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Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), 7 Jun 1894, p. 5

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MARINE REVIEW. VorslxX: CLEVELAND, O., JUNE 7, 1894. Nio: :23: Proposed Railway Under the English Channel. The junction of England with the continent of Europe has already been the subject of numerous projects. * Without going back to the pro- ject for a subterranean route recommended in 1892 by Mr. Mathieu, en- gineer of mines, it will suffice to recall the more recent project for a sub- marine tunnel, proposed by Mr. Watkins, and for a gigantic bridge, whose promoters were Messrs. Schneider and Hersent, as well as the modifica- tion of the latter proposed by Mr. Bunau-Varilla. All these projects have been abandoned, as much on account of the objections urged against them as by reason of the incomprehensible hostility that the English have always manifested toward all enterprises of this kind. But Sir Edward Reed, a member of the English parliament, former lord of the treasury and engineer in chief of the admiralty, has taken up the question again with a project which has been received with favor by a large number of members of parliament, and which therefore seems to have serious chances of success, and the more so in that it avoids the difficulties and objections that were urged against its predecessors. The project consists in simply submerging, between a point of the French coast situated in the vicinity of Cape Gris-Nez and another on the <C%, ANGLETERRE Dea de 'ep Fig. 1.-MAP SHOWING PROPOSED CHANNEL TUNNEL, continues to emerge (Fig. 3), and receives the end of the following sec- tion, the junction being made by huge hinges. The caisson of this section is sunk, and so on. When all the sections are in place, the formation of the joints is begun. What we have said about one tube applies also to the other, but, in reality, Sir Edward prefers to sink the sections of the two tubes simultaneously in properly cross-bracing them, in order to form a sort of rigid girder that would present much greater resistance to tranverse stresses. The caissons forming piers are designed to support the tubes at a slight distance from the bottom of the sea. This arrangement possesses the the double advantage of doing away with any preliminary dredging, since it will be possible to give the piers the height necessary to avoid the slight changes of level of the bottom and of assuring a free circulation of the marine currents beneath as well as above the tubes. It permits, be- sides, of so regulating the system that the upward thrust partially bal- ances the weight of the trains in each section. The stresses to which the tube will be submitted by the fact of such passage will be diminished by so much, and, therefore, much better conditions of resistance will be ob- tained than in an ordinary bridge. The use of two distinct tubes will [TD piper reer aur tt iT i Fig. 3.--PROCESS OF SUBMERGING SECTIONS OF TUBE. English coast located between Dover and Folkestone, two tubes that would constitute two absolutely separate tunnels, each serving for the passage in one direction of trains drawn by electric locomotives. Re- ferring to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the configuration of the bottom in this part of the channel presents on each side a regular declivity that ends ina gentle slope at a line of greater depth. The soundings made at distances of a mile apart gave as successive depths, starting from the En- glish coast, 82, 88, 88, 95, 98, 88, 98, 138, 160, 184, 174, 175, 160, 138, 98, and 82 feet. It will be seen, then, that the mean slope of each tunnel would not much exceed 0.08 inch to the foot. There would therefore be found excellent conditions for traction. The tube would be of steel plate with double walls (Fig, 2), and the intervening space would be re-enforced by I beams and filled in with con- crete. The putting in place would be effected by sections of 300 feet, hermetically sealed at each end and floated to the place where they were to be submerged. One of the extremities of the section having been fixed upon a sort of caisson that will afterward perform the functions ofa pier, the caisson is weighted so as tocause it to sink. The other extremity cull Fig. 2, TRANSVERSE SECTION AND PLAN OF THE TUBES AND OF A PIER, prevent all chances of accidents and will have the great advantage of real- izing the important problem of the aeration of the tunnel,without any ex- pense and in as satisfactory a manner as possible. In fact, each train will have somewhat the effect of a piston that forces the vitiated air before it and sucks in pure air behind it to take the place of the former. The total cost of the installation of the tubes is estimated by Mr. Reed at $75,000,000, which is less than half the cost anticipated by Messrs. Schneider and Hersent for construction of a bridge across the channel.-- Revue Universelle. An effort will be made by the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce to provide, free of charge, quarters for the branch of the hydrographic office that is to be established here. A popular subscription will also be started for a time ball service similar to that operated in connection with hy- drographic officeselsewhere. In Chicago assistance of this kind was given the service, and it is hoped that the effort in Cleveland will be successful. Lieut. Blow, U. S. N.,in charge of the Chicago office, will probably address the chamber at an early date on the work of the service.

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