1887 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Visits to Works
Note: This is a sub-section of 1887 Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Visits to Works (Excursions) to the Edinburgh and Dundee areas
George and William Bertram
ST. KATHERINE'S PAPER MACHINERY WORKS
George and William Bertram
These works, established in 1821 by Messrs. George and William Bertram for the manufacture of paper-making machinery, cover nearly two acres of ground, and comprise large turning and fitting shops, equipped with lathes, planing machines, drills, slot-drills, large wall planer, special machines for polishing and boring chilled rollers for glazing paper, overhead travelling cranes, &c. There are commodious pattern shops and stores, smithy with steam hammers, brass foundry, and a shop with special machinery of a very fins description for the manufacture of brass strainer-plates for straining paper-pulp. In addition to paper-making machinery, large steam engines are also constructed here.
Thomas Nelson and Sons
PARKSIDE PRINTING WORKS
Thomas Nelson and Sons
These works, belonging to Messr. Thomas Nelson and Sons, have been laid out with all the latest improvements, and cover an area of four acres, exclusive of six acres of recreation ground. The buildings are only one storey high throughout, and no drainage is allowed under the floors.
The first room entered is the composing room; and next is the foundry, where for all classes of work a matrix in wax is obtained from the type or block set up in the composing room, papier mache not being suitable for producing tints. Bees-wax mixed with black lead is run at a low temperature into a flat iron dish; and when the wax has set, the set up typo or block is pressed upon it. The surface so obtained is next brightened with black lead and suspended in a bath of sulphate of copper, from which the copper is rapidly deposited on the matrix by means of a Weston dynamo-electric machine driven by an Otto gas engine. The resulting copper shells are backed with type metal, and set up to the proper height with wood blocks.
The next rooms are those for the artists and the colour printing. The machines in use for colour printing include three Reliance Wharfedales for block printing, and six litho machines, of which four were constructed by Messrs. Newsum Wood and Dyson, one by Messrs. George Mann and Co., and one by Messrs. Faber and Schleigher. The machine rooms for letter-press printing contain thirty machines, ten by Messrs. Marinoni, twelve by Messrs. Fieldhouse Elliot and Co., and others by Messrs. Dawson and Harrild. The double-cylinder machines have since been fitted by Messrs. Nelson and Sons with a series of rollers of special composition, which pass over the printing surfaces of the cylinders and effectually prevent set-off.
This room also contains a model of a web-printing machine designed by Mr. Thomas Nelson and exhibited in the London Exhibition in 1851, showing the essential principle of the web printer on which all largo newspapers are now printed, namely printing on an endless web of paper from stereotyped plates buckled upon the rotating cylinder, and cutting the paper into appropriate lengths with a knife. The paper is supplied to the machine room direct from the warehouse, and is clamped by an oscillating spray-rake, which swings over the sheet and distributes a copious shower of water. The sheets are then passed to a hydraulic press, and are afterwards slightly calendered by Helms German calenders. After being printed, the sheets are dried by passing over a series of steam- heated cylinders, and are finally subjected to hydraulic pressure. After being cut by an American Diamond self-cutting machine, the sheets pass on, through a series of stock rooms, to the folding room, where they are folded by hand or by means of Swiss and American folding machines.
This room also contains machines for sewing on cord or tape and for stitching with thread or wire, and French card-cutting machines, &e. Finally in the binding shop the covers are made by hand labour; but the stamping and finishing are performed by machinery. The whole of the machinery is driven by three Otto gas engines, of 10 to 16 I.H.P.
W. and A. K. Johnston
EDINA MAP PRINTING WORKS
W. and A. K. Johnston
This business, the property of Messrs. W. and A. K. Johnston, was established in 1825. The site of the works covers an area of 1.6 acre. The building is 320 feet long by 66 feet wide, having a southern wing 45 feet long; the floors and roofs are concrete. It is two storeys high, with a flat roof, on which other storeys can be erected. It is heated entirely by exhaust steam. The chief productions of the works are atlases and maps, which are constructed, drawn, engraved, printed, coloured, and bound or mounted.
In the lithographic department the stones are ground and polished, ready for being drawn on or for receiving transfers from engraved plates. Many machines are constantly employed for printing maps in colours, in some cases as many as ten or twelve printings being required to produce one map. Several machines are constantly occupied in bank, commercial, and book work.
Adjoining the engine room is the joiners' shop, in a section of which are manufactured globes. The other departments include the photographic room for reducing or enlarging work to be engraved or lithographed, the stock and packing rooms, the varnishing room, the mounting and binding rooms, etc.
Edinburgh Northern Cable Tramway
EDINBURGH NORTHERN CABLE TRAMWAY
Edinburgh Northern Cable Tramway
This is the first cable tramway introduced into Scotland. It consists of three miles of track commencing at the junction of Princes Street and Hanover Street, from which point it proceeds northwards along Dundas Street, Pitt Street, Brandon Street, and Inverleith Row, terminating at the junction of the last with Ferry Road. In passing into and out of Brandon Street there are two rather severe curves, one of which is round a corner of less than 90° and is 80 feet radius.
The depot is in Henderson Row, leading out of Pitt Street. In this building is placed the driving machinery, which consists of two 20-inch cylinder engines with automatic cut-off valve- gear. All the machinery is in duplicate, as it is intended to work from the same depot a tramway from Princes Street through Frederic Street to Comely Bank in Stockbridge.
The general principle upon which this tramway is constructed is similar to that of all the cable tramways that have been so successfully worked throughout the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, and during the past three years at Highgate Hill, London. The details however differ very materially from those of other lines, several entirely new features being introduced to simplify the system, and to meet the more rigid requirements of British local authorities.
