UNITED SERVICE GAZETTE.
May i6, 1891. Launch of the Sappho. Trial trip of the Swift-sure.
May 23. Masts and sails as a means of training. Military small-arms. Quick-firing gun trials.
At the range at Dartford, Kent, some excellent results have been obtained with 6-pounder Maxim-Nordenfelt quick-firing guns, fired with uncharged shells against a 4-inch all-steel plate which had been manufactured by Messrs. Vickers for experimental purposes. The plate, which measured four feet square, was erected, without backing, at a distance of 100 yards from the muzzle of the gun, and five rounds were fired at it, as follows:
Round. | Gun. | Powder. | Muzzle velocity in foot-seconds. |
1 | Mark A, 6-pdr. | Black hexagonal, 3 lb. 1 oz. | 2124 |
2 | Service 6-pdr. | Black hexagonal, 1 lb. 15 oz. | 1864 |
3 | “ 6-pdr. | Maxim smokeless, 10½ oz. | 1930 |
4 | “ 6-pdr. | Maxim smokeless, 12 oz. | 2104 |
5 | “ 6-pdr. | Maxim smokeless, 13 oz. | 2200 |
In round one the nose of the projectile barely penetrated through the plate, and the projectile, which “set up” somewhat, rebounded 150 feet. In round two the extent of penetration was three inches and the projectile broke up. On the back of the plate there was a half-inch bulge without cracks. In round three the penetration was such that the point of the shell caused a pinhole aperture at the back of the plate, raising a half-inch bulge. In round four the nose of the shell penetrated completely, and the projectile, breaking up, left a ring of itself, with part of the driving bands in the hole. In round five there was absolute penetration, estimated to be equal to a penetration of s'A inches of wrought iron.
May 30. The history of projectiles. The personnel of the French fleet. Armor-plate trials. The blowing up of the Blanco Encalada.
June 6. Volunteer mounted infantry. Sounding machines.
June 13. Napoleon on Waterloo. The handicraft of navigation. Naval notes.
There has just been tried at Portsmouth, on board the Nettle, a 10½-inch all-steel armor-plate, made by Vickers, Sons & Co., of Sheffield. The shots were fired from a 6-inch gun, with a charge of 48 pounds of powder, and there were three Holtzer armor-piercing projectiles and two Palliser projectiles, weighing each 100 pounds. The plate stopped all the projectiles. Of the Holtzer projectiles the first remained in the plate, the second rebounded broken, and the third rebounded unbroken. The two Palliser shells were broken up. There were no cracks in the plate beyond fine ones extending radially not more than five inches from the inner edge of the fringe raised by the impact of the shots.
Military notices.
From the very successful experiments which for some little time past have been carried out in France, it seems probable that the strong homing instincts possessed by swallows will soon lead to their being regularly trained for military purposes. M. Jean Desbourne, of Roubaix, who has devoted much attention to the subject, has already succeeded in training swallows to fly from Paris back to their homes in Roubaix, a distance of 140 miles. When matched against carrier pigeons, the swallows were found to fly their distance in 45 minutes less time than was taken by the pigeons.
June 20. The melinite scandal, II. Naval notes: Canet gun trials.
June 27. The navy and imperial defense. Naval notes: Launch of the Isly. Increase in the Russian navy. The composition of the French fleet. Launch of the Intrepid and the Brilliant.
July 4. General program of the 1891 manoeuvres. Mobilization of the French fleet.
July ii. The training of our recruits. The explosion on board the Cordelia.
July 18. The training of garrison artillery. Musketry practice. Naval notes: Kelway’s range-finding watch. Aluminium bronze for naval and military purposes; The French naval manoeuvres. The naval manoeuvres.
July 25. Launch of the Endymion. The naval manoeuvres. War vessels past and present.
August i. Organization of the Russian army, I. Launch of the Hood. The naval manoeuvres.
August 8. Organization of the Russian army, II. The training of garrison artillery, II. The visit of the French fleet. The reorganization of the steam reserves. The naval manoeuvres. The cavalry manoeuvres. H. G. D.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION.
May, 1891. Navigation and pilotage of Her Majesty’s ships, by Lord Brassey, K. C. B. Some recent continental ideas upon tactics, by Captain J. M. Grierson, R. A. The education and training of infantry militia officers. The navy and its exhibition. Balloons for naval purposes (translation from the German, by Captain T. F. Daniell, R. M. L. I.)
The French, since the first trials with captive balloons aboard ship, July, 1888, have continued the experiments under various circumstances and have added many improvements.
The gas for the balloons is no longer made on board ship as required, but is kept all ready stored up in steel cylinders, each holding four cubic meters of hydrogen under a pressure of 120 atmospheres, and weighing only 30 kilograms. As many of such cylinders as are required can be simultaneously opened into an exhauster connected with them by an india-rubber tube, and the balloon can thus be filled in a very short time. The gas is manufactured and compressed into the cylinders on land.
On account of the small weight and volume of these cylinders, eighty of which are needed to fill a balloon with a cubical contents of 920 cubic meters and weigh 2400 kilograms, a ship with a balloon can easily take enough to fill it several times.
Another very important improvement consists in the fact that in the experiments made last year the balloon was not, as had hitherto been the practice, triced up directly from the windlass on deck, in which case both the balloon and the cable, when the ship was in motion and there was any wind, were very liable to be injured by the masts and other parts of the ship. The idea had been thought of to fasten the cable to the highest part of the ship itself, namely, the mast, whilst the windlass remained on deck.
By the help of a very simple arrangement of leading blocks, the balloon can be brought from the after-part of the deck straight up and down the mast, while the cable runs over a hanging spindle or roller. This arrangement can naturally only be employed on board large ships which have very heavy spars and masts; on board small vessels, such as torpedo-boats, the balloon can more easily be made fast to the deck, and without the danger which has been previously referred to, of coming into collision with the spars.
It appears, moreover, that the employment of a silken anchoring cable has been given up and a steel cable adopted instead. . . .
In the first half of September the exercises commenced on board the armor-clad St. Louis, which was lying near the islands of Hyeres. The balloon was towed from the harbor of Toulon to the St. Louis by the torpedo-boat L’Audacieux, and transferred from the latter to the ship. During the return of the St. Louis to Toulon several captive ascents were made, and thirty officers of all ranks went up. The captain of the ship for a time carried on the command from the balloon at a height of 250 meters, transmitting his orders by telephone. Finally, Lieutenant Serpette cast off the cable at a height of 200 meters, to make a free ascent. The balloon rose to the height of 1800 meters, and came down in the open sea, using the sea-anchor, without the car touching the surface of the water. The torpedo-boat which went after the balloon took it in tow and brought it back uninjured to the St. Louis. The signal stations, where the cause of the ascent of the balloon to such a height was not known, had signalled that the cable had broken.
The trials were then continued on board the flagship Formidable. The position of the balloon was fixed, and the balloon filled behind the armored turret on the aft-deck. From here it was hauled by means of blocks to the mizzen-top, and was hoisted up by a running block; the cable was led down to the windlass on deck, so the balloon could be manipulated from the deck.
Several officers of the ship again made ascents and ascertained that in clear weather all the details of the coast from Marseilles to the extreme point of the islands of Hyeres were plainly visible, and that no building nor ship for 30 to 40 kilometers round could escape the notice of an observer in a balloon. They also verified the fact, which all aeronauts have noticed, of the transparency of the water when looked at vertically downwards. The bottom of the sea, at a depth of 25 meters, was clearly distinguishable, and the movements of a shark were watched with interest.
The behavior of the balloon throughout these exercises was all that could be wished; it withstood at times very strong winds, and could be towed along by a ship going at full speed, with 50 meters of cable, without suffering any damage. Thus, on September 6th, the torpedo-boat L’Audacieux, with the balloon attached to it, steamed in two hours 21 miles, from the roadstead at Toulon to the place where the St. Louis was anchored in Hyeres roads, keeping the balloon at a height of 50 meters. The conclusion was, however, come to that in case of having to carry a filled balloon, it was better to do so on an armor-clad vessel fastened to the deck from its equatorial line. Under these circumstances it could better resist the strength of the wind, especially if it were protected by a sail stretched round it. . . .
There is no doubt that captive balloons can be employed for naval purposes, but their employment is much more influenced by meteorological considerations than is the case on land. If, therefore, it is the opinion of naval men that reconnaissance by means of balloons from a ship is desirable or necessary, the fact must be faced that for this purpose a special sort of balloon apparatus must be made, and also that, when possible, the ships which are to be equipped with a balloon should have special arrangements both for the speedy filling and the security of the anchored balloon.
On the high seas the importance of the reconnaissance from a ship of a squadron under way by the aid of a captive balloon will be of so little importance that it could hardly be worth while to burden a ship with all the apparatus of a captive balloon, which in spite of every improvement must always be unwieldy, for in clear weather all that is necessary can very well be seen from the lookout station at the masthead, and in thick weather the balloon offers no advantages over the latter place. It is in the case of a blockade or an attack on a fortified coast place that the balloon can play an important part.
Its capabilities and opportunities are in such circumstances almost the same as on land. By means of it all the arrangements of the besieged force, all their works and important buildings can be observed, and the fire of the guns of the attack can be directed from the balloon, and all the counter measures of the besieged force can be rendered useless by timely warning of them being furnished. Consequently it would be well worth while to attach a captive balloon to a squadron undertaking operations of this nature, and would very much facilitate the successful carrying out of the operation.
June. I. The ranks compared with civilian working-class life; II. Recruiting difficulties; III. The condition of the army reserve, by Col. F. J. Graves, 20th Hussars. Heavy guns and heavy shells versus light guns and light shells, with some remarks on the armament of H. M.’s ships Victoria, Sans Pareil, and Benbow, by George Quick, Fleet Engineer. The use of railways for coast and harbor defense. The late Royal Military Exhibition and its value from a military point of view. The Yeomanry and its future. The Russian naval manoeuvres of 1890 (translation).
