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Ferro-concrete and Reinforced Concrete in Relation to Highway Communication.

24th May 1917, Page 1
24th May 1917
Page 1
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Page 1, 24th May 1917 — Ferro-concrete and Reinforced Concrete in Relation to Highway Communication.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• The claims of concrete, in its various combinations of latter-day development and commercial employment for constructional purposes, are seen to have increaeing bearing upon means of highway communication. We regard the future demand for the concrete family as one that is likely to be extremely large for many. years to come in this connection. Roads and bridges will require to be renewed and strengthened with the maximum of despatch after the peace, Sind no class' of construction offers equal rapidity ot completion as does the one which we indicate. Not only is the constructional -work itself quickly done, but we believe it can be *demonstrated on the costs side that methods which are literally embodied in concrete are the lowest in respect both of first cost and maintenance.

We are glad to note that the Council of the Roads Improvement Association has instructed Mr. H. Percy Boulnois, M.1C.E., formerly city engineer of Liverpool and deputy chief engineering inspector, of the Local Government Boa-'d, to report to it on the use of all forms and combinations of concrete for highwayconstruction purposes. This report should be ready before very long, and we shall look forward to its publication with the greatest interest. An article from the pen of Mr. W. Noble Twelvetrees, which appears on pages 267 to 270 of our issue this week, will . no doubt serve to show how effectively concrete has already come to the rescue of harassed road-making and transport interests. The ferro-concrete bridge is now accepted in all engineering circles, in common with reinforced-concrete building construction. A little more -time may possibly be required for the accumulation of the necessary proofs, before road-surfacing work in concrete will be generally undertaken. The adoption of reinforced concrete foundations for roads is known to be an economical and sound departure from old practices. .

More Coke, and Why.

Mr. E. W. L. Nichol, fuel expert to the London Coke Committee, periodically keeps readers of this and other journ ale informed as to the views of the coke-producing industry with regard to that fuel. The views are put forward in no narrow spirit, but in relation to the matters Of national concern which are interwoven with the production and disposal of coke. We think that Mr. Nichol's estimate of benzole yield, ' which he places at 70 million gallons, is on the low side, although it may cover the total yield in the United Kingdom from stripping coal-gas. The estimate will be brought up to approximately. 100 million gallons per annum, when one takes into account the likely production after the peace of coal tar distilTries and atinew works where low-temperature distillation plants are now being erbeted for the special treatment of low-grade fuels. We may recall that

Mr. Henry L. DOherty, the apostle of the stripping from coal-gas of its benzole constituents, when he was 'urging this method of relieving the petrol situation in pre-war days, confidently expressed the opinion that the round 100 million gallons per annum should be a possibility over the whole of the United Kingdom. We may point out that this total yield of berizole is roughly equivalent to the total consumption of petrol 'before the war, so far a3 the United Kingdom goes. The importance of the prospective yield, when it is available for motor users, is self-evident.

• The London Coke Committee is naturally out to sell coke. There is sonic risk that, in later years, if not in the near future,coke,may once more become a surplus stock at many gas works_ Domestic legislation, as we have previously hinted., maybe invoked to avoid this lack of balance between products, but the fuel is undoubtedly One possessing many good points for owners of steam. wagons and tractors. The old bugbear of irregularity of supplies, both as regards quantity and qualitY, should still engage the attention of the London Poke Committee and similar bodies. Uniformity is essential to extended use. As a fuel for use under , boilers of steam-propelled road vehicles, the coke must neither be too hard nor too softr and, above all, it niust not contain too ranch water. The sooner the London Coke Committee is able to settle a maximum •

range of standards, the better it will be for the success of its propaganda. Graded coke is a step in the right direction, but there are features other than size in respect of which a closer approach to uniformity is undoubtedly demanded from the point of view of the user. •

Coal-gas for the Petrol-less.

The petrol situation threatens to become somewhat disquieting. We state this. after due enquiry, and with no small measure of regret. Nothing is further from our desires or intentions, than to be alarmist. The President of the Board of Trade, Sir Albert H. Stanley, speaking in the House of Commons on the 17th inst., made the following significant comment upon the situation:—

"With regard to petrol; the enormous, and rapidly-growing demands of the War Office and the Admiralty make it necessary that there should be further restrictions on the use of petrol by civilians. These restrictions will, I am. afraid, make it impossible for anY petrol to beallowed for pleasure purposes. We have recently lost several very big ships, and the loss of those ships made it imperative that we should.at once take steps to reduce the consumption of petrol fee civilian use. I am afraid it will affect the use of petrol even for what may be considered essential purposes, such as taxicabs, and the allowance made to people who have been getting a regular allotment of 80 much per month."

The west and south-west of England have already been hit very hard by ,a temporary shortage which fnay grow into ohe of long duration. This position c19

has arisen for two chief reasons : the failure of expected arrivals at Avonmouth and Portishead ; the inability of the railway companies to make good the deficiencies in the area by transferences of petrol from ether areas. There is necessarily a note of precaution being sounded, to build up stocks again, pending the making good by fresh arrivals of the lost cargoes. It is clear to us that a period of greater stringency is at hand for the whole country.

We invite readers to pay the closest attention to the additional articles concerning coal-gas which we publish this week, and jo look for others that are now in preparation.

Farmers and Agrimotors.