The line has been constructed for the Cable Tramways Corporation of London by Messrs. Dick Kerr and Co., from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr. W. N. Culam.
Edinburgh Gas Works
EDINBURGH GAS WORKS
Edinburgh Gas Works
These works occupy the site of the original works constructed in 1817 from plans by Mr. John Grafton, a pupil of Mr. William Murdock, of which however nothing remains but a fragment of a wall. The site has been gradually enlarged by the acquisition of neighbouring properties. Since 1880 the whole purifying plant has been reconstructed, and large additions have been made to the retort house, and to the condensing, exhausting, and washing apparatus, from the designs of the engineer, Mr. Robert Mitchell.
The gasholders, with the exception of one small holder, are at a distance from the gas manufactory. The newest tank and gasholder were also designed by Mr. Mitchell, the former being constructed by Messrs. John Aird and Sons, and the latter by Messrs. C. and W. Walker. With the exception of a portion of the retort house and of the condensers, the present works are comparatively new. Upwards of five million cubic feet of 28-candle gas have been supplied in twenty-four hours. No material change has yet been made in the heating arrangements; but several regenerative furnaces are now at work.
Carron Co
CARRON IRON WORKS
Carron Co
The Carron Iron Works were founded by Dr. Roebuck of Sheffield in 1759, and the company was incorporated by royal charter in 1773. The works are situated on the banks of the river Carron, in Stirlingshire, about a mile from the Larbert Station of the Caledonian Railway, and the same distance from the Grahamstown Station of the North British Railway, and are connected with both systems and with the Forth and Clyde Canal by a branch railway; there is also a canal connecting with the port of Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth.
The coalfields, which have a total area of about 3,500 acres, are in the vicinity of the works. The several seams belong to the lower portion of the upper series of coal measures. With the exception of the Main coal, all the seams differ very much in thickness in various parts of the field. The Craw coal, which is of excellent quality as a house coal, is chiefly used in the steamers belonging to the company. The Main and Coxrod seams are worked wholly for blast-furnace purposes, for which they are well suited. The ironstone supplies are drawn entirely from the Cadder estate, near Glasgow, having an area of about 5 miles in length by 1.5 mile in breadth. There are six mineral scams, lying immediately below the carboniferous limestone, and locally known as the Possil strata. The most important seams arc the blackband and clayband ironstones, which are worked on an extensive scale. The ore chiefly used in the blast-furnaces is blackband, with a slight admixture of clayband and haematite; the pig-iron produced is so soft that thin castings made from it can be punched and sheared.
The Carron Works, which occupy a space of 28 acres within the walls, are on two different levels. On the higher level arc the blast-furnaces, heavy foundry, and stove-brick works; the lower level is occupied by the light foundry, together with the various fitting-shops, offices, &c. In Plate 85 is shown a general plan of the works.
The Blast-Furnaces F are four in number, about 50 feet in height by 14 feet diameter at the bogies, each supported on eight cast-iron columns and enclosed in plate-iron casings. Two of the furnaces have closed tops, and are fitted with Cowper's regenerative hot-blast stoves It, one to each furnace. Each stove is 54 feet high to the springing of the dome, and 24 feet diameter; these were the first regenerative fire-brick stoves erected in Scotland. The two furnaces with the regenerative stoves have each a weekly output of 220 tons, as against 180 tons from the two oven-topped furnaces worked with pipe-stoves P. The blast is heated to a temperature of from 1,400° to 1,500° Fahr.
As the furnaces work on raw coal, the large surplus of gas in excess of that required for heating the blast and raising steam for the blowing-engines is being utilised as fuel in other departments; and ultimately no raw coal will be used in the works except that put into the blast-furnaces. With this object it is proposed shortly to blow in another furnace; but before doing so certain improvements aro being carried out, which it is hoped will still further reduce the cost of production, in addition to yielding a full supply of gas for all the departments of the works. These consist principally in increasing the total height of the furnaces to 68 feet, so as to give a working height of about 60 feet, which is the greatest height that a column of raw coal can stand without crushing; and also closing the top, and fitting an additional regenerative hot-blast stove and dust-catcher.
At present, as gas is being collected from two furnaces only, the supply has to be supplemented from special gas-producers, consisting of plain plate-iron cylinders, charged by means of a bell and hopper, and provided with suitable tuyeres, into which air is forced by the blowing-engines at such a pressure as to balance that of the gases given off by the blast-furnaces. An independent supply of gas is thus available for the other departments of the works, in ease the furnaces should be damped down at any time.
A gantry G is to be provided for storing minerals on the furnace bank. Wagons can neither be run direct on to the top of the gantry, nor even in a line parallel to it, but are delivered below at right angles, and raised at the western end by a hydraulic hoist H, which works in spiral guides making about a quarter torn during the ascent, so as to deliver the loaded wagon upon one or other of two roads running along the length of the gantry. Along these they are hauled by a hydraulic capstan, and descend empty at the eastern end by a spiral drop D similar to the hoist. On reaching the ground they run by gravity into sidings.
There are two vertical blowing-engines E wills blowing cylinders 78 inches diameter by 48 inches stroke; and one beam-engine E with blowing-cylinder 102 inches diameter by 120 inches stroke. Steam is supplied from eleven double-flued Lancashire boilers B. Near the beam-engine are the pumping-engines for raising water for the blast- furnace tuyeres, &c.; and the hydraulic engines A, accumulators, &c., for supplying hydraulic power throughout the works.
