Various - Scientific American Supplement, No. 620, November 19,1887

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[Illustration]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 620

NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 18, 1997

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XXIV., No. 620.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. ARCHITECTURE--Bristol Cathedral--The history and description of
this ancient building, with large illustration.--1 illustration. 9904

II. BIOGRAPHY--Oliver Evans and the Steam Engine.--The work of this
early pioneer, hitherto but slightly recognized at his true
worth as an inventor. 9896

III. CHEMISTRY--The Chemistry of the Cotton Fiber--By Dr. BOWMAN--An
interesting investigation, showing the variation in composition
in different cottons. 9909

Synthesis of Styrolene. 9910

Notes on Saccharin. 9910

Alcohol and Turpentine. 9910

IV. ENGINEERING--Auguste's Endless Stone Saw--A valuable improvement,
introducing the principle of the band saw, and producing a
horizontal cut--10 illustrations. 9896

V. ELECTRICITY.--A Current Meter--The Jehl & Rupp meter for
electricity described--1 illustration. 9903

Mix & Genest's Microphone Telephone--The new telephone recently
adopted by the imperial post office department of Germany--3
illustrations. 9902

Storage Batteries for Electric Locomotion--By A. RECKENZAUN--A
valuable paper on this subject, giving historical facts and
working figures of expense, etc. 9903

The Telemeter System--By R.F. UPTON--The system of Oe.L. Clarke,
of New York, as described before the British Association--A
valuable tribute to an American inventor--1 illustration. 9900

VI. METALLURGY.--The Newbery-Vautin Chlorination Process--A new
process of extracting gold from its ores, with details of the
management of the process and apparatus--1 illustration. 9907

VII. MISCELLANEOUS.--A Gigantic Load of Lumber--The largest barge
load of lumber ever shipped--The barge Wahnapitae and her
appearance as loaded at Duluth--1 illustration. 9907

Apparatus for Exercising the Muscles--An appliance for use by
invalids requiring to exercise atrophied limbs--1 illustration. 9908

Practical Education.--A plea for the support of manual training
schools. 9906

Waves--The subject of ocean waves fully treated--An interesting
_resume_ of our present knowledge of this phenomenon of
fluids. 9906

VIII. NAVAL ENGINEERING--The New Spanish Armored Cruiser Reina
Regente.--Illustration and full description of this recent
addition to the Spanish navy.--1 illustration. 9895

The Spanish Torpedo Boat Azor--Illustration and note of speed,
etc., of this new vessel--1 illustration. 9895

IX. OPHTHALMOLOGY--The Bull Optometer--An apparatus for testing
the eyesight.--The invention of Dr George J. Bull.--3
illustrations. 9908

X. SANITATION AND HYGIENE--The Sanitation of Towns--By J. GORDON,
C.E.--A presidential address before the Leicester meeting of
the Society of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors
of England. 9909

XI. TECHNOLOGY--A New Monster Revolving Black Ash Furnace and the
Work Done with It--By WATSON SMITH--The great furnace of the
Widnes Alkali Company described, with results and features of
its working--4 illustrations. 9900

Apparatus Used for Making Alcohol for Hospital Use during the
Civil War between the States--By CHARLES K. GALLAGHER--A curiosity
of war times described and illustrated.--1 illustration. 9900

Confederate Apparatus for Manufacturing Saltpeter for Ammunition
--By CHARLES K. GALLAGHER--Primitive process for extracting
saltpeter from earth and other material--1 illustration. 9900

Electrolysis and Refining of Sugar--A method of bleaching sugar
said to be due to ozone produced by electric currents acting on
the solution--1 illustration. 9903

Improvements in the Manufacture of Portland Cement--By FREDERICK
RANSOME, A.I.C.E.--An important paper recently read before the
British Association, giving the last and most advanced methods
of manufacture. 9901

Roburite, the New Explosive--Practical tests of this substance,
with special application to coal mining. 9897

The Mechanical Reeling of Silk.--An advanced method of treating
silk cocoons, designed to dispense with the old hand winding of
the raw silk.--3 illustrations. 9898

* * * * *

THE SPANISH TORPEDO BOAT AZOR.

