1950.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



69 



these draft boxes and tubes, and theii- sections being many times 

 greater than the aggregate openings of tlie wheel, tlie water within 

 them descends slowly, being held )ip by the pressure of the atmo- 

 sphere on the lower level. It consequently acts by its gravity in 

 giving the water force and velocity, in its passage througli the 

 helical inlets and wheel, as effectually as it would if it were over 

 the wlieel and acted by its pressure as head water. The wheel is 

 40 inches in diameter, and, at its proper working speed, makes 220 

 revolutions per minute. The power is transmitted directly to the 

 line shafts of the mill bj^ belts, from drums or pulleys p, on the 

 extremities of the shaft of the wheel. The drums are (i feet in 

 diameter, and the pulleys on the line shafts 10 feet; the belts 

 consequently travel at the rate of 4148 feet per minute, or a little 

 more than 47 miles per hour, giving the line shafts 132 revolutions 

 per minute. ^\'ith the gate ^, (which admits the water to the 

 wheel,) a little more than half drawn, the wheel drives with full 

 speed 7000 throstle spindles, and about half of the additional line 

 shafting necessary for the balance of 16,000 spindles, (the number 

 the mill is to contain when tilled), a number of iron and wood 

 latlies, circular saw, &c. 



The water required to effect this is about 4500 cubit feet per 

 minute. From a comparison of this result with that of wheels 

 previously erected for propelling cotton mills, vrorking with the 

 gate partly drawn, it is confidently anticipated that the full power 

 of the wheel will drive 13,000 spindles. The company expect to 

 attach machinery sufficient to require the whole jiower in the 

 course of a few months. The whole cost of the wheel, with all the 

 parts pertaining to it, was about 5000 dollars. 



This wheel was substituted for a pitch-back or high-breast wheel, 

 32 feet in diameter and 17 feet wide, which was operated by the 

 same fall of water. It was made almost entirely of iron, the 

 buckets and soling only being of wood. The quantity of water 

 required to propel it was estimated at 4800 cubic feet per minute. 

 The greatest power that could be got from it was only sufficient 

 for 5000 spindles; another thousand was attached, but it could 

 not be made to drive them with sufficient s|)eed. It was erected 

 early in the present year, and, after running about three months, 

 constantly requiring expensive repairs, it was deemed expedient 

 by the company to remove it, and substitute one of Parker's, whicli, 

 as yet, appears to the directors and managers of said company to 

 possess many very superior advantages, as compared with the old 

 wheel, there being much less liability to failure. Another impor- 

 tant advantage is in getting up the required speed for tlie machinery 

 without the use of intervening gearing; thus saving a heavy 

 expense in repairs, and a large amount of oil. 



Parker's wheels, in the form here represented, are now in opera- 

 tion in the mills of the following proprietors, to whom those 

 interested are referred for a confirmation of that which is here 

 stated. 



T. F. Plunkitt, Pittsfield, Mas., Cotton Mill 

 J. Barker & Brother, Pittsfield, Mass., Gas 



Mill 



Plattner & Smitli, Lee, Mass., 'W'oollen Mill 

 Glendale AVoollen Companv, Stockbridge, Mass., 



Woollen Mill . . ' 



Berkshire Woollen Company, Great Harrington, 



Mass 



White & Sheffield, N. Y. City or \ 

 jrties, N. Y. / 



Saugerties . 

 Jos. Kingsland, Saugerties, N. Y. / Paper Mill. 

 Jos. Bailev, Douglasville, Berks Company, Pa., 



Rolling Mill '. 



New Brunswick Manufacturing Company, J. 



Stark, Agent, New Brunswick, N. J., Cotton 



Mill 



Agawam Canal Company, D. Jakeworth, Agent, 



West Springfield, Mass., Cotton Mill 



65 



45 



140 



G5 



38 

 250 



14 



9 

 26 



14 



12 

 31 



With the exception of the last-mentioned, these wheels have 

 been in operation from one to five years, and so far as has come to 

 the knowledge of the writer, neither of them has required repairing 

 to the amount of a single dollar, nor been out of working order 

 for an hour, since they were first put in operation. — American 

 Franklin Journal. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS- 



Jan. 7. — T. Bellamy, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. Fergusson read a paper ' On the Architecture of Southern India,' 

 which we give, in full, in another portion of the Journal, p. 37. 



