ANNALEN DER HYDROGRAPHIE UND MARITIMEN METEOROLOGIE.
No. 12, 1882. The four voyages of the Dutch ship Willem Barents to Barents sea in 1878-1881. The thunderstorm of Aug. 9, 1881. Oceanographic observations in the South Atlantic Ocean from July to Sept. 1882. Oceanographic observations in the Gulf Stream from April to July, 1882. Entries in the meteorological journals of the German observatories for Aug. 1882. Comparison of the weather of North America and Central Europe for Sept. 1882. Cruise report of ships of the Imperial navy for 1882.
No. 1, 1883. The physical geography and meteorology of the Cape of Good Hope. Deep sea soundings of Siemens’ steamer Faraday. The hurricane in the Indian Ocean in May, 1881. Rules for the handling of chronometers (from Proc. U. S. Naval Institute). Entries in the meteorological journals of the German observatories. Thursday Island. Comparison of the weather of North America and Central Europe for Oct. 1882. Brief hydrographic notices.
PROCEEDINGS AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
Vol. XX, No. no. A Manual for the Use of Students in Egyptology. By Commo. Edward Y. McCauley, U. S. N.
No. in. The inclination of the apparent to the true horizon and the errors rising thereof in transit, altitude and azimuth observations. The aurora of April 16-17, 1882. Photodynamic notes.
No. 112. Radiant heat an exception to the second law of thermodynamics. Photodynamic notes.
TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. October, 1882. Preservation of Timber.
The society has appointed a committee to investigate this important question, and the present number is devoted to the preliminary report of the committee and to the consideration of papers by several members upon the merits of certain special methods, and to discussion upon the same.
November. Rapid Methods in Topographical Surveying. December. Discussion of Paper on Rapid Methods in Topographical Surveying. Weights and Measures. Care and Maintenance of Iron Bridges.
In discussing this last paper Theodore Cooper considers at length the subject of the corrosion of iron, and sets forth the conditions under which the corrosion goes on most rapidly, and the means by which it may be arrested.
A Peculiar Phase of Metallic Behavior.
In Sept. 1881, an invoice of so-called gilding metal, presumably an alloy of copper and zinc, was received at the Frankford Arsenal for the manufacture of cartridge cases. Owing to the uniform success of his output, the contractor who supplied this metal had come to be regarded as the maker of standard sheet cartridge copper. This particular delivery was subjected to the usual severe treatment, met every demand, underwent every proof in the customary satisfactory manner, but failed in the firing test, of course a fatal defect. The contractor was notified and saw convincing evidence of the failure, but he stated positively that this especial lot of metal had been treated in precisely the same manner as the accepted invoice immediately preceding it, and that he was unable to account for its shortcomings. Capt. O. E. Michaelis, Ord. Corps, U. S. A., describes all the tests applied and illustrates his descriptions with diagrams and plates. He concludes: “From my recent experience with this metal, I believe it, in a measure, confirms the theory of refreshment first expounded by a member of the society; it appears to be in better condition now than at the time of its rejection seven months ago. No adequate reason can be assigned for the final failure of the metal, that so successfully passed through all the exhaustive tests established by extended experience and profound theory. It simply ‘broke down’ in an inexplicable, unexpected manner. Though but a straw, this failure leads my mind to harbor the heretical misgivings that preliminary static tests of materials furnish data useful only in the solution of questions in the calculus of probabilities. Nothing positive can be drawn from their consideration.” Discussing this paper, Dr. Egleston said cartridge metal is not of constant composition, being sometimes of brass with a large per cent, of zinc, and sometimes copper with just zinc enough to make the copper draw with certainty. The latter passes under the name of gilding metal. Failures of punched and spun brass are quite common, and manufacturers allow for a certain percentage in their specifications. The sources of failure are numerous with these alloys. First, copper is a very delicate metal, and a very small percentage either of its own oxide or of other impurities will ruin it for commercial purposes. In the hundreds of samples of commercial copper which he had examined he had not found, until within two years, since the perfection of certain processes of refining, copper that could even be called commercially pure. It generally contains, besides oxygen, small amounts of lead, zinc, cobalt and nickel. This is true to a great extent of the coppers produced in the great Appalachian range, and to a less extent of those of Lake Superior, which have always been considered, until copper began to be produced from Arizona, as the best copper in the world. This copper may be spoiled in the refining or in the melting by which brass is to be made. It may be spoiled by oxidation in the melting; by over-heating or under-heating in the annealing; or by over-compression in the rolling. Over-compression or overheating causes the metals to “flow,” and they separate. He has sampled as many as 500,000 cartridges in a factory by firing, and found that many could only be fired once, a few would fail on the second firing, still fewer would fail at the third, and occasionally cartridges could be found in the same batch of metal which would fire 150 times. In every case the failure was due to the same cause, and after examining hundreds of them he became satisfied that this cause was either too great compression or too much heat; this being true even in those samples which contained a minimum quantity of the volatile metal. He has separated from many of these metals volumes of gas which were five, sometimes ten, times the bulk of the metal, and hopes at some future time to analyze this gas. This phenomenon of the separation of gas always occurs in those metals which have been most compressed, and it would appear as if the brittleness was owing, in a great many cases, to the expansive force of the gas at high pressure, which is a force within the metal tending to help any force applied from without which would deteriorate it.
