efficiency of hull, engines, and propellers have on several occasions
been undertaken. A series of trials of this nature were made in 1874
by Chief-Engineer Isherwood, U.S. Navy on a steam launch, the results
of which may be found detailed in the Report of the Secretary of U.S.
Navy for 1875. Similar trials have been made recently on the United
States steamer _Albatros_, an interesting account of which appeared
in _Engineering_ of October 17 of the present year. These experiments
are referred to as notable examples of what might be carried out
with great advantage on other and larger vessels, although they are
such, perhaps, as few single firms can well be expected to follow
extensively.
The economies which may be obtained by changes in the propellers
fitted to ships, and the great value of progressive speed trials
as a means of measuring the effects of such changes, received most
remarkable illustration in the results of the trials of H.M.S.
_Iris_, carried out for the Admiralty in 1880. These showed that
by simply varying the propellers—all other conditions remaining
practically unchanged—the speed of the ship was increased from 16½
to 18½ knots per hour. Scarcely less striking improvements in the
performances of vessels due to changed propellers might be found from
the records of trials made with merchant vessels within recent years.
Inasmuch as measured mile trials are usually carried out when vessels
are in the light or partially loaded condition, the results are far
from being so valuable as they might be made; alike for the purposes
of the naval architect, the shipowner, and ships’ officers; if they
were undertaken with vessels in the completely laden condition. The
information obtained from the trials of incompletely laden vessels
does not yield that knowledge of a vessel’s qualities under the
conditions necessarily imposed by actual service, which, if possessed
by naval architects, would doubtless prove of immense value, nor
does it furnish that standard of comparison for performances at sea
which owners and captains should possess. In the interests of all
concerned, it is to be hoped the practice of trying loaded vessels
may become more common.
Amongst the earliest and most notable investigations involving the
application of principle to the calculation of the longitudinal
strength of iron vessels were those by Sir William Fairbairn,
who contributed an elaborate statement of his views and methods
to the first meeting of the Institute of Naval Architects in
1860. Investigation up till about this period, almost wholly
concerned itself with vessels considered as girders, and in assumed
conditions of fixed support, such as being pivoted on rocks. Later
investigations have shown these conditions to be altogether too
extreme and severe when compared with the known and estimated strains
which vessels are called upon to bear in ordinary service. In 1861
Mr J. G. Lawrie, of Glasgow, in an able paper on Lloyd’s rules,
read before the Scottish Shipbuilders’ Association,[26] reasoning
from wave phenomenon and the probable effects attending motion
in a seaway, endeavoured to deduce limits or absolute values for
the extreme strains experienced by a vessel in the circumstances,
the results obtained by Mr Lawrie bearing very closely on those
deduced by later investigations. The late Professor Rankine made
investigations involving consideration of strains in a seaway, and
formulated several valuable rules which to some extent are still
accepted, although giving results which are not likely to be exceeded
in any case of ordinary service.[27]
For the most recent advances made in this important branch of the
science of naval architecture, the profession lies under indebtedness
chiefly to one or two naval architects of eminent ability, whose
professional province for a time has lain more especially in the way
of a full consideration of the subject. Sir E. J. Reed, while Chief
Constructor of the Navy, and under him several Government-trained
naval architects subsequently acquiring high positions, achieved
much in accurate investigation of iron-clad vessels of war. In
1870 the authority named read an elaborate paper before the Royal
Society dealing at length with such work.[28] In 1874 Mr William
John, formerly under Sir E. J. Reed, but at that time Assistant
Chief Surveyor to Lloyd’s Register, read a valuable paper before
the Institution of Naval Architects, in which he gave the results
of investigations of specific cases, and of long and careful study
of the general problem as concerned with merchant vessels. In this
paper, Mr John advanced the proposition that the maximum bending
moment likely to be experienced on a wave crest may be taken
approximately as one thirty-fifth of the product of the weight of the
ship into her length. Proceeding on this assumption Mr John’s paper
further gave valuable results of calculations made into the strength
of a series of vessels representing large numbers of mercantile
steamers then afloat.[29] Of this paper and the conclusions it
pointed to, Mr John, in a later paper on “Transverse and other
Strains of Ships,” said:—
“The investigations showed unmistakably that as ships increased in
size a marked diminution occurred in their longitudinal strength,
and the results caused some surprise at the time, although they
might perhaps have been easily inferred from the writings of
others published at an earlier period. Those results, in spite of
their approximate character, impressed two conclusions strongly
on my mind: firstly, that there was cause for anxiety as to the
longitudinal strength of some very large iron steamers then
afloat, and that the longitudinal strength of large ships needed on
all hands the most careful vigilance and attention; and secondly,
that in small vessels, and even vessels of moderate dimensions, the
longitudinal strength need cause but little anxiety, because it is
amply provided for by the scantlings found necessary to fulfil the
other requirements of a sea-going trade.”
Using the formula as to the maximum bending moment advanced by
Mr John many investigations have been made subsequently into the
longitudinal strength of vessels, and this increased interest in the
subject has not been without its effect on subsequent structural
practice.
Mr John followed up his investigations on the longitudinal strength
of merchant vessels viewed as girders by an inquiry into the
transverse and other strains of ships, and in 1877 gave a valuable
paper on the subject, from which a quotation has already been made,
before the Institution of Naval Architects. The results of Mr
John’s inquiry were such as demonstrated the need for systematic
and thorough investigation of the subtle and intricate questions
involved. This subject has been matter of study at Lloyd’s Register
for several years, and in March, 1882, the results of inquiries
conducted by Mr T. C. Bead and Mr P. Jenkins, members of the staff in
London, and former students of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich,
were communicated in an able paper by these gentlemen, read to the
Institution of Naval Architects.
It will of course be understood that many investigations of strength
are instituted not necessarily out of fear that maximum strains
may not be adequately allowed for, but because the dual quality
of strength-with-lightness may possibly be better attained by
modifications in the arrangements of material or sufficiently met by
reduced scantling. The functions and influence of the Registration
Societies, already commented upon (see footnote, page 103), are such
as to obviate the need for strength investigations generally, or
at least are such as to discourage shipbuilders from independently
instituting them. Nevertheless, some well-known shipbuilders, who
are also notable investigators, amongst whom may be named Inglis,
Mansel, Denny, and Wigham Richardson, have done much valuable work
in this connection. Mr Denny, in particular, has vigorously devoted
himself to strength analysis on the basis of Lloyd’s methods of
fixing scantling, and read several papers on the subject, in which
strong exception is taken to present practice. The healthy criticism
which such labours have enabled those making them to offer regarding
the Registry systems of scantlings has not doubtless failed in
influencing the legislation of the Registries.
* * * * *
Reverting to the subject of agencies for education in naval
architecture, a few remarks are due relative to Government
institutions as having hitherto failed in being of immediate service
to the mercantile marine. The training given to naval architects and
marine engineers at the Admiralty Schools is admirably adapted for
creating a staff of war-ship designers and expert mathematicians,
such as are employed in the various departments of the Admiralty
service. The course of instruction has been framed expressly with
a view to this, and a very high standard of mathematical knowledge
is necessary before students can enter upon it. The principle of
requiring one to become a first-class mathematician before attempting
to teach him much of the science of naval architecture and its
application in practice, is of questionable merit: at any rate it
cannot be carried out in the mercantile marine. Again; economy
of time and of cost of production are conditions which largely
govern the methods followed in mercantile practice. Short methods
of calculation, or of tentative approximation, for the purpose of
enabling tenders to be made for proposed vessels, and of quickly
proceeding with the work when secured, form no inconsiderable feature
in the training required by mercantile naval architects. These,
however, do not as a rule enter to any extent into Admiralty modes of
procedure.
The want of satisfactory means for obtaining a sound scientific and
practical training in mercantile naval architecture has for some time
been felt to be very pressing. The evening classes conducted in most
of the shipbuilding centres under the auspices of the Science and Art
Department, South Kensington, are fitted to supply a part of this
want so far as elementary teaching is concerned. Until recently the
antiquated character of the questions set for examination was subject
of general complaint, both on the part of students and teachers.
In August, 1881, Mr William Denny read a paper on “Local Education
in Naval Architecture” before the Institution of Naval Architects,
in which adequate expression was given to these complaints, and
at the same time proposed amendments offered. As a consequence of
this paper, and of the steps taken by the Institution in appointing
a deputation to wait upon the Government, the questions have been
considerably improved, and are now so framed as to form a fairly
crucial test of a young student’s knowledge of the science and
practice of modern shipbuilding.
During the past three years efforts have been made by the Council
of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland[30]
to supply more adequate means of advanced education. In 1880,
the Council had before them a project, promoted, for most part
independently, by Mr Robert Duncan and others, to establish a
Lectureship of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. It was
proposed to collect funds sufficient to endow the lectureship under
the auspices of the University, and promises of substantial aid were
obtained from several members. Mr J. G. Lawrie volunteered to give
the first course of lectures and did so, according to arrangement,
during the winter months of 1881-82 before a considerable number of
students, the lectures being delivered in the University of Glasgow
during the day, and repeated in the Institution rooms in the evening.
These praiseworthy efforts were still being carried on when, in
November, 1883, the gratifying announcement was made of a gift of
£12,500 by Mrs John Elder, widow of the late eminent engineer, for
the endowment of a Chair of Naval Architecture in the University. The
founding of this chair, and the subsequent election by the University
Court of Mr Francis Elgar to the Professorship, have thus doubtless
obviated the need for further efforts to found the lectureship, but
there are many commendable objects connected with the University
Chair to which the continued efforts of the gentlemen who supported
the lecture project might fittingly be directed. Many students who
can afford it will doubtless study the higher branches of naval
architecture at Glasgow University, and if a few small University
scholarships were established, for which all classes of workers
in the shipyards and drawing offices might compete, the highest
professional training would then be within the reach of the poorest
of lads.
Evidences have recently been given of a strong desire on the part
of many engaged in the shipbuilding and engineering industries of
the Tyne and Wear for the founding of a Chair of Naval Architecture
in some educational institution in that district. Along with this
movement a desire has been shown for the establishment of an
Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders such as has been so long
carried on successfully in the Clyde district. Definite steps are
about to be taken for the realisation of these important objects, and
doubtless no great time will elapse before they are accomplished.
List of papers and lectures dealing with scientific problems in
shipbuilding, to which readers desiring fuller acquaintance with the
_technique_ and details of the subjects are referred:—
THE PROGRESS OF SHIPBUILDING IN ENGLAND: _Westminster Review_,
January, 1881.
HISTORY OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. Lecture delivered by Mr Wm. John at
Barrow-in-Furness: _Iron_, Dec. 8th, 1882.
DISPLACEMENT AND CARRYING CAPABILITY.
ON A METHOD OF OBTAINING THE DESIRED DISPLACEMENT IN DESIGNING
SHIPS, by Mr R. Zimmerman: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxiv, 1883.
ON FREEBOARD, by Mr Benjamin Martell: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xv.,
1874.
ON THE LOAD DRAUGHT OF STEAMERS, by Mr W. W. Rundell: Trans. Inst.
N.A., vol. xv., 1873: vol. xv., 1874; and vol. xvi., 1875.
ON THE LOAD LINE OF STEAMERS, by Mr John Wigham Richardson: Trans.
Inst. N.A., vol. xix., 1878.
ON THE BASIS FOR FIXING SUITABLE LOAD LINES FOR MERCHANT STEAMERS
AND SAILING SHIPS, by Mr Benjamin Martell: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol.
xxiii., 1882.
ON THE ASSESSMENT OF DECK ERECTIONS IN RELATION TO FREEBOARD, by Mr
H. H. West, vol. xxiv., 1883.
TONNAGE MEASUREMENT, MOULDED DEPTH, AND THE OFFICIAL REGISTER IN
RELATION TO THE FREEBOARD OF IRON VESSELS, by Mr W. W. Rundell:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxiv., 1883.
STABILITY.
ON THE CALCULATION OF THE STABILITY OF SHIPS AND SOME MATTERS OF
INTEREST CONNECTED THEREWITH, by Mr W. H. White and Mr W. John:
Trans. Inst. vol. xii., 1871.
ON THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF BREADTH OF BEAM AND HEIGHT OF
FREEBOARD IN LENGTHENING OUT THE CURVES OF STABILITY, by Mr
Nathaniel Barnaby: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xii., 1871.
ON THE LIMITS OF SAFETY OF SHIPS AS REGARDS CAPSIZING, by Mr C. W.
Merrifield: _The Annual_ of the Royal School of Naval Architecture
and Marine Engineering, No. 1, 1871; London, H. Sotheran & Co.
ON CURVES OF BUOYANCY AND METACENTRES FOR VERTICAL DISPLACEMENTS,
by Mr George Stanbury: _The Annual_ of the Royal School of Naval
Architecture and Marine Engineering, No. 2, 1872, London, H.
Sotheran & Co.
THE GEOMETRICAL THEORY OF STABILITY FOR SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING
BODIES: _Naval Science_, vol. iii., 1874, and vol. iv., 1875 (Three
Articles).
