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JAN. I 9 I 900.]

THE

WATERVl

\ Y ~

OF

RU

IA.

By C.

H.

MoBERLY M. In st. C.

E.,

M. I. Mech. E.

(Continued from

1:ol

. lxviii., page 620.)

The

Wat

en vmts

of

Finland are very extensive, as

the whole countl.y is covered with lakes, and steam

navigation and trade are very a?tive. But

it

will

be sufficient here to deal only with the one great

canal route in the country, the Saima Canal from

the Saima Lake the Gulf of Finland. The Lak

e

Saima is of very irregular form, and has extensive

ramifications, and is stuJded with islands ; its area

is aiven

as

17 ,600 square miles.

I t

discharges

it

s

waters into the Ladoga. Lake by the River Vok a or

y ouoksa which form the famou cataracts or

Fall

of

Imatra. I ts importance as a water

hiahway was recognised by the Swedes, to whom

F ~ l a n d

then belonged, in the 16th century,

when they commenced a canal from miles to

the east of Willmanstrand, towards Viborg; but

the work

wa

s not persevered with. The remains

of this work are still visible. Early in

the 17

th

century they again

started

along

another

line ;

but

the work proved so formidable

on

account of

the

hard rocky ground, that they again abandoned it.

At last, in 1840, when

Finland

wa s already in

the

hands of Russia, the

matter

was taken

up

again

and

a new scheme was worked out. Operations com

menced in 1846, and

the

canal wa s finished at a cost

of 3,000,000 roubles, and opened

in

1857.

It

runs

from Willmanstrand on

the

Saima Lake

to

V i b o r ~

on the Gulf of F inland, a distance of 36 miles.

There are fifteen sets of l

oc

ks, of which five

are

in

three steps and three

in

two steps, so that

the

total

number of separate locks or chambers is twenty

eiaht. The chambers are constructed to take

v:Ssels called Ladya, 105 ft. long and 23 ft.

br

oad,

carrying 250 tons on a draught of water of 5

ft

. 6 in.

The Saima Lake is 256ft. above the Gulf of Finland.

The number of such vessels passing th rough the

canal is about 3500 annually. About 25 years ago

the northern end of the lake was connected with

Pieliss by a canal and the River

Pi

eliss, on which

locks are constructed.

The principal produce conveyed by the Saima

Lake and through the Saima Canal, to Viborg for

export consists of deals and timber in various

forms from Kuopio,

Y

ouentso, and other places on

the Saima Lake. I t amounts to about 250,000 tons

a year.

The total length of natural and artificial water

wa

ys in European

Ru

ssia is e

st

imated

at

53,000

miles.

Of

this total 4000 miles represents the

artificial routes,

namely-

canal and rivers, portions

of which have been rendered navigable artificially;

whilst the length of canals and canalised portions of

rivers, i.e., those portions which have actually been

rendered navigable artificially-is 1300 miles.

E

. G I N E E R I N G.

difficulties to navigation . But

in

spite of these

fa\ourable conditions, very little has as yet been

accomplished, and most of the rivers remain

in their

na tural condition . The Mariinski Canal route is the

only one which has been fairly developed. Good

permanent work has also been done in a few por

t ions of a good many rivers; but very little effect

has been produced on the efficiency of the waterways

as a whole. Expense is one of the great difficulties ;

but a great deal of money has been and is being

expended on railways, and

it

is a question, in the

writer's opinion, whether

it

would not be bet ter

for the development of the country to do more for

the waterways and less in the way of rail way ex

ten sion for a time.

Mr. Horsehelman gives an in teresting Table of

comparison between the waterways of different

Eu ropean countries, from which the following is

taken:

Count

ry.

Length Ooo.

ds

Mean Annual

of Water-

I ca

rn

e

1

1 Length of

Traffic

in

waus

I nua y, Trip.

Ton-Miles.

I m Tons .

miles.

Imillions. ,

< ~ s i a . . . . . I fi3 ,000 32

Fr

an

ce . . . . . .

8,000 23 I

Ger many . . . . 6,250

Aust

ria-Hungary . .

3,760

2

B e l ~ i u m

. . . .

1,380

En

g land .. . . . . 2,e60 36

m lea.

670

85

220

38

millions.

21,500

2 COO

3,0l0

3'6

1,360

73

2

draught, and by smaller-decked vessels w.ith a keel,

carryino 32 to 65 tons of cargo on 3 It 6 In. to 4

ft.

draugh t.

Sti

ll smaller craft

are

us

ed

to take

goods to coasting vessels during

s u m ~ e r l o ~ w a t e r ~

The traffic during eleven years endmg w1th 1 8 ~ ~

was, on an average, 64,500 tons annuallr, .but m

1892

it

was only 43,000 tons, and was

d e c l i n ~ g .

The Terek flows from the Kazbeck Mountam as a.

torrent till

it

emerges on the plain of Vladikavkas

at a height of 2370 ft. above the s e ~

It.

the?

flows rapid ly down to the sandy pla1n 1n wh1ch It

continues its winding, changing course to the

~ w

of Kisliar, and falls into the Caspian Sea 70

m 1 ~ e s

beyond

by

numerous branches

through

a Wlde

delta, which begins just below

K i s l ~ a r : n

the .last

100 miles of its course above KIShar, the

nver

flows through a sandy

~ n d

marshy plain, which it

frequently inundates very extensively. pre

serve its course training walls have been built for

many miles on both banks aboYe Kisliar. The

flow of

the

river just above this town is n?rmall.Y

18,900 cu hie f eet per se?ond..

T h ~

delta

I t s ~ l f

very fertile,

but

very httle mhab1ted. K1shar IS

the

port

from which considerable s

hipments of

Caucasian wine are made to

Astrakhan

and other

places.

The

navigation of the river is, otherwise,

wholly undeveloped.

The

R i1:er K ottra riees

in

a boggy depression of

the

mountains between the towns

of Kars and

Ardagan on

the

southern slQpe of

the

Caucasus ;

The returns on which

the

se r e ~ u l t s

are

based are it is 770 miles lo

ng and

flows in to

the

Caspian Sea

probably not very reliable;

but

no correction that by two principal branches ; the

left

one r

et

ains

the

may be necessary for accuracy can al

ter

the

fact name of Koura,

and

the

right

one

is

ca

lled

that

in

total length of waterways, mean length of Akousha, splits

in t

o many branches, and falls

into

trips, and annual traffic

in

ton-miles, Russia ex- the bay of Kisil-Agatch. The delta

thus

formed

ceeds all the ot

her

countr ies

put

together. There is about 30 miles long, of very irregular shape

can be no

doubt

about th e vast importance to and very broad.

The

left branch is iihe principal

Ru

ssia of her waterways. one,

and

is 1225 ft. broad ; the

right

branch is

We now come to the

Th

i1d Gro

?t

p the

R i e s of 740 ft. broad at the beginning of the delta.

the

Oa ltcasus, an d

the C

r s

pian Sea. Enormous quantities of deposit

are

brought down

The

Omtcwms

is a range of very lofty mountains, by the river, causing the delta to advance

very

about 750 miles long, extending from the Taman much into the sea . AB far as Tifiis-285 miles from

peninsula- between the Black Sea and th e Sea of the source, and about 2000 ft. above the

Caspian

Asov at its north-west

extr

emity, to the Apsheron the current is exceedingly strong (the fall for some

peninsula at Bakou on the Caspian Sea at its south- distance above Tiflis being over 13ft. per mile),

east end. About 200 miles of the central portion and nothing but timber can be floated down. The

is covered with perpetual snow, yialdiRg a continual mean fall from Tifiis to the sea is 4 ft. 4-f in.

per

supply of water for the rivers. The northern slope mile. For 285 miles below Tiflis, to a place called

descends Yery steeply to the great plains of south- Zardob, there is no traffic whatever, on account of

east H.ussia, and the southern slope descends less the number of snags, stony cills, and fishery weirs.

steeply to the plains of Mingrelia, with one branch Only from Zardob to the mouth-200 miles- is

ju

tting out

to

the

s

outh

towards

Erivan and Kars.

navigation carried

on unin

te

rruptedly,

and

all

the

In consequence of this formation the rivers all year round. The vessels used are 21 ft. to

49ft.

begin as mountain torrents and rapidly change to long, and 5 ft. to 9ft. broad, carrying 8 to 40 tons

streams with a very moderate and often sluggish on a draught which must n

ot

exceed 4 ft. There is

current, winding their way through sandy plains, no steam naviga tion.

whose navigation is much obstructed by sandbanks,

The

Rion is a short river, but the largest which

shallows, and snags. The quantity of water brought falls in to t he Black Sea on

the

southern slope of

down by

the

ri\ers is very great on

the

whole, but the Caucasas. I t rises in the snow

mountain

s

varies very much and

very

rapidly in accordance between Elbruz and Kazbeck and enters

the

Black

with the

rainfall in the mountains, because

the

Sea

at

Poti. I t tumbles down

very

rapidly t o the

mountains

are

generally

barren and

do not store

town

of Koutais

throu

gh narrow defiles. At that

much water.

