The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1879-08-08

INC Sseam Engine u the Future.
Supposing . good and cheap SINAI,
engine to be available -an engine tn,
win be strong, simple, safe, light. no;ss
less, and economical in fuel-not onir
would all its industrial applications ~
extended, but 1t would find q new ana
wide sphere Of usefulness In ministerirs
TO domestic wants, one Of the most y ids
ly pervading Of which is the want n I
motive power. In American hotels
steam engines have long been employee
for brushing boots and cleaning knives
They are docile and mex ;.ensive HeIots
of the age, and the domei,ic production
Of the electric light Is . new and import.
ant sphere for their energies. But. be-
sides these functions, . domestic engine
may be employed in roasting meat
driving washing-machines and maneles
driving sewing machines, in brusRipg
hair, in preparing aerated waters. and
in the country for pumping, for saving
wood, and for performing many
other laborious operations. an
steam engine may be made
to cool houses in summer and TO warm
them in winter, to maintain fountains
in conservatories, to work punkas. n
produce ice, and to create and maintain
a vacuum In safes for the preservation
Of meat. For such purposes the engines
must obviously be OF the simplest. mos.
compact, and most inexpensive charac.
ter, and should lie attached to the boil.
or, so that the whole may be lifted in a
piece, like q hall stove. The boiler
should be provided with self-actinc
feed of water, and the fuel should Be
gas, which has only to be lighted 10 en-.
able the engine to be put into oper alton.
Gas companies will find ample compen.
sation for the loss Of their lighting func.
ton in the creation OF new heating
function which will become larger and
moro remunerative than the LIGHTING
has ever been. Instead OF extracting
from the ceal only the illuminating
gases, the whole fuel should be turned
into combustible gas by the aid Of su-
perheated steam. and all the fires Of
houses could be maintained by this
cheap gas burning in jets amid pumice,
which it would keep red-hot. There
would then be neither dust from CRATES
nor smoke from chimneys, and the gas
works would supply the fuel that i
necessary for the generation OF the elec.
trio light. The applicationof the steam.
engine to the propulsion Of carriages,
omnibuses ard cabs Is now only him
dered by Its too heavy weight and too
high cost. Asphalt pavcments, which
are Objectionable for horses, afford for
eam-carrages . surface as eligible for
easy traction as q railway, and without
any countervailing fault. All wheeled
vehicles, whether required to travel alta
high or q low speed, will be propelled
by steam instead OF horses rs soon as
the steam-en9ine is made sufficiently
light and sufficiently cheap to warrant
the substitution. Life boats, instead Of
being open boats propelled by num-
Der Of men, should be decked
boats propelled by . steam engine
and managed by only two men, one to
steer the boat and the other to attend
to the en- gine. Such boats should be
propelled by water-jet which will al
ways oct, whatever may be the rough
ness Of the sea and whether the stern Of
the boat il in or out Of the water. The
use Of the steam engine for irrigation in
connection with the centrifugal pumps
an application of which the sphere Is
limited only by the cost and the deficient
portability of the apparatus. To render
the class Of small engines SO much more
portable, 90 much more simple and 20
much less costly rs to remove the ex-
listing impediments to their use may
certainly be accounted one Of the most
important problems Of the present time,
and ! trust It Is not presumptuous TO
hope that the curiosity hints here given
may accelerate the desired solution
John Broom, in English Paper.