1897 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Visits to Works
Note: This is a sub-section of 1897 Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Visit to Works (Excursions) in the Birmingham and Coventry area
MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL, SUFFOLK STREET, BIRMINGHAM.
The Birmingham Technical School is one of the largest and best equipped of the schools which have been erected in various parts of the country for carrying on the work of technical education. The land, building, and equipment cost over £88,000, for which the sinking fund is taken from the excise duties voted by parliament for this purpose; for Birmingham these duties provide an income of about £10,000 a year.
The work of the school is entirely confined to science and its applications. The number of students in attendance last session exceeded 2,500, of whom 677 took workshop courses. Large and well-appointed workshops are provided for brass-founding, iron and steel work, plumbing, carpentry and joinery, pattern making, sheet metal work, electrical instrument making, and electrical jointing. The mechanical drawing classes are remarkably large; over 800 students take the subjects of practical geometry, building construction, and machine drawing. The chemical, metallurgical, and electrical departments aro also well attended.
Hitherto the work of the school has been confined to evening classes; but a day science school is being opened this autumns for boys from twelve to sixteen years of age. The school fee is only £3 a year.
CORPORATION GAS WORKS, WINDSOR STREET, BIRMINGHAM.
These gas works adjoin the Birmingham Canal, and have also connection with the London and North Western Railway. They are mostly modern, and occupy an area of about 26 acres; the present productive capacity is about 101 million cubic feet of coal gas a day, which is capable of being considerably increased by the complete utilization of the site. There is also a carburetted water-gas plant, which, when the extensions now in progress are completed, will have a productive capacity of 4 million cubic feet a day. The gasholders are eight in number, having an aggregate capacity of about 16i million cubic feet.
The principal retort house is 487 feet long by 210 feet wide, covering an area of about 2,1- acres. It is served by three overhead lines of railway, by which the coal is delivered without break from the colliery. There is also on the lower or yard level a canal arm, which extends to more than three-fourths of the length of the house. The retorts numbering 740 aro of D shape, 22 inches by 16 inches, and 21 inches by 15 inches, and are set in beds of eight and nine. The beds are arranged in two parallel rows, having the canal arm between them, and the railway on both sides of each row, 20 feet above the yard level, and 10 feet above the retort charging- floor. The retorts are all heated by regenerative furnaces, on Hunt's plan. Foulis-Arrol hydraulic machinery is used for charging and drawing them; and Ross drawing machines actuated by steam are also employed. The coal is for the most part received in steel hopper-wagons having sliding bottom-doors on Hunt and Shackleford's plan, which are discharged in a few minutes. After passing through a coal-breaker, it is elevated and distributed into overhead hoppers, from which the retort charging-machines are supplied. The distribution of the coal is effected by means of conveyors formed of cotton belting 21 inches wide, extending throughout the length of the house. During the winter about 800 tons of coal are thus dealt with daily. From some of the retorts the hot coke when drawn is removed by a conveyor placed on a level with the retort charging-floor, and immediately underneath the retort mouthpieces. It is quenched on its way out by water sprays placed at intervals along the conveyor; and by means of an elevator and another conveyor is carried across the yard to a hopper, from which it passes into a revolving screen. Here the dust is separated; and the coke, sorted into various sizes, falls upon picking belts, where bats &c. are removed, and thence falls into bags for loading into customers' carts or vans. A sunken roadway for the latter, whereby the necessity for lifting the bags is avoided, completes the arrangement by which, from the commencement to the end of the process, manual labour in carbonizing coal is almost entirely dispensed with.
The condensers are some of them of the battery kind, and others on the ordinary vertical plan. The exhausting machinery consists of two of Beale's rotary exhausters, having each a capacity of 150,000 cub. ft. per hour, made by Messrs. Waller and Co., earls driven direct by a 16 x 20 ins. horizontal condensing engine; and one Donkin's improved Beale of 200,000 cub. ft. per hour, driven direct by a 14 x 20 ins. non-condensing Robey engine; and a pair of Beales, each of 150,000 cub. ft. per hour, coupled to a horizontal tandem engine made by Messrs. W. H. Allen and Co., with high- pressure cylinder 16 ins. diameter, low-pressure 25 ins. diameter and 18 ins. stroke. Steam is supplied for various purposes by ten Babcock and Wilcox boilers and three Lancashire boilers; the former are worked up to 120 lbs. pressure, and have forced draught for burning dust-fuel.
From the outlet of the condensers the gas passes through three Livescy washers; and from the outlet of the exhausters the ammonia is removed by two of Kirkham, Hulett, and Chandler's washer scrubbers, each having a capacity of 5 million cub. ft. a day, and by one of Mann and Walker's tower scrubbers 20 ft. diameter and 60 ft. high.
There are two sets of four purifiers, 66 ft. by 32 ft., and one set of six, 40 ft. by 32 ft., with overhead lime shed. Three station- meters, each passing 150,000 cub. ft. per hour, measure the gas on its way to the gasholders. Of the latter the two largest have each a capacity of 61 million cub. ft.; each has three 50 ft. lifts, the outer one being 236 ft. diameter, and including the rise of crown the total height is 165 ft. There is a Maxim-Clark carburetting apparatus, having a capacity equal to one million cubic feet of coal gas per hour, enriched to the extent of one sperm candle. The enriching material used is either benzene, or a light spirit having a specific gravity of about 0.68, according to which may be the cheaper at the time of purchasing. For this material there is an underground storage tank, capable of containing about 25,000 gallons,
Coal is stored under the viaduct approaches to the retort house, the rails ou the viaduct being 20 feet above road level. As required for use in the retort house it is picked up and loaded into wagons by elevators, of which there are three, 41 feet high and placed in suitable positions.
The experimental works and laboratory comprise three cast-iron retorts in separate settings, each to carbonize half-cwt. charges; condensing and purifying apparatus, and three gasholders of 20 and 350 and 970 cubic feet capacity; also laboratory and photometrical appliances for general testing.
The carburetted water-gas apparatus is on the Merrifield-Westcott Pearson plan, and comprises two sets of generators, superheaters and fixers, condensers and scrubbers; each set is capable of producing one million cubic feet of gas per day. There are also boilers, exhausters, air-blowers, pumps, tar separator, station meter, oil tank to contain 400,000 gallons, and a set of four purifiers, 40 ft. by 30 ft., having discharging floor underneath, and lime sheds on either side. The whole of this apparatus is in course of being duplicated. There is also a relief gasholder 78 feet diameter and 20 feet deep, which is rope-guided on the plan of Messrs. Ashmore, Benson and Pease.
Through the meter repairing shops pass annually from 8,000 to 9,000 meters. Upwards of 191,000 tons of coal were carbonized during 1896; and the total quantity of gas produced amounted to 1,907 million cubic feet. Mr. Charles Hunt is the engineer in charge of these gas works. The number of men employed is about 750.
CORPORATION GAS WORKS, SALTLEY, BIRMINGHAM.
These gas works formed one of the three stations of the late Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Co., whose undertaking was acquired with that of the Birmingham Co. by the Birmingham Corporation in 1875; and is now one of the two principal stations of the city gas department. At the date of the transfer the manufacturing capacity of these works was but 51 million cubic feet per day, and the storage 4i million cubic feet. Since then important additions have been made, which have raised the daily snake of coal gas to 10+ million cubic feet, and the storage to 8i million cubic feet; and work is now in progress for increasing the latter to 19 millions.
The coal-gas works occupy 181 acres, and 32 acres adjoining are available for future extensions. On the Devon Street site, west of the Midland Railway, works for the manufacture of carburettcd water-gas were erected last year, adapted for snaking 2+ million cubic feet of gas per day; and the buildings were arranged for duplicating this make to 4.x million cubic feet per day. It was expected that the provision of last year would have sufficed for at least a couple of years; but owing to the abnormal demand for gas last winter, sometimes reaching over 20 per cent. beyond the preceding year, both the coal-gas and the water-gas plants at all the works were severely taxed, only a small margin of productive power being left available for the possible further increase of next winter. This extraordinary demand was no doubt to a great extent due to the large demand for gas for motive power and trade purposes generally, but particularly in connection with the cycle industry; and as it was practically impossible to increase the coal-gas plant in time to meet the requirements of next winter, it was decided to proceed at once with the duplication of the water-gas plant at Saltley and Windsor Street Works, which is now being done. The works are divided into two sections; the gas made in the old retort houses is in the subsequent stages dealt with generally in the new plant, while the old plant is utilized for that produced in the new retort house No. 3; provision however is made for the plant in either section to be worked separately or in conjunction.
Nos. 1 and 2 retort houses contain seven benches of retorts, seven in a setting, two of the benches being heated on the more modern regenerative plan, in which only one fire is required per setting: instead of two, one on either side, as in the old plan of ordinary fires. In the newer plan the primary air-supply is limited, so that the gas thus produced from the coke is principally carbonic oxide, which, on issuing from the furnace into the combustion chamber, meets with a regulated supply of secondary air, required for combustion, and heated previously by the waste furnace-gases; by this method the temperatures are more under control, and a largo saving in fuel and labour is effected. In these old houses, the charging and drawing operations are still done by band, because the houses are too narrow for the introduction of machinery.
No. 3 retort house is the most modern; it contains two benches of nineteen beds of retorts in settings of eights, one bench of nine beds in settings of sevens, and one bench of twelve beds of retorts in settings of sevens. The whole are heated on the regenerative plan already mentioned; and all the. retorts are drawn and charged by West's machinery worked by compressed air. In this house most of the coke drawn from the retorts is caught on continuous conveyors, which empty upon a cross conveyor leading to a skip pit; it is quenched on the way thither, and falls into a skip made to contain about two tons of coke, which is raised by a large hydraulic crane, and either tipped upon a. screen for loading trucks, or upon another for loading boats, or conveyed to stock, as may be required. The labour in dealing with both coal and coke is thus reduced to a minimum; in fact most of the coke dealt with entails no manual labour whatever. Iu the hydraulic crane, constructed by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell and Co., the bogie travels along the entire length of the jib of 74?, feet radius, as that the coke from the skip can be tipped anywhere within the area covered by this radius. The lifting ram is C inches diameter and 21 ft. 101 ins. stroke, the slowing ram 81 inches and 5 ft. 11 ins., the traversing ram 2; inches and. 10 ft. 10 ins., and the tipping ram 31 inches diameter and 3 ft. 5 ins. stroke.
On leaving the retort houses, the gas is drawn by the exhauster& through large pipes above ground, wherein it is partially cooled, into the atmospheric condensers, some of which are vertical and others horizontal; the exit temperature, being under control by valves, ranges from 50° to 70° Fahr. From the condensers the gr. passes to the washers and scrubbers, in which the remaining tar, ammonia, and some of the other impurities are extracted. From the exhausters, the gas is forced through the purifiers and station meters into the storage gasholders. The purifiers are filled principally with hydrated lime for eliminating carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and other sulphur compounds. As a safe-guard, in connection with each section there are " catch " boxes filled with oxide of iron, to arrest any sulphuretted hydrogen which may accidentally escape the lime purifiers.
The carburetted water-gas apparatus is upon the Lowe type, embodying the designs of Merrifield, Wcstcott and Pearson, and was supplied and fixed by the Economical Gas Apparatus Construction Co. of Toronto and London; the buildings, roofs, purifiers, gasholder, and oil-storage tanks were erected under separate contracts from the engineer's designs. For making the water-gas, a layer of coke is put into the generator, and ignited; and the generator having thou been filled up with coke, air is blown in at the bottom, which raises the mass to a glowing heat. The products of combustion passing into the superheater and fixing chamber heat the interior mass of firebrick work to the required temperature; air is simultaneously admitted into the superheater with the object of consuming any carbonic oxide that might otherwise escape unconsumed. After the coke and apparatus have in this way been raised to the required temperature, the air is shut off, and water-gas making commences; steam is injected at the bottom of the generator for an " up run " and at the top for a " down run," and coming in contact with the incandescent carbon is decomposed; hydrogen gas is given off, and the oxygen of the steam uniting with the carbon of the coke forms carbonic acid and carbonic oxide, some of the carbonic acid being subsequently converted into carbonic oxide in passing through a further mass of incandescent carbon. The gas thus produced is chiefly a mixture of hydrogen and carbonic oxide, but even with the best working there is a small percentage of carbonic acid. From the generator the mixture of gas passes to the superheater and carburetter, where it meets with heated oil, " Russian solar distillate "; the oil is previously heated in a separate part of the apparatus by the heat of the water-gas itself on its way to the condensers. The quantity of oil used depends upon the illuminating power required, which may vary from 17 to 30 candlepower or even through a wider range. The making of gas lasts from six to nine minutes; at the end of this time the steam is shut off, and the air blast renewed for several minutes, in order to raise the coke again to a sufficiently high temperature for decomposing the steam in the next run. The process is thus one of alternate blows and runs.
