September 29, 1892] 



NATURE 



527 



he used it entirely for springs and also with advantage for tyres. 

 He likewise found it an excellent material for tool steel. 



Mr. Winder next read his paper on the failure of chilled rolls. 

 The breakage of rolls is one of the most annoying of the many 

 troubles with which the producer of manufactured iron has to 

 contend. This is a matter which has hitherto received too 

 little attention, it being generally considered to be in the nature 

 of rolls to break, and nothing man could do would prevent it. 

 It is as evident as like produces like, that if some rolls will last 

 for considerable periods of time, others of exactly similar de- 

 scription, and working under the same conditions, would stand 

 equally long. Sometimes four or five rolls — the author in- 

 stances eleven in a fortnight — will give out one after another, 

 until at last one will be found to accomplish the work. Mr. 

 Winder, as a roll founder, endeavours to bring some sort of 

 order into the process of manufacture. He points out that when 

 a train of rolls is hard at work in the present day they will turn 

 out as much as looo tons a week, and the passing of this great 

 weight of red- and white-hot billets or blooms will be almost 

 equal to putting the rolls into a furnace. The necks of the rolls 

 are, however, kept cool by water, so that the lubricant may not 

 be burnt off, and the sudden cooling thus caused produces a 

 molecular change in the metal which, the author considers, ac- 

 counts for much of the mischief. In order to overcome this 

 difficulty it is recommended that there should not be too 

 sudden a reduction of the diameter of the body of the roll 

 where the neck is formed. That, in brief, appears to be the 

 author's opinion, and doubtless his advice is good ; in fact, it fol- 

 lows one of the cardinal laws observed by good iron- founders in the 

 casting of other articles besides rolls. A good practical discus- 

 sion followed the reading of the paper. We think that foundry 

 practice is a little behind in this country, and in this respect we 

 might, with advantage, take a hint or two from American 

 methods, perhaps more especially in regard to smaller castings 

 than chilled rolls, which often fail unaccountably in the United 

 States also. The advice to roll founders to cast with a bigger 

 head should not be, but apparently is, necessary. Prof. Turner's 

 remarks were to the point, and it would be of advantage if he 

 would make his researches in this direction more fully public. 



Prof H. S. Hele-Shaw was the author of the last paper read 

 on the Wednesday of the meeting. The Walker Laboratories 

 form part of University College, Liverpool, and are among 

 the most recent and best arranged establishments of the kind. 

 They have been erected under the guidance of the author of the 

 paper, who occupied the chair of Engineering Science when the 

 school was in a far less magnificent form. We have not space 

 to follow the author in his description of the buildings, or the 

 method of instruction. The latter appears to be framed in a 

 manner calculated to turn out good engineers, a class which can- 

 not be too large for the welfare of the country, although com- 

 plaints are growing daily that they are already too numerous 

 for their own advantage. 



The last day of the meeting was Thursday, September 22, 

 when two papers were read. The first was the contribution of 

 Mr. Saniter, and in it he described the process by which he 

 proposes to remove sulphur from iron by calcium chloride and 

 lime. The experiments quoted go to prove that lime alone re- 

 moves a considerable quantity of sulphur from iron if the contact 

 is sufficiently prolonged ; and, further, that a mixture of calcium 

 chloride and lime completely eliminated the sulphur in the space 

 of half an-hour. Chloride of calcium is a by-product of the 

 manufacture of ammonia, of soda (by the ammonia process), 

 and of Weldon's bleaching process. The author states that the 

 production amounts to many thousands of tons, of which only 

 ten per cent, finds useful employment, the remainder running 

 to waste. The subject is one of considerable importance, and 

 no doubt the process will be freely criticized when it comes up 

 again for discussion at the next spring meeting. 



Mr. J. E. Stead's paper on the same subject — the elimination 

 of sulphur from iron — was a much more imposing contribution, 

 covering 40 pages of the proceedings. It dealt broadly with 

 the whole question, and forms a most valuable contribution to 

 the literature of the subject. At the conclusion of the reading 

 of his paper Mr. Stead said that since it had been written he 

 had had further light thrown on the matter by experiment and 

 otherwise. He therefore proceeded to read from a MS. certain 

 fresh matter, which appeared to occupy as much space 

 as the paper itself No doubt Mr. Stead will weld the 

 original paper and the additions into one harmonious whole, 

 which will then form a standard work of reference on a sub- 



ject which has come to the fore so much within the last year 

 or two. We congratulate Mr. Stead upon his courage in deal- 

 ing with this matter in the way he has, and especially upon the 

 practical disclaimer of infallibility which the appendix to his 

 paper supplied. 



