Various

“ It is now a well established fact that matter, per se, is inert, and that its energy is derived from the physical forces; therefore all chemical and physical phenomena observed in the universe are caused by and due to the operations of the physical forces, and matter, of whatever state or condition it may be in, is but the vehicle through or by which the physical forces operate to produce the phenomena. ”

“ Combustion, as I have before shown, is merely the oxidation of the material; nothing is consumed nor annihilated, and, the phenomena vary with the velocity of oxidation. Now, if we take one pound of zinc and place it in the acid cell of an electric battery, the oxygen of the acid attacks the zinc and oxide of zinc is formed. ”

“ The soil is drained by the aid of properly constructed plows for preparing the trenches; roots are steamed and sliced as food for cattle; and the thrashing machine no longer merely beats out the grain, but it screens it, separates it, and elevates the straw, so as to mechanically build it up into a stack. I do not know a better class of machine than the agricultural portable engine. Every part of it is perfectly proportioned and made; it is usually of the locomotive type, and the economy of fuel in its use is extremely great. ”

“ If we consider the phenomenon of light, we find that it is due to the same force. As before stated, when we oxidize carbon, or hydrogen, as in the rapid combustion of wood, oil, or coal, the escaping caloric flies off with such great speed as to cause the molecules in the circumambient medium to assume a velocity which exhibits luminosity. Thus the light produced by burning candles, oil, gas, wood, and coal, is caused by the same prime factor, dynamic caloric. ”

“ The force of attraction is inherent in the matter, and tends to draw the particles together and hold them in a state of rest. The force of caloric accompanies the matter and tends to push the particles outward into a state of activity. ”

“ So long as it is competent for a man to earn a living by mere unintelligent exercise of his muscles, he is very likely to do it. You may see in the old London docks the crane-heads covered by structures that look like paddle-boxes. If you go to them, there is, I am glad to say, nothing now to fill them up; but when the British Association first met, these paddle-boxes covered large tread-wheels, in which men trod, so as to raise a weight. ”

“ We know that it prefers to travel over one vehicle more than another, and by this knowledge we are able to insulate it, and thus conduct it in any direction desired. The materials through which it passes with the greatest freedom are called conductors, and the materials which most retard its passage, non-conductors; but these terms must be taken in a comparative sense only, as in fact there are no absolute non-conductors of dynamic caloric, or of what we call electricity. ”

“ In addition to these motors, we have the gas-engine, which, within the last few years only, has become a really useful working and economical machine. With respect to horse-power motors, we have not only the old horse engines, but we have a new application, as it seems to me, of the work of the horse as a motor. I allude to those cases where the horse drawing a reaping or thrashing machine, not only pulls it forward as he might pull a cart, but causes its machinery to revolve, so as to perform the desired kind of work. ”

“ Electricity may be generated by water or wind power to great advantage, and conveyed to a distance for motive power. The practicability of generating electricity at Niagara by which to propel trains to New York and return may be considered almost settled; and I conceive a second invention of importance which is now needed is an apparatus by which the rising and falling tides may be utilized for driving dynamo machines, by which electricity may be generated for lighting the coast cities, and it is not unreasonable to expect that such an apparatus will soon be provided ”

“ For a marine governor to be of any use, it must not wait till the stern of the vessel is out of the water before it acts to check the engine and reduce the speed. Nothing but the most sensitive, and, indeed, anticipatory action of the governors can efficiently control marine propulsion. ”

“ If, as I verily believe, a process will soon be discovered by which dynamic caloric can be produced by the oxidation of petroleum with non-luminous combustion in an insulated chamber, as we now oxidize zinc, electricity will then be obtained from so small a weight, and at such a low cost, as to insure aerial navigation beyond a doubt. ”

“ By means of the sewing machine not only are all textile fabrics operated upon, but even the thickest leather is dealt with, and as a tour de force, but as a matter of fact, sheet-iron plates themselves have been pierced, and have been united by a seam no boilermaker ever contemplated, the piercing and the seam being produced by a Blake sewing machine. I believe all in this section will agree that the use of the sewing machine has been unattended by loss to those who earn their living by the needle ”

