The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-12-31

Victor Emanuel Railroad will traverse The whole breadth
OF the Alps, beneatting not only the Immediately ad
Joining provinces, but eifecng chain Of transportation
IN which the whole of Central Europe il interested
There have been many plans for this supcndous work
is generally conceded that the most available i
through the pass Of Mont Gents, from Modane, snail
town in Savoy to Bardonneche, another small town
the south side OF the Alps in Piedmont And at the pre-
else point of the pass selected the two valleys OF the Arc
and Dora in which these towns situated aleve
the one, however, having plane descending from east
TO west and the other from west to east At the point of
passage the Mont Gents about thirteen kilometres deep
so as to render impraccable any design sink shafts
as to work the tunnel at various points But, even
supposing this could be done, it estimated
that the present facility for boring tunnels would
not enable the completion Of the work in less than
forty-six years Then it was feared that plan
could be found for supplying the immense length Of
the subterranean cavern with air. For many years
these objections have deferred the serious consideration of
the work at all feasible But of late years there has
been much attention paid to the subject, and the sar
dnian government has appointed commission to invest
gate the propositions Of several engineers.
AS early as 1S49, NJ. Mauss, Belgian engineer, pro
posed to the Sandman government plan for the tunnel
commencing simultaneously at different points But the
sace. II was proposed to drill, by means Of water
power horizontal Slices which be burst with
wedges. One commission appointed by the Sandman
approved this plan; but the loss Of power
employing such long hose and the air question, pre-
vented the contamination of NJ Mauss's plan.
Six years later, M. Colladon, Of Geneva presented
plan on the principle OF compressed air, used at the
same time for power and ventilation, and about the
same time Mr.. Thomas Bartlett, Of the engineers
the Victor Emanuel road invented ingenious machine
for perforating rocks. first considered imposs
steam
idea suggested that the compressed air idea OF Mr.
Coladon's invention would be OF in producing ma
chine which would drive Mr.. Bartlett drills and supply
the needed ventilation.
This desideratum was accomplished by three Sandman
engineers Messrs Grandis, Grattone and Sommeiller,
who invented machine for perforatng the rock ventat
ing the tunnel and clearing away the rubbish, which
full of water Of twenty metrcs il has been possible TO
compress at amospheres II is easy to conjecture
how this immense force may be used in blasting and blow
ing the rubbish and be applied to all the arts OF the
borer and miner.
number Of eminent biologists attenvey studied
the ground and coincide in the report that quazne alone
offers great resistance perforaton and the of
this 10 be bored is not Of considerable size The results Of
the extended experiments made by the commission of the
Sardnian that at distance Of half
the length Of the tunnel force OF six atmospheres Is
duccd TO but about atmosphere and third with the
ordinary machine. This force would be amply sufficient
for the work and the question Of supplying air is set
rest at the time The power thus gained applied
TO Mr. Baretts machine and the success of the substtu
ton Of air power for steam complete as II
also when applied to perforatoIs
The effect of this invention upon mining in general
well upon this particular project will be most beneficial
II has been estimated that the ordinary time required in
mining operations is threequarters for boring and
quarter for blasting and clearing; must be evident,
therefore, that the acceeraton Of the boring by
this machine greatly tends diminish the required time
for completing the work The pcrfoators occupy little
space that eighteen may be placed where only three
couples of miners could work
In order to facilitate the work il has been decided to
bore the great tunnel gallery second smaller
10 facilitate the removal rubbish. The larger will fol
low the smaller at distance Of about 200 metres. In this
Of operation the projectors estimate their ability
TO complete the work in six years They propose TO ad
per day while under the old method but
half metre could be gained.
The total length OF the tunnel would be twelve and
half kilometres The gallery at opposite inclnations
from the centre, TO facilitate the draining from the south
mouth. The grade in distance of $50 metres, To
the depth Of 1856 metres and again in distance Of $50
metres deseends 100 metres. The summit OF the noun
tain will be 500 metres the highest point OF the
tunnel The surplus compressed air and all, after hay
ing served motive power for the machines, will serve
TO ventiate the gallery. Near Bardonreche there
several torrents which dry up, which will furnish
all the necessary power while Modane there the
rapid torrent Of the Arc which has than the requ
site power.
The completion OF this work will enable the traveller
20 from Paris 10 Turin in twenty-five hours and from
Paris 10 Milan ia twenty-seven. This rate n speed in
comparison the present aborous and dangerous method
Of travelling, will be quite much advance will be
the Atlantic telegraph upon periodical and frequent
arrival OF European steamers.