1907 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Visits to Works
Note: This is a sub-section of 1907 Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Visits to Works (Excursions) in the Aberdeen area
Aberdeen Tramways
ABERDEEN CORPORATION ELECTRICITY AND TRAMWAYS DEPARTMENT, MILLBURN STREET.
Aberdeen Tramways
The Generating Station for the supply of light and power is situated in the Ferryhill District at the junction of Crown Street and Millburn Street, and occupies the site of what was until quite recently known as "Dee Village." Together with the Workshops and Tramcar Repairing Depot it occupies a total area of approximately 2i. acres, and measures roughly 190 yards by 60 yards. The buildings, at present covering about two-thirds of this area, are built of grey Aberdeenshire granite.
The buildings, which are comparatively new, were opened in March 1903, and cost, inclusive of Workshops and Car-Repairing Depot—which were finished about twelve months later— £28,000 in all.
The arrangement of the various Departments is as follows:-
The Engine-Room and Boiler-House run parallel to each other, while at right angles to these and across their west end is built a two-storey building, the ground floor of whirls constitutes the battery room, while the first floor comprises a suite of nine offices and a joiner's shop. Parallel to and separated from the offices by a yard, and occupying the western extremity of the Works for the whole breadth of the site, stand the workshops, stores, and car- repairing depot. In line wills the south row of boilers stands the pump-house, whirls, in the extended scheme, will occupy a central position in the Boiler House. The economiser house, with a 115,000-gallon tank on top, abuts on the boiler house, and is adjacent to the chimney stack. For lighting, heating and power purposes the system adopted is 3-wire continuous current at a pressure of 220 volts, with 440 volts between the outers, While for traction purposes the ordinary 500- volt continuous-current system is in operation.
ENGINE Room.—In the engine room proper, which measures 126 feet long and 62 feet wide, there are in all ten combined engines and dynamos installed, while, until such time as the main building has been permanently extended, two sets find accommodation in a temporary wooden erection built in line with the engine room. This plant, which is suitable for both electric lighting and traction purposes, has a total output of 3,810 kilowatts, and ranges in size from 200 to 1,200 I.H.P. With one exception (a Belliss) the engines are of Willans and Robinson's compound vertical type, while the dynamos, direct coupled, have been supplied by Messrs. J. H. Holmes and Co., Mayor and Coulson, Johnson Lundell, Bruce Peebles and Co., The British Westinghouse Co., Mather and Platt, and Crompton and Co.
Condensing Apparatus.— For every two engines, with the one exception noted, there is provided a surface condensing plant with Edwards air-pump driven direct by electric motor. The 1,200 I.H.P. Willans-Westinghouse set has a condensing plant for itself. The circulating water, taken from the River Dee, is pumped into the large storage tank already referred to, by means of two 64-H.P. motors driving centrifugal pumps Loused in an underground chamber on the bank of the river. This plant is controlled from the Engine Room. From the tank the water so pumped falls by gravity through the condensing apparatus and thence back to the River Dee via. the Ferryhill Burn, which flows in an enclosed culvert right through the Works.
Oil-Separators.— Between each pair of engines and set of condensing apparatus a mechanical oil-separator is fixed, for the purpose of extracting the oil from the exhaust steam. The condensed water is delivered to an underground hot-well, from which it is fed back into the boilers.
Switchboards.— The electric light and traction switchboards, which run along the south wall for about two-thirds of its length, stand in line with one another on a raised gallery of cast-iron columns and girders supporting a glass fireproof floor about 12 feel above the engine-floor level. The glass floor in the gallery not only serves as an insulator, but also allows a certain amount of light to pass into the area immediately underneath. Both boards are of white marble, the lighting board having been supplied by Messrs. Siemens Bros. and Co., while the traction board of their ordinary standard type was supplied by the British Westinghouse Co.
Auxiliary Plant.—Chief among the auxiliary plant may be mentioned the two negative boosters of 200-ampere and 500-ampere size respectively. These are coupled to the return traction-feeders connected with the outlying districts of the city. There is also one Mayor and Coulson battery booster capable of dealing with 500 amperes, and boosting from 10 to 100 volts, while there are also installed two motor balancers of 75 low. and 120 kw. capacity respectively. A 20-ton electric crane supplied by Messrs. James Carrick and Sons, of Edinburgh, spans the engine room, and is supported by columns and girders independent of either of the engine-room walls.
BOILER HOUSE.— This house, which measures 126 feet by 82 feet, is built in three bays, the boilers and flues occupying the outer bays, while the centre bay is occupied by the firing platform and overhead coal-bunkers. There are in all ten double-drum Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers, fitted with superheaters and chain-grate stokers each capable of evaporating 15,000 lbs. of water per hour working at a steam pressure of 160 lbs. per square inch.
Conveyors.— Coal, of a very cheap quality which is used for steam raising, is brought to the works each morning in carts, weighed over the works steelyard, and, from the hopper situated at the end of the boiler house, is raised by means of a coal conveyor to six double storage-bunkers of 800 tons capacity, fixed midway between the two batteries of boilers. From this, as occasion requires, it falls by gravity through automatically recording weighing-machines (1 cwt. size), of Avery's make, to the hoppers in front of each boiler, and thence to the endless-chain grate-stoker into the different furnaces. The coal conveyor and bunkers were supplied by Messrs. Babcock and Wilcox, and are of their standard Hunt type. The former is capable of dealing with 20 tons per hour. The conveyor is also utilized for lifting the ashes from the sub-floor to the overhead end bunker, from which by means of a chute they are dumped into the carts which take them from the works.
Pumps.- These consist of three steam Weir pumps, each capable of dealing with 4,000 gallons per hour at a speed of 12 double-strokes per minute, and one electrically-driven Hayward-Tyler variable stroke feed-pump of 8,000 gallons capacity.
Economisers.— The economiser house, 49 feet long by 35 feet wide, contains two 480-tube Green's economisers of 60 square feet area, fitted one on each of the main or by-pass flue. Mechanical scrapers are fitted to each economiser, and are continuously and automatically driven by means of two 2-H.P. motors.
Battery.— The battery, which occupies the room underneath the offices, was supplied by the Electrical Power Storage Co., and is of their 39-plate K.L.P. type, having a capacity of 2,200 ampere-hours at a discharge rate of 220 amperes per hour.
Subway.— One of the most important accessories of the undertaking is the cable subway which runs from the works via, Crown Street and Langstane Place to Holburn Street, a total distance of 1,500 yards. It has been designed to carry over 50 cables, and for the most part stands 8 feet high with a width at bottom of 32 feet. Distributing and disconnecting chambers are built at convenient positions along the route. These, which are lined with white glazed bricks, provide suitable means for the drawing in of new cables or for the removing of cables that require to be taken out. The whole of the subway is lighted by means of 8-c. p. lamps spaced 21 feet apart and divided into sections of 25, which may be independently switched off or on from either end. Two electric fans secure very efficient ventilation by drawing the heated air from the Works' engine-room through the subway, and so dispelling any moisture which would otherwise readily show itself in the confined atmosphere. These two fans (one a Lundell 24-inch and the other a Blackman 42-inch), by exhausting about 20,000 cubic feet of air per minute, keep the air in the subway in a pure and cool condition.
Stores, etc.— Leading from the offices across a raised bridge'-ik platform are the stores, with the armature-winding department. The stores, for purposes of convenience, are divided into three sections, one part being exclusively used for tramway material, and the other two for the electric-lighting stores. Brick walls divide the three sections from one another, while expanded metal partitions with sliding doors screen them off from the passage in front. Workshops.—Immediately below the stores are placed the workshops comprising blacksmith's shop, fitting shop and a motor- repairing shop, in all of which up-to-date plant suitable for the work has been erected.
Car-Repairing Depot.—Abutting on the workshops is the Car- Repair Depot where the whole of the Corporation cars are brought for repairs or renewals. This is also a very commodious building, roof and side lighted, and measuring 153 feet by 93 feet. Four lines of pits give access to the under side of trucks for repair purposes, while two car-hoists and one hydraulic re-wheeling apparatus greatly facilitate the work of renewals. In addition to this apparatus the car-shed is equipped with a hydraulic press for pressing wheels either off or on to axles; a gas-ring and water-jet for re-tyring purposes; and a motor tower-wagon to be used for all emergency calls in connection with tramway breakdowns. The paint shop, completely covered in, occupies one corner of the building, while the men's mess-room and shed-office overlook the building from another corner.
Aberdeen Fish Market
ABERDEEN CORPORATION FISH MARKET. (See Plate 54.)
The Aberdeen Fish Market is situated on the east side of Market Street and the south side of Commercial Road, forming the west and part of the north sides of the Albert Basin. This Basin was formed out of the old bed of the River Dee, the river having been diverted to the south, under powers obtained by the Aberdeen Harbour Act, 1868.
Owing to the great development of the fishing industry in Aberdeen—due to the introduction of steam trawling—more space and better facilities were required for the landing and selling of the fish. The Town Council, who hold the right of market, therefore leased from the Harbour Commissioners the site at the Albert Basin, and erected the present Fish Market, the first portion of which was opened on 20th May 1889. Since that date the Market has been twice extended, the last extension being completed in March 1904. The length of the Market is 2,012 feet, being 427 feet to Market Street and 1,585 feet to Commercial Road, 1,005 feet of which is 35 feet wide and the remainder 50 feet. This is exclusive of the wharf, which was built by and belongs to the Harbour Commissioners, and is from 10 to 15 feet wide. The floor space is 85,120 square feet, and, including the wharf, about 93,000 square feet. The total cost of the building, exclusive of the wharf, Was £21,174. Within the building is the superintendent's office, and also accommodation for a sub Post Office, where all Post Office transactions can be done, including telegrams. There are also Refreshment Rooms and one or two rooms let for offices.
The Fishing is carried out by a fleet consisting of over 200 steam trawlers, 40 steam liners, and about 30 sail boats, which are manned by about 3,000 fishermen, and about double that number of persons are required to carry on the industry ashore. The value of the fishing fleet and gear belonging to the Port of Aberdeen is put at over one million pounds sterling, and the capital invested on fish docks, market curing establishments, factories, etc., is estimated at about a million and a half pounds, making a total of about £2,500,000 invested in the fish trade in Aberdeen. The total number of fishing vessels arriving at the Market during the past year was 17,398, and they landed 77,830 tons of white fish of the value of £850,768. The revenue derived from market dues, levied by the Town Council at the rate of ld. per cwt. on fish landed at the Market, amounted last year to £6,467, and for offal sold £204 was received. Dues are also charged by the Town Council at the rate of 1(1. per box for packing fish within the Market, which brought in the sum of £147. The Harbour Commissioners also charge the owners of vessels ld. per cwt. for landing dues. When the vessels arrive at the Market in the early morning, the fishermen commence to discharge their catches, and lay them out on the Market floor ready for the auctioneers. An ordinary catch takes about 4i, hours to land, but some of the record catches, however, took twelve hours. The fish is sold by auctioneers engaged by fish salesmen and trawl-owners, and bought by fish merchants, who cart them to their curing yards, where they are either cured or packed in ice and dispatched by rail to the south. Sales commence at the south end of the Market at eight o'clock in the morning, which is the best time for visitors to see the Market in full suing, and they go on until the market is cleared, which on an ordinary day finishes about eleven o'clock. In the months of April, May, and June, the Market is taxed to its utmost and is often refilled for a second time in one day. The record landing of fish on one day is about 700 tons, and for four days in succession the catches amounted to 1,900 tons, or an average of 475 toes per day. The record catch by one trawler was over 100 tons of fish caught in Icelandic waters. Salmon is also brought to the Market by the Harbour Commissioners and others, and sold by auction twice a day during the season, at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., the value sold last year being estimated at about £5,250 and the weight of which would be about 70,000 lbs.
Aberdeen Gas Light Co
CORPORATION GAS WORKS.
