APRIL I 3,

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

r goo.]

"

LUTON AS A SITE FOR ENGINEERING

WORO
KS.
can be no question of th e advantages resulting from the mode~n te~dency of large manufacturers, notably engmeern1g ~rms , to re:ffio_ve
works
from
the
crowded
CLty
to
provtnCial
tllell
f
towns offering not only m?re f a01'lot
~ 1.e s or expan.
but better economlC cond1t10ns for the
swnkers Ere yet London had spread itself into
worh an .immense area, and when transport facil't'
1 1es
suce llomited and charges high, there was everywar in favour of works bemg

c1ose
th'ng
establo1s h e d In
r~ximity to tho great d istributing ?ent re ; but
~hat was the fringe of the Metropolis 30 or 40
ears ago is now part of a greatly congested
body, with the result that the w?rks located
within it have no space for expansw~. Exte~
sions are in many cases out ?f the questwn, and It
is scarcely necessary to point out that th~ cost
of production is as much enhanced by cr?wdin~ as
by inadequate plant. But apart from this serwus
disadvantage, there are the d~fficu lties associated
with housing and the purchasing p ower of wages.
The greatly increased value of land may not affect
T HERE

idea of being near the centre of distribution has London. It is a town of great antiquity, having
been entirely upset by the far-reaching railway been known by the Saxons as Lygetune, and in the
facilities. Car tage from a Metropolitan engjne or Domesday Book as LoitoiJ?e, but it was n.o~ incorboiler works to the d ocks, or to t he rail way station, porated until 1876 : its affarrs are now administered
costs as much almost as the railway rate from a by a mayor and corporation, numbering twentytown 50 miles down in the country ; for there the four. From our inq uiries, we are inclined to the
railway truck runs under th e works crane, and from view that t he administration is liberal and progresthen ce to the dock for direct shipmen t, or to the sive in the bye-laws there is nothing to vex t h e
clients' works; while in London it n ot infrequen tly soul 'of th e manufacturer, and the Corporation are
happens that there are two r e-loadings, or "break- disposed to make concessions in most directio.ns ~o
ing of bulk," in transit. The telephone, t he tele- suit him. The rates equal 5s. 4d. per -whwh 1s
graph, cheap traders' season t ickets, &c , all tend lower than in most manufacturing towns of equal
to obliterate personal inconveniences; while, as size. Nor has t his rate been maintained as a r esult
we shall presently p oint out, nwst oth er considera- of a cheese-paring p olicy. The town, for instance,
tions favour a provincial location. The present, has its free library, its public baths, built as far
too, is an opportune time for removing factories. back as 1872, owns a Town H all, a Corn Exchange,
T he keenness of foreign con1petition necessitates the Plait Hall, municipal buildings, a nd extensive
in most cases reconstruction and re-equiptnent, with r ecreation grounds. I ts total indebtedness is
t he view of introducing electrically driven high- 65,407l., representing about ll. 14s. 5d. p er head
speed automatic t ools, so as to economise labour of t he population, which is not over-estimated at
and insure a large output in association, wh ere 38,000. The Corporation are n ow constructing
p ossible, with stan dar disation. Our recent series of electricity works, for which they are borrowing
articles on United States competition has estab- 26,000l., and are clearing away a large area of unlished t hat such a change is imperative if Britain 1 satisfactory dwellings in the centre of the to wn, for
is to hold her place in the world's trade. The which they have power to borrow 10, OOOl., but this

-.,

'

GREAT
HATFI~LD

...
;'

.'

.
0

...
. .0

/' .

,/

r.- 8AOCERDLL
W OOD

Anns Htll

''

' .,

':~~

WARD

.........

'
\. ..
I

ARD

....

'o

......
\
0

o,

a manufacturer, because as a rule he is a fre eholder,

or has a lease practically interminable. But rents
of houses and shops rise often at a greater ratio than
the increment in the value of land, and the worker
is thus called upon to pay the houseowner and shopkeeper more for the necessaries of life. He may, of
course, move further afield from the works to
escape some of the most direct effects of congestion; Lut the time spent in t ravelling to and from
the works must be reckoned from an economic
point of view as time wasted, and in the end it is
probably equivalent to, if n ot greater than, the
higher cost of living near t he works. It is n ot
improbable, too, that the man who has t wo hours
or more thus added to the length of his working
days, does not work so energetically during the
other nine, especially if he has to leave home at
5 a. m. to begin operations at 6 or 6.30. The areat
aggregation of people, too, intensifies hygenicb and
other problems to such an extent as to increase
rates and taxes abnormally ; so that it is easy t o
~nderstand that, apart even from the n ecessaries of
hfe, the cost ?f living in the crowded Metropolis
must be considerably greater than in a provincial
town. These points directly affect wages, for
a~th?ugh the sum may be the same as in a provmct&l town, or even higher, the value is necessarily
smaller, and most people are convinced t hat a liberal
wag? value insures not only a contented, but a. more
effictent, worker.
~Ia~y firm~ have fully recognised this, and by
removmg ~hetr '~orks to the country, hA.ve reaped
benefits Without mcurring uiRadvantages. The old

change is being effected in many instances which

might be named, but t his point is only incidental
to our present purpose, and n eed n ot be enlarged
upon. Certainly t he future of the country largely
depends on more economical production, which can
only be realised by more efficien t tools. The sale
of land or a lease in London, would r ealise
a price so n1uch in excess of the price for the same,
or even a greater, area, in a provincial town, as to
provide a satisfactory instalment toward the capital
n ecessary for the n ew machinery and r emoval, so
that great ben efits would accrue.
It is known that many firms are considering
this question of r emoval t o the provinces, and
in view of this the people of Luton have formed
a representative committee, whose business it is
to assist all such firms by placing b efore t hem
facts which commend their t own as a suitable location for manufacturing works. This committee
comprises representatives of t he Town Council, including Mr. A. J. Hucklesby, the Mayor, and of the
Chamber of Commerce, including Mr. F. W. Beck,
the Chairman, while Mr. G. Warren, the DeputyMayor and Chairman of the School Board, has taken
a most active part . Mr. Thomas K eens, who is secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, is secretary to
this comn1ittee, while Mr. George Sell, the Town
Clerk, has rendered useful service. On the invitation of this committee, a representative of ENGINEERING has visited Luton, and the r esult of inspection
and investigation will be interesting to firms who
contemplate removal to obtain more elbow-room.
Luton is in Bedfordshire, 30 miles by rail from

~~];1 c.uT O N
H OO

PAAK

will include new municipal buildings. The bos

evidence of the solvency of the town is perhaps the
fact t hat, whereas in 1872, loans were borrowed at
4i per cent., only 2 to 3 p er cent. has n ow to be
paid. Again, in assessments 1d. in the produces
586l. if a borough rate, and 525t. if a gen eral district rate. W e mention th-ese points, which although
they are n ot of first importance in the ch oice of a
location for works, are yet of some finan cial consequence as indicating assessment prospects .
Coming n ow to questions of more direct importance, refer ence may first be n1ade to contour
and subsoil. The town is on a plateau, with a
slight rise to the east and west of the present inhabited area.. The borough extends north and
south for 2f miles, and east to west 3 miles, covering an area of 3134 acres. Of this only about 1134:
acres are n ow occupied, and there are 1500 acres
available for buildings and works. The n atural
fall is in a north ern direction, and the chalk formation on which the town stands passes into sandstone strata 12 or 14 miles north of the t own. The
height above sea-level is about 500 ft. The n1ost
suitable sites for works are at the north -west and
south-east of the town. alon g either t h e Great
Northern and Midland Rail way, or between them :
these lines run almost parallel to each other in a
n ortherly and southerly direction. I t is the main
line of the latter railway which passes throuah
the town, and a branch line of the Gr:at
N orthern connecting with the maif1 system at
Hatfield, wbile the London and North-Western
Compa ny has running powers from L eigh ton Buz-

E N G I N E E R I N G.
zard, so that there is direct comn1unication
with these three great r ail way systems.
The
more suitable sites, marked by stippling on o ur
plan, are nearly level, with a. fair drainage fall,
and the chalk comes up to within a few inches of
the s urface level, so that foundations for machines,
&c., can eaRily be arranged. The committee taking
charge of the movement in connection with the
encouragement of industries, have the co-operation
of the landowner s, and easy terms will be offered ;
more need n ot b e said here on this matter. The
land is mainly in t.he hands of two owners, both of
whom are entirely favourable to the project. Some
of the land convenient for industrial purposes is
outside the boundaries of the borough, and here the
rates would b e lower than already given. These
sites, by the way, are at farthest only about 12 to
15 minutes' walk from the railway station. For
the construction of works, bricks and Portland
cement are easily obtained. There are extensive
brickfields and cement and lime works about five
miles from Luton. The average price for common
bricks is 32s., and for best Luton greys, 45s. per
1000.
The water supply is in the hands of a. company ;
it is from artesian wells, and throughout the recent
drought no anxiety w&s felt as to the quantity
available. On the hills on either side of the town
water towers are built, with pumping plant to insure that the pressure at the highest point in the
town will be maintained. At the points suggested
for works the pressure would be about 78 lb. per
square inch. Throughout the whole chalk formation the water is very hard, and for boiler use it
would probably be n ecessary to precipitate the
calcium carbonate b efore use.
The follo wing
analysis is interesting :
Gra.ins per
Parts per
Gallon or
Parts per
~1illion .
Total solid matter
.. .
Chlorine a.s cnloridos .. .
Nitrogen a.s nitrates .. .
,,
nitrites
.. .
free ammonia.
albuminoid
,"

ammoma
...

Poisonous metals

70,000.
23.50000
1.05000
0.28245
0.00000
0.00000
0.00564
0.00000

335 714
15.000
4 .0~5

0. 000
0.000
0.080
0.000

"The solid residue obtained by evaporation of the company's water consists almost entirely of calcium carbonate or comruon chalk. The presence of free carbonic
a.cid in the water enables it to bold the chalk in a state of
perfect solution. By the addition of lime water to
neutralise the carbonic ac:id, the chalk may be precipitated rapidly, and completely removed by means of suitable filters or settling tanks. This is, ia fact, the best
known and most convenient water-softening process,
applicable on o. commercial scale by steam user. and
others requiring large quantities of very pure and soft
water."
The scal e of charges for water supplied by meter
is as follows :
P er 1000
Gal1on3.
F or supplies not exceeding 150,000 gallons A. d.
per annum . ..
.. .
.. .
.. .
.. . 1 0
For supplies not exceeding 200,000 gallons
per annum . ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
.. . 0 11
For supplies not exceeding 250,000 gallons
per annum .. .
.. .
. ..
. ..
.. . 0 10
For supplies not exceeding 350,000 gallons
per annum . ..
. ..
. ..
.. .
.. . 0 9
For supplieR not exceeding 500,000 gallons
per annum .. .
.. . .
...
...
. .. 0 8
F or supplies not exceedmg 750,000 gallons
per annum . ..
. ..
.. .
.. .
.. . 0 7
For supplie3 not exceeding 1,000,000
gallons per annum .. .
...
...
... 0 G
F or supplies on quantities above 1,000,000 gallons
annually a. discount of 2i per cent. is allowed, and above
2, 000, 000 gallons of 5 per cent.

It may be added that in some of the larger works

in the town C\rtesian wells have been sunk, and
yield an a.deq uate constant supply. The g.as ~ upply
is also in the hands of a company; the prtce Is low,
2~. 5d. per 1000 cubic fee.t.. The Corporation are
n ow having erect~d electnCity s.upply works .. The
plant now being Installed, costing 16, OOOl., IS for
runnin<Y simultaneously, 18,500 lamps of 8 candlepower, bbut provision is made for. doubling th~s output. To bAgin with, current will be supphed to
motors at 4d. per Board of Trade unit. As to the
coal supply, the works a.t present in .operat ion at
Luton get their s upply from Derbyshire, and the
price for steam coal averaged about 11s. per ton
before the present abnormal rates were made.
And now as t o the (1uestion of s upply and con ditions of la.hour, it n1ay be said at the out.set t~at
there ~re eleven works cognate to enstnecnng

[APRIL I

3, I 900.

located at Luton, some of them of considerable many opportuni ties for amusement and recreation
importance, so that there are possibilities, alt hough W ~ a~e persuaded .tha~ t his is a most important
not at present very propitious, of securing tem- p01nt In the' determmat10n of the locality for works
porary h elp during periods of abnormal activity of removed from t he Metropolis, or, indeed of a new
short duration. One of t he establishments is a work.
o maxim is truer than that r~ferring to
trade union shop, the oth ers have no direct cog- all work and no play, and it is well that men should
nisance of unionism, so that it might be possible, be placed within reach of helpful amusements and
if deemed desirable, to aim in any n e w works at recreations. The point is too often overlooked. The
freedom from this influence. As to the wages modern tendency to specialisation of labour requircurrent, one or two rates have been obtained from ing that a. boy or a man sho?ld have ~o be kept
these works : labourers get 18s. to 20d. per week ; from one year to another tendmg a machme turning
handy labourers, drawn from the agricultural out a. bolt, nut, or screw, necessitates a countercountry round about Luton, command 23s. to 24s. ; ~cting-perhaps some would say a humanisingboilermakers, 33s. to :34s. per week ; masons, 52s. ; Influence. In the old days when it was a case of
bricklayers, 8d. per h our ; carpenters and joiners, "something attempted something done," there was
8d. per hour; painters, 25s. p er week.
a pleasure in the completion of an operation. In
But there are other advantages, even from the view of this we directed attention to this matter
monetary point of view. Mechanics have to con- a~ Luton. There is th.e free library, well equipped
sider not only their personal labour remuneration, L1beral and Conservat1ve clubs, greatly patronised
but the opportunities for their sons and daughters by the artisan class ; in the Plait Hall, seating
finding profitable employment. With boys and 1500, and in the Town H~ll, with accommodation
young men there is, as a rule, not much difficulty for 500, both owned by the Corporation, there are
in engineering towns, but with girls the case is frequent musical entertainments, while amongst
quite different.
Luton has advantages which the local organisations is a flouri~hing choral
equal, and may even in some respects excel, those society. There is also a theatre holding 1200 people ;
of the L ancashire towns, for the straw hat and it was erected at a cost of 20, OOOZ., and in it all the
bonnet-making industry offers a field for women 's best travelling companies appear. For recreation
industry without disadvantages. In plaiting, in there are four parks at different parts of the town,
shaping, or in finishing, pleasant work is obtainable, the largest of 43 acres ; there is the Corporation
at wages which average nearly 20s. per week, and swimming baths, with a flourishing club; there is
which in the season may run to 30s. in some few a splendid golf course around one of the adjacent
cases. It is cleanly, h ealthy, and in some depart- hills, about 1l miles distant from the town, and in
ments even artistic labour , without any danger, even addition there are tennis, cricket, and football
in a machine factory ; and thus it happens that clubs to gratify the enthusiasm of youth.
More might be written ; but possibly suffithe head of a family in Luton can often afford
to labour at 18s. to 20s. a week when he has three cient has been said t o induce manufacturers to
daughters each earning 15s. to 20s . So much for consider Luton when removing or establishing new
the earning possibilities of a family ; the cost of works. There are one or two drawbacks; perhaps
the only important one is the absence of a waterliving is low-much lower than in L ondon.
Building operat ions have r ecently been very way through the town, but with three railwa~s
extensive. The Corporation have been passing competing for traffic, and a. cheap water supply thlS
plans for dwelling houses at the average rate of may n ot be reckoned such a serious matter. No
34 to 36 per month during the past year, and in doubt with expansion t he School Board, which
warehouses and shops there has been corresponding under the chairmanship of Deputy Mayor G.
activity . The type of house most favo ured by Warren iA doing good work, will organise a techmechanics is the six or seven apartment villa type in nical institution for the higher grades, but Bedford
terraces, and for such the r ent is about 18l. to 20l., is close at hand, and London is only 42 minutes by
and these, we may say, from lJersonal observation, travel distant. This latter is a point of importance
are well finish ed, and have moderately sized rooms. t o the manufacturer. There are before noon fiyc
There is also a good supply of houses for artisans express trains making t he journey in less than one
at from 13l. to 15l. per annual. W c are glad hour from London and after four o'clock four
to note that a large proportion of the h ouses are equally fast trains to Lo~don, so th~t it would not
owned by the tenants .
The freehold p rice be necessary, while securmg econ~nuc manu~actur
is usually about 15 years' r ental, and money ing ad vanta.ges, to forfeit the soe1al attractt~ns of
can be found at 4 p or cent. on loan. It is signi- the M etropolis. The ordinary return fare JS 7s.
ficant that in our walk through the greater part of first-class, and 5s. third-class, but Saturday to
the town, we found only one ho use vacant. The Monday tickets are given at half these amounts.
rates we have already mentioned are 5s. 4d. per., Ordinary yearly season tickets cost 23l. s. 4d.
gas is sold at 2s. 5d. per 1000 cu hie feet, and the first and 15l. Ss. thirdclass, while the rates for
water-supply rate for the mechanic's house 1s. traders are 13l. first and 10l. third-class.
per. Household coal of good quality, averages
18s. per ton, delivered a.t the h ouse. Food supMODERN FIELD ARTILLERY.
plies are cheap, a.s for most staples transport costs
do n ot bulk large. Thus there is each Monday VICKERS 15-PoUNDElt Qui CK-FIRING FIELD GuN.
a sale of cattle and sheep from the extensive
(Continued from page 434.)
grass lands of Leicestershire and Bedfordshire.
CoNTINUING our illustrations of the field guns,
'fhe s urrounding country is rich in vegetable and manufactured by Messrs. Vick.ers, Sons, and
fruit gardens, just beyond t he area for profitable Maxim, Limited, we reproduce th1s week on pages
competition at Covent Garden. The market square 470 and 471, drawings and photographs of the carat Luton i thus a busy corner each morning. As riage and limber of the well-known and P?werful
for provisions, it is difficult, even if space per- 15-pounder weapon of the firm . The gun 1s made
mitted, to give any figures ; but the general remark of steel, the total l ength from bre.ech-face t? the
may be made that few other sin1ilarly situated towns muzzle end bei ng 84.2 in. It cons1s~s of an m~er
excel Luton in this matter.
tube reinforced by a strong steel Jacket, . whtch
The death rate is very low for a manufacturing extends the whole length of the gun 1\.nd 1S contown-14.6 per 1000. During 1898 only 65 cases nected to the inner tube by shoulders . . At the
of zymotic disease were reported, equal to 1.8 per breech end a. bush is screwed into the Jac~et to
1000, and the average for the past 10 years is 1.8 secure the inner tube. This bush is screwed ~ter
per 1000. In this connection we would recommend nally to r eceive the breech plug ~f the mech.amsm.
manufacturers, who think of changing the venue On th e j 11cket are formed trunmons by wh1ch ~he
of their works, to get the comprehensive report of gun is s upported in its c.a.rriage. The mec~amsm
the medical ofticer of health, written in the ordinary is of the same constructiOn as that used w!th t~c
course of his administration. It offers facts for separable landing gun, and was fully descnbed 1)0
reflection. There is a. complete system of drainage, our last number (Figs. 61 t o 66, on page 43~ ante
the sewage being pumped to an irrigation farm of
The particular of the gun and mo~ntl~g a~l~
100 acres, on one of the hills outside of the town. <Yiven in the appended Table, from whiCh lt dV:1
Surface water is dealt with independently, the cost be seen t hat with a charge of 1.5 lb. of c~r
of the works having been 40, OOOl. There is rela- and using a 15-lb. shot, a muzzle veloctty 0
tively little crime. There are 158 houses licensed 1900 ft. per second is obtained .
for t he sale of intoxicating lic1uors, 1 to every 250
Particulars of 15-Powtdcr Gun and Mov.ttLittg.
of the population, and t here were 77 cases of
\Veighb
of
projectile
...
...
...
15 _lb.
drunkenness dealt with by the police last year, but
3 10..
.
of bore
. ..
...

D 1ameter
792 10
26 of the offenderR were tramps.
Length of bore .. .
.. .
.. .
.. .
1'here arc other elements which make indirectly
Total length of gun ...
..
.. .
s; ~
Diameter ot chamber .,.
.,.
...
"
for the coptentmen t of tl} o artisan. There are

ttef

"

APRIL

13,

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

1900.]

...

11.9 in.
15 tons
...
1.5lb.
... 1900 ft.-secs.
12
.. .
...
30 in.

ratio of the square of t he increase of dimensions, if

all dimensions are increased in the same proportions. The author next proceeded to consider in
detail the effect of the increase of individual dimensions separately. The conclusious h~ arrived at
52 ,

were that t he most expensive way of increasing

G2 5 ,,
...
size is that in which depth. is unaltered, and t he
17 deg.
...
least expensive is t hat in which length is unalter ed .
5 ,
...
This applies only to longitudinal scantlings, and
6 ,
. ..
upon assumptions in view of which the reasoning
40.3 in.
..
Cwt. Qrs. Lb.
was based. The a ut hor referred to Mr. Hunter's
7 0 22
Weight of gun .and mechanism .. .
paper , 1ead at Newcastle last year, when, as a type
carnage ...
...
.. . 12 2 18
ship, an Atlantic cargo steamer was taken, being
"
limber with 36 rounds of
500 ft . long between perpendiculars, 60 ft. breadth
,, . .
ammumt1on
.. .
..
..
... 16 0 10
moulded, 36 ft. depth moulded to upper deck, and
The carriage (Figs. 76 and 77, page 470, and Fig. 44 ft. to the shelter deck. The draugh t of water
80 aue 471) is practically of the same type as the loaded was 27ft. 6 in., t he dead weight 12,000 tons,
on~ ~s~d with 12-pounder horoe artillery gun, with the capacity 20,000 cu hie feet at 40 ft. per ton and
the exception that t he A.xle boxes have been re- 1000 tons coal space. The consumpt ion of such a
moved and t he axle fitted wilih two s~a.ts tor the vessel steaming at 12 knots might be taken at 56
gunners. This carriage was fully desonbed m page tons per day, which, assuming the cons umption to
412 ante.
.
be 1. 5 lb. per horse-power per h{)ur, would give
The limber (Figs. 79 and ~0) IS made of steel 3500 indicated hor se-power.
The aut hor took
plates and angles, and consists of a framewor.k these figures for determining t hose for vesseh of
attached to an axle by means of brackets. I~ IS large dimensions. He assumed form, 8peed, coal
provided with a trail hook at. the rear for attachmg per indicated horse-power, distance, cargo carried,
the gun carriage for ~ravelhng. At the. front are and stability to be constant, and it was also
two eyelets with chams for the hookmg on of assumed t hat the centre of gravity of the fully
the swingletre~s of the harness.. Underneath t he equipped ship would vary in height in direct
splinter bar 1s a sock et whiCh s upports t he proportion to the variation of depth. It was pointed
pole, and to this is hinged t~e prop. Footsteps out that, under the conditions, length has no effect
are provided fo.r the conveni~nce of t he n~en on t he value of t he metacentre, but length had to be
mounting the hmber. The hmber box, wluch taken into account for strength purposes, and it
is riveted on to the frame, is divided into 12 par- was considered t hat the simplest assumption would
titions nine of which receive t he amm unition be to make length a constant multiple of the dept h.
carrier' arch, and the remaining t hree serve as re- Vessels whose draught could be increased with
ceptacles for tool-boxes and small ~tores. The end increase of size will carry more dead weight than
of the box is closed by a door which, when open , those of t he same size with a constan t draught.
is supported by two chains, and ser ves as a shelf This was obvious, but there were two impor tant
for the men handling the ammunition. The ammu- questions t hat arose in relation to t hese consideranition carriers are constructed of wood, strengthened tions. The first was whether, with constant draught,
by steel bands and angle-pieces. Each carrier holds the larger vessel would b e more profitable than the
four projectiles, four c~arges, and necessa:ry fuses smaller. Comparative costs for carrying a ton of
and primers. The pole IS made of steel tu bmg, and cargo 5000 nautical miles had been worked ou t and
is telescopic, so that it can be shortened. .~he were given in a Table by which it appeared t hat
limber may, therefore, serve as an ammunitiOn for dead weight cargoes, unless draught of water be
wagon behind another limber.
increased wit h increase of dimensions, the cost of
(To be conti nued. )
freight increases with increase of dimensions. The
second question w~s : If draught be increased proportionately to t he other dimensions, is the large veRsel
THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL
more profitable than t he smaller 1 By means of
ARCHITECTS.
another
Table
it
was
shown
that
if
draught
be
inIN our last issue we gave an account of the first
creased
proportionately
to
increase
of
dimension
s
day's sitting of t he recent meeting of the Institution
of Ntlval Architects. At the morning meeting on the t he cargo can be carried at a steadily decreasing cost
as
size
increases.
A
700-ft.
ship
would
carry
12
tons
second day, Thursday, April 5, the first paper taken
for t he same cost as a 500-ft. ship would carry
was a contribution by Professor J. H . Bilos on
10 tons. I f, however, draught remained constant,
LARGE CARGO STEA1\fERS.
t he 700-ft . ship would carry 7. 7 tons ab the same
The author said that increase of size of cargo cost that t he 500-ft. ship would carry 10 tons. The
steamers has been accompanied by a reduction in above figures measured efficiency on the assumpthe cost of carrying. The metacentre varies ap- tion that earning power depended on weight
proximately as the depth of the ship, when the ratios carried, but assuming t hat t he total capacity of the
of breadth, draught, and depth a re unaltered. ship was a measure of earning p ower, then the reTo carry a. full cargo of a given density the draught spective total working expenses must be related to
of a ship must be increased approximately in the t he capacities of the ships. From figures given,
same utio a.s the depth. If this is not done cargoes under these circumstances, it was seen that the
of less density must be carried or there must be cost of carrying 1, 000,000 cu hie feet of cargo deempty spaces in the ship. It seemed reasonable creased with increase of size, provided that the
to assume that experience had taught shipowrrers density of t he cargo was not sufficien t to load the
what was the most profitable ratio of capacity to ship below practicable limits. The depths of harweight carrying, and in oCinsequence the further bours would, therefore, inftuence the density of
increase of beam and depth is dependen t on t he cargo, a harbour having only 27 ft. 6 in. depth of
possibility of obtaining sufficient draught of water water would not allow a ship of 700 ft . long to be
in the ports and docks to which they t rade. The fully loaded. It was seen, t herefore, that increase
main question the author considered was : What is of size of t he ship of t he type assumed was profitthe effect of increased draught upon the working able in a trade where dead weight cargoes of 70 ft .
expenses of steamers of increased dimensions, and per ton were carried, draught b eing increased prowhat are the losses invol ved in t hese larger s izes portionately wit h other dimensions. Increase of
if draught is not increased 1 Increase of length size is unprofitable in such t rades, unless accomdoes not affect either stabilit.y or ratio of capacity panied by increase of draught of water. Lastly,
to deadweight but is dominated by strength con- incr ease of size, wit hout incr ease of draught, is prosiderations and by facilities of docks and wharves. fitable in t rades where cargo is of a density
I.t has been the. practice, in determining t he scant- gradually reducing with increase of size.
hngs of large ships, to find t he stresses to which t hey
The discussion on t his paper was opened by Mr.
would be subjected if placed in equilibrium on the H. H. West, who regr etted t hat Mr. H unter was
cre~t of a. wave in which every particle is momen- not present to speak on t he subject. He pointed
tarily at rest, t he length of t he wave being t he out that t he paper dealt with t he largest t ype of
same ~s that of t he ship, and t he height being one- cargo ship such as could only be used in the Atlantic
twentieth of the wave in length. The maximum trade. From what had been said it would be seen
stress permissible in such conditions is determined that at present ships of 500 ft. and upwards would,
~y experience. If it is considered desirable n ot to on the author's bases of comparison, be limited to
mcrease this stress with increase of dimensions t he Atlantic trade. I t , therefore, became interestthen, as ha-s been shown by t he late Mr. Willia~ ing to see if it wer e possible to revise the author's
Froude, the sc.a.ntlin.gs which ar~ determined by method and go to ships with smSJ.ller dimens ions.
the above consideratiOn must be Incre~sed in t he The author hacl 5aid t hat expenses did n ot increase
Length of chamber . .

Maximum pressure 10 chamber
Weight of cb~nge
...

Muzzle velo01ty
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Rounds per mi!Jute .. .
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Length of recml

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Track of wheels.
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with size, and no doubt it cost. less .to p rope~ a

given unit of cargo wit h a l.arge-size ship than w1th
a small one. The propulsiOn expenses were? however corn parati vely small, and t herefore d td n ot
tell the whole tale. Other commercial considerat ions decreased with a large ship, insurance,
brokerage, and stowage being all cheaper. The
author had said that it seemed r easonable to
assume that shipowners had fo.und out t~e most
profitable ratio of capacity to weigh t carry1~g, and
if t hey had not t hen the most profitable ratLO coul~
be obtained by increasing heam an~ dep~h un til
they had. Mr. West did not agree w1th t his statement, and fail ed to see any fitness between t he
elements mentioned.
Indeed, t h ey constantly
change with different trades and ~ifferent perio~s
of time. I t was assumed, also, In t he paper 1n
estimating t he centre of gravity of t he machinery
that the stroke of t he engines and the diameter. of
t he boilers would vary as t he depth of the ship .
These assumptions were not very likely to agree
with t he facts, but they would approximate to
t hem as t he weight of the machinery would be
small compared wit h t he total displacement . Mr.
West agreed that t he machinery would not have
much effect on the metacentre of a loaded ship,
but t he case of a light vessel had to be considered
and then the position of th e machinery would be. a
considera ble item. Generally the larger t he slup
the lower t he centre of gravity in the machinery
compared to t he hull, and t his was especially the
ca.sewith twin scre ws. Professor Biles, had lamented
t he absence of information as to t he metacentrio
height of loaded ships. Mr. West had often tried to
persuade owners to spend the t wo hours necessary
to find out the centre of gravity of t he cargo in the
vessel. The metacentric height of t he ship itself
would b e known, but for the loaded vessel it was
necessary to find t he centre of gravity of t he whole.
The aut hor had discussed in a scientific manner the
strength of scantlings ; but, as a matter of fact, the
question was not deal t wit h by the shipbuilder
with such great nicety. Whilst speaking upon this
matter, he would state that it would be better to
give t he shipbuilder a freer hand with regard to
scantlings ; at the present they were too much
bound by the rules of the r egistration societies.
The great p oint, however, brought out by Professor
Biles' paper was the limitations that were put upon
t he shipbuilder by t he comparative shallowness of
harbours. Nothing could be done, however, un til
the civil engineers gave greater draught of water,
say up to 40ft.
Mr. Purvis, on first r eading the paper, h ad
t hought it a p ity tha.t the author had not worked
out some constants for t he guidance of designers.
On further consideration he had concluded, h owever, that the broader basis on which t he paper
had been placed wBt_s desirable, as it led to fuller
range of discussion. H e thought the author's
results, as presented in the Table, were less favourable than would be obtained in actual practice, t he
larger steamers gave more advantageous results,
due to increase of speed, t he gain in r apidity of
transit was often greater t han the extra expense
involved.
Mr. Laeisz, speaking from the shipowners' point
of view, bore testimony to the value of the paper,
and it would be more appr eciated as it gave results
in terms t hat would be easily understood, viz., s. d.
He would ask the author, however, whether he had
taken into con sideration the increased price per
ton which shipbuilders charge for t he very largest
steamers. When vessels of t he enormous size that
was becoming fashionable had to be built, the price
did not decrease per ton as it did wit h the increase
of size wit hin moderate dimensions. He was
hardly in agreement wit h the author t hat shipowners knew what were t he most profitable draughts.
In fact, they were constantly changing t heir minds.
If that was so with r egular lines, how tnuch more
so would it be the case wit h ordinary cargo vessels.
In his port, Hamburg, the depth of water varied,
but they had a plan of getting big ships up to a
certain point in the river, and then tran sferring
some of t he cargo. They had a complete system of
lighters and tugs, by which they could take out
cargo enough to reduce the draught 3 ft. or 4 ft.;
and this could be done at s mall cost, so t hat the
vessels could be brought up to the docks. Naturaliy
such a plan could not be followed in many ports :
for instance, in New York it would be impossible
to g~t lighters over the bar for transferring cargo
outside Sandy Hook. In regard to the metacentric
height of loaded ships, and what Mr. Westha.d said

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

470

[ APRIL I 3, 1900.

15-POUNDER QUICK-FIRING FIELD GUN AND LIJ\1BER.

CONSTRUCTED BY MESSRS. VI CKERS,

SONS, AND MAXIM, LIMITED, AT THEIR ERITH vVORKS, KENT.

(For Description, see Page 468.)

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Fig 78

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Fig. 79.

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724 .

some years ago, he allowed a shipbuilder to make

some experiments with one of his loaded vessels.
He had received a very neat report, which was
interesting reading, and it had been treasured
among the archives of the firm, where it had r emained. Its practical utility was not very great,
as vessels of t hat character had not since been used.
Mr. Angier spoke as one practically engaged
with the working of steamers. He agreed that
shipowners were as much undecided as any constructor what should be the best dimensions to
give to vessels. The point t hat appeared strange
was how n1uch fashion influenced the matter. As
an example, it might be stated that at the present
t ime a deep-draught ship was almost unsaleable.
rrhe Spaniards, who were now a good deal in
the market, would hardly take a vessel with a
draught of over 20 ft . In r egard to this matter of

draught, he thought shipowners went too much by

hearsay, the trader did not r eally make sure of his
facts. Very light draught was not so essential as was
often thought, and 24 ft. 6 in. was admissable for
all but a very few harbours, considering t he possibility of lightening by lighterage. His experience led him t o conclude that t he reduction of cost
of carrying by increase in size of the vessel was a
good deal exaggerated, and he differed from those
who considered that t he ratio of upkeep was so
much less with large ships. It was greatly a question of areas. 'Vith bigger surfaces to scrape and
pA.int more hands were required. He agreed, however, that the cost of navigation with large ships
was proportionately less t han with small ones, but
unless an owner wants his vessel to rust and go
to the bad, he m ust provide upkeep expenses pro
J'(( tc" with increase of size. In regard to what !VIr.

West had said about owners giving facilities to

constructors for obtaining professional . data, he
thoucrht t hat if the shipbuilders were a httle more
insisten t in this matter, they would oftener get
their own way. If the constructora would take
t he trouble to find out when the ship was ready,
he t hought t he owners would be willing to delay
t
t he vessel a short time for the purpose.
Mr. A. Denny wished to correct a statemen
made by Mr. West. I t did not take tw? h?urs to
find t he metacentric height of a loaded slnp; ~fact,
t he operation had been performed in 20 m~nu~~
If shipownera would be more complacent m
matter they would crain a great deal and lose
nothing. Professor bBiles had assumed a metacentric height of 1.4 ft., the G.M. ; was ho;~v~r, a
matter of opinion. I t might be less, u m ta0
smaller steamer should be larger. In regard

APRIL I

3,

1900.]

f: N G l N ~ E R I N G.

471

ment of stanchions and Learns, had been in

15-POUNDER QUICK-FIRING FIELD GUN AND LI fBER. J.\.Ir. Holt's mind for many years past, and he now
The speaker believed
saw his ideas realised.
CON TRUCTED BY f\IE R . VICKERR, SON , AND f\IAXI.M, Lll)liTED.
these features were a step in the right direction,
as t hey gave a freer hold and stronger support to
(For Desc>ipt ion, see Page 468.)
the decks. 'Vhether this was obtained at some
cost of weight had to be considered ; for his
own part he believed that the weight of the
decks and stanchions, with this arrangement, was
increased. The double purpose of the stanchions
as ties and struts has been mentioned. The
speaker did not attach much importance to this, for
t.he stanchions could hardly act as ties, otherwise
the attachments which were small would come
adrift; that was a thing, however, which eeldom
occurred unless the ship got aground and was subjected to quite unusual stresses. He therefore
looked on the stanchions as being purely pillars, as
their name indicated. The form of rudder had considerable lateral rigidity as compared to the orditern posts and rudders had
nary construction.
very little rigidity sideways usually, as was shown
by the wear of the rudder pins. It was satisfactory to find that Mr. Holt had got over that difficulty. This form of rudd er had, however, been
adopted in other vessels previously, notably in the
case of the City of Patis, the City of New York,
and several Admiralty vessels. In r egard to the
rudder itself affording buoyancy, he would not be
inclined to attach much importance to that feature,
as he thought there must necessarily be some leakage, and in time the rudd er would fill with water.
ln regard to the question of vibration, Messrs. Hen
dorson had adopted another form to get over vibration. His experience in former days with millwright
work taught him that when it was desirable to avoid
vibration with a vertical shaft it was well not to
support it at the bottom by a footstep bearing, but
to suspend it by a bearing from above. The spacFw. 80. VICKERS 15-PouNDER QtncK-FIRING FIELD GUN.
ing of frames 3 ft. apart was not new, the Montana
andDacota were built in this way, and in Admiralty
designs the 3-ft. spacing had been exceeded. F or
what had been said about fashion governing the so deep. 'Ihere was, however, this to be said, that his own part he saw no reason why 3ft. should not
dimensions of steamers, there is no doubt it had if ships were made of deep draught, they need not be adopted as the distance for frames being apart,
led to an increase of beam, and therefore a less be loaded to their full capacity. His subject, how- if the framing were made strong enough and longiproportional depth. Mr. West had spoken of the ever, was the cost of transportation in large quan- tudina.l supports were introduced sufficiently for the
registration societies limiting designers in their tities, and for this the growing practice was to purpose. H e remembered that Mr. Holt used to
ee]ection of scantling. Speaking for the society increase the size of ships. He agteed that the have single-riveted lands, and he would be glad to
with which he, 1\ir. Denny, was connected, he variations allowed by the r egistration societies were know whether he had adopted double riveting for
claimed that they allowed as much latitude as was considerable, and, indeed, the shipbuilders' diffi- these fastenings. Internal stringers were incon
consistent with due strength. He thought the culty was to know what variations would be allowed. venient, and this had been got over by the intermoral of the paper rested in an appeal to the There was one thing, however. that seemed fairly costal stringer. He would point out that there
managers of docks, and doubtless that dock constant; the registration societies did not put any was no deck plan in the paper, it would be an adwould be the most successful which took time by obstacle in the way of an increase of scantling, but vantage if this were added so as to show the conthe forelock and gave a deeper draught. If an it was very difficult to get them to agree to a de- tinuity of deck girders when they came to the
example were needed of what should be done, he crease. As to the increased cost of very large ships, engine and boiler spaces. H e did not agree with
would refer to the past history of the River Clyde ; referred to by Mr. Laeisz, he had made inquiries leaving out cement. He had probably been into
his father had told him that., in his young days, a before carrying out his calculations for the paper, as many double-bottoms as most members present,
man could wade across the river at Bowling.
and the figures gi\"'en were what could be done in a but he had never gone into one ballast tank that
Mr. Mflrte11, also referring to Mr. West's com- certain time. The reason t hat very big ships were was quite free from water even when pumped down
plaint, that the registration societies curtailed the dearer, was because they tread so very closely on as close as p ossible. In any case mischief would
ltbetties of the designer, by too narrow limitation the limit of capabilities of the yards, the ratio of be done to the rivet heads, and, therefore, he would
of scantling, said that statement now no longer price did not increase with the size of a ship within have them protected by cement. In regard to cost
a;>plied. It might have been true at a former the capacity of shipyard plant ; but when the various of upkeep he would point out that in the present
period, but in the present day shipbuilders could harbour authorities give Rufficient depth of water, day of smaller-diameter propellers engines were run
range within wide limits. The only thing done 700-ft. ships, with proportionate draugh t, will be at a higher number of revolutions. This would
was to insist on a certain necessary standard of within the capacity of ordinary shipyards, as they throw additional stresses on them and there would
strength. The regulations were not n ow framed will have to increaEe their facilities propor tionately. be more wear and tear.
Mr. Dutton said that Mr. West had so well
as they were at ono time, and he held that the
INNOVATIONS IN MoDERN SHIPBUILDING.
covered the ground there was little more to say.
rules met the requirements of every shipbuilder.
A paper by Mr. A. B. Wortley, entitled "The He spoke as represen t ing the British Corporation
Professor Biles, in replying to the discussion,
regretted that there had not been more shipbuilders Practical Results of Some Innovations in Modern Registry, and Mr. H olt had asked the advice of the
present to criticise his paper. Mr. Laeisz had Shipbuilding," was next read. This contribution committee of that body as to scantling and the dis
brought out one very important point, namely, the we print in full in our present issue, and we will, tribution of material. When the section was put
before him he was struck by the courage Mr. Holt
lightening of ships by barges. That was a way out of therefor e, at once proceed to the discussion.
Mr. H. H . "vVest was the first speaker. He had shown in the wide departures he had made from
the difficulty, but it involved some expenditure, and
he questioned whether it would not be better to said the chief thing that would strike a.nyone established practice. The wide spacing of the
deepen the harbours. If the cost of lightering on reading the paper, would be the bold de- frames, the intercostal girders under decks, and
were anything like it is in this country, it would pa1ture it exhibited from conventional practice. other features showed gren.t originality. The speaker
certainly be cheaper to bring the waterway up to Mr. H olt had, however, always the courage of his gave some advice on the matter, and that had been
the nece~sary requirements ; naturally with a large opinions, and he had, moreover, th e power to back followed out, but it led to the application of more
number of ports the lightering plan was out of the them up, which he did not fail to do when they weight; the suggestions had been carried out, how
question. Mr. Angier had made some remarks on appeared profitable. He had this ship in his mind ever, and had proved satisfactory. The balance
upkeep, and had pointed out how largely it de- when Professor Biles r eferred to shipown ers having rudder carrying out the lines of the ship, and the
pended upon surfaces. In that case there was an found out the ratio of capacity to weight. No getting rid of the deadwood were improvements.
advantage, even in this element, for the bigger ship, one could have more experience in this than Mr. There was a tendency to do away with the outer post,
a~ the largervessel would carry more cargo with a Holt.
At one time his ships carried tea, and and to increase the section of the inner post. Solid
gtven area of plating than would a small one. Thus under those conditions space was everything. Cir- pillars were dispensed with in the hold. That was
the area increased in two dimensions, while the cumstances had changed with time, so that ample a. point to which the British Corporation had also
ca~o capacity increased by three. What had been space was not so prominent an advantage as ab the paid attention. When shifting boards had to be
~tud about variations and dimensions due to fashion presen t, and Mr. Holt had therefore introduced used, however, there might be some difficulty in
He did not think
mi~ht be true; but fashion, on the other hand, different proportions of engines and boilers. He was keeping them in their places.
\'arted with the requirements of the times. Thus aware that some of the variations shown in the illus- sufficient experience had been obtained yet to
ther.e might be activity in one branch of trade trations of IVIr. 'Vortley's paper, s uch as the rudder warrant cement being done away with. It may
carrted on where harbours were not, perhaps, quite without the heel support and the special arrange have been pe1missible, however, in the case alluded

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

472
to by the author ; but then it should be remembered
that each vessel had been carefully inspected at t he
termination of every Yoyage, and, after the most
minute examination of the inside of t he outer bot tom, no pitting or corrosion could b e discovered,
and the cement wash, the author said, was found to
b e preserving the steel on the bottom as well as any
oth er part of the tank. Mr. W est thought that if
that was a general practice wit h all shipowners, t hey
might dispen se wit h the t hick cement and have r ecourse to washing. The 3-ft. fram e s pacing, as had
Leen said, was n ot without previous examples; with
the wider spacing the transverse material had to b e
increased and the plating also. The tendency was
to decrease the frame spacing at the fore end in order
to prevent pan ting, but in the P aris and N e w York
there was wider spacing at the ends ; but then ther e
wer e additional intercostal stringer s.
Mr. A. Denny said that if t here was n othing new
in the steamer described in the paper Mr. H olt had
carried the usual features to a further extent t han
had been done before ; in t h e City of Paris t hey had
33-in. spaces, but here they had 36 in. There had
also been suspended rudders befor e, but Mr. Holt
had carried the pract ice further. I t was t he same
with the wide frame spacing, and with the wide
spaced stanchions. He t hought that Mr. Holt
was not only to be thanked for the experiments
he had made, but for putting them before the world
in the liberal manner he had done. The design of
the ship showed that t he r egistration societies d esired to help progress. If t hat desire were stimuJated by a little mild competition it would perhaps
be none t h e less effective.
Mr. A. Holt stated that what had been said about
the d esign of t h e ship being attributed to him
sh ould have really been said of the author of the
paper. As a matter of fact, t he details were due
to Mr. Wortley ; he, the speaker, might have had
aspirations, but the m echanical arrangements were
Mr. Wortley's. H e thought he might say they
had b een well designeo and well carried out.
Mr. Wor tley, in r eplying to the discussion,
tha nked the meeting for listening to his paper ,
and especially thanked Mr. H ol t for what he had
said.
Mr. Holt had, however, been always an
originator. It was he who had the courage to send
the first modern high-pressure boiler to sea, and in
the present case the risk was Mr. H olt's, and t he
credit was his ; only in a very minor way was anything due to the author. As had been said, the conditions of trade al tered ; cargo going eastward now was
almost completely deadweight, whilst homeward it
was almost entirely space. In r egard to the combin ed weight of pillars, b eams, and intercostals,
that was not very differ ent with the plan shown on
the paper as compared with ordinary construction;
ther e might be 30 to 50 ton s in excess if it were
carried to the ends. Referring to what Mr. West
h~d said, h e thought that if pillars were tied at
both ends there was an advantage. He was n ot
aware that there had been a 3-ft. spacing in the
Dacota and Montana. They had departed from the
plan of single-riveted seams, but it had been done
much against Mr. H olt's will . He would have great
pleasure in adding a deck plan to the illustrations
in the paper. In r egard to disp ensing with t hick
cement h e agreed that stringent examination was
necessary. 'fhey followed the practice of maki ng
two inspections, one abroad and one at home. It
might be pointed out that muds in various par ts of
the world afforded very good protection for steel ;
t he Shanghai mud was particularly efficient in
this respect.
STRENGTH OF ELLIPTIC SECTIONS.

minor axis. The hull is cylindrical at t he p or tion

considered and the ends are neglected. The
pillars are supposed to be placed at given points to
carry any given load, t he compressive and sh eering
forces are determined, and the p osition of the
pillar s, so t hat the bending moments may be distributed as evenly as possi ble. The case of circular section is treated separately, and finally the
q uestion of critical pressure is discuesed. So far
as submarine boats are concerned, the practical
question has more interest for foreign Governments
than for our own. A s has b een r ecently stated, the
submarine boat is essentially one for defensive purposes, and although t he policy of t his count ry is
one of defence, our strategy only, when t he time
for diplomacy has passed, will be that purely of
attack. From a scient ific point of view, however,
Captain Hovgaar d's paper is one of great interest,
and doubtless will be largely studied by t hose who
follow up math ematical problems of this nature.
A very brief discussion followed the r eading of
the paper, in which Professor Greenhill and Mr.
Stromeyer took part.
YACHT MEASUREMENTS.

