Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers
Volume 28 (1938)
| Steamindex home page Updated 2009-04-30 | Key file | The IMechE virtual library is accessible (full papers, all diagrams, photographs, extensive tables, etc).at www.imeche.org.uk. |
Journal No. 141
Saunders, H.H. (Paper No. 380)
A description of two experimental passenger locomotives built for the Indian
State Railways. 2-27. Disc.: 28-39.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting, Session 1937-38, held Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday, 15 Decemher, 1937 at 6 p.m.:
Lt.-Col. F.R. Collins, President, occupying the chair.
Made extensive usc of roller bearings: on one engine Timken roller bearing
axleboses were fitted and on the other Skefko roller bearings to the driving
crank pin as well as axleboxes.
Discussion A.C. Carr (28-9) included a table of tractive
force per ton of locomotive weight which placed the GWR King class at the
top (452), followed by the LNER P2 (406); GWR Castle (396); Lord Nelson (392);
Princess Royal (385); LNER Pacific (344); GIPR XP Pacific (315) and BNR GSM
(370).
Brown, D.C. (Paper No. 381)
Counterbalancing and its effects on the locomotives and the bridges. 52-111.
Disc.: 111-28 + folding plate. 11 diagrs., l2 tables. Bibliog.
Twenty-seventh Annual General Meeting and the Sixth Ordinarq General
Meeting of the Session 1937-38 held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
London, on Wednesday, 23 February 1938, at 6 p.m.:: Lieut.-Colonel F.R. Collins,
President of the Institution, occupying the chair.
Brown was involved in the British Standards Committee on hammer blow.
Contributors to the discussion included Gribble (111-14); K. Cantlie (114-16);
A.C. Carr (116-17); E.H. Greet (117-21) and D.R. Carling (121-2) who refered
to shuttling and mentioned the Cossart valve gear which had been described
in Loco. Rly Carr. Rev., 1933 April/May
Journal No. 142
McClean, H.G. (Paper No. 382)
The hammer-blow with axle-hung electric traction motors. 140-85. Disc.:
185-97.
Third Ordinary General Meeting of the Session 1937-38 held at the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday, 24 November 1937,
at 6 p.m., Lieut.-Col. F. R. Collins, President occupying the Chair.
Experience in India
Nichols, H.J. (Paper No. 383)
The development of passenger rolling stock. 198-212. Disc.: 212-36.
Tenth Annual General Meeting of the Indian and Eastern Centre held
at Maiden’s Hotel, Delhi, on Friday, the 11f February 1938, at 6.30
p.m., the chair being taken by Mr. J. Humphries, Chairman of the Centre.
Repeated at. General Meeting of the Southern Branch of the Indian and Eastern
Centre held at the Anglo-Indian Institute, Perambur, Madras, at 6.30 p.m.
on Saturday, 16 October 1937, when was read by Mr. E. L. Roberts, Chairman
of the Branch, on behalf of the Author, owing to his unavoidable absence.
Indian practice.
Journal No. 143
Case, C. (Paper No. 384)
Handling and consumption of coal. 249-92. Disc.: 293-312.
Third Quarterly Meeting of the year 1937 of the: South American Centre
held at Perez on 15 October: chair taken Mr. F. Campbell, Chairman of the
Centre.
In Argentina
Appleyard, C.E. (Paper No. 385)
Locomotive drawing office practice. 313-51. Disc.: 351-6.
First Ordinary General Meeting of the Centre held on Thursday, 14
October 1937, at 7.15 p.m., the chair being taken by Mr. G.W. McArd (Chairman,
Session 1937-38).
Boyle, W. (Paper No. 386)
General considerations of bearing metals. 357-62.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting of the Scottish Centre held at the
Royal Technical College on Thursday, 20 January 1938, at 7.30 p.m., the Chair
being taken by Mr. H. Fowler.
Noted that it was almost a century now since Isaac Babbit first invented
the lined bearing as is now known in the form of a liner of some strong or
rigid material (it is not known whether it was iron or bronze he used) lined
with a soft, white metal.
Hewitson, J.W. (Paper No. 387)
A summary of the development of valve gears. 365-70. Disc.: 370-2.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting of the Scottish Centre held at the
Royal Technical College on Thursday, 20 January 1938, at 7.30 p.m., the Chair
being taken by Mr. H. Fowler: paper read by Mr. J. Sinclair, who deputised,
in the unavoidable absence of Mr. Hewitson.
Steam was being used expansively in a locomotive cylinder on the Lancashire
Witch by Robertson Stephenson in 1828 and it traces back to the
Rocket, designed by George Stephenson. Notes the popularity of Walschaerts
valve gear and gave poppet valves a cool reception.
