service of the Hannibal and St. Joseph
line is very much greater than any of the
others, being more than double that of
both the Canada Southern or Lake Shore
lines. This apparent anomaly is explain-
ed by the fact that the speed of the pass-
enger trains on the Hannibal and St.
Joseph line is much less than that on any
of the others under consideration.
The consumption of fuel in freight-
service on the Canada Southern and Lake
Shore lines is nearly the same, with a
small fraction in favor of the former,
while on both lines it is less than on the
Michigan Central, or Hannibal and St.
Joseph. The amount of fuel consumed
in moving 1 ton gross weight (including
the fuel consumed in shunting) is barely
2 J ozs. — a quantity which is surprisingly
small. This is on the two first-mentioned
lines ; while on the Michigan Central and
Hannibal and St. Joseph lines it amounts
to 4 ozs. and 6.4 ozs. respectively.
In the latter part of the Table the
amount of coal consumed in the switch-
ing or shunting work of the freight ser-
vice has been deducted, and that con-
sumed in the work of moving freight-
trains on the line of railway only dealt
with, with a view of arriving at the quan-
tity consumed in moving 1 ton weight 1
mile. The result arrived at is as follows :
Canada Southern, 2.30 ozs. ; It ike Shore,
2.38 ozs.; Michigan Central, 3.52 ozs.;
and Hannibal and St. Joseph, 5.76 ozs.
Though it will surprise most people
who have not paid particular attention
to these questions, to learn that there is
sufficient energy in a piece of coal weigh-
ing only 2.3 ozs. to move one ton weight
one mile; yet the investigations would
not be complete if it were not ascertained
what is the total energy of the fuel ; what
portion of it is used, and what lost.
The units of heat (Fahrenheit) devel-
oped in the combustion of 1 lb. of coal
are 14133,* and as the mechanical equiva-
lent is 772 foot-pounds per unit, the
combustion of 1 lb. of coal is equal to
10,910,676 foot-pounds, or 5455.3 foot
tons (American).
On the Canada Southern Railway, the
average of the whole line is equal to a
gradient of 5 feet to the mile; this will
make the resistance to haulage equal to
11 lbs. per ton, taking the resistance on
the level at 9 lbs. per ton ; therefore as
much energy will be expended in hauling
1 ton 1 mile, as in hfting 11 lbs. 1 mile
* '* A Manual of Rales, Tables, and Data, ^ .*' by
D. K. Clark, M. Inst. C. B., p. 406.
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266
VAN NOSTRAKD'S ENGINEERING MAGAZINE.
vertically. In other words, hauling 1
ton 1 mile reqaires an expenditure of
energy equivalent to 5,280x11=58,080
foot-pounds, or 29.04 foot-tons.
But on the Canada Southern Railway,
1 ton is hauled 1 mile by the combustion
of 0.15 lb. of coal, which quantity of
coal therefore does work equivalent to
raising 29.04 tons 1 foot. At the same
rate 1 lb. of coal would raise 193.6 tons 1
foot vertically. But as shown above, the
full energy of 1 lb. of coal is 5,455.3 foot-
tons ; therefore the full energy is to the
work effected on the Canada Southern Bail-
way as 100 is to 3.5, and consequently
there is a loss of 96.5 per cent of the en
ergy of the fuel. Though the quantity, 2.3
ozs. of coal, seems extremely small to do
the work of hauling 1 ton 1 mile, yet, if
all the energy contained in the coal
could be utilized and applied to doing
work, it would haul 1 ton 28^ miles;
while the quantity, 1.86 lb., consumed in
moving a passenger 1 mile would, if fully
utihzed and applied to the transportation
of freight, convey 1 ton 353 miles. Few
passengers are aware of how much en-
ergy is required to make '' fast time.'^
The speed of passenger trains on the
Canada Southern Bailway was from 35 to
40 miles per hour ; on the Michigan Cen-
tral and liake Shore lines from 33 to 36
miles per hour ; and on the Hannibal and
St. Joseph line about 25 miles per hour.
The speed of freight trains on all the
lines was between 15 and 20 miles per
hour.
