-chord of the floor-beam and connected to a pin in the floor-beam. The other end went into casting at the intersection of the diagonal end post and top chord and connected with the chord pin. One of these hangers had been almost completely fractured for some time, as is shown by the very rusty appearance of the fracture.”

“ The fracture of the other hanger was mostly bright, bu t had bad flaws in it, and the welding of both hangers was defective.”

“ When in position, the hangers were nearly covered from sight, making proper inspection very difficult.”

“At 7.15 a.m. on March 14th, 1887, the bridge was broken down by the passage of a train consisting of a locomotive, eight passenger cars, and one combination car, having smoking and baggage compartments. The locomotive was one of the most The writer’s memory of the top powerful type in use for the suburban sendee, as we infer, a lateral system is that it consisted of round rods about one inch 17 x 24 engine, with perhaps as much as 60,000 lb. on the diameter with bent eyes connecting with the floor-beam pins.” drivers, or even more.

“ Truss A was apparently connected by a rod to a point in the “ The ruins of the bridge show the mark of a very heavy blow Boston abutment near the end of truss B. One end of the received at the top of the planking post, about one-fifth (?) of rod remained anchored to the abutment after the accident.” the way from the northerly end of the north-westerly truss

this page a plan and elevation of the trusses. Mr. Pritchard has prepared a report, from which we make the following extracts. These, taken with the engravings, will give a clear idea of what the structure was like:—

“ As copies of the original plans and drawings could not be obtained, and as the bridge is a complete wreck, it was difficult,” says Mr. Pritchard, “ to obtain exact information, and the plan of the bridge and elevations of the trusses were made from sketches, and measurements made from the members left in the wreck.”

“ The bridge was originally a wooden Howe truss, built for double track, but with only a single track over it. In 1869 one of the trusses was replaced by a wrought iron one—marked B the plan —-by C. H. Parker, the other wooden truss being retained, l'inallv, in July, 1876, this iron truss was shifted to the opposite side of the bridge from which it had originally been, and another wrought iron truss of entirely different design and dimensions was built—marked A on the plan—and the two trusses united together by laterals into one bridge. Iheffrst built truss, B, was a double intersection Pratt truss. It measures 104ft. centre to centre of end pins, and had sixteen panels of 6ft. 6iu. each, and a depth of 12ft. 6in., centre to centre of pins. The end posts and fop chord were built of plates and angles as shown. The intermediate posts were 8in. I-beams. The diagonal rods have one pin end connected to the top chord, and one screw-end connected by a casting to the bottom chord, and the bottom chord consisted of four 6in. bars, varying in thickness from |in. to |in.”

“Truss A measured 104ft. centre to centre of end pins, had four panels of 26ft. each, and a depth of about 16ft.”

“ It had pin connections, diagonal end posts, and built closed columns, with cast-iron connections.”

“ The bridge was about 18ft. or 20ft. wide. The track curved slightly, and was so much to one side that over three-fourths of the load came on truss A.”

“The floor-beams were double, deeply-trussed, and composed of I-beam and round rods. They were suspended from the top chord of_ truss A, but rested on the top chord of truss B, thus eliminating the effect of their different height.”

“ The stringers were composed of I-beams and rods, and rested on the floor-beams.

to*

030

THE ENGINEER

i:

April 1, 1 §87,

that is, about at the top of the joint box where the bad hanger was.”

These hangers were duplicates of each other and worked together on the same pin, supporting the floor-beam at the first panel point—ovrer the inclined end-post—of the northerly, or newest and most loaded truss, counting from the further or Boston abutment. These hangers are shown by A B C and D, at the bottom of page 247. A B show the fracture at the loop-weld of the most defective hanger; dotted portions show old and much rusted surfaces, including the so-called weld. The only fresh fracture is on the extreme edge of B, undotted. A bad crack extends up and down almost through B. The weld shows exceedingly bad metal and workmanship. C D show the two fractured ends of the other hanger, which came from the same pin as A B. The dark portion in C shows an old and rusted surface of very bad iron peculiar in appearance. The remaining surface is irregular in texture, and is covered with large, fiery crystals of badly worked iron. Beyond the fracture is imperfectly shown the supposed weld; this is a burned, striated surface, showing conclusively that there never was a weld connection between the two portions of the loop. D shows by dotted surface an old, rusted break, the remaining face being likewise filled with large fiery crystals; but on the whole this fracture shows the best metal of the four breaks. Long splits, as shown, extend backward from the fracture, and the inner and outer faces of the loop show the original piling of the scrap. The hanger A B cannot have been strained at all for years, as even the thin edge of bright metal left was defective. In the hanger C D, the weld was so defective that C—the main stem—must have had upon it practically all of the load. The fracture in D—about opposite the centre of the pin—may have been due to an impact or other secondary cause in the general wreck.

The American Railroad Gazette has also something to say on the subject:—“ The engineers who viewed the wreck, and whose testimony is reported in the Boston papers, seem to have been unable to decide of what type the bridge was, or whether it was of any type. One at least of the trusses had oblique end posts, the track being supported on timbers between the abutment and end of the top chord. The periodical inspection of the bridge, which seems to have been more or less regularly attended to, was done by the ‘ bridge superintendent’ of the road, who, so far as the accounts show, is not claimed to be a civil engineer. The reports indicate that the road has had no regular civil engineer in its employ, the superintendent engaging outside parties whenever he felt the need of advice or help in that line.” This is a nice way to manage an important railway. It seems that the Railroad Gazette did not appropriate any of the bridge, and that in so far its information is incomplete. It holds views identical with our own, namely, that even if the train or part of it had left the rails first, this could not suffice to break down a properly-constructed bridge.

“ The evidence so far received points conclusively to the breaking down of the bridge as the one cause of the disaster. Whether or not any accident to the train preceded the fall of the bridge and precipitated ay hat ivas sure to come, Ave cannot tell; but that the bridge has stood so long is a marvel, and a splendid tribute to iron as a material of construction. What torture it has endured in that Avretched bridge! The bridge AAras a thing of shreds and patches; the trusses of tAvo different designs; one of them, and the horizontal trussing, having been by an engineer Avhose bridge Avork long ago had its death blow. One of his bridges fell in 1874 under a test load, and a number of them were afterAvards removed from another road as dangerous.” This is a terrible indictment, far worse than anything Ave have said.

The Engineering News also publishes a report and engravings from photographs of the Woodstock disaster. It will be remembered that on the 4th of February a train running on the Central Vermont Railway approaching the White River left the rails and ran on to the bridge in this condition, finally falling off the bridge on to the ice beloiv, a distance of 42ft. Then the cars took fire, and Ave need not detail Avliat ensued. There appears to be no doubt Avhatever that the cause Avas a Avretchedly bad steel rail, rolled in the United States from, it is said, a German bloom. It is, of course, a favourite boast with Americans that they can turn out more rails in a ghTen time than English rail makers. In this case the more haste the less speed. United States steel rails are rapidly acquiring the reputation of being nearly as bad as the iron rails rolled in old times in Wales, which Avould break in two or three places if they were throivn out of a Avagon. The engravings given by our contemporary sIioav that a large portion of the head separated from the Aveb. In fact it behaved Arery much as a bad casting would haATe done, As a matter of choice Ave Avould ourselves prefer to run over a good cast iron rail.

The lesson taught by these things is one that those may read Avho run. It is that unless railroads are designed by competent men, and are then made and Avorked honestly, the public will from time to time be slaughtered in heaps. Whether this circumstance is, or is not, taken into account by the great raihvay monopolists of the United States we cannot pretend to say. But Ave may and do say that such eATents should act as a warning to our own colonists and lead them to have as little as possible to say to American railroad engineers or their Avorks. There are in the United States, beyond question, most talented, highly educated, and honourable engineers. It can hardly be said, hoAvever, that these gentlemen ever get a fair chance. They are pushed on one side by men less scrupulous, and colonists are more likely to have to deal Avith the last than with the first.

has not paid the excise. The increased value of the export of sugar in 1886 was £1,200,000. The loss to the State in the same year from unearned drawback and unpaid excise is calculated to have exceeded £1,280,000; but some think this is compensated by the fall in sugar. The imports of materials for manufactures were in 1885 £77,972,160, in 1886 £80,291,040, an increase of 3T per cent. The corresponding exports were £24,459,880 and £26,181,480, showing an increase of 7 per cent. In some cases prices have improved. Merchant iron, which was from £4 15s. 9d. to £5 3s. lOd. per ton, rose to from £5 Is. 9d. to £5 5s. lOd. per ton at the close of the year. There is evidence of a better tone in the temporary imports of iron, which show the following increases:—•

1SS5.

Tons.

22,661 ..    24,270 .. ..

65,S32 .. .. 77,662 ..

88,403

Not all materials have benefitted in price by the recovery of business. Copper is down to from £41 10s. to £45 5s. 6d. per ton, and zinc to from £15 13s. 6d. to £15 17s. 6a. per ton. Freights remained very low, those to Bombay, Burmah, and Java being lower than in 1885. Railway traffic has slightly improved, though the returns from January to October were £1,180,000 below the corresponding period of 1885. In the first nine months of 1886 there was an improvement in the traffic ou canals and rivers, the increase being, on the former, from 8,000,000 to 8,600,000 tons, and on the latter from 6,300,000 to 6,600,000 tons. English freight steamers now ply direct between London and Paris, thus avoiding transferment of goods. Shipping shows a slight improvement, the tonnage of all ships in and out of French ports being 12,419,848 tons in 1886, against 12,338,383 tons in 1885. Foreign tonnage increased by 61,000 tons, French tonnage by 20,000 tons, which is not much, taking into consideration the £480,000 paid annually by the State as premiums on shipbuilding and voyages. In manufactured goods the imports of 1886 were £22,323,160 against £22,753,720 for 1885 ; the corresponding exports were £67,815,760 and £63,421,120—an increase of £4,494,640, or 7'1 per cent. Imports were stationary in carriages and cutlery, increased in chemicals, metal wares and tools, and much decreased in machines and machinery. Exports were stationary in cutlery, machines and machinery increased in metal wares and tools, and decreased in chemicals. On the whole, the tendency to a more healthy development of manufactures and trade is apparent, and although makers still complain that the rising demand is not accompanied by a serious advance in price, business is beginning to thrive after a long depression.

In 1884 English and German cutlery, both a very small supply, were level in the French market ; in 1886 the Germans imported twice as much as the English, 14'36 against 7'18 tons. The general depression of the import trade in machines and machinery was not felt in many branches in which England is interested. The supply of English agricultural machinery from £55,920 to £57,640, carding machines from £17,440 to £18,480, cleaning cotton and wool machines from £10,920 to £13,000, looms from £47,880 to £50,120, and machines not specially classed from £101,280 to £116,280. table shows the weights of some of the British imports into France in 1885 and 1886 :—-

Cast iron Fig „

1886.

Tons.

101,932

1885.

Tons.

6,559

Increase. Tons. 1(500 ..    11,830

13,439

per cent, manganese, from £2 5s. to £2 8s. per ton. The cause of the great stagnation is no doubt to be laid mainly to the excess of the supply over the demand, and as long as this continues a change for the better can hardly be expected. In the Rhenish and Westphalian furnaces the over duction has kept Avithin fair bounds, months of 1886 there was a decline in the production of 2‘07 per cent., while the total production of Germany during the same period increased 4'75 per cent, the Sieg district the prospects are likeAvise discouraging. Formerly the iron industries of other countries derived their supply of spiegel iron from the Sieg district, but the introduction of the Thomas process has much interfered with the sale of spiegel iron. Thomas iron is noAV used as a substitute to a considerable extent for selected puddling iron. The depression in the iron and steel trade of England has been, and is still, equally bad ; but whilst the production of pig iron in England has been on the decline, the production of Germany has been constantly increasing. Fo

pro-

In the first nine

In

r a number of years England Avas the chief country for the production of pig iron, but lately Germany has been making the strongest efforts to gain the foremost rank in this industry, unsuccessful, but Avhether Germany will be able to keep up this keen competition for any length of time is questionable, especially as Germany is dependent largely on its export trade, Avhich has for some time become more and more unremunera-

These efforts have not been

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The following

1886.

Tons.

9,209

Copper and copper ore

Cutlery.......

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Germany—Iron and steel industry in 1886.—The iron and steel industry has never been so bad, and the recent improvement in the Rhenish and Westphalian provinces has scarcely made any further progress. The greater activity in some branches of the trade has not led to any advances in prices, all contracts or orders having been taken on the same unsatisfactory prices as before. Consumers consider a further decline uncertain, and supply their wants at present prices, while manufacturers have not felt warranted in refusing to contract for business. This more active demand has given a somewhat firmer tone to prices, and the less unfavourable accounts from the American, English, and Scotch markets have likewise strengthened the market. The iron trade generally is passing through a critical and severe period. At present some companies and manufacturers, unable to cope with the financial difficulties of the situation, may be forced to close their works altogether. Prices are at an exceedingly low level, as the annexed table, showing the market value of the stock of some of the leading iron and steel companies, proves.

tube

7-3

29,436

1,436

49,S8S 1,940

1,619..... 2,512

6,455     20,791

1,906     1,300

ABSTRACTS OF CONSULAR AND DIPLOMATIC REPORTS.

France: Trade for 1886.—The last of the monthly Customs returns for 1886 has been issued, and completes our knoAA'lcdge of the main features of French commerce during that year. The information is broad and general, and wanting in those accurate and full details Avhich cannot be obtained till October next. As regards exports and imports of food products and materials for manufacture, 1886 shoAved an increase over 1885 ; while in manufactured goods increased ATalues of exports Avere slightly reduced by decreased values of imports. This shrinking of imports of manufactured goods is a feature discouraging to those who supply the French markets from abroad, and of this shrinkage British trade has borne a great deal. Imports of food products were in 1885 £57,269,960, and in 1886 rose to £61,143,600, an increase of 6’75 per cent. Exports of food products were in 1S85 £29,458,040, and in 1886 £30,816,720, an increase of 0T per cent. The causes of both heavier exports and imports is an increased demand for and chiefly an enlarged business in one particular commodity, in the case of exports, sugar, the value of which. increased from £1,400,000 in 1885 to £2,600,000 in 1886, dr 86 per cent. Any prosperity indicated by increased exports is dearly purchased by burdens imposed by the State, for the French not only levy excise duties on home-made sugar, but they pay a drawback on an article that

The following have been the average prices of iron person in the leading markets of Germany between the years 1879 and 1885, both inclusive:—

Dortmund Union Eschweiler Gelsenkirchen Harkort Hibcrina..

Horder

..    35(5

..    410

.. 166

95

47

491 ..    72

89

Markets.

96

..    143

229

96

210

23

live and unsatisfactory. Many Avorks in Germany are not fully employed, and are Avorking at half-time, but as a rule the manufacturers are averse to dismissing Avorkmen, which measure is only resorted to after all possible means to retain them have been exhausted.¹ The diminution of the demand for iron is easily accounted for by the large number of raihvays and other undertakings being finished. When neAv lines Avere constructed in the United States, especially in 1882, when 11,596 miles Avere projected, great activity prevailed in the iron and steel trade of Germany, but recently the demand for such purposes has almost ceased. Attention is ATery closely directed to those countries Avhere the means of locomotion are either deficient or altogether wanting; and on some recent occasions German manufacturers have secured some valuable Contracts in China and Japan. One of the chief inducements for Germany to adopt a colonial policy is the necessity of having a fresh outlet for her exports; and although this movement is not unpopular, it is very problematical whether much German capital Avill be invested in such undertakings, notwithstanding the rate of interest at home becomes more and more reduced. Conventions have recently been agreed to among wire manufacturers of the Rhine provinces and Westphalia and the spiegel iron manufacturers of the Sieg district, to fix prices and lovver production. It is premature to say whether such conventions are likely to succeed. Experience has shoAi n that they very rarely lead to much good, as many refuse to take part in them. The establishment of an association of German iron and steel makers, for the promotion and protection of the iron and steel industries, is of much importance and value. This body has not long been in existence, but has done much useful work, and the organisation is successful. One of the special objects of the association is to assist in bringing out good laiA’s as to insurance against accidents, so as to benefit the workmen in all industries. The association has succeeded in effecting similar benefits for Avorkmen in respect of sickness. This association has effected the reduction of raihvay rates to a moderate scale, though that is perhaps chiefly due to many members of the association being members of provincial raihvay councils and railway boards. To promote the use of German iron in shipbuilding, &c., the association has communicated direct with all establishments connected Avith such work, and has expended large sums in bringing out sample books of the manufactures of iron. With regard to commercial treaties and public tenders, the association has neglected nothing to promote and protect the interests of the German iron and steel industries, and has struggled with all its power to crush out free trade, and introduce instead a system of protection, a policy which is held to be a blessing to Germany.

Santo Domingo: Trade of Puerto Plato for 1886.—If business has been dull here during the past year, the cause is not any falling off in trade, but the general depression common to the rest of the world. In British shipping there is no improvement. The Liverpool steamer has resumed her voyages between this port and Nevv York, and runs regularly; but this is a case of the British flag carrying foreign merchandise, the German and Spanish companies still exclusively monopolising the carrying trade. Much has been Avritten lately about the deterioration of British trade, especially in distant countries. Blame is laid at the door of her Majesty’s servants abroad, avIio, it is said, do not always extend to the British commercial traveller the support he is entitled to, and the commercial traveller is described as inferior to his foreign compeers in introducing British manufactures, especially into intertropical countries. While much of Avhat has been said regarding the superior capabilities of foreign commercial agents may be true, it is but fair to state “ that I have met during the last tAvo years three or four British commercial travellers representing the Three Kingdoms, and I do not recollect ever having seen any foreign traveller ayIio could excel them either in commercial or linguistic attainments.” When British manufacturers realise the fact—and they are beginning to do so—that they must produce cheap and taAvdry goods to suit the pockets and tastes of their distant customers, then they Avill derive larger profits, and their agents will be able to surpass their French and German rivals. Work on the Samana railway has been vigorously pursued, twenty miles additional having been laid last year; and if nothing happens to retard matters, the road Avill doubless reach La Vega, the chief toAvn in the province of Cibao, by the end of the present year.

South Kensington Museum.—Visitors during the AA-eek ending March 26th, 1887:—On Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, free, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.in.: Museum, 7917; mercantile marine, Indian section and other collections, 2929. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, admission 6d., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Museum, 832; mercantile marine, Indian section, and other collections, 122. Total, 11,800. Average of corresponding week in former years, 14,992. Total from the opening of the Museum, 25,483,614.

Bristol Naturalists’ Society, Engineering Section.—-The fifth meeting of the current session Avas held at University College on Tuesday, Mr. F. J. De Soyres presiding. The hon. secretary, Mr. N. Watts, reported that, in accordance Avith a resolution passed at a previous meeting, he had seen the President—Mr. Charles Richardson, C.E.—and that gentleman had kindly consented to read a paper on the Severn Tunnel at a future meeting. A paper on “ Stationary Engines ” Avas read by Mr. G. W. Sutcliffe. This paper, though useful to students, did not contain anything neAv.

See English report frCm Germany, Engineer, 14th January, 1887, p. 22.

1S82.    1883.    1SS4. 1S85.

£    s.    d.    £    s. d. £    s. d. £    s. d. £ s. d.

8    4    1    6..4    3 6..4    2 6..3    15 0..3 96

11    ..3    4    6..3    7 6..3    2 6..2    18 6..2 13 6

.3 0 .2 10 6 .2 14 .280

1S79.    1880.    1SS1.

£ s. d. s.

Berlin Best Scotch foundry ..    3 14 0.

English No. 3 2 15 6.

Breslau Foundry Puddle ..

Dortmund

Bessemer pig 3 4    .3 IS

Westfalisch

puddle ..    2 13    .3 8    .2 17 0..3 50..2

Dusseldorf Best German found' y .. 3 2 6,

Best German puddle .. 2 16 0.

The present prices are, for selected puddling from the Sieg, £1 18s. to £2 per ton; from the Rhenish-Westphalian district, £1 19s. to £2 Is. per ton; Spiegel iron, with from ten to twelve

tp CO

O Cl

.. 2 16 6..3 12 6..3 2 0..3 9 6..3 3 .. 2 11 6..3 6 6,.2 15 6..3 6 0..2

.3 9 0..3 10 0. 3

-I O

Cl Cl Cl :

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RAILWAY MATTERS.

NOTES AND MEMORANDA.

MISCELLANEA.

The first sod of the Plymouth, Devonport, and South-Western Junction Railway was cut on Tuesday afternoon near Tavistock. The line is an extension of the narrow gauge system from Lidford to Plymouth and Devonport.

Ipswich has four tramway lines, or a system divided into four sections. If these pay, tramways anywhere will pay, for in some parts of the day the cars are nearly an hour apart, and generally they are sufficiently far apart to make no one rely upon them.

The report of the Ottoman Railway—from Smyrna to Aidin—congratulates the shareholders on the fact that the earnings for the half-year ended with December last have, for the first time in the existence of the undertaking, been sufficient, after meeting all fixed charges and liabilities, to pay a dividend on the share capital. The rate of distribution proposed is 4 per cent.

A Constantinople correspondent of a contemporary telegraphs that negotiations have been going on for some time between the Porte and a French group of financiers for an extension of the railway from the Bosphorus to Ismidt as far as Angora. Another group of English, German, and French capitalists had tendered for the same extension. The former proposals have now been definitely rejected, and as the Sultan is convinced of the urgent need of the railway in order to prevent famine and to “give work to the unemployed,” it is believed that the project of the latter group* will be immediately accepted and the works proceeded with.

The construction of the Birmingham Cable Tramway, which has been in contemplation for some months, has been begun this week. The whole line will, it is hoped, be ready for use in four months. The cable will run in a concrete trench, and the iron yokes for strengthening the trench and carrying the pulleys, as well as the pulleys themselves, and other mechanical arrangements of the line, are supplied by Tangye’s. The line rails and the central slot rails through which the grippers of the cars will pass, are contracted for by the Barrow-in-Furness Steel and Iron Company. Mr. J. Kincaird and Mr. E. Pritchard are the engineers, under whose general supervision and according to whose designs the whole of the work will be done.

In concluding a report on tlie collision which occurred on January 27th, near “ A. B.” signal cabin, a short distance from London Bridge, on the South-Eastern Railway, Major-General Hutchinson says:—“The length of time which occurred before some of the fog-signalmen, who had been engaged in fog-signalling all the morning up to 1 or 2 p. m., again reached their posts, and the comparative ignorance of Leet of the duties which he had to perform, furnish a further argument in favour of the adoption of a mechanical or electrical system of fog-signalling, to the advantages of which I drew attention at the end of my report on the collision which occurred on the same evening near the same spot, about an hour and a-lialf previously, and to which remarks I would again refer.”

The expenditure of the South Staffordshire and Birmingham District Steam Tramways Company has during the past year been decreased £2050. The receipts amounted to £18,841, or £3291 more than the expenditure. At the annual meeting on Tuesday it was stated that the patent road and rail trucks had been received, and that a regular service of goods carriage would shortly be established. The general manager’s report refers to the great saving—no less than 40 per cent, of fuel—which is anticipated from the adoption of a new steam condenser. The working expenses have been reduced to just under 8R1. per mile run, and the directors announce that they intend to do their most to develope the goods traffic. At present the company is not paying any return to the ordinary shareholders.

The number of locomotives built in the United States during 1886 is estimated by the Car and Locomotive Builder at 1802, of which 1527 were built in contract shops, and 275 in railway shops, at a total cost of probably 15,000,000 dols. The Car Builder says that while the production of locomotives in 1886 was large compared with that of the previous year, yet it was not equal to the natural increase of railway rolling stocks, and thinks that “nearly 1000 locomotives ought to be broken up annually to keep the remaining stock within the age that the engines could be run without ruinous expenditure for repairs.” These considerations, together with the certainty that there will be a very large amount of railway construction during the present year, ought to put the locomotive builder into a very comfortable state of mind.

As mentioned last week, the cantons of Yaud and

towards the construction

Valais have voted a large sum Simplon Tunnel. It is stated that the Simplon can be tunnelled for £200,000 less than either of the other peaks. The distance from Paris to Milan by way of the St. Gothard is 1059 kilos., by Mont Blanc 1102, by the St. Bernard 1031, and by the Simplon only 940. The distance to be travelled under the Simplon would he 20 kilos., as compared with the 15 kilos, of the St. Gothard Tunnel. A strong argument in favour of the Simplon route is that the lines of access are already in existence. The cost of the work, supposing the Simplon route to be adopted, is estimated at £2,120,000 for a single line, or for a double line, £2,520,000; and it is thought that six years would suffice for its completion.

of the

In the manufacture of pig iron in Spain the number

of workmen employed is 6579.

More coal has been found in Queensland, including seams from 14in. to 14ft. in thickness, on the Iris River and between Iris and Maryoorough.'

The production of iron ores in Italy during 1884—the latest year for which statistics are published—is returned at 225,368 tons, of which 166,566 tons were exported, chiefly to Great Britain and France, leaving 58,802 tons for consumption in the country.

The production of coal in Germany during 1885 is returned at 58,320,000 tons of the ordinary descriptions, and 15,355,000 tons of brown coal. The average price of the former is given at 5-23 marks—1 mark = Is.—per ton, as compared with 5⁻27 marks in 1884 and 5⁻30 marks in 1883.

The total tonnage of ships removed from the register of the United Kingdom during 1886 is given by Lloyd’s Register at 325,560 tons. This is 62,893 tons less than the tonnage built in the United Kingdom during the same year. It is, however, remarkable that while the tonnage added was so much greater than that removed, the number of vessels lost was 618 more than the number added.

As a method of cracking glass with certainty, the following is given by E. Beckmann:—“A scratch is made with a file; at both sides of this, pads of wetted filter paper are wrapped nd the object, leaving a space of a few millimetres between them. The flame of a Bunsen or gas blowpipe is applied to this space, when the crack will be carried round from the scratch midway between the two pads. ”

At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, a paper was read on the direct fixation of the gaseous nitrogen of the atmosphere by vegetable soils with the aid of vegetation, by M. Berthelot. Having already described the results of the experiments made at Meudon on the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by certain argillaceous and vegetable soils, apart from the action of vegetation, the author now gives the results of the experiments simultaneously carried on with the aid of vegetation, and under the ordinary conditions suitable for the natural development of plants. In this case the amount fixed was only 4'67 and 7‘58 grms., as compared with 12-7 and 23-15 in the absence of plants. From these experiments important conclusions are drawn with regard to the rapid exhaustion of the soil under the prevalent systems of forced culture.

At a recent meeting of the Berlin Physical Society, Dr. Lummer described the experiments of M. Mace de Lepinay, who by a new method had determined the wave-length of the ray of light D₂, ascertaining, as he had done, by weighing-, the volume of a quartz cube, the size of which was determined in units of the wave-lengths, and from the volume of the cube finding the length of the light-wave. He showed a series of inaccuracies in the measurements of M. de Lepinay, and, in view of the fact that the wave-lengths of the rays of light were now measured with a precision of 1-60,OOOtli, whereas the determination of the centimetre was affected with an uncertainty of l-4000th, he purposed inversely ascertaining the length of the centimetre from the wave-length. The mode of procedure should be the same as that made use of by M. de Lepinay, yet several improvements in the measuring and weighing were stated, such as the speaker hoped to be able to effect later on.

