870 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



which I have made several quotations, concludes with the follow- 

 ino parao-raphs, which I consider appropriate to this paper: 



"The Harrison Boiler has met with more favor at the hands of 

 the public than could have been expected, considering the novelty 

 of its material and form, and the prejudice that so naturally 

 attaches to any effort aiming at an almost entire overthrow of a 

 long established system. Its peculiarities invite criticism, and it 

 would not appear strange if even many of those best acquainted 

 with the subject generally, should pass this by with little atten- 

 tion, thinking at a glance, that it was so much out of the beaten 

 track, as to seem utterly impracticable." 



" Nothing in connection with the use of steam has been so much 

 discussed, as the manner of making the apparatus for its genera- 

 tion, and to have called out, for a century past, such an army of 

 thinkers on a subject having in the abstract but a few simple ele- 

 ments, there must have been, and no doubt still is, some inherent 

 defect in the plans heretofore and now used. The field is evi- 

 dently not yet exhausted, if we consider that in the United States 

 alone, forty nine patents were issued in 1865, and fifty-eight in 

 1866, for steam-boiler improvements; the lowest number being 

 nearly double that of any preceding year." 



" If, in these pages, I have added to the stock of information 

 tending to make the use of steam less dangerous to life and prop- 

 erty, I have attained something. If I have been instrumental in 

 producing a steam-boiler that will take its place permanently, as 

 a means of rendering steam generating apparatus more safe from 

 destructive explosion, I shall have attained something more. If 

 in my effort to improve a much used and much abused object, 

 manifestly demanding improvement, I have only succeeded in 

 proving a fallac}^ I shall still have my reward." 



Bridge Building. 



The discussion on this subject was opened by Mr. Alfred P. 

 Boiler, who described, with the aid of diagrams, a plan of a pro- 

 posed railway viaduct across Cattaraugus creek, in this State. In 

 height this bridge would exceed jthe spire of Trinity Church by at 

 least twenty feet, being 300 feet high. 



Mr. Dudley Blanchard gave an interesting dissertation on bridge 

 building, which cannot be understood without diagrams. He 

 proved himself well acquainted with the subject, and made some 

 practical suggestions of value to bridge builders. 



After which, the association adjourned. 



