100 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



on nearly a level plane, at the rate of nineteen miles an hour, or seven 

 miles faster than the greatest speed heretofore attained. This velocity 

 was continued for a mile, when one of the cells cracked entirely open, 

 which caused the acids to intermix, and, as a consequence, the pro- 

 pelling power was partially weakened. Two of the other cells subse- 

 quently met with a similar disaster. The cells were made of light 

 earthenware, for the purpose of the experiment merely, without refer- 

 ence to durability. This part of the apparatus can therefore easily be 

 guarded against mishap. The great point established was, that a loco- 

 motive on the principle of Professor Page can be made to travel nine- 

 teen miles an hour. 



The locomotive of the above experiment weighs ten and a half tons, 

 and has five-feet drivers, with two-feet stroke. In appearance it does 

 not differ much from a passenger car. 



PAGE'S MAGNETIC ENGINE. 



THE following is a mechanical description of the magnetic engine, 

 constructed and exhibited by Prof. Page, the principle of which was 

 explained in the Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, pp. 104-8. 



Prof. Page's engine differs from all others hitherto constructed, both 

 in principle, in arrangement, and in action. He found, in the com- 

 mencement of his experiments, that the magnet required time to re- 

 ceive the magnetism of the coil, and that it also required time, when 

 the circuit was broken, for the magnet to part with its induced mag- 

 netism ; the induced magnetism, or secondary current of the magnet, 

 acted also in the very opposite direction to the one required. To remedy 

 this he came to the conclusion that it was necessary to make the cur- 

 rent of the magnet (the secondary current) act always in the same 

 direction with the object to be moved ; at the same time it was 

 necessary that the magnet should always be magnetic. This was for the 

 purpose of gaining in the element of time, as the magnet could not at 

 once be deprived of its counter-force. He therefore adopted the prin- 

 ciple of hollow electro-magnetic coils. 



The principle, therefore, by which this engine is operated, is electro- 

 magnetic attraction, by the intermittent charging of a series of hollow 

 magnets acting continuously on a piston magnet moving inside of them, 

 in the direct line of motion, whether that line of motion be horizontal, 

 vertical or circular [rotary.] These hollow magnets are formed of coils of 

 copper wire, covered with a non-conducting substance ; about 1500 yards 

 of wire being comprised in each coil. The several coils, when arranged 

 on a frame, form a cylinder made up of sections. The several sections 

 are all connected by a metallic connection, but are so arranged and joined 

 to the cut-off, or slide, that but three magnets (hollow coils) are charged 

 at once, and one coil is being continually cut off behind, and the current 

 continually thrown on to the coil before in the direction in which the 

 piston is moving. The peculiar feature of the engine, then, is to be 

 found in a continual electro-magnetic draught in the secondary current 

 direction of the iron magnet, or piston. AYhen the coils are charged, 

 this piston moves in their centres, touching nothing. To the end of 



