348 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[September, 



THE SAFETY BEACON ON THE GOODWIN SANDS. 

 The foUoH'ing extract from a private letter in the Times, dated Deal, Sept. 

 17, written by a gentleman who was an eye-witness to the late operations on 

 the Goodwins, and who has taken a deep interort in the success of the safety 

 beacon, may be interesting to our readers : — " Captam Bullock has just com- 

 pleted the replacement of his safety beacon on the Goodwin Sands, which was 

 run down by a careless Dutchman some weeks ago. It now stands erect on 

 those dangerous sands, the record of a simple design, which has led to attempts 

 of a similar humane and praiseworthy character, but of a more elaborate and 

 costly descriptson. It is affixed upon the same principle as the first, with an 

 improvement in its base. This is now composed of iron instead of wood : and 

 it consequently penetrates further into the sand than the former. From the 

 stability of the materials of which it is composed there is no doubt, ' barring 

 accidents' of a similar nature the last, it will last for years. A proof thus far 

 has been obtained that beacons of refuge may now be placed upon any sand. 

 Tlie honour of having led the way to these useful undertakings (even after 

 this simple contrivance shall have been eclipsed, by the substitution of beacons 

 of a more durable description) is due to Captain Bullock. There is no doubt 

 that the first beacon of refuge has been the happy means of saving both life 

 and property, answering the double purpose of a warning and a refuge. It 

 has cautioned the unwary of the. proximity to danger, and has been a guide 

 even to those who were aware of its erection in the constant communication 

 between Dover and Ostend. During my visits to the Goodwins, while the 

 beacon was in the course of re-erection, my attention was particularly drawn 

 to the fact, that the foundation of the former beacon remained unmoved and 

 nnabsorbed. Day after day I walked upon the mass of chalk deposited by 

 Captain Bullock, now four years ago. In consequence of this circumstance I 

 perceive that Captain Bullock has resorted to his former plan by throwing 

 upon the same foundation between 50 and GO tons of concrete blocks, chalk, 

 and shingle, all of which have stood unchanged during the continuance of 

 the late calm weather. The tide, so strong as it passes the shallow, has had 

 no visible effect upon the mass, around which the sand had accumulated 

 nearly two feet in height, and H now remains as the result of a most interest- 

 ing and successful experiment. The present gale (while I am writing) from 

 the southward will prove whether it will eventually stand against the boiling 

 surf, by which it will be surrounded and assailed. I liave myself very little 

 fear for the heavy concrete blocks which constitute the base ot the cone ; but 

 I think it very likely that the upper portions of the undefended and loose 

 shingle may be disarranged, and the cone somewhat flattened down. It is, 

 however, but an experiment, and the problem will probably be demonstrated 

 that human skill and ingenuity cannot overcome the formidable Goodwins 

 with small means, and that man cannot successfully wage ' a little war' with 

 such a foe. However, I must say, from all 1 have heard, that the Lords of 

 the Admiralty have behaved in the most kind and handsome manner to Capt. 

 Bullock, in enabling him to possess thus far every facility for carrying out his 

 humane and highly praiseworthy undertaking." 



FIRE-PROOF WAREHOUSES AT LIVERPOOL. 



The noble pile of warehouses now being erected for Mr. Brancker, is un- 

 questionably the largest yet erected in Liverpool, occupies the three fronts 

 of Great Ilowaid Street, Dublin Street, and Dixon Street, and covers 4,433 

 square yards of land, being only 407 yards less tlian an acre. It is divided 

 into eleven warehouses, of something less than 400 square yards each, not 

 including the walls. The external walls are 3 J bricks thick, and the division 

 walls are 3 bricks. When completed, the warehouses will be 05 feet high, 

 and will have six stories of rooms, besides the basement or cellar story. 

 Every window throughout the pile is to be glazed with large sheets of plate 

 glass, and each is protected by a strong wrought-irou shutter, secured to an 

 iron frame. The floors are formed by iron girders or beams, resting on 

 columns of great strength, and are all secured together by wrought iron 

 coupUng bars. The bearing beams rest on large blocks, made of Welsh fire- 

 clay, and brick arches of 9 inches thick are to be thrown from beam to beam, 

 the lateral thrust of the arches being counteracted by wrought iron tie rods, 

 strongly secured to the beams, which are placed horizontally every C feet on 

 the average. These connecting rods are \\ inches square, and are tested to 

 resist a tension of 35 tons each. Every bearing beam is also tested by a 

 lever press, at the building, to bear on its centre a pressure of 38 tons, which 

 is equivalent to a weight of four tons on each square yard. The floors of the 

 whole structure are to be laid with Welsh fire tiles, bedded in Terras mortar 

 — there being an intervening strata of sand to prevent the fracture of the 

 arches should heavy goods be thrown down upon them. The entrance doors 

 are made double — that is, of two separate plates rivetted together, having a 

 cavity of an inch between them, with six small air holes, so that if either 

 side of the door became heated, the other side would be comparatively cool. 

