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Holmes—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> /* <![CDATA[*/ - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} - -.p60 { - font-size: 0.60em; - text-align: center;} - -.p80 { - font-size: 0.80em; - text-align: center;} - -.p140 { - font-size: 1.40em; - text-align: center; - font-weight: bold;} - -p.drop-cap { - text-indent: 0em; -} -p.drop-cap:first-letter -{ - float: left; - margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; - font-size: 250%; - line-height:0.85em; -} -.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter -{ - float: none; - margin: 0; - font-size: 100%; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print {hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;}} - -hr.chap1 {width: 50%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 25.0%; - margin-right: 25.0%; - border:4px double gray;} -@media print {hr.chap1 {display: none; visibility: hidden;}} - -hr.chap2 {width: 80%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 10.0%; - margin-right: 10.0%; - border:4px double gray;} -@media print {hr.chap2 {display: none; visibility: hidden;}} - -hr.r5 {width: 5%; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - margin-left: 47.5%; - margin-right: 47.5%;} - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto;} - -table.autotable {border-collapse: collapse;} -table.autotable td, -table.autotable th {padding: 4px;} - -th.chap { -font-weight: normal; -font-size: x-small; -text-align: left; -padding-left: 1em;} - -td.cht { - text-align: left; - vertical-align: top; - padding-left: 1.5em; - text-indent:-1em; -} - -td.chn { - text-align: right; - vertical-align: top; - padding-left: 0.5em; -} - -th.pag { -font-weight: normal; -font-size: x-small; -text-align: right; -padding-left: 2em;} - -.tdc {text-align: center;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdl {text-align: left;} - -.pagenum {/* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: 0; -} /* page numbers */ - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ - -img { - max-width: 100%; - height: auto; -} -img.w100 {width: 100%;} - - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - - -/* Transcriber’s notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif;} - - /*]]> */ </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Engineers and their triumphs: the story of the locomotive, the steamship, bridge building, tunnel making, by F. M. Holmes</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Engineers and their triumphs: the story of the locomotive, the steamship, bridge building, tunnel making</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: F. M. Holmes</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: October 1, 2022 [eBook #69084]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>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.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGINEERS AND THEIR TRIUMPHS: THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE, THE STEAMSHIP, BRIDGE BUILDING, TUNNEL MAKING ***</div> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Hyphenation has been standardised.</p> - -<p>The Transcriber has constructed a ‘List of Illustrations’, as none was - supplied.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_132" title="">Page 132</a>—changed possibilites to <strong>possibilities</strong></p> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="cover"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" width="1651" height="2560" /></a> -</div> - -<p class="p4"></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_frontis"><img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="382" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE TOWER BRIDGE, LONDON, SHOWING THE BASCULES RAISED.</p></div> -</div> - -<p class="p4"></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h1> ENGINEERS<br /> - -AND<br /> - -THEIR TRIUMPHS:</h1> - -<p class="center"> <em>THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE—THE STEAMSHIP—BRIDGE - BUILDING—TUNNEL MAKING.</em></p> -<p class="p2"></p> -<p class="center p80"> BY</p> - -<p class="center"> F. M. HOLMES,</p> - -<p class="center p60"> AUTHOR OF “FOUR HEROES OF INDIA,” ETC.</p> - -<p class="p2"></p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_003"><img src="images/i_003.jpg" alt="" width="100" height="100" /></a> -</div> - -<p class="p2"></p> -<p class="center p60"> FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY</p> - -<p class="center p60"> NEW YORK   CHICAGO   TORONTO</p> - -<p class="center p80"> <em>Publishers of Evangelical Literature.</em> -</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap2 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<p class="p4"></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_005"><img src="images/i_005.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="336" /></a> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="p2"></p> -<p class="center">PREFACE.</p> -<hr class="r5 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Without</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The narrative concerning Henry Bell and the steamship -<em>Comet</em>, and of his connection with Fulton, is chiefly <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span> -based on a letter from Bell himself in the <cite>Caledonian -Mercury</cite> in 1816.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Gentleman’s Magazine</cite>, -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 <cite>Shipping and Mercantile Gazette</cite>, in which -paper it was published on 15th May, 1873.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="right">F. M. HOLMES.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p> - -<a id="i_007"><img src="images/i_007.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="326" /></a> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> -</div> -<hr class="r5 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<table> -<tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="3">THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<th class="chap">CHAPTER</th> -<th></th> -<th class="pag">PAGE</th> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="chn">I.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">FIRST STEPS,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">II.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">GLANCING BACKWARDS AND STRUGGLING FORWARDS,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">III.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">FIFTEEN MILES AN HOUR,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">IV.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">A MARVEL OF MECHANISM,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">V.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">A MILE A MINUTE,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="3">THE STORY OF THE STEAMSHIP.</td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">I.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">THE “COMET” APPEARS,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">II.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">TO THE NARROW SEAS,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">III.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">ON THE OPEN OCEAN,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">IV.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">THE OCEAN RACE,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">V.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">BEFORE THE FURNACE,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="3">FAMOUS BRIDGES AND THEIR BUILDERS.