5 Modern Electrical Dock-Equipment, with Special
JAN. 1911. 5 MODERN ELECTRICAL DOCK-EQUIPMENT, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ELECTRICALLY-OPERATED COAL-HOISTS. - BY MR. WALTER DIXON AND MR. GEORGE H. BASTER, Membeis, GLASGOW. OF - At the Summer Meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, held at Cardiff in July 1906, three Papers dealing with Coal Shipping and Dock Appliances were read. The general impression in these Papers, and particularly in the discussion thereon, appeared to be that hydraulic power was the only power sufficiently reliable for such appliances, and that Electricity, no matter what other fields it may enter, was certainly not suitable for dock equipments, particularly coaling-cranes and tips. A review of the history of what had already been done with electric power in docks may have justified such an impression, although as far back as 1903, Mr. Walter Pitt, in a Paper before the Institution of Civil Engineers, showed that electric jib-cranes compared very favourably on all points with those operated by hydraulics, quoting some figures obtained by Mr. Baxter, as a result of a comparison between a hydraulic crane and an electric crane at Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at The University of Melbourne Libraries on June 5, 2016 6 ELECTRICAL DOCK-EQUIPMENT. JAX. 1911. Princes Dock, Glasgow. British Dock Engineers have confined themselves very largely to electric jib-cranes and capstans, which until recently were chiefly modifications of the hydraulic type, very little original design being employed, the electrical plant being simply applied to machines already designed. The authors fully appreciate all the merits of hydraulics, and that this form of power, having been thoroughly developed, is very safe and reliable, and, excepting where frost, moving ground or other natural objections arise, is, perhaps, under favourable conditions, not inferior to electric power.
[Show full text]