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THE CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF UNDERGROUND CIRCUITS.

BY S.B. FOWLER.

The numerous disastrous storms of the last winter have brought out very vividly the advantages of having all wires placed underground, and many inquiries have been addressed to the companies operating underground circuits as to their success. It is not probable that all of the answers to these inquiries have been of the most favorable character. To many central station managers an underground system means frequent break-downs and interruptions of service, with, perhaps, slow and expensive repairs, which bring in their turn numerous complaints, loss of customers, and reduced profits. In many installations burn-outs both underground and in the station are frequent, with the natural result that the operating of circuits underground is not there considered an unqualified success. The writer has in mind two very different experiences with underground cables. Several miles of cable were bought by a certain company, carefully laid, and up to to-day not a single burn-out or interruption of service can be attributed to failure of cables; at about the same time another company bought about an equal amount of the same kind of cable, and in a comparatively short time the current had to be shut off the lines and the whole installation repaired and parts of it replaced. Both of these experiences have been repeated many times and will be again, although it is simply a distinction between a good cable properly laid and a good cable ruined by careless and incompetent workmanship.

Every failure can be traced to poor work in the original installation or to the use of a cheap cable, both causes being due, generally, to that false economy which looks for too quick returns. A poorly insulated line wire and a poorly insulated cable are two very different things. However, it is a fact that by the use of a good cable it is not difficult to construct an underground system for light, power, telegraph or telephone uses that will be superior to overhead lines in its service and in cost of maintenance. The ideal underground system must have as a starting point a system of subways admitting of the easy drawing in and out of cables and affording means of making subsidiary connections readily and with the minimum of expense and interruption of service. This is practically accomplished by a subway consisting of lines of pipe terminating at convenient intervals, say at street intersections, in manholes, for convenience in jointing and in running out house connections. These pipes, or ducts, as they are called, should be for two kinds of service; the lower or deeper laid lines for the main or trunk circuits, and a second series of ducts laid nearer the surface, running into service boxes placed near together for lines to "house to house" connections. In some cities where it is allowed to run overhead lines, the plan of running but one service connection in a block is followed, all customers in the block being supplied from a line run over the housetops or strung on the rear walls.

This makes unnecessary all subsidiary ducts except a short one from the manhole to the nearest building in the block, and effects a considerable saving in pipe, service boxes, cables and labor. The manholes should have their walls built up of brick, the floors should be of concrete, and there should be an inside lid which can be fastened down and the manhole thus made water-tight.

For ducts wood, iron or cement lined pipe may be used. To preserve the wood it is generally treated with creosote, which, in contact with the lead cover of the cable, sets up a chemical action, resulting in the destruction of the lead. Wood offers but little protection for the cable, as it is too easily damaged and broken through in the frequent street openings made by companies operating lines of pipe in the streets, and as one of the main purposes of a subway is that of a protection to cables, wooden ducts have little to recommend them except their cheapness.

Iron pipes are either laid in trenches filled in with earth or are laid in cement. Iron pipe will of course rust out in time, and if absolute permanence in construction is desired, should be laid in cement, for after the pipe rusts out, the duct of cement is still left. However, if we are going to the expense of laying in cement, it would be much preferable to use cement lined pipe, which is not only cheaper than iron pipe, but makes the most perfect cable conduit, as it affords a perfectly smooth surface to draw the cable over and give a good duct edge.

It is not necessary, however, in small installations of cable, especially where additional connections will not be of frequent occurrence, to go to the expense of subways, for cable may be safely laid in the ground in trenches filled in with earth, or can be inclosed in a plain wooden box or a wooden box filled with pitch.

There are, of course, many localities where, if the cable is laid in contact with the earth, a chemical action would take place which might result in the destruction of the cable.

Underground cables are of the following classes: 1. Rubber insulated cables, insulated with rubber or other homogeneous material. 2. Fibrous cables, so called from the conductors being covered with some fibrous material, as cotton or paper, which is saturated with the insulating material, paraffine, resin oil, or some special compound. Under this latter head is also included the dry core paper cables.

The first thing to do is to get the cable drawn into the ducts, and on the proper accomplishment of this depends to a great extent the success or failure of the whole installation. Probably the ducts have been wired when the subway was constructed, but if not a wire must be run through as a means of pulling in the draw rope. There are several kinds of apparatus for getting a wire through a duct—rods, flexible tapes, mechanical "creepers," etc.; but probably the best is the sectional rod. This simply consists of three or four foot lengths of hard wood rods, having metal tips that screw into each other. A rod is placed in a duct at a manhole, one screwed to that, both are pushed forward, another one added and pushed forward, and so on until they extend the entire length of the duct. Then the wire is attached and the rods are pulled out and detached one at a time and with the last rod the wire is through. At least No. 14 galvanized iron or steel wire should be used, for any smaller size cannot be used a second time, as a rule. In starting to pull in the draw rope a wire brush should be attached to the wire and to this again the rope, and when the brush arrives at the distant end of the duct it very likely will bring with it a miscellaneous collection of material which for the good of the cable had better be in the manhole than in the duct.

The reel or drum carrying the cable should be mounted on wheels or jacks and placed on the same side of the manhole as the duct into which the cable is to be drawn, and must always be so placed that the cable will run off the top of the reel.

There are several methods of attaching the draw rope to the cable. As simple and strong a method as any is to punch two of these holes through the cable, lead and all, and attach the rope by means of an iron wire—some of the draw wire will do—run through these holes. Depending on the length and weight of cable to be pulled it can be drawn either by hand or by a multiplying winch. The rope should run through a block fastened in the manhole in such a position that the rope shall have a good straightaway lead from the mouth of the duct.

The strain on the cable should be perfectly uniform and steady; if the power is applied by a series of jerks either the lead covering may be pulled apart or some of the conductors broken. At the reel there must always be a large enough number of men to turn it and keep the cable from rubbing on anything, and in the manhole one or more men to see that the cable feeds into the duct straight and to guide it if necessary. If the ducts are of iron and are not perfectly smooth at the ends, these should be made so with a file, and in addition a protector of some sort should be placed in the mouths of the duct, both above and below the cable. Six inches of lead pipe, split lengthwise and bent over at one end to prevent being drawn into the duct with the cable, makes a very good protector. The cable should be reeled off the drum just fast enough to prevent any of the power used in pulling the cable through the duct being utilized in unreeling it. If this latter is allowed to occur the cable will be bent too short and the lead covering buckled or broken, and also the cable may be jammed against the upper edge of the duct and perhaps cut through.

If the reel is allowed to turn faster than the cable is drawn in, the first three or four turns on the reel will slacken up, and the lead covering may either be dented or cut through by scraping on the ground. If the cable end when pulled through up to the block is not long enough to bend around the hole more than half way, the rope should be unfastened from its end, a length of rope with a well frayed out end should be run through the block, and by fastening to the cable close to the duct, with a series of half hitches, as much slack as necessary can be pulled in. If this is properly manipulated there need not be a scratch on the cable, but unless great care is taken the lead may be pressed up into ridges and the core itself damaged.

Immediately after the cable is drawn in, if the joint is not to be at once made, the open end or ends should be cut off and the cable soldered up, as most cables are very susceptible to moisture and readily absorb water even from the atmosphere. Where practicable it is always a good plan to pull the cable through as many manholes as possible without cutting the cable; for the joint is, especially in telephone or telegraph cables, the weak point. To do this the rope should be pulled through the proper duct in the next section without unfastening it from the cable; the winch should be moved to the next manhole, and pulling through then done as before. There should always be a man in every hole through which the cable is running to see that it does not bind anywhere and to keep protectors around the cable.

It is not advisable to pull more than one cable into a duct, and never advisable to pull a cable into a duct containing another cable, but if two or more cables have to go into the same duct, they should always be drawn in together. Lead covered cables and those with no lead on the outside should never be pulled into the same duct, for if they bind anywhere the soft cable will suffer where two lead covered cables would get through all right. Some manufacturers are now putting on their cables a tape or braid covering, which saves the lead many bad bruises and cuts, and is a valuable addition to a cable at very little additional expense.

Practically all electric light and power cables are either single or double conductors, and the jointing of these is comparatively a simple matter, although requiring considerable care. The lead is cut back from each end about four or five inches, and the conductors bared of insulation for two or three inches. The bare conductors should be thoroughly tinned by dipping in the metal pot or pouring the melted solder over them. A sperm candle is better than resin or acid for any part of the operations where solder is used. A lead sleeve is here slipped back over the cable, out of the way, and the ends of the conductors brought together in a copper sleeve which is then sweated to a firm joint. This part must be as good a piece of work mechanically as electrically. The bare splice is then wrapped tightly with cotton or silk tape to a thickness slightly greater than that of the insulation of the cable, and is thoroughly saturated with the insulating compound until all moisture previously absorbed by the tape is driven off.

