Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

222

ALDERSON ON STEAM AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.

P. 12. "One body is said to have a greater capacity for caloric than another, and the propriety of the term may be shown by the following experiment:-Dip a lock of wool and a piece of sponge in water, and observe how much more water the sponge is capable of taking up than the wool. Hence the sponge may be said to have a greater capacity for water than the wool."

Another most inconsequential experiment. It shows, certainly, that sponge has a greater capacity for water than wool; but what that has to do with the capacity of bodies for caloric we cannot understand.

P. 18. "The first person who, in modern times, applied it (the elasticity of steam) in a practical, though not in a powerful, manner, was Giovania Branca, who resided at Rome in the beginning of the seventeenth century," &c:

Not the "first person," assuredly. Mr. Alderson appears to be wholly ignorant of a fact, now tolerably well known to the scientific world, that, as early as 1543, Blasco de Garay actually propelled a ship, in the harbour of Carthagena, by means of an apparatus, "consisting of a large caldron or vessel of boiling water and a moveable wheel attached to each side of the ship." The reader will find the evidence on which this Spanish claim rests fully detailed in onr 7th vol., p. 235.

P. 20. "This passage (No. 68 of the Marquis of Worcester's inventions) certainly contains a description of an engine for raising water by the repellent power of steam; and, from his expression of one vessel of water, converted into steam, forcing up forty vessels of water, it is very probable that he had actually tried the experiment by a working model."

66

Mr. Alderson, then, is not aware that it is not merely very probable,” but now quite certain, that the Marquis of Worcester did actually exhibit to the public of his day a steam-engine applied to the raising of water. The "Diary of Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany,' published a few years ago, set this longdisputed point completely at rest.

P. 21. "The force of the steam-engine is derived from the property of water to expand itself in an amazing degree, when heated above the temperature at which it becomes changed into vapour or steam."

There is, of course, but one description of steam engine to which this remark can apply, and that is the high-pressure; yet, immediately after (p. 22), the author tells us that high-pressure engines act on a different principle;" which assertion he proceeds to prove, by showing that they act on the same principle precisely.

P. 25. "We shall, therefore, pass on to Papin, who appears to have made a most important improvement in the generation of steam, if it be true what is very generally asserted, that he was the inventor of the safety-valve."

Only seven pages before this Mr. Alderson himself, speaking of Branca, who flourished nearly a century before Papin, says "The engine of Branca consists of a boiler with a safety-valve, to prevent accidents which might arise from explosion."

P. 55. "To condense by contact, and so use the condensed liquor over again""this no one has ever yet found it possible advantageously to effect."

A strange statement this to appear in a "Prize Essay" of the London Me. chanics' Institution, where the method which Mr. Hall, of Basford, has so successfully introduced into practice, of condensing by contact, was first lectured upon, about a twelvemonth ago, to a London audience. Did Dr. Birkbeck and his pupils not believe their own eyes? Or are they yet ignorant that Mr. Hall's method is now in very general use in the steam-boats on the Mersey, and is fastspreading, wherever economy of fuel and increase of speed are considered objects worthy of attain- ment?

P. 59. "Patents have been taken out for washing by steam, but as the women fowk canna be fasht wi' it,' the ingenious and well. meaning inventors are, we believe, seldom applied to for licenses, and certainly have no ground of complaint for infringement of patent-right."

Although washing by steam has met with but little encouragement in England, it has found favour enough in other countries, and is by much too useful an application of steam-power, to warrant the supercilious levity with which it is here noticed. In France there are upwards of two hundred establishments where clothes are washed by steam, in a

LIST OF NEW PATENTS.

far better manner than by any process known to the "women fowk" of England, and at much less expense.

We might add largely to this catalogue of defects, but time as well as space now requires that we should lay down our pen. We regret that we have been obliged to speak so sharply of the production of a young aspirant for scientific distinction-for such we take Mr. Alderson to be; but when young aspirants forget the modesty that should attend a first endeavour, and the partial friends of young aspirants lose sight of truth and discretion in their praise, it should not surprise any one, that all personal considerations vanish, before the necessity which arises of convincing both parties, that neither presumption nor favouritism can be suffered to go-if unpunished-at least not unrebuked.

LIST OF NEW PATENTS, GRANTED BETWEEN THE 20TH OF MAY AND THE

24TH OF JUNE, 1834.

George Bather, of the Haymarket, scale maker, for a weighing-machine upon a new construction. May 22; six months to specify.

