junction, about 16 feet of the vertical column
and 10 feet of the diagonal struts, are bolted
up, and the riveting is in a forward state. On
the north-west pier about half of the skewback
is in position, aud the riveting has been com-
menced. The bracing girders between the
skewbacks are practically complete ; the hori-
zontal tube between the eastern skewbacks is
complete, and that on the western side is being
riveted. Including the tubes and girders,
about 1,176 tons have now been riveted.
Can'i/ever and Viaduct P««*«.-— The main
girders on No. 8 span have been completed,
and have been ioined to those on Nos 2 and 4
span ; the girders on the whole of the spans
have been raised to the level of (58.76 feet above
O.D., the masoniy having been raised 24 feet
both on the cantilever piers and on piers Nos. 8
to 9 inclusive.
Inoh Garvib. — Main Pier$, — ^About three-
quarters of the skewback on the north-west
pier is bolted up. and about one-half of the
riveting is complete. The upper bed-plate on
the south-west pier is riveted; that on the
south-east pier is erected, and the riveting is
being proceeded with. Since the last report
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about 56 feet have been added to the western
tube, and about 83 feet to the eastern tube;
about two-thirds of the northern bracing girder
has been bolted up, and the greater portion
riveted. About 1,000 tons of steel work liave
now in all been riveted.
North Qusensfbbrt. — Main Pier$, — Since
the last report rivetine has been commenced
and is being proceeded with on all the skew,
backs. The riveting of the horizontal tubes
and bracing girders has been completed. The
wind bracing' between the vertical columns has
been commenced, and both on the north and
south columns it has been bolted up as far as
the first intersection, a distance of about 85
feet. The erection of the upper portion of the
main bracinf^ columns is now in progress. This
work is earned on with the aid of movable plat-
forms, one on each side ; these platforms (pro-
vided with fencing) are supported on girders,
which again are ouried by cross girders ; the
whole structure is raised as required by means
of hydraulic rams of great power attached to
the vertical columns, one to each. These plat-
forms have now been raised about 23 feet with-
out any difficulty.
The steel plates are raised as required in
euides by steam hoists to the level of the plat-
forms, where they are received and placed in
their ultimate position by goliaths fitted with
hydraulic lifting and traversing gear running
on rails the whole lenscth of the platforms. The
machines for riveting the vertical columns and
struts between them are put together, and two
of those for the 8-feet tubes are working satis-
factorily.
The total quantity of steel work riveted at
North Queensferry amounts to 1,250 tons.
CantiUvfr and Viailuot PUtb, — Since the last
report the cantilever pier has been raised 14.6
feet and the viaduct piers 22.76 feet, or to 107
feet and 108 feet respectively above O. D. The
girders have been lifted 22.6 feet, and now stand
108 feet above O.D.
Gbnbral. — Masonry and Concrete. — Up to
the present date 872,000 cubic feet of granite
have been delivered, and 837,000 cubic feet set
About 98,000 cubic yards of rubble masonry
and concrete work have been buUt, and about
20,000 tons of cement have been used.
Steel Work.— The whole of the skewbacks
have been completed in the yard, with the ex-
ception of a small quantitv of drillinflr and fitting
for that for Inch Garvie, N .E ; the fitting of the
plates and angles at the important junctions of
tiie 8 feet tubes at their crossing between the
vertical columns at the North Queensferry piers
is being proceeded with.
Including the horizontal and vertical tubes
erected on the main piers 4,000 lineaJ feet of
12-f eet tubes and 4,500 lineal feet of 8feet tubes
have been fitted and drilled.
Of the lattice tension members and bracing
girders 7,725 feet have been drilled, and the
greater portion of the latter have been erected.
The main girders of the internal viaduct be-
tween the vertical columns at the North
Queensferry piers have been drilled and fitted,
and the top and bottom booms for the same at
the South Queensferry piers have also been
drilled.
In all 27,282 tons of steel have been de-
livered.
The average number of men emploved on
the works has been increased, and is now
2,546.
We are of the opinion that the works have
made rapid progress during the past three
months, and we have every reason for continu-
ing to be satisfied with the way in which they
are being executed. — Engineering,
IRON AND STEEL NOTES.
RUSSIAN RULSS FOR THR UsB OF StBBL IX
Construction.— In July, 1885, the Rus-
sian Ministry of Roads published a series of
provisional regulations concerning the use of
steel, of which the following is a summary :
1. Steel, whether Bessemer or Siemens^
Martin, may be used in all structures.