Aberdeen Gas Light Co
The Aberdeen Gas Light Co was formed in 1824, when works were erected at Poynernook, near Guild Street. During the first four years only oil-gas was manufactured, which was sold at 40s. to 50s. per thousand cubic feet. In 1828 the manufacture of coal- gas was commenced, which reduced the price to 15s. per thousand.
A rival company, called the New Gas Light Co., was started in 1844, and works were erected at Sandilands, which is the site of the present works. Gas at that time cost 9s. per 1,000 cubic feet. Two years later the two companies were amalgamated, and the works at Poynernook were abandoned. In 1871 the whole undertaking was transferred to the Town Council by Act of Parliament. At that time the charge was Is. 5d. per 1,000 cubic feet, which has steadily decreased until now it costs 2s. 7d. per thousand. In 1872 the gas manufactured amounted to 146 million cubic feet, which has risen to 725 million cubic feet in 1907.
The gas manufacturing and storage works occupy about 21 acres. The coal carbonized annually amounts to over 70,000 tons, and the gasholder storage capacity is 8 million cubic feet, the maximum daily output being over 3", million cubic feet. The coal stores extend along both sides of, and run parallel with, the retort house, and are capable of storing upwards of 7,000 tons. The horizontal retort house is 370 feet in length by 56 feet in width, and contains 27 beds of 16 retorts, or 432 retorts in all, which are heated on Siemens regenerative principle of gaseous firing, with semi-internal producers operated from a sub-floor immediately under the retort house. The house is equipped with two sets of West's charging and drawing machines—one set operating each side of the retort-bench. They are driven by overhead cotton-ropes, which receive their power through helical spur-gearing from a pair of horizontal coupled steam-engines. There are three coal-breaking machines on either side of the house, fitted with malleable cast bucket elevators, which raise the coal to overhead hoppers, from which supplies are drawn into the hoppers fixed on the charging machines. When the coals are placed in the retorts and the lids closed, the products of distillation ascend the vertical pipe affixed to the mouth-piece of the retort, enter the hydraulic main, and pass along the foul-gas main to the condensers.
The stoking-machine engines comprise two horizontal steam- engines, with cylinders 15 inches diameter by 24 inches stroke, snaking 50 revolutions per minute, fitted with Procll's automatic cut-off gear and Corliss exhaust valves.
The condensers consist of four batteries of vertical cast-iron pipes, 45 feet high and 15 inches diameter, through which the foul gas travels up and down, and deposits the tarry matter and aqueous vapours held in suspension by the gas.
The scrubbers consist of cast-iron rectangular vessels, containing tiers of vertical screens formed of wooden frames having canvas stretched across the same, and placed vertically in rows inch apart, the adjacent rows being placed at right angles to each other. Water and weak ammoniacal liquor are circulated through the vessels, saturating the whole mass of canvas screens, thus presenting to the gas a large wetted surface, the liquor taking up certain of the carbonic acid and sulphur compounds and ammonia from the gas.
The steam-raising plant consists of four Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers, with Berryman feed-water heater and Lowcock's economiser.
There is one exhauster capable of passing 60,000 cubic feet of gas per hour, driven by a horizontal steam-engine with cylinder 12 inches diameter by 20 inches stroke, one exhauster passing 80,000 cubic feet per hour, with engine having cylinder 12 inches diameter by 24 inches stroke, and two exhausters each capable of passing 80,000 cubic foot per hour, both driven direct from the crank-shaft of a steam-engine having cylinder 14 inches diameter by 24 inches stroke. The function of the exhausters is to draw the gas from the retorts as generated, and force it through the purifiers and station-meters to the gas-holders.
The purifiers consist of cast-iron rectangular boxes with steel covers, each box containing three tiers of purifying material, the bottom and middle layers being oxide of iron and the upper layer slaked lime. The purifying agents remove the sulphuretted hydrogen (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon disulphide (CS2), and other sulphur compounds. The oxide of iron can be used several times over, but requires to be taken out to be revivified each turn. The oxide is lifted up through hatchways in the ceiling to the floor above, by means of buckets connected by wire-rope to steam winches. After revivification it is tipped back to the purifiers through canvas shoots. The slaked limo is prepared in a shed on the ground level, and is raised by a bucket elevator, and deposited on a pan conveyor, which carries the lime to a central point and deposits it into barrows. The lime is then tipped down canvas shoots into the purifiers below.
There are two station-meters, one capable of passing 80,000 cubic feet of gas per hour, and the other 140,000 cubic feet per hour. There are four telescopic gas-holders at the Cotton Street Works, having an aggregate capacity of 2,140,000 cookie feet, and one holder at Gallowhills of 32- million cubic feet, and two at Scatterburn of an aggregate of 110,000 cubic feet. The governors, four in number, are placed between the gasholders and the distributing mains, for regulating the pressure of gas to suit the demand and hours of consumption.
Aberdeen Grit Co
ABERDEEN GRIT CO., IRON GRIT WORKS, ABERDEEN.
Aberdeen Grit Co
The works, situated in Ruthrieston Road, may be considered as an adjunct to the granite polishing industry of Aberdeen, the material manufactured being used as an abradant for the sawing and polishing of granite. Iron grit . was first manufactured in America about 1880 as a substitute for quartz sand (the material used up to that time for abrading granite). In 1884 the new material was first introduced into this country, and notwithstanding the price then charged (about £45 per ton), its superiority over sand (especially for sawing) was so marked that it found a footing in Aberdeen, although the sea-beach afforded an abundant and cheap source of supply of the older abradant. Experience having shown that variations in the temper and lasting qualities of the grit existed, and that some samples, although equal in cutting power to the best when used on soft stones and the softer granites, were, when used upon the hardest varieties of granite, comparatively inefficient, the Aberdeen Iron Grit Co. was formed in 1895 by some of the leading granite manufacturers in Aberdeen, with a view to the production of a grit suitable for the manipulation of the very hard granites they were interested in.
Since the formation of the company the import of iron grit from America (its birthplace) into Aberdeen has entirely ceased, and large quantities are now exported to America, in spite of the heavy tariff imposed by that country upon the material.
Since the advent of pneumatic tools in the working or granite, a department for the making and repair of these has been added to the establishment; and, although the primary intention was the meeting of the partners' requirements, a considerable business has developed in outside and export work.
Aberdeen Newspapers
THE "ABERDEEN JOURNAL" AND "EVENING EXPRESS" OFFICES, ABERDEEN.
The "Aberdeen Journal" was established in 1748, and is now the oldest existing newspaper in Scotland. The founder, James Chalmers, while learning the art of printing in London, had Benjamin Franklin as a companion. The "Evening Express " was established in 1879.
The front building provides accommodation for counting-house, literary staff, special wire, artist, photo-engravers, newspaper files, employment registry, &e. The buildings at the rear embrace the following:— linotype room (13 machines), press rooms, despatch room, foundry, letterpress printing department, boiler house, newspaper stores, and joiner's workshop. There are three printing presses. No. 1 is a three-plate wide, single-roll Hoe press, capable of printing 24,000 copies per hour of a six-page paper. No. 2 is a three-roll "straightline" Goss press, capable of printing 24,000 copies per boor of a twelve-page paper.
No. 3 is a three-roll "straightline" Goss press, with tandem folders, capable of printing 48,000 copies per hour of a six-page paper. Nos. 1 and 2 are driven by a 50-horse-power steam-engine. No. 3 is driven direct by a 30-horse-power electric motor. The conveyor in connection with No. 2 carries papers direct from the press to the despatch room.
Aberdeen Lime Co
ABERDEEN LIME CO., ABERDEEN OIL MILLS, ABERDEEN.
Aberdeen Lime Co
This company was formed in 1837, and carries on business as coal and lime importers, chemical fertiliser manufacturers, seed crushers, oil boilers, and oil refiners. The works are situated in Provost Blaikie's Quay, and occupy a space of 2.1- acres. The power to drive the machinery is supplied by a horizontal tandem compound jet-condensing engine of 230 I.II.P., built by Messrs. Galloways, of Manchester. The boiler, 30 feet long by 8 feet diameter, was supplied by the same firm, and works at a pressure of 160 lbs. per square inch. Economical working is secured by a Green's economiser of 06 tubes, and a superheater capable of superheating at least 150° F. a minimum of 5,000 lbs. steam per hour generated by the boiler.
Aberdeen School
ABERDEEN SCHOOL BOARD'S CENTRAL HIGHER GRADE SCHOOL, ABERDEEN. (WARMING AND VENTILATING SYSTEM.)
This school is ventilated mechanically on a modification of the Plenum system. The air is drawn into the building at an inlet in the open playground behind, which is entirely cut of from the two streets towards which the school faces. From that point it is driven along the three main air-ducts in the basement by three circular air-propellers, 5 feet 6 inches, 5 feet and 3 feet G inches in diameter respectively, driven by electric motors. Before reaching the air-propellers the air is cleansed and humidified in passing through coir yarn screens. The horizontal basement ducts are reduced in size as the air is given of to the vertical distribution ducts, the mouths of which are set at an angle to catch the incoming air. One branch duct is provided for each room, and as each duct is provided with a heating coil, the temperature of any one room can be regulated independently of the others. The air enters the rooms at a height of about 8 feet above the floor level, at a velocity of about 5 feet per second, and leaves by the outlets at the floor level, rising to the ventilating shafts and turrets on the roof, which are provided with valves to prevent down-draught. The propellers at their medium speed are capable of supplying 21 million cubic feet per hour to the building. The classrooms in the school accommodate about 600 pupils, while the rooms for special subjects give places for about 240 more.
The school is heated by steam generated in a steel boiler, 24 feet long by 7 feet in diameter, of the Lancashire type, having two furnace flues, 2 feet 9 inches in diameter, constructed for a working pressure of 80 lbs. per square inch, reduced by a reducing-valve to 15 lbs. per square inch for heating the coils already referred to. From the main steam-pipe branch-pipes pass along each of the three ducts, supplying steam to the coils at the foot of each of the distribution ducts. There are 54 coils in all, made of wrought-iron tubing, 7/8-inch inside and 1 5/16-inches outside diameter, the total length of tube used in their construction being 12,000 feet. Each coil has a stop-valve controlling its steam supply, which enters at the top, the condensed water discharging at the lower end into the water return pipes, which pass to the receiver near the boiler. From the receiver the water is pumped automatically back to the boiler, in its course passing through a series of coils placed iu the flue leading to the boiler chimney.
Barry, Henry and Co
BARRY, HENRY AND CO., FOUNDRY AND ENGINEERING WORKS, ABERDEEN.
Barry, Henry and Co
These works are situated near the centre of the City, about five minutes' walk from Marischal College. The main entrance and offices are in West North Street, and the works extend right through to King Street, covering an area of about two acres. The principal productions of the works consist of gearing, shafting, pulleys and fixings, water-wheels, and steam-engines up to about 75 H.P. An extensive trade in elevators and conveyors of all descriptions is also carried on. The principal building has four storeys; the basement is occupied by the Machine Shop, and is well fitted with the most modern tools suitable for their trade, including lathes, shapers, slotters, milling tools, vertical and horizontal borers, and there are about sixty machines in this department. The next floor above is used as the department for the manufacture of elevator-chains, spiral conveyors and steel pulleys, and the two lofts above this are [See plan in image] filled with a great variety of gear patterns, etc. The Elevator and Erecting Shops are north of the Machine department, and also in this same bay are the blacksmiths; the gallery round this bay is fitted up as the Works General Store.
The patternmakers' workshop is detached to suit the requirements of the Insurance Co., and is conveniently placed between the Pattern Store and the Foundry. The Foundry is at the King Street end of the works, and consists of three bays, the whole area being covered with travelling-cranes, and having an output of about 35 tons per week. This department is now being extended in order to make provision for increased business. The firm has branch offices in London, Dundee, Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle, and Manchester. The number of men employed is about 200.
