N. J. ROOSEVELT TO R. R. LIVINGSTON.
Second River, Sept. 10th, 1798.
Dear Sir,
I acknowledge receipt of yours of the 3d Inst. By this time you have doubtless recd. mine of the 6th Inst. which gave you all the information on the subject of the boat I was then capable of doing; since which I have thought of trying another experiment upon the present plan and concluded to morrow to set about it. It will take us three days with two hands which will cost very trifling and enable us to calculate with more certainty what power will be required for your wheels. The plan is this. Sun and planet wheels we will take off and form a double crank with the coupling links, which at one end will be fastened to the shaft of the fly wheels by taking out the brasses and drilling holes for pins to enter. This change will give us only half the motion of your wheels we first contemplated and consequently double the power we now have. I will try this in the same way we did the last time by leaving the vessel’s stern on shore, and in the meanwhile I hope to hear your opinion of throwing wheels over the sides. I will also be glad to know if it is more agreeable to you to give a note for the balance of your proportion of the expense attending this business or whether you will make me a remittance in cash. Could I at present raise money through the house of J. Mark for all the ends I have in this quarter I would not solicit more money until you come down. This however it is not for them to do. I hope the Chancellor will consider my situation in the midst of many workmen as an apology and pardon me for my impatience.
Yours, &c. N. J. ROOSEVELT.
R. R. Livingston.
R. R. LIVINGSTON TO N. J. ROOSEVELT.
Acknowledges Wheels over the Sides to have been Proposed by Roosevelt and rejects them.
Clermont, 18th Sept., 1798.
Dear Sir,
Mr. Mouchette is just returned. I sincerely congratulate you upon the success of the engine of which he gives the most favourable report & fully justifies yr. confidence in your engines. I am sufficiently sanguine to hope that all difficulties are now vanished. Knowing our power nothing remains but adapt the vessel to it. In attempting this hitherto we have deceived ourselves by wandering into the field of conjecture rather than adhereing to plain calculations & we shall still do so if we expect that the present engine will turn the wheels we now have 80 times in a minute, as will appear from this calculation. Our wells contain exactly 60 cubic feet of water. The whole of this is set in motion at every revolution of the wheels with a rapidity equal to the main motion of the arms, that is if the wheels make 80 revolutions in a minute at the rate of 8 miles an hour. Now as the boat will not remove more than 20 feet of water if she goes 8 miles an hour, if it was possible to move the wheels as they are now constructed 80 rounds in a minute we should throw away one half of our power, for the boat could not move faster than the water in the wheels & the power would be uselessly expended in throwing out water unnecessarily.
But it will be found on experiment that however perfect our engine is, it cannot turn the present wheels 80 times in a minute. The wheels then must necessarily be altered or the motion rendered still slower. To make the motion slower is to diminish our chance of moving the boat fast because she will at no rate move faster than the water in the wheels though she may be made to move as fast as I have found on actual experiment. The wheels then must be altered, not by making the arms shorter for this would diminish their motion, besides that it would require an alteration in the boat—but by diminishing their depth. They are now if I recollect 18 Inches deep, let them be reduced to nine Inches.
Let the motion of the wheels by no means exceed 80 nor be lower than 70 turns in a minute and I will answer for the success of the experiment, & upon the whole it will turn out a fortunate discovery since we shall find that our wells need not be above half the size we have made them & of course much room and much weight of water be saved in future. That we have erred hitherto should not discourage us. It is the fate of all new undertakings and it is happy when the error can be so easily discovered & detected. Another circumstance of considerable moment must be attended to. If the diminution of the motion is brought about by changing the sun and planet wheels, one half the motion of the flys will be lost & they rendered almost useless from this circumstance. If they are made heavier they will overload the boat.
I would propose as the best mode of altering the motion of the wheels to alter the cog wheels & to leave the sun and planet wheels as they were—this will give the proper motion to the fly & diminish the friction. Let the cog wheels be made smaller and have no more cogs than the trunnel rounds, or only so many more as will serve to give the motion we require. Nor will this alteration be attended with more trouble than the one at first proposed; but even if it is, it is so essential to give the flys a rapid motion that we must, now we have gone so far, submit to this trouble and expense to have this experiment properly made. I say nothing on the subject of WHEELS OVER THE SIDES as I am perfectly convinced from a variety of experiments of the superiority of those we have adopted. I expect to be down the last of this month when I shall see you & make such money arrangements as we may find necessary.
In the meantime I hope to hear how you go on. I flatter myself no delay will be incurred which can possibly be avoided, every moment being precious. Mr. Mark will I hope forward this to you the moment it arrives, so that the necessary alterations may be made before you proceed far on any difficult plan.
I am very much hurt that you should construe any part of my former letters into a reflection on your candour. I am sure that nothing of this kind was ever intended & I flatter myself that if you attend a little more to the expressions (tho: I cannot now recollect them) that they will not bear this harsh construction.[4]
I am dear Sir, with esteem, your most ob: hum: servt: ROB. R. LIVINGSTON.
N. J. ROOSEVELT TO R. R. LIVINGSTON.
Experiment made & Opinion of the Spanish Minister—Again Coaxes to have Vertical Wheels tried.