December 28, 1871
transcribed by Susan Bergeron
Freehold Building Land
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- Parent Category: Barrow-in-Furness Northwestern Daily Times
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To be sold, by private treaty, about two acres of Freehold Building Land, adjoining the road from Carnforth to Wharton, in the county of Lancaster. It is in the immediate neighbourhood of the iron furnaces and the junction of the Furness and Wennington and the Lancaster and Carlisle lines of railway, and also close to the stations. The above offers an opportunity for very safe investment, as cottages there are in very great demand, and produce large rents. Plans of the land may be seen, and all other information and particulars obtained, at the offices of Messrs. W. Butler and Son, solicitors, Market place, Dalton in Furness, to whom offers must be sent in writing.
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Rowing Championship
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- Parent Category: Barrow-in-Furness Northwestern Daily Times
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A challenge from America.
We (Newcastle Chronicle) have received the following letter from Bernard Biglin, a leading member of the American crew who rowed so fast and well both at Halifax and Saratoga last autumn. The letter looks like genuine business, and opens up a prospect of International matches which will make the aquatic season of 1872 a most eventful one. Subjoined is the communication.
New York December 9, 1871
"Dear Sir,- The recent four-oared race on the Tyne having settled the question of the Championship of England in favour of the crew composed of J. Taylor , J. H. Sadler, R. Bagnall, and T. Winship, I hereby challenge the said four to row three others and myself a face of four, five, or six miles, straightaway or with a turn, for the sum of five hundred pounds a side. The race to take place in this country at either Saratoga, Springfield, or on the Hudson River as they may prefer, some time during the month of August, 1872; a sufficient sum of money to be allowed the visiting crew to defray traveling expenses. If this challenge is not accepted by Mr. Taylor and his confreres, it is open to any other four now organised, or which may hereafter be formed. I will also match John Biglin and myself to row a pair-oared race for two hundred and fifty pounds a-side, five miles, against any two men in Great Britain; the race to take place on the same day or the day following that upon which the four-oared match is decided. Should these matches be made, a series of international regattas, for valuable prizes, similar to those which took place at Halifax, Saratoga, and Longueuil this year, will be arranged to take place during their stay, Thus rendering their visit both pleasant and profitable. The treatment received by them and others who have already paid us a visit for a like purpose is a sufficient guarantee that the acceptors will be cordially received, and meet with fair play. Hoping that a prompt and favourable reply may be received, I remain, yours respectfully,
Bernard Biglin
"P.S. I can be addressed in care of the New York Clipper Office."
Coaching Information
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- Parent Category: Barrow-in-Furness Northwestern Daily Times
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Coach Proprietors' Times are Advertised as under:-
Ambleside, Grasmere, and Keswick.
Ambleside, leave 6.30am 11.45am 5.30pm 6.30pm Sun
Grasmere 6.55 12.15 5.50 6.55
Keswick, arrival 8.45 ....... 7.50 8.45
Keswick, leave ...... 9.10 4.45 4.20
Grasmere leave 8.10 11.10 6.40 6.05
Ambleside arrive 8.45 11.55 7.10 6.40
An Omnibus also runs between Ambleside and Grasmere in connection with the Windermere Steam Yachts, which are timed to arrive at Ambleside at 11.40 a.m. and 3.50 p.m.
A Mail Coach, which conveys passengers, runs between Ambleside, Hawkshead, and Coniston, leaving Ambleside at 7.10 a.m., and returning from Coniston at 4.p.m.
Cark and Cartmel. Will meet Nos. 3 5 up Trains.
The Furness Railways
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Special Notices.
. . . . .
This train leaves at 4.25 p.m. on Saturdays.
and stops by Signal if required.
It stops to take up Passengers going North or South of Carnforth.
It stops to take up passengers coming from Carforth and beyond.
Market Day Trains.
Third Class Return Market Tickets, available for one day only, are issued from all stations to Ulverston on Thursday; to Whitehaven on Thursdays; and to Barrow on Saturdays. These Tickets are available by Third Class Trains only, according to the stoppages shewn in the time Table.
On Thursday a Train (3rd Class) will leave Barrow for Ireleth at 8.30 p.m.
On Saturdays, a train (3rd Class) will leave Dalton or Barrow at 2.50 p.m.
Third Class Arrangements.
Through Third Class Passengers are booked as under.
No. 2 to Midland and London and North-Western Lines. No. 3 up Train to London and North Western Stations north and south of Carnforth, Lancashire and Yorkshire, Furness and Midland, and Midland lines. No. 5 Up Train to Lancaster and Carlisle and Midland Stations; Liverpool, Manchester, Wigan, Warrington, and L. and Y. Stations. No. 7, Whitehaven to Liverpool.
No. 8, to London and from Whitehaven to Liverpool and London.
