November 2, 1899] 



NA TORE 



21 



magnificent works now in progress at Dover, which will 

 render that port one of the finest in the kingdom, should 

 hear beforehand an account of what it is intended to do from 

 the engineers responsible for the design. In the discussion 

 the difficulties which have been brought about by the more 

 rapid advance of the Commercial Harbour Pier, as compared 

 with the extension of the Admiralty Pier, were much in 

 evidence ; but this, after all, is only a question of a more or 

 less ephemeral character, and it is a pity that the discussion did 

 not turn more upon the merits of the particular plan which has 

 been adopted in the construction of this great harbour. It is 

 noteworthy that the general scheme of the present plan differs 

 but little from previous proposals ; only that additional deep- 

 water space has been obtained. 



If the sanguine expectations of the people of Dover are in 

 any way fulfilled, Dover on the completion of these works will 

 prove a formidable rival to Southamption ; before, however, 

 any such rivalry can become serious, Dover must be provided 

 with a railway service on an entirely different scale from that now 

 supplying the wants of the town. The service is inadequate ; it 

 is frequently unpunctual, and contrasts most unfavourably with 

 the splendid service which the South-Western Company have 

 organised between Southampton and London. 



The other paper taken on the opening day was one descriptive 

 of a process for rendering wood non-flammable. Specimens 

 of wood treated by this process were exhibited, and a practical 

 demonstration of its non-fiammability was given at the meet- 

 ing. The President mentioned in the discussion that the 

 Admiralty have not been satisfied with other people's experi- 

 ments ; they have themselves experimented on wood treated in 

 this way, and have satisfied themselves that the process is a 

 successful and valuable one. It is, however, not only in ships 

 of war, but also in passenger steamers and in the gigantic 

 modern hotels that the use of non-flammable wood will have 

 its application, in spite of the extra cost of the finished wood 

 when treated by this process. 



On Friday a paper prepared by Sir Charles Hartley, descrip- 

 tive of the engineering works of the Suez Canal, was read by Sir 

 John Wolfe Barry in the absence of the author. This paper 

 was one of the greatest interest, giving a complete history of the 

 engineering features of the canal, of the enormous growth 

 of the traffic through the canal, and of the gradual steps which 

 have been taken to provide for that increased traffic, both by 

 widening and deepening the original cutting. How great a 

 change has been brought about in the time of transit by the use 

 of the electric light for enabling night passages to be made can 

 only be realised by a study of the figures given by the author as 

 to the present time of transit compared with what it was ten 

 years ago. 



The second paper on Friday was the one that proved, 

 perhaps, the most attractive of all on the programme of the 

 Section. It was a short paper by Mr. Parsons, with details of 

 the fast cross Channel and Atlantic liners which he proposes 

 should be driven by his steam turbines. Models of the proposed 

 vessels were shown, and a working model of a set of steam 

 turbines to show how simple it was to run astern. 



Considering how frequently the wildest statements are made 

 as to the possible speed of mail steamers and smaller fast 

 passenger boats, it is noteworthy that Mr. Parsons proposes 

 quite moderate speeds in his liners and cross-Channel steamers. 

 This paper was made more interesting from the figures which 

 the President had given, in his address to the Section, on the 

 question of the relation of power to speed and displacement. 



The President had shown conclusively how impossible it was 

 to apply results deduced from small vessels to large vessels ; and 

 his calculations as to the enormous power required to drive one 

 of the large vessels at high speeds show that we have little 

 hope of obtaining such speeds with present conditions. 



Mr. Parsons in his paper fixed the speed of his cross-Channel 

 boat at thirty knots, and although the boat is only to have a 

 1000 tons displacement, it will require 18,000 horse-power to 

 maintain that speed. He did indeed hint at an express- 

 Channel steamer which should attain a speed of forty knots, 

 but only at the expenditure of 50,000 horse-power : figures 

 which are likely to damp the enthusiasm of any ship-owner or 

 ship-builder. His Atlantic liner was to have a displacement of 

 18,000 tons and a speed of twenty-six knots, with an indicated 

 horse-power of 38,000. 



