886 



BEl'OltT — 1884. 



2. Steaiii-E'Hjine pi-acttce in the United States in 1884. By J. C. Hoamf.y, 



The subjeet of this paper was not st'lected by the writer, wlio is well aware 

 that it is too vast for adequate treatment within admissible limits, but was assigned 

 him by an eminent professor, whose enijagements forbade him complying with u 

 request which he had received to prepare a paper on this subject. 



It seemed to the writer that the most feasible mode of condensation would Ijc 

 found in a succinct account of a few conspicuous examples of the leadinjr typw df 

 each class of steam-engines actually in use, both as to construction and pcrt'orni- 

 ance. The pumping-enfjine of the Lowell water-works gave, in July 187."), a duty 

 of 08,002,27^ foot-i)Ounds per 100 pounds of coal burned, the contract duty, hm\ 

 on previous experience, being 7*"),00(),()00. The mean duty in ju'actice during ten 

 years has been more than 08,000,000. 



The Lynn pumping-engine gave, in December 187.'}, a duty of 103,023,215 fool- 

 pounds per 100 pounds of coal, and for six years, 1877-82, has given, in actual ii.>e, 

 a duty of 116,888,900 foot-pounds per 10 •)ounds of coal burned while pumping. 

 The Lawrence pumping-engine gave, ii lay 1870, a duty of 08,261,7(K) t'oot- 

 pomids ; in July 1879, 11 1,54S,926 ; and during live years, 187})-1883, 102,120,127 

 foot-pounds, the latter being calculated on all the coal burned except for warming 

 the engine-house when the engine was not running. The pumping-engine at Paw- 

 tucket, K.L, gave in August 1878 a duty during the working days of two weeks, 

 based on all the coal burned, of 104,357,654 foot-pounds per 100 pounds of coal 

 and 133,522,000 foot-pounds during 24 hours' continuous run, based on all the coal 

 burned during the test. This is a compound receiver engine, cylinders 15 and oO 

 inches diameter and 30 inches stroke, 52 revolutions per minuute. 



The Pettaconset Station pumping-engine, Providence, gave in May 1882 a 

 duty of 113,271,000 foot-pounds, and during the year 1883, with inferior coal, 

 10(>,048,000. With coal equal to that used at the test, the dutv during the year 

 would have exceeded 114,000,000. 



A Corliss engine at the llourse Mill, Woonsocket, It.I., of 500 liorse-powcv, 

 running at 400 i.li.p., is warranted to run through the year with not exceeding 1'7") 

 pounds of coal per i.h.p, per hour, and is coming within the guaranty. It uses 

 only ir5 pounds of visible steam per i.h.p. and per hour, and not more than Id') 

 pounds in all, including that returned from the steam-jackets. 



Engines of the leading manufacturers are passed in rapid review : The Corliss 

 Steam Engine (Jompany, the Putnam Machine Company, Charles II. Brown & Co., 

 Fitchbung Steam l"]ngine Company, NNiu. A. Harris, 1*]. P. Allis & Va)., .Jerome 

 AVheelock, Buckey Steam Engine Company, and the Hartford I'ingineering Com- 

 pany, the Atlas Engine ( "ompany, the Southwark Foundry and .Machine Com- 

 pany (makers of the Porter-Allen engine), Geo. T. McLauthlin vV: Co. (makers nf 

 the lloadley engine), the Cummer Engine (^ompany, \. L. Ide, 1>. F. Sturtevant, 

 the Ball Engine Conijjany, the Lambertville J']ngiue Company, the Providence 

 Steam lOngine Company (maliers of Noble T. Green's engine). 



Steam puni]is are only meutio.ied in passing, as are also steamboat engines on 

 ■western rivers, portable and senii-portable jMigines, threshing-engines, traction- 

 engines, and plough ing-(mgines, and marine engint^s. llerreshoft's launch and 

 torpedo-boat engine is briefly noticed. Curi<!us engines arc merely alluded to. 



The .Vmerican locomotive receives more full notice, (hwlually developeil j 

 from the germ during (ilty years, this grand machine had assumed a tow distinct 

 types which seemed well-nigh incapable of radical improvement, save in the areii j 

 of fire-grate, whicli, always too small, had become relatively more inadequate by 

 reason of the rapidly increasing size and weight of engines, while there seemed to \ 

 be no room for enlarging the lire-grate, 'i^he W'ootten engine, by jdacing the gratr 

 above the drivers, has removed tliat diflii'ulty, apparently with good results, so far 

 as the limited number of engines in use only a few hundred — and the brief ex- 1 

 perience with the first of them, only seven or eight years, allbrd the means of 

 judging. This appears to be one of America's most important contributions to tln' j 

 locomotive of the future. 



An express ])assenger locomotive. No. 1G9, on the Central Railroad of NfW 



