Document VJMqjnkX1gX8LkopqZknJB2E8

FILE NAME: Engineering (ENG) DATE: 1932 Oct DOC#: ENG020 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Trade Journal Article beESTABLISHED 1856. REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER. No. 4005] 28. ESSEX ST., LONDON, W.C. 2._____________ [OCTOBER 14, 1932 NOV b u BUY BRITISH IA N G IT E joint washers, having an extraordinary degree of resilience, plus the outstanding advantage of being unaffected by oils and spirits, solve the problem of retaining oil. Langite is used for joint washers on marine engines; motor car and lorry engines, gearL.xes. axles and h u b s : for petrol tank joints A y /V i. R S I Tvx Oc t . 14, 1932 THE ENGI N EER 381 Railway and Road Matters. Notes and Memoranda. Miscellanea. T he L.JI.S. is m a k in g e x p e rim e n ts b o th in E ngland and Scotland w ith vehicles e q u ip p e d to spray w eed-killer over the tracks as th e y go along. T he w eed-killer train consists of a n e n g in e, a b r a k e v a n a n d a w ag o n fitted-with a large ta n k an d a spray-pipe controlled b y a m a n riding on the wagon. T he late Sir H e rb ert Jek y ll succeeded, in 1901, H r. F. J. S. H opw ood as A s s is ta n t S e c re ta ry , R a ilw a y D e p a r t ment. a t the B o a rd of T ra d e , a n d w h e n th e L o n d o n TrafficBranch was form ed in 1907 he w as m ade its chief and remained th ere u n til he retired , on reaching th e age limit, a t the end of 1911. Speaking of a m an w ho was killed in w alking hom e through some sidings instead of by a quite convenient public road, H r. J . L . M. M oore said in a recen t re p o rt : *' It is alm ost in cre d ib le t h a t m e n sh o u ld ta k e su c h risks, but this regrettable occurrence brings to light th e fact th a t some have done so in th e p a st in spite of w arnings an d rules to the c o n trary ." F ollowing our note of A ugust 5th, w e can now announce th a t after negotiations lasting tw elve years, four trunk-line railw ay system s in th e eastern part- of the United S tates have been m erged into one system valued a t S,000,000,000 d o lla rs (1.600,000,000 a t p a r). The railways are : The N ew Y ork C entral, th e P ennsyl vania, the B altim ore a n d Ohio, a n d th e Chesapeake and Ohio. A LETTER in The Tim es of O ctober 6 th suggests th a t railways could find a source of econom y in om ittin g the lettering " R ailw ay " from th eir carriages, e.g., " Southern," instead of " Southern R ailw ay." We m ay point o u t in th is connection, that, S ection 121 of th e R ailw ay Clauses A c t, 1845, re q u ire s th e o w n e r's n a m e to be painted in legible ch aracters on som e conspicuous part of the outside of every such carriage so as to be alw ays open to view ." A mobile fleet of th irty " w arehouses on w heels," for providing em ergency or tem p o rary w arehouse accom modation a t outlying stations, where there is no warehouse or where th e existing accom m odation is fully occupied, has been introduced b y th e L.M .S. R ailw ay in several important areas, including N orth W ales, Leicester, Bristol, N ortham pton, an d'S toke-on-T rent. T hese m obile warehouses are converted parcels brake vans or passenger vehicles, and are placed in w ayside goods y a rd s w ith a -railway siding adjacent, so th a t freight can be unloaded direct from the wagons. T he census of railw ay servants as on M arch 12th last, shows th at there were 597,971 em ployed as eom pared with 615,592 in M arch, 1931, a decrease of 17,021. The L.M. a n d S. h a d , ro u g h ly , 7000 less, th e L. a n d N .E . 6000, the G reat W estern 4000 and th e Southern 300. On all the railw ays th ere were 1330 few er drivers and 1342 less firemen, but as a n increase of 1099 is recorded in engine cleaners ii \\ m ild seem t lmt m any di k ers nuw ra n k as firemen and firem en a- p u t h a rk In the cleaners' giade. T here are, it is said , 140 m illion people in th e world who listen m to wireless transm ission. The value of w ire less sets in com m ission is p u t a t 200.000,000 and th e cost of broadcasting a t 30,000,000 a year. JTh e steelw ork of th e new bixty-nine-storey Rockfeller building in New Y ork was finished on Septem ber 26th. The first foundation grillages were placed on F ebruary Stli. T he building covers a plot 53oft. by 200ft.. and con tains 58.500 tons of steel. A r e c ip e for th e rem oval of greasy or d irty finger m arks from draw ings is given as follows in th e Engineering Xeu-s-Becord :-- P lace sh e e ts of b lo ttin g p a p e r o v e r a n d under the stained portion. L ay powdered magnesia on the stain and under it, then press the blotting paper w ith a h o t iron. W h en th e p o w d e r is shaken off th e stain will be gone. T o blacken brass for tem plet w ork, it should, according to C. R . W hitehouse. of B oston, M ass., first be thoroughly cleaned an d th en h eated slow ly over a charcoal fire. Care should be tak en not to allow the brass