Chapter 3

The exciting moment in boring a well is when a drill is penetrating the upper covering of sand rock which overlies the oil. The force with which the compressed gas and petroleum rushes upward almost surpasses belief. Drill, jars, and sinker bar are sometimes shot out along with debris, oil, and hissing gas. Sometimes this gas and oil take fire, and last summer one of the wells thus ignited burned so fiercely that a number of days elapsed before the flames could be extinguished. More often the tankage provided is insufficient, and thousands of barrels escape. Two or three years ago, at the height of the oil production of the Bradford region, 8,000 barrels a day were thus running to waste. But those halcyon days of Bradford have gone forever. Although nineteen-twentieths of the wells sunk in this region "struck" oil and flowed freely, most of them now flow sluggishly or have to be "pumped" two or three times a week.

"Piping" and "casing," terms substantially identical, and meaning the lining of the well with iron pipe several inches in the interior diameter, complete the labor of boring. The well, if a good flowing one, does all the rest of the work itself, forcing the fluid into the local tanks, whence it is distributed into the tanks of the pipe-line companies, and is carried from them to the refineries. The pipe lines now reach from the oil regions to the seaboard, carrying the petroleum over hill and valley, hundreds of miles to tide-water.

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A CEMENT RESERVOIR.

The annexed figures represent, on a scale of 1 to 50, a plan and vertical section of a reservoir of beton, 11 cubic meters in capacity, designed for the storage of drinking water and for collecting the overflow of a canal. The volume of beton employed in its construction was 0.9 cubic meter per cubic meter of water to be stored. The inner walls were covered with a layer of cement to insure of tightness.

T is the inlet pipe, with a diameter of 0.08 m.

T' is the distributing pipe, and T" is the waste pipe.--_Annales des Travaux Publics_.

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MACHINE FOR GRINDING LITHOGRAPHIC INKS AND COLORS.

The grinding of the inks and colors that are employed in lithographing is a long and delicate operation, which it has scarcely been possible up to the present time to perform satisfactorily otherwise than by hand, because of the perfect mixture that it is necessary to obtain in the materials employed.

Per contra, this manual work, while it has the advantage of giving a very homogeneous product, offers the inconvenience of taking a long time and being costly. The Alauzet machine, shown in the accompanying cut, is designed to perform this work mechanically.

The apparatus consists of a flat, cast iron, rectangular frame, resting upon a wooden base which forms a closet. In a longitudinal direction there is mounted on the machine a rectangular guide, along which travel two iron slides in the shape of a reversed U, which make part of two smaller carriers that are loaded with weights, and to which are fixed cast-steel mullers.

At the center of the frame there is fixed a support which carries a train of gear wheels which is set in motion by a pulley and belt. These wheels serve to communicate a backward and forward motion, longitudinally, to the mullers through the intermedium of a winch, and a backward and forward motion transversely to two granite tables on which is placed the ink or color to be ground. This last-named motion is effected by means of a bevel pinion which is keyed to the same axle as the large gear wheel, and which actuates a heart wheel--this latter being adjusted in a horizontal frame which is itself connected to the cast iron plate into which the tables are set.

This machine, which is 2 meters in length by 1 meter in width, requires a one-third horse power to actuate it. It weighs altogether about 800 kilogrammes.--_Annales Industrielles._

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A NEW EVAPORATING APPARATUS.

At a recent meeting of the _Société Industrielle_ of Elbeuf, Mr. L. Quidet described an apparatus that he had, with the aid of Mr. Perré, invented for evaporating juices.

In this new apparatus a happy application is made of those pipes with radiating disks that have for some time been advantageously employed for heating purposes. In addition to this it is so constructed as to give the best of results as regards evaporation, thanks to the lengthy travel that the current of steam makes in it.

It may be seen from an examination of the annexed cuts, the apparatus consists essentially of a cylindrical reservoir, in the interior of which revolves a system formed of seven pipes, with radiating disks, affixed to plate iron disks, EE. The reservoir is mounted upon a cast-iron frame, and is provided at its lower part with a cock, B, which permits of the liquid being drawn off when it has been sufficiently concentrated. It is surmounted with a cover, which is bolted to lateral flanges, so that the two parts as a whole constitute a complete cylinder. This shape, however, is not essential, and the inventors reserve the right of giving it the arrangement that may be best adapted to the application that is to be made of it.

In the center of the apparatus there is a conduit whose diameter is greater than that of the pipes provided with radiators, and which serves to cross-brace the two ends, EE, which latter consist of iron boxes cast in a piece with the hollow shaft of the rotary system.

