178 report — 1865. 



of coal, instead of two and a half to three tons of coke, which represented six to 

 seven tons of best coal. With such names before them as Meyer, Borsig, and 

 Krupp, as employers of Siemens's furnaces for steel melting, it did little credit to 

 English enterprise to say that there was hardly one furnace in England in constant 

 work for steel melting. Besides the saving of fuel, there were other advantages 

 in the working of the furnace, such as cleanliness, no" solid fluid being brought into 

 the shop where the furnaces were, the fuel being converted into gas at any con- 

 venient distance from the furnaces ; compactness of arrangement, saving of labour, 

 and, above all, improvement in the processes themselves. In every trade in which 

 the furnace might be employed, the same advantages were apparent ; and though 

 the furnaces were costly, and required a large outlay at first, especially in old 

 works, they soon paid for themselves. 



On some of the Causes of the Failure of Deep-sea Cables, and Experimental 

 Researches on the Permanency of their Insulators. By William Fair- 

 bairn, F.R.S. 



The author stated that the recent disaster and loss of the greater portion of the 

 Atlantic cables is one of those casualties which may be considered national, and 

 looked upon as a misfortune much to be regretted. It is, however, suggestive of 

 improvements and the removal of impediments which seem to have beset the last 

 attempt to submerge what was considered the best and most effective cable ever 

 constructed for a durable telegraphic communication between this country and 

 America. 



This cable was unanimously selected by the scientific committee, to whom was 

 entrusted a long series of experiments to determine its strength and other chemical 

 and electrical properties of the materials of which it was composed. These will be 

 found in a former Report in the Transactions of last year, pages 408 ct seq. 



It will be noticed that the late failure of the insulation, submergence, &c, is not 

 an uncommon occurrence ; on the contrary, it has been estimated that out of about 

 14,000 miles of cable that have been laid, nearly three-fourths of that length have 

 been failures, and that at the present time not more than from 4000 to 5000 miles 

 are in successful operation. 



There are two things in marine telegraphy which require special attention, viz., 

 the manufacture of the cable, and its submergence in deep water. In this inquiry 

 the author ventures to assume that the conducting wires, insulation, and strength 

 of the cable were satisfactory, and nothing more remained to be done than to lay 

 it quietly on the bed of the ocean. The recent loss of this cable, and the imperfect 

 insulation of others, are, however, important lessons, which prove the necessity of 

 the most vigilant inspection of every inch of cable as it is manufactured in the first 

 instance, and its careful preservation until it is safely deposited in the bed of the 

 ocean in the second. Every possible care was in this case taken ; but, notwith- 

 standing the precautions exercised by the manufacturing company, small pieces of 

 wire on three different occasions were found sticking in the cable in contact with 

 the conducting wires and destructive of the insulation. These apparently trifling 

 circumstances were the whole and sole cause of the loss the Company and the public 

 have sustained in the failure of this important enterprise. 



A voyage from the Nore to Valentia in July last presented opportunities for 

 examining the big ship with her machinery and valuable cargo. The paying-out 

 machinery was perfect, as it proved itself to be in regard to its powers for regula- 

 ting the slack to be paid out at different depths, and the uniform degree of tension 

 requisite to be observed in paying out the cable at great depths. 



Paying out a cable of considerable weight and strength from the coil seems to be 

 surrounded with many difficulties, the greatest 

 of which is the danger of kinks arising from 

 the twist which it receives in being uncoiled. 

 This is the great objection to every description 

 of cable payed out from the coil, as the ten- 

 dency is to run into loops, such as shown at A, ^ ^^^rf^ 

 and this, when submitted to an amount of ten- '"^ 22s: 2S2r^s^3SSscssesa £r 