</td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">I.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">“THE BRIDGE BY THE EARTHEN HOUSE,”</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">II.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">A NEW IDEA—THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[viii]</span></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">III.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">LATTICE AND SUSPENSION BRIDGES,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">IV.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">THE GREATEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">V.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">THE TOWER BRIDGE,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="3"> REMARKABLE TUNNELS AND THEIR<br /> - CONSTRUCTION.</td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">I.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">HOW BRUNEL MADE A BORING-SHIELD,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">II.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">UNDER THE RIVER,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">III.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">THROUGH THE ALPS,</span></td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="chn">IV.</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="allsmcap">UNDER WATER AGAIN,</span> </td> - <td class="right"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_008"><img src="images/i_008.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="209" /></a> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="List_of_Illustrations">List of Illustrations</h2> -</div> - -<table id="ILLUSTRATIONS"> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">The Tower Bridge, London, showing the bascules raised.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_iii"> iii</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">George Stephenson.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">“Puffing Billy,” the oldest locomotive engine in - existence. </td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_13"> 13</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">James Watt.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Edward Pease.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27"> 27</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The compound locomotive “Greater Britain.”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Back and front view of the locomotive “Greater Britain.”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The “Flying Dutchman.”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Bell’s “Comet.”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Robert Fulton.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The ice-bound “Britannia” at Boston.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Isambard Kingdom Brunel.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The “Great Eastern.”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">High and low pressure cylinders of the “Campania’s” engines.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The “Campania.”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Stoke Hole.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Promenade deck of the “Paris.”</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Pontypridd Bridge.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Post Bridge, Dartmoor.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Robert Stephenson.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Britannia Tubular Bridge.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Victoria Tubular Bridge, Montreal.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Clifton Bridge.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Brooklyn Bridge.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Forth Bridge.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Thames Tunnel.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Boring machine used for the Mont Cenis Tunnel.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The entrance to the air-lock.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td> -</tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The boring machine used in the preliminary - construction of the English Channel Tunnel.</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_009"><img src="images/i_009.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="280" /></a> -</div> - -<hr class="chap1 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<p class="center p140">ENGINEERS AND THEIR TRIUMPHS.</p> -<hr class="chap1 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - -<p class="center p140"><span class="smcap">The Story of the Locomotive.</span></p> - -<hr class="r5 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">FIRST STEPS.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“I think</span> I could make a better engine than -that.”</p> - -<p>“Do you? Well, some’ing’s wanted; hauling -coal by horses is very expensive.”</p> - -<p>“Ay, it is, and I think an engine could do it -better.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Blackett’s second engine burst all to pieces; -d’ye mind that?”</p> - -<p>“How came that about?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Ay, ay, but this one is an improvement.”</p> - -<p>“It had need be. Even the third was a perfect -plague.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span></p> - -<p>“What! you mean Mr. Blackett’s third engine?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Stood still!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And now you find that the engine is heavy enough -herself to grip the rail.”</p> - -<p>“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?’”</p> - -<p>“‘Get on,’ sez he, ‘I don’t get on; I on’y get off!’”</p> - -<p>“It was always goin’ wrong, and horses was always -having to be got out to drag it along.”</p> - -<p>“How did Hedley find out that a rack-rail was not -needful?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Then Mr. Blackett had this engine built?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Has nothing been done to alter it?”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> -to let the steam escape gradual like, by blowing it off -into a cask first.”</p> - -<p>“Umph! very wasteful.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, ay; it be wasteful; and many a one about -here sez of Mr. Blackett that a fool and his money are -soon parted.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_011"><img src="images/i_011.jpg" alt="" width="268" height="400" /></a> -<p class="caption center">GEORGE STEPHENSON.</p></div> - -<p>The tone in which these words were uttered was not -boastful, but quiet and thoughtful.</p> - -<p>“You are Geordie Stephenson, the engine-wright of -the Killingworth Collieries, ’beant you?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span></p> - -<p>“Ay, ay, Geordie, that’s so—smooth wheels on -smooth rails.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]<br /><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span></p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_013"><img src="images/i_013.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="437" /></a> -<p class="caption center"> “PUFFING BILLY,” THE OLDEST LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE IN EXISTENCE.<br /> -(<em>At present in South Kensington Museum.