494 transactions of the american institute. 



Smith's Ram Torpedo. 



Mr. E. F. Smith, Jr., presented a drawing of his ram torpedo, for destroy- 

 ing ships by exploding shells within the ships. No vessel, he said, could 

 be made to withstand the shock of fifty pounds of powder exploded under 

 her side. The torpedo consists of a tube into which a sliding rod is fitted, 

 and placed in the bow of the vessel; on the end of this rod a wedge shaped 

 shell is fastened. When the ship to be destroyed is approached to within 

 some twenty-five feet, this rod is made to eject with great force, by ma- 

 chinery, from the bow of the ram, and enter the ship, and immediately ex- 

 plode the shell; when the rod is withdrawn and another shell attached to 

 it, when it is again ready for another trial. It might be said, in this case, 

 that he would be hoisted by his own petard; but it is the opinion, Mr. Smith 

 said, of eminent engineers, that twenty feet distance from this shell his 

 vessel would be entirely safe. 



Mr. Bull. — I was present, several years ago, when Mr. Colt made an ex- 

 periment in blowing up an old vessel, provided for that purpose, off the 

 Battery. The vessel, at the appointed time, was blown to pieces, and the 

 fragments lay scattered on the water around, i am happy to recall the 

 fact that this vessel was furnished and paid for by the American Institute, 

 i ' Mr. C. Pepper. — Mr. Chairman, I have made experiments, and discovered 

 that by placing silicious sand in steam boilers an increased amount of 

 steam resulted therefrom. It has been tried on a locomotive, and the 

 experiment showed that with the sand in the boiler more steam was pro- 

 duced, and with less consumption of fuel than could be obtained from 

 the same boiler formerly. I would therefore like to have this subject 

 brought before the Club at some future meeting. 



The Chairman. — This subject could be introduced when steam boilers 

 are under discussion. "Steam Boilers" was, on motion of Mr. Dibben, 

 selected as the question for discussion at the meeting of April 9th. 



The subject for the evening, " Petroleum," was then taken up. 



Dr. R. P. Stevens delivered a very interesting lecture on " The Coal For- 

 mation of the United States," which he illustrated by drawings, exhibiting 

 the sandstone, conglomerate and shales alternating with beds of coal, etc. 

 The immense coal field commencing at the Delaware river in New York, 

 and extending through Pennsylvania into Ohio, westward, and Alabama 

 on the southwest, contains more than one million of million tons of bitu- 

 minous coal, and covers more than one hundred thousand square miles, 

 with an average thickness of forty feet, under which lies our present oil 

 wells. The theory is, that these wells are the drainings of the bituminous 

 coal above, and we are now pumping it up. The depth of these wells, at 

 the mouth of Oil creek, in Pennsylvania, is 800 feet. The coal of Pennsyl- 

 vania lies in one immense basin, 2,500 feet above the level of the sea, 

 north and south, and sinking down to 800 or 900 feet below Pittsburs:. 

 There are wells from which salt water and oil are taken, and one of these 

 wells is only thirty miles from Pittsburg. Anthracite coal contains no 

 bitumen, therefore oil wells are not found in its neighborhood. In relation 

 to Hunt's theory, it is sufiicient to state that there has been enough oil 

 pumped out of Pennsylvania to equal all the limestone in the State of 

 New York. 



