This tunnel, which forms an ascending incline of a mile and a quarter length from the terminal station in Lime-street London and N. W. Railroad, was worked until recently by a rope and stationary engine, to avoid fouling the air of the tunnel by the passage of locomotives; but the increase of the traffic having necessitated the abandonment of the rope and the substitution of locomotives for bringing the trains up through the tunnel, it became requisite to provide some efficient means of ventilation for clearing the tunnel speedily of the smoke and steam after the passage of each train. A large exhausting fan has been designed by Mr. John Ramsbottom for this purpose, which works in a chamber situated near the middle of the length of the tunnel, and draws the air in from the tunnel, through a cross drift; discharging it up a tapering chimney that extends to a considerable hight above the surface of the ground over the tunnel. The fan is about thirty feet diameter, and is made with straight radial vanes; it revolves on a horizontal shaft at a speed of about forty-five revolutions per minute, within a brick casing, built concentric with the fan for the first half of the circumference, and afterwards expanding gradually for discharging into the base of the chimney, the air from the tunnel being drawn in at the center of the fan at each side, and discharged from the circumference of the fan by the revolution of the vanes. The engine driving the fan is started by telegraph signal at each departure of a train from the terminal station, and the fan is kept running until the discharge from it becomes quite clear, showing that no steam or smoke remains in the tunnel; this is usually the case in about eight minutes after the time of the train entering the lower end of the tunnel, the passage of the train through the tunnel occupying about three minutes. The fan draws air in at both ends of the tunnel simultaneously, and begins to clear the lower end immediately upon the train entering; the clearing of the upper end commences as soon as the train has passed out of the tunnel, and as the fan is situated nearer the upper end of the tunnel than the lower, the clearing of both lengths is completed almost simultaneously. The fan is so constructed as to allow an uninterrupted passage through it, for the air, whilst the fan is standing still; and the natural ventilation thus obtained by means of the large chimney is found sufficient for clearing the tunnel during the night and some portion of the day, without the fan being worked at those times. This natural ventilation is aided by the engine exhaust and the boiler discharging into the chimney. The fan has now been in regular operation for three-quarters of a year, and has been found completely successful.
IMPREGNATING WOOD WITH TAR OR OTHER PRESERVING MATERIAL.
The preservation of wood is a problem which is attracting increased attention, as year by year diminishes the material supply of timber, and consequently gradually increases its price. Among other methods employed, the impregnation of wood by the vapors of tar, creosote, petroleum, etc., has been tried, and one of the practical difficulties met with has been the obtaining of suitable apparatus for the purpose.
The engraving annexed is an invention intended to supply this want. The wood is inclosed, in a tank kept hot by a steam jacket which surrounds it, as shown. A boiler at one end is used to heat the substance with which it is desired to impregnate the wood. An air pump is also employed to remove the steam, generated in the heated timber, and the air from the tank. The pores of the wood being thus rendered vacuous, the hot liquid or vapors from the heating tank readily penetrate the entire substance, and thoroughly impregnate it. This apparatus is the invention of George Pustkuchen, of Hoboken, N. J.