</em>)</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The trial, however, was not very successful. Trevithick’s -engine was too heavy for the tramway on which <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It is very significant that this imaginary fear should<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Would he succeed?</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">GLANCING BACKWARDS AND STRUGGLING FORWARDS.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“My</span> lord, will you spend the money to build a -Travelling Engine?”</p> - -<p>“Why? what would it do?”</p> - -<p>“Haul coals to the Tyne, my lord. The -present system of hauling by horses is very costly.”</p> - -<p>“It is. But how would you manage it by a Travelling -Engine?” Thereupon George Stephenson the -engine-wright proceeded to explain.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> -its power. Savery’s engines appear to have been used -to drain mines.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_021"><img src="images/i_021.jpg" alt="" width="278" height="400" /></a> -<p class="caption center"> JAMES WATT.</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> -cylinders respectively. When steam is condensed, it -may be returned to the boiler as water.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> -But he saw what others had done to adopt it as a locomotive, -and he now set to work.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The locomotive needed something more, some magic -touch to render it less clumsy and more effective. -What was it?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_027"><img src="images/i_027.jpg" alt="" width="318" height="400" /></a> -<p class="caption center"> EDWARD PEASE.</p></div> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless Stephenson persevered. He was appointed -engineer to the Stockton and Darlington -Railway—an enterprise largely promoted by Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> -Edward Pease. It was opened on the 27th of September, -1825, and a local paper writes as follows:—</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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 <em>Experiment</em> was hauled by a horse, -and the journey occupied about two hours.</p> - -<p>The locomotive was not even yet a brilliant success -over horse-power. What was to be the next step?</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">FIFTEEN MILES AN HOUR.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Five</span> hundred pounds for the best locomotive -engine!</p> - -<p>So ran the announcement one day in the year -1829. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway -was nearly completed, but yet the directors had not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> -fully decided what power they would employ to haul -along their waggons.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>It is said that the word tramway is derived from -tram, which was wont to mean a beam of timber and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>The old ways were first made of wood, then of wood -faced with iron, then altogether of iron.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“He will never do it,” said some of the most famous -engineers of the day. “It is impossible!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But Stephenson was an Englishman out and out. -He never knew when he was beaten. “Keep on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Now, hitherto the difficulty in the locomotive had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span><br /><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span></p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_033"><img src="images/i_033.jpg" alt="" width="490" height="650" /></a> -<p class="caption center"> “THE ROCKET.”</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span></p> -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The competitions continued, but the “Novelty,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>How have those possibilities been realised?</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">A MARVEL OF MECHANISM.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“The</span> time is coming when it will be cheaper for a -working man to travel on a railway than to -walk on foot.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> -and Manchester Railway no longer debated as to -what form of traction they should adopt.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_041"><img src="images/i_041.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="338" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE COMPOUND LOCOMOTIVE “GREATER BRITAIN.”</p> -<p class="caption center"><em>By kind permission of Mr. F. W. Webb, L. & N. W. Railway.</em></p> -</div> - -<p>Mr. Worsdell’s compounds on the North-Eastern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> -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 -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>This locomotive was described in the <cite>Engineer</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> -engines altogether burn 3095 tons of coal per day, any -small saving per hour would be eagerly welcomed.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_044"><img src="images/i_044.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="525" /></a> -<p class="caption center">BACK AND FRONT VIEW OF THE LOCOMOTIVE “GREATER BRITAIN.”</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 -<cite>Engineer</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>Compounds are used largely on the North-Western,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> -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.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">A MILE A MINUTE.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“The</span> express is to be quickened, my lord. Mr. -Thompson, the general manager, has given -instructions to that effect.”</p> - -<p>So spoke the station master at Carlisle, on -the 17th of March, 1894, to Lord Rosebery.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Engineer</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>So the contest stood for about a month, when the -West Coast calmly announced the same time for its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> -“Blucher,” that there was no limit to the speed of -the locomotive, provided the work could be made to -stand.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_050"><img src="images/i_050.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="392" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE “FLYING DUTCHMAN.”</p></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_052"><img src="images/i_052.jpg" alt="an engine on tracks" width="300" height="227" /></a> -</div> - -<hr class="chap2 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span></p> - - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_053"><img src="images/i_053.jpg" alt="a steamship" width="500" height="232" /></a> -</div> - -<p class="p140"><span class="smcap">The Story of the Steamship.</span></p> - -<hr class="r5 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I-2">CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> -<p class="center">THE “COMET” APPEARS.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“If</span> only people could reach the place easier, I could -do more business.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> -the same kind did not answer. What was to be -done?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>She was called the <em>Comet</em>, 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.”