December 14, 191 1] 



NATURE 



229 



The laboratory was opened by Prof. J. Perry, F.R.S., 

 on November 24 in the presence of a large company, 

 including members of the Corporation, prominent manu- 

 facturers, and business men. The dimensions of the 

 laboratory are 141 feet by 42 feet, with a mean height of 

 20 feet. The building is fitted with two travelling cranes. 

 It has an upper floor and a lower floor, between which are 

 placed the lines of shafting, the piping for engines, and 

 all similar accessories. 



The installation includes steam-driven machines, electric 

 generating plant, oil engine, gas engine, petrol engine, 

 centrifugal pumps, turbines, and refrigerating machine. 

 There is also a full range of smaller testing appliances 

 necessary for the complete training of an engineer. 



The detailed list of appliances is a very lengthy one. 

 The steam generating section includes a Lancashire boiler 

 measuring 30 feet by 8 feet, and a marine-type boiler 

 measuring 14 feet by 11 feet, together with pumps, meters, 

 economiser, superheater, feed-water heater, induced draught 

 fan, pressure and temperature indicators, &c. 



The steam section comprises a steam engine of the 

 horizontal cross-compound type of 60 horse-power, built 



engine. Additional fittings are a main switchboard of 

 special design, an air-compression plant, a refrigerating 

 plant, and an electrical direct-driven fan of " Sirocco '" 

 pattern. There are, in addition, all the necessary sub- 

 sidiary appliances, such as calorimeters, micrometer, and 

 other gauges, indicators, anemometer, &c. 



The workshop adjoining the mechanical engineering 

 laboratory is exceptionally well fitted with up-to-date 

 machines, amongst which are a universal milling machine, 

 a high-speed planer, a high-speed screw-cutting lathe, a 

 boring and surfacing lathe, a Hendy-Norton screw-cutting 

 lathe, a vertical automatic drilling machine, a shaping 

 machine, together with grinding machines, brazing 

 apparatus, vices, and other adjuncts found in a well- 

 equipped machine shop. Adjoining the machine shop is a 

 pattern shop, which contains a hand-turning lathe, circular 

 saw, band saw, universal wood-cutter, and the requisite 

 supply of benches. 



The Plenum ventilating and heating plant also forms 

 part of the mechanical engineering equipment of the insti- 

 tute, and from time to time it is used in the instruction of 

 students and for experimental purposes. 



Photo. ] 



New Mechanical Laboratory, Municipal Technical Institute, Belfast. 



lA. R. Hog^^. 



by Messrs. Combe Barbour, of Belfast ; a 20 horse-power 

 high-speed generating set built by Messrs. W. H. .Vllen 

 and Co., of Bedford; a 15 kilowatt Parsons steam turbo- 

 aitf-rnator ; a De Laval turbine of 20 horse-power ; a steam 

 pump and a condensing plant. 



The hydraulic section is exceptionally well designed and 

 equipped, and includes a motor-driven high-lift turbo- 

 pump, cast-iron channels, tank, tumbling bay, vcnturi 

 meter, pitot tubes, Thomson turbine, Girard turbine, 

 Pelton turbine, and an apparatus for experiments on pipe 

 friction. 



Thi' testing of materials section contains a Riehl^ test- 

 ing machine of 68 tons capacity, on which experiments 

 may be made in tension, compression, bending, and 

 torsion; an Adie machine for cement testing; a fatigue 

 testing machine, designed by the professor of mechanical 

 engineering (Dr. Smith) ; appliances for the microscopical 

 examination of metals; a "hardness of metals" tester; 

 and various other appliances. 



The section of internal-combustion machines includes a 

 gas engine, a suction-gas plant, an oil engine, and a petrol 



NO. 2198, VOL. 88] 



The city of Belfast can now claim to possess a 

 mechanical engineering equipment as comprehensive as 

 that of any technical institution of the United Kingdom. 



SCIENCE EXAMINATIONS AND GROUPED 

 COURSE CERTIFICATES.' 

 /^IRCULAR 776 was issued by the Board of Education 

 ^-^ on June 20, 191 1, which date was near the commence- 

 ment of the long vacation, and made it practically impos- 

 sible for the governing authorities of technical institutions 

 lo introduce any necessary amendments into the schemes of 

 instruction for the present session. In its general arrange- 

 ments the scheme is, without doubt, excellent, and teachers 

 familiar with certain of the local group course systems 

 will probably at first conclude that it will fit the modern 

 (onditions of the group course system very accurately. 

 More careful study, however, reveals the fact that there 



1 From an address delivered before the Asiiociation of Tc.ichers in Tech- 

 nical Institutions on November 11 by Mr. Barker North, ex-president of 

 the Asscx:iation. 