ENGINEER.
January 12, 1883. The Loss of the City of Brussels.
The first point worthy of notice is that the case of the ship, after she began to leak, was hopeless. But nevertheless, unaided by any assistance from the crew, she did not founder for about twenty minutes. It is clear then some obstacle prevented the water finding its way through the whole ship at once. The ship was however divided into seven water-tight compartments, and the reason assigned for her foundering was that the “Kirby Hall” struck her at the end of a bulkhead and so knocked two compartments into one. This, however, is to a great extent pure conjecture; and even if it is true, then the circumstance furnishes another argument in favor of so constructing bulkheads that two compartments cannot be knocked into one. But assuming the bulkhead was what it was—insufficient beyond a certain point—it is easy to see that had very moderate pumping power been brought into play, the ship could have been kept afloat. The utmost quantity of water to be dealt with was about 2000 tons lifted say, 20 feet in 20 minutes; this represents 448,000 foot pounds per minute or 135 horse power; or making large allowance for waste, an engine of 250 horse power, properly used, would have kept the water pumped out as fast as it came in. In most of the great passenger steamers recently built, immense pumping power has been provided; but the City of Brussels was thirteen years old and sufficient importance was not then attached to pumps. It is a noteworthy fact that bulkheads as usually fitted are absolutely worthless. In this statement the collision bulkheads are excepted, for they alone are invariably well made, well designed, and therefore efficient.
Copley’s Compound Launch Engine. Nabholtz’s Improved Frictional Rivetter.
This machine has put in, in one hour, 480 ¾-in. rivets into plain girders, the work being already drifted and prepared, so as to have no other impediments but to take the bolts out and turn the work.
January 19. The Prevention of Scale in Steam Boilers. The Principles of Modern Physics. A Criticism on Mr. J. B. Stallo’s Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics. Crucible Cast Steel Rudder for S. S. La Plata.
The La Plata having nearly proven a loss by the breaking of her rudder during a storm in the North Sea, it was determined to try crucible cast steel. The rudder having been successfully cast was subjected to the following tests: The rudder was laid horizontally, with its ends resting on supports. The rudder blade was loaded with an evenly distributed weight equal to a total of 12,300 lbs., and balanced by a weight of 2240 lbs. at the end of a lever 12 feet long, securely fastened to the rudder-head 6 ½ ins. diam. The effect of the lever itself was 3920 lbs., weighing as it did 784 lbs., with an effective length of s feet. The rudder-head therefore sustained a torsional strain of (2240 X 12) + (784 X 5) = 30,800 foot pounds. While under this torsional strain a 2000 lb. weight was dropped from a height of four feet, striking at centre of the area of blade, and in neither case was there any sign of a twisting movement in the rudder-head. The rudder was then lifted to a height of 9 feet and dropped on the hard floor of the foundry without the slightest fracture. Being suspended again and tested with hand hammers, it rung like a bell from end to end.
Steam Boiler Furnace Economy.
An editorial on the subject of smoke prevention and furnace economy.
January 26. The Electrical Transmission of Power, by Prof. Oliver J. Lodge. The Movement of the Water in a Tidal River, by Prof. W. C. Unwin. The Foundering of Steamships.
Commenting on the sinking of the Cimbria and the frightful loss of life attending it, following so quickly as it does on the loss of the City of Brussels, attention is called to the utter thoughtlessness or carelessness with which owners of iron ships are allowed to send them to sea. Some figures are given showing the utterly insufficient strength given to bulkheads, which usually consist of plates ½ inch in thickness or less, stiffened by a few angle irons quite incapable of sustaining a hydrostatic pressure of 6 lbs. or 7 lbs. per sq. in. A double bottom in addition to high pumping capacity is earnestly demanded as a needed reform.
Regulator for Dynamo-Electric Machines.
