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diff --git a/35916-8.txt b/35916-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa65c0f --- /dev/null +++ b/35916-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15807 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine, by +Robert H. Thurston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine + +Author: Robert H. Thurston + +Release Date: April 19, 2011 [EBook #35916] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STEAM *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Harry Lamé and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: | + | | + | | + |Formatting and coding information: | + | - Text in italics is marked with underscores as in _text_. | + | - Bold-face text is marked =text=. | + | - Superscript x and subscript x are represented as ^{x} and _{x},| + | respectively. | + | - sqrt(x) represents the square root of x. | + | - [oe] and [OE] represent the oe-ligatures. | + | - Greek letters are written between square brackets, as in [tau] | + | or [theta]. | + | - Overlined 1 is represented as [=1]. | + | - [<] represents a 'rotated [Delta]'. | + | | + |General remarks: | + | - Footnotes have been moved to directly below the paragraph they | + | refer to. | + | - In-line multiple line formulas have been changed to in-line | + | single-line formulas, with brackets added when needed. | + | - The Table of Contents has been corrected to conform to the text| + | rather than to the original Table of Contents. | + | - The table on operating costs of trains gives 'Other expenses | + | per square mile.' This has been changed to 'Per mile' the same | + | as the other expenses. | + | - The table on dimensions of farm and road locomotives gives the | + | diameter of the boiler shell as 30 feet, which seems unlikely. | + | - Feet are sometimes used as unit of area, both knots and knots | + | per hour as unit of speed. | + | | + |Changes in text: | + | - Reference letters in the text have in several cases been | + | changed to conform to the letters used in the illustrations. | + | - Minor typographical errors have been corrected. | + | - Except when mentioned here, inconsistencies in spelling | + | and hyphenation have not been corrected. Exceptions: | + | 'Desagulier' to 'Desaguliers' | + | 'Séguin' to 'Seguin' | + | 'Goldworthy Gurney' to 'Goldsworthy Gurney' | + | 'Ctesibus' to 'Ctesibius' | + | 'i.e.' to 'i. e.' | + | 'Warmetheorie' to 'Wärmetheorie' | + | 'tour a tour' to 'tour à tour' | + | 'the beam passes to the' to 'the steam passes to the' | + | 'Desagulier' to 'Desaguliers' | + | 'éléver' to 'élever'. | + | - 'As early as 1743' moved to new paragraph. | + | - 'A = 6.264035' changed to 'a = 6.264035.' | + | | + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES. + + VOLUME XXIV. + + + + + THE + INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES. + + EACH BOOK COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, 12MO, AND BOUND IN CLOTH. + + +1. FORMS OF WATER: A Familiar Exposition of the Origin and Phenomena +of Glaciers. By J. TYNDALL, LL. D., F. R. S. With 25 Illustrations. +$1.50. + +2. 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APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. + + + + + [Illustration: THE GRECIAN IDEA OF THE STEAM-ENGINE.] + + + + + THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES. + + A HISTORY + OF THE + GROWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. + + BY + + ROBERT H. THURSTON, A. M., C. E., + + PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PAST + PRESIDENT AMERICAN SOCIETY MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, MEMBER OF SOCIETY + OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, SOCIÉTÉ DES INGÉNIEURS CIVILS, VEREIN + DEUTSCHE INGENIEURE, OESTERREICHISCHER INGENIEUR- UND + ARCHITEKTEN-VEREIN; ASSOCIATE BRITISH INSTITUTION + OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS, ETC., ETC. + + _SECOND REVISED EDITION._ + + NEW YORK: + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. + 1886. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1878, 1884, + BY ROBERT H. THURSTON. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This little work embodies the more generally interesting portions of +lectures first written for delivery at the STEVENS INSTITUTE OF +TECHNOLOGY, in the winter of 1871-'72, to a mixed audience, composed, +however, principally of engineers by profession, and of mechanics; it +comprises, also, some material prepared for other occasions. + +These lectures have been rewritten and considerably extended, and have +been given a form which is more appropriate to this method of +presentation of the subject. The account of the gradual development of +the philosophy of the steam-engine has been extended and considerably +changed, both in arrangement and in method. That part in which the +direction of improvement during the past history of the steam-engine, +the course which it is to-day taking, and the direction and limitation +of that improvement in the future, are traced, has been somewhat +modified to accord with the character of the revised work. + +The author has consulted a large number of authors in the course of +his work, and is very greatly indebted to several earlier writers. Of +these, Stuart[1] is entitled to particular mention. His "History" is +the earliest deserving the name; and his "Anecdotes" are of +exceedingly great interest and of equally great historical value. The +artistic and curious little sketches at the end of each chapter are +from John Stuart, as are, usually, the drawings of the older forms of +engines. + + [1] "History of the Steam-Engine," London, 1824. "Anecdotes of the + Steam-Engine," London, 1829. + +Greenwood's excellent translation of Hero, as edited by Bennett +Woodcroft (London, 1851), can be consulted by those who are curious to +learn more of that interesting old Greek treatise. + +Some valuable matter is from Farey,[2] who gives the most extended +account extant of Newcomen's and Watt's engines. The reader who +desires to know more of the life of Worcester, and more of the details +of his work, will find in the very complete biography of Dircks[3] all +that he can wish to learn of that great but unfortunate inventor. +Smiles's admirably written biography of Watt[4] gives an equally +interesting and complete account of the great mechanic and of his +partners; and Muirhead[5] furnishes us with a still more detailed +account of his inventions. + + [2] "Treatise on the Steam-Engine," London, 1827. + + [3] "Life, Times, and Scientific Labors of the Second Marquis of + Worcester," London, 1865. + + [4] "Lives of Boulton and Watt," London, 1865. + + [5] "Life of James Watt," D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1859. + "Mechanical Inventions of James Watt," London, 1854. + +For an account of the life and work of John Elder, the great pioneer +in the introduction of the now standard double-cylinder, or +"compound," engine, the student can consult a little biographical +sketch by Prof. Rankine, published soon after the death of Elder. + +The only published sketch of the history of the science of +thermo-dynamics, which plays so large a part of the philosophy of the +steam-engine, is that of Prof. Tait--a most valuable monograph. + +The section of this work which treats of the causes and the extent of +losses of heat in the steam-engine, and of the methods available, or +possibly available, to reduce the amount of this now immense waste of +heat, is, in some respects, quite new, and is equally novel in the +method of its presentation. The portraits with which the book is well +furnished are believed to be authentic, and, it is hoped, will lend +interest, if not adding to the real value of the work. + +Among other works which have been of great assistance to the author, +and will be found, perhaps, equally valuable to some of the readers of +this little treatise, are several to which reference has not been made +in the text. Among them the following are deserving of special +mention: Zeuner's "Wärmetheorie," the treatises of Stewart and of +Maxwell, and McCulloch's "Mechanical Theory of Heat," a short but +thoroughly logical and exact mathematical treatise; Cotterill's +"Steam-Engine considered as a Heat-Engine," a more extended work on +the same subject, which will be found an excellent companion to, and +commentary upon, Rankine's "Steam-Engine and Prime Movers," which is +the standard treatise on the theory of the steam-engine. The works of +Bourne, of Holley, of Clarke, and of Forney, are standards on the +practical every-day matters of steam-engine construction and +management. + +The author is almost daily in receipt of inquiries which indicate that +the above remarks will be of service to very many young engineers, as +well as to many to whom the steam-engine is of interest from a more +purely scientific point of view. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + THE STEAM-ENGINE AS A SIMPLE MACHINE. + PAGE + SECTION I.--THE PERIOD OF SPECULATION--FROM HERO TO WORCESTER, + B. C. 200 TO A. D. 1650 1 + + Introduction--the Importance of the Steam-Engine, 1; Hero and + his Treatise on Pneumatics, 4; Hero's Engines, B. C. 200, 8; + William of Malmesbury on Steam, A. D. 1150, 10; Hieronymus + Cardan on Steam and the Vacuum, 10; Malthesius on the Power of + Steam, A. D. 1571, 10; Jacob Besson on the Generation of Steam, + A. D. 1578, 11; Ramelli's Work on Machines, A. D. 1588, 11; + Leonardo da Vinci on the Steam-Gun, 12; Blasco de Garay's + Steamer, A. D. 1543, 12; Battista della Porta's Steam-Engine, + A. D. 1601, 13; Florence Rivault on the Force of Steam, A. D. + 1608, 15; Solomon de Caus's Apparatus, A. D. 1615, 16; Giovanni + Branca's Steam-Engine, A. D. 1629, 16; David Ramseye's + Inventions, A. D. 1630, 17; Bishop John Wilkins's Schemes, A. + D. 1648, 18; Kircher's Apparatus, 19. + + SECTION II.--THE PERIOD OF APPLICATION--WORCESTER, PAPIN, AND + SAVERY 19 + + Edward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, A. D. 1663, 19; + Worcester's Steam Pumping-Engines, 21; Jean Hautefeuille's + Alcohol and Gunpowder Engines, A. D. 1678, 24; Huyghens's + Gunpowder-Engine, A. D. 1680, 25; Invention in Great Britain, + 26; Sir Samuel Morland, A. D. 1683, 27; Thomas Savery and his + Engine, A. D. 1698, 31; Desaguliers's Savery Engines, A. D. + 1718, 41; Denys Papin and his Work, A. D. 1675, 45; Papin's + Engines, A. D. 1685-1695, 50; Papin's Steam-Boilers, 51. + + + CHAPTER II. + + THE STEAM-ENGINE AS A TRAIN OF MECHANISM. + + THE MODERN TYPE AS DEVELOPED BY NEWCOMEN, BEIGHTON, AND SMEATON 55 + + Defects of the Savery Engine, 55; Thomas Newcomen, A. D. 1705, + 57; the Newcomen Steam Pumping-Engine, 59; Advantages of + Newcomen's Engine, 60; Potter's and Beighton's Improvements, A. + D. 1713-'18, 61; Smeaton's Newcomen Engines, A. D. 1775, 64; + Operation of the Newcomen Engine, 65; Power and Economy of the + Engine, 69; Introduction of the Newcomen Engine, 70. + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE. JAMES WATT AND HIS + CONTEMPORARIES. + + SECTION I.--JAMES WATT AND HIS INVENTIONS 79 + + James Watt, his Birth and Parentage, 79; his Standing in + School, 81; he learns his Trade in London, 81; Return to + Scotland and Settlement in Glasgow, 82; the Newcomen Engine + Model, 83; Discovery of Latent Heat, 84; Sources of Loss in the + Newcomen Engine, 85; Facts experimentally determined by Watt, + 86; Invention of the Separate Condenser, 87; the Steam-Jacket + and other Improvements, 90; Connection with Dr. Roebuck, 91; + Watt meets Boulton, 93; Matthew Boulton, 93; Boulton's + Establishment at Soho, 95; the Partnership of Boulton and Watt, + 97; the Kinneil Engine, 97; Watt's Patent of 1769, 98; Work of + Boulton and Watt, 101; the Rotative Engine, 103; the Patent of + 1781, 104; the Expansion of Steam--its Economy, 105; the + Double-Acting Engine, 110; the "Compound" Engine, 110; the + Steam-Hammer, 111; Parallel Motions, the Counter, 112; the + Throttle-Valve and Governor, 114; Steam, Vacuum, and Water + Gauges, 116; Boulton & Watt's Mill-Engine, 118; the Albion Mill + and its Engine, 119; the Steam-Engine Indicator, 123; Watt in + Social Life, 125; Discovery of the Composition of Water, 126; + Death of James Watt, 128; Memorials and Souvenirs, 128. + + SECTION II.--THE CONTEMPORARIES OF JAMES WATT 132 + + William Murdoch and his Work, 132; Invention of Gas-Lighting, + 134; Jonathan Hornblower and the Compound Engine, 135; Causes + of the Failure of Hornblower, 137; William Bull and Richard + Trevithick, 138; Edward Cartwright and his Engine, 140. + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE. + + THE SECOND PERIOD OF APPLICATION--1800-1850--STEAM-LOCOMOTION + ON RAILROADS 144 + + Introduction, 144; the Non-Condensing Engine and the + Locomotive, 147; Newton's Locomotive, 1680, 149; Nathan Read's + Steam-Carriage, 150; Cugnot's Steam-Carriage, 1769, 151; the + Model Steam-Carriage of Watt and Murdoch, 1784, 153; Oliver + Evans and his Plans, 1786, 153; Evans's Oruktor Amphibolis, + 1804, 157; Richard Trevithick's Steam-Carriage, 1802, 159; + Steam-Carriages of Griffiths and others, 160; Steam-Carriages + of Goldsworthy Gurney, 1827, 161; Steam-Carriages of Walter + Hancock, 1831, 165; Reports to the House of Commons, 1831, 170; + the Introduction of the Railroad, 172; Richard Trevithick's + Locomotives, 1804, 174; John Stevens and the Railroad, 1812, + 178; William Hedley's Locomotives, 1812, 181; George + Stephenson, 183; Stephenson's Killingworth Engine, 1813, 186; + Stephenson's Second Locomotive, 1815, 187; Stephenson's + Safety-Lamp, 1815, 187; Robert Stephenson & Co., 1824, 190; the + Stockton & Darlington Engine, 1825, 191; the Liverpool & + Manchester Railroad, 1826, 193; Trial of Competing Engines at + Rainhill, 1829, 195; the Rocket and the Novelty, 198; + Atmospheric Railways, 201; Character of George Stephenson, + 204; the Locomotive of 1833, 204; Introduction of Railroads in + Europe, 206; Introduction of Railroads in the United States, + 207; John Stevens's Experimental Railroad, 1825, 207; Horatio + Allen and the "Stourbridge Lion," 1829, 208; Peter Cooper's + Engine, 1829, 209; E. L. Miller and the S. C. Railroad, 1830, + 210; the "American" Type of Engine of John B. Jervis, 1832, + 212; Robert L. Stevens and the T-rail, 1830, 214; Matthias W. + Baldwin and his Engine, 1831, 215; Robert Stephenson on the + Growth of the Locomotive, 220. + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE. + + THE SECOND PERIOD OF APPLICATION--1800-1850 (CONTINUED)--THE + STEAM-ENGINE APPLIED TO SHIP-PROPULSION 221 + + Introduction, 221; Ancient Prophecies, 223; the Earliest + Paddle-Wheel, 223; Blasco de Garay's Steam-Vessel, 1543, 224; + Experiments of Dionysius Papin, 1707, 214; Jonathan Hulls's + Steamer, 1736, 225; Bernouilli and Gauthier, 228; William + Henry, 1782, 230; the Comte d'Auxiron, 1772, 232; the Marquis + de Jouffroy, 1776, 233; James Rumsey, 1774, 234; John Fitch, + 1785, 285; Fitch's Experiments on the Delaware, 1787, 237; + Fitch's Experiments at New York, 1796, 240; the Prophecy of + John Fitch, 241; Patrick Miller, 1786-'87, 241; Samuel Morey, + 1793, 243; Nathan Read, 1788, 244; Dundas and Symmington, 1801, + 246; Henry Bell and the Comet, 1811, 248; Nicholas Roosevelt, + 1798, 250; Robert Fulton, 1802, 251; Fulton's Torpedo-Vessels, + 1801, 252; Fulton's First Steamboat, 1803, 253; the Clermont, + 1807, 257; Voyage of the Clermont to Albany, 259; Fulton's + Later Steamboats, 260; Fulton's War-Steamer Fulton the First, + 1815, 261; Oliver Evans, 1804, 263; John Stevens's + Screw-Steamer, 1804, 264; Stevens's Steam-Boilers, 1804, 264; + Stevens's Iron-Clad, 1812, 268; Robert L. Stevens's + Improvements, 270; the "Stevens Cut-off," 1841, 276; the + Stevens Iron-Clad, 1837, 277; Robert L. Thurston and John + Babcock, 1821, 280; James P. Allaire and the Messrs. Copeland, + 281; Erastus W. Smith's Compound Engine, 283; Steam-Navigation + on Western Rivers, 1811, 283; Ocean Steam-Navigation, 1808, + 285; the Savannah, 1819, 286; the Sirius and the Great Western, + 1838, 289; the Cunard Line, 1840, 290; the Collins Line, 1851, + 291; the Side-Lever Engine, 292; Introduction of + Screw-Steamers, 293; John Ericsson's Screw-Vessels, 1836, 294; + Francis Pettit Smith, 1837, 296; the Princeton, 1841, 297; + Advantages of the Screw, 299; the Screw on the Ocean, 300; + Obstacles to Improvement, 301; Changes in Engine-Construction, + 302; Conclusion, 303. + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE STEAM-ENGINE OF TO-DAY. + + THE PERIOD OF REFINEMENT--1850 TO DATE 303 + + Condition of the Steam-Engine at this Time, 303; the Later + Development of the Engine, 304; Stationary Steam-Engines, 307; + the Steam-Engine for Small Powers, 307; the Horizontal Engine + with Meyer Valve-Gear, 311; the Allen Engine, 314; its + Performance, 316; the Detachable Valve-Gear, 316; the Sickels + Cut-off, 317; Expansion adjusted by the Governor, 318; the + Corliss Engine, 319; the Greene Engine, 321; Perkins's + Experiments, 323; Dr. Alban's Work, 325; the Perkins Compound + Engine, 327; the Modern Pumping-Engine, 328; the Cornish + Engine, 328; the Steam-Pump, 331; the Worthington + Pumping-Engine, 333; the Compound Beam and Crank Engine, 335; + the Leavitt Pumping-Engine, 336; the Stationary Steam-Boiler, + 338; "Sectional" Steam-Boilers, 343; "Performance" of Boilers, + 344. + + SECTION II.--PORTABLE AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 347 + + The Semi-Portable Engine, 348; Performance of Portable Engines, + 350; their Efficiency, 352; the Hoadley Engine, 354; the Mills + Farm and Road Engine, 356; Fisher's Steam-Carriage, 356; + Performance of Road-Engines, 357; Trial of Road-Locomotives by + the Author, 358; Conclusions, 358; the Steam Fire-Engine, 360; + the Rotary Steam-Engine and Pump, 365; the Modern Locomotive, + 368; Dimensions and Performance, 373; Compound Engines for + Locomotives, 376; Extent of Modern Railroads, 378; + + SECTION III.--MARINE ENGINES. 379 + + The Modern Marine Engine, 379; the American Beam Engine, 379; + the Oscillating Engine and Feathering Wheel, 381; the two + "Rhode Islands," 382; River-Boat Engines on the Mississippi, + 384; Steam Launches and Yachts, 386; Marine Screw-Engines, 389; + the Marine Compound Engine, 390; its Introduction by John Elder + and others, 393; Comparison with the Single-Cylinder Engine, + 395; its Advantages, 396; the Surface Condenser, 397; Weight of + Machinery, 398; Marine Engine Performance, 398; Relative + Economy of Simple and Compound Engines, 399; the + Screw-Propeller, 399; Chain-Propulsion, or Wire-Rope Towage, + 402; Marine Steam-Boilers, 403; the Modern Steamship, 405; + Examples of Merchant Steamers, 406; Naval + Steamers--Classification, 409; Examples of Iron-Clad Steamers, + 412; Power of the Marine Engine, 415; Conclusion, 417. + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. + + THE HISTORY OF ITS GROWTH; ENERGETICS AND THERMO-DYNAMICS 419 + + General Outline, 419; Origin of its Power, 419; Scientific + Principles involved in its Operation, 420; the Beginnings of + Modern Science, 421; the Alexandrian Museum, 422; the + Aristotelian Philosophy, 424; the Middle Ages, 426; Galileo's + Work, 428; Da Vinci and Stevinus, 429; Kepler, Hooke, and + Huyghens, 429; Newton and the New Mechanical Philosophy, 430; + the Inception of the Science of Energetics, 483; the + Persistence of Energy, 433; Rumford's Experiments, 434; + Fourier, Carnot, Seguin, 437; Mayer and the Mechanical + Equivalent of Heat, 438; Joule's Determination of its Value, + 438; Prof. Rankine's Investigations, 442; Clausius-Thompson's + Principles, 444; Experimental Work of Boyle, Black, and Watt, + 446; Robison's, Dalton's, Ure's, and Biot's Study of Pressures + and Temperatures of Steam, 447; Arago's and Dulong's + Researches, 447; Franklin Institute Investigation, 447; + Cagniard de la Tour--Faraday, 447; Dr. Andrews and the Critical + Point, 448; Donny's and Dufour's Researches, 448; Regnault's + Determination of Temperatures and Pressures of Steam, 449; + Hirn's Experiments, 450; Résumé of the Philosophy of the + Steam-Engine, 451; Energy--Definitions and Principles, 451; its + Measure, 452; the Laws of Energetics, 453; Thermo-dynamics, + 453; its Beginnings, 454; its Laws, 454; Rankine's General + Equation, 455; Rankine's Treatise on the Theory of + Heat-Engines, 456; Merits of the Great Philosopher, 456. + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. + + ITS APPLICATION; ITS TEACHINGS RESPECTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF + THE ENGINE AND ITS IMPROVEMENT 457 + + Origin of all Energy, 457; the Progress of Energy through + Boiler and Engine, 458; Conditions of Heat-Development in the + Boiler, 458; the Steam in the Engine, 458; the Expansion of + Steam, 459; Conditions of Heat-Utilization, 460; Loss of Power + in the Engine, 462; Conditions affecting the Design of the + Steam-Engine, 466; the Problem stated, 466; Economy as affected + by Pressure and Temperature, 467; Changes which have already + occurred, 468; Direction of Changes now in Progress, 470; + Summary of Facts, 471; Characteristics of a Good Steam-Engine, + 473; Principles of Steam-Boiler Construction, 476. + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + FRONTISPIECE: The Grecian Idea of the Steam-Engine. + + FIG. PAGE + 1. Opening Temple-Doors by Steam, B. C. 200 6 + 2. Steam Fountain, B. C. 200 7 + 3. Hero's Engine, B. C. 200 8 + 4. Porta's Apparatus, A. D. 1601 14 + 5. De Caus's Apparatus, A. D. 1605 15 + 6. Branca's Steam-Engine, A. D. 1629 17 + 7. Worcester's Steam-Fountain, A. D. 1650 21 + 8. Worcester's Engine, A. D. 1665 22 + 9. Wall of Raglan Castle 22 + 10. Huyghens's Engine, 1680 26 + 11. Savery's Model, 1698 34 + 12. Savery's Engine, 1698 35 + 13. Savery's Engine, A. D. 1702 37 + 14. Papin's Two-Way Cock 42 + 15. Engine Built by Desaguliers in 1718 43 + 16. Papin's Digester, 1680 48 + 17. Papin's Engine 50 + 18. Papin's Engine and Water-Wheel, A. D. 1707 53 + 19. Newcomen's Engine, A. D. 1705 59 + 20. Beighton's Valve-Gear, A. D. 1718 63 + 21. Smeaton's Newcomen Engine 65 + 22. Boiler of Newcomen Engine, 1763 67 + 23. Smeaton's Portable-Engine Boiler, 1765 73 + 24. The Newcomen Model 84 + 25. Watt's Experiment 89 + 26. Watt's Engine, 1774 98 + 27. Watt's Engine, 1781 104 + 28. Expansion of Steam 108 + 29. The Governor 115 + 30. Mercury Steam-Gauge and Glass Water-Gauge 117 + 31. Boulton & Watt's Double-Acting Engine, 1784 119 + 32. Valve-Gear of the Albion Mills Engine 121 + 33. Watt's Half-Trunk Engine, 1784 122 + 34. The Watt Hammer, 1784 123 + 35. James Watt's Workshop 129 + 36. Murdoch's Oscillating Engine, 1785 134 + 37. Hornblower's Compound Engine, 1781 136 + 38. Bull's Pumping-Engine, 1798 139 + 39. Cartwright's Engine, 1798 141 + 40. The First Railroad-Car, 1825 144 + 41. Leupold's Engine, 1720 148 + 42. Newton's Steam-Carriage, 1680 149 + 43. Read's Steam-Carriage, 1790 150 + 44. Cugnot's Steam-Carriage, 1770 151 + 45. Murdoch's Model, 1784 153 + 46. Evans's Non-Condensing Engine, 1800 156 + 47. Evans's "Oruktor Amphibolis," 1804 157 + 48. Gurney's Steam-Carriage 163 + 49. Hancock's "Autopsy", 1833 168 + 50. Trevithick's Locomotive, 1804 175 + 51. Stephenson's Locomotive of 1815. Section 187 + 52. Stephenson's No. 1 Engine, 1825 191 + 53. Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railroad, 1815 192 + 54. The "Novelty," 1829 197 + 55. The "Rocket," 1829 198 + 56. The Atmospheric Railroad 202 + 57. Stephenson's Locomotive, 1833 203 + 58. The Stephenson Valve-Gear, 1833 206 + 59. The "Atlantic," 1832 210 + 60. The "Best Friend," 1830 211 + 61. The "West Point," 1831 212 + 62. The "South Carolina," 1831 213 + 63. The "Stevens" Rail and Enlarged Section 215 + 64. "Old Ironsides," 1832 216 + 65. The "E. L. Miller," 1834 217 + 66. Hulls's Steamboat, 1736 226 + 67. Fitch's Model, 1785 236 + 68. Fitch & Voight's Boiler, 1787 238 + 69. Fitch's First Boat, 1787 238 + 70. John Fitch, 1788 239 + 71. John Fitch, 1796 240 + 72. Miller, Taylor & Symmington, 1788 242 + 73. Read's Boiler in Section, 1788 245 + 74. Read's Multi-Tubular Boiler, 1788 245 + 75. The "Charlotte Dundas," 1801 247 + 76. The "Comet," 1812 248 + 77. Fulton's Experiments 253 + 78. Fulton's Table of Resistances 254 + 79. Barlow's Water-Tube Boiler, 1793 256 + 80. The "Clermont," 1807 258 + 81. Engine of the "Clermont," 1808 258 + 82. Launch of the "Fulton the First," 1804 262 + 83. Section of Steam-Boiler, 1804 264 + 84. Engine, Boiler, and Screw-Propellers used by Stevens, 1804 265 + 85. Stevens's Screw Steamer, 1804 265 + 86. John Stevens's Twin-Screw Steamer, 1805 269 + 87. The Feathering Paddle-Wheel 272 + 88. The "North America" and "Albany," 1827-'30 274 + 89. Stevens's Return Tubular Boiler, 1832 275 + 90. Stevens's Valve-Motion 276 + 91. The "Atlantic," 1851 290 + 92. The Side-Lever Engine, 1849 291 + 93. Vertical Stationary Steam-Engine 308 + 94. Vertical Stationary Steam-Engine. Section 309 + 95. Horizontal Stationary Steam-Engine 312 + 96. Horizontal Stationary Steam-Engine 313 + 97. Corliss Engine 319 + 98. Corliss Engine Valve-Motion 320 + 99. Greene Engine 321 + 100. Thurston's Greene-Engine Valve-Gear 322 + 101. Cornish Pumping-Engine, 1880 329 + 102. Steam-Pump 331 + 103. The Worthington Pumping-Engine, 1876. Section 333 + 104. The Worthington Pumping-Engine 334 + 105. Double-Cylinder Pumping-Engine, 1878 335 + 106. The Lawrence Water-Works Engine 336 + 107. The Leavitt Pumping-Engine 337 + 108. Babcock & Wilcox's Vertical Boiler 341 + 109. Stationary "Locomotive" Boiler 342 + 110. Galloway Tube 343 + 111. Harrison's Sectional Boiler 345 + 112. Babcock and Wilcox's Sectional Boiler 346 + 113. Root Sectional Boiler 347 + 114. Semi-Portable Engine, 1878 348 + 115. Semi-Portable Engine, 1878 349 + 116. The Portable Steam-Engine, 1878 354 + 117. The Thrashers' Road-Engine, 1878 355 + 118. Fisher's Steam-Carriage 356 + 119. Road and Farm Locomotive 357 + 120. The Latta Steam Fire-Engine 361 + 121. The Amoskeag Engine. Section 363 + 122. The Silsby Rotary Steam Fire-Engine 364 + 123. Rotary Steam-Engine 365 + 124. Rotary Pump 366 + 125. Tank Engine, New York Elevated Railroad 369 + 126. Forney's Tank-Locomotive 370 + 127. British Express Engine 371 + 128. The Baldwin Locomotive. Section 372 + 129. The American Type of Express Engine, 1878 374 + 130. Beam Engine 380 + 131. Oscillating Steam-Engine and Feathering Paddle-Wheel 381 + 132. The Two "Rhode Islands," 1836-1876 383 + 133. A Mississippi Steamboat 384 + 134. Steam-Launch, New York Steam-Power Company 386 + 135. Launch-Engine 387 + 136. Horizontal, Direct-acting Naval Screw Engine 389 + 137. Compound Marine Engine. Side Elevation 390 + 138. Compound Marine Engine. Front Elevation and Section 391 + 139. Screw-Propeller 400 + 140. Tug-Boat Screw 401 + 141. Hirsch Screw 401 + 142. Marine Fire-Tubular Boiler. Section 403 + 143. Marine High-Pressure Boiler. Section 404 + 144. The Modern Steamship 407 + 145. Modern Iron-Clads 410 + 146. The "Great Eastern" 415 + 147. The "Great Eastern" at Sea 416 + + + + + PORTRAITS. + + + NO. PAGE + 1. Edward Somerset, the Second Marquis of Worcester 20 + 2. Thomas Savery 31 + 3. Denys Papin 46 + 4. James Watt 80 + 5. Matthew Boulton 94 + 6. Oliver Evans 154 + 7. Richard Trevithick 174 + 8. Colonel John Stevens 178 + 9. George Stephenson 183 + 10. Robert Fulton 251 + 11. Robert L. Stevens 270 + 12. John Elder 393 + 13. Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford 434 + 14. James Prescott Joule 439 + 15. Prof. W. J. M. Rankine 443 + + + + + ["A Machine, receiving at distant times and from many hands new + combinations and improvements, and becoming at last of signal + benefit to mankind, may be compared to a rivulet swelled in its + course by tributary streams, until it rolls along a majestic river, + enriching, in its progress, provinces and kingdoms. + + "In retracing the current, too, from where it mingles with the + ocean, the pretensions of even ample subsidiary streams are merged + in our admiration of the master-flood, glorying, as it were, in its + expansion. But as we continue to ascend, those waters which, nearer + the sea, would have been disregarded as unimportant, begin to rival + in magnitude and share our attention with the parent stream; until, + at length, on our approaching the fountains of the river, it appears + trickling from the rock, or oozing from among the flowers of the + valley. + + "So, also, in developing the rise of a machine, a coarse instrument + or a toy may be recognized as the germ of that production of + mechanical genius, whose power and usefulness have stimulated our + curiosity to mark its changes and to trace its origin. The same + feelings of reverential gratitude which attached holiness to the + spot whence mighty rivers sprang, also clothed with divinity, and + raised altars in honor of, inventors of the saw, the plough, the + potter's wheel, and the loom."--STUART.] + + + + +THE GROWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_THE STEAM-ENGINE AS A SIMPLE MACHINE._ + + +SECTION I.--THE PERIOD OF SPECULATION--FROM HERO TO WORCESTER, B. C. +200 TO A. D. 1650. + +One of the greatest of modern philosophers--the founder of that system +of scientific philosophy which traces the processes of evolution in +every department, whether physical or intellectual--has devoted a +chapter of his "First Principles" of the new system to the +consideration of the multiplication of the effects of the various +forces, social and other, which are continually modifying this +wonderful and mysterious universe of which we form a part. Herbert +Spencer, himself an engineer, there traces the wide-spreading, +never-ceasing influences of new inventions, of the introduction of new +forms of mechanism, and of the growth of industrial organization, with +a clearness and a conciseness which are so eminently characteristic of +his style. His illustration of this idea by reference to the manifold +effects of the introduction of steam-power and its latest embodiment, +the locomotive-engine, is one of the strongest passages in his work. +The power of the steam-engine, and its inconceivable importance as an +agent of civilization, has always been a favorite theme with +philosophers and historians as well as poets. As Religion has always +been, and still is, the great _moral_ agent in civilizing the world, +and as Science is the great _intellectual_ promoter of civilization, +so the Steam-Engine is, in modern times, the most important _physical_ +agent in that great work. + +It would be superfluous to attempt to enumerate the benefits which it +has conferred upon the human race, for such an enumeration would +include an addition to every comfort and the creation of almost every +luxury that we now enjoy. The wonderful progress of the present +century is, in a very great degree, due to the invention and +improvement of the steam-engine, and to the ingenious application of +its power to kinds of work that formerly taxed the physical energies +of the human race. We cannot examine the methods and processes of any +branch of industry without discovering, somewhere, the assistance and +support of this wonderful machine. Relieving mankind from manual toil, +it has left to the intellect the privilege of directing the power, +formerly absorbed in physical labor, into other and more profitable +channels. The intelligence which has thus conquered the powers of +Nature, now finds itself free to do head-work; the force formerly +utilized in the carrying of water and the hewing of wood, is now +expended in the God-like work of THOUGHT. What, then, can be more +interesting than to trace the history of the growth of this wonderful +machine?--the greatest among the many great creations of one of God's +most beneficent gifts to man--the power of invention. + +While following the records and traditions which relate to the +steam-engine, I propose to call attention to the fact that its history +illustrates the very important truth: _Great inventions are never, and +great discoveries are seldom, the work of any one mind_. Every great +invention is really either an aggregation of minor inventions, or the +final step of a progression. It is not a creation, but _a growth_--as +truly so as is that of the trees in the forest. Hence, the same +invention is frequently brought out in several countries, and by +several individuals, simultaneously. Frequently an important invention +is made before the world is ready to receive it, and the unhappy +inventor is taught, by his failure, that it is as unfortunate to be in +advance of his age as to be behind it. Inventions only become +successful when they are not only needed, but when mankind is so far +advanced in intelligence as to appreciate and to express the necessity +for them, and to at once make use of them. + +More than half a century ago, an able New England writer, in a +communication to an English engineering periodical, described the new +machinery which was built at Newport, R. I., by John Babcock and +Robert L. Thurston, for one of the first steamboats that ever ran +between that city and New York. He prefaced his description with a +frequently-quoted remark to the effect that, as Minerva sprang, mature +in mind, in full stature of body, and completely armed, from the head +of Jupiter, so the steam-engine came forth, perfect at its birth, from +the brain of James Watt. But we shall see, as we examine the records +of its history, that, although James Watt was _an_ inventor, and +probably the greatest of the inventors of the steam-engine, he was +still but one of the many men who have aided in perfecting it, and who +have now made us so familiar with it, and its tremendous power and its +facile adaptations, that we have almost ceased to admire it, or to +wonder at the workings of the still more admirable intelligence that +has so far perfected it. + +Twenty-one centuries ago, the political power of Greece was broken, +although Grecian civilization had risen to its zenith. Rome, ruder +than her polished neighbor, was growing continually stronger, and was +rapidly gaining territory by absorbing weaker states. Egypt, older in +civilization than either Greece or Rome, fell but two centuries later +before the assault of the younger states, and became a Roman province. +Her principal city was at this time Alexandria, founded by the great +soldier whose name it bears, when in the full tide of his prosperity. +It had now become a great and prosperous city, the centre of the +commerce of the world, the home of students and of learned men, and +its population was the wealthiest and most civilized of the then known +world. + +It is among the relics of that ancient Egyptian civilization that we +find the first records in the early history of the steam-engine. In +Alexandria, the home of Euclid, the great geometrician, and possibly +contemporary with that talented engineer and mathematician, +Archimedes, a learned writer, called Hero, produced a manuscript which +he entitled "Spiritalia seu Pneumatica." + +It is quite uncertain whether Hero was the inventor of any number of +the contrivances described in his work. It is most probable that the +apparatus described are principally devices which had either been long +known, or which were invented by Ctesibius, an inventor who was famous +for the number and ingenuity of the hydraulic and pneumatic machines +that he devised. Hero states, in his Introduction, his intention to +describe existing machines and earlier inventions, and to add his own. +Nothing in the text, however, indicates to whom the several machines +are to be ascribed.[6] + + [6] The British Museum contains four manuscript copies of Hero's + "Pneumatics," which were written in the fifteenth and sixteenth + centuries. These manuscripts have been examined with great care, and + a translation from them prepared by Prof. J. G. Greenwood, and + published at the desire of Mr. Bennett Woodcroft, the author of a + valuable little treatise on "Steam Navigation." This is, so far as + the author is aware, the only existing English translation of any + portion of Hero's works. + +The first part of Hero's work is devoted to applications of the +syphon. The 11th proposition is the first application of heat to +produce motion of fluids. + +An altar and its pedestal are hollow and air-tight. A liquid is poured +into the pedestal, and a pipe inserted, of which the lower end passes +beneath the surface of the liquid, and the upper extremity leads +through a figure standing at the altar, and terminates in a vessel +inverted above this altar. When a fire is made on the altar, the heat +produced expands the confined air, and the liquid is driven up the +tube, issuing from the vessel in the hand of the figure standing by +the altar, which thus seems to be offering a libation. This toy +embodies the essential principle of all modern heat-engines--the +change of energy from the form known as heat-energy into mechanical +energy, or work. It is not at all improbable that this prototype of +the modern wonder-working machine may have been known centuries before +the time of Hero. + +Many forms of hydraulic apparatus, including the hand fire-engine, +which is familiar to us, and is still used in many of our smaller +cities, are described, the greater number of which are probably +attributable to Ctesibius. They demand no description here. + +A hot-air engine, however, which is the subject of his 37th +proposition, is of real interest. + +Hero sketches and describes a method of opening temple-doors by the +action of fire on an altar, which is an ingenious device, and contains +all the elements of the machine of the Marquis of Worcester, which is +generally considered the first real steam-engine, with the single and +vital defect that the expanding fluid is air instead of steam. The +sketch, from Greenwood's translation, exhibits the device very +plainly. Beneath the temple-doors, in the space _A B C D_, is placed a +spherical vessel, _H_, containing water. A pipe, _F G_, connects the +upper part of this sphere with the hollow and air-tight shell of the +altar above, _D E_. Another pipe, _K L M_, leads from the bottom of +the vessel, _H_, over, in syphon-shape, to the bottom of a suspended +bucket, _N X_. The suspending cord is carried over a pulley and led +around two vertical barrels, _O P_, turning on pivots at their feet, +and carrying the doors above. Ropes led over a pulley, _R_, sustain a +counterbalance, _W_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Opening Temple-Doors by Steam, B. C. 200.] + +On building a fire on the altar, the heated air within expands, passes +through the pipe, _F G_, and drives the water contained in the vessel, +_H_, through the syphon, _K L M_, into the bucket, _N X_. The weight +of the bucket, which then descends, turns the barrels, _O P_, raises +the counterbalance, and opens the doors of the temple. On +extinguishing the fire, the air is condensed, the water returns +through the syphon from the bucket to the sphere, the counterbalance +falls, and the doors are closed. + +Another contrivance is next described, in which the bucket is replaced +by an air-tight bag, which, expanding as the heated air enters it, +contracts vertically and actuates the mechanism, which in other +respects is similar to that just described. + +In these devices the spherical vessel is a perfect anticipation of +the vessels used many centuries later by several so-called inventors +of the steam-engine. + +Proposition 45 describes the familiar experiment of a ball supported +aloft by a jet of fluid. In this example steam is generated in a close +cauldron, and issues from a pipe inserted in the top, the ball dancing +on the issuing jet. + +No. 47 is a device subsequently reproduced--perhaps reinvented by the +second Marquis of Worcester. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Steam Fountain, B. C. 200.] + +A strong, close vessel, _A B C D_, forms a pedestal, on which are +mounted a spherical vessel, _E F_, and a basin. A pipe, _H K_, is led +from the bottom of the larger vessel into the upper part of the +sphere, and another pipe from the lower part of the latter, in the +form of a syphon, over to the basin, _M_. A drain-pipe, _N O_, leads +from the basin to the reservoir, _A D_. The whole contrivance is +called "A fountain which is made to flow by the action of the sun's +rays." + +It is operated thus: The vessel, _E F_, being filled nearly to the top +with water, or other liquid, and exposed to the action of the sun's +rays, the air above the water expands, and drives the liquid over, +through the syphon, _G_, into the basin, _M_, and it will fall into +the pedestal, _A B C D_. + +Hero goes on to state that, on the removal of the sun's rays, the air +in the sphere will contract, and that the water will be returned to +the sphere from the pedestal. This can, evidently, only occur when the +pipe _G_ is closed previous to the commencement of this cooling. No +such cock is mentioned, and it is not unlikely that the device only +existed on paper. + +Several steam-boilers are described, usually simple pipes or +cylindrical vessels, and the steam generated in them by the heat of +the fire on the altar forms a steam-blast. This blast is either +directed into the fire, or it "makes a blackbird sing," blows a horn +for a triton, or does other equally useless work. In one device, No. +70, the steam issues from a reaction-wheel revolving in the horizontal +plane, and causes dancing images to circle about the altar. A more +mechanical and more generally-known form of this device is that which +is frequently described as the "First Steam Engine." The sketch from +Stuart is similar in general form, but more elaborate in detail, than +that copied by Greenwood, which is here also reproduced, as +representing more accurately the simple form which the mechanism of +the "Æolipile," or Ball of Æolus, assumed in those early times. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Hero's Engine, B. C. 200.] + +The cauldron, _A B_, contains water, and is covered by the steam-tight +cover, _C D_. A globe is supported above the cauldron by a pair of +tubes, terminating, the one, _C M_, in a pivot, _L_, and the other, +_E F_, opening directly into the sphere at _G_. Short, bent pipes, _H_ +and _K_, issue from points diametrically opposite each other, and are +open at their extremities. + +A fire being made beneath the cauldron, steam is formed and finds exit +through the pipe, _E F G_, into the globe, and thence rushes out of +the pipes, _H K_, turning the globe on its axis, _G L_, by the +unbalanced pressure thus produced. + +The more elaborate sketch which forms the frontispiece represents a +machine of similar character. Its design and ornamentation illustrate +well the characteristics of ancient art, and the Greek idea of the +steam-engine. + +This "Æolipile" consisted of a globe, _X_, suspended between +trunnions, _O S_, through one of which steam enters from the boiler, +_P_, below. The hollow, bent arms, _W_ and _Z_, cause the vapor to +issue in such directions that the reaction produces a rotary movement +of the globe, just as the rotation of reaction water-wheels is +produced by the outflowing water. + +It is quite uncertain whether this machine was ever more than a toy, +although it has been supposed by some authorities that it was actually +used by the Greek priests for the purpose of producing motion of +apparatus in their temples. + +It seems sufficiently remarkable that, while the power of steam had +been, during all the many centuries that man has existed upon the +globe, so universally displayed in so many of the phenomena of natural +change, that mankind lived almost up to the Christian era without +making it useful in giving motion even to a toy; but it excites still +greater surprise that, from the time of Hero, we meet with no good +evidence of its application to practical purposes for many hundreds of +years. + +Here and there in the pages of history, and in special treatises, we +find a hint that the knowledge of the force of steam was not lost; but +it is not at all to the credit of biographers and of historians, that +they have devoted so little time to the task of seeking and recording +information relating to the progress of this and other important +inventions and improvements in the mechanic arts. + +Malmesbury states[7] that, in the year A. D. 1125, there existed at +Rheims, in the church of that town, a clock designed or constructed by +Gerbert, a professor in the schools there, and an organ blown by air +escaping from a vessel in which it was compressed "by heated water." + + [7] Stuart's "Anecdotes." + +Hieronymus Cardan, a wonderful mathematical genius, a most eccentric +philosopher, and a distinguished physician, about the middle of the +sixteenth century called attention, in his writings, to the power of +steam, and to the facility with which a vacuum can be obtained by its +condensation. This Cardan was the author of "Cardan's Formula," or +rule for the solution of cubic equations, and was the inventor of the +"smoke-jack." He has been called a "philosopher, juggler, and madman." +He was certainly a learned mathematician, a skillful physician, and a +good mechanic. + +Many traces are found, in the history of the sixteenth century, of the +existence of some knowledge of the properties of steam, and some +anticipation of the advantages to follow its application. Matthesius, +A. D. 1571, in one of his sermons describes a contrivance which may be +termed a steam-engine, and enlarges on the "tremendous results which +may follow the volcanic action of a small quantity of confined +vapor;"[8] and another writer applied the steam æolipile of Hero to +turn the spit, and thus rivaled and excelled Cardan, who was +introducing his "smoke-jack." + + [8] "Berg-Postilla, oder Sarepta von Bergwerk und Metallen." + Nuremberg, 1571. + +As Stuart says, the inventor enumerated its excellent qualities with +great minuteness. He claimed that it would "eat nothing, and giving, +withal, an assurance to those partaking of the feast, whose +suspicious natures nurse queasy appetites, that the haunch has not +been pawed by the turnspit in the absence of the housewife's eye, for +the pleasure of licking his unclean fingers."[9] + + [9] "History of the Steam-Engine," 1825. + +Jacob Besson, a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at +Orleans, and who was in his time distinguished as a mechanician, and +for his ingenuity in contriving illustrative models for use in his +lecture-room, left evidence, which Beroaldus collected and published +in 1578,[10] that he had found the spirit of his time sufficiently +enlightened to encourage him to pay great attention to applied +mechanics and to mechanism. There was at this time a marked awakening +of the more intelligent men of the age to the value of practical +mechanics. A scientific tract, published at Orleans in 1569, and +probably written by Besson, describes very intelligently the +generation of steam by the communication of heat to water, and its +peculiar properties. + + [10] "Theatrum Instrumentorum et Machinarum, Jacobi Bessoni, cum + Franc Beroaldus, figuarum declaratione demonstrativa." Lugduni, + 1578. + +The French were now becoming more interested in mechanics and the +allied sciences, and philosophers and literati, of native birth and +imported by the court from other countries, were learning more of the +nature and importance of such studies as have a bearing upon the work +of the engineer and of the mechanic. + +Agostino Ramelli, an Italian of good family, a student and an artist +when at leisure, a soldier and an engineer in busier times, was born +and educated at Rome, but subsequently was induced to make his home in +Paris. He published a book in 1588,[11] in which he described many +machines, adapted to various purposes, with a skill that was only +equaled by the accuracy and general excellence of his delineations. +This work was produced while its author was residing at the French +capital, supported by a pension which had been awarded him by Henry +III. as a reward for long and faithful services. + + [11] "Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino + Ramelli, del Ponte della Prefia." Paris, 1588. + +The books of Besson and of Ramelli are the first treatises of +importance on general machinery, and were, for many years, at once the +sources from which later writers drew the principal portion of their +information in relation to machinery, and wholesome stimulants to the +study of mechanism. These works contain descriptions of many machines +subsequently reinvented and claimed as new by other mechanics. + +Leonardo da Vinci, well known as a mathematician, engineer, poet, and +painter, of the sixteenth century, describes, it is said, a steam-gun, +which he calls the "Architonnerre," and ascribes to Archimedes. It was +a machine composed of copper, and seems to have had considerable +power. It threw a ball weighing a talent. The steam was generated by +permitting water in a closed vessel to fall on surfaces heated by a +charcoal fire, and by its sudden expansion to eject the ball. + +In the year 1825, the superintendent of the royal Spanish archives at +Simancas furnished an account which, it was said, had been there +discovered of an attempt, made in 1543 by Blasco de Garay, a Spanish +navy-officer under Charles V., to move a ship by paddle-wheels, +driven, as was inferred from the account, by a steam-engine. + +It is impossible to say to how much credit the story is entitled, but, +if true, it was the first attempt, so far as is now known, to make +steam useful in developing power for practical purposes. Nothing is +known of the form of the engine employed, it only having been stated +that a "vessel of boiling water" formed a part of the apparatus. + +The account is, however, in other respects so circumstantial, that it +has been credited by many; but it is regarded as apocryphal by the +majority of writers upon the subject. It was published in 1826 by M. +de Navarrete, in Zach's "Astronomical Correspondence," in the form of +a letter from Thomas Gonzales, Director of the Royal Archives at +Simancas, Spain. + +In 1601, Giovanni Battista della Porta, in a work called "Spiritali," +described an apparatus by which the pressure of steam might be made to +raise a column of water. It included the application of the +condensation of steam to the production of a vacuum into which the +water would flow. + +Porta is described as a mathematician, chemist, and physicist, a +gentleman of fortune, and an enthusiastic student of science. His home +in Naples was a rendezvous for students, artists, and men of science +distinguished in every branch. He invented the magic lantern and the +camera obscura, and described it in his commentary on the +"Pneumatica." In his work,[12] he described this machine for raising +water, as shown in Fig. 4, which differs from one shown by Hero in the +use of steam pressure, instead of the pressure of heated air, for +expelling the liquid. + + [12] "Pneumaticorum libri tres," etc., 4to. Naples, 1601. "I Tre + Libri de' Spiritali." Napoli, 1606. + +The retort, or boiler, is fitted to a tank from which the bent pipe +leads into the external air. A fire being kindled under the retort, +the steam generated rises to the upper part of the tank, and its +pressure on the surface of the water drives it out through the pipe, +and it is then led to any desired height. This was called by Porta an +improved "Hero's Fountain," and was named his "Steam Fountain." He +described with perfect accuracy the action of condensation in +producing a vacuum, and sketched an apparatus in which the vacuum thus +secured was filled by water forced in by the pressure of the external +atmosphere. His contrivances were not apparently ever applied to any +practically useful purpose. We have not yet passed out of the age of +speculation, and are just approaching the period of application. Porta +is, nevertheless, entitled to credit as having proposed an essential +change in this succession, which begins with Hero, and which did not +end with Watt. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Porta's Apparatus, A. D. 1601.] + +The use of steam in Hero's fountain was as necessary a step as, +although less striking than, any of the subsequent modifications of +the machine. In Porta's contrivance, too, we should note particularly +the separation of the boiler from the "forcing vessel"--a plan often +claimed as original with later inventors, and as constituting a fair +ground for special distinction. + +The rude engraving (Fig. 4) above is copied from the book of Porta, +and shows plainly the boiler mounted above a furnace, from the door of +which the flame is seen issuing, and above is the tank containing +water. The opening in the top is closed by the plug, as shown, and the +steam issuing from the boiler into the tank near the top, the water +is driven out through the pipe at the left, leading up from the bottom +of the tank. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--De Caus's Apparatus, A. D. 1605.] + +Florence Rivault, a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Henry IV., and a +teacher of Louis XIII., is stated by M. Arago, the French philosopher, +to have discovered, as early as 1605, that water confined in a +bomb-shell and there heated would explode the shell, however thick its +walls might be made. The fact was published in Rivault's treatise on +artillery in 1608. He says: "The water is converted into air, and its +vaporization is followed by violent explosion." + +In 1615, Salomon de Caus, who had been an engineer and architect under +Louis XIII. of France, and later in the employ of the English Prince +of Wales, published a work at Frankfort, entitled "Les Raisons des +Forces Mouvantes, avec diverses machines tant utile que plaisante," in +which he illustrated his proposition, "Water will, by the aid of fire, +mount higher than its source," by describing a machine designed to +raise water by the expanding power of steam. + +In the sketch here given (Fig. 5), and which is copied from the +original in "Les Raisons des Forces Mouvantes," etc., _A_ is the +copper ball containing water; _B_, the cock at the extremity of the +pipe, taking water from the bottom, _C_, of the vessel; _D_, the cock +through which the vessel is filled. The sketch was probably made by De +Caus's own hand. + +The machine of De Caus, like that of Porta, thus consisted of a metal +vessel partly filled with water, and in which a pipe was fitted, +leading nearly to the bottom, and open at the top. Fire being applied, +the steam formed by its elastic force drove the water out through the +vertical pipe, raising it to a height limited only by either the +desire of the builder or the strength of the vessel. + +In 1629, Giovanni Branca, of the Italian town of Loretto, described, +in a work[13] published at Rome, a number of ingenious mechanical +contrivances, among which was a steam-engine (Fig. 6), in which the +steam, issuing from a boiler, impinged upon the vanes of a horizontal +wheel. This it was proposed to apply to many useful purposes. + + [13] "Le Machine deverse del Signior Giovanni Branca, cittadino + Romano, Ingegniero, Architetto della Sta. Casa di Loretto." Roma, + MDCXXIX. + +At this time experiments were in progress in England which soon +resulted in the useful application of steam-power to raising water. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Branca's Steam-Engine, A. D. 1629.] + +A patent, dated January 21, 1630, was granted to David Ramseye[14] by +Charles I., which covered a number of distinct inventions. These were: +"1. To multiply and make saltpeter in any open field, in fower acres +of ground, sufficient to serve all our dominions. 2. To raise water +from low pitts by fire. 3. To make any sort of mills to goe on +standing waters by continual motion, without help of wind, water, or +horse. 4. To make all sortes of tapistrie without any weaving-loom, or +waie ever yet in use in this kingdome. 5. To make boats, shippes, and +barges to goe against strong wind and tide. 6. To make the earth more +fertile than usual. 7. To raise water from low places and mynes, and +coal pitts, by a new waie never yet in use. 8. To make hard iron soft, +and likewise copper to be tuffe and soft, which is not in use in this +kingdome. 9. To make yellow waxe white verie speedilie." + + [14] Rymer's "F[oe]dera," Sanderson. Ewbank's "Hydraulics," p. 419. + +This seems to have been the first authentic reference to the use of +steam in the arts which has been found in English literature. The +patentee held his grant fourteen years, on condition of paying an +annual fee of £3 6_s._ 8_d._ to the Crown. + +The second claim is distinct as an application of steam, the language +being that which was then, and for a century and a half subsequently, +always employed in speaking of its use. The steam-engine, in all its +forms, was at that time known as the "fire-engine." It would seem not +at all improbable that the third, fifth, and seventh claims are also +applications of steam-power. + +Thomas Grant, in 1632, and Edward Ford, in 1640, also patented +schemes, which have not been described in detail, for moving ships +against wind and tide by some new and great force. + +Dr. John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, an eccentric but learned and +acute scholar, described, in 1648, Cardan's smoke-jack, the earlier +æolipiles, and the power of the confined steam, and suggested, in a +humorous discourse, what he thought to be perfectly feasible--the +construction of a flying-machine. He says: "Might not a 'high +pressure' be applied with advantage to move wings as large as those of +the 'ruck's' or the 'chariot'? The engineer might probably find a +corner that would do for a coal-station near some of the 'castles'" +(castles in the air). The reverend wit proposed the application of the +smoke-jack to the chiming of bells, the reeling of yarn, and to +rocking the cradle. + +Bishop Wilkins writes, in 1648 ("Mathematical Magic"), of æolipiles as +familiar and useful pieces of apparatus, and describes them as +consisting "of some such material as may endure the fire, having a +small hole at which they are filled with water, and out of which (when +the vessels are heated) the air doth issue forth with a strong and +lasting violence." "They are," the bishop adds, "frequently used for +the exciting and contracting of heat in the melting of glasses or +metals. They may also be contrived to be serviceable for sundry other +pleasant uses, as for the moving of sails in a chimney-corner, the +motion of which sails may be applied to the turning of a spit, or the +like." + +Kircher gives an engraving ("Mundus Subterraneus") showing the +last-named application of the æolipile; and Erckern ("Aula +Subterranea," 1672) gives a picture illustrating their application to +the production of a blast in smelting ores. They seem to have been +frequently used, and in all parts of Europe, during the seventeenth +century, for blowing fires in houses, as well as in the practical work +of the various trades, and for improving the draft of chimneys. The +latter application is revived very frequently by the modern inventor. + + +SECTION II.--THE PERIOD OF APPLICATION--WORCESTER, PAPIN, AND SAVERY. + +We next meet with the first instance in which the expansive force of +steam is supposed to have actually been applied to do important and +useful work. + +In 1663, Edward Somerset, second Marquis of Worcester, published a +curious collection of descriptions of his inventions, couched in +obscure and singular language, and called "A Century of the Names and +Scantlings of Inventions by me already Practised." + +One of these inventions is an apparatus for raising water by steam. +The description was not accompanied by a drawing, but the sketch here +given (Fig. 7) is thought probably to resemble one of his earlier +contrivances very closely. + +Steam is generated in the boiler _a_, and thence is led into the +vessel _e_, already nearly filled with water, and fitted up like the +apparatus of De Caus. It drives the water in a jet out through the +pipe _f_. The vessel _e_ is then shut off from the boiler _a_, is +again filled through the pipe _h_, and the operation is repeated. +Stuart thinks it possible that the marquis may have even made an +engine with a piston, and sketches it.[15] The instruments of Porta +and of De Caus were "steam fountains," and were probably applied, if +used at all, merely to ornamental purposes. That of the Marquis of +Worcester was actually used for the purpose of elevating water for +practical purposes at Vauxhall, near London. + + [15] "Anecdotes of the Steam-Engine," vol. i., p. 61. + +[Illustration: Edward Somerset, the Second Marquis of Worcester.] + +How early this invention was introduced at Raglan Castle by Worcester +is not known, but it was probably not much later than 1628. In 1647 +Dircks shows the marquis probably to have been engaged in getting out +parts of the later engine which was erected at Vauxhall, obtaining +his materials from William Lambert, a brass-founder. His patent was +issued in June, 1663. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Worcester's Steam Fountain, A. D. 1650.] + +We nowhere find an illustrated description of the machine, or such an +account as would enable a mechanic to reproduce it in all its details. +Fortunately, the cells and grooves (Fig. 9) remaining in the wall of +the citadel of Raglan Castle indicate the general dimensions and +arrangement of the engine; and Dircks, the biographer of the inventor, +has suggested the form of apparatus shown in the sketch (Fig. 8) as +most perfectly in accord with the evidence there found, and with the +written specifications. + +The two vessels, _A A´_, are connected by a steam-pipe, _B B´_, with +the boiler, _C_, behind them. _D_ is the furnace. A vertical +water-pipe, _E_, is connected with the cold-water vessels, _A A´_, by +the pipes, _F F´_, reaching nearly to the bottom. Water is supplied by +the pipes, _G G´_, with valves, _a a´_, dipping into the well or +ditch, _H_. Steam from the boiler being admitted to each vessel, _A_ +and _A´_, alternately, and there condensing, the vacuum formed permits +the pressure of the atmosphere to force the water from the well +through the pipes, _G_ and _G´_. While one is filling, the steam is +forcing the charge of water from the other up the discharge-pipe, _E_. +As soon as each is emptied, the steam is shut off from it and turned +into the other, and the condensation of the steam remaining in the +vessel permits it to fill again. As will be seen presently, this is +substantially, and almost precisely, the form of engine of which the +invention is usually attributed to Savery, a later inventor. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Worcester's Engine, A. D. 1665.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Wall of Raglan Castle.] + +Worcester never succeeded in forming the great company which he hoped +would introduce his invention on a scale commensurate with its +importance, and his fate was that of nearly all inventors. He died +poor and unsuccessful. + +His widow, who lived until 1681, seemed to have become as confident as +was Worcester himself that the invention had value, and, long after +his death, was still endeavoring to secure its introduction, but with +equal non-success. The steam-engine had taken a form which made it +inconceivably valuable to the world, at a time when no more efficient +means of raising water was available at the most valuable mines than +horse-power; but the people, greatly as it was needed, were not yet +sufficiently intelligent to avail themselves of the great boon, the +acceptance of which was urged upon them with all the persistence and +earnestness which characterizes every true inventor. + +Worcester is described by his biographer as having been a learned, +thoughtful, studious, and good man--a Romanist without prejudice or +bigotry, a loyal subject, free from partisan intolerance; as a public +man, upright, honorable, and humane; as a scholar, learned without +being pedantic; as a mechanic, patient, skillful, persevering, and of +wonderful ingenuity, and of clear, almost intuitive, apprehension. + +Yet, with all these natural advantages, reinforced as they were by +immense wealth and influence in his earlier life, and by hardly +lessened social and political influence when a large fortune had been +spent in experiment, and after misfortune had subdued his spirits and +left him without money or a home, the inventor failed to secure the +introduction of a device which was needed more than any other. +Worcester had attained practical success; but the period of +speculation was but just closing, and that of the application of steam +had not quite yet arrived. + +The second Marquis of Worcester stands on the record as the first +steam-engine builder, and his death marks the termination of the first +of those periods into which we have divided the history of the growth +of the steam-engine. + +The "water-commanding engine," as its inventor called it, was the +first instance in the history of the steam-engine in which the +inventor is known to have "reduced his invention to practice." + +It is evident, however, that the invention of the separate boiler, +important as it was, had been anticipated by Porta, and does not +entitle the marquis to the honor, claimed for him by many English +authorities, of being _the_ inventor of the steam-engine. Somerset was +simply _one_ of those whose works collectively made the steam-engine. + +After the time of Worcester, we enter upon a stage of history which +may properly be termed a period of application; and from this time +forward steam continued to play a more and more important part in +social economy, and its influence on the welfare of mankind augmented +with a rapidly-increasing growth. + +The knowledge then existing of the immense expansive force of steam, +and the belief that it was destined to submit to the control of man +and to lend its immense power in every department of industry, were +evidently not confined to any one nation. From Italy to Northern +Germany, and from France to Great Britain, the distances, measured in +time, were vastly greater then than now, when this wonderful genius +has helped us to reduce weeks to hours; but there existed, +notwithstanding, a very perfect system of communication, and the +learning of every centre was promptly radiated to every other. It thus +happened that, at this time, the speculative study of the steam-engine +was confined to no part of Europe; inventors and experimenters were +busy everywhere developing this promising scheme. + +Jean Hautefeuille, the son of a French _boulanger_, born at Orleans, +adopted by the Duchess of Bouillon at the suggestion of De Sourdis, +profiting by the great opportunities offered him, entered the Church, +and became one of the most learned men and greatest mechanicians of +his time. He studied the many schemes then brought forward by +inventors with the greatest interest, and was himself prolific of new +ideas. + +In 1678, he proposed the use of alcohol in an engine, "in such a +manner that the liquid should evaporate and be condensed, _tour à +tour_, without being wasted"[16]--the first recorded plan, probably, +for surface-condensation and complete retention of the working-fluid. +He proposed a gunpowder-engine, of which[17] he described three +varieties. + + [16] Stuart's "Anecdotes." + + [17] "Pendule Perpetuelle, avec la manière d'élever d'eau par le + moyen de la poudre à canon," Paris, 1678. + +In one of these engines he displaced the atmosphere by the gases +produced by the explosion, and the vacuum thus obtained was utilized +in raising water by the pressure of the air. In the second machine, +the pressure of the gases evolved by the combustion of the powder +acted directly upon the water, forcing it upward; and in the third +design, the pressure of the vapor drove a piston, and this engine was +described as fitted to supply power for many purposes. There is no +evidence that he constructed these machines, however, and they are +here referred to simply as indicating that all the elements of the +machine were becoming well known, and that an ingenious mechanic, +combining known devices, could at this time have produced the +steam-engine. Its early appearance should evidently have been +anticipated. + +Hautefeuille, if we may judge from evidence at hand, was the first to +propose the use of a piston in a heat-engine, and his gunpowder-engine +seems to have been the first machine which would be called a +heat-engine by the modern mechanic. The earlier "machines" or +"engines," including that of Hero and those of the Marquis of +Worcester, would rather be denominated "apparatus," as that term is +used by the physicist or the chemist, than a machine or an engine, as +the terms are used by the engineer. + +Huyghens, in 1680, in a memoir presented to the Academy of Sciences, +speaks of the expansive force of gunpowder as capable of utilization +as a convenient and portable mechanical power, and indicates that he +had designed a machine in which it could be applied. + +This machine of Huyghens is of great interest, not simply because it +was the first gas-engine and the prototype of the very successful +modern explosive gas-engine of Otto and Langen, but principally as +having been the first engine which consisted of a cylinder and piston. +The sketch shows its form. It consisted of a cylinder, _A_, a piston, +_B_, two relief-pipes, _C C_, fitted with check-valves and a system of +pulleys, _F_, by which the weight is raised. The explosion of the +powder at _H_ expels the air from the cylinder. When the products of +combustion have cooled, the pressure of the atmosphere is no longer +counterbalanced by that of air beneath, and the piston is forced down, +raising the weight. The plan was never put in practice, although the +invention was capable of being made a working and possibly useful +machine. + +[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Huyghens's Engine, 1680.] + +At about this period the English attained some superiority over their +neighbors on the Continent in the practical application of science and +the development of the useful arts, and it has never since been lost. +A sudden and great development of applied science and of the useful +arts took place during the reign of Charles II., which is probably +largely attributable to the interest taken by that monarch in many +branches of construction and of science. He is said to have been very +fond of mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, and natural history, and to +have had a laboratory erected, and to have employed learned men to +carry on experiments and lines of research for his satisfaction. He +was especially fond of the study and investigation of the arts and +sciences most closely related to naval architecture and navigation, +and devoted much attention to the determination of the best forms of +vessels, and to the discovery of the best kinds of ship-timber. His +brother, the Duke of York, was equally fond of this study, and was his +companion in some of his work. + +Great as is the influence of the monarch, to-day, in forming the +tastes and habits and in determining the direction of the studies and +labors of the people, his influence was vastly more potent in those +earlier days; and it may well be believed that the rapid strides taken +by Great Britain from that time were, in great degree, a consequence +of the well-known habits of Charles II., and that the nation, which +had an exceptional natural aptitude for mechanical pursuits, should +have been prompted by the example of its king to enter upon such a +course as resulted in the early attainment of an advanced position in +all branches of applied science. + +The appointment, under Sir Robert Moray, the superintendent of the +laboratory of the king, of Master Mechanic, was conferred upon Sir +Samuel Morland, a nobleman who, in his practical knowledge of +mechanics and in his ingenuity and fruitfulness of invention, was +apparently almost equal to Worcester. He was the son of a Berkshire +clergyman, was educated at Cambridge, where he studied mathematics +with great interest, and entered public life soon after. He served the +Parliament under Cromwell, and afterward went to Geneva. He was of a +decidedly literary turn of mind, and wrote a history of the Piedmont +churches, which gave him great repute with the Protestant party. He +was induced subsequently, on the accession of Charles II., to take +service under that monarch, whose gratitude he had earned by revealing +a plot for his assassination. + +He received his appointment and a baronetcy in 1660, and immediately +commenced making experiments, partly at his own expense and partly at +the cost of the royal exchequer, which were usually not at all +remunerative. He built hand fire-engines of various kinds, taking +patents on them, which brought him as small profits as did his work +for the king, and invented the speaking-trumpet, calculating machines, +and a capstan. His house at Vauxhall was full of curious devices, the +products of his own ingenuity. + +He devoted much attention to apparatus for raising water. His devices +seem to have usually been modifications of the now familiar +force-pump. They attracted much attention, and exhibitions were made +of them before the king and queen and the court. He was sent to France +on business relating to water-works erected for King Charles, and +while in Paris he constructed pumps and pumping apparatus for the +satisfaction of Louis XIV. In his book,[18] published in Paris in +1683, and presented to the king, and an earlier manuscript,[19] still +preserved in the British Museum, Morland shows a perfect familiarity +with the power of steam. He says, in the latter: "Water being +evaporated by fire, the vapors require a greater space (about two +thousand times) than that occupied by the water; and, rather than +submit to imprisonment, it will burst a piece of ordnance. But, being +controlled according to the laws of statics, and, by science, reduced +to the measure of weight and balance, it bears its burden peaceably +(like good horses), and thus may be of great use to mankind, +especially for the raising of water, according to the following table, +which indicates the number of pounds which may be raised six inches, +1,800 times an hour, by cylinders half-filled with water, and of the +several diameters and depths of said cylinders." + + [18] "Elevation des Eaux par toute sorte de Machines réduite à la + Mesure au Poids et à la Balance, présentée a Sa Majesté Très + Chrétienne, par le Chevalier Morland, Gentilhomme Ordinaire de la + Chambre Privée et Maistre de Mechaniques du Roy de la Grande + Bretagne, 1683." + + [19] "Les Principes de la Nouvelle Force de Feu, inventée par le + Chevalier Morland, l'an 1682, et présentée a Sa Majesté Très + Chrétienne, 1683." + +He then gives the following table, a comparison of which with modern +tables proves Morland to have acquired a very considerable and +tolerably accurate knowledge of the volume and pressure of saturated +steam: + + -------------------------+------------------------ + CYLINDERS. | POUNDS. + -----------+-------------+---------------------- + Diameter | Depth | Weight + in Feet. | in Feet. | to be Raised. + -----------+-------------+---------------------- + 1 | 2 | 15 + 2 | 4 | 120 + 3 | 6 | 405 + 4 | 8 | 960 + 5 | 10 | 1,876 + 6 | 10 | 3,240 + -----------+-------------+---------------------- + Number of cylinders having a diameter of 6 feet + and a depth of 12 feet. + | | + 1 | 12 | 3,240 + 2 | 12 | 6,480 + 3 | 12 | 9,720 + 4 | 12 | 12,960 + 5 | 12 | 16,200 + 6 | 12 | 19,440 + 7 | 12 | 22,680 + 8 | 12 | 25,920 + 9 | 12 | 29,190 + 10 | 12 | 32,400 + 20 | 12 | 64,800 + 30 | 12 | 97,200 + 40 | 12 | 129,600 + 50 | 12 | 162,000 + 60 | 12 | 194,400 + 70 | 12 | 226,800 + 80 | 12 | 259,200 + 90 | 12 | 291,600 + -----------+-------------+---------------------- + +The rate of enlargement of volume in the conversion of water into +steam, as given in Morland's book, appears remarkably accurate when +compared with statements made by other early experimenters. +Desaguliers gave the ratio of volumes at 14,000, and this was accepted +as correct for many years, and until Watt's experiments, which were +quoted by Dr. Robison as giving the ratio at between 1,800 and 1,900. +Morland also states the "duty" of his engines in the same manner in +which it is stated by engineers to-day. + +Morland must undoubtedly have been acquainted with the work of his +distinguished contemporary, Lord Worcester, and his apparatus seems +most likely to have been a modification--perhaps improvement--of +Worcester's engine. His house was at Vauxhall, and the establishment +set up for the king was in the neighborhood. It may be that Morland is +to be credited with greater success in the introduction of his +predecessor's apparatus than the inventor himself. + +Dr. Hutton considered this book to have been the earliest account of +the steam-engine, and accepts the date--1682--as that of the +invention, and adds, that "the project seems to have remained obscure +in both countries till 1699, when Savery, who probably knew more of +Morland's invention than he owned, obtained a patent," etc. We have, +however, scarcely more complete or accurate knowledge of the extent of +Morland's work, and of its real value, than of that of Worcester. +Morland died in 1696, at Hammersmith, not far from London, and his +body lies in Fulham church. + +From this time forward the minds of many mechanicians were earnestly +at work on this problem--the raising of water by aid of steam. +Hitherto, although many ingenious toys, embodying the principles of +the steam-engine separately, and sometimes to a certain extent +collectively, had been proposed, and even occasionally constructed, +the world was only just ready to profit by the labors of inventors in +this direction. + +But, at the end of the seventeenth century, English miners were +beginning to find the greatest difficulty in clearing their shafts of +the vast quantities of water which they were meeting at the +considerable depths to which they had penetrated, and it had become a +matter of vital importance to them to find a more powerful aid in that +work than was then available. They were, therefore, by their +necessities stimulated to watch for, and to be prepared promptly to +take advantage of, such an invention when it should be offered them. + +The experiments of Papin, and the practical application of known +principles by Savery, placed the needed apparatus in their hands. + +[Illustration: Thomas Savery.] + +THOMAS SAVERY was a member of a well-known family of Devonshire, +England, and was born at Shilston, about 1650. He was well educated, +and became a military engineer. He exhibited great fondness for +mechanics, and for mathematics and natural philosophy, and gave much +time to experimenting, to the contriving of various kinds of +apparatus, and to invention. He constructed a clock, which still +remains in the family, and is considered an ingenious piece of +mechanism, and is said to be of excellent workmanship. + +He invented and patented an arrangement of paddle-wheels, driven by a +capstan[20] for propelling vessels in calm weather, and spent some +time endeavoring to secure its adoption by the British Admiralty and +the Navy Board, but met with no success. The principal objector was +the Surveyor of the Navy, who dismissed Savery, with a remark which +illustrates a spirit which, although not yet extinct, is less +frequently met with in the public service now than then: "What have +interloping people, that have no concern with us, to do to pretend to +contrive or invent things for us?"[21] Savery then fitted his +apparatus into a small vessel, and exhibited its operation on the +Thames. The invention was never introduced into the navy, however. + + [20] Harris, "Lexicon Technicum," London, 1710. + + [21] "Navigation Improved; or, The Art of Rowing Ships of all rates + in Calms, with a more Easy, Swift, and Steady Motion, than Oars + can," etc., etc. By Thomas Savery, Gent. London, 1698. + +It was after this time that Savery became the inventor of a +steam-engine. It is not known whether he was familiar with the work of +Worcester, and of earlier inventors. Desaguliers[22] states that he +had read the book of Worcester, and that he subsequently endeavored to +destroy all evidence of the anticipation of his own invention by the +marquis by buying up all copies of the century that he could find, and +burning them. The story is scarcely credible. A comparison of the +drawings given of the two engines exhibits, nevertheless, a striking +resemblance; and, assuming that of the marquis's engine to be correct, +Savery is to be given credit for the finally successful introduction +of the "semi-omnipotent" "water-commanding" engine of Worcester. + + [22] "Experimental Philosophy," vol. ii., p. 465. + +The most important advance in actual construction, therefore, was made +by Thomas Savery. The constant and embarrassing expense, and the +engineering difficulties presented by the necessity of keeping the +British mines, and particularly the deep pits of Cornwall, free from +water, and the failure of every attempt previously made to provide +effective and economical pumping-machinery, were noted by Savery, who, +July 25, 1698, patented the design of the first engine which was ever +actually employed in this work. A working-model was submitted to the +Royal Society of London in 1699, and successful experiments were made +with it. Savery spent a considerable time in planning his engine and +in perfecting it, and states that he expended large sums of money upon +it. + +Having finally succeeded in satisfying himself with its operation, he +exhibited a model "Fire-Engine," as it was called in those days, +before King William III. and his court, at Hampton Court, in 1698, and +obtained his patent without delay. The title of the patent reads: "A +grant to Thomas Savery, Gentl., of the sole exercise of a new +invention by him invented, for raising of water, and occasioning +motion to all sorts of mill-works, by the impellant force of fire, +which will be of great use for draining mines, serving towns with +water, and for the working of all sorts of mills, when they have not +the benefit of water nor constant winds; to hold for 14 years; with +usual clauses." + +Savery now went about the work of introducing his invention in a way +which is in marked contrast with that usually adopted by the inventors +of that time. He commenced a systematic and successful system of +advertisement, and lost no opportunity of making his plans not merely +known, but well understood, even in matters of detail. The Royal +Society was then fully organized, and at one of its meetings he +obtained permission to appear with his model "fire-engine" and to +explain its operation; and, as the minutes read, "Mr. Savery +entertained the Society with showing his engine to raise water by the +force of fire. He was thanked for showing the experiment, which +succeeded, according to expectation, and was approved of." He +presented to the Society a drawing and specifications of his machine, +and "The Transactions"[23] contain a copperplate engraving and the +description of his model. It consisted of a furnace, _A_, heating a +boiler, _B_, which was connected by pipes, _C C_, with two copper +receivers, _D D_. There were led from the bottom of these receivers +branch pipes, _F F_, which turned upward, and were united to form a +rising main, or "forcing-pipe," _G_. From the top of each receiver was +led a pipe, which was turned downward, and these pipes united to form +a suction-pipe, which was led down to the bottom of the well or +reservoir from which the water was to be drawn. The maximum lift +allowable was stated at 24 feet. + + [23] "Philosophical Transactions, No. 252." Weld's "Royal Society," + vol. i., p. 357. Lowthorp's "Abridgment," vol. i. + +[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Savery's Model, 1698.] + +The engine was worked as follows: Steam is raised in the boiler, _B_, +and a cock, _C_, being opened, a receiver, _D_, is filled with steam. +Closing the cock, _C_, the steam condensing in the receiver, a vacuum +is created, and the pressure of the atmosphere forces the water up, +through the supply-pipe, from the well into the receiver. Opening the +cock, _C_, again, the check-valve in the suction-pipe at _E_ closes, +the steam drives the water out through the forcing-pipe, _G_, the +clack-valve, _E_, on that pipe opening before it, and the liquid is +expelled from the top of the pipe. The valve, _C_, is again closed; +the steam again condenses, and the engine is worked as before. While +one of the two receivers is discharging, the other is filling, as in +the machine of the Marquis of Worcester, and thus the steam is drawn +from the boiler with tolerable regularity, and the expulsion of water +takes place with similar uniformity, the two systems of receivers and +pipes being worked alternately by the single boiler. + +In another and still simpler little machine,[24] which he erected at +Kensington (Fig. 12), the same general plan was adopted, combining a +suction-pipe, _A_, 16 feet long and 3 inches in diameter; a single +receiver, _B_, capable of containing 13 gallons; a boiler, _C_, of +about 40 gallons capacity; a forcing-pipe, _D_, 42 feet high, with the +connecting pipe and cocks, _E F G_; and the method of operation was as +already described, except that _surface-condensation_ was employed, +the cock, _F_, being arranged to shower water from the rising main +over the receiver, as shown. Of the first engine Switzer says: "I have +heard him say myself, that the very first time he played, it was in a +potter's house at Lambeth, where, though it was a small engine, yet it +(the water) forced its way through the roof, and struck off the tiles +in a manner that surprised all the spectators." + + [24] Bradley, "New Improvements of Planting and Gardening." Switzer, + "Hydrostatics," 1729. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Savery's Engine, 1698.] + +The Kensington engine cost £50, and raised 3,000 gallons per hour, +filling the receiver four times a minute, and required a bushel of +coal per day. Switzer remarks: "It must be noted that this engine is +but a small one in comparison with many others that are made for +coal-works; but this is sufficient for any reasonable family, and +other uses required of it in watering all middling gardens." He +cautions the operator: "When you have raised water enough, and you +design to leave off working the engine, take away all the fire from +under the boiler, and open the cock (connected to the funnel) to let +out the steam, which would otherwise, were it to remain confined, +perhaps burst the engine." + +With the intention of making his invention more generally known, and +hoping to introduce it as a pumping-engine in the mining districts of +Cornwall, Savery wrote a prospectus for general circulation, which +contains the earliest account of the later and more effective form of +engine. He entitled his pamphlet "The Miner's Friend; or, A +Description of an Engine to raise Water by Fire described, and the +Manner of fixing it in Mines, with an Account of the several Uses it +is applicable to, and an Answer to the Objections against it." It was +printed in London in 1702, for S. Crouch, and was distributed among +the proprietors and managers of mines, who were then finding the flow +of water at depths so great as, in some cases, to bar further +progress. In many cases, the cost of drainage left no satisfactory +margin of profit. In one mine, 500 horses were employed raising water, +by the then usual method of using horse-gins and buckets. + +The approval of the King and of the Royal Society, and the countenance +of the mine-adventurers of England, were acknowledged by the author, +who addressed his pamphlet to them. + +The engraving of the engine was reproduced, with the description, in +Harris's "Lexicon Technicum," 1704; in Switzer's "Hydrostatics," 1729; +and in Desaguliers's "Experimental Philosophy," 1744. + +The sketch which here follows is a neater engraving of the same +machine. Savery's engine is shown in Fig. 13, as described by Savery +himself, in 1702, in "The Miner's Friend." + +_L_ is the boiler in which steam is raised, and through the pipes _O +O_ it is alternately let into the vessels _P P_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Savery's Engine, A. D. 1702.] + +Suppose it to pass into the left-hand vessel first. The valve _M_ +being closed, and _R_ being opened, the water contained in _P_ is +driven out and up the pipe _S_ to the desired height, where it is +discharged. + +The valve _R_ is then closed, and the valve in the pipe _O_; the valve +_M_ is next opened, and condensing water is turned upon the exterior +of _P_ by the cock _Y_, leading water from the cistern _X_. As the +steam contained in _P_ is condensed, forming a vacuum there, a fresh +charge of water is driven by atmospheric pressure up the pipe _T_. + +Meantime, steam from the boiler has been let into the right-hand +vessel _P_, the cock _W_ having been first closed, and _R_ opened. + +The charge of water is driven out through the lower pipe and the cock +_R_, and up the pipe _S_ as before, while the other vessel is +refilling preparatory to acting in its turn. + +The two vessels are thus alternately charged and discharged, as long +as is necessary. + +Savery's method of supplying his boiler with water was at once simple +and ingenious. + +The small boiler, _D_, is filled with water from any convenient +source, as from the stand-pipe, _S_. A fire is then built under it, +and, when the pressure of steam in _D_ becomes greater than in the +main boiler, _L_, a communication is opened between their lower ends, +and the water passes, under pressure, from the smaller to the larger +boiler, which is thus "fed" without interrupting the work. _G_ and _N_ +are _gauge-cocks_, by which the height of water in the boilers is +determined; they were first adopted by Savery. + +Here we find, therefore, the first really practicable and commercially +valuable steam-engine. Thomas Savery is entitled to the credit of +having been the first to introduce a machine in which the power of +heat, acting through the medium of steam, was rendered generally +useful. + +It will be noticed that Savery, like the Marquis of Worcester, used a +boiler separate from the water-reservoir. + +He added to the "water-commanding engine" of the marquis the system of +_surface-condensation_, by which he was enabled to charge his vessels +when it became necessary to refill them; and added, also, the +secondary boiler, which enabled him to supply the working-boiler with +water without interrupting its work. + +The machine was thus made capable of working uninterruptedly for a +period of time only limited by its own decay. + +Savery never fitted his boilers with safety-valves, although it was +done earlier by Papin; and in deep mines he was compelled to make use +of higher pressures than his rudely-constructed boilers could safely +bear. + +Savery's engine was used at a number of mines, and also for supplying +water to towns; some large estates, country houses, and other private +establishments, employed them for the same purpose. They did not, +however, come into general use among the mines, because, according to +Desaguliers, they were apprehensive of danger from the explosion of +the boilers or receivers. As Desaguliers wrote subsequently: "Savery +made a great many experiments to bring this machine to perfection, and +did erect several which raised water very well for gentlemen's seats, +but could not succeed for mines, or supplying towns, where the water +was to be raised very high and in great quantities; for then the steam +required being boiled up to such a strength as to be ready to tear all +the vessels to pieces." "I have known Captain Savery, at York's +buildings, to make steam eight or ten times stronger than common air; +and then its heat was so great that it would melt common soft solder, +and its strength so great as to blow open several joints of the +machine; so that he was forced to be at the pains and charge to have +all his joints soldered with spelter or hard solder." + +Although there were other difficulties in the application of the +Savery engine to many kinds of work, this was the most serious one, +and explosions did occur with fatal results. The writer just quoted +relates, in his "Experimental Philosophy," that a man who was ignorant +of the nature of the engine undertook to work a machine which +Desaguliers had provided with a safety-valve to avoid this very +danger, "and, having hung the weight at the further end of the +steelyard, in order to collect more steam in order to make his work +the quicker, he hung also a very heavy plumber's iron upon the end of +the steelyard; the consequence proved fatal; for, after some time, the +steam, not being able, with the safety-cock, to raise up the steelyard +loaded with all this unusual weight, burst the boiler with a great +explosion, and killed the poor man." This is probably the earliest +record of a steam-boiler explosion. + +Savery proposed to use his engine for driving mills; but there is no +evidence that he actually made such an application of the machine, +although it was afterward so applied by others. The engine was not +well adapted to the drainage of surface-land, as the elevation of +large quantities of water through small heights required great +capacity of receivers, or compelled the use of several engines for +each case. The filling of the receivers, in such cases, also compelled +the heating of large areas of cold and wet metallic surfaces by the +steam at each operation, and thus made the work comparatively wasteful +of fuel. Where used in mines, they were necessarily placed within 30 +feet or less of the lowest level, and were therefore exposed to danger +of submergence whenever, by any accident, the water should rise above +that level. In many cases this would result in the loss of the engine, +and the mine would remain "drowned," unless another engine should be +procured to pump it out. Where the mine was deep, the water was forced +by the pressure of steam from the level of the engine-station to the +top of the lift. This compelled the use of pressures of several +atmospheres in many cases; and a pressure of three atmospheres, or +about 45 pounds per square inch, was considered, in those days, as +about the maximum pressure allowable. This difficulty was met by +setting a separate engine at every 60 or 80 feet, and pumping the +water from one to the other. If any one engine in the set became +disabled, the pumping was interrupted until that one machine could be +repaired. The size of Savery's largest boilers was not great, their +maximum diameter not exceeding two and a half feet. This made it +necessary to provide several of his engines, usually, for a single +mine, and at each level. The first cost and the expense of repairs +were exceedingly serious items. The expense and danger, either real or +apparent, were thus sufficient to deter many from their use, and the +old method of raising water by horse-power was adhered to. + +The consumption of fuel with these engines was very great. The steam +was not generated economically, as the boilers used were of such +simple forms as only could then be produced, and presented too little +heating surface to secure a very complete transfer of heat from the +gases of combustion to the water within the boiler. This waste in the +generation of steam in these uneconomical boilers was followed by +still more serious waste in its application, without expansion, to the +expulsion of water from a metallic receiver, the cold and wet sides of +which absorbed heat with the greatest avidity. The great mass of the +liquid was not, however, heated by the steam, and was expelled at the +temperature at which it was raised from below. + +Savery quaintly relates the action of his machine in "The Miner's +Friend," and so exactly, that a better description could scarcely be +asked: "The steam acts upon the surface of the water in the receiver, +which surface only being heated by the steam, it does not condense, +but the steam gravitates or presses with an elastic quality like air, +and still increasing its elasticity or spring, until it counterpoises, +or rather exceeds, the weight of the column of water in the +force-pipe, which then it will necessarily drive up that pipe; the +steam then takes some time to recover its power, but it will at last +discharge the water out at the top of the pipe. You may see on the +outside of the receiver how the water goes out, as well as if it were +transparent; for, so far as the steam is contained within the vessel, +it is dry without, and so hot as scarcely to endure the least touch of +the hand; but so far as the water is inside the vessel, it will be +cold and wet on the outside, where any water has fallen on it; which +cold and moisture vanish as fast as the steam takes the place of the +water in its descent." + +After Savery's death, in 1716, several of these engines were erected +in which some improvements were introduced. Dr. Desaguliers, in 1718, +built a Savery engine, in which he avoided some defects which he, with +Dr. Gravesande, had noted two years earlier. They had then proposed +to adopt the arrangement of a single receiver which had been used by +Savery himself, as already described, finding, by experiment on a +model which they had made for the purpose, that one could be +discharged three times, while the same boiler would empty two +receivers but once each. In their arrangement, the steam was shut back +in the boiler while the receiver was filling with water, and a high +pressure thus accumulated, instead of being turned into the second +receiver, and the pressure thus kept comparatively low. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Papin's Two-Way Cock.] + +In the engine built in 1718, Desaguliers used a spherical boiler, +which he provided with the lever safety-valve already applied by +Papin, and adopted a comparatively small receiver--one-fifth the +capacity of the boiler--of slender cylindrical form, and attached a +pipe leading the water for condensation into the vessel, and effected +its distribution by means of the "rose," or a "sprinkling-plate," such +as is still frequently used in modern engines having jet-condensers. +This substitution of jet for surface-condensation was of very great +advantage, securing great promptness in the formation of a vacuum and +a rapid filling of the receiver. A "two-way cock" admitted steam to +the receiver, or, being turned the other way, admitted the cold +condensing water. The dispersion of the water in minute streams or +drops was a very important detail, not only as securing great +rapidity of condensation, but enabling the designer to employ a +comparatively small receiver or condenser. + +The engine is shown in Fig. 15, which is copied from the "Experimental +Philosophy" of Desaguliers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Engine built by Desaguliers in 1718.] + +The receiver, _A_, is connected to the boiler, _B_, by a steam-pipe, +_C_, terminating at the two-way cock, _D_; the "forcing-pipe," _E_, +has at its foot a check-valve, _F_, and the valve _G_ is a similar +check at the head of the suction-pipe. _H_ is a strainer, to prevent +the ingress of chips or other bodies carried to the pipe by the +current; the cap above the valves is secured by a bridle, or stirrup, +and screw, _I_, and may be readily removed to clear the valves or to +renew them; _K_ is the handle of the two-way cock; _M_ is the +injection-cock, and is kept open during the working of the engine; _L_ +is the chimney-flue; _N_ and _O_ are gauge-cocks fitted to pipes +leading to the proper depths within the boiler, the water-line being +somewhere between the levels of their lower ends; _P_ is a lever +safety-valve, as first used on the "Digester" of Papin; _R_ is the +reservoir into which the water is pumped; _T_ is the flue, leading +spirally about the boiler from the furnace, _V_, to the chimney; _Y_ +is a cock fitted in a pipe through which the rising-main may be filled +from the reservoir, should injection-water be needed when that pipe is +empty. + +Seven of these engines were built, the first of which was made for the +Czar of Russia. Its boiler had a capacity of "five or six hogsheads," +and the receiver, "holding one hogshead," was filled and emptied four +times a minute. The water was raised "by suction" 29 feet, and forced +by steam pressure 11 feet higher. + +Another engine built at about this time, to raise water 29 feet "by +suction," and to force it 24 feet higher, made 6 "strokes" per minute, +and, when forcing water but 6 or 8 feet, made 8 or 9 strokes per +minute. Twenty-five years later a workman overloaded the safety-valve +of this engine, by placing the weight at the end and then adding "a +very heavy plumber's iron." The boiler exploded, killing the +attendant. + +Desaguliers says that one of these engines, capable of raising ten +tons an hour 38 feet, in 1728 or 1729, cost £80, exclusive of the +piping. + +Blakely, in 1766, patented an improved Savery engine, in which he +endeavored to avoid the serious loss due to condensation of the steam +by direct contact with the water, by interposing a cushion of oil, +which floated upon the water and prevented the contact of the steam +with the surface of the water beneath it. He also used air for the +same purpose, sometimes in double receivers, one supported on the +other. These plans did not, however, prove satisfactory. + +Rigley, of Manchester, England, soon after erected Savery engines, and +applied them to the driving of mills, by pumping water into +reservoirs, from whence it returned to the wells or ponds from which +it had been raised, turning water-wheels as it descended. + +Such an arrangement was in operation many years at the works of a Mr. +Kiers, St. Pancras, London. It is described in detail, and +illustrated, in Nicholson's "Philosophical Journal," vol. i., p. 419. +It had a "wagon-boiler" 7 feet long, 5 wide, and 5 deep; the wheel was +18 feet in diameter, and drove the lathes and other machinery of the +works. In this engine Blakely's plan of injecting air was adopted. The +injection-valve was a clack, which closed automatically when the +vacuum was formed. + +The engine consumed 6 or 7 bushels of good coals, and made 10 strokes +per minute, raising 70 cubic feet of water 14 feet, and developing +nearly 3 horse-power. + +Many years after Savery's death, in 1774, Smeaton made the first +duty-trials of engines of this kind. He found that an engine having a +cylindrical receiver 16 inches in diameter and 22 feet high, +discharging the water raised 14 feet above the surface of the water in +the well, making 12 strokes, and raising 100 cubic feet per minute, +developed 2-2/3 horse-power, and consumed 3 hundredweight of coals in +four hours. Its duty was, therefore, 5,250,000 pounds raised one foot +per bushel of 84 pounds of coals, or 62,500 "foot-pounds" of work per +pound of fuel. An engine of slightly greater size gave a duty about 5 +per cent. greater. + +When Louis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes, by which Henry IV. had +guaranteed protection to the Protestants of France, the terrible +persecutions at once commenced drove from the kingdom some of its +greatest men. Among these was Denys Papin. + +It was at about this time that the influence of the atmospheric +pressure on the boiling-point began to be observed, Dr. Hooke having +found that the boiling-point was a fixed temperature under the +ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, and the increase in temperature +and pressure of steam when confined having been shown by Papin with +his "Digester." + +Denys Papin was of a family which had attached itself to the +Protestant Church; but he was given his education in the school of the +Jesuits at Blois, and there acquired his knowledge of mathematics. His +medical education was given him at Paris, although he probably +received his degree at Orleans. He settled in Paris in 1672, with the +intention of practising his profession, and devoted all his spare +time, apparently, to the study of physics. + +[Illustration: Denys Papin.] + +Meantime, that distinguished philosopher, Huyghens, the inventor of +the clock and of the gunpowder-engine, had been induced by the +linen-draper's apprentice, Colbert, now the most trusted adviser of +the king, to take up his residence in Paris, and had been made one of +the earliest members of the Academy of Science, which was founded at +about that time. Papin became an assistant to Huyghens, and aided him +in his experiments in mechanics, having been introduced by Madame +Colbert, who was also a native of Blois. Here he devised several +modifications of the instruments of Guericke, and printed a +description of them.