CHAPTER XIXFOR MARINE TRANSPORTATION MEN
Problems of the Near Future
The immediate future of marine commerce cannot fail to be very greatly affected by changed conditions. No one believes that England, Germany, France, Russia, Austria, Japan and China will be able, before the middle of the century, to establish a stable adjustment of the international difficulties which surround them. No one knows what changes the Panama Canal may make in the movement of freights within the first ten years of its operation. No one knows to what industry the United States may next apply the methods by which the country has created the age of steel.
Coal and the steam engine may both, within a few years, be displaced as factors in marine transportation. Sweeping tariff changes in the United States, in Great Britain and in Germany may vitally affect the movement of freights. Transatlantic passenger traffic, not only a huge business in itself, but also important, so long as it is sea-borne, in its effects upon transatlantic freights, may become aerial instead of marine.
Technical Subjects
Confronted by the approach of a period so full of changes, the uttermost alertness of outlook is merely elementary prudence on the part of everyone engaged in the business of marine transportation; and the new Britannica reviews all the many fields of knowledge which are of importance in this connection. It supplies technical information regarding the construction of ships, the management of shipping lines, marine engines of every kind, shipboard and waterside appliances for the handling of cargo, the development of harbours and the dredging and embankment of rivers, the building of docks, warehouses and dry docks, ship canals and canal locks, navigation, lighthouses, lightships, buoys, lanes of traffic, marine insurance, cold transport—every conceivable subject with which shipping men are concerned. Articles by contributors in twenty different countries, deal with all the world’s ports, industries, exports, imports and shipping. The financial and legal aspects of the business are exhaustively covered. Tariffs, legislation affecting marine transportation, and such questions of international policy as the command of the sea, the right of search, and the position of neutrals in wartime are discussed by the highest authorities.
In addition to all this, the Britannica articles on these and similar subjects contain historical sections which, in conjunction with the articles on the history of all countries,show how past changes, as sweeping as these which are now anticipated, have affected commerce. Whether your present position—or the position you are endeavouring to make for yourself—in relation to shipping is such that this coming period of transition promises to affect you favourably or unfavourably, you need to be forewarned and forearmed, prepared to keep what you have or get what you want.
An Outline of Sea Trade
A course of reading should always begin with the study of general principles, in order that in your subsequent and more detailed examination of the field, the relative importance of each fact that you master may be appreciated. The Britannica provides, in the articleCommerce(Vol. 6, p. 766), a bird’s-eye view of the whole subject of marine transportation. The article would not fill more than 16 pages of this Guide; you can read it (and digest it as you read it, so clear is it) in an hour, and yet it will give you such a grasp of the whole science—for it is a science—of international trade that you will spend another hour in assorting and classifying, in your own mind, a mass of impressions you had received before, at school or in the course of casual reading, impressions which have not been so useful to you as they should have been because they had not been systematically arranged. There is no text book in existence which outlines the subject so fully and clearly as does this one brief article—about one five-thousandth part of the total contents of the Britannica.
This article will arouse your interest in the direct relation between commerce, past, present and future, and the progress of civilization. You will realize that the man who has any part in the vast shifting of cargoes from one part of the world to another is distributing ideas and ideals and ambitions as well as commodities, and in the articleCivilization(Vol. 6, p. 403), by Dr. Henry Smith Williams, editor ofThe Historians’ History of the World, you will see how harbours receive and send on to the inlands the influences as well as the manufactures of the more advanced communities.
From these articles you should turn to the three great articles which deal with the methods by which these wonderful results are accomplished. These three areShip,ShipbuildingandShipping, all in volume 24, and equivalent to about 420 or 425 pages of this Guide. These three articles contain hundreds of illustrations, more than forty being full page plates. They are by the most eminent authorities. Sir Philip Watts, director of naval construction for the British Navy, designer of the Dreadnoughts and the Super-Dreadnoughts of the British Navy, as well as of the “Mauretania” and the “Lusitania,” chairman of the Federation of Shipbuilders, and naval architect and director of the warshipbuilding department of Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Ltd., wrote the articlesShipbuildingandShip(except the history of ships before the invention of steamships, which is by Edmund Warre, provost of Eton, well-known as a writer on nautical history). The articleShippingis by Douglas Owen, lecturer at the Royal Naval War College and author ofPorts and Docks.
