The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-08-24

nearly every particle Of the whole volume of air in
passing through the Regeneration, Is brought into
heats and coils alternately. The extent of this sur
face, when accurately estimated, almost surpasses
belief .mNr
The wire contained in each disc il LAO feet long
and that contained in the regenerator Is conse-
quenty 229 600 feet. or Al miles in length, the su-
perficial measurement Of which il equal to the en-
tire surface OF four steam boilers. each forty feet
long and four feet in diameter; and yet the regen
| orator, presenting this great amount of heating
| surface, ia only about two feet cube--less than
II 1920 Of the bulk of these four boilers.
| Involved in this wonderful process, Of the trans.
fer and retrans!er of heat. is discovery which
| justly ranks one Of the most remarkable ever
made in physical science. NJ author, Captain
Ericsson, long since asceraincd. and upon this ia
based the sublimest feature Of his caloric engine,
that atmospheric air and other permanent gases,
in passing throu gh a distance Of only elk inches,
in the fitch part Of a second Of time capable
Of acquiring, or parting With, upward Of four
hundred degrees of heat. He has been first to dis.
cover this marvellous property OF caloric, without
which atmospheric air could not not be effectively
employed as motive power. The reason is obvi
ou,. Until expanded by heat, it can exert no
to effect this. the movement Of the piston would
| necessarily be 80 slow az to render the machine
inefficient Captain Ericsson has demonstrated,
! however, that heat may be communicated to, and
expansion effected in, atmospheric air with almost
electric speed and that is, therefore, cminenty
adapted to give the greatest desirable rapidty of
! motion TO all klnds OF machinery.
We here close our imperfect description of a ma.
chine destined we believe, to work revolution
in the commerce Of the globe. 1t consumes but
very small proportion Of the coal required for the
steam engine. 1t 10 entirely free from every ele.
ment of explosion or of danger. Watchfulness is
not lmperatively required as in the steam engine.
II LETT unattended, the worst that can happen ID,
that after exhaustng the heat of its fres and of it's
Regeneration, it will stop. The one we examined,
OF sixty power, has been run at full speed
during twenty four consecutive hours, consuming
but nine hundred and sixty pounds Of coal.
After feeding the fires, it continues to run three
hours without replenishment; and after withdraw.
ing them from the CRATES, it operates with full
power for the period OF one hour consequence Of
the astonishing actions Of it's regeneratOr alone.
We believe we have not, in the slightest degree,
overrated the immense advantages Of this engine,
in point of economy and safety. If we have not,
the world may start with exuitation. In magni-
tude Of results, no invention can rank with it. The
electric telegraph is one OF great interest and val
NC; and to him that reflects that the fierce light
ming has by that process been tanned, and brought
to the very lips OF man, there to be freghted with
human language and sent abroad, to girdle the
earth with thought, it becomes sublime. Still, it
greatly inferior, in practical Importance to the
discovery OF motive power such as we have at
| tempted to describe. Human speculation fails ad
equately to estimate its influence upon the social
and commercial relations Of men and of nations
Its effects will naturally be first cxerted upon the
ocean. 1t ia here that the value of such q power
will be most sensbIy felt and appreciated. Here
it will soon become the strong arm and right hand
Of commerce. 1t may be affirmed with confidence
that. with engines upon this plan, chip Of two
thousand tons can be propelled from San Francis
CO to China and back with less coal than is now
required for an ordinary ocean steamer to cross
the Atlantic.
The annals of the mechanic arts furnish no in
stance of au important invention having been
brought before the public in 90 complete form ns
to warrant its being carried out q scale of the
fret magnitude from the outset. Ericsson's Gallo.
rio engine will form an exception. ship is now
building for it's reception by Messrs. Pcrrine Pat
terson, and Stack. measuring twenty. two hundred
tons burden, and her engines, which are now be-
ing constructed by Messrs. hogg & Delanater,
comprise four working cylinders, each of one hun
visited both the shipyard and the engine manu-.
factory, and have inspected with more than ordi
nary interest the work which more than four
hundred men are now busily engaged. The chip
form and strength. The engines being placed in
the centre of the vessel, admit of better form of
midship section than in steamships. OF this the
esd lie have a' shs vn such
passing through the water are appropriately COM
hined The lines OF the ship % tho entrance are
singuiarly fine; and yet, by a very judcious ap-
called, the bow possesses all the fullness requisite
for q good boat. Tho is alike peculiar for
easy lines. combined with stability and requisite
| bearing. The strangth of floor, which is built en-.
tirely solid from stem to stern, surpasses any thing
have in this country, noted il is for pro-
ducing the best chips in the world. In order to
give additional strength to the ample tmbers, the
entire frame is banded by double scries of dago-
nal Braces of fiat bars Of iron, let into the tmbers
at intervals of atou three feet, each series being
rveted together at all the points Of intersection.
In addition to the ordinary central keelsons,
the door tmbers for three fourths of the length of
the ship. On these keelsons the plates Of the
engines secured by bolts passing through the
floor timbers These bed. plates extend over the
tiroo ind bxth
a continuation of iron flooring not witnessed in
any steamship. The security thus attained is fur.
| Their enhanced by dispensing entirely with the nu
| merous holes through the bottom of the vessel,
which in steamers are necessary, and have often
brought that class OF vessels to sinking condition
The engines being arranged in the centre of the
vessel, the decks are not cut off in steamers;
and as the whole OF the machinery is confined with
vertical trunk seventy-six feet long and eighteen
feet wide, ample space 10 left each side of the
ship for state-rooms along its entire length,
side. The freig deck also presents an un.
broken area forc and aft, diminished only in
width in the central part of the vessel. The coal
being carried in the bottom, at each side OF the
gines, the fore and aft hold clear for freight
The central arrangement of the engines involves,
of necessity a central crank; and thus the spar
deck presents uninterrupted area, on both sides,
the ordinary Objectionable crank matches being
dispensed with. The Glow combustion peculiar to
the caloric engine renders the huge smoke. fun.
mel unnecessary. short pipe to carry off the
gases produced by the combustion In the furnaces
takes its place in the caloric ship. The absence of
steam in every form is sufficiently important in
producing a more pleasant atmosphere than in
steamers; but far more remarkable 10 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 tons IN ,cngt every
hour Captain Ericsson, in calling our atten.
ton to this fact, furnished with few figures
that we feel certain our readers will need, as
much ns we did, to comprehend how so vast
a ventilation is effected. Each supply piston
presents an area of l02 superficial feet, with .
stroke Of feet. Six hundred and twelve cubic
feet of atmospheric air will therefore be drawn into
| the engine at each stroke, and, when the engine
makes fourteen strokes per minute, 56S cubic feet
But there four supply cylinders, they will in
this space Of time draw in "a 272 cubic feet and in
sixty minutes there will be thus circulated 1885,
$40 cubic feet. The weight Of Atmospheric air IL
nearly 49, cubic feet to the pound, and thus il will
be that sixty EIGHT tons of air drawn from
the interior Of tho ship through the engines and
passed off into the atmosphere every hour. The
effect of such extraordinary system Of ventila.
ton in purifying the atmosphere Of tho ship 10 self