There is, however, another condition essential to the proper fulfilment of the phenomenon. Not only must the sun be in the required declination on any day, but also at the very moment of sun rise, or sun set, on that day; and this would be a coincidence so extremely improbable, that its absolute fulfilment, except in theory, is next to impossible. For the places named in the question at page 139, viz. Greenwich and Edinburgh (the correct difference of longitude being 3°. 11'); the declination of the sun at the moment of rising should be 13°. 14. 53" north and the time, 4h. 51m. 11. A.M., Greenwich appt. time, not taking refraction into account. To conclude, I beg to propose as a question-what are the situations of two 183 being known; the angle at C is found, and consequently the declination required. This declination will beplaces of which the northern is to the A NEW SOLAR SYSTEM. Sir,-In addressing you on this subject, I consider that I am addressing_a scrutinizer for an enquiring multitude. From a thorough examination by those who are fully possessed of infinite nicety of judgement, in many matters of importance to the enquiring world, it has always been held out that the attraction of one body towards another, is in a ratio, according to their qualities, and distances; consequently, if any body has by its superabundant quantity attracted any other of a smaller quantity, 20-17" in the year 1839, and that continued attraction constantly be kept up, its force must be accelerated proportionably to the time of its nearer approach, equal to the continued square, of its nearer motion, to that. A body that moved 20-17" in time, or 50" of a degree in motion in 1839, would move more than 60′ 52" in time, and 2°-30' in motion in 1840, and in 1841 increase in the same ratio; and this reasoning brought into my consideration the precession of the equinoxes; the cause of the difference between the tropical and the sidereal year. And if the attraction of redundancy of matter accumulated at the equator is the cause, as is doubtfully substantiated by all our previous astronomers and natural philosophers, how is it they do not follow the order laid down in respect to the increased ratio of attraction, by squaring the time and motion by the decrease of the distance, which according to the increased power of attraction, would bring the axis of the equator into the present position of the axis of the ecliptic, much sooner than the period allotted; and the axis of the equinoctial much farther from the north star than it is at present. Now as it has been already and ably demonstrated, that the whole of the heavenly bodies are held up, and their motions sustained by one another's attraction, and by their proportional gravitating on their common centres, so as to move according to their quantities after the projectile force was given, pray, why did not the sun receive that projectile force as well as the other bodies? I say, that if our earth was subject to the power of attraction by the sun and moon in consequence of the redundance of matter PROPOSITION TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC IN A BALLOON. at the equator, the equinoctial and the ecliptic would have been blended together long before the present time. Now to obviate this apparent error I present to your readers my idea of a new solar system for their meditation which I hope will receive a favourable judgement from more able astronomers than myself. A meriridian line on our earth in its annual course, moves from a fixed star or apparent fixed body in the heavens until that same meridian arrives to that star again in 365d. 6h.9m. 144; but the same meridian that started from that star, arrives at the sun in 365d. 5h. 48m. 57 seconds; which is 20m. 17" short of the sidereal year; consequently, our axis must either have fallen towards the sun, or the sun must have moved forwards in its orbit to meet the meridian line 50" of a degree, or 20′ 17′′ sooner, than in the preceding year it parted from it. Now as I have hinted before, the sun may as reasonably have an orbit as any of the other heavenly bodies. I shall here delineate it on a diagram as well as I can within the compass of your paper, describing one of his revolutions to be in 25,920 of our years, and lastly, as the sun in moving forward in its orbit meets the meridian on the equinoctial 50" of a degree before it arrives at the complement of the sideral year, it causes the signs apparently to move forward, by our earth's nodes, like the moon's nodes, shifting backwards contrary to the order of the signs. I am, Sir, etc. Andover, Dec. 2, 1839. W. W. HEATH. P.S. I have no intention of entering into any controversy upon the subject of this article. W. W. H. PROPOSITION TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC IN A Mr. C. Green has published the following statement of the grounds upon which he founds his assertion of the possibility of making a journey in a balloon from New York, across the Atlantic, to Europe. He states, that balloons inflated with carburetted hydrogen, or common coal gas, will retain this fluid unimpaired in its buoyancy, 185 and very slightly diminished in quantity, for a great length of time; whilst, on the contrary, the pure hydrogen is so subtile a gas, and capable of so great a degree of tenuity, as to escape through the imperceptible pores of the silk, whether prepared in the ordinary manner, or by means of dissolved India rubber. These facts are the result of observations made during 275 ascents; on many of these occasions a smaller balloon has been filled by a neighbouring gas works, and has been brought a distance of five or six miles to fill that in which he intended to ascend, containing, in many instances, its contents nearly the same in quantity and quality for nearly a week. The aeronaut has travelled 2,900 miles with the same supply of gas, and could have continued its use for three months, if necessary. As to making a voyage from America to Europe, Mr. Green dates its possibility from the following facts-On all occasions in which the balloons in which he or other aeronauts had gained an altitude beyond the lower current of air, or land breezes, they found one uniform current of air coming from the Atlantic, and blowing west, north-west, or west by north, whilst the under winds, from different causes, were blowing from points completely at variance with the above; the ascent of the machine into these upper currents is perfectly easy, and the same altitude may be kept for an indefinite time