III. THE USEFULNESS.
§ 26. How useful and saving such a machine is, when made to draw water from great depths, can partly be realised by a study of the above account of the Hungarian machine. For although Mr Potter in the right of his imperial privilege and for his supervision enjoys a subsidy of 1968 gulden or 8000 and some 100 dahler copper a year, and wood is much more expensive in Hungary than in Sweden (a klafter or staf-rum of wood costs in Hungary I imperial gulden or 4 dahler 22 öre copper) whilst a horse-whim, which is unable to perform even 1/3 of the effect achieved by the fire-machine, costs 900 gulden a month, from which follows that the fire-machine, including the salary and subsidy enjoyed by Potter, does not even cost one half of this amount, namely 400 gulden, and that the mining district in Hungary is saving 2300 gulden every month or 27600 imperial gulden a year.
§ 27. Every horse-whim at Dannemora mine costs, including the whim-boys who drive and fill and empty the tubs, 16 dahler 16 öre copper--the cost for maintaining and repair of the whims, lines and tubs not included; 66 horse-whims consequently costs 1089 dahler per 24 hours which make 397485 dahler copper a year.
§ 28. From this can be seen how impossible it would be for us in Sweden to work any mine if our mines were as wet as the coal mines in England and Scotland, (At Seton, the estate in Scotland of the Earl of Winton, I saw 4 mills driven by the water which came out of a single level of a coal mine.) some of which are so flooded with water, that they keep 1,2,3 or 4 fire-machines busy day and night, though none of these machines is equal to the one at Dannemora. (However big may be the difference in power between 24, 25 26, 28, 33 and 36 inches cylinders, the cost of keeping these very different machines going will, as far as wood is concerned, be found to be almost the same, for I have found the machine in Hungary, which is only half the size of that at Dannemora, consumes almost the same amount of wood).
§ 29. Although the fire-machines in England and Scotland have been chiefly used until now for the purpose of saving coal-mines and other mines form being flooded, attempts have, however, also been made to used them for other and equally important and useful purposes which I will now endeavor to enumerate as far as my knowledge goes.
§ 30. In the very capital itself, London, a fire-machine has been constructed which provide over 500 many-storied houses with a supply of water for daily use, and this machine thus forms, as it were, an insurance against the event of fire in the Hannover square and vicinity in this way that the fire-machine keeps a big reservoir filled with several 1000 hogsheads of water, which from this reservoir is led through lead-pipes to all the above mentioned houses. In one of room of every floor, and usually in the kitchen, two short taps will be found in one corner of the room. One of the taps provides water for daily use, whilst the other, called the fire tap, is supposed to be turned on only in case of fire, when a leather-hose, which reaches all over the particular floor, is screwed on to the special threads at the end of the tap. As every house is in possession of such a tap, it is at the same time also in the possession of an effective mans to flood the whole floor and to put out a fire in a short time by means of a single hose, the effectiveness of which will,--on account of the high pressure in the pipes--prove to be grater tan some 100 squirts, even if they were supplied with plenty of water. It thus seems impossible, than any of the house could suffer any damage by fire--much less any of them be destroyed.
This London fire-machine has got one cylinder, 21/2 feet or 30 inches in diameter and 9 feet long. The boiler is oval, 8 feet wide, and 9 feet long.
The reservoir, to which the machine supplies water by means of force-work, is raised 124 feet vertically from the water-level of the Thames. Anybody wishing further information concerning this fire-machine can get it from Joh. Friderici Weidleri Tractatus de Machinis Hydraulicis toto Terrarum orbe maximis Marlyensi et Londinensi, printed in Wittemberg 1729.
§ 31. Although this London machine is only 1/3 of the Dannemora one, the above mentioned author refers to it on page 77 in this way: Hanc Machinam hidraulicam Londinesem, alteram toto terrarum orbe maximam post Marlyensem recte censeri et aquarum, quas haurit, copia insigni hucusque disserui.
§ 32. In the Year 1730 the Kind of England granted a privilege to John Allen, a Doctor in Medicine, concerning an invention by means of which it would be possible to give ship in smooth and calm waters the same pace as it would have a in a top gallant breeze. And it seems to be his firm opinion, to judge from his printed account, (Specimina Ichongraphica, or a brief narrative of seueral new inventions and experiments for all which His Majesty has granted His letters Pattents to John Allen, M.D., London, printed for Innys at the westend S. Pauls, 1730.) that he will be able indeed to realise what he had promised and boldly refutes any and even the most weighty animadversions which it would be possible to bring forward against it.
And, if rumors are to be believed, a frigate left for the West Indies with this invention on board.