2. In view of the great sensitiveness of steel
to mechanical working it is to be noted that —
(a.) Plates an other sections must be tem^
pered. after rolling, by means of the sand-bath.
Care must be taken that on leaving the rolls the
metal is not below a cherry-red heat.
(b.) Holes must not be punched, but drilled,
(c.) When worked cold the material must not
be sheared, but cut with a chisel The edges
must be planed. All bending must be done hot»
and provision be made for subsequent slow
coolinff.
8. Tne material must possess the following^
properties:
(a.) It must contain 0.06 to 0.20 per cent, of
carbon.
(b ) Except for rivets, the tensile strenrth of
all kinds of steel must be from 25.4 to 29 8 tons
per square inch, extension at least 18 per cent.,
and the contraction of area at least 86 per
cent
For rivets the tensile stren^ must be from
22.2 to 25.4 tons per square inch, extension at
least 20 per cent., and contraction of area at
least 60 per cent. The percentage of carbon for
rivets must approach the lower limit (see a).
Extension and contraction of area are to be
measured on test-pieces of 10 inches length.
The test-pieces must be worked cold.
4. A strip of the metal 10 or 12 inches in
length, heated to cherry-red, and then plunged
into water at 85^** Fahrenheit, must not show
any cracks when so bent that the inner facea
of the bent piece, at a distance from the angle
of one and a half times the thickness of the
plate, are three times the thickness of the plate
apart.
6. The permissible strain upon the material
is as follows :
Tons per Square Inoh.
SteeL Iron,
(a.) For bridges of less than
49 feet span, and also for
roadway bearers (longitudi-
nal and cross) :
For tension and compres-
sion 4.4 8.8
For shearing of rivets, fasten-
ing the longitudinal to the
cross-bearers, and these to
the main girders 8.8 8.2
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RAILWAY NOTES.
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Tons per Square Inch.
Steel. Ir«)iL
For shearing of rivets in the
rest of the stmctare 4.4 8.8
For shearing of the -web of a
plate girder 2 9 2.2
(ft.) For main birders of
bridges of from & to 95 feet
span :
For tension (net cross section,
after deducting rivet holes). 4.8 4.4
For compression (after deduct-
ing half area of rivet holes). 4.8 4.4
For shearing of rivets ... 4.4 3.8
(c.) For main girders of bridges
of more than 95 feet span :
For tension (net cross section,
after deducting rivet holes). 5.1 4.6
For compression ( after deduct^
ing half area of rivet holes) . 5 1 4. 6
For shearing of rivets 4.4. 8.8
(rf.) For wind -bracing of
bridges of more than 95 feet
span:
For tension (net cross section) 6.8 5.7
For compression (after deduct-
ing half area of rivet holes). 5.7 5 7
For shearing of rivets 5.1 4.8
Iron and steel may be used in the same struc-
ture, but with the limitation that in each mem-
ber of a group of similar parts the same
material is to be used. For instance, the top
and bottom booms of a girder form such a
group ; the diagonals and verticals of a girder,
the cross and longitudinal roadway bearers, are
other such groups.
'I he use of steel rivets is not compulsory with
steel i>\&ie8.— Foreign Abst/raOs ef the Imt. of
Civil Engineers,
RAILWAY NOTES.
THE Railway Mileage of the British and
Russian Empires.— From an official re-
port lust issued it would appear that the total
length of railways opened for traffic in Russia
on the 1st of June was 25,634 versts, or 17.000
miles. Of this total 3.213 versts were owned
by the Government, 21,075 by public compau-
ies ; 1,129 versts were in Finland, and 217 versts
(the Transcaspian line) were controlled by the
Minister of War. Last year about 700 miles
were opened for traffic. Two railways were
closed, the Sestroretsk and Oboyansk, having a
united distance of 24 miles. In this manner
the increase of the Russian railway system is
less than in any of the ereat English colonies-
Australia, Canada, and the Cape. In Great
Britain itself, containing 2,000 miles of railway
more than the whole Russian Empire, the com-
munication system is almost complete, and the
additions made every year are necessarily of a
limited character ; but India, with her 14.000
miles of line open, and a yearly addition of
1,000 or 2.000 miles.presses upon Uusi^ia closely,
while at the rate Canada is progressing, that
colony, with only 5,0 <0,000 people, will In a
few years surpass in railway mileage Russia
with her 100,000,0(0 souls, subject to the will
of the Czar. According to a recent computa-
tion there are 30,000 miles of railway in the 15 j
principal English colonies, including India,
Canada, and Australia. Adding thereto the
mileage of Great Britain, we find that the Brit-
ish Empire possesses three times the mileage of
the Russian Empire. In Asia alone the mile-
age of India and Australia combined exceeds
the mileage of Russia. This year Russia ia
making extraordinarv efforts to make amends
for the apathetic policy of the last five years,
but with all her exertions she will not havecon-
stmcted by the end of 1886 more railways than
either Canada, the Cape, or Australia.
