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Mechanics magazine
- Bandzählung
- N.S. 5=74.1861
- Erscheinungsdatum
- 1861
- Sprache
- Englisch
- Signatur
- A146
- Vorlage
- Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz
- Digitalisat
- Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz
- Digitalisat
- SLUB Dresden
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- Public Domain Mark 1.0
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- urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-db-id507363582-186100013
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- http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id507363582-18610001
- OAI-Identifier
- oai:de:slub-dresden:db:id-507363582-18610001
- Sammlungen
- Projekt: Bestände der Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz
- LDP: Bestände der Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz
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Zeitschrift
Mechanics magazine
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Band
Band N.S. 5=74.1861
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- Titelblatt Titelblatt -
- Register Index I
- Ausgabe January 4, 1861 1
- Ausgabe January 11, 1861 19
- Ausgabe January 18, 1861 33
- Ausgabe January 25, 1861 49
- Ausgabe February 1, 1861 69
- Ausgabe February 8, 1861 85
- Ausgabe [February 15, 1861] -
- Ausgabe February 22, 1861 121
- Ausgabe March 1, 1861 137
- Ausgabe March 8, 1861 153
- Ausgabe March 15, 1861 173
- Ausgabe March 22, 1861 189
- Ausgabe March 29, 1861 211
- Ausgabe April 5, 1861 227
- Ausgabe April 12, 1861 243
- Ausgabe April 19, 1861 259
- Ausgabe April 26, 1861 281
- Ausgabe May 3, 1861 297
- Ausgabe May 10, 1861 313
- Ausgabe May 17, 1861 329
- Ausgabe May 24, 1861 345
- Ausgabe May 31, 1861 361
- Ausgabe June 7, 1861 377
- Ausgabe June 14, 1861 393
- Ausgabe June 21, 1861 409
- Ausgabe June 28, 1861 425
- Ausgabe No. 106 I
- Ausgabe No. 107 I
- Ausgabe No. 108 I
- Ausgabe No. 109 I
- Ausgabe No. 110 I
- Ausgabe No. 111 I
- Ausgabe No. 112 I
- Ausgabe No. 113 I
- Ausgabe No. 114 I
- Ausgabe No. 115 I
- Ausgabe No. 116 I
- Ausgabe No. 117 I
- Ausgabe No. 118 I
- Ausgabe No. 119 I
- Ausgabe No. 120 I
- Ausgabe No. 121 I
- Ausgabe No. 122 I
- Ausgabe No. 123 I
- Ausgabe No. 124 I
- Ausgabe No. 125 I
- Ausgabe No. 126 I
- Ausgabe No. 127 I
- Ausgabe No. 128 I
- Ausgabe No. 129 I
- Ausgabe No. 130 I
- Ausgabe No. 131 I
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Band N.S. 5=74.1861
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THE MECHANICS’ MAGAZINE. *— LONDON: FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 18G1. Me. Edward Baines, in his able speech in the House of Commons, favourable to a six pounds’ borough franchise, contrasted the Eng land of 1831, when the first Reform Bill was passed, with the England of 1861, when another Reform Bill was promised. He said we had laid down since the first-mentioned year, at a cost of £330,000,000, ten thousand miles of railway, along which we now carried 150,000,000 of passengers every year at a dis tance of 2,000,000,000 miles, besides an incre dible amount of minerals and merchandise. During the same period there had been laid 10,000 miles of telegraph with 50,000 miles of communicating wire, by which there had been given to the people of this country something like an earthly omnipresence. In doing this we have been accomplishing a work more stu pendous, and likely to be more useful, than any works of which there was record in the history of the world—more stupendous than the mightiest industrial achievements of Rome, Greece, or China. During the same interval of time we have increased our navigation four fold, and that part of our navigation, which was the most important, namely, steam vessels, had multiplied fourteen-fold. But the change which had taken place in the multiplication of cheap publications was more startling still. “ At that time,” says Mr. Aider- man Heywood, of Manchester, who was quoted by Mr. Baines, “ there were no cheap news- “ papers, and only two periodicals which were “ extensively read — the Mirror and the “ Mechanics’ Magazine.” The Mirror has long since ceased to exist, and the only period ical which now links the present with the pre ceding generation of Englishmen is the Mechanics’ Magazine 1 Mr. James Guest, of Birmingham, who was also quoted by Mr. Baines, said, “ In the year 1830 there were “ only two newsvendors in Birmingham, whose “ business it was to supply the daily and weekly “ papers, taken almost entirely at public-houses, “ where the working man took in his news and “ left on an average one-third of his wages. “ Now, in 1861,1 find over 300 newsvendors, “ and 24 very respectable booksellers, who deal “ more or less in periodicals, selling on an ave- “ rage 83,200 per week, comprising very few of “ an objectionable character.” In speaking of the remarkable changes which had taken place since 1S30, Mr. Guest said, “ The only sur- “ vivor of this antediluvian period is the “ Mechanics’ Magazine !” Since the publication of the first number of this work, in 1823, it has remained faithful to its promises and steadily performed the work it undertook. It has recorded every inven tion, discussed every important improvement, and heralded every great industrial enterprise which has distinguished the present age. And as a reward the Mechanics’ Magazine has been quoted by scientific men, applauded by statesmen, and is now read wherever the Eng lish language is spoken. CAPTAIN HALSTED AND IRON-CASED SHIPS. We have received a copy of the report of the second lecture, delivered by Captain Halsted, at the Royal United Service Institution. While we are free to admit that the lecture contains valuable information on the “ historical develop ment ” of the iron-ship controversy, we are bound to say that the reader has considerable difficulty in getting at Captain Halsted’s mean ing. Though the lecturer is not backward in condemning the “ circumlocution ” office, he has not freed himself from the “circumlocution” style. His second lecture is prosy, tautological, and tedious. We have found it difficult to dig out the ideas he is desirous of developing. His first lecture, from which we gave copious ex tracts, was, in this respect, much superior; and it is a pity that a gentleman of so much expe rience, good intentions, and great ability, should mar his influence by so vicious a style. Notwithstanding this defect we gather suffi cient from Captain Halsted’s second lecture to satisfy us that, though England is now follow ing the footsteps of France in the enterprize of iron shipbuilding, this country took the initiative in the matter; and, had it not been for the systematic blundering of our experimentalizers and incompetent authorities, France, at the present moment, would be following our example. We quoted that part of Captain Halsted’s first lecture, in which he showed the unsatisfac tory experiments made on the Ruby in 1846, and the unjust inferences drawn therefrom. It now appears that the experiments made on the Simoon in 1857 were not a whit more scientific or reasonable. The shot fired at the Ruby made holes through her, and soon satisfied the gentle man who made the experiments that iron was not a fit material to build war ships with. The shots fired at the Simoon with “ a casing out- “ side of a f-inch iron plates,” produced a very different result. The report says :— “ The result of these experiments is the reverse of those made on the Ruby in 1846, a small, slight-built vessel, when the great damage was found to be sus tained on the shot passing out on the opposite side to that tired at, making clear round holes only on the first side. On the present occasion, the resistance being so much greater, the principal injury has been on the front side; and the fractures made are of that description that two or three shots, and sometimes even a single one, striking under the water-line, must endanger the ship. There is, also, another most serious evil attending this greater resistance, which was not anticipated, and which has caused great surprise. The shot or shell on striking are shivered into innu merable pieces, passing on as a cloud of langragewith great velocity, sufficient to pass through the 1-inch fir boards, the larger pieces going to a considerable distance (400 or 500 yards), and some through the rear section, making large irregular holes. This would be most destructive, and I firmly believe men could not stand behind it. These experiments, I consider, prove that, whether iron vessels are of a slight or substantial construction, iron is not a material cal culated for ships of war.” On this Captain Halsted makes the following comments :— “ Slight or substantial; alas! for the fate of “ poor iron : certainly, when it was sent down “ from London to Portsmouth, it fell among “ unfriendly judges. First, it was so wretchedly “ weak, that it was knocked all to pieces by the “ shot; and then it became so abominably “ strong, that the shot were all knocked to “ pieces by it; and so, like the man in the fable, “ who was found warming his fingers and cool- “ ing his porridge with the same breath, its “ judges condemned it as evidently ‘ uncanny.’ “ And neither ‘ political ’ nor ‘ professional ’ “ who cast this spell around it would have re- “ leased it from bondage to this day, had not a “ certain personage from the other side of the “ water * negotiated ’ for its free release, for “ his own speciaFand charitable purposes, and “ so raised it from the degradation imposed by “ its own native-born masters.” Captain Halsted expresses his Jbelief “ that “ there was an uncontrollable power overruling “ the decision to be pronounced from these “ ‘ Simoon ’ experiments, and determining their “ non-prosecution to their .obvious natural “ result.” Subsequent experiments, in 1851, seem to be made under the same “ uncontrollable “ power j” and so the years passed away, and the grand opportunity of turning a splendid in vention to a legitimate account was lost, and “ the personage ” on the other side of the water succeeded where we blundered, and com pelled England to follow the example of France. “ In building the Warrior,” says Captain Hal sted, “ with all her congeners, we have simply “ again built ‘ Simoons ’—larger and stronger, “ no doubt, than the prototype of 1845, just in “ proportion as 6,000-ton ships are larger and “ stronger, in all parts and proportions, “ than ships of 2,000 tons, and also, no doubt, “ with the requisite additional strength and “ arrangements to enable the 1,300 tons of the “ armour and its wooden 1 padding ’ to be duly “ carried; but, with all these modifications, “ and with whatever improvement the past “ fifteen years has wrought in producing the “ material and framing the construction, there, “ in each case, is the condemned ‘ Simoon ’ of “ the summer of 1846 dignified into the iron- “ cased Warrior of 1861.” It is encouraging to know that the same short-sightedness has not characterized the builders and proprietors of the mercantile steam fleet of England. From a Parliamen tary return, printed in the beginning of 1860, w r e find that out of the entire number of British registered steamers, 862 are of wood, and 1,001 are of iron; of this number 1,291 are paddle vessels and 672 are screws. Of the paddle vessels, 729 are of wood and 462 of iron; 539 of the screw vessels are of iron, and only 33 are of wood. We complained at the outset of this article of Captain Halsted’s faulty style, and we think his continually giving utterance to inuendoes equally censurable. It is quite evident that he is abundantly indignant against some “ party,” either “ professional” or “ political,” or against some “ department” or “ political element.” But who or what it is we are at a loss to ima gine. How are we to know on whom to cast the blame if we have nothing but awful shakes of the head and shrugs of the shoulder ? Is the gallant Captain afraid of wounding some “ professional” feeling, or offending some party in or out of power P If so, he falls into the very' error of those whose policy he condemns. Let him be just and fear not, and tell us what he means in language which cannot be misun derstood. Dealing in insinuations against some thing, body, party, or system, can effect no good, and does not even inspire respect. On the other hand honest words, boldly spoken, may assist us to atone for the past by wiser conduct in the future. There is another feature of Captain Halsted’s lectures, deserving a passing rebuke, and that is the sneering and half-insulting manner in which he occasionally refers to the Emperor of the French. If British authorities were preju diced against iron ships, or incompetent to make scientific experiments, that is no reason why Louis Napoleon should be equally prejudiced or equally incapable. According to Captain Hal sted the Emperor has acted more wisely than the British Government. We consider it neither just, generous, nor politic, to be continually railing against an ally who has, through evil and good report, remained faithful to his pro mises towards our Government. AUSTRALIA. Fboh the latest advices from Australia we gather that the material prosperity of the vast colony is steadily advancing. The weather ap pears to have been singularly propitious for
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