J. and J. Crombie
J. AND J. CROMBIE, GRANDHOLM WORKS, WOODSIDE, NEAR ABERDEEN.
J. and J. Crombie
These mills are situated on the River Don, about 2 miles north-west of Aberdeen, and are employed in the manufacture of fine textures. They consist of 16,492 spindles and 260 looms, and cover about 9 acres of ground.
The power for driving the mills is derived from two sources:—(1) A set of improved horizontal Hercules turbines driven by water from the Don; and (2) Two tandem compound Corliss engines made by Messrs. Hick, Hargreaves and Co. Steam is generated by five boilers, all of which have economisers fitted, made by Messrs. E. Green and Son, of Wakefield.
The turbine plant consists of one pair of improved horizontal Hercules turbines mounted on a cast-iron draft box, and set in an open flume. The power is transmitted from both ends of the shaft, and 308 H.P. is developed with a 15-foot fall. This set of turbines is coupled to the large steam-engine, and governed by it. There is also a No. 5 horizontal Hercules turbine, which is used for driving a 35-kilowatt dynamo and the fire pumps. This turbine develops 47 H.P. with a 15-foot fall. All these turbines were erected by Messrs. John Turnbull, Jun., and Sons, of Glasgow.
The engine plant consists of:— No. 1 Engine. A horizontal tandem compound engine with Corliss valves, developing 250 H.P. at 120 lbs. steam. Cylinders 13 inches by 24 inches by 36 inches stroke.
No. 2 Engine is identical with No. 1, but on a larger scale, developing about 410 H.P. at 130 lbs. steam, the bore and stroke being 18 inches by 33 inches by 42 inches. This engine is coupled with the turbines, and transmits power for carding, spinning, looms, milling, and motor-power generator. The power is transmitted from this engine and the turbines to the various departments (except the cloth finishing) by three-stranded cotton ropes. The No. 1 engine drives the large carding and spinning shed only, and forms a complete unit with it.
The finishing department machinery is driven by 8 four-pole 220-volt electric motors of from 5 to 15 H.P., each motor driving one of the lines of shafting in the building. Current for these motors is generated by a four-pole 60-kilowatt dynamo driven direct off the main turbine shaft. The whole of this electric-power plant was put in by The Electrical Construction Co., of Wolverhampton. The lighting of the mill is done by two vertical steam sets coupled to compound four-pole 220-volt 48-kilowatt dynamos placed in the largo engine room, and by two 16-kilowatt 220-volt (Messrs. Lawrence, Scott and Co.) dynamos driven off No. 1 engine. There is also a 35-kilowatt dynamo driven off the small turbine set. The number of hands employed is about 800, and of these about two-thirds are women.
William Fiddes and Son
WILLIAM FIDDES AND SON, TORRY SAWMILLS, ABERDEEN.
William Fiddes and Son
These works are situated on the south side of the River Dee, and are only about seven minutes' car-ride from the centre of the city, being within three hundred yards of the car route. They cover over four acres, and consist of two sawmills and box factories, steam-driven, and one factory for the manufacture of barrels by machinery, driven by a suction gas-engine. They contain eighty-five machines for the production of the firm's specialities, consisting of power and hand saw-benches, planing, automatic checking, dovetailing, nailing, handle-holing and stave-shaping machines, hydraulic trussing, and other special machines.
Adjoining the mills are buildings belonging to the firm, occupied by the Expansion Sprinkler Syndicate, the controlling interest being held by the firm; demonstrations of the fire protective value of the Company's automatic fire-alarm and automatic fire- extinguisher arc given.
John Fleming and Co
JOHN FLEMING AND CO., ALBERT SAWMILLS, ABERDEEN.
John Fleming and Co
These mills, situated in Baltic Place, St. Clement Street, have been established five years on the present site. The machinery consists of two Lancashire boilers with automatic stokers, an engine of 250 horse-power, four frame saws, two horizontal saws, four flooring machines, five moulding machines, six Casson saw-benches, seven ordinary saw-benches, band and fret saws, turning lathes, etc. Among the special appliances to be seen are electrically-driven overhead travelling-cranes, and two separate installations of suction- piping for exhausting sawdust and chips.
Hall, Russell and Co
HALL RUSSELL AND CO., IRON AND SHIPBUILDING WORKS, ABERDEEN.
Hall, Russell and Co
This firm has been in existence since 1864, when it started the manufacture of marine engines and boilers, and the building of iron ships which were then displacing the wood ones. Since that time a largo number of passenger and cargo vessels have been constructed. The largest ships so for built are the ss. Salamis," 393 feet long and 4,508 tons gross, built in 1899 for Messrs. George Thompson and Co. for their passenger trade between London, Melbourne and Sydney; the ss. "Inanda," 370 feet long, 4,090 tons gross, built in 1904 for Messrs. J. T. Rennie and Son for their passenger trade between London and South Africa; and the ss. "Aberlour," 365 feet long and 4,194 tons gross, a cargo steamer built in 1902 for the Adam Steamship Co. In recent years there has been great development in the fishing industry at the port of Aberdeen, and a large number of steam trawlers have been built by this firm. Last year twenty-four of these vessels were completed, and at the present time a considerable number are in course of construction.
The Shipyard occupies about 41 acres of ground lying between York Street and the outer Harbour. The length between the street and water-front will allow of vessels up to 450 feet long being built. Steam is supplied to the Shipyard by two marine boilers, each 14 feet 4 inches diameter and working at 160 lbs. pressure. The angle and plate furnaces at present in use were installed about a year ago and are gas-fired of the most modern type, the angle furnace having regenerative chambers for both air and gas supply, and the plate furnace for air supply. The angle furnace is double- ended with blocks at both ends and takes a bar 50 feet long. The plate furnace will take a plate 20 feet long by feet wide.
The hydraulic installation consists of direct-acting steam-driven pumps with large accumulator working at 1,500 lbs. per square inch, which supplies the hydraulic riveters, cranes, channel cutter for shearing up to 16-inch channels, and also a powerful plate and angle joggling machine by Messrs. Hugh Smith and Co. The practice is to joggle either plates or angles so as to dispense with packing as much as possible.
The pneumatic installation is led all over the Yard, and also supplies the boiler-shop. The compressor is one of Alley and MacLellan's compound steam-driven machines with compound steam cylinders 13 inches and 20 inches diameter by 10 inches stroke, giving 600 cubic feet of free air per minute. Some of the later installed tools are electrically driven direct by motors with current taken from the Corporation supply. Among these is a large 11-inch lever type punching and shearing machine with a 42-inch gap, which is driven by a 14-H.P. variable-speed motor. There is a repairing slipway at one side of the Shipyard capable of taking vessels up to 180 feet in length and 600 tons weight.
The Engine Works and Boiler Shop, though detached from the Shipyard and each other by intervening streets, closely adjoin. The Engine Works have been extended from those of 1864 till they now fill the whole space within the four streets which surround them. Their arrangement however sutlers from having been extended at different times. They include an iron foundry and brass foundry, which supply all the castings required. The firm makes all the engines for the vessels they build, sets of engines of over 4,000 H.P. each having been constructed.
The Boiler Shop consists of an old part and new part, the latter consisting of a bay 60 feet wide with glass roof served with a 30-ton overhead electric crane. Among the tools recently installed in it are a powerful shell-drilling machine by Messrs. Campbells and Hunter, and also horizontal drilling and tapping machine for front and back ends by some makers, both these machines being direct driven by 15-H.P. Electric Construction Co.'s electric motors. There is a powerful 26-foot plate-edge planing machine by Messrs. Hugh Smith and Co., of Glasgow, driven by a motor. The hydraulic riveter by the same firm puts a pressure op to 150 tons on the rivet and has a gap of 7 feet 6 inches. A complete installation of pneumatic tools is fitted for chipping, caulking and drilling. Last year twenty-seven boilers of over 13,000 I.H.P. were constructed.
A large repairing business is also carried on by the firm to hulls, engines, and boilers of vessels. The Graving Dock belonging to the Aberdeen Harbour Commissioners is adjacent to the works and is 512 feet long. The number of men employed is about 1,200.
Harpers, Craiginches Ironworks
HARPERS, CRAIGINCHES IRONWORKS, ABERDEEN.
Harpers
These works, situated on the south side of the River Dee, and about 11 miles from the joint passenger station of the three railways entering the city, were erected in 1892 to meet the increasing demand for the various productions specialised, the leading manufactures being rope and belt pulleys and fly-wheels, tooth-gearing, high-class steel shafting, bearings and their supporting fixings, and generally, all accessories required for the transmission of power. The premises are lighted electrically by fifty-five arc- lamps, aggregating 75,000 candle-power, and are served by twenty- eight travelling-cranes on 2 miles of overhead rails, whilst the machinery is driven by twenty electric motors; the premises have a roof area of three acres.
The Foundry floor proper is arranged into two bays, 35 feet and 23 feet wide respectively, and three bays each 18 feet wide, all 260 feet long, the two larger being furnished with three electric travelling- cranes, two of 20 tons and one of 8 tons carrying power. In this department are two cupolas which melt 9 tons and 6 tons per hour respectively, and conveniently arranged for rapid manipulation are numerous gear-wheel moulding machines and special rope-pulley grooving machines, capable of an output of 100 tons of castings per week.
The Turnery, which has an area similar to the Foundry, is connected with the latter by bogie rails for the rapid transport of castings to tooling operations, and is equipped with special shafting lathes, milling machines, keyway slotters, shaft key-grooving machines, modern boring and turning mills, etc., all driven off four lines of shafting, each divided and operated by two electric motors stationed in the bay divisions, thus giving clear space for the many overhead travellers.
These works, complete with well-arranged patternmakers' and stores departments, are connected by a siding to the Caledonian Railway Co.'s main line, and were erected, after long experience in the different branches of the trade handled, for the rapid and economical output of the specialties above indicated. They are conveniently situated for transit of raw materials and finished work, by water as well as by rail. The number of men employed is about 400.
Alexander MacDonald and Co
ALEXANDER MACDONALD AND CO., ABERDEEN GRANITE WORKS, ABERDEEN.
Alexander MacDonald and Co
This firm was established in 1820 by Mr. Alexander Macdonald, who was practically the pioneer of the granite trade in Aberdeen. He was succeeded in business by his son, the late Mr. Alexander Macdonald, and Mr. Sidney Field, the firm being then known as Messrs. Macdonald, Field and Co. The former gave the magnificent collection of pictures and portraits of famous artists painted by themselves, and which is now housed in the Art Gallery in Schoolhill, Aberdeen, and known as the "Macdonald Collection." The firm was converted into a company in 1885.
The works are extensive, covering an area of about 4 acres, and are situated in Constitution Street, quite a short distance from the Bathing Station, and about 7 minutes' walk from the Municipal Buildings. They comprise dressing sheds, turning and polishing sheds, with sawing machines, pneumatic tools, and surfacers, etc. Granite work of every description can be seen in its various stages, the company having an extensive connection all over the world for the supply of polished, dressed and carved monuments, of which carved Celtic crosses are a speciality. Branch offices and show- yards are also established in London and Glasgow.
Marine Laboratory
THE MARINE LABORATORY AND SEA-FISH HATCHERY OF THE FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND, BAY OF NIGG, ABERDEEN. (See Plate 55.)
The marine laboratory, in which part of the scientific fishery investigations of the Fishery Board is carried on, consists of a small brick building, wills a tank-house containing concrete and plate-glass tanks attached. The hatchery for sea-fishes consists of:—(1) a hatching-house, equipped with appropriate hatching apparatus, in which the fertilised eggs are retained till the young fish hatch out; (2) an engine and pump-house for the circulation of sea-water, Worthington brass-lined pumps being employed; (3) a large concrete reservoir for sea-water, and a large sunk tidal pond in which the fishes are kept. The fish which is dealt with is the plaice. At the spawning season (from January to May) the eggs are shed into the water of the tidal pond; they are collected by means of fine-meshed nets and transferred to the hatching apparatus, and the fry, after hatching, are placed in the sea. The period during which hatching operations go on thus extends from January to May.