In brief, these three articles in length, contents,—both text and illustrations,—and authorship, make up a remarkable book on the subject, valuable either as a text-book or a work of reference for the ship builder, the marine engineer or the student of shipping.
Story of the Ship
Taking the articles separately, the articleShipbegins with a section of nearly 10,000 words on the early development of ships. It suggests that shells floating on the water or the nautilus may first have suggested the use of a hollowed tree-trunk for transportation—the first boat or “ship” (the word comes from the same root as “scoop”) as distinct from a raft. The evolution of boat building is traced,—from dug-out to bark- or skin-covered frame, built like modern racing-shells sometimes ribs first and then skin laid on and sometimes shell first and then ribs inserted. In spite of the great length of the period during which such boats were used—of course they are still used by more primitive peoples,—it is interesting to notice that there were local variations which never became general, such as the outrigger and weather platform, used in the South Pacific and not found elsewhere.
Egyptian vessels we may study in the excellent early tomb-paintings still preserved,and one of these shows a ship, not a canoe or large boat, such as was in use from 3000–1000 B. C., fitted with oars and a mast in two pieces which could be lowered and laid along a high spardeck.
The Phoenicians did more than the Egyptians to develop ship and navigation, and a Phoenician galley of the 8th century B. C. is shown in an Assyrian wall painting. The Phoenicians probably sailed out of the Mediterranean, to Britain for tin, or even around Africa.
Greek ships and shipbuilding we know from a full and varied national literature, from the figures on coins and vases, and from the discovery in 1834 at the Peiraeus, the port of Athens, of records of Athenian dockyard superintendents for several years between 373 and 324 B.C. We have besides descriptions, partly technical, showing the point of view of the engineer or architect, written by Roman authors. The article gives a critical account of the Greek types of vessels. The growth of Roman shipping seems to have been due primarily to political reasons and to have advanced slowly but surely,—practical devices being introduced to solve special difficulties in a field and on an element where the Romans were far from being at home. A five-tiered Carthaginian galley which had drifted ashore served the Romans as a model for their first war-ship, and with crews taught to row in a framework set up on dry land they manned a fleet which was launched in sixty days from the time that the trees were felled.
Mast and Sail
Passing quickly over the remainder of the earlier period, which the reader will find treated in full in the articleShip, he should notice that the sailing vessel came into use gradually for merchant use, but that galleys (propelled by oars) were long the only type for warships. There were some galleys even in the Spanish Armada of 1588. In the meantime the invention of gunpowder and the development of artillery brought about changes in size and in form, with a notable tendency to more masts and a greater spread of sail. The discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries and especially the consequent expansion of trade in the 17th century, all tended to increase the size and efficiency of sailing ships. The end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century marked the highest point in the development of American sailing ships. “The Americans with their fast-sailing ‘clippers’ taught the English builders a lesson, showing that increased length in proportion to beam gave greater speed, while permitting the use of lighter rigging in proportion to tonnage, and the employment of smaller crews. The English shipyards were for a long time unequal to the task of producing vessels capable of competing with those of their American rivals, and their trade suffered accordingly. But after the repeal of the Navigation Laws in 1850, things improved and we find clippers from Aberdeen and the Clyde beginning to hold their own on the long voyages to China and elsewhere.”
The revolution in marine transportation by the introduction of steam is summed up by Sir Philip Watts as follows:
Before steam was applied to the propulsion of ships, the voyage from Great Britain to America lasted for some weeks; at the beginning of the 20th century the time had been reduced to about six days, and in 1910 the fastest vessels could do it in four and a half days. Similarly, the voyage to Australia, which took about thirteen weeks, had been reduced to thirty days or less. The fastest of the sailing tea-clippers required about three months to bring the early teas from China to Great Britain; in 1910 they were brought to London by the ordinary P. & O. service in five weeks. Atlantic liners now run between England and America which maintain speeds of 25 and 26 knots over the whole course, as compared with about 12 knots before the introduction of steam.
