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THE NEW METROPOLITAN MEAT AND POULTRY

MARKET, SMITHFIELD.

MR. HORACE JONES, ARCHITECT.-MESSRS. JOHN FOWLER AND T. MARR JOHNSON, ENGINEERS.

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LTRI

(Concluded from page 465.)
mitted-strains, it must be remembered, which are
excessively heavy at each occurrence of the final
There are in Bombay com-
pressure to a bale.
panies formed specially for pressing cotton, and
the leading merchants also have pressing factories
of their own, and the different kinds of presses
are held to be best by their respective owners. A
machine, known as Hodgart's cotton press, embodies
a very ingenious combination of hydraulic and lever
powers. The pressure is put upon the cotton by
the force of the hydraulic ram on the levers. The
process by pumping being in ordinary presses slow,
it was here endeavoured to reduce the quantity of
water necessary to be pumped by having a ram of
small area, and by multiplying the power so gained
by the levers. This press, at its usual rate of
speed, will pack ten bales per hour, and it is
possible to do fourteen; but this is too severe
labour for the men. At the time of the Abyssinian
expedition, hay was packed for the troops at the
rate of fifteen bales per hour; but this was an ex-
ceptional and extraordinary speed, that could not
well be repeated. It is considered, in Bombay,
good work to pack eight to ten bales per hour with
the presses generally used. All the machines that
have been here described are compound in their
action and are subject to severe and varying strains.
The Bombay Press Company uses Nasmyth's
press, which is one of the best that has yet been
invented. No diagram is necessary to show its
action, which is extremely simple. The pressure
is effected by three hydraulic rams placed side by
side. At the beginning of the stroke, while the
cotton is in a pliable state, the power is applied
Towards the end of the
by one cylinder only.
stroke, the other two rams are also set in motion,
the two cylinders having been filled with water, so
as to save time in pumping when the power is
applied to them.

force that can be exerted by hydraulic pressure, in
practice the difficulties commence at a certain point.
So far as these machines have been used hitherto,
a maximum pressure of two tons to the square inch
has been employed; but even with this enormous
pressure, it is necessary to have a very consider-
able area of ram to obtain the required total, and to
get this with one cylinder involves practical diffi-
culties, well known to engineers. It at all times
requires great care and skill to cast cylinders ca-
pable of taking high hydraulic pressure, and the
risk increases very rapidly with the diameter of the
cylinder. While with a small diameter, a moderate
thickness of metal will successfully endure enor-
mous pressure, cylinders of large diameter must be
made of excessive strength to resist fracture. But
as beyond a certain thickness cast iron becomes
spongy and porous, such castings would be liable
to unsoundness and the water would ooze through
to the surface. Moreover, the castings would be in-
conveniently heavy and difficult to transport. In
the present invention, the required area is obtained
by placing three cylinders with 8-inch rams side by
side, and these giving a total area of 150in., a force
of 300 tons is produced by the pressure before
named. If necessary this pressure could be increased,
as, in fact, a much higher degree had been obtained
with hydraulic presses.

Mr. George Ashcroft, having given this subject
much attention, invented and patented a machine
in which he obtained the power of hydraulic pres-
sure combined with rapidity. The first and easy
pressure on the cotton was rapidly effected by a
steam piston, only the final and severe pressure
This press
being given by a hydraulic ram.
worked satisfactorily, and would probably have
been pushed to success by the inventor had he
not thought of something better. If the first
evolving of a simple but important mechanical
principle be a great thing, the extension of it to
processes in which it has not been adopted before
is of almost equal practical importance. Mr. Ash-
croft determined to apply the accumulator to a
cotton press, and has most successfully done so.

open.

diameters, the pressure given by the pumps is in
this cylinder multiplied. The superior power thus
produced forces up the three rams, and with them
the cotton, the last few inches of the stroke to the
ultimate point desired. One of the doors of the box
is then opened, the hoops are fastened, and then the
other doors being opened, the water in the cylinders
The elastic
is let to waste, and the rams descend.
cotton at once expands into the small distance
allowed by the hoops, and with but slight assistance
from the workmen the bale tumbles from the box
and falls down a shoot to the floor below. Mean-
while, the other box having been filled with cotton,
it is pushed round into its place over the rams, and
is in its turn subjected to the pressure of the
water, and so the process is repeated without inter-
mission.