Hence

floods

and

scarcity of

water

point-66 miles from its

mouth-it

emerges

into

a

lternate

very often. Most of the rivers

are

short, the open plain of lower Mingrelia,

and

from there

and

some of them on the

northern

slope are lost

in to

its mouth it is navigable

by

small craft. At

the sandy plain

and

do not reach

any

other

ri

ver

Koutais its

greatest width is 210

ft., and

smallest

or

the sea. 126 ft. ; t

he

mean surface Yelocity there

is

7 ft.

From what has been said in these articles,

it

is very clear that the prese

nt

condition of the

waterways of Russia is

not satisfactory. After

the initiation of various works

by Peter the

Great,

and the impetus given

by

his ene rgy,

there

was

not sufficient force to keep t hings going,

and after

a time everything was neglected.

In

this century

the question of water communications was again

taken up,

and

considered

in

a half-hearted way,

from time to time. But nothing was done syste

matically till the Ministry of Ways of Communi

cat.ion decided

to

undertake a study of

the

water

ways in 1875. Up

to

that time there were no

proper surveys of

the river

s

and

waterways in

existence. These were

then

undertaken , and in

formation was thus gradually acquired

to

guide

the Government engineers

in

dealing with this

important question.

Th

e effect of this was that

the Administration gradua1ly awakened to the

importance of the problems to be dealt with, and

systematic work was at l

ast

commenced from 1880

to 1885.

I t

was thought, when railways were first

started, that they would supersede waterways; for

some years past now this has been recognised as a

great mistake. Both means of communication are

wanted in order to develop the resources of the

country and meet the requirements of

tr

ade- they

mutually assist each other's development. Mr.

Horschelman says nearly all the large Russian

rivers lend themselves admirably to t he formation

of an extensive network of waterways by connect

ing their upper parts with canals. Often the sources

of the rivers

are

separated

by

inconsiderable eleva

tions of small extent. Most of t he large rivers have

not much fall and a considerable body of water,

conditions particularly favourable for navigation

against stream. Very few rivers present any great

As waterways these rivers are very unimpor tant.

per

second,

and

at high water-when

the water

Only four will be mentioned

here-the Kouban

rises 10 ft.

to

14f

t.,

it is 13 ft. per second.

In

and Terek on the n

orthern

slope,

and the Koura

the last 30 miles it flows

in

a very winding course

and Rion on the southern slope; and of these a between low,

but

steep, banks,

through

a splendid

very brief notice will suffice. forest, the trees of which constantly fall

into the river

The

K 1tbatn

flows from several of

the

glaciers of and greatly obstruct the navigation. The current

Elbru

z and has a

num

ber of tributaries on the

her

e varies from 1ft.

to 12ft .

per

se

cond. The

river

left side- all more or less mountain torrents. I t is enters the Black Sea

in

two branches, the northern

550 miles long a

nd

flows

by

num erous branches one takes one- third of the wholestream,

and

is 490ft.

through its delta into the Sea of Asov at Temriouk, to 630ft. broad,

and

8ft. to 20ft. deep .

It

is the

one

at the base of the Taman peninsula.

Th

is penin- principally used, and the new port of Poti, with a

sula, with its numerous lakes

and stre

amlets, is the depth of water of 20 ft. to 25 ft.,

has been

con

delta of the Kouban. One branch, called the structed at its mouth. Two-thirds of the stream

Pr

otock. goes off on the left side to the Black Sea. tlows

by

the so

uthern

branch, on which is the old

The river is navigable by small steamers for 150 Turkish fortress

and

the t own of

Poti.

The river

miles to the town of Ekaterinodar, 56 ft. above the brings down an enormous

quantity

of deposit,

sea. At t he normal height of the river the volume which continua

lly

extends the bar and the whol&

flowing past Ekaterinodar is 18,700 cubic feet

per

delta seawards. In the last 30 miles or more

it

is

second. Above the River Protock this falls to fully navigable by small steamers, and a good

16,300 cubic

fe

et . After the Protock has left it, many of these run there, with 3ft . to 4ft . draught

the flow is 8200 cub:c feet per second, whilst t he of water. The ordinary craft used for carrying

Protock carries off 7900 cubic feet per second, goods as far as Koutais are small, flat-bottomed

which dwindles down to 2700 cubic feet at its mouth boats, carrying 6 to 10 tons of cargo on 2 ft. to

showing how the watet gets absorbed by the

n u m e ~

2 ft. draught of water.

rous small branches and lakes which are here formed. Th e

Ca sp

ian

Sea.

'Vith the exception of its

Theriver is navigated by flat-bottomed decked vessels southernmost end, which is in Persia, it is sur-

70 ft: to 105 ft. long by 12 ft. to 16 ft. broad, rounded by Russia, and

it

may,

the

refore, fairly

carrymg 80 to 160 tons on 5 ft. 10 in. to 7 ft. be considered a Russian inland sea. This short.

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74

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

[J

AN.

I

9,

I900.

NEW

PROMENADE

NORTH

SHORE BLACKPOOL.

1IR. .J.

\VOLSTENHOLME, BOROUGH

ENGINEER.

.

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9

SECTION ON

LINE

A.A .

EU\'ATION

OFSU WALL

SHEWIHC STEPS.

r

f . S I ~ D I

notice is derived mainly from a report by Mr . V.

E. Timonov in 1895

on the

format ion of

an

im

proved channel for the mouth of the Volga.

The

Caspian

Sea extends about

700 miles

fr

om

north to south, and has an average breadth of over

200 miles;

its

area is160,000 square miles. The water

level is continually varying,

but there

a

re no data

as

yet

to determine whether it is gradually falling,

as

is common

ly

supposed, or not.

The mean

s

ur

face level is 85 ft. below that of

the

Black Sea. It

receives the following rivers : Emba Oural, Volga,

Kouma Terek Koura Sefid

Rood

and Attrek

besides

sundry

smaller ones ;

and

has no outlet.

I t consists of

two parts

the characteristics of which

are

very different ; o

ne to the

south of a line drawn

from Chechen

Island at the

mouth of

the Terek

to

Toub-Karaga.n point on

the

opposite eastern

shore,

and the other to the north

of

this

line (see

the general map of Russia).* Along

the

line of

separation

the depth

does not exceed 78 ft. any

where,

an

d increases southwards till, at 50 miles'

distance, it has attained 600

ft.

while north

wards

it

continues fairly uniform for some distance

and then

diminishes more or less rapidly.

The southern part has all the characte

rist

ics of a

sea,

and the

water is clear, and contains from 0.01

to 0.014 parts of salt. The greater part of the

west

side is bounded by

the

Caucasus Mountains,

the

south

side

by the Persian

Mountains

and the

east

side partly by low ground and opposite Bakou by

the Kouba Da.g

range of hills.

I t

consists of

two basins, separated by a ridge on the bottom,

connecting

the

spur of

the

Caucasus

at the

Apsheron peninsula, near Bakou, with a

spur

of the

Kouba

Dag, near Krasnovodsk, on

the

east side. The depth on this ridge does not exceed

650 ft. anywhere.

