THE TRII/MPHS & \ OF MODERN ENGINEERING J / v* J im. FRJTH LIBRARY OF THK UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. MRS. MARTHA E. HALL1DIE. Qass THE TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING THE TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING BY HENRY FRITH 'i AUTHOR OF 'THE TRIUMPHS OF STEAM" "THE FLYING HORSE* ETC. ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY %g^ii;':i GRIFFITH FARRAN BROWNE & CO. LIMITED 35 BOW STREET, COVENT GARDEN LONDON 0*1*1 HALLIOIE [The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction PREFACE. IN sending this volume to press, the author can in some measure realise the condition of mind of the classic gentleman who was encumbered with much advice and a donkey ! He tried to please various people and failed. But in this last respect the writer trusts that he has not imitated him. True, he has been advised ; and it is also true that he has attempted to cater for many tastes ; the end is yet to be seen. Yet, whatever the shortcomings of the writer, he cannot overlook the kindness of his friends. To two gentlemen in particular he desires to tender his grateful acknowledgments : first to Mr. A. Giraud Browning, F.S.A., who assisted him, and placed his library of Engineering records at his disposal in the most liberal manner; and secondly to Mr. J. E. Gwynne, C.E., who kindly advised the author and directed his efforts. With this explanation the volume passes from the writer's hands to those of the public, who will perhaps find faults, and, haply, merits in the book ; but the compiler would have them remember that, while the merits are attributable to his friends, the errors are all his own. H. F. 99006 CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION ... ^ g SECTION I. RAILWAYS : The Transcaspian Line to Samarcand Across the Steppes The American Trans-continental Lines The Central Pacific Railway The Alpine Railways The Brunig, Pilatus, and Rigi Lines Eastern European Railways Arctic Circle Railway The Sibi Railway A Chinese Railway Cable LinesShip Railways The London Metropolitan Railways ... 17 SECTION II. TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS : The Alpine Tunnels : St. Gothard, Arlberg ; Proposed Tunnels under Mont Blanc : the Simplon, the St. Bernard The Severn Tunnel The Mersey Tunnel The Channel Tunnel The Suram Tunnel The South London Subway 69 SECTION III. CANALS AND WATERWAYS : A Retrospect The Manchester, Panama, and Nicaragua Canals European and Foreign Canals ... ... 112 SECTION IV. BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS : The Tay Viaduct The Forth Bridge The Tower Bridge A High-level Bridge at Glasgow 145 SECTION V. WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY : Aqueducts and Conduits London Water The Liverpool and Thirlmere Schemes The Edinburgh Water- works, Proposed Plans ... 171 SECTION VI. LIGHTHOUSES ARD ILLUMINANTS : Old Lamps and New Electric Lights ; Oil and Gas Water Gas ... 192 SECTION VII. DOCKS AND HARBOURS : A Comprehensive Glance The London and Liverpool Docks Tilbury Docks Calais Harbour and Basins The Explosion at Hurl or "Hell" Gate, Flood Rock Harbour Works at Rochelle and other Ports 209 SECTION VIII. DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS: London Drain- age The Main Drainage System Treating Sewage by x CONTENTS. Electricity The ABC System Petroleum and Pipe Lanes Oil Districts Natural Gas Its Origin 240 SECTION IX. SHIP-BUILDING AND SHIPS' ARMAMENT: Wooden Walls Old Ships Ship Construction Ironclads, Old and New Ships and Guns New Battleships The En- gineer Over All Prospects o Ships and Armaments . . . 254 SECTION X. STEAM AND STEAM ENGINES: Simple and Compound The First Compounding Engine Webb's Compounds The Worsdell and Von Bornis Systems Engine Speeds Expresses The Race to Edinburgh ... 269 SECTION XL MACHINE TOOLS: Tools and Machines Economy of Machinery Iron and Steel The Emperor's Watch The Steam Hammer Work of Machine Tools Planing, Boring, Cutting Machines, &c. The Linotype Composing Machine 285 SECTION XII. HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING : London Water- Power Distribution Stowage and Filtering Water-service Arrangements Lifts The Nile Barrages The Egyptian Canals Lake Mceris The Water-slide Railway 295 SECTION XIII. MISCELLANEOUS : Balloons and Ballooning German Researches French Experiments German Trials Gas Machine Mode of Propelling Balloons The Eiffel Tower Statue of Liberty Cleopatra's Needle A Moving Tale Conclusion ,. ... 308 UN IV **L ^ THE TRIUMPHS OP MODERN ENGINEERING. INTRODUCTION. IT has been the good fortune of the present generation to witness the most marvellous discoveries in Science that the world has ever seen. No matter in which direction we cast our eyes, we find Science, in every branch of its stupendous tree of knowledge, putting forth new shoots, and quickly blossoming into fruition. Looking back to the years within the memory of us all all the elders, we mean we can trace the progress of the astounding revolution that has taken place in Engineering, as well as in other practical sciences. Many of us can remember the time when the locomo- tive engine, that great leveller, was derided, and when railways were regarded with suspicion ; when land- owners "warned off" the surveyor as angrily as ever Mr. Pecksniff was commanded to " get off the grass." In those days Electricity was undeveloped, the electric telegraph unknown ; and if anyone had broached the idea of electric lighting, or the telephone, he would have been regarded as insane, or at least as a visionary whose relatives should watch him carefully. These are truisms ; and what now do we see ? There is no surprise evinced, hardly any astonish- ment expressed, at the latest development of Science. Babies laugh and " crow " at iron monsters as they hurtle by, screaming, with a long train of well-filled carriages behind them ; children delight in the move- ment of machinery which would have scared their grandfathers, and made their grandmothers shake their heads at the presumption of man. To have predicted such events, to have hinted at such constructions, io TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. would have laid our ancestors open to scorn, if not to worse punishment. Whether this machinery craze has had a destruct- ive effect on the artistic handicrafts of Great Britain is an open question, and one not within our power to discuss in these pages. It may suffice to say that we have heard it advanced, and forcibly argued, that the mechanical bias of our work has caused a deteriora- tion of our taste ; that our old superiority in artistic handiwork has passed away since the establishment of machinery and mechanical tools. Our touch and our taste have alike become deteriorated, say some. It may not be so ; but we do not, at any rate, hold the unique and exalted position in the Engineering World that at one time we did. The foreigner and the American already have beaten us in inventiveness ; and though our British solidity, and a thorough official inspection, combine to keep us safer in our constructions, the crown for initiative Science must be placed on other heads than ours. True it is that the English may claim to have been the pioneers of Engineering as now generally understood ; from English brains sprang the locomotive and the railway, and in England they remain the best to this day. In Shipbuilding, again, we own no superiors. Other nations may develop more subtlety, more intricate ingenuity, in construction ; but for useful- ness, strength, and durability, the practical Engineer- ing of our English hands stands foremost, and they would put a girdle round the earth if they could live as cheaply and as thriftily as our foreign competitors. No matter what the business, cheapness in this money-making age will tell ; but upon this phase we need not enlarge. The evils of "cheap labour" when brought into competition with the Anglo-Saxon have already been witnessed in America and Australia. The Triumphs of Modern Engineering are many and stupendous. When Chat-Moss succumbed to the influence of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, INTRODUCTION. 1 1 and when the Britannia and Menai Bridges spanned the Straits, people wondered, and regarded such victories of the engineer as "marvellous." When Smeaton defied the waves in his Eddystone Light- house, he was hailed as a benefactor of mankind ; the Breakwaters of Plymouth and Portland still stand to bear witness of our firm control of the sea. The Caledonian Canal and the Saltash Viaduct remain as monuments of our pluck and perseverance. But later years have, by their gigantic achievements, put these past triumphs in the shade. A wondrous change has come o'er the spirit of our dream, and o'er our real life. How those who were content to travel in trucks (such as cattle are now conveyed in) at fifteen miles an hour, standing up, exposed to rain and wind and sun how they would stare if they could re-visit our planet, and see the Flying Dutchman, Scotchman, and Irishman as they rush west or north on their head- long course, with their cosy padded and illuminated carriages and " palace " cars ! Those were days in which luggage was carried on the roof, exposed to damage by fire and water, though covered with tarpaulins. Schoolboys now do not wait, as the writer has waited, until the boxes, trunks, and portmanteaus had been shot down from the roof dripping wet, mayhap, or burned by some wandering coal. The younger generation have in this respect, as in so many other respects, the advantage of their elders, in luxury and the easy-made paths in which they tread to manhood. The " good old times " may have been very good : they certainly were much rougher ; and lads were fashioned in more rigid moulds than those generally in use at the present day. So much for the railways of the past Who can remember the coaching days and the canal expresses known as " Fly-boats " ? These latter were long narrow barges, " cribbed, cabined, and confined," in which unfortunate travellers were compelled to eat and sleep on their journey across parts of England and that " distressful country " Ireland. These boats 12 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. were drawn by horses, three " tandem," and made rapid passages from lock to lock on the canals. The postillion shouted, and cracked a whip as ragged as himself, and woe to the unlucky individual who paused on the towing-path of the tree-lined canal when the " Fly-boat " was coming. These are retro- spects designed to illustrate the marvellous improve- ments, and the magnitude of the changes, which have taken place in our Engineering since the writer was a boy. Surely the present is the Golden Age of the Engineer ! England once could proudly boast of her " hearts of oak " of her stately ships ; now she may vaunt her hearts of iron. The picturesque has given way to the practical, the white canvas to black smoke and bare poles, or no poles at all ; the painted ports to cased turrets. The once beautiful line-of-battle ship is now a huge machine, enclosing many other machines. Every- thing is steam, hydraulics, and electricity, by which the ship is manoeuvred, orders are given and guns fired. The mail steamer is an armed cruiser, the de- spatch vessel is a gun-boat. We are armed cap-a-pie. We receive our friends with open arms, it is true ; but we wear coats of mail, and our gauntlets are handy in our sword-hilts. Whether this continual state of preparation, this " heart of iron " and glove of steel, make us more suspicious as a nation, and affect even our business and domestic relations, making us harder and more machine-like in our work and walks in life, is another question into which we need not enter. Thus the machine age is inaugurated. Science is still advancing with rapid strides. Our fortunes and our lives are yearly becoming more dependent upon the Engineer, who will in time command our fleets, as Engineers have already commanded our armies. Steam, Electricity, and Machinery are the masters of the world, and those who can influence them are the most powerful. Never in the history of the universe has the word of prophecy been more adaptable to our material condition. Speaking with all reverence, INTRODUCTION. 13 was there ever a time when, as now, every valley was filled or spanned ? every mountain and hill brought low or pierced ? The crooked is made straight, and the rough ways are smoothed. Is it not so ? The old landmarks are disappearing ; even former triumphs of Engineering are being absorbed by greater and more ambitious projects. Canals are swallowing up lakes and other canals ; the long tunnels of our youth are eclipsed by the Mont Cenis and St. Gothard ; and so on. Everywhere we find the same record. The En- gineer, like a Civil Alexander, will soon sigh for other districts to conquer, other mountains to tunnel or ascend, more valleys to span, and for other worlds to subdue. So this activity in Engineering has caused, and will cause, a corresponding activity in our people. The younger generation, perhaps, have not considered the enormous impetus given to business, and to holiday-making also, by the projects and work of successful Engineers. Trains, steamboats, and rail- ways are multiplied ; new and faster engines are pressed into our service ; international trains whirl us across a continent in a night, span the steppes of Siberia, and encircle the North Pole. Nothing is sacred to the sapper; the Engineer triumphantly ascends mountains, and carries his train after him ; he pulls us up the cliffs in lifts with ease and safety ; he sends us underground or under water, as we please ; and within a short time he will carry us through the air. Balloons will then come into fashion, the problem of steering them will be solved ; and the balloon will supersede the bicycle. We shall sail off on our travels in the air, leaving the railway, the steamboat, and the carriage, for the use of the sick and infirm. We can already see, in imagination, the prospectus of the Balloon Navigation Company, Limited. This is no mere jest. The problem is in a fair way to be solved ; and it is only one more of the octopus-like tentacles of Engineering Science which will in time lay hold upon us. Look around and see. 14 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. Not a continent nor a province is opened up but the Engineer is there with his levels and theodolites. His plans are made and matured in a twinkling, and almost before we are aware we are carried off, and are instructed to "Change here for Lake Nyassa"; or we shall hear the then familiar cry, " Any more for Tim- buctoo ? " There is no end to the record of the Engineer. The iron horse is the king of beasts ; he drives the lion and the elephant from his path, and disturbs the Polar bears in their icy fastnesses. We have made these comparisons in order to accentuate the real progress of Modern Engineering ; the successes, and perchance the failures, of which will be found chronicled in subsequent pages. With the distant past we have at present no concern. The triumphs of the past have been chronicled in many volumes. We are desirous to bring before our younger readers the stories some adventurous, some common- place, but all interesting of the greatest Engineering successes of the present day. We may find it im- possible to treat all with equal fulness of detail, but we will do our best to include all that is desirable and interesting in the narratives. We propose to divide our space into sections, and in each section relate the triumphs of the different achievements. As regards Railways, we hope to treat of them in the first section, with their tunnels and viaducts. We shall then pass on to Canals and all their works, giving descriptions of the most important. Harbours and Breakwaters, and many other subjects and topics, will come within our range ; nor will Electric Engineering be ignored. It is not amongst Western nations alone that this Engineering progress has been made, and is making way. The Japanese, who many years ago perceived the utility of railways, have developed them with great skill; and the conservative Chinaman has actually consented to adopt the train as a conveyance. As we shall see later on, the fanatical Mandarin has not proceeded to destroy this new line as he did the first attempt at Railway Engineering. This indicates a INTRODUCTION. 15 decided advance ; and the importance of the railway to Tientsin cannot be over-estimated. It is, however, in Japan that the actual native progress is so marked. In the year 1869-70 rail- ways were constructed in Japan ; but the barbarian, the " British barbarian," held the control of the line. If we look back to the time when railways were introduced to the Japanese, we shall find that Englishmen not only drove the engines, but directed the management of the railways. Now, as machinery and its uses are being developed in Japan, we find that the native is gradually throwing off foreign leading-strings, and running his machines for him- self. We learn that foreign control in the railways, and even the employment of outsiders, is nearly altogether dispensed with. At present the machines themselves are imported into Japan and China, and our manufacturers will find a new outlet for theii ponderous wares ; but in time the Eastern peoples will learn for themselves, and, if minerals be obtain- able, will construct their own engines for the ships and railroads. Perhaps it may not be known to the majority of people in this country that Japan is far ahead of us in her telegraphic system, and in the application of electricity to lighting purposes. We understand that in Tokio electric lighting is quite common, and the clever quick-witted Japanese watch every new development with interest, and even endeavour to improve upon Western inventions and practice. Thus, by degrees, the Japanese is making himself a position as a mechanical engineer who may in time supersede our Western machinists ; for, having the talent to adapt and learn, he has no prejudices to overcome, and he brings a clear and unbiassed intelligence to his aid. There always will be certain restrictions placed on foreigners in Japan ; and if the mineral resources of the country include any considerable supply of iron the "Japs" may one day rival even ourselves in their 1 6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. output of machinery. There is no doubt whatever that amongst Eastern nations Japan will be chief. It was our fortune to be acquainted with many of the native students who were, some years ago, in England, and their intelligence and grip of a subject, added to their determination to succeed, struck one as very characteristic. But we need not argue farther ; it is unnecessary. Besides, we must now leave this general question and come to the particular, beginning with the development of the iron roads in these modern days. But, before commencing our review, we have a few words to say respecting the Railway itself. Railways had their birth in the tramway, which, an authority says, owes its name to " trammel-way," the rails being trammels to guide the truck ; but we have heard it stated that " tram " is an abbreviation of Outram, an engineer, who originated the tramway, as now used, in America. At any rate, railways originated in the "tram," and many of these were worked in England long before the Locomotive was made. To Surrey belongs the prestige of working the railway in 1800 from Wandsworth to Croydon, and there the Reigate and Godstone line joined it thus preparing the way for the South-Eastern. So the traffic developed. Stephen- son adapted his locomotives to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and the Railway, as we under- stand it, became an accomplished fact. To follow out the progress of the Railway and Engineering is here impossible. From the time when Stephenson's Rocket was tried on the Liverpool and Manchester line, the locomotive has been improved, until now the powerful engines made by Mr. Webb for the London and North- Western seem to carry off the palm. The increase of railways gave impetus to all Engineering, and accessory achievements multi- plied apace. Railways are now in use in every quarter of the globe, even in the deserts of Asia. With an account of the Transcaspian line we will commence our first chapter. SECTION L RAILWAYS. The Transcaspian Railway Its Difficulties and Progress Features of the Undertaking Its Future The American Transcontinental Lines Their Extent and Connections The Central Pacific Railway Its Construction and Physical Features The Alpine Railways The Brunig, Rigi, Pilatus, and other Mountain Lines Eastern European Systems of Railv/ays The Connection of Paris with Constantinople The Arctic Circle Railway The Sibi Railroad to Quetta Details of its Construction and Difficulties of the Route The Congo Line as Proposed The First Chinese Railway Cable and Funicular Lines in America and Switzerland London Cable Tramways The New York and Brooklyn Cable-Line Ship Railways The Tehuantepec and Nova Scotia Schemes The London Metropolitan Railroads Their History and Construction. I. THE TRANSCASPIAN LINE TO SAMARCAND ACROSS THE STEPPES. A RAILROAD into the heart of Central Asia ! This is the enterprise, carried out, in spite of all difficulties, by the Russian Government, which we will endeavour to chronicle in our opening chapter. This enterprise is the more surprising when we consider the jealousy with which Russia has always guarded her Trans- Caspian annexations ; but the railway is an accom- plished fact, and was opened with considerable rejoicing, of a more or less spontaneous kind, on the 27th of May, 1888. That this railway will merely serve for a passenger line is scarcely to be expected. Russia is aware of the importance of a railway to the gates of India, and the Transcaspian system avowedly aims at con- nection with the Indian iron roads. It is therefore more of a military than a civil undertaking ; and to General Annenkoff its initiation and construction are mainly due. The difficulties of the route were enormous ; one thousand miles of line have been laid over sandy deserts and wide rivers ; far from any supplies of water, and yet liable to be washed away by the overflow of the classic Oxus and the Askadadka. 1 8 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. If we look at a modern map, we may put our fingers on the chief termini of the Russian-European system. These are, according to M. Vatzlik, Tumen, Orenburg, Baku, and Samarcand. Baku is the port of embarkation on the Caspian from which the in- tending traveller must set out to reach the Trans- caspian terminus. From St. Petersburg to Samarcand is a long journey, estimated at ten or twelve days ; but any one conversant with Russian railroad speed, and, more than all, with Russian delays and obstructions, will need something more than the official assurance as to the time occupied in transit. In the first place, the traveller, if a resident in Russia, and supposing all facilities have been granted him, must reach the Caspian Sea, and traverse it. He will land at Usun Ada or, as it is sometimes written, Oozoon Ada. This is a small and by no means in- viting village, consisting of some wooden houses and shops. Beyond lies the desert, and across its sandy wastes General Annenkoff has laid his military line for nearly one thousand miles. Three years and forty-three millions of roubles were expended in laying the major portion of the rough line which was opened in May, 1888. This is rapid progress, considering the natural difficulties against which the engineers had to contend. We may add that the above-named sum of money represents rather more than four millions sterling, but some nine millions of roubles will be expended on this undertaking before its account is closed. The manner in which the difficulties were overcome reflects great credit on the engineers. Here is no swamp, as in Chat-Moss, but sandy deserts, extend- ing for many miles, with no supply of water. This was a serious want, particularly when we consider that not only engines, but thousands of men and animals, had to be supplied with that necessary aliment. The heat is enormous. There are two immense steppes on which anything save sand is practicably unattainable. Across these deserts went RAILWAYS. 19 first the telegraph apparatus and the " electric staff." Then came trucks, running on movable rails, which carried sleepers and the rails for the line ; a travel- ling guard-house was part of the expedition ; soldiers and sappers, guards and labourers, to the number of 25,000 men, were employed in this marvellous under- taking. Possibly hostile tribes had to be reckoned with, and, again, native labour had to be employed, because the Russian navvy broke down. These only a few of the considerations which had to be carried out were accentuated by the absence of water, and, what was as important, the want of fuel for the loco- motives, houses, and watch-huts, in a treeless waste. Art and Nature worked hand in hand here. Art found the water -supply, Nature provided fuel. Condensers were supplied, and these from sea-water produced fresh. This was sent along the already laid line in tuns to the army of workmen. Sea-water had to be poured freely on the sand, and clay mixed with it, in order to lay a foundation for the rails at all. And when the rails had been laid, the engines could not move without fire. Travellers tell us or told us in old books that fire can be procured by rubbing two pieces of wood together. We suppose it depends how long one rubs; and if one has time to spare (a few days will suffice} it is possible, we believe, to obtain a fizz, like damp gunpowder. However, even this resource failed the projectors of the railway beyond the Caspian Sea, and Nature was appealed to not in vain. We have already mentioned Baku as the port of embarkation on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Here were extensive petroleum springs ; and others were subsequently discovered upon the eastern shore. This oil the Russians sought on the eastern side of the Balkan mountains, and this " naphtha region " proved of inestimable value, not only to the railroad, but to the commerce of the Caspian. Immense cisterns or reservoirs were constructed, and into these the un- ceasing supplies of oil were poured for fuel and 2o TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. lighting. The initial difficulties of supplying the locomotive having been thus overcome, the work- train proceeded a train indeed on rails carrying soldiers and labourers, and laying its own rails as it advanced. After the first steppe had been safely passed, the line became " plainer sailing/' In this it was literally the first step that cost so much. The second part of the railway did not require such nicely executed arrangements. The districts were under cultivation, water was obtainable locally ; and when the oasis of Akhal Takke was reached, progress became more pleasant. The Turkomans manage to irrigate their lands, and General Annenkoff purposed to carry out an immense oasis or irrigation scheme, by tapping the Oxus and drawing it* waters in the direction of Merv. The general features of the railway line are, perhaps, unique ; and though the actual engineering difficulties were not great r the natural obstacles were numerous. The monotonous features of the sandy desert sometimes rising mounds of sand, sometimes mere waves with a fine sandy spray blowing from them as from water and the occasional camel, are depressing. Between the Caspian and the Oxus, or Amu Darya, some 200 miles (300 versts) of desert extend ; but this distance is relieved here and there by cultivated tracts. The great wooden bridge over the Oxus is claimed as the longest in the world, as the railroad is also said to be. This viaduct is built of wood, on wooden piers. There is an island in the river, which supports the main portion of the struc- ture. There are three bridges. The first is 5,740 feet long, the others less ; but their stability is not great ; and on more than one occasion a viaduct has given way. This is a dangerously weak place ; but, as everything had to be sacrificed to cheapness and rapidity of construction, we must rest satisfied. Nevertheless, in a military railway, as this Central Asian line confessedly is. strength to support war RAILWAYS. 21 material was to be expected, particularly when the swiftness of the river ought to have been taken into consideration. Another curious feature of the railway is the distance of some of the principal stations from the towns they are supposed to connect with the railroad. For instance, Bokhara is ten miles from the railway, and the terminus at Samarcand is nearly half that distance from the town of Tamerlane. This odd practice is entirely a Russian habit, for strategy is more desirable than the convenience of travellers. Besides, in Central Asia the natives regard the loco- motive as a device of the Evil One, if not Shaitan himself, and give it a wide berth at first. But the people are rapidly becoming accustomed to the " fire- cart," and will soon regard it with true Oriental placidity, if not with contempt. It would be both interesting and curious to traverse this line and study the mixture of inhabitants which the enterprise is likely to bring together. Thus, in the first instance, we should doubtless find Turko- mans, Persians, Poles, and Bokharans, mingling in the train or on the platforms with European visitors, their Russian masters, or other " foreigners." The costumes are as varied as the languages. Discipline amongst the railway employees is very strict, for soldiers command and soldiers obey. The porters are Persians or natives ; but station-masters, guards, and other officials, are uniformed personages, and of aristocratic mien. Here a Cossack wields a whip and thrashes a sulky native ; while the senior officer in command may arrange " time-tables," or upset them, apparently, as he pleases. The soldier is all-powerful. The " refreshment department " is not yet on the liberal scale of railway contractors in Europe. A swarthy individual, presumably an Armenian, will supply the traveller with black bread, cucumbers, and eggs already boiled. These comestibles do not sound wholesome when sprinkled with sand ancj 22 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. washed down with beer or lemonade in a tempera- ture of 125 Fahr. The staple refreshment of the British refreshment-room is unknown to the black- capped restaurateurs. The stations are sheds, the carriages of a very "mixed" class some being of two storeys of different grades. Certainly as a monu- ment of energy and rapid construction the Central Asian railway is worthy of remark and consideration. It is a triumph for General Annenkoff, but, at best, it is capable of considerable improvement in many particulars. The greatest difficulties, as already mentioned, have been overcome, but the supply of water and fuel does not cause so much anxiety as the disposal of the sand, which has a tendency to silt up the railway line, as it has submerged in its waves many other proofs of man's energy and cultivation. The scrub which manages to flourish in the steppes, where sand is several feet deep, has been planted along the line so as to impede the work of deposition of the sand on the track. This scrub is called saxoul, and is, when plentiful, used for fuel ; but petroleum refuse, which has been tried in England, is already in vogue, and found to answer. It would prolong this sketch into a small volume did we proceed to describe in detail the country, and the surroundings of the line. It is not all desert ; here, as in other places, extremes meet. The sand suddenly ceasing, " as if cut with a knife," permits us the enjoyment of well-watered, cultivated land, con- sisting of cornfields, orchards, meadows, and so on. Here, as in more frequented districts in Europe, are lads vying with each other in selling fruit ; and staring, fierce-looking natives, on horseback or on foot, are criticising the fire-cart, or " Devil's cart," as they compare notes on the strangers' appearance and the new method of progression which can wear out even the patient and long-enduring camel. By this time the various shortcomings which at one period were evident have been repaired. RAILWAYS. 23 When a through communication with Europe has been arranged, the usefulness of the new line will be still farther demonstrated ; but the effect cannot be doubted, nor the importance of the line be minimised. What the future may bring, we may some day see. The political question has yet to be answered ; and how the line will affect our Indian possessions is one which we must leave for politicians to discuss. The entire line, including the portions previously laid for the advance of General Skobeleff, occupied rather more than seven years in building; but the major portion, as before remarked, was finished in three years, and the last two hundred miles in less than six months. These are official statements, which also place the cost, including repairs, at about 45,000,000 roubles. The success of the line is already assured. Travellers will make their way to Samarcand, hitherto almost a name only to Western nations. "Timour the Tartar" disappears, and the Modern Engineer, who is even now pushing his way still onward, has dethroned him. The Russians are pursuing their onward course from Charjui to Cham-i-ab, on the Afghan frontier ; and so the peaceful military advance proceeds. The line is being improved. North and south in Transcaspia and in Siberia the steam horse is being driven by Russians across Asia ; and before long the Black Sea and the White may be united by iron bands. II. THE AMERICAN TRANSCONTINENTAL LINES THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILWAY. In the year 1886-87 the development of railway enterprise became very marked in the United States and before entering into any description of the later important achievements on the American continent, it will be interesting to sketch, briefly, the principal trunk lines, and the development of their branches. 24 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. There are six principal lines in the United States which cross the continent, and of these we propose to make a rapid survey, dwelling more fully upon the Canadian Pacific line as the latest cross-country route. The Central Pacific was the pioneer of the trans- continental railways. It was commenced in February, 1863, assisted by the State of California; and the Union Pacific came to meet it, helped by Government grants. The tale of the struggle has been often told. The rails were carried along, and the telegraph line was laid, with marvellous rapidity. At length the engines met, buffer to buffer ; and the first transcontinental railway was opened in May, 1 869 the actual date of meeting being May loth in that year, Ogden being the dividing city. There were then four completed sections, and the through line from New York to San Francisco was finished. The four sections are from N'ew York to Chicago, thence to Omaha, thence to Ogden, and so on to San Francisco. The Central was subsequently absorbed by the Southern Pacific line, which, like Aaron's rod, swallowed up many others. The distance from San Francisco to New York is 3,315 miles. The Union Pacific also runs to Portland (Oregon), and forms another connection with New York. The Southern Pacific, as its name intimates, passes southwards, and extends from New Orleans to "Frisco." It received its charter in 1884, and now boasts many thousand miles of rails. The trunk line from New Orleans west to the Pacific is 2,495 miles in length. It is an immensely powerful and octopus- like concern, including both railway and steamer traffic. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa F< Railway claims to be the longest aggregate in the world some 10,000 miles in all. This line reaches from Chicago to the western sea-board, having running powers over other lines; but the directors wanted their own route to the West, and may be said to possess it by RAILWAYS. 25 occupation, leasing, or purchase. Communication is direct with New York and the Gulf of California and San Diego by this combination. The Northern Pacific Railway was at length com- pleted by the piercing of the great Cascade tunnel in 1888. It actually starts from Duluth, on the border of Lake Superior, but, of course, connects with New York, and extends westwards to Tacoma a distance of over nineteen hundred miles. This Pacific line has had to weather stormy days. The detailed account of its progress would illustrate the truth of the proverb about slips between cup and lip, for though its charter dates from 1864, and its partial opening from 1873, it was not really opened until 1883, when it reached Port- land (Oregon). Even then disputes and rivals mili- tated against success, and the directors determined to take a line of their own. This they did, and in 1888 they completed the system. We have already mentioned the Oregon extension of the Union Pacific, which forms a transcontinental railway,, and we come next to the great development of the through lines, the Canadian Pacific, which actually extends between Montreal and Vancouver, across Canadian territory, thus giving England and her trade a through route of their own. Not only is it thus peculiarly advantageous to Great Britain, but it possesses the great advantage over the other lines of being complete in itself. This is a very great boon, and one which cannot be easily over-estimated. Canada possesses a railway which is independent of all rivals, in her own territory. From the St. Lawrence to Vancouver she can send her freights and passengers, and by the shortest route. From Montreal to Van- couver City is 2,906 miles ; and an extension is also made to New York, 260 miles farther. This line, in its Canadian aspect, is most important, and merits detailed description. It is not, however, the latest connection, nor is it the shortest transcontinental route from New York and the Atlantic sea-board. The last route, through St. Louis, by the "Atlantic 26 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. and Pacific," from New York to San Francisco Bay, is the shortest of all. There are several other developments proceeding ; but this is not a history of railroads. Having thus glanced at the great lines intersecting the North American continent, we will proceed to sketch the history of our very important and interesting Canadian Pacific Railway. We will endeavour to omit all con- siderations of politics, though this may be difficult, and proceed at once to the initiation of the line. The celebrated Hudson's Bay Company have had some- thing to say to all schemes which tended to improve the wild and, practically, desert land in which they carried on their trapping and hunting. But, by degrees, the necessity for communication between the opposite coasts became pressing. The Red River district was almost isolated, and the gap between British Columbia and Montreal was very wide. The first thing to be done was to acquire the intermediate territory ; the Parliamentary papers of 1864 reveal to us the course of the negotiations. Arrangements were subsequently made by which Canada became possessed of the Hudson's Bay terri- tory; and when this had been arranged, there was a prospect of the extremes meeting and becoming one Dominion. This much-desired union took place on the 20th of July, 1871. Then the idea of the iron road, which was to still further bind the provinces, was put into practicable shape. A survey was ordered and completed. The result was, on the whole, very satisfactory, and the Assembly granted land and money in aid of the scheme. The actual work was commenced in 1874, and finally 1890 was named as the year in which the rail- way must be finished. The work was let out in con- tract sections, and in 1879 the whole line from Lake Superior to Red River Settlement was in hand. These proceedings had aroused considerable attention in the Old Country. Lord Dufferin advocated the scheme, and people began to think of emigrating to 28 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the rich land newly opened up. The condition of the farming interest assisted emigration. The railway attracted settlers and their friends by the magnitude of its operations. Money came in, and the Canadian Pacific began to assume a definite shape. But difficulties did not decrease. The Govern- ment of Canada, however, sought and fortunately obtained assistance in their troubles. The transcon- tinental scheme was submitted to a Syndicate of Merchants. Messrs. Morton, Rose and Co. financed the undertaking in London, and Messrs. Cohen and Co. in Paris. The existing portions of line were handed over ; grants of land, with some few millions of dollars, were also given ; and after a while the Company began its task. Thus in 1 880-8 1 the Canadian Pacific Railway became a " going concern," the Government agreeing to finish the sections contracted for. The work went on ; and, though climate caused delays, the railroad during the season was pushed forward rapidly. British Columbia was not backward, and the hopes of Canada leaped high. At the end of 1882 more than six hundred miles beyond Winnipeg had been opened ; the contractors undertook to finish a section of 500 miles within the year. This tremendous undertaking disclosed an un- paralleled amount of energy and expense. Nearly a pound sterling per diem was paid for a two-horse waggon and driver, and these were numbered by thousands ! There were no local supplies of food nor of materials ; stone, timber, food, and other necessaries had to be carted for hundreds of miles. The bridge- men proceeded in advance along the waste ; in a few hours the timber was sawn and arranged ; in a few hours more the piles were driven, and in six-and- thirty hours, and less at times, a pretty useful bridge was erected where no bridge had ever been before ! Then came the track-layirig gang, which consisted, says a writer, " of three hundred men and thirty-five teams. Moving along slowly, but with admirable RAIL WA ys. 29 precision, it was beautiful to watch them gradually coming near, everything moving like clockwork each man in his place, knowing exactly his work, and doing it at the right time and in the right way. Onward they come, pass on, and leave the wondering spectator behind while he is still engrossed with the wonderful sight." * We can fancy the loaded trucks pushed by an engine along the newly-laid track. The material is unloaded, the empty trucks are drawn away by the locomotive, another succeeds, and actually passes over the rails, now fixed, which ten minutes before were lying in the waggons ! The wild Indian and the wilder bison have been pushed away; the engineer is " monarch of all he surveys." People came out into the wilderness to see these things ; stood, watched, marvelled, and returned, or remained to settle in the land which had until lately been a portion for foxes and bears and buffaloes. This won- derful piece of road is known as " the Prairie Section," and the distance daily laid was 3*19 miles. In 1882 the Company had 1,382 miles of railway, including Government bonus-lines. The year 1883 saw even greater results. The army of 25,000 men employed had not diminished (we must not forget that no work could be done during the winter). By the end of November the Rockies had been nearly scaled, and progress was reported. On one section during a single week nearly twenty-six miles had been completed on the main track alone. We cannot help giving another quotation from the Report already cited, which indi- cates in a very lucid way the manner in which the undertaking was carried on. The writer says, speaking of one special day : " On that day the total number of rails laid was 2,120, or 604 tons. Five men on each side of the front car handed down 1, 060 rails, 302 tons each gang ; while the two distributors of angle-plates and * Engineering^ 1884. 3O TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. bolts and adjusters of the rails for running out over the rollers, handled 2,120 rails, 4,240 plates, and 8,480 bolts. These were followed by fifteen bolters, who put in, on an average, 565 bolts each ; then thirty-two spikers, with a nipper to each pair, drove 63,000 spikes, which were distributed by four peddlers. The lead and gauge spikers each drove 2,120 spikes, which, averaging four blows to each spike, would require 600 blows an hour for fourteen hours. . . . On the track eight men unloaded and distributed the sleepers ; four others spaced them, and distanced the joint-ties ; " and so on. Here we have a picture of the rapid and methodical manner in which the railway was constructed. We need not further follow the construction of the line across the continent. It must suffice to mention the principal landmarks. These are Mont- real, Ottawa, Sudbury Junction, Winnipeg, Regina, Medicine-Hat, Columbia River, Yale, and Port Moody and Vancouver City on the Pacific. The distance along the main line, exclusive of branches, is 2,906 miles, and this route expresses a saving of nearly five hundred miles across the continent. Even American critics have praised this railway, for Mr. Seward is reported to have said : " The route through British America is in some respects preferable. Passing close to Lake Superior, traversing the water-shed, crossing the Rocky Mountains at an elevation 3,000 feet lower than South Pass, the road can be con- structed with comparative cheapness. . . . Having its Atlantic seaboard close to the coal-mines of Nova Scotia, and its Pacific terminus in close proximity to the mineral deposits of Vancouver's Island, it would undoubtedly draw to it the commerce of Europe and Asia." The completion of the line in 1885, and its formal opening in 1886, were events of which its engineers, promoters, and the Canadians, may still justly be proud. They have constructed a splendid transcon- tinental line in the face of very great difficulties. 32 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. On the 2nd of November, 1885, the first through passenger train was despatched from Montreal, west- ward to British Columbia. Three days after, the last spike was driven in near the Columbia River, and the communication was completed. After considerable opposition to the establishment of the line around Lake Superior, where there were difficulties of blasting and digging through a desert country, political events soon showed the desirability of making this connection by land instead of continu- ing it by water ; and the section objected to was constructed. Meantime trains were run as far as possible, and in the spring of 1886 the line was inaugurated in a formal manner. The Central Pacific Railroad is another triumph. III. THE ALPINE AND OTHER EUROPEAN RAILWAYS. THE BRUN1G, PILATUS, AND RIGI LINES THE VISP-ZERMATT PROJECT. There are few people who excel Swiss engineers in their particular line, and the record of Modern Engineering would not be complete without this reference to some of the later achievements of our practical friends in the playground of Europe. To make travel easy is their aim, and without endorsing the opinion of Bompard, as confided to " Tartarin in the Alps," that the whole of Switzerland is "managed" by a company fixed up and machined for the benefit of tourists mountain ascents arranged, accidents carefully prepared, with porters at the bottom of the crevasses into which you tumble, and where your arrival is expected, who brush you and groom you, and assist you up again we may affirm that the Swiss certainly endeavour to make travel very easy for visitors. This luxury of travel is emphasised by the Brunig Railway. Now that the railway to the sum- mit of Pilatus is opened, the Rigi has a formid- able rival, which possesses the further advantage of RAILWAYS. 33 being en route, as it may be said. The terminus of the Brunig Railway is at Alpnacht, whence the ascent of Pilatus by rail can be made. Of this latter line we shall have also something to say by-and-by. At present our business is with the Brunig. Everybody nowadays is aware that the Brunig Pass is the main-road connecting Lucerne with Meiringen and Brienz. The road from Lucerne skirts the lake, but most people preferred to drive only from Alpnacht to Meiringen, or vice versd, taking steamer for Lucerne at Alpnacht. The Jura-Berne- Lucerne Company who certainly delight in pushing their way through difficulties determined to con- struct a line by the Brunig, and carry their passengers in the open air over, instead of through, the mountain. Moreover, in this Brunig line an occasional level bit intervenes at the summit and in other places. Here the centre cog-wheel engine would be useless, and time would be lost. But the locomotive is constructed so that the cog-wheel can work in the rack between the rails on all inclines, and when a piece of level occurs, or in any place in which the wheels would " bite " in the usual manner, the cog-wheel is put out of gear, and is not used ; when the ascent is again encoun- tered, the cog-wheel is used once more. The arrangements for stopping the train are elaborate, and no accident can, humanly speaking, occur. The consequences of a runaway train on the Brunig or the Rigi would be frightful to contemplate, even in imagination. The engineers are fully alive to the danger, and have devised elaborate precau- tions ; so every carriage is provided with a cog-wheel which runs in the rack-rail between the other two rails, as on the engine. But there are also " drums " connected with these, which are acted on by clips or brakes. These can be modulated in force to re- tard or to stop the train at will, on the steepest incline about I in 8 so any accident is rendered practically impossible. There are, it will be seen, brakes on the engine and on each carnage ; and, to 34 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. make assurance doubly sure, an air-brake is carried along the train, so that, if at any time a carriage becomes detached, the severance would at once cause this brake to act, and stop the vehicle. In ordinary circumstances the brakes are "on," and they must be taken off by the application of steam. A failing coupling would at once cut off the steam-power which sustains the brake-weights, then they would fall again, and stop the runaway carriage in an instant. The line from Meiringen to Brienz is on the level, and normal. The railway is not complete throughout ; the section from Alpnach to Lucerne is done, but from Brienz to Thun it is not finished. The trans- shipment of passengers by the steamers at Brienz and Bonigen, near I nterlaken, occasions some loss of time, but, nevertheless, we fancy that the tourist will gene- rally prefer the run by steamer, as at present arranged, to the more prosaic, if more rapid, transit by land. The railway is well patronised in the summer, and it affords most beautiful views of the mountains and lakes. Commencing at Alpnach, the Brunig line traverses some very flat scenery, close to the old road, passing the Lake of Sarnen, with stations there, at Sachseln, and Giswyl. So far, the tourist will observe nothing, either in locomotive, carriages, or scenery, to rouse him to any special inquiry or enthusiasm. He will admire the lake and the hills ; the gauge is certainly only one metre in width, but the speed is very fair, and no one thinks anything is extraordinary. But at Giswyl, where the ascent commences very gradually, the locomotive is changed, and an engine specially adapted to the Brunig rail- way is attached to the carriages. Some few minutes are thus occupied, and when the brakes have been connected and arranged, the train resumes its journey upwards and downwards to Meiringen and Brienz. The Reggenbach system, used on the Rigi rail- ways, is that adopted. la the Rigibahn there is RAILWAYS. ^c a rack-rail and toothed-wneel arrangement, and the engine pushes against the train on both up and down journeys, powerful brakes controlling the wheels on the down grade. The Brunig line is constructed on a similar principle, but the gradients are not so steep as on the Rigibahn. THE PILATUS RAILWAY. This steep and somewhat difficult rack railway was completed in 1889. The Pilate Mountain Railway is two miles and sixty-one chains in length, about half of which distance is straight and very steep. The remainder of the line is curved sharply. Some idea of the actual steepness can be gained by inspection, but the uninitiated may wish to read that the steepest ascent is one foot in two feet distance, and the average is not very much less, generally considered being as much as I in 2*8. The line rises 5,363 feet, and the terminus above is 6,8 1 2 feet above the sea I We must confess that the grade appears rather steepish, yet the engine does its duty nobly, if with considerable noise and much gasping. Up amongst the pines it goes, turning the corners as quietly as it is its nature to, and disappearing amid the trees, its course only outlined by a veil of blue smoke. It looks frail enough, but unusual care has been bestowed on the permanent way, and not wrongly, for there were difficulties to be encountered. There are six tunnels, the longest being 318 feet; and two water- stations. The times of ascent and descent vary : one hour and a half is the time for the ascent, an hour and forty minutes to come down. The speed is about seventy-five yards in a minute. The nervous will not go up ; but there is no danger, humanly speaking. The centre (rack) rail is steel, and has teeth on each side which work with the driving wheels. The gauge is 2 feet ?J inches. The centre rail is firmly riveted to the iron, and as it is fixed to the sleeper the security of the rail is guaranteed. The 36 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. transit is effected by a combined locomotive car, which contains thirty-two passengers. The cars have "catches" to the rails to prevent accidents. The brakes are very powerful, and atmospheric air is utilised, as in the Rigi train. There is also an ingenious arrangement by which a brake comes into action if the speed exceeds three miles an hour on the down grade. Thus all alarm may be put aside, though we fear that the excessive gradients may on first appearance frighten some timid travel- lers. The line was quietly inaugurated on the 1st of June, 1889, and carries many hundreds of passengers to the summit of grim Pilatus, which has now become a formidable rival of the favourite Rigi with the ease- loving tourist, who prefers his climbing, like his hair- brushing, done by machinery. The Pilate line, therefore, is arranged on much the same principle as the Rigi railway, with strong grips and cogs. The engines are of a very " fussy " and noisy description, with rapid and powerful stroke. The inclines are extremely steep, and there are several curves. The fussy, and frequent, panting of the engine echoing through the woods that clothe Mount Pilate is rather irritating to the sentimental tourist ; but, taking them all round, these Alpine railways are not intrusive; they are very useful and cleverly constructed ; they interfere with no one, for there are alternative routes by carriage or on foot ; while in many ways they are a positive boon to the hurried traveller whose time, or pocket, prevents him from lingering long, or travelling slowly and expensively, with many resting-places, towards his ultimate des- tination. A HANGING ROUTE. A novel arrangement of the rope system as applied to these mountain lines has lately been suggested with the intention to save the limbs of the modern tourist on Pilatus. Having ascended by railway the steep slopes, the traveller finds himself on RAILWAYS. 37 the highest peak of the mountain near an excellent hotel, looking down on the Lake of Lucerne. But there are other peaks, or at least one other peak, which claim attention, and M. Leonardo Torres, of Santander, has proposed a mode of traversing the distance between the Oberhaupt, the culminating point of Pilatus, and the Kilmenshorn. The distance is 465 metres ; the difference in level, 194 metres. The wire way which he proposes is a kind of cable line, consisting of six wire ropes, which will carry an omnibus with six wheels, but not in the ordinary way. The omnibus will not run on the cables, it will be suspended from them ; the wheels will be overhead, not underneath, and will be controlled and drawn up by means of a rope worked by a steam-engine near the Bellevue Hotel on the summit. Thus, hanging on a rope, the adventurous tourists may admire the scenery while remaining in suspense as to their ultimate destination, should any failure occur in the machinery. A company will doubtless be formed for exploiting this hanging railway ; so, judging by appearances, our friend Tartarin was not so greatly misinformed by his chum Bompard as regards the Alps being in the hands of a limited liability company, by whom avalanches and accidents are arranged on a certain premeditated scale. THE VISP-ZERMATT RAILWAY. There is yet another railway " in the air," if not in the clouds, and this is the short line up the Valley of the Visp to St. Niklaus and Zermatt, whence shortly, no doubt, a funicular or rack railway will ascend to the Riffelberg in summer, or mayhap drag people up the Matterhorn itself ! The Cervin, having become as well-trodden as Mont Blanc, cannot long survive the advance of the conducted ones, and an assault will soon be made upon its precipices and snowy slopes. At present, however, the engineer is content with the line from Visp in the Valais to Zermatt village, along- side the rushing Vispach. The bridle-path by the 3& TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. river indicates the route of this ordinary railway twenty-eight miles in length, of narrow gauge, which is to cost some six millions of francs. There are no peculiar difficulties in the way ; there must be several bridges over the torrent, and mayhap a tunnel or two to avoid curves and avalanches. If completed the rail- way will carry a goodly number of people to Zermatt who never would otherwise go thither. THE EASTERN EUROPEAN RAILWAY LINES. A very important, if not an extremely difficult, line of railway must be mentioned as showing the progress of modern engineering, and illustrating the clearing away of prejudices. This chain of civilisation is a long one, and now extends by the forging of inter- national links from Calais to Constantinople. The opening of the line was an event of European im- portance, and is deserving of notice. From Paris to Stamboul by rail is no longer a phrase, and the much- discussed question of the railroad which had such an influence upon European politics is at length ended. In 1883 the representatives from Austria- Hungary, Turkey, Servia, and Bulgaria met, and decided the question in council. The result agreed upon was that Austria consented to complete the Buda-Pesth and Belgrade section ; thence Servia, who had won her independence, would carry the line on to Nish, and there construct two branches to Zaribrod and to Salonica, or rather to Vranja. Bulgaria then came in with her section from Zaribrod to Vakarel, where Turkey was to take up the running, and complete the communications. Russia had exhausted all her diplomacy to get the command of the Bulgarian portion, even to the extent of fixing, through her agents, a very low estimate for the con- struction of the section. The Russo-Bulgarian party were very hopeful, but the Bulgarians defeated them by tendering even a lower estimate than the officials had laid down as prohibitive. The Russian contractor RAIL WA vs. 39 was defeated, and with him Russia's chance of con- trolling the railway to Constantinople. The Austrians set about performing their part of the scheme, and they opened their section, 352 kilo- metres in length, on the I5th of September, 1884. A splendid bridge over the river Save is one of the engineering triumphs of this line. Servia also was not far behind. She finished her 244 kilometres of railway in November of the same year; in 1886 the Nish-Vranja line, and in 1887 the Nish-Pirst line, were finished, at a cost of ten millions sterling a large sum for Servia. But while the two States above- named were honourably fulfilling their obligations, Turkey and Bulgaria sat with folded hands, and pur- sued a course of " masterly inactivity." The Russian pressure on Bulgaria prevented the line in Prince Alexander's territory from being com- menced, until he proceeded on his own account, and was upset. But the Bulgars at last managed to finance their line, which is 114 kilometres (72 miles) in length, and has cost about 600,000 sterling. The rails are of English make. The course of this sec- tion can be traced through the Dragoman Pass to Slivnitza, memorable in history, and so on to Sofia ; it crosses a gorge by a fine girder-bridge to Vakarel, through scenes memorable for warlike achievements. The remainder of the line is Turkish, and notwith- standing all the delays which the Porte insisted on, the line was opened in August, 1888. This line puts out of joint the Varna and Black Sea route, and shortens the time between Vienna and Constantinople by eighteen hours at least. Bulgaria is also advancing a line from Bourgas to Yanboli. The first sod of this new railway was turned on the 1 3th of May, 1889. It will prove an important link. Bourgas is a port on the Black Sea in eastern Roumelia, and the line goes westward to unite with the existing international line, and connect Philip- popolis with Sofia and the Black Sea, and Bourgas with Constantinople : a benefit to Bulgaria. The 4O TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. railway should prove of great advantage to trade ; docks are in course of progress at Bourgas, by which traffic between Bulgaria and England will be immensely improved and developed. Besides, the scenery of the International Railway is very beautiful. One feature of it is its zigzag course, for the honest contractor, having been paid so much per kilometre, managed to curve about in a curious way, increasing the distance considerably, avoiding all hills. Both the Nichava and Dragoman Passes afford beautiful landscapes and bold scenery as far as Sofia ; thence to Bazardjik the views are varied, but always fine and pleasing until the level is reached, and the well- situated Philippopolis gained. Here the new line is in connection, near the winding Maritza, which lends fresh enchantment to the scene. Altogether the Bulgarian-International line is of singular beauty and utility. THE ARCTIC CIRCLE RAILWAY. A railway within the limits of the Arctic Circle reads as an exaggeration, but our Scandinavian neighbours have actually succeeded in constructing such an one. Railways in Sweden, as we can testify from personal experience, are well and cheaply made. The Government lines are those to which we more particularly refer, but even the second-class lines are well, if not so heavily, laid. On these the speed, the gradients, and weight of plant vary. The lines are single lines. Materials are cheap, timber is plentiful, so Swedish and Norwegian railways are constructed for a much less cost than in other countries. The most northerly railway in the world is that known as the Lulea Ofoden line. Lulea is on the Baltic Sea, or rather we should say on the Gulf of Bothnia, inland of a number of islands, and the railway extends thence to Ofoden in Norway, on the northern shore of the Western Fiord, opposite the Loffoden Islands. The line passes the Gellivara mines, which yield iron ore of very high quality. This ore, it is RAILWAYS. 41 expected, will be shipped from both ports, and even in the winter it can be transported to Ofoden, and thence to other countries. The original direction of the line has been somewhat changed. It was at one time intended to lead the line round the mountains, but the engineers have considered the tunnelling pre- ferable as tending to shorten the distance. The excavation necessary in the "Captain" Hill has occupied the men during the winter in the warmer temperature of the tunnel. Objections have been made regarding the possibility of working the line in winter, and in such latitudes. Engine-driving on and within the Arctic Circle, even at slow speed, does not sound very cheerful ; but, as a matter of fact, the cold is dry and by no means deadly. The calmness of the air and its dryness deprive the cold of much of its sting ; the snow will not drift as in more southerly climes, and it is easy to plough it away. As to the injury likely to be caused to machinery and rolling stock by the cold no fears neod be entertained, as the temperature the cold is a constant quantity, and it is the change of temperature, the sudden and violent variations of climate, which are so injurious to men and metal. Under these circumstances, the mineral traffic from the mines in winter, and of minerals and travellers in the few summer months, may be expected to pay. The engineering difficulties of Swedish lines are not, generally, great. The tunnel, which could have been avoided, is almost the only large work on the Arctic line. The conditions of working are, however, severe, the thermometer in places being as low as 30 deg. below zero in winter. This must affect the rails to an appreciable extent, but experts do not anticipate any unfavourable results : the only condition to be observed is, they say, that the steel rails must be slightly softer than in more temperate regions, and the metal em- ployed must be of the purest possible. The hardness of the ground must also be considered when speed is discussed ; a slower rate of travelling is advocated for 42 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. winter, when the frozen ground resists so firmly the jolting and running of the train. No accidents from broken rails have occurred in Sweden for many years, and this experience should guide experts in their de- cisions when consulted regarding light railways as so many Swedish lines are or railways in almost Arctic climates in both Europe and America. IV. INDIAN AND AFRICAN LINES THE SIBI RAILROAD A CHINESE RAILWAY. The Sibi railway stands out in bold relief in our view of engineering works. It is a sensation a mar- vellous piece of line, not only in its personal features, so to speak, but in its surroundings. It overtops our European masterpieces of Mont Ce*nis and Gothard passes through districts wherein cultivation is a stranger, and hospitality an absentee. The student of geography will tell us that for barrenness, and for the extremes of heat and cold, the country through which the Sibi, or Pisheen, railroad passes, possesses a most unfortunate reputation. Nor are the inhabitants less vile than the districts they manage to inhabit. There are no redeeming qualities in nature or in man. An inhospitable, waterless, treeless region and ruffianly robber tribes are united on the railway tracks. No trees, no food, no water, no shelter, and on the worst side, fever, cholera, cut - throats ; cruel cold ; and torrid heat. Through this charming country, the British Government, impelled by the mighty engines of State requirements, have run a railway. The mili- tary engineers have carried their line more than six thousand feet high over mountains, torrents, passes, and ravines. Of great strategical importance, it is also of immense engineering value. It is two hundred and twenty-four miles long, and the most important portion of these Indian North-Western railways extends from Sibi in loops, which unite at Bostan, or Bostan Junction. One line starts in an easterly direction, and curves to the north-west at RAILWAYS. 