The position of acting Chief Engineer,
which the author until recently occupied
on the Canada Southern Bailway, enabled
him to obtain the information in regard
to gradients required to make the fore-
going investigations ; but the like infor-
mation has not been obtainable for the
other railways under consideration, and
therefore it is not possible to say whether
they waste more or less of the energy of
the fuel consumed. A comparison on a
similar basis with English railways would
be interesting and valuable, but the nec-
essary data do not seem to be available.
These figures clearly indicate how much
yet remains to be done in economizing
the energy developed in the combustion
of coal. An engine which wastes 96^ per
cent of the energy with which it is sup- j
plied cannot be called perfect. I
The table also shows the cost of the ser- 1
vice performed, worked out in a similar
manner as the consumption of fuel.
CORRESPONDENCE-KUnER'S FORMULA.
To the Editor of Van Nostband^s Maoazink :
Mr. Flynn'a criticism of my modification of
Kutter*8 fonnula for pipes has just reached me.
Mr. Flynn is quite correct. The formula as it
stands in page 25 of the twenty-first edition of
my pocketbook has an omission of ^d- As I
had originally framed it, it stood thus :
181+^-1
S
1-h
â– 026
(.41.6+
00281 V
S /
Unfortunately the omission of the ^ escaped
my observation in correcting the proofs of this
twenty-first edition.
Taking the side cases which Mr. Flynn has
worked out, a comparison of Eutter's formula
and my modification of it for pipes, as correct-
ed, stands thus :
Diam. of pipe. Slope 1 in 1. Kutter. Molesworth.
6 in.
6 in.
4 ft.
4 ft.
8 ft
8 ft.
40
1000
400
1000
700
2600
71.60
69.50
117.00
116.5
180.5
129.8
71.48
69.79
117.00
116.55
180.68
129.98
The two formulsB are thus far substantially
identical in results though differing slightly in
form. GniLFOBD Molbbwobth.
Simla, India, May 17, 1886.
ENGINEERING NOTES.
APooKBT Heliograph.— A pocket heliograph
or optic signaller has been brought out
hj Dr. E. Gavoy, and introduced into the
French military telegraph staff by the Minister
of War. It consists of two copper tubes of
five centimetres in diameter, sliding one with-
in the other. The upper tube carries a plane
mirror, inclined at an angle, and throwing off
the light of a lamp, or the sun reflected up to
it from an adjustable mirror in the lower tube.
The light thus thrown off passes along a short
tube at right angles to the upper part of the
main tube, and in doing so traverses two lenses,
one plano-convex the other double convex.
Between these two lenses is an adiustable shut-
ter, by which the rays are occulted so as ta
make the signals. An oil lamp, with reflector
to throw its rays on the lower mirror, is added
to the apparatus in such a way that it shuts up
within the lower tube under the lower mirror.
A lunette to indicate the path of the rays
through the air to the distant observers is also
fitted to the top of the apparatus. According
to trials recently made in the park of Versailles,
the apparatus worked satisfactorily over dis-
tances of from 1000 to 1200 metres.
WOOD Turbine Water Wheels.— In some
portions of Europo, turbines construct-
ed of wood and iron have been made to a limited,
extent, but the writer once saw a turbine con-
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ENGINEERING NOTES.
267
Btructed entirely of wood. The southern por-
tion of the Appalachian ranj^e of mountains, in
the United States, juts into the northern portion
of those States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico,
and the western portion of the States forming
the Atlantic coast. This region consists of a
plateau broken up by high mountains, and is a
most fertile country, sparsely inhabited by a
primitive people, descended from the early
English settlers in the southern portion of the
American colonies ; but thb country possesses
no navigable rivers, and has not been traversed
by the railroad, and has therefore been isolated
from the rest of the world. Words and forms
of expression are there used which have been
obsolete in the Enelish language for at least a
century. The wnter, whiie on a horseback
trip among these mountains in 1881, saw a man,
near one of the little grain mills, working on
what appeared to be a foundry pattern. On
asking a few questions, it was learned that this
miller, while on a trip to a manufacturing town
near to the sea shore, saw a water-wheel taken
up for repairs in one of the mills, and remem-
bered enough to make a Boyden wheel, carving
it from a sycamore log.
