ON PADDLE WHEELS. 163 



The experiments, of which the details are given in Table IV., page 55, having been made 

 with small models, it is impossible to place any confidence in the results, or of course in 

 any conclusions drawn from them. 



In the second paragraph, page 7l> we presume that the word "engine" has been used 

 for "paddle wheels;" for the engine itself cannot act as a fly wheel, since its momentum 

 is destroyed at the end of every stroke ; but the paddle wheels are allowed by the motion 

 of the vessel to act as such, as they retain their momentum as long as the engines continue 

 in action. 



In comparing a steam ship of war, such as the ' Medea,' with others, whose destination is 

 either to carry goods or passengers, it should be remembered that the latter are susceptible of 

 much greater capabilities for speed than the former for the reasons assigned by Lieutenant 

 Baldock, page 81. Besides this, the power of the ' Berenice' being greater, and her tonnage 

 less, than that of the ' Medea,' it would not be at all surprising if the speed of the former 

 were greater than that of the latter, as it appears in page 74 ; but experience shows ' Medea's' 

 mean speed to be much more than 7'8 knots ; indeed, from Lieutenant Baldock's Memoir, 

 her mean speed in all weathers, principally with adverse winds, seems to have been about 9 

 knots an hour. Her rate of steaming with 320 tons of coal, and war equipment 50 tons 

 more, most probably also water and provisions for 120 men for 4 months, on board, in a calm 

 is (page 85) 8| knots, and with one-third the quantity of fuel, 10 knots. 



We have now investigated the action of the principal kinds of paddle wheels which have 

 been seriously expected to supersede the common wheel, and we find Morgan's wheel to 

 excel the others in all points except simplicity, in which, of course, it must cede to all 

 those with fixed floats, but it is not more complicated than is absolutely necessary to produce 

 the desired effect ; for what can be more simple for a feathering float than the float itself 

 suspended on a spindle in the circumference of the wheel, with an arm or lever fixed to it, 

 and a simple link connecting the extremity of the lever with an excentric centre, which has 

 merely a ring or collar revolving on it in order to receive the extremities of all the connecting 

 links, or guide rods, one of which is connected immediately to the excentric centre itself, 

 being fixed in the revolving collar. We are fully justified in this opinion both by theory 

 and experience, and we sincerely hope, as well for the benefit of the public as for that of the 

 patentee, to whose talent and perseverance are due the great improvements which have been 

 made in the construction of the wheel since the date of the patent, that the eyes of the public 

 will at length be opened to the advantages which Steam Navigation will receive (and has 

 received as far as experience has gone) from the increased safety, economy, and comfort attending 

 the use of Morgan's wheels. 



Some persons have been deterred from using Morgan's wheels on account of the prime 

 cost being so much greater than that of the common wheels ; but that argument, when 

 examined into, falls to the ground, the difference in the cost of the engines, which with 

 Morgan's wheels may be considerably less than with the common wheels, being an ample 

 compensation for the difference in the cost of the wheels ; besides which, the constant economy 

 of fuel and the increased stowage are advantages not to be despised. 



