Oct. 4, 1SS3J 



NATURE 



559 



When railways were first made, the locomotive was a very im- 

 perfect machine, whieh could only travel economically on roads 

 almost level and straight. As there are no level plains of great 

 length in this country, and as reducing the natural surface of the 

 country to a fair level i; both tedious and costly, considerable 

 detours were made to avoid steep gradients or their alternative, 

 long tunnels, deep cuttings, and high embankments. In some 

 cases w here a very steep gradient could not be avoided, a sta- 

 tionary engine and rope traction were adopted. The great im- 

 provements in the • gradually led to the almost entire 

 abandonment of rope traction in this country ; and gradients 

 which it would have been impossible for the earlier engines to 

 surmount with a load equal to their own weight are now 

 ascended with ease with heavy trains at moderate speeds. 

 Abroad, however, great natural difficulties and a limited capital 

 were not infrequently concurrent conditions which offered to the 

 engineer troublesome problems for solution. In some districts 

 the locomotive could not do the required work, and other means 

 have had to be resorted to. The plans adopted for overcoming 

 the difficulty presented by the sudden elevation of the 

 over which a railway mu-t pass may be typified by the wire-rone 

 .>, as empl >yed by myself on the .St. Paulo Railway 'of 

 Brazil, and by the central rail system of Mr. Fell, first employed 

 on ihe Mont Cenis Railway, and since on steep inclines in New- 

 Zealand. 



The central rail system was designed by Mr. Fell, and first 

 carried out practically in the railway ma le over Mont 

 under my direction, before the opening of the great tunnel' 

 I he peculiarity of the system lies in the use of a deep rail laid 

 « its side between the two ordinary rails : the centre rail is 

 led by horizontal wheels, put in motion by the locomotive 

 the adhesion of which to the centre rail gives the locomotive the 

 force necessary to draw up steep inclines, not only its on 11 weight 

 but a considerable supplementary load. Phis is probably the 

 most economical mode of working very sleep gradients under 

 ordinary circumstances, and it has been found to 

 well wherever it has been efficiently carried out 



In the construction of railways and dicks one of the most ex- 

 pensive and tedious operations is the excavation of the soil Iu 

 -nd the cutting of numerous canals had trained a large 

 of men to special nines, for the execution of such work 

 which they performed with a manual dexterity and amount of 

 muscular power which have made the British navvy a special 

 force in the execution of great public works. Where labour was 

 comparatively scarce and inefficient, as, for instance, in America 

 efforts were made at an early period to supplement, and, if 

 possible, supersede, such manual labour by mechanical contriv- 

 ances In 1S45 a mechanical excavator, after an American 

 model, was used on the Eastern Counties Railway with a certain 

 amount of success. This machine delivered as much as 100 cubic 

 yards an hour at a cost which did not exceed fifty shillings a 

 day. In principle, and generally in detail, it is very much°the 

 same as the excavator which is commonly known as the "steam- 

 navvy at the present day. The machine was locomotive, and 

 had three other kinds of motion— first, thrusting thescooporshovel 

 into the earth ; second, lifting the scoop when filled ; and third 

 turning round on Us centre to deposit the earth in the waggons' 

 The use of small locomotives for tipping the soil for embank- 

 ments has relieved the workmen of one very laborious and 

 sometimes dangerous occupation, and in a corresponding degree 

 has diminished the cost of construction. 



One of the most important operations in connection with 

 shipping is the repairing, cleaning, and painting of ships For 

 this purpose graving docks, from which the water was removed 

 after the vessel had entered, were and continue to be mostly 

 employed. But during the lifting of the tubes of the Britannia 

 Bridge into place with what were then called hydraulic presses 

 it occurred to Mr. Edwin Clark that similar means mWht be 

 used to lift a vessel out of the water and place it in a position 

 to be dealt with similarly to a construction on dry land. Floating 

 docks consisting of pontoons which lifted the vessel out of the 

 water have been used in this country, and more extensively in 

 America for this purpose : and at San Francisco and Philadel- 

 phia a dock was constructed of pontoons in sections called 

 camels, any number of which might be used according to the 

 size of the vessel to be docked. Mr. Clark's plan is quite dif- 

 ferent from these. His hydraulic dock consists of a number of 

 columns arranged in two parallel rows, in which columns are 

 placed the hydraulic lifting power. Between these two rows of 

 columns extends a frame or cradle, over which the ship is drawn 

 in the water. When the ship is in position the hydraulic lifts 



are set to work, and they raise the craile first to the bMtom of 

 the ship, which, being properly secured, is then lifted with the 

 cradle clear of the water. There is no difficulty whatever in the 

 management of this form of dock, and it has been perfectly 

 successful : its chief recommendation being that any area of 

 shallow water can be made available for docking large vessels 

 and that it is especially valuable in tideless seas. 