[Illustration: THE SPANISH TORPEDO BOAT AZOR.]

The Azor was built by Yarrow & Co., London, is of the larger class,
having a displacement of 120 tons, and is one of the fastest boats
afloat. Her speed is 241/2 miles per hour. She has two tubes for
launching torpedoes and three rapid firing Nordenfelt guns. She lately
arrived in Santander, Spain, after the very rapid passage of forty
hours from England.

* * * * *

THE NEW SPANISH ARMORED CRUISER REINA REGENTE.

[Illustration: THE NEW SPANISH ARMORED CRUISER REINA REGENTE.]

The new armored cruiser Reina Regente, which has been built and
engined by Messrs. James & George Thomson, of Clydebank, for the
Spanish government, has recently completed her official speed trials
on the Clyde, the results attained being sufficient to justify the
statement made on her behalf that she is the fastest war cruiser in
the world. She is a vessel of considerable size, the following being
her measurements: Length over all, 330 ft., and 307 ft. between
perpendiculars; breadth, 501/2 ft.; and her draught is 20 ft., giving a
displacement of 5,000 tons, which will be increased to 5,600 tons when
she is fully equipped.

This vessel belongs to the internally protected type of war cruisers,
a type of recent origin, and of which she is the largest example yet
built. The internal protection includes an armored deck which consists
of steel plates ranging from 3-1/8 in. in thickness in the flat center
to 43/4 in. at the sloping sides of the deck. This protective deck
covers the "vitals" of the ship, the machinery, boilers, etc. Then
there is a very minute subdivision in the hull of the ship, there
being, in all, 156 water-tight compartments, 83 of which are between
the armored deck and the one immediately above it, or between wind and
water. Most of these compartments are used as coal bunkers. Of the
remainder of the water-tight compartments, 60 are beneath the armor.
Throughout her whole length the Reina Regente has a double bottom,
which also extends from side to side of the ship. In order to keep the
vessel as free of water as possible, there have been fitted on board
four 14 in. centrifugal pumps, all of which are connected to a main
pipe running right fore and aft in the ship, and into which branches
are received from every compartment. These pumps are of the "Bon
Accord" type, and were supplied by Messrs. Drysdale & Co., Glasgow.

Not being weighted by massive external armor, the Reina Regente is
unusually light in proportion to her bulk, and in consequence it has
been rendered possible to supply her with engines of extraordinary
power. They are of the horizontal triple expansion type, driving twin
screws, and placed in separate water-tight compartments. The boilers,
four in number, are also in separate compartments. Well above the
water line there are two auxiliary boilers, which were supplied by
Messrs. Merryweather, London, and are intended for raising steam
rapidly in cases of emergency. These boilers are connected with all
the auxiliary engines of the ship, numbering no fewer than
forty-three.

The engines have been designed to indicate 12,000 horse power, and on
the trial, when they were making 110 revolutions per minute, they
indicated considerably upward of 11,000 horse power, the bearings all
the while keeping wonderfully cool, and the temperature of the engine
and boiler rooms being never excessive. The boilers are fitted with a
forced draught arrangement giving a pressure of 1 in. of water. In the
official run she attained a speed equal to 21 knots (over 24 miles)
per hour, and over a period of four hours an average speed of 20.72
knots per hour was developed, without the full power of the engines
being attained. The average steam pressure in the boilers was 140 lb.
per square inch. In the course of some private trials made by the
builders, the consumption of coal was tested, with the result that
while the vessel was going at a moderate speed the very low
consumption of 14 lb. of coal per indicated horse power per hour was
reached. The vessel is capable of steaming 6,000 knots when there is a
normal supply of coal in her bunkers, and when they are full there is
sufficient to enable her to steam 13,000 knots.