The Heavy Foundry is one of the most modern of the structures of the old works, and is being worked in with the new in order chiefly to preserve it as a memorial of the past. Here many of the old "carronades" were cast; but latterly the work done has consisted chiefly of sugar pans, dyers' pans, stills, &c. When remodelled and completed, the building will be 154 feet long by 80 feet wide, and will be fitted with two overhead travellers capable of lifting from 25 to 30 tons, while the whole floor-space is commanded by light hydraulic cranes fixed either to the walls, or to the line of pillars running down the centre of the building.
For the better class of castings reverberatory gas-furnaces will be used, but for ordinary purposes the iron will be melted in cupolas. Two of these cupolas are erected at present, and space has been provided for two more. They consist of wrought-iron shells lined with fire-brick, with an internal diameter of 4 feet throughout. The tuyeres, connected outside with an air-belt, are rectangular, each 6 inches high by 1 inch wide; and are so arranged that the direction of the blast is not towards the centre, but tangential to a circle of 12 inches diameter. On the top aro a number of baffle-plates for catching the dust and preventing it from lodging on the roofs of the buildings. Similar cupolas arc in use in the Light Foundry, where they have proved very successful. Each is capable of melting from 12 to 15 tons per hour, according to requirements. They are worked with a blast pressure of 2 lbs. per square inch, and the consumption of Scotch coke (Gartshore) is under 200 lbs. per ton of iron melted. There are two large moulding pits, one 30 feet diameter and 18 feet deep; the other elliptical, 50 feet by 30 feet, and 12 feet deep. As they are only 33 feet above mean sea-level, special precautions have to be taken to guard against water. An 18-inch tramway is being laid down, to be worked by locomotives. When complete, the foundry will be partially supplied with molten iron direct from the blast-furnaces.
The Stove-Brick Works are adjacent to the Heavy Foundry, and are specially designed for the manufacture of bricks required for the stoves, ranges, and register grates produced in the Light Foundry. Fire-clay of the finest quality is procured from the colliery adjoining, and is suitable for making the best fire-bricks, especially those used for the combustion chambers of regenerative hot-blast stoves, reverberatory furnaces, &c. The three kilns are small, as the demand for stove bricks is limited; they are not regenerative, but whenever they require to be rebuilt they will be made so. The only fuel used is blast-furnace gas. The drying shed has a floor-space of JO feet by 66 feet, with a series of flues underneath, through which the waste products from the kilns circulate. There is an overhead tramway for distributing the ground clay to the several moulding tables.
The Light Foundry occupies the whole of the low-level area of the works. The goods here manufactured consist of ships' and steamers' cooking apparatus and ship fittings, stable and cattle- house fittings, cooking ranges and stoves, register stoves, rain-water and sanitary goods, smithy and general workshop fittings, garden furnishings, cart bushes, and pots and pans.
The peculiarly soft quality of the Carron iron enables it to be run into the finest moulds, and renders it specially suitable for castings in which lightness and strength and finish are required. The foundry forms a quadrangle round an open space, in which are the loading platforms L for the despatch of goods by rail, and a commodious basin for despatch by canal. The moulding shops have an area of 10,044 square yards, with ample provision for future extension; and are laid with tramways throughout, on which in many cases the molten metal, even for the finest castings, is conveyed to a distance of 200 yards before pouring. The blast-furnace gas is utilised for drying ladles, heating core-stoves, sand-kilns, &c., lighting up cupolas, and for almost every purpose for which coal is usually required in a foundry. The dressing shops are provided with the ordinary rumbling and emery- wheel appliances.
On the south side of the quadrangle are the Fitting shops C, with a floor area of 3,442 square yards. Here cooking apparatus of all kinds for sea and land, fittings for builders' use, or for stables and cattle houses, are put together. Every special piece of cooking apparatus is put to a practical test before being turned out. Adjoining the fitting shops is a grinding shop J containing fourteen stones, and the same number of sets of emery wheels, buffs, &e., arranged in two rows and driven from a central line of shafting. Over each line of machines is an overhead tramway for changing the stones when required. The shop is kept at a uniform temperature by the waste steam, which is also led into the grindstone troughs for tempering the water during cold weather. Another adjunct to the fitting shops is a sheet-iron workshop, and Berlin blacking shop K. For the best Berlin black work as many as four coats of enamel are required. The various articles are dried in kilns and stoves, and the several coats of enamel ground down with pumice stone, much in the same way as in coach painting. These kilns are fired during the night with blast-furnace gas, which is shut off during the day; but, owing to the mass of brickwork, a practically uniform temperature is maintained.
From 2,000 to 3,000 tons of castings are usually kept on hand in the extensive warehouses, which occupy a considerable part of the range of two-storey buildings forming the eastern boundary of the works. The central portion of the upper flat is taken up by the general offices, in which is conducted the whole of the business, comprising besides the ironworks the management of large hematite ore mines in Cumberland, and of other estates, and the independent business of public carriers.
Youngs Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Co
YOUNG'S PARAFFIN LIGHT AND MINERAL OIL WORKS
Youngs Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Co
These works are situated less than halfway from Edinburgh to Glasgow, at Addiewell, Bathgate, and Uphall. At Addiewell is carried out the whole process of the manufacture of mineral oil ftom the shale containing it, until a pure clear oil is obtained and solid paraffin manufactured into candles. The retorts in use are the Henderson. The Pentland retort, in use at the Uphall works, is heated by gaseous fuel, admitting of the ammonia and tar contained in the coal being utilised as well as the heat; and it has a chamber at the top which partially purifies the crude oil, and thereby saves a subsequent distillation. The shale is first introduced into the iron top of the retort, where a gentle heat is applied for distilling certain of the products; and is afterwards dropped into the firebrick bottom chamber, where a high heat is applied and a large yield of ammonia liberated. The separation of the solid paraffin is aided by means of refrigerators worked with air, ether, or ammonia. The three works together turn out annually 6,500,000 gallons of burning oil, 800,000 gallons of naphtha, 10,000 tons of heavy oil, 6,500 tons of solid paraffin, and 3,000 tons of sulphate of ammonia; and they employ 3,000 people.
