thus keeps each pair of rail-bearers at the proper | rail. A few holes are punched here and there
distance from each other.

iron to the use of cast steel, it was no longer
practicable to punch the bolt-holes in the web,
and every hole had, at considerable expense, to In fig. 7 a plan is suggested to effect economy
be bored and slotted out. Besider, under all of material by slightly reducing the height of
circumstances, particular care was required in the rail, and replacing expensive screw bolts
correctly adjusting the holes in the web with with cheaper keys and wedges, all of which can
those of the rail-bearers. These combined con- be simply rolled as a bar and cut off to the re-
siderations made it desirable to devise a system quisite size. The cross-bars of these systems
establishing a direct and strong connection of the can, of course, be made of any section of iron.
head-rail and rail-bearers, without the head bolts Those now making are partly of double T iron,
passing through both, and led to the combination partly of angle-iron, bolted to the
illustrated by figs. 6 and 7. The bulb or rib of arm of the construction. By these means the
inner
the vertical arm, instead of being placed outside, outer arm of the rail-bearer can at all times be
as in the Brunswick permanent way, No. 4, is removed for the purpose of shifting, reversing,
here turned inwards, and is rolled into a dwarfed or renewing the head rail, without disturbing
T section, thus forming a groove into which the the gauge of the railway. The cross-bars are
ribs or bulbs of the rail-bearer gripe; and the most, conveniently fitted near the end of the rail-
whole system is tightened and firmly held to bearers, where they contribute to stiffen the fish-
gether by the screw bolts, or wedge keys, pass-joint, and at the same time serve admirably
ing through the rail-bearers under the head as supports of the points, which move easily over
without touching the web at all. The head bolts the flat surface of the cross-bar. In order to
are placed 20in. apart; and in order to prevent prevent the sliding backwards and forwards of
their pressing the angle-bars closer together the head-rail by the friction of the wheel, a
than necessary, a stop rivet is placed under square stop bolt is applied to the head, passing
each of them near the throat of the angle, which through a notch in the web at each end of the

but

in the horizontal arm of the rail-bearer to assist
in draining the ballast. It is scarcely necessary
to urge anything in favour of the principle of
longitudinal permanent way generally. In some
countries the first cost may appear greater;
the ever-increasing expense of keeping up
wooden sleepers, especially in hot climates; the
interruption of and danger to traffic during re-
pairs; and, on the other hand, the advantages
rolling stock, as well as increased safety and
offered by the iron way of decreased wear of
comfort in travelling, are considerations of such
importance as to render the abandonment of the
present cross-sleeper construction merely a
matter of time.

iron parts is practically unlimited. The only
In the systems just described the life of the
portion subject to gradual wear is the steel head,
weighing about 34lb. to the yard; and this
economical application of the more expensive
material justifies the
crucible cast-steel of a high class, instead of
engineer in using
the cheaper but less durable Bessemer steel,
which, for good financial reasons, is the only

steel which railways have hitherto allowed themselves to use. The weight of the new system, as per dimensions shown in fig. 6, is 223 tons per mile, the cost, inclusive of laying at 9d. per yard, about £3,100. The weight of system No. 7 is 193 tons, and the cost about £2,700 per mile of single railway. But these prices are based upon the use of high-class Prussian iron, at £12 to £14 per ton, and bolts from £24 to £30 per ton; with the use of English iron the cost per mile should not exceed £2,200 per mile. I would finally urge, in favour of the iron permanent way, the consideration that wood is getting scarcer and dearer every year, and may well be saved from decaying in the ballast in order to fulfil the nobler mission of meeting the numerous wants of our domestic and social habits and dwellings. And if railways in Eng land and its colonies were generally to adopt the iron permanent way, an immense impulse would again be given to an industry now unfortunately languishing, but the prosperity of which forms the back-bone of the wealth and power of this country.

BOILER EXPLOSIONS.