ANEW central railway station, said to be the
largest in the world, is n earing comple-
tion at Frankfort-on the-Main. It has taken six
years to construct, and will cost about £150,000,
of which the (Government has contributed about
£100,000, and the Ludwig Railway Company
the balance.
I^HE most frequent cause of railway acci-
dents is the failure of axles. Besides the
773 accidents on our railways reported last year
as causing personal injury, there were 1,252
cases reported involving no personal injuir. Of
the 500 persons killed and 914 injured, ninety-
six of the killed and 693 of the iniiired were
passengers. Of these injuries the chief causes
were as follows : Twenty-five persons were
killed and forty-nine injured by falling between
carriages and platforms ; seventeen killed and
470 injured by falling on to platforms, ballast,
etc. ; thirty-five were killed and eleven injured
while passing over the line at stations. Besides
these, who were all actually passengers, fifty-
eight persons were killed ana twenty-one in-
jured while passing over railways at level cross-
ings, 25U persons were killed and 126 injured
while trespassing, and to this number must be
added fifty-five persons who committed suicide
on railways.
1 ARMANIS Eleotrio Tramoar — Kh attempt to
I produce a self-contained electrically driven
tramcar has been made by Mr. Jarman. of 443
Brixton Road, London. His ideas are exem-
plified in a model which runs on a short length
of line up steep inclines and round sharp curves.
The motor is fitted between the axles of the car,
and does not interfere with the present method
of construction. The difficult question of heat-
ing is said to be solved by Mr. Jarman*s inven-
tion, which consists of two armatures fitted to
one axle. One of these drives the car in one
direction, and the other propels the car in the
opposite direction, so that each armature has
time to cool down, should it become heated.
The battery of E. P 8. cells ih to be placed
under the seats, and the exhausted cells will be
removed and replaced by charged cells as re-
quired. The motor is reversed by a simple
lever. It is stated that the weight of the mech-
anism, including sixty storage cells, will be
only 2^ tons for a forty-six passenger car. The
car wiU be lighted by a portion of the electric-
ity that drives the car.
K
ORDNANCE AND NAVAL
RUPP Guns. — Colonel Hennebert, inja com-
munication to the Corretfpanditvt, speak-
of the German artillery, says of Erupp:
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VAN NOSTRAND'S ENGINEERING MAGAZINE.
*' When we took Bome guns from the Chinese
during the Tonquin Exp^ition they were made
by Krupp ; and more recently the heroic Gor-
don, shut up in Khartoum, mentioned the part
played by these guns in the regions bathed by
the waters of the White and the Blue Nile.
And vet this materiel is far from being irre-
proachable. During the war of Bohemia sev-
eral field pieces burst. After the war, in order
to allay public agitation, trials d autranee were
made, and these cost several young ofllcers
their lives. In 1868, General de Boeuf declared
that several guns firinsr ordinary charp;es had
burst ; nor can it be said that the Prussian steel
guns of to-day are safe In fact, between 1867
and 1870 numerous accidents occurred in Rus-
sia, England, Germany and Italy on land and
on boani ship.** Colonel Hennebert says that
duiing the franco-German war 200 Krupp guns
burst, as mentioned by Maior Haig in a report
read before the Royal Artillery Institution, and
hy the Duke of Cambridge, in a speech in the
House of Lords on AprilSOth, 1876. ** Out of
seventy heavy guns employed against the south-
west of Paris, thirty-six were disabled during
the first fortnight of the bombardment by the
effect of their own fire. At Versailles it was
thought that if the French had held out a week
longer, the German siege batteries would have
been reduced to silence. It is emially certain
that during the campaign on the Loire, Prince
Frederick Charles had twenty-four of his guns
disabled by their own fire." The Krupp sys-
tem *' requires delicate handling and the em-
ployment of a skillful personnel capable of sus-
tained attention, and under the obligation of
taking extremely minute precautions. The
initial velocity and other merits of the gun are
not denied.
