THE EXHIBITION OP 1862. 
151 
present high, state of perfection. As a steam-engine, there is 
nothing new or striking in its form or construction ; its power 
and success depend almost entirely on the boiler as a generator 
and a never-failing source of supply of steam. To this small 
vessel, 11 feet long and 3 feet 10 inches in diameter, with a 
square fire-box at the end, we are indebted for the almost 
incredible performances which we daily witness on every fine 
in the kingdom. Few of our readers are probably acquainted 
with the simple yet effective contrivances by which this com- 
paratively small vessel exercises such enormous power over a 
dead weight of two hundred tons, which it hurls along on its 
iron course with a velocity far exceeding that of the swiftest 
race-horse. This is the work of a machine mounted on six 
wheels, and contains within itself, at a pressure of 150 lb. per 
square inch, a force of 7,000 tons bottled up ready for use. A 
tithe of that force could not be generated in the same space but 
for two causes ; namely, the large heating* surface exposed to 
the action of the furnace, and the blast from the cylinders into 
the chimney. It is to the first, as the recipient of heat, and to 
the second, creating a draught through the furnace, that this 
enormous force is due. To the philosopher and engineer these 
principles are familiar ; but to those who have not examined 
the parts, and made themselves acquainted with the principles 
on which they are based, they must ever remain an enigma. 
It will not be necessary in this place to point out and de- 
scribe the uses of the different organisms of this very tractable 
and powerful machine ; suffice it to observe, that in so far as 
regards simplicity of design, quality of material, and sound 
construction, the English engineer is in advance of all his com- 
petitors; yet certainly not so far ahead but that he may be 
overtaken and distanced in the race, unless he maintains his 
position as a leader and trainer in the mechanical sciences and 
constructive art. It must be acknowledged, in justice to our 
foreign neighbours in France and Germany, that their engines 
are not only well made, but they combine several ingenious 
contrivances for the ascent of steep gradients, and the safe 
working of tortuous lines in mountainous districts. The only 
fault that can be urged against the foreign engine is the com- 
plexity of its parts, and a want of that simplicity of form 
which distinguishes the English construction. 
In the locomotive department there is nothing new to record, 
excepting that the engines and tenders, as a whole, are superior 
in power and construction to those which were exhibited in 
Hyde Park in 1851, and at Paris in 1855. We must not, 
however, lose sight of Giffard’s injector, for supplying the boiler 
with water; and a novel invention by Mr. Ramsbottom, the 
engineer and locomotive superintendent of the London and 
