18:t7.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



a9» 



SYDNEY SMITH'S PATENT STEAM INDICATOR, 



At tlie third quarterly meeting of (lie Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers, lield at Birmingham on October 29th., a new steam 

 indicator, patented by Mr. Sydney Smith, was explained to the meet- 

 ing; it consists of a dial six inches in diameter, and the body four 

 inches deep, and in all, about ten inches high, as shown in the an- 

 nexed engraving: — 



The details of the invention were not 

 given, but from what could be gathered 

 there appears to be a tube of cold 

 ■water communicating at one end with 

 a steam syphon, attached in the usual 

 manner to the boiler, and the other end 

 of the tube is attached by a flange to 

 the flange a of the indicator; at this 

 point there is an elastic web of india 

 rubber, which cuts oft' the communica- 

 tion of the cold water in the tube ; 

 on the top of this ehistic web (here is a 

 vertical rod, which, as it rises or falls, 

 acts on a weighted pendulum fastened 

 on to the axis of a pinion, gearing into 

 other wheels that communicate with 

 the hands of the indicator. It will thus 

 be seen that as the steam in the boiler increases in pressure, it presses 

 upon the surface of the cold water in the syphon, and consequently 

 the pressure is transferred through the tube of water to the elastic 

 ■web, and raises the vertical rod, which actuates the gearing of the 

 dial. The only use of the cold water is to keep the india rubber web 

 tool. It does not matter what length the tube may be,— if the indica- 

 tor be screwed on to one of the legs of the syphon, IS inches to 2 feet 

 long, it will be sufficient. 



The apparatus is out of the reach of the engineer, and the value of 

 the invention is enhanced by the accuracy of the indications not being 

 affected by the distance at which the dial plate may be from the 

 boiler. For example, in marine boilers the indicator may be along- 

 side the compass, and be as faultless a guide of the pressure of the 

 steam, as that instrument is of tlie course of the vessel. 



Mr. George Stephenson considered it a most valuable invention, and 

 slated that he had had one put up at his collieries at Tapton :— "It is 

 placed some distance from the boiler, and in another house, and vtorks 

 most beautifully, showing the rise and fall of the steam in the mos^ 

 delicate manner. The indicator is like the face of a clock, with a 

 pointer, making one revolution in measuring from lib. to 1001b. upon 

 the square-inch of the pressure of steam ; it is quite from under the 

 control of the engineer, or any other person, so that its indications 

 may be relied upon, and the construction is so simple that it is 

 scarcely possible for it to get out of order." 



" The Indicator" is adapted alike to high or low-pressure engines. 

 The high-pressure is figured from lib. to 1001b., and the low-pres- 

 sure from lib. to 501b. upon the square inch. 



One of these indicators has been fixed to a boiler at Messrs. Miller 

 and Ravenhill's manufactory. Glass-house-fields, Rateliff ; another in 

 the ^iit steamer ; and one at the Polytechnic Institution. 



LIGHT FROM ELECTUICITY. 



Mr. Staite delivered a lecture at Newcastle oa-Tyne, oa his " AV;o 

 Mode of Lighting by Electricily." 



Mr. Staite having first described his galvanic battery and otlier ap- 

 paratus, which are ou an entirely new principle of his owu maturing, and 

 whicli cannot be well described without diagrams, observed that the pro- 

 duction of light from electricity was not a new thing ;)(•;■ sf. The experi- 

 ment of the cliarcoal points, and the phenomena of the voltaic arc, with 

 powerful batteries, were well known. The dilliciillies hiihcrto experienced 

 tad been — I. The economical production and appiicaiiou of the electric 

 currents. — 2. The discovery of a suitable material for the developm-nt of 

 the light. — 3. The rendering of the light permanent (the greatest difticulty 

 of all). By what means, and to what extent, he had overcome these dith- 

 culties, Mr. Slaite informed his audience. He produced, under a gla.ss 

 receiver, a brilliant light, before which the gas jets of ibe lecture-room 

 turned, not pale, but yellow. " The peculiar characteristics of the electric 

 light (said Mr. Staite) were its purity and volume. Tlie most delicate 

 shades of colour might be delected, while the eye was not distressed by its 

 effects. The same quantity of light, developed by gas, or any other known 

 means, would be absolutely unendurable. That the light was not the re- 

 suit of combustion, strictly speaking, was evident. There couM be no 

 combustion without the presence of oxygen ; and, as the light was developed 



to the best advantage under a closed glass, from which supplies of atmo- 

 spheric air were excluded, it was quite certain that combustion had nothing 

 to do with the matter." The light, iu fact, the lecturer remarked, could 

 be produced as readily in water as out of it He showed its peculiar ap- 

 plicability to coal mining, for it could not explode the foulest atmosphere. 

 He then came to the comparative cost of the electric and other lights. 

