A.—­Having bored the cylinder, faced the flange, and bored out the hole through which the boring bar passes, put a piece of wood across the mouth of the cylinder, and jam it in, and put a similar piece in the hole through the bottom of the cylinder.  Mark the centre of the cylinder upon each of these pieces, and put into the bore of each trunnion an iron plate, with a small indentation in the middle to receive the centre of a lathe, and adjusting screws to bring the centre into any required position.  The cylinder must then be set in a lathe, and hung by the centres of the trunnions, and a straight edge must be put across the cylinder mouth and levelled, so as to pass through the line in which the centre of the cylinder lies.  Another similar straight edge, and similarly levelled, must be similarly placed across the cylinder bottom, so as to pass through the central line of the cylinder; and the cylinder is then to be turned round in the trunnion centres-the straight edges remaining stationary, which will at once show whether the trunnions are in the same horizontal plane as the centre of the cylinder, and if not, the screws of the plates in the trunnions must be adjusted until the central point of the cylinder just comes to the straight edge, whichever end of the cylinder is presented.  To ascertain whether the trunnions stand in a transverse plane, parallel to the cylinder flange, it is only necessary to measure down from the flange to each trunnion centre; and if both these conditions are satisfied, the position of the centres may be supposed to be right.  The trunnion bearings are then turned, and are fitted into blocks of wood, in which they run while the packing space is being turned out.  Where many oscillating engines are made, a lathe with four centres is used, which makes the use of straight edges in setting out the trunnions superfluous.

724. Q.—­Will you explain how the slide valve of a marine engine is set?

A.—­Place the crank in the position corresponding to the end of the stroke, which can easily be done in the shop with a level, or plumb line; but in a steam vessel another method becomes necessary.  Draw the transverse centre line, answering to the centre line of the crank shaft, on the sole plate of the engine, or on the cylinder mouth if the engine be of the direct action kind; describe a circle of the diameter of the crank pin upon the large eye of the crank, and mark off on either side of the transverse centre line a distance equal to the semi-diameter of the crank pin.  From the point thus found, stretch a line to the edge of the circle described on the large eye of the crank, and bring round the crank shaft till the crank pin touches the stretched line; the crank may thus be set at either end of its stroke.  When the crank is thus placed at the end of the stroke, the valve must be adjusted so as to have the amount of lead, or opening on the steam side, which it is intended to give at the beginning of the stroke; the