“ The force of caloric is imponderable and invisible, and is only known by its effects. We do know that it is occluded in metals and other material, because we can unlock it and set it free, or we can transfer it from one body to another, and by measuring its effects, we can determine its quantity. ”

“ From the fire balloon invented by the Montgolfier Brothers, in 1782, to the superior hydrogen balloon of M.M. Charles and Robert, no material advancement has been made, except the employment of coal gas, first suggested by Mr. Green. The vast surface presented to the wind makes the balloon unmanageable in every breeze, and the aeronaut can do nothing but allow it to float along with the current. This is a difficulty which has been partly overcome, as was seen at the recent Paris Electrical Exhibition; but no one will ever be able to guide it in a direction opposite to a current of air. ”

“ The head for holding the moulding knives is best made of good tough brass or steam metal. The knives can be made of good saw steel about one-eighth inch thick. They may be filed into shape and afterward tempered. They are slotted and held to their places on the head by means of quarter-inch machine screws. It is not absolutely necessary to use two knives, but when only one is employed a counterbalance should be fastened to the head in place of the other. All kinds of moulding, beading, tonguing, and grooving may be done with this attachment, the gauge being used to guide the edge of the stuff. ”

“ A separate donkey engine is provided for feeding the boiler. The truck is furnished with legs under which packings can be wedged so as to relieve the load on the wheels when block-setting. The slings seen under the boiler are for hanging a concrete balance weight; this will weigh about 20 tons. The weight of the crane itself without load or ballast is about 80 tons. The crane was tested under steam with a load of 19 tons with the most satisfactory results; the whole machine appeared to be very rigid, an end often very difficult to obtain with portable wrought-iron structures and live loads. ”

“ Thus, in Sir William Armstrong's own case, a small stream is made to afford light in a dwelling a mile away. Certainly nothing could have seemed more improbable fifty years ago than that the light of a house should be derived from a fall of water without the employment of any kind or description of fuel. ”

“ There is also that thoroughly well known mode of transmission, hydraulically, for which the engineering world owes so much to our president. We have, by Sir William Armstrong's system, coupled with his accumulator, the means of transmitting hydraulically the power of a central motor to any place requiring it, and by the means of the principal accumulator, or if need be by that aided by local accumulators, a comparatively small engine is enabled to meet very heavy demands made upon it for a short time. ”

“ Steel rails, double the weight of the original iron ones, are used. Wooden sleepers have replaced the stone blocks, and they, in their turn, will probably give way to sleepers of steel. The joints are now made by means of fish-plates, and the most vulnerable part of the rail, the end, is no longer laid on an anvil for a purpose of being smashed to pieces, but the ends of the rails are now almost always over a void, and thereby are not more affected by wear than is any other part of the rail. ”

“ Electricity.—What is it? Why, it is dynamic caloric. Now let us take this oxide of zinc (ZnO) and place it with charcoal in a reducing apparatus which stands on an insulated table; the apparatus is then heated, the carbon vaporizes, and this vapor of carbon (C) robs the oxide of zinc (ZnO) of its oxygen, leaving metallic zinc (Zn) and carbonic oxide (CO) . Now, for every pound of zinc so formed 1,301 units C. of static caloric are transferred from the charcoal to the zinc and occluded in it. ”

“ When it is necessary to apply the brakes, a simple pressure of a key or the turn of a handle sends the electric current into the wires of the electro-magnet. An attraction immediately takes place, and the poles and armatures are brought into contact. The friction between these causes the revolution of the magnet, the winding of the chain around the axle, and the application of the brakes. The whole of the brakes of the train enter into action at one and the same time. The brakes are taken off by stopping the current, and a small spring pulls and keeps the magnet from the armatures. ”