A paper by Mr. H. C. Vogt on "Yacht Meas urement, together with some Remarks on the
Action of Sails, " was n ext r ead. The question is one upon which en dless discussion can
be raised, and is so unsatisfactory in respect
that each controversialist may al ways hold his
own opinion with out fear of it being controverted by his adversary. As a matter of fact, t here
is n o common bas is of discussion. Yacht measurement is a mea~s of handicapping, and the successful designer can t hen therefore be n o more than a
"tonnage cheater." D oubtless considerable knowledge and skill ar e n eeded for success in this
field.
Hard ly any two authorities are agreed
as to what an ideal measurement rule should
be, even if it could be evolved.
The great
question of money cost should, in our opinion,
to be t he ruling factor, supposing it were possible
to introduce it in a satisfactory manner. D urability is, of course, a part of t his question, the
cos t of upk eep and operating the yacht b eing an
equally important factor. At t he present time it
would seem that a new yacht is n eeded almost
every season , the great art of the d esigner consist ing in introducing flimsy upper works and a mass
of lead with the lowest possible centre of gravity.
The flimsy construction, however, is very expensive, and the low centre of gravity of lead leads to
fin keels, excessive draught, and other undesirable
features. Mr. Vogt maintains that in a correct
measurement rule the principal dimensions ought
not to appear at all, because any arbitrary valuation of certain dimensions will naturally develop
types, or it may l ead to constructions that would
n ot otherwise have been used.
There is n o
doubt that what the author says is true, and it is
equally certain that the correct measurement
rule has never yet been evolved. The aut hor says
a yacht formula based on j udicious principles must
determine the due ratio of the yacht's capability of
taking up t he en ergy of the wind and its capabilit y
of transforming this energy into useful work. The
formula he proposes is as follows :
(Sn ;- {] 8 1) 2
q
D

= L = ratmg.

Where Sn is the n ormal sail area in relation to the

displacement r aised to the two-third power, and
g SL t hat part which the sail area is above the
normal sail area. By normal sail area is meant t hat
which can be carried without recourse to what is
described as artificial stabilit y, which we gather is
t hat obtained by l eaden bulbs, &c. D in the
formula is, of course, the displ~cement which is to
be obtained by weighing the yacht on shore,
hydraulic presses being used. No doubt the
aut h or's en deavour is an admirable one, but we
fear there is n ot much chance that it will ~ffect a
salutory reform in the design of yachts. To refer
for a standard to Sn to the old sailing warships, or
the ratio of t he mean area in fishing smacks, does
not sound very pr omising.
A long discussion followed t he reading of this
paper, in which Admiral FitzGcrald, Mr. A.
Denny, and Mr. J ohn Scott, who occupied the
chair, took part.
The meeting t h en adjourned.

A paper by Captain William H ovgaard, of the

Royal Danish Navy, entitled "Strength of E lliptic
Sections under Fluid Pressure '' was next r ead.
This paper consi~ted ? f a somewha~ elaborate
mathematical cons1derat10n of the subJect.
The
author pointed out that the problem had become of
special interest in view of t he recent developments
in the construction of s ubmarine boats. From
practical con siderations the elliptical section has
been found preferable to the circular section
although, n aturally, the lat ter is t h e most appro
priate form having regard to strength only. In
Resul's " T;eate d e M echanique General " elliptic
sections with out any internal stays or pi!lars, are
dealt with but it is found necessary to Int roduce
pillars.
su~mariD:e ~oat o~ elliptic section with
THE B ALANCING OF STEA.?ri ENGINES.
h orizontal maJor ax1s 1s designed on close-spa?ed
At the evening meeting of Thursday, the 5th inst.,
framing, each frame bein.g stiffen_ed by two verttcal
pillars placed symmetrically w1th respect to the Admiral Sir J ohn H ay occupying the chair, the first

LAPRIL

I 31 I 900.

pap,~r taken was~ contribution by Mr. Obto Schlick,

on The Ralancmg of Steam Engines. " Ib will be
r emembered that in .a. I:>revious paper the author
had shown the poss1bihty of balancina a fourcra:nk e~gine, having a connecting-rod p~esuma.bly
of 1nfin1te length, so as to completely neutralise the
vertical forces as well as the couples produced in
th e plane of the piston-rod. As is, however well
known, a disturbance is caused in t he balan~e by
~he ?onne?tin ~-rod, and the a.uthor h\s been engaged
1n 1nvest1gatwns to ascertam up to what extent
this disturbance can be avoided. Althouah he ha'
extended his researches up to engines ;ith four
fi ve, six, and more cranks, in the present paper h~
limited himself to the balancing of a fourcrank
engine alone, reserving t he consideration of a
higher number of cranks to future occasions. The
paper is one of great interest, but, naturally, is of
a llighly mathematical nature ; and as we shall
print it in full shortly, together with the diagrams
illustrating the r easoning, we will at once proceed
to the discussion.
Professor Dunkerley said he was sure that the
members of the Institution were very much in
debted t o H err Schlick for placing his investigations on the effect. of the obliquity of the connect
ing-rod, as regards the problem of balancing, on
record. In the excellent paper read by Professor
Dal by on this subject last year, the effect of
obliquity was not considered, or, if it was referred
to, it was referred to very briefly. The present
paper, t herefore, might be looked upon, to some
extent, as a sequel to that of last year, although
probably Herr Schlick had obtained his results
prior to that paper being read. On the first page
the author stated t hat if the "elements '' be arranged in a certain manner t he vertical forces were
perfectly balanced. The speaker presumed this
meant "very approximately balanced." H wa9
perfectly well known that in any engine the inertia
forces due to the reciprocating masses might h.e
considered to be made up, to a very close appro:u mation, of two simple harmonic terms; the _first
havin g the same frequency as that of the engmes,
and the second having double the frequency .. ~he
firs t was, in fact, merely t he force when obl~qmty
was neglected and might be termed the pnmary
force ; whilst t he second was due to the effect of
obliquity, and might be termed th.e secondar~ force.
Thus, in a marine engine, it l!nght be ~a1d that
there was t o be considered a primary vertical force
and pitching (or tilting) couple, and a secondary vertical force and pitching couple. To.annul each of
these effects it was necessary to sat1sfy _two equations ; or, to express it differently, a certam pol~gon
must be closed. To annul t hem all, therefore, eJght
equations must be satisfied, or else four polygons
must be closed. In a four-crank engine, if the
distances between the cylinders are. ~nown, there
were only seven unknown quantlties ; . namely,
four masses and t hree crank angles. Smce one
mass must be assumed to be known there were
only six unknown quantities, and! t herefore, all the
eight equations could not b~ satlSfie~ . In .a. fourcrank engine, t herefore, 1t was 1mposs1ble to
balance both the primary as well as the seconda!Y
effects. Six of the equations only could be satlB
tied ; that was to say, only t hree of the effects could
be annulled. If it were attempted to a.~nul two of
the effects, for example, merely the pr~mary forc:t
and couple, four equations were sat1sfied, an ,
therefore, in addition to the mass already assu~.ed,
it was necessary to assume two other qua.ntltl~
This, the speaker said, was the method follow
in Professor Dalby's paper last year.
.
M
In t he paper then before t he n~eetmg,
r.
Schlick gave all the equations to winch Profe~~
Dunkerley had referred, but he, t he author,
simplified the problem considerably ~y assult
ing a. symmetrical an:angement of cy~~~~ers. but
might, t he speaker said, be a hyperc~ttlclsm,
in addition to assuming the symmetr1cal arra~~~
ment of cylinders, the author assumed the Th'
outer cylinders to have t he same mass.
~s

ply
an
accld
was quite unnecessary, an 1t was s1~ .
dent t hat the author satisfied six of hlS e1ghJn~qua
tions With a symmetrical arrangement of cy f erE-,
if th~ two primary effects and t he secondary orce
be annulled it necessarily followed that the tw~
outer as weh as the two inner, masses were. equ~
H ad 'Mr. Schlick made any other assumptlO~, :
would have found that he could not have satiB~e
the six equations that he desired. Th~ q~es ~':
naturally arose whether the effect of ~hh9-U1o/ 88
important. To balance, neglecting obltqUlty, It w

ArRIL

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

13, xgoo.]

necessary to assume three things. There were the

certain masses and crank angles, and an unbalanced
force and couple, the secondary effects having double
the frequency of the engine. Are these, Professor
Dunkerley said, of small or of great magnitude ? Or
if the attempt were made to annul them, would it be
needful to modify, to any great extent, the masses and
angles previously obtained 1 To i!lust rate this point,
the speaker gave a numerical illustrat ion of the modifications introduced, which was taken from one of
his lectures at the Naval College, wherein the
subject matter of the paper was discussed in
a. rather more general manner. He assumed the
cylinders equally spaced, thus bringing the proportion under Mr. Schlick's case; although the reoults
were obtained graphically in a general manner.
The author illustrated his reasoning by diagrams
exhibited at the meeting. These we reproduce
in Ficrs. 1 to 6. The notation is the same as
in ~fr. Schlick's paper. Moments are taken
about the centre line of A, and the units of force
and couple are such that the centrifugal force of
6
,

1"1 ___.~I cl"-_--J( \~..-

L---

~?mfiers ~ s~

1193.

~.2.

/.
100'

..,...;.r1o_ _

100'
J(}({

J..----'.__-.!B~ ~N;

.A---+--8~ 8(}

.
? 0

~forr~A (gyple ~~ & Se.anulazyFon;ey baiJ?

Afu-~ saxm.daJyfuraA2-2/rrv. Mar. ~ pn:rn.ary ccap7.e
..
,
a1U(k -4~ -9.0;Secun.Jmy ~ 324/rrv;

rruuOY.Sul.h'mbroupl.e fln mr4 i.61G:2

Rj.S.
88'

RvruuyFot w& Coup~ aruL .Ihrrwry Force & Gmpte. ~

Sr.am.darJ.Coyp..l.l!/bal.tutcedJ. S~I~b~.

MP..rJIJ)(JPisumuJmy filrr4f~wthaJ.}!h scoorul.a7yaxqie-24ftn,

Nott,:MommtsarotaitenJalxro.JJ rlw~of.AJ/te;W'tL(B qf

ur

fr!r'u&~aresu.cl!J iltaJ:I t.lw CDtln ljJ.gwfin-CA?/

mass
(l(}~ ~ptrv t610. ~1.0 ako tJti/Trl.QTTIRAW.qf tlwJ:J
fin tt' obault.A

mass C at the crankpin is 10, as is also the

moment of that force about A. In Fig. 1, the two
primary effects were balanced. Only four equations, therefore, were satisfied, and in addition
to the mass 10 for cylinder C it was necessary to
assume two other qu9.ntities. He had assumed
that the crank angles between B and C and
0 and D were each 100 deg. There was,
of course, no particular reason why these two
values should be assumed ; but, on the other
hand, the speaker said, there was no reason
why they should not be. The remaining masses
and angles were as shown.
The maximum
unbalanced secondary force and couple were as
given, the symbol m being the ratio of the length
of the rod to the crank arm. It should be noticed
that if m. 4, the secondary force would be more
than three-tenths that of cylinder C alone, whilst
the Recondary couple would be greater than that of
cylinder 0 about A. It should further be remembered that the frequency of these effects was double
that of the engine. In Fig. 2, the speaker had
mer~ly balanced the primary and secondary force,
leavmg both the couples alone. He could , therefore, sti11 assume three things ; and the masses and
cr~nk angles necessary would be at once compared
w1th those in Fig. 1. In Fig. 3, he had balanced
the primary force, and both primary and
secondary couples, about cylinder A, leaving
There
only. the secondary force unbalanced.
!emamed six equations to satisfy, and therefore
1t was possible only to assume the mass of C to
be known. It would be seen th~t the crank
angles between Band C and C and D must now
be 120 deg. each. He would call attention to
the enormous alteration in the masses. D was
red.uced from 14.4 in Case I. to 5.0 in Case III.,
whtlE~t B was reduced from 9. 6 to 3. 33 ; and it

would. be noticed that the unbalanced secondary

force 1n Case IlL was less t han in Case I.
~inally, Professor Dunkerley said, in Fig. 4 the
prtmary and secondary forces, and the primary
couple were balanced, leaving only the secondary
couple unbalanced. This was the case worked out
by .Mr. Schlick, .and had the three simple formul re
wh1ch Mr. Schhck gave been available when he
(Profes~or Dunkerley) was working at the problem, 1t would have saved him a considerable
amount of time. He would call attention to the
altered crank angles and masses, as compared with
Oase I.
D was reduced from 14.4 to 10 ;
B from 9.6 to 6.2; ..\ from 7.5 to 6.2, and
these alterations were eimply due to the fact
that, in addition to balancing the effects in
Case I., the secondary force was also balanced .
It should be noticed, also, that the unbalanced
secon~ary couple i~ Case IV. had only about half
that 1n Case I ., Fig. 4 represented, therefore, in
every respect, a. very much better balance than
~ig. 1 ; and this example was inter esting in pointmg out the enormous alterations that might have
to be made if one of the secondary effects were
cons~dered. It was possible, of course, the speaker
conttnued, that he might have accidentally assumed
crd.nk angles of 98 deg. and 112 dog., instead of
lOO deg. and 100 de g. in the first figure, a.nd in that
case he would have obtained Fig. 4 at once. The
great value, therefore, of Mr. Schlick's paper was
tha.t it enabled a symmetrical arrangement of
cylinders to be at once determined, by using
three simple exp1essions, the arrangement corresponding to Fig. 4. There was one point in
Mr. Schlick's paper upon which he would be
glad to have an explanation. At the end of
the Appendix, after pointing out that in the case
corresponding to Fig. 4 there still remained an
unbalanced couple, the author stated that this
would n ot set up vibrations, because the enaine
would be working dead slow, and, t ha.twith haltthe
number of revolutions the couples are divided by
fou.r. If this, Professor Dunkerley said, was the
only reason why the secondary couple failed to set
up vibrations, did it not apply equally to the secondary force 1 And if so, why trouble to balance the
secondary force at all ~ Whether t he secondary
force or couple was liable to set up prejudicial
vibrations depended on t he position of the engines
relative to the nodes. It was true that both could
not be balanced in a four-crank engine ; but we
could balance all four effects by using a five-crank
engine. In that case we should have two additional
unknowns, i .e., eight unknowns in all, and the same
number of equations as before, so that all the equations could be satisfied.
In conclusion, the speaker said that the paper
neglected the effect of the gears. In the cases he
had worked out he could not help thinking that it
was generally more important to consider the effect
of obliquity rather than the effect of valve gears;
and he would like to know whether this coincided
with the result of Mr. Schlick's experience.
A letter from Mr. A. Perroni, commenting on
Mr. Schlick's paper, had been addressed to Mr.
Holmes, and was read at this point. The writer
r egretted that he would be unable to attend the
meeting ; but he was glad to see in t ho copy of
l\1r. Schlick's paper, which had been sent to him,
that the author had quite confirmed what he- Mr.
Perroni-had written in the Revi~tn Mariltirru.t, in
tho i~sue of D ecember, 1898, in which he had
treated upon the balancing of four-crank engines,
especially in connection wit h t he secondary couple
that remained unbalanced. He had found the
application of Mr. Schlick's method very useful and
very expeditious for tracing three curves. The one,
cos x (1) cos y =

!__, and correspondingly (II.)

2
cos x = ~ ; (III.) tan x = l with the same x
cos y
A
tan y
L
axis, so, when it is given, for example the ratio~

a point in the curve Ill. is determined, whose

abscissoo gives the value of the angle x, and for
this same a.bscissre the curve (1) gives the value of
the angle y and the curve (II. ) the value of the ratio

473
ing remarks, reducing this couple to a quarter of
its calculated value; of course, the vibrations set
up by an engine in a ship are largely dependent on
t he ship itself, but that is a different question to
the balancing of the engine. F or example, in the
torpedo-boat Condore, of the Italian Navy, only
the inertia forces of the engines were balanced, and
yet the hull was remarkably free from vibration at
every speed. Therefore Mr. Perroni would be, he
thought in common with all naval architects, very
glad to have further explanation~ from Mr. Schlick
in this matter.
1\[ r. Macfarlane Gray said it would be remembered that in 1897 he read a paper before the
Institution on "The Accelerity Diagram of the
Steam Engine." He afterwards devised a. method
for graphically sohing the problem of designing a
balanced engine. He intended to have referred to
that when Professor Dalby read his paper last
year, but an accident prevented him from attending the meeting. He had since then further improved the method, which he exhibited at the
meeting, by a frame of wooden laths or cardboard, which would enable the draughtsman to
get all t he information given in Mr. Schlick's
paper, without any calculation and without
m~thematics . Although he managed to dispense
with abstruse con siderations in his practical
method, it was the outcome of just such investigations as were in the paper then before the
meeting. He thought t he Institution ought to
thank the author for communicating the mathematical investigation by Dr. Schubert. His
ntethods were, however, hardly well fitted for the
draughtsmen in this country. In Mr. Gray's own
experience he had never known trigonometry to be
used in any drawing-office. It was to facilitate the
designer's work that he had reduced the problem to
t he simplicity of the lazy-tongs or jointed frame,
upon which all have drilled our first soldiers. By
playing with this for a few minutes, any problem
in balancing a fourcylinder engine is solved, without mathematics. The explann.tion of this method
is given in a separate communicat ion by l\1r. Gray,
which we publish elsAwhere in the present issue.
Mr. Martell did not wish to discuss the mathematical side of the paper, but rose to express the
high appreciation he had in common with other
members of the Institution of the honour Mr.
Schlick had donA them in contributing this memoir
to the Transact ions, and especially in coming so
far to be present at the meeting and discussion.
l\1r. Schlick was the first who had brought the question of balance prominently before the Institution,
and the benefits that had followed his labours in
regard to efficiency of engines, but more especially
in the comfort of passengers on board steam vessels,
wore almost incalculable.
Mr. Schlick, in replying to the discussion on
his paper, stated with reference to the remarks
of Mr. Perroni, that t he solution which was given
in his paper had been already published in Germany in 1896, and he had also used for rough calculations the curves of which Mr. Perroni spoke,
but he thought that for designing an engine properly it was more exact to use the formulas given
in his paper. He thought t hat Mr. Perroni had
not thoroughly understood the remarks at the end
of the Appendix in which reference was made to
the r emaining rocking couples. A practical instance
would illustrate "hat he intended to say. In a big
Atlantic liner, fitted with engines on his system,
the speed of r otation was about 80 revolutions per
minute. This was just the critical number of revolutions because son1e slight vibration of an amplitude
only
in. at the extreme ends could be observed
at this speed. With 80 revolutions 160 impulses
of the rocking cou pies were produced, and consequently it was quite impossible that vibrations of a
serious character were produced, but with 40 revolutions vibrations of about -h in. became manifest,
because t he engines produced with this speed 80
impulses per minute, but these impulses have only
a quarter of the value of those which were produced at 80 r evolutions, otherwise very heavy
vibrations would occur with 40 revolutions. The
author had also solved the problem of neutralising
the influence of the connecting-rod for general conditions by means of different weights of the moving
parts and with an unsymmetrical arrangement of
t he cylinders.

_C afterwards a = 2 x ~ = 2 y according to Herr

A
Schlick's notation. In this way the calculations
'VIII. and IX. in lVIr. Schlick's paper can be
ENGINES OF THE " GENERAL .BAQUEDANO."
avoided . As for the secondary couple which
The next paper read was a contribution by Mr.
remains unbalanced, the writer was unable to
arrive at the necessity of Mr. Schlick 's conclud M. Sandison, entitled "The Engines of the Corvette

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

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APRIL I

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

1900.]

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formity of turning effor t on t he crankshaft and

t he diminution of t he chance of total disablement
wer e con siderations b orne in mind in t he design.
There is a single feathering screw, aud steam is
supplied by four Belleville boilers. On one crankshaft are two high-pressure, t wo intermediatepressure, and two low- pressure engines, each with
its own crank ; t he high-pressure cranks are
opposite and adjacent to on e another , as also ar e
the intermediate cranks, the lat ter being 240
deg. in advance of t.he former, whiJst t he lowpr essure cranks, also opposite and ad jacent to each
t

In

r1< C CL I

SECTION THR O' AFTER MAIN HOLD .

General Baquedano., This vessel is a t rainings~hool ship of 2500 tons displacement , built by
S1r W. G. Armstrong, Whit wor th , and Co. , t o the
order of the Chilian Government, the machinery
being constructed by Messrs. H awthorn, L eslie,
and Co. It was desirable t hat t he vessel should
s~m economically at low speeds, and it was
demded to adopt a 6-cylinder engine, with a. view
to attaining economy when the ship was developing
a Sll_lall proportion of its full p ower, t hus insuring
a wtde radius of action. The elimination of the
~Jlb&lapced fO!'CeS WaS also a roint ; whij.st Up i-

f.r

C.

/li', TIHO

<Y IV

l lfiORS Ji

~ ..., ..........

'

other, are 240 deg. in advance of t he intermediate

cranks. E ach high-pressure cylinder is provided wit h
its steam stop valve and t he distribution of steam is
such t hat there are two complete t hree-stage compound engines '' interlaced " on t he one crankshaft
each set having its own condenser, with its own ai;
and circulat ing pumps, t he air pumps being worked
by side levers from t he low-pressure engine. By
disconnecting and securing t he bottom ends of the
connecting and valve rods of on e set of engines the
other set can still drive t he propeller. On a full
power t rial the vessel steamed 13~ knots at t6i

'

476
?

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

[APRIL 13, I 900.

revolutions per minute, the cylinders of one set of This reduction in stroke had, in t his case, comander S~ephen and So~s, L~nthouse, have built for the
engines were then thrown out of gear, less than one p ensated for any extra weight involved in the :Allan
L~ne, went on a tnal tr1p on a.turday, the :Hat ult
hour being occupied in the operation, the bottom larger number of parts. I t would be seen that ~n the F1rth of Clyde. Her gross tonnage 18 10,57(). Sh~
en~s of the disconnect~d rods being secured by some form of radial valve gear was almost essential ~s 520. ft. long over all, 500 ft. between perpendiculars,
sutta.ble means. It was 1ntended to make compara- to the carrying out of these designs, that known :.>!> ~t. 1n beam, and 43 ft. deep, and she has been specially
ti' e trials of the vessel, but these had to be post- as the Marshall gear, which was adopted in the two d~~:n~ned to !Deet the latest requirement3 of the Allan
Lme s Canadtan trade. There is a. cellular double bottom
poned and th e information could n ot, therefore be cases referred to in the paper, being peculiarly the full length of the ship with a capacity of over 1800 tons
given in the paper. The balancing arrano-e~ent applicable, and allowing the cylinders and valve a_nd the holds have been earefully subdivided into water~
was discussed by the author, diagrams of vibration chests to fit into each other, and so save largely in tight compartment3 which have b een constructed and
forces b eing given. We shall p ublis h this paper in fore and aft space. In the case of the Smolensk, s tiffened on the most approved me thod. The arrangements
~or loading and discharg:ing cargo a re very complete, and
full shortly, together with the illustrations by which the Russian vessel referred to, the contract was mclude
19 s~parate derncks worked Ly 11 winches. The
it was accompanied.

undertaken to make coal consumption trials at 13 accommodatiOn fo~ passengers, 200 fi~t class, is amidships.
Mr. Seaton opened the discussion on this paper knots, as well as a.~ full power, so that the results A number of spectal sta. te-roome, Wlth sitting- rooms and
and dwelt upon the multiplicity of crank arrange- obtained from these trials should give a very in- ba.t_h -room3 en .~uite, are also on the promenade deck,
ments t hat were now brought before the notice of teresting as well as perfectly definite basis of com- whtle abaft and below the saloon accommodation are
for 260 se~nd-class p~engers. The propelling
engineers. A few years ago they were contented parison between this system and ordinary engines, room~
mach~nery, supp_h ed by _the bu1lders, consi ts of two sets
with two cranks. Mr. HoH had used only one. more especially as the Volunteer Fleet have avail- of .tr1ple - exp!Lns10~. engmes, ~ac.h e~gine having three
Soon, when the triple-expansion engine was f ully able a large number of results taken from similar cyhnders, 27 m ., 46 m , and 76 m. m d1ameter respectively
established, they became reconciled to three cranks. s hips under similar conditions, but fitted with wi_th_a stroke of 54 in. 4- piston valve regulates the ad~
~Isston of steam to the htghpr~ure cylinders, while the
Mr. Schlick agrees with four, Professor Dunkerley ordinary machinery.
1ntermed1ate and ~ow.pressure cyhnders are provided with
says five, and n ow Mr. Sandison is using six, whilst
In replyiug to the discussion, Mr. Sanderson said don~le -_ port~d sh de Yalves, t~e low- pressure cylinders
in the passage in which he s peaks of the quadruple- the obj ect of his paper was to presen t to members havmg Thom s patent p orts for mcrea.sin~ the compression
expansion engine being constructed on the same a record of what had been actually done.
The ~eversing gear is of the "a:H ~ound 'type i the valv~
gear lS the usual double eccentrtc link motion. The crank
principle, he threaten s the engineering world with
(To be continued.)
shafts ar~ of steel, a nd the tunnel and propeller shafts of
eight. However that might be, h e had certainly
wrought u on , the propeller shafts being lined with brass
introduced a very ingenious way of making an
for the full length of the stern tube. The propeller is
LAUNCHES AND TRIAL TRIPS.
engine run at half-power with economical results.
L e Yacht states that the new French cruiser Montca..lm, three-bladed. The blades are of manganese bronze and
In 1863 Professor Rankine designed a combination which was successfully launched on March 27 by the are bolted to cast-iron bo~ses. team is generated~ six
of compound engines somewhat similar for t he Con- ForgE:S et Cha.ntiers de la :M editerranee at La .3ey ne, is single-en ded main boilers, 15 ft. 9 in. in diameter and 12ft.
stance frigate, so that cruising might be done at a reduction of the !eanne d 'Arc. H er length is 461! ft. , long, and one auxiliary boiler, 14 ft. 6 in. in diameter and
11ft. 6 in.long. The main boilers are fitted with Howden's
beam,
64
fb.,
and
dis
placement,
9516
tons.
~he
has
a
6-in.
half power if needed. The engine, however, gave
armour belt of Harve yed steel and a protected d(;ck. H er forced draught, air being supplied to the furnaces bv two
trouble, as professors' engines were apt to do. He armament con~ists of two 7.8-in. quick-firing guns in of H o wde n's 96-in. fans. The working pressure is 200 l b.
reg retted that the author had n ot given the coal turrets, eight 6.6-in . quick-firing guns in casemates, four The speed on trial was 17 knots.
consumption, and had said nothing about the vibra- 4 in. with semicircular shields on the spar deck, six 2-in.,
tions set up when t he engines were out of balance and six 1!in. distributed aloft, and two submerged torMessrs . Wigbam-Richardson and Co., Limited, New
pedo
tubes.
She
has
three
propellers
and
three
vertical
by the rods being tied up. He thought also, that
triple-expansion engin es, supphed with steam by Nor- ca.stlQOnTyne, launched on t he 2nd insb. a steel screw
there might be a tendency to leakage through the mand -Sigaudy .m.ultitubular boilers, and developing 19,600 steamer named Cormorant, which they are building to
cylinders not in operation. At the same time, the horse-power, gi vmg b et a speed of 21 knots. Her radius of the order of the Cork Steamship Company, Limited, of
idea was a very ingenious one, and the thanks of action at 10 kno~ exceed s 10,000 miles. The same journal Cork, for their Continental service, being the sixth
states that the Dupbix, French cruiser, which was launched steamer built for these owners by the same builders.
members
were
due
to
the
aut
hor
for
giving
his
exThe steamer is 270 ft. in length by 33~ ft. beam, and will

at
R
ochefort
on
March
28,
is
intend
ed
for
distant
s
tations.
per1ence.
She is s ma lle r, but of the same des ign as the M on tcalm . be fitted with very comfortable accommodation for a
Mr. F. T. Marshall, n ot being able to be present Her length is 429 ft., beam 59 ft., and d isplacement limited number of passengers. H er engines and boilers
at the meet ing, had sent a communication to the 7800 tons. The thickness of her armour belt is only 4 in. ; are also being_ constructed by Messrs. \Vigbam-Richardsecretary. H e referred to the great interest of the it extends 4 ft. below the water line and 10 ft. above. son and Co., Limited.
- -paper, which dealt with a method of meeting so The steel deck is 2 in. in thickness. She carries ten
Messrs. William Gray and Co., Limited W est H artle
many of t he problems in course of solution in 6.6-in. quick-firing guns, model 1893-6, two in turrets
and eight in casem a.tes, while on the bridge and s par deck pool, laun ched, on April 3, the large side ballast tank
ma.rine engineering. The idea of dividing the there are ten 2-in. and six l !in. quick-firing guns. Her s teamer Llansannor, which they have built to the order
cylinders of triple-expansion engines into two, two torpedo tubes are above water. The three en gines are of Sir Thomas Morel, of Cardiff. The dimensions are:
with a view to using only half the area at low triple - expansion ; they a re s upplied by 24 Belleville Length over all, 350 ft ; breadth, 51 ft.; depth 27 ft. ;
powers, was proposed, and a design embodying boilers, and develop 17,100 boree-power , giving a. speed of d ead weight capacity, 6200 tons; with lare-e measmement
this was got up by Mr. Mar~hall's firm several 21 knots. H er r adius of action at 10 knots is 8400 miles. capacity, and d eck area for cattle Of t1mber, &c. A
The Yatagan, Frenc h torpedo - boat d es troyer, was cellular d ouble bottom ex tends throughout, and after
years ago. 'Ihe arrangement t hen proposed was to la unched at Nantes on ~!arch 20. She is of the same type peak tank for wate r ballast, whilst the side tanks contain
superpose one cylinder above an other tandem~ise, as the Framee, n ow undergoing her trials at L orient. an a-dditional 720 tons of water ballast. The side tanks
and to disconnect the upper cylinders in case of H e r length is 185 ft., beam, 19 ft. 7 in., displacement, (McGlashan's) extend through the main and after holds
he carries one 2. 6 in. and six 1.88. in. quick- a nd engine-room for a length of 191 ft., in the way of
working at low powers. Such an arrangement, 30~ tons.
which the ship has double sidee, adding greatly to her
so far as balancing was concerned, would be the firing guns a nd two torpedo tube~. Her engines are 4800 strength
and also to her safety. rrhese advantages are
bor3e-power, driving two propellers, giving her a speed of
same as an ordinary triple- expansion engine, from 26 to 27 knots. Her radius of ac tion is 3000 miles.
secured without ex.tra. material bei ng required in tbe
but involved very great height, and would be,
construction of the side tanks; lower deck~, and other
of course, impossible of adoption in warships .
The Dockyard Company, G range mouth, launched on parts used in f\trengthening ordinary ships, and which
In the engines of the Baquedano, which Mr. San- the 31st ult. a. steel screw st eamer which has been built g reatly impede stowage, being dispensed with, so that
the n ew type loses nothing as a cargo carrier. The
dison described, the cylinders were interlaces, to the order of Mr. E. G. Consta.ntine, C.E., of ~Ian machinery
consists of a set of triple-expansion ene-ine.q
chester, for the China. M erchants team Navigation
and acted upon six cranks. The arrangement Company, o f hanghai. T he dimens ion3 of this vessel are of over 1400 horse-power, having cylinders 25~ in., 40~ in.,
works out admirably for small powers, but the 260ft. between perpendicular by 40 ft. by 19 ft. 6 i n. and 67 in. in diame ter by 45 in. p1Ston stroke, with three
crankshaft, which is of the built type, is all in S he has been built specially with a. view t o the carriage main boilers to work at a pressure of 160 lb. per squ~re
one piece, and this is not permissible ic. engines of a hea.v.v d ead weight on a light draught, and is classed inch . They have been constructed at the Centrall\lartne
of large power. This difficulty led his firm to by the British Corporation. 'The vessel was named Engine ' V orks of the builders.
work out a d esign, in which the crankshaft was H aie Hho.
divided into three pieces, each having three
The la rge steel steame r Minnehaba., for the L o ndon and
E XPERIMENT ON STBUTS.-At a meeting of stu~ents
throws, these pieces being themselves interchange- New Y ork service of th e Atlantic transport line. was s uc- of the Institution of Civil Engineers, held on Fr1day.
able with each other. The arra-ngement also re- cessfully launched by Messrd. Harland and W olff, Belfast, April 6, Mr. Max a.m Ende, M. Inst. C. E., in the chair,
duced the rocking couples set up owing to the two on the 31st ult. The vessel has a gross tonnage of about a paper on "Exp,eriments on Struts, with and without
her dimensions being as follow : L ength, 600 ft. ; Lateral L oading, ' was read by Mr. H. Wimperis, Stud,
low-pressure engines, which are heaviest, being 13,750,
breadth, 65ft.; d epth 44ft. She will ha ve twin-screw Inst. C. E. The following is an abstrad of the paper:
in the middle. This question of economy at lo w prot>8llers, d riven by separ ate sets o f quadruple-expansion Th e paper contains a n account of an investigation of .the
powers. had been _frequently consider~d in connec- engmes, and, bes ides having accommodation for a large stability of struts under various conditio~ of lo~<hng,
tion w1tih the vanous fast vessels whiCh Mr. Mar- number of first-class passengers, will have a large cargo both from the experimental and mathemat1cal po_mts of
shall's firm had built for the Russian Volunteer and dead meat ca pacity, and be fitted up to carry 676 head view. The first p a r t of the paper is concerned wtth t~e
cattle on the upper d eck, as also with permane nt stalls id eal case, in which the strut is assumed to have certam
Fleet. The r equirements of these vessels wer~ t.hat, of
of the most improved kind for nearly 200 horses on the properties, and based upon these a.ss1;1mptions . the
although they must have a speed of 20 knots upon a same d eck.
mathematical work treats of lateral loadmg combmed
twelve houra' trial trip, t he principal portion of their
with endlong loading, a nd gives Euler's formula as a
M essrs. Barclay, Curie, and Co., Limitt:d, Whiteinch, special ea e. In the first series of experiments, the loadwork was done when trading between Odessa and the
F ar East at a speed of about 13 knots. Such an launched, on the 31st u lt., the large steel twin -screw ing is produced by a simple endlong load, and the results
Lake Champlain, built to the order of M essrs . are shown by plotting the s trut lene-th and the. load at
arran 0uement, therefore, wa peculiarly applicable to steamship
Elder, Dempste1, and Co., for mail and general service which instability sets in a~ co-ordmates. ~h1s. curve
these vessels, and when proposed for the ~essel between the nited K ingdom and Can ada.. The vessel's is compared with Euler's. G ordon's mod1ficatwn of
his firm were building was readily agreed to by dimensions are: 465 ft., by 58 ft. by :38.7 ft . to shelter E uler's formula is also discussed, and the author shows
the Russian Government and Volunteer Fleet d eck, with a gross tonnage of 7550, and a dea.dwei~bt of that although Gordon's formula is more in accordance
T echnical Officials. The length of this arrange- n early 8000 t ons . Th e passenger accommodation 1S for with expenmental results than Euler's, ye t G:ordon's
about 100 fi.rst-cla~ 80 second -class pas...engers, a n d 500 modification is only an approximation, and lS only
ment, as compared with ordinary t~ree-crank emigrants.
After the launch tbe vessel was towed t o the exact over a limited range of the strut leJ?gth.. The
triples, had only involved the lengthen1ng of the harbour to be fitted with her machi nery, which is being author also finds that, just as some m?dt6ca tton of
engine-room by o~e frame spa~e, whereas the supplied by the builder~, and consists of two sets of triple- the ideal formula. is necessary for s truts wttho~t lateral
weight was, accord1ng to calculatwns, exactly the expansion t\vin - screw engines of 2000 indicated horse- load so also is a modification necessary in the tdeal forower. The diameters o f the cylinders are, 22 in., 37! in., mul~ for struts with lateral loads if the results of exsame. This latter, of course, would not ~e so apnd
GO in. with a stroke of 4ft., and steam will be sup- periment are to be represented. The paP,er conclud~
at equal strokes, but, owing to the s~all~r stze of . plied hy three large double-ended boilers working at a. with a. discussion of the causes of these difference ~ 1D
the various parts, it was thou_ght Justlfiable to pressure of 160 lb. p e r square inch.
the case of s truts, both with and without lateral lo~dmg.
A discussion followed, in which :Messrs. Colyer, RI.Edon,
increase the number of revolutwns and decrease
The twin -screw steamer Tunisian, which M essrs. Alex- L eader, and H ead, S~uds. Ins t. C.E., took part.
the stroke, maintaining the same piston speed.

. APRIL I

3, I 900. J

h p t. l R lt ,.,
I.
T e rac lea esu S~~t~~~din;~()1Jattons in ll-Iodern

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

or cast-stE!el stern frame and rudder ; and man agree

tba~ the present typ~ of stern is :' found want ing.J With
a yt~w to. ov.e rcommg these dtfficulties, the followio
By :Mr. Hh:~llY B. WOR'l'LJ~r, Member .
guddmg prm01ples were laid down for designing a ster~
IT may be of interest to the members of this Ins titution fl~eb ~.udder for vessels of the Ocean Steamship Company>s
to l.ay before them t~e r~u~ts of so~e departures from
ordmary merchant shtpbmldmg praotlCe, which have been
1. Tha t there be no useless after deadwood
embodied in eleven steamers~ owned by the Ocean Ste~m2. ~bat a. support at the heel of the r~dder is not
ship Company ttnd managed by Mr. A lfred Holt. Th~e essential.
vessels, like all their predecessors in the line are unolMsed
3. That forgings and castin~a b e reduced to a minimum
Their moulded dimensions are 440 ft. by 52~ ft. bl 33! fb.
4. T~at the. frame terminatmg the run of the vessel b~
Theyoa.rry 8200 tons of dead weight on a draught 0 25f ft compatible wtth the adj acen t scantling.
~ ,That the frame be thoroughly incorporated wi th the
the freeboard having b een assigned by the Bri tish Co~:
pora.tion for t~e S urveY: an~ R egistry of Shipping.
shtp s structure.
The profile IS shown m F1g. 1, page 478, where it will be
6. That the rudder be of the balancad type.
S&veral designs were made to meet these requirements
observed that the uppeF deck has no sheer though for
the sake of eye.sweetness, a slight sheer h~ been given hub the one illus trated in Fig. 2 p age 474 was finally'
chosen.
'
'
to the bulwark rail.
I t will b~ no~ed i~ ,the diagram that the after end of
T he e~g.ines in nC?rmal cond ition indicate 3600 horse power, g1v1ng a contmuous sea sp eed of 13 knot3. Three the rud ~er IS 8 m . thlC ir, and forms th e termination of the
of thes~ vessels have ~ow made two round voyages water-hnes above t he propeller arch. This gives a much
from th1s country to Chma a nd Japan, each covering a long~r and cle~ner run to the vessel than is possible when
total distance of about 50,000 miles, a nd two of them have the lme.s termm~te upol? the ordinary stern-post. (For
started on a simi~ar ma.i~en voyage of about 25,000 miles. compan;SOt? se~ F 1g. ?, page 478. ) The greates t advantage,
.Amongst the mnova.t10ns the following a re the chief, ~owev~r, hes m the m crea:sed th wartship width that these
VJZ.:
hnes gtve t_o the stern, as 1t ~nables the requisite strength
A. E xternal : A rudder so hung that no stern frame to be o?ta.med from mat ertal of much less weight than
has been required, and allowing the a fter d eadwood to be the o~dmary form of stern frame. The increased space
out away.
also gtv~ easy access t o every rivet in the struc ture.
B. Interoal: 1. The substitution in the main hold of
In th1~ case the st~rn-post is made of a wrought-iron
tube 21.m. external dtameter a nd 1 in. thick. with an i ntwo pillars in place of t?e usual numerous stan l)hions.
2. A 3ft. frame spacmg .
ternal hner at th~ lower part of the same thicknese. The
3. The disuse of cemen t on the ship's bottom inside the lower part of t hlS tube forms the bottom pintle for the
ballast tanks.
rudder.
.Rudcle1, J:c.-The stern frame of a merchant steamer is
T he P!Opell.er arch is made of a ~iemens-]\l!artin s teel
a feature whi~h still retains to a large d~gree its primitive pla:te ~ m . thlCk of U: shaped section. The a fter part of
form and section.
It 1s n veted t o the s1des and also the front part of the
It has varied but litt le since its introduction into iron stern post tub~ ; and the forward part is ca rried down t o
shipbuilding, and probably it had more arguments t o the b_oss and n yeted thereto. The boss is a steel castingjustify its inception than can be claimed for i ts retention the Size of whiCh h as been r~duced as much as possible.
to-da.y. :When introduced it was small in weight, size, It has ~:me palm on the top nveted to the Ax tension of a
and seot10n, easy to forge, and formed a convenient watP.r~tght flat, and another at the fore end of its lower
method for finishing the run of a small ship. Since then part r 1veted to the after -peak bulkhead.
the sizes of ships have gradually increased, a nd the stern
~t ~i!l be noticed in .the diagram that the fram ing of the
frame has steadily advanced in weight, size, and section sh1 P lS m corpora.ted w1th every portion of the stern. The
until at the present time it is q uite common t o hav~ frames, above the arch plate are directly connected thereto
stern-posts of 20 tons weight and 13 in. by 8 in. 0f rect- and two of the longitudinals are also in'oorporated with it:
angular section. It is needless to sa.y that these posts are Th~ top of the stern-p ost tube ha-s an attachment to the
very clumsy to handle, even though scarphs have been in- mam d~ck, and the bottom of it is well supported by the
traduced, and, despite the care bestowed in the manufac- after stdes of the arch plate. The base of the slopin g
part of the deadwood is formed by an extension of the
tore, the results are not always satis factory.
. Th~ coll?menda.~le ~ction ta~e~ by Lloyd's in the early ~eel P.late. The rudder, as will be D;Oted.in ~he diagram,
e1ght1es, m appomtmg spemalists to survey forgings ~s bmlt of plates a nd bars, and the m ten or lS accessible
during the process of manufacture, and the circular issued m every par t. The bow frame is of channel steel and a
in 1886 requiring all sections above 40 square inches to flat bar at the fo re side finishes the lower part' of the
be welded under the steam h ammer have done much to rudd er. T he socket in the rudder for the lower pintle
minimise the evil; but it is nob yet cured .
~s of Siemens-Marti n steel, lined with white metal workCast steel was introduced for stern frames and rudd ers m g upon the lower ,Part of tJhe stern-post tube. At the
in the hope of O''ercoming bad welds, but a reaction has head of the rudder IS a small steel casting, with flanges
taken place against the use of this material, as many ship- forming a coupling for bolt ing it to the lower p art of the
owners have bad unfortunate experiences of cont raction forg~d-iron r~dder stock, which is of ordinary form, exflaws, necessitating the removal either of p artial or com- ceptmg that tb p asses through an octa~onal eye in the
plete stern frames and ruddere.
casting j ust described, and forms an addttiona.l safeguard
The reota.ngnlar section of stern frame is most com- for working the rudder in case of accident to the coupling
monly used, although in some few of the larges t vessels- bolts. The lower part of the forged rudder st ock forms
especially twin-sorew steamers- a U -shaped section of the top pintle, and is housed in a cast socket fixed into
cast steel has been adopted for the inner p ost, while the the t op end of t he stern-post tube, where the whole
aperture portion of the outer p ost has been retained of weight of the rudder is taken. It will be observed that
rectangular section. Now the strength of a stern frame this form of rudder is easily ma-de wa tertight, and, thereof rectangular section is incompatible with the weight fore, buoyant, the effect of which is to reduce the wejght
involved. Whether considered as a girder or pilla r, the on the t op pintle, which takes the downward thrust. The
section is most primitive, and the number of broken total weight of t he rudder, r udder stock, tiller, &c., is
stern.posts c01::sta.ntly seen do not j ustify them as being abont 15 tons, and the buoyancy of the rudder at the load
simple things to manufacture, or fitting contrivances for draught is about 5 t ons, leaving a downward thrust on the
endmg the a.fter-bodr lines. When broken no other part top p in tle of 10 tons. The total weight saved in this
of a. ship of equal we1ght is 80 costly to repair, or requires syst em of constructing the stern against the ordinary type
so long a. period for renewal. The form renders it incap- is about 10 tons.
able of bemg incorporated with the framing of the ship at
In the initial st ages of the design the chief argument
reasonable cost, excepting at the transom, and at the brough t against t he syste!D wa~ thatr it would prove t o be
up~r \)Ortion of the mner or propeller post. I ts whole a t~ap for ropes a.nd fishmg nets. To p~evenb a ~ope or
we ghtJs therefore sand wiohed between the compa.rati vely fisht~g net pluggmg the water grooves m the tatl-shaft
tbe1 end plates of the shell t o which i t is a ttached by a bearmg, a ~uar~ plate was fitted over the stern-post boss,
multitude of long rivets of a' large diameter. The number as shown m F~g. 2; but, although these stE:at;ners ~ave
of slack rivets observed in the a fter deadwood and the covered c_ollect tvely nearly a qnarter ? f a mtlhon miles,
number of stern frames brok en jost below the boss, no suo~ dtfficulty has as Y.et been experienced.
clearly show that a considerable detleotion takes place in
A trJ&l o.f the manreuvrmg po~er of one of these vessela
. thin deadwood during t he ordinary workin~ of the ship. was made 10 the Ft~tb of Clyde 10 a dead calm and slack
The deadwood of the sailing ship has defim te reasons to water. T he vessel s draug~t was. 18 ft. aft and 14 ft.
justify its existenca, butit is d ifficult to find an excuse for ~onyard. A long run was .JuSt bemg complet ed a t 4000
deadwood in steamers. Its weight is generally greater mdtcated horse-power, whtch gave a speed of. 14 knots.
than its buoyancy, it probably interferes with t he effici- The helm was then put. har~-a-port, and the d tameter of
oiencr of the propeller to an appreciable e xtent and it the fi rst half of the turnmg mrcle ";as found ~o b.e 1170 ~b.,
cer~ml}' tends to prevent rapid manreuvring
'
and the second. half 1070 ft . . The ttme occupied m turmng
M t h
h

d
t
the complete cu cle was 5 m mutes 17 seconds.
1
os s 1powners a.ve expenence m grea er or ess
It was a nticipated that the abolition-of the after deadwood would tend to increase the manoouvring powers of
* Paper read before the Institution of Naval Architects. these vessels to a considerable extent, but it was also
t The names and builders of these vessels are as follow: feared that it might produce uneteadY. courses. To avoid
Builders: MeSS1'S. Scott and Co., Greenook.
this the vessels were fitted with bllge keels of rat her
'1'
gre ater length t han usua l, viz., 250 running feet on each
menus...
...
.. .
N ow ,sat mg.
1s
12.. Ido
Calchas .. .
...
.. .
side. As a result, the pilots an~ mdjterh of these vess~
3. Maohaon . ..
...
...
,,
repor b that they are easier to. an ed t ban stehamers, k1n

the fleet, of one-third t heir s1ze, an t at t ey mA. . e

4, AI
CIDOUS .. .
.. .
,,
d eparture
6.
Agamemnon
...
......
excellent courses. Experience has proved t bIS
6 A
M
b ild
to b e a complete success, and very soon it will be em~odi~d
jaX
.. .
..
J.' O 'N , U
mg.
' 1even steamers o f t h e fl ee b, w h ose names are given 1n
7.' Achilles
...
.... ..
...
me
8. Deuoalion
...
.. .
,
the foo tnote in the pre vious colum n.
The Substi tu tion of T wo P illar s for 0 1'Clinary Sta;nohions.
Builders: bfcss1's. TVorkmam , Olark, a;nd Co., B elfast. - The ordinary system of pillaring cannot be said to ha:ve
1. Stkntor ...
.. .
...
N ow sailing .
many a rguments to justify its ex istence. For the shtp
2. U nnamed
...
.. .
Now building.
builder it is a crude and primitive con trivance, for the

