Scientific American Supplement, No. 384, May 12, 1883 by Various

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Produced by Don Kretz, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the DP Team

[Illustration]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 384

NEW YORK, MAY 12, 1883

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XV., No. 384.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. ENGINEERING.--Locomotive for St. Gothard Railway.--Several
figures.

The Mersey Railway Tunnel.

Dam Across the Ottawa River, and New Canal at Carillon,
Quebec. Several figures and map.

II. ARCHITECTURE.--Dwelling Houses.--Hints on building. By
WILLIAM HENNAN.--Considerations necessary in order to have
thoroughly sweet homes.--Experiment illustrating the necessity
of damp courses.--How to make dry walls and roofs.--Methods of
heating.--Artificial lighting.--Refuse.--Cesspools.--Drainage

House at Heaton.--Illustration.

A Mansard Roof Dwelling. 2 figures.

III. ELECTRICITY.--The History of the Electric Telegraph.--Documents
relating to the magnetic telegraph.--Apparatus of Comus
and Alexandre.--Origin of the electric telegraph.--Apparatus of
Lesage, Lemond, Reveroni, Saint Cyr, and others.--Several figures.

Electrical Transmission and Storage.--By DR. C. WM. SIEMENS.

III. MEDICINE AND HYGIENE.--Malaria. By Dr. JAMES SALISBURY.--VII.
Report on the cause of ague.--Studies of ague plants
in their natural and unnatural habitats.--List of objects found in
the Croton water.--Synopsis of the families of ague plants.--
Several figures.

Ichthyol.

Autopsy Table. 1 figure.

The Exciting Properties of Oats.

Filaria Disease.

IV. CHEMISTRY.--Preparation of Hydrogen Sulphide from Coal Gas.
By J. TAYLOR. 1 figure.

Setting of Gypsum.

V. TECHNOLOGY.--On the Preparation of Gelatine Plates. By E.
HOWARD FARMER.

Pictures on Glass.

VI. NATURAL HISTORY.--Survey of the Black Canon.

The Ancient Mississippi and its Tributaries. By J. W. SPENCER.

VII. AGRICULTURE.--The Spectral Masdevallia.--Illustration.

* * * * *

LOCOMOTIVE FOR ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY.

We give engravings of one of a type of eight-coupled locomotives
constructed for service on the St. Gothard Railway by Herr T.A. Maffei,
of Munich. As will be seen from our illustrations, the engine has
outside cylinders, these being 20.48 in. in diameter, with 24 in.
stroke, and as the diameter of the coupled wheels is 3 ft. 10 in.,
the tractive force which the engine is capable of exerting amounts to
(20.48² x 24) / 46 = 218.4 lb. for each pound of effective pressure per
square inch on the pistons. This is an enormous tractive force, as it
would require but a mean effective pressure of 102½ lb. per square inch
on the pistons to exert a pull of 10 tons. Inasmuch, however, as the
engine weighs 44 tons empty and 51 tons in working order, and as all
this weight is available for adhesion, this great cylinder power can be
utilized. The cylinders are 6 ft. 10 in. apart from center to center,
and they are well secured to the frames, as shown in Fig. 4. The frames
are deep and heavy, being 1 3/8 in. thick, and they are stayed by a
substantial box framing at the smokebox end, by a cast-iron footplate at
the rear end, and by the intermediate plate stays shown. The axle box
guides are all fitted with adjusting wedges. The axle bearings are all
alike, all being 7.87 in. in diameter by 9.45 in. long. The axles are
spaced at equal distances of 4 ft. 3.1 in. apart, the total wheel base
being thus 12 ft. 9.3 in. In the case of the 1st, 2d, and 3d axles, the
springs are arranged above the axle boxes in the ordinary way, those of
the 2d and 3d axles being coupled by compensating beams. In the case of
the trailing axle, however, a special arrangement is adopted. Thus, as
will be seen on reference to the longitudinal section and plan (Figs. 1
and 2, first page), each trailing axle box receives its load through the
horizontal arm of a strong bell-crank lever, the vertical arm of which
extends downward and has its lower end coupled to the adjoining end of a
strong transverse spring which is pivoted to a pair of transverse stays
extending from frame to frame below the ash pan. This arrangement
enables the spring for the trailing axle to be kept clear of the
firebox, thus allowing the latter to extend the full width between the
frames. The trailing wheels are fitted with a brake as shown.

[Illustration: LOCOMOTIVES FOR ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY.]