THE opening of the canal, which has been in
process of excavation for the past five
years for the purpose of draining Lake Copals,
was celebrated on Saturday last in presence of
the French Minister and numerous distin-
guished persons from Athens. Lake Copais,
which is situated near Thebes, in Boeotia,
covers an area of over 60.000 acres, or nearly
100 square miles. The French Company which
has been engaged in carrying out the enterprise
is now so far advanced with Its work that two-
thirds of the waters of the lake are expected to
be drawn off within the next two or three
months. Hitherto this inland sea has been
chiefly remarkable for the malaria and fevers
regularly prevailing on its shores during the
hot season. By its drainage, not only wifl this
evil be permanently removed, but Greece will
add to her territory many thousands of acres of
arable soil of the greatest fertility. The lake is
fed by the rivers coming down from Mount
Parnassus, whose waters are hereafter to be
employed, by help of a new system of canals,
in irrigating the surrounding country.
RAILWAY TuiraELS IN RussiA — Although
Russia has built over 15,000 miles of
railway, the longest tunnel she has had to con.
struct up to this year has only been 700 yards
long. On this account the vote last week by
the State Council of £700,000 to construct a
tunnel three miles long on the Suram loop line,
possesses for Russia extreme importance. To
all intents and purposes her railway engineers
are practically ignorant of tunnel making, and
to carrv out the Suram undertaking the advice
of forefen experts has had to be sought. Simul-
taneously with this, a tunnel 1400 yards Ions
will be taken in hand on the Novorossisk Rail-
way, in the Kuban region of Cis-Caucasia.
This will be twice as long as any existing tun-
nel in Russia. For the most part the tunnels
already made afe on the Lozova-Sobastopol,
Warsaw, Ivangorod-Dombrova and Transcau-
casian ndlways— that is to say, all the out-
VoL. XXXV.— No. 3—18
skirts of Great Russia proper, being situated in
Poland, the Crimea, and the Caucasus. Else-
where, there are no tunnels at all. and but very
rarely bridges across railway cuttings. Prob-
ably in the metropolitan area there are more
bridges and tunnels than in the whole Russian
empire. Thanks to this circumstance Russia
is able to move some of her military and naval
resources about in a manner hardly appreciated
by English strategists and statesmen. Thus,
durine the Turkish war, she took steamers off
the River Neva, placed them on trucks and
sent them by rail with the greatest facility, to
the Black Sea and the Danube. Only a few
months ago, she shifted at a stroke fifty torpedo
boats in this manner from the Baltic to the
Black Sea. Yet in spite of all this, there were
actually certain feather-brained generals at the
War Office last year, who proposed during the
war scare, that England should seize Batoum
and the Transcaucasian Railway and send
across the latter steamers in segments, to be
fitted together at Baku to fight the hundreds of
steamers Russia already possesses in the Caspian
and Volga, and the scores she could have sent
at once, ready made and fit for action, by rail,
way in the manner we have described, from
the Neva and other rivers to the Volga I Per-
haps the War Office is a little bit wiser now and
has pigeonholed for good a plan which would
have exposed every Enelish steamer placed on
the Caspian to a ridiculously hopeless contest.
It may be noted that now the Russian railways
have commenced spreading in the Caucasus, a
deal of tunnelling will be encountered. On the
direct St. Petersburg-Tiflis line, at present
broken by a short gap from Vladikavkaz to
Tifiis, a tunnel eight miles long has been
planned for years, piercing the main bridge of
the Caucasus. There is hardly a doubt that
this will be taken in hand after the completion
of the Suram tunnel.
IRON AND STEEL NOTES.
A New Pbooess op Round Foboinos.— Mr.
George H. Simonds, of Fitchburg, U.S.A.,
has invented a machine for the purpose of
forging iron or steel in any form which can be
turned. This involves an entireljr new method
of working iron. Instead of bemg hammered
or rolled to the desired form, the mass of red-
hot metal is placed in a groove in two plates
which are moved in reverse directions; the
grooves are in primitive form at the places
where the iron first enters between the plates,
and along its course these grooves become more
closely in conformitv to the shape which is
eiven to the finished piece, which is twisted
mto shape. The process is applied with suc-
cess to the manufacture of conical shot, forced
out of steel, the British Government havmg
given an order for 500.000 shot, which are being
made by the English representative. This pro-
cess is applied to the manufacture of any small
iron or steel pieces of turned form.
