40 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 







I have deemed it prudent, however, not to publish certain facts conclusive a3 

 to ultimate success, because it would have encouraged many to help me to 

 'improve,' and deprive me, if possible, of the fruits of much labor and expense. 

 The first engine of the caloric ship was removed, notwithstanding its economy, 

 because it proved too cumbrous for the amount of available power it exerted 

 in other words, because the diiferential force of the working and supply 

 piston did not prove in practice to realize what calculation promised losses 

 by leaks, friction, etc., being much greater than reasoning could anticipate. 

 The second engine was applied to remedy this deficiency of power, .by em- 

 ploying compressed air but it was found that the joints of the pipes of the 

 heaters could not be made sufficiently tight to carry more than one third of 

 the intended requisite pressure. Accordingly, this modified engine proved 

 inadequate to give a speed of more than seven miles an hour to the ship. 

 Apart from the imperfections connected with the leaks alluded to, the machine 

 worked to the admiration of all who witnessed its operations. But although 

 air thus escaped through the joints, steam, it was found, could easily be re- 

 tained in the heater pipes, and was, therefore, employed in a surcharged state, 

 in place of air. It was under the agency of surcharged or overheated steam 

 that the machinery operated on the day of the sad accident of sinking the 

 ship. The sudden immersion and cooling of the furnace pipes, etc., unfortu- 

 nately destroyed a vital part of the contrivance, and after fruitless attempts to 

 repair and patch, no alternative was left but to apply ordinary boilers. The 

 engines, however, are now without alteration ; the same as when compressed 

 air was employed. The statement that 'new steam engines,' planned and 

 constructed for the purpose, have been put into the ship, is pure fiction. I 

 promised the owners of the ship, on proposing to remove the original caloric 

 engine, to build the second one in such a manner that if we failed in using 

 air, steam might be resorted to by replacing the air heaters by steam boilers. 



" The stories relative to the ' burning of the bottoms' of the original caloric 

 engine I have deemed it unnecessary to notice, as many practical means, ob- 

 viously, might have been adopted to overcome the difficulty. Numerous have 

 been the suggestions I have received from correspondents in various countries, 

 all proving that I arn not alone in thinking that the ' incurable burning of 

 the bottoms' was, after all, no serious matter. The positive assertion, that I 

 have altogether abandoned the caloric engine, is a base calumny. The sub- 

 ject has been by me unceasingly prosecuted. Experiment has succeeded 

 experiment, and continued exertions have been made to devise and perfect 

 the useful mechanical expedients for rendering the incontrovertible physical 

 laws involved in the principle of this machine subservient in producing a 

 cheap and harmless motor. How far I have succeeded in the final practical 

 solution of the great problem will soon become known, as I am now engaged 

 in building a test engine of considerable magnitude. 



" Let me add that should some unexpected difficulty prevent a full realization 

 of the capabilities of the new system, when the said test-engine shall be put 

 in operation, such an event will by no means stop the prosecution of the mat- 

 ter; nor will any mechanical difficulty whatever cause the writer ever to 

 abandon a plan so eminently based on physical truth, and fraught with such 