</p> - -<p>“Whatever made you think of starting a steamship?” -we can imagine a friend asking him as they stood on -the bank and watched the <em>Comet</em> with her paddles -shaped like malt shovels, splashing up the water.</p> - -<p>“Partly it was Miller’s experiments, and partly it was -a letter from Fulton. You know, Fulton has put the -<em>Clermont</em> 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.”</p> - -<p>“And did you?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“So you made the <em>Comet</em>?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_055"><img src="images/i_055.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="522" /></a> -<p class="caption center">BELL’S “COMET.”</p></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And the paddles?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Bell carried out his improvement, and in a short -time he did adopt the better form of paddle wheel. -The improved <em>Comet</em>, with a new engine, attained -six or seven miles an hour. But before this, Mr. -Hutchison, a brewer, built another boat, bigger than the -<em>Comet</em>, and her engine was of ten horse-power, while -the <em>Comet’s</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Indeed, Symington is said to have built the “first -practically successful steamboat” in the world. She -was called the <em>Charlotte Dundas</em>, 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span></p> - -<p>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 <em>Charlotte Dundas</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>The engine of the <em>Charlotte Dundas</em> 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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Charlotte Dundas</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> -Then, in 1787, Patrick Miller is said to have patented -paddle wheels in Britain.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>quasi</em>-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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> -until Symington commenced his experiments -under Lord Dundas.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_059"><img src="images/i_059.jpg" alt="" width="295" height="400" /></a> -<p class="caption center">ROBERT FULTON.</p></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Miller’s boats had two hulls, and the paddle wheels<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> -revolved between. Symington placed his wheel astern. -Bell placed his paddles on either side.</p> - -<p>“Ah, she will work!” we can imagine the spectators -saying, as they watched that strange craft, the <em>Charlotte -Dundas</em>, with her double rudder, tugging along her -barges.</p> - -<p>“Ay, she will work, but the canal folk won’t let her; -they think the wash from the wheels will wear away -the bank!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>That man, whom we imagine said this, and who -appears, without doubt, to have inspected the <em>Charlotte -Dundas</em>, was Robert Fulton, who, with his companion, -Livingstone, claim to have invented steamboats in the -United States.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>What were Fulton’s adventures?</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II-2">CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">TO THE NARROW SEAS.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“I should</span> not like to risk my money in the -thing.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I, she will never pay.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon she will burst up before the day is -over.”</p> - -<p>“Well, she is about to start now.”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Why, stranger, this thing’s going to succeed.”</p> - -<p>“It does look so.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>They were watching the trial trip of the first practically -successful steamboat in America, the <em>Clermont</em>. -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 <em>Comet</em> appeared in -Britain. Yet the <em>Clermont’s</em> engines were made in -Britain by Boulton & Watt, and men from their works -helped in mounting the machinery.</p> - -<p>Colden, Fulton’s biographer, describing this trial -trip, says:—</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Clermont</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Clermont</em>. 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.</p> - -<p>The engines of those early steamboats were, as a -rule, a sort of beam engine. The famous <em>Comet</em> was -engined in that manner. John Robertson, who actually -set up the <em>Comet’s</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>Now, when Fulton had made his <em>Clermont</em> in 1807, -and Bell had put his <em>Comet</em> 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 <em>Accommodation</em> ploughed -the waters of the great St. Lawrence, and two years -later a steamer startled the dwellers on the mighty -Mississippi. The <em>Elizabeth</em> also followed the <em>Comet</em> on -the Clyde in 1813.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Comet</em>, Wood & Company, of Port-Glasgow, -under the direction of Mr. Thompson, who had -been connected with some of Bell’s experiments.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> -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 <em>Marjorie</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>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 -<em>Glasgow</em> and afterwards the <em>Thames</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>London</em> and the <em>Richmond</em>, -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.</p> - -<p>Other vessels also had appeared on the royal river. -The <em>Majestic</em> even had got as far as Margate, and had -ventured across to Calais. The <em>Regent</em> had been -burned off Whitstable, and the <em>Caledonia</em>, which had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> -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 -<em>Richmond</em> 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 <em>Regent</em> 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 <em>Quebec</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Rob Roy</em>, 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 <em>Rob Roy</em>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>In 1819 he put the <em>Talbot</em> 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 <em>Ivanhoe</em>, and in 1821 steam vessels -were regularly used to carry the mails.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span></p><h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III-2">CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">ON THE OPEN OCEAN.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Why</span> should not the Great Western end at New -York?</p> - -<p>That was Brunel’s idea, and it had an -immense effect on the establishment of transatlantic -steamships.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Still he was not the first, nor the only one, in the -field. To the <em>Savannah</em> belongs the honour of being -the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. Yet she was -not altogether a steamship.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>England next did something of the same kind. The -<em>Falcon</em> 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 <em>Enterprize</em>, 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 <em>Royal William</em>, -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.</p> - -<p>Then in 1838 two steamships, the <em>Sirius</em> and the -<em>Great Western</em>, 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 -<em>Sirius</em>, which had been built on the Thames, was purchased -by them and prepared for her voyage.