1845.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



227 



tion of reservoirs, for receiving the air when in a compressed stale, to such 

 railways as have vaives which open inwards ; and lastly, the invention con- 

 sists in causing tlie air in the traction pipe, which has been used for propel- 

 ling, to be returned bacl; into reservoirs to be again used. The accompanying 

 figure shows a section of a traction pipe, in which a is the valve opening in- 

 wards, this valve, which move upon a' hinge or joint at b, is composeil of 

 leather strengthened with metal plates, and is similar in every respect to those 



now in use. The inventors state that these valves are to be combined wlih 

 transverse valves, which they prefer to be flap valves, so constructed that 

 they may allow the piston to pass freely, and also that they may act as a'slop 

 for the air to press against when propelling the piston, whether in one diric- 

 tion or the other, but, strange to say there are no drawings to show how this 

 is to be accomplished. It is furtlier st;ited that the valve, which^will require 

 no apparatus to close, it from being closed by means of the compressed air, 

 is to be so constructed as to have a tendency to fall inwards, but if in prac- 

 tice it be found too stiff the specification states that a '" projection must be 

 fixed to the instrument which connects tlie pisloii rod to the carriage ;" — this 

 is certainly anything but inlelli.i;ible, we presume the inventor fnieans that 

 a projection is to be attached to the p'ston rod itself, or to some convenient 

 part of the carriage, for the purpose of opening the longitudinal valve. In 

 ■Working atmospheric railways according to this invention, the] pantees stale 

 that the air may be forced into the traction pipe directM'rom the pumps, but 

 they prefer to have reservoirs ahing the line, say three at each station, each 

 reservoir being of the same capacity as the section of the tiacton pipe it is 

 to supply, and connected with such traction pipe by suitable branch pipes 

 placed at or near the transverse valves, and in order to equalize the pressure 

 of air passing from the reservoirs to the traction pipes, the branch pipes are 

 to be provided with valves which are to be gradually opened as the piston 

 proceeds along the traction pipe, the air besng what is technically called wire 

 drawn. 



The third part of the invention consists in jumping the air from the sec- 

 tion of traction pipe along which the piston has just passed, instead of pump- 

 ing or forcing such air from the atmosphere, the economy of which will be 

 understood by the engineer without the aid of drawings, but with regard to 

 some ether parts of this invention we think a few diagrams would not have 

 been out of place. 



The claims are, first, the mode of working atmospheric railways as de- 

 scribed, whereby the opening in the traction pipe is covered with a valve 

 opening inwards, combined with the use of suitable transverse valves or slides 

 at proper intervals; secondly, the mode of working atmospheric railways, 

 •whereby the use of reservoirs of compressed air are combined with traction 

 pipes having suitable valves opening inwards, combined with transverse 

 valves for the air to press against ; thirdly, the mode of working atmospheric 

 railways as described, whereby the compressed air is returned back into the 

 reservoirs. 



TMAME.S EMBANKMENT RAILWAY. 

 This project for extending the London and Birmingham and Great Western 

 Railways to the City and the West End, appears likely to prove one of the 

 greatest improvements which have taken place in the metropolis, and at the 

 same time from the traffic that necessarily must come upon it, not only from 

 the above railways, but also from the proposed Windsor Railway, tlie Ham- 

 mersmith, Kensington, Fulham and Chelsea roads, besides the local traffic 

 along the line may be e.vpeclcJ to be liigbly profitable. 



The line is to commence with a junction at the terminus of the West Lon- 

 don Railway (now the property of the London and Birmingham Railway 

 Companp) at Chelsea, thence it will continue along the banks of the river 

 Thames on an embankment of an ornamrntal character to be raised on the 

 shores that are now covered with mud, and in many situations prodticing 

 miasma. It will not, however, interfere wiih the wharves, which will have 

 increased accommodation, either by embanking ihe sjiace between them and 

 the railway, which will give additional land, or by inleis of waicr approached 

 by arches under the railwtiy of large span and ample height to allow barge* 

 to pass under : nor will the railway be so high as to interfere with the pros- 

 pect of any of the houses, and will pass under ihe bridge clear of the arches. 

 In front of the New Houses ot Parliament it will pass through a water-light 

 tunnel on the sile now occupied by the coffer-dam. The absence of locomo- 

 tive engines will avoid all olijeetion on account of noise. In front of the 

 houses in Privy (iardens, .Somerset House, the Temple Gardens, and the 

 Marquis of M'estminster's estate, there will be extensive ornamental pleasure 

 grounds, ami on the other part of the line the railway will have the appear- 

 ance of an Italian terrace. 