The lead sleeve is then brought over the splice and wiped to the cable. The joint is then filled with the insulating compound poured through holes in the top of the sleeve; these holes are then closed and the joint is complete, and there is no reason why, in light and power cables, that joint should not be as perfect as any other part of the cable. When the cable ends are prepared for jointing they should be hung up in such a position that they are in the same plane, both horizontal and vertically, and firmly secured there, so that when the lead sleeve is wiped on the conductor may be in its exact center, and great care must be taken not to move the cables again until the sleeve is filled and the insulation sufficiently cooled to hold the conductor in position.

It is also very important to see that there are no sharp points on the conductors themselves, on the copper sleeve, on the edges of the lead covering or on the lead sleeve. All these should be made perfectly smooth, for points facilitate disruptive discharges. Branch joints had better be made as T-joints rather than as Y-joints, for they are better electrically and mechanically, although they occupy more room in the manholes. They are of course made in the same way as straight joints, a lead T-sleeve being used, however. For multiple arc circuits copper T-sleeves and for series circuits copper L-sleeves are used.

Telephone and telegraph cables are made of any required gauge of wire and with from 1 to 150 conductors in a cable. In jointing these the splices are never soldered, the conductors being joined either with a twist joint or with the so-called Western Union splice. Each splice is covered with a cotton or silk sleeve or a wrapping of tape, the latter being preferable, although considerably increasing the time necessary for making the joint. Great care must be taken that no ends of wire are left sticking up, for they will surely work their way through the tape and grounds, and crosses will be the result. The wires should always be joined layer to layer and each splice very tightly taped in order to get as much insulating compound around each splice as possible in the limited space. The splices should be "broken" as much as possible, so as to avoid having adjoining splices coming over each other. After the joint has been saturated with insulating compound the wires should have an outside wrapping of tape to keep them in shape, and then the sleeve is wiped on and filled. If the insulation resistance of the jointed telegraph or telephone cable is a quarter of what the cable tested in the factory, it may be considered that an exceptionally good piece of work has been done. I have spoken more particularly of fibrous lead covered cables, as the handling of them includes practically every step of the work on any other kind of underground cable. In insulating dry core paper cables a paper sleeve is slipped over the splice, and in rubber cables the splice is wrapped with rubber tape; all other details are the same for these as for the fibrous cable.

In the laying of light and power cables every joint, as made, should be tested for insulation with a Thomson galvanometer, as the insulation must necessarily be very high, and if one joint or section of cable is any weaker than another it may be very important in the future to know it. All tests must be made after the joint has cooled, for while hot its insulation resistance will be very low.

Tests for copper resistance should also be made to determine if the splices are electrically perfect; an imperfect splice may cause considerable trouble. In telegraph and telephone cables the conductors should be of very soft copper, for in stripping the conductor of insulation it is very easy to nick the wire, and if of hard drawn copper open wires will be the result.

All work should be frequently tested for continuity with telephones, magnetos, or small portable galvanometers. It is only necessary to ground the conductors at one end and try each wire at the other end. For this sort of work a telephone receiver used with one cell of some dry battery is most convenient, and has the additional advantage of affording a means of communication while testing, and is by far the best thing for identifying and tagging conductors.

These cables should be frequently tested during the progress of the work for grounds and crosses with a Thomson instrument, and when the cable is complete, a careful series of tests of the capacity, insulation resistance, and copper resistance of each wire should be made and the exact condition of the cable determined before it is put in service, and thereafter an intelligent oversight of the condition of the circuits can thus be more readily maintained.

Where a company has extensive underground service, a regular cable gang should be in its employ, for quick and safe handling of cables demands the employment of men accustomed to the work. If the cable has been properly laid and tests show it to be in good condition before current is turned on, almost the only trouble to be anticipated will be due to mechanical injury. Disruptive discharge, puncturing the lead, may occur; but the small chance of its occurring can be greatly lessened by the use of some kind of "cable protector," which will provide for the spark an artificial path of less resistance than the dielectric of the condenser, which the cable in fact becomes.

If a fault suddenly develops on a circuit, the chances are it will be found in a manhole, and an inspection of the cable in the manhole will generally reveal the trouble without resorting to locating with a Wheatstone bridge. The cable is often cut through at the edge of the duct, or damaged by something falling on it, or by some one "walking all over it." To guard against these, the ducts should always be fitted with protectors both above and below the cable. The cables should never be left across the manholes, for they then answer the purpose of a ladder, but should be bent, around the walls of the hole and securely fastened with lead straps, that they may not be moved and the lead gradually worn through.

In telegraph cables, when one or two conductors "go," it will probably be useless to look for trouble except with instruments; but if several wires are "lost" at once it will probably be found to be caused by mechanical injury, which can be located by inspection. If it is ever necessary to loop out conductors, a joint can be readily opened and the conductors wanted picked out and connected into the branch cable and the joint again closed without disturbing the working wires. In doing this a split sleeve must be used, and the only additional precaution to be taken is in filling the sleeve to have the insulating compound not hot enough to melt the solder and open up the split in the sleeve. In cutting in service on light and power cables it is entirely practicable to do so without interruption of service on multiple arc circuits, even those of very high voltage; but they require great precaution and involve considerable risk to the jointer, and where possible the circuit to which the connection is to be made should previously be cut dead. Where the voltage is not dangerous to human life, almost any service connection can be made without interruption of service.

I have only indicated a very few of the operations that may be found necessary, and the probable causes of troubles that may be encountered in the operating of underground circuits, believing that the different problems that arise can, with a little experience, be successfully met by any one who has a fair knowledge of the original construction of cable lines.—Electrical World.

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RAILROADS TO THE CLOUDS.

If George Stephenson, when he placed the first locomotive on the track and guaranteed it a speed of six miles an hour, could have foreseen that in less than eighty years the successors of his rude machine would be climbing the sides of mountain ranges, piercing gorges hitherto deemed inaccessible, crossing ravines on bridges higher than the dome of St. Paul's, and traversing the bowels of the earth by means of tunnels, no doubt his big blue eyes would have stood out with wonder and amazement. But he foresaw nothing of the kind; the only problem present in his mind was how to get goods from the seaports in western England to London as easily and cheaply as possible, and to do this he substituted for horses, which had for 150 years been drawing cars along wooden or iron tracks, the wonderful machine which has revolutionized the freight and passenger traffic of the world.

It was, indeed, impossible for any one to foresee the triumphs of engineering which have accompanied the advances in transportation. To the engineer of the present day there are no impossibilities. The engineer is a wizard at whose command space and matter are annihilated. The highest mountain, the deepest valley, has no terrors for him. He can bridge the latter and encircle or tunnel the former. The only requisites which he demands are that something in his line be needed, and that the money is forthcoming to defray the expense, and the thing will be done. But the railroad he is asked to construct must be necessary, and the necessity must be plainly shown, or no funds will be advanced; and although the theory does not invariably hold good, especially when a craze for railroad building is raging, as a rule no expense for the construction of a road will be incurred without a prospect of remuneration.

Hence the need of railroad communication has caused lines to be constructed through districts where only a few years ago the thing would have been deemed impossible. The Pacific roads of this country were a necessity long before their construction, and in the face of difficulties almost insuperable were carried to successful completion. So, also, of the railroads in the Andes of South America. The famous road from Callao through the heart of Peru is one of the highest mountain roads in the world, as well as of the most difficult construction. The grades are often of 300 feet and more to the mile, and when the mountains were reached so great were the difficulties the engineers were forced to confront that in some places laborers were lowered from cliffs by ropes in order that, with toil and difficulty, they might carve a foothold in order to begin the cutting for the roadway.

In some sections tunnels are more numerous than open cuts, and so far as the road has gone sixty-one tunnels, great and small, have been constructed, aggregating over 20,000 feet in length. The road attains a height of 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, and at the highest point of the track is about as high as the topmost peak of Mont Blanc. It pierces the range above it by a tunnel 3,847 feet long. The stern necessities of business compelled the construction of this road, otherwise it never would have been begun.

The tunnels of the Andes, however, do not bear comparison with the tunnels, bridges, and snow sheds of the Union Pacific, nor do even these compare with the vast undertakings in the Alps—three great tunnels of nine to eleven miles in length, which have been prepared for the transit of travelers and freight. The requirements of business necessitated the piercing of the Alps, and as soon as the necessity was shown, funds in abundance were forthcoming for the enterprise.

But tunneling a mountain is a different thing from climbing it. Many years ago the attention of inventors was directed to the practicability of constructing a railroad up the side of a mountain on grades which, to an ordinary engine, were quite impossible. The improvements in locomotives twenty-five and thirty years ago rendered them capable of climbing grades which, in the early days of railroad engineering, were deemed out of the question. The improvements proved a serious stumbling block in the way of the inventors, who found that an ordinary locomotive was able to climb a much steeper grade than was commonly supposed. The first railroads were laid almost level, but it was soon discovered that a grade of a few feet to the mile was no impediment to progress, and gradually the grade was steepened.

