CALORIC ENGINE. 



CAMBOOB. 



fint intent Wing dated 18S3. The boldness of his theory, in reference 

 to the powen Moribed to his caloric engine, attracted mucli .itt.-nti..n a 

 few yer ago; for it wont to the length of asserting that li..i .iir,lu-n 

 brought into contact with an extensive (urface <? iron wire gauze, is 

 deprived of iU beat ; that thin brat may be the next moment iuiinrted 

 to an incoming current of cold air ; that thnw ilu)Jicate processes may 

 take place over and orer again ; that fuel will be required only for the 

 Jim action, with a little surplus for radiation ; anil that thui an engine 

 might be worked continuously with scarcely any continuous ex]>cndi- 

 ture for coal Captain Kricwon Menu to have modified hit views at 

 different time* ; but in 1854 he undoubtedly believed that tke tanu 

 portion of heat can be made to produce mechanical power over and 

 over again. In a lecture at Boston (U.S.) in that year, by an advocate 

 of Ericsson's views, the lecturer said : " The object of Ericsson's caloric 

 engine is the production of mechanical power by the agency of heat, at 

 an expenditure of fuel so exceedingly small that man will have an 

 lihn"** unlimited mechanical force at his command, in regions whero 

 fuel may now be said hardly to exist The announcement of such on 

 idea may startle all those acquainted with the nature of heat, and the 

 well-known limit* to the amount of mechanical power which any given 

 quantity of caloric is capable of producing. ..... Ericsson's theory 



of heat is altogether in opposition to the received notion that the 

 fir****" 8 ** 1 force produced will bear a direct known proportion to the 

 quantity of caloric generated. ..... The basis of the caloric engine is 



that of returning the beat, at each stroke of the piston, and using it 

 over and over again. ..... This result Captain Ericsson has accom- 



plished by means of an apparatus which he styles a regenerator ; and 

 so perfectly does it operate, that the heat employed in first setting 

 the engine in motion continues to sustain it in full working force, with 

 no other renewal or addition than may be requisite to supply the 

 inconsiderable loss by radiation." 



Civil engineers in England and America have not been slow to pre- 

 dict the inevitable failure of any mechanism based on this theory. 

 Professor Ewbank, in the 'Journal of the Franklin Institute,' has 

 treated the Ericsson theory of heat as essentially unsound, in relation 

 to mechanical appliances. Leaving untouched the acknowledged inge- 

 nuity displayed in the mechanism of the caloric engine, and avoiding 

 equally the question of the absolute mechanical equivalent of a given 

 amount of heat, he confines himself to an inquiry into the reproductive 

 powers claimed for the new apparatus. After adverting to the fallacies 

 of perpetual motion, and the defeat of the hopes of all who in this way 

 have sought to create power out of nothing, he adds : " There ore 

 those who discard as absurd all attempts to gain power by wheel*, 

 spring*, and levers, and yet imagine they can get it by fluids, without 

 giving anything like the usual price for it ; and so specious have these 

 plans appeared, that both experienced and inexperienced men have 

 been led astray." Speaking of Ericsson's invention, the professor 

 remark* : " The principle on which his invention rests is, the repeated 

 use of the some caloric. In this engine, as in the steam-engine, heat is 

 the animating principle ; and in using over and over the same heat, he 

 virtually uses over and over the same power. He claims to have suc- 

 ceeded in seizing upwards of 90 per cent, of heat expended in raising a 

 loaded piston, and in returning and compelling it to do the same work 

 over again. The regenerator, though on ingenious device, is not what 

 iU name implies. It is at best but an economuer of heat, in the same 

 sense and after the same manner as contrivances by which the waste 

 team of engines impart heat to cold water." 



It would not be practicable to describe Captain Ericsson's caloric 

 engine (or rather engines ; for he has invented many, differing con- 

 siderably one from another) in detail, without an absorption of greater 

 space than the subject would justify ; but an outline of the experi- 

 ments made public may Iw given in a few words. 



In the summer of 1852, two of Ericsson's caloric engines were at 

 work in a factory at New York ; and as newspaper paragraphs fiv- 

 qii-iitly appeared, presenting most favourable accounU of te working 

 >f these engines, arrangements were planned for building a ship of 

 1000 tons burden, to be propelled by hot air instead of by steam. It 

 was anticipated that the Atlantic might be crossed by such a ship in 

 fifteen days, and at a vastly cheaper rate than by the mi^rl. but 

 Canard steamers, thereby more than com|>ensating for the quicker 

 pMge of the Utter. The ship was 250 feet long, and had paddlc- 

 wheds 32 feet in diameter. On ite first trial trip, in the early ju.t ,,f 



153, the ship made twelve knots an hour with the wind, anil .um, ,, ,1 

 "helm well ; she used only six tons of fuel per day, and was pron< 

 o be a beautiful ship, even bTMnsJtn ,,( her caloric. Such, at least, 

 the account given by the inventor and proprietors ; but it was 

 '*mrfced at the time, that disinterested persons were not afforded the 

 mean* of verifying this report. On the second trial, the maximum 

 speed attained wan nine knot* -obtained, as asserted, at a cost only one- 

 xth of that of steam. After this, unfavourable circumstances one by 

 one came to light; and the ship, named the ' Ericsson,' in honour of 

 the inventor, failed to establish the validity of the principle involved. 

 need by the result* c.f further experiment* made in 1854, the 

 htigoble inventor took out another patent in 1855, for certain 

 in the apparatus. In this new caloric engine, the heated air, 

 fanning it* duty by raising the puton in tl,,. working 

 ' *^ * drouUt throuh a vessel con 



j drouUt through a vessel containing a series of 



tabee; and the current of heated air, in passing through this vessel or 



regenerator, is met by a current of cold air, circulating iu an opposite 

 direction through the series of tubes in iU way to the working cylin.l.-r. 