TN
N our last number we gave the par-
ticulars of a boiler explosion which
took place at a dyeworks, and which
was fully reported upon by Mr. Fletcher,
the chief engineer to the Manchester
Boiler Association. We now give the
details and illustration of another ex-
plosion, which we also obtain from Mr.
Fletcher's report. This explosion ranks
as No. 55 in the list, and occurred at
eleven o'clock on the morning of Monday,
November 26th, at a paper mill, through
the collapse of a mal-constructed internal

flue tube. This boiler was under the
inspection of this association, but the
weakness and consequent danger of the
flue tube had been clearly pointed out to
the owner by the association's chief en-
gineer at the time the boiler was enrolled,
when it was also explained that its safety
could not be guaranteed until the flue had
been radically strengthened, or
placed by a new one, while this warn-
ing was repeated from time to time in

re

Weight and Cost of System No. 6 per Mile, calcu- the association's written reports to the lated on the price of Prussian Iron.

s. d.
7 9
7

3 cross-bars

170

13s. 6d. 1

9

12s. Od. 0 3

0

62 bolts and nuts

48

30s. Od. 0 12

9

24s. Od. 0 1

9

member on the condition of his boilers.
The explosion was not attended with any serious
consequences. No one was either killed or in-
jured, while the damage to the surrounding pro-
perty was confined to the blowing up of a brick-
work flue at the back of the boiler by the tor-
rent of steam and hot water that rushed from the
boiler, and though this took place at both ends
of the flue, the attendants in the firing space at
the front of the boiler escaped unhurt, not being
directly opposite the furnace mouths. The boiler
was one of a series of six set side by side, three
of them being to the left and two to the right of
the exploded one, but neither the exploded boiler
nor any of the others were stirred from their
seat, and though they were all connected to-
calcu-gether,
the steam pipe joints were not broken,
so that as soon as the exploded boiler was discon-
nected by screwing down the junction valve, the
remainder of the series were ready to resume
work, and they did so after waiting a few hours
for the brickwork flue to be repaired.

sented shows one of these handy combination implements, simple in construction, cheap in price, and effective in operation. It is a combination of hammer, pincers, nail-drawer, tongs, and hooks, and can be applied to varied uses about the house. The jaws A are intended to pull tacks and nails, to grasp covers of stoves, handle cooking utensils, &c. The hammer B is for driving tacks, and the hooks C for lifting pots, kettles, sad-irons, and other household appliances. The working part is of iron, and the handle of wood. It was patented through the Scientific American Patent Agency, and is manufactured by Messrs. J. C. Longshore and Brother, Mansfield, Ohio.

The boiler was of patent construction, having two furnace tubes, which, instead of running right through the shell, as in those of the ordinary flued class, united behind the fire bridge in a single flue or combustion chamber of oval shape. This oval flue was strengthened by ver. tical conical water tubes, which, at the same time that they acted as stays, promoted the circulation of the water. The boiler was 7ft. in diameter and 28ft. long, while the oval flue or combustion chamber measured about 4ft. 11in. in width, and 2ft. 8in. in height, the thickness of the plates being 7-16in. in the shell, 3-8in. in the furnace tubes, and 5-16in. in the sides of the oval flue or combustion chamber, while the pressure of the steam was 50lb. per square inch.

the construction of the boiler and character
its failure, to another that occurred on the 28th
of February, 1865, and details of which were
that the remarks then made on that explosion
given in the monthly report for December last,
are here quoted as a description of this one.
They are as follows:-The boiler failed at the
oval flue or combustion chamber, just described,
the sides of which collapsed longitudinally and
crushed inwards towards the vertical water
tubes. A great many boilers of this patent class
are now at work, with perfect safety, and nearly
one hundred of such are under our inspection;
but the one in question, which had been made
some years since, and was of an early pattern
now happily discontinued, had a grave defect in
its construction, which it is important should be
pointed out, since many boilers of similar make
still remain in use, and, it is feared, are fre-
quently worked at higher pressures than it is
safe they should be. This defect consisted in the
sides of the oval flue being made of two different
curves, one of them being struck with a radius
of about 19in., and the other of 14in. The
longer radius, of course, gave a flatter sweep
than the shorter one, in consequence of which the
arch was not in equilibrio, the sharper curve
being unable to resist the thrust of the flatter
one, so that the sides crushed in with steam at

FIC. 1.

arisen from this cause, this construction, as already stated, has for years past been given up, while thicker plates have been used, which is most important in consideration of the increase of pressure which has of late years taken place. Millowners using boilers of this patent class, if of early date, should therefore ascertain whether the oval flue is of the original or improved construction, and should it prove to be of the former, then it should either be strengthened or removed altogether.

Such were the remarks in the report for December of last year, and they are equally appli. cable in the present case, while the occurrence of this explosion shows the necessity of the recommendations contained therein. The construction of the flue in question will perhaps be the better understood on reference to the following cuts:-Fig. 1 is a cross section of the boiler,

showing the shape that the sides of the flue assumed after collapse. Fig. 2 is simply a diagram giving a profile view of the objectionable form of flue with the sides struck from two centres.