Broxburn Oil Co
BROXBURN OIL WORKS
Broxburn Oil Co
These works, established in 1878, cover 170 acres of ground, and are situated in the middle of their shale field of 4,000 acres. The raw material of their manufacture is bituminous shale, mined similarly to coal. The products are sulphate of ammonia; coke; naphtha; burning oils with specific gravities from 0.800 to 0.845 and flashing points from 100° Fahr. to 260° Fahr., Abel test; lubricating oils with specific gravities from 0.805 to 0.895; match paraffin; paraffin wax, refined and semi-refined; and paraffin candles. There are about 800 retorts, capable of distilling 1,000 tons of shale a day; and a refinery to refine all the oil and wax, about 10 million gallons of crude oil per annum. Over 1,600 men are employed at the works.
The shale on coming from the mines is dropped from the hutches or wagons into breaking machines; and after being broken is collected into a hopper below, whence it drops into the charging hutches. These are taken by endless rope to the top of the retort benches, and tipped direct into the retorts. The shale undergoes distillation in the retorts for sixteen hours, until it is exhausted of its oily and ammoniacal products. The spent shale is then allowed to drop from the retort while hot into the furnace beneath, where the carbonaceous matter still left serves as fuel for the next charge. The earthy residue left after horning is dropped into hutches beneath, and passed while red-hot into a pond and cooled; it there does further useful work in evaporating the dirty water of the works, and thus prevents river pollution. The hutches are then taken on by au endless chain, and the cooled residue is tipped on the waste heap.
The transference of material is throughout done by gravitation, without shovelling; and manual labour is thus reduced as far as possible. The special features of the retorts are the use of the spent shale as fuel, and the automatic regulation of the temperature; they thus require no skilled labour, and on account of the equable heat the crude oil is of a particularly good quality, giving the best finished products. The products of distillation after condensing are passed through separators, where the oil readily parts from the water, the oil floating on the top.
The ammonia water is passed through a column still, where it is converted into sulphate of ammonia; this kind of still is most efficient, and is very economical as to fuel. The crude oil is pumped to the refinery, where it is subjected to several distillations; these are continuous, and thereby a great saving is effected in plant, labour, and fuel, as well as the most thorough separation of the different products from one another. Between the distillations, the various oils are treated, in large stirring tanks of about 13,000 gallons capacity, with oil of vitriol and afterwards with caustic soda.
Both chemicals separate a black tar, which, after recovery of the chemicals from it, is used for firing the stills. The heavy oil containing paraffin, obtained at the end of the distillations, is first cooled by the atmosphere and afterwards by freezing machines to a very low temperature, and is passed through filter presses. The final cooling is carried out in an apparatus of special construction, in which the refrigeration is effected slowly, in order to make the scale crystalline and easily separated from the oil.
The oil is refilled for lubricating purposes; and the solid paraffin scale is pressed and refined for candles, the softer scale going for match paraffin. The candle works are capable of turning out about 16 tons a day; but owing to the smaller demand in summer the make is then reduced to about half that quantity. The large quantity of sulphuric acid required in the purification of the oil is made at the works, platinum stills being used for the concentration.
Burntisland Oil Works
BURNTISLAND OIL WORKS
Burntisland Oil Works
These works, standing prominently on the bill of Whinnyhall, on the south coast of Fife, were established in 1881. The extent of their shale fields is about 1,500 acres; and the chief characteristics of the shale are its richness in paraffin scales or wax, and its freedom from impurities. The process carried on is the distillation of shale, and the manufacture of sulphate of ammonia, paraffin scales, lubricating oils, and burning oils. The retorts, stills, and other appliances are of the newest and most improved kind, including the ammonia and ether refrigerator for cooling the paraffin scales. The works have lately been largely extended by the erection of a wax refinery and candle factory, with all the latest improvements; these are situated at a short distance from the oil works. Both works are connected by a branch line with the North British Railway at Kinghorn station; they give employment to about a thousand persons.
John Barry, Ostlere and Co
LINOLEUM AND FLOOR-CLOTH WORKS, KIRKCALDY
John Barry, Ostlere and Co
In these works, the property of Messrs. John Barry, Ostlers and Co., the first process in the manufacture of linoleum is the production of oxidised linseed oil, which forms the agglutinating material. The oxidation is effected in a tall building kept at a high temperature by strain pipes; within it are bung large sheets of a coarse cotton fabric, over the surface of which the oil is exposed; a thin stream of oil is made to flow at intervals over the surface of each sheet, and as this film hardens under the influence of the hot air, another coating is applied, and so on until in about twelve weeks each sheet is covered to a thickness of about inch. As soon as the oxidised oil becomes thick enough to show signs of falling off the sheets, it is peeled off and is passed through rollers, which break up and mix the various layers. It is then mixed with gums and ochres, and melted up in steam jacketed pans which are mounted on trunnions, so that when melted the contents can be readily poured into a large square mould. As soon as sufficiently set, the cake from the mould is divided into smaller portions, which are stacked ready for the next process.
