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Doc. 90.] 321
SWEDENBORG TO BENZELIUS,
The books of the Councillor of Commerce, Polhem ,14 must
be lying somewhere among my papers; as soon as they are found,
they ought to be sent back .
If I may safely send the continuation of the former paper,*
it shall be done as soon as possible, but I would not like to
leave anything sinistris arbitris (i. e. to unfair critics); for all
heads are not always exactly alike.
As a matter of curiosity, worth communicating, I subjoin
an extract from a letter which has recently been received
from Kohlmäter, who is at Newcastle, respecting a curious
pumping machine; he is an auscultant (i. e. assistant) in the
College of Mines.
COPY.
Just outside the town, a newly invented pumping machine
has been set up for the coal-mines, which are very liable to
be flooded with water, which is a great hindrance to them .
This work which was only completed six weeks ago, is an in
vention which is ingenious beyond measure, being driven by
means of fire and water. There is a large iron boiler, which
is covered above and has a very small hole in the top; in this
vessel water is boiled, and the whole machine is driven by
the steam , which comes out of the small hole above, and
which is so strong as to push up the handle of the pump ;
and in proportion as the blast is withdrawn, the opening draws
the pump or the handle down again ; for at one end of the
handle which causes this motion, there is a sort of churn or
drum , constructed of iron, like that in which butter is made,
and which is so tight that no air can press in at the sides
of the piston-rod, which goes inside the drum . This machine
can scarcely be described. Such a work would be of great
importance, in Sweden, in mines where there is no falling
water. It pumps out 400 hogsheads an hour, and may be
made to do still more ; it consumes about nine tons of
coal a day, and can descend as far as you please. Secre
tary Triwald’s brother, who is in the employment of Messrs.
Ridley, has promised to send a drawing, with full description,
to his brother in Stockholm .
* I. e. of the anatomical or anthropological treatise.
21
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