of fine wire, and, although the President was
asked for some further explanation, he ad-
mitted that he could give no solution of the
problem.

Colonel Maitland said the reason be was
asked to make the experiments was because
the War Office were making guns lined with
wire. The wire used was from 90 to 110 tons
breaking strain. It was a quarter of an inch
in diameter, and a sixteenth of an inch in
thickness. The experiments showed that wire
might be used of higher tensile strength, but
he did not know that that would be of much
advantaj?e in gun-makine.

Mr. Bateson was of opinion that larger
wires might be made to stand equal strain to
that of the smaller wire, supposing that mechan-
ical means were provided for doing it — Arefu-
teet.

IN a letter dated Carleste Bay, Babadoes, W.
I., March 1, 1886, Commander A. S. Bar-
ker, commanding the Enterprise, writes as fol-
lows : — •* I have the honor to transmit a report
of deep sea soundings taken between Montevi-
deo and Barbadoes. Seventy-two casts were
taken, and the distance run was 5081 miles. In
order to avoid the Challenger's track I steered
northward towards Nelson shoal, where the
chart shows nineteen feet We found 2088
fathoms when over the spot, but there may be
a shoal in the vicinity nevertheless. From this
point I steamed slowly, running from about
200 to 250 miles to the northward of the Chal-
lenger^s line, taking casts at intervals of about
sixty miles, the average depth being about
2000 fathoms. In latitude 31 deg. 22 min.
south, longitude 86 deg. 89 min. west, the
water shoaled to i469 nithoms, and the next
cast, taken in latitude 81 deg 15 min. south,
longitude 85 deg. 42 min west, was only 547
fathoms. From this position casts were taken
at intervals of five miles or thereabouts until
over the shoalest part of the bank. The least
depth found by us was 878 fathoms in latitude
81 deg. 2 min. south, longitude 84 deg. 27 min.
west. Of course it is impossible to state how
much water there may be on the bank in
the neighborhood of our casts. It is very
doubtfufif we crossed the shoalest part, as it ex-
tends for about 150 miles in longitude and how
much in latitude is not known. If the vessels
on the South Atlantic station were provided
with deep sea sounding machines they could
determine the extent of this bank with very
little trouble. After leaving St. Thomas, W.I.,
we expended all the remaining shot we had on
board taking deep sea soundings. The first
cast was ta^en in latitude 19 deg. 58 min.
north, longitude 65 deg 45 min. west, where
we found 4529 fathoms— excellent cast. The



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ENGINEERING NOTES.



435



position of this cast is about 40 east-nortti-cast of
that where Lieutenant Commander Brownson
found 4561 fathoms."

BBiOK Masonry in Design.—- The endurance
with which brick will withstand frost and
fire, and the disintegrating forces of nature, in
addition to its resistance to crushing and facil-
ity of construction, have constituted a very im-
portant reason for its value for building pur-
poses : but its use for recent years had been
mainly for plain brick in plain walls, whose
monotony permitted no artistic effects, beyond
a few geometrical devices of the most primi-
tive features of ornament. Additions of cast
iron serve as ornaments only in the phraseol-
ogy of trade catalogues, and the mixture of
stone with brick generally results in flaring
contrasts, producing harsh dissonance In the de-
sign. The facades of such buildings show
that this Is brick, this is stone, and this Is cast
iron, but always fail to impress the beholder
with the rich sense of a harmonious design. The
use of the finer varieties of clay in terra cotta
figures laid among the brick work, furnishes a
field of architectural design hardlv appreciated.
The heavy masses of brick, divided by its reg-
ular lines of demarkation, serve as the honest
element of utility which is fundametal to every
design; while the Introduction of the same
material in terra cotta ornaments at suitable
places, ^Ives the most appropriate elements of
beauty in the design, for the same material
shows alike Its capacity for utility and decora-
tion. The absorption of light by clay, whether
burned or merely dried, abates reflection and
renders its shape more clearly visible than any
substance used in building construction. The
clay design of a statue embodies a sense of life,
received from the hands of the designer ; but
the glaring plaster cast tells the secret of the
embalming process. The present use of enam-
eled brick and tiles afford a method of Introduc-
ing chromatic effects into brickwork; but
the utmost care and restraint is necessary, lest
the effect result in a glaring Innovation, rather
than an artistic touch tending to relieve a
monotony of color. — London Engineering,



lowing analyses show the composition of the
pig (A), the composition of the steel when the
flame became short (B*, Its constituents an
hour later (C), and the flual product (D) : —



A.

