F. M. Holmes

“ Alfy sat on the side of the tub opposite his nurse and watched the scene. It was a strange picture—the unaccustomed flood, the dark mass of the house, and the tree tops standing out of the water, the bright moonlight, which seemed to make the scene almost more desolate, and the curious craft in which they were sitting. The scene deeply impressed itself on Alfy's mind.
"Well, it is of no use to sit here doing nothing," said Mansy presently. "If we cannot do anything else, I think we'll try and go to sleep. I am so tired. Perhaps we can see better in the morning what to do." ”

“ The use of steel, of many-tubed and strong boilers, of high pressure steam, which would have frightened Henry Bell out of his senses, the forced draught and the surface condensers, the screw propeller, the direct-acting and the triple and quadruple expansion engines, have all contributed to the noble results. Steamships, with their complex, beautiful, and powerful machinery, may rank among the most wonderful things that mankind has ever made. ”

“ Alfy cried merrily. "See, it is all right now. You can't get across any other way," he added decidedly.
"Well, I'll try it," she said slowly; "but I very much doubt——"
She did not finish the sentence, but carefully planting the bulging umbrella in the water, she leaned on it, and then advanced one foot to place in the tub. "Oh, I can't!" she cried, just as the foot was over the side of the tub, and she hastily drew back.
"You could, Mansy dear," exclaimed Alfy. "You were just doing it beautifully!"
"But didn't you see how the tub was going down, Master Alfy?" ”

“ So the lamp was lit, and the papers burned, and Alfy waved the flimsy, flaming torch bravely for a minute or so, that the watchers in the island house might just catch a glimpse of them and of their position.
An answering light was soon flashed back by the girls, so they knew that their own had been seen.
"Now we will take some of this tongue," said Mansy, producing the tin in which it was preserved, "Lucky I got the young man in the shop to open it. But what about a knife to cut it?"
"Won't this do?" asked Alfy, producing his pocket-knife. "At all events, it is better than nothing." ”

“ Standing on the platform at King’s Cross, with a large part of the immense driving-wheel hidden below you as it rests on the rail, you do not realise its tremendous size. Yet, let the engine-driver open the throttle, as it is called—that is, turn on the steam to the cylinders—and that huge wheel will revolve, and with its neighbour on the other side, haul after them that heavy train of carriages, and, gathering speed as they go, they will soon be rushing up the incline at forty miles an hour, and then on at sixty. ”

“ But before lattice girder bridges had become so popular, another class had come into use, and afford some splendid specimens of engineering skill. These are suspension bridges, and, perhaps of all kinds, they are the most picturesque. Their graceful sweeps and curves yield perhaps a more pleasing sight for the eye than the solid, rigid, straight lines of the girder bridges.
It was the genius of Thomas Telford which gave a great impetus to this class of bridge. Like Stephenson after him, he had to bridge the surging Menai Straits, but for a carriage road, not a line of rails ”

“ You're a real good boy; but go in that rockety thing I couldn't!"
"Tisn't rickety, Mansy, when once you are inside. Look here," and he jumped in it, and shook it from side to side. Of course his light weight was nothing to speak of, and it sat like a cork on the water.
"You take over the parcels to your sisters, Alfy dear, and then they'll have something to eat."
"No, I'm not going without you, Mansy!" he exclaimed decidedly, pulling the tub in again by the rope quite close.
"Bless the boy! To think of my little Master Alfy taking his old nurse in a tub! ”

“ Indeed, although Savery and Newcomen and others are entitled to great praise, it was Watt who gave it life, so to speak, and made it, in principle and essence, very much that which we now possess. There have, indeed, been improvements as to the boiler, as to expansive working, and in various details, since his day; but, apart from the distinctive forms of the locomotive and the marine engine, the machine as a whole is in principle much as Watt left it.
The centre of all things in a steam engine is usually the cylinder. ”

“ Come on, dear Mansy, let's be quick back."
"Has not the butcher come?" asked the old nurse.
"No; no tradesmen could cross over from the village, nor yet the postman, and we expected a letter from mother and father. We are all surrounded by water in the house, just like an island. 'The Island House' Madge called it!"
"And Miss Madge, and Miss Edie, and Jane are quite well?"
"Yes, quite, dear Mansy. Only do be quick, please."
The old nurse bent over and put the packages into the tub. ”