The valve motion is of the Gooch or stationary link type, the radius
rods being cranked to clear the leading axle, while the eccentric rods
are bent to clear the second axle. The piston rods are extended through
the front cylinder covers and are enlarged where they enter the
crossheads, the glands at the rear ends of cylinders being made in
halves. The arrangement of the motion generally will be clearly
understood on reference to Figs. 1 and 2 without further explanation.

The boiler, which is constructed for a working pressure of 147 lb. per
square inch, is unusually large, the barrel being 60.4 in. in diameter
inside the outside rings; it is composed of plates 0.65 in. thick. The
firebox spreads considerably in width toward the top, as shown in the
section, Fig. 5, and to enable it to be got in the back plate of the
firebox casing is flanged outward, instead of inward as usual, so as to
enable it to be riveted up after the firebox is in place. The inside
firebox is of copper and its crown is stayed directly to the crown
of the casing by vertical stays, as shown, strong transverse stays
extending across the boiler just above the firebox crown to resist the
spreading action caused by the arrangement of the crown stays. The
firegrate is 6 ft. 11.6 in. long by 3 ft. 4 in. wide.

[Illustration: ST. GOTHARD LOCOMOTIVES.]

The barrel contains 225 tubes 1.97 in. in diameter outside and 13 ft. 9½
in. long between tube plates. On the top of the barrel is a large dome
containing the regulator, as shown in Fig. 1, from which view the
arrangement of the gusset stays for the back plate of firebox casing and
for the smokebox tube plate will be seen. A grid is placed across the
smokebox just above the tubes, and provision is made, as shown in Figs.
1 and 4, for closing the top of the exhaust nozzle, and opening a
communication between the exhaust pipes and the external air when the
engine is run reversed. The chimney is 15¾ in. in diameter at its lower
end and 18.9 in. at the top. The chief proportions of the boiler are as
follows:

Sq. ft

Heating surface: Tubes 1598.5
Firebox 102.5
------
1701.0

Firegrate area 23.3 [1]
Sectional area through tubes (disregarding ferrules) 3.5
Least sectional area of chimney. 1.35
Ratio of firegrate area to heating surface. 1:73
Ratio of flue area through tubes to firegrate area. 1:6.7
Ratio of least sectional area of chimney to firegrate area. 1:17.26

[Transcribers note 1: Best guess, 2nd digit illegible]

The proportion of chimney area to grate is much smaller than in ordinary
locomotives, this proportion having no doubt been fixed upon to enable a
strong draught to be obtained with the engine running at a slow speed.
Of the general fittings of the engine we need give no description, as
their arrangement will be readily understood from our engravings, and
in conclusion we need only say that the locomotive under notice is
altogether a very interesting example of an engine designed for
specially heavy work.--_Engineering_.

* * * * *

THE MERSEY RAILWAY TUNNEL.

The work of connecting Liverpool with Birkenhead by means of a railway
tunnel is now an almost certain success. It is probable that the entire
cost of the tunnel works will amount to about half a million sterling.
The first step was taken about three years ago, when shafts were sunk
simultaneously on both sides of the Mersey. The engineers intrusted
with the plans were Messrs. Brunlees & Fox, and they have now as their
resident representative Mr. A.H. Irvine, C.E. The contractor for the
entire work is Mr. John Waddell, and his lieutenant in charge at both
sides of the river is Mr. James Prentice. The post of mechanical
engineer at the works is filled by Mr. George Ginty. Under these chiefs,
a small army of nearly 700 workmen are now employed night and day at
both sides of the river in carrying out the tunnel to completion. On
the Birkenhead side, the landward excavations have reached a point
immediately under Hamilton Square, where Mr. John Laird's statue is
placed, and here there will be an underground station, the last before
crossing the river, the length of which will be about 400 feet, with up
and down platforms. Riverward on the Cheshire side, the excavators have
tunneled to a point considerably beyond the line of the Woodside Stage;
while the Lancashire portion of the subterranean work now extends to
St. George's Church, at the top of Lord street, on the one side, and
Merseyward to upward of 90 feet beyond the quay wall, and nearly to the
deepest part of the river.

When completed, the total length of the tunnel will be three miles one
furlong, the distance from wall to wall at each side of the Mersey being
about three-quarters of a mile. The underground terminus will be about
Church street and Waterloo place, in the immediate neighborhood of the
Central Station, and the tunnel will proceed from thence, in an almost
direct line, under Lord street and James street; while on the south side
of the river it will be constructed from a junction at Union street
between the London and Northwestern and Great Western Railways, under
Chamberlain street, Green lane, the Gas Works, Borough road, across the
Haymarket and Hamilton street, and Hamilton square.