The Reina Regente will be manned by 50 officers and a crew of 350 men,
all of whom will have their quarters on the main deck. Among her
fittings and equipment there are three steam lifeboats and eight other
boats, five of Sir William Thomson's patent compasses, and a complete
electric light installation, the latter including two powerful search
lights, which are placed on the bridge. All parts of the vessel are in
communication by means of speaking tubes. In order to enable the
vessel to turn speedily, she is fitted with the sternway rudder of
Messrs. Thomson & Biles. This contrivance is a combination of a
partially balanced rudder with a rudder formed as a continuation of
the after lines of a ship. The partial balance tends to reduce the
strains on the steering gear, and thereby enables the rudder area to
be increased without unduly straining the gear.

When fitted out for actual service, this novel war cruiser will have a
most formidable armament, consisting of four 24 centimeter Hontorio
guns (each of 21 tons), six 12 centimeter guns (also of the Hontorio
type), six 6 pounder Nordenfelt guns, fourteen small guns, and five
torpedo tubes--one at the stern, two amidships, and two at the bow of
the ship.

It is worthy of note that this war cruiser was constructed in fifteen
months, or three months under the stipulated contract time; in fact,
the official trial of the vessel took place exactly eighteen months
from the signing of the contract. Not only is this the fastest war
cruiser afloat, but her owners also possess in the El Destructor what
is probably the simplest torpedo catcher afloat, a vessel which has
attained a speed of 221/2 knots, or over 26 miles, per hour.
--_Engineering._

* * * * *

OLIVER EVANS AND THE STEAM ENGINE.

A correspondent of the New York _Times_, deeming that far too much
credit has been given to foreigners for the practical development of
the steam engine, contributes the following interesting _resume_:

Of all the inventions of ancient or modern times none have more
importantly and beneficently influenced the affairs of mankind than
the double acting high pressure steam engine, the locomotive, the
steam railway system, and the steamboat, all of which inventions are
of American origin. The first three are directly and the last
indirectly associated with a patent that was granted by the State of
Maryland, in 1787, being the very year of the framing of the
Constitution of the United States. In view of the momentous nature of
the services which these four inventions have rendered to the material
and national interests of the people of the United States, it is to be
hoped that neither they nor their origin will be forgotten in the
coming celebration of the centennial of the framing of the
Constitution.

The high pressure steam engine in its stationary form is almost
ubiquitous in America. In all great iron and steel works, in all
factories, in all plants for lighting cities with electricity, in
brief, wherever in the United States great power in compact form is
wanted, there will be found the high pressure steam engine furnishing
all the power that is required, and more, too, if more is demanded,
because it appears to be equal to every human requisition. But go
beyond America. Go to Great Britain, and the American steam
engine--although it is not termed American in Great Britain--will be
found fast superseding the English engine--in other words, James
Watt's condensing engine. It is the same the world over. On all the
earth there is not a steam locomotive that could turn a wheel but for
the fact that, in common with every locomotive from the earliest
introduction of that invention, it is simply the American steam engine
put on wheels, and it was first put on wheels by its American
inventor, Oliver Evans, being the same Oliver Evans to whom the State
of Maryland granted the before mentioned patent of 1787.

He is the same Oliver Evans whom Elijah Galloway, the British writer
on the steam engine, compared with James Watt as to the authorship of
the locomotive, or rather "steam carriage," as the locomotive was in
those days termed. After showing the unfitness of Mr. Watt's low
pressure steam engine for locomotive purposes, Mr. Galloway, more than
fifty years ago, wrote: "We have made these remarks in this place in
order to set at rest the title of Mr. Watt to the invention of steam
carriages. And, taking for our rule that the party who first attempted
them in practice by mechanical arrangements of his own is entitled to
the reputation of being their inventor, Mr. Oliver Evans, of America,
appears to us to be the person to whom that honor is due." He is the
same Oliver Evans whom the _Mechanics' Magazine_, of London, the
leading journal of its kind at that period, had in mind when, in its
number of September, 1830, it published the official report of the
competitive trial between the steam carriages Rocket, San Pariel,
Novelty, and others on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

In that trial the company's engines developed about 15 miles in an
hour, and spurts of still higher speed. The _Magazine_ points to the
results of the trial, and then, under the heading of "The First
Projector of Steam Traveling," it declares that all that had been
accomplished had been anticipated and its feasibility practically
exemplified over a quarter of a century before by Oliver Evans, an
American citizen. The _Magazine_ showed that many years before the
trial Mr. Evans had offered to furnish steam carriages that, on level
railways, should run at the rate of 300 miles in a day, or he would
not ask pay therefor. The writer will state that this offer by Mr.
Evans was made in November, 1812, at which date not a British steam
carriage had yet accomplished seven miles in an hour.

