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ractical Ideas for the Engineer Analysis of Cargo Handling Methods With a Particular Study of British Ports--How Piston Rings are Made Ds measure of efficiency in loading or discharging cargo, should be the time required to receive freight underneath the hatch and to stow it, and, in the opposite direction, to break down the cargo and to place it under the hatch ready for the hoisting sling, and until other operations are as speedily performed as that of stowing or breaking down, the performance should not be con- sidered a perfect one. Space should be provided in the transit sheds for stacking in classified groups the greater part of a ship's cargo opposite the ship's berth, with proper aisle space for handling the goods and re- moving them by mechanical ap- pliances. This means in most cases wider transit sheds than are now. in use in American ports, and such width cannot be had upon narrow piers which berth a ship on each side. It has been explained by shipping men and engineers in this country that the English quay system involv- ing dock basins behind locks, has been adopted in every instance on account of the wide range of tide, and, beyond question, this has been the most potent factor in the lock basin development. Ber if does <not explain why the most modern English dock systems are constructed as long nar- row basins with a quay wall on each side, when some of the older systems have piers within basins. Probably the most modern English comparison of the difference between pier and quay construction is at Man- chester. The ship canal was opened in 1894, so that the whole terminal at Manchester may be considered fairly modern. The first berths constructed consist of narrow piers with provision for ships on both sides, and single story transit sheds. Their latest de- velopment at dock No. 9 is a slip 2700 feet long, with transit sheds 110 feet wide, and four stories high. In- cidentally, they insist that these are not warehouses but transit sheds. In addition to the crane tracks, two lines of standard gage railway tracks run on the waterfront between the sheds and basin, two lines of standard gage tracks at the rear, and back of this a large railway yard. Also, enough electrically operated gantry cranes are A paper presented at the meeting of the Material Handling Machinery Manufacturers' association, held in New York, Feb. 26, 1920. The. author, F. T. Cham- bers, is captain, C.E.C., United States navy. Ty the summer of 1918, Capt. F. T. Chambers was sent abroad by Mr. Hurley, then chair- man of the shipping board, at the head of a mission to study the various features of port manage- ment and port development, with a special view to obtaining such in- formation with regard to handling methods as might, when applied to home problems, reduce ship turn--- around. This study involved the organization for the control. of ports, the zoning of cargo distribu- tion, drydocks and repair plants, bunkering and cargo coal, oil bunk- ering, warehouses, handling and rail- ways, tugs, barges and lighters, labor and stevedoring. In the accom- panying article, Captain Chambers outlines what he learned of British methods and points out those features of British practice which can be applied to advantage at American ports. MMMM provided to allow one to each hatch of every vessel. The booms of these cranes are of sufficient reach to plumb the center of the hateh of a vessel when a coal barge or lighter.is lying between the ship and the quay, and also to handle cargo to. or from any of the four Moors of the -sheds.- To prove that the 4-story transit shed has given satisfaction, the company has in prospect the construction of 5-story transit sheds, 132 feet, 6 inches wide, to be served both on the water front and im.the rear by electric gantry cranes. The cranes already in- stalled at No. 9 dock are also fitted with distant control apparatus, so that the operator may stand on the deck of the ship looking into the hold, and still operate his machine with perfect satisfaction. Docks at London London docks give a most excellent illustration of growth in the matter of convenience and expedition in han- dling. True, the older docks are mostly of the basin type without piers, but at both the Victoria and Albert docks at the Tilbury dock, which are the latest and best' equipped with modern appliances, the construction started with basins having piers. The Royal Victoria dock is a wide basin into which numerous comparatively narrow piers project from the north- erly side, and these piers naturally 422 have berths for ships on both sides . but in the extension of this dock, re Royal Albert basin was constructed, It consists of a long narrow water. way, with berths only at the quays on two sides. Here, tao, as af7 Man chester, the transit sheds line prac- tically the entire quay, and have two lines of standard gage railway, both front and back, with other tracks forming a considerable railroad yard, The cranes, too, are of the mogt modern type, and sufficient in number to allow one to each hatch of the vessel. At Tilbury, the first construction consisted of a basin almost Square in plan, with two piers projecting into it. These piers are 250 feet and 300 feet wide, respectively, and 1600 feet long. Their transit sheds and railroad systems are similar in layout to those at the Albert dock. Yet when this basin was extended the long narrow quay plan was adopted. The new Royal Albert dock, south, is salso a long narrow basin, with berths only on the sides. It seems, therefore, fair to assume that when compared with the greater transit shed capacity at- tained by means of the quay system, the pier system is found' wanting. The so-called jetty system, as ex- emplified at the Millwall Grain dock, and at the Royal Albert dock is also interesting. Parallel with the face of the quay wall of the basin, a pier system is built of just sufficient width to accommodate the long reach gantry crane. The distance between the in- ner face of the pier and the outer face of the quay is just enough to accommodate barges and lighters, such as those which handle grain and coal. The cranes, instead of being estab- lished on the quay, are placed on the so-called jetty and have sufficient reach to handle material from the ship's hold to the -railroad cars, or transit shed on shore. The ship, of course, docks on the outer side of the narrow jetty, and is thus enabled to load or unload from barges or lighters on both sides at the same time, or from shore. Contrast the transit shed space offered by the quay system, especially at Manchester, with the proposed 25 x 1000-foot pier at Staten island. Is not this question of capacity one which can be worked out in actual figures, and can such actual figures be made to justify a total width of