A machine, patented by Mr. Maxim, for which the inventor claims the combination, with a dynamo-electric machine, of brushes arranged to revolve about the commutator, a system of gears for shifting the brushes, a reciprocating lever or pawl arranged to impart movement to the gears in either direction, and an electro magnet controlling the position of the reciprocating pawl.
February 9. Causes of Glacier Motion. Read before the Royal Society, by W. R. Browne. The Polyphemus.
This vessel is nothing but a ram, unless she is also an utter failure. She is fitted with special appliances for discharging torpedoes under water from her bows and her sides; and up to the present nothing but disappointment has attended every effort to use these last. The torpedoes fired from the bow ports have at all events been got away from the ship; but as much cannot be said of those discharged from her broadside.
The Polyphemus has attained a speed of 17 knots per hour, and the moment the torpedo shows its nose outside of the hull, it is deflected by the apparent current alongside the ship, and it is therefore jammed in the tube. If it can be got clear of this, it is only with its screw blades broken and its tail twisted that the luckless torpedo gets off; and it is not curious that the short curve which it then describes is erratic in the extreme. To prevent this a steel plate is pushed out from the ship’s side, and under the lee of this the torpedo is discharged; but the resistance of the water has bent the steel bar, leaving the torpedo sticking half in and half out of the ship. Up to the present the targets aimed at, at distances of but 200 and 300 yards, appear to be specially avoided by the torpedoes, the ship steaming at 8 knots an hour or less. It is now also officially announced that the boilers are to be removed, but it is not announced how they are to betaken out, as the turtle-shaped deck is covered all over with Whitworth steel tiles, and to get those off and replace them without racking the whole structure, will be no easy matter.
The Electric Light on H. M. S. Himalaya.. The Transmission of Power by Electricity.
An exhibition of the transmission of power by the system of M. Deprez. The trial did not prove as effective as was hoped, although M. Deprez claims that he has already demonstrated from an electrician’s point of view, the correctness of his system.
February 16. Battle Ships, by Mr. Nathaniel Barnaby, C. B.; read before the United Service Institution.
Mr. Barnaby looks forward to ships of about 2000 tons displacement, carrying two heavy guns of about 25 or 30 tons each, one firing ahead and the other astern; the vitals of the ship are to be protected as far as possible by being placed below water, and by the use of horizontal armor decks. He expects that side armor will almost entirely disappear, being confined to a thick steelfaced or steel wall, protecting heavy guns; and that consequently the onslaught will consist chiefly in what has been termed the secondary attack made by common shells on unarmored parts of the ship.
ENGINEERING.
January 5, 1883. The “Bausan.”
A new vessel in the course of construction at the Elswick works for the Italian Government. Length over all, 296 ft. and 42 ft. beam; displacement, 3020 tons. The ship will have twin screws driven by two pairs of compound engines of 5500 total horse-power, imparting a velocity of about 17 knots per hour. She will carry 600 tons of coal, 200 of which will be supplementary and are not allowed for in the displacement given above. With a full supply of coal on board she will be able to steam 5000 miles at a reduced speed of 10 knots. The armament will consist of two 25-ton breech-loading guns of the Elswick pattern on the ribbon coil system, firing a projectile of 3 cwt. with a charge of 182 lbs. of powder, and considered capable of penetrating 19 ½ inches of compound armor, and six 6-inch breech-loaders firing 60-lb. projectiles. The two large guns will be placed, one at the bow and the other at the stern, mounted on pivoted frames, and capable of being trained so as to embrace an angle of 240° each. The ship will have three sets of torpedo-discharging apparatus, one at each side and one at the bow, and will also be furnished with a powerful ram. The total cost including arms and ammunition is to be but £160,000.
January 12. Clyde Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in 1882.
A summary of the work done on the Clyde during the past year.
The Use of Concrete in Marine Construction.
January 19. The Nordenfeldt Machine Guns. A complete description of all the Nordenfeldt Volley Guns. Timmis & Hodgson’s Reversible Life Boat.
Received the first prize at the Naval Exhibition, and consists of two similar tubular hulls or chambers connected by a horizontal platform. Along the top and bottom of each chamber is a strip which serves either as a keel or gunwale, according to which half of the boat is above water. The hull is made of steel provided with water-tight bulkheads. The deck is open, and for a ship’s boat is made of network, so that it can be launched without davits and in any position, it being a matter of indifference which side comes uppermost in the sea.
Sinclair’s Self-acting Stoker.
A description of mechanical firing by Sinclair’s method. The contrivance has been applied to upwards of 200 furnaces, effecting in most cases it is claimed an important saving in fuel and an increase in the production of steam, with, at the same time, almost complete cessation of the evolution of smoke.