July. Military small-arms, by Lt.-Col. G. V. Forsbery, V. C. Masts and sails as a means of training. Sounding machines for the prevention of strandings. The mounted infantry question in its relation to the volunteer force of Great Britain. The handicraft of navigation and nautical surveying.
August. Principles of retirement in the service, by Rear-Admiral P. H. Colomb. The supremacy of the navy for imperial defense, by Lt.-Genl. Sir W. F. Drummond Jervis. The German manoeuvres. Considerations regarding a method of fighting for the infantry suited to the present conditions. New regulations for promotion by selection in the Italian infantry and cavalry. H. G. D.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL ARTILLERY ASSOCIATION.
May, 1891. Franco-German war, by T. M. Maguire. Memoir of General Sir John St. George, G. C. B., R. A. Recent armor-plate trials, by Captain G. J. F. Talbot, R. A. Translation: Etudes de Tactique, etc., par le General Luzeux, Part II.
June. Foreign views upon question of siege and fortress warfare, compiled by Major J. Wolfe Murray, R. A. The R. A. mess at Woolwich. Memoir of General Sir John Henry Lefroy, K. C. M. G., C. B., F. R. S. Mounted infantry detachments. Translations: Etudes de Tactique, etc., par le General Luzeux, Part III. Italian timefuses.
July. Some notes on the armed strength of Russia. Proceedings of the 54th annual general meeting of the R. A. Institution. Having regard to recent improvements in material, could the training of the personnel of the garrison artillery be further perfected to insure greater efficiency? (silver medal prize essay, 1891). Competitive practice for field artillery. Translation: The artillery combat in siege warfare.
THE UNITED SERVICE.
July. The efficiency of the army. A summer at Fort Columbia. Suggestions on the reorganization of the personnel of the navy (concluded). History of the United States frigate Constitution. Army reorganization. The intercontinental railway. Chronicles of Carter barracks. Among our contemporaries: General R. B. Hayes, commander-in-chief of the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
August. The defense of the eastern approach to New York city, by E. M. Weaver, First Lieutenant Second Artillery. Uncle Man. The Barrundia case again. The British army in 1891. Running the gauntlet of rebel batteries, by F. A. Roe, Rear-Admiral U. S. Navy. History of the United States frigate Constitution (continued). Lost in the bush. Among our contemporaries: Colonel W. B. Remey, U. S. M. C., Judge-Advocate General U. S. Navy.
H. G. D.
JOURNAL OF THE MILITARY SERVICE INSTITUTION.
July, 1891. Artillery in the Rebellion. Evolution of hospitals. Centralization in army affairs. The Summary Court. Range and position finding. A chapter of American history. Military penology. Comment and criticism: The gyroscope and drift; Artillery difficulties during the next war; Theory of drift of rifled projectiles; Bullets versus snow. Reprints and translations: Modern cavalry in the field; Two brigades; Letters on artillery, XVI; Decisive days before Leipsic; Field artillery material. Military notes: Bullets versus snow; Skobeleff’s opinion of the lance. The fifth regiment of cavalry.
JOURNAL OF THE U. S. CAVALRY ASSOCIATION.
March, 1891, No. 12. With the reserve brigade (fourth and concluding paper). The latest regulations for the government of the German cavalry in screening and reconnoitering duties (part II), by a German staff officer. The Ninth U. S. cavalry in the Sioux campaign of 1890. Michigan cavalry at Gettysburg (with maps). Mountain cannon. New drill regulations for cavalry, U. S. Army. Professional notes: The British cavalry at Aldershot, September, 1890; Prince Hohenlohe’s sixteenth letter on cavalry; An easily constructed canvas boat; Memorandum of the views of the division commander in regard to operations in the field against hostiles.
June, No. 13. The cavalry at Chancellorsville, May, 1863. The proper employment of cavalry in time of war. The effect of small caliber arms and smokeless powder upon cavalry operations of the future. Further remarks on the cavalry fight on the right flank at Gettysburg. Firing at breastworks of snow with the Berdan rifle.
In the months of January and February the grenadier battalion of H. I. H. Grand Duke Peter went out to the Ochta polygon (firing-ground) to test firing at snow breastworks, in order to obtain data from which to determine the thickness of snow breastworks to resist bullets.
In pursuance of this it was necessary to construct breastworks of different thicknesses; they also differed in the quality of the snow, which was either in a melting, a dry or a frozen state, due to varying conditions. The firing distance varied between 150 and 600 steps (one step = twenty-eight inches).
In making a general resume we may come to the conclusion that a breastwork six feet thick, constructed of melting snow (directly from the shovel) can be considered as satisfying all requirements. If the breastwork be made of the same quality of snow but pressed with the feet and shovels, then such an embankment of five feet thickness can be considered satisfactory. A work constructed of the same snow frozen at the top can also be considered satisfactory even with a thickness of four feet. A breastwork three and one-half feet thick (watered from the top), with an ice crust at the top at least two inches thick, can also be considered satisfactory.
The tests showed that glacis are the best for the firing from different distances. Some of the bullets striking the exterior slopes ricochet, leaving only shallow furrows, and pass over the embankment; others, however, passing through the crust, soon lose their velocity and penetrate an insignificant distance. It was observed in firing at the glacis that all the bullets were more or less deformed; in the four and eight foot breastworks the bullets were also flattened, but not to such an extent as in the first case. For the above tests three hundred and three cartridges were employed.
Some thoughts on equipment. Letters on cavalry. The Stone-man raid of 1865. A Confederate cavalry officer’s views on American practice and foreign theory. Professional notes: Description of a field sketching-board; The wounds caused by small-caliber bullets.
H. G. D.
MILITÄR-WOCHENBLATT.
May 2, 1891. Increase in the Italian navy. Snow intrenchments. May 6. Winter manoeuvres with ball cartridges of a Russian infantry regiment.
May 9. Admiral Symonds on the English navy. On the article entitled “ New naval guns.”
A comparison between the English and Krupp 15-cm. rapid-fire gun.
The English gun, 40 calibers long, fires a too-pound or 45.3-kg. projectile, with a charge of 34 pounds or 15.3 kg. of powder. Weight of gun 52.2 metric tons.
The Krupp 15-cm. gun, 35 calibers long, fires a projectile of 45.5 kg. weight, with a charge of 7.55 kg. of smokeless powder. Weight of gun 47.7 metric tons. Initial velocity attained was 651 meters per second.
The English gun fired on an average 5 shots a minute, the best result being 10 shots in 1 minute 30 seconds. The Krupp gun fired on an average 7 shots a minute, the best result being 5 shots in 32 seconds. Nothing was mentioned in the paper concerning the accuracy of the English gun. The Krupp gun, in a rapid-fire test, placed all of 9 shots in a target 5 meters square at a distance of 2500 meters. In a test not made for rapidity of fire 12 shots were lodged in a target 1.6 meters high and 1.65 meters broad at a distance of 2500 meters. The same results are obtainable from the Krupp fieldpiece at 1000 meters.
New head-covering for French troops. A newly invented jointed lance.
May 13. Forced marches in Italy.
May 16. Establishment of aeronautical corps in the Russian army.
May 20. The normal attack.
May 23. System of schooling riders. Position of Amsterdam. Tir réduit with fieldpieces.
A new French firing-tube was used with good results, the tube being centered in the bore of the fieldpieces and reduced charges used. The results at ranges of 200 to 250 meters were eminently satisfactory.
May 27. German life-saving society. Trials with laying torpedoes at Toulon.
The trials were conducted with 16 torpedoes or submarine mines, and the mines were placed and connected up with the firing stations on shore in three hours’ time. The trials proved that a day would suffice to plant the whole field of mines deemed necessary for the defense of Toulon harbor.
June 3. Annuaire de l’armée française pour 1891. Minor notices.
The Russian government has ordered 10,000 tons of armor-plates for the battle-ship Georgij Pabjedonoscz, building at Sebastopol, from the firm of Schneider et Cie., Creusot. The order is based on the results of the competitive tests of armor-plates at Ochta, November 11, 1890, in which the Creusot plates came out victorious. The plates for the Russian battle-ship are to have a thickness of from 20 to 40 cm.
June 6. The growth of the French navy in the past twenty years. On the military boot.
June 10. Firing trials of the Krupp works.
On October 2 and 3, 1890, firing trials of guns from the Krupp works took place at the proving-grounds at Meppen in the presence of many artillery representatives.
Of greatest interest are the experiments with smokeless powder. In the short period of one year a wonderful progress has been made in this direction.
[TABLE]
Comparison of present results with those published last year shows that the highest initial velocity (at that time 710 meters) has been surpassed by nearly 100 meters (804 meters). The former was obtained with a projectile of 108 kg. fired from a 21 cm. gun 35 calibers in length, the latter with a projectile of 160 kg. from a 24 cm. gun 40 calibers in length. The work done by the powder in the latter case is nearly double that in the former. This example again plainly shows that in increasing the charge (from 23.5 to 45 kg.) it merely requires increase in the size of the grain (10 mm. side-length to 15 mm.) in order to adapt the smokeless powder C/89 to a heavier gun. There are cubes from 2 to 15 mm. length of sides; these are the only differences in the powder for different calibers. It may be consequently assumed that a pellet of 30 mm. length of side may suffice for the charge of the 40 cm. gun of 35 calibers length.
The 10.5 cm. gun has been lengthened from 30 calibers to 35. The charge has, in consequence, been increased from 2.15 to 2.7 kg., raising the initial velocity from 615 m. to 650 m. The progress of the 12 cm. gun is even more noticeable. The former tests were made with a 24 caliber length; the projectile of 16.4 kg. had an initial velocity of 599 m. In the latest trials a gun 35 calibers in length was used; the projectile was increased in weight to 20 kg., and the initial velocity of 688 m. was attained. The simultaneous increase of weight of projectile and initial velocity is remarkable. The muzzle energy was increased from 300 to 482 meter-tons, an increase of 60 per cent, corresponding to an increase of 33 per cent in the weight of the gun (from 1420 to 1900 kg.) If the energies at greater distances of the two projectiles be compared, the result will be even more in favor of the heavier projectile, as the energy is less rapidly decreased by the resistance of the air than in case of the lighter projectile.
