engine room, where their host capitaUzed on the low 

 speed of the great engine by letting his guests embark 

 upon the open tops of the 14-foot pistons. "Our 

 sensation on riding up and down on these huge 

 pistons," wrote one of the editorial riders, "we shall 

 not soon forget." ^^ Finally, there was a banquet, 

 followed by speeches, toasts, and long and loud 

 applause. The inevitable resolution, extolling the 

 virtues of the caloric engine and its modest inventor, 

 was drawn up by the committee appointed for the 

 purpose, and its signing by nearly all hands closed 

 the festivities for the day. 



As the party scrambled ashore, irreverent editor 

 Munn piped a "Vive la humbug!" Professor Mapes 

 quickly plugged the shocked silence with his exclama- 

 tion, "Here's a man proposing his own health!" " 



Next morning, the papers gave their reports to the 

 public. The New-Tork Daily Tribune led off with: '- 



The demonstration is perfect. The age of Steam is closed; 

 the age of Caloric opens. Fulton and Watt belong to the 

 Past; Ericsson is the great mechanical genius of the Present 

 and the Future. 



The New-York Daily Times referred to the event as 

 one "which will be held memorable in the ages yet 

 to come." 



The Daily Times also reported in detail the question 

 and answer session that Captain Ericsson presided 

 over during the trial trip. Some explanation of the 

 uniformly laudatory tone of the press is to be found 

 in the reporters' reactions to the inventor's replies. 

 To anyone who might object to the fact that the ship 

 made only 6K knots (73^ statute miles per hour) 

 while the Collins liners made 14 knots, it was made 

 abimdantly clear that 



... it was not intended on this occasion to exhibit the sailing 

 qualities of this vessel; so that this rate of speed should be 

 considered rather as the minimum than the maximum of her 

 capability. 



There were mechanical imperfections in the engines 

 that Captain Ericsson was well aware of, he said, and 

 they would be rectified. Besides, the power could be 

 augmented by increasing the size of the cylinders. 

 He had from the first wanted to make the cylinders 

 16 feet in diameter, but the constructors would not 

 then attempt so large a casting. Now, said Captain 



Ericsson, Messrs. Hogg and Delamater (the con- 

 structors) would be glad to make 20-foot diameter 

 cylinders "at their own risk." This pronouncement 

 was met by "great applause." And when the Captain 

 said that the trial "has exceeded my highest anticipa- 

 tions," the cabin rang with cheers. '' 



The Scientific American's treatment of the incident 

 was on the whole reasonable. Editor Munn noted 

 that "the designer and constructors of . . . [the] 

 machinery have shown themselves to have long heads, 

 and skilful hands. We have never seen anything to 

 compare with the castings." He did, however, 

 question the competence of the newspaper writers who 

 were present on this occasion, stating that Captain 

 Ericsson was "far more modest of what he has done 

 than they are." He ventured the thought that "we 

 cannot but think that the good opinion of one eminent 

 practical engineer in favor of the hot air engine 

 would be worth more than all the rest of the daily 

 paper fraternity besides." ^* 



In February the Ericsson made a round trip to 

 Washington, a voyage of about 500 miles, at a speed 

 variously reported as averaging 4.7 to 6.0 knots,'^ 

 while the public was assured that "she made no 

 attempt to try her speed on her way hither, that 

 forming no part of the object of her voyage." The 

 ship was visited in Washington by President Fillmore, 

 President-Elect Pierce, and delegations from both 

 houses of Congress. Captain Ericsson convinced the 

 Secretary of the Navy that a large caloric frigate 

 could be built that would attain a minimum speed 

 of 10 knots with a maximum fuel consumption of 8 

 tons of coal in 24 hours. Accordingly, the Secretary 

 asked the Congress to appropriate $500,000 to have 

 Captain Ericsson build such a vessel.'^ Fortunately, 

 the Committee on Naval AflFairs quietly laid the 

 request aside. 



There was never any question about the fact that 

 the caloric engine propelled the Ericsson. However, 

 merely moving a ship was not enough. In order to 

 compete successfully with existing engines the caloric 

 engine had to move a ship at least twice as rapidly 

 as it had done thus far, and this was clearly beyond its 

 capacity. 



'" Ericsson's Caloric Engine; Articles . . . Taken from the Daily 

 Journals of the City of New York, Washington, 1853, p. 6. 

 " New-Tork Daily T™<;j-, January 12, 1853. 

 " New-Tork Daily Tribune, January 12, 1853. 



1' New-Tork Daily Times, January 12, 1853. 

 1* Scientific American, January 22, 1853, vol. 8, p. 149. 

 15 Scientific American, March 5, 1853, vol. 8, p. 197. 

 " National Intelligencer, Washington, February 25 and March 

 3, 1853. 



46 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



