erior motive-power for steam
will no doubt strike many minds as extravagant, if not chimerical. We
have been so accustomed to regard steam-power as the _ne plus ultra_
of attainment in subjecting the modified forces of nature to the
service of man, that a discovery which promises to supersede this
agency will have to contend with the most formidable preconceptions as
well as with gigantic interests. Nevertheless, it may now be predicted
with confidence, that we are on the eve of another great revolution,
produced by the application of an agent more economical and
incalculably safer than steam. A few years hence we shall hear of the
'wonders of caloric' instead of the 'wonders of steam.' To the
question: 'How did you cross the Atlantic?' the reply will be: 'By
caloric of course!' On Saturday, I visited the manufactory, and had
the privilege of inspecting Ericsson's caloric engine of 60
horse-power, while it was in operation. It consists of two pairs of
cylinders, the working pistons of which are 72 inches in diameter. Its
great peculiarities consist in its very large cylinders and pistons,
working with very low pressure, and in the absence of boilers or
heaters, there being no other fires employed than those in small
grates under the bottoms of the working cylinders. During the eight
months that this test-engine has been in operation, not a cent has
been expended for repairs or accidents. The leading principle of the
calorie engine consists in producing motive-power by the employment of
the expansive force of atmospheric air instead of that of steam; the
force being produced by compression of the air in one part of the
machine, and by its dilatation by the application of heat in another
part. This dilatation, however, is not effected by continuous
application of combustibles, but by a peculiar process of transfer, by
which the caloric is made to operate over and over again--namely, the
heat of the air escaping from the working cylinder at each successive
stroke of the engine, is transferred to the cold compressed air,
entering the same; so that, in fact, a continued application of fuel
is only necessary in order to make good the losses of heat occasioned
by the unavoidable eradiation of the heated parts of the machine. The
obvious advantages of this great improvement are the great saving of
fuel and labour in the management of the engine, and its perfect
safety. A ship carrying the amount of coal that the Atlantic steamer