The inventors of mountain railroad transportation might have been discouraged by this discovery, but it is a characteristic of an inventor that he is not set back by opposition, which, in fact, only serves to stimulate his zeal. The projectors of inclined roads and mountain engines kept steadily on, and in France, Germany, England, and the United States many experimental roads were constructed, each of a few hundred yards in length, and locomotive models were built and put in motion to the amazement of the general public, who jeered alike at the contrivances and the contrivers, deeming the former impracticable and the latter crazy.

But the idea of building a road up the side of a hill was not to be dismissed. There was money in it for the successful man, so the cranky inventors kept on at work in spite of the jeers of the rabble and the discouragements of capitalists loath to invest their money in an uncertain scheme. To the energy and perseverance of railroad inventors the success of the mountain railroad is due, as also is the construction of the various mountain roads, of which the road up Mt. Washington, finished in 1868, was the first, and the road up Pike's Peak, completed the other day, was the latest.

Of all the mountain roads which have been constructed since the one up Mt. Washington was finished, the best known is that which ascends the world-famous Rigi. With the exception of Mont Blanc, Rigi is, perhaps, the best known of any peak in the Alps, though it is by no means the highest, its summit being but 5,905 feet above the level of the sea. Although scarcely more than a third of the height of some other mountains in the Alps, it seems much higher because of its isolated position. Standing as it does between lakes Lucerne, Zug, and Lowertz, it commands a series of fine views in every direction, and he who looks from the summit of Rigi, if he does no other traveling in Switzerland, can gain a fair idea of the Swiss mountain scenery. Many of the most noted peaks are in sight, and from the Rigi can be seen the three lakes beneath, the villages which here and there dot the shores, and, further on, the mighty Alps, with their glaciers and eternal snows.

Many years ago a hotel was built on the summit of the Rigi for the benefit of the tourists who daily flocked to this remarkable peak to enjoy the benefit of its wonderful scenery. The mountain is densely wooded save where the trees have been cut away to clear the land for pastures. The ease of its ascent by the six or eight mule paths which had been made, the gradual and almost regular slope, and the throngs of travelers who resorted to it, made it a favorable place for an experiment, and to Rigi went the engineers in order to ascertain the practicability of such a road. The credit of the designs is due to a German engineer named Regenbach, who, about the year 1861, designed the idea of a mountain road, and drew up plans not only for the bed but also for the engine and cars. The scheme dragged. Capitalists were slow to invest their money in what they deemed a wild and impracticable undertaking, and even the owners of the land on the Rigi were reluctant for such an experiment to be tried. But Regenbach persevered, and toward the close of the decade the inhabitants of Vitznau, at the base of the Rigi, were astonished to see gangs of laborers begin the work of making a clearing through the forests on the mountain slope. They inquired what it meant, and were told that a road up the Rigi was to be made. The Vitznauers were delighted, for they had no roads, and there was not a wheeled vehicle in the town, nor a highway by which it could be brought thither. The idea of a railroad in their desolate mountain region, and, above all, a railroad up the Rigi, never entered their heads, and a report which some time after obtained currency in the town, that the laborers were beginning the construction of a railroad, was greeted with a shout of derision.

Nevertheless, that was the beginning of the Rigi line, and in May, 1871, the road was opened for traffic. It begins at Vitznau, on Lake Lucerne, and extends to the border of the canton and almost to the top of the mountain. It is 19,000 feet long, and during that distance rises 4,000 feet at an average grade of 1 foot in 4. Though steep, it is by no means so much so as the Mt. Washington road, which rises 5,285 feet above the sea, at an average of 1 foot in 3. There are, however, stretches of the Rigi road at which the grade is about 1 foot in 21/2, which is believed to be the steepest in the world.

The Rigi road has several special features aside from its terrific slopes which entitle it to be considered a triumph of the engineer's skill. About midway up the mountains the builders came to a solid mass of rock, which presented a barrier that to a surface road was impassable. They determined to tunnel it, and, after an enormous expenditure of labor, finished an inclined tunnel 225 feet in length, of the same gradient as the road. A gorge in the side of the mountain where a small stream, the Schnurtobel, had cut itself a passage also hindered their way, and was crossed by a bridge of lattice girder work in three spans, each 85 feet long. The entire roadbed, from beginning to end, was cut in the solid rock. A channel was chiseled out to admit the central beam, which contains the cogs fitting the driving wheel of the locomotive. The engine is in the rear of the train, and presents the exceedingly curious feature of a boiler greatly inclined, in order that at the steeper gradients it may remain almost perpendicular. The coal and water are contained in boxes over the driving wheels, so that all the weight of the engine is really concentrated on the cogs—a precaution to prevent their slipping. The cost of the road, including three of these strangely constructed locomotives, three passenger coaches, and three open wagons, was $260,000, and it is a good paying investment. The fare demanded for the trip up the mountains is 5 francs, while half that sum is required for the downward passage, and the road is annually traversed by from 30,000 to 50,000 passengers.

Curious sensations are produced by a ride up this remarkable line. The seats of the cars are inclined like the boiler of the locomotive, and so long as the cars are on a level the seats tilt at an angle which renders it almost impossible to use them. But when the start is made the frightful tilt places the body in an upright position, and, with the engine in the rear, the train starts up the hill with an easy, gliding motion, passing up the ascent, somewhat steeper than the roof of a house, without the slightest apparent effort. But if the going up excites tremor, much more peculiar are the feelings aroused on the down grade. The trip begins with a gentle descent, and all at once the traveler looking ahead sees the road apparently come an end. On a nearer approach he is undeceived and observes before him a long decline which appears too steep even to walk down. Involuntarily he catches at the seats, expecting a great acceleration of speed. Very nervous are his feelings as the train approaches this terrible slope, but on coming to the incline the engine dips and goes on not a whit faster than before and not more rapidly on the down than on the up grade. Many people are made sick by the sensation of falling experienced on the down run. Some faint, and a few years ago one traveler, supposed to be afflicted with heart disease, died of fright when the train was going over the Schnurtobel bridge. The danger is really very slight, there not having been a serious accident since the road was opened. The attendants are watchful, the brakes are strong, but even with all these safeguards, men of the steadiest nerves cannot help wondering what would become of them in case anything went wrong.

Bold as was the project of a railroad on the Rigi, a still bolder scheme was broached ten years later, when a daring genius proposed a railroad up Mt. Vesuvius. A railroad up the side of an ordinary mountain seemed hazardous enough, but to build a line on the slope of a volcano, which in its eruption had buried cities, and every few years was subject to a violent spasm, seemed as hazardous as to trust the rails of an ordinary line to the rotten river ice in spring time. The proposal was not, however, so impracticable as it looked. While the summit of Vesuvius changes from time to time from the frequent eruptions, and varies in height and in the size of the crater, the general slope and contour of the mountain are about the same to-day as when Vesuvius, a wooded hill, with a valley and lake in the center of its quiescent crater, served as the stronghold of Spartacus and his rebel gladiators. There have been scores of eruptions since that in which Herculaneum and Pompeii were overthrown, but the sides of the mountain have never been seriously disturbed.

A road on Vesuvius gave promise of being a good speculation. Naples and the other resorts of the neighborhood annually attracted many thousands of visitors, and a considerable number of these every year ascended the volcano, even when forced to contend with all the difficulties of the way. Many, however, desiring to ascend, but being unable or unwilling to walk up, a chair service was established—a peculiar chair being slung on poles and borne by porters. In course of time the chair service proved to be inadequate for the numbers who desired to make the ascent, and the time was deemed fit for the establishment of more speedy communication.

Notwithstanding the necessity, the proposal to establish a railroad met with general derision, but the scheme was soon shown to be perfectly practicable, and a beginning was made in 1879. The road is what is known as a cable road, there being a single sleeper with three rails, one on the top which really bore the weight, and one on each side near the bottom, which supported the wheels, which coming out from the axle at a sharp angle, prevented the vehicle from being overturned. The road covers the last 4,000 feet of the ascent, and the power house is at the bottom, a steel cable running up, passing round a wheel at the top and returning to the engine in the power house. The ascent to the lower terminus of the road is made on mules or donkeys; then, in a comfortable car, the traveler is carried to a point not far from the crater. The car is a combined grip and a passenger car, similar in some points to the grip car of the present day, while the seats of the passenger portion are inclined as in the cars on the Rigi road. But the angle of the road being from thirty-three to forty-five degrees, makes both ascent and descent seem fearfully perilous. Every precaution, however, is taken to insure the safety of passengers; each car is provided with several strong and independent brakes, and thus far no accident worth recording has occurred. The road was opened in June, 1880. Although there have been several considerable eruptions since that date, none of them did any damage to the line but what was repaired in a few hours.

