OBSERTER AND RECORD 



OP AGRICULTURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. 



EDITED BY D. PEIRCE. 



No. 7,] 



Philadelphia, Monday, April 8, 1839. 



[Vol. I. 



The object of this paper is to concentrate and preserve, in a form suitable for future 

 reference, the most useful and interesting articles on the aforesaid subjects. Each 

 number will contain sixteen octavo pages, j)rinted on good paper, and when a suffi- 

 cient amount is published to form a volume of convenient size, an alphabetical table 

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 'I'his number, shows the general plan of the work. 



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Subscriptions received at T. fl. Cliapman''i> Bookstore, 45 Cherry st. — and by If . J. IJ'elding, 27 South Fifth st. 



NEW INVENTED STEAM ENGINE. 



At the British Alkali Works, Stoke- 

 Prior near Broomsgrove, a steam engine 

 has been invented by a laboring mechanic, 

 and is daily in full operation, which will 

 certainly supercede every other now in 

 use, and that, too, in a very short period 

 of time; as the simplicity of its construc- 

 tion, the smallness of its size, and the al- 

 most nothingness of its cost, will neces- 

 sarily bring it speedily into notice among 

 all persons whose business may require 

 the aid of so useful an auxiliary. Its 

 size is not more than twice that of a 

 man's hat, and the expense of a five horse 

 power, will not exceed in cost, half a score 

 of pounds. Its form is cylindrical, being 

 about eighteen inches in diameter, and 

 twenty-two deep. The steam is admitted 

 through a hole in a hollow circular belt, 

 (attached to a wall,) upon w'hich it re- 

 volves, and works it by a diagonal action, 

 against an upright piston, being forced out 

 by pressure of a diagonal plate, which 

 divides the interior into two portions. 

 The rotary action is beautifully managed 

 by means of a perfectly spherical steam- 

 tight joint, at the end of a fixed inclined 

 arm, towards which joint the upper and 

 lower surfaces of the interior part of the 

 cylinder are made to slope, after the form 

 of an hour glass. Upon these, the diagonal 

 plate performs its revolutions; such move- 

 ment being permitted through an opening, 

 (from the circumference to the centre,) 

 equal in width to the thickness of the be- 

 fore mentioned piston ; up and down the 

 Vol. I.-r. 



sides of which it continually works. To 

 the ceiitre of the bottom of the cylinder, 

 is fixed a shaft, having attached to it a 

 wheel which communicates the motion 

 that may be required ; and this is all the 

 machinery of which it consists! 



When, therefore, we consider the sav- 

 ing of weight, of metal, size and expense, 

 which will necessarily be gained by its 

 adoption, and look at the incalculable ad- 

 vantages which such desiderata afford to 

 steam navigation, our scientific friends 

 will not consider us too bold in asserting 

 that this invention will speedily revolu- 

 tionize the whole system in this depart- 

 ment in mechanics. — Patents have been 

 procured from every European govern- 

 ment, and from the American; no secret 

 is made at the works, in shewing it to the 

 public, either in action, or in separate 

 pieces, and in a model which is kept for 

 the purpose — Mining 'Journal. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND 

 SAVING FUEL IN MANUFACTURES. 



These consist in the employment of 

 air highly heated, to assist in generating 

 steam in boilers, and in the process of 

 evaporation in manufactures. The air is 

 heated by being carried through iron 

 boxes, or troughs, placed in the current 

 of the flame behind the bridge of the 

 furnace. The current of air through 

 the trough effectuall}'^ protects the metal 

 from being injured, even in fires so fierce 

 as to vitrify brick, and speedily to melt 

 cast iron in juxtaposition with the trougli. 



