EDITORIAL COMMENT.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 3, 2 January 1911, Page 497

EDITORIAL COMMENT.

THE YEAR 1910.

Of the engineering work of the year 1910 the flyers supplied the most striking and the least useful. Their feats with the aeroplane were the double crossing of the Channel, the Alps crossing, and the London to Manchester flight, and the attainment of a height of 11,474 feet, and many meetings at different places. They supplied a large death roll, the conspicuous names being Rolls, Chavez, Delagrange, and Grace. The dirigible, on its side, made little headway, the two decisive events of the year being the destruction of another Zeppelin, and the disastrous failure of Wellman to cross the Atlantic. In the motor world there have been no new inventions of types, but many in the region of detail, making the work o motoring cheaper and more efficient. The British experts were startled during the year at the fact that the American production reached something like 200,000 cars, and consoled by the announcement that, big as the production is that side of the Atlantic, the demand on the same is even greater, The uuympic Show eclipsed anything experienced in motor history, with its exhibits aggregating a value of not far off a million, and its evidence of consistent advancement in details of engine, gears, body designs, and the rest. Naval affairs have seen the launch of the

“Lion,” of 26,000 tons, 70,000 h.p., and its bow and stern fire of eight 13.5 guns—the most powerful battleship in the world, assuring British supremacy of achievement for the present at all events. The mercantile marine saw the launch of the “Olympic” and the “Titanic,” with their 900 feet of length, their 60,000 tons, and their 50,000 horse-power. The year closed with some mysterious predictions about a coming battleship in some British yard revolutionising the art of marine construction by the use of internal combustion engines. Halley’s comet came and went, was much observed, amused greatly, and taught nothing. Applied chemistry made some important advances in sewage and in smoke prevention. The North Pole honours divided between two last year went definitely to Peary, Cook having disappeared in silence after his expulsion from the Explorers’ Club of America, in conseqnon e of the exposure of his Mount McKinley frauds. As the year closes Cook reappears, with a promise to make good. Gas heating has come to a high pitch of promise during the year as one of the most effective methods of conversion of energy, the first turbine has been applied to a locomotive, of a type of steam and electricity combined, from which great things are expected in the traction electrification of railroads, an exhaust steam turbine has been invented with the best results. The Simon Dredger has revolutionised the work of harbour construction and canal making, with its capacity of 2700 tons per hour. And there is the “Leviathan” Dredge for sand or silt alone which has a capacity of over 5000 tons. This is a new marvel. Some immense dams have been built; in Arizona for irrigation purposes, and in the Catskill mountains for the supply of New York City. The Panama canal has arrived within measureable distance of completion. The engineers declare that the work will be opened on the Ist of January, 1915. It looks as if they were right, as there is finished now two-thirds of the excavation, half the Gatun Dam, and 40 per cent, of the Atlantic locks and 20 per cent, of the Pacific. Of these locks we gave some illustrations last month. The Martian canals have come into prominence once more, through the further observations of Professor Lowell, who now affirms the discovery of new canals of 1000 miles long and 30 wide, being belts of cultivation, the water taken from the Poles by powerful machinery, returning in

the ordinary way by aeration. The world is in two camps on the subject. Locally the Dominion has been very active in the world of progress. The Government has followed the Waihi Company’s inauguration of the Horohoro scheme within its own large scheme, comprehending nine branches; Moturoa oil has come to the front in various ways, wireless has reached some of our ships, and a contract is in the air for the installations for the new Pacific scheme of wireless. A remarkable gas producer, the invention of Mr. Cambridge, has been installed at the foundry of Messrs, Booth and Macdonald, of Christchurch, which will be heard of to much advantage over a wide area presently, for the simple reason that it keeps steam up to eight horse-power for eight hours with lOOlbs. of lignite. It is one of the most suggestive achievements of the year. The completion of the Grafton Bridge (Auckland) gives the Dominion the biggest reinforced concrete bridge in the world, with its span of 300 feet. Trusting that the record may be better next year, we wish our readers in the timehonoured fashion

A HAPPY NEW YEAR.