The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

42 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [January,
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HARTFORD, JANUARY 15, 1893.
J. M. Allen, Editor. A. D. Risteen, Associate EdMor.
The Locomotive can he obtained free by calling at any of the companyh agencies.
Subscription piice 50 cents per year when mailed from this office.
Bound volumes one dollar each. {Any volume can be supplied.)
Papers that borrow cuts from us will do us a favor if they will mark them plainly in returning
so that we may give proper credit on our books.
Bound volumes of The Locomotive for the year 1892 will be ready shortly.
Copies will be sent to any address, postage prepaid, upon receipt of one dollar.
The annual report of tlie chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering (U. S. Navy
Department) for 1893, is at hand. In addition to the report proper, which is of the
usual character, there are three appendixes, the first of wliic^h gives details of a series of
evaporative tests of a boiler for the ferry launch at the Portsmouth (N. H.) navy yard.
The second appendix, which is of more general interest, gives an account of a series of
tests of copper pipes, to determine the influence that banding them has upon their
bursting pressure, and also to determine the effect of various thicknesses of material and
temperatures of brazing upon the strength of the seam, and of the material adjacent to
it. Appendix G contains an account of speed and power trials of the United States tugs
Wahneta, Iwnna,, and Narl-eeta.
Mr. Emory Edwards has favored us with a copy of his new book, Tlte American
Steam Engineer, which we have read with much interest. Mr. Edwards discusses the
theory of the steam engine, the economical use of steam, tlie design and setting of slide-
valves, the proportions and construction of engines, and many other important subjects.
He also gives considerable information about boilers, touching upon their design, their
efficiency, and the various coverings that are applied to them. Several standard makes
of engine are also discussed in detail. The objection is often urged against American
books on engineering, that they devote too much valuable space to foreign practice;
but no one will say this of Mr. Edwards's book, which confines itself, as its name indi-
cates, to American practice. We heartily commend it to steam-users generally. (Pub-
lished by Henry Carey Baird & Co. of Philadelphia.)
In the Popular Science Monthly for January, 1893, there is a very interesting article
by Mr. Charles Lane Poor, about the "lost comet of Lexell," which was seen in 1770,
but has since disappeared. An elaborate mathematical analysis of the motion of this
comet has shown its history to be as follows: Previous to 1767 it was moving through
space along a path that, so far as we know, has never been fully investigated. In that
year it chanced to come very near to Jupiter, and the attraction of this giant planet for