356 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[October, 



KYANIZING TIMBER. 



Anti-Dry -Rot Company, (Kyan's Patent). 



(An Advertisement.*) 



Mk. Editor — Mr. W. B. Prichard has recently published a letter in several 

 periodicals, in which he expresses astonishment that I should state that both 

 his report and letters are inaccurate, and, because I used so mild a phrase, he 

 has thought proper to make further statements of a like character ; I there- 

 fore feel it my duty to state and prove, that in some instances he has omitted 

 to state the whole truth, and in others he has challenged what is decidedly 

 untrue. 



He omitted to state that the sleepers that had shown symptoms of decay 

 were prepared, by way of experiment, with solution only half the strength 

 required by the patent. 



He stated that, at Shoreham Harbour, a waling piece, the very heart of 

 English oak, Kyanized, in use only four years, was like honeycomb, com- 

 pletely eaten away by the teredo navalis. 



A full board of the commissioners of the harbour, appointed a committee 

 to view, who have reported the Kyanized timber as sound as irhen first 

 put in. 



He stated that he had removed the oak waling, and that the decay was 

 oelow water mark. I annex the certificate of five witnesses, three of them 

 gentlemen of unexceptionable character, and the other two are his own wit- 

 nesses, who assert that he could not have taken an oak waling from below 

 water mark, as those walings are exclusively of beech, and that no Kyanized 

 waling lias been removed within the last six years ; they also report, that 

 after a careful survey they can find no symptoms of decay in any of the 

 piles. 



Mr. Prichard has inserted a certificate from Mr. Buckwell and Mr. Butler, 

 in confirmation of his assertion, that the piles are decayed, which I have as- 

 certained was written before the inspection took place, and objected to after- 

 wards, and nevertheless published in its original form ; how much depend- 

 ence can be placed on this certificate may be ascertained from the annexed 

 letter, (No. 3.) from the gentlemen who signed it. 



Mr. Prichard also inserts a certificate from the workmen at Shoreham 

 Harbour, that they inspected the piles in the presence of Mr. Meredith, en- 

 gineer to the Brighton Railway. 



The workmen positively deny that Mr. Meredith did accompany them 

 during the survey. 



Mr. Prichard asserts that Lord Manvers has impugned Kyan's process. I 

 am authorised by his lordship to state that " after very extensive experience 

 of its effects, his early impressions in favour of the discovery has been abun- 

 dantly confirmed," and that he continues to have " unshaken confidence in 

 its efficacy as a preservative of timber of every description." 



Mr. Prichard insinuates, that Mr. Brunei, under whose directions immense 

 quantities of timber were Kyanized for the Great Western Railway, is now 

 opposed to our process. 



1 annex a letter (No. 1) from the engineer's office of the Great Western 

 Railway, from one whose name will well vouch for the truth of the state- 

 ment, " that after Kyanizing upwards of 40,000 loads of timber he is well 

 satisfied with the result, as after six years' trial, the timber, on every exami- 

 nation, has proved as sound as when first laid down." 



Mr. Prichard asks how many hundreds of the sleepers on the Brighton 

 Railway have decayed. 



I submitted his question to the chief engineer on that line, and he stated 

 in reply, that he is not aware that one Kyanized sleeper is decayed. 



Mr. Prichard states, that the opinion he has given about Kyanizing is per- 

 fectly disinterested, although he strongly recommends the process belonging 

 to his friend and solicitor. 



These statements of Mr. Prichard are so void of truth, that I feel it my 

 duty to expose them, and having done so, am convinced that any further 

 statement Mr. Prichard may make will prove innoxious, and not require any 

 reply from me on behalf of the Company. 



2, Lime Street Square. 

 Kth Sept., 1843. 



Taswell Thompson, Sec. 



Letters and Certificates' above Referred to. 

 No. 1. ' 



We, the undersigned, baring at the request of Mr. Taswell Thompson, 

 this day minutely inspected several of the piles of in the east pier of Shore- 

 ham Harbour, embracing all those represented to have heen Kyanized, and 

 many which have not been subjected to that process, do certify that we find 

 no symptom of decay whatever in any. 



We have carefully surveyed the whole of the two lower waling pieces, and 

 find no indication of any of the original having been removed. The material 

 employed for this purpose is beech exclusively. 



