7° 



SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



[May and, 1887. 



on to describe the construction of the Walter web-printing-press, under- 

 taken in 1862 by Mr. John Cameron RlacDonald, the present Manager 

 of The Times, aided by Mr. Joseph Calverly, the chief engineer. This 

 press is about 19 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 7 feet high. Each roll used 

 in printing The Times is about 8,000 yards in length, and weighs 800 

 lbs. The paper is passed from the roll over hollow damping-cylinders 

 perforated with small holes, through which steam condenses on the 

 blanket-covering, by which it becomes thoroughly wetted on both 

 sides. The paper is then squeezed and goes to the printing appliances, 

 consisting of four large cylinders, arranged one above the other. The 

 two outside carry the stereotype-plates, while the two in the middle are 

 the pressing-cylinders. The paper, after passing between the rollers, 

 is led between the upper printing and pressing- cylinders, when one 

 side of it is printed upon ; it is then passed between the two pressing- 

 cylinders, and afterwards between the lower-pressing and lower print- 

 ing-cyUnders, when it receives an impression upon the other side. 

 Provision is made for taking up the set-off by means of a metal cylinder 

 pressing against the' lower impression-cylinder, and licking .up the 

 superfluous ink on the covering thereof, while any accumulation of set- 

 off is prevented by a rubbing-bar affixed to its circumference. After 

 having been printed on both sides, the paper passes to the cutting- 

 cjlinders. The machinery is so adjusted that a knife catches the 

 paper exactly between the sheets, and, the paper being held hard on 

 each side by a spring-bar, cuts it in two, all but a couple of tags near 

 each end, which are left for the purpose of pulling the sheet on between 

 two sets of running tapes, until it is caught by a pair of small rollers, 

 which are driven at a greater speed than the rest of the machine. 

 These immediately tear the sheets apart where they had been all but 

 separated, and the tapes hurry on the complete newspaper until a 

 frame, like a huge comb, flings it down on a board. AH the manual 

 labour required is supplied by two boys, and a man, who attends to the 

 machine. Folding apparatus has been applied without entailing any 

 diminution of speed, which is about 10,000 perfect copies of the eight- 

 page paper per hour. 



The Walter Press may be regarded as, in the main, the type of 

 subsequent web-rotary machines, which differ from it but in accessories. 

 The " Victory," its chief rival, was brought out in 1870. It gained 

 favour among country newspaper proprietors for its being cheaper in 

 price, and possessing folding arrangements, an important feature in 

 places where the newsvendors require to receive their copies ready 

 folded. In 1873, Messrs. Hoe, ol New York, introduced a rotary 

 machine, which claimed a speed of fourteen thousand perfect sheets per 

 hour. 



The culminating point in regard to speed has, so far, been attained 

 by Messrs. Hoe, of New York, the most recent of whose machines seem 

 altogether fabulous in the extent of their output. One prints and de- 

 livers folded an eight-page paper like The Standard at the speed of 

 twenty-five thousand per hour. Another prints eight, ten, or twelve- 

 page papers, delivering them folded, to either half-page or quarter- 

 page size at the rate of twenty-five thousand per hour. For ten -page 

 and twelve-page papers, the inset of two or four pages is printed on a 

 supplementary machine inside, and is then directed to and folded with 

 the main web of paper, And another prints eight-page newspapers, 

 delivering them folded to either half or quarter-page size, at the rate of 

 eleven thousand per hour. It also delivers two, four, eight, or sixteen- 

 page sheets unfolded. A four-page paper like The Echo would be 

 turned out completely printed on both sides, at the rate of nearly fifty 

 thousand per hour by this apparatus. 



FINSBURY TECHNICAL COLLEGE. 



A MEETING of the Old Students' Association was held on March 

 23rd, at the College, when Mr. Bertram Chatterton read an 

 exhaustive paper on "Hydraulic Motors." The discussion that fol- 

 lowed was supported by Messrs. Humphreys, Webb, Pettigrew, A. 

 Chatterton, and others. The chief interest appeared to centre in the 

 advantages the lecturer had claimed for hydraulic motors over electrical 

 motors, and it was agreed on all sides that while for extremely heavy 

 work water-power was unrivalled, it was quite out of the field for lighter 

 work requiring, say, only one or two horse-power. 



THE PHYSICAL SOCIETY. 



AT a recent meeting of the Physical Society, Professors Perry and 

 Ayrton read a note on "Magnetic Resistance." Two iron rings 

 about 5in. diameter, made from the same bar of best Swedish iron about 

 iin. diameter, were wound with insulated wire in two halves, so that a 

 current could be sent round either or both halves, and the resulting 

 induction measured by the throw of a ballistic galvanometer placed in 

 series with a few convolutions of wire wound round the outside of the 

 main winding. One of the rings was continuous, and the other had a 

 small air space of about '8 mm. in a plane perpendicular to that of the 

 ring and passing through its axis, as if the ring had been cut by a saw. 

 The primary object of the experiments which were made by Messrs. 

