SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
241 
MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 
The Cigar Ship. — This remarkable vessel, named after the father of its 
designer, the Boss Winans, has been successfully launched from Mr. Hep- 
worth’s yard, in the Isle of Dogs. She has been already described in these 
columns, and it will therefore be unnecessary to say more than that she is 
256 feet long, and 16 feet in diameter ; and her engines will probably indicate 
2,000 horse power. It is expected that in the trial trips, which will shortly 
take place, she will attain a speed of at least twenty knots an hour. 
Hydraulic Lift Graving Dock. — Mr. Edwin Clark has described to the 
Institute of Civil Engineers the plans he has adopted at the Victoria (London) 
Graving Docks. The principle of these docks is to provide a single lifting 
pit, out of which the vessels may be raised bodily on pontoons which after- 
wards float them in shallow water to a convenient berth for graving purposes. 
The ships are raised by hydraulic presses, the idea of which appears to have 
been derived from the presses employed in raising the Britannia and Conway 
Tubular bridges, designed under Mr. Clark’s superintendence. At the 
Victoria Docks, the depth of water in the lift-pit is 27 feet ; that over the 
rest of the dock area is only six feet. In raising a vessel, one of the pontoons 
is brought over the lift-pit, filled with water, and sunk. The vessel is then 
floated in over the pontoon, and the pontoon and vessel raised together by 
the hydraulic presses. When at a sufficient altitude, the water is drawn off 
from the pontoon, which then floats the vessel to its berth in the shallow 
water. The whole operation of lifting occupies only about half an hour, and 
the lifting-pit is then ready for the reception of another vessel. At the 
Victoria Docks there are 32 presses, with 10-inch rams, having a stroke of 
25 feet. This, with a water-pressure of two tons per circular inch, gives a, 
total lifting power of 6,400 tons, less the weight of the crossheads, rams, &c., 
amounting to 620 tons. 
Water Supply to Towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire. — Mr. Dale has 
matured a magnificent project for the supply of water to towns in the North 
of England, from the Cumberland and Westmoreland lakes. Ulleswater is 
477 feet above the sea-level, and Hawes-water 694 feet, considerably more 
than the elevation of some of the Yorkshire and Lancashire towns. Mr. Dale 
has selected a line for the pipes by Ambleside and Kendal to Keighley, and 
thence through Leeds (277 feet above sea-level), Wakefield (201 ft.), Dews- 
bury (187 ft.), Halifax (604 ft.), Rochdale (472 ft.), and Bury to Liverpool 
(227 ft.), a total course of 170 miles. He proposes a supply of 131 million 
gallons daily, to towns along this route, and estimates the cost of construc- 
tion at <£60,000 to <£70,000 per million gallons supplied daily, or a total cost 
of nine or ten millions sterling. 
Glasgow Ferry-boat. — A small ferry boat has been constructed for Glasgow 
Harbour, propelled by jets of water forced through openings in the hull by 
a centrifugal pump. There are four channels from the same pump-chamber, 
two leading towards the bows and two towards the stern. By opening the 
two former, the vessel goes backwards ; by opening the two latter, it goes 
forwards ; by opening one towards the bow and one on the other side towards 
