488 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



had taken off all their " cut-offs," and that they were saving ten 

 per cent by doing so. The saving in the Hecker mills was caused 

 by stopping three of the cylinders. He contended that in a 

 thirty-six hours experiment there would be a saving of ten per 

 cent by using steam expansively. If you put in an engine built 

 by Corlies & Nightingale, of the same power of the six in use in 

 Hecker's mills, there Avould be a saving, not only of ten per cent, 

 but a saving of thirty per cent. 



Mr. Humphries said that the engines in use at the Metropolitan 

 mills were perfect in every particulor. He wished the committee 

 to ask, when they went to the Metropolitan mills, why it was 

 that they could not make flour as cheap at the Metropolitan mills 

 as they were doing at the Croton mills. 



Mr. Hedrick said that when you use two engines you have 

 twice the waste as when you only use one. He found, on looking 

 at the books, that on one machine the waste was seven-tenths, 

 and stated that when they balanced the waste of the two engines 

 with that of condensation, they would find the result that was 

 desired. Mr. Dibben stated that steam was used in this city at 

 90 lbs., cut off at one-sixth. If you follow all the way on one 

 engine you do more work than with two cutting off at one-sixth. 

 There is a saving in using steam expansively and not super-heated. 

 He referred to an experiment made in London by cutting off at 

 two-sevenths, and found that the gain would be about twenty- 

 eight per cent., and at one-fifth it would be about nineteen per 

 cent. As soon as you expand steam against a resistance it will 

 make water, and if you expand it in a vacuum it will remain 

 steam. These experiments now making amount to nothing unless 

 compared with one made in a large cylinder. 



Mr. Humphries stated that he was in favor of using steam ex- 

 pansively. 



Mr. Fisher said that he heard it stated that a steam vessel 

 having one of its cylinders disabled, that she ran better with 

 only the one. He believed that the Hecker mills were not pro- 

 perly loaded. He always heard that it was better to leave the 

 throttle valve open. He stated that when steam is admitted at 

 120 lbs. pressure to a ten inch stroke, the gain was greater than 

 using 60 lbs. pressure at five inch stroke. It has been found that 

 by using the variable "cut-off" a saving was effected in fuel of 

 one half. On a railway in England they had made a reduction 

 in the use of fuel from 49 lbs. per mile to 22 lbs. 



