309 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



LOcTOaEE, 



wheels sfimowhat resemlilc tlio undershot-wheel of a water-mill ; 

 iMit instead of beine: turned by the impulse of the water, they are 

 used to lift it, and are kept in motion by steam-power. The float- 

 hnanls or ladle-boards of the wlieels are made of wood, and fitted 

 to work in a troiifrli or track of masonry ; and they are frenerally 

 made 6 feet in lenirth — that is to say, they are inwnersed 5 feet in 

 tlie water — and their width or horizontal dimension varies, with tlie 

 ])0Her of the eng-ine and the head of water to be overcome, from 20 

 inclies to .5 feet. The wheel-track at the lower end communicates 

 with tlie main drain, and the hiifher end with the river, the water 

 in the river beinjj kept out by a ))air of pointing doors, like tlie 

 lock [rates of a canal, which close when the enjjine ceases to work. 

 The wheels themselves are made of cast-iron, formed in parts, for 

 convenience of trans])ort. The float-boats are connected with the 

 ca-st-iron part of the wheel by means of oak starts, which are 

 stepjied into sockets cast in the circumference of the wheel to 

 receive them. There are cast-iron toothed segments fitted to the 

 wheel, into which works a pinion upon the crank-shaft of the 

 engine. 



When the head of water in the river or delivering drain does 

 not vary much, it is suflScient to have one speed for the wheel ; 

 but when the tide rises in the river, it is desirable to have two 

 speeds or powers of wheel-work — the one to be used at low-water, 

 and the other more powerful combination to act against the rising 

 tide. Hut, in most cases, it is not requisite to raise the water more 

 than three or four feet higher than the surface of the land intended 

 to be drained — and even that is only necessary when the rivers are 

 full between their banks, from a continnance of wet weather or 

 from upland floods. In some instances, the height of the water in 

 the river being affected by the tide, the drainage by natural out- 

 fall can take place only during the ebb ; and here, in case of long- 

 oontinuing rains, the natural drainage requires the assistance of 

 mechanical power. 



I have stated that the main drains have generally been made 7^ 

 feet deep, or more in larger districts — so that the water may never 

 rise higher than within 18 inches or 2 feet of the surface of the 

 gi-ound, and the ladle or float-board dip 5 feet below the water, 

 leaving a foot below the dip of the wheel, so that the water may 

 run freely to it, and to allow for the casual obstruction of weeds in 

 the main drain — wliich if it be sufficiently capacious and well- 

 formed, will bring down the water to the engine with a descent of 

 3 inches in a mile. Suppose, then, that the wheel dip 5 feet below 

 the surface of the water in the main drain, and that the water in 

 the river into which this water must be raised and discharged has 

 its level 5 feet above that in the drain, the wheel in such case will 

 he said to have 10 feet head and dip, and ought to be made 28 or 

 30 feet in diameter. I have finind it practicable to throw out the 

 water against a head of 10 feet, with a dip of 5 feet, — that is to 

 say, 15 feet head and dip with a wheel 35 feet in diameter; but in 

 another engine more recently erected 1 have made the wheel 4.0 

 feet in diameter. The engine tliat drives that wheel is of 80-horse 

 power, and is situated on the ten-mile bank near Littleport, in the 

 Isle of Ely. 



The largest quantity of water delivered by one engine is from 

 Deeping Fen, near Spalding. This fen contains 25,000 acres, and 

 is drained by two steam-engines — one of 80 and one of 60-horse 

 power. The 80-horse engine has a wheel of 28 feet in diameter, 

 with float-boards or ladles measuring 5^ by 5 feet, and moving with 

 a mean velocity of 6 feet per second. So that the section of the 

 stream, when the engine has its full dip, is 27ij feet, and the quan- 

 tity discharged per second is 165 cubic feet — equal to more than 

 4;'- tons of water in a second, or about 10,200 tons of water 

 in an hour. It was in the year 1825 that these two engines 

 were erected, and at that time the district was kept in a half- 

 cultivated state by the help of 44 windmills — the land at 

 times being wholly under water. It now grows excellent whe.it — ■ 

 producing from 4 to 6 quarters to the acre. In many districts land 

 has been purchased at from 10/. to 20/. an acre by persons who 

 foresaw the consequences of these improvements, and which they 

 could now sell at from 50/. to 70/. an acre. This increase in value 

 has arisen not only from the land being cleared from the injurious 

 effects of the water upon it, but from the improved system of cul- 

 tivation which it has enabled the farmers to adopt. 



