The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-11-27
The shin Adrfatie


vELrY WORKS, THE PATENTKKs, LAW SUITS, Ex
PLANTATIONS, ETC, ETC.
TO rHK or TYIE HERALD.
In your report in the HERALD of the I7th Of the tra
trip OF the Adriatic you have been led By false re
presentations, To do great injustice to those ~ whose
efforts the engines OF that ship have been brought
their present perfection, and trust that you will allow
TO correct the impression which you have
doubt unintentionally made.
You say that 't will be recoected that sangunc pa
tcntee Of cut of was allowed TO tinker the ship
long while, and ally his work was thrown aside
and Mr. Allen substituted his own cu of and valve connec
TONS. statement substantially similar this made
upon the authority of the Novelty Works published in
another CITY paper OF the I'D Of October and conadced
by MS in that Journal OF tho 3st and supposed that
attempt TO repeat so SILLY fasehood would have been
made There is not word of truth the whole matter
as you VIII ma you ask the chief engineer OF the Col
Inns line 70 authorize you over his to sustain
the charge.
The facts are these Mr. Allen the person alluded
TO in the HERALD of the 18th, relation OF Brown
Brothers Co., attempted to put into the Adriatic
n valve gear, cutoff condenser, made according
TO his ideas OF what those things ought To be Tho
cuton WAS an attempt TO evade the Sickes' patent,
and the condenser IN attempt evade the Sewa patent
the object being to Obtain the benefit of those points by
change In FORM The difficulty that Mr. Allen did not
know what was the valuable thing in those patents and
he only apprc priated what would With all the
Intentions which any man could have to take the benefit
OF the IDEAS OF the inventors without compensation he
wanted the knowledge to make proper selection and
the consequence was after tnkerng ut the things
several months al great cost the valve gear of and
condenser were complete failures and were totally con.
dcmned. Mr.. PRISON then employed To construct
the PRISON condcnscrs which he has DONE and whatever
merit there Is IN them Is due TO his invention, and he
ought TO have the credit The engineering OF the valves
and on however retained by Mr. Allen for
months, during which time the 'Sagacy OF the Novel
ty Works. exercised to invent valve gear which
could be applied to those engines; but inspi
ration came and the company at LAST handed
over the engines to us Internationally, To invent
and apply valve gear and cutoff having first failed
az attempt to induce us to cooperate with Mr. Allen
That did; and the cut on when IL now impudenty
and falsely claimed to be Mr. Aliens Sakels' cut off
c0nrived by and built at the Aarc Works. under the
superintendent Of Mr. Wnship without any interference
or participation Of Mr. Allen ANY other person what
ever and the plans on which constructed
known TO him or to any other person except drafts
men till they were all in progress of construction in the
shops. That cut of and valve gear if properly adjusted,
said in letter of the 3lst will make the engines
work better than any oscaors in New York, and the
densers wll doubt do all that is promscdor them by
Mr. Prison. but part OF those results belong Mr. Allen
The engines, except these particulars like other
ators but the air pumps operated by executives il
is serious question whether that plan is reliable We
are informed (athough do not know it, that upon the
trial trip these excenrcs heated by the enormous
eminent engineers of the Novelty Works has openly de
cared that this plan will not work. II very easy
usual way but the Novelty Works refused that or an in
dependent engine, and made the present botch.
Cur connection with the Adriatic was one Of ex-
IRENE difficulty. We had just come out Of controversy
in the courts with tho Novelty Works which had resulted
In the total destruction Of the inflated bubble Of reputation
which that concern had pulled up by newspaper pa
ragraphs and similar means 10 enormous proportions;
and of course cordially hated by the whole
Germ with which we had TO co operate The engines
given to from necessity and not from choice until
the Collins company had waited in vain for four months
like Ar. Macawber, for something TO turn up in the
OF the "eminent engineers" at the Novelty Works,
which would look like practical valve gear for those
gines. And we were surrounded by employees of Mr.