3.
,
. ..
.. .
..
,
shipowner a costly n uieanoe ; and in the performance of

477
its f~nctions it is more remaka.ble for its weight and ob
trust veness than its strength.
In text-books pillars are usually described as " short"
an? "l~ng, " in terms of their diameter, but in modem
shtps wttliout lowe1:, or orlop, decks, a new superlative
~ould have. to be m vented to adequately describe the
p11lars now m general uee. As they are of great length
a~d have .little r~siatano~ to tra;nsverse pressure, great
dlfli cu~ty 1s exper1enced m keepmg thl3m straight. Obstruct~ng the .towage, they form a tirst aid to the stevedC?res m chokmg off ca.rgo ; and as this is usually done
With wedges, the pillar~ very frequently get bent. It
theref?re, happens t:ven m the best regulated flee~ that
a corunderable .Percenta~e of ~he pillars are useless, ~ither
as s~ruts or t1es.. T hetr res1stance to deflection is also
con~Idera.bly modrfied by the character of their ends and
thetr ~alue in ~any ~ases might be increased by gr~ter
a.tten t10n t o th~ detail. But perhaps the chief disadvantage of the ordmary sy~tem of p illaring ooours in vessels
of great breadth, espe01ally when quarter pillars are introduced. They break the stowage of the hold to such an
exten t that th~ obstructing pillars must frequently be removed, to admtt bulky cargo,. and very oft~n they cannot
afterwards be. replaced unttl the cargo 18 discharged.
U.nder these CUCUJ?Stances, the deck is USUally shored
w1 th wooden sta?o~uons from t?e hold ceiling, and in some
cases, where this 1s not accesstble, the only alternative is
to shore the deck fro!D the cargo, in which case care must
be taken to get a. sohd foundation for the stanchions, and
to secure the cargo from dan~age. Snch. shores can only
perform o~e of the twC? functiOns of a sbtp's pillar. They
cann~t .easily be made m to ties as well as struts. It is nob
surprtsmg, therefore, that many oases are on record where
these t em p?raqr shores have got adrift while the ship has
been workm~ ~n a se>~way, thus causing the decks to
collapse. ~1mtlar accidents to the deck a re on record
where the p1llars have ~een carelessly replaced or left out
alto&-ether. 1\'Ian ~ acCidents can also be tra~ed t o the
!leghgence of leavmg bent pillars unstraightened. Now
1~ order to develop the full strength of a ship it is impera~
ttve.t~at tb~ top and bottom members of its girder should
be ng~dly t.ted tog~ther. It is also desirable from a shipowner s pomt of v1~w. that the n~mber of pillars should
be reduced to a mtmmum, and, 1f possible the dan~er
s~ould be over~ome that is caused by oarele~ tampermg
wtth P?rta.ble ~1lla~. thu~ compromising the strength of
the shiP: T?etr .d1mmut10n would also effect a considerable savmg In tune a nd money, which is generally incurred by t~e removal and replacement of portable pillars
for the ad.m tttan?e of bulky car~o.
T o aoh1eve th1~ end the mam hold, shown in Fig. 4,
page 47 4, was destgned early in 1895, and has since been
mtroduced in~o fi fteen steamers of this fleet. The length
of the hold 1s 75 ft., and it contains, with the ' tween
decks! 6250 tons of .space, and yet its only obstruction is
one ptllar on e~ch Side of the hatchway. T he floor of this
hold has .co~tamed as man~ as t welve Lancashire boilers,.
each we1ghmg 29 tons, wh1oh have been stowed without
the removal of any part of the ship's s tructure.
I t may be of interest in passing to state that the lifting
appliances at this hold have been t ested up to 35 tons.
The principle adopted. is that of ~ompensating for two
C?mplete rows of stanc~uons, by fittmg two accessible box
gudera under the mam deck, and extending the upper
deck hatch coa.mings from bulkhead to bulkhead. The
b!l'tch ooamings are con verte~ into girders by fitting effiCient flanges on the upper side, while the lower side is
reinforced by fitti ng two channel girdera under the upper
deck beams. These fore and aft girders are divided into
two ~pans, ~he ex treme ends of which are supported by
SJ?eCially stiffened bul~hea:ds, and the cent re by a built
plllar, the thrust of whtch 1s taken by a sp ecial stool fi t ted
t o distribute the stress over the double bottom. This
system has been perfectly successful, experience proving
it to be even more rigid than the ordinary system of
.
pillaring.
It ?-a a pleasure to record t~at Messr~ T . a~d J. H arrison,
of Ltverpool, have fitted thts system m a slightly modified
form into two of their largest steamers, and have carried
it throughout the length of the ship. I may add that
these two vessels were classed at Lloyd's . I am also given
to underatand that Messrs. Harla.nd and W olff have
adopted the system, and have fitted it right fore and a.ftJ
in five large vessels built for the Australian trade and
owned by the White Star Line.
In the vessels forming the subject of this p aper, it was
considered sufficient for the trade in which they were employed to fit one bold in t he manner jn_s t described and
unnecessary to fit girders of such large spans in the re.
maining holds. However, t o prevent a ny diecont inuity of
strength, the main bold girders on both decks were carried
right fore and aft, scarphing into the engine and boilercasing ; but as a less span was adopted in t he remaining
holds, the girders were made of a lighter character. This
system is illustrat ed in the after main hold, Fig. 5, page
475. The result of this system of pillaring has been most
satisfactory, there being a complete absence of vibration,
even when the vessels are in their light~t t rim, a nd at all
speeds of the engines up t o a piston speed of 950ft. per
minute. When the main holds of these vessels were designed, it was predicted by some opponents of the scheme
that it would be impossible efficiently to choke the cargo to
prevent cbafage, owing to the absence of pillars, and that
there would be heavy claims for damaged cargo. The
contrary h as been found to be the case, and experience
has proved that these holds carry cargo with even fewer
claims for chafage than vessels fitted with the ordinary
system of p illaring. In other words, experience has shown
that Rtancbions really t end to cause cha.fage.
The 3-Ft. Frame Spacing.-I n these vessels a 3-ft. frame
spacing has been adopted. A n increase in this direction
has frequentl y been urg-ed in times past, but the writer
has been unable to discover any p recedent in the merchant
'

IN :NOVATIONS

S 011 E

IN

S H I P B U I L D I N G.

MODERN
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H OL. O

DIA GRAM SHEWING lNCREASEO L.E.NGTH Of RUN ( ON 24 F.,. WATER UNE)

service where a. greater spacing than 30 in. has been
DUE TO THE NEW ARRANG ENERr OF STERN .
~
adopted. In a highly interesting and instructive paper,
read before this Institution so long ago as 1873, S ir
William \ Vhite, in one of his conclusions on transve rse
framing, says:
Eg.3.
''It appears that an increase in the spacing of t ransverse
.........
frames favours the more satisfactory development of t he
..............
strength of the sk-in plating, without any increase in cost
41',.,"'
o f workmanship or weight of material. A change in this
, ...........
direction has been repeatedly enforced on weightier
,
.grounds than the above, but has long been postponed.

_,;"""
'here can be little doubt, however that, notbmg but ad.-"
vantage, so far as strength in proportion to weight of bull
is concerned, would result from modifying the present
-system of framing, widening the frame space, and combining with the reduced transverse framing some well- ing for resisting the local shocks that ships are subject to. deadweight of approximately 120 tons. T o allow free
conAidered system of longitudinal framing."
It has
now been adopted in this fleet of steamers as the drainage in the bottom, it is built clincher fashion, and

for the same purpose the keel plate bet ween the internal
Were it not for the fact that we have had repeated ex- m1mrnum spacmg.
The D isuse of Cement on the Ship's Bottorn inside the butt straps is cemented. A gain, for the purpose of insuramples of the distrust of change common to shi~owners,
shipbuilder.:;, underwriters, and registration soc1eties, it Ballast Ta nks.-It was n ot until considerable experience ing the tanks being pumped d ry, the cement has been left
would appear inexplicable that such an admirable paper, of iron ships had been gained that Portland cement was off the k eel plate at each centre suction, thus enabling the
so logical and conclusive in its deductions, should haYe adopted for preserving the inside of their bottoms. For large trumpet-mouthed strums to be placed within ~ in.
lain without a-ctual result for so many years . This is some time this part of the ship suffered more severely from the keel plate, which is an outside strake. 'fo carry
more remarkable s till when it is considered that the prac- from corrosion than any other. This was largely caused off the vapours common to all ballast tanks, they have
tical advantage of a wider spacing of frames is shared by the acids in the cargo draining into the bilges and been fitted with 6-in. ventilators. The upce.st pipes ven .alike by shipbuilder and shipowner.
settin~ up a chemical action detrimen tal to the iron. At tilating the tanks under the engines and boilers are led to
The reduction in the number of frames, reverse frames, that time sugar formed a. staple trade for many iron ships, the forced -draught fan. Each vessel has been carefully
-floors, frame br ackets, and, it might also be added, beams, and the effect of this cargo on their bottoms was found to inspected at the termination of every voyage, and after
coupled with the enormous reductions in the n umber of be most d estructive.
the most min ute examination of the inside of t he outer
rivets used in t he ship, and the greater accessibility of
~-\.spbalt was at first adopted to insulate the iron from bottom, no pitting or corrosion could be discovered, and
~ery part, especially the ballast tanks, are matters of these ravages, but was fou nd to soften in warm climates, the cement wash was found to be preserving the steel on
advantage to builder and owner alike. They appeal and run down towards the centre of the vessel, leaving the bot tom as well as any other part of the tank.
especiall y to the shipowner, because, with a given weight, the higher l?ar ts and rivet beads bare. Portland cement
Generally.- I t mtt.y be of interest to add that these
.a stronger and more dura ble ship can be produced.
was then t r1ed, and has proved highly efficient in resisting vessels' capacity for water ballas t is about 3000 tons,
The durability of steel ships has been much discussed the ravages of most chemicals carried in ships. It may which, without bunker coal immerses them to a draught
<>Wlng to their scantlings being 20 per cent. thinner than be of in terest in passin~ to add tha.t sulJ?ha.te of ammonia of 18ft. aft and 14ft. forward. At this draught the proiron. It has also been remarked of steel that the last is an importan t exceptiOn. This chem10a.l will turn the peller is completely immersed. This is owing, firs t, to the
stages of corrosion are more rapid than the first. This is best Portland cement as soft as putty, and will then attack po~si bility of fitting, in a vessel with an overhung rudder,
undoubtedly duo to the wasted material vibrating and the iron, unless there has been sufficient cement to the cen tre line of the shafting nearer to the base hne, and,
throwing off all al?plications of anti-corrosive covering. neutralise the acid. Now, when the double bottom was secondly, to the fact that a smaller diameter of propeller
If this is to be avotded, it follows that, instead of having in troduced, the drainage could no longer ~et to the bottom has been adopted than is usually customary. The advana huge number of comparatively thin scantlings easily of t he ship, and provision was made for 1t to accumulate tages resulting from an adequate ballast draught and the
wasted to the vibrating stage, it is better to have fewer in the wings. These were t herefore cemented.
complete immersion of the propeller in a seaway have
aod thick er parts, which will give greater initial strength,
It might have been reasonably supposed that, as the been so E'ffectually brought home to shipowners and
wi th the same weight, and be more durable in the end.
tank top supported the cargo, and carried all deleterious underwriters by recen t events that I n eed not dilate upon
The midship section of these vessels showing the genernl drainage to the wings, the cement would have been re- them. The economy is apparen t, not only in speed, but
scheme of scantlings, is given in Fig. G, page 475. It will be moved from the bottom and placed on t he tank top. likewise in the immunity from shock and consequent
noted that an attempt nas been made to combine with the This, however, was n ot d on e, and experience has long disaster to every part of the machinery, from propeller
.3-ft. frame spacing a simple longitudinal system. The since proved that, if the wood ceiling is frequen tly lifted tip to stop valve. The diameters of propellers in the
ship's side is divided into cells about 4~ ft. by 3ft., the and the tank t op examined, or, better still, if the wood merchant service are usually designed to meet the loadlongitudinals k eeping every_portion of the shell and fram- ceiling is dispensed with and the tank top exposed to draught requiremen ts, but there are many cases where a
ing well up to its work. The fore and aft girders, com- view, it is a comparatively easy matter to preser ve it from better balance can be secured between load and lightpensating for t he omission of ordinary pillars, are also corrosion. Now, as the tank top completely insulates the draught performances by adopting propellers of less diaval uable l ongitudinal stiffeners to the u~per flan ge of the inside of the outer bottom from deleterious chemicals that meter than those now generally in use. In any vessel
ship-shaped girder. None of the objectiOns urged against may be in the ship, and as cement was originally placed where the propeller is not completely immersed at ballast
the wider frame spacing have been experienced in prac- there chiefly to p reser ve the bottom against their mjuri- draught, it would be advisable to take the diameter e.s a
tice. The ships have met with all kinds of weather and ous action, the question may reasonably be asked : " \ Vhv factor in determining the size of the shafting.
Finally, the writer wishes to express his best thanks to
h ave stood both the pounding and hammering action of put cement there n ow ?" The usual answer is : "To prethe sea. with impunity. I n port and roadsteads they are serve the rivet heads from the wash of bilge water." Mr. Alfred H olt for his permission to bring the results of
constantly surrounded by b arges inflicting the usual Now, if a shipowner can afford to carry bilge water, be these full- scale experimen ts before this Institution.
amount of bumping. They also meet with the usual fen- can also afford to carry its antidote. But if be does not Thanks are also due to the builders of the vessels, Messrs.
daring when en tering looks or coming alongside quays. carry bilge water, what is the use of the cement ? To t ry Scott and Co. of Greenock ; and also 1\Iessrs. '-Vorkman,
After considerable experience of this uaa.ge there is abso- the truth. of this reasoning, the vessels forming the sub- Clar\c, and Co., of Belfast, for the assistance they have
lutely nothing to indicate in any of these vessels that the ject of this paper h ave tb.eir bottoms inside the ballast gi ven in carrying out these innovations to a successful
.3-ft. frame spacing is in any way inferior to the 2-ft. spac- tanks merely cement-wa.she<L The effect is a saving in conclusion.
-~

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11111

CATALOGUEs .- W e have received a copy of the new

catalogue of the Rankine feed-water filters, manufactured
by Messrs. Rankine, Cockayne, and Co. , Limited, of t he
Regent Brass Foundry, 10, Bentinck -street, LiverpooLWe have received from the Elektricitats- Aktiengesellscbaft (formerly Schuckert and Co.), of.Ntimberg, a copy
of a fine Iy illustrated b ook, j uat issued by them, containing
descriptions of electric railways constructed by them in
various parts of the Contin ent. - The British TbomsonHoaston Company, Limited, of 83, Cannon-street, E.C.,
have sent us copies of illustrated pam pblets describing a
magnetic blow-out controller and their inclined coilmeasuring inst rumen ts.

I NSTITUTION. -The

ROYAL
following are the lecture
arrangemen ts a t the Royal Institution after Easter:
Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, three lectures on "Studies in
British Geography,; Dr. Alexander Hill, two lectures
on 'Brain T1ssue considered as the Apparatus of
Thought " ; !vir. R. Warwick Bond, t wo lectures on (1)
'' Rusk in, Man and Prophet " ; (2) ' ' Ruskin, the Ser vant
of Art " ; Professor Dewa.r, four lectures on " A Cen tpry
of Chemistry in the Royal Institution " ; the ReY. Canon
Ainger, three lectures on Cbaucer ; Professor Stanley
Lane-Pole. two lectures on "Egyp t in the Middle Ages";
Dr. A lfred Hillier, two lectures on "South A frica, P ast
and Future " ; S ir Frederick Bridge, three lectures on
"The G rowth of Chamber Music from A llegri's Sympbonia (1580-1652) to Haydn's First Quartet " (with
musical illustrations). The F riday evening meetings
will be resumed on April 27, when a. discourse will be
given by the R ight Hon. L ord ICelvin on "Nineteenth
Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat> and
Light." Succeeding discourses will probably be given
by Professor T. E . Tborpe, Mr. S idney L ee, Professor
J. A. E wing, ~Ir. Francis Fox, S ir Henry R oscoe, and
other gentlemen.
T HE GREAT EASTERN AND THE P ARIS E x nmiTIO.N.The G reat Eastern Railway Company will send a fourcoupled bogie passenger engine, named the Claud
Hamilton, to the P aris Exhibition. The cylinders,
which a re arranged with the valve chest underneath,
are 19 in. in diameter by 26 in. st roke. The diameter of
the four-coupled drivers is 7 ft., and of the four bogie
wheels 3 ft. 9 in. The bogie wheelbase is 6 ft. 6 in.; from
bogie centre eo driving centre is 11 ft. 3 in.; and the
coupled centres are 9 ft. apart, the wheel base being
23 ft. 6 in. One of the bes t features of the engine is its
very la rge uoi ler, which has a maximum external diameter of 4 ft. 9 in. , and is 11 ft. 9 in. long, while the firebox is 1 ft. long, and 4 ft. 0 ~ in. wide outside. Two
hundred and seventy-four tubes of 1! in. diameter provide a heating surface of 1516.5 squn,re f eet, and the firebox giv~ 114 square feet; the total beating su rface thus
being 1630.5 square feet. The working pressure is 180 lb.
per square inch, and the area of the firegrate 21.3 square
feet. The engine is fired with oil on Mr. Holden's
system, t he burners being provided with a n auxiliarY. oil
fuel supply, enabling much larger qua.ntities of 011 to
be sprayed without an increased expenditure of steam.
The tender runs on six 4-ft. wheels, with a wheelbase of
12ft. It w ill carry 2790 gallons of water, 715 gallons of
oil fuel, and 30 owt. of coal, and is fitted with a scoop
for picking up water while the engine is running .

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

APRIL 13, 1 goo.]

FOR THE PORT TAL BOT AND

lVIINERAL LOCOMOTIVES
CON 'TRUCTED BY

BARRY RAILWAYS.

TliJ~ COOKE LOCOMOTIVE .tlliD i\L\.CHINE COi\IPANY, PATERSON, NE'V JERSEY, U.S.A .

FIG.

12.

l\1INERAL L ocoMOTIVE FOR THE PoRT TALBOT RAILWAY

FIG. 11.

Oxt of the numerous results of the engineera' strike

in this country was that, when the increase of traffic
OYer the railways came about Lbe early part of 189 , the
locomotive firms here found themeelves so overwhelmed
with work that it was impossible to meet the require
ments of the English railroads in the matter of new
engines. Our railway companies wantetl locomotives,
and they had to be obtained somewhere, and they
naturally turned their thoughts to the United States.
Amon~st these colt;lpa.nies was the Barry Railway. The
Baldwm Locomotive Works, which had done most of
the foreign busine~s from the United States, had their
own. standard engines, and to a very great extent
declmed to alter patterns in the way desired by
Mr. John Ho~good, the locomotive superintendent of
the Barry Ratlway. The representative in the United
S~tes of .Messrs. Thomas \\'. Ford and Co., of 9,
Brtdge-street,, ." ,.estminster, was, accordingly, inat";lcted to v1s1t the leading firms, t here t o fi nd one
which W?~ld conform to English practice. Amongst the
work~ Vts1ted were t hose of t he Cooke L ocomotive and
Machme Comp~ny, of Paterson, New J ersey, who
stated tha.t W~Ile .they would maintain t he principle
of the bar frammg tn the design of the engines, thoy

MunatAL L ocouvnvE

.FO.R. THE BARRY RAILWAY .

would only carry this from t he leading end through

to the firebox, where t his form of framing would be
bolted to the slab frame of the exact dimensions and
design that might be required for engines for this
country. Their willingness to accommodate English
ideas in their locomotives resulted in ~1essrs. Ford
and Co. obtaining orders from the Barry Railway
a nd Port Railway and Docks Company of South
~Tales. The first order placed was by t he former line
for five engines in May, 1899, and these engines are
now working on the Barry Railway, the results of the
t rial trips being satisfactory in every way, all the
requirements of the Ba.rry Railway having been carried
out by the contractors. T he grades of the Bn.rry
Railway are in certain parts vory difficult, and the
Cooke locomotives are hauling between 500 and 600
tons over severe grades, the coal consumption being
about 41 lb. per mile. It has been frequently stated
t hat American locomotives a re extravagant in the
consump tion of fuel. This argument has hitherto
been a very useful one for the English makers. It
will be seen t hat in this instance, at least, the first five
engines that :Messrs. Cooke have built for England,
which are t hose for the B1rry Rail way, come out., in

coal consumpt ion, at about the usual average of

English locomotives doing similar work. The average
weight of a train on the Barry Railwa-y is about 300
tons; whilst the Cooke locomotives are, as stated, hauling about 500 to 600 t ons. Possibly one of t he reasons
why the engines are so nearly like the English practice,
and so satisfactory in their work, is that the locomotive
engineer of ihe Barry R ailway, Mr. John Hosgood,
went to t he United States specially and saw the con,
struction of t hese locomotives, and also made sure
that the English practice in every possible way should
be ada pted to what is termed the American design.
The engines on the Port Talbot Railway are heavier,
bnt of a very similar type.
The general arrangement of the engines is well
shown in our woodcuts annexed, whilst on our two
page plate will be found engravings ebowing clearly
t he details of the design. Both engines a re of the
side tank pattern, but t hat shown in Fig. 1 has eight
wheels coupled, whilst that illustrated in Figs. 6 to
10 is six coupled. The former represents the type
supplied to t he Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company, . and the ~atter that for . the Barry Company.
The shde Ya.h es m acco:dance w1th the usual American
7

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

LOCOMOTIVE TRIALS ON THE BARRY RAILWAY.

TEST OF E NGINE No. 76.

DATB.

R&MARKB.

- -------

miles

lh.

tons

gals.

lb. per
dQ.

With exhaust in Feb. 16 to 21

jector

63.00

10.50

27.10

63.63

1835

lb.

in.

50.29 8.28 126.14

173

6th notch when running.

~ull gear when shuntmg.

Witrout. exhaus i"eb. 22 to

injector
exclusive

2~

62.03

11 55

24.50

1.88

61.89 49.60 8.1 126.1

1725

Ditto

ditto.

Amount of coal saved by using the exhaust injector, 7.97 per cent.
TEsT oF :J\!IrNERAL ENoi~TE No. 118.

DatE'.

RKllARKS.

blast Jan. 23, 24, 64.60 11.39 3 49 30.58 68.31 55. 76

and 25
p1pe
Jenkins' blast pipe Jan.30, 31, 65.16 10. 97 3 55 3 1.33 168.60 60
with exhaust inject.or and Feb. 1
Ditto, without exbaust F~b. 5, 6, 64.66 11.70 s 3 24.40 72.48 152.36
and 7
injector

1893

8 91

1.80

86 1 1980

8 04

1.73

6th notch when running.

131.66
Ditto
ditto.

1~ 67

8. 96

2.05

135.(0

ord~nary

lb.

pE'r
sq. in.

tons

With

lb.

gals.

miles h. m.

126.20 Full ~ear when sbun ting,

Ditto

ditto.

Percentage of coal saved by using t he exhaust in~ector ! 1~. 60 per cent. Exhaust injector used 50 per cent. of first test, and
ordml\ry lDJector, 50 per cent.
practice are, it will be seen, placed above the cyliodera,
the va.l ,es being driven t hrough rocking s h afts. The
r ross-sections of the engines, shown in Figs. 3 t o 5 and
7 to 9, cs.ll for no special comment, but in ]fig. 10 the
pfeculiar type of framing adopted is clearly shown . This
r a me in front of the firebox is of the u sual "American
p attern, but behind this is of the English plate type,
thus admittng a great er width of firebox.
The Port Ta.lbot engines weigh 169,000 lb. in workin g order, of which total 137,000 lb. is availab le for
adhesion. T he total wheelbase is 22ft. 1 in. , w hilst
the rigid wbeelba~e is 15 fti. 6 in. The cy linders are
19 in. in di ameter by 24 in. str o k e, whilst the coupled
wheels m easure 52 io. over t reads, and the trailing
42 in. The boi ler is of great capacity, h aving 1489
square feet of heating surface, of which the 219- 2-in.
tubes are res pons ible for 1361 square feet. The barrel
is 56 in. in diameter, and the working pressure is
175 l b. per square inch. The firebox measures 84 in.
by 42 in., and the grate area is 24.5 square feet. The
tanks can bold 1600 gallons of water and the bunkers
2 tons of coal.
The Barry engines are less p owerful. They weigh
126,000 lb. each in worki ng order, and have cylinders 18 in. in diameter by 24 in. stroke. The boiler
is 53! in. in diameter a t the s mallest ring of the barrel,
and is des ign ed for a. working pressur e of 160 lb. per
Eq uare inch. The firebox m easu r es 72~ in. by 40 ~ in.,
and the grate has an area of 2 1 squ are feet . The
tubes are 18 1 in n umber, a nd are 2 in. in dia me ter by
11 ft. 2~ io. long between t ube plates. They thus
provide 1049 square feet of heating surface out o f a
total of 1147 square feet. The tank capacity is 1280
g>tllons, and provis ion is made for t he carrying o f
lf tons of coal.
Careful trials o f the engines have been m a d e by
Mr. J ohn Hosgood, of the Barry Railway, a nd by :Mr.
vValter Hosgood, of th e Port Talbot lin e. Particular3
o f the trials on the Ba.rry Railway are given io the
annexed Tables, in which engin e "No. 76 " is a representa tive specimen of the mineral engines previously u sed o n the line, h a ving six coupled wheels
and a cylinder 18 in. in diameter by 26 in. stroke ;
. whilst eogine "No. 11 8" is one of the n e w engines.
The trials were made both with and wi thout the use
of an exhaust ejector, and show that the latter effects
an appreciable saving. As regards the fu el consumption, it sh o uld be stated that the coal used was by no
m eans s o good as bad prev iously been used on the line.
The trials on the P ort Tal bot Rail way have been
equally sati~factory, the engiues proving capable of
t aking a load of 370 tons up a gradient of from 1 in 75
to 1 in 100, six miles lon g, whilst 170 t ons has been
taken up a gradient of 1 in 40, 4~ miles long.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH.

GLASGOW, T uesday.
Glasgow Pig-Iron M CU"ket.- Business was inactive last
Thursday forenoon, and prices on the wbol~ w~re fi rm.
Scotch iron ld. per ton ad va.nce, but bemattte tron fell
ld., and the sales amoun ted to some 10,000 tons. A
simila r amoun t of iron changed bands in the afternoon,
and pri ces wer e easier, Scotch being 3~d. per ton d own
from the forenoon close, and bematite iron 1d. p er ton.
The settlement prices were: Scotch iron 75s. 9d. per t on,
Cleveland 77s. 4~d. , Cumberland and :Middlesbr ough
hemati te iron 83s. 9d. and 8-ts. 6d. p er ton. Some

20, 000 tons of p1g iron were dealb in on Friday foreno~>n.

A lot of profit- t aking was engaged in, and
pnces had a sharp b reak; but from the wors t poin ts
th ere was a moderate recovery. Scotch and Cleveland b oth dropped ~d . p er ton, and hematite iron 1d.
per t on. The market was ~trong in the afternoon
and, on the purcbaee of about other 10,000 tons Scotch
rose 3~d. and h ematite iron 3d. from the forenooX:'s close.
It was reported that warrants for between GOOO and 6000
tons were lifted for a L ondon fi rm, and that n otice had
b een given that m ore iron would be called up on 1\IIooday
(yesterday). The settlement prices were: 75.3. 10!d.,
77s. _l ~d., 84s., ~n~ 84s. 6d. per ton. At the forel!oon
ses~non of the ptgtron warrant market on Monday prices
were very s trong.
ome 15,000 tons were dealt in. Scotch
r ose ll~d. per ton, Cleveland 8~d ., and bematite iron
1s. 5d. p er ton . In the a fternoon session dea.lin_g was
again active, and prices bad a furth er smart rise-Scotch
1~d., Cleveland nd. , and h ematite iron 4~d. p er ton. At
the close of the market the settlement prices were :
77s. l i d ., 78s. l ~d. ,_ 85s. 9d., an~ 86s. per too. The
mar~et to-day was m a ":ery exc1ted s~a.te, there being
cons1derable ''bear '' covenng on the contmued large withdrawals from stores. There was some little realising to
secure profits. The advance ranged from Gd. to l s. 1~d.
per ton, and the turnover was about 20,000 t ons. In the
a ftern oon buyers' quot ations were for Scotch iron
77s. 8~d. per too cash and 77s. 9!d. on e month:
and sellers 77s. 9~d. and 77s. 10d., and the settlement
prices were : 77s. 9d., 7& . 6d., 86s. 9d., and 87s. On
Friday a r epo.rt re~chfd the Glasgow market that 50,000
tons of Amencan Iron bad been bought for prompt shipment to this country to r elieve the strain, and that
together with heavy withdrawals from the public warrant
stor es_, ca?,sed a ~,e.rvous feeling amongst some operators
stand10g short m the market. A few outside buying
orders by the more sanguine investors, and an absence of
seller s, .wer~ the c~us~s attributa~le to the sharp advance.
There ~s s t1ll a d1stmct paus~ m . fresh buying by local
or foreign consumers, but d ehvertes and shipments continue on a very extensive scale against current contracts.
Th~ number of blast-furnaces ~n actual operation is 84,
agamst 81 a week ago (three be10g blown in at the Calder
W orks which bad been out for r epairs), and 83 at this time
last year. Undernoted are the maker3' current quotation s
for th ~ir No. 1 iron : Clyde, 84s. p er t on ; Calder Gartsb~rrie, and ummerlee, 90s.; Coltness, 92s. 6d.- the foregoing all shipped at G lasgow ; Glengarnock (sbiJ?ped at
A rdrol!sa.n ), 853. 9d.; Shotts (shipped at L eith} 90s. ;
Carrc;m (ship~ed at Gra.ngamouth), 91~. per t on. The stock
of p1g u on m M essrs. Conoal and Co. '~ public warrant
s tor es stood at 172,372 tons on M onday a fternoon. The
shipments of pig iron from Scotch ports last week were
as follow : T o A ustralia, 2t6 tons; to Italy, 225 tons; to
German y, 1555 tons; to Holland, 3250 tons; t o Belgium
260 t9~s; to Spain an cl .Portugal, 299 tons ; smalle~
quantlt1es to other countr1es ; and 2888 tons coastwise
the total being 9049 tons.
'
Shipments of P ig I ron for Past T hree M onths.-In the
three months just closed the shipments of pi~ ir on from
the Scotch p orts amounted to 91,368 tons, aga1nst 65 085
tons in the corresp onding three months of las t year 'a nd
63,567 tons in the corresponding period of 1898.
'

F inished Iron and Steel. -If there is a want of unanimity amongst Scotch iron and steelmak ers as to the real
work comiog forward . there is n one with respect to the
future of pr1ces, as all are convinced that the d earth of
raw material must tend to full prices being susta,ined for
some time yet . But it must be admitted that there has
been m ore eager competing this week for orders, and
makers in s~me cases have g-one a con siderable way t o
meet the v1~ws ~f buyer~.. Until there is an appreciable slackemng m the pnce of fu'31, h owever, it would

be futi le to look for any S'3rious lowering of current values

Manufacturers, b_o~h ~t home and abroad, are . ua.ll
fi.rm, and the posilloo 18 s~ strong as to beat off a~uJ!.
t10o. Some. consumers st1ll bang back in the hope that
top levels Wlll soon be reached. For shipbuilding iron
and. steel, the demand has slackened, the high costs
ha vmg throt~led off the placing of fresh contra<:ts
Messrs. Col v11l_e and Sons, Dalziel W orks, Mother:
well, have agam advanced their prices 53. to 7s Gd
p er ton.

T he ! ron and Steel Trade~ of iJ-lo~h~rweU: Great Briskness.- The _present boom m the 1ron and steel trades
sb o,vs .no stgos ~f abatement; indeed, if anything, it is
bec~mtng more mtense.. ~rea.t extensions have been
earned. out , and are still m progress in nearly all the
wor~s m the ~Iot~erwell ~i~trict ; b~t orders are still
far m _arr_ear notw1thst andmg. Some of the mills in
the pnn~Ipal steel. works will not be able to overtake a s mgle sectton. of th.e work in ha.nd before
the New Y"ear. Thts a pphes particularly to anglebars; and m "rounds " a twelvemonth will not exhaus t the . pr~e!lt booking~, although the mills are
k_ept runnmg mgbt and day from Monday morning
till Saturday night without an interva l.
Wa~es
alll:oog s~elworkers are high, 6l. or 7l. per week bemg
qu tte a common figure. Double these amounts a.re not
unknown. The effect of suoh bri.. kness io the steel
~orks is bavin~ an evil. effect on the bridge-building
mdu&try, mater1al n ot be10g obtainable for months after
the orders have been lodged. Thus hampered workmen
are being suspended in the bridge works, altho~gh there,
too, abundan ce of orders are awaiting completion. This
want of material alon e prevented the Motherwell firms
from estimati~g for the ren~wal of the bridges destroyed
by the Boers m South Afnca.. Several of these bridges
were originally manufactnred in Motherwell. In the
meantime every effort is being put forth to cope with
the V?lume of work, which is rather increasing than decreasmg.
Iron Foundilng and Tube-Makimg - Ironfounders are
especially keen competitors, and tenders just published
for open _con~racts are surprisingly close. Light casting8
are expenencmg a. dull d emand, but for electrtc plant tlie
inquiry is good and sustained . Indeed, production in
this b ranch is being largely increased. Tubema.kers' pro
spects continue good, especially for export. The I mperial
Tube Works at Airdrie, of Messrs. A. and J. Stewarb
and M enzies, are approaching completion.
Sulphate of A mmonia.-Tbis commodity is quiet, and
easier in price. Business b~ been done at lll. 153. and
l ll. 17s. Gd. per ton prompt, L eith and Glasgow, respectively, at 11l. 12s. 6d. L eith, April to September delivery.
L ast week'~ shipmen ts of sulphate ab Leith amounted
to 463 tons.
Glasgow Copper Ma;rket.-An odd lot of copper changed
bands at the afternoon market last Tbursdn.y. Copper
was not dealt in on Friday, and on Monday the market
continued idle, and it also continued idle to-day. The
settlement quotation on Monday was 79l. per ton.
The Wi dcning of the Glasgow at'lcl S()uth- Western Rail
way in A yrshire.- Great progress is being made in Ayrshire with the works rendered necessary for the widening
of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway. The contractors have got in hand the laying of ~reat steel girdel'8
over the River Garnock, a little to the north of Dairy
Station. The stone used in the widening of the bridge is
a red sandstone got from Dumfrief!~hire, and that on
wh ich the girder s rest is Dalbeattie granite. I~por~nt
works will shortly be undertaken in connectiOn Wlth
D alry Station .

NOTES FROM CLEVELAND AND THE

NORTHERN COUNTIES.