The total output of gas from these works in the year ending 31 March 1897 was more than 2,293 million cubic feet. Mr. Henry Hack is the engineer in charge of these works. The number of men employed is about 900.
CORPORATION INTERCEPTION WHARF, MONTAGUE STREET, BIRMINGHAM.
These works, situated in almost the centre of the city, were established in 1878 for the purpose of dealing with part of the daily collection of house refuse. The wharf has an area of 17,130 square yards. The main buildings have an area of 5,277 square yards, exclusive of stabling, which is here provided for 78 horses out of the total of 206 owned by the health department. During the year ending December 1896 the various kinds of refuse collected and disposed of amounted to 199,588 tons, of which about 80,000 tons were delivered to this wharf. In 1874 the " pan " system of collection was introduced into Birmingham, and it was subsequently found necessary to make some portion of the contents into concentrated manure. On arriving at the wharf the pans arc emptied into tanks, and a small quantity of sulphuric acid is added in order to fix the ammonia, and to prevent the loss arising from its evaporation under the action of heat. From the receiving tanks the material is run into tanks immediately over the drying machines, and provision is made for charging the drying machines direct from these tanks. There are five steam drying machines and two hot-air drying machines. After being properly dried, the concentrated manure is ground in a mill, and is then ready to be packed in bags and sent away; it contains about 7 per cent. of ammonia and 7 per cent. of phosphates. Of the dry refuse, part is riddled in octagonal rotating screens, which separate the fine ash from the rougher material; the latter is further sorted by removing broken glass and crockery, brick ends, tin cans, &c. Rags are not picked out, but are burnt in the furnaces with other combustible matter. Part of the fine ash is mixed in a pug will with the pan contents, and sold as manure; it is discharged into boats from the mixing machines. Thirty cells or furnaces are kept going for burning refuse, and on an average they get rid of 1,100 tons of refuse per week. The heat produced by its combustion is utilised for the generation of steam required in the manure manufacturing process, and for various other purposes; there are twelve multitubular boilers, and two Galloway boilers. The number of men employed at this wharf is 242; Mr. William Holt is the superintendent and engineer.
MESSRS. G. E. BELLISS AND CO., LEDSAM STREET WORKS, BIRMINGHAM.
These works were founded in 1870, when Mr. G. E. Belliss transferred his general engineering business from Broad Street to the present site. Some years previously the Admiralty had introduced steam launches into the naval service, and Mr. Belliss brought out a design of high-speed engine specially adapted for their propulsion, which was found so suitable that the works were soon almost exclusively employed in its production. Later on were added engines for torpedo boats, and auxiliary machinery for:chips for our own and for foreign governments.
About eight years ago the manufacture of high-speed engines for driving dynamos direct was commenced; it has since developed into a most important branch of the business, and has involved large extensions, some of which are now in progress. Owing to the growth of the business, a separate foundry and pattern-making department was started adjoining the works, the entrance being at the junction of Ledsam Street with Great Tindal Street, where a large staff of men are employed in the production of iron castings and the patterns necessary for them. A new building in close proximity to the London and North Western Railway is also approaching completion for the electric-light department.
The main works comprise numerous machine shops, equipped with the most modern appliances for the production of interchangeable engine parts, brass foundry, brass finishing shop, coppersmiths' shop, erecting shops, drawing and account offices, stores, &c. The testing department is well furnished with all the most modern instruments for engine and dynamo testing, including a Fronde water dynamometer, condensing apparatus for condensing the exhaust steam from engines on test, with tanks, and machines for weighing it. The resistance frames for absorbing the current generated in the dynamos on test are arranged round the walls and under the roof of the building. They are divided into sections, with switches for taking up various amounts of current, and when used to their utmost capacity are capable of absorbing 700 electrical horse-power. In addition to the low-tension resistances a set of non-inductive high-tension frames is provided, which, with the instruments in connection, are capable of being used with alternating currents up to a tension of 4,000 volts. The instrument room placed at the end of the building about four feet above floor level is well supplied with standard electrical measuring instruments, and others for every-day use which are calibrated at regular intervals to ensure accuracy. A new and larger testing department is being arranged for at the new works.
BIRMINGHAM ELECTRIC SUPPLY STATION, DALE END, BIRMINGHAM.
The public supply of electricity in Birmingham is in the hands of a company who are carrying out their works under a provisional order granted in 1889. The area embraced in their operations includes the centre of the city, an out-lying district occupied by manufacturing jewellers, and the suburb of Edgbaston. The main generating station is situated in Dale End, whence current is distributed to the two out-lying districts by high-tension direct- current transformers, while the central area is supplied through low-tension mains. The Dale End station is equipped with Willans- Crompton and Belliss-Electric-Construction combined steam and dynamo machinery, from which the maximum output is equal to 1,600 kilo-watts. Steam is generated by means of six Lancashire boilers, 28 feet length and 71 feet diameter, and four Babcock and Wilcox tubular boilers, all working at a pressure of 120 lbs. per square inch. The station is further supplemented by a battery of accumulators, of sufficient capacity to supply the present demand at the times of lowest output during the summer months, and so to reduce the running hours by one shift at this season. The outlying station for the jewellers' district is situated 1,283 yards from the home station. As originally designed, it is now being equipped with steam machinery; and the present plan of high-tension feeding will be used only for working the station on its minor loads. The second distributing station is situated in the centre of the residential suburb of Edgbaston, 3,664 yards from the central depot, and includes a large battery of accumulators which are charged during the day from Dale End.
The total number of 16 candle-power lamps or their equivalent on the mains amounts to about 29,000. The use of motors during the last twelve months has largely extended. Among the many purposes for which they are in demand are printing, metal working, jewellery manufacture, sewing-machine factories, lifts, &c.; and it it is found that, where freedom from smell is a desideratum, heat and vibration an objection, and space of importance, the electric motor will more than hold its own. The method of underground distribution adopted is mainly the solid bitumen system supplied by the Callender Cable and Construction Co. This plan has given practically little or no trouble, and in freedom from mechanical and electrolytic faults it leaves little to be desired. There are now 21 miles of frontages, on which energy is always available from the electric supply stations. Mr. J. C. Vaudrey is the managing director.
BIRMINGHAM SMALL ARMS AND METAL WORKS, SMALL ARMS DEPARTMENT, SMALL HEATH WORKS, BIRMINGHAM.
The rifle department was established in 1861 for the manufacture of military rifles on the interchangeable principle; and the factory now contains complete machinery for the weekly production of about 1,200 magazine rifles of British service pattern 0.303 inch bore. The system adopted is that of producing the component parts by machining alone, with the least possible amount of handwork, so that all the pieces of the same pattern shall be of identically the same dimensions; for this purpose about 2,500 machines of various classes are employed. The departments of the gun factory comprise machine shops, wood-working shops, smithy, annealing, hardening, planing, polishing, browning, and assembly rooms, together with tool and gauge rooms, etc.
The extensive machine shops are equipped with almost every form of mechanical contrivance applicable to the production of this class of work, and comprise cross milling, vertical milling, and rotary milling tools, with boring machines, horizontal and vertical chilling machines, and capstan and other lathes in great variety. In the wood-working department the machinery is specially designed to reproduce in wood an exact copy of a standard form which is attached to each machine. In the smithy there arc sixteen steam stamping-hammers, twenty-four steam drop-hammers, thirteen Ryder forging-machines, five Oliver hammers, and sixty smiths' hearths. The barrel shop is supplied with drilling, turning, finishing, boring, rifling, and lapping machines, all of special design. A leading point of interest in this shop is that the barrels are drilled each out of the solid forging from one end and throughout their entire length at one setting of the barrel. The assembling, gauging, inspecting, and packing departments are all proportionately extensive. The number of hands employed by the company at its several works is now upwards of 4,000, of whom about 1,000 are engaged in the small arms department.
BOTANICAL GARDENS, EDGBASTON.
The Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society was founded in 1829 for the encouragement of botany and horticulture, and the instruction and recreation of the members and their families. The gardens were laid out from plans by J. C. Loudon, the most eminent horticulturist of his day, and were opened on 4th June 1832. They cover about twelve acres, upon a site which, though within a mile and a half of the centre of a city of half-a-million people, is both beautiful and rural. The natural variations of level, amounting to 50 or 60 feet, have been artistically made use of; and:the surface of the great lawn, nearly three acres in area, is so beautifully moulded that the partly artificial origin of its slopes would hardly be suspected. A striking feature is the terrace of over 100 yards length, along the north side of which are the glass houses, and from which beautiful glimpses are obtained of Edgbaston, Harborne, and Moseley. This terrace with its slopes is radiant in summer with bedded flowers, while elsewhere in the gardens a natural method of planting is adopted. Below the amphitheatre of lawn is the music pavilion. Amongst other outdoor features are a rosary, a hardy fernery, and a rhododendron and azalea ground protected by a lofty beech hedge, and containing a magnificent collection of these plants. The Alpine garden was constructed two years ago at a cost of £700 for the reception of rock and bog plants, and named in memory of a former honorary secretary, the late Mr. Hugh Nettlefold, who was a member of the Institution. It covers about half an acre, and in its construction about 250 tons of millstone grit from Yorkshire were used in masses up to five tons, and about 1,000 tons of earth were moved. Many hundreds of the choicest Alpine plants are here flourishing, in spite of the atmospheric surroundings of a great city.
The glass houses, which cost about £8,000, contain plants from all hot climates; for instance, nearly 400 kinds of orchids and over 400 varieties of ferns are grown under glass. A large exhibition hall, with orchestra, provides accommodation for indoor music; and a permanent supply of electric light in the houses and on the terrace is in contemplation. Special flower shows of daffodils, pansies, spring flowers, carnations, roses, orchids, &c., are held from time to time. The curator, Mr. W. B. Latham, has been in charge for more than thirty years. The honorary secretary is Professor William Hillhouse, of Mason University College.
MESSRS. ELKINGTON AND CO., SILVERSMITHS, NEWHALL STREET, BIRMINGHAM.
The name of Elkington became identified with electro-plating in 1836, when Mr. G. R. Elkington brought out his method for depositing gold, and after a few years' practical application followed it up in 1840 by extending the process to electroplating with silver and other metals. He thus became the originator of a new industry, which speedily grew to large dimensions, and was taken up by the leading manufacturers of plate in Birmingham and Sheffield. Since his death in 1865 the business has been carried on by his descendants, Mr. Herbert F. Elkington being the present managing director.
The entrance to the manufactory up the grand staircase, which is lined with statues of the Knights who signed the Magna Charta, at once illustrates the varied kinds of work produced. These figures are the originals from which were cast the bronzes for the House of Lords, and are designed from authentic family portraits. In the spacious show-rooms is a unique display of original works of art in metal, and their replicas. Numerous studios are devoted to designing and modelling, and to the production of repoussd and damascened works; and extensive departments are set apart for chasing, embossing, and engraving.
The foundry is equipped for casting all kinds of german silver and sterling silver articles. The stamping shops contain heavy machines with their complement of dies. The electro-plating and electro-depositing departments are believed to be the largest and most completely furnished in the world. The universal brazing hearth, by which much thus and labour are saved, had its origin here. The Newhall Street premises are mainly devoted to the production of works of art and the larger articles of plate, technically known as hollow ware. Table ware and cutlery are produced at the branch manufactory in Brearley Street, where much powerful machinery is in use.
NEW GENERAL HOSPITAL, STEELHOUSE LANE, BIRMINGHAM.
This building, which was opened by Princess Christian on behalf of the Queen on 7th July, is entirely surrounded by roads. It has a frontage of 348 feet in StecMouse Lane, marked by a covered gateway of three arches, the centre for carriages, and the side ones for foot-passengers, leading into a large open quadrangle. Immediately in front is the administrative block, of which the front portion contains accommodation for the resident medical and surgical staff, a medical committee-room, and house governor's apartments. In the rear are dining rooms for the staff, nurses, and servants, the top floor throughout being occupied by the kitchen department, and the basement devoted to stores. On the right-hand is the out-patients' department, consisting of a large waiting-hall surrounded by casualty, consulting, and retiring rooms. A smaller waiting-room adjoins the dispensary. The first and second floors contain large wards with accessories, the whole forming what is known as the east pavilion.
On the opposite side of the quadrangle is the south pavilion, connected with the east by an open cloister. The ground floor contains the board and committee rooms, general offices, and waiting room, with large wards on the first and second floors.