Charles MacDonald
CHARLES McDONALD, FROGHALL GRANITE WORKS, ABERDEEN.
Charles MacDonald
These works were started in a small way in 1877 by the lath Mr. Charles McDonald, in Nelson Street, and as the business developed rapidly, he found it necessary to secure the piece of ground which the works at present occupy. On this he erected the first portion of the present buildings, power being supplied by a steam-engine with one 9-inch cylinder. Very soon this was replaced by an improved engine with a 14-inch cylinder, the granite working machinery being at the same time largely augmented, principally in the sawing and pendulum polishing departments. Further extensions leaving become necessary another engine and boiler were added, to drive more saws, and a very complete installation of travelling and steam derrick-cranes, the pendulum and rotary polishing machinery being at this and other times also increased in number and efficiency.
Difficulty in securing the local granites in large enough blocks and in sufficient quantity leaving arisen about this time, Mr. McDonald began to look further afield for supplies, and opened granite quarries in Hildesly, Shetland. These having proved unsuitable for producing granite fine enough for polished work of the highest class, he was compelled to have recourse to the granites of Norway and Sweden. The quarries in these and other continental countries he was largely instrumental in developing.
After Mr. McDonald's death in 1892 the business was carried on by his trustees, who continued the advanced policy he had inaugurated. Further additions being necessary to cope with the increased demand, a compound condensing engine of 200 was installed, with an evaporative condenser, the only supply of cooling water obtainable being from the town main, through a meter. This plant has been in operation over seven years, and has fully justified its adoption. A pneumatic carving plant and other machines were added at this time, and recently a large granite-surfacing machine (Brunton and Triers type) was installed. This machine is the outcome of many attempts, and many failures, to produce a machine for planing flat surfaces on granite. Its average output per week of fifty-one homers is about 250 superficial feet, and by the introduction of all the latest machinery the firm is in a position to cope with almost any size of contract for polished granite work in reasonable time. About four years ago the business was converted into a company under the same management which had conducted affairs since Mr. McDonald's death. In times of ordinary activity the number of men employed is about 180.
John Milne and Co
JOHN MILNE AND CO., CALEDONIAN MILLS, ABERDEEN.
John Milne and Co
These mills were erected in 1889 on the bed of the old channel of the River Dee. Power to drive the mills is developed from a large boiler working up to a pressure of 200 lbs. per square inch, and the engine in connection therewith is of the triple-expansion type, of 300 H.P. The water for the condenser of the low-pressure engine is obtained from a well about 40 feet deep, the quantity required for condensing being about 18,000 gallons per hour. The machinery consists of six self-acting barley mills, capable of milling up to 600 quarters, or 120 tons, of barley weekly; also of four pairs of oatmeal stones, connected with a self-acting kiln capable of producing 700 bolls (1 boll of meal=140 lbs. 2 bolls= I sack) of oatmeal per week; and a pair of stones with dressing reel for grinding oat flour and similar fine products. The whole of this plant, with the necessary shafting, elevators, bins, reels, riddles, cockle cylinders, oat-bruisers, etc., is concentrated in the East Mill, which is divided from the West Mill by a fire-proof wall carried through the roof.
The West Mill is mostly occupied by a plant for the grinding of oat husks, for which article there is a considerable demand on the Continent and elsewhere as a low-grade feeding stuff. The oat husks are principally obtained from the oats milled by the firm. They are ground to the consistency of fine flour, which, as a feeding stuff, is just a degree below the feeding value of oat straw. The grain of the barley as grown is so acted upon by machinery that it loses some part of its size, and that which is rubbed off is sold for cattle food under the name of Standard Barley Bran, about 60 tons of which is made weekly. There is considerable storage accommodation in connection with the mills, and ample room for extension. The number of men employed is about 40.
The firm has also extensive works at Dyes, 6 miles from Aberdeen, where artificial manures are manufactured.
Northern Co-Operative
THE NORTHERN CO-OPERATIVE CO.'S MILLS, ABERDEEN.
The Northern Co-operative Co. carry on the business of grocers, bakers, butchers, drapers, clothiers, boot and shoo makers, house-furnishers, druggists, meal millers, and coal merchants. It was started in 1861, the membership being 327 and the paid-up capital £306. At the Annual Balance in 1906 the shareholders numbered 20,518. The business is carried on at two centres—Loch Street and Millbank—and at twenty-one groups of shops throughout the city and in the surrounding district. The head offices are situated in Loch Street, where are also the Central Drapery, Boot and Shoe and House Furnishing Departments. The Clothing and Furnishing Departments are fitted up with electric passenger and goods lifts, and the sewing machines in the tailoring and dressmaking workshops are electrically driven. The Boot and Shoe workshop is also fitted up with electrically-driven machinery for the making and repairing of boots and shoes.
At Milbank there are situated a Grocery Warehouse, Meal Mill, Loaf and Small Bread Factories, Refrigerating Stores, Tradesmen's workshops, and Stables. The Grocery Warehouse is a six-storey building with a frontage of 180 feet, and is fitted up with electric lifts and electrically-driven machinery for the cleaning of fruit and the blending and weighing of tea. The value of goods passing through this warehouse is about £250,000 per annum. The Meal Mill is fitted up with the latest machinery for the handling of grain and the manufacture of oatmeal, an average of 700 bolls. being manufactured weekly.
In the Bakery Department about 670 sacks of flour are baked weekly into loaf bread, and about 150 sacks into small bread.
Amongst the machinery, which is of the latest and most efficient type, are dough-mixing and kneading machines by Messrs. Werner, Pfleiderer and Perkins, of London, and mixing machines by Messrs. Thos. Melvin and Sons and Andrew Gillespie and Sons, of Glasgow. The Small Bread Factory has been largely extended recently. In this department there are six stone sole ovens and a large extent of steam proving-presses. There are dough brakes, a biscuit-cutting machine, and a travelling oven by Messrs. Gillespie and Sons, and dough dividers, egg and butter whisks by Messrs. Melvin and Sons. There are also steam plates by Messrs. William Cook and Sons, Edinburgh, for the firing of soft bread and oatcakes.
In the Vienna Bread Department there are three specially constructed ovens by Messrs. Werner, for this class of trade, and a new electrically-driven mixing and kneading machine by Messrs. Melvin and Sons. All the machinery in the Small Bread Department is electrically driven, and the current for motive purposes and for lighting the Millbank premises is generated by a 92-B.H.P. suction gas-engine supplied by Messrs. Richard Hornsby and Sous, of Grantham and Stockport.
The Refrigerating Stores are in the basement floor of the Grocery Warehouse, and are fitted up with a modern installation of cold storage plant by Messrs. H. Pontifex and Sons, of London, the machinery being driven by a 50-B.H.P. motor. The machinery in the Blacksmith, Cartwright and Joinery Departments, consisting of turning, boring, morticing, planing and sawing machines, is driven by suction gas-plant supplied by the Stockport Gas Engine Co. The stables and the van and lorry sheds, where accommodation is provided for sixty horses with the necessary equipment, are of the latest type.
At the Coal Department in Palmerston Road the coals are lifted, screened, and distributed over the sheds by machinery driven by two gas-engines. The company also possesses a steamship of 600 tons, specially constructed for the carrying of coal to the company, and is fitted with special engines and boilers capable of attaining a speed of from 11 to 12 knots with dead load, in order to make a voyage between Sunderland and Aberdeen in the course of one tide.
Alexander Pirie and Sons
ALEXANDER PIRIE AND SONS, STONEYWOOD WORKS, BUCKSBURN.
Alexander Pirie and Sons
The following description of machinery, products, etc., at the Stoneywood Paper Works, was prepared by Mr. H. A. D. Wathen, Director of the Company, for the use of Members visiting the Works on 31st July 1907.
Introductory.— It is known that Stoneywood Mill was working as a Paper Mill in 1770, and paper with that date in the watermark is in existence. An inventory of 1796 gives the stock of paper as 533 roams, and of raw material as 20 tons, the whole being valued at £484. On 30th December, 1906, the stocks of paper and raw material were valued at £195,578.
In 1820, a Fourdrinier machine was first erected, but 9 years later the whole mill was swept away by a flood, some of the workmen on the island being rescued by the coastguard life-saving apparatus.
In 1907 there are six machines capable of producing 9,000 tons of paper. The papers made are tubsized superfines, ledgers, loans, cartridges, best blottings, and superfine engine-sized writings and printings. There are also envelope factories in Aberdeen and London, rag mills at Woodside, and branches in London, Dublin, Glasgow, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Paris and New York, with a staff of travellers visiting every country and every colony in the British Empire.
Power and Machinery.—The power installation at Stoneywood consists of about 3,000 H.P. steam, 1,000 H.P. water-power, and 500 k.w. steam turbo-alternator. There are 21 steam-boilers, nearly all of the Lancashire type. Of these, three are worked at 12 lbs. pressure for drying and boiling, nine work at 80 lbs. pressure for boiling esparto, and supplying small steam-engines, which exhaust into a back-pressure system in conjunction with the three 12 lb. boilers above noted for drying and heating; six boilers work at 180 lbs. pressure, supplying steam to four largo marine-type condensing engines of 500 H.P. each. The turbo-alternator has only recently been erected by Messrs. Parsons and Co., of Newcastle, and generates a 3-phase current at 500 volts with a periodicity of 50.
A new automatic volt-regulator is attached to the turbo-generator by Messrs. Parsons and Co., whirls at the trials governed the voltage to within 5 per cent. with a varying load from 0 to 530 km. without any rheostat or hand manipulation.
The motors are 100 H.P. each of the squirrel-cage typo made by Messrs. Mayor and Coulson, of Glasgow. The most recent paper- making machine is by Messrs. James Bertram and Sons, of Edinburgh, with White's drive. All the shafting driven by motors is on roller bearings; this and the bleaching and beating plant is by Messrs. Masson Scott and Co., of London.
Row Materiel.—The principal raw materials used at Stoneywood are linen and cotton rags, esparto, and wood pulp, the latter being used chiefly in the cheaper qualities of paper.
Esparto is the only material purchased in the raw state, and comes from Spain and North Africa. It has first to be dusted, then boiled with caustic soda under 50 lbs. steam pressure, washed, bleached, and cleaned from roots, sand, etc., and then turned into half-stuff preparatory to beating.
Rags arrive at the mill with natural impurities removed, but they require to be boiled with weak caustic soda under 12 lbs. steam, and also to be washed and bleached before beating. Wood pulp is turned into half-stuff at the wood-pulp mills of Germany, Scandinavia, and Canada, and is after subsidiary bleaching ready for beating.
Beating.— The fibres of the half-stuff are prepared for manufacture into paper on the paper machines by beating in Hollanders and Taylor beaters. During the process of beating, the fibre is made or marred for the paper machine. This is perhaps the most delicate process, and is carried out by passing the pulp, well diluted with water, between horizontal plates with vertical projecting knives, and rollers with bronze or steel bars revolving rapidly above the stationary plates. Upon the quality, strengths and thickness of the paper depends the length of time in the beating engine, and the length of fibre required in the prepared paper pulp. When it is remembered that the thickness of the paper varies from 7 lbs. to 80 lbs. per 480 sheets of largo post (10, inches by 21 inches), and tho strength from that of blotting paper to that of the toughest officials and loans, the difference of time in the engine, from hour to 12 hours, will be understood.
Making Machines.— The pulp, after the preparation in the beating engines is completed, is run through pipes to the machine chests, whence it is pumped to the mixing-box where water is added; it then passes over sand tables, through strainers and on to an endless noire passing over rollers, through press rolls, and finally over steam- heated cylinders, after which it is reeled ready for tubsizing.
Sizing.— All the higher-class tubsized papers are passed through troughs of gelatine prepared in the mill, and then over open cylinders revolving in hot air produced by steam-pipes placed beneath the dryers. The engine-sized papers do not pass through gelatine; these are sized by the admixture of rosin prepared with soda and fixed with sulphate of alumina added to the pulp in the beaters.