 Thus there is cold air within the tubes and hot air without ; an in- 

 terchange takes place, or rather on equalisation, by a transference of 

 caloric from one to the other. The current of cold air, on its way to 

 the working cylinder^after having thus been partially heated by the 

 transference of caloric, is made to pass through a series of tubes or 

 vessels exposed to the fire of a furnace. The action of the engine 

 itself is what is called " differential," the motive energy depend i- 

 the difference of areas in the working and supply cylinders. The 

 heater and regenerator are supplied with fresh compressed atmonj.li. i i> 

 air at each stroke of the engine. In the year now under u..n,-,. 

 (1855), the old caloric engine woo taken out of the ' Ericsson,' and 

 steam-engines substituted. Captain Ericsson would not admit, how- 



ever, that this was on evidence of failure in his plans; he asserted 

 the soundness of the principle, and the economy in fuel. The first 

 engine made, was, be said, too cumbrous for the available amount 

 of power in the ship, and the losses by leakage and friction u. ., 

 greater than had been anticipated. A second was mode; but the 

 joints of the pipes of the heaters were not good, and could not bear a 

 greater pressure than such as would produce a speed of seven knots an 

 hour. Surcharged or overheated steam was used, because the hot air 

 escaped ; and then occurred a dislocation of the whole machinery by an 

 explosion. This accident led to the substitution of steam-boilers ; but 

 even then Ericsson would not admit that the priiuiple of his caloric 

 engine was proved to be unsound ; seeing that the accident had arisen 

 from mechanical defects, and that the change consisted only in the use 

 of steam-boilers instead of air-heaters. 



So far as concents the principle put forth by Captain Ericsson, the 

 results hitherto obtained justify the objections token to it by engineers. 

 Nevertheless, the peculiar action of the regenerator has been mm h 

 admiral ; and if this apparatus were designated an ecoiwmurr, instead 

 of a regenerator, its prospective usefulness might be recognised. It in 

 still believed by many engineers, that there ore certain condition* imd. r 

 which hot air would be preferable to steam as a motive power. Mr. 

 Hawkins, at the Liverpool meeting of the British Association in 1854, 

 offered reasons for thinking that the maximum theoretical efficiency of 

 air-engines, consistently with safety, is higher than that of steam- 

 engines. So far OB concerns Ericsson's caloric engines, some of small 

 power, applicable to factory operations, ore admitted to indicate an 

 economy of fuel. 



CALORIMETER. [HEAT.] 



CALOTYPE. [PHOTOGRAPHY.] 



CALOYER (KoAoytpaj), the name given to the Greek monks, from 

 kalog and geras, meaning comely, venerable old age. They are mostly 

 of the order of St. Basiliu*, and inhabit convents, the princijial of 

 which are on Mount Athos. They are bound to celibacy, which is not 

 the case with the secular clergy or papas of the Greek church. The 

 Caloyers abstain from meat, and observe six Lents in the year, besides 

 other fasts, at which times they abstain also from butter, eggs, and 

 fish, and live only upon bread, vegetables, salt, and water. There are 

 also convents of female Caloyers. 



CALTROP, commonly called Chausse-trape or Crow's-foot, a piece 

 of iron formed with four points, each about three inches long, whirh 

 are so disposed, that, when the piece is thrown on the ground, one of 

 them stands always upwards,. In warfare crow's-feet are BometinuM 

 scattered about in order to impede the march of cavalry, especially in 

 fords, Ac. 



CALUMET, the name given by the North American Indians to a 

 pipe for smoking tobacco. In Harris's ' Voyages,' vol. ii., p. !II18, the 

 following description of this pipe is given : " The calumet or pipe of 

 peace is a large tobacco pipe, with a bowl of polished marble, and a 

 stem two feet and a half long, made of strong reed, adorned with 

 feathers and locks of women's hair. When it is used in treat i> 

 embassies, the Indians fill the calumet with the best tobacco, and 

 presenting it to those with whom they have concluded any great affair, 

 smoke out of it after them." To refuse the calumet is a si^n of 

 hostility. It is offered to strangers as a mark of ho>|iitalii\ 

 Hiuokv the calumet of peace literally signifies, in the langu;i.->> of t!,,- 

 N-iili American Indians, "to be on terms of friendship and alliance." 



CALVINISM. II'M.MN, JOHN, in Bioo. Div.] 



CALX. [CALCIMATIOK.] 



CAMALDOl.KNSKS, CAM Al.DoI.ITKS, a religious order f,.un.].,l 

 by St. Romualdo, at tin 1 U-giiming of the llth century. The order 

 was a reform of that of thr !' n. .li. tine*, whose constitution!! St. 

 Romualdo retained, with some modifications of additional strictness, 

 one of which is the silence enjoined to members of the community. 

 Tho dress of the Camaldolites is white, and they wear their beards 

 long. The first establishment of the order wax in the high A|>eniiincH, 

 above the Casentino, or valley of the Upper Arno. The order of 

 Camaldolites, like other branches of the Benedictine order, has pro- 

 duced many learned men. 



CAMBOUE. Though this gum-ream was made known in Europe 

 by Clusius in 1605, the tree which yields it is not accurately ascer- 

 tained. All writers agree in referring it to the tribe of the Guttifenc, 

 .ml authorise* point to Stalagmites Cambogioides (Murray), 

 which according to Wight anil Arnott is a species of Garcinia (probably 

 synonymous with Uarcinia cochinchennis (Chois.), the Oxycarpus 



