1849."! 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



191 



gave her an average rate of speed of 15-415 nautical miles, or nearly 175 

 statute miles per luur, never making less than 27 revolutions per minute. 

 She then run to the Nnre liglit, passing tlie distance from the tnwn pier at 

 Gravesend, in one hour and ffleeu sceontls ; and then ran from the Nore 

 light to the Mouse light and back twice, during wliich time her greatest 

 speed was 20i statute miles per hour, and her lowest rate at 15 845. The 

 latter, however, in consequence of the throltle-valve heing open, was held to 

 be a bad trial, and she was accordingly tried up and down again the 7-05 

 knots' distance. When working at 28 and 29 revolutions per minute, she 

 made the same rnn down in 27 minutes 22 seconds, or at the rate of lG-798 

 knots; and the return trip in SOJ minutes, or at the rate of 15-049 knots. 

 Taking the average of the two last runs, the speed of the Llewellyn was 

 nearly 16 nauticaf miles an hour, or 18i statute miles per hour. 



The New Steam-Ship Basin at Portsmouth. — This national work, which 

 has been constructed with the view of affording to steam-ships a fitting 

 and convenient place of reception, was opened on Thursday, the 25th of 

 May. The first stone was laid January 13th, 1S45. Its original design 

 was far of far less magnitude, but as the work progressed, enlargements and 

 improvements were suggested, until the plans were finally extended to their 

 present spacious dimensions. Its mean average length is 774 feet, 400 feet 

 ■wide, and 31 feet deep from the cnping, covering an area of more than seven 

 acres. The entrance is 80 feet wide, and the depth of water at the lowest 

 tides 21 feet. There is also a fine wharfage outside the basin, in the har- 

 bour, where there is water to the depth of 13 feet, which is sufficient to 

 accommodate second-class steamers. There are two inlets on the east side 

 of the basin, each 300 feet long by 70 wide, and 30 feet deep from the 

 coping ; these are to enable vessels, whole refitments must be completed 

 in a hurry, lo be worked upon by the artisans on both sides at once. On 

 the west brink of the basin is a' great factory, of handsome architecture, 

 687 feet long, 48 feet wide, and 51 high, and is partially roofed in. On 

 the south wall is a new brass foundry, 90 feet by 110, which has been for 

 some time in partial working. The basin is considered capable of accom- 

 modating around its sides nine steam frigates of the first class, and has em- 

 ployed, on the average, 1,500 men since the commencement, besides an 

 immense body to whom it has given work off the premises — in the quarries, 

 forests, iron vvorks, &c. Besides the above materials, there have been used 

 in various parts of the whole about 2,500 tons of cast iron from StatTord- 

 shire. The rough cost of the labour already turned out of hand is £400,000. 



Sudden Driiinin^ of the Niagara River.— The follouing extract of a 

 letter we have received from the United Slates, describes a very curious 

 phenomenon, which recently alarmed the residents near the Falls of 

 Niagara : — " Tlie good people at the falls were greatly alarmed a few 

 weeks ago, fearing that the bottom of the river had fallen out; for all at 

 once the mills ceased to work, and great part of the falls on Table- Kock 

 were bare. The river, a little above (ioat Island, was bare for half the 

 distance across. A gentleman drove his wagon on the bare rock lo Ihe 

 middle of the bed of the river, where to have ventured the day previous 

 would have been certain death. The worst fears were entertained ; some 

 believed the world was coming to an end — indeed, fear was stamped on 

 every countenance till the cause was explained. The fact was, that a 

 quantity of ice on Lake Erie had dritied to the mouth of the river, and 

 impeded its flow." 



