1849.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



31 



it, with llie forces concernpd in cohesion ; and we may, in ihe present 

 Slate of tbiiiss, well feel urged to continue in our labours, encouraged by 

 Ihe hope of bringing it into a bond of union with gravity itself." 



EXPERIMENTS AT THE ROYAL ARSENAL. 



Woolwich, Dec. 14. — A series of experiments have been lately carried 

 on in the Royal Arsenal, to ascertain the practicahility of Captnin Chnds' 

 suggestion of employing two shots at one firing in actual service, and hnw 

 far danger was to be apprehended to those employed in working the guns 

 when double-shotted. Captain Chads made several experiments on his prin- 

 ciple on hoard the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, which were most 

 satisfactory to him, and on submitting the plan to the authorities, the 

 matter was referred to the members of the Select Committee at Woolwich, 

 who gave instructions that an 8-inch gun of G5 cwt., 9 feet long, should be 

 selected from a quantity recently received from the IjOjv Moor Company in 

 Yorkshire. The gun selected had been previously tested in the usual way 

 by firing two rounds with one solid shot and 20 lb. of powder each time, 

 and the experiments were commenced by firing two 56-pounder hollow shot, 

 with 5 lb. of powder each charge, and continued with the double shot and 

 the same quantity of powder up to the 60th round. From the 61st to the 

 70th round 6 lb. of powder were used in each charge ; from the 71st to the 

 80th round, 7 lb. ; from the 81st to the 90th round, 81b.; from the 91st 

 to the 100th round, 91b.; from the 101st to the 110th round, 10 lb. ; from 

 the lUth to the 120th round, 11 lb. ; from the 121st to the 130tb round, 

 121b.; from the 131st to the MOth round, 13 lb. ; from the 141st to the 

 150th round, 14 lb. ; from 151st to the 160th round, 15 lb.; from the 161st 

 to the 170th round, 161b.; from the 171st to the 180th round, 171b.; 

 from the 181st to the 190th round, 181b.; from the 191st to the 200th 

 round, 19 lb.; from the 201st to the 210tb round, 201b. ; and from the 

 211th to the 220th round, 21 lb. The last 10 rounds, with the heavy 

 charge of 21 lb. of powder, and the gun double-shotted each time, were 

 fired yesterday ; and on examining the gun after the experiment, it did not 

 appear to have sustained any perceptible injury, notwithstanding the severe 

 test it had undergone. The gun is only of cast metal, but this trial has 

 shown the superiority of the castings of the Low Moor Company, and the 

 small risk to the gunners employed in firing the guns under a test which it 

 was never contemplated they would be subjected to. It is intended to 

 carry on the experiment until the gun is burst, and to add an additional 

 pound weight of powder to each charge of every 10 rounds. The firing has 

 already disabled one carriage, and a carpenter attends the experiments in 

 case of injury to the platform by the recoil. The ultimate result is now 

 looked forward to with great anxiety, the test the gun has already experi- 

 enced having far exceeded the anticipations of the officers who have wit- 

 nessed the experiments. 



Dec. 20. — The experiments were renewed in the Woolwich Marshes, in the 

 presence of Colonel Dundas, C.B., Inspector of Artillery, and Lt.-Col. Chal- 

 mers, Assistant Director-General of Artillery. X new description of 32- 

 pounder shell was submitted by Caiit. Thistle, of the American army, who 

 was also present. This shell is formed very similar in shape to a sugar-loaf, 

 only rather more tapering at the point, into which a nipple is inserted, and 

 grooves are made along the cone nearly its entire length, in a slightly curved 

 form, wliinb caused the shell apparently, when fired, to go forward in a 

 straight direction like an arrow, instead of revolving in the same manner as 

 the common circular sliells. 



Eicperimentfi with Capt. Thistle's Shell, weight 32 lb., and 41b. charge 

 of Powder. 



No. of Dimensions 



Rounds. of Gun. 



32- pounder 



8-in. gun 



32-pounder 



8-in. gun 



32-pounder 



8-in. gun 



32-pounder 



8-in. gun 

 32.pounder 

 32 pounder 



* Capt. Tliistle's 32-lb. Shell. 

 All the rounds of both guns were fired at an elevation of 3i degrees, and 

 showed that the service of the guns and the shells used in the British ser- 

 vice could be depended upon when Capt. Thistle's shells only in one instance 

 made a range of 950 yards, and the three others only 650 yards, with the 

 same advantages in every respect. 



2 

 3 

 4 

 .■) 

 6 

 7 

 8 

 9 

 10 



NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



Royal Academy. — Silver Medals were awarded to Mr. J. Bidlake and Mr. 

 C. A. Gould, on the 9th ult , for drawings of the Whitehall front of Ihe 

 Banqueting House.— The Professor of Architecture, Mr. Cockerell, will, we 

 understand, commence his course of lectures to the students of the Aca- 

 demy on Thursday, the 4th inst., — and continue them during the five suc- 

 ceeding Thursdays. 



Gas Meter for the Houses of Parliament. — A gas meter, of very large 

 dimensions, has been constructed for registering the gas at the New Houses 

 of Parliament, at Messrs. Glover's Iron-foundry, Drury-lane. It is con- 

 structed and cast under the superintendence of Mr. Defrles, of 67, St. 

