The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-17 00:00:00

MECHANICAL POWER.

It is supposed by the generality of mankind that
whatever promotes the interests of any particular
class of men will be supported by that class. Ex-
perience is opposed to that opinion. Hugh Myd-
dleton was allowed to pursue his noble design for
supplying London with water amidst doubts and

indifference, and assisted when it was too late.
Watt was left unnoticed and unaided, and compelled
to give his engines to the mine-owners and manu-

Facturers who would use them for a portion of the
saving they effected. England is not the only un•
grateful country. Fulton, who first stemmed the
rivers of the New World, received at last some pri-
vileges, which were afterwards shamelessly cancelled,
and his family and posterity are now in poverty
on the banks of the Ohio. Many other instances
'night be cited. Winsor, the inventor of the system
of lighting with gas, died an impoverished exile in
France; and Gurney, who laboured for years to per-
fect locomotive engines, has been turned out of his
own factory to seek his fortune elsewhere. Hancock
has received no better treatment; and Ogle, who
proved that safety and speed might be combined,
has seen his factory possessed by the rich mortgagee,
and been refused even to examine the vehicle he
brought from Liverpool, in the establishment he had
erected and supported. Mr. Babbage, too, after
projecting that piece of machinery which approaches
nearer than any ether to the results of human intel-
ligence, and which constitutes a wonder of the
world, sold it to the Government for a small por-
tion of what it cost, and then was insulted with the
offer of the lowest decorative order; thus putting
the same value on his labours as on those of an Al-
derman who brings up an address to the Throne.
Quitting this painful subject, it may be observed
forcethat theof ell
steamle o
is f inCornwall,
power
where
h ferroem
sixty-seven h eelastic
million pounds weight of water have been raised
one foot high in a minute. The machinery now
a
used in vessels is certainly efficient, but its weight
and dimensions render it unprofitable, and neither
Government nor individuals seem inclined to adopt
the most obvious improvements. No one can deny
the corrosion from the use of salt water; but al-
though an ingenious man, named Humphreys, has
actually used the same fresh water for three years in
the boiler of a steamer between Southampton and
Cowes, and the Admiralty are aware of the fact,
no means have been adopted to render the discovery
available for general purposes. The Steam Navi-
gation Company are also aware of it, but factious
opposition among the Directors has prevented the
adoption of an improvement which would have
given them pre-eminence over all the establishments
of the world. Too much space is occupied in all
steam-vessels by the machinery. We know that
the same machinery which propelled Ogle and
Sumner's carriage to Liverpool would propel a
boat of forty horse power. The whole machinery
might be comprised in a box five feet square; now
it occupies two-thirds of the vessel. The Royal
Yacht Squadron have so great a horror of science
that, by their laws, any member who possesses a
yacht propelled by steam is expelled. This is a
law unworthy of the Association. If it was their
wish and intention to support the maritime ascen-
dancy of England, they ought to have held out re-
wards and honours for him who could propel a ves-
sel with the greatest speed, the lightest and safest
machinery, and without smoke. So great do we
consider their power, we are convinced that, if they
rescinded their law, and stood forth in this manner
as the supporters of science, they would deserve the
thanks of the country, and do much towards hasten-
ing the perfection of locomotion by sea.
If people can travel on the common roads without
smoke or steam, their machinery would produce the
same result on the ocean. If a boiler was objected
to, Howard has an engine at work without a boiler,
and the fire is contained in a close metal box. This
engine cannot be worked at much beyond ordinary
pressure, from quicksilver being used to rgulate
the heat; but it ought to be tried, and brought into
competition with others. A race of six or eight of
such vessels, to be propelled without sails, without
smoke or steam, and without being subject to the
vibratory motion, would be both interesting and
useful. The vibratory motion does not arise from
the back water ; but from the blows of the pad-
dles as they strike the water. If they entered edge-
ways and came out edgeways, the motion would be
imperceptible. Until great improvements are intro-
duced, steam-ships for war are extremely defective.
If the chimney of a steam-frigate were to be shot
away, the vessel would become a log in the water,

very likely to catch fire. If a shot were only to
strike her boiler, and not preforate it, the boiler
would leak at every rivet, and be worthless; if the
shot penetrated, the probability is that the people
below would be smothered or scalded to death. The
boiler in present use is too much exposed. It should
be so compact, that it may be fixed very low down,
and be rendered quite secure from shot by being be-
low the water, and surrounded by shot-proof sub-
stances. If properly constructed the nitrogen tube
would be so small as to run less risk than the pre-
sent chimney of being shot away, and there should
be provision for shipping another if it were cut
away close to the deck; if a few feet above it the
injury would not be perceptible. The engines and
boiler would be protected by the same materials,
and if such a vessel had the power to condense and
heat air they might pour such broadsides that no
ship could swim for ten minutes opposite a steam-
frigate of 800 tons. Should another war ensue,
no army will be without some locomotive vehicles
to he propelled by steam. The machinery may be
easily secured against musketry or grape, and the top
sides also. There are gallant spirits enough to be
found who would steer them. Suppose one of
these vehicles, containing 200 men, rushed at a
square of infantry, drawn up on a road like that
which bisected Waterloo, and was followed by ca-
valry, the square would be broken through as if
made of paper. What must ensue is evident. If

the ground were hard, so that the wheels had a ful-
crum, columns would be scattered like pea sticks.
The weight of the vehicle to do such desperate
mischief need not exceed a twelve-pounder and its
apparatus.

