MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 27 



duced by the stroke of the piston back and forth. The invention consists 

 in connecting the piston-rod and crank of an engine by means of a system of 

 todies and connecting-rods, applied and arranged in a peculiar manner, 

 whereby the above objects are accomplished, and an engine possessing 

 superior qualities for driving the screw-propeller is obtained. 



ERICSSON'S CALORIC ENGINE. 



The applicability of Ericsson's caloric engines for all but a very few of the 

 thousand uses for which power is required, has within the past few years 

 been sufficiently demonstrated, and the introduction and use of them is no 

 longer a matter of experiment. More than five hundred of these engines 

 varying in dimensions of cylinder from 6 to 32 inches are now in suc- 

 cessful operation in different parts of the country. Many of these are 

 employed as domestic motors in pumping water. A large number, chiefly 

 18-inch c} r linders, are performing a similar office at railway stations. Mr. 

 Tibbard, the General Superintendent of the New York Central Railroad, 

 after having had five of these engines in use at water-stations for several 

 months, reports officially, over his signature as superintendent, that they 

 perform an " incredible" amount of labor " for the small quantity of fuel 

 consumed." One of them, at the Jordan station, he says, performs the labor 

 of four men, at an expense of T 9 6 - of one cent per hour; and one at the 

 Siivana station does the labor of five men, at a cost of eleven cents per day, 

 making a saving of over $120 per month. " We have decided," he says, 

 " to use the engines at all stations where we are compelled to supply locomo- 

 tives by pumping." An engine of the same size at the Newmarket station, 

 on the New Jersey Central Railroad, raises thirty-three thousand gallons of 

 water at the cost of less than nine cents a day, or fifty-three cents for six 

 days, as appears from the certificate of Mr. Overtoil, road-master. 



For driving printing-presses, the caloric engine has been found equally 

 useful. Fifteen daily newspapers in the United States are now printed by 

 it, and we need not add that a daily paper calls for a motor that is economi- 

 cal, efficient, and in all respects reliable. The engines thus employed are of 

 18-inch and 24-inch cylinders. 



Engines of 24-inch and 32-inch cylinders are used in raising grain at rail- 

 way stations, and merchandise in large stores; in pulverizing quartz, split- 

 ting leather, propelling sewing-machines, pulping and hulling coffee, ginning 

 cotton, and crushing sugar-cane. 



The 24-inch engine has also been successfully applied for ships' uses, in 

 pumping, loading, and discharging cargoes, warping ship, handling the 

 anchor, and for many other purposes now calling for manual labor. 



Many engines have been sent to Cuba, where they have been successfully 

 applied to various uses. And within a recent period an order has been 

 issued by the governor forbidding the erection of any other kind of engines 

 in the city of Havana, or in any town on the island. 



It is found that, with every increase of dimension, the power of the engine 

 is more than proportionately increased ; and while the engine has been from 

 time to time enlarged from 6 to 8, 12, 18, 24, and 32-inch cylinder with com- 

 plete practical success, there is no reason to believe that the 48 or 60-inch 

 cylinder will express the limit of available and economical power. It is 

 sufficient to say that this limit is not yet ascertained, and that actual results 

 indicate that it has not been approximated. 