This superiority of the heavier projectile is very plainly seen in the 24 cm. gun. The energy in meter-tons is as follows:
[TABLE]
The growth of the French navy in the past twenty years (conclusion).
A list gives the number of available battle-ships as 29, arranged according to tonnage (No. 1, Formidable, 11,440 tons, to No. 29, Thétis, of 3620 tons), with dates of launching. Besides there are 7 battle-ships under construction and 3 designed.
The history of the progress in the cruisers is interesting, showing the constant aim at obtaining increase of speed, and following the improvements since 1870, step by step. The Rene, 1900 tons, launched in 1870, made 15 knots; the Dupuy de Lôme, 6300 tons, launched 1890, made 20 knots.
Interesting comparisons are made between the vessels of the Forbin class, launched 1888, and the sister ships Rene and Seignelay, built 1870, in which speed was first made an important factor. “The Forbin has 1850 tons displacement against 1900 tons of the Seignelay, and a speed of 19.5 against 15 knots. Most remarkable is the advance in regard to ratio of length to beam. These dimensions in the old vessels were 255 and 36 feet respectively, but in the new ones have been changed to 312 and 3.1 feet, or a ratio of 10 to 1. With vessels of so small displacement this is remarkable, and it remains to be seen whether they are seaworthy. The armament is very light, consisting of two 14 cm. and rapid-fire guns.”
The article ends with a list of cruisers built since 1870 of more than 1000 tons, 24 being available, 11 building. Also a list of torpedo-boats.
Establishment of army corps in Switzerland.
June 13. The artillery war game. Armor-tests in the United States.
June 17. The fortification of Bucharest. The arms of the French chasseurs. Minor notices.
In the current fiscal year an Italian reserve squadron is to be established for the first time, composed of two divisions which include the armor-clads Italia, Lepanto, Doria, Lauria, Dandolo, Duilio, San Martino,and the rams Fieramosca, Vesuvio and Piemonte. For this purpose there are to be one rear-admiral and six post-captains more added to the list.
June 20. Yearly report on the changes and progress in military matters for 1890.
June 24. Diseases of army horses. Learning foreign languages for use in France. Defenses of France.
June 27. The action at Colombey. Diseases of army horses (concluded). Military matters in Switzerland. Armored coast-defense tower at Spezzia.
The test of this revolving tower, erected on the island Palmaria for defense of the harbor of Spezzia, took place in May. The turret was begun three years ago, the foundations of masonry were built by the Italian engineers, the turret and carriages were from the Gruson works, the two 40 cm. guns of 120 tons each were from the Krupp works, and the machinery for turning the tower and guns was furnished by Armstrong. The tests were satisfactory. Elevation of 13° and depression of 5° was obtained. To test the machinery recoil system series of rounds were fired, first with reduced charges, gradually increased to full charges from both guns. The test was ended by a series of rounds for initial velocity and accuracy. The projectile weighed 900 kg., and charges of 330, 340 and 345 kg. of Fossano powder were used. The initial velocity varied from 530 to 560 m., and the range from 370 to 9600 meters.
Trials with Sims-Edison torpedo in France. Tests of new model small-arm in Sweden. Supplement: Journal of military literature.
July 1. Military changes in Russia since 1889, and mobilization of its reserves. Military riding exhibitions in France.
July 4. The army supply system in time of war. Military changes in Russia since 1889 (concluded). Mobilization of the French fleet.
July 8. Army supply system in time of war (continued). Review of the ten years’ service of the Russian minister of war.
July ii. Army supply system in time of war (concluded). Target-firing of the English artillery. Transporting field artillery over snow in Austro-Hungary.
July 15 and 18. Tactics of the future, and the Wedell brigade at Mars-Ia-Tour. Shoeing of horses.
July 22. Tactics of the future (concluded). The chasseurs in time of war. Horses and transportation in Russia. The 13th French regiment of dragoons. Competitive marches in Italy.
July 25. The chasseurs in time of war (concluded). A French opinion on the normal attack of infantry. France: Tiralleurs Haoussas; Entrance to St. Cyr. Russia: Winter occupations of officers.
July 27. On cooking in the field. Remarks on the ten years’ service of the Russian minister of war. France: Fighting manoeuvres; Naval forces in Indo-China. Italy: Changes in officers’ outfits.
August i. The connection between the hussars of to-day with those of the army of Frederick the Great. Italy: Permanent squadron.
August 5. On non-shoeing of military horses. Graydon’s dynamite gun.
August 8. Optical firing on board ironclads.
La France Militaire reports on this new form of aiming as follows: “In consequence of the good results obtained during the tests of the ‘tir optique’ on board the Hoche and the Courbet, the minister has ordered a vessel placed at the disposal of the inventor, Captain Bonnin de Freyssaix, French navy, for the introduction of his new aiming system for every form of gun on board. The method consists in aiming through an orifice of 10 cm., securing mathematical accuracy to the fire, besides offering to the crew the complete protection behind the shields. The most unpracticed gunner may at the first trial arrive at perfect accuracy. Every shot hits the target. The optical firing consists simply in transferring the picture or view of the target to a center point, viz., upon a white screen behind the gun, where the captain of the gun observes it at pleasure.”
Compulsory racing of officers in Russia. H. G. D.
DEUTSCHE HEERES ZEITUNG.
May 2. Personnel of the French army. Launch of the Watignies. New electric signal light.
May 6. Military notices: Electric signal lamp; Snow breastworks in Russia.
May 9. The Heligoland question. Horses and shoeing. Peculiarities of Asiatic warfare.
May 13. Personnel of the French navy. The Italian reserve squadron.
May 16. The destruction of the Blanco Encalada.
May 23. The sea-defenses of Great Britain and her colonies. Aluminium bronze for military and naval uses. Launch of the Etruria and Umbria.
May 27. Naval notes.
On the first of May the efficiency of cellulose as a protection against penetrating projectiles was tested in Denmark. The latest man-of-war, the cruiser Hecla, was subjected to a crucial test. The Hecla, built of steel and provided with numerous watertight compartments, was fitted with a belt of cellulose three feet in thickness. The Hecla was anchored in the Sound, and a second man-of-war, the Absalom, approached to within a distance of 30 to 35 meters, and fired a shot from a 5-inch gun into a parallelogram marked out on the port side of the Hecla, near the bows. The projectile penetrated both sides of the ship, making smooth holes through the steel plates of both port and starboard sides. Immediately after the shot the Hecla weighed anchor, and steamed about for three hours at a speed of 16 knots an hour. During the trip the shot-holes were submerged under the water thrown up by the bows. The effect of the cellulose, which expanded as the water entered, was very satisfactory, as only 60 centimeters of water was found in the closed compartment at the end of the three hours’ trip. The Hecla is now being repaired.
May 30. Krupp’s gun-trials at Meppen.
These trials took place at Meppen, Oct. 2 and 3, 1890, and included naval, coast-defense, siege and field guns, howitzers, mortars and rapid-fire guns.
The most interesting features of the trials were the increase in initial velocity, muzzle energy and accuracy due to the use of smokeless powder; also, increase in rapidity of loading and ease of handling heavy guns, due to improved construction of mountings.
A 24 cm. (9.4 in.) gun of 40 calibers length and 31,000 kg. weight, mounted on a center-pivot coast-defense carriage of 26,800 kg., allowing 20° elevation and 4° depression, was employed to show the difference in initial velocity and smoke-cloud due to use of brown prismatic powder and smokeless powder.
A battering shell of 215 kg. was fired with a charge of 115 kg. brown prismatic powder (35.5 to 40 mm.), and a similar projectile with a charge of 42 kg. smokeless powder P. C. 89 of 15 mm.; also a battering shell of 160 kg. was fired with 45 kg. of the same smokeless powder. The initial velocities of these three shots were respectively 633, 698 and 804 m. (2077, 2290, 2637 ft.), and the muzzle energies 4391, 5339. 5272 mt. (14.169, 17,229, and 16,812 foot-tons), with mean pressures of 2550, 2840, 2880 atmospheres.
The heavy projectile of 215 kg. with the above energies is capable of penetrating at the muzzle 35 inches of iron or 23 inches of steel, at 1000 meters 31 inches of iron or 20.8 inches of steel, at 2000 meters 27½ inches of iron or 18½ inches of steel.
Naval rapid-fire guns of 8.4, 10.5, 12 and 15 cm. caliber were submitted to trial for accuracy.
With the 8.4 cm. R. F. gun 5 aimed shots were fired in 15 seconds. The mean deviation from the center of the target, 2000 meters range, was .41 m. vertical and 1.16 m. lateral. The 10½ cm. gun fired 5 aimed shots in 23 seconds; deviation from center of target at 1500 meters was .58 m. vertical and .52 m. lateral. The 12 cm. gun fired 5 aimed shots in 22 seconds; deviation from center of target at 2000 meters was .62 m. vertical, .58 m. lateral. The 15 cm. gun fired 5 aimed shots in 32 seconds; deviation from center of target at 2500 meters was 1.06 m. vertical,1.25 m. lateral. The breech mechanism worked without a hitch, and the ejection of the long cartridge cases worked to perfection.
The automatic firing of the 7.5 cm. rapid-fire gun of 25 calibers length, designed for forts, was most satisfactory. This gun fires shell, shrapnel and canister, weight of projectile 6 kg., weight of charge 0.6 kg. of smokeless powder, imparting an initial velocity of 1667 feet per second. 10 loaded shell were fired in 17 seconds, or at the rate of 35 rounds per minute.
Launch of the Empress of India.
June 3. Naval notes: France: Trial of the Sims-Edison torpedo. England: Launch of the Sappho. Japan: Launch of the Hashidate Kan.
