184.9.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



63 



Oil Chemical Processes for the Boring of Rocks, Sfc, to be Blasted. — 

 M. Courhebaisse having stated that calcareous rucks only C(iuld lie acted 

 upon hy hydrochloric acid for hlastini: purposes, and that the silicious rocks, 

 quartz, jjranite, &e., required the eninlnyment of another agent — most pro- 

 halily hydrofluoric acid, which it would lie necessaiy to make on , the spot ; 

 and haviuit also stated that he had not heen aide to undertake any experi- 

 ments oil the subject, with a view to save miners and engineers from useless 

 and expensi I e experiments, a civil engineer of Nantes, M. Emeril, deteindned 

 to experimentise on the subject, and he therefore directed a large quantity of 

 hydrofluoric acid to be used both in a liquid and gaseous state. The result 

 of these experimenis proved the impracticability of the process for mining 

 purposes, for the gelatinous layer formed by the action of the acid on the 

 rock effectually prevented the application of another portion of acid. Not- 

 withstanding all endeavours, most carefully and assiduously made, there was 

 not obtained the slightest benefit from the application of this process. Be- 

 sides, the tediuusness of the operation would prevent its practical adoption. 



Peat Charcoal, prepared on the principle patented by Mr. Jasper 

 Rogers, is a complete disinfectant when applied to offensive matter, the 

 rnxious effluvia being entirely destroyed by it. A manufactory for it has been 

 erected in the forest of Dartmoor. It is cut out in cubes of 8 to 10 inches 

 diameter, and immediately carried to a powerful press, where it is reduced 

 about two-thirds in bulk, and nearly deprived of its water. It is then 

 loaded in the trucks, and is cinveyeii to the works, wh"re it is boiled in a 

 mixture of coal-tar, pitch, peat naphtha, and other liydrooarbons. After 

 saturation and drainage, the peat is fit for charging the retorts, composed of 

 fire-clay, 9 feet long, and 5 feet in diameter, holding two tons of saturated 

 peat each, and capable, when in full operation, of working 8 tons each in 

 24 hours. The gaseous products from these retorts jiass much after the 

 mode adopted in ordinary coal-gas works, along a hydraulic main, and 

 through a long set of condensers, whence, after being deprived of all its 

 condensable adjuncts, the purified gas is brought, by means of pipes, be- 

 neath the retorts, where it serves as a very powerful fuel. The condensed 

 matter from the peat contains an immense proportion of stearine or vegeta- 

 ble tallow, oil, and naphtha. When the retorts are discharged, the charge 

 requires to be drawn into a close iron chest on wheels, with a tightly fitting 

 lid, which must be immersed in water, as the charcoal retains its heat for a 

 very long lime; and if quenched with water, as is the case with gas-coke, 

 it imbibes so much of that fluid as very materially to deteriorate its quality. 

 The extraordinay effects it has had upon smiths' work in particular, chiefly 

 from tlie total absence of sulphur — has been such, that it has acquired the 

 cnpcurient testimony of several intelligent smiths. The absence of clinker 

 at the nozzle of the bellows, the perfect freedom from scale on the iron, so 

 that an iron horse-shoe lonks like one of steel, and that delicate instrument, 

 the weaver's pick, when broken, is welded together with ease. 



Valuable Products of Peat. — At a recent meeting of the Royal Sociely, 

 for the promotion and impiovenieut of the growth of flax in Ireland (the 

 Marquis of Downshire in the Chair), ftlr. C^wen, of London, referred to 

 a discovery which his friend Dr. Hodges would say, was worlhy of the 

 deepest consideration of every one present. Having heard, some time 

 fiuce, that from peat there could be produced ammonia, naphtha, soda 

 ash, oil, spermaceti, and some other substances, he left London for Paris, 

 and called on an eminent chemist there. He had been previously speaking 

 on the subject with a Mr. Ueere,also an eminent chemist, who tolil himtliai 

 for the expense of '601., be could produce from 100 lb. of peat, chemical re- 

 sults to the value of 148/. it was IMr. lieece who referred him to the Paris 

 chemist, and when lie (Mr. Owen) produced to the Pans chemist the 

 statement of Mr. Iteece, as to what he could do with the peat, the former 

 assured biin (Mr. Owen) that lie could really do all that he had stated in 

 the document. He then rang a bell, and ordered the results of his experi- 

 nieuts to be brought up from his own luboialory, and then he (Mr. Owen) 