The

greatest depth in

the

northern

basin

is 2950 ft.

nearly

due east of the

town of

Derbent

;

and the

greatest depth in

the

southern

basin

is 3610 ft.

nearly

east of t he

town

of Lenkoran.

The

northern part-

north

of

the

line Checken-Toub-Karagan-is

mo

re

like a

hu

ge

estuary

than

a. sea. I t receives the rivers Terek

Kouma., Volga, Oural,

and

Emba whose deltas are

so extensive that they nearly join, and which bring

down

an

enormous amount of deposit which is

gradually silting up this part of

the

Caspian. Corn-

* ee G I N E E R I ~ G

Jannary

13th, 1899, page 38.

paring the present depths

with

those of sixty years

ago, it appears that

the rate

of silting up is 3 in. to

9 in. a year. The depth in the north-east corner

eastwards from midway

be

tween

the mouths

of

the

Volga and Oural, does not exceed 36

ft.

and the

depth in

th

e remaining part for about 100 miles

from t

he

months of

the

Volga, does

not

ex

ceed 40 ft. The whole of

the

northern part of

the Ca

spian is surrounded by low ground , steppes

and salt marshes. Towards

the

Sea of Asov, the

ground rises a little more, and

the

lowest point on

the rising ground

between

the two seas is in the

valley of

the

RiYer Manitch, 118 ft . above the

Caspian, and 33 ft. above the Black Sea.. The idea

of forming water communication along this line,

from the Cas

pian

to the Don or Sea of Asov, has

frequently been entertained ; but though there

are

no difficulties

in the

way of carrying

out

such

a scheme, the expense has been considered pro

hibitive.

The

water is generally fre h for some 12

to 13 miles from

the

mouths of

the

Volga ; then it

generally becomes brackish, till it contains, gene

rally, 0.0075

parts

of

salt;

it

is alwa

ys more or

less muddy- never clear. A

great

pa1 t of it

freezes over early in December, a

nd

opens about

the

middle of l\1:arch. There are many shoals and

sandbanks all round this northern part especia11y

off

the

mouths of

the

river

s ;

and there

are

no har

bours. The anchorage

is

good everywhere,

and

vessels

have always to anchor a long way from shore.

But

as

the

shore

is everywhere very shallow, and the

water level varies very much with

the

wind, con

stant

watchfulness is necessa

ry

when a vessel is

at

anchor, lest she should be left stranded by the

falling water. This applies

to

all rivers. Th

ere

is

deeper water and safe anchorage, where vessels can

take

refuge,

und

er shelter of the island of K oulali,

or of

the

Toub-Ka.ragan point or of

the

island of

Chechen.

The prevailing winds are N. \V. and S. E. ; they

are

apt

to be strong, and

set up

a boisterous sea

on the southern part. There are a good many

steamers running

on

the

Caspian.

The

principal

route is from Astrakhan to Petrovsk, Derbent

Bakou, Lenkoran Enseli (for Resht), 1\:Ieshedesser,

and A

st

rabad, the last three towns being in P ersia.

Petrov

sk is the ttlrminus of the railway from

Rostov and Yladikavkas; and Bakou is the

terminus of the railway from

Poti

and Tiflis.

Steamers

also run from Astrakhan to Gouriev, at

th

e mouth of the Oural,

and

to

Fort

Alexa.ndrovsk,

near Toub-Ka.ra.gan; also from Petrovsk to F ort

Alexandrovsk

and

Gouriev ; also from Bakou to

Krasnovodsk

and

Ouzoun-Ada, termini of the

Sa.markand Railway ; also from A.stra.bad to

Chikishliar,

at the

mouth of

th

e

Attrek

and on to

Krasnovodsk. A considerable portion of the trade

is also carrie d on

by

small sailing

Yesse

ls. Most of

the vessels on the Caspian have draughts of water

not

exceeding 9 ft., as

there

is

not

more than

9

ft.

depth in any of the harbours. But there are a few

steamers with greater draught up to

14ft.

; these

mu

st load or unload, mainly, in the roadsteads.

The Vo1ga forms t he main channel for the trade

of the Caspian with Bokhara., KhiYa. and Persia,

as well as with

the

greater part of

the

Caucasus ;

the trade

of Ast

rakhan

will, therefore, represent

the greater part of

the

trade of t he Caspian. The

last return to hand is for 1890, as follo

ws

:

From A strcthhan into the Caspi(m .

2211 steamers carried . .. 1,137,345 tons

2301

sailing vessels

carried

638,288 ,

Total...

4512

ves els carried

. . 1,775,633 ,

A 1rivd

in

A st

rakh

an fro

m

the

p i a n

2201

steamers carrying...

1,137,138

tons

2257 sailing vessels

carry-

ing

. .. .. . 632,384 ,

Total...

4458 ve

els carrying

...

1,769,522 ,

The export of

petr

oleum and i

ts

products goes

by Astrakhan and up th e Vo1ga, as well as over the

Caucasus to Ba.toum by rail.

T

o lJc

n u c d

HORE M P R O V ~

AT

BLACKPOOL.

ANYONE

who has been at Blackpool during

the

la

st

five-and-twenty years will remember

that at

the north e

nd

is Claremont Park

a

district en

closed

within

gates

and

fences,

through

which

nothing

that

wa s objectionable ha ever been

allowed to intrude.

The

dis

trict

was, we under

3ta

nd , owned privately, and was not under the juris

diction of

the

Blackpool Corporation to

the

same

extent as are

the

other streets and roads.

Along

with

the

privileges which

re

sulted from this state of

7/23/2019 Engineering Vol 69 1900-01-19

3/36

there was always the responsibility of main

the

foreshore, which

h e ~ e

c o n s i ~ t s of a soft

liff, \'ery little capable of w1thstand1ng

the

on

laught

s of

the sea..

As e Y e r y ~ n e kuows,

the

~ a v e

Blackpool are very much u earnest at times,

course of

years

they carrted

w ~ y

~ r g e por

of the foreshore. The respons1b1hty. of r e

these

attacks appears to

have been

1n the

s of a

number of

individuals, each of whom

u\d

his own length cf cliff to attend to, with the

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

special

trains

in t

o the town in a

day, in

addition

to

the

ordinary

service.

1 hese

figures reveal t ~ e

characteristics of the place, and show that 1ts

success has

been

aained

by studying

the tastes

of

it

s visitors. T h ~ private inhabitants are full

of

enterprise,

and a r ~

a? ly

seconded

by the

Council who ta.ke lar () e v1ews as to the future

of

the town and as

0

to the

sec urity it

offers

for

the w i s ~ expendit

ur

e of . o n ~ y in a.dding

to i t ~

attractione.

In

connect10n w1th the

works

FIG

2. VIEW BEFOltE

o ~ t ~ I E N E M E N T Ol" W o

RK

S ALONG U l,PER PROMENADE FROM

\VARLEY-RAD, LOOKING

NORTH.

Fw

3.

VIEW

BEFORE

CoMMENCEMENT OF WoRKS, LOOKING SouTH FRortr THE GLYNN SLADE.

that the sea could generally find a weak

at w

hi

eh

to make an inroad,

a

nd get be

the better-contrived

defences. Eventually

ssity

obliged that

the

old

meth

o

ds should

be

eplaced

by

concurrent action founded

as

a com

The Corporation of Blackpool

the

Park

and obt3ine

d an .Act of

Parliament

the

constructi

on of

the

nece

s

sary

works. Ad

s taken

of the

occasion

to add

further

to

this enterprising watering-place, and

afford

additional

space

f01 its visitors.

Blackpool is a larg e

town.

In 1891

it

had a

re

si

population of 43,000, and sleeping accommo

250,000. In additio

n,

the places of amuse

can

accommodate 150

,000

veople under s

helter,

the

railways

have been

known

to

run

11

3

we

are considering, they

have

not

been con

tent merely

to build

a

sea wall which

sho

uld

secure

the cliff, but have also availed themselves of the

opportunity to construct

a double

promenade

offer

ing space for

thousands

to enjoy themse

lves in a

part

of the town which

is

relatively

quiet.

