ie Se 
TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 953, 
The Howel torpedo is worked by power from a fly-wheel which is revolved at 
a rate of 4,000 revolutions per minute. This torpedo compares favourably with, 
the Whitehead for going short distances, for, though it is so slow, it keeps a 
_ straight course. 
The last torpedo is one of the author’s invention, which has so far been fortu- 
nate in receiving the approval of all the leading experts, none of whom has yet 
been able to point out any weakness in its mode of operation. This torpedo is 
similar to a Whitehead torpedo, containing many improvements, and under perfect 
control. It can be used from any position, either on shipboard or on land, and 
can, with all its appliances, be taken about in a couple of wagons. 
The idea of controlling a torpedo by electricity is not at all new. The author 
was informed by Mr. Anderson, who was lately in the employ of the English. 
_ Government, and on the Torpedo Board of the Admiralty, that nine years ago he 
made a Whitehead torpedo to be steered by electricity direct, but it failed to meet _ 
with the approval of the authorities. Many other inventors have brought out 
various plans for steering torpedoes with electricity direct, but as electricity trans- 
mitted along a thread wire for the necessary distances is a weak and virtually un- 
gaugable power, they have not succeeded. In the Victoria torpedo, by the use 
of springs (one of which was exhibited), this difficulty has been overcome, as 
all the electrical power has to do is to tap a spring which, by working a ratchet- 
wheel, controls and governs the torpedo. By these means you have a power on 
any required strength arrived at by simply using stronger or weaker springs, 
and this power is transmitted as required by the use of the ratchet-wheel, so that 
the torpedo is in every way controlled by a thread cable. 
9. The Bénier Hot-Air Engine or Motor. By B. Vernon. 
The question of hot-air or caloric engines has greatly interested the scientific 
and engineering world for many years. It has been generally admitted that the 
discovery of a really good hot-air engine would be of the greatest importance from 
economical and other considerations; amongst other advantages, boilers, with 
their attending expense and danger, being entirely dispensed with. 
The author exhibited sectional diagrams of the hot-air motor invented by 
MM. Bénier Fréres, and manufactured by the Compagnie Francaise des Moteurs 
a Air Chaud of Paris. Several hundreds of these machines are already in use 
in France, Germany, and Belgium for electric lighting and other purposes, ard 
a number of them have been supplied to the French Government for use in the 
most important lighthouses on the coast (Belle Isle, Dunkirk, &c.). In the engine 
described the air passes through the fire itself directly into the combustion 
chamber. With this type of engine a much greater initial pressure can be obtained 
than in engines using a separate combustion chamber, where the air is heated 
through an intervening metallic diaphragm. The drawing up of the grit and 
ashes is completely prevented in the present motor, this latter feature forming an 
important part of the invention. 
As was seen by the diagrams, the engine is constructed on the beam principle, 
and the combustion chamber is really a prolongation of the working cylinder. 
' The piston, or, more properly speaking, plunger, is of considerable length, the upper . 
part only being made to fit the cylinder; the lower part of the plunger is of 
_ slightly less diameter, consequently an annular space is formed between it and-the. 
_ cylinder. 
yy This space is connected with the main air supply, which is controlled by a 
_ valve, operated by a connecting-rod and cam lever worked from a cam on the 
crank shaft of the engine. The air-pump is placed in the centre of the machine, 
immediately beneath the beam standard, and is operated by a rod attached to the 
_ rocking beam, and this is connected by a rod to the crank shaft. 
Owing to the position of the beam, pump, and connecting-rods, the piston of 
_ the air-pump is at the outer end of its stroke when the working piston on its 
_ return stroke has reached a middle position. . During the last half of the return 
3 ; a the working piston the air-piston is pushed inwards and compresses the 
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