Modern Ordnance.
An examination of the various breech-loading systems which approach the requirements of a perfect gun.
January 26. King’s Governor for Water Motors. Manufacture of Pig Iron in Sweden. Electric Lighting. The Report of Mr. C. W. Cook on the Probable Cost of Lighting by Incandescence on a Large Scale.
February 2. Steel.
Papers read before the Institute of Mechanical Engineers on the amount of carbon in steel and the molecular rigidity of tempered steel, by Prof. D. E. Hughes, F. R. S.
Drilling, Boring and Shaping Machines. Siemens-Martin Furnaces at the Graz Steel Works. Girdwood’s Isometric Governor.
Its action is based upon the use of an appliance that offers a resistance to rotation and increases with the velocity. The appliance used in this case is a hollow drum partly filled with fluid and rotating on a horizontal axis. When the cylinder is put in motion, the liquid is carried up one side to a height that is determined by the speed, and, if the motion be uniform, it will remain at that point, and will offer a resistance to rotation which increases in proportion to its lateral displacement of its centre of gravity. Should the speed increase, the liquid will rise still higher and offer additional resistance. These varying resistances are balanced by a spring which responds to them by contracting and expanding, and in so doing gives the motion for operating the governing mechanism.
February 16. Non-Conducting Coverings for Boilers and Steam Pipes.
A lengthy and comprehensive series of experiments to determine the comparative efficiencies of the different non-conducting coverings that are now in the market.
An Automatic Primer for Pumps.
An exceedingly simple and ingenious method devised by Mr. Normand, for expelling the air which accumulates in the clearance space of pump barrels and in the valve chambers. To obviate the necessity of pet cocks, and to prevent the cessation of pumping, a small pipe about in. in internal diameter is introduced into the pump at the highest point at which the air can accumulate, while the other end opens into the tank from which the water is drawn. When the plunger descends, the air which may be in the barrel is compressed and escapes through the tube, bubbling up through the water. When the plunger ascends, the water passes through the tube and into the pump, and thus priming it without the attention of any one in charge.
JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE.
January. The Chemistry of the Plante and Faure Accumulators. The Spectroscope and the Weather.
An exhibit by the Astronomer Royal of Scotland of some of the results obtained in predicting rain by the “rainband spectroscope.” Some observations made are as follows:
[Table]
The intensity of the rainband is of course estimated, and the accuracy with which this intensity can be estimated seems at present to limit the utility of the spectroscope as a meteorological instrument.
March. Crank Pins of Marine Engines (J. H. Whitham, U. S. N.)
GIORNALE D’ARTIGLIERIA É GENIO.
November, 1882. Austrian siege gun of compressed bronze, model of 1880. The new trains made of nine centimetre plates. The Japanese breech-loading gun, model of 1880. The military telegraphic service in France.
JOURNAL OF THE MILITARY SERVICE INSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
No. XII. Field artillery in the United States before the civil war. Extracts from the history of Franco-German war. Mina and his three hundred. Notes on fundamental points in our military system.
INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
November, 1882. The Fromentin automatic boiler feeder. Experiments on flanging steel plates cold by hydraulic pressure. Experiments to ascertain the strength of cast iron beams for beam engines.
MITTHEILUNGEN A. D. GEBIETE D. SEEWESENS.
No. II. The type of the modern marine engine. Type of the modern battle ship. Organization, administration and material of the French navy. Russian marine ordnance, ioo-ton gun of the Italian navy. Caspersen’s pendulum chronograph. Ader’s microphone sender. Notes on the French and Russian navies. The French and American expeditions for the observation of the transit of Venus.
REVISTA GENERAL DE MARINA.
December, 1882. Notes on Service in the Philippines. On Naval Combats between i860 and 1880. Tallerie Hydraulic Motor. The Dandolo. Lights of Safety.
A scheme of Capitan de Fragata Mansanos for avoiding collisions at sea involves the addition of two extra side lights which he calls “lights of safety.” The ordinary running lights would be carried as usual, but placed well aft, while the safety lights would be placed on the forecastle or in the fore-rigging. Parallel screens are placed on either side of these lights at an angle of 45° with the keel, of such a length as to prevent their being seen except in an arc from nearly ahead to 10° forward of the beam. The lights would be of the same color as the running lights, red and green respectively. The plan is designed for steamers only, the presence of the masthead light avoiding all risk of the lights being taken for those of two vessels standing in the same direction. The safety lights being visible only broad off the bow would indicate within a few points the course steered by the vessel carrying them, while a change of course would be made evident by the appearance or eclipse of these lights, the ordinary side lights and masthead light continuing to show as before.