“ Next morning, when the children came down, they were quite astonished to find that the water had all disappeared, and the garden and grounds looked very strange and muddy after their long and unusual bath.
"Why! where has the flood gone to?" exclaimed Edie. "It has quite vanished away in the night."
"It was subsiding quickly yesterday," said Alfy.
"Now that we have done up the damage in the house, we must see what we can do for the garden," urged Mansy. "Why here is the postman coming up the path, just as if nothing had happened!" ”

“ For days and nights the fires are kept at glowing heat. A forced blast maintains the draught; the steam condensed back into warm water is supplied to the boilers; half-naked men work hour after hour to rake the fires, clean them, pile on the fuel, and keep the most powerful head of steam the boilers can stand.
When the furnace doors are opened tongues of flame leap forth, and the heat is enough to make a man sick. ”

“ So Alfy told what he had heard beside the hedge.
"Eh! what! eh! this is getting serious! One of the banks of Tarnwick reservoir burst! One man saying it is because of another's carelessness! This must be seen to. What sort of men were they? Should you know them again?"
And the jolly old gentleman who was now looking very serious, drew from Alfy all he knew about the men he had heard talking by the hedge.
"I must see to this quickly," said the old gentleman. "Send a policeman after them. Take the boat, my lad, and keep her as long as she is of any use to you. Good-bye, and good luck." ”

“ At all events, the development of the steamboat made practically no progress [59] until Symington commenced his experiments under Lord Dundas.
Russell is of opinion that the invention of steam navigation was the joint production of these three men. “The creation of the steamship,” says he, “appears to have been an achievement too gigantic for any single man. It was produced by one of those happy combinations in which individuals are but tools, working out each his part in a great system, of the whole of which no single one may have comprehended all the workings.” ”

“ At first they did not answer, and he could hear various sounds, indicating that Mansy was endeavouring to repair some of the mischief done by the flood. "They are busy," he said, and again he cried, louder this time than before.
His shouts attracted Edie's attention, and she hastened to the window, where her exclamation of surprise soon brought the others. "Bless the boy!" exclaimed Mansy, "however did he get there? Where's the tub?"
"Can you send me the old bath?" he cried. ”

“ A modern steamship, with its multitude of comforts and conveniences for passengers and its complexities of machinery for fast and safe steaming, is a great triumph of engineering skill. Patience and forethought, the persevering development of sound principles, and the application of new ideas, have all contributed to this great achievement.
From the Comet to the Campania is a marvellous development within a century. ”

“ I couldn't!"
"Why, yes, Mansy dear; that's what I came for. You'll be all right."
"Why, it wouldn't bear me! We should go to the bottom."
"Oh! nonsense, Mansy! Why, don't you remember at the seaside regatta, last year men had a race in tubs?"
"Ah! but I'm—I'm—heavier than them men," said Mansy thoughtfully, looking down on her ample proportions.
"The tub is big," exclaimed Alfy. "It is the biggest we have. We had a work to get it out of the window; and it made such a splash! Come on, dear Mansy!"
"I wouldn't do it for nobody but you, Master Alfy!"
"Well, do it for me then, Mansy. ”

“ Not long afterwards Stephenson became satisfied that chains were not needed to assist in supporting the bridge, and that his tubes would be strong enough to support themselves entirely between the piers.
Work therefore went forward. Some 1500 men were engaged on the Britannia Bridge, and the quiet shores of the Menai Straits resounded with the busy hum of hammers and machinery. Cottages of wood were built for the men, and workshops for the punching and rivetting of the plates for the gigantic tubes. ”

“ The man looked very worn and weary. Then the lad thought of the words,—"If thine enemy hunger, feed him." He hesitated no longer. He slipped into the dining-room, took a large slice of bread, and pressed it into the man's hand just as the policeman hustled him off. Then he hurried away, scarcely hearing the man's thanks, though seeing his look of surprise.
That day was a busy one for the inhabitants of the Island House. Mansy was very anxious that as far as possible every sign of the damage done by the water should be repaired and cleared away. So she kept the young people well employed. ”

“ The locomotive had now become one of the wonders of the world. Since then its speed has been doubled. But all the improvements (with possibly one exception—that of the compound cylinder which is at present only partially in use) have been more in details than in principles. Thus the 70 or 80 ton express engine, which covers mile after mile at the rate of a mile a minute without a wheeze or a groan, is not very different essentially from George Stephenson’s locomotives, though its steam pressure is very much higher. ”