Th

e great

bulk

of the people

who

go

to Blackp

ool are

quite

fr ee

from

t

he

reproach of

taking their

pleasures sadly

;

they come rather

to

work off their energy than to

recup

erate it. But there

are,

of course, l

arge

num

bers who are

not

in this happy

pos

ition,

and

who

find their

delight

in quiet

enjoyment.

Th e n or th

shore has al

ways

been appreciated by such, and

they will now

find its

attractions

incre

ased.

The plan, Fig. 1, on page 74, shows the locu.lity of

the

new

work

::; It takes in all

north of

Bailey s

7

:

H

ote

l

this

is but a

sm all portion of B l a c k ~ o o l

which

~ x t e two miles to the

south,

and

aspires

extern

a

lly to overlap St. Anne s

and

Lytham

on

Ribhle es tuary. 'l'he for

mer

state of the sh

ore

JS

shown by Figs. and 3, . annexed.. In

the

u p e ~

view the sho

re

1s seen m the neig hb o

urh

ood o

Warley-road, the obse rver Ioo

king

north.. In t h ~

lower view

there are dep1cted some

ru m

.ed

de

fe

nc

es of an

earlier date

; the o b s e r v ~ r lS here

lookino

south

fr

om Glynn Slade, wlu

ch

IS

marked

on t h : extreme

left

of Fi g. 1, where the shore

suddenly curve

s.

The

present

appearance

of

the

shore can be lea rned from the section, Fig. 4, on

the

opposi

te page,

and the

four views

o l

p a ~ e

90.

The Queen 's

Drive

(Fig. 4)

has

been ID

existence

many year

s,

and

is a

prolon

gat

ion of th

e

B l a ~ k -

pool

Promenade.

I t

stood

at the top of _the diff

which was

of the irregular contour

shown m d otted

lines,

and is now the

upp

ermos t of t h ~ e e roa:ds,

of

which

the lower is a

footpath

15

ft.

w1de (F1g.

12

,

page 90), and the middle a

m a ~ n i f i c e n t promenade

havin Y

a

carriage way 5

ft . w1de, and a

footpath

10

f t ~ wide

(Fig.

11).

Between

the promen.ade

and

the Q

ueen

's

Driv

e is a

grass

s

lope

26ft. w1de.

A large amount of earth filling has

been

necessary

to create the new

promen

ades, and as this ap

proaches more

nearly

to the

sea

than did the old

cliff

it has had to

be s

trongly protected. The toe

of the slope h

as been

fi lled

with puddled

clay,

covered with granite

pi t

ching laid at an . angle of

2

to

1

This is

covered

with water

at

h1gh-wate1,

spring tides. Behind

the

pitching

is

a sea wall of

cement

concrete, carried down to the

beach

level,

~ : m d capped

with

moulded cement blocks. . S o ~ e of

the

blocks

u

se

d in this wall

are

shown 1n F1gs. 7

and 8, page 74. The thickness of the wall at the

bott om s 7 ft. 6

in.,

and

it

s

height

26

ft.

Above the

lower

promenade

comes a s.eco

nd

pi tc

hed o p ~ ,

over

which

the

spraybreaks

at t1mes. The toe of

h ~ s

slope

is formed of moulded

concret

e blocks of large size,

and

at

its upper

end is a r ow of 6-in. la rch piles 5

ft.

apart, to preserve

the

angle between

the

slope and

the footpath (Fig. 11). At se

veral points

there

are

fliah ts of steps (F igs. 5 and 6) giving a

ccess to the

b e ~ c h fr om the lower

promenade (Fig.

'9) . The

extreme north en

d

of

the

new work

s

bend

s

inwards

(Figs. 1 and 10), and here is a sl

ade. Beyond are

the

clay cliffs which arc a feature of this coast

The amount of earth req uired for filling

up

was

245,000

cubic

yards, and

was

obtained within

a

mile of the works.

Further,

27,000

cubic

yards of

cement concrete, and 25,000 tons of granite

and

Yorkshire sto

ne were used in the construction.

Th

e works we re commenced in August, 1895, and

were completed last

year

at a cost of 125,

OOOl

The whole

work

has been designed and superin

tended by

l\1r. J. Wols tenholme, C. E., the bo

rough

engine er, and has been ably carried

out

by Mr. A.

Williaru

son, A. M. In

st . C. E ., as re

si

dent engineer,

to whom we are in deb ted for the originals of our

illustrations.

Mr.

R.

Finnegan, of

N orchampton,

was the

contractor, and

was

represented by Mr. F. J.

Keyte. The work

has been

full

of

difficulties,

but

,these

have

been successfully met, and a very impor

tant addition

n

as been

made to the

attractions of

the

most

popular

wd.tering place on the north -west coast.

THE STANDARDISATION OF SCREW

THRE

..c

\DS.

N EAltLY sixty years

ago,

when \Vhitworth firs t

commenced

the elabora

tion of

a standard

screw

t

hr

ead, the

importance

of such a movement was

promptly recognised

in th is

country,

and

the system

gradually improved

until 1861, by which time it

was

widely adopted. Then,

and

probably

until

quite recently,

no

doubt could

exist

in

the mind

of the average British en gineering manufacturer

as

t o the

superiority of

the

Whitworth system above

all

others that could be devised, or tha t it could fail

to

become the universal

standard. That

its

impor

tance

was widely recognised within a few years

of

its

introduction, was

s

hown by the fact

of its

general

adoption

in

Germany,

and

that to some

extent it

held

its

own in

the United

States against the Sellers

t hr

ead introduced

a few

year

s later.

In

1850 this

country

h

eld

a

practical

mo

nopoly

in

the export

of

machinery,

so that

the

adoption of

a standard

thread for that portion of its trade, was a

matt

er

of convenience

and n

ot of

n

ecessity

;

it

is

worth

noting, however, t hat

some manufacturers

in

the

early days preferred us

ing

their own

threads

both

for

home and foreign orders, so that

pur

chasers might be more bound to them. Probably

the

same narrow-minded

spirit

is

not

yet extinct.

7/23/2019 Engineering Vol 69 1900-01-19

4/36

Founded

on the inch as a unit, the Vhitwor th

st andard held its own against metrical innovations,

by

reason of the fact

that

we then

enjoyed

an over

whelming

st

rength as engineers.

Iu

t he Uni ted

States the , ellers thread found immediate favour,

partly because, un t il

very

recently, there was no

question of exporting machin ery.

In Germany

: : : > w i ~ z e r l a n d

and to a

les3

extent in France, the

Whttworth standard took firm hold, desp ite

more

or less futile effo

rts

to metrici

se

the

in

co

nvenient

unit.

Th

e last few years have, however, witnessed great

changes.

The

metric

syste

m is recogni

sed

as

that

which mu

st be

universally ad

opte

d, sooner

or

later;

we

no

longer hold the lead so securely

that

we can

force f

eet and

inches on o

ur

foreign customers, a

nd

still

less force the acceptance of o

ur uni

ts

on

ma

nu

facturing co

un

tries that only recognise the more

convenient

metre an

d its subdivisions. I t is indeed

clear now th

at

while Sir Joseph Vhitworth

must

always be regarded as

the

origin

ator

of a

standard

thread, and

while

any

fu t

ure

syst em

must

be based

on what he gave to the world, a

uni-v

ersal system

if it is ever decided o

n, must

be whol1y met ric,

a

nd

the manufa

ctur

ers of thid co

untry,

a

nd

for

the matter of that, of the U nited

States

also, will

be

obliged

to adopt it,

unless

they

prefer to reta.in

excellent standards, based

on what

may in

tim

e

become

an

obsolete uni t of measurement.