This is now discarded in all new boilers. shows the flue

adopted in the placimproved form of the now in one sweep throughout, and struck from a single centre only.

It will be clear from the foregoing that this explosion is no reflection on the inspections of this association, but rather a vindication of their

FIG. 3.

truthfulness, since the danger was fully anticipated and faithfully pointed out in the associa tion's reports to the owner of the boiler, who frankly acknowledges the service rendered, and had ordered a new boiler in consequence, about a week before the explosion occurred, and is now rapidly removing all others on his works of similar construction to the exploded one.

A letter from the Grisons reports the fall of red snow to the depth of 3in. The fall lasted about two

tween Delhi and Meerut is nearly completed, as also done had their curve been struck from a single hours, and was succeeded by white to double that

depth. The phenomenon in question is not uncommon, and is due to the presence of a microscopic mushroom, the proto-coeus nivalis.

ment.

ECONOMIC USE OF COAL.

the making of iron tubing has been in the past. Where there is a demand, or where a demand can be created, there genius will find a means to supply all that is needed or called for. American Artizan.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD IN NORTH
AMERICA.

WELDED BOILER JOINTS. URING the past few years many efforts have been made to do away with the lap and rivet system of joining boiler-plates; one great objection to the system of riveting being the corrosion of the plates on the interior of the boiler, where boilers are made of a single plate bent into a the line of rivets join the plates together. When circle and having only one longitudinal riveted with the longitudinal laps that occur in the lap joint, it is some improvement, as it does away Mr. Thomas Belt before the Nova Scotian This may be called the first step in the improve-teresting information, the result of observations and riveted boilers built up of sectional plates. Institute of Natural Science, contains some inments in boiler making, and seems a sensible made by him during the progress of the exploone, that ought to have been adopted when the ratory works of the Nova Scotia Gold Company, manufacture of boilers first commenced. But carried on under his direction. In alluding to seamless boilers of steel, rolled like a tube upon he maintains that the drift, had it been dropped until the time shall come when we will have the glaciated rocks and drift beds of Nova Scotia, the machinery that "is to be" in the future of from floating icebergs on a submerged land must mechanical skill, we are content to use the old have levelled when, the elevation taking place, it was exposed to the action of the waves on the style of lap and riveted boilers. spreading coast line. Mr. Belt accounts for the