The highest class loft-dried papers are cut in the web before sizing, and then passed sheet by sheet thorough gelatine and hung to dry in a loft. This process is reserved for the highest class of ledger papers and also papers required for lithographing Ordnance Survey maps, for which purpose the minimum of unequal shrinkage is necessary to allow of the accurate reproduction of maps from the stone.
Rolling and Cutting.— After the paper Las been made, it passes to the cutting and rolling machines when it is cut to the required sizes, and given a rough or smooth finish as may be required.
Overhauling.— When the last process is completed, the paper is taken to the overhauling room, where it is gone over by girls, sheet by sheet, and all sheets with blemishes are removed, and any variations of shade are sorted. The paper is then counted into quires and reams, and passed on to the packers or stock rooms as required.
Subsidiary Departments.— There are several subsidiary departments, such AS the hand cutting, where paper is cot into notepaper and put up into packets; ruling where paper is ruled for account books; and papeteries where paper and envelopes are packed in boxes for the stationer or made into blocks with blotting paper.
Workshops.— A repairing shop with fitters, lathes, special machines for cutting strainer-plates, etc., and joiner shop are included in the works, employing on an average 100 men.
Chemical Department.—Bleach liquor at 6° twaddell is prepared in the works from chloride and hypochlorite of lime in the ordinary way.
Rosin size is prepared by boiling raw rosin with white ash in as special plant. Gelatine for tubsizing is prepared from hide-pieces and fixed wills potash alum. Caustic soda is prepared in the works from soda in various forms, 70 per cent. caustic, 63 per cent. caustic, white ash 53 per cent. and black ash 50 per cent. strengths.
Caustic soda is used for boiling esparto and rags in varying strengths, and, after the boiling is completed, the spent soda-lye is run down to the evaporating house where it is evaporated in a triple- effect evaporator similar to that used in the concentration of sugar juices, and pumped over to a roaster where the black ash is burned off ready for re-causticising. The steam-pressure for the first effect is 12 lbs. per square inch, and is exhausted from the steam-engine which drives the shop engines. The third effect indicates a vacuum of 24 inches.
The carbonate of soda ash is dissolved in water and boiled along with hydrate of lime, being converted into caustic soda, in which form it is used for boiling esparto and rags. Water Filtration.—All water for use in the manufacture has to be carefully filtered. It is, however, first treated wills lime and crude sulphate of alumina, varying from grain to 3 grains per gallon, and run into a large sedimentation basin, of about 15,000,000 gallons capacity, to remove colouring and peaty matter. It is then filtered through gravity sand-filters of a total area of 48,000 square feet, and working at a rate of three gallons per square foot per hour. By this process even dirty flood waters can be made clear and colourless.
Fire Appliances.— The works are protected from fire by water laid on in pipes under a pressure of 150 feet head from a special reservoir built for the purpose on high ground about a mile from the works. The high-pressure pipe system is supplemented by fire-pumps and also by a steam fire-engine by Merryweather.
Lighting of Works.— This is carried out both by gas and electricity manufactured in the works. The electric light is supplied by a 220-volt direct current, generated by a 100-k.w. dynamo by Messrs. Holmes and Co., of Newcastle. The combination of electric light and gas is suitable and economical for the circumstances of the works.
A small object of interest to engineers is a Corliss engine, said to be the first ever worked in Great Britain, and brought over from America in the middle of the nineteenth century by the late Mr. A. G. Pixie, the last chairman of the Company, who made steam a study throughout his life. It is not generally known that one of the first installations of really high-pressure steam for marine work was made on Mr. Pixie's steam yacht, the "Rionnag-na-mara," by Messrs. Rankin and Blackmore in 1886. The engines were quadruple expansion, and on a cruise of 3,638 knots the "Rionnag-na-mant's " coal-consumption showed a mean consumption of 1.43 lbs. of average coal per I.H.P. On the steam trials with Welsh coal the consumption was 1.25 lbs. per I.H.P.
Regent Bridge, Aberdeen
REGENT BRIDGE, ABERDEEN HARBOUR. (Sec Plate 54.)
Regent Bridge, Aberdeen
The Regent Bridge Improvement Scheme comprised the reconstruction of Regent Bridge and the widening of Regent Quay, and was undertaken by the Aberdeen Harbour Commissioners to afford more modern facilities to the shipping, railway, and vehicular traffic at this part of the docks.
The Swing Bridge has a total length of 156 feet, and a total width of 45 feet, or 5 feet wider than Marischal Street to which it leads, and it weighs over 640 tons when swinging. This weight is carried on a large steel pivot resting on a hydraulic press, so that the mass swings round on a water cushion which is practically frictionless. The pivot is placed at a point about two-thirds along the length of the bridge, making a long and a short arm, and this of course throws it out of balance, so that about 140 tons of iron Kentledge blocks bad to be placed at the short arm to make the bridge level. Had the arms been made of equal lengths, it would have been impossible to get any railway curves laid at the south side, because, oven as it is, the space is limited to an undesirable degree.
The main girders of the bridge are of the "bowstring" type, being curved on the top, with simple N web bracing, and measure 20 feet deep over the pivot, which is at the deepest part. The roadway carries two lines of railway for up and down traffic, and also two tracks for vehicular traffic wide enough to admit traction engines. The side walks for foot passengers are placed outside the main girders on brackets, and are fenced off by steel lattice-work parapets. The bridge is built of mild steel, and has been designed to carry the heaviest class of locomotives and trains on both lines of rails at one time, along with any vehicles and as many people as can find standing space, or a dense crowd of people and vehicles all over the bridge. The deck of the bridge is paved with timber causeway setts to reduce the weight to be lifted and swung by the machinery.
The hydraulic machinery for lifting and swinging the bridge lies concealed below the bridge itself in a large masonry pit below the level of the water in the dock, but to which access is readily got by stone steps and passages in the masonry. In the middle of this underground chamber is placed the central hydraulic press and pivot by which the bridge is lifted bodily off its rests a distance of 5 inches before being revolved. It is a massive cast-steel cylinder with ram 46& inches diameter, and is supplied with water at a, pressure of 1,000 lbs. per square inch, thus developing a total lifting power of over 750 tons. On the top of the piston or ram of this cylinder rests the large steel ball pivot, through which the weight of the whole bridge is transmitted to the water.
Alongside the centre hydraulic press and sander the main girders are two smaller presses of the same type, one on either side, the tops of which form parts of a steel roller path on which rest steel rollers placed under the bridge. This arrangement is in ease of the central cylinder being disabled, when the two smaller presses, which are together of equal power to that of the centre press, are brought into action, lifting the bridge and forming a turntable with the roller path on which the bridge is then revolved. The turning or slueing of the bridge is accomplished by two hydraulic engines placed on the right and left hands of the bridge. The chief feature of these is their extreme simplicity, as no wheels, chains, or gear of any kind are to be found about them; they simply lay hold of the under side of the bridge, each with a steel arm or connecting-rod, and revolve it in the same way as the human arm opens or shuts a door. Should one of these engines break down, the other alone is able to revolve the bridge, and an arrangement of design enables each to work at half power when in combination.
The pump-house is situated on the south abutment, and there the water-pressure is generated for opening the bridge by pumps working at 1,000 lbs. per square inch. The pumps are in duplicate, one being driven by an electric motor of 45 B.H.P., the other by a gas-engine of 50 B.H.P., as a safeguard against a complete breakdown of the installation. The whole of the machinery and swing bridge are under the control of two levers which are automatically locked by the bridge, so that only one operation, either that of lifting or swinging, can be done at a time. The complete operation of opening or closing occupies one minute, and the bridge is brought to rest quietly at the end of the swing, by hydraulic buffers.
Robert Gordon's College
ROBERT GORDON'S COLLEGE, AND GRAY'S SCHOOL OF ART.
This is an Educational Endowment which dates back to 1732. The sum left by the donor, who was a merchant trading mostly on the Continent, was £10,000. It has since accumulated till, with other benefactions, including a considerable bequest by Mr. Alexander Simpson of Collyhill in 1833, the capital of the Trust may be now said to amount to nearly a quarter of a million pounds, most of which is represented by landed property. The Trust is managed largely by the Town Council, with an admixture of University and clerical representatives. Its chief object is the maintenance and education of boys, for the most part in necessitous circumstances. Its principal day-school, which is also open to fee-paying pupils, is conducted in a building the central portion of which dates back to the origin of the bequest. The school is recognised in Aberdeen and throughout a large part of the north-east of Scotland, as well as considerably beyond these limits, as one of the most successful of the secondary schools of Scotland. It is attended by nearly 900 scholars, over 200 of whom are beneficiaries.
The Primary Department includes 160 boys under 12 years of age; the Intermediate Department, covering a course of general education in three successive stages, includes fully 360 boys of from 12 to 15 years; and the Secondary Department 350 boys of from 15 to 18 years of age. In the Secondary Department there are specialised branches of work leading to the different Faculties of Universities and to Technical Colleges, embracing advanced study in Languages (Ancient and Modern), Mathematics, Science, and Drawing. The teaching staff numbers 34, of whom 25 are graduates of Universities. Not only in Day School work but in Evening School work as well the Trust plays a leading part. This department is recognised by Government as a " Central Institution." — the whole of the advanced work of the district being done by it while the more elementary portion is done by the School Board of the city, between whom and the Governors a well - defined working arrangement has been entered into to obviate over-lapping. The number of students attending the advanced classes of the College during the Session 1906-7 was over 700, the teaching staff numbering 50. The courses of instruction include Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering and Courses for Architects, Builders, Stonecutters, etc., and all are largely taken advantage of.
In connection with the Trust, and forming part of the Central Institution, there is a School of Art which was the gift of the late Mr. John Gray, a well-known citizen in his time, after whom the school is named, The school has distinguished itself highly, and many of its former pupils are now occupying positions of importance in the world of Art. The buildings connected with the Institution are interesting architecturally, whilst from an educational point of view their equipment will repay careful inspection.
Rubislaw Granite Co
RUBISLAW GRANITE CO., ABERDEEN.
Rubislaw Granite Co
The quarries owned by this Company are situated about 2 miles from the centre of Aberdeen, and were first opened 300 years ago. The present excavations cover about 7 acres, and the men employed in the different departments number about 260. The daily output amounts to about 300 tons, or roughly, 100,000 tons in the year, being nearly one-third of the whole of the granite quarried in Aberdeen. The lowest depth at present at which the granite is worked is about 300 feet.
The plant, which is of the most modern type, includes ten powerful electric cranes from 10 to 20 tons. In addition are four blondins, which bring the stones rapidly from the bottom to the surface. The cranes, blondins, stone-breaking machines, and pumps were formerly worked by steam, but now are worked by electric power; and the rock drills and plugging machines are now worked by compressed air. The work of cutting up the smaller stones by hand-drills has now given place to pneumatic tools. After the small stones have been raised in boxes by the blondins, the boxes are deposited on bogies and conveyed by railways to the sett makers, who work in small sheds along the lines. The rubbish is treated in a similar fashion by being run out and tipped over the waste bank. Boring is performed to a large extent by drilling machines, which are capable of boring holes 2 inches in diameter at the rate of 7 feet per hour. Must of the large blocks are used for monumental work, the next sizes being greatly in request for building purposes, while the setts are manufactured from the smaller sizes, and the chips are used for road metal. The quality and durability of the Rubislaw granite is unsurpassed, and it takes on the finest polish.
James Taggart
JAMES TAGGART, GRANITE WORKS, ABERDEEN.
James Taggart
These works are situated in the Great Western Road, Aberdeen. Although not one of the largest, it is one of the most compact granite works in Aberdeen. Fronting Great Western Road is the showyard where a large selection of finished work is erected, from the simple headstone to the elaborately carved Celtic crosses. An overhead travelling-crane driven by gas-engine and Manilla rope extends from end to end of the yard. The travelling gear enables the controller to work three motions at the same time, and the whole is controlled from the ground. To the left is the large stone-cutting shed fitted up with an overhead travelling-crane extending the length of the shed. Along the sides of the shed are the pipes and tubes of the pneumatic tools, a large number of which are at work. There is also the latest design of pneumatic surfacing machine.