Drainage headings, not of the same size of bore as the part of the
railway tunnel which will be in actual use, but indispensable as a means
of enabling the railway to be worked, will act as reservoirs into which
the water from the main tunnel will be drained and run off to both sides
of the Mersey, where gigantic pumps of great power and draught will
bring the accumulating water to the surface of the earth, from whence
it will be run off into the river. The excavations of these drainage
headings at the present time extend about one hundred yards beyond the
main tunnel works at each side of the river. The drainage shafts are
sunk to a depth of 180 feet, and are below the lowest point of the
tunnel, which is drained into them. Each drainage shaft is supplied
with two pumping sets, consisting of four pumps, viz., two of 20 in.
diameter, and two of 30 in. diameter. These pumps are capable of
discharging from the Liverpool shafts 6,100 gallons per minute, and from
the Birkenhead 5,040 gallons per minute; and as these pumps will be
required for the permanent draining of the tunnel, they are constructed
in the most solid and substantial manner. They are worked by compound
engines made by Hathorn, Davey & Co., of Leeds, and are supplied
with six steel boilers by Daniel Adamson & Co., of Dukinfield, near
Manchester.

In addition to the above, there is in course of construction still
more powerful pumps of 40 in. diameter, which will provide against
contingencies, and prevent delay in case of a breakdown such as occurred
lately on the Liverpool side of the works. The nature of the rock is
the new red sandstone, of a solid and compact character, favorable for
tunneling, and yielding only a moderate quantity of water. The engineers
have been enabled to arrange the levels to give a minimum thickness of
25 ft. and an average thickness of 30 ft. above the crown of the tunnel.

Barges are now employed in the river for the purpose of ascertaining the
depth of the water, and the nature of the bottom of the river. It is
satisfactory to find that the rock on the Liverpool side, as the heading
is advanced under the river, contains less and less water, and this the
engineers are inclined to attribute to the thick bed of stiff bowlder
clay which overlies the rock on this side, which acts as a kind of
"overcoat" to the "under garments." The depth of the water in one part
of the river is found to be about 72 ft.; in the middle about 90 ft.;
and as there is an intermediate depth of rock of about 27 ft., the
distance is upward of 100 ft. from the surface of low water to the top
of the tunnel.

It is expected that the work will shortly be pushed forward at a much
greater speed than has hitherto been the case, for in place of the
miner's pick and shovel, which advanced at the rate of about ten yards
per week, a machine known as the Beaumont boring machine will be brought
into requisition in the course of a day or two, and it is expected to
carry on the work at the rate of fifty yards per week, so that this year
it may be possible to walk through the drainage heading from Liverpool
to Birkenhead. The main tunnel works now in progress will probably be
completed and trains running in the course of 18 months or two years.

The workmen are taken down the shaft by which the debris is hoisted, ten
feet in diameter, and when the visitor arrives at the bottom he finds
himself in quite a bright light, thanks to the Hammond electric light,
worked by the Brush machine, which is now in use in the tunnel on both
sides of the river. The depth of the pumping shaft is 170 feet, and the
shaft communicates directly with the drainage heading. This circular
heading now has been advanced about 737 yards. The heading is 7 feet in
diameter, and the amount of it under the river is upward of 200 yards on
each side. The main tunnel, which is 26 feet wide and 21 feet high, has
also made considerable progress at both the Liverpool and Birkenhead
ends. From the Liverpool side the tunnel now extends over 430 yards, and
from the opposite shore about 590 yards. This includes the underground
stations, each of which is 400 feet long, 51 feet wide, and 32 feet
high. Although the main tunnel has not made quite the same progress
between the shafts as the drainage heading, it is only about 100 yards
behind it. When completed, the tunnel will be about a mile in length
from shaft to shaft. In the course of the excavations which have been so
far carried out, about 70 cubic yards of rock have been turned out for
every yard forward.