PUr.



IRON AND STEEL NOTES.

STEEL Versus Iron Girders. — A series of
important tests have recently been made
on Bessemer steel and Iron girders by Messrs.
De Bergue & Co., of Manchester. These tests,
which nave been made under the direction of
Messrs. BarnlnghamBrothers,of Manchester, on
behalf of the Darlington Steel and Iron Com-
pany, have had for their special object the de-
termining of the relative strength of steel and
iron for structural purposes, and the general re-
sults obtained were, with equal sections, about
40 to 50 per cent in favor of the steel as com-
pared with the iron girders.

>7'FFBcrr OF Overblowing Steel upon the
'J Elimination of Phosphorus.—- A. Tamm
describes in the Jerukontorets AnncUer a some-
what curious experiment made at the Vestan-
foers Bessemer Works. A charge of 1,850 kil-
ogrammes of plg-lron was blown until It was
reduced to only 400 kilogrammes. The fol-



B. c. D.

Flame. One boor Final
short. later. Prodiict.

Carbon 405 008 0-025 0-02

Silicon 1-125 0026 004n 0014

Phosphorus.. . 0-024 0(»29 0.046 0086

Sulphur Trace.

Manganese 440 010 03 03

This proves that, even if overblowing Is car-
ried to an extreme, on an acid bottom, the phos-
' phorus Is not at all eliminated. The Increase, of
course. Is due to concentration in a smaller
quantity of metal.

Polishing the Interior of Metal Tubes. —
Within the last twenty years the pneu-
matic system of transmitting packages has been
brought to a practical success ; but the tubes,
which form one of the principal parts of the
apparatus, are very expensive on account of
the absence of expeditious means to produce
the necessarily smooth and uniform Interior re-
quired for this purpose. A machine has been
Invented and recently patented which presents
a number of valuable features, and presents
probably a complete solution of the problem of
rapidly polishing the Interior of long sections of
Iron or other metal tubing, so that the cost Is
not Increased beyond a proper limit, and
especially adapts them for the pneumatic sys-
tem of transmission, to the exclusion of the ex-
pensive brass tubes that have usually been em-
ployed for that purpose. The machine, as we
And It describeo, consists essentially of a strong
iron bed of a trough shape, and of a length to suit
the size and lengUi of the pipes to be smoothed.
At one end of the bed Is attached mechanism
forgiving a rotary motion to a long bar which
has secured to the outer end one or more
cylinders of emer^r. The pipe is held by means
of a sleeve which Is carried along the bed-plate
on a slide, by means of suitable feed mechan-
ism, at the exact speed desired. The sleeve
has a pulley attached to It which is slowly re-
volved by means of a belt in the opposite direc-
tion to that of the bar to which the emery cylin-
ders are attached. In connection with the
smoothing mechanism is a hose which is so ar-
ranged that its nozzle is carried along with the
pipe to furnish water for clearing the bore of
cuttings, &c., as the smoothing process pro-
ceeds. In operation, the bar, with the emery
cylinders, Is given a rapid speed, then intro-
duced in the end of the pipe, when, being driven
In the opposite direction at a slow speed and
the interior being lubricated with water, the
smoothing proceeds through the pipe at a fair
rate, predetermined by the feed apparatus.
When the pipe has reached the limit of Its
movement, the operator, by means of a lever,
shifts the belts so tliat the movement of the
feed Is reversed and the sleeve and pipe are
moved back to the place from which they started,
when the pipe is removed and another placed
in position to undergo the same operation.
This machine is stated to be so perfectly
adapted to the purpose that long pieces of pipe



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436



VAN NOSTRAND'S ENCilNEEBING MAGAZINE.



are perfectly smoothed to a uniform diameter at
a very rapid rate. Tlie machine will accom-
plish its work with an operator of ordinary
skill, and will greatly cheapen all kinds of tub-
ing in which a smooth interior is required. —
Iron Age,



RAILWAY NOTES.