The Earl of Dundonald has lately made some
very successful experiments with rotatory engines
applied to carriages and boats. If the members of
the Royal Yacht Squadron were embued with the
same scientific spirit as Lord Dundonald we should
soon see vessels, like swans or flying fish, darting
over the surface of the waters. It has been re-
peatedly shown that railways can never compete
with canals for the transport of very heavy goods.
If canal property was efficiently managed it might,
in every instance, compete with railways in this
respect, when they are placed in juxta-position.
The rate of speed on the Ardrossan and other canals,
though upwards of ten miles an hour, is not its
maximum; it is limited by the speed at which the
horses can continue the exertion. The use of horses in
canals may be dispensed with altogether, and by the
introduction of steam power a maximum of speed
hitherto deemed impossible may be accomplished in
canals which are adapted for it. The outcry about the
banks of canals is "much ado about nothing." If
boats were commodious and well conducted, the
majority of persons would prefer travelling by them,
as on the Ardrossan, where 67,000 people have
walked half a mile, rather than pay the extra three-
halfpence by the coaches. There is one piece of
machinery long known, but just struggling into
existence, which, like some unexpected blessing,
will for a long time give a mercantile superiority to
England. This is the mode of transferring power.
As our object is to convey information in the simplest
form, we will first state one or two facts through
which the chain of reasoning may be more readily
followed. The air presses on every square inch
exposed to it, the weight of 151bs. It is clear
that if a vacuum be formed on one side of a sur-
face, the edges of which fit so close to an external
box as to prevent any air passing, that if the vacuum
be perfect, the number of pounds pressing on the
side opposite to the vacuum will be fifteen times the
number of square inches of the area. On that simple
principle depends the working of the beautiful ma-
chine to which we allude. Suppose a mountain tor-
rent so situated that it cannot be. conveniently made
use of, the water, by this machine, can be conveyed
through swamps and over precipices, to the manu-
factory where it is required. Water-wheels are made
to work exhausting pumps; to these pumps a pipe
is attached, which is exhausted of air by their
working, and the air continually entering on the
other side forms the pressure desired. The com-
munication u ith the vacuum is then changed to the
side which contains the air, and the reciprocating
motion being obtained, it is converted in the usual
way to rotatory. Thus, at the distance of miles,
the primary power is transferred by this simple yet
philosophical principle. Ships by this power may
be cleared of their cargoes at half the expense arid
in half the time. Had the proprietors of St. Katha-
rine's Docks established it by the water of the Thames
they would have doubled their dividends; but im-
mense expense was incurred for engines little used,
and cranes not half so efficient. When the Mersey
is made use of for this mighty purpose the Corpo-
ration of Liverpool may let out power, and mete it,
too, as the Companies do gas. The Mint works of
Utrecht anti Brazil are, perhaps, the finest pieces of
machinery in the world, and they are both worked
by the vacuum machines constructed by John
Hague, who has a patent for the application. Fos-
ter, of Stourbridge, has one at work 600 yards
down a mine. As we never had an anchor properly
fagotted in any of our dockyards, the Government
would do well to have some of these machines
brought into use for worlfing tilt hammers. In
conclusion, it should be remembered that machinery
cannot be put together like the framing of a Louse.
The ingenuity of England and the wealth of the
Bank could not construct such vessels and weapons
as we have spoken of in less time than many months.
We have heard that both France arid Russia have had
agents here contracting for such machinery. We
have given the warning, and trust that it will not be
unlieeded.—Abridged from the United Service
Journal.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

A ticket-porter was charged under the following
curious circumstances :—A gentleman who had been
at the Ship Tavern, in Water-lane, was about to
leave it in a coach, and ordered the waiter to take
his luggage. The waiter was, however, prevented
by the ticket-porter, who insisted upon carrying the
luggage by virtue of his privilege. The gentleman
then said that he would carry his own luggage, and
accordingly took it up for that purpose, but the
ticket-porter insisted that his privilege extended to
the power of preventing a person from carrying his
own. The landlord did not like to see his customer
insulted, and interfered, but was pushed about by
the ticket-porter.
The ticket-porter denied that he prevented the
gentleman from carrying his own luggage, but ad-
mitted that he had opposed the waiter.
The landlord said that the gentleman was so an-
noyed at the interference of the defendant, who was
for pulling his property out of his hands, that he
actually knocked the ticket-porter down.--(A laugh.)
Mr. C. Pearson, who was present on other busi-
ness, assured the Lord Mayor that he had heard the
old Recorder (Mr. Knowlys) say that a gentleman
could not carry a lady's reticule for her if the ticket-
porters objected.
The landlord of the Ship tavern stated, that the
moment a carriage drove up to his door, fifty or
sixty of the ticket porters surrounded it, and pre-
vented even the owners from touching their own
property. He was greatly infested by them.
The LORD MAYOR—I shall send the case to the
sessions, as the subject of the privileges is very
little known to me.