MIDDLRSBBOUGH, Wednesday.
The (Jlevela;n.d, Iron Trade.- Yesterday there was a
large attendance on 'Change, and the market was very
s trong. The only trouble appeared to b~ the extreme
scarClty of pig iron, and had that commod1ty been more
plentiful a very large business indeed might have been
d on e. Oo all sid es the complaint wa.s that the supply was
n othing like equa l to the demand.
everal makers reported that, owing to the inadequate supply of coke,
spme of their furnaces would have to run on slack blast
over the Easter holidays. The demand, both on home
and for eign account, was chiefly for No. 3 Cleveland p ig, and that quality sold at 79.i. for prompt
deli very. Such was the general market rate, though
some sellers were disposed to bold out for an even
higher figure. On the other band, there were buyers who
endeavoured to purchase the ruling quality at 78s., but
they could not induce sellers to listen .,to any such o~er:
No. 1 Cleveland pig was about 8l s. ; No. 4 foundry 7 '~ '
and grey forge 763. The demand for east coast hemat1 te
pi g was very good, and it wa.s understood that the
scarcity of it was being very keenly felt. The gener21
market quotation for early delivery of Nos. 1, d
and 3 was R7s. 6d., but sever al firms quoted ~ 6d., an
wece not at all inclined to take less. l\Itddlesbrough
warrants were steady and s trong throughout the ~a.y
at 78s. 4~d. , cash buyer . Middlesbrough hematt~s
were n ot quoted. Rubio ore wa.s 2ls. to 2ls. 6d. ex-ship

Tees.
Manufactured I ron and Stec?. -There is no a.batemenb
in the activity of these two 1mportant branche~
of the

es
are
staple indus try, but, on the contrary, mqut~l
mor e numerous than they have been, quotat10ns ~or
several descriptions have been further advanced, an a
good few orders have recently been placed: . Comht~
iron bars are now 9l. 103. ; best bars, lOl. , u on s. P
plate~, 8l. 10s. ; steel shipplates, 81. 7s. 6d. ; steel boiler

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

ArRIL r 3, 1 goo.]
9l 12s 6d and iron, and steel s bi p -angles each
~~~81. '6s. He~~y sections of st eel ra.ils are s trong at
1

7l. 16s. net at works.

Coal and Coke.- It is r epor t ed that some pretty lar ge
orders have arrived from L ond on for gas o9al. Bunker
coal keeps steady in price. In ma.nufaoturmg coal, the
requirements are rather less than they were. The d emand
for coke is on a very huge seal~. B est blast- furn ace
ualities are 303, and average kmds 283. t? 28s. 6d.,
delivered at T eeside works over the. next s1x .mon ths,
both for delivery before the Easte~ h~hda.ys. Htgh rates
have been paid, buyers not hesttatmg to pay 30s. for
medium quality.
Trade Statistics.-The statis tics of the Middlesbrough
Cha.mber of Commerce for the firs t quarter of t?e year
compiled by the courteous secretary, Mr. ~enry ~1m pson,
show that of the 86 blast: furnaces erected m ~he 1ron. port
69 were at work, of whtoh 4l were producm~ or~Tmary
Cleveland pig iron and 28 othe~ kinds. The Nor.thEastern Steel Company blew m a furn ace durmg
the quarter and M eesrs. Wilson, Pease,. an? Co: blew
ou~ one. The stock of Cleveland p1g u on m the
ublio stores at the end of the quarter was O?lY
ft,682 tons, the d ecrease for the three mo~tbs .bem g
29,44l tons, and the s took of east coast hemattte J?g fell
3678 tons during tha first quarter. of the year. ~aymg the
insignificant total of 5825 tons m stook. Pg-uon exports were 4~ per cent. bet ter than those of the correPponding quarter .of 1889. T he total value of all goods
shipped from 1-liddle brougb, except coal and cok e,
reached 1,626,379l., or 449,157t. more t ba.n d uring the firs t
quarter of last year.
LRIOE TER EWAOE.-Ajoinbcommitteeof the Leicester

Town Council has una.nim?usly de?ided to. r ecommend t?e

Council to expend about l GO, OOOl. m applymg the baotenal
system of treatment to the sewage of Leices ter. A lto~ether, the reform is expected to entail an outlay of about
500,000l.

---

TaB I N TITUTION 011~ J uNIOR ENOINERRS.- At a meeting held at the W ~stminster Palac~ Hotel, on Friday,
April 6, the Cbatrman, Mr. Bas1l H . Joy, A . M. I.
Meoh.E., presiding, a. paper was read by Mr. E ustace W.
Porter1 Assoc. M. Inst. 0. E, member of the Institution,
on: " A Comparison of Railway Bridge Structures of
Moderate Dimensions, and of ~1ethods of Determining
th~ir Working Loads." The author first d ealt with considerations relating to the best type of bridge for ~ar
ticular cases, and en umerated several examples. The
structures to which the comparison referred were intended
to carry a " light " railway of standard gauge; and the
loads assumed, in addition to the weight of the structure
itself, were 0.03 ton for the permanent way per foot-run,
and a train of engines having an axle load of 8 tons,
present Board of Trade rules being used. Diag ram s were
exhibited denoting live loads, and types of the spans
em{>loyed, with their weigh ts up to 100-fb. span. Compansons were next drawn between a masonry arched
bridge and one having a steel supers tructure ; showing the
economy, at the present price of steelwork, in employing
the former up to 40-ft. span!.. where conditions permitted
the use of an arched span. ln introducing the question
of bridge piers, the points to be considered in d esigning
structures for countries s ubjeob to earthqunkes were
alluded to, the author stating that the best course in such
cases was to construct a steel trestle pier stable, without
any assistance from the foundation~, since a m ass of
masonry would favour the transmission of momentum,
being ca.pa.ble of receiving the full force of a shock due
to an earthquake. Since earthquake shocks are n ot so
severe below the surface of the ground, it was advisable
to arrange that such structur es as bridge piers should
rise, where possible, from a. d eep, free foundation formed
of steelwork, in preference to masonry, thus allowing the
whole structure to have the same natural period of
vibration. A diagram was shown giving the type and
weight of steel trestle piers, and cubic contents of
ma.sonrr piers up to 100 ft. in height, admitting of a
companson of the cost of each ; a.nd the effect of wind
pressure on such structures was then treated a t some
length. In comparing the various methods in vogue for
determining the working loads on bridges, some of the
errors occurring when stresses were calculated und er the
English Board of Trade rules, were indicated. A diuest
followed of the rules most s:enera.l in A merica ; also those
of the India Office for railways in India. The author
con?luded by sugg.E'~ting the form that the (now very
destrable) new Br1t1sh rules should take. Briefly expressed, it was as follows: The total work ing load for
any member of a bridge to be taken as the maximum
moving load, multiplied by co-efficien ts, and added to the
d~d lo~d. The co-efficient to be 2 to all members except
mam gtrder flanges, for which 1.5 might be used. The
total working stress on the minimum net area not t o
~xceed 8 tons per square inoh in tension, compression, or
s~e~r. Th~ moving load to consist of three en~ines,
-gtv.mg ma.x1mu.m possible load, followed by a umform
tram load. Wmd pressure of 50 pounds per equar e foot
on structure as a fixed load, and on train a.s an advancing
loa~. An allowance for centrifugal force and for longito~mal force, due to "braking," was specified. Other
~mts. were also referred to, notably that the rroper
s~ffenmg of plate girder webs, and prop ortions o main
gt~er flanges, should be enforced. In the d iscussions
&~db Fensued, Messrs: P. J. Waldram._ I;I. Oartwrigbt
.1 , . . 'N. Hodgk mson, W. D. Wtlha.ms, and J.
Gilobrtst took part; and the proceedings terminated with
the announcement of the next meeting May 18. when a
~aper on "A Short Review of the Mot~r Car Industry
ast and Present, " would be read by Air. Obarles
Rush and Mr. Basil H. Joy.

H:

NOTES FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE.

SHEFFIELD, W ednesda.y.
South YorksMrc and the Hull Coctl Trade.- From r eturns j ust issued it is seen that a progressive busi ness is
being d one by the collieries in South and \Vest Yorkshire.
The active demand that has prevailed for steam coal has
caused a g reat increase in the tonnage shipped, and although the collieries have been largely worked, stocks are
low and prices rule high. The total tonna~e sent to Hull
la~t m ont h was 301,680 tons, as compared w1th 238,176 tons
last year. In the three mon ths the weight was778,272 tons,
as compared wit h 659,344 t ons last year. Only seven of
the collieries in the county contributed over 10,000 tons
last month. Only a moderate business was done coastwise l~st month. Of the 3 l,014 tons dealt with, 26,366
went to London. The business d one in the quarter was
105,505 tons, and of this 89,549 was shipped to L ondon.
The largest tonnage sen t abr oad was to Sweden, 2 L,890
tons; G ermany, 21,328 tons; and Holland, 19,140 tons.
Grv'trLSby and the Tramways.-A fter once agreeing t0
municipalise and twice to re-lease to the present comp any the Grimsby Corporation last week again changed
their minds, and rescinding a previous r esolution d ecided
by a ma jority of two, to t ake the necessary stet>s for taking
over the t ram ways, a~ the compn.ny r efused to re-open the
question of further concessions.
Co.operativc CoUiery Schenw.-The various co-operative
societies in the W est Riding are considering a scheme for
establishing a colliery on co-operative lines to be worked
by the \Vest Riding Coal Federation. It ha.s been
agreed to thoroughly prospect t he U pton Hall Estate.
Nu merous societies have given their cordial s upport to
the scheme.
I 'ron and Steel.- A dis tinct movement in prices has
again set in, caused to a considerable extent by the sustained demand for finished goods and increasing diffic ulty
in obtaining material. In the local iron market, both
bematites and the common iron have again advanced.
T he quotations now delivered in Sheffield are : W est
coasb hematites, 93s. to 94s. per ton; East coast ditto,
92s. to 93s. ; Lincolnshire No. 3 foundry, 753. to 76s. 6d. ;
forge ditto. 73s. 6d. to 74s. ; D erbyshire No. 3 foundry,
77d. 6d. to 78s. 6d. ; forge ditto, 71s. t o 72s. 6d. There is
not the same pressure m the finished iron market, a.nd
with some firms con tracts a re being cleared off more
readily than others a re coming t o hand. Manufacturers
o f Bessemer and iemens steels are so heavily booked that
they, on l~' rid ay, somewhat unex pectedly, furth er advanced
their quotations 10s. per ton. The contract price for
Bessemer is now 10l. per ton, and small lots lOt. 5s.
S iemens ra nges from lll. to 151. per ton, according to
temper. It is intimated tba.t furth er increases may be
made on account of the cost of material, and a dvances in
wage~. There is little change to note in the lighter industries. F or articles of u t ility there is a good d emand, b ut
the inquiry is not so brisk for articles of luxury.
Sou th York3hire Coal Trade.-Reports from all parts
of the Sou tb Yorks hire coaJfield show undimimsbed
prosperity. The re has been great pressur e during the
past week on the part of consumers for supplies to lMt
them over the Easter holid ays i and the collieries, though
working full time, are not a.t>le to keep up with the
requiremen ts of the trade. This difficulty is accentuated
by the s hortnees of wagons, owing to whi ch many pits
are u nable to get their output away. D emand for steam
coal continues very strong, and values, already high.
have an upward tendency. The railway companies are
taking a full tonnage, and for the iron trade there is a
very brisk d emand. Shipping continues exceptionally
good, being much above the average. A busy season is
looked forwa rd to by all the Humber p orts. H ouse coal
is somewhat easier, but rates have not been altered.

NOTES FROI\-1 THE SOUTH-WEST.

Oard~(f. -Tbe

d emand for steam coal ha~ continued

strong, and prices for delivery within the month have
shown a bardPning tendency. The best steam coal has made
22s. 6d. to 23s. p er ton, while secondary qun.lities have
realised 19s. to 20d. p~r ton. H ouse coal has shown little
change ; No. 3 Rhondda. large has been making 20s. to
22s. per ton. Foundry coke has been quiet at 33s. t o
33s. 6d. p er ton ; and furnace ditto 30s. to 33s. per ton.
As regards iron ore, the bost rubio has brought 20s. to
20s. 6d. per ton.
T he Elect1ic Light at B?~iJtol. -In view of the facb that
the Bristol City Council authorisEd in January a n extension of its eleotrio light under taking ab a. cost 145, 150t. ,
the electric li ght committee of th e council r ecommends
t hat Sir ,V, H. Preece s hould be instruct ed to ad visa and
report upon the extension. Th~ originA.l installation was
carried out under Sir W. H. Preece's ad vice.
L lanelly.-A special m eeting of the Llanelly Harbour
Commission was held on Thursday, to consider a lengthy
rep ort on the etate of the harbour and estuary, by Sir
Alexander Rendel and Mr. F o wler. They recommended
that the breakwater should be s hortened by 150 ft., at an
estimated cost of 3000l. A motion thnt the recommendation of the eng ineers should be carried out was losb,
an a mend ment calling for a furth er report. from them
upon various schemes suggested being adopted by nine
t o three.

Swansea T1ar1t'u:ays.-New E:lectrio oars ar e being tried

a t Swansea, and on Thursday a successful trip was made
to C wmbwria, the section which has the heaviest gradient.
It is not expected that the cars will be running until next
month. All sections are to be opened at once, and it is
ultimately intended to r un 2t small cars and 15 large
ones. These latter are 42 ft. in length.

T he "Spartiatc. ,_The Spartiate, ~~uiser, h~ bad a

s uccessful preliminary trial of her aux1hary macbmery ab
Pembroke D ock. Captain-Superintendent Ba.rlow and
M r. H enry Cock, oh1ef constructor of the d ockyard,
witnessed the trial.
Bristol Visitors toBarry. -A party of gentlemen,. repre
senting the Bristol Chamber o f Commerce and Sluppmg,
paid a visit to Barry on \ Vednesdav, and wer e conducted
over the d ocks a nd other places of interest by several of
the Barry Rail way directors and officials .. T~ey . 'vere
afterwards en ter tained at luncheon, on the mv1ta.t10n of
the Ba.rry d irectors.
The N ew R oyal Yaoht.-Tbo alterations of the new
royal yach t are t o be pushed forward, so that the
vessel may commence her steam trial'\ at the close of
J une. These will be of an exhaustive character, a nd
will include seven or ehrht distinct trials, of which the
first two will be o f 48 hours' duration at 17~ knoU1,
with the sti pulation that should a n ything happen to
in terfer e wit h the second run it will involve a cancella tion of the first, and so on. It is not expected th~t the
yacht will be absolutely out of d ockyard hands until next
February.
W elsh Coal for the N aAJy.-On Saturday the L ords o f
the A dmiralty accepted tendero from W eleb colliery proprietors for the supply of about 140,000 tons of best s t eam
coal for foreign account, d e livery to be made over the
ensu ing six months. The prices obtained by the various
contractors ranged between 2 ls. A-nd 2 ls. 6d. ne t per
ton. The orders were distributed among the fo1lowmg
firms : Penriky\)er Colliery Company, Limited, 20,000
tons ; Gory's M erthyr Colliery, 20,000 ton.s ; United
N ational Colliery Com pany, Limited, 10,000 tons; L ockets
Mertbyr Collieries, Limited, 10,000 tons; Oambrian Collieries, Limited, 10,000 tons ; Hills' Plymouth Company,
Limited, 10,000 tons; Crawshay Brotber-3, Cyfa.rthfa,
Limited, 10,000 tons; Dowlais Iron and Coal Company,
10 000 tons; Nixon's Navigation Company, Limited,
10:000 t ons ; a nd D. Davis and Sons, Limited, 10,000 tons.
Dockyard A otivity.-Men are working overtime at
D evonport in order to advance as rapidly as p ossible t he
re fit of the guardships Benbow, Collingwood, and Tbunderer. Extra. h oura are bejng worked in every d ep artment under the chie f engineer, and by the men employed
on the lineof-battle s hips Montagu, B11lwark, and Implacable ; in the smit heries, in the s hip-fitting department, by the chief constructor's cleric!l.l staff, a.nd in the
s torekeeping d epartmen b.
BRITISH CoAL INBRAZIL.-Thequa.ntity of coal shipped
from England to Brazil last year was 967,778 tons, of the
value of 619,9l2l. The corresponding exportation in
1898 was 1,010,912 tons, of tb e value of 633,125l.
L OCOMOTIVES IN B ELG IUM. -Tbe admini~tration of tbo
Belgian State R ailways has just ordered 20 goods loco
motives from so me Vienna. works. The engines aro t o be
d elivered by September, 1900. The order found its way
to Vienna because B elgian locomotive firms are at pre enb
unable to accept orders for engines t o be d eliver ed in less
than a year.
THE LATE SIR R ENNY WATSON.-We regret to learn
of the death in Edinburgh on Saturday afteroo:m of Sir
Renny W a tson, a well-known G lasgo w engineer, and one
of the most active of the citizens o f that important industrial centre . He was born in 1838 in H a wick. a.nd served
the usual apprenticeship of five years as mill wright a.nd
engineer in the works of M essrs. J ames M elrose and
Sons of that border town. He was next for a. period of
about 12 months engaged as a fitter in the East
Foundry, Dundee, and added further to his experience
at the works of M essrs. Platt Brothers and Oo., Oldham, where he wa~ for nine years, attaining in the
interval a p osition of considerable resp onsibility. A bout
1868 be went t o G lasgo w as a partner of the firm
of which be ultimately b ecame m an aging p artnerM essrs. Mirrlees, Tni t, and Watson . and from which in
time was evolved M essrs. Mirrlees, W ate on, a.nd Y a.ryan,
Limited. It is not n ecessary here t o r eview the success
of the firm which was origma.lly found ed in 1840; the
story was told in ENGINEERING of April 24, 1896 (vol. lxi.,
page 534). But S ir Renny Watson during his r egim,e,
experienced the full share of the prosp erity which characterised the sugar industry from 1878 to 1884; the firm
in these six year3 s hipped 45,000 tons of machinery, and
in one of the years 11,500 tons. Tt e W est on, Yaryan,
a nd other amalgamations are now matters of hi tory, a nd
throughout Sir Renny Watson continued in active
management. At the same time be took a great p art
in the public affairs of the city, and d;d esp eCially
valuable eervice on the Clyde 'frust, being identifiEd
p articularly with the new dock~, and thus it came
tbab he was knighted in 1892. He wa~ aewoiated, too,
with several soientific and literary organisations. He
became a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1879, and was ch airman of the Reception Committee wh en the Ins titution visited Glaegow a few years
ago. H e was president of the Glasgow Association of the
Royal G eographical Society, and i n this capacity took
an active interest in Nansen,s Polar Expedition. He was
for several years chairman of the G lasgow and 'outhWestern Railway Comp~ny, and. ~>nly relinquished this
office three weeks ago ow10g to fallmg health, but be continued a d irector, and was a lso a director of the Workmen 's Dwellings Company, and of the National Bank of
cotland, was a governor of the Vict oria. Infirmary, and
was associated s imilarly with other important movements; so that, nlike for his active co-operation, as wen
as for his g enial temperament, his loss a.t the early age of
62 years i ~ much regretted.

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

PRIL I 3, I 900.

GOLD DREDGERS IN NE W ZEALAND.

C 0 N S T R U OT E D

FR0

~I

THE

DE8 I ' N S

0F

M E . R ,'.

C U TT E N

(For Desc'ription, see Page 491. )

FIG.

1.

THE C UTTEN DREDGER IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION .

F1a. 2.

D REDGER AT

\VoR.K AT

A 'l'AJLIN GS STACK ING .

BR 0

~- ,

D UN B DIN.

ENGI NEERI NG,

13, 1900.

APRIL

MI NE RAL LO COl\IOTIVES F OR TH E PORT T A LBOT AN D BARRY RAILvVAYS.

CO -. TRUCTED BY THI: COOKE LOCmlOTIYJ<:

Al\1"() 1\IACRIKE <:mJPANY,

PATER OK,

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APRIL I

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

3, I goo.]

AGENTS FOR "ENGINEERING."

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Oftlce for Publication and Advertisements, Nos. 35

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TBLBGRumo ADo&sss-ENGINEERJNG, LONDON.
T BLBPBONB NIDLBBR-8668

Gel'l'al'd.

--

CONTENTS.
L ~

tv

UGB I

~ n. as Site for EnglMcJerml(. orks (l lltt8.) ..

ern Field Artillery (ll
l tt8tra'~"'
T
._..,
~ro~~stitution of Naval
tteots .......... .. ..
Launcbes
d Trl 1 T
Modern
b ilad. nps(ii
lustraU<L) tp u mg

Sh'

M~eral Loco~;~ti~e~.f~~tti~

Notes .... .... ....

467 Graphic .Mebhod of Balanc
ing Marine Engines (ll
.c 68
,
,
~us trated)
I The War in s~~tb'.A.i~i~ . ::
469 Naval Engineers

4761 Dl'iti~h Artillery . . . . . . . . . .

Contmuous v. Polyphase
477
00 . . . . . .

&!f
Talbot and Barry
N I ways (1Uu3tratecl) . . 479

N~ ffrom the ~orth . . . . . .

Owo rom Oleveltmd and
the Nor thern Counties .
Notes from South y k hir
Nt f
or s e
~~~the South-West

Sbl e:,

Otu~r1 ;~dr

The P ~

Cl

and.
the
War
..

hib'ta.rl8
Internattonal Ex
1
ton .. . . . . . .

UGE

486
487
487

488

488

Th~~~~~i :E~gi~~e~~ !~~

Notes from the U~l~d

States

480 The Roy~~ :M~teo;ologi~i

Soc'et
480 Mi l Y.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
scellanea: .. . : . . . . . . . . . . .
481 Gold Dredging 10 New Zea481 ! land (IUu.st,rat~) ...... ..
483 Industrial Notes .. ..... ...
484 The Rollin..r of Ships on
Waves (fllu.st?ated)
485 1 Naval Engineers . . : : : : : :

490
490
490
491
491
498

496

CA.SES. - Reading cases for containing twenty-six

numbers of ENGINEERING may be had of t he Pu blisher or of any
newsa.gent. Price 6s. each.
READING

NOTICES OF MEETINGS.
CIVIL ENGINRBRS. - Tuesda.y, April 17, Easter
Tuesday. No meeting.- Monday, April 23, at 8 p.m. Special
meeting. The eighth "James Forrest " Lecture, by Sir William
H. Preece, K.C.B., F.R.S., Past Presiden t Inst. C.E. Subject:
"On t he Relations between Electrioity a.nc\ Eng ineering. " The
lecture will be repeated on Tuesday, April 24, at 4 o'olcck, for the
benefit of members and their friends.
INSTITUTION OF

ENGINEERING.
SHIPS'

AR~IOUR .

THE addre::~s Lord H opetoun delivered last

week, as P resident of t he Instit ution of Naval
Architects, commented on the shipbuilding programme of t he Admiralt y for the present year, and
expressed a regret, which will be shared by the
maj ority of E nglishmen, that "the rapidity of
construction of which we have in the past been so
justly proud, has not during t he last two or t hree
years been fully maintained. " This falling off
Lord Hopetoun attributes to ''rest ricted output of
the best class of propelling machinery and of
ar mour-plate., The President of the Institution of
Naval Architects necessarily speaks guardedly, and
his statement as to delay in delivery of machinery
is quite t rue in dealing with a past period. That
was owing to the engineering strike, which is now
some distance in t he past. So far as regards the
present, t here ar~ ma:t;tY. firms of excellent r epute
who would be quite wilhng to construct machinery
for Her Majesty's vessels if the orders were
pla~e~ with th~m. From our knowledge of t he
positiOn of affaus, we are aware that this is a
fact, and we have no hesitation in characterising
t he excuse of t he Admiralty for their programme
of this year as on e not founded on fact. There aze
at the present time several firms of the very highest
standing who would be only too glad to lay down
battl~ships and cruisers complete, hulls, armour, and
machmery, and to guarantee completion within
reasonable limits of t ime. Whether the state of
for eign politics warrants a bigger shipbuildino- programme, or whether we are spending mon ey en~uo-h
is a question apart. The statemen ts of Mr. Gosche~
t hat he cann ot place m ore orders, is simply an
excuse, an.d ~ very ha~.excuse, as any one may find
out who IS 111 a position to have a few minutes'
conversation wit h responsible persons connected
with. several of our largest shipbuilding and engineenng firms.
It is, however, more especially the armour
question with which wc now propose to deal.
Lord Hopetoun says that two courses are open to
t he Governmen t. "Either to extend by n1eans of
orders guaranteed over a series of years, the number
of firms cap~ble of supplying armour-plate; or for
t he State Itself to undertA-ke its manufacture.,
He goes on to say-K- that '' t he latter course is open
to serious obj ectio~s, " an opir~ion to. which nearly
all who ~ave studied the subJ ect will s ubscribe;
and we t hink that had Lord Hopetoun r ealised how
very serious t he objections are, he would hardly
have put forward the proposal of a State armour
factory, even as a remotely possible alternative so
long, t hat is, as there are private makers willing to
lay down t he plant needed for any possible n eed of
the Fleet.
Our Admiralty investigated this question of
State supply many years ago and decided in favour
of private manufacbure.
It will be interesting to look abroad and see
what has been done in coun tries where t he possibilities of private supply are for below our own.
The question was well considered in the United

Wi'h a PUJoPOIJc R1Vjravi ng o.f the A/IN ERAL LOOO,l!OT IVES

* The full text of this paragraph in the address will be
FOR THE PORT T.d.LBO T AND BARRY RA I L JVAY S.
ft und on page 463 ante.

States t hree or four years ago; for, a~ .is well

known the American Government authorities have
had a good deal of trouble in getting t heir armour
supplies, and, indeed, recently came to a complete
deadlock.*
In the official r eport of t he Ohief of the (United
States) Bureau of Ordnance for 189'7, t he qu~stio_n
is dealt with very completely, and the opinion IS
defi.n itely expressed "that the (United States)
Government can purchase armour more cheaply
than it can manufacture it."
The Ordnance
Bureau rightly r egarded '' t he making of armour as
a proper adjunct to a great commercial steel plant.
. Should the department acquire a plant of its
own, the chances are t hat it would be at a great
cost, and t hat it would lie idle a large part of t he
time, and thus suffer deterioration, and that the
expense and difficulty of operating it when needed
would more than offset any advantage gained by
such ownership."
In a publication issued by t he American Iron
and Steel Association it is stated that" every naval
power of Europe has, at different periods since
the advent of t he armourclad ship, contemplated
Government manufacture of armour. The Government factory erected by t he Russian Government
near St. Petersb urg is, we believe, the only establishment of the kind belonging to any naval power.
The plant is said to be still incomplete, and has
cost from four to five millions sterling. It is con ..
ceded that armour can never be made t h ere at as
low a price as it could be purchased from abroad ; a
statement no one will be likely to question." The
measure was, however, but a par t of a policy t hat
the Russians have always pursued ; namely, to
make t he nation as self-con tained as possible in
r egard to warlike supplies. As a matter of fact,
the Russians are still large customers to foreign
armour- plate makers, t he American makers having
profited largely by t heir custom, and the vast expense
of the J{olpino factory is excused on the score of it
being a reser ve establishment to be brought into
play upon the outbreak of war when foreign supplies might be cut off. The explanation is somewhat lame. The nation t hat trusts to laying down
ships and making armour when war has been declared, would be p ursuing a course far more foolish
t han t he shrewd Russians are likely to contemplate. The real point of interest for us at present
is whether t he Russians might not have better encouraged h01ne indqstry and strengthened the
military resources of the country more effectually
at the same time by spending an equivalent, or a
far sn1aller sum, in guaranteeing a continuance of
orders to private firms.
Some interesting figures relating to the assumed
cost of an armour-plate factory were given in a
~etter of t he ~ecretary of. ~he United States N avy
In 189'7, quotmg the opinion of the Chief of the
Bureau of Ordnance. The sum of 300,000l. had
been estimated as t he price of a plant n eeded for
the purpose. This is described as '' quite inadequate " ; and the obvious fact is pointed out that
a plant for armour-making must comprise a steelmaking equipment also. To obtain the necessary
stock of material for working on a laro-e scale and
for the unavoidable experimental ;ork in' the
beginni?g, 600, OOOl. would be required. The
Carnegie armour plant wai at that time said to
have cost that amount, and it has increased since
then.
~his cou?try, howeve~, stands on q uite a different
basis to eit her the Un1ted States or Russia, but
whatever arguments ar e to be advanced in fa vour
of privat~ manufacture wit~ t hose, or, indeed, any
other nat10ns, are .of . considerably more weight in
~egard. to Gr eat Bnta1n. We are far from agreeIng Wit h those perhaps somewhat short-sigh ted
en thusiasts who say "the N avy must have the
very best of everything, no matter what it cost "
~or cost is necessarily a very.ruling fac~or, not on'ly
In a n.aval programme, but In t he design of ships.
In thts case, however, cost is a minor consideration, and if private makers were not to be
trusted to make t h e best kind of armour, we would
be .prepare~ to ~dvocate considerable p ecuniary
sacnfice. 'Ihere 1s, however, hardly a. shadow of
dou.bt tl~at ~h e r esult would be q uite in t he opposite directiOn. No doubt a Government factol'y
would produce in a leisurely Inanner excellent
armour of ten or fifteen years' antiquity and we
~hould see the priyate firms of the country supplyIng plates for foreign ships that would be far more

--

-------

--

* See " Politics and N ational Defence," page 224 ante.

E N G I N E E R I N G.
r esis tant to shot and shell than those beina placed
on the sides of the ships of the R oyal Navy~
vVe say we should see our private firms supplyina
armour to foreign P owers, but the statement need~
p erhaps some consideration. Some of t h e foreirn
P owers are making very rapid strid~s not only in
armour-plate making, but in oth er branches of
~teel . manufacture. England once held t he palm
In th1s field both for inventive ingenuity and boldness in carrying inventions to a practical issue.
That former activity has placed us in the position
we yet occupy in this field. But we are, it must
be confessed, som ewhat trading on t he past, and
n o longer hold our old undisputed supremacy.
Compound armour was an English invention ; it
inaugurated t he principle upon which all mod ern
armour is made, of a hard and, therefore, comparatively brittle face to resist penetration, in conjunction with a tough and softer backing to hold t he
mass t ogether and prevent breaking up. Since
. then, h owever, furth er advances have been due to
t he inven tors of other countries, and our armourplate firms have been dependent on th eir labours.
The IIar vey process came to us from America, and
n ow we have the fur ther improven1ent int roduced
by Krupp.
It may be said t hat t his being the case, there is
little reason for encouraging t he private firms.
They have n ot made advances, t her efore a Government department could not be more stationary;
for, of course, no one expects Government factories t o inaugurate improvement. That would be
mortgaging t he fut ure, and, as a matter of fact, the
English makers have made improvements, t hough
they have not of lat e effected a q uite new departure. But, beyond this, t hat n otable advances
have been made abroad is a very cogent reason why
a Government factory should not be trust ed with
the supply of armour. Governments are influenced
by p olitical consid erations, and for a public d epartment to adopt a foreign inven tion is to bring down
on it an amount of hostile criticism which few
Go,ernments would be courageous enough to wit hstand.
W e have had notable instances of this in t he
past ; but to those who are acquainted with the
manner in which Government factories are managed,
it n eeds no recital of examples to show t hat they
move out of established grooves only under the
influence of great external pressure. With t he
incentive towards gain, the proprietors of private
works are ready to adopt suggestions that will
place them ahead of t heir rivals ; and, therefore,
putting aside the labours of the proprietors of t he
establishment themselves, a member of the staff,
or an outside person, bringing forward a promising
suggestion, is eagerly welcorr.. ed ; tha t is, of course,
supposing t her e is sufficient competition, as there
always should be, in the case of Government supplies.
On the other hand, t he energetic or
ambitious subordinate in a Government factory
knows very well t hat if he has fresh ideas t hat will
entail thought, hard work, and some responsibility
in their working out and adoption, he had better
k eep t hem to himself, even if t he jealou. y of t hose
oYer him be left out of account.
There is in England no need for a Government
armour-plate factory. The pri vate firms are quite
willina to find all t he monev and enterprise n eeded
for ke~ping up the supply, if they are given reasonable encouragem ent. I t is well known t hat one at
least of these firms made an offer some time ago
t o the Admiralty of increasing t heir plant to any
desired extent, if they were insured a continuance
of orders for a very moderate period of time; and
other firms, we believe, were quite ready to go on
the eame lines. "\Vhether it was Treasury obstructiveness, or whet her it was some other cause, only
those in t he confidence of the Government could
state ; but at any rate this reasonable proposal
was not en tertained. Of late we have been d oing
b etter. Vickers's have added a t hird firm to the
bia Sheffield armour-plate makers, and Armstrong's
h:ve nearly completed a splendid n ew plant at
Openshaw. This, will enable t he powerful n orthern
firm to make the protectiv~ plates for the sh ips they
build with such success at Elswick. At Glasgow,
Bardmore's are also capable of turning out certain
descriptions of armour.
That these companies should receive encouragement is a matter of national importance. As we
have said t here are foreign rivals in the field, and
it is, ab~ve all, d esirable t hat all fair encouragenlent should be given to our home makers, to enable
them to h old their ow n. A full volume of trade

is the greatest source of strength in the case of a

~anufacture entailing t he laying down of such
1~ men sely . c~stly plant, and the employmen t of
h1ghly spec1ahsed and exceedingly well-paid labour.
:r'he for eign t rade 'Ye .do in ships, guns, and,
Indeed, all war matenal1s one of our chief sources
of military strength, and all legitimate encouragement should be given by the Government t o this
br~nch of industry, without thought whether t he
th1ngs produced may or may not be t urned against
us at some future time.
We have Eaid t hat English makers of armourpl~tes have made improvements of late and this
fact is well brought out in a paper read' last week
befor e the Royal United Service Institution by so
good an authority as Captain Orde-Browne. He
made r efer ence to t he Krupp process, which he
says ''is no doubt subject to variation, and since
it has been adopted in t his country, each maker
has improved and modified it ." As is well known,
the E nglish makers, as well as t he Americans and
French, have all taken licenses from t he firm of
Krupp. I n a table given by Captain Orde-Browne
in his paper, r esults of firing trials at various plates
made on t he Krupp system ar e given. From these
is seen ho w notable has been the success of John
Brown and Co. - the founder of which firm made t he
firstarmour -plates in this coun t ry- andof the American Carnegie Company. These two firms, which
pract ically ar e equal, .have a better figure of merit
for their plates t han is credited even to t hose mad e
by Krupp.
The features of the process are secret, and the
secret is well kept, though in so many hands.
According to Captain Orde-Bro wne- although he
speaks not withou t reservation- the process ' 'consists mainly in the use of chromium to such an
extent t hat great brittleness and hardness might be
expected. Sudden cooling is carried out in a way
that might be expected to ruin the metal, but t he
r esult is great toughness. I t m ust be _understood,
however, that nickel is also used, and nickel has
long been k nown to give toughness in a r emarkable
d egr ee. "
Captain Orde-Browne's paper affords an inter esting summary of what has recently been done in t he
manufacture of armour-plates, his r emarks on the influence of 6-in. armour on ship design being especially
s uggestive. We recommend t hem to t he n otice of all
irresponsible critics who are s) fond of telling us how
lamentably shor t of intelligence-naturally, by inference, compared to themselves-are those who
devote their lives to studying these su~jects and put ting them into practical shape. "It happens, " says
the author, "that 6-in. Harvey and I{rupp process armour had been successfully made considerably before other t hicknesses. I t also happens that
Sir William W hite has given our battleships 6-in.
protection for our 6-in . q uick-firing guns, while those
of foreign Powers long had 3-in., 4-in., and 5 in.
armour." We have on our ships, therefore, large
areas protected by 6-in. hard-faced armour, against
the thinner armour of our possible adversaries ; and
the ad vantage is more marked when our 6. in.
armour is face-hardened, whilst t hat of t he foreign
ships is untreated. The importance of t he secondary
armament of quick-firing guns is now wen recognised by all authorities, and the ad vantage of t he
increased protection, given by Sir \\7illiam White's
designs, to t he men working guns of t hat nature
will be ap parent.

CARBOLIC ACID AND THE WAR.

T HE chemical known as carbolic acid has had a
considerable amount of attention attracted to it of
late, and from a cause quite distinct from its legitimate use as a disinfectant or its illegitirr.ate use as
a weapon by those of suicidal tendencies. W e r efer
to the Royal Proclamation published in t he London
Gazette forbidding t he export of carbolic and cresylic
acids, this being due to the fact that it forms the
raw material from which t he lyddite of South
African noooriety is made. T o consider a few
general issues with regard to this chemical, it is
noteworthy that the demand for carbolic acid for
explosives manufacture increased rapidly in Germany about 10 years ago, statistics which are available, showing that in 1889 Germany imported
2,423,000 kilos., of which 2,267,800 kilos. came from
England. As is pretty well kno wn, this carbolic acid
is obtained as one of t he distillat ion products of
coal tar, a body which, however, yields but 0. 2 per
cent. of t he pure crystallised acid, and 0.3 per cent.
of cresole. I t is thus seen that 100 tons of tar

[APRIL 13, 1900.

have t_o be. distilled to give a yield of 4 cwt. of
~rboh.c ac1d. As regards the production of tar
1tself, It cannot be said that th e increa~ed use of
electricity for light ing purposes has 0aiven much of
a blow t o the gas industry, which is increasing its
application for heating purposes, and t he production
of tar in England remains pretty much at the
figure at which it stood a decade back, namely,
6,000,000 cwt. per annum. As a useful comparison,
we may say that France produces, or did a few
years ago, ~' 000,000 cwt., and Germany 750,000 cwt.,
figures wh1eh show at once our great superiority in
the market from which crude tar products are drawn.
In the early days of the coal-tar colour industry in
Germany the bulk of the raw materials came from
England to be worked up into dyes in the factories of
the Fatherland, and alt hough this state of things has
been altering year by year in the way of Germany
producing mor e of her raw products, yet still a larae
trade in the raw materials for the colour indust~y
is done by us with the Continent.
T o keep more particularly to carbolic acid, we
may, perhaps, with advantage, put in a word a to
its preparation from the tar. When crude tar is distilled, 1t is customary to separate the products into
light oil, carbolic oil, creosote oil, anthracene oil,
and pitch, and the carbolic acid is obtained from
t he carbolic oil fraction by agitation with caustic
soda solution and subsequen t acidifying with Eulphuric acid, when t he carbolic acid separates out as
an oily layer. Although caustic soda has been
general1y used, it has been found possible, as in
Hardman's process to substitute lime and to decompose by a current of carbonic acid, and it is asEerted
t hat t his gives equa1ly good results, coupled, of
course, with a saving in man ufacturing cost. The
crude carbolic oil containing, as it does, water,
napht halene, &c. , has to be redistilled and a product is eventually obtained in the crystalline form.
This is t he material required for the explosives
manufacture, the drainings from the crystals find
ing a mark et as carbolic acid for disinfecting, or
~fter admixture with some absorbent material, forming the well-known carbolic powder.
With r egard to t he available supplies of carbolic
acid, it may be pointed out that t.he oils extracted
from blast-furnace gases in Scotland and low tem
perat ure coke ovens, as well as those obtained
by the distillation of shale, or from gas producers,
do not yield cryAtallisable carbolic acid. This has
been pointed out by "\Vatson Smith, who has investigated the subject closely. From these sources
material of a phenoloid nature can be extracted to
a much greater exten t t han from coal tar, but the
phenol is n ot iden tical in Loth cases, and we cannot
look upon the sources referred to as likely to be of
assistance should any suddenly increased demand
Not. that
for carbolic acid be experienced.
there is any need t o sound a note of alarm m regard to fut ure supplies, but sti1l the mere st~te
ment of t he producers that the present product10~
satisfies the world's needs cannot be taken as evld euce t hat the situation will not undergo a change.
I t is hardly necessary to give the full tex~ of the
Proclamation already mentioned, and wluch ap
peared in the Gazette of January 12 l~st, but
divested of legal nomenclature its trend 1~ to the
effect that t he following goods, capable o~ ~emg conver ted into military stores, shall be proh1h1ted to. be
exported from the United Kingdom, or c~r~ted
coastwise, viz. : picric acid (trinitro~hen~l), tr1n1tro
cresol, carbolic acid (phenol), cresyhc ac1d (cresol).
Although no reasons for t his order have actual1!
transpired it is well understood in the trade that tt
has refere~ce to the manufacture of lyddite, and
more especially to a. fear that the Germans ~ould
denude our markets of the materials ment10ned,
pos ibly with the object of ser~i~g tb~ interests
of t he Boer forces. I t is not our m tcnt10n here to
go into any detail with regard to the l~d~ite ~nnu
fact ure, b ut it may be said that p1cr1c ac1~ ~r
t ri nito phenol is t he principal body used, as 1t lS
also in the melin ite factories of the F rench Gover.nment, this explosi,e being picrate _of ammoma.
The use of picric acid in connection w1th the expl?sive manufacture is not of long standing, a.nd 11~
t his country at all events t he great explos10n
' the chem1ca1 works of
14 years ago, which wrecked
.Messrs. Ro berts, Dale, and Co., at Manchester,
caused considerable surprise, even among experts,
as picric acid was not look~d upon as dang_erousf
Picric acid which is obtamed by t he act10n
nitric acid ~n carbolic acid, forms a yellow powd~~,
which stains the skin deeply, and evident}~ t 18
property id strongly developed in 1yddite, to JUdge

APRIL I

3, I 900]

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

~ the reports one sees in the news~apers wit h d 'Antin, t he Avenue des Champ Elysees, and the
ygard to its effects on those exposed to Its vapours. Seine-a large t riangle, t h e apex of which adjoins
re The Proclamation, it must be sa~d, was not at all the Plnco de la Concor de. Besides this, the wide
well received by t hose concerned with t he manufac- river fron tage from t he Pont des Invalides to t he
ture and sale of the s~ bstanc.es r eferred to, and an Trocadero, lying between t he Seine and the Cours
agitation which was Immedtately set .on foot to la R eine, with its extension on the Quai De Billy,
obtain its repea1, has resulted recently 1n the order provides additional space. W e n eed say nothin g
beina modified to the extent that the substances of the Vincennes Annexe, which is too r emote to
0
may be exported, but only for p urposes .uncon - be brought within the practical limits of t h e Exhinected with the explosives manufact~re . I t IS open tion. The r eser ved area may thus be divided into
to question however, whether evasiOns of the Act five distinct parts : on the north side of t he Seine,
will not take place, and for which n o blame can the Trocadero and t he Champs ElyRees ; on the
rest on the seller, and it is n ot at all easy to. see south side, t he Champ de Mars and t he E splanade
how such can be detected : of ?ourse, t he mo~ 1~ed des Invalides; and on both sides of t he river, the
order practically amounts to saymg t hat t he ortgma.l broad and long enclosures cover ed wit h a mass of
order has been withdrawn,. a.~d altho~gh !lo doubt temporary buildings. Between t he extreme limits
it was conceited in the pubhc tnterest, .It. will h~rdly of t he enclosure, t he course of t he Seine follows a
be gainsaid that such an order restrainmg private curved sweep forming practically a quar ter circle. It
firms from conductipg t heir busines~es a.ocording to is crossed by five bridges, all included within th e
These are the new
custom and coming moreover at a trme when other Exhibition boundaries.
tar products are yielding ~ut scan ty ~rofit, amounts Al exander III. Bridge, t he P on t des Invalides,
to 8 considerable hardship. That It has ca used a widened by a temporary footbridge ; t he P on t de
good deal of annoyance to t he trade n eeds no e!ll- l'Alma, similarly widened; a temporary footbridge ;
phasis, especi~lly in the cases of cont~acts w~th and the Pont d'J ena. All these will form a means
foreign countr1es, and, perhaps? the p om t wluch of circulation for visitors to t he Exhibition, t hough
caused most irritation was that It st:opped t he ex- only the P ont d'J ena, the Alexander I I I. Bridge,
port of carbo1ic liquor, whereas It IS only the and t h e temporary structures are r eserved wholly
CI'ystals that can be utilised in t he explosives for t hat p urpose .
The general scheme of t h e present Exhibition,
manufacture. However, t he main cause of complaint has ~ow: been. removed, so there is no n eed and t he b uildings, temporary and permanent, which
to indulge m mvective. It may be asked, " That have been constructed for it, are of a far more
about the synthetic carbolic acid of which we heard elaborate and decorative character than those of
something from Germany a fe w years ago~ Well, t he Exhibition held in 1889. In that year, the
it is a fact that the acid can be made synthetically, Trocadero and its beautiful gardens were devoted
but so far the process has not been able to compete to Exhibition purposes, t he latter being occupied
with the tar product in point of econom!. Further, with numerous miscellan eous pavilions, which left
the hopes which .were at first hel~ that It would not plent y of r oom for t he public to circulate throughredden in the a.tr have been falsified by the test of out the grounds. The Champ de Mars, t hen as
experience, and the product has t herefore no ad- now, was covered wit h buildings, except for t he
vant.aaes over t hat with which it has to compete. central garden ; in 1889, h owever, t his was someThe two reactions by which it has been produced what shorter than is now the case, on account of
are : (1) The decomposition of sodium benzene t he greater d epth of t he wonderful range of buildsulphonate by caustic soda ; (2) the action of nitrite ings devoted to miscelJaneous exhibits, occupied by
of soda on acidified aniline oil, but any further France, and which extended across the Champ de
details on this abstruse subject would, perhaps, Mars from the Avenue de la Bourdonnais to the
hardly prove of interest to the readers of an engi- Avenue de Suffren. On the oth er hand, that
portion of t he Champ de Mars facing the Seine, in
neering journal.
the centre of which was reared the "clou " of the
1889 E xhibition- the Eiffel Tower-was, with t he
THE PARIS INTERNATIONAL
exception of some scattered pavilion s, available for
EXHIBITION.
landscape gardening. As just mentioned, the
( F RoM oUR SPECIAL CoRRESPONDENT. )
scheme of the arrangement was simple, and the
L"f deciding that the inauguration of the Paris buildings, though far less pretentious, were adUniversal Exhibition of 1900 should take place on mirable.
April 14, the authori ties deprived themsehes of
Standing with his back to t he Seine, the visitor
three invaluable weeks which, had t hey followed saw on his right hand the great domed hall devoted
precedent, would have afforded opport unities t o to the Liberal Arts, and on his left a similar buildbring the buildings and t heir contents, as well as ing occupied by the Fine Arts. Beyond, in extenthe grounds, into something like superficial order. Rion of t hese, on either hand, were the courts
It appears, however, to have been considered desir- devoted to t he miscellaneous industries of for eign
able, probably for financial reasons, to include countries, each with its own section ; these block ~
Easter Week in the shor b lease of life which the j oined the great range of buildings already spoken
Exhibition will enjoy, and thereby secure t he of, containing the miscellaneous exhibits of France.
attendance of possibly an extra million of ho1iclay- Separated by a space occupied with exhibits
makera. Had the astronomical and ecclesiastical of railways materials, and electrical stations, folEaster not been at variance, the Exhibition autho- lowed the great structural triumph of the 1889
rities would have had the benefit of an extra week Exhibition, the Machinery Hall, which until then
for preparation, and the opening ceremony would was the largest area covered by the widest span
not have taken place t ill the 21st, instead of in existence : to be surpassed a few years later
the 14th, of April. H owever, the best had to be by the General Industries Buildings at t he W orld's
made of a bad situation ; aild in spite of t he some- Fair of 1893. All the buildings on the Champ
what urgent attempt made in the },rench Chambers de Mars were admirably adapted for their temto postpone the opening ceremony, the original date ponny purpose ; at the same time they had but
has been adhered to, and was justified by the official lit tle architectural pretension, with t he excepassurance that the Exhibition of 1900 would be in tion indeed of t he Fine Arts and Liberal Arts
a condition of greater readiness, when the public buildings, and the great rotunda with the magni~hould be admitted within its enceinte, t han any of ficent dome that gave access from t he Central
1ts predecessors.
Gardens to the Miscellanous Exhibits building of
. Doubtless the grounds and buildings will con- France. The remaining part of t he 1889 Exhibition
ti~ue t?. be crowded from the day of opening, but comprised the Quai d 'Orsay on the south side of the
WlBe VIS~tors, es~ecially those coming from a dis- Seine, and the Esplanade des Invalides. The former
tance, Will restram their interest and curiosity until was devoted chiefly to agricultural exhibits, and
a much later date, say about midsummer.
t he latter to the French colonies, the Pavilion of
. We ~ropose ne~t week to give as faithful an the Minister of War, Social E con omy exhibits, and
11~1~r~ss10n as poss1ble of the condition of the Ex- some miscellaneous buildings.
hilntton, both as regards t he buildings and their
On t he presen t occasion, as we have already
cou.tents, on the day of its opening; and it may be seen, the available space has been increased by the
of Interest to preface such a review with a sketch t ransfer of the Fine Art Buildings to the Champs
of the.general.arrangement that has been adopted, Elysees, and the addition of t he quays on the n orth
an~ mth a bnef comparison between it and t hat side of the Seine. This increase, h owever offers
wh1ch was followed at the Exhibition of 1889. In but a poor compensation for the lS\rger d~mands
each case the .setting is the same, except that on the of exhibitors, and the additional space required by
hresent occ.as10n the boundaries of t he Exhibition Germany, who has come to France for the first
ave been mcreased by the inclusion of that part tim~ since she became a leading manufacturing
of the Champs Elysees lying between the A venue natwn.