The cork dust, which when mixed with the oxidised oil forms the basis of the linoleum, is obtained by grinding cork shavings between millstones, and sifting the powder so formed. The mixing of the cork dust and oxidised oil is effected in a pug mill, from which the stream issuing is cut into thin slices by a three-arm cutter revolving in front of the delivery opening. These slices are fed between heavy rollers, where each is rolled into a thin sheet in contact with a sheet of juts fabric which is to form the backing. The linoleum is produced in widths of 6 feet and 12 feet, and in thicknesses of from 1/8 inch to nearly 1/2 inch.
For printing the linoleum, a ground colour when required is first applied by rollers. The printing in oil colours is done partly by hand, the 12-ft. widths being at present printed by hand only; and partly by a large multiple-colour printing machine designed by the manager, Mr. Wright, which has two drums, each nearly 30 feet diameter and over 6 feet wide, placed side by side with a short interval between them, and each driven independently by a Willans high-speed engine.
The printing rollers, one to each colour, are mounted in a framing carried on a table, which traverses on a heavy bed parallel with the axis of the drums; the printing rollers are only 2 feet long, and thus print only one-third of the whole 6-ft. width of the piece of linoleum at each revolution of the drum. Each succeeding roller is adjusted at such a distance behind its predecessor that the colour it applies falls properly into its place in the pattern. The rollers are traversed laterally across the width of the piece when opposite the gap between the ends of the piece on the drum. One drum is being printed on whilst the other is being stripped. For hand printing, blocks are used about 2 feet square, which are made of wood with the brass printing surfaces mounted on them.
The linoleum is passed up through the floor, over a table in front of the printer, and down again through the floor. The portion exposed on the table is surrounded by a frame furnished with suitable stops, by means of which the positions of the printing blocks are accurately fixed. Behind the printer are two short parallel lines of rails, each furnished with simple means for transferring from one line to the other a series of inking tables, which carry the different printing colours used. Each colour is in turn applied to the linoleum, the whole width being printed across with one colour before the next colour is applied. The pressure is given by hand for light patterns, and for heavier patterns by a cam worked by a lever.
The linoleum is then transferred to the drying stores, which are warmed by steam pipes, and are of such a height that 75 feet of linoleum can hang from the overhead floor in a single loop, while leaving ample head-room below. The linoleum hangs from one to three months, and is shifted from one store to another by means of overhead railways. The edges of the linoleum are trimmed by hand on long cutting tables.
In the manufacture of floor-cloth, the foundation is a jute fabric woven 24 feet wide, which is stretched on vertical frames in a lofty building, and the oil colour laid on with trowels from suitable stages; three coats are plastered on one side and two on the other. Each coat is allowed to harden, and its surface is scraped, before the application of the next; one side of the cloth is finished before the other is begun. The printing, storing, and cutting are effected in the same way as in the manufacture of linoleum.
The works are supplied with steam by Babcock and Wilcox boilers fitted with Juckes mechanical grates. They employ nearly 500 hands.
Urquhart, Lindsay and Co
BLACKNESS FOUNDRY, DUNDEE
Urquhart, Lindsay and Co
These works were commenced in 1865 by the present firm, Messrs. Urquhart, Lindsay and Co., for the construction of machinery for weaving and finishing all heavy fabrics, such as linen and jute goods, canvas, &c., and of all the gearing and shafting necessary for such factories, and also for carrying on general engineering and ironfounding.
The main erecting shop is 167 feet by 74 feet, with a span-roofed shed annexed 84 feet by 38 feet, and beyond that a grinding-shop for stones and emery-wheels; the total floor area of these is 18,880 square feet, without any partition. Over the northern division and the western end of the erecting shop is a gallery, 32 feet wide, where light machines arc erected, and all the lighter turning and tooling are done. Over the grinding-shop are four fire-proof flats, where patterns are stored. The two centre divisions of the erecting shop are served by three travelling cranes, so constructed that all the motions — travelling, traversing, and hoisting or lowering—are controlled from the floor, without the necessity of a man going aloft. These centre divisions have a clear head space of 27 feet.
Over the two northern divisions a large flat for erecting small machines and for pattern-making is slung from strong roof tic-beams, so as not to interfere with the travelling cranes below. The floor space in this flat is 10,080 square feet, and that of the galleries is 6,384 square feet. The total floor area for tooling, pattern-making, and erecting is therefore 35,344 square feet.
The blacksmith's shop, which opens from the erecting shop, is provided with four steam-hammers, and has a floor space of 2,800 square feet. The moulding shop at its greatest length is 201 feet by 83 feet wide, and has a net floor-space of 14,450 square feet, exclusive of a recess of 2,300 square feet for the melting cupolas.
A tramway is laid throughout the whole works, and the wagons can pass under seven cranes, varying in capacity from 4 to 20 tons, thus rendering easy the transport of material.
Gourlay Brothers and Co
DUNDEE FOUNDRY, DUNDEE.
Gourlay Brothers and Co
These works, belonging to Messrs. Gourlay Brothers and Co., have been in existence for three or four generations, and have been added to from time to time so as to bring them up to the requirements of the present day for turning out the heaviest and best class of marine work both economically and rapidly. They arc fitted with the latest improvements in machinery and hydraulic appliances. Among the larger cranes is a 50-ton traveller over the erecting shop, and two 30-ton travellers over the moulding shop, which has been recently erected, and is capable of turning out the heaviest castings very rapidly; over the boiler shop there are two travellers of 15 tons and 30 tons; while in the boiler yard there is in course of erection a 30-ton steam derrick-crane for the hydraulic riveter and the handling of heavy plates. The works are driven by a tandem compound engine, and the power is communicated by rope and friction gear.