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Sirius</em> left Cork on the 5th of April, and arrived -at New York eighteen days afterwards. She carried<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> -seven passengers, and close at her heels followed Brunel’s -<em>Great Western</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Sirius</em> 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 <em>Great Western</em>, -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 <em>Sirius</em> was also -better than her outward passage.</p> - -<p>The engines of the <em>Great Western</em> 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.</p> - -<p>The proprietors of the two vessels soon began to -build others. The owners of the <em>Great Western</em> laid -down the <em>Great Britain</em>, and the proprietors of the -<em>Sirius</em> began the <em>British Queen</em>. She had paddle -wheels of 31 feet diameter, and her piston stroke was -the same as the <em>Great Western</em>, 7 feet. Her engines<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>Satisfactory as these results were, the pecuniary -returns unfortunately were not so favourable. The -<em>Great Western</em>, 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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The first steamer, built in 1829, was the <em>William -Fawcett</em>, a small vessel of 206 gross tonnage, and but -60 horse-power. In 1842 the proprietors owned the -<em>Hindostan</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>Some two years after the <em>Hindostan</em> first steamed -to India, Brunel’s <em>Great Britain</em> was finished. She -was a very remarkable vessel, and the wonder of her -time. In the first place, she was built of iron, and,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Aglaia</em> was the first iron steamer -built on the Clyde in 1832. As for the screw-propeller, -John Ericsson was successful with the <em>Francis B. -Ogden</em> in 1836, and three years later Sir Francis -Pettit Smith clearly showed, in the vessel appropriately -called the <em>Archimedes</em>, the value and the -feasibility of the new system.</p> - -<p>Brunel, therefore, ever open to improvements, combined -these two alterations in the <em>Great Britain</em>. 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>But when the <em>Great Britain</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Unfortunate <em>Great Britain</em>! 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.</p> - -<p>The engines of the early screw vessels appear to have -very much resembled those for paddle-wheels ships. -Thus the <em>Rattler</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, however, the commercial difficulty -of transatlantic steam traffic was being solved. The -something lacking had been supplied. What was it?</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span></p><h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV-2">CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">THE OCEAN RACE.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“This</span> is the very opportunity I have been wanting!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> -a quarter of a million (£270,000) was subscribed -through Mr. Burns’s influence.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Great Western</em>, -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But about their fleet. Their first order was for four -vessels, all of about the same size and power. The -<em>Britannia</em> was the first, and her sisters were the -<em>Caledonia</em>, the <em>Columbia</em>, and the <em>Acadia</em>. 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Britannia</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> -to Halifax in 12 days, 10 hours, and returned in 10 -days. Her average consumption of fuel was about -thirty-eight tons daily.</p> - -<p>The Bostonians gave the <em>Britannia</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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 -<em>Hibernia</em>—and in 1845 the <em>Cambria</em>. 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]<br /><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span></p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_077"><img src="images/i_077.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="368" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE ICE-BOUND “BRITANNIA” AT BOSTON.</p> -<p class="caption center"><em>By permission of The Cunard Steamship Co.</em></p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> -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 -<em>Arctic</em> perished by collision; the <em>Pacific</em> 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!</p> - -<p>But the Inman line had also begun to run, about -1850. These ships, like the <em>Great Britain</em>, were built -of iron and propelled by a screw. The first was the -<em>City of Glasgow</em>, 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 <em>Paris</em>, <em>New York</em>, -<em>Berlin</em>, etc. The Inman line had the distinction of -being the first, apart from the <em>Great Britain</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Great -Eastern</em>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> -£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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_080"><img src="images/i_080.jpg" alt="" width="432" height="600" /></a> -<p class="caption center">ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL.</p> -<p class="caption center"><em>By permission of Messrs. Graves & Co.</em></p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> -success almost from the very commencement, even -before she was launched.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Great Eastern</em>, therefore, was planned to carry -15,000 tons of coal; whereas now the large Atlantic -liner <em>Paris</em> needs only 2700 tons for her Atlantic trip. -The difference is most striking, for the <em>Paris</em> is one of -the largest steamships afloat, but her working steam -pressure is 150 lbs. instead of the 15 or 25 lbs. of the -<em>Great Eastern</em>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>“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 <em>Great Eastern</em> 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 -<em>Great Eastern</em>, is passed through two, three, and even -four cylinders respectively, and the economy in coal -consumption is astounding. Thus the use of triple<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> -expansion engines has brought the saving in coal down -from 4 lbs. per indicated horse-power to less than 1½ lbs.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_083"><img src="images/i_083.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="540" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE “GREAT EASTERN.”</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> -Pacific Steam Navigation Company, on the compound -principle, which proved very satisfactory.</p> - -<p>Again in 1870, the appearance of the White Star -liner <em>Oceanic</em>, marked a new development. Her yacht-like -shape, great length, and general symmetry of form -commenced a marked change in Atlantic liners.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Oceanic</em> 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.</p> - -<p>But when the White Stars <em>Germanic</em> and <em>Britannic</em> -appeared in 1877, then a marked advance indeed was -made in the Atlantic record. The <em>Britannic</em> 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 <em>Germanic</em> -also did as well, and the fierce race for the blue ribbon -of the Atlantic may be said to have begun.