Sir, I have read a great deal in your Magagine about perpetual motion, and have studied this disheartening question many years before your work began. In No. 319. I see there is an account of a perpetual motion invented by one Richard Von Dyke, of America. I do not suppose any one can understand what that ma chine is from such an account; but no doubt it was the best you was able to procure. I verily believe that I invented the same thing a few months ago, but was prevented from putting it to the test of experiment by great troubles in my family. The doctors and the undertakers had taken away all my fiddling money; otherwise, I should have tried the thing before this time. If a few of your Correspondents will favour me with their addresses, will appoint a time and place to have their united opinions on my scheme. But I hope no one will apply to be of the number who does not know something about pneumatics: I do wish that person to be one who wrote on the subject, p. 399, No. 312. 1 remain, Sir, your buinble servant, R. W. FRANKLIN. North-place, Wilsted street, Somers'-town. P.S. When the gentlemen have examined my drawings, I wish some one of them to give your readers an account of it. MISCELLANEOUS. A Capital Filter for Four-pence!-Buy a com mon earthenware funnel, put a small piece of clean sponge at the top of the pipe inside, and over that a handful of fine gravel; then fill it up with water, and, after passing through, it will come out as clear as crystal. Thus you have quite as good a filterer for domestic purposes for four-pence, as can be purchased for as many pounds. Musical Automata. A mechanician, brother to the celebrated Maelzel, of Vienna, has, constructed at Boston a set of musical automata, no less than forty-two in number, which compose a complete orchestra, and execute several of the most difficult pieces of music in the most perfect manner, among others, the Overtures to Don Juan, Giovanni, Iphigenia, and La Vestale. Those which excite the most admiration and wonder are the violin-players, which execute their portion of the music precisely as if they were living performers, viz. by the motion of the fingers, &c. A company of Americans have offered the artist 300,000 dollars for this extraordinary and unrivalled piece of mechanism; but the price demanded is 500,000 dollars, and it seems probable that it will be obtained. King's College. The piles are now driving into the ground for the foundation of the King's College. From the proximity of the building to the bed of the river, and the nature of the soil, this is a work of great labour, and requires infinite care.Sunday Times. News for the Needle-Makers. An Englishman writing from France says, "The needle and pin manufactories around Aix-la-Chapelle are half a century behind England in the qualities of the articles, and a case of real English needles is a most acceptable present to a Belgian lady. -Marning Herald. Discovery of Coal in Van Dieman's LandA very fine vein of coal has been discovered th Van Dieman's Land, upon which a survey has been held, and some experiments tried, in order to determine its fitness for use on board of steamvessels, which, it appears, have been fully satis Factory.-Sunday Times. Preservation of Apples. It is the practice of some persons to pick apples in October, and spread them on the floor of an upper room. The practice is said to render apples more durable by drying them; but I can affirm this to be a mistake. Apples, after remaining as long on the trees as safety from frost will permit, should be taken directly from the trees to close casks, and kept as dry and as cool as possible. If suffered to be on the floor far weeks, they will wither and lose their flavour, without acquiring any additional durability. The best mode of preserving apples for spring use I have found to be the putting them in dry sand, and as soon as picked. For this purpose I dry sand in the heat of the summer, and late in October put down the apples in layers, with a covering of sand upon cách layer. The advantages of this inode of treatment are these: the sand keeps the apple from the air, which is essential to their preservation; the sand checks the evaporation of the apple, thus preserving their full flavour, at the same time any moisture yielded by the apple, and some there will be, is absorbed by the sand, so that the apples are kept dry, and all mustiness is prevented. My pippins in May and in June are as fresh as when first picked; even the ends of the stem look as if just separated from the twig,-Massachusett's Agricuitu'ral Rep. Discovery of Pure Gold.-A beautiful speci men of virgin gold was lately found in a tinstream in Cornwall. It is about the length and thickness of a lady's little finger, though less regularly formed, and weighs about two ounces. Its intrinsic value is equal to nine guineas; but, as a specimen, it is invaluable. New Paper. -The Mexican congress bas passed an act, enjoining the different depart ments of the Mexican government to use no other paper than that which is made from a vegetable grown in Mexico called maguey. Manufactories of paper from this plaut have been established at Queretara and St. Angel; and the paper is said to be equal for all purposes to that made from the finest rags. Literary Gazette. INTERIM NOTICES. In our next we shall give an engraving and description of the steam-engine carriage of Sir Jaines Anderson and Co. Erratum. In the statement given in our last No. (p. 165) of the cost of the fuel per mile expended by "The Novelty," for "one farthing" read" one halfpenny." Mr. D. of Newcastleon-Tyne, who makes this error the ground of a serious charge against us, observes, that it is one which any child who knows arithmetic" might easily detect. We agree that it is so-an error so palpable that no person, man or child, could be misled by it; but we think our Correspondent might have seen in this very circumstance reason enough to infer that it could not possibly bave beeu