208 



NA TURE 



[June 27, 1907 



THE ENGINEERING CONFERENCE. 



THE fourth engineering conference of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers commenced on the morning of 

 Wednesday, June 19, when an opening address was 

 delivered by Sir Alexander B. W. Kennedy, F.R.S., the 

 president of the institution. In the course of his remarks, 

 the president referred to the essential catholicity of the 

 aims of the institution. All and every department of 

 industrial activity which can possibly be covered by the 

 name engineering fell within the ken and interest of the 

 institution. In spite of the very extended ground covered 

 by the subjects of the sections, members of the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers alone had been invited to take part. 

 It was not necessary to go beyond the borders of the 

 institution to find men, not only interested, but dis- 

 tinguished, in every department of engineering. The 

 president emphasised the unity rather than the diversity 

 of their work, and expressed the hope that members would 

 not confine their interest and presence to those sections 

 only with the business of which their every-day work was 

 concerned. In conclusion, the president explained that the 

 papers to be read w^ere notes, intended merely to open and 

 ^timulate discussion. 



The members then separated into the various sections. 

 The discussions occupied the morning of Wednesday, 

 Thursday, and Friday. The limitations of space permit of 

 brief notices only of the more important matters dealt with. 



Section I., Jiaihvays. Chairman, Mr. W. R. Galbraith. 



A discussion on the chemical composition of steel rails 

 was opened by Mr. C. P. Sandberg, who described the 

 effects of phosphorus, sulphur, manganese, silicon, and 

 carbon. Mr. W. Willox stated that certain rails on the 

 Metropolitan Railway had worn out in five months only ; 

 the Sandberg rail, he thought, would reduce the trouble 

 considerably. In this type of rail the silicon is added in 

 the form of silico-spiegel or ferro-silicon, which gives better 

 results than silicon left in the steel from pig-iron during 

 the conversion. 



The subject of reinforced concrete for railway structures 

 was introduced by Dr. C. A. Harrison. Evidence was 

 sought of the ability of this form of construction to resist 

 the fatigue and stress of railway traffic, and also as to 

 whether the metal reinforcement is not liable to corrosion. 

 Mr. W. Bell gave information regarding a building in ferro- 

 concrete erected under his supervision for the North- 

 Eastern Railway. He considered this building to be 

 satisfactory, and found that, in places where it had been 

 necessary to cut the concrete, the metal bars were clean 

 and bright. 



The use of a bituminous preparation in preference to 

 paint wherever possible was advocated by Mr. B. Blount 

 as being the best means of preserving iron and steel work. 

 Mr. H. R. A. Mallock, F.R.S., contributed a note on 

 the action between the wheel and the rail, in which he 

 calculated from theoretical grounds that the wear on rails 

 having a two-minute service for twelve hours a day would 

 amount to 26 inches per year, a result which might be 

 altogether avoided by somewhat increasing the tread. 



Mr. W. Dawson described a system of audible signalling 

 which has been experimented on by the Great Western 

 Railway. The danger signal is given to the driver by 

 means of a small steam whistle fixed to the cab of the 

 engine, actuated by a fixed bar bolted to the sleepers. 

 The fixed bar is electrified when it is desired to give the 

 " all right " signal, and then has the effect of ringing a 

 bell on the engine. Colonel Yorke expressed the import- 

 ance attached by the Board of Trade to such apparatus, 

 but stated that his department would insist on absolute 

 trustworthiness before sanctioning its use. 



In speaking on light-railway policy. Sir A. B. W. 

 Kennedy thought that, in view of the development of 

 motor traction, light railways had nearly reached their 

 termination in this country, excepting in special cases. 



Section II., Harbours, Docks, and Canals. Chairman, 

 Sir William Matthews, K.C.M.G. 



Lord Pirrie contributed a paper on harbour and dock 

 requirements as affected by the development of shipping. 

 In his opinion, finality in the size of ships had not yet 

 been reached. The desire for greater economy and also 

 passengers' wishes for greater comfort and luxury would 



NO 1965, VOL. 76] 



lead to further developments. Owing, however, to exist- 

 ing conditions as regards dock accommodation and depth 

 of channels, shipbuilders had been forced into increasing 

 the length rather than the breadth or draught. 