</p> - -<p>It was even prophesied that the time across the -water might be reduced to six days. How has that -been fulfilled?</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V-2">CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">BEFORE THE FURNACE.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“The</span> record’s broken again, Jemmy! The White -Star has come home a couple of hours earlier!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“They do; but I’m thinking the American’s <em>New -York</em> will be doin’ the fastest bit.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well, it may be. They’re all main powerful -vessels. Do you mind when the Guion’s <em>Alaska</em> came -home in 6 days, 18 hours, 37 minutes?”</p> - -<p>“I do, and about ten years later, I suppose, some -ships were doing it in about a day less time!”</p> - -<p>“Ay, ay, and I see they’re goin’ ahead down south -too.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, there’s fast steaming all over the world, -Jemmy!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>After the <em>Britannic</em> and <em>Germanic</em> appeared, line -after line put forth fine vessels; and in 1889 was -launched the White Star steamer <em>Teutonic</em>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> -herself and her sister <em>Majestic</em>, was 5 days, 18 hours, -6 minutes. And they were run very close by the -American liners, <em>Paris</em> and <em>New York</em>. 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.</p> - -<p>In July, 1892, the fine Inman (now called American) -liner <em>Paris</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But the Cunard Company, not to be beaten, put on -the <em>Campania</em> 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.</p> - -<p>The <em>Campania</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_087"><img src="images/i_087.jpg" alt="" width="431" height="600" /></a> -<p class="caption center">HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE CYLINDERS OF THE “CAMPANIA’S” ENGINES.</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span> -decks, the last three being devoted entirely to passengers.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]<br /><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_089"><img src="images/i_089.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="385" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE “CAMPANIA.”</p> -<p class="caption center"><em>By permission of The Cunard Steamship Co.</em></p> -</div> - -<p>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 -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span>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.</p> - -<p>About five years after the birth of the <em>Teutonic</em> the -newspapers recorded, in May, 1894, that the <em>Lucania</em>, -sister ship to the <em>Campania</em>, 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 -<em>Himalaya</em> 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.</p> - -<p>A little later, in the same year, the torpedo-boat -destroyer, <em>Hornet</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>Again, a short time later, Messrs. Thorneycroft, of -Chiswick, obtained similar results with the <em>Daring</em>, -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.</p> - -<p>In the same summer a Company put on a fine -steamer for service on the Thames and the English -Channel, called <em>La Marguerite</em>, which developed, it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> -is said, a speed of 25 miles an hour, which would -make her one of the fastest passenger vessels then -afloat.</p> - -<p>Another Company has also a noteworthy vessel running -on the Estuary of the Thames—viz., the <em>London -Belle</em>, 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—<em>i.e.</em>, twenty-three -statute miles per hour, and is worked with great -economy of coal consumption.</p> - -<p>An example of a quadruple-expansion engine steamer -may be found in the <em>Tantallon Castle</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_093"><img src="images/i_093.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="350" /></a> -<p class="caption center">STOKE HOLE.</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>On the completion of the 200th round voyage<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> -of the celebrated “White Stars,” <em>Germanic</em> and -<em>Britannic</em>, about January, 1894, they seemed steaming -as regularly and as fast, or faster than ever. Thus, on -the 198th outward trip of the <em>Germanic</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>Those people who care for figures may be interested -in knowing that the <em>Britannic</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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 -<em>Teutonic</em> and <em>Majestic</em>.</p> - -<p>The well-known Cunarders, <em>Umbria</em> and <em>Etruria</em>, -have also done some very fine work, indicating great -excellence of construction. Thus, on her eighty-second -voyage, the <em>Umbria</em> 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.</p> - -<p>The story of the British warship <em>Calliope</em>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Eber</em>, one of -the German ships, began to drag her anchors; and the -<em>Vandalia</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>As morning dawned and wore on to-day, the <em>Eber</em> -collided with the <em>Nipsic</em> and then with the <em>Olga</em>, 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 -<em>Vandalia</em> and the <em>Calliope</em> were tossed perilously near -together, and also toward the dangerous reef. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> -endeavouring to steam away, the <em>Vandalia</em> collided -with the <em>Calliope</em>, 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!</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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 <em>Calliope</em> 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 <em>Calliope</em> had to pass between the -<em>Trenton</em> (an American warship) and the reef, and it -required the most skilful seamanship to avoid a collision -with the <em>Trenton</em>, on the one hand, or total destruction -upon the reef, on the other. The <em>Trenton’s</em> fires had -gone out by that time, and she lay helpless almost in -the path of the <em>Calliope</em>.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_099"><img src="images/i_099.jpg" alt="" width="485" height="450" /></a> -<p class="caption center">PROMENADE DECK OF THE “PARIS.”</p></div> - -<p>But the dreaded collision did not take place. And as -the <em>Calliope</em> passed near to the <em>Trenton</em>, 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 <em>Inflexible</em>, said -afterwards:</p> - -<p>“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 <em>Calliope</em> -felt as I did; it made us work to win. I can only say, -‘God bless America and her noble sailors!’”</p> - -<p>The <em>Calliope</em> did win. Her superb machinery and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> -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 -<em>Trenton</em> also survived, though fourteen vessels were -wrecked and nearly 150 lives were lost.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>From the <em>Comet</em> to the <em>Campania</em> 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.