January, 1883. Notes on Naval Service in the Philippines. Tallerie’s Hydraulic Motor (in use aboard the Aragon for working the helm). Naval Organization. Dimensions of Fundamental and Derived Units. Notes on the London Electrical Exhibition. Determination of Position at Sea by Circles of Equal Altitude. Notes on Combined Military and Naval Operations.
February. Notes on Naval Service in the Philippines. Fundamental and Derived Units. The London Electrical Exhibition. The Aneroid Barometer. Notes on Combined Military and Naval Operations.
Automatic Electric Lighting Apparatus for Beacons.
An automatic apparatus used on a beacon in the harbor of Cadiz. By means of a clock-work regulator and an electro-magnet, a light is produced for ten seconds at a time, with twenty second eclipses throughout the night, the light being caused by the inflammation of benzine vapor by the sparks of a Rulimkorff coil. During the eclipses and during the day there is no loss of benzine, and the batteries are cut out of circuit by an insulator in the clockwork. It is said to have worked without the slightest interruption since May 16, 1881, requiring occasional attention only.
RIVISTA MARITTIMA.
November, 1882. Reflections on naval tactics. The naval appropriations. On the formation of cyclones. Naval warfare, the military ports of France (trans.) Thornycroft torpedo boats (trans.) Experiments at Meppen (trans.) Collisions at sea.
December. Notes on naval tactics. The Italian naval appropriations. The mercantile marine and the auxiliary fleet in war. The naval review of 1882. The cruising torpedo ram. The physiology of cyclones.
January, 1883. Notes on naval tactics. Coast defense. The national marine strength. The Italian naval appropriations. Progress in the navy. On ironclads and the modern naval combat. Experiments with plates at Spezzia. The proportion of officers in the navy.
THE UNITED SERVICE.
March, 1883. Relative Rank of the Officers of the Austrian, German, Italian, French, English and United States Navies, arranged on the basis of the Army Rank.
This article, translated from the “Mittheilungen a. d. Gebiete des Seewesens,” by Prof. C. E. Munroe, is valuable for reference, giving, as it does, not only the exact relative rank of officers of foreign navies with those of oar own, a point not always easy to determine, but also showing the relative rank of officers of different corps in each of the leading navies of Europe.
MÉMORES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DES INGENIEURS CIVILS.
October, 1882. Report on the International Congress of Hygiene and of the meeting of the French Association for the Advancement of Science. Description of the port of La Rochelle. The coal of Asia Minor. Utilization of the subterranean heat. The coal production of Sweden. Distillation of sea water at Alexandria during the Egyptian War. Valves of phosphor- bronze. The attractive force of steel rendered permanent by compression. Bourdon’s registering anemometers.
November, 1882. The coal industry in Austria. Shipbuilding on the Clyde.
Memoir on Thermodynamics.
This memoir embodies a new theory of gases, in which the laws of Gay Lussac and Mariotte, which fail for certain gases like carbon dioxide, and the hypothesis of a perfect gas, are abandoned. The theory is tested by comparison of the calculated data with the results of experiments, and it is applied to the interpretation of isothermal and adiabatic curves.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
Almanach für die K. K. Kriegsmarine. 1883.
American Geographical Society. No. 2, 1882.
American Society Civil Engineers. Oct., Nov., 1882.
American Institute of Mining Engineers. Nineteen Papers.
American Philosophical Society. Transactions, Nos. 110, 111, 112.
Conziderazioni sulla Tattica Navale.
Giornale d’Artiglieria é Genio. Nov., Dec., 1882, Unofficial; and Nos. 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17—1882, Official.
Institute of Mechanical Engineers (England). Transactions, No. 4, 1882.
Journal de la Flotte. No. 53, 1882, to No. 9, 1883, inclusive.
Journal of the Franklin Institute. Feb., Mar., 1883.
Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States. No. 12.
Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. No. 118.
Nautische Tafeln der K. K. Kriegsmarine.
Réunion des Officiers, Bulletin. No. 51, 1882, to No. 4, 1883, inclusive.
Report of Ch. Eng. Isherwood on Vidette Boats built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. for the British Government.
Rivista Marittima. Jan., Feb., 1883.
Royal Artillery Institution. Proceedings, VoL XII, with Precis and Translations.
School of Mines Quarterly. No. 2. Vol. IV.
Société des Ingénieurs Civils. Mémoires, Oct., Nov., 1882.
United Service. Mar., 1883.
U. S. A. Ordnance Notes. Nos. 233, 234, 235.