RAILWAY WORKSHOPS PLANT.

Evening Star, Issue 3300, 17 September 1873, Page 2

RAILWAY WORKSHOPS PLANT.

The machinery imported for the use of the Government Railway workshops is the most complete that we have seen. Much as has been said and written about improvements in machines, we were scarcely prepared to see instruments applied to such complicated movements as those to which they are now adapted. But apart from the purposes for which they are intended, there is strength and exquisite finish about them that evince the vast advances made in art during the past few years. The most beautiful furniture does not excel them—we doubt much if it equal them in accuracy of workmanship. The prime mover in this strong array of industrial force is a steam engine of great power, standing in a very small space. It works vertically, on the high pressure principle. There are two cylinders—one on_ each side. It is expected it will be found sufficiently powerful with a pressure of steam of 451bs to the inch ; but it can bo worked up to a much higher pressure than that. One of the chief improvements in this engine is in the working of the valves. Ip ordinary engines, the amount of friction consequent jap.oji the motion of the valves is a great drawback 1 9 their power. The friction is caused by the pressure upon the valves being only on one side, and, consequently, there is a tendency to bind, and considerable wear and tear of machinery is the result. Those who are acquainted with the arrangements necessary for working them know that heavy rods connecting them with the eccentric are required. But in the engine we speak of, a very light rod only is necessary, for the yalves work with scarcely perceptible friction. This saving of power is accomplished by a very simple plan, valves work in what we may term a box, ipto which steam is admitted equal in pressure 'tp'ttyat jnside the cylinder; and as the pressure is th'qs equalised there is practically ho friction to pvercqme. The valves move just as easily as if they were merely suspended in air: they are very properly termed “equilibrium valves,” This powerful engine will turn a shaft, to which drums will be attached for the purpose of working the various machines required for the construction and repair of railway plant. The most curious of these is the “complete joiner,” To state what this splendid piece of mechanism is capable of performing would sound like romance. So many different operations can be perfected by it, that it was jokingly said of it, “You may put a piece of wood ipto it at one end, describe what you want, and it will be delivered to you at the other a complete and well finished job,” Although this is of course not strictly true: it is true that by its aid three can'd# as mqphwork as fifteen good and quick workman could get through in equal time; and it is done with aVaecprafly that no human being has ever yet attained. Bymeans of screws, the utmost minuteness of thickness and length of material can be attained, and when required any number of pieces can be made fac-similes of the first. Wood is put in rough, and can be planed, tongued, grooved, morticed, tenoned, bevilled, and cut into any variety of form, circular or angular. It can be cross-cut or divided longitudinally, or parried into any shape or form that may be l-equix-ed. Next is a. gigantic drilling machine, with 1 what Ik termed a “ foot-feed.” It is so perfectly under eommttnd that it fjau be made to do the heaviest or' the lightest Wcfrk at will Then there is a self-acting double boring machine, which can be left in a great measure to do its own work when once accurately adjusted, and thfere are moans of doing this to the utmost nicety. Close by this manageable giant is a “ shaping machine,” for shaping iron, &c. This cuxibU3 machine, like the joiner, is capable of a great variety of complicated movements necessary to turning out models and doing work connected with engine fitting. _ There is another beautiful machine—a break lathe, for screw cutting and 'turning shafts or drums. By its aid a shaft 18ft. in length can be turned, or a screw of equal length can be cut; or by a very simple arrangement, a drum 4ft. Bin. in diameter can be turned. The woodturning machine is intended to facilitate the making of models and patterns* It is called a

“ gap lathe,” for by removing a portion of the frame work a cylinder, 4ft. Gin. or 4ft. Sin. > in diameter can be turned. There is also a machine specially intended for sawing wood. It is fitted with circular saws, and by a simple arrangement, boards or scantling can be cut to any bevil required. This machine presents nothing new, but is of the best of its kind. A saw-sharpening machine, similar to one that we described in use at Messrs Guthrie and Asher’s, is amongst the plant. It is fitted with circular discs coated with emery powder, and can be adapted to the finest saw or the largest tooth. But though last, not the least interesting product of human ingenuity is the hydraulic jack. Wo suppose most people have seen screw jacks, and have witnessed the enormous power with which they act. But the most powerful of the old screw jacks is but a baby in strength compared with the hydraulic jack. Those in the Government store are cap able of raising twenty tons each, and such is the ease with which they are worked that the merest child could lower and raise that weight to the full length of the jack in a very few minutes. So perfect, too, is the machinery, that the enormous weight could be so gradually and gently lowered down that even a nut need not be cracked, were it deemed necessary to save it from destruction. As the name implies, it is the adaptation of the principle of the hydraulic press to increasing the power of the screw-jack. Such are some of the beautiful and labor-saving appliances introduced into the Colony for railway purposes. Here, as elsewhere* machinery is teaching the value of art and science as applied to the enjoyments and comforts of life.