Iron Hulls
The introduction of iron for wood began about the same time as the substitutionof steam for sails, and there was even more prejudice against it. This was due not merely to the sentiment attaching to the oaken timbers that typified “hearts of oak,” or to the “Wooden Walls of England.” In all seriousness it was objected that iron would not float! It was feared that iron bottoms would be more easily perforated when ships grounded; but this was found not to be the case when construction was careful. It was proved that fouling of iron bottoms from weeds and barnacles might be remedied by frequent cleaning and repainting. The most serious objection against iron was that it affected the compass; but in 1839 Sir G. B. Airy laid down rules for the correction of compass errors due to iron in construction. But even to-day wood is preferred for the construction of ships for scientific expeditions to the Polar regions where the slightest disturbance of the compass is to be avoided. Iron and steel (first used in shipbuilding to any extent in 1870–75) have three advantages over wooden ships: less weight; greater durability; greater ease in securing the necessary general and local strengths. But while iron was coming into use largely because it is more durable, there was a great increase in the durability of wooden ships, due to the improved knowledge of wood-preservation. At the end of the 18th century 15 or 20 years was the average life of a wooden ship; but there are several instances of ships built in the first decade of the 19th century—or even earlier—which were still in commission at the beginning of the 20th century.
Early Steamships
Full details are given in regard to the first ships used for canal and river navigation in Great Britain and the United States; the comparatively rapid adoption of steam vessels on the Irish and English channels; and the first steamships to make long trips—the American-built “Savannah” which crossed the Atlantic in 1819 in 25 days using steam only a part of the time, the “Enterprise” which went from London to Calcutta in 1825 in 103 days (64 under steam), the “Sirius,” the “Great Western,” etc. All these were propelled by paddle-wheels. Jet propulsion had been suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1775 and was tried several times with some success. But the greater success of the screw-propeller, perfected by Colonel John Stevens and Captain John Ericsson, soon caused jet-propulsion to be abandoned. The screw-propeller made possible—and was quickly followed by—great improvements in engines; the gearing used with paddles was soon given up for direct-acting engines—compound about 1854, triple-expansion in 1874.
Statistics of shipping for all countries are given in tables and diagrams equivalent to 18 or 20 pages of this Guide.
A brief summary outline of the remainder of this articleShipis all that can be given here.
Merchant Vessels
Sailing Ships
Barges, Smacks or Cutters, Schooners, Brigs and Brigantines
Steamships
Types: Turtle-back, etc. Cargo Ships: Modern Developments, Great Lake Freighters, Oil Tank Steamers, Motor Tank Vessels. Passenger Steamers: Ferries, River and Sound, Cross-Channel, Ocean Liners (Atlantic: Canadian, Emigrant Vessels, Liners on other Routes; Pacific Liners). Special Vessels (Dredge, Train Ferries, Ice Breakers, Surveying Vessels, Lightships, Coastguard and Fishery Cruisers, Salvage and Fire Vessels, Lifeboats, Yachts). Propulsion by Electricity, by Naphtha Engines, by Internal Combustion Engines
War Vessels
Battleships and Armour Protection;Sir E. J. Reed and the British Navy Turret Ships; American Monitor; Sir Nathaniel Barnaby in England; the work of Sir W. H. White; Development from 1885 to 1902; The “Dreadnought” type—in England, United States, Germany, France, Japan, Russia, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Argentina, etc., with Table, “Development of Some of the Leading Features of Notable Armored Battleships from 1860 to 1910.”
Cruisers, Second-Class Cruisers, Third-Class, Armored Cruisers, Dreadnought Cruisers, Cruisers in Different Navies
Gunboats and Torpedo Craft and Torpedo-boat Destroyers
Submarines: American experiments in the 18th Century; inventions of Holland and Nordenfeldt; the Goubet System in France; Submarines in different navies.
History of Shipping
The articleShipping(Vol. 24, p. 983) is devoted to the history and practice of maritime transportation. It outlines the early period of trade, and the contest for trade among Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and England, especially in the period after the discovery of America, when the prizes of commerce became suddenly so much richer. The Navigation Act of 1651, confining the trade between England and her colonies and the British coasting trade to English ships, was followed by a rapid growth of English shipping. The tonnage doubled between 1666 and 1688. In the 18th century and into the 19th, the history of shipping was primarily a contest for trade between France and England, finally won by the latter. The 19th century, as has already been seen in the articleShip, was marked by the adoption of steam as a motive power. The struggle for supremacy in the Atlantic trade and in commerce with China and the Far East between the United States and Great Britain was won by the latter largely for this reason—the American ship-builders clung to the sailing clipper too long—and they were too slow in adopting iron instead of wooden hulls. The American Civil War was an additional set-back to American commerce. Other great factors during the last 50 years in the development of shipping, treated in the article, may be catalogued here:
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
Improved apparatus for fire prevention.
