of thickness of armour-plate that can be carried by ships will soon be reached, but that the power of destruction of projectiles may be without doubt increased far beyond what has hitherto been tried. It may therefore be reasonably anticipated that in this all-important contest the victory will ultimately rest on the side of the projectile.

On Street-Pipe Arrangements for Extinguishing Fires.

By J. F. BATEMAN, F.R.S., President of the Section.

He had hoped that a paper would have been read on this subject by Mr. Rose, of the Manchester Fire Brigade; but as that gentleman had been called away by the illness of a relative, he thought it right that the proceedings of the Section should not terminate without some observations being made on the subject. Nothing could have been much worse than the arrangements made for the extinction of fires some fifteen years ago, nor than the state of things which existed at the present day in the City of London. In most large towns, as Manchester and Glasgow, for instance, where the supply of water had been taken into the hands of the Corporation, the best preparations had been made for the extinction of fires. But in London the fire-engines and the fire brigade were maintained by contributions from the different insurance companies; and therefore it was evident that their interest only lay in preventing the destruction of property that was insured. It was clear this was a state of things which ought not to exist in this country. Some twelve or fifteen years ago he turned his attention to the subject of the extinction of fires. The old wooden plug was then generally in use, and it still continued in use in some parts of the country. Mr. Bateman described the construction of the fire-cock and stand-pipe, with which he had replaced the old plugs in Manchester and other towns, and stated that, as a general rule, these fire-cocks had been found sufficient without the use of fire-engines. He also explained the principle upon which the water-pipes were laid down in Manchester; so that within reach of nearly every block of valuable buildings in Manchester and the neighbourhood, there were from two to three sources of water-supply from different watermains, and ten or twelve fire-cocks within a hundred yards. Then came the question of pressure. About eighty or ninety feet was the greatest height water could be thrown by a fire-engine. The highest mills in Manchester were from forty feet to sixty feet; and experiments had been made which showed that water could be thrown without the aid of fire-engines from thirty-three to ninety feet in height, according to the pressure in the pipes, during the day, and when the service of the town was fully going on.

On the Applications of the Hydraulic Press. By EDWARD T. BELLHOUSE. He traced its origin to Joseph Bramah, in 1785, and explained its present construction by means of diagrams, and then adverted to the various purposes to which it has been and is applied. These included the raising of the Britannia tubes, the launching of the 'Great Eastern,' the raising of ships on slips, the packing into bales of Manchester goods, cotton, wool, and hay, the extraction of oil from linseed, rapeseed, and hempseed, the manufacture of lead pipes, the testing the strength of materials, &c. The application of the steam-engine for working the pumps was alluded to, as now becoming general. He more particularly dwelt upon the various kinds of hydraulic presses used for packing cotton in India. He also described a stop and let-off cock, worked by a hand lever, which was very convenient of application. In the cotton-press, the pressure put upon the pumps was sometimes as great as six tons per square inch. He hoped some lighter and stronger metal would be found for the cylinders, rams, &c. than the cast iron at present used.

On Artillery versus Armour. By Captain BLAKELY.

The author said it was now four years since he first laid before the British Association at Dublin his ideas with reference to the strength and extent of range which might be obtained with cannon built up of concentric tubes of metal, so adjusted that all should share in resisting the bursting effort of the charge of gunpowder. The size of cannon before the discovery of this method was limited by the certainty

that any smooth-bored gun above the 68-pounder, and any rifled gun of even half that size must burst after very few rounds with full charge of powder. Now, Captain Blakely maintained, there was no difficulty in making guns ten times more powerful. He believed that not only a 600-pounder, but even a 6000-pounder could be constructed, if great care were taken in selecting the best materials, and in putting on the outer layers with the exact degree of tension required to enable them to exert their strength. If the outer layers (he used them generally in the form of rings) were too tight, they burst before the central part; and if they were too loose, the central parts burst first, and perhaps left the rings whole. Extensive experiments had been made to determine the proper degree of tension for these rings, because on that point depended the efficiency of the gun. Not only had he (Captain Blakely) made such experiments, but also the Spanish and English Governments, the latter having made several hundred full-sized cannon, some of which were built up entirely of iron, the tension of the outer portion being varied-some being constructed partly of iron, partly of brass. It was well worth the trouble of any person desirous of studying the question to visit Woolwich Arsenal and see the broken fragments of these cannon. Captain Blakely believed the truth might have been arrived at with less expense; however, the result was the acknowledgment by the Select Ordnance Committee of the exactness of Captain Blakely's views in reference to cannon, viz. that all large guns must be built up, that the outer parts must be in a state of initial tension, and that so definite, that the slightest excess or deficiency of tension detracts from the strength of the gun. All guns now made in the English Arsenals are constructed on those principlesthough afterwards spoilt, in his opinion, by the weakening of the breech for the purpose of loading by that end. Spanish guns also are now built up. Captain Blakely exhibited the drawing of the new Spanish naval gun, and explained its construction. The diameter of the bore was between six and seven inches; more than half of the gun, he said, was of cast iron, the upper portion of the breech only being formed of rings of steel.

