Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1850-08-08
Acknowledgements as a Motive
Power.

At a meetiag Of the Society of Arts. London,
highly interesting paper was read by Mr.. r.
Hunt the above mentioned subject. Week
tract the following summary Of it from the
AthenGun:
1.-The author called atte ntion in the first place
TO the numerous attempts which have been
made to apply electro magnetism as a power for
moving machines. and particularly described
I the apparatus employed by Jacob, Da Negro.
VI Cauley. WheatstOne, AMI others, notceing
incidentally the machines recently constructed
by Mr.. Hijorth. Since, Notwithstanding the a
lent which has been devoted TO this interesting
subject, and the large amount of money which
has been spent IN the construction of machines,
/ the public are not in possession of any electro
magnetic machine which is capable of exerting
power economically; and finding that, notw ith-
standing the aid given TO Jacob by the Russian
Government that able expe rnentalist has aban-
doned his experimental trials s,-the au;ho has
boen induced to devote much atte nton to the
examination of the first principles bv which the
power is regulated, with the hope of being
bled to set the entire question on a satisfactory
basis.
TIE phenomenon Of electro ma gne .ic induc-
ton explained, and illustrations given of
the magne tiz ation of soft iron by means of a
voltaic current made to circle around il. The
power o: electromagnetic given. and the
same author stated his belief that this po wer
could be increased without limitation. A VOL
taic current produced by the che rnical distur-
what its form may be, is capable OF producing e
! by induction a magnetic force, tbs m7cnetic
force being Arrays IN an eroet ratio to the nmount
Of matter zinc, iron, or ofierrisel consumed in
the Lanery. Several forms of the voItaic battery
were explained, particularly those Of Daniell, /,
Grove, BGn-eu, and Rensch. the latter being
constructed without metals, depe nding entirely
on the action between two dissimilar fluids
slowly combining. The author had however,
proved, by extensive series Of experiments
! hat he est mt Of rr1ao tIc
produced when the chemical act ion is the most
rapid. Hence. in all magnetic machines, it is
more economical to employ a battery of intense
action, than one in which the chernc action is
slow. 1t has been proved bv Mr.. Joule, and
most satisfactorily confirmed by the author that
one horse is obtainable in .!-ctro- mag gnetic
engine. the most favorably constructed pre-
vent loss of power, at The cost of 45lbs of zinc,
in Groves battery. in "a hours; while - lbs.
are consumed in the same time to produce the
power in ,ttery of D1nell's construc-
ton. The cause Of this referred to the
! CessIty of producing a high degree of excite
ment. to overcome the resistance which the
molecular forces Offer to the electrical perturba-
tions which the magnetic force depe nda. It
was contended. that although we have not per-
haps arrived at the best form of voltac battery.
vet that had learnt sufficent of the law of
electromagnetic forces to declare that. under
any conditions. the amount Of magnetic power
would depend the change Of state-consnmp-
ton of eemept-in the battery, and that the
question resolved itself into ihis:-
What amount of magnetic power can be OBJ
tanned from a equivalent of material con-
su med The following were regarded the
m ost satisfactory results yet obtained:-1
The force of voltaic current being equal to SIS,
the number of grains Of zinc destroyed per
hour was Isl. which raised 1900 lbs. foot
high in that time 9. The force of current
being, relatively. 1900. th- zinc DESTROYED in an
hour was 29l grains, which raised 10. .n30 lbs.
through the space of one foot. 3. The force
he. he poH
the weight lifted foo, 12 .6.2 lbs. The es;-
nation made by Messrs. Sco,esby and JouIe,
and the results obtained by Oersted. nd more
recetIy by Mr.. Hunt. very nearly agree; and it
was stated that one grain of coal consumed in
the furnace Of a Cornish engine lifted l q lbs.
one foo, high, whereas on. grain OF zine consul