I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



543 



each of them 4£ inches in diameter, with a 

 stroke of 12 inches. These, with their 

 steam chests, should be firmly bolted to the 

 boiler near to its top. The connecting rods 

 will work three cranks at equal distances, 

 or 120 degrees apart, by which only one 

 crank would ever be on a dead point at one 

 time, whilst both the others would always 

 be on either the ascending or descending- 

 stroke, and by which a fly-wheel would be 

 dispensed with. This arrangement may be 

 looked upon as unscientific, not only in dis- 

 pensing with an equalizer of the stroke, but 

 also in increasing the friction. In answer 

 to such objections, it may be remarked, that 

 in the case in question a fly-wheel would be 

 found most inconvenient, if not inadmissi- 

 ble, from the danger of its velocity; and its 

 weight not only being a considerable addi- 

 tion to that of the machine, but also in 

 increasing the height of the centre of gra- 

 vity; besides which, the difficulty, or rather 

 the impossibility of placing this great equal- 

 izer of the motion of the engine in its pro- 

 per position, without sacrifice of convenience 

 of arrangement of most of the other parts 

 of the machine; and the additional friction 

 of the three cylinders is trifling to the 

 advantages which, in the particular case in 

 question, would be derived from the arrange- 

 ment of the engine as described. The en- 

 gine should be fitted with a governor, and a 

 feed pump. 



. An engine of so short a stroke as that 

 just described, and supplied by the quantity 

 of steam capable of being generated by the 

 boiler previously recommended, will give at 

 least 120 double strokes of the pistons per 

 minute, which, if communicated directly to 

 driving wheels of five feet in diameter, 

 would produce a traveling velocity in the 

 machine of more than 21 miles per hour, or 

 more than eilWmes that at which the ma- 

 chine need or ought to travel when working. 

 Therefore to bring down the rate of travel- 

 ing to the proper working speed, and there- 

 by to obtain a six-fold force of traction, the 

 crank shaft should have on it, beyond the 

 cranks, pinions, say of nineteen teeth, work- 

 ing into spur-wheels having 37 teeth on an 

 intermediate shaft; on this last-mentioned 

 shaft, to the outsides of the spur-wheels, 

 should be pinions of 19 teeth, working into 

 spur-wheels having 59 teeth on a third 

 shaft, which should extend beyond the out- 

 sides of the driving-wheels. The motion of 

 the last-mentioned shaft should be commu- 



nicated to the driving-wheel axle by means 

 of an endless flat chain on each side of the 

 machine, passed over sheaves on both shafts. 

 The sheaves may either be round, with pro- 

 tuberances on their peripheries, to suit small 

 links in the chain, or they may be canted, 

 and the links of the chain so arranged as to 

 hinge over the angles of such sheaves. 



The steerage of the machine, both be- 

 fore and behind, is proposed to be effected 

 in the following manner, viz: by turn-tables 

 like those used on the four-wheel axles of 

 four-wheeled carriages, the lower circular 

 plate of which to have spur teeth on half 

 its periphery, into which the teeth of a 

 pinion is to work. The proportion of the 

 radius of the semi-circular toothed segment 

 to that of the pinion, is proposed to be about 

 three to one. On a spindle' from the pinion 

 in question, at a height of two to six inches 

 above the level of the platform of the ma- 

 chine, it is proposed to have a horizontal 

 tangent wheel and screw, in proportion of 

 four to one; and on the axis of the screw a 

 winch handle, the crank of which to be 

 three times that of the diameter of the 

 the barrel of the screw. The upper or 

 fixed circular plates to have small friction 

 rollers on their faces, to prevent the oppos- 

 ing surfaces of *he plates rubbing against 

 each other. A mitre-wheel on each of the 

 pins or spindles passing through the centres 

 of the fixed, from the lower or movable 

 plates, working into another mitre-wheel on 

 a short axle, carrying a small pulley, con- 

 nected by a round band with another pulley 

 of the same size, on a short ax!e, supported 

 by a bearing on the framing of the tangent 

 wheel and screw, will give motion to a 

 pointer keyed on to the axle of the upper 

 pulley, to indicate, on a semi-circular dial, 

 the amount of steerage. Such steerage 

 being at both ends, and worked in contrary 

 directions, will bring the machine round 

 nearly on its centre; and the great power 

 of the gearing proposed for the purpose, 

 will render but a very small force necessary 

 in steering. 



Between the fore-steering gear and boiler 

 longitudinally, and between the purchase 

 gear on each side of the machine transverse- 

 ly, it is proposed to have a cistern, to con-' 

 tain from four to five hours' supply of water 

 for the boiler ; and also to have five hours' 

 supply of fuel (coke) piled on the platform 

 ' of the machine behind the boiler. 



A suitable machine for applying steam- 