June 6. On the best rifling and bullets for small-arms. Military schools in Japan.
June 10. Naval notes.
At Wilhelmshaven experiments were made with a captive balloon. In calm weather satisfactory results were obtained, and a height of 440 yards was easily reached; but at sea with a fresh breeze no satisfactory experiments could be made. The material of the balloon and its network were not heavy enough to resist damage to which they are exposed in bad weather at sea. The trials are to be continued at Heligoland. The balloon park consists of a wagon with the balloon and utensils, two transportable stoves for making the gas, a reel for wire hawser, and the chemicals carried in tin cases.
June 13. The fortification question. Range finding.
Colonel Erie, of the Austrian army, has invented a field range-finder which has stood satisfactory trials. Details are wanting, but it is stated that the measurements of a series of three distances require only 1½ minutes, and can be made on uneven ground.
New tent. Pay of French army officers. Fieldpieces as rangefinders in Russia.
June 17 and 20. Supplement to register of German navy. Sinking of the Blanco Encalada. The French artillery. Attempted improvements in Swiss army materials. Description of Forster’s smokeless powder works.
June 27. Organization of the Swiss army. Depots for horses. Belgian fortifications and boundary defenses.
July i and 4. Introduction of bicycle into Swiss army. Ten years’ services of the Russian minister of war. Italian armored cruiser Sicilia.
July 8. Canet guns. The melinite scandal. Defenses of Paris. Naval notes: Launch of ironclad D.
On June 30 the ironclad D, the Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm, was launched at Wilhelmshaven. It is built entirely of German steel, being one of four sister ships. A, B, C and D. The first keel-plate was laid March 24, 1890, or 15 months prior to date of launching. The displacement is 10,000 tons, extreme length 380 feet, greatest beam 64 feet, draft 24 feet 3 inches, height of upper deck above water-line 19 feet. The vessel is built on the longitudinal system, with double bottom and numerous ’thwartship bulkheads, making 120 watertight compartments. The protection is furnished by an all-around belt of 15¾ inches compound armor with 8 inches of teak backing, and a 2½ inch strongly-arched steel protective deck. The armament is to consist of six n-inch guns, placed in pairs in revolving turrets, six 4-inch and eight 3.4-inch rapid-firing guns, besides a torpedo outfit, machine-guns for military tops, etc. There are two triple-expansion engines in separate engine-rooms, each driving a three-bladed screw, 12 cylindrical boilers with 753 square feet of grate surface and 25,080 square feet of heating surface, the steam to be carried at 180 lbs. pressure. Total developed horse-power 9000.
July 11. Krupp gun-trials.
Trials of rapid-loading guns of 12 and 15 cm. caliber, to test new mounts and different kinds of smokeless powder.
Faults in the Swiss rifle. Velocipedes for military use in Russia.
July 15. On the position of the center of gravity of a projectile. New ranges near Aldershot. Defensive organization in Roumania. The Italian line-of-battle ship Sicilia.
July 18 and 22. Military taxes in Germany and France. The German navy New Austrian army saddle-bags. The fortification question.
July 25. Stenography, its use in military service. Towards increasing our military strength. Patrol service. Firing at a captive balloon in Russia. Launch of the Isly.
July 29. Exercising cavalry against real opponents. Towards increasing our military strength (continued). Germany: Launch of ironclad G.
August i. Summer manoeuvres of Russian troops. Towards increasing our military strength (continued). Austria: Bronzing of officers’ sword-scabbards. Italy: Promotion in the army. England: Invention for detecting leaks in ship’s bottom when in dry-dock.
August 5. Summer manoeuvres of Russian troops (concluded). Towards increasing our military strength (continued). England: Ammonite. France: Rubber heels for military boots. The French naval manoeuvres.
August 8. Towards increasing our military strength (continued). Germany: Marksmanship. Trials of latest models of field, siege and coast-defense guns in Russia. Increase of Russian reserves. Launch of the Frithjof and of the Endymion. H. G. D.
RIVISTA MARITTIMA.
May, 1891. The German merchant marine, by Salvatore Raineri (continued). Notes on naval architecture, by Giuseppi Rota. A month in the island of Ceylon (continued). The interior of Africa, by Ettore Bravetta (continued). Electric lighting systems on board war-vessels of the United States.
June. Use of distilled water on board the royal vessels, by N. Soliani. The German merchant marine, by Salvatore Raineri (continued). Electric lighting on board Italian war-ships, by A. Ponchain (continued).
Part III. Organization of the service. Regulations with regard to electric plants on board royal ships. Forms of registers, log-books and journals required. Descriptions of plants. Rules for management and care of electric materials and stores.
Two military maritime ordinances of Count Verde (year 1366), by E. Prasca. Vocabulary of powder and explosives, by Lieutenant F. Salvati.
The vocabulary is arranged alphabetically, giving short descriptions, composition, chemical formula: and ingredients of special importance of explosives. In the compilation of the vocabulary the author makes use of the works of P. I''. Chalon and J. P. Cundill, of monographs, journals and papers of well-known authorities. In cases of explosives whose compositions are kept secret, such as cordite, lyddite, melinite, Sebert’s mixture, etc., the author has gathered information from all published descriptions and opinions, accounts of tests and important facts, from grouping and examination of which he arrives at the composition by induction which cannot be far from the truth. An alphabetical arrangement has been chosen to facilitate reference.
July and August. The German merchant marine, by Salvatore Raineri (continued). Naval schools in foreign countries and in Italy, by Dante Parenti. Electric lighting on board Italian warships, by A. Ponchain (continued). Naval architecture, by Giuseppi Rota. Naval duels, by F. Moro-Lin. The naval battle between Turks and Venetians, and the taking of Scio (February, 1695). A centenarian admiral. Vocabulary of powders and explosives, by Lieut. F. Salvati (continued). H. G. D.
RIVISTA DI ARTIGLIERIA E GENIO.
February, 1891. The laws of the resistance of the air and problems in trajectories, by F. Siacci. Correction of a ballistic formula, by F. Siacci. Expeditive fortification, by Spaccameia Pio. Old and new drill regulations, by C. Siracusa. Notes on a drawbridge at Poncelet (with 2 plates), by Luigi Figari. Miscellaneous notes.
March. Aluminium and its alloys, by E. Stassano. The employment of street locomotives in fortified places (3 plates), by P. Mirandoli. Old and new drill regulations, by C. Siracusa (concluded). Miscellaneous notes.
April. Notes on recent mechanical appliances used in the preparation of oxygen for industrial uses (with 6 plates), by C. Marzocchi. New formula for exactly calculating strength of beams, deduced from the mathematical theory of elasticity (with 2 plates), by A. Chiarle. The prospectograph (with 2 plates), by G. Bottero. Old truths and new paradoxes (with 2 plates), by E. Barone. Miscellaneous notes.
May. On the stability conditions of the masonry of dry-docks (with 3 plates), by C. Caveglia. Considerations upon the battery of 7 cm. guns, by E. Gonella. Some documents relating to the origin of bastioned fortifications (with 2 plates), by E. Rocchi. Smokeless powder from a technical chemical aspect. Miscellaneous notes.
June. On the stability conditions of the masonry of dry-docks, by C. Caveglia (conclusion). Projectiles loaded with powerful explosives for field artillery. Magazine rifles (with 7 plates), by G. Freddi. German establishment at Turin. Miscellaneous notes.
July. Experiments on the resistance of stone against crushing (with tables and 2 plates), by Federico Falangola. H. G. D.
NORSK TIDSSKRIFT FOR SOVAESEN.
Ninth Annual Series, Nos. 5 and 6. On the examination for mates. Naval battles in the Baltic and North Seas, 1870 to 1871. The new Norwegian steel bark Peter Ugland. Torpedo-cruiser No. 1 for the American navy. Exercises for petty officers on board third-class gunboats. Navigation in the merchant marine. Tests of armor-plates at low temperature. The armor-clad Le Hoche. The Sans Pareil’s no-ton guns. Strandings and shipwrecks. English pilot laws. H. G. D.
MITTHEILUNGEN AUS DEM GEBIETE DES SEEWESENS.
Volume XIX, No. 5. Yachting, by F. V. Prenschen. On the geometrical alignment of shafting in screw steamers, by Chief Engineer J. Fassel. Progress in photo-grametry, by F. Schiffner. On electric plants on board ships.
Engineers Milton and Allison, in their report on electric plants on board ships, have made researches into the dangers arising therefrom, and suggested the best means of avoiding same. These dangers are of two kinds, viz. 1. the influence upon the compass of the field magnets of the dynamos and of the currents in the leads; 2. danger of fire to which an improper system exposes the ship.
- The field magnets of the dynamo, surrounded as they are by a powerful magnetic field, act not only directly upon the compass, but induce magnetism in the neighboring iron masses of the ship, which affects the compass indirectly. The only remedy is to remove the dynamo as far as possible from the binnacles.
The effect of the current in the leading wires can be eliminated in practice by means of double leads, placed close together, and not too near the compass. The currents flowing in opposite directions near each other exert little or no influence. In the single-lead system, where the body of the ship serves as return lead, the influence of the current upon the compass is a considerable one, and the wire must be removed from the binnacles as far as possible, and it is even necessary in the single-lead system to have double wires for the direct and return currents in the neighborhood of the compass.
To meet these effects the authors deem it necessary, in addition to the usual determination of the compass deviations, to make a second determination while the dynamos are running at full speed. To find the effect of the field magnets alone, the currents may be shut off from the leading wires in the neighborhood of the compass.
- Defective insulation, diminution in the cross-section of the leading wires, partial or total, breaks in the latter cause overheating; danger from fire to the ship results. The laws governing the flow of electric currents through wires and their general effects are considered. The comparative merits of the double and single-lead systems are dwelt upon as well as the subject of insulation.