43 Dolojal, passing, via Harnai, to Bostan, where it unites with the westerly and north-westerly loop which passes Kotal and Quetta, by the Bolan Pass. These lines communicate, at Ruk, with the Indus Valley railways, and traverse " the plains " until Sibi is reached. This town, as the map shows, is situated on the slope of the mountains which form the " divide " between India proper and Afghanistan. So much for the general idea of the undertaking. The manner in which it was carried out, under conditions with which the civil engineer is not ordinarily con- fronted, was remarkable, and the narrative should make a very interesting chapter. It is a military line as purely strategic as is the Transcaspian Railway, but constructed with much greater difficulty and, we may say, more solidly. General Annenkoff had little to fear from native opposition, and he laid his track nearly on the level. Our military engineers were compelled to cross the mountains at an elevation of 6,300 feet ; to bridge torrents and ravines and to tunnel the rocks ; to resist robber tribes ; to fight climate, scurvy, and cholera ; and above all to execute this work with rapidity, for political events were developing to maturity in the north-west, and a sudden danger had to be guarded against. Therefore not only civil engineering but military precautions and defences had to be carried on. The working parties had to be protected, not only from famine, thirst, and sickness, but from inimical tribes who would, and did, loot and murder all those they could safely attack. All these services were performed under the superintendence of General Sir James Browne, a Royal Engineer employed by the Public Works Department of India. Sibi, at the foot of the mountains, is about four hundred and thirty feet above the level of the sea, and the summit level of the line is near Kach, where the elevation is recorded at 6,324 feet. This height has to be gained within an actual distance of one hundred and twelve miles, necessitating a gradient averaging 44 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. I in 67. Sometimes the material to be excavated was of a very rocky, sometimes of a more yielding, character ; and cuttings rather than tunnels were excavated, as speed in construction was of the first importance. We will now trace the line by the maps and plans kindly placed at our disposal. We will suppose that we have reached Sibi, a town of growing importance, and have mounted a locomo- tive lent us for the occasion. We have to reach Quetta, or we may, if we please, proceed further to Abdulla and Khandahar. We start on an almost level line, but the gradient soon increases in severity, and we run alongside a rapid stream in the Nari Valley. This stream in rainy seasons is stated to be very violent, and therefore the viaducts which span the torrents must be of a very substantial character. The mountains surrounding the valley are nearly 12,000 feet high, and the scenery is bold, wild, and desolate. Precautions had to be taken in this valley to insure the stability of the railway track, which crosses the river five times on viaducts of varying spans, and pierces the adjacent rocks. The number of bridges is extraordinary, for besides the large streams we perceive smaller ones which must be crossed, though part of the year they are dry. In spring they assume immense pro- portions, and sweep all before them. The heat which follows the rains greatly affected the workmen ; cholera and other epidemics arose. Out of fifty officers employed thirty were invalided. Four out of the six contractors perished from various causes : one was murdered. There are gruesome tales told as we ascend the route, and through the Kinchali defile, where landslips occurred, to Dolojal and Duki Road stations, and so along the River Gurmai to Sunari and Nassik, climbing steadily upwards on a steep gradient ; roaring over bridges, or through tunnels, or rattling in cuttings ; admiring the stone protective works which prevent the river washing away the metals, embankments, and everything. RAIL WA vs. 45 All this way we have had experience of bold engineering ; but, though troublesome, the work has not been anything of a very out-of-the-way character. There is plenty of cutting and embanking, and a great number of viaducts, but when our engine has reached Sharigh \ve find ourselves in a valley some four thousand feet high and about seventy-two miles from our starting-point Sibi. A little further on we reach a fine gorge or defile known as Chappar Rift, a breach in the mountains, a chasm, through which we may get a glimpse of a silvery thread of a shy watercourse hiding itself beneath the boulders, avoiding the sunlight and only peeping out occasionally. This is the Altamar. There is a road up the gorge, but at times the river, headstrong, buries the track completely, and rushes in overwhelming torrents down the sloping road at a tremendous pace, the fall in the short distance of two miles being more than 450 feet ! The engine cannot mount this acclivity by any direct line, so the gorge is turned by a curving route some- thing after the Gothard pattern, and when a sufficient elevation has been reached a bridge carries the rail- way across a lateral gorge, and doubling back on the other side takes a running leap 150 feet across the gorge on a bridge and a viaduct, having eight forty- feet spans, at a height of 250 feet above the stream. This viaduct was opened by the Duchess of Connaught in March, 1887. There was considerable difficulty in bringing the railway down the sloping and shifting side of the rift in order to cross the chasm. The side of the ravine is very shelving, and when the railway has crossed the lateral gorge on a curving viaduct, this great rocky slope is encountered ; the frequent falls of rock and showers of stones, such as Alpine climbers occasionally meet with, are very awkward things to deal with. So the rock had to be traversed by " shallow tunnels worked by adits running in at the side and top," which allows " the drainage and land- slips to pass over the line." By these means the 46 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. railway descends the valley, through the hill, and crosses the gorge on the bridge. This viaduct and bridge are a record of perseverance and energy ; all the material had to be brought a long distance and hoisted up on rope tramways, in mid-winter, with only native assistance. Some idea of the work and labour required will be gathered from the statement that in three miles and a half there are nine tunnels of an aggregate length of one mile and three hundred and seventy-three yards, with bridges and viaducts of lengths of span amounting to over fourteen hundred feet, on a severe gradient (i in 45), and on treacherous ground. This is a sample of the kind of work effected on the Sibi Railway, and it is scarcely necessary to enter into many more details of its construction. But we must bear in mind the tremendous difficulties of the task. The climate we have incidentally mentioned, and the mortality was terrible. A semi-official ac- count tells us that the construction of the line was " a more anxious task than seizing and holding a hostile country." The men were placed in small cantonments, guarded by troops sent from miles distant to protect the works and workers. But fever claimed hundreds of victims who could not be pro- tected save in hospitals which were quickly built. Thousands were hurried up to replace those hors de combat ; and, again, others to fill their vacancies. There was no time for ceremony ; political exigencies overrode all other considerations. The line must be made, and men can die but once ! They died in hundreds! In 1886, gangs had to be replaced every two months. The number of men employed was enormous ; at times, as many as thirty thousand hands were at work on various parts of the line, the average being con- siderably in excess of seventeen thousand between 1885 and 1887. The expenses were heavy, but, taking all the circumstances into consideration, not excessive. Materials had to be carried great distances. The rails RAIL WA YS. 47 came from England ; stone was scarce, and stores were carried on baggage animals ; while girders and such- like were dragged up by main force. Water, in the rainy seasons, drowned out the works, and the floods constantly interfered with the foundations of the piers and the erection of bridges. Furious winds, we are told, "in Arctic weather threatened to overturn the stagings ; " and in one place the floods " filled up the foundations four times in succession, when carried down twenty-two feet below the river-bed, after fling- ing into them the engines, pumps, and boilers." These difficulties were, however, overcome. The line is now in good working order, with Fairlie engines, which are powerful machines, suited for mountain traffic. The summit level is high, being 2,800 feet higher than the St. Gothard line, and 2,400 feet higher than the Mont C^nis. The line from the junction with the Indus Valley Railway to Sibi is 133 miles; from Sibi to Quetta 106, viA Kotal, but 155 vid Bostan Junction. From Bostan the line is continued, and it may, if prolonged, actually unite with the Russian military railway. Whether this will be an advantage to India we may take leave to doubt. THE CONGO RAILWAY. The Congo was to a certain extent explored in 1817, when Captain Tuckey undertook an expedition thither, but many years after Livingstone, and chief of all, Henry M. Stanley, proceeded to the almost un- known region. Livingstone had fancied the river was the Nile, but this supposition was dissipated by Stanley, who subsequently was sent by the Inter- national Association to explore and open up the river and the districts through which it flowed. The Congo Railway Concession was granted to Stanley, and an attempt was made to form an English company to construct a railway from Vivi to Stanley Falls. The line was considered necessary for trade, because so many cataracts intervened between the lower and 48 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. upper reaches of the river. But the Belgian capitalists did not agree with the British in the enterprise, and the former undertook the business almost unaided by English money. The expedition left Antwerp in May, 1887, and the survey was commenced. At the end of 1888 the party, under the leadership of M. Cambier, finished the work. The entire length of the railway is just two hundred miles. It proceeds upon the south side of the stream, and at an average distance of thirty miles from it. In this respect the railway projectors have done wisely, because, as is evident, the Congo receives the streams of many important affluents, and if the old caravan track were more closely adhered to the line would have to be carried on bridges and viaducts across extensive streams and marsh land near the junctions of the rivers. Such works would add very materially to the expense ; therefore a greater distance has been taken, by which the deeper ravines and gorges are left, and the streams are crossed at narrow places. The engineers reported that no engineering difficulties stood in the way. The Mpozo River is crossed, and the line, avoiding the great plateau of Palababa, proceeds N.N.E. until the Lakunga is reached. The line is carried on the left bank of this river, and thence to Inkissi. The pioneers encountered no serious obstacles, even where the In- kissi is crossed ; for here are rocks in mid-stream, and the piers of the required bridge, about four hundred feet long, rest on them, and save the erection of cylinders. From the Inkissi the country appears to be more difficult, being higher, and the valleys are narrow, up to Stanley Pool. THE FIRST CHINESE RAILWAY. Although the opening of the railway in China in September, 1888, was not the outcome of any very great engineering difficulties, the occasion was none the less a triumph for the English engineers. Mr. C. W. Kinder, C.E., and Mr. C. D. Churchward, C.E., RAILWAYS. 49 are the gentlemen responsible for the line, and its un- doubted success should satisfy them and their British associates, for the chiefs of departments and the engine- drivers are also English " barbarians." The line, which is single, extends between Tientsin, Taku Harbour, and the Tingshang coal-district, is eighty-six and a half miles long, and is chiefly remarkable for the immense change it has caused amongst the people of China. The engineering works, although not diffi- cult, are deserving of notice, several arrangements having had to be made for carrying the line over swampy ground, and over some considerable rivers, one of the streams being crossed on a swing-span bridge. The swing is sixty feet in width, and the bridge (iron girders and stone piers) of iron, being seven hundred and twenty feet in length. Altogether there are fifty bridges on the line, some very close together in places where inundations are likely to occur. The line was built by Chinese labourers under English superintendence, the signals are primitive, the signalman is quaint, and the passengers express as much astonishment as Oriental etiquette will permit. China has been a " close borough " for many centuries. At last the iron horse has aroused her from her calm, and we may expect to see changes still vaster than any yet accomplished following in the train, of the locomotive in China. V. CABLE RAILWAYS. Although cable lines have been in use in America for several years, we do not appear to have greatly adopted them in the United Kingdom. The first line of this character was started in San Francisco, and a short time since a proposal was made to " gridiron " New York with similar lines. Stationary cable lines are common to nearly all countries, and it was actually a question in the year 1830 whether or not the Liver- pool and Manchester Railway should be worked with ;i cable or by locomotive engine-power. A funicular line is worked at Lucerne, and in other places. 5o TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. This system consists in an endless steel rope or wire rope which moves in a tube or depression beneath the rails. The rope is at intervals supported by rollers or pulleys. On an incline, one car will draw up the other if the former be filled with water, as at the Giessbach, on the Lake of Brienz, in Switzerland. The heavy car pulls up the lighter one. When the passengers have alighted the water is discharged, and the upper car is filled in readiness to pull up another living freight. This adaptation of the cable, or funicular, railway is simple enough : the law of gravity is the motive- power. But in the streets there are no such inclines to mount. We must in this case have a stationary engine working. A " gripping " arrangement, some- thing like the lever of an ordinary locomotive, transmits the motion to the rope, which fixes the speed. Thus, when the engine is started, the rope moves if permitted by the grip, which controls the pace either on level or sloping railways of this kind. A man by moving the lever starts or stops the car, which by mechanism grasps the rope. Road-cars can thus be managed on any street or series of streets, and are better fitted for the straight American thoroughfares perhaps. But the cable line can be adapted to curves by means of guide-rollers, and as the cable is in general supported by pulleys it can be also depressed, when necessary, by other pulleys. The machinery particularly the rope requires constant attention, and on the steep gradients at Lucerne and the Giessbach, &c., such inspection is absolutely necessary. Spare or duplicate wire ropes are generally in reserve, so that the " gripper " who controls them may in a moment shift the weight to the duplicate cable. On street lines in America, the two cables run side by side in the tube, and have their separate stationary engines. By these precautions accidents may be avoided and delays obviated. The double grips shunt the new cable to the motion while the old o.ne is dropped. RAIL WA vs. 5 1 What are termed " pulley- vaults " are excavated in the roadway, by means of which the pulleys may be examined beneath. The first funicular line was tried in Clay Street Hill, San Francisco, in 1873, but the system required time to develop itself. Many other American towns have followed the example of the western city, and the cable railway is immensely popular. The objections to horse - power in the animal itself are overcome; the bells, whistles, shocks, and jerks of the "trams" are obviated. The under- ground railway, too, would be more healthy and pleasant if worked on the funicular system by engines at certain intervals. The cable line, however, has its bad as well as its good points. If it could be self- propelling and moved by compressed air or electricity it would be almost perfect ; but then in its trans- formation it would cease to be a true cable line ! The difficulties which are sought to be overcome by compressed air are those incidental to the housing and bringing-out, and the shunting, of the cars. The cable-car would still retain its character while possess- ing interior powers of motion which would render it independent of accidents. .Air-brakes on steep grades are also desirable, as well as the automatic arrange- ment at present in use. Steam has also been applied to road-cars as well as electricity. An omnibus proceeding automatically was not long ago a curious feature of the London streets. But the cable railway has not found so great favour in our eyes as in those of our American cousins. The first London cable tramway was not begun until 1883, and was opened in 1884, extending from the well-known " Archway " Tavern in Holloway to Hornsey, up the hill. The steepest grade is i in n, near Hornsey Lane. The line is double nearly all along the route, the gauge being 3 J feet. The endless cable runs in underground tubes except where the line is necessarily single, when it is made to run in the same tube in different directions at once. The tube is of course open at the top ; through the slot, the car 52 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. catches on to the cable, and is moved thereby. The cable is of steel, some three inches in diameter, and worked endlessly around pulleys at either end. The duplicated machinery drives the cars at about five miles an hour. The cars themselves are nothing peculiar. They have catches or " grips " which are manipulated from the platform of the car, and passing through the opening in the tube, seize on the moving rope. If the car is required to halt, the hold is immediately released by the conductor, the cable continuing to travel on. When progress is to be resumed the grip is again put on, and the car proceeds. This arrangement is similar to the American plan. The cable is sup- ported, in the manner already described, by pulleys ; and when curves are found necessary the pulleys are wider, and set at the required angle instead of being straight. When the "gripper" is holding the cable it is, of course, raised above any pulleys over which the car passes in transit. Such is a brief description of the cable railways, which will, in time, find more favour with us, particularly in hilly localities, where the strain on horses is very great, and the progress of the tram- car compares unfavourably .not only with the cable line but with the average pedestrian, unless an extra horse be attached to the vehicle. A great deal has been written about the Cable Railway on the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, which is about one mile and 246 yards long. This cable line is a double track ; the speed of the cars, or trains, is about ten miles an hour. These cars can be coupled together if the demand for accommodation be great, and each car will seat about 120 people. The gauge is 4 feet 8J inches ; the incline is one in 26|. The cable or rope runs unceasingly in one direction and the cars grip it ; but locomotives are employed to shunt them at each terminus and put them in the right track. The motion is communicated by steam which runs the rope over drums 12 feet in diameter, and grooved for the admission of the rope. This cable is made of steel \\ inch in diameter. It is sup- RAILWAYS, 53 ported on pulleys as usual. The cable is very strong ; one employed on the bridge the first cable is stated to have been in use 3 years and 43 days ! In that very respectable period of its existence it ran 226,273 miles, pulled 837,895 cars, and, mirabile dictu^ 48,960,000 passengers ! The cars hauled by this in- dustrious cable are 48 feet 10 inches long, over all The wheels are of paper, with steel tires, and 2\ feet in diameter. The cars are lighted and warmed when necessary. These extracts are made from a lengthy paper on the subject, which was read at the meeting of the American Society of Engineers in 1888. An ingenious use of wire ropeway is made in the French " Esperance Lingdoz " Company's works, where the furnace slag is conveyed when granulated, from the receiving basin, by a chain of buckets, into an elevated receiver 160 feet above the starting- point. This ropeway transports 1 30 tons of slag a day if required. There are a hauling rope for pulling the "skeps," and two rope lines on which these buckets travel full and empty ; there are carrying ropes for both full and empty roads. The speed employed is 2,\ miles an hour, and immense labour is saved, as only five people are engaged in this business an engine-driver, a man to fill, and one to hook on the full buckets at the point of departure, a lad to tip up the buckets at the end of their journey, and a man to hook them on to the " empty " road- rope, and send them back again. Very simple but extremely ingenious arrangements are made for attaching the buckets to the hauling rope at any point, and the means employed to keep the ropes separate and free from dangerous oscillations, and falls, by means of sling-rods and pendulums, are worthy of inspection. Everything works well and very cheaply. 54 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. VI. SHIP RAILWAYS. THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWAY. We will now briefly examine Mr. Eads' plan as put forth by his coadjutor, Mr. Corthell, who, not unna- turally, prefers his own plan to any other. The course of the ship railway is across Mexican territory in the isthmus. This route will be 700 miles shorter than via Panama from Liverpool to San Francisco, and in increasing proportion between New York and New Orleans and San Francisco respectively. So much for distance. As regards time in transit the ship railway again claims the advantage. The progress through the Suez Canal (100 miles) is 48 hours, and there are no lock barriers to interfere with the navigation. In the Nicaragua Ship Canal there will be many locks, and considerable detention may be expected. If we calculate this time wasted as against the shorter Panama route, both ship routes will be about the same ; but the ship railway route not having any serious delays to contend against, the train being able to proceed quickly, will distance its rivals. Again, as regards cheapness of construction and maintenance we have evidence in favour of the Te- huantepec route. Ten millions of pounds is estimated as sufficient to provide transport for vessels of 5,000 tons. The Panama Canal estimate is bottomless. The Nicaragua scheme is (say) ; 12,000,000. As regards maintenance the railway must be less costly. The floods on the other routes are regarded as most destructive, and, in Panama, the Chagres River is an ever-present danger. On the ship line are no rivers of magnitude, and no difficulty in raising the vessels is to be feared. The mode of elevating the ships is simple but ingenious, and performed by means of a " lifting dock," that is, a dock into which the ship floats, and from which the water is pumped. She is thus "docked," and by an arrangement of hydraulic presses RAILWAYS. 55 is retained in ner normal position. We now proceed to details of this undertaking. The isthmus across which Mr. Eads' railway will run is part of the Mexican territory near Yucatan of Toltec memory, and has ere this been surveyed with a view to short cuts from ocean to ocean ; more than a hundred years ago the idea of a canal was mooted. But to Mr. Eads the late Mr. Eads we must regret- fully add and to Mr. Williams, of the Tehuantepec Railway Company, the latest project is due. A right of way has been acquired across the isthmus, and the line runs north and south. On the north side, on the shores of the Coalzacoalcas River, is the Minatitlan terminus of the railway, which is reached by the river some twenty-five miles from the sea. To this place vessels can steam or sail ; if we suppose that we have reached Minatitlan, or Salina Cruz on the other side, we can take rail across the vessel is transported bodily^ We are on board our steamer, which is first docked for her transit. She enters facing the line; and under water out of sight there lies a kind of pontoon, on which are fixed six lines of rails which correspond to those on land as exactly as the rails on a turn-table correspond to those in the siding. Water is rapidly pumped out of this pontoon, and it rises by degrees under our vessel's keel, when the ship by hydraulic press arrangements is firmly retained in her position upon the block and rails, equal pressure being laid on each wheel of a truck or car to which the vessel is fixed. This truck has wheels which run on the rails; the springs and supports adjust themselves to the ship they have in hand. The pontoon then rises with its car and its ship. The correct elevation having been reached, the car is run off the pontoon to the rails ashore, and the vessel is ready to cross the isthmus by rail on its cradle, which somewhat resembles a gigantic snow-shoe. We have said that there are six lines of rails on which the cradle runs with its many wheels. Three locomotives abreast are coupled to the cradle-truck, $6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. and the ship starts on the straight line, of the usual gauge, 4 feet 8 inches, only there are three lines abreast, and the traffic is all on one line, there being no "up" and "down" metals. It is necessary for the peculiar construction of the apparatus that the line be straight, but as Nature was not consulted on the question she has not completely fallen in with the requirements of the directors, so they have had to circumvent her. There is, unfortunately, a difficulty in making curves of sufficiently extensive radius by which a vessel some four or five hundred feet long can be carried round a corner. But changes in direction may be made, while cuttings and embank- ments must be avoided as much as possible, and tunnels eschewed. The manner in which the engineers have got over the apparently insurmountable difficulty is very in- genious, and the apparatus they employ is a unique feature of the undertaking. There are floating turn- tables at different places where the route turns aside. In the ordinary turn-tables of our railways we have a circular pit in which, supported by girders, a table or platform runs on wheels, bringing the locomotive or carriage into connection with other lines, turning the engine round if necessary. In the ship railway the pit of the ordinary turn-table is filled with water, and a pontoon supports the rails. It runs round, as required, by steam propulsion. When the ship is sighted as approaching, the pontoon is weighted with water until it is firmly grounded, and practically a fixed piece of the line. The vessel 1 then is run on it, and is aground. But water is quickly pumped out of the pontoon, which, bearing its load, soon floats in the turn-table water-pit. Then the car, the ship, and the table on which they rest, are turned by steam, and the vessel's head brought Around in the direction in which she is to proceed. The turn-table is again filled with water, the pontoon sinks, bringing the rails to the level of those on the ground ; the engines are harnessed, and away steams the ship, until another RAILWAYS. 57 necessary change of course brings another turn-table into play. Thus from valley to valley the ship is carried, heading in different directions at different times, making a rigid, erratic course, but still crossing the isthmus on the level, or nearly so. When the southern terminus is reached, the friendly pontoon awaits buoyantly the car and steamship or sail- ing-vessel, as the case may be. Water is pumped in, the pontoon sinks, the presses relax their hold, the ship is launched in the dock, and is once more free to go as she pleases across the ocean. Ships coming across from the other side are treated in the same way, and the inevitable passing on the road is arranged for at sidings at one or the other of the turn-table stations. This line is worked on the " staff system," we presume. There are, apparently, no difficulties in the transit. " Cushioned in water," the ship rides upright, head on, to her destination. " Borne on a system of columns of water under pressure," she is then conveyed across country, the supports being applied hydraulically under water before she is lifted up, and removed under water before she again settles into her "native element." The supports keep the vessel perfectly steady. The line rises easily from the Atlantic to the summit level of 776 feet, and thence up or down, from or to the Pacific, the grade is I in 100. It would appear that the success of this ship railway will be assured if the hydraulic machinery do not get out of order. Many eminent engineers have pronounced in favour of the plan, which will, perhaps, supersede the heavy- charging Panama Railway, which mulcts its passengers twenty-five dollars a-head for the journey across the isthmus. The Isthmus Ship Railway will greatly shorten the distance by sea from New York and Liverpool to China, Australia, San Francisco, or New Zealand. A table has been drawn up which demonstrates that the excess of the existing sea routes vid the Cape, the Suez Canal, by Panama railroad, or Cape Horn, over 58 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the ship railway route, ranges from 469 miles in the voyage from Liverpool to Hong Kong, via the Cape of Good Hope, to the enormous distance of 10,797 miles, which the route " New York to San Francisco, vid Cape Horn," shows. No matter by what route you travel, between New York and the places named, or Liverpool and the same places, the gain by using the ship railway will amount to hundreds and thou- sands of miles according to circumstances, the average gain being something over 3,000 miles. What effect the opening of the Tehuantepec Ship Railway will have upon the Pacific lines across the American Con- tinent remains to be seen. THE NOVA SCOTIA SHIP RAILWAY. This ship railway is constructed on the principles already described in our notice of the Tehuantepec line across the Mexican isthmus. Before long, the Chignecto Marine Transport Company for this is the high-sounding title of the undertaking will trans- port large vessels between Tidnish and Amherst over the isthmus lying between our possessions in Nova Scotia and Canada. There is one feature in this novel scheme which is different from other somewhat similar undertakings, viz., the substitution of powerful hydrau- lic lifts for the pontoons which are to be used in the Mexican Ship Railway when it is completed. The immense lifts are constructed in England, and are capable of raising vessels of 4,000 tons forty feet. The ship railway confers immense advantages on traders. If anyone wishes to perceive what a benefit it is, he has only to take down his atlas and study the geographical features of New Bruns- wick and Nova Scotia. On the east lies the Atlantic, on the west the Bay of Fundy ; at the upper end of which is Chignecto Bay (or Chiegnecto Bay, in some maps). At the northern extremity stands Amherst, and further north, on the coast of Cumber- land Strait, is Tidnish, in Bay Verte. Across the Strait is King Edward's Island, and the Gulf of St RAILWAYS. 59 Lawrence lies beyond it, with its fine affluent the St. Lawrence River. No one can fail to perceive the great saving which this ship railway will be in dis- tance. Vessels must coast all round Nova Scotia through the Gut of Canso a not particularly safe voyage in foggy weather, and blocked by ice in winter ; then round Cape Sable to St. Johns, New Brunswick, and so on up the bay. It is calculated that a saving of some six hundred miles will be effected by the use of the new railway. The arrangements are on much the same plan as the more southern ship-line. The ship is lifted by hydraulic power bodily, and swung from the dock into the cradle ready to receive it. This cradle or perhaps "perambulator" is the more fitting term is drawn by two locomotive engines on four lines of metals side by side, and the ships are de- posited after their seventeen miles' trip in the other dock, whence they are despatched to their various destinations. The engineers are Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. VII. THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS OF LONDON. A short history of the various plans of the Metro- politan Railways, and a description of the new Outer Circle lines, showing the gradual development of the system in the metropolis, will, we believe, be interest- ing to all our readers. Not only London, but Paris and Glasgow have their underground or metropolitan railways, and New York has something " for high " in the elevated line which crosses the thoroughfares in mid-air, and spans the Haarlem River on a fine viaduct. But our London line is more interesting to the majority of people because of its popularity, and to readers of engineering proclivities, the trial trips, and the various types of locomotives used in former days, will form a chapter in the records of technical enterprise. We propose, therefore, in this section to give a short account of the Metropolitan Railways, 60 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. their origin, their construction, progress, and proposed extensions. Though scarcely modern, they are always interesting. Paddington was the western terminus of the first line. Between that suburb and the City railway communication was first introduced on an over- ground line in 1834, when City men were regularly transported to and from their business and their homes by steam-traction along the Marylebone Road. The line extended from Paddington to Moorgate Street, and the fares charged were much about the same as at present by the Underground Railway. But it was not until 1854 that Parliament sanctioned the construction of the North Metropolitan Railway to run under the New Road from Paddington to the Post Office, an extension of the line from Edgware Road to King's Cross, which had been permitted in 1853. The Royal Commission on Metropolitan Railways had by that time given its decision. Its existence had been justified by the extraordinary number of plans which cropped up in "the '45." Quite another revolution a railway rising was inaugurated, and nearly every trunk line wanted access to the heart of the metropolis, or at any rate feeders for its traffic. The great companies put forth their plans, and Mr. Pearson (City solicitor) suggested a true underground railway to Farringdon Street from King's Cross. The Great Western people, with considerable fore-knowledge, proposed to come from Paddington vid Kensington to Westminster, and down to Blackwall by means of an embankment. The South Eastern wanted to come to Waterloo, and the South Western wanted to come to London Bridge ; a line from Charing Cross to Cannon Street was also suggested, and several others. The Report is pleasant reading. But the Commissioners did not altogether rise to the occasion. They objected to more bridges over the Thames because they would interfere with the traffic on the river ; and they could not sanction the utilisation of any then existing RAILWAYS. 61 bridges for railway purposes ; so they virtually vetoed any communication by railway between Middlesex and Surrey. Thus the Companies found themselves in much the same difficulty as the debt-embarrassed Mr. Richard Swiveller, who had to " go three miles out of town to get over the way." The somewhat narrow-minded junta also decided that business men didn't want to come into the City by rail. People could reach King's Cross or Euston Terminus, and a mile or so made no difference then. The Commissioners would have none of these schemes ; they could not sanction such fads as railways over the Thames. Let people walk or drive to Nine Elms or Waterloo. Forty years have seen all these opinions scattered to the winds, and practical schemes matured. We may now briefly chronicle the progress of the lines. Paddington to the City, with branches to the Great Western and other main lines, sanctioned in 1854; Paddington to Farringdon Street, opened in 1863 ; to Moorgate, 1865 ; to Westminster, 1868 ; to Mansion House, 1871 ; to Bishopsgate, 1875 ; to Aid- gate, 1876; to the Tower, 1882; and the circle was completed in 1884, just thirty years after the initiation. In 1888 the Metropolitan Railway was extended to Rickmansworth, in 1889 to Chesham and Aylesbury, Bucks. The new Outer Circle will tap all the main lines at various points in the metropolis when constructed. This is the outcome of the plans de- posited in 1853 4, notwithstanding the adverse opinions of the Special Commission. The first line was a success ; the Government began to think that Post Office business might probably be assisted by the underground line, and Sir R. Hill suggested that it should be carried into the Post Office itself. En- gineers went to work, architects pegged away, and the line from Paddington to Farringdon Street was worked by the Great Western Railway on the broad gauge in 1863. But we must not anticipate. The results of the proposals at first rather con- 62 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. firmed the statements of the Parliamentary Com- missioners that railways were not wanted in the City. We have Mr. Baker's authority for stating that " for some years after the passing of the Act of 1854, the public declined to assent to the practicability or use- fulness of the proposed railway." They could not recognise its usefulness ! The usefulness of the line which carried them rapidly and cheaply to their business was not supported ! Time was apparently not so valuable then as now. But, as we have said, promoters and engineers kept pegging away, and the works were begun in 1860. Success immediately followed, and extensions began in many directions. The Corporation had come to the rescue, and the money was at length found. No sooner had the line been opened than it became a gigantic success. The contract for the distance from Paddington to Far- ringdon Street, between three and four miles, was at the rate of 186,000 per mile. Some considerable difficulties were met with in construction. The boring of the clay, and the supporting of streets and houses, without interfering with traffic or residents, were works which required the greatest care. Besides the sewers, gas pipes and even streams had to be dealt with. It seems surperfluous to speak of tunnels in an under- ground railway system ; but there were tunnels to be driven, and as the lines extended round London, more and more work had to be done. We need not select any particular section for our description ; let us rather take the Underground Railways as a whole, as one of two systems, and examine the engineering diffi- culties. To consider them we must turn to a good guide to London, and examine the features of the ground. We have beside us an old map and a new guide. The hills and roads are now covered with houses and streets. St. John's Wood is no longer bosky, and the Tybourne no longer meanders through Marylebone Lane. Ludgate Hill is not bounded by the Fleet, nor does the Westbourne ripple down from the slopes of RAIL WA KS. 63 Hampstead to Hyde Park and the Thames in the old way. These streams are now sewers, and known as such. The romance has departed. We have hills surrounding our " little village " at Hampstead, and some small rising grounds known as Haverstock, Primrose, Netting, Ludgate, Snow, Maida, and other hills. Through these and across the streams the Metropolitan lines had to be driven, rising some four hundred feet at Hampstead, and descending a few feet beneath low-water level in the Thames Embank- ment on the District line in Pimlico. The two rival lines are the Metropolitan and the District. On the engineer's authority we may state that the general level of the latter is thirteen feet below Thames high-water mark, while the other is, in places, as much as sixty feet above it. There are cuttings and tunnels in the Inner Circle line, which follows the levels, slopes, and natural eleva- tions as closely as is possible under the circum- stances ; but the line must go under the streams which flow across its course in several places. The description of the nature of the soil through which the line was driven would be very interesting and instructive. Various deposits were cut through, and the strata enlightened the geologists as to the past geographical relations of our tight little island, which at one time was not an island at all. Listen to Mr. Baker : " At what period in the remote past the sand, gravel, and brick earth cut through by the railway in Westminster at a level of eight feet, and in Marylebone at 103 feet above Ordnance datum, were deposited, no man can tell. It is believed, however, that England was then united to the Continent ; that the present site of the North Sea was dry land, and the Thames a tributary of the Rhine." The view thus opened to us in consequence of the excavations for the "Underground Railway" possesses more than a local interest, but we cannot dwell on it. The excavations occupied considerable time, and varied in the manner of attack according to 64 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. taste. The traffic was in some places carried over the drifts on planks, and some gangs were working below others. Work was continuous day and night. The width of the line is twenty-eight and a half feet. The line was doubled or widened at King's Cross, where two tunnels run side by side to Farringdon Street. One of these tunnels is officially known as the Widening tunnel; the other is the Clerkenwell tunnel. Campden Hill gave the engineers considerable trouble, being of a sandy and slipping consistency, or rather inconsistency; and several "settlements" are recorded. But the struttings and timberings generally were successfully completed. The line was cut and arched, and complaints of danger died away. There are thirteen miles of the Metropolitan (Inner Circle) Railway, and in this distance there occur more than double that number of stations. Some of these are more underground than others. But the ventilation was found to be very defective ; complaints of the gas were heard from all stations ; the glass was removed and air permitted access. Some stations are planted in cuttings, and plenty of ventilation is secured. The Temple Station is a specially designed one, because, as Mr. Baker says, " the agreement with the Duke of Norfolk precluded the use of a raised roof." Besides the difficulties with the ventilation, the sewers had to be taken in hand, and carried either over or under the line ; no pleasant task. We have mentioned the Fleet, the Tybourne, and the Westbourne, and it may surprise some readers to see that the first-named stream or sewer is five times encountered and crossed. For purposes of the line it was diverted more than once ; and once it burst. The crossings are arranged in iron tubes and brick channels. The Creek Sewer, 01 Bridge Creek stream, runs beneath the " District ' in Kensington, near Earl's Court. At Sloane Square the iron tube tells us of a "sewer." This tube contains all that now represents the Westbourne RAILWAYS. 65 River, which, under the plebeian title of the " Rane- lagh Sewer," drags its slow length along beneath the Metropolitan, near Gloucester Road, and over the District, as aforesaid. Near Victoria we en- counter another sewer, which is the same that is in evidence at Baker Street Station. This is the once bright and merry Tybourne stream, now formally designated " King's Scholar's Pond Sewer." Tybourne Lane is now Park Lane, a change for the better ; but the river has not been improved either in name or nature by the general metropolitan extension. These four streams had to be dealt with, and were successfully conducted to the Thames after a struggle. It may be recorded that when the line was ap- proaching completion in its first lengths, we mean the question of locomotives gave the engineers food for thought. The subterranean line could not be worked by engines of the ordinary type, but it does not appear that atmospheric trains on the pumping system, so long in use between Kingstown and Dalkey, in Ire- land, were ever suggested. For short distances this mode might have answered if the engines could have been accommodated. Hot-water engines were at first suggested, and in fact determined on, a circumstance which goes far to account for the (supposed) fatuity of the contractors in building unventilated stations. The hot-water engine was an idea of Mr. Fowler's, but he was convinced that the ordinary railway locomotive would work the line just as well " without any special ventilation." Again, the trains were to be very short, and the time of performing the run between Paddington and the City in proportion. These points and the hot-water machine were all decided on, but in practice they did not realise anticipation. We cannot say that the hot- water locomotive was a failure, because it never was tried on the Metropolitan railways ; but the length and weight of trains are far in excess of the original estimates, while the time occupied in the run is equally 66 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. elongated. An engine to run on the strength of its accumulated heat was tried. This was called a "fire-brick locomotive," because that material in the boiler chamber was intended to supply the required heat in the tunnels, with no steam on. In the cuttings the engine would be firing and steaming as usual. These engines did not answer, and a Great Western broad-gauge specially-designed locomotive took up the running. Then the Great Northern stepped in, and used tender-engines on the narrow-gauge metals. The broad-gauge was eventually removed, and Messrs. Beyer and Peacock built the present tank engines, having four coupled wheels, 4 feet 9 inches diameter, and a "bogie." The inconvenience caused by the smoke and gases must be in the memory and on the olfactory nerves of thousands. The line ran almost round the metropolis, but for a long while Moorgate and Mansion House Stations represented the termini, although the Company had powers to continue the work, powers taken which Government compelled them to act on. The District Company did not particularly want to go beyond Mansion House, and an independent Company undertook the duty of completing the Circle. The Metropolitan had reached Aldgate, and had to go to the Tower. Sir John Hawkshaw decided the question of the completion of the line by the two Companies. The line eastward leaves Mansion House, and runs to Cannon Street, and underneath it to King William Street. Thence under Eastcheap and Great Tower Street to Trinity Square ; thence under the Blackwall line to Aldgate, beneath the Minories. It also extends to Whitechapel and the East London line, which gives trains access to New Cross and to the Brighton and South Eastern systems. The work in the City had to be carried on with much circum- spection, as buildings, statues, and immense ware- houses had to be undermined and underpinned while the line was being carried on beneath them ; and even King William the Fourth shook on his. pedestal. RAILWAYS. 67 Fans were worked between the Monument and the Cannon Street Stations to get rid of the foul air, as also in Whitechapel, and near Mark Lane. By these means ventilation was secured ; but many complaints were made of the vibration, and blow- holes were substituted. The Inner Circle was thus completed, but has not been quite so successful as was anticipated. In 1888 another scheme passed the House of Lords for a new metropolitan line, to be called the Outer Circle, which will not be so expensive to construct, and may, therefore, be expected to pay better than the very costly underground lines. The " Outer Circle " scheme is briefly as follows, its object being to collect and distribute the foods and other commodities which come to the Port of London, or into the Docks. The Outer Circle Railway is the long-missing link in the chain of metropolitan communications. It will be the tyre to connect the spokes and unite the diverging tracks. It will communicate with the great trunk lines at places already determined on, and thus bring the Docks, from St. Katherine's to Tilbury, into connection with all existing metropolitan lines and main railways. There will be junctions at Ealing, where the union with the Great Western system will be consolidated ; with the North Western at Sud- bury, beyond Willesden ; the Midland will be served at Mill Hill ; the Great Northern at Southgate ; the Great Eastern at Edmonton. The Kingsbury Junction will give access to the Metropolitan and District lines, and so on to the South Western, Chatham, and Brighton Companies, whose trains connect at many places. By this link all lines will be united, a through system of distribution insured, and transhipment avoided. The length of the proposed line will be eighteen miles and a half. It is estimated at ^"65,000 a mile, a very moderate sum when compared with the underground railways, and even with the North London, though nearly double the cost of the Tilbury and Southend line. 68 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. We will conclude by giving the respective costs per mile of the Metropolitan lines mentioned above or referred to. The average of the whole Metro- politan Railway, 22 miles long, has been 5 15,000 a mile, but we shall find lengths where the cost has amounted to 1,200,000 per mile. The District Railway, 19 miles, cost 440,000 a mile ; the North London, 12 miles, 325,000; an d the London and Southend, 49 miles, 34,000 only. In 1886 the number of passengers carried on these lines was about 146 millions ; and if we may put the increase at the same rate as before, the traffic would amount to considerably over 156 millions of travellers on those four lines only. The increase in the ten years from 1875 to 1886 amounted to nearly 54 millions of passengers, or five millions per annum. SECTION II. TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS, Alpine Tunnels The Mont Cenis, the Semmering, and the Brenner The St. Gothard Project A Glance at the Line The St. Gothard Tunnel Its Construction and Cost The Arlberg Scheme The Line and the Tunnel Competitive Borers Success Assured The Proposed Alpine Tunnels The Simplon, Mont Blanc, and St. Bernard Schemes The Severn Tunnel Its Initiation and Failure Mr. Walker's Attack His Pluck and Perseverance* The Flooding of the Works Dangers and Difficulties Encountered Victory at length Assured The Mersey Tunnel Exactness of the Calculations The Lifts The Dee Bridge The Channel Tunnel Its Aims Contrary Views Respecting It The Suram Tunnel A Tunnel under the Clyde The South London Subway Details of the Work The Longest Tunnel in Existence. THE ALPINE TUNNELS. I. ST. GOTHARD. WE propose to devote this chapter to the record of Alpine rails and their tunnels, dwelling more particu- larly upon the later engineering achievements, in accordance with our plan, and then describing other important works of similar kind in other countries. History supplies us with many bold schemes and successful attempts connected with the passage of the Alps, the great barrier between Italy and France, part of the continuous chain which extends across Europe and Asia from the Pyrenees to the Formosa hills, what Dr. Mackay denominated the " Stony Girdle of the Earth." Hannibal, Caesar, and the Great Napoleon crossed them ; Reggenbach and Fell have climbed them with locomotives, and other modern engineers have pierced them with tunnels, yet the cry is for more tunnels, more railways ! The principal tunnels and railways which are con- nected with the Alps are the Mont Cenis, the St. Gothard, the Arlberg, the Brenner, the Semmering ; and those proposed include the Simplon, the Mont Blanc, and the Great St. Bernard. Some of the accomplished tunnels and railways may be omitted here, as they do not come under the heading of Modern Works. We shall merely glance at the .Sem- mering, the Brenner, and the Mont Cenis schemes, before proceeding to describe the others, 7o TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. THE MONT CENIS RAILWAY passes through Mont Vallon, and extends from Modane to Bardonneche, uniting Savoy and Piedmont. By the aid of per- forating machines working with compressed air, the tunneling was accomplished. Begun in 1857, tne great tunnel was not opened until September, 1871. The length of the excavation is seven miles and a half and two hundred and forty- two yards. The progress made was at the average daily rate of 2-57 lineal yards ; the boring occupied thirteen years and one month ; the cost was ^"3,000,000 sterling. Since the opening of the railway a new entrance has been made which shortens the tunnel somewhat. The ventilation is by no means perfect. The completion of the railway had considerable influence on trade, and placed Brindisi in a more favourable position than even Marseilles for shipping merchandise and mails to the East. THE SEMMERING RAILWAY was the first line which crossed the Alps, and connected Vienna with the Mediterranean at Trieste. The works were com- menced in 1848, and the railway opened in 1854. It ascends the Semmering Pass, and culminates in a tunnel 1,562 yards long, the general gradients being I in 45 to I in 47. Though this undertaking attracted considerable attention at the time of its execution, it has been completely put in the shade by later and bolder achievements. THE BRENNER RAILWAY between Innsbruck and JBotzen did not occupy very much time. Commenced in 1864, the line was opened in August, 1867. The length of the line is 78^ miles. The gradients are not .excessive, but the line is the highest that crosses the Alps. The highest points of the Mont Cenis tunnel line, the Arlberg, and the St. Gothard, are all lower than the summit level of the Brenner ; and, moreover, though there are several tunnels on the line, the Brenner has no summit tunnel, as have the other .mountain railroads. THE ST. GOTHARD PROJECT. We now TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 71 approach one of the most remarkable undertakings which modern engineering science has achieved. France, Austria, and Italy were united in iron bands, but Switzerland had no direct connection by rail with the South. The Alpine passes are magnificent, but dangerous ; the Simplon, the Splugen, and other schemes reminded the projectors of the St. Gothard route that there were rivals in the field. The Swiss Government gave its decision in 1869, and the choice fell on the St. Gothard project. M. Favre, of Geneva, accepted the contract for this international under- taking. Italy, Germany, and Switzerland made a common purse, and supplied the munificent sum of one hundred and eighty-seven millions of francs, which was afterwards supplemented by one hundred and two millions more ! The signing of the contract caused a considerable sensation, and engineers who knew the ground, who could appreciate more fully than the general public the many difficulties of the undertaking, began to speculate upon the method of proceeding. They knew it was almost impossible to cross the mountains, and the railway would necessitate long approaches, many tunnels, and excessive gradients. The St. Gothard had also a bad name for avalanches, and some fears were expressed for the safety of the line when built. But, notwithstanding all diffi- culties, the energetic contractor set his army to work, and prepared the way for a railway from Lucerne to Bellinzona, Lugano, and Italy. Leaving Lucerne about half-past nine in the morning, we traverse the environs of the town, and come round in a fine curve behind the Rigi by the Lake of Zug, and through the Goldau valley, Lowertz, Schwyz, and thence to the borders of the upper portion of the Lake of Lucerne again, getting lovely peeps at the Bay of Uri, and the mountains, as we skirt the lake and the Axenstrasse towards Fluelen. From Fluelen, a busy station and a steamboat starting-place, we may consider ourselves on the 72 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. St. Gothard. Many passengers will doubtless join us here, for they have preferred the journey from Lucerne by water to the tunneled line of railway. From Fluelen to classic Altorf, where the legend- ary Tell stands in colossal statuesque proportions, we run on an almost level line close to the gently ascending high-road. The lake is blue behind us ; the pass in front is dark in its recesses, but brilliant on its snow-capped summits. We cannot see our route very distinctly, but, as on the Gemmi pass, we know there is a track, although no track be visible. At Erstfeld the ascent commences about a mile or so beyond Altorf. We are now 1,561 feet above sea-level. At Amsteg the gradient is still steeper, and as we ascend to Goschenen we rise at about an inclination of I in 42. At Goschenen the great tunnel commences. Notwithstanding many opinions to the contrary, we maintain that this wonderful railway is not so remarkable in its culminating point as in its approaches. The consummate skill displayed in carrying the line out of Lucerne, round by Zug, and then, without disturbing any one, or destroying any of the beautiful natural features of the country, taking the railway unobtrusively through the valley and into the mountains, deserves high praise. In this respect the Swiss engineer displays great tact, and, we may add, consideration. He adapts him- self to the conditions, and yet never loses his aim ; and in the working of the St. Gothard Railway we think he has surpassed all previous experiences and efforts. The effect when traversing the spirals of the fast- ascending line is very curious, and when, after half an hour or so, we catch a glimpse of a train winding its way up a corkscrew curve, we wonder whether we shall meet it, and where we shall pass it. We are, however, somewhat surprised to ascertain that the said train is the "goods" we passed at Amsteg, which is coming after us, and that the church, the THREE VIADUCTS, THE ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY. 74 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. pastures, and the village beneath are those we ad- mired from the railway station a long while before. Up we go, continually ascending, winding into the very hearts of the mountain rocks, and curving all the while. A peep here and there between the tunnels enchants us, the snow-peaks glisten, the valleys are bathed in sunshine, cattle are grazing, men and women making hay; cascades rushing and roaring down the mountain-side (under the carriages in which we are seated) from the dazzling glacier, or from the soft-looking snow-field which will presently slip, and slide across our track. To the ordinary tourist as well as to the engineer, to the sentimental as well as to the practical, the St. Gothard Railway appeals in the most powerful manner, and does not appeal in vain to either class. The spiral ascents and the accompanying " loops " of line are well worth studying ; they overcome the steepest portions of the ascent at Wasen on the north side, and of Faido and Giornico on the other. These spirals cause the peculiar doubling back of the line, which at first puzzles the traveller, to whom is pre- sented the same charming view from a different point, unfolding fresh beauties as he advances, and then suddenly reopening a page of Nature which had been closed to him, as he believed. The " helicoidal " ascents and tunnels are numerous. There are eight of these tunnels, four on each slope, each nearly a mile long. Altogether there are nearly nineteen miles of tunnels in the fifty-six miles of the ascending and descending portion of the railroad between Erstfeld and Biasca. There are twenty-one tunnels on the Swiss side, and twelve on the Italian side. The great tunnel, which occupied public atten- tion for so long is 9*31 miles. So there are nine and a half miles of tunneling, besides the magnum opus which extends between Goschenen and Airolo. With praiseworthy foresight the authorities have established an excellent buffet at Goschenen, so that fearsome travellers may fortify and recruit themselves for and TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. f$ after the perils of darkness, " blacks," and grime, which overshadowed them in the Great Gothard tunnel on their way southwards or northwards. The cutting of the St. Gothard tunnel was carried on in a straight line, and by means similar to those employed in the excavation of the Mont Cenis. Compressed air was carried into the borings ; but an ENTRANCE TO THE ST. GOTHARD TUNNEL. "air locomotive" to carry out the trucks laden with the earth and stone excavated was a new feature. The air-engine, of course, emitted no steam or smoke, and was in consequence well suited for traction pur- poses within the tunnel. Those who were permitted to enter the shaft were carried on these boilers for they seemed only boilers and in a few minutes were in the presence of an army of workmen. A dull roar ahead told you that some of the borings were being exploded ; a multitude of lanterns reflecting from the damp rocks, the trickling of water, or maybe the 7 6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN rushing of an incipient torrent, were the features of the borings. The numerous perforators, the exploding dynamite, the rattle of the air-engine, caused a clatter- ing, a banging, and a roaring, which was almost deafen- ing, and entirely confusing. The nature of the ground varied considerably. On the north side, into which we penetrated, there were granite and mica gneiss ; gneiss and mica schist, chiefly, on the opposite side. Of course, other strata were occasionally encountered, and as they were at times placed in a vertical direction water penetrated pretty freely in places. The heat within was tremendous ; the excavators suffered very much, and the horses died from want of proper air, though every possible precaution was taken. In January, 1 87 1 , the headings were pushed in. At Airolo and Goschenen the actual work was begun in September and November, 1872, respectively. In this tunnel the engineers had made their plans for double lines, which approach the tunnel at an easy gradient on both sides. The work, at first rather slow in consequence of only hand labour being employed, soon progressed rapidly. Four thousand men nearly all Italians, Germans, and Swiss were employed. After a while the boring machines and air-compressors were set to work. Water was employed to work turbines, which acted on machines to compress the air required. A continuous hum or buzz of busy men and machinery was to be heard, and the monthly distance excavated increased year by year. Dynamite superseded gunpowder as a blasting agent, and in one month three hundred yards of progress were made. This was the maximum monthly advance, and was arrived at in August, 1878.*' When the junction of the headings was effected, only thirteen inches' difference was found in the direction of the approaches, and only two inches in the level. The length of the tunnel proved to be shorter than the estimate by twenty-five feet.f On New Year's Day, 1882, this magnificent tunnel was completed. * Proceedings Civ. Eng., Vol. 95. f Ibid. TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 7? The compressed-air machines, which were used to perforate the rocks, were improvements upon those used at the Mont Cenis. Air, as we know, is very compressible, and, hydraulic pressure being exercised, it can be squeezed into a space five or six times less than its natural bulk. Its nominal pressure of 14*6 Ibs. to the square inch is tremendously increased as it is pushed by the water into a reservoir, where it has a great expansive force. When used, it is admitted to the boring machine, which works a perforator with tremendous rapidity eighteen hundred strokes a minute being obtained, striking the rock with an estimated force of 200 Ibs. each time ! The cost of the St. Gothard tunnel was about two millions three hundred and twenty-seven thou- sand pounds sterling. This is a sum considerably less than that expended on the Mont Cenis tunnel ; while the time employed in the construction of the former was only about one-half the time occupied in the Mont Cenis, although the St. Gothard is nearly two miles longer. This will give an idea of the improvements which had taken place in engineering appliances during the period, and of the advance of our engineering science. The railway is a single line, except in crossing- places and in some of the tunnels. It was opened for traffic on the ist of June, 1882. If any of my younger readers desire a most delightful experience, let them persuade their indulgent parents as all parents are indulgent nowadays to take them to Lucerne, and have a peep at Lago Maggiore, after crossing by the St. Gothard Railway. It they do, they will never repent the excursion. Let us trust that no inter- national difficulties will ever interfere with this magni- ficent monument of engineering enterprise. A very ingenious signalling arrangement for " goods " trains has been adopted on this line. It is managed by electricity, the wire being connected with the brakes- man's lanterns, and, by pressing a pin, the lamp shows green, red, or white. The white or green 78 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. light can only be given by the engineers, who now have no difficulty in corresponding with the other men in charge, as they have had hitherto, in the tunnels. II. THE ARLBERG. As soon as the St. Gothard line had been finished by German, Swiss, and Italian capital, Austria made up her Imperial mind to have a line within her own terri- tory, which should, by cutting into Switzerland, give iher a through and independent route from Vienna to Paris, vid Basle. Like the Brenner Railway, her mew venture was to pass Innsbruck, or, we may ;say, start thence, pass Landeck, and cross the Arl- berg, which is the watershed between the Rhine and the Danube, the boundary between the Tyrol and the Vorarlberg. The Arlberg Railway runs at right angles to the Brenner line ; travellers from Basle proceed to Lake Constance, whence, from Ror- chach, or Bregenz, they can go vid Bludenz to Inns- bruck. The Arlberg Railway runs due west from Inns- bruck up the ascent, but the really heavy gradient does not commence until Landeck is reached. The line possesses many very interesting features : to the engineer, the curves and gradients will appeal ; to the tourist, the views, and the tunnel, six and a half miles long, will afford some gratification. The gradient as far as Landeck is nearly nominal, but thence the average ascent is about i in 50. There are some fine viaducts on this road, and numerous curves ; indeed, it is estimated that nearly one-half of the Arlberg portion is in curves, some rather sharp. The line is somewhat steeper than the St. Gothard Railway, or the Brenner, and on one part the Arlberg can boast the steepest gradient of all the Alpine railways. The celebrated tunnel was undertaken in 1880, and estimated to occupy five years in construction. But the useful experience of the St. Gothard tunnel had not been without results ; the boring machines TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 79 of both kinds were adopted, and a new method of excavation employed, by which the borings were con- tinued above and below at the same time. Under these circumstances the progress made was very rapid, and the advance amounted to two miles per annum, working in a straight line from both sides simultaneously. This was very satisfactory progress when the varied nature of the rocks are considered, some strata being more difficult to perforate than others. The results of hard labour and experience were most clearly exemplified in the beginning of 1884, when it was seen that the line would be ready for traffic several months earlier than had been expected. In November, 1883, the headings had been united, and in September, 1 884, the railway was actually opened. The cost, ; 1, 200-400, was considerably less in pro- portion than the expense of the St. Gothaid, which, as already remarked, was less than that of the Mont Cenis tunnel ; although the difference in the circumstances connected with these works must be taken into con- sideration. The Mont Cenis, as the pioneer tunnel, had many difficulties to contend against, which neither the Gothard nor the Arlberg had to consider. Besides, experience and advanced science, again, gave the Arlberg the advantage ; and when the day comes for the piercing of the Simplon and other Alpine ranges, we may, under similar conditions, expect better results than even those attending the construction of the Arlberg line. It must not be supposed that the Arlberg line possesses only one tunnel. There are nine tunnels, exclusive of the summit tunnel already described ; but they are short, and presented no great difficulties, so we need not do more than refer to them. The main Arlberg tunnel is actually 6*375 miles long ; it extends between St. Anton and Langen, and it was completed in exactly three years. On the i$th of May, 1880, the order to begin was sent down from the State De- partment of Railways ; during the following month 8o TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the headings were commenced, and on the I3th of November the boring machines began their work. It is worth recalling that on the I3th of November, 1883, the borings met, and the fortunate contractor earned the very satisfactory sum of ;8o a day for 420 days a trifle of 33,600, which may be added to the expenses of the tunnel. He completed his work so long before contract time. It was extremely fortunate that water-power was available for the motive force, as it would have been a very expensive undertaking to have brought coal up to the borings, putting aside its cost. One of the streams utilised is named Rosanna ; this is on the eastern face. The river was dammed, and its waters conveyed in pipes with a pressure of 12 to 13 atmospheres a power of many hundred horses when the supply was abundant ; that is, during the spring and summer ; but when snow fell, and ice formed, the advantages of the water were considerably curtailed. So with the western side ; there the Alfenz supplied sufficient, if not abundant, power, the water being caught in dams and released with good pressure. The borings were pierced with compressed air as usual ; but two different machines were used, and keen rivalry existed between the workmen who respectively employed the Ferroux and the Brandt apparatus. One was worked by compressed air, the Brandt by water pressure. The percussion drill, worked by the air, is very much the same kind of tool as those which were employed in the excavation of the Mont Cenis tunnel the Sommeiller system ; but they ran at a much higher speed 50 to 70 turns a minute. The Brandt machines drill holes by revolving, hy- draulic pressure being used. The drill is a four-bladed ring, which turns round, pressing hard against the rock the while; the pressure exceeding 12,000 kilos (a kilogramme = 2\ Ibs). We need not go into details of the rivalry. Under equal conditions the Brandt drill appears superior, although on paper the cutting executed by the Ferroux percussors has a better TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 81 record, owing to the difference in the composition of the rocks. The verdict arrived at by an expert is, " Under equal conditions the Brandt system permits as rapid an advance as the other with about half the number of holes and machines." It will, of course, be understood that several machines were driving different holes at the same time at both ends. Again, we read that twelve miners and seven navvies were employed with the Ferroux drill at each shift ; some men had to direct the machines, and others had to clear the chips away. The Brandt drill employed seven miners, seven navvies, and a mechanic to attend to the repairs of the "drill," which could not be carried away and repaired at the " shop," as the Ferroux drill was. Altogether, on this showing, the writer we have referred to comes to the conclusion that " the Brandt drill offers consider- able advantages." The explosive used was dynamite. A good deal of hand-cutting was also done before the machines could be started. The manner in which the tunnel was actually driven may be interesting to learn. The flooring of the heading, or upper cutting, in the rocks was on the same level as the line of the intended railway through the tunnel. From this heading the miners cut shafts downwards, and then excavated another parallel gallery in both directions until another shaft extension was met with. These shafts were driven down at certain convenient distances to a certain depth, and then cutting at right angles began. Thus, it stands to reason, a second gallery beneath the other was formed, with connecting holes, or shafts, through which all rubbish could be shot down. The tunnel when sufficiently cut was lined with bricks, and the average progress was eighteen feet a day. People who have never witnessed the work con- nected with the piercing of a lengthy tunnel of even moderate dimensions, may imagine the amount of labour, not only in actual cutting out and blasting, but in carrying away the dtbris, and bringing up 82 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. requisite materials for the completion of the work. As the tunnel is completed, rails are laid within, and the materials are put down as close as possible to the advance gallery in the heading. The enormous masses of rock cut and blasted have to be carried out, and bricks carried in. Various materials are required in certain places, so trucks have to be arranged, and ballast-trains made up with as much care as the passenger trains at the junctions of Willesden or Clapham. When most of this work has to be per- formed in semi-darkness, over a single and roughly- laid line of rails, with occasional sidings only, the organisation must be excellent ; and so it was on the Arlberg. Ventilation, again, is a very important question ; and when the contractor is bound to supply 5,300 cubic feet of air per minute he must "look alive." Machines were employed which forced the required quantity of air into the workings to a dis- tance of nearly four miles. High-pressure water pipes were also carried into the tunnel, and by their aid jets of spray were thrown about after an explosion by dynamite ; these jets laid the dust, and purified the atmosphere in the workings. HI. PROPOSED ALPINE TUNNELS. Trade is the impeller of steam. France has seen her traffics diminishing, has noticed with chagrin the turning of the routes from Marseilles to Brindisi by the Mont Cenis line, and the tapping of her business by the St. Gothard Railway. Germany having favoured the latter plan, it behoved France to carry out a rival project which would give her direct communication with Italy and the East, so that she will benefit by the traffic. In July, 1879, the railway from the Lake of Geneva was extended through the Rhone Valley to the foot of the Simplon, and opened to Brieg. The Italians also were employed on a line to Arona. The Simplon intervenes, and the project, still under con- sideration, was started again in 1873 to tunnel the opposing mountains. TUNNELS AND SUB WAV ^ 83 So far back as 1859 a suggestion for piercing the Simplon was laid before the French Government, and again in 1873, and since many times the idea has been mooted ; but some invisible obstacle seems to inter- vene. Yet the natural approaches can be easily made, and the proposed tunnel at the summit of the pass would be 10 miles long, as now proposed. The former estimate was nj miles, with a gradient not exceed- ing i in 100 on the northern, and but little more on the southern side. The highest point, curiously enough, is between Lausanne and Dijon. The snow is not regarded as a serious obstacle ; water-power is abundant, and electricity will doubtless assist the en- gineers both as a lighting and as a motive power. In 1886 a conference upon this scheme was held, and valuable estimates were published. The ques- tion has, of course, been discussed since, but the plans laid before the conference were as follow : A railway of ordinary construction, and of single line, is to be made from Visp (Vie'ge) in the Valais to Domo d' Ossola, over the Simplon, on an easy gradient, averaging I in 90, on the Swiss side, but I in 54 on the Italian side. But, though the latter compares unfavourably with some portions of the lines already working, the average gradient is found to be less, while the length of the line is also less. There is one steep gradient on the northern side and one tunnel, but many steep gradients and seven tunnels on the Italian slope ; yet none of these tunnels are of any exceptional length. The hardest work, as will readily be perceived, is on the south side. So far so good; but easy gradients in a given distance mean the tunneling of the summit at a con- siderable distance beneath the highest point, and herein lies a difficulty perhaps the difficulty in the proposed line. The heat beneath the surface will be enormous when the conditions of working are taken into consideration. Tunneling in a confined atmosphere, with the thermometer over 100 Fahr. v is not a condition of existence to be continued 84 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. long, and the borings must be proceeded with nearly seven thousand feet beneath the surface ! On the St. Gothard line the distance was not so great beneath the summit, nor is the tunnel so long as that now pro- posed. This difficulty may be, and probably will be, overcome by some means, but it is one which cannot be ignored. Indeed, a special manner of ventilation is already proposed, and a sum of 80,000 has been put on the estimate of the cost of the line to provide the necessary plant ; so the question has not been overlooked. The estimated expenditure is about 2,118,000. This is for the entire line from Visp to Domo d'Ossola. Of this sum the great tunnel is estimated to cost 1,877,000 plus the sum for the ventilation scheme. Such is the project ; and when the railroad is in working order, France will have the shortest route between Paris and Milan and possibly the quickest also. The MONT BLANC TUNNEL and railroad have been discussed, but we may as well state that we doubt whether the project will, or can, ever be carried out. However, the engineer can do mighty wonders, and may succeed in piercing the immense depth of rock necessary to be tunneled, but he will be met with the same difficulty as in the Simplon scheme ventilation below the surface. The line would not benefit Switzerland materially, for it would be principally in Savoy, and might avoid Geneva altogether. The idea is to construct a line from Bonneville to Chamonix, passing the " Baths of St. Gervais," which is a favourite watering-place in summer. The gradients are to be slight and easy, but then the tunnel under Mont Blanc must be long, and it is estimated at eleven miles and a half in one pro- posed scheme. By such a course the ascent would be much decreased, and the actual summit level of the line lowered ; but the most we can hope for is a tunnel only not longer than the St. Gothard great tunnel say, TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 85 about nine and three-quarter miles, to which must be added the already expressed difficulties of ventila- tion. Emerging from the Mont Blanc range at the familiar village of Pre St. Didier, the railway would proceed in the direction of Aosta, which would be the point of junction with the southern lines. From Pr< St. Didier the line has followed the road, touching Morgex, Villeneuve (not the place on the Lake of Geneva), and terminating at Aosta, which is only twenty miles from Courmayeur, and a lovely road to travel to it. From Aosta, travellers will make their way to Zermatt, or to Turin. This is the scheme suggested in the main outlines, at least ; but at first sight it is difficult to appreciate its actual usefulness. It is quite evident that to substitute Mont Blanc for Mont Cenis, would only be " robbing Peter to pay Paul ; " and even more absurd : it would be taking money from one pocket to put it into another. France has already access to Turin, vid the Cenis line, and unless she contemplates a future invasion the Mont Blanc and Savoy route will not assist her trade to any appreciable extent with Italy. There is, again, another scheme which we must sot pass by, notwithstanding its comparative useless- ness in general, though it might benefit Switzerland. This is the St. Bernard route, suggested in 1 884, which is also destined to terminate at Aosta, and will, when complete, bring us near Courmayeur. From what we have read concerning this line it would appear that the opposite plan to the Mont Blanc and the later lines will be adopted. In the Simplon and Mont Blanc schemes we find long gradients to accom- modate faster traffic, and long tunnels far below the surface. The St. Bernard scheme is remarkable for the contrary plan ; sharp gradients, and short tunnel at the summit, are the suggestions to be carried out. Everything will be different : the line will not be so direct, its curves will not be so sharp, and its 86 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. gradients will be heavy. The culminating point will be higher, and so a long tunnel will be avoided. Let us look at the scheme for a moment. The Rhone Valley railway brings us to Martigny, whence the tourist has a choice of routes, if he have not already determined on his plan of travel. He can cross to Chamonix, or go by the Great St. Bernard, or proceed to Brieg, already mentioned. The new railroad will carry him beneath the Col de Ferret, by a tunnel of six miles in length, finally landing him at Aosta. Then, if the Mont Blanc line is in working order, he can return to Geneva vid Chamonix and Bonneville, after making a very magnificent " round trip" in a very short time. Those who are acquainted with the character of the scenery of the Great St. Bernard will at once conclude that there will be some triumph for the engineer when he has completed his line. Of all the railways on the Alps, the St. Bernard must entail the heaviest work. Any reliable guide- book will inform the reader who has not personally acquainted himself with the ground, that there are several gorges to be crossed, and considerable danger from avalanches to be apprehended. Napoleon crossed the St. Bernard in 1800, but his road has been partly abandoned, and a new one cut through the forest. The railroad will, if built, pursue a somewhat steep and circuitous direction, cutting through several tunnels to the summit, which will be pierced some 3,500 feet below the surface. From the ventilated tunnel the line descends to Aosta by Merges. There will be fifty- six tunnels, seven viaducts, and a number of smaller bridges, some galleries, &c. The length will be eighty-six miles, and the actual length of tunnels, including the summit or Ferret Tunnel, nearly twenty-four miles, or rather more than one-quarter of the whole distance. The cost will be nearly 40,000 a mile; th .. estimate gives it as a total of 3,403,000, or 39,570 per mile. These are the three new, or revived, projects for passing the Alps by railroad. Of the three, the '1UNNELB AND SUBWAYS. 