The north and west pavilions, each containing three storeys of wards, are to the rear of a main corridor running nearly the whole length of the site. At the north-east end is a large lecture theatre, with the principal operating theatre above. Towards the south-west end are two small pavilions of three floors for burn cases, children, gymecological, and special surgical patients. A conservatory, opening out of this end of the main corridor, forms a covered enclosed connection with the nurses' home, which is a detached building containing over one hundred separate bedrooms, in addition to sitting, writing, and lecture rooms. Behind the main buildings are some wholly isolated buildings, of which the smallest is for infectious cases developing in the institution.
Within the hospital provision is made for securing pure air and constant change throughout by mechanical means on the plenum method of ventilation. In the basement at four selected points air is drawn in through moistened screens, by which it is cleansed of suspended impurities, and brought to a state of humidity suited to the indoor temperature. In cold weather it is tempered by passing over extensive ranges of steam tubes; and by rotary fans turned by electric motors it is propelled along ducts of large sectional area to the separate flues leading up to the several wards, rooms, and corridors. At the base of each flue are additional steam-coils with 01"- regulating valves. Sufficient pourer is being provided for securing a complete change of air throughout the buildings from seven to ten times per hour at a uniform temperature of 60° to 62° Fahr., which can be raised to 70° when necessary. Mr. William Heilman, F.R.I.B.A., is the architect, while all the ventilating and heating appliances, as well as the hot-water supply, have been arranged under the direction of Mr. William Key, of Glasgow. The hospital has accommodation for 342 patients.
MESSRS. JOSEPH GILLOTT AND SONS, STEEL PEN MANUFACTORY, VICTORIA WORKS, BIRMINGHAM.
The business carried on at these works, situated in Graham Street, was founded three-quarters of a century ago by the late Mr. Joseph Gillott, who may be termed the father of the steel-pen trade. Though not the inventor of the steel pen itself, he invented much of the ingenious machinery used in its manufacture. The metal first appears as sheet steel, which is rolled so as to be of even thinness throughout. The sheets are then cut into long strips or ribbons, of a breadth slightly more than sufficient to allow of two pens being cut out of them end to end. The strips are then passed on to the cutters, who are generally women and girls. The cutter-out sits before a small press, in which is fixed a die, having a hole through it the exact shape of the pen blank. A punch, fitting the hole to a nicety, rises and falls with the motion of the press handle, and when sufficiently depressed enters the orifice of the hole in the die. From the back of the press the end of the ribbon is placed on the die with the left hand, while with the right a little jerk is given to the handle; the punch descends, bites through the metal, and the pen blank falls through the hole. Most of the work is done by hand, but there are several large power-presses which are used when required. One of them cuts out two penholder blanks at each stroke, and punches each with three holes by the same operation. The blanks are taken to the piercing-room, where the small ornamental holes near the nib are cut out by similar punching presses. Small steel guides are fixed upon the beds of the piercing presses, by the aid of which the blank is placed precisely on its proper spot in an instant. The blanks are next annealed in shallow iron pans in a muffle or reverberatory furnace, where they are heated uniformly throughout to a dull red, and slowly cooling become so soft that they may be bent in any direction without breaking. They are then taken to the marking room. The next stage consists in raising or bending the blank into the required shape of the pen. The steel being still in a softened condition, the shaped pens are again heated to a dull red in shallow pans in a muffle, and then overturned into a bath of oil. A colander suspended in the oil brings up the pens and drains them; they are now of a greasy black appearance, and as brittle as glass. Boiling in strong soda and water removes all the impurities; and the pens are then ready for tempering. Several hundreds of grosses are placed together in an iron cylinder, which is made to revolve slowly over a number of gas jets until the required temper is obtained. They are next scoured and polished in revolving barrels, and afterwards glazed at the nibs, and finally slit. Some pens are subjected to further treatment to improve their appearance, such as browning, blueing, and plating.
In separate departments are made the cardboard pen-boxes and the wood penholders. In the latter department exhausting pipes connected with powerful blowers carry off the minutest particle of dust as soon as it leaves the wood.
The number of workpeople employed throughout the manufactory is about 350, of whom fully 20 per cent. are men.
MESSRS. JOHN HARDMAN AND CO., STAINED GLASS WORKS, NEWHALL HILL, BIRMINGHAM.
This firm was founded about fifty years ago, and its business is almost unique amongst the industries of Birmingham in its artistic nature. A visit to the works will serve as a contrast to the majority of establishments where mechanical power is paramount. Besides what has been made for home use, a largo amount of stained glass has been sent to the United States, Australia, and other countries.
MESSRS. HARDMAN POWELL AND CO., METAL WORKS, KING EDWARD'S ROAD, BIRMINGHAM.
The articles manufactured at these works comprise all branches of metal work for architectural, ecclesiastical, and domestic purposes. The first metal work was produced by this firm in 1838, and from that time until 1845 the work was almost all of an experimental character, the art of working in metals on true Gothic principles having entirely died out in this country. By the unfailing energy of Augustus Welby Pugin, who was ably supported by the late John Hardman, the many difficulties were gradually overcome, and works were opened in Great Charles Street, Birmingham, in 1845. From that time they have been steadily expanding, and although the vast majority of work done here is essentially handwork, they have some good machinery and modern appliances, the use of which in no way detracts from the artistic treatment of the work. Examples of the work of this firm can be seen in most of the cathedrals and churches of England, the houses of parliament, and many other public buildings throughout the country.
MESSRS. J. H. HOPKINS AND SONS, GRANVILLE TIN-PLATE WORKS, BIRMINGHAM.
This business of tin-plate working was established in 1850 by the late Mr. John Head Hopkins in partnership with his son Mr. J. Satchell Hopkins. The manufactory was specially planned and built for the trade in Granville Street; it was subsequently much enlarged, and at different times since adjacent premises in Berkley Street, Holliday Street, and William Street, have been added thereto. Such great alterations have taken place in the trade of tin-plate workers in the last sixty years that the original flane of the trade has ceased to be its most correct designation at the present day. The number of articles now manufactured by the various processes ill use has increased at least tenfold. The sizes of the separate articles have been enlarged much in the same proportion; for instance pudding pans, washing bowls, milk pans, &c., formerly made in small pieces grooved or jointed together, and then hardly ever of a greater diameter when finished than 12 or 14 inches, are now made in one piece of a finished diameter of 20, 30, or even 40 inches. And instead of being made of tin plates, the articles are made of black-steel sheets, and coated with best block tin as a final process and finish. These alterations have been accomplished by improved machinery. The late Mr. Thomas Griffiths, the senior member of the firm originally known as Griffiths and Hopkins and afterwards from 1850 and for many years following as Griffiths and Browett, was the first to introduce with good practical result steam-machinery for stamping, spinning, and burnishing. Immense improvements have been made in the machines employed for all these processes, first by the French makers who used a pressure plate and a gradual forcing process by screw-presses, instead of a number of sharp blows under a stamp hammer as in the English method. Improvements in stamping nevertheless kept the English makers well abreast of their French competitors for many years. Twenty-five years ago Mr. Satchell Hopkins entered into communication with an English engineer then long resident in America, who had invented and put up some new and improved machines in New York; and under their joint superintendence pressure-plate presses and machines for spinning, forming, trimming, wiring, &c., were erected at these works. • These were the first machines of the kind erected and used in this country, and except in some minor points indicated by continued experience have never yet been improved upon. One of these machines, erected twenty years ago, is still the largest and most powerful of its kind. An interesting series of machines, working automatically, are here in use for the manufacture of galvanized-iron buckets, which are produced by what is virtually a single operation.
Many things now done in this trade have been rendered possible only by the great improvement in the manufacture of black-iron and black-steel sheets. Steel is fast superseding iron entirely; and although the old nomenclature remains, it is no longer correct to speak of japanned tin boxes or baths, as these articles are now all made out of steel sheets, and are finished by tinning and japanning. Sixty years ago the largest black-iron sheets that could be produced were 24 inches wide and 72 inches long, though length was not bounded by the same difficulties as width. Sheets can now be rolled 72 inches square or 72 inches wide by 8 or 10 feet long. This improvement in material and rolling machinery in iron works may be considered the second great factor in the expansion of the stamped or pressed sheet-iron or steel tinned hollow-ware trade. These large steel sheets can now be coated with tin with a perfection of finish equal to that of the smallest sizes; and this has greatly developed the production of milk trendies, which now crowd the railway stations of our large towns.
An important part of this business is and always has been the japanning and decorating of tea trays, waiters, coal boxes, grocers' canisters, &c. In this department the hard shiny and brittle japan of former days is being superseded by the firm's stannic enamel, a material of remarkable elasticity and durability, which has somewhat the appearance of leather, and is much bettor adapted for artistic decoration.
The number of workpeople employed is about 400.
LLOYD'S PROVING HOUSE, NETHERTON, NEAR DUDLEY.
This establishment, licensed by the Board of Trade for the testing of chain cables, chains, and anchors, was commenced in 1865 with one small building about 140 feet long by 50 feet wide, and one testing machine; and by subsequent enlargements and the addition of more powerful machinery, to meet the requirements of acts of parliament, and of the rapidly developed chain, cable, and anchor trade of the district, it has become the largest and most complete of its kind in the kingdom. It is laid out for testing every description of chains and anchors, from short-link chains of A. inch diameter to the largest cables, mooring chains, and anchors, used either in the navy or in the mercantile service. It is also fitted for experimental testing of every description; and here were tested specimens of riveted joints for the Research Committee of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (Proceedings 1888, page 538).
The testing machinery consists of five machines, of 50, 105, 150, 200, and 300 tons capacity. The 50, 105, and 200-ton machines are used for testing the whole chain, in a length not exceeding 90 feet, and also for anchors; the 150 and 300-ton machines are used for testing the trial pieces, cut out of each 15 fathoms, or less, of cable, to comply with the statutory requirements, and also for experimental purposes. By law it is required that a ship's cable shall be made up of lengths not exceeding 15 fathoms, being joined together to complete the cable by means of shackles, the bolts of which can be readily driven out at any time when the ship is riding at anchor, for enabling her to slip her cable if necessary. From each length a trial piece of three links, chosen by the superintendent of the proving house, is cut out, and is subjected to the appropriate breaking strain, for ascertaining the quality of the iron and workmanship; and then, if found to be satisfactory, the whole length is tested to the corresponding tensile strain.
The links are cut out by hydraulic shears, and the appropriate breaking strain fixed by parliament for cables varies from 40 to 50 per cent. above the tensile strain; but cables of high-class quality usually withstand a much higher breaking strain.
The 300-ton machine is the most powerful of its kind in the country, being specially adapted for experimental testing of chain cables and of iron and steel; it is adapted for applying either tensile, compressive, bulging, torsional, or transverse strain, provision being made for the preparation of experimental samples, either by lathe or by shaping, slotting, or planing machine. There is also an apparatus for obtaining the limit of elasticity of metals. Chain cables up to 3k inches diameter have been tested and samples broken; and anchors exceeding 10 tons, made in the district, have been tested here, a steam travelling-crane being used for lifting and moving the heavy articles.
The whole establishment is lighted by electricity; four 1,000 candle-power arc lamps and a number of incandescent lamps are used for this purpose. The examination also of cables and chains after testing is done by the electric light during the winter months and in dull weather; a 50 candle-power incandescent lamp is fixed on the front of each examiner's cap, so that the work can always be kept going. For ascertaining the correctness of the centre lines of the different levers of the machines, a true plane surface-plate is used, 18 feet long by 8 feet wide, which is rather unique of its kind. The capacity of the establishment, which is usually kept in regular operation, is equal to testing 250 tons per week of chains, cables, and anchors. The number of men employed is about 60.
The company have a similar establishment of less capacity at Tipton, started in 1864, and licensed by the Board of Trade for testing chains, cables, and anchors. There are three testing machines of 50 and 105 and 150 tons capacity. The 50 and 105-ton machines are for testing the whole chain in a length not exceeding 90 feet, and also for anchors; and the 150-ton machine is used for testing the trial pieces, and for experimental testing of iron and steel. This establishment is lighted by the electric light in a similar manner to the Netherton proving house. Its capacity is approximately 150 tons per week of chains, cables, and anchors. The number of men employed is about 30; Mr. H. Green is the superintendent.
MASON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.