Let us endeavour to obtain a general idea of t~e

manner in which the available space has been distributed; this is easy, if we ascend to t h e second
stor ey of the Eiffel T ower, n early 400 ft . above the
ground. From this elevation almost t h e whole of
t he E xhibition enclosure, stands revealed.
L ookin<r northward across t.heSeine, t he visitor sees
the rising slop es of t h e Trocadero gardens, bounded
at t heir highest level by the gr eat Ro~unda. of the
P alace, with its elliptical wings, and 1n front the
monumental fountain, which was on e of t he gr eat
glories of the 1878 Exhibition, and which the Trocadero P alace and th e grounds still commemorate.
N early the whole of this area is devoted to t he
Colonial possessions of various countries ; about
one-half, on th e left-hand side looking n or thward,
are occupied by France ; t he other half, on the
right-hand side, being divided among different
nations. As an advance guard, and occupying the
Rond P oint of t he Place du Trocadero, upon which
the Avenues Kleber, Wagram, and others, converge,
is th e French exhibit of t heir latest colony-Madagascar. Wit hin t he Trocadero Gardens are large pavilions devoted to Algeria, Tunis, Senegal, French
I ndia, Gambodge, Congo, the Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Indo-China, Tonkin, and other colonies. On
the other side we have the colonies of other nations
represented ; a considerable part of the extremsly
limited space has, however, been deducted for Japan,
China, the Collective Missions exhibit, and some
others. What remains is distributed b etween
Russia, the Dutch Indies, the P ortuguese colonies,
and Great Britain, whose scanty area adjoins the
pavilions of Egypt and t he Tran svaal. At the foot
of t he Trocadero Gardens, upon the Quai De Billy,
t he 1estricted widt h of which is reduced by t he lowlevel railway, are several pavilions, those of the
Maritime Chambers of Commerce, an Indo-China
annexe, t wo French and one Colonial r estaurant,
and an ~nimatograph side-show, being the principal.
On the sout h side of t he Seiue- t hat is, on the
Champ de Mars side, and immediately facing the
river- are the pavilions devoted to Commercial
Navigation and to F orestry and Sport, respectively
on t he right and left hand of the Pont d' J ena.
Besides these principal buildings are a number of
smaller ones, the main pumping station, Schneider
and Co.'s pavilion, that of the Messageries Maritimes, some small pavilions of foreign count ries, a
great celestial globe, &c. Occupying n early all of the
garden space around the base of the Eiffel Tower is a
large number of independent buildings, most of them
the subjects of concession s, and t herefore devoted
to miscellaneous popular attractions : panoramas,
cineoramas, mareorama.s, and so fort h ; more imposing buildings are t hose of t he P alais du Costume,
t he Palais de l'Optique, and the W omen's Building.
Pavilions of smaller contributories which
could n ot be squeezed in elsewhere, have found a
resting-place at t he base of the T ower : Siam, San
Marino, Morocco, Equador are among t his number;
as also are several offices, such as that of t he Credit
Lyonnais, &c.
Turning to the south side of the Eiffel Tower
gallery, we see spread out before us t he magnicent range of buildings that will form the chief part
of the Exhibition. With the exception of the
narr ow central garden, t he whole area of t he
Champ de Mars is practically covered, although a
narrow space has been left between the Avenue
de la B ourdonnais on one side, and t he Aveuue de
Suffren on the other, and t he backs of the main
buildings. These spaces are occupied by a variety
of small structures, some of them annexes t o receive overflow exhibits from the adjoining palaces,
others, restaurants, offices, &c.
Each large building is to be filled with exhibits
belonging to a separate group. On t h e right-hand
side, looking towards the old Machinery Hall and
starting from t he Seine, there are t he buildings devoted respectively to the Liberal Arts and Sciences,
to Education and Tea.ching, to Civil Engineering
and the M ean s of Transport, and to Chemical
Industries. F~cing them on the oth er side are
the buildings that contain the exhibits of Mines
and M etallurgy, of T extiles and Clothing, and of
Machinery.. The Science and Arts Building, and
that of Mmes and M etallurgy, have t wo highlydecorated faga.des, the one facing on the Cent ral
Gardens, and the other looking towards the Seine.
All the other buildings have but on e fagade, ghTing
on to the Central Garden; a gen eral feature of
t hese long fron tages is a. con t inuous arcaded
promenade, which will be occupied from end to
end wit h r estaurants. The distance apart of th ese

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

[ APRIL I 3, I goo.

arcades- t hat is to say, t he width of the Central of buildings of fin e architectural appearance, though other purposes, but from a note by M. A. Duiour
Garden- is about 650 ft. Although each build- n ot so elaborate as those on the Champ de Mars ; published in a recent issue of Oomptes Rend'HS of
ing is distinct with separate features of decora- here various groups of exhibits are made up by all the Paris Academie des Sciences, it would seem that
tive architecture, t he whole of t hem on each side t h e nations; Decoration and Furniture for public there. is a prospect ~hat q~artz may usefully be
harn1onise wit h t he general design, and are con- and private buildings, State manufact ures, and substituted for glass 1n certam special instruments.
nected to one anoth er, so t hat the visitor passes Miscellaneous industries, which comprise a very M. Dafour has. succee.ded in. producing tubing of
from group to group without interruption. Between wide range.
fus~d quartz? whi?h., ?wmg to 1ts. transparency, high
the end buildings of t he series on each side-those of
Far a way in the distance, at t he apex of t he r esistance, tnfusiblhty, and shght attraction for
IVIachinery, and Cheinical Industries, res pectively, enclosed triangle of t he Champs E lysees, is t he moist ure, may prove exceedingly useful. M. Dufour
and tl~e old Machinery H all, a wide space is left, monumental entrance of doubtful utility, which has already employed t hese tubes for making high
occupied as to the centre- that is t o say, for the has already been christened the '' Salamander temperature t hermometers, using tin to replace
width of the Cent ral Garden- with the main body Stove" by facetious Parisians, and which is sur- the mercury generally employed. This thermoof the E lect ricity Building and t he Chateau d 'Eau ; mounted by the statue of P aris fin de siecle, t haL meter r eads from 240 deg. Cent. up to 580 deg.
as t o the sides, with the wings on t he Electricity has created a scandal in the French art world.
Cent. ; and as t he quartz does not begin to soften
Building that s tretch to the right and left, so as
Thus far the visitor can gat her an idea of the till it attains a temperature of over 1000 deg. Cent.,
to fi ll the width of the Champ de Mars. In t he general arrangement of the Exhibition from the such instruments could doubtless be used up to
cent re, t he main body of t he Electricity Building high platform of the Eiffel Tower. He can also temperatures of well over 900 deg. Cent. The theroccupies, with its annexes and the st ructure known gain a glimpse, here and there, of the means pro- mometer in question was calibrated, in boiling
as the Salle d'Honneur, t he whole of the depth vided for facilitating t he transport of t he millions mercury and boiling sulphur, and for still higher
hack to t he Machinery H all; but the side wings who will crowd to the Exhibition during the n ext temperatures t he boiling points of zinc or cadmium
are only about half this widt h, t h e remaining six months. An advance has been made over the might be used as reference points. M. Du four
space being occupied on each side with the boiler- popular and useful Decauville Railway of 1889, and has also made a mercury thermometer wit h a quartz
houses that will supply steam to the various motors. electric lin es will run as far as possible to every tube, in the hope that t he ' ' creeping of the zero "
The fagade of t he E lectricity Building, facing on portion of the grounds ; these will be s upple- commonly observed with glass thermometer tubes,
the Central Garden, is t h e chief architectural effect mented by a t ravelling platform, a system of might be avoided. Quartz fuses much more quietly
on the Champ de Mars ; it is, in fact, t he monu- American 0r igin, which first found a small applica- than glass, gas being invariably disengaged when
nlental Chateau d'Eau, with its illuminated foun- tion at t he World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago. That the latter is brought to a melting temperature.
tains and t iers of basins, which were described it will be povular here, on account of its novelty, This is not the case with quartz, and hence it is
recently in E NGINEERING (see page 451 cvnte).
is more than p robable ; but it will not compare suggested that a study of vacuum tubes made of the
From the gallery of t he Eiffel Tower a part of in usefulness with t he electric lines that encircle lat ter material might throw light on the question
as to what really serves to transport the charge in
the great curved roof of the old Machinery Hall is t he grounds.
visible ; under this r oof, and in the centre of t he
The arrangement of exhibits adopted by the case of an electric discharge in a high vacuum.
building, is the Salle des F etes, from which direct Exhibition authorities this year is in defiance of all
THE SociAL PROGRESS oF THE CoLONY O)j'
access is obtained to the Electricity Building at t he previous practice. With t h e exception of some
QUEEN LAND.
back of the Cha teau d'E a u. To t he right and left of the very minor countries, who are provided with
There are many standards of material progress,
of the Salle des F etes, the exhibiting area of the self-contained pavilions, there are no foreign secMachinery Hall is devoted to Agriculture and Food tions, and therefore there is no national indivi- but few of social advancement. Amongst the
Products. Fin~lly, reference may be made t o one d uality. Practically, to every group is assigned a latter is the record of postal and telegraphic comof t h e side shows immediately adjoining- but not separate building, and t heoretically all the exhibits munication, and it is therefore interesting to note
within t he limits of- the Champ de Mars ; this is belonging to each group, and coming from every that in Queensland, one of the youngest of the
the S wiss Village, which will doubtless attract nation, have to be located in its proper building. colonies in Oceania., the revenue in 30 years has
crowds of visitors.
The advantage claimed for t his arrangement is that increased from 32,354l. to 270,933l.-eightfoldLooking eastward up t he curved banks of the of closer j uxtaposition , a.nd consequent greater ease while partly as a natural, and partly as an econoSeine, we see on each side, rows upon rows of of comparison ; but this advantage, if it be one, is mical, r esult the expenditure has grown only fivevaried pavilions, extending from the limits of t he obtained at the cost of the abolition of national fold- from 66, 678l. to 313, 710l. Such a deficit is
Champ de Mars to the P ont des Invalides. On sections, and t he wide subdivision and distribution but a contribution to social advancement, and is in
the southern bank there are the Army and Navy of national ex hi bits. A short time will suffice to consequence of the ready r ecognition of desirable
P avilions, and the building devoted to Hygiene show whether the experiment will ever be re- reforms, such as t he introduction of the postal
exhibits. The Mexican Pavilion has also found a peated ; for alt hough exhibitors may be chary of note system, posting facilities on tramcars and
location here, and so have a number of small approval if t he system recommends itself to them, trains, travelling post offices on through expres.s,
annexes belonging to different countries. Bet ween it is certain that t heir outcry will be loud and cheap telephone systems, sixpenny telegrams-m
adoptin<r0 which the colony named has sh?wn the
the P out de l'Alma and the Pont des Invalides is discordant if the innovation prove objectionable.
way t o the other divisions of Austraha. The
the row of foreign pavilions occupied hy their re ~
population is only 400,000- about the same as a
spective Commissions. Servia, Greece, Sweden,
moderate-sized town- but it is scattered over an
Monaco, Spain, Germany, N orway, Belgium, Gr eat
N 0 T E S.
area nearly six times t hat of t he United ~~
Britain, Hungary, B osnia., Austria, the U nited
JAPAN, R u::>SIA, A ND l{ oREA.
States, Turkey and Italy, occupy the fin;t rank
J APAN:ESB influence is stronger than any other dom ; yet 17 ~ million let ters are dealt w1th lll
facing on the river. Behind them are the smaller in the Peninsula of K orea . In six months the a year, nine million newspapers, a?d over four
pavilions of Roumania, Bulgaria, Finland, Luxem- imports into K orea from J apan were 1,326, 845 million packets. At. 385 telegraph offices 1,334,846
bourg, P ersia, Peru, P ortugal and Denmark.
yen ; t hose from China, 1,293,465 yen ; those tele<rrams are dealt with at a profit to the
On t he opposite side of the river, and facing the from Russia only 3046 yen. The exports of Gov~rnment, and at 45 telephone offices 1558
Pavilion of liygiene, is an exhibit t hat will certainly l{orean goods to J apan were 405,341 yen ; those to subscribers make up, on an average, 9201 calls
prove attractive- t hat of Old Paris. Immediately China, 108,078 yen ; those to Russia only 6062 yen. pei' da.y. The::;e results show a l~igh rate of comabove the Pont de l'Alma is the Congress Building, The most important J apanese impor ts are cotton munication for such a comparatively small popuwhich is also used as a Museum of Social E conomy ; yarn and cloth which are rapidlydi::;placing those from lation. It will surprise most people to know
t hen follow::; the great Hall devoted to Agriculture England. The progr ess of Japanese banking in K orea that of the letter dealt with only one out of e'Te.ry
and Arboriculturo ; while the Pavilion of the Ville is remarkable. In the various banks which have 50 are ::;ent to Britain or foreign parts, while
de Paris, which in 1889 was located in t he cent.ral branches in K orea, t he money dealt with as bank one out of eveiy seven arc de:patch~d ~ o~her
gardens of t he Champ de Mars, this year adjoins orders in 1898 reached mor e tha.n 10 million yen ; Austra.lia.n colonies. The inference Is .J u~tified
the P ont des Invalides. As on t he south bank of the the loans supplied by them were 5 million yen and that this indicates t he upbuilding of. a d1stmctly
S eine, there is a. second r ow of buildings, most of t he deposits were 9,600,000 yen. J apanese infiu- colonial population and trctd~, and smce the cost
t hem, however, belonging to conce::;sionaircs for dif- ence in regard to means of transit is also r emark- of delivery in isolated parts IS greater even than
ferent amusements, although they include an annexe able. The Soel-Jillsen Railway is exclusively in transoceanic con veya.nce, it shows that the agreed evoted to H01ticult ure and Arboricult ure. What J apanese hands. As we have frequently mentioned, ment by so many to a. univers~~ penny rate
space ther e is fronting each side of the river, from the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the Osaka Shosen within the Empire is almost surpl'lSl;'J g and very
the P ont des Invalides to t he boundary of t he Kaisha have regular mail services to l{or ea, and gratifying. Mor eover, the increase ID the numE xhibition n ear the Place de la Concorde, is also have the sole right over l{orean coast navigation . ber of letters for over t he seas is not great, for
occupied by horticultural and arbori c~ltural ex- The number of Japanese residents in I{ orea now t he number last year-386, ?78--~hows no re~l
hibits ; and large spaces for flower displays are exceeds 20,000, and Mr. Seitaro r eaches the con- expansion. The telephone IS bemg greatly ~
re::;erved in the enclosed triangle of t he Champs elusion that if the economic influences of J apan tended and the difficulty seems to be to get mElysees. Within t his same triangle, and a little wer e withdrawn from the P eninsula., it would suffer ::;trume~1ts quickly enough. The ~der~ound
to the north-east, are the two Inagnificent p erma- from inanition . It is very evident t hat if Russia. system of wiring is being adopted m. Bri baJ.?-e
wit
h
metallic
circuits.
The
telephone
.Is
used
ill
n ent buildings which will remain as r ecords of the were taking any steps which would prevent the
Exhibition after it has passed away ; they are scpa- free development of Japanese trade and influence, outlying parts for r eporting approach~g floods.
rated by the new broad avenue that is extended to a very serious state of affairs would arise ; but at The cables between New Zealand and SHiney, C?D
n
ectin<r
Ocea.nia.,
are
steadily
reaching
.
th.
e
paymg
the E splanade des Invalides by t~e Ale~ander I~I. present th ere are no indications of this, and it is
stac1e l ast year 's deficit being 2236l. : It IS.apporBrid<re and replace t he old Pa.lats de 1 Industrie ; t herefore unwise to indulge in unnecessary alarm.
tio~ed amonO' the seven colonies according to
thes: ~re devoted en tirely to t he Fine Arts, and
.
o
k. app1Ies m
a less
popula~wn
...
The
san~e
r~mar
.
extensive though they are, they are quite inadeQuAR'rz THERMOMETERS.
quate to the demands made up~n t hem for space.
I t is now some years since Professor Vernon degree to the 'rasmania-V1ctona cable, th~ deficit
Crossing the Alexander III. Bndge to the. sou~h Boys showed .t hat q uartz fibres could be produced baYing been 4200l. last year. Intercolomal tel~
grams ar e incr easing greatly as a result of reduce
side of the Seine, the E splanade des Inva.hdes IS nearly as easily . as those of glass, though, of
n1.tes. The rate between Queensland and New
reached. ' Vith t he exception of a narrm~ central course, a much h1gher temperature was n eeded to South ' Vales has been reduced from 2s. to l s. per
passage and some open spaces on each side, the fuse the f?rmer material. Since then little has 10 words, and 2d. per word extra, and between
whole of the area is occupied by cont inuous ranges 1 been done ln the matter of using fused qu9.rtz for

E N G I N E E RI N G.

APRIL I3, 1900.]

Queensland and Victoria- a ~uoh greater distance,
as measured between the cap1tals-from 3s. to 2s.
for 10 words, and 3d. per word extra. The postal
telegraph department has authority over electric
light and power schemes under the Act passed in
1896 and eight supply stations have been authorised. Mr. Hesketh has become engineer to the department aud !vir. J ohn McDonnell, who has been
under sec~etary and superintendent of telegraphs fo1
29 years, has been succeeded by Mr. Rober t Scott .

GRAPHIC METHOD OF BALANCING

MARINE ENGINES.

rosette,. for nearly one-fourth of one revolution. The

dotte.d hne 0 M denotes the position of maximum velocity
? f p1ston. The vectors would confuse the diagram
tf more were drawn.
The same method applies
to the reaction vectors all round. The abrupt effect
of the obliquity is obvious, and it is clear that the
primary reactions shown by the circles cannot be llccommoda.ted to balance the obliquity reactions shown by the
rosette. Therefore, to balance, each set of reactions must
be dealt with by itself. The primary reactions, must,
the!Ilselves cancel out and the obliquity or secondary re
actions must also, themselves, cancel out.
The primary reactions are nil if the polygon of weights
and the polygon of moments are both closed figures.
In Fig. 1, A B C D is any polygon of weights for the
cranks as shown at the corner. Observe that the sides
are drawn, in succession, each parallel to its crank and in
the sense of "outward from the shaft." Produce B along
B' and make B' = B. Produce D along D' and draw C'
parallel to C. This is the diagram for primary balancing.
The figure A' B' C'' D' is the polygon of moments.
Regard the cylinders as arranged in Fig. 2. The point
0 is midway between A and B and the length 0 A or
0 B will be now called unity, or 1. The distances 0 C,
0 D will be m and n , fractions of 0 A.
The trick of this diagram lies in making 0 A
1, for
by doing so we can repreaent the moment of A and the
moment of B, by the lengths of A and of B. Therefore
in the moments-{>olygon, A is also A' and B' = B. By
construction, C' 1s parallel with C, and also D' with D,
because it is in the same line. Evidently, to make C'

By Mr. J . MAOFARLANE GRAY.

THE problem of the ine-rtia effect of the reciprocating
masses m the steam engine has been already dealt with
by me in the Transa-ctions of the Institution of Naval
Architects for 1886, at page 331, a.nd again in 1897, in
a. er " 'l 'he Accelerity Diagram of the Steam Engine. '
~~ Mallook has al~o giv~n a.. corr~ct ~ra.phic method and
the mathematical mvest~gation m ~IS ~x.cellent paper,
"On the Vibrations of Shtps and Engmes, m the Transactions for 1895. The paper . by H err Otto Sc~lick, .this
year, reproduces the expressions for the reactiOns gt v~n
10 those ~pers, and P.resents ~ much-e~al?<>rated dtscussion of the mathemat1cal relat~ons su~tstmg between
the various weights, angles, and dtstances m the problem,
with the object of na.rrowing the field of search for a right, the distance 0 C must be
perfectly balanced engme.

mr,

a=

Fig.3.
c

c'

Observe that in these diagrams there has been no restriction as to weights or angles, and I have not been careful to think whether the lengths employed would be suitable for an engine. I am now on1y exemplifying the
method.
When we come to the balancing of the secondary reactions there is a limitation upon our selection of lengths
on the diagram. Herr Schlick was the first to point out
that a cancellation of the primary reactions due to lifting and tilting and the obliquity reaot1on of lifting could
be attained by arranging the crank angles and weights
symmetrically, the outer cylinders having their cranks on
one side and the inner cylinders having their cranks on
the other side of the normal to the axis of symmetry.
The paper by Herr Schlick deals with the settlement of
angles, weights, and positions of cylinders within this
limitation. I will now give a. simple graphic determination of the proper a.n~lea, weights, and distances for
any desired fixed condit1ons, within Herr Schlick's symmetry limitation.
In Fig. 4 describe a cil:cle, of any diameter, a.nd draw
the rectangular centre lines. Ib is required to find a
polygon of forces A, B, C, D that will give cancellation of
obhquity effecb for the lifting forces. The quadrilateral
E 4 F G is a valid polygon of this character. The only
criterion of determination here is, that on the line E 4 4 the
length 4 4' should be equal to the length L G on the line E G.
To get thi~say, that E G is given, apply a paper straightedge toE u-, and mark on it the points Land G; apply
the straight-ed~e as E 4', to the point E with the marks
one upon the hne H G at 4, and the other on the circle
at 4'. The line A is thus obtained, and the equal line
= m. Also, to make 4 F will be B, a.nd the line F G will be C. This is the
only polygon of weights that will form a balanced system
including E G, the given D. The diagram is then completed, as shown in this figure, a.s described under Fig. 1,
and a.n engine constructed accordingly will be perfectly
balanced for the primary vertical and the primary tilting
reactions and also for the vertical reaction arising from
obliquit.y.
The diagram oan now be read as one complete polygon,
but as the lettering ha.s not been provided for thiS in the
engravings, I reserve further remarks on this until another occasion.
The proof of this solution is obtained by writing out
the conditions of balancing as given in my 1897 paper,
and also denoted by G and H in Herr Schlick's paper,
and beneath them the same equations in terms of the
lengths on this diagram :
G = A cos 2 a + B cos 2 b + C cos 2 c +D cos 2
0}
or
N 4 + 4 4' - IJ G - P G = 0
H = A sin 2 a + B sin 2 b + C sin 2 c + D sin 2 d =0 '\.
or
N E +F 4- F L - E P = 0
J
That the trigonometrical expressions correspond identically with the geometrical references is not so clear that
one may read as he runs, and whoever desires to fathom
it must quietly look into the diagrams, doubling the
angles as he proceeds.
In Fig. 5 a. number of sets of valid angles for balancing
are given, all drawn as has just been explained, using
the paper straight-edge. At the one extreme the outer
cranks a.re set at the same angle, and the crank line of
double length at G denotes that there are two cranks a.t
that angle. At the other limit the polygon of forces is a
square, and the crank weights a.re all the same.
If ib be deaired to balance the obliquity tilting as well
as the J>rimary tiltin~, and the primary vertical forces, the
balancmg of the obliquity vertical forces must be abandoned, a nd the construction must begin with the deter
mina.tion of the angles in the trapezium A' B' C' D' precisely as has been explained for A B C D . The arrangement of cylinders will then be found to be altered, and
the diagram will show how.
I have carried out this graphic method to include the
delineation of the residual unbalanced obliquity tilting
reaction; I will, perhaps, add that to this paper.

FLfj. 6 . _- r--.,..._

o
c

fSJUII

:Fi[J .4.

THE WA:(t IN SOUTH AFRIOA.

(5J6J.CJ

According to my 1897 paper, the vertical rea<:tion is

R w'!.
Q

cos cl> (A cos a

sin c/J (A sin a

+ &o.)

+1
+ &c )
+-?~ cos 2 4> (A cos 2a + &c.)
sin 2 <f> (A sin 2a + &c.)
+1
ft

or

+
+

E
F
G

+H

~m

~ .

:.:::p..

8.
Hw~
~ P.
c .g
~

The same expression stands for the tilting moments,

only substituting the moment of each weight, A'. B', &c.,
for the weights A, B, &c., in the formula. Each line is
extended to include every crank, thus : A cos a + B cos
b + C cos c, &c.
To get a balanced engine, the reactions must be, a~ far
as possible, reduced to nothing. When reactions a.re
represented as in my diagram of 1897, the effect of the
ob1iquity can be clearly measured. To get the reactions,
primary and secondary on one line, I here alter the
rosette diagram of obliquity at the expense of the &{}cura~y of measuring. The diagram of reaction is as in
Fig. ~ The vector lines are drawn through the centre 0
on the circle fkn~ op the
tfrmtl)ated by the int;ersections

D' right, the distance 0 D must be

&= n .

that these distances are actually 0 C =

D'

OD= -

x OA.

0'

This means
x 0 A, and

The c~secuti ve arrows on the sides of the ~wo P,Olygons

are in the same direction, on the correspondmg stdes, f?r
the cylinders on one side of ~he central plane, a~d m
opposite directions, for the cyhnd~rs ?n the othe~ stde of
the plane. Thus, A ' A and C' C md10ate one stde, and
D ' D the other.
If the \Veights and angles are no~ yet s~ttle~, use laths
for the sides, jointed with wire natls, as m. F1g. ~ Add
a side J{ = 2 B to form a parallel frame w1th C and 0
Leave out one of the joint pins, say the one at ~he corner
C C, and the dia~ram, ~i~. 1, can be played 1~to oth~r
forms, say into F1g. 3, g1vmg new values for C a.nd D,
and a new set of crank angles.
That Fig. 1 or Fig. 3 is a valid diagra~ f9r a complete
balance of the lifting . forces and t~e t1ltmg mom~nts
requiree po demonstra.twn, the prqof !Sop the face of lb.

To TRR EDITOR oF ENGINEERING.

SIR, -Our two chief deficiencies in the Free State are
evidently horses and information. Every effort is apparently being made to replace the lavish ex~nditure of
horses which occurred during the gallop on Kimberley,
and the subsequent ma.roh on Bloemfontein. We now
po~ess a most interesting and detailed account of the
ride to Kimberley from the pen of one who galloped
there, under shot a.nd shell, and with little enough water
for the man and only too often none for the patient beas~,
enduring to the death, that he bestrode ; for thus was 1t
with most of them, and consequently when an urgent
summons arrived at Kimberley to saddle up, change
direction to the eastward and cut off Cronje, nearly 1500
out of the 5000 trained chargers that left Honey Nest
Kloof a few days before were lost, and of the remainder
on!y 1200 were fit for further and immediate action.
Compare this with the facts recorded by one of Napoleon's most trustworthy historians, General Marbot, who
commanded a portion of the cavalry during the dreadful
retreat from :Moscow. His return of losses of horses. and
troopers in his immediate command was com.pa.ra.tJvely
trivial, and consequently arreste~ the attention of th~
Emperor who caused it to be ven6ed, and then comphmented the General on the result of his personal care an~
attention for the needs both of men and horees under h1s
immediate commaud.
.
.
.
.
The exigencies of the s1tuat10n durmg the re~tef of
Kimberley a.nd the subsequent march, have evtdently
crippled o~r mobile division to such !i' degree .that we are
now suffering severely from want of mformat10n concerning_ the enemy's movements.
The Free State is still a hostile country-Lord R oberUj
'

..

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

[ APRIL I

3, I 900.
,

proclamation, and the oaths of the burghers, notwithstanding.

The farmhouse of Pretorius overlooks Koorn Spruit,
and Pretorius had surrendered and taken the oath.
Naturally, therefore, our troops should have received
some warning from him that the Boers were in ambush
under his windows. Instead of this we read of his family
and servants looting our wagons on the day after the
disaster. Similarly, if any portion of the Free State can
be regarded as under onr thumb, and "pacified " it is the
country in the vicinity of the railway running ~outh from
Bloemfontein; yeb we yesterday hear o f another disas ter
to our arms, and the capture of a strong force (over 500
troops) n ear Reddersburg, only 9 miles, as th e crow flies
from Bethanie Station, to which there was, and probably
ia, a telegraph line.
The Boars must have collected their force at Beyer's
Bergen, a. rough country to the south-west of Waschbank
and some 13 or 14 miles south-east of Reddersburg;
!le vert~~ le~, not a soul in ~his "pacified country,, with
Its smthng Dutch p opulat10n, would give the smalles t
hint to the verdempte rvikeke officers at D e vVet's D orp.
The proclamation, the false oaths, the surrender of
rusty arms, are all of a piece. They combine to form a
situation that would be farcical were it not eo serious for
our soldiery and their captains, and especially for those
employed on what may be termed strategical outpost
duties. A false friend with a smiling face is far worse
than an open foe.
Our force near Reddersburg must have thought the
country around to be nearly clear of the enemy, and the
usual precautions a~ainst attack, viz , the selection of a
good position, and 1ts careful preparation by entrenchments, and by the s torage of fuel and water, cannot have
been p erformed with any degree of efficiency.
If the map of the Intelligence Department be correct,
the nearest hills are five or six miles aw~y from the town.
If an officer be ordered to occupy a town, be cannot, on
his own res ponsibility, be expected to take up a position
several miles from that town. It is, therefore, desirable,
before pa.ssi ne- any judgment on the untoward occurrence,
to discover, 1f possible, what orders were given to the
officer in command of this small and isolated force, and
why and by whom it was placed there ?
If it be absolutely n ecessary to d ot about such forces
in a practically hostile country, then it is also absolutely
necessary to support them, and to order them to take
such measures for their own protection that they can each
hold out long enough for the said support to come up.
This is simple common sense, on which every success
depends, whether in peace or war. Neither as regards
the Cavalry and R. H . Artillery force at Thaba N"chu, nor
as regards the infantry and mounted infantry force at
R edder3burg have these common-sense measures been
taken; and really it would seem that the strictures on
British commandmg officers delivered by the late G eneral
Joubert have frequently been shown during the war to
Le not altogether unjust.
Colonel Albrecht, now our prisoner, ha.s a good fund of
common-sense and humour, if one may judge by his
after-luncheon speech, as recorded in the T imes, where
he is stated to have said: "Your infantry is SElendid. It
will advance where no one else in the world wtll advance.
. . . Your ea valry . . . did go h ome at night to their
bivouac. They are no good. . .. Your artillery is splendid. . . . Your mounted infantry is nothing. . . . They
are good infa ntry; but why put good infantry on horses?
. . . They are all the time holding on to their hats."
On the other side : " Cronje is no soldier. . . . The
Boar is no good. He has no discipline." He might, per
haps, have added a. few home truths about other matte~,
but he was speaking in the midst of the staff. He a~o
failed to mention our socalled statesmen and their preparations for the war. Had these gaps been filled his
speech would have been a. complete sum mary of the war
by a man who keeps his eyes wide open and sums up the
situation in a few words of pungent simplicity.
Colonel Albrecht, when s peaking of our artillery,
evidently from the context (not quoted above) was primarily alluding to the disciphne, training, and temper of
th~ men; but a letter from the Times corr<!spondent at
La.dysmith has been published within the last few d ays,
in which an endeavour is made to rectify a long injustice
to the efficiency of our guns, due in the first instance, i f
I remember correctly, to r emarks published some months
siuce by one or other of the correspondents in N atal to
the same paper, these remarks giving rise at the time to
a long and somewhat bitter correspondence which, to a
grea.t ex~ent, misled the pu~lic on t~e matter in dispute.
'his subJect has also been dlScussed m ENGINEERING, and
the present more reasonable opinioJ? .as to the h.igh effi
ciency o f our field guns and ammu01t10n entertamed by
those who have seen them used so frequently on service
must therefore be very acceptable to the scientific committees who, in the first instance, have been responsible
for r ecommending the armament of our batteries.
The question of remounts and of r t'placing the waste
of transport animals which must have been very heavy,
is no doubt the main reason that Lord R oberts still remains at Bloemfontein; but the recent successes o f the
Boers in his immediate vicinity will stir him up as w.it~ a
p ointed goad. Ten thousand horses are stated a.s arrtvmg
or due at Ca.pe T o wn from South America, but the7 cannot
be available for employment at the front for sow~ timeaf~r
the termination of along se;a voy~ge. ~n effictent mob1le
division is so important t a.cttca.lly m any 1mportant e ngagement with the Boer forces, that every means should be
taken to preserve the health and strength of the horses,
and consequantly to employ our Colonial mounted troops
in the main for scouting and other ~vork on detachment,
for which moreover, they are pecuharly adapted.
Colonel' Albrecht's strictures on our c1.valry were reall.Y
confined to their indifferent service of scouts, and thi~

defect was well known to us all, no proper measures having ever been taken in tim~ of peace to teach our trooper3
the intricacies of effective reconnaissance, aod generally
of acting as the eyes and ears of the Army. In Germany
the greatest attention and trouble is devoted to this training, whereas with us it has been almost neglected, except
by a few keen cavalry officers working more or less cc on
their own hook," and with very little encouragement from
the War Office. Scouting in a hostile country, and in
face of a very mobile foe, is an operation full of eurprise8,
as we have found to our cosb.
All detached p arties, whether scouting or not, should
be ca.rafully and scientifically s upported, and every means
taken for rapid communication by flag or lamp signals,
the heliograph, wireles3 telegraphy, or ordinary telegraphy or telephony. Information, communication of
same, support, food, forag e, and water are the main things
for the sconting parties to regard.
Ammunition least of al1, as a. ~ood scout abould never
fire a shot unless compelled. Hts object is to gain intelligence, and the more quietly he d oes it, the more valuable is ib likely t o be. In addition to scouting there is
often very useful information to be purchased; not in
driblets from Kaffirs, but l?_y hea\y bribes to people of
far greater importance. Recent occurrences indicate
ibab no such information can have been obtained, and
c0nsequently that the bribes have n ot been offered, the
alternative that the honest burghers, who take oaths and
break them so easily, would refuse such bribes, being
quite too improbable for rational belief. There is one other
alternative, that the money has not been provided ; but
this, also, is past belief.
Yours faith fully,
April 8, 1900.
FIELD 0FFIOEB IN '8-l.

NAVAL ENGINEERS.
To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
SIR, - In your issue of March 30 a~peared a letter
~ig!led "Lieutenant," which d ealt wtth the subject
"Naval Engineers."
The writer claims to be broad-minded, and from the
tenour of his l&tter, I think it may be admitted that be
is so. He also claims to represent the views of a number
of other officers in his line; and this I hope is the case.
H e deals so clear-mindedly with some of the points
invol ved that I think he may be open to convict10n in
regard to those others concerning which be and I are a.t

vartance.
Jus t as he clain;s to represent the views of the more
enlightened of his fellow officers, so I , for my part, can
conscientiously claim that in what follows I am voicing
the opinions of the naval engineers.
Among the points upon which ' ' Lieutenant " touches
in his letter, are the followin~, and on these we are
apparently agreed in the principle:
1. That engineers (R.N.) s hould have the power to
punish their men for minor offences; but that in the
case of all serious crimes, the matter should be dealt
with by the officer in command.
2. That the engineers (R. N.) should be represented on
the Board of Admiralty.
3. That in the question of courts-martial, wherein
engineering tecbnicali ties are involved, engineer officers
should sit on the Board. But with many of his observations on these p oin ts we differ.
Thus, with regard to the punishment of minor offences,
it seems to me that where the pro posal of naval engineers themselves is that serious offences shall be dealt
with by the comm~nding officer, the p ossibility o f such
a. difference as be suggests is necessarily non-existent.
Again, i h should s urely not be p ossible for the officer of
the watch, who may be a very young and inexperienced
lieutenant, or even a sub-lieutenant, to dismiss a case
brougb t before him by an engineer officer who may be
his senior by very many years; and although such cases
may be few and fa r between, it cannot be denied that
they have act1ally occurred. "Lieutenant" rightly
opines that naval engineers set more store by this reform
than by that of titular rank ; hub I would point out to
him that th e two reforms are inseparable-they go hand
in band- the one invol ves the other.
I d o not und~rstand what ''Lieutenant" means wh en
be refers to the "creation of two new branches in the
Admiral ty." To place a naval engineer officer and a
naval constructor on the Board of Admiralty would only
mean that these two great departments of th e Admiralty
- Engineering and Constructive- would be represented
thereon, not that the departments would, for the fir3t
time, thereby spring into existen ce.
'V'ith regard to his obser vations concerning courtsmartial, it should, I think, be quite obvious that those
best qualified to e~timate the enormity of th e offence are
also most fitted t o decide the degree o f punishment that
should be awarded.
I will now turn to those points on which I think
"Lieutenant " has mistaken views. All recent naval
wars ha.vt' shown very d ecidedly that mobility is not less
an important factor in the value of a. ship than is the
actual gun or t orpedo po we r. Furthermore, the ~un
power in large ehips, and the torpedo power in all slHps,
must very largely depend on the naval engineer, who is
responsible for the mass of hydraulic and other machinery
necessary for the working o f big guns, and for the
intricate mechanism of all torpedoes.
With regard to the question of titular rank, I cannot
do better than quote from a paper read on March 30,
1900, before the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilder3, by Mr. D. B. Morison, VicePresident o f the Institmtion.
"It shou ld be clearly under3tood that the object of
this paper is not to advocate. that engin~ers ~bould hold
military rank merely to flattsfy per~onal vawty, as they

no d oubt rightly ~onsider that their prof~sion of engi.

!leer does not requtre further adornment. The question
~s, the.refore, not personal, but national, and resolves
1tself mto wh~ther the effic~e~cy of ~he engineering
branch can be mcreased. It ts Immaterial to the ne.tion
w~ether or not the Bf:lg.i~eer, as !1-n individual, objects to
bemg classed as a. ctvtltan, havlDg no executife control
over his ~?en; but in a naval action ib may make the
utmost d!fferenc~ to t~e nation if the articifers e.nd
st~kers gt ve ~a . h1gher mterpretation to the rank of
Lleutenant Smtth, R.N.E, who has power to punish
offenders when on duty, than they do to civilian Mr
Smith, who has no such power. There are no men wh~
have a ~reater respect for the power which rank confers
than ~atlors and soldiers. "
"Lieutenant " ~ppears to consider this question of rank
a small matter. W hy, then, I ask him such opposition
to the conceEsion ?
'
In the word i of L ord L ansdowne: "Rank is the out
ward and visible sign of consideration and authority."
The case of the naval engineer differs materially from
~hat of th~ doctor or the p~ymaster. The naval engineer
~n any shtp has large bodtes of men und.er his controlm some s btps more than 300-but the medtcal and clerical
staffs are quite insignificant as regards numbers.
'' Lieutenant " states that ability to resist nervous tension is more required in a captain than in a chief engineer;
but with this vtew I cannot agree. The nervous tension
to which a chief engineer is subjected is not confined to
times of war or manreuvres, but is ever pr()sent while his
machinery is in use.
This is admirably set forth by Rudyard Kipling in his
book, ''A Fleet in Being," a. book remarkable for the
keen insight displayed throu~h its pages into the conditions of the modern Navy. H e says:
''The gentleman with the little velvet slip between the
gold rings on his sleeve does his unnoticed work among
these things. If anything goes wrong, if be overlooks a
subordinate's error, he will not be wigged by the admiral
in God's open air. Tho bill will be presented to him down
here under the 2-in. steel deck by the power be has failed
to control. He will be peeled, flayed, blinded, or botled.
That is his hourly risk."
Naval engineers have never asked for executi'te rank in
the line of couwttaud, but for executi1e controt in their own
department. The case that cc Lieutenant " suggests of the
engineer-in-chief finding himself in command of the fleet
is therefore utterly impossible.
It is worthy of notice that while the lieutenants of the
Royal Naval R eserve have many of them received training
on board Her l\1ajesty's s hips in commission, this is not
the case with engineer officers, R.N.R, and they consequently, for the most part, can have none of the special
knowledge which it would be necessary for them to
possess, in order that they might carry out efficiently the
multifarious duties of a naval engineer.
I cannot possibly follow ''Lieutenant " in the last pa!a
graph of his letter. Taken age for age, the exee~ttve
officer is very much more highly paid than is. the ~ngt.neer
officer. Inspection of the quarterly Navy ~1St w1ll dtspel
any illu<3ions on this point. It i~ true that ltladequ~y of
p!iy is one of the causes of dissatisfaction amon.g e!lgtneers
&. N., but I can assure "Lieutenant, that 1t 18 by no
means the principal cause. Far more vit~l are the questions of executive control in the engineermg department
and efficiency of engineroom complements. These are
entirely of national importance.
I am, Sir, your obed ient servant,
E~GINEER, R.~.

BRITISH ARTILLERY.
To

TIIE EDITOR

oF

E~ c H-I ERRING.

Srn,-Ther e are many in this country li.ke "O~ts.id.er,"

who cannot helJ? entertaining most senous mlBglVln~s
as to whether Brttish gun construction i~ rea.l_ly w~at tb
should be , or who are beginnin~ to beheve, m sptte of
the a.asura~ces of cc Suum Cuique' and others, that cc we
do not get the best value out of. ~ur guns." There seems
to be a growing consensus of opmion that our guns do nob
la.sb so long as foreign ones, and that therefore there must be
something wrong somewhere a. bout the bore of our guns~
account for this. "Anglophil " tells us that" the metal
(of the bore) "being comparatively mil~, must w~a.r o~t
q u.ickly with rapid fi_ring ~ " and several. htgh auth~nttes ID
tb1s country agree w1th htm on that pomt, but tht~ see:ms
scarcely s ufficient to account for the excesst~e deter10rat10n
of the bore to which the British guns aresubJe~t. Whatever
the cause may be, there is no do~ bt ~hat the hfe of some of
our heavy guns is an extraordmanly short one: as, foll
example in the case of the llOton gun, where the sma
number ~f 75 rounds is sufficient to wear out the ~><?re to
such an extent that the rifling ceases to impart rotatton to
the projectile, and it then becomes necessary.~ have ~~
course to augmenting strips, fitte4 to the dr1v1Dgb b~n d
of the projectiles, ~e~ore a ~nog ~n be . o t&tn~f
upon the worn out rtfllDg. Thts excesstve wea.rmg ou~
bore is generally ascribed to "ero~ion, " but that eroSion
is responsible for the whole of the damage done dd<fth~b
appear to have been clearly demonstrated. I nst.ea 0 od a '
we find, as the result of experience gained 'W!tb m ~b:
breechloading guns, tba.~ the greater the wetght 0~ th
projectile, ~he greater 1~ tb~ wear on the bore 0 on~
gun firing 1t ; from wh10h 1t doos not .see~? unreas c
able to infer that the weight of t~e proJe.cttle. ma,- 'W,~
have something to do with the raptd deter10rat1on tn
bore of our larger guns. One .would naturally ssbb~b~
that the friction due to the wetgh b alone of an~
b8
shell passing along the bore of a 110-ton gun o~g t to.
much greater than that caused by a 15lb. shell ID passt~g
througb the bore of a field gun, and that consequeh Y
the rifl ing of the larger gun should wear out soob~r \a~
that of the sm:1ller one. If, in addition oo t lS, 1

APRIL

r 3, I goo.]