The steam enters through the pipe, F, traverses the first evaporating pipe, then the second, then the third, and so on, and continues to circulate in this manner till it finally reaches the last one, which communicates with the exit, G.

Motion is transmitted to the evaporator by a gearing, H, which is keyed on the shaft, and is actuated by a pinion, L, connected with an intermediate shaft which is provided with fast and loose pulleys.

The apparatus is very efficient in its action, and this is due, in the first place, to the use of radiators, which greatly increase the heating surface, and second, to the motion communicated to the evaporating parts. In fact, each of the pipes, on issuing from the liquid to be concentrated, carries upon its entire surface a pellicle which evaporates immediately.

The arrangement devised by Messrs. Perré and Quidet realizes, then, the best theoretic conditions for this sort of work, to wit:

1. A large evaporating surface. 2. A very slight thickness of liquid. 3. A constant temperature of about from 100° to 120°, according to the internal pressure of the steam.

Owing to such advantages, this apparatus will find an application in numerous industries, and will render them many services.--_Revue Industrielle._

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"FLYING."

_To the Editor of the Scientific American:_

Your correspondent on this subject in the issue of April 14 cites an array of facts from which it would seem the proper conclusions should be inferred. I think the whole difficulty arises from a confusion of terms, and by this I mean a want of care to explain the unknown strictly in terms of the known; and I think underlying this error is a misconception as to what an animal is, and what animal strength is, only of course with reference to this particular discussion, i.e., in so far only as they may be considered physical organisms having no reference to the intellectual or moral development, all of which lies beyond the sphere of our discussion.

Purely with reference to the development of physical strength, which alone is under consideration, any animal organism whatsoever must be considered simply in the light of a machine.

A compound machine having two parts, first an arrangement of levers and points of application of power, all of which is purely mechanical, together with an arrangement of parts, designed, first, to convert fuel or food into heat, and, secondly, to transform heat into force, which is purely a chemical change in the first instance, and a transformation of energy in the second. So much for the animal--man or beast--as a machine physically considered.

What then is animal strength considered in the same light? The animal is not creative. It can make nothing--it can only transform. Does it create any strength or force? No. The strength it puts forth or exerts is merely the outcome of this transformation, which it is the office of the machine to perform.

What do we find transformed? Simply the energy, or potential, contained in the fuel or food we put into the machine. Its exact equivalent we find transformed to another form of energy, known as animal strength, which is simply heat within the system available for the working of its mechanical parts. How, then, is this energy which exists in the shape of animal strength used and distributed? This is the question the answer of which underlies this whole discussion as a principle. It is distributed to the different parts of the machine in proportion to the relative amount of physical work that nature has made it the office of any particular part to perform.

Let us see how it is with the bird machine. In course of flight he is called upon to remain in the air, which means that should he cease to make an effort to do this, i.e., should he cease to expend energy in doing it, he would fall during the first second of time after ceasing to make the effort some sixteen feet toward the center of the earth. But he remains in the air for hours and days at a time. What is he, then, doing every second of that time? He is overcoming the force of gravitation, which is incessantly pulling him down. That is, every second he is doing an amount of work equal to his weight--say 10 lb. multiplied by 16--say 160 lb. approximately; all this by beating the air with his wings. Now let us institute a slight comparison--and the work shall be performed by a man, who climbs a mountain 10,000 feet high in 10 hours. The man weighs 150 lb.; he climbs 10,000 feet; 1,500,000 foot pounds is, then, the work done. He does it in 10 hours, or 36,000 seconds, which gives an amount of work of only 42 foot pounds per second performed by his muscles of locomotion.

At the end of the ten hours the man is exhausted, while the bird delights in further flight. To what is this difference of condition due? _It is due simply to the difference in the machine;_ but this, you say, is not explaining the unknown in terms of the known. Let us see, then, if we cannot do this. In the two accounts of work done as above cited in the case of the man and the bird, an amount of energy, i.e., heat of the system, has been expended just proportional to the work done.

Now while the bird has expended more energy in this particular work of locomotion than has the man, we find the bird machine has done little else; he has consumed but little of his available heat force in exercising his brain or the other functions of his system, or in preserving the temperature of the body, and but little of his animal heat, which is his strength, has been radiated into space. In short, we find the bird machine so devised by nature that a very large proportion of the available energy of the system can be used in working those parts contrived for locomotion, and resist the force of gravity, or, what is the same thing, nature has placed a greater relative portion of the whole furnace at the disposal of these parts than she has in man. The breast muscles of the bird are so constructed as to burn a far greater proportional amount of the fuel from which all energy is derived than do the muscles of the rest of the body combined.