THB Euphrates Vallet Railway. —In the
London Timen recently Sir William
Andrew has again made a fresh appeal on behalf
of the Euphrates Valley Railway. Now that a
Premier is in office who is avowedly a warm
admirer of the scheme, we shall doubtless hear
more about it before long, more especially as
Russia's action at Batoum has revived public
interest in Asia Minor. The engineering ob-
stacles to the realization of the prmect arc prac-
tically rUl, and we imagine that the line could
be constructed easily for the six millions sterl-
ing estimated by Sir William Andrew. All
along the real Impediments the supporters of
the idea have had to encounter have been of a
political character. On one occasion its suc-
cess seemed assured, but at the last moment
the late Emperor Napol(H)n intervened, and for
the sake of the French alliance Lord Palmerston
sacrificed the railway. Recently French rivalry
in Asia Minor has died out, and the only oppo-
sition would proceed from Russia, who natur-
ally would not approve of any railway abridg-
ing the distance between England and India.
Ou the other hand an altogether new factor has
been introduced into the matter by the aston-
ishingly rapid extension of the Russian railway
system to within hitting distance of our
Indian confines. In the opinion of our
ablest strategists, if Russia has a railway to
India, England also ought to have a railw ly to
India. Such a line would start from opposite
Cyprus, and proceed along the Euphrates to the
Persian Gulf— being at both ends under the
control of our fleet From the Persian Gulf it
would extend along the Persian littoral to
Belloochistan and India. It is sometimes said
that in time of war Russia might cut it, but this
begs the commercial aspect of the question. In
the Contemporary Bmeto this month Mr.
Charles Marvin points out that if Russia pene-
trates unopposed to the Persian Gulf she will
split the continents of Europe and Asia in
halves, and dominate the whole of the
land routes between east and west. If
the construction of the Euphrates Valley
Railway would tend to develop the resion and
prevent Protectionist Russia achievmg this
great design, surely a guarantee for the six
millions would be well spent, in the interest of
English commerce, without touching the mili-
tary aspect at all.

rpHE heaviest passenger train traffic in Switz-
JL erland in 1884 was on the Bodeli Railway,
where it was equal to 235 each way daily,
while on another it was only 85^ ; the heaviest
freight traffic was only equal to 103 tons each
way daily, while the lightest was only 6 tons.
The little Rigi Railway (mountain), earned
£2968 per mile from passengers, receiving 21Jc.
per passenger per mile. The total earnings of
the Rigi were X3223 per mile, while the high-



est on any ordinary railway were £2399. One
ordinary railway collected an average freight
rate of lie. per ton per mile, the Rigi getting
48 8d. per mile for taking a ton up or down
the mountain. The cost of working the Rigi
was £2160 per mile, leaving £1038.

A Russian Commission appointed to test
rails and tires found : (1) Tires from soft
steel are more brittle, liable to break, than hard
steel ones. (2) Tires from soft steel wear much
more rapidly than hard ones, and are not to be
recommended. (8) Very hard steel is bad in
use and requires frequent turning up. (4) The
best tires contained more carbon and much leas
manganese than the less excellent, 0*5 per
cent, against 0*87 per cent, for carbon, and 37
per cent against 0*70 for manganese. The
proportion of silicon to phosphorus is pretty
constant in the best tires. The commission
recommended changes in the imperial regula-
tions for rail testins, looking to the retention
of the bending and drop tests, the former only
within the elastic limit, the latter to be tried
both with chilled— reduced to freezing temper,
ature— rails and warm ones, with a reduction of
the height of fall and omission of a second
drop. Each charge is to be tested for the
above by taking one rail out and testing it in
three pieces separately. In addition, tensile
and chemical tests are to be made periodically
during delivery, for which limiting figures are
set for strength and amount of injurious ele-
ment, silicon, manganese and sulphur. For
tires the drop test is to be reduced and the ten-
sile test retained.

MHbnbt Mathieu, chief engineer of the
, Southern Railway of France, has found
that the average yearly consumption of sleepers
on 80 per cent, of all the French railways for the
five years ending with 1882 had been 92 per kil-
ometer, equal to 148 per mile of line, excluding
yards and sidings. Returning to the subject
recently, he finds in 1888 the average consump-
tion rose to 170 per mile, and in 1884 144A per
mile, and the average for the two years 159 per
mile. The Rail/road OcueUe says:— "French
railroads are reported to have 1450 sleepers per
kilometer, or 2332 per mile, which puts them
27 in. only from center to center, and the con-
sumption for maintenance indicates an average
life of from 13} to 16^ years for sleepers. Most
of the railways report the number of sleepers
used of each kind of wood, from which it ap-
pears that in 1883. 69*7 per cent, of them idl
were of oak, 15*6 beech, 12*1 pine and fir, and
2.6 chestnut and other woods, but in 1884 the
proportions were quite different— 60 per cent
oak, 22.1 beech, 15.6 pine and fir, and 2.3
chestnut, &c. Of the total number of sleepers
reported used, 24 per cent, were imported in
1883, and 20i per cent in 1884. M. Mathieu
says that the life of sleepers is increased one-
half on the average by preservative processes ;
that of all the antiseptics tried in France only
creosote and sulphate of copper are still used,
and the creosote is generally preferred. An oak
sleeper costing 5 Jf. is preserved at a cost of about
a franc. On the Southern Railway, where three-
fourths of the sleepers used are of the pine that
grows on the landes, the sleepers cost from



