4t 



THE crVJL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[FEBISUiRV, 



The heavy demimls on the invention and skill of en^neers, in 

 the construction of railway worlds, diirin"; past years, have left but 

 little time for the devotion of their enerj^ies to the improvement 

 of the mechanical and commercial workinff of the lines. A wide 

 field is, however, now ojjened for the exercise of professional skill 

 and ability, In perfecting the applications of tractive power, and all 

 the machinery of railway plant; and it may be reasonably expected 

 thiit the oj)portMnities thus afforded to railway companies, of 

 hringinif the highest engineering skill of this country to hear upon 

 these questions, may not only produce great economy in the work- 

 ing expenses, and greater efficiency in the general plant, hut lead 

 to radical improvements in the construction and maintenance of 

 the destructible parts of the f so called) " permanent vvay," and 

 thus set at rest the question of depreciation — a desideratum which 

 is now felt to be of almost ritaj importance to railways as an 

 investment. 



I feel. Gentlemen, that, hurried and imperfect as this sketch 

 may be, the subjects have carried me far beyond the limits 1 had 

 ■ iriginally intended; and I must request your indulgence for 

 having occupied so much valuable time. You will not, Iiowever, 

 find me so trespass upon you again; and, with reiterated thanks 

 for the honour you have conferred on me, I will at once enter on 

 the duties of the office, and proceed to the regular routine of the 

 evening meeting. 



MORTON'S IiMPROVED PATENT BLIP. 



Patent Hydraulic Purchase Machinery, applied to Morton's Patent 

 Slip, by Mr. DANif:L Miller, C.E., St. Georges-road, Glasyow. 



The great advantages of "Morton's Slip" over all other modes of 

 docking vessels for repairs, Ike, in s])eed, economy, and efficiency, 

 have been long established by the evidence of the ablest scientilic 



authorities, and its jiractical operation in many ports of the United 

 Kingdom and other countries. The present improvements on it 

 increase these advantages in an eminent degree. They consist in 

 the substitution of improved hydraulic purchase machinery, in- 

 stead of the system of wheel-work at present in use, and possess 

 the following recommendations: — 



)st. That the im])roved machinery can be laid down for less than 

 one-half the cost of the present machinery; for veiy large slips 

 mucli less. 



'^nd. Ships will be taken up at double the speed, as but a very 

 small proportion of the power is absorbed by friction; and, from 

 the machinery being self-acting, no time is lost by stopping it to 

 take a fresh hold. 



3rd. The moticm in drawing up a ship is so perfectly smooth and 

 uniform, that no part of the carriage or ship is exposed to any 

 undue strain. 



"tth. It occupies little space, is not subject to breakage or de- 

 rangement, and the same foundation does for both purchiise ma- 

 chinery and steam-engine. 



Description. — The engraving, fig. 1, is an elevation of the pur- 

 chase machinery, in wliich A, re)iresents a hydraulic cylinder, fas- 

 tened securely to a firm foundation at the upper end of the slip. 

 It is fitted with a moveable ram B, working through cup|ied lea- 

 thers at the neck. Two side rods, </, proceed from a crosshead on 

 the end of the ram, along the side.s of the hydraulic cylinder to 

 another crosshead E, where the traction rods are fastened, connect- 

 ing it with the caniage on which is the vessel to be drawn up on 

 the inclined ])lane, as re))resented in fig. 2, on a smaller scale. The 

 traction rods are each of the same length as the ram. F, is the 

 cylinder of a steam-engine with its connecting-rod communicating 

 a rotary motion, by means of a crank, to tlie shaft g. ( )n the shaft 

 are other cranks for giving a reciprocating motion to the plungers 

 of two or more pumps H. A fly-wheel c, on the shaft regulates the 

 motion of the whole. 



Fig. 1. 



Mode of Action. — The carriage having been run down the in- 

 clined plane or "slip," the vessel to be taken up is floated on it, 

 and properly blocked up and secured. The lowermost traction- 

 rod of the purchase chain is then attached to the middle or keel- 

 beam of the carriage, and the purchase machinery at the head of 



the slip is then put in action. The ram of the hydraulic cylinder 

 is sup])osed to be at the beginning of its stroke, its crosshead being 

 down at the top of the cylinder. By the action of the piston of 

 the steam cylinder F, the cranks on the shaft are made to revolve, 

 putting in motion the pumps H, which abstract water from an ad- 



