524 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Sparks from Engines. 



The following appeared in a leading article in the Times of 

 6th December 1901 : — We printed last week a very interesting 

 communication from a correspondent on " Fire-throwing by Loco- 

 motives " and its prevention. From this it appears that the 

 problem of its prevention has been completely and very advan- 

 tageously solved by Mr Dugald Drummond, the chief mechanical 

 engineer of the London and South-Western Railway. Mr 

 Drummond has invented an appliance whereby the escape of 

 sparks and cinders from the funnel of a locomotive can be 

 arrested without in the least impairing the draught, and with a 

 very appreciable economy of coal consumption. This is no mere 

 theoretical improvement; indeed, it appears already to have 

 passed beyond the purely experimental stage. "The arrangement 

 is simple," says our correspondent, "and it can be fitted easily in 

 the smoke-box of existing engines." It has already been fitted in 

 many engines, both passenger and goods, belonging to the South- 

 western Railway, with results alleged to be completely satisfactory 

 as regards the prevention of sparks, and not less advantageous in 

 the concomitant economy of coal. Our correspondent gives detailed 

 figures in proof of this, and they are not a little remarkable. It 

 appears to be a very moderate estimate that the adoption of 

 Mr Drummond's appliance for all locomotives would result in a 

 net saving of 5 lbs. of coal per train mile. Taking the price of 

 coal at no more than 10s. per ton — it has been much higher of 

 late — this means that the railway companies of the country now 

 have it in their power to save no less than some £400,000 annually 

 on their coal bills. Will they rise to the occasion 1 Mr Jeffreys 

 seems to think that the success of Mr Drummond's invention will 

 at last convince Parliament and the Government of the necessity 

 of passing his Bill. We should rather have thought that the 

 railways will at once find themselves caught in the legal net they 

 have so ingeniously woven for others. The law at present holds 

 them blameless for damage caused by sparks from locomotives so 

 long as they can show that they have adopted the best-known 

 appliances for the prevention of the danger. As Mr Drummond's 

 invention is alleged to prevent the danger altogether, or, at any 