Speaking before the Berlin Physical Society on the disadvantages of the oxy-hydrogen lamps, Dr. Koenig recently explained a new lamp constructed by Herr Linnemann, in which the unsteadiness in the light, arising from the fact that in the common lamp the flame burned now in the burning tube and now outside of it, was avoided. In the new lamp the coal gas or the hydrogen issued from a ring-shaped opening in the burner, while the oxygen in the centre was admitted through a capillary tube and did not come into contact with the burning gas till outside of the burner. In the middle of the blue flame was seen a bright point which gave the heat-maximum. Instead of the lime cylinder, Herr Linnemann used in his lamp zircon plates, which, at the place of the bright point, gave a highly intense constant light. The speaker made use of this light in order, with the aid of the optical bench of Prof. Paalzow, to demonstrate by projection a long series of phenomena in connection with the doctrine of the polarisation of light. For all teaching purposes and demonstrations this method of representing the most important optical phenomena could not be surpassed.

mu

The Bath and West of England Society’s Show next

year will be held at Newport.

It is stated that the Porte contemplates giving further

extensive orders for Krupp guns.

The Naval and Colonial Exhibition, which it was

proposed to hold at Islington this year, will not be held.

The Institution of Naval Architects has been invited

to Sunderland for its meeting towards the end of this year.

Mr. John Jardine, of Nottingham, is making leather belting the ends of which are cemented together with Jardine and Arthur’s joint, which is a long hirdmouth and wedge, instead of the usual long scarfe.

The new dock at Blyth was opened last week by the Blyth Dry Dock Company. The dock measures 335ft. in length, 161.ft. deep, 42ft. broad, 62Jft. at the cope, with a gate entrance of 45ft., while the outside entrance is 50ft.

The Thames Conservators have framed a bye-law to prevent the pollution of the upper river by house boats and steam launches, and these vessels will be required to make the necessary altefations and arrangments to enable them to comply with the bye-law.

Messrs. Milner’s Safe Company, Liverpool, have

recently completed the lighting of their new erecting shop, and also the adjoining machine and fitting shop, with the electric light. The work has been carried out by the Giilcher Electric Light and Power Company.

At Par, Cornwall, a process, described as the “ extraction of iron from China stone by means of electricity,” has been for some time under experiment by the St. Austel Mining Company, and plant is now being laid down for the permanent application of the process upon a commercial scale.

The Surveyors’ Institution, the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors, and the London Sanitary Protection Association have appointed representatives to attend the Conference of Architectural, Engineering, and Medical Institutions on the Sanitary Registration of Buildings Bill.

The Belgian Society of Engineers announces an Exhibition, to open on April 9th, of indigenous building materials, excepting the metals. In addition to the special and periodical exhibitions, three of which have already been held, this new but active society is forming a permanent collection of engineering objects.

The Secretary of the American Treasury has issued a circular inviting correspondence upon the best methods of building railroad cars and heating the same, and constructing steam vessels so as to prevent loss of life and property by fire. Sketches or drawings are requested from parties offering suggestions. A report will be made to Congress at the commencement of the session in December.

Dr. Eisenmann, of Berlin, has found that an acid solution capable, when used in a zinc battery, of being regenerated by mere exposure to the air may be obtained by forming a solution of 30 gr. of tungstate of soda and 5 gr. of phosphate of soda, dissolved in 350 gr. of water, with the addition of a small quantity of sulphuric acid. The phosphate is .added to increase the solubility of the tungstate.

According to reports, around natural gas posts at Sewickley, near Pittsburg, Pa.., within a radius of 20ft., grass has been as green all winter as in summer time. For over a month pansies planted near these posts have been in full bloom. A market gardener is raising asparagus in the open air by the aid of the gas, and proposes to test its use in beds of vegetables heretofore grown in greenhouses.

It would appear that the Abt system of combined traction and toothed-rail mountain railway—already described and illustrated in The Engineer—was beginning to attract attention abroad. The first railway of the kind was that established at Blankenberg in the Hartz Mountains, which at last will enable the treasures of that country to be brought into competition with those from less inaccessible districts. Engineers from England, Germany, Austria, Italy, Norway, India, Dutch East India, and Venezuela have already visited and examined it, and only last week a Government Commission from Austria, consisting of some of their foremost engineers, came to report upon it, with an eye to its adoption in Bosnia. Also Mr. Arthur Bliss, secretary, and Mr. "a™es Mallow, locomotive superintendent of the Puerto Cabello Railway in Venezuela, have lately paid it a visit, and after a great deal of opposition, on account of the Fell system being there in 'ogue, it has been decided to adopt the Abt arrangement in that country. It is also said that the plan is to be carried out for a railway in Afghanistan. However that may be, the Union Company of Dortmund is now making 47,000 metres of toothed rails lor new railways for abroad on the system.

In the “Nationality and Railroad Policy” of the late Baron \ on \\ eber, published in 1S75, occurs the following passage: ,    ,, c{inn°t.be denied that the rates of railroads form an impene-

ra > e chaos, in which the worst forces of secrecy, discrimination, improper motives, work without restraint, but in which, most of all, false logic has its domain. But, on the other hand, neither ... be denied that all attempts to purify, to organise, and to systc tise have had for their sole result to make this chaos still more chaotic. And this is not only because, as pessimist antagonists of the railroads claim, with only partial justice, because the obscurity of the system of rates is not unwelcome to many railroad managements, but simply because it is no more possible to systematise railroad rates than the market prices of bread and meat. The utilisation of railroads, whether Government or private roads, is a commercial operation, in which demand and supply, value in use and cost of production play just the same part as in every other commercial operation. Now, since the cost of performing the transportation everywhere varies like the selling price of goods, the demand and supply of transportation, the infinite permutation of those values make any logical and universally just systematisation of the rates & priori a labour of the Danaids.”

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At a recent meeting of the Physical Society Professors Perry and Ayrton read a note on “Magnetic Resistance.” Two iron rings about 6in. diameter, made from the same bar of best Swedish iron about Jin. diameter, were wound with insulated wire in two halves, so that a current could be sent round either or both halves, and the resulting induction measured by the throw of a ballistic galvanometer placed in series with a few convolutions of wire wound round the outside of the main winding. One of the rings was continuous, and the other had a small air space of about •8 mm. in a plane perpendicular to that of the ring and passing through its axis, as if the ring had been cut by a saw. The primary object of the experiments which were made by Messrs. Aldworth, Dykes, Lamb, Robertson, and Zingler, of the Central Institution, to determine whether there was any appreciable “ surface magnetic resistance.” The results do not show any such resistance, and the relative resistance of air and iron as calculated from the unsaturated parts are about as 1200 to 1, a number agreeing fairly well with those obtained by other experimenters. From this the authors conclude that for small distances magnetic resistance of air is proportional to length. When the magnetising current was passed round the one-half of the divided ring on which the test coil was wound a greater induction could be obtained than by any other way of magnetising, and this the authors do not attempt to explain.

Some time ago experiments were made at Fort Scott in the manufacture of sugar from sorghum. A report on these experiments was lately presented to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by Mr. H. W. Wiley, to whom the conduct of the work was intrusted. The results were very discouraging, and the failure is attributed by Mr. Wiley to the following causes:—(1) Defective machinery for cutting the canes and for elevating and cleaning the chips and for removing the exhausted chips. (2) The deterioration of the cane due to much of it becoming over-ripe, but chiefly to the fact that much time would generally elapse after the canes were cut before they reached the diffusion battery. The heavy frost which came on October 1st, 1SS6, injured the cane somewhat, but not until ten days or two weeks after it occurred. (3) The deteriorated cane caused a considerable inversion of the sucrose in the battery, an inversion which was increased by the delay in furnishing chips, thus causing the chips in the battery to remain exposed under pressure for a much longer time than was necessary. The mean time required for diffusing one cell was twenty-one minutes, three times as long as it should have been. (4) The process of carbonisation, as employed, secured a maximum yield of sugar, but failed to make a mplasses which was marketable. This trouble arose from the small quantity of lime remaining in the filtered juices, causing a blackening of the syrup on concentration, and the failure of the cleaning apparatus to properly prepare the chips for diffusion. With regard to the future, Mr. Wiley is of opinion that the chief thing to be accomplished is the production of a sorghum plant containing a reasonably constant percentage Of crystallisable sugar.

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To counteract the difficulty of captive balloons blowing-down in a strong wind, Mr. E. Douglas Archibald, of Tunbridge Wells, has devised a combination of kite with balloon, for military or scientific observations and signalling. As the “ earth-line,” which consists of phosphor bronze or electro-plated steel wire, is attached to the side, instead of to the bottom, the kite-balloon cannot be turned round or depressed into a horizontal position, as is the case with ordinary captive balloons.

Messrs. W. H. Allen and Co., of York-street Works, Lambeth, have entered into a contract for the supply of some of the largest dock pumping machinery that has ever been sent out to the East. It consists of two 36in. jiumping engines for the Whampoa Dock, Hong Kong, capable of delivering about 150 tons of water per minute, with engines developing 500-horse power. The whole plant will weigh nearly 60 tons. This will give an idea of the rapid development of engineering in our Eastern Colonies.

The Cutlass Committee have arrived at the following resolution:—“That the Committee are unanimously of opinion that the converted 25Jin. cutlasses and cutlass sword bayonets now in use in the Navy should be immediately withdrawn, and that the old unaltered cutlasses, of which 30,000 are in store at Weedon, should be issued to the Navy. That if the triangular bayonet will fit the Martini-Henry rifles in use in the Navy, the requisite number should at once be issued ; otherwise that the Enfield-Mar-tini sword bayonet should be issued to replace the converted cutlass sword bayonet, which they recommend should be withdrawn. That the cutlasses and sword bayonets should be Larpened and pointed before they are issued.”

A new gun for the Royal Navy, invented and manufactured by Sir William Armstrong and Co., at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has just been tried at the range of the company at Silloth,

_______ The gun is a 30-pounder, and its weight with

carriage is 92 cwt. It is specially designed for the purpose of repelling torpedo attacks, and it is stated that it can be worked much

Cumberland.

quicker than the guns of the present size. The carriage is fitted with Vavasseur’s patent automatic machinery, and the gun rrr: be instantly elevated or depressed or swung round to any given point. The trial proved very successful. The gun was fired by electricity, and the velocity of the projectiles, as taken by an electric chronograph, connected by wire with the muzzle of the gun, was ascertained to be 1900ft. per second. Proof shot, common shell, and shrapnel shell were used, and the firing charges contained 9 lb. of pebble power. The gun will shortly undergo another trial before the officials of the Admiralty at Portsmouth.

The first meeting of the London Commission for the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition was held on the 24th ult. at the offices of the Agent-General for Victoria. The Chairman said that it was the intention of the Victorian Government to hold an Exhibition of an international character on a very extensive scale in the city of Melbourne next year, beginning August 1st, in commemoration of the centennial of the first settlement in Australia. The present permanent buildings, erected for the 1880 Exhibition, which were very ornamental and solid structures, would be added to by annexes, the total area proposed to be covered amounting to over 1,000,000ft. The chairman further stated that it was of immense importance to British manufacturers to be well represented at this Exhibition, when it was considered that the British import trade with Australasia, which had a total population of 3,500,000, actually amounted to £32,000,000; whereas the United States, France, and Germany combined, with a gross population of 133,000,000, imported during the same period £53,000,000 of British merchandise. Australasia, therefore, imported some twenty-three times aS much per heiul Of the population

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dimension of a screw for maximum efficiency become

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J. Tolley, 66, Cannon-street, architect

I form pitch at different radii, they should have a pitch diminishing ] meridian from the pole to the equator, and supported by a fulcrum from centre to circumference, according to a certain law, in order j in latitude 45 deg.; then 288 lb. at the pole will equilibrate 289 lb. that the desired result of uniform axial motion should be obtained, at the other end of the balance of the equator. Without requiring

a balance with so long an arm, we can have 289 lb. at the bottom of the shaft of a mine weighing the same as 288 lb. at the surface, provided the shaft is of sufficient depth.

“ Some years ago, being troubled myself with this confusion of language, I wrote to Professor Maxwell to ask him for a good illustrative example of the correct and incorrect use of the word ‘ weight, ’ and received the following characteristic reply on a postcard‘ Compare St. John xix. 89, wad Airpas (Karov, with the A.V.—authorised version—and keep to the original Greek.’ The translation in the authorised version is ‘ about a hundred pounds weight.’

“Here we see that Maxwell recognised the ambiguous nature of the word ‘weight,’and advised its omission wherever possible; but the exigencies of language compel us to use it; and in fact, we shall generally find writers, even after the above incorrect definition of weight, proceed subsequently to use the word in its ordinary meaning of daily life.

‘ ‘ I wish to repeat that writers on dynamics only create confusion in appropriating the word ‘ weight ’ to the sense of the force of attraction of the earth on a body, as we never speak of ‘ a force weiahing so many pounds;’ and I wish to support the language in ordinary use by engineers and practical men as perfectly correct in using the words ‘ pound ’ or ‘ ton ’ side by side in two senses, first as meaning the weight—or mass—of a body, and secondly as meaning the force with which the body is attracted by the earth ; one being sometimes distinguished as a pound weight, and the other as a pound force.

“If we use Prof. James Thomson’s admirable word ‘poundal’ for the British absolute unit of force, this slight confusion of terms will disappear, although engineers will still continue to think in gravitation units of force, as gravity is the one universal force from which there is no escape ; and I fear it will be impossible ever to persuade them to think in C.G.S. units like the centimetre, gramme, dyne, erg, &c., which, though admirably adapted for the minute measurements of experiments in physics, are unsuitable for large magnitudes.

“ In conclusion, let the equation W = M g be dismissed from the text-books, as leading to statements such as, ‘ The mass of a body W

weighing W pounds is —;’ the true equivalent equation being

W = M, and therefore unnecessary; and with it let the confusing ‘astronomical unit of mass’ disappear, and introduce instead the ‘ constant of gravitation ’ in our equations. Let us also recognise that the primary idea of ‘ weight ’ is the same as ‘ mass, ’ and form our dynamical definitions on the usages of ordinary language. “Woolwich, February 28 th.

It may be doubted even whether any form can be found which will satisfy the required condition at moderate slips. A blade of uniform pitch, then, working at a moderate slip, throws back water at the circumference in a closed pipe as well as in open water, but in the closed pipe there will be a counter current through the centre of the screw, so that the mean velocity, and consequently the total momentum, remain unaltered. The thrust of the screw therefore is wholly represented by a pressure head, though that head is far less than if all particles of water had the same velocity. In an ordinary screw propeller, as explained in the text, by far the greater part of its thrust is represented by sternward momentum; it is only when imperfectly supplied with water that any large part is represented by difference of pressure. In the same papers a theory of the action of a screw with narrow blades is explained, from which it follows that the thrust of a screw varies as the square of the slip. This appears to me a distinctly retrograde step, and inconsistent with the result obtained for a screw with large blades. The true theory of a screw with narrow blades is given by Froude, in his paper read before this Institution in 1878, but it may be useful also to refer to a paper by Sir F. Knowles, in the “ Proceedings ” of the Institution of Civil Engineers,” vol. xxxii., with Froude’s remarks in the discussion thereon. Froude’s assumption that the pressure on a screw blade varies as the sine of the slip angle has been objected to; but it rests on a very solid basis of fact. Objectors have hardly considered how small the slip angle is ; in practice it can hardly exceed 10 deg., and in general it is much less. The angle itself may be substituted for the sine with equal approximation. The constant, however, probably varies at different points on a screw blade. On these and some other points raised by his papers the writer is unable to share his views ; but everyone interested in the subject must be indebted to Professor Green-hill for showing, by a forcible example, that difference of pressure between the supply and discharge water of a screw must have great influence on its working. It is a point which has been too little considered in reasoning about screw propellers.

UNITS OF WEIGHT, MASS, AND FOECE.

dimension of a screw for maximum efficiency become entirely different. On following out the preceding reasoning the cause of this becomes clear. When the effort of the screw to draw more water through it than naturally passes through by the motion of the vessel is hindered in any way, the level of the water between the screw and the stern of the ship is lowered to a much greater extent than before by the same speed of rotation of the race and the stern of the vessel sinks further, thus causing a greatly increased augmentation of resistance. Not only is this the case, but the action of the screw is altered on account of the sensible difference of level between the surfaces of the water ahead and astern of the screw. For if the depression be ?/, the thrust of a screw race of area S is increased by the quantity w S y, just as was the case in paddles when the race was elevated above still water. In the paddles the energy exerted by this augmentation of thrust was employed in elevating the race or generating the counter current, but here the increase of thrust corresponds to an increased turning couple which generates energy of rotation in the race, and further increases the depression. In this way the depression and speed of rotation of the race act and react on each other, so that an amount of “centrifugal action” originally small produces a sinkage of the stern and an augmentation of resistance which is relatively large, and which is greater the greater the difficulty the screw has in supplying itself with water.

The action may, perhaps, be increased thus :—The depression at the stern of the ship is analogous to the “ negative wave of translation” considered by Scott-Russell. It is well known that such a wave cannot exist alone, but is always followed by a train of waves which rapidly exhausts its energy unless maintained from some external source, and it is therefore probable that the screw in these cases generates its own system of waves, which become a part of the wave resistance of the vessel. The crest of a wave must lie immediately astern or actually above the screw, as is sometimes distinctly visible, and this possibly may once more increase the thrust, the speed of rotation of the race, and the sinkage. If it be considered how small a slope corresponds to the total resistance of a vessel, it will not be surprising that that resistance may be augmented 50 per cent, or more by the accumulated action of the causes here described.

It thus appears that the thrust of a screw for a given real slip may be augmented as well as the resistance of the vessel, and when it is so, it is clear that the real slip cannot be deduced from the experimental value of the thrust by Mr. R. E. Froude’s method, and it is possible that a sensible augmentation may take place, even in vessels with a fine run. Further, at high speed, when the The following letter appears in Nature for March 24th. We wave resistance of the vessel is large, it seems possible that the have referred to it at some length on another page :—-ordinary wave system of the vessel, apart from augmentation, may “ Your reviewer, of the well-known initials ‘ P. G. T.,’ has taken have the effect of augmenting or diminishing the thrust of the exception to some of the terminology employed by Mr. Anderson screw. So again the wave system of the screw, by interference in his book ‘On the Conversion of Heat into Work,’particularly with that of the vessel, may increase or diminish the efficiency of to the expressions of ‘ pounds on the square inch ’ and ‘ tons on the propulsion. In considering this question, attention has been too square inch,’which he says would define a superficial density if exclusively fixed on the action of the screw on the vessel; the reflex used in their proper sense ; and it is this opinion I wish, with your action of the vessel on the screw may be equally important, not permission, to dispute, as I think ‘P.G.T.,’and mathematicians only in altering the virtual speed of advance, but also in causing generally, are at present in this endeavour to avoid one ambiguity a difference of level in the surface of the water ahead and astern, in dynamical language only creating greater confusion.

Again, the velocity of the water gliding over the screw blades “I presume that ‘ P. G. T.’ would have been satisfied with the depends only on the real speed of advance and slip, and it is a above expressions provided the word ‘ weight’ had been intro-necessary consequence that when the thrust is augmented the duced somewhere ; but let us examine carefully what is implied friction of the blades is virtually diminished, so that the slip of by ‘weight’ as used in ordinary language.

maximum efficiency is diminished and the value of the maximum “Turning to the chapter on elementary dynamical principles in efficiency increased. Further, the effects of centrifugal action Maxwell’s ‘Theory of Heat,’ we find that ‘ the word weight must depend on the square of the slip, and therefore the augmentation be understood to mean the quantity of the thing as determined by should be more important at large slips than at small ones. This the process of weighing against standard weights.’ And again:—‘In explains why it is that large d ameters and broad blades are a rude age, before the invention of means for overcoming friction, economical in cases where the augmentation is large. And the weight of bodies formed the chief obstacle to setting them in moreover, we can understand why it is that vessels with a full motion. It was only after some progress had been made in the stern can be propelled with tolerable economy by a screw, notwith- art of throwing missiles, and in the use of wheel carriages and standing the enormous augmentation it produces, for there is a floating vessels, that men’s minds became practically impressed compensation in diminished slip and friction. This remark also with the idea of mass as distinguished from weight.’ applies to the action of the screw in driving water out of the “ The language we employ, including the use of the ambiguous “ deadwood ’ which Froude describes in his remarks on Rankine’s word ‘weight,’ was formed in this rude age before the discovery paper of 1865. The general effect of this must be nearly such as I of true dynamical principles and before the theory of gravitation, have already stated.    and now, in order to avoid ambiguity, the mathematician uses,

To sum up what has been said, it appears that the augmentation wherever it is possible, the word ‘ mass’ for greater precision, where of the resistance of a vessel by the action of a propeller is of two an ordinary person would use the word weight, distinct kinds. The first is due to the disturbance of the wave “ But unfortunately for his principle the rules of language do system of the vessel by throwing additional water into a state of not permit him to be consistent, and he is compelled to speak of wave motion or by the direct action of the race. This is probably ‘weights and measures ’ and of ‘bodies weighing so many pounds or small at low speeds when the wave resistance is small, and only tons ’ instead of ‘ bodies mussing so many pounds,’ or ‘ masses and becomes important at speeds at which wave resistance is the ruling measures,’ which might be mistaken for a political phrase, element of the resistance of the vessel. It occurs in all propellers “The word ‘ weight’ will, then, be found to be used in ordinary alike. The second is due to a propeller at the stern of the ship language in most cases in the same sense as the word ‘mass,’ accelerating the water which supplies it before entering the pro- introduced with laudable intention by the mathematicians to avoid peller. This occurs principally in screw propellers, and is then due confusion; but unfortunately some mathematicians introduce to the rotation of the race. In a Whitehead torpedo it is the sole greater confusion than they remove by appropriating the word cause of augmentation, because in a deeply submerged body there ‘ weight ’ to the subsidiary sense of the word, undistinguishable by is no wave resistance. It consists in a lowering of the pressure in those ignorant of dynamics, namely, the force with which the the whole mass of water lying between the screw and the vessel, earth attracts the weight.

thus augmenting the resistance of the vessel and the thrust of the “Thus we find in ordinary treatises on dynamics, after an effort In a Whitehead torpedo the two effects are, perhaps, at the definition of the mass, the weight of a body defined as ‘the nearly equal. It is by far the most important part of the total force with which it is attracted by the earth.’

augmentation of resistance at low speeds, or when the supply of “As Maxwell says, ‘The only occasions in common life in which water to the screw is impeded. Any augmentation of thrust in it is required to estimate weight considered as a force is when we the screw is not represented by sternward momentum, and the have to determine the strength required to lift or carry things, or corresponding augmentation of the turning couple on the screw is when we have to make a structure strong enough to support their employed in accelerating the rotation of the race.    weight.’ Herein is comprised in general terms the whole province

In order that a propeller may be of maximum efficiency, it must of the theory of engineering, and consequently the engineer be placed at the stern of the ship, in order that it may, as Froude always employs the gravitational measure of forces, has explained, operate on water forming part of the frictional ‘ ‘ The force with which the earth attracts the standard weight is wake; but we now find that while doing this it must draw no taken as the gravitation unit of force; and for brevity the force water through it which does not naturally flow through it by the with which the earth attracts a pound weight—the mathematician motion of the vessel. It is probable that this condition is satisfied would say a pound mass—is called the force of a pound, abbre-mucli more nearly by the screw turbine than by an ordinary viated again to a ‘ pound. ’ Hence we have steam pressures, gun-screw, and therefore that the augmentation is much less. And powder pressures, moduli of elasticity, tenacities, Ac., as well as this may explain how it is that Mr. Thornycroft, in his screw the expressions objected toby ‘ P. G. T.’inMr. Anderson’s book, turbine, has been able to approach, if not to equal, the efficiency expressed in pounds or tons on the square inch, without creating of a screw as a propeller. Any kind of pump when used as a pro- any confusion in the mind of the practical man; and we find the peller labours under great disadvantages, because the water words ‘pound’ or ‘ton’ used side by side, now in the sense of which supplies it is in rapid motion, and the object is to produce weight or mass, and now in the sense of force; as, for instance, in an increase in that velocity, which should be small to avoid loss the statement, ‘A train, weighing 100 tons moving against a by slip. Hence the hydraulic losses are necessarily much larger resistance of 20 lb. a ton, is drawn by an engine exerting a pull of in proportion to the useful work than when the supply water is at 2 tons, Ac.’

rest relatively to the pump, as it is when the pump is employed “ But when the practical man opens the ordinary text-book on for ordinary purposes. But if the augmentation is diminished, dynamics, then the confusion begins. Take, for instance, the evidently there is a compensating advantage, and we may hope familiar equation W = My: what does it mean ? The writers tell for great economy in applj-ing it to vessels with full lines in which the us that W means the weight and M the mass of the body, augmentation is so large. At least, we may expect this to be the Having defined ‘ weight ’ as the force with which the body is case in smooth water, but it must be admitted that the power of attracted by the earth, the writer implies that he is keeping to adaptation to conditions which are subject to rapid and large the statical gravitational unit of force, and therefore his unit of variations which an ordinary screw propeller possesses is not likely mass is the mass of g pounds, if W, the weight, is measured in to be obtained in any other way.    pounds. But, after defining a pound as a unit of mass, he ought

.Note.- The theory of the action of a screw in a closed pipe to take M as the weight in pounds, and then the equation W •= My v Inch it exactly fits has been considered by Professor Greenliill in means that the earth attracts M pounds with a force of W poundals some papers published in The Engineer commencing May, 1886. where W = My.

Taking a screw of large blade area and uniform pitch, he imagines “The confusion is intolerable—‘most tolerable, and not to be it to work in a pipe through which water is flowing in a uniform endured ’—and entirely due to the erroneous mathematical defini-stream. 1 he mean velocity of the stream cannot be altered by the tion of the word ‘weight,’ combined with straining the units of action of the screw so long as the pipe runs full, and it is assumed mass and force so as to fit into the equation P = M.f, when abso-tliat all particles move at the same speed. Hence the water lute units are not employed.

suffers no change of axial velocity, but acquires an angular velocity, “ To show the absurdity of the definition that ‘ the weight of a which is readily shown to be the same for all particles, so that the body is the force with which it is attracted by the earth,’ take the water finally rotates as a solid mass at revolutions n s, where a is question, ‘ What is the weight of the earth V According to this the revolution of the screw and s the slip ratio. The thrust of the definition, the answer is ‘Zero,’ but ordinary people would calculate screw is thus wholly represented by a pressure head generated in the result in millions of tons, from the data of the mean radius t.ie pipe, and the energy exerted in turning the screw shaft is and the mean density..

employod one-half in this way and the other half in generating “Take again a question of a similar nature: ‘Prove that 288 lb. energy of rotation in the water. The distribution of pressure in at the pole weigh the same as 289 lb. at the equator.’ To realise * le..l?¹P.e’ however, differs so widely from that necessary for ¹ this question we must imagine a balance constructed of which the equilibrium as to suggest that, instead of the blades having a uni- arm is carved into a quadrant of the earth, reaching along a

“A. G. Greenhilr.”

TENDERS.

CORPORATION OF LEICESTER.—FLOOD WORKS.

List of tenders for the construction of a stone weir, 500ft. long canal lock, with flood basins and towing path walls; and oth e works in connection therewith, on the river Soar, Leicester, for the Corporation of Leicester, according to plans, specification, and quantities by Mr. J. Gordon, M.I.C.E., borough surveyor :—

£ s. d. 27.40S IS 7 25,900 0 0 24,542 14 11 23,970 15 9 23,731 18 23,097 0 0 21,978 4 11 21,767 0 0 20,770 1 9 20,470 0 0 20,378 IS 1 20,316 9 0 10,620 0 0 19,142    0    4

18,990 0 0 17,SS3 8 6

C. Baker and Co., Bradford ..

Knight, and Chatwin, Sleaford J. Woo’dlwiss, Cullingworth,

Jno. Best, Leith.......

Jno. Fell, Leamington W. J. McKenzie, Wandswoith, S.E......

A.    Kellett, Ealing...............

Whittaker Brothers, Horsforth, near Leeds

S. and W. Pattinson, Sleaford .......

B.    Cooke and Co., Battersea.........

Nelson and Co., Cardiff ..    .........

