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PROPOSED NEW YORK-PHILADELPHIA CANAL, An official report has been transmitted to the Coun- cils of the city of Philadelphia by the commission ap- pointed in July, 1894, to investigate the feasibility of _ constructing a ship canal across the state of New Jersey and connecting the cities of Philadelphia and New York. The present report is upon the progress made, and em- bodies the official reports of Mr. N. H. Hutton, con- sulting engineer, and of Mr. L. M. Haupt, M. Am. Soc. Civil Engineers, engineer in charge, says the engineer- ing Record. The necessary stirveys have been made to determine the most feasible route for acanal; the underlying soil has been investigated, and the general technical results have been recorded in the reports referred to. Two routes present themselves, both including the use of 27 miles of the Delaware river, between Philadelphia and Bordentown, and from 7 to 15 miles of the Raritan river and bay, according to the depth adopted for the canal. Both routes leave the Delaware river near Bordentown, and ascend by locks to the plateau, which ranges in ele- vation from 60 to 100 ft. above tide, and extends across the state of New Jersey on the line surveyed. The first line would then connect with the Delaware & Raritan canal, a few miles east of Trenton, and follow the canal to near Kingston; thence easterly by way of Monmouth Junction to Lawrence Brook and the Raritan river The serious objec- tions to this line are the necessity for twice crossing the. THE MARINE RECORD. lighting plant would be established, with lights at locks and at each quarter-mile on the canal line. The line is located in a topographical trough, or de- pression, extending across the state, as before men- tioned, and the soil is generally sand, clay and gravel, with some red shales toward the eastern end, insufficient in quantity to materially increase cost of excavation. Mr. Hutton estimates the total «ost of the 20-ft. canal at $14,574,100, including right of way and. 15 per cent for contingencies. For the 28-ft. canal his estimate is $24,124,700. In these estimates, the two locks for the 20-ft. canal figure at $2,930,000; and the third large lock for the 28.ft canal would add $3,608,000 to this sum. The excavation on the two canals, at 20c per yard for earth and 80c for rock, would amount to $6,744,000 and $10,800,000, respectively. The estimated water supply for the canal is about 500 cubic feet per second, on the basis of a larger business than can be reasonably expected. As the extreime low- water flow of the Delaware river above the canal feeder at Point Pleasant is about 1,500 cubic feet per second, the water supply is evidently beyond question. - Mr. Hutton bases his estimates of possible business upon the traffic of the Delaware & Raritan canal in 1871, which was then over 3,000,000 tons annually. He assumes that, with the natural increase of the last 24 years it is not unreasonable to expect a traffic of 5,000,- THE FLAJOLE WATER-TUBE BOILER. (ILLUSTRATED.), F If the day of the water-tube boiler has arrived, the ap- plication of this principle in . the generation of steam tleed not be further delayed on account of a lack of varied types to please each purchaser. There are ne water-tube boilers patented every few weeks, and éspe- — cial merit is claimed for each. it The steam generator shown in the accompanying illus- tration is known as the J. A. Flajole Sectional Hig Pressure Water Tube boiler, and is constructed of : straight, lap-welded charcoal. iron tubes placed in an inclined position, to insure perfect circulation, and con- nected with each other and with a horizontal steam and ~ water drum placed transversely at the top of the tubes, — by vertical passages at each end. The end connections © are in one piece for every three rows of tubes, and of ¢ such form that the tubes arestaggered. The tube holes : are accurately bored and the tubes are expanded there- | in. The end sections thus formed are connected to the steam drum, and also to the circulating pipe or drumi— placed at the lower end of sections by short tubes which — are also expanded, thereby doing away with all bolts and flanges. : The opening opposite the end of each tube is closed by hand-hole plates for large boilers, and by brass plugs for small boilers, when the tubes used are two-inch and ~ smaller, to allow of — the cleaning of any one tube independ- ently of the other. . main line of the Pennsylvania R. R., and the unfavorable nature of the ground - between the canal Man Hole — 1 and Monmouth Junc- ton. These difficul- ties were considered so serious by the en- gineers that though the route was sur- veyed, no estimates of cost were made. “The other route, from the same _ be- ginning, follows a line nearly parallel tothe Pennsylvania R. R., and south of it to a point near Mon- oy mouth Junction; then deflects easterly to avoid a trap-dyke, and passes down Tawrence Brook to. Parson’s Dam, and finally strikes the Raritan river at. Sayresville.. By this more favorable route the canal proper would be 314-10 miles long. The total distance from Philadelphia to the