The introduction into the circuit of lead fuses for safety is the usual remedy, in case where the current becomes suddenly excessive due to short circuit or other causes; but the fuses do not eliminate the overheating due to partial corrosion or cases where the two ends of broken wires are close enough in contact to form an arc.
A system has been devised to overcome these dangers, in which the direct current from the dynamo passes through an insulated copper wire, which forms the heart of an iron outer shell for the return current. These iron tubes for the return current are not insulated from the ship’s body.
It is claimed that this system not only affords better protection to the copper wire, but in case of corrosion or break of the latter, the short circuit immediately established secures the working of the safety fuses.
In petroleum vessels a source of danger exists not found on ordinary vessels. In switching a lamp on or off there is always a small spark in the switch. This might be sufficient to ignite the inflammable gases accumulated below the decks in a petroleum vessel. The same danger might arise by the sudden breaking of a lighted lamp. To guard against this the lamp-switches should be on deck in the open air or in safe places; the lamps in the holds should have double glass casings.
The paper closes with a set of directions to be followed in the introduction and use of electric lights on board ships.
Budget of the English navy for 1891 to 1892. Japanese lacquer for ships’ bottoms. Armor trials in the United States. New Russian torpedo-cruisers. Electric boat for the English navy. Cruiser Falke of the German navy. Danger of fire with various lighting systems.
No. 6. Yachting (concluded). On the construction of boilers for forced draft, by A. F. Yarrow. The International Marine Conference in Washington. The 12 cm. Hotchkiss rapid-fire gun (illustrated). Budget of the Italian navy for 1891 to 1892. Budget of the French navy for 1892. Trials of Canet rapid-fire guns in France.
A 12 cm. and a 15 cm. gun were submitted to trial. The former fired 9shots in 45 seconds, the latter 8 shots in one minute. The loaded shell of the 15 cm. gun weighed 65 kg. The breech-closing apparatus worked satisfactorily, and the recoil system utilizes the energy of recoil to return the gun to the firing position.
Cost of English guns. New standing lights. The French cruiser Wattignies. The electrolyseur, apparatus for disinfecting bilge water. Episodes of the Chilian war. Distilling apparatus in the French navy. Classification of engine performances in the French navy.
No. 7. American war vessels (illustrated). Meat as a nourishment on board ships.
The chemical analyses of ordinary meats are tabulated. Cattle diseases are described. Rules are formulated for shipping and feeding live cattle, for slaughtering, for purchasing fresh meat and its preparation. The methods of preserving meat either canned, salted or fresh are described at length.
The French coast-defense vessels. The Portuguese submarine boat. The English torpedo-vessel Vulcan. The Spanish armored ship Emperador Carlo V. Episodes of the Chilian war. A new sounding machine with steel wire line, by E. Belloc. Unwelded steel cables. Test of cellulose in Denmark. Test of night signalling apparatus in the United States navy. Amount of salt in sea-water.
H. G. D.
BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
Volume XXIII, No. 2. Orkneys and Shetland, by Prof. C. S. Smith. Proposed exploration of North Greenland, by R. E. Peary, U. S. N. Journeys on the inland ice. Dr. John Rae’s Arctic explorations. Geographical notes, by Geo. C. Hurlbut: International congress of Americanists in 1892; Guanahani; Recent charts of the Hydrographic Office; Recession of Niagara Falls; Prof. Heilprin’s measurements of height; The volcano of Poás; The explosion in Rome; Explorations of the Black Sea; A fresh-water lake near the Aral Sea; Eastern Egypt; Dwarf races of Africa; West-central Australia; The Tanna volcano in the New Hebrides. The party and the outfit for the Greenland journey, by R. E. Peary, U. S. N.
H. G. D.
MITTHEILUNGEN DES VEREINS FÜR ERDKUNDE, 1890.
Annual reports of the Institution for 1890. Meetings and proceedings: January 17, geographic determinations, by Dr. Peters; The delta of the Amu-Darja; January 25, Mexican snow mountains, by Dr. Lenk; February 5, travels in Kilimanjero and Ugueno, by Dr. Meyers; February 21, formation of coral islands; March 8, the German Plankton expedition; May 3, terraces and beach-lines of Norwegian fjords; October 25, review of summer’s work; The Wal-lachians of southwestern Turkey and northern Greece; November 15, lecture on the trip across Greenland in 1888, by Dr. F. Nansen; December 13, expedition to Bolivia and Peru for researches after Inca relics, by Dr. Hettner. List of members. Persia, a historical sketch, by Dr. Karl Prellberg. H. G. D.
ANNALEN DER HYDROGRAPHIE UND MARITIMEN METEORO-LOGIE.
Nineteenth Annual Series, 1891, No. IV. Formation of bottom-ice. Hydrographic notices on Lopez bay and the islands of San Thomé, Anno Bom Princess and Fernando Po, west coast of Africa. Report of Captain O. Tack on his passage through Torres Straits, July, 1890. Deep-sea explorations in the Black Sea. Unfriendliness of the natives of the island of Tobi (Lord North Island); extract from the report of the master of the German sailing-ship Columbus. On the date boundaries in the Pacific Ocean. Meteorological observations in the roads and harbor of Cameroon. Quarterly weather review of the German naval observatory, fall of 1886 (conclusion). Minor notices: Sailing directions for Santorin, Aegean Sea; Sailing directions for Diego Garcia, Chagos Islands; Tampico, New Orleans; Remarks on the approaches to the Yung river, east coast of China; Bottle-post.
No. V. The climate of Heligoland. From the log of Captain J. Friidden of the German bark Parnass. Paranagua and Antonia on the coast of Brazil. Soundings in the Arctic Sea and in Behrings Sea. Winds and currents on the way from Manta to Punt Arenas in February, 1890. The changes in atmospheric pressure during a total eclipse of the sun, by A. S. Steen. A storm resembling a hurricane in the south Indian Ocean, May 9 to 11, 1888. Minor notices: Bottle-posts from various vessels.
No. VI. The climate of Heligoland (concluded). Extracts from the report of Captain F. Niejahr of the German bark J. F. Pust. The port for salt exportation at Cape de Gata, south coast of Spain. Sailing directions for the west coast of Nowaja Semlja. Port des Galets, Reunion Islands. The value of star occultations for regulating chronometers at sea, by Dr. F. Bolte. Wind and weather in the Adria. Typhoon of August 22, 1889, north of Formosa. Minor notices: Use of oil in quieting the seas; Anchorage at Bordj el Ksar on the Kerkenah Island, Tunis; Remarks on weather conditions on the coast of South Dalmatia and Montenegro, Adriatic Sea; Notices on the currents in the China Sea; Notice on the Gilbert Islands.
No. VII. The storms along the German coast in October, 1890. Tidal observations in Finsch harbor. Compass deflections due to local magnetic disturbances in Northwest Australia. Ice conditions in the Bay of Danzig. Report on the fourteenth competitive test of chronometers held at the German naval observatory in the winter of 1890-91. Quarterly weather review of the German naval observatory, winter of 1886-87. Minor notices: Earthquakes felt at sea; The harbor of Catania; Opening of the Straits of Sdrelaz, Dalmatia; Currents on the west coast of Hindostan; Landing at Cape Horn; Bottle-post. H. G. D.
THE ELECTRICAL REVIEW.
May 30, 1891. The practical aspects of electric welding.
June 6. The tools of modern warfare.
Mr. Hiram S. Maxim, during a lecture on the above subject, fired in a parlor several hundred shots from his automatic machine-gun at the rate of to shots a second.
June 13. The future of the aluminium problem from the chemical standpoint. Discussion on the practical aspects of electric welding. Electricity in the production of aluminium.
June 20. The polar diagram of alternate currents and its application to inductive resistances. Some notes on the electrolytic quantitative separation of metals.
June 27. The telephone in our signal service. A thermo-electric method of studying cylinder condensation in the steam-engine cylinders.
July 4. Elektron marine installment.
July 11. Electrical measurements of power. Life of submarine cables.
July 18. The incandescent lamp. Electrical evaporation.
July 25. The incandescent lamp (concluded).
August 8. The electric transmission of power. Notes on permanent magnets. Mr. John T. Sprague on the ether theory of transfer of electric energy.
August 22. Electric forging. Franklin’s kite experiments.
REVUE MARITIME ET COLONIALE.
April, 1891. Foreign naval ministries; how organized and operated; Italy; Russia; Austria. Political and commercial situation of Borneo.
In the course of a few years this large and important island will form another addition to the already vast colonies of England. The latter’s protectorate over the states of Northern Borneo, established in 1888, was but the first step to that end.
The hurricanes of the West Indies (translated from the Spanish). Notes upon a traverse of evolutions—second contribution to the geometry of naval tactics. The fleets of the Ancient and the Middle Ages (continued).
June. The German naval constructions as per program of 1889. The Black River and the upper western Tonkin. On the organization of modern flotillas. House-tax of officers of the different branches of the naval service. Historical studies of the military marine of France: The unveiling of the statue of Chevalier J. C. de Borda (1733-1799).
The Chevalier de Borda was at one time commandant of the naval school at Brest, and so remarkable and efficient were his services to that institution that the ship assigned to the school has always borne since the name of Borda.
July. A study of the electric-light plant on board the armored battle-ship Marceau. An abstract of the English navy budget for 1891-92. Historical studies of the military marine of France: The French navy during the Regency and Maurepas’ administration (continued). The naval defense act (England). Mobilization of the ships of the reserve. A report upon the landing of a gun of 14 cm., model 1881, upon a raft built with the only means found on board the ship. J. L.
REVUE DU CERCLE MILITAIRE.
April 26, 1891. The great commercial highways of Tonkin. One word in regard to the position of outposts.
May 3. Opinion of General Skobeleff on the use of the lance in the cavalry. Wounds from small-caliber bullets (continued in the next numbers).
May 24. The rôle of the infantry on reconnaissance duty. Appreciation of distances by means of sound. The great commercial highways of Tonkin (ended).
