98 



NATURE 



[November 29, 1894 



«ntail very severe treatment of the plates for no obvious 

 purpose. There are many ways of placing the copper 

 stays in position, and the author evidently cuts off the 

 ends after screwing them home. Here he is behind the 

 times : " modern practice " requires them to be cut to 

 length in the lathe, afterwards being screwed home by a 

 sort of stud-driver. This does away with any chance of 

 injuring the threads by cutting them in position by 

 eccentric portable shears, or the more barbaric hammer 

 and chisel. 



The quadruple tapping machine (illustrated) no doubt 

 does its work very well, but it must be moved from boiler 

 to boiler, and this entails much labour and loss of time ; a 

 far simpler tool is generally used, namely, a light radial jib 

 carrying a movable carriage, over which the ropes run to 

 the tool-holders, all the compensating gear being on the 

 wall. Taken as a whole. Section i. is extremely well 

 written, and covers a large field of detail ; it concludes 

 with the testing of the completed boiler. The hydraulic 

 test of 200 pounds per square inch is much below the 

 usual test-pressure in water, viz. one and a half times the 

 working pressure, for new boilers. 



Section ii., occupying eighty-seven p.iges, is dis-ided 

 into three parts. The first part deals with the iron 

 foundr>-, the second on the use of steel castings, and 

 the third describes the brass foundry. It is evident, \ 

 after careful perusual, that much attention has been given j 

 to this particular branch of the works, especially the 

 careful manner in which the mixings of the different 

 metals is carried out, and the valuable illustrative tests ' 

 showing the necessity for annealing steel castings. As 

 an example of foundry practice, we find a full description 

 of the moulding of a pair of twin cylinders, probably the 

 most difficult and important piece of work occurring in a 

 railway foundry ; a few other examples are also given. In 

 part two of this section the author wisely suggests that 

 engineers should formulate a standard specification for 

 the grade of material for steel castings for locomotive 

 work, and recognise a standard size for both tensile and 

 bending test bars. With this we cordially agree ; speci- 

 fied tests vary far too much, and in some cases tend to 

 make the specifying engineer a laughing-stock for 

 contractors. 



Section iii., dealing with forgings, is divided into two 

 parts. The manufacture of tyres, axles, coupling rods, 

 and smaller details, is well described, the usual tests 

 being given. The method of work is illustrative of modern 

 practice, particularly the stamping of detail work under 

 the drop hammer. Engine tyres for India usually are 

 required to have a minimum tenacity of from 42 to 

 44 tons, and with a sectional area of test piece of 

 \ square inch. The extension, measured over a length 

 of 3 inches, must not be less than 20 per cent. The 

 second part of this section deals with the manufacture of 

 springs, among other things. Page 164 illustrates the 

 means taken to weld a lever on to a shaft ; figures C and 

 F may make a "job," but it is preferable to fit the lever 

 end half through the shaft before welding — that is, for a 

 brake or a reversing shaft ; for a damper shaft, a dab weld 

 may be good enough. 



In Section iv. we find a description of general 

 copper-smith's work ; and in passing we may observe that 

 the hemispherical tops for steam dome casings are in 



NO. 1309, VOL. 51] 



some works made from mild steel plates in dies under 

 the hydraulic press, as well as the upper parts of safety- 

 valve casings and corner mouldings for fire-boxes. This 

 reduces the cost of these items considerably. 



The machine department of a locomotive works is 

 always interesting. The machinery is in many cases of 

 a special nature ; and in railway works, where duplica- 

 tion is said to exist, the machines may be still more of a 

 special type, because only one class of locomotive is 

 made. The Horwich Works appear to be largely fitted 

 with milling machinery, to judge by the amount of care 

 the author takes in his descriptions. Whether milling in 

 its competition with planing, slotting and shaping 

 machines, will ultimately prove the cheaper process, 

 remains to be seen. On page 204 we find the statement 

 that all frame-plates are put on the levelling table and 

 straightened (levelled ?) by the aid of two hydraulic jacks ; 

 further on we read that the frame template has been 

 given up, owing to its liability to become distorted, and 

 that a man can draw in a frame in two hours: again, it is 

 stated that a batch of eight frames is slotted, firstly by 

 roughing out, and secondly by a finishing cut. Surely 

 this cannot be called modern practice ? To thoroughly 

 and truly level a frame-plate it is necessary to heat it to 

 a cherry-red heat, and level it on a plain surface ; for this 

 reason it is usual to punch the frame-plate roughly to 

 shape before being levelled. This punching to shape 

 allows the frame-slotting machine to commence at once 

 roughing out the bunch of plates. Moreover, the plate is 

 ] more or less annealed by the furnacing. 



The frame template generally used is made in three 

 ' pieces dovetailed together, and the angle-iron bracing is 

 conspicuous by its absence : very little trouble is caused 

 by such a template. Surely the author has made some 

 mistake in stating that a man can '• mark out one frame, 

 which is a two hours' job." To mark out a frame from 

 a drawing, without a template for slotting and drilling, 

 will take one man two days or more. Moreover, the 

 frame-plates are not said to be planed on one side. 

 If this is the case, much time is lost in erection and 

 fitting the horn-blocks, assuming of course this fitting is 

 properly done. Such a frame-plate can be planed in from 

 three to four hours. 



Case-hardened wrought-iron axle-boxes are said to be 

 things of the past ! The Midland KaiUvay Company use 

 nothing else, and many new engines for other rail- 

 ways are being fitted with them ; in fact, such boxes 

 working in chilled cast-iron or cast-steel guides are hard 

 to beat. 



The last section of this interesting book deals with the 

 final erection of the engine, and we are glad to see that 

 Horwich does not go in for throwing an engine together 

 in ten hours or] more, to be afterwards re-erected when 

 the " wonder " has ceased to be talked about. 



It appears that the practice of fitting the horn-blocks 

 to the frames when in a vertical position is followed. 

 This cannot be commended ; it is far easier for the 

 men to do it before they reach the erecting-shop, when 

 laying on trestles ; the holes can then be opened out, 

 and the bolts or cold rivets driven in comfortably. 

 Pianoforte wire has long been abandoned for squaring 

 over cylinder centre-lines by contractors, for the 

 reason that it can be bent between the fingers, and 