There was no discussion of these papers, their consideration 

 being adjourned until the spring meeting of next year. The 

 matter should be well thrashed out, as speakers will have had an 

 opportunity of consulting authorities, marshalling facts, or even 

 making fresh experiments. It is to be hoped that in the future 

 more discussions will be arranged on similar lines. 



The proceedings closed with the usual votes of thanks to those 

 in Liverpool to whom the Institute was so largely indebted for 

 the success of the meeting. 



There were several excursions during the week. The chief of 

 these were to the Manchester Ship Canal, the Vyrnwy Water 

 Works, the Lancashire and Yorkshire engineering shops at 

 Horwich, the Liverpool Overhead Railway, and Laird's ship- 

 yard. A visit was also paid to the Walker engineering labora- 

 tories, where Prof. Hele-Shaw had collected some very interest- 

 ing models for the occasion. The most striking of these was an 

 exceedingly intelligent chain-making machine which has recently 

 come over to this country from the United States. The whole 

 of the operations are automatic, reels of wire going in at one end 

 of the apparatus, and coming out one continuous length of chain 

 at the other, and this without human intervention of any kind. 

 The machine may, in the ingenuity of its design, rank with Lay- 

 cock's horsehair loom, which we described in connection with 

 the visit of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to Sheffield 

 of two years" ago. It is really surprising to see what compli- 

 cated operations mechanism may be made to perform by means 

 of cams, levers, and springs. Mr. Laycock's loom exhibited 

 perhaps a higher intelligence than the chain-making machine, 

 inasmuch thdt it would select suitable hairs from a bundle, and 

 would refuse to continue the work unless the proper kind were 

 supplied. The chain-making machine, on the other hand, has 

 to deal with a more stubborn material and has to connect each 

 link. We do not know the name of the inventor of this machine, 

 but the chain is known as " Triumph Chain." 



FUELS AND THEIR USE. 

 A T the annual meeting of the Society of Chemical Industry, 

 -^^ held in London on July 20, the chair was occupied by 

 Dr. J. Emerson Reynolds, F.R.S. He chose, as the subject of 

 his presidential address, " The modern developments in regard 

 to fuels and their use" — a subject, as he explained, which had 

 occupied much of his attention. The address was one of popular, 

 as well as of scientific, interest. 



After some preliminary remarks. Dr. Reynolds said : — 

 The fuel question is one which concerns those of us who live on 

 the western side of St. George's Channel even more seriously 

 than it does you, as our coal beds have been washed away in ages 

 past, and of native fuel there is practically none save peat ; hence 

 industries which require large quantities of cheap coal cannot 

 flourish in Ireland under existing conditions. It is, therefore, our 

 interest to watch closely the development of improved and 

 economical methods of using such fuel as we can obtain from 

 other countries, and apply tnem in the utilization of our bulky 

 but abundant peat. It is evident that no other fuels need be con- 

 sidered save coal, peat, and petroleum ; hence, my remarks can 

 take somewhat the form of a trilogy, minus the dramatic ele- 

 ment, precedence being given to the solid fuels, and the first 

 place necessarily to coal. . . 



The Royal Commission on Coal Supply, which commenced 

 its sittings in July, 1866, and reported in July, 1871, after inquir- 

 ing into all probable sources of coal in Great Britain, arrived at the 

 conclusion that not more than 146,480 million tons were available 

 at depths not exceeding 4000 feet from the surface. Therefore, 

 at our present rate of increase of population and of coal con- 

 sumption, our supply would not last for 230 years. But Mr. 

 Hall, one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Mines, who has special 

 experience of coal mining, forms a much lower estimate of the 

 supply practically available with our present means, and con- 

 siders 1 70 years as the more probable duration of our coal beds. 

 This estimate is based on fuller information than that possessed 

 by the Royal Commissioners ; we are therefore justified in con- 

 cluding that the inhabitants of Great Britain 170 years hence 

 will have little, if any, home-raised coal to burn if we continue 

 to use it in our present wasteful fashion. 



NO. II 96, VOL. 46] 



