The Improvement of the River Clyde and Harbour of Glasgow, 1873-1914.” by Sir THOMASMASON, Assoc
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Associate &‘embers-continued. DUDLEYVINCENT JOYCE. i I~EGINALD CAMPBELLRATTRAY, B. A. ALAS WILFRID LADSER, Stud. Inst. 1 (Cantab.), Stud.Inst. C.E. C. E. MAURICEAUGUSTUS RAVEXOR. JOHNBORRIE MCCULLOCHMCNAB, HARRYRIGBY. Stud. Inst. C.E. ROBERTHENRY PRICE 1tONAYXE. JULIUSJOSEPH XAPER. GEORGEPOWELL SCOTT. JOHNMEENAX. HERBERTSERRIDCR. GEOFFREYH~NRY JENNER MELLSOP. I JOHNWILFRID STADDON,Stud. Inst. WILLIAMbfILLAR, B.E. (Ireland). C.E. HUGHEDMUND MOFPATT. i ARNOLDALFRED PRICE DUNBARSTONE. LIOFELDUNCAN MORISON. CHARLESHENRY WARREN. l TVILLlAM LANCSTOSNEWSEAM. l HAROLDWATKINSON. ~%TILLIAXiALEXANDER NITEN. JAMESTHOMAS WICKHAM. THOMASWALKER NOTT, M.A. (Ca7~-’ EDTARDWALTER WILLETT. tub.). FRANKLEWIS WILLIAMS. WILLIAXERNEST PARKER, Stud. Inst. DETAPOORA JAYASENAWIXALASU- C.E. RENDRA. (Paper No. 4141.) The Improvement of the River Clyde and Harbour of Glasgow, 1873-1914.” By Sir THOMASMASON, Assoc. Inst. C.E. THE last account of the River Clyde presented to The Institut’ionl was thatby the late Mr. James Deas, Engineer of the Clyde Navigation, read in May, 1873, and the purpose of this Paper is to sketch the progress of the works from that date until now. This period is, however, so long that space will not permit of dealing in detail with all the workswhich have been executed. Briefly, thestate of matters in 1873 was thatthe river, from Glasgow to the sea at Port Glasgow, had an average depth of 15 to 18 feet at low water, and 25 to 28 feet at high water of spring- tides, while the largest vessel navigating the river had a draught of 22 feet;the total quayage of theharbour was 6,410 yards in 1engt)h; thewater-area was 76 acres ; there was onlyone small dock or basin(Kingston dock) ; the quantity of goods imported and exported amounted to 2,236,925 tons; the tonnage of vessels arriving at and departing from the harbour was 4,392,402 tons; and the revenue amounted to&182,907. Fig. 1, Plate 1, shows byheavy lines all works executedsince 1873, except deepening and widening under water. .~~. .. ~~ ~-~ ~~~~~~~~ Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. xxxvi, p. 124. Downloaded by [ RICE UNIVERSITY] on [13/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 102 MASON ON IMPROVEMENT OF THE RIVER CLYDE[Minutes of DOCKS,QUAYS AND OTIIER WORKS. In 1873 the principal works, authorized and under construction, were: the first public graving-dock, now called No. 1 graving-dock, and Stobcross dock, subsequently named Queen’s dock. No. 2 Gracing-Dock (Figs. 2, Plate l).-The graving-dock was authorizedby Act of 1868, and opened in 1875. Thegeneral dimensionsare shown inthe Figures. The entrance is provided withaship caisson. The dock isdrained by four centrifugd pumps, each placed in a well in which there is a vertical spindle, at the lower end of which a pnmp fan is fixed, while the upper end is connected with a pair of horizontal, direct-acting, double-cylinder engines, with cylinders 14 inches in diameter and 15 inches stroke. Thc pumps raise the water in the wells to such a height that it flows awayby gravity into tl~eriver.. Theoriginal boilers have been superseded,and steam is now obtainedfrom three steel cylindrical multitubular boilers, each 11 feet in diameter by 12 feet inlength, with two furnaces, the working-pressure being 90 ‘lbs. persquare inch. The dock containsabout 6,000,000 gitllons, and thepumps can discharge this in about 2 hours.The costof the dock and equipment, excluding land, was %134,867. Porkhill wharf, which was authorized along with the graving- dock in 1868, was completed in 1873, and it and the ground behind mere dedicatedto the timber-trade, which previouslyhad been accommodated on the riverside ground lying between the Queen’s dock and the river. Qzwen’8 Dock (Figs. 3, Plate l).-Stobcross dock, now called Queen’s dock, was sanctioned in 1870, and included a diversion of thePointhouse Road round the dock. Thesame Act authorized the construction of a riverside quay, about 800 yards in length, on the north side of the harbour, now calledStobcross quay, and of another quay, about 700 yards in length, on the south side of the 11arFour, now called Plantation quay. The first portionof Plantation quay (Fig.4a, Plate l),403 yards in length, had already been completed, but it was not until 1874-75 thatthe last portion was addedto the harbour accommodation. Here it may be noted that at Plantation quay the systemof cylinder foundations was firstadopted in Glasgow harbour.The cylinders were l2 feet in diameter, formed with brickwork rings2 feet 6 inches in depth, and2 feet 4 inches in thickness, built uponS platform and brought forward for putting together. They werejoined together by a “tongue” formed on one cylinder, fitting into a groove on the adjoining cylinder. The bottom of the cylinder was furnished with Downloaded by [ RICE UNIVERSITY] on [13/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Proceedings.] AND IIARUOUR OF GLASGOW. 