The fashion thus set will, no doubt, be followed in many other quarters. Wherever there is sufficient travel to pay working expenses and a profit on a steep grade mountain road it will probably be built. Already there is talk of a road on Mont Blanc, of another up the Yungfrau, and several have been projected in the Schwartz and Hartz mountains. A route on Ben Nevis, in Scotland, is already surveyed, and it is said surveys have also been made up Snowden, with a view to the establishment of a road to the summit of the highest Welsh peak. Sufficient travel is all that is necessary, and when that is guaranteed, whenever a mountain possesses sufficient interest to induce people to make its ascent in considerable numbers, means of transportation, safe and speedy, will soon be provided. The modern engineer is able, willing and ready to build a road to the top of Mt. Everest in the Himalayas if he is paid for doing so.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

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To clean hair brushes, wash with weak solution of washing soda, rinse out all the soda, and expose to sun.

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THE MARCEAU.



The Marceau, the last ironclad completed and added to the French navy, was put in commission at Toulon in April last, and has lately left that town to join the French squadron of the north at Brest. The original designs of this ship were prepared by M. Huin, of the French Department of Naval Construction, but since the laying down of the keel in the year 1882 they have been very considerably modified, and many improvements have been introduced.

Both ship and engines were constructed by the celebrated French firm, the Societe des Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee, the former at their shipyard in La Seyne and the latter at their engine works in Marseilles. The ship was five years in construction on the stocks, was launched in May, 1887, and not having been put in commission until the present year, was thus nearly nine years in construction. She is a barbette belted ship of somewhat similar design to the French ironclads Magenta, now being completed at the Toulon arsenal, and the Neptune, in construction at Brest.

The hull is constructed partly of steel and partly of iron, and has the principal dimensions as follows. Length, 330 ft. at the water line; beam, 66 ft. outside the armor; draught, 27 ft. 6 in. aft.; displacement, 10,430 English or 10,600 French tons. The engines are two in number, one driving each propeller; they are of the vertical compound type, and on the speed trials developed 11,300 indicated horse power under forced and 5,500 indicated horse power under natural draught, the former giving a speed of 16.2 knots per hour with 90 revolutions per minute. The boilers are eight in number, of the cylindrical marine type, and work at a pressure of 85.3 lb. per square inch. During the trials the steering powers of the ship were found to be excellent, but the bow wave is said, by one critic, to have been very great.

The ship is completely belted with Creusot steel armor, which varies in thickness from 9 in. forward to 173/4 in. midships. In addition to this belt the ship is protected by an armored deck of 31/2 in., while the barbette gun towers are protected with 153/4 in. steel armor with a hood of 21/2 in. to protect the men against machine gun fire. As a further means of insuring the life of the ship in combat and also against accidents at sea, the Marceau is divided into 102 water-tight compartments and is fitted with torpedo defense netting. There are two masts, each carrying double military tops; and a conning tower is mounted on each mast, from either of which the ship may be worked in time of action, and both of which are in telegraphic communication with the engine rooms and magazines. Provision is made for carrying 600 tons of coal, which, at a speed of 10 knots, should be sufficient to supply the boilers for a voyage of 4,000 miles.

The armament of the Marceau is good for the tonnage of the ship and consists principally of four guns of 34 centimeters (13.39 in.) of the French 1884 model, having a weight of 52 tons, a length of 281/2 calibers, and being able to pierce 30 in. of iron armor at the muzzle. The projectiles weigh 924 lb., and are fired with a charge of 387 lb. of powder. The muzzle velocity has been calculated to be 1,968 ft. per second. The guns are entirely of steel and are mounted on Canet carriages in four barbette towers, one forward, one aft, and one on each side amidships. On the firing trials both the guns and all the Canet machinery, for working the guns and hoisting the ammunition, gave very great satisfaction to all present at the time. In addition to the above four heavy guns there are, in the broadside battery, sixteen guns of 14 centimeters (5.51 in.), eight on each side, and a gun of equal caliber is mounted right forward on the same deck. The armament is completed by a large number of Hotchkiss quick-firing and revolver guns and four torpedo tubes, one forward, one aft, and one on each side.

The crew of the Marceau has been fixed at 600 men, and the cost is stated to have been about $3,750,000.—Engineering.

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[Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 820, page 13097.]



A REVIEW OF MARINE ENGINEERING DURING THE PAST DECADE.[1]

[Footnote 1: Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, July 28, 1891.]

BY MR. ALFRED BLECHYNDEN, OF BARROW-IN-FURNESS

Steam Pipes.—The failures of copper steam pipes on board the Elbe, Lahn, and other vessels have drawn serious attention both to the material and to the modes of construction of the pipes. The want of elastic strength in copper is an important element in the matter; and the three following remedies have been proposed, while still retaining copper as the material. First, in view of the fact that in the operation of brazing the copper may be seriously injured, to use solid drawn tubes. This appears fairly to meet the main dangers incidental to brazing; but as solid drawn pipes of over 7 inches diameter are difficult to procure, it hardly meets the case sufficiently. Secondly, to use electrically deposited tubes. At first much was promised in this direction; but up to the present time it can hardly be regarded as more than in the experimental stage. Thirdly, to use the ordinary brazed or solid drawn tubes, and to re-enforce them by serving with steel cord or steel or copper wire. This has been tried, and found to answer perfectly. For economical reasons, as well as for insuring the minimum of torsion to the material during manufacture, it is important to make as few bends as possible; but in practice much less difficulty has been experienced in serving bent pipes in a machine than would have been expected. Discarding copper, it has been proposed to substitute steel or iron. In the early days of the higher pressures, Mr. Alexander Taylor adopted wrought iron for steam pipes. One fitted in the Claremont in February, 1882, was recently removed from the vessel for experimental purposes, and was reported upon by Mr. Magnus Sandison in a paper read before the Northeast Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders.[2] The following is a summary of the facts. The pipe was 5 inches external diameter, and 0.375 inch thick. It was lap welded in the works of Messrs. A. & J. Stewart. The flanges were screwed on and brazed externally. The pipe was not lagged or protected in any manner. After eight and a half years' service the metal measured where cut 0.32 and 0.375 inch in thickness, showing that the wasting during that time had been very slight. The interior surface of the tube exhibited no signs of pitting or corrosion. It was covered by a thin crust of black oxide, the maximum thickness of which did not exceed 1/32 inch. Where the deposit was thickest it was curiously striated by the action of the steam. On the scale being removed, the original bloom on the surface of the metal was exposed. It would thus appear that the danger from corrosion of iron steam pipes is not borne out in their actual use; and hence so much of the way is cleared for a stronger and more reliable material than copper. So far the source of danger seems to be in the weld, which would be inadmissible in larger pipes; but there is no reason why these should not be lapped and riveted. There seems, however, a more promising way out of the difficulty in the Mannesmann steel tubes which are now being "spun" out of solid bars, so as to form weldless tubes.

[Footnote 2: Transactions Northeast Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, vol. 7, 1890-91, p. 179.]

TABLE I.—TENSILE STRENGTH OF GUN METAL AT HIGH TEMPERATURES.

- - + Composition Temperature Tensile Elastic Elongation of of oil strength limit in gun metal. bath. per square per square length of inch. inch. 2 inches + - - Per cent. Fahr. Tons Tons Per cent. Copper 87 / 50 deg. 12.34 8.38 14.64 Tin 8 / Zinc 31/2 Lead 11/2 400 deg. 10.83 6.30 11.79 - - + Copper 87 / 50 deg. 13.86 8.33 20.30 Tin 8 { Zinc 5 458 deg. 10.70 7.43 12.42 + - -

Cast steel has been freely used by the writer for bends, junction pieces, etc., of steam pipes, as well as for steam valve chests; and except for the fact that steel makers' promises of delivery are generally better than their performance, the result has thus far been satisfactory in all respects. These were adopted because there existed some doubt as to the strength of gun metal under a high temperature; and as the data respecting its strength appeared of a doubtful character, a series of careful tests were made to determine the tensile strength of gun metal when at atmospheric and higher temperatures. The test bars were all 0.75 in diameter, or 0.4417 square inch sectional area; and those tested at the higher temperatures were broken while immersed in a bath of oil at the temperature here stated, each line being the mean of four experiments. The result of these experiments was to give somewhat greater faith in gun metal as a material to be used under a higher temperature; but as steel is much stronger, it is probably the most advisable material to use, when the time necessary to procure it can be allowed.