ON THE METACENTRE AND METACENTRIC CURVES: _Naval Science_, vol.
iii., 1874.
ON POLAR DIAGRAMS OF STABILITY, by Mr J. MacFarlane Gray: Trans.
Inst. N.A., vol. xvi., 1875.
ON THE STABILITY OF SHIPS, by Mr Wm. John: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol.
xviii., 1877.
ON THE GEOMETRY OF METACENTRIC DIAGRAMS, by Mr W. H. White: Trans.
Inst. N.A., vol. xix., 1878.
ON THE STABILITY OF CERTAIN MERCHANT SHIPS, by Mr W. H. White:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxii., 1881.
ON CURVES OF STABILITY OF SOME MAIL STEAMERS, by Mr J. H. Biles:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxiii., 1882.
ON THE REDUCTION OF TRANSVERSE AND LONGITUDINAL METACENTRIC CURVES
TO RATIO CURVES, by Mr Wm. Denny: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxiii.,
1882.
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF INCREASED PROPORTION OF BEAM TO LENGTH IN
STEAMSHIPS, by Mr J. H. Biles: Trans. Inst. N.A. vol. xxiv., 1883.
ON THE STABILITY OF SHIPS AT LAUNCHING, by Mr J. H. Biles: Trans.
Inst. Eng. and Ship., vol. xxvii., 1883-84.
ON APPROXIMATION TO CURVES OF STABILITY FROM DATA FOR KNOWN SHIPS,
by Mr F. P. Purvis & Mr B. Kindermann: Trans. Inst. E. and S., vol.
xxvii., 1883-84.
ON CROSS-CURVES OF STABILITY, THEIR USES, AND A METHOD OF
CONSTRUCTING THEM, OBVIATING THE NECESSITY FOR THE USUAL CORRECTION
FOR THE DIFFERENCES OF THE WEDGES OF IMMERSION AND EMERSION, by Mr
William Denny: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol. xxv., 1884.
ON A NEW METHOD OF CALCULATING AND SOME NEW CURVES FOR MEASURING
THE STABILITY OF SHIPS AT ALL ANGLES OF INCLINATION, by M. V.
Daymard: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol. xxv., 1884.
THE USES OF STABILITY CALCULATIONS IN REGULATING THE LOADING OF
STEAMERS, by Professor F. Elgar: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol. xxv.,
1884.
ON SOME POINTS OF INTEREST IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF
METACENTRIC DIAGRAMS AND THE INITIAL STABILITY OF VESSELS, by Mr P.
Jenkins: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol. xxv., 1884.
ON THE USES OF J. AMSLER’S INTEGRATOR IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, by Dr
A. Amsler: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol. xxv., 1884.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF STABILITY, by Mr L.
Benjamin: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol. xxv., 1884.
THE GRAPHIC CALCULATION OF THE DATA DEPENDING ON THE FORM OF SHIPS
REQUIRED FOR DETERMINING THEIR STABILITY, by Mr J. C. Spence:
Trans. Inst., N.A., vol xxv., 1884.
DESCRIPTION OF ALEXANDER TAYLOR’S STABILITY INDICATOR FOR SHOWING
THE INITIAL STABILITY AND STOWAGE OF SHIPS AT ANY DISPLACEMENT, by
Mr Alex. Taylor: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol. xxv., 1884.
ROLLING.
CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE EFFECTIVE WAVE SLOPE IN THE ROLLING
OF SHIPS AT SEA, by Mr William Froude: Trans. Inst., N.A., vol.
xiv., 1873.
ON AN INSTRUMENT FOR AUTOMATICALLY RECORDING THE ROLLING OF SHIPS,
by Mr Wm. Froude: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xiv., 1873.
ON THE GRAPHIC INTEGRATION ON THE EQUATION OF A SHIP’S ROLLING, by
Mr Wm. Froude: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xv., 1874.
ON THE ROLLING OF SAILING SHIPS, by Mr W. H. White: Trans. Inst.
N.A., vol. xxii., 1881.
ON A METHOD OF REDUCING THE ROLLING OF SHIPS AT SEA, by Mr P.
Watts: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxiv., 1883.
RESISTANCE, SPEED, AND POWER.
ON STREAM LINE SURFACES, by Prof. W. J. Macquorn Rankine: Trans.
Inst. N.A., vol. xi., 1870.
ON EXPERIMENTS WITH H.M.S. GREYHOUND, by Mr William Froude: Trans.
Inst. N.A., vol. xv., 1874.
ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF SPEED CALCULATION, by Mr Wm. Denny: Trans.
Inst. Eng. and Ship. in Scotland, vol. xvii., 1874-75.
ON THE RATIO OF INDICATED TO EFFECTIVE HORSE POWER AS ELUCIDATED BY
MR DENNY’S MEASURED MILE TRIALS AT VARIED SPEEDS, by Mr Wm. Froude:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xvii., 1876.
ON THE COMPARATIVE RESISTANCES OF LONG SHIPS OF SEVERAL TYPES, by
Mr Wm. Froude: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xvii., 1876.
ON EXPERIMENTS UPON THE EFFECT PRODUCED ON THE WAVE-MAKING
RESISTANCE OF SHIPS BY LENGTH OF PARALLEL MIDDLE BODY, by Mr Wm.
Froude: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xviii., 1877.
ON STEAMSHIP EFFICIENCY, by Mr Robert Mansel: Trans. Inst. Eng. and
Ship. in Scotland, vol. xxii., 1878-79.
ON THE TRUE NATURE OF THE WAVE OF TRANSLATION AND THE PART IT
PLAYS IN REMOVING THE WATER OUT OF THE WAY OF A SHIP WITH LEAST
RESISTANCE, by Mr J. Scott Russell: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xx.,
1879.
ON THE LEADING PHENOMENA OF THE WAVE-MAKING RESISTANCE OF SHIPS, by
Mr R. E. Froude: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol xxii., 1881.
MR FROUDE’S EXPERIMENTS ON RESISTANCE AND ROLLING: _Naval Science_,
vol. i., 1872, and vol. iv., 1875.
MR FROUDE’S RESISTANCE EXPERIMENTS ON H.M.S. GREYHOUND: _Naval
Science_, vol. iii., 1874.
ON A METHOD OF RECORDING AND COMPARING THE PERFORMANCES OF
STEAMSHIPS, by Mr John Inglis, jun.: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol.
xviii., 1877.
ON A METHOD OF ANALYSING THE FORMS OF SHIPS AND DETERMINING THE
MEAN ANGLE OF ENTRANCE, by Mr Alex. C. Kirk: Trans. Inst. N.A.,
vol. xxi., 1880.
ON SOME RESULTS DEDUCED FROM CURVES OF RESISTANCE AND PROGRESSIVE M
M SPEED CURVES, by Mr J. H. Biles: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxii.,
1881.
ON PROGRESSIVE SPEED TRIALS, by Mr J. H. Biles: Trans. Inst. N.A.,
vol. xxiii., 1882.
STRUCTURAL STRENGTH.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHT AND BUOYANCY IN SHIPS: _Naval Science_,
vol. i., 1872.
THE STRAINS OF SHIPS IN STILL WATER: _Naval Science_, vol. i., 1872.
THE STRAINS OF SHIPS IN EXCEPTIONAL POSITIONS ON SHORE: _Naval
Science_, vol. ii., 1873.
THE STRAINS OF SHIPS AT SEA: _Naval Science_, vol. ii., 1873.
ON THE STRENGTH AND STRAINS OF IRON SHIPS: _Naval Science_, vol.
iii., 1874.
ON THE STRENGTH OF IRON SHIPS, by Mr William John: Trans. Inst.
N.A., vol. xv., 1874.
ON USEFUL DISPLACEMENT AS LIMITED BY WEIGHT OF STRUCTURE AND OF
PROPULSIVE POWER, by Mr Wm. Froude: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xv.,
1874.
ON THE MODULUS FOR STRENGTH OF SHIPS, by Mr J. MacFarlane Gray:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xvi., 1875.
ON THE STRAINS AND STRENGTH OF SHIPS, by Mr John Wigham Richardson:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xvi., 1875.
ON TRANSVERSE AND OTHER STRAINS OF SHIPS, by Mr William John:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xviii., 1877.
ON THE STRAINS OF IRON SHIPS, by Mr William John: Trans. Inst.
N.A., vol. xviii., 1877.
ON LLOYD’S NUMERALS, by Mr William Denny: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol.
1877.
ON LIGHTENED SCANTLINGS, by Mr Wm. Denny: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol.
xix., 1878.
ON THE EFFECT OF DEPTH UPON THE STRENGTH OF A GIRDER TO RESIST
BENDING STRAINS, by Mr Frank P. Purvis: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol.
xix., 1878.
ON AN APPLICATION OF THE DECIMAL SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT IN PRACTICAL
SHIPBUILDING, by Mr Henry H. West: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xix.,
1878.
ON LONGITUDINAL SEA STRAINS IN VESSELS AS INDICATED BY LLOYD’S
EXPERIENCE, by Mr Robert Mansel: Trans. Inst. Eng. and Ship, in
Scotland, vol. xxi., 1877-78.
ON THE STRENGTH OF IRON VESSELS, by Mr Geo. Arnison, jun.: Trans.
Inst. Eng. and Ship., vol. xxii., 1878-79.
FREEBOARD AND DISPLACEMENT IN RELATION TO STRAINS IN SHIPS AMONG
WAVES, by Mr W. W. Rundell: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxii., 1881.
ON THE TRANSVERSE STRAINS OF IRON MERCHANT VESSELS, by Mr P.
Jenkins and T. C. Read: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxiii., 1882.
ON HOGGING AND SAGGING STRAINS IN A SEAWAY AS INFLUENCED BY WAVE
STRUCTURE, by Mr W. E. Smith: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol xxiv., 1883.
EDUCATION IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
ON THE COURSE OF STUDY IN THE ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE, GREENWICH, by Mr
W. H. White: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xviii., 1877.
ON THE ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE AND THE MERCANTILE MARINE, by Mr Wm.
John: Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xix., 1878.
ON LOCAL EDUCATION IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, by Mr William Denny:
Trans. Inst. N.A., vol. xxii., 1881.
CHAPTER V.
PROGRESS IN METHODS OF SHIPYARD WORK.
Since the early days of iron shipbuilding, when hand labour entered
largely into almost all the operations of the shipyard, the field
of its application has been gradually narrowed by the employment
of machinery. The past few years have been uncommonly fruitful of
changes in this direction, and many things point to the likelihood of
manual work being still more largely superseded by machine power in
the immediate future. Such changes, however, have not, as might be
assumed, had any very sensible effect in diminishing the number of
operatives generally employed. The influence has rather been absorbed
in the greatly increased rate of production, and the elaboration and
enhanced refinement of detail demanded by the much more exacting
standard of modern times. The need for skilled handicraftsmen may
not now be so general, but the skill which is still indispensable is
of a higher character, and has called into existence several almost
entirely new classes of shipyard operatives.
The extended employment of machinery has given impetus to, and
received impetus from, the system of “piece-work” now so much in
vogue in shipyards. In several of the operations, such as riveting
and smithing, the nature of the work peculiarly lends itself to the
system, and piece-work has consequently been in force, as regards
these operations, for many years. In several other departments,
however, such as plate and bar fitting, joinery, and carpentry,
piece-work is only contemporaneous with and largely the consequence
of improved modern machinery. Reference to “piece-work” here is not
made with the intention of discussing its effects on the labour
question—concerned as this is with such large issues—but simply
of showing what effect the system has had on the character of
shipyard workmanship. It was a favourite argument some years ago,
when piece-work was being rapidly extended, that the system was bad
because it would lead to and foster scamp-work and bad workmanship.
The results of the past dozen years’ experience disprove this
completely, and for reasons which, as early as 1877, were pointed out
by Mr William Denny—to whose spirited advocacy and adoption of the
system its present degree of acceptance with workmen is in no small
measure owing. In his admirably written pamphlet on “The Worth of
Wages,” published in the year named, Mr Denny says:—
“As to piece-work leading to bad workmanship, this would certainly
be the result were no special arrangements made to prevent it.
These special arrangements include a rigid system of inspecting
the work, and the rejection, at the workman’s cost, of all bad
and inferior work. There is no difficulty in carrying out such
a system, for foremen, freed from the necessity of watching the
quantity of the work—which is looked after by a special clerk—and
of checking the laziness of their men, can give their whole
attention to the matter of quality. In fact, piece-work compels
so thorough an inspection, that we find the work done under it in
our iron department much superior to what used to be done some
years ago on time. It is very curious that trades’ unionists never
have been very anxious as to the quality of their work till they
had piece-work to contend with, and I have never known workmen
produce such good work, as after a few experiences of having their
workmanship condemned for its bad quality, and the cost taken
out of their pockets. Under the old time wages no such effective
stimulus urged a man on to make his piece of work up to a proper
standard.”
What was true of the system as exemplified in Messrs Denny’s
experience previous to 1877, holds equally good for all the yards in
which piece-work is now the rule. Under it work is done quicker and
better than by the old system, and so popular is it amongst workmen
that a deep-rooted dislike for “time-work” prevails where piece-work
has once been instituted and efficiently managed.