Ten horses are employed on the Birkenhead side for drawing wagons loaded
with debris to the shaft, which, on being hoisted, is tipped into the
carts and taken for deposit to various places, some of which are about
three miles distant. The tunnel is lined throughout with very solid
brickwork, some of which is, 18 inches thick (composed of two layers
of blue and two of red brick), and toward the river this brickwork is
increased to a thickness of six rings of bricks--three blue and three
red. A layer of Portland cement of considerable thickness also gives
increased stability to the brick lining and other portions of the
tunnel, and the whole of the flooring will be bricked. There are about
22 yards of brickwork in every yard forward. The work of excavation up
to the present time has been done by blasting (tonite being employed for
this purpose), and by the use of the pick and shovel. At every 45 ft.
on alternate sides niches of 18 in. depth are placed for the safety of
platelayers. The form of the tunnel is semicircular, the arch having a
13 ft. radius, the side walls a 25 ft. radius, and the base a 40 ft.
radius.

Fortunately not a single life has up to the present time been lost in
carrying out the exceedingly elaborate and gigantic work, and this
immunity from accident is largely owing to the care and skill which are
manifested by the heads of the various departments. The Mersey Tunnel
scheme may now be looked upon as an accomplished work, and there is
little doubt its value as a commercial medium will be speedily and fully
appreciated upon completion.

* * * * *

DAM ACROSS THE OTTAWA RIVER AND NEW CANAL AT CARILLON QUE

By ANDREW BELL Resident Engineer

The natural navigation of the Ottawa River from the head of the Island
of Montreal to Ottawa City--a distance of nearly a hundred miles--is
interrupted between the villages of Carillon and Grenville which are
thirteen miles apart by three rapids, known as the Carillon, Chûte à
Blondeau, and Longue Sault Rapids, which are in that order from east to
west. The Carillon Rapid is two miles long and has, or had, a fall of 10
feet the Chûte à Blondeau a quarter of a mile with a fall of 4 feet and
the Longue Sault six miles and a fall of 46 feet. Between the Carillon
and Chûte à Blondeau there is or was a slack water reach of three and a
half miles, and between the latter and the foot of the Longue Sault a
similar reach of one and a quarter miles.

Small canals limited in capacity to the smaller locks on them which were
only 109 feet long 19 feet wide, and 5 to 6 feet of water on the sills,
were built by the Imperial Government as a military work around each of
the rapids. They were begun in 1819 and completed about 1832. They were
transferred to the Canadian Government in 1856. They are built on the
north shore of the river, and each canal is about the length of the
rapid it surmounts.

[Illustration: THE GREAT DAM ACROSS THE OTTAWA RIVER, AT CARILLON.]

The Grenville Canal (around the Longue Sault) with seven locks, and the
Chûte à Blondeau with one lock, are fed directly from Ottawa. But with
the Carillon that method was not followed as the nature of the banks
there would have in doing so, entailed an immense amount of rock
excavation--a serious matter in those days. The difficulty was overcome
by locking up at the upper or western end 13 feet and down 23 at lower
end, supplying the summit by a 'feeder from a small stream called the
North River, which empties into the Ottawa three or four miles below
Carillon, but is close to the main river opposite the canal.

In 1870-71 the Government of Canada determined to enlarge these canals
to admit of the passage of boats requiring locks 200 feet long, 45 feet
wide, and not less than 9 feet of water on the sills at the lowest
water. In the case of the Grenville Canal this was and is being done by
widening and deepening the old channel and building new locks along
side of the old ones. But to do that with the Carillon was found to be
inexpedient. The rapidly increasing traffic required more water than the
North River could supply in any case, and the clearing up of the country
to the north had materially reduced its waters in summer and fall, when
most needed. To deepen the old canal so as to enable it to take its
supply from the Ottawa would have caused the excavation of at least
1,250,000 cubic yards of rock, besides necessitating the enlargement of
the Chûte à Blondeau also.

It was therefore decided to adopt a modification of the plan proposed
by Mr. T.C. Clarke, of the present firm of Clarke Reeves & Co, several
years before when he made the preliminary surveys for the then proposed
"Ottawa Ship Canal," namely to build a dam across the river in the
Carillon Rapid but of a sufficient height to drown out the Chûte à
Blondeau, and also to give the required depth of water there.

