The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-07-25
From the Baltimore .qner;eon
PERKINS'S ENGTNE

% |'oDt TIE 6dttafn0re .9aericf,,
e PERKINS'S ENGINE.
10 hill ~ the Franklin Journal for June. ia q
5. in r - interesting letter from Mr.. Perkins
Y Steana u p on his High Pressure. Safety.
d exnraeOna me. -6reat doubts have been
Is osseu as to his eventual success and
among the rest by the editor of tho F,s @-tu
IN journal himself. Perkins declares =,
.ne above letter, his complete success and
'ias ofoefs nave been given for his engines
vi IN IN. tiie guarantee OF saving half the fuel
~.u 11hreeiourths OF the weight and bulk
W1in less Inability of arrangement than in
oluihary engines. An engine is now n,nk-
/ lng' winch will not occupy more than ono
siA1h OF the room, nor exceed one-sivth ~
I I 1e weight, of the ordinary Bolton &,
"t engine, of the same power. at
a. nope, says Perkins, "to take my seat nv
s,e sue 10 OF generator sustaining a pres-
he;,,,s - +k SVoo ms. to the square inch. this
o,,;1e 'te pressure on the generator. re-
ggGna u 10 produce working mower oe
T SUoo lbs. to the square inch, on the n;sto, q
me discovery asserted by this ingen;nn
man, that steam is often so generated % -
hl .li high degree of temnarat,,ra
WltheHt corresponding increase of no1,.or
ono ai4at on waters being injected into tho.
superb heated steam, there would sndJenI,r.
" iofmea highly elastic steam.-;s- cf-
oaie greatest Importance TO safety as wei
as economy, as to this principle areto he.
imputed the tremendous explosions which
luke place IN low as we'll as in hiob nras
sure poiiers. He mentions variety oP in.
stances OF explosions in low prees,;,a ~;
10 am sSssrss mat ea mere re h Rss5FSops h4
ones; For these explosions he accounts II,
the following manner:-
AS long as water isnot heated above 90
degrees, 1t will simply boil and rive off as
hoSpherlc steam, without the water HAVING
any tendency to rise with it; but as it be-
comes more and more elevated in tepnners-
ture, Its disposition to rise with the steam
becomes more and more apparent: AS the
steam presses on the surface of the water
IN the same ratio as the water increases in
temperature, 1t only boils without RISING.
as when at atmospheric pressure but If
.lie steam should be drawn off faster than
II IS generated, this artificial pressure,
Wou4d ne taken Oil, and the water would
Hse Win the steam IN proportion to the
suddenness and rapidly of its escane. The
water and steam in this mixed state. fins
filling every part of the boiler. the excess
OF caloTlc IN The surcharged steam. as we'll
as the extra heat from the boiler. will be
instantly taken up by the water which ris-
es with the steam, by which means the
steam becomes sufficiently dense Tor nov.
ertul) to produce the fatal effects too offe,.
experienced, not only from hirh but from
low pressure boilers. If, for Instance. tbe
water las has before been nqtieed} Should
uofIer, wnlcn Is exposed to the fire, the
steam will soon become surcharged WITH
neat. If boiler thus circumstarce5.
, should have the weight taken from the,
! Saf of palVa or o-,on l.
E the boiler from its giving way by the pres
sure of the steam, an explosion viii be
sure to follow. A renee for this kind et-
explosion which appears to be the onIy
serious one. Is, that of not allowing the
. water to subside below any part Of the
boiler which is exposed to the FIRE,
Perkins has been engaged by the Frener,
II government to built steam artillery and
musketry. A piece of ordnance is to
throw sixty balls, of 4 pounds each, in e
minute, with the correctness of the rifet
musket. musket is to be attached u
the same generator, for dscharging !;
stream OF lead from the bastion of fort !:
1t IS to throw from one hundred to @ thnrs.
Az. :@:'t.!...1ts minute, as occasion NAV 70
quire. A series of satisfscto~.. o,,a.vs
ments has taken place at Ereen,,;c c,s'e - =
tended by the Freucn engineers onno;,,t ~
for the purpose, by the Duke of Enro,'
!eme, with one of his aids, and PIN.
Pelignac. Lord Wellington remafle,,
mat 1t was pretty certain that a copntr.,
I defended by this kind of artillery. wo;lla
never DC invaded. Lord Exuouth, after
Witnessing few showers of lead, said he
renewed the time would come, when :,
tsteam gun boat, with two guns in her bow.
would conquer any line of battle-ship; and
Slr u. Cockburn said, the mischief Of IT
was, 1t would be to nations what the pistc;
was to duelists,--it would bring strong and
weak on level.
While contemplating with pleasure these
trlumphs of a countryman's mechanics
| genius abroad, it is, indeed, curious enough.
to consider what moral revolutions may en-
sue from them. At this rate, war, alwavs
the most unacceuntable of human madness
cs, must become quite too expensive q
game to be played more than once in n
!. century, and then, only for a few DAYS alta
time. When the "cankers of a Gala
world, and long peace" the INDECENT OF
4 eratlve, the protligate and decayed gen
tleman, the ruined schenlatist, and the pen
nyless poet, shall swell beyond the compass
of the poor-rates, they may, at the end OF
r each century, be displayed in certain mum
hers on the plains of Flanders, and conyen
iently despatched in day or two at most,
T by the artillery of France and England,
: which could be hired for the occasion,
! by this plan the false hopes and the sick
!, ening feats of parents and wives, the tes
: dious toll of the campaign, and the pro
, tracted agonies of the hospital, and above
. all, the foreging and trampling of the fields
! of the innocent peasant would be spared.
/ and the penalties of guilt and folly fal
+ more certainly on the right heads. at the
: piddling rate at which the demon OF war y
fed nowadays, it takes seme score o.
campaigns TO glut him. AT the gay q
Waterloo. there were sope paltry forty OF
O. cav tbousand despatched but what wero