Thomas Edmonds, of Burton-street, Hanoversquare, for a certain process or method of manipulation and treatment for the preparation of leather, whereby it becomes less pervious to water, and preserves better its pliability during use than does leather prepared by the ordinary means. May 22; six months to specify.

Joseph Morgan, of Manchester, pewterer, for certain improvements in the apparatus used in the manufacture of mould-candles. May 22; six months to specify.

Charles Louis Stanislas Baron Heurteloup, of Holles-street, Cavendish-square, for improvements in certain parts of certain descriptions of firearms. May 22; six months to specify.

Andrew Smith, of Princes street, Leicestersqnare, nachinist and engineer, for a new and improved method of preparing phormium tenax, hemp, flax, and other fibrous substances, and rendering the same fit for hackling in the manufacture of linen, and for spinning in the manufacture of ropes, cordage, lines, and twines. May 24; six months to specify.

Luke Smith, of Manchester, cotton-manufacturer, and John Smith, of Hepwood, machinemaker, for certain improvements in weaving machinery. May 24; six months to specify.

Philip Augustus De Chapeaurouge, of Fenchurch-street, London, for a machine, engine, or apparatus for producing motive power, and called in France, by the inventor, "voland-moteur perpetnel," being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad. May 24; six months to specify.

Stephen Hawkins, of Milton House, near Portsmouth, for certain improvements in warmingpaus or apparatus for warming beds and other purposes. May 24; six months to specify.

223

John George Bodmer, of Bolton-le-Moors, civilengineer, for certain improvements in steamengines and boilers, applicable both to fixed and locomotive engines. May 24; six months to specify.

John George Bodmer, of Bolton-le-Moors, civilengineer, for certain improvements in the construction of grates, stoves, and furnaces, applicable to steam-engines, and many useful purposes. May 24; six months to specify.

William Crofts, of New Radford, in the county of Nottingham, for his invention of certain improvements in certain machinery for making lace, commonly called bobbin-net lace. May 27; six months to specify.

William Henry Hornby, of Blackheath, Lancaster, cotton spinner and merchant, and William Kenworthy, of Blackburn, aforesaid, engineer, for certain improvements in power-looms, to be used in the weaving of cotton, linen, silk, woollen, and other cloths. May 27; six months to specify.

Richard Simpson, of Southampton-row, Bloomsbury, for improvements in machinery for roving and slubbing cotton and wool, being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad. June 3; six months to specify.

John Bertie, of Basford, Nottingham, machinist, and James Gibbons, of Radford, machinist, for an improved texture of the lace-net, hitherto called bobbin-net or twist-net, and also certain improvements in lace-machinery, in order to produce lace-net with the said improved texture, either plain or ornamented. June 5; six months to specify.

George Saint Leger Grenfell, of Paris, merchant, at present residing at No. 4, Cadogan-place, Sloane-street, for certain improvements in the construction of saddles, being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad. June 5; six months to specify.

Edward Keele, of Titchfield, Southampton, brewer, for an improved valve and apparatus for close fermenting and cleansing porter, beer, ale, wine, spirits, and all other saccharine and fermentable fluids. June 7; six months to specify.

Thomas Ridgway Bridson, of Great Bolton, Bolton-le-Moors, bleacher, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus to be used in the operation of drying cotton, linen, and other similar manufactured goods, being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad. June 10; six months to specify.

James Whitaker, of Wardle, near Rochdale, Lancaster, flannel-manufacturer, for certain improvements in engines used for carding wool. June 12; six months to specify.

Matthew Bush, of Dalmarnoch Printfield, near Bonhill, by Dunbarton, North Britain, calicoprinter, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for drying and printing calicoes and other fabrics. June 14; six months to specify.

James Lee Hannah, of Brighton, M.D., for a certain improvement, or certain improvements, in surgical-instruments for reducing the stone in the bladder, and enabling the patient to pass it off through the urethra. June 16; six months to specify.

Joseph Jones, of Oldham, in the county of Lancaster, cotton-manufacturer, and Thomas Melledew,' of the same place, mechanic, for certain improvements in the construction of power looms, and in the manufacture of certain kinds of cordedfustian or fabric, to be woved in diagonal cords from cotton, wool, and other fibrous materials. June 16; six months to specify.