In the letter-cutting sloop, the smaller sizes of pneumatic tools are used for the cutting, drilling, and leading of letters. In the polishing mill is shown the Jenny Lind and the vertical polishing machines, and quick-cutting saw, where the granite is sawn into slabs, etc., by the aid of chilled shot. The engine-room contains a Tangy° gas-engine, with compressor and receiver. The number of men employed is about 50.
Union Bridge, Aberdeen
UNION BRIDGE, ABERDEEN.
Union Bridge, Aberdeen
On 4th April 1800 the Royal assent was given to "An Act for opening and making two new streets in the City of Aberdeen." The Trustees, acting on the advice of John Rennie, the eminent engineer, advertised for designs for these streets—Union Street and King Street. The designs had to include all necessary bridges, the most important being Union Bridge. Seven designs were submitted for the approval of the Trustees, and that by David Hamilton, a Glasgow architect, was adopted. This design was for a three-arch masonry bridge, the cents-al arch having a span of 50 feet and the side arches 37 feet each. The contract for building this bridge was duly accepted, and the work commenced in 1801. By December of that year the piers bad been built up to springing level, when the work was stopped for seine time by a severe storm. During this time the contractors discovered they had made a serious mistake in their offer, and were ultimately allowed to abandon the work.
In the meantime the levels given by Hamilton had been examined, and it was found that considerable errors had been made. In consequence of this, new plans were prepared, and it was resolved to increase the width of Union Street from GO to 70 feet, and decrease the width of the bridge from 50 to 40 feet. Rennie was again consulted and submitted three new plans, none of which however were approved of by the Trustees on account of the cost. Thomas Fletcher, his pupil and assistant, then prepared a design for a single-arch bridge of 130 feet span, which, having been favourably reported on by Thomas Telford, was finally built. The main dimensions of the bridge are as follows—the span of the arch, which is segmental, is 130 feet with a rise of 29 feet; the arch ring is 3 feet thick at the crown and 4 feet thick at the springing; the width between the parapets is 40 feet; and the abutments are 20 feet thick. The total cost of the bridge was £13,000.
The Town Council, having decided to widen the bridge from 40 to GO feet, have had several schemes before them during the last too years, the most important of these being (1) by widening the existing masonry arch is granite; (2) by means of a light steel girder on each side of the existing bridge to carry the entire weight of the new footpaths, and (3) by the introduction of a steel arch on either side of the old bridge.
The third method of widening, which is being carried out at present, is by means of a steel arch on each side of the bridge supported on masonry abutments. The abutments of the old bridge have been widened 9 feet on each side, the old masonry facework being taken down and used as far as possible to form the face of the abutment at the new line. The new abutments aro solid concrete faced with granite ashlar up to 7 feet 6 inches above springing level. Above this point they are hollow to within 2 feet of the pavement, which is carried on 9-inch by 7-inch rolled steel joists placed at 3 feet centres, and filled in with concrete 13 inches thick in such a way as to entirely surround each beam with concrete, to protect it from the action of the air below. New polished masonry parapets are built over the abutments and wing walls of similar design to the existing balustrade.
The foundation of the east abutment of the old bridge rests on wooden piles, and projects 3 feet 6 inches beyond the line of the masonry all round. As it was not advisable to cut off these projecting footings or to put additional weight on them, on account of any possible settlement in the new work causing damage to the existing bridge, the foundations of the new abutments were corbelled over the old footings. In carrying this out the face of the old masonry was brought to a smooth vertical face by means of concrete which was then plastered with cement and covered with sheet steel, thus affording a smooth face on which the new work could slide down without putting any weight on the whole structure.
The new foundations, which are of solid concrete reinforced with old tramway rails both longitudinally and transversely, were then carried over the old footings in the form of a corbel, and allowed to press on the sheet steel face. This corbel is reinforced with Kahn trussed bars in two horizontal rows one above the other, and is arranged so as to leave a space of about 6 inches or more between the old footings and the new work. The foundation of the west abutment of the bridge is on rock, and as there was little fear of settlement, part of the new foundation was allowed to rest on the old footings.
The steel rib, which is a three-binged arch, has a span and radius similar to the existing masonry arch, and the under side of the ribs is kept 12 inches above the under side of the existing arch. The steel skowback pedestals rest on granite monoliths each weighing about 7 tons, over which a special recess is formed in the masonry abutment. At the level of the top of the steel arch two horizontal girders aro placed, one over each half of the span, these girders being supported by means of steel columns from the arch rib. Steel troughing is laid between the horizontal girders and the existing masonry bridge, on which the new pavements are laid.
A light cast-iron parapet, specially designed with bronze panels at the centre of the bridge, is fixed to the horizontal girders over the span. The steel arch rib is 2 feet 9 inches deep and 1 foot 6 inches broad, the flanges being 1 inch thick and the web inch thick. The hinges arc composed of cast-steel bushes in two pieces, which, after the pin is in position, arc held together by two steel rings. The head and nut of the pin are kept clear of the steel castings by gunmetal washers. The pin is wrought-steel and is 7 inches in diameter, the head and nut being 11 inches in diameter.
Each half of the steel arch is tied to the existing masonry arch by four steel channels, 10 inches deep by 31 inches broad. The end of each of these ties is fixed by cleats to a flat plate 2 feet square, which is attached to the masonry by four 1-inch rag bolts. Each longitudinal girder is similarly tied to the old bridge by seven channels of the same dimensions. The horizontal girders are 16 inches deep and 12 inches broad, the flanges and web being inch thick. The columns supporting the horizontal girders are rolled steel, of H section 10 inches by 8 inches, and are placed at 10 feet centres. The width of the bridge when finished will be 60 feet, having two 12-foot foot-paths and a 36-foot carriageway.
Water Power Plane, Balmakewan
NOTES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SMALL TURBINE WATER-POWER PLANT, BALMAKEWAN, MARYKIRK, KINCARDINESHIRE.
The power scheme was taken up with the idea of ascertaining what ways a water-power with low fall could be made use of in a country district for house-lighting and estate purposes generally. The owner has is prescriptive right to the water-power in the River Luther at this point. There was a dam across the stream and the water was used to drive an undershot wheel, but this was old and had fallen into a dilapidated condition. On taking measurements of the flow of water and levelling, it was found that, at the site of the water-wheel, power could only be got for lighting, but, by extending the lade for a farther distance of 300 yards a power of over 20 rf.p, could be got. Rough measurements of the water flowing in the stream in later summer indicated that a minimum quantity of 2,000 cubic feet of water might be looked for, and after allowing for loss of head in 600 yards of lade a fall of 10 feet would be obtained.
The work of extending the lade involved three different operations. (1st) Widening and straightening the old lade and making the tail-race come in as part of the new system by raising the bank. This has been 'made of clay covered with wire-netting to keep out rats, but strong roofing-felt has since been put below the netting to prevent the wash cf the surface water cutting the bank, and to stop two rather bad leaks. (2nd) Carrying the water alongside the bank of the stream in a wooden flume. (3rd) Continuing it through a cutting and over solid ground to the turbine in a concrete channel.
It was important to keep the area of the water duet as large as possible on account of the low fall. The old lade is irregular in section, and the lower part has purposely been kept wide; besides saving head this has acted to a certain extent as a reserve store when a considerable power was required for a short time, but the area might with advantage be increased. A greater loss of head was allowed for in the wooden flume on account of structural considerations, while the concrete portion is practically level and has a cross-sectional area of 27 square feet. Power is generated by a horizontal turbine (with two wheels) driving a dynamo by means of a belt. Either or both of the turbine-wheels can be used according to the state of the water, and the work being done. It is practically running continuously. The dynamo has an output of 55 amperes, the E.M.F. being varied from 250-310 volts. The governing of a turbine of this class presents considerable difficulties, but they have been fairly well overcome by a governor (American) of the supplementary type. It is put in operation by a Pickering governor and a Daniel battery of three cells, the turbine itself opening and closing the gates.
Electricity is distributed partly by bare overhead copper wires (6 strands No. 4 solid) and partly by concentric underground cable where passing through woods and across the public road. Lightning arresters are placed at three points in the network. So far lightning has not given any trouble, but high winds swaying the overhead wires has more than once compelled the dynamo to be shut down. Lighting, heating and power are done direct from the turbine, no storage battery being used.
The plant is used to supply light in the house and offices, stable and home farm buildings. Heating is done by Dowsing radiators in the house and for hand-irons in the laundry. The power is used for working ventilating fans, for pumping water and driving a mangle in the laundry and the thrashing mill in the home farm; and last year a sawing plant and stone-crusher were added. The thrashing mill with straw carriers is driven by a 15-H.P. motor, the power taken to drive it averaging 34 amperes at 280.volts. A similar motor drives the saw or stone-crusher alternately. Sawing is done with a small log band-saw, made by Messrs. Ransoms of Newark-on-Trent. This typo of machine was put in, as being less likely to subject the turbine to sudden variations of load. It takes saws 2i inches broad, and will cut up timber 26 inches wide and 20 feet long, but by judicious slabbing a considerably larger diameter log can be dealt with. Two men work it, one feeding by hand, and it requires 20-38 amperes at 270 volts to run the motor. Brazing, sharpening and setting the saws is done by the forester, who has the usual tools for the work. Stone-breaking is a more trying operation, but by keeping the crusher full of moderate-sized stones the load remains fairly constant at 7 to 8 H.P.; it is however found advisable to have a man standing by the turbine to govern it by hand.
Current is transmitted to a distance of fully 2,000 yards and tho E.M.F. at which the dynamo is run depends on the service required at the moment. The one weak point in the system is an occasional shortage of water due to power-users in the higher roaches of the stream filling their dams.
James Keiller and Son
JAMES KEILLER AND SON, CONFECTIONERY AND JAM FACTORY, DUNDEE.
James Keiller and Son
This factory, like its prototype at Silvertown, has recently been rebuilt after a fire. It stands in the heart of the city, and on the site of the original premises where James Keiller first started making marmalade, being in close proximity to the harbour and railway stations. The factory is of substantial erection, being built of stone from the famous Camperdown quarry, which is in the immediate neighbourhood. It is four storeys high, and covers about an acre and a half of ground. In addition to jam, jelly, peel, chocolate, and confectionery departments, the factory includes a modern bakehouse for the production of wedding and birthday cakes, shortbread, etc. The departments are connected with each other by automatic telephones, and there is a chemical laboratory where the goods are tested before being despatched. The whole of the place is lighted by electricity generated on the premises, and the same power is used for driving the machinery and lifts.
Malcolm, Ogilvie and Co
MALCOLM, OGILVIE AND CO., JUTE WORKS, DUNDEE.
Malcolm, Ogilvie and Co
These works, situated in Dura Street, are among the oldest establishments in the jute trade, the weaving shed being the first factory in which jute goods were manufactured by power. Every department of jute manufacture is carried on, the jute being received in its raw state in bales of 400 lbs.; and 1,100 of these bales per week are passed through the various stages of preparing, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and finishing. The motive power for driving these works is supplied by steam-engines working at 170 lbs. pressure and developing over 2,500 H.P. The boilers are all tubular by Babcock and Wilcox and the Stirling Boiler Co. The number of hands employed is about 1,500.
Thomson, Shepherd and Co
THOMSON, SHEPHERD AND CO., SEAFIELD WORKS, DUNDEE.
