IENTIFI£ MERI£AN (Entered at tbe Post Office of :-lew York. N. Y.. as Recond Class M,atter. Copyrijlbt, 1006, by MUDD & Co.) Vol. XCIV.-No. 12. CEN'.I'S A COPY. ESTABLISHED 1845. NEW YORK, MARCH 24, 1906. (10$3.00 A YEAR. , I , , , I , • • I L _____ J.!��f.._ ..J.EIL�L_________ J rI.OATI/{fi>, PI.AC/N8 AN4 ANcHOR/NS THE ERECTION OF THE DIAMOND SHOALS LIGHTHOUSE OFF CAPE HATTERAS.--[See page 251.J Steel and Concret(' Will Be Used in the Construction. The Caisson of Steel Which Forms the Base Will Be Built in a Shipyard, Towed to the Shoals, and Scuttled. Scientific AIIlerican SCIENTIFIC AMER.ICAN years ago, in its present condition, when running at might be called a jog in the line, to enable the tracks its full capacity, can deliver 295 million gallons of to swing out sufficiently to admit of an additional ESTABLISHED 1845 water per day to the distribution reservoirs in Man­ track at that point, does not appear to be as formidable hattan. The old Croton aqueduct, as now being re­ a curve as the two above mentioned. When a motor· MUNN &. CO:. Editors and Proprietors paired, can be relied on to convey about 80 million man is running at full speed, and particularly should gallons per day. New York city, therefore, has aque­ he be behind time in the rush hours, there is a strong duct connections with the Croton watershed which are temptation for him to take the turnout at a higher Published Weekly at sufficient to bring in a maximum of 375 million gal­ speed than he would if the turnout were merely the No. 361 Broa.dwa.y. New York lons per day. - In years of extreme drought, however, commencement of a long and formidable· looking curve. the Croton w�tershed, even if every reservoir within And yet it is a fact that such short curves as are TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS il should be drawn down until it was empty, can be found at turnouts or where the tracks spread to pass One copy, one,y;ea::' for the United States. Canada. or MexICo .._ . ... .. �3.00 prudently relied upon to yield, in years of extreme on either side of an island platform, are very much One copy, one year. to any foreign country. postage prep81d. £0 168. ad. 4.00 drought, not more than 300 million gallons per day. &harper than the longer and more important curves_ THE SCIENTIFIC ilMERLVAN PUBLICATIONS. Nevertheless the consumption of Croton water has Furthermore, in'the Subway, the important curves are SCientific American (Established 1841» ••••••••• , •••.••••••••••••••�.OO a year already averaged for an entire month as high as 318 "spiraled," or "eased," that is to say they are para­ 8C1entitlc American Supplement (Established 1876). .......•..... £l.OO million gallons per day and for a whole' year 292 mil­ bolic in curve, and the centrifugal thrust of the train American Homes and Garden� ........................•. .... _ .• 0 ••• 3.00 , Scientific AmeriC&Il Export Editiop. (Established ISiS) . .. ... 0 •• 3.00 lion gallons per day. Now for ten years past the con­ against the outer rail is so gradually developed as not The comblned subscription rates and rates to foreign countries will sumption of water in New York city has increased at to be perceptible to the ordinary passenger. On turn­ be furnished upon application. U.emit by postal or express money order. or by bank draft or check. the average rate of 14 million gallons per day, a rate outs and jogs the change of direction of the track is MUNN & CO .. 361 Broadway. New York. of increase which renders it certain that unless a new so abrupt that if, as happens every day on the Subway, supply is soon provided New York city must face the the motormen on the express trains fail to make the NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 19 06. untold inconvenience and danger of a water famine. proper reduction of speed, there is a jolt and lurch to ...... the train which tells very plainly what a terrific strain STEEL MANUFACTURERS AND THE CHAIN is being thrown upon the guard rail and upon !)"I,e The Editor is always glad to receive for examination illustrated BRIDGE, articles on suhjects of timely mterest. If the photographs are The Merchants' Association of this city is determined flanges of the car wheels. sharp, the articles short, and the facts authentiC, the contributions to leave no stone unturned in its efforts to expose the A personal inspection of the track at Spring Street will receive spe3ial attention. Accepted articles will be pald for daily increasing scandal of the delay in building the after the accident showed very clearly the point at at regular Space rates. Manhattan Bridge; and they have recently addressed which the centrifugal thrust of the flange of the wheel a strong letter to the Hon. Herman A. Metz, comp­ against the guard rail became great enough to enable "WHAT'S IN A NAME?" troller of the City of New York, which has received the flange to get a