1S41.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



131 



Of Mr. Weale's exertions in tliis work we shall only say that both 

 to civil and practical engineering he seems determined to afford equal 

 benefit, those who remember Tredgold on the Steam Engine, will be 

 prepared for a work got up with equal care. 



The Laws of Trade. By Chakles Ellet, C.E. Published in America. 

 London ; Wiley and Putmaii. 



Some time ago we made long extracts from this author, explaining 

 his system of charging tolls for goods ; the work is now published in 

 a collected form, and comes before us for recommendation to our 

 readers. Mr. Ellet has exhibited great industry and acuteness in the 

 investigation of a branch, as he says, but too little cultivated by engi- 

 neers. The engineer who is best versed in the tecliiiicalities of his 

 profession, will still be uuadapted to the application of them, and the 

 due discharge of his duties, unless he should have studied something 

 else. The engineer is no bricklayer to put down a railway or canal 

 just where he may be told, but he is an adviser who has equally to 

 consult his own reputation in the stability of his works, and in the 

 happy position of them for traffic. Mr. Ellet has conferred a boon on 

 his profession, in calling attention to the laws which regulate traffic, 

 and the revenue to be derived from it, and we hope that he will be 

 imitated bv his brethren here. 



Tables of the Logarithms of Numbers, 4'C- By Edwabd Riddle, 

 F.R.A.S., Master of the Mathematical School, Greenwich Hospital. 

 London: Baldwin, 1841. 

 This is a cheap reprint of logarithmic tables from Mr. Riddle's 



work on Navigation, and as such we recommend it to our readers. 



Practical Rules for the JManagement of a Locomotive Engine. 

 Charles Button Gregory, C.E. London: Weale, 1841. 



By 



Mr. Gregory is known as the Resident Engineer on the London and 

 Croydon Railway, and some months ago he sent to the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers a paper on the management of the locomotive engine, 

 which since, by their permission, has been republished. It is made 

 up in the form of a small manual, so as to go in the waistcoat pocket of 

 au engine driver, and is printed in a good legible type. We equally 

 applaud the design of the work and its execution. 



«4n Experimental hiquiry into the Strength and other Properties of An - 

 thracile Cast Iron. By William Fairbairn. 



This pamphlet contains the continuation of Mr. Fairbairn's experi- 

 ments on iron, and we refer our readers to it as containing some of the 

 most valuable information as to anthracite, and the iron made from it. 



ENSINEERING 'WORKS. 



THE ARTESIAN BORING AT PARIS. 



M. Arago who both as a member of the municipality of Palis, and as a 

 " savant," has been one of the most active promoters of the Artesian Well 

 of Crenelle, reported to the Academic des Sciences on the 1st ultimo, several 

 details respecting the successful results obtained on the Friday preceding, 

 which we think will be read with interest. Several Artesian wells on the 

 right bank on the Seine at Epinay, Saint Denis and Saint Ouen, had given 

 rise to the expectation of a supply to the city of Paris by the same means, 

 ■which up to that time had been found attended with but a slight expense. 

 The Municipal Council partaking in these hopes gave orders for the sinking 

 of borings in the square of the Madeleine, at Gros Caillou, and at the Jardin 

 des Plantes. The former was however abandoned nearly as soon as com- 

 menced, for reasons of a private nature, and the other did not succeed; 

 nevertheless at the Jardin des Plantes the water had risen to within a few 

 feet of the siu'face of the groimd, essentially constituting an Artesian spring, 

 although it held out no advantages beyond those of a common well, as in 

 order to raise the water to the requisite height it was still necessary to have 

 recourse to a pump. The fact of its not attaining a higher level at first ap- 

 peared remarkable, but it was soon discovered that the sheet of water which 

 fed the fountains of Saint Ouen and Saint Denis cropped out or came to the 



light on the banks of the Seine between Chadlot and Saint Cloud. — It was 

 thus shown that this subterranean reservoir was subjected to a comparatively 

 small pressure, and could give no encoiiragemeut to the establishment of 

 Artesian foundations on the left bank of the Seine. 



Notvvithstanding this, the municipality entertaining views in accordance 

 with those of a majority of geologists, did not give up the prospect of fur- 

 nishing Paris with a supply of subterranean water. Already aware that seve- 

 ral Artesian borings had been attended with immense success both at Tours 

 and at Elba^uf, these being sunk into a stratum separated by the entire chalk 

 formation from that of Saint Ouen, the council resolved in the year 18.'!2 to 

 make efforts to attain this second water-bearing stratum, and M. Mulot who 

 had already undertaken several of the Artesian wells in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris, entered into a contract to execute the Puits de (irenelle, which was 

 commenced in the bej^iuniug of 1833. 