Jas. Dickson, St. Albans...........

Pickthall and Sons, Merthyr Tydvil.....

C.    Braddock, Southport...........

E. Tempest, Leicester and Keighley.....

Jas. Evans, Birmingham (accepted).....

Bradford

SOUTHAMPTON WATERWORKS.

Contract No. 1.—Supply and delivery of about 1000 tons of ca st iron pipes, Ac.:—

WO.®

screw.

Stanton Ironworks, Nottingham (accepted)

J. and S. Roberts, West Bromwich......

Cochrane, Grove, and Co., Middlesbrough ..

It. Maclaren and Co., Glasgow........

T. Edington and Sons, Glasgow ......

D.    Y. Stewart, Glasgow ........

Clay Cross Company, Clay Cross ......

R. Laidlaw and Son, Glasgow........

T. Spittle, Limited, Newport. Mon.....

And four tenders received not in accordance with advertisement.

Contract No. 2.—Laying and jointing 11,500 yards water mains, Ac.:—

H. W. Gould, Southall (accepted) ..

J. W. Pickthall, Yeovil ........

W. H. R. Hill and Co., Plymouth ..

Deville Forrest and Co., London J. Crook and Sons, Northam, Soton

E.    Folliott, Southampton ..    ....

J. Crook, Portswood, Soton ......

And one tender not in accordance with advertisement.

a cl

OHOCHN

WIRRAL RURAL SANITARY AUTHORITY AND WIRRAL HIGHWAY BOARD.

Tenders received for the construction of Church-road, West Kirby; Mr. Charles H. Beloe, M. Inst. C.E., and Mr. Robert King, engineers:—

A. W. Peen, Gladstone-villa, Matthew-street, Seacombe

(accepted) ....................

Joseph Price, Great Meolse, Cheshire ........

Joseph Jones, 25, Oxton-road, Birkenhead......

R. Malabar, 1, Rapport-road, Seacombe........

J. McCabe and Co., SS, Lambeth-road, Liverpool Thos. Catterall and Co., Phoebe Anne-street, Liverpool

William Vaughan, Longsight, Manchester......

W. F. Chadwick, 14, Great Iloward-street, Liverpool.. John Taylor, Clarendon-road, Garston, near Liverpool

James Evans, Parkgate, Cheshire..........

Frederick Walkden, Brazenose-road, Liverpool, N. .. W. Maddocks and Co., 11a, Castle-street, Liverpool ..

Engineers’ estimate ..    ..    ........

£ s. d.

356 15 387 S 435 15 438 10 458 3

476    10 490 0 510 16 530 0 533 1 546 8 596 11

477    13

WIRRAL RURAL SANITARY” AUTHORITY.

Tenders received for the construction of new roads and sewers at Hoy lake and West Kirby; Mr. Charles H. Beloe, M. Inst. C.E., engineer

A. W. Peen, Gladstone-villa, Matthew-street, Seacombe (accepted) ................

John Riddell, Whetstone-lane, Birkenhead......

Malabar and Poole, 1, Rapport-road, Seacombe.. John McCabe, SS, Lambeth-road, Liverpool

William Vaughan, Longsight, Manchester......

John Taylor, Clarendon-road, Garston, near Liverpool Thos. Catterall and Co., Phoebe Anne-street, Liverpool W. F. Chadwick, 14, Great Iloward-street, Liverpool Frederick Walkden, Brazenose-road, Liverpool, N. .. Sterling and Swann, Chester-street, Birkenhead J. Nuttall, Bradshaw-street, Moss-side, Manchester

Smith Brothers, Hoylake, Cheshire ........

William Hope, Earle-street, Liverpool........

Holme and King, Crosshall-street, Liverpool .. Anwell, Dyson, and Wainwriglit, Stonyford, Lisburn,

Ireland......................

James Evans, Parkgate, Cheshire..........

Engineer’s estimate............

£ s. d.

2608 2 2631 0 2742 6 2991 16 2999 10 3050 0 3146 1 3276 0 3295 0 3390 0 3439 IS 3445 0 3544 0 3584 14

3584 18 3591 0 3410 0

THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY OF BERLIN.—ALEX AND ERPLATZ STATION.

{For description see page 251.)

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The Engineer, April 1st, 1837.

PAGE

245

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240

246

249

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251

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262

263

Engineer.— We believe that Mr. Kirtley’s metropolitan engines, on four driving wheels and a four-wheeled bogie under the tank, weigh 46 tons full The ten-wheeled tank engines on the London and Tilbury line weigh about 53 tons full.

A. Z. If you are a good mathematician, Rankine’s “ Applied Mechanics" wdl suit you. Several recent works on the steam engine have been reviewed in The Engineer. If you read those reviews you will have no difficulty in selecting for yourself.

The Engineer can

mania,

Manilla,

are

all

case.

163, Strand.

The pneumatic ejector—Advantages of compressed air as a motor—Three typical examples of the system, Eastbourne, the Houses of Parliament, Henley-on-Thames —Other applications.

Chemical Society.—Thursday, April 7th, at S p.m. Paper to be read : —“ Researches on the Constitution of Azo and Diazo-derivatives, Diazo-amido-compounds,” Part II., by R. Meldola, F.R.S.,and F. W. Streatfield.

Parkes Museum of Hygiene. — Wednesday, April 6tli, at 5 p.m. Lecture on “Metropolitan Sewage Disposal,” by J. Bailcy-Donton, M. Inst. C.E.

Chesterfield and Midland Counties Institution of Engineers.— Saturday, April 2nd, at 2 45.: General meeting. Paper for discussion by A. H. Stokes, entitled, “ Notes upon the Report of the Royal Commissioners on Accidents in Mines.” Excepting safety lamps, already fully discussed at the preceding meeting, it is proposed to take the several heads seriatim, viz.: (a) Methods of working and ventilation; (6) falls of roof and sides; (e) spontaneous combustion ; (</) miscellaneous mine accidents ; (e) fire-damp; (/) coal dust; (;/) explosive agents and particular methods of using them; (/<) shaft accidents. A paper by Messrs. Kirkland and Barnett, on “Apparatus for Preventing Overwindings in Collieries,” will he read or taken as read.

North-east Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders.— Wednesday, April Otli, at 8 p.m., at Newcastle-on-Tyne: General meeting. Discussion on “ The Reaction and Elficiency of the Screw Propeller.” The following meetings will complete the session :—April 20th, in Newcastle, paper on “ Triple Expansion f. Compound Engines from a Shipowner’s Point of View,” by J. P. Hall; May 4th, in Newcastle, closing business meeting.

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pressure of from 15 to 20 tons per square inch, acting in a radial direction upon the test-piece, may have materially assisted in the contraction which accompanied elongation. On the other hand, the steel in a built-up gun is in pieces whose sectional area is such that the contraction cannot freely take place, and hence there can be but little extension. Clearly there is something in the nature of the forces

FOREIGN AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE ENGINEER.

PARIS.—Madame Boyveau, Hue de la Banque.

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

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

LEIPSIC.—A. Twietmeyer, Bookseller.

NEW YORK.- The Willmer and Rogers News Company, 31 Bcekman-slreet.

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE.

*#* The Publisher begs io announce that next week The Engineer will be published on Thursday, instead of (Hood Friday. Aclver-tisements intended for that number must be forwarded not later than six o'clock on Wednesday evening.

CONTENTS.

Newcastle Exhibition ....................

Wages in Great Britain. No. IX...............

The Terni Steel Works........ ............

Railway Disasters in the United States ..........

Abstracts of Consular and Diplomatic Reports. No. XII.....248

Railway Matters ...................

Notes and Memoranda.................

Miscellanea ..    .,    ...................

Metropolitan Railway of Berlin. (Illustrated.) ..    .

S.S. Oroya. (Illustrated.) ...............

German Army Magazine Rifle.............

On the Changes of Levels...............

Units of Mass, Weight, and Force ..    .........

Tenders ........ .................

Leading Articles—Treatment of Gun Steel.......

The Colonial Conferences—Professors and Text-books

Literature.......................

Institution of Naval Architects ...........

Large Radial Drill. (Illustrated.)...........

Sheffield Waterworks Contest.............

American Exhibition, Limited.............

Four-cutter Wood-planing Machine. (Illustrated.) ..    .

Berthon Pontoon Bridge. (Illustrated.).........

Merchant Service and hie Royal Navy .......

Launches and Trial Trips....................

The Iron, Coal, and General Trades of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and other Districts.........

Notes from Lancashire.............

Notes from Sheffield .............

Notes from the North of England.......

Paragraphs—South Kensington Museum, 248—Bristol Naturalists’ Society, 248— Naval Engineer Appointments, 200—Finsbury Technical College, 260—Institution of Civil Engineers, 262—The Pavement of New York, 264.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Registered Telegraphic Address “ENGINEER NEWSPAPER, LONDON.”

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

*** We cannot undertake to return drawings or manuscripts; u-e must therefore request correspondents to keep copies.

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

KNOWLES’ AIR PUMPS.

(To the Editor of The Engineer.)

®IR'~Can any of your readers say whether there is an air pump known as that of Knowles?    T R R

London, March ISth.

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THE ENGINEER

APRIL 1,1887.

THE TREATMENT OF GUN STEEL.

Colonel Maitland has contributed an important paper to the Institution of Civil Engineers on this subject, and the discussion upon it was a long one. It gives results obtained by Colonel Maitland by a series of experiments suggested by his knowledge and experience, and carried out in a systematic way, and presented to us with a weight that would hardly belong to such experiments conducted elsewhere. We do not mean that the actual conditions necessary to conduct the experiments might not be found in many establishments; but the combination of special experience and surroundings, with absence of interested motives, gives to the Gun Factory experiments peculiar weight when well ried out. Men like Sir W. Armstrong may institute experiments which may end in results entailing changes bringing inconvenience and expense to their establishments, and they may be public-spirited enough to publish such results, but we have not a right generally to look for this. The head of a large company may find that the public can only be benefitted at tlie expense of those whose interests are more specially in his keeping, and in such a case he is not free to act; and thus the information we are justified in looking for from large firms is . necessarily limited, however great and public-spirited may be the men at their head. Government department this difficulty does not exist. The country alike finds the money for the immediate working of the department and benefits by the results, however general and remote may be the character of the advantages obtained. On the other hand, we should seldom be justified in expecting systematic and exhaustive research to be undertaken in a Government department, because the five-years’ system would seriously interfere wdth it. A superintendent would seldom come to the department at the moment when experiments specially called for, and with definite plans for organising them; and by the time these had shaped themselves his period of office might be running short, and the wisdom of imperfectly attempting work that must be left to others to continue might be questionable, even if a superintendent had the heart to undertake it. It need hardly be. added that very few of our authorities at the War-office are capable of appreciating work of the character to which we refer, and the remembrance of his imperfectly finished investigations might be as likely to haunt hi to give him pleasurewhile possibly commanding artillery at Portsmouth or elsewhere. Colonel Maitland has had extension of his time, or we might have been tempted to complain of the immorality of encouraging the country to expect this class of work to be done system. To come to the paper, however.

The general quality of gun steel used in England, Germany, and France, Colonel Maitland describes as a “ductile material ” breaking at about thirty tons per square inch in the soft annealed state, and at about forty-five tons when hardened in oil. Gun steel contains from 0’25 to 0’5 per cent.' of carbon and from 0’05 to 0'8 per cent, of manganese. The French steel is higher in carbon and tenacity than that used in England and Germany. As noticed above, Colonel Maitland’s paper should be read in full, and our object here is not to give it in an abbreviated form, but only to call attention to certain features. On the building up of a gun and the support mutually afforded by one part to another some important principles put forward. For example, Colonel Maitland takes the case of pieces of steel cut from a soft forging, which have an elastic limit of 11 tons, and which break at 27 tons. If one of these be strained up to 26 tons, it will in future have an elastic limit of 26 tons, while still breaking at 27 tons. An oil-tempered specimen of the same might have an elastic limit of 25 tons and reach 38 tons before yielding. Consequently, it would be easy to have the same elastic limit for these two pieces of metal with widely different margins before rupture. Both might be made not to stretch till 25 or 26 tons were reached, while one would break at 27 tons and the other-only at 38 tons. The bearing of this principle on the building up of guns is very important, for any portion of a gun which may be sti’ained beyond its elastic limit will simply take the higher elastic limit of the supporting metal next to it, and the whole structure would be in this respect in harmony. It follows from this that the great point to consider is the breaking strain, allowing a sufficient margin of safety between it and the working pressure. The effect of oil-hardening increases with the proportion of carbon present, and manganese increases the limit of elasticity in the unliardened state.

The nature of the stress on the metal attendant upon firing has been investigated in a very interesting way.

Colonel Maitland mentions that if the copper cylinder of a crusher gauge be used in a gun for a number of rounds it is set up precisely in the way in which it would be by the maximum pressure occurring during the firing. Thus the crusher of a gauge put in for that single round would register exactly the same result as the one that had been exposed to the action of the firing of the whole series. The same result would be produced by subjecting the gauges to statical pressure—that is to say, the maximum pressure would be registered, and repetition would have no effect. Under a blow it would be otherwise; the repetition of blows even lighter than one which had already set up the cylinder would set it up further. So far then the pressure in the bore resembles statical rather than percussive action. It is possible, however, by the employment of an unsuitable charge to develope violent dynamic or wave action—at least this is the statement of Colonel Maitland; and when this “wave” action, whatever it may be, is set up, the copper gauge piece which has withstood the ten rounds will indicate a higher pressure than that shown previously by any or all of the previous ten rounds.

Colonel Maitland sought to trace the exact reason for the abrupt, short fracture characteristic of a burst gun, while test pieces taken from it show elongation and fibrous fracture. The cause generally assigned was the suddenness of the fracture of the gun. Fracture produced by falling weights, however, far from being short, Colonel Maitland found, was accompanied by an extension of 47 per cent., when 27 only would have been produced in a testing machine. In consequence of this he placed a cylindrical test piece, surrounded by powder or gun-cotton, in the axis of a tube. The cylinder had enlarged plugs, so as to close both ends of the tube, and the charge of powder or gun-cotton was fired through a vent placed half-way along the tube. The plugs were blown out of the ends in opposite directions, and the cylinder was broken, but with an elongation varying on different occasions from 47 to 62 percent.; a result which Colonel Maitland can only attribute to the distribution due to the fact that the time is too short for the effect to be localised at one weak place. Attributing shortness of fracture possibly to the tube form, Colonel Maitland found that tubes of metal, when broken by plungers driven into their bores when filled with water or by powder or guncotton charges, always broke off short, if at all; some did not break at all, but became so deformed that the pressure ceased to exist.

O11 the behaviour of a gun steel casting when cooling, Colonel Maitland made an equally interesting though less novel investigation. He took samples evenly distributed in eighty-four different positions, and found that while the proportion of carbonnear the sides, bottom, and top, did not greatly vary from the average of the whole, the carbon in the centre part left the bottom and rose into the upper part. The eighty-four test pieces formed twelve horizontal rows of seven each. The great accumulation of the carbon was in the second, third, and fourth test pieces in the second, third, fourth, and fifth rows; while the carbon was specially deficient in the second, third, and fourth test pieces in the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh rows; the top, bottom, and sides apparently solidifying before the carbon had the opportunity of moving, and the centre part between the accumulated and deficient portions being nearly in a neutral state. The manganese seems to have accompanied the carbon in its distribution.

On the effects of working, Colonel Maitland found that “ thorough forging ” greatly increases the power of steel to resist erosion. With this in view the breech halves of bores have been lined with thin metal specially worked. Interesting results are given of tests of oil-hardened and unliardened test pieces in different stages of working, and also of a plan of testing the metal of tubes by forcing it open with taper mandrils driven in by a steam hammer, also of the testing of the breech piece, and various tubes and parts of built-up guns having their position and functions specially kept in view. The beneficial and evil effects that may be produced by oil hardening and annealing are discussed at some length, and it is evident that Colonel Maitland is inclined to discontinue oil hardening with large guns. He is in favour of rather more carbon than Sir W. Armstrong, and has hopes of good effects from manganese, tungsten, or chromium.

It is a matter which might be most usefully discussed whether the softer steels would not make not only the most trustworthy guns, but in the end the most economical guns. They would cost a great deal less than the oil-hardened guns, and it has not yet been proved that very tough mild steel would not withstand erosive action as well as the harder steel; but whether this be the or not, we could probably afford to make six soft steel guns for every four hardened high steel guns, and should have a more trustworthy article. At least we might expect so; and we say this because such anomalies exist to the modes of fracture of steel that it is impossible to be certain. For instance, the steel which will extend 26 per cent, under gradually increased strain will extend from over 47 per cent, under a strain which produces fracture in a fraction of a second. The same steel in a gun will break off more like cast iron than anything else, especially as regards any extension that it will show. This very great extension under instantaneously applied load is not what would have been expected, at least until comparatively recently, for in testing iron specimens it used to be considered essential to apply a load slowly if the greatest ultimate strength and extension were to be obtained. The great elongation which Colonel Maitland obtained in the test pieces pulled asunder by means of gunpowder was probably due in some measure to orthogonal pressures, for there can be little doubt that a

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which English goods should be admitted to the colonies : taught that the weight of a body has no more to do with on better terms than foreign goods in return for a j>re- ■ its vis viva or its momentum than a two-foot rule has to ferential free reception here of colonial produce, is yet far from realisation. Judging by the feeling in the colonies, as expressed in their Legislatures, we doubt very much if they would deem the terms we could offer sufficiently worth their attention. The more the pity.

PROFESSORS AND TEXT BOOKS.

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of the boiler.

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good, and well printed; and the text formation needed in explanation. ' understood that this is not a treatise on the locomotive. It is something more useful, however, than a mere treatise is likely to be. We may explain that its pages include descriptions and diagrams of numerous British locomotives collected from our own and other English journals. Those who are interested in locomotives will find this a valuable book, both for reference and instruction

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that act in the rupture of steel or iron when built up into a gun structure, of which very little is yet understood.

THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE.

Among the noteworthy incidents of this Jubilee year, the conference on colonial questions announced to commence next week in London is likely to take a prominent place. To engineers in this country, and the numerous trades dependent on them, the progress of our colonies, their capacity for extensions, and the development of their natural resources, are matters of supreme importance, and the more so as foreign countries continue to put fiscal impediments in the way of international trade. At the present time therefore, when the subject of Imperial federation occupies a good deal of the public mind, and when action in this direction is looked upon as a possible remedy for depressed trade, it might be well to take advantage of the present gathering of eminent colonists in London to bring forward any questions concerning our relations with them which need discussion. Among these questions is the position taken up by our colonies in regard to purchases from the Mother Country. This is partly a matter of legislation; there are the natural promptings of self-interest on both sides; and beside and between these two causes is that of colonial public opinion, which in many cases is able to act with considerable force, though unexpressed in legal enactments.

The self-government of the colonies is generally held up as one of the valuable results of British rule; but be that as it may, the dependencies still governed from Downing-street are, although numerous, unimportant when compared with the fully-fledged colonies. Leaving India out of the question, Natal and Ceylon are the biggest of what are known as Crown Colonies ; while Canada, Australasia, and more recently the Cape of Good Hope, manage their own affairs with a ministry responsible only to their local Parliaments. There is truly a governor in each colony, with a veto on certain questions; but among those on which the representatives of the people have the freest scope is the levying of duties on imported merchandise. In this matter the Government at home interferes only to insist on similarity of treatment to all comers—that is to say, it will not allow the colonial Legislatures to “ discriminate ” by giving advantages to any one country, Great Britain included, over another. Within this limit, however, there is ample room for the exercise of tariff vagaries, and we regret to find that there is in some of the colonies a tendency towards a protection of a mischievous kind. We have no desire to dispute the right of the colonists to impose duties on imported rails and locomotives. Some of the colonies, however, are not content with these duties, but, obeying the mandate of manhood suffrage exercised in favour of the local factories, seem inclined to prohibit the importation altogether of certain articles. Thus while merchants are free to import and the public free to buy the English-made goods they require by paying the prescribed duty, engineering material used only by public bodies under parliamentary control can be shut out altogether by a clause in the specification stipulating that the material shall be made in the colony. It is seldom that such conditions are expressed in dii'ect terms, but they are none the less imposed. In Queensland, last December, several bridges were purchased at prices 50 per cent, higher than those at which contractors were willing to import English structures, on the condition that the bridges were to be. made in the colony. In New South Wales locomotives and rolling stock were not long ago ordered from local manufacturers at prices far in excess of those quoted by English firms, including the duty; but when the working men found that springs, tubes, axles, tires, and other important parts had to be bought in England, and that the profit was reaped only by their masters, they relaxed their zeal in this direction, and we are glad to see that in the elections just taken place there has been a strong reaction in favour of the old policy of moderate tariffs. But there is still at Sydney as in Melbourne a large class who in regard to public purchases yearn after restrictions which do not apply to private business.

We drew attention recently to the conditions of contracts for railway material in Victoria — conditions imposed by the influence of merchants to the great disadvantage of the colony. In purchasing 50,000 tons of steel rails, it was stipxdated that the reception and testing should take place in the colony instead of, as usual, at the place of manufacture, thus preventing direct dealing with makei's in England. We would point out that if the produce of loans raised in Europe for public works in the colonies is spent in paying abnormal prices for the material of construction, it simply means that instead of the money being, as stated in the borrowing pi’ospectus, all invested in remunerative public works, it is largely applied as bonus wages to colonial working men, for which temporary benefit the colony is burdened with interest in perpetuity. In such evasions of the spirit of agreements there are, we regret to say, examples nearer at home in the action of France. In the commercial treaties with our neighbour certain duties on English goods agreed to as against the duties put on French wines and silks. Under these agreements Manchester and Bradford send their goods to France, but English engineers deprived of their share of trade by the simple expedient adopted by the French Government of stipulating that all the material, not only for ai’senals, but for railways, shall be of French manufacture. We do not dispute the right of France or any other country to act thus, but not in the face of direct or implied treaty engagements.

Last week we reported the establishment by the London Chamber of Commerce of an Engineering Section. We commend to the notice of this body the grievances we have described, although probably the action or pressure of the united Chambers of the country would be appropriate and effectual. We fear that the federa tion of the Empire as advocated by Fair-Traders here, by

Not long since a review of Mr. Anderson’s book on heat appeared in the pages of our contemporary, Nature. This review was signed with the initials of Professor Tait, of Edinburgh. By far the largest portion of the review consisted of a criticism of the terminology used by engineers. To this criticism we took exception. Professor Tait—or shall we say “P. G. T. ?”—replied in Nature, and we transferred that reply to our columns last week. It will be seen that the reply in question is very brief. One of the passages to which Professor Tait takes exception is, “Dividing 3,942,400 foot-pounds per minute by 33,000 foot-pounds, we get 119'4-horse power.” “I put beside it,” says our critic, “the allied absurdity, ‘Dividing £500 a year by £50, we get £10 a year, a waste of time to point out that there is no alliance whatever, absurd or otherwise, between the two statements. In the case of the steam engine, we divide the whole number of foot-pounds per minute by the number of footpounds per minute which represent a horse-power. Professor Tait has no objection to 3,942,400 foot-pounds being divided. His objection appears to be wholly to the use of foot-pounds as a divisor. “It is true,” he says, “that if I were to divide 3,942,400 foot-pounds by the mere number 33,000, I should probably obtain 119'4-horse power.” To be consistent, he should maintain that a number can only be divided by a number, and that therefore the use of the words “ foot-pounds” as applied to the dividend in the sum is an absurdity. We still maintain that the use of the words in connection with the divisor is strictly accurate, and finds its analogy in a thousand-and-one relations of ordinary life. Taking, for example, the distance from New York to Liverpool as roughly 3000 knots, and finding that a steamer makes 400 knots a day, in order to find the duration of the voyage we divide the whole number of knots by the number of knots per day, and get 7'5 as the number of days. If we proceeded to divide 400 into 3000, we should have an. indefinite expression which would convey no meaning. When we say that we divide the total number of knots by the knots per day, the whole becomes lucid and intelligible. It has remained for Professor Tait to find such an expression misleading and absurd. Yet in his own mind whenever he has occasion to use 33,000 as a divisor, he associates it mentally with foot-pounds per minute, and he cannot help doing this, because apart from foot-pounds per minute, the figures, 33,000, have no meaning whatever in connection with a steam engine.

Concerning the expression pounds or tons on the square inch, Professor Tait has also hard things to say of engineers. Possibly he would be satisfied if the word “ weight ” was always added, and engineers said that a locomotive engine boiler carried a pressure of 175 1b. weight on the square inch. We are, of course, quite at a loss to know what would be gained in accuracy or anything else by adding the word weight. Perhaps Professor Tait now and then goes into a shop to buy, let us say, tobacco. Does he always ask the shopman for “ one pound weight,” or for “ a pound ?” When he is walking, does he ask, should he lose his way, how many miles “ long ” it is to Edinburgh ? We trow not. In fact the whole contention of Professor Tait is so absurd that we should not notice it at all were it not that even pedantry in excelsis like this acquires a kind of importance when it is displayed by a man possessing a high reputation.

We are pleased to find that an engineering professor will not permit Professor Tait to have it all his own way, Professor Greenhill has replied to Professor Tait in the pages of Nature, and we reproduce his reply on page 253. Professor Greenhill, it will be seen, has had the courage —and much courage was needed—to assail the teaching of text-books on one point, the equation W^M#. But the text-books are open to be attacked on a hundred points, and the sooner the attack takes place the better. They have all proceeded from the pens of a very few men whose statements, however ambiguous or confusing, have been received as infallible; and the wretched student has had in only too many cases to blunder his way along a road which is not only not properly lighted, but abounds in pitfalls. It is impossible within reasonable limits to handle even the hundredth part of the contradictions and anomalies which beset us at every turn, simply in most cases because the teacher does not think for himself. Original thought is the one thing most lacking in our universities and schools of technical instruction. We do not say that it is wholly lacking; far from it, but we do say that few men would dare, while occupying a professor’s chair, to point out the curious contradictions contained in the text books which he himself gives to his pupils. We want in the present day a second Descartes, a man to whom personal authority in matters scientific or mathematical was nothing; a man who taught that “if you wish to know the truth you must train your mind to form correct judgments.” In the nineteenth century one man writes a text-book, and five others follow his example. They use the same cards shuffled over and over again. How many of the authors have asked themselves, is this or that statement true? If it is true, is it clear ? Is it such that the student for whom the book is written can make no mistake ? Professor Greenhill has, it will be seen, called attention to . point. But he has hardly put the case strongly enough. How many students are there who realise the truth that if a projectile or a fly-wheel were deprived of weight, that is to say, if the action of gravity ceased while it was in motion, the shot would be as powerful to pierce armour and the fly-wheel to regulate an engine as ever? In how many text-books of science is the difference between mass and weight fully set forth ? How often is the student do with the length of a board ? The rule supplies a convenient method of measuring the length of the board, and gravity gives us a convenient standard of mass. That is all. Take, again, the incessant use of the word “attraction ” in text-books. Yet if one body can attract another, then is Newton’s first law untrue, and every professor of science in the kingdom knows this, or ought to know it.

