APPENDIX. GRAND CANAL COMPANY, IRELAND. SPECIFICATION OF MACHINERY OF TUG STEAMERS ON GRAND Canal. THE ENGINES of these Steamers are horizontal and high pressure, and are placed side by side, longitudinally with the vessel. The cylinders are 8 inches in diameter, with a length of stroke of 15 inches; the valves are wrought by link motions, for reversing the engines rapidly. On the crank shaft is keyed a bevel wheel, giving motion to a bevel pinion on the shaft of the propeller, at the rate of 200 revolutions per minute. Neither of these wheels is a mortise one at the present time; the wood teeth having been found not to answer. The BOILER is cylindrical and horizontal, with a single furnace and return tubes. The diameter of the boiler is 4 feet 6 inches, and its length is 13 feet 6 inches. The furnace is 2 feet 3 inches in diameter, and the fire-bars are 4 feet 6 inches long. There are forty-eight tubes, each 2 inches in diameter outside, and 11 feet 2 inches long. The chimney is 11 inches in diameter and 6 feet 6 inches high, and the exhaust steam is turned into it, to create a strong draught. SPECIFICATION OF A PAIR OF ENGINES FOR THE RIVER SHANNON STEAMERS CARRYING THEIR OWN CARGO-50 TONS ON 4 FEET 8 INCHES OF WATER. The ENGINES are direct-acting, high-pressure, of an inverted diagonal arrangement, placed at an angle of 90°. The cylinders are 71⁄2 inches in diameter, with a length of stroke of 12 inches. The slide-bars are four in number. The connecting-rods are of wrought-iron. The reversing link motion is worked by one handle on deck. It is of wrought-iron, deeply case-hardened. The eccentrics are solid. The force-pumps are of cast-iron, of the same quality as the cylinders. The shaft is of wrought-iron, of the best description, and 4 inches in diameter; the crank is single. The SCREW-PROPELLERS are of the common Smith's form, of wrought-iron, 4 feet in diameter; each screw is two-bladed, and one is placed before the other; each blade being th of a convolution. The leading screw has a pitch of 7 feet, and the after one a pitch of 8 feet, arranged at right angles to each other on the shaft, and 9 inches apart. All the pipes connecting the regulator and the cylinders, the cylinders and the blast-pipe, the pumps and the boiler, are of copper, and the flanges of brass. The BOILER is made of Low Moor iron, or iron of equal quality, the plates generally being an inch thick, and flanged and rivetted together; the tube-plate is ths of an inch thick, the front plate this of an inch thick, and the smoke-box tube-plate ğths of an inch thick. The shell of the fire-box is an inch thick and 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, and is made of iron of an approved brand. The fire-box is 2 feet 9 inches in diameter and 3 feet 8 inches long. The tubes are of iron, 2 inches in diameter outside, and 5 feet 6 inches long between the tube plates. They are seventy-seven in number, and are secured by light steel ferrules at both ends. The smoke-box doors are in parts, and open from the centre to the side, with defending plates inside. [Mr. JAMES MILNE. Mr. JAMES MILNE, of the Forth and Clyde Navigation, remarked, through the Secretary, that ten years ago, and for some years after, he had occasion to give this subject his attention, in endeavouring to introduce steam power on the Forth and Clyde and Monkland Canals; and, at the third annual meeting of the Canal Association, held in Birmingham, on the 4th August, 1858, he exhibited drawings of steam engines for a canal goods lighter, for a canal and sea-going lighter, for an ice-breaker, and a single engine for a goods boat or mineral 'scow.' These boats and their machinery were thus described in the Proceedings of that meeting: "The canal goods lighter is one of a class which carry 80 tons; the engines are two 64 inch cylinders, with 10 inches stroke of piston: the boiler an upright tubular boiler, 3 feet diameter; weight of engines and boiler, with water, 2 tons. The engines and boiler are capable of working to 100 lbs. pressure on the square inch; but 35 lbs. pressure in the cylinders is found sufficient for propelling the lighter, with cargo, at the rate of from 4 to 5 miles an hour. The engines were completed in September, 1856, since which time they have been regularly at work; they were made of sufficient power to propel the lighter, and to tow one or two similar lighters; but the traffic the lighter has been employed in has not afforded opportunities for using the surplus power in towing. The engines and boiler, with stern-post and propeller, cost £320; a considerable proportion of the cost and also the weight being due to the surplus power. "The ice-breaker, in addition to breaking the ice on the canal, is also used as a crane boat and service boat for the canal works. The steam engines for this boat were completed in May last, and consist of two cylinders 9 inches diameter, with 15 inches stroke of piston, with two upright tubular boilers 3 feet diameter, all calculated for being worked to 100 lbs. pressure. Cost of engines, boiler, and propeller, £430. "The engine for the goods boat or mineral scow is not yet put to work, but is contracted for. The engine, a single 6-inch cylinder, with 9 inches stroke of piston; the boiler (an upright tubular boiler) 2 feet 6 inches diameter, all to be capable of working to 100 lbs. pressure. It will not cost more than £150. "All the vessels referred to were formerly towed by horses: they are the usual canal vessels, and have been and are being pierced and fitted for screw propellers. The canal and sea-going lighter is now being prepared for receiving the engines and propeller. "Since the goods lighter was put to work in 1856, there have been five lighters fitted with steam power put to work on the canal by the canal traders." Again, at the next meeting of this Association, on the 16th August, 1859, he furnished a report relative to these canal steamers, in which he observed that: "The following are the principal dimensions of engines, &c., of the canal craft above referred to (see next