May 31. Armament of the cavalry apropos to the article on the BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES.
opinion of General Skobeleff. Contagious diseases in the army. Infantry marching formations.
June 7. Marching formations. After the battle of Le Mans (a historical study), (continued in the next numbers).
June 2.8. A new army shoe. Contagious diseases in the army; eruptive fevers (ended).
July 5. Night marches and operations of infantry.
July 12. One word more in regard to infantry attack.
July 19. An exploration of the Ivory Coast. Night marches and operations of infantry.
July 26. The Swiss repeating rifle, model of 1889 (with cuts).
August 2. The navy of the United States.
LE YACHT.
May 2, 1891. The naval budget committee. The Canet gun of 32 cm. 40-caliber for the barbette turrets of the Japanese coast-guard battle-ships, with cuts.
May 9. The Sims-Edison torpedo.
May 23. Collapse of the tops of furnaces in marine boilers.
May 30. The stranding of the Seignelay. The R. F. guns in connection with the smokeless powder frauds. The importance of sheathing ships’ bottoms with regard to speed.
June 6. Naval warfare in Chili.
June 13. England and the Dreibund from a naval point of view.
June 27. Naval mobilizations. The launching of the first-class cruiser Isly at Brest.
July 4. Modification of the torpedo-boats of 35 meters.
July 18. The great French naval manoeuvres.
July 25. Lessons taught by the great manoeuvres.
Of the “réservistes ” called out and suddenly distributed among the fleet many were temporarily incapacitated for duty owing to their long disuse of the sea, and the inexperience of firemen on board some of the vessels caused the speed of the latter to fall far below the mean, showing conclusively how unadvisable it would be in actual war to place upon torpedo-boats and other light vessels drafted men unfamiliar with the sea. In regard to the materiel, although the small cruisers met with no serious mishaps, still not a few experienced little delays on account of leakage, tubes requiring plugging, hot bearings, etc. Their boilers are too weak, their seaworthiness indifferent, and there is but one voice among navy people in favor of large cruisers of the Tage and Cécille types. As to torpedo-boats, experience shows that they are more an obstacle than an aid to the movements of a fleet, and the construction of the torpedo-boat transports should be advanced as speedily as possible.
August 1. Mr. Brisson’s naval policy, by E. Weyl.
BOLETIN DEL CENTRO NAVAL.
February, 1891. Recruiting of the subordinate personnel of the navy (Argentine). Promotions of midshipmen. Modern fleets and the wars of the future. Organization of the squadron. The modern rifle. Foreign chronicles.
March. Armor-plates. Trials of armor-plates in England and the United States. Armored battle-ships. Organization of the squadron. The most advantageous spot for the establishment of a fortified dock-yard and arsenal. J. L.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NAVAL ENGINEERS.
Volume III, No. 2. Trial trips and the lessons to be learned from them. The preservation of marine boilers.
A paper showing the sources of the deterioration in the different parts of the boiler, and the care that should be taken to check the causes.
Engine room signals. Contractor’s full power forced draft trial of the U. S. S. Bennington. Economic marine propulsion. Notes on the progress in the construction of the machinery for the new vessels building for the navy. J. K. B.
THE IRON AGE.
Volume XLVII, No. 20, May 14, 1891. High-pressure steam boilers. A new storage battery. Ordnance and projectiles for coast defense.
No. 21, May 21. The vessels under construction.
There are at present under construction at private shipyards 16 vessels, including three tugs, for the navy, and at navy-yards three more, making 16 ships in various stages of building. This does not include the Concord, Bennington, and Monterey, the former two fitting for sea at New York and the latter recently launched at San Francisco. The New York, for which the Cramps are to receive $2,985,000, will be launched in about three months. She is more than half completed, although after she gets into the water there will remain a good deal to do on her, just as there has been on the Maine. The reports from the government officers at the Union Iron Works make a good showing for the work on Cruiser No. 6, whose keel has been laid and whose frames are in course of erection. The keel of the coast-line battleship Oregon, also building at the Union Works, has not yet been laid. Cruisers 9 and 10, identical in plan and cost, are well advanced at the Columbia Iron Works, and it is expected that they will be launched in about four months. Cruiser No. 11, which Harrison Loring of Boston is under contract to build for $674,000, is a sister ship of the Columbia people’s 9 and 10, and although the contracts were entered into at the same time, the Boston firm has not pushed the work on its vessel as the Baltimore contractors have on theirs. The keel of No. 11 has been laid and the frames are partly in position. The vessel will be launched in about ten months. Loring is also building three steam-tugs, of which the navy stands in great need. These craft are in frames and are being plated, and will be launched in about six months. The Bath, Maine, Iron Works is making satisfactory progress with the two gunboats, which are in frames and being plated and are expected to be ready for launching in six months. The Ammen ram, the contract for which was recently awarded to the Bath Company, has its keel laid, and a good deal of the material is in the ship-yard. The Cramps are slightly ahead of the Union Iron Works in the work on the other two battle-ships, the Indiana and Massachusetts. The keels are being laid and numerous frames bent. The keel of Protected Cruiser No. 12, which the Cramps are also building, has been laid, the frames erected and the plating begun. Of the vessels now being constructed at navy-yards, all are well advanced. The Cincinnati, or No. 7, at the New York Yard, will be launched in about six months, by which time the Raleigh, or No. 8, is expected to be in the water. The Texas, whose construction has been impeded so much by discussions among the constructors, will be launched in about nine months. All the work in the hands of contractors will be completed within the contract time, so far as one may judge from reports received at the Department.
No. 22, May 28. The Midvale Steel Company and the Holtzer process. Basic Bessemer, the Pottstown Iron Company. Testing the guns of the Vesuvius.
No. 23, June 4. American armor, trial of the first American plate (illustrated). New form of marine engine. Protected cruiser No. 13.
No. 24, June ii. Power-press for straightening heavy shafting. Record of lake steamers. The practical aspects of electric welding.
No. 25, June 18. The Ammen defense ram. Expert opinion on the guns of the Vesuvius. The twelve-inch gun. Fast torpedo-boats.
An eminently successful trial of a torpedo-boat just completed by Messrs. Thornycroft & Co. for the government of the United States of Brazil took place in the estuary of thy Thames on the 2d inst. The new vessel is 150 feet long by 14 feet 6 inches beam, there being four torpedo-guns suited for the 14-inch Whitehead torpedo. Two of these torpedo-tubes are mounted on racers on deck and two under deck in the bows, arranged not in the ordinary way, but with gear enabling them to be protruded through doors in the skin of the boat. The machinery consists of two sets of triple compound engines, supplied with steam by two Thornycroft water-tube boilers. The trial consisted of two parts: 1. a series of six runs on the measured mile with a load of 19 tons on board, during which a speed of 25 knots was guaranteed by the builders; and, 2. a continuous run of two hours’ duration during which a speed of 24 knots was guaranteed. The results of the six runs were as follows:
| Knots. | Mean revolutions per knot. |
First run, with tide | 27.692 | 1065.5 |
Second run, against tide.... | 23.529 | 1289 |
Third run, with tide | 28.346 | 1064 |
Fourth run, against tide | 23.377 | 1290.5 |
Fifth run, with tide | 28.346 | 1062.5 |
Sixth run, against tide | 23.829 | 1282.5 |
The mean of these speeds, computed by the Admiralty method, being 25.858 knots, Messrs. Thornycroft’s guarantee was more than fulfilled. The mean number of revolutions required to do a knot was found to be 1165.4. At 1.18 P. M. the vessel was put upon her two hours’ run, and at 3.18 it was found that the mean number of revolutions of the screws amounted to 59,174, which, being divided by 1165.4, the number required to complete a knot in still water, gives a distance of 50.775 nautical miles, or 58.4 statute miles, covered in the two hours. This sliowed an average speed of 25.387 knots, which, it is claimed, is the greatest distance ever run and highest speed maintained by any vessel in the time. During the run steam was blowing off from both boilers, and the pressure of 210 pounds per square inch was maintained with ease, there being an air-pressure in the stokehold of only 1½ inches of water.
No. 26, June 25. Wright triple expansion engine. Manganese steel. Steel castings.
Volume XLVIII, No. 1, July 2. Variations of the open-hearth steel process. The new Westinghouse compound-engine governor (illustrated). The Perry steam-engine indicator (illustrated).
No. 2, July 9. Carriages for the 12-inch mortars. Organization of a torpedo service. The Canet armored turret (illustrated).
No. 3, July 16. Bids for building great guns. War-ships under construction. Harvey plates uninjured.
The Naval Ordnance Bureau has had another test of Harvey-treated armor-plates. As in the former test, the plates used were of steel 3 inches in thickness. They carried 0.25 per cent of carbon. The plates used at the previous trials were of a higher carbon, and were found to have cracked during the assault; the present test, however, showed no such weakness. This time 14 rounds were fired at each of the three plates, a six-pounder rapid-fire gun of 1S00 feet velocity being used, and the projectiles being of a superior quality, capable of penetrating under similar circumstances 4 inches of ordinary steel. The plates were uninjured, the points of impact being indicated by slight indentations, or surface scars, left by the projectiles, which in every instance were broken into fragments. There were no cracks, and the ordnance experts who witnessed the trial say the results were as good as those shown by the nickel plate.
The next subject to which the Naval Ordnance people will turn their attention, now that so effective an armor has been produced, will be the acquirement of projectiles which can do something besides scratch the surface and shatter themselves in the contact. Orders have been given to the Carpenter Steel Company for a trial lot of specially-formed armor-piercing projectiles. The intention is to use them in experimental attacks on the Harvey-treated plates. They are to be fitted with a blunt head, the present cigar-shaped tip having proved too pointed to affect the surface of Harvey targets.