Again, how many text-books ever attempt to reconcile for the unhappy student the third law of motion as taught by Newton, and the laws of applied motion in general as taught by the writers of the text-books ? The third law is simply that every force is precisely, accurately, and at all times balanced, by a foi’ce equal and opposite. This we find taught on one page. That it is true there is no doubt, so far as human experience goes,-because we have no means of measuring any force directly. We can only measure the opposing force or reaction. We cannot measure any unknown weight x save by opposing some other force W, whose amount we do conventionally know". We cannot tell the force exerted on a square inch of the surface of a boiler by the steam within it; but we can ascertain by means of a spring what is the reaction balancing that force. In all cases it is the reactions, not the actions, which are the known quantities. Seeing, then, that the forces operating on any portion of matter must always be in equilibrium, the wretched student is placed on the horns of a dilemma. In one chapter of his text-book he is taught Newton’s third law. Further on in the book the pupil is taught all about accelerating forces. If he asks how a force already accurately balanced can produce motion, and why the reaction should not produce motion as well as the action, what answer does he obtain? He is told that force is a cause of motion, and so on. It should be clear to the meanest intelligence that if the one statement is strictly true, the other must be strictly false. Either these two are apparent contradictions admitting of reconciliation, or they are not. If they are, why is not the explanation given? If they are real contradictions, ought not the teaching of the text books to be modified ? How can any student be supposed to make head or tail of the curious jumble taught him concerning forces reactions, potential energy, &c. &c ? It would be useless to continue our list.

Professor Tait, and many other professors as well, will act wisely if they put their own houses in order before they set about teaching engineers the proper use of the English language. There is growing up among us, we are happy to sav, a new class of professors sciences, if we may use the words, strong tendency to think for themselves. These are men who refuse to accept a statement as true, or to shut their eyes to an anomaly or contradiction, simply because it has never been disputed before. In these men we see the promise and potency of real advance in science. It is to such men the world must look for the wresting from nature of more and more of her secrets. Such men follow the old apostolic rule, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good,” and they will have their reward.

LITERATURE.

llecent Locomotives, Enlarged Edition, Including a Chapter on Compound Locomotives. Published by the Railroad Gazette, Broadway, New York. 1886.

In 1883 our esteemed contemporary the Railroad Gazette published in a large thin volume engravings of seventy locomotives, American and European. These were reprints, collected in a convenient form, of engravings which had appeared during twelve years in the Railroad Gazette. The present volume, published late last year, contains some 300 additional engravings and descriptions of fifty more locomotives, as compared with its predecessor. Nothing at all like this work has been published in this country. Our contemporary does for the United States what The Engineer does for England. It publishes everything new in locomotive practice: and although that practice in the United States is not as varied as it is here, novelties of a more startling character are produced from time to time—as, for example, Fontaine’s locomotive, Plate 48, with an extra pair of driving wheels on the top This engine, after a short career, rebuilt as an ordinary locomotive. In the United States there are practically no single engines. There are always two or more pairs of coupled driving wheels. An attempt was made some years ago to introduce the single system the Bound Brook line. It appears not to have given satisfaction, for it was soon broken up and sold as scrap. This is not very remarkable, as the engine was a curious nondescript machine, with an equalising beam between the single pair of driving wheels and the trailing wheels. An arrangement was provided by which more or less of the load could be put on the driving wheels by shifting the fulcrum of the equalising beam, on a plan patented by Mr. W. H. Henzey. “ Owing to the financial difficulties of the company for which it was built,” the builders took it back and sold it to Mr. Eames, who brought it over to this country to work with his brake. It can, under the circumstances, scarcely be said that the single engine has had a fair chance in the States.

The volume before us reflects great credit on Mr. D. PI. Neale, by whom it has been edited. The plates are very

pplies all the in-It will of course be

THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS.

The twenty-eighth annual meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects began in the hall of the Society of Arts, Jolm-street, Adelphi, on Wednesday, the President, the Earl of Ravensworth, in the chair. There was a moderate attendance. We add with pleasure that the number of papers was much smaller than usual, the holding of a summer session relieving the tension and dividing the work of the Institution.

The report of the council was read. It will be seen that it was eminently satisfactory:—“During the year which has just elapsed, 148 new members and associates were elected, which is equivalent to an increase of members of about 25 percent, in a single year. The condition of the finances reflects the general condition of the Institution’s prosperity. The abnormal increase in the number of members was due principally to special circumstances. In June last the council received a letter from Sir David Radcliffe, the mayor of Liverpool, inviting the Institution to hold a summer meeting in that city during the last week in July. The invitation was accepted, and the second summer meeting held by the Institution proved a signal success. This summer meeting was the principal cause of the large increase in the numbers of the Institution, no less than forty-five members and thirty-eight associates having been elected on that occasion, council announces with much pleasure that it has received an invitation from W. T. Doxford, the president of the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, and from the mayor and Corporation of New-castle-on-Tyne, to hold a summer meeting this year at Newcastle-on-Tyne and Sunderland. The invitation has been accepted, and the meetings of which particulars will in due course be announced, will take place atthe end of July.” After the transaction of routine business, the election of members, &c., Lord Ravensworth delivered his address. He began by saying that the Institution must place on record their sense of the great loss which they had experienced by the death of their valued and esteemed colleague, Mr. Denny, a man of the greatest energy, ability, and zeal. He had always taken a prominent part in their discussions. They valued his opinions, and his loss would be felt over a very large circle, and especially by the students, to whom he had set a brilliant example. Proceeding to deal with other matters, he said that the past year had been, from a shipping point of view, the worst on record. The present year, if not more promising, was, at least, different, in that it was not uneventful, being indeed Jubilee year ; and he did not think he could better employ the time at his disposal than by glancing at the progress which had been made in steam navigation during the last fifty years. Lord Ravensworth began by repeating the strange old fallacy that Dr. Lardner then regarded, and justly so, as a great authority on the steam engine, had pronounced the idea of establishing steam communication between England and America as impossible. It is worth while to put the facts before our readers. Dr. Lardner never said the thing could not be done ; what he said was, that in the then state of the steam engine it could not be made to pay. At the meeting of the British Association in Bristol in 1837 the question was specially discussed. The Edinburgh Itevieiv, published after the Bristol meeting, contains an article setting forth what Dr. Lardner did say, in which we find the following passage :—“ The conclusions to which he arrived were briefly that in the present state of the steam engine, as applied to nautical purposes, he regarded a permanent and profitable communication between Great Britain and New York by steam vessels, making the voyage in one trip, as in a high degree improbable. That since the length of the voyage exceeds the present limits of steam power, it would be desirable to resolve it into the shortest practicable stages; and therefore that the most elegible point of departure would be the most western shores of the British Isles, and the first point of arrival the most eastern available port on the Western Continent, and that under such circumstances the length of the trip through it would be fully up to the present limit of the application of steam power, would not exceed it, and that we might reasonably look forward to such a degree of improvement in the efficiency of marine engines as would render such an enterprise permanent and profitable.” “What,” says Dr. Lardner in his “ Treatise on the Steam Engine,” “ 1 did affirm and maintain in 1836-7 was that the long sea voyages by steam which were contemplated could not be maintained with that regularity and certainty which are indispensable to commercial success by any revenue which could be expected from traffic alone, and that without a Government subsidy of considerable amount, such lines of steamers, although they might be started, could not be permanently maintained.” Our readers will pardon a digression which we feel to be due to the memory of a very able man. Need we add that what Dr. Lardner said came true to the letter? Lord Ravensworth, in the course of his address, went on to speak of the pioneer voyages of theGreat M estern and the Sirius, but he said nothing concerning their subsequent history. As a result of the voyages, eight steamers were soon after put on the line between England and New York. These were the Sirius, the Royal M illiara, the Great Liverpool, the United States, the British Queen, the President, the Great Western, and the Great Britain. The Sirius was almost immediately withdrawn. The Royal William shared the same fate after two voyages; her remains now lie in Kingstown Harbour, serving as a coal hulk. The Great Liverpool in a single season cost her owners £6000, and she was removed to the Mediterranean. The owners of the British Queen, after losing £100,000, sold her to the Belgian Government. The United States went to the Mediterranean under the name of the Oriental. The President was lost, and the Great Western was laid up in winter, and, after involving her owners in tremendous losses, was sold.

'1 here w-as no successful Atlantic steam navigation until Mr. Samuel Cunard, a Canadian, took the matter in hand, and kept a line of mail steamers running, supported by a

The

Government subsidy which rose from £60,000 to £145,000 per annum. No fuller justification of the soundness of Lardner’s views is needed, and we feel certain that Lord Ravensworth was ignorant of the truth.

Lord Ravensworth contrasted the performance of the Great Western, a ship of 1340 tons burthen and 440 nominal horse-power, steaming at an average of eight miles an hour, with the Etruria, which with a consumption of twelve tons of coal per hour, made on the average of nine recent trips eighteen knots an hour. He next referred to the two new vessels, the Transpacific and the Ormuz, as examples of modern shipbuilding of the highest class, and stated that the latter had made the run to Adelaide in thirty-one days. He hoped that the Great Eastern, in which vessel he had always taken much interest, had a new career of usefulness opened to her, as she was to be put on the Australian trade. He then dealt at some length with the causes of depression in the shipping trade, partly due, he said, to over production and partly to the great size of mo lern steamers, and saw with pleasure that there were indications that rash speculation in this direction was at an end. He concluded by drawing attention to the possibility that we might yet have aluminium made as cheaply as steel, which it could readily supplant for shipbuilding with benefits impossible to exaggerate, and terminated a very interesting discourse with a recognition of the services rendered by the gentlemen, lecturing under the auspices of the Honourable Company of Shipwrights.

Sir Nathaniel Barnaby then read a paper on “The Merchant Service and the Royal Navy,” which will be found in extenso in another page. The discussion was opened by Admiral Sir John Hay, who said that as far back as 1868 attention had been devoted to the question of utilising the merchant navy for defence. We could not possibly have men-of-war enough to defend our enormous commerce. Sailing ships would in the event of war be quite useless, and would be kejffi in port. Slow steamers must be employed to feed the country, and as these could not be convoyed under modern conditions, the only way to work them would be to make them follow specified routes, and to keep these routes patrolled by suitable armoured vessels. If our coaling stations were properly protected, and we took care that the enemy could get no coals, his wings would be clipped, and we would have little to fear. A good intelligence department to keep us apprised to the enemy’s movements, and adequate defences of our coaling stations, were essential features in national defence. As for ships, we wanted above all things speed. We had not, he was sorry to say, a single vessel able either to catch, run away from, or fight the Italian war ship Italia or her fellows, which woidd go at 18 knots. Captain Fitzgerald endorsed much that Sir N. Barnaby had said, but not all. It was right to organise in good time. He would like to know, however, what would be the legal status of an Atlantic steamer if abroad when war broke out. It seemed to him that she would have to find her way home to be regularly commissioned, or else she might be captured as a pirate if she attempted to fight. As regarded the condition of seamen, that he considered a politico-economical question. He certainly did not like the idea of bringing the mercantile marine and the Navy both under the one head. He held, with Admiral Sir John Hay, that the protection of coaling-stations was of paramount importance. As for the Italia, she was not an ironclad at all, but a tin kettle, in which they could bore holes with a 6-pounder. He did not see the necessity for making British ships fast, that they might run away. Hitherto running away had not been the national policy. Mr. W. H. White agreed to some extent with Sir Nathanial Barnaby, but he also held that the utilisation of ships for warlike purposes must not be so managed as to interfere with their commercial career. For a long time Admiralty after Admiralty had been trying to indtice ships’ owners to modify their vessels to fit them for fighting, but until now they had never been offered a sixpence of compensation. He hoped the present step would be repeated, and he felt sure it would lead to good results. Admiral De Horsey held that it was possible to go too far, and by building up delusive hopes on the aid to be rendered by the merchant marine neglect the Navy. He thought it would be found that none of the ships would be ready in time, for modern naval warfare would be short, sharp, and decisive. He could not approve of the notion of appointing a Secretary of State to rule over both the Navy and the mercantile marine. Mr. Martell pointed out that the last Government, having induced shipowners to spend considerable sums on bulkheads, and to meet Admiralty requirements, actually refused to charter ships so fitted during the Egyptian war, although they were lying unemployed, and took instead ordinary ships. This he regarded as mischievous breach of faith. If they would only extend a little more power to Lloyd’s, they would not need a special Marine Secretary of State. Mr. Absolon spoke on the question of bulkheads. He said that a modern cargo boat could not be made to pay unless loaded down to the lowest safe load line, and this left so moderate a margin of buoyancy that the bulkheads must be numerous, else one compartment would hold water enough to sink her, and this multiplication oi bulkheads made a most inconvenient ship. After one or two remarks from other speakers, Sir. N. Barnaby replied, explaining that he did not mean to hamper the mercantile marine in any way ; that he would bring it into alliance with the Navy, but certainly not make it subordinate to it.

After a vote of thanks had been passed, a short paper by Mons. L. De Bussy was read, on

The Results of a Series of Progressive Speed Trials

Carried out at Cherbourg on a Torpedo Boat.

The formula which is made use of in France to determine the speed corresponding to a given power is

«

_V B* ’

where v is the speed in knots, B* the area of the midship

section in square metres, to the coefficient of efficiency, which had to be determined for the various speeds. The experiments were all carried out on the same day, in identical circumstances of weather, sea, and draught of water. Each of the results is the mean of three runs on the measured distance. In order to eliminate the influence of the variation of the current, the figures obtained on the intermediate run were doubled. Thus were obtained the results given in the following table, which are given exactly as they were obtained, and without any correction :—

Number Speed in of knots. revolu-v. tions per minute.

(l.)

4'7

S' 91

10-20

10-94

12-S9

14-58

10 -so

(2.)

04'15

120-10

145-73

157-99

1S6-57

215-37

B-

Horse- Values of m = r . / power    /\/

indicated j____

on the Taking the Taking the H pS* square metre square foot 111 1' as the unit as the unit of surface. of surface.

I.H.P.

Observations.

(3.)

(4.)

9-33

2'803

O'322

42-44

3-270

7-233

62-19

07-33

120-93

184-23

253-97    300-5S

IS"20 j 275-08 : 377'40

19-30    !    293-32    443’65

3-302

7-307

3-449

3-343

3-2S0

3-210

3-230

3-242

7-015

7-381

7-250

7-102

7-132

7-159

The value of B-,or the immersed area of midship section, is 2‘11 square metres, or 22 sq. feet; the displacement is 40'10 tons.

An examination of this table reveals two interesting peculiarities—(1) The value of to, which is very small at low speeds, increases up to 11 knots; (2) this value attains a minimum at 17 knots, and increases slightly for higher speeds. The first peculiarity must no doubt be attributed to the fact that the efficiency of the engine in mechanical work on the shaft diminishes in proportion as the speed of revolution is decreased. It cannot be doubted that if the power actually transmitted to the screw, instead of that indicated on the pistons, could be introduced into the formula, the efficiency measured by the coefficient to would be greatest at the low speeds. This first peculiarity, then, appears to proceed from circumstances inherent in the motor. The second, on the contrary, evidences a diminution in the resistance of the hull when a certain speed is exceeded, and is, in consequence, particularly worthy of attention.

The discussion which followed was of no importance. Mr. White said that experiments previously made went to show that up to 10 knots the power varied as the square of the speed; at 13 knots it varied as the 3’4 power; but from 16 to 19 it augmented further only as the T5 power, the resistance being reduced as the speed augmented, owing to the influence of the waves accompanying high-speed boats, as had been explained by Mr. Froude.

After a vote of thanks, Mr. Biles read a paper on “The Twin-screw Torpedo Boats Wiborg and Destructor,” both of which have been fully described and illustrated in our pages. It is therefore unnecessary to reproduce the paper in full here.

The Wiborg was bxiilt at Clydebank for the Russian Government. The conditions laid down were:—(1) Speed to be 20 knots per hour upon two trials, each of three hours’ duration. (2) The weights on board at these trials to be a load of 15 tons, representing armament, torpedoes, stores, men, and equipment, and an additional 14 tons of coal, or 29 tons in all. (3) Between the two full-speed trials a consumption trial of 12 hours’ duration to be made, to show that, with the trial weight as above on board, the vessel could steam 1200 knots at a speed of not less than 10 knots per hour. (4) The armament to consist of two five-barrelled Hotchkiss 47 mm. revolving-cannon, with 500 rounds of ammunition to each gun. (5) The torpedo tubes to be three in number, two through the bow and one on de;k, each 19ft. long. (6) Metacentric height to be not less than 1 *75ft.    (7) The

pumping power to be sufficient to eject at least 520 tons :>f water per hour, independently of the pumps for surface condensers. (8) The bunker capacity to be sufficient to give vessel a radius of action of at least 2000 knots at 10 knots. The dimensions selected to fulfil these conditions were:—Length on water line, 142ft.; beam moulded, 17ft.; depth at middle of deck, Oft. Gin. The total complement of the boat is twenty-two, four of whom are officers, and are accommodated in the after part. The clear deck area per man for the eighteen men is 9 square feet, and the space per man is 120 cubic feet. The living compartments are placed in communication with the forced draught fans, so that as long as the stoke-hole ventilators can be kept open, these compartments can be well ventilated. The condition of lightness of hull and machinery which must be fulfilled in order to obtain the high speed desired, taken in conjunction with the conditions as to subdivision and habitability already mentioned, make the percentage of surplus buoyancy very high, and consequently a vessel of this character is very lively in her motions. This liveliness is not compatible with comfort, and consequently tends to detract from the habitability of the vessel. The results of the consumption trial showed that, with the 45 tons of coal which the bunkers would hold, the vessel had a radius of action of over 4000 knots. The results of her behaviour at sea, as reported by her commander, showed that she could safely go through heavy weather, but whether her crew could remain in working condition long enough to traverse 4000 knots at 10 knots, which would be about seventeen days, can only be determined by continued trials. On her speed trials, details of which are given at the end of this paper, she attained 19'96 knots with nearly 41 tons weight on board, and she attained 20’6 knots with nearly 34 tons weight. These speeds are the mean of the speed on the three hours’ runs as deduced from the revolutions. At a later trial, with bunkers full and all

stores and equipment on board, ready for sea, she attained a mean speed of 18‘55 knots. The total weight on this trial was about 70 tons. Both these vessels were lighted throughout with incandescent electric light, and had a search light of 12,000 candles. The Destructor was built for the Spanish Government, and is a vessel 192ft. long on water line, 25ft. beam, and 12tt. moulded depth. Her displacement fully equipped for sea, but with coal sufficient to steam 2050 knots, is nearly 400 tons. The conditions to be fulfilled in this vessel were similar in character to the Wiborg. (1) The speed to be 221, knots per hour upon two trials, each of which to be of three hours’ duration. (2) The load at the trial to be 43 tons of stores, outfit, and equipment, 37 tons of coal, and 8 tons of fresh water for boiler service; a load of 88 tons in all. (3) Consumption trial of 12 hours, to show that 37 tons will drive a vessel at least 1500 knots. (4) The armament to consist of one 9 cm. gun, four G-pounder rapid firing, two 47 mm. revolver Hotchkiss, five torpedo tubes, two in the bow, one in the stern, and one in each broadside, each 15ft. long. (5) Metacentric height not less than Sft. (6) Pumping power to be 2000 tons per hour. (7) Bunker capacity to be sufficient for radius of action of 3500 knots. The vessel is divided into thirty-nine watertight compartments. The engines in this case are in two separate engine rooms, and the boilers are in four separate compartments. Coal protection is afforded round the machinery and the boilers by the bunkers; but in addition, abreast of the engines, the bunker bulkheads are formed of steel plates fin. thick, which are placed there to protect the machinery from machine-gun fire. Forward of the boilers and magazines is placed a curved bulkhead lfin. thick to give protection from raking fire. The general arrangement of the vessel may be seen from the plans. This vessel at her trials on the Clyde attained a mean speed of 22'56 knots for three consecutive hours. The mean I.H.P. developed was 3784 and the mean revolutions of the two engines 292’0. On a subsequent three hours’ trial the mean speed was 22'68, the I.H.P. and revolutions corresponding being 3829 and 292⁻3. At the consumption trial the vessel was run at a mean speed of 11‘6 knots for eleven hours a total consumption of 57 cwt. This was obtained by using only two boilers, and the result corresponds to a* radius of action of 4929 knots at ll'G knots. The I.H.P. over the eleven hours was 297, so that the

HEAVY RADIAL DRILL

THE UNIVERSAL DRILL COMPANY CINCINNATI, ENGINEERS.

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The leading dimensions of the machine are:—

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Sft.

lift. £>in.

18ft.

25in.

2Sin. by 2Sin.

10ft. Ciin. by 12ft. 3in.

Oft

Oft. lOin. 15,0001b

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consumpt corresponds to 1 '95 lb. per I.H.P. per hour. The consumpt of coal at the full-speed trials, which were made with a mean air pressure of 2f in., was 2’4 lb. per I.H.P. per hour. There is no doubt that a much lower rate of consumption per I.H.P. per hour was obtained between these two speeds, but no means were taken to measure it. The consumption at full speed is not as high might have been anticipated, and it gives the vessel an estimated steaming power of 540 miles at 20 knots. As a matter of fact she ran on January 24th and 25th from Falmouth to Muros—just beyond Finisterre—in twenty-four hours, a distance of 495 knots, which is at a mean speed of 20‘625 knots. The Wiborg has compound engines, working at 130 lb. boiler pressure. The Destructor has triple expansion engines, working at 1451b. From an estimate of the weight of steam used per I.H.P. per hour in these two cases, taken from a considerable number of diagrams, it appears that in the compound the consumption is 19‘0lb., and in the triple it is 15'33lb., or a saving of 19 3 per cent, in favour of the latter, neglecting any advantage due to the small difference of pressure.

The discussion which ensued added nothing of value to the paper. A general approval of the design was expressed by Mr. Thorneycroft. Mr. White said that the nearest thing in the British Navy to these boats is the Rattlesnake, with a speed of 19£ knots. Mr. Marshall asked for information as to vibration, which he understood had been found excessive. Mr. Schwan was in doubt as to the value of bulkheads of such very light scantling. Mr. Biles in reply said that each bulkhead had been tested by filling the compartment with water, and that it was tight; whether it would remain so was a question of the attention given to the ship, every portion of which was galvanised. Something had been said as to the chance of the rudder fouling, but as there were two screws, one on each side, they would be fouled before the rudder. As to protection, Mr. Thorneycroft was quite right that none could be provided which would keep out bullets fired square at the plates, but sloping plates and coal were no doubt of much value. As to vibration, he might say that they had expected more power than they got; but when the screws of the Destructor made 310 revolutions, the intended speed, the vibration was synchronous with the boat, and became too violent; so they tried a great number of screws, and at last settled down to 292 revolutions, at which speed the engine action was not rythmical with the boat, and the vibration was arrested and not excessive.

A vote of thanks to Mr. Biles concluded the proceedings for the day. In the evening the annual dinner of the Institution took place at the Holborn Restaurant.

On Thursday morning the proceedings commenced with the reading and discussion of a paper, by Mr. Dixon Kemp, entitled, “Fifty Years of Yacht Building.” The discussion turned very much upon what the older school would call a sensible boat, what another school would stigmatise as a skimming dish, and what another calls an ‘ ‘ up-ended soap-box, loaded at one end with lead and capped at the other with sails,” or a board on edge. All are in disagreement, because they do not agree that the yacht that is best for matches is not the best for cruising. The second paper was by Mr. V. B. Lewes, on “ The Corrosion and Protecting of Iron and Steel Ships,” and of the contents of this paper it might be said that “ what is true is not new, and what is new is not true.” The third paper read was by Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, on “ Fuel Supply in Ships of War,” in which the effects of the different policies of different Admiralty Boards were explained as regards the restriction of coal bunker, and therefore of steaming capacity. In the evening the meeting was resumed at seven o’clock. Of this day’s proceedings we shall give some notice next week.

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LARGE RADIAL DRILL.

The large tool which we illustrate, manufactured by the Universal Radial Drill Company, of Cincinnati, 0., is a recent design which furnishes one of the most powerful tools of the kind ever built. The first one was furnished for the Brooklyn navy-yard. In describing it, the Railroad Gazette says the tool differs from the similar machines of smaller size built by the same firm in having a quarter circle—fan-shaped—base and outside pillar, the base being of unusual size to accommodate very large work. The outside pillar is moved by a pinion engaging in the circular rack on the periphery of the base, and can be bolted rigidly to the arm and base for extraordinary work, or entirely removed to admit work, otherwise too large, to get under the spindle. The arm has a bearing 32in. in length around the column, and a deep strengthening web on top, in order to make it very rigid under working strains. The spindle frame is moved along the arm by means of the crank at the left of the feed worm-wheel, thus enabling the operative to stand immediately at the spindle while bringing it to the desired point. The machine will drill or bore a number of holes parallel with each other—vertically downward—anywhere within the range of the arm, and as the spindle is geared with unusual power, has a quick return and is counter-balanced, it is well adapted for heavy boring.

The column which carries the arm, driving gear, frame, &c., is bored and fitted over a stationary stump, bolted fast to the sole plate. The stump has sufficient length of bearing to prevent the column from swaying, and is provided with an adjustable pivot, bearing upon an elastic diaphragm in the column, which, when the bolts in the flange at the lower end of the column are slackened, takes the weight of the machine off the flange bearing and allows the column, with the arm, &c., to revolve easily through the entire arc. For ordinary drilling the bolts in the flange need not be tightened, but when extraordinary rigidity is required a partial turn of the wrench will bind the column fast to the sole-plate. The sleeve which carries the arm and gear frame is fitted snugly to the column and may be raised and lowered by power. It is provided with clamping bolts. The table has both horizontal and vertical faces, and is provided with planed T slots.

The counter-shaft consists of a frame with a horizontal shaft and T and L pulleys, and a pair of cut mitre gears to connect with the vertical shaft at the centre of the top of the column.

The spindle, feed screw, elevating screw, and all shafts are made of machinery steel, and the feed worm is made of hardened tool steel. All thrust bearings are provided with phosphor-bronze washers.

Column ............

Radius of arm..    ........

Height within-counter-shaft Height, including shaft Height of table from base .

Size of table..........

Floor space for base ......

Column to centre of spindle Do. with outside column removed Weight, about..........

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THE SHEFFIELD WATERWORKS CONTEST.

The contest aroused by the two Bills which we described in our last issue, dealing with the Sheffield water supply, concluded in a somewhat unexpected manner. The general outline of the present company’s Bill and the Corporation Bill we have already indicated, but we may repeat that while the former sought to continue indefinitely certain existing high rates, and to enable the company to construct new work for counteracting the effect of the leaden pipes upon the water, the Bill of the Corporation aimed at compulsorily purchasing the present undertaking.

The first measure having been laid before the Select Committee, and evidence for and against having been tendered, Mr. Littler, Q.C., presented the case for the Corporation. He argued that, having regard to the events and circumstances, in connection with the waterworks undertaking and its management by the company, as well as the policy of vesting the water supply in the hands of the local authority, it was expedient that the Corporation’s Bill should be passed. The feeling was growing in the public mind from year to year that the local authorities were the proper persons to control water supply ; and the result had been that in every case, with the exception of Newcastle and London, the waterworks of towns of at least the size of Sheffield had passed into the hands of the local authority. There were many reasons why water should be in the hands of a body which did not hold the water undertaking as a matter of profit but as a matter of duty. One of these reasons was that water ought to be supplied abundantly, and to the poorer inhabitants as cheaply as possible, because the cheapness or dearness of water made a great difference in the percentage of mortality. But the first duty of a company was to make the largest possible dividend for its shareholders, and to let the consumers take their chance as long as it complied with its statutory obligations. Other reasons for confiding the water supply to the Corporation were found in the necessity for flushing the sewers, watering the streets, and carrying out completely the water-closet system in the town. It was felt that this last object would be impossible of attainment unless the water supply was in the hands of the Corporation. He further contended that if there had never been compulsion before in the case of waterworks this was a case where it should begin. But it was not exactly without precedents, and these he proceeded to cite and describe. The Corporation of Sheffield were prepared to do anything right and just, and if there were any special conditions which appeared fair to their lordships the Corporation would at once accept them. The Corporation could not tell if there were any such conditions desired by the company. The Corporation had never been able to get the company to come to any understanding. But here, where the Corporation and company were face to face before those who would hold the scales of justice evenly between them, the Corporation declared their readiness to do what was right and just in the matter. The learned counsel mentioned the attempts made in 1864, 1868, and 1876 to come to an agreement with the company for a transfer of the undertaking. He then said the Corporation were actuated by an overwhelming sense of public duty and public necessity. They believed that the rejection of

FOUR-CUTTER WOOD-PLANING

THICKNESSING, AND MOULDING MACHINE.

