Aug. 26, 1875] 



NATURE 



345 



Mr. Bramwell, when presiding over the Mechanical Section at 

 Brighton, drew attention to the waste of fuel. 



Dr. Siemens, in an able lecture he delivered by request of the 

 Association to the operative classes at the meeting at Bradford, 

 pointed out the waste of fuel in special branches of the iron trade, 

 to which he has devoted so much attention. 



He showed on that occasion that, in the ordinary re-heating 

 furnace, the coal consumed did not produce the twentieth part 

 of its theoretical effect, and in melting steel in pots in the 

 ordinary way not more than one-seventieth part ; in melting one 

 ton of steel in pots about 2| tons of coke being consumed. Dr. 

 Siemens further stated that, in his regenerative gas furnace, one 

 ton of steel was melted with 12 cwt. of small coal. 



Mr. Lowthian Bell, who combines chemical knowledge with 

 the practical experience of an ironmaster, in his Presidential 

 address to the members of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1873, 

 stated that, with the perfect mode of withdrawing and uiilising 

 the gases and the improvement in the furnaces adopted in the 

 Cleveland district, the present make of pig-iron in Cleveland is 

 produced with 34 million tons of coal les? than would have been 

 needed fifteen years ago ; this being equivalent to a saving of 45 

 per cent, of the quantity formerly used. He shows by tigures, 

 with which he has favoured me, ihat the calorific power of the 

 waste gases from the furnaces is sufficient for raising all^ the 

 steam and heating all the air the furnaces require. 



It has already been stated that by working steam more expan- 

 sively, either in double or single engines, the consumption of 

 fuel m improved modern engines compared with the older forms 

 may be reduced to one-third. 



All these reductions still fall far short of the theoretical effect 

 of fuel which may be never reached. Mr. Ivowthian Bell's 

 figures go to show that in the interior of the blast furnace, as 

 improved in Cleveland, there is not much more to be done in 

 reducing the consumption of fuel ; but much has already been 

 done, and could the reductions now attamable, and all the infor- 

 mation already acquired be universally applied, the saving in 

 fuel would be enormous. 



How many open blast furnaces still belch forth flame and gas 

 and smoke as uselessly, and with nearly as much mischief to the 

 surrounding neighbourhood, as the fires of Etna or Vesuvius ? 

 How many of the older and more extravagant forms of steam- 

 engine still exist? 



What is to be done with the intractable householder, with the 

 domestic hearth, where, without going 10 Oerman stoves, but by 

 using Galton's grates and other improvements, everything neces- 



sary both for comfort and convenience could be as well attained 

 with a much smaller consumption of coal ? 



If I have pointed out that we do not avail ourselves of more 

 than a fractional part of the useful effects of fuel, it is not that I 

 expect we shall all at once mend our ways in this respect. 

 Many cases of waste arise from the existence of old and obso- 

 lete machines, of bad forms of furnaces, of wasteful grates, exist- 

 ing in most dwelling-houses ; and these are not to be remedied 

 at once, for not everyone can afford, however desirable it might 

 be, to cast away the old and adopt the new. 



In looking uneasily to the future supply and cost of fuel, it is, 

 however, something 10 know what may be done even with the 

 application of our present knowledge ; and could we apply it 

 universally to-day, all that is necessary for trade and comfort 

 could probably be as well provided for by one-half the present 

 consumption of fuel ; and it behoves those who are beginning to 

 build new mills, new furnaces, new steamboats, or nevv houses, 

 to act as though the price of coal which obtained two years ago 

 had been the normal and not the abnormal price. 



There was in early years a battle of the gauge«, and there is 

 now a contest about guns ; but your lime will not permit me to 

 say much on their manufacture. 



Here again the progress made in a few years has been enor- 

 mous ; and in contributing to it, two men. Sir Wm. Armstrong 

 and Sir Joseph Whitworth, both civil engineers, in this country 

 at all events, deservedly stand foremost. The iron coil construc- 

 tion of Sir William Armstrong has already produced rcnarkable 

 and satisfactory results ; in discussing further possible improve- 

 ments, the question is embarrassed by attempting to draw sharp 

 lines between what is called steel and iron. 



There is nothing that I can see to limit the size of guns, except 

 the tenacity and endurance of the metal, whatever we may choose 

 to call it, of which they are to be made. 



Sir Joseph Whitworth, who has already done more than any 

 other man in his department to secure good workmanship, and 

 whose ideal of perfection is ever expanding, has long been seek- 

 ing, and not with-^ut success, by enormous compression, to in- 

 crease those qualities in what he calls homogeneou<; metal. 

 Make the metal good enough, and call it iion if you will, and 

 the .size of a gun may be anything : the mere cons- ruction and 

 handling of a gun of 100 tons, or of far g'eater weight, with, 

 suitable mechanical appliances, presents no ditfif-ulty. 



Relying on the qualities of his compressed metal. Sir Joseph 

 is now seekmg by a singular experiment to limit the travf 1 o* the 

 recoil, as far as pracUcable, to the elasticity of the metal. By 



RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.— <;r^a/ Briiain and Ireland. 



(a) The figures in this column are obtained by dividing the total train mileage by the aggregate length of single hne of way. excluding sidiugs, ai.d not 

 by the actual length of the railway. 



(h) The passenger mileage has been calculated, as it is not given in the Board of Trade returns, except partially between 1852 and 1859 (inclusive), and 

 feince 1859 no return under ihis head has been made. 



(c) 'I'he fij;ufes i'l column No. IX. are obtained by dividing those in column VIII. by those in column V. 



(1/) The figures in column X. are i.b-ained by dividing those in co'umn VIII. by those in column VII. 



(£■) The figures in co:umn XI. are obtained by dividing the total number of passengers carried in each jear (including a calculated number of journeys 

 made by season t cket hulder.>) by ihe figures in column V. 



{/) The figures in col'jnm XII. arc obtained by dividing the total number of passengers carried in each year by the figures in column VII. 



N B. — The pass nger mileage includes the m-les estimaterl to have been travelled by season ticket holders. 'I his estimate was obtained by calculating 

 an average fate per mile for each class of p^senger, and dividing the rcceipu from the season ticket holders by the average fare. 



