The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1851-02-17
THE MoToRs.
Chief Levers Of civilizatto
TIE OCEAN.

AHG OSEANs
Not only the aerial ocean which eucom-
passes, but the denser one that forms so large
a portion Of our globe, is destined to become
laborer for man. Nothing is more fitful in
its habitudes and variable IN its intensities
than wind. 1t is the symbol Of capricious
ness, and hence the more reliable and man.
ageable forces Of running waters have justly
had the preference, and hence mlll-wrights
and manufacturers roam the interior for
chutes under which 10 place the buckets Of
one class of wheels, while they husband
brooks for whirling round the floats of 9TH
ers.
There are streams which, throughout their
length, drive labor-saving machinery, but
they and their accessories are tributaries to
ONE IN whose presence they shrink into in
significance. Nature, in her teachings, leads
inquirers from little larger things, from par
ticulars 10 generals. 1t is So with hydraulic
motors. nevery branch of philosophy and
art, one acquisition clears the way for and
hastens the advent Of another. Having turn
ed rivers andrivulets upon our motive wheels.
the restless ocean itself will in time become
subjected to human vassalage, as we'll as fire,
all, earth, lightning, &c. Adapted to ten
thousand purposes, to propel all descriptions
of stationary mechanism, it cannot much
longer be LETT to expend lis momenta in vain.
Washing all lands, its shores will become
fringed with manufacturing mechanism, driv-
en- by ordinary and tidal waves, either direct
ly or through the medium of compressed air,
by the gravity of descending or the upward
force OF swelling surges. probably by all.
Steam cannot be too highly regarded, yet
it is costly; atmospheric pressure, too, re-
quires as yet expensive apparatus to excite
and employ it.; but the waves Of the sea are
open to the poor, and being restless, are ever
ready to work. A simple device, then, by
which to transmit their. energy to revolving
or alternating mechanism, is wanted; and
greater benefactor has perhaps not lived than
he who best solves the apparently simple
problem. 1t would be long ere the curtain of
oblivion dropped over his name.
Till our times the human mind seems not
to have sufficiently matured to attempt the
conquest of such power. There is no rea-
son why it should not now be made to give
motion to mills and animate looms and spin
dies. All force is derived from matter in
motion; why then neglect the. greatest of
terrestrial masses? Three-fourths of the
earth's surface ceaselessly surging to and fro,
rising and falling, rolling on and lashing all
shores, and las6ing them in vain. It can.
not, however, be long neglected. The search
ing, sitting, and daring spirit Of philosophi-
cal enterprise will not rest until tine chiefest
and mightiest of visible motors which God
has placed at our disposal be brought into the
service of the arts.
| There isno hazard in asserting that none of
the ordinary modes of employing water as
motor are perfected. An interesting illustra-
tion of this is furnished in the reacting wa
ter wheel, which, till recently, has been little
else than toy in the lecture ROOM As ex-
emplifed in the turbine, the same principle
has yielded eighty per cent. Of the power en-
ployed, and in some cases is said to have run
itup to near ninety result almost incredi-
BILE, and one that strongly admonishes us crit
ically to investigate every source Of mechan-
ical force, with view to its economization.
Prime movers are too precious gifts to be but
half used up, under the constantly increasing
requirements of civilization.
The turbine elucidates truth which in
ventors, above all other men, should cherish.
1t is this: there is no natural force, no mat
ter how discouraging or forbidding the cir
cumstances under which it is exhibited, but
what may, by appropriate mechanism, be
turned to account And SO far from regret
ting the supposed difficulties in the way,
they ought rather to be welcomed, since they
invariably serve as keys to open new doc
trines in science and art. In mountainous
districts are falls of water far too high for
overshot wheels, and in low lands sluggard
streams glide on, too inert for undershots;
but turbines have been impelled by falls Of
less than twelve inches, while others are
worked under columns varying from fifty to
four hundred feet.
EXPLOSIVE FORCES.