The friction on tho

The merits claimed by the inventor for his machine are as follows:-It being acknowledged that of all mechanical appliances hydraulic pressure exerts the greatest force, full advantage is taken of the fact by having a large area of rams and a high pressure. More than 30lb. of cotton per cubic foot can be compressed and held within the hoops for shipment, and as, after pressing, the elastic cotton expands and slightly stretches the hoops, a larger quantity than 30lb. has to be squeezed at the final moment of pressing to obtain the above result. The simplicity and smoothness of the process obviates the excessive wear and tear which is unavoidable in machines where the pressure is obtained by levers or screws. packing leathers is extremely small. Great uncertainty existed until recently on this point, and all makers of hydraulic presses differed from each other on the subject. Professor Rankine gave 10 per cent. of the total load as the amount wasted by the friction of the leathers, but the whole question has been most successfully investigated by Mr. Hicks, of Bolton, who by his experiments, which are recorded in his admirable little treatise published last year, proves that the friction of the leathers on an 8-inch ram is about 1-200th part of the total load, the decimal varying from 0.33 to 0-50 according as the leathers are more or less worn, and well or sparingly lubricated.

The box in which the cotton is pressed is in plan
of the dimension usual for a marketable bale, and
in height sufficient to hold enough loose cotton to
give a bale of the required thickness when pressed.
The box is made entirely of wrought iron, strongly
framed, and the upper part of it, where the ultimate
pressure is received, is of considerable thickness.
This part of the box is planed all over, so as to pre-
sent a true and smooth surface to the cotton. The
doors are made so that three of the four sides can
One of the special points in this invention,
for which a separate patent has been secured, is the
revolving boxes, the advantages of which will be
apparent when the operation of the machine is de-
scribed. The "accumulator" is of the well known
simple kind, consisting of a cylinder and ram, the
latter supporting a box which, as the ram ascends
and descends, moves up and down in guides. This
box can be made either of wood or iron, and can be
filled with any heavy substance, such as stone, iron,
or wet sand. There are a set of three hydraulic
pumps of equal size, driven by a pair of horizontal
engines. From these pumps there are communi-
cating pipes to the accumulator and press rams, and
to the small differential cylinder. The mode of work-
ing is as follows:-The house consists of a ground
floor and two floors above. Upon the ground floor are
fixed the steam-engine, the pumps, the press, and the
accumulator cylinder; but the latter might, if ne-
essary or convenient, be placed a hundred yards
away. The framework of the press reaches through
the floor to the top of the chamber above. In the
uppermost chamber the loose cotton is stored, and
when the baling takes place at the port of ship-
ment the ginned cotton generally arrives in loosely
packed bales. On the centre floor are the handles
for working the valves, and here is posted the
engineer who has control of the machine. During
the whole time of pressing and baling the cotton,
the engines and pumps are at work. The dead load
in the accumulator box is forced up with a pressure
on the ram of less than one ton to the inch, the
exact weight in the box determining the precise
degree of pressure which has to be exerted upon
the ram. This accumulated power having been ob-
tained, the apparatus is ready for work. The men
upon the top floor having placed the bagging in the
box, and filled it with loose cotton, which they
trample down, the men below push the revolving
boxes round, so that the cotton-filled box is over
The boxes revolve upon the strong
the rams.
vertical column, the weight being taken on balls,
which rest upon the collar, the bearing surfaces
above being turned and bored to fit.