The late Sir Josiah Mason had long felt the importance of providing enlarged means of scientific instruction for the manufacturers of the town and district, upon terms which should render it available to persons of all classes. By means of his own indomitable energy and force of character, without any advantages of education, he had himself risen from a humble position in life, and had become the founder of large industries and bad attained to great wealth; and recollecting his own disadvantages and struggles, be wisely and generously determined to devote a large portion of his wealth to the provision, for those who came after him, of that scientific and literary training of which he had so keenly felt the need. After six years of preparation and negotiation, the foundation deeds were executed, the site purchased, and the plans of the building approved; and he had the pleasure of laying the foundation stone of the new College on 23rd February 1875, the eightieth anniversary of his birthday. The building was completed and the College ready to receive students on 1st October 1880. He was present at the opening ceremony, and survived until the following June. The deed of foundation provided originally for scientific instruction only, with the addition of the English, French, and German languages; and by subsequent deeds the founder varied and extended the scheme so as to authorise the trustees to provide instruction in all branches of science (including medicine and surgery), in art, in languages and literature, and in all subjects required for degrees in arts or science. The deed provides that "no lectures or teaching or examinations shall be permitted in the institution upon theology or any question or subject in its nature purely theological, or upon any questions which for the time being shall be the subject of party political controversy."
The site of the College extends from Edmund Street to Great Charles Street, and comprises about an acre of laud with a frontage of 150 feet towards Edmund Street and a depth of 313 feet. The frontage is in one side of a square, of which the other sides are occupied by the Town Hall, the Council House and Corporation Art Gallery, and the Free Libraries; the College is thus situated iu the centre of the municipal life of the city. The building was erected under the personal direction of the architect, Mr. Jethro A. Cossins, assisted by Mr. Hodgkins, a practical builder, and a relative of Sir Josiah Mason by marriage, who acted as clerk of the works. The cost of the site was £20,000, and a sum of £60,000 was expended on the building and its fittings.
The buildings, four storeys in height, are arranged in two blocks, connected at each side by wings, and divided in the centre by main corridors which look into two open courts. The material is red brick and stone; the style is Gothic of the thirteenth century, with details largely derived from French architecture of that period. The accommodation includes four lecture-theatres, the largest 50 feet by 33 feet; laboratories for each of the science departments, the largest (that for chemistry) being 104 feet by 32 feet; three museums devoted to zoology, geology, and engineering; a library about 65 feet by 30 feet, containing upwards of 24,600 volumes, to which all day students have free access; ample and numerous class-rooms and administrative offices; a common room for students; and. all other appliances necessary for the comfort of professors and students. For the women students there are separate retiringZaml reading rooms and lavatories.
The endowment provided by the founder, including the cost of the site and buildings, amounts to close upon £200,000; the annual income derived from the various investments is nearly £4,000 a year. A total sum of 225,000 is now granted every year by the Government to the various provincial university colleges, of which £2,700 falls to Mason University College. The College is still urgently in need of funds for the library and museums, and for the better equipment of laboratories.
In 1892 the Medical Faculty of Queen's College was transferred to Mason University College, the necessary accommodation having been provided at a cost of upwards of £18,000 by the erection of new buildings, which, facing Great Charles Street on the one side, arc continuous with the original buildings of Mason University College on the other. The new buildings contain a dissecting room, 91 feet long by 27 feet wide, with which are continuous a large lavatory and coat room, and a room for the chief demonstrator. The anatomical department also consists of a theatre seating 223 students, with professors', demonstrators', and prosectors' rooms, museum, and preparing rooms. There is a general medical theatre seating 326 students, with professor's retiring room and lavatory. There are also museums of pathology (46 feet square), materia medico, public health, and dentistry, with bacteriological and dental laboratories. On the ground floor are the Dean's office, janitor's rooms, and general hat and coat and locker room with lavatory. A common room for the students, in common with those of the other Faculties, forms part of the new buildings. Besides these additions there already exist in the College complete departments of physiology—for which the accommodation has recently been considerably extended— chemistry, physics, and zoology.
In the first year of College work there were 95 students. In 1895-6 there were 689 individual students in the day classes, and 411 individual students in the evening classes.
MIRROR LAUNDRY, HARBORNE, BIRMINGHAM.
This laundry was built and equipped by the Mirror Laundries Co. in 1894-5. It consists of a main building 86 feet long by 80 feet wide, with attached boiler house 30 feet long by 20 feet wide. In the front of the main building are the sorting and packing rooms, offices, and delivery lobby; above is a mess room for the workpeople, and a collar-ironing room. The rest of the building is divided into three bays, which constitute the wash-house, machine-ironing, and hand-ironing rooms. At the end of the wash-house are the engine room and store room; and a row of dry horses, with curtain and blanket room above, occupies one end of the machine-ironing room. The washing and ironing machinery, &c., has been supplied by various makers; and a compound vertical engine with 6 and 10 inch cylinders and 10 inch stroke, specially designed by the company's engineer, supplies the motive power. A Galloway boiler for 100 lbs. per square inch working pressure supplies steam to the engine and throughout the laundry generally. The consulting engineer and managing director is Mr. E. Fuhrmann Clarke.
The number of workpeople employed is about 100.
MESSRS. HENRY MITCHELL AND CO., CAPE HILL BREWERY, BIRMINGHAM.
This brewery, situated in Smethwick, was established in 1865. The boiler house contains four Lancashire boilers, one Cornish, and one tubular boiler; the six work three horizontal engines of 7, 14, and 24 horse-power. In the engine house are two boiler feed-pumps, and two sets of three-throw gun-metal pumps. An artesian well in the yard, 270 feet deep, contains three sets of three-throw pumps, capable of raising together 12,000 gallons per hour; and in the tower are two large iron cold-water tanks, each having a capacity of 6,000 gallons. The mill room contains two malt-grinding mills, each capable of crushing 120 bushels of malt per hour, with screening and grading accessories; and an iron tank holding 7,500 gallons of cold water. In this room are also two hot liquor tanks of 4,500 gallons capacity each, and two of 1,800 gallons each, all of which are fitted with steam coils. In the mashing room are three mash tuns capable of mashing a total of about 2,240 bushels of malt; each tun is fitted with outside mashing machine and internal rake machinery. In the copper house are four boiling coppers, each having a capacity of 3,600 gallons. The hop-back room contains a circular copper hop-back of 7,200 gallons capacity, with gun-metal false bottom; also a copper well connected by a main with the wort pumps in the engine house. There are three upright refrigerators, having a combined cooling power of 3,600 gallons per hour. In three rooms on the top floor are twenty-two collecting and fermenting vessels, each having an average capacity of 6,840 gallons, and each vessel fitted with refrigerators and mechanical agitators. The cleansing rooms contain sixty-four cleansing vessels, varying in capacity from 3,240 to 3,600 gallons each, fitted with parachute skimmers and refrigerators. The barm cellars occupy the ground floor under the cleansing rooms, and contain slate tanks for yeast storage. About 10,000 barrels of beer can be stored in the brewery. In the racking room, where the beer is drawn off from the lees, are four tanks fitted with the necessary accessories for filling barrels. The bottling stores contain bottling apparatus, and bottle- washing and corking machines. In the hop and malt stores are a series of bins, each capable of storing from 4,000 to 5,600 bushels of malt; and spaces for storing hop bales and pockets.
The number of men employed is over 400.
NATIONAL TELEPHONE CO., BIRMINGHAM.
The principal Birmingham telephone exchange of the National Telephone Co. is at present situated at 40 Bennetts Hill; but handsome and extensive premises are being built at the corner of Newhall Street and Edmund Street, in which it is trusted that the Central Telephone Exchange, with entirely new switching plant, will be working sometime next year.
The exchange is practically divided into two parts namely a local room, where all the local calls are dealt with; and a junction room, where the calls for subscribers on other exchanges in the area and trunk calls are attended to. Forty-seven operators deal with the messages, which according to the latest statistics amount to 908,200 per week, or considerably over 30,000 per weekday.
The principal feature of the multiple board is the arrangement whereby each subscriber's line on the exchange is so placed that it comes within the reach of every operator in the switch-room; and this is effected by multiplying the lines in each section of the switch-board; on the Birmingham board there are ten sections, accommodating 2,000 subscribers' lines. The importance of this multiple arrangement will at once be seen, when it is remembered that, although the operator has only to answer the calls in the section allotted to her, nevertheless her various subscribers will naturally be requiring to speak to any other persons connected with the exchange. An important and necessary feature of the multiple board is the "engaged test." It is obvious that, as every subscriber appears before the various operators, several callers might be put on to the same number at once. In order to prevent this, the board is specially wired so that the test wire is connected to the earth throughout the whole series of the subscribers' jacks, and a recognised signal is received by the operator in such cases. Before making a connection, the practice is to touch the front of the jack with the tip of the connecting plug: if the subscriber is engaged, the operator receives a sharp clicking sound in her ear; if the subscriber is disengaged, no sound is heard, and she makes the connection. Each operator is provided with a head-gear receiver and breast-plate transmitter, made principally of aluminium; these arc very light, and greatly aid the operator, as they leave both hands free and allow her to move in any desired direction while yet having the apparatus always with her.
As the Birmingham Centre covers a considerable area, there are nine sub-exchanges, which collectively require twenty-seven operators; and others are in course of construction. In order to obtain inter-communication between the central and sub-exchanges, there are a number of junction wires with call wires between the various points. At the receiving ends, the call-wire operators are situated at their respective switch-boards with their telephone receivers to their ears; and at the sending ends, tapping studs or keys are provided, so that the operator at one exchange can gain the attention of the operator at the distant exchange, and obtain without loss of time any connection which may be required. The company have instituted and are extending an arrangement of visual signals, whereby the plugging or unplugging of the various junction lines is indicated instantaneously at both ends of any particular wire. The wires are brought on to the test board, which is in an adjoining room, through suitable springs, whereby the test clerk is enabled to make rapidly such connections as may be necessary in order to test the nature of any fault and localize it. Lightning protectors of a compact and efficient form are also provided. There is an extensive system of underground wires, ranging from earlier makes of cable insulated with gutta-percha to the most modern paper cable enclosed in a lead sheath, which may be seen in the cable terminal room. On the roof is the derrick carrying the overhead wires; and a good bird's-eye view of the city and the ramifications of the telephone system may be had therefrom.
MESSRS. F. AND C. OSLER, CRYSTAL GLASS WORKS, BIRMINGHAM.
This firm, which was established in 1807, has two works in Birmingham: one in Freeth Street, where the glass is made, blown, and shaped into the many different articles; and the other in Broad Street, where the glass is cut and engraved. The materials used in glass-making are sand, red lead, potash, and saltpetre.
The glass house is in the shape of a cone, and the furnace is constructed in the centre of the area; it contains from ten to twelve melting pots, which are composed of Stourbridge clay and are each capable of holding about 18 cwts. The process of melting lasts about two days; and when the glass — or metal, as it is usually called — is properly melted, the work in the glass house begins, and is continued night and day until the metal is exhausted. After any article has been shaped, it goes through a process of annealing, which generally requires from 24 to 96 hours according to the size of the article; afterwards it is sent to the Broad Street works for cutting.
The cutting is done on revolving wrought-iron discs driven by machinery; a hopper containing sand and water is fixed immediately above each disc, and the contents are allowed to run in a continuous stream upon the revolving disc. By this means the pattern is "roughed" upon the glass. It is next "smoothed" by a similar process, except that a smooth stone is used instead of an iron disc, and the sand is dispensed with altogether. After passing through these two processes, it only remains for the work to be polished by means of wooden wheels and rotten stone; and finally the article is brushed over with oxide of lead, which gives it a fine lustre.
MESSRS. OSMONDS, CYCLE WORKS, THE TOWER, BIRMINGHAM.
This firm is the outcome of the Osmond Cycle Co., which was established in 1894, in the commodious premises known as The Tower, situated at the corner of Bagot Street and Lancaster Street, Birmingham, and previously used as a small-arms repairing factory. High-grade machines only are built, for which all the component parts—with the exception of tyres, saddles, chains, and rims—are made on the spot, and are absolutely interchangeable. Each department is kept entirely separate, and the most rigid system of viewing is in force.
The shops are as follows:— machine, building, filing up (two), brazing, polishing, plating, enamelling, hardening and annealing, wheel, gear case, assembling and finishing; in addition to which there are the tool room, view room, packing room, two smithies, rubber, general, and component stores. In the machine shop all components are dealt with by the following machinery:— milling machines, capstan lathes, hub machines, drilling, screw-making, turning, chain-wheel making and cutting, grinding and lapping. In the building shop all frames, forks, and mudguards are built. The use of inside liners for the necessary frame joints has been discarded in favour of bushed joints. The hardening and annealing are done on the latest method of heating by gas. The plating shop is equipped with a most complete electro-plating installation. Gas is produced in the works on Dowson's plan, which works well, and is especially satisfactory in the enamelling shop. A portion of the yard has recently been covered in with a glass roof, and converted into a shop containing two lines of shafting for additional machinery. The motive power consists of two Crossley gas engines. The total area of shopping, on three floors, is 34,848 square feet, and of yard space 17,044 square feet; and the number of men employed is between five and six hundred.
