The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1866-02-24
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
q New Motive Power.
Danford's Steam Generator Probable
Revolution in Steam.
From the Chicago Tribune.

From the Chicago Tribunel
If what is claimed for the recent invention of
+. Danford, of Geneva. Illinois. shall prove true
when fairly put to the test, it will utterly revo-
lutionize the present method Of obtaining power
from steam. We are disposed 10 believe that he
has solved the problem how to cheaper steam
power, materially reduce the weight of boilers
and the consumption of fuel, and AZ the same
time rob steam of its terrors. The losses Of life
and property from explosions make the destruc-
tOns of steam in time Of peace almost equal that
OF gunpOWder IN time of war. DaniUrd has in
vented a method of producing and utilizing super
heated steam, which Is either Il great delusion or
Il great revolution Of steam as Il motor. So far
as we can form an opinion 1t is a grand success,
and will achieve wonders for mankind. and make
the inventor rank with Watt and Fulton.
y brief history OF the invention and descrip-
ton of the. machine may be interesting to our
readers.
Within three years past a citizen Of Geneva
(nl.), William f.. Danford, who possesses the
inventive mechanical faculty in Il high degree,
got up early one frosty morning to build a fire in
his stove, and heat the water in the kettle.
After starting the fire he placed the kettle. full
OF cold water, on the top of the fat stove plate,
and sat down before the fire to muse over an
Improvement in a reaping machine which he
was building. Pretty soon he saw the kettle
vibrating on the stove plate. This motion was
continuous. At first he thought 1t was caused
by the water boiling, but taking off the lid he
discovered that 1t was not boiling; still the reg
ular vibration continued. growing stronger. if
anything. He then removed the kettle, when
he discovered in the bottom Il sand hole, from
which trickled, slowly, drops of water. This
water coming in contact with the hot stove plate
was instantly converted into "super-heated
steam The explosion Of the drop of water
produced the shock or movement observed in the
kettle. The immense power generated from SO
small Il quantity of water as q single drop. arrested
the attention Of the inventor, and the question
at once occurred to him, why cannot this power,
50 vastly greater than ordinary steam, be util-
lied? And to the solution Of this problem lie
set himself at work with an energy and rersever-
ance that shows him to possess considerable of
the super-heated steam principle in his own men
tai and physical organism.
He looked over what authorities he could find
ON the subject OF steam III Its various conditions
particularly in regard to super heated steam.
lie found that while its power was recognized
and defined, yet its employment was not consid-
cred either safe or economical and, indeed. that
little Roadway had ever been made toward its
introduction as a motor.
After Il few months search and reflection, he
built an experimental model. to test an idea that
had struck him, and to his great satisfaction he
found its performance equal to all he had hoped
for, and its safety perfectly demonstrable. After
making Il series of experiments ON his little ma
chine, continually applying improvements that
suggested themselves, he at length resolved to try
the new invention on Il larger scale, and the
result is witnessed in the engine now in operation
at No. 80 West Lake street, bIilt for him by the
Vulcan Works of this city last Spring. There
may be seen Il five horse power engine, of five
inch cylinder and eight inch stroke, doing twelve
10 fifteen horse power work in grinding corn,
with a consumption Of one-half the fuel Of an
ordinary engine doing the same work. This
engine is driven by steam, super-heated from 500
10 600 degrees Fahrenheit. though it may be
worked to advantage at $50 degrees.
Danford's boiler differs from the ordinary boiler
in having no water in it-nOthing but highly
rarified steam. which is generated as fast as con-
sumed by the engine. Instead of a boiler he
calls it IL generator His generator consists
of hollow cast iron globe or large pot, ? inches
thick, suspended in an ordinary furnace as Il pot
or kettle may be suspended over the fire. There
is a casing to iuclose the fire and conduct it
around the generator and up the chimney, where
by the way, much caloric is uselessly wasted.
An iron tube, made of 4-inch gas pipe. enters
the globe or generator at the top, and is conduct
ed down to its centre. where it terminates in Il
rose sprinkler, perforated with forty or fifty holes.
By means of an injection pump, about Il table
spoonful of water is spread into the generator at
each stroke of the pump, in the form of spray.
This spray does not come in contact with the
sides Of the generator, for before 1t can reach that
far it is expanded into hot steam. No explosion
can take place, because there is no water in the
generator TO explode. The water from the tube
Is already exploded on entering the generator
that is, it passes simultaneously from the state
of spray into that of super-heateG steam. No
further eXI ansion is possible. If the super
heated steam should separate into its constituent
and h~ydrogen-thcy would pro-
duce no greater pressure nor expansion.
The generator which Danlord is using is capa-
of sustaining a pressure of 1000 pounds to
the square inch, but the steam gauge shows that
600 degrees of heat there Is only $50 pounds
of pressure. 1t is the opinion Of Horatio Allen,
Of the Novelty Works, New York, that the gen.
is unnecessarily thick, strong and heavy,
though it weighs less than half as much as a six
power boiler filed with water. Allen
thinks that Il generator one inch thick, Of cast
iron, is amply strong.
Recently. paniord's machine was tested against
l fifteen-lorse power engine with a locomotive
lue boiler, eight-inch cylinder and fifteen. inch
stroke. The same engineer attended to each, and
the coal and measured the water. The
rial lasted three days. The work done was
corn, and the following was the result
rrTEEy-HoRsE ENGINE AND BOILER.
ire surface feet
sI'ar y IT n. ~ ~ ponnds'
y alter eyaporated per 50 gallons.
'orn ground per hour. is bushels.
pANroBD's GENERATOR AND FlyE-HoRSE ENGINE.
ire a - sE'
',reS'ure pr inch pounds
y alter eyaporatet per u gallons.
ground per hour. - bushels.
These figures tell their own story. With one
part of the fire surface, thirty-three
oer cent. more labor was done by Danford's little
generator than was accomplished by a fifteen
lorse locomotive boiler, and that, too, with one
the consumption Of fuel. Danford'S genera
or actually got twenty-horse power work out Of
n engine built for a five or six-horSc power boiler.
twenty-five gallons of water in the form Of super
leated steam proved to be thirty-three per cent.
more uOyerful than EIGHTY Gallons Of wa ta- in