Before describing this machine, the writer would
remark that he had very much wished to obtain
accurate information of the machines used in
America, and felt that no discussion would be com-
plete, that ignored the practice of the greatest
cotton growing country in the world. He had
failed in procuring drawings from the United
States, but has had a long letter from an engineer
in New York, who has given this subject his special
retention for many years, and who sends home
some very interesting particulars. As might be
expected, there are in America a vast number of
inventions for all processes connected with cotton.
In the various cotton States there are differences
of custom as to the size of the bales, and so in
Texas, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and
Florida, there are different kinds of baling machines
used. Levers and screws, hydraulic and steam
pressure, have been combined in many different
Wood is more
ways, and with varying success.
used in America than in England in the construc-
tion of machines, and machines so made would
probably not find favour elsewhere. Very likely
English machines would be condemned there. As
one of the incidents arising out of the war, when
the Southern ports were shut out from the rest
of the States, the blockade runners took over Eng-
lish made presses, and among others some of
M'Comb's, but they found no purchasers. Every
other detail of cotton packing is studied by in-
ventors in the States, and the correspondent before
referred to, says that there are some fifty different
patents even for modes of fastening the baling
hoops. In the London Patent Office, the writer has
seen more than a dozen specifications on the same
subject. It would be interesting if the printing
of the present paper were to result in the supply-
ing definite information from America on the whole
subject.

The Accumulator Cotton Press is the invention
of Mr. George Ashcroft, who designed the machine
to fulfil the two main requisites of great power and
of speed. While in theory there is no limit to the

The principle of the accumulator is well known, and for working cranes, opening dock gates, and many other purposes, has been in operation some time. It is probable that sooner or later some one would have applied it to baling presses, but at any rate Mr. Ashcroft has done it, and he only. Instead of the power, whether it be that of steam, water, men, or cattle, having to be applied as is necessary in other presses, with concentrated energy during the short time of the actual compression of the cotton, in the present case, during the whole time of filling the boxes, changing them, and hooping the bales, the pumps are quietly at work forcing up the accumulator box, which, at the proper moment, gives forth all its power, and does all that is required in a few seconds. revolving boxes are an ingenious part of the machine, and by their arrangement obviously savo much time. Twenty-five or more bales can be The power being packed and hooped per hour. direct acting, there are few parts that are liable to need repair, and the occasional renewal of the packing leathers entails but a small expense. Alexandria the accumulator press is in full operation, and at Bombay also it is exciting much interest among the cotton merchants, some of whom are now in treaty with a view to its adoption there.

But as

A portion of the floor revolves with the boxes.
The hooping irons having been placed in recesses
at the top of the press, the engineer opens the
valve which admits the high-pressure water to the
rams. At once the accumulator box descends, and
the three rams of the press ascend, forcing the
loose bottom of the box upon the cotton.
the accumulator box descends, the pumps being
still at work, in some measure restore the height
of the water column, and the accumulator ram
gently ascends and descends as the water is thus
When the cotton is com-
withdrawn and restored.
pressed upwards as tightly as the rams can force
it, the engineer shuts the valve which admits the
water from the accumulator and the pumps, and
opens one which admits the water from the dif-
ferential cylinder. By means of rams of different

The

In

In conclusion, the writer would remark that the importance of the cotton trade having been the cause of so many attempts to make good presses, The the same cause is no less a stimulus now. cotton trade is increasing so rapidly in India, Egypt, and elsewhere, that the best machines will undoubtedly have to be adopted by all those who wish to keep pace with the age. The railways that are being opened remove one great hindrance to the cotton grower. Hitherto, the cotton has been. packed loosely in the growing districts by the natives, and has had to be repacked at the port, the merchant not daring to send to England bales that might be filled with dirty cotton, or with stones to increase the weight. The inland carriage of the cotton is very expensive, and like the freight by ship, is calculated by the bulk occupied by the cotton. It has been almost impossible to take up country the heavy machinery necessary for pressing bales in a marketable condition, but as the railway system is developed, it is probable that in the centre of the growing districts proper presses will be established. Mr. Ashcroft is now giving his attention to a village press, the particulars of which he may possibly send home to the society.

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over the space being excavated without interfering with the operations. In order to effect this, the water is carried in a wooden conduit over lengths of about 200 yards, the upper dam being raised sufficiently to give the head required to cause the water to flow through the conduit. Great care is necessary in the raising of the water so as not to cause flooding of the works, mills, &c., along the river, many of the lower storeys of which are placed much under flood level. The inclination given to the conduit has varied, one inch in the hundred feet being the average, and 4ft. over ordinary

water level the greatest height the water has been dammed.