 saw with Lis own eyes the sperm caudles made, the ammonia, the oil. and 

 the soda ash produced from peat ; and that chemist thought this 

 was the greatest discovery of the age, and one vt'hich would eventually 

 convert the greatest obstacle to improvement mto the greatest blessings, 

 and double the fertility of the soil, to an extent that none could estimate. 

 Well, he (Mr. Owen) being a man of business, declined to take any of 

 these statements for granted, and consequently be had got a great number 

 of experiments made by Dr. Hodges and his friend Mr. Keece, which 

 were enliiely coufirmatory of all the statements made by his friend iMr. 

 lieece. But still, not to deceive himself or others, he was determined to 

 have an experiment made on a large scale, aud had employed the largest 

 appaiatus in use for that purpose; and be rejoiced to tell this meeting 

 thai his great experiments had commenced, and the results were beyond 

 all expectations for everything had succeeded to his utmost wislies. Mr. 

 Owen here handed to the Chairniun a sample of the spermaceti so pre- 

 |iared by him, which was minutely examiued by his lordship, and a great 

 number of other gentlemen in the room. He came there as a friend of 

 Irelaud, and he would return to England in a few days binlily gratified 

 with the result of this meeting, and with his love and admiraliou of 

 Ireland greatly increased. It was expected that, according to Mr. Recce's 

 system, llicy might be able to work 100 tons of peat per day : this would, 

 in a short time, clear the land of the peat, and thus produce oue of the 

 greatest possible blessings to Irelaud, in clearing the laud, and making it 

 tit for agncultuial purposes. — The Chairman said that peat was of con- 

 siderable value in the uoitU of Ireland, but in the south it was going to 

 waste. 



Splitting a Bank-Note. — The governor and directors of the Bank of 

 England, having been informed of the extraordinary ii^enuity of Mr. Bald- 

 win, and that he was able to split not only a newspaper, hut a bank-note, 

 sent for him in order to test his skill. That his task might be as diflicult as 

 possible, they picked him out one of the old \l. notes, which are printed on 

 paper much thinner than the notes of the present day, and told him to split 

 it if he could. Mr. Baldwin took the note home with him, and returned 

 it the next day, in the state he had promised. The paper was not in the 

 slightest degree torn, and seemed as though it had just come from the 

 manufactory, so little was its appearance affected by the operation. The 

 directors remunerated Mr. Baldwin for his troulile, but could not elicit from 

 him the means he employed. The discovery is considered of much im- 

 portance ill connection with the paper currency of the country. 



Conway Tabular Bridge. — The deflection which lately took place, at the 

 testing of the second lube over the river Conway, by Captain Sjmonds, 

 the government inspector, was very slight, and the result is staled to be 

 highly sati-.fKCtory. Before any of the testing weights were drawn into 

 the tunnel, it was ascertained that the deflection then existing was I'Sli 

 inch. T'he testing ballast amounting to 23i> tons 14 cwt. 2 qrs., caused an 

 additional deflection ot l'5G inch only, thereby showing that, with the 

 whole of the above superimposed weight, the departure fiuiii a straight 

 line was only to the extent of 342 inch. The load having been wiilidratm, 

 in less than 10 minutes the whole structure regained its former dellectiou. 

 The variation in the adjoining tube, which has now bfen in use fur so 

 many mouths, does not, it is leporled, exteud even to the -j';; part of an 

 inch. 