GUN PROOF HOUSE, BANBURY STREET, BIRMINGHAM.
The Birmingham Gun Proof House was built in 1813, by public subscription, afterwards repayable, in pursuance of an act passed in that year "to ensure the proper and careful manufacturing of firearms in England." Scales for suitable charges of powder and lead were framed, and proper proof marks were designed to be stamped on such barrels as stood the required proof. In 1815 an amended Act was passed; and in 1855, in consequence of many improvements in fire-arms, a further act was passed, making new regulations suitable to the improvements. In 1868 an amended proof act came into force, controlling by strict regulations the condition of the arms when presented for proof, the strengths of the powder employed, the specific gravity of the lead, and the kind of wads used. The ordinary gunpowder is received fresh about twice a week, and tested. The magazine and safety appliances are from time to time visited without notice by H. M. inspectors of explosives. The heating of the rooms is by hot-water pipes.
Arms are generally proved at two stages of manufacture: first, when the barrels are bored nearly to size, and dressed ready for fitting up; and secondly, when they are connected with the rest of the mechanism, and ready for stocking. The proof charges are generally proportional to the area of the bore of the barrel, and are regulated so as to produce a final stress of about 80 per cent. in excess of that of the ordinary service charge. The stresses are estimated by crushing copper or lead cylinders, through the medium of pistons passing through the thickness of the barrel just to the inner surface of the bore. The cylinders are placed on the heads of these pistons, and caps are screwed just down on to the cylinders. On firing the gun, the powder gas, acting on the pistons, crushes the cylinders against the caps screwed on to them, and the amount of shortening of the cylinders indicates the stress exerted where they are situated on the barrel. From the varying violence of the many new gunpowders, much attention is at present directed to ascertain the absolute radial or bursting stress exerted by a given charge of powder and lead in a barrel at different distances along it from the breech or point of ignition. The interval of time from the ignition of the percussion cap to the exit of the shot from the muzzle of an ordinary sporting gun barrel 30 inches long, with 1,250 foot-seconds muzzle-velocity, has been estimated at about half a hundredth of a second. Inasmuch as the important factor of the time in which the crushing is done is so difficult to ascertain, it is disputed whether the momentary stress on the crushing pistons is an impact or a pressure, and therefore whether it should be expressed in gravitation terms of foot-lbs. per second, or in tons per square inch. Many expedients have been devised for ascertaining the time, but so far no absolute measure which is trustworthy has been arrived at. For the comparative stresses the crusher gauge is the best measure yet invented. In the test of a gun for sporting powders the pistons are fixed at 1 inch, 21, 6, and 9 inches and other points from the breech face. The muzzle velocities are found by Boulenge's chronograph, and the momenta of shot by swinging targets on the pendulum principle. The gun is loaded with powder in the first proof by measures, and with a spherical ball nearly the diameter of the bore; in the final proof, shot is used instead of ball. A felt wad is placed on the powder and on the lead. In the first proof, three times the service charge of powder is used, and in the second proof the excess stress over that of the service powder and lead is found and applied. The relative violence of powders greatly affects the proof quantity. In ramming the charge down, the barrel is set upright behind a thick plank, in front of which the rammer stands, and draws down a metal ramrod, which slides in a vertical groove in the plank; by this plan he is safe from accident.
For firing in the first proof, about 120 barrels are laid in grooves on a lead-covered bench in an iron-plated room, and then are fired into a bank of sand about 8 feet distant. They are laid touch-boles downwards, with a train of powder beneath them; when fired they recoil into a bank of sand. They are then washed clean in hot water, and when dry are viewed for cracks and bulges. Great experience is needed to detect the defects when slight; and however small a hole or crack may be in the commonest barrel, it is rejected. In cases of doubt, the barrel is set up between two centres, one of which is a tube, and water is pumped in till a hydraulic gauge indicates 600 lbs. per square inch; the water will then show itself through the most minute defect in the barrel. If perfect, the barrels receive the proof mark, and are delivered to the owner.
In the final proof, the breech mechanism is attached to the barrel, and mounted on an iron wagon to permit of recoil. The ignition of the cartridges is effected by a hammer fixed on the wagon, and actuated by a leather thong outside the firing room.
The ordinary number of proofs is now about a thousand a day; in war times it has reached three times that amount. The complications of modern guns of all kinds, and the careful weighing of the proof charges of the modern violent nitro-powders, have rendered the time of proving considerably longer than formerly. Mr. Samuel B. Allport is the proof master.
Power is given in the act of parliament to adapt the proof regulations to modern requirements in arms and ammunition, on the approval of the Secretary of State for War.
The Gun Makers' Company of London, established by Royal Charter, have also a proof house, with working regulations the same as in Birmingham.
MESSRS. P. WEBLEY AND SON, GUN MANUFACTORY, WEAMAN STREET, BIRMINGHAM.
This business was commenced in 1817 by Mr. William Davis, grandfather of the present proprietors, for the manufacture of gun implements and materials. Up to the time of the introduction of breech-loaders, no rifle was complete without a bullet mould and patch punch with the initials W. 1). In 1845 the business was bought by his son-in-law, Mr. Philip Webley; and in 1858 it became known by the present name of the firm, having meanwhile, with the growth of breech-loaders, changed into the manufacture of guns and rifles, and later of revolvers also. These are practically the only works making revolvers in this country, and have occupied a staff of government viewers for the last eight years inspecting revolvers made for the whole of the land, naval, Indian, and Colonial forces.
New works running through into Shiley Street have recently been built adjoining the old promises, which are about to be pulled down for further extension, so that the original building No. 84 has grown from No. 81 to 91 Wellman Street, running through into Slanoy Street. In the factory is a large collection of modern machine-tools, which are used in the manufacture of the revolvers en the interchangeable system. Target rifles for volunteers are also made; and iii addition the firm are wholesale manufacturers of sporting guns and rifles.
The number of persons employed has grown from 10 to about 500.
MESSRS. WINFIELDS, CAMBRIDGE STREET WORKS AND ROLLING MILLS, BIRMINGHAM.
Those works, which are situated near tho centre of the city, were founded in 1820 by the late Mr. Robert Walter Winfield, who commenced by making stair rods in a small block of shopping in Cambridge Street; the business rapidly increased, and the promises were greatly extended, other branches being added from Limo to time.
The present works cover an area of 41 acres, with a frontage of 830 feet, extending from Baskerville Passage at the top of Great Charles Street, along Cambridge Street, to King Alfred's Place; and they are divided into various departments.
The raw-material section consists of strip casting-shops, meta/ rolling, wire drawing and tube mills, which are driven by an engine of 150 H.P. supplied by two large boilers. The principal goods manufactured in the department are brass and copper strips and sheets, brass and copper tubes, and brass and copper wire, of which large quantities are turned out. The gas and electric-light fittings and brassfoundry department includes the making of all kinds of small gas and water fittings for indoor and outdoor application, all kinds of ornamental fittings in brass, copper, and wrought-iron for gas and electric lighting, such as brackets, chandeliers and electroliers, for private houses or public buildings, and almost every variety of general brassfoundry. The bedstead department is one of the earliest in which metallic bedsteads were made. The late Mr. Winfield commenced making brass and iron bedsteads, and by elegance of design and many other attractive features succeeded in so far developing this branch that many thousands of bedsteads had been turned out here before other makers took up their manufacture. The motive power for the gas-fittings and bedstead departments is supplied by two engines of 150 and 50 horse-power.
In addition the works include carpenters' and engineers' shops, the repairs to buildings and machinery being done by their own men, as well as the manufacture of the packing cases used in the business. A coal wharf at Browning Street supplies the fuel for consumption in the works, and a considerable coal trade is also done in the city. At these works practically everything is done from the casting of the metal to the turning out of the various finished articles, of which examples are on view in the show rooms. Lacquer is also manufactured in large quantities for use in the works, and for supplying the leading brass manufactories in the country.
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, STAFFORD ROAD, WOLVERHAMPTON.
These works, established in 1849 by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway Company, which was afterwards amalgamated. with the Great Western Railway Company, are situated near Dunstall Park station, on the main line from London to Birkenhead; and are used for the manufacture and repair of locomotive engines and machinery. They comprise iron and brass foundries, forge, smithies, turning, erecting, carpenters', and pattern-makers' shops; and are fitted with modern machinery, and travelling cranes worked by cotton ropes and friction gear. Since they were opened 642 new engines have been constructed, and about 250 engines are repaired yearly. There is also a large engine shed, and upwards of 110 engines are in steam daily. Over 1,000 men are employed in the works, and upwards of 500 in the running department. There is a mechanics' institution connected with the works, comprising reading room, library, and billiard room, and a cricket field attached. The works are under the charge of Mr. W. H. Waister, assistant locomotive superintendent.
ELECTRIC CONSTRUCTION CO., BUSHBURY ENGINEERING WORKS, WOLVERHAMPTON.
The present works at Bushbury stand on a site of about 23 acres. They were erected in 1889, and the buildings, which cover an area of upwards of four acres, were specially designed for turning out heavy electrical engineering work with facility and expedition. The whole of the shops and offices are on the ground level, with the exception of one first floor for light instruments and arc lamps. The roofs are of glass and iron, supported on the cast-iron columns which carry the traveller gantries, so that there is little or nothing of a combustible nature. As a further safeguard, the pattern shop, foundries, and smiths' shop are detached from the main buildings, as are also the physical and chemical laboratories.
The iron foundry is equipped with three cupolas, capable of turning out 25 tons of castings per day, air being furnished by a Root's blower driven direct by an electric motor. The floor is served by an electric overhead 10-ton traveller, and by two smaller 5-ton travellers. Recently a ring for a fly-wheel magnet, in two pieces, each weighing 11 tons, has been cast for the Halifax lighting station; these castings can be seen in the machine shops. The brass foundry adjoining has eight furnaces, and turns out a large quantity of plate moulded work.
The power house contains four water-tube boilers working at 150 lbs. per square inch, which supply steam to a Robey compound engine of 150 I.H.P. driving by a belt an 80 kilo-watt dynamo, and also to a Winans engine coupled direct to an 80 kilo-watt dynamo; the two dynamos are run in parallel to supply the motor and lighting power. The whole of the shops are driven by motors, usually belted to short lengths of shafting, but in several cases driving individual machines. There are also two other engines, one of 200 and the other of 100 I.H.P., which are used for testing.
The main erecting bay is served by two electric travellers, having a span of 45 feet and a travel of nearly 300 feet, which is the length of each of the bays. It is equipped with several fine machine-tools, notably a planer by Whitworth, capable of taking work of the largest size, a face-plate lathe by Muir for work up to 18 feet diameter, and several horizontal boring machines and other lathes. In this bay and elsewhere are to be seen parts of several machines of exceptional size, including 300 kilo-watt alternators, 400 and 1,700 kilo-watt continuous-current dynamos, and variable-ratio transformers &c.
The press shop, situated to the left of the main bay, is full of punching and cropping tools of every description. Here the armature cores are built up, and the transformer laminations cut. Overhead is the meter and arc-lamp shop. Of the remaining bays to the right, nos. 2 to 5 inclusive are equipped with high-class machine-tools of the usual description, including lathes, planing, slotting, shaping, drilling, milling, and profiling machines. Bays 6 and 7 are winding shops. Here a number of girls are employed in insulating the iron laminations, and doing light winding work on alternate-current transformers. Instead of the older style of drum winding, in which each coil crossed over all the preceding ones, an improvement is here seen in the Eickemeyer systematic armature winding, whereby the coil is wound independently of the armature core, and is readily insulated for any necessary pressure; and all coils on an armature are exact counterparts, capable of ready removal and replacement. The brass finishing shop contains numerous turret lathes, universal millers, screwing machines, and others, driven from two shafts, each with its own motor. Machinery from these works is found already in most of the lighting stations throughout the country; and among the larger work in hand at the present time are alternators, dynamos, elevators, lighting plant, locomotives, tramway motor equipments, re-winding of dynamos to suit high-voltage lamps, transformers both alternate-current and continuous-current rotary. Enclosed factory and tramway motors, of which examples can be seen in progress, are meeting with much success. The number of workpeople employed is at present about 720; for their use a convenient mess-room is provided on land belonging to the company outside the works proper. Another portion of land is divided up into allotments, and let at low rates to those workpeople who have a taste for gardening. The engineer and manager is Mr. A. B. Blackburn.