Captain Blakely regretted that the English Government did not obtain all the advantages from the system which he thought it capable of affording. They refused to make any cannon larger than 120-pounders-perhaps because Sir William Armstrong's breech-loading apparatus was not adapted for large guns; and they also refused his (Captain Blakely's) offer to make at his own expense a 600-pounder, and lend it to them for experiment against their model targets. He would not say anything of the policy of this conduct, but he believed he was in order in saying that it was not "philosophical" to refuse to try a larger gun, and at the same time to proclaim that the plates, constructed to resist little 100-pound pop-guns, were "impenetrable." For his part he firmly believed that he could make cannon either to punch holes through not only 4-inch but 8-inch plates, or, what was better still, to crush them completely.

On Recent Improvements in Cotton-Gins.

By DAVID CHADWICK, F.S.S., of the Manchester Committee.

A description was given of the old Indian churka, one of which was exhibited to the Meeting; and the invention of the American saw gin, by Eli Whitney, was also noticed and described. On the recent visit to England of Dr. Forbes, the superintendent of the cotton-gin factory of the late East India Company, to Darwhar, he introduced an improved cotton-gin, based upon the principle of the Indian churka. This churka gin had subsequently been improved by Mr. John Dunlop, of Manchester, and Messrs. Platt Brothers, of Oldham; and the improved machines were exhibited to the Meeting. The improvements in Messrs. Platt's machines consisted in the application of spike rollers revolving at different speeds in connexion with vibrating machinery, which transmits the cotton to the ordinary churka rollers. The effect of this is to enable the machine to be supplied with cotton continuously instead of at intervals with the fingers. The machine is intended to be worked by power, and requires the attendance only of a child thirteen years of age. Mr. Dunlop's machine was less expensive, but more compact, and bearing a closer resemblance to the original churka, and was intended to be worked by hand.

A Proposal for a Class of Gunboats capable of engaging Armour-plated Ships at Sea, accompanied with Suggestions for fastening on Armour-Plates. By Dr. EDDY.

