We ought not to omit to state, that Mr. Gurney took out a patent at the same momentous period as the former, for a steam generating apparatus, which is faithfhlly described and illustrated by figures in the lath vol. of the London Journal of Arts. It consists of two different modifications ; one of them showing a boiler made of tubes bent into the form of the figure 8; and the other exhibits in its cross section a circle surmounted by two crescent-shaped chambers. We shall only notice those points which are claimed by the patentee as peculiar to his invention. The first is, emploent of wire-gauze to assist in con ducting the heat." 'I'hilv was previo recommended in all the scientific periodicals published about that period; ut its obvious inapplicability to pt.
pressure boilers, caused the practical men of the time to leave it to the o sophical experimenters from whom it originated; and Mr. Gurney soon found himself compelled to get rid of this original part of his invention. The second point is, "the formation of a boiler of tubes bent in peculiar curves." A reference to the specification will show that the meandering of the patentee's tubes causes them to describe every variety of curve • consequently, whatever bend or twist a boiler-maker may choose to give his tubes, must be an invasion of " Gurney's principle 1" Third, " the forming of partitions between plates, to form distinct This refers to a miserable, absurd, and useless imita tion of James's cylindrical boiler of tubes ! "separating the steam from the boiler in a vessel placed contiguous." This boasted improvement of the " separators" consists in a steam reservoir in a cola instead of a hot situation 1 .FVIh, " increasing the intensity of the furnace, and consuming the smoke by means of a blowing apparatus." For the effrontery of this claim it would be difficult to find a paralleL Sixth, " cleaning the inner =Ike of the boiler from incrustation by a chemical solvent." What! may none of his Majesty's lieges but Mr. Gurney employ the usual chemical solvents to dissolve a substance, wherever they may have occasion to do so t Expe rienced men will bear us out in the observation, that such processes as are here reinvented, were long befbre exploded as worse than useless. On this interesting point re are am informed by Dr. Lardner (Treatise, p. 255), "This method was and although its practical application was found to be attended with • culty in the hands of common workmen, Mr. Gurney was persuaded to adhere to it by the late Dr. Wollaston, until experience
proved the impossibility of getting it freetually performed, under the circum stances in which boilers are commonly used. Mr. Gurney then adopted a method of removing it by mechanical means. Opposite the mouths of the tubes, on the other side of the cylinders, are placed a number of holes, which, when the boiler is in use, are stopped by pieces of metal screwed into them. When the tubes require to be cleaned, these stoppers are removed, and an iron scraper is introduced through the holes into the tubes, which, being passed backwards and forwards, removes the deposit." This extract proves that Mr. Gurney not onlyabandoned his " tubes bent into peculiar curves,' likewise the " chemical solvent," which constituted his second and sixth claims. The seventh claim is for " an apparatus for regularly supplying the boiler with water," which was to be done by the familiar yet exploded mode of working simultaneously by a connecting rod, two cocks situated on the opposite ends of a water reservoir.
Having thus waded through, as quickly as possilde, the materia as well as the media: of this "happy series of inventions, they were denominated by a celebrated writer in the Times Newspaper, it is natural to inquire what became of them. Hitherto we have never met with, nor ever heard of, a single con trivance of Mr. Gurney's that was ever brought into permanent use, or had the slightest effect in advancing or improving the art of steam locomotion. It is unquestionable that many steames were built under his orders ; but so have many more been built, before an afterwards, by the expenditure of less money. We have seen what Mr. Gurney has claimed for himself in his speci fications ; that most of them were of too puerile and absurd a character to deserve even a trial ; and that the remainder were notoriously long before his time publicly in use. Surely a man who could descend to such gross quackery would not have omitted to claim something really beneficial in locomotion, had he invented it. The inference is unavoidable —that Mr. Gurney had no more to do with the invention of steam-carriages, than he had with the building of St. Paul's Cathedral. After the expenditure of many thousands of pounds, he brought out one of his manufacture, towards the close, we believe, of the year 1827. We shall annex a popular description of this carriage, which is extracted from a weekly journalpublished at that time.