MESSRS. THOMAS PARKER, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING WORKS, WOLVERHAMPTON.
These works are situated on the Wednesfield Road, within five hundred yards of the railway stations. They were built in the latter part of 1894, and some extensions have recently been made. They comprise in independent buildings:—iron and brass foundries; pattern-makers' and smiths' shops; main shop, 250 feet long by 150 feet wide, in which are the machine-tool, erecting, winding, and testing departments; and stores. The offices adjoin the main shop. The whole of the works including the power cranes are driven electrically; and the lighting by arc and incandescent lamps is also supplied from the some generating plant. Most of the machine-tools are driven from line shafting; but some lately added have each their own motor. The works are employed solely in the manufacture of dynamos, motors, and switch gear, &c.; and furnish complete equipment for electric lighting, electric railways, tramways, and power transmission.
The number of workpeople at present employed is about 400.
CORPORATION ELECTRIC-LIGHT WORKS, WOLVERHAMPTON.
The erection and equipment of these works was completed in January 1895, when they were formally opened by Lord Kelvin; and since that date the supply of electricity has been continuously maintained. The present capital expenditure has been £38,000, with a capacity of 15,000 lamps of 8 candle-power. The buildings at present consist of a main generating station and three sub-stations. The system of supply is the high-pressure continuous-current. The current is generated at 2,000 volts pressure, and is distributed by high- pressure mains to the outlying sub-stations, where it is transformed by means of motor transformers down to about 110 volts, at which pressure it is distributed to low-pressure mains, and thereby to consumers' premises. The plant at the generating station consists of four complete generating sets, each comprising a horizontal compound condensing engine and a separately excited continuous-current dynamo with a rope-driven exciter. Three of the four sets are of 140 kilo-watt capacity, and the fourths of 65 kilo-watts; all four are rope-driven, and each can develop 2,200 volts. The dynamos are two-pole inverted. The condensing plant consists of a Ledward ejector-condenser, and a centrifugal pump driven direct by a vertical steam-engine for raising the condensing water from a canal. The boiler-house contains three Lancashire boilers, two economisers, pumps, Ste.; and steam is generated at 130 lbs. per square inch. The chimney is 100 feet in height, and is of circular section throughout inside. A water-softening apparatus is in use, having a maximum duty of 300 gallons per hour. The high-pressure mains consist of vulcanized bitumen cables laid in iron troughs, which are filled in with bitumen and closed with a water-tight iron lid. The low-pressure mains are armoured single-conductor cables buried in the ground. The sub-station at the Town Hall performs a quadruple duty: it serves as a central switching station, takes its share of the transforming, controls the arc-lighting circuits, and deals with a battery of accumulators. It is equipped with three motor transformers, each giving 400 amperes at 110 volts for the general supply; one arc-lighting transformer for splitting the 2,000 volts into two of 1,000 volts on two separate circuits; and one booster for supplying some 40 volts extra for the charging current for the battery. The battery has a specified capacity of 600 ampere-hours. Mr. F. Harman Lewis is the borough electrical engineer.
MESSRS. EDWIN BANKS AND CO., OLDBURY BOILER WORKS.
These works are situated at Oldbury, about five miles out of Birmingham, close to the Great Western and London & North Western Railways and the Birmingham Junction Canal. They are compactly arranged on a site of ... acres, including yard space. The present buildings include drilling and planing shop, boiler-shell marking and bending shop, erecting, shell-drilling, and fitting shops; whilst the large yard affords ample space for boilers awaiting despatch, and for the storage of flues, shell plates, and other parts of boilers after they have been welded or bent up ready for fitting into the complete boiler.
In the drilling and planing shop are piles of plates waiting to be dealt with. All the flue-plates are first brought here to be scarfed for welding. Amongst the tools are a large plate-edge planing machine for planing tank-plates, a drilling machine for stand pipes and manhole lids, and a flue-flange drilling machine, originally intended for drilling flanged-joint holes but now used for turning the edges of flue-flanges. In a shed forming a continuation of this shop are steam-hammers and fires, where sections of the flues are rapidly welded up.
In the boiler-shell marking and bending shop the plates are marked, sheared to length, and the blockholes and manholes bored out under the machines. They are then taken to the hydraulic press for setting, and passed through the vertical rolls, by which they are bent to shape. This machine is of the three-roll design, and has its own pair of engines attached for driving. Close by is a hydraulic press, capable of exerting a pressure of 400 tons; a set of four-throw pumps supplies the water at a pressure of three tons per square inch. In this department is a set of horizontal rolls to admit plates 8 feet wide, and a smaller set for bending the flue-plates before welding; two machines for flanging the edges of the flue-plates; machinery for bending angle-iron rings; and a blower, which provides blast for the welding fires. In the yard is a flanging furnace for end-plates, which admits a plate 9 feet diameter. A 35-ton overhead steam-traveller is here in use; and eleven of these cranes of various capacities are employed in different parts of the works. A pneumatic caulker can be seen at work in the yard; the head of the tool is held up to the boiler and passed along the joints, whilst a rapid series of smart blows automatically delivered effectively closes the joints.
The erecting shop contains a number of portable hydraulic riveters; also a stationary riveter placed under a tower, where the longest boiler casing can be dealt with. The boiler-shell drilling shop, about 200 feet long by 50 feet wide, is equipped with a powerful overhead crane driven by square shafting; a large butt- drilling machine capable of drilling four holes in vertical line; a vertical circular planing machine having a revolving table, on which the top and bottom edges of the rings of the shell plates are turned simultaneously; and the same tool is also capable of planing the horizontal seams; a boiler-end turning and boring machine for cutting out oval manholes; a machine for drilling bracket-holes; and a massive shaping machine, on which the corners of the plates are thinned, in order to avoid local heating. The electric-lighting plant, consisting of a dynamo machine driven by a semi-portable engine, provides light for the whole of the works and offices. Other buildings comprise the paint stores, rivet stores, general stores for castings, and the stables.
The fitting shop is compactly arranged, and well equipped with large lathes, radial and other drills, and a variety of other tools. The sipper floor in this building is used for storing various parts of boiler fittings. Important extensions are nearly completed, which consist of a large new boiler shop, 186 feet long by 50 feet wide, containing two 6-ton overhead travelling-cranes, heavy bending-rolls, a plate-edge planing machine, boiler-end turning machine, and other tools, all of which are driven by electricity. The 250 horse-power horizontal side-by-side compound engines by Messrs. Robey and Co. are situated in the new engine and dynamo house at the end of this shop, with a rope drive to the dynamo. There is also a new triple riveting tower with three hydraulic riveting machines, and accumulator with 12-inch ram and 20-foot stroke. Lancashire and other boilers of large size, weighing 33 tons and more, and for pressures up to 200 lbs. per square inch, are the special production of these works.
The number of men employed is about 400.
MESSRS JOHN DEWSBURY AND SON, BRIDLE-BIT AND NICKEL PLATING WORKS, WALSALL.
These works were founded by the late Mr. John Dewsbury in 1840 in Duncalf Street, Walsall, and the increasing business was soon afterwards removed to Littleton Street. Here bridle-bits are produced in all qualities, sizes, and patterns; among the novelties are bits made with india-rubber mouthpieces for tender-mouthed horses, the chains inside being tested to stand a pull of 500 lbs.; and medicine drenching bits, by which medicine may be easily given to horses and cows. Besides the usual japanned, tinned, and nickel-plated goods, bits in solid nickel silver are extensively made. In the new nickel-plating process steel articles are placed in a perforated cage, through which runs a brass rod connected electrically by its bearings with the rods that suspend it; the cage is spun in the green solution of nickel, and as the articles jolt about inside they take on the metal and polish themselves against one another. Some bits are cast, but most are forged; and skilful work is required to snake the two halves of a light snaffle exactly alike. For making rings, a rod of steel is drawn from the forge, twisted round, run through a hole, welded, and moulded to shape with a few blows on a plug; the extra metal at the joint is removed by a file. The first polishing takes place in revolving cans amid sand and water or emery and oil; the last is performed on calico wheels with tripoli rubbed on from the cake. An interesting process is the making of moulds from the drawings. A piece of lead is carved to resemble the drawing as nearly as possible, from which a mould is taken in sand, and a casting made; the latter is then carved until it truly represents the drawing, and is then moulded, and another casting taken from it, which becomes the lead pattern for future use. The number of workpeople employed is 100.
MESSRS. E. T. HOLDEN AND SON, TANNERS, CURRIERS, AND JAPANNERS, WALSALL.
This firm is one of the largest in the kingdom for the production of leather, required for the manufacture of saddlery and harness, for upholstery, for coach building, and for other purposes. It was founded in 1819 by the late Mr. E. Holden, whose son is the present senior partner.
The manufactory and warehouse are situated in Park Street, and are reached through a narrow passage adjoining the New Inns. What forty years ago were only one or two curriers' shops are now the largest works of the kind in Walsall; the latest additions are lofty five-storey buildings. They comprise offices, warehouses, depots for hides in various stages of manufacture, including scouring shops with large scouring drum; compo houses, with ingenious mechanical appliances; splitting shops; finishing rooms; extensive drying sheds; rooms and sheds for polishing, for storage of oil, &c.; also blacksmiths' and carpenters' shops. Here are produced all kinds of enamelled and japanned leather, harness hides, legging hides, horse hides, leather for military belts, winkers, bridles, reins, stirrups, bags, braces, straps, and fancy articles. A branch of manufacture requiring most careful attention is that of hogskins for racing saddles, for which lightness is so important a consideration. The tan yard is in Beith, Scotland. The goods are sent from Walsall to London and the provinces, and also to the continent and the Colonies.
MESSRS. JOHN LECKIE AND CO., SADDLERY AND HARNESS WORKS, WALSALL.
Walsall is chiefly noted as a saddlery town, and has become the centre of this industry. The export manufacturing business of this firm, founded nearly fifty years ago, was transferred from Glasgow to Walsall about twenty-five years ago. It had been in existence for many years in Scotland, where a large manufacturing business for foreign and colonial trade was carried on; but owing to the facilities for obtaining materials, machinery, and labour in Walsall, it was found more profitable to transfer the industry from Scotland. They are the largest manufacturers in the various branches of the Walsall leather industry, ladies' saddles, hunting saddles, harness, army equipments, belts, strapping, purses, and every kind of equestrian requirements for foreign and colonial travel, which are all classified and worked under different departments. The firm manufacture their own leather; and the hides after being tanned are put through different interesting processes before they become ready for use in different colours, textures, and strengths. In the cutting room the leather is cut up by hand or by gauge-knives, or is placed under steam-power cutting-presses to be cut out into certain shapes, until gradually the articles get their final finish. The work is prepared for stitching by men and women; the hand-stitching is done in one department by girls and women, whilst the plain stitching in most cases is done in the steam-power machine-rooms, where there are about thirty machines, of all strengths and makes, both English and American, continually stitching articles from the lightest to the heaviest. After the goods are stitched and inspected they are finished and sent down to the packing rooms, where they are laid aside under different order numbers until their respective orders are completed, when they again undergo an inspection, after which they are ready to be packed in cases and sent by rail to the different ports of shipment. Among some of the articles produced here are bandoliers for South Africa, and eight-mule span-harness for the Transvaal, regular Cape harness for the Colonies, single harness for the East Indies and Australia, and mule harness for the West Indian plantations; whilst in the saddlery workrooms saddles are made of all styles, for almost every foreign market and for the Colonies, especially South Africa. In addition, some singularly built saddles have been made for South America, with the elevated Somerset cantles and thigh-pads, as well as some high knee-padded saddles for Australia. For the Saffirs of the goldfields and elsewhere hundreds of grosses of money-belts have been made for their arms, wrists, and waists. A large amount of work is done for the government, especially for India and South Africa. The number of workpeople employed is about 300.
MESSRS. JOHN RUSSELL AND CO., ALMA TUBE WORKS AND CYCLOPS IRON WORKS, WALSALL.