Should this invention be brought to perfection, the English nation would certainly be able to make use of it as far as navigation is concerned as well as in sea-actions, for a long time before other nations could utilise it, for the simple reason that it cannot be thought easier for anyone to run away with the art of how to build fire-machines on board a ship than to build them in mines.
§ 33. Outside Great Britain there have, as far as I know, been constructed only 4 fire-machines in the whole of Europe, the first on at Liége, the second in the garden of the Prince of Swartzenburg in Vienna, the third in Hungary, and the fourth at Dannemora mines.
§ 34. The fire-machine in the vicinity of Liége draws water from a coal mine; But the one in Vienna supplies the fountains with water, as Professor Weilderus describes In the above mentioned treatise pages 91 & 92.
§ 35. Though the big dock at Carlscrona has not got its like in the world, (The dock at Carlscrona possesses many advantages even over those which need not be pumped and can only be used in countries with tides, for no ship is able to enter any dock in England, except at high tide (called spring tides); the big ships being sometimes forced to wait for two months, whilst the biggest men-of-war can be taken any day into the dock at Carlscrona; this dock being built of a material which cannot decay, nor does the dock require repair to the same extent as the English docks, with many other advantages not to be mentioned. I wish to God we had had this dock 40 years ago! Our navy would now have numbered 20 men-of-war of the first class, which have been left to sink in the harbor. The dock has, however, already repaid many times its cost, for eight big men-of-war have already been repaired in it instead of having been left to meet the same fate as the 20 ships already mentioned.) there is no doubt that its importance could be doubled, if a fire-machine were installed in it, which would at a very small cost empty the dock of water in 8 or 12 hours, in case a man of war should be laid up for repair.
This work has now to be done by 600 men, working for three whole days and nights / which not only causes a great expense but in time of war may prove a great inconvenience when an hours gain may outweigh a whole year.
Furthermore the difference in cost will not be small, considering the cost of 600 men in 72 hours; (According to the latest information 300 men are now being used bay and night for pumping the dock. This makes altogether 600 men who are chiefly drawn from the provinces, in addition to which the marching and other expenses have also to be taken into account.) though the men employed by the state do not get the same pay as ordinary laborers, the amount of work will anyhow equal 1800 working-days, because the men are kept at work day and night, whilst a fire-machine does not require more than two men to look after it and a small quantity of coal and oak chips, of which there will always be an abundance at the wharfs of Carlscrona.
That the dock at Carlscrona could be emptied within such a short space as 8 or 12 hours and the machine made to draw about 9000 tunnor water per hour can be proved in the following way:
The fire-machine at Dannemora is drawing 630 tunnor in an hour from a depth of 30 fathoms, when only half of its power is being used, as is shown on page 24. The depth of the dock being only 1/6 of the mine, it follows that the machine, instead of drawing water out of a 9 inch pump, would be able to draw water of six 9 inch pumps, not spending more energy than by working one pump at Dannemora.
As however the power of the machine is twice its weight, it follows that if the machine is allowed to utilize its entire power, it would be able to draw water out of the dock by more than 12 nine inch pumps; for as the power of the fire-machine (as has been already proved) is equal to 53 skeppund 18 lipsunds 15 marcker victualie-weight; and the weight of the water-columns in 12 nine inch pumps, each 30 feet high, is only 13500 skålpund or 33 skeppund, 15 lispund, v. weight, it will be found by subtraction of this weight or pondus from the power, 53 skeppund, 18 lispund, 15 marcker, that a surplus of 20 skeppund, 3 lispund, 15 marcker remains.
So that the machine could work 14 nine-inch pumps, which would be able to deliver 8820 tunnor water per hour.
If such a machine were installed in the big dock at Carlscrona it could easily, by a system of transmission rods, be made to serve the smaller dock which is now being dug by gunpowder and shovel, though certain reason forbid me to give more details at present on this subject.
I cannot, however, refrain from mentioning that I have quite recently inspected a dock under construction where neither powder nor shovel were being used. (Denmark has more than 40 years been seriously considering the possibility of getting a dock a Copenhagen, but all the costly attempts made to realize this project have so far failed.)
§ 36. Besides, I leave it to everybody to decide how very useful and necessary it would be, both for the authorities as well as for every private person if we in Stockholm had a big and much frequented harbor with two or more docks.
§ 37. Let me now finally briefly mention for how many useful purposes, outside the above-mentioned, fire-machines might be used, and all the advantages which this our fire-machine possess before all other inventions and artifices, in consideration of its wonderful might and power, as well as its durability.
