28 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 20, 



sire that this crimination and recrimination may cease on each aide. 

 Mr. Wheelwright's services are great and ought to be remunerated, 

 at the same time by liis own act he has precluded his re-instatement 

 in the active superintendence of the company's affairs. He cannot 

 hope that he can succeed in displacing the London directors, sup- 

 ported as they are by so many influential capitalists and large holders, 

 neither can they expect that Mr. Wheelwright can remain in opposi- 

 tion without great detriment to the credit of the company, and with- 

 out a serious depreciation of the value of its shares. Let Mr. Wheel- 

 wright have compensation, either in the shape of an annuity for a 

 short term of years, or of a per centage on the profits, when a certain 

 dividend has been paids let the bye laws excluding proxies be re- 

 scinded and two Liverpool directors elected on the board, and we be- 

 lieve a permanent settlement of all differences will be made, of the 

 most beneOcial result to all parties. 



Having got rid of the controversial portions, we will now proceed 

 to other points of more interest to our readers. Mr. Wheelwright, 

 with great judgment and foresight, urged on the directors at an early 

 period that the, steamers should be built of iron, and the boilers of 

 copper, and he gives satisfactory reasons for his recommendations. 

 These were not at that time acceded to, for the merits of iron steam- 

 ers on a large scale were not so firmly established as they are now; 

 neither was the alleged superiority of copper boilers admitted. The 

 directors were not therefore to blame in rejecting what they consi- 

 dered an experiment, in favour of the ordinary and established modes 

 of construction; but we hope on future occasions they will profit by 

 the arguments which Mr. Wheelwright so ably adduces in his reports. 

 He also well observes, 



" Nothing can be more desirable for the complete success of this 

 company than the extension of the line to Panama. Our steam ope- 

 rations would then embrace a continuous coast from the latitude of 9° 

 north, to the latitude of 37° south, a distance, including the sinuosi- 

 ties of the coast, of 35U0 miles. To secure these necessary and 

 •vitally important advantages, two more steamers are required, one to 

 make a monthly voyage between Lima and Panama, and the other to 

 take the i^lace of either steamer when repairs are necessary ; it is 

 utterly impossible to carry on economical steaming except by nursing 

 the steamers and not over- working them; the old adage of "a stitc/i 

 in time" is no where more applicable than to steam: procrastinating 

 repairs is absolute ruin ; however great may be our advantages in the 

 mildness of the Pacific, and the very slight wear and tear to which 

 we are exposed, unless these advantages can be sustained by having a 

 steamer to take the place of either when necessary, it would be much 

 better to abandon the enterprise altogether; any interruption of the 

 line is a most serious evil to the inhabitants and ruinous in its conse- 

 quences to the Company." 



We can only regret that Mr. Wheelwright's partisans should have 

 been those who at the recent meeting prevented the extension being 

 carried into effect. 



A point, with regard to which Mr. Wheelwright justly expresses 

 great anxiety, is as to the pass.ige of the isthmus at Panama, which 

 he has surveyed, and the practicability of the route over which he 

 has fully established, having on his return to England from Chagres, 

 occupied only 24 hours in travelling by land and water from the At- 

 lantic to the Pacific Ocean. We sincerely hope that this matter will 

 not be lost sight of, but that it will be seriously taken up, and obtain 

 every assistance from the government and the interests concerned. 



This has become the more necessary, since we learn from recent 

 Paris advices that M. Parella has been promoted to the rank of mining 

 engineer, and ^ippoinled by the French government to sail immediately 

 from Brest for the purpose of examining the isthmus of Panama, and 

 ascertaining the practicability of a communication, by canal or other- 

 wise, to Chagres. 



WEALE'S QUARTERLY PAPERS. 



Wealds Quarterly Papers on Engineering. Christmas, 1843. 

 PartlL London, Weale, 1843. 



The first volume of Mr. Weale's work is now completed, and we 

 can sincerely say that not only does this fact give us great pleasure, 

 but that we wish the series may be as extensive as it promises to be 

 useful. The work supplies a desideratum in engineering literature, 

 inasmuch as it affords provision for many valuable memoirs of great 

 length, which could not otherwise be submitted to the public gaze, 

 being in a Procrustean condition, as too long for our columns, and too 

 short to admit of separate publication. Such is the treatise on the 

 Dredging Machine, which would have been a hazardous experiment 

 to have published separately, and yet here we have a laborious dis- 



sertation, with no less than ten copper-plates describing the minutest 

 details. 



The first article of the present part is by Mr. F. W. Simros, C.E., on 

 setting out the widths of ground for the works of a railway or canal. 