That consummation, howeve

r,

is for

the futur

e;

the

e

ff

orts

commenced

60

yeard ago,

and

conti

nued

in

termittently

ever since,

to

establish a

st a

nda

rd

thread

for universal adoption, have not been

successful,

and

have indeed resulted in some con

fusion. Of the advantages that would

attend the

existence of one

ty

pe of thread for every dimen

sion of screw

or

bolt, there is no need to insist,

t hough there do exist applications where uniformity

is of li ttle importance, or even of positive detri

me

nt. Thu

s a

great

railway company, being wholly

se

lf.contained, ruay manufa

ctur

e its own types with

out inconvenience, and, in the case of railways that

may possibly serve the hostile

pu

rp oses of an

invasion, with pos itive advantage. Again, for

military works, special th reads, wh

et

her

for t he

blocks of guns, for

the

co

nn

ections of mountings

a

nd

so for th, possess evident advantages. But for

the general manufacturer a

nd

purchaser all the

wo

rld

over, ~ t 1 . n d a r d i of screw threads would

possass enor mous usefulness. '

Ve

shall see

later

on, that for minute purposes, such as watch-makin g,

the

Thury

system has been widely adopteJ; but

for l arge work so much diversity of opinion exists,

th 1t

the

que

st

ion is be

set

with infinite difficulty.

On one po1nt alone is there a general (though

not

unanimous) concensus of opinion, that if a univer

s ~ l sydtem should ever be adopted, it will be based

on

the

metrical unit. I t will be long, however,

before such a res

ult

is obtained.

ln France

a

standard

t

hr

ead is recognised, yet

the

re are about

50

different types still in use ; in

th i

s country, the

Whitworth , a

nd

in t he

Un

ited States,

the

Sellers,

threads, will long cont inue to he

the

rec

og

nised

stan

da

rd

s. n Germany it is probable that the

Whitwort.h system will

st

ill remain largely in use,

~ n d

be gradually replaced by a modification of the

French lnda.rd ; while Switzerland will mo

st

likely

adopt

the

l

atter, after

c e r t ~ i modification s to be

discussed

at

t he

next International

Screw

Th rea

d

Congress, have been formulated. Apparently for

certain classes of fine work,

the Thury

thread, now

widely adopted, will approximate most closely to

a univers1.l standard for many years to come.

The pr

oposal for a general un ification of screw

threads

app

ears to be due to the engineer Delisle,

of C ~ r l s r u h e who in

1873

showed, at the Vienna

E1hibition, a series of screws, taps, and dies

a

cco

rding to his system. Messrs. Ducommun and

Steinlen, of Mulhouse, who had been working in

the

m

atter

w

ith

Delisle, induced t he Munich i

s-

trict

Society of Ge

rm

an ~ n g i n e e r s to take action,

and

in

1

874

they sent

out. no less

than 2000

cir

culars to European managers, asking their views

on

the

possibility

and

usefulness of substituting

a me t rical, for t he

Whitw

or th, system.

The re

s

ult

of this firdt effort was

not

encouraging ; only

365

replies were received,

and

of these

316

were from

makers

using

th

e

Whitw

o

rth

thread,

and

who pro

posed to retain it ;

the

remaining

49

employed

their

own modificat ions of the same system. In

1877,

the Carlsruhe Eogineer

s

Society brought the

question before a general meeting of the Society

of German Engine

er

s, who dismissed it

rather

abruptly ;

but

the following

ye3:r

t heir efforts. met

with more s u c ~ e s s

and

a committee was appo

mted

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

to

inquire

in

to it.

This may

be regarded as the

commencement

of the

In

ternational Screw 1.'hread

Congress, which

h ~ s

conferr

ed on

several occasions.

The

l

ast

meeting of

this

body, held

at Zu

rich

in

1898,

was of considerable importance, because it

was enabled to recomm

end

for general adoption

with certa in modifications,

the

Sa.uvage

standard,

that

during

the last few years has been

lar

gely

adopted in

Franc

e. These modifications were

carefully discussed

at

t

he

m

ee t

ing of the Co ngress

referred

to

above,

and

conclusions were arrived at

which will be s

ubmitted

to the

third

me

et

ing of

the In te r

na

t ional Congress for Railway Unification,

to be held at

Berne

shortly.

One of the

Italian repr

esentatives

at

t he Zurich

meeting above referred t

o,

was Signor A. Galassini,

mem

her

of t he

Turin

Society of Engineers

and

Architects ; this gentleman has presented

to

his

Society so complete and in teresting an accoun t of

the

proceedings of

the

Congress, a

nd

also of

the

histo ry of t he subject, that we have not hesitated

to summ

ar

ise

the

information

he

has collected,

supplementing it here a

nd there

by d

ata

from other

sources. We regret that we are compelled to

abridge Signor Gala.ssini's review.

In relating

the

history of screw

thread stand

ards,

the au thor of

the

repor t dwells at considerable

len

gt

h on th e successful efforts of Jose

ph

Whit

wor th, continued through

20

years, and he then

tu rns to t he United States, where no standard had

existed,

al t

hough t

he Whitworth

sys

tem

was in use

by

1864.

It was on April

3

1,

1864,

that W i l l i ~ m

Sellers read a paper before the

Franklin

Institute,

pointing out the evil resul ts a

ri

sing from the

absence of a recognised system,

ur

ging defects in

the \Vhitworth standard, and recommending a plan

of his O\Vn for general adoption.

The Franklin

Institute, at that time a more influential body t han

it is at present, appointed a committee to consider

Mr. Sellers' proposition, and t his committee

having reported favourably, t he Institute set its

seal of approval on t he Sellers

sta

ndard, and re

commended

it

strongly for adoption by manufac

turers and Government construc t ion d

epart

ments.

0 wing to this recommendation,

the

new system

wa s rapidly adopted throughout the United States,

an

d in

1868

it was officially endorsed by t he Govern

ment ; thus in a few years it became the

sta

ndard

for the whole of North America.

Th

e Sellerd, like

the

\Vhitw o

rth,

system, however, being based

on

the English

un

it of measurement, it was a natural

consequence that in those countries employing the

metric unit (although in Germany the Whitworth

system was largely adopted) other standards bac;ed

on the subdivision of

the

metre should be evolved,

so soon as t he advantage of a fixed type was de

monstrated. I t was also a natural consequence

that, as no means existed for arriving at a com

mon under

sta

nding, a large number of so-called

standards- the a

ut h

or of each of which naturally

claimed preeminence for his creation -w ere pro

duced in a very short time. So that t ile laudable

desire of constructors to arrive at one common

metrical system for standardisation has defeated

its object, and rendered reali

sa t

ion m ore a nd more

di

fficu l t.

Thus at the present time mo

st

rai lway companies

on

the

Co

ntinent

nse their own special systems of

screws

and

screw t

hr

eads,

and

often

the

same

co mpany employs two

or

more different types.

The same remark applies to Government Arsenals

and Navy Yards ; while many private engineering

establishments have created

their

own metrical

screw th read, without any

attempt

to arrive at a.

cren

era

l

und

erstanding, or due consideration of

the

inconvenience

and

con fu sion arising fl'om a multi

plicity of t

hr

eads. To these numerous types in

current use, have to be added others, elaborated

theoretically,

and

recommended

by

scientists

and

by tec

hn

ical associations, with a view to ultimate

unification.

From the

fo regoing, some idea can be

arrived

at

of

the

confusion that exists

at

the

present time in many engineering wo

rks

on

the

Continent. In a

report

addressed to

the

Societe

d'Encouragement, and published in its Bulletin in

1891,

Mr.

E.

Sauvage described twenty-seven dif

ferent metrical systems of screw t hreads,

and

it is

probable

that

the

total

number

of existing systems

would exceed fifty. A selection of

the

more im

portant types of

th

ese will be given

later

.

I t

must

be rem em hered

that,

owing to

the

gr

eat

develop

ment

of mechanical industry, and

the

vast exten

sion

and internat

ional character of manufacturing

trade,

the

inconveniences understood by \Vhitworth

as

eady

as

1841,

and felt keen

ly by Se

llers in

1864,

[]

AN 9, 900.

ha

ve increased,

and

are increasing enormously

eve

ry year

.

Thu

s

it

is becoming more and more

desirable to

red

uce existing confusion, and

to

decide on some unification-a t least,

to

a large ex

tent-o

f those eleme n

tary

pieces that mu

st

always

be used in

the

construction of machinery, which,

if

exported, may become absolu tely useless because

of the impossibility of replacing broken screws or

bo

lts

made to some unknown gauge.

