TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 223 
consideration of the captain. In crossing a bar, or when in shallow water, the tips 
of the screw must not be lowered beneath the keel. The normal position of the 
screw was that the tip should be in a line with the keel; but when the vessel was 
in more water than she really required, the captain gave directions to the engineer 
to lower the screw, in performing which operation no change was necessary in the 
speed of the engines, and in that position the vessel crossed the ocean, On arriv- 
ing near port the captain gave a counter order to raise the screw. In Liverpool the 
demand for admission into the graving-docks by vessels which had broken or 
injured their screws was often so great that it was found impossible to accommodate 
them all, and the consequence was that many vessels had to enter on another voyage 
with their screws in an injured condition. To meet this difficulty it was proposed 
to elevate the screw to such a position, as when the vessel was half discharged the 
screw could be repaired and then lowered to its normal position, without its being 
necessary to take the vessel into the dock. 
Not more than two minutes are occupied in raising or lowering the screw, 
which was accomplished by means of a small steam-engine located on the deck. 
In performing the opetation there was, of course, a theoretical loss of power, 
although practically no loss could be discovered. 
The Harland screw has been fitted to the White Star liner_‘ Britannic, which 
has recently made one of the shortest runs on record to New York. The ship is 
472 feet long, 45 feet beam, with a total paying capacity of 5000 tons. She has 
compound engines 760 H.P, nominal and eight boilers, and developed great speed, 
making the passage in 7 days 19 hours and 35 minutes, which is wit. in half an hour 
of the shortest time recorded. shins * 
The S.S. ‘ Camel,’ asmaller steamer, has also been fitted with this lowering-screw, 
and in constant use during the last four years has given the utmost satisfaction. 
On a Higher Education for Engineers*. 
By Jenemian Heap, of Middlesbrough. 
The author first showed that the industrial prosperity of Great Britain, depend- 
ing as it does so largely upon the economical utilization of its minerals, would in 
future increase or dwindle away according to the skill and intelligence brought 
to bear by British engineers. 
He then investigated the meaning of the term “Engineer,” calling attention to 
its ambiguity, and defining it as properly denoting “him who is able, as various 
necessities arise, to utilize, in the best and most economic manner, the materials of 
the earth for the benefit of its inhabitants.” 
In order to enable engineers really to come up to this high standard, he thought 
they should have a much wider and higher education than is now commonly met 
with among them. He argued at considerable length in favour of increased atten- 
tion being paid to the studies of chemistry, physics, geology, physical geography, 
economics, mathematics, accounts, law, inductive and deductive reasoning, rhetoric, 
hysiology, and professional morals. The nature of each of these branches of 
Binwiedze, and their bearing upon the engineering profession, were successively 
discussed. 
He endorsed the present practice of sending students at the age of sixteen to work 
as ordinary mechanics in an engineering establishment of repute, and where there 
is a good system of progressive advancement through the several departments. But 
instead of remaining simply as improvers after the age of twenty-one, he advocated 
a three years’ course at a good College of Science, where systematic attention could 
be paid to the above higher branches of professional education. He thought a 
longer time than has hitherto been customary should be devoted to the training of 
an engineer, and did not consider the responsibility of laying out large sums of 
money in constructive works should be entrusted to men of less than thirty years 
of age. 
ih conclusion, he called attention to the danger of specializing the energies too 
much, or before the elements in every department of knowledge have been 
* Printed in extenso in ‘ Engineering,’ vol. xviii, pp. 255, 280. 