Feed Heating.—With the double object of obviating strain on the boiler through the introduction of the feed water at a low temperature, and also of securing a greater economy of fuel, the principle of previously heating the feed water by auxiliary means has received considerable attention, and the ingenious method introduced by Mr. James Weir has been widely adopted. It is founded on the fact that, if the feed water as it is drawn from the hot well be raised in temperature by the heat of a portion of steam introduced into it from one of the steam receivers, the decrease of the coal necessary to generate steam from the water of the higher temperature bears a greater ratio to the coal required without feed heating than the power which would be developed in the cylinder by that portion of steam would bear to the whole power developed when passing all the steam through all the cylinders. The temperature of the feed is of course limited by the temperature of the steam in the receiver from which the supply for heating is drawn. Supposing, for example, a triple expansion engine were working under the following conditions without feed heating: Boiler pressure, 150 lb.;—indicated horse power in high pressure cylinder 398, in intermediate and low pressure cylinders together 790, total, 1,188; and temperature of hot well 100 deg. Fahr. Then with feed heating the same engine might work as follows: The feed might be heated to 220 deg. Fahr., and the percentage of steam from the first receiver required to heat it would be 12.2 per cent.; the indicated horse power in the high pressure cylinder would be as before 398, and in the intermediate and low pressure cylinders it would be 12.2 per cent, less than before, or 694, and the total would be 1,092, or 92 per cent. of the power developed without feed heating. Meanwhile the heat to be added to each pound of the feed water at 220 deg. Fahr. for converting it into steam would be 1,005 units against 1,125 units with feed at 100 deg. Fahr., equivalent to an expenditure of only 89.4 per cent. of the heat required without feed heating. Hence the expenditure of heat in relation to power would be 89.4 + 92.0 = 97.2 per cent., equivalent to a heat economy of 2.8 per cent. If the steam for heating can be taken from the low pressure receiver, the economy is about doubled. Other feed heaters, more or less upon the same principle, have been introduced. Also others which heat the feed in a series of pipes within the boiler, so that it is introduced into the water in the boiler practically at boiling temperature; this is economical, however, only in the sense that wear and tear of the boiler is saved; in principle the plan does not involve economy of fuel.

Auxiliary Supply of Fresh Water.—Intimately associated with the feed is the means adopted for making up the losses of fresh water due to leakage of steam from safety valves, glands, joints, etc., and of water discharged from the air pumps. A few years ago this loss was regularly made up from the sea, with the result that the water in the boilers was gradually increased in density; whence followed deposit on the internal surfaces, and consequent loss of efficiency, and danger of accident through overheating the plates. With the higher pressures now adopted, the danger arising from overheating is much more serious, and the necessity is absolute of maintaining the heating surfaces free from deposit. This can be done only by filling the boiler with fresh water in the first instance, and maintaining it in that condition. To do this two methods are adopted, either separately or in conjunction. Either a reserve supply of fresh water is carried in tanks or the supplementary feed is distilled from sea water by special apparatus provided for the purpose. In the construction of the distilling or evaporating apparatus advantage has been taken of two important physical facts, namely, that, if water be heated to a temperature higher than that corresponding with the pressure on its surface, evaporation will take place; and that the passage of heat from steam at one side of a plate to water at the other is very rapid. In practice the distillation is effected by passing steam, say from the first receiver, through a nest of tubes inside a still or evaporator, of which the steam space is connected either with the second receiver or with the condenser. The temperature of the steam inside the tubes being higher than that of the steam either in the second receiver or in the condenser, the result is that the water inside the still is evaporated, and passes with the rest of the steam into the condenser, where it is condensed, and serves to make up the loss. This plan localizes the trouble of deposit, and frees it from its dangerous character, because an evaporator cannot become overheated like a boiler, even though it be neglected until it salts up solid; and if the same precautions are taken in working the evaporator which used to be adopted with low pressure boilers when they were fed with salt water, no serious trouble should result. When the tubes do become incrusted with deposit, they can be either withdrawn or exposed, as the apparatus is generally so arranged; and they can then be cleaned.

Screw Propeller.—In Mr. Marshall's paper of 1881 it was said that "the screw propeller is still to a great extent an unsolved problem." This was at the time a fairly true remark. It was true the problem had been made the subject of general theoretical investigation by various eminent mathematicians, notably by Professor Rankine and Mr. William Froude, and of special experimental investigation by various engineers. As examples of the latter may be mentioned the extended series of investigations in the French vessel Pelican, and the series made by Mr. Isherwood on a steam launch about 1874. These experiments, however, such as they were, did little to bring out general facts and to reduce the subject to a practical analysis. Since the date of Mr. Marshall's paper, the literature on this subject has grown rapidly, and, has been almost entirely of a practical character. The screw has been made the subject of most careful experiments. One of the earliest extensive series of experiments was made under the writer's direction in 1881, with a large number of models, the primary object being to determine what value there was in a few of the various twists which inventive ingenuity can give to a screw blade. The results led the experimenters to the conclusion that in free water such twists and curves are valueless as serving to augment efficiency. The experiments were then carried further with a view to determine quantitative moduli for the resistance of screws with different ratios of pitch to diameter, or "pitch ratios," and afterward with different ratios of surface to the area of the circle described by the tips of the blades, or "surface ratios." As these results have to some extent been analyzed and published, no further reference need be made to them now.

In 1886, Mr. R.E. Froude published in the Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects the deductions drawn from an extensive series of trials made with four models of similar form and equal diameter, but having different pitch ratios. Mr. S.W. Barnaby has published some of the results of experiments made under the direction of Mr. J.I. Thornycroft; and in his paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1890 he has also put Mr. R.E. Froude's results into a shape more suitable for comparison with practice. Nor ought Mr. G.A. Calvert's carefully planned experiments to pass unnoticed, of which an account was given in the Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects in 1887. These experiments were made on rectangular bodies with sections of propeller blade form, moved through the water at various velocities in straight lines, in directions oblique to their plane faces; and from their results an estimate was formed of the resistance of a screw.

One of the most important results deduced from experiments on model screws is that they appear to have practically equal efficiencies throughout a wide range both in pitch ratio and in surface ratio; so that great latitude is left to the designer in regard to the form of the propeller. Another important feature is that, although these experiments are not a direct guide to the selection of the most efficient propeller for a particular ship, they supply the means of analyzing the performances of screws fitted to vessels, and of thus indirectly determining what are likely to be the best dimensions of screw for a vessel of a class whose results are known. Thus a great advance has been made on the old method of trial upon the ship itself, which was the origin of almost every conceivable erroneous view respecting the screw propeller. The fact was lost sight of that any modification in form, dimensions, or proportions referred only to that particular combination of ship and propeller, or to one similar thereto; so something like chaos was the result. This, however, need not be the case much longer.

In regard to the materials used for propellers, steel has been largely adopted for both solid and loose-bladed screws; but unless protected in some way, the tips of the blades are apt to corrode rapidly and become unserviceable. One of the stronger kinds of bronze is often judiciously employed for the blades, in conjunction with a steel boss. Where the first extra expense can be afforded, bronze seems the preferable material; the castings are of a reliable character, and the metal does not rapidly corrode; the bronze blades can therefore with safety be made lighter than steel blades, which favors their springing and accommodating themselves more readily to the various speeds of the different parts of the wake. This might be expected to result in some slight increase of efficiency; of which, however, the writer has never had the opportunity of satisfactorily determining the exact extent. Instances can be brought forward where bronze blades have been substituted for steel or iron with markedly improved results; but in cases of this kind which the writer has had the opportunity of analyzing, the whole improvement might be accounted for by the modified proportions of the screw when in working condition. In other words, both experiment and practical working alike go to show that, although cast iron and steel blades as usually proportioned are sufficiently stiff to retain their form while at work, bronze blades, being made much lighter, are not; and the result is that the measured or set pitch is less than that which the blades assume while at work. Some facts relative to this subject have already been given in a recent paper by the author.

Twin Screws.—The great question of twin screw propulsion has been put to the test upon a large scale in the mercantile marine, or rather in what would usually be termed the passenger service. While engineers, however, are prepared to admit its advantages so far as greater security from total breakdown is concerned, there is by no means thorough agreement as to whether single or twin screws have the greater propulsive efficiency. What is required to form a sound judgment upon the whole question is a series of examples of twin and single screw vessels, each of which is known to be fitted with the most suitable propeller for the type of vessel and speed; and until this information is available, little can be said upon the subject with any certainty. So far the following large passenger steamers, particulars of which are given in table II., have been fitted with twin screws. It appears t be a current opinion that the twin screw arrangement necessitates a greater weight of machinery. This is not necessarily so, however; on the contrary, the opportunity is offered for reducing the weight of all that part of the machinery of which the weight relatively to power is inversely proportional to the revolutions for a given power. This can be reduced in the proportion of 1 to the square root of 2, that is 71 per cent. of its weight in the single screw engine; for since approximately the same total disk area is required in both cases with similar proportioned propellers, the twins will work at a greater speed of revolution than the single screw. From a commercial point of view there ought to be little disagreement as to the advantage of twin screws, so long as the loss of space incurred by the necessity for double tunnels is not important; and for the larger passenger vessels now built for ocean service the disadvantage should not be great. Besides their superiority in the matter of immunity from total breakdown, and in greatly diminished weight of machinery, they also offer the opportunity of reducing to some extent the cost of machinery. A slightly greater engine room staff is necessary; but this seems of little importance compared with the foregoing advantages.

TABLE II.—PASSENGER STEAMERS FITTED WITH TWIN SCREWS.

