Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of ContentsLord, John
Philosophy
Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of Contents
Lord, John
History
But the most cunningly devised of all mechanisms, the heart and brain,
must sooner or later tire and cease from their labors. The motive energy
becomes exhausted, and the mechanism must cease its work. So it was with
John Ericsson. In the first hour of the morning of March 8, 1889,
Ericsson died. This was within one day of the twenty-seventh anniversary
of the battle at Hampton Roads, the event with which the name of
Ericsson will always be associated, and which has given to it a
significance that will never be forgotten. His remains were first
interred in New York, and then, in 1890, in accordance with the request
of the Swedish Government, they were returned with impressive services
to his native land, where they now rest. In his death he received his
highest honors, for his remains were conveyed across the Atlantic by the
U.S.S. "Baltimore," one of the new ships of the navy specially detailed
for that service, and on both sides, in the United States and in Sweden,
the event was marked with every honor and ceremony which could indicate
the significance of his life and services for his adopted land and for
the world at large.
The two pieces of work which perhaps will be most permanently linked
with the name of Ericsson are the screw-propeller as a means of marine
propulsion, and the "Monitor" as a type of warship. In addition to
these, however, his life-work was rich in results which bore direct
relation to many other improvements in the broad field of marine
engineering and naval architecture. Of these a few of the more important
may be mentioned, such as the surface condenser, distiller, and
evaporator, forced draft for combustion, placing machinery of warships
below the water-line, and their protection by coal, ventilation by
fan-blowers, together with a vast variety of items involved in the
conception and design of the "Monitor" as a whole, and in his other
naval designs.
In order to appreciate the influence of Ericsson's life and work on the
field of marine construction, a brief glance may profitably be taken at
this branch of engineering work as it was before Ericsson's time, and as
it is now.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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