 The various rooms have also iron double doors of communication, each door 



being placed on the internal face of the wall, so as to leave a space of two feet 

 between them. The staircases are enclosed from the rooms by walls of two 

 bricks thick. These staircases are 18 feet long, by 7 feet 6 inches broad, and 

 all the steps are of Yorkshire stone. Each staircase is to be provided with 

 an upright main, of 6 inches diameter, ^vhich is to be supplied with water 

 from the mains about to be laid down by the Sewerage Commissioners, and 

 which, from the pressure of the Low-hill reservoir, will always be full of 

 water. On each landing there is to be a brass stop-cock screwed, to fit 

 either the hose kept on the premises (00 feet long being appropriated to 

 each room), or it will fit the hose of the Commissioners and Fire Police, so 

 that in case of fire there will be an abundant supply of water on each land- 

 ing, and instantly available. Small apertures are provided through which 

 the branch can be inserted, and as each room will be perfectly air-tight, it 

 will be impossible, if a fire occurs, for it to break out into flame. The stair- 

 cases are so admirably constructed, that if every room in the building was 

 on fire, men may he placed m perfect security on each landing, and pour a 

 continuous stream of water into every room. All the entrance doors are 

 recessed back from the fronts of the building, and there are no projecting 

 cat-heads or pent-houses beyond the line of the edifice. The roofs are all 

 to be formed of wrought iron trusses, covered with Welsh slates ; and parapet 

 walls are to he built between each warehouse for additional security. Great 

 attention seems to be paid to the drainage, there being three large dry wells 

 of 5 feet diameter and 20 feet deep, and barrel sewers are being carried from 

 all parts of the cellars into these wells. The whole of these magnificent 

 buildings have been designed, and are being erected, by Messrs. Samuel and 

 James Holme. — Liverpool Journal. 



MILLSTONES. 



M. Guevin Bouchon and Company sent to the Exposition of France seve ■ 

 ral millstones. Among them was one of Train's aiJriferous millstones, the 

 arrangement of which allows the circulation of cold air under the millstones, 

 in order to prevent the heating, which so often does injury to the grist. 

 These millstones are generally 1'3 metre (4 ft. 3 in.) in diameter, and are 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



thus formed. Four orifices, a a, starting from near the centre of the mill- 

 stone to within 5i| inches of the periphery, and pierced sloping, are made 

 through the whole thickness of the stone. The mill is provided in the centre 

 with a cast iron eye or box, b, in the form of a cone reversed, and on its ex- 

 ternal part a wrought iron circle, c, covering by about 8 inches the upper 

 surface of the millstone. Iron plates, d, are strongly rivetted on to the iron 

 eye and circle, some incUned 45° over the orifices, others forming quadrants 

 or curbs, e, perpendicular to the great circle, and serving to lead the air, which 

 is thus forced to pass into the orifices, a. By these means a current of air 

 is produced by the rotation of the millstone. 



Rouen.— A correspondent of the Athenaeum observes, " a respect for the 

 monuments of antiquity, which so especially characterise this place, is felt ; and at the 

 present time, the buildings at the east end of the Palais de Justice, having been pulled 

 down, are to be replaced by a wing corresponding with that at the west side of the build, 

 ing, now in course of erection; and it was only last week that the Pri-fct p.aid a visit to 

 the crypt beneath the church of St. Oer^•ais (the oldtst Christian erection in France), with 

 the view of examining into the practicability of removing the white-wash with which some 

 portion of the walls are covered, on w hich, by-the-bye, traces of painting are still visible. 

 A church, also, on a magnificent scale is now nearly finished on the top of the hill next 

 to Mount St. Catherine, through which latter mountain the railway tunnel is now in pro- 

 gress of formation. Besides tliis, a IVluseum of departmental antiquities has been recently 

 established, and is already infinitely superior to anything of the kind we have in England. 

 It now occupies two sides of a quadrangle, in the middle of which are placed stone coffins, 

 and other objects too large for the interior of the Museum, which is lighted by a series of 

 stained glass windows of great beauty, rescued from one of the old Abbeys. Of tile con- 

 tents of this Museum, it will scarcely be necessary to speak at length, as it is what it pur. 

 ports to be,— a collection of archaeological antiquities of this part of France from the 

 earliest periods : statues, coins, charters, armour and arms. Implements of all kinds, glass 

 and crockery ware of all ages, reliquaries, carvings, models, ancient paintings, &c., ar- 

 ranged mth a taste worthy to be tak«n as a pattern for a similar coUection in our own 

 National Museum." 



