90 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



minutes; hut an examination of the following computations will demon- 

 strate its actual performance. A strip of land, 240 yards long and 20 feet wide, 

 was ploughed in four minutes; and the head-lands of 50 feet were crossed, 

 one in 27 seconds, the other in 30 the ploughs being elevated and lowered 

 to and from the ground in the time. 



Sixth : No steam-engine in existence should be intrusted to inexperienced 

 persons. 



This one is as simple as any we have ever examined, is strong and sub- 

 stantial. It is a locomotive high-pressure engine in construction, arranged 

 for reversing at will, and was repeatedly advanced and reversed a few inches 

 at a time with perfect ease, and in a few seconds. The skill requisite to man- 

 age the machine should be acquired in a month by any intelligent American 

 farmer, and your Committee, in view of the certainty of the employment of 

 steam for farming purposes, would strongly recommend that the farmers of 

 Illinois should give special attention, in the education of their sons, to the 

 principles of mechanics and the practical management of steam-engines. 



Seventh : The fuel furnished by the Society to your Committee was of such 

 inferior quality as to hardly enable us to demonstrate fully the steam-gen- 

 erating capability of the boiler; but, by referring to the amount of its fire- 

 surface (375 squai-e feet), it will be seen, by practical men, that, with the ad- 

 vantage of an exhaust to create artificial draught, it is fully competent, with 

 ordinary fuel, to generate continuously abundant steam for its work. 



In weight of coal and wood on board, and of passengers, it carried, 

 throughout the experiments, as much as would represent the weight of an 

 entire day's supply of fuel. It would carry water for a three hours' run. 



Eighth : As a stationary engine, her power was tested at Power Hall, where, 

 after jacking up her rear end so that the main drum turned clear of the 

 ground, by applying the power direct to the drum or roller, 120 revolutions 

 of it were obtained per minute. By passing the belt of a fifty-foot line of 

 shafting over the drum, the engine propelled one eight-horse thrasher, one 

 corn and cob mill at work at the rate of 25 bushels per hour, two small iron 

 corn-mills grinding; six bushels each per hour, one wood-moulding machine, 

 one resawing circular saw of two feet in diameter, and a smut-machine of 

 high speed; all simultaneously, and with only 10 Ibs. of steam. From expe- 

 rience with circular saws, we estimate it as capable of running two of the 

 largest size at one time. It is perfectly competent to go into the timber, haul 

 logs where the ordinary log-wagons would be employed, and in one hour be 

 jacked up and furnish power to saw those of large size. 



Ninth : The fire-box being within fourteen inches of the ground, the ma- 

 chine would run without injury through water twelve inches deep; it was 

 run by us over ground where, by hand pressure, a lath was forced downward 

 fifteen inches, and on examination we were of the impression that the actnal 

 compaction of the surface by the machine was not more than one inch. 

 Horses crossing this slough sank to their fetlocks ; but, as with the engine, 

 the actual surface pressing upon the ground is at all times six square feet, the 

 ability to sustain weight is much greater than with the wagon and team, 

 where the weight rests on narrow bases. The four wagon wheels present a 

 surface width of seven inches in all, but the engine, with its drum and guid- 

 ing wheels, a surface of 102 inches. The weight of the engine is ten tons, 

 that of a wagon-load of grain one and a half tons, or something more than 

 one-sixth as much ; but the engine with a drum six feet in diameter, and guide- 

 wheels three and a half feet in diameter, gives a much greater proportional 



