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diff --git a/old/69084-0.txt b/old/69084-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 98ae346..0000000 --- a/old/69084-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4892 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Engineers and their triumphs: the -story of the locomotive, the steamship, bridge building, tunnel making, -by F. M. Holmes - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Engineers and their triumphs: the story of the locomotive, the - steamship, bridge building, tunnel making - -Author: F. M. Holmes - -Release Date: October 1, 2022 [eBook #69084] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Fiona Holmes and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive/American - Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGINEERS AND THEIR TRIUMPHS: -THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE, THE STEAMSHIP, BRIDGE BUILDING, TUNNEL -MAKING *** - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - -Hyphenation has been standardised. - -The Transcriber has constructed a ‘List of Illustrations’, as none was -supplied. - -Page 132 — changed possibilites to =possibilities= - - - - -[Illustration: THE TOWER BRIDGE, LONDON, SHOWING THE BASCULES -RAISED.] - - - - -ENGINEERS - -AND - -THEIR TRIUMPHS: - -_THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE—THE STEAMSHIP—BRIDGE BUILDING—TUNNEL -MAKING._ - -BY - -F. M. HOLMES, - -AUTHOR OF “FOUR HEROES OF INDIA,” ETC. - -[Illustration] - -FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY - -NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO - -_Publishers of Evangelical Literature._ - - - - -[Illustration] - - -PREFACE. - - -Without attempting to be exhaustive, this little book aims at -describing in a purely popular and non-technical manner some of -the great achievements of engineers, more particularly during the -nineteenth century. - -The four departments chosen have been selected not in pursuance of any -comprehensive plan, but because they present some of the more striking -features of constructional effort. The term Engineering, however, -includes the design and supervision of numerous works, such as roads -and canals, docks and break-waters, machinery and mining, as well as -steam-engines and steamships, bridges and tunnels. - -Information, in certain cases, has been gained at first-hand, and I -have to acknowledge the courtesy of the managers of the Cunard and -White Star Steamship Companies, Messrs. Maudslay, Sons & Field, and -others, in supplying various particulars. - -The narrative concerning Henry Bell and the steamship _Comet_, and of -his connection with Fulton, is chiefly based on a letter from Bell -himself in the _Caledonian Mercury_ in 1816. - -The statement that Mr. Macgregor Laird was so largely instrumental in -founding the British and American Steam Navigation Company is made on -the authority of his daughter, Miss Eleanor Bristow Laird. An article -on “The Genesis of the Steamship,” which I wrote in the _Gentleman’s -Magazine_, brought a letter from that lady in which she declares -that her father was the prime mover in founding the Company. He had -had experience, in the Niger Expedition of 1832-33, of the behaviour -of steamships both at sea and in the river, and from the date of -his return to England she asserts he advocated the establishment of -steam communication between England and America, against the active -opposition of Dr. Lardner and others. “Macgregor Laird’s claim to the -foremost place amongst all those (not excepting Brunel) who worked for -the same object,” writes Miss Laird, “was clearly shown in a letter -from the late Mr. Archibald Hamilton of 17 St. Helen’s Place, E.C., to -the editor of the _Shipping and Mercantile Gazette_, in which paper it -was published on 15th May, 1873.” - -It is not a little curious to note how, in many of these great -undertakings, several minds seem to have been working to the same end -at about the same time. It was so with George Stephenson and others -with regard to the locomotive, with Miller and Symington, Bell and -Fulton, with regard to the steamship, with Laird and Brunel as regards -transatlantic steam navigation, with Robert Stephenson and William -Fairbairn as regards the tubular bridge. - -This volume does not seek to be the special advocate of any, or to -enter into any minute details, but simply endeavours to gather up the -more salient features and weave them into a connected and popular -narrative. - -F. M. HOLMES. - - - - -[Illustration] - - -CONTENTS. - - -THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. - -CHAPTER PAGE - -I. FIRST STEPS, 9 - -II. GLANCING BACKWARDS AND STRUGGLING FORWARDS, 19 - -III. FIFTEEN MILES AN HOUR, 28 - -IV. A MARVEL OF MECHANISM, 36 - -V. A MILE A MINUTE, 46 - - -THE STORY OF THE STEAMSHIP. - -I. THE “COMET” APPEARS, 53 - -II. TO THE NARROW SEAS, 60 - -III. ON THE OPEN OCEAN, 68 - -IV. THE OCEAN RACE, 74 - -V. BEFORE THE FURNACE, 85 - - -FAMOUS BRIDGES AND THEIR BUILDERS. - -I. “THE BRIDGE BY THE EARTHEN HOUSE,” 101 - -II. A NEW IDEA—THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR, 108 - -III. LATTICE AND SUSPENSION BRIDGES, 119 - -IV. THE GREATEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD, 125 - -V. THE TOWER BRIDGE, 133 - - -REMARKABLE TUNNELS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. - -I. HOW BRUNEL MADE A BORING-SHIELD, 137 - -II. UNDER THE RIVER, 141 - -III. THROUGH THE ALPS, 147 - -IV. UNDER WATER AGAIN, 153 - -[Illustration] - - -List of Illustrations - -The Tower Bridge, London, showing the bascules raised. iii - -George Stephenson. 11 - -“Puffing Billy,” the oldest locomotive engine in existence. 13 - -James Watt. 21 - -Edward Pease. 27 - -The compound locomotive “Greater Britain.” 41 - -Back and front view of the locomotive “Greater Britain.” 44 - -The “Flying Dutchman.” 50 - -Bell’s “Comet.” 55 - -Robert Fulton. 59 - -The ice-bound “Britannia” at Boston. 77 - -Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 80 - -The “Great Eastern.” 83 - -High and low pressure cylinders of the “Campania’s” engines. 87 - -The “Campania.” 89 - -Stoke Hole. 93 - -Promenade deck of the “Paris.” 99 - -Pontypridd Bridge. 102 - -The Post Bridge, Dartmoor. 105 - -Robert Stephenson. 111 - -The Britannia Tubular Bridge. 115 - -Victoria Tubular Bridge, Montreal. 117 - -The Clifton Bridge. 122 - -The Brooklyn Bridge. 123 - -The Forth Bridge. 129 - -The Thames Tunnel. 143 - -Boring machine used for the Mont Cenis Tunnel. 149 - -The entrance to the air-lock. 155 - -The boring machine used in the preliminary construction of the English -Channel Tunnel. 159 - - -[Illustration] - - -ENGINEERS AND THEIR TRIUMPHS. - - - - -THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -FIRST STEPS. - - -“I think I could make a better engine than that.” - -“Do you? Well, some’ing’s wanted; hauling coal by horses is very -expensive.” - -“Ay, it is, and I think an engine could do it better.” - -“Mr. Blackett’s second engine burst all to pieces; d’ye mind that?” - -“How came that about?” - -“Tommy Waters, who put it together, could not make it go, so he got -a bit fractious and said she should move. He did some’ing to the -safety-valve and she did begin to work, but then she burst all to -pieces.” - -“Ay, ay, but this one is an improvement.” - -“It had need be. Even the third was a perfect plague.” - -“What! you mean Mr. Blackett’s third engine?” - -“Ay. It used to draw eight or nine truck loads at about a mile an hour, -or a little less; but it often got cranky and stood still.” - -“Stood still!” - -“Ay; we thought she would never stick to the road, so we had a cogged -wheel to work into a rack-work rail laid along the track, and somehow -she was always getting off the rack-rail.” - -“And now you find that the engine is heavy enough herself to grip the -rail.” - -“Ay, that was Will Hedley’s notion; he’s a viewer at the colliery. And -it is a great improvement. Why, that third engine, I say, was a perfect -nuisance. Chaps used to sing out to the driver: ‘How do you get on?’” - -“‘Get on,’ sez he, ‘I don’t get on; I on’y get off!’” - -“It was always goin’ wrong, and horses was always having to be got out -to drag it along.” - -“How did Hedley find out that a rack-rail was not needful?” - -“Well, he had a framework put upon wheels and worked by windlasses -which were geared to the wheels. Men were put to work these windlasses -which set the wheels going; and, lo and behold, she moved! The wheels, -though smooth, kept to the rails, though they were smooth also, and -the framework went along without slipping. ‘Crikey!’ says Hedley, ‘no -cogged wheels, no chains, no legs for me! We can do without ’em all. -Smooth wheels will grip smooth rails.’ And he proved it too by several -experiments.” - -“Then Mr. Blackett had this engine built?” - -“Ay, and it be, as you say, a great improvement. But that steam blowing -off there, after it have done its work, frights the horses on the Wylam -Road ter’ble, and makes it a perfect nuisance.” - -“Has nothing been done to alter it?” - -“Mr. Blackett has given orders to stop the engine when any horses comes -along, and the men don’t like that because it loses time. He thinks he -is going to let the steam escape gradual like, by blowing it off into -a cask first.” - -“Umph! very wasteful.” - -“Oh, ay; it be wasteful; and many a one about here sez of Mr. Blackett -that a fool and his money are soon parted.” - -“No,” said the first speaker, shaking his head thoughtfully, “Mr. -Blackett is no fool. But I think I could build a better engine than -that.” - -[Illustration: GEORGE STEPHENSON.] - -The tone in which these words were uttered was not boastful, but quiet -and thoughtful. - -“You are Geordie Stephenson, the engine-wright of the Killingworth -Collieries, ’beant you?” - -“Ay; and we have to haul coal some miles to the Tyne where it can be -shipped. So you do away with all rack-work rails and all cogged wheels, -do you?” - -“Ay, ay, Geordie, that’s so—smooth wheels on smooth rails.” - -This conversation, imaginary though to some extent it be, yet embodies -some important facts. Jonathan Foster, Mr. Blackett’s engine-wright, -informed Mr. Samuel Smiles, who mentions the circumstance in his “Lives -of the Engineers,” that George Stephenson “declared his conviction -that a much more effective engine might be made, that should work more -steadily and draw the load more effectively.” - -Geordie had studied the steam-engine most diligently. Born at -Wylam—some eight miles distant from Newcastle, about thirty years -previously—he had become a fireman of a steam-engine and had been wont -to take it to pieces in his leisure. He was now thinking over the -subject of building a locomotive engine, and he decided to see what -had already been accomplished. He would profit by the failures and -successes of others. So he went over to Wylam to see Mr. Blackett’s -engines, and to Coxlodge Colliery to see Mr. Blenkinsop’s from Leeds; -and here again it is said, that after watching the machine haul -sixteen locomotive waggons at a speed of about three miles an hour, he -expressed the opinion that “he thought he could make a better engine -than that, to go upon legs.” - -A man named Brunton did actually take out a patent in 1813 for doing -this. The legs were to work alternately, like a living creature’s. -The idea which seems to have troubled the early inventors of the -locomotive, was that smooth wheels would not grip smooth rails to haul -along a load. And it was Blenkinsop of Leeds who took out a patent in -1811 for a rack-work rail into which a cog-wheel from his engine should -work. - -Thus William Hedley’s idea of trusting to the weight of the engine to -grip the rails, and abolishing all the toothed wheels and legs and -rack-work for this purpose on a fairly level rail, was the first great -step toward making the locomotive a practicable success. - -[Illustration: “PUFFING BILLY,” THE OLDEST LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE IN -EXISTENCE. - -(_At present in South Kensington Museum._)] - -The idea that Stephenson invented the locomotive is a mistake. But -just as James Watt improved the crude steam pumps and engines he found -in existence, so George Stephenson of immortal memory developed and -made practicable the locomotive. For, in spite of Hedley’s discovery or -invention, all locomotives were partial failures until Stephenson took -the matter in hand. - -Nevertheless, William Hedley’s “Puffing Billy” must be regarded as one -of the first practicable railway engines ever built. It is still to be -seen in the South Kensington Museum, London. Patented in 1813, it began -regular work at Wylam in that year, and continued in use until 1872. It -was probably this engine which Stephenson saw when he said to Jonathan -Foster that he could make a better, and it was no doubt the first to -work by smooth wheels on smooth rails. Altogether it has been looked -upon as the “father” of the enormous number of locomotives which have -followed. - -Mr. Blackett was a friend of Richard Trevithick; and among the various -inventors and improvers of the locomotive engine Richard Trevithick, a -tin-miner in Cornwall, must have a high place. - -Trevithick was a pupil of Murdock, who was assistant of James Watt. -Murdock had made a model successfully of a locomotive engine at -Redruth. Others also had attempted the same thing. Savery had suggested -something of the kind; Cugnot, a French engineer, built one in Paris -about 1763; Oliver Evans, an American, made a steam carriage in 1772; -William Symington, who did so much for the steamboat, constructed -a model of one in 1784. So that many minds had been at work on the -problem. - -But Richard Trevithick was really the first Englishman who used a -steam-engine on a railway. He had not much money and he persuaded his -cousin, Andrew Vivian, to join him in the enterprise. In 1802 they took -out a patent for a steam-engine to propel carriages. - -But before this he had made a locomotive to travel along roads, and on -Christmas Eve, 1801, the wonderful sight could have been seen of this -machine carrying passengers for the first time. It is indeed believed -to have been the first occasion on which passengers were conveyed by -the agency of steam—the pioneer indeed of a mighty traffic. - -The machine was taken to London and exhibited in certain streets, and -at length, in 1808, it was shown on ground where now, curiously enough, -the Euston Station of the London and North-Western Railway stands. Did -any prevision of the extraordinary success of the locomotive flash -across the engineer’s brain? Before the infant century had run its -course what wonderful developments of the strange new machine were to -be seen on that very spot! - -Much interest was aroused by the exhibition of this machine, and Sir -Humphrey Davy, a fellow Cornishman, is reported to have written to a -friend—“I shall soon hope to hear that the roads of England are the -haunts of Captain Trevithick’s dragons—a characteristic name.” - -His letter tends to show that the idea then was that the engine should -run on the public roads, and not on a specially prepared track like -a railway. Had not this idea been modified, and the principle of a -railroad adopted, it is hardly too much to say that the extraordinary -development of the locomotive would not have followed. - -Trevithick’s first engine appears to have burst. At all events, in the -year 1803 or 1804, he built, and began to run, a locomotive on a horse -tramway in South Wales. It appears that he had been employed to build a -forge-engine here, and thus the opportunity was presented for the trial -of a machine to haul along minerals. This, it is believed, was the -first railway locomotive, and its builder was Richard Trevithick. - -The trial, however, was not very successful. Trevithick’s engine was -too heavy for the tramway on which it ran, and the proprietors were -not prepared to put down a stronger road. Furthermore, it once alarmed -the good folk, unused then to railway accidents, by actually running -off its rail, though only travelling at about four or five miles an -hour. It had to be ignominiously brought home by horses. That settled -the matter. It became a pumping engine, and as such answered very well. - -In this locomotive, however, it should be noted Trevithick employed a -device which, a quarter of a century later, Stephenson made so valuable -that we might call it the very life-blood of the Locomotive. We mean -the device of turning the waste steam into the funnel (after it has -done its work by driving the piston), and thus forcing a furnace -draught and increasing the fire. Stephenson, however, sent the steam -through a small nozzled pipe which made of it a veritable steam-blast, -while Trevithick, apparently, simply discharged the steam into the -chimney. - -Disgusted it would seem by the failure, the inventor turned his -attention to other things. Trevithick appears to have lingered on the -very brink of success, and then turned aside. Another effort and he -might have burst the barrier. But it was not to be; though if any one -man deserve the title, Inventor of the Locomotive, that man is the -Cornish genius Trevithick. Readers who may desire fuller information -of Trevithick and his inventions will find it in his “Life” by Francis -Trevithick, C.E., published in 1872. - -It must be borne in mind that Stephenson found the imaginary hindrance -that smooth wheels would not grip smooth rails, cleared away for him -by Hedley’s experiment, whereas Trevithick had to contend against this -difficulty. He strove to conquer it by roughing the circumference of -his wheels by projecting bolts, so that they might grip in that way. -That is, his patent provided for it, if he did not actually carry out -the plan. - -It is very significant that this imaginary fear should have hindered -the development of the locomotive. The idea seems to have prevailed -that, no matter how powerful the engine, it could not haul along very -heavy loads unless special provision were made for its “bite” or grip -of the rails. Another difficulty with which Trevithick had to contend -was one of cost. It is said that one of his experiments failed in -London for that reason. This was apparently the locomotive for roads, -as distinct from the locomotive for rails. A machine may be an academic -triumph, but the question of cost must be met if the machine is to -become a commercial and industrial success. - -Mr. Blenkinsop of Leeds then took out his patent in 1811 for a -rack-work rail and cogged wheel; but before this Mr. Blackett of Wylam -had obtained a plan of Trevithick’s engine and had one constructed. -He had met Trevithick at London, and it was as early as 1804 that -he obtained the plan. The engines, therefore, of Mr. Blackett which -Stephenson saw, came, so to speak, in direct line from Trevithick, -except that Mr. Blackett’s second engine was a combination of -Blenkinsop’s and Trevithick’s. - -Some progress was made, but when on that memorable day George -Stephenson, the engine-wright of Killingworth, said, “I think I could -build a better engine than that,” no very effective or economical -working locomotive was in existence. - -Back therefore went George Stephenson to his home. He had seen what -others had done, and with his knowledge of machinery and his love for -engine work he would now try what he could do. - -Would he succeed? - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -GLANCING BACKWARDS AND STRUGGLING FORWARDS. - - -“My lord, will you spend the money to build a Travelling Engine?” - -“Why? what would it do?” - -“Haul coals to the Tyne, my lord. The present system of hauling by -horses is very costly.” - -“It is. But how would you manage it by a Travelling Engine?” Thereupon -George Stephenson the engine-wright proceeded to explain. - -In some such manner as this we can imagine that Stephenson opened up -the subject to Lord Ravensworth, the chief partner in the Killingworth -Colliery; and he won his lordship over. - -Stephenson had already improved the colliery engines, and Lord -Ravensworth had formed a high opinion of his abilities. So after -consideration he gave the required consent. - -Now, let us endeavour to imagine the position. The steam engine, of -which the locomotive is one form, had been invented years before. The -Marquis of Worcester made something of a steam engine which apparently -was working at Vauxhall, South-west London, in 1656. It is said that he -raised water forty feet, and by this we may infer that his apparatus -was a steam-pump. He describes it in his work “Century of Inventions,” -about 1655, and he is generally accredited with being the inventor of -the steam engine. It was, however, a very primitive affair, the boiler -being the same vessel as that in which the steam accomplished its work. - -Captain Savery took the next step. He was the first to obtain a patent -for applying steam power to machinery. This was in 1698, and he used -a boiler distinct from the vessel where the steam was to exert its -power. Savery’s engines appear to have been used to drain mines. - -His engines acted in this way—the steam was condensed in a vessel and -produced a vacuum which raised the water; then the steam pressing upon -it raised it further in another receptacle. - -An obvious improvement was the introduction of the piston. This was -Papin’s idea, and he used it first in 1690. Six years later an engine -was constructed by Savery, Newcomen (a Devonshire man), and Cawley, -in which the “beam” was introduced, and also the ideas of a distinct -boiler separate from a cylinder in which worked a piston. This machine -was in operation for about seventy years. The beam worked on an axle -in its centre—something like a child’s “see-saw,” and one end being -attached to the piston moving in the cylinder, it was worked up and -down, the other end of the beam being fastened to the pump-rod, which -was thus alternately raised and depressed. - -The upward movement of the piston having been effected by a rush of -steam from the boiler upon its head, the steam was cut off and cold -water run in upon it from a cistern. The steam was thus condensed by -the water and a vacuum caused, and the piston was pressed down by the -weight of the atmosphere—of course dragging down its end of the beam, -and raising the pump-rod. The steam was then turned on again and pushed -up the piston, and consequently the end of the beam also. Thus the -engine continued to work, the turning of the cocks to admit steam and -water being performed by an attendant. The engine was, however, made -self-acting in this respect, and Smeaton improved this form of engine -greatly. The beam is still used in engines for pumping. - -Nevertheless, improved though it became, it was still clumsy and almost -impracticable. It was the genius of James Watt which changed it from a -slow, awkward, cumbrous affair into a most powerful, practicable, and -useful machine. - -His great improvements briefly were these: he condensed the steam in -a separate vessel from the cylinder, and thus avoided cooling it and -the consequent loss of steam power; secondly, he used the steam to -push back the piston as well as to push it forward (this is called the -“double-acting engine,” and is now always used); thirdly, he introduced -the principle of using the steam expansively, causing economy in -working; and fourthly, he enabled a change to be made of the up and -down motion of the piston into a circular motion by the introduction of -the crank. - -[Illustration: JAMES WATT.] - -The use of the steam expansively is to stop its rush to the cylinder -when the piston has only partially accomplished its stroke, leaving the -remainder of the stroke to be driven by the expansion of the steam. -In early engines the steam was admitted by conical valves, worked by a -rod from the beam. Murdock, we may add in parenthesis, is believed to -have invented the slide-valve which came into use as locomotives were -introduced, and of which there are now numerous forms. The valve is -usually worked by an “eccentric” rod on the shaft of the engine. - -Watt was the author of many other inventions and improvements of the -steam engine. Indeed, although Savery and Newcomen and others are -entitled to great praise, it was Watt who gave it life, so to speak, -and made it, in principle and essence, very much that which we now -possess. There have, indeed, been improvements as to the boiler, as to -expansive working, and in various details, since his day; but, apart -from the distinctive forms of the locomotive and the marine engine, the -machine as a whole is in principle much as Watt left it. - -The centre of all things in a steam engine is usually the cylinder. -Here the piston is moved backward and forward, and thence gives motion -as required to other parts of the machine. - -The cylinder is in fact an air-tight, round box, fitted with a -close-fitting, round plate of metal, to which is fixed the piston-rod. -Now, it must be obvious that if the steam be admitted at one end of the -cylinder it will, as it rushes in, push the metal plate and the piston -outward, and if this steam be cut off, and the steam admitted to the -other end of the cylinder, it will push the metal plate and piston back -again. - -But what is to be done with the steam after it has accomplished -its work? It may be permitted to spurt out into the air, or into a -separate vessel, where it may be condensed. In the locomotive, under -Stephenson’s able handling, this escape of steam was created into a -steam-blast in the chimney to stimulate the fire. In compound and -triple-expansion engines the steam is used—or expanded, it is called—in -two or three cylinders respectively. When steam is condensed, it may -be returned to the boiler as water. - -It was the repairing of a Newcomen engine that seems to have started -Watt on his inventions and improvements of the steam engine. He was -then a mathematical instrument maker at Glasgow. As a boy he had -suffered from poor health, but had been very observant and studious; -and it is said that his aunt chided him on one occasion for wasting -time in playing with her tea-kettle. He would watch the steam jetting -from its spout, and would count the water-drops into which the steam -would condense when he held a cup over the white cloud. - -Delicate though he was in health, he studied much, and came, indeed, -to make many other articles besides mathematical instruments. When, -therefore, the Newcomen engine needed repair, it was not unnatural -that it should be brought to him. It appears to have been a working -model used at Glasgow University. He soon repaired the machine; but, -in examining it, he became possessed with the idea that it was very -defective, and he pondered long over the problem—How it might be -improved. What was wanting in it? How could the steam be condensed -without cooling the cylinder? - -Suddenly, one day, so the story goes, the idea struck him, when -loitering across the common with bent brows, that if steam were -elastic, it would spurt into any vessel empty of air. Impatiently, -he hastened home to try the experiment. He connected the cylinder of -an engine with a separate vessel, in which the air was exhausted, -and found that his idea was correct; the steam did rush into it. -Consequently the steam could be condensed in a separate vessel, and -the heat of the cylinder maintained and the loss of power prevented. -This invention seems simple enough; yet it increased the power of an -engine threefold, and is at the root of Watt’s fame. We must remember -that the inventions which in process of time may appear the simplest -and the most commonplace, may be the most difficult to originate. And -it may fairly be urged—If it were so very simple, and so very obvious, -why was it not invented before? The supposition is that in those days -it was not so simple. It is possible that the great elasticity of steam -was not sufficiently understood. In any case, the discovery and its -application are regarded as his greatest invention. - -Yet ten years elapsed before he constructed a real working steam -engine, and so great we may suppose were the difficulties he -encountered, including poorness of health, that once he is reported -to have exclaimed: “Of all things in the world, there is nothing so -foolish as inventing.” - -But a brilliant triumph succeeded. Eventually Watt became partner -with Mr. Matthew Boulton, and the firm of Boulton & Watt manufactured -the engine at Soho Ironworks, Birmingham. Mining proprietors soon -discovered the value of the new machine, and Newcomen’s engine was -superseded for pumping. - -Watt