Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-08-13

1
and little compared to the general devastation attending
the rendng of fues and shells Of steamers boilers
Let be borne in mind that the strongest explosives
can be as efecuay diluted with air as alcohoi IS with
water and that al expansive forces may De tempered
the veal fortified the strong reduced, as readily as spr
itous LIQUORS are Even with Capt Ericssons cylinder,
capaciots as dwelling rooms, and their walls anu hoors
consequently weakened with their enlargement we do not
see why minute streams of powder could not be injected
without inducing any more sudden impusiye action
within item than what takes place in steamboiler on
stirring NJ the ere beneath In addition 10 the volumes
of gases evolved by the powder the heat contributed by
them to the common dir would materially aid in swelling
il also for by the present Of air alone the greater
part Of tcsa bebut mperfectly heated but very small
part Of it brought in contact with the heated plates
The retiye cost Of mechanical rocl explosive
mixtures we are net in possession Of the requisite data
to determine yet in this respect they hold cut stronger
temptations than agents recently proposed, while IN other
respects hey are inferior few, and again some supe
rier TO an time take them for full examine
ton and fair trial. Could have tomorrow, by merely
asking nature for it, me,ve agent possessing every de-
srable quality, il would differ ssuch from gunpowe
since this really combices within ITSELF and in pre-er
degree Of the very bcs attributes OF plsne
ARd when its afnfies become populu, mo-
tors, and national vessels empicy their ammunition as
propeirg Medium then will the most glorious Of
occasicEs for o teG de joic.
OF il is rot purpose TO SPEAK As a'nedlum
for exciting atmospheric pressure it may yet have 10
small amount ef work perform. As direct propeller
of machinery its capabilities have been pretty vel taa
so generally put in :cauiston ,nat us future renoWn
viii probably depend more on its being CARVED INTO new
departments Of industry than from changes which the
construction Of engines may undergo, or new properties
which spch changes may seem to bring forth 1t has
brough. up the arts point whence fresh start may
be taken by them w der the impulses of new agent
The is ripe for the Introduction Of one. Much that
could be accomplished heretofore may be done now
forces which il was useless attempt subdue
fury half century ago, account of the backward
state science arl of the fabrication of machinery may
be successfully g-appled with What the third in the
list Of artificial Urine will be is uncertain To
become favorse it should be cheaper than steam and
: its mechanism less elaborate.
AS the dsersion Of common air by heat is prominently
before the public conclude this paper with few words
o for general rather than professional readers
On dir Engnes.-The term is comprehensive embrac-
ing such moved by the expansion of airs and those
impeed by atmospheric pressure simply The first in
cudes al machines animated by the discnding power Of
arforn fluids whether awakened instantaneously by
gradual accumulation from solid liquid bases within
closed vessels. Hence ard O carbonic-acd gas
may be correctly deemed airengines those
of Sterling and Ericsson and pieces of ordnance are
literally arguns those technically known as such
They al quickened by the swelling energies of airs
gases and differ only the whence these are de-
rived, and modes Of bringing them into play In this
class the forces only limited by the strength of the
machinery and by convenience economy of employing
them, while in the second the Of power and
power itself limited and irvarabe the devices only
varying the means of invoking il.
Both classes include every kind Of arfcaly excited
forces and they illustrate the organic principle which
all forces depend-the varying proportions quantities
of matter in relation to spaces occupied by it. But for
this there could be force, neither natural ar-
cial 1t is because the relationship of volume
mutabe that melton is possible and that it ensues.
Hence have of power in bodies that shrink
within smaller ard another in those that swell into larger
limits. By way Of illustration let couple Of apples
nda-rubber balls represent these forces; place them
table, and suppose becomes disended 70 the size
human head, and the other6y contraction reduced
pea Now the resulting would be in every
direction from the centre to the circumference, and with
ont moving the balls from their places has been asked
How does this dstension and shrinkage give motion
mechanism 1t is done by Of the piston and cya-
der-the author Which, he known, should have his
inscribed every Engineerss Institute Imagine
Of the balls placed within and the bottom cy-
Under Of the diameter ITSELF and the piston
ing upon IT, AZ it dilated the motion now beng copfned
10 one direction the piston would necessarily be pushed
up and when contraction took place with the other ball
il would descend In both the range of the piston
would be governed by the extent Of expansion and col
apon andits velocity by the time in which these changes
took place. Such, in brief the principles and action
Of all motive airengines and when they become familiar
10 the general mind the probabilities Of original and
full suggestions being thrown cut viii be greater than
while the knowledge is confined to few.
As the value Of arengines depends On the expanding
materials, and principally their capacity for data-
ton abundance and cheapnes being always understood
suggestions as respects them most wanting A line
containing hint, matter how trianc or ieiune
amplifcaton and argument about common matters 1t
might direct inventors to fertile spots in the wide
fields Of discovery and like the handful OF sand thrown
out Of Suffers nil-race the world Of engineers
and Swans TO unprecedented activity There is gold
richer than that Of ophr and envatle will be his fame
4 who strikes the vein
In casting about for materials unite with
we become sensible OF hiatus in chemical literature
viz: tables Of gases contained in all known bodies
arranged according the quantity each holds and giving
the temperature required 10 drive out with variations
stages Of termination of deconposing condens-
ing and absorbing them, &c. Were such source Of in.
formation at hand substances might lie had having air
locked up in them in great Irouson in the ingre-
dients Of gurpowder greater At any rate some
might be met with that would valuable auxiares
in air-engines, and perhaps principals.
Besides increasing the volume there special reason
why it's worth while to add other matters Atmospheric
ar hight enough and there is such thing refining too
u mn