396 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[November, 



have all been alluded to ; as also the variation of land orders in extent 

 and a description of the land, the terms on which the absentees onlv 

 will grant leases of wood lands, and the restrictions imposed as regards 

 cutting wood, and the cultivation of the ground, and the enormous 

 amount of rent charged for the best town sections, have also been 

 stated ; and I will leave it to your readers to say whether the freedom 

 anticipated on emigration is likely to be obtained ; and the statement 

 of the governor of South Australia, as to the number of public houses, 

 I think sufficient to prevent the man of retirement and fine feelings to 

 seek for a home there. Instances are mentioned, from Mr. Jamieson's 

 work, of sellers of rum and bullock drovers realizing large fortunes in 

 almost no time, from preying on the new arrivals. This also shows 

 that there is no association — no sympathy with new comers ; and tint 

 the fight for a living will have to be continued with even greater 

 vigour than in this country; and it must also be considered that in in- 

 dividual gain originated the scheme. 



With respect to the price of manual labour, the emigrant is paid 9s. 

 a week and food, until he finds a master, and the wages given by 

 masters is from 15s. to 21s. a week and keep; and men working by 

 job-work will earn from 7s, to 10?. a day ; and wood-splitters will 

 he enabled to earn on an average '20s. a day, and instances are known 

 of 50s., 00s., and 100s. per day having been made. The cost of fenc- 

 ing seems almost the standard of wages— ten to fifteen yards being a 

 day's work at a cost of Is. &d. to 2s. per yard. 



I would have sent you a list of provisions for emigrants on the 

 voyage, as also a tariff list of purchases made and profit realize. I by 

 the sale on arrival, but your Journal, not being exactly the medium, I 

 forbear doing so. 



As far as my individual opinion goes, I am so prejudiced in favour 

 of the crowded city, and like so well to be on the full tide of civiliza- 

 tion, that I am almost inclined to think, with a quondam friend, who 

 said "he would rather be executed in London, than die a natural 

 death elsewhere." I hope what I have already said will tend to give 

 parties the means of better judging of their probable position on their 

 arrival in the colonies. 



St. Ann't, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. o. T. 



REVIEWS. 



Specification of a Patent granted to P. M. Parsons, of Waterloo 

 Rridge Road, Surrey, for "certain improvements in steam engines and 

 boilers, and in motive machinery connected therewith, Sec." G. Hebert, 

 Cheapside. 



Mr. Parsons has evidently great expectations anil hopes to ascend 

 to the pinnacle of fame by his inventions — of which consummation 

 we have very considerable doubts. If we were to judge of his abili- 

 ties by the extent and number of his improvements, we should rise 

 from the perusal of his pamphlet with a high sense of his merits : 

 but unfortunately, if the wise saw was ever applicable, it is so here — 

 that " what is new is not useful, and what is useful is not new. 



But to show that we are not among those who would condemn all 

 novelties, without enquiry and examination, we will poinl out where 

 Mr. Parsons has encroached on the property of others, and where his 

 own ideas (and they appear to us to be few) are in a practicable point 

 of view untenable and useless. 



Mr. Parson's patent is divided into eleven branches, the first of 

 which contains eleven claims ; the second branch has two ; the third 

 the same; the fourth one; fifth one; sixth five; and the seventh, 

 eight, ninth, tenth, and eleventh, one claim each; in all no less than 

 I/iu nty-seten distinct claims or inventions, so that our readers will 

 perceive we have taken upon ourselves a somewhat laborious office, 

 even if we notice only the most prominent. The first branch applies 

 more particularly to the employment of high steam and locomotive 

 boilers, surface condensers, and double cylinder engines; for marine 

 purposes, of all these suggestions, one only is new, the locomotive 

 boiler; we use the term in its strict sense, and as it is evidently 

 meant to be by the patentee — namely, constructed on the same plan 

 as those employed on railways, and as he has drawn them, Figs. 1 & 2, 

 sheet A. Now, we believe it is generally known, that for three or 

 four years past, boilers on the locomotive plan have been adopted in 

 steam vessels on the river Thames and elsewhere, and although gene- 

 rally, and more appropriately, termed " Tubular Boilers," are in all 

 essentials exactly identical in principle with the railway locomotive 

 boilers; and we have reason to know such are now working under a 

 much higher pressure of steam than the public have any conception; 

 or is a knowledge of the value of expansion new, either in theory or 



practice : and Mr. Parsons will find that we have made much greater 

 progress in the art than he appears to have any knowledge of. 



