436 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Dkckmber, 



radius, and some minor curves on approaching the Utrecht station. The soil 

 through which the line passes is generally a thin stratum of mould of about 

 a foot thick, under which is a kind of light turf. Sand for forming the em- 

 bankments had to be got from a distance of some leagues from the dunes or 

 sand-hills. The embankments vary from a yard to 4 yards in height, and 

 are carried down to the natural soil of the polders or marshes. In the parts 

 which are least solid, being a distance of 6 miles, the embankment, entirely 

 of sand, rests on a bed of fascines 11 yards wide, and about 2 feet thick Not- 

 withstanding this precaution many slips took place. This want of consistency 

 or firmness, of the ground is indeed one principal reason why the original 

 engineer Mynheer D. H. Goudridan, adopted a gauge of 2 metres (6ft. 6Ain.) 

 with rails of 25 to 30 kilogrammes per metre run (about 60 lbs. per yard), 

 supported on a continuous framing of Baltic pine, of which the longitudinals 

 are from 7 to 12 inches square, and the cross-sleepers placed a yard apart 

 are from 6 in. to 12 in. square, witli a length of 3 metres (about 3 yards). 

 For the same reason this system has also been adopted on the Amsterdam and 

 Rotterdam railway, However extensive this framing may be, it was neces- 

 sary to use it to obtain a firm way for heavy trains. The country being a 

 level there are no sensible slopes, but as the canals (large and small) fre- 

 quently intersect, the engineers have been obliged to form a number of bridges 

 and aqueducts, among which are three large swivel bridges of cast iron made 

 at the Hague and two draw-bridges. The others are fixed wooden bridges, 

 with abutments in masonry (? brick). All these works of art, as well as the 

 Amsterdam stations, are built on piles. From Utrecht to Arnheim the road 

 goes through a rougher country, and passes several heaths, requiring cuttings, of 

 which five or six have a depth of from 30 to 65 ft., sometimes extending 

 over a length of 300 yards. The total quantity of cutting is about 3,000,000 

 cubic yards, which has to be carried a mean distance of about two miles.. 

 In general the cuttings are in mere sand mixed with loose pebbles. The 

 inclination of the slopes, 36 to 50 feet high, is 45 degrees, and they are co- 

 vered with heath sod ( : grass sod). After standing two years it has been 

 found that the rains have not at all affected the embankments. Between 

 Utrecht and Arnheim the road is laid out with much the same kinds of curves 

 and straight lengths as in the previous part, and among the works are a large 

 cast iron swivel bridge, broad enough to carry two lines of rails, some smaller 

 bridges in cast iron, and a number of occupation bridges, viaducts and 

 culverts. 



The act for this company was granted in 1838, and the capital was raised 

 under the personal guarrantee of Ij per cent, by the ex King Win. 1st., he di- 

 viding with the shareholders the surplus profits. The direction of the works was 

 entrusted to the government engineers, who, on account of the state of the 

 law, had great difficulty in getting possession of the land, and settling with 

 the landowners. Their difficulties were such that towards the end of 1842, 

 they were still at law with a great number of them, and unable to prosecute 

 the works with efficiency. Indeed, it was not till last Spring that all the 

 landowners were pacified — then the works were proceeded with at a rate 

 almost unprecedented in foreign engineering enterprises, under the guidance 

 of the present engineer, M. Vauderkun. The estimate for the whole line, 

 60 miles long, i'81 0,240, and it is not expected that the excess expenditure 

 will be more than 3 or 4 thousand. The line is, for the most part, laid out 

 for a single way — a double way being laid only on 6 miles between Amster- 

 dam and Utrecht, and 6 miles between Utrecht and Arnheim. Sidings are, 

 of course, provided at the several stations. All the bridges, and other works 

 of art, are laid out for a double line, which will be laid down throughout 

 where the extent of the traffic may require it. 



The working plan consists, at present, of 6 locomotives, made by Sharp 

 and Roberts, of Manchester, and 4 made at Amsterdam. They are all six- 

 wheelers, with driving wheels of 6 ft. 6 in. Six locomotives on Robert Ste- 

 phenson's new patent have also been ordered of Messrs. Van Ylissengen and 

 Co., of Amsterdam. The number of passenger carriages and goods trains i- 

 now seventy, and will be next year one hundred and forty; they have been 

 manufactured in the neighbourhood of Utrecht, and arc all six wheels with 

 flanges. All the engineers are Dutchmen. 



NEW INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. 



NAPIER'S PATENT COPPER CLOTH. 



A new material under the above name has lately been brought under our 

 notice, which, as it promises to be, ere long, in very general and extensive 

 use, we propose giving some account of it to our readers. It consists of stout 

 linen cloth, on one side of which has been deposited, by electricity, a thin 

 covering of copper, fibres from which, interlacing with those of the cloth, 

 bind the whole firmly into one mass. The minute quantity of metal requi- 

 site to form a perfectly covered water-tight texture may be judged from this 

 fact, that a square yard when perfect, weighs only 18 ounces; the cloth itself 

 weighs 6 ounces, consequently 12 ounces of copper is sufficient to coat tho- 

 roughly a square yard of cloth ; whilst the thinnest rolled copper at present 

 in use weighs about 4} lb. per square yard. The thickness of the metal, 

 however, may be varied at pleasure, according to the purpose for which it is 

 required. This production is the result of another beautiful application of 



electro-metallurgy — an art which, no sooner had it issued from tbe hands of 

 the man of science as a mere experiment, than it stepped with giant strides 

 into our arts and manufactures, and is now extending and ramifying itself in 

 all directions, at one time gilding a pin, at another coppering a slap's bottom, 

 or multiplying indefiuately the delicate lines of the sngraver. 