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

borne in mind that the clearance . in Br~tish guns is the breech-end of the bore, where the rifling commences,
reater than that generally. allowed m fore1gn ones, an.d and from that point they gradually decrea'3e in se-verity
fhat our projectiles are sn Imperfectly centred that tbeu towards the muzzle of the gun. If, then, erosion is due
shoulders impinge ~~t upon one part of the bore an.d to an escape of gas in the bore, we should find, judging
then upon another, ID thetr passage through the gun,, 1t by the experience gained with muzzle-loaders, that the
seems difficult to deny that an 1800-lb. sliell, tra.vellmg leak should be large3t where the erosion was greatest,
a.t the rate of, say, 18<.l0 ft. per second, ought to viz., at the beginning of the rifling.
A pressure of several tons to the square inch is required
do more damage to t~e r~fling of a 110-ton gun,
when it impinges aga.mst It, than a 15-lb. shell upon the lJase of the projectile, before 1b can move forgoing at the same speed would be capable of doing ward sufficiently to force the ed~es of the rifling into its
to the rifling of a field gun. It looks, then, as copper driving hand; and all the accumulating gas required
if it were to this friction and hammering by the for this is supposed to be safely sealed up until the necesprojectiles rather than to erosion alone, that we owe the sary pressure has been applied to the base of the projectile,
fact that the greater the weight of the projectile, the to start it fairly on its way. Now I doubt that this gas is
reater is the wear in the bore of the gun firing it. If sealed up at all; and hold instes.d that, until the edges of
fhis be so one would naturally expect to see means rifling have been driven by great pressure completely home
employed t'o guard against these evils, ~peoially as their into the driving band, every groove of the rifling forms an
existence is acknowledged t o a cedam extent by our opening through which the accumulating powder gas
authorities1 but so fat nothing has been done by t;~s ; and escapes with disastrous erosive action along the bore,
on this pmnt, at a.~y ra.te, we. have ~agg~d behmd our gradually widening these openings and thus exaggerating
Continental compet1tors. For~tgn artiller1sts fu.lly recog- the evil with every round. The shape of the British driving
nise the importance of these evils, and guard agamst them band, with its tape'r ed front bearmg against bevelled-off
by placing cupp~r ' ' beA>ring b~n~s" round the shoulders rifling, seems specially designed to encourage an escape of
of their projeottle~, thus ass1stmg to centre them, and gas, as the grooves of the rifling remain open and accessible
preventing contact between the steel of the shell and the until, as stated before, a pressure of several tons to the
rifling of the bore. Almost all the Continental Powers square inch has been applied to the base of the projectile,
employ these bearing bands, and even the B oar " Long whereas the French driving band, with its square front
Tom, shE>lls are fitted with them ; bu.t our author~ bearing against bevelledoff rifling, tends to prevent a n
ties con11ider them unnecessary, expensive, and detri- escape of gas, for the grooves are closed as soon as the
mental to the strength of the shell. Whether they inertia only of the projectile itself has been overcome.
are necessary or not will in all probability be concluIn additiOn to the escape of gas due to the inferior desively shown one of these days, when the life. of the sign of the British driving band, there is another, although
Boer 5.9-in. Creusot gun comes to be compared w1th that not quite so serious, escape due to the employment of
of the British 4.7-in. naval gun.
the mcreasing, instead of the uniform, twist of rifling.
I do not mean to suggest that all the damage is With the uniform twist of rifling, the copper driving band
due to the friction or hammering of our projectileR, for is cleanly cut br the edges of the rifling, at the constant
erosion has quite enough ~o answer for in all conscie~ce. angle of the riflmg, and the grooves thus formed in the
Erosion is the greatest evil our guns have to contend With; driving band remain completely filled by these edges
and whatever its cause may be, the fact remains that during the passage of the projectile along the bore, thus
erosion is ruining the bore of our guns at a rate that is sealing any esc-ape of gas; whereas with the increasing
constituting it a national danger. All the guns we have twist, the driving band is not cleanly cut, but is shorn
ever made, since rifling was first invented, have suffered into a series of angular spaces by the constantly-changing
more or loss from erosion with one notable exception, and inclination of the edges of the rifling, and through these
that exception was the Armstrong rifled breechloading spaces the powder gas rushes with the usual erosive
gun, of which the best-know~ example was .the 40. ~ounder, action along the bore. There is, apparently. then
long since ob3olete, but still employed m considerable an escal?e of f!as in the modern breechloaders as
numbers by our authorities. In the rifled breechloading40- well as m the old mu zzle-loaders, and there is erosion
pounderwe have a gun of 4.7in. calibre, brought out shortly in both; therefore it is probable that erosion is due
after the Crimean War, which, after firing its thousands to the same cause in both cases. Of course, the
of rounds, during all these years of constant service, is heat or chemical action of modern powder gas may,
Rtill as accurate, within its range, as any gun we possess and probably does, have a certain erosive effect upon the
to.day, and has a bore as bright and unsoarred as when bore. as many hold, even when there is no escape of gas ;
firgt it left the rifling shop; whereas its modern prototype, but it seAms difficult to believe that such erosion could
the much-vaunted 4.7-in. quick-firer, would have a bore possibly cause the dreadful destruction visible in the bore
blackened and scored by erosion a.fter firing a few hun- of some of our guns, or to understand wby an increase of
dred rounds, and would be itself renderE-d unserviceable pressure should resulb in increasing to an enormous
by a small fraction of the rounds required to disable its extent the erosive action due to such a cause. However,
older competitor. It may, perhaps, be of use to consider the truth or fallacy of these arguments can be easily
the points bearing upon erosion, in which the old gun demonstrated by rifling a modern 4. 7in. gun with
differs from the new one. Beyond the fact that the old the old 40 pounder's nniform twist, and firing through
gun has a uniform twist of rifling (of which more it a few thousand rounds of 40-pounder lead-coated
hereafter), while the new one has an increasing or projectiles, of the proper gauge, with cordite or other
parabolic twist, there does not appear to be any- modern charges, noting the erosion-or, perchance,
thing in the bore likely to account for the remarkable the absence of erosion-which may result. There
immunity from erosion enjoyed by the 40-pounder. might p ossibly be some slight difficulties experienced
When one comes to examine the projectiles, however, it from the fusing or flying off of the lead coating. orwill be found that while the shell of the 4. 7in. gun has unless a lubricator were used-from the leading of the
only a simple dri"ing band, that of the 40-pounder is bore; but as it is only a ques tion of studying the action
encased from base to shoulder in a coating of lead, which of modern powder gases upon the metal of the bore when
acts in the threefold capacity of driving band, bearing a perfect gas check is at the same time employed, these
band, and gas check. As both projectiles are alike in would not affect the resnlt aimed at.
po3Sessing driving band~, neither can claim a superiority
If it was found that the erosion was not serious in
over tbe other for the driving band, as a means of con- the bore unless there were also an escape of ga$, then
ferring immunity from erosion. The bearing band of the all we would have to do to make our artillery as good
~0-~under, ~hile valu~ble in perfectly centring the pro- as any in the world would be to rifle our guns with a
)eotile, and m preventmg the hard metal of which it is uniform twist of rifling, and place bearing bands round
made from coming into contact with the rifling of the the shoulders and gas-checking driving bands round
~ore, does not, as such, confer any immunity from ero- the bases of our projectiles. Regarding the increasing
sion, but the gas-check does, and herein lies the superiority twi3t of rifling, there seems, in any case, to be no good
of . the old Armstron~ gun on that vitally important reason why we should persist in retaining it, especially
pomt. The lead coatmg of the 40-pounder projectile when it has been proved by careful experiment that the
formed such a perfect gas-check, that while the time- uniform twist is superior to it, and when we find that
fuses of muzzle-loading guns were ignited simply by the all the hest Continental guns have a uniform twist of
~ash of the powder gas escaping past their projectiles, rifling. The experiment referred to was carried out by
1t was found that no powder gas succeeded in passing a member of Lord Armstrong's firm, when two 4.7-in.
the lead-coated projectile of .th~ 40- pounder; and it guns, one with a uniform and the other with an inbecame necessary, therefore, to tgmte the fuse, used with creasing twist of riflin~. were tested against each
that gun, by means of the introduction into its head of a other, under precisely eaimilar conditions, with the result
detonator actuated by the shock of discharge. This that the loss of energy due to friction was 2.05 per cent.
shows that the obturation in the 40-pounder must have less, the mean dr iving pressure 3. 71 tons less, the velocity
bee~ n~rly. perfect, but that the escape of gas past the higher, the range longer, and the accuracy greater in the
P~)eotJles m the m.u~zle-loaders, owing to the necessary gun with the uniform twist than in that with the inwtndage left to fa01htate l,oa.ding, must have been very creasing twist. A s "Suum Cuique ,, says : "the proof of
great. It was found that thts gas, in rushing past through the pudding is in the eating of it," but our authorities
the narrow space between the projectile and the bore of apparently think otherwisA.
the.muzzle-loaders, eat its way into the steel of the gun,
Your obedient servant,
oh~ 1o other words, caused "erosion," and that the larger
Dundee, April2, 1900.
DISGUSTED BRITON.
t ts spac.e was, the greater was the amount of the erosion.
~ore tm{><Jrtant still, it was found, with the muzzle1 ers, that the larger the charge-or, in other words,
CONTINUOUS v. POLYPHASE MOTORS.
~he greater th~ pr~~re-the greater was the erosion in
T o THE EDITOR 01!' ENGINEERING.
bore: wh1ch 1s JUSt what "Suum Cuique" told us
SIR,-! havA just noticed in your is~ue of March 16 bst
~ u~ our modern breechloaders. There was no erosion a lette~ from Professor Fessend en on this subject.
10
t e .40.pounder, however much the charge or presI thmk that most of those who have seen the various
s~re m1gbt vary, simply because there was no escape applications of the polyphase motor in America and
~h gas; there was erosion in the muzzleloaders because Europe will agree with your correspondent as to the
er~ w~s an e~ca.pe of gas; and I hold that there is starting torque being all that is required, and I think
~roston m our modern breechloaders because there that the polyphase motor is eminently sui table where
ts an escape
t h e1r
. case also.
'
den
. 0 f gas 1n
Some may large speed variations are not called for.
~the exiStence of an escape of gas in the bore of our
In the case ,of motors for cranes, however, which is re~rn ~reeohloadera,, but few will deny the pressure of fe~red to! a d1~culty ~s . experienced. The difficulty in
effe~~n f ere, ~r that 1ts effects are disastrous. The evil thts cg.se IS, not m obtammg the necessary starting torque
o eros10n are most noticeable at the spot, near but in controlling the speed in a satisfactory manner.
'

"t!

!os

In America the beat crane builders are practically

unanimous in their pr~feren~e for the dfrect .current.. At
the large shipyard bemg laid down at Philadelphia by
t he New York Shipbuilding Company, it is intended to
erect "double-current" generators, so that for the cranes
and other machinery where variable speed is called for,
direct current may be available. I am not aware of &.ny
steel works of size in America where alternating current
is used for the operation of large cranes, and the opinion
of some of the largest steelmakers in Europe, who have
tried both systems, is in favour of the direct current for
crane~.

I therefore do not agree with the assertion that the

polyphase system is being adopted for crane work, and I
consider that the preference for the direct. current motor
is due, not t o a greater starting torque, but to the more
satisfactory direct-current speed controller, and partly,
perhaps, to th e lower first cost of equipment.
The matter is one of considerable interest, and it will
be well to have some further opinions from those who
have had experience of both systems, with heavy variable
speed work.
Y ours truly,
T. G. LITTLEBOY.
Brymbo, near Wrexham, AprillO, 1900.

THE ROYAL ENGINEERS.

To THE EDITOR OF ENGINEERING.
Sm,-I hadpoccasion to examine the supplement of the
''Royal Engineer .T ournal" for January last, and found the
total number of officers to be 1037.

List.
Field-marshal and generals
...

Colonels
. ..
...
. ..

Lieu tenant-colonels
...
...

Majors ...
...
...
... ...

Captains
...
...
...
.. .

Lieutenants ...
... ... ... ...
Second lieutenants ...
...
Officers of the coast battalion and quartermadters
... ... ...
...

21
55
90
167
244
294
119

Total
...
... ...
Employment.
Field-marshal and retired general officers
U nem:ployed . ..
...
. ..
.. .
.. .
In mih tary capacities
. ..
...
. ..
Under instruction . . .
...
...
. ..
Instructing .. .
. ..
. ..
. ..
.. .
India-public works, military works,
railways . . .
...
.. .
.. .
.. .
Army works .. .
. ..
.. .
...
.. .
Non-military, including survey .. .
...

1037

47

9
J5
419
H1
35
236
193
39

Total
...
... 1037
...
M ilitary Employment (in F'ractiorutl Pa,rts ).
General Duties,
including Royal Royal Engineer
Engineers.
Duties only.
Generals .. .
.. .
g.
Nil
Colonels . . .
. ..
,l.\
Nil
Lieutenant-colonels
1..
:Majors
...
...
Captains . . .
.. .
'
~
Lieutenants
. ..
i
~
M ilitMy Employment in South Aj1ica (in F-raot'ional
Pa1ts).
AAttachhedd to e~ gineer troot:ffis, &c. ...
...
.;,
ttac e to rai ways as tra c managers &c.
t
Special military duty ...
.. .
.. . ' .. .
!
One-fourth of the Indian establishment ddes military
d~ty; 290 officers are attached to eng~neer troops, &c.
Fmally, 40 per cent. of the total of engtneer officers are
em~loyed i~ ~ilitary ?apacities, and 28 per cent. on purely
e ngmeer military duties.
With regard to Prussia, does "Royal Engineer" imply
that '' 85 officers on barrack work ,, are engineer officers ?
When making comparisons, it should be remembered
that our army (including regulars, militia, volunteerfl
yeomen, and Indian troops) is about one-fourth the siz~
of the German army, and that the latter keeps up a far
larger proportion on a war footing.
CRITIC.
.

Tt

BuENOS AYRES AND RosARIO RAILWAY.-The Buenos

Ay res and Rosario Railway Company, Limited has submitted plans to the Argentine GovHnment fdr the construction of a draw bridge aoross the Tigre.

---

. OuR L ocoMOTIVE ExPORTS.-The value of the locomotives exported from the U nited Kin~dom in March was
192,544l .. as compared with 174,704l. 1n March, 1899, and
83, 115l. m March, 1898. In the thr ee months ending
March ~1 this year the exl?ort.s attaine~ an aggregate value
of 4?0,239/., as compared Wit~ 341,36ll. m the corresponding
per10d of 1899, and 202,85J~- m the corr~ponding period of
1898. The ~emand .for Br1t1sh locomot1ves has accordingly
~een growmg ~t;~rmg the pa;st two years, notwithstandmg the comp.et1~1on of Baldw.n~ and other foreign engines.
South Amer10a 1mported British locomotives in the first
q~arter of this year to the value of 77, 768l., as compared
w1t~ 60,399l. and 16,679l. respectively; British South
Afnca to the value of 48,382l., as compared with 20 364l
and 5788l. respectively; British India to the vaiue ~f
167,873l., as compared with 142,646l., and 60,368l. respectively; ~nd Australasia., to the value of 64,008l., as compared wHh 30,564l., and 71,501l. respectively. The growth
of .the ~ndi.an demand is ~spec~ally noteworthy and gratifylDg, m v1ew of the famme dtfficulties of the period,

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

490
NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES.
PHILADELPHIA, March 30.
TRADE condit ions are excellent. Rumours of a
possible break in prices are heard. Iron and steel is
selling openly at the sam~ figures of a month ago,
except foundry and forge Iron which have weakened
50 cents. Secret shadings have been made by some
large concerns, .but th~ occa sion for shading is declared to not ex1st. It IS argueu that the entire productio~ can b~ ~ispo~ed of at full quot ed rates. The
Carneg te affair IS disposed of, and the various properties are capitalised at 160,000,000 d ols.
Mr.
F;ick steps d~wn from the management, but leaves
h1s money ?ehi?d because he cannot put it anywhere
e~se where 1t w1ll earn as much. All the big combinatwns are earning big dividends , but the bankers refuse
to accept them as collateral at full value because
capitalisations are based on earning power and not on
value of plant. . There is a little uncertainty as to the
future of the Iron trade. Production may possess
more momentum than we know. Railroad requirements, however, are very heavy, and freight rates
across the Atlantic are just high enough t o prevent
us selling pig iron. Upwards of lOO 000 tons of pier
iron are wanted. Within two weeks' 400,000 tons of
coal have been asked for, of which 150 000 tons are
wanted in ~taly. Cost ?f. manufacturing is advancing
~ecause freights,. coal-mmmg, and all things entering
1nto manufac~u;mg are advancing .. Prosperous agricult ural conditlOns are already st1mulating demand
for the summer. There are numerous orders for
machinery coming in. The high prices do not binder
but dear ~aterial is stop~ing a good deal of building:
Money w1ll soon be plent1er, and there will be a boom
in general lines. Coke keeps advancing and there is
a t hreatening scarcity of fuel.
teel rails are 35 dols.
Bessemer pig 34 dols., billets 36 dols.
'

P alace Hotel, which was numerouslv attended the President being in the chair. The toast of the "Royal
Meteorological Society " was proposed by Mr. \V. N .
Sha.w, F.R.S. General Sir H . W. Norman responded
for the "Army," Professor Sylvanus P. Thompson
F .R .. ~., for th e "Delegates, " and Dr. Pavy for th~
"VISitors."

MISCELLANEA.

A~

the usual monthly meeting of the Society of ~1odel

Engmeers, held on April 3, in the Board Room
M emorial Hall, .Farringdon-street, E.C., at 7 p.m., Mr:
J ames C. Crebbm read a paper on " Model Boilers."
Referring to Professor Ripper's mean pressure indicator, the .Americ(Jifl, Engineer and & il1.vay Jowrnal,
suggests th~t .such an instrument might prove very useful
for determmmg the horse-power of locomotives to do
which by means of the usual indicator is troubleso~e.
The Barking T own Urban District Council organised
a small electrical exhibition, which was opened at
their public offices on Friday last, and closed on
Wedfl:esd~y.
Th.e exhibits. included a l~rge variety of
electr1c ltght ttmgs, heatmg and cookmg appliances
ventilating fans, and electromotors.
'
Careful records of the fuel and water consumption at
the W estinghouse Works at Wi1dernung show that by the
a~option of electric driving, replacing the steam plant
hitherto used, an economy of 32.2 per cent. has been
effected in the coal consumption, and of 41.6 per cent. in
the water used. Three of P arsons' turbo-generators replace the 30 engines, aggregating 1375 horse-power, previously used in the difterent departments.

[APRIL 1 3, 1900.
crac~ing acr9ss at top and bottom, near the outside sheet
leavm~ a stnp at the centre to break off last. The u ~

Pfb

crack lS usually deeper than the lower one and

6
upper corners of the side-sheets is not quite horizon~!.
~ I~ a paper r~ before the Manchester section of the
~oc1ety _of Chem1cal Industry, Dr. C. 0. Weber gave an
mterestmg a.ccount of some of his more recent research
on t.be nature of india-rubber. He stated that colloid~
bod1es such as rubbe~ are exceedingly difficult to investig~te, and that yery dtfferent results bad been obtained by
~1fferent ~xpenmenters. He finds that when Para rubber
18 p1aced m chloroform, about 6 per cent. proves insoluble
and has a fibrous structu~e: This insoluble body, which
has a percentage composition corresponding to C H
9to, was not fou.nd in any other rubber than Pa;:, b~t
1t w~ . he considered, imf>ossible to assert that the
super10r1ty of the Para rubber was due to the presence of
thl.S body. The soluble portion, constituting 90 per cent.
of the rubber, proved t? have a. composition equivalent to C1oH1a. In certa.m samples small quantities of
oxygen were detected, but these are thought to be
~ere ?X:ygenated products, and thus may be considered
1mpunt1es. In fact, crude Para. rubber, if dried in the
usual hot air stove after washing, was found to absorb
5. ~ pe~ cent. of oxygen; whilst part of the same sheet
dned ~n v a.C1{.0 proved to contain but 1. 7 per cent. of
oxy@'en. As yet, Dr. Weber has not succeeded in ascertainmg the molecular weight of the rubber, but it is
probably very large. Gla.dstone and Hibbert place it
~t 6504; but it is very d~cult to determine this quantity
m the case of any collOidal body, and Dr. Weber is of
opinion that, strictly speaking, these bodies do not in the
colloidal state possess finite and definite molecules, but
are made up of molel"!ular complexes which change with
the nature and state of the solvenb.
With regard to the pending appointment of a Royal
Commission to consider the proposa-ls embodied in the
London Dock Bills now before Parliament, it is of interest
to note that in a. circular dated April 6, issued to the
members of the London Chamber of Commerce, the
secretary of that body (Mr. Kenric B. Murra.y) states
explicitly that "the President of the Board of Trade
has recognised the great importance of the question,
and has indicated the probability of the appointment of a commission of inquiry to determine the
questions involved in the future of the Port of London.
In the meantime members of the chamber are invited to
contribute to the guarantee or donation fund towards the
expenses of the coming inquiry. The guarantee fund and
donationR now amount to over 1300l." In the same
circular members of the chamber are reminded that the
services of the chamber are at their disposal in making
represen ta.tions to the Foreign Office in regard to
difficulties with foreign Customs, where the facts
appear to be such as to justify some action on the
part of Her Majesty's representative in the country
concerned. Aa an mstance, it is pointed out that a
manufacturing firm in this country sb1pped certain g~s
to France in old cases originally received ,from ~menca,
from some of which the letters "U.S.A.' bad, madver
tently, not been obliterated. Upon arrival at the Fr~n.ch
port, the goods were seized by the Cus~ms a.~t~orttles
on the ground thab they were of Amer1can on~n, and
not of English manufacture, which would necess1tate the
payment of a. surtax, and probably of a fine. Naturally,
considerable trouble and inconvenience was thus caused;
and it was not until the production of a certificate from
the Chamber, certifying that the articles had been. made
in England, that the goods were released. Shippers
should therefore, it is urged, make themselv_es thoro~gbly
acquainted with the Customs regulations m f~rce 1n the
various countries to which their goods are consigned~ and
use every effort to insure implicib compliance therewith.

A motor car e~hibition is to be opened ab the Agricultural Hall., I slington, on Saturday, April 14, and will
close on April 21. Several hundred veliicles will be on
view, ranging from small cars fitted with 2~ horse-power
!llotors, up to large cars w_ith engines ca.pabie of developmg 24 horse-power. Dunng the latter part of the exhibition week, the cars, which have been entered for the
1000 mile trial of the Automobile Club of
THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. forthcoming
Great Britain, will be paraded. The business manager of
ON Tuesday, the 3rd inst., the Royal Meteorological the exhibition is Mr. Charles Cordingley, of 39 and 40,
Soci~ty celebrated its Jubilee, .having been found ed on S hoe-lane, E. C.
A prll 3, 1850. A commemoratiOn meeting was held in
the afternoon at the I~titution of Civil Engineers, Great
In answer to a. question in the House of Commons on
George-street, Westmmster, Dr. C. Theodore Williams Monday, Mr. Brodrick stated that on March 31 1899
in the chair. There was a large attendance, including 279 miles of the U ganda Railway had been completed'
d~lega.tes from a number of other scientific societies. In lea.vi~g 303 miles to finish. the railway. Since that dat~
v1ew of the Jubilee, the late Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 83. miles have been fims.hcd, and the remaining 220
was elected President at the annual meeting on J anua.ry miles are under constructiOn. All the locomotive and
17 ; but, owing to his being seized with paralysis he was constructional p~ant, and nearly the whole of the permaobliged to resign the office. Mr. Symons had, however nent way materu~.ls necessary to complete the railway
pre.Pared an address giving a brief history of the Society' have been obtained, and it is estimated that the 3 000 oool:
wh1ch Dr. Williams read, and then added some remark~ or_iginally voted by Parli~II!ent has now been sl>enb. A
of his own in apQrec.iation of IYir. Symons, and also on Btll to make further prov1s1on to complete the work will
the work of the Somety. M r. Symons, after referring to be introduced at once, and a memorandum explanatory of
early autho.r s and ?bservers, stated t~at the first English the excess, and of the causes which have led to it, will be
meteorologJ.Ca.l so01ety was founded m 1823 but ib soon attached to it.
languished and died. A second society w~ formed in
Mr. C. A . Yates, chief constructor at Portsmouth
1836, which likewise rema.ined in existence only for a few Dockya!d, !ead a. paper before the P ortsmouth Literary
years. The present So01ety was founded on April 3 and SCJentific Somety, on Thursday, April 5, entitled
1850, by Mr. J ames Glaisher, F.R.S., with the eo-opera~ " N a va.l Progress in Recent Years." After showing the
tion of Dr. J. L ee, F.R.S., and others. This was called remarkable developments of the last twenty years, be said
the "British Meteorological Society," but in 1866 when that twenty years hence probably our present battleships
a Royal Charter was obtained, the name was changed to would be obsolete, and in their place a magnificent fleet
"The Meteorological Society." In 1882, Her Majest y of ships of quite another t ype would be our line of defence.
the Queen accorded the ociety permission to adoP.t the Instead of trying to put every variety of weapon of
prefix "Royal." Both Mr. Symons and Dr. Williams offence and defence in one ship, we should probably
referred in some detail to the work done by the Society have fleets composed of groups of vessels of different
and the investigations which had been earned out unde~ types. Each group would have one particular mode of
its auspices. The Society had no habitation of its own offence, and the admiral would arrange for each to deal
until1872, when a. room was engaged at30, Great George- its blow at the proper time. One group, for example,
street; but owin~ to the increase of work and the growth would be restricted to firing guns; a. second would have
OuR RAILS ABBOAD.-The exports of rails from the
of the library, additional accommodation bad to be nothing to do but to discharge torpedoes, and each vessel U nited Kingdom in March were 34,709 tons, as comobtained on several occasions, the Society now having a would be so protected as to be able to run the gauntlet of pared with 25 029 tons in Mg,rch, 1899, and 45,595 tons
convenient suite of rooms at 70, Victona-street, West- the enemy's ~una. A third group would be designed to m March, 1898.
The aggregate exports in the firsb
minster. Dr. Williams, in concluding his address, stated ram a partially-disabled enemy. The plan of naval three months of this year were 102,397 tons, .as compts :
that Mr. Symons had bequeathed to the Society 200l. , as organisation :would thus ~e analogous to that of the Army, with 91,249 tons in the correspondi~g pen~d of
'
well as the bulk of his large and valuable library.
composed of mfantry, artillery, and cavalry. This would and 149,361 tons in the correspondmg penod of 1898.
Brief congratulatory addresses were delivered by Pro- be necessitated by the impossibility of the captain to The experience of March appears to have been that of the
fessor J . J. Thomson, F.R.S., on behalf of the R oyal contro~ such a. comple~ weapon as ~ modern ~attleship, whole of the first quarter of this year-there h~ been
Society; by Mr. E. B. Knobel, President, on behalf of the and brmg all her ofiens1ve and defensive powers m to action some increase in the external demand for our ~atls, a.s
Royal Astronomical ociety ; by Mr. J. J. H. Teall, at the precise moment. If, on the other band, a ship had compared with the spring of last year, ~ut constd~ra.ble
F.R.S., President, on behalf of the Geological Society; but one thing to do, every man would know exactly what falling off is disclosed, as compared Wlth the spnng of
by Mr. R . C. Mossman, F.R. S.E., on behalf of the he had to do in the hour of battle.
1898. This result is largely ~t.tributab~e to the contra.c
Scottish Meteorological Society; and by Mr. A. Wynter
tion of the demand on Bntlsh Indtan acc9u.nt, on~y
Writing
to
the
American
Engineer
and
Railroad
Blyth, M.R.C.S., on behalf of the Sanitary Institute.
27,943 tons of rails having been exporte~ to Br1 tlSh Ind~a.
Mr.
R.
Atkinson,
the
mechanical
superintenJowrnal,
Professor Dr. G. Hellmann .Presented an address from the
to March 31 this year, as compared Wlth 55.629 tons ~n
of
the
Canadian
Pacific
Railway,
states
that
he
dent
German Meteorological o01ety, and also spoke in apprethe corresponding period of 1899, and 63,865 tor;s4 ~
finds
the
sha.pe
of
a
locomotive
firebox
ha.s
much
to
ciation of the valuable work done by the Royal Meteorothe corresponding _Period of 1898. Egypt took. 1 ,
do
with
the
breakage
of
sta.ybolts.
Thus,
a
sharp
logical Society.
tons of British rails m the first three months of tb1s y~ar,
"ogee,"
connecting
the
flat
side
of
the
firebox
with
the
In the evening, a conversazione was held at the R oyal
as compared with 17,454 tons and 18,938 tons; Mexico,.
circular
part,
is
particularly
destructive;
and
it
is
Institute of Painters in Water Coloura, in Piccadilly, the
10,588 tons, as compared with 13.9 tons and 3018 tons'
to
find
a
whole
row
or
two
lengthways
of
the
common
guests being received by the President and Mrs. TheoBrazil, 4899 tons, as compared Wltb 5886 tons, and 9596
box
broken
off.
The
next
most
troublesome
portions
are
dore Williams. An exhibition of meteorological instrutons ; and the Argentine Republic, 9589 tons, as c.om
the
front
upper
corners,
and
then
the
back
cornershafter
ments, &c., was arranged in the banqueting-room..l. and
pared with 587 tons, and 22,275 tons. The South A:fncan
which
come
the
top
row
across
the
back
sheet.
T
e
use
lantern demonstrations were given (1) by Mr. T. C.
demand increased in the first three months of td~l~t~
thick
plates
for
the
outer
firebox
materially
increases
of
Porter, of Eton, "Showing the Growth of Eclipse of the
to 15,575 tons, as compared with 5162 tons, an
'
the
number
of
failures,
and
for
this
reason
the
Canadian
Shadow of the Peak of Teneriffe by the Shadow of the
tons while Australasia took 18,405 ton~, as compared
Pacific
line
have
for
years
past
never
made
these
more
Earth "; (2) by Colonel H . M. aunders, on "Clouds " ;
with '9663, and 6264 tons. The quantity of rails forwarded
than
itr
in.
The
diameter
of
the
bolt
makes
little
diffeand (3) by Mr. W. Marrjott, on "Meteorological Pheto Canada. to March 31 this year wa.s 45 tons, as .com
rence,
stays
11
in.
and
1i
in.
in
diameter
failing
just
as
nomena" and "Portraits of Presidents of the Royal
pared with n,it, and 1323 tons respectively . It Wlll be
frequently
as
~-in. or 1-in. bolts. On this point, we may
M eteorological Societ y." The Royal Artillery Strmg
seen that this year's ex port s have been g:eatly helped .uf.
ourselves
remark,
that
the
larger
staybolts
might
be
exBand played during the evening, and short concerts by
by the increased demand in S.onth Afnca ~nd Austia
pected
to
fail
the
more
frequently
of
the
t
wo.
Turning
the "Schartau " Part Singers were given at intervals.
a.sia. Prices have sensibly Improved thlS year, ~be
staybolts
down
between
the
plates
does
not,
Mr.
AtkinOn \Vednesday_, a large party of the Fellows were
aggregate value of the rails exported to Marc~ 31 comtng
son
states,
give
any
benefit;
and
drilling
the
stays
at
the
shown over the Royal Observatory, G reenwich, by the ends, if anything, seems to increase the breakage, whilst oub at 594, 755l., as compared with 437! 161!. 1n the correA stronomer-Royal, after which th ey paid a visit to the not proving effective in rendering the failu re apparent by sponding period of 1899, aQd 690,643l. m th~ corre.sponq,
Painted Hall and Naval Museum.
ing period of 1898,
~eakage.
~ll
staybolts,
he
observes,
see~
~o
f~il
b1
In tbC' e ven~ng a dinner wa.s held at th~ yYestminster

APRIL I

3'

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

I 900.]

GOLD DREDGING I N NE\V ZEALAND.

IN the two preceding

,~olumes of E ~a~ "EERINO, * a

series of articles appeared on the s ubJect. of gold

dredging in Yarious parts of th.e world, and m one of
these (vol. xlviii, page 34), detailed referen ce .w as made
to the New Zealaud dredgers and t he W?rlnug costs.
Through the kindness of .Mr. B. T . .Rmger, of the
"t.andard Insurance Company,, Du~1edm, we n.re able
to reproduce photog raphs wh10h Illustrate well the
largest of these dredgers. There are some 70 steambucket dredges at work in the outh Island of New
Zealand : 30 of these are owned by public ~ompanies,
and the remainder are th e p roper ty of pnvate compa.nies and individuals. Besides these, t~ere a rc a~
least 30 dredge3 in course of constructiOn, mostly
intended for Ot.a.ao. Dunedin, t oo, has ta ken a first
place in t he construction of these, a nd .the . machin ery
for two dredges intended for Central S1bena has been
made t here and despatched to St. Petersburg.
The average cost of a. modern dred ge is from 40001.
t 0 5000l. , and t he tendency is to increase the si7.e and
strengLh of the mao.hines. Th ~1s, some year~ a~o,
when t his comparattvely new mdustry was m It s
infancy, the general impression was held by mining
men that 2 cubic foot buckets were amply large
enough, and that ~ bucket of grelter si ~e wo~..,l d li~t
too mucl1 dirt to msure thorough was hmg. Expen ence however, has proved this theory to be wrong,
and 'the mq,jority of the buck ets now made measure

F1a. 3.

GoLD

stantly starts or stops the bucket without interfering

in any way wi t h the runni ng of the engine or other
machinery. The w inch, which is work ed by a separate eng ine, is fit ted with seven drums so arranged
t ha t any one of the Jatter, or the whole seYen , can be
worked indepe ndent ly, or in unison, by t he movement
of lever s. Six flex ible steel wires a re attached to
t hese drums; one of these raises or lowera t h e ladder,
another is a h ead line holding th e dredge in t he current
and resisting the backwa rd thrus t \Yhi lst d redging;
and t here arA four g uarter lines, two on each side,
by whi ch the d redge is moved across t he cut .
The e ng ines are of the compound surface-condensing
t ype of 20 nominal horse p ower, but capable of indicating 80 t o 90 horse-power, and are connected wi th
the machi nery by a 15in. belt; a belt from the flywheel t ransmits power t o a 12-in. centr i fu gal pump,
w hich supplies water to the screen for washing the
di r t. This pump also does double duty as a circulating pump, for it d ra ws its water through the
condenser of the engine. The heat t hus imparted to
the wa ter tends to prc,rent the t>1bles from freezi ng
in cold weather. There a re t wo boilers, each of 16
nominal horse-power, and capable of i ndicating 140 lb.
pressure; t hese a re what may be called loco-tubula r
boilers wi th circular fu rnaces.
The furnace en d is
much larger in diameter thll.n the other, the object
b eing to reduce both t he weight of t he boiler and
t he contai ned water, aud also to allow for the unequal
expansion w hich comes on the Cornish t ype of boiler

49I

falls a continuous shower o f water upon the dirt as t he

l atter passes through t he cylindere .. The fin e d irt,
togeth e r with t h e sand and gold, ts t hus waeh ed
t hrough t h e perforations on to the tables placed below,
while t he heav ier p or tion of t he wash falls out at t he
end of t h e screen into t he tailings elevator. The
boxes which form t he g old-saving tables are four in
number (Fig. 1). T h ey are each 3 ft. wide a nd 13 ft .
long; t hey are made of 10gauge steel and secured t?gether, t he one b eing stepped below the other m
order to correspond with the pitch of the screens, and
each set of boxes has a fa ll from the cen tre towards
the sides of the d redge, wh ere they discharge into tail
sh oots leading aft, and so deli "er the fine dirt behind
t he stern. The tables are cover ed with cocoanut
matting in strips of 4 ft . for convenience in hand ling
and washing, and at the bottom of t he boxes calico is
laid, which catch es any fine gold that may p ass through
the matting. The mats a re h eld in p osition by w ooden
battens laid along t h e edges and wedged to th e sides
of t he boxes. Thoae mats w hi eh lie at t he upper end
of t he tables a re lifted and washed every day, and
sometimes oftener if the d redge is g etting m uch gold .
They are washed in a large trough and the fine sand
and gold is afterwards stream ed d own in a miniature
tail-race made of wood, about 12 ft. long by 20 in.
wide, a nd covered with baize or p lush, w hi ch in its
t urn is washed ; a fter this all that r emains to be done
is to clear the gold from the heavier sand, and t he
former is then d ried, w eighed, a nd p a rcelled .
The Earnscleug h No. 2 is cap a ble of lifting and
treating 14,800 cubic yard s of gravel p er w eek, after
allowing 25 p e r cent. of loss occasioned by partiaJly
fi lled buckets. The w orking exp enses are estimated
at 53l. a week, as follow: W ages, 23t. ; fuel, 16l. ;
wea r and tear, 12t.; oil, waste, &c., 2l. This makes
the cost of lifti ng and treating a cubic yard of dirt
a little under 1d.
Up t o the year 1892 dredges were only working
the river beds and Jow beaches, a nd could n ot work
the banks on account of the difficult y ex perien ced in
stacking the tailings clear of the stern. In 1894 this
t r ouble was ov ercome by means of the tailings elevator
already d escribed; this was fi rst designed and constructed by 1VIr. vV. H. Cutten. The entir e su ccess of
this machine has re volutionised the dredging industry ,
as it has enabled claims to be worked which wer e pre ..
viously consider ed impracticable. Several dredges are
now work ing banks fully 40 ft. in h eight along theiYioly ..
neux, with lucrative r esults. In the way of returns t he
most successful d redge so fa r has been the Hartley and
Riley. This dredge was built in 1898 at a cost of
5000l., and althoug h at first the returns w ere poor
she afterwards got on to good ground with astonishing results. During fifteen weeks iu last year the
returns totalled 7950 oz., an a verage of 530 oz. per
week. This machine h olds t he r ecord for a w eek 's
work on the r iver, vi z., 786 oz. ; the Electric Corn
pa.n y's dred ge coming a good second wit h 658 oz. An
average r eturn for a fair-sized dredge of modern t ype
may be pu t down a t from 20 oz. to 30 oz. a w eek, a nd
this gives good return for the capit al invested . Taki ng
into consideration t he many improvements lately introduced in gold dredging, and the ra pid d e velopment of the ind us try, it is but reasonable to ex pect
equally satisfactory results in the fu t ure, and t hat it
should <'Ontinue for many years to be a profitable
investment.

D REDGING I N N Ew ZEALAND.

4 to 4~ cubic feet capacity, those of the "Rarnscleugh

No. 2," t he largest dredge yet built in New Zealand,
being 6! cubi c feet.
This dredge, which is a good example of t he p r esent
type of machine, was designed by :M essrs. Cutten
Brot.hera, of Dunedin, and is the property of a ~mall
syndicate consisting of five men . The illustrations,
on page 4 2, show t he dredge in course of construction, and after being housed in. The hull is 98 ft .
long .by 30ft. in breadt.h, and is 7 ft. 6 in. deep aft,
runnmg to 6 ft. 6 in. forwa rd. The ladder well is
5 ft. wide, aud there is a short well for t he elevator
aft 5 ft. 6 in. wide. The p ontoons are b uilt of
New Zealand karri, with Tasmanian hardwood
frames ; the framework for the machine ry is of
~ew Zealand karri. The buck et ladder, wh ich
IS 70 ft. long, will dredge t o a d epth o f 38 fti.
below water level. Over it run 36 steel buckets of
6! cubic feet capacity , working over two cast-steel
tum?lers: The latter were made in England . The
gearmg 1s all of oast iron, made very h eavy, and
shroude.d to the pitch line of the teeth throughout .
The mam spur wheel on t~e top tumbler shaft weigh s
about 3 tons. ~n t he gea rmg , between t he engine and
the. buckets, lS a neatly arranged friction clutch,
wbtch allows Lhe buckets to stop when they come in
contact wi~h anythin~ of too ha rd or too h eavy a
nature to hft. The strnple movement of a lever in-

when fired strai~ht through wi thout returning the

flue on the bot tom. Both engines and boilers are the
work of Messr s. 1Vl a rshall and Sons, Gaiosborough.
The elevator consists of a long steel ladder in the
form of a box, open at the top a nd latticed at the
sides to form a g irder. It is fixed by means of a
pivoting shaft to the stern of the dredge, and supp orted by fou r steel wire r opes leading to two masts,
40 ft. high, in the centre of the dredge. There are
also two light steel side-stays fi xed from the stern
corn ers of the pontoons up t o about 30 ft. fr om the
upper end. A t each end of the elevator is a pair of
light seven-sided tumblers, over which work a continuous chain of buck e t s, and inside the upper portion
of the ladder are placed f:lix pairs of rollers, wi th a like
number on the lower side to assist the buckets in
ascent and descent; the elevator is driven from the
lower tumbler by a t rain of gearing connected to th e
main gea.ring by means of a belt. The machinery,
with the excep tion of the cen t rifugal pump, air pump,
and condenser, is on deck; and every point carefull y
considered as to conve nience in working and accessibility in case of overhauling .
After being lifted the dirt falls int o a double s teel
shoot, and from thence is discharged into two revol ving steel cylin d ers, each 16 f t . 6 in. long, 4 ft. in
dia meter, and p erforated for about 12 ft . w ith holes
r a nging from l-a in. at th e upper end to ~ in. at t he
lowe r. These are shown in Fig. I , page 482. The screens
* Vol. Jxvii, pages 503, 535, 642, and 840 ; vol. lxviii, have a fall towards the stern of the dredge. From a
pages 34 and 192.
perforated pipe which runs through each near the top

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.
T o the surprise of most people, the Child's Labour
in 1VIines Bill passed through Committee without a
single challenge, a nd was r ead a third time on the
same night, in the House of Com mon e. It had been
supposed in some quarters t hat t he miners in Durham
and Northumberland would ha ve made some show of
opposition to the Bill, bnt on what grounds it is difficul t t o say. As Mr. John Wilson, M.P., stated, in the
discussion on the .Mines E ight Hours' Bill the
miners' children in thoEe two count ies a r e a~ w ell
car ed for a s they are in a ny p a rt of the United
Kingdom. And well mi gh t it be so, for the t hree
miners' representatives in the House of Com mons
had experience in the mines at a very earlv age,
and they have not forgotten their experiences: One
of them met with an accident in the mine working wi t h his father, who, whe n t he fall of ~aterial
t ook pla.oe., shout~d t o his boy to r~n.
In doing
so h~ lDJUred hts foo~, from which injury h e
happ1ly r ecover ed.
I t Is 58 years ago now since
t he employment of boys in the mines w as fixed at
!lot unde~ 10 yea rs of age for all not . then working
1n the m1nes, the employment of g1rJ s being for
the first time prohibited.
ince t h at date t he employmen t of females has almost ceased, and the age
limit of b oys has now been r aised to 13 years of age.
Perhaps a fter a few m ore years t he minim u m age
limit migh t be r aised to 14 year s, with advantage to
all concerned, especially to .t he boys. It would be far
bet~r to accomplish this than ~o limit the age at
wh10h a y outh should enter the mme to a maximum of
18 years, as the recent deputation to the Home Seore

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

492
t u? p~oposecl. I t is against tho genius of our later
leg1 slat10n and usage to say that , if a youth reaches 18
or any ot her fixed term of years, be shall not be
allowed to comm.e nco work in any industry be might
a~lect, or be d r tven to engage in, and the H ome
1 ocretary held out no hopes t hat the principle would
be a dopted by the Government .
;, The _murmurs of disa pproval with r espect t o the
14fJ.ctorJes and Workshops Amendment Bill have increased almost t o condemnation, a nd it appears
to be probablE~~ that t he Bill will be abandoned or
defen.teu.
ome members of t he House of Commons
wer e rather too ready in their words of welcome on
the first r eading. They had not seen the measure and
only judged of it by th~ coulewr cle rose exposition df the
Home Secreta ry. ~t 1s . a dangerous practice to discuss a measure whtch 1s not yet published and is
:ea.ll y only done in the cas~ of i 1 0Vernment ~easures,
JUSt the very measures whtch ought not to be so discussed. There are, it appears, about 100 amendments
to the Bill, which are enough t o s mother it; if it escape
th~ or~eal of the Committee, it is proposed to move the
r~JeCtlOn of the T?easure. The opposition is varied in
ktnd ; some thmk it does not go far enough a
few t~ink . it goes . too far.
1 he opponents ' of
the B1ll d1sagree w1th the power given t o the
Horn~ Office to make rules a nd r egulations.
It
con st1 t utes a sort of Private Bill Committee t o deal
with objections, but the Committee consists of one
p erson only, tho r efer ee, befor e whom solicitors barristers, agents, or other representatives of t he p~rties
agri eve~ , or ~hose dieagroein~, may a ppear and thus
rend er 1t a kmd of court w1th a Select Committee.
This will be costly and unsatisfactory. It is dangerous
t o extond t he p owors of a department without some
d~e checks, a n? such check s_ are not provided in the
Btll. Then a~am, t he t wo-shlft system is regarded as
a retrogress1ve movement as regards t he hours of
~abour. Both men. ancl women oppose th is. While it
1s u s~f ul t o cur ta1l the labours of Parliament as
regarda details, a s much a s possible, yet the H~use
of Commons must not delegate its powers to a department except under conditions so limited that
t here can be no tlsurpation of power. As a matt er of
f~ct, ~he ~~n.eure r equires to b~ r ecast, and the quest lOn 1s, w1ll, or can, the Comm1ttee so recast it as to
make it at once agreeable to the Commons, and to the
Government responsible for it ? In some points it is
good, but in others it is questionaLlo, and the doubts
are grave ones.
1

[ APRIL 1 3, 1900.

some of the employers to give the terms demanded

on condit ion that others do the same. Between 3000
and 4000 men only ceased work at first at a bout 80
firms in the district, but some of them made arrangements wit h their employ es. But t hese t emporary
a.rra.ng~men ts ~re not r egarded as satisfactory, and
the umon decided t hat notices be given unless the
terms ar e conceded.
The ann ual meeting of t he Midh.nd Wages Boa.rd
was, as a report of its proceedings in the I ronworlcr>rs'
Joun nu for Ap;il has stated, a happy one, for nothing
of a cont ro verblal charact(jr marred its harmony. This
was the twenty.fou rth anniversary of t he establishment
of the B oard, so that its work ha.s covered a quarter of
a century .
':J1he chairman, Sir Benjamin H ingley
said that cc bot~ employers and employed had every
reason to be sat1s6ed w1th the present state of affairs ;
tho~ gh a few n:atters had cr opped up to cause friction
durmg the past year, none were of any seri ous consequence. " Referring to the troubles in the sheet
trade during 1898, he said that t his branch of trade
had revived considerably, and it showed " how foolish
it was to give way to depr ession about any particular
branch: " After descri~ing . the flouriehing st ate of
trade 10 t he Staffordshn e 1ron and steel mdustries
he eaid that t he one thing needed was peace and quiet~
ness, and in t his respect employers and emp oyed
~ta.d learn ed sen_se.
'l 'he vice chairman, representmg the men, sa1d that t he Operatives' Associa tion
bad helped to k eep peace, as some of the more
hot h eaded of t he men would have made trouble
but fo r its influence. It was stat ed t hat aboui:.
a dozen firms in the district wer e not now
conn~ cted with the Board, but some of t hem were
williug to rejoin if t he operatives would consent. As
to taking the initiative by the Operatives' Associat ion, the men's ~gent though.t that the responsibility
and cos t of gettmg the men m t hese firms to influence
the employers alluded to was not fair, as the firms
left without consulting the men, t he Association or
the Board. The r ejoining of such firms would' be
wt-lcomed, however, by all parties. I t seems that
bot h sicl es are agreed that pressure should be brought
t o bear upon "the outside employers " t o support the
Board, EO that the peace which has marked its progrees shall not be arres ted. As Mr. Anoot t has more
than once pointed out, eome employers have endangered t he Board 's existence, as well as some of t he
men. T~e wise p~lic~ is to pull together, and t hen
peace w1ll be ~a10ta10 ed. The only qu estion of
Importance now 1s whether the sheet maktrs in 'outb
Wales are going to repeat the blunders committed in
taffor~ shire. Efforts are being made to avert any
such dJ IUculty, and so far they seem likely t o be
attended wit h s uccess. Failure might distur b t he
trade as it has done in the Midlands.
1

The second reading of the Railways (Prevention of

Accidents) Bill, to the surprise of most people, was
carried amid a ~horus of a~proval. It does not appear
that referen ce 1s made dt rectly to " couplings," but
the phraseology of the Bill covers that and other
matters. It is primar ily a measure to insure safety
for railway workers ; indirectly it will contribute to
the safety of the passengers as well, A.nd will doubtless prevent inj ury to property . 'l1he approval did
not come irom one side of t he House only. The Labour
members, and members r epresenting r ailway comp anies, supported the Bill ; indeed, one of the Labour
members paid a high compliment to cer tain railway
managers for their conduct in r espect of matterA dealt
with by the Bill. One of the sp eakers mentioned that
there were 29,000 goods guards, brakesmen, a nd
shunters, and that by death or accident practically
they all dieappeared in ten years. Another speaker
put the case in another way. Out of 400,000 railway servants 500 lives wer e lost, and 12,400 were injured every
year. This terrible slaughter r equires stern measures
if t hose less stern will not do. But provision appears
t o be made so that the ra ilway companies shall not
be harassed by consliant changes, new inventions to
be tried and discarded without some chance of
appeal. T here is the Boar d of Trade, as a first
Court , may we say, but t he Railway Commission is
t ho final Court of Appeal. The speakers paid a high
com pliment to the Commission appointed to inquire
into 1Jbis matter, and t ho Bill, it appea rs, goes even
a little further than the recommendations of that
Commission. The object of the Bill is t o prevent
accident s, involving loss of life and injury to the
p ersons employed. In the long run it will safeguard
the property of t he rail way companies, for many of
the accidents are accompanied by destruction of prop er ty. It is a good sign when t he representatives of
labour, of the railway companies, and of t he Government agree upon measures for safety. This agreement will facilitat e the passage of the Bill throu gh
bot h H ouses of Parliament.
The dispute in the Potteries primarily only affected
the printers, transferers, and ovenmen, but a number
of others were indi rectly affected, some of whom had
to cease work. The s toppage was ca uecd hy a demand
on the part of t he printers, ovenmen , and claypotters
for an increase of wages, the printers also demanding
a. re-arrangement of ''counts. " The employers tried
to effect individual settlement, but the men r esisted
this. Rome kind of arrangemf?nt has been made by

The position of t he engineering and other iron and

steelusing trades throughout Lancashire has under ~one litt le change. Activity continues to be reported
10 all branches and all districts.
In some d irections it
is said that new work is not comiog forward quite eo
f:eely , but ther~ is no prospec~ of slackening off for some
t1me to come ; mdeed, there 1s every probability of t he
prf sent eat isfactory condition continuing throughout
~be r e.mainder <?f the current year. The departments
m whtch t here 1s the greatest pressure a re locomotive
en~ine buil~iog , electrical and hydraulic engineering,
boller -ma.kmg, and some branches of stationary engine
building a nd t ool-making.
laok oess appears to be
most al?prebended in the_t.exti le machinery branches.
In the 1ron t rado the po~1 t 1on has been strong as r egards makers' prices, but buying has been limited to
pressing requirements, as some uncertaint y has been
felt as to t he permanency of the present high rates.
This quest ion will b.e eot. a t r est to some ex tent by the
result s of the meet1ngs m the current week . In the
finished branches makers have a lready advan ced prices
for bars 5s. per too, but really the advanced rate wa9
being already obta ined in most cases befor~ the official
announcement was mado, so tha t for business purposes there is little change. In the steel trade gener ally ther e has been act ivity, prices being st rong at
f ull r at es. Altoge ther, the position and prospects are
favourable.
There is every prospeot of t he wages quest ion in the
cotton il\dus tries of Lancashi re being sett led amicably
at an early da te. The g~neral committee of the Employers' .F ederation met in :Man cheater towards the
close of last week, and discuseed the matter in pr ivate.
The subject is remitted to t he nine local Aseociations
for consider ation. B ut the general committ ee decided
t o propose a. joint meeting of representat ives of the
Employers' and . Operative.s' Associat ions at a n early
date after the Bas tcr hohdays, so that the ques tion
will be threshed out by all the parties concernerl.
Meanwhile the proposal to es tablieh a permanent
Board for the cotton industry is making progre~s,
another meeting having been held t o further discuss
the poli cy and rules which shall govern t he Board.