Allen who were forced upon by the company TO do
work the engines against remonstrance and who
n
we succeeded and the engines had steam on the Sd OF
October before they were adjusted, and worked
so well that Mr.. Collins expressed himself perfect
ly satisfied with them, and openly declared that
their success "cold comfort to Mr.. Allen"
and no doubt ii was. But what state Of things
that where was cold comfort to the OF
the lnc whose shop was deriving the profit from the
work done After this trial. the Sd Of October, and
while We were engaged in getting ready for seawhich
would have been accomplished BY the l4h OF October at
the farthest-the company, all AT once yielded 10 the
pressure which the Novelty Works applied and on tho
9Th broke our contract and dismissed us from the shin ON
the pretence that they informed that "ink
ton" would not work at sea- and tho engines were deli
yered to Mr. Allen to complete Mr. Allen al once decided
send the ship in days by substituting for
'link motion" locomotive link and using all the rest
Of our arrangements and the company publicly avowcd
this determination one small difficulty stood in the way
of the plan they decided to adopt which that could
not work unless two sides of triangle are no longer than
the third side; but to the Novelty Works this difficulty
seemed trining and they attacked II like heroes. For
dead man. old Euclid made good defence Of his princi.
plcs-thc Novelty Works coming of second bcs, in the
fight, which lasted about week and we have
pleasure in announcing that this very important
principle OF mathematics, thus attacked, may yet be
considered safe although u seemed in great danger
mt the time, with Novelty works for assalants Beaten
in this very brave attempt on Euclid, nothing
left but 10 restore our link motion, or n mutiate
the engines ny removing the hand gear VIC had made
and substituting one whi;h required five weeks 10
strnct, and which has materially impaired the value
OF the engines and the ship They adopted tho latter
and the ship has at last made that trip employing
the identical cut OF and valve gear constructed for run
ming the engines but using their plan Of hand for
those engines depends upon the valve gear and cutoff We
made and which cannot be improved IN that machine Our
plan OF hand gear such that boy OF ten years OF
binary intelligence, c,ud work both engines and regulate
the cutoff without moving out Of one place. Now the
Novelty Works have improved Il that II requires two
men OF skill and practice to start her and IN regulating the
cut of the operator must to each engine by Itself down
below. Which y the better and more efficient way
willing To submit to Mr Collins himself, now that he has
seen both work. and about Ia start another ship
with the plan OF hand gear which removed from
the Adratic crafty Mr. Allen, will give engineers
generally opportunity TO decide the same question
This Is short statement OF the case, and you viii see
hos desperate and base the attempt to deprive Us Of the
credit Of saving the engines Of the Adratc from total oss
by publishing such fasc reports ~ those We now notice
We did not intend 10 crush into print about this mat
ter rather choosing to wait for trial OF the question %
rights In the courts bu. permit such state
ments ndusirousy made and repeated, 70 pass unan
swered lest silence should be construed by the pub
DICKERsoN 4 sIcREIs, Sc Wall street.
Nov. II, 1857.
TO THE EDITOR or THE HERALD
In justice to myself deem that some parts Of the mo-
tce ofhe Adrntc trial trip yesterday HERALD, should
be right The condensers therein spoken of as -
comparatively paient,' and the vacuum produced Is
referred TO thc greatest that has ever boon
attained"
These condensers my invention and my PATENT and
merely built Ia the Adriauc by the Novelty Works.
They have been introduced into most r.t elias mcrcan
tile steamers constructed for years pasf notices and
descriptions Of the performances of which have repeated
ly appeared In the HERALD.
Your correspondent at Philadelphia wrote IN the HERALD
the 2ist OF June, 1850 that he did not hesatc to
express the opinion that this invention will yet he the
means Of shortening the voyage nom New York to Liver
pool from one 10 two days.
The fine steamships of the Hsvre line have my con
dcnsers also q number " the California Say annah and
Mobile lines and in several OF the United States govern
mcnt steamers.
The vacuum obtained In the Adriatc j. better than
that in several others where my condcnSers IN
for example, the avrc ship Fulton the engines Of which
built at the Morgan works aud which also oscl
laors
have frequently seen Indicator diagrams from those
engines showing al full thirteen pounds In tho
which inches