CO 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL 



[Fkbruary, 



alive to the great value nf mill. power for apriouKural purposes, and his 

 lordship has erected a water-mill, similar in most of its leading features to 

 that which has been described, upon one of his farms in the neighbourhood. 

 In this case, the drainage water of the farm is collected into a reservoir, 

 sufficiently above the farm buildings to obviate the necessity of sinking the 

 wheel so deeply below the surface of tlie ground as was necessary in the 

 former instance; the water is brought from the reservoir in cast-iron pipes, 

 laid underground until they approach the mill-wheel, when they rise in a 

 crane-ne(k, and discharge the water upon its upper surface; the tail water 

 is got rid of by a culvert discharging into a lower level, as in the former 

 instance. I found, on going over the estate that other of his lordship's 

 tenants were desirous of making arrangements with the agent for similar 

 erections, being evidently anxious to secure to themselves the same advan- 

 tages as were enjoyed by their neighbours, and quite willing to pay an addi- 

 tional rent, equivalent to the advantages conferred. 



The spirit of improvement exhibited on the estate is very gratifying, and 

 presents great inducements to the capitalists and landowners of this king- 

 dom to turn their attention to like improvements. In point of remunera- 

 tion, the profits to be thus realised throw all other investments with which 

 I am acquainted far into the shade, and the encouragement they atTord is 

 most important in a national point of view. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 

 Jan. 8. — Sydney Smirke, Esq., V.H., in ihe Chair. 

 A paper was read " On the various Qualifies of Caen Stone," by Mr. 

 C. H. Smith — It explained various analyses of the stone, and experi- 

 ments on different beds as to resistance and compression, and also on the 

 absorbent character of each variety of the stone. 



The Chairman stated that in one building erected under his direction 

 the use of Caen stone instead of Poriland saved near 14,0002. 



Jan. 22.— T. BrLLAMY, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



A paper " On the Girder- Bridge over the Polloc and Govan Railway," 

 was read by Mr. Donaldson. It is given in another part of the Journal 

 (p. 57.) 



Mr. Jennings described a new water-closet invented by him, which 

 consists of the ordinary basin. The trap is formed of a tube of vul- 

 canised india-rubber, compressed by two clips close together when not in 

 use, and forms an air tight joint. 



SOCIETY OF ARTS, LONDON. 



Jan. 24. — T. Winkwortii, Esq., in the Chair. 



The Secretary read a paper, by Professor B. Woodcroft, " On Steam 

 Naviyation.^^ 



Steam in its present practical state owes its origin and progress to the 

 improvements recently made in the steam-engine in this country. The em- 

 ployment of animal power in the propulsiim of vessels by means of 

 paddle-wheels is of very ancient dale ; aud the substitution of steam for 

 the same purpose was suggested as sojn as the steam-engine was rendered 

 effective in pumping water from mines, long before it was found capable, 

 from its then imperfect stale, of propelling a vessel advantageously. 



In 1472, Poberl Vallurius gave a view of two galleys, moved by 

 wheels. — In 1545, HIasco de Garay, a Spanish .sea-captain, is said to have 

 exhibited an engine by which vessels and ships of large size could he pro- 

 pelled. — In 1705, John Bramah, the inventor of the hydraulic press, of a 

 lock, &c., obtained a patent under the following title: — "His new in- 

 vented Hydrostatical Machine and a Boiler, on a more peculiar priuciple 

 than any yet made known to the public ;" and one of the inventions de- 

 scribed in his specification is a " mode of propelling vessels by the im- 

 proved rotatory-engine therein described and claimed (which will act as a 

 pump), by means of a paddle wheel or what may be called a screw- 

 propeller."— On January 5, 1769, James Watt obtained a patent for im- 

 provements in the steam-engine, one of which was for causing the steam 

 to act above the piston as well as below, and this was called the "double- 

 impulse" or double-acting engine. This was the first step towards the 

 practical application of the steam engine to propelling steamboats. — In 

 1785, a patent was granted to William Symington for " his new inveuied 

 steam-engine on principlea entirely new;" and in 1787, Patrick Miller pub- 

 lished a pamphlet on the subject of propelling boats by paddle-wheels 

 moved by men. The vessels to whit h Ihey were applied were called Ti-iple 

 Vessels, the deck being constructed so as to cover three small vessels, aud 

 the two paddle-wheels being fixed in the space between the vessels. 



The first boat which the steam-engine was used for the purpose of pro- 

 pelling was constructed by Mr. Symington, at the suggestion of Mr. 

 Taylor, a person to whom Mr. Miller had made known his views as to the 

 possil)ility of propelling vessels by means of paddle-wheels. From ttie 

 experience which Mr. Symington gained in the construction of Mr. 

 Miller's boat, aud the circumstance that in 1780, the crank had been dis- 



covered by Pickard, and at this time the double-acting cylinder and crank 

 were being used for stationary engines, he abandoned his own old engine, 

 and obtained a patent for applying a double acting reciprocating engine to 

 a boat, aud for placing his crauk on the axis of the paddle-wheel. This 

 was a very important discovery. 



