EXPOSITION", PARIS. 



309 



tated longitudinally, and the air is admitted 

 from below. 



Hoerde of Vienna, Ganz of Buda-Pesth, and 

 other Austro-Hungarian millwrights exhibited 

 various forms of the Austrian type of flour-mill, 

 in which iron rollers are substituted for mill- 

 stones, and which promise to supplant the old- 

 er processes of grinding. The exhibited Aus- 

 trian milling apparatus comprised machines of 

 many forms and for various purposes, and sev- 

 eral recent improvements. A centrifugal dress- 

 ing machine, invented by Martin, can be used in 

 the place of the usual flour cylinders, wheth- 

 er for high, half high, or low grinding, and 

 in one quarter the room turns out more work 

 than they. A cutting and cracking machine, 

 for preliminary grinding or preparing malt 

 or feed, consisted of a metal ring with ribbed 

 segments, which revolved against a fixed ribbed 

 cheek-piece, adjustable to suit the hardness 

 of the grain. A grain- weighing machine, 

 which has been adapted by the Italian Govern- 

 ment, cuts off the grain instantly, as soon as 

 the balance is struck. The rolling-mills had 

 ribbed rollers, the size of the ribs differing in 

 sonle of them along the length, enabling the 

 rollers to separate the different qualities of 

 flour ; some cylinders shown had been in use 

 several years without showing signs of detri- 

 tion ; some of the machines had three and 

 some four cylinders. The finishing was some- 

 times accomplished by smooth rollers, and in 

 some cases by a combination of rollers and 

 trays. A new adjustment on vertical rolling- 

 mills, invented by Mechart, consists of an an- 

 nular bearing-ring of steel, which by moving a 

 hand lever can be made to vary the pressure 

 on the cylinders, while their friction remains 

 the same ; this ring revolves with the spindles 

 of the cylinders, and, on account of the rapid 

 speed at which the cylinders are run, it seems 

 a considerable improvement over the lever and 

 spring arrangement by which they have been 

 regulated hitherto. 



An improvement on the Lamm system of 

 fireless locomotives, by M. L. Francq, was ex- 

 hibited and practically tried on the road be- 

 tween Rueil and Marly-le-Roy, near Paris. 

 This system, invented by Lamm of New Or- 

 leans, consists in storing up the power in su- 

 perheated water under pressure. The Francq 

 engine was in successful operation over the 

 route of 12 miles, part of it having very steep 

 grades, during the exhibition. The reservoir 

 of the engine, containing 2,000 litres of water, 

 was connected with steam pipes and charged 

 until the pressure rose to above 15 atmos- 

 pheres. The consumption of coal was 10 Ibs. 

 per mile run ; the weight of engine and train, 

 loaded, about 18 \ tons. In a trial trip the 

 journey of 4f miles was made in 24 minutes 

 one way and 22 minutes the other, including 

 several stoppages to take up passengers ; there 

 was also a stop of 16 minutes at the terminus, 

 during which the pressure in the boiler did not 

 appreciably diminish ; the pressure of 15 at- 



mospheres was reduced to 3| atmospheres at 

 the end of the trip. Theoretically, water per- 

 fectly inclosed is capable of absorbing heat 

 enough to convert one ninth of its weight into 

 steam; and steam thus produced and stored 

 in the cylinders of an engine possesses a trac- 

 tive power of 1,800 kilogrammetres per litre 

 of water. The Francq engine runs noiselessly ; 

 its machinery is out of sight; the gearing is 

 perfectly under the control of the engineer. 

 The steam is quite dry, and the little that es- 

 capes does so without noise. The steam is 

 allowed to expand before entering the cylin- 

 ders, more or less, according as the train is 

 running level or ascending a grade, or starting. 



A tramway engine, exhibited by the St. 

 Leonard Society of Li6ge, constructed on the 

 Vaessen system, allowed neither smoke nor 

 steam to escape. The steam was divided into 

 three streams, one of which is employed to in- 

 crease the draught, another is carried into the 

 smoke-box and let out through perforations 

 in a circular pipe, in order to beat down sparks, 

 and another is condensed in a coil placed in 

 the water-tank. The engine is 14 feet long 

 and rests on four coupled wheels and two in- 

 dependent wheels with a movable axis. The 

 machinery is all out of sight. 



A combined traction and steam fire-engine, 

 constructed by M. A. Schmid, made its appear- 

 ance at the exhibition late in the summer, hav- 

 ing traveled the whole distance from Zurich to 

 Paris, about 450 miles, over the ordinary roads, 

 some sections of the route having a grade of 1 

 in 7; it made this journey in 8 days, drawing 

 after it a tender containing coal for 40 miles' 

 run and water for 15 miles; the weight of 

 the engine was 6 tons, that of the tender 5 

 tons. The engine runs on three wheels, the 

 single wheel in front, 30 inches in diameter, 

 being steered by a cross-head and lever bars 

 from the foot-plate ; the driving-wheels, of 40 

 inches in diameter, on which nearly the whole 

 weight is thrown, are worked by a toothed 

 gear and endless chain ; the cylinders have 7 

 inches diameter and a 10-inch stroke, the or- 

 dinary pressure of steam 150 Ibs. to the square 

 inch. The highest rate of speed made on the 

 way was 15 miles an hour. The engine can 

 be used as a steam fire-engine, capable of cast- 

 ing a stream of 300 to 400 gallons per minute, 

 under a pressure of 100 Ibs. per square inch ; 

 or it can be employed as a portable steam-en- 

 gine for agricultural or other purposes. Of 

 the peculiar safety-valve with which it was 

 furnished, several other specimens of which 

 were exhibited by M. Schmid, some are with a 

 balance weight and lever, and some with a 

 spring; in the latter the valve is a smooth- 

 faced disk without guides, which is kept in 

 place by a pin fitting into a cavity in the top 

 of the disk; the advantage claimed for these 

 valves is the reduction to a minimum of the 

 coefficient of friction. M. Schmid exhibited 

 also hydraulic pumps, which can also be driven 

 by steam, and can be used for a motor as well ; 