Asbestos Piston-rod Packing
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Few engineers who have to do with the steam engine are ignorant of the trouble which is met with in obtaining a really good piston-rod packing. Sound hemp, property "laid up," and copiously lubricated, makes a tight join enough for a time, especially if the rod is in first-rate condition; but the period of tightness is usually short, and the gland requires constant screwing up, and much friction results which is very prejudicial in small engines. If hemp is bad in the case of low-pressure engines, it is infinitely worse when we have to do with high steam, especially if the steam is slightly superheated. A process of slow cabonisation appears to go on, the hemp packing loses its elasticity, and becomes nearly useless for its intended purpose. All manner of schemes have been tried to get over the difficulty, combinations of cotton, india-rubber, and wire gauze, such, for example, as Crickmer's patent packing, have hitherto given on the whole the best results. One inventor, indeed, dispenses altogether with cotton and rubber, and uses copper wire gauze alone. In this case the tightness of the joint is no doubt secured by the presence of water and oil lodged in the meshes of the gauze; and we have received very favourable reports from those who have tried this packing. It is still certain that something better than anything hitherto in use is required, and we have a strong belief that this something is supplied by asbestos.
Asbestos is a mineral fibre consisting of silicate of magnesia, silicate of lime, and protoxide of iron and manganese. In mineralogical parlance, it is a fibrous variety of actinolite or tremolite. It exists in vast quantities in the United States, also in the Tyrol, Hungary, Corsica, Greenland, Wales, Cornwall, Banffshire, and in the north and east of Ireland. It is found under various forms, from that of soft silky fibres to that of a hard block capable of taking a polish. As a rule, the lumps or blocks taken from the vein are easily broken up and separated into fibres extremely flexible, and elastic in the sense that each fibre admits of great extension in the direction of its length without contracting again, greasy to the touch, and very strong. The fibres vary in length from a couple of inches to about two feet. They can easily be spun or woven if proper precautions are used. Furthermore, asbestos is an admirable non-conductor of caloric, and it is practically indestructible by heat. All these conditions are just those which are required in a material for piston-rod packing; and it is therefore somewhat strange that until a very recent period no one thought of utilising asbestos for this purpose. The credit of suggesting it as a piston-rod packing is due, we believe, to Mr. St. John Vincent Day, C. E., who on the 5th instant read a very interesting paper on "Asbestos, with special reference to the use as steam engine packing," before the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. The new packing, we learn from this paper, was first used in America with much success, and it has since been tested in this country with results of which we shall speak in a moment. In referring to the value of the new packing, Mr. Day said :-" The packing used for piston and valve rods or spindles has as we all know, three prime elements of destruction to contend with, namely, an elevated temperature, friction, and moisture, and one of them only, namely, frictien, has any appreciable effect on asbestos packing when the mineral is pure and properly prepared. No matter how high the temperature of the steam, how rapid the stroke of the piston, or how great the pressure of the steam, the packing seems to be unaffected by those conditions. In America, where the new packing was first used, some of it was taken from the piston-rod stuffing-box of a locomotive engine, after having been in, and the engines at constant work, for three months, with steam at 130 lb. pressure per square inch, and making an average daily run of 100 miles, including Sundays; and, as you can see by the sample shown, the fibre, with the exception of being discoloured by oil and iron, is just as flexible and tenacious as originally. After having been once disintegrated, it appears impossible to so pack or mat the fibres together that they are not easily separable by the fingers."
Asbestos packing was first used in Great Britain by Mr. Benjamin Conner, locomotive superintendent of the Caledonia Railway, and Mr. Day exhibited to the members of the Institution the packing of a locomotive stuffing-box which had been used on that line from the 27th of July, 1871, to the 18th of Nov. The engine in which it was used has outside cylinders, and single drivers 8ft in diameter. The piston stroke is 2ft. The engine was employed in working the fastest train on the Caledonian line; to wit the 10 a.m. express from Glasgow, reaching Carlisle at 1 p.m., with three stops on the journey. The best ordinary packing lasts, under these conditions, two months at most, rarely so long, and the gland requires constant screwing up. The asbestos packing was apparently as good as when it was put in, and the engine had run a distance of 2,000 miles in three weeks, during which the gland screws had never been touched. The following letter from Mr. Connor to Mr. Day contains valuable testimony to the excellence of the packing:-
The box herewith contains the asbestos packing put into a piston-rod stuffing-box of one of our main line service passenger engines on the 27 July, and taken out on the 18th November; in the time the engine had run 14,070 miles.
As the packing was put in coiled instead of being cut into rings, the gland was nearly home on 12th September, and an additional ring was put in at the date.
In the course of the discussion, Mr. Connor stated that, "The advantages of the asbestos packing over the soapstone packing was, that with the latter, at the high temperatures of steam from 125 lb to 130 lb, the lover portion of the packing got thoroughly charred, and another ring had to be put in after the first week; so that in course of a month the packing had almost entirely changed. The asbestos packing being practically incombustible did not waste; he suggested that the covering of the packing should be made of incombustible material also. At first he had applied it coiled round the piston-rod continuously; but he thought it should be applied in rings. The inside of the packing seemed to him as fresh as when first put in. He believed it took less oil to lubricate the piston-rod, for the oil remained on the rod, not being absorbed by packing. It kept the rod beautifully polished, more so than with any other packing."
We think that with such testimony as this before us, supported further by that of Mr. David Rowan , who spoke to the value of asbestos packing for the belief that this mineral will supply a way out of one of the most troublesome obstacles to the use of very high-pressure steam. There is, further-more, not the slightest chance of the supply being exhausted; on the contrary, it is likely to last as long as our coal-fields. We are unable to say at present what the price of the asbestos packing is, or where it can be obtained. It is, probable, however, that when once the value of the material as a packing is recognised, its regular manufacture in this country will follow.