1846.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



387 



had combined with the 4G CO grains of cotton, forming the 79 grains of gun 

 cotton. The synthetical composition was stated as 



4600 cotton, less 



l.ifiO water taken away by the sulphuric and nitric acids, leaving 



31-00 cotton deprived of a portion of its constituent water, 

 35-55 oxygen } j^, ^^ ^g g■^^^■^ ^^-^^^ 

 12-15 nitrogen ) 



79 parts, or 



39-25 cotton deprived of a portion of water, 

 45-00 oxygen I ^ ,g g^.^j ^^^^■,^ ^(.jd, 



15-75 nitrogen J ^ 



I DO parts. 

 Thus it would require 11475 parts of saltpetre, or 99-10 parts of nitrate of 

 soda, to form 100 parts of gun cotton. INIi. Teschemacher directed attention 

 to the large quantity of oxygen— viz., 45 parts in every 100— which must 

 be derived for combination with the cotton. He stated that he had also 

 experimented upon other vegetable substances, such as flax, sawdust, &c. 

 He found 50 grains of flax to increase in weight to 72 grains, but that the 

 combustion of this substance was less perfect and less rapid than that of 

 gun cotton. 



The gun cotton does not ignite when violently struck. It may occa- 

 sionally be made to dt'cri'(»'<(Uc— not explode— by percussion. The King 

 of Prussia has issued a decree extending all the safeguards for the 

 manufacture, keeping, and selling of gunpowder to this new explosive 

 material. 



Professor Schtinhein, in a letter to the Times, denies the identity of the 

 syloidiue of M. Peloiize with his gun cotton, as believed by some chemists 

 and as stated iu the Academy of Sciences al Paris. The dilTerence between 

 them, he says, will be made known at the proper time. Until then, also, 

 we may here remark, the several experiments and their results that have 

 been made public can be received only as the performances and etiects of 

 certain explosive materials, concocted by sundry individuals, and not as 

 proofs of the properties or capabilities of the gun cotton. 



WESTMINSTER BRIDGE. 



Our attention has been drawn to the following announcement in the 

 daily journals : — 



"Demolition of Westminster Bridge and Construction of a New 

 One. — It is definitively arranged by the Westminster Bridge Commis- 

 sioners, that the present bridge shall be removed. It is intended to apply 

 next session for an act to pull down the old bridge and erect a new bridge, 

 from the eastern end of Whitehall-place, to Sutton-street, in the York-road, 

 Lambeth. Powers are to be taken in the act to allow the commissioners 

 to make the following new streets in connexion with the bridge ; — 1st. A 

 new street from the south side of Charing-cross by the south-west side ot 

 Northumberland-house to the north bank of the Thames, near the end of 

 Whitehall-place, passing over Angel-court, Craigs-court, the eastern ends 

 o? Great Scotland-yard, and Whitehall-place. On the Surrey side of the 

 bridge there will be a new street in a direct line to the east side of the 

 Westminster-road, to Mason-street, Lambelh. On each side of the bridge 

 it is intended to construct large and commodious piers for the use of the 

 steamers plying on the river. The bridge will, it is said, be constructed of 

 granite." 



We fear the construction of this new bridge will be most detrimental to 

 existing interests, and cause the greatest inconvenience to the inhabitants 

 of Westminster. It will not only destroy the direct line of thoroughfare 

 from Pimlico through the Park and Great George-street, over West- 

 minster- bridge to the Elephant and Castle and theSurrey roads, but it will 

 be the lause uf increasing the traffic through the already over-crowded 

 thorougkiaies from Charing-cross to the City, as it is now far nearer and 

 quicker to go fium the Law Courts and Parliament-street over Westminster- 

 bridge to the City, the Brighton and Dover Railways, and ultimately to the 

 new staliou of the South-Western Railway ; and cooseijueutly this traffic, 

 if this new bridge be constructed, will be directed along the Strand ; and 

 besides, there will be a distance of a mile through Westminster from Vaux- 

 ball-bridge to the site of the proposed new bridge that will be entirely cut ofl' 

 from the Surrey side, excepting \>y the circuitous route over those two 

 bridges. By a reference to tlie map of Loudon, it will be seeu that if this 

 uew bridge be carried over the river at right angles to the shore at White- 

 hall-place, the end on the Surrey side will almost come in contact with the 

 foot of Hungerford-bridge ! Surely the direct communication from Charing- 

 cross over ihis last bridge is ample accommodation for the public, witliout 

 intruding another vvithiu a stone's throw. 



Why the uew bridge should be removed from the present site of West- 

 minster bridge we cannot devise. A uew bridge might be constructed on 

 the eastern side of the present bridge, and the latter pulled dowu when the 

 new one is erected, as was done viilh Old London Bridge. By removing 

 ■Westminster-bridge, the only land-view from which a perspective view can 

 be obtained of the new Houses of Parliament will be lost, and, as we before 

 stated, all the elaborate and minute sculpture and decorations will not be 



seen. To get a view of the grand facade, we shall be obliged to go in one 

 of the river steamers, and catch a transient glimpse as the vessel passes 

 along. 



