The passenger steamers present a curious contrast to the sea-going steamers with which we are familiar. Not having to encounter the agitated surface of the ocean, they are supplied with neither rigging nor sails, are built exclusively with a view to speed, are slender and weak in their structure, with great length in proportion to their beam, and have but small draught of water. The position and form of the machinery are peculiar. The engines are placed on deck in a comparatively elevated situation. It is but rarely that two engines are used. A single engine placed in the centre of the deck drives a crank constructed on the axle of the enormous paddle-wheels, the magnitude of which, and the velocity imparted to them, enable them to perform the office of fly-wheels. These vessels, which are of great magnitude, are splendidly fitted up for the accommodation of passengers, and have been within the last ten or twelve years undergoing a gradual augmentation of magnitude, to which it would seem to be difficult to set a limit. In the following table, which we borrow from the work on _Railway Economy_, from which we have already derived so large a portion of our information, are given the dimensions and the details of fourteen of the principal steamers plying on the Hudson in the year 1838:-- |Length of deck. | |Breadth of beam. | | |Draught. | | | |Diameter of wheels. | | | | |Length of paddles. | | | | | |Depth of paddles. | | | | | | |Number of engines. | | | | | | | |Diameter of cylinder. | | | | | | | | |Length of stroke. | | | | | | | | | |Number of | | | | | | | | | |revolutions. | | | | | | | | | | |Part of stroke | | | | | | | | | | |at which steam Names. | | | | | | | | | | |is cut off. -------------+----+----+----+----+----+---+--+----+----+----+-----+ | ft.| ft.| ft.| ft.| ft.|ft.| | in.| ft.| | | Dewit Clinton| 230|28 |5·5 |21 |13·7|36 |1 |65 | 10 |29 |·75 | Champlain | 180|27 |5·5 |22 |15 |34 |2 |44 | 10 |27·5|·50 | Erie | 180|27 |5·5 |22 |15 |34 |2 |44 | 10 |27·5|·50 | North America| 200|30 |5 |21 |13 |30 |2 |44·5| 8 |24 |·50 | Independence | 148|26 | -- | -- | -- |-- |1 |44 | 10 | -- | -- | Albany | 212|26 | -- |24·5|14 |30 |1 |65 | -- |19 | -- | Swallow | 233|22·5|3·75|24 |11 |30 |1 |46 | -- |27 | -- | Rochester | 200|25 |3·75|23·5|10 |24 |1 |43 | 10 |28 | -- |