MESSRS. POWIS, BALE, AND CO., FINSBURY, ENGINEERS

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their Bill would have a serious effect, not only upon the health of .Sheffield, but upon its commercial prosperity. They were supported by the inhabitants, not only in their opposition to the company’s Bill, but in their promotion of their own Bill. Mr. Gott, C.E., Mr. Hawkesley, C.E., and Sir F. Bramwell were examined, besides a large number of municipal representatives, and in the end the chairman, Lord Derby, announced that the Committee have come to a decision that it is expedient that the works of the Sheffield Water Company and the control of the water supply should be transferred to the Corporation. They have come to this conclusion on the grounds of public policy, but they do not consider that there has been any proof of mismanagement or failure of duty on the part of the Sheffield Water Company, and they think therefore that the terms of purchase should be not only fair, but liberal. They are therefore of opinion that in fixing the price at which the company’s works should be taken over, the arbitrator should calculate the value as though the additional 25 per cent, expiring in the year 1889 had been continued for five additional years. They are not prepared to extend the time over which the sinking fund should extend beyond the period of sixty years. The result of this decision is that the preamble of the Sheffield Water Company’s Bill is not proved, and the preamble of the Corporation Bill is proved, subject to the conditions named.

thick. The cutters are speeded at some 6000ft. per minute on their cutting edges; and for working undercut mouldings the side-cutter spindles are arranged to angle.

THE BERTHON PONTOON BRIDGE.

Sir Howard Douglas, in his celebrated and standard work on “ Military Bridges ” expressed the opinion that if the Bertlion

transversely into two halves—its length when carried is reduced to half that of ordinary pontoons. (2) Though much wider it shuts into one-seventh part of its beam—i.e., a pontoon which is 7ft. wide when open is only lft. when shut. (3) For light bridges the halves may be used singly, and so double the length of bridge that might be formed of any number of whole pontoons. Our first engraving represents a carriage loaded with one complete unit of a pontoon train, consisting of one duplex pontoon 26ft. by 7ft., six baulks, 20ft. long, twenty chesses—

THE BERTHON PONTOON BRIDGE.

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THE AMERICAN EXHIBITION, LIMITED.

We have received the following letter, giving information supplementary to that contained in the article which appeared in our number of the 18th ult.:—

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Sir,—As to the resources of the American Exhibition, I beg to inform you that the Association, not seeking to secure any credit, but paying cash in all of its transactions, has not created a capital for a larger amount than it needed to carry on its affairs, and therefore the allotments of shares have only been made at such times and for such amounts as the Association required. At this date, of the preferred shares of £75,000, £60,000 have been allotted, and the cash realised from these shares has either been spent in work of preparation and building, or is available now. We shall, as required, allot the remaining £15,000 of preferred shares. We have received, and are receiving, from the sale of space and concessions other large sums, which will amount before the 1st of May to at least £20,000. You will see therefore that instead of £25,000, which is the amount of capital you concluded from your analysis of the records at Somerset House, the Association has had up to date for its work, that the Association will have £95,000 to prepare for the Exhibition.

The deferred shares are to be used in paying the salaries of the chief officers of the Exhibition.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

Jxo. Gilmer Speed

Secretary of the Exhibition.

FOUR-CUTTER WOOD-PLANING,THICKNESSING, AND MOULDING MACHINE.

We illustrate above a somewhat new form of wood-planing machine, by Messrs. M. Powis, Bale, and Co., engineers, Appold-street, London, E.C., who have designed it to take the place of heavier and more expensive machines for certain classes of work. With the object of securing strength and freedom from vibration in working, the main frame of the machine is cast in one piece. The wood is planed or moulded on all four sides at one operation, and is fed through the machine by means of five rollers, all of which are gi ooved. The pressure of the feed rollers and rate of feed is readily adjustable to the nature of the work being done. The cutter-blocks are of steel and planed, so as to form back irons to the knives. The knives are arranged spirally on the blocks so as to give a shearing cut, which is an improvement, especially when wide or difficult wood is being worked. The table is readily adjustable to varying thicknesses of wood, and is fitted with an index plate. The bearings are of extra length, and in the countershafts are made to pivot. The machine illustrated is adapted to plane, mould, joint, tongue, groove, rebate, and thickness any kind of wood up to 18iu. wide by 4in.

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PONTOON BRIDGE LOADED UP.

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PONTOON BRIDGE IN PLACE.

boats could be made light enough they would he admirably ] planks—10ft. by lft., twelve bearers, oars, cables, anchor, &c. adapted to the purpose of pontoons for bridges. This condition j Total weight, including the carriage, 2 tons 4 cwt. Our second is now fulfilled, for they are actually only about half the weight engraving represents the carriage unloaded and standing on the of those in general use. The new collapsible pontoon possesses light bridge. To make the above more clear, let it be uuder-several very great advantages: (1) Being duplex— i.e., divided . stood that each carriage load comprises a pontoon and all kinds

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of superstructure for a heavy bridge 20ft. long and 10ft. wide, or a light bridge 40ft. long, 5ft. 4in. wide, which admits of guns and military wagons being drawn across by hand, the horses following singly. By order of the Ministre de la Guerre in Paris several officers of the French army went to Romsey a few weeks ago to see these bridges thrown across the river Test and crowded with men and wagons; and there is no doubt of their adoption. The displacement of each 26ft. by 7ft. pontoon is ten tons.

THE MERCHANT SERVICE AND THE ROYAL NAVY.¹

By Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, K.C.B., Vice-President.

The Shipwrights’ Company did me the honour to ask me to give a lecture as one of the recent Mansion House series, and I had proposed to take this subject. I was prevented from making a final arrangement in the matter, and the lecture was never given. Within the last few days the Council of this Institution has asked me to read a paper here on the subject I had chosen for that lecture. I do so with the advantage that since I prepared the paper the First Lord of the Admiralty has laid before Parliament proposals which are a distinct advance in the course I had desired to advocate. I had wished to support Lord George Hamilton and Lord Charles Beresford in the policy they had indicated in recent public statements—a policy which sought for some organisation in the mercantile marine in order to increase the power of national defence. The necessity for organisation arises from the following facts :—(1) A fast mail or passenger steamer may be as efficient a factor in a naval war as an ordinary war cruiser which has cost' a quarter of a million sterling, and has a crew of 500 or 600 men. There are certain services which she may perform much better than the regular warship, by reason of her greater size and superior travelling power. For engaging with a regular ship of war the inferiority of existing merchant ships of the best and most powerful type is obvious ; but on the other hand, their superiority when properly armed to other merchant ships unarmed, or, say, of less size or speed, must be admitted. (2) Excepting these few fast mail and passenger steamers, merchant shipping is incapable of offering any resistance whatever to an enemy possessing speed and a small armament. High steam speeds at sea have wrought this great change in the military character of trading ships, viz., that all sailing ships—and we have 8000 of them of 100 tons net and upwards—have become absolutely helpless ; and of the nearly 6000 steamships of 100 tons gross and upwards, more than nine-tenths would be incapable of offering any resistance against a single ship of the superior class included within the remaining tenth. This superior class has, by comparison, acquired a value far higher than was ever possessed by a trading ship in the days of sail power. In those days the fighting value of the aimed Indiaman was fully recognised. There is no reason why, in a naval war, many a brilliant passage of history may not be associated with ships which are not reckoned as part of the “Navy.” These ships will certainly force themselves into prominence, either in our hands or those of our enemies. (3) Provision is made by the State for a reserve of seamen who are drilled periodically, and paid by it, and are liable to be called upon to serve in a war. But there is no link of any kind to connect the useful ships with the trained men. By organisation, these superior ships under our own flag may be made a real State possession, and they may be manned mainly by men trained in the Royal Navy, seamen and marines. They may be made available for immediate service on the outbreak of war at any part of the world where they may happen to be by the action of the Commander-in-Chief on the station. Without organisation, the ships may be found to be seriously defective in some points of detail in construction, which owners would have gladly corrected had they been advised and encouraged to do so. Without organisation, ships from which such defects have been removed may find themselves put on one side in State employment in favour of others in which they flagrantly exist, and even in favour of ships belonging to a foreign Government. Without organisation, ships of the highest speed, and carefully built, may be found at time of need, when the Commander-in-Chief on a foreign station imperatively needs their services, to have not a single trained officer or seaman on board. Thousands of Royal Reserve men may be found in ships having no defensive power whatever, and none in the few ships which have so high a value.

These are, unfortunately, the actual facts. Not only the Post-office, but the Admiralty itself, employs ships which the Admiralty officers have declared to be seriously defective in structural security. And as to the men, it will be found that the most splendid ships now under the English flag have not a single Royal Naval Reserve man in their crews. Plow does this come about? By the following arrangement:—There are some 250 ships designed and built for fighting. Including the Royal Naval Reserve, there are some 80,000 officers and men for service afloat in these ships. This personnel and materiel, known as the British “Navy,” is placed under the control of a Cabinet Minister and a powerful Naval Board, to whom the defence of our maritime possessions is entrusted. There are under the same flag, but built for commerce, near 14,000 ships of 100 tons and upwards, with crews of some 300,000 men. This is known as the merchant service. It is under the control of “The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council appointed for the consideration of matters relating to trade and foreign plantations.” They are described in all Acts of Parliament, deeds, contracts, and other instruments by the official title of “The Board of Trade,” without expressing their names. The Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons are both members of this Board, so also are the principal Secretaries of State, but no one connected with the Royal Navy is included. Even the First Lord of the Admiralty is shut out from the long-list of members.

Of the thirteen millions of money taken for the Navy, the only-appropriation touching the efficiency of the mercantile marine in its military aspect is the retaining fee, and the expense of periodical drill for 18,000 men. The high State officers named above as constituting the Board of Trade inspect all passenger ships and give certificates that the hull of the ship is sufficient for the service intended, is in good condition; and that the partitions, Ac., are in the condition required by Act of Parliament. Acting on this certificate, passages are made, and the Admiralty itself employs for the transport of troops ships having this security and no other. But what is the real worth of the certificate ? It is in evidence that since 1862 the Board of Trade surveyors have had no power to require given water-tight partitions to be fitted in the holds of passenger steamships, although the Board has had no doubt as to the necessity for proper and sufficient water-tight partitions, and has had no doubt that the proper authorities would insist on their being fitted in all steamships employed in the conveyance of mails.

Whatever may- have been the expectation of the Board of Trade in leaving builders and designers unfettered in this respect, it is (piite certain that her Majesty’s mails are now carried in ships having no such sufficient bulkhead division; and that flic Postmaster-General does not trouble himself to ask whether they have or not. The ship that has such division has no advantage whatever in the postal service over one that has not. We are, then, in this position :—The Admiralty and the Board of Trade are agreed that certain structural provisions should be insisted on in mail and passenger ships, and y-et the latter issue certificates of fitness to ships having no such provision, and the Pqst-office and the Admiralty employ the ships.

Sir Thomas Farrer may be quite right in contending that the Board of Trade should not tie down builders and designers by general statutory regulations, but should leave them free to pro

1 Read at the twenty-eighth session of the Institution of Naval Architects, March 150th, lSS" vide the necessary strength and security in their ships. But this license is inconsistent with the practice of giving certificates of fitness without proper general examination, and notwithstanding that the builders have violated the special condition which is agreed on all hands to be essential to reasonable security. There are hundreds of British steam passenger ships of large size, classed at Lloyd’s, and running with Board of Trade certificates, of which it may be confidently said that they would inevitably sink if a hole a square foot in area were made in the bottom plating only a few feet below water. How easily such a hole may be made in an iron or steel plate of bottom we all know. If the Board of Trade gave no such certificates the evil might be expected to right itself. The Government might then inquire into causes of loss without being hampered by the certificates of their own officers. I feel confident that wreck inquiries would then throw light on causes of loss which are now accepted as inevitable, but would soon be seen to be capable of remedy. The voluntary associations for classifying ships would thus have their hands strengthened, and would be able to insist on proper subdivision as a condition of register on their books. Surveys, assignment of load-line and freeboard, certificates, and classification for the guidance of merchants, underwriters, and passengers should be left to the admirable voluntary associations formed by joint committees of underwriters, shipowners, and merchants. The rules of Lloyd’s Register for freeboard have been virtually adopted by the recent excellent Lead Line Committee, and the Committee of Lloyd’s Register might well be entrusted with the assignment of a load line, just as they now assign the spacing of the frames, and thickness of the plating in the hull. Ships not classed as to load line would be in the position as those not classed for structure.

The committee of Lloyd’s Register now class one-third of all the classed shipping in the world. To it and to similar institutions the Government might will entrust the care of shipbuilding, keeping its own hands free while watching the course taken by them, and instituting searching inquiries into the causes of losses which might appear to have been avoidable. But while the system of survey and certificate by a Government department may thus be seen to be inconsistent with proper inquiry into the causes of loss, the advantage of modern legislation in improving the efficiency and comfort of officers and crews cannot be questioned, efficiency and well-being of a body of men six or seven times as numerous as the seamen and marines in the Royal Navy is a very serious matter. Experience has shown that commercial interests cannot be made to cover this ground satisfactorily. Notwithstanding the benefit conferred by the Mercantile Marine Act of 1850, the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, and subsequent Acts, very much remains to be done before the lot of the sailor in his housings and surroundings on shipboard can be made to compare at all favourably with life on shore.

Those who have acquainted themselves with forecastle life know how seriously the health of the men suffers from leaks in decks overhead, and condensation upon the bare iron plating, left bare to avoid the worse plague of vermin which soft wood lining fosters. Our maritime interests are much more dependent on this efficiency and well-being than on that of either our Army or our Royal Navy. Is it well to entrust it to such control as it now has?

Ought there not to be a Secretary of State for the Navy, having the care of this vast interest, with the assistance of competent men, such as may be found all over the empire? Might not the “ Royal Navy ” be regarded not as the Navy, but as a highly specialised department of the British Navy, presided over, as at present, by a Board of Admiralty, but subject also to the Secretary of State for the Navy?

These steamships, built by private enterprise, are an extension of the Queen’s dominions. Each of them is a new British territory, often very rich and populous. Nor does there appear to be any reason to limit their increase in size. It is conceivable that steel ships will be built richer and more populous than many a famous English town—ships not only carrying for traders, but trading on their own account; and providing for permanent residence as well as for transport. Such-ships must be armed and garrisoned, and must unite the mercantile and military elements within themselves. We have not reached this stage yet, but we have reached the position that certain ships built by private enterprise have great national value. Their transfer to a hostile flag would be a grave national misfortune. It is unendurable that this value should not be recognised by the State authorities. No care is taken to foster its valuable national features, or to preserve its national character. War-ships are built and maintained at the expense of the State which would be of less value in a war, but nothing is done to economise the national resources, which are in private hands, by maritime organisation.

The steps that have already been taken by the Admiralty⁷ are said to have had excellent results in improving the character of the passenger ships built within the last ten years. The time has now arrived, it is to be hoped, for organisation. To Mr. Ward Hunt, Mr. W. H. Smith, and Lord Northbrook is due all that has been hitherto effected. Lord George Hamilton has an opportunity which he appears to be disposed to use. He deserves the best wishes of all who know the conditions under which the next great naval war must be fought, and who realise the impossibility of protecting our slow shipping by regular ships of war. To provide an efficient armament for the fast merchant shipping, and to organise it, is the immediate pressing need of the British Navy, and of the Empire. The organisation must include the engagement of Seamen and marines already trained in the Royal Navy; the seamen for the ship work, and the marines for the domestic work on shipboard. The full pay and pension provision for such men as may be thus engaged might be found by the State. By this means the number of warrant, petty⁷, and non-commissioned officers and men might be greatly increased, without a corresponding increase in war shipping. To effect this it is desirable that the close and vital relations between the ships and the men of the two great divisions of our floating Empire should be recognised, and that their present administrative separation should cease.

It has been admitted that the best of the merchant ships are exceedingly defective in their provision against vital injury from shot, and in collision. The best that it has been possible to accomplish, under existing conditions, still leaves these ships with only⁷ one propeller, and with an exposed steering arrangement from rudder head to steering wheel. Both these defects are avoidable without loss of commercial efficiency, but owners cannot be expected to run risks as to commercial efficiency⁷, and to accept possible increase in engine-room expenditure, at their own sole expense. So also in the matter of subdivision into compartments, the best that has been done in ships like the Oregon falls far short of what might bo done without loss of efficiency⁷, but with some increase in cost of building and maintenance. Owners are known to be ready to build ships with two screws, with protected steering gear, and with far better subdivision, if the Government would admit that these are matters of national interest, and would treat them and their ships in that spirit.

In a paper explanatory of naval estimates, recently⁷ issued by the First Lord of the Admiralty⁷, there is a section upon the utilisation of auxiliary resources. It is there stated that the White Star Company had expressed their willingness to build two vessels, to be approved by the Admiralty, of a speed and strength superior to any merchant ship afloat, with engines and boilers below water, with fittings for guns built in during construction, and, when manned, with half crews of Naval Reserve men. By the payment of an annual subsidy the use of these ships will be obtained, under an agreement for five years, at a price fixed beforehand, both regards hire and sale" This -arrangement with Mr. Ismay⁷, and a similar one ipade with the Cunard Company for three of then-ships, are the filial outcome of a proposal made by Mr. Ismay in 1878. At that date lie offered the following terms:—He was willing to make an agreement with the Admiralty for the transfer of certain ships for the purpose's of the State in time of war as follows: (1) The payment of 10s. per ton—gross register tonnage —per annum as a retainer, when not employed by the Admiralty;

(2) the payment of 20s. per ton—gross register tonnage—per month for each particular ship when and so long as it is employed by the Government; (3) the ship to be taken at the entire risk and expense of the Government when exclusively employed by the State ; the value of the ship to be determined by the current building rate of the time she is accepted for the auxiliary fleet, and a rebate of 6 per cent, per annum to be made for depreciation of value ; (4) each ship is at first to be placed on the list for a period of three or five years, subject afterwards to twelve months’notice; (5) when a ship is taken over for employment by the Government, it shall be for a period of not less than six months ; (6) an agreed number of the crew shall at all times consist of Naval Reserve men ; (7) if a ship is carrying H.M. mails when it is proposed to annex her to the auxiliary fleet, the approval of the Postmaster-General is to be obtained.

This seed, for which we had to thank Mr. Ismay, was planted at the Admiralty nine years ago. It was recommended that i;50,0C0 should be taken in Navy estimates for securing thirty selected ships for the year. It was pointed cut that in course of time we might hope to get in such ships twin-screws; a double bottom in the centre part of the ship; better subdivision into compartments; and more breadth amidships, so as to get deeper coal bunkers abreast of the machinery for its better protection. Under the cold shade of the Admiralty the seed has taken nine years to make any appearance, although it received constant attention. If it has taken nine years to put forth the feeble shoot over which we are rejoicing, when may we expect to see a robust and well-developed system ? It has needed the forcing provided by the events attending the anticipated war with Russia, and the recent action of the Post-office as to German ships, to get so much as Lord George Hamilton has announced, little as it is.

I am afraid that no Board of Admiralty can deal with this question fully and fairly. It is impossible that such a body can be trusted to find money cut of naval votes for what is not regarded as the Royal Navy. What I think is wanted is a Secretary of State for the Navy, who would unite the interests of the “ Merchant Shipping” and the “Royal Navy,” and form a truly national marine.

LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.

On Wednesday", March 23rd, Messrs. Lobnitz and Co., Renfrew, launched the first of a series of hopper barges which they building for the Suez Canal Company, to be employed on the works of the Canal. These hopper barges are built of iron, and are 135ft. long, by 25ft. beam, by⁷ ll^ft. deep. They7 are propelled by two pairs of compound engines, working the twin px-opellers independently⁷, and indicating collectively fully 300-hoise power. Alter the launch the hopper barge was moored in the builder’s wet dock, where she will receive her machinery⁷, constructed by the same firm, and be rigged and fitted out for her voyage to Port Said. Messrs. Lobnitz and Co. are building for the same company a very large and powerful dredger, specially designed for the removal of the hardest strata to be dealt with in the C anal. They have also under construction a large crane pontoon, designed for discharging machinery and heavy goods from large transatlantic steamers, and conveying these to the wharf in the harbour of Colon.

On the 23rd inst., Messrs. Joseph L. Thompson and Sons, of Sunderland, launched the steel single-screw passenger steamer Lancashire Witch, which has been designed by Mr. Joseph R. Oldham, of Water-street, Liverpool, for the Liverpool and Isle of Man passenger trade. The vessel is 235ft. long, 30,jft. broad, and 2(Hft. deep to shelter deck, and is very fine, the co-efficient of displacement to load line being -48. The engines, by Mr. John Dickinson, of Sunderland, are tri-compound, 23in., 37in., 6lin. by7 36in. stroke, and there are two extra large double-ended boilers, with twelve Fox furnaces, and 6000ft. of heating surface. The engines must make 130 revolutions to drive the vessel nineteen miles an hour, the stipulated speed. The vessel is being very handsomely fitted up, and is expected to be on her station by⁷ the first week in May next.

The twin screw launch named the Anna, for service on the West Coast of Africa, was launched from Messrs. Cochran and Co.’s Bidston Wharf Yard on Saturday, the 26th inst.

A large proportion of the new tonnage building has adopted Mr. Wasteneys Smith’s patent anchor, combined with the method of stowing them up the hawse jlipes. This system dispenses with all “ catting and fishing” gear, and six new steamers of large dimensions are about to be fitted in this manner.

Messrs. Edward Finch and Co. launched on Saturday into the Wye, at Chepstow, an iron screw tug steamer, built to the order of the Commissioners of Carlingford Lough, Greenore, Ireland, named the Mourne. The dimensions of the vessel are as follows Length, 85ft.; breadth, 19ft.; depth, 8ft. 6in., and she will be fitted with compound surface-condensing engines of 250 indicated horse-power, and with a special crab winch driven by a set of three cylinder engines for careening buoys, setting moorings, Ac., in the harbour. /

The steel steamer Cabs Perias, built for the Spanish line of Messrs. Ybarra and Co., of Seville, was launched from the shipbuilding y⁷ard of Messrs. Joseph L. Thompson and Sons, North Sands, Sunderland, on Monday afternoon, the 28th lilt. ’The vessel is of the following dimensions, viz.:—Length over all, 260ft.; breadth, 36ft.; depth of hold, 23ft. 6in., built on the longitudinal double-bottom system, under special survey for the highest classification. The steel used in the construction is of the Siemens-Martin process, and manufactured by the Consett Steel Company, Blaekhill. The main saloon will be panelled with floral designs, the floor being laid with tesselated tiles. Accommodation for twenty first-class passengers, with ladies’ cabins, lavatories, and bath-rooms, are most complete and elegantly furnished, engines, which are of the triple-expansion type, are being built by Messrs. Blair and Co., Stockton, and are of 700-horsc power. The deck machinery consists of five double horizontal steam winches, jib crane to facilitate the loading and discharging of the vessel, also steam steering gear, and direct steam windlass with Wasteneys Smith’s patent stockless anchors. The masts are of iron, and of the pole description. The whole of the vessels launched by Messrs. Thompson this year are of steel, besides over 10,000 tons of shipping now in progress, three of these being built on the web frame and longitudinal plate intercostal system, thereby⁷ dispensing with the hold or orlop deck beams.

On the 26th ult., Messrs. Oswald Mordaunt and Co., Southampton, launched a steel screw steamer, the Bonita, of about 1650 tons gross register; length, extreme, 270ft.; breadth, extreme, 34ft. Jin.; depth, extreme, 21ft. The vessel has been built for the Linea de Vapour, Serra Bilbao. She has a long bridge extending over engine and boiler space, with saloon in front of it, captain, officers, and engineers’ accommodation being under same, crew and firemen under topgallant forecastle. The engines and by the same firm, triple expansion, with cylinders 2Hin., 33in., and 55in. diameter, by 39in. stroke. Double-ended steel boiler, constructed for working pressure of 1501b. per square inch.

Naval Engineer Appointments.—The following appointments have been made at the Admiralty:—William J. Pettit, chief engineer, to the Excellent, additional, to date April 9th, and Henry J. Lock, chief engineer, to the Mutinc, to date April 7th.

Finsbury Technical College.—A meeting of the Old Students’ Association was held on March 23rd, at the College, when Bertram Chatterton read an exhaustive paper on “Hydraulic Motors.” The discussion that followed was supported by Messrs. Humphreys, Webb, Pettigrew, A. Chatterton, anti others. The chief interest appeared to centre in the advantage's the lecturer had claimed for hydraulic motors over electrical motors, and it was agreed on all sides that while for extremely, heavy work water power was unrivalled, it was quite out of tile field for lighter work requiring, say, only one or two horse-bbwer.

April i, 1887.

THE ENGINEER.

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

(From our oim Correspondent.)

WITH the close of March, the iron trade of South Staffordshire is quiet. Specifications are being held back because of the close of the quarter, and new orders are small. The accounts brought to ’Change in Birmingham this afternoon, and in Wolverhampton yesterday, indicated a temporary slackness of buying all round.

The quarterly meetings are fixed for April 13th and 14th. Prices are not likely to show much change. The tendency of the market in most branches will, it is clear, be in favour of consumers. The trade concerns itself at the moment more upon the extent of demand which merchants are likely to exhibit than upon the precise prices which may rule.

The current quotations of the best iron houses are indicated by tho list of Messrs. William Barrows and Sons, as here :—Bars, round, square, and fiat, £7 ; best bars, suitable for chainmaking and other purposes, £8 10s.; double best, suitable for superior chains, bars, and the like, £9 10s.; plating liars, £7 10s.; best angle, tee, and rivet iron, £9 ; and double best, £10. Boiler plates tho firm quote £8 10s., £9 10s., £10 10s., and £14 10s., according to quality ; and sheets, £8 10s. for 20 gauge, £10 for 24 gauge, and £11 iOs. for 27 gauge. Hoops are quoted £7 10s.; best, £9; and wide strips, £8 10s.

The list of John Bagnall and Sons is now :—Bars, lin. to 6in., £7 ; fi.\in. to 9in., flat bars, and 4Ain., £8 10s.; 4§in. to 4^‘in., £9; 4|in. and 5in., £9 10s. As to rounds, only the large sizes are:—5|in. and fipn., £10; 5j}in. to 54in., £10 10s.; 5jjin. to 5^in., £11; 5^in. and 6m., £11 10s.; Opri. to 6iin., £12 10s. Hoops and angles arc quoted at £7 10s., and rivet iron at £8 10s. to £9 10s., according to quality. Sheet quotations are:—20 gauge, £8 10s.; 24 gauge, £10; anil 27 gauge, £11 10s.; but these quotations are hardly more than nominal. Boiler plates are £8 10s., £9 10s., £10 10s., and £11 10s., according to quality.

Prices of ordinary qualities of finished iron may be gathered from the rates of tho Pelsall Coal and Iron Company, which are as follows : P.C. bars, £5 5s.; P.C. hoops, £5 10s.; Crown bars, £6 ; Crown hoops, £6 5s.; Crown sheets, £6 10s.; Charcoal sheets, £13; hinge strip, £6 ; gas strip, £5 5s.; nail strip, 24in. wide to 13 gauge, £5 5s.

The sheet makers announce that they are only receiving specifications of urgent importance. This applies particularly to merchants but it is hoped that when April is fairly turned the shipping trade will show improvement.

The negotiations which have been proceeding for tho purchase of the Manor Ironworks, Bilston, of Messrs. Stephen Thompson and Co., under the will of the deceased proprietor, have now, it is understood, been pretty much carried through on behalf of a new' company. The new concern has at its head a large London merchant firm, and the capital is set down at £40,000. Best thin sheets and tin-plates will continue to be manufactured.

