221 REPOUT — 1870. 



Diinensio}is of proposed Machinery. 



Lengtli of chain 1:?3 ft. 



Width oft. 



Diameter of pins ft. 2^ in. 



Angle of bhides 3G° 



Number of bhides 11 



Diameter of driving-pulley 14 ft. 



Number of i-evolutions per minute 54 



Length of blades .3 ft. 7 in. 



Thickness of chain „ 5 „ 



Slip in tni/es per hour 3 



Tension of chain where greatest 23 tons 



» „ least 10 „ 



Weight of chain 13 tons 



„ blades 2 „ 



,, puUej's and shafts 20 „ 



Weight to he compared icith screiv and screw-shaft 35 „ 

 The" friction arising from the motion of the pins i 



as they pass roimd the drums if added to V GSO lbs. 



that thrust | 



Ditto pressure of the drums on their bearings -500 „ 



Ditto thrust-blocks 290 „ 



Total increase in thrust equivalent to friction . . 064 ton 



On Ocean Tehgraph)j. By Captain Rowett. 



On ihe Ash-pit Si/stem of Manchester. By Alderman R. RrjrxEY. 



What is the best method of dealing with the excromentitious matters of large 

 towns is a question of difficult solution. It has been discussed annually at the 

 British Association, not sm-ely without beneht, but certainly without arriving at 

 any general agi-eement. 



As a contribution towards a solution of this question, a brief description of the 

 method adopted in Manchester may not be without interest, and may serve either 

 as an example or warning to other large towns similarly situated. When attention 

 was first directed to the sanitary condition of towns, Manchester had scarcely any 

 water-closets, but to every large house, and in every street, serving one family or 

 many, were privies and open ash-pits of large dimensions situated at the back of 

 the house, the privy-door opening into a yard very near the back door of the house, 

 an ash-pit opening'immediately behind, with a door opening into a passage forming 

 the boundary between the streets or rows of houses, and through which door the 

 refuse or contents of the ash-pit were from time to time emptied. These ash-pit.s 

 received the rainfall and all the refuse of the house. The gases eliminated from 

 the decomposing materials passed ofi" at a low altitude, and might enter the yard 

 or upper rooms of the house without difficulty. 



The authorities of Manchester have at all times objected to the general use of 

 water-closets in cottage-dwellings. In the first place, because they believed that 

 in the limited space available in houses occupied by the working classes they would 

 prove a greater nuisance than the privy and ash-pit outside ; secondly, because of 

 the loss of valuable manure which would be occasioned ; and thirdly, because, 

 looking at the rapid increase of population in the district and the limited area of 

 the watershed, the time would come when all the water available would be re- 

 quired for domestic and manufacturing purposes, and could not be wasted in water- 

 closets. Adhering, then, to the dry in oppo.sitiou to the wet system, the corpora- 

 tion has for some time been engaged in the attempt to improve the existing 

 privies and ash-pits, and to discover the best form to oe adopted in all new pro- 

 perty erected within tlie city. In 18(38 the city council appointed a healtli- 

 committee and officer o^ health, and placed the construction of privies and ash-pits 