Hasten slowly seems to be the watchword of the t

. tb1s
. re~pect the policy is a wiseJOlD
comm1'ttee, and m
000
for success.
Ther e appe!l'rs to. have be~n a pressure of ordtrs1 or
offers, for fimshed 1ron durmg last week in the Wolverhampton di~trict, in view of t he then approaching
qu a~terly meetmgt:t. There was, it is said, a. feverish
anx1ety on t he part of consumers as to whether there
~a~ to. be a. fur ther enhancement of values. The
md t ~:a.t10ns were iu that direction. Coa.l for ironmakmg purpo~es was, ~n~ is, dear, eo that it helps to
keep up the pn~es of. p1g. 1ron. There was, it appears,
more weakness 10 pnces m one or two insta.nc-s but
th~ r esult of the quarterly meetings will have s;ttled
~Jus a:nd other ~uestion s by the time these Notes appear
lD prmt. The 1ron and steel-using trc1des continue, on
the whole, to be well employed, wit h here and there
som.e li tt.le var iation as to the degree of pressure. The
engmeer10g trades and allied industries are fairly well
employtd, very few mem hers of the unions being out
of work. The same is true of the men in the railway
sheds. Those engaged on constructive work such as
bridge building and girder con~truction, ~re well
employed, as aleo are tank makers and gasholder
makers. T he ha rd ware branches aleo, as a. rule, are
well employed, ~om e ind ufltries being busier than
others ; but very few, and these not large, are slack.
Generally, it may be eaic.l that t he positi()n is good, a.nu
the prospects for some time to come arc encouraging.
In the Birmingham district there was but little
actual b usiness doing on the eve, as it were, of the
quarterly meetings, buyers reserving their orders until
the r esul L of those gatherings is known. All the mills,
forges, and blast-furnaces have been working fuH
t ime, but the output has been unequal to the demand.
There has been a falli ng-off in the demand for bedstead
strip, owing to a. slackness in the bec.letea-d trade.
R a w material is scar ce, and pr ices were well upbeJcl
t o the date of the quarterly meetings. The iron and
~ teelusing t rades gentrally continue busy, but, as in
the case of the bed btead trade, t here is some little slackness in some branches. Generally, however, the position
is favourable, and the outlook is not discouraging.
We r egret that, in alluding to the pa.tternml\kers'
dispute in Leeds, we quoted from a newspaper report
a grossl.v exaggerated fstimate of the number of men
involved . The facts we now learn are as follow:
The major ity rate of wages paid to pattern ma.kers in
this dist ricli is 37P. per week, and the men's application for a n advance was 2s. per week. Oa this application being refused , a section of the men ~ ent out on
strike. The number of men, however, who have
adopt ed this course amoun t s to only 9 . The number
of patternmakers employed in Leeds is about 250,
and t her e are only 19 firms who are affected out of
about 50 firms w bo employ pattern maker~.
The bakers' dispute in London practically terminated
before the dat o of the notices bad ex pired, which was
, aturrlay. Out of 420 master bakers to whom notices
were sent, 416 agreed to the terms of the men, only
four had refused to concede t hose terms. Of the four,
two were small masters, only em ploying six men; tho
other two being larger firms-factories, in fact. After
the declaration of the master bakers at their recent
gathering, a lengt hened dispute was out of the question. All parties are to be congratulated.
A disput e is t hreatened in , outh Wales unle~s s?me
80 men who have not joined the union do so w1thm e.
ono month. It is stated that s voral thousands of
men will give in their notices on May 1 at all the
Dowla.is collieries. This is had policy and c~ntrary
to that liberty which t rade unionists have bttherto
demanded.

---

The carpenters and joiners in the Bolton district,

numbering some 600 men, will receive an advance of
,d. per hour on May 1, br ingiug up their wages to 9d.
per hour.
.
.
The carpenters and joiners in the Metropohta~ dtstrict have sen t in a demand to the master bUilders
for an advance of Id. per hour . The cmploye~s have,
it is said , offered to concede ' cl. This offer 1s to be
consider ed a t a. meeting on an early date.
At a meeting of the Conciliation Board for t~e
N ort humberland coalfields, held on ~ 'aturday last, 1t
was agreed to ad vance the wages of t he ~iners 10 per
cent., making 40 per cent. above the bas1s of 1879.
Abercleen is disturbed by two strikes- that of the
joiners, wh ich is not yet eettled, and t he carters, w~o
came out last week. The latter is causing delay m
the disLribu tion of ~oocls, ospecially to the r.aihyay
com pany. ImportatiOns of men from other d1stn cLs
aro r esorted to, and traction eugines arc employed,
t he men being rather exasperated by these effort~ to
defeat t hem. But they must put up with such dev10es
in warfare.

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

APRIL 13, 1900.]

THE ROLLING OF SHIPS ON WAVES.
Expcrim'tental Method of Ascertaining the RoUing
of Ships O?~ Waves.*
By Captain G. Russo, Naval Architect Royal Italian

Arl

Navy; Member.
(Conclttded from page 444.}
JII.-RoLLING OF NAVIPENDULUl\IS ON THE WAVE
MoTION APPARATus.

15. As previously mentio.ned, the

pr~ncipal object of

the value of the element b is comprised. The comparison

of the two elements {a, and b), as determined in each case,
shows what influence the largeness of the ship, relatively
to the wave, has upon her r olling. Bub the most important conclusion, to which such a comparison leadg, is
the following :
Even when the wave considered is of moderate dimensions, we way proceed to navipendular experiments, and
obtain results very little dissimilar from those of the
real rolling. H owever, in s uch cases, the apparatus mus t
be arranged so as to represent a fictitious wave having the
length of the real wave, but a reduced height. This
conclusion corresponds in some way, or presents a certain
analog:y, with that of the theoretic effective wave slope,
but differs from it ina.smuch as my investigation is only
applied to my m ethod of experimental inquiry, establishing a comparison between the r olling of the s hip and the
rolling of a navipendulum.
The reduced height of the wave is easily determined in
each case, as shown by an example given in Appendix

the wave.motion apparat~s IS t<? determm~, by mean~ of

the navipendulum o! a. g1v~n sh1p, the osCillatory mot~on
she will take on~ g1ven ser1es of waves when seb rollmg
p~ively broadside on to the waves.
It has 'been seen above that a nav ipe~dulum rf7pr~
sents with all desirable accuracy, the rolhng of a ship m
still ~ater, all the el~men ts by which. the motion is
affected being similar . m t;>oth cases: weight, bu9yan~y,
arm 3 of lever of the r1ghtmg co.upl~, moment of .mertu~,
times, resistances, our es of e~tmction. It r~mams now IIJ.
18. The apparatus for my experiments has been conto inquire whether the na.vtpen~u~um,. rolhng on. ~be
oocillating plate of the apparatus, 18 m smtable cond itiOn structed by the Officina Galileo, of Florence; it could
t~ represent, by i.ts oscillations, th~ ro~ling of the ship on not be completed in time for me to carry out all the tests
the waves, in wh10h event the oscillat10ns marked hy the and experiments I intended to make before presenting
registering apparatus would correspond to the record ~f this paper. I can, therefore only speak of the results I
a double oscillograph of the types of Froude or Bertm obtained during preliminary t ests I could make a fter
the apparatus was mounted in the s hop,* and before it
.
placed on the real ship.
It musb be remembered here that we consider the was dismounted and forwarded to Rome. However, though
simple phenomenon of the transverse oscillation not com- the tests I here refer to are only preliminary ones, they
plicated by pitching motion, and that waves are supposed already seem to confirm the truth of a ll the principles on
which these experiments are based. After having verified
to be troch01dal and permanent.
16. First, supposing the w~ve to be large as compB:red that all the different parts of the mechanism worked prowith the ship, i.t ~a~ be easil y seen tha~ the conditiOns p erly, s~veral experiments were made of the kind indicated
of mechanical similanty are perfectly satisfied. In fact, m paragraph 12, both with a pendulum and with a glass of
such a hypothesis inv_olves: (1) th~t the wave surface water, representing, to some extent, a small surface of the
within the space occupied by the ship shall be plane and wave reproduced by the appara tus. These experiments
parallel; (2} that the direction of the apparent weight plainly s how the direction of the apparent weight, and,
and the corresponding acceleration shall be ~onstan~ at therefore, constitute an instructive and direct illustration
all points for all the elemen ts of the mass m motiOn. of the theory of waves. Afterwards a na vipendulum was
Then the apparent weight of the ship acts through her fitted to represent, with great approximation, the .Royal
centre of gravity along the normal to the wave; the ap- Italian battleship the Re U mberto, for which data
parent buoyancy is equal to the apparent weight, and acts bad been collected from the ship's books and registers
through the centre of buoyancy m a parallel direction to about her conditions of rolling verified on two different
the apparent weight. The possible positions of the ship occasions, during which the waves also were measured t
On the first of these occasions, July 28, 1893, in the
in respect to the wave are obviously the same as in
still water oscillations; the centres of buoyancy and Mediterranean Sea {between Calladella Reale and Straits
the line of centres of buoyancy, as well a.s the involutes (b) of Bonfacio) the wa.ves bad an apparent period of 11
of the metacentric evolute (see paragraph 4, page 442 Reconds; the oscillations, which were measured on the
ante), are also the. same in both cases ; . consequently horizon with properly contrived sights, r eached an amplithe oscillatory motion must be the same 1f we suppose tude of 16 deg. from the vertical, but some of the swings
the ship, instead of .being s upported by. buoyancy, to be of greatest amfnlitude measured as many as 20 deg. from
subject to the react1on of a plane, prov1ded that such a the vertical. The bei~hb of the waves was not me:lSured,
plane should partake, so to say, of the wave motion, but I have supposed It to be of nearly 4 metre3. The
namely, that it should follow the motion of the elementary dia~ram (Fig. 23, next page} shows the results of the explane surface on which a certain involute rolls. Since periments made on the basis of the above-mentioned data.
such a function is perfectly accomplished by the waveThe second time, May 27, 1895, in the Bay of Biscay,
motion apparatus, there is no doubt that, if the apparatus the Re Umberto happened to be among waves which
and the navipendulum represent, in the same ratio of were very regular and but slightly developed, the real
similitude, one the wave, the other the ship, the pen- period of which varied during 12 hours from 8 to 9 seconds.
dular rolling will be similar to the rolling of thP. ship. During a first series of observations the apparent period
AB the ratio of similitude for an~les is but unity, the was of 10 ~econds; during a second series it was of 9.5
navipendulum, from the point of VIew of the angles, will seconds. Both in the first and in the second ca.se the
oscillate in the same way a.s the ship herself, at least amplitude of rolling was about 10 deg. from the vertical.
within the limits of the n.ssumptions admitted in our The diagrams (Figs. 24 aad 25} show the results of the
process. These assumptions, summing up the preceding experiments made with the navipendnlum, and the apparemarks, are as follow :
ratus fitted according to the above data.
1. That the centre of gravity and the centre of buoyancy . After this I. made ~ series .of 15 experiments r elaalways remain, at every mclination, in a plane transverse tively to a g1ven sh1p, considered under three difto the ship.
ferent conditions of resistance to rolling and five dif2. That the transversal inclinations are not accompanied ferent conditions of wave motion. Fig. 26 gives
by variations in the immersed volume of the ship.
the results of these experiments, about which I will
3. That, in the rolling motion of the ship, relatively to refrain from making any considerations whatever and
the wave, the work expended in fluid resistance, in the which I forward only as a sample of the verificatio~s we
course of a swing of a certain amplitude, js equal to the can proceed to by navipendular experiments made accordwork expended for an equal oscillation in still water.
ing- to the method I have had the honour to bring before
17. The assumption of the wave being very large in thiS Institution.
comparison with the ship is always made in theoretical
investigations. In its favour it is rightly observed that
APPENDIX I .:t
the heaviest rolling is usually produced by the largest
waves.
It is possible by pendular experiments, based upon the
With reference to the use of my apparatus, ib may be following .principles, to ascertain, to a certain extent,
e.sk~d, How long a wave may be considered large in com- what maximum values may be attained by the vertical
pa.~on to a given ship? Or, in other words (the question translation of the ship up and down, with r egard to the
bemg substantially the same), What errors arise in the inclined positions, which correspond to a constant volume
use of this apparatus, by considering a wave large in com- of displacement.
parison to a given ship ? I have endeavoured to answer
Let a pendulum 0 P (Fig. 18, page 494} be so arranged
~uch a question, by proceeding to investigations concern- that the distance from its centre of gravity to the axis of
rng the forces acting on the navipendulum while the oscillation represents, in a certa.i n length-ratio A, the
apparatus is in motion, and the forces acting on the ship metacentric heighb of a given ship, and that, moreover,
when. the wave is of moderate dimensions. In Ap- it radius of gyration represents in the same ratio A the
pendtx liT., a short account will be found of these in- radius of gyration of the same ship; then the P.eriod of
vestigations, which have been directed to determine:
the pendulum will represent the period of oscillation T
(a) An expression giving for the navipendulum, set to
the ship on tre time-ratio '\/ A. A pendulum so arranged
represent the ship in the ratio of similitude A, the moment of
was once lmA.gined by Rankine.
of ~he apparent couple of stability (formed by the apparent
Now, suppose the poinb 0 of suspension (see Fig. 18,
Wel~~b and the rea~tion Of the SUpporting plate) at anr
pos~t1on of the plate during a revolution and at any inch- page 494} to be ab the end o f a spring rod ?vi 0, rather
than in an absolutely fixed position; and suppose the
nation of the navipendulum relatively to the plate.
(b) An expresson giving, for the ship, the moment of spring to be so proportioned that its period of oscillation
tb~ apparent couple of stability (formed by the apparnt while supporting the weight of the pendnlum, r epr esents
wetght and the a.ppa~ent.buoyancy) ab an:>; position along the period T ' of the dipping oscillation of the ship, also in
the wave and ab any mchnat10n of the sh1p relatively to the time-ratio...)~ Of course, the period T' should be
the wa't'e aurface.
calculated on the basis of the displacement and surface
Tbe element a is of such a character that its value can of plane of flotation.
be.exactly determined, whereas the element b may be deter- . Setting the pendulum oscillating in such conditions,
mmed onlr by approximation, unless the wave be very Its centre of gravity describes, according to a complex
large relatively to the ship, in which case the elements a
* T.he apparatus was ab my disposal for preliminary
and bend by having an equal value. However, the process I have followed allows us to determine when the exper1f?ents only for three days.
t Be~ng on board on these occasions, ib fell to my charge
wave has moderate dimensions, the limits wi'thin which
to ~star the above-mentioned data. At that time the
Re Umberto had not yet been fitted with bilge keels.
Paper read before the Institution of Naval Architects.
:t See paragraph 6, page 442 ante.

493

law a certain traj ectory about a cir cular arc a b, and the
poi~t 0 moves vertically up and down bet~~en two extreme positions 01, 0 2 These extreme P<;>SitlOns dep~nd
upon the angle of swing, and upon the ratio of th;e period
TT' which ratio may be more or less near to umty or to
a si~ple proper fraction. Now, the complex pendular
motion produced in such a way pre~ents a gr~at analogy
with the oscillatory motion of the sh1p. Certamly mechanical similitude is not fully verified; ib would be so, w~re
the metacentre a fixed point in the vessel for all th~ lD
clinations, and were it so pla..ced as always to remat!l ~t
the same height above tha water line, when the sh1p 1s
stea.d1ly held ab any inclination whatever. ~ev~rtheless,
the experiment may be of some use. Takmg .mto examination the differences between the two cases, tt appears
that the vertical accelerations of the centre of gravity are
certainly smaller for the ship than for the pendulum;
therefore the maximum vertical motions experienc~tl by
the pendulum will be greater (probably far greater) than
the maximum oscillations which may, in effect, be
attained by the ship. In all that precedes no account has
been taken of the effect of fluid resistance, which, however, must greatly influence tLe actual dipping oscillation.
Experiments have been made for different ships of the
Royal Italian Navy. Carrying the amplitudes of r olling
up to 40 deg. from the upright, the dipping oscillation
p erformed by a pendulum representing the Re U mberto
corresponds for the full-sized ship, to a max imum translation of about 9 in. upwards or downwards; experiments relating to the L e panto have shown only 5 in.; for
the Morosini the periods T, T ' are almost exactly in the
ratio 3 to 1, and an oscillation of 10~ in. has been found.
If the oscillations are limited to nearly 20 deg. from the
upright, a dipping oscillation of 2 in. is rarely attained.
These figures prove th at the maximum oscillations are
always small enough when compared to the draught of
the ship. Moreover, considering that the values given
by the experiments must undoubtedly exceed the effecti ve
values, the assumption is justified that the effects of
dipping oscillatiou may be negJ ected without any serious
error.
APPENDIX II. *
As a complement to the short accounts given at paragraph 14, we add some particulars concerning the arrangement of the wave-motion apparatus. Two horizontal
parallel shafts, lying in the same vertical plane, uniformly
revolving on their geometrical axis 0 0 1 (Figs. 5 and 6,
page 444 ante) represent the two axes of r otation projected
in 0 0 1 in Fig. 17, page 443. Each of them, for instance,
the shaft 0, meets at its forward end a cross-piece A,
whose plane surface, sufficiently wide, has some parallel
bars and recesses formed in the direction of the length.
A solid arm B is bolted to the cross bar A. This a rm has
at its end a perpendicular pin, whose geometrical axis is
indicated by the letter C, parallel t o the axis 0 ; the
plate L, which finally constitutes the useful piece of the
apparatus, is supported by this pin, around which it can
turn. The arm B, when the bolts a re a litt le 8lackened,
is brought to its right position along the crossbar by
means of a longitudinal screw.
The tubular steel rod k, connected to the plate L, acts
as a governing lever to r egulate the inclinations of this
plate during the motion. As it results from Figs. 5
and 6), the shaft OI is provided with a cross-piece A 1
and an arm .BI in the same manner as the shaft 0 . The
only difference is that the arm B 1 has at its end, instead
of a fixed pin, a pivoting boss L which causes the rod k
to pass always through an axis Ct at a constant distance from the axis 0 1. Such a distance depends
upon the position occupied by the arm B I along the
crossbar Alt and it must correspond to the radius r 11 the
length of whi ch we found to be ri = r AR-k.

i\R

There is a r ecording apparatus for the registration of

the angles made by the normal to the wave with the
true vertical, as well as by the axis of the navipendulum
(viz., of the ship}, also with the vertical. We have already
mentioned the general features of its arrangement. The
shaft 0 2, similar in its composition to the two described
above, the cross-_piece A 2, the movable arm B.), and the
cylindrical boss L2 are intended for this purp"ose. The
arm B 2 is meant to be placed along the crossbar A 11 in
the same manner as the arm B along the crossbar A ;
then, aa the radius r 2 = r, it follows that the axes 0 2 C
always lie in a plane parallel to the plane of the axes
0 2 0, and therefore vertical. "'By such an arrangement,
the rod j, connected to the plate z, is maintained always
vertica:l, and the .Plate h~rizontal.
.
Motive power 1s supphed by an electnc motor (Figs. 5,
and 6, page 444) mounted on a separ ate bed plate, in ord er
t~ avoid vibrati?n to the apparatus. The motor, when runmn~ the macbme, can work ab a number of revolutions
vana~le fr<?m f>OO ~o 1000, according to the degree of
electnc resistances mtroduced. By means of a couple of
toothed .whe.els and a pair of step.ped cones of pulleys,
the mot10n 18 reduced and transm1tted to a train of five
identical toothed wheels, furnis hed with small helicoidal
teeth ; the wheel S', driven b_y the pinion P ', moves ab
the same time the wheels 0 ', Q,/ ; the wheel T ' acts as an
il:!ter~e~iate between the wh~-els 0 ' and 0 1' . By this
d1spos1t1on the three wheels 0, OI', 0 2' turn in the same
seuse and in p erfect correspondence with each other
By conveniently arranging the rotative speed of the motor
and the couple of pulleys in action, the speed of the train
of wheels may be any convenient speed whatever between
a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 80 rev~lutions a
minute. The framework of the machine is formed with
a bed plate and two frames, united to ib by bolts; the bwo

* ee paragraph 14, page 444 ante

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

494
frames are connected with each other by som e transverse
screw stays, on e of which is d ouble and crosswise, f or the
sa.ke of s tiffness. The strictest r egula tion of the motion
is necessary, in order t o make sure that the r ate of sp eed
is maintained exactly at the required point during an experimen t. To this purpose an indicator Valessie h as b een
set, as is shown in Figs. 5 and 6, p a.ge 444. The arran gement and the function of this indicat or are well k n own.
There is a train of s mall wheels susceptible of bein g
combin ed in various m anners ; this train, dri ven by the
machine itself, puts in rotat ory mo tion, on a vertical axis,
a cylindrical box con taining a timepiece counting the
Eeconda. Rotation is given to the box in the contrary
direction to that of the bands of a clock, so that, when
the hand is appar ently a t r est, the machin e is surely
running at a well-d eter min ed number of r evolu tion s,
which depends upon the r atio of reduction given by the
train of the indicator. Now, this train is composed of
n ine axes, each having upon it four sm all wheels and an
engaging or d isenga.gi ng gear; by combining, in all p os-

--------
---

T he keys ha.ving been s uita.bly arranged for the n umber

of revolutions ab which t he apparatus m us t run, i f the
s peed is exactly ma.intained, the hand of the clock must
be seen at r est ; if otherwise it shows some m otion (for wards or ba.ckwards), then the sp eed of t he machine must
be increa.sed or decrea~ed. During the motion of t he
a pparatus an observer mus t pay attention to the indic:a.tor.
H e has un der his con t rol a small hand wheel through
which a variable resis tance may be g radually intr oduced
into the circuit of the m otor . The resistance apparatus is
indicated by letter v in F ig. 5.
As the m otion of the apparatus is by itself very r egular,
and all the p ieces aro animated by u niform rot atory
motion, it is n ot difficult to preserve a constant number
of r evolutions on ce the m otor is set going (by introducing
resis ta.nces) at the right r a te of speed. T o insu re a
greater r egularity of the motion, balance weights 1are
employed , and are fastened t o th e wheels 0 1, 0 11, 0 2 in
such a way as to balance t h e ar ms B , the n avi pend ulum,
&c:. (See Fig. 3, page 448 ante.)

.
,
:' f .. \D

'\

Fig.18.

,,

"

'

',

..

I}

, '

11

. .

...b. \

,'

'

"'.,

.. -----~- ~ - -- --- .

I ' ,..,)!/
, '' ,' I\

'

,'
' -o"

I
f

'1,

-- ~--

Pig.22.

.c,
\

WB:ve-motion apparatus a~ actually constructed. F or the

~e1ght of the w~ve, there is a m~ximum limit correspotd
m g to the maximum value whtch can be given to the
radius r (see Il'ig. 6, _page 444); ~n no ca.se can the height
be more than 37.8 m. (96 centimetres). The period of
the wave is d ependent upon the minimum number of
r ev0lutions p ermitted by the motor {10 per minute) and
upon the maximum number permitted by the Vales)ie
(75.25 per m inute); in consequence it may assume any
va.lue b et ween 6 seconds and 0. 77 second. The wave
length, in correspondence with the limits of period indica.ted above, could be made to vary from a maximum of
184 ft . (56.20 metre~) ~o a mini_mum of abou~ 3 ft. (0.92
metre) ; but. these hmtts are st1ll more restn cted if we
t ake into account the values r, r 1 compatible with the
d isposi tions and dimensions of the different pieces. The
a ppara tus, as it is arranged, does not perrnib the reproduction of waves having a ratio of length to height less
tha.n 7.5. Of course the n umbers given a.bove relate to
t he waves represen ted in their true dimensions, viz., to
the case of the ratio 1\ = 1.

APPENDIX Ill.*

*'. .,'. ' \

'

'

io.,. <"

.- ,

!.f

'

'

....

--..0:- .--- ----6-- - ~ .- - --,

~.

~~--~-,~f_..._.

'

'

- -- .. - - --cl.-- - --- --~ ---4- 3

WAVE

n'

,.-,
/
'

" '~'"' OF THE

'

DIRECTION
OF ADVANCE
1\c
~

[ ArRrL r 3, r9oo.

W e assume, as it appea.rs reasonable to suppose, that if

a vessel rolls through a certain arc a.mong waves, the
effect of r esistance will be, practically, the same as that
experien ced by the ship when rolling through an equal
arc in still water. The intr usion of the hull into the wave
I

r"ifJ.21 .

'~"'

\J

Q;

..,":-(

Q:

'

I
I

Q.

:;,

......

'I
I
I

I .

RI
I

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I

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I
,,

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I

, .... .... ---t--I - -- ..... .

: ~

, '

'

~--~
I

'

''.

' '......

(J# f .lt}

,I

\
\

.....

-,.

..."

..

...

lol
Q;

1o1

...

11

I
I

...

~
....

"'

()

THE WAVE

I
'

. ,.,.
I.' .,

Fig.1fJ.

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I '
I

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I I

lol
~

:!

io

'(

- - ------ --DJRECTI ON OF ADVANCE.

/"

..,

~ 1a

C)

I I

Q,
'(

:t

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:,

ct

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~0

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Fig .20.

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20

Fig .23.

Pio .24.

I 0.

Pig. 25.

o
t O"

(~~~~~~~~~~MN~~Mn~~~ww~~~
10"

.20"

sible m anners, the n ine gears (which ar e operated through

nine keys, to be raised or lowered ab will), 512 different
velocity ratios (viz., 29) of the last an d first axes may be
obtain ed; the number s of r e,-olutiona performed by the
first axis of the indicator, against one revolution performed by the clock-box, follow, from 10.U35 to 88.833, a
geometrioal progr ession, the r atio of which is
about 241.

240

(;~)~,

or

A clock ia applied whose han d revolves in

half a minute; then t he number of re_v~lutions per

minute of t he axle u can vary from a nummum value
10.935 x 2, viz., 21. 870, to a maximum value 88.833 x 2,
viz., 177. 666.
.
The axle u is driven by the shaft S through a pat.r of
bevel wheels t; this multiplies the n umber of revolut~on s
in the ra tio 2.3 to 1 ; therefore the n uw bers of revol~t1ons
of the apparatus within the minimum, a nd the maxtmum
21. 87 d
.
.
.
d
b
h
.
d
.
t
V
I
.
y t e m tca or a esste, are . an
h m1ts permttte
23

177.666 namely about 9.5 and 77.25 per minute. Between

2.3 ,
'
.
these extr eme values we have 512 numbers of r evolutwns
corr esponding t o 512 different arrangements _of t~e n iD;e
k eys.

Two con secutive number~ of revoluttons m thts

Eeries d iffer from each oth er only by

~
.
20

Fig. 1 shows an assistan t attentively obser ving the

hand of the Valessie and moderating the electric resistances. Of course, the attention of the obser ver m ust not
be d irected to bringing the hand to the p oint oi depar ture, but rather to making it remain steady in an y actual
p osition, even if d isplaced from its initial point; for this
r eason no numbers or points of d eparture are marked on
the d ial-plate, but it is only minutely graduated.
W e dispense with describing the r egistering apparatus.
A special device is employed, so as to make s ure that the
navipendulum, whilst rema.ining free in its m otion, may
communicate the motion to a spindle, so as t o keep it
always parallel to its own axis. It a ppears from Fig. 6,
pa~e 444, and consists in a combinat10n of articulated
pieces, a kind of parallel-moving prism fixed to the shaft
of the n avipeudulum, at the oppo3ite corn er of which is
a li ttle tubular rod; the links composing the prism are
very light, and so arranged as to enable the tl!lbular rod
to pass at variable distan ces, in any direction (wi thin
certain limits) from the shaft of the n avipend ulum, wh ilst
remaining always parallel to it. Through the tubular
rod the spindle of the registerin~ apparatus is guided;
thus a connection is obtained whiCh fulfils the required
con dition of parallelism.
L astly, I obser ve th at the diagrams given by the regis tering apparatus ar e orthogonal, having times as abscissre
and amplitudes as ordinates. The sca.le of amplitudes on
the origin al diagrams is 1~ millimetres for 1 deg.
It m ay be asked what waves can be reproduced by my

mus t somewhat modify the internal ~olecular forces i

but it is a secondary phenomenon . wbJCh must hav\a
very limited influence, ~nd for pr~ct10al P';lrpos~ may
disregarded T he mot10n by whiCh a ship rolling ~t;l.
a very sma.ll time,

f rom. a cer'""
wave passes, m
- in post t10n
.0
to an other infinitely near , may be considered as rebultb _g
from two motions: (a) a motion ~f transporQ of t ~ ~ I~
(upright or inclined) together w1th the wave, w~t 0 ':1
rotation relatively to the wave, namely, a motlOb. Ih
which the ship replaces a n ertual mass of water, "'! ~c
would partake of the wave motio~, were not ~he ship t};~
trnded into the wave; {b) an oscillatory mottOf:lll 0 n t
.
'n
sti
wa.
er.
1
t
wavE.> analogous t o an oscill atory mo 100
This' latter m otion is a COJ?Sequence of . th~ ro~f~h~
velocity po~sessed l>y the sb1p at tb~ begmbtn3iffereot
sruall time consid ered and of t he action of t e
d

ht, b uo.yancy') anIt

wetg
forces oper ating up on' her, v1z.,
forces of inertia exc it ed by the former motion ~a h.
follows that, supposing . t? e na~pendulumd :nd lit tbeselt.
to be in identical cond1 t10ns wtth regar o a
t'10 8
ments influencing the m otion (a.), their oscillatory mo n

will be also in p erfect corresponden~.

.
re
Such a condition of t h ings is venfied m the case, P.
.
.
vwusly
exammed,
of 1arge waves, w hen the
. tsaltera.t1on
d the
1
produced by t he wa ve motion upon the we1g l an
t
buoyan cies is the same at all p oints ; then ~he a.ppar~~l
weight and the apparent buoyancy stlll remam two eq
*See p aragraph 17, page 493.

EXPERIMENTS
26'.

DIAGRAMS SHOWING

DATA RELATIVE TO

THE RE.SULTS OF EXPERIMENTS RELATIVE TO A

'

OF

ROLLING

SHIPS.

DATA

Lengt.h537 Heifjh/:,131~
Period T, 10,6 2 4 ( f' 1.,G}

Perwd]; =8. 95('. 1,4)

8

RELAnV

TO

THE

Li!n[!th 658' Heifjh.L 1J1(

Period T, 11 8 35 {f 1 1, 8}

Lt!11!Jtk10'J8 ' Hei[)hJ; 131

~ ----

- "...
" ' .. ..

'

L~ IIIIUVU111/,.U~. ~

~ ,,.