[blocks in formation]

Charles Wilson, of Kelso, Roxburgh, for certain improvements applicable to the machinery used in the preparation for spinning wool and other fibrous substances. June 17; six months to specify.

Isaac Jecks, junior, of Bennett's-hill, London, for an apparatus or machine for pulling or drawing on or off boots. June 17; six months to specify.

William Symington, of Bromley, cooper, and Andrew Symington, of Falkland, in Fifeshire, watchmaker, for a paddle-wheel of a new and useful construction for the propulsion of vessels and other motive purposes. June 23; six months to specify.

John Chester Lyman, of Golden square, for certain improvements in hulling, cleansing, or polish.. ing rice, in bearding or peeling barley, and hulling and cleaning coffee, being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad. June 24; six months to specify.

NOTES AND NOTICES.

Platina has been recently extracted, by a M." d'Angy, from a particular species of galena, found in the west of France.

Turkey Amber has been and is still used by many, varnish-makers, as a drier. I, like many others, used it for years; but, from experience, I found it contained nothing of a particular drying quality, being only a mixture of clay, iron, vitriol, zinc, &c. I found it prevented every thing from settling into which it was introduced, for a length of time, and I, therefore, discontinued it. Its best quality is that of an absorbent.-Mr. Wilson Neil. -Trans. Society of Arts.

The Cochineal Harvest -The insects are brushed off the branches, with a squirrel's or deer's tail, by women, who sit during this operation for whole hours at one nopal plant. Humboldt assures us, that, were it not for the extreme cheapness of labour, in Mexico and the Brazils, there would be no profit in rearing cochineal, though, when exported to Europe, it is almost as dear as gold.

From documents quoted in the " Morgenblatt," it appears that the celebrated Chinese wall was erected 213 years before the birth of Christ, against the Mongolese. It is 714 German miles long, 14 feet thick, and 26 feet high; so that, with the same materials, a wall, one foot in thickness, and 23 feet high, might be carried twice round the whole world.

Very Candid.-Dr. Jones, the Superintendent of the Patent office at Washington, U. S., speaking of the expense attending the procuring of English patents for American inventions, in the last Number of the Franklin Journal, says,-" Were all inventions as good as their authors think them, this expense would be of comparatively little inoment; but, in point of fact, there is not more than one in fifty of the patents obtained here which would be worth patenting in England, at so great á cost, although what is really new and useful will in general be better paid for there than with us."

Mr. Babbage has again started for Finsbury. We need not say how anxiously we desire to see science win the day. There is not a candidate opposed to him who would not gain ten times more honour by retiring in Mr. Babbage's favour, than he can possibly gain by being the means of his exclusion from a place in the councils of his country,

What has become of the remarkable system of Stenography stated, in the Mechanics' Magazine of May 19, 1833, to have been invented by a Mr. Thos. Scaife, schoolmaster, of Kendal, Westmoreland, and successfully reduced to practice (though

on a limited scale) by that gentleman and one of his pupils? The inquirer has ever since been looking anxiously for the further development promised by the inventor.-J. L. June 21, 1834.

The Lord Chancellor and M. Dupin, the President of the French Chamber of Deputies, honoured by their presence, last week, the first of a series of lectures, delivered at the London Mechanics' Institution by Dr. Lardner, on Mr. Babbage's calculating machine. M. Dupin was presented on the occasion with the diploma of an honorary member of the Institution; and Lord Brougham made an address, in the course of which he announced the gratifying fact, that "great steps were now being taken for the promotion of the general education of the people," and added, that it had been no fault of his (as they all well knew!) that similar measures had not been adopted long since." We conclude from this, that the Parliamentary reporters must have grossly misrepresented his Lordship a session or two ago, when they ascribed to him a very elaborate speech, from the woolsack, in which he demonstrated that a national establishment for the general education of the people is not at all necessary in this country!

Mr. Ward does wrong to consider our notice of his pamphlet on Mr. Snowden's Railway Scheme in the light of an "attack;" neither was it, as he supposes, by any means" hastily got up." We did not, certainly, follow the advice of his motto-"Before you doubt, examine "-but we examined be. cause we doubted; and the result of that examination we have stated in plain, yet, we trust, sufficiently respectful terms. We must decline, therefore, entering again into the matter.

of

We are requested, by "An Old Subscriber," to announce that a new motive power has been discovered by a member of the Mechanics' Institution, which will " supersede completely the use steam," being equally available under all circumstances, and attended with much less both of expense and danger." We hope this may prove true, but we have our misgivings. The institution in Southampton-buildings has become, of late, rather a noted place for finding mares'-nests.