Thomson, Shepherd and Co
These works, situated towards the west end of Dundee, were founded by John and David Thomson seventy years ago. The firm subsequently became Thomson, Shepherd and Briggs, and in 1890 was converted into a private company, under the style of Thomson, Shepherd and Co. The works cover about 8 acres of ground, and produce 140 tons of jute yarn weekly, in all qualities and sizes, from Fine 10 lea to the Common Heavy Rove used for rope-making and the weft of cheap rugs. Three-fourths of this is sold in the form of yarn, and the rest is used in the manufacture of jute carpets, a special branch of the jute trade only carried on in Dundee by a few firms. The yarn for carpet-making is dyed in the company's own dye-house, and in their well-appointed factory is woven into carpets, rugs, and mattings of every quality and variety of style and colouring. These carpets are supplied largely to the Home Market and the Colonies, and tho company has agents in most foreign countries. Tho number of workers employed is nearly 1,200, of which about 900 are women and girls. The motive power is supplied by two steam-engines, a beam-engine built by Pearce of Dundee, and a new 1,000-H.P. vertical engine by Messrs. Hick, Hargreaves and Co., of Belton. Both Lancashire and Babcock water-tube boilers are used, and a small electric-lighting plant has recently been introduced.
Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Co
CONSOLIDATED PNEUMATIC TOOL CO., FRASERBURGH.
Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Co
The works are situated about ten minutes' walk from the Fraserburgh Station and stand on about three acres of ground, while an additional twelve acres of ground have been taken up to provide for extensions. They have been in operation since the end of 1904 and the number of employ6s is now about 160.
The Power House contains one Lancashire boiler, a Davey Paxman high-speed vertical engine with high- and low-pressure cylinders, a Westinghouse generator, and a Franklin duplex air- compressor. The boiler is 30 feet in length' and 8 feet in diameter; the feed-water is heated by one of Green's economisers, and the working pressure is 135 lbs. per square inch. The engine is of 150 H.P. and drives the 100-kilowatt Westinghouse generator, producing direct current at 220 volts. In the Engine Room is situated a Sturtevant hot-air heating apparatus for heating the whole of the works and offices on the plenum system.
The Machine Shop has a floor space of 15,224 square feet, and is equipped with up-to-date lathes, milling, grinding and automatic screwing machines, most of which are of the latest type and designed for the rapid output of interchangeable work. The speed of the main shafting is 250 revolutions per minute, and the machines are driven in groups by separate motors averaging from 15 to 20 horsepower. The fitting benches are under the same roof.
The Tool Room is equipped with the necessary machines for making jigs and special tools, and the Tool Store is situated in a central position in the shop for convenience of access. Ample space and light are provided for the Checking Room, where all articles manufactured are inspected and gauged after each operation. A small Brass Foundry has been recently added at the south end of the Stores building, where all the brass and aluminium castings required at the works are now made. The Stores building covers an area of 8,304 square feet; it is used for the storage of raw material and also of finished parts prior to their being assembled into complete machines. A 10-ton electric travelling-crane is provided for handling air-compressors, etc., and the gantry carrying the same runs the whole length of the building.
To facilitate the loading and unloading of heavy goods, a railway siding and turntables have been provided, thus admitting of easy communication between the Great North of Scotland Railway and the interior of the Stores Building. The Offices are spacious and, with the exception of the Drawing Office, are all on the ground floor. They are grouped on the west side of the Machine Shop. Au electrical copying apparatus is in use in the Drawing, Office for photo-printing. The workmen's locker room and lavatory is situated in the office building on the ground floor and under the drawing office. It is furnished with lockers and wash-band basins, and hot and cold Neater is supplied. The north end of the first floor of the office building is fitted up as a Club-Room for workmen, and is provided with billiard tables, miniature rifle-range, and the usual reading desks, &c. A few cottages have been built by the company near the works for the accommodation of stall' and workmen.
Peterhead Harbour
ADMIRALTY HARBOUR OF REFUGE, PETERHEAD.
Peterhead Harbour
Those works are the outcome of a Treasury Committee appointed in 1881 to consider the question of employment of convicts in the United Kingdom, when the Committee reported that the most likely project for benefiting shipping and fishing industries would be by constructing a Harbour of Refuge at Peterhead. A sub-committee in 1884 having confirmed the above opinion, the Treasury decided to carry out the recommendation, the Admiralty undertaking the supervision of the Works, Sir John Coode being Engineer-in-Chief in the first instance, succeeded in 1S92 by Messrs. Condo, Son and Matthews. A commencement was made in 1886 with the Works and Prison, the latter being undertaken by the Prison Commissioners for Scotland, and accommodation for about 450 convicts provided on a site adjoining the work-yard. The money required is voted annually by Parliament, the works being constructed under the powers of the Peterhead Harbour of Refuge Act, 1886. The formation of the Harbour of Refuge comprises the enclosing of Peterhead Bay by the construction of a northern breakwater 1,000 feet long, and a southern arm, 3,250 feet long, with an entrance 600 feet wide. At the root of the south arm, inside the breakwater, a small boat harbour has been constructed for the accommodation of the craft employed on the work. The bay enclosed is, in shape, roughly a square, with the landward corners rounded, the breakwaters stretching in a straight line from the eastern end of the promontory on which stand the town and fishing harbours of Peterhead, to the northern spur of Buchanness (the most easterly point in Scotland), the water area being 343 acres at high water ordinary spring tides and 285 acres at low water ordinary spring tides, the depth at low water in the entrance being 60 feet. The rise of the tide is 11 feet.
The breakwaters are of the vertical type, formed of 6 to 1 concrete blocks, bonded and joggled together, laid in courses, and resting partly on rock and partly on a rubble mound, the seaward side being faced throughout with massive granite ashlar in courses, built into the blocks when they are made, the landward face of the breakwaters being similarly faced from the coping level to below low water. The largest blocks weigh 52 tons and the smallest 20 tons. The superstructure is 43 feet below and 22 feet above low water. The south breakwater is now built for about two-thirds of its ultimate length, and for a length of 1,500 feet is 46 feet wide at coping level, and beyond that distance 56 feet wide; the extra width having been found necessary to prevent the lateral displacement landwards of the superstructure, by the action of the abnormally heavy wave stroke to which the work is subjected.
The rubble mound is deposited by a hopper barge to a sufficient height to receive the lowest course of blocks, the preparation of the surface of the mound to receive the blocks being performed by divers. The blocks are set by a 50-ton Titan crane, working at a radius of 100 feet, the machine revolving around the entire circle, and travelling along the breakwater. This method of construction, which only allows of a short length at a time being undertaken in advance of the "scar," is somewhat slow, the length of breakwater constructed during a working season being from 150 to 180 lineal feet. The seaward slope of the mound is protected by rows of concrete blocks weighing 50 tons each, and outside these blocks the mound is roughly paved with stones weighing up to 10 tons. The breakwaters are intended to have roundhead terminations, each carrying a lighthouse.
Owing to the extremely exposed position of the work, the working season only extends over about six months (from March to October) each year, and of that period often little more than half is available for block-setting operations. The work is unprotected from the direction of the heaviest gales from the S.S.E. to N.N.E., and within a few miles from the shore great depths are reached. Owing to the massive construction of the breakwater, however, the work has hitherto, on the whole, well withstood the seas to which it is exposed. As an instance of the effect of the wave stroke on the work, it may be mentioned that during storms, blocks weighing 50 tons and embedded in rubble 40 feet below low water have been displaced 60 feet. It has been found that during storms the wave stroke gives a pressure of over 2 tons to the square foot on the surface of the breakwater exposed to its action. Waves of 30 feet in height are common with each winter's gales, but during storms successive rolling waves 40 feet in height have been measured, whilst toppling waves with foaming crests were occasionally noticed coming in 10 to 15 feet higher. The period of the large unbroken waves referred to was from 13 to 17 seconds, and the length varied from 500 to 700 feet, the depth of water being 10 fathoms.
The work-yard is situated at the root of the south breakwater, and contains several miles of sidings laid to standard gauge with 87N lbs. flat bottom rails, as well as blockmaking pits, carpenters', engineering and smiths' shops, stone-dressing sheds, and stone-crushing plant. The north and south block-pits are sunk below ground level, and give accommodation for making and stacking one year's work at the breakwater. Each of the pits is spanned by a 50-ton Goliath crane travelling on rails 54 feet apart, for stacking and loading the blocks, the height to top of girders being 39 feet above ground level. The concrete is made in one of Carey and Latham's mixing machines, and carried in skips from the mixer by 3-ton travelling-cranes to the moulds. There are also numerous 12, 10, 5-ton and smaller cranes employed on the works and in quarrying. The stone for the works, of which about 75,000 tons are required annually, is entirely of granite of the red variety, and is obtained from the Admiralty quarries at Stirling Hill, about V, miles south of the work-yard, from which a single line railway was laid down, the construction of the latter entailing heavy cutting and embanking, a viaduct, and several bridges. The quarries, of which there are two, are 190 feet and 350 feet above sea-level; the lino rises continually from the work-yard, the maximum gradient being 1 in 20 around 350 feet curves up the hillside. The traffic is worked by ordinary 6-wheel coupled tank locomotives, and iron side-tip wagons.
Near the quarries an ample supply of good water for the Works and Prison was found, storage reservoirs, filter beds, and caveredin supply tanks built, and the water piped to the work-yard. The whole of the convict labour is employed in the quarries, their conveyance to and from being effected in specially constructed carriages. The number of convicts at present employed is about 170, which is only one-third of the number it was originally expected would be available. Free men are employed in the yard and at the breakwater, the whole of the operations being under the charge of the Resident Engineer and stair, and are carried out departmentally by the Admiralty, and controlled by the Engineers-in-Chief, the special plant and machinery employed on the works having been constructed to their designs and specifications, mostly under contract by outside firms. It is expected that the works will be finished in about another fourteen years at the present rate of progress, and at a cost of over £1,000,000.
Inverurie Works
GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND RAILWAY WORKS, INVERURIE.
Inverurie Works
The works are situated at the north end of the Burgh of Inverurie, to the west side of the main line, on a site of about 24 acres in extent.
Locomotive Superintendent's Offices.— This building, like all others, is built of granite. It is 54 feet square, and consists of two main floors with attics and basement. On the ground floor are the offices of the Locomotive Superintendent, and on the first floor are the Drawing Offices and Stores Department. The attics are used for storing purposes, and also for taking photo-prints, there being a dark room and a lead-lined washing room for this purpose. All the rooms are spacious, and lighted by electricity.
Workshops.—The Workshops consist of five separate blocks; the Boiler, Erecting and Machine Shops, along with the Power House, constitute one block; the Blacksmiths', Coppersmiths', and Brass Moulders' and Tinsmiths' Shops, with Tyro Furnace Shed and Blower Room form a second block; the Carriage Builders, Patternmakers and Joiners a third block; the Painters, Trimmers, and Electricians a fourth block; and the Pattern Store, a detached fire-proof building, a fifth block.
Boiler, Erecting, and Mackine Shops.—These shops form the southernmost block of buildings, and measure over 289 feet by 270 feet. The floor areas are Boiler Shop, 24,500 square feet; Erecting Shop, 24,500 square feet; and Machine Shop, 26,000 square feet.
The Boiler Shop machines are driven by a 20-B.H.P. electrical motor. The large shearing and punching machines, plate-bending machine, and cold saw, are driven by an independent motor connected to the shafting by a Renold's chain. There is also a compressed-air service throughout this shop, from which are worked the various pneumatic drills, rivet heaters, and riveting hammers. The whole of the south bay is served by a 15-ton 3-motor single crab electric crane of 50 feet span and 20 feet total lift.
The Erecting Shop occupies the north bay, and half of the middle bay. It contains twenty pits, including the "through" road, which has one continuous pit the whole width of the Boiler and Great North of Scotland Railway.
[See image for layout of the Locomotive, Carriage, and Wagon Works]
Erecting Shops. Fifteen of the pits are in the north bay, and are served by a 80-ton electric crane, which has a span of 50 feet between rail centres. The crane has two 30-ton hoisting crabs, each of which has an auxiliary 5-ton hoist. Each crab has two motors, one for hoisting and the other for traversing. There is also a fifth motor for moving the crane longitudinally. Part of the centre bay is used for cylinder-boring and port-facing, which is done in position by two portable machines, driven by rope gear from a shaft hung from the crane gantry and operated by a 2-B.H.P. electric motor. This Shop is lighted by thirteen 200-candle-power enclosed electric are-lamps. In the pits are electric plugs for portable lamps, and at the benches 16 candle-power incandescent lamps on adjustable brackets are used.