There can be no doubt, that when the proper time arrives, when by 

 safe and careful experience we can make a further advance in the use 

 of high steam, by an increase in the amount of pressure, that a 

 considerable saving will arise in the consumption of fuel, and a de- 

 crease in the necessary boiler room; theory has told us this for many, 

 many years past; but in these matters, theory awaits upon practice, 

 and the slate of the latter may be judged of from the recent works of 

 some of our most eminent engine makers. 



But is it probable that the railway locomotive boiler, as figured by 

 Mr. Parsons, will be introduced on shipboard? We think not, be- 

 cause their shape is that of least capacity compared with space occu- 

 pied ; and experience has detailed better forms and arrangements, 

 quite capable of bearing as great pressures, and which enables the 

 engineer to occupy to advantage all the space allowed for his ma- 

 chinery. If, therefore, Mr. Parsons does not strictly adhere to his 

 specification in this particular, he will merely follow in the footsteps 

 of Penn, Seaward, and others too numerous to enumerate ; and his in- 

 vention is therefore "useful but not new." 



We could have wished that some scale had been attached to the 

 drawings in the pamphlet, so that we. might have brought to bear 

 upon Mr. Parsons' schemes the test of figures, combined with prac- 

 tical experience of the tequirements of marine machinery; and it 

 appears to us, we could have satisfactorily shown that he is Far behind 

 both in bis theory and practice of such engineering. Dismissing, 

 therefore, the boiler, we pass to the engine, and we have (although 

 disguised by Mr. Parsons' ingenuity), nothing more nor less than 

 Hornblower's scheme, as patented by him in 1781, (see Farey, 

 page 384, and Gregory's Mech. Vol. II., page 385;) or perhaps more 

 strii ily speaking, we should say Woolf's engine, inasmuch as Mr. 

 Parsons proposes to use high pressure steam in his small cylinder, 

 and expand it in his large one ; ' Hornblower, on the contrary, em- 

 ployed low pressure steam. But, Mr. Parsons' complicity is beyond 

 all endurance, valves upon valves, and steam and vacuum pas- 

 sages without end, the former placed in situations where they 

 cannot be conveniently examined, the latter rendering the casting of 

 the part a most difficult and critical proceeding; it further occurs to 

 us, that by the employment of two piston rods, he somewhat en- 

 croaches on Maudslay's patents of 1840 and 1811, (see our Journal of 

 March 1840 and October 1841,) and is in this and in its method of 

 securing the lower end of the connecting rod, an exact infringement 

 upon the designer of the Prince Albert's engines, whose name we 

 forget, but believe to be by birth a Swede ; and between who and the 

 Messrs. Maudsl iys, we bear, a tacit understanding exists, arising from 

 mutuality of invention, or rather adaptation or use, for we cannot 

 dignify such things by the term " invention." 



And what are Mr. Parsons' condensers but surface condensers ? dif- 

 fering only in detail from Cartwright's of 1707, from Mr. Watt's 

 gridiron condenser, and later still from Mr. Hall's; the latter employs 

 pipes, Mr. Parsons corrugated iron plates; disbelieving, as we do, 

 the advantages said to arise from the use of surface condensers, we, 

 however, cannot allow this opportunity to pass without bearing our 

 small tribute of admiration to Mr. Hall, for the ingenious and scientific 

 way in which he has carried out his improvements upon Cartwright's 

 surface condensers; for although it was formed of plain plates, we 

 contend the principle is the same, Mr. Watt introduced pipes, and 

 tried numerous experiments, but failed. We have yet to learn that 

 Mr. Hall is more fortunate; but be that as it may, his arrangement for 

 supplying the loss of distilled water is really beautiful, and upon 

 which Mr. Parsons' is a sad parody and burlesque. 



We have hitherto principally treated of what Mr. Parsons does not 

 claim per se ; but collectively, as an entire machine; let us endeavour 

 to trace out what is his individual merit, and how far he has added to 

 our stock of knowledge. 



The eleven claims in the Jirst branch put us in mind of what is called 

 " ringing the changes," being a species of involution of surface con- 

 densers, high pressure, and double expansion engines. The third claim 

 in this branch, is, we believe perfectly new, whether useful or not re- 

 mains to be proved; we allude to the. double action air pump, with 

 separate valves and offices, the one at bottom to remove the condensed 

 water, that at the top to pump away the air and uncondensed vapour 

 accumulating in the condensers; it is but an experiment, and we have 

 doubts of an advantageous result, particularly when we reflect that 

 the single acting air pump in the common engine produces a vacuum 

 of 27i in. frequently 28 in., the condensed water being at a tempera- 

 ture of 100° or thereabout, which experience shews to be the best for 



1 We do not enter into the question as to the advantage of expanding in 

 one cylinder, as Watt, or in two, as Hornblower. 