The recent tests of the 3-inch plates have demonstrated the usefulness of the rapid-fire guns of the navy, and an order for the manufacture of 75 Driggs-Schroeder and 50 Hotchkiss 6-pounder guns has been signed by Secretary Tracy. It may not be long before the navy has ordnance of this type of its own, for preliminary trials have just been completed of two 6-pounder rapid-fire guns, Hotchkiss ammunition being used. They were made at the Washington Navy Yard, one on the Driggs principle, the other the invention of an attaché of the ordnance shops, named Lynch. They are shorter than the rapid-fire guns already in service, and take a smaller charge of powder.
No. 4, July 23. A fast steam launch. The lake shipbuilders. Model 1891 reloading tool.
No. 5, July 30. Armor-plate tests.
A comparative armor test to ascertain the relative qualities of all-steel plates and nickel-steel plates for use in arming the protective decks of naval vessels has been had at the Naval Ordnance Proving Ground at Indian Head. The object of the test was to obtain data to be used in determining whether the protective deck of armored cruiser No. 2, the New York, being built by Cramp & Sons, should be made of ordinary tough steel plates or of nickel-steel.
Two pairs of plates were tested. Those of all steel were furnished by Cramp & Sons, and were each 1¼ inches thick and had 80,000 pounds tensile strength. The nickel-steel plates were from Carnegie, Phipps & Co. of Pittsburgh, and had 92,000 and 102,000 pounds tensile strength. Each pair of plates was bolted to substantial live-oak supports, one plate being placed directly on top of the other. This gave the all-steel target a thickness of 2½ inches and the nickel-steel a thickness of 3 inches. The plates were inclined at an angle of 22° to the line of fire, that being the angle at which deflective decks are inclined. The gun used was a 6-inch breech-loading rifle, firing cast-iron ogival-headed projectiles weighted with sand to 100 pounds. Against the inclined armor, where the shoulder of the projectile strikes, instead of the point, these projectiles would have substantially as great an effect as an armorpiercing projectile. The striking velocity was fixed at 1515 feet per second, that being about the velocity at which a 6-inch shell fired with the service charge would strike at a range of 2000 yards.
At the short range on the proving ground but 27½ pounds of powder were required to give that velocity. On the first day of the firing the all-steel plates were tested. The first shot was fired at a spot 26 inches from the top of the target and 19 inches from the right-hand edge. It struck the mark square, and bent the plates downward, forming a dish or depression elliptical in form, with its apex 3 inches below the normal surface of the plates, and with its longest axis in the direction of the line of fire. The surface of the plate in this depression was smooth and covered with copper from the rotating-band of the projectile. There were no cracks and no bolts were broken. The projectile broke up, as did all the others fired during the trial, and the fragments were deflected onward through a back-stop of heavy timbers, placed with a wrought-iron plate, and were stopped by a pile of sandbags built up behind this.
The second shot struck the target 26 inches from the top and 22 inches from the left edge, and was in effect an exact repetition of the first. The third shot was aimed at the center of the plates, but an almost imperceptible error in pointing the gun was so magnified by the inclination of the plates that the shot was too high, and struck just between the two previous ones. 'This made a row of three shots directly across the upper part of the plate, and subjected it to a very severe test. The two previous depressions were connected by this one, which bent the plates down to 7 inches below the normal, and the center bolt, which was just ahead of the point of impact, was driven down through its hole. Both plates were cracked from the center of their upper edge through the bolt hole, and in the upper plate the crack extended in a curve to the rear of the first point of impact.
The fourth shot struck at a point 21 inches from the bottom of the target and 19 inches from the right edge, and was in effect a repetition of the first two shots, as was also the fifth and last shot, which struck 21 inches from the bottom and 22 inches from the left edge. The target had stood the trial admirably, and, though cracked by the third shot, nothing had gone through it. The nickel plates were then put in place and were fired at. The first shot was at a point 28 inches from the top and 16 inches from the right edge, and it made a depression but iT4ff inches below the normal surface. The ridges formed on the surface of the plate by the mill scale were slightly smoothed and were polished and coated with copper by the force of the blow, but no other effect on the target was visible. The second shot was at a point 36 inches from the top and 17 inches from the left edge, and it made a depression 1 4/10 inches deep. The third struck in the exact center of the plate, and was in effect an exact repetition of the first. The fourth struck 22 inches from the top and 18 inches from the right edge, and made a depression1 6/10 inches below the normal, as did also the fifth, which struck 32 inches from the bottom and 14 inches from the left edge. The greater apparent depth of the depression caused by the last two shots was due to the fact that the plates were made longer than was expected, and there was no room under the target structure for putting nuts on the lower bolts, which were merely driven in, and allowed the bottom edge of the plates to curl. It is thought that the normal depression in both these instances was about 1 4/10 inches.
The wonderful toughness and strength of nickel-steel was again demonstrated by this test, and making allowance for the extra thickness of the nickel-steel target, it showed decided superiority over the all-steel, and it is highly probable that the result will be that nickel-steel will be extensively used for protective deck plating. One point of interest in connection with the test was the low angle at which the shells were deflected, none of them rising to over 50 above the plane of the plate, indicating that if the armor were on board a ship the fragments would probably have been stopped in the coal bunkers.
12-inch breech-loading rifle (illustrated).
No. 6, August 6. Bidding for heavy guns. The Canet gun-carriage (illustrated). Making chain links.
No. 7, August 13. Rebuilding the navy. The lake trade reviving.
No. 8, August 20. The whale-back boat. Power of no ton gun. The Maine’s engines.
THE BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION.
June 3, 1891. War material in the United States.
June 10. The manufacture of big guns.
July i. A new armor-plate mill.
July 8 and 15. The gigantic steam hammer of the Bethlehem Iron Company.
The hammer was designed after that of Schneider & Cie., of Le Creusot, France, which next to this one is the second largest in the world. It has a stroke of 125 tons, while the Schneider hammer is only capable of striking a loo-ton blow. The hammer will be used for forging ingots into armor plates. These ingots will be cast of metal weighing from 100 to 150 tons, and by this stupendous piece of mechanism will be forged into the desired sizes by 125-ton blows.
The hammer stands in the center of a very large building, and over a year has been spent in its construction. A pit 58 by 62 feet was dug for the foundation, and on walls 30 feet high the anvil stands. To give the foundation a certain elasticity a layer of 20 steel slabs on top of Ohio white-oak timbers was made and the surface was rendered perfectly smooth. It was, of course, entirely out of the question to cast in a single piece the iron required, and the anvil was built by depositing on top of the steel slabs and their timbers 22 blocks of solid cast iron. The average weight of these blocks is 70 tons, and the entire weight of the mass of iron and steel forming the anvil and foundation is nearly 1800 tons. The anvil foundation and the hammer foundation are entirely separate and independent of each other and in no way interlaced. The hammer itself is a majestic-looking structure, superimposed over the Cyclopean mass of iron forming the anvil—huge, substantial and powerful, rising to a height of 90 feet. The housings composing the first section form a large arch, curving gracefully over the anvil. These housings are each composed of a single 120-ton casting. The longitudinal width of the hammer (that is, looking at it from either the east or west) is 42 feet. The housings, whose bases are 10 feet by 8, are firmly clamped into the foundation-walls at each side, and are fastened to washers lying beneath the walls at a depth of 33 feet.
Around the entire periphery of the hammer, to the height of the first section, 15 feet, is a platform of levers controlling the working of the machine. Above is another arch of housings, which weigh 80 tons apiece. This arch is capped by a steam chest, a casting of 65 tons. Here, at the height of some 70 feet, is another platform. On the top of this steam chest, and in the center of this platform, is superadded the huge cylinder, 24 feet high, with an internal diameter of 76 inches. In the exact zenith of the arch is the large tub or ram of the hammer, an enormous piece of metal about 19½ feet long, 10 feet wide and four feet thick, the weight of which is almost 100 tons. It is this which forms the principal bulk of the enormous weight of the hammer and gives power to its heavy blows. Connected to this is the piston-rod, a splendid specimen of perfectly wrought steel, 40 feet long and 16 inches in diameter. At the bottom of the trip and keyed to it is the die hammer. This is a large, square block of iron, faced with steel, and is the piece which will strike the metal that is being forged. The piston-rod has a play of 16½ feet, and the weight of trip, piston-rod and piston aggregates 125 tons, which, multiplied by the full stroke, is the power of the hammer’s stupendous blows. The whole thing is indeed a contrivance unparalleled in the history of mechanism.
August 5. Nickel in New Caledonia.
THE JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE.
June, 1891. The progress of chemical theory; its helps and hindrances, by Dr. Persifer Frazer. Possibilities of applied science, by Oberlin Smith. New alloys and their engineering applications, by F. Lynwood Garrison. Riveted joints in boiler-shells, note by Committee. Chemical section. Electrical section: A rough-and-ready dynamometer for small motors; The value of oil as an insulator for high-voltage currents.
July. Reports of Committee Science and Arts: Vanclain’s compound locomotive and forged car-wheel. Possibilities of applied science, by Oberlin Smith. The utilization of the power of Niagara Falls and notes on engineering progress, by Coleman Sellers. New alloys and their engineering applications.
August. Induction of electric currents and induction coils, by Prof. E. Thomson. The range of tide in rivers and estuaries, by E. A. Gieseler. New alloys and their engineering applications, by F. Lynwood Garrison. Conflagrations in cities. Chemical section: Prof. Lippmann’s heliochromy; Composition of boiler scale and the composition of feed-water from Galveston, Tex. Electrical section: Ewing’s theory of induced magnetism, by Prof. Henry Crew.
THE LONDON ENGINEER.
May 1, 1891. Her Majesty’s ship Victory; her history and construction. The Naval Exhibition: 4.5-inch quick-fire gun; H. M. S. Victoria; Elswick pneumatic gun-mounting. Water-tube boilers. Sailing-ship construction. Toughening steel plates.
May 8. Steam-pipes. The naval operations in Chili. Explosives.
May 15. The French cruiser Le Tage. Holden’s process of burning petroleum. On tests for steel used in the manufacture of artillery.
May 22. The United States cruiser Charleston.