A special feature of interest is a very old beam-engine, which has only recently been laid aside, and is the one that was originally experimented on by Mr. Stirling, who converted it into a hot-air engine; it ran for some time so altered, but was eventually reconverted to steam. Of his celebrated engine built here in 1843 no relics now remain; it had a cylinder 16 inches diameter and 4 feet stroke, making 28 revolutions per minute, and giving 45 horse-power, and did all the work of the Dundee Foundry for upwards of three years, during which period no other motive power was employed. It was laid aside however at the end of that time, owing to the failure of the heating vessels, which could not stand the heat they were exposed to.
Gilroy, Sons and Co
TAY JUTE WORKS, DUNDEE.
Gilroy, Sons and Co
These extensive works, belonging to Messrs. Gilroy Sons and Co., are entirely employed in the manufacture of jute cloth, spinning, weaving, and finishing. The jute is brought into the works as imported, in hard-pressed bales of 400 lbs. weight. These are cut open and passed through corrugated or toothed rolls for the purpose of softening. The material is then selected, and again put through another softening machine, where it is watered and oiled, which is called "hatching."
After this the jute is taken to the preparing, carding, drawing, and roving; then to the spinning, and then to the preparing for weaving into different fabrics. The cloth-finishing comes next; there is a very fine set of finishing mangles and calenders. There are also very large and powerful hydraulic presses for packing the finished fabric into bales.
The motive power for driving the works is supplied by six separate steam engines of different types, made by Messrs. James Carmichael and Co. of Dundee, and Messrs. Hick Hargreaves and Co. of Bolton; in all indicating 2,240 horse-power. There are two large water-dripping refrigerators in the water reservoirs, for cooling the water used for condensing in the engines.
The works employ about 2,000 hands.
Thomson, Shepherd and Co
SEAFIELD JUTE WORKS, DUNDEE.
Thomson, Shepherd and Co
These works, the property of Messrs. Thomson Shepherd and Co., situated at the west end of Dundee near the river, are devoted to the preparing, spinning, and dyeing of jute yarns, and the weaving of these into carpets of various kinds, as well as into sacking and horse-clothing. The number of hands employed is nearly eleven hundred; and the total power from four engines is over 1,000 I.H.P. One of these engines, a double-expansion tandem, built by Messrs. Carmichael and Co. of Dundee, and working at 300 H.P., is fitted up with Tate's electric stop-motion. Two others are beam engines, compounded to drive one fly-wheel, and working at 480 H.P.
Manhattan Jute Works
MANHATTAN JUTE WORKS, DUNDEE
Manhattan Jute Works
These works, belonging to Mr. Frank Stewart Sandeman of the Stanley Cotton Mills, Perthshire, are constructed on the shed plan; the jute passes continuously through the various machines in the botching, preparing, spinning, weaving, finishing, and packing departments, whereby the cost of handling it is reduced to a minimum. The number of workers employed is about 700, while the whole range of qualities of jute yarns and cloth are produced.
The prevailing contain of applying oil to the jute batch before it is carded is in these works superseded by a different process, and the products are therefore free from the smell and other objectionable characteristics of mineral and fish oils.
The engines are a pair of horizontal compound tandem, designed by Messrs. Hick Hargreaves and Co., Bolton, and fitted with Corliss valves on each of the high and low-pressure cylinders, and with electric stop-motions throughout the mill; and they develop 1,000 I.H.P. The power is transmitted through a mortice wheel and pinion; the wheel is keyed separately from the fly-wheel, and the breadth of the teeth is 24 inches.
The boilers are Lancashire or duplex-flue, and Babcock and Wilcox tubular, the former fitted with Vicars and the latter with mechanical chain stokers. Green's economiser and other appliances for preventing the production of smoke and for saving fuel have been adopted, with the result that there is practically a total absence of smoke from the top of the chimney, which is 175 feet high with a diameter of 8 feet inside at top.
The coal used is Scotch dross, of which the consumption is 2 lbs. per I.H.P. per hour, and 9 lbs. of water are evaporated per pound of coal. The friction throughout the mill, including all shafting, gearing, and pulleys, does not exceed 14.75 per cent. of the whole power given out by the engines; and this favourable result is attributed in a great measure to the exclusive use of solid woven cotton belting as made at the Stanley Cotton Mills, where cotton driving ropes of a superior kind are also manufactured, as largely used at the Forth Bridge Works.
Thomas Bell and Sons
BELMONT WORKS, DUNDEE
Thomas Bell and Sons
These works, the property of Messrs. Thomas Bell and Sons, were established in 1832, and are chiefly employed in the manufacture of wide canvas for the foundation of floorcloth and linoleum. The great breadth of the looms, which were designed by the late senior partner and are 8 yards wide and driven by steam over, forms a striking feature of the works. Other classes of juts goods are also manufactured here.
Dundee Harbour
DUNDEE HARBOUR
Dundee Harbour
The whole works of the Harbour have been constructed within lie last seventy years. There are four wet docks, two old and two new; the older or western docks were completed upwards of fifty years ago; and the last new dock was completed about twelve years ago. There are two commodious graving docks, and a Morton slipway. During the last twelve or fifteen years great improvements have also been made in furnishing the docks with all the necessary appliances for rapid discharge.
Vessels frequenting the harbour having lately increased greatly in size and draught of water, river wharves of timber have been built outside the stone river walls, and the berths at these wharves have a depth of 20 feet at ordinary low water.
Vessels drawing more water than is to be had over the tills of the new docks, where there is about 22 feet depth at ordinary spring tides, conic alongside the new river wharves and discharge part of their cargo, whereby generally they are no Lightened as to be able to enter the docks during the next tides.