-+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+ Length Cylinders, Boiler Indi- between two sets in all pressure cated Vessels. perpen- Beam. cases. per horse- diculars. -+ - square power. Diameters. Stroke. inch. -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+ Feet. Feet. Inches. Inches. Lb. City of Paris. } 525 631/4 45, 71, 113 60 150 20,000 City of New York. / -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+ Teutonic. } 565 58 43, 68, 110 60 180 18,000 Majestic. / -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+ Normannia. 500 571/2 40, 67, 106 66 160 11,500 -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+ Columbia. 4631/2 551/2 41, 66, 101 66 160 12,500 -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+ Empress of India. Empress of Japan. } 440 51 32, 51, 82 54 160 10,125 Empress of China. / -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+ Orel. 415 48 34, 54, 85 51 160 10,000 -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ + -+

Weight of Machinery Relatively to Power.—It is interesting to compare the weight of machinery relatively to the power developed; for this comparison has sometimes been adopted as the standard of excellence in design, in respect of economy in the use of material. The principle, however, on which this has generally been done is open to some objections. It has been usual to compare the weight directly with the indicated horse-power, and to express the comparison in pounds per horse-power. So long as the machinery thus compared is for vessels of the same class and working at about the same speed of revolution, no great fault can be found; but as speed of revolution is a great factor in the development of power, and as it is often dependent on circumstances altogether external to the engine and concerning rather the speed of the ship, the engines fitted to high speed ships will thus generally appear to greater advantage than is their due. Leaving the condenser out of the question, the weight of an engine would be much better referred to cylinder capacity and working pressures, where these are materially different, than directly to the indicated power. The advantages of saving weight of machinery, so long as it can be done with efficiency, are well known and acknowledged. If weight is to be reduced, it must be done by care in design, not by reduction of strength, because safety and saving of repairs are much more important than the mere capability of carrying a few tons more of paying load. It must also be done with economy; but this is a matter which generally settles itself aright, as no shipowner will pay more for a saving in weight than will bring in a remunerative interest on his outlay. In his paper on the weight of machinery in the mercantile marine,[3] Mr. William Boyd discussed this question at some length, and proposed to attain the end of reducing the weight of machinery by the legitimate method of augmenting the speed of revolution and so developing the required power with smaller engines. This method, while promising, is limited by the efficiency of the screw, but may be adopted with advantage so long as the increase in speed of revolution involves no such change in the screw as to reduce its efficiency as a propeller. But when the point is reached beyond which a further change involves loss of propelling efficiency, it is time to stop; and the writer ventures to say that in many cargo vessels now at work the limit has been reached, while in many others it has certainly been passed.

[Footnote 3: Transactions Northeast Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, vol. 6, 1889-90, p. 253.]

Economy of Fuel.—Coming to the highly important question of economy of fuel, the average consumption of coal per indicated horse-power is 1.522 lb. per hour. The average working pressure is 158.5 lb. per square inch. Comparing this working pressure with 77.4 lb. in 1881, a superior economy of 19 per cent. might be expected now, on account of the higher pressure, or taking the 1.828 lb. of coal per hour per indicated horse-power in 1881, the present performance under similar conditions should be 1.48 lb. per hour per indicated horse-power. It appears that the working pressures have been increased twice in the last ten years, and nearly three times in the last nineteen. The coal consumptions have been reduced 16.7 per cent. in the last ten years and 27.9 per cent. in the last nineteen. The revolutions per minute have increased in the ratios of 100, 105, 114; and the piston speeds as 100, 124, 140. Although it is quite possible that the further investigations of the Research Committee on Marine Engine Trials may show that the present actual consumption of coal per indicated horse-power is understated, yet it is hardly probable that the relative results will be affected thereby.

Dimensions.—In the matter of the power put into individual vessels, considerable strides have been made. In 1881, probably the greatest power which has been put into one vessel was in the case of the Arizona, whose machinery indicated about 6,360 horse-power. The following table gives an idea of the dimensions and power of the larger machinery in the later passenger vessels:

TABLE III.—DIMENSIONS AND POWER OF MACHINERY IN LATER PASSENGER VESSELS.

- - - -+ Length Year. Name of vessel. Diameters of of Indicated cylinders. Stroke. horsepower. -+ - - - Inches. Inches. 1881 Alaska 68, 100, 100 72 10,686 - - - -+ 1881 City of Rome 46, 86; 46, 86; 46, 86 72 11,800 -+ - - - 1881 Servia 72, 100, 100 78 10,300 - - - -+ 1881 Livadia yacht 60, 78, 78; 60, 78, 39 12,500 78; 60, 78, 78 / -+ - - - 1883 Oregon 70, 104, 104 72 13,300 - - - -+ 1884 Umbria 71, 105, 105 72 14,320 1884 Etruria / -+ - - - 1888 City of New York 45, 71, 113; 60 20,000 1889 City of Paris / 45, 71, 113 / about - - - -+ 1889 Majestic 43, 68, 110; 60 18,000 1889 Teutonic / 43, 68, 110 / -+ - - -

In war vessels the increase has been equally marked. In 1881 the maximum power seems to have been in the Inflexible, namely, 8,485 indicated horse-power. The following will give an idea of the recent advance made: Howe (Admiral class), 11,600 indicated horse-power; Italia and Lepanto, 19,000 indicated horse-power; Re Umberto, 19,000 indicated horse-power; Blake and Blenheim (building), 18,000 indicated horse-power; Sardegna (building), 22,800 indicated horse-power. It is thus evident that there are vessels at work to-day having about three times the maximum power of any before 1881.

General Conclusions.—The progress made during the last ten years having been sketched out, however roughly, the general conclusions may be stated briefly as follows: First, the working pressure has been about doubled. Second, the increase of working pressure and other improvements have brought with them their equivalent in economy of coal, which is about 20 per cent. Third, marked progress has been made in the direction of dimension, more than twice the power having been put into individual vessels. Fourth, substantial advance has been made in the scientific principles of engineering. It only remains for the writer to thank the various friends who have so kindly furnished him with data for some of the tables which have been given; and to express the hope that the next ten years may be marked by such progress as has been witnessed in the past. But it must be remembered that, if future progress be equal in merit or ratio, it may well be less in quantity, because advance becomes more difficult of achievement as perfection is more nearly approached.

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THE LITTLE HOUSE.

BY M.M.

One of the highest medical authorities is credited with the statement that "nine-tenths of the diseases that afflict humanity are caused by neglect to answer the calls of Nature."

This state of affairs is generally admitted, but is usually attributed to individual indolence. That, doubtless, has a great deal to do with it, but should not part of the blame be laid upon the often unpleasant environments, which make us shrink as from the performance of a painful duty?

In social life, unless from absolute necessity or charity, people of refined habits do not call on those whose surroundings shock their sense of decency; but when they go to pay the calls of Nature, they are often compelled to visit her in the meanest and most offensive of abodes; built for her by men's hands; for Nature herself makes no such mistakes in conducting her operations. She does not always surround herself with the pomp and pride of life, but she invariably hedges herself in with the thousand decencies and the pomp of privacy.

But what do we often do? We build what is sometimes aptly termed "an out-house," because it is placed so that the delicate minded among its frequenters may be made keenly alive to the fact that they can be plainly seen by every passer-by and by every idle neighbor on the lookout. This tiny building is seldom weatherproof; In consequence, keen cold winds from above, below, and all around find ready entrance, chill the uncovered person, frequently check the motions, and make the strong as well as the weak, the young as well as the old, very sorry indeed that they are so often uselessly obliged to answer the calls of Nature. It is true, the floor is sometimes carpeted with snow, but the feet feel that to be but cold comfort, though the door may enjoy rattling its broken hasp and creaking its loose hinges.

How often, too, are the nose and the eye offended by disregard of the Mosaic injunction, found in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth verses of the twenty-third chapter of Deuteronomy! Of course this injunction was addressed to a people who had been debased by slavery, but who were being trained to fit them for their high calling as the chosen of God; but is not some such sanitary regulation needed in these times, when a natural office is often made so offensive to us by its environments that it is difficult for us to believe that "God made man a little lower than the angels," or that the human body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?

Dwellers in the aristocratic regions of a well drained city, whose wealth enables them to surround themselves with all devices tending to a refined seclusion, may doubt all this, but sanitary inspectors who have made a round of domiciliary visits in the suburbs, or the older, neglected parts of a large city, of to any part of a country town or village, will readily affirm as to its general truth.

This unpardonable neglect of one of the minor decencies by the mass of the people seems to be caused partly by a feeling of false shame, and partly by an idea that it is expensive and troublesome to make any change that will improve their sanitary condition or dignify their daily lives.

The Rev. Henry Moule, of Fordington Vicarage, Dorsetshire, England, was one of the first to turn his attention to this matter. With the threefold object of improving the sanitary condition of his people, refining their habits, and enriching their gardens, he invented what he called the "dry earth closet."

"It is based on the power of clay and the decomposed organic matter found in the soil to absorb and retain all offensive odors and all fertilizing matters; and it consists, essentially, of a mechanical contrivance (attached to the ordinary seat) for measuring out and discharging into the vault or pan below a sufficient quantity of sifted dry earth to entirely cover the solid ordure and to absorb the urine.

