During the month of September, an experiment, the details of which were carefully noted, extending over a period of sixteen days, gave the following results:
| Crew (33 men), 140 hours. | 2,012.50 francs | $402.50 |
| Coal, @ 87.50 francs ($7.50) per ton | 787.50 francs | 157.50 |
| Oil and supplies | 220.00 francs | 44.00 |
| Fresh water, 16 days | 210.00 francs | 42.00 |
| Sundries | 42.50 francs | 8.50 |
| ————— | ——— | |
| Total expense for removing 764 cubic meters (999.2 cubic yards), | 3,272.50 francs | $654.50 |
Average, 4.28 francs per cubic meter ($0.65 per cubic yard).
This result cannot be taken as a universal basis, because after a year's use there are numerous repairs to make to the plant, which would increase the average net cost. This, besides, does not include the cost of removal of the dredged material, nor the depreciation, the interest and the insurance.
It should be added on the other hand, however, that the warm season was far from being favorable to the energy and perseverance necessary to carry on successfully experiments of this kind. The temperature, even at midnight, was often 38°C. (100.4° F.). Still further, the work was constantly interrupted by the passage of ships through the canal. On an average not more than forty minutes' work to the hour was obtained. Notwithstanding this, there were extracted at Chalouf, on an average, 38.225 cubic meters (50 cubic yards) per day without interrupting navigation. At Port Tewfik, where there was much less inconvenience from the passage of ships, the work was carried on from eight to eleven hours per day and the quantity extracted in this time was generally more than 76 cubic meters (99.4 cubic yards).
In most cases the system could be simplified. The engine which works the dredge could, when not thus employed, be used to drive the pumps. The propelling engine could also be used for the same purpose.
The results obtained at Suez indicate the appreciable advantages arising from the application of this system to the works of ports, rivers and canals, and ever, to the work of cutting in the construction of roads and railroads.
Read before the Engineer's Club, Philadelphia. Translated from Nouvelles Anodes de la Construction, March, 1890.