The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-24 00:00:00

STEAM ON CANALS.

An attempt to adapt steam navigation to canal traffic
was made on Saturday, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal,
under the direction of Mr. Wm. Laird, general manager,
and Mr. Darlington, minine-engineer, of the Ince-hall
Coal and Cannel Company, and it was attended with the
most favourable results.

The canal is unusually favourable for such a change, the
distance from Wigan to Liverpool being 36 miles, with
only one lock. From Wigan to that lock (Appley),
distance of 5 miles, it is proposed to continue the present
system of horse-haulage, and from that point to Liver-
pool, a distance of 30 miles of level water, to use steam.
The steamer used on the ocrasion of the trial was the'
Conqueror, belonging to Mr. Inshaw, engineer, of Bir-
mingham, the first vessel of the kind that has ever an-
swered for canal passenger-traffic, and which has nov.,
made a most successful trial in connexion with canal coal-
traffic. She proceeded from Liverpool to Appley-lock on
Friday, with several empty barges, accomplishing a speed
of about 4 miles an hour ; and returned from Appley-lock
on Saturday, with four loaded coal barges, containing 40
tons each, or 160 tons in all, towing them at the rate of 2
to 21 miles per hour, with great ease : the engine in the
tug being only 6 horses power, and the tug a passenger
boat adapted for light work and high speed. Ti
cylinders of the engine are 6 inches diameter, with 10
inches stroke ; the screws are two in number, one on
each side of the rudder, each 23 inches diameter.
These worked most satisfactorily, there being a total
absence of the swell which has hitherto proved so detri-
mental to the banks, and which has been the chief
obstacle to the adaptation of steam-power to canal traffic.
There was not, in fact, more eddy than what is produced
by the usual mode of haulage, the peculiar construction
of the right-and-left-hand screws preventing a disturb-
ance of water at the sides of the vessel, and propelling her
gently through the water with a total absence of vibration.
The boiler is a tubular one, which is considered the
most improved principle for high pressure, and is so con-
structed as to consume its own smoke. The average
speed obtained, with 160 tons of coal in tow, was two-
, and-a-half miles, which is as high a rate as the company
are desirous of accomplishing, their chief object being to
prevent fraud, and to secure regularity in the conveyance
of the coal, in order that the large quantities which are
now shipped from Liverpool may be brought into the
town with the necessary despatch.
The present trial was made chiefly with a view to
satisfy the directors of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
that the adaptation of steam to canal traffic would not
damage their property, but rather increase its value, inas-
much as it would afford facilities which would tend to
expand the trade, and, as a matter of course, add to their
already tolerably good dividends. Mr. Birkbeck. of
Settle, director of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Com-
pany ; Mr. Tatham, secretary ; and Mr. Stanley, engi-
neer of the same company, witnessed the trial, and
appeared so well satisfied with the result that they have
arranged with Mr. Inshaw for further experiments, for
the purpose of giving other directors of the company an
opportunity of fully testing the advantages to be derived
,
from this novel mode of conveying minerals by their
canal.
thus
The practical result of the experiment 3' coal
be
e
stated :—The present cost of haulage of 40
by horse power from Wigan to Liverpool is 60s e., or,
o
per ton, 100. By steam power the towing boat wuld
engine
be one of the ordinary canal-boats, carrying an erigl
and boiler of twelve horse-power ; at her after end the
weight of wheel would not exceed five tons, leaving space
for stowage of a
Cargo of coals weighing...
....
Four boats following, carrying 40 tons each, equal 160 u_
may

Total..
Allowing three days for going to and from the colliery,
thirty-six miles there and thirty-six back, or seventy-two
miles altogether, in as many hours, the boats would make
two trips per week, instead of two trips in three weeks, as
at present, and would deliver in Liverpool, weekly, 390 tons-
Total weekly expenses £7 45., incurred in delivery of 39a
tons of coal, being equal to a rate of Qd. per ton, and the
cost Ly horse haulage per ton being 10-id., the saving Is
6d. per ton ; but this is not the only saving, as Mr. Laird
proposes the application of a drum to the engine to make
the boat engine discharge, by the assistance of cranes,
each of the boats' cargoes into the yards, or into ships at
Liverpool, thus effecting a further saving in terminal ex-
penses.

The experiment was witnessed by Mr. Barton, of the
firm of Barton and Windus, coal proprietors of Liver-
pool ; Mr. Kegg, of the Kirldees-hall Coal Company ;
Mr. Braithwaite Poole, general goods manager of the
London and Northwestern Railway Company ; Mr. In-
shaw and his son, the owners of the Conqueror ; Mr.
Smith, of the firm of Alexander Smith and Sons ; Mr.
Murray, and other gentlemen interested in the success of
the experiment. _ _ _

Mr. Braithwaite Pcole made some valuable practical
suggestions, one of which was, that, in order to afford
facilities for largely increasing canal traffic, the company
should construct double lines of railway on each side of
the canal, and use locomotives upon them for the pur-
pose of superseding the present unsatisfactory mode of
haulage, which is open to so much abuse.