The fen lands in Cambridgeshire and in part of the neighbour- 

 ing counties are formed of a rich black earth, consisting of decom- 

 posed vegetable matter, generally from 6 to 10 feet thick, although 

 in some places much tbicker, resting upon a bed of blue gault, 

 containing clay, lime, and sand. When steam-drainage was first 

 introduced, it was the jiractice to pare the land and burn it ; then 

 to sow rape-seed, and to feed sheep upon the green crop ; after 

 which wheat was sown. The wheat grown upon this land had a 



long weak straw, easily bent and broken, carrying ears of corn of 

 small size, and having but a weak and uncertain hold by its root iu 

 the black soil. Latterly, however, chemistry having thrown 

 greater light upon the operations of agriculture, it has been the 

 practice to sink pits, at regular distances, through the black earth, 

 and to bring up the blue gault, which is spread upon the surface 

 as a manure. The straw — by this means taking up an' additional 

 quantity of silex — becomes firm, strong, and not so tall as formerly, 

 carrying larger and heavier corn ; and the mixture- of clay gives 

 a better hold to the roots, rendering the crops less liable to be laid 

 by the vvind and rain ; whilst the produce is most luxuriant and 

 abundant. 



REGISTER OF ME'W PATENTS. 



THE STEAM HAMMER. 



James NAs»n'TH, and Holbrook Gaskell, of Manchester, en- 

 gineers, for ^^ certain improvements in mafhinerif or apparatus for 

 forging, stamping, and catting iron and other substances." — Granted 

 February 23 ; Enrolled August 23, 1848. 



This patent is for improvements in the steam-hammer, for 

 which invention patents were granted to the same parties in 1842, 

 1843, and 1844. The principal object of these improvements is to 

 regulate the action of the hammer with greater facility, by work- 

 ing the lifting-cylinder by means of an additional small steam- 

 cylinder. The general arrangement of the primary parts remain 

 very similar to the hammers now in general use. As is well- 

 understood, the hammer is lifted by admitting the steam below tlie 

 piston in the cylinder, and, by allowing the steam to escape, the 

 hammer, by its own gravity, falls and gives the required blow. In 

 the present invention, the force of the blow is regulated more 

 conveniently than before. For this purpose, there is a small 

 steam-cylinder for working the main slide-valve. This cylinder 

 is fitted with a piston, connected by means of a rod to the main 

 slide, to which the steam is admitted from the boiler. The small 

 cylinder is furnished with three steam-passages similar to ordinary 

 high-pressure engines, admitting steam alternately above and 

 below the piston, and regulated by the slide-vahe. This valve is 

 connected by a rod to the piston of another cylinder, which is 

 subject to the pressure of the steam from the main cylinder on the 

 under-side, and is depressed by steam entering from a tube com- 

 municating with the valve-jackets of the slides. Steam having 

 been admitted to the working-cylinder, the piston is elevated, ana 

 to regulate the height of the fall, a cock or valve is opened, com- 

 municating with an opening in the cylinder. This permits a rush 

 of steam to flow into a jiipe, which conveys it thence below the 

 piston, raising it by the pressure of the steam on the under surface. 

 The effect of this movement is to produce the requisite change in 

 the position of the vahe, so as to suffer the steam which entered 

 the small cylinder above the piston, to escape into the atmosphere ; 

 and by the entrance of steam below the piston, it elevates tlie 

 valve, so as to cover the steam-passage to the cylinder and the 

 eduction-port, thereby suffering the steam to escape from the main 

 cylinder ; consequently the hammer, by its own gravity, will fall 

 from the height to which it has been raised. There are three 

 passages, each furnished with a valve or stop-cock, the levers of 

 which are connected by rods to hand-levers, by which they may be 

 opened or shut at pleasure ; therefore, if the hammer is not re- 

 quired to fall from a height greater than the first opening, the 

 valve connected therewith must be closed and the one above it 

 opened, when the same action will be produced whenever the 

 piston is elevated above such opening by the escape of steam. 

 Two other methods of regulating the action of the hammer are 

 shown in the specification, but the one we have noticed is suflicient 

 to show the nature of the invention. 



The patentees claim :^First, the application and use of an 

 additional slide-valve, piston, .and cylinders, or .any of these parts 

 sepiirately, for the purpose of working the piston of the larger 

 cylinder, and thereby actuating the main slide, so as to produce 

 the alternate admission and escape of steam to and from the main 

 cylinder. — Secondly, the employment of apertures in the main 

 cylinder, for the purpose of working the piston and main slide, 

 thereby efl^ecting the motion of the hammer and regulating the 

 various heights to which is raised. — Thirdly, the use of a vessel, 

 with its plug or cock, so as to regulate the interval of time re- 

 quired for the falling of the hammer from the various heights to 

 which it is elevated. — Fourthly, the application of a valve, placed 

 in the eduction-port of the main cylinder, for actuating the valve, 



