The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-10-21
The U.e 81 Water as Fuel.

An interesting discussion was held last
night al q meeting Of the, New York Asso-
ciation for the Advancement Of ScieEce and
Art, at the Cooper Institute, on the use Of
water as a fuel. DIT. William z. Hogan, Of
Troy, New York, has recently been con
Quoting a series of experiments TO deter
mine whether steam could not be adyan-
tageously used ss an aid to combustion.
The subject was brought before the Associ-
alton at their last monthly meeting, and
committee appointed 10 test the merits Of
DR.. Hsgan's pan. The committee reported
last night through their chairman, that al
though they had been testing the matter
by experiment for week, that inasmueh o.
the apparatus used by them was not adapted
20 determine with extreme accuracy the
exact difference made IN the combustion Of
the coal by the introduction Of the steam,
they had not prepared q formal report Of
the results obtained. The chairman Of the
committee, Dr.. Leonard D. Gale, however,
gave q very interesting informal account Of
The exeriments made aud the results thus
far obtsined. The first object which the
committee sought 10 obtain being the value
Of the discovery for domestic purposes, they
had conducted their first experiments with
an apparatus much resembling a common
cooking stove, in fact, differing from one
only in having attached 70 it in 'front.' q
thick piece Of cast iron with q cavity in the
center very much like q common aswa.er-
back" TO a stove. On the top Of the oppa-
ratus were four kettle holes, in each Of
which 3 kettle Of water was pla ed, While
another vessel Of wafer was placed in the
oven behind. The amount Of heat pro-
dueed during the various experiments was
determined By che weight Of water evapo-
rated from the vessels. The experiments
=
ing coal ia the apparatus IN the ordinary |
manner, the am0unt Of coal placed 10 i
the ssGTe being carefully weighed each |
day, as also the amount Of ashes OF resIdum /
left, and the amount Of water evapora-ed. /
For the other four days a small stream of /
water was admitted in o the central cavity 4
Of the hollow iron front above described, 4
which being converted By The heat Of the 4
FIRE into cam, passes through q series Of 4
small openings into the center Of the burn
ing coal. As IN the otheF experiments, the
amount Of coal Consumed and Of water
eve porated was ca-efully determined and
noted. The net results Of he seven days
experiments showed that while oue pound
Of coal burned 10 the ordinary way in the
apparatus would sTapgraie on a. avcrage
3 g I0G pounds Of water, the same coal !
burned in connection with the steam would
svaporate s9-lu0 pounds Of water per
pound Of coal, the pr0pqriion being as So 70
IS. In other words that the use Of the
stream Of steam, in connection with the coal,
increased the available hest obtained from
the latter about 50 per cent. We give the
figures IN gross, although Dr.. Gale gave
hem ia detail 81 considerable length As
II these experiments great part Of The heat
YES necessarily lest BY radiat on #, n the
exposed slriacs RI The store, q vas impos-
li6e & Determine accuraiely the exact
amount oil increase ct heat caused By the
presence OF the sfesm, but enough was
'Bowr % demonstrate that the sabieet Is
well worthy the attentien Of economists -
d.. Haran stated that q. locomotive was now
-unninT On abe New York Central Railroad,
n which By the uss o. his system, 20 pounds
4 water were converted into steam By 81
average consumption "a one Poand IS rcai;
rhn Comptuy ars nov applying he prin-
.ipis ia AZ mars af their loc1moiiTes, aud /,
~ about - construct 81 others. built ez-
,ressiy % include this principle.
Aaer some discussion She further corsi-
lerEtiau 81 tbe subject was again referred /.
o the committee, who were Instructed .
xauins IA thofcughiy and report q setas
uture meetinr.-Ar- fork Iri5rne