Let us see how it is with the man who has climbed the mountain. In this machine we find affairs in a very different state. During his climbing he has been doing a vast amount of other work, both internal and external. His arms, his whole muscular system, in fact, has been vigorously at work, all drawing upon his total available energy. His brain has been in constant and unremitted action, as well as the other internal organs, which require a greater proportional amount of energy than they did in the bird. Besides this, he has been radiating his animal heat into space in a far greater amount. All these parts must be supplied; they cannot be neglected while the accumulated surplus is given to the machinery for locomotion or lifting. This then is what constitutes what I call the difference in the machine, which is purely one of organic development depending upon the functions nature has determined that the different organs shall perform. As for the pterodactyl quoted in the last article, I have only to remark that this discussion arose purely from a consideration of what was the best type of flying apparatus nature had given man to study, and I claim that this prehistoric bird of geology does not come within this class. For if it is not fully established that this species had become extinct long before the appearance of man on the globe, it is at least certain that the man of that early day had not dreamt of flying and was presumably content if he could find other means to evade the pterodactyl's claw.

F.J.P., U.S. Army.

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THE PORTRUSH ELECTRIC RAILWAY, IRELAND.[1]

[Footnote 1: A paper recently read before the Society of Arts, London.]

By DR. EDWARD HOPKINSON.

In the summer of 1881, Mr. W.A. Traill, late of H.M. Geological Survey, suggested to Dr. Siemens that the line between Portrush and Bushmills, for which Parliamentary powers had been obtained, would be suitable in many respects for electrical working, especially as there was abundant water power available in the neighborhood. Dr. Siemens at once joined in the undertaking, which has been carried out under his direction. The line extends from Portrush, the terminus of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, to Bushmills in the Bush valley, a distance of six miles. For about half a mile the line passes down the principal street of Portrush, and has an extension along the Northern Counties Railway to the harbor. For the rest of the distance, the rails are laid on the sea side of the county road, and the head of the rails being level with the ground, a footpath is formed the whole distance, separated from the road by a curbstone. The line is single, and has a gauge of three feet, the standard of the existing narrow gauge lines in Ulster. The gradients are exceedingly heavy, as will be seen from the diagram, being in parts as steep as 1 in 35. The curves are also in many cases very sharp, having necessarily to follow the existing road. There are five passing places, in addition to the sidings at the termini and at the carriage depot. At the Bushmills end, the line is laid for about 200 yards along the street, and ends in the marketplace of the town. It is intended to connect it with an electrical railway from Dervock, for which Parliamentary powers have already been obtained, thus completing the connection with the narrow gauge system from Ballymena to Larne and Cushendall. About 1,500 yards from the end of the line, there is a waterfall on the river Bush, with an available head of 24 feet, and an abundant supply of water at all seasons of the year. Turbines are now being erected, and the necessary works executed for employing the fall for working the generating dynamo machines, and the current will be conveyed by means of an underground cable to the end of the line. Of the application of the water power it is unnecessary to speak further, as the works are not yet completed. For the present, the line is worked by a small steam-engine placed at the carriage depot at the Portrush end. The whole of the constructive works have been designed and carried out by Mr. Traill, assisted by Mr. E.B. Price.

The system employed may be described as that of the separate conductor. A rail of T-iron, weighing 19 pounds to the yard, is carried on wooden posts, boiled in pitch, and placed ten feet apart, at a distance of 22 inches from the inside rail and 17 inches above the ground. This rail comes close up against the fence on the side of the road, thus forming an additional protection. The conductor is connected by an underground cable to a single shunt-wound dynamo machine, placed in the engine shed, and worked by a small agricultural steam engine of about 25 indicated horse power. The current is conveyed from the conductor by means of two springs, made of steel, rigidly held by two steel bars placed one at each end of the car, and projecting about six inches from the side. Since the conducting rail is iron, while the brushes are steel, the wear of the latter is exceedingly small. In dry weather they require the rail to be slightly lubricated; in wet weather the water on the surface of the iron provides all the lubrication required. The double brushes, placed at the extremities of the car, enable it to bridge over the numerous gaps, which necessarily interrupt the conductor to allow cart ways into the fields and commons adjoining the shore. On the diagram the car is shown passing one of these gaps: the front brush has broken contact, but since the back brush is still touching the rail, the current has not been broken. Before the back brush leaves the conductor, the front brush will have again risen upon it, so that the current is never interrupted. There are two or three gaps too broad to be bridged in this way. In these cases the driver will break the current before reaching the gap, the momentum of the car carrying it the 10 or 12 yards it must travel without power.

