96 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



t)ie whole enpiiie is reduced to its minimum, while its simplicity pro - 

 portiuudhlfi ri'dncfs the. chaniex <if (tii-ident." 



Now, VVoolf, to tlie best of our recollection, patented his double- 

 cylinder exiiansive steam-eufrine in IHOl ; and, in conjuiunion with 

 his partner, .Mr. Kilwards, erected one at the saw-niills at Lam- 

 hetli ; afterwards and now in the possession of Mr. Smart, where 

 we s;iw it workiriif in 1*2.5. lie erected one also, we think, at the 

 hrewhouse of Messrs. Meux and Co., where he gave a j)ul)lic chal- 

 lenge to Messrs. Boulton and ^\'att, which excited much attention. 

 Mr. ^\'oolf shortly afterwards went into Cornwall, ami erected 

 some at tlie mines there, the duties of which, by the consumption 

 of each bushel of coal, were so unjjrocedentedly great, that the 

 attention of the mining interests of that county was publicly 

 engrossed by it. Hut more of tins anon. 



Steam-engines, on the double-cylinder expansive principle of 

 AWiolf, were afterwards erected in the neighbourhood of London, 

 by Messrs. I'ullen and W'entwcuth, of Wandsworth; particularly 

 for Hour-mills on the river Wandle. We had occasion in 1830, to 

 make a professional survey of the power and effect of the mills on 

 that stream — both those impelled by steam and those impelled by 

 water. We then saw several of the steam-engines that had been 

 so erected; also others at the engine-yard of Messrs. Pullen and 

 AVeiitworth; also one at a flour-mill at Bermondsey. M^e state 

 these things to show, that although steam-engines on this principle 

 have been long well-known, they have not met with the general 

 recognition and sanction of our best engineers. 



It was the latter part of 1814. that AV'oolf's engine, with the 

 double cylinder, was introduced into Cornwall. The large cylin- 

 der was io inches diameter. It was erected at the mine called 

 '• Wheal Abraham." Its duty, as first reported, in October of that 

 year, was 3 1 million pounds lifted 1 foot high, by the consump- 

 tion of each bushel of coal, weighing 92 lb. It was discovered 

 soon afterwards that there was a defect in some of the castings 

 which being removed, the duty advanced in the following year, to 

 upwards of 52 millions. A second engine, with a 53-inch cylinder, 

 was erected next year by \\'oolf, at Wheal A'ar. Its duty was 

 50 millions. These duties, which were tested and verified, pro- 

 duced much excitement, as well th^y might, amongst the mining 

 interests of Cornwall; for at that time the number of other 

 engines reported at the mines was 35, and the average duty was 

 20| millions. 



In 1S16, Messrs. Jeffree and Gribble erected a new engine 

 icith single cylinder at Dolcoath, 7(i inches diameter. Its duty 

 amounted to K) millions. Sims also erected one at \Vheal Chance, 

 which attained to 45 millions. Woolf, in 1820, erected a single- 

 cylinder engine at the Consolidated Mines, 90 inches diameter 

 and 10 feet stroke; its duty in December of that year reached 3S| 

 millions. At this period, " Woolf's engines with donlde cylinders, 

 owing to the difficulty of keeping thcni perfect, had fallen to the average 

 of the best single-cylinder engines; and after this period began to be 

 disused in the mines."* 



In 1825, Sims erected a single-cylinder engine at Polgooth, which 

 performed 51. millions; in 1827, Captain William Grose erected one 

 at Wheal Towan, the duty of which was 62 millions; and in Octo- 

 ber of that year, Woolf's 90-inch single cylinder, at the Consoli- 

 dated Mines, reached the hitherto unprecedented duty of 67 mil- 

 lions. These duties were shortly afterwards surpassed by Grose's 

 engine, at the Wheal Towan, in 1828, reaching 87 millions; and 

 that of Mr. William A\'est, at the Fowey Consols and Lanescot 

 Mines, attaining to 125 millions, which is the highest amount of 

 duty yet recorded. 



We state these things to show, that although the mining inte- 

 rests of Cornwall gratefully ackmnvle<lged tliemselves indebted 

 to Woolf fin- first i)oiuting out to the engineers of that important 

 district, the advantages of using higli-pressure steam worked very 

 expansively, ami which led them to adopt their present simple and 

 effectual mode of using and expanding the steam in one cyliiuler 

 only; yet they have found it necessary, entirely to supersede his 

 miu-e complicated and costly machines, the double-cylinder engines. 



