156 



THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



most of the summer months, transporting nearly 

 a hundred passengers at every trip. 



Steam navigation, though less understood on 

 the Continent than with us, is now beginning 

 to make considerable progress. There are 8 

 steam-boats on the Garonne, and several on 

 the Seine. There are two on the Lake of 

 Geneva, and two are about to be established 

 on the Lake Constance, and there are, besides, 

 one or two on the Danube. It is likely, that 

 in the course of a few years such conveyances 

 will be established on all our friths and rivers, 

 and the period is, no doubt, hastening on, when 

 excursions will be taken, in such vehicles, be 

 tween Europe and America. A steam-boat of 

 700 tons burden, and 100 horse power, has sailed 

 regularly, summer and winter, for three or four 

 years, between New-York and New-Orleans, 

 a distance of 2000 miles, in an open sea, ex 

 posed to great storms ; and, by many, she is 

 preferred to the packets, not only for the cer 

 tainty of making shorter voyages, but on ac 

 count of greater safety. In America, steam 

 vessels are fitte d up with every accommodation 

 and elegancy which art can devise ; so as to 

 produce, if possible, as great a variety of en 

 joyment to passengers on sea as on land. Mr. 

 Church, the American consul in France, has 

 invented a paddle, which revolves on the pad 

 dle wheel, by very simple mechanism, which 

 is found to save power. In the United States, 

 a new mode of constructing cabins has been 

 lately introduced, so as to place them beyond 

 the reach of injury from explosions of the boiler. 

 A steam vessel of a large size has lately been 

 fitted up, which is intended to sail between 

 London and Calcutta. 



&quot; Steam vessels have been built in this coun 

 try of from 10 to 500 tons, and from 3 or 4 to 1 10 

 horse power. The length of the City of Edin 

 burgh, on the upper deck, is 143 feet ; and some 

 have lately been constructed of still larger dimen 

 sions. The American steam-boats are larger 

 than ours, and are much more used for the con 

 veyance of merchandise. The Frontinac, which 

 plies on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario, is 

 170 feet long on deck, and 32 feet broad ; and 

 the Chancellor Livingston, which plies on the 

 Hudson, is of the same size. The velocity aimed 

 at is generally 8 or 9 miles an hour. The pro 

 portion is, on an average, about one horse power 

 for every four tons of burden, computed in the 

 usual way. Tne velocity is found to be nearly 

 as the square root of the power, so that an 80 

 horse power engine will produce only twice the 

 velocity of one of 20 horse power. Something 

 depends also on the make and size of the vessel. 

 The &quot; Sovereign,&quot; of 210 tons, and 80 horse 

 power, goes 9| miles an hour in still water ; and 

 the &quot; James Watt,&quot; of 448 tons, and 100 horse 

 power, is stated to go 10 miles. For the paddle- 

 iioards, the rule is, that 3-10ths of a square foot 



of surface should be immersed in the water for 

 each horse power. The paddle wheels varv 

 from 10 to 15 feet in diameter, dip from 12 to 20 

 inches in the water, and have about one foot in 

 breadih for each 10 horse power. Mr. Gladstone 

 affirms, that so much power is wasted in dis 

 placing the water by the stroke of the board, 

 that the velocity of the ship is only about one-half 

 of that of the outer surface of the paddle-wheel. 



&quot; There are two sources of apprehension in 

 steam-boats fire, and the bursting of the boiler. 

 With regard to the latter, when the boiler is of 

 low pressure, it is satisfactorily established that 

 not the smallest danger exists. And in the bes 

 constructed vessels, the danger from fire is com 

 pletely obviated, by separating the furnace from 

 the sides of the vessels by five inches of water.&quot; 



The power of stearn is now rendered subser 

 vient to the breaking of stones for the construc 

 tion of roads. The stones are put into a kind 

 of hopper above, and pushed down with a rake, 

 and the machine is worked by a rotatory motion 

 of one horse power ; and will break a ton of hard 

 pebbles completely, in from six to eight minrtes. 

 A steam machine has also been invented for the 

 dressing of woollen cloth, which does as much work 

 in 50 minutes as two men could do in two days. 

 Mon. Mag. Aug. 1823, p. 71. A steam car 

 riage, for conveying goods and passengers on 

 land, was lately constructing by Mr. Griffiths. 

 Its rate of motion, on common roads, is estimated 

 at five miles an hour, at an average ; about three 

 miles when going up hill, and above seven when 

 running down. But pecuniary embarrassments, 

 or other impediments, have, hitherto, prevented 

 the completion of his design. 



Mr. Perkins has lately made improvements on 

 the steam engine, which promise to carry its 

 powers to a high degree of perfection. The en 

 gine he has lately constructed is calculated to a 

 ten horse power, though the cylinder is no more 

 than two inches in diameter, and 18 inches long, 

 with a stroke of only 12 inches. Although the 

 space occupied by the engine is not more than 

 six feet by eight, yet Mr. P. considers the ap 

 paratus (with the exception of the working cy 

 linder and piston) as perfectly sufficient for a 

 thirty horse engine. When the engine performs 

 full work, it consumes only two bu;-hels of coal 

 in the day. Mr. Perkins has also announced a 

 discovery still more extraordinary, viz. that he 

 has been able &quot; to arrest, the heat, after it has 

 performed its mechanical functions, and actually 

 pump it back to the generator, to unite with a 

 fresh portion of water, and renew its useful la 

 bours.&quot; A particular account of Pe rkins s engine, 

 accompanied with an engraving, is given in the 

 Edin. Philos. Journal, No. 17, for July 1823. 

 The pretensions of Mr. Perkins, however, have 

 not yet been so fully substantiated by experiment 

 as to satisfy the anxious expec .ation of the 