87 Simplon offers the best chances. The St. Bernard is a very laborious undertaking, and of no particular utility if the others are constructed. As to the details of the three schemes, we cannot say more at present ; they are " in the air," and we must wait further developments. Of the beauties of the routes we could say a great deal. As the St. Gothard may even reveal new prospects from the railroad, so the Simplon, Mont Blanc, and St. Bernard may open up panoramas hitherto unappreciated. The energetic tourist may still trudge up the path, and denounce the iron track as an interference with Nature ; but many less ambitious people will ride comfortably in the trains, and enjoy the scenery spread out for them amid the Alpine summits, while crossing giddy chasms, and skirting icy precipices, ere they plunge into the heart of the mountains to emerge and descend by-and-by upon the sunny plains of Italy or on the rugged Swiss slopes. IV. THE SEVERN TUNNEL. When the modern engineer will own himself beaten is a conundrum which no one will venture to answer decisively. The boring of the Severn Tunnel is an achievement of which any one may be proud, and the history of the undertaking is one of the most interesting in the records of our age. For a tunnel under water is very different from a tunnel through a hill. There may be similarities in the actual workings, but the surroundings and the chances against one are different, and more dangerous in the former. Water is an insidious adversary, and whether it trickles through the roof, or bursts in a spring beneath our feet, it is equally dangerous and destructive. The great viaducts we admire are magnificent, yet the mechanics toil not in semi-darkness, as underground, and they can, at any rate, see their danger. But under the river or in the mountain-side no aid is near. The water cuts off communication suddenly and silently, or the 88 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. earth falls with a roar, and Death stands at our side in a moment ! Such drawbacks and difficulties rendered the com- pletion of the Severn Tunnel a very troublesome and dangerous work. The Great Western Railway wished to complete its communications vid Bristol. The great round by Gloucester must be done away with ; the railway must cross the river by a bridge, or go under it in a tunnel. It was not sufficient, as in old coaching days, to leave one's carriage at New Passage, or Portskewet, and submit to be ferried across the stream for nearly two and a half miles. But the trains for a while ran out on the wooden piers and steamers completed the circuit. This mode of com- munication was sometimes very inconvenient, owing to the immense difference in the levels of the tides which rush up the Severn with amazing force and violence. These and other considerations determined the directors of the Great Western Railway to make a tunnel ; in 1871 they set about doing so, and applied to Parliament forthwith. Parliament sanctioned the scheme in 1872, and the tunnel was commenced, in March, 1873, by the railroad company. They got on very well at first. There were no extraordinary difficulties in the way, and as a matter of fact the boring of the preliminary drifts had been nearly accomplished when a spring burst forth, and inundated the works. This was a serious check. Four years had been consumed, and practically there was nothing to show for the labour. The business had got beyond the company's own hands. Sir John Hawkshaw, as engineer in chief, invited tenders to complete the work which the rail- road company had commenced ; and, fortunately for all parties, the contract was taken by the late Mr. T. A. Walker, of Westminster, who covered himself with glory by his undaunted proceedings. The locality of the tunnel is just below the ferry, where the river is about two and a quarter miles wide. At low water the uncovered bed of the stream is of TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 89 considerable extent, but at high tide or, rather, on a flowing and a falling tide, the current is very high and rapid. The ground is of marl and sandstone, of what is termed the " coal-measures," and, in places, conglomerate. The length of the tunnel is four miles and one-third (say 7,664 yards), and might have been even longer ; as originally proposed, it was four and a half miles ; but some portion was made an open cutting on the Welsh side. The drift of the excava- tion was also altered, and the tunnel was made fifteen feet lower in level, so that forty-five feet of roof remain between the railway and the river-bed. This was so arranged that the deepest inclination in the tunnel is underneath the deepest portion of the estuary. There is a small piece of " level " here, and thence the line ascends at differing gradients of I in 100 and I in 90 to the English and Welsh coasts respectively. The difference in level was purposely arranged to avoid excavations at the Cambrian side, for the engineers wisely argued that the deeper gradient should more properly be on that side, as the heavier loads of minerals would be despatched from Wales, and not very much of the Welsh incline lies under the river, as an inspection of the section shows.* A glance at the railway map will show what an immense saving this tunnel makes. The South Wales Railway and the Great Western are united ; the Wye and the Forest of Dean Coalfields are now in direct connection with the Southern ports via Bath and Bristol ; so the trucks can be run through to South- ampton. But when Mr. Walker assumed the respon- sibility for the work he found matters in rather a chaotic state. Water was pouring into the workings at the rate of. two thousand gallons a minute ; and of all the difficulties, those connected with the water (which would intrude) were the most formidable. Before 1879 the inundation was by no means great; but when the spring was tapped, the trial began. This was a fresh-water spring ; not, as may be * Paper read at Montreal, 1884, by Mr. T. C Hawkshaw. go TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. imagined, a leakage of salt water from above. Until the 1 6th of October, 1879, verv little water came into the drift ; but on that inauspicious day the side of the borings broke in, and a torrent seven feet wide came rushing into the works. This misfortune occurred at Sudbrook or, rather, underneath it, near the bottom of the shaft, at the end of the incline from the Welsh side. This outburst was due to what was called the " Big Spring," and that was what Mr. Walker had to conquer. It was not now a question of tunneling: it was simply pumping and getting rid of the water. But before pumping could be effectually employed, divers had to be sent down to fix the oak shields over the drift openings in the tunnel. These operations were successful as far as they went, but there was a door across a drift under the Severn which it became absolutely necessary to close, and it was a very dangerous undertaking to close it. This iron door was in a head wall fully one thousand feet from the flooded gallery ; and if it could be closed, the issue of the water into the drift under the river would be stopped. But who would venture ? To close the door, one must have air to breathe ; one must carry some tools, and, most of all, the air-supply pipe or hose must be dragged by the operator over all kinds of debris and many obstacles. If this air-hose should, in this rough usage, get injured or broken, death would result ! Nevertheless a man was found who undertook the risks. He started, dragging the hose through the pitchy darkness and the water ; through the gallery strewn with rocks and stones, and all kinds of tunneling appliances and refuse. No light had he " for that he did repent ; " no companion ; no tools, save an iron bar ; and he had to wrench up rails, and screw in a sluice valve. In his first attempt he did not succeed, because he could not drag the weighty lengths of hose after him. But the sturdy diver was by no means dismayed. Lambert that is his name, and it deserves to be recorded tried again, and this time TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 91 succeeded. Readers of Jules Verne's " Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" will doubtless remember that when Captain Nemo and his com- panions wished to make a sub-aqueous excursion, they provided themselves with a patent reservoir, containing atmospheric air, which they fixed to their shoulders, knapsack fashion ; and by carrying a Ruhmkorff electric apparatus they obtained light beneath the ocean. The diver in the Severn drift made use of similar means. He donned a " Fleuss " apparatus as a knapsack, and started on his dangerous expedition alone. There are many men who perform actions in their " every-day " duty which deserve the Victoria Cross, and this act of Lambert's was one of such a nature. He proceeded alone, and in a moment had passed out of sight of those above. Half an hour elapsed, and he did not return. They be- came anxious. An hour passed away, and the diver was still absent ! The least rupture of his knapsack would be fatal, as every one knew. The man would be suffocated in a moment if the apparatus were dis- arranged. An hour and twenty minutes went by, and no sign of the diver's return. They could not com- municate with him. He had started off alone on his perilous journey, and alone he must accomplish his task, or die alone ! Would the air-supply last ? Would he escape injury while at work under water in the depths of the drift ? These were questions which gave the engineers much anxiety, but eventually they were all satisfactorily answered. The diver returned, and was assisted to dry land again. He was safe and sound ! Was he all right ? Yes ! Had he closed the iron door ? was the next anxious question, and a cheer must have gone up amid thanks and congratulations when the intrepid Lambert replied, " I have." These experiments and the final arrangements had occupied some time, and all the while the stream was flowing from the spring, and the pumps were pumping 92 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the water out again. But this was not sufficient for Mr. Walker and his merry men. They wished to seize the head and fount of the offending. So a wall was constructed, a doorway built across the heading down which the water was pouring ; and when this was successfully closed, the water was dammed back in the heading, and prevented from flooding the drifts farther. The mass of water thus imprisoned remained in durance vile until the end of May, 1883, when it was sought to pump it out of the heading. Of this more anon. The irruption of the Great Spring was not un- noticed in the district surrounding the operations. For many miles round the old wells and springs, and even a river (the Nedern), were almost simultaneously deprived of water, and much inconvenience was thereby caused. But as soon as Lambert had effected his mission, and the newly-built door had headed back the incursion of water, as related, the wells and springs around resumed their normal conditions, and the river rippled on again once more. But troubles were by no means at an end. Pumps were choked, and got out of order; and again and again the water made headway. Then the weather became antagonistic. The terrible snow-storm of 1881 is still remembered ; traffic had to be suspended, but the pumps must be kept going, even if coal was not forthcoming. Timber was sawn up for fuel ; the engines went on, and progress was made until a strike, which assumed formidable proportions, threatened the plucky contractor with failure and loss. Fortunately Mr. Walker did not mince matters. He dismissed the malcontents promptly, and weeded out his discontented employes. But the water fiend again showed the cloven hoof, and this time the Severn came in and " drowned " the works. The hole was sought for, discovered, and finally cemented up. The nature of the operations did not admit of any relaxation in the works. Day and night the men were at it The excavations, the bricking up, the TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 93 pumping, and so on, proceeded without intermission. Boring with drills, blasting with dynamite, and sub- sequently with an almost smokeless explosive, called torrite, were continued. Nor were the health and comfort of the navvies neglected. As has been seen in other places, everything that could be done was done to render the men and their families comfort- able. In May, 1883, steps were taken to release the water which had been penned in, and then it was discovered that the roof had fallen in behind the door. When this was cleared, another large fall was announced, and a new " working driftway " was driven below the old one. But suddenly the spring burst out again with terrible force from underneath. The water rose rapidly, and filled up the works. In three weeks the flood had been checked, and the closing of the doors again became necessary. Lambert and two assistants came to the rescue. The lower driftway door was the difficulty. The water was pouring in, and it could not be closed by the workmen. So the diver went down the shaft with his assistants, and shut it. Great embankments were also constructed along the low-lying lands at the ends of the tunnel, along the sides of the cuttings, to prevent the incur- sion of high tides and tidal waves. The operations inside the tunnel were unex- pectedly heavy, owing to the change in the level, and the alteration of the gradient to i in 90. These changes necessitated new drifts being dug, and the quality of the soil demanded a quantity of shoring up with timber. Numbers of men were employed, and machines were working, lights burning, engines pumping, when an unseen and unexpected foe came in the night and upset all calculations. The tidal wave of the Severn rose to an unprecedented height ; the embankments were ovenvhelmed ; the water poured over, swamped cottages and fires, and nearly drowned a number of people. A terrible inundation ensued. More than eighty men were discovered to be 94 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. imprisoned in the workings, and there were no ordinary means of reaching them. They could not come up unaided, and it was not until a party of volunteer hands launched a boat into the tunnel, and proceeded to cut their way through all obstructions, that the workmen were rescued. More pumping ensued at a most unexpected time, and considerable financial diffi- culties were added to those of a more material nature. But the contractor triumphed over all his enemies. Even the Great Spring, which continued to make its presence felt and heard, was at length subdued by the aid of half a dozen immense pumping engines. Nothing less would suffice, and the magnitude of the spring may be estimated from the quantity pumped out. No less than twenty-four millions of gallons were disposed of every day of twenty-four hours. The giant was subdued. On the I /th of October, 1884, the directors of the railroad were able to walk through the tunnel, but much remained to be accomplished. It was, however, completed rapidly ; and in January, 1886, a coal train ran through to Southampton. On the 1st of Decem- ber following, passenger traffic was quietly carried through in a "matter of course way," without any " pomp and circumstance." The tunnel is now daily traversed by trains, which pass beneath the Severn in a few minutes. The ventilation is provided by a Guibal fan, which is very effective. The tunnel is lined with brickwork two feet three inches in thickness, but in some places this is increased to three feet, while in others it is reduced slightly, according to the nature of the ground. The bricks are vitrified, and have sustained a crushing weight of seventy-seven tons before they collapsed under hydraulic pressure ; many thousands were made every week at the tunnel works, and are of excellent quality. We are informed that as many as 2,000 yards of brickwork have been put on in a week, and required just 666,666 bricks. Pipes had to be built in to permit the egress of the water, but of course only in TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 9$ cases where a clearly-defined stream could be found, and diverted into the pipe. Sometimes water came over an extended surface as soon as it was exposed, and then two thicknesses of roofing felt had to be put in before any bricks could be laid in that particular section. The extra labour and time thus expended may be estimated. Ventilating fans were constantly at work, and electric lights flashed and burned daily, so preventing any great vitiation of the air in the tunnel by ordinary lamps. Thus, after almost unsurmountable difficulties and many obstacles had been overcome, the tunnel was finished, at a cost of two millions sterling. No anxiety is now felt concerning its stability, and hundreds of passengers pass through it daily, without, perhaps, bestowing a thought upon the enterprise, talent, pluck, and perseverance under misfortunes, which secured such a splendid triumph for the Great Western Railway, their engineers, their contractor, and his navigators. V. THE MERSEY TUNNEL. The Mersey Railway, as the undertaking is pro- perly termed, was incorporated by Act of Parlia- ment so far back as 1 866, with the view to connect the railways on both sides of the Mersey by rail instead of by the ferries. The line passes between Liverpool and Birkenhead, between Lancashire and Cheshire. Its length is five and a quarter miles, of double track of " standard " gauge ; * and of this distance the tunnel under the Mersey, including its approaches, may be reckoned as four miles and a half. So the "Mersey Railway" is virtually the " Mersey Tunnel." As the passenger traffic across the river w4 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. have to climb or descend. Petroleum was used for fuel, and steam generated outside the tunnel, so that no smoke may interfere with the men and add to the existing vapours. With the view to do away with the necessity for " firing " the engines in the tunnel, steam is raised to a very high pressure, and the boilers keep hot long enough to maintain the steam as long as the locomotive is required within the workings. The experience gained in the Gothard and other tunnels has enabled the contractors to work very speedily with the latest patterns of hydraulic drills and other machines. VIII. THE SOUTH LONDON SUBWAY. The hurrying to and fro which is so characteristic of our age is year by year becoming more pronounced and feverish. We are not content with the ordinary means of locomotion. As our population increases, we must find new means of transport, or the channels will be clogged, and congestion will ensue. The Metropolitan Railway is almost a matter of ancient history. The District line can look back on a certain vista of years, and the Circle completed has been for some time a fact accomplished. Yet again tramcars, omnibuses, bicycles, and tricycles, besides the other innumerable private conveyances of all kinds, carry millions to and fro in ever-increasing journeys daily. London is extending to Buckinghamshire ; Cheapside and Chesham are in touch. But all the means of traffic and transport do not supply the wants of a public which in the person of each unit of the London population can boast of making a hundred and fifty journeys a year at least. We want something more : more bridges, more rail- ways, more tramways. But railways are expensive luxuries when land commanrls a fortune a foot, and tramcars are dilatory. Moreover, they are noisy and are drawn by horses, which, to some sensitive people, are abominations ; and railways are liable to accident and underground fumes. Electricity comes to our aid TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 105 as a motive power clean, noiseless ; and as we cannot always run our lines above, as there exist vested interests, we will construct a tunnel, call it a subway, and burrow, like the mole, in the earth. Some seven years ago a proposal was made for a " high level " tunnel beneath the river below London Bridge. Here the traffic is incessant and particularly heavy, for obvious reasons. People owning the quays declared, in those days, "that any bridge would prevent ocean-going vessels from coming alongside, and ruin would stare them in the face." Those who were not handy to the river, on the contrary, opposed a tunnel because of gradient difficulties. Thus both suggestions had 'decided opponents, each regarding the schemes from their own point of view and declining to go round and examine the other side of the question. After awhile an eminent firm of engineers came up with a proposition which seemed likely to satisfy both parties a result little short of phenomenal. Why not lay down a tube some four feet below the river, which will not be much below the street level, and will, therefore, not require heavy gradients ? Let this " subway tunnel " have a width equal to London Bridge. The tube could be sunk after the necessary excavations had been made with the aid of com- pressed air caissons ; and if the river portion of the road were ready first, hydraulic lifts could be used to raise and lower passengers to the subway while the approaches were being made. It was suggested that the " iron-cased tunnel " should be 1,800 feet long, with a thirty-eight foot road, and side-walks eight feet each : a kind of High Level Thames Tunnel in fact. The approaches were fixed to unite High Street, Whitechapel, near Com- mercial Road, with Tooley Street, London Bridge. This was the proposal set forth in 1885 by the eminent engineers above referred to. Plans were made of the undertaking. In a morning news- paper for January 3Oth, 1889, we read the following io6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. statement : " Messrs. Mather and Platt, of Manchester, have contracted to supply the City of London and Southwark Subway Company with the requisite service for working their line by electricity. . . . The plant consists of a permanent station of electric dynamos for generating the current with engines of i,ooo-horse power, and boilers of the best and newest type ; Edison- Hopkinson dynamos and motors of a new type for the traction cars ; also of complete electric lighting plant for stations, carriages, and signals." Again, on April 29th, in an evening paper, we see that the suggestion made in 1885 has been adopted and enlarged upon, and practically carried out. The name of subway, though undoubtedly correct, gives one the idea of a passage for pedestrians rather than for a railway. But it is neither, though partaking of the nature of both. Passengers are conveyed as in a tramcar, but without horses ; there are stations as in a railway, but no locomo- tives ; the tunnel is a subway, but is not used by pedestrians. There are subways at Clapham Junction and at South Kensington, but the South London Sub- way is, so to speak, unique. It partakes of the nature of the mole rather than of the engineer. The former avoids obstacles ; the latter delights in overcoming them. The subway line turns round and passes by what the engineer would cut away or surmount. Deep down this mole-ish tube winds its way far beneath pipes, sewers, and street-lines. No one is injured; no one is disturbed. No one will have or has had any excuse or opportunity afforded him to write indignant letters complaining of subsidence or vibration. All the rights of property are respected ; no one is bought out ; the roads are tunneled by our subway tube, and comparatively few people are aware that since October, 1886, when the undertaking was commenced, 4,000 men have been employed, and have done their work without hitch or accident, and not one penny of compensation has been paid to longing tenants or speculators for " a fall ! " On the last TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. 107 account alone the subway deserves to be called unique. Where is the railway that can, through its directors, say so much ? And Echo answers, " Where ? " The depth of the subway may at first sight be regarded as a disadvantage, as the distance to fresh air and daylight is a long one. But modern engineer- ing again comes to our aid with the hydraulic hoist or elevator acting direct, and supporting the lift by its pillar of steel as so successfully managed in the Mersey Tunnel Railway ; all objectors are completely silenced. The intending passenger, if the slope be too long or too steep, can be let down in a few seconds to the level of the railway carriage, and carried under the Thames to Stockwell in a short time, if not at lightning speed, by electricity. The lightning flash has stooped to do our will; and on its neck we bind our yoke of service ! The hydraulic mains which now abound in London supply the power for the lifts, and the subway is a novel and accomplished undertaking. From Arthur Street East, at the end of King William Street, City, the line curves beneath Arthur Street West under the Old Swan Pier, where the super- posed tunnels give place to two lateral tunnels running side by side to the southern shore (Surrey side), close to Bridge House Hotel, and by the railway approach through the heart of the Borough to the classic " Swan " in the Clapham Road. Every Londoner knows the route almost in a direct line of road, haunted by jingling cars, by Kennington Church, and up to the "Plough" at Clapham. Beneath this road our subway line runs, with distinct up and down rails in its own iron tunnel. Swan Lane at the north end of the " down " line, properly falls in a more rapid grade than the " up " line ; and the former remains the lower, but parallel to the other during the section beneath the river as far as the Borough High Street, where the lines run side by side, but not on the same level ; one line being five feet to the side of the other, but below it or above it, as the case may be. lod TRIUMPHS OF MODERN This arrangement has been made with a view to economy at the stations, where the platforms will be one over the other instead of on opposite sides as usual in the Metropolitan and ordinary over-ground rail- ways. The lifts and steps will start from a waiting- room common to both platforms, to which the down-line passengers will easily ascend. This is another unique arrangement, which is a very great saving of expense. The tunnels are ten feet in diameter within, and are made up of "rings of segments bolted together by internal flanges." The details may profitably be given, as the whole history of the undertaking is a very interesting chapter in our annals of engineer- ing triumphs. The details are chiefly from personal inspection. The rings of the tunnels are each nineteen inches long, and are made up of six equal segments and what is termed a u key segment," shorter, with parallel ends. The flanges are 3^ inches deep by ij thick, and are fixed by f-inch bolts. The manner in which the boring of the subway was so successfully carried out is that invented by Mr. J. H. Greathead, the engineer in chief. The cutting out was performed by means of a shield, which consists of a cylinder six feet long, and wide enough to pass along the first completed portion of the subway. This cylinder is made with a cutting edge in front ; half-way in its length is a bulkhead, and in it a door, through which the men dig away some of the solid earth in front of the machine (the shield). When a certain amount of clay has been removed, and penetration has become possible, the shield is forced on by hydraulic rams, so that the cutting edge of the shield, thus pushed forward, clears out a circle of clay of its own diameter. The immediate supporting matter of the upper layers- having been removed by the men before, the clay is shovelled into " skeps " and run out. Proceeding thus, the clay is removed by degrees, first by men, and afterwards actually cut away by the circular shield edge, which, however, leaves a rim TUNNELS AXZ SUBWAYS. 109 between its outer surface and the superimposed clay. This space has to be filled up, and the usual method of grouting is employed. Grouting is a liquid cement of blue lias lime and water, and it is forced from a vessel containing it, by means of compressed air, into the annular space left round the shield, between it and the surrounding solid earth. The grouting is thus distributed all round the cylinder-shield through holes left in it for the purpose by means of a nozzled pipe, and in time the cement hardens, forming a firm lining through which no water can percolate, and which also effectually prevents any previously possible subsidence. After the boring-shield come the men with segments, already mentioned. These are bolted in, and the tunnel is advanced apace. The admirable manner in which the engineer has managed to avoid any surface obstruction cannot be too highly praised. By London Bridge a shaft was sunk, and a staging erected behind the steamboat pier, where no one was interfered with. Through this shaft a quantity of material was hauled up and delivered into barges as quickly as possible. The boring and cutting went on through the stifTer clays, but at times water power took the place of the shield pressure, and simply washed away the earth from the front of the shield by the circulation of water by a forcing-pump, which carried away, in a second pipe, the debris it had removed. There was no great difficulty in this when the workings were near the river or a convenient opening. But when the excavations had proceeded some distance from the shaft, other means had to be employed. Mr. Greathead has reduced this kind of excavating to a very simple fraction of engineering work. When, as frequently was the case, the clay had to be washed away at a considerable distance from an outlet, a tank of water was provided, and from it the liquid was forced against the clay at the face of the shield in several jets. The clay surface was mean- while disintegrated by crowbars, and then the diluted ?Jj&fVMPHS OP MODERN ENGINEERING. was ^carried by the water back through a pipe tlhe -bottom into the tank again, so that in time of clayey soil would have replaced the water in the tank. But, according to the law of physics, this dtbris will naturally force out the water it re- places, and so an outflow pipe was provided. Thus in course of time the tank of water became a tank of debris, moist, saturated. Then the problem had to be faced : how replace \ this necessary supply of water while retaining the ; tank and simultaneously getting rid of the clay, sand, or gravel, as the case might be ? Mr.' Greathead was quite equal to the emergency. All external pressure was at once removed from the tank by closing the jet- valves. Tubs or trucks filled with water were then run underneath the tank, from which outlets dip into the water tubs. The sandy ctibris falls and the water rises into the tank, with the result that the tubs are wheeled away full of material, and the tank is once more filled with water and able to move forward and help to wash more clay and sand away. Sometimes a stone or boulder was uncovered. If so it was washed out, broken up, sent in fragments into the tank, and carried away by the force of the return stream. But when rock was encountered, as sometimes was the case, a special compressed-air drill or borer with many points was used, which cut away the rock, and which could be renewed within the shelter of the shield. The fragments of rock are swept off in the water-pipe as the other debris is. Thus every kind of obstacle is rapidly removed, and without any inter- ference with foundations or private property. Every care is taken of the men, and the general public are hardly aware of the operations being carried on under their feet. The Company, we believe, had intended to work the traffic on the now popular cable system. There were to be wire ropes, and on such a level direct line cable-haulage would have worked well and evenly The arrangement of such lines will be found explained TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS. ill In oilr article on Cable Railways. But it now appears that electricity is to be the motive power ; the firm already mentioned having agreed to supply the motors. As regards ventilation, there need not be much cause for anxiety. The subway is only three and one- sixth miles long, and each tunnel will be full of air, which if pushed in front by the advancing train will be replaced immediately by other strata hurrying in to fill the vacuum. There will be no smoke or sul* phurous fumes to get rid of in the Subway air will surround the trains, which will not pass in the same tunnel, and will not, therefore, push each other's air-reserve away. Under these circumstances we may fairly anticipate a great success for the new line as an engineering undertaking. IX. THE LONGEST TUNNEL IN EXISTENCE. The longest tunnel in the world is not a railway tunnel, but a water conduit. It is at Schemnitz in Hungary, and serves as an exit for the water from the mines. It was completed in 1878; it is 10*27 miles in length. Its height is nine feet ten inches, and its width five feet three inches. After a while the works languished (it was suggested in 1782!); but labour was dear and money scarce in those troublous times. Spasmodically the work continued until, at a cost of one million sterling, it has been completed. The great advantage of such a tunnel is that it obviates the necessity for pumping. The conduit being on an incline, the water runs away from the mines and discharges itself. The adit is sixty yards below the cuttings. Many of these mining tunnels exist. They do not represent any very unusual achievements, but the difficulties are by no means to be deprecated. Of late years, of course, the use of modern implements, steam- borers, &c., and the advantages of the electric light have materially assisted progress in tunneling and all other engineering work. 112 SECTION III. CANALS AND WATERWAYS, Canals A Retrospect Ancient and Modern Waterways The Gotha Canal The Manchester Ship Canal Its Initiation and Progress A Glance at the Works Canal Routes in America The Panama Canal Its Story The Chagres River and the Great Dam The Culebra Cutting Progress and Failure What will be the End? The Nica- ragua Canal The Plans and Suggestions Its Cost Compared with the Panama Scheme Some European Canals Isthmus of Corinth Cut New English National Canal A Proposed Ship Canal for Scot- landA Propelling Canal The Widening of the Suez Canal The Ramasserim Canal A Short Cut for our Commerce What will be the Result of so many New Waterways ? An Interesting Question. THE almost universal introduction of railways caused a subsidence of canal traffic, but the existing water- ways in the United Kingdom and on the Continent of Europe might with advantage be more used. There are many consignments which could be carried by canals much more cheaply, and to all intents and purposes as expeditiously as by railway. We refer, of course, to " imperishable " articles and others not liable to rapid deterioration. These would be carried to their destination in ample time by waterways. Modern science and enterprise have imagined and carried out many gigantic schemes ; the Manchester Ship Canal, the Panama Canal, the Nicaragua scheme, and many others will immediately occur to readers. But there is no reason why the network of canals already in existence should not be extended, and cheap means of transit inaugu- rated between our Midland towns and our seaports. Modern engineering will surely find means to carry out any plans that may be found feasible. Canals seem to have been in existence from very remote ages. A canal across the isthmus of Suez was commenced by Necho, 616 B.C., and completed about 521 B.C., after a long pause in the works. Both Herodotus and Strabo mention it, and the former speaks of lake Moeris, which was connected with the Nile by a canal, and served as a reservoir perhaps. CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 113 Quite lately Mr. C. Whitehouse has solved the problem, and has identified the locality. Egypt and the water question remain very much as they were eighteen hundred years ago, and the Nile still proceeds to extremes in a very unpleasant manner, being too bountiful at some times, and too stingy at others. Here modern and ancient science meet ; in the land of the Pharaohs the irrigation scheme and the storage of water are united, and the dead hands of the ancient Egyptians and Chinese indicate the waterways from a very early period. The Chinese carried out their channels of inland communication with great ingenuity, and some of their canals have been in existence 2,000 years. In some places portages are necessary, owing to the difference in levels, for many of the canals are constructed across country to connect with the river navigation which runs from west to east ; the artificial water- ways, therefore, must run almost north and south. There is no necessity to trace the development of the many canal systems in Europe. Russia Holland, France, Germany, and Italy have all con- structed numerous canals ; and in France, at any rate, they are extensively utilised. The French Govern- ment having removed the carrying duty they are assisting the waterways against the railways, thus losing on both sides. The canals have cost the Go- vernment 62,000,000 ; and over 400,000 annually to maintain. If the Government takes no tolls while subsidising the railways it must lose, and, perhaps, as already suggested, the President may impose a small duty to save so great a loss, and recoup the nation in some degree for the past expenditure. A scheme for the " Canalisation of the Moselle " has lately been put forward again, and in many countries the canal is coming to the front. The greatest achievements of modern times in this direction are the Suez Canal, the Manchester Ship Canal, the incomplete Panama Canal, with ship canals in America. There are also other suggestions ii4 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. regarding a canal from Tannton to the Bristol Channel, and several others to our chief seaports have been indicated. Mr. Cochrane in his address suggested canals from the Midlands to Liverpool, Gloucester, and Hull, waterways completely inde- pendent of railways. He maintains that canals have a great future before them ; the Americans as well as other nations having of late years paid considerable attention to their development* With this preface we will now proceed to recount the various great enterprises which at present are occupying the minds of engineers, and we will commence with our own " Manchester Ship Canal," which necessitates a passing reference to the Bridge- water Navigation, the most celebrated waterway of the past generation. The story of its construction has often been related. We can only summarise it. In 1758 the Duke of Bridgewater obtained an Act of Parliament to make Worsley brook navigable from Worsley mill to the Irwell river, for the purpose of transporting his coals to Manchester. But on con- sideration he perceived the disadvantages of a current stream in comparison with still water for transportation purposes. He then conceived the bold idea of making a canal from his collieries at Worsley to Manchester ! The collieries being in the mountains, necessitated some tunneling ; but Brindley, the engineer, was in no wise daunted by the difficulties to be encountered. His genius prevailed. Not only were tunnels con- structed, but aqueducts were built, and thus the canal .a stupendous monument of engineering pluck and skill was made, on the level, into Manchester, which was supplied cheaply with coals. There are immense embankments on the old canal, fine viaducts one over the Irwell, and many bridges. The Bridgewater Canal was a national monument. The duke nearly beggared himself in its construction. He reduced his expenditure, cut down everything he could, to enable * See Engineering, May nth, 1889. CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 115 him to carry out his project, which eventually shortened his life, owing to the great anxiety and work attendant on -the scheme. There were two branches from the Mersey at Runcorn Gap one going to Manchester ; the other to Pennington. The length was forty miles ; the fall two feet in a mile ; the navigation was five feet deep and fifty-two in width. We must not remain under the impression that the Bridgewater was the only important canal. England and Scotland can still show us numerous waterways. The Grand Junction, Birmingham, Basing- stoke, Kennet and Avon, Hereford and Gloucester, Coventry, Dublin and Shannon ; and in Scotland the Caledonian and Crinan are still annually crowded. The Caledonian Canal, constructed by Thomas Telford, is remarkable for its locks, and locks which rival those in the Gotha Canal at Trolhatten. The scenery is charming, and it is now a principal tourist route. It was made in 1822, is about twenty-two miles long in actual canal distance, assisted by inlets, firths, and the fine series of lakes, through all of which the general traffic passes. The Gotha Canal from Stockholm to Gothenburg also shows what can be done in the way of inland navigation when Nature has placed oases in the form of magnificent lakes in the midst of the country. The descent of the Gotha Canal is interesting. It is greatly used by traders, and a regular line of passenger steamers ascends and descends the navigation during the season. These, and many other routes, have long ago demonstrated the cheapness of water-carriage. Our rates for railway carriage were the highest in the world ; and no wonder that traders began to complain, and think of some cheaper mode of conveyance : a return to the old canal systems has been advocated, and seems in a fair way to be carried out; An inland town or city is now at the mercy of any combination which extracts dues, tolls, freights, and carriage-rates. Our coals bear heavy rates; why cannot they be conveyed more generally by n 6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. water? The railway rates are enormous. Many towns feel these burthens, and have no remedy. Manchester groaned and bravely bore the burthen till the patience of her manufacturers was exhausted. She must have some outlet for her manufactures : some more convenient outlet than a monopoly of the iron road. She remembered the fall in the cost of the carriage of merchandise when the Bridgewater Naviga- tion was opened. She remembered how her iron trade had increased by means of the canal, and how she had been supplied with coal by the Duke of Bridgewater and his successors at the rate of four- pence for one hundred and forty pounds of the mineral. Manchester and Liverpool had the canal between them, and trade increased ; but when rail- ways began to buy up canals, and thus hinder wholesome competition, matters did not look so well for inland towns. Then Manchester bestirred herself, as will be shown immediately. Inquiry disclosed the fact that if a ship is delayed on a voyage, or if the voyage be longer to one place than another, no extra charge is made. The goods are consigned to the port which levies duties, and then the railway or custom-house picks out a plum, and so on, until the charges (at Manchester, say) for the land conveyance of a few miles exceeds the freight charges. So the Man- chester men took heart of grace, and declared that they would have their needs attended to and their supplies brought to their doors. It would cost no more by water carriage : why not construct a canal from the Mersey to Manchester, and save the trouble, risk, and expense of unloading and transit ? An Act of Parliament was obtained, and the scheme we will now proceed to examine, going back a little, so, as children say, " to begin at the beginning." I. THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL. On the 27th June, 1882, a number of gentlemen assembled at the residence of Mr. Daniel Anderson CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 117 at Didsbury, many influential municipal authorities being present. Mr. Anderson made his proposition for a ship canal, which was discussed, and so far adopted that a committee was formed ; the plans were made, approved, and submitted to Parliament. The Com- mons were in accord with the promoters of the scheme, but the House of Lords postponed the consideration until a more convenient season. This somewhat churlish decision was not accepted as by any means final. The promoters believed in their plans, and many others regarded the idea with favour. The question was fought out, and after much discussion the desired Act was obtained, and the canal was sanctioned. This was very gratifying, and if the money-lenders the great financial houses 4iad regarded the scheme with favour, it would have been quickly floated. But the promoters had removed other difficulties, and were not daunted. They turned homewards and were welcomed. Small capitalists opened their purses, and the shares were taken up so well that in 1888 nearly seven and a half millions of pounds had been subscribed, and a very considerable amount paid up. At the report in February, 1889, the deputy-chairman stated that the Company had four millions of capital, four millions of preference, and ;i,8oo,ooo of debentures. By the Manchester Ship Canal Act, the old Bridgewater Navigation was handed over to the new Company for the sum of 1,710,000, which included the purchase money of the Mersey and Irwell Canals. These are now included in the approved plan of the Manchester Ship Canal, by which vessels will be enabled to reach Cottonopolis direct. Considerable discussion was indulged in regarding this great enterprise, and many opinions unfavourable to it were expressed ; but it does not appear that any one questioned its practicability. The interest centred in the canal was immense. It is regarded still as a monster undertaking, and it is one which will vie with any of the magnificent works already constructed or u8 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. in progress. Every possible adjunct and all assistance that experience and knowledge can supply are em- ployed on the excavations, which were commenced at Eastham on the south bank of the Mersey, opposite Garston in Lancashire. Eastham Ferry is in Cheshire, in the estuary of the Mersey. Here the entrance locks to the canal are situate. When we state that the largest steamers known to commerce are to go up the canal, pass each other with ease, and have space to turn round in at certain important points without in any way obstructing the navigation, some notion may be formed of the immensity of the undertaking. The length of the canal is thirty-three miles ; it is what is termed " semi-tidal, with locks, by which ships are raised bodily on their passage from the estuary to the level of the quays." The canal as originally proposed was tidal, so that the sea-water would run all the way to Old TrafFord (Manchester). But this proposal was found to be impracticable, and locks were substituted. The rise up to Manchester is considerable some sixty feet above the entrance at Eastham. To make a level tidal canal, therefore, would have necessitated immense excavations at the Manchester end ; and so the tidal plan was abandoned. Let us take our map and trace the course of the Manchester Ship Canal. Coming from Liverpool, we must cross the Mersey, and land at Eastham. We shall there find locks, but as a rule, the level of the canal and the lower portions near the Mersey will be the same as the river, so that vessels can enter on the tide direct. Let us go in on the flood, and steam gently up inland, having the river on our left. It will appear singular to passengers at first to leave the river and run along a canal near it, an artificial cutting. The advantage claimed for the canal is this : almost any ships can enter it at almost any time ; small vessels can enter it at any time, so they will save very much by proceeding to Eastham, instead of waiting, at low water, for ad- mission to the Liverpool docks, " and, very frequently, CANALS AND WATERWAYS, 119 be ready to discharge " cargo up at Manchester "as soon as they could in any Liverpool dock." If we visit the canal, we shall ascertain that a fine rock-cut entrance gives access in deep water, and that the bottom of the canal in the greater portion of its course that is, in twenty-eight out of thirty-five miles is rock, solid red sandstone. This gives the canal another great advantage, as, if mud accumulate, it will be more easily removed from a rocky bottom than from a sandy one. This new waterway passes under rail- ways, through rivers and old canals, fills up swamps, carries roads above it, and water supply underneath ! It causes some canals to disappear, and makes even railways turn aside. To effect all these objects and to proceed as rapidly as possible, the contractor has divided the canal works into spaces or sections, each a few miles (four or five) in length. In each there is a gang of workmen with all appliances, and each, section vies with the other in making its way onward,, in two directions, to meet the adjoining ones. Some of us who have watched the construction of a railway, the excavations, the cuttings, the rock- blasting processes, in our younger days, will be con- siderably surprised at the scarcity of human hands, comparatively speaking, employed in the Manchester Canal. There is no want of bustle and animation ;; cranes, horses, and trollies are there in abundance ; the spoil-banks are high, and the " spoil " may be spread in tons over waste land to form, in time, most valuable ground. (" Spoil " is the earthy or other matter excavated.) All the usual concomitants of engineering work of this class are to be seen, but steam is lord of all. Mechanics are here, navvies are here ; but steam machinery and steam navvies and excavators do the work of the human navigators, and are not likely to " strike." Nevertheless, some three hundred men per mile are employed in various ways, but the most surprising machine is the "steam-navvy." This is a kind of bucket worked by steam and fitted to a crane. The steani controls digger and I2O TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. crane, so the bucket digs out the soil, scooping it irresistibly into its capacious "shoot," and then the crane, swinging it round, empties it into the attendant truck. It is the most useful and powerful navvy in the world, and has a companion dredger, which rivals it, even if it do not bear off the palm, for utility and force. By its (the dredger's) efforts twenty trucks can be filled with earth in ten minutes ! It can dig out and lift four cubic yards of spoil in one mimite ! This is rapid and wonderful progress, but when we consider, with a writer on the subject, that the amount to be excavated would be sufficient to build up a wall around the centre of the earth six feet high and two feet thick, we can form some idea of the mass of earth to be removed viz., about 56,000,000 cubic yards of " spoil." The following extract will put the scene before us very plainly. Here is the picture : " Engines and endless trains of trucks hurry over mazes of railway ; fragmentary bits of cutting in some places and embanking at others ; rural colonies of workmen's wooden houses, suggestive of the bush or the back- woods ; green fields and ground of all sorts suddenly converted into contractors' yards, offices, and work- shops ; a day-long Uproar (sometimes night-long also) of steaming, forging, hammering, digging, and build- ing ; all is controlled by master minds, but the outline of their plan seldom reveals itself to observation." * The ascent of the canal is managed by a series of locks, long distances apart. At first, Eastham Lock opens for us, and raises us some two-and- twenty feet. We proceed for the like number of miles along the canal to Latch ford, where we are again lifted sixteen feet. Part of this first stage of the canal is closely contiguous to the Mersey ; but, after Run- corn is passed, the waterway may be and probably will be lined with warehouses, and these will form a high enclosure to the waterway, as they do to rivers in populous towns. * The Times. CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 121 From Latchford Lock we have only a short stage to Irlam, where we rise again fourteen feet, and again within a couple of miles. Then, as we approach Manchester, we leap up another stage, and find our- selves in the Old Trafford Docks, of which there are three, all of exceptional area. The locks we have ascended are in sets of three, side by side, so that all classes of vessels can be separately accommodated. This is a most convenient arrangement ; and as the locks will hold several vessels at once, and have ingenious facilities for using part of the lock at a time, the navigation will in no instance be interrupted. Everything connected with the undertaking is on a scale of magnitude hitherto unequalled. The depth of the canal certainly does not exceed that of the older Suez Canal, but the width of our home water- way is much greater nearly twice as great as the Suez, and much longer. The width of the Manchester Canal, on the water level, is nearly three hundred feet, though it varies in places ; the width below is one hundred and twenty feet, the depth being twenty- six feet. If no pains have been spared in the actual work so none were spared in the interest of the workers. Nowadays if we employ labour, we civilise it ; if we engage children, we must teach them if " the Board " will permit. So, if we employ the married, we have to provide schools, lecture rooms, and other means of improving the youthful and adult popula- tion which we have attracted to us. The contractor for the Manchester Ship Canal the late Mr. T. A. Walker, of Westminster did not overlook the needs of his employes. He supplied means for recreation and improvement ; he established hospitals with staffs of nurses ; and made other and successful efforts by means of temperance lectures, &c., to improve the minds and take care of the bodies of his men and their families. Surely we may include such a record as this amongst the triumphs of the modern engineer ! The estimate for the canal is 5, 750,000. 