The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-07-05 00:00:00

SMITH'S PATENT WIRE-ROPE, FOR STANDING
RIGGING, MINES, RAILWAYS, &c:

We had_ occasion to no

last year. the wire-rope in

veinuu uy ti.nurew smith, civil engineer, of London, as a
substitute for hemp and other substances in the manufacture
of ropes, bands, &c., for cables, the rigging of ships, light-
ning conductors, railway, mining, and other purposes,—
having at the time seen various sizes of it tested at the cor-
poration machine, for ascertaining. the strength of chain-
cables in this town, with results that excited the astonishment
of all present who witnessed its extraordinary strength,
combined with its much smaller size and weight, as compared
with hempen cordage; and the opinion we then entertained
of its great superiority is now fully confirmed by the subse-
quent experience of its application in numerous instances, in
the navy and in many large :team-vessels, as well as in mines
and on railways. We have before as a pamphlet on the sub-
ject by Mr. Smith himself, and it is due to him to state, that
his own observations occupy a comparatively small portion
of its pages—by much the greater part being authentic
reports and testimonials from experienced officers connected
with the navy and the mercantile marine, and from scientific
gentlemen connected with the mining, railway, and general
interests of the country. As we live in the second seaport
in Britain, and have, therefore, naturally our maritime in-
terests more at heart, we shall address ourselves more par-
ticularly to' the advantages of the iron wire rope for standing
rigging and lightning conductors for ships—being convinced
that if it be acknowledged to be peculiarly adapted for ocean
purposes, it must be of equal efficiency for numerous services
on lcrra firma.

In his introduction, our author says,—" Of all materials,
in any form, yet known, iron wire, in proportion to its
weight and si▪
ze, possesses by far the greatest strength or
tenacity. This is produced in consequence of the important
change the material undergoes by the chemical and mechan-
ical processes. of transforming it from a 'rod' into a wire.'
By means of annealing in a close retort, heated by charcoal,
and repeated in proportion to the number of ' holes' the
' wire' is drawn through, or its reduction in size, from the
commencement of abont 5-Ifiths in diameter, until it arrives,
say at sixteen wire-guage,' which is 1-16th of an inch in
diameter, it wi▪ ll become 25 times longer than it originally
was, and about three times stronger; or, in other words, it
will possess three times its former tenacity. Thus, there is
a great increase in strength by the process of manufacture;
and nature has set no limit to the quantity of raw material,
for it seems unbounded, and we possess more of it in this
country than would supply all the known world."
On this last remark we may observe, that it conveys a gra-
tification analogous to that which we have elsewhere this day
expressed relative to the introduction of iron in the building
of the hulls of vessels—on the supposition (hitherto uncontra-
dieted) that we have not a sufficient quantity of good sizeable
English oak for that purpoSe. It is even more clearly 'appa-
rent, that we have not a sufficient supply of hemp for the
rigging of our ships, nearly the whole of which is derived
from Russia, and must be paid for in hard cash, "so that
(to use the simple but emphatic language of two distinguished
Parsee travellers, quoted by our author) if iron-wire can
produce ropes even as good as hemp, all that money will
spread itself usefully over England, from the hard-working
man through the shopkeeper, and do much good." Mr.
Smith, in adducing various testimonials and reports from the
Admiralty, the mercantile service, the mining companies,
&c., together with the comparative strength, weight, size, and
price of the two materials, expresses a hope that " in a na-
tional point of view, the country will derive as much advan-
tage as he does pleasure in being the humble instrument of
converting part of the inexhaustible mineral resources of our
country into a useful manufacture, as a substitute for the
foreign and expensive vegetable matter, for which we receive
no return."

