The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-22 00:00:00

THE LEVIATHAN.

The following letter has been addressed to the
editor ofthe Times :

Sir,—l have re'ided many years at St. Petersburg.
Among the • plendid monument. of that magnificent city
I , feen gazed with admiration on the noble statue of
Peter the Great. There, in the centre of the immense
space of Isaace's Place, it stands in its simple grandeur
the eqre-trian statue of the Czar, on the summit of an
enormous block of granite, bearing the appropriate in-
scriptien, " retro Piimo, Catherina Secunda''—a reml-
nis, once of the great Czarina of the illustrious founder
of the capital.
Vi •wing the, mighty mass of solid rocks as it stands
about 100 yards from the banks of the Neva I wondered
how it got there, and was stimulated by curiosity to
ascertain wba were the mechanical contrivances em-
ployed to transfer the huge bulk from its native bed in
Finlani to its present site.
Through an official friend I obtained access to the
archives in the Museum of St. Petersburg, and learnt
the lollowing particulars :
This mass of rock, which is the hardest red granite of
the greatest specific grai,ity, was cut from a quarry close
to the north shore of the Gulf of Finland at a certain
eli,vation above the level water, arid lowered gradually
down an inclined plane on a raft built to receive it.
In this operation there was no difficulty. The inclination
was sufficiently steep to admit of the block sliding
down a well-greased way by gravitation. The rserainirg
power required in the shape of check-tackle was of the
simplest kind. The rock was then floated up the Heva
to a point in the river opposite its intended site ; here
commenced the operations of propelling the enormous
mass—of moving the monster rock—to the spot it was
to occupy, a distance treater than that the big ship
has to be moved on its ways. The actual weight to be
shifte no doubt, was much less than that of the
Leviathan, but still it was a mighty mass to move, and
it had to be conveyed up, inst,ad of down, an inclined
plane, and therefore the resistance to be overcome was
proportionally increased.
This undertaking at the time was looked upon as a
groat mechanical Seat, and it excited among engineers
and scientific men of the day as much interest as the
launching of the monster ship at the present time.
Crowds attended to witness the proceedings, which pro-
grassed from day today with systematic regularity, until
terminated with complete success.

The end to be att;ined, namely, propelling and con-
trolling the movements of a great body of enormous
weight, lying the same in both cases, there is a parallel
h,tween them which makes it interesting, and perhaps
instructive, to describe the mechanical contrivances re-
sorted to to drag the rock from the river to the place
where it now stands—a man el to those who look upon it.
The only mechanical power used was the capstan,
worked by men with handspikes, just as the anchor of
a ship is lifted. But the peculiar feature of the sr-
rangerntntm, and which insured their success, was the
multiplication of the lines of traction ; and I cannot
but think it affords a hint, which ought not to be
thrown away on the engineers who have so long striven
in vain to produce forces sufficiently great to move the
Leviathan and control its movements with matheina-
Veal precision—a problems; however, which their united
skill ought by this time to have solved.

T o pa the
by rollers,
rock in
iwt-trijet a
the
esid i n
cre a friction,sv4
relieved
resistance caused by the ascent up the inclined plane,
were calculated, and the motive force required was as-
certained.- To obtain an amount of power in excess of
that force 50 powerful capstans, each worked by 20 men
and hauling on its own cable, were employed. The
whole of tile active operations were under the orders of
an Eeglish admiral--I believe Greig—then in the service
of the Russian Empress. By beat of drum the working
of the capstans were regulated, and at every roll the
granite block, put in motion by the strain on 50 diffe-
rent cedes, attached to as many points of traction, was
advanced a predetermined distance, and gradually moved
up to its foundation without accident. There was no
breaking of tackle, as there probably would have been
if the force of the 50 capstans had been concentrated on
one cable, whatever might have been its strength.
Tile noticeable point in this mode of proceeding is the
distribution of the forces employed and the subdivision
of labour. That adopted with the Leviathan is precisely
the reverse ; it is the accumulation and concentration
of forces on a few points, producing an amount of strain
which no materials moulded by human hand, can resist.
Hence we hear of iron chains of gigantic dimensions
snapping like glass, iron hydraulic cylinders and pipes of
immense strength bursting, solid iron drums crushing
like paper, and strong beams of timber doubling up. So
ales) it is 'pith the fulcrums, whether anchors of the most
1 powerful make or masses of piles driven deep into the
ground, they all yield to the action of concentrated forces.
Now, it would seem that, if the same principle as that
above described as having been successfully applied to
move the monumental block of stone were adopted for
the launching of the Leviathan, the difficulties which
have so I,mg puzzled the engineers employed in that
attempt would disappear. Let them multiply their
lines by traction. Instead of accumulating the forces
iii two or three point. only, and using two or three
°Lvu cables of enormous strength, let them increase the
number of both ten or twenty fold and diminish the
weight and cost of the latter in proportion. The condi-
tions cf the operation wil be changed, the enormous
and overwhelming expenditure and wear and t-ar of
mechanical forces and materials will cease, and brought
within reasonable and manageable bounds. For instance
we hane been told that the strain upon a particular
chain was equal to a pressure of 200 tons, and, as if to
boast of the destructive power of the force, the sudden
snappiog of the reatisive links was related as an interest-
ing incident. If, instead of this one force or concentra-
tion of forces at one point, and to one chain only, 20
distinct and separate forces had been brought to bear on
f odri !fee rheandt
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been equal to 20 tons initead of 200 tons, the materials
of each machine and chain having only to resist 1-10th
of the force before used would, at a greatly diminished
expense, resist that force, while the aggregate force ap
plied would be doubled, as 20 times 20 tons would give
a force of 400 instead of 20'I tons.
In hauling upon a chain for the purpose of traction
the strain or tension is in the ratio of the force employed.
If the force exceed the resisting strength the chain will
break. A disregard of this law has been the cause of the
repeated failures with the Leviathan.
[ As my object is only to enunciate a principle
I will not
, at present go into any details of its application. They
. hitherto employed, readilybehamvuecchomstosrenchva
' money and produced such inaduquate results.
The great advantage of the plan above recommended
is, tbat the mode of applying it being arranged the forces
are self
st
sums
aghott
into operation than the stupendous mechanical means
evident, and
can be multiplied ad libitum, at a comparatively small
expense until the aggregate amount of power to over
. come the ris inertia of the ship is obtained.—Your obe.
dient Servant, Gao. CLAUS.
64, Trinity-square, Southwark.