The following letter, from Mr. Edward Falkener, was then read ; — 



Dear Sir, — I jnst have time to write this hasty memorandum of the 

 recent excavations at Rome. On the declaration of the Republic at Rome, 

 the government, actuated by the triple motive of pride in the ancient 

 glory of their ancestors, love of the fine arts, and a desire to provide for 

 the temporary necessities of the indigent part of the population, ordered 

 excavations to be commenced in the Roman Forum. The work was carried 

 on with great energy, notwithstanding the declamations of the anti-Repub- 

 licans, who inveighed against the barbarism of cutting down the old trees 

 in the Campo Vaccino; but who now with equal ardour praise up the 

 French government for continuing the excavation. Little, however, has at 

 present been discovered, although a large quantity of earth has been turned 

 up. The part excavated has been that adjoining the south-eastern side of 

 the Column of Phocas. The only remains brought to light are some unim- 

 portant brick walls of the late Empire, and a stone pavement apparently of 

 the Forum, with one continued step at the side, whicli probably marks the 

 line of portico, although no columns were found to justify this supposition. 

 The works, however, still continue, and very sanguine expectations are held 

 liy the archieologues of Rome relative to the result. Other excavations 

 have been conducted in the Forum of Trajan, but with no better success, for 

 with the exception of some fragments of sculpture, no remains of interest 

 have been discovered. 



More important fruits have been obtained in the Trastevere. In pulling 

 down and rebuilding an old house, a very fine statue of Greek art was found, 

 representing an athlete, who, after issuing from the therraa;, is represented 

 cleaning his left arm from the perspiration of the bath with a strigil. It is 

 of white marble, and rather more than the size of life. Again, in another 

 part of the Trastevere, while removing the paving stones and earth from the 

 carriage-way, I believe for one of the barricades, a large bronze horse was 

 discovered, which is esteemed of early art from the short neck and other 

 peculiarities displayed in it. The near fore leg has unfortunately been 

 crushed and shattered, but no part of it is wanting, and it is considered that 

 it can easily be restored. The seat is wanting, aud from that circumstance 

 it is difficult to say whether an equestrian figure was attached to it. This 

 work of art has been placed in the Capitoline Museum, and the athlete in 

 the Vatican. Lastly, in pulling down an old house in the Via Graziosa, 

 near Sa. Maria Maggiore, some highly interesting remains were discovered 

 of an ancient Roman house, consisting of several fresco paintings on a brick 

 wall. From the circumscribed nature of the ground, there being other 

 houses on each side, further excavation was impossible; but every pre- 

 caution has been taken for the preservation of what has yet been discovered. 

 The paintings represent tlie adventures of Ulysses, a circumstance which is 

 highly interesting, from the fact that this is one of the subjects recom- 

 mended to us by Vitruvius, for the decoration of private edifices. The 

 paintings are moreover remarkable from having the name of the figures 

 scratched with a point over the bead of eaoh figure. .\t the present moment 

 eight of these paintings have been exposed. Immediately above these 

 frescoes, on the first floor, are three semicircular-headed windows, the lower 

 voussoirs on each side were found in their place, though the crown of the 

 arches bad fallen in or been removed. They have since been restored. 

 Again, on the second floor, on a cross wall lying at right angles with the 

 other wall, and forming the parly wall of the adjoining house, the base of a 

 marble column of the Corinthian or Composite order, and of good style, was 

 found ill situ, which,' whether we regard the dimensions, about 20 inches 

 diameter, or the height at which it was found, renders it of the highest in- 

 terest as connected with the study of the domestic architecture of the 

 ancients. It is extraordinary that these remains should have existed above 

 ground for so many ages. Apologising for this hurried description, 



I am, &c., 



Thos. L. Donaldson, Esq., Prof., &c. Edward Falkbneb, 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



Jan. 8. — William Cubitt, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



This evening was devoted to the reading of the address from the Presi- 

 dent, on taking the Chair for the first time after his election, and which is 

 given at length in another portion of the Journal, p. 41. 



Jan. 15. — The paper read, was "An Account of the Blackfriars Landing 

 Pier." By Mr. F. Lawrence. 



This pier commences on the Middlesex side of the river, to the east of 

 Blackfriars Bridge, at Chatbam-place, and continues parallel to the bridge, and 

 at a distance of forty feet from it, for a length of one hundred and eighty- 

 five feet. The body of the pier (exclusive of the bead) is supported on four 