The machines in use at the present day for preparing the separate and
multitudinous pieces of material which go to form the hull structure
of iron and steel vessels are both numerous and highly efficient.
This work of preparing material, it may be shortly stated, mainly
consists of shearing and planing the edges of plates and bars—these
as supplied by the manufacturers being, of course, only approximately
near the final form and dimensions—rolling and flattening or giving
uniform curvature to plates; bending angle or other bars, such as
are used for deck beams; and punching the holes through plates and
bars for the reception of rivets. In this list regard is not had
to the operations concerned with material in the heated state, the
features requiring to be thus manipulated being mainly the frames of
the vessel; the work being effected without the aid of any special
machine tools. A small proportion of the plating also requires to
be operated upon in this state, and for this purpose machine tools
are sometimes brought into requisition, some notice of which will be
taken further on.
While most of the machines have been introduced for a period
exceeding that with which our review is more directly concerned,
improved types have been made, and entirely new machines brought
into requisition during recent times. The universal adoption of
piece-work in almost all the departments of construction has demanded
a more economical type of machine than formerly. In this way punching
machines, which play so important a part in shipyards, have risen
from a working speed of about fourteen rivet holes per minute to
thirty and even—in the case of frame punching—to as high as forty per
minute. Other machines have had a corresponding increase in speed; in
several of the best appointed yards the general increase being about
sixty per cent.
The introduction of the double bottom for water ballast in ships,
brought about a great increase in the amount of necessary punching
caused by the numerous man-holes required through the floors and
longitudinals. These man-holes, oval in shape as shown by Fig.
1—of say 18-ins. by 12-ins.—had to be punched all round by the
rivet-punch, and the edges afterwards dressed by hand with a chisel.
To economise work in this connection, need was felt for a machine
which would be capable of punching a man-hole of the ordinary size
out of the thickest plate at one operation. In 1879, at the request
of one of the prominent Clyde firms, Messrs Craig & Donald, the
well-known machine-tool makers of Johnstone, introduced a man-hole
punching machine which cut holes 18-ins. by 12-ins. at the rate of
seven per minute, in such a way that no after-dressing with chisels
was required. This machine, an ordinary eccentric motion one driven
by its own engine, although tested and found capable of cutting an
18-in. by 12-in. hole through a plate 1-in. thick, was superseded
in the yard for which it was made, by another, designed to meet the
requirements of the heaviest type of vessels built on the cellular
principle. This machine—also made by Messrs Craig & Donald, and
five or six of which are now at work in yards on the Clyde and at
Barrow—was capable of piercing a hole 30-ins. by 21-ins. through a
plate ¾-ins. thick, at one operation, and was actuated by hydraulic
power. The ordinary eccentric machine, driven by engine attached, is
still in favour for lighter work, and machines of this type are at
work in several of the East Coast yards capable of punching holes up
to 21-ins. by 15-ins. through plates ¾-ins. thick.
Reverting to the subject of the proportion of material requiring to
be heated before manipulation, it is noteworthy that the employment
of mild steel is a source of economy in this connection as well as
in the many others already noticed. The superior homogeneity and
great ductility of the material favours cold-bending when such an
operation would be fatal to iron. Not only does an economy in labour
result, but incidentally there is a further advantage. Cold-bending
distresses steel less than hot-bending, and the special precautions
so often taken, in the way of annealing, to toughen steel which has
been operated upon when hot, are thus obviated.
A certain proportion of the bottom plates in a ship—_e.g._, those
adjoining the keel—and a few at the stern and elsewhere, have quick
bends and twists which are much more difficult to treat than the
easy and generally uniform curvatures on the plates of the bilge.
The latter are effected in great measure by the “bending rolls”
with the plates perfectly cold, but the former have to be made with
the plate in the heated state. Hydraulic presses have been used
for this purpose for some years, a certain proportion of the work
done being the manipulation of plates while cold. With steel as the
material to be operated upon, these machines are being more and more
utilised in this direction, and their presence in the shipyard, as
in boiler works, is sure to become more and more prevalent. The
operations of the shipyard, in short, have been gaining in exactitude
every year, and have borrowed both in the matters of methods and of
appliances from the marine boiler works, where machine tools are more
conspicuously a feature. Machine tools for riveting, now playing so
important a part in shipyards, first had their utility approved in
boiler shops, and the introduction of improved types of drilling
machines is largely the reflected successes attending them there.
From the foregoing imperfect sketch of the principal directions in
which machine tools used in _preparing material_ for the constructive
stage have been improved or recently introduced, it will be gathered
that hydraulic power in lieu of steam has taken a prominent place in
shipyards. That this is so to a remarkable extent will sufficiently
appear from what follows regarding the appliances used in the work of
_binding the structure_ of vessels. It may, however, be premised that
in several establishments hydraulic pressure has now displaced steam
power in almost all the machine-tools used in the iron departments.
This is so in the case of the Naval Dockyards of Toulon and Brest,
in France, and of the Spanish naval establishments at Ferrol, Cadiz,
&c.; the machinery in the former of which was fully described in
June, 1878, before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, by M.
Marc Berrier-Fontaine, of the French Navy. The plant and machinery
are by Mr Ralph H. Tweddell, C.E., of Delahay Street, London, whose
numerous inventions and great experience in this special branch of
engineering are well worthy of recognition. The machines comprise
those for punching, shearing, angle cutting, plate bending, and
riveting, and the author referred to is high in his praise of
the superior efficiency and economy of the hydraulic system, as
exemplified in practice. One or two of the leading advantages of
the system may be here summarised. Hydraulic machines do not consume
any power at all during the interval between employment, and the
power can be applied at any moment without preparatory consumption,
and stopped equally quick. No shafting or belting is required, and
the wear and tear of continuous motion, as in steam machines, is
thus obviated. The power exerted is much more gradual than that of
steam, performing the work more thoroughly, and with less liability
to strain or otherwise damage the material operated upon, or the tool
itself.
* * * * *
Although hydraulic machinery was successfully introduced by Sir
William Armstrong so long ago as 1836, and has since been applied
by him and others in almost every direction the application of
hydraulic power to machines for constructive purposes is of
comparatively modern date. Its early employment as the motive power
for machine-tools was in the case of machines which were “stationary”
or “fixed” in position when in use. Machines for riveting purposes
in boiler shops and locomotive works were the first tools of any
note to which hydraulic power transmitted from a distance was
applied, but even this dates back only to about 1865. In that year
Mr R. H. Tweddell, already referred to, designed hydraulic plant,
consisting of pumps, an accumulator, and a riveting machine, which
were first used by Messrs Thompson, Boyd & Co., Newcastle-on-Tyne,
with satisfactory results. The work was done perfectly, and at about
one-seventh of the cost of hand work, and the same power was utilized
in actuating hydraulic presses for such purposes as setting or
“joggling” angle or tee irons. Excellence and economy of work were
thus secured; and in a comparatively short time above 100 machines
were at work in various dockyards and large works.
Although patent designs for portable hydraulic riveters existed
before 1871, it was not till that year that any form of portable
riveters was applied in practice with any degree of success. Previous
to that year the frames of ships had been riveted by Mr Tweddell’s
stationary hydraulic machines, but a portable riveter invented
by that gentleman in 1871 was then tried, when it was thoroughly
demonstrated that during a working day of 10 hours the machine was
capable of closing 1,000 rivets. Not much encouragement, however,
was received from shipbuilders at the time, owing chiefly to the
fact that the wages for riveting labour was not then a very urgent
question. On a modification of the general plan of working, these
machines being proposed by their inventor in 1876, they received
more cordial recognition from shipbuilders thereafter. It is only,
however, within the past five years or so that portable riveters have
been so extensively introduced into shipbuilding yards. The success
which has attended them during the period leaves no reasonable doubt
as to their ultimate place in every well-appointed shipbuilding
establishment. Already the majority of Clyde shipyards—including all
the larger ones—and most of the yards in the Tyne and Wear districts,
are furnished with hydraulic riveting machines and plant, overtaking
work constantly, efficiently, and with greatly reduced expense, that
is matter of envy in yards not similarly favoured. In most of the
larger Clyde yards the Tweddell machinery and plant are employed; but
in some cases machines introduced by Mr William Arrol, Dalmarnock
Ironworks, Glasgow—chiefly for riveting the frames, beams, &c.—are
used. The Arrol machines work on a similar principle to those of Mr
Tweddell, whose system is practically the only one in use on the Tyne
and the Wear, and at Barrow.
The prime cost of furnishing a complete hydraulic plant is of course
considerable, and such as might perhaps appear an outlay not speedily
enough recouped. In view, however, of the uncertain and oftentimes
harassing conditions—not to speak of the pecuniary loss—under
which the riveting department of shipbuilding work is conducted in
the ordinary way, shipbuilders are constrained to acknowledge the
economic advantages of the hydraulic system. Neither expense nor
trouble have been spared in several yards to extend the hydraulic
system into every feature where hydraulic work is practicable. The
only feature now for which the machines presently in use are not
available is the shell plating, and perhaps the decks, where such
are entirely laid with plates. Indeed, it may fairly be said that
hydraulic riveters have virtually supplanted manual riveting in
nine-tenths of the structural features of a vessel. The percentage of
rivets closed by machinery to the total number of rivets employed in
a vessel’s structure has been computed to be about fifty per cent.
In one of the yards fitted with the Tweddell system the following
comprise the list of structural features for which the hydraulic
riveters are daily employed:—Double bottom, including the thousands
of detached pieces of plates and angles of which the bracket floor
style of bottom is composed; side bars attaching frames to double
bottom, frames and reverse frames, beams, stiffening bars, gunwale
bars, keelsons, and keels.
The shell plating, as has already been said, is about the only
feature for which inventors and manufacturers of hydraulic riveters
have now any serious difficulty in making provision. But many minds
are exercised with the problem, and doubtless at no very distant
date the present obstacles will be surmounted. One aspect of the
question—and one which certain classes are apt to overlook—is that
which regards the _mutual_ adaptation of means to the end desired.
Shipbuilders have often under consideration the practicability of so
modifying structural features and methods of work as that inventors
of mechanical riveters will be met half-way in supplying the
much-felt desideratum. Referring to this subject, Mr Henry H. West,
chief surveyor to the Underwriters Registry for Iron Vessels, in a
paper on “Riveting of Iron Ships,” read before the Institution of
Naval Architects at its last meeting, said:—
“May I urge upon shipbuilders the importance of endeavouring to
extend the application of power riveting to the shell plating of
iron vessels. By this means we shall both increase the frictional
resistance, and also, by more completely filling the rivet
holes, vastly improve the rigidity of the riveted joints. The
difficulty of completely and exactly filling the counter-sink of
a counter-sunk hole with a machine-closed rivet suggested to my
friend Mr Kirk the idea of entering the rivet from the outside,
both the rivet and the counter-sink being made to gauge, and then
closing up with a machine snap-point on the inside of the ship.
What progress he has made in this direction I do not know, but the
difficulty does not appear to be an insuperable one. If however,
we are prepared to sacrifice a fair appearance to utilitarian
simplicity, there seems no sufficient reason why, above water, all
the rivets should not be closed up with snap heads and points,
both inside and outside. In whatever way it is accomplished, I
look to the use of machine riveting as one very great step in
advance in the future improvement of the riveted joints of iron
ships; and if the weight of iron vessels is to be reduced in any
important degree, or if the dimensions and proportions of large
merchant steamers are to increase in the future as they have done
in the past, I feel sure that one of the first steps must be the
reconsideration of our butt fastenings.”
The increased engine power now demanded in steamships undoubtedly
points to the further adoption of mechanical riveting—if vessels
are to successfully withstand the enormous strain and vibrations to
which they are thereby subject. While several have already shown
drawings of the shell difficulty having been met, Mr Tweddell, whose
experience in common with that of his manufacturers and co-patentees,
Messrs Fielding & Platt, of Gloucester, may justly be considered
greatest in this branch of engineering, has never illustrated this.
It may be mentioned, however, that excellent flush riveting is
constantly done by the Tweddell hydraulic riveters, and that the
same plan suggested by Mr Kirk of entering rivets with prepared
counter-sunk heads from one side, and snap pointing them by machine
on the other has been long in use by Messrs Fielding & Platt. In
conjunction with Mr Tweddell, this firm have also designed several
efficient arrangements to ensure the machine being kept in position
until the unfinished head of the rivet is formed. Judging from
these facts, there seems good reason to hope that the production of
riveting machines required to overtake the remaining features will
not be very long delayed.
