Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1852-09-18

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vantages of this engine, in point of economy
and safety. FIVE have not, the world may
we'll start with exultation. In magnitude of
results, no invention can rank with it. The
electric telegraphic is one of great interest
and value, and to him who reflects that the
fierce lightning has by that process been
tanned, and brought to the very lips of man,
there to be freighted with human language,
and sent abroad, to girdle the earth with
thought, it becomes sublime. Still it is great
y Inferior, in practical Importance, TO the
discovery OF motive-power such as we have
attempted to describe, Human speculation
fails adequately to estimate its influence upon
the social and commercial relations of men
and of nations. Its effects will naturally be
first exerted upon the ocean, II is here that
the value of such power will be most sensi-
bly, felt and appreciated. Here it will soon
become the strong arm and right hand Of
commerce. 1t NAV be affirmed with conf
dence that, with engines upon this plan,
ship oil two thousand tons can be propelled
from San Franciso to China and back with
less coal than is now required for an ordina-
ry ocean steamer to cross the Atlantic.
The annals Of the mechanic arts furnish
no instance of an important invention having
been brought before the public in so COM
plete form as to warrant its being carried
out on scale of the first magnitude from the
outset. Ericsson's Caloric Engine will form
an exception. A ship is now building for its
reception by Messrs. Perrine, Patterson, and
Stack, measuring twenty-five hundred tons
burdens and her engines, which are being
constructed by Messrs. Hogg & Delamater,
comprise four working cylinders, each Of l6S
inches in diameter. We have visited both
the ship-yard and the engine mandatory,
and have inspected with more than ordinary
interest the work on which more than four
hundred men are now busily engaged The
ship is quite remarkable structure, both in
point of form and strength. The engines
being placed in the center of the vessel admit
of a better form of midship section than in
steamships Of this the builders have avail
ed themselves by giving such rise to the
floor that strength and easy lines for passing
through the water are appropriately combin-
ed The lines Of the ship at the entrance
are singularly fine; and yet, by very ju-
dicious application of the wave line, as it
is technically called, the bow possesses all
the fulness requisite for good sea boat
The run is alike peculiar for easy lines, COM
bined with stability and requisite bearing
The strength of floor, which is built entirely
solid from stem to stern, surpasses anything
we have seen in this country, noted as it is
for producing the best ships in the world In
order to give additional strength to the ample
timbers, the entire frame ls banded by a
double series of diagonal braces, of flat iron
let into the fimbers at intervals Of about three
feet, each series being riveted together at all
the points of intersection. In addition to the
ordinary central keelsons, there are six en-
CINE keelsons, bolted on the top of the floor
timbers, for three-fourths of the length Of
the ship. On these keelsons the~bed plates
of the engines are secured by bolts passing
through the floor timbers. These bed-plates
extend over the entire area occupied by the
engines, and present continuation of iron
flooring, not witnessed in any steamship
The security thus attained is further enhan-
ced by dispensing entirely with the numer
rous holes through the bottom of the vessel,
which in steamers are necessary, and have
often brought that class of vessels TO a sink
ing condition. The engines being arranged
in the center of the vessel. the decks are not
cut off as in steamers; and as the whole of
the machinery is confined within vertical
trunk IS feet lorg and Is feet wide, ample
space is left on each side of the ship for
state-rooms along its entire length, with un-
broken passage, fore and aft, ON either side.
The freight-deck also presents an unbroken
area fore and aft, diminished only in width in
the central part of the vessel. The coal be-
ing carried in the bottom at each side Of the
engines, the fore and aft hold are clear for
freight. The central arrangement Of the en-
gInes involves, of necessity, a central! crank,
and thus the spar deck presents an uninter-
rupted area, on both sides, the ordinary OBJ
Jectionable crank matches being dispensed
with. The slow combustion peculiar 10 the
caloric engine renders the huge smoke funnel
A short pipe TO carry off the
gases produced by the combustion in the fur
naces takes its place in the caloric ship
The absence of steam in every form is suffi
ciently important in producing more plea
SAINT atmosphere than in steamers, but far
more remarkable is the fact that the quantity
Of air which will be drawn out of the ship
by the action Of the supply cylinders Of the
engines, will exceed sixty tens in weight
every hour! Captain Ericsson, in calling
,ur attention 10 this fact, furnished us with
ew figures that we feel certain our readers
will need, as much as we did, to comprehend
low SO vast a ventilation is effected. Each
supply piston presents an area of lO2 su-
,erficial feet, with stroke of six feet. GLE
cubic feet of atmospheric air will therefore
,e drawn into the engine at each stroke; and
when the engine makes fourteen strokes per
minute, S,56S cubic feet. But as there are
our supply cylinders, they will, in this space
If time, draw in 81 ,272 cubic feet; and in 60
minutes there will be thus circulated 2,056,-
30 cubic feet. The weight Of atmospheric
.ir is nearly I3 l-2 cubic feet to the pound;
md thus it will be seen that 6S tons Of air
re drawn from the interior Of the ship,
trough the engines. and passed off into the
every hour. The effect Of such