Suspensiiin Brids:e near the Falls of Niagara. — The first car, suspended 

 by a wire cable, crossed from clittto cliflT below the falls of Niagara on the 

 13th of March. Mr. Ellett, ihe engineer who has undertaken Ihe ccm- 

 struction of the suspeusiou-bridge at that place, was the first person who 

 crossed over, amidst the cheers of a large concourse of people. Tiie 

 Toronto Colonist observes : " Mr. Ellett must feel gratification and com- 

 mendable pride that he is the first man who ever crossed in a carriage 

 through the aii-, on wire, from one empire to another ; thereby, it is to be 

 hoped, leading to a happy, prosperous, generous, and reciprocal union — a 

 firm chain of friendship between mother and daughter." "We may suppose 

 that among those who experienced alarm at the sudden draining of the 

 Niagara river, noticed above, Ihe shareholders in the suspension-bridge 

 undertaking, were not less frightened than the others. 



Communications in Hallway Trains. — Another of the many plans pro- 

 posed for establishing a communication between the passengers and the 

 guard, and through him with the engineer, on railway trains, has been re- 

 cently patented. The inventor of this plan is Mr. Edward Tattersall, of 

 Newmarket, land surveyor ; and it consists in having a cord run along the 

 tops of all the carriages, communicating with the handle of the steam- 

 whistle, or with a bell. The patentee claims as new an apparatus for 

 leoglhening or shortening the cord, without requiring it to be drawn out 

 longitudinally. To enable the passengers lo communicate with the guard, 

 a lamp by night, and a signal board by day, is to be fixed to the top of 

 each carriage, and the passenger, by pulling a string may raise a flap that 

 ordinarily secures the lamp or signal-board, and when the guard sees this 

 notice, he is to pull Ihe cord to order the engine-driver to stop. 



Iron Ore in Algiers, — A. report presented to the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, on a communication made by M. Fournel, respecting the mineral 

 ■wealth of Algiers, represents the iron ore to be extremely abundant and 

 rich. lo the mountains of Bou Hamra, throughout a distance of four 

 leagues, the croppings-out of a considerable number of beds of ore may 

 be observed, attaining sometimes a considerable size, and never less than 

 from four to five yards in depth. At the north of Fizara there is an entire 

 mountain (the Mohta El Hadad, or iron quarry), which rises out of the 

 gneiss, and literally presents from its base to its summit, that is to say, a 



height of about 108 yards, one mass of pure oxide of iron, without the 

 admixture of any other substance. To the east of this mountain, M. 

 Fournel traced upwards of IG points where the ore was cropped-out. M, 

 Fournel has also found large quantities of ancient scoria?, proving, that 

 these sources of mineral wealth had been worked by the Komans, or per- 

 haps by the Vandals; there are also scattered amongst these scoriae, spe- 

 cimens of the metal produced, so that by analysis it can be ascertained 

 from which bed of ore the metal produced at such and such a point, was 

 obtained. 



Cojiijing Electric Telegraph. — An electric telegraph which will produce 

 at a distant town facsimile copies of writing applied to the instrument 

 in London, has just been invented hy IMr. F. C. Bakewell. We have seen 

 a specimen of the telegraphic writing copied from the original !)y a sepa- 

 rate inslrunient, only connected with the other by wires in the ordinary 

 manner. We understand that arrangements are being made to give the 

 invention a trial at a long distance, for Ihe purpose of adopting this mode 

 of telegraphic communication generally, if it be found equally applicable 

 between distant towns as it is at short intervals. The rapidity with which 

 copies may he made with this instrument, will far exceed the manual dex- 

 terity of the quickest writer; for the inventor expects to be able to trans- 

 mit 500 alphabetical Idlers per minute. Where short-hand is employed , 

 of course Ihe rapidity of truiismission would be much greater; and we un- 

 derstand ihat even plans and drawings may be copied by the same instru- 

 ment. 