The next is a memoir by Mr. S. Hughes, C.E., of William Jessop, 

 the engineer, being in continuation of the series, commenced in the 

 fir^t number, with memoirs of Brindley and Chapman. Thus engineer- 

 ing biography, a subject of considerable interest at the present moment, 

 when the profession is rising in public estimation, is likely to receive 

 great accessions, and to be put on a respectable footing. William 

 Jessop, the son of one of Smeaton's assistants, was born at Plymouth, in 

 1745. At the age of sixteen, his father having died, he was left un- 

 der the guardianship of Smeaton, whose pupil he became, and with 

 whom he remained ten vears. He was from that time (1772) employed 

 on the improvements of the rivers Aire, Calder, Hebble, and TrenU 

 About 1792 he was engaged on the Cranford Canal, the Nottingham 

 Canal, the Loughborough & Leicester Canal, the Barnsley, and the Horn- 

 castle navigation, and the Ouse navigation. His great work, however, 

 was the Grand Junction Canal. This was succeeded by the Grantham 

 Canal, the Barnsley Canal, and the Great Ellesmere Canal. He was 

 also employed on the Grand Canal, and other government works in 

 Ireland. About the commencement of the present century, Jessop 

 was called upon to take part in the dock establishments, and com- 

 pleted the City Ship Canal, and West India Docks, the first in London, 

 and the Bristol Harbour improvements. It is curious, also, that at 

 this time his attention was closely directed to the railway system, and 

 which, under the form of tramroads, he had been much employed in 

 extending to the mining districts of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Not- 

 tinghamshire. The Croydon and Wandsworth Surrey Tramway, the 

 first in the metropolitan district, was also Jessop's work. With the 

 Caledonian Canal Jessop was connected as consulting engineer. This 

 great engineer died in 1814, after severe sufferings from paralysis. 

 We should observe, that some controversy exists as to the engineer- 

 ship of the Ellesmere Canal ; Telford, who acted as Jessop's assistcint, 

 having subsequently claimed for himself the sole merit. Mr. Hughes 

 has entered into this question, and, we think, dune justice to Jessop s 

 claims. We are sorry to learn that in the compilation of this memoir, 

 Mr. Hughes has received no assistance from the Messrs. Jessop, which 

 is, we think, far from creditable to gentlemen of their high public 



standing. ... ,■ ,- j 



The third paper is on the Dredging machine, in continuation and 

 conclusion of an article published in the first part. It is as we have 

 already said, copiously illustrated with copper-plate engravings. 



The fourth paper is by Captain Vetch of the Royal Engineers, on 

 the advantages of employing a framework of malleable iron iii the con- 

 struction of jetties and breakwaters. We shall leave the gallant cap- 

 tain to explain his system in his own words, but he has not certainly 

 said enough to satisfy us as to the practicability of his plans. 



" The mode of construction upon this project consists essentially in the 

 application of upright rods of malleable iron, steadied and fixed in their 

 places bv passing them through apertures in two parallel and horizontal 

 frames of flat iron, provided with corresponding orifices to receive them ; 

 the lower frames being placed about three feet above the low-water mark 

 and the upper frame about tnree feet above the high-water mark, or at such 

 other convenient distances apart as the circumstances of the case may de- 

 mand. The horizontal frames may be conveniently constructed in short 

 lenRths, say of four feet each, and an additional piece of frame may be con- 

 nected with the preceding one by round bolts passing through loops forming 

 80 many moveable joints, that the frames may be the more easily raised, 

 lowered, or adjusted to the required level, if from the settlement of the up- 

 right rods, they have swerved from their original horizontal position, the 

 new lengths of frames having been bolted to the preceding ones, and re- 

 tained in a horizontal position by diagonal stays, are ready to receive the up- 

 right rods, which are then to be dropped separately through the correspond. 

 inK apertures of the frames, and each allowed to take its bearmg separately 

 bv its own gravity, or by such farther pressure as may be deemed proper. 

 When the rods have taken their bearing and settlement, a row of slopmg 

 rods have to be added to each side of the jetty, inclining inwards one foot 

 in ten or twelve, to give lateral support ; and at this state of the operation, 

 it is proposed to key on to the rods the iron collars for the permanent sup- 

 port of the horizontal frames and the platform." 



OBiTn^RY.— We have to announce, with regret, the demise of Mr. John P. 

 Brii!-s R A., which look place on ihe 18tb insi., about 5 o clock, at his Mouse 

 m foutun Street. Mr. Brij^ss was lon^ a sh,ni..8 ornament to the profesMon 

 of the fine arts, and bis deilh will be esteemed a great loss by all he lovers 

 of Kenius. Mr. Bnggs bad not been in town aUove a formight, at er a tour 

 of six month, on thi Continent. He has left two children of a tender age to 

 lament his loss. 



