Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1867-07-03
NUMBER 33
ITaE HICKS HNaINE.

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Our old friend aud fellow citizen Jopn
W. Smith of Stowe, is now in Sllem,
Mass. engaged in the manufacture and
sale of the Hicks Engine, WHICH. be re,
presents to be the greatest improvement
of the age in the application of stcam
power. Mr. Smith is a thorough aud
practical mechanic, and his opinion of the
value of this Engine is worthy of much
consideration. The following, he gays, is
plain and fair description of the Engine,
copied from a leading city paper:
From the days When Watt drst made
the steam am engine practical power, conn.,,
petept; not only to perform labor whish.
had hitherto depended on human or brute
muscle, but even to achieve thousand,
feats before s.Y gpdreamed i! of7-frOm those
days even until now, the thoughts and
energies of thousands of scientific and,
practical men all over the civilized world,
have been directed to the improvement
and devslogp~@ep'tt gps!@ IF The apparently mex
hapsstabla powers of this wonderful agent.
In all these multifarious attempts,
however different and varied, one Ct two
points has usually been aimed at, incrsas..
ed simplicity of constructor or greater
economy in the use of steam. n."'
Perhaps the greatest step. which. has been
made Of late years, toward the attainment
of the former of these objects, is in the
construction adopted in what is called the
clicks Engine" now on exhibition at
No. So Liberty Street, in this city. b.
peculiar arrangement Of cylinders and
steampassagcs, the inventor is enabled to
dispense with large part of wEas kayo
heretofore teen usually considered cssepti.
al parts of every direct acting ongine,,
Here is direct acting Ieciprocating
Piston Engine, entirely destitute OF either
valves, valve. rods, eccentrics, rock shafts,
packing boxes, Slides, cross heads, and
even piston-rods. 1t is, so to speak, tho
mere skeleton Of an engine, combprising
essentially nothing but cylinders, pistons.
connecting rods, shaft and crank. Four
:.
single acting, tistons. working in. four
cylinders, arranged in pairs, are connec-
ted to two cranks placed at right angles
on one shaft, The steam, is admitted di.
rcctly into these cylinders. through the,
pistons; by ps p, Of cqSfieusly coptrived
ports and passages in these pistons, cor
responding to similar ports and passages
in the walls of the cylinders, the steam is
admitted into and exhausted from each
one of the cylinders at every revo!u ion
Of the engine, and 50 ingeuiously are, these
ports arranged that each piston having
performed its share in urging for
ward the revolution Of the crank, i'm,
mediately becomes a slide-valve to
govern the inlet and outlet of steam @
its neighbor. At the same time every
piston acts as cutoff to its own cylin-
DER stopping the supply of steam at half
stroke, and allowing it te expand during,
the remainder of the stroke. Thus t viii
DC seen how valves, Yalre-rods, eccentriss,
&c'' are at once dispensed with. Each
piston is at once a piston and q balance
slide.valve, and no other motion is reouir.
ed to determine the proper action Of the
steam than it's own. There are other ad-
vantages attendant on Mr.. Hicks plan.
scarcely less importan. to she practical
engineer or manufacturer than the SIM.
plicity above stated. Each of tho asfour
p'stOns acting in succession Of aiEeren.
points of the revolution Of the shaft, tho
motion Of the shaft ~ gan hardly fail, to be
uniform and continuous during tho en-
tire revolution. even without the aid. Of q
balance wheel. There are no dead points
reqdiribe 70 .lae.oa be overcome by momentum
previously acquired. Again. all the CYL
'nders' l.e.' the ed::plate and the bearings Of
the shaft arc cast in n s;ncI =; -