Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

Menai Straits, the bridges of the, I., 142-152. Menhirs, I., 7. Mercury, the, I., 319. Merv, IL, 378, 381. Metacentre, metacentric height, I., 353. Metcalfe, Sir Charles, II., 158. Metropolitan Life Assurance building, New York, II., 17, 19. Metropolitan Water Board, III., 196. Microphone, marine, I., 432. Moir, E. W., IL, 109, 118. Mole drainer, III., 292. Monoliths—dock wall, IL, 183: Dublin harbour, IL, 183, 184; Gibraltar breakwater, III., 75: La Guaira, III., 76; Zeebrugge harbour, III., Mont Cenis Pass, III., 301. Montauk theatre, transport of, II., 446, 447. Mormons as irrigators, II., 85 ; and the Central Pacific Railway, III., 138. Mosquitoes, II., 137. Motor, agricultural, III., 298, 299. Motor boat, torpedo craft, I., 425. Motor cars, racing, see “ Development of the Racing Motor Car.” Motor, electric “ waterproof,” I., 430. Motor generators, III., 229. Mould lofl, II., 68, 70. Mules, intelligent, I., 265. “ Muskegs,” or swamps, on Canadian Pacific Railway, I., 261, 264. Myddleton, Sir Hugh, and the New River, III., 194, 195. N Nairobi, II., 54. Nantes transporter bridge, I., 292. Needle dams, III., 176. Neutral axis of beam, I., 102. Newcomen’s “ atmospheric ” engine, III., 195. Newport transporter bridge, I., 291. New River, the, III., 193, 194, 195, 198. New York Subwav, The, IL, 342- 354. Why it was constructed, 342; cost and extent, 342; location, 342 ; “ express ” and “ local ” train services intended, 343; shallow level tunnels, 343; normal box- type structure, 343 ; modifications for special reasons, 344 ; contract let to J. B. M'Donald, 344 ; organi- zation of labour, 344 ; troubles with buried pipes, 345 ; sewer diversion, 345 ; excavating and building the subway, 345 ; an easy section, 345 ; a section complicated by car tracks, 346 ; work along Broadway, 347 ; car tracks carried on temporary trusses, 347 ; supporting the columns of the elevated railway, 348; pass- ing through the foundations of a skyscraper, 348; tunnelling under a monument, 348 ; subway stations, 349, 350; automatic signals, 350,351; the huge power-house, 351; rolling stock, 351; congestion through heavy traffic, 353; delay caused by a “cross- over,” 354; multi-door cars adopted, 354; multi-track stations suggested, 354; subways of the future, 354. New York—geography of, II., 258, 259, 260 ; population of, III., 97. New York, water supply of, II., 97-112; see “ Water Supply of New York.” Niagara Falls, water-power stations of, II., 295-311 ; see “ Water-Power Stations of Niagara Falls.” Niagara, U.S.N.S., used for laying first Atlantic cable, II., 285, 286, 288, 355 -357, 360. Nile Dams and the Assouan Reser- voir, The, IL, 385-408. The Nile in early history, 385 ; its sources, confluents, course, and fluctuations, 386 ; basin irrigation, 387 ; perennial irrigation, 388 ; the cotton crop, 388 ; primitive irri- gation appliances — the Shadoof, Sakieh, Taboot, and Natala, 389. The Delta barrage, 389; a failure, 390 ; converted into a fortress, 390 ; old foundations strengthened by British engineers, 390; details of the barrage, 390 ; how the founda- tions were secured, 391 ; barrage usable, but further storage needed, 391. The Assouan dam and res- ervoir, 391 ; scheme and site adopted, 393; dimensions, con- struction, and other features of the dam, 393 ; weight compared with that of the Great Pyramid, 393; contract signed and work begun, 393 ; enclosing the site with, sudds, 393, 394; drastic measures for conquering the current, 394; ex- posing the river bed, 395; progress, completion, and opening of the dam, 395, 397; Stoney sluices, 397, 398; locks and navigation canal, 398 ; aprons to withstand scour, 398. The Assiout barrage, 399 ; Ibra- himiyeh Canal, 399 ; details of the barrage, 399 ; how the foundations were laid, 401 ; quick work needed, 402 ; progress of work, 