SIR ALEX. R. BINNIE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 71

SIR ALEX. R. BINNIE.

— A Romance of Engineering. — ■

Any London street arab may now strut tinder the Thames with his thumbs in his armpits ass though he were a very Jules

Verne. Yet it is not so long ago since the idea of making a Thauiesvtunnel of the size of that at Blackwall was scouted. The success of this great engineering feat is largely due to Sir Alexander R. Binnie, formerly chief engineer to the London County Council. 1 The making' of this tunnel is one of the romances of engineering, and the fact that j it was accompanied without any accident or failure of any kind shows how skilled j was the brain which devised the whole thing on paper before a single navvy put spade to the earth. The preparation of •the plans and specifications for the tunnel ' occupied about six months, but its con1 struction took six years. ! At first Sir Alexander was told that the thing was impossible. One of the oldest members of the engineering profession, a gentleman of great experience, warned him against undertaking the task, and impressed upon him the fact that failure would mean the loss of all professional reputation. Even the late Mr Gieathead warned him not to be sanguine. He and others, while thinking that the large tunnel was not impossible, thought that ! the cost would be excessive. However, the bill for its construction passed the House of Lords, and the work commenced. j The Blaekwall tunnel is perhaps the greatest enteiprise in which Sir Alexander has been concerned, and for his part in the work he was knighted. It is the largest tunnel of its kind, and is a most wonder- | ful piece of engineering. It is, therefore, ] only due to Sir Alexander that the diffi-" culties which had to be overcome should be stated in any account of his life. The determining factors in constructing the Blackwall tunnel were these. Its bottom was not to be more than 89ft below ' high-water mark, because it was important ■ that there should not be an air pressure of more than 351b per square inch. Secondly, it was also important that tbe roof of the tunnel hhould not be within sft of the bottom of* the river. Bearing these points in mind, Sir Alexander recommended that the outside diameter of the tunnel should be 27ft. This had to be cut through a soil full of water, and very porous. Special means had to be taken to keep the water out of the tunnel, and to retain the compressed air used for the purpose. Clay was therefore deposited on the bed of the river for a width of 150 ft from I 10ft to 15ft in depth immediately over the part of the tunnel under construeI tion. There was just the chance that Father Thames would take a look in to j s^ee what was being done, and who "was 1 making Ivs bed, which had been used for so long without remaking. He made several attempts. But for the clay put down he would have been successful, for sometimes it was quite evident that the old river-bed was entirely gone, and that i only the deposited clay and the comi pressed air kept out the giant. [ One time, however, he was allowed to j look in, for the air pressure was so great i that it blew the bottom of the river up, ! and so he got his chance. On another occasion the surface water rose to a height of 25ft over a diameter of 50ft. To keep the sides up whei? it was excavated, a great shield was used. This was a huge tube of the diameter of the tunnel. Its front edge was very sharp, and as it pushed its way it excavated 'the i tunnel wit"h the assistance of the man who j worked in the cells at the face of the i soil. The sides were then covered with ' great iron plates. Fourteen sections, •' each section weighing a ton, made one j ring, about 17,000 sections being used. I These were covered with tiles, of which ] ,000.000, were required, together with 7.000,000 bricks. Sir Alexander, as engineer to the London County Council, had to see that the work was done according to specification, and that all the items of the contract were duly observed. To this end he was represented by two resident engineers at the works, and each gang of workmen was

supervised by an inspector. An inspector was even sent to Glasgow to watch the casting of the ironwork. In fact, every .piece of material used was tested, not only when it was being made, but again when delivered in the tunnel. The satisfactory conclusion of such a task deserved all the complimentary things which King Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) said of Sir Alexander when he oj)ened the tunnel. Sir Alexander Binnie was born in London in 1839, but his parents were Scots. Curiously enough, when he left school, in 1858, he was sent to the office of the late Mi* Flanagan, which was within a,

stone's throw of the present County Council office. He had not been educated particularly for an engineer, but he always had a taste for natural science. Mr Flanagan died before young Binnie had completed his apprenticeship, so he went to Mr J. F. La T. Bateman, F.R.S r ., the engineer of the Manchestei and Glasgow Waterworks, and other great municipal undertakings, with many of which the young apprentice was associated. From 1862 to 1864 Mi- Binnie was engaged in the construction of the Mid-Wales arid Neath and Brecon Railways. Then he practised in London on his own account till the Overend and Gurney financial panic came, and paralysed all engineering enterprise. So Mr Binnie decided to pack off to India. He left England in 1868, and entered the service of the Indian Government, beingelected out of many candidates as an executive engineer of the Indian Public Woiks Department. j?his gave him a very varied experience, for he designed roads, bridges, public buildings, and sanitary and water works. He had to do with the making of the Nagpur water supply, and the construction of a State railway. He did geological work, and even discovered a coal mine. These six years in India Sir Alexander regards as the most useful in his expeiience. Young men in liidieij he soys,

are soon thrown into positions of importance to which they would not be appointed in England until they were older.

The work was not so specialised there. One man had to combine offices. In making the Nagpur Waterworks, Mr Binnie was surveyor, builder, and clerk of the works. He was brought into contact with every part of the undertaking, which, he says, is an excellent training for a public officer.

111-health compelled him to return to England in 1873, and in 1875 he was appointed engineer to the Bradford Corporation. He occupied this post for 14 years, when he became chief engineer to the London County Council. When at Bradford he carried out many important enterprises, the chief, perhaps, being that of the water supply — a scheme which cost one and a-quarter million. One of the reservoirs he built has the highest embankment in the country. When Mr Binnie left Bradford, the Mayor declared that he was a man of untiring energy, pleasant in his intercourse, of high principle, and singularly happy in his manner. Everyone who knows him knows that these things are true.

The tendency of an official position is to obscure a man's work, and yet Mr Binnie's work has been of the greatest service to London. When he came to the L.C.C. the Thames was in a shocking condition ; now it is comparatively pure. The main drainage works, under Mr Binnie's management, cost seven and threequarter millions to build, and £200,000 to maintain. Fully 190 million tons of sewage are dealt with every day: Another of Sir Alexander's contributions to London's welfare was the handsome "archway" to replace the struclme known to all Cockneys as " 'Ighgate Archway." There was hardly room for two traps to pass each other under the old archway. The d-esign adopted consists of a singlespan bridge of much lightness and beauty. It co«t £25.126 19s 7d, and took two and a-half years to complete. Great care was necessary, for at one end of the bridge was the New River Company's reservoir. Sir Alexander has a great belief in his profession. ' I know of no profession," he says, "the study of which is more noble and elevating, or which conduces so much to the progress, happiness, and advancement of mankind. On the one hand, we are brought face to face with Nature, often in some of her most difficult and littleunderstood aspects ; and the study which these require both elevates and improves the mind. On the other hand, we have the satisfaction of feeling that our work is for the benefit of mankind, and perhaps it may be for the advantage of thousands still unborn."

"An engineer's life," he declares, "'is one series of examinations'. Ohief of all. there is the examination of Nature, who kikes no excuse for a,ny neglect of her precepts. Consequently constant study is required, so that all our work may be true and good, or else failure is slire to be followed by disgrace. Success in engineering is due not to big incidents, but to a continuous battle with small details, and to anticipating diificulties before they arise." — Leeds llercurv.