Refrigerating machinery, making possible the shipment of meats and other foods.
Germany’s merchant marine.
Japanese merchant vessels.
French efforts to get trade.
The shipping combine of 1902.
“Liners” and “Tramps.”
The freight rate question and increased tonnage.
Special passenger transport: tourists, emigrants, etc.
Instructions for the Ship-Builder
The third of the main articles isShipbuilding(Vol. 24, p. 922) by Sir Philip Watts. The article is equivalent to 200 pages of this Guide, and the illustrations include more than 120 working drawings. A brief outline of the article is all that can be given here.
Stability: Equilibrium, Stability of Equilibrium, Transverse Stability, Small Inclinations, Metacentric Heights, Inclining Experiment, Large Inclinations, Curves of Stability, Effect of Freeboard, Effect of Beam, Effect of Position on Centre of Gravity, Geometrical Properties, Dynamical Stability, Sailing Ships, Longitudinal Stability, Stability when Damaged, Stability in any Direction.
Rolling of Ships: Unresisted Rolling—Froude’s Theory, Resisted Rolling, Methods of Reducing Rolling(Bilge-Keels, Water Chambers, Gyroscope).
Resistance: Components of Force, Wake, Frictional Resistance, Law of Comparison, Model Experiments, Experimental Results.
Propulsion: Experimental Results, Cavitation.
Strength: Longitudinal Bending, Transverse Bending.
Steering: Nature of Forces when Turning, Heel when Turning, Types of Rudders, Experimental Results.
Process of Design
Ship-yard Work
Course of Construction
Armour
Structural Arrangements
Longitudinal System as used in New London, Conn.; Great Lake steamer; British cargo steamer; Atlantic liner; Differences between war and merchant ships; Auxiliary Machinery.
A Dictionary of Ships and Shipping
The student should read the articleNavy and Navies(Vol. 19, p. 299) and refer to the ChapterFor Naval Officers.
The following is a partial list of the articles in the Britannica of particular value to the marine transportation man.
CHAPTER XXFOR ENGINEERS
What “Engineering” Includes
The history of a word will sometimes supply the key to the gradual development of an art. “Engineering” was originally used to describe a mere branch of military science, the construction of fortifications and the trenching and sapping needed for their capture. Then about a century and a half ago the use of the phrase “civil engineering” came into use to indicate the broadening of the engineer’s functions to civil pursuits, but even then it served for a long time chiefly to describe surveying, road-making and bridge building. To-day, the specialized knowledge of engineers of one kind or another directs or facilitates every branch of industry. Consider for a moment the handling of iron, which, as the Britannica articleIron and Steelshows, has become the most indispensable of all substances save air and water, because we can find no substitute for it that possesses its strength, the hardness and the pliability we can give to it, and its magnetic properties, upon which all our electrical work depends. The mining engineer is concerned with the ore, the mechanical engineer with the machinery employed in its treatment; the transportation of the finished iron or steel depends upon the skill of the engineers who construct railroads and ships; the structural engineer shapes our buildings from the girders and erects them on the sites indicated by the surveying engineer; the sanitary engineer makes them wholesome, and the electrical engineer provides them with the many convenient appliances we need. Various primitive races have believed that the earth is supported upon the back of a tortoise, an elephant, or a fish; but when we begin to look into the origin of the surroundings we have made for ourselves, we cannot carry our examination very far before we find that almost everything we possess begins with a blueprint.
It seems a paradox, and yet it is true, that the more a man’s profession tends to specialization, the more help he can get from the comprehensiveness of the Britannica. He finds it necessary to dig so deep that the shaft he sinks must perforce be of narrow diameter, limiting his daily vision to but a small circle of the broad sky above him. The engineer of each class has his own text books, but at any moment his work may bring him into temporary relation with allied subjects which they do not cover, and in connection with which he may need trustworthy information. There is certainly no other book which surveys so authoritatively and minutely as does the Britannica the whole field of applied science. The services rendered by the 73 engineering experts—German, American, English, French and Italian—who collaborated in the production of the work are not to be measured only by the articles they wrote; for the advice andassistance many of them gave the editors in planning the book as a whole, ensured such treatment as an engineer would desire of many subjects indirectly connected with his work.
