Figs. 8 and 9 show the method of machining the cylinders and pistons,
the whole of which can be done by ordinary lathes, which is evidently a
great advantage in the event of reboring, etc., being required in the
colonies or other countries where special tools are inaccessible.

Figs. 11 and 12 are sections which explain themselves.--_The Engineer_.

* * * * *




THE NATIONAL TRANSIT CO'S PIPE LINES FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF PETROLEUM
TO THE SEABOARD.


While Englishmen and Americans have been alike interested in the late
project for forcing water by a pipe line over the mountainous region
lying between Suakim and Berber in the far-off Soudan, few men of either
nation have any proper conception of the vast expenditure of capital,
natural and engineering difficulties overcome, and the bold and
successful enterprise which has brought into existence far greater pipe
lines in our own Atlantic States. We refer to the lines of the National
Transit Company, which have for a purpose the economic transportation of
crude petroleum from Western Pennsylvania to the sea coast at New York,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and to the Lakes at Cleveland and Buffalo.

To properly commence our sketch of this truly gigantic enterprise, we
must go back to the discovery of petroleum in the existing oil regions
of Pennsylvania and adjacent States. Its presence as an oily scum on the