The Government has announced, beginning with

the Prime Minister,_ passing to the President of the Board of Agriculture, and repeated through the mouths of various Departmental heads, that 3,000„000 acres of new land must be ploughed in the United Kingdom during the fall of the present year, in order to yield additional food supplies for 1918. We have examined the data, on the Government side, as regards official preparations for Government ploughing, and we fail to see that these preparations will result' in new ploughing in excess of 1,000,000 acres by the time named, and to allow of production in 1918.

Who is to plough the other 2,000,000 acres, and by what means ?

The farmers themselves are clearly relied upon to make a great effort—one, in fact, in the ratio of two tb one upon the Government effort. We hope that farmers realize this now. If they do not, we wish to do all we can to send the position home to. them. •

The facts are that the Government has not the resources in experience, men, or material at its own direct disposal, to deal with more than one-third of the additional schedule of ploughing for 1917-1918, and that farmers must. begin to place their own orders for agrimotors in large numbers, and to do so forthwith, or we shall not see 3,000,000 additional acres of new land brought under the plough. It will be clearly a good investment for farmers, with cereal prices guaranteed ahead for several years to come, to order tractors, making selections from the many British-American makes that are now available, either from maker or agent.

"Shocking" Electric Calculations.

We are amused to Observe in a recent, issue of our contemporary "The Electrician" the following Comment:— The Yorkshire Weekly Post' cannot shout it out loud enough that York Tramways Committee paid 2737 for charging their Edison electric 'busca last year, whereas the same service would have cost them £kO,000 for petrol. Shades of

• Shrapriell-Smith, that's 'some' difference ! "

May we recommend to the writer of this comment the advantages of correct arithmetic. The total distance run at York, during the last financial year, as by the report of the Electricity and Tramways Committee, for the battery-equipped motorbuses, was 77,059 miles. An allowance of 9000 gallons of petrol is.a generous one for this mileage, and we are glad to think flat the suggestion of petrol at 22s. per gallon exists nowhere but in the imagination of our contemporary. We recall " Gunn's Arithmetic of Electricity" in our student days, but the "Great un," arithmetic of "The Electrician" has miscarried.

his kind of advocacy does no good to the cause of the electric vehicle. •

'There is; be it noted, a small difference between the cost. for petrol, and the actual charge for elec

.trinity • in respect of the York services. It is only in the vicinity of £283—" some" difference from the £9263 which is claimed I c20

The Specifications for the United States Army Lorry.

The Quarter-Master General of the U.S.A. Army has just -issued specifications for motor-transport wagons for use with the Army. These specifications cannot fail to be of particular interest, and for several reasons. They are issued after nearly three years' experience of a war in which, for the first time, 'motor vehicles have been used to any important extent. American manufacturers have participated in this experience almost from the beginning ; not only have all the principal makers been represented by their products in each of the various fields of action, but each has had its own service agent in attendance as close to the actual scene of operations as he could conveniently be allowed to go. Naturally, each agent, while watching carefully the interests of his principals and at the same time recording all the facts concerning the behaviour of his own make of vehicle which came under his notice, would at the same time be very alert in noting any peculiarities in respect of other makes of chassis, with which would be included, undoubtedly, those built to the British W.D. specification. Moreover, America's own little war on the Mexican border, small only perhaps by comparison with the big event in this Continent, may not be ignored from the aspect-oi its influence on the specifications we are discussing. We are well aware that it afforded many opportunities for giving the lie to the American Army's own conclusion, arrived at so recently as in the early months of 1913; that meter transport could not take a very effective share in military operations. Some very fine work was, as a matter, of fact, accomplished.

It must be pointed out that five years have new elapsed since the publication of the current British specification. Owing in great measure to the intervention of the war, opportunity has not occurred for revising that specification. These five years have been particularly active ones for principals of the industry in the States. The Society of Automotive Engineers, a very representative body, and •corresponding ostensibly to our British Institution of Automobile Engineers, but, in fact, more directly identified with leaders of the industry, has during that period been most energetic in matters concerning standardization, both of materials and parts, wherever either may justifiably be standardized without fear of hindering progress in design. The American War Department has apparently been in close consultation with this Society during the time that the conditions of these specifications were being considered. All those of the Society's standards which have any connection with the matter have been adopted. The result is, as may be expected, a worthy one, and one which may hope for approval alike from Army, maker and user.

For the consideration of our readers, it will undoubtedly be best to examine the specifications in conjunction with the outstanding features of the British subsidy model. Indeed, it would be impossible to do otherwise, so evident is it that the U.S.A ' .specifications have as a basis the original British prototype.

The formula for the recipe is undoubtedly W.D. sub-. sirly 1912, plus European war experiences, plus; Mexican war experiences, plus recent progress in auto'mobile design. The outcome will no doubt bear a 'close resemblance to the British after-the-peace subsidy specification, and for that reason is the more closely to be studied. The outstanding feature, as compared with the present British specification2 is the absence of any chassis drawings, and the elimination—apart from the adoption of the S.A.E. standards !---of absolute standardization of any part but the tires. A feature, second only in importance to these, is perhaps the freedom which is afforded in respect of plaice of a final drive for• the rear axle. The specifications are notable for the introduction of a new factor, described as "Tractive Effort Factor," this being, on any gear, the actual drawbar pull divided by the total weight of the-fullY-loaded vehicle. Here,_ for_ the moment, our 'discussion must terminate. We hope, in our next issue, to deal with the more salient features of the specifications as they stand, considering them in comparison with the British one, and at the same time endeavouring to draw the moral which actual military experience has taught.


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