New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-09-20
SCIENTIFIC MiTTERS.

o. struc,eJ and very beautiful bot-air engine ~
Kgvpt. destined for rrigsting one OF the P'u'e' u
n psshs adds the intelligence that NM Du'un
and Bourret Of Clermontfefrsnd' I'D '""''' 20
designed all the plans Of csioric engine, III VIM"
the nro,ortion of power TO heat Is as %'' ~ olo'
:. o,,., words. which will utilize one-haif OF the
-, of the fuel. whereas steam engines utilize
butOne-fenth.
The French press is greatly exercised at present
.A.yt fires and fire-engines. In June last, it took
,early eight days to extinguish eOnaagration,
which, after sn, only destroyed two contiguous
,d;fces. The old.fashioned handbuckets are still
Che only means Of obtaining water at the firemens
command in Paris. The Fire Department in other
respects is perfection itself At certain hour
these drilled men, heroes in courage and cats IN
agility, meet in parade and then redistrbute them
se.ves over the city, two and two, each pair with
a trumpet, blowing the cavalry charge as they
walk rapidly along the streets to their edseurss
or barracks. Flaud's fire engines are new inven-
tiou. making some fair approach toward the per-
lection and the efficiency Of the American machine
But what ayals men and engines without hre-
plugs and an indefinite outlay Of bose' Steam fire.
engines now at last dOmesticated IN PhlladeiPnia,
have not been thought Of yet in Paris. but al
Lille, comparatively Insignificant little city,
Science. in the person of NJ. Duardn, has gone
far beyond it, and invented literally the steam
eppine--not an engine driven by steam, but on
engine 10 deluge fire with steam. Numerous ex-
amples and old experience prove that jet or tor
rent of aqueous vapor is the most efficient Of all
extingushers Of flames, whether in mines and
caves or beneath inaccessible masses Of fallen
ruins. The celebrated French Academy,
II is true, does not take sufficient interest
in such matters TO even make an honorable
mention of this benefactor Of cities although it is
well known that, some few days after the terrible
disaster at the Grand Condo, when the great alco-
hol mandatory of Rayencl, near Saint just was
set on fire, common workman, who had heard
some vague account of NJ. Dujardlns invention,
saved the largest part of the establishment by
simply rushing to the engine-room and turning on
the outside steamcock so as to food the buildings
with the steam. When we reflect upon the
nous annual destruction of property by the water
used in extingushing FIRE, We feel impatient
NJ the delay in constructing and experimenting
on our own side of the Atlantic with pow
erful locomotive boilers, with proper apparatus
for discharging steam into the doors and win
dows of buildings full of smoke and fame, and
Inaccessible to human approach. Improving the
power Of our pumps can go very little further. The
Emit is nearly reached. In fact, the old Diligent
Engine could throw strong stream in 1880, as
high over the Copper Indian at the forks Of Old
York Road in Philadelphia, as any engine in any
Atlantic city can do to-day. But steam need only
be introduced below, at the front door, or into
cellar window, and it will issue at the caves and
track the enemy under every slate and between
every pair Of joists.
In the construction Of cold engines Of all kinds,
but especially pumps for wells and mines, an im-
portant advance has been made by another French
engineer, NJ. Perreaux, who makes all the valves
and pistons of caoutchouc, instead Of metal.
il is surprising that this was not thought OF
sooner but everything must bide its time. The
Leviathan lie furnished throughout with pumps OF
this construction. The Society of Encouragement
has given the inventor it's gold medal and the Jures
Of Exhibition at Paris at Blos, at Aleneon,
&C., have unanimously recognized its merit. The
French Naval Department has made per-
fectly satisfactory experiments with 1T at Cher
bourg, and NJ. Pronnier reports TO the Society of
Engineers that il is an Incompatible invention,
sustaining he says, with great steadness pressures
Of from five to twenty stmospheres, yet of such
sensibility as to open and shut again Theoretically
rapidly, without effort, and uninjured by solid
matter carried by the water. They remain I'M
changed for months in water at 100, are far
cheaper than metal valves and pistons, and save
Fifty per cent of power. Mr.. Alquier draws at
tention TO the fact that neither the inventor nor
any of these distinguished bodies OF learned men
sIude 10 the application of this invention TO FIRE.
engines, where every advantage il offers is n sine
qua mon for society. Its powers have lately been
illustrated at the Agricultural Exhibition at YER
sailles, where the director was using large num-
Der of working beasts for raising water twenty
Eve feet above the great park reservoir. Nj. Du-
four applied to NJ. Perreaux for one of his pumps,
which was hastily erected, and worked by one man
Tor eight days, and furnished twice the amount Of
water called by the occasion.
Ever since the terrible foundations of July, 1856,
which the practical good sense OF Louis Napoleon
turned SO well TO the advantage of his popularity
with the French people, miscellaneous suggestions
and weli-arrsnged memoirs on the subject have
Appeared from time to time in public prints or been
read before the learned societies. The latest and
best Of these is by Monsieur Dausse. He calls it
"The Solution Of the Problem Of the Inundations "
and short dissection of il will not be bad practice
for American engineers. Our own future in this
respect is threatening. The ravages OF the Lehsh
and the Junista in 1887, of the Hudson at Troy,