 M'ilh a battery consisting of four small cells, a light was developed equal 

 to 3S0 mould candles (sixes), or 300 wax candles, or (i4 cubic feet of the 

 best gas, burnt in the standard burner. This was ellected by a consump- 

 tion of zinc equal to 0-77, or 77-lOOths of a pound, being lit'tle more than 

 -J lb. of zinc per hour. When the light, however, was brought to its 

 maximum, by increasing the distance of the electroids to their limit, the 

 light was increased nearly threefold, whilst the current itself was reduced 

 to about threellfths in quantity. "Tliis curious fact (continued Mr. Staite) 

 I have frequently observed before. So that the light, when developed 

 under the best circumstances consistent with its permanence, was produced 

 by a consumption of a seventh part only of a pound of zinc per hour — and 

 that light equal to 380 tallow candles. Assuming that the zinc so con- 

 sumed was worth one halfpenny, and that the cost of the working solution, 

 deducting the value of the products (sulphate of zinc, &c.), was as much 

 more, we have the following comparative result ;— Electric light, Id. per 

 hour; gas light, equal thereto, Gd. to «d. ; tallow candles, 7s. (id. ; wax, 

 12s. 6d." [But, iu addition to the zinc and solution, an allowance must bfr 

 made for apparatus, skill, labour, &c., as in the manufacture of other lights 

 — gas, wax, tallow, &c.] In conclusion, Mr. .S. observed, " By a careful 

 comparison of all modes of eliecting artiticial illumination, I think I am 

 justified in saying that there is no light so cheap as that evolved by voltaic 

 currents of electricity ; and there is certainly none which exhibits such 

 pure and brilliant results. The absence of all smoke and (lame, and noxious 

 gases — the non-consumptiou of oxygen — the impossibility of its iguiting 

 surroundiug substances — and the simplicity of the apparatus — are powerful 

 recummendations for the adoption of the light in all places where purity, 

 and brilliance, and safety, and economy, are sought for." 



In the course of his address, Mr. Staite truly observed, in reference to 

 the alleged jealousy of coal-owners, gas-makers, &:c., that it was idle to 

 throw obstacles in his way ; if his electric light had superior merit on its 

 side, it would come into use in spite of any local opposition ; if, ou the 

 contrary, iu practical value it was inferior to others, it would fall into 

 olilivion. 



NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



The Building Act. — A committee, nominated by Lord Morpeth, consisting 

 of Mr. Hosking, Mr. Poynter, and iMr. Shaw, the official referees ; Mr. 

 Pownall and Mr. Aitcison, district surveyors; and Mr. Biers and Mr. 

 Piper, builders, has been appointed, for the purpose of considering the 

 objectionable parts of the present act, with a view for amendment in the 

 present session of Parliament. 



Tidal Hiirtwur Board.— CapL Betham, R.N., Capt. Washington, R.N., 

 and Capt. Vetch, R.E., have been appointed to form a " Tidal Harbour and 

 Conservancy Bond," under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, each to re- 

 ceive a salary of £800 per aunum. — How is it there is not a C.E. in the 

 appointment? 



The Nelson Column, Trajalgar Square. — Mr. CareW, the sculptor, has 

 just completed the model of the principal bas-relief, for the compartment of 

 the base facing Whitehall. The group is taken from Southey's " History of 

 the Battle of Trafalgar," were it is stated that Nelsoil, observing " they 

 had done for him at last," ordered new tiller ropes to be rove as the others 

 were destroyed. There are, in all, fifteen figures, above seven feet high, 

 the centre group taking Lord Nelson to the cockpit. 



The School of Design at Somerset House has buen re-modelled. The 

 general direction, hitherto vested in the Board of Trade, has beeu confined 

 to three per.-,ons in that office— Mr. Lefevre, Mr. Porter, and Mr. North- 

 cote. The council of all classes of persons has been supplanted by a 

 council of three, consisting of Mr. Richmond, the painter; Sir R. West- 

 niacott, the sculptor; and Mr. Ambrose Poynter, the architect. Mr. 

 Wilson, the late director, has had assigned to him the superintendence of 

 the provincial schools; and two of the late masters, Messrs. Townshend 

 and Horsley, have beeu appointed professors in the school. There is to 

 be a third professor, but the appointment has not yet been filled up. 



Cape Town ft^s-lKorks. — In consequence of an article which appeared 

 in our Journal some time since, stating that the apparatus for lighting up 

 Cape Towu with gas was then being obtained iu England, a corre- 

 spondent writes us word from the Cape — " It may be gratifying to some 

 of your readers to know that the works have since been erected and in 

 operation now twelvemonths, to the surprise as well as gratification and 

 enlightenment of the inhabitants here, who have most liberally encouraged' 

 the undertaking, the works having now nearly COO lights to supply, with 

 a steady, increasing demand, and which success must be mainly attributed 

 to the ability and persevering energy of tlie engineer, Mr. Alexander 

 Wilson, formerly of the London Imperial Gas-^Vorks, and to whom the 

 greatest credit is due for the manner in which the works have been carried 

 out and conducted, — hut it must not be omitted to mention the able maf- 

 naging director it has lost in the late lamented V. S. Watermeyer, Esq.', 

 through whose instrumentality the company was first formed," 



