The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1853-02-17

PSAAHNuto, iioui q NOuipdCI lOil III VI tuC
machine employed, as well as the com
paratively small consumption OF fuel,
that he conceived the idea at once of
bringing it out in England, the great
field for all mechanical inventions.
Ericsson accordingly, through his
colonel, obtained leave from the king to
visit England, where he arrived on the
18th May, 1896. He there proceeded
to construct working engine on the
principle to which l have referred but
soon discovered that his flane-engine
when worked by the combustion of min
eral Goals, was different thing from the
experimental model he had tried in the
highlands of Sweden, with fuel composed
OF spinters of pine-wood Not only did
he fail to produce an extended and vivid
fame, but the intense heat of the mineral
Goals SO seriously affected all the work.
ing parts of the machine as soon to cause
its destruction. These experiments, it
may well be supposed, were attended
with no trifing expenditure and to
meet their demands upon him, our young
advcnturer was compelled to draw on his
mechanical resources. ....r. -.
Invention now followed invention in
rapid succession, until the records Of the
Patent Office in London were enriched
by the drawings of the remarkable steam
boiler on the principle of artifcia. draft /;
to which principle We are mainly indebt-
ed for the benefits conferred on civilized
life by the present rapid communication
by railways. In bringing this important
invention before the public, Ericsson
thought it advisable to join some old
and established mechanical house in
London, and accordingly he associated
himself with John Braithwaite, name
tavorably known in the mechanical
annals of England. This invention was
hardly developed, when favorable. op-
portunity was presented for testing it
in practice. The directors of the Liv-
erpool and Manchester railway, before
erecting the stationary engines by which
they intended to draw their passenger
md freight carriages, determined to
appeal to the mechanical talent Of their
country, in the hope of securing some
preferable mode of transit A prize
Vas accordingly offered, in the fall of
1929, for the best locomotive engine, to
DC tested on the small portion at that
time completed of the railway. Sufh-
cient publicity not having been given to
their advertisement, Ericsson was not
aware that any such prize had been
offered until within seven weeks of the
day fixed for the trial Unwilling to
permit the occasion to escape him, he
was not deferred by the shortness Of the
time, but, applying all his energies to
the task, planned the engine, executed
the working drawings, and caused the
patterns to be made, and the whole
machine completed within the seven
weeks. The day of trial arrived. The
engines were on the ground,
and the novelty of the race had attracted
an immense concourse of people. Both
sides of the railway, for more than a
mile in length, were lined with thousands
of spectators. There was no room for
jockeying in such race---for inanimate
matter was to be put in motion, aud that
moves only in accordance with immuta-
bic laws. The signal was given for the
start. Instead of the application OF
whip and spur, the gentle touch Of the
steam valve gave lite and motion to the
novel machine. Up to that period, the
greatest speed at which man had been
carried along the ground was that Of the
racc-horsc and no ono Of the multitude
present on this occasion expected to see
that speed surpassed. 1t was the gem
eral belief that the maximum attainable
by the locomotive engine would not
much exceed ten miles. To the sur
prise and admiration of the crowd, how
ever, the Novelty steam-carriage, the
fastest engine started, guided by its in
ventor, Ericsson, assisted by John
Braithwaite, darted along the track at
the rate Of upwards of twenty miles an
hour.
The breathless silence of the multi
tudc was now broken by thunders of
hurras, that drowned the hiss of the
escaping steam and the rolling of the
epgine-whcels. To reduce the surprise
and delight excited on this occasion to
the universal standard-and as an illus
tration of the extent to which the valve
Of property is sometimes enhanced by
the success Of mechanical invention
il may be stated, that when the Novelty
had run her two miles and returned, the
shares Of the Liverpool and Manchester