The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-21 00:00:00

SCOTT'S STEAM-GENERATOR.

[We extract the following from the Daily News.
If the invention come up to expectation it will
prove of incalculable benefit to the public, and will
no doubt make the inventor's fortune.]
Mr. Scott, an engineer, who has had many years'
experience of the steam machinery of America, in-
vited a number of gentlemen connected with practi-
cal engineering science in this country to inspect,
on Saturday last, an invention of his for the safe
and economical generation of steam power, and
which, although he has taken out a patent for it, is
as yet but little known amongst our employers of the
mighty agent. Starting from the point that the two
great desiderata to be obtained were economy of
space and of fuel, without loss of power or of safety,
Mr. Scott's attention has been turned towards same
means by which the present cumbrous apparatus
might be superseded and steam generated more
readily, more cheaply, and with much more portable
appliances. The process for which he claims the merit
of original discovery may be divided under two
heads—a novelty in the mode of evaporation, and
an entire change in the construction of the mechani-
cal media. At present, as every one knows, a large
boiler is filled with water, and, fire being applied
underneath, the steam is generated very much in
the manner in which we see it done in the ordinary
tea-kettle. The water being pumped in cold, and
in its flowing and cohesive state, has to be first
heated, then broken into globules by the action of
the fire, and finally evaporated into steam. The
first two of these processes exhausts nearly two-
thirds of the applied combustion, and it is by super-
seding them that Mr. Scott hopes to effect the great
saving both of space and of fuel. In order to effect
his purpose ho substitutes for the ordinary boiler a
spiral tube, coiled in rings, and tapering to the top,
in the shape of a blunted cone. By this form he
gains great economy of space, and that increase
in the amount of heating surface which is found in
the multitubular boiler of the railway locomotive,
with a greater evenness in the impingement of heat,
the coil being placed vertically instead of longi-
tudinally, as in the case of the locomotive tubes.
The water is injected at the bottom, but with it is
also injected a jet of air, and in the fusion of the
two as they enter the coil he contends that he has
established an entirely new principle in steam
generation. The water enters the helix, or coil, in
the form of spray, dispersion having been effected
by the jet of air, and consequently its evaporation
takes place the moment it touches the heated iron,
the air pump having in fact performed the preli-
minary operations of heating and dividing the water
into globules or spray, which under the present sys-
tem are effected by the slower action of the fire. Th•
tubes being of lap-welded iron and of circular form are
ten times the strength of a boiler made of metal plates
rivetted together, and,besides,from the rapidity with
which the steam can be generated,the preliminary ac-
tion of the air pump having already reduced the water
to the most readily evaporable form, it is only made
as it is wanted to work the piston, and there is no
dangerous accumulation as in the case of the or-
dinary boiler. Mr. Scott's invention, therefore,
may be said to consist of a new mode of injecting
water into the boiler, namely, in connection with
a jet of air, which converts it into spray ; a new
form of generator, in the adoption of the coil or
worm ; and a new form of safety valve which he
contends will, when taken in connexion with the
form and strength of the coil, completely do away
with all risk of explosion. The safety valve being
of the same diameter as the tube in which the steam
is generated, is considered to be quite sufficient to
preclude the possibility of the latter bursting.
The calculation of the inventor is, that his generator
will save three-fourths in space, and one-half
in economy of fuel, with the greatest possible
immunity from the risk of dangerous explosion.
An experimental engine has been for some time at
work at the Poplar Iron Works, and Mr. Finney,
the proprietor, reports most favourably as to its
strength, safety, speedy generation of steam, and
economy, of space and fuel, under all of which heads
he states the calculations of the inventor to be fully
borne out by actual experience. The engine was
working on Saturday last, and the speed with which
the steam could be " got up" and " blown off" was
proved by repeated experiments. Of course due
allowance must be made for the favourable circum-
stances under which every man will introduce his
own invention to the public, and for the sanguine
temperament of inventors, that most useful and
most ill-requited class of men ; but, making all
reasonable deductions, we are strongly impressed
with the idea that Mr. Scott has made a real and
important discovery in t he process of steam genera•
tion, and that his invention is well worthy the
attention of scientific and practical engineers, as
well as of all persons interested in the improvement
of the steam engine.

The Marquis of Lansdowne will leave Lansdowne
House to-morrow for Bowood, where a large circle of visi-
tors are about to assemble.

The Lord President of the Council and the
Countess Granville arrived at their mansion in Bruton-
street on Saturday night from Germany. The noble earl
and countess have travelled home by easy stages, owing to
the delicate health of her ladyship. The countess has much
improved in health.

The Earl of Sefton will leave town to-morrow on
a visit to the Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury at
Hatfield House.

The Earl and Countess of Clarendon and the
Ladies Villiers left the Grove, near Watford, on Saturday
last on a visit to her Majesty and the Prince Consort at
Windsor Castle.

The Duke and. Duchess of Richmond entertained
at dinner on Thursday evening, at the family mansion in
Portland-place, the following family circle :—Their Serene
Highnesses the Prince and Princess Edward of Saxe-
Weimar, the Marquis of Anglesey, th. Countess of Ches-
terfield and Lady Evelyn Stanhope, the Earl of Lucan, the
Earl and Countess of Bessborough, the Earl and Countess
of March, Viscount and Viscountess Hardinge, Sir Charles
and Lady Sophia Des Voeux, Mr. and Lady Augusta Sturt,
Hon. R. Bingham, Col. the Hon. W. Coke, the Hon. and
Rev. J. H. Nelson, Rev. A. Peel, Dr. Hair, Col. Maitland,
Captain Tower, Mr. Des Voeux, &c.

TheoilA IpArquis and Marchioness of Stafford have
left Stafford House, for Lilleshall, Salop. On the recent visit
of the Marquis and Marchioness to the Emperor and Em-
press of the French at Compiegne, the Marchioness was
accompanied by her piper, M'Alister, who had several op-
portunities of displaying his musical and terpsichorean
talents before the Imperial Court. M'Alister has brought
home with him a valuable gold watch presented to him by
the Emperor in acknowledgment of the amusement he af-
forded the Court.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn have
returned to Chesterfield House from visiting her Majesty at
Windsor Castle.

The Earl and Countess of Cardigan left Portmai-
square yesterday for their seat, Deane-park, Northampton-
shire.

Mr. Otway, her Majesty's Minister in Mexico,
and Mrs. Otway and family are prolonging their stay at
the Brunswick Hotel, Jennyn-street.

The marriage of the Earl of Dalkeith and Lady
L. Hamilton will now, it is understood, be celebrated in a
very quiet and unostentatious manner compared with the
splendid nuptials that were in contemplation previous to
the death of the dowager Countess of Harewood. The
Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, and all their family, will
put off their mourning for the occasion, and will resume it
immediately after the ceremony.—Court Journal.

Mr. Leonard Horner has resigned the office •f
Inspector of Factories. The Factory Act (probably through
inadvertence) only authorises the appointment of a new in-
spector to be made in a case where a vacancy is created by
death, and does not provide for the case of a vacancy pro-
duced by voluntary resignation. The vacancy created, by
the resignation of Mr. Homer will not, therefore, be filled
up.—Observer.

THE BALLOT.—Tn reference to the statement in
the leader of Saturday's Times, that "the ballot has been
shelved," we are requested by the committee of the Ballot
Society to announce that Mr. Berkeley has made no com-
munication to them of any intention on his part to "shelve"
the ballot, and that they have no reason to believe that the
hon. member for Bristol has the intention imputed to him
by the Tinges, but should the Times be correct the Ballot
Society will take care that the ballot is not shelved, in or
out of Parliament.