We find in this style of boiler two evils to con

UCH has been said and written upon the D MC subject of the exhaustion of our coal-fields, and the importance of conserving as much as possible our present supply of black diamonds without effecting any radical change in the existing state of things. Here, however, we have something tangible and practical upon the subject, something, too, that cannot fail to reach the hearths of Englishmen, as it proposes about as plain and self-evident a piece of economy as ever was practised by the most economical. It is embodied in a recent letter from Mr. Recorder Warren to the Mayor of Hull, and is a valuable hint not only for the people of that place but for all people using coal in domestic fire-places. The Recorder writes:-"Wishing you and all the town and corporation a happy and prosperous new year, and many of them, I cannot leave for town without offering a practical suggestion to yourself and every householder in Hull, which may at least show my goodwill. On that suggestion I have profitably acted for tend with; corrosion of the plates by a chemical seven years, and it relates to coal. Do you wish action, and corrosion and mechanical action to have the full benefit-that is, without waste- combined. The first occurs in various parts of the boiler, and we find the surface of the plates of every ounce of coal you pay for; to save But the last-named evil nearly one-third of your ordinary consumption; irregularly pitted. to have a fire lit in the morning, which, with a tudinal as well as the transverse joints, and occurs along the line of the laps, both the longilittle care, will last nearly the whole of the day, with possibly a single replenishing, and so save it is true, can be accounted for by chemical occurs mostly below the water-line. Corrosion, trouble as well as coal, and have warmth equally principles; but when we find annular grooves distributed through your apartment, great or small?—then attend to the following practical the riveted joints, we must look to some other running parallel or in the immediate vicinity of suggestion, upon which I have acted at home cause, and must attribute it to the effects of heat with complete success, for, as I have said, seven years, and have, with a like result, recommended mechanical and chemical action. We will supupon the joints, and to the combined effort of to very many friends. The suggestion is not my pose that a chemical action has commenced own; I met with it seven years ago in a London journal. Ordinary fire-grates have open we find that the effects of heat upon the plates equally over the interior surface of the boiler; bars at the bottom, the result of which, of course, will be such that there will be unequal expansion is to place the coal between the two draughts, where the laps occur; perhaps this may be one from below and the other from above; accounted for in consequence of the plates not up the chimney, and ensure two things, rapid being in the same line of strain, and as the conconsumption and diminished heat in the apart- traction is succeeding expansion the deposit of When I arrived at my hotel last Wednes-scale induced by corrosion is cracked and broken day afternoon-a bitter cold day I found a off. This lays the surface open to a similar suc. large fire, which was twice replenished before I went to bed. The coal was excellent, but I could scarcely get warm. I prevailed on my worthy landlord to try my experiment on my fire-grate here. He has done so, and with what result? Ask him. But I will tell you that to-day my fire was made up at ten a.m. It is now five p.m. I have enjoyed, and am enjoying, a most comfortable warmth, without having to sit with in a yard of the fire. Not an ounce of additional coal has been placed on it, nothing having been required but now and then, at long intervals, a poke from beneath and a pressing down from above. Now, how is this brought about? I will tell you. Send for an ironmonger or black. smith, and order him to take the measure of the bottom of your grate and make you a sheet-iron plate of about the 1-6th of an inch in thickness, or even less, which, if your grate be large, will cost you 28. Simply lay this on the bottom of the grate, then let your servant lay and light your fire as usual. It will soon burn up, but you must keep pretty open the lowest bar, so as to secure a slight draught. When the fire has begun to burn, poke it gently from beneath, and the flame will gradually get through the entire mass of coal, the iron plate beneath gets red hot, and so keeps up a constant combustion, at the same time dispersing the heat through the room, instead of its being sent up the chimney, thus entirely consuming the coal, instead of filling the hearth with ashes. In my own house I tried the experiment for a week in the break fast-room, then in the dining-room, then in the kitchen, with uniform and complete success; and then I had the sheet-iron plate put into every fire-place-and there are many through out the house-with equal success. with the fire-place in my official residence. So I do When the fire is once made up, say about ten a.m., for the day, an occasional poke, and possibly a single replenishment, suffices for the day. In my own case, and also at my hotel here, where three scuttles were required, one now suffices."

E. J. Reed, Esq., Chief Constructor of the Navy, will occupy the chair, and S. W. Worssam, Esq., the vice-chair, at the fourteenth anniversary festival of the London Association of Foremen Engineers, to take place at the Freemasons' Tavern on Feb. ruary 16 next.

ceeding action, which, in process of time, forms
the plate at this point. The corroding action of
an annular groove, and destroys the strength of
the water upon the plate is quite weak compared
with the action that goes to form these annular

grooves.

Upon locomotive boilers this evil is much
greater than in the stationary boiler, and for this
reason; the different supports and braces of the
boiler are rigidly made, and they offer a great
resistance to the expansion and contraction of
the boiler, which has a greater tendency to throw
off this scale and present new surfaces for
corrosion than in any other kind of boiler. The
system of forming boilers of a series of hoops or
loops, with but one riveted joint, overcomes a
part of this evil. Another pian has been used,
with some success, of rolling the plates with
the customary thickness of body, the edges
tapering with a gradual thickness, by this means
ensuring an equal springing of the plates instead
of the concentration of force acting upon them at
a single line. In this mode there is a gain of
strength where the lines of riveting occur, as
the loss of metal consequently weakens the plates
by the series of rivet holes, but is compensated
for by the additional thickness. It has been
shown by actual experiment that boilers con-
structed upon this plan have been successful; no
annular

grooves being formed by corrosion
consequent upon the mechanical action.
Welded longitudinal joints have been made
with a fair prospect of success; but there is but
little prospect of their ultimate adoption. In all
experimental boilers of this kind that have been
made, the weight was greater and the expense
much more than any other kind of boiler. In-
ually looking for a boiler that shall be lighter as
stead of adopting heavier boilers, we are contin-
well as cheaper, and combining the same amount
of strength. The great want seems to be a boiler
that shall be light, constructed of Bessemer or
some kind of steel that shall be perfectly homo-
geneous-made seamless, perfectly cylindrical,
and of length or diameter to order. When we
call to mind the improvements made in steam
hammers, and the huge forgings that are formed
by their aid, the rapid improvements made in
the manufacture of wrought-iron tubes, can we
not look to the future as producing boilers made
in this manner and upon these principles? It
may be of no greater difficulty in the future than