Pluispkates in ihe Green Sand. — The green sand formation, situated 

 under the chalk, contains fossil substances iu such abundance as to render 

 them valuable as manures, iu consequence of the phosphate of lime which 

 is thus obtained. Allention has been recently directed to this subject, and 

 if the fertilizing properties of green sand lie as great as is represented, 

 there exists in the south of England vast stores of manure, corresponding 

 in chemical properties with Ihe guano that has been scraped from distant 

 islands, and sold at a high cost iu this counti-y. The presence of coprolite 

 (dungstoue) nodules in the upper green saud and gault, was pointed out 

 by Dr- Fitton several years ago, in his account of the " beds below the 

 chalk," published in the " Transactions of the Geological Society," vol. iv. 

 second series ; and Dr. F. also ascertained the large proportion of phos- 

 phate of lime contained in these bodies. Dr. Fitton's observations were 

 chiefly made from the gault at Folkestone. 15ut he has also noticed the 

 existence of these nodules in various parts of the upper and lower green 

 sand. There are clilfs of the upper green sand at Eastbourne, in Sussex, 

 where the fossil and coprolilic nodules may be found. If we pass from the 

 out-crop of Ihe green sand in Sussex and Surrey, we find it again in still 

 greater force westward, in the ferlile vale of Pevvsy, one of the finest 

 pieces of wheat land in the kingdom. The whole valley from Bedwin to 

 Devizes is coveredwith this soil, the stratum dipping under the chalk 

 of the Marlborough downs on the north and Salisbury plain on the south. 



Improved Machine for Rolling Iron. — Mr. Benjamin Norton, of Boonton, 

 New Jersey, U.S., has recently obtained a patent in America, for an im- 

 provement in the machine for rolling iron. In describing his invention, the 

 patentee says — " In rolling the billets of iron that are to be converted into 

 hoop-iron, or into scroll, band, or other iron of a like character, the appa- 

 ratus used, as ordinarily constructed, consists of three rollers, the axes of 

 which are in the same \'ertical plane. The billet is passed through a groove 

 in the lowermost pair, and is returned through a groove in the uppermost 

 pair, by which it is prepared to be passed through the smooth or finishing 

 rollers. In my improved apparatus I use but two rollers, in which the billet 

 is first passed in the usual way; as it passes from between these rollers on 

 the rear side, it enters a curved trough, which I call a receiver, and this 

 trough conducts it round the rear side of the upper roller towards the work- 

 man in front, who passes it into the groove in the first instance, and who 

 then passes it into a second groove, formed in the same rollers; by which 

 arrangement much time and friction are saved, and other obvious advantages 

 obtained. The patentee claims the combination of the covered trough, or 

 receiver, with a pair of rollers, for the purpose of conveying the strand to 

 the front of the rollers, in combination with the employment of the second 

 groove, or grooves, in the lower roller, and thereby admitting of the widen- 

 ing out of the collars. 



Ether a substitute for Steam.— U. Zede, Director of the Ports of France, 

 at the request of M. Lafond, a lieutenant in the Marine Navy, has made 

 several experiments on the employment of the vapour of ether in one of the 

 cylinders of a steam-engine. The results were very satisfactory as far as 

 regards the employment of the mechanical force contained in this vapour ; 

 but as regards safety, M. Zede stated that it is impossible to conceive the 

 danger arising from the use of so inflammable a liquid as sulphuric ether. 

 In order to remove this objection, M. Lafond has proposed to him the em- 

 ployment of chloroform in place of ether. 



Cause of Rain.— At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 M. Babiuet explained his theory of the cause of rain, founded on numej 

 rous observations. He supposes that a volume of humid and heated air 

 having risen into the upper regions of Ihe atmosphere, expands in the 

 rarer air ; consequently, the temperature becomes lowered, and the vapour 

 condenses and is precipitated in rain. There seems to be nothing new m 

 this theory, and it fails to assign an intelligible cause for the observed phe- 

 nomena of rain. It is founded also on the questionable assumption, that 

 the portions of the atmosphere near the earth rise when heated into the 

 strata of air above ; because, in most circumstances, the diflerence in the 

 pressure of the atmosphere at higher elevations, causes a greater diSerence 



