FAWCETT AND CO.'S ENGINE FACTORY, LIVERPOOL. wards with its load on two iron rails, or The Turning Rooms. In several of the rooms both beaten and cast iron of all possible dimensions are turned, with astonishing facility and correctness, on what are called slide lathes. In one of these we saw the paddle-shafts for the President under the operation. Each of these weighed, when they came from the forge, about ten tons, and they will be but slightly reduced in weight by turning. In the same room large piston and other rods 543 were being turned. While the shaft or rod is revolved, the cutting instrument, fixed to a slide, on which it is slowly and evenly carried along, performs its operations with wonderful precision, frequently cutting a large and continuous shaving of thirty or forty feet in length, (as may be,) apparently as if it were lead, and which, curling up, forms a curious and perfect worm or screw. From the great pressure of the tool, one of the edges of this screw is frequently split into regular teeth like those of a fine comb, but shorter. The tool, when it has gone from end to end of a shaft or rod, is, by a simple adjustment, made to travel back again, and the operation is continued till the whole is of the required diameter, and perfectly bright and polished. Another interesting operation in this department is the turning and polishing of circular pieces of machinery, whether dished or flat. The tops or lids of the cylinders of large engines are the principal, and some idea may be formed of the advancement of this art, by an inspection of the cylinder tops of the President, which are as bright as mirrors, and are 80 inches in diameter ! Water constantly dropping on the cutting tool from a small pipe is all the "oil" used either in planing or turning. The Fitting-up Shops. 66 There are several rooms in which the fitters-up" are employed. These finish the smaller brass and iron work of the engines, and have turning lathes, and all manner of hand tools. In the building of an engine, they hold the same relation to the foundry and the forge, that the clock and watch maker (properly "finisher") does to the establishment that supplies him with his wheels and other works in the rough. The Model or Pattern-Makers' Rooms. These rooms are extensive, and many first-rate workmen are employed, the greatest exactness being required, otherwise the castings would be unavailable. The timber used is almost wholly well-seasoned deal. Many of the patterns are complicated and beautiful, a great deal of taste being displayed in the mouldings and other decorations, where such can be appropriately introduced. The models are all finished and polished in the best possible manner. The Model Rooms. These are a lofty part of one of the buildings, and are well worthy of a visit. In one of them we were fairly lost, amidst many hundreds of bevelled, cog, and other mill wheels, of all possible sizes, (few alike) and piled up to the very roof. Many of these are, we learned, for the purpose of supplying. foreign orders. Here, too, are a variety of engine-bed plates, paddle wheel centres, patterns for water and other wheels, &c. &c. all made with mathematical accuracy. In another room were an immense number of models of great guns, as adopted, in outward fashion, by the English, the French, the Dutch, and others. The models of beams for marine engines, of all sizes, were here piled; also of Ionic fluted pillars for their frames... The models from which the beams, &c., are of the Royal William, and many others, were cast, are here deposited, as are those of the larger engines in the yard below. The collection of patterns of all descriptions is indeed great and excellent, and must have cost an immense sum of money. The Engines now in course of completion. The following Engines are now in hand at the works, and the three largest nearly completed: 1 pair of 540-horse power for the "President." do. 420 ditto the "United States." a French man-of-war steam frigate. H. M. S. "Medina." the "Calcutca Steamtug."* a Government tender.t 1 single engine of 60-horse power, for Australia. do. 50 ditto for a French house. The President's Engines. These are the most remarkable for their size, and are really a stupendous piece of workmanship. They are already fixed up, and strike the visitor with astonishment. The castings, and all the workmanship, are of the first description, and the architectural design of the framework, or pillars, is highly ornamental, without any sacrifice to the requisite strength. As probably the most suitable to attain this desideratum, the Gothic style has been adopted. The massy clustered pillars are surmounted by the pointed and moulded arch to correspond. The diagonal stays and their open work are in keeping; and such is the height and imposing effect of the whole, that visitors generally remarked that it strikingly resembled a handsome Gothic chapel. The beams are beautiful castings, as are the cylinders, and both of immense size and weight. The polished iron and brass work is superb, and the whole furnishes a gratifying proof of at once the enterprise and the ingenuity of the men of England. The following are some interesting statistics of this stupendous piece of machinery : Diameter of cylinder.. Stroke of engine Weight of cylinders Valve-cases, from Beams (4 in number), upwards of Gothic pillars, four pairs, each Two eduction pipes, each Boilers, each 80 inches. 7 feet 6 inches. 11 tons. 6 to 6 tons. 5 tons each. 10 tons. 11 tons, 7 cwt. 4 tons. 9 tons. ...... 18 cwt. 30 tons. Bed-plates, (two,) each in one casting * Now building in India. 