50 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



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IMPROVED STEAM - BOILER. 



A patent for an improved steam-boiler has recently been issued to Win. 

 G. Norris, of Philadelphia, the essential feature of which is a closed chamber 

 between the fire-box and tube-sheet, for the purpose not only of preventing: 

 any combustion going on in actual contact with the tubes of the boiler, but 

 also for the purpose of equalizing the heat before it reaches the tubes. 



The advantages claimed for this form of boiler arc : lightness, simplicity, 

 and the economical consumption of anthracite and bituminous coal, without 

 emitting smoke, sparks, or gas ; a greater amount of heating surface than is 

 obtained in a boiler of the ordinary construction; the fire-box, being placed 

 over the axles, may be much longer than usual, to insure sufficient grate sur- 

 face, while the distance from the centre of the backdriver to the centre of 

 the front trunk-wheel remains shorter than in the ordinary locomotive a 

 good arrangement, it is said, for short ctirves. There is no overhanging 

 weight, as the adhesion is all upon the drivers; and, as the centre of gravity 

 is no higher than common, the engine will pull more in consequence, we are 

 informed. In ten-wheel engines the arrangement of the machinery is the 

 same as in those of eight wheels, having a full stroke-pump fastened to the 

 main frame, between front driver and cylinder, while the main rod connects 

 directly to the front driver, thereby dispensing with the superfluous friction 

 of " spade handles " or combination stub-ends. 



FITTS'S AUTOMATIC BOILER - FEEDER. 



The want of a machine which will supply water to boilers, working inde- 

 pendently of any other power, and regulating the supply by the amount 

 evapoi-atcd, has long been felt. It is, moreover, often desirable to use steam 

 for various purposes, without the necessity of running an engine solely as a 

 means of working a pump for supplying the boilers. To attain this result 

 much labor and skill has been expended, but, thus far, with apparently little 

 success, inasmuch as the pump substantially as arranged by Watt is uni- 

 versally in use. 



An arrangement, however, recently put in operation by B. Fitts, of Wor- 

 cester, Mass., merits attention. The principle involved is, to draw water 

 from the well or reservoir, by means of a vacuum produced by the condensa- 

 tion of steam, which water is subsequently forced into the boilers by the 

 pressure of steam on its surface thus dispensing with the pump and all the 

 apparatus necessary to drive it. 



The machine consists simply of two chambers, each holding six or eight 

 gallons, two valves, an apparatus to change the valves, and the pipes neces- 

 sary for connecting the boiler, reservoir, etc. The arrangement is double 

 acting one chamber filling with water while the other is discharging into 

 the boiler. The steam, also, which is used to force the water contained in one 

 chamber into the boiler, is afterwards discharged into the other chamber, 

 and there condenses and heats the water contained in the chamber; the 

 valve is then changed, and the heated water is forced into the boiler. The 

 other chamber, at the same time, being in connection with the water reser- 

 voir, is filled with water, by reason of the vacuum produced by the conden- 

 sation of the steam previously contained in it. There is also an indicator 

 attached, which ingeniously registers the \vhole amount of water supplied. 