The name o( the vessel in which Symington combined the double-acting 

 engine of Watt, the crank and fly-wheel of Pickard, and the improved 

 wheel of Miller, was the Charlotte Dundas. This combination of ma- 

 chinery constituted the system of sleam navigation now used, and this vessel 

 was the parent steamboat of its race. Mr. Fulton, the American engineer, 

 and Mr. Bell, the Scotch engineer, were on board the Charlotte Dundas, and 

 acquired a knowledge of the machinery used by Symington. Mr. Fulton 

 suhsequently introduced this system of propelling in America, and he was 

 the first person to establish steamlioats for practical purposes. — Mr. Bell 

 was the first person iu Europe who established practical steamboats. 



From the establishment of practical steam uavigation, in 1807, to the 

 year 1837, the paddle-wheel was the only instrument used to react against 

 the water; but in the latter year, an instrument, now generally termed the 

 screw-propeller, was practically introduced by Captain Ericsson. Al- 

 though almost innumerable modes of propelling vessels have from time to 

 time been suggested and patented, the only instruments that have hitherto 

 been found of practical benefit are the paddle-wheel and screw-propeller, 

 ^each under various modifications: — The varieties of paddle-wheels as im- 

 proved by Miller; the Morgan paddle-wheel, invented by Mr. E. Gallo- 

 way, and the split paddle-H heel, invented by Mr. Field. The varieties of 

 the propeller, are portions of an uniform pitch-screw, patented by Captain 

 Ericsson; or the increasing pitch-screw, patented by Mr. Woodcroft. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



Jan. 9. — J. Field, Esq , President in the Chair. 



The paper read was " A Description of the improved Forms of Water 

 Wheels." By Mr. W. Fairbairn, M. Inat. C.E. 



After noticing the opportunity for improvement afforded by the substitu- 

 tion of cast and wrought iron tor timber, in the construction of hydraulic 

 machines, the author pointed out the disadvantages and loss of power at- 

 tending the principle and the form of the old water-wheels. He quoted 

 Dr. Rubison's "Mechanical Philosophy," for the numerous disadvantages 

 of the old form of bucket, and the difficulties arising from the attempts of 

 the old millwrights to design a shape which should retain the water for a 

 greater length of time in it, and thus give out more power. The chief 

 ditficulty was the opposition of the air to the entrance of the water; and 

 numerous contrivances, such as boring holes in the starts, making the spout 

 much narrower than the face of the bucket, &c., were tried ; but still the 

 difficulties existed, and induced Mr. Fairbairn to adopt the construction de- 

 scribed in the paper, and which he termed "the Ventilating Water- Wheel." 

 The general object of these modifications was to prevent the condensation of 

 the air, and to permit its escape during the filling of the bucket with water, 

 as also its re admission during the discharge of the water into the lower 

 mill-race. 



The paper then described minutely the principles and construction of 

 the large wheels erected for the (jatrine and Deanston Works ; for Mr. 

 Brown, of Linwood, near Paisley ; for Mr. Duckworth, of Handforth ; for 

 Mr. Ainsworth, of Cleator ; and tor others; and showed that in all cases 

 the system had proved eminently successful. These wheels were all on the 

 suspension principle, with wrougbt-iron arms, radiating from cast-iron 

 centres to the periphery, and so placed that the whole structure was in 

 tension, the motion being communicated from internal toothed-wheels, 

 fixed to the shrouding. The various modifications of the forms best 

 adapted for different heights of fall were described ; but it will suffice to 

 give that for breast- wheels for high falls, as it appeared the most complete. 

 These wheels weie described to possess many advantages beyond the over- 

 shot, the undershot, or the common breast-wheels, and were best adapted 

 for falls not exceeding 18 feet or 20 feet, and where at times there was a 

 considerable depth of back water; and such was the improvement caused 

 by this system, that the wheel at Mr. Ainsworth's mill was frequently 

 plunged from 5 feet to 6 feet in the back water, without its uniform speed 

 being impeded. The wheel had a close sole; the tail end of the buckets 

 were turned up at a distance of two inches from the back of the sole-plate, 

 and running parallel with it, terminated within about two inches of the 

 bend of the bucket, immediately above it. The water, in entering the 

 bucket, drove the air out by the aperture into the space behind, and thence 

 into the bucket above, and so on in succession. The converse occurred 

 when the buckets were emptied, as the air waa enabled to flow in as fast as 

 the wheel arrived at such a position as to permit the water to escape. It 

 appeared to he allowed that this system had been very generally successful, 

 and that the results obtained had approached, very nearly, to the stated 

 duty of the Turbine, whose powers bad, however, been much exaggerated, 

 and had been allowed recently by M. Fourneyron not to have obtained more 

 than about 72 per cent, as a mean duty. 



Jan. 16. — The annual meeting was held this evening. 



The following gentlemen were elected to form the Council for the en- 

 suing year: — President: J. Field. Vice-Presidents : W. Cubitt, J. M. 

 Reudel, J. Simpson, and 1{. Stephenson, M.P. Council: J. F, Bateman, 