Mathematical Articles
The engineer will naturally turn first to the mathematical articles, which may be described as text-books of the most concise and useful nature, written by leading mathematicians of the age.Algebra(Vol. 1, p. 599) is by Dr. Sheppard, and G. B. Mathews, formerly professor of mathematics, University College of North Wales;Algebraic Forms(Vol. 1, p. 620) by Major P. A. Macmahon, formerly president of the London Mathematical Society;Geometry(Vol. 11, p. 675),Euclidean,Projective,Descriptive, by Dr. Henrici, professor of mathematics, Central Technical College of the City and Guilds of London Institute;Analytical, by E. B. Elliott, Waynflete professor of pure mathematics, Oxford;Line, by B. A. W. Russell, author ofFoundations of Geometry, etc., and Dr. A. N. Whitehead of Trinity College, Cambridge;Axioms, by Dr. Whitehead;Trigonometry(Vol. 27, p. 271) by Dr. E. W. Hobson of Cambridge University;Surveying(Vol. 26, p. 142),Geodetic Triangulation, Levelling, Topographical Surveys, and Geographical Surveying, by Sir Thomas Holdich, formerly superintendent of Frontier Surveys, India;Nautical, by Vice-Admiral A. M. Field, R.N., author ofHydrographical Surveying, etc.;Geodesy(Vol. 11, p. 607) by Col. A. R. Clarke of the British ordinance survey, and Prof. F. R. Helmert of the University of Berlin;Logarithm(Vol. 16, p. 868) by Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, editor of theQuarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics;Mechanics(Vol. 17, p. 955),Statics,Kinetics, by Dr. Horace Lamb, professor of mathematics, University of Manchester;Theory of Structures,Theory of Machines,Applied Dynamics, by Dr. W. J. M. Rankine, late professor of civil engineering, Glasgow University, and W. E. Dalby, professor of civil and mechanical engineering, City and Guilds of London Institute;Dynamics(Vol. 8, p. 756) by Professor Lamb;Differences, Calculus of(Vol. 8, p. 223), by Dr. W. F. Sheppard;Infinitesimal Calculus(Vol. 14, p. 535) by Dr. A. E. H. Love, secretary of the London Mathematical Society;Variations, Calculus of(Vol. 27, p. 915), by Dr. Love;Quaternions(Vol. 22, p. 718) by Alexander McAulay, professor of mathematics and physics, University of Tasmania;Diagram(Vol. 8, p. 146), by Dr. James Clerk Maxwell, the noted physicist;Mensuration(Vol. 18, p. 135) by Dr. Sheppard;Table, Mathematical(Vol 26, p. 325), by Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher;Units, Physical(Vol. 27, p. 738), by Dr. J. A Fleming, professor of electrical engineering, University of London;Units, Dimensions of(Vol. 27, p. 736), by Sir Joseph Larmor, secretary of the Royal Society, England; andCalculating Machines(Vol. 4, p. 972), with 24 illustrations, is by Professor Henrici.
These admirable treatises as well as the articleDrawing,Drawing-Office work(Vol. 8, p. 556), by Joseph G. Horner, will be useful to all engineers, and in the special field of civil engineering the following partial list of articles will convey some idea of the scope of the material to which the professional man has immediate access.
Articles for Civil Engineers
Bridges(Vol. 4, p. 533), with 72 illustrations, diagrams, etc., is a thorough discussion of the subject by Dr. William C. Unwin, emeritus professor of engineering, Central Technical College, City and Guilds of London Institute, author ofWrought Iron Bridges and Roofs, etc. This article covers the whole theory of bridge design, and describes all the typical structures from the timberPons Sublicius of ancient Rome, the bridge Horatius defended, to the Manhattan Bridge over the East River at New York.Roads and Streets(Vol. 23, p. 388);River Engineering(Vol. 23, p. 374), with 26 illustrations, by the late L. F. Vernon-Harcourt, professor of civil engineering, University College, London, and author ofRivers and Canals, etc.;Jetty(Vol. 15, p. 359), with 6 illustrations, andPier(Vol. 21, p. 588), illustrated, also by Prof. Vernon-Harcourt;Dredge and Dredging(Vol. 8, p. 562), with 13 illustrations, by William Hunter, consulting engineer for Waterworks to Crown agents for the Colonies.
Hydraulics(Vol. 14, p. 35), with 213 illustrations, is by Prof. W. C. Unwin—an article in which the whole theory and practice of water-power, including discussions of water-motors and turbines, are brought fully up to date by the designer of the first water-motors at Niagara, the section dealing with hydraulic machines occupying 25 pages;Hydromechanics(Vol. 14, p. 115) by Sir Alfred George Greenhill, formerly professor of mathematics in the Ordnance College, Woolwich;Ventilation(Vol. 27, p. 1008), illustrated, by James Bartlett;Water Supply(Vol. 28, p. 387), with 20 illustrations, diagrams, and maps, by Dr. G. F. Deacon, formerly engineer-in-chief for the Liverpool Water Supply;Aqueduct,Modern Construction(Vol. 2, p. 244), by E. P. Hill;Sewerage(Vol. 24, p. 735), with 29 illustrations, by James Bartlett;Irrigation(Vol 14, p. 841).
Canal(Vol. 5, p. 168), by Sir E. Leader Williams, chief engineer of Manchester Ship Canal during construction, is an interesting article. There are also separate articles on great engineering undertakings, such asPanama Canal(Vol. 20, p. 667);Manchester Ship Canal(Vol. 17, p. 550) by Sir E. Leader Williams;Suez Canal(Vol. 26, p. 22). It will surprise many readers to learn that the project of a ship canal across Central America was considered as early as 1550, when a book demonstrating its feasibility was published in Portugal. Only a year later the King of Spain was strongly urged, in a memorial presented by De Gomara, the Spanish historian, to undertake the work.
Railways and Transportation
Tunnel(Vol. 27, p. 399), with many plans and illustrations, by H. A. Carson, in charge of designing and constructing the Boston Subway;Dock(Vol. 8, p. 353), with illustrations and plans;Caisson(Vol. 4, p. 957);Breakwater(Vol. 4, p. 475), with 16 illustrations;Harbour(Vol. 12, p. 935), illustrated;Reclamation of Land(Vol. 22, p. 954), with 13 illustrations. The last five articles are by Professor Vernon-Harcourt;Lighthouse(Vol. 16, p. 627), with 59 illustrations, by W. T. Douglass, who erected the Eddystone and Bishop Rock Lighthouses, and Nicholas G. Gedye, chief engineer to the Tyne Improvement Commission;Shipbuilding(Vol. 24, p. 922), with 125 illustrations—a complete treatise on the subject by Sir Philip Watts, director of naval construction for the British Navy;Traction(Vol. 27, p. 119), illustrated, by Prof. Louis Duncan, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;Tramway(Vol. 27, p. 159), illustrated, by Emile Garcke, managing director of the British Electric Traction Co., Ltd.;Railways(Vol. 22, p. 819), a magnificent composite article, fully illustrated, in which theIntroductionand the sections onConstruction and Rolling Stockare by H. M. Ross, editor ofThe Times Engineering Supplement;General Statistics and Financial Organization, by Ray Morris, formerly of theRailway Age Gazette, New York, and author ofRailroad Administration;Economics and Legislation, by Arthur T. Hadley, president of Yale University;American Railway Legislation, by Prof. Frank H. Dixon, of Dartmouth College,author ofState Railroad Control;Accident Statistics, by B. B. Adams, associate editor,Railway Age Gazette;Intra Urban Railways, by W. B. Parsons, formerly chief engineer, Rapid Transit Commission, New York, andLight Railways, by C. E. Webber of the Royal Engineers, and Emile Garcke. No book on the subject has ever before contained so great a collection of expert knowledge as this article presents.