</p> - -<hr class="chap2 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_101"><img src="images/i_101.jpg" alt="train going over long bridge" width="450" height="169" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span></p> - -<p class="p140">FAMOUS BRIDGES AND THEIR BUILDERS.</p> - - -<hr class="r5 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I-3">CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">“THE BRIDGE BY THE EARTHEN HOUSE.”</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“You</span> will not try again, surely?”</p> - -<p>“Ay, I shall indeed!”</p> - -<p>“What! after two failures?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I see the mistakes now. This bridge -fell because it had too much weight on its haunches.”</p> - -<p>“Haunches! you mean the two side-curves of the -arch were too heavy.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Then you mean to build your third bridge with less -weight proportionately on its haunches?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly so.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I wish you good luck, friend Edwards, for we -need a bridge sorely over the brawling Taff.”</p> - -<p>“You shall have it, neighbour. I shall succeed this -time. I have gripped the right principle at last.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_102"><img src="images/i_102.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="461" /></a> -<p class="caption center">PONTYPRIDD BRIDGE.</p> -<p class="caption center"><cite>From Encyclopædia Britannica.</cite></p></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> -former piers having caused, or assisted in causing, the -destruction of his first bridge.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> -harmful. We are not surprised, therefore, that Edwards, -in his third attempt, decided upon that form.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]<br /><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_105"><img src="images/i_105.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="268" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE POST BRIDGE, DARTMOOR.</p> -<p class="caption center">(<em>An example of an early bridge, of “slab” construction.</em>)</p> -</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The stones or bricks are cemented together when -being built over a framework of timber, called the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> -centering, and when the keystone is placed and the -arch is complete it ought to remain firm.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II-3">CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">A NEW IDEA—THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“We</span> must cross the Strait at the Britannia Rock—that -is settled.”</p> - -<p>“And where is the Britannia Rock?”</p> - -<p>“Nearly in mid-channel. It seems placed -there for the purpose.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span></p> - -<p>And the great engineer smiled.</p> - -<p>“What are the distances?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And how will you manage it?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What! a tube bridge! I’ve never heard of it!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“A huge hollow girder, so to speak!” exclaimed his -friend.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It is like constructing one huge hollow beam of iron -by rivetting plates together. Can it be done?” remarked -his friend.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span></p> - -<p>“Why, it is like a huge extension of the primitive -log-bridge of our ancestors.”</p> - -<p>“If you like,” replied the engineer, laughing.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> -weighs 4680 tons. Its weight at one of the long spans -is 1587 tons.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_111"><img src="images/i_111.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="400" /></a> -<p class="caption center">ROBERT STEPHENSON.</p></div> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The principle adopted was to construct the shorter -tubes on scaffolds in the places which they were to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> -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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> -raising the tube, the bottom burst from one of the -hydraulic presses, and down fell the tube on to the -bed provided for it.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_115"><img src="images/i_115.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="503" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE.</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> -father’s memory, and was ever ready to attribute to -him the chief merit of his own achievements as an -engineer.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_117"><img src="images/i_117.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="344" /></a> -<p class="caption center">VICTORIA TUBULAR BRIDGE, MONTREAL.</p></div> - -<p>One great difficulty in the problem was the ice.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> -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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> -it being completed in December, 1859, about two months -after its designer had died.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III-3">CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">LATTICE AND SUSPENSION BRIDGES.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“The</span> expense of a tubular bridge would be too -great.”</p> - -<p>“But if we could get the strength without -the expense.”</p> - -<p>“What mean you?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“That is, you would have the sides of lattice or trellis -work, instead of solid plates?”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> -finally they were forced to a depth of over sixty-two -feet below high-water mark.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The piers from which the great span is suspended -rise above the carriage-way fifty-two feet, and are topped<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_122"><img src="images/i_122.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="560" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE CLIFTON BRIDGE.</p></div> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_123"><img src="images/i_123.jpg" alt="" width="607" height="396" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE.</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV-3">CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">THE GREATEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“Have</span> you heard the news? The Tay Bridge is -blown down!”</p> - -<p>“Yes. A terrible disaster. I should think -they would give up their scheme of bridging -the Firth of Forth after that.”</p> - -<p>“Not they! The scheme may be altered, but bridge -it they will. Engineers never give in.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In the Forth Bridge there are two huge spans, 1700 -feet wide, crossed by these cantilevers; bridging channels -of some 200 feet deep.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> -diameter, and the diving-bell of ordinary size would not -cover that great width.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span><br /><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_129"><img src="images/i_129.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="341" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE FORTH BRIDGE.</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> -lattice-work made of steel plates for resisting tension,—placed -above.