“ I think I am right in saying that, at the ordinary pressure which Sir William Armstrong uses in practice, viz., 700 lb. to the square inch, one foot a second of motion along an inch pipe would deliver at the rate to produce one-horse power. Therefore, a ten-inch pipe, with the water traveling at no greater pace than three feet in a second, would deliver 300 horse-power. This 300 horse-power would no doubt be somewhat reduced by the loss in the hydraulic engine, which would utilize the water. But the total energy received would be equivalent to producing 300 horse-power. ”

“ It is astonishing how much very hard labor may be saved by means of a small circular saw like that shown in Fig. 1. This tool, like many others described in this series of articles, can, in most instances, be purchased cheaper than it can be made, and the chances are in favor of its being a more perfect article. However, it is not so difficult to make as one might suppose. A piece of sheet steel may be chucked upon the face plate, or on a wooden block attached to the face plate, where it may be bored to fit the saw mandrel, and cut in circular form by means of a suitable hand tool. ”

“ The speed is now from 50 to 60 miles an hour for passenger trains, while slow speed goods engines, weighing 45 tons, draw behind them coal trains of 800 tons. The injector is now commonly employed, and, by its aid, a careful driver of the engine of a stopping train can fill up his boiler while at rest at the stations. The link motion is in common use, to which, no doubt, is owing the very considerable economy with which the locomotive engine now works. ”

“ In order to accumulate electricity for the production of light or motive power, the author has arranged secondary batteries, which differ from those of M.G. Planté. At the negative pole he uses a sheet of palladium, which, during the electrolysis, absorbs more than 900 times its volume of hydrogen. At the positive pole he uses a sheet of lead. The electrolyzed liquid is sulphuric acid at one tenth. This element is very powerful, even when of small dimensions. Another secondary element which has also given good results, is formed at the negative pole of a slender plate of sheet-iron. ”

“ They are of enormous strength, and made with every possible care, and carry from 80 lb. to 100 lb. pressure on the square inch.
It has been found, on the whole, more convenient to expand the steam in two or more cylinders, rather than in one. I quite agree that, as a mere matter of engineering science, there is no reason why the expansion should not take place in a single cylinder, unless it be that a single cylinder is cooled down to an extent which cannot be overcome by jacketing, and which, therefore, destroys a portion of the steam on its entering into the cylinder. ”

“ A pipe must enter the mouth of the balloon, one end of which opens in its interior and the other end in a gas reservoir which lies in the "basket" or "car." As soon as the gas undergoes an expansion, and a certain amount of pressure is made in this reservoir, a valve opens and a whistle signals the moment when the force pumps must be set to work to pump the air out of the balloon into the large number two reservoir, the frame work of which forms the body of the car. ”

“ The piston speed rarely exceeded 250 feet per minute, and as a result of the feeble pressure, and of the low rate of speed, very large cylinders indeed were needed relatively to the power obtained. The consumption of fuel was heavy, being commonly from 7 lb. to 10 lb. per gross indicated horsepower per hour. The governing of the engine was done by pendulum governors, revolving slowly, and not calculated to exert any greater effort than that of raising the balls at the end of the pendulum arms, thus being, as will be readily seen, very inefficient regulators. ”

“ Tools of almost every description may be purchased at reasonable prices, but the practice of making one's own tools cannot be too strongly recommended. It affords a way out of many an emergency, and where time is not too valuable, a saving will be realized. A few bars of fine tool steel, a hammer, and a small anvil, are all that are required, aside from fire and water. The steel should be heated to a low red, and shaped with as little hammering as possible ”

“ The substitution of the screw propeller for the paddle enables the engine to work at a much higher number of revolutions per minute, and thus a very great piston speed, some 600 ft. to 800 ft. per minute, is attained; and this, coupled with the fairly high mean pressure which prevails, enables a large power to be got from a comparatively small-sized engine. Speeds of 15 knots an hour are now in many cases maintained, and on trial trips are not uncommonly exceeded. Steam vessels are now the accepted vessels of war. ”