Can it be supposed that Parliament will sanction such a scheme, to 

 the destruction and despoliation of all the valuable interests connected with 

 the trade and property in Wcstniiuster and Lambeth ? and ultimately cause 

 another bridge to be constructed, at the expense of the public, somewhere 

 above the new Parliament Houses, which niustfoUowif AVestminster-bridge 

 be removed from the present site. 



MACHINE FOR PRINTING TWELVE THOUSAND SHEETS 

 PER HOUR. 



We have been shown the model of a printing machine, which we have 

 little hesitation in designating a stride in the already wonderful progress 

 that has been made iu the printing art during the last live and twenty 

 years. The steam press by which the Didlij Neirs is printed is, we be- 

 lieve, the fastest — because the newest, and, consequently, provided with the 

 latest improvements— at present in existence ; yet the average number of 

 copies it produces within the hour is 5,000. The improved machine is cal- 

 culated to print 12,000 per hour; and after a careful examination of the 

 model, we have every reason to believe that the calculation is correct. To 

 persons unacquainted with the details of printing machinery it will be next 

 to impossible to convey a complete idea of the improvement, simple as is 

 the principle on which it has been effected : a general notion may, how-, 

 ever, be given. For the benefit of the uninitiated, we must premise that 

 the present printing machines consist of two principal pans ; fiist, of a 

 sliding table, the middle of which is occupied by the type, each end having 

 a surface on which the ink is distributed, and from which it is taken up by 

 soft elastic rollers, and imparted to the type, secondly, of cylinders con- 

 stantly revolving, to which the sheets are conveyed by tapes, impressed by 

 the periodical sinking of the cylinders upon the type, and conveyed away 

 again by the tapes. By the present plan, as the impressing cylinders re- 

 volve in one direction, an impression can only be taken at each forward 

 transit of the type; the cylinders being lifted, to clear the type as it travels 

 back again. Iu other words, the type passes under each cylinder tivice 

 to produce one impression. The new, or, as it is aptly termed, "The 

 Double-action Machine," takes advantage of both passages of the type 

 under its cylinder, printing a sheet as the type passes backward as well 

 as when it goes forward. This is managed by reversing the revolutions of 

 the cylinders at each stroke, simply by means of straight racks placed upon 

 the long edges of the table, in which work cog-wheels attached to the axles 

 of the cylinders. In this double action resides the main feature of improve- 

 ment. It not only allows of two sheets being printed for one, but— by dis- 

 encumbering the steam-press of the machinery necessary for lifting the cy- 

 linders that they may clear the table at each return— admits of the intro- 

 duction of eight cylinders into the machine instead of four, the present 

 maximum number. By this accession seven sheets are printed in the lime 

 of four— the natural supposition would be eight sheets; but a peculiarity 

 it would be impossible to explain in this paragraph prevents the double ac- 

 tion being imparted to the two outside cylinders, which constantly revolve 

 as of old, in the same direction, and which reduces the ratio of production 

 one sheet per stroke of the machine. There are many minor advantages 

 derived from the application of the new principle, that would, if described, 

 involve the general reader in a maze of technicalities which would not be, 

 to him, very interestiug. The inventor and patentee is Mr. 'William Little, 

 publisher of the lUuslraled Londun ^eivs. We are told that his first 

 draught of the invention was so correct, that in making the model not the 

 minutest alteration was found necessary- a proof of the soundness of the 

 mechanical principle from which he started. — DaUy News. 



PROCEEDINGS OP SCIEBJTIPIC SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 

 Nov. 2.— The President, Earl De Guey, in the Chair. 



Mr. G. Allen and Mr. C. Mayhew were elected Fellows, and Mr. C. 

 Barry, jun., an Associate. 



A paper was read by Mr. Mair, " On an Ancient Structure existing at 

 il Hather, in Mesnimlumia, <md on some Antiquities recently discovered Oy 

 A. H. Layakd, Esq., ut Nimroud ,"— the description and drawings having 

 been forwarded by that gentleman. Of the budding at Al Hather, which 

 appears to have been both a palace and a temple, considers ,le remains 

 still exist. They were visited by Mr. Ross, the surgeon to ihe British Re- 

 sidency at Bagdad, m the year .837 ; and again by Messrs Ainsworth, 

 Mitford, and Layard, in Ib40,-wheu the latter gentleman took he dimen- 

 sions and made the drawings exhibited by Mr. Mair. As to the precise 

 date of the origin of this building, there is adifierence of opinion ; but Mr. 

 Layard conceives that it owes its origin to the Sassaniau dynasty of I er- 

 sian kings. At the time of Joviaa's retreat, the city was deserted ; but, 

 as the character of the ruins in question is that of a later date, it is proba- 