There are two points, in addition to the greater strength
of iron-wire rope, and its smaller weight as used for the
standing rigging of ships, which we consider of great im-
portance, and these are, that it costs less in an outfit, and
that from its being much less in size than hempen rope to
attain the same strength, it requires much less displacement
in vessels having to encounter contrary winds. The follow-
ing extract from a letter addressed by Mr. Smith to Captain
Sir W. Symonds, R.N. (surveyor of the navy), affords a
complete illustration of its superiority in these respects :
" 1 perceive, from the navy list, the number of ships in
commission, and from Edye's valuable book " On the Equip-
ment and Displacement of Ships of War," I find that the
weight of standing rigging now fitted and afloat in the navy
is about 7000 tons ; and taking the price of Ittmpen ropes at
£46 per ton, the value of a first outfit for the whole of the
navy will be £322,000 ; upon which, by using my wire-rope
for the same purpose, a saving would be effected 0f£107,333
(Vide Report), without taking into consideration the more
than triple time that wire-rope will last. It will also he ob-
served, by Mr. Tinmouth's Report, that the wire-rope only
exposes two-fifths of the surface to the wind, thus rendering
ships rigged with wire to those with hemp less leewardly.
From th Report it appears that 23031b5. of hempen ropes,
thus applied, expose a surface of 1261 square feet to the wind,
whereas the wire-rope, possessing strength as 801 wire is to
631 hemp, exposes only 511 square feet; and as the whole
surface of hempen standing rigging now fitted ,in the navy
exposes (according to the above calculation) a surface of
860,000 square feet, whereas the wire-rope has only one of
344,000 square feet, leaving a difference in favour of wire-
rope of 529,000,112 square feet ; and allowing the mean force
of the wind to be Illb. upon the square foot, the power saved
on a leeway would be equal to about 4000-horse power, or
equal to the canvas of more than the whole of the sails of
twenty-four frigates, and the displacement saved would be
about 3500 tons, which would be equal to about 700-horse
power, making a saving in all of 4700-horse power; and if
this is called money, by charging £2O per horse, it will be a
saving of about £100,000; and with the £105,000, being the
difference of the first cost of an outfit, it makes a total of
above £200,000 every three years."

From the authentic statistical accounts given, it appears to
be fully proved that the wire-rope is at once lighter, stronger,
more durable when protected by but slight attention from
the weather, and much cheaper than hempen rope. We can
state, of our own knowledge, that it has been used for years,
in standing rigging in some of our finest steam-vessels in par-
ticular, and has given the greatest satisfaction. Amongst the
vessels of our own port that have been fitted with it, (some
of them four years ago,) we may instance the Great Liver-
pool and the Oriental, the Prince and Prince,—large steam-
ships; the Erin-go-Bragh steamer, now I(ll,l,ing on the
Lower Shannon ; the iron sailing-ship John Garrow, of LlD-
wards of 900 tons burthen, and a number of other smaller
vessels. The commanders of all these vessels speak most
favourably of its efficiency and durability, a„,, testify to the
fact that even on long voyages it never requires the trouble
of being again set up, as it stands as tight as a fiddle string
for years. As lightning conductors it has long been used in
many ships in the navy, and is found to be most effectual.

DEATH BY -.AN OVER-DOSE ,OF LAUDANUM, OF
A FEMALE IN A DERANGED STATE OF. MIND.

Yesterday an inquest was held, before Mr. Curry, borough
coroner, on view of the body of Anne Wright. As the case
is one of a painful and extraordinary nature, we furnish the
principal points of the evidence :
James M`Quillan said, he worked at a livery stable in Seel-
street, and that on Sunday afternoon, between one and two
o'clock, he saw a woman coming down Seel-street, staggering
as if intoxicated. She walked into the stable, and threw her-
self down in a stall. He lifted her up, and found she was
unable to stand. He asked her if she had been drinking, and
she said she had had twopennyworth of rum, and that she
belonged to Cheshire. He placed her down in the stall
again, and she soon after appeared to be insensible. He
soon after saw a police-officer, and, with assistance, she was
taken to Hotham-street bridewell, where he afterwards saw
her. She appeared much changed. He left her there, and
had not since seen her.

John Deeves, police-officer, deposed to taking the deceased
to the station. She was then insensible.
The keeper of the bridewell said, he received the deceased,
and had her attended to, and placed on a mattrass. Assist-
ance was sent for to the Eastern Dispensary, and the surgeon
attended, and used such means as he considered proper to
restore her. Two other surgeons, from the South Dispen-
sary, afterwards came, and remained two hours, paying her
every attention, but she did not recover, and died about nine
o'clock the same evening.

