2 76 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[July, 



ing the engine, the steam out to be strong enough to make the index of the 

 steam guage stand half an inch high at least, otherwise air will enter at the 

 joints of the boiler, &,c., and spoil the vacuum, causing a good deal of trouble 

 to get quit of it again. Therefore if you perceive the steam guage to be lower 

 stop the engine until it rises again. By a little attention, you will find the 

 proper opening of the feed cock for any rate of working. 



65. Let all the coals employed to feed the fire be thoroughly watered just 

 before they are thrown on, as that will prevent their being swept into the 

 flues by the draught of the chimney. — The fire should be kept of an equal 

 thickness, and free from open places or holes, which are e.Ktreraely prejudi- 

 cial, and should be filled up as soon as they appear. If the fire grows foul, 

 and wants air by clinkers collecting in the bars, they must be got out with a 

 poker ; but the fire should be as little disturbed in that operation as possible, 

 and the greatest care taken not to make any coals, or coke, fall through, 

 which are not thoroughly consumed. It is very common for a fourth of the 

 whole coaU to be wasted in this manner, by mere carelessness. When the 

 fire is newly made, the damper should be raised a little, so as to let off the 

 smoke freely, but should be let down to its proper place so soon as the smoke 

 is gone off. The air door, in the chimney, should be always open more or 

 less ; it prevents the flame being sucked up the chimney, and very consider- 

 ably increases the eflTect of the coals. Once a month, the boiler and flues 

 ought to be cleaned ; or oftener, if the water be very subject to encrust the 

 boiler. Every morning the ashes ought to be taken out -, the engine house 

 swept clean ; and a view taken of every part of the engine, to see that nothing 

 be working out of its place, or want oiling. Particular attention ought to be 

 paid to the bolts and cutters of the great chains and piston rod, so that none 

 of them get loose. 



66. Once every week let the top of the cylinder be taken off, and also the 

 springs and leads of the piston ; let the packing be beat down moderately, 

 with the driver and mallet, and fresh oakum, or a gasket added when neces- 

 sary. For every foot the cylinder is in diameter, pour two pounds of melted 

 tallow on the packing, before you put in the leads, and lor two or three 

 hours after you have added the tallow keep the piston from rising quite to 

 the top of the cylinder, by laying two pieces of wood three inches thick on 

 the outside springs, that the tallow may not be spilt off before it has time to 

 soak into the packing. At the same time you pack the piston you should 

 examine the state of the condenser, and rectify anything you can find amiss ; 

 and while these things are doing, the pitwork should not be neglected, that 

 one stoppage may serve for all. 



67. The regulator valves should be examined from time to time, and a little 

 fresh oakum should be lapped about the necks of their spindles, to keep them 

 air and steam tight. The stuffing boxes also should be minded, and no steam 

 suffered to escape anywhere ; its escaping is a mark of slovenliness, and a 

 material injury both in extra consumption of coals and in the destruction of 

 the iron and uood work. — An engine, w hen in good order, ought to be able 

 to go so slow as one stroke in ten minutes, and so fast as ten strokes in one 

 minute ; and if it does not fulfil these conditions, something is amiss thatcan 

 be remedied. The hot water should issue of the heat of 96 degrees of Fahren- 

 heit's thermometer, that is, blood warm, when the engine is in excellent 

 order ; and should never exceed the heat of 110 degrees, unless when the in- 

 jection, or cold water, is hotter than 70 degrees, and in that case the vacuum 

 will not be good. 



68. At the end of the horizontal steam pipe, next the boiler, is fixed the 

 steam regulator, the use of which is to shut off the steam while anything is 

 doing about the top regulator, or other parts connected with it. It may also 

 be used to stop the communication with one boiler while another is in use. 



69. At setting an engine to work the first time it frequently happens, that 

 there is a difficulty in procuring a sufficient quantity of cold water for con- 

 densation. In such case, a great deal of trouble may be saved, by exhausting 

 the air from the cylinder, by working the air pump by that brake, having 

 first opened the exhaustion regulator and shut the steam one. And, in any 

 case, when the engine does not go readily to work by blowing, and the quan- 

 tity of injection water is limited, it is best to set on by pumping, and even to 

 assist the engine for a stroke or two by the same means, if it be fully Kaded. 

 As the bucket of the air pump ascends, you must hook the chain of the pump 

 brake to a lower part of the pump chain, by which means you can keep 

 pumping until the engine has made its full stroke. 



70. To vialcc Putty for mafciiig or repairing the joints. — Take whiting, or 

 chalk, finely powdered, dry it on an iron plate, or in a ladle, until all the 

 moisture is exhaled ; then mix it with raw linseed oil, and beat, or grind it 

 well ; addinq more oil or whiting until it is of the consistence of thick paint 

 and perfectly free from lumps and inequalities. — For some purposes, where 

 the putty is wanted to dry, and to be very sticky, use painter's drying oil ; 

 which is made by boiling the oil with a small quantity of litharge, or red 

 lead.— Where the putty is wanted to continue always soft, mix about two 

 ounces of butter, or common salad oil, with each pint, or pound, of the lin- 

 seed oil. This soft putty is principally useful in the caulked joints of the 

 eduction pipe, above water. N. B. White lead will not answer in lieu of the 

 whiting. 