To show that where the exigencies of the times necessitate them,
expedients involving inventive skill and industrial intrepidity are
never quite wanting, it may be related that several years ago, during
a prolonged strike of riveters, the principal of the firm of Messrs
A. M‘Millan & Son, Dumbarton, introduced a portable riveting machine
for the shells of ships. The machine, although improvised, as it
were, to meet an emergency, fulfilled all that was expected of it,
and won the approval of Lloyd’s Surveyors for the Clyde district, as
well as of a special deputation selected by the Committee of Lloyd’s
in London from among the chief surveyors of the United Kingdom. Their
verdict on the performances of the machine after due inspection was
that it “thoroughly fills the holes and countersinks, and produces
a smoother and better clench than can usually be obtained by hand
labour.” From this it will be seen that in the yard of Messrs
M‘Millan the matter of machine riveting has received early and
earnest consideration. Indeed, the extent to which hydraulic riveting
is presently employed by this firm so well represents the development
and progress made in this direction throughout other yards that the
system adopted in their establishment may be described somewhat in
detail.
The hydraulic plant and numerous different classes of portable
riveters are on the Tweddell system. The hydraulic power required to
work the various machines is furnished by a pair of vertical steam
engines, geared to a set of two-throw pumps, which force the water
at a pressure of 1,500-lb. per square inch into an accumulator. This
latter feature, as is well known, serves to store up the power in a
considerable amount ready to meet the sudden demands of one or more
of the riveters without calling on the pumps. As is the case in all
machinery on this system, the accumulator is loaded to a pressure of
1,500-lb. per square inch. The means employed for the transmission
of the water-power, from the service of main pipes laid as required
throughout the yard, are flexible copper pipes, admitting of being
led almost in any direction, however irregular, without being
impaired or rendered inefficient. When the plant was laid down about
four years ago, Messrs M‘Millan determined to err if anything on
the side of prudence, and they laid all their mains of double the
required size, so that they could, if the high pressure was found
objectionable, return to the lower pressures sometimes employed; they
have, however, never found it advisable to do so.
In this yard can be seen portable riveters suspended over a vessel’s
deck between 40 and 50 feet above ground, capable of reaching and
clenching rivets in stringers at a distance of 4 feet 6 inches from
edge of plate. The power brought into play in closing some of these
rivets is very great—from 20 to 30 tons—and yet this is conveyed by a
small tube of only half-inch outside diameter in some cases through
a distance of many hundred feet. The portable riveter here indicated
is suspended on a light and handy carriage, which can travel the
upper deck from stem to stern, being made purposely low so as to
clear poop and bridge deck beams if such should be fitted. With
this machine Messrs M‘Millan have closed from 400 to 450 rivets per
day of nine hours in stringers 3 feet 6 inches wide. They have also
effected some very heavy work in attaching the sheer strake to the
gunwale bar, the rate of progress being correspondingly satisfactory.
The same features in the _Alaska_, built by Messrs John Elder & Co.,
were similarly operated upon by another of Mr Tweddell’s riveters,
whose complete system has been adopted in this large establishment
also. By an elongation of the suspending arm Messrs M‘Millan hope to
execute, besides the stringers, most of the deck work, such as ties,
diagonals, hatch coamings, &c., in one traverse of the carriage.
Moreover, a second carriage with riveter may be doing simultaneously
the same work on the other side of the vessel. Indeed, it only
requires a further development of such work to make the riveting of
complete iron decks practicable, and—with the rate of wages, for hand
riveted work, usually prevailing—profitable also.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.
TWEDDELL PORTABLE FRAME AND BEAM RIVETER.]
The riveting of the frames and beams is the simplest of all the work
overtaken by the hydraulic riveters, and it is here the system is
seen to most advantage. In any yard furnished with these machines
rivets are closed at a greatly accelerated rate compared with work
done by hand. Tweddell machines have been known to close, in beams,
1,800 to 1,900 rivets per machine per day of 9½ hours. In frames the
average rate at which rivets are closed is about 1,400 per day. The
cost for this section of riveted work has been computed to be about
one-half of that by hand, and the quality of the work is everywhere
acknowledged to be better. With the same number of men the work is
accomplished in something like one-third of the time. The _modus
operandi_ in overtaking this feature of the work may be briefly
described. For the riveting of the frames, in almost every case, two
cranes of any convenient construction are fixed at the head of the
berth in which the vessel is to be built; the frames are laid across
the keel as in hand work, and rest on trestles, where the portable
riveter, carried on the before-mentioned cranes, rivets them up. As
the riveting in each frame is completed it is drawn down the keel
by steam or hand power, and set up in place. The riveting of the
beams is a still more simple operation, the beam to be riveted being
placed under a gantry somewhat longer than the beam itself, and upon
which the portable riveter travels. The suspending gear in this and
other of the Tweddell machines combines the functions of hydraulic
lifts for raising or lowering the riveter, and of conveying the
necessary hydraulic pressure to the riveter. The beam is supported on
trestles, and the riveter, having the facilities for travel and exact
adjustment just described, accomplishes the surprising work before
mentioned.
The conditions under which the riveting in cellular and bracket
bottoms is accomplished are less favourable to expeditious work. This
system of ship’s bottom is greatly more complex in its constructive
features than the ordinary bottom. The separate plates and angles
which go to form the bracket floor system are to be numbered—in
vessels of the average size—by thousands. The frames in such vessels
are formed of three parts; one part stretches across the bottom and
abuts against the plates forming the sides of the cellular bottom;
the other two parts form the sides of the vessel, but are not erected
until the bottom portions of the frames have been laid and all the
bracket and longitudinal girders are erected and fitted upon them. On
the bottom, as thus described, the portable riveters are required to
operate, in many instances having to reach the rivets at a distance
of 4 feet 6 inches from the edge of the plates, and in confined
spaces of 24 inches. When the frames and beams are completely riveted
and beginning to be erected, a travelling-crane (in Messrs M‘Millan’s
two travelling cranes are employed working from separate ends of the
vessel) carrying a large portable riveter, is placed on the top of
the floors, with short lengths of planking laid to act as tramways.
The perfect control thus obtained is somewhat extraordinary. The
crane jib has sufficient rake to command the whole floor of the
ship, and every rivet can be closed in the confined spaces already
described. Some 800 rivets per day can be put in, many of them at a
distance of 4 feet 6 ins. from the edge of the plate. The quality of
the work is all that could be desired; in some parts, indeed, the
use of the felt-packing necessary in hand work has been found to be
unnecessary owing to the tight work obtained by hydraulic riveting.
One crane with its riveting machine can, in a vessel of moderate
size, say 3,000 to 4,000 tons, fully keep pace with the up-ending
of the frames, provided it has something of a start. As it advances
the lower deck beams are put in place behind it, and the other
work follows in order. In ships of the more ordinary construction,
longitudinal keelsons are fitted, which are readily reached by
special portable riveters, suspended by means of neat devices, some
of them the ideas or suggestions of workmen in Messrs M‘Millan’s
service.
The only machine of the series of portable riveters employed by
Messrs M‘Millan which remains to be noticed is that which overtakes
the riveting of keels. This machine is perhaps one of the most
perfect of the series, performing its functions satisfactorily,
viewed from whatever standpoint. The riveting required on the keel of
large vessels is very heavy, especially if the through-keelson and
side-bar system is adopted, when five thicknesses of plate have to be
connected, the rivets employed being 1⅛-inch or 1¼-inch in diameter.
The situation is not favourable for getting at the work to be done,
the head-room available not often exceeding 2½ or 3 feet. These
conditions render great compactness, together with portableness,
necessary in the machine. The keel itself was utilised for the
attachment of the Tweddell riveter as first tried, then again a sort
of light trestle was employed, the riveter being at one end of a
lever racking on this. These plans were abandoned, however, in favour
of the machine as now used in various yards throughout the country,
an illustration of which is given by Fig. 23. A low carriage is
travelled down alongside the keel. This carriage supports a balanced
lever, carrying at one end the riveter, capable of exerting about 50
tons on the rivet head, and at the other a balance weight. This lever
can in its turn revolve horizontally about a short pillar fixed on a
turn-table, thus affording unlimited control over the riveter by the
man in charge; enabling him, indeed, to adjust the riveter to every
irregularity of position or direction of the rivets in keel. As many
as 420 1¼-inch rivets per day have been put in by this machine, an
amount which is fully equal to the work of two squads of riveters,
and in one yard 70 rivets have been closed in as many consecutive
minutes.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.
TWEDDELL HYDRAULIC KEEL RIVETER.]
It may be stated generally that the several hydraulic riveters
require two men to work them, and the rivets are heated in portable
furnaces and dealt out in any quantities required, by a boy in
attendance. The quality of the work done is superior to hand
work, chiefly in that when rivets are well heated the pressure is
equalised, and affects the rivets throughout their entire length,
filling the holes to their utmost. This advantage tells more in the
case of keel riveting, and that it is so is evidenced by the fact, as
communicated by a foreman having great experience, that rivets ¼-inch
longer than rivets closed by hand have even less superfluous surface
material when closed by the machine.
From the facts above detailed, taken in conjunction with the opinions
of such authorities as Mr West, it can fairly be claimed for Mr
Tweddell as the inventor of the earliest of the hydraulic riveters
now so extensively employed in shipyards, that he has greatly
improved the character of work in ship construction. Not only so, but
he has relieved the shipyard artizan from a species of work which
requires little or no skill in its execution—work, indeed, which may
properly be relegated to, as it certainly in course of time will be
included in, that vast domain in which water, steam, electricity, and
the other natural powers are so wondrously made to play their part.
* * * * *
While the extended use of improved machinery has brought about
changes in the iron-working departments of shipyards that are
structurally of the greatest importance, it is nevertheless true that
the largest acquisition to shipyard machinery of late has been made
in the wood-working departments. It is here, beyond question, where
the equipment of modern shipyards is seen to be so much an advance
on the former order of things, when handicraft was indispensable
and paramount; and it is also here, probably, where the greatest
labour-saving advances have been made. The artistic perfection which
is evinced in the palatial saloons and state-rooms of many modern
steamships would not have been possible—commercially so, at least—to
the shipbuilders of twenty years ago, whose appliances, regarded
from present-day standpoints, seem to have been woefully crude and
meagre. Still, it is not by any means to be understood that all the
shipyards of to-day are alike commentaries on the former state of
things, because even now there are not wanting yards in which the
necessary wood-work for ships is accomplished with singularly few
machines. The need for accessions in this direction, however, is
being more keenly felt every day, and in many yards quite recently
the entire joinery department has been thoroughly re-organised and
equipped. The chapter which follows will be devoted to descriptions
of some representative establishments in the several districts, and
as special references may therein be made to the machinery equipment
of the wood-working departments, the present remarks will only be of
a general nature.
The conversion of wood from the absolutely rough state into finished
and finely-surfaced material, ready for immediate use in the interior
of vessels, forms at the present time not an uncommon portion of
the daily work in shipyards well equipped with modern machinery.
This is not only concerned with the commoner woods employed in large
quantities for structural purposes, but also to a considerable
extent with those various ornamental hardwoods entering into the
decorative features. The change of which this is indicative is one
of increased self-dependence and economy formerly not dreamed of
in shipyards, and of improvements at every stage in the machinery
for wood conversion, which are simply wonderful. In circular and
straight saws, planing, moulding, and shaping machines, band and
fret-saw machines, mortising, tenoning, and dove-tailing machines,
and in machines for scraping, sand-papering, and miscellaneous
purposes, not a few modern shipyards reflect the fullest engineering
progress as concerned with wood-working machinery. In planing
machines especially are the labour-saving advantages made apparent.
As illustrating this it may be explained that machines of this
kind in daily use are able to plane a greatly increased breadth of
surface, to work several sides of the wood at one operation, and
at a marvellously accelerated speed as compared with hand work.
Similarly, as regards the formation of mouldings, it may be stated
that a moulding which would take a competent workman some hours to
produce can be completed on a good machine in less than _one minute_.
Many patterns of mouldings and other decorative items now largely
used are thus only possible—commercially if not otherwise—through the
extended employment of machinery. The degree of “finish” now put
upon the plainest features—rendered pecuniarly possible by the use
of machinery—is nowhere so striking as in the scraping of panels and
the sand-papering of large surfaces. In one shipyard the author has
witnessed the scraping of hardwood panels as broad as 30-ins., the
shaving taken off being of marvellous thinness and perfectly uniform
and entire throughout the length and breadth of panel. The surface
left on the panel is beautifully smooth, rendering any after-dressing
with sand paper superfluous, and the shavings have all the appearance
and much of the flexibility of fine paper. In many other ways
that might be instanced, the improvement in machinery is not less
striking, but what has already been given may sufficiently illustrate
the general advance.
The sources from which modern wood-working machinery is obtained are
various. Notable firms of machinists throughout this country, in
America, and on the Continent, are drawn upon, each of whom, although
not furnishing complete installations of wood-working machinery, are
distinguished for some “special make” of one or other of the machines
necessary. In the plentitude of firms whose names suggest themselves
in this connection, it may be invidious to single out any for special
mention, yet, of firms in this country, Messrs M‘Dowall & Sons, of
Johnstone, and Messrs T. Robinson & Son, Rochdale; and of firms in
America, Messrs J. A. Fay & Co., of Cincinnati, may be noticed as
having furnished many machines which are highly valued in shipyards.
