898

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

May 12, 1916.

the place of shipment—this depends on the distance,
respective ground or mooring values and accommodation
available; then method of storage, whether in wagons or
barges, in bunkers or stacks; the question of double
handling has also to be considered.

(8) Classifying and Checking. — Mixing may be
•arranged for at the colliery if the coals are obtained from
different pits on the same property where the despatch
sidings adjoin, otherwise it will be at the place of ship-
ment, or on special sidings near by. Screening and
weighing (or measuring as at Hamburg) are matters
worthy of close attention.

(4)	System of Shipment.—This is dependent on the
dock authorities unless private wharves are available (as
on the Tyne, in the U.S.A., on the Rhine, etc.), then
various alternative methods offer, the most suitable to
the conditions being decided from special knowledge and
study, as referred to by the writer in “ Coal Shipping
Ports and their Equipment.”

(5)	Class of Vessel for Coal Cargoes.—-The class of
vessel chartered for shipment of coal cargoes justifies
greater attention than it perhaps sometimes receives.
This affects breakage of coal, despatch, both in loading
and discharge, etc.

(6)	Discharge at Coaling Stations. — Opportunities
offer for improvements over methods often adopted, and
are possible in many cases without a large outlay being
involved. As to the question of discharge direct to
wharf, or into hulks or barges, the local conditions must
be carefully considered. Labour obstacles should not
bo allowed as la reason against improved methods—they
are not justified, and can be tactfully overcome.

(7)	Storage. — Floating versus shore storage is an
important question. Floating storage may be in hulks
or barges, and mooring or docking, towage, etc.,
facilities have to be considered, also arrangements for
filling and discharging, prevention of deterioration, etc.
Shore storage involves consideration of methods of con-
veyance to- storage if not alongside wharf; open or
covered stacks, methods of stacking, classifying, preven-
tion of spontaneous combustion, disintegration and
deterioration; bins or bunkers and tank (wet) storage as
alternatives. Mixing and screening also Fall for atten-
tion, as well as reduced wastage; for utilising the slack
•—the question of small briquetting plants at coaling
stations as a source of additional profit is worthy of
consideration in some cases. For re-handling from
storage, several methods can be adopted requiring care-
ful discrimination in view of local conditions, outlay,
working costs, maintenance, despatch, and breakage.
Landing, conveyance to storage and re-handling by one
system should result in economy—but this is not always
so. Weighing (or measuring) and sacking may be
necessary—or partially so—at the particular station.

(8)	Bunkering.—To give quick despatch, a minimum
of breakage, and to eliminate the nuisance dement as far
as possible, must be the aim. Even where mechanical
systems are not commercially or technically practicable
owing to local conditions, hand methods may frequently
be improved and labour utilised to better advantage.*

(9)	Administration.—A system of records in connec-
tion with the administration of coaling stations is of
importance, indicating, amongst other items, variation
in supply and demand, extent of stock, calls and omis-
sions of regular vessels, note of variations in qualities,
physical and chemical. Careful attention is required
concerning indenting, as well as clearance, to avoid
deterioration, old stock, and excessive disintegration.
Also enquiries as to satisfaction and complaints, instruc-
tion in the best use of different coals, and the develop-
ment of the station generally to attract custom, are
most advisable matters. Finally, knowledge of freights,
sources of supply, steamers’ routes, classes of coal, com-
petitive advantages, etc., must not be overlooked.

In these notes the writer has endeavoured to indicate
important questions, both technical and administrative,
affecting coal transport and supplies for steamships’
bunkers; also to show that maritime coaling stations
necessitate development in arrangements and initiative
in administration to meet increasing coinpetition, to
retain and secure patronage, and obtain the best results.

* The writer has described arrangements coming under
headings (6), (7), and (8) in “ Discharge, Storage, and
Bunkering at Coaling Depots ” (The Syren and Shipping.)

In consequence of mails having been destroyed by fire,
the Postmaster-General intimates that matches must not be
sent through the post to troops or to anybody else.

North Staffordshire Colliery Managers’ Association.—Mr.
W. G. Peasegood was elected president at the annual meet-
ing, and, in his address, he dealt with gob-fires at the
Leycett Collieries, of which there had been about 50 since
March 1'889. The seams liable to spontaneous combustion
were the Rough Seven-feet, the Seven-feet Bambury, and the
Bullhurst. Mr. Peasegood gave the sections, and described
the seams and method of working, and the gob-fires which
had occurred in each. Finally, he stated that the- loss of
coal left for barriers, and that sealed off through blocks or
panels heating before they were worked out, was enormous.
A rough estimate at these collieries, taken over the last 20
years was :—Rough Seven-feet, 33 per cent.; Seven-feet
Bambury, 25 per cent.; Bullhurst, 30 per cent.—In the course
of the discussion, Mr. G. P. Hyslop said Mr. Peasegood had
had 50 gob-fires in 27 years, and had had no loss of life—a
wonderful record. With regard to preparation stoppings put
in districts liable to spontaneous combustion, Mr. Peasegood’s
stoppings were most successful in the conditions obtaining at
Leycett, but they would be reduced to dust in some of the
deeper seams. The question of preparation stoppings for deep
seams was a most serious one. At Leycett they had the
advantage of an experienced staff, who were keen on dis-
covering the earliest indication of gob-stink. That was one
of the greatest safeguards. However, it was difficult to say
whether or not the fire was already there when the stink was
perceived. He recalled one case where the first symptom of
gob-fire was an explosion, and the stink was so faint that
two out of three colliery managers would not have recognised
it.