This firm was established in 1811, and was the first to manufacture gas tubes by the drawing process. The Alma Tube Works were commenced in 1854, and are now divided into the departments, employing altogether about 800 hands. The oldest department is the butt-weld mill, where butt-welded tubes, chiefly for high-pressure hot-water, heating, and hydraulic purposes, are made by the drawing process. Here also are made taper telegraph and tramway poles; railway point and signal rods; glass-blowers' tubes, &c. The ordinary butt-welded steam, water, and gas tubes are made at the Wednesbury works, and the process is similar to that employed in this department. There are also fitting and socket-makers' shops and a stamping shop, for making large sockets and flanges. Attached to this department also is the coil-shop, where coils of all sorts are made for heating and refrigerating, and tuyere-coils for blast-furnaces. In the lap-weld department, the mill consists of five welding and two skelping furnaces, five out of the seven being Siemens regenerative furnaces, supplied with gas from a range of Wilson producers; from these furnaces, tubes from inch to 18 inches diameter can be welded. The finishing shops are fitted up with tools for cutting off, screwing, staving, bulging, flanging, and other methods of making joints, either for fixing in boilers or for coupling together. Large quantities of oil line-pipe, well-boring and casing tubes, both for oil and water wells, are manufactured here, as well as high-pressure steam mains, iron and steel boiler and stay tubes, &c. Storage heaters for railway carriages and tramcars are also made, and sent out ready for fixing. The weldless-tube department, which has been recently added, is equipped with seven double draw-benches, five for cold-drawing tubes up to 2 inches diameter, and two powerful benches for drawing Belleville boiler-tubes and tubes up to 6 inches diameter for hydraulic purposes. The rolling mill consists of four pairs of rolls, driven by a tandem compound surface-condensing engine.
The Cyclops Iron Works employ about 400 hands, and can turn out 400 to 500 tons of finished iron per week, consisting chiefly of tube-strip iron for consumption in the tube works. There are thirty-two puddling furnaces, two of them working with forced draught, and the others of the ordinary kind. Three steam-hammers and a forge train with three pairs of rolls deal with the product of these furnaces. On the mill side are a 16-inch and 9-inch mill, both three-high. The 16-inch mill is engaged almost exclusively on rolling tube-strip from 41 to 151. inches wide. The 9-inch mill rolls 4i. inches and narrower strip iron, as well as bar iron. The heating furnace for the 16-inch mill is one of the new form of Siemens furnaces, and a second of the same kind is in course of construction.
MESSRS. JOHN SHANNON AND SON, CLOTHING AND WOOLLEN WAREHOUSE, WALSALL.
This establishment was founded by the father of the present managing director in the early part of the century as a drapery business, and was removed to the present site in George Street in 1845. In 1875 the drapery business was given up, and the manufacture of clothing exclusively undertaken. Owing to the great increase in the business, the original factory was demolished in 1894, and the present extensive buildings were erected in its place. Apparatus for making gas on the Dowson plan, and the necessary boilers, engines, electric-lighting machinery, and motors for driving sewing-machines, were designed by Messrs. Lea and Thornbery, of Birmingham.
The warehouse consists of two large blocks, covering half of one side of George Street. Every class of goods required in the manufacture of clothing is received in the basement, which extends the whole length of the building, about 250 feet. There are two woollen departments, one devoted to the ready-made woollen goods, and the other to clothing made to special measure. The second floor is set apart for woollens and trimmings; and for offices, where all the cost pricing is worked out, and the clerical business is transacted. The trimming department comprises linings, braids, buttons, cottons, silks, and twists, &e. From the special-measure despatch-room about 4,000 garments are sent out per week, each of which has to be cut according to measures taken. The ready-made stock-room of the men's department contains a large assortment of garments, including worsteds, serges, and fancy suits. The despatching room is 180 feet long by 40 feet wide, and is fitted with tiers of shelves reaching to the ceiling. The matching room receives the garments from the finishing department, to be matched and made up into suits prior to their removal to the various stock-rooms. In the cutting room, where about 120 men are engaged cutting out, fitting, and trimming, are several machines with endless band-knives, any one of which is capable of cutting out from fifty to a hundred thicknesses of cloth at once, the top surface only having the pattern chalked upon it. The knives are driven by an electric motor, and the machines are supplied by Messrs. Beecroft and Co., Leeds. In the centre of the room is an office, in which all the patterns for special measures and stock are cut and stored, to the number of no less than 300 sets; and duplicates are deposited in the strong room in case of fire.
The new factory is a building of five storeys and basement, 150 feet long and 54 feet wide, and containing 50,000 square feet of floor area. The juvenile machine-room has accommodation for 400 work- people, and is capable of turning out 10,000 garments per week. It is fitted with Singer's sectional benches driven by electric motors, and contains a number of Barran pressing machines heated by Dowson gas, and worked by girls; also machines for sewing on buttons, each capable of attaching 10,000 buttons per week. In the department for making up men's clothing are Singer over-seaming machines for binding garments. The finishing room in the bottom storey is lighted by 20 arc-lamps, and can accommodate 500 girls. Before the erection of the new factory, the finishing work was done by outside labour. A large number of Reece button-hole machines are here employed, in which an indicator registers the number of stitches made; each machine can make 300 dozen button-holes a day. whereas a good day's hand labour would not produce more than ten dozen button-holes. In the serving room on Saturdays the bulk of the trimmings required for the following week are distributed. The pressing department, with accommodation for sixty men, is specially constructed on the shed principle, with a glass and tile roof supported by columns and girders; the heating stoves are separated from the rest of the room by a brick partition, and all fumes are carried off by two Blackman air-propellers, driven by electric motors. A large mess-room in the basement contains heating apparatus, in which food can be warmed.
The warming and ventilation of the building on the plenum plan has been carried out by Mr. W. Key, of Glasgow. The external air is drawn through a series of moistened screens, by which it is filtered. It then passes, when warmth is required, through a series of pipes filled with exhaust steam; and is forced through the building by a fan 10 feet diameter, driven by one of Messrs. G. E. Belliss and Co.'s compound inverted engines of 12 horse-power. The air in the building is changed seven times every hour in winter, and ten times in summer, the volume dealt with in summer being 41 million cubic feet per hour. Ample precautions have been taken against fire by the provision of 657 Grinnell sprinklers, arranged by Messrs. Dowson, Taylor, and Co. The sprinkler itself is simply a small valve securely closed by a fusible solder joint, which melts at a temperature of 155° Fahr. They are distributed at equal distances in every room, and fixed close to the ceiling, as that in case of fire at any spot the water conveyed to each sprinkler by a pipe is automatically liberated, and discharged upon the fire exactly at the place where it has originated. Water can be obtained from either the town service main or a reserve tank of 6,000 gallons capacity placed on an elevated tower. For the lighting, warming, ventilation, and transmission of motive power, two steel Lancashire boilers, each 26 feet by 71 feet, by Messrs. Edwin Banks and Co., of Oldbury, are fixed in a capacious boiler-house. The exposed portions of the boilers and pipes are covered with a non-conducting composition. Steam from the boilers is led by underground pipes to two turbine generators, made by Messrs. C. A. Parsons and Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, each large enough to drive 2,000 incandescent lamps of 16 candle-power. The electric motors were made by Messrs. Crompton and Co.; each drives two tables of sewing-machines. There are twenty-five motors for driving the sewing-machines, besides some larger for the cutting knives, &c.
The engine house contains a set of horizontal steam-pumps, made by Messrs. Tannett, Walker and Co., of Leeds, for pumping into an accumulator for working the three hydraulic lifts by Messrs. Waygood and Co. For heating the pressing-irons about 54,000 cubic feet of Dowson gas are used per day. Town gas is used for a 12 horse-power Crossley gas-engine, which drives a dynamo for supplying a small number of electric lights occasionally used.
DAIMLER MOTOR MILLS, COVENTRY.
The Daimler Motor Co., formed in March 1896, was the first company started in this country with the object of entering upon the manufacture of horseless carriages or autocars; and the factory today is the largest and best organized for this purpose in the country. The manufacture is not restricted to autocars, but Daimler motors are made both for the propulsion of launches, and also for use as stationary engines for driving small machinery. The present factory was acquired in May 1896, with the surrounding eleven acres of ground.
The premises consist of two blocks of buildings at right angles to each other. Next to the manager's and clerks' offices comes the heavy machine-tool shop, measuring 172 feet long by 35 feet wide, and containing the heavier tools required for turning fly-wheels and heavy crank-shafts, planing gear-boxes and motor-frames, and similar heavy work. Above this is the brass-workers' shop, in which are manufactured all the brass and gun-metal fittings. At right angles to these shops are the principal machine-tool shop, 85 feet long by 56 feet wide, and the tool-makers' department; the former is filled with lathes, milling machines, and other tools of a lighter class than those in the first shop. Another workshop of the same size is devoted to the erection of completed motors, where the various parts are assembled together, and fitted into place. Adjoining on one side are the store rooms for finished goods, and on the other side a spacious and well arranged smiths' shop. Another workshop, like the smiths' shop, has recently been erected close by, in which the motors are tested and finally adjusted, until they are shown to be in proper working order and giving off the required horse-power.
Operations having already been hampered by want of room, a new workshop for the special purpose of the motor-carriage building department has just been completed on the other side of the railway line which runs through the works. This shop measures 120 feet long by 130 feet wide, and is being equipped with the necessary machinery for the manufacture of the different portions of the frame and gearing, and with a number of fitting benches and an erecting pit, for properly building up the complete autocars. The drawing office, pattern-makers' shops, stores for finished patterns, and tinsmiths' department, are upon an upper floor, whilst the painting and finishing of the completed articles is carried on in a separate building close by, abutting upon the private railway line on one side, and upon the canal on the other. Between 200 and 300 men are now employed, and for some time autocars have been delivered at the rate of about three per week; this number is expected to be largely increased when the new workshops are in full working order. In the hands of its continental manufacturers the Daimler motor has been used upon the winning carriages in all the chief continental road competitions, notably that held last year, when three carriages fitted with Daimler motors were entered, and finished first, second, and third, accomplishing the journey of over 1,000 miles, under most adverse circumstances as to wind and weather, at an average speed throughout of over 16 miles per hour. The size of motor upon which the works are principally engaged is the 4 horse-power; and this is so arranged that without alteration of the machinery it can be fitted either to light parcels-delivery vans, or to carriages of a number of different shapes for four to six persons. Other sizes also in hand are 2, 3, 6, and 10 horse-power. Every carriage on completion is put through a road test of at least 100 miles before being delivered to the purchaser.
MR. ALFRED HERBERT, MACHINE-TOOL WORKS, COVENTRY.
These works, which were established in 1887, are situated within a few minutes' walk of the station, and cover about 11 acre. The various shops, which contain about 62,000 square feet of floor space, are arranged about a central yard, in which are situated the castings store, engine house, boiler, etc.
The machine shop is a one-storey building 165 feet long by 115 feet wide, having at one end a two-storey portion which contains the manager's office, drawing office, pattern shop, and pattern stores. Power is supplied to the machine shop by a compound vertical high-speed Robey engine, of 150 horse-power, and taking steam from a Babcock boiler. The lighting of this portion of the works is by incandescent gas burners arranged in groups, and hung on spiral coils of tube forming springs to protect the mantles from vibration. The shops are warmed by exhaust steam, and in very cold weather live steam can be turned into the heating pipes the first thing in the morning, so that the men start work in a warm shop. The machine shop is served by several overhead travelling- cranes; and a tramway connects it with the castings store and erecting shop. The machine-tools in use number about 180, and the various kinds are arranged as far as possible in groups, with a leading hand in charge of each group and responsible for the work produced. Owing to the constant increase in the number of machines employed, it becomes necessary periodically to re-arrange considerable portions of the plant, so as to retain the desired grouping; one of these periodical re-arrangements is in progress at the present time.
The turning bay contains the usual lathes, many of American make, and some of them having special attachment for special work. The number of capstan lathes which are grouped together at one end of the machine shop is considerably larger in proportion than is usual, because a large portion of the work usually turned from forgings on ordinary lathes is here produced from the bar on capstan lathes. Only one smith is employed, and his time is almost entirely occupied in tool dressing. The capstan lathes are supplied with pure lard oil in abundance from an overhead tank, to which the surplus oil is returned by a pump; and the turnings produced are spun in a centrifugal extractor, to avoid waste of oil. In the planing and milling bays a number of machines are at work, which represent modern practice in both of these lines. The universal grinding machine is used for finishing almost all cylindrical surfaces; and a considerable amount of flat work is finished on surface grinders of various sizes. Automatic gear-cutting and rack- cutting machines are also at work; no cast gears of any kind are used. A portion of the machine shop is sot aside as stores for the reception and inspection of finished parts, and there is also a tool rosin with gas-hardening furnaces and the usual appliances. Adjoining the machine shop is the bar store, with cutting-off and centring machines for preparing the bars for the turners. Adjoining is the mess room with cooling and washing accommodation.