-- 0-
A female servant, in the service of Mr. Sims, publican,
Berry-street, said, that about nine o'clock on Sunday morn-
ing the deceased came to their house, and asked for two-
pennyworth of rem, which she gave her. She seemed much
tired, and very sleepy, and asked for a bed. She paid for
the rum and water, and remained about half an hour. After
she had gone, witness, while clearing out the ashes in the
grate, heard a rattle like glass, and, on looking under the
grate, found the two bottles produced. One was labelled
Laudanum. J. Walker, dispensing chemist, 50, Mount-
pleasant, Liverpool;" and the other, 6` Laudanum—Poison.
T. A. Titherington, dispensing chemist, Oxford-street,
Abercromby-square, Livtrpool."
Mr. Edwin Edwards, house-surgeon of the Eastern Dis-
pensary, said, he was called to the deceased at half-past one
o'clock, at Hotham-street bridewell. He found her insensi-
ble, and her face and throat much congested, and of a purple
colour, stertorous breathing, quick pulse, and great throbbing
of the vessels. He was with her when she died, and was of
opinion that death was caused by an an over-dose of lauda-
num, of which she must have taken a large quantity.
Mr. Daniel Heyward, apprentice to Mr. Walker, druggist,
Mount-pleasant, said, at a quarter past nine on Sunday
morning deceased came to the shop, and asked for two ounces
of laudanum. I asked her who it was for. She replied it,
was for Mr. Wilkinson, of Chesnut-street. Knowing Mr.
Wilkinson to be a customer, and thinking there was no risk,
I let her have it. She paid me for the two ounces. The
empty bottle produced is the same into which I put it. I
have to-day seen the body of the deceased, and recongnize
it to be that of the same woman. I observed nothing par-
ticular in her appearance, except that I thought her a servant
girl. I have been about four years with Mr. Walker. It is
not customary at our shop to sell quantities of laudanum so
large as two ounces to a stranger. Mr. Wilkinson's servant
never on any occasion came before for medicine; it was ge-
nerally Mr. Wilkinson himself, or some of his children.
The Rev. Thomas Fisher Redhead, of Rock Ferry, said,—
I have known deceased and her family for a number of years.
They were formerly parishioners of mind, and I took great
interest in their welfare. The family had met with some re-
verses of fortune, which, together with physical disease,
brought on a depression of spirits, for which she occasionally
resorted to the use of small quantities of laudanum. I saw
her on Wednesday last, and 1 then considered her so entirely
deranged, that I recommended her to be taken to Chester,
to the asylum of Dr. Jones. On Saturday last, as I under-
stand, she went there accompanied by her father and mother,
and that she made her escape from them, and was not seen
afterwards until intelligence was brought that she had taken
poison. She was of th most amiable disposition.
James Wright, a respectable looking farmer, said :—The
deceased was my daughter, and her age was thirty-four. For
the last seventeen months she has been in a state of mental
derangement, and on the advice of the Rev. Mr. Redhead, I
took her on Saturday last, accompanied by my wife, to con-
sult Dr. Jones, of Chester. Whilst Dr. Jones left the de-
ceased in a room for the purpose of asking me some ques-
tions about her, she made her escape. Dr. Jones left us
to call the deceased to us, and he discovered that she had
left the apartment. Every search was made for her, but we
never afterwards saw her alive. I got information yesterday
that she had been seen wandering about the streets in Liver-
pool, and my son came over. 1 have since seen and recog-
nized her body at the dead-house.
The Coroner, in addressing the jury, said that he had him-
self not the slightest doubt but that the deceased had died
from taking an unusually large quantity of laudanum. The
evidence spewed that she had purchased no less than two
ounces at one place of that deleterious drug. The next ques-
tion they had to consider was whether the deceased was of
unsound mind at the time she took it. That she was de-
ranged, and had been so for some time, was as little a matter
of doubt. He could not, however, allow the case to go for
their consideration, without some remarks on the furnishing
of the deceased with the two ounces of laudanum in Mount
Pleasant. The young man Heyward had stated that he had
been an apprentice for about four years with Mr. Walker,
and that the only caution be had received from his employer,
with respect to dispensing poisono-ts drugs, was not to sell
them to strangers. A stronger caution would have been bet-
ter; and it was decidedly highly improper in the young man
to sell so large a quantity to the deceased, particularly as he
admitted that Mr. 'Wilkinson never sent his servant for drugs.
He hoped the melaucholY result would be a warning to the
witness as long as he lived. He did not, however, assume
that the calamity would have been averted had he refused to
supply the laudanum' for another bottle had been found, also
containing the same dangerous liquid, purchased elsewhere ;
but that bottle was not only marked " laudanum," but
poison," which the other was not. He thought that in all the word
cases of supplying such drugs, 64 poison" should
be conspicuously written or printed on the label. With
these remarks he left the case in the hands of the jury, who