15 tons. To run, it is said, between Dover and Calais. The whole engines and boilers, with the water, will weigh about 510 tons. The hoisting-tackle used in setting up these engines is well worthy of notice. On the principals, or lower beams of the roof, which are of extraordinary strength, railways are fixed, upon which traversed scaffolds, railed round, and each carrying a powerful winch. On these scaffolds are also railways, at right angles with those on the beams, so that, by moving the scaffolds and the winches, any spot in the building may attained directly perpendicular to the article to be hoisted, which, by other movements, can be lowered to any given site. The Engines for the "United States." These are precisely similar in construction to those of the President, differing only in being a little smaller. No detailed notice of them is therefore required. The cylinders are 73 inches in diameter, and the power is the same as that of the Great Western,namely, 420. They are erected in the same shed, or building, containing those of the President, and have been equally admired. The "Medina's" Engines. These are of 300-horse power, and, though different in the style of the casting, are also got up in the best manner. The whole three pairs of engines will be ready simultaneously for shipment; but, unluckily, the want of proper shears to hoist in the machinery and boilers, (there being but one pair at the Canning Dock, and a crane at the Trafalgar,) one or other of the vessels will have to wait her turn. The pair of 45-horse power engines, for the Admiralty, are also in a forward state; as are most of the others before enumerated. Such is a sketch of the works at Messrs. Fawcett and Co.'s establishment. We do not remember to have enjoyed a greater treat than in visiting it, and it was with considerable reluctance, that having other engagements, we could not prolong our stay. on the premises, and examine some other departments. The whole is a world of mechanism within itself; and though it send forth huge and deadly weapons of war, also produces maritime machinery calculated to extend civilisation, and to promote the amicable commercial intercourse, and mu tual wealth and happiness, of nations scarcely known to each other but by name. This firm have upwards of 700 workmen. The President will be the largest steampacket in the world. Messrs. Fawcett and Co. have been applied to by the Bristol Steam Packet Company to make them engines of 600 horses' power each, but their present engagements do not permit of their accepting the order. ONDON: Printed and Published for the Proprietor, by W. A. Robertson, No. 166, Fleet-street.- Sold by W, & A. Galignan R Vivienne. the Mechanics' Magazine M. DE RICHEMONT'S AUTOGENOUS SOLDERING, OR NEW MODE OF JOINING PLATES OR TUBES OF LEAD AND OTHER METALS WITHOUT SOLDER. "Autogenous soldering" is the term given by its inventor to a new method of joining one piece of metal to another without the use of any solder. The autogenous junction of metals is a phrase by which the invention might, perhaps, with more propriety be designated. But be this as it may, the invention is one of vast importance both to our chemical and engineering manufactories, and will speedily work out a name for itself, and for its inventor a distinguished reputa tion. The process consists in uniting the parts to be joined, by fusion of the metal at the points or lines of junction; so that the pieces, when joined, form one homogeneous mass, no part of which can be distinguished from the rest even by chemical analysis. And this result is obtained by means of intense jets of flame, produced by the combustion of air and hydrogen gas, and are rendered quite as manageable as more substantial tools. The inventor, Mons. E. Desbassays de Richemont obtained at the last National Exhibition of Arts at Paris, a gold medal for his invention. The committee on whose recommendation the medal was awarded, included those distinguished chemists Gay Lussac, Thenard, D'Arcet and Clement Desormes; and their report concludes in these terms :- "We consider M. Richemont's invention of the highest importance; it is applicable to many branches of industry, and will render signal service to a great number of manufactures. Its efficiency too has not only been established by experiment, but is evidenced by the fact of most of our eminent manufacturers and tradesmen having taken out licenses for the use of it." Patents have been also obtained for the process in Great Britain and Ireland, of which Mr. Charles Delbrück is the proprietor. * The invention has been put in operation by Mr. Delbrück, on the premises *The English patent which was taken out in the name of Mr. Hebert, for "Autogenous Soldering of Lead." of Messrs. Andrew Clarke and Sons, plumbers, in Southwark, where we have had the pleasure of witnessing the complete efficiency of the process, as applied to the manufacture of vessels, tanks and other articles of lead, and also sufficient to convince us of its applicability to the soldering of the harder metals. We shall now describe the apparatus as we saw it fixed and in use on Messrs. Clarke's premises. The "Chalumeau Aerhydrique"-as the inventor calls the apparatus, consists of a hydrogen gas generator or producer; a pair of bellows, or other means of supplying a current of air, either worked separately by each workman or one blowing a machine to supply a number; and a caoutchouc pipe or tube of any necessary or convenient length, with cocks to regulate the supply of air and hydrogen, and with brass jets or beaks, of various sizes and kinds, to produce flames of different shapes and sizes to work with as tools. The