The author thought that the monster iron-clad vessels which we and our neighbours were building might be successfully assailed by vessels of very inferior size specially designed for the purpose. The first essential condition for such vessels was superiority of speed, with such protection as to approach the enemy without being crippled. He believed that one such vessel with a couple of heavy guns might so harass a larger vessel as to paralyze her movements, and that two such vessels might even engage with advantage; and, if this was so, might not a flotilla of these small vessels advantageously engage a fleet of the large iron-plated ships? To obtain superior speed, we must either sacrifice weight of metal or increase the size. He preferred the former, and by reducing the armament to a very few guns (two or four), and those of the powerful kind now manufactured, he thought we might obtain the required speed within moderate dimensions; and he hoped to show that, by a peculiar adjustment of material, we might gain all the protection required, without immoderate weight. Much of this problem had indeed been worked out by Capt. Coles, of whose cupola, the conical fort, with revolving shield, in the model produced, was a modification. A speed of sixteen knots an hour would, he believed, be sufficient for present purposes, and he took it that this speed might be secured without difficulty in a vessel of fine lines, and of certain proportions, without tremendous size. Dr. Eddy proceeded to describe from a model the kind of gunboat he proposed to build. The dimensions, he said, were calculated from one datum, namely, the least elevation above water at which the guns could advantageously be laid, which he took to be 8 feet. In this position, then, he would place two of the heaviest Armstrong guns, with their muzzles 4 feet apart, on an inclined slide, upon a turn-table placed within a fixed conical fort, armour-clad, the sides of which sloped at an angle of 45°. Above this, for a perpendicular height of 4 feet, he would protect the guns and gunners with a shield of iron plate, also at an angle of 45°. The shape of the fort would be a truncated cone on a cylinder, like an extinguisher upon a candlestick. A second cupola he believed might be added, and this would give an armament of four guns, which, if concentrated upon one point at short range, must have a crushing effect. But, to be of any use, the smaller vessel must be enabled to approach her large antagonist without risk of having a shot sent through her bottom from the enemy's depressed guns. The manner in which he proposed to fortify the gunboat was by keeping all the vital parts well below the water-line, and covering them with a deck which would deffect upwards any shot that might reach it. As the boat was only intended to attack ships, not forts, he presumed there was no need to apprehend a shot striking her at a larger angle with the horizon than 7°. Still at this angle, to protect the sides of the vessel effectually, the armour must be carried at least 4 feet above water and 3 feet below, possibly more; but as this involved a weight of 300 tons in plating alone, some other method of protection must be sought. He hoped he had found this desideratum in a plan which aimed at carrying out thoroughly the principle of deflection. His plan consisted of an arched deck of inch iron resting upon two courses of timber, the extremities of the arch being tied, so as to neutralize the outward thrust. He proposed that this should spring at the sides from 3 feet below the water-line, and that the crown should rise amidships up to the water-line, the crown being kept tolerably flat-the object being to present so small an angle that even a flat-headed bolt should glance off. The space above the deck and between it and the water-line he proposed to pack with some tough and resilient but light fibre, and these qualities he found combined in the cocoa-nut fibre, which could be easily rendered incombustible by sal-ammoniac. This fibre would offer a considerable amount of resistance to the penetration of a shot, and in proportion to the resistance would tend to deflect the shot. The exact amount of resistance which this mode of packing would afford could not be ascertained without experiment, but the trial would not be expensive. He might be met with the objection, that steel or iron was the substance which offered the greatest amount of protection proportionate to its weight. Granting this, he maintained that there were circumstances under which iron alone could not be advantageously 1861.

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used, and that this was one. Dr. Eddy alluded to the difficulty now felt in securing the iron plates on the sides of the vessels without weakening them by perforating holes; and he mentioned a plan of screwing the plates within a railshaped frame, which he said he had been encouraged by Mr. Fairbairn to lay before the Section, and which he thought would obviate the difficulty.

On a Brick-making Machine. By PETER EFFERTZ.

On a Perambulator and Street Railway. By JOHN HAWORTH. The author proposed a central rail, having in it a groove for a small guiding wheel, similar to that of a perambulator. By this simple contrivance, an omnibus could be kept upon the two outer and level rails without the necessity of flanges to the wheels. The plan was cheap beyond comparison, costing only £1000 per mile. A length of route had been laid down in Salford for some months, and had given great satisfaction; it had been ridden upon by many persons, engineers and others, who found it to be practicable and agreeable. It required 35 per cent. less power to draw an omnibus over metal rails than the ordinary roads, and it was estimated that there would be a saving in the wear and tear of vehicles of 75 per cent. He believed it would be to the interest of trustees of roads to lay down such a railway, as it would save the great destruction of the roads; and coach proprietors would be glad of the opportunity to pay a mileage toll for the saving of horses and rolling stock which they would realize by the change.

On the Rise and Progress of Clipper and Steam Navigation on the Coasts and Rivers of China and India.-Section 1. By ANDREW HENDERSON, A.I.C.E., F.R.G.S.

1. The importance of this subject is too great to need any comment in bringing it before the British Association. It is owing to the superiority of her navigation that England is chiefly indebted for her supremacy amongst other nations; and it is by that means alone she can hope to maintain her dominion. Any subject, therefore, that bears at all on the question of navigation is of too great moment to be passed over without the fullest consideration of its value and applicability.

2. The author's system of steam communication is more immediately connected with India and China, as it is in those countries that he has spent many years, the navigation of which he is intimately connected with, and to its improvement he has devoted the best energies of his life. The navigation of the Eastern rivers, coasts, and archipelagos is perhaps the most difficult and dangerous nautical service in the world. Any plan, therefore, which will successfully overcome those difficulties must be considered as one of universal application.

3. The vast interest at stake in those countries is too great for any plan to be neglected which would tend to preserve them to us, and the recent Indian mutiny shows the urgent necessity for maintaining a perfect communication throughout the coasts and rivers of British India, extending, as it does, from Kurrachee to Singapore.

4. The river system, at present navigable from Peshawaur to Sudiya, on the Indus and Burhampootra, would, if navigated on its upper affluents by light-draught boats, bring European civilization and science in communication with 250,000,000 of the population of India.