 Martin's-laue, the inventor and patentee. This machine, which is to be 

 placed in Ihe New Palace at Westminster, is an almost stupendous piece of 

 mechanism, being upwards of 10 feet in height and 20 feet in circumference 

 or girth ; it is in form a hexagon, the designs are in the Gothic manner, and 

 in exact keeping with the interior of the New Houses of Parliament, so 

 that it is an ornamental as well as a useful addition to them, and ought to 

 be placed so as to be seen by the public. The machine weighs four tons, 

 and is of capacity to pass 10,000 feet of gas per hour, and of supplying 

 2,000 lights with, according to calculation, the loss of only half a tenth of 

 pressure; at whi-h pressure It will work with the greatest ease. The prin- 

 ciple anil the action of the machine are very simple, and yet very accurate. 

 There are two chambers, the lower containing three partitions, called 

 diaphragms; as the gas, in its passage through the valve, acts upon these 

 diaphragms, they move the machinery in the upper chamber, and by these 

 means the quanlity of gas consumed is registered. The index consists of 

 six small dials almost similar to those of watches; on these the consump- 

 tion can be calculated with very minute accuracy. The iron has been 

 bronzed, and has a fine surface, the castings being remarkably sharp and 

 clean. The name of the patentee and the title of the Chartered Gas Com- 

 pany and the Royal arms are introduced. This meter far exceeds in dimen- 

 sions anything of the sort ever before attempted. 



The Tyne River.— The conservators of the River Tyne have for some 

 years been engaged in deepening the river and removing obstructions to the 

 shipping. One of the most formidable bars, which has long defied their 

 exertions, was Cockran Sand, about five miles below Newcastle. The re- 

 moval of this sand exposed a stupendous oak tree; which, on the 4th 

 ult, after being skilfully and securely chained to a vessel at low water, 

 was at high tide weighed and carried to Newcastle, where, by means of a 

 powerful crane, it was raised and laid on the quay. It measured 16 ft. 

 6 In. In circumference by 18 ft. long, and It is conjectured that It must 

 weigh at least 15 tons. A tree of such dimensions (and this may be consi- 

 dered but a moiety of the length of the stem) must lead us back to a very 

 early period. Certain it Is, that from the appearance of decay it must have 

 been many centuries In Its late position. Before it bowed its leafy head It 

 must have been at least of from 400 to 500 years' growth. The surface of 

 the side on which it lay is covered with a metallic coating of iron pyrites, 

 which, with another scaly covering of pyrites, forms a kind of gallery, in 

 some parts iin. to 1 Jin, apart, having in many parts the intermediate space 

 filled up with beautiful crystals of pyrites of minute size like needles. It 

 appears clear that the tree must have fallen or remained in the position In 

 which it was found; as below It and Imbedded with it were quantities of 

 small pieces of branch wood and hazel nuts, most of which were perforated 

 at the top, and empty. The wood or bark below the pyrites appears to the 

 extent of Jin. completely charred ; and for Sin. or 4ln. further the wood, 

 although it has not changed its colour (the lamina; being distinct), is yet 

 quite decayed. After this part is removed the rest is quite sound. — New- 

 castle Guardian. 



Discovery of an Ancient Cily in Asia Minor. — The Constantinople Journal 

 gives some curious details regarding a cily said to have been discovered in 

 Asia Minor by Dr. Brunner, — one of the agents employed by the govern- 

 ment of the Sublime Porte in peueirating inlo the most remote and inac- 

 cessible regions of the empire for the purpose of taking a census. While 

 occupied in exploring the extensive excavations of Bosouk, on Ihe confines 

 of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Galatia, Dr. Brunner, whose alteution was 

 attracted by the bold and curious passages opened into the living rock, 

 was accosted by a villager who offered to show him things far more inte- 

 resting on the other side of tlie mountain if he would trust to his guidance. 

 After some hesitation, the Doctor armed himself and followed bis guide, 

 taking his servant with him. Half-an-hour brought them round the 

 mounlain ; and then the Doctor found himself, says the narrative, In pre- 

 sence of the ruins of a considerable town. These ruins are situated to 

 the soulb-east of the village of Yunkeu'i and to the north of the village of 

 Tschcpu^, dislant balf-a-lea;;ue from one another; and the Doctor's 

 profound study of all the accounis, ancient and modern, of Asia Minor 

 furnish no trace by which he can identify them. The site of the town is 

 half a league In length. Ii conlains seven temples with cupolas and two 

 hundred and eighteen houses ; some in good preservation, others half 

 choked up wllh Ibelr own ruins and with vast fragments of rock delached 

 from the overhanging mountain. The houses have comparlmenis of three, 

 four, and six chambers, — and the temples are also (lanked with chambers. 

 The largest of these edifices is twenty feet long by twenty-eight wide. 

 So far as the ruins would permit the Doctor to estimate it, he conjectures 

 the height of some of the temples to be from twenty to thirty feet. There 

 are traces of plaster on the interior walls ; but not an emblem or Indication, 

 says Dr. Bruuner, to suggest the origin or date of the ruined city. All 

 his inquiries on the subject produced from the natives no better answer 

 than that these remains are " monuments of the infidels." Some old men 

 remembered to have seen birds and trees painted in fresco on the walls. — 

 Dr. Brunner proposes his deserted city as a puzzle for the archaologlsts. 



Statue of the Duke of Wellington. — The marble statue of the Duke of 

 Wellington, executed by Mr. Milner, was placed on Tuesday, 12th December, 

 within the Tower of London, of which his grace is High Constable. The 