It is generally supposed that the many fatal explosions of steam-boats in America is owing to the use of high-pressure engines; but an American writer, quoted in the Franklin Journal, says,"The truth is, our boats are on the low-pressure plan, but they carry from 16 to 25 inches of steam, which our boilers are rot calculated to resist." There are few English boats worked at a higher pressure than 4 lbs.

Communications received from Mr. BaddeleyG. C.-A Soapboiler-J. L.-Bergein (with a parcel of specimens).

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Mechanics' Magazine,

MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE.

[graphic]

VOL. XXI.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

226

MODE OF WORKING UNDER-GROUND INCLINED PLANES.

MODE OF WORKING AN UNDER-GROUND

INCLINED PLANE, AT WEMYSS COLLIERY, FIFeshire.

Sir, The working of inclined planes is a subject with which I have had considerable experience, and I have tried various schemes to prevent the carriages running away when the rope or chain gives way: I have, therefore, read with much interest the account of the St.

Helena inclined plane, and the method of stopping the truck," and Mr. Deakin's judicious remarks about its inefficiency. I quite agree with him, that this contrivance does not merit the "handsome reward," as it is inapplicable to inclined planes, where more than one carriage ascends at a time. From the complexity of the affair it could not be applied to every waggon on the way. But suppose that there were one applied to every inclined plane, attached to the rope with a train of carriages after it, if any thing were to give way I am afraid the "blunt spikes" would make a pretty efficient plough: indeed, it would strip the plane, of rollers and every thing, unless it were very flat. And were the chain to run foul on the barrel (as often happens) when the train is descending, it would floor the "truck," and time would be lost in starting the engine to get it on its legs again.

Now, Mr. Editor, you must not suppose that I have set about finding objections to a useful invention on the contrary, I give Mr. Hoare credit for the ingenuity of the thing, and have no doubt but it answers the purpose well where it is applied. It is but fair, however, to state wherein it is only useful, as it may draw forth more information on the subject.

In the same spirit I now send you a sketch of a stopper I have employed on an under-ground inclined plane here, not unlike the St. Helena one for steepness (nothing but necessity could make me adopt such an angle). The entrance to it is close to the shore of the Firth of Forth, for the purpose of winning a coal under the bed of that river. It is driven at the same angle as the strata, and is a little convex. The angle at the entrance is 20o, and gradually increases to 2610 at the bottom. The length is 320 yards. Six carriages ascend at a time.

The whole weight of them, when loaded, is about 3 tons. The rails are of the tram form. The carriages are of malleable iron, the corfs of strong basket-work. The speed is 480 feet per minute. Upon the hind-axle of the last carriage two bent bars of iron A A hang loose (as represented in the elevation fig. 2, and plan fig. 3, which are on a scale of 1 inch to a foot), they are rivetted or bolted together with two stretchers BB. The points of the bars are sharp and steeled. When the train is ascending, these points trail along the ground, and should any thing give way the points enter the ground a little, and raise the last carriage to the roof, as shown at A, fig. 1, and deranges nothing; for the moment the chain is clasped the engine is started, and the raised carriage falls on the rail. When the train is descending (as shown in B, fig. 1,) the stopper is hooked up, and in that state travels to its destination below the river. There is a stopper for every train of waggons.

It must be admitted, however, that this plan, like Mr. Hoare's, is only applicable to particular situations, that is, where there is a roof.

The next inclined plane I construct, I think it will be worth while to cast a rack-rail inside of each of the common rails, and to have two long palls attached to the foremost axle of every train, fastened together with stretchers, same as my stopper. They should be pretty long to bring the strain nearly on end, when they happen to get the weight of the waggons. Fig. 4 will give an idea of the scheme. My reason for applying it before will be obvious, as any stopper applied behind invariably upsets the waggons (where there is no roof). Should the disagreeable noise of the pall, travelling over the rack, be thought offensive, the rope can be fastened to the hook A, which would keep up the rope by its tension, until it gave way, when the pall would fall in and check their descent before they had time to acquire velocity; or advantage might be taken of Mr. Hoare's plan, by putting an axle across the two palls and checks, with small wheels to travel on the common road, when the rope was tight, and when broken they would turn over, and let the palls catch the teeth.

« AnteriorContinuar »