Among th e various systems, most of which are in

use to-day, t he follo

win

g have been selected for

desc

rip

t ion

and

illu

strat

ion, as having the greatest

practical

or

historical in terest. They are : .Arman

gaud

(1

860); Bodmer

(1861);

Poulot

(1862);

Sellers

(1864)

; the Prussian

State

Railways ; Thury

(1878);

French

Marine

(1875-85) ;

Northe rn of F rance and

Orleans Railways; We

ste

rn Railway of Frdnce;

Paris-Lyons and Mediterranean Rllilway; Eastern

Rail way of France ; ~ r d o ; Italian Artillery;

Delisle

(1873 ; Du

commun and Steinlen

(1873);

Kreutzberger

(1876) ; Reuleaux;

German Engi

neers' Association

(1888) ;

French Artillery

(1891

);

Sauvage

(1894) ;

Delisle

(1898) ;

Swis3 Committee

(1898) ; Turin

Engineers and Archi tects

(1898).

Although so many able engineers and theorists

have worked consecuti vely at

the

question of unifi

cation for the

pa

st sixty years,

the

y have, as

we

have seen, so far failed in achieving their object.

The difficulty does ~ o t lie in

the

elaboration of

a practically perfect system of scr

ew

thread

Whitworth, Sellers,

and

Sauvage have long since

demonstrated t ha t -b ut in obtaining its universal

adoption.

Th

e utmost th at can be hoped for

seems

to be

that Whitwo

rth

in Eogland, ~ e r s

in the United States, Sauvage for metrical countries,

and Thury for special work everywhere, may exist

as four recognised and universally employed stan

dards. Such a resul t \vould at least reduce

C)

m

plications and prevent confusion.

We have already seen that so long ago as

1874,

the

Munich District Society of Engineers com

menced taking active steps to shndardise a

thread; it was the year before that Delisle, of

Carlsruhe, opened a discussion on un ification by

publishing a memorandum, illust rated by a series

of m

et

rical taps and dies made by

th

e

firm

Ducommun and Steinlen, of Mulhouse. They

were shown with a se

ri

es of screws in t he Vien

na

Exhibition of

1873.

Som

ew

ha

t later, Delisle proposed

a

modified

system, which he aga.in altered in

1877.

This

action of Delisle aroused considerable in terest, and

his example was followed

by

many other

d e s i

who submitted their plan to the General Associa

tion of German E ngineers.

In

1888,

after o n ~

discussions and careful investigations, both theoreti

cal and practical, the same association definitely

approved, a

nd

recommended for general adoption,

Delisle s t ~ e c o sy

ste

m of

1877.

At the same

tim e, associations, representing the makers

instruments cle precision,

as well as electrical engi

neers, agreed

to

adopt the type chosen by the

German Engineers Association, adapting it fur

special convenience to minute diameters. The firm

of Reinecker, of Chemnitz, undertook to make

standard screws, together with any series of taps

and dies, which were to be after wa rds distributed

among manufacturers who were s

uffi

ciently inte

rested to

undertake

practical experiments.

As we have already seen, the invitation to the

German manufacturers did not meet with a favour

able response,

the

opinion held being

that

the

Whitworth thread was so generally employed th

at

any change to a metrical

stan

d

ard

would be

advisable, unless it were universally adopted. Thts

decision was certainly a

prudent

one, for if Germany

had adopted

th

e Delisle, and France o t ~ e r

system, unification would have becol?-1e, if

not

possible,

at

least a g

reat

deal more difficult. ?l h

ma.tely the Association of German Engine ers e c i ~ e

to bring the matter before a more c o m p r e h e ~ s v e

tribunal, and this was done at an Internatwnal

Congress held at Aix-la.-Chapelle in

1895.

The

Association had sought inform

at

ion from

engineering societies

in

England,

~

e r i c a

Ru

ssta,

France, Au

st r

ia-Hungary, I taly, Belgmm, and Swit

zerland, on the subject of establishing

an i o t ~ r ~ a -

t ional standard for screw threads, and ascertarmng

\V

hich

unit

of measurement shou

ld

be adopted for

such a system.

All the

so

cieties applied to were favourable to

the metric system as a basis for unification, except

the English and American, who did not feel the

necessity for

any

change.

Among others, the Unio11 of Swiss Ivlechanics

7/23/2019 Engineering Vol 69 1900-01-19

5/36

}AN

19, 1900.]

:

and Industri als took

up

the

mat

te r with so much

enthusiasm that the German Aesociation of En gi

ne

er

s willingly ceded the direction of the move

ment to

th

em. About

th

e same time, but inde

pe

nd

ently, impo

rtan

t

ch

anges were effec,ted

in

France where

th

e Whi tworth system had never

found adherents ; the Societe d 'En courage

ment

in

Paris, took action through the well-known

engineer Mr. E.

u v a ~ e ,

at

'Yh

ose instigation th e

Society formed a commiss

iOn

In 1891

to study

th e

best means for arriving at the much-desired unifica

tion for France. In April, 1893, t

he

Commission

presen ted to t ~ e So.ciety the result of its investiga

tions em bodied

In

a careful

report by

Mr.

S a u v ~

the

purpo

rt

of

this

report

wa

s to suggest

a new system of screw th read, which will be re

ferred to later.

" This recommendat ion was approved and

ad(lpted by many la rge works

th r

oughout France.

There were, however, important disse

nti

ents,

an

d,

in

co

nsequence, Mr. Sauvage decided, in 1894, to

modify his sy

ste

m ; in

this

more

recent

form it

has found very general favour, and now defini

tive

1y

established in

France under

the name of

lt,rench

ay

stem of unification (S. F. ).

t may be mentioned, to show how rapid1y the

S. F. system found in F r a ~ c ~ h a t it was

recognised by

the

l\:1mi

st

ry of Marine In 1895,

by

the Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterann ee at

tiavre and in

Marseilles in 1896,

hy

a numher of

railway companies,

and

by great private manu

facturers, such as those of Le Creusot,

the

Com

pao-nie

des Forges of

Chantilly

and

Commentry.

t h ~ Societe de Constructions de Batignolles, the

Sol iete des Generateurs N i c l a u s the Societe des

Bur

eaux et Chantiers de la Loire,

the

Compagnie

Generale des

m b i l e ~ Sautter,

Harle,

and

Co.,

Na.than Bloch,

and

others.

Unfortunately, it was not considered necessary to

submit the Sauvage standard, to th e consideration of

the International Committee before

thi

s very wide

adoption. Fo

r,

however efficient

and

well it may

be,

the

chances of

its

uni adoption would

have been increased, if it

had

received

the

slight

modifications that were recently suggested

at

th e

Zurich Congress, anrl which cannot be well intro

duced now that it has been recognised as the

Fr

e

nch

standard.

To be conti nued.

AMERICAN COMPETITION.

No. XVIII.*

By SPENC

ER

MILLER, Engineer,

New

Yot k.

BusiNESS depression in America, co

incident with

English prosperity, will invariably lead t? America

receiving the overflow orders from English shops.

This may be successful competition from

one

stand

point, but it is hardly to be considered in the

light

of a great achievement.

England

is now prosperous,

its shops are busy, and while

in individual

cases

American goods have affected the

English market,

the English have quickly adjusted themselves to

the situation, or found something else for their

workmen to do, so that

England

as a whole can

hardly be suffering from American competition ;

in

fact it is

quite

possible that

England

profits

by

American competition.

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

Th

e very hardships and climatic condi tions faced

by the New En gland se t

tler

s on

that

coast , whetted

th e inventive talent which pro

du

ced great resul ts.

Th e wo

rl

d is

pr

ogress

in

g, na tions are using

mac

hin

es and mechanical contrivances more

an

d

more ; railroads are being built, shops are being

constructed, mines and cana]s excavated, a

nd

farms

opened all over the world at so

rapid

a pace

that

the shops of E

ngland are

not cap

ab

le of t a

king

care

of th e extra volume of manufactu red goods re

q

uir

ed, a

nd

it

mu

st sha re with

Ameri

ca a large

amo

unt

of

the

orders for mac

hinery

and manu

factured goods which such rapid development

demands.