Notwithstanding the recent advancement in this direction, there is
still scope for improved wood-working machinery, and for machines to
overtake additional work in shipyards. A single, though perhaps not
particularly striking, instance may be given. While attempts have
been made to supply it, there is not yet, so far as the author knows,
a machine for planing decks after the planking has been laid, and
the seams caulked and payed. Those acquaint with the laborious and
unskilled nature of the work to be done, will readily concede the
fitness of applying, if possible, mechanical means to achieve it.
Attention may here be directed to the subject of improvements in
shipyard machines and methods of work, directly due to the careful
study of results from every-day practice. Workmen themselves have too
seldom been instrumental in effecting such improvements, although in
many respects the most fitting mediums through which improvements
could come. A lingering antipathy to new machinery on the score of
its supplanting hand work, and perhaps the want of proper knowledge
of scientific principles, have prevented many from taking part
in this way. To encourage the exercise of the inventive faculty
amongst workmen, as well as to reap personal advantage, Messrs Denny
& Brothers instituted in 1880 a scheme of rewards for invention
in their establishment, which has been attended with gratifying
success, and has since been copied in other quarters. Particulars
of this scheme will be given in the following chapter, thus making
detailed reference here unnecessary. It may be said briefly, however,
that awards ranging from £12 to £3 are paid to workmen who submit
inventions, and when any one has been successful in obtaining five
awards he receives a premium of £20, and when he has obtained ten
awards he is paid a further premium of £25—the premiums increasing
by £5 for every additional five awards received. During the time it
has been in vogue as many as 200 claims have been entered, over 110
of which have received awards, representing in all the disbursement
by the firm of about £500. The majority of the awards made have been
concerned with improvements in the joinery departments. Some of the
machines there have been modified or altered so as to do twice the
quantity of work previously possible, some to do a new class of work,
and others to do the same work with greater safety, and with less
wear and tear.
* * * * *
In several other sections of shipyard work, progress is strikingly
evinced. Of these it may suffice to instance the work of transport
between one shop and another, and between workshops and building
berths, also that of lifting heavy weights either by stationery or
locomotive cranes. Means of effecting such work are now employed in
many yards, which, viewed in the light of former things, are truly
prodigious.
The increasing propulsive power with which steamships are being
fitted necessitates ponderous weights in connection with the engines
and boilers. The means available for lifting such weights have not
until within recent years been possessed by private shipbuilders,
but have been the property of public bodies, such as Harbour Trusts.
The majority of shipbuilders have still to depend on such outside
aid, but within the past few years several large firms—particularly
on the Clyde—who have the necessary dock accommodation, have erected
in connection with their works enormous “sheer-legs;” the modern
equivalent for cranes, which are now somewhat out of fashion for
ponderous work. Some of these are amongst the most powerful ever
erected, being capable of lifting 80, 100, and even 120 tons weight.
Such enormous appliances, it may readily be understood, enables the
firm possessing them to be independent of extraneous assistance, and
to complete in every respect within their own establishments vessels
of the largest class.
The means of transporting material in shipyards by systems of
railways laid alongside the principal workshops, and traversing the
yard in all directions, have been amplified and improved in many
yards within recent times. Connection is made in most instances with
sidings from main lines of railway, whereby materials and goods can
be at once brought into the yards from whatever part of the kingdom;
and in the largest yards special locomotives are constantly employed
doing this work. In well arranged establishments the railway first
enters a store-yard, and the material is lifted from the trucks by
travelling-crane or other means, and deposited on either side of the
railway, plates being set on edge in special racks, from which they
can be easily removed by the workmen. Leaving this, the lines of
railway traverse the building yard throughout, and are designed to
permit of the material being conveyed without retrocession, but with
the necessary stoppages for its being put through the various courses
of manipulation, to the vessel in which it is to be used. A recent
and very serviceable amplification of the system of railway transport
has been fitted in one of the largest Clyde yards which enables
material to be conveyed with greatly increased ease and despatch in
directions and to situations wholly inaccessible to the main lines
of rails. This is the narrow gauge portable system, patented by M.
Decauville, of Petit-Bourg, Paris, which consists of short lengths of
very light steel rails, permanently riveted to cross sleepers, and
with end connections so formed as to make joint while being pressed
into contact. Each section, of 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 feet long, being
complete in itself, the tramway can be laid down in any new situation
very rapidly. Where divergences of route take place, curves,
crossings, and light turntables are supplied, sufficiently strong
to carry working loads, and at the same time light enough to be
easily handled. Special waggons and trollies are also supplied by the
makers, which, combined with the system of portable rails described,
not only worthily take the place of, but far excel in handiness and
efficiency, the ordinary wheel-barrows of the shipyard.
List of Papers, &c., bearing on modern shipyard machine-tools,
appliances, and methods of work, to which readers desiring fuller
acquaintance with the _technique_ and details of the subject are
referred:—
ON THE HYDRAULIC DEPARTMENT IN THE IRON SHIPBUILDING DEPARTMENT
OF THE NAVAL DOCKYARD AT TOULON, by M. Marc Berrier-Fontaine:
Proceedings Inst. Mech. Engineers, 1878.
ON THE APPLICATION OF HYDRAULIC PRESSURE TO MACHINE TOOLS, by Mr
Ralph Hart Tweddell: Trans. Inst. Engineers and Shipbuilders, vol.
xxiv., 1880-81.
ON MACHINE-TOOLS AND OTHER LABOUR-SAVING APPLIANCES WORKED BY
HYDRAULIC PRESSURE, by R. H. Tweddell: Proceedings Inst. Civil
Engineers, vol. lxxiii., 1882-83.
WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY, ITS RISE, PROGRESS, AND CONSTRUCTION, by M.
Powis Bale: London, Crosby, Lockwood & Co., 1880.
ON STAMPING AND WELDING UNDER THE STEAM HAMMER, by Alex. M‘Donnell:
Proceedings Inst. Civil Engineers, vol. lxxiii., 1882-83.
ON THE DECAUVILLE PORTABLE RAILWAY, by M. Decauville: Proceedings
Inst. Mech. Engineers, 1884.
CHAPTER VI.
DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NOTABLE SHIPYARDS.
Although in the preceding chapter the main directions in which
progress with respect to shipyard appliances and methods of work
have been outlined, the record necessarily fails to cover many
minor matters which are still essential to an appreciative view
of modern shipbuilding. This want cannot better be supplied than
by giving detailed descriptions of some representative shipyards
and engineering works throughout the principal centres. The
establishments which will be selected for notice are amongst the
largest in the several districts, and on the whole represent almost
all that is advanced in the shipbuilding industry, while to most of
them a special interest attaches through the many high-class vessels
produced from their stocks for the better-known shipping lines. On
such grounds it is hoped the intelligent reader will find the choice
of yards—where there was no alternative but to choose—justified and
fitting. Three Clyde shipyards, two on the Tyne, one on the Wear, and
one at Barrow-in-Furness, will be described. The accounts are written
from authoritative information specially supplied, aided and verified
by personal knowledge of the works dealt with, and are chiefly
concerned with the capability and arrangement of the several yards.
Other matters of a more technical nature, such as the comparison of
methods of work in the several districts,[31] are not dealt with.
To some extent this still differs in individual yards, but modern
practice is being more assimilated throughout the districts as time
goes on. The first establishment dealt with will be:—
MESSRS JOHN ELDER & CO.’S
SHIPBUILDING AND MARINE ENGINEERING WORKS,
FAIRFIELD, GOVAN, NEAR GLASGOW.
The progress of shipbuilding and marine engineering on the Clyde
may be said to include several more or less well-defined periods
or stages, and the student of industrial progress must feel
bound to connect with these the name of the late John Elder, a
distinguished leader in these important industries, and an engineer
whose improvements in the marine engine deserve to rank alongside
those improvements which James Watt effected in his day. In 1852 Mr
Elder joined his friend, Mr Randolph, in an established business,
and shortly afterwards made preparations to add marine engineering
to the mill-wright and other businesses of the firm. The new firm
speedily established itself through a series of improvements,
having for their object the reduction of fuel consumption on board
steam vessels. In 1860 the firm commenced to build ships, and as
shipbuilders and marine engineers they laboured successfully for
sixteen years, building during that period 106 vessels, with an
aggregate tonnage of 81,326 tons, and constructing 111 sets of
marine engines, showing a nominal power of 20,145 horses. At this
time the co-partnery contract expired, and Mr John Elder took
over the entire works, carrying them on with great success until
his death, which occurred in London in September, 1869, when at
the early age of 45 years. After his death the business of the
firm was taken up by Mr John F. Ure, Mr J. L. K. Jamieson, and Mr
William Pearce, all of whom had previously achieved distinction in
shipbuilding and engineering, and the efforts of these gentlemen
far exceeded the success of Mr John Elder’s first firm. In 16
years, as above stated, the latter launched 106 vessels of an
aggregate tonnage of 81,326 tons, and constructed 111 sets of
marine engines of 20,145 nominal horse-power, whereas the new
firm launched in nine years 97 vessels of an aggregate tonnage
of 192,355 tons, and constructed 90 sets of marine engines of
31,193 nominal horse-power. About six years ago Mr Ure and Mr
Jamieson retired from the firm, leaving Mr Pearce sole partner,
and during these six years the activity and enterprise formerly
characterising the firm have been worthily sustained, and the firm
has kept in the very front rank. In maintaining this position, and
achieving unprecedented results in the matter of swift steamships,
not a little credit is due to Mr A. D. Bryce-Douglas, an engineer
of well-attested skill, who wields the sceptre of authority in the
engineering section.
The works, which are situated on the south bank of the Clyde at
Fairfield, near Govan, occupy an area of about 70 acres, and
comprise shipyard, boiler shop, engine works, and tidal basin.
The disposition of the various workshops is admirable, and as
these are connected with each other by a broad gauge line of
rails communicating with all parts of the yard and the terminus
of the Govan railway, the conveyance of raw material in the first
instance, its location in whatever section of the works it may
be specially designed for, and its transmission in the form of
finished items of structure or outfit to the vessels of which it is
to form part, are all accomplished with ease.
Entering by the south-east gate, the visitor proceeds in the
direction of the business offices, his first impression probably
being one of wonder at the immense quantities of iron and steel in
plates and bars covering every available piece of ground, as well
as the great quantity of timber of all dimensions stacked and in
racks, maturing for after use. Arriving at the offices of the firm,
the visitor is probably first ushered into the draughtsmen’s rooms,
which, as well as a large reception-room, contain an extensive
collection of models of the vessels that have been constructed by
the firm. In these apartments a large staff of draughtsmen are
employed in the work of designing new vessels, and making working
drawings of ships already contracted for.
Following the routine of practical operations the visitor is
conducted to the moulding loft, which is 320 feet long by 50 feet
wide. Here the drawings of the vessels are put down full size.
The term “laying off” is applied to the operation of transferring
to the mould loft-floor those designs and general proportions of
a ship which have been drawn on paper, and from which all the
preliminary calculations have been made and the form decided. The
lines of the ship and exact representations of many of the parts
of which it is composed are delineated here to their actual or
real dimensions, in order that moulds or skeleton outlines may be
made from them for the guidance of the workmen. These lines, when
completed and carefully verified, are afterwards transferred to
scrieve boards, from which the frames, floors, &c., are bent. In
connection with the moulding loft is a pattern shop, in which the
various moulds required in “laying off” are made.
Descending to the iron-work machine shop, which measures about
1000 feet long by 150 feet wide, a scene of great activity meets
the eye. Proceeding to that section where the bending blocks are
situated, the operation of forming the frames of a vessel may
be noticed. The bending blocks are massive iron plates weighing
several tons, on which the form of the frame is marked from the
scrieve boards. All over the blocks are round holes, closely spaced
and equidistant, in which iron pins are placed to give the form of
the frame to be bent. Long bars of angle-iron, properly heated in
adjacent furnaces, are brought by the workmen to the blocks, and
there the bars are bent round the pins to the form required. The
half frame of a ship is thus fashioned to the proper form in little
more time than it takes to describe the process. It is now allowed
to cool, and it is then returned to the scrieve boards to be set
or adjusted with the reverse frame, which with the floor plate go
to make the frame in its finished form. While this is going on,
the keel blocks are being laid in the usual manner on the building
slip, and the keel, stem, and stern-posts are being forged and
drilled. The keel is laid, and the frames are then set up in their
places, and are kept in position by shores and ribbon pieces. The
stem and stern-posts are then set up, and the work now becomes
general all over the vessel. The beams previously made are put
up, the bulkheads, stringer plates, and keelsons are added in due
succession, and the outside shell is being fitted and riveted. Thus
the full and perfect form of the vessel is gradually developed,
and exhibits one of the most interesting and useful productions
of man’s labour. In the bending shop alluded to are several large
Gorman furnaces, 25 smithy fires for heating angle irons, several
sets of plate-bending rolls, five stands of vertical drilling
machines with several spindles each, a huge punching machine
capable of producing ten rivet holes at each operation, squeezers,
boring, planing, counter-sinking, plate-bending, plate planing,
numerous punching and shearing machines, and other appliances.
The motive power of this section is supplied by a powerful set of
engines lately erected by the firm.