THB DiBEOT Pboduotion OP Steel.— The di-
rect production of steel from the ore \a
a subject which has long attracted the attention
of metallurgists and others, and several at-
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258
VAN NOSTRAS D' 8 ENGINEERING MAGAZINE,
tempts have been made to solve the problem.
The latest proposition in this connection is that
of Mr. James J. Shedlock, of 9 Gracechurch
street, London, which comes to us with a de-
gree of individuality and hopefulness not
usually met with in such inventions, and this
by reason of its beine a distinct departure from
Srevlous practice. The principles involved in
Ir. 8hedlock's process consi'^t in the use of re-
ducing gases produced by the decomposition of
steam in conjunction with a bath of molten
metal, which he employs to take up the metals
as they are reduced from their combinations.
The problem of thus releasing metals from
their ores without liquefying the matrix, and
therefore without using fluxes and resorting to
high temperatures, has had lonff and careful
study at the hands of Mr. Shedfock, who has
been working at it for the past twelve years.
Having proved it over a wide range of metals,
he has at length brought it to that point at
which demonstration on a practical commercial
scale need be no longer delayed. To this end
extensive premises have been taken at Black-
wall, and machinery and smelting apparatus
put up there for carrying out the process, and
which we recentlv inspected. The works have
a frontage of 190 feet on the River Thames,
and railway communication is close at hand.
The apparatus is of exceedingly simple charac-
ter, and the plant now laid down is calculated
to smelt about 25 tons of ore per dav ; but there
is ample room for more than quadrupling the
present appliances and rate of output
Mr. Shedlock*B method of treating ores for
the separation of their metals is Cfuried into
effect by passing the ore in a finely divided
state through a bath of molten metal maintained
at the tem^rature necessary to insure its com-
bination with any free metal contained in the
ore. But as most ores contain metals associated
or in combination with the metalloids, it is nec-
essary to decompose such compounds in order
that the metals may be freed and in such a con-
dition as to readily combine with the metallic
bath.
This is accomplished by forcing streams
of reducine gases through the bath of molten
metal simultaneously with the pulverized ore,
which is conveyed into the bath at one end by
feeding apparatus, the action of which is so
regulated as to work in concert with the supply
of reducing gases. For the production of these
Sases, steam is passed through superheaters,
le outlets of which communicate with gas
Eroducers, which produce carbonic oxide and
ydrog«n gases, which are conveyed from the
t)roducers by tubes into the bath of molten
metal at the point of entry of the powdered
ore.
In consequence of the affinity possessed
by these gases for the metalloids, and also by
reason of their high temperatures, the metallic
compounds are decomposed and the volatile
constituents of the ore are vaporized, which,
with the earthy or non-reducible portions, by
reason of their lessor specific gravity, rise to
the surface of the bath of molten metal. The
gases and vapors are conveyed through flues
mto chambers where those that are condensable
are thrown down and collected, the permanent
gases escaping into the chimney shaft, and the
earthy matters being removed from the end of
the bath opposite the feeding end by skimming.
The metals as they accumulate in the bath
overflow into receivers through spouts, the in-
ner mouths of which are so much below the
surface of the metal as to prevent any dross
from passing over. The metals as they collect
are run into ingots or bars.
In treating some ores, more particularly those
containing the noble associated with the baser
metals, it may be found desirable to refine
those metals without removal from the bath.
For this purpose atmospheric air raised to the
required temperature is forced "through the
molten metals in the bath, its passage being re-
tarded by an inclined cover, thereby causing
agitation of the mass and subjection of the
metals and metalloids to the oxidizing action
of the heated air. The oxides and other com-
binations thus formed with the vapors and
gases rise to the surface, and are conveyed by
the flues to the condensing chambers, the re-
fined metal being withdrawn from the bath and
run into ingots. The superheaters, gas pro-
ducers, and air heating chambers are inclosed
in a firebrick structure, into which the heated
products of combustion from the furnace enter
and circulate, thus raising the temperature of
the apparatus and its contents to the required
degree.