The conduit troughs are in lengths of 16ft. of 14-inch planking, supported on screw piles, entering the ground about 2 ft. below the surface of the new bed. Where the troughs join each other a strip of india-rubber is introduced, and bolts are employed to tighten up the joint in much the same way as with an iron pipe. The river during heavy rains rises very rapidly, and to prevent the troughs from being carried away or displaced, they are secured across the tops by cross planks over each joint, as

well as by the bolts bolting the troughs to each other. The dam to raise the water are illustrated in our engravings. A balk of timber is placed across the river over flood level. To this T-iron, 4in. by 3in., is fixed as upright bars, between which are fitted cast-iron plates 5ft. 6in. by 1ft. 4in., and a strip of india-rubber is let into a groove all round the edge of these plates, so that when one drops on the other a joint is made. Where the plates come against the flanges of the T-irons, a piece of indiarubber is also placed. These plates are put well down into the river bed, and a puddle flooring is

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trodden into the river bed behind the dam; the object of the india-rubber is to dispense with the use of puddle behind the plates as far as possible. The upright bars are so fastened that by striking a pin which holds them to the beam, they, with the plates, are carried forward by the pressure of the water from behind, which escapes. Men are always on the watch to prevent the water being dammed over a certain level. A relief shoot is first opened when a rise occurs in the river, and if this is not sufficient to keep the water below the mark, the whole dam is thrown entirely open.

vations with reference to the connection between

general arrangements for holding the seventeenth anniversary of the formation of the society. TIDAL WAVES AT THE ANTIPODES. Finally it was determined that the celebration WE have already briefly referred to the great tidal should take the form of a banquet, on a scale waves at various hours of 15 similar to that of February last, and which it last rolled in on different parts of Australia and appeared had given unmixed satisfaction to all New Zealand, doing some damage at Chatham present. The period named for the interesting Island. Some interesting particulars will be found event was about the middle of the month of in the following extract from a recent letter of the February next. Mr. James Irvine, of Messrs. Considerable light has within the last few days been "Times" correspondent in Australia. He says:Simpson's Engine Works, Pimlico, then proceeded thrown on this phenomenon by the accounts we to read a paper on rock-boring engines. This have received of the frightful succession of most constituted an elaborate treatise on the subject, destructive earthquakes which occurred shortly Owing to the presence of weirs, and the slight with succinct and highly practical details of all before in Peru. The full particulars of these awful inclination already mentioned, pumping is required, kinds of apparatus invented and contrived for visitations you will long since have learnt by way of not because of leakage in the dam, nor from the piercing rocks by mechanical means. Those en- America. Mr. Ellery, of the Melbourne Observaconduit; but town's drains, sewers, &c., empty gines which have comparatively failed were mi-tory, the president of our Royal Society, a very themselves into the lengths between the dams, as nutely described, and this enabled the audience to scientific man, last evening, in answer to a question well as the waste water from works. This water judge better of the merits of such as had been from Professor Wilson, made the following obserhas, therefore, to be thrown over the back dam or more successful. To Doering's patent boring en- these earthquakes and the tidal waves which ocinto the conduit; hand pumps were found inade-gine, which is in daily use in many of the Cornish curred on this side of the Pacific. He said he had quate for this purpose, and a Woodward's fan pump, mines, and which was manufactured under the been asked to offer a few