Ornamental Cast-Iron JVindows. — The Messrs. M'Adam, of Soho Foun- 

 dry, Beliast, have ri-cenlly completed a number of ornamental windows for 

 the new palace of the Pacha of Egypt : they are of cast-iron, and uf very 

 large dimensions, being 20 feet high and 8 wide — each window weighing 

 five tons. They are to be bronzed and gilt after being erected. 'Ihe same 

 firm have also erected on the banks of the Nile, for the Egyptian govern- 

 ment, a number of very large steam pumping-engines, to raise the water o£ 

 the river for the purpose of irrigation. 



Gold Mines in Wales. — The Mining Journal gives an account of tw*o 

 mines which have been opened in the Cwiu-heisian Valley, called the East 

 and West Cwm-heisian Mines respectively. The West Cwm-heisian iline 

 is pitched upon a group of five lodes, one only of which has heen explored 

 to the depth of 40 yards. Two rich courses of lead ore have been found 

 therein, aud continue in depth. The lead ores are accompanied by blende 

 and sulphur ores, which, as well as the lead ores, contain a sufllcient quan- 

 tity of gold to pay the cost of extraction. About 900 yards north-east of 

 the West Cwm-heisian is the East Cwm-heisian Mine, situate on a group of 

 14 large aud powerful lodes, or veins, having many different bearings — the 

 prevading one being north-west and south-east, which intersect each other 

 within a distance of about 200 yards. As might be expected, under such 

 favourable circumstances, very rich results have been obtained; the veins 

 contain highly argentiferous lead ores, potter's lead, blende, iron, and arse- 

 nical pyrites, all of which are mixed vviih gold. Tiie mine was originally 

 opened as a lead mine, but a small quantity of very rich auriferous ore being 

 found within a few feet of the surlace, yielding from 7 to 16 ozs. ot gold per 

 ton of ore, induced an inquiry whether the present intention of working for 

 /ea(/ should not be afandoiied. At first the discovery of gold was considered 

 to be more curious than valuable ; hut, on further examination, large quan- 

 tities of the tinstone, and ores taken fiom the veins at distant points, gave 

 valuable results in gold. The owner then determined to have the mine 

 opened to an extent which should set the question at rest, as to whether it 

 were really to be considered a gold or a lead mine. To this end, a shaft was 

 sunk to the depth of 30 yards, many fathoms of levels were driven, and 

 several hundred tons of ore raised from the workings. For a distance of 200 

 yards which lias been explored, t/ie masses of mineral, Jormed by the falling 

 together of so many veins, is upwarUs of iO feet in width, and isjound to be 

 of equal dimensions in depth. Beyond the intersection, both east and west, 

 the veins radiate, and are from 3 to 20 feet in width, extending from three- 

 quarters to one mile in !enj;th, within the limits uf the setts. The result of 

 the foregoing operations has been, to prove that wherever the veins have 

 been opened, they are found to contain gold, both in depth and length, and 

 that every kind of mineral contained in theiu is mixed with gold. The whole 

 mass of the veins must be wrought for gold as the primary object, and the 

 lead and silver-lead ores will lie obtained at the same time, without extra 

 cost. The gold is remarkably pure, and free from alloy, and will average iu 

 value iU per.oz., or 2d. per grain, in order to prove the value of the ore 

 raised, an experiment was tried on 300 tons of it, fairiy broken from all 

 parts of the mines. The whole quantity was concentrated into lOj tons of 

 washed ore, containing 84,487 grains of gold, or 176 ozs. troy, giving an 

 average of 16 ozs. and a fraction per ton of washed nre, or 281 grains uf 

 gold per ton of raw ore; and by carefully picking out the waste and slate 

 from the raw ore, before it was pulverised, it was found that the average 

 might be raised to more than 3J0 grains per ton. The mines being situate 

 in the bottom of a deep valley, where there is an abundant supply of water,, 

 it is estimated that the cost of raising the auriferous ore, aud extracting the 

 gold from it, will not exceed, on an average, 72 grains of gold, or r2s. per 

 tju of rough ore; and it is very probable that the amount of the cost will 

 be reduced, when the work-people employed become more experienced ia. 

 the manipulation of the ore. 