sufficient "bite" on the metal to We note in the columns of the daily press that the a favorable answer. enable it to lift itself and its load over the rail and Cunard Company are proposing to bestow upon the In the campaign carried on in the daily press by so cause the derailment. The general manager of the two 25-knot turbine steamers, the time of whose the engineers who were anxious to discredit the ac­ company has issued an official statement, which assigns launching is not far removed, the, names "Lusitania" cepted design for a chain bridge, it was repeatedly the derailment to the fact that the wheel had slipped and "Mauritania." As we stand in meditative con­ stated that the chain bridge would cost more to build on the axle and that this widened the gage between templation of these most interesting products of the than a wire bridge, and that the steel manufacturers the wheel flanges and caused the trucks to jump the art of nomenclature, we are askng, like one of old, would be unable to manufacture eye-bars of the great track_ This may be perfectly true; but it simply "What's in a name?" Saving and except that they size required, that would come up to the requirements r,roves what a terrific lateral thrust is being exercised end in the characteristic last two syllables favored by of the specifications. These statements were merely on the Subway cars if the guard rail reaction is suffi­ the company, they fail to call up any familiar associa­ part of a cloud of pseudo-technical dust with which an cient to shift a wheel on its axle; for these wheels are tions either of people or country. "Umbria" we know effort has been meLde to confuse the issue. thrust onto their axles by a hydraulic pressure, which and "Etruria" we know; but who are these? Now the Merchants' Association has effectually dis­ amounts, we believe, to as high as 15 or 20 tons. A reference to the encyclopedia discloses the fact posed of this contention by writing to several of the Another fact that makes the situation at Spring that "Mauritania" and "Lusitania" were the ancient leading steel manufacturers, firms who would be pos­ Street one that calls for great care in running the names, respectively, of Morocco and Spain-two of the sible bidders for the construction of the chain cable trains is, that the turnout necessitates a break in t.he countries which are playing a leading part in the bridge, and asking them whether such a bridge could continuity of the line of columns, and that as a train present diplomatic amenities at Algeciras; from which be built, and whether it would cost more in time and swings over to the right and crosses this line diagon­ it is evident that the Cunard Company, forecasting a money than a wire bridge. In every case the associa­ ally, it is in a position in which, if the leading car peaceful outcome, have decided to perpetuate the con­ tion was assured by these firms that they were pre­ of a train that was running too fast were derailed, ference by an appropriate christening. pared t8 submit bids and undertake the construction it would run end-on into the first of the columns, be­ One membe.r of our staff has suggested that because of the bridge according to the plans. They further yond the turnout, with one or two results: Either the two new ships are the longest in the world, search stated in their replies that the Manhattan Bridge, if a number of the columns would be carried away and was made among the names of countries living and ' built on the eye-bar plan, will require less time for its • the street above crash into the Subway, or, should they dead for names that bear a similar distinction; while construction than it would if built on the wire cable be able to resist the impact of the 300-ton train, the a contemporary has discovered that the ships will plan. columns would shear their way through the first car, never need to take in water ballast, their names being We do not make any comments upon the breach of splitting it in two. heavy enough to keep them on an even keel in any professional etiquette involved in the starting and We do not wish to be alarmists. The Subway and weather. keeping alive of a daily·press agitation of this charac­ its equipment are absolutely first class; and there is But in all seriousness we do think it would be a ter by engineers of more or less standing-that is a not the slightest ri"k at Spring Street, or elsewhere thousand pities if these two noble ships, representing question for the SOciety of Civil Engineers or fQT' the provided the trains are slowed down to the proper the highest effort of the shipbuilder's art, should be papers devoted exclusively to civil engineering inter-' speell tor .which the curves alt this point '<!were laid out dispatched to this country carrying names which have ests to pass upon-but we do consider it to be a strange by the engineers who built the road.