Among the many mechanical appliances for saving labour on 

 railways and docks, the machinery for shipping coal is remark- 

 able : the bulk, weight, and low price of coal render every item 

 of saving m transport relatively important. It is commercially 

 important also that the coal in the different stages of transput 

 from the pit to the distant consumer should be broken as little as 

 possible, and a good deal of attention has been given to con- 

 trivances to secure these ends. 



A great variety of hydraulic machinery has been designed bv 

 Sir William Armstrong for coal loading, and it is largely em- 

 ployed at New port Docks and elsewhere. 



Many different kinds of labour-saving machinery for dock and 

 railway work in loading and unloading have been invented during 

 the last fifty years, and have had a most important influence on 

 the development of railway and steamship transp irt. 



Hydraulic machinery has also been largely employed for open- 

 ing and closing dock gates and sluices, and for warping ships 

 through the bcks. v 



A large dock is in course of construction at Hull, by Mr 

 Abernethy, called the Alexandra Dock, where almost every kind 

 of machinery wdiich can lie used in work of that nature is being 

 , the contractors, Mes;rs. Lucas and Aird, to expedite 

 the work. Two of Priestman's steam grabs are employed, each 

 of tilling about 390 cubic yards a day, and are found 

 rul in opening out work for the steam navvies, six of 

 ire employed, each being capable of filling 600 cubic 

 yards a day. There are a number of steam cranes^steam pile- 

 driving machines, and steam jiggers at work. But, besides those 

 moved by steam power, hydraulic power has here for the first 

 time been applied to machinery for the construction of works. 

 An hydraulic crane puts the stonework of the Hock walls in 

 an hydraulic jigger raises the barro (f -loads of soil from 

 the bottom of the dock to the wall where it is shot to the back 

 for tilling. One of the six navvies is moved by hydraulic power • 

 and there is an hydraulic pile-driving machine. The hydraulic 

 machinery is found to work at least as quickly, as easily, and as 

 economically as steam machinery, and it works almost with- 

 out noise, and quite without smoke. The trial of hydraulic 

 machinery for these purposes has been quite successful, and where 

 circumstances permit it will no doubt be used extensively in 

 works of construction in future. For dock work much of the 

 hydraulic machinery can be used permanently in the ordinary 

 operations of loading and unloading, so that the loss by sale of 

 such expensive plant, which a contractor has to tale into account 

 when making his tender, will be avoided, as it can be turned 

 over to the dock company, with a reasonable deduction for wear 

 and tear, at the end of the work. There are 2800 men employed 

 at this dock ; and the work is carried on at night by the aid of 

 the electric light. The mechanical navvies and grabs do the 

 work of about 400 additional men. 



The working of railways by electricity has not advanced 

 further than to justify merely a brief reference to it in this paper 

 as among the possibilities, perhaps the probabilities, of the not 

 distant future. A line of a mile and a half of tramway has been 

 working successfully at Berlin for over two years without 

 hitch or accident of any kind. A line of narrow gunge railway 

 is c instructed from Portrush, the terminus of the Belfast and 

 Northern Counties Railway, to Bush Mills, in the Bush Valley 

 a distance of six miles, which is now partially worked by electri- 

 city, and is to be wholly so worked as soon as the neces-ary plant 

 is c iinpleted. As the generating power is that of the abundant 

 streams of the neighbourhood, it will be economical ; and if 

 success should crown this practical experiment, it may lead to 

 important results in regard to the employment of electricity under 

 similar circumstances as a locomotive power. 



I have now passed rapidly in review some of the mores'rikinc 

 mechanical improvements in the construction and working of 

 railways and docks which have taken place chiefly within my 

 own experience. Each of them has had an influence, im- 

 portant if unnoticed, in promoting the growth of our railway 

 and dock systems. Precisely how far any single appliance has 

 contributed to create these magnificent systems, of w h'ch this 

 country may with just reason be proud, it would be difficult to 

 say ; and it would be as difficult to say which of them 