122 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. II. CANAL ROUTES IN AMERICA. There are some important undertakings in course of construction and in contemplation in the United States of America, and in the far-famed Isthmus of Darien. The latter, at the present writing, occupies, as it has for some time occupied, the foremost place in people's minds when engineering is on the tapis. The two routes contemplated are the somewhat unfortunate Panama Canal and the Nicaragua scheme, each one a masterpiece in its way. M. de Lesseps is well known in connection with the first-named, the history of which we will presently relate, and Captain Bedford Pirn is answerable for the second project. These are the two waterways which are projected and expected to unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to revolutionise commerce. The Panama scheme, originally for a level canal, but afterwards adapted for locks, is under a cloud. In the Panama Canal vessels will proceed by steam, as in other cuttings of similar character. Captain Pirn would have a " ship canal " of a different style. His shipping would be floated along in pontoons in a shallow waterway ; the ships being high and dry, and in a position to be cleaned in transit from Greytown to the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, and thence by canal into the Pacific, a distance of 173^ miles. THE PANAMA CANAL. For several years the Panama Canal has been familiar in our ear's, and its very familiarity may have tended to detract from the praise and admi- ration which should, notwithstanding recent events, be bestowed upon M. de Lesseps, the originator of this, whose association with the Suez Canal will never be forgotten, and whose " pluck " in connection with his later and more difficult scheme should appeal to all Englishmen. The story of the Panama Canal begins in 1879. We were then informed that a gigantic enterprise CANALS AND WATERWAYS, 123 was " on the tapis? a scheme which would soon be- come directly or indirectly a rival to the American railway lines ; this was nothing less than a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien. The great American trans-continental lines were then only pushing out their feelers, and grasping territory to unite with territory already grasped. The Erie Canal and other canals were feeling low, and the prospect for the stockholders was not brilliant. Canada began to realise the facts, and deepened her Willand and other channels to the St. Lawrence while planning her railway across the Continent. But the news of the scheme proposed by M. de Lesseps made the Americans " sit up." M. de Lesseps carried his vote at the Paris Con- gress. He argued the feasibility of making a canal across the Isthmus of Darien, near the Chagres River,, where a bulwark of mountain stands still against: him. This must be tunneled or cut down. In the; Suez Canal he had no such difficulties to contendl against as he had at Panama, where the policy/ of Hannibal was necessary, "dis jecit saxu," if not "montes rupit aceto." Darien, as a name, disap- peared from our geography, and Panama succeeded. The isthmus is celebrated in history for its associa- tion with Pizarro, whose Spaniards built the city of Panama, which was burned by Morgan in 1670. A new town was erected, and it still stands, on the south-west side, a fairly prosperous place, beside a beautiful bay. M. de Lesseps is by no means the first celebrity who thought of cutting a canal through the isthmus. Hernando Cortes was the first, Hum- boldt another, and lately several routes have been dis- cussed. Francis Drake was too busy plundering to think of inter-oceanic canals in Panama. The undertaking, as imagined by Lesseps, is a canal from Aspinwall to Panama. Aspinwall, known as Colon, from " Columbus," is the starting-point on the Atlantic side, and thither all stores were conveyed There is nothing remarkable in Colon, which is small 124 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. and shabby, except its name. The proposed canal will run close by the existing railroad and the Chagres River, through beautiful scenery, if unfortunately through a somewhat pestilential zone. There is a railway station at Buenavista, a pretty place ; and at Gatoon beyond it ; thence Panama is reached. There are, as may be imagined, other schemes, such as the Nicaragua and the Tehuantepec routes, which promise better. There is one great drawback to the Panama route which some people think very serious indeed it is only a way for steamships. It may appear extraordinary, but the fickle wind has leave of absence from Panama for many weeks in the year. At certain seasons there is not any appreciable breeze within some hundreds of miles, and if vessels remain becalmed in Panama Bay for six weeks, their captains would, while whistling, devoutly wish that they had gone .round the Horn instead of trying to cross the isthmus. The longest way round, in a sailing vessel, is often the shortest way home. And when the wind does blow it generally is more north-east than any other ; so westward (outward) bound European ships would have it some- what in their favour, but decidedly against them on the return to Europe. Panama itself is not very attractive, and beats Liverpool and Whitehaven as regards rain. We are apt to call our climate wet when we have a few inches of rainfall per month. Panama can boast of one hundred and twenty-four inches of rain per annum, or ten a month at least. If we have three or four a month, we are " drowned." But notwithstanding difficulties rain, calms, climate, malaria, and physical obstacles M. de Lesseps organised his forces and commenced his work. The end was still distant in 1889, when the funds gave out. But a glance at the history of the undertaking will be profitable. We may consider its failure later. The company started under pleasant and hopeful auspices in 1 88 1. In December, 1888, it was bankrupt, and CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 125 suspended payment on the I4th of that month. We have to consider the operations in the interval. The Isthmus of Panama is only one hundred and fourteen miles wide in its greatest width, and this belt is narrowed down to considerably less than half that distance about the region where the railroad crosses it. This was seized upon as the line for the construction of the canal. In 1876 an expedition was sent out from France, whose engineers were delighted with the success of the Suez Canal, and Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse was the leader of the party. In 1878 a concession was granted to the International Inter-Oceanic Canal Society, and all these proceedings are fully set forth in the very descriptive narrative which Commander Wyse has published. Failure had at first threatened even M de Lesseps, but after his voyage to the isthmus he succeeded in floating his company. There were 102,230 sub- scribers, and there were 590,000 shares, thousands taken in small allotments, besides 10,000 allotted to the concessionaries. The cost was eventually esti- mated at 600,000,000 of francs, and the necessary arrangements were made for a beginning. M. Wyse and his society received five millions of francs in cash, and a like sum in paid-up shares. M. Reclus quitted France in 1881 to commence operations as arranged. In a year or so he retired, and subsequently M. Verbrugghe followed him ; then M. Richier assumed the reins. But promises at Panama do not keep. Very little was done. The climate attacked the Europeans. The work which had been promised in October was not done hardly commenced ; but M. Reclus came to France and cheered up the stockholders, who believed, and still believe, in M. de Lesseps. In 1882 the proceedings still flagged, but certain progress was made at Aspinwall (Colon), and as far as Gatun some portion of the way was cleared. But the great obstacles to any rapid progress were the cutting of '126 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN the hills and the barring of the Chagres River. It was at first suggested that the hill should be tunneled ; but that idea was abandoned. The cutting of the canal through this barrier, nearly three hundred feet high, was commenced. These were formidable ob- ; stacles, particularly when it is remembered that the Chagres River, which is in dry seasons only two feet deep, in rainy weather rises to forty feet. This river crosses the course of the proposed canal twenty-nine times, and it is not easy to imagine the volume of water which would be poured into the canal in a few days' flood. This difficulty it was determined to meet, and the engineers set about to plan and construct an immense dam, which should firmly restrain the Chagres River, with its thousands of millions of cubic feet of water. In May, 1884, the river rose nearly ten feet in four-and-twenty hours ! There are other, but smaller, streams to reckon with, and new channels had to be cut. The Chagres dam, when completed, will be one mile long and one hundred and fifty feet high. Underneath this tremendous embankment will be a culvert, fifty feet wide, which, it is estimated, will carry away the water of the river in ordinary circum- stances. There will also be overflow channels for the Lower Chagres stream. This great dam is to stem the river at Gamboa. While these surveys were pro- ceeding, however, considerable progress was being made by the army of labourers employed. In 1885 about eighteen millions of cubic yards of material had been taken out, and 20,000 men, with all modern appliances, were at work, digging, scooping, and em- banking. All this required more money, and M. de Lesseps determined to issue lottery bonds. He went out himself to inspect the works, and declared that they could be completed in 1889. Notwithstanding storms in Europe, the excava- tion went on, and the general work may be described as similar to that attending the construc- tion of any other canal. The great dam is not CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 127 likely to be finished for some time. It is expected to extend from Cerro Obispo to Cerro Santa Cruz, across the valley. The hill does not present such great difficulties, and the canal will be seventy-two feet wide at the bottom and one hundred and sixty at the top. The total length will be fifty-four miles. The ex- cavation involves the removal of 3,531 millions of cubic feet of earth. The work of the Panama Canal was divided into sections ; let out to various contractors, who were "bound under heavy penalties" to have their respective portions finished by the end of the year 1888. What has become of those penalties we cannot say. At any rate the isthmus was occu- pied by many thousands of people working and overlooking. Locomotives, pumps, dredgers, " steam navvies" were all in evidence and all busy. Men had no holidays ; they lived on their dredgers, and fared on the food imported from the United States, for there is no agriculture nor other industry at Panama save import business and digging. The immense dam was modified ; a mole was designed to turn the first rush of turbid water, and an artificial bed was to be made for the river. All these and many other works were proceeding. The English contractor had attacked the hill ; British hands were to pull down and dig up 350 feet of massive rock and earth. From Bohio Saldado to Matachin, from Matachin to Culebra, from Culebra to Paraiso, and thence to Naos and the sea, the work was pro- gressing. The Culebra cutting and the division of the Chagres River by the immense dam were really the betes noirs of the undertaking. The reduction of the former necessitated the removal of the hill and an excavation to the bottom of the canal, in all 33^ feet, a tremendous task. In the fifth section the amount of work to be done was less, and easier of accomplish- ment, even if the canal were carried on a level as intended. But this seemed almost a hopeless under- taking, and an alternative provisional scheme was CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 129 suggested by M. Eiffel, of " Tower " fame, who de- signed a series of locks which would very materially reduce the amount of excavation work by ascending, and it has been stated that one-fifth of the excavation work can be saved if his plan of a lock-canal be adopted. His proposal is to utilise the canal as far as it has been cut on the level, and from Aspinwall to the fourteenth mile we may say that this has been accom- plished. At this point a lock would be constructed with a rise of twenty-five feet, and others at distances of a varying number of miles each, rising about the same height, the total difference in level between the summit and the Atlantic being 125 feet ; and another series of locks will then be made to embrace the 135 feet of fall to Panama ten in all. If adopted this plan will of course cause a deviation from the original one of a level waterway across the isthmus. The water required for the locks could, it is averred, be readily procured from the turbulent Chagres or Obispo Rivers, or from the reservoir dam, or pumped up. The labour of excavation could be reduced, and the work already done and the money subscribed would not be lost. The excavations meanwhile continued, and the canal was advancing ; then sad rumours rose and were contradicted. But funds failed ! Loans were deemed neces- sary. Nineteen millions of pounds, it was estimated, would be required for the great dam alone ! These works, even now, have hardly been commenced ; and the whole canal has been estimated to cost one hundred millions of pounds sterling, instead of the forty-eight millions which M. de Lesseps origin- ally estimated it would require. This is a tre- mendous deficiency, and it is doubtful what the success will be. But until 1888 the works progressed, if more slowly. The cutting, blasting, and digging still went on in the face of unfortunate and disquiet- ing rumours. There was still money in the till, and the French Government would surely come to the I UNIVERSITY V' -<^' 130 ^TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. assistance of the Company! In February, 1888, better news arrived from Panama, and the fourteen or fifteen miles from Aspinwall were announced as completed. M. de Lesseps, in his subsequent report, adopted the lock scheme above referred to, and a large loan was authorised ; but the Government steadily declined to identify itself with the scheme. In time the issue of a lottery loan was decided upon, and the terms of the loan were as follows. There were two millions of bonds of 360 francs, repayable in ninety-nine years at the rate of 400 francs per bond, bearing, meanwhile, interest at fifteen francs. These bonds were to be drawn annually by a certain number of drawings varying with the period, and handsome money prizes were offered. Further reassuring reports were still coming in. The great Chagres difficulty was about to be solved ! The river was to be made a friend and turned against the opposing soil to wear it away by hydraulic power and force. But the rumour of the sudden death of M. de Lesseps startled people out of the loan ; however, the great man reassured his shareholders ; some prizes were drawn (one of 500,000 francs) ; and the meeting was most jubilant. Another appeal was made. But there was something in the air ; people began to talk of "failure;" and though the energetic director did all he could he was not able to stem the tide of opposition. He exhorted his friends and shareholders, reminded them of the success of the Suez Canal, and advised them to stand firm. Meanwhile the money was being spent and the canal was being excavated. At the close of the year 1888 another subscription was attempted, but it was not responded to as had been expected. Trusting M. de Lesseps as the French people do, and proud of him, as they have every right to be, they could not but be sensible of the results of the undertaking, and of the sinister prophecies and rumours which continued to be made and to be heard respecting the difficulties of the canal. There was also some question raised CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 131 concerning ihe " Munroe " doctrine of " America for the Americans ; '' and whether the United States could admit a European Power, with possibly supreme authority along the line of the canal, into their territory. But this objection was overruled, as the Panama Canal Company is not a Government insti- tution ; the doctrine can only hold good when a foreign State endeavours to annex American territory. On the I4th of December, 1888, M. de Lesseps and his colleagues resigned their positions as directors of the Panama Canal, and matters concerning it reached a critical stage. The canal had already cost ^"46,000,000 sterling, but not all of this immense sum had been expended in the canal. Interest on deben- tures and shares had to be found. The original plan had been abandoned; M. Eiffel's locks were being set up, and experts began to say that ^"20,000,000 sterling would be required even then to complete the under- taking, which was estimated to be "good" to pay ten per cent, on the new capital. But the news of M. de Lesseps' retirement was a great blow. Many persons were completely upset by it, and in addition to the heavy losses sustained there was always an element of uncertainty in "the news sent over. But some definite intelligence was contained in the report despatched in October, 1888, which may be sum- marised. It dealt with each section there are five in the canal. The first from the Atlantic side is fourteen miles in length, and the progress already made warranted the assumption that in the following seven or eight months the section would be finished, assuming equal rate of progress and corresponding circumstances generally. It appeared that for eleven miles of the distance the depth below ocean level was on the average twenty-one feet (varying from fourteen to twenty-eight feet) ; the waterway was 131 feet wide on the surface level ; and seventy-two feet at the bottom of the cutting. From eleven to fourteen miles the cutting was as low as sea-level, but no more. Moreover, the works connected with the deviation of 132 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the Chagres were, in this first section, completed except for the length of half a mile, " for a bottom width of 1 14 feet to a depth of thirteen feet" The Colon Harbour works were nearly completed the most difficult portion having been surmounted, and the channel had been dredged out to twenty-eight feet, or thereabouts. Eleven dredgers of sorts, 600 waggons, nine locomotive engines, two steam navvies, and thirty miles of permanent way comprised the " plant " of this section. Section No. 2, from fourteen to the twenty-seventh mile, was also progressing, and about one-fourth of the work had been excavated. Of the third section, two miles had been completed. About three millions of cubic metres had still to be removed. In this section, from the twenty-seventh to the thirty-third miles, there were 2,500 waggons, forty-five locomotives, seventy miles of permanent way, and a number of cranes and drills employed. In the next section, from thirty-three to thirty-eight miles, there were 4,323,000 cubic metres remaining to be excavated. Artificial lakes had been formed into which the Obispo and Grande Rivers had been drawn ofF. Seventy loco- motives, 2,600 waggons, and nearly ninety miles of permanent way, with numbers of steam navvies, elevators, dredges, &c., for cutting the Culebra and excavating the lake basins, were employed in this division. The last section, at Panama, had good results to show. Nearly one half of the excavations remaining in January, 1888, had been done; the Panama channel had been dug to a depth of thirty- six feet and 131 feet wide for four miles; the end (one and a half mile) was finished. An immense quantity of " plant " was also in use here ; comprising dredges, tugs, and transport barges. It also appeared that the Messrs. Eiffel had accepted contracts for the locks, and had made con- siderable progress with them. The iron had been in a great measure supplied, and other material was on its way out This was the condition of affairs generally CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 133 in November, 1888. Since then many conflicting rumours have come to Europe. The financial position of the Company began to look very bad indeed, and the work slackened. In February, 1889, a large number of workmen were discharging themselves from the canal works and proceeding elsewhere. Then the status of the Company was debated in the French Chamber. The liquidators had something to say, and a suggestion was made for the formation of a new Company to carry on the works. Meanwhile a committee was debating the best mode of proceeding, and the advisability of issuing lottery bonds, which, after paying necessary expenses, will provide a sum of fifteen millions of francs to preserve the existing works of the canal and pay the expenses of a Technical Commission, which will proceed to Panama, and report upon the possibility of the ulti- mate completion of the Inter-Oceanic Canal. THE NICARAGUA CANAL. Amongst the revivals of old schemes of which we have seen the accomplishment within the last few years, the Nicaragua Canal project takes a foremost place. This is by no means a new idea, for no less a personage than Horatio Nelson years ago conceived the plan of seizing Nicaragua and cutting a ship canal across the country, utilising the lake. Much corres- pondence has taken place respecting this project, and down to our own days the American Government has been engaged in debating it, until, in 1885, the plan crystallised into something tangible. The suggestions made then were put forth by an American engineer, Mr. A. G. Menscal. He, it appears, has had his eyes fixed upon the canal project for years, and had surveyed the route. He proposes that the canal shall extend between San Juan de Nicaragua and the Pacific. It is proposed to work along to the river, through by a no means difficult country for about twenty miles. When the San Juan River has been reached through this cutting, the canal will follow 134 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the natural channel of the stream to the Nicaragua Lake, an extensive sheet of water. Quitting the lake by the mouth of the Del Medio stream, the canal will follow its course to the Pacific Ocean by another cut, some sixteen miles in length. The engineering difficulties are represented as very small, and they are comprised within a space of sixty-two miles, all told. The entire canal, including the river and the lake, is one hundred and eighty-one miles, in round numbers. About one hundred and nineteen miles are formed by natural channels, so we have only the balance to deal with. There must be dams and locks in the San Juan River, and there are rapids to be circumvented ; but these works do not in any manner offer obstacles to the modern engineer. The only trouble he will have will be in the fall to the Pacific shore. There is a cut- ting of something more than sixteen miles to be ac- complished : the route must be made through the mountains, and the gradient is pretty steep. Under these circumstances several locks will be necessary if the canal is not to run dry immediately. The fall is one hundred and thirty-five feet, or nearly, and that perpendicular height in the short distance with the worst part within the first six miles will require "locking." In addition to the actual canal excavations, there must be preparations for the entrance and exit of ships at Brito on the Pacific, and at San Juan or Greytown on the Atlantic side. Some dredgers will probably be kept at work, as the channel at Greytown has a decided tendency to silt up. No doubt means will be found for checking the deposit, and the canal will be constructed very rapidly. The cost is estimated at the comparatively moderate sum of \ 3,000,000. One estimate which we have seen is less than this, but Mr. Menscal considers thirteen millions to be about the figure. Nevertheless experience tells us that canals absorb much more money than the first estimates pro- vide for ; so we must not be surprised to see the Nicaragua Canal engulf some few millions extra in its CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 135 waters. The climate, the works, and the expenses all bear a very favourable comparison with the Panama Canal route, and the new project has been well con- sidered. Now the Nicaragua scheme is actually under way. On the 25th of May, 1889, fifty men, with necessary instruments, were despatched by the Canal Company to commence the work of construction, and progress is reported. Nearly five years have elapsed since the commencement of the treaty with Nicaragua was made in the Message of President Arthur. This declaration of treaty was promulgated on the 1st of De- cember, 1884. A glance at the map of the Americas will show us that Nicaragua is a Republic of Central America. According to this statement of the Presi- dent the United States were to have the control of the Canal, which, moreover, was to be constructed by American engineers. This was denied on behalf of the Nicaragua Republic, which wisely determined to maintain neutrality within its gates. After some negotiations a sum was paid to the Republic by the Canal Company as " caution money." The concession was subsequently granted, and prospecting parties went out to survey the line of country. The ex- penditure for the canal last estimated is about sixty millions of dollars (; 12,000,000). The surveys have proved to be encouraging; the United States Government has sanctioned the enterprise ; and, as stated above, the canal has been commenced. On the other hand, the Panama route is temporarily abandoned. All the shareholders can do is to protect their property there ; and in all probability Nicaragua will be cut before Panama is ready ; if so, the latter route is doomed ! III. EUROPEAN CANAL SCHEMES, AND WEIRS. Nearer home we 'find that canal and river naviga- tion is by no means neglected. In 1888 there was another Inland Navigation Congress held at Frankfort- on-the-Main, and many important works were reported as in progress or already completed. At Frankfort 136 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. itself, the Main had been improved, and by means of locks the river had been opened to the Rhine traffic, while the authorities have enlarged the port, and several docking improvements have been made ; new quays and sidings, &c., have been completed, and, with the deepening and enlargement of the river, have resulted in increased prosperity. Nor has the railway been neglected, a new station having been erected. The anxiety of the Railway Companies is shown by the efforts they are making to divert the traffic from the river Main by also enlarging the Rhine depdts and quays. Mannheim, for instance, has been greatly improved ; new basins, &c., have been constructed ; and the Rhine and Neckar navigations have been united (in an apparently paradoxical way) by a cut. Here also trade has improved, and as time goes on we shall doubtless find " deep-water " communications extending. Canal (hydraulic) lifts are now in opera- tion capable of raising vessels of four hundred tons, and some such machines are found useful in France and Belgium. The canalisation of the Moselle River has also been proposed, and the construction of 'locks between Metz and Coblentz advocated. These various improvements have called other means of regulating the water into use, and a very ingenious method of arrangement of self-acting weirs has been tried. These are simply what the name implies. Our general system has been to erect a kind of dam, over which the water will rush at flood times, and which will head back the water in times of drought, sluices giving egress to the failing supply when necessary. The consequence is well known. In a few days the surplus water has extended itself over the land on each side, and after doing great damage has subsided, leaving nothing but " wrack " and wreck behind. The self-acting weir obviates all this inconvenience at a cheap rate of construction. The advantages claimed for this movable weir are, firstly, that it lowers and raises itself according to the required level of the river. When the stream is at CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 137 its normal height, the weir retains the water in suffi- cient quantity ; but when a " spate " sets in, or a flood comes down, the self-acting weir is equal to the occa- sion, and gradually lowers itself to permit the surplus water to pass down without any lateral inundation. We have heard of weirs which are lifted by the increasing pressure of the rising water, but the new " self-acting " weirs seem to consist of shutters, and are thus described : The weir consists of a shutter, inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees, which, moving on a hinge fixed to the apron, turns up-stream. Another shutter, jointed at its upper end to the top of the former and inclined in the opposite direction, rests against it when raised up and falls with it when lowered by sliding along the apron till both shutters lie flat. When the shutters have risen to the proper height, the foot of the second up-stream shutter is prevented from going farther, and retains the first in its place against the pressure of the water, which has a tendency to lift it higher. The shutters are connected, so that all the double shutters may rise or fall to the same extent. Two sluice-gates placed across a culvert on the abutment are regulated by the water, opening and closing alternately, one at a time, according to the height of the water above the weir. By the admission of water from the culvert underneath the two shutters, they are raised when the water-line falling opens the upper sluice-gate, and closes the lower one. When the rising water closes the upper sluice-gate and opens the lower one, the water flows away under the gates into the lower pool. The shutters being connected, they all rise and fall equally, and stem back the water as required. Thus, when the river is subsiding it shuts the lower sluice, raises the shutters, and opens the upper gate. Conversely, it lowers the shutters by its rising, closes the upper gate, opening the lower one and letting the water escape, through the same lateral opening, under the gates. As the weir consists of the shutters, it follows that the action of the water 138 IRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. in raising or depressing the shutters raises and de- presses the weir.* ISTHMUS OF CORINTH AND NORTH SEA CANAL. This is one of the many schemes which are pro- jected nowadays to cut off distance by cutting through land intervening 'twixt sea and sea. The Isthmus of Corinth, as well as those of Panama and Perekop, will have its canal sooner or later. The first sod was turned in 1882 by the King of Greece ; but, like many another scheme, the Corinth Canal is only the resuscitation of a very old plan of a waterway across the isthmus, put forward, it is said, by no less a personage than Nero, the Roman Emperor, and this route General Turr is said to have followed. The canal was initiated at Venice in 1881, and the works are progressing under the King's inspec- tion. It would have been completed earlier had not some unforeseen difficulties been met with in the appearance of a very unreliable soil which has rendered masonry work indispensable. The opening of the canal abridges the distance to Athens. The passage from the Gulf of Lepanto to the Gulf of Athens will then be only a matter of four miles, of which nearly two miles must be protected with masonry. As the cutting has pro- gressed, traces of the Roman walls have been dis- covered, which conclusively attest the fact that Nero did actually commence the waterway which General Turr nearly retraced. The cost of the Corinth Canal was originally put at one million sterling, but, owing to the difficulties above men- tioned, some eight hundred thousand pounds more have been demanded. The saving in distance by the opening of this route is about 200 miles, or less, according to circumstances and the distance at which the dangerous Greek shores must be kept. It is proposed to construct a harbour at each end * See "Annales des Travaux Publics," 1888; and "Pro- ceedings " (vol. 94) Institute C.E. CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 139 of the canal. No great engineering difficulties have been encountered, the ridge in the centre of the isthmus being the petty counterpart of the Culebra hill in Panama ; but there is no corresponding river to claim the attention of Messrs. Guster and Kander, the engineers of the work. Another canal, which will effect an immense saving in distance, with comparatively small cost and low tolls, is that now in course of construction between the North Sea and the Baltic. The actual work was commenced in June, 1887. The cost is calculated at eight millions sterling, and the money has been voted by the German Parliament. The new waterway, when completed, will afford a passage to ships from the mouth of the Elbe to Holtman on the Baltic, near Kiel. A canal is already in existence from Rendsborg to Holtman, and the projected addi- tion will start from Bumsbiittel, vid Gieselau, by the River Eider, as straight as possible, in the same direc- tion as the existing waterway. The new ship canal will be sixty-one English miles long, and will have locks at each end. There are no engineering diffi- culties in the way. The canal will be level. The soil is loamy. The saving in distance is calculated at 237 miles ; and steamers will save about twenty-four hours in time. A glance at the map will show how this Schleswig-Holstein Canal may be utilised by Germany for offensive or defensive operations. In direct communication with Kiel, the maritime dep6t of the empire, the canal gives immediate access to the lower waters of the North Sea without any trouble or notice. The present route would compel German and other ships to navigate the Belt, or the Sound, and so make their way round the north of Jutland. The new canal will be 185 feet wide (eighty feet at bottom), and twenty-five feet deep. The largest vessels can pass each other en voyage. 140 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. NEW ENGLISH CANALS. There was a project broached in 1888 for a big canal in England which would join existing canals in two series, and cross the country in both direc- tions, uniting in its course several fine rivers. Mr. Samuel Lloyd started the notion, and some day he may see his project realised. This suggestion, which he called a " National Canal " scheme, is a bold one, but by no means impracticable. We have a great net- work of canals in England, waterways with which the average southerner is not acquainted. The Bridge- water Canal was commenced in 1767, after the duke had experienced love's disappointment, and had taken to canal cutting to conceal his feelings which had been so sorely wounded by one of the "beautiful Gun- nings." The Bridgewater Canal was opened in 1772, and then canals were set on foot in numbers, and even steam was employed in the Clyde Canal in the year 1786. We have plenty of canals, but the railways have purchased a goodly number. They are still paying concerns, and might be made very profitable indeed. Rivers, too, get full of weeds, and are more or less blocked because of the want of traffic ; our water- ways can accommodate merchandise very cheaply, and if the idea suggested of creating two main canals from Liverpool to London and from the Humber to the Severn be carried out, the traffic would all pass through Birmingham and be interchangeable there with numerous other ways. Birmingham pos- sesses canals communicating both with London and Liverpool. No one can travel over the North Western Railway system without being struck with the number of canals in the Midlands, and another boat-road has already been planned to the Severn. If Mr. Lloyd's idea is ever carried out, it will materially benefit the country, for it would be suffi- ciently deep to take over good-sized vessels ; and if the progress were much less rapid than by rail, the CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 141 time now lost in transhipment will be gained, and the necessity for breaking bulk obviated. Then the cheapness would appeal to thousands, for there is no doubt that cheapness is the ultima thule of every housekeeper nowadays. Another English canal scheme has come forth in the shape of a proposal to unite Bridgewater (Bristol Channel) with the English Channel, near Exmouth, or Seaton, Devon. The suggested canal would pass by Combwich, Bridgewater, Taunton, Wellington, Stoke-Canon, Collumpton, and Exeter. It would, or will be, sixty-two miles in length, and be level throughout ; a pair of locks at each end, opening into the sea, being considered the only necessary barriers. Some arrangement for preventing the admission of sea-water through the canal must be perfected, or else the new venture will hardly find favour in the eyes of those who may have to depend on their supplies from the waterway. The question whether the canal could be constructed in the manner sug- gested namely, without locks is a very debateable one. There must be deep cuttings if there are only entrance and exit locks, and even on railways banks frequently give way and close traffic, There is even a rival scheme to this, but nothing has been pro- mulgated concerning it The proposed ship canal would be 125 feet wide at the surface, and twenty- one feet deep. A SHIP CANAL FOR SCOTLAND. Coming back to the North Country, we find that a waterway has been proposed for Scotland, but the idea is not original. It was thought that to enlarge the Clyde and Forth Canal would be a good plan, and so the waterway is to be transformed into a ship canal at a cost of about two millions sterling. If this scheme is ever carried out, a direct canal will be cut through Scotland, and sea-going vessels may then cross the country from sea to sea, and the voyage from Belfast, Glasgow, or any Western, Scottish, or English 142 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. port to Holland would be materially shortened. The existing canal for small boats extends from Bowling (the original of " Tom Bowling ") on the Clyde to Grangemouth on trie Forth. Whether the Caledonian Railway Company, to whom the present waterway belongs, will permit its being used is a question as yet undecided. Railways do not like canals when the latter are in competition, and as the iron-horse has been ridden roughshod over the canals in the past, we may not hear much from the present rail-cum- water directors, who have interests to guard. But the Scottish Ship Canal would be a decided benefit to coast traffic. There are many other canals in Europe which we cannot touch upon. The Suez Canal is being widened, but has not yet been duplicated. The introduction of the electric light in the passage of the canal has, in a measure, obviated the pressing necessity which existed formerly for greater space when steamers could not proceed at night. So far back as 1883, it was decided to construct a second Suez Canal, and in 1887 the requisite authority was obtained for improving the waterway by widening it to 144 feet between Port Said and the Bitter Lakes, and 213 feet on to Suez. This will enable vessels to pass without difficulty. A novel system of waterway is a propelling canal, which, having received its ship, carries it along. The waterway is divided into two channels, like the up and down metals of a railway. A current is generated by means of a screw, and on this up and down current or currents the vessels can glide. If no wind were blowing, this method would have merit, but we fear the progress will be slow. Amongst other new canals are the Brussels and the Perekop schemes. Brussels wants a ship canal to the Scheldt, and Russia wishes to unite the sea of Azov with the Euxine. By the latter ship canal a hundred miles of navigation will be, saved. CANALS AND WATERWAYS. 143 IV. THE RAMASSERIM SHIP CANAL. M. de Lesseps has a great deal to answer for. Ever since he finished the Suez Canal and advocated the Panama Canal scheme, other men have been seeking isthmuses and islands to cut or avoid. In a few years there will be no isthmuses left, and geographers must omit isthmus from the maps and treatises. Peninsulas will become islands, islands will be divided ; gulfs will be bridged, and poor Dame Nature will be completely outwitted. Could some of our old explorers again visit our earth they would be rather surprised now, and if they could remain amongst us another thirty years or so " they wouldn't know the place." But have not all these interferences with Nature a sinister side ? In our struggle for more light is there not some danger of our becoming blinded ? If we continue to cut new inland channels, will not trade go by this shortest route, and shall we not suffer in con- sequence ? Is it not possible to turn aside the tide of prosperity from certain shores, even though the sea be unrestrained? Canute is reported to have read his courtiers a lesson. We have improved on him, and our engineers can annihilate space, and race faster than time. But when we interfere too much with land and water by opening up the one and damming back the other, are we not punishing our- selves somewhat, and, while seeking a temporary benefit, dispossessing ourselves of trade by short cuts ? These remarks are prompted by the continually increasing number of schemes which are and have been projected for ship canals. Such wholesale alterations of the face of the globe must, sooner or later, have an effect upon people and places some effect certainly ; whether beneficial or not, whether by alteration of climatic conditions, or by the lapse or increase of trade, we cannot stop to discuss. In the next generation a new course of geography will have to be J44 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. pursued, and by the construction of so many canals we may, literally, find ourselves in great straits. Still, the work proceeds. Russia, Sweden, England, and other European countries are making new water- ways by sea as well as inland ; India will not be behindhand. It cannot do much in the way of ship- canals through its extensive mainland, but there is a certain narrow and somewhat shallow strait, between Ceylon and the continent, which offers itself for re- construction and improvement. Palk's Strait is not at present navigable for large vessels, and the sug- gestion of a new cutting has been approved by engineers. In this strait lies the Island of Ramas- serim ; the channel it obstructs is, with great expense, maintained by the Government ; but if the isle could be cut through and a deep-sea channel constructed, an immense saving of time would be insured. At present ships have to come all the way round Galle, but if ocean steamers could enter Palk's Strait, discharge cargo on the coast where a harbour would quickly be built the railway would at once receive the merchandise, and the voyage to Madras would be considerably shortened. Whether Ceylon would complain and Colombo remonstrate is another point. Most of the traffic which rounds Point de Galle would, in the event of the strait being decreed, leave Colombo and the south coast of the island. Trincomalee might even be left out in the cold. The railway lines in India approved the suggestion, and we await its completion. 145 SECTION IV. BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. Bridges and Old Viaducts New Constructions The Tay Viaduct The Catastrophe of December, 1879 T ne New Bridge Its Cost and Construction The Piers and Cylinders The Opening The Forth Bridge Details of the Building and the Elevation of the Piers The Cantilever System explained The Caissons, and the System of Working in them under Air Pressure The Concrete and Masonry The Tower Bridge The Discussion concerning It The Plan and Arrangements of the Bridge Its Spans and High-Level Road Mode of Working, and Time in Passing Vessels beneath It The Lifts and Precautions connected with the Traffic A High-Level Bridge for Glasgow Sir W. Arrol's Scheme The Approaches and General Plans for Working Its Capabilities. FROM the primitive stepping-stones and trunks of trees to the Forth Bridge is a " far cry," and if we were to enter into any adequate relation of the progress of bridge-building we could fill some volumes The Romans turned their attention to bridge-building much more than did the Greeks, who were a maritime nation, and preferred boats to viaducts. Even in the height of their artistic fame, and when their beautiful architecture had reached its pinnacle, they were satis- fied to ferry themselves across rivers; or, when the water was low, to wade. To the Romans must be given the palm for bridge-building ; their waterworks are monuments to this day ; and the architects of the empire produced works remarkable for durability and strength, even if the size of the construction and the span of the arch do not in these days excite any great wonderment. The Moors again excelled in bridge-building. Many specimens of Moorish and Roman architecture are still extant in Spain and France. There are ancient bridges in England. A curious foot-bridge was erected at Croyland in 860, and the Trent Bridge, consisting of thirty-four spans, was built in the twelfth century. Old London Bridge was begun in 1176, and we could trace the gradual development of engineer- ing structures of Rennie, Milne, and Telford. Iron 146 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. bridges are due to English architects, and their first experiment in this way was, we believe, over the Severn at Colebrookdale in 1777. Southwark Bridge was for a long while considered the finest iron structure in the world. Wood was, of course, the original material employed, and to Julius Caesar is ascribed the first wooden bridge, which he built across the Rhine, as he himself relates. The Americans' wooden viaducts are, some of them, celebrated ; then suspension bridges became the vogue, such as the bridge that once spanned the Thames at Hungerford (Charing Cross), now at Clifton, where it has earned a fatal reputation, and the more ancient and illustrious Menai Bridge in Wales. Swinging bridges are of very old origin. The rope bridge of South America and India, and Carrick-a-rede in the County Antrim, are all specimens of ancient bridges. So modern bridge-building has immensely im- proved, not only in the strength of the structures but in use of the materials. The construction of railroad bridges we can perceive has undergone many changes, Mr. Sowerby assures us of these alterations from suspension and stone bridges to girders ; cast-iron was superseded by wrought-iron girders,, and suspended platforms from circular tubes, as at Saltash Bridge ; then came the lattice girder on which old Tay Bridge was built. The new one is also of a similar nature, but the Forth Bridge eclipses all such structures. Nevertheless there are many notable bridges which our limited space will only permit us to refer to. The Brooklyn Bridge, the Victoria Bridge, the Attock Bridge, the Bismarck Bridge, and others in America, India, and Europe must be passed over in silence. The bridges of the present day are built for railroad traffic, and as such are of great strength and solidity, witness the viaduct at Johnstown, which withstood the flood while others gave way. BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 147 I. THE TAY VIADUCT. No greater shock was ever felt in the engineering world than on the morning of the 2pth December, 1879, when the news that the Tay Bridge had given way was telegraphed over Europe. It will be remembered that a terrific gale was sweeping the coast on the previous night, and the pressure of wind upon the viaduct must have been terrible. But, trusting to the strength of the materials, the engine-driver of the mail train, though conscious of the furious blasts to which he would be exposed, proceeded on his journey. The catastrophe was not unexpected by some of the residents. Considerable curiosity had been expressed during the storm as to whether the bridge would hold. Many people assembled at coigns of vantage to see the train cross the bridge, so we may fairly argue that some accident was feared, if not actually expected. The old Tay Viaduct was for a single line : a lattice girder bridge, two miles in length. The idea was originated in 1870 ; the structure was completed in 1876-7 ; it was six years in building, cost ^"350,000, and contained 7,000 tons of iron, 87,000 cubic feet of timber, and 10,000,000 bricks. On the 28th De- cember, 1879, the wind was terrific. The mail train left Edinburgh in good time it was due at Dundee at 7.15 p.m. It came on the bridge and proceeded: suddenly a shower of fire was seen ; then all was dark, the roar of the tempest drowned all other noises. The signalman got no notice of the arrival of the train across the bridge ; he tried to telegraph but re- ceived no reply ; communication was interrupted. The bridge had given way on the high centre girders ; the train and about seventy-five passengers had perished in one terrible moment, and were swept away. This was a fearful calamity, and of course a searching inquiry was made into the causes of the accident by a special court. The report was pre- sented in June, 1880, and during the year the railway 148 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. company applied for powers to construct another viaduct which would take the place of the fallen structure, of which the centre only had given way. The House of Commons would not consent until certain preliminary investigations had been made as regarded the best site, the greatest safety, and the most permanent form of viaduct to take the place of the " old Tay Bridge." The committee decided that the bridge should be rebuilt on the same ground, but at a somewhat lower elevation over the Tay ; never- theless, they did not approve the means by which the railway company had proposed to renew the bridge, as it involved " a combination of old and new work which appeared to the committee ob- jectionable." Thereupon the Railroad (North British) Company placed the matter in the able hands of Mr. W. H. Barlow, the eminent President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. After many experiments and investiga- tions he recommended the directors of the company to build an entirely new viaduct, beside the old one, but different from it in detail and in width. The old bridge was only a single line ; the new bridge carries double rails. There are two branches of line, and these united on the former structure at a considerable distance from the bank, over the river, on separate viaducts. In the new bridge these lines have been doubled and carried together on substantial brickwork arches, their point of junction on the viaduct being nearer the shore than formerly, thus giving greater stability. These alterations in the plans were made under the committee's recommendations. The Bill received the royal assent on the j8th July, 1881, and the tender of Messrs. Arrol & Co., the contractors for the Forth Bridge, was accepted in the October following. There was some advantage in the construction, inasmuch as the material of the old bridge was avail- able for the new one, and the portion still standing of the broken viaduct could be, and was, utilised for 150 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. reaching the new structure which would be raised near it, and nearly parallel to its length. There are thirteen large girders in the middle sections of the bridge, and it was this corresponding portion which fell in December, 1879. Of these spans four are above the channel for ships, and are seventy-seven feet above the highest water mark. Those of the old bridge were eighty-eight feet above the ship channel. There is a gradual ascent across the bridge, the gradient from the north side being I in 1 14, as far as the channel spans ; past them the grade is very easy and merely nominal (i in 762) to the south end. There is a curve to the north end of a radius of twenty-one chains. The general appearance of the viaduct is very imposing. It looks extremely light, but is in truth strong and built on massive piers of more apparent solidity than the old piers, and arched, not solid, within, like an elongated series of the Marble Arch in Hyde Park. On the summits of these arched piers the line is laid, and trains run across spans of 145 and 245 feet, extending between no less than seventy-three piers, not counting the brick arches at the south end. The manner in which the bridge was built and the immense girders placed in position reflects great credit on all concerned. These piers are wrought-iron cylinders filled in with concrete and brickwork, sunk in the bed of the estuary. Eighteen inches and a half above high-water mark these cylindrical bases are united by a layer seven feet deep of the same material as the foundations, and supported on iron " bearers." The upper portions of the piers were chiefly manufac- tured in Glasgow. They consist of two octagonal pillars in each pier connected by a semicircular arch, the separate parts being riveted by hydraulic riveters. The manner in which the sinking of the cylinders and the filling up the spaces was accomplished may be mentioned, as the Tay Viaduct is accepted as typical. The cylinders were made in rings of con- venient lengths and carried out in boats to the places BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 151 marked for them. The first ring put in had a sharpened edge, so that it could, under the pressure to which it was subjected, cut into the silt or sand, and find its way to a foundation far below the water line. Every ring was bolted firmly to its predecessor and lined with brick-work. They were then pressed down into the holes dug for their reception, and as the cylinder descended sand and gravel entered, and had to be removed from the interior with immense quantities of water at times. The cylinders were then filled in with concrete up to the level of low water, and 27,000 cubic yards of concrete were used in the pier foundations. The upper portions were equally well managed. They were erected from movable platforms, or what are termed pontoons, which floated out the appliances and necessary staging erections on water-tight com- partments or tanks. There were three longitudinal tanks and three cross-tanks, so spaces were left like a gridiron through which the pier cylinder foundations could be reached. The same platforms were floated out with lifting derricks, and the portions of the arched superstructures placed in position until complete. The girders from the old bridge were utilised for the roadway, and also floated out. Being higher on the old viaduct, they come more easily into their new positions. They were pushed up as the tide rose, supported by columns, and the pontoons then drifted down with the burthen sixty feet to the new viaduct. Here arrangements were rapidly made for the release of the girders, and when the tide fell they descended into their places, or were lowered by hydraulic rams. The spans were also placed in position by floating out and fixing. The whole viaduct, " from end to end, is covered with a decking of corrugated steel." A lattice wall parapet surmounts it, and of course the usual allow- ance is made for expansion and contraction, plus an arrangement to balance the inclination of the girders on the southerly gradient and curve. Steam and 152 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. hydraulic power were freely employed in the con- struction of the viaduct, for the erection of which Mr. W. Arrol designed most of the machinery. It is gratifying to record that it did not fail in any particular. The Tay Viaduct was completed and tested, and pronounced fit for use in 1887. O ^ e 2otn of June, in Jubilee year, the anniversary of the accession-day of the Queen, this splendid work was opened for public use by railway, and there is every reason to expect that it will remain a monumental triumph of engineering for generations. The question of the lighting of the Tay Bridge has been discussed in the interests of navigation, but it has now been determined to light seven of the piers (half the actual number) of the high girders. II. THE FORTH BRIDGE. The Forth Bridge is one of the finest pieces of engineering in the world. Thus said Mr. Clark, the American bridge builder, at Edinburgh, and his verdict will be endorsed by every one ; the Forth Bridge, as a viaduct, is the largest and most im- portant structure ever seen ; and the finest develop- ment of the cantilever system of bridge-building. One of the nearest approaches to the actual size of the Forth Bridge is, we believe, the East River Bridge in New York State, but it is not equal to our viaduct ; wonderful as it is, it is only, as Mr. Wrightson remarked, " an extension of the suspension principle," and really hardly comparable with the Forth Bridge, opened 4th March, 1890. No arguments, then, are needed in support of the assertion that this magnificent structure is the finest in the world. By means of the Forth Bridge, the railroads on the east coast are able to compete with the west coast traffic on favourable terms, and the companies concerned unquestionably benefit. The bridge was actually sanctioned by Parliament in 1873, but was not commenced until 1883, after five tenders BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 153 for its construction had been sent in. The sums at which these tenders were put ranged from 1,487,000 up to 2,301,760 sterling. The firm which finally secured the work are the former Tancred, Arrol & Co., now Messrs. William Arrol & Co., of Glasgow. They agreed to construct the bridge for 1,600,000, a sum within 5,000 of the cost estimated by the consulting engineers, Messrs. Baker & Fowler, who designed the work. The contract was signed on the 2ist December, 1882. The length of the viaduct is one and a half miles, and we will give details. The " Eiffel Tower," the Babelistic idea of which is erroneously attri- buted solely to M. Eiffel, in Paris, is nearly 1,000 feet high. Pictures of it are familiar; it overtops Strasburg Cathedral spire, and dwarfs St. Paul's, in London. Yet within one of the large spans of the Forth Bridge the Eiffel Tower could be comfortably laid, lengthwise ! The clear headway under the bridge is 150 feet above high water, and the highest part of the bridge is 361 feet above the same level of tide-way. The whole cost of the bridge was about 4,000,000. We have said that the " modern tower of Babel " would lie, with room to spare, between the piers of the widest spans. This will be evident when we give dimensions. There are two great spans of 1,700 feet each, two of 675 feet, fifteen of 168 feet, and five of 25 each ! These are the dimensions given by Mr. Baker. But Mr. Cooper, the resident engineer, in his paper read before the Iron and Steel Institute at Edinburgh in 1888, varies them a little. He gives the large spans as 1,710 feet each ; the next two as 689 each; the total length of the viaduct being reckoned as 8,296 feet, or nearly one mile and five furlongs. These are startling dimensions, even in these days of magnitude. The foundations go down to an extreme depth of 88 feet below high- water level. There are three main piers, each of which con- 154 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. sists of four grouped masonry and concrete piers-* columns filled with granite 49 feet in diameter at the top, and between 60 and 70 feet in fundamental diameter. The deepest pier is 70 feet below low water. There are about 140,000 cubic yards of masonry in the foundations and piers, and about 53,000 tons of steel in the superstructure. Fortu- nately an island (Inchgarvie), almost in the centre of the channel of the Forth, supplies a useful pied a terre for one of the piers, the other two main piers being on the mainland on either side of the Forth. No precaution has been neglected in the construc- tion of this bridge, which is the longest cantilever bridge in the world. There are certain deviations to be guarded against, stresses arising from the force of wind, the running or " rolling " load, and the strain of the materials themselves. It was the wind pressure which destroyed the Tay Viaduct ; and any such contingency has been guarded against by estimating the wind pressure at fifty-six pounds per square foot, that on the main spans alone being allowed for at about 8,000 tons ! Similarly the rolling load has been taken " at one ton per foot run on each line of rails over the whole structure ; " or, in other words, a long coal train, consisting of sixty trucks and two locomo- tives and tenders, on each line. The tension of material, in consequence of changes of temperature, in certain parts, is calculated up to a strength of thirty to thirty-three tons to the square inch, with elongation in eight inches not less than twenty per cent. There are equally severe conditions imposed on the other portions of the metal composing the bridge, which is of Siemens-Martin steel. The superstructure of the main spans is composed of three very large double cantilevers which rest on the piers. The centre one is 1,620 feet long, the shore pair being 1,505 feet each. The centres of the two widest spans are formed of girders 350 feet long, and 50 feet deep in the centre part. BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 155 The cantilever system may need some explana- tion, as it is a comparatively novel feature in bridge- building. A cantilever is described as a bracket or projecting piece of stone, or iron, or wood, which supports a cornice moulding or balcony. But this definition gives non-professional people a faint and indistinct notion of a bridge built on the cantilever system. An excellent popular description of it was given at the Royal Institution some time ago, and we cannot do better than quote the words of the lecturer, Mr., now Sir, Benjamin Baker, C.E. " I exhibited," he says, " what may be termed a living model of the Forth Bridge, arranged as follows : Two men sitting on chairs extended their arms and supported the same by grasping sticks butting against the chairs. This represented the two double cantilevers. The central beam was repre- sented by a short stick slung from the near hands of the two men, and the anchorages of the cantilevers by ropes extending from the other hands of the men to a couple of piles of bricks. When stresses were brought to bear on this system by a load on the central beam, the men's arms and the anchorage ropes came into tension, and the sticks and chair legs into compression. In the Forth Bridge it is to be imagined that the chairs are placed one-third of a mile apart ; that the men's heads are 340 feet above the ground ; that the pull on each arm is about 4,000 tons ; the thrust on each stick over 6,000 tons, and the weight on the legs of the chair about 25,000 tons." This cantilever system was preferred over the suspension principle after the collapse of the first Tay Viaduct had demonstrated the insecurity of the latter. Since the present Forth Bridge was designed many other bridges have been erected on the same system, which is confessedly of ancient invention, having been utilised in China many hundred years ago, but only in wooden structures. No scaffolding has been employed on the Forth Bridge, and the work of the viaduct, commenced from the piers, 156 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. was built out, and added to as each portion was fixed. The piers secure, the steel towers were built, from which a sublime prospect is obtainable. The preparations having been completed, opera- tions were commenced in January, 1883. Workshops and ground required for the men were built and laid out at either side of the estuary, and in connection with the railway so that the plant and materials could be supplied. There were steamers, barges, boats of all kinds; steam cranes, hydraulic cranes, and hand cranes ; engines for all kinds of work, such as drilling, lighting, pumping, &c., as well as furnaces, hydraulic presses for bending the steel plates, hydraulic riveters for fixing them, drills, and all kinds of machine tools. Many of those special machines were designed for this contract and made by Mr. William Arrol, whose small reverberatory furnaces for heating rivets seem to have given immense satisfaction. The first business was the foundation of the piers, which are fixed on and into the bed-rock and boulder- clay. The masonry work was necessarily very sub- stantial and completed in coffer dams of the required solidity. Many difficulties were encountered owing to the sloping nature of some of the foundations on which the piers had to rest, and tides had to be waited for, as much of the work in the centre of the river was accomplished at low-water springs. It does not appear that hydraulic appliances were used for these piers. The caissons used for the South Queensferry main pier were enormous, being seventy feet in diameter, and were sunk by air pressure ; and " never was air pressure used to greater advantage," says Mr. Biggart, in his paper read before the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. These enormous caissons had to be specially con- structed and sunk. Readers will bear in mind that when filled in these cylinders surround the concrete as do sheaths. The South Queensferry piers and the two southern piers on the Island of Inchgarvie are built up with these special caissons ; the other piers BRIDGES AND VlADUCTS. Itf have nothing remarkable in their construction. One of the former caissons is sunk eighty-nine feet below high-water mark. The foregoing pages will give the reader some idea of the immense preparations which had to be made, the enormous quantity of plant which had to be employed, and the talent and experience which had to be brought to bear on the design and execution of the Forth Bridge. The gigantic caissons must be described, and the manner in which they were fi-xed should be briefly related. As the clay slopes in varying inclines the caissons were sunk to various corresponding depths. These monsters are sixty feet in diameter at the top, and expand gradually to seventy feet diameter at the bases. The top of the permanent caisson is one foot below low water, and there the granite-faced masonry begins at a diameter of sixty feet. The caisson consists of an inner and outer shell ; a working chamber seven feet high is provided in the bottom of the caisson, and its air-tight roof is supported by four strong lattice girders and cross girders. This roof, the sides of the cylinder, and the ground on which the caisson rests, under water, form a working chamber in which the navvies work, sup- plied by compressed air, when the caisson has been lowered. The caissons were built, and riveted on shore by patent machinery. There they were launched on cradles of iron and timber by hydraulic rams. Tugs pulled them out to the spots, where, partly filled with concrete above the girder roof, they sank into the boulder-clay by pressure. Great care and dexterity were necessary to transport such masses in safety. We can imagine one of these tremendous cylinders which, we will suppose, is resting on the bottom of the Firth on silt and sand, but it had to be forced down a great distance before it could be considered stable. We must remember that engines and cranes were necessary to sink the immense mass into the boulder-clay or to the rocks. There was the working 1 58 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. chamber in the caisson air had to be supplied to the men ; shafts had to be made from the working chambers to a platform which had been built across the top of the caisson. It was like mining. As the great cylinder sunk down, of course mud and silt rose within it, and this was diluted by water, and forced out through a pipe in the side of the caisson above. This was continually managed by keeping the presure of the air within the caisson higher than the pressure of the head of water outside it. We must imagine the men at work diluting the mud and sending it out by ejector pipes until all the silt, &c., had been removed, and the cylinder had reached the stratum of boulder-clay. Then, of course, the diluting process was of no use, the " clay " could not be disintegrated, and the navvies had to dig and pick with shovel and pickaxe, sending the material up in buckets through what are termed air-locks, by which the outer air was equalised to the pressure of that within the caisson, by means of two interlocking doors above and below, and a tap which, commu- nicating with the air-shaft, regulated the supply, as practised in the South London Subway workings. It must not be forgotten that the men were working under water-level, in an air-chamber at the bottom of the massive caisson. The greatest care and vigilance had to be ob- served in sinking the caisson to keep it upright and to obtain a firm foundation. But when the caisson had reached its proper depth, and all the material had been got rid of, the chamber at the bottom, in which the men had been excavating, and breathing com- pressed air so long, had to be filled with concrete. This feat was accomplished in a very ingenious manner through iron tubes fitted with " locks " above and below. The concrete was filled into the tube, and the upper door or lock shut on it. The material was then imprisoned in the tube between the doors. The air was then admitted to equalise the pressure ; the men remaining in the air-tight chamber BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 159 were warned, they opened the tube-cock, the concrete poured out, and they distributed it over the iloor and rammed it on the roof. Then the upper door was opened, the compressed air escaped the lower door having previously been closed and the tube was again rilled and emptied. And so on. The chamber having been filled up, " grout " was run in to find its more liquid way into possible holes and crannies, the shafts in the concrete caisson were removed, and the holes filled up with concrete to the full of the caisson within one foot of the top. Then solid granite-faced masonry was built up to the remaining twenty-six feet required. The caissons founded on the rocks were treated in very much the same manner, only it was necessary to blast the rock instead of diluting the silt. Drills were employed, and the men worked in the electrically- lighted air-chamber at the bottom of the estuary within the caisson, manfully, under unpleasant con- ditions, as may be imagined. The material cut out was sent up in buckets as the boulder-clay had been. These rock-foundations were found at Inchgarvie. When the foundations had been properly secured the working chamber was concreted and " grouted " as before, and the masonry built in above the concrete. This is, briefly, the manner in which the^e stupendous foundations and piers were laid, the progress made being very rapid considering the conditions in which the work had to be performed. These conditions have been incidentally mentioned, but some very interesting details given by Mr. Biggart may be recorded as showing the effects of the working under the pneumatic system. If any reader has ever descended in a diving-bell he can imagine the sensation produced by entering the shaft of the caisson. Mr. Biggart says that the transition from air of any given pressure to that of a higher or lower pressure can generally be performed with ease and safety if the change be very gradual. Sometimes the change affects the individual very much, and cases of ii BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 161 fainting have occurred. Pain and pressure in the ears are the general sensations, as we can testify. " After descending to the working chamber the feeling for a time is one of exhilaration ; this gradu- ally disappears, and the only difference is that work is more fatiguing, speaking is difficult, whistling im- possible. Should the pressure be reduced a fog will arise, a phenomenon due to the cold produced by sudden expansion of a damp atmosphere. There were many cases of sickness amongst the men under somewhat high pressure ; when it rose much more than eighteen pounds a kind of paralysis affected them on emerging from the chamber. Some went back and recovered, others had electric shocks and got better, but nearly all felt great inconvenience, and the con- clusion arrived at by the engineers is, ' Don't do it more often than is necessary.' " The caissons filled with concrete up to low-water mark, and bearing the cylindrical piers, consisting of masonry, being finished, and the bolts built in for the bed-plates, and so on, the superstructure had to be commenced. This erection was of great difficulty, for much staging and scaffolding had to be built up ; the timber used, temporarily, amounted to more than 20,000 cubic feet. On these stages the steel work was fixed, immense platforms were erected, the plates and beams were hoisted up, and gigantic cranes held them while bolted and riveted. The platforms themselves were raised from time to time by hydraulic jacks, and the work was continued until the full eleva- tion of 281 feet had been reached. In this way the Forth Bridge was completed. A much fuller, but more technical, description of the various works, tools, and machines employed, and many engineering details, will be found in the papers written by Messrs. Baker and Biggart and other engineers, to whose descriptions we are indebted for many details in this article, which does not aim at technicalities. By the time the bridge had been finished, the new lines in progress had also been completed. These BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 163 railways have been constructed by the North British Company, and provide a direct route from Edinburgh, northwards. One of these new ventures connects Burntisland with Inverkeithing, and the other goes direct to Mawcarse, avoiding the present loop. These tracks will connect with the Forth Bridge railways, and only in one district (Glenfarg) has there been any special difficulties to contend against. There are some tunnels and a pretty steep gradient. The Burntisland branch skirts the shore by the woods of Aberdour and thence to Inverkeithing. There are no difficulties here at all. The distance between Edin- burgh and Perth is covered in an hour by fast trains. There can be little doubt but that the Forth Bridge has already exercised and will continue to exercise a very great influence upon bridge construc- tion, and Sir B. Baker is of opinion that it is the crowning work of the railway system in this country. Time is money, and the opening of the Forth Bridge will probably lead to a further acceleration of the northern express trains, until the next generation may see revolutions in railway travelling as great as have come to pass during the last fifty years. III. THE TOWER BRIDGE. While other places are developing energy in grand engineering feats, London is quietly pushing to a rapid conclusion the "bascule" structure known as the Tower Bridge. In 1884, the Corporation of London Tower Bridge Bill was brought before the Committee of the House of Lords,and a great deal of engineeringevidence was taken. Some opposition was directed against the undertaking by the wharf-owners and traders who believed that the viaduct would interfere with the waterway. Mr. T. W. Barry, who with the late Sir Horace Jones, the City Architect, designed the bridge, explained the plans and proposed structure. He also gave his views as regards the load and expenditure. The strength has been estimated at 1*6 cwt per superficial foot over the whole bridge "as well as BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 165 a concentrated load of four or five of the heaviest steam-rollers moving abreast across the bridge." He also gave evidence regarding cost of maintenance and lighting. With respect to the working of the movable portion of the bridge, some interesting testimony was adduced. The machinery for moving the bridge to permit vessels to pass is made in duplicate, and moreover, by way of checking an unintentional mistake by the men in charge, a self-acting arrange- ment is added by means of which, when the bridge is nearly at the end of its opening or closing movement, the apparatus causes it to stop gradually whether the guardian wish it or not, and as a check on this automatic apparatus, hydraulic buffers have been placed in position, so that no injury may occur. The chains supporting the bridge are always in tension, one set of cylinders pulling the other so that no sagging shall occur; and when the bridge is opened and closed the water passes from one vessel into the other, and helps instead of opposing, thus ensuring a strong and steady pull. Great stress was laid upon the wind pressure which is always a formidable consideration, but this had been amply provided for. Sir B. Baker, the architect of the Forth Bridge, gave his opinion that no such pressure as that actually provided against in the- structure by rams, &c., could possibly occur over any extended surface. He gave an instance by reminding the Committee that London gasometers can only resist the pressure of eighteen pounds to the foot, and therefore had any wind pressure in excess of that ratio happened, the gasholders would have been carried away. Now, as the architects of the Tower Bridge have provided for a pressure of fifty-six pounds to the foot an impossible case they may declare the construction safe. Sir B. Baker added that all traffic was stopped in the Forth when the wind reached a pressure of sixteen and a half pounds. Considerable opposition was evidenced, but in the 1 65 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. end the bridge was conceded, and on the 2ist June, 1886, the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone. This bascule bridge is so termed because the opening portions revolve upon a horizontal axis and open upwards, instead of in most cases of swing bridges revolving upon a vertical axis. The appearance is familiar to many who have not seen the structure itself, as it was designed in lamps at the Crystal Palace firework displays. The main traffic platform between two Gothic towers is for 200 feet raised up in two leaves high in the air when vessels wish to pass. At this time heavy traffic will come to a standstill, but pedestrians have the privilege of crossing high in the air above the open spans by a pathway, to which hydraulic lifts give convenient access from the side spans. Two Gothic towers sustain the bridge : the piers are 70 feet wide, and so built as to contain the counter- balances of the opening span on each side. The towers carry the chains and the high-level road. The headway of the lower bridge is 29 feet 6 inches, and the upper is 135 feet above high water, while the side, or shore, spans are about 25 feet high from same level, and 270 feet long. The central span is 200 feet [The centre arch of London Bridge is 152 feet span.] The width of the Tower Bridge is generally 60 feet, but this breadth diminishes to 10 feet less in the central span. The machinery is set in motion by hydraulic engines made by Sir William Armstrong and Co., and all the machinery is in duplicate. The approaches are of pretty easy gradient, and have decidedly the advantages in this respect over London Bridge and Southwark Bridge, being at the extreme I in go. The lower portions of the piers are red granite, and the Gothic towers of brick of similar hue. As the name suggests, the viaduct is erected near, and just below, the Tower of London. When the bridge is shut down, all ordinary traffic can pass underneath, and the actual opening and closing of the leaves of the bridge do not occupy more than a few minutes. BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 167 The engineering difficulties connected .with the foundations, &c., were easily overcome. The piers were constructed in caissons filled with Portland cement, concrete just below the river bed, and then granite and cemented masonry. The foundations are twenty-seven feet below the river. Some more opposition and some complaints arose regarding the interference with traffic, and the occupation of shore spaces. The former soon disappeared, and the latter claim was provided for by a clause to the effect that if any depreciation of values be perceived, after four years from the opening of the bridge, by reason of danger or delay caused by the bridge, the claim shall be referred to arbitration, but the compensation shall not exceed two years' purchase of assessable value in January, 1886. No such compensation is given during the construction of the bridge. The ferrymen are left to be compensated by the Corpora- tion within fourteen months from the date of the opening of the bridge. The technical evidence given by the engineers and machinists may be quoted, in so far as the details have not been already mentioned. The gradients, spans, and headways having been stated, we may add that the number of vessels passing, for which the bridge has to be opened, average twenty-two and a half daily ; the maximum being thirty-four, and eleven of small tonnage. Of this daily average seven-eighths pass about high-water time, and during daylight. Mr. Barry estimated five minutes as the time a vessel would occupy in pass- ing through, and twenty minutes as the greatest delay likely to be caused at any one time by a succession of ships. No danger can occur, except by the man in charge opening the spans while any traffic is upon them. This may, nevertheless, be a source of danger, and a sentinel signalman, 01 some automatic arrangement, is to be provided by the authorities to prevent any such accident as that fore- shadowed in this testimony. 