The mode of manufacturing the copper cloth is as follows : on to a sheet 

 of copper paste, very evenly, with as little paste as possible, stout linen cloth; 

 and when thoroughly dry, attach it to the negative pole of a galvanic battery, 

 and immerse it in a solution of sulphate of copper connecting a piece of 

 copper to the positive pole to be dissolved. Decomposition rakes place, 

 copper is thrown down on the cloth, and, endeavouring to read, the copper 

 plate, insinuates itself into all the pores of the cloth, forming one perfect 

 whole. The time requisite will vary according to the thickness required, 

 but in general five or six hours is quite sufficient to give a good coating. But 

 a battery is by no means essential, as, by tbe following means, it may be dis- 

 pensed with. Attach tbe copper, with the cloth pasted on it. to a sheet of 

 amalgamated zinc, round which has been wrapped a stout piece of brown 

 paper, with the ends sealed down, so as to form a kind of bag ; immerse the 

 whole into the solution, and a deposit immediately takes place, zinc being 

 dissolved, and a nearly equal weight of copper deposited. This is a very 

 cheap and simple method, and is well worthy the attention of the electro- 

 typist. The sulphate of zinc formed remains within the paper bag, and very 

 little of the copper solution finds its way into it. If the copper does not 

 spread fast enough on the cloth, it may be rendered a better conductor of 

 electricity by rubbing it over with a little blacklead, or what is better, a new 

 conducting material, produced by heating pieces of zinc and iron together, to 

 a heat a little below that at which the zinc sublimes; a crystalline compound 

 is formed, which can be reduced to a very fine powder, and may be used 

 either alone or with blacklead ; when alone, it should be used wit'- something 

 adhesive : glycerine has been found to answer perfectly. 



The process is not confined to covering the surface all over, as, by cutting 

 the underneath copper into various shapes, devices of any kind may be struck 

 into the cloth, which, being afterwards silvered or gilt, produces a ^ery beau- 

 tiful effect. 



The numerous applications of this useful material will suggest themselves 

 to the reader, not only for out-door works, such as for covering roofs, veran- 

 dahs. &C., on account of its lightness and water-tightness, but also for or- 

 ii.iTiit.it.il purposes within doors; and we feel sure that it has but to he well- 

 known to be very generally adopted. 



NEW LIGHT. 



It is now four years since the first experiment on the subject of rendering 

 continuous, and fixing at a given point, the electric fluid, and making it ap- 

 plicable to the general purposes of lighting was made in Paris, but the dis- 

 coverer was not able to induce any person to advance even l,000f. for an 

 apparatus on a sufficiently large scale (or a public experiment. A public ex- 

 periment was made at tbe Place de la Concorde, in the presence of the au- 

 thorities, and from four to five thousand of the inhabitants of Paris, on the 

 20th inst. On one of the bases of the statues at the Pavilion ue Lille, a 

 glass globe of apparently twelve or thirteen inches diameter, with a moveable 

 reflector, was fixed in connexion with a voltaic battery, and at a little before 

 nine o'clock the electric fluid was thrown into it by a conductor. At this 

 time all the gas lights in the place, about 100 in number, were I ■ ning. As 

 soon as the electric light appeared, the nearest gas light bad the same dull, 

 thick, and heavy appearance as oil lamps have by the side of gas. Soon af- 

 terwards the gas lights were extinguished, and the electric light -hone forth 

 in all its brilliancy. Within 100 yards of the light, it was easy to read the 

 smallest print ; it was, in fact, as light as day. The astonishment of the as- 

 sembled multitude was very great, and their delight as strong as their aston- 

 ishment. The estimate made by scientific persons who were present, was 

 that the electric light was equal to twenty of the gas lamps, and, conse- 

 quently, that live of these lights would suffice to light the whole place most 

 brilliantly. As regards the expense of production, nothing positive has tran- 

 pired, but it would be considerably less than that of the generation of gas, 

 whilst the first outlay for machinery and conductors would not amount to a 

 twentieth part of that required for gas-works. There would also lie another 

 great advantage in the electric light. It gives out no bad smell : it emits 

 none of those elements which, iu the burning of gas, are si injurious to 

 health, and explosion would he impossible. The only danger would be at 

 the battery itself, but that would be under the control of compete:;' persons ; 

 and, even in this respect, there would he no danger, even to unskilful persons, 

 with an apparatus of moderate size. Internal lighting would be as practi- 

 cable as external lighting, for by conductors the fluid would he conveyed to 

 even part of the house. This experiment was with a voltaic battery of two 

 hundred pairs, composed as follows: — 1st, an outer globe of glass; 2ndly, in 

 this globe a cylinder of charcoal, open at both ends, and plunged in the nitric 

 acid contained in the outer globe; 3rdly, in the charcoal a porous porcelain 

 vase, containing acidulated water (with sulphuric acid) — this replaces the 

 cloth in the common battery; 4thly,in the porcelain vase a cylinder of amal- 

 gam of zinc plunged in acidulated water. The pile was on the Pavilion de 

 Lille ; tbe two copper conductors from the two poles, and pointed with char- 



