The Portland daily press., 1867-06-17

'fhs snvsrnniett steamer Palos made at e&a
nar,mentaI trip down Boston barbor last Fri
dav for the purpose of more fully testing Col
Foote,s apparatus for, burning petroleum in
s,a.d of coal, with which Il series of expert
,,a,,ts have been made during the last six or
eight weeks at the dock. The party on board
comprised only the members OF the board of
enaiueers. appointed by the Government to
report upon the experiments, the parties i'm
mediately interested, lew scientific gentle-
men and representatives of the press. The
vessel went down the harbor past the forts
and the Islands, and out to sea short dis
tance beyond Boston Light, and returned by
a somewhat circnitous route, making run of
about twenty-five miles in an hour and fifty
i've minutes. The performance of the appara-
tus and of the vessel are said to have been
sueb rs 10 nj orlise the most satisfactory re-
report: -. .gtf
The Palos left her dock at the navy ward at
ten minutes before eleven O'Clock and return
ed to it shortly before one. q Two minutes aifer
her start she was well under way and going at
the rate OF ten Knots an hour When she had
been out fifteen minutes it was found that she
was moving through the water at the rate of
over eieVeh ana . hall miles an hour, and was
gaming steadily, with thirty-eieht hounds OF
steam, having started with 35 pounds. This
iact caused considerable surprise on board
wlieh III was shown that, under the coal-as-fuel
system, upon its first trial trip, when the ves-
sci was new, its best time was only eight knots
an houf, and that it had not made better time
than eight and a half since until now 1t was
iurther clearly demonstrated to the intensely
| Interested passengers that the Palos was III
| very poor trim; that her bow stood up from the
| water and her stern was planted down; that
| she dragged dead water and in several Other
! respects was not all right and therefore that
che rate of speed under the circumstances was
| rather extraordinary. Ead EHe
] The lalos. which made this novel trip is
i small gunboat, and formerly used four Goa
| fires, and had a crew of twenty tiremen and
coal passers. With the petroleum appar
atus she requires "a crew of only three men, al
the supply of fuel is easily regulated, and NJ
cinders or ashes are made The petroleum il
supplied from two large iron tanks placed OF
d, ok, each tank having glass gauge at it
side to indicate the height of the petroleum
and vent pipe upon the top to permit tn,
escape of vapor. From these tanks the pc
troeum is cond ucted by lIalf-ineh pipes to tn
z boiler furnaces. 1t there. drops into iron re
torts, heated by boilers placed beneath them
and is instantly vapoTized. This vapor, il
burning, is mixed with steam, decomposed b.
passing through pipes partially flied witt
iron filings, and with oxygen supplied by at
mosperic air forced in by a common air-pump
The heat thus generated is intense;, and it is
noticeable fact that the combustion is so per
feet that no smoke is perceptible. A diminu
ton of the supply of air or steam at once ere
ates a smoke. Her engine is about $50 hors
| power. tt.'aA3 l444a ala ii4 @ $3.50
For the trip yesterday about four barrels O
oil were used; the captain OF the boat declare
that some six or eight tons Of coal would llav
been consumed in the same work. A larg
4 amount of coal would have been required t
start the fires and much would have bee
wasted when the sail was completed, as tn
heat was kept well up until the last momen
When it was given out, yesterday, that til
fires We're needed 1 longer, by simply turnin
two or three throttle valves The flanies wer
eXtinguished, and in a minutes time the fire
were down. OF course there was no ashes an
no dirt, and the tire-room was as clean as clea
could be, and the Eeat carpet with which tn
floor was covered and not soiled in the leas
Colonel Henry b. Foote of Tennessee til
inventor superintendent the work in the fire
room, which was exceedingly light and no
disagreeable, and Engineers g. w. Pennina
ton and Henry w. Scott had charge of the en-
gine. i -tt f-.L o. ...-t5 u 81 t. l..5-I 3lti