intentional on our part. It was, in truth, an error of the press entirely; arising from the "one halfpenny" being expressed in the original MS in figures (4), and that rather indistinctly. We have elsewhere, in the same page, stated most explicitly that "The Novelty" worked with only "two-thirds less fuel than any other engine." At a farthing per mile the rate would have been five sixths less. Messrs. Cope and Sherwin's reply to Mr. Hopkinson in our next. Communications received from F. F. O. B., A, Mr. Dowling, P. P., Peter, R. C. jun., Mr. Davy, T. F. R., and A Reader at Liverpool. LONDON: Published for the Proprietor, by M. SALMON, at the Mechanics Magazine Office, No. 115, Fleet Street; where Communications for the Editor (post paid) are re8 quested to be addressed. M. SALMON, Printer, Fleel-street. Mechanics' Magazine, MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE. No. 327.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1829. [Price 3d. PATENT STEAM-CARRIAGE OF SIR JAMES ANDERSON, BART., AND W. H. JAMES, ESQ. 194 PATENT ANDERSON AND JAMES'S STEAM-CARRIAGE. STEAM-CARRIAGE OF SIR JAMES C. ANDERSON, BART., AND W. H. JAMES, ESQ. The leading principles of construction embodied in this steam-carriage formed the subject of different patents granted to Mr. James as far back as 1824 and 1825; but, like other adventurers in this new field of mechanical speculation, Mr. James has found it necessary to alter and modify so extensively his original modes of applying these principles, that his carriage, as we now present it to our readers, is a very different thing from that which figures among the drawings at the Patent-Office. For the engraving on the preceding page, which exhibits this engine in its most improved state, we are indebted to Mr. Hebert, the Editor of the "Register of Arts;" of whose able assistance, as an engineer and draughtsman, the patentees have prudently availed themselves in the more recent stages of their undertaking. The point to which our attention is first naturally called in this, as in other new engines, is the manner of Mr. James's generating the steam. improvement in this respect consists, as his patent of 1825 states, " in forming the boiler by combining a series of annular tubes or ring-formed chambers; which chambers communicate with each other by apertures running through the whole series, in order to allow the water and the steam to flow freely from end to end of the cylindrical vessel, so formed by the combined tubes or chambers; and which vessel has a furnace adapted within it for the purpose of heating the water and the steam contained in the afnular tubes or chambers." That is to say (to speak more plainly), a series of hollow rings or annular tubes (made, we understand, of the best iron, and three-fourths of an inch in diameter), each communicating with the other, are arranged spiral-wise and circularly, so as to form a cylinder of rings; and within this cylinder " a furnace is inserted upon suitable bearings, and capable of sliding in and out, which with its flue occupies the whole interiorof the cylinder." The rings or tubes of an 8-horse* engine, such as that The working cylinders are four in Must not this soon become a most inapplicable term? How can we with any propriety continue talking of the horse-powers of engines, which exhibit performances, that as far transcend the powers of the horse, as the strength of the horse does that of the dog? ANDERSON AND JAMES S STEAM-CARRIAGE. curves or turning corners, &c. These separate engines" turn out, in fact, to be only separate cylinders, one for each wheel. Mr. Hebert says, that since they" act together, or separately, upon cranks at right angles, they may be therefore justly regarded as four complete steam-engines ;" and as if this were so clear that there could be no doubt about it, he afterwards tells us, "the compactness and simplicity to which the steam-engine has been reduced in this carriage is so extraordinary," that he "would undertake to put one in each of his coat-pockets!!!" Now, to call each separate cylinder a separate engine because the cylinders can act together or separately," is just about as proper as it would be to call each leg of a horse a horse, since they also can act together or separately. There are many other things which are as essentially component parts of a steamengine as the cylinder; and unless Mr. Hebert be emulous of the fame of a Munchausen, or a Fernandez da Pinto, when next he talks of putting a whole engine into his pocket, he ought to add all but-the furnace, the flue, the chimney, the boiler, the casings, the pumps, the frame-work, &c. 66 The steam, according to the mode set forth in Mr. James's patent, was to be passed from the boiler through a pipe extending along the perch of the carriage, and thence through lateral pipes to the four working cylinders. Stop-cocks, or slide-valves, were to be introduced at the points of junction between the long steam-pipe and the lateral pipes: by the turning of which cocks it was calculated that a greater or a less supply of steam would be transmitted to their respective cylinders, the pistons would be made to work faster or slower, the wheels would be caused to revolve with different velocities, and the carriage consequently to run in a curved or circuitous direction. "By this contrivance" to use the words of the patentee, "the guiding of the carriage will be effected by the turning of the stop-cocks, as when a greater supply of steam is allowed to pass into one engine than into the other, that engine will necessarily work faster, and drive the wheel connected with it 195 over a greater surface of ground; while the engine at the opposite end of the axletree, being supplied with a diminished quantity of steam through the contracted aperture of the cock, will necessarily move slower, and drive the wheel over a lesser distance of ground." It would seem, however, from the last notice of this steam-carriage by Mr. Hebert ("Register" for November last), that this arrangement for the distribution of the steam has undergone considerable modifications. The four working cylinders are represented as all situated "between the hindwheels;" whence it may be inferred that it has been found sufficient to transfer the action of the pistons to the hind-wheels alone, leaving the fore-wheels to derive their motion from the general impetus given to the carriage. The steam-pipe along the perch and its branch-pipes are of course now dispensed with; but the government by stop-cocks will remain as before. Mr. Hebert describes it as being so efficient, that the carriage can be made to describe " every variety of curve;" he has even seen it repeatedly make turns of less than 10 feet radius." 