ocean, near Sandy Hook, would be 78 miles, and to the Battery in New York,.92 miles. By way of Cape May and the ocean these distances would be 260 and 274 miles respectively. Estimates are submitted for two sizes of canal prism. One is 96 ft. wide at bottom, 150 ft. wide at top and 20 ft. deep at the center, figured for vessels not exceeding 18 ft. indraft. ‘The other is 100 ft. wide at the bottom, 180 ft. wide at the surface and 28 ft. deep, for vessels of 26 ft. draft. Both canals are estimated for a 12-ft. berm on one side. One level is proposed from river to river as an elevation of 56 ft. above mean tide at Sandy Hook, or 60 ft. above low water in the Delaware river, near Bordentown. Both projects contemplate reaching this level by three locks of 20 ft. lift each, at either end of the canal. To economize water and time, the 20-ft. canal would have two sizes of locks side by side, and the 28-ft. canal three locks abreast. The lécks would have the following dimensions: DOO sO No. 1. 205 feet by 24 feet with 10 feet on miter-sill. Woit:d)* 940 feet-** 44 feet. ** 90 feet’ te No, 3. 500 feet “ 65 feet “ 28 feet * “ ‘ These locks would be founded on piles, with timber grillage and floors, with masonry walls faced with ash- lar and backed by rubble. The gates would be iron or steel of the most approved construction. An electric The outside and center sections of this boiler extend below the grates and form sediment pock- ets, from which the sediment is blown ‘out, and are connect- ed to the interme- diate sections on the side by the circulat- ing pipe. There are openings projecting through the sides of the casing from the outside sections, for cleaning out the cir- culating pipes, and these are closed with a brasstap placed on either side of the boiler. There is a bank of feed water or heater coils placed on each side of the steam _ drum and connected . THE FLAJOLE WATER-TUBE BOILER. 000 tons per annum. He figures the operating expenses at $250,000 per year, or 5 cents per ton on the above estim- ate. To pay 5 per cent. on the cost of a 20-foot canal would add 15 cents per ton, and to pay 5 per cent. on the cost of a 28-foot. canal would add 25 cents. ‘These amount to total tolls of from 20 to 30 cents perton. If the ordinary coastwise trader is allowed an average speed of 10 miles per hour in the ocean, 7 miles in the approaches to the canal and 5 miles per hour in the canal, with two hours consumed at the locks, there would be saved by using the canal from 10% to 11 hours on one trip between New York and Philadelphia. ‘This statement, however, does not include possible delay by adverse winds and storms, nor does it take into account the fact that on the canal cheaper vessels might be used than on an ocean trip. Mr. Hutton wisely concludes his report by pointing out that the ability to use this canal will depend entirely upon the necessary improvement and maintenance of the approaches by the national government; and until these essential preliminaries are arranged with the gov- ernment, he says it is not advisable to invest any money in canal construction. The 27 miles of the Delaware River above Philadelphia have a depth of 26 feet over less than seven miles; the other 20 miles would have to be deepened and maintained even for the shallower canal. No estimate of the cost of this Delaware River improvement is submitted, owing to lack of data, but Mr. Hutton states that it would possibly add $2,000,000 to the cost of the 20-foot canal and $5,000,000 to that of the 28-foot canal. : with the drum by in- dependent connec- ; tions at the bottom ofthe head. The boiler is encased with a 2-inch, double casing filled-with magnesia blocks, and having an open- ing at the top in thecenter for smoke stack, also suitable doors opening to the sections, of full size,making all parts accessible at all times for cleaning out and repairs. This boiler was allowed by the Board of Supervising Inspec- tors, in January, 1893. A number of the boilers are already in use, and are giving the greatest satisfaction. _—-eooon are : A SUBMARINE DINNER PARTY. : Some time ago the labor of deepening the harbor of Ciotat wascompleted. The celebrate the completion of his labor, and to make the occasion memorable, the con- tractor gave to the members of his staff and the repre- sentatives of the press a banquet unprecedented for its originality. The table was set eight metres below the level of the sea, at the very bottom of the harbor, inside the “‘caisson’’ in which the excavators had been at work, and only the narrow walls of this caisson separated the guests from the enormous mass of water around and, above their heads. The new-fashioned banqueting-hall was splendidly decorated and lighted, and but for a certain buzzing in the ears, caused by the pressure of air kept up in the chamber in order to prevent the inrush of water, nobody would have suspected that the slightest interruption in the working of the air-pump would have sufficed to drown the whole party.. After the banque an improvisioned concert prolonged the festivity for several hours, after which the guests reascended into the open air.—F rom Harper’s Round Table. Pe