to touch the charcoal or to allow an y sparks from th e charcoal to come in contact w ith it, as this will cause red spots. As soon as the brass has a slightly red hue, dip it into nitric acid and reheat it u n til it is ju s t sh o rt of being red. R u b it strongly w ith a stiff bristle brush and clean w ith a greasy cloth. This gives a dead black finish, perm anent enough for any lay-out work. I t would appear from a note in th e Journal of Com merce th a t /a considerable ad v an ce in th e technique of soldering alum inium has been achieved b y Mr. E . Jones, of th e D epartm ent of M echanical Engineering at the U niversity of Liverpool. H e uses a sharp-edged bit m ade of steel, w hich is surrounded by a B unsen flame. T he b it is used to scrape off th e oxide film w hich n a tu ra lly form s on th e surface of th e alum inium , a n d p lain tin is applied to th e surface of th e m etal w ith in th e flam e. I t is said th a t th e tinning of th e alum inium is quite effective and obviously provides a basis for a soldered joint. W orking in co-operation w ith refinery engineers of the U.S. B ureau of M ines, O. H . Schoenw ald a n d G. M. Ford have developed a m ethod of rem oving hydrogen sulph from n a tu ra l gas, based on reaction w ith lime. T reatm ent of th e gas to rem ove th e hydrogen sulphide w as arc plished b y scru b b in g th e gas w ith a so lu tio n of sodji chloride and calcium hydroxide. T he salt solution appre ciably increases th e solubility of lim e in w ater up t q a certain percentage, an d th u s a sm aller volum e is requiredto remove a given am ount of hydrogen sulphide. The treatin g p lan t consisted essentially of a scrubbing device for contacting th e gas w ith th e solution a n d a senes of tanks fur m aking up or settling th e treatin g solution. P avem ents an d law ns are no longer to rn lip in B altim ore when the gas com pany finds it necessary to change the pijx-s e n te r in g th e p re m ise s of i onsu n ie rs. I n s t e a d ot digging up the old ser\ ice pipes lor their e n tn c length. I t is proposed to co n stru ct a bridge across th e K rishna R iver a t K arad, in M adras. A shipbr eaking y ard is being organised on the pre mises of R ichardson, D u ck a n d Co., at T hornaby-on-T ees. Since th e beginning of 1932 th irty -o n e new m anu facturing firms have sta rte d business in G reater V ancouver. A w h a l e oil refinery is to be p u t u p a t C hurchill. M anitoba, by one of the largest soap m akers of the w orld. T h e new m ining a n d technical college, erected a t a cost of 110,000, tow ards w hich a g ran t of 15,000 was m ade from the M iners' W elfare Ftm d, w as opened a t Barnsleyon O ctober 10th. A n e w ty p e of th e th re e -m o to r E o k k e r m o n o p lan e is being p ro d u c e d to e n ab le th e .R o y a l D u tc h A ir L ine t o flyin five days from H olland to th e D u tc h E a s t Indies w ith m ails and passengers. T he Canadian G overnm ent proposes to construct a chain of a irw ay lan d in g fields from coast to coast via H alifax, M ontreal, O ttaw a, T oronto, W innipeg. L eth bridge, and V ancouver. ' T h e new bridge w hich is being built across th e D anube n e a r B elgrade j s 4900ft. long a n d a b o u t 4 0 ft. w ide. I t is to carry tw o railw ay tracks and tw o roadw ays and includes seven spans of 530ft. each. - It is proposed by th e Soviet G overnm ent to con stru ct a series of power stations on th e rivers V ytegra, M eta, an d Lovet, in the Valdai district. The largest w ould be one a t D am yansk, of 250,000 kW . . T h e first p o tash concentration factory- in th e U .S .S .R . is being sta rte d in Solikam sk th is m on th . T he facto ry is equipped w ith th e m ost m odern apparatus. Its capacity is 300,000 tons of p o tash fertiliser a year. I t is p ro p o se d by- th e B ritis h C a d a s tra l a n d T o p o g ra p h ic Air Survey Com pany, L td ., of London, to organise in V ancouver a plan t for the production of accurate m aps. I t is said th a t som e 300,000 dollars w ill be ex p en d ed on th e cheme. A m em orandum on " T he In d u strial D iseases of Silicosis an d A sbestosis " h as been issued b y th e H om e Office (S tatio n ery Office, 3d. n e t). T he m em o ran d u m sta te s th a t " respirators can never be regarded as a su b stitu te for exhaust ventilation." Ow ing to the success attending th e previous com petitions, th e In stitu tio n of W elding E ngineers has decided to offer again the gold m edal of th e In stitu tio n an d a prize of 10 10s. for th e b est p a p er b y a w o rk in g weldor on " Im provem ents in W elding P ra c tic e ." W ork lias been started on th e further developm ent of the Pykara hydro-electric scheme in M adras in connection with a dam across the river near Mukurti, w ith the object of i n c r e a s i n g t h e s t o r a g e cap ac ity -. 8 o t a r t h e wro r k lias consisted prim iptilly ot s u r v e y in g a n d b o rin g , a n d th e