Immediately to the front of this building are the slips, which
extend 1,200 feet along the Clyde, and admit of 12 to 14 vessels
being proceeded with at one time. While proceeding among the slips
hydraulic riveters may be observed at work on several structural
features. The attention given to such machines in the preceding
chapter makes further notice here unnecessary.
When a steamship leaves the ways she is towed into the firm’s tidal
dock to receive the boilers and machinery. With the assistance of a
pair of 80-ton sheer-legs, Messrs Elder & Co. are able to complete
this part of the construction of a vessel with wonderful despatch.
In connection with this section is a smithy and small mechanics’
shop, which are alongside of the wharf. Space will not permit a
description of the smiths’ shop, the paint shop, riggers’ loft,
plumbers’ shop, belt-makers’ shop, boat-builders’ shop, block and
pattern-makers’ shop, pattern store, general store, &c., about each
of which much of interest might be written.
The wood-working department, though stocked with the most approved
labour-saving appliances, still affords employment to several
hundreds of hands. In the saw mill, which is about 100 feet square,
there are several sets of steam saw frames, circular saws, planing
machines for operating on deck planks, and other tools, the
producing capacity of which is very large. Adjacent to this is the
spar shed, where all the spars required on board the vessels are
made.
In the joiners’ shops are numerous wood-working machines, which
are placed advantageously all through this department, comprising
planing, morticing, and moulding machines, circular and fret saws,
surface planing and jointing machines, general joiners, lathes,
and a variety of other tools from the most noted makers of this
class of mechanism. The cabinetmaker’s shop is a spacious one, and
here the finer class of interior fittings are seen in all stages
of progress. Nothing in this section seems omitted in the way of
mechanical appliances to afford the utmost facility for rapid
production and excellence of workmanship.
The marine engineering department of the business is conducted
in an imposing pile of buildings about 300 feet square. This
immense shop is 50 feet high, and is divided into four bays, or
compartments, by three spacious galleries of two floors, each
30 feet wide, and extending the entire length of the building.
These galleries serve the double purpose of supporting powerful
travelling cranes (two of which are capable of lifting loads
of 40 tons, and the other two lesser weights), and providing
convenient retreats where boilermaking, copperwork, and other
operations are conducted. It is doubtful if a similar collection
of ponderous tools is to be found anywhere else in Great Britain.
Notable among the heavy tools seen here in operation is one of
enormous proportions for planing and trimming armour plates, being
capable of smoothing a surface 20 feet by 6 feet. There are three
self-acting screw-cutting lathes, two slotting machines of great
power, a universal radial drilling machine, with a radius of 18
feet, capable of boring a hole 4 inches in diameter, through a 9
inch plate in half-an-hour; a turning lathe having a 10-ft. spindle
with a diameter of 20-ins.; a planing machine which cuts either
horizontally or vertically, and has a traverse of 15 feet by 12
feet; two vertical boring machines, each with a travel of 5 feet;
a turning lathe 8½ feet in diameter, with a 34 feet shaft; and a
terrible and mysterious-looking machine, with a metallic disc 18
feet in diameter, armed with powerful steel cutters fixed round its
circumference, which takes a shaving of 2½ inches off the mass of
iron upon which it is operating. This machine was the invention of
the late Mr Elder’s father, and is one of the most wonderful tools
in existence. Adjoining this engine shop is the forge, which, with
its 50 fires, 16 steam hammers, and all the necessary appurtenances
to produce forgings with despatch, is an exceedingly busy section
of the works. It is 300 feet long and 100 feet wide; and being
lofty, excellent ventilation is obtained.
There are three smithies of large dimensions—one being retained
for heavy work, and the others for light work. In connection
with the engine shop is a pattern shop which, like all the other
wood-working departments of the premises, is fully provided with
tools having the most modern improvements. The brass foundry is
well appointed, and is arranged in two sections—one for light, and
the other for heavy work. Manganese bronze propellers, of which the
firm make a speciality, are made here in great numbers; the monthly
output of this department amounts to 45 tons, all of which is used
up in the yard, with the exception of a number of propellers which
the firm supply to other shipbuilders.
The capabilities of the Fairfield establishment, it may readily
be believed, are of the highest order. Scarcely anything need
be said in substantiation of this, as the past few years have
witnessed the continuous production from its stocks of very many
steamships of the highest class, whose names have already become
“household words.” Of these it may be sufficient to instance the
_Arizona_, the _Alaska_, the _Austral_, the _Stirling Castle_, and
the _Oregon_. Apart from these, and perhaps no less worthy examples
of Fairfield work, vessels of war have been turned out to a goodly
extent, as well as vessels for a great variety of trades, but it is
for the fast mail and passenger steamships that the establishment
is chiefly famed. Its reputation in this respect bids fair to be
augmented by the production of the two powerful Cunard steamers
already referred to in this work, and which are now nearing
completion.
The following tabulated form shows the amount of tonnage built, and
the horse-power of engines fitted, by Messrs Elder & Co. during the
past fourteen years:—
+--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+
| Years. | Tonnage. | H.P. || Years. | Tonnage. | H.P. |
| | Gross. |Indicated.|| | Gross. |Indicated.|
+--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+
| 1870 | 22,795 | 18,139 || 1877 | 7,704 | 9,550 |
| 1871 | 31,889 | 29,000 || 1878 | 18,247 | 11,750 |
| 1872 | 24,510 | 22,450 || 1879 | 16,895 | 15,510 |
| 1873 | 24,829 | 18,300 || 1880 | 32,775 | 38,024 |
| 1874 | 31,016 | 16,110 || 1881 | 26,575 | 43,728 |
| 1875 | 17,818 | 12,040 || 1882 | 31,686 | 41,192 |
| 1876 | 13,533 | 16,550 || 1883 | 40,115 | 56,995 |
+--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+
During ordinarily busy periods the number of operatives employed
by Messrs Elder & Co. reaches six thousand. The united earnings of
this great army of workmen amount to over £33,000 per month. As
a further indication of the stupendousness of the works, it may
be mentioned that on board a single vessel—the _Umbria_—as many
as 1,200 workmen have been employed at one time. The supervision
of affairs in this great establishment is, as may readily be
understood, a matter necessitating numerous “heads,” “sub-heads,”
and departments. The general manager in the shipyard is Mr J. W.
Shepherd, a naval architect of well-approved ability.
The second of the three Clyde establishments selected for notice, and
one in many ways specially noteworthy is:—
MESSRS WILLIAM DENNY & BROTHERS’ LEVEN SHIPYARD, DUMBARTON.
The firm of William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, began the business
of iron shipbuilding in the year 1844, in a small yard situated
on the east bank of the river Leven. To this they subsequently
added the “Woodyard” on the opposite side of the river, which
had been occupied for a considerable period by William Denny the
elder, builder of the “Marjory,” “Rob Roy,” and many other notable
craft, during the infancy of steam navigation. The composition
of the firm at the outset comprised William, Alexander, and
Peter, sons of the builder of the “Marjory,” but it was augmented
after a time by the assumption of two other brothers, James and
Archibald. The co-partnery some time after again underwent change
when the two brothers Alexander and Archibald seceded, and formed
small yards of their own. In 1854 the firm sustained an almost
irreparable loss in the death of William, the original promoter
of the concern, to whose energy and surpassing skill most of the
success then attained was due. His decease was deeply lamented, not
only as an irreparable family bereavement, but as a public loss.
When he first devoted his energies to the formation of an iron
shipbuilding concern, it was at a time of great industrial gloom in
the community. With its successful establishment began a brighter
era in the industrial and social history of the burgh—one which has
never once been seriously interrupted, and seems only now to be
approaching the “high noon” of its prosperity. Sometime subsequent
to the decease of William, the co-partnery was further reduced
through the death of James. For a considerable time thereafter the
business was carried on by Peter alone, until in 1868 he was joined
by his eldest son William, and 1871 by Mr Walter Brock—co-partner
in the firm of Denny & Coy.: a distinct marine engineering business
established by Peter Denny and others in 1851. Within the past
three years farther accessions to the firm have been made in Mr
James Denny, son of James of the original firm, and in Messrs Peter
Denny, John M. Denny, and Archibald Denny, sons of Peter, and
younger brothers of William, who for some time has been managing
partner of the shipbuilding firm, as Mr Brock is of the engine
works.
In 1867 the firm transferred their establishment to the present
site on the east bank of the river Leven near its confluence
with the Clyde, and under the shadow of the Castle-rock, which
figures largely, alike in the scenic renown and the historic annals
of Scotland. Through a most elaborate series of extensions and
improvements carried out within the past two-and-a-half years,
the works have been enlarged to more than double their previous
dimensions, and correspondingly increased in working capability.
They occupy a total area of forty-three acres, over five acres of
which are taken up with wet dock accommodation, and as much as
seven-and-a-half acres with workshops, sheds, and roofed spaces
of various kinds. The yard has a most advantageous and extensive
frontage to the Leven, which, under the provisions of a recently
obtained Harbour Act, is being greatly improved as regards width
and deepening. The principal launching berths, eight in number,
are ranged about the centre portion of the yard’s length, and
their projections into the river Leven, favoured by a bend at this
part, are almost in the direct line of its course. Through the
recent improvements, these berths are capable of receiving vessels
of dimensions and tonnage such as the present race for big ships
has not even approached. The arrangement permits of eight vessels
being built of lengths ranging gradually from a maximum of 750 feet
downwards. Besides these principal berths, there are spaces near
the south end of the yard, where light-draught paddle-steamers and
the smaller class of screw vessels are constructed and launched, or
taken to pieces and shipped abroad. All the work of construction,
fitting out, and putting machinery on board ship, is accomplished
within the yard gates. Contributing to this result are two tidal
docks, one newly formed, of over four acres in extent, and another
of over an acre. The bottom of the new dock is 26 feet below the
level of the yard and wharfage, affording at high tide 20 feet of
water. In connection with the dock, powerful sheer-legs are being
erected by Messrs Day & Summers, of Southampton, capable of lifting
the enormous weight of one hundred tons. Alongside of the smaller
dock are a pair of sheer-legs, capable of lifting 50 tons, with
two subsidiary cranes of 10 tons each. For all purposes, either
of construction or outfit of the largest vessel, these and the
other enlarged resources place the firm in a position of entire
independence with regard to extraneous accommodation or appliances.
The engines and boilers for Messrs Denny Brothers’ vessels are
invariably supplied by Messrs Denny & Company, whose large works,
greatly extended within recent years, are situated further up the
Leven. Along the eastern boundary of the Leven Shipyard, for over
1000 feet of its length, the joiners’ shops, blacksmiths’ shops,
machine sheds, outfit stores, &c., are ranged. The joiners’ shops
are most admirable for the completeness of their appointment. They
occupy the ground floor and first flat of a three-storey building,
250 feet by 65 feet, forming part of the range spoken of. The
machines contained in these apartments are of the newest and most
approved description of both British and American make, and embrace
moulding, planing, mortising, tenoning, dove-tailing, nibbling,
scraping, and sand-papering machines; circular, band, and cross-cut
saws; also machines for decorative carving and incising, &c., the
whole being driven by a special engine of considerable power,
located near the building. A large sawmill and shed, containing
various wood-working machines, are situate close to the Leven, near
the south end of the yard, and all the wood employed in the yard
is here cut from the rough. The blacksmiths’ and angle smiths’
shops and the machine sheds are correspondingly well furnished
with the most modern appliances. The former of these contain
over fifty fires, and ten steam hammers, as well as verticals,
lathes, &c., conveniently situated. The latter are splendidly
equipped, containing several large plate rolls, planing machines,
beam-bending machines, and an assortment of multiple drills and
counter-sinking machines of the most modern type; also a large
number of punching and shearing machines, including two man-hole
punches capable of piercing 30 by 20-in. holes in plates ¾-inch
thick. The plate and frame furnace, bending block, and scrive board
accommodation throughout the yard, is of extent commensurate with
the other features above described, all of which being of recent
formation, are of the most approved and modern description.
The system of railways throughout the shipyard is of an unusually
complete description. Connection is made with the main line of the
North British Railway, and enters the yard on its north side, where
a store-yard of about two acres affords ample storage accommodation
for material in steel and iron. Leaving this and traversing the
building yard throughout, the lines of railway are designed to
permit of material being conveyed without retrocession to the
vessel of which they are to form part, but with the stoppages
necessary for their being put through the various courses of
manipulation. In addition, the yard is traversed in directions
and to situations inaccessible to the main lines of rails, by the
narrow gauge portable system, patented by M. Decauville, which is
of great service.
A special department in the establishment of Messrs Denny, and an
entirely novel feature in a private shipyard, is the experimental
tank, already referred to in the Chapter on scientific progress.
This notable section of Messrs Denny’s works may be described as
consisting of a basin 300 feet long, 22 feet wide, and containing
9 feet of water over the principal portion of its length. Around
this basin are the shops and appliances for the work which has
to be done—constructive, experimental, and analytical. This work
on the constructive side consists of making paraffine models,
which represent on an appropriate scale the ships to which the
experiments have reference; the paraffine is melted, cast in a
rough mould to the approximate shape, and afterwards faired off
by a specially-constructed and very ingenious cutting machine.