In 1809 Mr. Evans endeavored to establish a steam railway both for
freight and passenger traffic between New York and Philadelphia,
offering to invest $500 per mile in the enterprise. At the date of his
effort there was not a railway in the world over ten miles long, nor
does there appear to have been another human being who up to that date
had entertained even the thought of a steam railway for passenger and
freight traffic. In view of all this, is it at all surprising that the
British _Mechanics' Magazine_ declared Oliver Evans, an American, to
be the first projector of steam railway traveling? In 1804 Mr. Evans
made a most noteworthy demonstration, his object being to practically
exemplify that locomotion could be imparted by his high pressure steam
engine to both carriages and boats, and the reader will see that the
date of the demonstration was three years before Fulton moved a boat
by means of Watt's low pressure steam engine. The machine used
involved the original double acting high pressure steam engine, the
original steam locomotive, and the original high pressure steamboat.
The whole mass weighed over twenty tons.

Notwithstanding there was no railway, except a temporary one laid over
a slough in the path, Mr. Evans' engine moved this great weight with
ease from the southeast corner of Ninth and Market streets, in the
city of Philadelphia, one and a half miles, to the River Schuylkill.
There the machine was launched into the river, and the land wheels
being taken off and a paddle wheel attached to the stern and connected
with the engine, the now steamboat sped away down the river until it
emptied into the Delaware, whence it turned upward until it reached
Philadelphia. Although this strange craft was square both at bow and
stern, it nevertheless passed all the up-bound ships and other sailing
vessels in the river, the wind being to them ahead. The writer repeats
that this thorough demonstration by Oliver Evans of the possibility of
navigation by steam was made three years before Fulton. But for more
than a quarter of a century prior to this demonstration Mr. Evans had
time and again asserted that vessels could be thus navigated. He did
not contend with John Fitch, but on the contrary tried to aid him and
advised him to use other means than oars to propel his boat. But Fitch
was wedded to his own methods. In 1805 Mr. Evans published a book on
the steam engine, mainly devoted to his form thereof. In this book he
gives directions how to propel boats by means of his engine against
the current of the Mississippi. Prior to this publication he
associated himself with some citizens of Kentucky--one of whom was the
grandfather of the present Gen. Chauncey McKeever, United States
Army--the purpose being to build a steamboat to run on the
Mississippi. The boat was actually built in Kentucky and floated to
New Orleans. The engine was actually built in Philadelphia by Mr.
Evans and sent to New Orleans, but before the engine arrived out the
boat was destroyed by fire or hurricane. The engine was then put to
sawing timber, and it operated so successfully that Mr. Stackhouse,
the engineer who went out with it, reported on his return from the
South that for the 13 months prior to his leaving the engine had been
constantly at work, not having lost a single day!

The reader can thus see the high stage of efficiency which Oliver
Evans had imparted to his engine full 80 years ago. On this point Dr.
Ernst Alban, the German writer on the steam engine, when speaking of
the high pressure steam engine, writes: "Indeed, to such perfection
did he [Evans] bring it, that Trevithick and Vivian, who came after
him, followed but clumsily in his wake, and do not deserve the title
of either inventors or improvers of the high pressure engine, which
the English are so anxious to award to them.... When it is considered
under what unfavorable circumstances Oliver Evans worked, his merit
must be much enhanced; and all attempts made to lessen his fame only
show that he is neither understood nor equaled by his detractors."

