306 



ENGINEERING. 



one being provided with an induction appa- 

 ratus, or "secondary generator," as the in- 

 ventors term it. The main line consists of a 

 copper wire but one sixth of an inch in diame- 

 ter, and is of a total length, out and back, of 

 fifteen miles. At each station a portion of the 

 coils are grouped in multiple arc for the sup- 

 ply of Swan incandescent lamps, and others for 

 both regulator arc-lamps and Jablochkoff can- 

 dles. As each different class of lamps has its 

 own circuit quite distinct from the others, all 

 sorts of electrical apparatus can be readily 

 used without difficulty. This constitutes an 

 important advantage over the system of direct 

 supply, as arc and incandescent lamps can not 

 be successfully worked in the same circuit. The 

 only way in which the two can be supplied by 

 the same street conductors is by the use of the 

 secondary battery. No tests of the loss due to 

 the secondary generator system have yet been 

 published, and we can not therefore estimate 

 its economic value. The extreme flexibility of 

 the system, however, will give it a prominent 

 place in the distribution of electricity, if this 

 loss be not too great. 



The storage-battery system of distribution 

 for incandescent lamps has made but little 

 headway during the year. Despite the flourish 

 with which successive improvements in second- 

 ary batteries have been announced, this appa- 

 ratus is still in an experimental shape. Ex- 

 perience has shown that the battery deterio- 

 rates rapidly in use, its first cost is high, and 

 its return is too low to make its use as an 

 element in a distributive system economical. 

 Whether it can be converted into a practical 

 commercial apparatus remains to be seen, but 

 the present opinion in the electrical world is 

 not hopeful of its future. 



ENGINEERING. The year 1883 saw the com- 

 pletion in the United States of two of the most 

 remarkable high-level bridges in the world, 

 one of the wire-suspension type, identified 

 with American engineering, the other on the 

 cantilever principle, a new and important de- 

 velopment, the merit of which may be ascribed 

 more particularly to the English school of en- 

 gineers. Two more of the great transconti- 

 nental railroads were completed within the 

 year, and American enterprise is pushing the 

 reticulations of the American railroad system 

 into Mexico. A great ship-canal is projected 

 across the isthmus of Florida. The Congress 

 of Nicaragua in October, 1883, authorized the 

 Government to guarantee, in association with 

 the other governments of Central America, 3 

 per cent, interest on the capital of the project- 

 ed Nicaraguan canal for twenty years after the 

 completion of the canal, which capital shall 

 not exceed $75,000,000. 



In Europe the Channel tunnel project was 

 condemned on strategic grounds by a Parlia- 

 mentary Commission. The Manchester ship- 

 canal met with political opposition, and the 

 project has been altered from that of a tidal 

 water-way for ocean-steamships to a plan for 



a canal with locks, which would accommodate 

 barges and some of the smallest of the trans- 

 atlantic steamers. The obstruction of this 

 promising scheme illustrates the difficulty of 

 carrying out great public improvements in 

 Great Britain, where monopolies not only 

 wield political power but possess, as " vested 

 interests," a legal status, which is not accord- 

 ed to an equal extent in any other state. The 

 "plateway " between Liverpool and Manches- 

 ter has been given up. The third great Alpine 

 tunnel has been bored by the Austrian Govern- 

 ment. The works on the isthmus of Corinth 

 and Panama canals are progressing, and under 

 the same auspices the project of inundating 

 the Algerian chotts is assuming definite shape. 

 The Suez- canal controversy has given rise to 

 several projects, the most probable and practi- 

 cable of which is that of enlarging the present 

 canal and building a second one of equal size 

 to accommodate the return traffic. In Ger- 

 many a canal is proposed from Strasburg to 

 the Rhine, which, by connecting with the 

 French system of canals, would establish wa- 

 ter-communication between the North sea and 

 the Mediterranean. 



The old project of a Euphrates valley rail- 

 road has been taken up by the Sultan, who 

 believes that such a railroad would in Asia 

 have turned the scale of victory in the last 

 Russian war. The latest plan is that of Lerkis 

 Bey Ballian, who proposes to carry the line 

 from Saladieh (Seleucia), at the mouth of the 

 Orontes, to Bagdad, 690 miles. Another, the 

 Caralet project, would make the western ter- 

 minus at Alexandrette, opposite Cyprus. There 

 are several others, new and old. The promot- 

 ers must be satisfied in their demands on the 

 Porte with extensive land-grants like those 

 given to railroads by the United States Gov- 

 ernment. The improvements of the Danube 

 are to be extended as far as practicable up to 

 the Iron Gate, and the dangerous reefs in that 

 remarkable chasm, which necessitate the un- 

 loading and reloading of steamers passing 

 through, are soon to be cleared away. 



The harbor- works, at Trieste, which have 

 taken fifteen years of labor and an expenditure 

 of $7,300,000, were completed in 1883. By 

 running out three piers, 700 feet long and from 

 250 to 275 feet broad, the old roadstead, which 

 was exposed and insecure, was converted into 

 three basins, 85 acres in extent each, with from 

 26 to 43 feet depth of water. A mole 3,600 

 feet long, running parallel with the shore at 

 the distance of 1,000 feet, protects the harbor 

 from the northeast, southeast, and southwest 

 winds. A pier 250 feet long, projecting in the 

 direction of the northeast end of the break- 

 water, at right angles to it, gives a protected 

 entrance to the haven 315 ftret in width. The 

 length of quays in the basins is about two 

 miles. The soil is so unstable that the quay 

 walls had to be reconstructed about a year 

 after they were built. The Italian Govern- 

 ment is engaged in naval harbor works on an 