It is contemplated to have stations on various parts of the line, a terminus 

 of considerable magnitude at Hungerford Market add at Quecnhithe, near 

 Souihwark Bridge, in the very centie of the City. 



This great project will nut inv, Ive the necessity of taking down a single 

 building, and the line of embankment will follow the course approved of by 

 Government and the City authorities. Mr. Robert Stephenson is to be the 

 Engineer, and Mr. Li.\tcin the Architect and .Surveyor, for carrying the pro- 

 ject out. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 

 Fifteenth Anniversary Meeting field at Cambridge. 

 The annual sittings of the British Association commenced this yeai 

 at Cambridge on June 19. The President's address appears in the 

 first sheet of this journal ; we are indebted to the Athe!i<eum for a copy 

 of this valuable paper, which from the importance of its contents and 

 the authority attached to it by Sir John Herschell's name, demands 

 the most careful perusal. Our report necess.irily excludes those mat- 

 ters which do not come within the province of tliis work, but will be 

 found to detail pretty fully all those transactions of the Association 

 which are of interest to our readers. 



SECTION A. 



M.VTIIEMATICAL AND PhVSIC.\L ScIENCB, 

 Place of meeting — Union-room, Jesus-lane. 

 President — G. B. Airy, Esq., F.R.S., Astronomer Royal. 

 Vice-Presidents.— Sir D. Brewster, K.H., F.R.S., L and E ; llie Very Rev. tile Dean of 

 Ely; Sir Thomas Brisbane, F.R.S., L and E; Professor Challis, F.R.S.; Professor J. 

 Forbes, F.K.S., L and E; Sir W. R. Hamilton, F.R.S. 

 Secretaries.— Rev. H. Goodwin ; Professor Stevelly, L.L.D. ; G. G. Stokes, Esq. 

 Committee. — The Earl of Burlington ; HI. Dove; Rev. Samuel Eamshaw ; R.L.Ellis; 

 Earl of Euiiiskillen i M. Erman ; Colonel Everest; Dr. Green; Sir J. W. F. Htrschel, 

 Bart., F.R.S. ; W. Hopkins, F.R.S. ; Captain Johnston, R.N., F.R.S. ; EatTO Hodgkin- 

 son, F.B.S.; Robert Hunt, Esq.; M. Kreil; M. Kupfer; Ktv. Dr. Lee, F.R.S. ; Rev. 

 Dr. Lloyd, F.R.S.; Professor Miller; Professor Phillips, F.R.S.: Rev. J. Power; J. 

 Scott Russel, F.R.S., L. and E. ; Colonel Sabine, F.K.S. ; Rev. W. Scorcsby, D.D., F.R.S.; 

 J. J. Sylvester, Esq. ; Prof. Thomson, LL.D. ; Prof. Willis, F.R.S. 



Mr. E. Dent, F.R.A.S., explained a new mounting for the ship's compass. 

 The proposed improvement consisted in suspending it precisely in the same 

 way as the chronometer balance, working in jewels, and having adjusting 

 screws similarly situated. 



Dr. Scoresby read a jiaper on The Construction oj a large Magnetic Ma- 

 chine. He showed that ordinarily a magnet of large dimensions was not 

 powerful in proportion with those of smaller size, and his object on this oc- 

 casion was to show how this failing of proportionate power, and beyond a 

 certain size, the absolute negativing power were to be overcome. 

 Catalogue of Stars. 



Sir J. F. W. Herschel reported the result of a grant of Xl,200 made by 

 the British Association for publishing a catalogue of stars. The catalogue i» 

 now completed and published, and a copy of it was shown on the table. It 

 contains 8371 stars with the annual precessions and constants for reductioa 

 to apparent place. 



SECTION B. 

 Chemical Science, including its application to Agriculture and 

 Arts. 

 Place of Meeting— Lecture-room, Botanic GarJen. 

 President. — Rev. Professor Camming. 

 Vice-Presidents.- Dr. Daubi-ny. F.K.S. ; Michael Faraday, LL.U., F.R.S. ; Professor 

 Graham, F.R.S., L and E; Rev. VV. Harcourt, F.R.S.; Professor Miller, M.A., F.R.S. 

 Secretaries.— Robert Hunt; J. P. Joule; Ur. Miller, F.R.S.; E. Solly, F.R.S. 

 Committee.— Professor Schonbein; M. Bouligny; W. Armslrong; Peter Clare; W. 

 Francis; Dr. Fewness; Professor Grove; Captain Ibbetson; W. Lucas; C. Oakes; T- 

 J, Pearsall j Dr. Percyj Dr. PlayfaL-; W, Sharp; C. W. Walker; U. Warrington, 