page) : "There are now eighteen vessels propelled by steam working on the canal, and not fewer than half that number are being fitted with steam power for the canal. "The length of the Forth and Clyde Canal, from Grangemouth on the Forth, to Bowling on the Clyde, is 35 miles, with a branch 4 miles in length to the Monkland Canal at Glasgow, joining the main canal at near the 26th mile from Grangemouth, and the Monkland Canal is 12 miles in length from Glasgow to Woodhall. The greater amount of the traffic on the Monkland Canal is from the Coatbridge and Gartsherrie mineral district, a distance of about 10 miles from Glasgow, and the usual carrying of minerals is by the scows, which are worked on the Forth and Clyde Canal by two boatmen, one horseman, and one horse; and on the Monkland (when carrying to Glasgow only) by one boatman, one horseman, and one horse; and the usual carrying on the Monkland Canal to Glasgow by the scows is, down loaded with from 55 tous to 60 tons, and up empty, which is done at a cost of about 94d. per scow per mile, the scow loaded half-a-mile and empty half-a-mile. "With steam power say for the 20 miles : One boatman, @ 4s. One engineman, @ 3s. Coals, 4 cwt., @ 4}d. : s. d. 03 0000000 1 10064GOO 004 00 £0 10 4 Gives about 64d. per mile. Some of the steam scows carry a lad for giving greater facility in passing the locks; wages of lad, say 2s. per day, which added, gives 12s. 4d., or nearly 74d. per mile; but this mileage, while it is more than an average day's work for a horse, is not a full day's work for the scow, with engine power, and this short journey may be taken as most unfavourable for the comparison of steam propulsion with horse haulage. The steam power gives a more just and favourable comparison on longer journeys, say from Coatbridge to Grangemouth, which gives 10 miles on the Monkland Canal, and 30 miles on the Forth and Clyde Canal, together 40 miles from Coatbridge to Grangemouth. This is a usual trip in the working of the mineral traffic, and the trip loaded 40 miles, and back empty 40 miles, in all 80 miles, is usually esteemed a week's work for a scow and crew towed by a horse, but the trip is sometimes done in five days by horse haulage, and with steam power the trip is accomplished in three days. "Cost per trip by horse haulage, say— Five days of man and horse, with towing ropes, @ 7s. 6d. £ s. d. £3 17 6 "Cost per trip by steam power, say— Three days of 2 boatmen, each @ 4s. Ditto engine driver, @3s. Ditto per centage on £150, @ 5 per cent. ditto, for repairs, &c., 10 per cent. "It will be observed that on trips of such length as the above, there is a great saving of time, and it is estimated that with trips of average distance two boats propelled by steam will do as much work as three boats towed by horses. "The Forth and Clyde Canal, communicating with the Friths of Forth and Clyde, offers facilities for employing the carrying craft propelled by steam to advantage in carrying beyond the canal, and boats of the scow class furnished with hatches have sailed to Leith and to Greenock, distances of 24 miles and 12 miles from the termini of the canal." The fact of steam power having been tried at various times on the Forth and Clyde and the Monkland Canals, from Symington's steamers in 1789,-the 'Charlotte Dundas' in 1801, and the more recent trials by other parties-did not favour the attempt made in 1855; and in his proposal to employ carrying steamers, with light high-pressure engines, he found that he had so far to conform to the instruction of the Canal Board, as to make the trial steamer of sufficient power to tow two lighters similar to the lighter in which the engines were fitted. To towing he would have had no objection but for the numerous locks on the navigation, and the delay which must take place at the locks, both to a ug with its fleet, and to promiscuous canal trade. On the Forth and Clyde Canal, which was 35 miles in length between the Frith of Forth and the Frith of Clyde, there were forty locks with a rise of about 8 feet each, and at distances apart of from 50 yards to 17 miles, lock to lock. On the Monkland Canal there were ten locks, eight of which were double locks, each having a lift of 12 feet, giving a rise of 96 feet, with basins between the pairs, the other two locks having a rise of 10 feet each, with a basin between. The locks being so placed, and thus numerous, and the canals being free to all traders on payment of tolls-with a considerable and increasing trade-and the Canal Company not being carriers, except in the single instance of a limited trade in goods, he considered that an attempt to collect and tow the various descriptions of craft belonging to the traders offered no chance of success, while he feared that towing the vessels in fleets might delay the general trade, and give just cause of complaint. He therefore, with the concurrence of the Canal Board, resolved on making a trial of carrying steamers with small high-pressure engines and screw-propellers, the engines being fitted as close to the stern of each vessel as practicable. The lighter Thomas,' which was fitted with engines and put to work in 1856, and carried 80 tons of cargo, was used for the goods-trade worked by the Canal Company. The engines and the boiler had been constantly at work since that time, and were still working most satisfactorily, but little repair having been needed either for the boiler or the engines, and no renewals either for the boiler, the fire-box, or the tubes.' 6 The application of steam power to the 'Thomas' having proved successful, engines were designed and fitted to the luggage-boat Marjory,' carrying 35 tons; to one of the canal ice-breakers; to masted lighters for canal and coasting trade, carrying 120 tons; and designs for a 'scow,' or mineral barge, carrying 60 tons on the Monkland Canal, and 75 tons on the Forth and Clyde Canal, all 1 Some particulars of this lighter, by Mr. Neil Robson, M. Inst. C.E., are to be found in the Transactions of the Institution of Engineers in Scotland, vol. i., p. 49. |