Very nearly from the commencement of the undertaking unfavourable 

 prospects became manifest. After perforating the tertiary sands, which at 

 GrencUe are 41 J metres (13G feet) thick, and nearly as soon as the rods had 

 reached the chalk, part of the rods detached themselves and fell to the bot- 

 tom of the bore-pipe witli great force. Considerable difficulties had conse- 

 quently to be overcome, but these were soon surmounted, and the only result 

 of this accident was a slight delay. In May 1837, when the boring had at- 

 tained a depth of 380 metres (12-40 feet 8 inches), a second and far more 

 serious accident occurred — the chisel with which the ground was perforated, 

 and a length of 80 metres (262 feet) of rods, again fell to the bottom. These 

 weighed together (100 quintaux) five tons, a mass which it was absolutely 

 necessary to raise again to the surface. It is already a seiious matter to lift 

 so considerable a weight when all the usual mechanical means are allowed to 

 be brought into play, it may therefore readily be conceived that acting at a 

 height above the object equal to thrice that of the towers of Notre Dame, 

 and in a space having only a limit of a few inches, the obstacles are incal- 

 culable, and success almost a miracle. However, M. Mulot attained his ob- 

 ject, he succeeded in tapping a screw on the head of the rods, and thus con- 

 necting another length to them, after 15 months of vain efforts, the chisel 

 was at length brought up in August 1838, and the works proceeded with — 

 they were, however, destined to be again interrupted before their conclusion. 



The third accident occurred on the 8th April, 1840, the boring had then 

 attained the rock chalk. Although the instruments were used with consider- 

 able dexterity, they made but slow progress. Suddenly however the chisel, 

 the i)erforating end of which was extremely sharp, having been raised with 

 great force, sunk at one stroke 26 metres (85 feet 3 inches) in the chalk. It 

 then stuck so fast that no efforts could succeed in raising it, and had much 

 force lieen resorted to, a fracture would have been the consequence, which 

 would have led to a far more serious accident. — M. Mulot, whose inventive 

 powers set a resolute face against every new difficulty, preferred setting the 

 boring apparatus free by enlarging the hole on all sides, in which he was 

 completely successful. The fourth accident was of less importance than the 

 previous two, the chisel alone became detached, and its fall presented a new 

 obstacle. M. Mulot at once saw that the remedy resorted to in the case 

 which had occurred in May 1837 was no longer applicable, and the small size 

 of the instrument led him to hope that he could pass on one side of the 

 chisel. A cavity was formed in the side of the boring, and the instrument 

 was forced therein. The works were then immediately recommenced, and 

 no other detention occurred. 



At last on Friday, 26th February, after 8^ years exertion, the rods suddenly 

 sunk several metres, — the workmen perceived that all resistance had ceased, 

 and after a few hours interval a majestic column of water 1691 feet in height 

 (1847 English feet), the weight ofwliich is equal to 53 atmospheres, rose 

 from the bosom of the earth. Our globe having a temperature which in- 

 creases as we descend, the water that flows from its interior assumes a warmth 

 proportionate to the depth whence it rises. That of the Puits de Grenelle is 

 at present 27°. 6 Cent. (81". 7 Fahr.) and it will increase as soon as the sides 

 of the boring shall have attained the temperature of the ascending water. 



The difficulties which have been described are not the only ones which this 

 gigantic undertaking has had to overcome. The sides of the bore-hole are 

 apt to crumble away, in which event the fragments falling in would fill up 

 the hole and obstruct the working of the boring tackle. The strata which 

 are perforated are also full of fissures, which might offer a vent to the ascend- 

 ing waters and cause them to be lost. These circumstances in connection 

 with others which we cannot here enumerate, render it necessary to line the 

 Artesian wells with a metal or wooden tube. This operation, which is not 

 an easy one, even when a well is but some hundred yards in depth, increases 

 in difficulty the deeper the works are carried. To effect it a tube of a certain 

 diameter is first introduced, then a second one fitting into it succeeds, a third 

 descends through the second, and so on ; — these tubes exactly resembling 

 those of a telescope, it is readily conceived that as they constantly diminish 

 in diameter, unless they have been very nicely calculated, the aperture at last 

 becomes too small for the free working of the boring rods. It is then neces- 

 sary to lift all the tubes out and replace them by others of a larger diameter. 

 At Grenelle it became five times necessary to remove the whole hning of the 

 boring, and also each time to enlarge the bore-hole to allow of the introduc- 

 tion of larger tubes. — Let our readers then figure to themselves a cast iron 

 column eight times as high as the towers of Notre Dame, which must be lifted 

 out and replaced by another — they will then form a just conception of the 

 patience, care and intelligence necessary. 



The supply of water produced by the Puits de Crenelle is equal to upwards 



T 2 