Structural Engineering
In regard to construction, engineers will find most valuable for reference and study the elaborate treatisesStrength of Materials(Vol. 25, p. 1007), with 42 diagrams and illustrations, by Prof. J. A. Ewing, andElasticity(Vol. 9, p. 141), with 32 diagrams, by Prof. A. E. H. Love. Notable articles in this connection areIron and Steel(Vol. 14, p. 801), illustrated, by Dr. H. M. Howe, professor of metallurgy, Columbia University; andSteel Construction(Vol. 25, p. 861), illustrated. It is interesting to note that early in the 19th century a tall shot-tower was built in New York city by erecting a braced cage of iron and filling in the panels with masonry.Stone(Vol. 25, p. 958);Masonry(Vol. 17, p. 841), with 18 illustrations;Brickwork(Vol. 4, p. 521), with 15 illustrations—these four articles by James Bartlett, lecturer on construction at King’s College, London;Cement(Vol. 5, p. 653), illustrated, by Bertram Blount, hon. president, Cement Section of International Association for Testing Materials, Budapest;Concrete(Vol. 6, p. 835), with 16 illustrations, by F. E. Wentworth-Shields, dock engineer of the London and South-Western Railway;Mortar(Vol. 18, p. 875);Foundations(Vol. 10, p. 733), with 13 illustrations;Timber(Vol. 26, p. 978);Roofs(Vol. 23, p. 697), with 23 illustrations;Scaffold(Vol. 24, p. 279) illustrated;Shoring(Vol. 24, p. 1004), illustrated—the last six by James Bartlett.
For the Mechanical Engineer
The Engineering Section of the new Britannica provides an equal wealth of authentic material for members of other branches of the profession. It is impossible to indicate the exact lines of demarcation between these branches, and many articles are of use to all engineers alike; but in the special field of mechanical engineering there areThermodynamics(Vol. 26, p. 808) by Dr. H. L. Callendar, professor of physics, Royal College of Science, London;Steam Engine(Vol. 25, p. 818) by Prof. Ewing, more than 30 pages long, with 68 illustrations. This article, with its up-to-date section on turbines, is one of the many in the engineering department of the Britannica which have been said by technical critics to merit separate publication as text-books. But such articles are all the more useful because they form part of one great library of universal knowledge. Other mechanical articles areAir Engine(Vol. 1, p. 443), illustrated, also by Professor Ewing;Gas Engine(Vol. 11, p. 495), illustrated, by Dugald Clerk, inventor of the Clerk Cycle Gas Engine;Oil Engine(Vol. 20, p. 35), illustrated, also by Dugald Clerk;Boiler(Vol. 4, p. 141), with 20 illustrations, by James T. Milton, chief engineer surveyor to Lloyd’s Registry of Shipping, and Joseph G. Horner, author ofPlating and Boiler Making;Injector(Vol. 14, p. 570);Water Motors(Vol. 28, p. 382), illustrated, by T. H. Beare, Regius professor of engineering in the University of Edinburgh;Windmill(Vol. 28, p. 710), illustrated, by Professor Unwin;Fuel(Vol. 11, p. 274), illustrated,Solid Fuelsby Hilary Bauermann, of the Ordnance College, Woolwich;Liquid Fuel, by Sir James Fortescue-Flannery, formerly president of the Institute of Marine Engineers;Gaseous Fuel, by Dr. Georg Lunge,professor of technical chemistry at the Zurich Polytechnic;Gas,Gas for Fuel and Power(Gas producers) (Vol. 11, p. 490), illustrated, also by Professor Lunge.
Power Transmission(Vol. 22, p. 224), illustrated,Mechanical, by Professor Dalby;Hydraulic, by Edward B. Ellington, chief engineer of the General Hydraulic Power Co., Ltd.;Pneumatic, by A. de W. Foote, superintendent of the North Star Mining Co., California;Pulley(Vol. 22, p. 641), illustrated, by Dr. Ernest G. Coker, professor of mechanical Engineering in the City and Guilds of London Technical College;Pump(Vol. 22, p. 645), illustrated;Brake(Vol. 4, p. 413), illustrated;Tool(Vol. 27, p. 14), with 79 illustrations, by Joseph G. Horner;Cranes(Vol. 7, p. 368), with 21 illustrations, by Walter Pitt;Elevators(Vol. 9, p. 263), illustrated, by G. F. Zimmer, author ofMechanical Handling of Material;Lubricants(Vol. 17, p. 89) by R. M. Deeley, joint author ofLubrication and Lubricants;Pneumatic Despatch(Vol. 21, p. 865) by H. R. Kempe, electrician to the General Post Office, London;Gyroscope and Gyrostat(Vol. 12, p. 769), illustrated, by Sir Alfred Greenhill;Motor Vehicles(Vol. 18, p. 914), with 37 illustrations—Light, by the Hon. C. S. Rolls, late managing director of the Rolls Royce Co., Ltd.;Heavy Commercial Vehicles, by Edward S. Smith, editor ofThe Commercial Motor;Railways,Locomotive Power(Vol. 22, p. 842) by Professor W. E. Dalby.