FBOM the French naval estimates it appears
that the following arrangements have
been made for building new vessels for the
navy. A sum of £510,080 has been set aside
for six ironclads of the first-class, of which one,
the Amiral Baudin, is to be completed next
?rear. and two, the Formidable and the Marccau,
n 1888. The Neptune, which is being built at
Prest, the Magenta at Toulon, and the Hoche,
which has been launched at L*Orlent, will not
be ready to take the sea before 1889. A sum of
£79,000 is to be spent upon four ironclad gun-
boats, two of which, the Cocyte, at C herbourg,
and the Granada, at L*Orient, are to be ready
in 1887 . Two large cruisers of 6,766 and 7,000
tons have been ordered to be laid down in the
dockyards of La Beyne and St. Nazaire. and are
to be ready in 1888. These vessels, which are
to be of the protected kind, with an ironclad
deck, are to have a speed of 19 knots an hour,
and a sum of £160,000 is allowed for them in
this year's estimates. Three first-class cruisers,
the Dupuy-de-L6me, the Jean Bart, and the
Alger, each of 4,200 tons, and each to cost
£184,000, have lust been laid down at Cher-
bourg, Brest, and Rochefort. Two second-class
cruisers and three of the third class are also in-
cluded in the list of ships to be built in 1887,
and a sum of £144,000 is nllowed for these ves-
sels, which are to be very fast, in next year's ex-
penditure. Three torpedo cruisers, the Eper-
vier, the Vauteur, and the Faucon, 51 torpedo
boats ordered from private firms, and one sea-
going torpedo vessel, the Ouragan, which is to
nave a speed of 25 knots an hour, are also to be
ready next year, a sum of £128.000 being al-
lowed for their completion. A credit of £109,-
720 is allowed for two dispatch boats, which
are to be completed, three transports, and two
sailing frigates, so that aJtogether there are in
course of construction or armament six iron-
clads, four ironclad gunboats, ten cruisers, three
cnising torpedo boats, three dispatch boats,
three transports, 52 torpedo boats, two sailing
frigates, and one third-class torpedo boat, the
total credit being allowed for them in the course
of nexi year being £1 190,024.
IT is stated that the late Imperial yacht Liva-
dia, upon the magnificent equipment and
gorgeous embellishment of which Alexander
II. lavished so many millions of roubles, ap-
pears at last destined to be put to some practi-
cal use. The Livadia arrived at Sebastopol
about 8ept. 1st from Nicolaieff. She has al-
ready been denuded of her former sumptuous
appointments and decoradons, but is now to
undergo a further and radical cleaning out, and
will then be made available as a troopship. Her
chief mission will be the transport of troops
from Sebastopol to Batoum. If herpreliminuy
trips happen to be made in some of the heavy
and choppy seas which are not unfrequently
experienced in these waters, the Livadia*s
doubtful sea-^oing capacity will be somewhat
severely testeci, and her behavior will be watched
with some interest by those naval experts and
designers who approved or condemned her
structural lines before she left the slips of Elder
and Pearce. At all events, with moderately
fair weather the Livadia will, after being clear-
ed out and refitted, be capable of carrying in a
single short voyage an enormous number of
troops in case of need. We need hardly tell
our readers that the statement only confirms
another, made when the ship was launched,
namely, that she was called a yacht, instead of
troopship, to throw dust in the eyes of Europe.
A Russian Tobpkdo Boat. — The Wiborg
torpedo boat, built for the Russian Gov-
ernment by Messrs. Thomson, of Clydebank,
completed a most exhaustive series oi experi-
mental trials recently. The vessel is so lightly
and delicately constructed that the Russian
Admiralty specified a very much larger num-
ber of experimental trials than is usual in this
class of vessel . A series of trials has been car-
ried out, about twelve in number, to determine
the best form of propeller for the vessel. In
addition to these trials, a series of experiments
has been made out to determine the maneuver-
ing capabilities of the vessel, another series
testing her sea-going qualities, and a third
series to determine the rate of consumption of
fuel. In all, the vessel has had nearly twenty
trial trips. The Wiborg is 148 feet long, 17
feet broad, and 9^ feet deep. She carries two
revolver Hotchkiss guns, and four torpedo tubes
or guns. She can carry coal to steam 4,500
knots at 10 knots per hour. Her machinery is
duplicated, and in fact she is the first torpedo
boat built in this country with twin screws.
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ORDNANCE AND NAVAL.
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Messrs. Thomson made this departure in face
of the fact that the leading torpedo boat
builders had predicted that the adoption of
twin «crew8 meant a considerable loss of effi-
ciency. The vessel is divided into twenty-two
water-tight subdivisions. The engines and
boilers are encircled by a belt of coal protection.