No wet clothes should be suffered to be hiid on the cylinder, boiler, or 

 steam pipe ; and every part, containing steam, should be guarded, as much 

 as possible, from the influence of cold air and water. 



The proper grease for the piston and cylinder stuffing box is melted tallow ; 

 and for the chains, gudgeons, &c., common .Spanish olive oil, called salad oil, 

 which, for some uses, may be thickened by dissolving tallow or butter in it. 

 Linseed oil should never be used as grease, as it dries and creates more fric- 

 tion than would have been without it.— Hogs' lard, or train oil, if appliedany 

 where about the cylinder, or where it is hot will thicken like linseed oil. 

 When the oil, or grease, about the great chains, or any of the working parts, 

 grows clotted, or very thick, it should be scraped off before any new grease 

 is added. 



Additional Directions. 



Tlie Numbers denote the Paragraphs of the foregoing Directions to ivkich they 



refer. 



6. As the whole weight of the great beam, and also of the power to be 

 exerted, is supported by the plummer blocks, care must be taken that they 

 stand firmly on the spring beams, and that the latter be well supported from 

 the lever wall. To do which, wherever the building is made of bricks, or of 

 indifferent stone work, form the bottom of the opening, under the beam, of 

 three planks of oak, or of the best deal six or eight inches thick and twelve or 

 fuurteen inches wide. These planks must reach at least four feet into the 

 walls at each side of the opening, one of them must be laid in the line of the 

 outside of the wall, another in the line of the inside of the wall, and the third, 

 which shouki be the strongest, in the middle, right under the gudgeon. Upon 

 these planks, at each side of the opening, place three others of the same di- 

 mensions upright ; let their upper ends reach to the upper side of the spring 

 beams, and let the spring beams be let into the uprights, so that only two 

 inches of their thickness shall project beyond the face of the spring beams, 

 and that the remaining four inches of the thickness of the uprights shall form 

 a shoulder under the spring beams, which will support them firmly, under the 

 sides which are next the beam, where it is most necessary ; for were the in- 

 sides of the spring beams, or plummer blocks, to give way to the pressure, 

 and the outsides to be supported, the gudgeon would rest on its points, and 

 by the leverage it would gain thereby it might be broken. The lower ends of 

 these six uprights may have small tenants to fit mortices in their sills, which 

 will prevent tlieir slipping. 



9. The holes through the great beam, for the screw bolts of the martingale 

 tails, should be quite easy fur them, otherwise the screws will be broken, if 

 the lo^;s of the beam come to slide any, upon one another. The keys, to pre- 

 vent the logs from sliding upon one another, are best made of pieces of very 

 dry and hard oak, two inches thick, six or seven inches broad at one end, and 

 four or five inches broad at the other end ; their length being suited to thick- 

 ness of the beam. 



16. In large engines, where the condenser pumps are consequently heavy, 

 it is found proper to make the bottom of the condenser cistern of planks five 

 inches thick. 



18. An improvement has lately been made in tlie covering boiler tops. The 

 setting being built up to nine inches above the flues as usual, a course of 

 horse or cow dung, three inches thick, and well lieaten is applied to the boiler 

 top ; on the outside of that is placed some good lime mortar, about an inch 

 in thickness, to which is applied a course of bricks, flatenwise, with their 

 ends upwards; on the outside of that another course of bricks (also laid in 

 good mortar) in the same position, but so as to break joint with the first 

 course; in which manner the covering is carried on until the whole topis 

 covered, taking care to leave an opening for the man holes. Every flanch 

 may be thus covered, and when well done it effectually makes the top steam 

 tight, and also defends it from cold and rain, so that a boiler house is not 

 necessary. The mortar employed must be such as stands water. 



19. The valve put into the boiler feed pipe, to prevent boiling over, is best 

 fixed in its upper end, so that it may be taken out when any material is 

 wanted to be introduced into the boiler by the steam pipe. The proper valve 

 fur this purpose is of the kind used for the injection and blowing pipe, which 

 must be put into the feed pipe, in an inverted position. 



23. Instead of using painter's drying oil to make the joints with, take good 

 raw, or unboiled linseed oil, put it in an iron pot, place it over a gentle fire, 

 out of doors, but protected from rain, let it be watched as it heats, as it is 

 very liable to boil over ; when it boils, make the fire more moderate, but con- 

 tinue to heat the oil, until upon dropping some of it upon a cold stone, or 

 piece of iron, you find it is, when cold, of the thickness of thick tar or 

 treacle. The pasteboards for the joints are to be soaked in this oil warm, or 

 peunted over with it, and laid in a hot place to suck it up ; and it is also used 

 to make the putty with. 



27. Instead of putting a gland across the bottom of the piston rod, to pre- 

 vent it from dropping, it is better to drill two opposite holes through the cone 

 of the piston, and one inch each into the cone of the rod ; two iron pins put 

 into these holes will eflectually keep the rod in its place. There should be a 

 groove about a quarter of an inch deep, and half an inch nide, cut round the 