The paper which followed Mr. Parsons' was an extremely in- 

 teresting and valuable one by Mr. Mark Robinson, on the 



NO. 1566, VOL. 61] 



Niclausse water-tube Iniiler. It came as a natural corollary 

 to Mr. Parsons' paper, because Mr. Parsons had stated in his 

 communication that his pspposed steamers would be fitted with 

 the water tube type of boilers. The interest which has been 

 aroused, and the controversy which has arisen over the in- 

 troduction of water-tube boilers into the Royal Navy also made 

 this paper one of considerable importance. The author only 

 described fully the particular type of boiler with which he was 

 most familiar, namely, the Niclausse ; but the general conclu- 

 sions and the general results apply equally to all boilers of this 

 type. 



Mr. Robinson pointed out in his paper that the Niclausse 

 boiler as now made in this country, or rather as it will be con- 

 structed in this country when the plans now being made are 

 completed, is very different from the Niclausse boiler which was 

 fitted into one of the ships of the navy some years ago. 



For reasons which are quite satisfactory the Admiralty have 

 not yet been able to satisfactorily test these Niclausse boilers ; 

 and now in view of the great changes in the mechanical details 

 of this type of water-tube boiler, interest in the results of 

 their tests will be more or less discounted. 



There is no doubt that this boiler will be one of the most 

 satisfactory in its mechanical details of all the water-tube type,, 

 and will have a great future, both for sea-going purposes and on 

 land as well. 



One set of figures given by the author to show the advantage 

 of the extremely short time required for removing and replacing 

 a tube or tubes is worth quoting. In one instance the boilers 

 were blown down, three tubes removed and replaced by others, 

 and pressure got up again in thirty-five minutes from the time 

 the operation started. 



The concluding paper on Friday was one by Captain Lloyd^ 

 describing a method which has been developed at Elswick for 

 discharging torpedoes below water from the broadside of a ship 

 when steaming at a high speed. The problem, a most difficult 

 one in all its mechanical details, has been successfully sur- 

 mounted, and a considerable number of these submerged tubes 

 have been already fitted, and a large number are in the process 

 of fitting at the present time. The paper was, of course, a 

 highly technical one ; but the admirable diagrams which had 

 been prepared rendered it easy to follow the working of the 

 mechanism from the firing of the cordite charge to the exit of 

 the torpedo from the tube. 



Saturday was fixed by the authorities as the day upon which 

 the French Association would pay their official visit to the 

 British Association, and the paper which was read before the 

 Section, reinforced by a considerable number of French 

 engineers, was one by a distinguished French engineer, M. 

 Alby, describing the construction and erection of the Alexander 

 III. bridge over the Seine in Paris. This bridge forms part of 

 the Great Exhibition of 1900, and is situated on the line of the- 

 Great Avenue which will connect the Champs Elysee with 

 the Esplanade des Invalides. /Esthetical considerations, there- 

 fore, have played a most important part in the design which 

 has been adopted. A low-arch form of bridge was the only- 

 acceptable one, and the great horizontal thrust produced by 

 such a type of arch has given the engineer a very anxious task 

 in the design of his abutments. A full description of the bridge 

 was given, and of the costly but necessary temporary structure 

 or travelling bridge, as the author termed it, by means of which 

 the erection of the bridge proper has been carried out. During 

 next year engineers will have an opportunity, when visiting the 

 Exhibition, of admiring the beauty and harmony of the design, 

 and the skill with which the great difficulties met with have 

 been overcome. 



Monday, as usual the electric day, was not in this instance 

 productive of anything very striking. Perhaps the most interest- 

 ing communication was one by Mr. Cowper-Coles on some 

 recent applications of electro-metallurgy to mechanical engineer- 

 ing. The author described a very beautiful process for the 

 electrolytic manufacture of projectors for search lights for naval 

 and military operations. A projector made by this process, 

 was exhibited to the meeting, and figures were given to show 

 that the fine coating of palladium used protects the silver-faced 

 projector from any injury owing to the intense heat of the arc- 

 light, the pure silver face being found to tarnish very rapidly in 

 consequence of the intensity of the heat. 



Some brief notes by Mr. A. Siemens on electrical machinery 

 on board ship were interesting because they gave the President 

 the opportunity of refuting the common notion that we are 