During the summer and fall of 1872 the writer made the necessary surveys
of the river with that end in view. By gauging the river carefully in
high and low water, and making use of the records which had been kept by
the lock masters for twenty years back, it was found that the flow of
the river was in extreme low water 26,000 cubic feet per second, and
in highest water 190,000 cubic feet per second, in average years about
30,000 and 150,000 cubic feet respectively. The average flow in each
year would be nearly a mean between those quantities, namely, about
90,000 cubic feet per second. It was decided to locate the dam where it
is now built, namely, about the center of Carillon Rapid, and a mile
above the village of that name and to make it of a height sufficient to
raise the reach between the head of Carillon and Chûte à Blondeau about
six feet, and that above the latter two feet in ordinary water. At the
site chosen the river is 1,800 feet wide, the bed is solid limestone,
and more level or flat than is generally found in such places--the banks
high enough and also composed of limestone. It was also determined to
build a slide for the passage of timber near the south shore (see map),
and to locate the new canal on the north side.

Contracts for the whole works were given out in the spring of 1873, but
as the water remained high all the summer of that year very little could
be done in it at the dam. In 1874 a large portion of the foundation,
especially in the shallow water, was put in. 1875 and 1876 proved
unfavorable and not much could be done, when the works were stopped.
They were resumed in 1879, and the dam as also the slide successfully
completed, with the exception of graveling of the dam in the fall of
1881. The water was lower that summer than it had been for thirty five
years before. The canal was completed and opened for navigation the
following spring.

THE DAM

In building such a dam as this the difficulties to be contended against
were unusually great. It was required to make it as near perfectly tight
as possible and be, of course, always submerged. Allowing for water used
by canal and slide and the leakage there should be a depth on the crest
of the dam in low water of 2.50 feet and in high of about 10 feet.
These depths turned out ultimately to be correct. The river reaches
its highest about the middle of May, and its lowest in September. It
generally begins to rise again in November. Nothing could be done except
during the short low water season, and some years nothing at all. Even
at the most favorable time the amount of water to be controlled was
large. Then the depth at the site varied in depth from 2 to 14 feet, and
at one place was as much as 23 feet. The current was at the rate of from
10 to 12 miles an hour. Therefore, failures, losses, etc., could not be
avoided, and a great deal had to be learned as the work progressed. I
am not aware that a dam of the kind was ever built, or attempted to be
built across a river having such a large flow as the Ottawa.

The method of construction was as follows. Temporary structures of
various kinds suited to position, time, etc., were first placed
immediately above the site of the dam to break the current. This was
done in sections and the permanent dam proceeded with under that
protection.

In shallow water timber sills 36 feet long and 12 inches by 12 inches
were bolted to the lock up and down stream, having their tops a uniform
height, namely, 9.30 feet below the top of dam when finished. These
sills were, where the rock was high enough, scribed immediately to it,
but if not, they were 'made up' by other timbers scribed to the rock, as
shown by Figs 4 and 5. They were generally placed in pairs about 6 feet
apart, and each alternate space left open for the passage of water, to
be closed by gates as hereafter described. Each sill was fastened by
five 1½ in. bolts driven into pine plugs forced into holes drilled
from 18 inches to 24 inches into the rock. The temporary rock was then
removed as far as possible, to allow a free flow of the water.

In the channels of which there are three, having an aggregate width of
about 650 feet, cribs 46 feet wide up and down stream were sunk. In the
deepest water, where the rock was uneven, they covered the whole bottom
up to about five feet of the level of the silts, and on top of that
isolated cribs, 46 in. X 6 in. and of the necessary height were placed
seven feet apart, as shown at C Figs 2 and 3. At other places similar
narrow cribs were placed on the rock, as shown at D, Figs 2 and 3. The
tops of all were brought to about the same level as the before mentioned
sills. The rock bottom was cleaned by divers of all bowlders, gravel,
etc. The cribs were built in the usual manner, of 12 in. X 12 in. timber
generally hemlock, and carefully fitted to the rock on which they stand.
They were fastened to the rock by 1½ in. bolts, five on each side of a
crib, driven into pine plugs as mentioned for the sills. The drilling
was done by long runners from their tops. The upstream side of the cribs
were sheeted with 4 in. tamarack plank.

On top of these sills and cribs there was then placed all across river a
platform from 36 to 46 feet wide made up of sawed pine timber 12 in.
X 12 in., each piece being securely bolted to its neighbor and to the
sills and cribs below. It was also at intervals bolted through to the
rock.

On top of the "platform" there was next built a flat dam of the
sectional form shown by Fig 1. It was built of 12 in. X 12 in. sawed
pine timbers securely bolted at the crossings and to the platform, and
sheeted all over with tamarack 10 in. thick and the crest covered with
½ in. boiler plate 3 ft. wide. The whole structure was carefully filled
with stone--field stone, or "hard head" generally being used for the
purpose.

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