!.el'r:[Jtlt.8 oi'Arm. or'l~MP

~

~ ~

\..:,

~~~

() ..1

I ~

'-1

t'

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......

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c.,

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~t\ ~~

. . . . . . ~ ~(:)
0

'"..,

~ 'V~
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'

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..,.

I
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11 11 11111111

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. ..

&

..A

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,,

r,

-*

.-

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trJ

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c -Ulillnl
lJ\ffiJilllY
tf\llflt'\o- -- - - - -:rnnnn,r.v

:::s

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',1

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:
: u.

CJ

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.........

"

Scale of'~im.e.s

t ;::;,

Sca.u of.Ampbtudes.i;;' -i

?;
~

!"
..:..

J'{>
..,.,

~ ~A
?:
M

,.,,

7f!
~A

81?
fto

FJ1

aese(l

'1'10

i'W #JO ?40

m 7/iO

- ..~~ _,_

........ '- .....

17o 1Jio 'i}o secrm.dt;

t:t1
t:t1
id

S 344Jt.

forces, acting through unchanged points (centre of gravity

ann centre of buoyancy) always in a parallel direction,
normal to the wave surface. Equal conditions govern the
oavipendulum. But, if we have to deal with a wave of
moderate dimensions, and we intend to consider the forces
really acting on the single points, whlle the navipendulum
partakes of the motion of the apparatus (without rolling
respectively to the wave or to the plate of the apparatus),
then the couple of stability undergoes some change.
We will verify in what conditions, and to whatl extent
we can disregard the errors aud consider the two motions
as similar. In all that follow8, we ~:~uppose, for the sake
of simplicity, that the navipendulum represents a ~iven
ship in a ratio of similitude = 1 for the lengths, the t1mes,
and the masses. Let us suppose the navipendulum
(Fig 19, page 494) while carried by the apparatus set to
represent a certain wave, whose height is H = 2 .,., and
the length L = 2 1r R: let us imagine, ab the instant of
the wave motion determined by the an~le a, the navipendulum to be in a certain inclined position, and its centre
of gravity to lie in a position G determined by the coordinates X Y referred to the wave plane ()?late of the
appa.rn.tus) and to the normal to this. W e will call a the
dlStance between the point G and the point of contact C,
measured in a direction parallel to the plane of the supporting plate. Calling W the weight of the navipendulum, pits radius of gyration, and JJ.o the moment of the
apparent weight (Wa in the figure) about the point C (viz.,
the moment of the apparent couple of s tability) we have:
P.o

=-

~R2 +r2 -2rRcosa +

W a _;_
_ _--=R=-----

W Y (X+a)(R rcosa- r2)2- (Y2-aX) R rsina(R2-r2) _

R(R2 + r 2- 2r(Rcoaa)2
W

~~) ~

~~ ~~

'

Ill

1111 11 11 111111 11 ..

''

'11
c..
-.;::
c., ~

""""~~~
~ ~ ~ -<: ~

~
~
~
()

.t

.,

B
' 111111111-HIIIIIIIII\1\1\AI\A.
..;::
...
...
.

....
~
'
:
:-..l:ll. v~ ""...

.
'

IWU

jM

.I

1.'1!/1 R'u /Ill nn1111/1 An

\0

.-!I 11

'

"-

~A

I~

~
1

,,

<..N

Period L 14~08 (ft 2. 2)

( -

-~

t'-1

LengtJv 836 Height 131;

Period Tt 12~80 (j- 2,0)

""0

WAVES
1

LENGTHS;~ FOR TI~ES)

GIVEN SHIP UNDER 3 DIFFERENT CONDITIONS OF STILL WATER OSCILLATION & 5 DIFFERNT CONDITIONS OF WAVE MOTION (SCALE OF EXPERIMNTS :i;FOR

L<lfllh 41() fleighk13-Jf

THE SHIP

THE

ON

R r sin a (R2 - r2)

p2
R (R~ + .,.2 - 2 r R cos a) 2

This expression gives, for any condition of the apparatus and of the navipendulum, the moment of the mechanical couple producing inclination.
In passing, it may be well to point out that even if
a= 0, X = 0, Y = 0, viz., if the navipendul um is upright, and its centre of graviby is in correspondence with
the point P, yet the value of !J.o is different from zero, and
an oscillatory motion must necessarily be originated.
Passing now from the navipendulum to the real ship,
the expression we are in want of is one giving the moment
of rotation generated by the weight and the buoyancy,
when we suppose the ship to be drawn by the wave from
one position bo another infinitely near, without rolling
relatively to the water; namely, supposing the ship to
take the motion of an equal mass of water, which would
partake of the wave mot1on were not the ship really in the
wave's waters.
Fig. 20 represents t\Vo consecutive positions of the
ship and wave; the centres of gravity and of buoyancy
there are marked. Certainly on account of the ship
being undeformable, the single elements cannot follow the
same paths which the particles of a deformable liquid
hull would describe; bub we can admit that one out of
her innumerable elements will move in the same manner
as if it belonged to the said fluid hull. W e do not know
the exa.cb position of this element: only we can admit
that such an element, according to all probabilities, musb
occupy a position between the upper surface and the
centre of buoyancy, in the sense of the height, and must
not be too far from the middle of the ship in the sense
of the breadth. Our assumption cannot be sustained by a
mathematical demonstration; it arises from considerations
having some analogy with those made when admitting the
existence of an effective wave slope. However, it must be
remarked that the two assumptions are not the same.
According to the theory, the effective wave slope should
represent, by its n ormals, the directions of the virtual
upright at every instant, where our assumption is a purely

cinematical one. Moreover, this is of a less restrictive

character; in fa<'t, we do not take into consideration a
certain trochoidal sub-surface remaining always the
same durin~ the motion. W e only suppose that there
is some pomt (variable from instant to instant) which
follows for an elementary displacement (not accompanied
by rolling respectively to the water) the motion of the
liquid particle whose place it occupies. As for the position ef such a. point, we consider a field large enough
within which it may lie. Our object throughout is
merely to inquire within what limits the differences may
be comprised between the case of the navipendulum and
that of the real ship.
Let P (Fig. 20) be the point above referred to: let ab
be the trochoidal sub-surface on which it lies, P q
the normal to this surface. The point P and the lines
ab, P q will have the same motion as the p oint P and
the lines P C, P Q in Fig. 19. The whole ship will move
as the navipendulum of Fig. 19; however, instead of the
reaction of the supporting plate, we must here consider
the action exerted by the surrounding water, equal and
opposite to the resultant of the weight and of the forces
of inertia relative to the fluid hull, whose pla~e is occupied by the real hull.
The apparent weight W a and the apparent buoyancy
B a are not two exactly equal and parallel forces. As
long as the wave is not very large as compared with the
ship, they admit of a certain resultant, which may be
supposed applied to the centre of gravity, and which
exerts a. secondary action; but essentially they give a
couple, which we have designed as the apparent
couple of stabilitr. Calling !J.n the moment of this
couple, and denotmg by Pu the radius of gyration of
the ship, and by Pa the radius of gyration of the liquid
hull, we find :
P.n = _

W a '\/ R 2 +

r a _- 2 rr Rcos a

W (Xlk_+Yla)(Rrc cosa - r 2 c) 2 +
R (R2 + r 2e - 2 R 'l'c cos a.)2
W (~ 1- f!- - Y 1 h) (Rrc sin a(R 2 - r 2 ) _
R(J:tZ + .,.~c -2R rc cosa) 2
R .,.,. sin a (R 2 - r 2 c )
.,
2
2
W ~ R + r :!e - 2 T c 1.) ""'" ~\'2 (p c; - p 8

.........

z
C)

).

Some remarks about this expression are not superfluous.

The quantities X 1o Yh r e depend upon the position of the
element P fulfilling the conditions previously explained;
th e ra-dius R of the tracing circle is a constant for a given
wave length; Wand pc; are constant for a given ship;
Ps may be considered nearly constant for the hull of a
given ship; lastly, a and h depend upon the inclination
of the ship relatively to the wave.
With reference to a given ship, all the geometrical elements of the hull, as well as the elements relating to
stability, must be known. Then, let itl be supposed
that, in a given instant, the ship occupies on the wave a
certain position determined by a certain particular value
of the angle a, and that the masts make a certain angle
with the normal to the upper surface i then the points
G, B will be known, and the expresSion !J.n above will
give the different values of the moment p.,. corresponding
to different points Plying in the central part of the ship,
within such limits as are reputed admissible. The result
of such calculations will be the knowledge of the limits
within which must be comprised the value of the moment
!J.n due to the weight, to the buoyancy, and to the forces
of inertia arising from the wave motion; that is, excepting the forces of inertia arising from the oscillatory
motion of the ship relatively to the waters of the wave.
The calculations should be repeated, considering all the
values of the angle a, and all the inclinations of the
masts; the results may be grouped in a diagram.
As an example, we present the results obtained for
the Royal Italian ship Re U mberto lying on a wave

\0
U\

E N G I N E E R I N G.
394 ft. long (120 m etres), and 19 ft. 8~ in. high (6 metres).
They are r epresented by the diagram , Fig. 21. *
It h as b een obtained, when consid ering the ship as in clined at 0 d eg., 10 d eg., 20 d eg., 30 d eg., 40 d eg. from
the upright on h er right or left sid e. In each case the
following extr eme p ositions of the p oint P have been considered : upwards, the middle poinb of the water line;
downwards, the actual centre of buoyancy ; sideways,
two points at mid-height (between the centre of buoyancy a.nd the upper surface) at a distance from ea ch other
equal to the depth of the centre of b uoyan cy. The continuous lines of the diag ra m a.re dra wn thro ug-h the p oints
repre3enting, for each inclination, the m a xtmum or the
mmimum values of the conple fJ. n .
T he diagram shows, for instan ce, that when the R e
Umberto is inclined at 30 deg. in the hollow of the wave,
she is s ubject to a righting couple, whose movement m ay
oscillate b etween 23,750 and 24,300 foot-tons, whereas on
the crest the m oment is 17,700 to 18,300 foot-tons. In
one of the points of maximum slope, the moment is between 27,800 and 29,900 foot -t ons (it is a. maximum difference between the two limits). We h ave n ot drawn in
the diagram the cur ves corresp onding to the i nclination
of 40 d eg., for they would have caused some confusion with
the cur ves of 30 dE> g. A similar calculation has been made
for the n avipendulum by means of the formula p.0 , whose
r esults ar e precise, as the p osition of the point P , moving in a true trochoidal path, involves n o incertitu de.
The formula has been applierl, taking into consideration
differ ent fictitious wave heights. The n earest results to the
case of the ship h ave been found on the basis of a fictitious
wave hav ing the same length and period, but a height of
9 ft. lOi in. (3 metres); then the moments of the apparent
couple, for all the ph ases of the wave, and for all the inclina tions of the navipendulum, acquire the values r epresented by the ordinates of t he dotted curves of the
diagram. The differences, in comparison with the case of
the real sh ip in t he example rep orted, seem to be of little
consequence, especially if it is consid ered that the errors
will certainly be variable in magnitude and sign, without
a ny law of regularity, for they are not d ep endent upon
the p ariod either of the ship or of the wave. I t is a p erturbation naturally confined within s ufficiently close
limits, and whose action, it is well t o r em ark, is not
greater at large angles than ab m oderate ones. Errors of
this n ature cannot exert a great influence upon the general
a ction of the phenomena ; therefore it ma.y be concluded
that, at least in the case under examination, the two phen omenon will prove practically similar. The navipen dulum will roll, a bout the n ormal t o the plate of the a pparatus, in the same manner as the s hip relatively to the
n ormal t o the upper surface of the wave. The useful information to be deduced from the registered curves of the
appara tus will be, in this case, the incl inations of the axis
of the n avipendulu m to the normal o f the oscillating plate.
The value of this angle, at each ins tant, can be considered
as corresp onding to the same element in the real case.
The exam p le we h ave friven relates to a p articula r case,
in which the wave is sufficiently small when compared
with the dimensions o f the ship d ealt w ith; its length is
but five times the max imum breadth of the ship. If a
p erfect corresponden ce is n ot obtained, it m ust n ot be forgotten that the object of our experiments if:! a practical
one. Now, in the real case of a sh ip put on a series of
true waves, there are also pertnrbing causes, when ce a.n
absolute exactness in the experimental r esearches would
b e out of the question. We think that, even for smaller
waves, the experime ntal r esults ought to prove well in
a ccordance with those of the r eal rolling .

NAVAL ENGINEERS.
T he British Naval Enginee1 : H is P resent P osition and
I nfluence on Our Sea P ower.+
By Mr. D. B. M oRISON, Vice-PrE*IidentJ.
(Concluded from page 461.}
J U/1'/,iO?' Enoineers called upon to Undertake Senior R esponsibilities.'-A number (~bout 100 at the prese~.t. ti~e)
of engineer officers of '' engt~eer " rank are borne. 1.n heu
of chief engineers" upon var10us steam vessels, pnn01pally
of the d estroyer type, and are, therefore, called upon to
perf<;>rm tb~ du ties. and undertake ~be respon~ibilities. of
" ch1ef engmeer " m boat s fitted wtth comp h cated htgb
speed machinery, d eveloping in some cases as much as

* Explanatory d escription relative to Fjg. 21. The

v ertical straight lines 0, 1, 2 : : . 12, drawn . a.b equal
dis tances, corresp ond to 12 po:nt10ns of the sh1p on th e
wave ; the positions 0 and 12 corresp ond to the cres.t of
the wave; the position G to tbe hollow; the intermedt a:te
p ositions to orbital centres p laced at a constant dts
tance as d emoustra.ted by the sketoh b elon g ing to the
diagr~m (Fig. 22). T he ~v.e is supposed ~o a~va.~ce
from left t o right ; the p ostttve angles of mchnat10n
( + 10 deg. + 20.de~. + 30 d eg.) ~orres~~nd to th e case of
the ship being m chned to the n ght (from the normal to
the upper surface); the nega~i ve angl~s correspond to
inclinations to the left. The dtag~a~ g1ves, between t he
ordinates of a double curve, t~e hm1 t~ of .the mome!l t of
the couple acting upon the shtp, cons1derm g the we1ght,
the buoyan cy, and th~ forces of i~ertia.developed by t~ e
wave motion excludmg those whiCh anse from the oscillatory motio~ of the ship r~latively t o. the water. ~uch a
couple is p ositive or negat1v~, accord mg ~the ordmates
are p ositive (upward the ax1s of the abs01ssre) or. n egat ive. If the wave is supposed to proceed fro~ r1ght to
left. only the numer ation 0, 1, 2, . .. . 12 mus t be m ver ted,
a.nd for the remainder the convent10ns above stated m ust
be maintain ed.
. .
t Paper read before the North East Uoast InstitUt10n
of Eogmeers and Shipbuilders.

9000 indicated h or se-p ower. This arises from the fact

that certain appointments in the Navy are consid ered to
be of such 1mporta.nce that they require an officer of
" chief engineer " r ank to perform them an d undertake
the resp onsibilities connected with them; but. as there
are n ot sufficient officers of this ra nk in the Navy to fill
these appoin tments, they fall upon junior officers of
"engineer " rank. 'f hese j unior officers are thus called
upon to bear the resP-onsibilities of a rank senior to their
own, while their dally r ate of pay r emains unaltered;
and should they be unfortunate enoug h to meet with any
accident or breakdown while p erforming these higher
and m ore resp onsible duties, it would undoubtedly p rej udicially affect their promotion to that higher rank,
the duties of which they ar e already called up to p erform. This imp osition upon junior officers of the duties
and r esponsibilities appertaining t o a senior rank, unaccompanied by the increased pay and pri vileges belonging to t hat higher rank, has n o par allel in any other branch
of the service.
When a. j unior officer in any of the other branches is
required to per form the duties of a higher rank, he has
that acting rank conferred upon h im, to~etber with the
increased pay a nd privileges attaching to 1t.
T h is arrangement is particularly h ard upon the en gin eer
officers in the case of t orpedo-boat destroyers, where the
' 'engineer " has rarely less than three years' senior ity,
and is the s uperior in age and relative rank of the comm and er, who may be a s ub-lieutenant of about 21 years
of age.
At the present rate of promotion an en g ineer does not
become a chief '' engineer " in Her Majesty 's s ervice
un til he is from 38 to 40 years of age, and his promotion
to "fleet engineer " takes place eight years subseq uently,
viz., from 46 to 48. A fleet engineer has the same duties
and res ponsibilit ies as a chief, but being an officer of
greater ex~erience, is usually appointed to the charge of
the most Important ships. He p ractically continues to
hold the p osition of fleet engineer un til retirement at the
age of 55, as, although inspectors of machinery are prom oted at the average age of 52, there are only 14 out of
the total of 900 eng ineer officers in the entire B ritish
Navy, including home and foreign d ockyards. The age
at which an engineer is p]aced " in lieu of chief " is usually
about 30, so that for eight years be may be called
upon to undertake the great r esponsibilities of a p osition
for which he gets absolutely n o r ecognition, either in
promotion, pay, or nominal rank. It is impossible n ot to
admire the true B ritish pluck of thesA officers, as, n otwithstanding all their ser vice disabilities and the an xiety
consequent on the rapid d evelopment of steam engineering in the Ns.vy, which often in volve radical changes and
inevi table experimen ts, they do their work with d ogged
p erseveran ce, and never give in until the in tense nervous
strain affects their health, which unfortunately is t oo
often the case eYen in these t imes of naval p eace.
The fact t hat the Admiralty does n ot adopt t he obviously j ust and fair course of promoting these junior
officers to " chief engineer" rank, would seem to indicate
that such a policy would seriously deplete the jun ior
ranks, and by d estroyin g the proper proportions of the
various ranks, would upset the traditional syst em of pay
and promotion, and would draw attention to the inadequacy of the annual supply of engineers.
T he mons trous injustice of this system would find a
par~llel in the merchant service if the chief engineer of
one of our mail steamers were suspen ded, and the second
en~neer appointed to take up his duties and re3pons ibilttie.o, whilst still retaining the position and pay of
second engin eer.
The m en of the en gine-room staff, more especially
those of the stoker ratings, a re t rai ned to p erfor m combative duties in connection with the armamen t, landing
parties, &c., and they then come under the direct control
of the executive officers, whose orders at all times take
precedence over those of the en gineer officers.
The commands for the performance of these e xtra. departmental duties are generally made in an arbit rary
and unexpected manner, a nd when the en gine-room staff
is busily engA.ged upon impor tan t overhaul and r epair
work, whilsttbe ship is in p ort, and fr eq uen tly completely
disorganise the chief engineer's plan of work. T he fact
that th e engine- room com plement at h is disposal is
diminished, however, in no way r elieves him of h is person al respon sibility for the execution of all work n ecessary to m aintain th e machinery in a state of efficien cy.
Courts Martial.-Courts martial for the t rial of engin eer officers fo r even techni'.!al offen ces are cons tituted
en tirely of executive officers, who are n ot q ualified to
understand the intricacies of enginef>ring tecbnicalties.
Without reflecting in the slightest degree upon the h onour
and integrity of the m E:\mbera of such cou rts martial, tit may
tru1y be said that they ar e n ecessarily quite incompetent
to appreciate the s ignificance of much of the eviden ce
which it is their duty to sift an d adjudicate u pon.

Prohibition of Com,mu.nication with the Engineer-inChiej.-The engineer officer is en tirely cut off from direct
commur.ication with either the Board of Admiralty o r
the Engineer-i n -Chief of his own department. His commun ications must all be add ressed to the captaio, who n ot
only h as power to comment upon, or even su ppress, the
document, but is by regul$ltion obliged to have it transcribed and forwarded in his own n ame, so that the individ uality of the engin eer officer is absolutely sunk.
The conditions of the naval service no d oubt demand
that all official communications with the Admiralty
should p ass through the hands of the captain, and thab
he should h ave the right to comment upon them; but it
is very doubtful whether it is in the interests of the
nation thl\.t a ny commun ication from a responsible offi cer
should be liable to suppression. It is impossible to
conceive any good reason for the transcription of a letter
composed by an officer whose educational qualifications

[APR IL I

3, I 9oo.

certainly fit him to exprees his ideas intelligently and to

address t~e auth_orities in suitable language. 'this is
only. on~ ~llust.ration cf the s~stematic manner in which
the m~l vtd uahty of th~ engmeer officer is obliterated,
e?'ceptmg on such occa.s10ns when blame has to be appor.
t 10ned.
It will . be seen that the vast .responsibilities of the
naval engmeer are n ot accompamed br a. corresponding
p ower of control, or by adequate asstStl\nce for their
prop er fulfilment, n or d oes t.he position carry with it the
rank or . emo_)ument ~ue ~o its importance, and to the
necessa.nly high quahficat10ns and onerous duties of ita
occupan t .

Th.e I nftUtence of the Engineer upon a Naval .Action.Tbe m fluence of the naval engineer upon the result of an
action can scarcely be over.estimated. The first essential
of a. mod ern warship ia that she shall be able to steam as
and when r equ ired , in conformity with the wishes of her
coo;tmander, based upon the expectation~ as to her powera,
wh1~h have been created by the effictal data supplied
to lum.
A ny failure of duty on the part of the engineer, or lack
of efficien cy of the machinery, might render it impossible
to place or main tain the ship in a position for effective
action, or to make use of her armament. Therefore, the
whole of the p otential powers of the entire fighting
machine are dependent, for thei r active development,
upon the mobility of the ship and the workability of ber
armamen ts, for both of which the engineer is primarily
resp ons ible.
In action the engine room staff, closed down below the
protective d eck, amid a stifling atmosphere, are called
upon to rerform d uties upon which the whole utility and
safety o the ship may depend. The intense nervous
s train created by the realisation of the grave, though un
known, dangers to which they are bemg subjected, is
unaccompam ed by the inspiriting excitement of battle,
which so g reatly enhances the human po\vers of endurance. Under these conditions, strict discipline, cool
judgmen t, and an intimate knowledge of every detail of
th e vast maze of mechan ism, are essential to the success
ful p erformance of the necessary duties.
One cannot forget t he lives which, even in times of
p eace, have been sacrificed in the engine.rooms of Her
Majesty's N a vy-dea.tbs displaying a. noble devotion to
d u ty, a nd resulting from explosions and accidenttt, appal
ling and horrible in their associations and effects, upon
which it is painful to dwell. Such accidents must in
evitably occur with greater frequency in the stress of
battle, when the en tire mech anism is strained to the .utmost, and in view of the terrifying effects of esc~ptog
high-pressure steam there will, at times, be a great ten
dency to demor alisation.
I t is at these times that the immense value of theengi
n eer officer will be made apparent. H e is the man wh_o
alon e can inspire or restore confidence, and ~~o,. by h18
skill, exper ien ce, and cool judgment can mmtml.Se the
conseq uences of an accid ent and initiate the method of
r epair. It is be who, in moments of dire emerg.ency an~
panic, when all others fail, will have to remam at b~s
post, and face death if need be, in the ful filment of hts
duty unstim ulated either by the glory and glamour of
battl~, or by the hope of that person al d~tinction and re
cognition which fall to the lot of the ordmary combat~nt.
I s it j ust or wise, in time of peace, to ro.b th1s respo~stble
officer of that rank and au thor ity wbtcb are so vttal to
the exercise of complete ~isci,Plinary ~o?trol ; and then,
in time of war, to ple.ce b1m m a p031.t1on where, under
the most difficult cir cumstances, he 1s called upon to
exercise absolu te control over men, who have been tau~hb
to regard the executive officer as the sole representattve
of Rlenary authority ?
'I he danger of such a polio~ is magnified by the fa.cb
that the members of the engme-room CO!Jlplement are
mainly enlisted at an adul t age, and bavmg b~n subjected t o n aval discipline for only a shor~ ~r10d, ar.e
lack ing in that instinctive habit of unquest10mng obe~l
ence and self-repression which is so invaluable when duties
have to be performed in the fe.ce of. personal danger.
M oreover, during an actio~, ~he. e~gme room staff ~re
en tirely removed from the JUriSdiCtiOn of the executtve
officer , and the engineer office~ has, therefore, to rely
entirely upon his own p ersonal mfluence to secure obedt
en ce and induce discipline.
.
.
.
The ser ious issues involved m the .e~ecu.tiOn of ~hen
duties, the great p ot en tial dangers restdmg m the boilers
and m ovin g machinery, and the kt;10~ledg~ that an~
r evealed error of omission or commlsstpn .Will be mad
the subject of a court martial,. necessanly Impose a. ver~
severe strain upon the responstble offi~ers. U nder sue
conditions of life conten twent, enthusta,gm, an~ freedom
from avoidable c'auses of irritatio~, a~e esse~ttal to t~~
main ten ance of the human machme 1n a htgb state
efficiency.
.
.
It will be seen, however, that the naval en~n~~r . IS
called upon to undertake grave personal responstbill~tes
without adequate powers of cont rol, and to perform ~m
portant and multifarious duties without adequate f:~1bf"
ance. He is ever liable for bla~e, ~~~ seldom. e. tgt e
for commendation. U nder such diSptntm~ condtttdns.of
life the conscientious p erforma.nee of hts mere utth~
bec~mes a n act of almost heroic virtue. When ybunt ke
r egrets having entered the service. When old, e .00
anxiously forward to the time when ~e will be permtt.te
to lay down his heavy burden and r ettre from the serVlh.
hoping that he may be fortunate enough to escapeh~ ~
numerous pitfalls which beset his .Path, any ole of hw ;:r.
may l~n d hi~ into a c_ourt mar ttal, and en ve.op t e d
minat10n of h1s career m an atmosphere of diSgrace an
humiliation.
.
T his is the man whom the nation may reQUI.r~ at ~h~
moment to perform under circumstances reqm~mg
greatest courage and' de votion, duties which are Vltal, nob

APRIL I

3' i 900. J

only to the safety and combative efficiency of the ship true-:thab iJ? spite of. the undeniable importance of the
and her crew, but to the highest interests of the nation questiOns at Issue, and m defiance of unmistakable evidence
wbiob it is thei r purposa to defend, and who may ba of. the urgent need for their satisfactory solu tion, the Ad
called upon to m~ke the ultimate and greatest sacrifice nnr_alty have! UJ? to the pres~n.t time, given no sign of
th en apprecta.tton of the posttJOn, or of a ny sincere inwhich a man can render to his Queen and country.
Gra11e Da1't{Je1 of P1esent Position, and N ecessity f or tention to rectify it. Such ap~thy is inexplicable, in the
Pro1npt A ction.-So long as the present serious state of face of a.~ array of fact~ wh10h should constitute the
affairs in the engineering branch of the Royal N a.vy is strongest mcent1ve to act10n on the part of a public deallowed to continue, there is undonbtedly a grave danger partment whi ch has no legi timate mterests to serve but
of disaster overtaking us in a. naval war. The paper thoae of the nation, and whose first duty it is t o place the
values of ships will not count in warfare, and Navy in the highest possible state of efficiency and preshould a ship be unable to steam in accordance with the p a.red.neFs for the p erformance of its ultimate momentous
requirements, she would nob only run the risk of being funct10ns.
With a. determined p ersistency, every effort is being
put out of action and falling a prey t 0 the enemy herself but by being unable to fulfil her functions at the ~a~e to retai n a. system which has long outlived the con critical moment, she might E\nda.nger t he other vessels in dttto!ls under which it wa:~ ~reated, and which is quite
the fleet, and imperil the vital is3ue of a. clo3ely contested ~nsUlted to the present req mrements of the service. It
IS, therefore, not surprising t o any unprejudiced mind
enga.gemen t.
The conditions of modern naval warfare render it im- ~hat the pres~nb st~te of things has caused a. feeling of
possible to make good defects in organisation, equip- m tense dissa.tls fa.ctlOn to permeate the ranks of the n aval
ment, or persoooel after war has been declared, becau se engineers, which strikes at the very root of efficiency
a naval war must neces:~arily be of shQrt duration, and and, were the true sta te of affairs known and realised by
the high degree of skill and special knowledge required the. general public, there would be a natural anxiety and
to fit the men in every department for the efficient p er- a. disturbance of confidence which, unfortunately would
formance of their duties cannot possibly be acquired in be only too well j ustified.
'
the short period of time available.
This question cannot be ignored. It is a grave national
It will be of far .grea.te~ value if o~r efforts are ~ri d!lnger, aud an im~edia.te solution is imperative, in
ma.rily devoted t o mcrea.c:ung the effi01ency of our exist- VIew of our vast and m crea.sing ~mperj al responsibilities,
ing ships, rather than to increa.sin~ their mere numbers an? of the large ~umber of htgh-powered complicated
a.nd paper values, unaccompanied by the removal of shtp3 of WA.r now m course of construction for which it
those points of weakness, which at present make it im- will be impossible to find engine-room co~plements of
possible to render our theoretical naval power really adequa~e numbers, skill, and experience.
In v1ew of their special ability to understand the
existent and effective.
There is a t.endency, even in s.ome h.igh and responsible nature and full significance of the more or less technical
quarters, to d1spl~y a ~ery sp~r10us kmd of calm wh ich q~esti~ns which B:re at issue, it is a duty which the enconfuses preparat10n With pamc; but surely no merit can gmeermg profess10ns owe to the country t o lend their
be claimed for the " too late " method, which ignores powerful a:dvocacy to th~ cause of reform. That duty
weak spots and defects until they are revealed at a devolves wtth part~cular dt:ectne5:9 u~on J?arine engineers,
moment of natio!lal d~nger; when, owing to the neglect and members <;>f this and kmdred.mstttuttOns. The gravity
of ev~ry prec~ut10n dlCta.ted by reason ~nd duty, disaster of the .quest10n demands their attention. Let them
mercilesslY, bnngs them t~to the full hght .of publicity, speak wttb n<? UJ?C~rtain vo.ice, and give to the nation the
and necesstta.tes the hurrted and unecon omtca.l expendi- b enefit of the1r hfe s expenence, and their true and fearture of energy and wealth; with the result that, even at leE's estimation of this national danger.
In ~rder to fulfil any useful purpose, their support must
the best, the nation is robbed of many initial advantages
wbic~ would be gained had the remed1es been opportunely be a.ctlve! and mu~t take the form of arousing professional
and .lay .mterest 1~ the subject, by collecting and disapohed.
Public ignorance regarding such questions as that semmatmg usefulmformation as t o the facts of the case
which is the subjeo~ of this pa.p~r renders it dangerously and ~y bringing the subject under discussion at th ~
eaay for the responsible author1ttes, by means of specious me~tmga of the va~ious engineering institutions. Such
arguments and mcomplete statements, to create a. feeling a.ct10n can be effec~tvely undert:tken only by an organise d
of public confidence which is quite unwarranted by the body i. and the wnter ~ould venture to suggest that a
true facts of .t he. case. The experiet;Ices of the past do not C?m mtttee, representat1 ve of the engineering profesencourage thmkmg men to repose blmd confidence in those swns of the country, should be formed to deal With the
who are at any given time, according to the vicissitudes of matter.
There could be no better conclusion t o this paper than
party politics, entrusted with the safe-guarding of our
empire. Our whole national history teaches us that the following impressive and eloquent passage, extracted
reforms, no matter h~w obviously essential, are rarely from one of those famous letters which Sir E. J. Reed
brought about otherwise than by the force of organised wrote~~ The Times in 1877: "If this Navy of which I
am wrttmg belonged to the few politicians and admirals
and intelligently directed public opinion.
Unfortunately the questions atl i.qsue are to a. gred.t who regulate it, we might smile at the absurdity of such
extent, so special and technical that, by' the means arrangements, and there lea ve the ma.tteP. But . . .
bitb~rto .a~opted, it has been impos.sible to educate the Navy o.f Britain belongs to the people of Britain, and
pubhc optmon up .to t~at ~ta.te . of enhghtenment which the depress10n- I would even say the degradation-of a.
e.l?ne .can endow. 1b wtth mtelhgent activity and deter- class of officers upon whom its efficiency and glory must
mmattOn; a.n.d dtsaster wou~d seem t~ .b e necessary in so .largely ~epend in future, is a matter of the most
order to convmce the responstble a.uthonttes that reforms senons public concern. . . . It is shameful to leave an
are absolutely necessary in the engineering branch of the evil of this kind.to wait for redress until the engineers
themselves requtre and demand it. Their interes t in the
Navy.
The executive branch, which alone is represented on matter, ho~ever great, is only secondary : it is for the
~be Board of Admiralty, is, to quote tho words of one of country's m.t erest that the position of naval engineers
~ts own membera. '~a. cl~se corporation," which is very shoul~ be ra1sed to a. level corresponding to the greatness
Jealously guarded, .m st~wb. conformity with traditions of theu present trust, and to the weight of their enlarged
~nd ultra-Conservative pnn01ples that are in many respects resp onsi bili tie3."
Irrelevant to, and out of harmony .with, the requirements
ADDENDUM.
of a modern steam Na vy. The mterests of the nation
S ince the above paper was written, the statement of
dema~d that the Na~ shall be constituted and adminis- the First. L ord of the Admiralty, explanatory of the
tered m accordance wtth those principles which are best ~avy E~t1mates for 1990-190 L, has been published, and
oalc~ted to conduce to the attainment of maximum tt contams the followmg passage referring to engineer
eJ;i01ency, !1-nd tradit~onal pr.eju~ices should not be p er- officera:
nutted .to mterfere With the mst1 tution of reforms which
"Th e promo ~
.. LOn, statu~, an l pay of engineer officers
are obVlo~slr nec~ry !or the welfare of the Empire.
have bee~ recently con~tdered by a. committee of the
The enstmg dtfficulttes !lnd defects were recognised Board, W1th the result that the following changes have
more than 20 yeara ~go m t~e early stages of their haye been a.pprov~d: The list of chief inspectors of ma.growbh, ,by s~oh presment and hberal-minded authorities chmery has been .mcreased from 5 to 8, and that of inas Adnural Str Cooper Key, Admiral Followes, and Sir s_pe_ctors of mac~mery from 8 to 13 ; the Engineer-in~dward. Ree?; and the necessity for drastic reforms in Ohlef has been gtven the relative rank of rear-admiral
t e engmeermg b!anch of the R oyal Navy has been conthe rani~ of staff e?gi~eer has b een abolished ; chief engi:
btantly urg~ du!lng the whole of the subseq uent period, ~eers will rank wtth ~teutena.nts of ~ighb years' seniority,
ut unhappily Wlthoub any effect whatever
In. more than one instance, those who have in their mstead of, as no.w, wt~h, but after, h eutena.nts ; and engipubhc ~tteranc~ recognised the need for reform have n~ers on promotiOn will rank with lieutenants instead of
Wit~ but after. In o~ber resp ects the relative rank of
P~id mto the htghest administra.ti ve position ab the Ad- e~gmeer officers rema10s u.nchanged. Engineers will be
~tra ty; but s~range to say, they have hitherto failed t o g1 ven a. new scale of pay, vtz. :
give any pra.ct1ca.l effect to the beliefs which they had
form~rly e~pressed.
On promotion
...
. ..
...
...
10~. a day
8
It an Interesting and sie-nifica.nt fact that a s far back
After four years .. .
.. .
... lls. ,

e.h ~ e yea~ 1876,. an Admtral~y Committee: under the
, eight years . . .
.. .

12~. ''
8
1
~ j~~~i~ ~ P of Su A. C?~oper Key, which was appointed
q e tn~ the cond1t1on of the engineering branch -a.~d the. allowance of ~s. a . day at present paid to
~~~ unabtdously as follows : "The chief enginee~ sem~r engmee~ for all ships. ~111 be replaced by a scale
m
a.rge o Y of men under his immediate orders va.ry:,ng accordmg to responstbtlity from la to 2~. Gd. a.
ana~lti~~ whoD;l are ~uarter~d at ~uns, and have to tak~ d ay.
. part m act10n. ffLS duties are in many resnects
.I~ will be seen that the changes proposed are of a.
execubtve We a e th f
f
. .
f"
oflicera sho Id . 't ebe ore, o optmon that engmeer t~tVl~l character, and leave untouched all the questions of
executive brant~ uofr~h e cla.ssfed. with the military or Vlta.ltmportance.
wo Id
. e pro esston, among those who
It i.s diffic~l~ to conceive th'e spirit which prompts rei u nob on any ocoa.ston succeed to command " That spo!lSl ble. mtmste~s and public officials to deal with
ad~:nt~~commenda~ion has not, up to this day, been nat10na~ mterests m a ma.n.ner. which savo~rs of levity;
inaction' theh~ugh ?turfmg thhe 23 intervening years of ~nd w~10h W?~l~ appear to 1?d10a~e that thetr chief object
a.ccentu '
ecesst Y _or t e change has become daily 1s to sttfie ?rtttciSD? by .grantmg mmor con cessions, and so
ditions.ated by the rapid development of the ne w con. creat~ an ImpressiOn m the public mind that the entire
quest10~ has been thoroughly considered and effectively
.
lb is surprising -m
deed, Ib
1sa
1armmg,
but neverthelea3 d ealt w1th.

497

E N G I N E E RI N G.
APPENDIX A.

CoMPARATIVE CosTs OF ENTERING THE V ARIOUS

0 01\UHSSIONED R ANKS OF TH.m R OYAL NAVY.

The following interesting extracts from a letter of a

retired naval officer were given in the Naval and MiUta'1 '.11
Reoor d of September 29. 1898, making a comparison
between the expense of educating two of his son -one for
the engineering branch, who started his Key ham course
at 16, the other for the medical branch of the Navy
at 17. H e says: "My estimate, based on actual figures,
and there is n o stint in either case," is a.a follows :
Enginceri!ng Brtvnoh.-(Boy starts at 16. )
s. d.
1 0 0
Entrance examination
...
. ..
200 0 0
Five years' course at 40l.
...
. ..
50 0 0
Uniform at start
..
.. .
. ..
50 0 0
Plain and underclothing
. ..
...
Recreation fund (partly compulsory)
25 0 0
fi ve years
. ..
. ..
.. .
.. .
Books, stationery, models, instru50 0 0
ments . . .
...
...
...
.. .
Annual expenses, washing, &c., plain
clothes, uniform, and details, 40l.
200 0 0
per annum .. .
. ..
. ..
...
576 0 0
M edical B1anch-(The B oy staded at 17).
s. d.
School for one year . . .
.. .
.. . 100 0 0
Matriculation examination . ..
. ..
1 0 0
H ospital fee (London Hospital) ... 105 0 0
Examination fees, registration, &c.
49 0 0
Instruments, anatomical dissection s,
books, &c. . ..
...
. ..
...
50 0 0
Plain clothes (renewal of), washing,
&c.
. ..
...
. ..
. ..
. ..
50 0 0
B oard and lodgings (allowing for
hvlidays, &c.)
. ..
. ..
.. . 200 0 0
Examination for entrance into Navy
1 0 0
D etails not recollected
. ..
. ..
40 0 0
606 0 0
This parent adds : "In each case I do not include
cost of uniferm for entry as a commissioned officer
though any one c:~.n se~ that th~ co:~t. for the engineer:
due. t o th~ rough usage m connectiOn w1 th machinery and
dutte.s generally, mt;tst be more than the cost to surgeon
for hts walk t o the s10k bay a few times a dav."
. These figures are, of course, subject to a. little fluctuatiOn, according to the vie ws of parents as to what is
necessary, but thi.s would not affect their proportions.
Another ~~~ter m the !'faval and. 111ilita1'Y R ecord, same
date, says : A doctor m the serVIce sent a friend a copy
of ~he L wncet (~he Students' Number), in the editorial of
wh10h the wnter states that for 400l. a. boy could
graduate." It could be done for even less.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH.
~ow l.et us gla.nc~ a.~ the cost of tra.ining on H . ~I.S.
Brttanma, and unt1l mdependent. (Boy enters 14 ~ to
15!, average 15.)
s d.
En trance examination
. 1 0 0


Fees, four t erms at 25l.
...
. .. 100 0 0
Outfit at start .. .
...
.. .
. ..
50 0 0
Plain and underclothing for five
years . . .
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
50 0 0
Books, stationery, instruments, sextant, &c.
. ..
. ..
.. .
. ..
45 0 0
Annual expenses, washing, renewala
of uniform and plain clothes, &c.,
for four years at 40l. per annum ...
160 0 0
Allowance of 50l. per annum, comJ?U~sory,. for ~! years after leaving
Bntanma, t1ll rank of sub-lieutenant is attained ...
... ... 187 10 0
Deduct one year'~ schooling, from
15 to 16, which the engineer
s tudent, doctor, and paymas ter
have to pay .. .
. ..
.. .
. ..

p AY~fASTER'S

593 10 0

100 0 0
493 10 0

BRANCH .

Exp~nses o! clerks entering the N avy on same scale as

precedmg estimates.

(Over 17, and under 18.)

One year extra at school

..
Examination fees
..

Possibly one half-year: if not. pa.ss~d

a. t firs b trial . . .
.. .
.. .
.. .
Medical examination, and expensed
to L ondon and back for same
Allowance by parent for first ye~;
till appointed arssistant clerk
.. .
D educt from thisPay from 18 to 19
"
19 " 20

s. d.
100 0 0
2 0 0
50 0 0
10 0 0
20 0 0
182 0 0

...

45 12 0 )
73 0 Of 11 8 12 0

P~rents are only out of pocket 63t. 8d.

----63 8 0

---

APPENDIX B .
DESCRI PTIONS OF THE MACHINERY 01!' TYPICAL BRITISH
WARSHIPS.

The steam screw fr~gate, H. M . S. Agincourt, was built

about 1865. Her e ngmes were of the horizontal cylinder

E N G I N E E R I N G.
return connecti ng-rod type, the two cylinders being each
101 in. in diameter, with a. 54-in. stroke.
T he steam was supplied, at a pressure of 25 lb. per
sq,uare inch, by ten rectangular return-tubular boilers,
having 40 furnaces.
H er nominal hvrge-power was 1350, but on her trial
trips her engines developed 6867 indicated horse-power at
61~ revolutions per minute.
'he engines were very heavy, and were fitted with jeb
condenserg.
The auxil iary engines were only three in number.
There was no mechanism in connection with the armament.
The first-class twin-screw battleship, H.~1.S. V engeance, has a displacement of 12, 950 t ons, and is fitted
with two sets of triple-expansion engines, which are
capable of developing 13,500 total indicated horse-power,
with natural draught.
The maximum speed of this vessel is 18 knots.
The cylinder diameters arE\ 30 in., 49 in., and 80 in. respectively. 1,he stroke is 51 in., and the engines run at
10 revolutions p er minute. The steam is generated at a
pressure of 300 lb. per square inch by 20 B ellevillewatertube boilers, fitted with economiserg, and is reduced at
the engines to 250 lb. per square inch. The auxiliary
machinery, consisting of 7 engines, is as follows :
2 startin ~ engines.
2 turning en~ines.
4 main cuculatin~ engines.
2 auxiliary c1rculating engines.
2 hotwell engines.
6 feed engines.
4 fire engines.
1 workshop en~ine.
6 furnace air pumping engines. 4 distilling engmes.
3 dynamo engines.
2 steering engines.
4 air compressing engines.
2 boat-hoist engines.
2 refrigerator engines.
1 drain tank engine.
2 capstan engines.
2 coal-hoist engines.
6 ash-hoist engines.
,rentilating engines for ship.
2 ventilaLing engines for engine- 6 ventilating engines for boilerroom.
room.
S hydraulic pressure steam en- 4 hydraulic engines for ba.rbgines.
ettes.
The armament consis ts of four 12-in. and twelve 6-in.
guns, and about 38 smaller guns, including Maxims, a.nd
two submerged torpedo-tubes. This ship carries three
s teamboats and 19 torpedoes.
Exclusive of the two sets of main engines and their
direct-driven air pump, the chief engineer has under his
charge 78 auxiliary engines and machines, the machinery
of three steamboats, two submerged torpedo tubes, and
19 torpedoes, together with the mechanism of the whole
of the gun mountings and the innumerable watertight
doors and compartmen t, flooding, and pumping arrangements fitted throughout the ship.
The first-class cruiser, H.M.S. T errible, has a displacement of 14,200 t ons, and is fitted with two sets of tripleexpansion engines, developing 25,000 total indicated
h orse-power with natural draught, and propelling the
ship at a maximum speed of 22 k nots.
The diameters of the high and intermediate-pressure cylinders
are 45 in. and 70 in. respectively, and there are two lowpressure cylinders, each 76 in. in diame ter. The stroke
i S 48 in., and the engines run at 112 revolutions per
minute. The steam is generated a.t a pressure of 260 lb.
per square inch, by ~ Belleville water-tube ~oilers, and
is reduced at the engmes to 210 lb. per square m ch. The
auxiliary engines and other machines, exclusive of armament mechanism, a re 93 in number, viz. :
6 main feed engines.
2 evaporator pumps.
8 auxiliary feed engines.
1 tan engines.
4 main ci rculating engines.
4 air compressing en~ines
2 auxiliary circulating engines.
1 refrigerating engi ne.
2 hotwell pumps.
12 ash-hoist engines.
4 fire and bilge engines.
2 coal-hoist engines.
2 reveraiog engines.
2 boat-hoist engines.
2 controlling pumps for feed en- 1 workshop engine.
2 turning engines.
gines.
2 steering engines.
12 air furnace engines.
3 electric light engines.
2 capstan engines.
The armament consists of two 9.2in., twelve 6-in .,
eighteen 12-pounder, and a number of smaller guns and
~Iaxims and four submerged t orpedo-tubes.
'l,he armoured ~ruiser, H.M.S. Drake, which is now buil~in~,
will have a disphtcement of 14,100 tons, and a tota.lmdtcated horse-power of 30,000 when working with natural
draught. Her speed is to be 23 knots. The t orpedoboat destroyer H.~l. . Mermaid is a represe_ntative
specimen of a batch of 12 ne~ boats. . Her .d18placement is only 320 tons, but she lS fitted Wlth twm-screws
driven by. two sets ~f t~iple: expansion ens-ines, each
19 in., 29 m., and 4() m . m dtameter by 18 tn. stroke.
developing under forced draught n o less than G541 total
indicated horse-power when running ab 400 revolutions
per minute. Under these conditions, the speed attained
on the measured mile was 30.98 knots, and the speed
maintained during !l' three ho~rs~ run was 30,~33 k~ots.
H er auxiliary machmery, cons1stmg of 18 engmes. 18 as
follows:
2 circulating engines.
1 electric light engine.
4 feed engines.
1 distilling en~ine.
1 bilge engine.
1 capstan engme.
1 steering engine.
2 starting engines.
1 air-compressing engine.
4 fan engine .
The torpedo-boat destroyer, H.M.S. Express, now
building, is to _be fitted with engines capable of developing 9250 indtcated horse-power under forced-draught
oond i tions.
APPENDIX C.
STATEMENT OF TilE 0IIANGES IN ORGANISATION, &c.,
warcH TIIE ENGI~EER OFI<' ICERS, R oYAL NAYY, CoNsro~R Nxcx 'ARY TO P LACE 1'HEIR D .EPART:\rRNT rPON
AN Ei<'li~ICIENT FOOTING.

The E ngittecrit1{1 Bratteh of the Royal ~a vy._-Th~ engineer officers of H er M ajesty '_s fleet co~s1der 1t th~1r duty
to make known to all those mte-rested m the effi01ency of

the Navy, the intense dissatisfaction prevailing amongst

them With regard to the unduly subordinate position
their department holds in that service. 'lhis dissatisfaction is of long standing, affects all ranks and ratings,
and, owing t o the development of modern ship of war,
leads those officers who are responsible to entertain grave
doubts of the ability of their department to bear the
stress to which it must be subjeoted during actual
warfare.
The causes of dissatisfaction are :
1. Engineer officers are still classed as a civil branch of
the Navy. They have n o executive control in their own
department, and have no power to award even minor
punishments.
The officers are not permitted t o sit on courts martial
when an officer or man of the engine-room depa rtment is
being tried for departmental offences.
2. The rank held by these officers is, age for age with
th e executive branch, unsatisfactory, considering their
great responsibilities. The number of officers, too, in the
highest ranks uf these branches is disproportionate, a.s
there are only 14 engineers out of a total of nearly 900
ranking with cap tains. who number 189 out of a total of
1786 commission ed officers of the executive. There are
also 65 flag officers on the active list, with the most
junior of whom not one en~ineer officer has equal rank.
There is, therefore, a.n officer of or above the rank of
captain for every seven commissioned executive officers,
whilst in the engineering branch there is but one of captain's rank for every 69 engineer officers.
3. The engineering branch has not a single representative on the Admiralty Board, notwithstanding the facb
that it has a. persmnel of aboub 25,000, and responsibilities in connection with nearly the whole of the
materiel.
4. The pay of these officers generally, more especially
on promotion to the rank of "engineer," and while serving in that rank, is quite inadequate.
5. The compulsory retention of engineer officers beyond
the age of 50 is detrimental to the interests of the ser vice,
and causes a serious block in the promotion of officers
from the rank of " engineer."
6. Engine-room complement~ are too small to carry
out the work of the department under high rates of steaming, or under such stress of circumstances as may b~
expected during war time.
7. Writers are not allowed to the chief engineers of H er
Majesty's ships, consequently hi~hly-trained officers have
to be employed for merely cler1cal work. There is no
reg ulation which insures that specially suitable p ersons
for charge of engineers' stores shall bo included in the
e ngine-room complements.
8. Stokers are not granted re-engaging pay a s is now
given to the seamen class.
Engineer officers are agreed that the following remedies
would greatly increase the efficiency of the Navy:
1. A corps of Royal Naval Engineers should be formed,
and cla.sRed as a. military branch of the Navy, t he officers
being executive in their own departments, and administerin~ minor punishments.
On board ship the senior officer of the Royal Naval
Engineer corps would be responsible for the discipline
a.nd conduct of his staff t o the captain direct. The engineroom ratings in the naval depots would be under the
entire charge of the Ror.al Naval Engineer officers, who
would be solely responsible for the training and distribution of their men.
An officer of the Royal Naval Engineer corps to sit on
courts martial when a.n officer or man of the corps is being
tried for departmental offences.
2 and 3. The titles and mode of promotion to be :
Ti tles and Age.

Corresponding Age of Deck

Officers.
Cadet, R .N.E. , 16 to 21. .
.. Cadet & Midshipma.n,l4.\. to 19.
Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.E., 21 . . 'ubLieutenant, 19.
Lieutenant, R. N.E. , 24 to 25 . . Lieutenant, 19 to 22.
(To commence counting senior
time).
Lieutenant of years, R.N.E.,
32 to 33 . .
..
..
. . Lieutenant of years, 27 to 30.
Commander, R .N. E . (No. kept
..
..
. . Commander (by selection).
at 200) . .
Captain, R.N.E . (by selection)
Captain (hy selection).
Rear-Admiral, R.N. E. (live in
..
..
. . Rear-Admiral (by rotation).
number . .
Officers of the Royal Naval E ngineer Cor ps to rank
with the deck officers according to date of commission,
with uniform the same a.s now worn by those officers, but
with distinction cloth.
The eng-ineer -in-chief to rank as Vice-Admiral.
n
engineer officer to have a seat on the Admiralty Board.
The number of captains, Royal Naval Engineers, to
be 25-For ser vice at the Admiralty. in the fleet and
dockyard reserves, the dockyards, d epot , R oyal Navy
Engi neers' College, &c.
4. A Parliamentary Committee to be appointed to
inquire into, and adjust, the pay and retirement of the
officers of the Royal Naval Engineers corps.
5. Officers of the rank of Commander, Royal Naval E ngineers, to be permitted to retire at the age of 50.
6. The complements of the engine-room departments
in Her Majesty's ships to be increased, until a condition
of safety has been attained.
7. A writer, recruited from the department, to be added
to all engine-room complements. A definite rating called
(for example) " Yeoman of tores " ~o he establtshed,
similar to that of stoker-mechanic, W1 th an allowance
while serving in that capacity.
8. Stokers to be granted re-engaging pay, as now given
to the seamen class.
E'.cplanalory.-Naval engineer offi~e1-s are .of op~nion
th at in consequence of the enormous mcrease m thetr responsibilities, more es pecially in the event of war, the
ttme has now arrived for their position on board Her

(APRIL 13,

1900.

Maj~ty's ship.~. to be strengthened, and their full value

offi~1ally ~ec?gmsed, so that they may be able to perform
the1r du~1es tn a manner worthy of the best traditions of

the serVIce.
The .engin~r officers are convinced that the best way
to achle\'e thlS result would be by the formation of a
separate corps of naval engin~ers, by l~vell~ng up the
rank of officers, and by adoptmg executt \'e tttles indicative of the executive nature of their duties.
. The habit of command and proper control by the engmeer officers of thei~ su~rdina.tes is ac~ually hampered
by the present constttutton of the engmeering department, ~bich does_ not permit _these officers to assume any
executive author1ty ?ver thetr. men,, nor give them the
power to reward mentla.nd pumsh miSconduct. This want
of power is more especially felt when the offences are of
a tec?nical na ture c~nnected with. matters relating to
mach~nery or the duttes of t_he engme-room, the gravity
of wh1ch c~n ~ best appreetated by the ?fficer in charge
of the engmeenng department. The engme-room ratings
never feel that their own officers have any power over
them which can compare with that exercised by the deck
officer, who is frequently a perfect stranger to them until
they are-according to the rules of the service-brought
before him by the engineer officer for some irregularity
demanding investigation and necessary punishment. This
absence of direct control on the part of these officers undermines their self-confidence, and has its reflex action on
the men, who are always quick to notice any signs of
inferiority in the status of their departmental officers.
They, therefore, cannot be expected to acquire the proper
feeling of respect for the officer who is so little trusted
that he cannot be allowed even to award minor punishments for offences committed almost immediately under
his own eyes and in his own department. It is important
t o remember that the whole of the men of the engineering branch join the Navy at an adult age; they go to
sea without any previous acquaintance with their duties,
and have not had the opportunity of ac9.uiring during
their youth those habits of order, disciphne, and strict
obedience which are so valuable a feature in the training
of the seaman class who enter the training ships as boys.
In all newly commissioned ships at least one-third of the
stoker complement consists of these raw recruits, while
of the remaining two-thirds many are frequently of
scarcely more than one year's service.
The necessi ty for executive rank in the engineering
branch was recognised as long ago as 1876 by the committee presided over by the late Admiral Sir A. Cooper
Key ; which, after an exhaustive inquiry, recommended
" that the engineer officers should be classed with the
executive or military branch among those who would not
on a.ny occasion succeed to command." If auch a change
were necessary then, how much more so is it at the present day'?
.
The naval engineer holds relative rank only, and I~
many grades his uniform- the outward sign of ~be est~
mation in which he is held-advertises his infenor posttion, and tends to weaken hi authority in the eyes of ills
subordinates. The officers of the rank of "engineer "
may be quoted as an example of this. Many of these
officers (over 100 at the present time) are performing t.he
duties of "chief engineer" in various mall vessels, p~n
cipa.lly the "destroyer " type, where th~ ho:se-power 19,
in some cases, as high as 10,000; yet It will hardly. be
credited that a large number of them have rank to w1t~,
but after, the most junior lieutenant . or s~rgeon, and., m
addition advertise this fact on the1r umform. It ts a
fact that these officers cannot attain, until 11 years after
the completion of their training, the rank and. pay that .a
medical officer is granted on entering the ser~~- .Can tt
be wondered at, that with their great respoOSlbthties and
lack of official appreciation, this particular grade of naval
engineering is very discontented ?
Further, at the Admiralty, the bead-quarters <?f the
largest steam fleet in the world, the head_ of the engmee~
ing branch is not admitted to the counmls of the Admiralty. Surely, wi th the experience that has rece~tly been
gained it is time that an engineer officer of h1gh rank
bad a ~eat on the Admiralty Board itself.
.
The duties of a. naval engineer in H er M~jesty's shtps
at sea are (esf>ecially during his junior service).of a very
trying descnption physically; and the result ts that by
the time he arri ves at the age of 60 th~ average offi~r
would be quite unfitted to stand . the 1mmense stram
which modern warfare would entail. Another reaso.n
for permitting optional retirement. at 50 years of ~e,. 19
to facilitate the flow of promot1on am?ng the JO!llor
ranks, in which at the present time there IS a most senous
block.
.
ffi
d0
In submitting this statement, the e~gmeer o ce!S
so with an earnest concern for the effictency of th~1r department. It i with th em no qu~tion of a. de.s1re ~
diminish in any way the authority o~ th.e ex~cutlve :_10
support of which statement they feel JUSti~ed lD .referrdg
to the loyal and zenl ous performa~ce of thetr dattes un br
many disabilities, as a comparatt~e~y ne~ ~ranch of the
N avy, and amid the trying- co~dtttons mCid.ental to; se
ra pid development of engmeermg for ~arsh1p purpoee .
These officers maintain that, in accepttng the responstbili ties of their position in their country's defence, fthby
deserve equal honours with the other branches o t e

h
fighting services.
. .
The engineer officers unhes1tatmgly submit that_t e
marks of inferi~rity whic? ha ve for so long beendtbe b:~=~
portion of the1r profess10n should be remove , dso f th
they may be proud of belonging to th~ Navy, an
in e
uniform they wear. They are convrnced that no.th g
short of a full recognition of the ,,alue of t~e ~ngm:ili
ing department and its complete reorgam.satl<?D,
enable it t o pr~perly to fulfil its onerous functtons, on
which the efficiency of the British Navy must so largely
depend.