“ It's jolly!"
"Thank you," exclaimed Mansy; "I don't mind if I do, Master Alfy. Well," she continued, as she took out some more biscuits, "if anybody'd told me this morning that I should have had my supper to-night in a washin' tub on the water I'd 'a said they was cracked!"
"And so should I," said Alfy. "Still, here we are, Mansy; and the next question is how long shall we be obliged to stay?"
"Yes, indeed," she sighed; "that is the question, and one we can't answer!"
"We must make the best of it," he said bravely. "I think I could swim to the house and drag the tub by the rope." ”

“ Then coal has to be brought from the bunkers to the furnaces, tons of it per day, and if the ship rolls too much for the barrows to be used, the fuel must be carried in baskets.
There is an engineer in charge of each stoke hole, and two on the platform in each engine room; as a rule, the staff are on duty in turns—four hours out of every twelve. But if the weather be bad they may have harder times.
No matter how hot the machinery becomes, the engineers must not reduce speed, except it be to prevent disaster. ”

“ He connected the cylinder of an engine with a separate vessel, in which the air was exhausted, and found that his idea was correct; the steam did rush into it. Consequently the steam could be condensed in a separate vessel, and the heat of the cylinder maintained and the loss of power prevented. This invention seems simple enough; yet it increased the power of an engine threefold, and is at the root of Watt’s fame. We must remember that the inventions which in process of time may [24] appear the simplest and the most commonplace, may be the most difficult to originate. ”

“ Now, in its simplest form, a suspension bridge has been known for ages. It is merely a pathway, or even a small movable car, suspended from a rope or ropes across a chasm. Ulloa describes suspension bridges built by the Peruvians in South America. Four stout cables span a river, and on these four is placed the platform of sticks and branches, while two other ropes connected with the platform are useful as hand rails. Such bridges sway with the wind and move with the passenger, but for light loads they appear to be perfectly safe. ”

“ But in the early morning, when the busy-minded Mansy, anxious to get forward with the work of the day, descended to the kitchen, what was her amazement and horror, to discover a man lying at full length, and fast asleep, on the table. ”

“ In the Tower Bridge there are two of such huge “flaps” or leaves, each about 100 feet long, one rising and falling from each pier and meeting in the centre. Large bascule bridges are usually constructed in this manner, and there is an excellent specimen over the Ouse, for the passage of the North-Eastern railway; one man at each half of the bridge can raise it in less than two minutes. Another fine bascule may be seen at Copenhagen.
The bascules are raised and lowered by chains, which, in the case of the Tower Bridge, are worked by superb hydraulic power from the massive pier towers. ”

“ Thus William Hedley’s idea of trusting to the weight of the engine to grip the rails, and abolishing all the toothed wheels and legs and rack-work for this purpose on a fairly level rail, was the first great step toward making the locomotive a practicable success. ”

“ In principle, the sinking of the shaft was conducted much as Brunel’s shaft at the Thames [158] Tunnel, only it was built up of iron instead of brick. Imagine a big gasometer with a scaffold near the top, where men are busy building the walls higher and higher by adding on plate after plate of iron. On reaching the scaffold you find that there are two great cylinders of iron, one standing inside the other, and concrete is being filled in between them. Men also are down below digging out the earth which is being swung up in iron buckets ”

“ The improved explosives and rock-drills have gone further.
Even as the Mont Cenis shows a transition period, so the Arlberg may be said to emphasise a triumph of the methods then indicated. So great have been the improvements of the rock-boring machinery, of the power of the blasts, and the speedy ventilation following the explosions, and of the quick transit of materials, that we shall most likely hear no more of sinking numerous shafts along the route.
But what of subaqueous tunnels? Violent explosives are hardly suitable for excavation a few feet under a turbid river. ”

“ Even so great a philosopher as Dr. Lardner could not believe in 1835 that a steamship could voyage from Liverpool to New York without stopping—we presume for fresh fuel.
The Great Eastern, therefore, was planned to carry 15,000 tons of coal; whereas now the large Atlantic liner Paris needs only 2700 tons for her Atlantic trip. The difference is most striking, for the Paris is one of the largest steamships afloat, but her working steam pressure is 150 lbs. instead of the 15 or 25 lbs. ”