1 68 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. The lifts for passengers who are compelled to use the high-level accommodate eighteen persons, and occupy one minute in transit. It is calculated that they can make twenty-five trips per hour. The leaves of the central opening span weigh 500 tons each, exclusive of the counterbalances over the span ; the length is in feet 6 inches, and within the pier 52 feet 6 inches. The weight on the closed spans is calculated for 350 tons ; the breadth of the river at the bridge is 900 feet, but from this extreme measurement must be deducted 140 feet for the width of the two supporting piers ; so actually only 760 feet of stream is available for vessels passing up and down. The cost of the viaduct is 544,850 ; the northern approach is responsible for 19,250; the southern for 20,900 ; and, adding the purchase value of the land, and a certain percentage for con- tingencies and under-estimates, we arrive at a grand total of (say) 750,000, or 760,000 ; a thousand pounds for every foot of waterway available will be a reminder of the expenses. We have remarked above upon a possible danger arising from the opening of the bridge during the passage of traffic, but the representative of Sir W. Armstrong & Co. reassures us on that point. He explains that hydraulic pressure is used : " four ac- cumulators are placed on the piers, two on each, with a small leading accumulator in the engine-house, which, being more heavily weighted than the other, always indicates to the man in charge of the engines whether the four working accumulators are charged, because it does not rise until they are full." It further appears that policemen, placed on each leaf of the bridge, walk across with chains fixed on one side, and hook these chains across; each chain will be drawn tightly over by hydraulic machinery, and, until the traffic is thus stopped, the man in charge is unable to withdraw the bolts which release the leaves of the bridge. The estimated cost of working the bridge (assuming BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS. 169 that it be opened at ten-minute intervals for three hours each tide, or, say, "thirty -six times in the twenty-four hours) is about 1,600 a year, including coal, wages for twelve men, engineers and attend- ants, &c. If we add depreciation of plant, we shall quickly arrive at a total of over 3,000 a year total working expenses. These are the principal points in the evidence adduced, and so far there is no reason to question their correctness. The stability of the structure is beyond question, as it is calculated to withstand a stress of wind five times as great as it is ever likely to be required to withstand in the com- paratively sheltered reaches of the Thames. IV. A HIGH-LEVEL BRIDGE AT GLASGOW. The engineers of the Forth Bridge and the con- tractors seem determined to cover themselves with glory and bridge creation. The biggest schemes in engineering, the boldest designs and execution ema- nate from the gentlemen who have charge of our finest work, and Sir William Arrol has sent in a design for a high-level bridge across Glasgow Harbour, constructed in the form of the Tay Bridge, without a swinging span, which would of course interfere with the continuous traffic, that would certainly congest if it were stopped for even a short while. There are some peculiar features in connection with Sir W. Arrol's proposition. He manages to avoid interference with existing structures very cleverly. His plan as sub- mitted to the authorities is as understated. The high-level bridge will consist of one span, four hundred and thirty feet wide, supported by piers and steel columns, two a-side, as in the new Tay Viaduct. These columns will be on concrete foundations laid far below water-mark. This bridge will be seventy feet wide, of which forty feet will be the breadth of the roadway, and at least ten feet each side. Outside the roadway will be footpaths supported on the cantilever system. The arrangements for bringing up the vehicles and passengers to such a level (one 1 70 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. hundred feet) will necessitate lifts or very steep ap- proaches, because the machines and quays must not be disturbed nor interfered with. The designer has provided for this. At each side of the bridge there is to be a plat- form, forty feet by forty-six feet, which will enable carriages and other vehicles to turn, and thence the inclines descend in long sweeping curves for half the distance and in the other direction for the remainder of the descent. The approaches run in a direction parallel to the river ; and ascend, at right angles to the bridge, at an incline of I in 20 for two thousand feet. Thus " on entering the approach incline the vehicle will go westward for one thousand feet, rising mean- while fifty feet from the quay level ; and will there turn a corner, and go eastward for a similar distance reaching the platform." These approaches are to be twenty-four feet wide with side walks. Besides these inclined approaches, there will be lifts also, all capable of hoisting passengers and vehicles, including heavy waggons, carriers' and rail- way vans. The lifts for pedestrians will be ten feet square, and be much on the Mersey Railway principle, we presume. The carriage hoists will be twenty-nine feet by twenty-one and a half feet. But we may expect that most of the traffic will ascend by the inclines, and save the payment which, it is suggested, should be made for the use of the ascenseurs. The idea is a bold one, but perfectly feasible. The total length of the bridge is calculated to be three-quarters of a mile, of which the span will be about one-tenth of a mile, or about one quarter of the length of one of the main spans of the Forth Bridge. The estimated cost of the viaduct has been put down at ; 150,000, but we fancy that when the hydraulic lifts and hoists are included, this estimate will be supplemented. It has been stated that 10,000 pedestrians, and at least 1,000 vehicles, can cross the bridge in an hour by means of the inclines alone. I/I SECTION V. WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. Aqueducts and Conduits Roman Works French and English Aque- ducts Water Supplies The Water Supply of London The Water Companies Filter Beds and Domestic Cisterns The Liverpool Water Scheme Lake Vyrnwy Selected Removal of Old Sites and Dwellings A Thorough Change The Water-Dam The Aqueduct to Liverpool Its Course and its Cost The Thirlmere Scheme Man- chester Requirements The Position and Capacity of Thirlmere The Water Supply to Manchester The Aqueduct Traced The Edin- burgh Water Trust Failure of a Plan to tap St. Mary's Loch The Alternative Plan Purification and Filtering of Water The Glasgow Water Supply from Loch Katrine Proposed Water Schemes The Supply for Paris from Neuchatel A Sanitary Canal and Aqueduct from the Seine. BEFORE considering the chief modern waterworks, it will be necessary to glance at the general question of water supply, the mode of engineering, and the ancient method. The sources of water supply need be scarcely examined. Rain is the universal provider, and when it has found its way to earth and into it the water is obtained in one of two ways, by pumping it up, or letting it run down by gravitation from reservoirs in which it has been caught, or collected. Our modern supplies are distributed by one of these two methods ; but the ancients, particularly the Romans, made use of aqueducts, of which many striking examples remain to this day. Julius Frontius, who was a kind of consulting engineer of the Emperor Nerva, wrote a treatise on the aqueducts of Rome, and was of opinion that they were the most dis- tinguishing marks of the empire. He details nine aqueducts, consisting of 1,594 pipes of an inch and upwards in diameter. In Greece and Italy wells were also numerous, and until Appius Claudius reigned, Rome was chiefly supplied by wells. But Roman aqueducts are monuments of engineering, and were formed by erecting rows of arcades over valleys, the arches supporting the canal, or by cutting. If the 172 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. tunneling system was adopted there were openings made at intervals of about 240 feet. The first aqueduct in Rome was built by Appius Claudius Crassus Csecus, and called Appia Aqua ; the Appian Way was also named after him. The re- mains of Roman aqueducts are found wherever the Romans went ; France and Spain, and even Asia, furnish us with examples, and Rome itself can boast of the Aqua Virginia and Aqua Filice ; the aqueduct of Segovia has 159 arcades; the Naples aqueduct was also a fine work used in the time of Claudius Caesar, while the celebrated Nimes aqueduct is still the admiration of travellers. This the Pont du Card has three tiers of arches, the bottom series numbering six, the second eleven, and the uppermost thirty-five. It is familiar to everyone by means of sketches, engravings, and photographs. It is supposed to date from twenty years before the Christian era. Louis the Fourteenth built an aqueduct, or rather commenced to build one, to bring water from the Eure to Versailles ; it would have been a splendid specimen had it been finished. The viaduct on which the water was to be carried was 220 feet high, it consisted of 632 arches, and was 4,140 yards long. The total length of the work would have been nearly seventy miles, but it was abandoned in 1688. In the United Kingdom the Duke of Bridgewater was the first to utilise aqueducts of his celebrated canal under the auspices of Brindley, and caused no little surprise. The aqueduct at Barton Bridge over the Irwell consisted of three arches ; the centre one sixty-three feet span. Many others can be mentioned. The Ellesmere Canal traverses the vale of Llangollen, the Chirk aque- duct, the Lune aqueduct, which carries the canal over the river, the Kelvin aqueducts may all be mentioned as examples of the triumphs of former engineers : Rennie, Telford, Brindley, and their asso- ciates. Modern engineers have profited by experience, WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. 173 and bring pure water from afar to supply cities and towns. Of these, Glasgow was the first to put ideas into practice. The idea of obtaining a supply from lakes was invoked many years ago. Glasgow sought and obtained her supply from Loch Katrine, forty miles away. Manchester is now proceeding in the same direction, and tapping Thirlmere in the English Lake District. Liverpool penetrates into Wales. The name of the late Mr. La Trobe Bateman alas ! that we should have to add " the late " is identified with most of the great modern waterworks which we are quite unable to detail in the space allotted to us. He carried out the Loch Katrine scheme for Glasgow, and the great Manchester Waterworks of Longden- dale ; he supervised water supply for Ashton, Aber- dare, Blackburn, Bolton, Colne Valley, Cheltenham, Dewsbury, Forfar, Gloucester, Newcastle, Perth, and other places. He died in June, 1889, after carrying through the Thirlmere water scheme. The Manchester Waterworks are a very typical system. Up to 1847 a company supplied the city, but in that year the Corporation took the manage- ment of the supply into their own hands, and applied for powers to store water in the Longdendale Valley in a series of reservoirs supplied by the river Etherow, but some objections were made. It was feared that the river would run very low ; but the supply is pro- vided for, the cleaner water, by an ingenious method, being turned into the reservoirs, while the turbid water is utilised in the river for mills and wheels. I. LONDON WATER SUPPLY. Dependent as the English people are upon weather, and grumble as they may about rain, there is no doubt that they cannot do without rain in the Metropolis, although they appear to be perfectly independent of it. The water companies do not fail to distribute the first necessity of life amongst five millions of people daily without much fuss, and with 1/4 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. few failures. When the supply is constant throughout the Metropolis, we may consider ourselves a civilised community. It is not within our province to give a detailed history of the London water supply from the 2Qth September, 1613, when Hugh Myddleton's New River flowed into London town, a river which is worth its volume in gold to fortunate shareholders, but of which the promoter, contrary to latter-day promoters, made nothing worth recording. But then he was a public benefactor, and your benefactor reaps not spoils. We may look at the water companies and ascertain how they distribute the water when they have gotten it. Perhaps it will be instructive first to inquire where they obtain it. Anyone can tell you that, you will say : " From the clouds." Yes, but the clouds get it from the earth ; and the study of hydraulics is very important in engineering. Water shapes our coasts ; it determines many very important questions for us. We know its mechanical value, and that it composes a large portion of our bodies. Rain supplies our rivers and our reservoirs, and is itself supplied by evaporation from the sea and other waters. The water thus discharged finds its way into the ocean again or is collected in the earth in various soils, supplies wells, and forms springs, so that people sometimes imagine that water was born in the earth. But there is no water created within the ground. It must some time or other have been rain, even though it has to be pumped up from a great depth. It filters through the ground. Springs are only rain water. This water is dealt with by our mechanical and civil engineers, who supply us, drain our marshes, irrigate our parched lands, direct it generally for our use and convenience. These all these different methods of dealing with water are collected into a science known as hydraulic engineering, which is being still developed ; and water is now as useful a servai as steam, its offspring. Water is so familiar to us that we are not to treai WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. 175 it with the contempt which is proverbially the con- sequence of familiarity. We do not care to inquire very much concerning this product of the union of two gases, but let water fail us and we quickly cry out. Let our supply be suspended, or cut off, and we immediately discover how indispensable is this liquid which preserves our health and our lives. Water supplies to towns and villages became necessary, and conduits and pipes with fountains or standards were used. Conduit Street and other thoroughfares in London will give us clues to old water supplies. Then came the systems -of private supplies to our houses, and it is to an individual named Morice, a Dutchman, one of that water-using, flushing nation, which also boasts a Van Dunk, that we are indebted for the first private supplies in London. This man sent the water from wheels at London Bridge through leaden pipes in 1582. A simpler method was adopted in 1613, when water collected in a reservoir was per- mitted to descend naturally, under the guidance of Hugh Myddleton, into our streets. This was an advance, but the quality of the water, like mercy, was not strained. The supply was frequently turbid, and some means had to be devised by which the fluid would become fit for general consumption. Water falls, virtually pure, from the clouds : it may, and does, absorb some impurities in falling, and unless great care is taken it will pick up many others on the earth. This is one use of the reservoir it permits the sediment and other im- purities to subside, and the surface outlet will be clear and clean. But, as we can easily understand from our daily experience, the heavier impurities do not constitute the full tale of our troubles. We must filter. So our houses are supplied with these necessary accessories in which sponge and charcoal and, best of all, spongy iron, perform the duties of cleansers. But the water companies who supply us with Nature's best gift for a consideration also make an 12 176 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. attempt to purify it, and not without success. Some- times a small animal, or fish, or reptile comes and disports itself in our domestic cistern ; but now the experience is rare. The water which is taken from the Thames or Lea and the chalk wells is filtered through " beds," the invention of Mr. James Simpson, the late Engineer to the Chelsea Waterworks. His idea, which is still practically carried out, was to lay down fine sand or shingle. The dirt or other im- purity would not penetrate the upper layer of sand ; the water would, however, percolate through all and leave its impurities behind it. The sand can be changed at intervals and renewed as often as necessary. There are eight water companies for London, namely, the Chelsea, Southwark and Vauxhall, West Middlesex, Lambeth, Grand Junction, East London, New River, and the Kentish. The five first named draw supplies from the Thames ; the next pair from the Lea, and the Kent Company from chalk wells, near Cray ford and Deptford. The other companies also tap wells in their various localities ; but the Kent Company uses no filters ; the supply is pure, and distributed so. The filtering process is carried on in the folk Ving way : The topmost layer in the filter beds is always fine sand, about three or four feet thick. Underneath are other layers of shells, or shingle, or coarse gravel, or all three, the coarsest undermost. From what are termed subsiding reservoirs the water is admitted to the filter beds, it being supposed to have deposited all heavy impurities in the reservoir. The cleared water is permitted to flow through the sluice gates gently, over the filter beds, and it is calculated that it perco- lates through at the rate of two and a half gallons per square foot surface per hour. It is received in a tank and then pumped through the mains and service pipes. Moderately hard water is best for drinking ; soft water is best for washing. The quantity of water supplied to the Metropolis daily is about 189,000,000 gallons, WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY/ 177 a supply which has been reckoned as sufficient to fill a canal six feet wide, three feet deep, and 280 miles in length. The weight of this daily quantity is 840,000 tons. Some years ago the question of supplying London with water from Wales was much discussed in the papers, but the schemes proposed were never carried out in the Metropolis. The Manchester and Liverpool people, however, seized on the idea. Glasgow in 1859 found her supply in Loch Katrine. The water having been filtered is pumped up by powerful machinery into storage or " service " reser- voirs, whence it is distributed with an even pressure by its own gravity. This ensures a regular supply, and obviates the danger likely to ensue from strong pumping and sudden shocks ; the water is then con- veyed through the mains, and from them by small pipes into our cisterns. This is the general idea of the water supply of London for purely domestic purposes, but there are other uses to which water is put, and this applies more particularly to business premises as distinguished from dwelling-houses. We will, therefore, enter upon the subject in a separate section. There are numerous side issues connected with the water supply of London : its sanitary aspect, the benefits of a constant supply by all companies, and other points which scarcely come within our purview. But in concluding this portion of our subject we may quote the opinion of Dr. Pole, a high authority on the question, who made a report some time since on the advantages of a constant service. After pointing out that in some districts the constant supply had effected a reduction, and in some that waste had increased, he says " I strongly suspect it (the waste) may arise from a want of a proper control over the plumbers and the fittings used, for I was obliged to point out that the character of the plumbing trade in London was in my opinion the greatest obstacle to the intro- duction of the new system." ..." The experience 178 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. of all towns where constant service has been effectually acted on is positive that under this system the con- sumption may be reduced considerably . . . the consumer gets amply repaid, not only in the greater purity and vvholesomeness of his supply, but in the freedom from accident and the less necessity for repair." II. LIVERPOOL WATER SCHEME. The transportation of coals to Newcastle has always been regarded as an unnecessary if not a foolish action ; and, at first hearing, the unreflecting mind might feel a thrill of surprise at the announce- ment of the conveyance of water to a port like Liverpool. But though Liverpool is situated on a river, it lacks fresh-water supply pure water ; and so, following the example of Manchester, the city demands a connection with a natural reservoir, while Cottonopolis is bent on becoming virtually a sea-port through the agency of its ship-canal. Whence was Liverpool to obtain her pure water supply was the question which, a few years ago, occupied the minds of the corporation of that city. It is supplied from wells, and possesses reservoirs of immense extent many miles from the city, whither the water is conveyed. But these natural supplies, and consequently the reserves, are liable to diminish in hot summers. The city and suburbs extended more and more, the water supply did not increase in proportion, until one summer the most necessary of all our requirements was cut off at intervals from the city. This proceeding naturally gave rise to much discontent, and the inhabitants of Liverpool began to seek fresh water and supplies new. No small basin would suit them ; they must have a practically un- limited supply, and Bala Lake, in North Wales, was selected, but the idea was not carried out, and Liverpool was driven to a re-consideration of its circumstances. The engineers, being clever and practical men, then WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. 179 made a thorough investigation of the existing sources and means of supply, with a remarkable result. They found that there was leakage going on, and by a most ingenious process they discovered the failures in the mains, and managed to give the city an unbounded supply of water. But, as already recorded, Liverpool continued to increase its area, and in 1873 another supply was demanded, and amongst other sources, Ullswater, Windermere, and Wyredale were men- tioned as possible supply cisterns. Then Hawswater was suggested, and finally Vyrnwy, in Wales, was de- cided upon as worthy and suitable for the inhabitants' consumption. The site selected was, curiously enough, only the bed of a pre-historic lake, and it may have appeared satirical to recommend a dry place as suitable for a supply of water to such a city as Liverpool. But Mr. Deacon, who examined the site, perceived its advantages. The surrounding hills collected the water, and if a dam were formed, the old lake would again be in existence. A very interesting account of this lake will be found in the weekly number of Engineering, of February 1st, 1889. The writer there, in glowing language, describes the features of the country, and gives a short history of the period when the valley of the Vyrnwy was a glacier-covered tract, and subsequently the abode of wild animals, which wallowed in and drank of the lake formed by the melted ice and mountain drainage. This dried- up lake bed is now the source of the Liverpool water supply. Nearly eighty miles off, the Liverpudlians were demanding water from Vyrnwy, and the inhabitants of the valley were complaining, and with reason, against the modern engineer, who wanted to wash them out of house and home, and vault and grave. Yes ; the living and the dead were both removed from their houses and their resting-places not their last rest in this case. The Act of Parliament could not be gainsaid. The aged, the youthful, the dead, i8o TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. were all removed. A new churchyard was constructed, a new village raised ; the dead were conveyed to their new resting-place, and the living followed them. So the old village disappeared ; the water, prevented from escaping, rose apace, blotting out the familiar features of the valley one by one ; the houses or their ruins were submerged ; " God's Acre " was inundated ; and it may yet be in Vyrnwy, as in Loch Neagh's banks as the visitor strays " When the clear cold eve's declining, He sees the round towers of other days In the waves beneath him shining," and may in the future " catch a glimpse of the days that are over, and sighing, look through the waves of time." Thus the old inhabitants were flooded out and the lake increased. The water ran among the hills and filled up the beautiful valley beautiful still in its surroundings and romantic in its history. Here calm and grandeur unite, and for miles the lake now extends, encircled by a road and confined by a dam ; while the " everlasting hills " which surround the water "can see their own sweet faces reflected in that smooth and silver sea ! " The report recommended even a higher dam than that originally proposed. This suggestion was adopted. Parliamentary powers were sought and obtained. In 1881 the great dam was commenced. It is 1,172 feet long, total height 161 feet, thickness at base 1 20 feet, and the pressure of water it sustains is equal to 167,000 tons. It is founded upon the stratum of old rocks which in past ages barred the lake. The blocks of stone were embedded in Portland cement and filled in with concrete, thus forming an almost imperishable structure. The decision of the inspector (Sir Andrew Clark) was, "nothing short of an earthquake can disturb it." If by an unforeseen accident it ever do give way, the consequences may be imagined: Meanwhile the river Vyrnwy is permitted 1 82 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. to flow through artificial tunnels, which are now built in, and valves within the masonry regulate the flow through the aqueduct to the Liverpool reser- voirs. This aqueduct is a fine piece of engineering. It passes through tunnels and filter beds, and extends by Oswestry and Malpas to near Runcorn, whence it crosses the Manchester Ship Canal and the Mersey to the old reservoirs before mentioned, some few miles from Liverpool (the Prescott Reservoirs). This is the course of the work which we must endeavour to describe. The first object at the end of the lake, about five miles in length, or nearly, is a tower which is joined with the dam already mentioned. This tower is used to filter the water and " strain" it off before it is permitted to flow away into the aque- duct for use. By an ingenious arrangement of pipes the water can be drawn from the lake at will from beneath the surface, where organic matter is not so prevalent. The joints of the pipes are moved by hydraulic power, and the water is admitted and regulated inside the tower. A screen of copper gauze covers the outlet pipes and retains all impurities, as the water flows on. But no doubt a time comes when the screens become choked and fouled, and here again modern engineering has devised a plan by which the water can announce its own impediments, help itself, and practically clear itself and the screen. There is an ingenious plan in action by which, as soon as the screen is clogged, the water rings a bell, which will continue to ring until the man in charge comes to clear the copper gauze. Hydraulic power lifts the screen ; the water is shut off while the strainer is being cleansed ; the refuse water is dismissed by a waste pipe. The lake water is again admitted, and the process proceeds, a pressure of 750 Ibs. to the square inch being obtainable from the pumps. From the strainers the water is carried into the main pipe, or culvert, which connects with the screen WA TER WORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. 183 pipes, and descends at about seven feet in the mile to the reservoir near Liverpool. On the route of sixty- eight miles the flow is intercepted by storage tanks and filter beds at certain places. The tunnels through which the water runs and the aqueduct itself are beautiful specimens of latter day engineering. The water passes under railways, and even under the beds of streams ; the pipes conducting it are of cast-iron, generally " varying from thirty-nine inches to forty-two and a half in diameter, and from one to two inches in thickness." The well-known River Weaver is crossed in tubes (and had we space, we could describe the improvements which have taken place in this " naviga- tion"), as well as the Manchester Canal and the Mersey. Below both the last-named the aqueduct is carried, and passing safely underneath these sufficiently formidable obstacles, the Vyrnwy water is delivered at Prescott tanks, nearly sixty-nine miles from its " native hills.'"' This is a splendid work, and reflects the highest credit on all concerned. Those who wish to enjoy a pretty view, and the works of Nature as well as of human skill, may take the trip into Montgomery- shire, and trace the course of the river as it is, or perchance get a glimpse of the submerged village ruins. There is a romantic as well as a practical side to this uudertaking, and the engineer has not altogether dissipated the romance. The amount of water daily obtainable from the lake is estimated at 46,00x3,000 of gallons. The cost of the aqueduct, which is, we believe, the longest ever made, was cal- culated at ^"930,243 ; but later reports make a little addition, and carry the grand total to about ; 1, 990,000, including lawyers' fees and compensations paid. Not unnaturally the terrible failure of the dam, which was supposed to be able to restrain the Cone- maugh Lake, near Johnstown, U.S.A., gave rise to some remarks concerning the splendid dam which confines the Vyrnwy Lake. But no apprehensions 1 84 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. need be entertained. As we have stated above, the structure is founded on solid rock, and is of stone ; the American embankment was of earth. The en- gineer of the Liverpool waterworks dug down sixty feet until he reached rock, and thereon founded his dam. No one need have any fears concerning the stability of Mr. Deacon's barrier and aqueduct, which certainly takes high rank amongst the finest achieve- ments of this or any other age. III. THE THIRLMERE SCHEME. All travellers in the Lake District remember Thirlmere Lake. Those who walk or drive from Keswick or Ambleside pass this little tarn, which was never considered as of much importance by the tourist. It is about three miles long, but only a quarter of a mile wide, seated by the roadside, almost under the shade of Helvellyn, bounded on the left by fine crags, and on the east side by the coach road. It is 533 feet above the sea, and into it drain many becks and gills ; the total water-shed, or " gathering area " for the lake, being estimated at about seventeen square miles. It is anticipated that something like 50,000,000 of gallons a day can be fairly obtained from Thirlmere, and this apparently enormous quantity " never will be missed," for the rainfall in the Lake District, as ex- perience teaches, is frequent when not continuous. There is a legend to the effect that there was in one year dry weather amongst the lakes for two months. Our own frequent experiences can tell another tale. It generally rains half of every day, morning or afternoon, sometimes all day. We never remember a day without rain ; so the character of the district is one eminently suited for water supply. The rainfall, as measured by gauges, may be accepted as ninety-five inches, or even more ; but ninety inches will give us a very ordinary estimate for an average year. To arrive at the enormous quantity of water which falls, we must ascertain the area of the supply. This is estimated at 11,000 acres draining into WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. 185 Thirlmere Lake. Now, one inch of rain falling over one acre is equal to 22,622 gallons ! But we have ninety inches falling on 11,000 acres, amounting to tens of thousands of millions of gallons annually. All this quantity does not of course flow into the lake. A considerable proportion may evaporate and be ab- sorbed, according to soil and season ; and experts have estimated the loss in the Thirlmere district at eight inches, while they calculate the heavy rainfall at 102 inches, which will leave ninety-four inches as the ordinary quantity : a supply rather more than we our- selves have calculated above. At any rate, the Thirlmere scheme promised every advantage, and the work was commenced in 1885. The first portion is tunneling, then open cutting across the valley, and running above Windermere to the east. Pipes will carry the water over the rivers and valleys, and so on to the Manchester reservoirs, which at present occupy an immense area near the Manchester and Sheffield Railway. Mr. la Trobe Bateman has written a full account of the old Manchester supply, but says little of the Thirlmere scheme, for many particulars of which we are indebted to Mr. Mansergh's pamphlet and other sources of in- formation. The lake will be considerably enlarged and treated as a reservoir, without in any way depriv- ing the lake, as existing, of any water at all. The arrangements appear perfectly straightfor- ward and simple. " The aqueduct conveying the water to Manchester/'' says our authority, " will start from the present level, and the storage will be pro- vided by putting fifty feet of water above that level." To do this, an embankment or dam must be built across the outlet brook, or beck, until the required level has been reached. This dam will increase the water area by 450 acres, and impound 1,300,000,000 cubic feet of water. The promoters of the scheme may perhaps claim the credit of replacing the old levels of the lake and its outlet ; but a tunnel will be driven between the dams to permit the discharge of 1 86 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the floods, and a waste-weir provided for the over- flow. The new lake will, when completed, hold 8,000,000,000 of gallons, and this will in ordinary years be supplied by the rainfall three times in a year, if the level should be permitted to fall to the old measurement. In other words, if the fifty feet additional supply were exhausted, it could be re- plenished three times a year by Nature. A very interesting calculation was made by Mr Mansergh as regards the supply of water which would be needed to bring the lake down this fifty feet. It would take 157 days at 50,000,000 gallons a day to do so. But as droughts never last long in the Lake District, we may assume that the new level will never be lowered much more than twelve or fourteen feet, even at full supply rate. This altera- tion of level will in no way interfere with the picturesqueness of the lake ; a new road has been constructed along the hill side and another on the embankment, so that tourists may drive round the lake in future. But there is nothing remarkable in the sight of the Corporation Waterworks. The engineer has hidden his light under a bushel, or under- ground. The aqueduct commences at the south-east corner and tunnels under the slopes of Helvellyn, being entirely concealed until it reaches the opening below Dunmail Raise, which is a pass between Steel Fell and Seat Sandal ; its highest point is 774 feet above the sea. The aqueduct cannot cross this pass, but skirts it at the ruling fall from Thirlmere of twenty inches in a mile. It will run in a covered trench where practicable, and across the valleys in iron pipes. These are underground, except at river crossings : there were really no difficulties in the way. Care and good workmanship were required, but of actual engineering difficulties very few, if any. After leaving Thirlmere, the water penetrates the district as far, or nearly as far, as Kendal, a distance of twenty-two miles. In this length there are seven- teen tunnels and seven syphons, besides the trenches, WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. 187 which are cut and covered over. The longest tunnel is 5,225 yards, and its greatest depth 660 feet. Although the supply to Manchester will be great, the river will not be drained. A regular outflow will be maintained annually. The river will never run dry and never flood the district. The establishment of the Thirlmere scheme may be therefore considered an advantage in many ways. It provides a full and pure supply of water, does no damage to scenery, and benefits the country through which its influence extends. IV. THE EDINBURGH WATERWORKS. If Thirlmere had its defenders against Manchester tapping it, and if dissensions arose in consequence, they may be overlooked when we contemplate the dis- putes between the Water Trust of Auld Reekie and her faithful citizens about the year 1870. The trustees only wanted to impound the supply of water from St. Mary's Loch a well-celebrated piece of water, from which the Yarrow stream debouches to unite with the Ettrick water, near Selkirk. This proposal fired the indignation of the gudemen, and not only did they oppose their own trustees, but we understand they left them to pay the costs of the Parliamentary proceed- ings, which were unsuccessful ! Nothing daunted, the trustees cast about to benefit their fellow-men, in spite of the cavalier manner in which they had been treated. Mr. Leslie, who was con- sulted, recommended the " Moorfoot" scheme, which, with some additions, seemed feasible to the trustees. But if the burnt child dreads the fire, the trustees dreaded the water until the citizens had chimed in. The scheme was supported, and the Moorfoot plan passed the Houses of Parliament in due time passed, but disfigured. Even then the trustees could not carry out their plans in full, as landowners interfered, clipped their wings, and curtailed their reservoirs. But they secured Portmore Loch, which was artificially raised some ten feet, and which has a capacity of about 1 88 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. 250,000,000 gallons. The water is carried in pipes to the Gladhouse reservoir, some fourteen miles from Edinburgh, and thence into the city by pipe-lines. There are tributaries, of course. The South Esk is embanked to form the reservoir, and other rivers assist. From the reservoir the aqueduct descends (at I in 2,000) to Edinburgh, passing hills and through tunnels, and across streams on bridges. The water is received at Alnwick Hill, where a supply is stored. There the supply is filtered in the manner already mentioned when considering the Lo-ndon water supply, and thence it passes into the clear reservoir quite protected from any intrusion, and covered literally with flowers " all in a garden fair." The estimated daily supply is 16,000,000 gallons. There are numerous other neighbouring supply-pipes, and all things considered, the inhabitants and visitors to Edinburgh may invoke a blessing on the Water Trustees. The method of purifying water by means of spongy or ordinary metallic iron has given great satisfaction at Antwerp Waterworks, and as many experiments have been made to test it, it may shortly be more generally adopted. The spongy iron formerly used tended to destroy the filter beds, and the suggestion to substitute ordinary iron would appear a valuable one, for which we are indebted to Sir F. Abel, and for its application to Mr. William Anderson. The French and Dutch have already adcptel the plan. Our Water Companies will, perhaps, some day follow their lead if it does not press too hardly their pockets ! We will conclude with a reference to the Glasgow water supply carried in pipes, which were constructed in 1859 fr m Loch Katrine, 367 feet above the level of the sea. It is virtually a reservoir for Glasgow City ; the rainfall is very heavy, equalling from seventy to ninety inches per annum, which if it does not equal Thirlmere, is nevertheless suffi- cient. The level of the lake was raised four WATERWORKS ANL> WATER SUPPLY. 189 feet, and was so engineered as regards the supply that it can be drawn down seven feet without any injury. The aqueduct, or conduit, is twenty-six miles in length, of which thirteen miles are tunnel and four miles in pipes. The cost was ; 1,000,000 sterling, and the supply is calculated at 50,000,000 of gallons, V. PROPOSED WATER SCHEMES. While Manchester is seeking her supply of fresh water from Thirlmere, and Liverpool from Vyrnwy, Paris is determined not to be behind-hand in the race. A proposal has been submitted to the Municipal Council of Paris to supply the city with water from the Swiss Lakes of Neuchatel and Bienne. Some time ago the level of the Lake of Neuchatel was greatly lowered, but the canal which communicates with Lakes Morat, Bienne, and Neuchatel from the Aar now gives an unlimited supply, which can, more- over, be restricted, if desirable, by a dam at Nidau, where the draining of the marsh land by the canal has had very important results. A map of Switzer- land will show that- the Lakes of Bienne and Neu- chatel are connected by the River Zihl, or Thide, which flows from the Aar through the former lake. The Jura Mountains bound these picturesque lakes, and from Lac Neuchatel the water will be conducted through a tunnel driven in the Jura to Blancheville, in the well-named valley of Dessoulac. This tunnel is to be twenty-two miles long, and the water will (from the tunnel) be conveyed by aqueducts three hundred miles to Paris. The fall of the pipes will be about I in 1,500. The project has been put forward by a Swiss engineer named Ritter, and he estimates the cost at about .20,000,000 sterling. The differ- ence in the level between the lake and the capital is stated to be 1,000 feet. A sanitary canal was also projected for Paris by M. Dumont, who suggests a canal from the Seine at Herblay to the sea at a point between Dieppe and Treport. The proposed route is by Eraguy, Ncu- WATERWORKS AND WATER SUPPLY. 19! chatel, St. Martin, and Greges, to the channel near Dieppe. The water thus disposed of could be used for irrigating purposes on the way, and thus unite the principle of sewage-farming with the distribution of the drainage of Paris. The cost is very great no less than sixty millions of francs and the distance about one hundred miles. There would be a reservoir at Herblay, and pumping would be resorted to, the expense of which, it is estimated, will be covered by the sale of the sewage for irrigation purposes. The immense drain, or sanitary canal, will be covered throughout, and tapped in the places where its waters are required. The drainage waters of Paris amount to one hundred million cubic metres per annum, and there can be no doubt that, if the scheme is ever carried to a conclusion, Paris will be largely benefited. SECTION VI. LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. Old Lamps and New Eddystone and Bell-Rock Old and New Illuminants Oil, Gas, and Electricity compared Coast Lights Hanstholm and St. Catherine's French Lights Intensity of Electric Light The Eiffel Electric Light Water-Gas. I. OLD LIGHTHOUSES AND NEW LIGHTS. IN our youthful days few artificial objects appeal to our imaginations more strongly than the light- house. We are told tales of the sea and of shipwreck, of storms and tempests, of waves obscuring the light, and of clouds of spray leaping in impotent fury over the lofty lantern ; of the poor men shut up in those stone pillars out at sea,, or condemned to live at the extremity of some naked promontory, in a white- washed dwelling, beneath a whitewashed tower ; and we regard such individuals with a kind of awe ! We for a while forget the shipwrecked mariner, the dead, and injured. We cannot grasp the notion of the wreck battered by that placid rippling sea ; but we can converse with the lighthouse- man, and he shows us the lighthouse his Pharos, his Turris ardens and we wonder at the revolving light and its reflectors. Once upon a time, a young lady, gazing at a certain revolving and disappearing light, remarked : " What patience those poor sailors must have ! That beacon has gone out ten times, and they have lighted it every time ! " This charming young lady had not studied lighthouse illumination, but we will endeavour to assist her in this chapter to a more perfect know- ledge of this interesting subject. From the remotest times, we know, fire has been used as a signal. The fiery cross, the beacon, and the flaming torch, or even the candle in the cottage window, have each and all been signals of danger, of caution, LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 193 or of safety. Our reading of Walter Scott will tell us so much. Some burning wood or a pot of pitch set up on high, or a glowing brazier, was in olden times sufficient to warn and guide. Ptolemy Philadelphus built a marble tower (274 B.C.) on a rocky promontory on the Isle of Pharos, and thus guided sailors to the harbour. " The use of this tower is to show light as a lantern, and to give direction in the night season for ships," writes Pliny : " to which there be many beacons burning to the same purpose." Thus we can look back many hundreds of years, and perceive the small spark of the modern lighthouse burning dimly, a star in the east, a gleam of promise for future generations. The pillar, the lighthouse, has not undergone so much alteration or change. It is the illuminant which has so greatly exercised the ingenuity and the genius of men. Early beacons burned only candles or oil, after coal and wood had been found unsuitable, and only candles were used when Smeaton had perfected his pillar. The stories of the Eddystone and of the Bell- rock have often been told. We have read how Winstanley raised the beacon on the Eddystone Rocks in 1696, how it remained erect and uninjured until 1703, when the architect wished to be shut up in it during the heaviest hurricane that ever blew. He was in the lighthouse ; a storm arose and increased. On 26th November it was there on the morning of the 27th the tower had disappeared, and as to his fate, one could only " Ask of the winds that far around with fragments strewed the sea ! " . . . Rudyerd's lighthouse was burned, Smeaton's lived, and gave its light freely to all until 1882, when it was removed, and Douglass's beacon substituted. The famous Bell-rock Lighthouse was erected by Rennie and Stevenson. Many other very important towers have been built, such as the Wolf, the Skerryvore, the Bishop Rock, the Fastnet so welcome to homeward LIGHTHOUSE. LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 195 bound travellers from America. These are a few of the celebrated buildings which the architect and the engineer have planned and erected. We have now to examine how far science has aided these, and lightened their labours. Candle illuminants burned down " Rudyerd's Eddystone," and candles have been eaten by the keepers. Then oil spermaceti oil, olive oil, cocoa- nut oil, paraffin and colza oils have all and each been burned in lighthouse lanterns. So many oils, so many wicks ; a handful of cotton-waste, a flat wick, a cylindrical wick on Argand's principle ; then re- flectors, lenses, gas, and finally, electricity have been employed to send forth a message of safety to those at sea. Many of the foregoing agents did their work remarkably well, but progress devised other means ; and now the electric arc-lamp, developed by Meriton's alternate-current magneto-electric machines, gives a light which is calculated to equal that of 12,000 candles. And Smeaton was content with twenty-five tallow candles, which required snuffing every half- hour ! The Drumraond light was, and the Doty light is, an excellent illuminant. But it is not always the most brilliant one that succeeds. There are several points to be considered in select- ing a light for navigation purposes. The illuminant and the apparatus must be considered. The light must not be wasted, and the less this waste is per- mitted to occur the better will be the illumination. Parabolic reflectors were used of metal or glass, which systems are called respectively the Catoptric and Dioptric systems, and when they are combined, the terms are merged into Catadioptric. The reflectors in the first-named plan were fixed around a chan- delier. But in 1836 the Fresnel lens system had already pushed the parabolic reflector aside, and the Dioptric apparatus was inaugurated. This was a very important improvement, and we must dwell upon it a little. In 1822, a savant named Augustin Fresnel, an 196 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. engineer of the French Government, constructed a lens somewhat after the lens constructed by Brevvster and Buffon, in separate rings, and this Fresnel exhi- bited to Arago, who was then the director of French lighthouses. The Dioptric system that is, the system of placing a lens in front of a light, collecting and reflecting beams in a certain direction had already been tried in England, but had been abandoned. Fresnel and Arago produced their lens, which con- sists in many rings surrounding concentrically a centre lens, all the flat surfaces being in the same plane. The light is thus refracted in parallel lines, and focussed out at a point. For the old separate lamp and reflector plan, Fresnel and Arago substi- tuted a single central fixed burner a lamp surrounded by a cylindric reflector. Improvements were made, but Professor Tyndall states that " from the death of Fresnel, in 1827, the 4- wick lamp remained sub- stantially as he left it till 1865." In that year, it seems, Mr. Wigham, of Dublin, found an immense improvement could be made in lighthouse illuminants by means of gas. The firm to which Mr. J. Wigham belongs brought their partners' invention before the Board of Trade in 1863. Gas, distilled from oil, was the new illuminant suggested ; it was experimented with, and a more excellent composite burner was produced in 1868. But so greatly had the merits of the new light pleased the Board, that they sanctioned its being applied at the Bailey Lighthouse in Dublin Bay, at the extremity of the Hill of Howth, in 1865. The greatest merit of this system was its adaptability to fair or foul weather. It can be increased in fog ; the flame can be augmented from " a 28-jet flame to a 48-jet flame " ; and so, by leaps and bounds of 2O-jet power, to a maximum of io8-jet flame : one which gives forth a very great heat, as may easily be imagined. But the light continues a success. In 1871 further developments were made. The compound Wigham burner consists of twenty- LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 197 eight vertical tubes, each holding a double fish-tail gas burner. The gas lighted, the heat is intense ; and by employing a tall chimney the excess carbon is burned along with the gas, and a greater intensity supervenes. The addition of other jets connected with the burner can increase the power as already stated. There are also the biform, triform, and quadriform systems re- spectively, which consist in a vertical arrangement of burners, and electricity was also introduced into the flame. Much correspondence ensued upon the merits of Mr. Wigham's inventions. But notwith- standing so many opinions in favour of the gas, the Trinity House went against it, and adopted an idea of their own engineer a 6-wick burner, consuming mineral oil. This opinion they arrived at after re- ports had been received from Lighting Boards in England and Scotland. During the year 1884-5 some very interesting experiments were made at the South Foreland, as regarded the qualities of oil, gas, and electricity for lighthouse purposes. These experiments determined that in clear weather the three illuminants were too good. It was also proved that under such conditions of fine weather neither had any advantage over the others, if only a distinct gleam were required on a dark, clear night. If anything, the electric light annoyed the sailors by its brilliancy and aggravating intensity ; and in fine weather there was no necessity to turn on the high power of any of -the lights. If occultations were adopted as they are now rapidly being adopted by the Trinity House the Committee were rather in favour of gas, which could be turned off at once, and is most effective in action easy to manage. With an oil or an electric lamp, a screen is the best mode of occultation. Again, for coloured sectors the electric rays are most suitable, the change in colour being made more quickly on account of its small surface. Sir James Douglass stated in his paper read before the British Association that fixed lights are no longer 198 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. considered trustworthy as coast signals, as they are very likely to become confused with other lights. He maintains that the period of a light should not exceed half a minute, and that time should not form an element in the distinctive character of a light. All fixed lights on British coasts, moreover, are being converted to occulting lights, and the red sectors are to be danger signals. In the absence of particular local danger flashing lights are employed. We will now proceed to examine the relative merits of the three illuminants in hazy weather. In this atmosphere, and also in foggy weather, the electric light was proved to be decidedly the superior of the others ; though in dense fogs all three are equally useless to mariners. We have not yet in- vented a light which can pierce a sea-fog at any useful distance ; hence the necessity for fog-horns and other terrible signals : sirens, &c., to warn us off. The result of the experiments showed that between seven hundred and two thousand feet is the distance at which lights can be discerned, the electric light having the advantage over its rivals by some two hundred feet or so. But even the most powerful electric beams are clouded at a distance of fourteen hundred and fifty and fifteen hundred feet ; and the bright light is extinguished in our experiments at a distance of only thirteen hundred feet. Such distances are too small to have any practical effect on navigation, and so it really matters little what, if any, light be used in very thick weather. These experiments demonstrated plainly that the electric light is actually much more absorbed by the fog than either the oil or gas beams. If so, how can it penetrate farther? some one may ask. The answer is simple : because of its greater intensity. The experiments were carried on with "arc lights of over 30,000 candle-power, and used with lenses giving condensed beams of 18,000,000 candles as actually measured by the photometer." Thus the intensity of the light can be estimated. If LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 199 three equal beams of oil, gas, and electric light were simultaneously projected into a fog, the electric light would be the soonest eclipsed. It is its extraordinary luminous energy which preserves it from annihilation. Furthermore, the experiments proved that oil and gas left not much to choose between them as regards illuminating powers (though under some conditions the oil is considered slightly the better), while they can be placed vertically in superposition, as the Wigham gas apparatus is ; on the other hand, no one has hitherto produced any oil flame to equal Mr. Wigham's highest development. Thus the merits of oil, gas, and electricity are for the present decided. As far as regards the two former, it is merely a question of cost, since other things are about equal. This last question was also decided. The experi- mentalists came to the decision that for all ordinary purposes mineral oil is the most suitable and econo- mical illuminant, but for sites where a very powerful light is required (salient headlands, &c.) the electric light offers the greatest advantages. The electric beam has been widely adopted, notwithstanding the expense. At the South Foreland each of the light- houses there has a focal intensity of 3,040 and a condensed beam of 152,000 candles: just twenty times more than the former light. " In the Lizard Lights there is a focal intensity of light equal to 1 1, 800 candles, wrr'ch is equal to a condensed beam of 330,000 candles : no less than two hundred and eleven times the old light." * II. ELECTRIC COAST-LIGHTS. In the summer time of 1888 the electric light was placed in the lighthouse at St. Catherine's Point, in the Isle of Wight, and has proved a great success from whatever point of view, moral or physical, we observe it. This was formerly a Dioptric light, with refracting lenses exhibiting a gleam calculated at about 725 730 candle-power. The electric light * Mr. G. B, Bruce, 20O TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. now shown is estimated at seven millions of candles, and is a flashing light. The oil apparatus is kept in reserve, as well as a duplicate of means to supply the electric beams. There are three steam-engines, each of twelve horse-power : one for the fog-signals ; the others for the electric light, which is produced by two magneto-electric machines of De Meriton's type. The lantern has sixteen sides, and the situation being one of the " salient headlands," whereon the electric light was recommended to be used, it is most valu- able. There are some other almost equally important stations : the Foreland, the Lizard, and Souter Point, &c., but according to all accounts the Isle of Wight possesses the most brilliant of all lights in England, if not in the world. Readers will doubtless remember that at the Copenhagen Exhibition the electric lighthouse was one of the most attractive features, if not actually the most attractive feature of the whole. And this appreciation was deserved. In the first place, the exhibit was virtually the same lighthouse which was intended to be erected at Hanstholm; it is immensely powerful, though not equalling in intensity the St. Catherine Light above mentioned ; and it was the first Scandinavian electric beacon. France has per- fected her system ; England is following suit, and Jutland is not far behind in her endeavours to keep pace with the great States. The engines for producing the electrical lights at Hanstholm are of the De Meriton's type also, with " Le Baron " lamps. The optical apparatus is very large, is divided into thirty segments, and flashes the light for four seconds. St. Catherine's Light flashes for five seconds. The machines can be used together or singly, according to circumstances, and we believe even a half machine can be employed. One machine re- quires twenty-three millimetres carbons ; two machines, thirty-two carbons. The lamps have to be changed frequently about every five hours. The optic ap- paratus, moved by clock-work, revolves completely in LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 201 one hundred seconds, and is about thirty-eight inches high, emitting a light of two million candle-power, which is not nearly as intense as the full power of the St. Catherine's Light. An ingenious arrangement is in use, whereby an alarm is sounded if at any time the revolution of the optic apparatus becomes too slow ; and should the lamp fail, a paraffin light can be substituted immediately. But the electric light is not the only feature of the tower of Hanstholm. A compressed air arrange- ment, as in one of our lighthouses, enables two fog- horns to be blown at very considerable distances from the lighthouse. As the beam does not penetrate very far, this plan of signalling, perhaps a mile away, is a very advantageous one. The compressed air is led in pipes to the fog-horn, and impelled by steam. The horn is sounded at certain intervals by clock- work, and by means of a magnet which acts on the valve the supply is arrested and admitted at certain intervals : about every forty seconds, when the horn is heard to bellow forth its warning. The lighthouse itself is some 200 feet high, and the range of the light is estimated at twenty-six miles in fine weather. We may add that a reserve of compressed air is always maintained in expectation of sudden fog, so that while the engine is getting into working order the high-pressure air in the reservoir may perform the functions of the fog-horn without any loss of time. The French coast is well lighted at present, but until 1863 all the lighthouses of France were sup- plied with oil only. In that year electricity was established at La Heve, and at Cape Grinez about 1865. These experiments, and the condition of the electric illuminants on the English coast, induced M. Allard to recommend the Government to ex- tend the electric power all along the French coast a suggestion which was approved a few years ago, and the project included a series of no less than forty-six lights, counting from Calais to Biarritz and southwards. These lights, if they had 2O2 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. been constructed, would have formed a continuous series, the range of each cutting into the other, thus completely lighting the shores of the Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and the Mediterranean. But the majority are not set up. The scintillating light seems to be the form decided upon, which is produced from a fixed light, around which revolve lenses placed vertically, each of which concentrates the rays and produces a flash. These flashes may be white or white and red, according to will, and a variety can also be effected if desirable, as numerous combinations may be adopted. Thus every lighthouse might have its own characteristic light, and the mariner would at once determine the locality by consulting his light- book. Flashing lights have been generally adopted, because they have a greater range than fixed lights ; they may not uncommonly be confounded with sta- tionary land lights, and have an effect directly contrary to their intended use. It is useful to learn that the ranges of lighthouses vary considerably. This is of course the effect of the atmosphere, and varies from a far- reaching circle of light : perhaps twenty-seven miles in the Mediterranean to twenty miles in the English Channel in " clear weather." But all the lighthouses will not possess the same illuminating power. There are and will continue to be degrees of lights of various orders or strengths. The salient coast-points will of course stand first ; then harbour-lights, banks, shoals, and jetty-lights. The De Meriton's machines are those generally adopted. This may be briefly described here. The usual form for lighthouses consists of horse-shoe magnets arranged round the axis, something like paddles on a wheel, standing firmly on the frame. Each armature ring is composed of sixteen flattened oval bobbins, divided by the pole-pieces. To each ring are attached eight steel permanent magnets. These magnets, forty in number, weigh one ton ; each magnet is composed of eight laminae. The currents from each of the five armatures are concentrated on LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 203 the discs and collecting apparatus by an arrangement which transmits all the currents in the same direc- tion, though the consecutive coils generate opposing currents : that is, currents in opposite directions. It would appear from experiment that yellow and red rays have more penetrating power than any others, and that consequently the oil lamps had an advantage over electric lights of equal strength. But the oil lamp cannot be magnified in intensity as can the electric light, so the latter is master of the situation. But it has hardly yet been perfected in its applica- tion. Complaints of its dazzling qualities near land are received, and it is not a success in thick weather as a direct light. It may, however, be more useful in the manner advocated by Mr. Griffith : viz., as a sky illuminant which would attract the attention of mariners, and warn them of their proximity to the coast if the beam were directed at a very high angle. As regards the utilisation of electric beams in foggy weather, Mr. Stevenson has suggested that the light be "dipped/' or lowered, so that the beam strike the ocean at a point nearer land. " At present," he said, " we direct our strongest light, not only in clear weather when it can be seen, but also during fogs when it cannot possibly be seen, to a part of the sea where the danger to shipping is in most situations the smallest, and this is done to the detriment of that region where, even when the weather is hazy, there is, at least, some chance of the light being visible, and to a part of the sea where the danger to shipping is unquestionably the greatest." Mr. Brebner, in a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, advocated the dipping, but in another way which did not permit any meddling with the lamp, and also retained some of the gleam on the horizon while directing the bulk of it inshore. Some interesting experiments have been made to determine the intensity of the electric light, and testimony is entirely in its favour for all practical purposes of lighting. A beam directed above the 204 TRIUMPHS UF MODERN ENGINEERING. horizon during the experiments at the South Fore- land passed over Ramsgate, and caused an illumina- tion on the sky which was seen and commented on at Harwich ; the distance at which the light was observed was forty miles. The Calais Lighthouse threw the shadow of a telegraph pole at St. Margaret's Bay on a sheet of paper one night. The light was twenty miles away ! The time by a watch had also been observed fourteen miles away from an electric lighthouse by its beam. This very brilliancy is in some measure a drawback, but the mode of distribut- ing the light may render it more useful. Still, Mr. Wigham, who invented the gas illumination for light- houses, is of opinion that the electric light is not suitable for such purposes any more than for the Houses of Parliament Clock Tower, where it was superseded by gas, which possesses greater penetrative power in foggy weather. Each system has its advo- cates, but as the Trinity Board prefer electricity, the electric light is in possession at present in most important situations. The electric light was instituted on the Island of May not to be typographically confounded with the Isle of Man in 1886, and is an extremely powerful light. The isle, like many other outlying places, has been illuminated in some fashion or other for centuries, From coal to oil, and Argand burners, and so on to electricity, the lighthouse has advanced. The light is at the entrance of the Firth of Forth, and is an excellent example of the new system as expounded by Messrs. Stevenson. There are houses and accom- modation for three men and their families, with necessary plant and machinery for generating the current for the lighthouse. These generators are of the De Meriton's type, alternate-current magneto- electric machines of L type, and very powerful ; they are so arranged that a portion of the power of each machine, or the full power of both machines, can be employed at will. It is not necessary to give the details of engines and machinery. The power LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 205 developed by the light equals six millions of candles when both machines are used together. The Dioptric apparatus in use is on a modern plan of Mr. Stevenson's, by which certain sectors are darkened by taking the light from them and giving it to other sectors. The consequence is, the light is increased on some sectors in proportion as it is taken from others. The light flashes four times in half a minute. Out- side the fixed light apparatus is " a revolving cage of straight vertical prisms reaching the entire height of the apparatus, and composed of two panels on opposite sides of the centre, each operating in the horizontal plane on 180 deg. of the light, in such a way as to condense the whole 180 deg. into four flashes of 4 deg. each : that is 45 deg. into 3 deg. with the proper intervals of darkness." Thus the revolving glass cage revolves every minute around the fixed apparatus, which is so arranged as to facilitate " dipping " when foggy weather requires a nearer concentration of the rays. The cage is revolved by wheel-work. The electric beam can be discerned fifty miles away on the clouds, which reflect the flashing light long before the light itself can be discerned. Its range is twenty-two miles. The cost of the whole system at the island, buildings, &c., was over 22,000. The annual ex- pense is about ;i,ooo. Mr. Stevenson, in his paper, read before the Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1887, made some observations regarding the power of this light, then newly installed. He said that mariners and residents were surprised at the manner in which the light was curtailed by fog, and they almost believed that the oil-light was better. This is an error, for electricity has been often proved the most power- ful, if the most costly, illuminant in fog. Mr. Steven- son's conclusions are worth quoting. He says of his hyper-radiant apparatus : " It is only in very exceptional cases indeed that electricity should be used ; a single oil or gas burner placed in the focus of a proportionately-sized Diootric 2o6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. apparatus is sufficient for the generality of cases ; any additional outlay should be expended in establishing a powerful sound signal, to be used during fog," when for all practical purposes the electric light would also be obscured. The adoption of the hyper- radiant apparatus has been attended with success, the conclusion arrived at being that "a single burner shown in a complete panel of a revolving apparatus of the hyper-radiant kind would give a more power- ful light than burners and ordinary Fresnel lenses arranged as biform, and would be equal to triform ; while the consumption of oil or gas would be one- half or one-third respectively. This form of apparatus is already in use in other places." III. THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ON THE EIFFEL TOWER. WATER-GAS. When so many thousands of our countrymen and women were making the ascent of M. Eiffel's pyramid, and watching the rays which nightly emanated from it, did they ever look in and ascertain the fount whence all this light sprang ? Curiously enough, the establish- ment which at present carries on the business of illumination in the most enlightened modern fashion was founded by a savant named Soleil. The beam projected from the Eiffel Tower was reckoned equal in intensity to 55,ooo candles; and so arranged as to be visible within 1,600 yards of the tower, and beyond. This " intensity " of light does not give one the actual illuminating power, which is manifestly in excess ; it is magnified thirteen times, so that, in fact, we see a light equal to 705,000 candles, which is cal- culated, in favourable weather, to have a range of 20 miles on a level. But the gleam has actually been seen at Fontainebleau, and even at Orleans, which are respectively thirty-six and seventy-five miles from Paris ; and by means of projectors the light is " beamed " out. The projectors are in appearance something like large drums, which collect the rays and project them in parallel lines. The " drum " LIGHTHOUSES AND ILLUMINANTS. 207 apparatus revolves in ninety seconds ; the flashes last for three seconds, and the necessary revolution is accomplished by the assistance of the current which supplies the light. The power of the beam is so arranged that the farther the light is to be projected the more powerful it is made. The " rings " receive the light unequally, in proportion as they are intended to illuminate near or distant objects. We must pass on, and glance at the other illu- minants which are employed in our Pharos. The Irish lighthouses generally use gas, and Ailsa Craig light is produced from paraffin oil : a mode of illu- mination in vogue for buoy and beacon lights. Com- pressed gas, which this is, is used on most of our great rivers the Thames, Mersey, and Clyde, for instance and the Suez Canal has been also lit with it. It is more expensive than ordinary coal-gas. It is compressed into vessels and placed upon the buoys, where it burns till exhausted : a somewhat wasteful method of lighting. It is on the Peritsh system. While writing of illuminants, it may be as well that we should notice a comparatively modern means of illuminating, and for other purposes, viz., Water- Gas. This product is obtained by the decomposition of water, which, as we know, is composed of two gases, oxygen and hydrogen. Many experiments have been made, but it was not till March, 1888, that the plant was ready to produce the gas. Necessity in this case was the mother of invention. The Leeds Forge Company required a fuel of tremendous heat-giving power for their operations, and the managing director thought he would find it in water-gai. So the re- quired plant was erected, and water-gas established itself at Leeds. This gas "is a process of the decomposition of water in the form of steam by passing it through incandescent fuel," and, as in the preparation of ordinary coal-gas, it is passed through what are termed " scrubbers," so that it may be cleansed and cooled ere it be permitted to enter the gas reservoir. 