66 The manner in which the driver, or, more properly speaking, steersman of the carriage, exerts a control over these stop-cocks, is thus described in Mr. James's specification:-" Suppose the axles to stand at right angles to the perch, the carriage would ne cessarily advance in a straight-forward direction; but in order to guide the carriage round a corner or curved part of the road, the director seated in front must turn the vertical shaft (by means of the cross-bar on which he rests his hands), which will cause* the axletree of the fore-wheels to stand at an oblique angle to the perch; wher the stop-cock, communicating between the main steam-pipe and the lateral pipes, will open the aperture wide on one side and contract it on the other, thereby giving an increased power to the engine connected with the outer By means of a toothed sector, in which this shaft terminates, and which sector works into a toothed circular rim under, and connected with the foreaxies afterwards mentioned → Ed. M. M. 196 ANDERSON AND JAMES'S STEAM-CARRIAGE. wheel, so as to make that wheel revolve faster, and a diminished power to the engine connected to the inner wheel, so as to cause that wheel to revolve slower. In order to act in a similar manner upon the hinderwheels, there are rods which extend from a lever upon the square of the hinder stop-cock; and these being attached at their reverse ends to a toothed sector, taking into a toothed circular rim affixed to the fore-axle; whenever that axle stands at an oblique angle to the perch, the aperture of the stop-cocks will admit different quantities of steam into the two lateral pipes; and consequently the two hinderwheels will also revolve with different velocities, and thereby conduct the carriage in a curved track." But this branch of Mr. James's arrangement appears, from our prefixed engraving, to have been also greatly altered. None of the rods which command the stop-cocks, have now apparently any connexion with the fore-axle; and the circular rim and toothed sectors which work into it are placed above the fore-axle immediately under the footboard of the steersman. It is evidently sufficient that each sector should have two of the rods connected with it, one at each extremity of the segment, in order to give the steersman all the command he wants; and we have little doubt this is the plan which is at present adopted. The mode of working will be precisely similar to that which most of our readers must have seen followed in the steering of boats; the horizontal rods which command the stop-cocks in the rear of our steam charioteer, serving the same purpose as the yoke lines in the hands of a coxswain. The four cylinders are placed horizontally between the hind-wheels, and they are stated by Mr. Hebert to occupy a space of only one foot in breadth by two feet in height! The length is not given. The smallness of the dimensions may well be termed "extraordinary." Each cylinder cannot at this rate be more than two inches in diameter! The cylinders in Mr. Gurney's and Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson's engines are six inches in diameter. The steam is worked expansively, and at a pressure of 200lbs.; the pistons are said to perform from 200 to 400 strokes per minute.* The mode in which the action of the pistons is transferred to the wheels is not exhibited in our engraving; but may be gathered from the terms of Mr. James's specification. "The wheels on which the carriage runs," says the patentee, " move loosely upon their axles as usual, but have attached to their naves on the inner side toothed wheels. Similar toothed wheels are affixed to the outer extremities of the crank shafts, which are actuated by the alternation of the piston rods. The teeth of the one set of wheels take into the teeth of the other set; and thus by the revolution of the crank shafts, a rotary motion is given to the wheels in which the carriage runs." When it is required to stop the carriage, this is done by completely shutting off the steam, and closing the exit passages. "For this purpose a rod is placed in front near the seat of the conductor, who, by raising the handle, moves two cranks beneath, which are connected with rods (extending under the carriage) that command the cock which admits the steam from the boiler into the general eduction pipe, and also the cock which allows the steam, after quitting the cylinders, to escape into the chimneys." The great hindrance to the use of tubular boilers, like this of Mr. James's, has hitherto been that the water deposits earthy matter, which adheres to and encrusts the interior of the tubes; Mr. Hebert says, "the speed of the engines varies from 200 to 400 strokes," but he must necessarily mean that the work of the four pistons, taken together, amounts to this. As Mr. Hebert can have no wish to mislead the public so widely on the subject as this statement is calculated to do, it is a pity he should make use of language so capable of misconstruction. who have read that "The Novelty" performed only 140 strokes a minute when going at the rate of 22 miles, would be naturally led to infer that an engine which performs 400 strokes a minute must be one of three times the power. Persons |