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Linen fired by solar heal
Franklin Institute.
140
sire deterioration of atmosphere consequent thereon, and the practice of resorting to foreign countries for our supply, when such vast beds of ore, capable of yielding it at a cheaper rate, remaiu untouched,is a disgrace to a commercial community. Lond. Min. Journ.
Linen Fired by Solar Heat. In the case of a fire which oceured on Monday week, in a warehouse at St. Paul's Churchyard, Mr. Braidwood reports to the insurance offices that the cause of it was the firing of a linen curtain first at the open part of a window. It seems doubtful, however, whether by "the open part" of the window he means that the sash was open, or merely that the fire originated by tim solar action through the glass where exposed openly to the solar ray. The heat was lately, it is said, 21 degrees above the average of the same time of the year for twenty-five years past; but the fit'ing of linen by the unconcentrated rays of an English sun in May, would be a phenomenon likely to startle the linen-clad denizens of the tropical south. Lond.Builder. FRANKLIN INSTITUTE. C03IMITTEE
ON SCIENCE
AND
TItE
ARTS,
Report on the Explosion of a Slationary Engine. The Committee on Science and the Arts, constituted by the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, by whom was appointed a sub-committee to examine into the cause of the explosion of a stationary engine in Maiden Street, Philadelphia, on the 2rid day of May. 1848, Report, That the boiler consisted of two concentric cylinders, placed with their axis vertical. The outer one was 10 feet long, and 4 feet in diameter ; the inner one was 8 feet long, and 13 feet 7~ inches in diameter. T h e y were made of ¼ inch boiler iron, and were eonneeted together at their lower edges. AboutO feet below the top of the outer cylinder, the inner one was closed b y a stout circular head of boiler iron, ~ inch in thickness, which was connected with the head of the outer cylinder by four double wrought-iron stay-bolts. Through this lower head passed 78 wrought-iron tubes about 6~ feet long, of which 48 had an internal diameter of 2 inches each, and 30, of 1¼ inches, arranged in concentric circles, around a large central tube of the same length, 7~ iaches in internal diameter. They were all closed at their lower ends. These tubes were firmly secured into the head of the inner cylinder at their upper ends, and were suspended from it in the furnace. The furnace consisted of the space inside oiL" the inner cylinder, the lower edge ol" the fire-door being on the lever of the junction of the two cylinders, and the flue or smoke pipe entering just below the lower head or tube-sheet. It will be seen that the water or steam space consisted of the upper part, about two feet in length of the outer cyliuder, the space between the two cylinders,
140
sire deterioration of atmosphere consequent thereon, and the practice of resorting to foreign countries for our supply, when such vast beds of ore, capable of yielding it at a cheaper rate, remaiu untouched,is a disgrace to a commercial community. Lond. Min. Journ.
Linen Fired by Solar Heat. In the case of a fire which oceured on Monday week, in a warehouse at St. Paul's Churchyard, Mr. Braidwood reports to the insurance offices that the cause of it was the firing of a linen curtain first at the open part of a window. It seems doubtful, however, whether by "the open part" of the window he means that the sash was open, or merely that the fire originated by tim solar action through the glass where exposed openly to the solar ray. The heat was lately, it is said, 21 degrees above the average of the same time of the year for twenty-five years past; but the fit'ing of linen by the unconcentrated rays of an English sun in May, would be a phenomenon likely to startle the linen-clad denizens of the tropical south. Lond.Builder. FRANKLIN INSTITUTE. C03IMITTEE
ON SCIENCE
AND
TItE
ARTS,
Report on the Explosion of a Slationary Engine. The Committee on Science and the Arts, constituted by the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, by whom was appointed a sub-committee to examine into the cause of the explosion of a stationary engine in Maiden Street, Philadelphia, on the 2rid day of May. 1848, Report, That the boiler consisted of two concentric cylinders, placed with their axis vertical. The outer one was 10 feet long, and 4 feet in diameter ; the inner one was 8 feet long, and 13 feet 7~ inches in diameter. T h e y were made of ¼ inch boiler iron, and were eonneeted together at their lower edges. AboutO feet below the top of the outer cylinder, the inner one was closed b y a stout circular head of boiler iron, ~ inch in thickness, which was connected with the head of the outer cylinder by four double wrought-iron stay-bolts. Through this lower head passed 78 wrought-iron tubes about 6~ feet long, of which 48 had an internal diameter of 2 inches each, and 30, of 1¼ inches, arranged in concentric circles, around a large central tube of the same length, 7~ iaches in internal diameter. They were all closed at their lower ends. These tubes were firmly secured into the head of the inner cylinder at their upper ends, and were suspended from it in the furnace. The furnace consisted of the space inside oiL" the inner cylinder, the lower edge ol" the fire-door being on the lever of the junction of the two cylinders, and the flue or smoke pipe entering just below the lower head or tube-sheet. It will be seen that the water or steam space consisted of the upper part, about two feet in length of the outer cyliuder, the space between the two cylinders,