TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 229 



which directs its passage down the shaft, is the object sought in all safety cages. 

 The author's plan for effecting this is a mere adaptation of an instrument well 

 known to mihers— the key or wrench used for raising and lowering the boring rods. 

 It has never been known to lose its hold, and the greater the strain the firmer is its 

 gripe. To adapt this instrument to the cage, a slight modification of the upper shoes 

 or slides is all that is necessary. These shoes or slides are, as usual, two in num- 

 ber, and placed on opposite sides of the cage and in opposite directions. Each of 

 them has a single bolt or stud by which it is attached to the cage, and around which 

 it turns, a long arm to the extremity of which the winding-chain is attached, a stop 

 which prevents the arm from being pulled above the horizontal line, and a spring 

 which lowers it when the winding-chain is slack. The author illustrated the various 

 parts by diagrams and a working model. 



On Harbours of Refuge. By Donald Bain. 



On a Boat-lowering Apparatus. By A. Balten. 



On an Artesian Well in the New Red Sandstone at the Wolverhampton 

 Waterworks. By J. F. Bateman, C.E., R.R.G.S., F.G.S. 



The town of Wolverhampton has been, up to a recent period, supplied with water 

 produced by two deep shafts, one sunk about 300 feet deep into the lower new red or 

 Permian measures, and the other to a somewhat similar depth in the new red sand- 

 stone proper. From both of these wells a large quantity of water was anticipated 

 by the engineer who advised their construction, but their yield is under 200,000 

 gallons a day each, the water being pumped, in one case, from a depth of about 

 180 feet, and in the other 246 feet. 



The quantity thus yielded being insufficient for the supply of the district, new 

 works have been constructed, which I have just completed, for bringing water from 

 the river Worth at Cosford Bridge, about nine miles from Wolverhampton, and three 

 from Shiffnall in the county of Salop. 



The works are constructed for the supply of 2,000,000 gallons per day, and the 

 water has to be forced to a height of 500 feet for the supply of the town. 



The river Worth, at the place at which the pumping works are constructed, is not 

 more than 40 or 50 feet above the Severn, which it joins at Bridgenorth, about eight 

 or ten miles distant. It may therefore be considered to be at the bottom of a basin 

 a little elevated above the sea. From the character of the surrounding hills, and the 

 inclination of the beds of the new red sandstone, it appeared to me very likely that, 

 although the wells which had previously been sunk on the high plateau of Wolver- 

 hampton had proved comparative failures, a considerable quantity of water might be 

 found in the sandstone at Cosford Bridge, and that possibly some might rise to the 

 surface and flow as an artesian well. I therefore obtained the sanction of the Di- 

 rectors of the Company to sink a bore-hole for the purpose of ascertaining the fact. 



In some parts of the country, as in Cheshire and Lancashire, on the shores of the 

 Mersey, the new red sandstone is very clearly divided into four distinct portions, 

 consisting of an upper hard mass, about 300 or 400 feet thick, a soft mass, about 

 the same thickness, a second hard mass, and a lower soft mass, — all of pretty much 

 the same thickness. In the neighbourhood of Wolverhampton and Shiffnall these 

 distinctions are not so clearly exhibited ; but I had reason to believe, from the posi- 

 tion of the works, that a bore-hole, of about 200 feet in depth, would pierce the hard 

 rock on which they were situated, and reach the soft rock beneath. 



The bore-hole was commenced 12 inches in diameter, and continued at that size 

 for 70 feet in depth, when it was diminished to 7 inches, and continued for 190 feet, 

 making a total depth from the surface of 260 feet. 



The first water was met with at a depth of 22 feet 4 inches, and from that time it 

 rose to the surface and flowed over as an artesian spring, constantly increasing in 

 quantity as the depth increased, till the boring was discontinued ; at which time it 

 amounted to about 210,000 gallons per day. 



