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visited France for the purpose of establishing relations with 

 its inventor, which might enable them to introduce it as a 

 moving power in this active manufacturing district. Find- 

 ing it impossible to make any satisfactory arrangement with 

 M. Fourneyron, they instituted a series of experiments, guided 

 by which they succeeded in constructing the present machine, 

 which seems to be very efficient ; and as little is known in 

 this country of the turbine, Dr. Robinson thinks the results 

 he obtained may have some interest. 



It drives eight beetling engines. In these a series of 

 wooden stampers are raised by wipers on a revolving beam, 

 and allowed to fall on the linen, which is rolled on a massive 

 cylinder, sixty times in a minute, the cylinder itself revolving 

 slowly, and being traversed in the direction of its axis. Each 

 engine has thirty-six, weighing each twenty pounds and lifted 

 twelve inches. The supply of water is very limited, being 

 derived from the tail race of a mill situated higher on the water- 

 course, and very deficient in summer ; while in winter there 

 is much back-water. 



The turbine (a distinct idea of which can easily be ob- 

 tained from a work of Riihlman, recently translated by Sir 

 Robert Kane) has thirty-six floats, which are perpendicular 

 to the circumference at their origin, and receive the water at 

 an angle of 45°. These are attached by flanches, which, in 

 Dr. Robinson's opinion, present a good deal of resistance to 

 the efflux of the water, and absorb power. The internal dia- 

 meter is 2-40 feet, and the external 4*80 ; the depth is 7*5 

 inches, divided into four compartments, which can be worked 

 partially, and each of which can drive two engines. 



In estimating the dynamic effect of a water-wheel, we must 

 know the impelling power, and the resistance overcome with 

 a given speed. The first is the weight of the water expended 

 in a given time, multiplied by the height through which it 

 has descended ; this involves the measurement of the water, 

 which, in Dr. Robinson's experiments, was made by an over- 



