The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-01-10

proud that he has identified his name and fame
with our institutions, and that it is to the energy
Judgment, and lberality ofan American citizen,
Mr.. JOHN b. KITcHING of New York, that he
has been indebted for the means to carry out
this great enterprise in style corresponding to
its importance.
We learn from the Herald that Captain
Ericsson will not accompany the ship in her
first trip to Europe, but that he will remain in
New York to superintend the building of other
Caloric ships for the parties interested in the
vessel already constructed.
We annex the extract from the lecture to
which we have above referred:
81 now propose to take hasty glance at ERIcs-
SONS CALoRIc ENGINE, which excited SO much in
terest few years ago in ENaLAND; and which, if
it should be brought into practical operation. will
| prove the most important mechanical invention
ever conceived by the human mind, and one that
will confer greater benefits on civilized life than
any that has preceded it. For the object of it
is the production of mechanical power by the
agency of heat. at expenditure of fuel 80 ex-
ceedngly small, that man will have an almost
unlimited mechanical force at his command, in
regions where fuel may now be said hardly to
| exist. The announcement of such an idea may
startle all those acquainted with the nature of
heat, and the well known limits of the amount of
mechanical power which any given quantity of
caloric is capable of producing more particularly
as it is we'll established fact that given guam
tity of heat will exert an equal amount of mocha
nical power, to whatsoever medium it may be i'm.
parted
'tERIcssoN's theory of heat is altogether in op-
position to the received notion that the mechani.
cal force produced will bear direct known pro-
portion to the quantity of caloric generated; and
| that the power exerted in cur best constructed
steam engines s nearly the measure of that effect
/ ssThe late Professor HARvErELpT, of Sweden,
one of the fret mathematicians of the day, stated
in public lecture, not many years ago, that there
is nothing in the theory of heat which proves that
common spirit lamp may not be sufficient to
| drive an engine of an hundred horse power. 1t
will readily be believed that the professor had but
| few hearers who did not emile at the suggestion
but among those few we may number ERIcssoN,
| who, from the earliest period of his mechanical
abors, had been in the habit Of regarding heat as
an agent WHICH, WHILST IT ExERTs MEcHANIcAL
FORCE, UNDEReoEs NO CHANGE. This extraordi-
| nary fact Ericsson exempliies by simple but
conclusive illustration; for the reader reception of
which, by the audience, it will be well to intro
| duce particular dimensions. Suppose the piston
of an ordinary steam engine cylinder to be at the
| bottom, and suppose the force of the steam in.
| tended to be admitted into this cylinder under
| the piston to act with the force of 100, 900
| pounds, which is the force on a piston of so
inches diameter, acted upon by steam of so
| pounds pressure to the square inch. Suppose the
cylinder to be ten feet long, and the piston to be
| loaded with weight equal to these 100, 900
pounds. If, now, sufficient quantity of steam of
| the stated pressure be admitted from below the
| piston, this load will be elevated through the
whole length of the cylinder; and hence we shall
| have raised weight of 100. 900 pounds through
space of ten feet But who will contend that this
| immense amount of mechanical force has required
any ExPENDITUREsoF HEAT? Does not the steam
| after having lifted this weight, contain just as
| much heat as it did before leaving the steam
| boiler-less only the losses by radiation? And
does not that heat retain all the properties AFTER
the operation which it possessed BEFORE? Am /,
| then, incorrect in stating that we have obtained
| this power without changing the nature, or dimin-
| Ishing the energy of the heat employed?
fBut although nature has furnished us with an
agent of such extraordinary properties for the
production of mechanical force, how imperfect,y
do we employ it In the low pressure engine we
turn the steam, after having performed its good
office, into condensing apparatus where the heat
is in manner annihiIated; and in the high
pressure engine we throw it away into the at.
mosphere. Yet men, even of mechanical distinc.
ton, ridicule the idea of superseding the steam.
engine; and science seems to pause contentedy in
the contemplation OF its admitted perfection. For
mere theorist to attempt an exposition of its de-
fects, or to suggest substitute, would, under such
circumstances, excite little attention.; but the
opinions and views, in this connection, of man
of great practical knowledge, who has planned
| and constructed hundreds of steam engines, ara
entitled, certainly, to peculiar consideration
"From what l have already said, it will be
readily inferred that the principle forming the
basis of the CALoRIc ENGINE is that of returning
the heat at each stroke Of the piston, and using
it over and over again. This is obviously inn
practicable, if steam is employed as the acting
medium ERIcssoN, therefore, uses the per-
| manent gases, and, in preference to all others,
atmospheric air. The object which he seeks to
accomplish is simply ths-that the heat con-
tanned in the air which escapes from the working
cylinder should be effectually taken up by the air
which enters it, at each stroke of the engine This
result Captain Ericsson has accomplished by
means of an apparatus which he styles regenera-
tors and 30 perfectly does it operate, that the heat
employed in first setting the engine in motion con-
tinues to sustain it in full working force, with no
othOi iCuOwoloI duunlon Juan may De requisite to
supply the uncomfortable loss by radiation. This
| remarkable invention was first brought before the
scientific world in London in the year 1888, though
it had been favorite subject of speculation and
reflection with Captain ERIcssoE for many years.
With the prominent exception of the celebrated Dr.
ANDREW URE and Professor FARADAY, now the
most distinguished chemists in ENGLAND, nearly
all the leading scientific men of the day united in
condemning the principle which it was based
as unsound and untenable.
9tAfter such preliminary experiments as be
deemed requisite to enable him to ascertain the
best form of tine REGENERAToR, the inventor at
| once constructed in LONDON working engine of
i've horse power, the performance of which was
witnessed by great number of gentlemen of sci
| entific preensions in that metropolis. Among
others, the popular author, Sir RlcHARD PI1LL1ps,
examined it; and, in his Dictionary of the Arts of
Life and OF Civilization, he thus notices the result
of this experiment. THE author has, be saws
with inexpressible delight, seen the first model
machine of fiye-horse power at work With
handful of fuel, applied to the very sensible me
dunn OF atmospheric air, and most ingenious
disDOsiton di al nou,ar. =