"The discharge of earth is effected by an ordinary pull-up, similar to that used in the water closet, or (in the self-acting apparatus) by the rising of the seat when the weight of the person is removed.

"The vault or pan under the seat is so arranged that the accumulation can be removed at pleasure.

"From the moment when the earth is discharged and the evacuation covered, all offensive exhalation entirely ceases. Under certain circumstances there may be, at times, a slight odor as of guano mixed with earth, but this is so trifling and so local that a commode arranged on this plan may, without the least annoyance, be kept in use in any room."

The "dry earth closet" of the philanthropic clergyman was found to work well, and was acceptable to his parishioners. One reason why it was so was because dry earth was ready to hand, or could be easily procured in a country district where labor was cheap. But where labor was dear and dry earth scarce, those who had to pay for the carting of the earth and the removal of the deodorized increment found it both expensive and troublesome.

But a modification of this dry earth closet, the joint contrivance of an English church clergyman and his brother, "the doctor," residents of a Canadian country town, who had heard of Moule's invention, is a good substitute, and is within the reach of all. This will be briefly described.

The vault was dug as for an ordinary closet, about fifteen feet deep, and a rough wooden shell fitted in. About four feet below the surface of this wooden shell a stout wide ledge was firmly fastened all around. Upon this ledge a substantially made wooden box was placed, just as we place a well fitting tray into our trunks. About three feet of the back of the wooden shell was then taken out, leaving the back of the box exposed. From the center of the back of the box a square was cut out and a trap door fitted in and hasped down.

The tiny building, on which pains, paint, and inventive genius had not been spared to make it snug, comfortable, well lighted and well ventilated, was placed securely on this vault.

After stones had been embedded in the earth at the back of the vault, to keep it from falling upon the trap door, two or three heavy planks were laid across the hollow close to the closet. These were first covered with a barrowful of earth and then with a heap of brushwood.

Within the closet, in the left hand corner, a tall wooden box was placed, about two-thirds full of dry, well sifted wood ashes. The box also contained a small long-handled fire shovel. When about six inches of the ashes had been strewn into the vault the closet was ready for use. No; not quite; for squares of suitable paper had to be cut, looped together with twine, and hung within convenient reaching distance of the right hand; also a little to the left of this pad of paper, and above the range of sight when seated, a ten pound paper bag of the toughest texture had to be hung by a loop on a nail driven into the corner.

At first the rector thought that his guests would be "quick-witted enough to understand the arrangement," but when he found that the majority of them were, as the Scotch say, "dull in the uptak," he had to think of some plan to enforce his rules and regulations. As by-word-of-mouth instructions would have been rather embarrassing to both sides, he tacked up explicit written orders, which must have provoked many a smile. Above the bin of sifted ashes he nailed a card which instructed "Those who use this closet must strew two shovelfuls of ashes into the vault." Above the pad of clean paper he tacked the thrifty proverb: "Waste not, want not;" and above the paper bag he suspended a card bearing this warning: "All refuse paper must be put into this bag; not a scrap of clean or unclean paper must be thrown into the vault."

This had the desired effect. Some complacently united to humor their host's whim, as they called it, and others, immediately recognizing its utility and decency, took notes with a view to modifying their own closet arrangements.

Sarah, the maid of all work, caused a good deal of amusement in the family circle by writing her instructions in blue pencil on the front of the ash bin. These were: "Strew two shuffefuls of ashes into the volt, but don't spill two shuffefuls onto the floor. By order of the Gurl who has to sweap up." This order was emphatically approved of by those fastidious ones who didn't have to "sweep up."

This closet opened off the woodshed, and besides being snugly weatherproof in itself, was sheltered on one side by the shed and on another by a high board fence. The other two sides were screened from observation by lattice work, outside of which evergreens were planted to give added seclusion and shade. A ventilator in the roof and two sunny little windows, screened at will from within by tiny Venetian shutters, gave ample light and currents of fresh air. For winter use, the rector's wife and daughters made "hooked" mats for floor and for foot support. These were hung up every night in the shed to air and put back first thing in the morning. For the greater protection and comfort of invalids, an old-fashioned foot warmer, with a handle like a basket, was always at hand ready to be filled with live coals and carried out.

The little place was always kept as exquisitely clean as the dainty, old-fashioned drawing room, and so vigilant was the overseeing care bestowed on every detail, that the most delicate and acute sense of smell could not detect the slightest abiding unpleasant odor. The paper bag was frequently changed, and every night the accumulated contents were burned; out of doors in the summer, and in the kitchen stove—after a strong draught had been secured—in the winter.

At stated times the deodorized mass of solid increment—in which there was not or ought not to have been any refuse paper to add useless bulk—was spaded, through the trap door, out of the box in the upper part of the vault, into a wheelbarrow, thrown upon the garden soil, and thoroughly incorporated with it. In this cleansing out process there was little to offend, so well had the ashes done their concealing deodorizing work.

In using this modified form of Moule's invention, it is not necessary to dig a deep vault. The rector, given to forecasting, thought that some day his property might be bought by those who preferred the old style, but his brother, the doctor, not troubling about what might be, simply fitted his well made, four feet deep box, with its trap door, into a smoothly dug hole that exactly held it, and set the closet over it. In all other respects it was a model of his brother's.

This last is within the reach of all, even those who live in other people's houses; for, when they find themselves in possession of an unspeakably foul closet, they can cover up the old vault and set the well cleaned, repaired, fumigated closet upon a vault fashioned after the doctor's plan. A stout drygoods box, which can be bought for a trifle, answers well for this purpose, after a little "tinkering" to form a trap door.

Of course, dry earth is by far the best deodorizer and absorbent, but when it cannot be easily and cheaply procured, well sifted wood or coal ashes—wood preferred—is a good substitute. The ashes must be kept dry. If they are not, they lose their absorbing, deodorizing powers. They must also be well sifted. If they are not, the cinders add a useless and very heavy bulk to the increment.

An ash sifter can be made by knocking the bottom out of a shallow box, studding the edge all round with tacks, and using them to cross and recross with odd lengths of stovepipe wire to form a sieve.—The Sanitarian.

* * * * *



THE HYGIENIC TREATMENT OF OBESITY.[1]

[Footnote 1: Translated by Mr. Jos. Helfman, Detroit, Mich.]

BY DR. PAUL CHERON.

In order to properly regulate the regimen of the obese, it is first necessary to determine the source of the superfluous adipose of the organism, since either the albuminoids or the hydrocarbons may furnish fat.

Alimentary fat becomes fixed in the tissues, as has been proved by Lebede, who fed dogs, emaciated by long fast, with meat wholly deprived of fat, and substituted for the latter linseed oil, when he was able to recover the oil in each instance from the animal; parallel experiments with mutton fat, in lieu of oil, afforded like results.

Hoffman also deprived dogs of fat for a month, causing them to lose as high as twenty-two pounds weight, then began nourishing with bacon fat with but little lean; the quantity of fat formed in five days, in the dog that lost twenty-two pounds, was more than three pounds, which could have been derived only from the bacon fat.

It has been stated, however, that alimentary fat seems to preserve from destruction the fat of the organism which arises from other sources. Be this as it may, it is a fact that the pre-existence of fat furthers the accumulation of more adipose; or in other words, fat induces fattening!

That adipose may be formed through the transformation of albuminous matters (meat) is an extremely important corollary, one established beyond cavil by Pettinkofer and Voit, in an indirect way, by first estimating the nitrogen and carbon ingested, and second the amount eliminated. Giving a dog meat that was wholly deprived of fat, they found it impossible to recover more than a portion of the contained carbon; hence some must necessarily have been utilized in the organism, and this would be possible only by the transformation of the carbon into fat! It goes without saying, however, that the amount of adipose thus deposited is meager.

Other facts also plead in favor of the transformation of a portion of albumen into fat within the economy, notably the changing of a portion of dead organism into what is known as "cadaveric fat," and the very rapid fatty degeneration of organs that supervenes upon certain forms of poisoning, as by phosphorus.

The carbohydrates, or more properly speaking hydrocarbons, are regarded by all physiologists as specially capable of producing fat, and numerous alimentary experiments have been undertaken to prove this point. Chaniewski, Meissl, and Munk obtained results that evidenced, apparently, sugar and starch provide more fat than do the albuminoids. Voit, however, disapproves this, maintaining the greater part of the hydrocarbons is burned (furnishes fuel for the immediate evolution of force), and that fat cannot be stored up unless a due proportion of albuminoids is also administered. He believes the hydrocarbons exert a direct influence only; being more oxidizable than fats, they guard the latter from oxidation. This protective role of the hydrocarbons applies also to the albuminoids.

We may believe, then, that the three great classes of aliment yield fat, in some degree; that alimentary fat may be fixed in the tissues; and that hydrocarbons favor the deposition of adipose either directly or indirectly.