continued to improve the machine, and together with Boulton also -greatly improved the workmanship of constructing engines and machinery. -In a patent taken out in 1784, he “described a steam locomotive”; but -for some reason he did not prosecute the idea. It is possible that the -notion of building a special road for it to run upon did not occur to -him, or appear very practicable. - -His work was done, and it was a great work; but it was left for others -to develop the steam engine into forms for hauling carriages on land or -propelling ships upon the sea. Trevithick, Stephenson, and others did -the one; Symington, Bell, and others did the second. Watt died in 1819, -and though so delicate in youth, he lived to his eighty-fourth year. - -The steam engine, therefore, as Watt left it, was practically as -Stephenson came to know it. He would be acquainted with it chiefly as -a pumping machine. But he saw what others had done to adopt it as a -locomotive, and he now set to work. - -Stephenson’s first engine did not differ very materially from some of -those which had preceded it. He was, so to speak, feeling his way. The -machine had a round, wrought-iron boiler, eight feet long, with two -upright cylinders placed on the top of it. At the end of the pistons -from the cylinders were cross-rods connected with cogged wheels below -by other rods. These cogged wheels gave motion to the wheels running -on the rails by cogs not very far from the axles. Stephenson abandoned -the cogged rail, and adopted smooth wheels and smooth rails; but he did -not connect the driving-wheel direct with the piston, the intervening -cogged wheels being thought necessary to unite the power of the two -cylinders. - -In adopting the principle of smooth wheels on smooth rails, it is said -that Stephenson proved by experiment that the arrangement would work -satisfactorily. Mr. Smiles writes that Robert Stephenson informed him, -“That his father caused a number of workmen to mount upon the wheels -of a waggon moderately loaded, and throw their entire weight upon the -spokes on one side, when he found that the waggon could thus be easily -propelled forward without the wheels slipping. This, together with -other experiments, satisfied him of the expediency of adopting smooth -wheels on his engine, and it was so finished accordingly.” Thus it may -be said that this obstacle—imaginary though it largely proved to be—was -cleared away from Stephenson’s first engine. - -Ten months were occupied in building the machine, and at last came the -day of its trial. This was the 25th of July, 1814. Would it work? - -Jolting and jerking along, it did work, hauling eight carriages at a -speed of about four or six miles an hour—as fast as a brisk man could -walk. Then came the question—Would it prove more economical than -horse-power? - -Calculations therefore were made, and after a time it was found that -“Blucher” as the engine was called, though we believe its real name was -“My Lord,” was about as expensive as horse-power. - -The locomotive needed something more, some magic touch to render it -less clumsy and more effective. What was it? - -Then came the first great practicable improvement after the smooth -wheels on smooth rails. It was the steam-blast in the funnel, by which -the draught in the furnace was greatly increased. Indeed, the faster -the engine ran the more furiously the fire would burn, the more rapid -would be the production of steam, and the greater the power of the -engine. - -At first Stephenson had allowed his waste steam from the cylinders -to blow off into the air. So great was the nuisance caused by this -arrangement that a law-suit was threatened if it were not abated. - -What was to be done with that troublesome waste steam? Now, whether -Stephenson originated the idea or adapted what Trevithick had done, -we cannot say, but at all events he achieved the object, wherever he -gained the idea. He turned his exhaust steam through a pipe into the -funnel, and at a stroke increased the power of his engine two-fold. - -But that expedient was not alone. Stephenson had watched the working of -“Blucher” to some purpose, and he decided to build another engine with -improvements. - -The cumbersome cog-wheels must go; they complicated the machine -terribly, and prevented its practicability. Therefore in his second -engine he introduced direct connection between the pistons and the -wheels. There were a couple of upright cylinders as before, with -cross-rods attached to the piston-ends, and connecting rods from the -end of each cross-rod, reaching down to the wheels. But to overcome the -difficulty of one wheel being at some time higher than the other on -the poorly constructed railway of that period, a joint was introduced -in the cross-rod, so that if, perchance, the two wheels should not be -always on exactly the same level, no undue strain should be placed on -the cross-rod. Furthermore, the two pairs of wheels were combined first -by a chain, but afterwards by connecting rods. This may be called the -locomotive of 1815, the year in which the patent was taken out. - -[Illustration: EDWARD PEASE.] - -The engine accomplished its work more satisfactorily than before, -and was placed daily on the rails to haul coal from the mine to the -shipping point. But still its economy over horse-power was not so great -as to cause its wide adoption. And it was still little better, if -anything, than a mere coal haul. - -Nevertheless Stephenson persevered. He was appointed engineer to the -Stockton and Darlington Railway—an enterprise largely promoted by Mr. -Edward Pease. It was opened on the 27th of September, 1825, and a local -paper writes as follows:— - -“The signal being given, the engine started off with this immense -train of carriages, and such was its velocity, that in some parts the -speed was frequently 12 miles an hour; and at that time the number -of passengers was counted to be 450, which, together with the coals, -merchandise, and carriages, would amount to near 90 tons. The engine, -with its load, arrived at Darlington, a distance of 8¾ miles, in 65 -minutes. The 6 waggons loaded with coals, intended for Darlington, were -then left behind; and obtaining a fresh supply of water, and arranging -the procession to accommodate a band of music and numerous passengers -from Darlington, the engine set off again, and arrived at Stockton in 3 -hours and 7 minutes, including stoppages, the distance being nearly 12 -miles.” - -Stephenson became a partner in a business for constructing locomotives -at Newcastle, and three engines were made for the Stockton and -Darlington Railway. Nevertheless they appear to have been used chiefly -if not almost entirely for hauling coal; for the passenger-coach called -the _Experiment_ was hauled by a horse, and the journey occupied about -two hours. - -The locomotive was not even yet a brilliant success over horse-power. -What was to be the next step? - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -FIFTEEN MILES AN HOUR. - - -Five hundred pounds for the best locomotive engine! - -So ran the announcement one day in the year 1829. The Liverpool and -Manchester Railway was nearly completed, but yet the directors had not -fully decided what power they would employ to haul along their waggons. - -Horse-power had at length been finally abandoned, and numbers of -schemes had been poured in upon the managers. But the contest seemed -at last to resolve itself chiefly into a rivalry between fixed and -locomotive engines. Principally, if not entirely, swayed however by the -arguments of George Stephenson, the directors yielded to the hint of a -Mr. Harrison, and offered a £500 prize. - -The engine was to satisfy certain conditions. Its weight was not to be -above six tons; it was to burn its own smoke, haul twenty tons at a -rate of ten miles an hour, be furnished with two safety valves, rest on -springs and on six wheels, while its steam pressure must not be more -than fifty lbs. to the square inch. The cost was not to exceed £550. - -Stephenson, who was the engineer of the Railway, decided to compete. He -was now in a very different position from that which he occupied when -he built his second locomotive in 1815. His appointment as engineer to -the Stockton and Darlington Railway had greatly aided his advancement, -and when it was decided to build a railway between the two busy cities -of Manchester and Liverpool it was not unnatural that he should take -part in the undertaking. - -The idea of constructing rail, or tram ways, was not new. Railways of -some kind were used in England about two hundred years before, that -is, about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Thus Roger North -writes:—“The manner of the carriage is by laying rails of timber from -the colliery to the river, exactly straight and parallel; and bulky -carts are made with four rollers fitting those rails, whereby the -carriage is so easy that one horse will draw down four or five chaldron -of coals, and is an immense benefit to the coal merchants.” - -It is said that the word tramway is derived from tram, which was wont -to mean a beam of timber and also a waggon. In any case, such rough -ways were introduced in mining districts, for, as may be readily -believed, one horse could draw twenty times the load upon them that it -could on an ordinary road. - -The old ways were first made of wood, then of wood faced with iron, -then altogether of iron. - -Now, in making his railway between Liverpool and Manchester, Stephenson -had many difficulties to encounter. He decided that the line should -be as direct as possible. But to accomplish this, he would have to -pierce hills, build embankments, raise viaducts, and, hardest of all, -construct a firm causeway across a treacherous bog called Chat Moss. - -“He will never do it,” said some of the most famous engineers of the -day. “It is impossible!” - -Impossible it certainly seemed to be. Chat Moss was like a sponge, and -how was an engineer to build a solid road for heavy trains over four -miles of soppy sponge! A person could not trust himself upon it in -safety, and when men did venture, they fastened flat boards to their -feet, something after the fashion of snow-shoes, and floundered along -upon them. - -Stephenson began by taking the levels of the Moss in a similar manner. -Boards were placed upon the spongy moss, and a footpath of heather -followed. Then came a temporary railroad. On this ran the trucks -containing the material for a permanent path, which were pushed by boys -who learned to trot along easily on the narrow rails. - -Drains were dug on either side of the proposed road, and tar-barrels -covered with clay were fitted into a sewer underneath the line in the -middle of the Moss. Heather, hurdles, tree branches, etc., were spread -on the surface, and in some parts an embankment of dry moss itself -was laid down. Ton after ton of it disappeared until the directors -became alarmed, and the desperate expedient of abandoning the works was -considered. - -But Stephenson was an Englishman out and out. He never knew when he was -beaten. “Keep on filling,” he ordered; and in spite of all criticism -and all alarm, he kept his hundreds of navvies hard at work, pouring in -load after load of dry turf. - -It must be borne in mind, however, that Stephenson did not continue -blindly at his task. He had good reason for what he did. His -persistence was a patient, intelligent perseverance, and not a stupid -obstinacy. His main arguments seem to have been two. He judged that if -he constructed a sufficiently wide road, it would float on the moss, -even as ice or a raft of wood floats on water and bears heavy weights; -and secondly, he seems to have been animated by the idea, that, if -necessary, he could pour in enough solid or fairly solid stuff to reach -the bottom and rise up to the surface in a hard mass. - -Both ideas seem to have been realised in different parts of the bog. -Joy took the place of despair, and triumph exulted over discouragement, -as at length the solid mass appeared through the surface. Furthermore, -the expense was found to be none so costly after all. No doubt any -quantity of turf could be obtained from the surrounding parts of the -Moss and dried. - -At another part of the railway called Parr Moss an embankment about -a mile and a-half was formed by pouring into it stone and clay from -a “cutting” in the neighbourhood. In some places twenty-five feet of -earth was thus concealed beneath the Moss. The eye of the engineer had -as it were pierced through the bog and seen that his solid bank was -steadily being built up there. - -Before, however, the road across Chat Moss was fairly opened, the trial -of locomotives for the prize of £500 had taken place. The fateful -day was the 1st day of October, 1829, and the competition was held -at Rainhill. A grand stand was erected, and the side of the railway -was crowded. Thousands of spectators were present. The future of the -locomotive was to be decided on this momentous occasion. - -Now, hitherto the difficulty in the locomotive had been to supply a -steady and sufficient supply of steam to work the engine quickly and -attain high speed and power. Partly, this had been accomplished by -Stephenson’s device of the steam-blast in the funnel. But something -more was needed. - -That requirement was found in the tubular boiler. If the long -locomotive boiler were pierced with tubes from end to end, it is clear -that the amount of heating surface offered to the action of the fire -would be greatly increased. It was this idea which was utilised in the -“Rocket,” the engine with which Stephenson competed at Rainhill, and -utilised more perfectly than ever before. - -Trevithick himself seems to have invented something of the kind, and -M. Seguin, the engineer of the St. Etienne and Lyons Railway utilised -a similar method. But Henry Booth, the secretary of the railway which -Stephenson was then building, invented a tubular boiler without, it is -said, knowing anything of Seguin’s plan, and Stephenson who had already -experimented in the same direction, adopted Booth’s method. - -At first it was a failure. The boiler, fitted with tubes through -which the hot air could pass, leaked disastrously, and Stephenson’s -son, Robert, wrote to his father in despair. But again George said -“persevere,” and he suggested a plan for conquering the difficulty. -Again, it was a simple, but as the event proved, an effective plan. - -The copper tubes were merely to be fitted tightly to holes bored in the -boiler and soldered in. The heat caused the copper to expand and the -result was a very strong and water-tight boiler. There were twenty-five -of these tubes, each three inches in diameter, and placed in the lower -portion of the boiler, leading from the furnace to the funnel. Water -also surrounded the furnace. Further, the nozzles of the steam-blast -pipes were contracted so as to increase the power of the blast, and -consequently raise the strength of the draught to the fire. - -[Illustration: “THE ROCKET.”] - -The cylinders were not placed at the top of the boiler, but at the -sides in a slanting direction, one end being about level with the -boiler roof. They occupied a position mid-way between the old situation -upright on the roof and their present position below, or at the lower -portion. The pistons acted directly on the driving wheels by means of a -connecting rod, and the entire weight of the engine with water supply -was but 4½ tons. - -On the day of trial only four engines competed. Many had been -constructed, but either were not completed in time, or for various -reasons could not be exhibited. The famous four were:—The “Novelty” by -Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson; The “Rocket” by Messrs. R. Stephenson -& Co.; The “Perseverance” by Mr. Burstall; and The “Sanspareil” by Mr. -Timothy Hackworth. Each engine seems to have run separately, and the -length of the course was two miles. The test was that the engine should -run thirty miles, backwards and forwards, on the two mile level course, -at not less than ten miles an hour, dragging three times its own weight. - -The “Novelty” at first appears to have beaten the “Rocket,” for she -ran at times at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour; while the first -trip of the “Rocket” covered a dozen miles in fifty-three minutes. -The engineers of the “Novelty” used bellows to force the fire, but -on the second day these bellows gave way, and the engine could not -do its work. The boiler of the “Sanspareil” also showed defects, but -Stephenson’s “Rocket” calmly stood the strain. Practicable as usual, -Stephenson’s work was as good in its results, nay, even better than -before, for he hooked the “Rocket” to a carriage load of thirty -people, and rushed them along at the then surprising speed of between -twenty-four to thirty miles an hour. Mr. Burstall’s “Perseverance” -could not cover more than six miles an hour. - -The competitions continued, but the “Novelty,” although running at the -rate of twenty-four and even twenty-eight miles an hour, broke down -again and yet again; its boiler plates appear to have gone wrong on one -occasion; while the “Sanspareil” also failed, and furthermore blew a -good deal of its fuel into the air because of the arrangement of its -steam-blast. - -But the more the “Rocket” was tried, the more practicable and reliable -the engine appeared to be. On the 8th of October it gained a speed of -29 miles an hour, its steam pressure being about 50 lbs. to the square -inch, and its average speed was fifteen miles an hour—that is, five -miles an hour over the conditions required. These results appear to -have been accomplished with a weight of waggons of thirteen tons behind -it. When detached it ran at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour. - -In short, the “Rocket” was the only locomotive which fulfilled all -the conditions specified for the competition, and the prize was duly -awarded to Stephenson and Booth. - -The battle of the locomotive was won. Men could see that the machine -was feasible and practicable; that it was a new force with immense -possibilities before it. - -How have those possibilities been realised? - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -A MARVEL OF MECHANISM. - - -“The time is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man to travel -on a railway than to walk on foot.” - -So prophesied George Stephenson some few years before his successful -competition at Rainhill; and by his success on that fateful day, he had -brought the time appreciably nearer. The directors of the Liverpool -and Manchester Railway no longer debated as to what form of traction -they should adopt. - -But Stephenson did not rest on his laurels. Every new engine showed -some improvement. The “Arrow” sped over Chat Moss at about 27 miles an -hour, on the occasion of the first complete journey along the line, on -the 14th of June, 1830; and when, on the public opening of the railway -on the 15th of September, 1830, Mr. William Huskisson, M.P., was -unhappily knocked down by the “Rocket,” George Stephenson himself took -the maimed body in the “Northumbrian,” fifteen miles in twenty-five -minutes—that is, he drove the engine at the speed of thirty-six miles -an hour. - -The sad death of Mr. Huskisson has often been referred to, but we -may tell the story again, following the account given by Mr. Smiles, -who had the advantage of the assistance of Robert Stephenson in the -preparation of his biography. - -The engines it appears halted at Parkside, some seventeen miles from -Liverpool, to obtain water. The “Northumbrian,” with a carriage -containing the Duke of Wellington and some friends, stood on one -line, so that all the trains might pass him in review on the other. -Mr. Huskisson had descended from the carriage and was standing on the -rail on which the “Rocket” was rapidly approaching. There had been -some coolness between the Duke and Mr. Huskisson, but at this time the -Duke extended his hand and Mr. Huskisson hurried to grasp it, when the -bystanders cried “Get in! get in.” - -Mr. Huskisson became flurried and endeavoured to go round the carriage -door which was open and hung over the rail; but while doing this, the -“Rocket” struck him and he fell, his leg being doubled over the rail -and immediately crushed. Unfortunately he died that evening at Eccles -Parsonage. - -This sad event cast a gloom over the otherwise rejoicing day; but -the wonderful speed at which the wounded man was conveyed, proved a -marvellous object lesson as to what the locomotive could accomplish. - -In the “Planet,” put upon the line shortly after the opening, the -cylinders were placed horizontally and within the fire box. The engine -drew eighty tons from Liverpool to Manchester against a strong wind -in two and a-half hours, while on another occasion with a company of -voters, it sped from Manchester to Liverpool, thirty-one miles, in an -hour. But next year the “Samson,” which was still further improved, -and the wheels of which were coupled so as to secure greater grip on -the rails, hauled 150 tons at twenty miles an hour with a smaller -consumption of fuel. - -The locomotive had now become one of the wonders of the world. Since -then its speed has been doubled. But all the improvements (with -possibly one exception—that of the compound cylinder which is at -present only partially in use) have been more in details than in -principles. Thus the 70 or 80 ton express engine, which covers mile -after mile at the rate of a mile a minute without a wheeze or a groan, -is not very different essentially from George Stephenson’s locomotives, -though its steam pressure is very much higher. - -There are, for instance, the multitubular boiler, the furnace -surrounded by water and communicating with the boiler, the horizontal -cylinders acting directly on the driving wheels, and the steam-blast by -which the waste steam is spouted up the chimney, creating a draught in -the furnace. - -These may be regarded as the more important of the essential -principles, although there is diversity of details, more especially -for the different work required. But the steam pressure is now much -greater. Let us glance at a typical English locomotive. You might not -think it, but the machine has about five thousand different parts, all -put together as Robert Stephenson said “as carefully as a watch.” - -At first sight you will probably not see the cylinders. The tendency -in many engines now seems to be to place them inside the wheels, for -it is urged that the placing of the heavier parts of the mechanism -near to the centre lessens oscillation, and protects the machinery -more effectually. Against this, it is said that the placing of the -cylinders in that position increases the cost and the complication of -the driving axle, and renders the pistons and valves more inaccessible -for the purposes of repair. Both forms have their advocates, and the -outside-cylinder form may be seen on the London and South-Western and -some other railways, while the inside may be seen on the North-Western -and others. - -The boiler is of course the long, round body of the locomotive, and -in English machines it is placed on a strong plate frame. Then as to -the driving-wheels. Express engines, such as the splendid “eight-feet -singles” of the Great Northern, have often, as the name implies, but -one large driving-wheel on either side, and for great speeds this form -is held to possess certain advantages. Certainly the performances of -Mr. Patrick Stirling’s expresses would indicate that this is the case. - -With steam raising the safety valve at a pressure of 140 lbs. to -the square inch, the engines will whisk a score of carriages out -of King’s Cross up the northern height of London at forty miles an -hour, and then without a stop rush on to Grantham at near sixty. -Standing on the platform at King’s Cross, with a large part of the -immense driving-wheel hidden below you as it rests on the rail, you -do not realise its tremendous size. Yet, let the engine-driver open -the throttle, as it is called—that is, turn on the steam to the -cylinders—and that huge wheel will revolve, and with its neighbour on -the other side, haul after them that heavy train of carriages, and, -gathering speed as they go, they will soon be rushing up the incline at -forty miles an hour, and then on at sixty. It is a marvel of mechanism! - -But then the compound engines that Mr. F. W. Webb, the engineer of the -North-Western, builds for that Company can also perform remarkable -things. The compound is the great modern improvement (some engineers -might doubt whether improvement be the correct word) in the locomotive, -effecting, it is said, an economy of from ten to fifteen per cent. -in fuel. Now the compounding principle has been developed to such an -extent in marine steam engines that it revolutionised steam navigation. -But the application of the principle has not been so great in the case -of the locomotive. - -Briefly, the principle is this—the steam is sent out from the boiler at -a high pressure, say 160 to 180 lbs. to the square inch, and is used -in one or in a pair of high-pressure cylinders, and then used again, -by means of its expanding power, in a larger, low-pressure cylinder. -Mr. John Nicholson, of the Great Eastern Railway, suggested a compound -locomotive before even the compound marine engine had been made, and -his design was successful; but in 1881 Mr. Webb, of the North-Western, -patented a compound locomotive, with two small high-pressure, and one -large low-pressure cylinders, the latter twenty-six inches in diameter. -Placed between the front wheels, the bright boss of this cylinder may -be seen in shining steel as it flies over the rails. - -The argument is that the compound burns less fuel and is more powerful -than a non-compound of the same weight; but against this is launched -the objection that the compound is more expensive to build, to repair, -and to maintain. Still further it is argued, that a fast-speeding -locomotive has not the time in its hurrying life to expand its steam in -the tick of time between each stroke of the piston. - -[Illustration: - -THE COMPOUND LOCOMOTIVE “GREATER BRITAIN.” _By kind permission of Mr. -F. W. Webb, L. & N. W. Railway._ ] - -Mr. Worsdell’s compounds on the North-Eastern Railway have but two -cylinders, one high and the other low-pressure. The one is eighteen and -the other twenty-six inches across. Instead of the steam alternating -between the two cylinders, it all passes first to the high-pressure -and then, through a pipe in the smoke-box, to the larger low-pressure -cylinder. These locomotives, it is said, are not under the objection -alleged against the other compounds—viz., that they have more parts, -and are more costly to build and maintain. Yet it is claimed for them -that they are more economical and more powerful than non-compounds. - -When doctors disagree who shall decide? The cost or speed might decide; -but at present it seems doubtful on which side the balance does -really fall. Engines of the three types have done splendid work. A -Worsdell compound, built by Mr. Worsdell, of the North-Eastern Railway, -is reported to have rushed down the incline to Berwick one day at -seventy-six miles an hour for some miles at a time. Then the “Greater -Britain,” a massive North-Western compound engine, turned out at the -Crewe works in 1891, and weighing seventy-five tons, can whirl along -with ease a heavy twenty-five coach express at an average of over fifty -miles an hour, with a comparatively small consumption of fuel. - -This locomotive was described in the _Engineer_ newspaper as the most -remarkable that had been built in England for several years. Its axle -bearings are of great length, and its parts are very substantial, -so that it ought to keep out of the repairing shops for long spells -of time. It was specially planned for both fast and heavy passenger -traffic to Scotland, and its work on its trial trip was so good that it -was confidently expected it would answer expectations. In working, the -engine has been found to develop great speed and power, easily running -at over fifty miles an hour with what is called a double train—viz., -twenty-five coaches, behind it. Indeed, it has run at fifty-five -miles with this heavy train. Its stated speed ranges from thirty to -fifty-five miles an hour, with a low consumption of fuel. - -This last is a matter of very great importance to engineers and railway -directors; and when we state that, according to Mr. Bowen Cooke, the -North-Western engines altogether burn 3095 tons of coal per day, any -small saving per hour would be eagerly welcomed. - -Now, it is claimed that the compounds have consumed about six pounds -of coal per mile less than others on the same work, and that they also -haul along loads which would require two of the other type. If so, the -saving in the North-Western coal-bill must be enormous. - -[Illustration: BACK AND FRONT VIEW OF THE LOCOMOTIVE “GREATER BRITAIN.”] - -A great feature in this engine is a combustion chamber placed within -the barrel of the boiler. This chamber catches all the gases from the -furnace, and causes the heat generated by them to be used to the utmost -for the production of steam. Though heavier than any engine previously -built, yet it is so made that no greater weight than usual rests upon -any of the wheels, thus throwing no extra strain on the railway or -the bridges. The two couples of driving-wheels are placed before the -furnace, and an additional couple of small wheels behind the furnace, -and beneath the foot-plate where the driver and fireman stand. The -weight therefore is evenly distributed, with another pair of wheels to -bear the burden. The front wheels are fitted with the radial axle-box -patented by Mr. Webb, so that, although the engine is of great length, -yet it can speed round curves with perfect safety. - -Yet this engine, though one of the most remarkable developments of the -locomotive, is in essence and in principle but very like the “Rocket.” -The difference lies in its innumerable details, exhibiting so much -engineering skill and ingenuity, in the compound cylinders, in higher -pressure steam, and in its marvellous power and speed combined. - -On the other hand, the Great Northern runs daily from Grantham to -London at fifty-three and fifty-four miles an hour average; while it -was reported in the _Engineer_ of the 10th of March, 1888, that a Great -Northern train from Manchester to London, when running from Grantham to -London, covered one mile in forty-six seconds, that is, at the rate of -seventy-eight and a-quarter miles an hour, and two miles following each -other were run in forty-seven seconds each, that is, seventy-six miles -an hour. We doubt, indeed, if any railway in the world can show regular -faster daily running than some of the Great Northern expresses between -London and Grantham. The average speed of their Manchester train over -this ground is slightly over fifty-four miles an hour. Then there are -the Great Western expresses, the “Dutchman” and the “Zulu,” at only -slightly less speeds, to say nothing of the fine performances of the -Midland. We may take it, therefore, that the compound locomotives, -excellent as their work has been, have not really beaten their rivals -in point of speed. - -Compounds are used largely on the North-Western, the Great Eastern, -and the North-Eastern, and should they prove to be really more -economical in working, while maintaining at least equal power and speed -with their rivals, we have no doubt but that they will prevail. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -A MILE A MINUTE. - - -“The express is to be quickened, my lord. Mr. Thompson, the general -manager, has given instructions to that effect.” - -So spoke the station master at Carlisle, on the 17th of March, 1894, to -Lord Rosebery. - -His lordship had very recently been appointed Prime Minister, and was -on his way to Edinburgh to deliver a great public speech. The train, -presumably, was late, or he, through stress of business probably, had -left too little margin of time. However, by the instructions of Mr. -Thompson, the general manager of the Caledonian Railway, the express -was accelerated, and it rushed over 101 miles in 105 minutes, one of -the quickest locomotive runs, we imagine, that have ever been recorded. -The train arrived fifteen minutes before it was due, and Lord Rosebery -was enabled to keep his engagement. - -This run was approximately at the rate of a mile a minute, and -maintained for an hour and three-quarters. Only some two years or so -previously a somewhat similar run was made. An officer of the Guards -found that he had lost the south-going mail train at Stirling. He had -been on leave in Scotland, and was bound to report himself in London -next morning. - -What was he to do? Did he sit down and moan, or fly to the telegraph -office and endeavour to excuse himself? Not he. He promptly engaged a -special train, which flying over the metals, actually caught the mail -at Carlisle, having covered 118 miles in 126 minutes; that is, again, -approximately a mile a minute, and maintained for slightly over two -hours. - -Now, in order to attain high average speed, some parts of the journey, -say very easy inclines or levels, must be covered at a much higher -rate. Thus, to obtain an average of fifty-two miles an hour—which is -probably the regular average of our best English expresses—the pace -will most likely be sometimes at the rate of seventy, or it may be -seventy-six, miles per hour. - -The United States have claimed to run the fastest regular train. This -is the “Empire State Express” of the New York Central, which bursts -away from New York to Buffalo, a trip of 140 miles, at the average rate -of 52-12/100 miles per hour, but running eighty miles at the rate of -56¾ miles an hour. It is also said that, in August, 1891, a train on -the New York portion of the Reading road ran a mile in less than forty -seconds, and covered a dozen miles at an average of barely 43½ seconds -per mile. - -English expresses could certainly accomplish these average speeds, -but the fact is very high speeds do not pay. They wear everything -to pieces. Then there is the coal consumption. American railway -engineers—according to the _Engineer_ newspaper—“seem to be unable to -get on with less than 100 lbs. per square foot (of fire grate area) as -a minimum;” while, from the same paper, we learn that the average rate -of burning of Mr. Webb’s remarkable North-Western engine, the “Greater -Britain,” was but “a little over seventy-three lbs. per square foot per -hour,” or, altogether, 1500 lbs. per hour. - -The rails also are greatly worn by continuous high speeds. Engineers -have been equal to this difficulty, and rails are now made of steel, -and even steel sleepers are constructed on which the rails repose. But -still the wear and tear, especially to engines, of continuous high -speeds, is very great. The reason why the famous “Race to Edinburgh” -was stopped was doubtless because of the needless wear and tear. Surely -an average of fifty to fifty-two miles an hour is fast enough for all -ordinary purposes. If greater speed can be obtained without too great a -cost, well and good; but if not, the public must be content. - -Nevertheless, during that famous “Race” in the summer of 1888, some -magnificent engine work was accomplished. Thus, for instance, the -North-Western and their partners actually ran from Euston to Edinburgh, -400 miles, in 427 minutes. Then the Great Northern and their partners, -the East Coast route, next day covered 393 miles in 423 minutes, this -journey including 124½ miles from Newcastle to Edinburgh covered in 123 -minutes. This speed is, of course, more than a mile a minute, and kept -up for slightly over two hours. - -The third-class passenger was at the root of the matter. Companies are -finding out they must consult his convenience; and the beginning of the -“Race” was probably the announcement that the “Flying Scotchman”—the -10 o’clock morning train from King’s Cross—would carry third-class -passengers. Hitherto it had beaten its rival, the West Coast route (run -by the North-Western and its partner, the Caledonian), as to speed, but -had conveyed only first and second-class passengers. - -Thereupon the West Coast announced that they would reach Edinburgh -in nine hours. As this route is harder for engines—for it climbs the -Cumbrian Hills, and is, moreover, seven miles longer—this would mean -faster running and harder work than its rivals. The Great Northern, -which according to its well-deserved reputation probably tops the world -for speed, could not brook this, so the East Coast route reduced its -time from nine hours to eight hours and a-half. - -So the contest stood for about a month, when the West Coast calmly -announced the same time for its journey. Thenceforward the blows fell -thick and fast. It was a battle of giants, but fought with good temper -and gentlemanly honour on both sides. - -The West Coast were arriving at Edinburgh at half-past six. “The Flying -Scotchman,” by the East Coast route, thereupon drew up in the Scotch -capital at six o’clock. Then the West Coast ran to Edinburgh in eight -hours, stretching away from Euston to Crewe, 158½ miles in 178 minutes, -without a stop—probably the longest run without a break ever made. The -Caledonian Company, the North-Western’s partner, then ran from Carlisle -to Edinburgh, 100¾ miles, in 104 minutes. The North-Western thereupon -actually ran from Preston to Carlisle, over the Cumberland Hills, -ninety miles in ninety minutes—a magnificent performance hard indeed -to beat, if, in fact, it ever has been really beaten; while, later -on, the same Company ran from Euston to Crewe in 167 minutes instead -of their remarkable 178 minutes a few days previously. This, with the -other accelerations, gave the West Coast their record run of 400 miles -in 427 minutes of running time, which took place on the 13th of August. -But the East Coast had also accelerated, the North-Eastern covering 205 -miles in 235 minutes, and the Great Northern rendering an equally good, -if not better, performance, the whole 393 miles being covered in 423 -minutes. Some of the miles on the East Coast route sped by at the rate -of seventy-six an hour. - -To accomplish these runs the weight of trains was cut down, and the -times of stoppages reduced or abolished altogether. But the expense -was too great. It did not really “pay” in convenience or in money, -and to these judgments companies must bow. But considering that the -Great Northern reaches Grantham, 105¼ miles, in 115 minutes as a -daily occurrence, an approximate running of near a mile a minute, and -that the North-Western can run at an average of fifty-five miles an -hour, the locomotive has amply justified George Stephenson’s prophecy -when he made “Blucher,” that there was no limit to the speed of the -locomotive, provided the work could be made to stand. - -Mr. C. R. Deacon also prophesied a few years since in an American -magazine that a hundred miles an hour would be the express speed of -the future, provided that passengers would give up luxurious cars and -dining and sleeping carriages. At present it seems questionable if they -will do so. - -[Illustration: THE “FLYING DUTCHMAN.”] - -But speed is by no means the monopoly of the North. Other companies -beside the owners of the East and West Coast routes to Scotland can run -expresses equally or almost as fast. There is the “Flying Dutchman,” -for instance, of the Great Western. It daily covers the 77¼ miles -from London to Swindon in 87 minutes. And the tale is told by Mr. W. -M. Acworth, on the authority of an inspector who was in charge of the -train, that a famous Great Western engine, the “Lord of the Isles,” -which was in the Exhibition of 1851, actually whirled a train from -Swindon to London, 77¼ miles in 72 minutes. - -Some of those older engines could run bravely. Mr. Acworth reports that -“a Bristol and Exeter tank-engine with 9 feet driving wheels, a long -extinct species,” pelted down a steep incline at the speed of 80 miles -an hour, many years since, and it has never been surpassed. The fastest -speed during the Race to Edinburgh days seems to have been 76 miles, -but perhaps the weight of the trains may have accounted for this. Mr. -Acworth himself is believed to have accomplished the fastest bit of -advertised journeying in the world. He went down on the “Dutchman,” -and leaving Paddington at 11.46, he caught the return train at Swindon -and was back at 2.45, having covered 154½ miles, with five minutes for -refreshments, in 177 minutes. The line is easier on the up journey to -London, and mile after mile sped by at a rate of over 60 miles an hour. -From 56½ to 58 seconds was the chronograph’s record again and again, -while on the down journey to Swindon he records a burst of 34½ miles in -34 minutes. - -The gradients of the railway form of course a most important factor -in the question of speed. The Midland has one of the hardest roads in -England for steep slopes, yet its magnificent engines bring its heavy -trains from Leicester, 99¾ miles in 122 minutes. Considering the high -levels the locomotives have to climb, only to sink again to low flats, -as about the Ouse at Bedford, this performance is really as fine as -some of the superb running of the Great Northern. - -The Southern lines out of London have no long distances to cover as -the Northern, unless it may be the South-Western to Plymouth. The -South-Western to Bournemouth and Exeter, and the mail trains on the -South-Eastern, Chatham and Dover, and the Brighton trains can also show -some excellent work as regards speed. - -The government of a large railway now has grown to something like the -rule of a small state. Sir George Findlay, the general manager of the -North-Western Company, in his evidence before the Labour Commission -in 1892, deposed that the capital raised for British railways amounted -to the vast sum of 897 millions of pounds; that the receipts were 80 -millions yearly, that much more than half of this immense amount, -namely 43 millions, yearly was paid in wages, and that half-a-million -of men directly or indirectly were given employment. - -To such enormous dimensions has the railway developed. And the -locomotive engine is the centre and soul of it all. Stephenson got -it, so to speak, on its right lines of working, and it has run along -them ever since, until in its great capacity for speed, its power for -drawing heavy loads, and its strength and beauty of construction it may -fairly be called one of the wonders of the world. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - -THE STORY OF THE STEAMSHIP. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE “COMET” APPEARS. - - -“If only people could reach the place easier, I could do more business.” - -So mused Henry Bell of Glasgow about the year 1810. He was an ingenious -and enterprising man, and he had established a hotel or bathing-house -at Helensburgh on the Clyde. But he wanted more visitors, and he -puzzled his brain to discover how he could offer facilities for them to -reach the place. - -He tried boats, worked by paddles, propelled by hand; but these proved -a failure. They had been in use years before, though perhaps he knew it -not. Tradition says that boats fitted with paddle wheels and worked by -oxen in the boat, were known to the Egyptians, but perhaps tradition -is wrong. The Romans and the Chinese also are said to have known wheel -boats, the wheels worked by men or by animals—in the case of the -Chinese apparently by men alone. A similar kind of boat appears to have -been tried on the Thames in the seventeenth century; but whether Bell -knew of these things or not, his experiments of the same kind did not -answer. What was to be done? - -He determined to build a steamboat. At first sight there does not seem -to be much connection between baths and steamboats, but apparently it -was the ownership of the one which led Henry Bell to build the other, -and to become the first man in Great Britain who used a steamboat for -what may be called public and commercial purposes. - -She was a queer craft. Her funnel was bent and was used also as a mast, -and she poured forth quantities of thick smoke. But she was successful, -and laboured along at the rate of five miles an hour. Up and down the -river she plied, and whatever else she did, or did not, she made the -good folk of those days understand that steam could be applied to -navigation. - -She was called the _Comet_, not because, even in the opinion of her -owner, she resembled a blazing meteor, but because, to use Bell’s own -words, “she was built and finished the same year that a comet appeared -in the north-west part of Scotland.” - -“Whatever made you think of starting a steamship?” we can imagine a -friend asking him as they stood on the bank and watched the _Comet_ -with her paddles shaped like malt shovels, splashing up the water. - -“Partly it was Miller’s experiments, and partly it was a letter from -Fulton. You know, Fulton has put the _Clermont_ successfully on -American waters. He had been over here talking with Symington, who had -a steamer on the Forth and Clyde Canal you remember, and he wrote to me -also asking about machinery and requesting me to inquire about Miller’s -boats, and send him drawings.” - -“And did you?” - -“Oh ay, I did; but when he replied afterwards that he had made a -steamboat from the drawings though requiring some improvements, I -thought how absurd it was to send my opinions to other countries and -not put them into practice in our own.” - -“So you made the _Comet_?” - -“Well, I made a number of models before I was satisfied; but when I -was convinced the idea would work, I made a contract with John Wood & -Co., of Port-Glasgow, and they built me this boat, which I fitted up -with engine and paddles, as you see. John Robertson actually set up the -engine. We will go aboard presently, and you shall see her.” - -[Illustration: BELL’S “COMET.”] - -They did so, and this is something of what they saw. They found a -small vessel, forty feet long and ten and a-half wide, and only about -twenty-five tons burthen. The furnace was bricked round, and the -boiler, instead of being in the centre, was seated on one side of the -ship, with the engine beside it. But the funnel was bent and rose aloft -in the middle, and it answered the purpose of a mast—to carry sail. - -“But look at the machinery,” we can imagine Bell saying to his friend. -“We have one single cylinder, you see. The piston is attached to a -crank on an axle. This axle carries a big cog wheel, which, working two -more placed on the paddle axles, causes them to revolve.” - -“And the paddles?” - -“Well, you see, we have now two sets on each side, and each paddle is -shaped something like a malt shovel; but I think I shall alter them, -and have paddle wheels soon.” - -Bell carried out his improvement, and in a short time he did adopt the -better form of paddle wheel. The improved _Comet_, with a new engine, -attained six or seven miles an hour. But before this, Mr. Hutchison, a -brewer, built another boat, bigger than the _Comet_, and her engine was -of ten horse-power, while the _Comet’s_ was but three. She travelled -at an average of nine miles an hour, and her fares were but a-third of -those charged by coach. - -The news of the steamers on the Clyde became noised abroad, and -steamboats began to appear on other British rivers. The success of the -new venture became assured. - -But how had it been brought about? Bell had referred to the labours -of others, and, indeed, his was not the first steamboat, though, -doubtless, it was the first in Britain to ply for passengers. - -The truth is, that as with the locomotive, several minds were working -towards the same object. And among those early steamboat seekers -Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, and William Symington, of Wanlockhead -Mines, are entitled to high place. - -Indeed, Symington is said to have built the “first practically -successful steamboat” in the world. She was called the _Charlotte -Dundas_, and, in 1802, she tugged two barges, together of about 140 -tons, nineteen and a-half miles, in six hours, with a strong wind -against her. - -She was built under the patronage of Lord Dundas, and was intended to -be used for towing on the Forth and Clyde Canal, but the proprietors of -the canal would not adopt this new method of propulsion; they feared -that the wash from the wheels would damage the canal banks. So the -_Charlotte Dundas_, successful though she was to a certain extent, had -to be beached and broken up. But Fulton and Bell both inspected her, -and we may infer that what they saw, influenced their subsequent action. - -The engine of the _Charlotte Dundas_ was of the “double action” -character, introduced by Watt, and it turned a crank in the paddle -wheel shaft. The wheel was placed at the stern; and boats with their -wheels thus placed are still made for use in particular places. Thus -Messrs. Yarrow built one in 1892, to voyage in the shallow rivers -and lagoons on the west coast of Africa; the idea being that a -screw-propeller would have been likely to become fouled with weeds. - -The _Charlotte Dundas_, we say, has been regarded as the “first -practically successful steamboat ever built.” No doubt it was so, and -the credit must be largely given to William Symington. But his success, -and that which crowned the labours of others, were rendered possible by -the inventions and improvements of James Watt. - -Others had experimented before Symington. Thus, if royal records -in Spain may be trusted, a certain Blasco de Garay exhibited a -steam vessel, in 1543, at Barcelona. He placed a large cauldron of -boiling water in the ship, and a wheel on each side. Certain opinions -concerning it were favourable, and Blasco was rewarded; but the -invention was kept secret, and appears to have died. - -Then, in 1655, the Marquis of Worcester is said to have invented -something like navigation by steam. Later on, Jonathan Hulls took out a -patent for a paddle steam vessel in 1736; and among others, in England, -France, and America, the Marquis de Jouffroy made a steamer which was -tried at Lyons, in 1783. Then, in 1787, Patrick Miller is said to have -patented paddle wheels in Britain. - -Miller was a retired gentleman at Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, who -took much interest in mechanical affairs. He experimented with paddle -wheels, and he also endeavoured to improve naval building. At first the -wheels appear to have been turned by men, and there came a day when a -double boat of Miller’s, worked by a couple of wheels with two men to -turn each wheel, sailed with a Custom House boat, and the need of more -efficient motive power to revolve the wheels became very marked. Then -the idea of steam navigation was born, or re-born. - -There was a gentleman named Taylor, living with Miller, as tutor to his -sons, and he often took part in the experiments with the boats. It is -said that Taylor suggested the use of steam to propel the vessel, and -that Miller doubted its practicability. However, he decided, at length, -to try it, and in those summer days of 1787 the subject was much talked -of at Dalswinton. Taylor mentioned the matter to Symington, who, it -seems, was a friend of his, but it is not quite clear whether he had -himself thought of this use of steam. However, in October, 1788, the -experiment was tried on Dalswinton lake. - -A boy was there who afterwards became Lord Brougham, and Robert Burns -was also there; and, no doubt, the experiment was watched with much -interest. - -It appears to have been successful, and next year a bigger boat was -tried on the Forth and Clyde Canal, again with some success. But -whether Mr. Miller thought he had now spent enough money on these -experiments—and Carlyle says Miller “spent his life and his estate -on that adventure, and died _quasi_-bankrupt and broken-hearted”—or -whether he was satisfied with the results attained, he abandoned all -further effort. Possibly he did not see any opportunity of utilising -the invention further. At all events, the development of the steamboat -made practically no progress until Symington commenced his experiments -under Lord Dundas. - -Russell is of opinion that the invention of steam navigation was the -joint production of these three men. “The creation of the steamship,” -says he, “appears to have been an achievement too gigantic for any -single man. It was produced by one of those happy combinations in which -individuals are but tools, working out each his part in a great system, -of the whole of which no single one may have comprehended all the -workings.” - -[Illustration: ROBERT FULTON.] - -To these three, however, must be added Henry Bell, in Britain, and -Robert Fulton, in America. They carried the great enterprise further -on, to something like assured success. - -Miller’s boats had two hulls, and the paddle wheels revolved between. -Symington placed his wheel astern. Bell placed his paddles on either -side. - -“Ah, she will work!” we can imagine the spectators saying, as they -watched that strange craft, the _Charlotte Dundas_, with her double -rudder, tugging along her barges. - -“Ay, she will work, but the canal folk won’t let her; they think the -wash from the wheels will wear away the bank!” - -“Then I will take the idea where it won’t be so hindered,” said -another. “We are not afraid of our river banks in America.” - -That man, whom we imagine said this, and who appears, without doubt, to -have inspected the _Charlotte Dundas_, was Robert Fulton, who, with his -companion, Livingstone, claim to have invented steamboats in the United -States. - -This, then, in brief, seems to be the story. While bearing in mind the -efforts of others, yet it would seem that Miller, Taylor, and Symington -invented steam navigation, utilising improvements of Watt on the steam -engine; but Fulton, in America, and Bell, in Britain, seeing something -of these experiments, developed them to assured success. - -What were Fulton’s adventures? - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -TO THE NARROW SEAS. - - -“I should not like to risk my money in the thing.” - -“Nor I, she will never pay.” - -“I reckon she will burst up before the day is over.” - -“Well, she is about to start now.” A few minutes more, and the smiles -on the faces of the speakers changed to expressions of astonishment. -The boat was actually “walking the waters like a thing of life,” and -gathering speed as she drew away from the pier. - -“Why, stranger, this thing’s going to succeed.” - -“It does look so.” - -Still the speakers gazed, and still the vessel continued to glide -along. And shouts and applause burst from the thronging crowd around. -The “thing” was succeeding indeed. - -They were watching the trial trip of the first practically successful -steamboat in America, the _Clermont_. Fulton had been successful, and -together with his companion, Livingstone—after whose residence the -vessel was named—had launched a satisfactory steamer in America, five -years before the _Comet_ appeared in Britain. Yet the _Clermont’s_ -engines were made in Britain by Boulton & Watt, and men from their -works helped in mounting the machinery. - -Colden, Fulton’s biographer, describing this trial trip, says:— - -“The minds of the most incredulous were changed in a few minutes—before -the boat had made the progress of a quarter of a mile the greatest -unbeliever must have been converted. The man who, while he looked on -the expensive machine, thanked his stars that he had more wisdom than -to waste his money on such idle schemes, changed the expression of his -features as the boat moved from the wharf and gained her speed; his -complacent smile gradually stiffened into an expression of wonder; -the jeers of the ignorant, who had neither sense nor feeling enough -to repress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes, were silenced -for the moment by a vulgar astonishment, which deprived them of the -power of utterance, till the triumph of genius extorted from the -incredulous multitude which crowded the shores shouts and acclamations -of congratulations and applause.” - -The scene of the vessel’s exploit was the famous river Hudson, and she -came to make several trips between New York and Albany as a passenger -boat. She performed the journey from Albany to New York in thirty-two -hours, and back in thirty hours; her average speed being five miles an -hour. Steamers now perform the passage in about eight hours. - -The boat caused great astonishment at the time. Colden says she was -described by some who saw her but indistinctly at night as “a monster -moving on the water, defying the winds and tide, and breathing flames -and smoke.” He states:—“She had the most terrific appearance from -other vessels which were navigating the river when she was making her -passage. The first steamboats, as others yet do, used dry pine-wood for -fuel, which sends forth a column of ignited vapour, many feet above -the flue, and whenever the fire is stirred a galaxy of sparks fly off, -which, in the night, have an airy, brilliant, and beautiful