hydrogen gas producer is shown at fig. 1 (see front page) which is an elevation, but nearly wholly shown in section; a is a square leaden tank or vessel which is to contain sulphuric acid, diluted with seven times its bulk of water; b, a pipe, which passes from the acid vessel to another similar leaden vessel c, which is to be filled with cuttings of zinc; d is a conical plug or cork, with a stalk and handle, covered with lead, by the opening of which the dilute acid is allowed to flow through the pipe bon to the zinc cuttings, and produces hydrogen gas; e the opening by which zinc is put into the vessel c. The opening e has a cover, provided with screws and nuts, by which it may be firmly secured; f is an opening by which acid and water is poured into the vessel a. The hydrogen gas produced as just described, has to pass through the safety-chamberg; hhh is a bent tube or pipe, which conducts the gas from the vessel c to the bottom of the safety chamber, the mouth of the pipe dipping into an inch or two of water in the safetychamber. This water is introduced by the pipe i, which is provided with a cork or stopper. The cock k cuts off the flow of gas from the vessel e to the safety-chamber g. The caoutchouc pipe or tube m is screwed on to the top of the safety-chamber, and M. DE RICHEMONT'S AUTOGENOUS SOLDERING. conveys the gas to the beak, tool, or working instrument in the hand of the operator, in connection with a blast of air, as afterwards described. Gas will continue to be produced as long as the dilute acid is allowed to flow on to the zinc cuttings, and as long as the cock, allowing the gas to issue as it is produced, is open; but as soon as that is shut, a small quantity of gas accumulates, so that the liquid cannot act upon the zinc. It follows that there can be no danger of any explosion, as the production of gas is never more than is required for working; and when the work ceases, the production of the gas also ceases. When the dilute acid has become saturated with zinc, and no more gas is produced, the discharging tube is opened and the liquid taken out. By crystallization sulphate of zinc will be obtained from this residue, which may be sold at a price which will more than cover the first and daily cost of this new apparatus. That part of the apparatus with which the workman operates is shown by fig. 2. The caoutchouc pipe m is screwed on to one arm of the forked tube o; the other arm of o is attached to a pipe q, leading to a bellows, or other air-supplying instrument. Each man may work a bellows with his foot to supply himself with air, or the men in a whole factory may be supplied from a large blowing apparatus. Some such apparatus as was used to supply air to Beale's patent light would be applicable to this purpose. A cock n, regulates the supply of gas; p is a cock which regulates the supply of air; r is the pipe or tube in which the gas and air are mixed; s the beak or tool from which the jet of flame t issues, on the gas being united, and with which the workmen operates. The forked tube o is hooked to the girdle of the workman, at a convenient height, and the regulating cocks n and p are so placed that with one hand the exact proportions of air and gas may be allowed to issue. By stopping both, the flame is of course extinguished. In shutting off, the cock should be shut a few moments before the other, otherwise a slight snapping explosion will take place, but which is not at all hurtful or dangerous. The beak or tool s may be changed 547 for others of every variety of form, to produce jets of flame suitable to the work to be done. We examined a great variety. Fig. 3 is a tool which will produce a most intense flame of jets, like the rosette of a watering-pot. Fig. 4 is an instrument for producing a length of flame instead of a point; n is the hydrogen gas-pipe and cock, and p the air-pipe and cock; z, tube in which air and gas mix; u a pipe with a longitudinal slit on one side of it, and another pipe covering u, and exactly fitting over it. Gas and air issuing from the slit on being ignited, will produce a long strip of flame, which may be lengthened or shortened by sliding off or on the covering tube von the slittube v. Fig. 6 is a soldering-tool, to be used where a jet of flame is not answerable, as in joining zinc. In this the aerhydric flame keeps hot a piece of copper y, with which the work is done. w w is the tool with a hollow handle and stalk; air being supplied by the pipe p, passes through the hollow handle and stalk a is a small tube which passes down the hollow handle and stalk w, and conveys gas from the pipe n to the extremity of w, where it mixes with the issuing air, and on being ignited the flame will heat the piece of copper y (which may be of any of the shapes used in ordinary soldering tools), held by the arms z. The following exposition of the advantages attending the use of the apparatus, we translate from a pamphlet published in Paris. From the description given of the new mode of joining metals, it will be seen that the junction is necessarily secure from the chances of flaw which in the old method were occasioned by-1, the difference of expansion between the lead and its alloys with tin, a difference which is particularly felt in very cold or very clevated temperatures; 2, the electro-chemical actions which are developed under certain circumstances by the contact of two heterogeneous metallic substances;* M. M. Vauquelin and D'Arcet have seen in soap works the soldering of vats lined with lead crumble in a few days to a state of powder. The same has been remarked of leaden pipes passing through certain soils. |