ERICSSON, John.

Ericsson's Caloric Engine. Articles descriptive of the Caloric Ship Ericsson, and of her Trial Excursion of January 12th, 1853; taken from the Daily Journals of the City of New York.

54 pp. 8vo, orig. printed wrappers. Washington: Gideon, 1853. First edition. "A rare collection of newspaper articles concerning the engine and the trial excursion of the caloric ship John Ericsson. The ship's huge engine was designed to develop 1,000 horsepower, a design doomed from the start, for the engine in fact produced only 300 horsepower. After a premature failure, the engine was secretly replaced by a steam engine and shortly afterwards the vessel sank with all hands... "This engineer and inventor was born in the province of Vermland, Sweden. The financial ruin of his father prevented him from attending the university, and he became a naval engineer like his brother, later transferring to the army as an artillery officer. In his spare time he pursued studies in engineering, mathematics, chemistry, and English. In 1826, Ericsson moved to England, where he went into partnership with John Braithwaite, the firm building boilers, refrigerators, condensors, and the first English steam-operated fire engine. Over the next years he invented a rotary steam engine, a marine engine, and a screw propellor, which he patented in 1836. An enduring obsession of Ericsson's was the idea of a hot-air engine, which would produce energy from almost nothing. Frustrated in attempts to interest the British Admiralty in this 'caloric' engine or in his screw propellor, Ericsson emigrated to the United States in 1839... "Finding the U.S. Navy more sympathetic to his designs, Ericsson designed much of the U.S.S. Princeton, the first screw-propelled warship, and designed and built the famous semi-submerged ironclad warship, the Monitor, for the U.S. Navy in 1861. He was also able to build his caloric ship, which, in spite of its failure, enabled him to see three thousand of his hot-air engines installed. His later years were devoted to the exploration of such energy resources as solar, tidal, wind, and gravitational power."­Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, p. 102. Fine copy, preserved in a calf-backed box. Ex Bibliotheca Mechanica.

• USD 950.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: HillBibl-952

• bookseller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc. (USA)