Ferro-concrete and reinforced concrete structures were 

 also discussed in this section. Mr. C. S. Meik gave 

 evidence of the strength and durability of the ferro-concreto 

 pier at Purfleet on the Thames. Questions of dock equip- 

 ment, dredging, and electric and hydraulic power for 

 working dock machinery were dealt with. Mr. W. W. 

 Squire considered that the tendency tow^ards the extended 

 use of electric appliances w-as on the increase. 



Section III., Machinery. Chairman, Prof. W. C. 

 Unwin, F.R.S. 



The business of this section opened with a valuable 

 and interesting discussion on the relative merits of turbines 

 as applied to marine propulsion and of reciprocating 

 engines. The princip.al point raised was the relative coal 

 and steam consumptions. The Hon. C. -A. Parsons stated 

 that in war vessels the consumption has now been brought 

 to substantially the same figure as with reciprocating 

 engines, and that in pleasure steamers the turbine now 

 showed an efficiency 5 per cent, to 15 per cent, superior to 

 similar vessels having triple-expansion reciprocating 

 engines. Sir Wm. White and .Sir John Durston con- 

 tributed to the discussion. Mr. Gerald Stoney referred to 

 the great efliciency of the low-pressure steam turbine, and 

 quoted instances of the successful application on land of 

 such turbines working with the exhaust steam discharged 

 from reciprocating engines, which steam would otherwise 

 be wasted owing to the inability of reciprocating engines 

 to deal economically with steam at very low pressures. 

 Mr. Parsons was of the opinion that future development 

 for slow-speed vessels such as cargo steamers w^ould be 

 in the direction of a combination of reciprocating engines 

 for the high-pressure part of the expansion and of turbines 

 to deal with the low-pressure part. He estimated that such 

 an arrangement would show an improvement in coal con- 

 sumption of about 12 per cent, over quadruple-expansion 

 reciprocating engines, and from 15 per cent, to 20 per cent. 

 over the best triple-expansion engines. 



Other subjects discussed in this section were precision 

 grinding, machine-tool design as affected by the use of 

 high-speed cutting tools, the use of pneumatic tools, 

 reciprocating air-compressors, and turbo-compressors for 

 high pressures. The last subject was introduced by Prof. 

 A. Rateau, of Paris, who described his recent work in 

 the . development of turbo-compressors. He specially 

 directed attention to one of his machines (which consists 

 essentially of a reversed steam turbine) placed in the 

 mines at Bethune, which compresses the air to 6 and 

 even 7 atmospheres, and has the further interesting 

 feature of being driven by a steam turbine utilising the 

 exhaust steam from one of the winding engines. The 

 efficiency of turbo-compressors is about of the same order 

 as piston compressors. Turbo-compressors have the 

 advantages of simplicity of parts and the capability of 

 being directly connected to high-speed motors. 



Section I v., Mining and MctuUurgy. Cliairman, Mr. 

 John Strain. 



This section opened with a discussion on problems of 

 the Witwatersrand goldfields, introduced by Mr. G. A. 

 Denny. Questions of labour difficulties and machinery 

 were dealt with. Shaft-sinking and shafts for deep wind- 

 ing were also discussed. Recent applications of the 

 Poetsch freezing method of shaft sinking in the Durham 

 coalfield were described by Mr. H. Louis. .Arrangements 

 of colliery surface works were described by Mr. E. M. 

 Hann. Mr. J. E. Stead, F.R.S., introduced the subject 

 of segregation in steel, and illustrated his remarks by 

 reference to etched specimens. The causes of segregation 

 and its effect on the mechanical properties were fully 

 dealt with. Mr. B. Blount conlribuled a paper on 

 electro-metallurgy, dealing with the present state of the 

 industry and the possibililies of its application to 

 the manufacture of steel. The subject of the educatio!? 

 of students of mining and metallurgy was intro- 

 duced by Mr. W. Rowley, who described the 

 methods adopted in the W'est Riding of Yorkshire. Mr. 

 Rowley severely criticised the present Government examin- 

 ation for certificates of competency, an examination which. 