Thus far examined, therefore, we cannot perceive what advan- 

 tage the .Messrs. Joyce ]iro|iose to themselves by the adoption of 

 the double-cylinder VVoolf-engine. Most engineers, we believe, tho- 

 roughly conversant with the ctuistituencies of steam and the action 

 of the sleam-cngine, are aware that the only advantage Woolf con- 

 ceived lie could gain by using the double-cylinder engine was, that 

 of working the steam expansively. The idea of employing steam 

 expansively, originated with the great James Watt; and for its use 



* "Historiial SttitenieDt ul Uie Imjirovemeiits niiide in the Unty performed by the 

 Steara-Hiigiiit^s in Cornwall." Uy Thooi^s Lean and Brother, Hegistrars and RejjorterB 

 Of the Duty uf ±iteuLU-Ku(jine8. Louduo: Simpkiu and .UarahuU. l9o^. 



or application he obtained letters patent. lie proposed to employ 

 the principle in a siiigli'-cylinder engine; M'otdf in an engine with 

 two cylinders. The timidity of James Watt deterred him from 

 employing steam of very high pressure, or at from +0 to (iO, or to 

 8')lb. on the square inch beymid the atnuisphere. M'oolf, having 

 no fears of the kind, had recourse to it; and as the expansive force 

 of steam, fur practical [lurposes, becomes more tangibly apparent 

 at high degrees of pressure than at low, Woolf derived the advan- 

 tage. In no other respect was any superiority in the AA'oolf- 

 engine made manifest. The shrewd, practical, mining engineers 

 of Cornwall soon discovered this; and, in their practice, abandoned 

 the complicated double-cylinder engine of \\'oolf, for the single 

 cylinder of James Watt. For it may be averred, that the single- 

 cylinder steam-engine now used in Cornwall, although better pro- 

 portioned in some of its parts and larger in dimensions — although 

 the steam employed is of much higher pressure, and more atten- 

 ti<in is paid to the preservation of it by non-conducting substances, 

 — is truly, and unfjuestionably, the simple single-cylinder steam-engine 

 of the great James \V att. 



A\'e therefore repeat, we cannot perceive what advantage the 

 Messrs. Joyce propose to themselves, by adopting a principle which 

 has been tried, and '■'■ fou)id wanting;" in other words, by having 

 recourse to the comple.x apparatus of Woolf, when the simple 

 arrangement by A\'att is found to be equally as efficient. 



It may, perhaps, be urged, that although expanding steam in a 

 single-cylinder engine may answer very v.ell fin- pumping, where 

 the motion at both ends of the stroke is intermittent; yet it will 

 not answer so well in rotatory fly-wheel engines where the motion is 

 continuous, and intended to be equable. But here we must be per- 

 mitted to dissent from any such opinion. The expansive system is 

 now very commonly adopted to rotatory fly-wheel engines by our 

 best engineers; and we ourselves were principally instrumental to 

 its first adaptation to the delicate processes of the cotton marnifac- 

 ture, where some of the spindles make from seven to eight thou- 

 saiul revolutions in a minute, and where the least variation of 

 speed would produce a very perceptibly injurious effect, if the 

 expansive system can be used under such circumstances, surely it 

 may he sinnlarly employed to a flour-mill, which does not need 

 such precise equability of motitui, and where the stones that grind 

 the flour do not revolve generally at a greater speed than from 

 120 to 1-10 revolutions per minute ? We repeat, therefore, we can- 

 not perceive what ad\'anlage the Messrs. Joyce propose to them- 

 selves by adopting a complex apparatus instead of the simple one. 



In the same paper it is stated, that the Messrs. Joyce derive 

 much important advantage by the adoytion of vibrating or oscillating 

 cylinders, which require no beam, and by which the power is com- 

 municated direct from the steam-piston to the crank. 



This also was a discovery of the great James M'att, who took 

 out a patent for its application. For some cause or other, it 

 remained dormant a great many years. In or about the year 1828, 

 the princi])le was carried into successful practical ojieration by that 

 highly eminent firm, .Ale»srs. Maudslay, Son, and Field, in conse- 

 quence of Mr. Josejdi .Maudslay having invented, and taken out 

 letters jiatent for, a method of applying the long D slide to the 

 vibrating cylinder. This was the first application uf the oscillating 

 cylinder to the steamboat, which has since become so general in 

 boats intended for river navigation. We were present at the first 

 experimental trip, having been invited by that able engineer and 

 splendid mechanician, the late Ileiu-y Maudshi}', Esq. There were 

 present, besides the late Mr. ^Maudslay and his son, the inventor, 

 Mr. Jtishua Field, Mr. Bryan Donkin, the late Sir Isambert Marc 

 Brunei, and others, whose names confer weight, honour, and dig- 

 nity to the profession. The experimental trip was from Loiulon to 

 Uiclmuind, and back again. It took jdace at a time when there 

 was a hetivy flood of water in the Thames. The boat was of light 

 draft, the engines were powerful, and it answered admirably well. 



Tliat the oscillating priucijile is well adapted to boats of light 

 dral't, there cttnnot, we think, be a difference of opinion. But we 

 nuist be pardoned, if we doubt its equal applicability to stationary 

 purposes. At any rate, we cannot perceive hoiv it is that so great 

 an advantage has been t>btained by the adoption of this principle of 

 constrtiction, added to that of the double cylinder of Woolf, as is 

 now stated to be; ami by which it is athrmed, that the quantity of 

 coal consumed for each horse pov.er per hour, is less than three 

 pounds. 



We cannot give credence to this statement; nor can we believe 

 that it has been given to the public with the sanction of so respect- 

 able a firm as the Messrs. Joyce. We cannot percei\e in what 

 respect these engines can consume less coal, per horse power, than 

 other kinds of engines, with beams or without beams, equally well 