Journal No. 144
Loubser, M.M. and Cox, E.S. (Paper No. 388)
Locomotive boiler design: theory and practice. 377-409. Disc.: 409-41. +
7 folding plates. illus., 11 diagrs., 6 tables.
Fourth Ordinary General Meeting of the Session 1937-38, was held at
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday, 26 January,
1938, at 6 p.m., Lt.-Col. F. R. Collins, President of the Institution, occupying
the chair.
This Paper was unusual in that it was the work of two authors who. had not
been able ta work in collaboration. The basis was a treatise on the theory
of the locomotive which had been prepared by M.M. Loubser, Assistant CME
on the South African Railways. This was delivered to the Institution in a
condensed form covering the whole locomotive. The second author was requested
to deal only with that part covering boiler and smokebox and to expand this
into a self-contained Paper. At the same time, it was desired to amplify
the original content to cover British practice with some reference to the
considerations which influence British boiler design. To achieve this it
has been necessary in places to depart from Loubser’s text and to add
sections not contained in the original communication, while to make the Paper
more readable, the actual working out of mathematical formulae is incorporated
in the appendices. Due to the short time available and the distance separating
thr authors, no form of collaboration has been possible, and the second author
hopes that in spite of his editing and amplification he has been able to
convey to the Institution the spirit and substance of Mr. Loubser’s
original communication. The object of the Paper is to summarise in simple
terms the fundamental considerations covering boiler design and to illustrate
their application with reference to some modern designs. The boiler is dependent
for its draught on the vacuum created and maintained in the smokebox by the
exhaust steam, and insignificant as this fact might appear at first sight,
yet the whole performance of the boiler is governed by the overall effectiveness
of this process. The theory of the boiler, more especially the combustion
and transfer
Cox's contribution consists of an analysis of the Stanier taper-boiler with
particular emphasis on the four types fitted to the Jubilee class.
Stanier (pp.410-11) adds some notes on the front-end.
Dumas, L. (Paper No. 389)
The development of rail motor car services in France. 443-58. Disc.:
458-70.
Seventh Ordinary General Meeting of the Session, 1937-38 held at the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday, 30 March, 1938,
at 6 p.m., Lt.-Col. F.R. Collins, President of the Institution, occupying
the chair.
During the past six years, the French Railways had ordered 800 railcars.
Of these, 660 had already been put into service, and 140 were still under
construction. The 660 railcars in operation covered 90,000 miles every day
or 23.5% of the total daily mileage of passenger steam trains in France.
Dicussion: Stanier (458-9) refered to the three
four-wheeled railbuses and to the then new three car set that conformed more
or less to the power-to-weight ratio of the French steel-tyred railcars.
Nevertheless, Stanier ended his contribution with "?He considered there was
no difficulty about building light railcars if the service was required,
but in England it had to be remembered that the natural fuel, of which there
were large supplies, was coal, and the collieries were very large clients
of the railways. He suggested that it would he almost a tragedy if they were
to introduce the Diesel railcar to any great extent, although he felt that,
as had been the experience in France, there must be certain services where
it would be worth while introducing a vehicle of that type".
Brian Reed (465) said he wished to draw attention, still further, to the
exceedingly workmanlike way in which the French railway engineers had tackled
the problem. Mr. Clayton had put his finger on the trouble in this Country,
namely, that there was not enough co-operation, and also, as Mr. Stanier
had said, we have philandered with the problem. It is very disheartening
to many of us that we have philandered with it when every other country in
the world, including many with coal resources almost as large as our own,
has hundreds of railcars at the present time. He said there was one point
with regard to the French services on which he would like the Author to enlarge,
and that was the excellent system which they had for maintenance and repairs.
He had had the privilege of goingthrough quite a number of their shops, and
said they were laid out extremely well. The problem as a whole had been tackled
in such a way as to secure the best results. The propeller car to which several
speakers had referred., was, he thought, the first practical attempt at the
wind brake. It had been suggested in America that a wind brake might be tried
by having movable vanes above the top of the car. In the majority of countries
the railcar was well below the loading gauge, and the proposal is that certain
of the movable vanes might be raised when retardation was required so as
to increase the area presented to the air resistance. Possibly the Author
would like to enlarge on that point
Keene, D.H. (Paper No. 390)
Machine tool equipment of locomotive wheel shop. 470-92. Disc. 492-501. 7
nillus., 3 diagrs.
Sixth Ordinary General Meeting of the Birmingham Centre held at the
Midland Hotel on Wednesday, 16 March 1938, at 7.0 p.m., the chair being taken
by Captain G.S. Bellamy.
Wheel lathes, recvonditioning of journals and tyre boring.
Wechmann (Paper No. 391)
Electrification of long-distance lines of the German State Rlys. 508-20.
Disc.: 508-35. 7 diagrs.