Hydraulic machinery has been introduced, and the pressure pipes are carried around the quays of the new docks generally, and to the Liver wharves. Cargoes are discharged by the aid of small portable hydraulic jiggers, which are put in position to suit the hatchways of vessels, and usually make 250 lifts per hour from each hatchway.
The principal manufacture of Dundee being jute fabrics, the principal importation to the harbour consists of jute bales, which arrive in large vessels, chiefly from Calcutta and Chittagong. The average cargo is 12,000 or 13,000 bales, each bale being about 400 lbs. in weight. They are discharged at the rats of 250 bales in an hour from each hatchway, and when the vessel is a steamer having four hatchways, the cargo can be put on shore in twelve working hones. If there is the usual amount of discharge proceeding however, it is found that the cargo cannot be classified and carted away at a greater rate than from 250 to 300 bales per hour. The quays generally possess ample shed accommodation, and there is a fine warehouse with hydraulic appliances.
Within the last twelve years the trustees have acquired the lighting and buoying of the River Tay between the harbour and the sea. One of the improvements effected has been to establish at the entrance to the river a lightship with a powerful siren. It was also found necessary to alter the direction of the leading lights, which define the channel over the bar of the river; and for this purpose the seaward lighthouse, 65 feet in height, built of brick and stone work, and weighing 450 tons, was moved bodily without interfering with its exhibited light, a distance of 160 feet, and reset in its new position on its old foundations.
The working of the ferries between Dundee and the opposite shore of Fife has also been lately acquired; and has been greatly improved by the addition of a new steamer, the erection of new offices, and the adoption of the electric light on the steamers, as well as in other ways.
The entrance to the harbour has been much improved within the last seventeen years, 11 million tons of deposit having been dredged from opposite the entrances, whereby the bed of the river has been deepened on an.average about ten feet, and some fifty acres of land have been reclaimed from the river on the east side of the docks, about half of which has already been occupied by shipbuilders and timber merchants.
University College, Dundee
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DUNDEE.
University College, Dundee
This College was opened in 1883, under an endowment of £150,000, of which nearly the whole was given by the late Miss Baxter of Balgavies. There are now six professorships:— of classics and ancient history, mathematics and natural philosophy, chemistry, engineering, English literature, and biology. Au effort now in progress for the extension of the college, by the addition of a medical school, has already led to the endowment of a chair of anatomy and a lectureship in botany. A new Technical Institute, founded and endowed by the late Sir David Baxter, is now being built within the college grounds, and will be worked in close connection with the scientific department of the college.
The greater part of the present structure consists of dwelling houses converted into class-rooms and laboratories; but new buildings have been erected for the accommodation of the chemical department, in which there is a very fully equipped laboratory, and also for the electrical engineering laboratory, for the physical lecture-room, and for a small workshop which is used for the construction of laboratory apparatus, for experimental work in engineering, and for the electric lighting of the drawing office and other rooms. Besides these laboratories there are others for the subjects of natural philosophy and biology. It is arranged that the Technical Institute now in process of construction shall provide accommodation for the whole engineering department of the college. An important feature in it will be an engineering laboratory containing a 50-ton testing machine, an experimental steam-engine, etc.
The chemical department affords an interesting example of the system of ventilation by pressure. It is about to be extended by the addition of an establishment for dyeing and bleaching.
Edinburgh Waterworks
EDINBURGH WATER WORKS.
Edinburgh Waterworks
The city of Edinburgh and the adjacent district derive their present supply of water from two main sources, namely the Pentland Hills and the Moorfoot Hills, as shown in the plans, Plates 86 and 87.
Pentland Supply.— Plate 86. The Pentland supply consists chiefly of spring water, most of which is conveyed direct to the city in pipes; and the yield of the springs being subject to very little fluctuation in quantity, a comparatively small amount of storage is all that is required to equalise the available discharge throughout the year. There are however several small reservoirs, which are used for this purpose; and they also serve to store the water of the adjacent district naturally draining into them. In connection with the supply of spring water, several compensation reservoirs have been constructed, the water of which being of a peaty nature is not suitable for drinking, but is now used to afford compensation in water power to the mills on the streams into which the spring water appropriated fOr Edinburgh naturally flowed.
Moorfoot Supply.— Plate 87. The Moorfoot supply differs from the Pentland in being entirely a surface-water supply. Two reservoirs have been constructed, namely the Portmore and Gladhouse reservoirs, for impounding the water naturally draining into them, for the purpose of affording a supply for domestic purposes; and two compensation reservoirs, Edgelaw and Rosebery, have been constructed for the purpose of affording compensation to the streams on account of the water abstracted. The capacity of the reservoirs is fixed as equal to six months' yield of the district draining into them, which experience has proved to be sufficient for equalising the yield of three dry years consecutively.
All the embankments of these reservoirs are constructed upon much the same principle, and consist of earthwork formed in thin horizontal layers, with a puddle wall in the centre of the bank, which is continued down through a trench till a water-tight foundation is reached. These embankments are formed with slopes of 3 to 1 inside and 21- to 1 outside, while the level of the bank is generally 5 or 6 feet above the level of the waste-weir crest.
The waste weirs are formed of masonry, and the channels leading from them consist of alternate flat gradients and flights of altar steps.
Gladhouse and Portmore reservoirs have upstand shafts standing free of the embankment, so that the water may be drawn off at different levels, with the view of securing the purest water nearest the surface; while the compensation reservoirs have the sluice shaft in the centre of the embankment, where the water is always drawn off at the bottom level, as its quality is of no importance.
