, 1879-06-28

w ee!slu.o ncs- ~ ouo DouAu OF waller one
carefully determined by seyeral eminent ea.
wants, md has been given The name Of thc
,M,mcchantcal ,, equivalent Of heatt.' Tie yaiuo Of
pounda,-,tthat Is TO say, the mechanical energy
fainr !o ehti ot ~ foes, Ss d, Woaia, eifft i
could all BE- converted into the form OF oncrrY
deeree Fabr {wtlcro tbs ceuticrade tl,cr.
'nSss;, mi hszs !; ,,,s omp,Ioyss 2, ,n' sSa;tsot
IN fixing the principle Of our calculations, let l,s
go back to our steam. boiler, nni 10 the coal we
reed Il With It l,as atch cxperImentaIty deter
Mined tllst, It The entire quantity Of heat rtsen
coal could 10 applied without loss To lleatlng
| q one pound Of watcr 900 deg: c.: or what is
the snne thing, differently stated, It would he
pountts Of vatct. Que degree. The possbIe
mechanical dutY Of the Theoretically perfect n
steam-enRine Is found stmps By multiplying
tho quantity which expresses the thermal
presaes the mechanical equivalent Of heat, anil
| ll,e result would bo the true value Ut one
pound 81 coal burned n the boiler In "foot.
pot1nds." Performing tl!s stmnle ari.hmetieal
foot~ponnds; or, 70 nut It n,uru simply, suppose
We convert these fUot-pouuds Into horse. power,
which We can TO BY another simple arithEcttcat
operation sE' Ion Of dividing them BY 1860. aud no
coal, burned In the perfect boiler In ono minute,
would, II wo could npplr It with absoluta
economy TO tie performance III work, exert
force Of no oo0.. J SE horsepower dur.
u'en ono-sixtieth Of 81, Of h.5 rse-,owcr.
With 4 perfect butler, therefore, VII ought to
get 3'', horsepower per hons out Of every pound
or Goa! burned on the grasc-bare. S0'F, let us
I'm hat Sfo 4.t xnu%EA la.
rou viii sar, ptr scienithc mechanics and enEt-
,lecrs hare succeeded In getting Roody per
centagc. out Of this possible figure; anu tic
splc,idid epxiaca, Of massfse construction. tint
admiration ut their smoo,hncss md ensc Of
their Inuycsnents tnl1st b. very noar perfection.
Alas for the vanity Of human txpcetatlunsl In
stead oi getting GO HORSEPOWER out of every
bcst boiler ami engine that hayo eyer been con.
ssructed require txo.and-a.half pounds of coal
70 give out Que horae-poWcr: which means
TINT, In spite Of the yaunte1 progreas
the best engineering taleAt applied to tic
Improvement 0f the slrnm.cngitle, from the
time Ut Jauaea Watt down to CorIits, has nnly
succeedcd tn making It yield duty Of Is per
cont Ut wllat it ought to do, lcavng au enur-
inous margin OF s. per cent ior future Improve
mcnts.
In the foregoing REMARKS have, fear, ,nnd-
vcrscntly hEen unjust to our eiisfnc-buttdcrs,
A&t ll1E ktEu*EF I)DFtlOH u LHl7 Oh cE1t
Of Wa.ted powcr IS ctarecab'u ulreriiJ to tne
stcaIl-boiscr, and but n comparatively EmAlt
proportion thereof to TIN cngEuc. IN consider
Ing the question OF tho duty of stcarrnotors,
lcng'ne and boilcr) as u sngie ,appa-
ratu:. II our hulltr.n,a6crs could do u
we'll as our cnglue bi!ldcrs-the two indus
tries arc quits separate as you may know,-tl,e
showing would bc much 1Iorc faroynble.
It will he instructive, .hlnH, 10 trace out the
causes of the great Hnstc ot power that hnyo
Just pointo'l out, nnd to acc II there arc no
means Of rcmcty!ng them. And 1t ron will fol-
loW me, sfeT Will be very apparent.
The first mud greatest sonrec Of loss resides In
the dllhculty-1 may, think, safely say tho
impossibiltty-7of burning solid iuei cconomtc-
ally In any form OF furnacc that has yet been
devised; aud this prime difficulty is I'LL uuan-
sverablo argument III favor Of the substitution
Of liquid Or gaseous fuel for stcam-;nakng rs
for otilcF purposes. Let us hslayze llio tnattcr:
The buyer ot coal plirchades Ut tho outset at
least 10 to 10 per cenL Of non-conbustihfc and
the form OF ash; While at lea.t s per eent
through the gratc-t'ars. IN the form Of the
dust Or partially bnroed fragments that And
their wav Into the asilp III ,1nntlIzed. II orcn
now. With so much waste Us ilnvo iuat 1nji-
Gated, we confd really turn to useful account
the wholo Vi tho thermal elect ni tho IS per
cent Of the co'uhuatbla that We have left, wo
might we'll lie cunscnt; but such Is far iron,
being tho case. The furnncc Eascs cannot, by
any possible nlodo Of constructing boilers ha
retained long enough in contact With the steaul-
generator to yield up, all 't,clr hea,, and they
arc thrown out from tho chlm,ncy frequently at
Il temperature Of 500 uccs. Fahr.; and. what Is
stlll worse, their combustion Is frequently 80
Imperfect that they curry oil with them out Of
in the form Of smoke; the cold mir with which
the fuel ts fed, and which 1nlht lccotne highly
heated before II will begin to combine with tic
fuel, and which abstraets This heat from the
glowing Goals through which 1t passes, is an-
tcnsitied By tho Necessity Of frequently opep-
ing tho furnoce~loors when large volumes
Of cold a!r rush into The firc.spare; and, lastly,
tho conduction and radiation OF neat.from tho
generator to surrounding obiecra complete thn
category Of losses. Summing 10 MI tho items
Ut loss III the stenm. generator tt Is probable
that with the best forms ot boilers which It has
bett4 poasib1e to construct, not 1norc than Is
per cent Ut tho theoretical thermal effect OF The
fuel Is utilized III the generation Of steam; md
Of this rs per cent froln to 10 pcr cent Is Lost
somewhere OIL the passaEo OF tho straul from
thn boiler TO aud through tug cnFina W eondcn-
satlon tn stcanl.ppne, ansl friction OF the lna.
ch!nery, leaving us but ID or 70 utr ccnt actIal-
]y realized In practice. beg llat you will not
think that have pnrtroscly made tile case ot
iron, doing g, lava actually made out the
most favorable possible showing for 1t by select
tnE for my example the best practco of The beat
lnhknrs.
have mo- hestat!or, In ascrl6ing to the use OF
solid tl,-coal or wood. And tAGu this op-
postunity OF putting tnysclf On record boforo
you, ae have dune for years pcrsIstcnlly in the
fuel In the gaseous form, not only for Industrial
and manufacturing purposes, but als0 In thu
household. Let nc give YOU few thoughts on
this subject,
fus-to leave the question Of its convenience, ut
present, out Of S1g3}t-tcstdG8 itj tho f0ct tint