ENGINEERING AND SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH*

By J. A. Fleming, M.A., D.Sc., F.B.S , M.Inst E.E.

There seems to be a very complete agreement that
one result of the great Avar in which we are engaged
will be to render absolutely necessary certain reforms
in our national systems of education, and especially in
the attention given to pure and technical scientific know-
ledge. Hardly anyone disputes the propositions that
scientific discovery and research must be brought to bear
more fully on our national industries, and must be
encouraged to- a far greater extent than heretofore in this
country; but the moment we go beyond these gener-
alities we find great differences of opinion as to the best
mode of giving effect to these desires.

Alany scientific men have long and vehemently urged
national attention to this matter, but the want of
co-ordination between our various learned and technical
societies, and the strongly conservative element in our
older universities and public schools, which resists a
break with the past have prevented many useful changes
being made.

The Board of Education Scheme.

An important step was, however, taken by the
Government through the Board of Education last July
in the establishment of a Committee of the Privy Council
and the appointment of an Advisory Council to deal
with the question of scientific and industrial research, as
described in a scheme outlined in a White Paper. This
committee and council being in existence, the scheme
must be accepted as an accomplished fact, but one in
which the details may, it is hoped, be considered as open
to modifications.	•

Since any such Government control over scientific
research is bound to have a great influence in time on
the direction of scientific work and its applications, it
appears most desirable to gather views upon this scheme
even after its inception-, from those who are concerned
with one of the most scientific of these industries, viz.,
engineering in all its branches.

It is estimated that the capital invested in Great
Britain at present in plant and materials in the two
branches of mechanical and electrical engineering is
probably not less than £1,090,000,000. When we bear
in mind the manner in which a single perfected improve-
ment or invention can revolutionise a whole industry, it
needs no further argument to- prove the necessity for
careful attention to the progress of scientific research
in connection with it.

As regards reforms by Acts of Parliament, the forma-
tion of committees, or the issue of regulations, there are
many instances of legislation, undertaken with all
apparent care, the effect of which has been exactly the
opposite of that intended. Electrical engineers will
remember the Act of 1882, to facilitate electric lighting,
which was passed almost coincidently with the com-
pleted invention of the incandescent electric lamp, and
the immediate consequence of which was to throttle
effectively this nascent industry in Great Britain for six
years.

Necessary Improvements and Reforms.

In the particular matter under discussion, we have
been compelled to recognise the manner in which impor-
tant industries have died out or never thriven in this
country in consequence of our neglect of scientific educa-
tion and research. It is equally important to realise
that we ■ cannot undo the effect of this neglect by a
wave of the wand, but that reforms to be useful must be
very deep and very thorough, and begin at the top and
at the bottom in our systems of national education.
Whilst we cannot hope to reach anything like unanimity
on a subject so complex as the means of imparting or
creating knowledge, it is of the utmost moment that
engineers should carefully consider the various proposals
made for reforms, so as to bring to- bear their practical
experience on it, and not permit schemes to advance too
far which are the product merely of academic or political
tl io ught.

We have to consider then :—(1) The improvements in
the training of men who will become engineers; (2) the
best means by which scientific knowledge can be brought
to bear on the problems of engineering; (3) the scientific
method in relation to the business side of engineering.

It is unquestionable that the success of the Germans
in the commercial field is In part due to their system
of national education, which prepares every man for
some vocation and does it thoroughly. We are by no
means desirous of copying it in its entirety, as it
possesses grave defects on the ethical side, and in the
extreme cultivation of materialism in its worst aspects.
Nevertheless, we can usefully draw some lessons from
it.

Our own education systems are too bookish, too much
devoted to the cultivation of memory and words, and
not sufficiently leavened by a real knowledge of the facts
of nature and power to draw true inferences from
observations. The success of the Montessori system of
training young children and of the Baden Powell Boy
Scout movement in imparting self-directing power and
vivid interest in learning about things, shows what can
be done on right lines.

We have to bring the same principles to bear on all
other departments of education. One barrier in the way
of our industrial progress has been the imperfect
scientific training of foremen, managers, and young
heads of departments in many engineering works. . The
young men who are brought in to fill directing positions
have generally received the usual public or middle class
school education with its entirely insufficient attention
to scientific subjects. Even when this has been supple-
mented by a course at a technical college, the time at
the latter has been so much taken up with learning
things which ought to have been learnt at school that the

* From a paper read before the Society of Engineers.

opportunity of acquiring advanced scientific knowledge
or real power of independent investigation has been very
much curtailed. Hence Avhen once immersed in busi-
ness it has been impossible for them to keep up with
scientific advances, and they can at most copy what they
see others do. We have to produce more men who can
do new things, and not merely know about old ones.

Until this state of affairs is remedied it us perfectly
futile for Great Britain to hope to gain pre-eminence
over Germany in scientific industries. The advantages
which Ave have in greater originality of mind and better
Avorkmanship are neutralised to a large extent by the
Avant of a sufficiently thorough and broad scientific educa-
tion to enable us to see the practical value of, and work
out exhaustively, and especially Avith reference to trade
purposes, the openings given by scientific discoveries.
It is the want of this sufficiently thorough scientific
education Avhich accounts for the limited faith of many
employers and capitalists in scientific research, and also
for the inability of the practical Avorker to take advan-
tage of, or see the meaning of facte Avhich present
themselves to him in his every-day work.

One of the educational reforms which seems most-
necessary is the compulsory attendance of lads after
leaving the Board 'School at a technical continuation
school. Assuming he leaves at 14 or 15, and is taken on
at an engineering Avorks, he should be compelled to
attend a continuation technical school until he is 17 or
18 years old, as in Germany. This continued education
should not be merely a handicraft training, but should be
a careful instruction by practical men Avho are or have
been engineers; in mechanical drawing, graphics,
mechanics, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, electro-
technics and machine construction. The attendance
should not be allowed to become irregular, and the
certificates of proficiency should have an immediate
effect on the lad’s prospects of advancement.

In the case of young men Avho have been to public
schools, the practical experience in the shops and draAv-
ing office should not be deferred entirely until after
tire college course. The school education should have
provided a thorough grounding in the elements of
chemistry, physics and mathematics, pure and applied,
and with a speaking acquaintance Avith at least one
modern language. One year at a university or technical
college should then prepare them to take advantage of
some shop experience, and after that they should return
to the college for a year or perhaps two for the advanced
laboratory and designs work. The degree or diploma
examinations should be made to depend more than they
are at present on the results of practical laboratory and
draAving office work.

In order to compress into this time the necessary
training, our methods and means of instruction must be
much improved. It is essential now for every engineer
to have a good working acquaintance with certain
branches of mathematics. If he hats no knowledge Avhat-
ever of the calculus or trigonometry he finds it impossible
to read many original papers in the technical journals.

The great thing to guard against on the part of the
student is premature specialisation. He should broaden
as much as possible his knoAvledge of the principles of
chemistry, mechanics, physics, mathematics, and metal-
lurgy, and he Avill then be able, later on, to build up on
this foundation. Unless he does lay this foundation, he
will not be able to folloAV or assist in improvements. As
an illustration, to make any advance in metallurgy
requires a very intimate acquaintance Avith the chemistry
of metals. A lucky accident might give a clue to an
improvement , but an observer not sufficiently acquainted
Avith modern chemical principles could not take advan-
tage of it, or follow it up.

In the third and fourth year the student Avill, of
course, have given time to learning as much as possible
of the methods of testing — mechanical and electrical
—as are required in engineering Avork, the especial object
of Avhich is to enable him to deal with the kind of
problems Avhich will present themselves in practice. It
is of extreme importance that he should acquire
sympathy Avith and confidence in scientific research to
give the data for engineering work.

The Relation of Scientific Research to Engineering.

We may roughly divide this research work into three
departments. There are first the laboratory researches,
Avhich aim at determining various physical constants of
the materials used in engineering which are requisite to
give data for design. Then, in the second place, there
are those researches Avhich aid engineering by providing
neAV methods of examination and test of materials or
structures. As an instance of this, consider the invalu-
able aid rendered by metallography or the study of the
internal structure of metals and alloys by the aid of the
microscope, especially Avith regard to the composition of
steels and other alloys.

The great development of pyrometry and high temper-
ature thermometry has provided the engineer Avith
implements of great accuracy for the measurement of
high temperatures, and made it, in fact, an exact
science.

The improvement in the means of testing the
mechanical or elastic properties of engineering materials
by testing machines is another instance of the same class
of research. One of the latest additions is the applica-
tion of polarised light by Prof. E. G. Coker, to study
the distribution and magnitude of stresses in celluloid
models of beams, struts, or riveted plates used in engi-
neering structures. To this class of research we may
add such methods as those introduced by Froude for
ship designing.

Then, in the third place, we have a type of research
Avhich calls for special aptitude and insight, viz., those
Avhich lead to the discovery of some new process,
material, or machine. An excellent example of this L
the discovery made simultaneously by C. M. Hall in
America and P. Heroult in France, Avhich finally ren-
dered the production of metallic aluminium in bulk a