“Do you not remember, papa, when we were last in London, you pointed out to us a curious mill on the banks of the river, which went without any sails?”
“You allude to the horizontal mill at Battersea.”
“I remember it was at Battersea,” observed Louisa; “and I dare say, papa, that you recollect the strange story which the waterman, who rowed us down the river, told Tom and myself. He said ‘that, when the Emperor of Russia was in London, he took a fancy to the neat little church at Battersea, and determined to carry it off to Russia; and that for this purpose he had sent a large packing-case; but, as the inhabitants refused to let the church be carried away, the case remained on the spot where it was deposited.’”
“It is not a bad story,” said her father; “for the mill certainly, both in size and figure, may be imagined to resemble a gigantic packing-case. The mill, of which you are speaking, has been taken down, in consequence of its use having been superseded by the introduction of steam. It was erected by Captain Hooper, who also built a similar one at Margate. It consisted of a circular wheel, having large boards or vanes fixed parallel to its axis, and arranged at equal distances from each other. Upon these vanes the wind could act, so as to blow the wheel round; but had it acted upon the vane at both sides of the wheel, at once, it is evident that it could not have had any tendency to turn it round; hence, one side of the wheel was sheltered, while the other was submitted to the full action of the wind. For this purpose it was enclosed within a large cylindrical framework, furnished with doors or shutters, on all sides, to open at pleasure and admit the wind, or to shut and stop it. If all the shutters on one side were open, whilst all those on the opposite side were closed, the wind, acting with undiminished force on the vanes at one side, whilst the opposite vanes were under shelter, turned the mill round; but whenever the wind changed, the disposition of the blinds was altered, to admit the wind to strike upon the vanes of the wheel in the direction of a tangent to the circle in which they moved.”
“Well; have you any other machine to explain to your scholars?” asked the vicar; “for,” continued he, “I am anxious to present them with a bow and arrow which I have provided for their amusement.”
“I will, if you please, first describe to them the mechanism of the smoke-jack; and I am desirous of doing so, as I have a very pleasing experiment to exhibit, which is founded upon the same principle.”
Mr. Seymour then described the more common form of this machine. It consisted, he said, of a number of vanes, of thin sheet-iron, arranged in a circle, as here represented, but all set obliquely at a proper angle of inclination. Its action was explained in the following manner:--When a fire is kindled in the chimney, the air which, by its rarefaction, immediately tends to ascend, strikes on the surfaces of the inclined vanes, and by a resolution of forces, similar to that already explained, causes the spindle, to which they are affixed, to turn round, and consequently communicates the same motion to the spit. The brisker the fire becomes, the quicker will the machine move, because in that case, the air ascends with greater rapidity.
“I will now exhibit to you a mechanical amusement which is founded on the same principle,” said Mr. Seymour. “Fetch me the piece of pasteboard which lies on the library table.”