The torpedo tubes forward are protected from
machine gun fire. The vessel is fitted with a
bow and stem rudder. At a former trial, the
Wiborg attained a speed of 22 knots per hour.
Since then she has been timed in a very much
more deeply laden condition, such as would ;
represent her in complete fighting trim, with |
coals on board for a lonff sea cruise, and she
has maintained on three difrerent days a speed |
of nearly 21 knots for four hours at each time j
together. Recently, during one of these four-
hour nms, she ran between the Cloch and
Cumbrae Lights in 39 minutes. This gives a
mean speed of 21 knots per hour— the least time
in which this well-known nm has been made.
The vessel turns a half-circle in a little over
half a minute.
Tm Paradox Gun. — A trial of a new gun
for sportsmen, which combines the ad-
vantages of a rifle and a shot sun, and dis-
charges shot with the pattern ana penetration
of a l2-bore and conical bullets up to 100 yards
with the accuracy of an express rifle, was held
on October 6 at the Eensal Green range of
Messrs. Holland, the gun-makers of New Bond
street The gun has been brought under the
notice of the government as beinff a useful
weapon for the service, by reason of the capa-
city for shooting slugs and bullets. Many at-
tempts have been made to bring out a thorough-
Iv satisfactory weapon of the kind, and as the
oifflculty has at last been surmounted, the eun
has been called the ** Paradox." It is an ordin-
ary 12- bore shot gun, but it is rifled on the ratch-
et principle for the space of an inch from the
muzzle or thereabouts, and then the rifling
gradually tapers away to the cylinder. The
trial commenced by the operator shooting ten
consecutive right and left shots at 50 yards
range, with three drachms of powder and pel-
lets weighing 1} oz., and the whole of these
were placed within a space measuring 2^ inches
by 2^ inches. Ten consecutive right and left
shots were then fired at 100 yards, and were
put into a space djinches by 5{ inches. The
right barrel of the Paradox gun was then shot
with three drachms of powder and 1^ oz. of
No. 6 shot at 40 yards, and 206 pellets were
lodged in the 80-inch circle, while 187 were put
into a similar circle by the rieht barrel of an
ordinary cylinder gun. The left barrel of the
Paradox was then tried, and 194 pellets were
put into the circle, as against 51 of the left bar-
rel of the cylinder. A right and left from the
Paradox at the same distance, and with similar
charges, put 179 and 208 pellets into the two
circles respectively. The Paradox was then
shot at 40 yards with three drachms of powder
and 1} oz. of A A A shot, numbering about 50
pellets. The right barrel put 89 into the circle
and the left 86, and the cylinder only put in 27
from the right barrel and 15 from the left. The
wind having dropped a little, another trial of 10
shots at 100 yards was made, and this time the
Vol. XXXV.— No. 6—36
N'
10 shots were put into a space measuring 8(
inches bv 4 inches, and nine of the^e were
within 2t inches by 8^ inches — a marvelous
performance. To give an idea of the compara-
tive shooting of the cvlinder and the Paradox
at 100 yards with a bullet, it may be stated that
the former could only put the bullets within a
space of 3 feet square, while the latter could al-
most do it within 8 inches square.
ST Dbfbnses against Torpbdobs. — Im-
portant experiments with the net defense
booms manufactured by Messrs. BulUvant took
place at Portsmouth on board the Dido, on Oct
8, under Admiralty directions, and in the pres-
ence of naval and dockyard officers. The ex-
treme difficulty of using the wooden booms in
action having Ions been felt, a few years ago
the matter engaged the attention of the authori-
ties at Malta Dockyard, who fitted to the Superb
the ordinary booms, but added such appliances
that the time occupied in lowering the net was
reduced to one-fifth. Still, the wooden booms
were adhered to. and the result is that, with
the exception of the Superb, there is no vessel
in the service that can run out her nets in less
than two hours. By Mr. BuUivant's system the
work can be done in ten minutes or a quarter
of an hour. Several naval officers have oft* n
declared that, were they in action, they would
totally disre^rd their net defenses, owing to
their unwieldy working, and trust to their guns
and helm. It was generally agreed by both the na-
val and dockyardprofessional officers who were
present at the time that, although the invention
ma}r be crude in some of its details, the princi-
ple is a thoroughly sound one. The cumber-
some wooden spar weighs 11 cwt., whilst Mr.
Bullivant's spar, which is of the same length,
and consists of a steel tube, weighs 5 cwt.
Whether it is strong enough will nave to be
proved by tests at sea. Next, the wooden
beams are made fast to the ship's side by means
of a hook which may at any time become un-
shipped. The new invention is attached by a