§ 38. In case such a machine were installed as the Söder Sluss, it could not only render an incomparable service when the locks had to be repaired, because one could easily do with less damming, but also, however leaky it might be, a fire-machine capable of drawing so many 1000 tunnor of water per hour, would quite well be able to keep the locks clear from water, for as long a period as it was found necessary.
In the meantime the fire-machine could easily provide all the houses in the city itself with water every day in the same way as the fire-machine in London is doing as has already been described. (Many household which now keep two servants because of all the toil they have in bring water home for daily use, could easily do with only one servant. What however merits a more serious reflection is the fact that all the houses and premises in the city (as has occurred in London) would increase 1/3 or 1/2 in value, became the safer a property is, the higher is its value.)
Circumstances will be found to be exceptionally favourable at present, as the open space between the shops at the locks and the fishing house is the very place for building a tower with a reservoir from which all the houses in the city could nor only be furnished with water daily but also saved from fire when this institution would be turned into an insurance office in the same way as in London.
§ 39. Another similar fire-machine could also be in stalled at Norr-Malms Torg and Ströommen, and a reservoir could be placed at Brunkeberg ( Brunke-berg seems to be destined by nature for this purpose and would save half of this expense, as the foundation for such a reservoir would cost at least as much as the rest of the whole fabric and could nevertheless not be made be hands to last for ever. A watch-tower could also be built on the top of the last reservoir.) to which the machine would supply water and keep it always filled and from which water could be supplied to any place and especially to the Royal Palace, and the houses at Norr-Malm.
§ 40. Speaking of the Royal Palace makes me shudder when I think that this, one of the finest palaces in Europe, could easily be turned into a torch for the whole of Stockholm (which God forbid). This may happen at any time if precautions are not taken , so that in case of accidental fire sufficient water can be had high up under the very roof: the insufficiency on this point being the true cause of the destruction of the old palace.
God and nature having given us means at hand to defend this magnificent building and to save it from destruction, as has been shown (in an irrefutable way); it seems also to be our supreme duty to make the building secure and safeguard the great cost.
§ 41. There are towns in which dear Fatherland so marvellously and wonderfully situated that it would be an easy thing to install constantly playing fountains and conduits with running water in all the open places without any special artifice, and to furnish all the houses with the same advantages as the new houses at Hannover Square in London, as we have already mentioned in § 30; so that they could never be ruined by fire:
God knows how many! Within man's memory certainly too many, yes, I dare say most of towns in Sweden have been reduced to ashes by fire.
To be brief--I am trying to do my best this time in this respect--I shall only mention the situation of Norkiöping, which town has been favoured by nature in such a way that, even without the installation of any machine, a jet d' eau or a fountain could easily be constructed in the market place, from which water would right high up in the air to a level with the bells in the tower of the German church; every house could further more in addition to this be drenched with water in case of fire.
How much the public has suffered within forty years alone, not to mention all the property which the unfortunate inhabitants have lost because of these fatal fires, only those would be able to calculate who have had an opportunity to ascertain the exact amount of the rebate in the levies which the crown has been forced to concede to these ill-fated towns, and this moreover often when the crown has been engaged in a heavy war and the rest of the citizens of the realm has had to bear much heavier burdens.
In looking about in Europe, it would indeed be very difficult to find a town or city of any importance, where works of art and artifices were not decorating the open places and supplying the town with running water from fountains and the houses with a sufficient supply of water in case of fire.
We need not go further than to Strahslund, where a horse whim (The great damage which fire has caused to the city of Stockholm in 40 years time is not, however, to be ascribed only to the lack of good and excellent arrangements, for the Honorable Fire-Commission has certainly done its best, the damage would, however, have been still less if a sufficient supply of water had been accessible at all the places where fire has broken out; for all the squirts in the world are useless if the supply of water runs short and the fire is allowed to get the upper-hand whilst waiting for water.) is supplying a fountain, and every house-owner is entitled to all the benefits I have been describing for the payment of 1/2 a rixdahler every quarter.
A fire-machine of the size of the Swartzenburg one in Vienna is able to throw water perpendicularly 10 or 12 fathoms, and supply 8 or 10 fountains. A bigger one would, of course, be needed in case a city has to be furnished not only with such artifices but also with constantly running fountains or conduits. (It is well know to everyone acquainted with old Roman history what enormous amounts the Romans spend on building aqueducts.)
§ 42. The fire-machines can also be applied to all kinds of mills, e.g. grain- and saw-mills, in shipbuilding yards, and in fortresses, and generally in all places where there are no waterfalls. Item, in mining districts to supply blast-furnaces where there is plenty of wood and iron but no waterfall; equally to forges or tilt-hammers. Boggy and marshy countries could be drained by quite a small fire-machine, whilst on the other hand dry countries could be irrigated.