It is well understood that fat may disappear with great rapidity under certain conditions; many maladies are accompanied by speedy emaciation; therefore, as fat never passes into the secretions, at least not in appreciable quantities, it probably undergoes transformation, perhaps by oxidation or a form of fermentation, the final results of which are, directly or indirectly, water and cadaveric acid. It is certain the process of oxidation favors the destruction of adipose, and that everything which inhibits such destruction tends to fat accumulation.

Since the earliest period of history, there seems to have been an anxiety to secure some regimen of general application that would reduce or combat obesity. Thus Hippocrates says:

Fat people, and all those who would become lean, should perform laborious tasks while fasting, and eat while still breathless from fatigue, without rest, and after having drunk diluted wine not very cold. Their meats should be prepared with sesamum, with sweets, and other similar substances, and these dishes should be free from fat.

In this manner one will be satiated through eating less.

But, besides, one should take only one meal; take no bath; sleep on a hard bed; and walk as much as may be.

How much has medical science gained in this direction during the interval of more than two thousand years? Let us see:

First among moderns to seek to establish on a scientific basis a regimen for the obese, was Dancel, who forbade fats, starchy foods, etc., prescribed soups and aqueous aliment, and reduced the quantity of beverage to the lowest possible limit; at the same time he employed frequent and profuse purgation.

This regimen, which permits, at most, but seven to twelve ounces of fluid at each repast, is somewhat difficult to follow, though it may be obtained, gradually, with ease. Dr. Constantine Paul records a case in which this regimen, gradually induced, and followed for ten years, rewarded the patient with "moderate flesh and most excellent health."

In Great Britain, a mode of treatment instituted in one Banting, by Dr. Harvey, whereby the former was decreased in weight forty pounds, has obtained somewhat wide celebrity; and what is more remarkable, it is known as "Bantingism," taking its name from the patient instead of the physician who originated it. The dietary is as follows:

Breakfast.—Five to six ounces of lean meat, broiled fish, or smoked bacon—veal and pork interdicted; a cup of tea or coffee without milk or sugar; one ounce of toast or dry biscuit (crackers).

Dinner.—Five or six ounces of lean meat or fish—excluding eel, salmon, and herring; a small quantity of vegetables, but no potatoes, parsnips, carrots, beets, peas, or beans; one ounce of toast, fruit, or fowl; two glasses of red wine—beer, champagne, and port forbidden.

Tea.—Two or three ounces of fruit; one kind of pastry; one cup of tea.

Supper.—Three or four ounces of lean beef or fish; one or two glasses of red wine.

At bed-time.—Grog without sugar (whisky and water, or rum and water), and one or two glasses of sherry or Bordeaux.

"Bantingism," to be effective, must be most closely followed, when, unfortunately also, it proves extremely debilitating; it is suitable only for sturdy, hard riding gluttons of the Squire Western type. The patient rapidly loses strength as well as flesh, and speedily acquires an unconquerable repugnance to the dietary. Further, from a strictly physiological point of view, the quantity of meat is greatly in excess, while with the cessation of the regimen, the fat quickly reappears.

Next Ebstein formulated a dietary that is certainly much better tolerated than that of Harvey and Banting, and yields as good, or even better, results. He allows patients to take a definite quantity—two to two and a half ounces-of fat daily, in the form of bacon or butter which, theoretically at least, offers several advantages: It diminishes the sensations of hunger and thirst, and plays a special role with respect to the albuminoids; the latter may thus be assimilated by the economy without being resolved into fat, and thus the adipose of the organism at this period is drawn upon without subsequent renewal. The following is the outline:

Breakfast.—At 6 a.m. in summer; 7:30 in winter:—Eight ounces of black tea without either milk or sugar; two ounces of white bread or toast, with a copious layer of butter.

Dinner.—2 p.m.:—A modicum of beef marrow soup; four ounces of meat, preferably of fatty character; moderate quantity of vegetable, especially the legumines, but no potatoes or anything containing starch; raw fruits in season, and cooked fruits (stewed, without sugar); two or three glasses of light wine as a beverage, and after eating, a cup of black tea without sugar.

Supper.—7:30 p m.:—An egg, bit of fat roast, ham, or bacon; a slice of white bread well buttered; a large cup of black tea without milk or sugar; from time to time, cheese and fresh fruits.

Germain See suggests as a modification of this regimen, the abundant use of beverage, the addition of gelatins, and at times small doses of potassium iodide in twenty cases he claims constant and relatively prompt results.

Whatever may be urged for Ebstein's system—and it has afforded most excellent results to Unna and to Lube, as well as its author—it certainly exposes the patient to the terrors of dyspepsia, when the routine must needs be interrupted or modified; hence it is not always to be depended upon. As between dyspepsia and obesity, there are few, I fancy, who would not prefer the latter.

Another "system" that has acquired no little celebrity, and which has for its aim the reduction as far as possible of alimentary hydrocarbons while permitting a certain proportion of fat, is that, of Denneth, which necessarily follows somewhat closely the lines laid down by Ebstein.

Oertels' treatment, somewhat widely known, and not without due measure of fame, is based upon a series of measures having as object the withdrawal from both circulation and the economy at large, as much of the fluids as possible. It is especially adapted for the relief of those obese who are suffering fatty degeneration of the heart. The menu is as follows:

Breakfast.—Pour to five ounces of tea or coffee with a little milk; two to two and a half ounces bread.

Dinner.—Three or four ounces of roast or boiled meat, or moderately fat food; fish, slightly fat; salad and vegetables at pleasure; one and a half ounces of bread (in certain cases as much as three ounces of farinaceous food may be permitted); three to six ounces of fruit; at times a little pastry for dessert.—In summer, if fruit is not obtainable, six to eight ounces of light wine may be allowed.

Tea,—A cupful (four to five ounces) of tea or coffee, with a trifle of milk, as at breakfast; one and three-fourths ounces of bread; and exceptionally (and at most) six ounces of water.

Supper.—One to two soft boiled eggs; four or five ounces of meat; one and three fourths ounces of bread; a trifle of cheese, salad, or fruit; six to eight ounces of light wine diluted with an eighth volume of water. The quantity of beverage may be slightly augmented at each meal if necessary, especially if there is no morbid heart trouble.

Schwenninger (Bismarck's physician), who opened a large sanitarium near Berlin a few years since for the treatment of the obese, employs Oertel's treatment, modified in that an abundance of beverage is permitted, provided it is not indulged in at meals; it is forbidden until two hours after eating.

Both Oertel's and Schwenninger's methods have procured grave dyspepsias, and fatal albuminurias as well, according to Meyer and Rosenfield. It has been charged the allowance of beverage upon which Schwenninger lays so much stress in the treatment at his sanitarium has a pecuniary basis, in other words a commission upon the sale of wines.[2]

[Footnote 2: The sanitarium is owned by a stock company, Schwenninger being merely Medical Director.—ED.]

Thus, it will be observed that while some forbid beverage, others rather insist upon its employment in greater or less quantities. Under such circumstances, it would seem but rational, before undertaking to relieve obesity, to establish its exact nature, and also the role taken by fluids in the phenomena of nutrition.

Physiologists generally admit water facilitates nutritive exchanges, which is explained by the elimination of a large quantity of urine; the experiments of Genth and Robin in this direction appear conclusive.

Bischoff, Voit, and Hermann have shown that water increases, not alone the elimination of urine, but also of sodium chloride, phosphoric acid, etc. Grigoriantz observed augmentation of disintegration when the quantity of beverage exceeded forty-six to eighty ounces ("1,400 to 2,400 cubic centimeters") per diem. Oppenheim, Fraenkel, and Debove, while believing water has but little influence upon the exchanges, admit it certainly need not diminish the latter; and Debove and Flament, after administering water in quantities varying from two to eight pints per diem, concluded that urine was diminished below the former figure, while above the latter it increased somewhat, being dependent upon the amount ingested. It was on the strength of the foregoing that Lallemand declared water to have no influence upon the exchanges.

The results claimed by Oppenheim, Debove, et al. were immediately challenged—and it is now generally admitted, not without some justice—by Germain See. It seems certain, to say the least, that water taken during the repast does tend to augment the quantity and facilitate the elimination of urine. Abundance of beverage, moreover, presents other advantages, in that it facilitates digestion by reason of its diluent action, a fact well worth bearing in mind when treating the obese who are possessed of gouty diathesis, and whose kidneys are accordingly encumbered with uric and oxalic acids. The foregoing presents the ground upon which Germain See permits an abundance of beverage; but he also expresses strong reservation as regards beer and alcohol, either of which (more especially the former) tends to the production of adipose. In his opinion, the only beverage of the alcoholic class that is at all permissible, and then only for cases suffering from fatty heart, is a little liqueur or diluted wine. Coffee and tea he commends highly, and recommends the ingestion of large quantities at high temperature, both during the repasts and their intervals. Coffee in large doses is undoubtedly a means of de-nutrition, and so, too, in no less extent, is tea; both act vigorously owing to the contained alkaloids, though, to be sure, they sometimes, at first, tend to insomnia and palpitation, to which no attention need be paid, however. The treatment outlined by See is: