144

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

January 17, 1913.

BOOK NOTICES.

Electricity Made Plain. By G. R. Peers. Manchester:

John Heywood Limited. Price Is. net.

One opens this book with some interest, for the very
first question which the author attempts to solve is the
familiar enquiry, “ What is electricity ” ? But one
looks in vain for a plain answer, and we scarcely expected
anything else. The book is not, however, to be con-
demned because its title is a little misleading, for
although a large portion of this little work cannot be
called particularly plain, it nevertheless covers a wide
field and will provide interesting reading for those who
want to gain some idea of the applications of electricity,
without being bothered with the why and wherefore of
the phenomena described.

Commercial Engineering. By “A General Manager’’

(Alfred J. Liversedge). Manchester and London:
Emmott and Co. Limited. Price 7s. 6d. net.

In the conduct of modern industries it is difficult to
trace any definite line of demarcation between what
may, for the lack of better terms, be called the
“technical” management and the “business” manage-
ment. We are constantly meeting men specially
adapted by experience to work in this borderland, but
at the present time their province is one that has not
been seriously invaded by the writer of text books—
possibly because peculiar attainments are needed for
such an expedition.

It is obvious to those who read Mr. Liversedge’s
book, which originally appeared in the Mechanical
World, that he possesses these rare gifts. His original
object was, in his own words, to fill the gap which exists
in every scheme of professional or commercial training,
and active, responsible, and useful participation in
business. Subsequently, however, he developed his
theme by analysing the character of the world’s
markets for engineering productions. The scope of
the work is, indeed, enormous.

His first chapter the author devotes to enunciating
the importance of the capacity to “ sell.” The ideal
commercial man, he says, will have a certain minimum
technical and scientific knowledge, and, in addition, he
will have a thorough acquaintance with the materials of
his business, of the different classes of labour needed in
his business and the costs of that labour, of the
organisation and management of stocks or stores, office
management, shipping, the determination of the costs
of manufacture, correspondence, the preparation of
estimates, &c., and banking. These shortly describe the
chapters that follow. Incidentally there is a passage
which is of special interest to colliery managers. Mr.
Liversedge makes a distinction between “ management ”
and “ direction,” and adds, “ a man quite without technical
knowledge may direct an engineering business ....
but rarely can such a man expect successfully to manage
such an undertaking.”

In his second chapter the author divides his subject
respectively into considerations relating to production
and those relating to selling. The former he again
subdivides into (1) direct materials, (2) direct labour
and (3) facilities, latter covering indirect materials and
labour. The first of the direct materials dealt with is
naturally iron, and a great deal of valuable information
is given in regard to the classifications, sources, pro-
perties, and prices of various descriptions of the crude
material and its derivatives. This is followed by copper,
and other brass foundry metals, timber, and other
sundry direct materials.

So we reach the ninth chapter, which is devoted to
“ indirect materials,” the first to be dealt with being
coal and coke. It is pointed out that the cost of coal
for steam production delivered to engineering works in
this country varies from t>s. to 20s. per ton, and the
situation of the works with regard to the coalfields
must govern to a large extent the character of the
boiler plant, since the more remote works will probably
find it pay to use a better class of coal, the cost of
carriage not being based upon the calorific value. As
regards foundry coke, the author, like many others,
still pins his faith on “ beehive ” coke, but admits that
the quality of the coke made in the by-product oven is
gradually approximating to it. A useful list is given
of the various classes of coal sold in various districts for
manufacturing purposes, with their relative prices.
Some of the many grades of anthracite might have been
included in this list, in view of the extensive use of
suction gas producers.

The author next deals in turn with a number of other
indirect materials, such as gas, electricity, tool steel,
oils, belting and office materials. The following
chapters deal with various phases of the labour question,
including the troublous questions presented by trade
unions, overtime, apprenticeship, piecework rates, &c.
The section of the work dealing with facilities is full of

ABSTRACTS OF PATENT SPECIFICATIONS
RECENTLY ACCEPTED.

1666 (1912). Improvements in Pipe Couplings. H. Molien,
of No. 9a, Kapellstrasse, Dusseldorf, Germany, and the
British Mannesman Tube Company Limited, of 401, Salis-
bury House, London, E.C.—This invention has for its object
to provide an improved pipe coupling of the type in which
a pipe is coupled by screwing into a socket. According to
the invention the pipe to be screwed into the socket is

interest; it covers the questions of land, buildings, light,
plant and capital or credit, and these subjects are treated
in a very able manner. The same remark applies to the
remainder of the work, which is devoted to production—
that is, selling, specialisation, patents, exhibitions, &c.,
and markets, home and foreign.

The outstanding impressions gained from reading
this book are that the circle of readers upon which it
makes a claim is amazingly wide, and that they will find
in it much information which, although never
elaborated, has never before, so far as we are aware,
been collected together in so convenient a form.

Report on the Utilisation of Peat Fuel for the Produc-
tion of Power. ByB.F.HAANEL. Ottawa: Govern-
ment Printing Bureau, 1912.

This forms another of the useful treatises on the
economic productions of Canada which have been
published by the Government Department of Mines.
The work is the result of requests received at the Mines
Branch for information respecting the economic use
of peat in a producer-gas power plant. In fact, the
demonstration of the power-producing value of peat
was the original Object in establishing a fuel testing
station at Ottawa, of which the author is the chief in
charge. The extension of its scope to the commercial
testing of bituminous coals and lignites was a subse-
quent development. The present work is divided into
two portions. The first deals with a description of the
Korting producer gas plant, and gives the details of
tests made with various kinds of manufactured peat;
while the second part describes the results of tests in
an altered form of producer in which certain changes
were introduced by the makers, Messrs. Korting Bros.,
of Hanover. The main object of the alterations was to
prevent the deposition of tar in the engine, and in the
end it was found that by placing a gauze cone in the
top chamber of the coke scrubber no further trouble
was experienced, and the plant worked in an entirely
satisfactory way. It is calculated that if peat with
25 per cent, moisture can be delivered at the producer
for 2 dols. per ton, and the plant is run with a power
factor of 75 per cent, for 3,000 hours, the fuel costs
would be 8'40 dols. per B.H.P. year, including stand-by
losses. In large size plants this cost is reduced by the
value of the sulphate of ammonia and tar recovered as
by-products.

Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.—A conversazione
was held at the Savoy Hotel, on Monday last, to celebrate
the twenty-first anniversary of the institution. The guests
were received by the president, Mr. Edward Hooper, and
Mrs. Hooper. An excellent musical programme was
provided, and an interesting exhibition of natural-colour
photography was given by Mr. Hugh F. Marriott, vice-
president of the institution. The institution is in a most
flourishing state. In 1899 its membership was 585, it rose
to 1,324 in 1905, and is now 2,258.

The Metropolitan Water Board’s Coal Supply.—The
Works Committee of the Metropolitan Water Board report
that when inviting certain tenders recently accepted,
it was stipulated that contractors should furnish a number
of details, including the calorific value of the coal, both
dried and undried. The contracts provided that with the
exception of wharf screenings from house coal, samples
from all steam coals were to be taken at the time the coal
was delivered in the proportion of not less than one sample
to every 500 tons, and that such samples should be tested
as to their calorific value. At the end of each month the
average calorific value was to be arrived at by taking the
arithmetical mean of all the tested samples of a specific
coal, and that payment was to be made on the basis of the
price per ton quoted in the contract, corrected propor-
tionately for every complete 2 per cent, above or below the
calorific value (as delivered undried) specified by the con-
tractor. It was further provided that the sampling and
tests should be made by the Board’s officials, the contractor
to be permitted to send his representative to be present on
both occasions. In certain cases, however, the committee
continue, the calorific value specified by the contractor was
qualified by the words “ approximately ” or “ about,” and
the question has arisen as to the effect of these words upon
the guaranteed calorific value. Negotiations had therefore
been entered into with the firms concerned, and as a result
a settlement of the points in dispute has been arrived at.
The terms of this settlement are as follow :—(1) When the
guarantee is qualified by the words “ approximate ” or
“ about,” a variation of 2 per cent, either way to be allowed
—i.e., no alteration to be made unless the average of the
tests is either 4 per cent, above or below the contractor’s
figure. (2.) For Welsh coal, when the guarantee is for the
dried sample, a deduction of 1 per cent, to be allowed for
moisture—i.e., the figure obtained by subtracting 1 per
cent, from the dried value to give the basis for adjustment.
(3.) For Midland, north-country and Scotch coals, when
the guarantee is for the dried sample, a deduction of 3 per
cent, to be allowed for moisture—i.e., the figure obtained by
subtracting 3 per cent, from the dried value to give the
basis for adjustment.



formed behind its reduced screw-threaded portion with a
conical surface adapted to bear against and make a tight
joint with the sharp outer edge of a recess in the socket
when the pipe is screwed into the latter. Two arrangements
according to this invention are illustrated by way of
examples in longitudinal section in figs. 1 and 2 of the
accompanying drawings. (Three claims.)

4560 (1912). Improvements in and relating to Couplings for
Colliery Trams or Corves. D. Hughes, Mill Forge, Nantgarw,
Taffs’ Well, Glamorganshire—According to this invention
the ordinary dee shackle is discarded entirely, and an entirely
different coupling of the rigid type substituted. Fig. 1 is a side
elevation of ;a simple form of coupling constructed according
to the invention; fig. 2 is a similar view (fa slightly
modified form in which additional means are provided in
order to prevent the loose bar from swinging out of place;
and, as shown in fig. 1, the coupling comprises an iron bar a
of round or other suitable transverse section, with ends b b
to engage the holes in the drawbar plates c c. These ends
b b are deflected at right angles to the bar a or as shown, very
slightly inclined inwards to one another. In order to
prevent the deflected ends bb from jerking out of the
drawbar holes, there is suspended below the coupling bar,
and capable of revolving about the longitudinal axis thereof,
a second bar d of round or other suitable transverse section
parallel to the coupling bar. The ends d1 of the said
swinging bar d just clear the deflected ends b b of the
coupling bar a when in its normal position and underlying

3?

44

the ends of the drawbar plates they serve to prevent the
ends of the coupling bar jerking out of the holes. The
swinging bar d is suspended from the coupling bar a by
means of forged straps or equivalent connections e, which
are of sufficient length to enable the swinging bar to be
lifted or swung about the coupling bar a until the ends dl
thereof clear the sides b b of the drawbar. The swinging
bar forms the handle by which the coupling bar a can be
then lifted from both drawbars cc at the same time.
Collars or flanges a1 are forged or fitted to the coupling bar
to limit the linear movement of the swinging bar. In the
slightly modified form of coupling shown in fig. 2 of the
drawings the centre a2 of the bar a is hammered out so that
it tapers in thickness towards either edge, and, being
thereby wider, is reinforced to prevent any risk of its being
bent. Circumferential grooves a3 are formed on either side
of the said flattened out central portion a2 reducing the
bar a in the said grooves a3 to round cross section. Around
these grooves are passed the straps e carrying the bar d.
The ends of the said dependent bar in this case, as before,
normally rest beneath the ends of the drawbar plates c, and
when it is desired to withdraw the coupling bar the
dependent bar has to be swung upwards, the ends thereof
clearing the ends of the drawbar plates, and the swinging
bar itself forming a handle to withdraw the coupling. To
prevent this bar swinging about unintentionally when in
use and thereby freeing the coupling, depending catch-
plates ff are pivoted to the centre of the coupling bar a, one
on either side thereof, to prevent the said bar from swinging
into an insecure position by the jolting of the trams. Thus
it is impossible with this additional safety means for the
bar d to swing out of place or be moved to free the coupling
without first turning up one or other of the catches f. (Five
claims.)

8245 (1912). Improvements in and relating to Centrifugal
Compressors. The British Thomson-Houston Company
Limited, 83, Cannon-street, London, E.C. (a communication
from the General Electric Company, Schenectady, New