Wh erever necess

ity

" exists in a keen enough

degree, there will shortly follow an

in

vent ion of a

machine or

meth

od, which will overcome

th

e dif.

ficulty.

Thi

s is as true of En gla

nd

as it is of

America. The writer believes, however,

th a

t

"ambition " plays a greater

part

in America t han

it does in En gland. \.Yhen th e Americans see t heir

Pr

esidents rising

fr

om th e ra

nk

s of labour , it

pr

ope

rl

y s timulates th eir ambition.

American

tariff laws have been a powerful stim

u1

.ant for that ho

me

compe tition, which has resulted,

much to the surprise of many manufacturers, in

finding

th

emselves with their produ cts so rai sed

in

quality m lowered in price, that they

ar

e able to

co mpe

te

with forejgn trade. The competition be

tween manufacture1s

in

America has been v

ery

sharp, and

a

ba

t tle where

the

fittest only survive.

Another powerful factor in the success of

American sho

ps

is

the

excelle

nc

e

of

the United

States Pa tent Laws, which are

unqu

es

ti

onably far

in advance of

tho

se of

any

o her

nati

on. The

U

nit

ed S

ta t

es patent for a de vice

or

contrivance,

be

ars upon its face what it pretends to be. The

claims are only as broad as t

he

state of th e art

warrants.

I t is a singular fa

ct

, but nevert heless t rue, that

the Uni ted States Pa tent Office, in spit e of the fact

th at it gives

to its sub

jects pr

ote

ction as cheap as

any

ot her co

untry

, is at

the

same

time

a s

ourc

e of

profit to

the

Government.

I t so th oroughly examines each and every appli

cation filed, that an American inventor may learn

more facts

about

similar contrivances to his own

than would be possible in En g

]and by

the

payment

of five times the

cost

of an

American

pa

tent.

Th

e British might well learn from

th

e United

Stat

es how to amend her

pa t

ent laws.

If

England

would place in its

Patent

Office a corps of examiners

that would, as soon as a patent is tiled, notify the

in vent or of conflicting devices, the manufacturer,

before his capital is invested, would kn ow

in what

degree his prote

ction

was

av

ailable.

While

it is

true that an American

patent

is

fr

equently found

to be ineffective, a skilful p

atent

a w y e ~ ; who reads

the claims granted

by

the American Patent Office

can usually

predi

ct such cases.

Wherever

America has successfully compe

ted

with

England, it

ha

s doubtless

been

at the expense

of many a physical

constitution

wrecked, and many

a dollar lost. The American is reckless and a

spendthrift of his strength; he works t oo hard and

too long. A few become rich .

England

needs

no

suggestion as to how t

overcome American competition.

Whenever

the

" .necessity "

to

do so real1y presents itself, England

will

be

equal to

the

emergency. The "necessity "

which was America's,

th

en

be

co

mes

England

's.

-

No. XIX.

The English locomotive

builder

certainly does

not suffer from American competition,

when with

work to keep his shops

busy

for two years he finds

a few stray orders booked in America, and, again,

th

e railroad

buyin

g the American locomctive profits

by the

circumstance, because of

time

saved,

if for

By W.

J. KEEP, Sup

e

rintendent,

th e

no other reason. An American tool

shipp

ed to Michigan

St

ove Company, Detroit, Mich., U. S.A.

England may mean a loss

to

one English tool maker, IN stoves, as in any oth er

ar

ticle

pr

oduced from

but England profits

by

its use. With American iron or

st

eel in this count ry, it is a well-kn own

shops filled with American orders, there will be fact that no

country

in

the

world

produc

es articles

little disposition to compete for foreign trade. finished

to

such a high degree of excellence as those

"Neces

sity " coupled with "Ambit.ion "

h ~ s mad

e in the

United State

s.

Th

e

main

reason ~ o r

played an

important part

in the development of this is th at our goods are finished by high-priced

American industries. workm.en who tak.e a p r i d in turning out goods

The early English settlers immigrating to America t hat

w1ll

be a credit to their shops, and, further

found themselves on the coast of

New England

face more, the sys te

ms

cf inspection prevailino- in

to face with a rigorous climate and the "necessity " American factories are so rigid that

imp

erfe

ct

; ork

for self-preservation.

New England

so

settled

is ra re

ly

allowed to pass.

produces the largest percentage of successful in- O wi ng

to the rapid.

increase in population,

the

ventors. Had

th

e same people located on the coast home market for American stoves is enorn1ous and

of

Florida

ther

e would have

been no

s

uch

neces- effort

h a ~

been

made

to

demo

ns

t

ra t

e

to

sity, ,

the

climate would have dulled their ambition. ?uts1de A;meriCa th at th ey

ar

e su perior to all

ot

.hers

_ _ _ 1n ope

ration,

economy, and ap pearance.

ee

pages

347,

379,

413,

445, 479,

515, 549, 583

, 6

17.

O r d . e ~ s from a

?r

o

ad

come unsolicited, and

larg

e

713

,

743, 777,

and 813

of vol.

lxvui., and pages 12 quantities are sh1pped, showing

that

we can control

40

an

te. th e stove trade of many countries if we make

an

77

effort to do so. The explanation of this seems

to

be as follows : .

American stove-ma

king

is a .disti.nct

m

and of immense proport ions. DI vers tty of

chmat

c,

and the cold

wint

ers

in many parts

of th e country,

mak

e

th

e ques

ti

on of heating

applianc

es a ve

ry

impor tan t one.

Th

e

re

are mo

re

than 3 ~ 0 stove

foundries in t he Uni ted States, of whiCh t ~ e

Michigan Stove Co

mpany

is

the

larges

t. Thi

s

company

melt

s about 70 tons

of

iron

d a i l ~

a'?d

completes

about

350 stoves per

day

of th eir dif

ferent

varieti

es. The ag

gr

eg

ate

of

its

Year's ~ l e s

is over

1,500,000

dols., and is yearly 1ncreas1ng.

New s tyles of st oves are made each year, and old

styles

are

abandoned,

making

the annual expe

n

di ture for pa t terns from 3 0,000 dols . to 50,0.00 dols.

An

Ameri

can ma

nufactur

er does

not

wa1t

for

a

pattern

to

become

anti

qua ted,

bu

t

mak

es new

de

si

7/23/2019 Engineering Vol 69 1900-01-19

6/36

-

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

[JAN.

I

9, 1900.

12-IN.

COAST-DE:FENCE GUN

AND

SCH TEIDER-CANET MOUNT

ro

.

design. On an average

an

entirely new design

l

appears

about

every

three

years. 'l'he castings are

very smooth

and

p e r f e ~ t

on

account of the high

grade

of

the iron and t

he

s uperior quality of

mould

ing

sand used.

P opulcwityof merican Stoves o a c l

anadian

manufacturers

have

contracts with manufacturer.s

in the United

State

s to take duplicate

patterns

of

all of their new stoves as fast as completed, to be

used

as

patterns

to ma ke stoves from ; but

they

have

never

taken a s

ingle set of

patterns made in

any

ot

her country.

American

s

to

ves have been

used

as

patterns in

S

co tland

and

in

Germa.ny;

but

there has neYer been a case where a manufacturer

in the United States has used, or has imitated, a

stove or range made

in

a

ny other

country.

A

good

thing will be imitated.

Freight Ra tes. Under

the

present

prevailing con

ditions,

g o o d ~ can be fr e

ighted

about

as cheaply

from New

York,

to

almost any foreign market, as

they can from

Liverpool

or London. From our

lack

of

banking facilities, all

American

exporters

are obliged to pay the English bankers a

profit

of

from i to

1

per cent.

Still, this

charge does not

cut

much

figure

in

th e general resu lt. Owing t o

the proximity of

coal and iron fields, and the

vast

supply,

we

are

able to

produce goods made

from

iron

and

stee

l as

cheaply,

when

Y

ua.lity is taken

into acco

unt,

as any na

tion

on the face of the globe.

