laJ v^, n2- S>>. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) :/. k 1.0 I.I 1.25 |5^ MPS M 2.0 u III;; 1.6 V] "^i ^h ■', % > b. ''^ *. % ?> /^ ■w ^ f o w / ■15/ Pk)tographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 145bO (716) 873-4503 ,\ iV ^^ 'L*- ..<^ <(!!.^ ri; I* .- <^ ■>"•* '■trimXtigSim I irriiiiwiiiifwtiiiniinmiiiiiiinrii wsm^sma^ SI i ADDRESS. You have assombled in convention for the first time, outside the limits of the United States, and I congratuhitc you on tlie selection of this beautiful city, in which, and its immediate neighborhood, there are so manv interesting: eni»:ineerin of the conntry Clime other rei|nirt'ment.>. The i'arliest ap])lication of water-po.ver to ner;d mannfacturin^' |)nr[)oses. ap[)ears to have heen at Paterson, New Jersey, where •• The Society lor Kstahlishin;^' Usefnl Mannfuctiu'es" wiis foimed. in the yeni- IT'.M. The l*;iss;dc lliver at this point fnrnishes. when at mlnimnm. ahoiit eleven hundred horse-power, eontinn«)iisly. ni^ht and s of walcc on tlio ii|)ii«'r Mississij)!)! and its hiatu'iii's. It \voni» r^mm 9 onliniU'v motors. 'I'lic lull iiiav Ik' loo siiiiill to he iililizi'd l)_\ llic onl,, .iv motors; the site wliere till! power is wanted may \n: too distant I'rom the waterfall, or it may In- desired to disti-ihiite the power ill small amounts at distant points. A method ol' compressing; air hy means of a fall of water, has heen devised hy Mr. .Josei)h 1*. Frizell, C. K.,oi St. I'aul, Minnesota, wliieh from the extreme simplieity of the apparatus promises to (ind useful a})plications.* The principle on which it operates is hy carryin;^' the air in small huhl)les in a eurrent of water down a vertical shaft, to the depth ^'ivin^- » the desired compression, then through a horizontal passage in which the huhhies rise into a reservoir near the top of this passage, the water passing on and rising in another vertical or inclined passage, at the top of which it is discharged, of course at ii lower level than it entered the lirst shaft. The formation at waterfalls is usually rock, which would enahle the passages and the reservoir for collecting the compressed air to he formed hy simple excavations, with no other apparatus than that re(|ulre(l to ''liarjic the descending column of water with the huhhies of air, which can he done hy throwing the water into violent commotion at its entrance, and a pipe and valve for the delivery of the air from the reservoir. The transfer of power hy electricity is one of the [)rohlems now engaging the attention of electricians, and it is now done in Eui'ope in a small •Joiirniil 111' till- l''i:uiUliii InsliliiU' Idr Soiitcmbi'r, laTI ' 4 M UiW'tM ia «" ». KT i Fi i aS*;: 10 A-'- wnv. Sir William riioinp^oii stiitod in ovidoiice beioro an Knn-lisli ['arliaiiiontiirv Coninultoe, two yoars ago, that he "' ioolu'd forward to the Falls of •• Niagara being extensively used for the production "of light and mechanical power over a large area of ''North America." and that a copper wire, half an inch in diameter, would transmit twenty-one thousand horse-power from Niagara to Montreal, Boston, New York or riiiladelphia. His statements appear to have been based on tneoretical considerations, but there is no longer any doubt as to the possibility of transferring power in this manner; its practicability for industrial purposes must be (k'termined by trial. Dr. Paget liiggs. a di>tinguished English electrician, is now experimenting on it in the City of New York. Great improvements in reaction watrr-wheels have been made in tlie Tniicd States within the last fortv vears. In the vear J8 11 the late Uriah Atherton I5oyden. a civil engineer of Massachusetts, connneuced the design and construction of Four- ne\'ron Turbines, in which he iiitroiliiccd various improvements and a genei'al |)erfi'ction of form and workman>hip, which enabled a larger per centage of the theoretical power of the watei' to l)e utilized than had been previously ntlained. The great results detained by Hoyib'U with water-wheels, made in his pe"fecr manner, and in some instauc<'s almost reuardless of cost, imdoulttediv stimulated others to atten)]»t to apj)roximate to these results at less cost, and there are now many forms of wheel of low cost, giving fully double the ])ower with the isanie » ♦ wm jMin'iinni — t-"-Tiri 11 consnniption of water, that was ohtaintMl from most of the older forms of wliccls of tlio sauu! class. x\NCI10K ICE. i A frequenl incoiivcniciice in tlie use water-])owor in cold climates is tliiit j)eculiar form of ice called anchor or txround ice. it adheres to stones, gravel, wood Jind (.tlier substances formini;- the beds of streams, the channels of conduits, and orifices throuii'li which water is drawn ; sometimes raising the level of water courses many feet by its accumulation on the bed. and entirelv (dosinu; small orifices throuuch which water is drawn for industrial purposes. I have been for many years in a position to observe its effects, and the conditions under which it is formed. The essential conditions ar(>. that the temperature of the water is nt its frce/ing point, and that of the air btdow tluit point : the surface of the water must be exposed to the air, and there must be a current in the water. The ice is formed in small needles on t!ie surface which would remain there and for^n a sheet if the surface was not too nuudi agitated, except for a current or movement in the body of water sutlicient to maintain it in a constant state of intermixture. Kven when llowing in a regular channel, there is a continued interchiinge of ])osition of the different parts of a stream : the rettirdation t)f the l)ed causes variations in the velocity, whi(di produce Avhirls and ./ Br I .*- I'- 12 eiHios and a <::enoral instability in the niovoniont of the water in different parts of the section. The result being that the water at the bottom soon finds its way to the surface, and the reverse. 1 found by experiments on straight canals, in earth and masonry, that colored water discharged at the bottom, reached the surface at distances varying from ten to thirty times the depth.* In natural water-courses, in which the beds are always more or less irregular, the disturbance would be much greater. The result is that the water at the surface of a rumiing stream does not renuiin there, and when it leaves the surface it carries with it the needles of ice. the specific gravity of which differs but little from that of the water, which combined with their small si/e, allows them to be carried by the currents of water in alnujst any direction. The converse effect takes place in muddy streams. The mud is app;u-ently held in suspension, but is only prevented from subsiding by the constant intermixture of the dilTerent parts of the stream. When the current ceases the mud sinks to the bottom; the earthy particles composing it being heavier than water, would sink in still water in times inversely projiortional to their size and specific o-ravitv. This, T think, is a satisfactory explanation of the manner in wlTuih the ice formed at the surface finds its way to the bottom. Its adherence; to the bottom, I think, is explained by the phenomenon of reyelatlon^ 1 •Paper CLX. in the Tr:n)sa<'ti(ins nt Um' Sdcifly, 1^78. Vol. vii.; pages 109— 1C8. 13 first, observed by Faraday. He found that when the wetted surfaces of two pieces of ice were pressed together they froze together, and that this took phice under water even when above the freezing point. Professor James D. Forbes found that the same thing occurred by mere contact, without pressiu'c, and that ice would become attached to other substances in a simihar manner. RegeLition was observed by these philosophers in carefully arranged experiments, with prepared surfaces fitting togetlier accurately, and kept in contact sufficiently long to allow the freezing together to take place. In nature these favorable conditions would seldom occur in the masses of ice commonly observed ; but we must admit, on the evidence of the recorded experiments, that under particular circumstances pieces of ice will freeze together, or adhere to other substances, in situations where there can be no abstraction of h(>at. When a piece of ice, of considerable size, comes in contact, under water, with ice or other substance, it would usually touch in an area very small in proportion to its mass; and other forces acting upon it, and tending to move it, would usually exceed tlie freezing'- force and regelation would not take place. In the minute needles formed at the surface of the water, the tendency to adhere would be much the siime as in larger masses touching at points only, wliile the external forces acting upon them would be extremely small in proportion, and regela- tion would oftt'u occur, and of the immense number of the needles of ice formed at the surface, enough 14 would adhere to produce the effect which wo observe, and call anchor ice.' The adherence of the ice to the bed of the stream, or other objects, is always down stream from the place where they are formed. In large streams it is frequently many miles below. A large part of them do not become fixed, but as they come in contact with each other, relegate and form spongy masses, often of a considerable size, which drift along witli the current, and are often troublesome impediments to the use of water-power. Water-powers supplied directly from ponds, or rivers or canals frozen over for a Ion*'* distance inmiediately above the places from which the water is drawn, are not usuallv troubled with anchor ice, which, as I have stated, requires o])en water up-stream for its formation. i i 1 i » ^' f *■ t * f .^«ai^!mv-