Eighth Ordinary General Meeting of the Session 1937-38 held at the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday, 27 April, 1938,
at 6 p.m., Lt.-Col. F.R. Collins, President of the Institution, occupying
the chair.
W.A. Stanier (522) said he found one paragraph in
it which was very comforting, namely, where the Author said " With all the
advantages of electric traction, it cannot be said that the steam locomotive,
in some form, will ever be replaced, at least in countries having rich
coalfields." On the other hand, he thought the fact that as the Institution
was an Institution of Locomotive Engineers and not of steam locomotive engineers
was all to the good, because one could not help feeling that the developments
which were taking place and the fact that electrical engineers were at last
getting down to a common multiple, so to speak, for the way in which the
power could be used, meant that that Institution had to consider electric
traction as well as steam traction. The Paper which they had just heard,
showing what had been done in Germany in that regard, was a very interesting
and a very useful contribution to the Proceedings of the Institution.
Pargiter, G.M. (Paper No. 392)
Economics of locomotive running-shed organisation and administration. 535-62.
Disc.: 563-8.
Fifth Ordinary General Meeting of the Newcastle Centre was held at
the Royal Station Hotel, on Tuesday, 8 February 1938, at 7.0 p.ni., the chair
being taken by Mr. McArd.
Sequel Paper No. 397.
Summer Meeting in Scotland, 8th to 12th June, 1938. 569-95.
It is significant that the party included 17 German engineers including
Dr. Dorpmuller (Minister of Communications), Herr Bergmann, and Dr.
Wagner
Cox, E.S.
Run to Glasgow, June 8th. 574-81. + folding plate. diagr., table.
Behind No. 6225 Duchess of Gloucester: includes illus. and
side elevation of locomotive and reproduction of dynamometer record
Meeting at Midland Junction, Western Australia, 27th May, 1938. 596.
Meeting of the members on the Western Australian Government Railways
at Midland Junction held on Friday 27 May 1938. The chair being taken by
Mr. F. Mills. ‘The Chairman announced that no Paper was being read,
but introduced Mr. W. Raynes who opened a discussion on Locomotive
Crossheads.
Journal No. 146
Cook, Maurice (Paper No. 393)
Copper and copper alloys for locomotive firebox construction. 609-42. Disc.:
642-7. 25 diagrs., 7 tables
Fifth Ordinary General Meeting of the Birmingham Centre held at the
Queen’s Hotel, Birmingham, on Wednesday, 16 February 1938, at 7.0 p.m.,
the chair being taken by G.T. Owen
Metallurgical paper which pointed towards higher quality copper with
lower oxygen and arsenic contents.
Baldwin, T. (Paper No. 394)
The fatigue strength of machined tyre steels (including some general notes
on fatigue and related matters). 649-84. Disc.: 684-722.
Second Ordinary General Meeting of the Session 1938-39 was held at
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday, 26 October,
1938, at 6 p.m.: Lt.-Col. F. R. Collins, Past President, occupying the
chair.
A high proportion of the breakages of locomotive parts in service are due
to fatigue. On examination such fractures are seen to have occurred at "fatigue
flaws” which slowly grow into the sound metal until the latter suddenly
breaks in a very brittle manner. These service fractures, with a complete
absence of plastic distortion, are very different from the fractures obtained
in a tensile testing machine. The latter type shows no signs of a smooth
growing flaw and the test piece is seen to have altered its shape considerably
during the test. The fracture of tyres in service is a matter which is naturally
regarded seriously by locomotive engineers: cited work by C.W. Ridges
(Paper No. 261 in 1930) and E.S. Cox
(Paper No. 346 in 1935). The author worked
for the LMS at Derby.
Hart, W. (Paper No. 395)
Welding and cutting in a railway workshop for repairs and fabricated structures.
722-43. Disc.: 744-50. 19 illus. (including microscopic images), diagr.
First Ordinary General Meeting of Manchester Centre held at the Manchester
Literary & Philosophical Society on Wednesday, 26 October 1938, at 7.0
p.m.: the chair being taken by F.W. Abraham.
Five sections with the following headings
Methods of repair in a locomotive repair shop.
Cast iron welding
Design for fabrication by welding.
Cutting for fabrication.
Welding
Concludes with LMS welded tender.
Informal Meeting, 13th October, 1938. 752.
Informal Meeting held on Thursday, 13 October 1938, at the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, London at 6 p.ni., Mr. J.N. Maskelyne, read a Paper
on “The Design and Construction of Modern Miniature Steam Locomotives
for Passenger-carrying purposes. ”
There was a very good attendance of members, who heard with considerable
interest of the difficulties encountered and the ingenious methods adopted
by the designers and builders to overcome them.
The Paper is not being published, but a copy is filed for reference. This
can be inspected during the usual office hours at 28, Victoria Street, London,
S.W.I