On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The annexed' engravings are views of an improvement in Spark ArreBters, invented by Samuel Sweet, of New York City, who has taken measures to secure a patent. Figure 1 is a plan view, and fig. 2 is a ver tical section. The same letters refer to like parts. The superiority of this spark arrester over most others, consists in placing a deflector, B, strengthened by braces, J J, over the top of the smoke-pipe, with a partition, C, near the centre ot the outer case, 80 shaped as to direct the sparks to the bottom, while the force of the steam is' exerted up wards; The sparks falling beneath, through an opening, D, which is situ ated round the smoke-pipe and between it and the partition, C. The top of the spark arrest er consists er eight funnel-shaped sieves of wire-cloth, E F, which are sunk downwards with a circular opening, G, in the centre, which is covered with a valve, F. Tho) valve is so arran ge d that it can be opened or shut by the engineer, as required, by means of the rod, I, and lever, H, the said rod being placed with in reach outside the casing. By this arrange ment it will be perceived that it is utterly im possible for any sparks to issue out of the smoke-pipe, an evil that has hitherto been never completely prevented, and yet it is al ways in the power of the engineer to obtain a greater amount of draught, it required, by opening the valve in the manner pointed out. This however is not likely often to be required. Fig. 2. The arrester has been tested .on the Hud son River Railroad and on the Harlem, as well as some others, where the plan has given great satisfaction, and been eminently successful. This invention is so simple in its construc tion, that further explanation would be unne cessary. It is, however, worthy of notice that the steam, in passing out at the top, acts with force against the wire-cloth, and thus keeps it clean and free from any obstructions. The smoke is likewise, by the same arrange ment, allowed to ascend without being drawn into the current that catches the sparks. More information may be obtained by let ter addressed to the inventor.