Some of the galvanisers keep pretty briskly engaged upon export orders. Prices are easy, varying from 24 w.g., packed in bundles, delivered Liverpool, from £10 2s. 6d. to £10 7s. 6d., and even £10 10s. per ton. Plates are without revival, at £6 10s. for tank sorts, and £7 10s. to £8 10s. for boiler qualities.

The demand for pig iron rules tame, but some expectation is entertained that there may be a little brightening up between now' and the date of the quarterly meetings. Prices are without much change, any tendency to alteration favouring buyers, from the West Coast wrere an average of 57s. 6d. delivered ; Lin-colnshires, 41s. to 42s.; Derbyshires, 39s. to 40s.; and Northamp-tons, 38s. to 39s. For some superior Derbyshire brands nothing less than 42s. fid. w'ill be accepted. Deliveries from natiye furnaces are scarcely so brisk, but production is proceeding steadily. Prices are 52s. fid. for all mines, and 30s. to 32s. fid. easy for common.

Reports from Canada and Australia indicate that there is an improving demand for Staffordshire manufactured iron, and with the approach of summer an increased trade is looked upon as likely' to ensue.

The Iron Trade Wages Board has been called together for next Monday in Wolverhampton, when the men are expected to ask for an advance in wages. They have not yet, however, come to any definite decision as to the amount they should claim, and looking at the condition of trade, it is regarded as pretty certain that the arbitrator will give no advances.

Nor is much more success likely to attend the movement among the colliers for an advance. In the present state of trade, the chances of the colliers are very problematical.

The present condition of the iron trade is commented upon in the annual report of tho Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce, presented on Wednesday, w'here it is remarked that “since August a general and steady improvement has taken place, and advance of from 5s. to 10s. per ton on pig iron has been freely paid. Makers of finished iron, with the exception of sheets, have not bonefitted to anything like a proportionate extent, but as they are generally covered by pigs, bought at the lowest rate, with a better demand and slightly higher prices, their position is decidedly improved.” It is observed by the Chamber that large orders coming from the United States into this country, financial difficulty should intervene to prevent the realisation of the large Indian and United States railway projects, “it may fairly be anticipated that we shall have a share of the orders, and that a good trade will be done, at better prices than have been obtained for some time.”

action of the Foreign-office in forwarding to Birmingham and Sheffield specimens of edge tools now in use in China. The Council regard this new departure of the Foreign-office in the interests of British trade as an earnest of further efforts in the same direction, “ which is greatly to be desired.”

The attractive illuminations at Birmingham on Wednesday night which followed the visit of the Queen to that town included a powerful display of electric light at the silver plating works of Messrs. Elkington and Co. The lamp was one lent by the Giilcher Company, having a candle power of 7000, and was maintained by a current from a Siemens direct-action generator, driven by one of Tangye’s 14-horse power horizontal engines.

The Cradley Heath ehainmakers have entered on the thirty-fourth week of their strike with a determination not to cease playing until all their demands are conceded. Some of the operatives are, it is declared, working at reduced rates, and unless an arrange-nt is speedily made they will all be called out again.

me

NOTES FROM LANCASHIRE.

Hematites

an

are

and that if no

The question of foreign competition in tho hardware trades is also dealt with by the Chamber, who record such competition to be severe from Germany, the United States, and Belgium, and to a slight extent from France also. The Chamber lays special emphasis upon the necessity for wider technical education.

A little more activity marks the demand in the Birmingham railway carriage and wagon building trade, but competition is so severe that profits are exceedingly fine. The Indian and South American lines are at present the best customers, and the railways and extensions which are in contemplation in the Colonies and abroad hold out hopes of increased work later

The Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Company secured an order valued at about £30,000 for 325 wagons for of the Indian lines. Tho wagons are made almost wholly of steel and iron, tho proportion of wood employed being very trilling. This contract will keep the company’s Shrewsbury works fully going for some time, and the company speaks of prospects in other directions as favourable.

new

(From our own Correspondent.)

Manchester.—The depression w'hich has recently characterised the iron trade of this district increases, and the hopeful prospects of two months ago have quite disappeared. The continued persistent downward tendency of prices reported, with occasional fluctuations, from the ruling iron centres of Glasgow and Middlesbrough, u'ould almost seem to warrant the belief that the market is gradually getting back to its old low level, and there is a consequent want of confidence in the future w’hich operates as a check upon the small weight of business which might otherwise be possible. Buyers hold back as long as possible, in the expectation that prices may be still lower; and although there is the possibility that the renewal of contracts for next quarter, which later will have to be given out, may give some stimulus to trade, the position of users of iron is almost, if not quite, as discouraging as that of the producers. Finished iron makers are but very poorly off for work, and are losing even the little advance they put upon their prices, whilst engineers and machinists, although there has been a considerable talk of revival, are still for the most part only indifferently employed from hand to mouth with work taken at prices that have to be cut quite as low as ever. It is therefore very difficult to see where any real improvement can be looked for, at least for the present. Certainly there is no sufficient volume of increased trade in prospect that would overcome the pressure of over-production which, even with the present restricted output, is still the chief weight upon the market; and with the available means of production either lying dormant or only partially in operation throughout the iron trade, and nearly all branches of industry either directly or indirectly allied with it, it would require an enormous expansion of demand over a very wide area to place trade all through on a really strong and healthy footing.

There was again only a very slow business doing on the Manchester iron market on Tuesday. At prices considerably below what makers were asking there was some disposition to operate in pig iron, and at excessively low figures occasional sales are reported ; but quoted list rates are little more than nominal. In Lancashire pig iron makers still quote about 39s. to 40s., less 24, for forge and foundry qualities, delivered equal to Manchester, but beyond a very small sale now and then to regular customers they are doing little or nothing; at present local makers are not disposed to formally reduce their list rates, but they are open to entertain offers at less money. For district brands prices are very irregular; there are quotations still as high as 39s. fid., whilst other makers are openly quoting 37s. to 38s., less 24, delivered equal to Manchester, and there are sellers at even under these figures; but there is so little actual business doing that prices are really not fairly tested. Outside brands are offering in this market at lower prices than last week. Scotch makers are now coming down to the low underselling prices which merchants have been quoting for the last week or two, and in Middlesbrough iron there is continued underselling, good No. 3 foundry brand averaging 43s. 4d., with some makers asking 43s. 10d., net cash, delivered equal to Manchester.

Although the steel trade continues fairly good, hematites are still only in very indifferent demand, and good No. 3 foundry qualities where actual business is done do not average more than about 57s. per ton, less 24, delivered into the Manchester district.

The manufactured iron trade remains without material change ; there is still only a very slow business doing, and although some of the principal forges are kept about fully going there is a good deal of cutting to secure work. The minimum quoted price for good qualities of bars delivered into the Manchester district remains at £5 per ton, but this is not being firmly adhered to in all cases where favourable specifications are offered, and some local bars can be got at £4 17s. fid., with hoops averaging £5 5s. and sheets £6 5s. to £6 15s. per ton.

An attractive feature of the Manchester Royal Exchange during the past week has been a large model of the Manchester Ship Canal, 36ft. long, and prepared under the supervision of Mr. E. Leader Williams, the engineer of the Canal, for the Royal Jubilee Exhibition. This model is perhaps one of the most complete of its kind that has ever been constructed ; it gives a bird’s-eye view of nearly 300 square miles of country through which the canal passes, and represents a distance of 35 miles ; practically the whole of Manchester and Salford is shown at the one end and portions of Liverpool and Birkenhead at the other. Between these points the course of the canal is traced from the proposed docks at Manchester to its outlet at Eastham into deep water at low tide, and the river Mersey, as far as the landing-stage at Liverpool, is shown exactly as it was last December at low water. The model is on a scale of 12in. to the mile, and is complete down to the minutest details of an ordnance survey. The contour of the surrounding country is accurately reproduced ; the various rivers, canals, railways, and roads are also distinctly defined, and the Canal with its several locks, swing bridges, &c., has been carefully modelled exactly as it is proposed that the scheme shall bo carried out. The

sooner or

relative proportions of the cylinders one to the other, and as high-pressure steam was now used, each cylinder should be steam jacketted both at the ends and sides, the receiver, if any, being also jacketted. The steam for the jackets should be generated in a special boiler, and of a higher pressure than the steam used to drive the engine, and as high a piston speed obtained as could with safety be adopted—as in engines with a high piston-speed, everything else being taken into consideration, there was not the same initial and permanent condensation taking place in the cylinders. It was also necessary that automatic expansion gear should be applied to the high-pressure cylinder, and an expansion gear that could be adjusted any time by hand applied on the low-pressure cylinder. It must also be remembered that, notwithstanding adoption quite recently by some firms of high-speed single-cylinder condensing engines, with jacketted cylinders, such engines were not at all suitable for high steam pressures. Further, that the cost of such engines, of the same power, was equal, if not more, than the cost of a good compound engine; and he maintained that if compound engines were made on the lines he had laid down, it would be utterly impossible fora single-cylinder engine to approach them in any way. The discussion on the paper was adjourned to the next meeting.

In the coal trade there is some quieting down, but it is chiefly owing to buyers holding back with tho close of the month in the expectation of some giving way in prices, and it is questionable whether there is really much less business actually in the market. In a few cases there has been little giving way in best coal, which is more difficult to move than any other class of fuel; but apart from this, list rates remain practically unchanged, and at the pit mouth prices average 8s. 9d. to 9s. for best coals, 7s. fid. seconds, 6s. common house coal, 5s. 6d. steam and forge coals, 4s. 6d. to os., burgy, 3s. 6d. to 4s. best slack, and 2s. 9d. to 3s. per ton for common sorts.

The shipping trade continues fairly active, and good qualities of steam coal, delivered at the high level, Liverpool, or the Garston Docks, average 7s. 3d. to 7s. 6d. per ton.

Barron-. —There is nothing new to report in the hematite pig iron trade. There is a falling off in the demand on American account, and it is noticeable that buyers from that quarter are slow to place orders before the effect of the new inland tariffs in that country on the carriage of imported goods is fully ascertained. It is believed, however, that in a very short time the basis of carriage on American railways will be so settled as to induce a better trade in British goods, in which hematite makers will certainly participate. There is every prospect, in fact, of a renewal of the brisk demand from America in the course of a week or two. The demand for iron on home account is small, comparatively speaking, except in regard to the large tonnage required for steel conversion purposes, but on Continental and Colonial account a fair business is doing. The value of pig iron as quoted by makers is 49s. per ton net f.o.b. for parcels of mixed numbers of Bessemer iron net at makers’ works, or f.o.b. at local ports, and No. 3 forge and foundry iron at 48s. per ton net. Sales have been made by holders of stock at from 44s. 6d. to 46s. per ton, but these have been in needy cases chiefly, and are no guide to the actual state of the market so far as makers are concerned. The latter are well sold forward all round, and can afford to wait until prices come up again and the demand improves. The steel trade is brisk, and the demand for rails, blooms, and billets is very well maintained. Rails are quoted at 2s. 6d. per ton less than last week for ordinary heavy descriptions. The foreign and especially the American demand for rails is brisk, and blooms and billets are in very great enquiry, not only from America, but from the Colonies. Shipbuilders are very short of orders, and no enquiries of any moment have lately come to hand. Finished iron is very quiet. Engineers are short of work, and short time is being worked, not only by them, but by iron-founders, boiler makers, and others. Iron ore is quoted at from 11s. to 13s. per ton. Coal and coke dull. Shipping quiet, but likely to be busier.

THE SHEFFIELD DISTRICT.

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one

Messrs. Brown, Marshall, and Co., Britannia Works, Birmingham, have received a contract from the Indian Midland Railway for about 300 wagons also built almost entirely of iron and steel. The company has also about 40 saloon carriages in hand for South America, and it considers that the prospects of business rather better. Tho Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company is almost entirely engaged upon work for South America. Tho Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, Saltley Works, Birmingham, has received a few more inquiries of late, chiefly on export account, but the prevalent competition robs the business of much satisfaction.

The Indian Midland Railway Company are inviting tenders for the supply of rolling stock anil bridgework, including carriages and steel and ironwork for bridges of 100ft. span.

The heavy ironfounders and constructive ironwork manufacturers are rather busier and railway accessories are in request by some of tho London export merchants.

1 ho favourable Australian mail alluded to last week has benclitted various manufacturing concerns engaged ih the metalliferous trades of the district to a considerable extent, and the next few mails will be waited with much interest to sec that the present promise? upheld.

llie Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, in their, report presented on Wednesday, comment with satisfaction upon the recent

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whole has been artistically coloured, and it enables the entire course of the Canal and its surrounding features to be taken at a glance with more clearness than the most lengthened description could convey. This model will be accompanied at the Exhibition by another on a larger scale, showing the proposed docks, wharves, and warehouse accommodation at Manchester.

An interesting paper on “Indicator Diagrams,” illustrated by upwards of 100 actual diagrams, specially photographed and shown on a large screen by means of the oxy-hydrogen light through a lantern, was, on Saturday last, read before the members of the Manchester Association of Engineers by Mr. James Hartley. At the outset of bis paper Mr. Hartley remarked that a great many owners of steam engines did not appear to know or to care anything about the condition of their engines, provided that they kept turning, whilst others, who devoted some little attention to the subject and used the indicator, failed to see the importance of the indicating being carried out as accurately and as carefully as was possible, so as to obtain good diagrams; they were satisfied if it was seen by the diagrams that the valves appeared to open and close at the proper time, and did not care to enter into the equally important question as to whether or not any internal leakages were taking place, or whether the steam was being used economically or applied as it ought to be, which could only be ascertained by a careful comparison with the hyperbolic curve of the curve of expansion of tho diagram, for it was well known that without the application of that curve they were utterly unable to read the diagrams correctly. After describing and explaining the various diagrams, Mr. Hartley, in the course of liis concluding remarks, described the various points which, in his opinion, were requisite in an efficient and economical compound engine. In the first place, he said, particular care should be paid to the proportions of the cylinders for the load they had to drive, as well ak to the

{From our own Correspondent.)

A QUIETER tone is evident in the hematite pig iron trade, though rates delivered here remain at 5fis. per ton. rlhe languor which followed the “ boom ” of January is not very serious as yet, and competent judges believe that there will be a reaction shortly. Stocks of all kinds throughout the world have been worked down to the bone, and these must be replaced. Still, it is doubtful if any permanent improvement can take place until the shipbuilding is busier, and the accounts from the shipbuilding yards are not at all encouraging, though freights have latterly improved. There is a fair demand for steel blooms and billets for export, and crucible cast steel is also in pretty active request; but sheet steel has been quieter since January, and orders are lighter.

Further orders in railway material have been placed. Messrs. Craven Brothers ard Co., Darnall Carriage and Wagon Works, have obtained orders for 500 sets of wheels and axles for the North British Railway Company; the Central Argentine Railway has booked a similar order for the Central Argentine Railway ; and the Great Northern Railway has given to the Leeds Wheel Company an order for 500 sets of wheels and axles. The tires and other work for these orders have all been placed in tho Sheffield district. There is a brisk business doing in carriage building for various English, Scotch, and foreign companies. It is expected that this class of work will be in increased request during the autumn, several companies having avoided adding to rolling stock for a very long time.

In engineering specialities there is much more doing. The success of the Transvaal gold fields has revived the demand for pulverising and separating machinery. Messrs. Askham Brothers and Wilson, of the Yorkshire Steel and Engineering Works, report a spirited demand for the Askham patent centrifugal pulveriser.

Another interesting invention is the patent separator. Most materials, after being pulverised or ground, require to be graded, which hitherto has been done by revolving screens, or an exhaust arrangement with stive or dust chambers. With revolving screens, the wear and tear on the fine woven sieving is very great and costly to renew. Where the exhaust arrangement with stive rooms is used, a large space is required, and then the stive room fails to collect the whole. There must be some outlet, and consequently a loss of tho very finest material. The patent separator is an apparatus, self-contained, wherein a current of air circulating continuously through a descending stream of ground material, separates the finer articles from the coarser, the latter returning to the pulveriser to be further reduced. For mining and other purposes the machine must be invaluable. Messrs. Askham Bros, and Wilson have sent examples of both machines to the Adelaide Exhibition.

The Committee on the organisation of the manufacturing departments of the army had the opportunity last week of seeing on the premises of Messrs. John Brown and Co., Atlas Steel and Iron Works, ^ the making of a large compound armour-plate on the “ Ellis ” system, the flanging of a marine boiler front plate by the large hydraulic press, the armour-plate planing shops, the Bessemer process, and the Siemens-Martin foundry ; but the chief object of attraction was the large hydraulic press now being erected by the company for making steel forgings for guns, shafts, and other purposes. This press, which is of enormous size, is expected to be ready for work about Easter. The power is obtained by a pair of engines of about 1400-horse power, and there are two overhead cranes in connection with the press, capable of lifting 150 tons each.

A Reuter’s telegram announces the burning down of Messrs. Sanderson Bros.’ steelworks fit Geddes, near Syracuse, New York; the damage being estimated at 220,000 dols/ Private telegrams received here show that the damage was less serious than was at first supposed. It is known, however, that the main buildings of the works have been burned down; but the whole loss is fully oovered by insurahee. The message conveyed the impression that

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consumers

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are that the new cement is about equal to the old when the age ot the specimen is comparatively short, but superior to it in proportion as more time is allowed for setting "

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an order for torpedoes for the Japanese amount of three millions of marks, which with that for Italy, formerly given for seven millions, makes £500,000 for torpedoes. It would be very pleasing to hear that English manufacturers engaged on similar orders, and not being overhauled by foreign competitors.

were

the

contracts on hand will not be greatly delayed, and that the damage can soon be repaired. Messrs Sandersons’ American works were established in 1876. Owing to the heavy duties imposed at the United States’ ports, the managers of Messrs. Sandersons’ works in Sheffield found their American business falling off, and they transferred the manufacture of English steel to the States in 1876. The new company took over all Messrs. Sandersons’ stores of steel in America, acquired the right to use their name, trade marks, and goodwill, and produced the same qualities of steel as the Sheffield firm had hitherto done, using the same brands of Swedish iron, and employing skilled workmen from Sheffield. They acquired the Gecldes steelworks at Syracuse; and the capital was rather over £100,000.

THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The outlook in the Cleveland pig iron trade is still decidedly Reports from home centres and from America are discouraging in the extreme, and prices continue to fall. Consumers have already secured what will satisfy their immediate wants, and do not care to commit themselves further until they see what effect the opening of the shipping season is likely to have upon the market. There was a fair attendance at the market held at Middlesbrough on Tuesday last, but it did not lead to much actual business. During last week the price of No. 3 g.m.b. was steady, at 34s. 9d. per ton for prompt delivery; but on Tuesday merchants lowered their quotations to 34s. 6d., and had not a little difficulty in finding buyers at that figure; indeed, some small lots were sold at 34s. 3d. per ton. For delivery to the end of June offer 35s. for No. 3, but no seller has as yet accepted. Forge iron, which was 33s. 6d. last week, has fallen to 33s. 3d. Makers do not yet accept the above prices. They prefer to keep out of the market altogether, in the hope of doing better when the time arrives for them to be compelled to book fresh orders.

Messrs. Stevenson, Jaques, and Co.’s current quotations are:— “ Acklam hematite,” Mixed Nos., 47s. 6d. per ton; “Acklam Yorkshire ”—Cleveland—No. 3, 37s. 6d. ; “Acklam basic,” 37s. 6d.; refined iron, 50s. to 65s. per ton.

Not much business is being done in warrants either at Middlesbrough or Glasgow. Some holders have been obliged to sell at the best price obtainable, and quotations are consequently lower than for makers’ iron. The price current on Tuesday last was 33s. 9d. per ton, or Is. less than a week ago.

A considerable quantity of iron is still being sent into Messrs. Connal and Co.’s Middlesbrough store. The increase last week was about 5000 tons. But notwithstanding this, it is expected that the returns of the total stocks will show a substantial reduction at the end of the month.

The shipments of pig iron from the Tees have improved greatly during the past week. The quantity sent away between the 1st and the 28th of March inclusive, was 59,146 tons, or about 7000 more than during the corresponding portion of February.

Finished iron manufacturers have made no alteration in their quotations ; but they do not find it easy to secure orders unless they make substantial concessions ; for the demand is still slack, and specifications against existing contracts are far from being plentiful.

The locomotive drivers, foremen, and cleaners in the service of the North-Eastern Railway Company have been somewhat exercised in their minds as regards the eyesight tests to which they are all being subjected. Two deputations have already interviewed Mr. Worsdell on the subject, and have reported the result of the meeting to their constituents held at the Temperance Hall, Gateshead. As it is the first time that tests have been applied generally and systematically on the railway, it has been agreed that all doubtful cases shall be re-tested in order to make it absolutely certain that no injustice is done. It is expected that those men who are finally shown to be unfit for driving will be employed to look after steam cranes and other work wherein their defects will not entail risk to others. Mr. Worsdell has said that no injustice is intended to the men and none shall occur. After considerable discussion a vote of thanks to Mr. Worsdell was unanimously carried, for the courteous way in which he received the deputations sent by the men and considered their side of the question, as well as that of the company, before the public.

Mr. Larssen, who is known as the inventor or perfecter of the process of making Portland cement out of Cleveland blast furnace slag and slaked lime, has, in combination with other persons interested, rented a small factory situated above the bridge at Stockton-on-Tees. He will therefore commence the manufacture of slag cement on a small scale, but sufficiently large to demonstrate its value, and to introduce it as an article of commerce. The factory is near the furnaces of the Tees Bridge Iron Company, and from them grey slag in a granulated condition can be obtained in almost unlimited quantities. Lime can be procured from Weardale or from Forcett, both within a twenty miles radius. The finished product can be put into barges at a wharf close by, and from thence into vessels lying in the lower reaches of the river. Professor Unwin has been making various experiments and tests with briquettes and cubes made of slag cement alone and with an admixture of sand. The results, so far as at present ascertained, cement is about equal to the old when the age of in„ iijurt; I’luiD is caaaaa v\ cu iui o^uvxug. Mr. J. E. Stead, public analyst, of Middlesbrough, has also made several experiments, which seem to confirm entirely the above results.

The progress of Mr. Larssen's experimental manufactory will be watched with the keenest interest. He expects to be able to reduce the cost of cement by nearly one-half. If that be so, it will work a complete revolution in the trade. Cleveland will become the great centre of manufacture. Immense quantities are annually made on the banks of the Thames, the Tyne, and at Hartlepool; and inasmuch as concrete structures are gradually taking the place of masonry in pier and harbour works, in heavy foundations, and even in buildings of a certain class, it is clear that more and more will be wanted every year. It is to be hoped the prevailing dulness of the iron trade in Cleveland, which has been somewhat mitigated by the establishment of the salt industry, will be finally dissipated by the utilisation of slag on a large scale for making Portland cement.

On the 25tli inst. an important deputation composed of Cleveland mineowners, and miners’ representatives, waited upon the Home Secretary to endeavour to impress upon him their views with regard to certain provisions of the new Mines’ Regulation Bill. These views, in which both employers and employed agree, are that safety lamps, instead of naked lights, are absolutely needless in the Cleveland mines, there being nothing there of a carbonaceous or combustible nature in association with the ironstone. Almost all the accidents which do occur are caused by falls from the roof. To provide against these, constant examination and a good light is essential. The enforced use of an obstructed luminant, such as a safety lamp, would therefore tend to produce more, and not less, danger. Considerable discussion also took place as regards shot firing under various circumstances. In the end, Mr. Matthews undertook to give the views of the deputation his very fullest and most favourable consideration.

NOTES FROM SCOTLAND.

{From our own Correspondent.)

The past week has been one of further depression and lowering or prices in the pig iron trade. It is now more than ever apparent that the activity which characterised the first months of the year was largely speculative. Despairing of making a profit within a reasonable time, weak holders have been throwing their iron upon the market, with the result that prices have been falling constantly, week after week, throughout the month of March. The depression was aggravated this week by reports from the United States, which hold out little expectation of our iron being wanted in an increasing degree there. Old furnaces are being repaired and new ones built in such numbers as to leave no doubt whatever of the determination of the Americans to supply their own wants. So far we have shipped to the United States this year nearly double the quantity of pigs that was sent there in the same period of 1886. But ironmasters and merchants report that the demand at present is very quiet, and apparently inadequate to keep up the improvement in the shipments at a later stage in the season. Another thing that tends towards depression is the comparatively large addition that is being made to the stocks in the warrant stores. It is said, indeed, that the stocks in makers’ yards are on the increase, and that the iron that is going into store does not add to the aggregate stocks in the country. But while this may be so the production is being increased, three additional furnaces having been put in blast in the course of the past week.

Business was done in the warrant market on Monday at 42s. 2d. to 41s. 9d., and on the following day a further decline took place to 41s. 6d. On Wednesday the tone was better, with a slight improvement in prices.

The values of makers’ pigs are all lower this week, the quotations being as follows:—Gartsherrie, f.o.b. at Glasgow, per ton, No. 1, 48s. 6d.; No. 3, 43s. 6d.; Coltness, 55s. 6d. and 45s. 6d.; Langloan, 51s. 6d. and 46s.; Summerlee, 53s. and 43s. 6d.; Calder, 51s. 6d. and 42s. 6d.; Carnbroe, 45s. and 41s.; Clyde, 47s. and 42s.; Monkland, 43s. 6d. and 40s.; Govan, at Broomielaw, 43s. 6d. and 40s.; Shotts, at Leith, 49s. and 45s.; Carron, at Grangemouth, 52s. 6d. and 44s. 6d.; Glengarnock, at Ardrossan, 48s. and 47s.; Eglinton, 43s. 6d. and 39s. 6d.; Dalmellington, 45s. 6d. and 41s. 6d.

The hematite pig-iron trade keeps active, and several additional furnaces have been put upon this kind of pig to supply the wants of the steel works. The arrivals of Bilbao ore are necessarily large. Rates of freight from Bilbao to the Clyde are reduced, the latest fixtures being at 5s. 10^d.

Some of the malleable iron makers report that business with them is becoming uncomfortably slack, and that it is very difficult to obtain fresh orders.

Messrs. Neilson, who a short time ago were understood to be negotiating for a site at Motherwell, for the establishment of a new Siemens steel works, have arranged to place the works much nearer Glasgow, in the neighbourhood of Rutherglen. This situation will on all accounts be the most suitable. It is expected that the erection of the necessary buildings, and the acquisition of the plant, will be proceeded with at once.

The past week’s shipments of iron and steel goods from Glasgow embraced two small steel steamers and engines, valued at £6000, and four steel barges, £7400, despatched to Rangoon; machinery, £3860, of which the greater part went to Bombay; £5000 steel goods, and £24,010 general iron manufactures.

In the coal trade there is now considerable activity. During the strike supplies for home use had been quite exhausted, and as a consequence the coalmasters have been busy with the home trade, in which they have been obtaining comparatively good prices. The export branch is also gradually improving. During the past week there was shipped from Glasgow 20,117 tons, Greenock 237, Ayr 8250, Irvine 2634, Troon 8975, Burntisland 19,694, Leith 678, Grangemouth 10,612, Bo’ness 4501, and Granton 3125—78,823, as compared with 71,235 tons in the corresponding week of 1886.

The colliers are now working fairly well eleven days a fortnight, notwithstanding that some of their agents have been denouncing the men for accepting the employers’ terms. These terms are certainly favourable to the colliers, as they have got the advance of wages for which they came out on strike, besides being allowed a full day’s holiday every two weeks.

WALES AND ADJOINING COUNTIES.

(From our own Correspondent.)

