John Ericsson believed the sun's power could make nations wealthy without fossil fuels. The American Swedish Historical Museum houses his prototype.

They will have much to learn, and their knowledge will cost them too dear. An attempt to excel, materially, the reciprocating engine, in point of economy, by substituting a rotary, is chimerical.

0 0 This article was originally published with the title “The Friction of Steam Engines” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 23 No. 1 (July 1870), p. 4 doi:10.1038/scientificamerican07021870-4 ...