5. The recent opening of the ports, rivers, canals, and lakes of China gives a larger field for enterprise in that country than was ever before anticipated. Having visited China since 1817, the author has always held the opinion that China has, for ages, established the best system of river navigation in the world, both in the construction of boats to meet the requirements of trade, and in her canal work, to which may be attributed her early civilization and the means of supporting a dense population of 360 millions.

6. He purposed, therefore, giving a brief review of the principal systems which

have been established on the Bengal and Scinde rivers, with the results attained by each, together with his proposal for a better system than has yet been adopted, and its extension to India and China. His plans, modifications, and improvements are applicable to all the vessels in use, and consist of an embodiment of the best features of each type derived from thirty years' practical experience and close observation of the navigation of the coasts and rivers of India and China, and other parts of the world.

7. The papers presented by the author on this occasion were the result of considerable labour, and were in continuation of former reports made to the Association, viz. "Report on the statistics of life-boats and fishing-boats," published in the Association's Report, vol. 1857; also as a member and contributor to the "Report of a Committee, consisting of the Right Hon. Earl of Hardwicke, chairman, Mr. John Scott Russell, Mr. James Robert Napier, Mr. Charles Atherton, Rev. Dr. Woolley, Admiral Moorsom, Professor Bennett Woodcroft, and others, appointed to inquire into the defects of the present methods of measuring and registering the tonnage of shipping, as also of marine-engine power, and to frame more perfect rules in order that a correct and uniform principle may be adopted to estimate the actual carrying capabilities and working power of steam-ships.'

8. Early in 1858 the author brought before the Indian government a review of steam navigation in the Bengal rivers, together with a plan to construct a fleet of steam tug- and tow-boats, to meet the military requirements of government, and form the nucleus of a system of water-transport service on the Ganges, Burhampootra, and Irrawaddy. Subsequently he submitted a plan of a Military Nautilus Flotilla of one tug- and three tow-boats, 100 feet long, with engines of 40 horsepower in tug, and auxiliary power in each tow, built at an estimate cost of £6000 to £8000;-for the smaller boats, 75 feet long and 50 tons, with engines of 20-horse power, £5000 to £6500. At the close of the session of Parliament he proposed to an eminent engineer that, if he would provide the engine, he (the author) would build the hull and fittings of a military nautilus-a proposition which was declined. 9. In 1858 the subject was brought before the British Association, and is printed in the Reports of 1858, entitled, "On river steamers, their form, construction, and fittings, with reference to the necessity for improving the present means of shallowwater navigation on the rivers of British India." Copies of the report have been circulated among the members previous to the discussion of the several subjects contained in the two papers-that on the system of tug- and tow-boats comprising a record of the experiments I have made with the smallest Nautilus flotilla during the last two years, including the resistance as measured by dynamometer.

10. At the Mechanics' Institution, David Street, the NAUTILUS FLOTILLA SYSTEM was exemplified by models, on half-inch scale, of the smallest class of Nautilus flotilla, of one tug- and two tow-boats, 85 feet long each, and 50 sailing and cargo boats, built for the East Indian Railway Company, on the author's lines, and 'Assam' type, as iron oulacs and bhurs of the Bengal rivers; half, or twenty-five iron oulacs, being built on his specification, and mercantile system of contracting, with details of Chinese rig, fitting, and sculls, with his patent balanced rudders in bow and stern. 11. Also, on a quarter-inch scale, the models of a first-class Nautilus flotilla, of one steam-tug and two auxiliary tow-vessels, each 200 feet long, on the author's lines, of the 'Assam' type, but on the routine or lump-sum system of contracting, for the East Indian Railway Company; their consulting engineer furnishing the specification and construction-that of the contractors being deficient in strength and proportion. Six of these vessels and three steam-tugs of 170 horse-power have been built with his patent balanced rudder, bow and stern.

12. These vessels are all built on the type of the Assam,' with engines of 100 horse-power by Fawcett and Co., of Liverpool, a model of which was exhibited to the Association, showing the bow and stern rudder as originally fitted, and used for one year on the Burhampootra, when she was transferred to the Ganges, and, from the prejudice of commanders, fitted with the Ganges rudder, where, without alteration in the engines, rovers, or vessel, after twenty years' service, she is now (1861) being lengthened.

13. The second portion of these papers is a continuation of the "Report of the Committee on Shipping Statistics, presented to the British Association, September 1858-Report of the Committee appointed by the British Association to inquire