THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



101 



1842.] 



superintendence, in conjunction with Mr. James Walker Mr Miles, 

 in the twelfth paper, gives an elaborate account of Hud.iart s rope 

 machinery used in Deptford dock-yard, whose patent has now expired. 

 It is accompanied with seventeen beautiful engravinRS by Le Keux. 

 drawn with great accuracy, and exhibiting all the details To persons 

 who feel an interest in this subject, we recmnmeml this article for 

 perusal. The next paper is on the theory and practice of sinking Ar- 

 tesian wells, including one at the model prison. Caledoman Koad, Isling- 

 ton which is the deepest vet sunk in the chalk of the London basin 

 and shows the abundance of water to be obtained from that stratum. 



It will be seen, from the list of papers which we have given, and 

 from the extent of illustration, how much the editor has ex.-rted him- 

 self for the improvement of his work. We hope liercaftcr to make 

 some extracts from this work, to which we have not now space to do 

 justice. 



Remarks on EnglM Churches, c,i Ihecrixdiaw,, ofrtndani^ Sepiilchral 

 Memorials subserritnt to piou» and Chri»tian mu. My J. n. M.mik- 

 LAXD, F.R.S. & S.A. Oxford : Parker, IS IJ. 



Mr M\RKI.v\d'= book is rather addressed to the public than to 

 architects; but it will render essential service, by directing men^s 

 views to the many considerations connected with ecclesiastical archi- 

 tecture To preserve the works of our ancestors from decay, and to 

 protect them from the injuries inflicted by barbarism— to add our share 

 to the accumulated architectural wealth of ages-are obligations 

 which cannot be too generally enforced, and which are wU urged by 

 our author. His work is one of a numerous class which we see issuing 

 from the Oxford press, betokening the increased interest of the clergy 

 in ecclesiastical architecture, a feature which we are glad to recog- 

 nize, as the clergy have mainly assisted in the decline ol that art, and 

 are the parties who can most efficaciously co-operate in its restoration. 



The Year Book of FacU in Science and ^rl. By tlie Editor of " TU 

 Arcana of Science." London : Tilt and liogue, lS-12. 



The numerous facts contained in this yearly volume artbrd a com- 

 plete index to what has bsen done during the past year in the arts and 

 sciences ; it is a book full of useful information collected from several 

 periodicals, and shows the industry of the editor in stringing together 

 so much valuable matter. 



Telegraphic Railmays, or the Single Way recommended by Safely and 

 Economy. By WiLLiAM FotheugillCooke, EsQ. London: Simpkiu 

 Marshall, and Co., 1S42. 



Mr. Cooke, the co-patentee of Professor Whcatstone in the electric 

 telegraph, has written this small volume to illustrate its working, and 

 to show the economical advantage which may be derived from its em- 

 ployment. The author shows clearly that in the majority of cases, the 

 application of this apparatus will enable companies to work a single 

 line with safety, and so to avoid the great and heavy expense of double 

 ways, so unsuitable for a restricted traffic. This is done with impar- 

 tial'! ty, although an inventor is speaking of his darling project. Mr. 

 Cooke has made out a very strong case, which we think highly calls 

 for the enquiry of the railway proprietor and engineer. 



Illiulrations of Ihc jlrchilicturc of Nicholas Coldman. By H. AuSTE.v, 

 Architect, Liverpool. London: Green, lisll. 



Mb. Austen's re-publication of Goldman's work is too expensive 

 for students, and the illustrations badly executed ; nor is the small 

 quantity of letter-press carefully edited. 



ON INCREASING THE EV.\P<^RAT1VE IKJWER OF 



BOILER .S. 



Sir— Perceiving in your last Journal a review of mv suggestions 

 for increasing the evaporative power of boilers, and also for preventing 

 the nuisance from smoke, in which the writer has indulged more in 

 wit than argument, I beg, while passing over the former, to reply to 

 that portion of his review which bears on the above important subject, 

 and, at the same time, is more in harmony with the scientific nature of 

 your useful work. The reviewer has indulged in much personal 

 matter, and even personal abuse ; but as I have not leisure to comment 

 on such, and am persuaded you would object to have your valuable 

 columns so occupied, I will conline myself to the scientific and prac- 

 tical, leaving the figurative and redundant matter to the neglect which 

 is perhaps its best reward. 