An export of close upon 170,000 tons of coal from Cardiff alone, and corresponding briskness at the other ports, have naturally raised the spirits of coalowners and shippers, and a good deal hopeful animation is the result. Prices are firm, with an upward tendency. Present quotations for best steam f.o.b. at Cardiff, 8s. 9d. No. 3 Rhondda maintains its price—8s. 6d. to 8s. 9d., and any change, seeing the lessening area of this coal, must be for the better. It has been in constant development from the first levels in the Rhondda Valley, now about fifty-five years. Small steam coal is rather a drug on the market at present, and if the slackness continues a good deal will have to be tipped. Present prices, 4s. to 4s. 3d.

Monmouthshire coals are 8s. f.o.b. Newport.

The attention of the ruling powers to Welsh mines has been shown by the appointment of Mr. Gray, a Welsh-speaking inspector of collieries.

Swansea industries are in a fairly good condition, and the tinplate business maintains its moderate prosperity. The make slightly exceeded demand last week, and former business quotations were at the lowest figures lately published. Coke and Bessemers are selling at 13s. the best brands, but in some cases sales have been effected from 12s. 6d., the prices lately quoted for wasters. For wasters there is more vigorous enquiry than for any other quality, showing the wish of buyers for a cheap article. In fact makers have, I am assured, had large orders offered if they could be placed at about 12s. 3d., but these are generally refused.

The stocks now held in Swansea amount to 162,000 boxes, and as sales are about 40,000 a week, buyers have not much chance in forcing trade. The new steel works in connection with the Morris-ton and upper tin-plate works have been started.

The tin-plate industry in the Monmouthshire district is partial, many works being still closed. There was some dissatisfaction shown last week at the relief being small. It is a great pity it has not been stopped. A large number of men will prefer idleness and 10s. a week to accepting the conditions of Mr. Wliitehouse, which in my opinion are very fair.

Lead mining is becoming a feature in the Caerphilly district. This is the southern crop of the carboniferous limestone. I hope that the prospects will be realised. The northern crop of the limestone was tried many years ago but yielded little.

I have not much of a satisfactory character to report in connection with the rail trade. Steel rails are not in good demand, and the railworks are by no means so busy as they could be. The only consignment of note during the week has been 1000 tons rail to Gothenberg. Importations of foreign ore continue, and average of late 13,000 to 14,000 tons per week. The expectation seems to be that rails must be had shortly. These could be disposed of now if makers were not so fixed to quotations.

NOTES FROM GERMANY.

{From our own Correspondent.)

The dark political shadows, which for some time past have hovered over the German iron markets, especially that of Rheinland-Westphalia, seem to be gradually disappearing, prices have remained through the week, in most cases, stationary and firm, and confidence is returning'. The belief is that with the spring business will settle down to be as good—perhaps better than it was before the alarming political situation became apparent. Buyers arc still holding back somewhat, but producers are not much encouraging them to place orders just yet, because they still supplied with enough work to go on with; then again the Rhenish bar convention, the Luxemburg Bureau, and the South German group of works are endeavouring to put up the prices, so if they succeed in this they would be unwise to force sales at present prices.

The wrought iron convention in Silesia is doing good work, and the rolling mills are now all well employed at satisfactory prices, and the position of other branches is favourably reported upon. In anticipation of the higher Russian duties on iron stocks are being increased over the border, in which plates and heavy sections of wrought iron participate to a large extent, and iron mines are being bought on Russian account. Puddle pig costs M. 48 to 49, best brands of foundry 52 to 54, bars 107'50 to 115, and plates cost 150 to 160 p.t. There is also considerable activity again displayed on the Austrian market. Prices are firmly maintained and are easy of obtainment from buyers.

In Belgium orders come in with regularity to the works, and most of them have for the next few weeks enough to carry on with steadily. The convention prices are rigidly adhered to, and buyers are unable to get any concessions whatever, sheet convention has been prolonged for six months, and for sheets of 0'0015 to 0‘0019 m. gauge 160 to 235f. p.t. are quoted. Pig iron is also in good request, and in cases where a slight reduction in price is obtainable an export trade can be done, of the make till the end of June is contracted for. Large orders are in expectation from Brazil. A large waterworks order for Buenos Ayres has already fallen to the Belgian works. The machine shops report a satisfactory business just now. Girders are firm at 105f. p.t. The Cockerill Company has just taken an order for 1000 tons of steel rails for Spain against the English houses, which were If. to 2f. higher in price. The Belgian Consul, Hagemans, reports that many large ironworks are being established in South Russia

In France the tone of the iron market begins to be firmer. The rolling mills are pretty well employed. Common pig iron is quoted from 30f. to 40f., and mixed numbers 40f. to 50f. Wire rods are neglected. Girders are noted at Paris 135, merchant bars 140, and No. 2 plates 150f. p.t. The production of forge pig was in 1886, 1,196,563; foundry, 311,287; bars, plates, and rails, 767,214; raw and wrought Bessemer and Martin steel, 466,913 t. The production of coal in the same period was 20,014,597 t. The import of coal 8,366,205, or 445,2841. less than in 1885. The import of coke 1,059,282, against 1,131,9801. in 1885.

Returning to the Rheinland, there is considerable activity both in the native and foreign iron ore market, and consequently the prices are firmer at from M. 8'80 for raw iron ores to 12'50 for calcined steel stone. New orders for crude iron are a little more abundant, and are likely to increase before the new quarter begins. There is no question about the furnaces selling all their make for that term, and it may well be that pig iron will become scarce in the next month or two, but it is certain to be so in the third quarter if no fresh furnaces are blown in, which, however, is under consideration. In the Siegerland forge pig has won back again the mark it lost last month, and now stands at M. 47, while Rhenish is noted at 48, basic 42 to 43 foundry for the three Nos. 49 to 56, Bessemer 49 to 51, spiegel 53 to 57, according to its contents in Mn., Luxemburg forge 41 to 43, and No. 3 foundry 42 p. t. at works. In the month of February 137,664 t. of forge and spiegel pig were produced, 30,729 t. of Bessemer, 72,0411. of basic, and 30,295 t. of foundry iron, or 270,726 t. in all. As regards the rolling mills, it is simply to repeat that they are still satisfactorily employed as a rule, while some are exceptionally busy, and have work enough for some time to come. Buyers of girders and sectional iron for structures are coming forward a little more freely now that the building season is about to commence. The works belonging to the convention stick pertenaciously to their base-price of M. 110 p. t., but from the free works the same iron be bought a little cheaper. Sheets enjoy a regular sale at M. 135 to 140, while plates are not quite so much in demand, at 145 to 148 for 5’5 mm. gauge, and thicker. The wire rod mills have still plenty of orders on the books, but some of them would gladly see more come in, as the demand from abroad has of late decidedly diminished. In drawn wire there is a good deal to be desired ; still, a moderate business is being done, and prices are everywhere maintained, especially the export ones. The steel works are pretty busy, and as there appears to be no more foreign competition when tenders are sought, the prices are becoming once more remunerative. Steel and iron billets are quoted M. 112 to 125; plates, 140 to 160; steel wire rods, 112*50; wire, 130; rails, 125 to 130; sleepers, 120 to 125j tires, 215 to 220; wheels and axles, complete, 300 to 325; axles, 235 to 240; and light rails, 108 to 112, and less p.t. Angles cost M. 112 to 115, hoops 108 to 115, and heavy wrought iron scrap M. 117 p.t. The machine, boiler, and bridge-building shops and foundries are receiving fresh orders, and a few of them report satisfactorily, while there is nothing favourable to relate of the wagon works. It should be mentioned that the above are market base-prices for buyers of not less than 300 tons at one time.

There is no alteration at present in the coal or coke prices, but there is likely to be some shortly, as what follows would indicate. English readers will be perhaps surprised to learn that the outcome of the late coalowners’ meeting on the 21st inst., at Bochum, mentioned last week, is that, practically, it will be the Government in the future which decides what the restriction of output shall be for the Westphalian mines. Two extensive old collieries protested that they would have recourse to the courts, but they were answered by the announcement that the statutes of the Association had received the sanction of the Government, and had thus become law, and an appeal to the courts could not avail them much. From some, however, the sensible remark was heard that Government interference was questionable, and that industries should be left to take care of themselves. Whether under such circumstances prices can be raised and kept up for any length of time remains to be seen, but as a beginning the arrangement is only to last for a year from April 1st. The restriction is to be 2 p.c., and the fine 15 p.c. instead of 2'83 and 20 p.c. erroneously given last week.

It is announced that the Schwarzkopf Company, Berlin, has got

Government to the

Institution of Civil Engineers.—The Institution of Civil Engineers held their annual dinner on Wednesday evening in the Hotel Metropole. under the chairmanship of Mr. Edward Woods, president of the Society. The guests present on the occasion General Sir Michael Biddulph, K.C.B., R.A., president of the Ordnance Committee; Admiral the Earl of Clanwilliam, K.C.M.G.,

C. B.; Mr. Leonard H. Courtney, M.P., chairman of Committees of the House of Commons; the Hon. Alfred Deacon, Chief Secretary for Victoria ; the Hon. J. W. Downer, Q.C., Premier of South Australia; Mr. P. H. Edlin, Q.C., J.P., Deputy Treasurer of " Middle Temple ; Sir Samuel Griffith, K.C. M.G., Premier of Queensland ; Mr. Edward I’Anson, president RoysInst- Brit. Arch.; Sir Horace Jones; Mr. John Mews, Master of the Cloth workers’ Company ; Mr. Richard Moon, chairman of the London and North-Western Railway Company; the Right Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P.; Mr. H. W. Parker, president of the Incorporated Law Society; Dr. Riley; Mr. W. S. Savory, M.B., F.R.S., president of the Royal College of Surgeons; Professor G. Gabriel Stokes,

D. C.L., president of the Royal Society; the Right Hon. Lord Sudeley; the Right Hon. Lord Thurlow; the Hon. T. Upmgton, Attorney-General for the Cape; Mr. V. Sydney Woods; Sir I. A. Abel, C.B.; Dr. Percy, F.R.S., president of the Iron and Steel Institute; Sir W. G. Armstrong, C.B., F.R.S., past president; Sir F. Brain well; Sir J. Erunlees, F.R.S.E.; Sir 0. H. Gregory K.C.M.G.; Sir John Hawkshaw, F.R.S.; Mr. Hawksley, F.R.S. Mr. Forrest, secretary; and about 180 others.

Ord. Founders.

.. 30 .. 15

30 ..    15

1 ..

1 .. —

The subscribers are to appoint the first directors ; qualification, £50 in shares or stock. The company in general meeting will determine remuneration.

Shares.

are:—

Shares.

Shares.

R. S. Tomlin, 80, Coleman-street, secretary to a

company ..............

Registered without special articles.

Shares.

200

.. 200

•JHU

an

per annum.

Oil.

AMERICAN NOTES.

(From our own Correspondent.)

New York, March 17th.

The recoipts of iron and steel and its products from abroad are light, and comparatively little business has been done by brokers or importers, on account of a general unsettled feeling in American iron circles. The Pennsylvania iron makers have refused to book orders for summer delivery at 80c. below current quotations. The weekly output will reach 140,000 tons by May 1st. Merchant bar mill output has been increased by the resumption of a few mills which have been dismantled for several years. Mill prices are 2‘20 for refined and 2 TO for medium iron. Puddled bars sold this week at 33'50 dols. at works. Shipbuilders have placed orders for large lots, and the yards generally are busy on contracts for coastwise tonnago. All reports from the interior agree that the expansion of mill-house, bridge and railroad building will help to keep up a steady demand for all products of furnace and rolls. The machine-shop capacity is crowded, and orders for locomotive engines during the week are reported at forty-two. Very heavy shipments of ore are being made, and Lake ore and Lake copper developments are being pushed as rapidly as the weather will permit. Copper is 10i, lead 4’40, tin 22’40. The demand for wrought and cast iron pipe is stimulating new pipe manufacturing enterprises. Two blast furnaces are to bo built in Virginia this year with a combined capa-pacity of 300 tons per day, when the cost will not exceed 10 dols. per ton. Freight rates to New York, 3'50dols.

NEW COMPANIES.

The following companies have just been registered :—

Cadogan Electric Light Company, Limited.

This company was registered on the 21st inst., with a capital of £30,000, in £5 shares, to enter into contracts for electric lighting, and for the supply of electric energy. The subscribers are:—

Shares.

The number of directors is not to be less than three, nor more than five; qualification, 100 shares; the subscribers are to appoint the first; remuneration, £150 per annum.

J). C. Green Ventilating and Engineering Company, Limited.

This company was registered on the 22nd inst., with a capital of £60,000, in £5 shares, to take over as a going concern the patents, stock-in-trade, business, and goodwill of Messrs. Green and Storkman, trading as the D. C. Green Ventilating Company. The subscribers are:—

Shares.

IT. F. Green, 21, Marlborough-road, Chiswick,

engineor ..................

J. F. Blytli, Newland Park, Sydenham, engineer 1 W. A. Granger, 78, Benthal-road, Stoke Newington, engineer ................

W. Halls, 19, Athelstane-road, Bow, clerk ..    ..    1

E. Buckland, 38, Farrant-avenue, Wood Green,

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

J. Allen, Seward-street, St. Luke’s, royal mail

contractor..................

J. Tolley, 66, Cannon-street, architect......

The number of directors is not to be less than three, nor more than five; qualification, 100 shares; the subscribers are to appoint the first; remuneration—chairman, £300 per annum, and each ordinary director £200 per annum. Mr. Hy. Francis Green is appointed managing director for five years, at a salary of £500 per annum.

General Contract Corporation, Limited.

This company proposes to promote and float new companies and to carry on business as contractors for public works, and as builders or engineers. It was registered on the 22nd inst., with a capital of £100,000, in £1 shares. The subscribers are:—

H. de Jersey, 4, Tokcnliousc-build-

ings, financier ........

E. O. Preston, 4, Tokenhouse-build-

higs................

H. J. D. Preston, Now Broad-street

R. Barnes, 45, Finsbury-pavement,

solicitor..............

E. Willmott, 11S, Cable-street, E., clerk........

Hercules Dredge Company, Limited.

This company proposes to acquire the patent and other rights of the Hercules dredge or Excavator, and to securo and work concessions for pearl, sponge, and coral fishing, and for dredging and digging for diamonds and precious stones. It was registered on the 18th inst., with a capital of £100,000, in £10 shares. The subscribers are:—

F. O. Stevens, 3, Beaufort-terrace, Nunliead-lane,

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

T. F. Greenwood, 24, Kidbroke-grove, Black-

heath ....................

A. F. Smith, 5, Myddloton-square, N., contractor H. J. Feamloy, 64, Dynevor-road, Stoke Newington, clerk ................

R. S. Fowler, jun., 40, Glenarm-road, Lower

Clapton................

C. S. F. Melton, 62, Mount-street........

1-Vl. Allying, 5, Ferntower-road, Highbury New

Registered without special article-

Lancashire and Yorkshire Self-winding Clock Company, Limited.

This company proposes to acquire certain rights under the letters patent dated 25th November, 1884, No. 15,500, granted to W. P. Thompson, for improvements in clocks and apparatus for actuating and controlling same by electricity, being a communication from Chester H. Pond, of Brooklyn, New York; also the letters patent dated 20th June, 1885, No. 7548, granted to C. H. Pond, for improvements in synchronisers. It was registered on the 23rd inst., with a capital of £6000, in £1 shares, with the following as first subscribers:—

Shares.

J. F. Sandeman, 52, Queen Victoria-street, secretary......................

P. G. Morrison, 52, Queen Victoria-street, salesman ....................

J. Boyd, 50, Bow-lane, merchant........

The number of directors is not to be less than three, nor more than seven; qualification, 200 shares; but this will not apply to Mr. J. A. Lund, or such other director as may bo appointed by the London Board, under an agreement of the 9th ult. The subscribers are to appoint the first directors; remuneration, £500 per annum, and also 10 per cent, on the amounts divided as dividend, in excess of 10 per cent, por annum.

Leesicood Smelting Company, Limited.

Registered on the 18th inst., with a capital of £10,000, in £1 shares, to carry on the business of a smelting, mining, trading, and metallurgical company. The subscribers

A. IT. Rigmaiden, Seaforth, iron merchant ..    ..

W. Keek, Walton, solicitor............

T. Spalding, 33, Seymour-street, Liverpool, salesman ....................

E. F. Mahony, 20, London-road, Liverpool,

hosier....................

R. Lockhart, Bixteth-road, Liverpool, metal

broker....................

IT. W. Bretherton, 34, South John-strect, Liverpool, accountant................

J. Allonby, 23, Old Hall-street, Liverpool, tea merchant .................

The number of directors is not to be less than three, nor more than nine; qualification, 200 shares. The remuneration of a director is not to exceed 10s. fid. for each meeting. Mr. G. M. Hinton is appointed first manager and secretary.

Malaga Waterworks, Limited.

This company was registered on the 17th inst., with a capital of £250,000, in £5 shares, of which 20,000 are £7 per cent, cumulative preference shares. The ordinary shares will be entitled to £5 per cent, per annum of the profits until £100,000 of debentures are paid off, and after such payment, to the residue of the profits remaining after providing for working and maintenance expenses and the preference dividend. The company proposes to acquire from Messrs. A. Scott and Co., of Paris, concessions from the Municipality of Malaga for the construction of waterworks and the supply of water to the town and neighbourhood of Malaga. The subscribers are :—

Otto Patent Tire and Wheel Company, Limited.

This company proposes to acquire the invention of Edward Charlos Frederick Otto for improvements in the fixing of tires of velocipedes and other vehicles, for which provisional protection has been granted. It was registered on the 17th inst., with a capital of £50,000, in£l shares, with the following as first subscribers:— *G. Singer, Coventry, manufacturer *H. Magnus, Ingatestone, Essex ..

R. Gunston, Loughborough Park ..    ..

*J. H. Nunn, 266, Goswell-road, manufacturer .. 200 J. B. Reeves, 124, St. George’s-avenue, N.,

clerk ....................

C. J. March, 15, King-street, E.C., chartered

accountant..................

J. R. Oakley, 86, Sarsfield-road, Balham ..    ..

The number of directors is not to be less than three, nor more than five; qualification, £200 in shares or stock; the first are the subscribers denoted by an asterisk; remuneration, £300 per annum. Mr. C. F. Otto will join the board after the allotment of shares.

Strand Electric Lighting Company, Limited.

This company was registered on the 19th inst., with a capital of £30,000, in £5 shares, to generate and supply electricity, electric light and power for public and private purposes, within the Strand district and the parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and other metropolitan parishes and districts. The subscribers are:—

John Coles, SS, Tresillian-road, St. John’s, ongi-W10S

necr..................... j

S. C. Hannah, 49, Walterton-road, St. Peter’s

Park, artist...............

P. G. Ebbutt, Lennard-road, Croydon......

A. O. Paulsen, 51, Welbeck-street, W., accountant ..................

**b B. 'erity, Weybridge, electrical engineer    ..    1

S. C. Hastings, 31, King-street, Covent-garden, clerk    j

*J. V. Whitaker, 12, Warwick-iano, E.C., publisher

The number of directors is not to be less than three, nor more than six; qualification, 10 shares; the first are the subscribers denoted by asterisk, and Mr. J. S. Crace Cunnington; remuneration—chairman, £200 per annum, and each ordinary director £100

THE PATENT JOURNAL.

Condensed from the Journal of the Commissioners of Patents.

Application for Letters Patent.

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

15,016a. Broaches for Screw Stoppered Bottles, A. C. Farrington, Diss. 19th Nov., 1886.—[Received March 22nd, 1S87. This application having been originally included in No. 15,016, 1886, takes under patents Rule 23, that date.]

17,166. Engine and Boiler, P. C. Stievenard, Valenciennes.—[Received March 22nd, 1S87. Antedated 10th September, 1SS6, under International Convention.!

22nd March, 1887.

4244.    Frames for Portable Structures, A. W. Tour-geo, London.

4245.    Boiler Furnaces, E., E., and A. W. Bennis, Liverpool.

4246.    Cutting Button-holes, J. W. Reed, Liverpool.

4247.    Safety Lamps, T. Tabemer and J. Hart, Liverpool.

424S. Back-pressure Valves, II. Holden and R. G. Brooke, Salford.

4249.    Cricket Bats, W. J. Tanner, London.

4250.    Bottles for Gaseous Liquids, D. Rylands, Barnsley.

4251.    Cap for Bottles, Arc., J. Holmes, Keighley.

4252.    Lawn-tennis Rackets, W. E. Kay, Manchester.

4253.    Self-acting Shuttle Change Motion for Power Looms, J. Jucker, Manchester.

4254.    Syphon Water-waste Preventer, M. Syer, London.

4255.    Syphon Water-waste Preventer, M. Syer, London.

4256.    Signalling between Police in Cities, &c , J. C. Wilson, London.

4257.    Pulleys, E. E. Marsden, Manchester.

425S. Drilling Seed, &c., J. II. Jackson, Dunley.

4259.    Railway Carriage Windows, J. W. Ashton, S. Bramwell, and J. C. Walker, Manchester.

4260.    Furnaces, W. S. Sutherland, Liverpool.

4261.    Wood Window-sashes, J. Millar, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

4262.    Fixing Door Knobs to their Spindles, E. Summerfield, Birmingham.

4263.    Trimming Lamps, J. B. Cairns, London.

4264.    Steering-gear for Velocipedes, G. Robinson and T. E. Bolton, Manchester.

4265.    Automatically Delivering Goods in Exchange for Coin, O. Melachrino, London.

4266.    Automatic Syringe, C. A. Clapham, Shipley.

4267.    Manufacturing Double Carbonate, A. Fromen-tin, London

4268.    Umbrellas, J. Mackenzie, Glasgow.

4269.    Collapsible Handle, T. Robb, Glasgow.

4270.    Adjustable Support for Lamps, J. II. Rouse, Mulden, U.S.

4271.    Yeast, A. Walker, London.

4272.    Looms for Splitting Fustians, J. Rayner, J. Hilton, and H. and W. H. Eckersley, London.

4273.    Transmitting Rotary Power through Fixed Curves, F. S. Willoughby and J. J. Royle, London.

4274.    Bending Metallic Tubes, F. S. Willoughby and J. J. Royle, London.

4275.    Venetian Blinds, J. Lindley, London.

4276.    Scarf Pins, J. IJowcroft, London.

4277.    Mowing, &c., Slopes and Banks, N. Vincent, London.

4278.    Manufactured Whiting, &c., W. Corbould, London.

4279.    Automatic Ventilating Valves, H., H. B , and J. S. Watson, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

4280.    Inexplosive S ieam-boiler, F. Casse, London.

4281.    Lamps, W. II. Bulpitt, Birmingham.

42S2. Scutching Machine, J. B. Black, Antrim.

4283. Disinfectants, A. Dupni and C. N. Hake, London.

4254.    Brackets, H. Leeming, Manchester.

4285.    Heating Rooms, A. W. Dresser, London.

4286.    Bugle to be used as Brooch, &c., J. Totton, Belfast.

42S7. Type-writer, W. Hcwett, London.

4255.    Brackets, II. A. Done, Sutton Coldfield.

4289.    Mordant, W. G. Young, London.

4290.    Wagons, F. A. Durnford, London.

4291.    Spanner, S. S. Bromhead, London.

4292.    Photographic Apparatus, W. W. G. Webb, Crewe.

4293.    Ovens, F. G. Davis, Birmingham.

4294.    Cartridge-loading Machine, J. Erskine, Scotland.

4295.    Fire-lighters, J. Maynes, London.

4296.    Velocipedes, R. E. Phillips.—(J. II. Overman, United States.)

4297.    Heating Metal Forgings for their Expansion and Contraction upon their Seats, G. B. Nicoll, London.

4298.    Fans, S. S. Allin, London.

4299.    Gas Stoves, T. W. Ballard, London.

4300.    Plumbers’ Traps, A. E. McKechnio and G. W. Wicks, London.

4301.    Petroleum and other Lamps, E. C. Ribbans, London.

4302.    Creating Motive-power, J. Coward, S. Swyer, I. Seltzer, J. Aarons, J. J. Cummins, and S. Levy, London.

4303.    Secondary Batteries, W. Main, Brooklyn.

4304.    Excentrics for imparting Reciprocating Motion, T. J. Simmons, London.

4305.    Machines for Cleaning Table Knives, J. Pinchbeck, London.

4306.    Tennis Bats, B. Azulay, London.

4307.    Tool for Pressing and Stamping Irregular Shapes, W. R. Comings, London.

4308.    New Form of Game or Pastime, A. H. Williams and E. L. White, London.

4309.    Regulating the Flow of Liquids Passing through Flexible Tubes, F. Marshall, London.

4310.    Securing the Tips of Umbrellas to the Stick Tip Rings, A. H. Williams and E. L. White, London.

4311.    Secondary Batteries, H. H. Lake.—(A. V. Meserole, United States.)

4312.    Grinding Mower Knives, H. H. Lake —(A. Button, United States.)

4313.    Plumbers’ Traps, A. E. McKechnie and G. W. Wicks, London.

4314.    Tilting Valve, R. Haddan.—(IF. II. Campbell, United States.)

4315.    Fastening for Stay Busks, R. Haddan.—(C. Ilerschenbein, Austria.)

4316.    Stem Winding and Setting Mechanism for Watches, E. Beaume, London.

4317.    Gas Burners, R. K. Boyle, London.

4318.    Universal Spanner, J. Deboo, London.

4319.    Single-acting Engines, J. D. F. Andrews, London.

4320.    Guns, H. S. Maxim, London.

4321.    Door Locks, F. M. Tarsuel, London.

4322.    Dynamo-electric Machines, J. and E. Ilopkin-son, London.

23rd March, 18S7.

⁴³ham⁾⁰°R SpRINGS and Checks» f- Smith, Birming-

4324. Railway and Tramway Wheels, C. J. Nichol-son, Birmingham.

«25. Stoppers for Bottles, W. A. Ross, Belfast.

Automatically Obtaining Artificial Currents of Air, W. A. Ross, Belfast.

4327.    Chimneys, C. J. Henderson, Edinburgh.

4328.    Propulsion of Vessels, R. Knox, Manchester.

4329.    Water Tuyere, R. Griffiths, Staffordshire.

4330.    Socks, J. Booth, Birmingham.

4331.    Connecting Ends of Tapes, F. K. Adcock and A. Dracup, Bradford.

4332.    Treating Liquors, J. France, Halifax.

4333.    Locks, J. J. Bourne, London.

4334.    Pigments, T. Kenyon, Manchester.

4335.    Bell, T. Lawless, Manchester.

433(5. Pumping Apparatus, P. W. Fritz, Berlin.

4337.    Spinning Cotton, W. Nut tall, Rochdale

4338.    Gas Compressors, J. B. Hannay and A. Murray, Glasgow.

4339.    Jointing for Pipes, D. Baxter, jun., Glasgow.

4340.    Closets, H. W. Buchan, Glasgow.

4341.    Chairs, J. Hunter, H. Hamilton, and R. Crawford, Glasgow.

4342.    Bicycles, &c., F. W. H. Durant, Bradford.

4343.    Rotary Engines, T. Lambert, Plymouth.

4344.    Warping Machines, H. Ainley and J. Holling-worth, Halifax.

4345.    Consumption of Fuel, <fcc., E. Entwistle, Black-bum.

434(5. Extinguishing Fires, J. II. Radcliffe, Oldham.

4347.    Testing Top Rollers of Spinning Machines, J. Jucker, Manchester.

4348.    Weaving Tinned Steel, P. J. and J. F. Dowling, London.

4349.    Grinding Cards, G, H. B. Goldthorp, and G. Etty, Halifax.

4350.    Cases, T. Jonos, Sedgley.

4351.    Currents of Air, &c., G. Quarrie, Binningliam.

4352.    Hoes, J. W. Yates, Birmingham.

4353.    Carding Engines, J. Fell, Manchester.

4354.    Warming Rooms, &c., J. Ileginbottom, Oldham.

4355.    Disinfectants, E. R. Blundstone, London.

435(5. Boots and Shoes, J. H. Smith, London.