with equal facility. In 1836, Mr. Green made a proposition at Paris to cross the Atlantic in a balloon, when he received a letter from Admiral Sir Sydney Smith, confirming his observations as to the directions of upper currents, and in which that gallant officer states his conviction of the safety of the proposed undertaking, and his readiness to accompany the aeronaut from New York to Europe in his balloon. It must be kept in mind that a balloon is not borne along as is a ship, by the force of the wind, having to overcome the impediment interposed by passing through a denser element like the water, but is a body lighter than the air itself in which it floats, and is wafted at the same speed as the air itself travels, as if it were part of the moving body. The wide expanse of sea offers no impediment to the undertaking, and a machine as large as the Nassau balloon could easily be fitted up for the reception of three persons, and victualled for three or four months if necessary. The machine could be lowered to the earth and ascend as often as it pleased the voyagers, by the adoption of the same plans as those used in the voyage to Germany. Mr. Green, having established the facts of a current of air continually passing round the earth in the direction of west-north-west, Fig. 1, in the accompanying drawing, is a side view of said piston for a horizontal engine. Fig. 2, is a vertical section through its middle, and fig. 3, a view of the interior, the front plate being removed: a, a, are hoops, or flat rings, of steel, or other metal, one within another, divided so as to allow them to adapt themselves by their elasticity to the interior of the cylinder; b, b, fig. 3, are set screws which are intended to keep the segments of the interior hoop, when divided into segments, in place, they are tapped into the hub, or centre c, c, of the piston. In fig. 2 and 3, d, d, are the valves opening inwards, one of them only being shown in fig. 3; the other being attached to the front plate; e, e, is the chamber within the piston into which the steam is admitted, and within which it acts upon the interior of the packing, forcing it against the cylinder, and counteracting its tendency to pass between the two. What I claim as constituting my invention, is the employment or two valves, one in the upper or front plate, and the other in the lower or back plate, of the piston, to admit steam on either side, in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth, without confining myself to the particular form of the valves, or to the position of the cylinder, whether vertical or horizontal. STEAM BOILER, Ellis L. Horton, Hartford Connecticut.-The exterior form of my boiler is that of the ordinary cylinder, but within this I place what I denominate a movable steain reservoir, or chamber, which occupies a large portion of the space within the cylinder, but between which and the eylinder there is to be a stratum of water of three or four inches, more or less, which is exposed to the direct action of the fire upon the outer case, or cylinder; by which means, as experience has shown, the generation of steam is augmented, whilst the quantity of water to be carried is much diminished. In the accompanying drawing 1, fig.shows the exterior of the boiler. Fig. 2, a side view of the reservoir. Fig 3 an end view of the same, and fig. 4, a cross section of the boiler, and of the reservoir within it. The reservoir is suspended, centrically, within the cylindrical case, or boiler, by the shafts, or pivots a and b. The main body of it is cylindrical, as shown in the section fig. 3; on its upper side it is open from c, to d. which opening extends its whole length, and is of sufficient width to allow a man to pass into it from the man hole in the boiler, for the purpose of cleaning or repairing either the boiler or reservoir; there are projecting sides along the opening, as shown in the figures, and these are to rise so as nearly to touch the inside of the boiler. A concave lid, shown by the dotted line e, is hung on centres on one side, as at c, this is made of the same curvature with the reservoir, in order that it may be folded back within it, and occupy but little room. When raised up, it forms a channel to carry off any water which may foam over the sides of, and would otherwise pass into, the reservoir. A pipe rises from the lid e, and is shown by the dotted lines f; this prevents the running of water into the boiler through the opening, or openings, which must necessarily be left in it for the passage of steam. In boilers where the water does not foam, the lid e, may be omitted. The shaft a of the reservoir is hollow, and passes through a stuffing box g, in the boiler head. It is made square at its outer end, where the requisite power may be applied to turn it round when required. A tube, or pipe h, i, passes through the hollow shaft, and is bent twice at right angles as shown in the drawing; it reaches down nearly to the bottom of the reservoir at h, and has a stop 3 cock at i, by which it may be opened or closed at pleasure; by means of this device an opportunity is afforded of blowing off any water which may accumulate in the reservoir from the condensation of steam, or from any other cause. j is the steam drum, and k, k, the water space between the reservoir and the boiler. In each of these figures like parts are designated by the same letters of reference. It will be seen that the close approach of the side of the open part of the reservoir, to the cylindrical boiler, will tend to prevent the passing of water into it, even where the foaming is considerable. I will remark, however, that if it is at any time preferred to use this boiler without employing the reservoir as a steam chamber, it may be advantageously done, water being allowed to rise in the reservoir to the ordinary water line of a boiler; and I have found that when so used steam is still generated with greater rapidity than in cylindrical boilers without such an appendage. When thus used the pipe h, i, may be employed as a supply pipe, and the water injected through it, will have much less effect in checking the supply of steam than when injected directly into the boiler. Having thus fully made known the manner in which I construct my improved cylindrical steam boiler, I now declare that what I claim as my invention, and wish to secure by letters patent, is the construction and use of the moveable reservoir, suspended upon pivots, or gudgeons, and made, and operating, substantially in the manner herein set forth. |