For the Electrical Engineer
The key article describing the general principles of electrical engineering isElectricity Supply(Vol. 9, p. 192), illustrated, by Emile Garcke, but at the immediate service of the electrical engineer there also standDynamo(Vol. 8, p. 764), with 42 illustrations, by C. C. Hawkins, author ofThe Dynamo;Power Transmission,Electrical(Vol. 22, p. 233) by Dr. Louis Bell, chief engineer, Electric Power Transmission Dept., General Electric Co.;Conduction, Electric(Vol. 6, p. 855),Conduction in Solidsby Professor Fleming;in Liquids, by W. C. D. Whetham; in Gases, by Sir J. J. Thomson, a Nobel prize-winner and professor of experimental physics at Cambridge;Electrolysis(Vol. 9, p. 217) by W. C. D. Whetham;Electrokinetics(Vol. 9, p. 210), illustrated;Electrostatics(Vol. 9, p. 240);Electromagnetism(Vol. 9, p. 226), illustrated;Units, Physical,Electrical Units(Vols. 27, p. 740);Galvanometer(Vol. 11, p. 428), illustrated;Electrometer(Vol. 9, p. 234), illustrated;Amperemeter(Vol. 1, p. 879), illustrated;Voltmeter(Vol. 28, p. 206), illustrated;Ohmmeter(Vol. 20, p. 34), illustrated;Wattmeter(Vol. 28, p. 419)—all of these by Professor Fleming;Potentiometer(Vol. 22, p. 205);Accumulator(Vol. 1, p. 126), with 24 illustrations and diagrams, by Walter Hibbert, of the London Polytechnic;Transformers(Vol. 27, p. 173), with 15 illustrations and diagrams, andWheatstone’s Bridge(Vol. 28, p. 584), illustrated, by Professor Fleming;Motors, Electric(Vol. 18, p. 910), by Dr. Louis Bell;Meter, Electric, (Vol. 18, p. 291), by Professor Fleming;Lighting,Electric(Vol. 16, p. 659), with 16 illustrations, by Professor Fleming, and a chapter on its commercial aspects, methods of charging, wiring of houses, testing meters, etc., by Emile Garcke;Telegraph(Vol. 26, p. 510), fully illustrated,Land and Submarine Telegraphy, by H. R. Kempe;Wireless Telegraphy, by Professor Fleming, andCommercial Aspects, by Emile Garcke;Telephone(Vol. 26, p. 547), illustrated, by H. R. Kempe and Emile Garcke;Traction,Electric(Vol. 27, p. 120), illustrated, by Professor Duncan. An admirable historical sketch of electricity will be found inElectricity(Vol. 9, p. 179), by Professor Fleming, which contains also an account of the development of electric theory.
American Practice in Mining
It is typical of the policy pursued in making the new Britannica that the Editor placed the mining section in the hands of American experts, since they are universally regarded as the best in the world. This entire section is a worthy monument to American learning and practice.
The key-articleMining(Vol. 18, p. 528), fully illustrated, is by Dr. Henry Smith Munroe, professor of mining in Columbia University. This covers every branch of the subject, but further discussion of its special phases is continued inMineral Deposits(Vol. 18, p. 504) by Dr. James F. Kemp, professor of geology, Columbia University;Quarrying(Vol. 22, p. 712) by Dr. F. J. H. Merrill, formerly state geologist of New York;Ore-Dressing(Vol. 20, p. 238), illustrated, by Dr. R. H. Richards, professor of mining and metallurgy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;Shaft-Sinking(Vol. 24, p. 766), illustrated;Boring(Vol. 4, p. 251), illustrated;Blasting(Vol. 4, p. 44), illustrated—the last three by Robert Peele, professor of mining in Columbia University.