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V-4">CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">THE TOWER BRIDGE.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“Why</span> should they not have a drawbridge?”</p> - -<p>“What! To draw up from each bank of -the river?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“The river is too crowded for many piers.”</p> - -<p>“It is. But I cannot help thinking a drawbridge—a -bascule bridge as the engineers call it—is the best -solution of the difficulty.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And apparently these two requirements are incompatible.”</p> - -<p>“Not altogether,” remarks a third speaker.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And is the low level to be a drawbridge—a roadway -that can be drawn up to permit vessels to pass? -Is that so?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span></p> - -<p>“And above the bascules or drawbridges will run the -high-level bridge?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And what sort of bridge will be used for the other -spans—that is, to cross the river between the piers and -the shore?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It promises to be a splendid piece of work.”</p> - -<p>“It does. And it is very much needed, for the congestion -of traffic on London Bridge is terrible.”</p> - -<p>“And people have often to come round a long way to -reach it.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_136"><img src="images/i_136.jpg" alt="a bridge" width="500" height="187" /></a> -</div> - -<hr class="chap2 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_137"><img src="images/i_137.jpg" alt="men laying new rail lines" width="500" height="271" /></a> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="p140">REMARKABLE TUNNELS AND THEIR -CONSTRUCTION.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="r5 x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I-4">CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">HOW BRUNEL MADE A BORING-SHIELD.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“I watched</span> the worm at work and took my idea -from that tiny creature!”</p> - -<p>“A worm! Was it an ordinary worm?”</p> - -<p>“Oh no, it was the naval wood-worm—<em>Teredo -Navalis</em>; 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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it has been brilliantly successful.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> -“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 <em>Teredo</em>, a testaceous worm, covered -with a cylindrical shell, which eats its way through -the hardest wood.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>Great Western</em> steamship.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> -would have been surprised to see that instead of -hollowing out a shaft, proceedings began by raising a -round tower.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> -and driven through the solid London clay, is, however, -60 feet deep where it commences at Tower Hill.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The Thames had broken in with a vengeance this -time, and drowned the tunnel.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II-4">CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">UNDER THE RIVER.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Happily</span> no one lost his life.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span> -drawn out of danger. On calling the roll, every -worker answered to his name. No life was lost.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]<br /><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_143"><img src="images/i_143.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="405" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE THAMES TUNNEL.</p></div> - -<p>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 -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Three more irruptions of water occurred: the third -in August, 1837, the fourth in November, 1837, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III-4">CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">THROUGH THE ALPS.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“Cut</span> through the Alps? It is an impossibility; -and it would never pay!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And what part of the Alps?”</p> - -<p>“Through Mont Cenis. The tunnel will be about -7½ miles long, and the mountain over it will rise 5400 -feet at one point.”</p> - -<p>“And when do they expect to finish it?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Further, the railway of which the St. Gotthard Tunnel -forms part, has been commercially very successful.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> -This tunnel was commenced in 1872 and completed in -1880, the same year that saw the beginning of the -Arlberg.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]<br /><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_149"><img src="images/i_149.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="349" /></a> -<p class="caption center"> BORING MACHINE USED FOR THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL.</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Tunnels through huge thicknesses of rock or under -rivers can only be cut from the two opposite ends.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Gunpowder gave some advance on old Roman methods -of tunnelling. The improved explosives and rock-drills -have gone further.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV-4">CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">UNDER WATER AGAIN.</p> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">“How</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_155"><img src="images/i_155.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="419" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE ENTRANCE TO THE AIR-LOCK.</p> -<p class="caption center">(<em>Men waiting to enter the Compressed Air-Chamber through the Door.</em>)</p></div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> -power. Twenty-eight hydraulic “jacks” were employed,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> -and they forced forward the 250 ton cylinder -with its cutting edge, when the men would resume -working through the door as before.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_159"><img src="images/i_159.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="171" /></a> -<p class="caption center">THE BORING MACHINE USED IN THE PRELIMINARY CONSTRUCTION -OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL TUNNEL.</p></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A boring machine was also used in the preliminary -efforts for the construction of a tunnel under the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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. -These works may well rank among the great achievements -of man’s effort and the wonders of the world.</p> - - -<p class="center">THE END.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="p2"></p> - -<p class="center">LORIMER AND GILLIES, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.</p> - -<p class="p2"></p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a id="i_back"><img src="images/i_back.jpg" alt="" width="323" height="500" /></a> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGINEERS AND THEIR TRIUMPHS: THE STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE, THE STEAMSHIP, BRIDGE BUILDING, TUNNEL MAKING ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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