When finished the model is passed on to the second stage—the
experimental. A stationary engine draws a carriage along a railway
suspended above the water space, the carriage is accompanied by
the model, with an attachment which allows the model to move
freely, and at the same time to depend entirely for its propelling
force upon a spring carried by the carriage. The extensions of
this spring are measured and recorded automatically, so too are
the speeds, the record being made by electric pens in the form of
diagrams, on a revolving cylinder which is part of the apparatus
of the carriage. The analytical work consists of obtaining from
the diagrams the items of speed and propelling force, the relation
between which, at all speeds for which the experiments have been
made, is thus obtained. The facilities which are offered by the
tank for investigating to the utmost the laws of hydrodynamics
in so far as they affect, practically, the resistance of ships,
is thus obvious. On the facade of the tank, fronting the public
street, Messrs Denny have placed an admirably-sculptured medallion
portrait of the late Mr William Froude, of Torquay, the noted
experimentalist. Underneath is the following inscription:—“This
facade of the Leven Shipyard Experimental Tank is erected in
memory of the late William Froude, F.R.S., L.L.D., the greatest
of experimenters and investigators of hydrodynamics. Born 29th
November, 1811. Died 14th May, 1879.”
Telephonic communication having previously been established with
advantage between Leven Shipyard and the Engine Works of Messrs
Denny & Co., towards the close of 1883 a telephone exchange
system was established in the shipyard, by which means twenty-six
separate places are in communication with one another. These are
the residences of the principal members of the firm, the manager’s
house, the Levenbank Foundry, the Dennystown Forge, four stations
at the Engine Works, and seventeen stations within the shipyard,
representing in all from six to seven miles of line wire. The
electric light has already been partially introduced into the
shipyard, but steps have been taken by the firm for further
extending it to the various offices, the experimental tank, the
joiners’ shop, and the upholstery and decorators’ rooms, as well as
providing arc lamps of great power to light up the area of the yard
itself.
Besides the introduction of the electric light into their yard,
Messrs Denny have formed an electrical department in connection
with their works, which will not only be employed in arranging
and maintaining the yard installation, but will also undertake
the fitting of the electric light installations on board vessels
built in the yard. To supervise and manage this important
department—which, it may be remarked, is entirely novel as a branch
of shipyard work—the firm have engaged the services of a skilled
electrician, under whom a staff of operative electricians are
employed.
On account of the increased employment it brings to their
townspeople, and also doubtless on grounds of increased economy and
efficiency, Messrs Denny seek to overtake, as much as possible,
the entire work connected with a ship’s construction and outfit
in their own establishment. Towards the close of 1881 they began
the introduction of a department for the designing, decoration,
and furnishing of the saloons of their vessels. This department
is now of established importance in the yard, and embraces four
more or less distinct branches. Firstly, the architectural and
decorative designs of the various saloons are determined upon by
what may be called the architectural branch, under the immediate
supervision of a professionally-trained architect. The work of
practically carrying out these designs is at present entrusted to
three sections of workers. (1) The decorative department, proper,
which overtakes the painting of the various ornamental panels,
dados, friezes, &c., of the saloons, and the staining of the
coloured glass used in saloon windows, skylights, doors, &c. (2)
The carving department, in which the carved work fitted on the bow
and stern of vessels, also the numerous small pieces of carved work
introduced into the architectural arrangement of the saloons, are
overtaken. (3) The upholstery department, in which all the work
connected with upholstering the saloons and state-rooms—usually,
in other yards, made the subject of sub-contract—is overtaken
from first to last. In this branch female labour is employed to a
considerable extent, while much of the decorative painting referred
to above is also done by females. Under the guidance of a lady
artist, the employés in this branch have evinced much aptitude and
taste for the work.
Successive enlargements and increased appliances have now rendered
the Leven Shipyard capable of turning out from 40,000 to 60,000
tons of shipping per annum. The work hitherto achieved has been
almost exclusively that of steamship building, but inside of that
general limitation it has been of a varied and comprehensive
description. Steamships for many of the largest ocean and
coast-trading companies, gun-boats and transport ships for foreign
Governments, and light-draught paddle-steamers for the rivers
Volga, Danube, Ganges, and Irrawaddy, have all been furnished from
the stocks of Leven Shipyard. The accompanying list, which is of
work done during the period of the firm’s existence, viz., since
1844, affords at once an adequate conception of the large amount of
important work done for the better-known shipping companies:—
No. of Vessels. Tonnage.
British India Steam Navigation Co., 50 107,060
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., 15 39,171
Austrian Lloyd’s Steam Navigation Co., 16 27,191
J. & A. Allan, Glasgow, Allan Line, 11 24,530
J. & G. Burns, Glasgow, 20 21,101
Union Steamship Co., New Zealand, 19 19,700
A. Lopez & Co., Cadiz, 7 19,178
British and Burmese Steam Navigation Co., 12 18,837
River’s Steam Navigation Co., 18 10,678
Union Steamship Co., Southampton, 2 6,227
Irrawaddy Flotilla Co., 14 6,006
Adding to this record the work finished since the close of 1883
and presently on hand, the total for the British India Company
is increased to 115,960 tons; that for the Union Company of New
Zealand to 21,260, and en addition is made to the list in the
two large steamers _Arawa_ and _Tainui_, for the Shaw, Savill,
& Albion Company, which together make about 10,000 tons. The
following exhibits in tabular form the number and tonnage of
vessels built by the firm from their beginning the business of iron
shipbuilding in 1845 up to and including 1883:—
+------+--------+--------++------+--------+--------+
|Year. | No. of |Tonnage.||Year. | No. of |Tonnage.|
| |Vessels.| || |Vessels.| |
+------+--------+--------++------+--------+--------+
| 1845 | 3 | 365 || 1865 | 6 | 4,543 |
| 1846 | 3 | 252 || 1866 | 8 | 10,867 |
| 1847 | 6 | 1,007 || 1867 | 4 | 9,154 |
| 1848 | 3 | 618 || 1868 | 8 | 9,855 |
| 1849 | 6 | 2,173 || 1869 | 12 | 13,227 |
| 1850 | 5 | 1,577 || 1870 | 4 | 8,852 |
| 1851 | 5 | 1,460 || 1871 | 7 | 14,922 |
| 1852 | 5 | 6,622 || 1872 | 6 | 14,056 |
| 1853 | 7 | 5,163 || 1873 | 7 | 18,415 |
| 1854 | 5 | 4,380 || 1874 | 9 | 18,475 |
| 1855 | 6 | 5,443 || 1875 | 9 | 17,191 |
| 1856 | 7 | 7,436 || 1876 | 5 | 4,394 |
| 1857 | 5 | 2,822 || 1877 | 10 | 10,533 |
| 1858 | 3 | 5,293 || 1878 | 18 | 22,054 |
| 1859 | 5 | 5,903 || 1879 | 13 | 16,138 |
| 1860 | 2 | 1,897 || 1880 | 12 | 18,114 |
| 1861 | 4 | 8,463 || 1881 | 8 | 17,455 |
| 1862 | 5 | 4,271 || 1882 | 13 | 22,010 |
| 1863 | 9 | 9,745 || 1883 | 10 | 22,240 |
| 1864 | 13 | 11,239 || | | |
+------+--------+--------++------+--------+--------+
The firm, it may be stated, is now engaged in the construction of
their 300th vessel. Notwithstanding the work of re-arrangement and
enlargement which has been under progress for two years or more,
the work turned out during that period has been in no way behind as
compared with other periods—a fact which eloquently testifies to
the administrative ability of those in authority, and to the skill
and energy of Mr John Ward, the general manager of Messrs Denny’s
large works.
In August, 1880, the firm issued a notice to their workmen
stating that, having observed during the previous two years many
improvements in methods of work and appliances introduced by them
into the yard, they very readily recognised the advantage accruing
to their business from these efforts of their workmen’s skill, and
were desirous that they should not pass unrewarded. The notice
further stated that to carry out this desire an Awards Committee
had been appointed, which would consider any claims made by the
workmen, and grant an award in proportion to the worth of the
improvement made, the amount in no case to be more than £10, or
less than £2. The committee then appointed, and which still holds
office, was composed of well-known local gentlemen, in every way
competent to adjudicate. Fully a year later the firm announced that
in the case of an invention thought worthy of a greater award than
£10, they had empowered the Committee to grant such an award, or
were willing, in addition to giving an award of £10, to take out
at their own expense provisional protection at the Patent Office
on behalf of the inventor, so that he might either dispose of his
invention or complete the patent, provided always they had free use
of the thing patented in their own establishment. From the reports
which have yearly been issued by the committee, it is apparent
that considerable success has attended the scheme. The number of
claims made since its institution has been as follows:—In 1880, 12;
in 1881, 32; in 1882, 27; in 1883, 20; in 1884 (till July only),
91; total, 182. Awards have been granted as follows:—In 1880, 5;
in 1881, 22; in 1882, 21; in 1883, 18; in 1884 (till July only),
27; total, 93. It is worthy of note that about one-half of the
awards have been gained by workmen in the joiner’s department.
Some of their machines have been modified or altered so as to
do twice the quantity of work previously possible, some to do a
new class of work, and others to do the same work with greater
ease and safety. Four inventions have gained the maximum award
of £10, viz., (1) an improvement made on ships’ water-closet and
urinal; (2) the invention of a machine to cut mouldings imitative
of wicker work; (3) an improved arrangement for disengaging steam
and hand-steering gear on board ship; (4) an improved method of
laying the Decauville railway across the main line. In connection
with this latter invention, the patentee of the Decauville railway
system, supplemented the committee’s grant to the extent of £10. In
a note to last year’s report, the firm state that they have decided
to increase the maximum grant from £10 to £12, and the minimum from
£2 to £3; and that in the case of two men being engaged at the same
invention, should it be found worthy of an award, each will receive
at least the minimum award of £3. A still more recent announcement
states that “whenever any workman has received as many as _five_
awards from the committee, reckoning from the time the scheme came
in force, he shall be paid a premium of £20, when he has received
as many as _ten_ awards he shall be paid a further premium of
£25—the premiums always increasing by £5 for every additional five
awards received.” Already, it may be stated, four separate workmen
have received _five_ awards, and become the recipients of the £20
premium.
With regard to the employment of females in Messrs Denny’s yard,
it may be interesting to state further that the total number
generally employed throughout the works amounts to between 80
and 100. In addition to the numbers employed in the decorative
and upholstery departments, already noticed, a large contingent
are engaged in the polishing rooms, and a further number in the
drawing offices as tracers. The employment of females as tracers
in shipyard drawing offices, it may be stated, is of recent date.
The system had previously been in operation at the locomotive
works of Messrs Dübs & Co., and Messrs Neilson & Co., of Glasgow.
Having proved a success there, it has been gradually adopted by
shipbuilding and engineering firms on the Clyde, and more recently
on the Tyne. The staff in Leven Shipyard consists of 20 members,
four of whom are employed in the experimental tank department. All
the girls are selected by written competitive examination, the
subjects of examination being arithmetic, writing to dictation, and
block-letter printing. At first it was intended the girls should
simply be trained as tracers, but they displayed such aptitude that
to tracing was added the inking-in of finished drawings and the
reduction of plans from a greater to a less scale. This they do
with a very fair degree of accuracy and neatness. The experienced
members of the staff are now employed making displacement
calculations, including plotting the results to scale, centre of
buoyancy, and metacentre calculations; calculations of ships’
surface, working up and plotting of speed trial results, stability
calculations. Most of these calculations are made out on prepared
printed schedules, and the whole of the work is superintended by
a member of the male staff. In the work of calculation the girls,
it may be stated, make large use of such instruments as the slide
rule, Amsler’s planimeter and integrator. To secure clearness and
uniformity in the work of writing titles, data, scantling, &c., on
the various drawings and tracings, it was found advisable to train
the females in the art of lettering these features in a uniform
style of lettering in place of writing them. In this work they
display considerable proficiency and expertness, the results being
uniformly legible and well arranged.
Before passing from the subject of female employment in Messrs
Denny’s establishment, attention should be drawn to one fact, of
which assurances have been given by those well informed in the
matter. In no instance has the employment of females led to the
displacement of men as yard operatives. Those departments into
which females have recently been introduced are now numerically
as large as before the innovation. In some cases, indeed, the
numbers are greater than before; new avenues of labour, and
greater elaboration of the old, being the grounds of need for the
accessions.
The other establishment selected for notice from the Clyde district
is:—
MESSRS J. & G. THOMSON’S
SHIPBUILDING AND ENGINEERING WORKS,
CLYDEBANK.