2o8 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. The means whereby the gas is produced are a generator, which is a vessel constructed of boiler- plate, and lined with fire-brick, provided with valves for the control of the air, gas, and steam ; the scrubber, which cleanses the gas by passing it through broken material on which a spray or jet of water is kept falling ; certain purifiers for gas which is intended for lighting, and other requisites ; a blower, and so on. The generator is charged, and blown up to an intense heat in about ten minutes, during which period a product known as " produce-gas " is given off. This is carried off and used to make steam. Then the valves are reversed, steam is admitted, which, passing down through the burning mass of fuel, decomposes, and the result is gas. It is then cleaned and stored for use in the forges and furnaces for various purposes. When purified for household purposes the water-gas is imperceptible to the olfactory nerves, and any escape could not be detected were it not that the manufacturers have artificially endowed it with a strong odour, which makes itself perceptible whenever the gas escapes. The uses of water-gas are manifold. The makers claim for it an immense saving over coal. It is used in the melting and metal-refining works, in welding, in melting glass, driving gas-engines, &c. &c. Many of the above facts have been culled from an interesting pamphlet by Samson Fox, Esq., C.E., the managing director of the Leeds Forge Company, where the plant has been erected. 209 SECTION VII. DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. A Comprehensive Glance The Docks London and Liverpool Tilbury Docks Calais Harbour Works Great Improvements Pile-sinking Description of the Docks and Basins The Operations at ' ' Hurl Gate," New York The Explosion of Flood Rock Harbour Works at Rochelle and other Ports. I. A COMPREHENSIVE GLANCE. IN accordance with the continual growth of traffic, the increasing size of steamers, and the modern appliances used for loading and unloading vessels, the docks of the maritime powers are continually being extended or enlarged ; and very great care is requisite in their construction or enlargement. In old days " slips " were used ; and then " wet docks " and " dry docks " were constructed, with flood-gates. Now we have immense spaces acres of water and graving-docks, as at Calais and elsewhere in which the largest ships can float or be repaired. Liverpool was the first port in the United Kingdom to construct docks, and her series of docks are considered still the best. Less than a hundred years ago ships in the Thames remained moored in the stream and discharged their cargoes for want of dock accommodation, for it was not until 1800 that the London Docks were commenced. In these receptacles lies the wealth of London and of the world. What is in the docks ? you may ask. Rather inquire what is not in them, and then you may receive a satisfactory answer : when we remember or learn that a thousand acres is the superficial area of the docks, and that six thousand vessels occupy them daily, on the average ; that hogsheads and casks of wines and other comestibles, cotton, wool, sugar, tallow, indigo, tobacco, timber, tea, coffee, drugs, soda, chemicals, spices, spirits, oil, stone, jewels, jewellery, 2io TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. toys, and representatives from every nation under the sun, are there to be found amid dirty surroundings, but indicative of the Wealth of Nations, and more in- structive than books. St. Katherine's is the deepest of all the docks. For its construction the old hospital and many houses were demolished. The hospital survives in the Regent's Park. This dock was built by Telford in 1827; the cost was ; 1,700,000. It encloses about twenty-four acres, and the goods deposited arrive chiefly from America, the Mediterranean, and China. Then you cross the road to the London Docks, each one communicating with the other ; and here you will find warehouses filled with tea, tobacco, wine, and wool. There is one dock used exclusively for the reception of tobacco. Here also is the Queen's Pipe, into which all contraband goods, or articles on which no duty has been paid, or any merchandise in bad condition are burned. So hams, gloves, tea, and tobacco may smoulder in this fire together though now the tobacco is passed on to the Mission for Deep-Sea Fishermen. Besides these neighbouring docks, we have the East and West India Docks, which are on the so- called Isle of Dogs, a peninsula, through the neck of which a canal has been cut ; but it is not much used for navigation. These immense docks were also begun in 1800, and are the outcome of private enterprise by subscription. They were actually completed in twenty- seven months. Dock-building in those days was per- formed by hand-digging, and shovelling was real manual labour. There were no steam navvies and dredgers, nor steam-cranes in those days. Then the navvy was the man, and he worked in the sweat of his brow. The class of merchandise stored here is indicated by the name of the docks, which extend from Limehouse to Blackwall. The underground vaults extend over an area of 890,545 feet, and here is stored the wine which is " tasted " pretty frequently by visitors who have permission to enter. The loss 212 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. returned as " evaporated " in one year amounted to a quantity equal to twenty thousand bottles ! Opposite Limehouse are the Surrey Commercial Docks, some fifty acres in extent. The Greenland Dock? used to be here ; they are now occupied by timber ships. Many pages might be devoted to a description of the quaint locality of Rotherhithe and of the Grand Surrey Canal, the stores of timber, and the thoroughly maritime flavour of the locality. Crossing the river, we find the East India Dock, at the mouth of the river Lea, where the Australian liners are seen. Further east are the Victoria (London) Docks ; and away down the river, near Gravesend, are the comparatively new Tilbury Docks ; of their con- struction we shall give a separate account, and they may be taken as a sample of the others, including all modern appliances. A visit to the docks will prove interesting to the ordinary sight-seer. The scenes at the gates when " hands " are required is one to be remembered. Hundreds of unemployed anxiously, but patiently, await the opening of the gate as if it were to admit them to heaven, for employment means something to eat. So dozens wait and wait, but perhaps only half-a-dozen are wanted ; the nearest hands push in, then the door is shut again, and the others stand like or rather very unlike the Peri : disconsolate ! So much for London Docks. Let us glance at those in Liverpool, without entering into any details of their construction, which resembles all others in general features. Liverpool is our great passenger port, and through the docks all traffic passes. From Prince's Parade one can gain an excellent idea of the business side, and on the landing stage we shall find a crowd of passengers bound for America or elsewhere. This stage is simply a floating pier, some 650 yards lolng, with every accommodation : even a police-station on it, waiting-rooms, steamer offices, and the like. The ferry business is superseded to some extent by the DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 213 Mersey Railway. Birkenhead is opposite, and has some very extensive dock accommodation also. In Liverpool you will find that the docks have a speciality. The King's Dock, for instance, is the receptacle for tobacco, and about 40,000,000 Ibs. of this deleterious weed are stored here, to be consumed on the shrine of Nicot the physician. The Salthouse Dock is the oldest ; it was constructed in 1793. The Prince's Dock is the kennel of the " Atlantic Grey- hounds." The Waterloo Docks receive and shelter tons of grain, which are hoisted up by cranes, and the Albert Docks store the merchandise from the East, the Indies, and South America. The Canada Docks well supply us with timber, and the Huskisson, Langton, and Alexandra Docks complete the chain of marvellous basins and warehouses of which Liver- pool not unreasonably boasts. The Alexandra Dock is simply colossal ; it can accommodate the Cunard fleet, or a great portion of it, or any twenty Atlantic liners at one time. Nor are other seaports behindhand in improve- ments. Hull, Glasgow, and many other equally well-known ports are building docks, and piers, and breakwaters, scouring their channels, and improving their navigation. Some are blasting rocks by sub- marine mining, such as is carried on at Hell Gate and at Blyth, on our own north-eastern coast. Then the breakwaters of the Tees may claim our attention ; and a very interesting ceremony was performed in connection with the last-named in 1888, when the South Gare Breakwater was opened. Numerous other, but not modern, engineering works such as Plymouth and Portland Breakwaters will occur to our readers. These are monuments of the past, and need only be mentioned. Nor are foreign Governments idle. The French ports are stirring themselves. Calais and Boulogne, as well as Dieppe and Havre, with Newhaven and Dover on our side of the channel, are improving and deepening their means of com- munication with new jetties, tidal harbours, and 214 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. graving-docks. Some of these later works we will now proceed to describe. II. THE TILBURY DOCKS. Those who study the system of our Thames docks remark how, year by year, the dock com- panies, connecting their undertakings by rail, go farther and farther from the metropolis, and carry off their freights, living and dead, more miles down the river every year. We remember thinking what a long drive it was some few years ago to the Victoria Docks to catch the steamship of the National Line, and how we fretted and fumed when pulled up at level crossings by trains of trucks and shrieking engines of Great-Eastern and North-Western build. A year or so ago we went by railway from Liverpool Street to Tilbury in a much shorter time, and had a look at the immense deep-water docks which have an interest for all Englishmen, as well as travellers who have the tedious, tide-suffering, and dangerous river navigation lopped off the end of their voyage, and saved in the start by a rapid railway run. The Act of Parliament for these docks was passed in July, 1882, promoted by the East and West India Docks Company. The docks were opened in April, 1886, with ceremony and rejoicing. Merchants and directors and guests all united in a shout of praise, for the new docks marked an era in our navigation and enterprise. Let us just walk round, and endeavour to see the advantages these docks offer us. We naturally ask our guide of what they consist, and he will courteously inform us they are a tidal basin, a main dock, and three smaller " subsidiary " docks. We learn that even ships 700 feet long, and drawing forty-four feet of water, may enter and remain com- fortably in these huge receptacles. The tidal basin, as will be supposed, opens into the river, and large vessels may pass in or out with no inconvenience. Besides the refuges already mentioned, there are four dry docks, so that any ship which may require DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 215 overhauling may enter and be examined on the spot : a local examination which it may be at times very convenient to undergo. As the pumps for emptying these docks are extremely powerful, and are stated to raise six hundred and fifty tons of water per minute, the rapid decline of water in the docks, large as they are, need not be wondered at. To return to the main dock. It is 1,818 feet long, and 600 feet wide. Eighteen hundred feet ! A goodly expanse, and immense even in the region of big docks down the river. The entrance from the tidal basin is, of course, by means of a lock, but bear- ing in mind that leviathans must enter, the designers determined to make the lock of a size commensurate to their needs. This intermediate space is 700 feet long and eighty in width in over-all measurement, but there are gates intermediary which permit of the dock being divided into two of uneven lengths one as much as 550 feet, the other being about 150. The lock-gates are enormous double doors forty-four feet high and about fifty feet wide, all told, and are moved by hydraulic pressure, water being, as it were, divided against itself, used to resist its own pressure, and to swing doors of gates weighing each about 240 tons. This is the outline of the main dock, which has a dozen hydraulic rams in use. As for the subsidiary or unloading docks, they are three, close, but not parallel to the main receptacle with which they communicate. They lie parallel to each other, and sideways to the main dock. They are 1,800 feet long, and the smaller ones are 250 feet wide ; the third is fifty feet longer. Here the unload- ing of the leviathans is continually carried on, and the multifarious goods are placed in sheds and store- houses along the extensive wharves, or quays, which separate the docks. These sheds are of iron, and can be closed firmly by shutters steel coiling shutters, which render any theft almost impossible, and loss from fire a very remote contingency laid along the wharves, and between the sheds and the 2i6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. railway lines which communicate with the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway ; and the conveyance costs no more than to the Albert or to nearer London docks. Our attention will be almost immediately directed to the hydraulic cranes, of which there are at least sixty in use in the docks. These fine pieces of mechanism run on tracks of thirteen feet three inches gauge ; the railway trucks run between their legs, so to speak, and when the machines connected with water-mains are adjusted, they quickly assist in unloading a vessel, the lifting power being thirty hundred-weight, and its running speed 180 feet a minute in lifting goods. There is also a monster floating crane which is worked by steam, and pro- pelled by steam on a stout screw vessel, which trans- ports it whithersoever it is required for lifting in masts to ships and other out-docking business, which it performs in a steady mechanical way that one must admire. This is an offspring of Messrs. Hunter (of Bow), and well it performs its duties, handling weights of forty and fifty tons, and erecting tall masts of mighty vessels with ease. We need scarcely add that the electric light is used in these fine modern docks, and as night comes on, the steady and mast-head lights leap into glowing incandescent lamps in every direction, looking at a distance like a family gathering of gigantic fire-flies or a collection of lighthouses at Tilbury Docks. Not only are there these innumerable lights of some 3,000 candle-power each but there are handy lamps for personal use attached by flexible "cables" to the supply sent on by fire-engines of 500 horse-power. It is a busy and a very interesting scene when some Transatlantic liner or Peninsular and Oriental steamer hauls out for America, Australia, or Bombay. Then the scene is tinged with sadness ; the farewells mingle tearfully with cheers ; and the accustomed workers, the busy dock hands, gaze with apparent stoicism at the receding ship, as they gazed on her arrival with her DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS, 217 happy home-bound freight. The railway engine- driver looks across, and wipes his hands on waste as the ship disappears ; then shrieks a parting and a starting signal as we leap into the train, and look for the last time, for a while, on the great Tilbury Docks way down upon the widening river. III. THE CALAIS HARBOUR WORKS. " Malignant Calais ! Low-lying alligator, evading the eyesight and discouraging hope ! Dodging flat streak, now on this bow, now on that now anywhere, now everywhere, now nowhere. . . . Sneaking Calais ! prone behind its bar invites emetically to despair. Even when it cannot conceal itself in its muddy dock, it has an evil way of falling off has Calais." So wrote our great novelist in his " Uncommercial Traveller " days, but we wonder what he would have said on the 3rd June, 1889, if he had been a member of the international party who were at Calais on the oc- casion of the inauguration of the New Docks ! Would not he have admired the works, the appliances, the engineering triumphs, and most of all, the cool talent which, by imposing a poll-tax on travellers to and from England, has enabled the beautiful France to build those splendid docks at the expense chiefly of perfidious Albion ? Yes, Calais has covered herself with glory, and her port with quays. Fourteen or fifteen years ago it was practically impossible to get any reasonably-sized vessel into the Calais harbour, and difficult to enter the docks or basins except just before or after high water. But the operations at Boulogne, the new jetties and quays there which can accommodate the larger South- Eastern steamers and others, perhaps stimulated the authorities of the now important Channel port. Much dredging and an enormous sluicing dock, -which sends forth some 50,000,000 of cubics of water every tide to rinse away the accumulated sand-drift, are doing good, and have already given the steamers a deeper 21 8 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. channel, which is reckoned at thirty-six feet at high water. These improvements were authorised in 1871, but it was not until 1876 that the work was firmly taken in hand. It was a tremendous undertaking in itself. The new docks and basins, the new streets, the widening and extension of already existing water-ways, have quite changed the old features of Calais which were once familiar to us. Even the old railway-station, to which so many of us have stumbled across in the darkness, has disappeared, and a brand-new Gare Maritime has arisen in its stead ; as well as a new town station for residents. From the channel or passage (which leads to the outer harbour and the old port) we gain the harbour first and the railway - station (Maritime). Thence locks communicate with the fine " floating basin," and the smaller basins to the south- east. Then by the Calais Canal we turn north, and by the Citadel Lock can emerge into the Port d'Echonage, and so on to the outer harbour, and the Channel again, having circumvented La Ville de Calais. The railroad runs two-thirds of the way round to the south of the Citadel. Another magnificent work is the sluicing basin, excavated, like the others, in sand : a difficult material to deal with. To build one's house on the sand is proverbially a foolish and dangerous operation, but the modern Engineer laughs at old saws, just as Love laughs at locksmiths, turns even sand to his pur- poses, and makes of it his foundations ! The sea had also to be banished ; so dykes and other protections were erected on the fore-shore ; but these were only sand-banks with piles. To drive piles into loose sand is an occupation which may be compared with some of those pleasing punishments of classic history or heathen mythology a never-ending task under ordi- nary circumstances, and one which Hercules might have accepted without any loss of dignity. Eight hours and a half to drive in a pile-panel, nine feet high and six wide, is a considerable time, DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 219 when the weight applied is 1,300 Ibs., and of this 900 blows were required ! * When, however, a small water-jet was brought to bear, the sand immediately gave way, and the panel almost dropped into its place ! The time of sinking was one hour sometimes much less ; and the most obstinate piles did not require one-tenth of the number of pats on the head formerly bestowed on their fellows ; some gentle ones even sinking beneath the resting weight of the pile- driver, without resistance. Thus modern appliances assisted in the excavations of the basins. The sluicing dock which discharges its contents into the Channel, to clear that Augean v/ay, has an extent of 220 acres, with a lock of five open- ings. Fancy the mass of water that will rush with all the force of a descent of some fifteen feet into the Channel at one time ! We have had some instances lately of the terrible effects of water on land, and this flood, let loose from five openings simultaneously, must do a great deal to clear the silting channel. This great lock was a tough piece of work. Each opening is nineteen feet eight inches wide, and about 50,000,000 cubic feet of water are discharged in the course of an hour ! It was finished in 1886. This sluicing lock is to the eastward of the quay at which the steamers come alongside, therefore to the north-east of the town. The quay is 1,869 feet in length, and had it measured twenty more it would have been a record of its first year of office. Here the Invicta, the new Calais-Douvres, and other cross- Channel boats discharge their passengers, and their luggage, which is carried to the neighbouring station, and handled as the passengers go up and down the stairs to the trains. There is no mingling of porters and passengers in the hurry for places ; the luggage is transferred over-head direct. This is not the least of the improvements at Calais. The quays have openings, as at Dover Pier, through which the passengers enter or leave the steamer^ while cranes and willing hands * Engineering. No. 1.220. 22O TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. transfer luggage above on the upper storey. The central recesses are for the mail-boats, and are exactly opposite the railway station. The quay to the south-east is intended for larger steamers, if any u liners " will visit Calais. The foundations here are very deep, and the whole of the masonry required great care, for the shifting nature of the ground can be well imagined. The blocks were fixed together and cemented, set to dry, and then put in ; the sand being removed by jets, as already explained, with the assistance of centrifugal pumps. The water thus discharged the sand up through openings purposely left in the blocks, and as the fine substance was removed the blocks sank until the proper depth was reached. Then the holes in the blocks were filled in with concrete. The holes were not circular, and the plugs fitted tight. The blocks themselves (23 ft. by 21 ft. 6 in.) are made up of concrete and masonry set in cement ; the apertures being hexagonal, straight at the top end, and swelling out at the lower portion, like wedges. The blocks were firmly set together, and on them the walls were built. Some of the blocks used in the founda- tions weighed as much as 800 tons apiece. Some idea of the labour and perseverance re- quired for the accomplishment of the work may be formed when we state that the time occupied in sinking one of these blocks and getting rid of the sand was nearly four-and-twenty hours on the average. Some occupied three times as long a period as others ; the smaller blocks being, of course, easier to fix. We have mentioned the series of basins and docks, and the locks which connect the outer harbour and inner basin. These last are fine works, which can be divided into compartments by gates. The locks are 68 ft. 10 in., and 46 ft. wide, respectively. They are both more than 400 feet long, founded on concrete, the sand having been washed away and piles driven in, as in former excavations. The locks cost 2 10,000 ; the gates are of iron, and small movable (swing) DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 221 bridges have been built over the locks for the con- venience of passengers and traffic by vehicles or rail. It is not necessary to give details of these bridges ; all particulars as regards length, width, and the girders arrangement will be found in the technical publications devoted to engineering works, but will not appeal to " outsiders." It will suffice to say that the bridges are respectively 159 ft. 3 in. and 1 17 ft. 3 in. long ; on the outside of each is a footpath four feet wide. The roadway is carried upon cross girders 8 ft. 9 in. apart ; the roadway being seventeen feet wide, with a tram-line on one side. As is usual now, hydraulic machinery is employed for moving the locks and sluices ; and, in fact, wher- ever power is required the water is pressed into the service, and does masterful work. Thus immense gates and capstans are controlled with consummate ease and precision, while vessels are warped in without difficulty through these immense locks into the floating basin or to the graving-dock, where hundreds of feet of quay space are available for merchandise. Sheds and railway waggons are there to store or carry away, grande vitesse^ the costly and, perhaps, perish- able goods consigned to other countries. The quays are supplied with travelling cranes, waggon sidings and lines communicating with the Northern Railway and Calais thoroughfares. If we continue our excursion along the quays we shall reach the graving-dock, 498 feet in maximum length, in which vessels can be laid and examined. All needful accessories for emptying and filling the lock are provided, culverts, pumps, &c., and the wide steamers of the Channel service, or the deeper and narrower sea-going vessels, can be equally accommo- dated in this dock, which, with its accessories, has cost 118,000. Proceeding, we find the small-boat basins, the canal, and more locks, more bridges, more extensive quays, more railways, lines, and sidings. The arrangements appear almost perfect ; everything that engineering science and regard for public 222 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. convenience could suggest seems to have been brought to bear on the constructions i we have glanced at. The extensive nature of the works themselves, the immense accommodation afforded by them, the facilities for internal and external traffic, for the shelter and docking of ships, the distribution of merchandise, the transhipment and conveyance of travellers, all reflect the highest credit on the engineers and contractors. And what do these works mean ? To what ex- tent has M. Vitillart metamorphosed the "malignant Calais" of Dickens' pen? What have the French people to show us for the expenditure of two millions and a half sterling, a large, if not the major, part of which sum has been paid by passengers to and from England ? We will answer the question in a few sentences. In the first place, there is a splendid harbour, with the accompaniments described, extend- ing over four hundred acres. The tidal harbour is eighteen acres in extent and fifteen feet deep, with landing stages for any height of tide. The trains, instead of going off and being hauled in another direction to Boulogne and Paris, as heretofore, now run direct along the docks to the new town station. We have also inspected a floating basin of twenty- seven acres, 6,000 feet long, with other receptacles. These works occupy a length of nearly three miles in all ; the canals and docks communicate with the inland navigation, and by clever locking arrangements the salt water is not permitted to mingle with the fresh water. Finally, the electric light illuminates the whole. Is not that enough ? The Calais Docks are finished ; but the entrance, the harbour, is not yet completed, and is not expected to be quite ready until 1891. The eastern pier must be extended ; the sand-drift lessened, or stopped thereby. We have mentioned the means already adopted to clear away the bar ; meanwhile we wait. Old things have quite passed away from Calais : all things, including the military defences, are new. There is only one bar to the complete DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 223 fulfilment of the hopes and wishes of maritime nations, and that barrier is of sand. IV. THE OPERATIONS AT HELL GAT& On the morning of October loth, 1885, a scientific gentleman we cull our information from an American paper was seated in his study in New Brunswick ; the particular locality we need not divulge. He was a student of terrestrial vibration, a seismologist, a measurer of earthquake shocks, and the instruments on which he depended were of more than ordinary sensitiveness. He seated himself in expectation. He knew that eleven o'clock a.m. was the time fixed for the explosion, and for the clearing of the water-way of the East River, New York. The seismometer had been specially prepared for the occasion : no pains had been spared in its construction, and its sensitiveness was to be depended upon. At eleven o'clock a.m. on the date fixed it faithfully recorded the trembling of the earth and yet the scientist tore his hair and rent his garments, and derided his own pet handiwork why ? Because the explosion did not take place until quite fourteen minutes after the apparatus had signalled it ; and the newspaper, in remarking that there was only one man in the United States who felt unhappy over the explosion, " and he lives in New Brunswick," is probably true, if we accept New Brunswick as American territory. But did our rt facetious con- temporary " make any allowance for clocks or difference in time ? At any rate, the tale is amusing, and if not vero, may be classed amongst the ben trovato series of anecdotes. At any rate, the Flood Rock Explosion did not occur until a quarter after eleven ; and we will relate the details and the circumstances which led to it. An inspection of a good local map of New York will satisfy the reader as to the necessity for the operation. Long Island Sound, to the east of the city, and the inlet of East River were infested by TRIUMPHS. OF MODERN ENGINEERING. dangerous rocks, such as are and were known as Pot Rock, Hallet's Point, Frying-Pan, Flood Rock, and others. Of these, Hallet's Point and Flood Rock were the most dangerous, the latter occupying a large space in the mid-channel. The difficulty of the navigation was proverbial, and the fearsome nature of it is crystallised in its modern title of Hell Gate a corrup- tion of the harmless old Dutchman's " Hurl Gate." But Hell Gate it remained for many years, and the name was accepted as a true definition. No one minded the strong title, and ladies mentioned it with- out blushing or hesitation. It may now be considered exploded ; and to General Newton may be attributed the honour and glory of the removal of the blot. In 1867 he sent in a detailed plan by which he con- sidered the approach to New York City would be greatly benefited. If he could remove the upper ridges of certain rocks he would secure an open channel. The matter came before Congress in 1878, and the following year operations were commenced. The Diamond Reef was drilled, and the charge of nitro- glycerine exploded successfully. Other rocks were also dealt with, and then the General's attention was directed to Hallet's Reef. Here very extensive tunneling and excavations were made, and it was necessary to construct coffer-dams and exhaust the water. A shaft was sunk in the reef, galleries and mines were prepared, as if a railroad in miniature were projected. An immense rock-chamber was hewn out, the roof supported by piers of rock ; and as there were 173 pillars, each ten feet square, some idea of the extent of the chamber may be formed. This became quite a show place, and many people visited it, both from objects of business, science, and curiosity. When operations had proceeded sufficiently far the engineers drilled holes in the pillars and in the canopy of the roof, these holes being filled with dynamite cartridges of large size, containing in the aggregate nearly 48,000 Ibs. of that explosive. Experiments were made DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 22$ to determine the best methods of explosion, and electricity was employed successfully, the charge being actually fired by a child of three years old the daughter of the director of the operations Miss Mary Newton, who may be proud of an exploit of such an unique character. This was in 1876, on the 24th September. This explosion was so successful and the demo- lition of the huge upper surface of the reef so complete, that the General turned his attention to the demolition of the Flood Rock, situated in the Middle Channel. This immense mass of gneiss was honeycombed, and though, curiously enough, the massive roof leaked, the chamber was pumped dry. The total length of the various tunnels was four miles ; " the roof varied from ten feet to twenty-four feet in thickness, and was supported by 467 pillars fifteen feet square. Thirteen thousand two hundred and eighty-six holes were drilled in the pillars and roof, averaging nine feet in depth, and being five feet apart in the pillars and four feet in the roof. The holes were three inches in diameter. The total rock excavated was 80,166 cubic yards, and about 275,000 cubic yards remained in the roof and pillars."* The appearance of the interior was a veritable tunnel, laid with a line of rail to facilitate transport of materials ; and protruding from the jagged roof of rock the visitor would notice, towards the end of the work, and while preparations were being made for its completion, certain tubes fixed on and into the rock. These tubes were cartridges containing the modern explosive appropriately called " rack-a- rock," which certainly possesses the capabilities of its name. The inventor of this powerful agent is Mr. Rand, a member of the Society of American Mining Engineers. The great advantage claimed for rack-a- rock is its capability of shattering the rock without splintering it, and thereby endangering the lives of spectators. It consists of chlorate of potash and * Engineering. 226 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. nitro-benzole, a highly dangerous mixture, but the ingredients themselves are harmless, and may be handled with perfect impunity. This is undoubtedly a very great advantage ; and after the United States Government had tested it, they had it filled into copper cases, very thin, almost like skin, so that the pressure of the water may gradually consolidate the mixture. The cases are soldered, and four wires attached to ensure combus- tion. These cases were then fixed into the holes bored in Flood Rock, and some dynamite was also inserted in certain places to assist in the explosion. The operation was performed by electricity in a very ingenious way, which has been explained in the account of the affair in the columns of Engineering. We do not need a diagram to explain it. The dynamite being placed in contact with the wires of a battery, the explosion followed as soon as the circuit had been completed. But this must be done with caution and at the proper time ; and was per- formed in the following way. Picture a bath of mercury in which an empty glass is standing. There are two wires, positive and negative, coming from the battery, and, as everyone knows, when the current-circuit is completed in any manner the effect wished for will ensue. To break the circuit, the empty glass was employed. The positive battery-wire was immersed in the mercury, the negative wire was placed in the empty glass, and the circuit remained unbroken. To complete it, both wires must be plunged into the metal in the basin. How to ensure the desired action was the problem to be solved, and it was solved in this way. An iron rod, surmounted by an " exploder," was inserted also in the empty glass beside the negative wire. This iron rod and its exploder were connected with a small battery, and as soon as its circuit was completed the current darted down the iron rod, exploded the " exploder," and forced the rod through the bottom of the fragile empty glass. Immediately DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 227 the rod and the negative wire were plunged into the mercurial bath, the circuit was completed from the main battery, the spark fired the dynamite, and the dynamite exploded the rack-a-rock in the drilled holes of the rocks. Flood Rock was lying scattered beneath the flood tide. The appearance above water was curious. The sea was cast up in a series of jagged peaks of water, resembling an iceberg in profile. A terrible rum- bling sound was heard ; the upper surface of the rock had disappeared. The rack-a-rock had well per- formed its part. The dangerous obstruction had been removed, and now vessels can sail over the shattered trunk of Flood Rock without danger to keel and sheathing. Two hundred and forty thousand pounds of explosives were fired, and not a person was injured, nor was any building damaged. Something remains to be said concerning the effects of the explosion and the expenditure incurred, and the report made by General Newton supplies us with some interesting details. The shock seems to have travelled with very different velocities in different directions. For instance, in a northerly course, through rock, it reached West Point, 42-34 miles away, in IO'9 seconds after the explosion, at a velocity of 3 '88 miles a second. Going eastward, through drift, it travelled 8J miles in 89 seconds, or '98 mile per second, to Willet's Point ; but to Goat Island and Patchague, 144/89 miles and 48*52 miles respectively, the shock made 2*46 miles and 3*15 miles a second. The general observations, then, point to the conclusion that through rock the transmission was more rapid and consistent than in drift, wherein velocity increased up to 50 miles, but had decreased at 145 miles. The shock, as stated, reached New Brunswick (in faith) before the mine was sprung ! The expenditure on the Flood Rock from June, 1875, up to October, 1885, was 221,246. The total expenditure since 1868 to June, 1886, on the mines 228 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. and other improvements has been ^"722,360. In 1887, 3 1,900 was expended, leaving an additional sum of 310,175 still required to finish the work, of which the year ended 3Oth June, 1888, absorbed 104,166. Much remains to be done still : dredging and other work, and rock has to be removed, and the required depth of twenty-six feet at low water will necessitate the removal of no less than 240,000 cubic yards of broken rock. Other smaller affairs of the kind have been successfully carried out, and the Hell Gate is rapidly becoming a clear and easy way not leading to destruction. V. HARBOUR WORKS AT ROCHELLE. The French are by no means idle in times of peace. They proceed quietly and unostentatiously, improving their inland navigation and enlarging their harbour works. The magnificent new docks at Calais will be found described at the commencement of this chapter, but the works at La Rochelle are by no means insignificant, although the natural protections of the harbour are remarkable, including the historical islands of Re and Oleron : islands not unconnected with the life of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and also with his death. They are so placed as to form a natural breakwater, which effectually shelters the port from the westerly and south-westerly gales which prevail in the Channel and in the Bay of Biscay. Within a few years it has been found necessary to enlarge the harbour and to deepen it. The engineers, having come to that conclusion, thought they would act on their idea, but speedily found that Nature had put a veto on their plans. It was, therefore, deter- mined to build new works at Pallice, some three miles from the town in a westerly direction. The new works, in common with many other improvements in harbours and docks, include a tidal harbour, two locks, and a basin with a minimum depth of twenty-six feet, the harbour affording a depth of sixteen and a half feet, under the most unfavourable DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS 229 circumstances, to small vessels; while at heap tides larger ships, it was decided, must remain in the road* stead. This arrangement, which we cannot but think a pity, was found to be necessary, owing to the want of funds to further deepen the tidal harbour, that is formed by two breakwaters which enclose a space of 1,640 feet in length, having an entrance 295 feet in width. The pier end extends for 1,475 f eet on the shore. ".: The excavations for the harbour were considerable, and had to be carried on under great difficulties, for it was necessary to work "in the dry," and to do this the sea had to be kept out Wehave.men^ tioned the two breakwaters, and these had between them a space of 295 feet. Therefore, in order to keep out the sea a dam had to be constructed, fitting closely into this space, and founded beneath low- water mark. To complete the preparations, this dam was made three hundred feet long, of solid masonry, and when the sea was excluded the ex- cavations commenced. No less than 850,000 cubic metres were dug out before the required moderate depth could be secured. When the breakwaters were being made, other excavations and strong foundations were necessary, and in their construction modern engineering science employed the air-caissons, as used in the magnificent docks at Genoa, and in the construction of the Forth Bridge. As we did not mention every particular connected with them when dealing with the Forth Bridge, we may describe those used at Genoa, and at Rochelle. These caissons are practically diving- bells, which, when empty, can be floated out and sunk by the admission of water into them, and raised again when the water is expelled by compressed air. There is a space at the bottom called the working chamber (already mentioned ; see " Forth Bridge "), and above it an equilibrium chamber, into which water is intro- duced. When the cylinder is empty it is carried or floated 230 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. into position, and as soon as the exact place is reached, water is permitted to flow into the upper chamber, which process, of course, causes the caisson to sink until the bottom of the dock is reached. The men then commence work ; they are in the working cham- ber underneath, or they can descend by the man-holes designed for their admission and exit. Air is supplied to them as in the diving-bell only it is "compressed" air and the caisson is made to sink by the admission of water, while the excavation is proceeding in this air-tight working chamber. The more soil dug out the more water is introduced above, and so the im- mense cylinder is always firmly and closely resting on the ground. When the required depth has been reached, concrete is admitted by the air-locks and shafts left in the caisson from top to bottom. The foundations are thus built within the " bell," and when they rise, the caisson is gradually and proportionally raised by forcing water out under the influence of compressed air, as the silt or mud must be excluded before a firm bottom has been reached. The pneumatic system of the caisson will now be understood. By its means the foundations of the breakwaters at La Rochelle were laid ; piers were built in caissons, and connected by arches, the ex- tended spaces between the piers and under the arches being filled in with concrete. Thus the breakwaters were finished ; then the harbour works within were commenced, and carried to a triumphant conclusion. There was one somewhat serious obstacle in the way : this was a rock which by some fatality was situated immediately in front of the entrance to the tidal harbour. Whether it had been overlooked, or was considered too insignificant to heed, we do not know. It was there, and had to be removed. If an anecdote is permissible, we may recall the " classic " rock mentioned in the narrative of how an ignorant sailor, representing himself as a Cork pilot, declared that he " knew every rock in the Channel." Then, iipmediately the vessel of which he was in DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 231 charge struck, he exclaimed, " And, bedad, that's wan o' them ! " So he might have had an oppor- tunity of repeating himself, after the manner of his- tory, had the French authorities permitted the rock of Rochelle to remain. It was successfully drilled and cut from pontoons, blasted with dynamite, and finally, when fragmented, dredged up. We have hitherto made no particular mention of the inner basin, which is worth notice, being some thirty acres in extent ; it is 700 metres long, with an average breadth of 160 metres ; and will, it is cal- culated, accommodate about 700,000 tons of shipping (per annum). There was some difficulty in the excavation of this inner basin, as rock was found beneath the surface, and blasting operations were frequent. There are also graving-docks, one 541 feet long, seventy-two feet wide, with a minimum depth of twenty-eight and a half feet. Such a dock will, it is said, hold any modern vessel, except, perhaps, some of the latest developments of the " Atlantic Grey- hounds ;" but for all practical purposes La Rochelle or, rather, Pallice will "have the call" for large vessels. The smaller dock is 328 feet long, and forty-nine feet wide at the entrance. To facilitate business, and to accommodate vessels, the modern systems of cranes, derricks, some miles of railway, and a station, and some magnificent locks are also provided. The locks are very fine enclosures, being respectively 54 * afi d 475 feet in length, and seventy-two and forty-nine feet wide. Another modern improvement is herein to be seen: viz., inner openings or "intermediate" gates, by means of which small vessels may be admitted into the docks without the trouble, and the accompanying waste of water, which would result if the large gates were opened every time for small craft. It will be perceived that the Rochelle Docks are very complete, and the expenditure for the works will not exceed a million sterling, in addition to the sum needed for the plant for working the pneumatic caissons, and the cost of the caissons themselves. 233 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. There are some special features connected with these docks, such as the process by which the concrete was filled in between the piers of the breakwaters, and the substitution of rail-curves for turn-tables on the quays. The graving-docks are set at an angle of 35 with the inner basin, too, that being determined on to facilitate the entrance of shipping. The tide-levels are stated "as varying from twenty-one feet six inches to nine feet six inches at spring equinoctial and neap tides respectively. The locks are sixteen and a half feet deep at neap tides. VI. THE NEW TRIESTE HARBOUR. In 1868 a very important work was commenced in Austria, and as it was completed in connection with and at the same time as the Arlberg Tunnel, we may include it in our list. This was the harbour at Trieste, which occupied in completion nearly fifteen years, and had many contractors employed upon it. The basins a,re well protected, are of great extent, and in direct communication with the railway system of the country. The formerly existing lines have been lowered thirty feet to ensure this connection ; there are extensive piers and quays, and the harbour includes a water- space of eighty-seven acres. The manner in which the works were carried on was not very remarkable, and certainly not continuous. Long intervals were permitted to interfere, and a number of " cooks " ran some risk of spoiling the work. c On the other hand there were considerable diffi- culties to be overcome. The peculiar nature of the ground in which the excavations were made has had a great deal to answer for. It appears that the material to be dealt with consisted of a soft muddy clay, with lower layers of sand and blue clay ex- tending downwards for a long distance. This is a shifty composition to deal with ; it requires tender and peculiar treatment. Mud is not a desirable substance on which to build, and the engineers had to proceed on a plan somewhat different from the ordinary one : DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 233 which is, first solidify your mud, and build on the arti- ficial foundation thus created. The only question was how to find the foundation, for after many tons pf rubble and stones had been flung in, concrete blocks were laid, banks built up, and then the walls, but the last blocks settled the whole question in a manner not generally anticipated by the workmen. The walls sank down, or shifted ; the mud, which all thought had been crushed down and mingled with rubble, came up again between the stones, and asserted itself in a most objectionable manner. This gave the contractors pause. They considered the matter, and set dredging-machines to work ; when these deep furrowers had removed sufficient mud to a proper width, rubble was again put in as a foundation, gradually extending, and when it was sufficiently solid, stone was laid on it and a pier commenced. This in its turn was permitted to settle ; then the work was resumed. As soon as the mud showed itself between the concrete blocks, they were more heavily weighted, the mud cleared away, and so on ; till finally, after some years' settling down, the walls were again commenced. By these means the harbour was at length enclosed in the walls, which were strengthened by iron ties. The cost of the work was ; 1,700,000, but many millions of cubic yards of rubble and earth and concrete was thrown in and laid down before the work approached com- pletion, which it finally reached about the same time as the Arlberg Tunnel was finished. : -.-., -. , j : VII. THE GENOA DOCKS. The New Genoa Graving-docks are the largest in Europe, exceeding in width, if not in the length, the fine Liverpool Docks. The new receptacles at Genoa have been built on the pneumatic caisson principle; each caisson is 105 feet in length and 125 feet wide the same width as the dock itself. The manner in which these large caissons are managed has been fully explained under the heading of the 234 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. Rochelle Works, so it is only necessary to give the principal dimensions of the docks themselves, as there is nothing remarkable to be recorded concerning the workings, unless it is the fact that the Italian Govern- ment did not accept the lowest tender, but that which they thought promised best for the permanent bene- fit of the country. The same contractors Messrs. Zschokke and Terrier have carried out the Rochelle Works and the Toulon (Cistats) basins. There are two docks, one considerably larger than the other. The dimensions of the largest are : length, 72 1 J feet; width, 81 feet (at entrance, 59 feet); greatest depth, 29^ feet. The smaller dock is 588 feet long, 96 feet wide, and 32 \ feet deep. The larger dock will hold a ship 695 feet long ; the smaller one will accommodate a vessel of 564 feet in length, a sufficient capacity for the immense Italian ironclads. The cost of these triumphs of engineering is .280,000, but this does not by any means represent their value, which is quite ,200,000 more. But a curious arrangement has been made by which the contractors are permitted and are enabled to work the docks for their own benefit for five-and-thirty years, unless the Government pay the balance of the value before that. But they also bind the contractors pretty tightly to the time of the fulfilment of the contract: 8 a day for every day's delay during the first three months after the expired time, and 16 a day thence- forward. Leakage is penalised to the tune of ^"200 for every thirty-five cubic feet be)'ond a permitted influx of 350 cubic feet per hour. No less than seven tenders were received, but only one English firm was represented. VIII. THE DIEPPE HARBOUR WORKS. An enterprise of more interest to the average Englishman than the foregoing splendid dock works is the enlargement of the harbour and channel of Dieppe. Works have been carried on at Newhaven, and now that all is ready on both sides of the Channel, DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 235 the communication between these ports will be more frequent every year, and more rapid. The improve- ments at Dieppe include the formation of a channel, a new tidal harbour, and other such enterprises, with a new dock. This new channel, known as the Pollet Channel, from the suburb of Dieppe through which it is cut, will form the means of communication between the new tidal harbour and the entrance channel. The Pollet Waterway is 820 feet long, 130 feet in width at its narrowest, and will by the depth of excavation give twenty-six feet as the lowest " high- tide " level of neap tides. The new tidal harbour is fifty-nine feet wide at the entrance, with a depth of eighteen feet at half-tide (springs), so that the vessels may enter early. The depth at high-water spring tides is thirty-six feet, and about twenty-five feet at the lowest high tides. Along the Pollet Channel are sheds and warehouses. The work was accom- plished with caissons, those at the dock entrance being on the compressed air principle, as explained in the account of the Forth Bridge. The Pollet Channel excavation was carried on in coffer-dams, the water being pumped out in thousands of gallons per minute. The roadway is carried over this new cut by a swing-bridge, worked by hydraulic machinery. IX. THE SEINE IMPROVEMENTS. Nor are our lively neighbours less backward in improving the Seine ports. From the Minutes of Proceedings and Mdmoires de la Societe* of the English and French Civil Engineers respectively, we may learn the nature and extent of these harbour works at Havre and elsewhere. M. le Brun puts forth an alternative scheme to that of the Government, and other authorities give valuable suggestions and infor- mation regarding Havre and other ports which require enlargement and protection. The critics agree that a new entrance to the port of Havre is required ; and there seems little doubt that the Government design "will confer great benefits on Havre by supplying a 236 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING " new deep-water entrance, a sheltered harbour," and spacious docks into which the largest ships can enter during six hours of every tide, and also by training down the river (by means of training-walls) to Hon- fleur, fix and deepen the central channel so that vessels drawing twenty-three feet of water may be able to get up as far as Rouen. The proposed improvements, the training-walls, and the necessary expenditure on fortifications will cost a sum of 3,846,000 ; but large as the amount is, the improvements effected will have the approval of all parties, and satisfy all require- ments. The present entrance to Havre is considered not sufficient, and vessels have to lie off for hours until the tide serves, as we know by experience. X. THE TEES BREAKWATERS. For about forty years changes almost imper- ceptible, but evident in their general results, have been taking place in the estuary of the Tees. As all know, the late sudden prosperity of Middlesbrough is due to the discovery of iron-stone : but before that epoch the Pease family and Stephenson carried their railway (the Stockton and Darlington line) there. This was in 1830. Then coal was exported, engine-works were erected, and subsequently docks were constructed. Iron -works were built by Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan, and to them the great prosperity of Mid- dlesbrough may be traced. The continued improve- ment of the navigation of the Tees may be equally attributed to the prosperity of Middlesbrough. In 1831 the population is stated to have been 154 persons. In 1888 the number had risen to 75,000 ! What has caused this tremendous increase ? Iron-stone. The firm above mentioned commenced business by the Tees, sometimes quite surrounded by the river, and continued their iron-works quietly, till in 1850 Mr. Vaughan hit upon a vein of iron-stone in the grounds of Sir J. Lowther, near Redcar. The Cleve- land Hills yielded an ample supply : a treasure till then unsuspected, or, at any rate, undiscovered. DOCKS AND HARBOUR WORKS. 237 Cleveland iron was a fact: the works prospered ex- ceedingly, and became a company ; blast furnaces sprang up in all directions ; mills, engineering-shops, steel-works, and other industries increased and multi- plied, and later salt has been found, so chemical works are in full swing. Naturally, when a borough increases by leaps and bounds, the accommodation for its industries must also be developed to keep pace with the ever increas- ing outputs and trade. Piers and quays must be built, and a harbour formed somehow for the accommoda- tion of shipping. " Miles of training-walls and great breakwaters have been formed of millions of tons of slag," the refuse of the blast furnaces, and the bay " between Redcar and Seaton Snook has practically been converted into a harbour of refuge." There are; of course, fine spacious docks, and every other sign of prosperity. Most, if not all, of the river improvement has been executed under the guidance of the Tees Conservancy, with the late Mr. John Fowler as en- gineer, and he succeeded marvellously. Those who know the locality will remember the shallow shifting nature of the channels, for there were more than one. These water-ways were continually changing their courses, and a mark-buoy one day would be useless in perhaps four-and-twenty hours, or even in a tide. So the Commissioners took the matter in hand and dredged a channel, built training- walls, and carried the erratic water-flood into the estuary, by its rush scouring the silting sand away. There were some rocky impediments, a little sub- marine mining, and blasting under water. This was a truly sweeping change ; and from Stockton-on- Tees to the mouth of the river some twenty miles of navigable stream have been cleared. Besides this work, some corners have been cut off and embank- ments made. The channel cleared, the reefs removed, and the sand thus temporarily disposed of, a plan was mooted by which the said sand could be entirely kept back, 238 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. and a regular harbour formed. In few other localities was a refuge more required than on our bitter north- eastern coast, and the plans were drawn. The work was subsequently undertaken under great difficulties, and in the face of tempests which only accentuated the need for haste and perseverance. Slag was put down instead of stone ; but this was washed away in places, and concrete blocks of immense stability put in the place of the slag. Thus the south breakwater was finished, while the north side is progressing rapidly. The breakwater is two and a half miles long, and is terminated by a lighthouse. By this construc- tion the water-channel is deepened to nineteen feet at low water. It was formerly less than four feet deep. Where people could once wade across is now a fine river, and a breakwater with a sheltered harbour. As the Right. Hon. W. H. Smith said, on the occasion of the inauguration of the works : " This was a fair example of the results which followed from English industry, English energy, English pluck, and English competition." XL THE BLYTH IMPROVEMENTS. This little port lies north of Shields, in North- umberland, and was at one time a more flourishing place than it lately appeared. But the energy and pluck associated in the development of Middles- borough and the Tees estuary came also to the assistance of Blyth. It was determined to form a harbour there, and to remove the great rock, which would have rendered their efforts fruitless had it been permitted to remain. No steamers could approach to embark cargo (coal) until this obstruction had been removed, so the blasting operations were determined on, and 700 feet length of rock, with a maximum breadth of 139 feet, was cleared away, by blasting, boring, and subsequent dredging. As the rock was partly visible at low water, the boring operations were carried on by hand from rafts, and tubes were employed to keep the borings cleaj; DOCKS AJVD HARBOU& WORKS. 239 and to admit the nitroglycerine cartridges. These borings were carried on in series to a depth varying from ten feet ten inches to fifteen inches, according to the situation. These holes assumed an appearance of the " five of spades," being in squares, with a centre opening. When the rock had been sufficiently shattered, the material was dredged up by a steam dredger, which drew up about six tons an hour, "including stoppages," when the fragments were sufficiently small. Divers were also employed when the pier foundations were laid, as the concrete blocks required adjustment. By these means a deep-water quay was constructed, and steamers as well as sailing ships can now advance to Blyth and carry off the pro- duce of the Northumberland coal-fields by water. This is a small example of local energy, for no contractors were employed, and the work was suc- cessfully carried out by Messrs. Meik and Sons, and their representative, Mr. Kidd, from whose paper on the subject we have gleaned the foregoing particulars of the improvements. 240 SECTION VIIL DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. London Drainage The High, Middle, and Low Level Sewers Treating Sewage by Electricity The ABC System Petroleum and Pipe Lines Pipes in Oil Districts Baku and Pittsburg Natural Gas and House- hold Supply The Origin of Natural Gas. I. LONDON DRAINAGE AND PARIS SUBWAYS. NOTWITHSTANDING our great advance in sanitation, there is still left great room for improvement in our arrangements for disposal of sewage. Not long ago, at the meeting of the British Medical Association at Glasgow, a gentleman read a paper on the subject of " The Disposal of the Sewage of Large Cities." He showed that the metropolis was throwing away valu- able sewage which could be spread over the land, and thus become valuable. One hundred and fifty millions of gallons of sewage are distributed into the Thames at Crossness every day. This valuable manure should be distributed over the land, as in other countries is the practice, and also in many towns and districts in the United Kingdom. The main drainage system of London is, therefore, faulty in comparison with Berlin and some other Continental cities; while at the place called Pullman, near Chicago, we read that drainage and sanitation is almost abso- lutely perfect Paris does not enjoy an absolutely clean record of sanitation ; but her stream is not tidal within the city, as is the Thames. Let us turn back and peep through the vista of years at our main drainage system, glance through the contemporary Parisian pipes, and finally describe the latest means for the disposal of sewage. It may not be generally known that Gehenna (" Hell- fire "), so often mentioned in Eastern writings and in Holy Writ, was a burning pile of refuse for sanitary DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. 241 reasons kept alive, in which the corpses of animals were consumed, with other unsavoury and detested rubbish, in the Valley of Hinnom. It was in this manner that the Jews got rid of some of their refuse ; and other nations adopted other and primitive methods : a kind of utilisation scheme which has of late years in different forms been so advantageously dealt with by sanitary and agricultural engineers. Drainage in London was in the hands of Commis- sioners more than two hundred years ago ; but it was not until 1847 that sewage was permitted to run into the sewers. Cesspools were regarded as the legitimate distribution of all but surface-water. Indeed, up to 1814 15 it was a penal offence to discharge any such refuse into the sewers. In our glance at the Metropolitan Railway systems we mentioned the various London sewers, at one time streams and pleasant brooks. Who would recognise the River of Wells in the Fleet Ditch or sewer? Where are the Wells now Sadler's, Bag- nigge, the Clerks' Wells, Lamb's Conduit, the Western Conduit of St. George's, the Ty-bourne, the Old Bourne, and the Bayswater Brook ? They are all corrupted, gone out of the way, and become abomin- able. The main drainage has utilised them. Pre- viously they ran more or less clearly, and formed suburban ponds in outlying grounds and ornamental waters on their way to the Thames. In time London became sick at heart. Cholera stirred up panic. The Thames must be cleared. Commissions sat and dis- cussed ways and means, but still nothing was done. Sewage floated up and down daily with the tide. Not only this : the water when at flood penned back the sewage in the drains, and forced it up again through the house-gratings. The plan known as the London Main Drainage System consisted in laying new pipes at right angles to existing sewers below their levels, intercepting their contents, and carrying them to an " outfall " many miles away in the tidal limit, at high water. Thus the nuisance is abated so 242 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. far as London is concerned, and the sewage, valued at 1 ,000,000 per annum, is wasted. The day will soon come when this system will be modified, if not altered. After much consideration and calculation of capacity of sewers and the anticipated increase of water supply the pumping stations were estab- lished, with beam engines, for pumping out the low- level sewers one of these pumping stations is at Grosvenor Road, Pimlico, and others were erected at Crossness and Abbey-Mills, the uniting places of the north and south sewers respectively. If we penetrate into the drain domains, we shall find first the high-level sewer running into the Fleet near Hampstead, crossing the Highgate Road, through Holloway Road, Great Northern Railway, to Church Street, Hackney, through Victoria Park to the middle level sewer. This drain is seven miles long, nearly circular in form, and averages six feet in diameter, with a rapid fall to facilitate the progress of the rainfall. It drains about ten square miles of North London. The construction gave the engineers some trouble. It passes beneath the New River Em- bankment, and under the Great Northern Embank- ment, thirty feet high. Great care was necessary in tunneling such places. In another place the sewer is carried through a house-cellar. The house was pinned on girders, and a nine-feet diameter sewer ran through the basement, without in any way dis- turbing the inmates. The sewer passes under the Duckett Canal two feet beneath the bottom of the water-way, which is iron-plated and " girdered." The meeting of the waters of the high and middle level sewers is at the " Penstock Chamber " at Old Ford, so called because of the iron penstocks which divert the sewage as required over the waste weirs or into the outfall sewer, as most desirable ; though to run the overplus into the Lea seems a very ^desirable ar- rangement, and one now to be obviated. The middle-level sewer begins at Kensal Green, under the canal, down Netting Hill and Oxford Street,. DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. 243 Clerkenwell Green, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green Road, under Regent's Canal and North London Railway, to the Penstock Chamber. Piccadilly also, and ad- jacent districts, drain into this sewer in Gray's Inn Road. The main sewer is g\ miles long, of a maximum diameter of loj feet, and a minimum of 4j feet. It is carried over the Metropolitan line, as already stated. The low-level sewer is 8J miles long, with several branches, and accommodates Pimlico. It begins at the canal near Grosvenor Road, along Lupus Street, along the embankment from Vauxhall to Blackfriars, and so on by the Tower to Bow, and the ultimate pumping-out station. It drains the Isle of Dogs the locale of the king's hounds. Fulham and Chelsea, &c., are also included in this sewer drainage : this far western line necessitates pumping en route. All these sewers discharge by pumping at Abbey Mills into the outfall sewer which empties at Barking Creek. So in a similar manner the southern suburbs are provided for. The high-level main line is at Clapham, with a branch to Dulwich, and they drain many square suburban miles as far as Norwood and Sydenham. The low-level begins at Putney, and drains Battersea, Nine Elms, Southwark, Rotherhithe, Deptford, and the intermediate places. It is about ten miles long. The two south sewers unite near Deptford Creek, where is a pumping station, or " lift," and thence they flow in conjunction to Crossness, beyond Plumstead Marshes. Many difficulties with the sandy and marshy ground had to be got over during the construction of the sewers, but the work was finally and satisfactorily completed in 1862. This is necessarily but a very curtailed description of our boasted system of drainage, still it must perforce suffice, as our space is very limited. The name of Sir Joseph Bazalgette will always be associated with the undertaking. The subways of Paris about the time of the intro- 244 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN duction of the London system of drainage amounted to 217 miles, and the drains underground bear the names of the streets, on each side of which is a sewer. These subways also contain water-mains and pipes. They are furnished with footpaths, and take in only rainfall and domestic output of water, as a rule. The other refuse is collected from cesspools. The prin- cipal outfall of the sewers is a mile or so outside the city, at Asneires. The subways are cleansed by mechanical means in boats or trucks, with scrapers to clear out the mud which has found its way below. These passages are five feet six inches high, by two feet three inches wide. No small pipes are used. Drains which have not a separate water-way are cleaned by hand by gangs of men with carts that drag up the mud and deposit through the openings. Having thus glanced at the principal modes of drainage near at hand, and merely premising that Paris is more inclined to utilise her refuse than is London, we will look at some other sewage systems which leave much to be desired. In this category we may include many watering-places, where the primi- tive outfall on the shore at low water may be said to represent the extent of the drainage of our seaside resorts. The outlet is easily discernible at low tide, and even when the water is higher the gulls indicate the whereabouts of the drain, which, with wind on- shore, may work havoc with delicate people and children. New York, we understand, is not much better off than London was before the Main Drainage Bill passed. The odours, as we can testify from late experience at Littlehampton, are horrible, and the remedy should be at once applied if the railway and townspeople want to retain their customers. The deodorising plan of Sir F. Abel and Mr. Anderson might be applied the " revolving iron pumper " which has succeeded in purifying the water at Antwerp and elsewhere. There are methods of treating sewage by electricity and by precipitation. The latter method is stated to DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. 