appearance. -This uncommon light first attracted the attention of the crews of -other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide were adverse to its -approach, they saw, with astonishment, that it was rapidly coming -towards them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery -and the paddles was heard, the crews in some instances shrunk beneath -their decks from the terrific sight; and others left their vessels to -go on shore; while others, again, prostrated themselves and besought -Providence to protect them from the approach of the horrible monster -which was marching on the tides, and lighting its path by the fires -which it vomited.” - -Compare this with the stately passenger boats of the end of the -century, gliding along four or five times as fast, but with little -noise and less smoke, and beaming forth brilliant electric light from -every saloon window. - -The _Clermont_ was 133 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 7 feet deep. The -cylinder of her engine was 24 inches in diameter, and her piston had a -stroke of four feet; her paddle wheels were at first too large, or at -all events dipped too deeply in the water. When improved they appear -to have been fifteen feet in diameter. Her engines were 18 horse-power, -and the tonnage was but 160. - -Fulton was busily engaged in constructing steam vessels until he died -in 1815. One of his efforts was the building of a steam war vessel; and -so greatly were his efforts esteemed that both Houses of the United -States Legislature testified their respect for him by wearing mourning -apparel on the occasion of his death. - -His work was developed by Mr. R. L. Stevens, whose father, indeed, had -a steamer ready, only a few weeks after the success of the _Clermont_. -Mr. R. L. Stevens came to grasp the idea that the form of the hull of -steamships could be much improved by giving them fine lines instead of -full round bows. Stevens, it is said, was able to obtain a speed of -thirteen miles an hour; and he also, it is stated, used a different -form of engine from that adopted by Fulton. - -The engines of those early steamboats were, as a rule, a sort of beam -engine. The famous _Comet_ was engined in that manner. John Robertson, -who actually set up the _Comet’s_ engines, lived to place them -subsequently in South Kensington Museum. A beam, or lever, which worked -on a pivot at its centre, was placed between the piston on one side, -and the connecting rod—which was fastened to the crank—on the other. -Thus, one end of the beam, or lever, was attached to the piston rod, -and the other to the end of the connecting rod which drove the crank -and the wheel. - -A development apparently of this beam-engine arrangement was the -side-lever engine—a form of which marine engineers were also fond. The -side lever seems, in fact, to have been a sort of double beam engine. -The cylinder was placed upright, and a cross-piece was fixed to the -end of the piston rod. From either end of this cross-piece a rod was -connected with a beam or lever on either side of the machinery below. -These levers worked on pivots at their centres, and their other ends -were joined by a cross-piece united by a rod to the crank-shaft above. -The idea in the side-lever engines appears to have been to obtain equal -strength on both sides for each paddle wheel. Marine engineers did -not apparently at first grasp the idea of a direct-acting engine—that -is, simply one connecting rod between the piston and the crank which -pulled round the wheel; perhaps the sizes and arrangements of those -early steamboats did not permit of this. But in the development of the -locomotive, the direct-acting engine did not appear at once. In any -case, even the first vessels of the celebrated Cunard Line were of the -cumbrous side-lever type. - -Now, when Fulton had made his _Clermont_ in 1807, and Bell had put his -_Comet_ on the Clyde, some of the English speaking people on both sides -of the Atlantic began, we say, to see that there was a future before -the new invention. In 1809, the _Accommodation_ ploughed the waters -of the great St. Lawrence, and two years later a steamer startled the -dwellers on the mighty Mississippi. The _Elizabeth_ also followed the -_Comet_ on the Clyde in 1813. - -She was bigger than her predecessor, but only of thirty-three tons; -she was fifty-eight feet long, and her engine of ten horse-power. -She was built by the constructors of the _Comet_, Wood & Company, -of Port-Glasgow, under the direction of Mr. Thompson, who had been -connected with some of Bell’s experiments. - -The next step was the introduction of steamers on the Thames. All -things gravitate to London, steamboats among the rest. Passing by some -experiments, in which the names of a Mr. Dawson and a Mr. Lawrence -appear, we find that George Dodd brought a steamboat from the Clyde to -the Thames by sea, using both sails and steam, about the year 1813 or -1814. It is said that Dawson had a steamer plying between London and -Gravesend in 1813, and that Lawrence, of Bristol, after using a steamer -on the Severn brought her through the canals to the Thames, but was -obliged to take her back because of the antagonism of the watermen. It -is said also that the _Marjorie_, built by William Denny, of Dumbarton, -was brought to the Thames about 1815 in six days from Grangemouth, -having been purchased by some London merchants. - -However this may be, the name of George Dodd should take a high place, -perhaps next to that of Bell, for the enterprise and effort he showed -in seeking to establish steam vessels. His sphere was chiefly the -Thames, though he appears to have been also animated with the idea of -using them upon the sea. The vessel he brought round from the Clyde -was named first the _Glasgow_ and afterwards the _Thames_, and was -of about seventy-five tons, with nine feet paddle-wheels, and some -fourteen or sixteen horse-power. He had some rough weather in the Irish -Sea, and an account of the voyage is given in his book on steamboats. -This, presumably in 1813, was the first steamship voyage at sea, as -distinguished from steamers’ voyages on rivers. - -Such great progress had the introduction of steamboats made in 1818, -that according to Dodd there were in that year eighteen on the Clyde, -two on the Tay, two at Dundee, two at Cork, two on the Tyne, two on the -Trent, two on the Mersey, four on the Humber, three on the Yare, one on -the Avon, the Severn, the Orwell, six on the Forth, and actually two -intended to run from Dublin to Holyhead. There may have been more than -these, but they seem at all events to be the chief. Apparently there -were, or had been, several on the Thames. Two, the _London_ and the -_Richmond_, according to Dodd’s book, were plying between London and -Twickenham, and had carried 10,000 persons in four months. No wonder -the watermen were alarmed. - -Other vessels also had appeared on the royal river. The _Majestic_ -even had got as far as Margate, and had ventured across to Calais. The -_Regent_ had been burned off Whitstable, and the _Caledonia_, which -had actually two engines, had steamed across to Flushing. Dodd further -designed a vessel which seems to have gone to Margate in about seven -and a-half hours, speeding along at about ten or eleven miles an hour. -No wonder that Bell could say—“I will venture to affirm that history -does not afford an instance of such rapid improvement in commerce and -civilisation as that which will be effected by steam vessels.” The -_Richmond_ was a little boat of 50 tons, and 17 indicated horse-power. -She was engined by Messrs. Maudslay & Field, of London, and presumably -was the first steamer engined on the Thames. She ran from London to -Richmond. In the next year Messrs. Maudslay engined the _Regent_ of 112 -tons and 42 indicated horse-power, and intended to ply between London -and Margate; while, in 1817, this famous firm engined three vessels, -including the _Quebec_ of 500 tons and 100 indicated horse-power, -intended for Quebec and Montreal. Since then they have engined hundreds -of vessels, including screw-propeller ironclads of 20,000 horse-power. - -Dodd, alas, though he worked so hard for the establishment of the -steamship, does not seem to have profited by his labour. Like some -other ingenious men he unhappily fell into poverty. - -The next in order of succession, who apparently became the most -prominent and among the most useful in the story of the steamship, was -David Napier. Russell avers that from 1818 to about 1830 he “effected -more for the improvement of steam navigation than any other man.” David -Napier ran the _Rob Roy_, a steamer of 90 tons and 30 horse-power, -fitted with his own engines, between Greenock and Belfast. It appears -that at one of the worst seasons he sailed in a vessel plying between -the two ports,—sometimes taking a week to cover the journey, afterwards -made in nine hours by steam,—and eagerly watched the effect of the -heaving waves on the ship as she was tossed by the storm. Then, assured -that there was no overwhelming difficulty for steamers, he started the -_Rob Roy_. He also experimented upon the best shape of hull, and, -without apparently any communication with Stevens across the Atlantic, -came to adopt a wedge-shaped bow, instead of a rounded fore front as -common in sailing ships. - -In 1819 he put the _Talbot_ on the Channel between Dublin and Holyhead. -She was built by Wood & Company, and was one of the most perfect -vessels of the kind then constructed. She had two engines of 60 -horse-power combined, and was 150 tons burthen. She was followed by the -_Ivanhoe_, and in 1821 steam vessels were regularly used to carry the -mails. - -Gradually the length of vessels increased without the beam being -proportionately widened. The builders of those early boats did not at -first realise the practicability and usefulness of altering the form -of vessels for steamers. David Napier altered the bow, and gradually -the vessels were lengthened. The idea came gradually to be grasped -that as a steamer was forced forward along the line of its keel, and -not by a power exerted upon it from without and in various quarters, -its form might advantageously be changed. Moreover, it would seem that -the best form for steamers is also the best for fast sailers. Russell -is of opinion “that the fastest schooners, cutters, smugglers, yachts, -and slavers” approach more nearly to the form of the best steamers than -any other class of sailing vessels. However this may be, the shape of -a steamer as well as its machinery has much to do with its speed, and -David Napier appears to have contributed largely to these results in -Britain. - -Steamers had now sped out from the rivers into the narrow seas around -Great Britain. The next step would be into the wide and open ocean. Who -would venture to take it? - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -ON THE OPEN OCEAN. - - -Why should not the Great Western end at New York? - -That was Brunel’s idea, and it had an immense effect on the -establishment of transatlantic steamships. - -Brunel was the engineer of the Great Western Railway, and he -audaciously desired his line to end, not at Bristol or Penzance, but, -conquering the sea, he wished to plant his foot in the Empire city -itself. - -Still he was not the first, nor the only one, in the field. To the -_Savannah_ belongs the honour of being the first steamship to cross the -Atlantic. Yet she was not altogether a steamship. - -Mr. Scarborough, of Savannah—a port of the state of Georgia—purchased a -sailing ship of about 300 tons and 100 feet long, launched her at New -York in 1818, intending her to ply between the two places, and had her -fitted with machinery. - -Why he changed his mind and sent her to Europe, we cannot say. -Apparently he could not trust to steam alone, for the paddle wheels -were so constructed that they could be folded up on deck when not in -use, and the shaft also was jointed for that purpose. Then in the -following May she started forth for Liverpool—the precursor of a mighty -fleet of magnificent ships which have followed since. - -She reached the Mersey in twenty-five days—vessels now perform the -journey in about six. But she used steam on only eighteen days out of -the twenty-five. Several times during the journey the paddle wheels -were taken on deck, this operation occupying about half-an-hour. -Possibly this was done when the wind was very favourable for sails, and -so saved the fuel, which was pitch-pine. - -Apparently Mr. Scarborough was not satisfied with the venture, for, -after failing to sell the ship in Russia, whither she voyaged, she -touched at different ports and returned home. The machinery was taken -out, and she winged her way henceforth by sails alone. - -England next did something of the same kind. The _Falcon_ steam yacht, -a little vessel of 175 tons, voyaged to India in 1824, mostly, however, -by the power of sails. In the next year the _Enterprize_, engined by -Messrs. Maudslay & Field, made the passage by steam to Calcutta from -London in the net time of 103 days—ten being used in stoppages, and -the entire voyage thus occupying 113 days. She was a vessel of 500 -tons, 122 feet keel, and 27 feet broad, while her engines were of 240 -indicated power. Then the _Royal William_, hailing from Quebec, made -the transatlantic passage in 1831, principally by steam, in twenty-six -days. In 1835 Messrs. Willcox & Anderson began to run steamships to -Peninsular ports—an undertaking which blossomed out afterwards into the -celebrated Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company. - -Then in 1838 two steamships, the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_, -crossed the Atlantic, the latter in fourteen and a-half days. Brunel -had had his wish, and in 1836 he had formed the Great Western Steamship -Company, and the vessel of the same name had been commenced. Others -also were in the field, notably Messrs. Laird of Birkenhead, and -the British and American Steam Navigation Company was founded. The -_Sirius_, which had been built on the Thames, was purchased by them and -prepared for her voyage. - -The prime mover in this matter is said to have been Mr. Macgregor -Laird. He had witnessed the work of steamships in the Niger Expedition -of 1832-33 both on sea and river, and from the time of his return he -advocated the establishment of steamships between Great Britain and -America. - -The _Sirius_ left Cork on the 5th of April, and arrived at New York -eighteen days afterwards. She carried seven passengers, and close at -her heels followed Brunel’s _Great Western_, which had left Bristol -three days later. The two ships were received with loud acclaim, a vast -crowd of spectators beholding their arrival. The vessels proved beyond -possibility of doubt that the transatlantic voyage by steamships was -possible, and, at a stroke, the duration of the passage was reduced by -almost one-half. It has since been reduced to less than a quarter. - -The _Sirius_ made on an average about 161 miles a-day, or slightly less -than seven miles an hour. She apparently, however, had been originally -built for plying between London and Cork; while the _Great Western_, -which had presumably been especially built for the transatlantic -traffic, was both larger and more powerful. Her average speed was about -208 miles a-day, that is between eight and nine miles an hour; while -returning, the speed was a little better, averaging about 213 miles per -day. The return voyage of the _Sirius_ was also better than her outward -passage. - -The engines of the _Great Western_ were side-lever, and were built by -Messrs. Maudslay & Field, of London. The cylinders were 73½ inches -diameter, and the pistons had a big stroke of seven feet. The wheels’ -diameter was no less than 28¾ feet, while the steam was generated in -four boilers. Her tonnage was 1340—the largest Maudslay’s had yet -engined, with 750 indicated horse-power. She voyaged many times across -the Atlantic, her fastest eastward passage being 12 days, 7½ hours. -The variation in her coal consumption was very remarkable. Thus, on -her first voyage 655 tons were burnt, but on her return journey she -consumed 263 tons less. No doubt this was owing to the greater use she -was able to make of the wind. - -The proprietors of the two vessels soon began to build others. The -owners of the _Great Western_ laid down the _Great Britain_, and the -proprietors of the _Sirius_ began the _British Queen_. She had paddle -wheels of 31 feet diameter, and her piston stroke was the same as the -_Great Western_, 7 feet. Her engines were 500 horse-power, and her -cylinders 77½ inches in diameter. She was 275 feet long, 40 feet wide, -and 27 feet deep. From Portsmouth to New York she crossed in 14 days, 8 -hours. - -Satisfactory as these results were, the pecuniary returns unfortunately -were not so favourable. The _Great Western_, it is said, continued -running at a loss, but others were withdrawn. Something seemed wanting -to make the venture a commercial success. What was it? - -Meantime Willcox & Anderson’s steamers plied with remarkable regularity -to the Peninsula, and this regularity aroused some attention. The -Government of the day applied to the proprietors to submit a scheme for -carrying the mails. It seems that previously Willcox & Anderson had -proposed this, but it had come to nothing. The end of the matter was, -however, that the first mail contract was signed with them, the 22nd -of August, 1837. To carry out their bargain, Captain Richard Bourne -and Messrs. Willcox & Anderson founded the Peninsula Company, and -three years later it was expanded to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam -Navigation Company—popularly known as the P. & O.—and incorporated by -Royal Charter. The mail service was the keystone of the enterprise. - -The first steamer, built in 1829, was the _William Fawcett_, a small -vessel of 206 gross tonnage, and but 60 horse-power. In 1842 the -proprietors owned the _Hindostan_, of 2017 gross tonnage, and 520 -horse-power. She was a paddle-wheel vessel, and opened the Indian Mail -Service. The commencement of this service marks another stage in the -history of steam navigation. About fifty years later the Company owned -about half-a-hundred ships, two being of 8000 horse-power and 7000 -tonnage. - -Some two years after the _Hindostan_ first steamed to India, Brunel’s -_Great Britain_ was finished. She was a very remarkable vessel, and the -wonder of her time. In the first place, she was built of iron, and, -secondly, she was propelled by a screw, though at first it was intended -that she should have paddle-wheels, and the engines for these wheels -had been partly made. - -Barges and light vessels had been built of iron since about 1790, or -earlier, and the Lairds of Birkenhead, among others, had built an iron -vessel about 1829. It is said that the _Aglaia_ was the first iron -steamer built on the Clyde in 1832. As for the screw-propeller, John -Ericsson was successful with the _Francis B. Ogden_ in 1836, and three -years later Sir Francis Pettit Smith clearly showed, in the vessel -appropriately called the _Archimedes_, the value and the feasibility of -the new system. - -Brunel, therefore, ever open to improvements, combined these two -alterations in the _Great Britain_. It was in 1839, probably after -Sir Pettit Smith’s success, that the change was made as regards the -screw for this vessel, though the paddle-wheel engines had been begun. -The superiority of the screw-propeller over the paddle-wheels are -said to be these:—the engines occupy less room, and are lighter—two -very important considerations. Then there is greater wear and tear on -paddle-wheels, and consequently the screw vessels are less expensive. -But most important of all, the screw being deep in the water, the -vessel is much more suitable for ocean traffic. In the heaving billows -of the sea one wheel may be buried deep on one side of the ship, and -the other whirling round high in the air, and not propelling the -vessel; whereas the screw, being always immersed, except possibly in -severe pitching, is more constantly efficient for the whole of the -vessel. - -Nevertheless, paddle-boats have their advantages. They need less water -to work in, are started more easily, and stopped sooner. Further, it is -said they are less liable to cause sea-sickness, as they do not roll so -much. In a word, the difference seems to be this: paddle vessels are -better suited as passenger boats on the shallower waters; screw vessels -for deep sea and long distance voyages, though whether the adoption -of twin-screws,—which it appears need not be immersed so deeply in the -water as one screw,—will bring screw vessels into use on shallower -waters remains to be seen. - -But when the _Great Britain_ was being built the greater efficiency of -the screw-propeller for ocean voyages was not widely understood. She -was a fine vessel, over 320 feet long, 51 feet wide, and 32½ feet deep. -Her screw was successful; but on her fourth voyage to New York she -became stranded in Dundrum Bay, and lay aground for nearly a year. - -Incidentally, however, this catastrophe seems to have given great -impetus to iron shipbuilding; for after being floated, she was -discovered to have suffered but comparatively slight damage. She -was seen in dock by many persons interested in shipping, and they -became impressed with the practicability and usefulness of iron for -shipbuilding. - -Unfortunate _Great Britain_! She passed through many vicissitudes. Her -owners got into difficulties, and after some alterations, she ran to -Australia, and at length she wheezed her way to the Falkland Islands, -where, it is said, she served as a hulk—a sorry end to a successful -beginning. - -The engines of the early screw vessels appear to have very much -resembled those for paddle-wheels ships. Thus the _Rattler_, engined -by Messrs. Maudslay for the Admiralty about the year 1841, had upright -cylinders, with a crank-shaft overhead and wheels to give speed to the -screw. - -In the meantime, however, the commercial difficulty of transatlantic -steam traffic was being solved. The something lacking had been -supplied. What was it? - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE OCEAN RACE. - - -“This is the very opportunity I have been wanting!” - -The speaker was looking at a paper setting forth that the British -Government were open to consider contracts for the carrying of the -letters by steamships between Great Britain and America. Encouraged, no -doubt, by the success attending the conveyance of the mails by similar -means to the Peninsula, the Government were now going farther afield. - -The practicability of ocean steam traffic had been amply demonstrated; -but some of those early steamships did not “pay,” and to that test, -after all, such undertakings must come. Now, the man into whose hands -the circular had fallen was of great intelligence and remarkable -energy. He was a merchant and owner of ships, and agent for the East -India Company at Halifax, Nova Scotia. His name has since become known -the wide world over. It was Samuel Cunard. - -Apparently he had cherished the idea of establishing transatlantic -steam traffic for some years—since 1830 it is said—and now, here was -the opportunity. The British Government would, of course, give a -handsome sum for carrying the mails, and that sum would form a backbone -to the enterprise. - -Over came Cunard to London in 1838. Mr. Melvill, the secretary of -the East India Company, gave him a letter of introduction to Mr. -Robert Napier, the eminent engineer at Glasgow. Thither then went the -indomitable merchant, and was heartily welcomed. Napier knew Mr. George -Burns, who was partner with Mr. David MacIver in a coasting trade, -and the upshot of the matter was that capital of considerably over -a quarter of a million (£270,000) was subscribed through Mr. Burns’s -influence. - -The first great step thus taken, Mr. Cunard made a good offer to the -Government, and although another offer was made by the owners of the -_Great Western_, Cunard got the contract, the tender being regarded as -much more favourable. The subsidy was eventually £81,000 per annum. The -contract was for seven years, and was signed by the three gentlemen -mentioned—Cunard, Burns, and MacIver. - -These three divided the labour. Cunard ruled at London, MacIver at -Liverpool, and Burns at Glasgow. Napier was to engine the new vessels. -It was decided that their names were all to end in “ia,” and nearly -every one of the now historic fleet has rejoiced in a title of that -ending. There is a sailor’s superstition that it is unlucky if the -vessels of a fleet are not named with some uniformity; but we doubt if -the superstition influenced the Cunard Company. In any case, they broke -another superstition by starting their first ship on a Friday! She was -a mail ship, and she had to go. The Cunard Company meant business. - -But about their fleet. Their first order was for four vessels, all -of about the same size and power. The _Britannia_ was the first, and -her sisters were the _Caledonia_, the _Columbia_, and the _Acadia_. -They were paddle steamers, the value of the screw not having then -been clearly and widely demonstrated, all of them about 207 feet -long, 35⅓ feet broad, 22½ feet deep, and 1154 tons burthen. The -engines—side-lever, of course, in those days—were of 740 horse-power. -The boilers had return-flues, and were heated by a dozen furnaces. - -They would look now quite out of fashion, like a lady’s dress of a past -age. They appeared something like sailing ships, with the straight -funnels added. - -The _Britannia_ began the service by starting from Liverpool on the 4th -of July, 1840, and, attaining a speed of about 8½ knots per hour, she -made the passage to Halifax in 12 days, 10 hours, and returned in 10 -days. Her average consumption of fuel was about thirty-eight tons daily. - -The Bostonians gave the _Britannia_ quite an ovation. A grand banquet, -followed by speeches, celebrated the great occasion. But they gave even -more practical appreciation of their favour subsequently, for when, in -the winter season, the vessel became ice-bound in the harbour, they cut -a seven-mile passage for her through the ice, at their own cost. - -The Cunarders were successful, and the conveyance of the mails by -steamship became quite established. The white-winged clipper ships -fought hard against the Cunarders, but they had to yield. Three years -later the Company put another vessel on the route—the _Hibernia_—and in -1845 the _Cambria_. These were of greater size and developed a little -better speed than their forerunners. It has always been the policy of -the owners to improve their ships as they went on building, and even -thus early that policy ruled. - -The establishment of the Cunard Company marks a most important step -in ocean steam navigation. Further, in the same year, 1840, in which -the Cunarders began to run, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company was -established. Ten years later saw the foundation of the Collins and the -Inman Lines. The Collins, an American Line, boasted that they would -run “the Cunarders off the Atlantic.” They were very fine vessels, and -they were the first fleet to fully adopt the upright stem and discard -the bowsprit. But the Cunarders were ready for the fierce competition. -They had actually put on six new vessels, and their new postal contract -of 1847 had stipulated for a weekly, instead of a fortnightly service; -while the subsidy was much increased. It was to be £173,340 annually -instead of £81,000. - -[Illustration: THE ICE-BOUND “BRITANNIA” AT BOSTON. _By permission of -The Cunard Steamship Co._ ] - -The echoes of that fierce struggle between the Cunarders’ and the -Collins’ boats have now died away, or have been quite lost in the other -clamorous cries of that wonder of the world, the development of -the transatlantic steamship traffic; but apparently partisanship ran -very high. The Collins’ seem to have been slightly the faster vessels, -coming from America in 9 days 17 hours, but occupying nearly two more -days to return. Alas, disaster overtook them. The _Arctic_ perished by -collision; the _Pacific_ was lost at sea, and no one knows the story -of her death, for she was never heard of more. Bad management, and -extravagance surged over the remaining vessels, and the fine ships went -as old iron! - -But the Inman line had also begun to run, about 1850. These ships, like -the _Great Britain_, were built of iron and propelled by a screw. The -first was the _City of Glasgow_, and several famous “Cities” followed; -though years afterwards the Inman line became the “American,” and -the appellation “City” was dropped, the ships being simply known as -_Paris_, _New York_, _Berlin_, etc. The Inman line had the distinction -of being the first, apart from the _Great Britain_, to use iron screw -steamers regularly on the Atlantic. Other lines soon followed, the -Anchor, the Allan, and the Guion, while the Cunarders, not to be -beaten, came along in due course with iron and screw steamers. - -But great changes were at hand. To mark these changes let us look at -what may be called the culminating ship of the old type of steamers—the -_Great Eastern_. - -This historical vessel was the largest ever built. She was 680 feet -long, by 83 feet broad, and her hull was 60 feet high, 70 feet -including bulwarks. But the steam pressure of her engines was only -from 15 to 25 lbs. She was fitted with both screw-propeller and paddle -wheels. Her screw-propeller engines were of 4000 indicated horse-power, -and paddle of 2600, but they could together work up to 11,000 -horse-power. - -Commenced at Millwall early in 1854, she was not launched until near -upon four years later. The launching itself was a difficult and -expensive business, costing £60,000, and only effected after various -attempts extending over nearly three months. The total cost of the -vessel has been estimated at £732,000. - -[Illustration: - -ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL. _By permission of Messrs. Graves & Co._ ] - -It will be seen at once that so large an outlay required an immense -business to yield a satisfactory return, and indeed, financial -difficulties hampered her success almost from the very commencement, -even before she was launched. - -She was planned, in 1852, by the great engineer, I. K. Brunel, and by -Scott Russell. In the life of Brunel by his son, it is stated:—“It was, -no doubt, his connection with the Australian Mail Company that led Mr. -Brunel to work out into practical shape the idea of a great ship for -the Indian or Australian service.” - -The Eastern Steam Navigation Company desired a vessel to trade to -Australia and back, large enough to carry a sufficiency of coal for the -outward and homeward journey, and yet to have space for a goodly number -of passengers and a bulky amount of cargo. - -That was the idea, and we perhaps can hardly realise what a difficulty -this question of coal carrying capacity was in those days, before -the problem had been solved by high-pressure steam boilers, triple -expansion engines, improved condensation, and quick passages. Even so -great a philosopher as Dr. Lardner could not believe in 1835 that a -steamship could voyage from Liverpool to New York without stopping—we -presume for fresh fuel. - -The _Great Eastern_, therefore, was planned to carry 15,000 tons of -coal; whereas now the large Atlantic liner _Paris_ needs only 2700 tons -for her Atlantic trip. The difference is most striking, for the _Paris_ -is one of the largest steamships afloat, but her working steam pressure -is 150 lbs. instead of the 15 or 25 lbs. of the _Great Eastern_. - -This immense vessel was also planned to carry some 5000 persons, or -about 500 less if any large number were to require state-rooms, and -finally she was to convey 5000 tons of cargo. The idea of water-tight -compartments was anticipated in her case, even to the extent of -longitudinal ones, and she had half-a-dozen masts of which five were of -iron. - -When at length she was launched, the directors’ minds misgave them -as to an Australian trip, and they determined to cross the Atlantic -instead, for a trial voyage. She started on the 8th of September, -1859, but alas! when off Hastings some steam pipes burst. Several -persons were killed and wounded, and the voyage ended at Portland. - -Next year she tried again and crossed in eleven days, after which she -made several voyages with success—on one occasion conveying soldiers to -Canada. Unfortunately for the owners, however, she did not pay. - -Then in 1865 she began to be engaged in submarine telegraph work, by -which she will most likely be best remembered, and two years later she -was chartered to convey passengers from America to Havre for the French -Exhibition, but this scheme failed. - -Then for some years from 1869 she was successfully engaged in -cable-laying, in the Red Sea, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean, -etc., after which she came down to be a coal hulk in 1884, stationed at -Gibraltar. - -At length she was sold for £26,200 at London, by auction, and was on -view in the Thames, and also in the Mersey. At this latter river her -huge sides were used as an advertising “board” for a Liverpool business -house. Again in November, 1888, she was sold by auction, this time for -breaking up, and it is said that the total proceeds of the sale which -lasted five days was £58,000, more than double what she had previously -brought! - -“A ship before her time,” says some one, thinking of the huge vessels -of the last decade of the nineteenth century. That is true, but the -immense space required for coal, and her low-pressure engines, had -also something to do with her comparative failure. The problem which -the _Great Eastern_ failed to solve has been met in other ways—viz., -by the use of high-pressure steam and compound, triple-expansion and -even quadruple-expansion engines. That is, the steam, working at 150 or -160 lbs. pressure, instead of the 25 lbs. of the _Great Eastern_, is -passed through two, three, and even four cylinders respectively, and -the economy in coal consumption is astounding. Thus the use of triple -expansion engines has brought the saving in coal down from 4 lbs. per -indicated horse-power to less than 1½ lbs. - -There have been many other improvements also, such as the use of steel -instead of iron, the parts being thus stronger and yet lighter; the -circular tubular boiler enabling high-pressure steam to be economically -produced and maintained; the use of surface condensers, by which the -exhaust steam is quickly reduced to water and returned to a “hot well” -ready for the boilers, to be speedily again raised to high pressure -steam; and a forced draught by which the furnaces are made to roar -furiously and heat the water in the boilers speedily. - -[Illustration: THE “GREAT EASTERN.”] - -But these things were not all attained in a day. The introduction of -the compound marine engines in 1854-56 by John Elder, marks the first -great step of the new departure. In 1856 he engined vessels for the -Pacific Steam Navigation Company, on the compound principle, which -proved very satisfactory. - -Again in 1870, the appearance of the White Star liner _Oceanic_, marked -a new development. Her yacht-like shape, great length, and general -symmetry of form commenced a marked change in Atlantic liners. - -It was in 1867 that Mr. T. H. Ismay bought the interest of the managing -owner of the White Star line—a set of sailing clippers, dating from -the rush to the Australian gold diggings—and began to introduce iron -vessels instead of wooden clipper ships. In 1869 he established the -Oceanic Steam Navigation Company—popularly known as the White Star—and -was later on joined by Mr. William Imrie. The Company was started with -so much wisdom and boldness that the £1000 shares were privately taken -up at once. The order for the new steamers was given to Harland & -Wolff, of Belfast, because, it is said, an influential share-holder had -had satisfactory dealings with them before. - -The _Oceanic_ was of 3600 tons burthen, and with engines of 3000 -horse-power. The accommodation for first-class passengers was placed -amidships, where the motion of the vessel is said to be felt the least, -and altogether she embodied improvements which made her the type of -many of the Atlantic passenger ships since. The earlier White Stars -were fitted with compound engines, and reduced the passage to about 8½ -days. - -But when the White Stars _Germanic_ and _Britannic_ appeared in 1877, -then a marked advance indeed was made in the Atlantic record. The -_Britannic_ astonished the world by speeding from Queenstown to New -York in 7 days, 10 hours, and 50 minutes, and since then she has beaten -her own record. Her sister ship _Germanic_ also did as well, and the -fierce race for the blue ribbon of the Atlantic may be said to have -begun. - -It was even prophesied that the time across the water might be reduced -to six days. How has that been fulfilled? - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -BEFORE THE FURNACE. - - -“The record’s broken again, Jemmy! The White Star has come home a -couple of hours earlier!” - -“She has, has she? Well, it will be the Cunard’s turn next week. It’s -wonderful what they get out of the Cunard’s engines.” - -“They do; but I’m thinking the American’s _New York_ will be doin’ the -fastest bit.” - -“Well, well, it may be. They’re all main powerful vessels. Do you mind -when the Guion’s _Alaska_ came home in 6 days, 18 hours, 37 minutes?” - -“I do, and about ten years later, I suppose, some ships were doing it -in about a day less time!” - -“Ay, ay, and I see they’re goin’ ahead down south too.” - -“Yes, there’s fast steaming all over the world, Jemmy!” - -“I told you what would happen when the compound engine came into use. I -said, ‘Mark my words, now they’ve got the compound engine, they will go -ahead’—and they have.” - -Jemmy’s prediction has been amply verified, for almost every year since -the compound engine came largely into use, has witnessed a greater -speed in ocean steamers. - -And the speed has not been obtained at sacrifice of comfort. On the -contrary, an ocean passenger steamer belonging to any of the great -passenger lines is something like a floating palace. - -After the _Britannic_ and _Germanic_ appeared, line after line put -forth fine vessels; and in 1889 was launched the White Star steamer -_Teutonic_, which for some time held the proud position of the -fastest ship on the Atlantic. She had crossed in 5 days, 16 hours, -31 minutes. The average of several trips, both for herself and her -sister _Majestic_, was 5 days, 18 hours, 6 minutes. And they were run -very close by the American liners, _Paris_ and _New York_. These four -vessels were among the first propelled by twin-screws. Engineers began -to see that it was better to use great power in two shafts and two -propellers than in one. - -In July, 1892, the fine Inman (now called American) liner _Paris_ -crossed the Atlantic in 5 days, 15 hours, and 58 minutes, and in -October of the same year the same vessel steamed from Liverpool, -touching as usual at Queenstown, in 6 days, 2 hours, and 24 -minutes—including the time at the Irish port. This was then the -quickest time on record for the entire journey. From Queenstown to -Sandy Hook the time was 5 days, 14 hours, and 24 minutes, a gain of 1 -hour and 34 minutes on her voyage in the previous July. Her best day’s -run was 530 knots. - -The contest, therefore, between the two White Stars and the two Inmans -has been very close, the record time resting now with the one and then -with the other. - -But the Cunard Company, not to be beaten, put on the _Campania_ in -1893, and in April of that year she made the fastest maiden trip then -on record, one day indeed compassing 545 knots in the 24 hours. - -The _Campania_ is 625 feet long by 65¼ feet broad, and 43 feet deep -from the upper deck. Her gross tonnage is 12,950. She is fitted with a -cellular double bottom extending fore and aft, and also with sixteen -bulkheads, so arranged that the vessel would float even if two, or in -some cases three, compartments were open to the ocean. - -She is a twin-screw vessel, fitted with two sets of very powerful -triple-expansion engines. They are seated in two separate engine-rooms -with a dividing bulkhead and water-tight doors. - -Each set of engines has five inverted cylinders—viz., two -high-pressure, one intermediate, and two low-pressure—all arranged to -work on three cranks set at an angle of 120 degrees to each other. Her -indicated horse-power is 30,000. The boiler-rooms are doubly cased, the -space between being fitted with nonconducting material for sound and -heat. - -[Illustration: HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE CYLINDERS OF THE “CAMPANIA’S” -ENGINES.] - -In this huge vessel four decks rise tier above tier, beside erections -on the upper deck, known as promenade and shade decks. These four -principal decks are the orlop, the lowest of all, used for cargo, -stores, and machinery; the lower, the main, and the upper decks, the -last three being devoted entirely to passengers. - -Imagine yourself on the upper deck. Before you stretches the long -vista of its length, like some far-reaching walk ashore; a circuit of -the vessel four times makes a mile. Above rises the shade deck with -the navigating apparatus, and surrounded by the twenty lifeboats of -the vessel; above again is the captain’s bridge, where are placed the -telegraph and wheel house, while higher still is perched the crow’s -nest or look-out box, on the foremast, and about 100 feet from the -water-level. Give a glance, too, at the huge funnels, 120 feet high, -and so large that when in the builder’s yard a coach full of passengers -was driven with four horses through one of them. - -Descending then, the grand staircase, which is sufficiently wide for -six persons to walk down abreast, and admiring the polished panelling, -the rich Japanese paper, and the lounges on the landings, we enter the -superb dining-saloon 100 feet long by 62 feet broad. Four huge tables -run almost along its length, with smaller tables in the corners, while -the wood-carving, carpeting, gold decorated roof, costly mirrors, and -upholstering in rich red velvet are of the most sumptuous description. - -From this magnificent hall you can wander on through other apartments -of great splendour, drawing-room, library, smoking, music room, -bath-rooms, and numbers of state-rooms. There are single berth, double -berth, and three and four berth cabins—the old wooden benches for beds, -however, being replaced by iron bed-steads throughout the ship. The -electric light glows everywhere, being distributed by some fifty miles -of wire. - -[Illustration: - -THE “CAMPANIA.” _By permission of The Cunard Steamship Co._ ] - -The second-class accommodation differs but in degree from the -magnificence of the saloon, while the steerage passengers are berthed -on the lower deck, but have the privilege of walking on the upper deck. -An additional idea of the size of the ship may be gained when we learn -that the crew consists of over 420 persons—viz., 190 engineers, 179 -stewards, and 54 sailing hands, while the vessel’s full complement -of passengers brings up the total number of persons aboard to 1600 -souls—quite a floating town indeed. - -About five years after the birth of the _Teutonic_ the newspapers -recorded, in May, 1894, that the _Lucania_, sister ship to the -_Campania_, and one of the newest Cunarders, had performed the journey -across the Atlantic in 5 days, 13 hours, and 28 minutes. Her average -speed was 22¼ knots, or 25·7 land miles per hour, marking one of the -quickest runs then ever recorded; and about the same time came the news -that the P. & O. steamer _Himalaya_ had completed a mail transit from -Bombay of 12½ days, and as her voyage to Bombay had been just over 13 -days—the best outward passage—she had completed a round mail transit to -Bombay and back, excluding stoppages, of 25½ days. - -A little later, in the same year, the torpedo-boat destroyer, _Hornet_, -built by Messrs. Yarrow & Co., of Poplar, for the British Navy, -achieved, it is said, about 27 knots; that is, roughly speaking, near -to 29 or 30 miles an hour, which speed proclaimed her to be then -one of the fastest steamships in the world. She was fitted with the -Yarrow water-tube boilers, which are both light and strong, while the -consumption of coal was said to be remarkably small. She has two sets -of triple-expansion inverted engines. - -Again, a short time later, Messrs. Thorneycroft, of Chiswick, obtained -similar results with the _Daring_, another boat of the same kind built -for the British Government, and fitted with the Thorneycroft improved -water-tube boilers. These, it is claimed, will raise steam from cold -water in fifteen minutes. She passed the measured mile on the Maplin at -the high speed of 29¼ miles an hour. - -In the same summer a Company put on a fine steamer for service on -the Thames and the English Channel, called _La Marguerite_, which -developed, it is said, a speed of 25 miles an hour, which would make -her one of the fastest passenger vessels then afloat. - -Another Company has also a noteworthy vessel running on the Estuary -of the Thames—viz., the _London Belle_, plying from London Bridge to -Clacton-on-Sea. She is a triple-expansion paddle boat, and the first -river steamer fitted with three crank triple-expansion paddle engines. -She was built by Denny of Dumbarton, and can develop a speed of 19½ -knots—_i.e._, twenty-three statute miles per hour, and is worked with -great economy of coal consumption. - -An example of a quadruple-expansion engine steamer may be found in the -_Tantallon Castle_, one of the newest vessels for voyaging to South -Africa. She is 456 feet long, over 50 broad, with a gross tonnage -of 5636. She is fitted with quadruple-expansion engines of 7500 -horse-power, and the stoke holes are well ventilated by large fans -speeding round with great swiftness. - -Improvements in steamship building had gone steadily on; and it is safe -to say that a pound of coal, after the compounding principle came fully -into use, did four or five times the work it accomplished before high -pressure engines were fully utilised. - -Let us enter the engine-room of a big liner, and see for ourselves. It -is a triumph of engineering. Still, at first, you cannot understand -anything of the complicated mass of machinery. Then you notice three -large cylinders—for these are triple-expansion engines—with pistons -shooting in and out downwards, and attached by connecting rods to the -cranks of the propeller shaft below. The cranks are bent at different -angles so that they can never all be in the same position at once. -There is a maze of machinery and shining rods, bewildering to the -uninitiated eye. But you gradually notice how absolutely regular every -part is in its action, and how beautifully one part fits with another. - -Then go before the furnace; you find yourself in front of a huge -structure, at the bottom of which is the long fire box; above rises the -heat box communicating with tubes over the furnaces, with the water -circulating between. The water, indeed, is beneath the furnace, about -parts of the heat box, between and above the tubes. The object is, -of course, to obtain as great heating surface as possible. The tubes -communicate with the funnel at their other end. Boilers are made of -a “mild” steel which has, it is said, a most remarkable tenacity of -28 tons to the square inch. Consequently they are able to bear great -pressure of steam. - -[Illustration: STOKE HOLE.] - -Hot distilled water is admitted to the boiler from the surface -condenser. This is a “box,” riddled with tubes, through which cold -sea water is pumped. The waste steam, having done its work in the -cylinders, is passed into this “box,” is condensed by touching the -chilly tubes of sea water, and can be run off or pumped to a hot -cistern, whence it is used to feed the boiler and be turned once more -to steam. About 4000 tons of water an hour pass through the surface -condensers of a large liner when she is at full work. - -The largest steamers require over 150 men to work the furnaces and -machinery, and the attention given is hard and unremitting. In some of -the fast Atlantic greyhounds the strain is terribly severe, especially -when the sea is beginning to run high. The rollers may be but 20 feet, -yet these are quite high enough even for a splendid ocean racer to -contend with and yet maintain her speed. - -Now her bows are pointing sky high, and her stern is deeply submerged; -now she takes a header plump into the trough of the sea, and the -engines race round; the propeller is suddenly raised out of water. -But blow high, or blow low, on she goes, and the engineers are always -busy. The furnaces roar with ceaseless rage. For days and nights the -fires are kept at glowing heat. A forced blast maintains the draught; -the steam condensed back into warm water is supplied to the boilers; -half-naked men work hour after hour to rake the fires, clean them, pile -on the fuel, and keep the most powerful head of steam the boilers can -stand. - -When the furnace doors are opened tongues of flame leap forth, and -the heat is enough to make a man sick. But with head turned away, the -stoker stirs up the fire with his huge “slice” or fire rake, and cleans -out the clinker clogging the bars. - -Then on go the coals! One layer, shot in from the shovel with unerring -precision and skilful experience, right at the back; then another just -in front of the first, and so on till the long furnace is filled. -Bang! the furnace door clangs, and the man reels away, sick and -exhausted, with tingling eyes and heaving chest. Then coal has to be -brought from the bunkers to the furnaces, tons of it per day, and if -the ship rolls too much for the barrows to be used, the fuel must be -carried in baskets. - -There is an engineer in charge of each stoke hole, and two on the -platform in each engine room; as a rule, the staff are on duty in -turns—four hours out of every twelve. But if the weather be bad they -may have harder times. - -No matter how hot the machinery becomes, the engineers must not -reduce speed, except it be to prevent disaster. Oil is swabbed on in -bucketfuls, so to speak, but at every thrust the polished steel may -gleam dry and smoking. Then on goes the water, as if there actually was -a conflagration, and meantime a mixture of oil and sulphur is dabbed -on. The water flies off in steam, so hot are the bearings, so terrific -the friction of the incessant speed; and at last, down comes the -reluctant order, wrung out of the chief like gold from a miser—“Slow -her down.” - -It is done—dampers are clapped on furnaces, steam pressure dropped a -little, and engines reduced to half speed; the three great cranks of -the high, intermediate, and low pressure cylinders move round easily, -and the tremendous noise gradually sinks to a murmur, compared with the -previous rush and roar. The machinery cools. But when quite safe, on -is piled the speed once more, and again the cranks fly round, and the -mighty engines work their hardest to drive the mammoth ship through the -surging green rollers. - -So superbly are these marine engines built, and so excellently are they -maintained, being continually overhauled, so as to be kept in the pink -of perfection, that, as years go on, they seem to “warm to their work” -and do even better than at first. - -On the completion of the 200th round voyage of the celebrated “White -Stars,” _Germanic_ and _Britannic_, about January, 1894, they seemed -steaming as regularly and as fast, or faster than ever. Thus, on the -198th outward trip of the _Germanic_, in September, 1893, she made the -fastest westward passage, but one, she had ever accomplished. During -their lives, it was said these vessels had maintained remarkable -uniformity in speed, and each vessel had steamed 200 times 6200 -nautical miles, that is nearly a million and a-half statute miles, with -the original engines and boilers—a performance, in all probability, -without parallel in the world. - -Those people who care for figures may be interested in knowing that -the _Britannic_ had been 91,741 hours under steam, and 85,812 hours -actually under weigh. Her engines had made 280 million revolutions, and -maintained an average speed of 15 knots, or 17¼ statute miles an hour, -while she had burnt 406,000 tons of coal. During their nineteen years -of life the two vessels had carried 100,000 saloon, and over 260,000 -steerage passengers, in safety and in comfort. - -This is a record of which all concerned, builders, owners, and working -staff, may well be proud. It augurs first-class, honest work, and -superb engineering skill. Since the construction of these ships, -however, vessels surpassing them in speed have, of course, been built, -among which may be mentioned the same line’s _Teutonic_ and _Majestic_. - -The well-known Cunarders, _Umbria_ and _Etruria_, have also done some -very fine work, indicating great excellence of construction. Thus, -on her eighty-second voyage, the _Umbria_ steamed from Queenstown to -Sandy Hook in 5 days, 22 hours; or, allowing for detention through fog, -5 days, 18½ hours, which is within three or four hours of the White -Stars’ and American’s time. - -The story of the British warship _Calliope_, at Samoa, will also show -how marvellously well ships’ engines can be built. Some difficulties -had arisen between the United States and Germany as to Samoa, and -several warships had gathered there. Some weeks of bad weather had -occurred, and then, on the 15th of March, 1889, the wind began to blow -with tremendous force. Down came the top masts from the warships—taken -down as a precaution; steam was raised in the boilers in case anchors -should not hold, and spars were made secure. But no man among the -sailors expected such a hurricane as ensued. - -Rain fell at midnight, and the wind increased. Huge waves rolled in -from the South Pacific, and the vessels tugged madly at their anchor -chains and pitched fearfully up and down, like corks. Then the _Eber_, -one of the German ships, began to drag her anchors; and the _Vandalia_, -one of the Americans, followed suit. But by their steam power they kept -off a dangerous reef, and also prevented themselves from colliding with -their neighbours. - -Still higher and higher blew the hurricane, and the rain fell with -tropic severity. Three hours after midnight the situation had become -terrible. Almost every vessel was dragging her anchors, and the danger -of collision was constant. - -The scene of the occurrence was a small bay before Apia, the capital -of Samoa. But there is a coral reef extending in front of the bay -for about two miles, and in the centre of the reef an opening about -a quarter of a mile wide. The ships, therefore, were shut up in a -comparatively small space, from which the way of escape was this -gateway through the reef. The tide rushed in with great rapidity, -swamping the land a hundred feet or so above high-water mark. - -As morning dawned and wore on to-day, the _Eber_ collided with the -_Nipsic_ and then with the _Olga_, and, finally, was dashed by the huge -waves, like a toy, upon the reef, and rolled over into deep water. -Only five men struggled to shore and were saved. Other sad disasters -occurred; and then, shortly before noon, the _Vandalia_ and the -_Calliope_ were tossed perilously near together, and also toward the -dangerous reef. In endeavouring to steam away, the _Vandalia_ collided -with the _Calliope_, and was much damaged. Then, with splendid courage, -Captain Kane determined to steam right away to sea—to remain would but -risk another collision, or a wreck on the reef. Sea-room he must have -at any cost! - -“Lift all anchors!” was the thrilling order, and then—“Full speed -ahead!” Round swung the vessel’s head to the wind, and though the -powerful engines were working “all they knew” to force the ship along, -the steamer stood still, as if aghast at being asked to break through -these tremendous waves. - -But she stood for a moment only. The superb engines began to tell; -the quickly-whirling screw churned up the heavy water at the stern, -and slowly the good ship made headway through the huge billows. They -crashed over her stern and poured over her decks, as if in anger at her -defiance. But on went the coal to her furnaces, and the thick smoke -reeled off from the funnel in volumes. The strain quivered through -every limb of the ship, but her captain kept her at it, and inch by -inch she forced her way through the pounding seas. - -“This manœuvre of the gallant British ship,” says an eye-witness, Mr. -John P. Dunning, of the Associated U.S. Press, “is regarded as one -of the most daring in naval annals. It was the one desperate chance -offered her commander to save his vessel and the three hundred lives -aboard. An accident to the machinery at this critical moment would have -meant certain death to all. Every pound of steam which the _Calliope_ -could possibly carry was crowded on, and down in the fire-rooms the -men worked as they never had worked before. To clear the harbour, the -_Calliope_ had to pass between the _Trenton_ (an American warship) -and the reef, and it required the most skilful seamanship to avoid a -collision with the _Trenton_, on the one hand, or total destruction -upon the reef, on the other. The _Trenton’s_ fires had gone out by that -time, and she lay helpless almost in the path of the _Calliope_.” - -[Illustration: PROMENADE DECK OF THE “PARIS.”] - -But the dreaded collision did not take place. And as the _Calliope_ -passed near to the _Trenton_, a great shout was given for the British -vessel, and the Englishmen responded with a noble cheer. Captain Kane, -who subsequently was appointed to the _Inflexible_, said afterwards: - -“Those ringing cheers of the American flag-ship pierced deep into my -heart, and I shall ever remember that mighty outburst of fellow-feeling -which, I felt, came from the bottom of the hearts of the gallant -Admiral and his men. Every man on board the _Calliope_ felt as I did; -it made us work to win. I can only say, ‘God bless America and her -noble sailors!’” - -The _Calliope_ did win. Her superb machinery and the fine seamanship -with which she was handled were successful, and she returned to the -harbour when the storm had subsided. Happily the brave men of the -_Trenton_ also survived, though fourteen vessels were wrecked and -nearly 150 lives were lost. - -Strongly and staunchly as are built the Government ships, many of the -great liners are their equals in these respects. Indeed, several of -them are now retained by the Government to be used as armed cruisers -should occasion require. The fittings and accommodation on many a -large liner are also luxurious in the extreme. There are library -and smoking-room, superb saloons and state-rooms, drawing-rooms, -music-rooms, and tea-rooms, bath-rooms, etc. In short, they are -floating hotels of a most sumptuous character. - -A modern steamship, with its multitude of comforts and conveniences -for passengers and its complexities of machinery for fast and safe -steaming, is a great triumph of engineering skill. Patience and -forethought, the persevering development of sound principles, and -the application of new ideas, have all contributed to this great -achievement. - -From the _Comet_ to the _Campania_ is a marvellous development within -a century. And it has not been accomplished along one line, but upon -many. The use of steel, of many-tubed and strong boilers, of high -pressure steam, which would have frightened Henry Bell out of his -senses, the forced draught and the surface condensers, the screw -propeller, the direct-acting and the triple and quadruple expansion -engines, have all contributed to the noble results. Steamships, with -their complex, beautiful, and powerful machinery, may rank among the -most wonderful things that mankind has ever made. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - -FAMOUS BRIDGES AND THEIR BUILDERS. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -“THE BRIDGE BY THE EARTHEN HOUSE.” - - -“You will not try again, surely?” - -“Ay, I shall indeed!” - -“What! after two failures?” - -“Yes; I see the mistakes now. This bridge fell because it had too much -weight on its haunches.” - -“Haunches! you mean the two side-curves of the arch were too heavy.” - -“Ay; you’ve heard the proverb no doubt that ‘An arch never sleeps.’ -That is, should too great a weight fall on the crown or top part, the -arch will fall at the sides outwardly, and the crown will sink; while, -curiously enough, if it be built with too little weight on the crown, -as this was, the crown will be forced upwards, and the sides will fall -inwards.” - -“Then you mean to build your third bridge with less weight -proportionately on its haunches?” - -“Exactly so.” - -“Well, I wish you good luck, friend Edwards, for we need a bridge -sorely over the brawling Taff.” - -“You shall have it, neighbour. I shall succeed this time. I have -gripped the right principle at last.” - -He had indeed, for the bridge he then built lasts to this day. It was -the famous Pontypridd bridge over the Taff on the Llantrissant and -Merthyr road, and was called the Pont y du Prydd, or the bridge by the -earthen house, for a mud hut stood near. - -[Illustration: - -PONTYPRIDD BRIDGE. _From Encyclopædia Britannica._ ] - -About the year 1745 it was determined to build a bridge over the -rushing Taff, and William Edwards, a self-taught mason of the country, -undertook the task. The first bridge he built was of three arches, -which, in less than three years, was dashed away by a great flood. The -water rose so high as to surge over the parapet. - -It must have been a sore disappointment to the hard worker to see his -structure suddenly swept to ruins. But he was a shrewd, common-sense, -observing man, and, nothing daunted, he tried again. This time he -determined to build one bold arch of 140 feet. The object was to -obviate the necessity of raising piers for more arches, and so -obstructing the water; these former piers having caused, or assisted -in causing, the destruction of his first bridge. - -But the second gave way from the proportionally heavy weights on the -haunches, as Edwards, we imagine, told his friend, and once more he had -to face ruins. Yet a third time he tried, and the third time he was -successful. Generations have come and gone, the children who played -about its abutments have grown grey and have passed away, but still the -country mason’s bridge of 140 feet span stands its ground and serves -the community. - -He reduced the heavy weight on the sides by making openings in the -spandrels—that is, the part above the curve of the arch; while, instead -of filling up the interior space with rubble, he used charcoal. But the -arch is very steep, and a chain and drag is kept to assist any horse -when descending. - -These bridges illustrate the principle of the arch. Passing by the -fact that it is evidently safer to span a swelling river by a bridge -of wide, rather than of several narrow arches, three powers or forces -act on the row of stones or bricks forming the arch. There is first the -force that would carry the stone downward—that is, the force of its own -weight and of anything that might be placed upon it. But then there are -stones or bricks pressing against it on either side, and in its turn it -presses upon them. When, therefore, every part presses equally, one not -heavier or weaker than the others, a support for all is gained by the -contiguous pressure and by the balance of forces. - -Long bridges were sometimes built in this way, and the longest in -England in the Middle Ages was at Burton, over the Trent. It was 1545 -feet long, and had 36 arches. It was not superseded till 1864, when a -new bridge was built. - -In an arched bridge, the higher it rises in proportion to the width of -the arch, the easier is its construction, and the less is the stress -upon its parts; moreover, any inaccuracy in design or in building is -likely to be less harmful. We are not surprised, therefore, that -Edwards, in his third attempt, decided upon that form. - -One of the widest arches in the world is that of the famous Grosvenor -Bridge at Chester. It has a span of 200 feet, with a rise of 42 feet. -An arch, however, in the Washington Aqueduct extends to 220 feet span, -while the central span in the Southwark Bridge, designed by Rennie, is -240 feet. This last, however, is of cast-iron. - -The principle of the arch, however, does not appear first in the -history of bridge building. Bridges are as old as mankind; that is, no -one knows when first men began to cross streams and chasms by placing -the trunk of a tree from one side to the other, and thus bridging the -gulf. - -Then, possibly, the next step was to build up a pile of stones in the -centre of the stream—taking the stones there by coracle or canoe—and -placing a tree trunk from the side to the central heap. - -Yet another development would most likely be a simple cantilever -bridge—though these early builders would not have known that -Frenchified word. But they knew that after embedding a tree trunk -firmly on each side of the bank so that a considerable portion should -project over the stream, they could place a third log from one end to -the other, and thus get a bridge much longer than when made of one tree -trunk alone. - -This principle, known so long ago, was used and immensely developed in -the construction of the famous Forth Bridge, one of the most remarkable -structures of the nineteenth century. This cantilever principle is -very important in bridge building, and it is said that there exists an -ancient bridge on this principle across the Sutlej in India with a span -of 200 feet. - -[Illustration: THE POST BRIDGE, DARTMOOR. - -(_An example of an early bridge, of “slab” construction._)] - -A further variety of early bridges was the “slab” bridge, consisting -of slabs of granite placed from side to side, or from the sides of -the bank to heaps of stones piled up in the stream. A good example -of such a bridge may be seen at “Post Bridge” over the Dart on -Dartmoor. Ages ago this bridge was built, and as we study it and -compare it with the modern structure not far distant, we wonder how the -ancient Britons—if those sturdy individuals are really responsible for -it—could raise and place those huge slabs of stone without engineering -apparatus. Probably it was done with levers and rollers, and there must -have been many shoulders to the wheel in the process. Certainly they -had plenty of granite at hand on wild Dartmoor. - -But passing by all these early forms of bridges—which it will be -noticed are built of a few large pieces of material—it was left to -the Romans, at all events in Europe, to largely adopt the arch as a -principle of construction. - -Now, here we are dealing with an altogether different principle. The -arch is made up of a number of comparatively small pieces of material -bound together by mortar, or cement, or even clamps, and by the power -of gravitation. - -We doubt if that idea is realised by half the people using the -multitudinous arches abounding to-day; yet it is true. Or to put it in -another way, the various parts are arranged so that they keep up each -other by pressure. - -If you take two cards, or bricks, or slabs of stone and lean them -together at the top, while the other ends may be far apart, you will -find they will bear a certain amount of weight. Here you have the -principle of the arch in its simplest form; and it may be that out of -that primitive performance the arch has grown. This kind of triangular -arch is to be met with in ancient structures in Great Britain. The -flanks or haunches of an arch are its sides, from the first stone to -the keystone; and the crown is its highest part; while the central -wedge-shaped piece of stone or brick is called the keystone. - -The stones or bricks are cemented together when being built over a -framework of timber, called the centering, and when the keystone is -placed and the arch is complete it ought to remain firm. - -But should too great a weight fall on the crown the bridge will fall -outwardly at the sides, and the crown will sink; while, curiously -enough, if it be built with too little weight on the crown, it will be, -as it were, forced upwards, and the sides will fall inwards, as in the -case of the second of the famous Pontypridd bridges, which actually did -this. The material in the middle of the arch was less in proportion -than that over the sides or “haunches,” and these heavier weights on -the sides caused the crown to be forced upwards. - -Two causes combined to make changes in bridge building. These were the -needs of railways and the introduction of iron as a building material. -The first iron bridge was constructed over the Severn, near an -appropriately named place, Ironbridge, in 1779. It had an arch of near -upon a hundred feet span. - -When, however, very wide span bridges were required, the question -arose of the superiority of wrought-iron over cast-iron for such -structures. The Menai Strait had to be crossed for the Chester and -Holyhead Railway, and the greatest existing cast-iron span was Rennie’s -Southwark Bridge, where 240 feet had been reached. But over the Conway -and the Menai Strait, spans of 400 feet were involved. How were these -yawning gulfs to be bridged? - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -A NEW IDEA—THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR. - - -“We must cross the Strait at the Britannia Rock—that is settled.” - -“And where is the Britannia Rock?” - -“Nearly in mid-channel. It seems placed there for the purpose.” - -And the great engineer smiled. - -“What are the distances?” - -“From coast to coast the span of the Strait is some 1100 feet, with -that rock in the centre. Now the problem is, to build a bridge across -that gulf of surging water strong enough to bear heavy trains at high -speeds, and sufficiently above the water to prevent any interference -with navigation.” - -“And how will you manage it?” - -“First I thought of large cast-iron arches, but they will not do. I -doubt if they would stand the strain; and moreover we should impede -navigation by raising scaffolding during the building. At length I came -to the idea of a tube bridge.” - -“What! a tube bridge! I’ve never heard of it!” - -“No, it is a new idea. By reconsidering a design I had made for a small -bridge over the Lea at Ware in 1841, and thinking over the matter, I -came to the idea that a bridge consisting of a hollow beam or tube -might solve the difficulty.” - -“A huge hollow girder, so to speak!” exclaimed his friend. - -“Exactly so. Accordingly,” the engineer continued, “I had drawings -prepared and calculations made, by which to ascertain the strength -of such a bridge, and they were so satisfactory that I decided on -attempting one.” - -“It is like constructing one huge hollow beam of iron by rivetting -plates together. Can it be done?” remarked his friend. - -“The making of the high-level bridge over the Tyne, in which I had -a part—the bridge between Newcastle and Gateshead, you know—was a -transition between an arched bridge and a girder bridge. A girder of -course is a beam, it may be of iron or wood, and the little bridge at -Ware has been built of girders made of plates of wrought-iron rivetted -together. Therefore, you see, I am not unused to wrought-iron girders, -and what they will bear.” - -“Why, it is like a huge extension of the primitive log-bridge of our -ancestors.” - -“If you like,” replied the engineer, laughing. - -Robert Stephenson—for he it is whom we suppose to be speaking to his -friend on this gigantic engineering enterprise—became satisfied by -reflection that the principles involved in constructing an immense -tubular beam were but a development of those commonly in use; and Sir -William Fairbairn was entrusted with the duty of experimenting as to -the strength of tubes, the directors of the Railway Company voting a -sum of money for the purpose. - -Sir William, then Mr., Fairbairn concluded that rectangular tubes were -the strongest, and a model was made of the suggested bridge. It proved -successful, and indicated that the tube would be able to stand the -strain of a heavy train passing rapidly over it. - -In September, 1846, Mr. Fairbairn read a paper on the subject at -the meeting of the British Association at Southampton, as also did -Professor Hodgkinson, a mathematician, who had verified Fairbairn’s -experiments. Not long afterwards Stephenson became satisfied that -chains were not needed to assist in supporting the bridge, and that his -tubes would be strong enough to support themselves entirely between the -piers. - -Work therefore went forward. Some 1500 men were engaged on the -Britannia Bridge, and the quiet shores of the Menai Straits resounded -with the busy hum of hammers and machinery. Cottages of wood were built -for the men, and workshops for the punching and rivetting of the plates -for the gigantic tubes. - -The design included two abutments of masonry on either side of the -Strait, and three towers or huge piers, one of which, the centre pier, -was to rise from the Britannia Rock, 230 feet high. There are four -spans, two over the water of 460 feet each, and two of 230 feet each -over the land. Two tubes, quite independent of each other, but lying -side by side, form the bridge across. Each tube or beam is 1510 feet -long, and weighs 4680 tons. Its weight at one of the long spans is -1587 tons. - -Now how could these gigantic tubes be put together and raised to their -positions? Here was a problem almost as great as the original one of -the bridge itself, and it troubled the engineer sorely. - -[Illustration: ROBERT STEPHENSON.] - -“Often at night,” he declared, “I would lie tossing about, seeking -sleep in vain. The tubes filled my head. I went to bed with them, and -got up with them. In the gray of the morning, when I looked across -Gloucester Square, it seemed an immense distance across to the houses -on the opposite side. It was nearly the same length as the span of my -tubular bridge.” - -The principle adopted was to construct the shorter tubes on scaffolds -in the places which they were to occupy. This could be done, for such -scaffolding would not impede navigation. But scaffolding could not be -built for the large tubes across the great spans of water. What then -was to be done? - -It was decided to build them on platforms on the shore quite close -to the water, and float them when ready on pontoons to their places -between the piers, raising them to their position by hydraulic power. -Such a task would be hazardous enough. It was first tried at Conway, -where a similar bridge was being built by Robert Stephenson, being -indeed part of the same railway. The Britannia was, however, a much -greater enterprise, though the span of the Conway is 400 feet. The -Conway bridge, indeed, is but of one span, and contains two tubes. - -The experience at Conway was of great benefit to the gigantic -undertaking at the Menai Strait. The floating of the first tube was to -take place on the 19th of June, 1849, in the evening; but owing to some -of the machinery having given way, the great event was put off to the -next night. The shores were crowded with spectators. When the tube was -finished it could be transferred to the pontoons; for the tubes had -been built at high-water mark. When the pontoons were fairly afloat on -this fateful evening, they were held and guided by leading strings of -mighty strength. Stephenson himself directed in person, from a point -of vantage at the roof of the tube. Thence he gave the signals which -had been agreed upon, whilst a crew of sailors, directed by Captain -Claxton, manned the strange barque. - -A pontoon is a light, buoyant boat, and the tube was supported on sets -of these, their speed increasing terribly as they approached their -place by the towers. The idea was, as related by Mr. Edwin Clark, -Stephenson’s assistant, that they should strike a “butt” properly, -underneath the Anglesey Tower, “on which, as upon a centre, the tube -was to be veered round into its position across the opening. This -position was determined by a twelve-inch line, which was to be paid -out to a fixed mark from the Llanfair capstan. The coils of the rope -unfortunately over-rode each other upon this capstan, so that it could -not be paid out.” - -Destruction seemed imminent. The capstan was actually dragged from the -platform, and the tube seemed likely to be swept away. Then Mr. Rolfe, -the captain of the capstan, shouted to the spectators, and threw out a -spare twelve-inch rope. Seizing this, the crowd, with right good-will, -rushed it up the field, and clung tightly to it, checking the voyage of -the mighty tube. It was brought to the “butt,” and duly turned round. - -A recess had been left in the masonry of the tower, and the end near -the Britannia pier was drawn into it by means of a chain. The Anglesey -end followed. Then the tide gradually sank, the pontoons sank with it, -and the tube subsided also to a shelf which had been made at either -end. The first stage was accomplished; the mighty tube was in position -to be raised. - -Shouts of rejoicing burst from the sympathetic crowds, and the boom of -cannon joined its congratulatory note at the grand success. But the -further stages remained. At midnight the pontoons were all cleared -away, and the huge, hollow beam hung silent over the surging water. -It rested on the shelves or beds prepared for it at either end. The -second great operation, of course, was to haul it up the towers to its -permanent position. This was to be performed by hydraulic machinery of -great power, and Mr. Stephenson’s instructions were to raise it a short -distance at a time, and then build under it. - -He took every imaginable precaution against accident or failure; and -well was it that he did so, for an accident happened which, but for the -careful building under the tube in the towers as it was raised, would -have been most calamitous. The accident occurred while Mr. Stephenson -was absent in London. One day, suddenly, while the machinery was at -work raising the tube, the bottom burst from one of the hydraulic -presses, and down fell the tube on to the bed provided for it. - -Though the fall was but nine inches, tons weight of metal castings were -crushed, and the mighty tube itself was strained and slightly bent. But -it was serviceable still, and the fact that it stood the strain so well -showed its great strength. It weighed some five thousand tons, and for -such an immense weight to fall even three-quarters of a foot was a very -severe test. - -But for Stephenson’s wise precaution in lifting it slowly, and building -underneath it as it was raised, the tube would have crashed to the -bottom of the water. As it was, the accident cost £5000; but the tube -was soon being hauled upward again. In due course the others followed, -and on the 5th of March, 1850, Robert Stephenson inserted the final -rivet in the last tube, and the bridge was complete. He crossed over -with about a thousand persons, three locomotives whirling them along. - -The tubes of the bridge are made of iron plates, and at the top and -bottom are a number of small cells or tubes—instead of thick iron -plating—which assist in giving strength to the whole gigantic tube. -Thus it may be said the floor and roof are tubular, as well as the -body. These hollow cells appear to have been Fairbairn’s invention. The -size of the tube grows slightly larger at the middle by the Britannia -tower, where externally the tubes are 30 feet high, and 26 internally, -while they are 22¾ feet and 18¾ feet at the abutments. The width is 14 -feet, 8 inches externally, and 13 feet 5 inches inside. - -At the Britannia tower the tubes are placed solidly on their bed, -but at the abutments, and at the land towers, the tubes rest on -roller-beds. This arrangement was adopted to permit of expansion and -contraction. Iron, of course, solid and unyielding as it appears, is -yet very susceptible to warmth, and the effect of the sun’s rays on -this massive iron structure is very marked. A rise of temperature -causes it to expand in a comparatively short time, and it is said that -the tubes occasionally move two and a-half inches as the sun gleams -upon them. Mr. Edwin Clark observed the effect of the sun on the iron, -which appears in a small degree to be always moving as the temperature -varies. Well, therefore, that the able engineer planned an arrangement -allowing for this constant expansion and contraction of the iron mass. - -[Illustration: THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE.] - -The Britannia Bridge was a great triumph for Robert Stephenson. He -appears first to have seized the idea, and, assisted no doubt by -Fairbairn’s experiments and by able coadjutors, he carried it through -to a successful completion. He was of course the son of George -Stephenson, who had done so much for the locomotive, and according to -Smiles, “he almost worshipped his father’s memory, and was ever ready -to attribute to him the chief merit of his own achievements as an -engineer.” - -“It was his thorough training,” Mr. Smiles once heard him remark, “his -example, and his character, which made me the man I am.” Further, in an -address as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in January, -1856, he said: “All I know, and all I have done is primarily due to the -parent whose memory I cherish and revere.” - -That father had died before the Britannia Bridge was completed, though -he had been present at the floating of the first tube at Conway. The -great engineer passed away on the 12th of August, 1848, at the age of -sixty-seven, and his distinguished son Robert, who had no children, -only survived him by eleven years. - -But before he died he had designed, and Mr. A. M. Ross, who had -assisted at the Conway Bridge, had assisted in carrying out the -celebrated Victoria Tubular Bridge over the great St. Lawrence River at -Montreal. - -This bridge was for the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and for immense -length and vastness of proportions, combined with magnificent strength, -is one of the wonders of the world. It is five times as long as the -Britannia Bridge, being not far short of two miles. It has a big -central span of 330 feet, and twenty-four spans of 242 feet. The iron -tubes are suspended sixty feet above the water beneath. - -[Illustration: VICTORIA TUBULAR BRIDGE, MONTREAL.] - -One great difficulty in the problem was the ice. Immense quantities -come down in the spring, and to resist this enormous pressure the piers -are most massive, containing thousands of tons each of solid masonry. -These piers are based on the solid rock, the two central towers being -eighteen feet in width and the others fifteen feet. To protect them -from the ice, huge guards made of stone blocks clamped with rivets -built up in the form of an incline were placed before the piers on the -up-stream side. The bridge was begun in July, 1854, and occupied four -and a-half years in construction, it being completed in December, -1859, about two months after its designer had died. - -Gigantic though this structure is, and great as is the honour which it -reflects on Robert Stephenson and the resident and joint engineer Mr. -Ross, yet with the exception of the remarkable and massive ice-guards -to the piers, it does not differ materially from the Britannia and -Conway Tubular Bridges. These were the first famous examples of the new -principle. - -Why, then, are massive tubular bridges not more generally built? -Because they led to another and very natural development in -bridge-building, a development whereby great strength for long spans is -gained, with, however, a marked saving both in labour and in material. -That development was the lattice bridge. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -LATTICE AND SUSPENSION BRIDGES. - - -“The expense of a tubular bridge would be too great.” - -“But if we could get the strength without the expense.” - -“What mean you?” - -“By iron lattice work we could, I think, gain the stiffness and support -needed, without such great cost of labour and material. In other words, -I propose a lattice or trellis work girder, instead of a solid sided, -or a tubular girder.” - -“That is, you would have the sides of lattice or trellis work, instead -of solid plates?” - -“Exactly. I would use bars of iron placed diagonally. These lattice or -trellis bridges are developed from the tubular bridges, also from the -loose wooden lattice bridges of America. We make a web of iron instead -of a solid sheet. The same kind of structures are largely used over the -wide rivers of India. Sir John MacNeill designed the first in iron, and -it was built in 1843 on the Dublin and Drogheda Railway with a span -of eighty-four feet. I consider they will be among the most popular -bridges of the future for longish spans.” - -The engineer’s prediction has come true; for lattice bridges have -undoubtedly been very widely adopted. We may suppose that he was -advising the directors of a proposed railway, and we doubt not but that -he carried the day. - -A fine specimen of a lattice bridge is that across the Thames near -Charing Cross, for the South-Eastern Railway. It has a total length -of more than a quarter of a mile—viz., 1365 feet, and six of its nine -spans are 154 feet wide. Two principal girders, fourteen feet deep, -are connected transversely by other girders which carry the rails and -project on the other side to support a footpath. The two main girders -are nearly fifty feet apart and one weighs 190 tons. - -The sides have upper and lower booms made of plate iron connected by -perpendicular bars, between which are a couple of bars crossing each -other diagonally at an angle of forty-five degrees, and fixed to the -booms by bolts of five and seven inches in diameter. - -The old Hungerford Bridge stood here previously, and its two piers of -brickwork were used for the new bridge. Other piers are huge cylinders -of cast iron ten feet across, but fourteen feet in diameter in the -ground. Thus they are broadly based. These piers are filled with -concrete and also brickwork, and are topped with bearing-blocks of -granite. They are formed of plates of cast iron bolted together, and -they were sunk into the ground many feet below high-water by combined -forces; divers scooped out the mud and gravel and clay from within the -cylinders; water was pumped out and heavy weights pressed them down. -The piers became fixed on the London clay, but when filled were heavily -weighted to drive them down again, and finally they were forced to a -depth of over sixty-two feet below high-water mark. - -But before lattice girder bridges had become so popular, another class -had come into use, and afford some splendid specimens of engineering -skill. These are suspension bridges, and, perhaps of all kinds, they -are the most picturesque. Their graceful sweeps and curves yield -perhaps a more pleasing sight for the eye than the solid, rigid, -straight lines of the girder bridges. - -It was the genius of Thomas Telford which gave a great impetus to -this class of bridge. Like Stephenson after him, he had to bridge the -surging Menai Straits, but for a carriage road, not a line of rails; -and at length, after various plans had been suggested and abandoned, he -proposed the Suspension Bridge. - -Now, in its simplest form, a suspension bridge has been known for ages. -It is merely a pathway, or even a small movable car, suspended from a -rope or ropes across a chasm. Ulloa describes suspension bridges built -by the Peruvians in South America. Four stout cables span a river, and -on these four is placed the platform of sticks and branches, while two -other ropes connected with the platform are useful as hand rails. Such -bridges sway with the wind and move with the passenger, but for light -loads they appear to be perfectly safe. - -In Telford’s Menai Bridge the carriage-way is hung from four huge -chains or cables, each chain made up of four others, and passing over -high piers. The chains are anchored on the landward side, sixty feet -in pits, and grafted by iron frames to the rocks. The chains are so -complex and so strong, that parts may be removed for repair without -imperilling the safety of the structure. The length of the span thus -gained is 560 feet, and it is 150 feet above high-water. The remainder -of the bridge is composed of arches of stone, of 52½ feet span. - -The piers from which the great span is suspended rise above the -carriage-way fifty-two feet, and are topped by blocks of cast-iron, -which can move on rollers to permit the chains passing over them -to expand and contract freely with the temperature. There are two -carriage-roads, and also a footpath. The roads are separated by iron -lattice work, which also gives them stability and decreases vibration. - -[Illustration: THE CLIFTON BRIDGE.] - -In its day, this stupendous bridge was as great a wonder as its later -companion over the same Straits—the Britannia Tubular. Six years were -occupied in building, and it was opened in 1825. Why, then, did not -Stephenson construct a similar bridge when, twenty years or so later, -he had to solve a similar problem? - -The answer is, that suspension bridges are not—or were not—considered -sufficiently strong and rigid for railway work. In America, however, -they have been used for this purpose; witness the famous Niagara -Suspension Bridge, 2⅓ miles below the Falls, and with a superb span -of 822 feet; but American engineers appear to stiffen the roadway -considerably, so as to distribute the stress of the rushing train over -a large portion of the cable. The Niagara Bridge is not supported by -plate-link chains, but by four immense wire cables, stretching from -cliff to cliff over the roaring rapids. Four thousand distinct wires -make up each cable, which pass over lofty piers, and from them hangs -the railway by numerous rods. - -[Illustration: THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE.] - -Probably the famous Brooklyn Bridge is the largest suspension bridge in -the world, even as the Clifton Suspension Bridge, in England, is one -of the most interesting. The Brooklyn Bridge has a magnificent central -span of 1595½ feet over the East River between Brooklyn and New York; -further, there are two land spans of 930 feet, which, together with the -approaches, make up a total of about a mile and a furlong. The cables, -four in number, are each composed of 5000 steel wires, and measure -15¾ inches in diameter. They are anchored to solid stone structures -at either end, measuring 119 feet by 132 feet, and weighing 60,000 -tons; while the towers from which the main span is suspended rise to -the height of 276 feet, and are embedded in the ground 80 feet below -high-water. It has been estimated that the weight hung between these -towers is nearly 7000 tons. - -The roadway of the bridge is divided into five thoroughfares. Those on -the outer sides are for vehicles, and are 19 feet wide; the centre is -for foot passengers, and is 15½ feet in width; while the two others are -for tramway traffic. The bridge was opened in 1883, and affords a great -triumph of engineering skill. - -Much smaller, but none the less interesting, is the Suspension Bridge -at Clifton. As far back as 1753, Alderman William Vick, of Bristol, -left a sum of £1000 to build a bridge at Clifton. The sum was to lie -at compound interest until £10,000 was reached. However, the money -was increased by subscriptions, and in 1830 an Act of Parliament was -obtained for its construction. - -The work coming into the hands of Mr. I. K. Brunel, he designed a -bridge of 702 feet span, and 250 feet above high-water. The piers and -abutments were built, but lack of cash, which forms an obstacle to so -many brilliant enterprises, stopped the progress of the bridge for -nearly fourteen years. - -Then it occurred that the Hungerford Suspension Bridge was to be -removed to make way for the Charing Cross Railway Bridge, so the chains -were purchased at a comparatively small cost, and the work at Clifton -proceeded, and was finally completed. - -Three chains on either side suspend long wrought-iron girders, which -help to stiffen the platform; and cross girders between support the -floor. The chains pass over rollers on the piers, and are ultimately -anchored to plates bedded in brickwork abutting on rock. The platform -is hung by upright rods from the chains, and hand-railing is used with -lattice-work, to assist in rendering it rigid. The roadway, twenty -feet wide, is made of creosoted wood, five inches thick, while the -pathways on either side are made with wood half as thick. Between the -piers the weight of the structure, including the chains, amounts to -nearly a thousand tons. - -In all these suspension bridges, however large, the principles are much -the same. The platform, or roadway, is hung from chains or cables, -which pass over piers and are anchored fast at the ends. Some are -stiffened with girders and bracing to prevent undue undulation. The -chains take a graceful and definite curve, that of the Menai Bridge -dipping fifty-seven feet. The strain is the greatest at the lower part, -and is increased, should the chain be drawn flatter over the same -space. These bridges became widely adopted. - -But there came a time when none of the bridges in vogue seemed to give -what was required. A new principle was wanted. Where was it to be found? - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE GREATEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD. - - -“Have you heard the news? The Tay Bridge is blown down!” - -“Yes. A terrible disaster. I should think they would give up their -scheme of bridging the Firth of Forth after that.” - -“Not they! The scheme may be altered, but bridge it they will. -Engineers never give in.” - -The comments of these newspaper readers were right. The Tay Bridge, -the longest in the world, had been blown down one wild December night -in 1879, and girders, towers, and the train which was rushing over it, -were suddenly hurled into the surging flood. - -At that time a scheme was in hand to bridge the Forth for the North -British Railway system, and Sir Thomas Bouch had proposed two -suspension bridges hung by steel chains. But ultimately a new design -altogether was adopted, the plan being by Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir -John Fowler. - -It was the new principle—or, rather, a remarkable development of an old -principle—for which the bridge-making world was waiting: the principle, -namely, of the cantilever. - -A cantilever is, in fact, a bracket; and Sir Benjamin Baker has -described it as such. It is a strong support, built out from a firm -base, and is like a powerful and magnified bracket upholding a shelf. - -In the Forth Bridge there are two huge spans, 1700 feet wide, crossed -by these cantilevers; bridging channels of some 200 feet deep. - -The longest spans on the Tay Bridge were 245 feet; it was over two -miles long, and had ninety spans. It was an iron girder bridge, and was -opened on the 31st of May, 1878. Not to be beaten, however, after the -panic had subsided, another and more stable bridge was constructed, -also a girder, but not so high in elevation, and sixty feet further -up the river. It was opened in 1887, and is 10,779 feet long, with 85 -piers, the navigable channel being under four of the spans, the centre -spans being 245 feet wide. - -It will be seen at once that the cantilevers at the Forth Bridge cover -very much wider spans; and the channel being so deep, the impossibility -of building piers will also be obvious. The best place for the bridge -was marked by the projection of the Inverkeithing peninsula on the -north shore, and also the Inchgarvie rock in the channel itself. The -peninsula brought the two shores together, reducing the space to be -bridged, and the rock gave firm support for a pier. Still there were -the two immense spans of 1700 feet to be crossed, and the engineers -decided on the cantilever principle. Thus, though the Tay Bridge was -the longest in the world, the Forth presented by far the greatest -spans—viz., the two main spans of 1700 feet each, in addition to which -there are two of 675 feet each, and fifteen of 168 feet each. - -The total length of this magnificent bridge, which Sir Benjamin Baker -rightly claimed was the most wonderful in the world, is somewhat over -1½ miles in length, or 8296 feet, including the piers, while almost a -mile is bridged by the huge and superb cantilevers. This is, perhaps, -the great marvel. The clear space under the centre is no less than 152 -feet at high-water, while the highest portion is 361 feet above the -same mark. - -And now, how was this great bridge constructed? Workshops were erected -at South Queensferry, and the mammoth cantilevers were put up there -piece by piece. They were fitted together and then taken plate by plate -to the bridge itself. The shops were lit by electricity, and furnished -with appliances for bending, cutting, moulding, holing, and planing -plates. The workshops were surrounded by quite a maze of railways. - -But what of the piers, without which all these preparations would be -unavailing? Now the foundations of piers are usually laid by means of -cofferdams; that is, piles of timber are driven down through the water -into the bed of the river close together, and the interstices filled -with clay; or a casing of iron may be used instead. The water in the -enclosure thus formed can be pumped out and excavation proceeded with, -and the foundations laid. Cofferdams are sometimes made of iron boxes -or caissons with interstices fitted with felt, and caissons of this -kind about 12½ feet long and 7 feet wide were used in constructing the -Victoria Embankment on the Thames. - -But with certain of the piers for the Forth Bridge the water was -too deep for timber cofferdams, and the usual diving-bell was not -sufficiently large. The piers were to be of immense size, no less than -55 feet in diameter, and the diving-bell of ordinary size would not -cover that great width. - -Huge caissons were therefore made, 70 feet wide, constructed of iron -plates and rising in height, according to the depth of water, up to 150 -feet. The lower part of the immense caisson or tank was fitted as a -water-tight division and filled with compressed air, the object being -to resist the pressure of the water. Two shafts communicated with this -air-tight division or mining chamber, one for the removal of the earth -excavated, and the other for the men to pass up and down. The escape -of the air through the shafts was prevented by the use of an air-lock, -working on the same principle as a water-lock on rivers or canals. -There were two doors in the lock, one communicating with the shaft and -the other with the outside air. When the latter was closed and the lock -filled with compressed air by opening a valve or tap, the door of the -shaft could be opened and the man could descend to his work below. - -That work consisted chiefly of excavation in the bed of the river. -Drills, hydraulic cutters, and dynamite blasting were all utilised -until huge holes, many feet below the river bed, were hollowed out. As -the caisson was filled with concrete above the air-tight chamber where -the men worked it was exceedingly heavy, and sank by its own weight -into the space prepared. - -The mining chamber was lit by electricity, and was about seven feet -high. The mud of the river bed was mixed with water and blown away by -the compressed air which seems to have been about 33 lbs. to the square -inch. The caissons were sunk down to rock or boulder clay, and when -they had reached the required distance the mining chamber was filled -with concrete, and the same material used to the level of the water; -the piers were then built up with huge stones placed in cement, the -whole forming a magnificent mass of concrete and masonry, carried down -in some cases to about 40 feet below the bed of the river. - -[Illustration: THE FORTH BRIDGE.] - -The three chief piers consist of groups of four columns of masonry, -each gradually tapering from 55 feet in diameter to 49 feet at the top, -and about 36 feet high. From these rise the huge cantilevers connected -together by girders 350 feet in length. - -The centre of these three main piers rests on the island of Inchgarvie; -the two others are known as the Fife and the Queensferry piers -respectively, and are placed on the side of the deep water channels. In -addition to these three main piers are several others, some in shallow -water and some on land. The part of the bridge which they carry is -an ordinary girder of steel leading to the immense cantilevers. For -founding the shallow water piers, cofferdams were used; the caissons -with compressed air chambers being for the deep water structures. - -They were put together on shore, launched, floated, steered to the -desired position, and sunk. One proved cranky and turned over, and was -only brought right after much expense and difficulty. - -The cantilevers are bolted down to each pier by numbers of huge steel -ties, 24 feet in length and 2½ inches in diameter, embedded in the -masonry, there being 48 of these bolts or ties to each column. And now -as to these cantilevers. - -Four huge tubular shafts, two on each side, rise from the group of -columns forming each pier, to the height of 350 feet. From these -shafts, which slope slightly inward, project the cantilevers, the upper -and lower parts being strongly braced together by diagonal ties. In -shape the gigantic brackets taper towards a point, the width decreasing -as much as from 120 feet at the commencement of the piers to 32 feet at -the ends. The wind, it is believed, will be more effectually resisted -by this means. - -The cantilevers are hung back to back, one to some extent -counter-weighing the other. The component parts consist of cylinders -of steel or struts for resisting compression—these are the lower -parts; and ties of lattice-work made of steel plates for resisting -tension,—placed above. - -Thus, then, from each of the three chief piers two pairs of gigantic -brackets project, each pair placed side by side and braced together, -and forming one composite cantilever jutting to the north and one to -the south. The rails run on sleepers placed lengthwise and fixed in -troughs of steel, so that should a train run off the line the wheels -will be caught by these supports. - -It is calculated that there are about 45,000 tons of steel in the -bridge, and 120,000 cubic yards of masonry in the piers. The contract -price was £1,600,000, which works out at about £215 per foot; and the -contractors, who were able to obtain an admirable organisation of some -2000 men to carry out the magnificent design, were Messrs. Tancred, -Arrol, & Co. Some special tools for use in the work were planned by Sir -William Arrol. The bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales on the 4th -of March, 1890. - -The success of this magnificent structure has assured the wider -adoption of the cantilever principle. Long-span bridges, in several -cases, have since been built on this design. Its engineers may claim -indeed to have widened the scope and possibilities of bridge-building. - -Still, when another bridge was wanted over the Thames, at a busy spot, -crowded with shipping and near the historic Tower of London, another -kind of structure was adopted. What was it? - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -THE TOWER BRIDGE. - - -“Why should they not have a drawbridge?” - -“What! To draw up from each bank of the river?” - -“No, I did not mean that exactly. Could they not get piers farther in -towards the centre of the stream, and let the drawbridge rise and fall -from them?” - -“The river is too crowded for many piers.” - -“It is. But I cannot help thinking a drawbridge—a bascule bridge as the -engineers call it—is the best solution of the difficulty.” - -“Well, a bridge is wanted sufficiently low to spring from the flat -banks of the Thames for foot passengers and carriage traffic, and yet -sufficiently high to permit tall ships to pass underneath.” - -“And apparently these two requirements are incompatible.” - -“Not altogether,” remarks a third speaker. - -“You are partly right in your idea of a drawbridge. That is Sir Horace -Jones’s idea. And, further, there is literally to be a high and also -a low-level bridge; for there are to be two levels—that is, two -roadways—one at a high, and one at a low, level across the middle span.” - -“And is the low level to be a drawbridge—a roadway that can be drawn up -to permit vessels to pass? Is that so?” - -“Exactly. And this drawbridge will be in two parts, one on either side; -they will be worked from two massive piers giving a clear span of 200 -feet in the middle of the stream, through which span big vessels can -pass. The usual traffic of the river will be able to pass even when the -drawbridges are down.” - -“And above the bascules or drawbridges will run the high-level bridge?” - -“Yes, a girder bridge for footpaths, and people will reach it by lifts -and staircases in the piers—which, by-the-by, will be more like huge -towers. These towers will also contain the machinery for raising and -lowering the drawbridges.” - -“And what sort of bridge will be used for the other spans—that is, to -cross the river between the piers and the shore?” - -“Suspension bridges; so that the Tower Bridge as it will be called, -for it will cross the Thames by the Tower of London, will embody -the suspension, the bascule (or drawbridge), and the girder bridge -principles, while in the centre will be two levels.” - -“It promises to be a splendid piece of work.” - -“It does. And it is very much needed, for the congestion of traffic on -London Bridge is terrible.” - -“And people have often to come round a long way to reach it.” - -The promise of the Tower Bridge, as set forth by these speakers, has -been amply fulfilled. It is indeed a fine piece of work; and although -it does not embody any new idea, yet in its combination and development -of old principles and in its size it is very remarkable. It was opened -in June, 1894, and is, or was at the time of building, the biggest -bascule bridge in the world. - -Within its handsome Gothic towers are steel columns of immense -strength, constituting the chief supports of the suspension bridges -and of the high-level footways. The architect was the late Sir Horace -Jones, and the engineer Mr. J. Wolfe Barry, while the cost was, -including land, about £1,170,000. - -The problem was to combine a low-level bridge providing for ordinary -town traffic with a high level, under which ships could pass, and it -was accomplished by a union of principles. In its oldest shape the -drawbridge was probably a huge piece of timber, which was hauled up -and let down by chains over the moats of castles. In the Tower Bridge -there are two of such huge “flaps” or leaves, each about 100 feet long, -one rising and falling from each pier and meeting in the centre. Large -bascule bridges are usually constructed in this manner, and there is an -excellent specimen over the Ouse, for the passage of the North-Eastern -railway; one man at each half of the bridge can raise it in less than -two minutes. Another fine bascule may be seen at Copenhagen. - -The bascules are raised and lowered by chains, which, in the case of -the Tower Bridge, are worked by superb hydraulic power from the massive -pier towers. When drawn up, which is done in less than five minutes, -the bascules are even with the sides of the towers, and full space is -given for the vessels to pass. - -The two side spans of the bridge, crossed by the suspension bridges, -are wider than the centre, being 270 feet each, and the total length -of the whole bridge is 800 feet between the abutments. There are also -piers on the shoreward side for carrying the chains of the suspension -bridges at each extremity. - -The massive tower piers, sunk 27 feet below the river bed, are built of -gray granite, and are also fitted with strong break-waters to resist -the action of the tide. The high-level bridges across the central -span are for foot passengers, and are 135 feet over high-water mark. -The bascule bridges, when closed for vehicular traffic, are 29½ feet -above high water, while the side suspension spans are 27 feet. The -roadway is 50 feet wide, which is also the width of the approaches. The -foot passenger traffic is never stopped, as persons can pass by the -hydraulic lifts or the stairways in the tower piers to the high-level -bridges above. - -Sir Horace Jones died before the great work was completed, and was -succeeded by Mr. G. D. Stevenson, who had been his assistant. Sir -William Arrol & Co. supplied the iron and steel, and Sir William -Armstrong the hydraulic machinery. Various contractors carried out -different portions of the mighty work, which occupied about eight -years in building. Near by stands the ancient Tower of London, looking -not unkindly on the great constructive effort to which it has given its -name. - -Sometimes a bridge is made movable by swinging it round on a pivot -instead of drawing it up on a hinge or axis; and sometimes, as in -the case of a bridge over the Arun for the Brighton and South Coast -Railway, it is made to slide on wheels backwards and forwards from -the abutment. Floating or pontoon bridges are made by placing planks -on pontoons, or boats anchored by cables. The longest in the world is -probably at Calcutta, across the Hooghly. It is 1530 feet in length, -there being twenty-eight pontoons in pairs. These are of iron, 160 feet -long, and with ends shaped like wedges; they support a road-way of -3-inch timbers, forty-eight feet wide, and raised on tressel work. An -opening can be made for ships by removing four pontoons and floating -them clear of the passage way. - -Great bridges present some of the most remarkable triumphs of the -engineer. They rank beside the express locomotive and the ocean liner -as among the great constructive achievements of mankind. Daring in -design, and bold in execution and in sweep of span, they have been -developed along several principles; and so solidly have they been -built, so sound are the laws of their being, that it seems as though -they will live as long as the everlasting hills. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - -REMARKABLE TUNNELS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -HOW BRUNEL MADE A BORING-SHIELD. - - -“I watched the worm at work and took my idea from that tiny creature!” - -“A worm! Was it an ordinary worm?” - -“Oh no, it was the naval wood-worm—_Teredo Navalis_; it can bore its -way through the hardest timber. I was in a dockyard and I saw the -movements of this animal as it cut its way through the wood, and the -idea struck me that I could produce some machine of the kind for -successful tunnelling.” - -“Well, it has been brilliantly successful.” - -“I looked at the animal closely, and found that it was covered with -a couple of valvular shells in front; these shells seem to act as a -shield, and after many attempts I elaborated the boring-shield which -was used in hollowing out the Thames Tunnel.” - -This statement, which we can imagine to have been made by Sir Marc -Isambard Brunel to a friend, is no doubt in substance quite true. A -writer in the “Edinburgh Encyclopædia” says, that Sir M. I. Brunel -informed him, “that the idea upon which his new plan of tunnelling is -founded, was suggested to him by the operations of the _Teredo_, a -testaceous worm, covered with a cylindrical shell, which eats its way -through the hardest wood.” - -Two or three attempts had already been made to drive a tunnel under the -Thames, but they had ended in failure. In 1823, Brunel came forward -with another proposal, and he ultimately succeeded. - -This illustrious engineer must not be confounded with his son—who was -also a celebrated engineer—Isambard Kingdom Brunel. There were two -Brunels, father and son, even as there were two Stephensons, George and -Robert. - -Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, the father, whose most notable enterprise -was the Thames Tunnel, was a French farmer’s son, and after various -experiences in France and America settled in England in 1799, and -married the daughter of William Kingdom of Plymouth. He had already -succeeded as an engineer so well as to be appointed chief engineer of -New York, and a scheme for manufacturing block-pulleys by machinery for -vessels was accepted by the British Government, who paid him £17,000 -for the invention. He was also engaged in the construction of Woolwich -Arsenal and Chatham Dockyard, etc., and in 1823 he came forward with -another proposal for the Thames Tunnel. - -In that same year, his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, entered his -father’s office, and assisted in the construction of the tunnel. The -son subsequently became engineer to the Great Western Railway, and -designed the _Great Western_ steamship. - -But though Brunel’s proposal for the tunnel was made public in 1823, -the work was not actually commenced until March, 1825. It was to cross -under the river from Wapping to Rotherhithe, and present two archways. -And if you had been down by the Rotherhithe bank of the Thames about -the latter date, you would have been surprised to see that instead of -hollowing out a shaft, proceedings began by raising a round tower. - -A space was traced out, some 50 feet across, and bricklayers began to -build a circular hollow tower about 3 feet thick and 42 feet high. - -This tower was strengthened by iron bars, etc., and then the excavation -commenced within. The soil was dug out and raised by an engine at the -top, which also pumped out water. And as the hollow proceeded, the -great shaft or tube of masonry sank gradually into it. Bricklayers -added to its summit until it reached a total height of 65 feet, which -in due course was sunk into the ground. - -Thus, then, the engineer had, to commence with, a strong and reliable -brickwork shaft, 3 feet thick, by which men and materials could ascend -and descend in safety. A smaller shaft was also sunk deeper for -drainage. - -And now the actual boring of the tunnel commenced. It was to be 38 feet -wide and 22½ feet in height. On New Year’s Day, 1826, the boring-shield -was placed below in the shaft. The shield was composed of 36 cells, 3 -cells in height and 12 in breadth, with a workman to each. - -The huge “shield” was placed before the earth to be excavated, and -a front board being removed, the soil behind it was dug out to a -specified extent, and the board was propped against the fresh surface -thus made. When the boards had all been placed thus, the cells were -pushed forward into the hollow then made. This was accomplished by -means of screws at the top and bottom of the shield, and which were set -against the completed brickwork behind. - -For, while the labourers were working in front, the bricklayers behind -built up the sides and roof, and formed the floor of the tunnel, the -soil at the roof being supported by the shield until the masons had -completed their task. - -For nine feet, the tunnel proceeded through clay, but then came an -unwelcome change. Wet, loose sand prevailed, and the work progressed -with peril for thirty-two days, when firmer ground was reached. Six -months passed and substantial headway was made, the tunnel being -completed to the extent of 260 feet. - -Then, on the 14th of September, the startling intelligence came that -the engineer feared the river would burst in at the next tide. He had -found a cavity over the shield. Sure enough, at high tide, when the -river was brimming full, the workmen heard the ominous rattle of earth -falling on their shield, while gushes of water followed. - -So excellent were the precautions, however, that no disastrous effects -followed, and Father Thames himself rolled earth or clay into the hole -and stopped it up. It was a warning, and emphasised the fear that -haunted the men’s minds all through the hazardous undertaking—the fear -that the river would break through and drown the tunnel. - -In October, another small irruption took place, and was successfully -combated. Then, in the following January (1827), some clay fell, but -still no overwhelming catastrophe occurred. The ground grew so moist, -however, that it was examined on the other side. That is, the river -bed was inspected by the agency of a diving-bell, and some ominous -depressions were found. These were promptly filled by bags of clay. - -It may be asked, Why had Brunel not gone deeper? Why had he not placed -a greater thickness of earth or clay between his work and the waters of -the Thames? - -The answer is this—He had been informed by geologists that quicksand -prevailed lower down, and the shaft that he sank for drainage below -the level of the proposed tunnel, indicated that this view might be -correct. In fact, when he got down 80 feet, the soil gave way, and -water and sand rushed upwards. He was therefore apparently between the -Thames and the quicksand. The Tower Subway, constructed in 1869, and -driven through the solid London clay, is, however, 60 feet deep where -it commences at Tower Hill. - -Work went steadily forward at Brunel’s tunnel until the 18th of May. -Mr. Beamish, the assistant engineer, was in the cutting on that day, -and as the tide rose he observed the water increase about the shield; -clay showed itself and gravel appeared. He had the clay closed up, and -went to encourage the pumpers. Suddenly, before he could get into the -cells, a great rush of sludge and water drove the men out of the cells, -extinguished the lights, floated the cement casks and boxes, and poured -forward and ever forward, filling the tunnel with the roaring of the -flood. - -The Thames had broken in with a vengeance this time, and drowned the -tunnel. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -UNDER THE RIVER. - - -Happily no one lost his life. - -The men retreated before the advancing wave, and as they went they met -Brunel. But the great engineer could do nothing just then, except, -like them, to retreat. The lights yet remaining flashed on the roaring -water, and then suddenly went out in darkness. - -The foot of the staircase was reached, and it was found thronged with -the retreating workers. Higher and higher grew the surging flood; -Brunel ordered great speed; and scarcely were the men’s feet off the -lower stair when it was torn away. - -On gaining the top, cries were heard; some calling for a rope, others -for a boat. Some one was below in the water! Brunel himself slipped -down an iron rod, another followed, and each fastening a rope to the -body of a man they found in the flood, he was soon drawn out of -danger. On calling the roll, every worker answered to his name. No life -was lost. - -So far, good; but what was to be done now? The tunnel was full of -water. To pump it dry was impossible, for the tide poured in from the -Thames. - -Again the diving-bell was used, and the hole was found in the bed of -the river. To stop it bags of clay, with hazel sticks, were employed; -and so difficult was the task that three thousand bags were utilised -in the process, and more than a month elapsed before the water was -subdued. Two months more passed before the earth washed in was removed, -and Brunel could examine the work. - -He found it for the most part quite sound, though near the shield it -had been shorn of half its thickness of bricks. The chain of the shield -was snapped in twain, and irons belonging to the same apparatus had -been forced into the earth. - -The men now proceeded with their task, and exhibited a cool courage -deserving of all praise. Earth and water frequently fell; foul gases -pervaded the stifling air, and sometimes exploded, or catching -fire, they would now and again dance over the water; and again and -again labourers would be carried away insensible from the poisonous -atmosphere. Complaints, such as skin eruptions, sickness, and -headaches, were common. Yet, in spite of every difficulty, the men -worked on in that damp and dripping and fœtid mine, haunted ever with -the dread of another flood. - -And it came. On the 12th of August, 1828, some fifteen months after the -previous disaster, the ground bulged out, a large quantity fell, and a -violent rush of water followed; one man being washed out of his cell to -the wooden staging behind. - -[Illustration: THE THAMES TUNNEL.] - -The flow was so great that Brunel ordered all to retire. The water rose -so fast that when they had retreated a few feet it was up to their -waists, and finally Brunel had to swim to the stairs, and the rush of -water carried him up the shaft. Unhappily, about half-a-dozen lives -were lost at this catastrophe, and those who were rescued—about a dozen -in number—were extricated in an exhausted or fainting state. The roar -of the water in the shaft made a deafening noise; the news soon spread, -and the scene became very distressing as the relatives of the men -arrived. - -Once more the hole in the bed of the Thames had to be stopped. Down -went the diving-bell, but it had to descend twice before the gap was -discovered. It was a hole some seven feet long, and four thousand tons -of earth, chiefly bags of clay, were used in filling it. Again the -tunnel was entered, and again the intrepid engineer found the work -sound. - -But, alas, another difficulty had presented itself—one more difficult -to conquer even than stopping up huge holes in the bed of the Thames. -The tunnel was being cut by a Company, and its money had gone; nay, -more, its confidence had well nigh gone also. Work could not proceed -without money, and for seven years silence and desolation reigned in -those unfinished halls beneath the river. - -Then the Government agreed to advance money, and work was again -commenced. But it proceeded very slowly, some weeks less than a foot -being cut, during others again three feet nine inches. The ground was -in fact a fluid mud, and the bed of the river had to be artificially -formed before the excavation could proceed in comparative safety. -Further, the tunnel was far deeper than any other work in the -neighbourhood, and all the water drained there—a difficulty which was -obviated by the construction of a shaft on the other side of the river. - -The shield had also to be replaced. It had been so battered about by -the flood that another was necessary. As it kept up the earth above, -and also in front, the change was both arduous and perilous. But it was -accomplished without loss of life. - -Three more irruptions of water occurred: the third in August, 1837, -the fourth in November, 1837, and the fifth in March, 1838. But the -engineer was more prepared for Father Thames’ unpleasant visits, and a -platform had been constructed by which the men could escape. Unhappily, -one life was lost, however, on the fourth occasion. A great rush of -soil also occurred in April, 1840, accompanied by a sinking of the -shore at Wapping over some seven hundred feet of surface. Happily this -occurred at low tide, and the chasm was filled with gravel and bags of -clay before the river rose high. - -At length, on the 13th of August, 1841, Brunel descended the shaft at -Wapping, and entering a small cutting, passed through the shield in -the tunnel, amidst the cheers of the workmen. After all these years -of arduous toil, of anxious solicitude, and of hair-breadth escapes, -the end was near, and a passage under the Thames was cut. It was not -completed and open to the public, however, until the 25th of March, -1843, and then for foot passengers only. - -The approaches for carriages remained to be constructed, and would have -been expensive works. They were to be immense circular roads, but they -were never made. Perhaps that deficiency contributed to the commercial -failure of the great engineering enterprise. In any case, the tunnel -never paid; the Company dissolved; and the tunnel passed over to the -East London Railway, who run trains through it. Its length is 1300 -feet, while between it and the river there is a thickness of soil of -some fifteen feet. - -Though a failure as a business, yet the tunnel was a great engineering -triumph. It was a marvel of perseverance, and of determined, arduous, -skilful toil against overwhelming difficulties. Eighteen years -passed before it was completed; and if the seven be deducted during -which the work was stopped, still eleven remain as the period of its -construction. Work occupying such a length of time must be costly. -Could it be shortened? Would tunnel-making machinery be developed and -improved so as to expedite the labour of years? - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THROUGH THE ALPS. - - -“Cut through the Alps? It is an impossibility; and it would never pay!” - -“Yet they are about to do it. Sommeiller, an engineer, has invented, or -obtained, a rock-boring machine which promises to lighten the labour -considerably; and then, of course, they will shatter great quantities -of earth by explosives.” - -“And what part of the Alps?” - -“Through Mont Cenis. The tunnel will be about 7½ miles long, and the -mountain over it will rise 5400 feet at one point.” - -“And when do they expect to finish it?” - -“I cannot say. They will begin on the southern—that is, the -Italian—side first, and later on the French side. Through the tunnel -will pass one of the principal routes from the West to the East.” - -This conversation, we may suppose, took place in 1857, the year when -the tunnel was commenced. For four years hand work was used, though -blasting was in operation from the first; but in 1861 drilling by -machinery was brought into play, and the rate of progress became much -greater. - -The machine was the first practical boring apparatus for rock, and -was used first in making the Mont Cenis Tunnel. With explosives, as -gun-cotton, dynamite, etc., the time occupied in cutting tunnels has -been much reduced. Thus the Mont Cenis Tunnel occupied about thirteen -years, and cost three millions of pounds. The St. Gotthard—another -Alpine subway—occupied eight years, though it is 9¼ miles in length; -and the Arlberg—yet another Alpine tunnel—a little over 6 miles long, -occupied something more than three years. - -Further, the railway of which the St. Gotthard Tunnel forms part, has -been commercially very successful. This tunnel was commenced in 1872 -and completed in 1880, the same year that saw the beginning of the -Arlberg. - -Tunnels through hard rock do not always need a lining of brickwork; but -if the soil be clay, or loose earth of any kind, the lining of brick -or stone must be brought up close to the scene of actual excavation. -The Mont Cenis is lined with stone or brick almost entirely, about 900 -feet, however, being without such lining. - -And now, how was the actual work of tunnelling carried on? It will be -seen at once that the problem was quite different from that of boring -fifteen feet under the Thames, and sometimes through watery mud. In -boring through mountains the quickest way of cutting and carting away -rock is one of the chief points to be considered. At the Mont Cenis -Tunnel the blasting took place by driving a series of shot holes into -the soil, all over the surface to be cut, filling them with explosives, -and firing them simultaneously in rings. Such explosives may be fired -by a time-fuse or by electricity, giving the workmen ample time to -escape out of reach. The shaken and shattered soil can then be cleared -away. - -The blast holes in this small-shot system are about 1 to 1½ inch in -diameter, and from 1½ to 7 or 9 feet in the rock. The explosive is -forced to the end of each, and the hole is then tamped—that is, closed -with clay or sand—and fired in due time. - -[Illustration: BORING MACHINE USED FOR THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL.] - -The cutters for boring in rock are often diamond drills, the cutting -edges being furnished with a kind of diamond found in Brazil, of a -black colour and of great hardness. These are placed round the edge -of a cylinder of steel, to which iron pipes can be screwed as the -edge cuts its way deeper in the rock. The stuff cut out as the drill -revolves finds its way through the cylinder and the piping. There are, -however, a great number of boring machines of different kinds, hard -steel sometimes taking the place of the opaque diamonds for cutting -purposes. The compressed air with which many of the machines are -worked assisted in the St. Gotthard in the ventilation of the tunnel, -frequently a great consideration, as the space is so small and the gas -from explosions often so great. - -The Mont Cenis Tunnel marks a transition period in tunnelling. During -the four years that hand labour was used, the average rate of progress -was but nine inches a-day on either side; but when the rock-drills -worked by compressed air were introduced, the speed was five times as -great. Still further, at the Arlberg Tunnel through the Tyrolese Alps -the average rate of progress was 9·07 yards per day, and the cost £108 -per lineal yard; while the cost of the Mont Cenis was £226 per lineal -yard. These figures show immense progress in economy and in speed. - -The St. Gotthard Tunnel was begun in 1872, and the machine drills were -used throughout. A heading was first cut about eight feet square, and -the hollow thus gained was afterwards enlarged and finally sunk to the -desired level. Several Ferroux drills were used, placed on a carriage, -and an average charge of 1¾ lbs. of dynamite placed in the holes made. -After firing, the compressed air was discharged and the shattered soil -was cleared away. - -In the Arlberg Tunnel a chief heading was driven, and then shafts -opened up enabling smaller headings to be driven on both hands. Drills -worked by hydraulic power were used, as well as drills worked by air, -and, after the explosions, water spray was thrown out to assist in -clearing and purifying the air. Ventilators also were used, which -injected air at the rate of more than 8000 cubic feet per minute. -Speedy transit of the earth excavated and the materials for masonry -were also effected, it being estimated that some 900 tons of earth had -to be taken out of each end, and about 350 tons of masonry had to be -brought in, every day. - -Tunnels through huge thicknesses of rock or under rivers can only -be cut from the two opposite ends. Where possible, however, other -shafts have been sunk along the line the subway was to take, and thus -excavation might continue at several places along the line of route, -the shafts being used for ventilation and for the conveyance of the -excavated soil. - -But the use of machine drills and of blasting explosives, with improved -appliances for ventilation, have, with possibly some rare exceptions, -rendered these methods obsolete. According to Pliny the tunnel for -draining Lake Fucino was the greatest work of his day. It was over -3½ miles long, and cut under Monte Salviano. Forty shafts were sunk -in cutting it, also sloping galleries, and huge copper buckets were -used to carry away the earth. It is stated that this tunnel—some ten -feet high, by six wide—occupied 30,000 men eleven years. Compare this -with the Arlberg, or even the Gotthard, double and treble the length, -occupying much less time. Sir Benjamin Baker has calculated that the -Fucino tunnel could now be cut in eleven months. - -Gunpowder gave some advance on old Roman methods of tunnelling. The -improved explosives and rock-drills have gone further. - -Even as the Mont Cenis shows a transition period, so the Arlberg may -be said to emphasise a triumph of the methods then indicated. So great -have been the improvements of the rock-boring machinery, of the power -of the blasts, and the speedy ventilation following the explosions, and -of the quick transit of materials, that we shall most likely hear no -more of sinking numerous shafts along the route. - -But what of subaqueous tunnels? Violent explosives are hardly suitable -for excavation a few feet under a turbid river. What is to be done, -when cutting under a full and treacherous stream? - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -UNDER WATER AGAIN. - - -“How to cross the Thames at Blackwall, far east of the Tower Bridge?” -That was a problem which the citizens of London had to face in the -latter part of the nineteenth century. - -An immense population dwelt on either side, and some means of easy -communication became a pressing necessity. Should it be effected by -means of a bridge, fixed or floating, or by means of a tunnel? - -Finally a tunnel was decided upon, with sloping approaches on either -side. Its entire length was to be 6200 feet including the approaches; -but herein lay the danger and the difficulty—it was to be driven only -seven feet below the bed of the river, and through loose soil and -gravel. - -How then was this perilous task to be accomplished? If the great river -burst through Brunel’s fifteen feet, would it not be much more likely -to rush through this seven feet of loose soil? - -But the engineers in charge had an appliance in hand, which was unknown -to Brunel—viz., a compressed air chamber, a piece of apparatus which -has facilitated several great engineering achievements, besides the -Blackwall Tunnel. - -When the excavation of the tunnel was commenced, a stout apartment -was formed at the end of the cutting, into which air was pumped until -it exerted a pressure of some thirty-five pounds to a square inch, in -addition to its usual weight. - -This is generally reckoned at an average of 14·7 pounds to a square -inch. We are so used to this pressure that we do not feel it; but let -us enter a room where the air has been much more compressed, as in -this air-chamber, and serious consequences would be likely to ensue, -especially at first. - -The human body, however, has a wonderful power of adaptability, and -after a time some men get used to the change and can work in the -compressed air without injury. But at first it may cause bleeding from -the nose and ears, sometimes indeed affecting the hearing more or less -seriously, and also causing great pain. - -The reason for using this compressed air chamber was to keep out Father -Thames. The great pressure of the air resisted the great pressure of -the water, and held up the seven feet of soil between. - -Powerful engines were maintained at work to provide for the pressure -of the air, and the chamber in which the compressed air was kept was -entered and left by the workmen through an “air-lock”—that is, a small -ante-chamber having two doors, one leading to the compressed air and -the other to the ordinary atmosphere, and neither being opened at the -same time. - -The men, then, worked in this compressed air chamber, which prevented -irruptions of the river. But the method of excavation was also another -safeguard, both against irruptions of water and of earth. - -In essence, it was much the same as that pursued in boring the tunnel -for the South London Electric Railway; that, however, was through thick -clay and about 10½ feet in diameter, and this was 27 feet across, and -through loose and stony stuff. The shield, instead of containing as in -Brunel’s time a number of cells, consisted of an immense iron cylinder, -weighing some 250 tons; closed in front, but having a door in the -closed part; the rim of the cylinder round this part having a sharp -edge for cutting into the soil. - -[Illustration: THE ENTRANCE TO THE AIR-LOCK. - -(_Men waiting to enter the Compressed Air-Chamber through the Door._)] - -The door being opened, the men found themselves face to face with the -earth to be excavated. They cut away as well as they could, perhaps -about 2½ feet deep, throwing the earth into trucks in the compressed -air chamber; these trucks would be afterwards hauled away through the -air-lock by electricity, and the huge iron cylinder would be pushed -forward by means of hydraulic power. Twenty-eight hydraulic “jacks” -were employed, and they forced forward the 250 ton cylinder with its -cutting edge, when the men would resume working through the door as -before. - -Behind them, the hole of the tunnel thus cut out was being lined. -First, it was built round with iron plates a couple of inches thick. -This plating was fixed in segments, and formed a huge pipe a little -smaller than the actual hollow in the earth. Through holes in the -immense piping, liquid cement was forced, thus plugging up the space -entirely between the earth and the iron, and forming an outer ring of -cement. - -Within, the tunnel was completed by a facing of glazed tiles, placed on -a thickness of 14 inches of concrete. A road-way was laid 16 feet wide, -flanked by footpaths of 3 feet, 2 inches, on either side. The subway is -lighted by electricity, and staircases on the banks lead down to it for -foot passengers. The stairways give entrance to the tunnel not far from -the river, and much nearer than the commencement of the carriage-way -approaches. - -At the northern side, the slope down commences near the East India -Dock entrance, and turns out of the East India Dock Road. The slope -is fairly gradual—about one in thirty-four—and it passes under the -Blackwall line of the Great Eastern Railway, and near to Poplar -Station. The part of the tunnel near to this point—that is the part -between the river and the open slope—was executed by what is called -“cut and cover” work—that is, a huge trench was dug, then arched in and -covered over. - -“Cut and cover” work also took place on the south side; and there, at -the foot of an immense excavation ninety feet down, and with its sides -held up by huge timbers, might have been seen a river of water which -had drained in and was being pumped up quickly by powerful machinery. - -Not far distant, the shaft was being sunk for the staircase. In -principle, the sinking of the shaft was conducted much as Brunel’s -shaft at the Thames Tunnel, only it was built up of iron instead of -brick. Imagine a big gasometer with a scaffold near the top, where men -are busy building the walls higher and higher by adding on plate after -plate of iron. On reaching the scaffold you find that there are two -great cylinders of iron, one standing inside the other, and concrete -is being filled in between them. Men also are down below digging out -the earth which is being swung up in iron buckets; and as the soil is -gradually removed, the immense double iron and concrete cylinder slowly -sinks by its own weight. - -In this manner, the great shaft was sunk nearly ninety feet, and within -it the staircase has been built, giving entrance for foot passengers, -not far from the river. Thus, on either side are sloping entrances to -the tunnel, and also, nearer the water, stairways of descent down great -shafts. - -Engineers have also found their way beneath other great English -rivers—the Severn and the Mersey. Much water had to be dealt with -in the cutting of the Severn Tunnel. This important work, four and -one-third miles long, was driven in some places forty-five feet under -sandstone, and at the Salmon Pool—a hollow in the river bed—the tunnel -was thirty feet under soil called trias marl. Much greater space, -therefore, exists here between the tunnel and river than at Blackwall. -But the river burst through. The work was begun in 1873, and completed -in 1886. - -Six years after its commencement the tunnel was drowned, so to speak, -for a long time by a large spring of water which burst out from -limestone, and arrangements had to be made to provide for this flood. -It is now conducted by a subsidiary tunnel or channel to a huge shaft, -where it is raised by pumps of sufficient strength. Then there was the -perilous Salmon Pool to be dealt with. The river burst through here, -and the rent had to be stopped with clay. The tunnel is twenty-six -feet wide by twenty feet high, and is cut through Pennant stone, -shale, and marl. It is lined with Staffordshire vitrified bricks -throughout—seventy-five million bricks it is estimated being used. The -works are ventilated by a huge fan, and pumping continually proceeds, -something like twenty-six million gallons of water, it is said, being -raised in the twenty-four hours. The tunnel, of which the engineers -were Messrs. Hawkshaw, Son, Hayter & Richardson, and Mr. T. A. Walker, -Contractor, is for the use of the Great Western Railway, and saves -that Company’s Welsh and Irish trains to Milford a long way round by -Gloucester. - -[Illustration: THE BORING MACHINE USED IN THE PRELIMINARY CONSTRUCTION -OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL TUNNEL.] - -In cutting the Mersey Tunnel, which was completed in 1886, machinery -was used for some of the work. The machine bored partly to a diameter -of seven feet four inches, but hand labour had to be largely depended -upon. The plan pursued was to sink a shaft on either side of the -river and drive a heading, sloping upward through the sandstone to -the centre; this heading acting as a drain for any water which might -appear. The thickness between the arch of the tunnel and the river bed -is thirty feet at its least, and the tunnel, which occupied about six -years in construction, and of which the engineers were Messrs. Brunlees -& Fox, is provided with pumps raising some thirteen million gallons -of water daily. As in the case of the Severn Tunnel, ventilation is -provided for by huge fans. - -A boring machine was also used in the preliminary efforts for the -construction of a tunnel under the English Channel. Holes, seven -feet across and to the length of 2000 yards, have been bored by a -compressed air machine, working with two arms furnished with teeth of -steel. The construction of the tunnel is held to be quite feasible from -an engineering point of view, and it is believed that it would pass -through strata impervious to water, such as chalk marl and grey chalk. - -Still, the huge tunnel at Blackwall, which was carried out by Mr. -Binnie, Chief Engineer of the London County Council, with Mr. Greathead -and Sir Benjamin Baker as Consulting Engineers, is probably one of the -most daring and stupendous enterprises of the kind ever undertaken. To -hollow out a subway hundreds of feet long under the Thames, only seven -feet from the bed of the great river, and through loose gravelly soil, -was a great triumph. It was achieved not by uncalculating bravery, but -by a wise combination of cool courage, superb skill, and admirable -foresight. - -To design effectively, to provide for contingencies, to be daunted -by no difficulties—these qualities help to produce the Triumphs of -Engineers, as well as do great inventive skill, the power of adapting -principles to varying circumstances, and high-spirited enterprise in -planning and conducting noble and useful works. 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