THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



9 . 



For *he American lloo .loiirnnl. 



Essentials of the Coming Steam- 

 Engine. 



WM. MUTII-KASMUSSEN. 



I have felt a lively interest in the 

 impn)^•emeIlt of steam-engines ever 

 since I liave handled them, which I 

 hesmi about i!0 years ago. There are 

 many natmal laws, that have an im- 

 portant bearing on steam-engine con- 

 struction, but" inventors are apt to 

 give xuidne prominence to one or 

 more points, which are made much of, 

 to the neglect of others which are, 

 perliaps, of equal or even greater im- 

 portance. Nearly all who have writ- 

 ten on "thecomiiig engine," "a stand- 

 ard engine," etc., seem to take it for 

 granted that some one of the engines 

 or boilers now in common nse should 

 be adopted as such. T think that ad- 

 vanced engineers in the latter part of 

 the IHtli century should do tietter than 

 that ; and look for an engine con- 

 structed on a new and scientific plan, 

 and a new system of manipulation 

 and management, that by its adapta- 

 tion to the natural properties of steam 

 and the requirements of engineers, 

 shall commend itself to enlightened 

 minds, and not need the formal en- 

 dorsement of conventions and socie- 

 ties. Those who do not appreciate 

 applied science will, of course, be free 

 to use steam on Watt's, Corliss, or 

 any other plan they may choose. Of 

 the improvements of tlie past, sliding 

 valves nmst be retained, but of an 

 entirely different construction from 

 those liow in common use ; and should 

 be jlxtd. and reversible as well as 

 movable. Steam-power has become a 

 staple necessity, and its production 

 must be provided for. 



Self-oilers are so convenient and 

 popular, that the best possible system 

 of using them should be adopted; 

 and l)eof a sufficient number of dif- 

 ferent sizes to meet the requirements 

 of all— for home use and market— 

 which should be of such proportion- 

 ate dimensions as to be usable on the 

 same engine without change or altera- 

 tion of engines. ' 



The exhaust-steam is too valuable 

 to be neglected, and intermixed with 

 cold water, to be re-injected into the 

 boiler, is too useful to be rejected 

 until something better is provided. 



Cushions or packing of wool, hair, 

 wood or other non-conductors of heat, 

 or confined air, may be used to econo- 

 mize fuel in cold seasons and climates, 

 and occupy space on top and on all 

 sides of tiie boiler, fre(iuently used 

 for surplus storage of dust and all 

 kinds of trash, except when the in- 

 spector comes round, or gained by 

 reducing the pressure of steam to cor- 

 respond to the diminished amount of 

 work to be done at certain times of 

 the year. 



I will here summarize some of the 

 essential points as follows : It must 

 be perfectly adapted to either high or 

 low pressure, at all seasons and in all 

 climates. To secure this the boiler 

 must be deep and capable of any re- 

 quired amount of contraction or ex- 

 pansion, on all sides alike, by making 

 it of India-rubber or some similar 



material. It must supply abundant 

 room for surplus-steam as closely as 

 possible to the cylinder, with free 

 continuous passages. It must be 

 eciually adapted to a vertical or hori- 

 zontal" position, using either position 

 as may be reipiired, without change 

 or alteration of parts. It must be 

 easy to manipulate for all purposes, 

 with the least possible danger of hurt- 

 ing the engineer or making him mad. 

 Itmust he of simple construction, re- 

 jecting all unnecessary parts and com- 

 plications, such as throttle-valve, pis- 

 ton-rod, cross-head, governor, crank, 

 balance-wheel, etc. There are several 

 minor points that I will not stop to 

 enumerate, but all are in harmony 

 with the above. 



I am looking for the " coming 

 steam engine," and shall continue to 

 do so until it appears. To show that 

 looking with me is not idle watcliing 

 and waiting to see what otliers are 

 doing, I may be allowed to state that 

 I have at several times devised, con- 

 structed and tested steam-engines 

 that embodied my best ideas at the 

 time, and now have engines in use, 

 that seeem to be right intlieplan, and 

 only require to be perfected in details, 

 so that any blind, deaf and dumb 

 idiot can run a steam-engine the first 

 time he lays his hand on it. 



By comparing the above with the 

 article " Essentials of the Coming 

 Hive," on page .57.5 of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, it will be seen that the writer 

 and I agree perfectly in the desired 

 requirements of our "coming hobby 

 liorses." 



Independence, Cal., Nov. 22, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Correct Use ot Apicultural Terms. 