103 a cast-iron shoe 4 feet 6 inches deep. The cylinders were built in a trench, cut out to about the levelof low water, and were sunk by excavators or diggersremoving the material from the inside. TO assist inthe sinking, special cast-ironweights wereemployed. After being sunk until the heads were at a level of about 1 foot 8 inches above low mater, cast-iron lintels were laid along back and front, to cover the joints and intersections to prepare for the super- structure,built of brickworkand finished witha granite cope. The wall was tied back to blocks of masonry by rods 2$ inches in diameter, placed 24 feet apart. In view of later experience this now appears to be a very light wall, but it has stood well ancl is in excellent condition. Its stability is probablydue to the very favourable character of thematerial in which it was constructed, generally coarse gravel and sand. In the remaining portionof this quay-wall (Fig.4) the substructure was changed from the single-cylinder type to groupsof triple concrete cylinders, 12 feet 5 inches in diameter outside ancl 7 feet 9 inches inside, 29 feet 9 inches in length, the tops of the cylinders t,ermi- nating at 3 feet below low-water level. These triple groups measured 24 feet in length and about 20 feet across. The concrcte rings with which the cylinders were formed weremoulded within frames on a platform, and were 2 feet 4 inches thick and 2 feet 6 inches in depth.The cast-iron shoes were also of a differenttype, being madeV-shaped in section. After being sunk, the front wells of the cylinders were filled with concrete deposited through the water, andthe back wells were filled withsand over a bottom seal of concrete 6 feet thick. Chock piles, 9 inches square, were driven to close up the joints between the groups. The intersections betweerl the groupswere bridged over with cast-iron and freestone lintels. The superstructure was formed with concrete rubblefaced with brickwork. In this quaya foundation was formed with cylinders for the seat of a 60-ton steam-crane. After completion, a depth of 20 feet below low water was given bp dredging along thewhole length of the wall. Returning to Queen’s dock, the first work to be taken in hand was the diversion of the Pointhouse Road round the dock, nearly 1,000 yards in length by 55 feet wide, the average depth of cutting being 29 feetand the greatest 43 feet.About one-fourth of the materialexcavated consisted of thehardest boulder clay, which requiredto be blasted with dynamite, the remainder being sand and gravel. The dock has a water area. of 333 acres, with a quayage of 3,334 yards. There are three basins, the north (1,891 feet in length by 270 feet in width) and south (1,668 feet h length by 230 feet in Downloaded by [ RICE UNIVERSITY] on [13/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 104 MASON ON IMPR@VEMENT OF THE RIT'RR CLYDE [Mirlutes of width), with a pier between them 195 feet broad, and a,n outer or canting basin, 1,000 feet long and 695 feet in width at the widest part.The general depth is 20 feet below low waterand 32 feet below high water. The entrance is 100 feet wide, and is crossed by a swing bridge carrying pedestrian, vehicular, and railwaytraffic. As nlready stated, two types of cylinder foundations were used atPlantdion quay. Atthe Queen'sdock, a thirdtype was employed throughout tbe dock, exceptwhere about 800 yards of ordinary quay-wall could be founded by open cutting on boulder clay or rock. Thecylinders were triple in shape,formed by the combination of three circles 9 feet 74 inches in external and 5 feet 94 inches in internal diameter. The groupsso formed wereassembled with two cylinders to the front and one behind, then one cylinder to the front and two behind, so as to dovetail into one another. The sides of the groups where they pressed against each other mere flattened for a length of 5 feet to give a good bearing. The shoe was 2 feet in depth, of l-inch metal, and V-shaped in section. TO carry the first concrete ring, theshoes had an inner ringof cast-iron, 1 inch thick, projecting 12 inches inwards at the level of 6 inches down from the top and tapering outwards to the bottomof the shoe where it joined the outer ring, thus forming a cutting edge at the bottom of the shoe, thewedge-shaped space between outer and inner ringsbeing filled solid with concrete. The shoe weighed about 4% tons and was made in six parts for bolting together. After a shoe had been set in the bottom of the trench prepared for it, the first concrete ring was set on the shelf referred to and connected withthe shoe bythirteen 14-inch bolts passing through holes moulded in the concrete ring and screwed up on a malleable-iron ring, 5 inchesbroad by 4 inchthick, which was setin a chase formedon the top surface of thering.