 Aid worth, Dykes, Lamb, Robertson, and Zingler, of the Central Insti- 

 tution, was to determine whether there was any appreciable " surface 

 magnetic resistance." The results do not show any such resistance, and 

 the relative resistance of air and iron as calculated from the unsaturated 

 parts are about as 1200 to I, a number agreeing fairly well with those 

 obtained by other experimenters. From this the authors conclude that 

 for small distances magnetic resistance of air is proportional to length. 

 When the magnetising current was passed round the one-half of the 

 divided ring on which the test coil was wound a greater induction could 

 be obtained than by any other vifay of magnetising, and this the authors 

 do not attempt to explain. 



The Institution of Naval Architects. — The spring meeting 

 of the Institution was held this year somewhat earlier than usual, taking 

 place on the two final days of March and the 1st of April. At one 

 time it was feared that the meeting would be short of the usual aver- 

 age of excellency attained by the gatherings of this flourishing and 

 excellently-conducted institution. The death of Mr. William Denny, 

 of Dumbarton, so prominent and popular a member, not only deprived 

 the executive of his help, but cast a gloom over the deliberations of 

 the Council. There was also at first somewhat a dearth of good papers, 

 and the long-continued depression in the ship-building industry did not 

 promise well for good attendances. In spite of these discouraging 

 circumstances, the meeting was, on the whole, fairly successful. The 

 attendance was fair, the papers fair, and the discussions not below the 

 average. 



The chief event of the meeting was undoubtedly the paper contri- 

 buted by Mr. Biles, the chief of the constructive department at Messrs. 

 J. and G. Thomson's important shipyard, at Clyde Bank. Mr. Biles 

 chose for his subject the question of internal v. external protection 

 for ships of war. The problem is one which is exercising the minds of 

 naval constructors and naval officers to a considerable extent just at 

 present ; and, it is needless to say, is of the greatest national importance. 

 As a general rule, it may be said that naval constructors, i.e., profes- 

 sional ship designers, are more favourably disposed towards internal 

 protection than outside armour, the notable exception being Sir Edward 

 Reed. On the other hand, a great majority of naval officers, who are 

 the men perhaps most directly interested in the matter, cast their vote 

 in favour of outside armour in the shape of a water-line belt. The 

 question is one of so complicated a nature, that we may safely say it 

 will never be settled until we have practical data, obtained from actual 

 warfare, to go upon. 



Another paper of importance was Sir Nathaniel Burnaby's contribu- 

 tion on " The Fuel Supply of Warships," the reading of which gave 

 the late chief of naval construction an opportunity of answering those 

 who had been attacking him on the question of increased draught of 

 the VVarsfite and Imperieuse. It was not a very difficult task, for Sir 

 Nathaniel had only to show that it is possible to overload any vessel so 

 as to bring her below the water line designed. Another paper by the 

 same author was on " The Merchant Service and the Royal Navy." Mr. 

 J. H. Biles described two large seagoing torpedo vessels, built by 

 Messrs. Thomson for foreign governments. Mr. Dixon Kemp read a 

 very interesting paper on " Yachts," and Mr. Spyer, of the Admiralty, 

 gave details of the machinery used in the small steamboats of the Royal 

 Navy. The chief of the more strictly scientific papers was read by 

 Professor Cotterill, and referred to the influence of the action of a 

 screw propeller on the water-line. Mr. Calvert also gave details of 

 some very ingenious experiments he had devised to determine the forces 

 acting on the blade of a screw propeller. The summer meeting will 

 be held during the last week in July at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where the 

 president, Lord Ravensworth, promised all those who would attend a 

 hearty welcome. An invitation was also sent from Sunderland, and 

 visits to that town will form a feature in the proceedings. 



The Royal Institution. — The following arrangements for the 

 lectures have been announced : — John Hopkinson, Esq., M.A., 

 D.Sc, F.R.S., B.S., M.Inst. C.E., M.R.L, four lectures on "Elec- 

 tricity," on Tuesdays, April 26, May 3, 10. Victor Horsley, Esq., 

 F.R.S., B.S., F.R.C.S., three lectures on " The Modern Physio- 

 logy of the Brain and its Relation to the Mind," on Tuesdays, 

 May 17, 24, 31. The Rev. J. P. Mahaffy, D.D., Professor of 

 Ancient History in the University of Dublin, three lectures on 

 "The Hellenism of Alexander's Empire": Lecture I., on Tues- 

 day, June 7, " Macedonia and Greece " ; lecture II., on Thursday, 

 June 9, "Egypt"; lecture III., on Saturday, June 11, "Syria." 

 Professor Dewar, M.A., F.R.S., M.R.L, FuUerian Professor of 

 Chemistry, R.I., seven lectures on " The Chemistry of the 

 Organic World"; on Thursdays, April 21, 28, May 5, 12, 19, 26, 

 June 2. R. von Lendenfeld, Esq., Ph.D., three- lectures on 

 "Recent Scientific Researches in Australasia " ; on Saturdays, 

 April 23, 30, May 7. John W. Hales, Esq., M.A., four lectures 

 on "Victorian Literature"; on Saturdays, May 14, 21, 28, 

 June 4. 