The writer has already shown that there are bright exceptions to this
general charge brought by Dr. Alban against British writers, but the
overwhelming mass of them have acted more like envious children than
like men when speaking of the authorship of the double acting high
pressure steam engine, the locomotive, and the steam railway system.
Speaking of this class of British writers, Prof. Renwick, when
alluding to their treatment of Oliver Evans, writes: "Conflicting
national pride comes in aid of individual jealousy, and the writers of
one nation often claim for their own vain and inefficient projectors
the honors due to the successful enterprise of a foreigner." Many of
these writers totally ignore the very existence of Oliver Evans, and
all of them attribute to Trevithick and Vivian the authorship of the
high pressure steam engine and the locomotive. Yet, when doing so, all
of them substantially acknowledge the American origin of both
inventions, because it is morally certain that Trevithick and Vivian
got possession of the plans and specifications of his engine. Oliver
Evans sent them to England in 1794-5 by Mr. Joseph Stacy Sampson, of
Boston, with the hope that some British engineer would approve and
conjointly with him take out patents for the inventions. Mr. Sampson
died in England, but not until after he had extensively exhibited Mr.
Evans' plans, apparently, however, without success. After Mr.
Sampson's death Trevithick and Vivian took out a patent for a high
pressure steam engine. This could happen and yet the invention be
original with them.

But they introduced into Cornwall a form of boiler hitherto unknown in
Great Britain, namely, the cylindrical flue boiler, which Oliver Evans
had invented and used in America years before the names of Trevithick
and Vivian were associated with the steam engine. Hence, they were
charged over fifty years ago with having stolen the invention of Mr.
Evans, and the charge has never been refuted. Hence when British
writers ignore the just claims of Oliver Evans and assert for
Trevithick and Vivian the authorship of the high pressure steam engine
and the locomotive, they thereby substantially acknowledge the
American origin of both inventions. They are not only of American
origin, but their author, although born in 1755, was nevertheless an
American of the second generation, seeing that he was descended from
the Rev. Dr. Evans Evans, who in the earlier days of the colony of
Pennsylvania came out to take charge of the affairs of the Episcopal
Church in Pennsylvania.

The writer has thus shown that with the patent granted by the State of
Maryland to Oliver Evans in 1787 were associated--first, the double
acting high pressure steam engine, which to-day is the standard steam
engine of the world; second, the locomotive, that is in worldwide use;
third, the steam railway system, which pervades the world; fourth, the
high pressure steamboat, which term embraces all the great ocean
steamships that are actuated by the compound steam engine, as well as
all the steamships on the Mississippi and its branches.

The time and opportunity has now arrived to assert before all the
world the American origin of these universally beneficent inventions.
Such a demonstration should be made, if only for the instruction of
the rising generation. Not a school book has fallen into the hands of
the writer that correctly sets forth the origin of the subject matter
of this paper. He apprehends that it is the same with the books used
in colleges and universities, for otherwise how could that parody on
the history of the locomotive, called "The Life of George Stephenson,
Railway Engineer," by Samuel Smiles, have met such unbounded success?
To the amazement of the writer, a learned professor in one of the most
important institutions of learning in the country did, in a lecture,
quote Smiles as authority on a point bearing on the history of the
locomotive! It is true that he made amends by adding, when his lecture
was published, a counter statement; but that such a man should have
seriously cited such a work shows the widespread mischief done among
people not versed in engineering lore by the admirably written romance
of Smiles, who as Edward C. Knight, in his Mechanical Dictionary,
truly declares, has "pettifogged the whole case." If, as Prof. Renwick
intimates, "conflicting national pride" has led the major part of
British writers to suppress the truth as to the origin of the high
pressure steam engine, the locomotive, and the steam railway system,
surely true national pride should induce the countrymen of Oliver
Evans to assert it. In closing this paper the writer will say, for the
information of the so-called "practical" men of the country, or, in
other words, those men whose judgment of an invention is mainly guided
by its money value, that Poor's Manual of Railroads in the United
States for 1886 puts their capital stock and their debts at over
$8,162,000,000. The value of the steamships and steamboats actuated by
the high pressure steam engine the writer has no means of
ascertaining. Neither can he appraise the factories and other plants
in the United States--to say nothing of the rest of the world--in
which the high pressure steam engine forms the motive power.

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