| Description | Written from 18 Duke Street, London. The letter provides an update on the work done on the paddle wheel engines and hull of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company's ship since Brunel's last report the previous month. The report describes the specific state of progress of the paddle engines being constructed by John Scott Russell and Brunel's anticipation of hearing that the work on the heavy wrought iron shafts and cranks are sufficiently advanced to make it worth his while to visit the factory in Glasgow as well as the relatively similar state of completeness of the screw engines being constructed by James Watt & Co. The letter also mentions the exact state of progress on the ship's hull and comments on the quantity of iron that has been ordered and is awaiting fixing. Finally the letter reports on Brunel's recent experiments on wood that has been treated with a newly patented formula intended to make it inflammable and his intention to continue experimenting to find a base wood that, when combined with the preparation, will result in complete inflammability and his intention to begin experiments relating to heating steam between the boilers and the engines and the effect of this additional heat and his wish that there were more examples of jacketed cylinders that they could use for experimental data. The letter finishes with an explanation of the difficulty of estimating the rate of future progress on the ship. |