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ORDNANCE AND NAVAL.



437



86c. to 88c. each, and are preserved with cop-
peras for 14c. and with creosote for 19c. each.
The Orleans Railroad uses the same kind of
sleepers, preserved with creosote, for about
one-sixth of the whole consumption. The
Northern Railroad finds that the use of a tarred
felt paper between the rail and the sleeper in-
creased the life of the latter about two years.''



ORDNANCE AND NAVAL

THE Brbnnak Tobpbdo. — Some further ex-
periments have been made at Sheerness,
with the Brennan torpedo, the results being
described as exceedingly satisfactory. The ex-
periments were carried on in conjunction with
the electric search light at the Garrison Point
Fort, and the weapon was steered about the
harbor in different directions at the will of the
operator in the torpedo room at the fort, and
was finally directed at a target moored about a
mUe up the Med way, the mark bein^ rendered
discernible by means of the electric light The
torpedo is kept under control and steered by
means of a wire attached to the machinery in
the fort. When the experiments at the fort
have concluded, it is proposed to test the adapt-
ability of the torpedo for use as part of arma-
ment of ships of war.

SUBM ABiNs Mining Expebimbnts.— Extensive
submarine mining experiments were car-
ried out near Portsmouth on September 14,
with the view of testing the efficiency of the
present system of firing mines, the system,
owing to the weakness of the detonating
charges,having broken down at the recent navd
review. Two experiments were made. The
first was with observation mines, which con-
sisted of a line of six mines, each containing
500 lb. of gun cotton, so arranged as to blow
up an enemy's ship should it have crossed the
line. The mines were at the bed of the channel,
covered with 10 fathoms of water, and con-
nected by an electric tube in which was in-
serted at each mine a charge of fulminate of
mercury. On a key being pressed, four out of
six mines were exploded, and each sent up
a huge volume of water 400 feet high. Gun-
boats were stationed 600 yards off, and after
the first violent shock, the sensation was as
though the boats were bumping heavily on
rocks. These mines were laid on a mud bottom,
large quan titles of which, together with tons of
fish, were blown up with the water. The next
experiment was with a line of 12 countermine's,
supposed to be laid over an enemy's mined
channel, and these also each weighed 500 lb.
and were 180 feet apart On the key being
pressed, 11 out of the 12 mines exploded ; but,
owing to these being laid on a sandy bottom,
the shock was no greater to the gunboatB than
in the first expenment Tests wire carried
out on a point of land eight miles from Ports-
mouth, where the effect of the shock was not
felt.

THE ** Rbsistanoe " Tobpbdo Expebimbnts. —
Under the direction of the officers of the
Vernon Torpedo School a protracted series of tor-
pedo experiments was commenced on September*
21 at Portsmouth, and will be continued until