The furnace gases then pass into the
flues surrounding the bath containing the mol-
ten metals, eventually escaping into the chim-
ney shaft. According to Mr. Shedlock, there
are no exceptions to the ores which mavbe
manipulated by his invention, the most refrac-
tory as well as the most easily reduced being
successfully treated by its means. The ores of
iron, when subjected to the process for the ex-
traction of that metal, are stated to be most
readily reduced, and its direct conversion at
one operation into the different carbides of
iron, varyiug from the softest cast iron to the
mildest steel, easily accomplished ; at the same
time, all deleterious impurities are said to be
effectually removed. The ores of zinc are also
readily treated by this process as a continuous
operation, the ore being fed into the apparatus,
and the metal as it is distilled over passing awav
through the flues into the chambers, where ft
is condensed and collected. Should the pro-
cess be as succes^ul an operation on the large
scale as is anticipated, we may expect an in-
creased supply of gold, as by its means the
most refractory ores of gold may be treated.
By the ordinary system of separatmg gold from
its ores, it is acknowledged that not much
more than 50 per cent, of the gold present is
recovered. The details of the invention, as
well as those of the apparatus by which it is to
be carried into practical effect, have been care-
fuUy thought out, and the reasonableness of
the modus operandi gives every hope of its
commercial success. The works will shortly
be running, and after some hundred tons or so
of stuff have been put through— which Mr.
Shedlock very properly holds is the only fair
test of the capabilities of his invention — ^we
shall report progress, in the meantime wishing
the^rocess every success.— //vn.
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RAILWAY NOTES.
259
RAILWAY NOTES.
MsssBS. BoLOKOW, Vauohan and Co.. Mid-
dlesbrough, have secured an order for
nearly 10,000 tons of steel rails for the Swedish
and Norwegian Railway Company. This, with
the rails on hand, is sufficient to complete the
300 kilometres of the company's line from the
great iron mountain of Gelllvara to the port of
Lulea. This iron ore in inexhaustible
quantities contains 70 per cent, of metallic iron.
The company hopes to lay this section of the
line this year, and it is taking delivery of 1000
tons of rails per fortnight.
SWEDISH Railways — The length of the rail-
ways of Sweden at the end of 1885 was
nearly 3,000 miles, half of which belonged to
the state, the total gross receipts being £2,110,-
000, or £700 per mile, £1,100,000 of which were
earned by the state lines. Concessions were
granted to private companies for 05 miles of
new lines, whilst 180 miles of private and 10
miles of state railway were opened for traffic
during the year.
CANADIAN Railway Pbogbbss.— The follow-
ing percentages of increase in the railway
system of Canada during the last ten years
indicate also very clearly the development of
the country during that period. The miles of
completed railway have in ten years increased
118 per cent, the amount of capital invested
has increased 48 per cent, the gross earnings
show an increase of 66 per cent, and the net
earnings an increase of 130 per cent. The
number of passengers carried increased 76 per
cent, the amount of freight 180 per cent, and
the train mileage 70 per cent.
f T^BX St. Gothard Tunnel line was opened for
JL traffic on the 1st of January, 1882. Since
then Germany has increased the value of
her exports to Italy from 66,000,000f. to
llO.OOO.OOOf., and to Spain— by Genoa— from
51,344,000f . to 86,679,000f . As for Switzerland,
in 1881 her exports to Italy were valued at
87,000,000f. ; they have now risen to over
75,000,000f. Italy has benefitted even more.
Her exports to Switzerland, Germany, and Bel-
glum have risen by leaps and bounds, and the
commerce of the port of Genoa In particular
has Increased since the St Gothard line was
opened by 50 per cent. What Italy has «ilned
Irance has lost. Merchandise from the North
wishing to reach the Mediterranean is being
more and more sent to Genoa Instead of Mar-
seilles The former port, thanks to the St.
Gk>thard line, has the advantage in distance
over Marseilles as follows:— Prom Antwerp, 76
kilometres; Ostend84; Charleroi, 66 ; Brussels,
76: Namur, 127; Amsterdam, 189; Utrecht,
162 ; Cologne, 259.
ENeusH capitalists are looking to Holland as
a field for railway enterprise. Holland
has an area of 12,680 square miles, and a popu-
lation of some 4,300.000 inhabitants, but
possesses only about 11 00 miles of railway. The
waterway system has hitherto provided sufficient
means of locomotf5n to meet the wants of trade
and commerce. A company called the Englbh-
Dutch Light Railways Company proposes to