WM. F. CLAKIvE. 



It was a good beginning in a needed 

 line of improvement that was made by 

 the editorial of Bee Journal, No. 

 48, entitled " Call Things by Their 

 Right Names." Critics and reform- 

 ers, however, become shining marks, 

 and are very apt to have the proverb 

 " Physician heal thyself " shot at 

 them. The editor of the Bee Journal 

 is one of tlie most genial of mortals, 

 always bubbling over with good- 

 nature, so I am certain he will take 

 no offence at the tables being turned 

 upon himself a little — which is the 

 object of the present article. 



The vocabulary or encyclopEedia of 

 bee-keeping words and phrases, is for 

 the most part excellent, but is, I 

 think blemished by a few inaccura- 

 cies, which it will be well to correct 

 in a future edition. For I do not 

 doubt that this beginning will some 

 day grow to a size and importance 

 that will justify its publication in the 

 form of a pamyihlet or hand-book. 

 Let every bee-keeper think the matter 

 over, and should any addition or cor- 

 rection suggest itself, it will be well 

 to '■ make a note on't," and forward 

 it to the .Journal. Thus, in time, we 

 may hope to have a complete and cor- 

 rect nomenclature of bee-keeping. 



I subjoin a few criticisms whicli 

 have occurred to my mind in conning 



over the article now under notice. 

 " Apiarist. — An expert bee-keeper." 

 Is not " exnert " redundant and in- 

 correct V Would not " A bee-keeper " , 

 be an all-sutlicient definition or syno- 

 nym for "apiarist?" If apiarist 

 means " an expert bee-keeper, ' tlien 

 it will be hardly modest for any one 

 but such as Ijangstroth, Jones, Hed- 

 don, Doolittle, Root, Dadant, etc., to 

 say " I am an apiarist." May not an 

 apiarist be either inexpert or expert ? 

 I will say here tliat I like bee-keeper, 

 better than apiarist, though the latter 

 term sometimes comes handy to avoid 

 repetition. Of two words meaning 

 the same, commend me to the simpler 

 one. 



" Apiary. — A place where bees are 

 kept." Now is that so V Is not an 

 apiary the whole establishment, bees, 

 hives, extractor, smoker, veil, etc. 

 " Place " is rather the spot or locality 

 where all this is rathered. It may be 

 a lawn, grove, Duilding or as with 

 Bro. Mutli, the roof of a store. But 

 I think apiary is, strictly speaking, 

 the entire institution over which the 

 " apiari.st " presides. 



" Bee Moth.— A miller which preys 

 upon the combs." I am not enough 

 of an entomologist to know if " mil- 

 ler " is a scientifically correct word. 

 I know it is a common one, but " in- 

 sect " would be a more exact defini- 

 tion in this case. 



"Cluster of Bees.— A festoon of 

 bees clinging to one another." It ap- 

 pears to me that there is a diiference 

 between a " cluster " and a " fes- 

 toon." A cluster is a close, compact 

 body. A festoon is open and in ring- 

 form, usually oval rather than circu- 

 lar. A festoon is a cluster, I suppose, 

 but is a cluster necessarily a festoon ? 

 I think not. " A number of bees 

 clinging to one another," would be, 

 to my mind, a more accurate defini- 

 tion. 



"House — Apiary. — A building hav- 

 ing double-walls, in which to keep 

 several colonies of bees." Must such 

 a building necessarily have double 

 walls ? 



" Manipulation.— The handling of 

 bees." Manipulation is operating 

 with the hands. This word by itself 

 is not suggestive of bees at all. Hand- 

 ling a shovel, or a horse is manipula- 

 tion. "Bee-manipulation " is hand- 

 ling bees, and it is better to say so in 

 plain terms, instead of lugging in a 

 word of five syllables which without 

 an accompanying adjective or other 

 explanatory "terms has no special 

 reference to bees. 



A similar criticism applies to the 

 word "robbing" which does not by 

 itself express the idea of robljery by 

 bees. There has been a great deal of 

 robbing done round apiaries by thieves 

 destitute of wings, and not in a fair 

 way to get any, however sweetly they 

 may sing, " I "want to be an angel." 



" Spring Dwindling. — Decimation 

 of a colony of iiees in spring." Deci- 

 mation is literally the destruction of 

 a tenth part, butunfortunately spring 

 dwindling does not stop at this. De- 

 crease or diminution would be a bet- 

 ter word. 



Is " pollen " always " the farina of 

 flowers V" In spring, it is frequently 



