A Catechism of the Steam Engine

by C. E. John Bourne

242. Q.--What other gauges or instruments are there for telling the state, or regulating the power of an engine?

A.--There is the counter for telling the number of strokes the engine makes, and the dynamometer for ascertaining the tractive power of steam vessels or locomotives; then there are the gauge cocks, and glass tubes, or floats, for telling the height of water in the boiler; and in pumping engines there is the cataract for regulating the speed of the engine.

243. Q.--Will you describe the mechanism of the counter?

A.--The counter consists of a train of wheel work, so contrived that by every stroke of the engine an index hand is moved forward a certain space, whereby the number of strokes made by the engine in any given time is accurately recorded. In most cases the motion is communicated by means of a detent,--attached to some reciprocating part of the engine,--to a ratchet wheel which gives motion to the other wheels in its slow revolution; but it is preferable to derive the motion from some revolving part of the engine by means of an endless screw, as where the ratchet is used the detent will sometimes fail to carry it round the proper distance. In the counter contrived by Mr. Adie, an endless screw works into the rim of two small wheels situated on the same axis, but one wheel having a tooth more than the other, whereby a differential motion is obtained; and the difference in the velocity of the two wheels, or their motion upon one another, expresses the number of strokes performed. The endless screw is attached to some revolving part of the engine, whereby a rotatory motion is imparted to it; and the wheels into which the screws work hang down from it like a pendulum, and are kept stationary by the action of gravity.

244. Q.--What is the nature of the dynamometer?

A.--The dynamometer employed for ascertaining the traction upon railways consists of two flat springs joined together at the ends by links, and the amount of separation of the springs at the centre indicates, by means of a suitable hand and dial, the force of traction. A cylinder of oil, with a small hole through its piston, is sometimes added to this instrument to prevent sudden fluctuations. In screw vessels the forward thrust of the screw is measured by a dynamometer constructed on the principle of a weighing machine, in which a small spring pressure at the index will balance a very great pressure where the thrust is employed; and in each case the variations of pressure are recorded by a pencil on a sheet of paper, carried forward by suitable mechanism, whereby the mean thrust is easily ascertained. The tractive force of paddle wheel steamers is ascertained by a dynamometer fixed on shore, to which the floating vessel is attached by a rope. Sometimes the power of an engine is ascertained by a friction break dynamometer applied to the shaft.

345. Q.--What will determine the amount of thrust shown by the dynamometer?

A.--In locomotives and in paddle steamers it will be determined by the force turning the wheels, and by the smallness of the diameter of the wheels; for with small wheels the thrust will be greater than with large wheels. In screw vessels the thrust will be determined by the force turning round the screw, and by the smallness of the screw's pitch; for with any given force of torsion a fine pitch of screw will give a greater thrust than a coarse pitch of screw, just as is the case when a screw works in a solid nut.

246. Q.--Will you explain the use of the glass gauges affixed to the boiler?

A.--The glass gauges are tubes affixed to the fronts of boilers, by the aid of which the height of the water within the boilers is readily ascertainable, for the water will stand at the same height in the tube as in the boiler, with which there is a communication maintained both at the top and bottom of the tube by suitable stopcocks. The cocks connecting the glass tube with the boiler should always be so constructed that the tube may be blown through with the steam, to clear it of any internal concretion that may impair its transparency; and the construction of the sockets in which the tube is inserted should be such, that, even when there is steam in the boiler, a broken tube may be replaced with facility.