4357.    Bearing Surfaces, A. Hill.— (A. Hill, India.)

4358.    Automatic Sample Delivering Machine, H. R. Hayes, London.

4359.    Government, &c., Measuring Rule, E. A S Burt, London.

43(50. Enamelled Spools or Bobbins, S. D. Keene, Providence, U.S.

43(51. Straightening and Cutting Steel Wire, J. M. Wood and F. Smith, London.

4362.    Preventing Smoke, &c., in Steam Boiler Furnaces, W. Gaskell, London.

4363.    Treatment and Utilisation of Alkali Waste,

A. Shelmerdine, Liverpool.

4364.    Bale Fastenings, E. Barrow, Liverpool.

4365.    Dyeing Loose or Spun Cotton or other Fibres,

E.    Booth.—(IF. A. Fov.rness, Belgium.)

4366.    Wiring of Hat-shapes and Bonnet Shapes, L. Azulay, London.

4367.    Draining Machines, A. Le Blanc, London.

4368.    Applying Screwed and Cupped Spring Ball Bearing to Castors, &c., J. Cheshire, Hockley.

4369.    Detecting and Measuring Electric Currents, P. Jolin, Bristol.

4370.    Treating Slag, C. Brand and E. W. Jones, London.

4371.    Caustic or Carbonated Soda, &c., A. Delliaye, London.

4372.    Coal-cutting Machines, T. and R. W. Bower and J. Blackburn, London.

4373.    Automatic Signalling Apparatus, A. J. Boult. —(A. Berghausen, Germany.)

4374.    Metallic Cartridge Cases, T. R. Bayliss and W. Breakspeare, London.

4375.    Insulating Electrical Conductors or Wires, Ii. Weber and R. Schofbauer, London.

4376.    Binders and Printers’ Ink Ducts, W. Allen and

C. Wolfe, London.

4377.    Endless Chain Sicle for Mowers and Reapers,

S.    S., S. P., S. M., and J. H. Turner, S. T. Martin, and J. H. Burt, Lond

437S. Transmission of Power by Endless Ropes or Belts, P. M. Justice.—(IF. II. Lodge, United States.)

4379.    Time Indicating Candle Lamp, W. Snelgrove, London.

4380.    Duplex Press Copying Book, J. Labruybre, London

4351.    Briquettes, &c., of Artificial Fuel, R. Auton, London.

4352.    Driving Potters’ Lathes, E. T. Nixon and E.

T.    Lawton, London.

4353.    Spinning Machinery, W. Mail-, Glasgow.

4384. Tanning Hides, H. Jumelle, London.

43S5. Material for Window Blinds, A. N. Ford and J. A. Archer, London.

4386.    Pipes, &c., J. Bordenave, London.

4387.    Mounting Guns, T. Nordenfelt, London.

43SS. Repeating Fire-arms, E. R. Butler, London.

4389.    Treatment of Furnace Slag, G. J. Snelu , London.

4390.    Fare Indicating Apparatus, H. F. Lake.—(IF.

F.    Nedler, Germany.)

24th March, 1887.

4391.    Delivering a Given Quantity of Liquid in Exchange for an Equivalent in Coin, I. J. Sendell, Carlisle.

4392.    Self-acting Sprinklers, J. W. Brewster, J., and T. Green, Manchester.

4393.    Speed Gear for Bicycles, &c., J. II. Fingland, Keighley.

4394.    Waterproof Asphalting, J. W. Stansfield, Manchester.

4395.    Cop Weaving Shuttles, D. McGregor, Dundee.

4396.    Fire-extinguishing Apparatus, J. B. Hannay, Glasgow.

4397.    Moulding, &c., Sugar, II. W. Walker and T. L. Patterson, Glasgow.

439S. Tools for Manufacturing Metal Wheels, E. W. Warriner and A. H. Marriott, Sheffield.

4399.    Removing Broken Ends of Wire Spokes, E. Jackson, Malton.

4400.    Trap Twisting Frames, E. Morley, Halifax.

4401.    New Shape in Paper, M. W. Utting, Liverpool.

4402.    Cure of Corns, <fcc., E. Leon, Manchester.

4403.    Rotary Engines and Pumps, J. McE. Ross and J. McDowall, Glasgow.

4404.    Air Inlets for Drains, J. G. Killey, Brocklcy.

4405.    Gulleys for Surface Drainage, J. G. Killev. Brockley.

4406.    Combination Furniture, H. R. W. C. Eppen. London.

4407.    Rendering Amber Waste Available for Manufacture, A. Trebitsch, London.

4408.    Regulating the Light of Gas Brackets, F. Garon, Southend.

4409.    Stoppering Bottles, A. H. Storey, London.

4410.    Automatic Range Finder, T. Rickard.—(F. B. Parkinson, Italy.)

4411.    Bottoms for Fire-boxes, &c., T. H. P. Dennis, Chelmsford.

4412.    Stop-motion for the Shuttle-boxes of Looms, J. Haydock and W. Rossetter, London.

4413.    Velocipedes, W. E. Crowther, London.

4414.    Pocket Sewing Machine, W. C. White, London.

4415.    Lock Bolt, T. Latham, London.

4416.    Transmitting Motion to Pumps, T. Bower, F. W. Bower, J. Blackburn, and F. Mori, London.

4417.    Opening, &c., Sashes, J. Hill, London.

4418.    Ship and other Chairs, J. Rowan, Glasgow.

4419.    Jacquard Needles, J. Jardine and O. H. Crawley, London.

4420.    Railway Couplings, J. A. Nortlimore and F. C. Davy, London.

4421.    Domestic Fireplaces, E. Dummer, London.

4422.    Delivering Goods, S. Stanbridge and G. L. Lyons, London.

4423.    Boilers for Steamships, J. R. Thomson and J. H. Biles, Glasgow.

4424.    Advertising, T. Heather, London.

4425.    Filter Presses, H. E. Newton.—(If'. Eaur, United States.)

4426.    Wheels and Tires, H. Parkin and H. Webb, London.

4427.    Gate Hinge, D. J. Olinger, London.

4428.    Metal Pipes, J. A. Brinell, London.

4429.    Facilitating the Shipping of Coal, Sir W. T. Lewis and C. L. Hunter, London.

4430.    Monohydrated Sulphuric Acid, J. Brock.— CPartly communicated by George Lunge, Switzerland.)

4431.    Coated Canvas, J. L. Pound, London.

4432.    Giving First Motion to Tram-cars, C. Pilcher, London.

on.

26th March, 1SS7.

4500.    Mowing and Reaping Machines, S. B. Bamfoi-d, U ttoxeter.

4501.    Machines for Spinning Fibres, &c., J. A. Leeming, Halifax.

4502.    Tap or Cock for Beer, &c., Casks, C. II. Dainton, N ewcastle-on-Ty lie.

4503.    Propulsion of Vehicles for Road or Rail, J. Ebneter, Birmingham.

4504.    Rollers for the Mounting of Maps, S. Bolton, Oakworth.

4505.    Conveying Liquids to Grinding Stones, C. G. Knight, Southsea.

4506.    Frictional Brakes, D. D. and W. D. Napier and A. Kelly, London.

4507.    Vehicles Drawn by Animals, F. Bosshardt.— (P. A. Lasternas, France.)

4508.    Hand Pad, J. Ashworth, Manchester.

4509.    Washing, &c., Textile Materials, E. and G. E. Sutcliffe and the Patent Process Dyeing Company, Manchester.

4510.    Envelopes, M. L. Hall, Manchester.

4511.    Gas Engines, C. Ridealgli, Sunderland.

4512.    Miners’ Safety Lamps, T. Marshall, London.

4513.    Carts, S. W. Drury and R. Smith, Sheffield.

4514.    Hooks for Wardrobes, &c , J. Buckland, Taunton.

4515.    Incandescent Electric Lamps, W. Maxwell, London.

4516.    Hook for Holding Watches, <fec., M. Myers and E. Hunt, Birmingham.

4517.    Formation of Kettles, &c., P. A. Martin, Birmingham.

4518.    Retaining Clothes on Lines to Dry’, W. Stobbs, London.

4510. Securing Rails to Steel Sleepers, S. W. Wilkinson, London.

4520.    Drilling Machines, G. Lohf, London.

4521.    Bridle for Painters’ Brushes, T. Murphy, London.

4522.    Burners for Burning Oil Lamps, J. W. Newall, London.

4523.    Ferrules or Tips for Umbrellas, W. T. and J. H. Stubbs and J. Corrigan, Manchester.

4524.    Breaking Flax, Ac., W. Raux, London.

4525.    Boots, &c., J. White, Liverpool.

man,

4592.    Type-writing Apparatus, M. A. Wier, Upper Norwood.

4593.    Stone-dressing Machines, W. Murray, London.

4594.    Fastening Doors, E. S. Sturdy, London. Balancing Vehicles, J. Lefert, Middlesex.

4596.    Vessels, S. E. ’Purvey, London.

4597.    Oil Lighting, J. Wilson, London.

4598.    Water Bars, S. Elliott, Newbury.

4599.    Floral Decorations, W. L. Maitland, London.

4600.    Salts, C. F. Dahl, London.

4601.    Furnaces, R. Marshall, London.

4602.    Steam Condensing, J. Gilmour, Glasgow.

4603.    Dentist’s Instruments, H. B. Gill, Middlesex.

4604.    Submarine Boats, II. Middleton, Slough.

4605.    Type-Writers, M. de Budai, London.

4606.    Paving, A. J. Boult.—(/. A’. Jorda, Spain.)

4607.    Presses, R. M. Collingham, Manchester.

4608.    Steam Boilers, J. W. Oldroyd, London.

4609.    Extracting Gold, J. C. Newberry and C. 1. J. Vautin, London.

4610.    Lamps and Wicks, A. S. Yanez, London.

4611.    Cross-cut Saws, N. Noudey, London.

4612.    Journal for Driving Shafts, A. B. Perkins and J. Cotton, Bradford.

4613.    Fire-extinguishers, B. Loeb, jun., London.

4614.    Enabling Persons to Remain without Danger

in Rooms Filled with Smoke, &c., B. Loeb, jun., London.    . .

4615.    Brick for Building, R. Haddan.— (E. Ciena,

4616.    Measuring Lines, R. Haddan.—(F. Thiband, Fvcmcc.)

4617.    Tool for Dressing Fur, H. Steinbeck, London.

461S. Multitubular Boiler, P. Hanrez, London.

4619.    Money Receiver, J. M. O’Kelly and II. J. C. Som-merville, London.

4620.    Sheet Metal-boxes, W. S. Llewellyn, London.

4621.    Boot for Horses, &c., E. Grimshaw, London.

4622.    Opening and Closing Window Casements, &c., J. W. Firth, Manchester.

4623.    Opening and Closing Window Casements, &c., J. W. Frith, Manchester.

4624.    Propulsion, <fcc., of Vessels, H. E. Newton.—(J. Merlette, sen., United States.)

4625.    Hinges, W. A. Murray, London.

4626.    Filter Pumps, C. A. Koellner, London.

ir

t.

P‘1

* ThtX Aft

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±j

P'

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A-

M.-

mm

GO

in

4433.    Cuff Buttons or Solitaires, IT. IT. Lake.—(A. F. Campbell, United States.)

4434.    Treating and Separating Refuse Metals, J. E.

T. Wood, London.

4435.    Tailors’ Models, A. J. Boult.—(A. Ferrari, Italy.)

4436.    Supplying Steam to Compound Engines, R. Morgan, Liverpool.

4437.    Self-binding Harvesters, A. Stark, London.

4438.    Drying Malt, <fcc., O. Imray.—(A. IF. Wiese-brock, United States.)

25th March, 1887.

4439.    Furnaces, Ac., G. Wilton Silverton.

4440.    Explosive Compounds, R. W. Punshon and II. J. Maclure, London.

4441.    Smokeless Gunpowder, II. J. Maclure, London.

4442.    Supporting a Cord for Pictures, &c., G. F. L. Meakifi, Kingston-on-Thames.

4443.    Spectacles, G. Prescott, Dublin.

4444.    Looms, J. Holden, Haslingd

4445.    Stirrups and Buckles, J. M. Fletcher, Cheadle.

4446.    Register Doors and Blowers for Stoves, II. Pearce, London.

4447.    Measuring, Ac., Currents of Electricity, P. B. Elwell, Manchester.

4448.    Umbrellas and Parasols, L. Hall, London.

4449.    Heating Tailors’ and other Irons, J. Thomas, Bodmin.

4450.    Kettles and Pans, E. P. Iletherington and C. Carter, Manchester.

4451.    Shedding Motions, R. Bulcock, London.

4452.    Spindle Studs used in Looms for Weaving, W. Towler, London.

4453.    Portable Wardrobe, A. Ha ward, Manchester.

4454.    Looms for Weaving Turkey or Looped Towels, A. Lister and W. Carter, Halifax.

4455.    Composition for Preventing Incrustation in Steam Boilers, D. N. Salmond, Bradford.

4456.    Stop Motions for Doubling and Twisting Machinery, A. H. Dixon and W. J. Gradwell, Manchester.

4457.    Relieving the Strain upon Ropes and Chains, T. Archer, jun., and C. W. Wilson, Gateshead-on -Tyne.

4458.    Brick-making Die, W. Barker, Durham.

4459.    Cultivating, &c., by Steam Power Fields containing High Lands, J. N. Stovin, Welton, near Lincoln.

4460.    Electro-dynamic and Dynamo-electric Machines, T. Parker, Manchester.

4461.    Manufacturing Imitation Skins, <fcc., G. Ambler, Bradford.

4462.    Stop End for Printers’ Galleys, C. Lawson, Dublin.

4463.    Soil-pipe Connections for Water-closets, &c., II. W. Allan, London.

4464.    Self-ventilating Pipe for Water-closets, &c., G. Lawrence, Huddersfield.

4465.    Electrical Reckoning Machine, J. Rettie, London.

4466.    Making and Preparing Umbrella Frames, W. Beer, London.

4467.    Bullets or Projectiles, II. Geary, London.

446S. Chimney" Top or Cowl, J. Morris, London.

4469.    Aerated Waters, W. K. Birkinshaw.

4470.    Ships with their Anchors, W. Tinmouth, London.

4471.    Box Ottoman, E. Smith, London.

4472.    Electro-deposition of Cobalt, S. P. Thompson, London.

4473.    Invalids’ or other Convertible Couches, E. Mines, Liverpool.

4474.    Panier Brot, C. Kranz, London.

4475.    Hose Couplings and Appliances, E. Mould, London.

4476.    Transferring Boats from One Level to Another on Canals, S. Lloyd, London.

4477.    Vulcanisers for Dental and other Purposes, C. F. Rutterford, London.

4478.    Supporting Telegraph, &c., Wires, C. Maynard, London.

4479.    Ventilating Apparatus, R. J. Shaw, London.

4480.    Cream Tester, P. V. P. Berg and O. Sorensen, London.

4481.    Pianoforte Actions, P. M. Justice.—(2’. Cahill, United States.)

44S2. Pianoforte Actions, P. M. Justice.— (T. Cahill, United States.)

4483.    Stretching Trousers,-fee., S. D. Blogg, London.

4484.    Logwood Extract, C. D. Abel.— (0. Korschelt, Germany.)

4485.    Ornamenting Glass, &c., A. M. Clark.—(C. J. Brunetti, France,)

4486.    Carpet Stretchers, J. R. Price, London.

4487.    Utilisation of Breeze Dust, <&c., W. H. Lindsay, London.

4488.    Metal Plates for Boots and Shoes, G. Randall, London.

4489.    Fences, J. Lysaght. —(T. Davey, Victoria.)

4490.    Regenerative Gas Lamps, O. Beegriin, London.

4491.    Propeller, G. F. Redfern.—(A. Polfroy, France.)

4492.    Colouring Matters, H. II. Lake.—(K. Oehler, Germany.)

4493.    Boot Protectors, W. R. Clark, London.

4494.    Steam Generators, H. Nurse, London.

4495.    Key for Tightening Rails in Railway, &c., Chairs, A. Denuit, London.

4496.    Addition to Electric Incandescence or Glow Lamps, A. Barker, London.

4497.    Screen and Heat Reflector to Facilitate Cooking, W. Stobbs, London.

4498.    Skeleton Frame for Supporting Cooking Vessels Heated by Oil Lamps, H. Fricker.—(It. M. Warner, Canada.)

4499.    Lock and Safety Chain, W. H. Beck.—(A. Loyer, France.)

4526.    Felt ITats, J. H. Neave, Liverpool.

4527.    Electrodes, L. Epstein, Liverpool.

4528.    Finishing Metal Plates Coated with Tin, IT. F. Taylor and W. P. Struve, London.

4529.    String Fastening for Mail Bags, &c., J. Cowdy and J. C. Tanner, London.

4530.    Saccharum for Brewers, J. W. Bailey and J. A. R. Greaves, London.

4531.    Pulverising Gold Quartz, C. Tod, London.

4532.    Electric Vehicle, M. R. Ward, London.

4533.    Electric Locomotives, M. R. Ward, London.

4534.    Attaching Railway Chairs to Sleepers, W. Davison, London.

4535.    Gas Conservatory Boilers, G. Shrewsbury, London.

4536.    Drying Curtains, <fcc., C. O. AVolff, London.

4537.    Heddles, F. O. Datheand C. W. Golilcr, London.

4538.    Fasteners for Securing Quadrants, E Nunan, London.

4539.    Cast Iron Axle Pulley, J. C. Evans, Wolverhampton.

4540.    Glazing Horticultural Buildings, S. Taylor, London.

4541.    Railway, &c., Lamps, S. T. Dutton and A. Cay, London.

4542.    Signalling under Water, &c., S. Taylor, London.

4543.    Amalgamating Apparatus H. Moon, London.

4544.    Metallic Window Sashes, &c., J. 1. Williams, London.

4545.    Electrical Measuring, &c., C. D. Abel.—(-Siemens and Ilalske, Germany.)

4546.    Dynamo-electrical Machines, C. D. Abel.— (Siemens and Ilalske, Germany.)

4547.    Dyeing Yarns and Fabrics, R. Chadwick and J. W. Consterdine-Chadwick, London.

4548.    Central Fire Cartridge, J. Y. Johnson.— (La, Societe Francaise des Munitions de Chasse de Tir et de Guerre, France.)

4549.    Electric Incandescent Lamps, A. Featherston-haugh, jun., London.

4550.    Reeling Mechanism, F. H. Daniels, London.

4551.    Reeling Mechanism, F. II. Daniels, London.

4552.    Anchors, W. H. Gales and II. J. Iluthwaite, London.

4553.    Electric Telegraph Apparatus, W. Dickenson, London.

4554.    Firing of Ordnance, W. Kieser, London.

4555.    Boiler Feed Regulator, <fcc., E. R. Blood, London.

4556.    Platen Printing Machines, A. M. Clarke.—(13. Lavaissiere, France.)

4557.    Table Tops, A. M. Clark. —(J. Wertheim, Germany.)

4558.    Marking Lines on Blackboards, J. R. Spratling, London.

4559.    Springs, T. le Poidevin, London.

28th March, 1887.

4560.    Steam Washing Machines, G. W. Harris, Leeds.

4561.    Retaining the Lubricant on Vertical Spindles, J. Gamble, Belfast.

4562.    Lighting, &c., Gas Lights, F. T. Schmidt, Bradford.

4563.    Making Looped Banding, E. Whalley, Manchester.

4564.    Traction of Tram-cars by Gas Motors, T. Sington, Manchester.

4565.    Brake for Saving Rim Bands, R. Winklcy, Accrington.

4566.    Recovery of Oil Lubricants from Steam Engines, Ac., D. Hollis, N. Wood, G. G. Rhodes, J. S. Critcliley, Bradford.

4567.    Protecting Blacklead, &c., T. H. Taylor, Manchester.

4568.    Safety Apparatus for Mine Cages, &c., J. T. Calow, Sheffield.

4569.    Ejector of Birding Breech-loading Gun, W. II. Bx-ighton, Birmingham.

4570.    Scolloping Lace, &c., T. Foster, Farnsfield.

4571.    Zincs for Galvanic Batteries, W. E. Heys. —(J. Beattie, United States.)

4572.    Carding Machines, J. Nasmith, Manchester.

4573.    Cutting the Eyes of Needles, R. R. Beard, Birmingham.

4574.    Furnaces, F. Friedentlial, Preston.

4575.    Supplying Fluid to Writing Pens, S. Harrison and J. Mara, Manchester.

4576.    Extracting Aluminium from Alumina, D. G Reillon, S. T. Montague, and O. L. B. L. Bourgerel Paris.

4577.    Electric, &e., Batteries, II. C. Beland, Lon don.

4578.    PoAsh, J. Baii-d, Glasgow.

4579.    Printing, &c., Cotton Fabrics, T. Hardcastle Manchester.

45S0. Manufacturing Yarns, T. H. Blamires, Hud dersfield.

4581.    Umbrella, <Sic., Handles, H. Workman, Wood Chester.

4582.    Machines for Planing Metals, W. W. Ilulse Salford.

4583.    Dyes, Disinfectants, &c., R. H. W. Biggs London.

4584.    Extracting Tin from Scraps, R. H. W. Biggs London.

4585.    Tooth-brushes, C. G. Knight, Southsea.

4586.    Holder for Photographic Plates, E. H. White London.

4587.    Steam Generators and Furnaces, J. Waters London.

4588.    Steam Generators, J. Waters, London.

4589.    Promoting Forced Combustion, J. R. Thomson Glasgow.

4590.    Van-boxes, R. Neal, London.

4591.    Sizing, &c., Machines, E. Brook and J. Vickei London.

4595.

4627. Applying Bronze to Paper, W. B. Silvcrlock, London.

462S. Cartridges, J. Scliulhof, London.

SELECTED AMERICAN PATENTS.

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

356,667. Dynamo-electric Machine, S. II. Short, Denver, Colo.—Filed May 6th, 1S86.

Claim.—(1) In combination with a single armature of a dynamo-electric machine or motor, two independent field magnets having pole pieces on each side of the armature, one pair being the pole pieces of a magnet with its coils in series with the armature and the

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line, and the other pair being the pole pieces of a field magnet whose coils are in a shunt taken from the terminals of the machine, substantially as described. (2) The combination, with an armature A, of the field magnet M, having a pole on each side of the armature, and being wound with coarse wire in series with the armature and line, and a field magnet M¹, having a pole on each side of the armature, but wound with finer wire, and in a shunt taken from the terminals of the machine, substantially as described.

356,751. Straw-cutter, J. Dick, Canton, Ohio.—Filed Avgust 23rd, 1S86.

Claim.—(1) In a straw or feed-cutter, a knife extending across the supporting frame, in combination with a pair of shafts set obliquely to the cutting plane of the said knife and carrying cranks jointed to said knife, substantially as described. (2) The combination of the frame carrying oblique discs C C¹, connecting bars united at their ends to opposite faces of said discs, a knife or cutter secured to one of said bars, and oblique shafts upon which said discs are mounted, substantially as specified. (3) The combination, with a series of knives extending across the supporting frame, of a pair of shafts set obliquely to the cutting plane of the knives, and a pair of discs connected to the ends of the knife bars, and set obliquely thereto, substantially as described. ’ (4) The combination, with

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the frame B, carrying trough A, and bearing d, of oblique shafts c c¹, carrying discs C Cl, the knife bars D, connected pivotally at their ends to opposite faces of the discs, and the knives secured to said knife bars, substantially as described. (5) The combination, with the frame B and the discs C Cl, set obliquely thereon, of the knife bars D, the knivos secured thereto, and the pins E, connecting the bars pivotally to the discs, substantially as set forth. (6) The combination, with the frame of a straw-cutter and the feed trough thereon, of a pair of shafts set obliquely to the discharge end of the trough and carrying oblique discs, connecting bars jointed at their ends to opposite sides of said discs, and a knife secured to one of said bars, substantially as described.

357,147. Hydraulic Engine, C. E. Foster, Washing-Filed January Itli, 1884.

Claim—(1) The combination, with the cylinder and supply, circulating, and discharge pipes and supply and discharge tanks of a hydraulic engine, and with a valve device closing communication with the supply pipe when the supplemental water is to circulate, of a water tank or reservoir independent of the supply tank pipe and communicating with the cylinder, and serving as a means of supplying or taking up surplus water in the circulating of the water from one side of the piston to the other, substantially as set forth (2) A water engine provided with means for connecting the opposite ends of the cylinder and for closing munication with the supply when the piston is to be moved by the load, in combination with a discharge tank and a supplemental reservoir independent of the supply tank and pipes, and arranged to receive the surplus water when the water circulates, and to deliver a supply when the water is discharged, substantially as specified. (3) The combination, with the cylinder, piston, discharge, and circulating pipes, discharge tank and valve of a hydraulic elevator, of a reservoir in communication with the water circulation and containing a piston, arranged to operate, sub-I stantially as set forth. (4) The combination, with the

cylinder, circulating pipes, supply and discharge pipes, discharge tank, and a reservoir L, of a weighted piston, substantially as set forth. (5) The combination, with the cylinder of a hydraulic engine, of a reservoir communicating with said cylinder independently of the supply, discharge, and circulating pipes

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and supply tank of said cylinder, and adapted to receive or to supply the volume of fluid displaced by the piston-rod from and to said cylinder, substantially as described.

356,754. Sewer-cleaner, T. II. Duffy, Chicago, III.— Filed May lltA, 18S6.

Claim.—(1) The combination of the wheel D, having the agitating blades C, with the semicircular scraper A, substantially as specified. (2) The combination of a water elevator with a semicircular scraper adapted to be drawn along a sewer, substantially as described. (3) The combination of the scraper A, having the driving and agitating wheel C D, with the elevator 13, constructed and operating, substantially as set forth. (4) The combination of a scraper A, driving wheel D, and drive chains a, with the shafts G F

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elevator chains or belts /, and elevating buckets g, substantially as specified. (5) The bail or frame H and chain I, in combination with the scraper A and elevator B, substantially as described. (6) The combination of the scraper A, driving wheel D, having the agitating blades 0, and rope J, whereby the agitator is rotated as the scraper is drawn along, substantially as set forth. (1) The combination and arrangement of the scraper A, the elevator B, and driving wheel D, with the rope J, bail IT, and chain I, substantially specified.

357,149. Plunger for Deep-well Pumps, J. D.

Howard, Zincite, Mo.—Filed October 9th, 1886.

Claim.—In a plunger for lift pumps, the combination of a piston-rod having its lower end screw-threaded, a shoulder above said screw-thread, a second or upper screw-threaded portion above said shoulder, and a collar above said, upper screw-threaded portion and having a nut upon each of said screw-threaded portions, a plunger composed of an upper and a lower portion secured thereto, said upper portion being cylindrical in shape and having its upper and lower edges bevelled outwardly and having an annular groove near its upper end, and having vertical slots leading from said groove to the interior of said cylin-

dor, vertical radiating wings connecting, said cylindrical portion with the hub, said hub being secured upon the piston-rod between the collar and the nut upon the upper screw-threaded portion, packing rings within said groove, the lower portion of said plunger being annular-shaped and having a shoulder upon its upper outer edge and provided with a number of radiating arms having re-inforcing wings, two circular valves, and an inverted conical washer, the said lower portion, valves, and washer being secured upon the piston-rod between said shoulder and the nut upon its lower end.

The Pavement op New York.—General Newton is reported to be vigorously pushing a project looking towards the practical re-paving of the entire city of New York with either granite, asphalte, or wood. The estimate given includes about 6,000.000 sq. yds., and the estimated cost is 5,000,000 dols. No city in the country needs this improvement more than New York, and it is to be earnestly hoped that General Newton may succeed in carrying out his plans.