The business of this firm was founded in 1846, by Messrs James
& George Thomson, father and uncle respectively of the present
members of the firm. Originally the firm were engineers, but in
1851, shipbuilding operations were commenced, the yard being
then situated in the upper reaches of the Clyde. Twenty years
later the increase of the firm’s business and the demand for
better accommodation for shipping made it necessary for the firm
to take new ground. The present site at Clydebank was therefore
chosen for their shipyard, and since its formation many wonderful
transformations have been effected. It is fully twelve years
since ground was first broken. At that time there was neither
house nor railway accommodation, and the difficulties were not
easily surmountable, and it must have been determined courage and
energy that in such a short time not only formed such a large
establishment, but created a town, and introduced a railway. From
Clydebank yard, it may be needless to state, many of the most
famous vessels of the Cunard, Peninsular, and Oriental and Union
Lines have been launched. From its stocks have emanated such
well-known vessels as the _Bothnia_, _Gallia_, _Thames_, _Moor_,
_Hammonia_, and the great Cunard liner, _Servia_, while within a
very recent period another vessel—the _America_—seemingly destined
to eclipse the fame of all these other notable craft, has been
built and sent to sea.
Until about two years ago, the engineering section of Messrs
Thomson’s business was conducted at Clydebank Foundry, Finnieston,
Glasgow. It was then resolved, however, to centralise the
works, and thus save the great expense of fitting out vessels
away from the yard, as well as secure the increased facilities
offered in the management and controlling of large bodies of
workmen. This important undertaking has now been accomplished,
and the establishment, as now arranged, is equal in extent and
working capability to any other private shipbuilding concern.
The entire premises occupy about thirty-five acres of land, and
comprise building yard, tidal basin, yard workshops, and engine
and boiler works. When in full operation the establishment gives
employment to over 4,000 workmen. The yard possesses eight
building slips, laid out for the largest class of vessels, and
owing to their situation—facing the river Cart, which here joins
the Clyde—excellent facilities for the launching of vessels are
afforded.
Proceeding to describe the works more in detail, as in the case
of a personal visit, the first feature that may be noticed is
a handsome block of buildings which stands some distance from
the main entrance to the shipyard. These buildings comprise the
clerical, managerial, and naval architects’ offices; also a
spacious apartment in which are located splendidly-executed models,
and sections of the hulls, of the vessels which have been built
by the firm. Passing through the yard large quantities of the raw
material of the modern shipbuilder are observed on railway waggons,
and in sheds—including iron and steel plates, bar, T, H, Z, angle,
flat, channel, tubular, and other forms of wrought-iron. This
material is brought into the yard by railway, which forms a siding
of the North British system about a quarter of a mile distant.
The iron and steel plates are first manipulated in a large shed
open at the sides and ends, and measuring some 500 feet by 150.
Here are situated a large number of powerful machine-tools—bending
and straightening machines, punching and shearing machines,
drilling machines, hydraulic riveting machines and the like. Some
are of the largest sizes made, one punching machine being a 33-inch
gap tool. Several other machine-tools in this large shed have
special features worthy of notice, and one in particular, a flat
keel plate bending machine, must be referred to with some detail.
The machine in question was made by the Messrs Thomson themselves,
and constitutes perhaps the latest application of machinery to
shipbuilding purposes. It is supplied by hydraulic power from the
accumulator that works the riveting plant—which is on the Tweddell
system—and is composed of a number of arms resting on a horizontal
bar. The arms are raised or lowered to suit the different shapes
required, by means of a hydraulic ram placed at each end and
pressing upon the horizontal bars.
Leaving the machine-tool shed, which, by the way, is amply
provided, as indeed are the works generally, with travelling and
fixed lifting appliances, and while _en route_ for the smiths’
shop, are observed several isolated punching and shearing and other
machine-tools for special purposes, and driven by self-contained
engines or hydraulic power. The smiths’ shop is a well-arranged
workshop, 600 feet long by 60 feet wide, and contains 108 smiths’
fires, besides three furnaces at each end for heating frames
and plates, for bending and other manipulative purposes. This
department is well supplied with the mechanical contrivances of the
forge, including steam hammers of various capacities graduating
from 12 cwt. up to over one ton. There are 16 small jobbing hammers
in this shop; a massive 70-cwt. hammer of Messrs Thomson’s own
make, is used in the production of stern-posts, rudders, and heavy
forgings. The smiths’ shop is built upon excellent and somewhat
unusual principles, the roof being so constructed as to readily
admit of the egress of the smoke from the fires, thus securing good
ventilation.
An engineering and machine shop, well equipped with lathes, drills,
and other appliances, limited to the operations connected with the
production of water-tight doors, steering gears, and the like,
is next passed. In close proximity is the riggers loft, where a
large staff of workmen, with the aid of mechanical contrivances,
manipulate the rigging for the vessels nearing completion in the
dock. The firm’s well-appointed saw mills are provided with a full
complement of sawing machinery, much of it of a special and very
cleverly contrived character. One machine, for instance, is capable
of cross-cutting and ripping a log into the required sizes right
away, without the usual intermediate manipulation. The arrangements
for conveying the timber into position, and for removing it
when cut, are very complete, and eminently calculated to ensure
rapidity of production. In convenient proximity to the saw mills
are the “saw-doctor’s” quarters. The old-fashioned practice of
sharpening the teeth of the saws by hand-filing is discarded here
in favour of a more rapid and effective method of obtaining the
requisite amount of sharpness and “set.” Emery-wheels are employed
and accomplish the process with a great saving of time and labour.
Amongst the other departments with regard to which no details need
be given, yet all of which are admirably appointed, are the brass
foundry and finishing shops, where the brass castings and fittings
are prepared. The joiners’, carpenters’, and cabinetmakers’ shops
are an important and extensive branch of the Clydebank premises.
The building in which they are located measures 220 feet in
length, by 156 feet in width. Here the ordinary ship-joinery work
is undertaken, and the tasteful and magnificent furnishings, used
in the luxurious equipment of the vessels built in the yard, are
produced in great numbers. The joiners’ and cabinetmakers’ shops
are provided with a vast number of ingenious sawing, wood-working,
as well as the more ordinary joinery appliances, manufactured
for the greater part by Messrs J. M‘Dowall & Sons, Johnstone,
near Glasgow, and Fay & Son, the well-known American house. It
is noteworthy that the belting for driving the multiplicity
of machines located in this department is all conducted below
the floor: in this way a welcome freedom from obstruction, and
comparative immunity from danger, is effected.
A word may be added with regard to the engines and boilers used by
the firm for driving their machinery. During the day the most of
the machinery is driven from these main engines, the chief of which
is a 200 horse-power motor, by Messrs Tangye, of Birmingham; and
at night the principal machine tools and several of the workshops
derive their requisite motive power from the small self-contained
engines, which are attached, or are in close proximity, to them.
The engineering and boilermaking section of the works occupies
in all a space of about 12,000 square yards. The boiler shop is
a large and lofty galleried workshop, occupying an area of 4,000
square yards. It is splendidly equipped with all the most modern
appliances for accurate and heavy work. Attention may specially be
drawn to an enormous hydraulic riveter, erected by Messrs Brown
Brothers, of Edinburgh. This riveter, which is just undergoing
completion, is designed with a 6½ feet gap, and can close with
ease rivets up to 1¾ inch diameter. It is rendered necessary owing
to the tendency to greatly increase pressure since the introduction
of the triple expansion engine. An engine of 100 H.P., having a
steam accumulator, gives the necessary power for working this, and
advantage has been taken of the extra power to actuate a system of
hydraulic hoists, winches and capstans, which are being substituted
for the coal-devouring and often dangerous donkey boilers and steam
winches, usually in use for this purpose. The hoists will also be
applied to the larger latches in order to save manual labour.
When ready to be placed on board ship, the boilers are run down
to the dock by means of a tramway, in the foundations of which as
many as 600 tons of slag have been packed. The boilers are then
lifted on board and lowered to their proper place by means of
massive shear-legs, constructed by Taylor, of Birkenhead, which are
capable of lifting the enormous weight of 120 tons, and which have
a foundation composed of some 700 tons of cement.
The new engine works comprise erecting, turning, and tool shops,
smithy, brass foundry, and depot for laying castings and other
goods, also large stores. The whole cover an area of about 8,000
square yards, making, with the 4000 square yards occupied by the
boiler shop, a total area of 12,000 square yards. Machinery by
the well-known makers, Messrs Shanks, Heatherington, Harvey, and
others, of the most modern and powerful description, has been laid
down, also overhead travelling cranes, by Taylor, to lift 30 and
40 tons respectively. Railways have been introduced throughout
the shops, and a 6-ton crane locomotive lifts and deposits
castings where required. In fact, everything that the most modern
engineering skill could suggest has been introduced in order to
fit the place for turning out not only the largest class of marine
engines, but also for the saving of manual labour, and it is
expected that 50,000 I.H.P. can be turned out per annum. The entire
premises, it should be stated, are illuminated by the electric
light, partly on the “Brush” and partly on the “Swan” systems.
The vessels on the slips and in the dock are also illuminated by
electric light applied in a portable form.
Since having commenced shipbuilding operations, Messrs J. &
G. Thomson have placed as many as 200 vessels in the water,
representing an aggregate of 300,000 tons, and a gross capital
value of about £7,500,000. The position, therefore, that Clydebank
yard takes amongst the shipbuilding establishments of the United
Kingdom is certainly in the very front rank. The general manager
of the extensive works is Mr J. P. Wilson, a gentleman of extended
experience, who has before held similar posts, but none more
onerous and exacting. Amongst other of the responsible officials at
Clydebank of whom mention should be made Mr J. H. Biles, the firm’s
naval designer, occupies an important position and shares in the
credit attaching to successful work.
The three yards selected from the Clyde district have now been
described, and their distinctive features enlarged upon. In passing
to the notices of the yards from other districts, it may be stated
that efforts will be made to avoid repetition in details that are
essentially similar. The notices will be of a still more general
character than those preceding, the only portions where anything
like fullness may occur being those concerned with features which
are not embraced in any of the Clyde yards. The most stupendous and
comprehensive of the works to be noticed are those of:—
PALMERS SHIPBUILDING AND IRON COMPANY, LIMITED, JARROW-ON-TYNE.
Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Limited, have their works at
Jarrow-on-Tyne, about four miles from the sea. The works embrace
both banks of the river Tyne, cover nearly 100 acres of land, and
employ about 7,000 persons. They were first commenced in 1851
by Mr Charles Mark Palmer, the present M.P. for North Durham,
distinguished for the active part he has taken and continues to
take in merchant shipping legislation. In 1865 the works were made
into a limited company, Mr Palmer becoming chairman. It is a saying
in Jarrow, with reference to these gigantic works, that the raw
ironstone is taken in at the one end and launched from the other
in the form of iron steamships, fitted complete with all their
machinery, to carry on a large share of the world’s commerce.
However much this may appear the exaggerated utterance of native
pride, it must be declared to be a literal truth. The works include
within themselves the entire range of operations, from the raising
and smelting of the ironstone to the complete equipment of iron,
steam and sailing vessels of all sizes. The ore itself, raised at
the rate of 1,000 tons per day, is brought round by sea from the
Company’s own mines at Port Mulgrave, near Whitby, in Yorkshire,
and is lifted from the river wharf at the works up to the railway
level, along an inclined plane worked by a stationary engine. Coke
and coal come into the works from Marley Hill and other collieries
in Durham and Northumberland, by the Pontop and Jarrow Railway. The
coke is discharged into a hopper capable of holding about 1,500
tons, from the bottom of which the blast furnace barrows are filled
through sliding doors, dispensing with manual labour. The four
blast furnaces are 85 feet high, 24 feet diameter at the boshes,
and 10 feet in the hearth. They are capable of producing over 2,000
tons of pig per week, of which more than one-half is used in the
Company’s works. The blast is heated to about 1,500° Fahr. in eight
“Whitewell” hot air fire-brick stoves of the newest pattern, and
there are eighteen kilns for calcining the Cleveland ironstone. The
rolling mill forge comprises eighty puddling furnaces, producing
over 1,000 tons of puddled bars weekly; which, again, are rolled
into plates and angle bars of the largest and smallest sizes used
in the trade. There are two forge engines with 36-inch cylinders,
one of 4 feet and the other of 5 feet stroke, each driving a roll
train and four pairs of 22-inch rolls. There are two plate mills
and ten mill furnaces, producing about 1,200 tons of finished
boiler and ship plates weekly. Each mill has two pairs of 24-in.
rolls, reversed by clutch and crabs; a bar mill with two pairs of
rolls, driven by a 24-inch cylinder, produces 120 tons per week;
a fourth mill, with four pairs of rolls, driven by two 30-inch
cylinders, with 4 feet stroke, produces about 300 tons per week of
plates; also a large angle and bar mill, driven by a single engine,
having 36-inch cylinder and 4 feet stroke, capable of rolling the
very largest angles used in the trade. There is also a sheet mill
in the forge. Attached to the rolling mills are shears, circular
saws, punching, and straightening presses, all of the newest
patterns.
The adjoining department is that of the engine works, which is on
the same gigantic scale, and is capable of finishing about forty
pairs of marine engines with their boilers, annually, besides a
proportionate share of replace boilers and repairs. The department
produces its own iron and brass castings and forgings. In the
boiler shop of this department vertical rolls for rolling long
boiler shell plates were first used, and may be seen in operation.
In the year 1882-83, June to June, thirty-six pairs of
engines, of 7,300 nominal and 39,240 indicated horse-power, were
turned out.