245 be insufficient, and some months ago Mr. Webster invented a method of electrifying the sewage. The mode of precipitation is to let fall the matter in sus- pension by the addition of so many grains of lime and sulphate of iron per gallon. The electrode pro- cess consists in the employment of iron plates, positive and negative alternately, the difference in " potential " being two and a half volts. Six groups of plates are placed in series parallel to the flow of the sewage, about an inch apart and as deep as the channel. Certain chemical combinations ensue ; the organic matter is disinfected and falls as refuse (" sludge") ; the liquid portion is purified. The plates suffer consider- ably in the process, but so far as the experiments have been tried at Crossness they seem to have been satis- factory. The latest treatment of sewage has been carried out at Kingston-on-Thames, where the ABC pro- cess, as it is called, seems to have given considerable satisfaction. The "ABC" is the mixture the deodorising mixture, which is added to the sewage when it arrives in the pump-well. Thus treated, it is pumped into tanks, and precipitated after passing an undershot wheel, which records the quantity received. There are eight tanks, holding in the aggregate more than a million gallons ; the sewage is therein pre- cipitated, and the clear, clean liquid passes into the river, harmless. The residue, known as " sludge," is pumped up and forced into filter presses, pressed into cakes, dried, then powdered by machinery, packed in bags, and finally sold as guano. There can be little doubt that other riparian towns will quickly adopt the very plain and economical plan which is claimed to be as " simple as A B C " by its pro- moters. The authorities at Luton have become awake to the necessity of disposing of their sewage in places other than the little stream, the Lea, which sup- plies North London. The more liquid portion will be pumped upon and distributed as manure. The UNIVERSITY ' OF MODERN ENGINEERING. remainder will be " treated " and used also. This system of disposing of sewage is becoming commoner annually, and we hope ere long that it will be obli- gatory. The question of the purification of the Clyde is also absorbing attention, and something must speedily be done, as the river is decidedly in bad odour at present. II. PETROLEUM AND PIPE LINES. A description of the Russian petroleum industry, and the manner in which it is conducted, would form a very interesting chapter ; but it hardly comes within our prospectus. Those who wish to find particulars of this comparatively novel business can consult the pages of Engineering and other " technical" prints, and the works of Mr. Charles Marvin, &c. Some few years ago he wrote a pamphlet entitled " The Coming Deluge of Russian Petroleum," and in this a description of the wells is given. The immense " spouters " near Baku were tapped some six years ago, and we may just mention the immediate result to give some notion of the tremendous quantities of this oil which is shot forth from this region. The oil, we read, did not at first appear in any extraordinary quantity, some sixteen thousand gallons a day being all that it yielded ; but after a little further boring, the spouting commenced in earnest. " From the town the fountain had the appearance of a colossal pillar of smoke, from the crest of which clouds of oil and sand detached themselves, and floated away a great distance without touching the ground/' The wind carried this oily dust or dusty oil a great distance, and the whole district in the neighbourhood of the well was drenched with petroleum. It quickly formed a lake, and then overflowed into the sea in millions of gallons ; two and three-quarter millons of gallons was the highest record for a day's outflow, but eventually the spouter was got under control, and gave out only 250,000 or so gallons in the day. DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. 247 Altogether some ten millions of gallons had been spouted before this check was put on the supply. Notwithstanding the waste which goes on by the lavish hands of Nature, there seems no prospect of the petroleum soon giving out For hundreds of years petroleum has been pouring out of those districts, and may continue to do so for ever. One penny for fifteen gallons is not dear for oil, and this was at one time the price on the spot, whence about one hundred and thirty or forty million gallons of refined oil are now despatched annually. The " waste," or refuse, is used for fuel, and the coal question the fear of any short supplies of coal maybe dismissed in the face of natural gas and petroleum which supply fuel for all purposes. The highest price for this petroleum waste is about one pound sterling per ton, which will do as much work as two and a half tons of coal ; it is much cleaner, and no more need be used than is actually required. The boring is managed with an iron gouge, filled to certain lengths of bars as long as necessary. Sand and rock are the usual strata encountered. The bore- hole is about a foot wide. When the oil is struck a rush of carburetted hydrogen gas ensues, and then the rod is taken out and preparations are made to receive the anticipated oil. A cap is fixed over the hole, with a valve arrangement, so that the valuable supply shall not be wasted. But sometimes the oil rushes out in a hurry, and then it is no easy matter to restrain it. Sometimes the gas explodes and carries all with it. When the oil is controlled, it is run into tanks and reservoirs, and refined. Deeply sunk wells are not necessary in the peninsula, as in parts of America. In the Apsheron district nine hundred feet is almost an unprecedented distance for boring, six hundred feet being generally considered the maximum, but even at one hundred feet oil will be found at times. III. PIPE SYSTEMS IN OIL DISTRICTS. While dealing with pipe systems, we may refer to the oil pipes which in Pennsylvania and in Russian 248 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. territory near Baku, on the Caspian, have caused some remark. The latter, especially, has aroused curiosity, and the supply of petroleum from the east of Europe seems not unlikely to absorb and carry off the American importations. We had occasion to men- tion Baku when writing of the Trans-Caspian Railway, and now we have arrived at the place it will be found interesting to examine the petroleum works of Messrs. Nobel. The importance of this industry cannot be gainsaid nor over-estimated, and a descrip- tion of the manner in which the oil is obtained will serve to illustrate the method on both continents. The gas obtained from these wells bursts forth with tremendous force, so much so that in America it is conducted through pipes for miles by its own pressure, and in the Caspian Sea it has before now upset boats ! From Batoum, on the Black Sea, a railway passes by Tiflis, and reaches Baku through the petroleum region. Opposite is the line of the Trans-Caspian Railway, whereabouts naphtha has also been found in considerable quantities. This petroleum is no new discovery, but its method of conveyance is modern and is equally simple. As a matter of fact, the boring or sinking for petroleum is " as old as the hills," or nearly so. Some readers will remember the wonder- ful tales that came home from the American oil districts concerning the height and force of the petroleum springs. To "strike ile" is now an accepted slang term ; but if the " ile " strikes anyone, it will cause that individual considerable incon- venience. When the boring is going on great caution must be observed, for if the oil bursts out a deluge may ensue, and tons of valuable stuff run to waste. The gas blows and signals oil, then preparations are made to reduce the expected arrival to subjection ; but your oil is a slippery customer to deal with, and he won't be curbed sometimes. Then the valuable liquid shoots two or three, hundred feet into the air. Reports DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. 249 assure us that the grit mixed with it will, by the mere force of propulsion, wear away an iron plate into holes in a few hours ! The immense yield is stored in iron tanks, and used to be carted down in barrels. One day it occurred to a Swedish inspector that iron pipes would carry the oil much more cheaply than the country carts did. He suggested the plan to the firms engaged, but they declined. So the Swedes did it, and laid pipes for miles from the tanks to the refineries. The idea was gradually adopted, and many miles of conducting pipe systems are now laid, and may be carried even to the Black Sea, if the railroad ever declines the carriage. There are no great engineering feats required in dealing with petroleum, but the Messrs. Nobel have brought such energy into the business and developed the industry so fully, that space has been found in these pages for a notice of their enterprise. We have referred to the railroad from Baku to Batoum, and the usefulness of this line cannot be doubted. Nevertheless, within a couple of years or so the petroleum traffic has been so great that the railway is quite unable to cope with it, and will have some difficulty, until the Suram Tunnel is finished, to bring the oil across the hills. M. Nobel's enterprise seems to have solved the problem. An immense pipe line is to be laid to the top of the pass, and from thence to Batoum, a total distance of 560 miles, when completed. If this enterprise is ever carried out to the full, a most important question will be solved. The height of the Suram Pass, over which the pipe must pass, is estimated at 3,200 feet ; the petroleum must be pumped up and regulated in its downward flow into Batoum, whence it can be shipped direct, and the expenses of land carriage obviated. When this has been successfully accomplished, we shall hear of other lines being laid and supplies of gas made, as in Pennsylvania. Late information from the Caucasus region tells us that the arrangements for the inauguration of the 2 so TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. kerosene pipe line across the Suram Pass are almost completed. Thirty-four miles of oil pipes four inches in diameter have been laid from the Suram Station of the Trans-Caucasian line to Quirill Station, on the Black Sea slope, crossing on the way heights of some five thousand feet elevation. The magnitude and capacity of this pipe line may be estimated from a few statistics. It is capable of containing 100,000 gallons of kerosene, and if this be, as it generally is, forwarded as the daily supply, we arrive at some 70,000,000 gallons per annum. This pipe line, con- structed by the Messrs. Nobel, is said to have cost ^"70,000. This line does not carry the kerosene all the way in the pipes. The railway conveys it to the Suram Station in tanks, whence it is pumped up and slides down the pass to Quirill, thence re-tanked and sent on by rail. When the Suram Tunnel (q.v.} is completed the line may not be, so greatly needed. This is not the same line as that from Baku to Batoum, already mentioned. The manner of laying and arranging these pipe lines is somewhat peculiar, and we have received some information from a friend on the subject. In America the system is well understood, where hun- dreds, nay, thousands, of miles of pipe lines are laid. To Americans the Caucasus system of pipes is due ; pumping stations are erected at certain intervals to help the oil up. This pumping sends the oil some distance on its road ; it is there pumped a little farther, and when it has reached the summit-level and feels the down-grade, it resumes its viscous way inde- pendently. The Baku-Batoum pipe line is managed in this way. It does not start actually from Baku, but from Balakhany, hard by. The railway turns south, and then west ; but the pipe line, not requiring any such pampering or consideration as the railway, turns due west, and then rises by degrees to the summit of the Suram Pass already mentioned. There are twenty- four sections, and as many pumping-stations. The DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. 251 total distance which the oil travels is 497 miles. At each station is a reservoir and four steam-engines. The pipe-lengths are screwed together, and dipped into or coated with tar. Precautions have to be taken in laying the pipes. Of course, the climate temperature varies very much : from several degrees below freezing to a temperate heat. In very cold places the pipes are laid under- ground, so as to preserve the same temperature, if possible, throughout the whole system. When the frost does not touch the pipes they are laid on the surface, but here a difficulty presented itself. Heat swells metals, and, if rigid, pipes will break when so expanded. Under these circumstances, it was found necessary to let them rise and fall in a wave- like manner up and down, about a foot, the " wave " being some few hundred feet in length in serpentine upward, not lateral, deviation. This prevents the bursting of the pipes ; but it may sometimes be necessary to cover them artificially in cold weather, or in places where the soil is not sufficiently deep to lay them well in the ground in cold districts. The arti- ficial covering must equal the depth, or, at any rate, secure the same warmth as the covered trench, which is, in places, fcur or five feet in depth. Oil is apt to thicken when cooled, and in that condition is less easy to pump along the pipes. Great care has to be exercised in laying the pipes so as to avoid any wayside injury or damage by rail and water-courses. When the railway is handy the pipe will run hard by the line ; if a river has to be crossed the pipe is laid across the bed of the stream, not on any existing bridge, and if a ravine or gorge is traversed the pipe-lengths are simply suspended from wire cables, in the fashion proposed by the Spanish engineer for the Pilatus Omnibus. The oil is purified in the reservoirs, the sand and water sinks, the oil floats high, and is pumped off". There are also tests and pressure gauges, as in all similar pipe lines, whether oil, gas, water, or air, which admit of an 252 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING investigation taking place, and any stricture or leak- age being determined and remedied. The uniform pumping power is corrected by telegraph and insured by comparisons of engine-work, while electric bells signal from station to station the wants and the con- ditions of the engineers and plant. Occasionally double-pipe lines will be used if any dangerous places are found to exist in the country, and places for testing are arranged also. The whole of the arrangements are well carried out. We cannot speak of pipe lines without refer- ring to Pittsburg and its extraordinary supplies of natural gas, which is conveyed in pipes for miles. There is also coal in abundance, so much that at one time the city was about the dirtiest on record, black and grimy. Now this is changed. Gas supplies the place of coal. King Coal is dethroned in Pittsburg, for Gas has caused a revolution, and cleanliness with an immense saving of money has resulted. Inde- pendently of the economy in cost, the work done by gas is stated to exceed largely that performed by coal, the former doing more than half as much again. It is estimated by competent judges that the saving in fuel is fifty per cent., and the increased yield about twenty per cent. In considering this, we must re- member that the gas supplies itself, and does not cause damage to grates, so transport and other expenses incidental to the use of coal are avoided. These gas wells which supply Pittsburg and its vicinity are amongst the phenomena of Nature. They are to Pittsburg what the petroleum wells are to Baku and its neighbourhood. The gas wells all lie close together and continue to vent gas year after year: to "blow," as it is termed; and reports say there is no sign of abatement. It was about 1875 that the gas first came out, and it was actually used as fuel in 1876, but it is a curious fact that it did not come to be adopted " by the general " until the summer of 1884, and its introduction is principally due to Mr. Westinghouse, of " brake " fame, who got together the DRAINS AND PIPE SYSTEMS. 253 Philadelphia Gas Company. The result has been very profitable. All kinds of people, and factories, warehouses, and mills use the gas, which is trans- mitted in 336 miles of pipes, which are mains in size, some measuring as much as eighteen to twenty inches in diameter. These connect with the wells and mains, and cause a displacement of coal in domestic and business hearths and furnaces to the extent of 400,000 tons. As to the production of this gas opinions seem to be somewhat divided. The theories are summed up by an American writer, one being that it is the result of the distillation of the fern- formed resinous plants of the Devonian age, the gas from which becomes stored in the sand rocks at fissures that form the tanks from which it is now released. But whatever the cause, and this is not yet determined, the Natural Gas is a most useful effect. When analysed, this compound is found to contain of marsh gas, 67 parts ; hydrogen, 22 parts ; ethylic hydride, 5 parts; nitrogen, 3 parts; carbonic acid, ^, carbonic oxide, the same; oxygen, T V It will be seen that sulphur or sulphurous combinations have no place in its composition, and this property renders it all the more efficacious in the treatment of certain minerals and in manufactures. One of the gas companies possesses a pipe line fully twenty miles long, through which the gas is daily delivered to customers, and in twenty-four hours the company referred to can deliver gas equal to 7,500 tons of coal, which, if forwarded by railway, would fill trucks extending to a distance of three miles, each truck in this immense coal train carrying fifteen tons of the mineral. The writer we have quoted adds that the gas can be applied to every conceivable purpose under the sun which is concerned directly or in- directly with light and heat, " even to the cultivation of vegetables." 254 SECTION IX. SHIPBUILDING AND SHIP'S ARMAMENT. Wooden Walls Old Ships Ship Construction Ironclads, Old and New Ships and Guns New Battleships The Engineer over all Pro- spects of Ships and Armaments. L VESSELS OLD AND NEW. " WOODEN WALLS " and " Hearts of Oak" have had their day. The line-of-battle ship, the magnificent three-decker, is for all warlike purposes a vessel of a past age ; for battle-ships, armoured cruisers, protected cruisers, and torpedo boats are our defences. Wood is superseded by steel and iron ; the architect and the engineer have, in a great measure, taken the place of the carpenter ; steam, electricity, and machinery are the motive-powers of our ships, and naval construction is a more important science than ever. Did space permit, there could be few more instructive chapters than one which would trace by degrees the development of the ship, as we know it, from the first rude efforts of man to devise means to navigate the river and the ocean. Whether or not a split reed first gave the idea of a boat to the savage, it is pretty well established that the raft was the earliest mode of progression by water. The Phoenicians and the Egyptians used rafts. Then vessels, canoes of various kinds, and probably the Chinese junk, that monument of Conservatism, came into being. The early ships were flat and broad ; by degrees the keel was used to counteract wind pressure, or a hurdle was lowered. Oak and pine timber was used, and the Romans were particularly careful as to the time at which they cut their wood for ship- building. These early ships were caulked with pounded shells, and wax, flax, or leather. Sometimes linen smeared with pitch was used ; the ship was sheathed with lead, and fastened with copper nails. Nor were the Greeks and Romans contented with .galleys and vessels of small dimensions. We read of SHIPBUILDING AND SHIP'S ARMAMENT. 255 the ship made for Hiero by Archimedes a vessel which would put any modern royal yacht in the shade. It contained wood enough for fifty galleys, its ban- queting rooms, its fish-ponds, stables, baths, a temple dedicated to Venus, the decks inlaid with scenes from the te Iliad," and so on. The cedar ship of Sesostris was outpaced by Hiero's bark. Again, those ships in which the Emperor Augustus removed the obelisks of Heliopolis to Rome, and that in which Constantius brought over the largest of all, were vessels and feats of navigation which found imitation in the transporta- tion of Cleopatra's Needle. The obelisk weighed 1,500 tons, and the vessel carried 1,138 tons of pulse besides. But the Goths retarded shipbuilding, as they did other arts ; and as a matter of fact the compass had more to do with shipbuilding than some may imagine. When the compass was discovered, and voyages were made instead of coasting trips, larger vessels were designed to meet greater dangers. Italians, Spaniards, Portu- guese, and Americans may claim the advantage and improvements in shipbuilding the French, too, were energetic, but England did not originate. By degrees the forms of ships were improved, and graceful, large, and powerful vessels dominated the ocean. The materials then, and comparatively lately in demand, were oak, pine, cedar, elm, and beech timber, and it is a science to understand the choice of woods. The manner of killing, felling, and storing trees and timber must be learned ; then comes the framing of the ship, the plankings, the carpentering generally ; then come the caulker and the scraper. The copper is put on, and when ready the wooden ship is launched, and the shipbuilder is released. She is sparred, and rigged, and got ready for sea. Now we build vessels of iron and steel ; the engineer is the designer and creator. We need not enter into any minute description of the actual building of the ship. The general principles of construction will be understood from the following observations : In shipbuilding we have 17 256 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. first the design, which is the work of the naval constructor. He draws his plans with a full know- ledge of the purpose and destination, intended cargo, &c., of the ship ; and not until his design has been fully thought out does the real building of the ship commence. If we visit a naval yard in any great shipbuilding port, such as Glasgow, we shall find first the model-room, or draughtsman's room, where the designing of the ships is done. After the design is approved, we visit in the "moulding loft " the full- sized drawings of the ship transferred to the floor in proper places. For this purpose the loft is very extensive; sometimes 350 feet long, and perhaps fifty or sixty feet wide. Here, all the " moulds " of the vessel's parts are made, and by these moulds, or out- lines, the men work. This constitutes the " laying off" process, and the moulds are made as required, trans- ferred to "scrieve boards," and traced on the "blocks." Then the work in iron commences. The " bending blocks " are large iron plates on which the bars are bent to the required shape, as marked out with " pins." The counterpart is also made ; the complete frames are put in position, and by degrees the ship is formed. These " bending blocks " are plates weighing several tons, and are pierced with numerous holes, in which the iron pins may be fixed as needed. The ship's plates and ribs are all ready for the process, and the steel is trimmed or planed away by the machine tools already noticed. These steel plates are then riveted together, and so the vessel's skin is laid on. Thus various workmen hammer, rivet, weld, and secure the plates ; the carpenters, painters, riggers, fitters, and engineers complete the ship, and she takes her place, almost endowed with life, in the ocean race. The many important improvements in the con- struction of ships of late years have all tended to increased economy, not only in labour, but in the actual working and performance of the vessel, and consequently in the increased profit each ship or rather steamer brings to its owner : the introduction SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPS ARMAMENT. 257 of the longitudinal system of construction which is developed in the cellular-bottom principle; the employment of water ballast, which is an immense advantage in the cases of vessels which have to run back empty. The advantages of the cellular-bottom are safety and strength, with the collateral benefits of proper " trim," and these, with other points, have been fully recognised. These and the improvements in machine tools, by means of which the structure of iron ships is so improved and strengthened, the use of mild steel or " ingot-iron " in the hulls and other parts of ships, the use of cast steel for sterns and frames and solid parts ; and the making of various por- tions " in the piece," all are improvements tending to increase strength, as the new advances in machinery and the economy of fuel render increased power avail- able in these vessels of increased strength. Where vessels were content to travel some ten or twelve knots an hour, they now can run eighteen and twenty. Nine, and then seven days were considered short periods for the Atlantic ferry passage ; now we have six days' passages, and will soon have five. And these quick runs are more economical now in the finest types of modern steamships. Having thus glanced at the construction of the vessel, let us chronicle the improvements which have taken place in modern days, and see by what steps we have arrived at this perfection of mechanism. It is an interesting fact to notice that iron shipbuilding and Her Majesty's reign began in the same year. The first entry of an. iron ship was made in Lloyd's Register in 1837. But it was the Crimean War, and our experience of guns versus ships, that led up to the great revolution. The French built armour- clad batteries, and finding them so far a success, they constructed La Gloire ironclad, an example quickly followed by the English Board of Admiralty, who produced the Warrior, which was protected by four and a half inch armour amidships, and five feet below the water-line. She was a handsome vessel, with three SHIPBUILDING AND SHIP'S ARMAMENT. 259 masts. She was launched in 1860, and was quickly followed by others with more armour : viz., the Minotaur, Agincourt, &c., which had five and a half inches of armour, and from stem to stern. These were then considered very powerful vessels, but nowadays they would stand a poor chance with modern artillery Then came a number of rigged ironclads : the Hercules, Penelope, Iron Duke, Invincible, and others designed by Sir E. Reed. Then further develop- ments succeeded: viz., the Alexandra, Temeraire, and Shannon. The first-named had three masts, twc funnels, and is a fine vessel, with central battery and bow and stern fire. The introduction of " rams " was another feature in modern shipbuilding. The Hot- spur had as many as eleven inches of armour, and a fixed turret which shielded her big gun. The Rupert ram had a revolving turret: an advantage afterwards accorded her brother-ram or sister-ship. The turret system then came into vogue, as advocated by Captain Coles, who designed the ill-fated Captain. We remember going on board of her just before she quitted Plymouth, and being greatly surprised at her very low free-board, and apparent want of stability. Her unhappy fate was a national disaster. The turret design, however, was continued, and the cele- brated Monarch was a well-designed vessel, whose capabilities won golden opinions. The battle of guns and armour commenced in earnest in 1873, when the Italian Government began to build their immense turret-ships, and the English Admiralty again followed suit in the Inflexible, a vessel 'somewhat akin to the Devastation, carrying four sixty-ton guns. In the Devastation we have the battle-ship prototype :* very heavy guns and armour, no sails, but steam-power well developed. In the Inflexible, the turrets are placed en echelon : that is to say, the fore turret is on the port side, and the after turret on the starboard side, and a " central citadel " is erected between the turrets. Then came an extension of this principle in the vessels of the Admiral class, in which barbette SHIPBUILDING AND SHI^S ARMAMENT. 261 towers were adopted. So we have broadside, turret, and barbette ships, all armoured ; some " belted cruisers." The Collingwood is a type of the barbette system, with broadside guns ; but in the Trafalgar and the Nile, the latest developments of modern war-ships, we find the armour-belt and the turret system again in use. The armour is calculated to resist any impact of shot, while the steel deck is bomb-proof. There are no less than twenty inches of armour on the belt, sixteen to eighteen inches on the central citadel, and eighteen inches on the turret. The steel deck is three inches thick. A comparison made by Lord Brassey between the Trafalgar, lately launched, and the old Trafalgar, will give an excellent idea of the triumphs of modern engineering as applied to ships. The old Trafalgar was constructed about 1837; 205 feet long, 5 5 feet wide, carried 120 45-cwt. guns, which fired i6 Ibs. shot, and she had a crew of 1,000 men, who had to set sails, load and fire guns, and, in fact, do all the work of the ship by manual labour. The modern Trafalgar is built of steel, and contains about 150 water-tight compartments. She is 345 feet in length, 73 feet wide, and 11,940 tons. She possesses cylin- drical boilers, bearing a steam pressure of 1 35 Ibs. to the square inch, triple expansion engines, and goes seven- teen knots an hour ! She has two revolving armoured turrets, two pairs of sixty-seven-ton breech-loading guns, which with a charge of 520 Ibs. of powder fire projectiles weighing 1,250 Ibs. ! Her auxiliary armament includes eight smaller and nineteen quick- firing guns. She is provided with torpedoes ; her armour is of steel-faced plates from fourteen to twenty inches thick. So much for her offensive and defensive powers. But if in the earlier vessel the crew numbered 1,000 men, who did all the work by hand, in the later ship the crew are 520 hands, and they have machinery to do the work. There are no sails, but hydraulic machinery works the turrets, hauls up the ammu- 262 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. nition, and works the guns. Steam steers, ventilates, lights (electric lights) the ship, and weighs anchor. There are some fifty or sixty auxiliary steam-engines on board, besides her magnificent propelling machines, which develop 12,000 horse-power and over. This is the battle-ship of the present day a splendid " war machine" : a monster which rushes into action with headlong speed and furious energy. In the newer designs we may have increased speed, though the weight of engines may be reduced. If so, heavier guns and heavier armour may result ; or things may come to such a pass that a fast unarmoured cruiser will be the better ally. Modern developments of steamers have necessitated improved methods, and the desideratum of speed requires strength. Not only war-ships, but merchant-ships, have been im- proved, and the palatial vessels building for the "White Star" and other lines are the perfection of modern enterprise. These are ready to act as armed cruisers, and they carry guns. " Mild steel " is now used in shipbuilding, but steel is by no means a novel material for vessels. It was about the year 1875, we believe, that steel was used in lieu of iron ; but before that vessels were occasionally constructed of steel when speed and light draught were desirable. The Bessemer steel process confirmed the shipbuilder in his idea, and then came the change. Steel shipbuilding began with the Admiralty. Both cast and " puddled " steel had been occasionally used, but the Government employed Bessemer steel in 1865, arid it was not for ten years after that the private yards used steel as a general thing. For steel then was much more expensive, and iron was voted good enough, until the French again aroused us by using steel what is termed " mild steel." Mr.' Barnaby, our naval constructor, proceeded to France, and having examined the manufacture, determined to adopt it. The quality of the metal required was strictly tested, and the despatch boats Iris and Mercury were built. Experience has proved the SHIPBUILDING AND SHIP'S ARMAMENT. 263 advantages of the mild steel, its ductility and tensile strength being fixed at certain limits ; shipbuilders began to use it about 1878, and the steel hull rapidly made its way. The Atlantic and other large steamers were built of steel ; production has increased, and though the cost may be greater, the advantages out- weigh the expense in the long run. The adoption of steel in the hulls of vessels led to its adoption for purely defensive purposes. The Italians tried steel armour, and our wrought-iron plates were eventually supplanted by steel-faced plates, composed of iron and steel. This material is lighter and more durable than the old armour. It is called " compound," and is twenty inches thick in the Trafalgar, while the French ship Formidable is plated with steel. The Italian Navy possesses many steel ships, and boasts some of the finest battle-ships in the world ; several of them have been built at Elswick, and some are steel-plated. The Italia is protected by compound armour, and has an armour deck ; she carries four io6-ton guns, 18 six-inch guns, and the British "Admiral class " were confessedly built to overcome her superiority. But what if the future developments of gunnery bring all these armoured ships to nought ? Certainly the gun is getting the better of the armour ; and what if the torpedo supersede the big guns ? Opinions differ as to the value of guns and heavily armoured ships, and as to the types of vessels ; but the one question on which all are agreed is that speed is essential. Whether armoured or unarmoured vessels be the war-ships of the future, the quickest will be the most valuable ; and late years have seen great developments of speed. The fast cruisers can steam, and are expected to steam, nineteen or twenty knots an hour. Japanese ships can do that now, and we find the battle-ship Trafalgar exceeding her contract speed on her trials. The race is to the swift, and the battle to the strong. But who can tell what further developments are in store ? 264 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING, II. THE NEW BATTLE-SHIPS. In the designs for our new battle-ships two plans have been discussed and approved a turret and a barbette ship respectively viz., a turret ship, with a " moderate freeboard at extremities," with guns seventeen feet above water, and a barbette ship, with guns six feet higher, and with high freeboard. In all other respects, Mr. W. H. White says, identical quali- ties are embodied in both designs, as regards arma- ment, heavy guns, the auxiliary armament, hull armour, propelling machinery, coal supply, and gene- ral dimensions and displacement. The barbette vessel can carry a few more quick-firing guns, be- cause she has higher freeboard at the ends, and her guns are higher; but in all other respects the two plans are similar. The barbette differs from the turret ship in appearance, inasmuch as the main guns of the former fire in the open fore and aft; the guns of the latter are sheltered in turrets or protected casemates bow and stern. One has her guns on the roof, so to speak ; the other in the attic windows. The heavy guns to be carried are four 13-inch 67-ton guns, worked by hydraulic ap- paratus. The Nile and the Admiral class of ships enjoy similar advantages, as well as the modern Tra- falgar , the sister-ship of the Nile ; but in the new turret the guns will be seventeen feet above water, and in the new barbette ships twenty-three feet. The auxiliary armament will consist of ten 6-inch 100- pounders and a number of small quick-firing guns, as may be determined. Nor as regards armour are they deficient. A belt of armour, eight and a half feet broad, shields the vessel in two-thirds of its length, and this belt is at its maximum eighteen inches thick ; a deck of steel is above it, and an under-water deck beneath it. The ship's broadsides are protected by 5 -inch armour for some nine feet above water-line, and the batteries are equally well shielded. The turrets and bases are SHIPBUILDING AND SHIP'S ARMAMENT. 265 also furnished with eighteen and seventeen inches of armour, while the best already mentioned extends from three feet above to five and a half feet under water ; its least thickness is fourteen inches. Above this is the broadside armour, and within it are the coal bunkers, which, when full, will add to the five inches of steel armour. Thus in the centre of one of these redoubtable battle-ships we have a per- fectly protected fort, the roof of which is level with the upper deck, and 170 feet in length a space re- quired for the increased armament. Naturally more guns mean more men ; and more men imply an increase of stores, as an increase in armament sup- poses more ammunition. Thus these new vessels will carry augmented crews, even in comparison with the latest developed battle-ships, Nile and Trafalgar. But the majority, the very large majority, of the new ships will be barbette vessels : that is, the turrets will be done away with, and the guns raised ; " the weight of armour, &c., is utilised in adding to the height of the redoubts in which the turret bases stand." The guns will thus be raised six feet higher, and fourteen feet higher than the Trafalgar: an im- mense advantage in action. In fact, experts have pronounced the barbette system superior to the turret system, even when the turret guns are raised to the same level as the barbette, and with similar freeboard. The speed of the new ships is to be 1 6 knots with natural draught, and 17 \ with forced draught. The length will be 380 feet, 14,150 tons displacement ; they will have triple expansion engines, and may carry over 1,000 tons of coal. As with our vessels, so with our guns. Machinery has developed, as already stated. In the Crimean War time we had only sixty-eight-pounder guns. We have now i ioi-ton, sixteen and a half inch guns, 67-ton guns, and six- inch guns. From the Warrior , with broadside guns, we have reached to the Trafalgar^ with massive and auxiliary armaments of immense and secondary powers, but all far superior to any vessel of *66 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. 1854. The guns now sent forth by Sir William Armstrong & Co. are built to perforate thirty-six inches of iron three feet of solid metal ! The weight of metal projected by a modern man-of-war is 5,000 Ibs, But to ascertain the force, or what is termed the " energy," of the gun one must multiply the weight by the square of the velocity; and it is calculated by Captain Orde Browne, R.A., that the guns oftheAnson have an " energy " of 162,360 tons. That is the weight of the blow delivered : the I lo-ton gun having alone an energy of 60,000 tons. Such is the pitch to which we have carried our modern artillery if perfect. Many people remember the fuss which was made about the "Woolwich Infant" a tiny child indeed compared with our forty-feet weapons of iiojtons. This is Sir W. Armstrong's gun, made of steel, with an inner tube, and a breech-loader, and of great length, with a view to give the powder time to burn out and propel the shot continuously, instead of with sudden impact ; so the bore is nearly fourteen feet long. Of course the recoil is terrible, but by hydraulic pressure the gun is controlled and brought to a standstill within a distance of five feet. Besides these monster guns, we have " machine guns," Maxim, Nordenfeldt, and others, which can discharge some " 600 rounds a minute," and some can discharge shell so rapidly that three projectiles may be flying through the air at the same time, all fired from the same gun. Our shipbuilding, however, is not in these days confined to vessels above water. We have submarine vessels also. When we read the account of Captain Nemo and his voyage of " Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea," as recounted by Jules Verne, we won- dered whether submarine boats were practicable. They are not absolutely novel, but the later developments are striking. It is related that a submarine boat was designed to carry the first Napoleon from St. Helena, but the Emperor died before the ship was completed. The boat or vessel, nevertheless, succeeded in her trial, and was actually navigated under water. Fulton's SHIPBUILDING AND SHIP'S AJZMAMENT. 267 Nautilus (in 1801) perhaps supplied M. Verne with his idea. These were attempts, but the Peacemaker of late years seems to combine all requirements. She is a cigar ship, thirty feet long, eight broad, and is strongly built to resist pressure. The crew of two persons are shut in and her water-tanks rilled. She then sinks. She is lighted by electricity, and pro- pelled by steam. The steam is generated by hot water, acted on by a solution of caustic soda, which gives a high temperature in contact with the vapour of water. The steam is condensed in the soda receptacle. Compressed air is supplied from a reser- voir. Her mission as Peacemaker is to destroy ships by means of torpedoes ! Another Nautilus was tried in the docks in London. She is a steel vessel, and her submersion is effected by means of hydraulic cylinders, which, when drawn in, decrease her displacement, and she sinks. The cylinders pushed out cause her to rise. She is propelled by electricity, as all submarine vessels will be. Compressed air is available for the crew, and there is no engineering difficulty in the way of these vessels for performing short trips in the depths of the sea, and with engines driven by volatile spirits or alcohol. So the Engineer is not content with his success on the sea ; he must go under water in his submarine boats, with his stores of gun-cotton and electricity, and his submarine mines. The torpedo boat is now pursued by a torpedo catcher. The quick-firing gun is directed against the advancing torpedo, but Science has designed the submarine boat which comes invisibly and blows the war-ship to the skies. The Whitehead torpedo makes its way from a boat ; the Burman and others can be manipulated from the shore. They can change their direction and hunt down their prey in a most marvellous manner. To what developments we shall eventually reach it is impossible to say. The next naval engagement is frightful to contemplate The fearful sights and sounds, the whirring of shot and 268 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. shell, the rushing of torpedoes, the frightful booming of the guns, and the rattle of the smaller pieces, will fill the mind with awe and horror, even as the word goes forth to slay and spare not, nor surrender. The dynamite cruiser is a cruel modern invention which, by means of pneumatic tubes, will deal death and destruc- tion in a form novel to sailors. Probably all is fair in war, but the old manly endurance and best-side- win-principle seem to be degenerating into a com- petition of fiendish ingenuity in causing slaughter by chemical or scientific means en masse. Looking all round, then, we find that ship con- struction is increasing, and battle-ship construction chiefly. The Italians seem determined to keep ahead with their enormous vessels, but our new ships, to be named Royal Oak, Ramillies, Renown, Repulse, Resolu- tion, Revenge, and Royal Sovereign, will be a match for the Re Umberto, Sicilia, and Sardegna. Austria, Spain, France, and the United States even China are all progressing in ship construction, and building new and powerful vessels. The artillerists appear to maintain their advantage still, but we may congratu- late ourselves that our armour is pretty thick and our engines powerful. Still, steel shot fired from ordnance which carries the missiles twelve miles, are very terrible things to deal with. Such weapons and such powers of offence do we and other nations possess. To guns, therefore, must be at present assigned the superiority ; and we are afraid that our rivals are in possession of a more formidable array of them than are we. It behoves us then to maintain our late ad- vance movement, to keep ahead in our armaments, and in the quality of our work. ' 269 SECTION X. STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. Steam and Steam-Engines Simple and Compound The First Compound- ing Engine Mr. Webb's Compounds The Worsdell and Von Bornis Systems Engine Speeds in Old and Modern Times Our Expresses The Race to Edinburgh Dangers of Rapid Travelling. I. STEAM AND LOCOMOTIVE PROGRESS. WE do not propose to give a history of the steam- engine in these pages ; any students' manual will afford information respecting the discoveries of Hiero, Branca, Savary, Newcomen, Wall, Trevithick, and Stephenson. The old locomotive and marine engines are things of the past. Even the paddle-wheel is giving way to the screw, which is insinuating itself into nearly all classes of ships. As regards engines, we have now the compound, the triple, and quadruple expansion. Steam of extremely high pressure is now used, forced draught is employed, and 180 Ibs. on the square inch is the recorded pressure, instead of 100 or 1 20. These all indicate an immense increase of speed and power. Of late the experiments made to determine the efficiency of the marine engine have been most useful. At one time the only method in practice was to measure the coals consumed, and to ignore many practical points condensation, evaporation, and so on, which, with the actual condition of the boilers, would naturally have some effect upon the steam production. But mechanical engineers have vastly improved upon the old method. They can now ascertain the relations of the horse-power developed to the boiler and steam-power which develop it. By these means, and by investigations which are being carried on, these practical hands will soon find out and give to the world the results of their researches into the real relation between the water evaporated 2/o TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. in the boiler, the water which, in the form of steam, fills the cylinder in its expanded condition, and by difference, the steam which is condensed and lost. Thus improvements are going on daily. As early as 1872 the old simple marine engine was retiring in favour of the compound. The single gave way to the double expansion of steam ; now, again, the double is in its turn retiring in favour of triple ex- pansion and three-cylinder engines ; no doubt the quadruple expansion is on its way, pushing aside the three-cylinders. And in locomotives of the non- compounding classes considerable improvements are also to be observed in getting rid of the exhaust steam. This has been accomplished by enlarging the passage, and dividing it, so that some of the exhaust passes off at once, and some by a more roundabout route, thus permitting an increase of speed. As to the question of compounding engines, there is to be, and there has been, said a great deal on both sides. The marine engine is decidedly successful in its new guise, and it has, we think, been pretty well established that the compounding principle is economical on locomotives. Mr. Webb, Mr. Worsdell, Mr. Worthington, and other practical men who have read papers on, and subsequently discussed, com- pound engines at the meetings of Technical Institu- tions, seem to agree in estimating the saving of fuel in compound engines at some 14 per cent. But, again, if sufficient boiler pressure be used in a non-compound locomotive we may obtain like results. The higher steam pressure employed is the cause of the saving ; but if this cannot be accomplished without the com- pound principle, unless very great strain is put on the working parts, we must accept the compound locomotive as the most economical machine. The late Mr. Stroudley, of the Brighton line, said that the compounding of fast-running engines, and fre- quently stopping locomotives, was not a very great STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 271 advantage over a well-designed simple engine. At any rate, compounding cannot be carried very far in locomotive engines, as we shall see. The compound locomotive differs from the simple engine in these particulars chiefly : Higher steam- pressure can be attained, and all the obtainable, .>r rather all the available, power is obtained from the steam, which, having done its work, is discharged at a very low temperature, exhausted, into the atmosphere. The starting power of the locomotive is also increased, as both cylinders can be used. Economy is the soul of business, and the loco-superintendents introduced compounds chiefly for that reason. But although marine condensing triple or compounds can be worked very economically with multiple expansion, the system cannot be adapted to the locomotive, which works in so many different conditions at high pressure. The compound principle is, in working, very simple. The steam is expanded through two cylinders, the high- pressure and low-pressure, passing from the former to the latter, and thus the same amount of steam does work twice over. The first attempt at expanding the steam in this manner was made by an engine-driver on the (late) Eastern Counties Railway, and the idea was accepted by Mr. Samuels. The engine was worked by ad- mitting steam to only one of the two cylinders, expanding some of this steam through the other cylinder, working a crank at right angles to the first, and using the remainder of the exhaust of the first cylinder as a blast.* The plan did not immediately succeed ; but in 1866 it was again tried in a loco- motive with three cylinders one high-pressure and two low-pressure. This was the work of M. Jules Morandiere. In 1876 M. Mallet built a compound locomotive, and showed one in 1878 in Paris : another of his, a compound tandem-cylinder locomotive, has four cylinders, a high and a low-pressure being placed * Mr. Worthington, on "Compound Locomotives." 18 272 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. at each side, " tandem " ; as also a triple expansion locomotive. It was, however, reserved for Mr. Webb, of the London and North- Western Railway, to bring the compound locomotive into popular public notice. His plan is something like that of M. Morandiere. There are three cylinders, but coupling-rods are dispensed with. The first 'three-cylinder compound locomotive engine was the Experiment, built in 1881. This engine, like the subsequent ones, has two pairs of driving wheels, but they are not coupled. In 1884 the celebrated Dreadnought was constructed, and in 1889 a somewhat larger type of engine, the Teutonic, was turned out for the railway. The driving wheels are of greater diameter than those of the Dread- nought class, which are only six feet three inches, and the front wheels three feet nine inches. In the Teutonic the wheels are respectively seven feet one inch and four feet one and a half inch. The low- pressure cylinder drives the foremost pair of wheels : the two high-pressure cylinders being connected with outside working cranks on the hinder drivers, as on all Webb's compounds. Thus the exhaust only beats twice instead of four times for each revolution of the wheels. Anyone accustomed to the rapid beat of simple engines will be surprised at the measured deliberate puffing of the " compounds," and fancy that the engine's pace is much less than it really is. The high - pressure cylinders are fourteen inches diameter, and the low-pressure thirty inches, with twenty-four-inch stroke in all. Thus we have practically three engines ; the high-pressure cylinders being on each side, and the low-pressure cylinder beneath the smoke-box, between the frames, " inside," in front, between the wheels. The manner of working of the cylinders is thus : The low-pressure cylinder connecting-rod moves a crank on the axle of the first pair of driving wheels. The high-pressure cylinders at the sides connect by piston-rod and crank with the hinder drivers. From STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 273 the boiler the steam is conducted to the high-pressure cylinders, and is returned through the smoke-box, where it is warmed, into the low-pressure cylinder ; thence to the blast-pipe and chimney. At times the low-pressure crank stands in such a position that it will not move on a " dead centre," as it is termed, so that steam admitted will press equally on the piston both ways. Under these circumstances the engine- driver can, by a valve arrangement, move the hinder wheels independently, and start the train. There are on the North- Western seventy-four compound engines ; thirty of the Experiment class and forty of the Dreadnought, besides tank engines and Teutonics. Mr. Webb's locomotives, it will be perceived, have three cylinders, thereby exceeding the ordinary " simple " locomotive, the working of which is familiar to all. The compound possesses certain advantages over the simple in economy ; as explained, the steam is fully made use of. There is not the same differ- ence, as in simple locomotives, in the temperature of the steam at the beginning and end of the stroke, for in " compounding " engines the temperature of boiler steam and the exhaust is more evenly distributed in the cylinders, and consequently the pressure on the pistons is more regular and uniform, and cranks work better. Less heat-loss is thus experienced, and the steam does more work, for the condensed steam in the small or high-pressure cylinder, instead of going off up the chimney, as in " simple " locomotives, is used in the low-pressure cylinder. We have partly described Webb's compounds. We will now turn to the Worsdell and Von Borries system, which some claim as the superior one. This system admits of the employment of two cylinders only a high-pressure and low-pressure, the latter the larger. In the example we have seen, the high-pressure cylinder was 16 inches diameter ; the large one 23 inches, with 24-inch stroke. The steam is admitted as usual, and carried from the high to the low-pressure cylinder by a pipe, which goes round the 274 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. smoke-box. There is what is termed a "starting and intercepting valve," which is closed by the driver, while he opens the starting-valve. The steam then passes to the low-pressure cylinder, whence it also passes into the high-pressure cylinder at about double pressure, the former being much larger than the latter ; consequently the pressure in the two is averaged on the pistons, though the pressure is doubled on the high-pressure side, as the area of one cylinder is nearly twice that of the other. Con- sequently the pistons move together equally. So far the operation seems reversed. But no sooner has the high-pressure piston finished its first stroke than the exhaust from it naturally seeks its vent into the other cylinder to complete its business. It automatically opens the intercepting-valve which the driver had closed, and in turn closes the starting-valve he had opened. By so closing it the access of any direct boiler-steam to the low-pressure cylinder is prevented, and the locomotive works thenceforward on the com- pounding principle ; the boiler-steam enters the high- pressure cylinder, works into the other, and escapes, but not till, in every instance, it has completed the circuit No steam can go up through the chimney until it has first been in the low-pressure cylinder. We remarked above that the " intercepting-valve " was closed by the driver as he opens the starting-valve. This is not now a voluntary act. An arrangement has been devised in the compound VOP. Borries engine by which the valve closes of itself as sooii as the driver opens the regulator to admit the steam at all. So, as afore- said, both high and low-pressure cylinders are used equally, and the first movement of the piston sends the high-pressure exhaust on its journey. Hence a com- pound locomotive is started, to all outward seeming, in a .precisely similar manner as a simple engine. Compounds are now in use on many of the English railways ; the North-Eastern, North-Western, and Great Eastern being the chief advocates of the system. The Brighton superintendent and the Great Western STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 275 and Great Northern authorities seem to prefer the simple engine, and we believe Mr. Stroudley had not one compound engine on the South Coast system. For purposes of comparison we may mention per- formances of both the compound and simple loco- motives. The average load of the Scotch express, as instanced before the Institution of Civil Engineers, was 207 tons ; the average speed 447 miles an hour ; the consumption of fuel, 29*2 Ibs. per mile ; the horse- power developed was 810. This was on the run from Euston to Carlisle. The "Gladstone" on the Brighton line, an ordinary locomotive, took a load of 335 tons at 43*3 miles an hour. The fuel consumed was 24*87 Ibs. a mile ; the horse-power developed 528*53. The advantage, therefore, remains (in de- veloped power) with the compound, but Mr. Stroudley did not see any advantage in compounding, seeing that the present ordinary engine cannot have full steam on, as the wheels will slip round, and waste power, for no use, if the regulator is fully opened. The compound engines on the Great Eastern line are of the Worsdell and Von Borries type, with two cylinders, eighteen and twenty-six inches diameter, and twenty-four inch stroke. Mr. Worsdell, now with the North-Eastern, has lately improved on his former designs. The more expansion the greater is the economy, and if two cylinders only are used the high-pressure one must be enlarged. But as experts differ in the results and advantages to be obtained from the compounding of locomotive engines, we need say little more concerning them. The simple engine seems to work well; the steam is turned into the cylinders and does its work at once, as in the days of our youth, without complications and multiplication of details. One of the best specimens of modern locomotive building is that of the <( Strong " Engineering Company, run on the Erie Railway. This immense engine has with its tender twenty wheels: viz., four driving wheels five feet eight inches in diameter, a 276 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. bogie truck with four wheels in front, and a two- wheeled " trailing/' truck. The tender has a four- wheeled truck in front, and three-wheeled truck in rear. The cylinders of the engine are nineteen inches in diameter ; stroke twenty-four inches. The engine weighs 1 36,000 Ibs. It is a most economical " steamer/' the combustion being so perfect that no cinders, ashes, or smoke are discharged from the chimney. The engine ran 423 miles continuously on her trial trip and back again next day without " turning a hair," 846 miles in all, at high speed. This is not a compound engine, and her load was 300 tons, her speed averaging over forty miles an hour, including many stoppages. A change this, indeed, from the pioneer " Rocket/' and even from more modern engines. Locomotion at high speed is the ruling spirit of the age, and our machinery must be built to carry out the increased demands made upon it by its friends. What those demands are, may be gathered from the record of some of our railways in England, not to mention the performances of American and Continental trains. It is not our province to give the statistics of railway running, mileage, and such details, for they differ as greatly as the practice of the several companies, whose engines are so differently built. Truly in engine building " doctors differ." Take any two railways and look at their express locomotives, and we venture to say no two will be found alike that is, in outward appear- ance ; one will have inside, the other outside cylinders, another will be " single," a fourth, with coupled wheels ; another, simple or compound. The diameter of some wheels will be eight feet, others seven feet six inches, others six feet six inches. Some are painted one colour, some another, and we can in most cases distinguish a Midland from a Great Northern locomotive, and a London and North- Western from both ; but the South-Western Company delighted in painting somewhat after the pattern of Joseph's coat, and until 1888 the chameleon would have been typical of their engines. They have some of all makers, STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 277 Diibs, Stephenson, Beyer and Peacock, and other firms, and some actually erected at Nine Elms. This company uses " bogies " for nearly all engines. The Brighton line, the Great Western and North-Western, decline to entertain bogies at all, while some lines use it on single engines and not on " coupled " loco- motives, another line doing exactly the opposite ! Such are the humours of railway magnates. Nowadays we require great speed, and the trains run are heavy. No one but he who has ridden frequently on the locomotive can really judge of the difficulty in keeping time up gradients: the almost impossibility we may say of running within book time on a " queer " road. Every peculiarity, every gradient, every exposed place tells against the engine: the new carriages are very weighty, and require a strong pull. Yet with all these drawbacks, the express services are, as a rule, wonderfully well performed, and at great speed. At times, but rarely, a speed of over seventy- six miles an hour is attained with light loads. We remember the old monster Bristol and Exeter tank engines which, in former days, were attached to the " Dutchman " for the run on that section of the Great Western Railway. They seemed " all wheel." The immense driving wheels were nine feet in diameter, "single," and ran at a tremendous pace. It is re- corded of them that on one special occasion an individual engine of this class ran eighty miles in the hour, "light," and nearly seventy-eight miles with a light load. The Great Western runs more soberly now ; its express speed is calculated at fifty-three and a quarter miles an hour, which means practically sixty miles. The Great Northern Express, which runs to Grantham, travels over 105 miles in less than two hours without stopping, the speed being frequently sixty miles an hour, or faster. The South-Western is also stirred to movement. Its Exeter Express now performs the journey of 171 miles in less than four hours ; the run to Salisbury (eighty- three miles) being performed in one hour and fifty 278 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. minutes. There are numerous trains, some on nearly every line, which run at forty-eight miles an hour ; and at least forty trains which speed along at fifty miles an hour regularly. But the Great Northern holds the palm ahead of all competitors with its Manchester Express at fifty-four miles an hour. Against this the " Club " train is nowhere. But we must remember that Continental lines are not built for such heavy traffic and such high speeds as English railways, on which seventy miles an hour, down hill, is often run to keep time. We can scarcely pass over the race to Edinburgh, the speed trials of 1888, in which the two competing companies performed such wonders. Such a land- mark in railway locomotion should not be passed by without some notice, and the merits of the east and west coast performances compared. The east lines are in possession of the Great Northern, North-Eastern, and North British, throughout. The western side be- longs to the North-Western and Caledonian railways. The former lines from London to the Scotch capital measure 392^ miles actually ; the North-Western route is 400^ miles long, and the former's trains were the fastest by an hour, or nearly, when the London and North-Western Railway assimilated their running time to their rivals, and did the trip in nine hours. That is eight miles more in the same time with heavy gradients. This was on 1st June, 1888, a memorable anniversary. This announcement set the ball rolling. The Great Northern, secure in their shorter and more level line, threw down the gage (not gauge), and breathed defiance from their engines with steam and smoke. The East Coast companies declared to win with eight and a half hours running, to which the West at once accommodated themselves, and did likewise. This did not please the East ; it docked half an hour, and tried eight hours ; the West again followed suit, and performed the 400 miles in the same time ! Again the Great Northern made an STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 279 effort, and the " Flying Scotchman " flew faster than ever. He reached " Auld Reekie " in seven hours and three quarters, laughing at his distanced rival. But the West Coast express came up smiling in seven minutes less time than the " Scotchman," who deter- mined to shake his enemy off, and flew again .from London to Edinburgh in 418 minutes (running time), reaching the northern city at 5.31 p.m. Triumph ! If, however, the canny traveller fancied he had won the palm for speed, he was undeceived within a few days. The West Coast put their best foot foremost, and got to Edinburgh at 5.27 p.m. ; run- ning time, 414 minutes for 400!- miles ! This was the crowning effort. Neither line could at any rate, neither did improve on this tremendous and sus- tained speed. The pace is great, if not unprecedented, but the distance is the trial, and the gradients, which are tremendous on the West Coast line. The North- Western trains ran from London to Crewe, which is a distance of over 158 miles, in two hours and fifty-eight minutes, or about fifty-four miles an hour. From Car- lisle to Edinburgh we have a record of loof miles in IO2J minutes over mountain ranges nearly 1,000 feet high. And another record is from Preston to Carlisle over the hills ninety miles in eighty-nine minutes ! The rival line ran 124 miles in 123 minutes without stopping, a fine performance ; but certainly the Western lines won the race easily when we consider the Shap bank and other gradients on the way. These seem dangerous speeds ; but no accident of any consequence occurred. One of our railway mag- nates in his enthusiasm once declared that " it was safer to travel by railroad than to eat one's dinner ; " and he founded his statement on the fact that more people are choked than are killed on the railway. This is ingenious ; but is it not a fact that more people eat (and eat oftener) than travel by railways ? Still our railways have reached a pitch of excellence which no other country can rival or approach, and we rest not yet. 280 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. II. -MARINE ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION While locomotive and land engines have been pro gressing with the times, the marine engine and steaii navigation are not behind-hand in the race. We are more accustomed to the locomotives ; they are every- day objects, but the marine engine is not. Our knowledge of trains is pretty full ; we interest our- selves in the returns and reports concerning railways on which we travel, perhaps, daily ; but we do not know so much concerning the steamer : the paddle and the screw-propeller and their engines. For this reason we will go a little more into the history of steam navigation than into the history of the locomotive. Paddle-wheels, or wheels, were used to propel boats at a very early period of history. Chinese, Egyptian, and Greek ships were propelled in this way by manual labour. Prince Rupert's barge was also a paddle-wheel craft ; boats with wheels moved by cranks were in use in 1472, the paddles being of pitched sail-cloth. But Jonathan Hull, in 1736, patented an invention and subsequently published a description of " a new invented machine for carrying vessels or ships out of or into harbour, port, or river, against wind, or tide, or in a calm." The engine was probably Newcomen's : the paddles were placed behind the boat. To Great Britain is, unquestionably, due the honour of inventing paddle-steamers, and the true pioneers of steam navigation were Mr. Miller, of Dalswinton, and his family tutor, James Taylor. Mr. Miller's first attempt was in 1786. The vessel, named Edinburgh, of which a coloured print is in the Ken- sington Museum, was propelled by wheels turned by manual labour. James Taylor suggested the appli- cation of steam. Symington, a mechanic, was appealed to. He designed an engine of brass, built by George Watt, and in 1788 it was worked with success in the boat. The engine is, or was lately, in Kensington : it has two cylinders about nine inches STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 281 stroke. Owing to misunderstanding, Miller and Taylor abandoned the steamer, but William Syming- ton continued his way and built a boat, which was worked on the Forth and Clyde Canal for towing purposes. Robert Fulton made minute inquiries, had a boat built and engined, sent it to America, his native country, and ran it on the Hudson. He also used twin-boats for ferry purposes. In 1818 the Americans launched the steamer Savannah, but we had anticipated her with the Comet in 1811. This vessel was built at Glasgow, by the Woods, for Mr. Bell, and she ran to Helensburgh. But larger steamers ousted the Comet. Elias Evans and David Napier, of London and Glasgow respec- tively, turned out many steamers, and the former, in 1821, built the first mail steamers which ran from Holyhead to Dublin or Dunleary (Kingstown). In that year oscillating engines seem to have been intro- duced by Evans. They were invented by Murdoch, the inventor of gas-lighting, in 1785. But Mr. Maudslay perfected them in 1827. Then paddles were adopted in the Navy. The African, Avon, Kite, Blazer, and Tartarus, are some of the men-of-war which first were fitted with paddles. The first "royal" steamer was the Monkey tug. In 1837-8, the Government made a contract with the Peninsular and Oriental Company to carry Eastern mails by steamer. The Great Western, laid down in Bristol in 1835, steamed to New York on the 3ist March, 1838, and her success, in conjunction with the Sirius, induced Mr. Cunard to come to England and establish the Cunard Line. His vessels, named Britannia, Cale- donia, and Acadia, were the first of the race of "Atlantic Greyhounds." This was in 1839-40, and almost immediately other lines registered themselves. Of course these, and all others, were wooden vessels ; but iron had already been advocated, and we have read that the first iron steamer was built at Tipton in 1820, named Aaron Manby, after her builder, and 282 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. went to Paris. Thenceforward the construction oi iron steamers languished until 1837, when Laird built vessels of iron at Birkenhead. In 1844 iron gun- boats were adopted by the Admiralty. In 1845 the screw vessel, Fairy, was built for the Queen, and though paddles did not languish, they had a very determined rival, and finally a conqueror in the screw propeller. Many thousands of travellers remember the old Scotia, of the Cunard Line, the last of the paddle-palaces of the Atlantic. She is now a twin- screw ship. The compound expansion engine for marine services was, if not introduced, perfected by Woolf in 1804, and oscillating engines on this system became popular. Paddles and screw were combined on the unfortunate Great Eastern, sold in 1889; but paddle wheels appear to be still preferred by the Companies who manage our coast and channel transits. The Invicta and her class are some 312 feet long with oscillating cylinders and paddle wheels. Such vessels as the Castalia and Calais-Douvres were designed for the greater comfort of delicate organisations. In some cases steam was superseded by water propulsion, a method tried on the Water Witch some years ago, but not continued. The success of the compounding engine with quadruple expansion will cause its adop- tion in the ships of the future. Let us now look at the marine engine and mark its gradual development of late years. To Messrs. Maudslay & Field and Messrs. Penn we may attribute much of the success of the marine engine. The former firm adapted the oscillating engine in 1828, and Mr. Penn improved on this. The old paddle wheel had not then had its cranks put out of joint by the screw, which did not really become very popular until 1846-7 or thereabouts, but when it once " took hold " its advantages became evident. If only because the machinery and propeller are out of harm's way it would have succeeded. The engines are now covered with steel protecting decks in war STEAM-ENGINES AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 283 steamers. The screw "propeller" is at present the favourite. The marine engines became gradually developed as more speed was demanded ; direct engines gave way to trunk engines, and subsequently return connecting rods and direct acting engines were adopted. The compound engines were intro- duced in 1870 with the cylindrical boiler and higher pressures, which resulted from the adoption of surface condensing. The compound principle has been already explained in the first portion of this chapter. It means expansion of the steam in a number of cylinders successively. Steam of extremely high pressure is now used and great economy in fuel is obtained, quite 30 per cent, being saved. This saving in coal not only gives more space in sea-going ships, but sails can be and are now dispensed with in our steamers and men-of-war. As science developed the engine was improved. Once the principle had been proved in working the adaptation was enlarged ; triple and quadruple expansion quickly succeeded each other. The compound idea was to make the high- pressure steam act on a small piston in a small or high-pressure cylinder and a less or low pressure on a larger piston. So far so good. But demands were made for much increased pressure. Steam at 90 and 100 was put aside, and 120, 130, and latterly 150 pounds pressure is employed. Thus the steam can be expanded and finally discharged into the con- denser, and the greater number of expansions is used. The three-cylinder engines have two low-pressure cylinders instead of one, and in them the steam must necessarily act at the same time in the low-pressure cylinders which serve instead of one large one, and the effect must be practically the same. It must be stated that the powers of compound engines of any type depend on the capacity of their low-pressure cylinders. These powers are now very greatly increased by the adoption of forced draught, which is arrived at by closing the stoke-hold, and working compressed air in 284 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. the furnaces, or by a jet of steam. But the former method is that adopted in our most modern war-ships, though the engineers of the Trafalgar found it very hot work, and some modification had to be made. The plan has already been tried in torpedo boats, and the stoke-holds are now actually air-tight chambers with " screens " to keep them as cool as possible. A protective deck is overhead on which the fans are carried. The men can ascend and descend by air- locks, trap-doors something like those used in the caissons of the Forth Bridge when compressed air was used. There are two doors, and only one can be opened at a time. This forced draught obviates numerous boilers and the great headed pipes on deck which generally conduct the air to the furnaces. The increase of power due to forced draught is calculated at sixty to seventy per cent. The foregoing is a brief, non-technical description of the usefulness of the present marine engine. Besides the propelling power, there are numerous other engines by which the control of the vessel is in a few hands, and orders as well as the working of the ship can be given and performed rapidly by machinery, hydraulic or steam power. Steam is dis- tilled in the condenser and provides all the water used for drinking, washing, &c., at sea, and many important duties and much labour is performed and saved by the application of machines. Thus science is continually applied to modern uses, and day by day our wants are better supplied, economy secured, and labour lightened by the talents of the engineer. SECTION XL MACHINE TOOLS. Tools and Machines Economy of Machinery Iron and Steel The Emperor's Watch The Steam Hammer Work of Machine Tools Planing, Boring, and Cutting Machines Other Apparatus The Linotype Composing Machine. As machinery advances with rapid strides it adds tremendously to human powers, and its force must exercise the working strength in England alone of many millions of labourers. Economy of time is also insured with accuracy. Thus we shall find, if we look back over the track of machines from the time of Watt until the present year, that the improvement of the machinery of every kind is a most important factor. " Machines " and " tools " need not be sepa- rated ; both are tools ; instruments. A tool is a very simple machine, that is all. A machine is a tool of less simple, and frequently of complicated, parts, perhaps a collection of tools in one body. The triumphs of applied science are gained by the machinery bands. Not only is economy of time gained by machinery, but there is economy of labour and materials. The exact precision of the machine-made article is an insurance against waste, and similarity is attained. True accuracy is also gained by machine tools, and the present era is certainly the most remarkable for invention in labour-saving machines. The name of Fox (of Derby) will certainly go down to posterity for his successful efforts in the direction indicated. If we were to examine the lathes, the drilling and boring machines, milling, and profiling, and riveting machines, with numerous others, we should find a very lengthy catalogue of even important inventions, besides the gas hammer, and other appliances for wheel-cutting, forging, punching, shearing, wood- working machines, &c. 286 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. It was, we believe, in 1864 that a lecture was delivered in Glasgow to the Mechanical Engineers, we forget by whom, and the volumes are not now accessible, in which the lecturer pointed out the great advance made in shipbuilding, and the consequent improvement in tools for constructing iron instead of wooden ships. Since that time iron has been super- seded by steel, and more powerful machine tools are now required. But iron still claims a foremost place. It is by no means dead ; wrought-iron can compare, and compare favourably, with steel in many ways, as Yorkshire iron-masters will tell us. The manu- facturers of iron and steel who have to deal with immense plates, cylinders, and masses of metal, must have appliances to roll, drill, and handle them. The blast furnaces are now almost perfected with blowing engines and a "mixer," an invention of great use. It consists of a vessel into which the molten iron is run, and from it taken as required for the Bessemer " converter." The result is said to be extremely beneficial. Then the "hydraulic process for charging and reheating furnaces " is found so useful, that where the apparatus is in working order four times the weight of hammered ingots can be turned out. The ingots are now carried by means of machinery (by live rollers) to the cogging mill, &c., and these " live rollers" are also used in plate mills, so a much higher average is turned out week by week than formerly. Machinery everywhere assists, where it does not supersede, manual labour. We have referred to the steam hammer, and a scientific person might write its epitaph, for its days are numbered. Time was when the steam hammer was regarded as the ne plus ultra of machine tools. This immense and magnificent yet simple assistant was, like all truly great men, easily moved. Never- theless it had a terrible reserve power, and could weld a bar of iron as easily as it could crack a nut on a saucer. It is related that the late Emperor William of Germany visited Krupp's factory at MACHINE TOOLS. 