* We cannot allow this controversy to be continued unless the communi- 

 cations be paid for as Advertisements, — Editor. 



We further report, that the pUes both descriptions, on the east side of 

 the said pier are slightly touched by the worm, just above the sand. 

 J. B. Balley, Ship Builder. 

 William Tate, Timber Merchant. 

 Shoreham, Thomas Thornton, late Harbour Master. 



August 22th, 1843. 



No. 2. 



We, the undersigned, have worked as carpenters at Shoreham Harbour 

 for the last six years, and well know all the Kyanized wood, and can state 

 positively that not one of the Kyanized walings have been removed since 

 they were first fixed in the pier ; and we can also state positively, that the 

 two lower walings are formed alone of beech. 



Witness, Wm. Jingle. Robert Burt. 



Shoreham, William Ratcliff. 



August 29M, 1343. 



No. 3. 



Sir — In reference to the report of our view of the piles of Shoreham 

 Harbour, on the 3rd June last, published by Mr. Prichard, we beg to state 

 that its contents, both surprised and annoyed us, as we did not intend to say 

 that any of the piles referred to are decayed, but requested Mr. Prichard to 

 erase the words " gone through several stages of decay," and state instead, 

 that the unprepared and prepared were in a like state of preservation ; and 

 we beg to add, that in giving our opinion, we were led to believe, that the 

 Commissioners of the Harbour had requested us to report upon the condition 

 of two chips of wood submitted to us, and not for the purpose of publishing 

 our report as to the efficacy or non-efficacy of Kyan's Patent : and that we 

 had no means of judging which was the prepared wood and which the un- 

 prepared, but deemed Mr. Prichard's word sufficient authority, as he was at 

 that time an officer under the commissioners. 



Shoreham, 

 August l<)th, 1843. 



Mr. Taswell Thompson, 

 Lime Street Square, London. 



Chas. Dowlen Buckwell. 

 George Butler. 



No. 1. 



Great Western Railway, Engineer's Office. 

 27, Portland Square, Bristol, 



Dear Sir — I have sent you by the carrier a section from the centre of 

 one of our longitudinal timbers of the permanent way; it was Kyanized and 

 laid on the line about six years ago, and you will perceive it is as sound as 

 the day on which it was first put down ; it is not singular, with us but in all 

 my examinations I have found it equally sound. I think this simple fact will 

 be' highly interesting to you, and you will not begrudge the expense of the 

 carriage. 



I would remark that the pickling having been entirely under my manage- 

 ment, I was very particular in having the strength of the solution maintained. 

 Upon first immersion the strength was 1 in 14, at a temperature of 62°, and 

 the time of immersion for seven-inch timber was eight days, during this 

 time the solution was kept at a uniform strength by pumping. In this way 

 I have pickled upwards of 40,000 loads of timber, and the quantity of sub- 

 limate consumed comes out at about 1 Jib. to the load. 



T. Thompson, Esq. 

 August 31s7, 1843. 



Y'our's truly, 

 J. Hammond. 



THE PYRAMIDS OF G1ZEH. 



The last monthly meeting of the Egyptian Society was very fully 

 attended, as it was announced that Dr. Lepsius would give some de- 

 scription of the researches made by the Prussian Expedition. 



Mr. E. W. Lane being unanimously called to the chair, Dr. Lepsius 

 commenced by stating that he felt it to be his duty, whenever he had 

 the opportunity of visiting Cairo, to communicate any information that 

 he might consider interesting to so useful and liberal a Society. He 

 felt assured, from the great progress already made in the few years 

 since its establishment, that it was destined to fill an important place 

 in the history of scientific research in this country. The Doctor then 

 alluded, in proof, to the valuable memoir lately published by the Society, 

 contributed by M. Linant " Sur le Lac Moeris." He offered some ob- 

 servations on the mode of constructing the pyramids, and enumerated 

 the many theories that had been advanced concerning the objects and 

 the construction of these vast monuments. He, however, considered 

 the fact established, that their object was simply to mark the places of 

 tombs, and he then proceeded to explain to the meeting the manner 

 in which they were constructed. 



The great pyramids of Gizeh are (in comparison with many others) 

 in a good state of preservation. From the largest, little besides the 