poverty of the gold deposits of Nova Scotia by the absence of true alluvial deposits in that province. He observes that through much of the drift grain gold is sparingly disseminated, and its distribution affords another argument in all the most important deposits of alluvial gold favour of the supra-marine theory. In Australia, above the bed rock, beneath beds of gravel and have been found in valleys lying immediately clay; wherever surface washings have been dia. found in the vicinity. This, indeed, seems to be covered much richer deep sinkings have been a necessary result of the sorting arrangement of auriferous quartz lodes are abundant, no similar water. But in Nova Scotia, though denuded deposits have been found with one exception, to gold, instead of being concentrated at the bottom the consideration of which I will return. The of the superficial deposits, is either distributed throughout them or occurs in greater abundance at the surface than below. The great richness of the gold washings in Australia, and their scarcity and poverty in Nova Scotia, notwithstanding the abundance of auriferous lodes that have been denuded, may be thus explained :-In Australia the denuding agent was water, which carried off so that in the gravel beds nearly all the gold, the ground-up rocks, but left behind the gold; but only a small proportion of the original rock mass, is left. In Nova Scotia the denuding agent was glacier ice, which carried off alike the stony masses and their metallic contents. The drift beds left contain only the same proportion of gold as existed in the original rock mass, excepting where subaerial denudation has concentrated it on the surface. Perhaps in sediments older than the glacial period, and which have escaped destruction during it, or in the beds of existing streams, or on the present sea coast, deposits of grain gold may be found, but they I have mentioned one exception. It belongs to will be only the exceptions to the general rule. the third class; it has been produced by the waves of the sea on the existing coast line. I refer to the gold washings at the Ovens, near Lunenburgh, which, though limited in extent and soon exhausted, for a time largely remune rated some of those employed upon them. From the side of a rocky promontory, traversed by numerous small auriferous quartz veins, spreads out a bed of glacial drift, throughout which grain gold is sparingly disseminated. The sea is slowly eating into this bed, and re-arranging its mate rials. It grinds up the stones to shingle, and finally to sand and mud, which it carries off to deeper water, leaving behind the tough, heavy gold. This is found at the bottom of the shingle between tide marks, on the surface and in the crevices of the bed rock, where the gold formerly distributed throughout a large mass of drift has been concentrated. Now, if the country had been submerged during the deposition of the quent elevation, would at some time have formed glacial drift, every part of it, during its subse a portion of its ever-advancing coast line, and been subjected to the action of the waves; and such deposits as those of Lunenburgh, instead of being confined to the present shore, would have been formed all over the emerging land. The paper contains a vast amount of interesting information, which can be very profitably studied by all engaged in the search for and treatment of gold.

A quick process for getting drying linseed oil is The "Melbourne Cup" day of the late Spring given by Dr. Dullo. He boils the raw oil for two Meeting of the Victoria Racing Club afforded a hours with binoxide of manganese and bydrochloric | notable instance of the extraordinary operations in acid, and so gets a rapidly drying oil in very much the shape of news-distribution which mark this less time than by the processes generally employed. telegraphic era. Within five minutes of the race The first locomotive made in New South Wales being run the names of the horses gaining first, sewas tested on Thursday, November 15, on the cond, and third places were known at Sydney and branch line between the Redfern Railway station Adelaide, and within a few minutes more at all the and Pyrmont. This locomotive, which is upwards large towns of Victoria. of 70-horse power, was made by Messrs. Vale and The Derby Mercury is informed "that the new Lacy, engineers and boiler-makers, Druitt-street, structure to replace the viaduct at Apperley Bridge, and is to be employed on the steep inclines or zig which was swept away by an extraordinary flood zags on the Great Western Railway. The trial about two months since, was completed and opened was pronounced by the scientific gentlemen present for traffic on Thursday last. The destruction of this to be very satisfactory. means of communication has occasioned a heavy diminution in the traffic receipts of the company; but the rapidity with which the new viaduct has been constructed is almost marvellous, and the design exhibits great skill; both reflect high honour on Mr. Crossley, the engineer."

The Manchester statue of the Prince Consort was unveiled on Wednesday week. The statue, 9ft. high, is in Sicilian marble, the Prince being repreThe magnesium light has for some time been ap-sented in the robes of the Order of the Garter. It plied to photographing places where the light of has been executed by Mr. Noble. day cannot penetrate, such as the interior of the Pyramids. The director of the Polytechnic School of Lemberg has just taken by this means some very successful sketches of the ancient tombs in the crypt of the Dominican church in that city.