After a long quotation from the Mechanic's Magazine, (No. .laU.) 

 givi"" the substance of a conimuiiicition made by me to a highly 

 intellectual and practical auditory at the Polytechnic Society of this 

 town, in which 1 explained a mode of increasing the evaporative 

 power of boilers, bv the Iraiismissiuu of heat, longitudinally, through 

 metallic bodies, (and the whole of which quotation I assert to be sub- 

 stantially correct,) the reviewer observes, "Well: if this be not 

 carrying' absurdity to an imperial pitch, we do not know what is. 

 Now- .Sir, I can only say that this "imperial absurdity" has yet to be 

 pointed out; for as'sure'dly none of my auditory were able to detect it, 

 during their examination of the experimental boilers then in action 

 before them, and after an interesting discussion to which it led. I 

 may also observe, that after 1 had concluded, Mr. Uewrance, the en- 

 gineer of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, stated to the meet- 

 ing that he had inserted 105 such conductor pins into one of the 

 company's stationary engine boilers, and that it was attended with so 

 decided an effect, that the boiler now produced an abundance of steam, 

 although previously its supply was very deficient. 



Yet what is this "absurdity." of which the reviewer speaks? 

 Neither more nor less than the practical application of the well-known 

 theory of " conduction," which mav be found in every work ofj*"- 

 thorit'y, treating on heat, and its transmission through met.d?. The 

 application of this heat-conducting power of metals, of which I avail 

 mvself, is by introducing metallic pins projecting a given length into 

 the flues of boilers, and by which a greater quantity of heat will be 

 conducted to the water than would be due to the area which the pins 

 displaced. On this head, the reviewer quotes the words 1 used, vu. 

 "The half-inch circular portion of the flue-plate which such pin hM 

 displaced, is thus made to possess the faculty of transroilling as much 

 heat as is nceind and abxorbtd by nine half inches superficial" (the 

 pin being half an inch in diameter and three inches long). Now this 

 statement, 1 repeat, is strictly true, in defiance of the reviewer's charge 

 of "absurdity." The reviewer, however, putting his own erroneous 

 interpretation on these words, raises an imaginary superstructure, 

 which he attacks with genuine Quixotic ardor, and equally guixotic 

 effect, for he adds, "by which we understand that the pin hL\s the 

 effect of transmitting to the water nine times as much heat as the half- 

 inch disc it displaces." Now this is a mere gratuitous misunderstand- 

 ing of a very plain position. I did not give any miasiire or quantity 

 ' of heat, so transmitted; 1 merely said, "as much heat as is rectictd 

 and absorbed;" for on this very distinction depends the whole ques- 

 tion, inasmuch as it is an ever-varying quantity, and influenced hy 

 numerous physical and accidental circumstances, such as, the length 

 and thickness of the pin— the nature of the recipient— the part of the 

 plate in which it is inserted- the quantity of soot or other non-con- 

 ducting matter with which the flue may be lined— the strength of thf> 

 <lraught or current through the flues— and the temperature of such 

 current. . , 



Nowhere, however, will he find me committing the practical error, 

 which he puts into my mouth, of measu'ing the quantity of heat trans- 

 ferred, bv reference to the mere surface area ot the pin, spike, bar, 

 or plate.' Indeed, had the reviewer cxamino.l impartially nnd quoted 

 fairly, he would have found in the very report from which he quotes, 

 (see' Mechanic's Mag., No. 9,. I,) that such is the reverse of wli,.t 1 

 inferred; for I there stated that three-inch pins were practically the 

 best, repudiating the idea of increase of surface being commensurate 



with increase of heat. ,. , . i. . 



Whether the area of the disc of the plate duplacod will transmit 

 heat in proportion to the surface of the conductor pin, «ill depend 

 much on lis leiigth and other cirrumst inces. 1 am prepared, however, 

 to prove that a pin half an inch in diameter and three inches long, 

 inserted into the side of a flue plate, will absolute y convey more heat 

 than nine half inches of the plate Kiirfaee, although I do Dot iis»ert the 