the Resistance, armor-clad man-of-war, which
serves as the target, is blown up. The trial
consisted in dischar^ng 60 lb. of gun cotton at
a distance of 10 yards from the ship, which is
moored in such hollow water that, should she
be sunk, she could be approached at low tide.
At the trial the vessel was violently shaken bv
the concussion, but was not otherwise damaged,
although it was clear that a much heavier
charge would have done a good deal of mis-
chief. The experiments were continued on
September 22, and they constituted the first in-
stance of a live Whitehead torpedo having been
exploded against the hull of a ship. Hitherto
their destructive effects have been a matter of
assumption, and the present experiments are
calculated to settle many practical questions
connected with torpedo attack and defense
which demanded a solution. The Resistance
being an obsolete ironclad, several things were
reqmred to be executed on board to enable her
to reprcBcnt a modern battle ship attacked
under approximate conditions. The bunkers
below the armor shelf on the port side were
accordingly made to represent the actual coal
defense which is now applied for the protection
of the boilers and machinery of a ship of war
against submarine attack. The bunkers were
fitted at Devonport with an iron longitudinal
bulkhead, which divided them into two equal
compartments. The one contiguous to the sKin
plating was ffiled with coal, due precautions
being taken against firing by the provision of
ventilating tubes. By these means there was a
thick protection of coal sandwiched between
the inner bunker and the wing passage. The
whole port side of the ship was also defended
against torpedo attack by Bullivant's service
wire nets boomed out to the distance of 80 feet.
This was the distance which previous trials had
abundantly proved to be safe against the de-
structive force of a Whitehead torpedo ; but the
weight of such booms and the necessary work-
ing gear render them unhandy, cumbrous and
burdensome, and the main object of the exper-
iment was to ascertain whether the length of the
booms could not be reduced without danger to
the vessel attacked. As the purpose was to ac-
curately ascertain the effect of a palpable hit,
some sacrifice of practical conditions had nec-
essarilv to be made to ensure the hit being de-
livered precisely where it could infiict the most
mischief. In actual warfare, it is presumed
that the burst of a Whitehead torpedo would
prove fatal to a ship wherever it came in con-
tact with it ; and although the projectile occa-
sionally proves erratic from no ascertainable
cause, save the proverbial refractoriness of inert
matter, an ironclad presents so conspicuous a
target that the torpedo would be almost cer-
tain to hit it somewhere. At the experiments
on September 22, it was imperative and essen-
tial that the torpedo should hit her, not any-
where, but directly in a certain spot or com-
partment about 29 feet in length, and extending
from the keel fiat to the armor shelf amidships.
To ensure accuracy, therefore, the old vessel
was chained stem and stern in Portchester L-ike,
in the remote reaches of Portsmouth Harbor.
She was a fixture, and in order that she should
not have a chance of escape, the time of high



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VAN nostband's engineebing magazine.



water was chosen, so as to avoid the deflective
influence of currents, and also to prevent the
destructive agent itseif from being arrested in
its course by lack of water and coming to an
ignominious end in the mud The instrument
of execution selected for the occasion was the
old 16-inch Whitehead torpedo. An obsolete tor-
pedo was chosen because, although it may not
pursue quite so straight a course through the
water as a modern one, it carries considerably
more in its head, its full charge of gun cotton
being 01 lb. as compared with the 65 lb. of the
modern 14-inch Whitehead. The torpedo was
also fitted with a new pistol trigger, which is
exceedingly sensitive, and explodes the charge
.upon traversing the meshes of the netting. The
Vesuvius torpedo vessel was at a comparatively
remote distance to the westward. The effective
range of the improved Whitehead is under-
stood to be 600 yard<», but as it was expedient
for many reasons to attack the net defenses of the
Resistance at close quarters, the Vesuvius got
underway, and, when passing her at a distance
of 100 yards, discharged the projectile. The
path of the torpedo through the water was
clearly indicated by the air bubbles which it
threw up, and though straight, its progress
was undeniably deliberate. The torpedo
struck the defenses a little forward of the target,
but, though the visual force of the explosion
was very great, those who expected to see the
destruction of the old Resistance were disap-
pointed. As soon as the fountain of water
thrown up had subsided, it was manifest that
the netting had served the intended purpose,
and that, so far as could be seen, the ironclad
had not only survived the attack, but remained
uninjured. The nearest boom had been un-
shipped from its support, but the whole of the
others remained intact. The meshes in the im-
mediate vicinity of the burst had been carried
away, but the area of positive destruction was
so exceedingly limited that a second discharge
would have proved just as harmless, unless it
happened to have passed through the rent in
the defenses inflicted by the first Of course,
the exact amount of dislocation on board can
only be known after a careful survey, but so
far as could be seen the ship was undamaged.
The length of the booms will be gradually di-
minished until the vessel succumbs to the
attack. The only foreign representative present
at the trial was the German naval attache. The
torpedo experiments were resumed September
24 and resulted in serious damage to the old
ship. So far as the experiments had previously
proceeded, the results obtained had been little
more than verifications and amplifications of
the submarine mining data derived from the
operations against the Oberon ; but last Friday
an important step in advance was made,
and it was evident to all that the final stage in
the endurance of the ship was near at hand.
The former experiment had shown that the