402 ; diffi- culties overcome, 402; joining up the two ends of the masonry, 403 ; barrage finished, 404. Zifta bar- rage, 404. Esneh barrage, 404, 405 ; its purpose and construction, 405 ; special type of sluice gates, 405 ; scheme for raising the Assouan dam, 405 ; the beautiful island of Philæ and its monuments, 406 ; sub- mersion unavoidable, 406 ; founda- tions of buildings underpinned, 406; how the height of the dam was in- creased, 407. Conclusion: review of five great schemes, 407 ; their effects, increase of value in land and crops, 408. Norwegian railway, Bergen to Kristiania, III., 347-356 ; see “ Bergen-Kris- tiania Railway.” Nurnberg gas engines, I., 221. O Oil - Fields, Engineering in the World’s, IL, 321-341. Engineering requirements for oil- fields, 321 ; huge capital invested in petroleum industry, 322; ro- mances of “ striking oil,” quickly won fortunes, 322 ; origin and dis- tribution of petroleum, 322; oil- field geology, 323 ; surface indica- tions of the proximity of oil de- posits, 323 ; the sacred fires of Baku, 323 ; asphalt deposits, 325 ; the Trinidad pitch lake, 325 ; ozokerite in Galicia, 325; Scotch oil-bearing shales, 325. Sinking oil wells, 326; dug wells of Roumania, 325, 326 ; discovery of [ 395 ] petroleum deposits in the United States, 326; two main systems of well-sinking—(1) percussion, (2) rotary, 326 ; the percussion system subdivided into—(a) cable drilling, (5) pole drilling, 326; boring ap- paratus—derrick, engine, and tools, 327 ; the principles of boring, 327 ; removing sludge, 328; lining the well, 328, 329; cost of drilling, 329; recovering lost tools, 329; the violence of oil and gas under pres- sure, 332; uncontrollable “ gushers,” 332; fires in oil-fields—precautions, extinguishing apparatus, 333; mag- nificence of a burning “spouter,” 333; extinguishing a burning well, 334. Raising oil to the surface, 334; pumping, 334; baling, 335; use of the “air lift,” 336. Distillation and refining, 336; chemistry of petro- leum, 336; the effect of heat on the petroleum constituents, 336; “crack- ing,” 336; the various distillates, 336. Transport of petroleum, 336; oil pipe linos, 337; pipes rifled to minimize friction, 337 ; American pipe lines, 337, 338; an ingenious automatic pipe cleaner, 338 ; Baku- Batoum pipe line, 338; other notable pipe lines, 338; natural gas, its occur- rence and value, 338, 339 ; oil tank ships, 339 ; a floating town on the Caspian Sea, 339, 340 ; liquid fuel and its uses, 340, 341 ; future of the oil industry, 341. Oil fuel, I., 425 ; on Trans-Caspian Rail- way, IL, 378. Open-hearth method of steel making, III., 265. Ore unloaders, III., 257, 260. Oroya-Lima Railway, I., 126.. Oscillating marine engines, II., 35. Otto “ cycle,” in internal combustion engines, I., 21G. Overland route to India, I., 242. P Paddles v. screw propellers, II., 29. Painting the Victoria Bridge, L, 212. Panama Canal, The, II., 129-149. Need for piercing the Isthmus of Panama, 130; a canal for all nations, 130; construction a tre- mendous task, 131, 137 ; impetus given to scheme by discovery of gold in California, 131 ; old Panama railway, 131 ; many schemes for a canal projected, 132; first and second Panama Canal companies, 132 ; sale of French canal to the United States, 133 ; climate of the Panama Isthmus, 134; across the isthmus, 135; work done up to 1904, 135; successful fight with disease, 136 ; lock v. sea-level canal question settled, 139 ; Gatun lake, 139, 142 ; Gatun dam, the largest in the world, 140; locks, 144; enormous quantity of material to be removed, 144 ; army engineers take charge, 145 ; steady progress, 145 ; labour-saving machinery used —steam shovels, 146; mechanical spreaders and track-throwers, 147 ; New Panama Railway, 148 ; huge cost of the canal, 148. Pardoe, Stephen, on “ The Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railwø; L, 257.