New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-02-11
FOR sTEAM-ENGINEs IN
MARINE NAVIGATION.

Iul hppucdtioH % Piiuic n''Ci' -'V O-A-'- ia"
moved by it has been kept going twelve hours
together, nor are We aware that one has been
worked halt or even One-fOurth Of that time
without losing its energy. Serious difficulties
are to be overcome irrespective Of cost, that
as yet have proved insuperable. And yet IN
sea-going vessels it presents some singular
advantages. which, when thorough tested may
possibly lead 10 its adoption in them. Thus:
suppose you throw away the piles of brittle
and petty batteries, their concentrated acids
and solutions sheath one side of the vessel
withtopper and the other with zinc, and use
the ocean itself as the corrOdlng liquid. Its
rapid action on zinc shesthing is well known,
and artificial means might be used to increase
il. There could then be no stOppage OF the
engine from the saturatiOn Of the fluid, nor
diminution Of it's power from the dissOlving
plates becoming furred over. Their velocity
through the sea would cause them TO present
clean surfaces for the saltwater 10 act on, and
they would be carried every moment into fresh
fluid Supplemental plates or sheathing might
be introduced and kept a sufficient distance
from the vessels sides TO admit sheet Of wa
ter between it and them or the bull itself
might be made Of one metal, aud this loose
sheathng or an interior lining of another. II
working batteries on this principle could be
made, they would offer strong temptations 10
Electric Engineers to give them trial.
dir Engines is the Engineers CAPT
tai. and like the investments Of the merchant,
the less be has to pay for freight, brokerage,
and discount, the larger are his profits. In the
employment of any force, the object is to trans
nit as much as possible to the work to be
DOME e., to lose the least quantity by vast
age and leakag' in the transit, and IN proper
ton as this is elected the character or value
Of the device rises or falls. Thus In steam
and kindred machines, the smaller the amount
consumed on auxiliary mechaaisms, the more
is conveyed 70 the crank and main shaft. In
the air engine Of Captain Ericsson, abost Two
thirds of the whole power evolved, are required
TO work the feed pumps alone, serious do
duction from the active capital employed
one. too, that is in no wise modified by the " re-
generator" OF ecOnomizer Of heat for whatev-
or may DO the advantages Of that beautiful de-
vice for depriving the exhaust, or escaping
air of its caloric and imparting il to fresh
charge on its way TO the furnace or heater, the
imposing fact still remains, that the power e1-
pended on the pistons Of the feed pumps is
twice as much as that transmitted to
the paddle-vheels. Nor ia it easy TO see
how this can be avoided-it is incident
to the rarifed state of the agent employed.
H. instead Of doubling, he were TO tri.
pie the volume OF air BY heat, the pumps
might be reduced in their dimensions, but the
requisite increase Of temperature would prob
ably render the expansive principle in such
large machines impracticable.
In the absence Of a reservoir Of heated air
each Of the main pistons and that of its
pump must move simultaneously, because the
action Of one depends on that Ofthe other-one
cannot move alone--n main piston were
pushed up an inch from the heated bottom Of
it's cylinder it would there stop il the pump in
the meantime did not keep forcing in fresh
charge Of air, and hence It is that both hot and
cold air pistons act, and cease to act, together
On this account the velocity of the movement
Of the main pistons is confined within mode
rate limits because they have 10 icait, so TO
speak, I'll the air introduced below them be-
comes sufficiently heated TO push them up.
This waiting would be prolonged if the motive
fluid bad TO be tripled orqusdrupled nyolume,
and then the speed Of the pis;Ons would be re-
duced in even larger ratio, since the iutenser
tie heat the longer the time required to i'm.
part it.
Had Capt. Ericsson succeeded in transmit
ting the moderate force excited under his
main pistons To the crank shafts, the days oil
steam as marine motor might perhaps be
about TO be numbered. Or, if there were
only drawback Of Is TO % per cent for work.
ing the pumps ard Tor general friction, his
success might be considered almost certain
but not, We think, till this, or something Ap.
preaching it, is done, can the expansion of com.
mon air supereede as motive power that Of
aqueous vapOr. If the sir we're mixed with
some chesp substance greatly more dlstable
than itself, the feed pumps might be reduced
sud the efficacy ef the en1ins urOnorrion sbly IN
creased. There are doubtless numerous bodies
vegetable and mineral, in which large quaint
ties ere locked up in small spaces and which
the heat used BY him would serve 10 release
Let chemists suggest them. Loading the en-.
tering air with wstery molecules, by making il
pass over or through water, or very fine and
momentary shower let fall at each stroke on
thi. heater wcold immensely swell the motive