New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-12-03
"Science in the SOuth.''

Under this head fellow citizen con
tributes the following interesting paper to
the ST. Louis Globe:
May / REQUEST of you the privilege of cor
| recting lew inaccuracies in the report
made IN your paper of my remarks in the
| ST. Louis Academy of Sciences lest Monday
| evening! In the paragraph, Science in the
South my remarks, as reported do not
| convey the facts as l intended to present
| them. and as think they were understood
| by the Academy. DR.. Emile Lamm, citi-
| Zen of New Orleans, and a Fellow OF the
! New Orleans Academy of Sciences, while
experimenting with ammonia as a motive
| power, somewhat accidently discovered
| that water, heated under pressure, retained
! its caloric for length of time much greater
| than had been previously supposed, and
! that by proper conditions OF insulation this
| retention could be utilized so as, for many
purposes. to snpersede the use OF ammonia
| car gas as motor. He had successfully
brought the latter into use as tra tor of
street cars by liquifying it under p essure,
and allowing it to expand in passing
| through the cylinder OF his engine, ex-
panded in the proportion of enc thousand
volumes OF gas to one of liquifed ammonia,
| and lnstantaneOusly taking advantage of
the affinity OF this gas for water by allow
ing it to be absorbed in a vessel of that
liquid receiving the discharge. This was
an acknowledged success, and achieved his
purpose as facile motor for street cars.
Bat, being chemist, he knew that water
stood at the head Of the series of materials,
either fluid or gaseous, for its capacity for
caloric. Upon reflection, it occurred to him
that if he held water as liquid, by strong
pressure, while he subjected it 70 great heat;
1t would. upon every lessening OF the pres
sure, flash into steam, to just the extent
allowed by the diminished pressure, and,
therefore, with proper insulation to retard
radiation, he could give to the world a much
more economical motor for all classes of
vehicles, under conditions allowing of a
reasonably frequent resupply, than could
be done by his cherished ammonia discov-
cry, or by any other agency known to
science.
The apparatus of this thermo-specifc mo-
tor now in use consists of a strong local
boiler capable for sustaining a pressure of
200 pounds to the square inch, or something
like this, conveniently located either at an
extremity OF a railway of moderate length,
or in the middle of longer one, for charg-
ing the reservoirs or tanks OF the small
trucks that draw the cars. Upon the same
truck there is placed small engine, making
the whole something like miniature loco.
motive. but with this important difference,
that there is no furnace, with its accompa-
nments of fire, smoke, etc.
These tanks are partially, generally three
fOurths, filled with water, which is then
charged with steam from the local boiler to
tue extent of about $50 to l75 pounds press
ure to the square inch aud temperature of
about 5000 Fahrenheit. This charging is
done with such facility that in practice now
it is found that one and one-halt minutes is
sufficient for its completion, while the
"tractOr,' or dummy, or ''fireless locomo-
tive as it is variously called by the several
companies now using 1t in our cities, is in
active and constant use. The steam enters
tube lying along the bottom Of the hori-
zontal tank. which tube is perforated
throughout its length by small toramira
equal at least in their aggregate area to
that Of the tube. By this arrangement the
steam is ditfused in the quickest possible
time to all parts OF the volume
of water. and almost immediate
ly elevates its temperature to 360o
Fahrenheit. But as not much room has been
allowed tor the conversion of the water
into steam, the great bulk of it remains a
fluid. Just as ammonia would be under
similar pressure at the usual temperature
of the external atmosphere. But, having
availed OF the capacity of water for calOric
under these conditions, you have stored up
in itself the agent that Will expand it into
steam jnst IS You, by the action of your
engine, give it permission, i. e., relief from
pressure, to do so. SO long as the tempera-
ture remains about 2l2o Fahrenheit. upon
opening the throttle valve it will generate
steam with promptitude and power CORE
spending with the temperature. This steam,
of course, enters the cylinders and is
worked through the valves precisely as if
it had been generated in an ordinary fire
locomotive.
The New Orleans freless dummies are
comparatively small machines, but sutfi-
clent to draw one or two of the ordinary
sized passenger cars loaded. They usually
have the local boiler charged to about I25
pounds to the square inch. and return from
a six mile circuit with about sixty pound
pressure. sometimes more. They sometimes
charge up to I75 pounds.
AmmoniacaI gas, liquifed by pressure,
can be kept for any length OF time at the
ordinary atmospheric temperatures, in the
apparatus constituting DR.. Lamn's am
monla propeller, as was proved by the long
detention of one of the cars thus equipped,
lasting some six or seven weeks, during an
overflow in New Orleans On opening the
throttle valve the liberated gas instantly
putting the engine and the car
in motion as if no interruption had oc-
Cured. Valuable as this discovery is for
Ion ger routes, it can not compare with the
facility for street cars, canal barges, and
any species of vehicles where a great num-
Der can be supplied from one boiler. 1t is,
therefore. successful as il really was, laid
aside and held in abeyance for the present.
Now, Messrs Editors, you will pardon
me if some laudable pride in the science OF
the South has impelled me to ask this op-
portunity to correct the report of my re-
marks. As have ne interest in these dis |
coveries, but do retain my admiration for !
my fellow academician, the discoverer, who |
so unfortunately met his death by accident |
a few months ago. and as | know you prefer |
to be correct in scientific expositions in your
paper, | the more freely submit it to your
In justice to the gentleman reporting my |
remarks, | may say that my Scotch accent |
probably misled him 20 understand me as |
saying | would ''open the boiler" when l |
'eally said, instead of "boiler,' the throttle |
valve" Very respectfully, JOHN ROY.
Touched at Key West,
A dispatch to the New York Tribune