50 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



with openings arranged to allow a portion of the ignited gases to come 

 directly into contact with the boiler surface. These passages arc quite indis- 

 pensable, and form what may be called a heat-regulator. They heat the 

 gases which, arriving in too cold a state, would not be completely burnt 

 did they not come in contact with highly-heated surfaces before being 

 ignited. 



The benefits which M. Bcaufumc proposes to obtain by means of the sys- 

 tem, the principal feature of which we have described, arc a very active and 

 complete combustion, without an excessive supply of air, and always regular, 

 a complete consumption of smoke, and, finally, a very considerable saving 

 of fuel. 



The labor of the firemen attending to the apparatus consists in raising tho 

 fuel to a platform, on a level with the charging passage, and in introducing 

 it through this passage, after ascertaining the height of the fuel inside by- 

 means of a rod. From time to time he must poke up the black coals lying 

 above the incandescent mass, to prevent their arching over, so as to form a 

 hollow ; he must examine how the gases burn in the boiler furnace, regulate 

 the speed of the blowing-fan, and adjust the registers upon the various air 

 and gas pipes ; he must attend to the water supply of the large boiler, and 

 also to that of the gasifier boiler, if the water in the two docs not communi- 

 cate ; and, finally, he must clean the fire bars of the gasifier more or less 

 frcquenty during the day, according to the quality of the fuel employed, 

 English coal requiring this operation twice in the day at mid-day and in 

 the evening. 



The Beaufume' apparatus requires more attention, and gives, perhaps, a 

 little more trouble than an ordinary boiler; still an ordinary fireman is quite 

 capable of attending to it. 



When the boiler and gasifier are cold ; that is, when the fire has been ex- 

 tinguished for more than twelve hours, it requires considerably more time 

 to get up the steam than with the ordinary furnace ; for it is at first necessary 

 to work the furnace of the gasifier like an ordinary furnace to get up steam 

 of the pressure of two atmospheres, and this requires about twenty-five 

 minutes. Before that it is not possible to set the blowing-fan in motion, nor 

 to produce gas capable of being burnt under the large boiler. This is one 

 of the inconveniences, attending the Beaufume' apparatus; but, at the same 

 time, when the fire in the gasifier can be kept in during the intervals between 

 working hours, as M. Bcaufume proposes, this inconvenience does not exist 

 with a boiler working every dav, and in which steam is kcnt up during the 



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night, so that the donkey-engine can be started the first thing on the follow- 

 ing morning ; so that it is only on a Monday morning that fifteen or twenty 

 minutes more is required to get up steam. 



The Beaufume apparatus has also another inconvenience, which is felt 

 every time the fuel is stirred. This operation necessitates the opening of 

 small apertures for the introduction of the poker, permitting large quantities 

 of carbonic oxide to escape, the presence of which in the boiler-house is in- 

 jurious to the fireman, unless the atmosphere is renewed with sufficient 

 rapidity. 



