February 5, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 277 much attention. The day was approaching when the extravagant use of coal would be curtailed. Those smoky chimneys, the beacons of ignorance of our great manufac- turing cities, were doomed to disappear. The fuel of the future would be one prepared for the particular use for which it was required. No doubt our great collieries would become distributing centres, from which high-pressure gas would be transmitted to industrial communities, and the residues of smokeless fuel and oils W'ould be marketed in a manner we little dreamt of to-day. The possibility of utilising the energy that might be extracted from inferior and unworkable shallow seams, or even from the leavings in the goaf of present workings by boring and distilling in situ might not be so far distant as some of Sir William Ramsay’s critics appeared to imagine. The development in rapid and cheap boring during the last few years had made it possible practically to riddle such an area at comparatively little cost, and with suitable means of bringing about combustion and pumping out the gas, the millions and millions of tons of small coal which had been left in the goaf might still be made to give up its energy. In all the problems connected with mining of the future the application of scientific principles was essential. He was speaking to students who were attending courses of instruction under the County Council. All of them had ambition to gain diplomas of merit or certificates as might assist them personally in their careers. The attendance at mining classes, the passing of examinations, although appearing to fit them for future work, did not do every- thing^ indeed, unless they had a fuller knowledge of the principles that underlay the subject, the veneer that they obtained at those classes was really of little use to them. Such subjects as mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and, Fig. 1.—Mineral Locomotive for the Barry Railway. Fig. 2.—Mineral Locomotive for the Taff Vale Railway. indeed, their own language, were as important to their mental equipment as the more technical subjects that appeared so much more attractive. Those of them who wished to acquire positions of responsibility, who wished.to ■take part in solving the problems that would have to be solved in mining of the future, could not do better than to follow the courses in the subjects which he understood their County Council had provided. In doing that they would be making preparation, not only to increase their own efficiency, but to assist in solving some of those problems of the future which it had been his pleasure to bring to their notice that evening. At the conclusion of the lecture, the Chairman stated that the arrangements for the mining classes were costing the county councils £5 per week, but the attendance, particu- larly of the first year students, was unsatisfactory. The young men must expect to “ walk their mile ” to the classes, which could not be provided next door to all of them. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Cadman on the motion of Mr. W. Eames. The Australian Attorney-General (the Hon. W. M. Hughes) states that the Federal Government intends introducing legislation cancelling all contracts between Australian mining companies and foreign base-metal buyers- This will enable British or Australian firms to engage in refining processes with Australian products. It is stated by the Attorney-General that communications are passing between the Imperial Federal Governments on the subject, and probably legislation will be introduced simultaneously in the two Parliaments. IP . POWERFUL MINERAL LOCOMOTIVES FOR SOUTH WALES RAILWAYS. Owing to the severe gradients and the comparatively heavy character of the traffic, all of the South Wales mineral-carrying railways call for the use of powerful locomotives. Towards the close of the past year the first of two new locomotive types was introduced on the Barry and also on the Taff Vale railway systems. The new locomotives for the Barry Railway, which are illustrated in fig. 1, are of the 0-6-4 tank type, and they have been built by Messrs. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company Limited, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, to the designs and requirements of Mr. J. Auld, the locomotive superintendent at Barry, and since their introduction into traffic they have been engagedin dealing with trains composed of 60 12-ton wagons. The coupled wheels are 4 ft. 7 in. and the bogie wheels 3 ft. 1 in. in diameter, the rigid wheelbase being 15 ft. 6 in., and the total engine wheelbase 28 ft. The total heating surface amounts to 1,495'5 sq. ft., to which the tubes contribute 1.372 sq. ft., and the firebox the remaining 123'5 sq. ft. The grate area is 22 sq. ft. The boiler, which has a working pressure of 1801b. per square inch, is carried at the front end on an intermediate saddle fitted over the cylinders. The valve gear is of the Stephenson type, working through rocking arms. The valves are on the top of the cylinders, which latter are 18J in. diameter by 26 in. stroke. The engine is balanced on the principle of giving each wheel its own revolving mass and dividing two-thirds of the reciprocating masses equally among all wheels. The engines have a total weight in working order of 78 tons 15 cwt. 1 qr., the weight on the leading wheels being 19 tons 2 cwt. 1 qr., on the driving wheels 19 tons 3 cwt. 2 qrs., on the trailing wheels 19 tons 0 cwt. 3 qrs., on the leading bogie wheels 10 tons 13 cwt. 2 qrs., and on the trailing bogie wheels 10 tons 15 cwt. 1 qr. Eight coupled tank engines have previously been generally used in the Barry Railway Company’s receiving and marshalling yards, but for main line service it has been found more suitable to traffic require- ments to handle a small train smartly than by loading the trains up to the maximum which would be required for a heavy eight-coupled engine, and it is for this reason that the six-coupled type was adopted. The tanks have a carrying capacity of 2,200 galls, of water, and there is bunker space for four tons of fuel. The Taff Vale Railway Company’s new locomotives are of the six-coupled radial tank type, as illustrated in the photo, fig. 2. They also have been built by Messrs. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company Limited, to the designs of Mr. J. Cameron, the locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent of the Taff Vale Railway. They are capable of hauling mineral trains of 55 loaded wagons at 17 to 20 miles per hour over a gradient of 1 in 200. The cylinders are 18) in. diameter, with a stroke of 26 in. The coupled wheels are 5 ft. 3 in.-diameter, spread over a wheelbase of 14 ft. 6 in., whilst the total wheelbase is 20 ft. 7 in., and the length over buffers 35 ft. 5f in. The total heating surface amounts to 1,332'66 sq. ft., the tubes contributing 1,211'13 sq. ft., and the firebox the remaining 121'53 sq. ft. The grate area is 18'5 sq. ft., and the working pressure of the boiler 160 lb. per sq. in. The tanks have a capacity of 1,708 galls., and there is bunker space for 2) tons of coal. Reckoned at 80 per cent, of the working pressure, these engines have a tractive force of 18,0501b., and an adhesive weight of 126'728 lb., the ratio of tractive force to adhesive weight being 7'92. In working order, the engines weigh 69 tons 1 cwt., of which 56 tons 11 cwt. 2 qrs. is on the coupled wheels. SOUTH WALES INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS. The ordinary general meeting of the South Wales Institute of Engineers was held at Cardiff on J anuary 28. The new president, Principal E. H. Griffiths, M.A., F.R.S., proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Henry T. Wales, the outgoing president; and the motion, being seconded by Mr. W. D. Wight, was adopted with acclamation. The following new members were elected :—Philip T. Jenkins, H.M.I.M., Newport, Mon.; T. L. McBride, H.M.I.M., Newport, Mon.; Griffith Rees Morgan, Senghenydd, Glamorgan; J. Neale, Llwynypia; 0. Faraday Proctor, Cardiff; and Fred E. Rees, B.Se., Cardiff. President's Address. The President delivered his inaugural address. In the course of this he dealt with a variety of topics. The task of the engineer, he said, being to utilise the powers of nature for the purpose of mankind, his attention was therefore chiefly directed to the applications of science, rather than to the principles on which those applications are founded; hence, the philosopher must precede the engineer. The latter reaped, possibly with arduous labour, the harvest whose seeds were sown by men of the type of Faraday. It was well, occasionally, to endeavour to trace the links of the chain connecting the laboratory and ,the workshop, and to consider the con- nection between the student peering through his micro- scope, or the philosopher wrestling with the problems presented by pure mathematics, and the designers of our canals and viaducts, our marvellous floating palaces and ironclads, our wireless installations, our chemical works, our foundries, the deep shafts of our mines, and the soaring aeroplanes. It is true, as pointed out by Prof. Silvanus Thompson,* that any indebtedness there may be is not all on one side, for “ While pure science breeds useful inventions, it is none the less true that the industrial development of useful inven- tions fosters the progress of pure science. It was in the quest, the hopeless quest, of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life that the foundations of the science of chemistry were laid.” It is probably due to the steam engine that the all-embracing science of thermo-dynamics was bom. Never- theless, in an engineers’ society such as this, it is perhaps more graceful and more helpful to dwell on the debit, rather than the credit, side of our account. The disciple of pure science is the pioneer who penetrates into unknown lands, and returns—if he ever returns—probably a poorer, though a wiser man; the engineer follows in his footsteps, fells the trees, bridges the rivers, builds the roads, and works the mineral deposits; and the settlers in the new country, in their gratitude for the facilities thus afforded them, are apt to forget the labours of the man who rendered such achieve- ments possible. I do not refer to this aspect of the subject in any spirit of complaint. To your true discoverer, dis- covery is its own reward. Faraday said that he had “ no time to waste in making money,” but, although he died a poor man, the whole world is the richer for his achievements. Nevertheless, I believe it to be in the truest interests of the community that such men as he should receive encourage- ment and support sufficient to enable them to pursue their studies unworried by financial troubles. But, it may be asked, why should not these men devote a portion of their energies to the application of the principles they have revealed, and thus benefit both the community and themselves? When considering this possibility, we should remember that the time in which a discovery is made is one in which its application may not be feasible. For example, Cavendish, in 1760, demonstrated the effect of passing sparks through a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen in the presence of alkalies. We are now manufacturing calcium nitrate at the rate of 100,000 tons per annum by a process based on his investiga- tion. Suppose (although, remembering the. history of Cavendish, nothing could be more unlikely) that he had wished to bring his discovery to the market. It would have been impossible for him to obtain the necessary mechanical power, and had he produced the calcium nitrate, no one would have known what use to make of it. The truth is that men who have esteemed the study of nature the most noble of pursuits, have, in general, been ahead of their generation, often their conclusions have been the subject of ridicule, and themselves of persecution—science, as well as religion, has had -its martyrs. Principal Griffiths offered some further examples of the time gap which often separates the man who dis- covers from the man who applies. He took the cases of Wohler, who in 1827 first produced aluminium; of Berzelius, who discovered cerium in 1803, zirconium in 1824, and thorium in 1829; of Brandt, who isolated phosphorus in 1669; of Sturgeon, who, in 1825., invented the soft iron electro-magnet; and the discovery of vanadium, molybdenum, and tungsten about the year 1778; and other cases. Few of the discoverers men- tioned had received any emolument or general recog- * The presidential address, Section G, British Association, 1907.