211 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrs JOURNAL. 



[J. 



Account of Hvdrnnlic and othor Machines for Rnising Water," 1>y 

 Tlionias Ewba'nk, publisliccl in IRl^, we there find, that '"in some 

 pumps Ixith a solid and a hollow piston are made to work in the 

 same cylinder. Such was the arranirenient that constituteil the 

 single-cliamber fire-enf^fine of Mr. Perkins. A plunger worked 

 throufrh a stuning-ho-v ; its capacity was about half that of the 

 (•\-linder, consequently on descending it displaced only tliat jiortion 

 of tlie contents of the latter. The apertures of discharge were at 

 tlie u'iper part of the cylinder, and a single i-eeeiving one at the 

 liottoin. From the lower end of the plunger a short rod projected, 

 to wliich a hollow piston or sucker was attached, fitted to work 

 close to the cylinder, so that when the plunger was raised, this 

 piston forced all the water above it through tlie discharging aper- 

 tures." — And in the same page: "Such pumps are more compact 

 th.m those with two cylinders, but they ave more complex, less effi- 

 cient, and more difficult to keep in order and repair. The friction 

 of the plunger and sucker is much greater than that of the piston 

 of an ordinary doul)le-acting pump of the same dimensions ; and 

 the latter discharges double" the quantity of vrater: for, although 

 double-acting, the effect of these pumps is only equal to single- 

 acting ones." 



Some of the latter remarks are undoubtedly right, and we in 

 some cases prefer the double-acting pump; and wlien two of the 

 double-acting pumps are employed, fixed on each side of the main 

 centre of the working beam of the steam-engine, we conceive it 

 impossible to devise a more efficient arrangement for raising water 

 from a few feet below the ground, to any reasonable height. 



At the Waterworks at Trafalgar-square (erected by us in 18 ti), 

 and also at Ramsgate, the water has to be raised from a consider- 

 alile deijth below^ the surface of the ground, by direct-acting en- 

 gines, without balance-beams; consequently, had we not employed 

 tlie iilungers in the working barrels of the pumps, to counter- 

 balance the weight of the pistons, pump-rods, &c., by displacing a 

 quantity of water in their descent, the whole of the power re- 

 quired for lifting the pistons and pump-rods would have been 

 wasted. 



We are. Sir, 



Your obedient servants. 



Easton and A-Mos. 



(irorr, Souihwark, l\th June, 1849. 



THE rUBLIC WORKS OF ENGLAND. 



No. I. — Canals. 



It may seem somewhat strange, that while canals of the greatest 

 magnitude had been undertaken on the continent, England con- 

 tented herself with scouring and deepening her rivers until the 

 middle of the last century. The necessity, it must be owned, was 

 nut so stringent as in France. Yet the development of commerce 

 in this country, long before the time we have mentioned, was suf- 

 ficient to render almost necessary some better means of inland 

 navigation than those affcu-ded by our natural watei'-courses. It 

 is true that the great southern towns, lying as they did either on 

 large rivers or by the sea, did not require canals to the same e.x- 

 teut as the cities of the northern and midland districts. As soon, 

 therefore, as industry and enterprise had begun to assume im- 

 ])ortance in those parts of the island, the idea of forming canals to 

 the various centres of manufacture followed as a matter of course; 

 and in the year 1720 we find the first definite proposal for the exe- 

 outiim of one of these important undertakings ever made in this 

 kingdom. At that time the means of effecting a communication 

 between the east and west seas, through the estuaries of the Aire 

 and Rililde, had attracted the attention of the enterprising men of 

 Ym-kshire and Lancashire. Various schemes were set on foot for 

 carrying this iiroject into execution, which resulted in an act being 

 olitiiiued, ill 17'io, for the undertaking which has since ripened 

 into the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. 



Before, however, any practical progress was made towards the 

 completion of this scheme, the Duke of Bridgwater commenced 

 the execution of his own magnificent canal, under the supervision 

 of Mr. Brindley. All other projectors now appear to have held 

 back until they could witness the result of this work; and, conse- 

 quently, scarcely anything was done in the way of inland naviga- 

 tion between 1737 and 17(>1, during which 2+ years the Dridyicider 

 CiiiKil was being carried through every obstacle and discourage- 

 ment, by the indomitable genius of its engineer, to a triumphant 

 completion. The history of that great work is too well known to 



be repeated here; but the more than doubts expressed concerning 

 it, and the proiihetic warnings of inevitable failure which were 

 uttered on all sides during its progress, prove how little was at 

 that time understood in this country respecting that class of un- 

 dertakings; and they prove, too, how extremely slow is the first 

 growth amongst us of that very enterprise which we are after- 

 wards destined to work out into such splendid development. The 

 canal cost 220,000/. — an enormous sum at that time, and from the 

 purse of a single individual. It is said that the Duke of Bridg- 

 water had to live for many years upon 400/. a year, in order to pay 

 for it. The recompense has been no less remarkable Long since 

 the annual income netted by means of the canal was valued at 

 130,000/., and notwithstanding the completion of a whole network 

 of railways through the district it traverses, that return, it is be- 

 lieved, is at present considerably exceeded. 