notes on the great tidal as used at Blackfriars Bridge, capable of throwing superintendence of the author of the paper, a very wave. He had not been able to prepare any paper, 1,000 gallons a minute, was adopted, which has exact description, illustrated with diagrams, was but he had a few notes, in which, judging from the worked admirably. A line of rails is laid down in given. This machine, as may be known to most time when the earthquake was felt in Callao and the dry bed of the river, channel iron 4in. wide of our readers, is worked by compressed air, and when the tidal wave reached the Australian shore, being employed for rails, sufficiently heavy to pre- the way in which the drill is made to advance he had endeavoured to compute the time which it vent the sleepers from floating. Waggons to carry and revolve by that agency is at once ingenious, took the tidal wave to cross the Pacific Ocean. The two-thirds of a cubic yard, and weighing when simple, and effective. The apparatus may be said time of the wave was recorded at Sydney to a few loaded about one ton, are worked on these rails. to be automatic, indeed, once the air for supplying castle and in New Zealand. He had reduced the seconds; it was also pretty accurately taken at NewThese are lifted by a steam crane by Messrs. it is pressed up to 25lb. or 30lb. per square inch time taken at those places to Melbourne mean Appleby and Brothers, and deposited direct into by steam power, and admitted to its miniature time, and, according to that reckoning, the first the carts. The engineers in charge inform us that cylinders. The air is made to move the slide indication felt of the wave was at about half-past this crane has been found very convenient; it is valves and pistons, to hammer the drills into the 2 of the morning of the 15th of August, the indilighter than any other make of steam crane of the granite or other kind of rock, to deal heavy or cation being shown only by the self-registering same power, and, as it requires moving nearly light blows at will, to affix the whole machine on tide gauge; but the great wave was not observed every week, this is a great object. The work done the "sucker" principle in a moment at any spot, until 24 minutes past 7 on the same morning. at pressures varying from 50lb. to 70lb. of steam, and when it escapes it assists to ventilate the mine. The first indication at Newcastle was at 2 minutes equals to forty waggon loads an hour 30ft. in height. Air is really the soul of the contrivance, so to past 7 in the morning; two hours afterwards a As many as 150 waggon loads have been hoisted up speak, and admirably and economically it is made pretty full wave was noticed, and five hours afterin three hours; common gas coke is used for firing. to do its mission. Owing to the absence of levers, coast of New Zealand the time extended from about wards was the greatest disturbance of all. On the The contract was taken by Mr. John Killion. pins, springs, and othor fitments of that nature, 5 a.m. of the 15th of August to nearly on hour after Since his death, in December last, the works have Doering's engine enjoys immunity from ordinary noon. The date of the earthquake at Callao was the been, with the sanction of the executors, carried on derangements. Without diagrams, it is difficult 13th of August, but no time was given. Assuming by his son, under the direction of Mr. W. J. Max- to give a very lucid mechanical description it to have occurred at an early hour of the morning well, C.E., who designed the system we have illu- of the engine, but it can scarcely fail to make-say, 3 o'clock of their time-there would be strated and described. The work is now nearly headway, in every sense of the word. On the ter- between that time and the observance of the tidal completed. mination of the paper an animated discussion took wave at Sydney 32 hours, which, reckoning the place, and this was joined in by Messrs. Keyte, Dewar, Walker, Edmonds, Bunt, Gibbon, Stabler, the chairman, and others. This protracted the proceedings of a most instructive sitting to a very a voto of thanks, put in complimentary terms by the president, was unanimously awarded to Mr. Irvine.