287 Essen, and beholding the fifty-ton hammer placed his watch on the anvil block at Herr Krupp's request, so that the glass might be just cracked no more by the ponderous " tup." The workman per- mitted the steam to enter the hammer came down gently, very gently indeed, and when it was again raised scarce a fragment of the then King of Prussia's fine timepiece was visible. Some dots of metal and glass lay in a confused heap on the anvil block. That workman was not so happy next day. The King said little ; but Krupp made his own wishes known, practically. These hammers, there are a good many of them, are even now the most striking of all machine tools. No less an authority than Sir James Kitson considers that it can no farther go. It is double-acting, and the tup in some specimens weighs one hundred tons. There is one of this weight at Creusot, the cylinder of which is seventy-five inches (six feet three inches) in diameter ! The stroke is sixteen feet four inches, and the anvil is 750 tons weight. Picture the awful energy with which a blow with such a hammer is delivered. Woolwich, and Elswick, and many French establishments boast steam hammers, ranging from thirty tons at Woolwich to the 100 tons in French " shops," which possess more of them than any other country. In our workshops we are using hydraulic pressure in lieu of the hammer, and the manipulation of the machine apparently leaves nothing to be de- sired. We will quote an observation made by the President of the Iron and Steel Institute, in his speech in the year 1889. He had seen a hydraulic press a 4,000 ton press in the establishment of John Brown and Co., working upon an ingot which weighed thirty-four tons ; it was fifty-two inches in diameter at bottom, and forty-six at top. This was reduced in four heats to twenty-nine inches diameter for a gun tube by continuous pressure, which is in many cases preferable to the tremendous and noisy working of the ponderous hammer. 288 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING The conversion of iron into steel by the Bessemer process, which has been so often described, is certainly one of the triumphs of our century. Steel was dear when Sir Henry Bessemer put up his works at Sheffield, and, as he says himself, he was forced to compete with existing firms " because steelmakers had no belief in the possibility of making pig-iron into steel in twenty minutes." The Bessemer process had the effect of lowering prices, and then the old firm of John Brown came and saw was conquered : took out a licence, and made heaps of money, receiving about 18 per ton for rails which, as stated by an expert, " could hardly have cost more than now " when they sell at under $ a ton.* . . The firm made the rails, but their engineer would not buy them : railway men laughed at the idea of " steel rails ; " now they are universal, and steel is paramount, but it cannot resist the modern tools, for a shearing machine made at Leeds, by Buckton's, can cut cold steel two inches thick. The blade is ten and a half feet in length, and cuts a plate seven feet wide at one stroke ! This is something astonishing to " outsiders ; " but other machines will do as much, and more : they will divide steel " blooms " eleven inches thick and thirty wide. A machine for testing ships' cables at one of our dock- yards will smash an iron cable three and a half inches in diameter, and do many things in cutting and bending which are marvellous to behold. In the extraordinary work now demanded, the great forgings and castings necessitate a corresponding advance in the invention of machine tools that must possess great power and grip on the work, which must, if possible, be done at a setting, for economy's sake. Iron is also manipulated more easily now, for it stands to reason that that less-resisting metal will be worked more easily than the greatly-resisting steel by the same or kindred appliances. The chief tools are planing, boring, and milling machines ; lathes, * This must be a lapsus lingua the steel must have cost more to make as material was scarcer. H. F. MACHINE TOOLS. 289 sawing machines ; and we may include the travelling crane and the " steam navvy." Some few examples will give a reader some idea of the immense power and capabilities of these machine tools, which are, in a measure, cannibalistic, for they (steel themselves) bite off the steel with which they come in contact. The writer has before him an illustration and a description of one of these giants, and will try to make the description less technical, without losing any point of importance. The machine tool in question is a lathe used for turning steel guns, screw- propeller, shafts, &c. ; good sound, heavy work. The advantages lately introduced into these machines comprise the multiplication of cutting tools. The competition is so keen, and the work to be accomplished so important, that one cutter is no longer regarded as of any practical value. To keep a man to attend to one cutting tool would be regarded by masters as akin to madness. These cutters now range from three to eight, the shafting lathes being equipped with the former number, and the heavy- forging lathes ranging from four, perhaps to eight. The lathe referred to has four, and is worked for heavy forgings. It is seventy-five feet long, and 100 tons weight. It is fitted with two sliding carriages, each with a pair of " duplex compound slide rests," and two " cutters." These four cutting tools can take a slice one and a half inches deep and more than one quarter of an inch in thickness, working at the rate of nearly seven feet in a minute ; a rate and progress which cuts away about ten tons of steel in ten hours. This steel cut off is re-melted. (The quantity men- tioned is the utmost that could be cut in the time, of course supposing that the machine was kept con- tinually at work.) It would be, perhaps, confusing to go further into the description in the absence of special diagrams ; but we may add that mechanism is also provided for " tapering off," by means of which the tools can be made to move transversely and longitudinally at different speeds so as to taper off as 290 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. desired. They can also cut off surplus lengths by substituting rests for the tool slide to give resistance. Such a lathe will accommodate objects as much as sixty feet in length and turn steel blocks of sixty tons weight. The arrangement of pulleys and gear is such that the power may be varied to thirty different speeds, as required by the magnitude or otherwise of the work, or the power desirable to accomplish it. Each sliding carriage can be worked or kept stationary without in any way interfering with the other ; and the machine can, with equal facility, cut screws, do " surfacing," or other work, such as tapering. The difference between the old manner and the new method of working is very marked. Formerly, one machine did one part and another machine another part. Nowadays one machine works many parts, the various operations proceeding at the same time, with perfect accuracy and precision, under the care of a single individual. The same economy of time and labour is observ- able in the smaller items, such as studs, screws, &c. At one time these small, but very necessary, articles were produced in a costly way, viz., "between centres." In this way they were turned or forged, while now they are turned from the bar direct by a series of tools arranged in view of the several operations round a " rest," and such machines (lathes) work auto- matically, so that attendance is reduced to a mini- mum. We may almost hazard a conjecture that in time a mechanical mechanic will be invented who will automatically superintend the operations, being warned of anything going wrong by electricity, for it is impossible to limit the inventive genius of machinists and mechanical engineers. Another development of the lathe is that which produces articles in duplicate with a marvellous precision, the boring, screwing, and turning being all performed in proper order by the same machine. We may now turn to the boring machines ; a very fine family of workers with offshoots of special MACHINE TOOLS. 291 purposes. For steam-engine cylinders these machines are extremely powerful, and in some cases they must not only bore and trim the cylinder itself, but cut the circular valve holes, drill the stud holes, put in the studs, and cut off any surplus lengths, all at the same time ; every operation being distinct, and yet con- trolled by one attendant. We also meet with the combined lathe and boring machine, so that when it has not sufficient boring work to do, it may be use- fully employed upon smaller fry than thirty-inch cylinders. This machine also can be driven at varying speeds, with single, double, and treble powers, the article to be operated on being fixed to the tee-groved table, and traversed either by hand or automatically. There is also a "universal" horizontal drilling, tapping, and boring machine, adapted for engine-work, framing, &c. This machine, invented by Mr. Hulse, we believe, can be controlled by a workman, who stands upon a foot-plate, and moves with the machine, which is furnished with hand- wheels, &c., for working it. The machine can move horizontally by means of a screw, each standard (there may be two) being furnished with a spindle for its various functions of drilling, cutting (tapping), or boring. On the spindle carriages are the foot- plates mentioned above, so the men travel with the standards, or up and downwards, vertically, as re- quired. Perhaps the most modern of " machine tools " are the milling machines as at present constructed. Of course, such machines have been years in use, but late improvements may be said to have stamped them as modern, the cutters being sharpened by the machine itself by an "emery-wheel," the cutting speed in milling being (at times) attained of about seventy feet per minute by the circular cutters employed. But besides cutting circles or in straight lines, a process known as "profiling" can also be carried out by these machines. This process is really working irregular forms of metal, machining the ends 292 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. of cranks, &c, the object being pressed against the revolving cutter, which shapes its course on an ingenious plan by following a model of the outline. There are, besides these, planing machines which are capable of planing thirty feet long, eleven wide, and ten high, lengthwise, crosswise, or vertically. They can plane up to sixteen feet a minute, returning at twice the speed ; according to circumstances, the rate of planing varies. They are used for planing engine- frames, armour-plates, and even machine tools of its own or other patterns, and other heavy work. Both slotting and shaping machines have been improved, and twisting drills are also in use. We have spoken of the universal drilling machine by which holes are drilled and tapped immediately, and need only men- tion further the plate-planing machines for boilers. As the Admiralty now demand a very high pressure in boilers, and as steam ships generally follow suit, special means must be resorted to to insure accuracy in drilling, turning tubes, and riveting, fitting the plates, and so on. We scarcely open a technical journal without finding some record of a new machine tool, or some improvement in older ones. The gas hammer is much the same in principle as the steam hammer, only the blow is delivered by gas. Air and gas are drawn up into the cylinder and there exploded, the force being given to the hammer, which then con- tinues its pounding as regulated ; but the first tap is started by hand, the fly-wheel being moved by a handle. Visitors to the Paris Exhibition of 1889 noted the fine show of machines by American makers of machine tools. These comprise chisel, mortising, milling, slotting machines, screw-cutting lathes, and many others, such as brass-work tools, stamping machines, and the electrical welding process ; the electric weighing machine will also be remembered. In addition to any we have mentioned, we may refer to machine tools in use by large shipbuilding firms, and such-like establishments. These include MACHINE TOOLS. 293 punching machines for ship's plates and shearing machines, radial drills and plate rolls, and planers ; wood-working machines, saws, and so on. Slotting and drilling machines have been mentioned, but there is a nailing machine a " box nailing machine," which performs the work required of it very well. There is in it a kind of hopper, in which are holes in circles. Into each hole a nail is dropped ; a moving table causes the nail to fall into a vacant hole, point down- wards, and then a plunger comes down on it, drives it home, and retires. The hopper is again replenished, and the nailing proceeds. There is hardly any industry in which machine tools are more useful than in shipbuilding. The materials for ships, being of iron and steel, must be planed and sheared, drilled and riveted, rolled and flattened, hammered and punched, to an extent im- possible to perform satisfactorily without machine tools. Not only rivet-holes, but man-holes must be punched, since water-ballast has been adopted. One of these punching machines can make and dress a hole eighteen inches by twelve in less than nine seconds, and other newer machines can do better. So with riveting machinery. Frames and beams are here worked with rapidity ; fourteen hundred rivets a day is the record of the machine, and these are often port- able, too. The machines are driven by hydraulic power in many shops on the Clyde and Tyne, and it is found much more economical. Mechanical rivet- ing is necessarily employed for engines and modern machinery, in which such great power must be de- veloped, and for the ships which have to bear the terrible strains of its working and the concussion of the guns. Not only in iron, but in wood-working are machine tools in use, for we must remember that wood still plays a very important part in our ships' fittings, particularly in our magnificent floating palaces which navigate the Atlantic. It is, therefore, neces- sary to transform the timber in the rough to the smooth planed panel or other fitting, and in such 294 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. operations machine tools play a very important rdle, performing almost simultaneously operations which would, if performed by manual labour, require numerous hands, and would not be so satisfactory in their result. The latest development of the mechanical com- positor is the machine known as the Linotype, which is a frame arrangement, with keys distantly resembling the old upright piano ; a cross between that and a type- writing machine. The MS. intended for print- ing is placed on a stand in front of the operator, who has over a hundred keys to manipulate. These keys are letters of upper and lower case and doubles, but it can only set one sort of type at a time. There- fore, in ordinary newspaper printing several machines must be used. Not only is the type set, but it is arranged and " cast " by the machine, and the letters which have thus been moulded proceed back automatic- ally to their places again. The manner in which each letter drops into its own receptacle is very ingenious. Each matrix or letter has a certain number of teeth which run on ridges on the way home. But over each letter there is a certain place where it finds no sup- port, and it drops into its proper place. Every letter is thus managed, and they all fall into the correct places at the proper moment. Thus we have a machine which can compose, space, arrange, or " justify " the line of type from which it is named, which can "cast" the line and distribute the type without manual assistance, and all correctly. If any- thing goes wrong, electricity intervenes and stops the machine until it is put right again. 2Q5 SECTION XII. General Remarks London Water Power The Distribution of Pressure Storage and Filtering of Water Water-Service Arrangements Lifts and Pumping The Nile Barrages Their History The Egyptian Canals Lake Mceris The Water-Slide Railway. HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. GENERAL REMARKS. THOSE who have read any of the foregoing chapters will have noticed what a prominent part hydraulic science has played in the many acts of modern engineering. We have seen water pressed into our service in various ways. It is used in work- shops, on board ship, in mines, where its jets are instrumental in clearing away earth and stones and dtbris, as in the works of the Calais Docks and in the South London Subway. The numerous patented hydraulic machines, the centrifugal pump- ing machinery of the Gwynnes, and other engineers, testify to the improvement in our drainage and irri- gation works. In Madras an immense scheme of irrigation is being carried on. Egypt also is interested in a similar plan. Water will produce enormous changes in crops and in the benefits accruing from the land, but liquid sewage pumped up will do much more. While hydraulic machinery and hydraulic engineers are at work on such schemes, other engineers are using the machinery for drainage an opposite purpose. To irrigate we must raise and diffuse the water ; to drain land we must remove the water, and here the hydraulic engineer comes to our assistance. We must empty floating docks, we must raise vessels, we must perform many other duties, and in them all hydraulic machinery and steam will help us. We cannot notice all the feats of water, but we can mention a few, and of these the London Power Water Supply claims first place. 2g6 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. I. LONDON WATER-POWER. In 1875 some enterprising people instituted and successfully carried out a system of supplying houses with water by pumping it, under considerable pressure, into accumulators, whence the pipes or mains diverge; this pressure perhaps being 700 pounds to the square inch. The water possessing this force was then used in various ways, in " lifts," and so on. This water supply is carried on by a company who supply consumers, the quantity used being registered in a meter, as gas is, and not on the ridicu- lous rate system as enjoyed by the water companies. It soon became evident that it was easy enough to supply water for power purposes, that is for lifts, cranes, water-presses, and so on ; and also that the steam engines, gas engines, and what not, could be superseded by a general common agent distributed publicly and regulated by a company. Water, as we all know, is incompressible ; it communicates pressure in all directions, and a pressure can be obtained either vertically or horizontally, or in both directions. There is another valuable property possessed by water which Bramah discovered, and which is the principle of his press, that the pressure of a piston varies with the area ; so, if a large piston have a hundred times the area of a small one, and we put a ton pressure on the small one, the larger one will exert a pressure a hundredfold greater. Bramah did not live long enough to see his theories fully carried out. But there were and are other giants in the land, and Lord Armstrong, Professor Robinson, Mr. Ellington, and others devoted themselves to the subject of " water pressure " with conspicuous success. In London space is valuable, and the room occu- pied by engines is often grudged in the narrow, lofty warehouses in Wood Street and the neighbour- ing lanes and streets. The immense cranks which suspend bales above our involuntarily crouching heads, the lifts within the buildings, the goods pressers, and even the electric light supply, are all moved by water HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. 297 now under the auspices of the company formed in 1882, but originally sanctioned in 1871. This Power Company erected a pumping station at Falcon Wharf, by Blackfriars Bridge, and having obtained permission to break up streets and lay their mains, they did so with praiseworthy diligence. The house occupied by the pumping engine and Company's staff at Blackfriars is, says Mr. Ellington, historical, and is reputed to have been occupied by Sir Christopher Wren during the building of the new St. Paul's. The engines in use are capable of pumping 240 gallons a minute each ; and the accumulators, in which the water is stored, deliver it at a pressure up to 750 pounds on the square inch. The engines can work faster, but 240 gallons and a piston speed of 200 feet a minute are the ordinary amount and speed. The pumps, driven by the engines, send the water to the tanks on the roof. There are filters for purifying the water, and the accumulators are fitted with rams twenty inches in diameter and twenty-three feet stroke. The water thus drawn direct from the Thames cannot be expected to be very bright or clear ; and, as a matter of fact, it is very muddy, quite unfit for consumption either by man or machine. This sedimentary liquid is, therefore, permitted to settle in the tanks, and when the deposits have pre- cipitated, the liquid is passed through compressed sponges in filters. This filtering apparatus is worth dwelling upon. The water passes to the filters from the surface of the tanks, thus avoiding the sediment, by gravity ; for the filtered tank is several feet below the unfiltered tank. The filtered-water tank has a capacity of 92,800 gallons. The filtering bed consists of a layer of charcoal laid on brass gauze, which, in its turn, rests on perforated iron plates. The filters, through which the water passes before it reaches the charcoal bed, are peculiar, and are constructed by the Pulsometer Engineering Company. They are thus described by Mr. Ellington : " They consist of cast- iron cylinders five feet in diameter in groups ; each 298 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. group contains two filters, one over the other. Each cylinder contains a movable, perforated piston, and a perforated diaphragm ; between the movable piston and the diaphragm is introduced a quantity of broken sponge. The sponge is compressed by means of a hydraulic ram, which gives a pressure of ten and a half tons on the area of the piston, or about four pounds per square inch of sponge." These sponges clean themselves, as it were, every few hours. The water-flow is reversed, the pistons get to work, alternately pressing and releasing the sponges, and the sediment and other matters are sent off through the " wash-out " pipes. In a few minutes the sponge is clear again ; the filter is reset, and the process goes on as at first. From the filtered tank the water is despatched to the pumps, which are driven by inverted compound three-cylinder engines : one high-pressure and two low-pressure cylinders. These pumps deliver the water into two accumulators loaded to exert a pressure of 700 to 800 pounds on the square inch in the mains. The water is then clean and ready to be distributed through the pipes to any part of the Company's district in communica- tion with the pumping station. Each accumulator is fitted with an electric bell, which gives warning when the supply is falling and brings the engineer to attention, with the rams already mentioned. By these ingenious but apparently simple means, a continual high-pressure water service is maintained not only through the City but in Southwark, and even over Waterloo Bridge, and as far as Victoria Street, Westminster, some three miles from the accumulators. Of course, pressure is lost in transit, but after making allowances for this " frictional loss," the water is delivered at a pressure of 700 Ibs. to the square inch. In most cases the mains are so arranged that they can be supplied from either end of a circuit, so if any accident happens, or any leakage is feared, any sec- tion can be isolated by the stop valves, and the damage repaired without interfering with the supplies HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. 299 to other sections. These stops are placed about 400 yards apart. Care has been taken to have a certain standard pattern of pipe, so any one can be renewed at very short notice. The sub-mains are connected with the mains at two points, so the supply is assured. The means whereby leakage is detected in the mains are very interesting. These pipes radiate from the stations, and when any considerable increase of supply is noticed, the pipes are tested by pressure gauges. " The valves in the middle of each circuit are closed, then each main is shut off in succession at the station," and the gauge will tell its own tale by the rapid fall of pressure if a leak is in the main. The stop-valves in that particular main are then closed in succession, and the section is determined, and by means of a " sounding-rod," a kind of stethoscope, the place of the leak is fixed, and the water is heard running away. A very interesting instance of the accuracy of these tests is given by Mr. Ellington, in his paper read before the Institute of Civil Engineers, which we will quote: " On one occasion a leak was supposed to exist. The following night the valves at the wharf were set for observation, and a singular action of the gauge could only be accounted for by a main stop-valve in the City, about two miles away, supposed to be closed, passing a small quantity of water, and at the same time, by a machine on a line of main near this valve having been left working . . . The condition of things at the spot indicated was examined : the valve was found leaking as expected, and the machine could be distinctly heard at work. It was a hydraulic pump, and each stroke of the pump was indicated by the gauge. As this pump was only taking in 0*09 gallons of water per stroke, the perfect conditions of the mains were incidentally proved by the experiment. Leaks are serious things, and may represent a tremendous loss of water. This we can estimate when we consider the quantity which would escape from a pipe through a very tiny aperture under ordinary circumstances in twelve hours. But when the 3oo TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. tremendous pressure, which gives a velocity of 320 feet in a second, is considered, a leak one quarter of an inch in diameter will, under such circumstances, permit some 33,000 gallons of water to escape in four- and-twenty hours. The necessity for close inspection and accurate gauging will be at once perceived. The result of the experiments at Hull have thus brought the hydraulic power to London and other towns and cities in the United Kingdom. Many miles of mains are now laid : houses (private dwellings), chambers, flats, mansions, great warehouses, stores, hotels, publishers' offices, and many manufactories are now supplied with hydraulic lifts, hoists, and cranes. Sub- ways are constructed in which the pipes, for the supply and for the return of the water when it has done its work, are laid. Staircases are often superseded by the lifts, and they will increase in number. The advantages evidenced by the saving of labour and limbs are not exhausted by an enumeration of these cases. In the event of fire, the high-pressure system of water distribution is eminently useful. The authority of Captain Shaw could be quoted in support of this, did the statement need any confirma- tion ; but it must be obvious that water possessing such velocity will ascend and act with much greater force than from the ordinary Water Company's mains if in sufficient volume/* The Power Company are building more stations, and their system will be extended more and more every year. The total outlay on the London works to the end of 1887 was only 150,000, excluding consumers' machinery and the new pumping station at West- minster, not then built. In time, hydraulic pressure may be allied with electricity or even supersede it in its application to move machinery. At any rate, it can, and does, supply the place of steam, which is * This forcible impact of water cannot always be depended on if the supply is not great. So a patent hydrant is used, by means of which the thin jet acts with great power, and fixed to the high-pressure main it is most effective. HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. joi derivable from water at considerable cost. Engineers have demonstrated that water can be made service- able as a motive power of great force by pressure under certain given circumstances, and its possibilities are by no means exhausted any more than are the possible uses of electricity. Yet our old friend steam cannot be ignored in the production of the supply of water. Manufacturers and others have already found it more economical to obtain the required power from the Company's mains than to provide their own engines and work them on the premises. II. THE NILE BARRAGES. These works on the Nile are necessary to head back the flood water of the river and provide for a summer supply, for as there is no rain in Lower Egypt, the crops consequently depend upon irriga- tion. The Nile does not rise until July, but at first the increase is small, and it is not until August that the flood irrigation can commence. The flood season continues for four months, and during that period the maize is cultivated, with other crops, but corn in Egypt is the principal food. Upper Egypt is irrigated by nature, assisted by man. She causes the overflow, and the mud the rich alluvial deposit is spread over the land : the water is collected in wells, and subsequently distributed by wheels. In Lower Egypt irrigation must be thoroughly carried out, and so far back as 1835 barrages were commenced on the Nile. But they were not finished ; canals were dug, but dug too deep ; and by this mistake the mud, which is so valuable in suspension, settled down in the canals instead of being spread over the fields. In time it was dug out, but useless then. The barrages were designed to regulate the floods, to secure a certain level of water in summer, and for general irrigation purposes. Let us glance at them for a moment. The Nile, as most people are aware, separates into two branches some twelve miles below Cairo. This 302 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. point, which in former years was much higher up, is known as " the apex of the delta," which extends, a broad plain, for nearly a hundred miles to the sea. In ancient days the Nile had seven mouths, but now the old river issues into the Mediterranean by two mouths or branches, which are known as the Rosetta and Damietta branches, west and east respectively, and ninety-five miles apart. The Rosetta stream is more generally navigable to Cairo. Formerly in flood-time the height of the water used to be announced, and when a certain height had been reached, the sluices were opened. In 1847 a French engineer, named Linant, endeavoured to finish the barrage or dam across the Rosetta stream, but relinquished the task. Still the difficulties did not daunt others, and two great open dams were erected, one across each mouth at the apex of the Delta in 1862 ; but they were failures, owing to defective foundations. However, Colonel Scott MoncriefT (in 1884) took the matter in hand, and is developing the water-system in a practical and advantageous manner, and at small expense. The barrages then were, as we have remarked, " open dams " that is, dams with piers and arches which assume the appearance of lengthy bridges. The Damietta barrage is 1,709 feet wide, and the Damietta barrier some 300 feet less. A wall sepa- rates them, and in the centre of this wall, which is more than 300 feet long, is the commencement of a canal going in a due north direction. From it extend other arms of water. So the river and canal and its side channels, &c., form a trident with nume- rous interlacing prongs between the main forks. The barrages have sixty-one and seventy-one openings respectively, and the arches are 16*4 feet wide. There are locks on each side, and the whole arrangement is fortified for defence. The openings are regulated and closed by iron gates, and piles and bars. When these are closed, they do not entirely exclude the stream, which finds a vent between the platform, or level bottom of the barrage, and the bottom of the gates. HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. 303 There is no leakage, as the Nile mud forms excellent cement ; but the flooring was faulty, and required to be renewed. The repairs of the barrages were boldly taken in hand by Colonel Scott Moncrieff. He determined to make them more useful, and by strengthening them, add to the water level. He poured in rubble, and protected the platform foundation. This arrange- ment has proved successful, and Egypt will have much cause for thankfulness when the public works are completed ; but new barrages may have to be erected in pursuance of the scheme, letting the old ones remain.. The locks give access to vessels, and no serious interruption to traffic would be caused. The annual report to August, 1888, gives us some very interesting facts, and confirms the infor- mation gleaned from independent sources. So long as the barrage remained in French hands it was only an obstruction ; and it is pleasant to hear that Sir Scott Moncrieff has already succeeded in his attempts to make it useful. Nearly every one tried to dissuade him from his plan, but he steadily persevered. From February to July, 1887, the men worked day and night by daylight and by electric light. It was "touch and go." On the afternoon of the 1st of July the work was finished in the bed of the river ; the platform of the barrage was secure, and ere day dawned, the rising Nile had covered all the work ! But the flooring and repairs were safe and sound. The Tewfiki Canal, alluded to in a foregoing page, starts from the apex of the Delta to the sea. The Mahmondieh Canal is another important waterway which has been immensely improved. It supplies Alexandria with water, and is the link between the city and the Nile. A comparatively new work is the Nubarieh canal. It was commenced in 1887, and "the origin of this canal is due to His Excellency Nubar Pasha, who knew that there was a large tract of good soil to the south of the province, only requir- ing water to reclaim it from the desert. Grants of 20 U UNIVERSITY TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. this land were given to a syndicate of gentlemen under condition of paying the land-tax after a period of years, and they agreed together to pay for the construction of the canal. The leader of the syn- dicate, the enlightened Sir Constantine Zeroudacchi, K.C.M.G., agreed to advance the necessary funds. The preliminary surveys had been made in 1885, and in 1886 the line was roughly laid down. At the end of February, 1887, work was begun. It has been work of very considerable difficulty, as the country traversed is desert, and it has been need- ful to carry the necessaries of life for the work- people from a long distance. "In spite of all dif- ficulties the average cost of earthworks does not exceed 2\ piastres (6d.) per cubic metre. The area irrigable is about 180,000 acres, so the cost will be about 40 piastres (8s. 3d.) per acre." At the end of September, 1888, water was admitted for the upper 33 kilometres, and irrigation should regularly go on at "high Nile." The irrigation works are steadily progressing, and the extinction of the system of press-gang labour is a tremendous saving to the country, as well as a benefit to the fellahs. The irrigation projects have been discussed with all the native rulers, and it appears that of the 736,000 acres in question one- third were either insufficiently irrigated, or not irrigated at all. The plan now is to go up stream so far that a canal of four centimetres' slope shall, when the river is at four- teen cubits, take enough water and give a free surface flow. The present canals are being widened and deepened, and the land to a distance of 430 kilo- metres (nearly three hundred miles) will be benefited and protected from droughts on a " low Nile." III. LAKE MCERIS. In spite of some ridicule, Mr. Whitehouse has stood to his theory concerning the Lake Mceris, and main- tained its existence and position. The result has been a survey. The ancient Lake Mceris has been HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. 305 discovered, and pronounced identical with the " Wady Raian," called after the " Pharaoh of the Lake " King Mceris. This is a triumph for Mr. Whitehouse, who can establish his reservoir now that he has so gloriously established his theory. The water of the Nile can be stored in this enormous depression with a surface of 256 square miles ; the overflow of the Nile will fill it ; and when the classic river again subsides and runs shallow, the reservoir can be opened. So for one hundred days a mighty volume of water, estimated at twenty million cubic metees per diem, can be poured into the declining stream ! If this project be carried out, we shall have " dis- covered " a problem which the Egyptians solved some 2,000 years ago ! There is nothing new under the sun in Egypt. The famous Suez Canal had its prototype in the time of Ptolemy II., and our latest irrigation scheme is apparently based on a working plan as old as Strabo ! So ideas meet, because the conditions do not change, and old Nile still keeps to his long-established habits. Here is what Strabo wrote some nineteen hundred years ago : " The Lake Mceris, by its magnitude and depth, is able to sustain the superabundance of water which flows into it at the time of the rise of the river without overflowing the inhabited and cultivated parts of the country. On the decrease of the water of the river it distributes the excess by the same canal at each of the mouths, and both the lake and the canal preserve a remainder which is used for irrigation." To the energy and liberality of an American, Egypt will owe much when the irrigation scheme is again taken in hand, as no doubt it shortly will be. IV. THE WATER SLIDE RAILWAY. The latest development of hydraulic and mechanical engineering is a railway on which run wheelless carriages, something like the now familiar toboggan of our exhibitions. These carriages slide on grooved iron blocks, fixed at the ends. There is no perceptible 306 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. motion ; the run is easy and of unexampled rapidity. A speed of 120 miles an hour is confidently antici- pated on this hydraulic railway, the invention of an engineer named Gerard, who was killed in the war of 1870. The line is worked by water acted on by com- pressed air. Compressed air, as many of us are aware, is largely used in Paris under what is termed the Popp System. By means of air, the water used in the propulsion of the train is forced into reservoirs, and in its violent efforts to escape rushes out under- neath the grooved iron blocks which sustain the carriages on the metals. Thus a liquid support is formed, and the carriages are really resting on a shallow water-bed where is no resistance to be overcome. There are paddles under the carriages, and at certain intervals pillar-tanks, which auto- matically supply a high-pressure stream of water as the train comes in. This powerful stream is directed on the paddles, which are acted on thus violently at intervals the length of the train, so that it is always under the influence of a pressure tap. All this while the train is resting on a film of water, and impelled by water power until it is desired to stop. The under-current is checked, the blocks fall on the iron rails, and friction soon brings the train to a stand- still. The arrangement is stated to be perfect, and as smooth as can be conceived. A regularly acting and uniform pressure of water of tremendous force acts on a practically floating carriage, and its speed is only then limited by the pressure applied. The speed is commonly 100 miles an hour, and the train can be stopped in a second, and can climb up and run down hills as cleverly, if not always so rapidly, as on the level. It can race round curves, and be very cheap. Pumping stations several miles apart will be found equal to a high speed, and the exploiter, M. Bane", of Paris, claims that Gerard's invention will almost supersede the locomotive engine. It will indeed then HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. 307 be estimated at something more than a succh d'estime. The manager has declared that he could run his train from Paris to London in two hours and a half if he had the permanent way throughout. To do this, we must await the Channel Bridge, and assimilate the French and English railroad gauges. This latter is a desideratum if the Channel Tunnel is to be of real practical utility. SECTION XIII. MISCELLANEOUS. Balloons and Balloon Navigation German Researches French Experi- ments German Trials of Gas Machine Mode of Propelling Balloons The Eiffel Tower Statue of Liberty Cleopatra's Needle A Moving Tale Conclusion. I. BALLOON NAVIGATION. FOR more than a hundred years the science of Aeronautics has occupied the attention of scientific men. From 1782, when Cavallo and the brothers Montgolfier experimented with inflammable air, to the present year of grace, ballooning, civil and military, spectacular and scientific, has interested the public. The Montgolfiers at Annonay in 1783 suc- ceeded in sending up a balloon to an altitude of 6,000 feet. This ascensive power they attributed to the warmth developed by the burning wood. Other experiments were made, and gas was employed instead of the " fire balloon " of Montgolfier. In December, 1783, a very successful ascent was made from the Tuileries gardens by MM. Charles and Robert. They descended safely at Nesle, and when Robert got out the balloon carried away his partner. But Charles did not lose his head ; he permitted the gas to escape and saved his life ; for the balloon was on the point of bursting. On the 2 ist September, 1784, Lunardi made the first voyage in the United Kingdom in a balloon inflated by hydrogen gas. Lunardi's was not the first ascent in England, but it was the first attempted with gas. He had many imitators : coal gas was substituted for the more expensive inflating power ; and numerous voyagers, men who were unrivalled in their own line, as brave and cool as the soldier, made observations. But to all intents and purposes the balloon remained a toy a practically useless invention. Dependent on the wind, it was considered MISCELLANEOUS. 309 impossible to navigate it; the aeronaut had no control over the machine, and it was useless save foi recreation. The French people have never quite abandoned the idea of the steering of balloons, and the Germans, though not near their next neighbours in the science of aeronautics up to 1871, have since then devoted themselves to the solving of the problerr of guiding balloons (Lenkbarkeit der Luftschiffe^ The French Government used balloons in 1870-71 Gambetta escaped from Paris in one, and the ae'ria post was an institution. But these were still depen- dent on the wind. In 1852, M. Giffard, whose captive balloon was seen over Paris in 1878, succeeded in steering a machine inflated with coal gas. But until 1884 we had few practical trials, and even they were not always successful. M. de Fonvielle, MM. Renard and Krebs in 1884, tried and failed then to make electricity impel a balloon. Some enthusiastic gentleman prophesied a French invasion by balloons and was laughed at. The carica- ture of Montgolfier was referred to, and " Montgolfier in the clouds " blowing bubbles and saying, " We will make de English quake, by Gar. We will in- spect their camp. . . we will take Gibraltar in de air-balloon," was quoted. But the balloon is coming to the front. There is no doubt whatever that the science of Aeronautics is only in its infancy. Navigable balloons are perfectly within the scope of practical achievements. Balloons have been used for recon- noitring purposes in war, and scientists are occupied in the development of some motive force, whether electricity or compressed air, which will enable the balloon to be steered. The shape and principle advo- cated by General Hutchinson is that of a fish. He compares the balloon in the air ocean to the fish in the water ocean, having no weight to sustain, and able to change its position by the slightest move- ment. The fish rises and falls in the fluid water by 3io TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. expanding and contracting the air-bladder ; the bal- loon is raised and lowered in a similar way by the manipulation of gas. The abstraction or addition of a pigeon will change the position of a balloon; and a bone thrown out a chicken bone is suffi- cient to elevate the machine some 25 yards. M. Renard and M. Gaston Tissandier have made several very interesting experiments ; and the latter gentleman has related his experiences in La Nature. The motive power of the machine was a Siemens dynamo, developing somewhat more than \\ horse- pow^E^Jjr oceond. \ The motion was impartea tcTtHe balloon by a screw propeller. The current was supplied by a battery. The balloon was filled with specially prepared hydrogen gas, and the ascent was made (in 1883) by Messrs. Tissandier. The balloon held its own against the wind, and was steered by the rudder. On a subsequent trial the machine ran at a speed of nine miles an hour. The adventurers found that they could control it easily and vary their direc- tion at will. Messrs. Renard and Krebs also made experiments at Meudon, in a balloon of the elongated shape with pointed ends ; the largest diameter, how- ever, was not in the centre, but nearer the front. It had a volume of 66,000 cubic feet, was moved by electricity, and steered by a rudder. The result seems to have been satisfactory so far as it went. The statement is as follows : Distance traversed nearly five miles (7-6 kilometers), speed 5*5 meters (about eighteen feet) a second. Electric power, 3J horse-power. Time in running, twenty-three minutes. So we have here a true experiment by which it has been established that a balloon can be propelled at the rate of over twelve miles an hour on a calm day ; can be steered, and moved back- wards and forwards with facility. A subsequent trial resulted in a speed of 23-5 kilometers an hour (over fourteen miles) ; then there was a breeze equivalent to five miles per hour. So here was an actual motive power displayed equal to nearly twenty miles an MISCELLANEOUS. 311 hour, with the wind, and nearly ten when going against it. Some experiments have been carried out in military ballooning at Fiirstenwalde, near Berlin. The speciality of the experiments was the practica- bility of producing the inflating gas at any time on the spot when required for reconnoitring purposes. The invention has been brought out by Lieutenant Richter and Doctor Majert, and consists of a machine bearing some resemblance to a traction engine drawn by six horses and strong enough to accompany an army in the field. Any one who has watched a battery of field guns in action knows that they can go and do go almost anywhere : leaping ditches and performing feats of horsemanship which seem entirely foreign to artillery. The machine will emulate the guns, and go anywhere. In its basement story is a furnace, and above the furnace retorts, into which are placed a kind of gas-cartridge, which the heat converts into gas. The contents of these cartridges are hydrate of lime and zinc-dust. The gas is by these means obtainable in a couple of hours. The Entwickler, or gas-producing machine, can be taken to pieces and the retorts carried on baggage animals to any place most desirable, when the car- tridges, which do not explode, can be burned. Com- pressed gas is liable to explode, and is not considered by any means safe. The German invention is perfectly safe, and produces gas rapidly. Many experiments in signalling from captive balloons have been made, but lately few more trials of the navigable machine have been completed, though there is no doubt of their future success. In confirmation of this view, we ma} quote the opinion of Sir Frederick Bramwell, who has no doubt that the engineer of the future will hit upon some plan by which the balloon may be manipulated. Speaking at the meeting of the British Association at Bath, he stated that the " engineer in the future will solve the problem and it certainly would be solved when a sufficiently light motor was obtained of 312 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. travelling in the air, whether this solution were effected by enabling the self-suspended balloon tc be propelled and directed, or perhaps, better still, by enabling not only the propulsion to be effected and the direction to be controlled, but by enabling the suspension in the air itself to be attained bv mechanical means." Those who ascend into the air in balloons must become as greatly impressed by the phenomena of the upper regions as are those who " go down to the sea in ships," The uses of scientific ballooning are great, for numerous experiments have been and can still be made as regards the density and tempera- ture of the atmosphere under certain conditions. The pressure of the air, and its marked decrease as we ascend, have been the themes of many scientists. The pulse which beats at seventy-nine on earth ascends to one hundred and eleven when the individual is 16,000 feet above the earth. At 30,000 feet poor humanity gives way very quickly and dies. The cold of these elevated regions is very great, for the refracted heat-rays sent from the earth do not penetrate so high. The sun does not warm the atmosphere, remember ; we owe the heat to the earth. The various phenomena of electricity, and the absence of sound in the rarefied air ; the black appear- ance of what appears to us "blue sky," in other words unlimited space; the curious effects of cloud and sun- shine, and other experiences, are all most absorbing, more particularly when one's companions are people desirous of understanding, and in sympathy with, Nature. The venturous ascent of Gaston Tissandier and his companions, in 1875, tells us that there are many dangers in ballooning. He and his companions, Sivel and Spinelli, went up for meteorological pur- poses. They went up very high, and in two hours Tissandier's companions were dead of apoplexy, and he nearly expired. These experiments would be very valuable, no doubt, if we could only depend upon the accuracy of the deductions ; but it stands to reason MISCELLANEOUS. 3 1 3 that when men's faculties are warped and overthrown by unusual surroundings and conditions their obser- vations are open to question. Ballooning science has many influential advocates and followers. The French, English, German, and Austrian Governments, and more lately the Russians, have schools or societies of aeronauts and depart- ments of ballooning. The received shape of air-ship is something like a cigar, the weight rather greater at one end than at the other : a suspended car. The material used by M. Giffard was " perealine " varnished. The propeller, about nine feet in diameter, is " com- posed of two helicoidal blades covered with varnished silk, and stiffened by trussed frames with tension rods of light steel wire." It projects from the car fixed on a light shaft, "supported by the same bearer that carries the dynamo machine." Messrs. Renard and Krebs' machine carried a car 1 08 feet long and six and a half feet high. A com- bined battery developed twelve-horse power,, and the screw was placed on the front of the car, not at the back as usual. This impelling power-screw was twenty-three feet in diameter two-bladed, and re- movable. We have in a former page mentioned the performance of this " military " balloon. A steam engine, as the motive power, has some advantage in weight over the electric apparatus, but then the danger of using steam in a balloon inflated with hydrogen gas is very great. Electricity will ere long become the motive power of the travelling balloon, and if it be- comes a fact, to Messrs. Tissandier will redound the credit. The triumph will rightly be theirs. They first introduced the electric motor to ballooning : they spent a great deal of money on it. Their success has not been final. A lighter apparatus is needed ; the application of electricity, moreover, is only in its initial stage in ballooning, and there may be a great future in store for it in the navigating of our air ships. 314 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. II. THE EIFFEL TOWER. So much has been said and written about this structure, so many thousands have ascended it, so many have seen it either in all its great proportions or in miniature, that we need not dwell very long upon this late development of modern engineering, which is nearly 1,000 feet high. When we consider that St. Paul's Cathedral is only 404 feet high, we may per- haps realise the elevation of the modern Tower of Babel. It is built of iron, the framework being com- posed of four " piles," which are joined by a gallery on the first floor. The four piles continually diminish to the top ; they are fixed in solid foundations, and united by a gallery at 230 feet above the ground. The base of the tower is arched very gracefully : the arches are 164 feet high and 262 feet wide. In one of the piles are the engines and electric apparatus. Each of the piles is composed of four uprights in a space fifteen metres square, tied and bound by cross- bars and trellis girders. Hydraulic apparatus in each foot of the edifice is ready to counteract any dis- placement of the anchor-bolts, which are sunk in the foundations. Whether M. Eiffel was the original designer has been questioned. He is decidedly the engineer, and he has demonstrated his capabilities so often that we need not inquire further. He designed the plans, and had strikes and storms to contend against in the building of the tower. It did not at first find favour in the sight of Paris. Private testimony is all in its favour, and many have declared that it was worth a journey to Paris to see. It is light and graceful, not- withstanding its magnitude, and its former opponents shake hands with its designer. Any reference to the Eiffel Tower would be incomplete without some men- tion of the helicoidal lifts worked by electricity, which raise the sight-seers to the upper regions. Each lift has three compartments, the dynamo being contained in the lowest, while the passengers are located in the MISCELLANEOUS. 3 1 5 upper storeys. The lifts are suspended at the ends of eight steel cables passing over a pulley ; they move in two cylindrical cages, and are kept vertical by " guides." Electricity is conveyed to the dynamo from the ground. We append the description given in Le Genie Civil. The dynamo gives a rotating movement to a truck connected with the base of the lift, which rolls by means of wheels that project along a helicoidal rail winding round the side of the lift. There are two rails rather farther apart than the diameter of the wheels, so that they roll on the top of the lower one when the lift descends, and on the bottom of the upper one when it ascends. The descending truck will bring down its lift and draw up the other one which is lightened by the action of its dynamo. The dynamos ceasing to move stop the lifts. It is necessary to add that there is, under ordinary conditions, a space between the lift and its revolving truck. But should the cable break, the lift would then, in falling, overtake the truck, and prevent it moving any farther. This was actually proved by experiment before the opening of the tower to the public ; the correspondents invited to assist in the trial with the inventors have testified to the soundness of the views expressed, and to the stability of the machinery, when a sham accident was made to occur for their edification. III. THE STATUE OF LIBERTY ON BEDLOE'S ISLAND. The erection of this stupendous monument is due to the liberality of M. Bartholdi, and to the fellow- feeling existing between the French and American Republics. It was presented in 1874 by M. Bartholdi,. the sculptor, to the American nation, as a memorial of national independence, " France to America." The French found the money, and the recipients of their bounty erected the statue. It was shipped in pieces- (in 1884) a draped female figure, a spiked crown on* STATUE OF LIBERTY. MlSCELLANEO US. 317 her head, holding a torch in her hand. Two years were spent in the erection of the statue. This enormous figure is built up in three parts : the pedestal, the skeleton of iron, and the copper- skin, or integument, which is as close to the skeleton as possible. The frame goes as far as the chin a gigantic height of ninety-three feet, divided in eight panels ; a girder goes into the uplifted arm by which a torch is upheld, and in the torch is an electric light serving as a beacon in New York Harbour. The skeleton itself is something like a pier of a bridge from which a girder extends. The " skeleton " is riveted deeply in the massive pedestal of masonry. The lower part of the " skeleton " is surrounded by a platform, and on this the figure seems to stand firmly. The manner in which the skin is fixed on is as follows. : Copper bands are bent round the iron bars, but loosely enough to permit of the necessary and inevitable expansion. The bars are well coated with shellac and asbestos. Lightning conductors penetrate the body of Liberty five copper rods lead down into wells beneath the pedestal. The skeleton is pretty firm, sustaining, as it does, some 120 tons of iron- work, and eighty tons of skin rather a thick-skinned individual ! The light is distributed through thirty- six glazed openings in the " skin " of the torch. Within are eight electric lights, equalling 48,000 candles. The dynamos are in a hut near the pedestal. IV. CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE. Though Cleopatra's Needle cannot be accounted modern, its mode of recovery and transmission to England may be chronicled briefly in our pages as a successful engineering feat. Since 1801, when the obelisk came into our possession, it lay in the sand until 1877, when the late Sir Erasmus Wilson, aided by Mr. John Dixon, the engineer, made up their minds to bring it to London. Mohammed AH who had given it to us did not suggest any method of 3i8 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. carrying it away ; and, with its fellow, the Needle remained in the sand until Sir E. Wilson offered 10,000, the cost for its transportation to England. After great efforts it was raised, and inserted in a cylinder which was floated and finally taken in tow by the steamer Olga in September, 1877. Mr. Dixon THE NEEDLE telegraphed home the success of his venture, and many vessels awaited the appearance of the curious box- ship, called the Cleopatra, which was being towed homewards to our shores. But during the terrible storms of October the Cleopatra was cut adrift from the steamer, and an attempt to navigate the odd-look- ing craft resulted in the loss of three men. The Olga came home and reported her fearful experiences, but the obelisk was picked up by another steamer and MISCELLANEOUS. 3 1 9 carried in. Preparations were made for the erection of the Needle on the Thames Embankment, where, in a short time, it was cleverly and rapidly placed in posi- tion. The adventures of the Needle-boat were eagerly read, and as much, if not more, interest was evinced in its salvage as ever was displayed upon the engineering skill which put us in full possession of the representation of Thothmes the Third. V. A MOVING TALE. We once heard an anecdote of an American who was forbidden by the State to fix certain things within the city boundary on pain of penalties. The decision seemed to him kind o' hard, as he owned the town, and had concluded that he could do as he pleased with his own in a free country. But no, he could not build, or perform the particular work he wanted in that State, and he was " mad " when he returned to his city ! The State authorities declined to give him the required permission, and were about to interfere actively. 3ut our proprietor was pretty cute. He summoned his engineers, laid down a track, got engines, and horses, and ropes ; cut his town into blocks, and carried it over the boundary line ! He moved the city, bodily, " out of town," and when the sheriffs appeared with warrants the city was standing a few miles away in another jurisdiction ! That's, as he says, a fact ! Exaggerated it may be : but it is perfectly possible to perform such a feat if sufficient power be utilised. Many houses in America are thus moved, and not long since a hotel was transported at Coney Island, New York. The building in question was the Brighton Hotel, built on the shingle or sand of the beach. The advance of the sea year by year at length threatened the caravanserai, and the proprietors determined to move. They did so. The immense hotel, four hundred and sixty feet wide, three stories high, was separated into three blocks, like houses of toy "bricks." The foundations gave no trouble. The 320 TRIUMPHS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. three structures blocked and pinned were put on immense trucks which ran in the manner of the ship- railways, on metals laid underneath the divided struc- ture. A house divided against itself is proverbially liable to destruction, as is a house built as this hotel was, on the sand. But American engineers success- fully combated these sinister views. The blocks were treated as any other masses of material, and, supported on travelling carriages, having no deep foundations to disturb, were hauled by engines farther inland. It would be difficult, nay, impossible, to trans- port our brick and mortar houses in this fashion, but these sea-side pavilions or hotels are more easily put together or disconnected, so that what would be death to us is little more than play to our kin beyond the sea. INDEX. A. Alpine Railway, The, 32 American Transcontinental Lines, 23 Arctic Circle Railway, The, 40 Arlberg Railway, The, 78 B. Balloon Navigation, 308 Barrages of the Nile, The, 301 Battle, New Ships of, 264 Blyth Improvements, The, 238 Breakwaters of Tees, The, 236 Bridges, 145 The Forth, 152 A High Level at Glasgow, 169 The Tower, 163 Brunig Line, The, 32 C. Cable Railway, The, 49 Calais Harbour Works, 217 Canals, 114 English, A new, 140 Gotha, The, 115 Isthmus of Corinth, The, 138 Nicaragua, The, 133 Panama, The, 122 Ramasserin, The, 143 Ship, The Manchester, 116 Ship, For Scotland, 141 Suez, The, 112 Central Pacific Railway, The, 23 Channel Tunnel, The, 100 Chinese Railway, The First, 48 Circle Railway, The Arctic, 40 Cleopatra's Needle, 317 Congo Railway, The, 47 D. Dieppe Harbour Works, The, 234 Docks and Harbour Works, 209 Docks Genoa, 233 Tilbury, The, 214 Drains and Pipe System, 241 Ead's Railway, 55 Eastern European Railway, 38 Edinburgh Waterworks, 187 Eiffel Tower, The, 314 Electric Coast Lights, 199 Electric Light on the Eiffel Tower 206 F. Forth Bridge, The, 152 G. Genoa Docks, The, 233 Gotha Canal, The, 115 H. Hanging Route, The, 36 322 INDEX. Harbour Works ot Calais, 217 Dieppe, 234 Rochelle, 228 Trieste, 232 Hell Gate, The Operations at, 223 High Level Bridge at Glasgow, 169 Hydraulic Engineering, 295 I. Isthmus of Corinth Canal, 138 Isthmus Ship Railway, The, 57 Lake Moeris, 304 Lighthouses and Illuminants, 192 American Transcontinental, 23 Brunig, 32 Pilatus, 32 Rigi, 32 Liverpool Water Scheme, 178 Locomotive and Steam Progress, 269 London Drainage, 240 London, Metropolitan Railways of, ido London Water Supply, 173 Water Power, 295 M. Machine Tools, 285 Manchester Ship Canal, 116 Mersey Tunnel, The, 95 Metropolitan Railways of London, 59 Mount Blanc Tunnel, The, 84 N. Nicaragua Canal, The, 133 Nile Barrages, The, 301 Northern Pacific, The, 25 Nova Scotia Ship Railway, 58 P. Pacific Canadian, The, 25 Central, The, 23 Pacific Northern, The, 25 Southern, The, 24 Union, The, 24 Panama Canal, The, 122 Paris Subways, 240 Petroleum and Pipe Lines, 246 Pilatus Line, The, 35 Pipe System in Oil District, 247 I Project St. Gothard, 70 Visp Zermatt, 32 P. Railways Alpine, The, 32 Arctic Circle, The, 40 Arlberg, The, 78 Bremer, The, 70 Cable, The, 49 Canadian, The, 25 Central Pacific, 23 Chinese, The First, 48 Congo, The, 47 Eastern European, 38 Hanging Route, 36 Isthmus Ship, 57 Metropolitan, The, 59 Northern Pacific, 25 Nova Scotia Ship, 58 Pilatus, The, 35 Semmering, The, 70 Sibi, The, 42 Southern Pacific, 24 Tehuantepec, The, 54 Transcaspian, The, 17 Union Pacific, The, 24 Visp Zermatt, 37 Water Slide, The, 305 Wirral, The, 99 Ramasserin Ship Canal, 143 Rochelle Harbour Works, 228 S. Scotland, A Ship Canal for, 141 Seine Improvements, The, 235 Severn Tunnel, The, 86 Ship Railways The Isthmus, 57 Nova Scotia, 58 Tehuantepec, 54 INDEX. 323 .Jiip Building and Ships Armament, 254 Ships, The New Battle, 264 Sibi Railway, The, 42 Southern Pacific, The, 24 Statue of Liberty, 315 Steam and Locomotive Progress, 269 St. Gothard Project, The, 70 Subway, The South London, 104 Subways of Paris, 240 Suez Canal, The, 113 Supply, The London Water, 173 Suram Tunnel, The, 102 T. Tale, A Moving, 315 Tay Viaduct, The, 147 Tees Breakwaters, The, 236 Tehuantepec Ship Railway, 54 Thirlmere Scheme, The, 184 Tilbury Docks, The,. 214 Tower Bridge, The, 163 Transcaspian Line to Samarcand, 17 Transcontinental Lines, The Ameri- can. 23 Trieste Harbour, 232 Tunnels, 69 Alpine, The, 69 Tunnels Channel, The, 100 Longest in Existence, ill Mersey, 95 Mount Blanc, 84 Proposed Alpine, The, 82 Severn, 86 Suram, 102 U. Union Pacific, The, 24 V. Viaduct, The Tay, 147 Viaducts and Bridges, 145 Visp Zermatt Project, The, 32 W. Water Gas, 206 Water Power for London, 295 Water Scheme for Liverpool, 178 Water Schemes Proposed, 189 Water Supply for London, 173 Water Slide Railway, The, 305 Waterworks and Water Supply, 171 Waterworks of Edinburgh, 187 PRINTED BY MORRISON* AND OIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH 2 MD 11/98. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. 5 1937 Yb 15875 j* 99006 ~7~SJ^ "^7