>>> YOU ARE VIEWING A 200 LINE SAMPLE OF EBOOK# E00822 <<< TITLE: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, VOL.22, NO. 1, JANUARY 1, 1870 AUTHOR: VARIOUS EBOOK: E00822 (O'Briens Book Cellar) [Illustration] SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION, ART, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MANUFACTURES. NEW YORK, JANUARY 1, 1870. Vol. XXII.--No. 1. [NEW SERIES.] $3 per Annum [IN ADVANCE.] * * * * * Contents: (Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.) *Engines of the Spanish Gunboats The Torpedo Problem Sugar Making in Louisiana Sticking, or Court Plaster *An Improved Hoisting Pulley Wanted *Ferdinand De Lesseps--Chief Promoter of the Suez Canal *An Ingenious Vent Peg *A New English Patent Pulley Block Plants in Sleeping Booms *Improved Treadle Motion *Improved Method of Catching Curculios Remains of a Megatherium in Ohio Artificial Ivory American and English Kailway Practice Contrasted Boiler Covering Attachment of Saws to Swing Frames Patent Decision Inventions Patented in England by Americans *Russ Improved Wood Molding Machine A Lost Civilisation *Girards "Palier Glissant" A Happv New Year The Suez Canal not yet a Failure Tubular Boilers and Boiler Explosions Professor Fiske's Lecture at Harvard The Brighter Side The American Institute Prizes Awarded to Steam Engines A Protest against the Canadian Patent Law American Railway Management Scientific Lecture before the American Institute The Battle Fields of Sceence How French Bank Notes are Made What the Newspapers Say Chinese Method of Preserving Eggs Steam Boiler Explosion Editorial Summary The Steven Breech Loading Rifle * A Novel Improved Hand Vise The Mound Builders of Colorado *The Woven-Wire Mattress Flouring Mill Hazards Fire-Proof Building The Decline of American Shipping Aerial Navigation-A Suggestion Putty Floors of Jewelers Shops and otherwise Western Demand for Agricultural Implements Economical Steam Engine Friction and Percussion Oiling a Preservative of Brownstone Interesting Correspondence from China Commumcation Between Deaf and Blind Mutes Cheap Cotton Press Wanted A Singular Freak of a Magnet Preservation of Iron The Bananas and Plantains of the Tropics Putting Up Stoves The Magic Lantern The Largest well in the World--Capacity 1,000,000 gallons of water per Day Paper for Building *Improved Muzzle-Pivoting Gun Stock Feeding by Clock Work Milk and What Comes of It *Improved Hay Elevator *Improvement in Lamp Wicks Great Transformation Answers to Correspondents Recent American and Foreign Patents New Books and Publications List of Patents * * * * * Engines of the Spanish Gunboats. In our description of these boats in No. 25, Vol. XXI., special mention was made of the compactness of the engines. It has frequently been urged as an objection against the twin screw system that the double set of engines, four steam cylinders with duplicates of all the working parts called for on this system, render the whole too complicated and heavy for small vessels, preventing, at the same time, the application of surface condensation. In the engines of the Spanish gunboats, of which we annex an illustration from _Engineering_, the designer, Captain Ericsson, has overcome these objections by introducing a surface condenser, which, while it performs the function of condensing the steam to be returned to the boiler in the form of fresh water, serves as the principal support of the engines, dispensing entirely with the usual framework. Besides this expedient, each pair of cylinders have their slide frames for guiding the movements of the piston rods cast in one piece. Altogether the combination, is such that the total weight and space occupied by these novel twin screw engines do not exceed the ordinary single screw engines of equal power. Several improvements connected with the working gear have been introduced. [Illustration: ENGINES OF THE TWIN SCREW SPANISH GUNBOATS] The outer bearings of the propeller shafts, always difficult to regulate and keep in order on the twin screw system, are selfadjusting and accommodate themselves to every change of the direction of the shafts. This is effected by their being spherical externally, and resting in corresponding cavities in the stern braces or hangers. The spring bearings for supporting the middle of the shafts are also arranged on a similar self-adjusting principle. The thrust bearing is of peculiar construction, the arrangement being such that the bearing surfaces remain in perfect contact however much the shaft may be out of line. The reversing gear likewise is quite peculiar, insuring complete control over the movement of the two propellers under all circumstances. It is claimed that these engines are the lightest and most compact yet constructed for twin screw vessels. <<< END OF SAMPLE... (THE FULL EBOOK HAS 415210 TOTAL CHARACTERS) >>>