TRIAL OF A NEW FIRE ENGINE.

N Wednesday week a new fire engine, supplied
W borough of Bolton, by Messrs. Shandate

more.

METROPOLITAN TRAMWAYS.

The

distance at about 6,500 statute miles, or 5,700 geographical miles, would give a velocity to the wave of about 200 miles an hour-a rapidity with which he should scarcely have thought it could travel. earthquake appeared to have extended over a very tate a bit was already known to have reached from 1deg. north to 22deg. south, and most likely it had gone still further south, to Valparaiso. The above observations of Mr. Ellery must necessarily be interesting to natural philosophers, as contributing to throw light on one of the most awful calamities of modern times.

TELEGRAPHS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

THERE are at present 1,113 miles of telegraphic
The open in South Australia, which represent

and Mason, was tested with great success. At about two o'clock, the fire brigade turned out into the Market-place, with the new engine, where they were met by the chairman and the greater part of the watch committee. The engine having been placed on the square, the pipes were fixed to a hydrant, and water was conveyed into a suction tank (which ANY of our readers will doubtless have observed holds about 60 gallons), from which a large suction pipe was attached to the engine pump. At street tramway schemes. Foremost amongst these eight minutes past two the fire was lighted, and may be named the Metropolitan Tramways Bill, for in about 4min. more the steam guage began to which the indefatigable Messrs. John Noble and Co., rise. In 5 min. the pressure had reached 5lb.; Westminster, are to petition, for the fourth succesin 6 min. it marked 10lb.; in 7min. 15lb.; in sive year, if we mistake not. Since Messrs. Noble 74min. 201b.; in 73min. 25lb.; in 8min. 301b.; in and their co-promoters first directed their energies siderably less than those generally adopted in 1,642 miles of wire. The Australian tariff is con8 min. 35lb.; and 100lb. pressure was reached in to this species of enterprise, they have obtained Acts England and the continent of Europe. The advan9min. 15sec., water issuing from the jet in 10sec. for the construction of tramways in Dublin and in tages of the system may be understood from the The engine having been set to work with Liverpool, but the merits of their bill for London statistical facts that whereas last year in South 1 in. jet, a strong and regular stream of water was have never been gone into. One year it has failed Australia the ratio of the number of telegrams sent thrown a distance of about 60 yards, the spray in a technicality, another it has been rejected by the to the number of letters transmitted through the reaching many feet further, and subsequently to House without inquiry. The plans for their next an altitude of from 140ft. to 150ft. After playing bill show a somewhat compressed scheme, and do post was 1 to 18, in Belgium there was one telewith a 14in. jet for some time in style, two fin. not include, as last year's bill did, a tramway south gram for every 32 letters, and in England one telejets were brought into action, and poured a volume of the Thames. The lines they now propose are in tioned country there were on an average three telegram for every 121 letters. In the first-menof water which, for the length of distance and alti-Islington and Holloway from Finsbury, outwards graphic messages sent for every four of the poputude, could not be but satisfactory to all who by the City-road, and eastwards from Whitechapel lation, while one telegram for every seven persons witnessed it. A jet of 1ĝin. was next attached, the to Bow and Stratford. Another tramway bill will constituted the ratio in England. It has been proother jets being disconnected, and with a pressure be petitioned for, it may be presumed, from the posed that the Post Office and the telegraphic sysof water at 801b., and the steam gauge frequently in-plans having been deposited, which will commence dicating 105lb., 110lb., and even 1201b. and 130lb., at Pimlico, cross the Thames by Vauxhall Bridge, and it has been suggested, with a view to accomplish tems be amalgamated as projected in this country, a stream of water was projected first vertically and proceed in a south-easterly and easterly direc- this result, that the postmasters should remit in postand then horizontally to the distances above stated. tion to Peckham and Greenwich. The plans are age stamps the cost of the messages forwarded, which The most striking evidence of the capability of the not required to show the pattern of rail proposed could be cashed at the Post Office. The working engine, however, was given when the 14in. jet to be used upon these tramways. The most diffi- of the lines has been satisfactory, and there have was connected. The volume of water, we are in-cult element in the problem lies, as it seems, in this been few interruptions and scarcely any casualties. formed, was cast with such regularity and force as -the adoption of a rail that will not obstruct the Of the 39 interruptions recorded, 20 were attributto leave nothing to be desired. ordinary traffic, and that will, at the same time, be able to storms, nine arose from defects in the workcapable of securing a valuable exclusive right to a ing, and six from absolute carelessness. Great incompany as a quid pro quo for the cost of laying and convenience and expense were also incurred from maintaining it. The rail proposed by Messrs. Noble, the wilful destruction of insulators. The results which we illustrated some time since, appears well of the year 1867 were satisfactory in a financial designed to meet all objections, and will, we trust, point of view. The revenue amounted to help them to obtain their bill. £12,368 2s. 4d., which represented an increase of £178 7s 2d. over the receipts of the preceding year. There was, however, a loss of £616 2s., caused by excess of working expenses over revenue in certain parts. The expenditure on new lines was £5,125 11s.

LONDON ASSOCIATION OF FOREMEN
ENGINEERS.

THE

HE usual monthly meeting took place on Saturday, the 5th inst. It was most numerously attended, and the chair was filled by Mr. J. Newton, of the Mint. The first business transacted consisted in the election of Messrs. Anderson and McGillivray as honorary members. This was followed by a discussion as to the time, place, and

THE "Messager de Cronstadt" states that the entire expanse visible around that place is covered with a compact sheet of ice. Communications with Oranienbaum are kept up with sledges.

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