BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3133, 4 September 1922, Page 7

BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT.

One of the leading British railway companies has recently completed Jts first electric locomotive for main line traction. This locomotive is capable of hauling a full size train at a speed 1 of 65 miles per hour; and at its l recent trials it completely fulfilled the exacting specifications which had been placed' before its designers. All the electrical and other equipment for this locomotive was designed and manufactured in Great Britain. The same railway company has been conducting an interesting series of experiments with the object of improving services on certain branches of the line where the running of long trains is not justified by the volume of traffic. On such routes vehicles closely similar to the ordtinairy motor omnibus have been placed, the wheels being flanged as required for running on rails. After the results of the experiments have been ascertained the company will probably construct special! omnibus vehicles with a view to giving a frequent service on lines of low traffic density. In Great Britain the water tube boiler for both land and marine purposes has been brought to a high state of perfection, but still, in the hands of British inventors, improvements are continually registered. One of the latest novelties in this line is a boiler specially designed to overcome one of the incidental difficulties sometimes encountered with earlier types. The l lowest tubes in the boiler are those m immediate contact with the hottest flames, and therefore most liable to be burnt out if there is not a rapid flow of water through them. This burning out does not take place unless the boilers are being driven very hardI—as 1 —as they would be in the case l of a sudden demand for steam. In the new type the lowest rows of tubes are provided with a separate 1 supply of water in order to give the vigorous circulation required for safe working on emergency. Two types of boilers have been designed, one adapted 1 for cases where the water supply is very pure and 1 the other for installations! where eomparativeiTy hard 1 water is used. In the latter case the tubes are straight so that they may be very rapidly cleaned. In very few of even the most magnificent largo ships afloat to-day is the use of electricity carried to such a high degree as in the British-built Pittsburgh which recently made her maiden voyage from Great Britain to America. This vessel, which has accommodation for 600 first class and 1700 third class passengers, is equipped with a plete electric generating station capable of developing over on© thousand, horse power. The extent to which electricity is employed on board this vessel may be gauged from the fact that no fewer than eighty miles of distributing cable are used. Electricity works the steering gear, lowers the boats, operates the cargo winches, di'ives the lifts and hoists, starts the engines, controls the.' sounding machines, and works the printing presses. All the cooking on board is done electrically, the kitchen equipment including three large ranges, three circular roasters, a baker's oven, electricitydriven dough mixers, and many small labor saving appliances such as potato peelers, vegetable choppers, meat mincers, coffee grinders, and so on. All the ventilating and heating arrangements ar© electrically operated, and the clocks are driven by electricty and synchronised and controlled from the bridge.

If anyone were to suggest that there is any connection between radium and the measurement of the flow of rivers he would probably be scouted as a. dreamer. Nevertheless a British man of science has developed a very effective method of measuring the flow of rivers by means of la solution containing just a trace of radium. The method he proposes is a development from an existing system which involves the addition of larged quantities of salt solution to a river. What was done was to introduce a, certain quantity of salt at a particular point and to collect samples of the water at various parts lower down in the stream, thereafter testing the strength or "saltiness" of the solution. With the new method only a few gallons of solution containing a. little radium will be required. Tins solution will be fed into the river under constant pressure; and samples will be taken lower down the stream and conveyed to the laboratory and stored in ordinary flasks for TO or 12 days. The will then be tested by a simple electrical method for the presence of radium, and by means of this test the rate of discharge of the river can be accurately determined.

In the disposal of sewage it is necessary to use pumps of large capacity, and British engineers have developed a variety of forms of efficient pumps lor this purpose. At a large sewag© pumping station near London, England, almost every successful type of pump will be. found at work. The earliest ones installed were double-ram force pumps driven by horizontal steam engines; and it is a characteristic tribute to the soundness of British engineering that although these pumps have been steadily at work for over thirty years they'are still remarkably efficient. They are capable of dealing with,4,000,000 gallons in 24 hours: and they were followed by a vertical pump able to cope with 15,000,000 gallons. Next came two centrifugal pumps of 10,000,000 gallons capacity, driven by two gas engines. The latest additions are electrically driven pumps to raise between three and five million gallons per day. Both the gas and the electricity are obtained from outside sources and the pumps they drive are used mainly at times of light load in order to obviate the necessity of keeping a large staff at the pumping station.

Vigorous efforts have been made during the last few years in Great Britain to establish various forms of glass production which were previously for one reason or another carried out abroad. The latest of these new velopments is the completion of a large factory chiefly for the purpose of making glassware used in chemical and other laboratories. The highest scientific assistance has been engaged on this enterprise, one of the collaborators being one of the chief founders of the British Society of Glass Technology, which was established in Great Britain for the purpose of stimulating scientific research in the manufacture of <;lass. Remarkably successful results have already been reached by this Society. It will be remembered that during the war a very extensive use was made in British factories of the electric furnace for the production of special steels and other alloys. The development of .this field has since been continued, and demonstrations were given recently of a remarkably successful electric furnace for the melting of brass and other alloys not containing' iron. The furnace takes the shape of a barrel and isJieated by means of an electric arc. when the metallic contents are melted the barrel is rotated in order to mix the alloy thoroughly. It is claimed for this furnace that it produces alloys much more heaply than is possible on any previous system.