The fitting and erecting shop is 140 feet long by 125 feet wide. Besides being occupied by the fitters and erectors, it also contains drilling and polishing machines, and other tools needed in connection with fitting. Each line of shafting in this shop is driven by an electric motor, to which current is supplied by a Mavor and Coulson generator coupled direct to a Westinghouse compound engine. The electric light is in process of installation, and the heating is furnished by exhaust steam. The shop is well served by travelling cranes, and is provided with a tram line connecting with the machine shop and the stock room. Provision is here made for working, testing, and inspecting the finished machines. Across a small yard, used for the storage of packing cases &c., is a newly-erected three-storey block 135 feet long by 30 feet wide, of which the ground floor is to be used as a stock room; this is furnished with travelling crane and tramway, and an elevator serves the two sipper floors, which will be used for manufacturing purposes, and will be driven and lighted by electricity.
The work turned out consists exclusively of machine-tools: comprising capstan lathes, of which a large number of kinds are built of various sizes; milling machines; sensitive and multiple drills; centring machines; lathes; polishing machinery; and number of tools which have been specially developed in connection with the manufacture of cycles and other repetition work. The number of men employed is about 250. In addition to the tools manufactured, a considerable business is done in the importation of American machine-tools, of which stocks are kept both at Coventry and also at depots of the firm in London and Birmingham, as well as a reserve at the docks.
Up to the present time castings have not been produced; but it has been found necessary to erect a foundry, and for this purpose a plot of two acres has been acquired, situated on the canal about two miles from the main works. The foundry now approaching completion is a steel structure 120 feet long by 80 feet wide, fitted with a five-ton electric travelling-crane, and lighted and driven by electricity throughout. Gun-metal and phosphor-bronze castings will also be made there. In addition there are pattern stores, stables, fettling shops, and stores, with facilities for the ready handling of the product.
TRIUMPH CYCLE WORKS, COVENTRY.
This business was started about seven years ago in Much Park Street; and owing to the rapid strides since made, requiring much larger premises, the present buildings in Priory Street were erected and completed last year, covering an area of more than 6,000 square yards. The offices and managing director's rooms in the front are lighted throughout by electricity, as are also some portions of the works.
Every part of the cycles here made is turned out on the premises from the raw materials; and automatic and labour-saving machinery is used as far as possible. Perhaps the most interesting tool in the works is the hub-forming machine, which takes in at one end a solid bar of mild steel 11 inch diameter, and delivers it at the other end with flanges and barrel ready for boring out. Every 3i minutes a hub is formed; and as these accumulate they are taken away in dozens to be countersunk in special jigs, so as to ensure perfect accuracy in the boring, which is then done easily by another special machine. The barrel is next threaded internally for the adjusting discs, and externally for the locking nut; and is then taken to a drilling machine, which almost automatically bores the spoke-holes, so that one hub is a facsimile of another. This principle of duplication by special machinery holds good throughout the many parts of which the cycles are composed. Frame setters, working with steel gauges for the angles and distances, pass each frame carefully through a determined series of tests before the next portion is built up. The frames are next subjected to the sand-blast, by men who work in helmets similar to those used by divers, in a room almost air-tight, while the sand jet plays on the joints to remove the surplus brazing. Thence the frames go to the buffing and polishing shop, the enamelling ovens, the plating shop, and finally the packing shop. These cycles have been awarded four gold medals and numerous diplomas of honour at various international exhibitions. Fire hydrants are fitted up throughout the whole of the building, and an efficient fire brigade has been formed of men employed in the works, of whom there are at present from 500 to 600. Over 500 machines are often turned out per week. This firm made the two cycles which the Mayor of Coventry presented to the Queen upon the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee.
HUMBER CYCLE WORKS, COVENTRY.
In consequence of the old works of the Humber Company in Coventry having been destroyed by fire on 17th July 1896, the present factory of four times the size was erected and equipped on the same site, under the management of Mr. Walter Phillips, who had previously been for fourteen years manager of the Budge Cycle Works, Coventry. The old works gave employment to over 700 men, and had been under his management since 1893, although the Coventry branch was in existence as far back as 1886. The new factory is capable of producing 1,000 machines a week, necessitating the employment of 1,300 men, for whose accommodation no less than 5,000 feet of benching and 800 fixed vices are required, while the remainder of the men are engaged in the machine shops, smithy, enamelling, plating, polishing, and packing shops. The factory consists of four storeys, containing an aggregate floor area of 80,000 square feet. The offices and stores have a frontage extending along Lower Ford Street and Hood Street, with a spacious entrance at the corner; and are fitted throughout with complete telephonic communication, electric lighting, and steam radiators for warming.
In the machine shop on the ground floor are special machines for forming axles from the solid bar. Beyond is the cone-making machinery, and farther on a group of milling and profiling machines for the various operations in the production of cycle parts. A large bay extending 100 feet to the main engine-house is almost filled with capstan lathes, and a number of automatic machines for the manufacture of cups and cones. The polishing or glazing shop adjoining contains 100 double spindles, at which 200 men are engaged in grinding and polishing up the frames and other parts preparatory to enamelling. The area of this shop is 3,000 square feet, and the machinery is driven by a high-pressure condensing engine of 25 horse-power at the end of the shop. The main engine- house contains a high-pressure condensing engine of 50 horse-power, provided with steam by two Galloway boilers; the engine and boilers are practically the sole survivors of the fire. On the other side of the lathe bay is the plating shop of 1,500 square feet area, containing nine large plating vats, as well as a number of scrubbing and washing baths. It is supplied with current by two dynamos, each having an output of 300 amperes.
The extension building is crowded with machinery similar to that in the old portion, and contains in addition a set of hub-making machines and other labour-saving devices. The hub-making machines form a complete hub out of the solid bar. The whole of this machinery is driven by a 35 horse-power Crossley gas engine, which is contained in the engine house at the end of the shop. The floor area of the whole of the machine shop is about 20,000 square feet, and contains 250 machine-tools.
The smithy, built in a square courtyard, is one storey high, with glass roof and ventilators, and four chimneys, one on each side. It covers 2,000 square feet, and is entirely separated from the main building. It contains ten fires, for which the blast is provided by a Root's blower outside; also a steam hammer, and all the appliances for manipulating tubes and the various forgings required in the manufacture of cycles.
On the first floor is the enamelling shop, containing 25 large glazed-brick stoves, in each of which 100 cycle frames can be put at one time. A smaller shop is partitioned off for the special colouring and lining of machines. The whole shop has a floor area of 3,000 square feet, and is ventilated by a Blackman fan. Beyond is the wheelmaking shop; and then the erecting or assembling department, followed by the fork-building, handle-bar, and brake-work fitting shop, adjoining the finishing departments. In the middle of this floor is the chief engineer's office, and also the drawing office, in which the designing of bicycles and the study of methods of manufacture are carried on.
On the second floor is the frame-building department, in which 400 men are employed on frame-building alone; there are also large brazing shops, which are separate from the main shop. The bay over the wheel-making shops is reserved for filing the joints and lugs of the frames after they are built and brazed. The frame-trueing and sand-blasting shops are over the enamelling shop. The sandblasting process precedes the filing up; the blast is furnished by a blower driven from the main shafting. The carpenters' and pattern- makers' shops are on the third floor. The main portion of this floor is reserved for a stock room, for which at present there is not much use. In the old courtyard is a case-hardening apparatus, situated at the end of the boiler house; also an underground heating-chamber, from which pipes are laid for warming the whole building; and the electric-light engine-house.
NEW PREMIER CYCLE WORKS, COVENTRY.
This firm was established by Messrs. Hillman and Herbert in 1875, the senior partner having been previously associated with the late Mr. James Starley since 1869 in the manufacture of sewing machines and bicycles. The bicycle made was the well-known "Premier," until the first geared-up small bicycle, the "Kangaroo," was evolved by the ingenuity of Mr. Hillman, which at once led to a large increase of business. In 1886 the firm was formed into a private company; and three years after a factory was established near Nuremberg in Bavaria, and later another factory at Eger in Bohemia.
The Coventry works cover an area of some acres, with frontages in Read Street and South Street of 300 and 200 feet respectively. On each side of the main entrance in Read Street are the suites of offices, beyond which is a lofty stock room, 80 feet square, capable of storing upwards of 6,000 cycles. Then follow show rooms, and in the basement the india-rubber tyre department, with additional space for reserve stock. An annexe, 150 feet long by 20 feet wide, with glass roof, leads to the photographic studio. The building shop, 180 feet long by 80 feet wide and lighted by roof lights, contains all kinds of modern tools and appliances for erecting cycles, including lathes, drilling, shaping, planing, and turning machines, surrounded and intersected by numerous benches. On one wall hang several hundred finished cranks, arranged in rows ready for attachment to their spindles; on another is a collection of front forks with steering posts; one bench is covered with handle-bars complete; another with detachable cranks, under which stands a row of enamelled mudguards made up with stays. On the roof-beams are suspended rows of wheels, frames, forks, and other parts. In making the back hub thirty-six distinct machining operations are effected, without taking into account the making of the balls, or the various plating or polishing processes; a bottom bearing bracket requires thirteen complete processes on the shell alone, and a crank sixteen.
Much attention has here been devoted to the improvement of the tube forming the frame-work of the machine, which in the majority of other makes of cycles is composed of solid-drawn tube of mild steel. After a series of experiments a helical tube was introduced a short time ago, made of a thin strip of steel rolled or twisted helically. The material for the tubes comes from Sweden, and arrives in the form of bright sheet steel, from 0.008 to 0.017 inch thick, and varying in width according to the diameter of tube required. It is formed into tubes in special machines, which fold the steel round mandrils with great tension, and in this condition it is brazed. The brazing has been brought to such perfection that between the two layers of steel a perfect film of brass is 'interposed, so that the finished tube really consists of three thicknesses. Up to the present 4 inch is the largest diameter made of helical tube, and 5 inch the smallest. All parts of the bicycle frames are made of this helical tube, except the handle-bars which are curved, and the fork sides which are oval in section.
The list of awards gained by these works includes three medals for bicycles, tricycles, and helical tube at the Chicago Exposition. The number of men here employed amounts to about 600; and some hundreds are employed at the works on the continent and the various warehouses and repairing branches in all parts of the country.
MESSRS. JOSHUA PERKINS AND SONS, BRITANNIA WEAVING MILL, COVENTRY.
This business of manufacturing coach trimmings was established by the senior partner half-a-century ago at Lubenham, near Market Harborough, and in 1865 was removed to Coventry. The premises now occupied in Payne's Lane were erected eighteen years ago. The front elevation, extending a width of 140 feet, is of three storeys, surmounted by a large stone figure of Britannia, furnishing a prominent landmark for the neighbourhood. The front portion is principally occupied as private and general offices, warehouse and stock-rooms, flanked at either extremity by wide cartway entrances for goods. The weaving sheds, extending 200 feet to the rear, are lofty, well built, and well lighted. The works are fitted throughout with machinery of the most modern kind, comprising about 150 looms, which are driven by a powerful engine and boilers, situated in a separate building on the ground. The work produced comprises every description of carriage trimmings and upholstering requisites, which are largely supplied to the principal railways, wholesale coachbuilders' warehousemen, and shippers.
About 200 workpeople are employed, both on the premises and outside.
MESSRS. WILLANS AND ROBINSON, VICTORIA WORKS, RUGBY.
These new works have been constructed for the manufacture of the Willans central-valve engine, and of the Niclausse water-tube boiler. They are still partly unfinished, but the machine shop has been in operation since March last, and some other shops have been got to work since. Work continues to be carried on in the old works at Thames Ditton, where the lighter standard parts are made to gauge, and forwarded to Rugby for examination and use. The area covered by the works, yards, and open spaces is about 11 acres, and there remain .12 acres for future extensions. The roofs of the shops are constructed on the weaving-shed plan, with a northern light. The buildings are for the most part arranged side by side, facing the railway, with passage ways between. The largest building includes the machine shop, the general and manufactured stores, and the erecting shop, and has a frontage of 300 feet; at present it is 160 feet deep, but is now being enlarged so as to be 240 feet in depth. There is a boiler shop, unfinished, measuring 150 feet frontage by 100 feet depth; and foundations are in place for an extension to double the size. The foundry main building at present covers a space of 200 feet depth by 80 feet frontage; and there are separate buildings for pattern shop, packing shop, pattern stores, &c., as well as for the general and drawing offices. The building for the testing department is next the general offices, and covers 110 feet by 100 feet. There is is tower for a tank containing 80 tons of water, connected to fire mains laid to all the buildings. A men's mess room, combined with lavatories and bicycle stable, is being built. The tools in the machine shop are principally lathes, and there is a special milling machine of somewhat new design. Electrical travellers are largely employed, and a considerable number of electric motors are used for other purposes. The number of men already employed is about 300.
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