The

hi

gh wages we

pay

are off.

se

t

by

the pric

es at

which we can

purchase

our raw material,

and

th e

appliances which

we u

se

to

facili

tate pr

od

uct

.i

on.

'Vhen one

reflects th

at

we h(we been ab le to export

to

Great Britain anu

Eur

ope all

kind

s

of iron

and

steel

materials,

from pig iron

up

to axes

and door

locks,

it

will be seen th

at

our

po

sit ion in point of

cheap manufac turing is unsurpassed by

that

of any

other manufacturing nation, and

that

in normal

times we can beat the world in our prices, the

sa

me

e.s

we do in

the

qualit y

and

finish of o

ur

goods.

l \ I E S S R ~ . SCH NEIDER AND CO

1

WORKS AT

CREU,

'0

1.

o. LX

XV I.

12-IN. CoAST-DEFENCE GoN

AND

M

ouNT

ING.

THIS moun t ing is fitted on an elevator, and dis

appears in a pit for load ing

the

gun. The

di

s

appearing action cai?- only

ake

place when. t he gun

is run in, and a speCial dev tce has been destgned to

maintain

it

in that

posit

.ion a

fter

fi

ri n

g, a

nd

to

run

it

out

again

af ter

it ha

s been l

oaded

and

ra ised.

The mounting (Fi gs. 688 to 696 on t he

pr

esen t and

opposite

pages) cent.ral

with

inclii?-ed

slides

and hydrauhc recOil cyhoder, the return ta.kmg

place by

gravity.

The carriage is of cast steel,

and

is

made

to r r y

the

gun on i

ts

trunnions ; i t is fitted

with forged-steel rollers, which run on th e slide.

FIG. 688 .,

18

2

I

--

1

The slide

is

of cast

steel,

and consists

of

two

cheeks stayed in front and st rongly bol

ted

on the

bolster. Th e latter is of cast steel ; in its centre

is t he

pi ,

ot-housing,

and

underneath is a circular

r oller path. The

tran

som is also of cast

st e

el, pro

vided with a piv

ot lined

with

gun

metal,

and

is

made

with

a circular

racer

; the tran

so

m is bolted

on

th e elevator

platform. The series of

rollers

placed

be

tw

een t

he

bolst er and the

platform,

con

sis ts

of

24 forged- steel conical rollers, joined

toge

ther

hy two rings. The two recoil c

ylind

ers

and the cylinder for running in the gun are

cast

in

o

ne

piece with

t

he

m

ou

n

ti

ng ;

the

y

are

lin

ed

with gun metal. The two reco il pi

sto

n-rod s are

fixed to two shou

ld

ers

in the

rear of t he cheeks ;

the plunger for r

unning in

the g

un is jo in

ed

to

the

slide s

tay-pi

ece . The recoil

cylinders are

made

with

constant resistance. During recoil, the liquid

fl

ows from t

he

front to the rear of t he

pi

s ton

through two openings, which are partly blocked up

by two rods fixed to both end s of the cylinder.

The section of these rods

at

various parts of

their

length is so des igned that the free opening for the

flowing of t

he

liq

uid

varies with t he reco il speed,

the r

es

istance

to the

flow

beiog

const:

nt (Figs. 689

to 691). Th e volume

of

liquid,

which corresponds

to

that of th e rods, when driven

from

the c

ylinde

rs,

flows through two pi

pes

cmd a valve chest in th e

cylinder for running in the

gun,

and tills

exact

ly

the Yoid caused by t he withdrawal of

the

plunger.

Th

e valve ch

est

is arranged in such a way that the

li

quid

pa

ss

es

in

t he

runn

ing-

in

cyl ind

er

after

raising

a

va

lve, a

nd can

o

nly

return in the reco

il

cylinders

through a vent, t

he opening

of which is

regulated by a rod which is

worked

from a handle

placed on the side of t

he

mounting.

I f

t

he rod

is

driv

en h ome in the vent, t he gun rem

ains

run in,

and it

runs

out quicker t he more the rod is ra ised.

The ma n

c e

uvre for running in

the

gun is effected

by m

eans of a sma

ll pump

fitted to

the bol

ste

r

and

work ed by two handwheels on each side of

th e

mountin

g. l,he pump draws the liquid from

t he recoil cylinders

through a

conduit in the rods,

a

nd

delivers it in

the

running-in cylinder through

a

pass

a

ge in

t

he plunger

.

Ele

vation

ran

ges from

-

7

deg.

to

+

20

deg.

A

toothed sector fitted

to the gun

acts

in conj unction

with a

pinion

j o

ined

through a fri ction cone,

to

an

end less

sc

rew ; Bell

ev

iJle sp

rin

gs allow a certain

amount of play between the various parts to

coun teract violent shocks. Th e handwheel fur

giving

the

r

eq

uired

elev

at

i

on

do

not

follow

the

re coil, and can

act

whatever be the position of the

gun, by

working a

square

shaf t, on which slides

a

conical

pini

on

carried by the

mo

un

ting.

Th

e

gun

is trained

th roug

h a

pinion fitted

to the

bolste

r , a

nd

which engages a

circular

rack fixed to the t

ran

som.

The pinion is

worked by

a

se

t

of whe

els

and

an

endless screw, the latter

bein

g dr iven by two cranks

keyed on th e same shaft

and

placed near

the

han d

wheels for elevating

the

gun. Cramps in the front

a

nd rear

of the bolster clasp

a

ridge on the transom,

and

prev

ent

the raising of

the mounting.

THE Al\

IERI

CA

E C H N I C L

E

OCIETY O:B,

GINEEH,

.

(

BY ouR NE'\

Y

oRK

CoRRES

PONDENT.)

Co

ntinue

d from.

page 47.)

GASoLIN}; G

FOR

Bo iLER H

EATING.

THE

nex

t

morn

ing the session

opened with

a

paper ent i tled, "Expe

rim

ents on Using Gasoline

Gas for Boiler H eat ing," by H e

rm

an Poole. The

results

of

t

hi

s

arc give

n below :

The quantity of gasoline used was 35 gallons, costing

10

cents

per

gallon. Th is generat ed 1

000

l

b.

of steam at

60

lb. pressure, equivalent to 1211 l

b.

evaporated from,

and at, 212 deg.

I t

was intended to have a fll ll time

7/23/2019 Engineering Vol 69 1900-01-19

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,

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,

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7/23/2019 Engineering Vol 69 1900-01-19

8/36

8o

experiment of eight to ten houra, so a s to

obviate

some

of the

many uncertainties;

but

this was not ca

rr i

ed out

l.nd th e pa per is

present

ed

as

s

imply

a.

contribution

th

e s.

ubj

ec:t,

but

not

as

one settling s.ny important

quest1ons.

Sumrrutry

of

Data

a Yld

Results.

Time of trial . . ... ... About 2 houra

Grate surface . . . . 3ft. 8 in. by 5 ft. 5 in.

or 19.9 ft. of area.

Water-heating surface ... . ..

520

sq . ft.

Su perheating surface ... ...

111

,,

Total

. . . .

631

Ratio of

water heating

to grate

surface . . . . . .

Ratio of

minimum

draught area

to grate

surface . . 1

to

12

Steam pressure .. . . . . 60 lb.

T emperature of

air

. .

50

deg.

, boiler-room .. . 80

,,

26

to 1

,,

s

team

. . . .

292

.5 ,

, feed wa ter . None used

Temperature of waste gases

at

I

Not taken;

esti-

chimney f mated

at 325

d

eg

.

Fuel used . . . . Ai r.gMoline gas

Analysis of gas .. . . Not made

Quantity of gas used . . . No t m

t-as

ur

ed

Quantity of oil used .. . . .

35

(estim ated)

W e

ight

of o

il

. . .. . .

227

.5 lb.

Calorific

va

lue per pound . ..

20

,000 B. T.

Total

weight

of

water

in boiler 12 G

OO lb

.

W eight of water evaporated . 1000 lb.