July 3. Heating feed-water by live steam. Explosives in Belgium. Mending a big shaft at sea (illustrated). Armor-plates in the United States.
July 10. Bursting of a gun on board H. M. S. Cordelia. Engineers in the navy.
July 17. Experiments with ammonite. Screw propellers.
July 24. Ships-of-war building or refitting at Chatham dockyard. Whitworth mounting for high-angle fire (illustrated). Un-sinkable steel boat.
July 31. Sir Nathaniel Barnaby on recent progress in war-ships. A review of marine engineering during the past decade.
August 7. The Whitehead torpedo (illustrated). Modern shell fire.
THE ENGINEER.
July 18, 1891. The Newark. How to run engines and boilers. Rapid-fire guns. Removing scale from boilers.
August 1. How to run engines and boilers. The light on Diamond shoal.
August 15. Engines of the protected cruiser No. 12. How to run engines and boilers. The economical use of steam in engines. Feed-water heating.
ENGINEERING.
May 1, 1891. H. M. S. Vulcan. Engines and boilers of S. S. Indra (illustrated).
May 8. Report upon the trials of the engines of S. S. Iona.
May 15. The German military rifle (illustrated). Railways for coast defense. Steel for artillery.
May 22. War material in the United States, by W. H. Jaques. Air and circulating pumps for the U. S. battle-ship Maine (illustrated). Babcock and Wilcox water-tube marine boilers (illustrated). Artillery steel.
May 29. Test of the Stanley marine boiler. The destruction of the Blanco Encalada.
July 10. Bursting of the Cordelia’s gun.
July 3. The next naval manoeuvres. A chronological history of electricity.
July 17. The Royal Nay Exhibition (illustrated). The Princess Alice. A chronological history of electricity (continued).
July 24. The Royal Navy Exhibition (continued). The new South African ail steamer Scot. H. M. S. Endymion. The French navy, NO. XII, the cruister Cécille (illustrated). A chronological history of electricity (continued).
July 31. The Royal Navy Exhibition; The Armstrong gallery (illustrated). List of war-ships built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Mitchell & Co. The Institution of Naval Architects. The American whale-back.
August 7. Willey’s boat-disengaging apparatus (illustrated). The French navy, No. XIII, the Marceau. Ammunition-hoist for the 25th de Mayo. H. G. D.
THE MANUFACTURER.
July 20, 1891. New steel cuirass. A great gun. Ammonite, a new safety explosive.
This new explosive, experiments in the usage of which were carried out at the works of the Miners’ Safety Explosives Company, Stanford-le-hope, Essex, on the 9th inst., consists of pure ammonium nitrate and nitronaphthaline, which in themselves are quite inexplosive, but become highly explosive when intimately incorporated. The ingredients are separately dried and ground, and are afterwards mixed in edge-runner mills under a moderate heat, the resultant compound being a yellowish powder, which is afterwards sifted and sealed in metallic cartridges of different sizes. It is practically impossible to explode this compound by the direct aid of either flame, heat or concussion, as was amply proved in the presence of those who had been invited to attend the trials; and being entirely free from chlorate mixtures, the chance of spontaneous decomposition is avoided. Freedom from picric acid and chlorinated derivatives of hydrocarbons does away with the injurious after-fumes to which such grave exception is taken in the case of such explosives as roburite, etc. Ammonite differs from all explosives of the nitro-glycerine class in its entire freedom from any liquid ingredient, so that exudation is impossible, and all danger of freezing avoided. An experiment showed that even the most excessive changes of temperature had no appreciable effect upon its character and explosive power. After a series of tests as to the comparative strength of ammonite and other well-known explosives, which demonstrated that the new compound, whilst possessing none of the objectionable characters of roburite, yet quite equals it in explosive force, an experiment was made in order to show that it was practically impossible to explode it by percussive action; in the result, whilst carbonite, tonite, gelignite, gunpowder, dynamite, guncotton, blasting gelatine, and ardeerite, all exploded loudly, ammonite failed to explode, even when the weight was allowed to fall 23 feet. A cartridge of ammonite was next cut into two pieces, one of which was exploded by means of a detonator, whilst the remaining portion was thrown into a brazier of red-hot coke without exploding. Nor was it in any way affected by the concussion arising from the impact of a stream of bullets fired into the cartridges, nor from the effects of a 1-lb. case of gunpowder exploded amongst them. Further experiments were made in order to show its enormous explosive strength when properly fired. Two wrought-iron plates of 3/8 in. and ¾ in. thickness respectively, were completely shattered by a 6 oz. cartridge, whilst the destruction of an extemporized section of a railway by four 6 oz. cartridges, and the cutting down of two stockades of sleepers 4 in. thick and embedded two feet in the ground, proved that ammonite must be placed in the front rank of explosives. A bundle of six cartridges was afterwards fired under water by a submarine fuse, and to show the instantaneous detonation and the continuity of the explosive wave through unbroken cartridges, a line of cartridges 80 ft. in length was fired by a single detonator. Little or no residue is left after ammonite is fired, and every railway company in the country consents to carry it. Numerous experiments have been made with ammonite in some of the most fiery collieries in England, and in no instance has the coal gas and dust been exploded, although, in some cases, only two inches of tamping has been employed. The unanimous opinion of those present and competent to judge, is that in ammonite an absolutely safe, innocuous and certain explosive has been found, of the greatest possible use and benefit under the most diverse conditions.
THE STEAMSHIP.
May, 1891. The action of sails. Electric lighting on shipboard. The cost of the generation and distribution of electrical energy.
June. Boiler deposits. Thwaite’s tubular boiler. The research committee on engine trials. Report upon trials of the S. S. Iona.
J. K. B.
July. Bolton’s patent electric winch for ships. Feathering propellers. Boat-lowering apparatus at Royal Naval Exhibition: Pim’s improved raft; Duinker’s, Mill’s, and Bowring’s apparatus (illustrated). Launch of the Endymion.
INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
January, 1891. On different kinds of gas furnaces. The mechanical treatment of moulding sand.
March. Fourth report of research committee on friction: Experiments on the friction of a pivot-bearing. J. K. B.
THE STEVENS INDICATOR.
Volume VIII, No. 2. Drawing-room practice. An abstract of a lecture in the department of engineering. Practice on the method of designing-room instruction. Oils used in lubrication. Experiments made on a hot-air engine. The influence of the receiver jacket on indicator cards. J. K. B.
No. 3. The machine-shop. Oils used in lubrication. Railway-car lighting. Annual meeting of the Alumni Association. Commencement week exercises.
TRANSACTIONS OF CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
Volume IV, Part II, October to December, 1890. Developments in telegraphy, by D. H. Keeley. The errors of levels and leveling, by Prof. C. H. McLeod. Cable railways, by P. H. Middleton.
TRANSACTIONS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
Volume XXIV, No. 3. On the permanent effect of strain in metals. District steam system. Worthen on steam-heating.
No. 4. Determination of the stresses in elastic systems by the method of least work.
No. 5. The beginnings of engineering. Valves and other apparatus of National Water Works Company of Kansas City.
No. 6. The nozzle as an accurate water-meter. Würtell on false ellipse.
INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. PROCEEDINGS.
Volume CIV. Auxiliary engines in connection with the modern marine engine.
A discussion on the machinery employed to drive the air and circulating pumps, the reversing gear, the fans for forced draft, and that for electric lighting, as usually employed in modern vessels in the navy and the merchant marine, with suggestions tending to effect a further efficiency in this group of auxiliary machinery.
Machine-stoking.
A brief sketch of the history of machine-stoking, together with a full illustrated description of the Vicar’s machine-stoker and the Benne’s sprinkler stoker, together with the actual results of the application of machine-stoking, showing the advantages resulting from its adoption (1) as to.the prevention of smoke, (2) economy of fuel, (3) economy of labor, and (4) increased evaporative efficiency.
Electric mining machinery, with special reference to the application of electricity to coal-cutting, pumping and rock-drilling. On the application of governor and fly-wheel to marine engines. Investigations on the influence of heat on the strength of iron. J. K. B.
MÉMOIRES ET COMPTE RENDU DES TRAVAUX DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DES INGÉNIEURS CIVILS.
April, 1891. Seaports and communications, canals, rivers, and railroads. The metallurgy of aluminium. Aluminium and its alloys.
May. Notes on ore process. Transmission of power by electricity. Electric transmission. Electric transmission in the mines of Faria (Brazil).
June. Transactions of the Society. General method of calculation for beams and girders. H. G. D.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND INSTITUTE OF MINING AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
Part XXXIX. Experiments with explosives used in mines. The economical working of steam-boilers at collieries. J. K. B.,
THE RAILROAD AND ENGINEERING JOURNAL.
May, 1891. The armored Spanish cruiser Pelayo. The navy in time of peace. Submarine mine and harbor defense. Progress in the U. S. navy.
June. Lacquer as a protection for steel ships. The U. S. navy. Foreign naval notes. Water-power and electrical transmission.
August. Recent experiments with armor-plates, II. The safe high explosives. A lightship with electric lights. J. K. B.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, Volume XXIX, No. 135.
JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERING SOCIETIES, Volume X, Nos. 6 and 7.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS.
Notes on the Bessemer process; aluminium steel.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE, Volume I, No. 2.
FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE.
REVISTA TECNOLOGICO INDUSTRIAL, June, 1891.
TEKNISK TIDSKRIFT.
OUTING.
THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL JOURNAL, May and June, 1891.
THE COLLIERY ENGINEER.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
Captain Blake. By Captain Chas. King, U. S. A.
Identification of Sir Francis Drake’s Anchorage on the Coast of California in the Year 1579. By Prof. George Davidson, Ph. D.
Time Reckoning for the Twentieth Century. By Sanford Fleming.
REVIEWERS AND TRANSLATORS.
P. A. Engineer J. K. Barton, Ensign C. M. Knepper,
Ensign H. G. Dresel, Prof. C. R. Sanger,
Prof. J. Leroux.