May 4, lE 



SCIENTIFIC NEW^S. 



425 



securing the greatest possible safety in their construction 

 by the general adoption of the simple ram. Suspended 

 lifts depended on the sound condition of the ropes or 

 chains from which the cages hung. As they became 

 worn and unreliable after a short period, it was usual to 

 add safety appliances to stop the fall of the cage in case 

 of breakage of the suspending ropes, but they could not 

 be expected to act under all circumstances. As an in- 

 dication of the important part which lifts occupied in a 

 modern hotel, it might be mentioned that at the Hotel 

 Metropole there were, including the two passenger lifts 

 and that for passengers' luggage, no less than seventeen 

 hydraulic lifts in use day and night, while the work 

 done represented about 2,000 tons lifted 40 feet in this 

 time. The next largest use of the power was for 

 working hydraulic cranes and hoists of various kinds 

 along the river-side, and in the City warehouses. It 

 often happened that the pressure in the power-mains 

 was not sufficient for pressing-purposes. The apparatus 

 known as an intensifier was then used, by which any 

 pressure required could be obtained. Hydraulic power 

 was also used at Westminster Chambers, and elsewhere, 

 for the purpose of pumping water from the chalk for 

 domestic use. The pump was set going in the evening 

 and continued working till the tanks were full, cr until 

 it was stopped in the morning. For work of this kind, 

 done exclusively at night, a discount was allowed from 

 the usual rates. Mr. Greathead's injector-hydrant, made 

 at the Elswick Works, had been in use to a limited 

 extent in London in connection with the power-mains. 

 A small jet of high-pressure water, injected into a larger 

 jet from the waterworks mains, intensified the pressure 

 of the latter in the delivery hose, and also increased the 

 quantity. By this means a jet of great power could be 

 obtained at the top of the highest building without the 

 intervention of fire-engines. This apparatus enabled the 

 hydraulic power supply to act as a continuous fire-engine 

 wherever the mains were laid, and was capable of 

 rendering the greatest assistance in the extinction of 

 fire ; but there was an apathy on the subject of its use 

 difficult to understand. In Hull, the Corporation had 

 put down a number of these hydrants in High-street, 

 where the hydraulic power-mains were laid, and they 

 had been used with great success at a fire in that street. 

 The number of machines under contract to be supplied 

 with power was sufficient, with a suitable reserve, to 

 absorb the full capacity of the station at Falcon Wharf, 

 and another station of about equal capacity was now in 

 course of erection at Millbank-street, Westminster. The 

 works had been carried out jointly by the author and 

 Mr. Corbet Woodall, M. Inst. C.E. ; Mr. G. Cochrane 

 had been resident engineer and superintendent. The 

 pumping-engines, accumulators, valves, etc., and a con- 

 siderable portion of the consumers' machinery, had been 

 constructed at the Hydraulic Engineering Works, 

 Chester. Sir James AUport, who was the first to 

 adopt hydraulic power for railway work, had 

 been associated with the enterprise from the commence- 

 ment of its operations in 18S2. His wide influence and 

 extended experience had greatly assisted the commeri:ial 

 development of the undertaking. 



EDINBURGH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 The first communication at the meeting on April igth was 

 by Mr. H. M. Cadell, of Grange, on " The Geology of 

 the Forth Bridge district." Having first described the 

 " solid geology " of this part of the Firth of Forth, he 



pointed out that the calciferous sandstone series to which 

 the strata at Queensferry belonged were composed chiefly 

 of sandstones, with non-bitumenous and bitumenous or 

 oil shales. One of the oil shales, corresponding in 

 position to the Broxburn shale, had been mined for 

 several years by the Dalmeny Oil Company. There 

 were other oil shales lower down in the series which had 

 not yet been worked in the district. The piers supporting 

 the girders of the Forth Bridge at South Queensferry 

 were founded on a platform of strong sandstone, which 

 Mr. Cadell correlated with the sandstone at Binnie and 

 Humble farther south. The sedimentary strata had 

 been invaded by great sheets of igneous rock, which in 

 this locality was a typical coarse diabase, thin slices of 

 which were exhibited under the microscope to the 

 Society. These hard eruptive rocks gave rise to all the 

 conspicuous hills in the vicinity, and supplied an excellent 

 foundation for the great cantilever piers on Inchgarvie 

 and the north shore. The author then went on to speak 

 of the surface geology of the district. All the hard rocks 

 of the district, he said, bore the marks ot intense ice 

 action, and there were indications of a general easterly 

 movement of the ice sheet that once filled the Forth. The 

 boulder clay formed the foundation of the south canti- 

 levers. It was a very hard and strong foundation, and 

 the author thought that, so far as foundations at least were 

 concerned, there was no danger for the stability of the 

 bridge. Professor W. Ivison Macadam exhibited a 

 collection of gold and silver ores from the Ohinemuri or 

 Upper Thames, and other mine districts of New Zealand. 

 In some notes accompanying the exhibits, it was 

 explained that the tin ore was taken from a reef extending 

 for some two miles of country, and running from three 

 to fifteen feet thick. The silver in this ore was said to 

 exist chiefly as chloride with some iodide. While 

 remarking that he had not verified the latter statement, 

 the author considered that in many of the ores the silver 

 existed partly as silicide. Owing, however, to the mixed 

 character of the stone, he supposed that this must 

 remain an open question. In view of the unlikely 

 appearances of some of the ores exhibited, they would, 

 it was remarked, be astonished at their richness. Some 

 had come into the author's possession giving 1,000 ozs. 

 avoir, of silver to the ton of 2,240 lbs., and 6 ozs. of 

 gold ; but, of course, it would be apparent to them that 

 such heterogeneous material must greatly vary. Nothing 

 had been done in the way of working the heterogeneous 

 ores of the nature of some of the specimens sent. There 

 was also on exhibition a specimen of scyelite from Reay, 

 Caithness, shown by the secretary. 



JUNIOR ENGINEERING SOCIETY. 

 Two papers, " On Boiler Feeders," and " On the Elas- 

 ticity of Materials," by Mr. S. Boulding, Grad. Inst. M.E., 

 and Mr. F. R. Taylor, respectively, were read at the last 

 meeting of this society. A rapid survey was made of 

 the history of boiler feeders, commencing with Savery's 

 engine, and including Boulton and Watt's automatic 

 feeder. The several objections to the use of the feed 

 pump were enumerated, and Gifi'ard's invention of 

 injecting water into the boiler, by means of a jet of steam 

 from it, was mentioned as constituting the principle upon 

 which the existing modified constructions were based, as 

 exemplified in the automatic, exhaust steam, and 

 inspirator injectors. The author pointed out that the 

 use of exhaust steam was not to be commended. It acted 



