I now come to the subject of the transmission of power. I do not mean
transmission in the ordinary sense by means of shafting, gearing, or
belting, but I mean transmission over long distances. In 1831, we had
for this purpose flat rods, as they were called, rods transmitting
power from pumping engines for a considerable distance to the pits
where the pumps were placed, and we had also the pneumatic, the
exhaustion system--the invention of John Hague, a Yorkshire-man, my
old master, to whom I was apprenticed--which mode of transmission was
then used to a very considerable extent. The recollection of it, I
find, however, has nearly died out, and I am glad to have this
opportunity of reviving it. But in 1881, we have, for the transmission
of power, first of all, quick moving ropes, and there is not, so far
as I know a better instance of this system than that at Schaffhausen.
Any one who has ever, in recent years, gone a mile or two above the
falls at Schaffhausen, must have seen there--in a house, on the bank
of the Rhine, opposite to that on which the town is situated--large
turbines driven by the river, which is slightly dammed up for the
purpose. These work quick-going ropes, carried on pulleys, erected at
intervals along the river bank, for the whole length of the town; and
power is delivered from them to shafting below the streets, and from
it into any house where it is required for manufacturing purposes.
Then we have the compressed air transmission of power, which is very
largely used for underground engines, and for the working of rock
drills in mines and tunnels.