The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-01-13
An Account Of the CaloHtc slip Ericsson,
by q French Engineer.

An Account Of the CaIorso sa,ip Ericsson,
by . French Engineer.
The Caloric shin Ericsson left the bay on
Aonday for the second time with about nty invited
guests on board principally persons connected with
The press Having left from the loot OF Castle Gar
outside of Fort Hamilton, and returned to anchor,
near the Battery, towards enc o'clock. Leaving
aside the customary speeches and resolutions, we VIII
without, at the same time, expecting TO attain that
degree Of lucidity with which Capt Ericsson explain
ed it to his guests with the accompaniment OF the
bum, bum Of its immense pistons. .
The great principle which serves rs its pase
of operation namely that of the return OF the Gu.
loric has demanded from the inventor twenty years
reflections, to be embodied IN mscnihe. Ios ,
in awaiting himself constantly OF the same neat 10
heat the air which is introduced into the cylinders
The instrument by means OF which this principle Is
applied is called rgenerator and clear dea Of !,
may be had by supposing man with his mouth hied
by a hot metallic sponge. If he draw breath, the
outer air in traversng the pores VI the warm sponge
win be heated and will arrive in the lungs warm
whilst the sponge having yielded ITS caioric, WIN oe
come cold If he make respiration of this hot ar
it, in passing again through the sponge WIN nea. .e
latter and will arrive at the other side coid agaln
IT. instead Of the individual producing THESE lnose
ments BY the contractions OF the muscles OF MS
breast a common bellows be lifted 10 MS mouth 70
produce the action Of breathing and respi1hS' we
have almost Ericssons machine IT,, ..,;-
ders one placed over the other. The lower one IS
the working cylinder-the upper one is pump,
which congresses the air into reservoir placed over
n This reservoir and the cylinder are united by
tnha which passes through the regeneration and is
provided with ordinary valves to open or close the
Communication Under the cylinder there is fire.
place.
ting the machine to WORK, n BY an ouieT means 70
compress the air into a reservoir. That done, the
communication with the cylipder is opened-the air
being precipitated into It, driving the piston upwards
and as this piston is connected by iron trucks with
that Of the pump the latter Immediately congresses
into the reservoir the quantity Of air which has left
il. The surface OF the mover being almost double
that of the pump the air has taken by contact with
the bottom of the cylinder the quantity of heat
cessary TO double its volume in conserving its pres
Halt of the force contained in this compressed
air is employed by the pump to compress cold air;
the other half constitutes the power of the machine.
When the piston reaches the top Of its course the
valves are worked in such manner as to close the
reservoir of cold air. and 20 let the hot air escape
from the cylinder through the Regeneration. This air
il cooled in it before reaching the atmosphere and
leaves its heat in store The weight of the piston is
sufficient to produce this result and to draw it itself
TO the bottom Of the cylinder. The valves being re-
stored to their proper position the piston ascends
again; but from that moment the air, which passes
from the reservoir to the cylinder becoming heated in
passing through the regeneration, the hot bottom OF
the cylinder has no longer aEgt to do save to sup
ply the small quantity OF heat Of which it has been
deprived by the air driven of, and that lost by rada
ton from the hot surface.
The construction of the Ericsson is not a CONNER
ca, enterprse-it is an experiment in science upon
gigantic scale, by tae young American giant. The
ha of the Ship remarkable for the perfection Of its
model $50 feet in length 40 feet breadth OF BEAM
and q feet depth OF hold. Over the deck rise four
tunnels, 80 inches in diameter and only II feet in
height Two OF them serve chimneys-the other
two serve to let out the air which leaves the regene-
rators. The wheels are 80 feet in diameter, and 10
feet in breadth
('yiiuder and p;ston-The cylinders arc fonrteep
feet IN diameter, and the piston has six feet stroke
Hardly year since, the largest cylinders that had
ever been cast were eight feet in diameter and the
possibility of casting larger without defects was
doubted. AT present Messrs. Hogg 4 Delamater are
are prepared, at their own risk and peril to make
them OF twenty feet diameter. Another difficulty,
declared by many persons to be insurmountable was
that OF preventing the pistons from becoming hot
circumstance which would destroy the gear by pre-
venting It's being creased. The pstons are hollow
boxes nat on top and concaye beneath their size at
the top is SIX eet but the gear only occupies the up
per portion The interior OF the pistons is filed with
plaster and coal bodies which bad conductors of
beat This arrangement has succeeded 50 we'll that
melt fat.
The FIRES and Bottoms of the Cylinders.--The
bottom OF the cylinders is convex surface above
aud formed in such manner as to be exactly in
closed IN the piston when it descends This bottom
il an inch and a-half in thickness and is heated by
means OF the fire of anthracite coke placed five
feet lower This distance has been adopted 80 that
30 well the purpose expected from it, that it is al
ready supposed that the bottoms will be able though
IN contact with the air, to endure longer than fou
years, the average duration Of steam boilers in the
United States.
Rsgenerator.-This part OF the apparatus. I'M
doubleday the most remarkable, is that which has
been the first invented and has since given the least
embarrassment To the inventor The rSgenerator is
composed Of series Of metallic nets placed parallel
to each other in box six feet in breadth by four in
height Each of the nets contain therefore, twenty
four square ieet there 200 Of them for each cy
Under, that IS almost 20 900 square feet. The
iber Of meshes is computed at hundred Million the
threads OF the nets are about the sixteenth Of inch
III diameter.
Pressure and ItmyeTdtttre.-The pressure which
has been found the most advantageous, Is that of
twelve pounds 10 the square inch-that j. to say,
little more than m atmosphere The highest tempe
nature to which the air is elevated III the interior Of
the cylinder is 3s4 deg Fahreaheit. To double its
volume 1t would be necessary that it should attain
$50 deg; but this degree Of temperature would
cause Inconvenience which it is desirable 10 avoid.
When the air. after having done the work assigned
to in the machine, Is expelled from the vessel its
heat is only 80 deg. greater than the outer tempera
tUre. When the machine gives fifteen strokes per
minute, the quantity OF air used by the machinery is
equal to seventytive tons an hour. With that datum
the quantity OF heat carried away by the rejected air
may be calculated by recollectng that the caoritic
capacity OF the element is only onefourth part that
OF water.
The Stop.-An essential, though not apparent ar
rangement is that of the apparatus Of the stop which
In closing the valve before the end of the stroke per-
mts the employment Of the airs power of expansion.
In the pump, the air taken by the exterior pressure
does not attain 10 the pressure Of twelve pounds until
the piston has travered thirty inches OF its
In the cylinder, the pressure is twelve pounds per
inch during the twothirds Of its course the valve is
then closed and the last third is worked by the ex-
pansiye power Of the air But TO get twelve pounds
OF real pressure "a there is side Of the piston
fifteen pounds OF atmospheric pressure, there is from
within twenty-seven pounds of pressure this, de-
tanned in the proportion Of two TO three leaves at the
End Of the course eighteen pounds. This is only
three pounds per inch over the ordinary pressure.
The other parts Of the new machine present no dis
position that appears deserving Of being particularly
mentioned