1831.1 



NewPatentt and Met'hanical Inventions. 



351 



Evideiue of Mr. Milns. 



As to whether London Bridge In its 

 present state is in a dangerous condition ? 

 I submit that all endeavours to repair and 

 secure the foundations elfectnally, serve 

 only by degrees, more or less, to render 

 the general structure more precarious. 



There are many fractures and settle- 

 ments ill the middle or original bridge. 



Such is the condition of the bridge, and 

 nothing of the superstructure can be de- 

 pended on. 



Evidence of Mr. Jessop. 



I have always considered the cavities in 

 thn bottom of the river caused by the rapid 

 current through the arches, and particu- 

 larly that before the great arch, as most 

 threatening of danger. Various means have 

 been used to counteract the effect of the 

 current ; among- others, great quantities 

 of rubble stone have been thrown into it, 

 but it has been generally too small in size to 

 resist the impulse of the stream. 



Evidence of Mr. Dance, City Surveyor. 

 That London Bridge is constructed upon 

 such principles as to form a dam across the 

 river, by the small proportions which the 

 openings bear to the piers, and thereby 

 creating a dangerous fall which impedes 

 and obstructs the navigation, is a fact 

 which no one can deny : if the passage 

 over that part of the River Thames was 

 eti'ected by means of a bridge constructed 

 upon such principles as not to form any 

 obstacle to the navigation, it is evident 

 that such an alteration would be a great 

 benefit to the public. Great mischiefs 

 having formerly happened by the tide un- 

 dermining and carrying away the piles of 

 the fronts as well as the contents of the 

 sterlings, and that during the execution of 

 the expensive frame work in the great lock, 

 a great breach had happened in the fj-ont of 

 the south sterlings, which, with some 

 other repairs, cost £1.W0 to put in order. 

 It also appears that this frame-work proved 

 totally inefficacious after an expenditure 

 of £5121, and that the repair of the non- 

 such lock alone cost £3,125. 



Extracts from the third lieport of the 

 Select Committee of the House of Com- 

 mons upon the Improvement of the Port 

 of London. 



They find that notwthstanding a large 

 sum of money has been annually applied to 

 the repairs of this bridge, that the methods 

 employed to secure it, have, in several in- 

 stances proved wholly ineffectual. That 

 the bed of the river suffers perpetual and 

 increasing injury from shoals occasioned 

 partly by the obstruction of the natural 

 course of the tide, and partly from the dis- 

 persion of the materials employed for the 

 purpose of strengthening the bridge. That 

 for several hours in each day, the naviga- 

 tion downwards is impracticable for small 

 boats, and hazardous even for large craft, 

 and all navigation upwards totally prevent- 

 ed ; and that if the bridge should be re- 

 built on such a plan as to admit the passage 

 of large vessels, the space between Lon- 

 don and Blackfriars Bridge might afford 

 essential accommodation to that part of the 

 trade which is carried on in vessels, whose 

 draught of water does not exceed the depth 

 which that part of the river is capable of 

 permanently affording : from these obser- 

 vations that the structure of the bridge ia 

 so defective in its original design, that no 

 art or expence which has been or can be 

 bestowed on it, can secure it from the risk 

 of a sudden and total destruction under 

 certain circumstances of the river, and 

 that in ordinary circumstances it receives 

 continual injury from the rapidity of the 

 current occasioned by the narrowness of 

 the arches, and requires frequent support 

 from the addition of new materials, all of 

 which are in no long time, washed away, 

 ^ud add to the shoals which the bridge has 

 already been the means of producing. 



Your Committee are convinced from these 

 enquiries, as well as from the information 

 collected by them last year, that the re- 

 building of London Bridge, upon improved 

 principles, would be a measure of substan- 

 tial economy in itself, as well as subser- 

 vient to other purposes of still greater 

 importance. 



NEW PATENTS AND MECHANICAL INVENTIONS. 



Reported by Charles Blunt, Draughtsman of Slacliinert/, and London Agent to Patentees 

 and the Authors of Inventions wlio desire to secure them by Patent. 



^0 W I L T, I A M ^yoo D , of Bow, Middle- 

 S€j',Sliipirrlght, for the Mnniifacture 

 and .Application of a new Material for 

 the more effeetualUj rendering Ships 

 and other maritime f'essels, water- 

 tight and sea-worthy. 

 TU E patentee has discovered that a 

 light felt of liide hair, or mixtim; 

 of liidc hair and wool, when sa(<inil(;(l 

 with lar, is highly elastic and water- 

 proof, and conceiving the useful appli- 



cation of the siib-tanceasa liningforthe 

 .sheathing of slitps, he manufactures it 

 in au expeditious and economical man- 

 ner, in slieets of suitable size for that 

 purpose ; such slieets beinp; attaclied to 

 (iu^ external sides and Doftom of the 

 sliip hy simply nailing with sctipper 

 nails, arc covered with their planking. 

 'J'lie sub.stance he terms adhesive felt. 

 It possesses the property of elasticity in 

 so considerable a degree as to stretch 

 uniformly 



