ADDRESS. 1 S 



was revived, and formed the subject of a patent by Barnett in the year 1838. 

 It is trne this gentleman did not know very much about the subject, and 

 that he suggested many things which, if carried out, would have resulted 

 ■ in the production of an engine which could not have worked ; but he had 

 an alternative proposition which would have worked. 



Again, in the year 1861, the matter was revived by Lenoir, and in the 

 year 1865, by Hugon, both French inventors. Their engines obtained 

 some considerable amount of success and notoriety, and many of them 

 were made and used ; but in the majority of cases they were discarded 

 as wasteful and uncertain. The Institution of Civil Engineers, for 

 example, erected a Lenoir in the year 1868, to work the ventilating fan, 

 but after a short time they were compelled to abandon it and to substitute 

 a hydraulic engine. 



At the present time, as I have said, gas engines are a great commercial 

 success, and they have become so by the attention given to small things, 

 in popular estimation — to important things, in fact, with which, however. 

 I must not trouble you. Messrs. Crossley Brothers, who have done so 

 much to make the gas engine the commercial success that it is, inform 

 me that they are prosecuting improvements in the direction of attention 

 to detail, from which they are obtaining greatly improved results. 



But, looking at the wonderful petroleum industry, and at the multi- 

 farious products which are obtained from the crude material, is it too 

 much to say, that there is a future for motor engines, worked by the 

 vapour of some of the more highly volatile of these products — true 

 vapoui' — not a gas, but a condensable body, capable of being worked 

 over and over again ? Numbers of such engines, some of as much as 

 4 horse-power, made by Mr. Yarrow, are now running, and are appa- 

 rently giving good results ; certainly excellent results as regards the 

 compactness and lightness of the machinery ; for boat purposes they 

 possess the great advantage of being I'apidly under way. I have seen 

 one go to work within two minutes of the striking of the match to lio-ht 

 the burner. 



Again, as we know, the vapour of this material has been used as a 

 gas in gas engines, the motive power having been obtained by direct 

 combustion. 



Having regard to these considerations, was I wrong in predicting 

 that the heat engine of the future will probably be one independent of 

 the vapour of water ? And, further, in these days of electrical advance- 

 ment, is it too much to hope for the direct production of electricity from 

 the combustion of fuel ? 



As the world has become familiar with prime movers, the desire for 

 their employment has increased. Many a householder could find useful 

 occupation for a prime mover of |^ or |^ horse-power, working one oi- 

 two hours a day ; but the economical establishment of a steam engine is 

 not possible until houses of very large dimensions are reached, where 



