The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-01-28


passes away, and therefore has to be perpet
ually renewed. In the Caoric engine it i
economical. This is an immense advantage
The apparatus is formed of iron wire l-l6tl
Of an inch in diameter, woven into wei
dense enough for the holes or meshes to oc
cupy half the surface. Fifty thicknesses o.
disks Of this wire cloth are used in each pipe
connecting the reservoir or working cyln
ders. Each disk Is six feet long and foul
wide, and contains half a million of meshes
They are placed close together in the pipe
between the working cylinder and the two
valves which let in new air and let out that
which has been used. Thus all the air which
comes in passes through the meshes of the
wires, as does all that goes out. Here lies
the wonder Of the invention. The heated
air in going out leaves its heat in these wires
and the cold air in coming in takes it up a.
| gain. In the engines of .he Ericsson the
air which comes out is but 80 degrees hotter
than the atmosphere, though before passing
through the wires it was 3S4 degrees hotter.
Even these 80 degrees might be saved, says
Capt. Ericsson, by increasing the number
OF wire disks, but it is practically unnecessa-
ry. This apparatus is called the regenera-
! tor. Though the principle of it is essential
ly the same as that of Davy'a Safety Lamp,
the glory of its application to mechanical
purposes is Capt. Ericsson's fortune.
AS we said, there are four OF these double
cylinders, four working, and four supply
Accordingly there are four furnaces, ingeni-
ousy arranged, and set without any extraor-
dnary outlay of brick, such as has been re-
ported. In these small fire is kept up with
anthracite coal, which is preferable to other
fuel, because it does not blaze-only its radi-
ating heat is employed. From the CRATE to
the apex of the cylender bottom, which is
arched, of course, there is distance of FIVE
feet. The cylinder bottom is u inches thick
Before the engine is put in motion, it may
get to brown heat, but at that distance it
cannot get hotter. AS soon as the cold air
is let in, it coos much below that point
Thus there is no danger either of fusing
cracking or oxydizinq of the cylinder bottom;
all of which have been predicted by the scep-
tical. A cylinder bottom will last five years
as long as a steam boiler or fit gives out
can easily be replaced. The difference in
the cost of replacing cylinder bottoms and
steam boilers would, in large ship, be from
thirty to forty thousand dollars in favor of
the former.
The piston in the working cylinder is
made six feet deep from top to bottom, con-
cave underneath, to fit the cylinder bottom,
and fiat at the top. The top as well as the
sides are of iron, but the space betw cen is
filled with gyPeurn and eharoyni, nonoo1doct-
ors of heat. Thus while the bottom has the
temperature of the hot air in the cylinder the
top is cool. The heat there is barely suffi
cient to Keep the tallow used for fabrication
can stand upon it as it plays up and down,
and many gentlemen amused themselves yes
terday by riding there. This enables the en-
gneer at any time to grease just the part of
it he may desire; when the ship is careening
for instance, and the friction Of the piston is
all on one side, that side can be directly lu-
bricated. This is point of great practical
Importance, which cannot be attained in a
steam engine. Nor is there any danger of
burning the packing, for it is at the ssop of
the piston and never comes within less than
six feet of the fire.
The cylinders act in pairs, and in each
pair the action is reciprocating; that is to
say, as the piston gees up in one, it goes
down in the other.
The pressure for which the Caloric engine
is calculated at ~ lbs. per square inch, and
to obtain this it is necessary to heat the air
1884 degrees. By raising the air to 450 de-
grees, pressure of Is lbs. could be obtained,
but l2 is sufficient for practical purposes, and
more convenient to manage. Capt. Erics-
son is of opinion that that will be retnined as
the maximum pressure by future builders of
engines. Yesterday, owing to the unfinished
state of the machine, and especially of the
valves, it was impossible to get more than
lbs. pressure. With that, nine or ten revo-
lutons were obtained per minute. The full
number of revolutions to be had from the Err
lessons engine is Teckoned at IL, and at
that rate it is calculated that she will make
from 10 to - miles an hour. This is the ut
most that is hoped from her, and we think
rather more than will be obtained. Her en-
gines are not powerful enough to make her Il
competitor in speed with the fast Collins or
Cunard steamers. For that she must have
larger cylinders. Tile means of increasing
power is to enlarge the diameter of the
cylinders. When these engines were built
Capt. Ericsson desired to have cylinders of
l6 feet, but no establishment would under
take to cast them, and ii were the largest he
could get. Now Messrs. Hogg 81 Delamater
are ready to make them of any size required,
at their own risk.
The smoothness with which the engines
worked was remarkable. Capt Ericsson said
that ib pressure was enough to move them.
The amount of friction he finds very much
less than he anticipated. The coal consumed
by the whole four furnaces is at the rate of
6 tuns inca hours; tuns is the utmost limit
Of their consumption. The engineer and one
fireman suffice to tend the whole mechanism
There is no unpleasant smell as about steam
machinery. There are two smoke pipes and
two pipes to carry off the escaped air. These
pipes are l2 feet above the deck and 80 inches
in diameter. They are painted white. with a
gilt rim at the top, but there is not smoke
enough to sully them. The amount of air
passing through the four cylinders in an honr
is from SO to rs tuns. This keeps the ship
perfectly ventilated. 1t was cool and
pleasant in the immediate vicinity of the