Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-11-08


poronal demand for power work il will be diminished
Thus, machine consuming the power Of four men day
may be safely estimated capable of producing thousand
seven hundred and fifty pounds and requiring sr men
will produce five thousand pounds Of ice per day.
But TO admit of these results the machine must be con-
suced in conformity with philosophical accuracy which
clear insight into the principles of chemistry and physs
alone will give for owing to peculiar laws Of
ion between Atmospheric air and caloc, slight deviation
from accuracy will materially diminish the production Of ice
as well increase the demand for power The truth and
importance Of this observation have been orcby illustrated
in machine suneptously built in London upon an naccu-
rate plan obtained in this country but tried and rejected by
me- In this instance the operation Of that mental mbecy
which seems ever the accompaniment Of moral weakness
caused great deal of money be wasted but has worked
as is usual ssluiaiy moral rebuton. The magnitude Of
this machine should give capacity make twenty-five
tons of ice per day but such has been the utter disregard
ofproporions and principles in its construction that though
the mechanical execution perfect is in fact incapable
of making five tons.
The power consumed 10 this process being small in quar-
y and the other elements Of production being atmospheric
air and salt water it is evident that cost taken in connsxon
with the object Of furnishing ships with fresh water an u
important consideration. The magnitude Of the apparatus
might suggest an inquiry Of possibly importance
count Of the limited space board Of vessels On this sub
ect may be men approximation to accuracy
that the smallest Of the machines above referred would
cupy cubcal space of than four and three quarter
feet n the sides the next in size about five and half
and The largest about six ieet
The importance of abundance of fresh and pure
shipboard fully recognised by nautical that
aluson is scarcely necessary. an indispensable ar
ce, which must be provided any cost whether of room
money If the quantity with which weasel leaves her
port Of departure becomes consideration Of loss
Of time danger in running the land expense in eng
pors or the risk Of losing from disease deserion,
be allowed to operate against the necessity of renewing
It, In vessels of the frequent and imperative
character Of this necessity influence greatly i'm
pair their efficiency.
For these various the discovery Of cheap,
pendous and universal mode Of converting water into
fresh obvate the Of the present
way of furnishing TO shphas been for ages and
TO the present day, great desdeatum Chemists have task
ed their faculties to search out agent which would dves
the water of the Of its saline ingredients and the pa
tent records Of England and the United States furnish evil
dence that much mechanical ingenuity is excited and
haused every year in the eagernes effect this object It
little creditabe to the inventive genius Of the age be
compelled state that the best of these convances but
notifications Of the ancient process Of dsaon and possess
but little advantage the awkward device of storing
But there is in the in which effect the congelaon
of salt water by which all the evils that attend the
present mode Of supplying vessels with may be pre-
vented the same time corresponding advantages will be
gained BY nsurng never-faiing supply of pure water,
all risk and loss from entering por delay, and harbor dues,
in order to rewaer vessel will be avoided while, ty
persedng the necessity for storing it, the weight and space
usually occupies may be applied freight in trading vessels
and to equally advantageous purposes in vessels Of
The applications that this machine admits in the economy
of art and life altogether too be alluded
in this communca ion, bat would not be proper to pass
entirely its utility hygienic agent board of
sells in climates. All experience teaches that d.
mnuton Of the natural temperature Of low audes
dspensabe human comfort and health elevation Of
the natural temperature Of high la.ude and should equally
form part Of every system medical police. The objects
which ship is constructed make necessary that she should
be seaed osain.t the ngress Of water and consequence
she is almost equally excluded air; hence
she neither be ventilated cooled by the ordinary pro-
applied to houses. Blu. the air of our ma
chine CATER has performed It's duty Of making ice and Of
retains temperature not exceeding 500 Fahrenhet
into the cabins forecase and hold Of vessel, must not
only cool these spaces but ard them effective ventla-
tion. From the operation Of the physical laws brought
operation in the process the air possess high degree
of purity and be healthul in its influence. Condensation
by lessenng its capacity for moisture and solution Of cases.
free it from maaral and other deeterous combinations;
and the greater density that attends dmnuon Of tempe
will it to descend, occupy the place. and drive
the hotter aad vated air from every part Of the vessel
JOHN GORRIE.
Memorial to the Secretary Of the Macy on the
Conversion of Sea Water into Fresh Water By Congo
hation.
Hon. WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, Secretary of the Nary.
The memorial of the undersigned respectfully represents
that he is the dscoveer Of the natural law by which
spherc air various Of condensation and expansion
associated with heat and is the inventor of machine by
which this law may be applied to the cheap and abundant
manufacture Of ice, and through that process to the
conversion of into fresh Your memorals
after many years Of study and experiment. has thoroughly in
vesgated this subject in all M necessary relations
able demoustae through the machine he has invented
the availability of the law for the conversion of salt water
into fresh water, to any scale Of magnitude. Unwilling
occupy your valuable time with desed explanation Of this
natural law, with full description Of the machine by
which rendered applicable to the object in view, your
memoriast will simply state that the former is founded
the known facts that the condensation Of cir enables il be
easily Invested Of heat and that its expansion readily admits
Of its absorbing heat and that the essential parts Of the
comprised in two force pumps-n Of which the
air is condensed and in the other is expanded-so
ed that the mechanical force OF the expanding air be
Piled towards counerbaancng the force consumed in
densing an equal volume The heat absorbed, or other
words the cold generated in the process Of expansion is
piled to the congelation Of salt and is law of