§ 43. We now come to the advantages which this machine possesses before all other contrivances and to the actual power which it is able to develop.
It is to be considered that this machine differs from all the other instruments which derive their power from water and winds, as for instance water wheels and wind-mills which are contrivances or artifices depending for their movement upon running or falling water and cannot thus be placed where there are no streams and waterfalls; but even where these conditions exist it will be seen that only a certain part of the power of water can be utilized, and this will never be increased by an attempt to make to the water-wheels wider or higher; for if they are made higher this rule will hold good: that what is gained in power will necessarily be lost in time.
§ 44. It thus happens that charlatans without any experience of knowledge of the principles of mechanics, at millers and other bunglers and fumblers, often put forward similar pernicious propositions, which are just as impossible and wild as if somebody undertook to increase the weight of one lod silver of gold, only by beating and hammering and flattening it out in length and width, nay, by forming it into all kinds of shapes and figures, which will not, of course, have any increasing effect upon the weight, perhaps on the contrary decrease it, but just leave it on one lod of silver or gold.
The same reasoning applies to the following case:
If you have a certain quantity of water enclosed in a dam and think you will be able to get more power out of this quantity if you double the width of the water-wheel the result will be that the wheel also requires a double amount of water, so that if the same quantity of water proved sufficient to keep the wheel running for a whole year it will now be able to keep the larger wheel going for only half this time. (We never able to praise the benign God sufficiently for his kindness in placing the most important mines in our dear fatherland in such advantageous situation that food access to streams and waterfalls will be found in their vicinity from which power can be transferred by a system of rods to the mines, which means will, however, prove insufficient fro grater depths. We have, for example, enough of good veins and mines which have been deserted on account of the insufficiency of the water power or the means of transmitting it. In other mines, as the old east silver mines in the parish of Tuna, our forefathers did not see any other way of drawing water out of a great depth than by the means of horses, upon the cost of which I have already enlarged in § 27.)
§ 45. The case with our fire-machine is, however, quite different, for it can be installed on mountains as well as in the deepest valleys, nay, everywhere in this world whether there are mines or other useful purposes to be served; for the air surrounds the whole of our globe; where metals and mines are to found there is also fuel in one form or another, be it wood, coal or peat.
§ 46. The size or power of the machine can always be accommodated to the depth. Should a 36 inches cylinder prove insufficient, it can, of course, be replaced by one of 48 inches, the power of which is equal to 96 skeepund, 3 lispund, 12 marker; and where one machine is not enough, two or more may be installed; it is, besides, marvellous to think that if I increase the width of my cylinder the power of the machine will be correspondingly increased which quality no machine or artifice which this world has yet invented can claim to posses; compared to the fire-machine they may be looked upon as simple implements or tools, upon which the power in the form of the weight of the water is brought to bear, pushing or pressing,--or the force of the air when in strong motion, or the force of human and other creatures.
§ 47. The fire-machine is not only a tool, whereupon a very great force is brought to bear, but also the means by which this force is created, so that it can be said with good reason that all the other artifices compared to the fire-machine are merely simple tools which a craftsman is using. (A 'luna' or handspike which the Dahlecarians use for lifting anything heavy is really the model and foundation upon which all other moveable works of machines are built. But the principles according to which the fire-machine has been constructed, are derived one-third from natural science, and just as all the so called elements have their duty to perform in the fire-machines, so will also all the metals be found in it, just in the same way as fold will be found in our copper and silver in our lead. The difference between a man and the tool he is using is almost as great as between all the other artifices and the fire-machine, both in consideration of its structure and the power as well as the ways in which this power can be applied.
§ 48. As to the durability of this machine it certainly possesses no small advantages over all other artifices; because the noblest parts of the machine are made of metal, copper, lead or iron, and ought thus, as a matter of course, to be able to defy time, nay, a cylinder, after a hundred and even a thousand years' use, is better, and never can be worse.
§ 49. The whole of the machine is encase in, and well covered by a strong and solid stone-building, so that scarcely any or no repairs will be needed for one generation.
§ 50. In comparison, all other artifices are subject to much friction and wear, and although the wheel with the rod-system is generally provided with a house, not many years will pass before the house and the wheel will decay, the rod system having generally to be renewed every tenth year, not to speak of the pumps which, constructed in the old way, require much repair, especially as the leather is soon worn out, thus causing the effect to be gradually diminished, because no metal barrels are being used.