FATAL FALL.—On Thursday, J. T. Schwaar, a Ger-
man, who was about to emigrate in the ship Stephen
Clifford, lying in the Bramley-Moore Dock, fell from
between decks into the lower hold of that vessel, and
received such injuries that he died before he could be
conveyed to the Northern Hospital.
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PROPULSION.—The models
of inventions patented by Mr. Joseph Burch, of Craghall,
near Macclesfield, which have been exhibited during the
last few days in the Exchange Newsroom, have been
regarded with great interest and attention by merchants
and shipowners generally. The first invention consists of
a new form of stern ; a kind of conical tail being formed
to the vessel, commencing about one-third of the way
from the stern, arid gradually diminishing and terminat-
ing pointedly, or wedge-shaped, upon or about the stern-
post. This alteration is below and up to the level of the
load water-line, the upper or quarter-deck being continued
to the counter after the usual manner. The object of
adapting this fish-like termination to the mainhold of the
ship, is to introduce a new form of propeller, which is
placed in that portion of the converging " buttock"
where a perfect circle is formed. The propeller acts upon
the water obliquely on the screw principle ; the inventor's
object in adopting this form, in conjunction with the new
stern, being to prevent the waste of power which screw-
propellers, having their axes exposed to the backward-
current, produce. There are four kinds of propellers
shown in the models. One has an arrangement for draw-
ingvessel is at anchor or under sail, the fins being made to
the " fin blades" into the
obliquitywuplarrl:oi
lepentehtil
nleeyar
neomt case,he.er
gr whene;
formothers
mdrfie e:noacp(skalasedsnulimui
models, therefore,
thsd theirethhr eeufi
lor itselfrs
wept:orofoar
trkpsieeilhner
gpopsauc:nowsi il
constructed
when the, vessel is
at anchor or under sail. The third part of Mr. Burch's
invention consists in adopting a new form of bows. sterns,
uctchtee
d viewthaotf t attaining
transverse
high speeds, and preventing shipments of the sea. His
frame of the vessel's hull appears tubular, elliptical, or-
eggshaped amidships, terminating towards the bows and
stern in a conoidal point, or narrow ellipsis. The bow-
lines are brought to an exceedingly fine point, diminishing
in width both above and below the water-line; and the'
decks are covered over so as to continue the elliptic out-
line. The appearance of the vessel when voyaging will be-
similar to that of a fish with its back out of water; and as
the greatest breadth will be about the water-line, diminish-
ing upwards to a curved roof, it is calculated that the vessel
will pass through the crest of the wave, and eventually
rise out of it without shipping a sea. Such a steamer,
with the improved propeller, Mr. Burch calculates would
make twenty-five miles an hour. A fourth and important
part of these inventions, is the division of the vessel into,
two distinct parts, one of which, occupying the space ore
the quarter and after-decks, may he released, in cases of
fire or shipwreck, from the parent vessel, and already
equipped as it is with cabins, berths, and stores, will serve
as a medium of escape. These detachable vessels are
also adapted for exploratory expeditions in shallow river?!
where vessels of large bulk could not act. The inomodel:have not, we believe, been actually tried.' The subje.ct:
however, is one highly important ; and the invention
worthy of careful attention on the part of those concernfd.
in the promotion of steam enterprises. One set of
models is, we understand, to be forwarded to America.
BLAIR'S GOUT AND RHEUMATIC PlLLS.—Extract f
a letter, written by John Molard Wheeler, Esq., Collector
of Customs, Jamaica, having been handed by his brother,
at Swindon, to Mr. Prout, for publication :—" jet
you have never had occasion to take Blair's Pills, but „,
me emphatically tell you, in mercy to any friend.who,rDeati'..
suffer from gout, rheumatic gout, lumbago, sciatios!,rf to
matism, or any branch of that widely-allied family'
recommend their using them. In this country thery_
01
of wonderful €fficacv ; not only am I personally aws.,..ere.
their powers, but I See my friends and acquaints_nric'! be
ceivine, unfailing benefit from their use. I would Stage
without them on any account. if taken in the early
otherprout
,m2e2a9r: means
Strand,withi
oalfledviisaetaesepaitnh,eyanddiseiffpeactteaimt
uaelhtosgpeethederie:r
cure
;en
thaatne:2l,o_,..vtris'ney:
respectable fie"
vendors throughout the kingdom.
Lmoyn dkor; anded ebc allS orelds

DLIS.

al traffic
ICanal,
tanager,
nee-hall
xith the

nge, the
es, with
pley),
present
) Liver
:team.
was the'
of Bir-
ver an-
as now
ial coal-
lock on
a speed
ey-!ock
aing 40
ate of 2
e in the
sseneer

with 10
one on
ameter•
a total
o detri-
e chief
traffic•
•oduced
ruction
listurb-
ing her
)ration•
.ed the
so con-
Iverage
Ls two-
,lnpanY
ping to
,eyence
ich are
ito the

iew to
Canal
ild not
inns-
end to
o their
ck, of
1 Coal-
, env-
', and
v have
,ts, for
iny an
terived
r their

e thus
" coals-
,d., or,
would
engine
nd the
space

5 tons
i 0
5 tons
)IlierY,
Ly.tWO
make
.ks, as
D tons-
of 390
rid the
ring is
Laird
make
vanes,
lips at
ial ex-

)f the
Liver-
pany ;
Df the
r. In-
; Mr-
; Mr.
!ess of

cti cal
afford
npanr
ide of
pur-
Dde of

Ger-
?phew
from.
I, and
ild b 6