THE STEAM ENGINE FOR PRACTICAL MEN. CONTAINING A THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE VARIOUS RULES GIVEN IN THE WORK, AND SEVERAL USEFUL TABLES. JOINTLY WRITTEN BY JAMES HANN, A.I.C.E., MATHEMATICAL MASTER OF KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE; AND PLACIDO AND JUSTO GENER, CIVIL ENGINEERS. LONDON: E. & F. N. SPON, 16, BUCKLERSBURY. PARIS: F. L. MATHIAS, QUAI MALAQUAIS, 15. 1854. PREFACE. THE books which till now have appeared written for practical men, have either been exclusively devoted to practice, or have contained both theory and practice intermixed. Both systems we consider vicious, the first as not affording to the practical man the means of investigating by himself the formulæ from which the rules have been deduced, the second as puzzling the purely practical mind by the introduction of intricate formulæ where he seeks only for practice and practical rules. In the present treatise, we are inclined to think all this has been obviated. The First Part does not contain a single formula; the practical man will here find nothing but rules and their immediate application, an example, or more, being always given after each rule. The Second Part has been exclusively devoted to the theoretical investigation of the rules given in the First Part. And in the Appendix we have mixed both theory and practice, on subjects of minor importance. The numerous accidents that have lately happened by the frequent explosions of steam boilers, has led us to enter rather fully into the discussion of this important subject. We wish to call the attention of the public to the fact, that boilers rarely, if ever, explode except through the want of water in them. The well-known engineer, Mr. Fairbairn, of Manchester, has lately written an b |