One single canal was commenced during the interval above men- 

 tioned; and which, having been completed before the Duke's, has 

 the honour of being the first work of the kind executed in Eng- 

 land. This was the Saiikey Canal, running from the mouth of the 

 Saukey Brook, in the Mersey, to St. Helen's. It is, however, little 

 more than an improved edition of the long-used river navigation, 

 as the brook is all along a feeder to the canal, which was by the 

 side of it. Its length is not more than 12 miles, the fall about 

 78 feet, with eight single locks and two double ones, so that this 

 first of our canal enterprises was no great work. Jlr. John Eyes, 

 of Liverpool, was the engineer. 



The opening of the Bridgwater Canal gave a new impetus to 

 this branch of enterprise. The Louth Canal got its act in 1763, 

 little more than a year after the ojiening of the Bridgwater. The 

 greater part of this canal is on a continuous level, very little above 

 the sea, running from the Humber, near Tetney Haven, to the 

 River Ludd. The length is but 14 miles, and the original estimate 

 16,500/. It was so defectively constructed, notwithstanding the 

 facilities of the county, that the whole affair, after 28,000/. aliove 

 the estimate had been raised on loan, vvas assigned to a single 

 man, Mr. Chaplin, to manage in his own way. This was the re- 

 sult of a too stringent economy in starting. It took a long time 

 to get public companies to understand their own interest. The 

 Louth Canal is now a useful work, as far as it goes, and very bene- 

 ficial to the town of Louth and the neighl)ourhood. 



The next canal attempted — in fact, tlie third opened in the 

 country — was, like the Bridgwater Canal, the speculation of a 

 single man. In 1764, Sir J. H. Duval cut a canal through the 

 solid rock, for the purpose of connecting Hartlepool Harbour, in 

 the county of Durham, with the sea. The canal is but 300 yards 

 long. The next canal was likewise a private undertaking, pro- 

 jected and executed by a single man. Air. J. Rymer made a canal 

 from his coal and lime works to the tideway in Kidvelly Harbour. 

 He obtained his act in 1766. Long after, in 1812, a company un- 

 dertook to improve and extend tlie canal, construct tramroads in 

 connection with it, &c., from which resulted the present Kidvelly 

 Canal, with its branches and adjuncts. 



Thus, out of the four canals first executed, three were strictly 

 private. In 1766 the first really important public canal was com- 

 menced, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire. This work was en- 

 gineered by Brindley himself, to proceed from the Severn, at 

 Stourport, to the Trent and Mersey navigation, near Heywood, 

 in Staffordshire. Its rise is considerable, as upon the top level it 

 runs for 10 miles at a height of 294 feet above the Severn at 

 Stourport, and of 352 feet above low-water mark at Runcorn. In 

 length it is almost 47 miles, and it cost 1 12,000/., including a 

 variety of accessary expenses in clearing away shoals from the bed 

 of the Severn. The trade on this canal is immense. 



The Trent and Mersey Canal was commenced in 1766. It was 

 suggested by the Duke of Bridgwater, witli whose water commu- 

 nication it is at one point connected, and was executed uji to the 

 time of his death by Mr. Brindley. The original estimate was 

 130,000/., but it cost 334,000/. Little wonder, for it comprises 

 127 aqueducts and culverts — one of the former over the River 

 Dove being very extensive— 91 locks, and 6 tunnels. The famous 

 Harecastle Tunnel, 2,S80 yards long, is situated on the summit 

 level of this canal, whose total length is 93 miles. 



The next undertaking in chronological order is one of the 

 noblest works in the kingdom. The Forth and Clyde Canal was 

 begun in 1768. This canal, commencing in the Forth at Grange- 

 month Harbour, passes within two miles of Glasgow, and thence 

 into the Clyde, being the first realised attempt at connecting the 

 two great seas of our island. Its length is 35 miles, and the 

 greatest rise 155 feet. By the recent improvements it has under- 

 gone, sea-borne craft, drawing 10 feet water, are able to navigate 

 through it, between the Irish Sea and the German Ocean. The 