The current is conveyed under the gaps by means of an insulated copper cable carried in wrought-iron pipes, placed at a depth of 18 inches. At the passing places, which are situated on inclines, the conductor takes the inside, and the car ascending the hill also runs on the inside, while the car descending the hill proceeds by gravity on the outside lines.

From the brushes the current is taken to a commutator worked by a lever, which switches resistance frames placed under the car, in or out, as may be desired. The same lever alters the position of the brushes on the commutator of the dynamo machine, reversing the direction of rotation, in the manner shown by the electrical hoist. The current is not, as it were, turned full on suddenly, but passes through the resistances, which are afterward cut out in part or altogether, according as the driver desires to run at part speed or full speed.

From the dynamo the current is conveyed through the axle boxes to the axles, thence to the tires of the wheels, and finally back by the rails, which are uninsulated, to the generating machine. The conductor is laid in lengths of about 21 feet, the lengths being connected by fish plates and also by a double copper loop securely soldered to the iron. It is also necessary that the rails of the permanent way should be connected in a similar manner, as the ordinary fish plates give a very uncertain electrical contact, and the earth for large currents is altogether untrustworthy as a conductor, though no doubt materially reducing the total resistance of the circuit.

The dynamo is placed in the center of the car, beneath the floor, and through intermediate spur gear drives by a steel chain on to one axle only. The reversing levers, and also the levers working the mechanical brakes, are connected to both ends of the car, so that the driver can always stand at the front and have uninterrupted view of the rails, which is of course essential in the case of a line laid by the side of the public road.

The cars are first and third class, some open and some covered, and are constructed to hold twenty people, exclusive of the driver. At present, only one is fitted with a dynamo, but four more machines are now being constructed by Messrs. Siemens Bros., so that before the beginning of the heavy summer traffic five cars will be ready; and since two of these will be fitted with machines capable of drawing a second car, there will be an available rolling stock of seven cars. It is not intended at present to work electrically the portion of the line in the town at Portrush, though this will probably be done hereafter; and a portion, at least, of the mineral traffic will be left for the two steam-tramway engines which were obtained for the temporary working of the line pending the completion of the electrical arrangements.

Let us now put in a form suitable for calculation the principles with which Mr. Siemens has illustrated in a graphic form more convenient for the purposes of explanation, and then show how these principles have been applied in the present case.

Let L be the couple, measured in foot-pounds, which the dynamo must exert in order to drive the car, and _w_ the necessary angular velocity. Taking the tare of the car as 50 cwt., including the weight of the machinery it carries, and a load of twenty people as 30 cwt., we have a gross weight of 4 tons. Assume that the maximum required is that the car should carry this load at a speed of seven miles an hour, on an incline of 1 in 40. The resistance due to gravity may be taken as 56 lb. per ton, and the frictional resistance and that due to other causes, say, 14 lb. per ton, giving a total resistance of 280 lb., at a radius of 14 inches. The angular velocity of the axle corresponding to a speed of seven miles an hour, is 84 revolutions per minute. Hence L = 327 foot pounds, and _w_ = (2[pi] × 84) / 60.

If the dynamo be wound directly on the axle, it must be designed to exert the couple, L, corresponding to the maximum load, when revolving at an angular velocity, w, the difference of potential between the terminals being the available E.M.F. of the conductor, and the current the maximum the armature will safely stand. This will be the case in the Charing-cross Electrical Railway. But when the dynamo is connected by intermediate gear to the driving wheels only, the product of L and _w_ remains constant, and the two factors may be varied. In the present case L is diminished in the ratio of 7 to 1, and _w_ consequently increased in the same ratio. Hence the dynamo, with its maximum load, must revolve at 588 revolutions per minute, and exert a couple of forty-seven foot-pounds. Let E be the potential of the conductor from which the current is drawn, measured in volts, C the current in amperes, and E1 the E.M.F. of the dynamo. Then E1 is proportional to the product of the angular velocity, and a certain function of the current. For a velocity [omega], let this function be denoted by _f_(C). If the characteristic of the dynamo can be drawn, then _f_(C) is known.

We have then

w E1 = -------- f [Omega] (1.)

If R be the resistance in circuit by Ohm's law,

E - E1 C = -------- R

w = E ------- f(C) [Omega] ---------------- R

and therefore

[Omega](E - CR) (2.) w = ----------------- f(C)

Let _a_ be the efficiency with which the motor transforms electrical into mechanical energy, then--

Power required = L w = a E1 C

w = a C ------- f(C) [Omega]

Dividing by _w_,

a C f(C) L = -------- . (3.) [Omega]