Edinburgh Waterworks Reservoirs. [See table on image]]
The water is conveyed towards Edinburgh partly by a built aqueduct and partly by a pipe; of the latter a portion is 24 inches diameter and the rest 22 inches. The water is subjected to a process of filtration at Alnwick Hill, where the works consist of a. service reservoir, four filter-beds, and a clear-water reservoir, from which last the water is led to Edinburgh and the adjacent district of supply. There are seven separate pipes leading the water into Edinburgh, and at present the district of supply is being divided up, so that it may be arranged for each pipe to serve its proper district.
In Plates 86 and 87 are shown the drainage areas and the positions of the various reservoirs; and the accompanying Table (page 461) gives details as to their capacity and cost, &c..
James Brown and Co
ESK PAPER MILLS, PENICUIK.
James Brown and Co
These mills, belonging to Messrs. James Brown and Co., are situated in the valley of the North Esk within 8 miles of Edinburgh, and close to the Eskbridge station of the North British Railway.
When established in 1790, they turned out probably not more than one ton of paper per week. About 1815 new buildings were erected and new machinery was introduced, including a Fourdrinier machine and powerful steam-engines. New machinery has since been gradually introduced to the present time, and the mills now produce 100 tons of paper per week.
The raw materials consist chiefly of esparto grass and rags; and the processes through which they pass before becoming finished paper are dusting, boiling, bathing, bleaching, pressing, beating, making, calendering, cutting, sorting, and baling. The raw material, run by a siding from the railway direct into the mills, is first thrown into the dusting machine, where it in shaken about, and the dust extracted by a powerful exhaust fan. It is then conveyed by a series of endless felts to the boiler, where it is at once violently beaten down by a continuous shower of boiling alkali.
After the boiling, which occupies about eight hours, the grass is forked loosely into open vats, and is bathed with tepid water and drained of alkali. In the bleaching cisterns, which have semicircular ends and are fitted with revolving knives, the grass is then pulped, partially opened out, and slightly rinsed with pure water, and then bleached; after which the pulp is treated in the "presse pate" machine, to remove all remaining sand or grit, and knots, roots, heather, etc., and is delivered in rolls into boxes, having thus been thoroughly prepared without any hand labour.
In the beating engine the fibres of the pulp are drawn out into a finely divided condition, and the colouring and sizing materials are added. The beating engines are driven by a compound engine working up to nearly 600 There are four paper-making machines, one of which is 120 feet long and delivers paper 76 inches wide at any speed from 20 feet to 150 feet per minute, according to the thickness or quality required. The calendering machines are fitted with cotton and chilled-iron rolls, and by means of compound levers great pressure is exerted upon the paper sheet. In the cutting machines, six or eight sheets can be cut at a time.
The plant and general machinery are of the newest and most approved kind; while the arrangements for using waste liquors over again and for preventing pollution of the river are very complete. At night the works are lighted up mainly with the electric light, which is useful for matching colours.
The number of work-people employed is about 300.
Cowan
VALLEYFIELD PAPER MILLS, PENICUIK.
These works were established in 1708, and since 1770 have been the property of Messrs. Cowan. The paper here manufactured is used for a great variety of purposes. It includes ledger papers, similar to the well-known American papers, tub-sized by hand and loft-dried; also animal-sized writing, book, and drawing papers, from the highest quality downwards; printing paper of the ordinary character for book-work, and super-calendered for illustrated books and serials; and tough cartridge and ammunition papers for the government offices.
The principal processes in the manufacture are selecting and preparing the fibres, boiling with caustic soda, washing bleaching, sizing, treating with antichlor, colouring, beating to pulp' and running upon a machine to form paper. The treatment of esparto grass is by the boiling processes of Roeckner and Sinclair with a caustic solution; this while still hot is floated into an evaporator, and incinerated to recover the soda, which is obtained chiefly in the form of the carbonate mixed with silicate and other salts.
The offensive odorous gases evolved during the process of incineration are carried, according to MM. Porion and L'Espermont's plan, into a smoke-consuming chamber, where they are allowed to expand and burn, and their unpleasant smell is thereby got rid of. In Porion's evaporating plant the caustic solution is beaten into froth by revolving fans working in a tunnel of hot air; the froth bubbles expose a large surface and evaporate quickly, making the liquor thicker and more ready for the furnace.
Amongst the machines is a very large Forbes rag engine for beating the stuff, capable of making sixteen tons of paper per week; one 78-inch, two 71-inch, and two 68-inch paper-making machines; three long air-driers composed of about eighty drums each; an automatic paper-winding machine, the axle of which revolves upon an inclined way; cutting machines; and many glazing and calendering rolls. A 71-inch paper-making machine makes the paper entirely from esparto.
In order to avoid polluting the river, the floor washings and machine waters are conducted separately down tortuous channels where suspended matter is deposited, and are then led by a single channel to a filter bed, and thence finally to the river. The channels are cleaned periodically; the pulp deposited in the machine-water channel is flushed into a tank through sluices at the bottom of every two lengths of channel, and is dried and sold to packing-paper makers. The boiler waters are purified in a similar manner, assisted however by chemical precipitation. The deposit on the filter beds is cut out and wheeled away.
The process of preparing gelatine size from hide pieces and cuttings is also carried on at these works. The mills are supplied with the finest spring water, conducted in pipes from about three miles distance. On the top of a hill there is a chimney shaft communicating with the boilers through a bricked archway running up the steep hill side.
The seventeen steam boilers are fed with dross coal by self-acting feeders; economisers raise the feed-water to a temperature of 220° Fahr.
The motive power is supplied by numerous steam engines, ranging from 6 to 200 I.H.P., and amounting to about 1,200 H.P. in all.