The Machine Shop, which is to the north of and adjoining the Erecting Shop, has two bays, and is 266 feet long by 98 feet wide. Portions of the south bay are partitioned off as Power House, Accumulator Room, Tool Store, Drawing Store, and Foreman's Office, the remainder being arranged as a Fitting and Finishing Shop. In the Machine Shop are the usual machines mostly fixed in tho north bay, and served by a 5-ton electric travelling-crane running on a single rail the whole length of the Shop, the machines being on either side. In the north-west corner of the building a portion, 35 feet by 17 feet, is partitioned off as a Brass-finishing Shop, and at the north-east corner is a testing set and bench for repairing Westinghouse brake apparatus. The artificial lighting is accomplished by twelve 200-candle-power arc-lamps, and in addition each machine has one or two 16-candle-power incandescent lamps suspended from the roof and fitted with adjustable counterweights.
Power House.—This has a floor space of over 1,610 square feet, and is equipped with two sets of Belliss compound engines running at 400 revolutions per minute, direct-coupled to 100-unit continuous- current Siemens' dynamos; and a smaller set consisting of a Delliss compound engine direct-coupled to a compound wound 36-unit Parker dynamo running at 575 revolutions per minute, for charging the storage cells.
At the north-east corner of the house, on a projecting wall 31- feet thick, so built to receive it, is mounted a double-cylinder Tangye "Cornwall" wall-engine, with 12 by 24-inch cylinders and running at 100 revolutions per minute. On the west side is a "Sentinel" vertical compound air-compressor with receiver, etc., for supplying the pneumatic mains at 100 lbs. pressure. Central Boiler House.—This is situated against the north-east corner of the Machine Shop. There are in it at present four locomotive-type boilers working at 140 lbs. pressure. Water is fed to the boilers by a compound duplex Worthington pump, with rams 31 inches diameter, and cylinders 4 inches and 6 inches diameter by 6 inches stroke. On its way to the boiler the water is forced through a feed-water heater, heated by the exhaust steam from the engines in the Power House. On the roof of the Boiler House is a largo water-tank holding a reserve supply of over 55,000 gallons.
Smithy.—In this shop there are the usual steam-hammers, a spring furnace, a 24-inch double floor grinding machine, and a net and bolt machine. There being a largo amount of repetition work in this shop, forgings are done to a great extent wills dies and blocks, the work being accomplished mostly in one heat. The artificial lighting is by six 200-candle-power arc-lamps hung along the centre of the building.
Tyre Furnace Shed and Blower Room.—This is situated in the north-cast corner of the Smithy Block, part being partitioned off as a Blower Room. An axle guard and link-bending machine are located here. The machines and the blowers are driven from a shaft mounted on the south wall of the shed operated by an electric motor of 50 B.H.P. In the Blower Room are two No. 4 Roots blowers.
Tinsmiths' Shop.—This adjoins the Tyre Furnace Shed and is 48 feet by 35 feet. Here are made and repaired the engine, carriage, and permanent-way lamps, foot-warmers, oil-cans, etc. The soldering bolts are heated by coke fires.
Carriage and Wagon Shop.—Built in the same line as the Smithy, but 200 yards farther north, is the Carriage and Wagon Shop, measuring 362 feet by 182 feet 3 inches. Tho roof is of the saw- tooth pattern with lights to the north, and is supported on 10 columns. The machines are grouped in the north-west portion of the building, and driven by a 50-B.H.P. electric motor. Lighting is effected by 387 incandescent lamps of 16-candle-power in the main building, and by 32 incandescent lamps of 16-candle-power in the Foremen's Office and Store. There are also 200-candle-power arc-lamps in the machine space. To the north of the Carriage and Wagon Shop is a Timber Drying Shed, which is provided with a lino of rails running through the centre of it, so that the timber can be easily handled.
Paint Shop.—This block is of exactly the same construction as the Carriage Shop, measures 242 feet long by 1221- feet wide, and is lighted by 240 incandescent lamps of 16-candle-power. The floor is of Portland cement concrete laid with a fall to the several gratings. Brackets inserted in the floor carry steam-heating pipes, which run under the vehicles for the whole length of the building. In the south-east corner of this Shop a part is partitioned off for Electricians' and Trimmer's Workshop and Store. In the machinists' room there are two sewing machines driven by a electric motor. The hair for carriage cushions, etc., is teased and prepared by a "Clauntlett " teasing machine in a shed at the north-west corner of the Paint Shop.
Pattern Store.—This building is made as nearly fireproof as possible. The doors and windows are of iron, and the windows are glazed with loafer glass, thus giving an equally diffused light over the whole area. The floor is of Portland cement concrete finished smooth.
Water Supply.—Three services of pipes are laid throughout the Works, one from the Inverurie Town Supply for drinking purposes; the other two services are taken from the Company's Supply at Polinar, about -21- miles to the south-west of the Works. Of the two supplies last mentioned, one is for general requirements, the other being reserved for use in case of fire. The lines of piping are laid so that any point in the service can be reached by two routes, and cocks are provided so that any circuit can be isolated for repair, without interrupting the other parts of the system. The main pipe is 4 inches in diameter and the branches 3 inches in diameter, and flushing cocks are fitted discharging into the main drain.
Fire Appliances.—Throughout the Works standpipes are placed in prominent positions, while fire-plugs are fitted in the Yards. On the walls outside each shop are placed hose-boxes containing requisite fire appliances. On the south side of the Blacksmiths' Shop is situated a Fire Station, in which are a hose cart, and a Shand, Mason and Co.'s vertical steamer fitted with variable expansion gear, and capable of throwing 300 gallons of water per minute to a height of 150 feet from a 1-inch jet. There is in connection with the Works a thoroughly organized and equipped Fire Brigade.
Workmen's Houses, etc.—The population of Inverurie has, since these Works were opened, increased by about 1,200. Seven blocks of houses for workmen have been erected, each block containing accommodation for sixteen families. All are provided with the most modern conveniences, and electrically lighted, the current being obtained from the railway works. A considerable area of ground belonging to the Company is set aside for and used by the men as garden plots; in addition there is a large Park, also a Hail and Rooms for recreation purposes. Evening Technical Classes are provided during the winter season for the engineer apprentices, and in connection with the Works are Dramatic, Musical, and Ambulance Societies.
Mechanical Arrangement for Ballasting Permanent Way.— Ballasting on the permanent way of this company's system is accomplished by means of special hopper-wagons and a plough-van. Each wagon consists of a hopper, the bottom of which is fitted with doors so arranged that on being opened the contents are discharged on to the sleepers between the rails. The van attached to the end of the train is fitted with a plough situated between the front and rear pair of wheels, which can be raised or lowered as required. When ballasting, the sleeper wagons are passed over the portion of the permanent way to be operated on, the contents of each wagon are dropped in succession, and the van following with the plough resting upon the rails spreads the ballast to an even depth over the sleepers while the train is moving slowly along.
Tablet Exchange Apparatus.— The apparatus consists of two very similar parts. One of these is carried on the engine and the other on a cast-iron column erected at the side of the line. The engine-exchanger consists of a picking-up fork and a delivering fork. The former is a brass casting something like a tuning fork in shape; each prong, however, is slotted out to receive a brass tongue, which is pivoted near the heel of the prong and pressed against its fellow by an india-robber spring placed in a recess in the prong. The delivering fork consists of two pieces of light spring steel, which are bolted to the heel of the picking-up fork. This engine-exchanger is mounted on a wrought-iron spindle, which is carried on a sliding arm placed on the left side of the engine in a convenient position above the footplate. The station-exchanger is carried by a similar arm fixed on the cast-iron column previously mentioned. This exchanger is slightly different in construction from that on the engine, the picking-up and delivering forks being exactly the same, but the latter is carried on a bent arm. Both the engine and station-exchangers have a pouch with a tablet in place. The tablet is slipped into a strong leather pouch at the top, and secured in position by a leather plug having a finger hole by which it can be readily drawn to get out the tablet. The pouch is provided with holes to show when it contains a tablet. When an exchange is to be made, the driver on the engine and the signalman at the station each place a tablet pouch with the tablet in it between the springs of their respective delivering forks. The apparatus on the engine and that on the station column are then extended by means of the sliding arms, this bringing them in line with each other so that the pouches are forced from the delivering into the picking-up forks by the speed of the train, where they are retained by the action of the tongues in the picking-up forks.
Thomas Tait and Sons
THOMAS TAIT AND SONS, INVERURIE MILLS, INVERURIE.
Thomas Tait and Sons
These works were started for the manufacture of paper in 1860 by the late Mr. Thomas Tait, of Crichie, Kintore. They are situated on the banks of the River Don, 11 miles from Inverurie. The power is water and steam. Previous to the Great North of Scotland Railway being formed there was a canal between Inverurie and Aberdeen, and part of this canal was obtained as mill lade by Mr. Tait, he having previously done an extensive business in meal and bones at Inverurie. Traces of this canal can still be seen between Inverurie and Aberdeen. At first rags were used here only, and whilst these continued to be used, esparto, on its introduction by Mr. Routledge, was early taken up and continues to be used. The esparto store-shed is a very fine one, being equipped in the most modern style with electric conveyors. When wood was first spoken of in 1870, various experiments were tried. On its proving a success on the Continent, a new mill was built in 1885 for making paper from the raw log, instead of importing the pulp, as is done in other mills in Scotland. They were thus able to use British labour where foreign is generally used. The firm was converted into a private company in 1901. The grades manufactured are tub-sized drawing and writing papers, magazine printing papers, music, wall, and also duplicating papers. Amongst the specialities are the well-known type-writing papers, "Silver Linen," and the finest papers suitable for duplicating drawings, circular letters, etc., in unlimited numbers without the use of the blue-print process.
John Fyfe
JOHN FYFE, KEMNAY QUARRIES, ABERDEENSHIRE.
John Fyfe
These quarries are situated about seventeen miles north-west of Aberdeen, and are connected with a branch of the Great North of Scotland Railway which diverts from the main line at Kintore. The granite procured is medium grained of a light grey colour, and approaches to a pure granulated quartz of extreme hardness. The principal quarry was opened fifty years ago, and is over 300 feet in depth. An interesting feature at these quarries is the machinery used for conveying the blocks of granite from such a depth to the surface. Steam derrick cranes are used for handling the blocks at the bottom, and several machines called "blondins" are used for conveying these to the surface. These machines were the invention of the late Mr. John Fyfe, and by this system the granite is lifted from the bottom of the quarries and conveyed along steel-wire ropes suspended across the openings. The enginemen can regulate the load, so as to stop it at any part of its course, and lower it on to the bank or into wagons to be conveyed by rail or to the masons' sheds. Connected with the quarries are blacksmiths' and engineering shops for the purpose of preparing the tools and machinery required. The whole business forms an extensive industry employing about 400 men, and has yielded material on a large scale.
The stone for part of the Thames Embankment was furnished from this source; also for the construction of the piers of the Forth and Tay Bridges, King Edward VII. Bridge at Newcastle, docks at Hull, Newcastle, Shields, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Leith, London, the Kew and Putney Bridges on the Thames, Broomielaw, Rutherglen, Clyde Bridges, Glasgow; and for buildings of various kinds all over the country. Practically, all the principal buildings in Aberdeen are built of this granite, and among the most notable are Marischal College, the new Theatre, the new Post-office, the Parish Council and School Board offices, the Aberdeen Savings Bank, the Public Library, Free South Church, Palace Hotel, Northern Assurance Buildings, and the Municipal Buildings. The nature of the stone is close-grained and hard, and is therefore of extreme durability, while its pleasing colour gives it in some degree the effect of white marble. A very extensive trade is also done in kerbing, paving setts, and all kinds of road materials.
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