[25] This little book was presented to the +Academy, and very favorably noticed. Papin now became well known among +contemporary men of science at Paris, and was well received +everywhere. Soon after, in the year 1675, as stated by the _Journal +des Savants_, he left Paris and took up his residence in England, +where he very soon made the acquaintance of Robert Boyle, the founder, +and of the members of the Royal Society. Boyle speaks of Papin as +having gone to England in the hope of finding a place in which he +could satisfactorily pursue his favorite studies. + + [25] "Nouvelles Expériences du Vuide, avec la description des + Machines qui servent à le faire." Paris, 1674. + +Boyle himself had already been long engaged in the study of +pneumatics, and had been especially interested in the investigations +which had been original with Guericke. He admitted young Papin into +his laboratory, and the two philosophers worked together at these +attractive problems. It was while working with Boyle that Papin +invented the double air-pump and the air-gun. + +Papin and his work had now become so well known, and he had attained +so high a position in science, that he was nominated for membership in +the Royal Academy, and was elected December 16, 1680. He at once took +his place among the most talented and distinguished of the great men +of his time. + +He probably invented his "Digester" while in England, and it was first +described in a brochure written in English, under the title, "The New +Digester." It was subsequently published in Paris.[26] This was a +vessel, _B_ (Fig. 16), capable of being tightly closed by a screw, +_D_, and a lid, _C_, in which food could be cooked in water raised by +a furnace, _A_, to the temperature due to any desired safe pressure of +steam. The pressure was determined and limited by a weight, _W_, on +the safety-valve lever, _G_. It is probable that this essential +attachment to the steam-boiler had previously been used for other +purposes; but Papin is given the credit of having first made use of it +to control the pressure of steam. + + [26] "La manière d'amollir les os et de faire cuire toutes sortes de + viandes," etc. + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Papin's Digester, 1680.] + +From England, Papin went to Italy, where he accepted membership and +held official position in the Italian Academy of Science. Papin +remained in Venice two years, and then returned to England. Here, in +1687, he announced one of his inventions, which is just becoming of +great value in the arts. He proposed to transmit power from one point +to another, over long distances, by the now well-known "pneumatic" +method. At the point where power was available, he exhausted a +chamber by means of an air-pump, and, leading a pipe to the distant +point at which it was to be utilized, there withdrew the air from +behind a piston, and the pressure of the air upon the latter caused it +to recede into the cylinder, in which it was fitted, raising a weight, +of which the magnitude was proportionate to the size of the piston and +the degree of exhaustion. Papin was not satisfactorily successful in +his experiments; but he had created the germ of the modern system of +pneumatic transmission of power. His disappointment at the result of +his efforts to utilize the system was very great, and he became +despondent, and anxious to change his location again. + +In 1687 he was offered the chair of Mathematics at Marburg by Charles, +the Landgrave of Upper Hesse, and, accepting the appointment, went to +Germany. He remained in Germany many years, and continued his +researches with renewed activity and interest. His papers were +published in the "Acta Eruditorum" at Leipsic, and in the +"Philosophical Transactions" at London. It was while at Marburg that +his papers descriptive of his method of pneumatic transmission of +power were printed.[27] + + [27] "Recueil des diverses Pieces touchant quelques Nouvelles + Machines et autres Sujets Philosophiques," M. D. Papin. Cassel, + 1695. + +In the "Acta Eruditorum" of 1688 he exhibited a practicable plan, in +which he exhausted the air from a set of engines or pumps by means of +pumps situated at a long distance from the point of application of the +power, and at the place where the prime mover--which was in this case +a water-wheel--was erected. + +After his arrival at the University of Marburg, Papin exhibited +to his colleagues in the faculty a modification of Huyghens's +gunpowder-engine, in which he had endeavored to obtain a more perfect +vacuum than had Huyghens in the first of these machines. Disappointed +in this, he finally adopted the expedient of employing steam to +displace the air, and to produce, by its condensation, the perfect +vacuum which he sought; and he thus produced _the first steam-engine +with a piston_, and the first piston steam-engine, in which +condensation was produced to secure a vacuum. It was described in the +"Acta" of Leipsic,[28] in June, 1690, under the title, "Nova Methodus +ad vires motrices validissimas leri pretio comparandeo" ("A New Method +of securing cheaply Motive Power of considerable Magnitude"). He +describes first the gunpowder-engine, and continues by stating that, +"until now, all experiments have been unsuccessful; and after the +combustion of the exploded powder, there always remains in the +cylinder about one-fifth its volume of air." He says that he has +endeavored to arrive by another route at the same end; and "as, by a +natural property of water, a small quantity of this liquid, vaporized +by the action of heat, acquires an elasticity like that of the air, +and returns to the liquid state again on cooling, without retaining +the least trace of its elastic force," he thought that it would be +easy to construct machines in which, "by means of a moderate heat, and +without much expense," a more perfect vacuum could be produced than +could be secured by the use of gunpowder. + + [28] "Acta Eruditorum," Leipsic, 1690. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Papin's Engine.] + +The first machine of Papin (Fig. 17) was very similar to the +gunpowder-engine already described as the invention of Huyghens. In +place of gunpowder, a small quantity of water is placed at the bottom +of the cylinder, _A_; a fire is built beneath it, "the bottom being +made of very thin metal," and the steam formed soon raises the piston, +_B_, to the top, where a latch, _E_, engaging a notch in the +piston-rod, _H_, holds it up until it is desired that it shall drop. +The fire being removed, the steam condenses, and a vacuum is formed +below the piston, and the latch, _E_, being disengaged, the piston is +driven down by the superincumbent atmosphere and raises the weight +which has been, meantime, attached to a rope, _L_, passing from the +piston-rod over pulleys, _T T_. The machine had a cylinder two and a +half inches in diameter, and raised 60 pounds once a minute; and Papin +calculated that a machine of a little more than two feet diameter of +cylinder and of four feet stroke would raise 8,000 pounds four feet +per minute--i. e., that it would yield about one horse-power. + +The inventor claimed that this new machine would be found useful in +relieving mines from water, in throwing bombs, in ship-propulsion, +attaching revolving paddles--i. e., paddle-wheels--to the sides of the +vessel, which wheels were to be driven by several of his engines, in +order to secure continuous motion, the piston-rods being fitted with +racks which were to engage ratchet-wheels on the paddle-shafts. + +"The principal difficulty," he says, answering anticipated objections, +"is that of making these large cylinders." + +In a reprint describing his invention, in 1695, Papin gives a +description of a "newly-invented furnace," a kind of fire-box +steam-boiler, in which the fire, completely surrounded by water, makes +steam so rapidly that his engine could be driven at the rate of four +strokes per minute by the steam supplied by it. + +Papin also proposed the use of a peculiar form of furnace with this +engine, which, embodying as it does some suggestions that very +probably have since been attributed to later inventors, deserves +special notice. In this furnace, Papin proposed to burn his fuel on a +grate within a furnace arranged with a _down-draught_, the air +entering above the grate, passing _down_ through the fire, and from +the ash-pit through a side flue to the chimney. In starting the fire, +the coal was laid on the grate, covered with wood, and the latter was +ignited, the flame, passing downward through the coal, igniting that +in turn, and, as claimed by Papin, the combustion was complete, and +the formation of smoke was entirely prevented. He states, in "Acta +Eruditorum," that the heat was intense, the saving of fuel very great, +and that the only difficulty was to find a refractory material which +would withstand the high temperature attained. + +This is the first fire-box and flue boiler of which we have record. +The experiment is supposed to have led Papin to suggest the use of a +hot-blast, as practised by Neilson more than a century later, for +reducing metals from their ores. + +Papin made another boiler having a flue winding through the +water-space, and presenting a heating surface of nearly 80 square +feet. The flue had a length of 24 feet, and was about 10 inches +square. It is not stated what were the maximum pressures carried on +these boilers; but it is known that Papin had used very high pressures +in his digesters--probably between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds per square +inch. + +In the year 1705, Leibnitz, then visiting England, had seen a Savery +engine, and, on his return, described it to Papin, sending him a +sketch of the machine. Papin read the letter and exhibited the sketch +to the Landgrave of Hesse, and Charles at once urged him to endeavor +to perfect his own machine, and to continue the researches which he +had been intermittently pursuing since the earlier machine had been +exhibited in public. + +In a small pamphlet printed at Cassel in 1707,[29] Papin describes a +new form of engine, in which he discards the original plan of a +modified Huyghens engine, with tight-fitting piston and cylinder, +raising its load by indirect action, and makes a modified Savery +engine, which he calls the "Elector's Engine," in honor of his patron. +This is the engine shown in the engraving, and as proposed to be used +by him in turning a water-wheel. + + [29] "Nouvelle manière d'élever l'Eau par la Force du Feu, mis en + Lumière," par D. Papin. Cassel, 1707. + +The sketch is that given by the inventor in his memoir. It consists +(Fig. 18) of a steam-boiler, _a_, from which steam is led through the +cock, _c_, to the working cylinder, _n n_. The water beneath the +floating-piston, _h_, which latter serves simply as a cushion to +protect the steam from sudden condensation or contact with the water, +is forced into the vessel _r r_, which is a large air-chamber, and +which serves to render the outflow of water comparatively uniform, and +the discharge occurs by means of the pipe _q_, from which the water +rises to the desired height. A fresh supply of water is introduced +through the funnel _k_, after condensation of the steam in _n n_, and +the operation of expulsion is repeated. + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Papin's Engine and Water-Wheel, A. D. 1707.] + +This machine is evidently a retrogression, and Papin, after having +earned the honor of having invented the first steam-engine of the +typical form which has since become so universally applied, forfeited +that credit by his evident ignorance of its superiority over existing +devices, and by attempting unsuccessfully to perfect the inferior +device of another inventor. + +Subsequently, Papin made an attempt to apply the steam-engine to the +propulsion of vessels, the account of which will be given in the +chapter on Steam-Navigation. + +Again disappointed, Papin once more visited England, to renew his +acquaintance with the _savans_ of the Royal Society; but Boyle had +died during the period which Papin had spent in Germany, and the +unhappy and disheartened inventor and philosopher died in 1810, +without having seen any one of his many devices and ingenious +inventions a practical success. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_THE STEAM-ENGINE AS A TRAIN OF MECHANISM._ + + "The introduction of new Inventions seemeth to be the very chief of + all human Actions. The Benefits of new Inventions may extend to all + Mankind universally; but the Good of political Achievements can + respect but some particular Cantons of Men; these latter do not + endure above a few Ages, the former forever. Inventions make all Men + happy, without either Injury or Damage to any one single Person. + Furthermore, new Inventions are, as it were, new Erections and + Imitations of God's own Works."--BACON. + + +THE MODERN TYPE, AS DEVELOPED BY NEWCOMEN, BEIGHTON, AND SMEATON. + +At the beginning of the eighteenth century every element of the modern +type of steam-engine had been separately invented and practically +applied. The character of atmospheric pressure, and of the pressure of +gases, had become understood. The nature of a vacuum was known, and +the method of obtaining it by the displacement of the air by steam, +and by the condensation of the vapor, was understood. The importance +of utilizing the power of steam, and the application of condensation +in the removal of atmospheric pressure, was not only recognized, but +had been actually and successfully attempted by Morland, Papin, and +Savery. + +Mechanicians had succeeded in making steam-boilers capable of +sustaining any desired or any useful pressure, and Papin had shown how +to make them comparatively safe by the attachment of the +safety-valve. They had made steam-cylinders fitted with pistons, and +had used such a combination in the development of power. + +It now only remained for the engineer to combine known forms of +mechanism in a practical machine which should be capable of +economically and conveniently utilizing the power of steam through the +application of now well-understood principles, and by the intelligent +combination of physical phenomena already familiar to scientific +investigators. + +Every essential fact and every vital principle had been learned, and +every one of the needed mechanical combinations had been successfully +effected. It was only requisite that an inventor should appear, +capable of perceiving that these known facts and combinations of +mechanism, properly illustrated in a working machine, would present to +the world its greatest physical blessing. + +The defects of the simple engines constructed up to this time have +been noted as each has been described. None of them could be depended +upon for safe, economical, and continuous work. Savery's was the most +successful of all. But the engine of Savery, even with the +improvements of Desaguliers, was unsafe where most needed, because of +the high pressures necessarily carried in its boilers when pumping +from considerable depths; it was uneconomical, in consequence of the +great loss of heat in its forcing-cylinders when the hot steam was +surrounded at its entrance by colder bodies; it was slow in operation, +of great first cost, and expensive in first cost and in repairs, as +well as in its operation. It could not be relied upon to do its work +uninterruptedly, and was thus in many respects a very unsatisfactory +machine. + +The man who finally effected a combination of the elements of the +modern steam-engine, and produced a machine which is unmistakably a +true engine--i. e., a train of mechanism consisting of several +elementary pieces combined in a train capable of transmitting a force +applied at one end and of communicating it to the resistance to be +overcome at the other end--was THOMAS NEWCOMEN, an "iron-monger" and +blacksmith of Dartmouth, England. The engine invented by him, and +known as the "Atmospheric Steam-Engine," is the first of an entirely +new type. + +The old type of engine--the steam-engine as a simple machine--had been +given as great a degree of perfection, by the successive improvements +of Worcester, Savery, and Desaguliers, as it was probably capable of +attaining by any modification of its details. The next step was +necessarily a complete change of type; and to effect such a change, it +was only necessary to combine devices already known and successfully +tried. + +But little is known of the personal history of Newcomen. His position +in life was humble, and the inventor was not then looked upon as an +individual of even possible importance in the community. He was +considered as one of an eccentric class of schemers, and of an order +which, concerning itself with mechanical matters, held the lowest +position in the class. + +It is supposed that Savery's engine was perfectly well known to +Newcomen, and that the latter may have visited Savery at his home in +Modbury, which was but fifteen miles from the residence of Newcomen. +It is thought, by some biographers of these inventors, that Newcomen +was employed by Savery in making the more intricate forgings of his +engine. Harris, in his "Lexicon Technicum," states that drawings of +the engine of Savery came into the hands of Newcomen, who made a model +of the machine, set it up in his garden, and then attempted its +improvement; but Switzer says that Newcomen "was as early in his +invention as Mr. Savery was in his." + +Newcomen was assisted in his experiments by John Calley, who, with +him, took out the patent. It has been stated that a visit to Cornwall, +where they witnessed the working of a Savery engine, first turned +their attention to the subject; but a friend of Savery has stated +that Newcomen was as early with his general plans as Savery. + +After some discussion with Calley, Newcomen entered into +correspondence with Dr. Hooke, proposing a steam-engine to consist of +a _steam-cylinder containing a piston similar to that of Papin's, and +to drive a separate pump_, similar to those generally in use where +water was raised by horse or wind power. Dr. Hooke advised and argued +strongly against their plan, but, fortunately, the obstinate belief of +the unlearned mechanics was not overpowered by the disquisitions of +their distinguished correspondent, and Newcomen and Calley attempted +an engine on their peculiar plan. This succeeded so well as to induce +them to continue their labors, and, in 1705, to patent,[30] in +combination with Savery--who held the exclusive right to practise +surface-condensation, and who induced them to allow him an interest +with them--an engine combining a steam-cylinder and piston, +surface-condensation, a separate boiler, and separate pumps. + + [30] It has been denied that a patent was issued, but there is no + doubt that Savery claimed and received an interest in the new + engine. + +In the atmospheric-engine, as first designed, the slow process of +condensation by the application of the condensing water to the +exterior of the cylinder, to produce the vacuum, caused the strokes of +the engine to take place at very long intervals. An improvement was, +however, soon effected, which immensely increased the rapidity of +condensation. A jet of water was thrown directly _into_ the cylinder, +thus effecting for the Newcomen engine just what Desaguliers had done +for the Savery engine previously. As thus improved, the Newcomen +engine is shown in Fig. 19. + +Here _b_ is the boiler. Steam passes from it through the cock, _d_, +and up into the cylinder, _a_, equilibrating the pressure of the +atmosphere, and allowing the heavy pump-rod, _k_, to fall, and, by +the greater weight acting through the beam, _i i_, to raise the +piston, _s_, to the position shown. The rod _m_ carries a +counterbalance, if needed. The cock _d_ being shut, _f_ is then +opened, and a jet of water from the reservoir, _g_, enters the +cylinder, producing a vacuum by the condensation of the steam. The +pressure of the air above the piston now forces it down, again raising +the pump-rods, and thus the engine works on indefinitely. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Newcomen's Engine, A. D. 1705.] + +The pipe _h_ is used for the purpose of keeping the upper side of the +piston covered with water, to prevent air-leaks--a device of Newcomen. +Two gauge-cocks, _c c_, and a safety-valve, _N_, are represented in +the figure, but it will be noticed that the latter is quite different +from the now usual form. Here, the pressure used was hardly greater +than that of the atmosphere, and the weight of the valve itself was +ordinarily sufficient to keep it down. The condensing water, together +with the water of condensation, flows off through the open pipe _p_. +Newcomen's first engine made 6 or 8 strokes a minute; the later and +improved engines made 10 or 12. + +The steam-engine has now assumed a form that somewhat resembles the +modern machine. + +The Newcomen engine is seen at a glance to have been a combination of +earlier ideas. It was the engine of Huyghens, with its cylinder and +piston as improved by Papin, by the substitution of steam for the +gases generated by the explosion of gunpowder; still further improved +by Newcomen and Calley by the addition of the method of condensation +used in the Savery engine. It was further modified, with the object of +applying it directly to the working of the pumps of the mines by the +introduction of the overhead beam, from which the piston was suspended +at one end and the pump-rod at the other. + +The advantages secured by this combination of inventions were many and +manifest. The piston not only gave economy by interposing itself +between the impelling and the resisting fluid, but, by affording +opportunity to make the area of piston as large as desired, it enabled +Newcomen to use any convenient pressure and any desired proportions +for any proposed lift. The removal of the water to be lifted from the +steam-engine proper and handling it with pumps, was an evident cause +of very great economy of steam. + +The disposal of the water to be raised in this way also permitted the +operations of condensation of steam, and the renewal of pressure on +the piston, to be made to succeed each other with rapidity, and +enabled the inventor to choose, unhampered, the device for securing +promptly the action of condensation. + +Desaguliers, in his account of the introduction of the engine of +Newcomen, says that, with his coadjutor Calley, he "made several +experiments in private about the year 1710, and in the latter end of +the year 1711 made proposals to drain the water of a colliery at +Griff, in Warwickshire, where the proprietors employed 500 horses, at +an expense of £900 a year; but, their invention not meeting with the +reception they expected, in March following, through the acquaintance +of Mr. Potter, of Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire, they bargained to +draw water for Mr. Back, of Wolverhampton, where, after a great many +laborious attempts, they did make the engine work; but, not being +either philosophers to understand the reason, or mathematicians enough +to calculate the powers and proportions of the parts, they very +luckily, by accident, found what they sought for. + +"They were at a loss about the pumps, but, being so near Birmingham, +and having the assistance of so many admirable and ingenious workmen, +they came, about 1712, to the method of making the pump-valves, +clacks, and buckets, whereas they had but an imperfect notion of them +before. One thing is very remarkable: as they were at first working, +they were surprised to see the engine go several strokes, and very +quick together, when, after a search, they found a hole in the piston, +which let the cold water in to condense the steam in the inside of the +cylinder, whereas, before, they had always done it on the outside. +They used before to work with a buoy to the cylinder, inclosed in a +pipe, which buoy rose when the steam was strong and opened the +injection, and made a stroke; thereby they were only capable of giving +6, 8, or 10 strokes in a minute, till a boy, named Humphrey Potter, in +1713, who attended the engine, added (what he called a _scoggan_) a +catch, that the beam always opened, and then it would go 15 or 16 +strokes a minute. But, this being perplexed with catches and strings, +Mr. Henry Beighton, in an engine he had built at Newcastle-upon-Tyne +in 1718, took them all away but the beam itself, and supplied them in +a much better manner." + +In illustration of the application of the Newcomen engine to the +drainage of mines, Farey describes a small machine, of which the pump +is 8 inches in diameter, and the lift 162 feet. The column of water +to be raised weighed 3,535 pounds. The steam-piston was made 2 +feet in diameter, giving an area of 452 square inches. The net +working-pressure was assumed at 10-3/4 pounds per square inch; the +temperature of the water of condensation and of uncondensed vapor +after the entrance of the injection-water being usually about 150° +Fahr. This gave an excess of pressure on the steam-side of 1,324 +pounds, the total pressure on the piston being 4,859 pounds. One-half +of this excess is counterweighted by the pump-rods, and by weight on +that end of the beam; and the weight, 662 pounds, acting on each side +alternately as a surplus, produced the requisite rapidity of movement +of the machine. This engine was said to make 15 strokes per minute, +giving a speed of piston of 75 feet per minute, and the power exerted +usefully was equivalent to 265,125 pounds raised one foot high per +minute. As the horse-power is equivalent to 33,000 "foot-pounds" per +minute, the engine was of 265125/33000 = 8.034--almost exactly 8 +horse-power. + +It is instructive to contrast this estimate with that made for a +Savery engine doing the same work. The latter would have raised the +water about 26 feet in its "suction-pipe," and would then have forced +it, by the direct pressure of steam, the remaining distance of 136 +feet; and the steam-pressure required would have been nearly 60 pounds +per square inch. With this high temperature and pressure, the waste of +steam by condensation in the forcing-vessels would have been so great +that it would have compelled the adoption of two engines of +considerable size, each lifting the water one-half the height, and +using steam of about 25 pounds pressure. Potter's rude valve-gear was +soon improved by Henry Beighton, in an engine which that talented +engineer erected at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1718, and in which he +substituted substantial materials for the cords, as in Fig. 20. + +In this sketch, _r_ is a plug-tree, plug-rod, or plug-frame, as it is +variously called, suspended from the great beam, with which it rises +and falls, bringing the pins _p_ and _k_, at the proper moment, in +contact with the handles _k k_ and _n n_ of the valves, moving them in +the proper direction and to the proper extent. A lever safety-valve is +here used, at the suggestion, it is said, of Desaguliers. The piston +was packed with leather or with rope, and lubricated with tallow. + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Beighton's Valve-Gear, A. D. 1718.] + +After the death of Beighton, the atmospheric engine of Newcomen +retained its then standard form for many years, and came into +extensive use in all the mining districts, particularly in Cornwall, +and was also applied occasionally to the drainage of wet lands, to the +supply of water to towns, and it was even proposed by Hulls to be used +for ship-propulsion. + +The proportions of the engines had been determined in a hap-hazard +way, and they were in many cases very unsafe. John Smeaton, the most +distinguished engineer of his time, finally, in 1769, experimentally +determined proper proportions, and built several of these engines of +very considerable size. He built his engines with steam-cylinders of +greater length of stroke than had been customary, and gave them such +dimensions as, by giving a greater excess of pressure on the +steam-side, enabled him to obtain a greatly-increased speed of piston. +The first of his new style of engine was erected at Long Benton, near +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1774. + +Fig. 21[31] illustrates its principal characteristic features. The +boiler is not shown. + + [31] A fac-simile of a sketch in Galloway's "On the Steam-Engine," + etc. + +The steam is led to the engine through the pipe, _C_, and is regulated +by turning the cock in the receiver, _D_, which connects with the +steam-cylinder by the pipe, _E_, which latter pipe rises a little way +above the bottom of the cylinder, _F_, in order that it may not drain +off the injection-water into the steam-pipe and receiver. + +The steam-cylinder, about ten feet in length, is fitted with a +carefully-made piston, _G_, having a flanch rising four or five inches +and extending completely around its circumference, and nearly in +contact with the interior surface of the cylinder. Between this flanch +and the cylinder is driven a "packing" of oakum, which is held in +place by weights; this prevents the leakage of air, water, or steam, +past the piston, as it rises and falls in the cylinder at each stroke +of the engine. The chain and piston-rod connect the piston to the +beam, _I I_. The arch-heads at each end of the beam keep the chains of +the piston-rod and the pump-rods perpendicular and in line. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Smeaton's Newcomen Engine.] + +A "jack-head" pump, _N_, is driven by a small beam deriving its motion +from the plug-rod at _g_, raises the water required for condensing +the steam, and keeps the cistern, _O_, supplied. This "jack-head +cistern" is sufficiently elevated to give the water entering the +cylinder the velocity requisite to secure prompt condensation. A +waste-pipe carries away any surplus water. The injection-water is led +from the cistern by the pipe, _P P_, which is two or three inches in +diameter, and the flow of water is regulated by the injection-cock, +_r_. The cap at the end, _d_, is pierced with several holes, and the +stream thus divided rises in jets when admitted, and, striking the +lower side of the piston, the spray thus produced very rapidly +condenses the steam, and produces a vacuum beneath the piston. The +valve, _e_, on the upper end of the injection-pipe, is a check-valve, +to prevent leakage into the engine when the latter is not in +operation. The little pipe, _f_, supplies water to the upper side of +the piston, and, keeping it flooded, prevents the entrance of air when +the packing is not perfectly tight. + +The "working-plug," or plug-rod, _Q_, is a piece of timber slit +vertically, and carrying pins which engage the handles of the valves, +opening and closing them at the proper times. The steam-cock, or +regulator, has a handle, _h_, by which it is moved. The iron rod, _i +i_, or spanner, gives motion to the handle, _h_. + +The vibrating lever, _k l_, called the _Y_, or the "tumbling-bob," +moves on the pins, _m n_, and is worked by the levers, _o p_, which in +turn are moved by the plug-tree. When _o_ is depressed, the loaded +end, _k_, is given the position seen in the sketch, and the leg _l_ of +the _Y_ strikes the spanner, _i i_, and, opening the steam-valve, the +piston at once rises as steam enters the cylinder, until another pin +on the plug-rod raises the piece, _P_, and closes the regulator again. +The lever, _q r_, connects with the injection-cock, and is moved, +when, as the piston rises, the end, _q_, is struck by a pin on the +plug-rod, and the cock is opened and a vacuum produced. The cock is +closed on the descent of the plug-tree with the piston. An +eduction-pipe, _R_, fitted with a clock, conveys away the water in the +cylinder at the end of each down-stroke; the water thus removed is +collected in the hot-well, _S_, and is used as feed-water for the +boiler, to which it is conveyed by the pipe _T_. At each down-stroke, +while the water passes out through _R_, the air which may have +collected in the cylinder is driven out through the "snifting-valve," +_s_. The steam-cylinder is supported on strong beams, _t t_; it has +around its upper edge a guard, _v_, of lead, which prevents the +overflow of the water on the top of the piston. The excess of this +water flows away to the hot-well through the pipe _W_. + +Catch-pins, _x_, are provided, to prevent the beam descending too far +should the engine make too long a stroke; two wooden springs, _y y_, +receive the blow. The great beam is carried on sectors, _z z_, to +diminish losses by friction. + +The boilers of Newcomen's earlier engines were made of copper where in +contact with the products of combustion, and their upper parts were of +lead. Subsequently, sheet-iron was substituted. The steam-space in the +boiler was made of 8 or 10 times the capacity of the cylinder of the +engine. Even in Smeaton's time, a chimney-damper was not used, and the +supply of steam was consequently very variable. In the earlier +engines, the cylinder was placed on the boiler; afterward, they were +placed separately, and supported on a foundation of masonry. The +injection or "jack-head" cistern was placed from 12 to 30 feet above +the engine, the velocity due the greater altitude being found to give +the most perfect distribution of the water and the promptest +condensation. + +[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Boiler of Newcomen's Engine, 1768.] + +Smeaton covered the lower side of his steam-pistons with wooden plank +about 2-1/4 inches thick, in order that it should absorb and waste +less heat than when the iron was directly exposed to the steam. Mr. +Beighton was the first to use the water of condensation for feeding +the boiler, taking it directly from the eduction-pipe, or the +"hot-well." Where only a sufficient amount of pure water could be +obtained for feeding the boiler, and the injection-water was "hard," +Mr. Smeaton applied a heater, immersed in the hot-well, through which +the feed passed, absorbing heat from the water of condensation _en +route_ to the boiler. Farey first proposed the use of the +"coil-heater"--a pipe, or "worm," which, forming a part of the +feed-pipe, was set in the hot-well. + +As early as 1743, the metal used for the cylinders was cast-iron. The +earlier engines had been fitted with brass cylinders. Desaguliers +recommended the iron cylinders, as being smoother, thinner, and as +having less capacity for heat than those of brass. + +In a very few years after the invention of Newcomen's engine it had +been introduced into nearly all large mines in Great Britain; and many +new mines, which could not have been worked at all previously, were +opened, when it was found that the new machine could be relied upon to +raise the large quantities of water to be handled. The first engine in +Scotland was erected in 1720 at Elphinstone, in Stirlingshire. One was +put up in Hungary in 1723. + +The first mine-engine, erected in 1712 at Griff, was 22 inches in +diameter, and the second and third engines were of similar size. That +erected at Ansthorpe was 23 inches in diameter of cylinder, and it was +a long time before much larger engines were constructed. Smeaton and +others finally made them as large as 6 feet in diameter. + +In calculating the lifting-power of his engines, Newcomen's method was +"to square the diameter of the cylinder in inches, and, cutting off +the last figure, he called it 'long hundredweights;' then writing a +cipher on the right hand, he called the number on that side 'odd +pounds;' this he reckoned tolerably exact at a mean, or rather when +the barometer was above 30 inches, and the air heavy." In allowing for +frictional and other losses, he deducted from one-fourth to one-third. +Desaguliers found the rule quite exact. The usual mean pressure +resisting the motion of the piston averaged, in the best engines, +about 8 pounds per square inch of its area. The speed of the piston +was from 150 to 175 feet per minute. The temperature of the hot-well +was from 145° to 175° Fahr. + +Smeaton made a number of test-trials of Newcomen engines to determine +their "duty"--i. e., to ascertain the expenditure of fuel required to +raise a definite quantity of water to a stated height. He found an +engine 10 inches in diameter of cylinder, and of 3 feet stroke, could +do work equal to raising 2,919,017 pounds of water one foot high, with +a bushel of coals weighing 84 pounds. + +One of Smeaton's larger engines, erected at Long Benton, was 52 inches +in diameter of cylinder and of 7 feet stroke of piston, and made 12 +strokes per minute. Its load was equal to 7-1/2 pounds per square inch +of piston-area, and its effective capacity about 40 horse-power. Its +duty was 9-1/2 millions of pounds raised one foot high per bushel of +coals. Its boiler evaporated 7.88 pounds of water per pound of fuel +consumed. It had 35 square feet of grate-surface and 142 square feet +of heating-surface beneath the boilers, and 317 square feet in the +flues--a total of 459 square feet. The moving parts of this engine +weighed 8-1/2 tons. + +Smeaton erected one of these engines at the Chasewater mine, in +Cornwall, in 1775, which was of very considerable size. It was 6 feet +in diameter of steam-cylinder, and had a maximum stroke of piston of +9-1/2 feet. It usually worked 9 feet. The pumps were in three lifts of +about 100 feet each, and were 16-3/4 inches in diameter. Nine strokes +were made per minute. This engine replaced two others, of 64 and of 62 +inches diameter of cylinder respectively, and both of 6 feet stroke. +One engine at the lower lift supplied the second, which was set above +it. The lower one had pumps 18-1/2 inches in diameter, and raised the +water 144 feet; the upper engine raised the water 156 feet, by pumps +17-1/2 inches in diameter. The later engine replacing them exerted +76-1/2 horse-power. There were three boilers, each 15 feet in +diameter, and having each 23 square feet of grate-surface. The chimney +was 22 feet high. The great beam, or "lever," of this engine was built +up of 20 beams of fir in two sets, placed side by side, and ten deep, +strongly bolted together. It was over 6 feet deep at the middle and 5 +feet at the ends, and was 2 feet thick. The "main centres," or +journals, on which it vibrated were 8-1/2 inches in diameter and 8-1/2 +inches long. The cylinder weighed 6-1/2 tons, and was paid for at the +rate of 28 shillings per hundredweight. + +By the end of the eighteenth century, therefore, the engine of +Newcomen, perfected by the ingenuity of Potter and of Beighton, and by +the systematic study and experimental research of Smeaton, had become +a well-established form of steam-engine, and its application to +raising water had become general. The coal-mines of Coventry and of +Newcastle had adopted this method of drainage; and the tin and the +copper mines of Cornwall had been deepened, using, for drainage, +engines of the largest size. + +Some engines had been set up in and about London, the scene of +Worcester's struggles and disappointments, where they were used to +supply water to large houses. Others were in use in other large cities +of England, where water-works had been erected. + +Some engines had also been erected to drive mills indirectly by +raising water to turn water-wheels. This is said by Farey to have been +first practised in 1752, at a mill near Bristol, and became common +during the next quarter of a century. Many engines had been built in +England and sent across the channel, to be applied to the drainage of +mines on the Continent. Belidor[32] stated that the manufacture of +these "fire-engines" was exclusively confined to England; and this +remained true many years after his time. When used for the drainage of +mines, the engine usually worked the ordinary lift or bucket pump; +when employed for water-supply to cities, the force or plunger pump +was often employed, the engine being placed below the level of the +reservoir. Dr. Rees states that this engine was in common use among +the collieries of England as early as 1725. + + [32] "Architecture Hydraulique," 1734. + +The Edmonstone colliery was licensed, in 1725, to erect an engine, not +to exceed 28 inches diameter of cylinder and 9 feet stroke of piston, +paying a royalty of £80 per annum for eight years. This engine was +built in Scotland, by workmen sent from England, and cost about +£1,200. Its "great cost" is attributed to an extensive use of brass. +The workmen were paid their expenses and 15_s._ per week as wages. The +builders were John and Abraham Potter, of Durham. An engine built in +1775, having a steam-cylinder 48 inches in diameter and of 7 feet +stroke, cost about £2,000. + +Smeaton found 57 engines at work near Newcastle in 1767, ranging in +size from 28 to 75 inches in diameter of cylinder, and of, +collectively, about 1,200 horse-power. Fifteen of these engines gave +an average of 98 square inches of piston to the horse-power, and the +average duty was 5,590,000 pounds raised 1 foot high by 1 bushel (84 +pounds) of coal. The highest duty noted was 7.44 millions; the lowest +was 3.22 millions. The most efficient engine had a steam-cylinder 42 +inches in diameter; the load was equivalent to 9-1/4 pounds per square +inch of piston-area, and the horse-power developed was calculated to +be 16.7. + +Price, writing in 1778, says, in the Appendix to his "Mineralogia +Cornubiensis:" "Mr. Newcomen's invention of the fire-engine enabled us +to sink our mines to twice the depth we could formerly do by any other +machinery. Since this invention was completed, most other attempts at +its improvement have been very unsuccessful; but the vast consumption +of fuel in these engines is an immense drawback on the profit of our +mines, for every fire-engine of magnitude consumes £3,000 worth of +coals per annum. This heavy tax amounts almost to a prohibition." + +Smeaton was given the description, in 1773, of a _stone_ boiler, which +was used with one of these engines at a copper mine at Camborne, in +Cornwall. It contained three copper flues 22 inches in diameter. The +gases were passed through these flues successively, finally passing +off to the chimney. This boiler was cemented with hydraulic mortar. It +was 20 feet long, 9 feet wide, and 8-1/2 feet deep. It was heated by +the waste heat from the roasting-furnaces. This was one of the +earliest flue-boilers ever made. + +In 1780, Smeaton had a list of 18 large engines working in Cornwall. +The larger number of them were built by Jonathan Hornblower and John +Nancarron. At this time, the largest and best-known pumping-engine for +water-works was at York Buildings, in Villiers Street, Strand, London. +It had been in operation since 1752, and was erected beside one of +Savery's engines, built in 1710. It had a steam-cylinder 45 inches in +diameter, and a stroke of piston of 8 feet, making 7-1/2 strokes per +minute, and developing 35-1/2 horse-power. Its boiler was dome-shaped, +of copper, and contained a large central fire-box and a spiral flue +leading outward to the chimney. Another somewhat larger machine was +built and placed beside this engine, some time previous to 1775. Its +cylinder was 49 inches in diameter, and its stroke 9 feet. It raised +water 102 feet. This engine was altered and improved by Smeaton in +1777, and continued in use until 1813. + +Smeaton, as early as 1765, designed a _portable_ engine,[33] in which +he supported the machinery on a wooden frame mounted on short legs and +strongly put together, so that the whole machine could be transported +and set at work wherever convenient. + + [33] Smeaton's "Reports," vol. i., p. 223. + +[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Smeaton's Portable-Engine Boiler, 1765.] + +In place of the beam, a large pulley was used, over which a chain was +carried, connecting the piston with the pump-rod, and the motion was +similar to that given by the discarded beam. The wheel was supported +on A-frames, resembling somewhat the "gallows-frames" still used with +the beam-engines of American river-boats. The sills carrying the two +A's supported the cylinder. The injection-cistern was supported above +the great pulley-wheel. The valve-gearing and the injection-pump were +worked by a smaller wheel, mounted on the same axis with the larger +one. The boiler was placed apart from the engine, with which it was +connected by a steam-pipe, in which was placed the "regulator," or +throttle-valve. The boiler (Fig. 23) "was shaped like a large +tea-kettle," and contained a fire-box, _B_, or internal furnace, of +which the sides were made of cast-iron. The fire-door, _C_, was placed +on one side and opposite the flue, _D_, through which the products of +combustion were led to the chimney, _E_; a short, large pipe, _F_, +leading downward from the furnace to the outside of the boiler, was +the ash-pit. The shell of the boiler, _A_, was made of iron plate +one-quarter of an inch thick. The steam-cylinder of the engine was 18 +inches in diameter, the stroke of piston 6 feet, the great wheel 6-1/2 +feet in diameter, and the A-frames 9 feet high. The boiler was made 6 +feet, the furnace 34 inches, and the grate 18 inches in diameter. The +piston was intended to make 10 strokes per minute, and the engine to +develop 4-1/8 horse-power. + +In 1773, Smeaton prepared plans for a pumping-engine to be set up at +Cronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg, to empty the great dry dock +constructed by Peter the Great and Catherine, his successor. This +great dock was begun in 1719. It was large enough to dock ten of the +ships of that time, and had previously been imperfectly drained by two +great windmills 100 feet high. So imperfectly did they do their work, +that a _year_ was required to empty the dock, and it could therefore +only be used once in each summer. The engine was built at the Carron +Iron Works, in England. It had a cylinder 66 inches in diameter, and a +stroke of piston of 8-1/2 feet. The lift varied from 33 feet when the +dock was full to 53 feet when it was cleared of water. The load on the +engine averaged about 8-1/3 pounds per square inch of piston-area. +There were three boilers, each 10 feet in diameter, and 16 feet 4 +inches high to the apex of its hemispherical dome. They contained +internal fire-boxes with grates of 20 feet area, and were surrounded +by flues helically traversing the masonry setting. The engine was +started in 1777, and worked very successfully. + +The lowlands of Holland were, before the time of Smeaton, drained by +means of windmills. The uncertainty and inefficiency of this method +precluded its application to anything like the extent to which +steam-power has since been utilized. In 1440, there were 150 inland +lakes, or "_meers_," in that country, of which nearly 100, having an +extent of over 200,000 acres, have since been drained. The "Haarlemmer +Meer" alone covers nearly 50,000 acres, and forms the basin of a +drainage-area of between 200,000 and 300,000 acres, receiving a +rainfall of 54,000,000 tons, which must be raised 16 feet in +discharging it. The beds of these lakes are from 10 to 20 feet lower +than the water-level in the adjacent canals. In 1840, 12,000 windmills +were still employed in this work. In the following year, William II., +at the suggestion of a commission, decreed that only steam-engines +should be employed to do this immense work. Up to this time the +average consumption of fuel for the pumping-engines in use is said to +have been 20 pounds per hour per horse-power. + +The first engine used was erected in 1777 and 1778, on the Newcomen +plan, to assist the 34 windmills employed to drain a lake near +Rotterdam. This lake covered 7,000 acres, and its bed was 12 feet +below the surface of the river Meuse, which passes it, and empties +into the sea in the immediate neighborhood. The iron parts of the +engine were built in England, and the machine was put together in +Holland. The steam-cylinder was 52 inches in diameter, and the stroke +of piston 9 feet. The boiler was 18 feet in diameter, and contained a +double flue. The main beam was 27 feet long. The pumps were 6 in +number, 3 cylindrical and 3 having a square cross-section; 3 were of 6 +feet and 3 of 2-1/2 feet stroke. Two pumps only were worked at +high-tide, and the others were added one at a time, as the tide fell, +until, at low-tide, all 6 were at work. + +The size of this engine, and the magnitude of its work, seem +insignificant when compared with the machinery installed 60 years +later to drain the Haarlemmer Meer, and with the work done by the +last. These engines are 12 feet in diameter of cylinder and 10 feet +stroke of piston, and work--they are 3 in number--the one 11 pumps of +63 inches diameter and 10 feet stroke, the others 8 pumps of 73 inches +diameter and of the same length of stroke. The modern engines do a +"duty" of 75,000,000 to 87,000,000 with 94 pounds of coal, consuming +2-1/4 pounds of coal per hour and per horse-power. + +The first steam-engine applied to working the blowing-machinery of a +blast-furnace was erected at the Carron Iron-Works, in Scotland, near +Falkirk, in 1765, and proved very unsatisfactory. Smeaton +subsequently, in 1769 or 1770, introduced better machinery into these +works and improved the old engine, and this use of the steam-engine +soon became usual. This engine did its work indirectly, furnishing +water, by pumping, to drive the water-wheels which worked the +blowing-cylinders. Its steam-cylinder was 6 feet in diameter, and the +pump-cylinder 52 inches. The stroke was 9 feet. + +A direct-acting engine, used as a blowing-engine, was not constructed +until about 1784, at which time a single-acting blowing-cylinder, or +air-pump, was placed at the "out-board" end of the beam, where the +pump-rod had been attached. The piston of the air-cylinder was loaded +with the weights needed to force it down, expelling the air, and the +engine did its work in raising the loaded piston, the air-cylinder +filling as the piston rose. A large "accumulator" was used to equalize +the pressure of the expelled air. This consisted of another +air-cylinder, having a loaded piston which was left free to rise and +fall. At each expulsion of air by the blowing-engine this cylinder was +filled, the loaded piston rising to the top. While the piston of the +former was returning, and the air-cylinder was taking in its charge of +air, the accumulator would gradually discharge the stored air, the +piston slowly falling under its load. This piston was called the +"floating piston," or "fly-piston," and its action was, in effect, +precisely that of the upper portion of the common blacksmith's +bellows. + +Dr. Robison, the author of "Mechanical Philosophy," one of the very +few works even now existing deserving such a title, describes one of +these engines[34] as working in Scotland in 1790. It had a +steam-cylinder 40 or 44 inches in diameter, a blowing-cylinder 60 +inches in diameter, and the stroke of piston was 6 feet. The +air-pressure was 2.77 pounds per square inch as a maximum in the +blowing-cylinder; and the floating piston in the regulating-cylinder +was loaded with 2.63 pounds per square inch. Making 15 or 18 strokes +per minute, this engine delivered about 1,600 cubic feet of air, or +120-1/2 pounds in weight, per minute, and developed 20 horse-power. + + [34] "Encyclopædia Britannica," 1st edition. + +At about the same date a change was made in the blowing-cylinder. The +air entered at the bottom, as before, but was forced out at the top, +the piston being fitted with valves, as in the common lifting-pump, +and the engine thus being arranged to do the work of expulsion during +the down-stroke of the steam-piston. + +Four years later, the regulating-cylinder, or accumulator, was given +up, and the now familiar "water-regulator" was substituted for it. +This consists of a tank, usually of sheet-iron, set open-end downward +in a large vessel containing water. The lower edge of the inner tank +is supported on piers a few inches above the bottom of the large one. +The pipe carrying air from the blowing-engine passes above this +water-regulator, and a branch-pipe is led down into the inner tank. As +the air-pressure varies, the level of the water within the inverted +tank changes, rising as pressure falls at the slowing of the motion of +the piston, and falling as the pressure rises again while the piston +is moving with an accelerated velocity. The regulator, thus receiving +surplus air to be delivered when needed, greatly assists in regulating +the pressure. The larger the regulator, the more perfectly uniform the +pressure. The water-level outside the inner tank is usually five or +six feet higher than within it. This apparatus was found much more +satisfactory than the previously-used regulator, and, with its +introduction, the establishment of the steam-engine as a +blowing-engine for iron-works and at blast-furnaces may be considered +as having been fully established. + +Thus, by the end of the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the +steam-engine had become generally introduced, and had been applied to +nearly all of the purposes for which a single-acting engine could be +used. The path which had been opened by Worcester had been fairly laid +out by Savery and his contemporaries, and the builders of the Newcomen +engine, with such improvements as they had been able to effect, had +followed it as far as they were able. The real and practical +introduction of the steam-engine is as fairly attributable to Smeaton +as to any one of the inventors whose names are more generally known in +connection with it. As a mechanic, he was unrivaled; as an engineer, +he was head and shoulders above any constructor of his time engaged in +general practice. There were very few important public works built in +Great Britain at that time in relation to which he was not consulted; +and he was often visited by foreign engineers, who desired his advice +with regard to works in progress on the Continent. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE. JAMES WATT AND HIS +CONTEMPORARIES._ + + The world is now entering upon the Mechanical Epoch. There is + nothing in the future more sure than the great triumphs which that + epoch is to achieve. It has already advanced to some glorious + conquests. What miracles of invention now crowd upon us! Look + abroad, and contemplate the infinite achievements of the + steam-power. + + And yet we have only begun--we are but on the threshold of this + epoch.... What is it but the setting of the great distinctive seal + upon the nineteenth century?--an advertisement of the fact that + society has risen to occupy a higher platform than ever before?--a + proclamation from the high places, announcing honor, honor immortal, + to the workmen who fill this world with beauty, comfort, and + power--honor to be forever embalmed in history, to be perpetuated in + monuments, to be written in the hearts of this and succeeding + generations!--KENNEDY. + + +SECTION I.--JAMES WATT AND HIS INVENTIONS. + +The success of the Newcomen engine naturally attracted the attention +of mechanics, and of scientific men as well, to the possibility of +making other applications of steam-power. + +The best men of the time gave much attention to the subject, but, +until James Watt began the work that has made him famous, nothing more +was done than to improve the proportions and slightly alter the +details of the Newcomen and Calley engine, even by such skillful +engineers as Brindley and Smeaton. Of the personal history of the +earlier inventors and improvers of the steam-engine, very little is +ascertained; but that of Watt has become well known. + +[Illustration: James Watt.] + +JAMES WATT was of an humble lineage, and was born at Greenock, then a +little Scotch fishing village, but now a considerable and a busy town, +which annually launches upon the waters of the Clyde a fleet of +steamships whose engines are probably, in the aggregate, far more +powerful than were all the engines in the world at the date of Watt's +birth, January 19, 1736. His grandfather, Thomas Watt, of +Crawfordsdyke, near Greenock, was a well-known mathematician about the +year 1700, and was for many years a schoolmaster at that place. His +father was a prominent citizen of Greenock, and was at various times +chief magistrate and treasurer of the town. James Watt was a bright +boy, but exceedingly delicate in health, and quite unable to attend +school regularly, or to apply himself closely to either study or play. +His early education was given by his parents, who were respectable and +intelligent people, and the tools borrowed from his father's +carpenter-bench served at once to amuse him and to give him a +dexterity and familiarity with their use that must undoubtedly have +been of inestimable value to him in after-life. + +M. Arago, the eminent French philosopher, who wrote one of the +earliest and most interesting biographies of Watt, relates anecdotes +of him which, if correct, illustrate well his thoughtfulness and his +intelligence, as well as the mechanical bent of the boy's mind. He is +said, at the age of six years, to have occupied himself during leisure +hours with the solution of geometrical problems; and Arago discovers, +in a story in which he is described as experimenting with the +tea-kettle,[35] his earliest investigations of the nature and +properties of steam. + + [35] The same story is told of Savery and of Worcester. + +When finally sent to the village school, his ill health prevented his +making rapid progress; and it was only when thirteen or fourteen years +of age that he began to show that he was capable of taking the lead in +his class, and to exhibit his ability in the study, particularly, of +mathematics. His spare time was principally spent in sketching with +his pencil, in carving, and in working at the bench, both in wood and +metal. He made many ingenious pieces of mechanism, and some beautiful +models. His favorite work seemed to be the repairing of nautical +instruments. Among other pieces of apparatus made by the boy was a +very fine barrel-organ. In boyhood, as in after-life, he was a +diligent reader, and seemed to find something to interest him in every +book that came into his hands. + +At the age of eighteen, Watt was sent to Glasgow, there to +reside with his mother's relatives, and to learn the trade of a +mathematical-instrument maker. The mechanic with whom he was placed +was soon found too indolent, or was otherwise incapable of giving +much aid in the project, and Dr. Dick, of the University of Glasgow, +with whom Watt became acquainted, advised him to go to London. +Accordingly, he set out in June, 1755, for the metropolis, where, on +his arrival, he arranged with Mr. John Morgan, in Cornhill, to work a +year at his chosen business, receiving as compensation 20 guineas. At +the end of the year he was compelled, by serious ill-health, to return +home. + +Having become restored to health, he went again to Glasgow in 1756, +with the intention of pursuing his calling there. But, not being the +son of a burgess, and not having served his apprenticeship in the +town, he was forbidden by the guilds, or trades-unions, to open a shop +in Glasgow. Dr. Dick came to his aid, and employed him to repair some +apparatus which had been bequeathed to the college. He was finally +allowed the use of three rooms in the University building, its +authorities not being under the municipal rule. He remained here until +1760, when, the trades no longer objecting, he took a shop in the +city; and in 1761 moved again, into a shop on the north side of the +Trongate, where he earned a scanty living without molestation, and +still kept up his connection with the college. He did some work as a +civil engineer in the neighborhood of Glasgow, but soon gave up all +other employment, and devoted himself entirely to mechanics. + +He spent much of his leisure time--of which he had, at first, more +than was desirable--in making philosophical experiments and in the +manufacture of musical instruments, in making himself familiar with +the sciences, and in devising improvements in the construction of +organs. In order to pursue his researches more satisfactorily, he +studied German and Italian, and read Smith's "Harmonics," that he +might become familiar with the principles of construction of musical +instruments. His reading was still very desultory; but the +introduction of the Newcomen engine in the neighborhood of Glasgow, +and the presence of a model in the college collections, which was +placed in his hands, in 1763, for repair, led him to study the history +of the steam-engine, and to conduct for himself an experimental +research into the properties of steam, with a set of improvised +apparatus. + +Dr. Robison, then a student of the University, who found Watt's shop a +pleasant place in which to spend his leisure, and whose tastes +affiliated so strongly with those of Watt that they became friends +immediately upon making acquaintance, called the attention of the +instrument-maker to the steam-engine as early as 1759, and suggested +that it might be applied to the propulsion of carriages. Watt was at +once interested, and went to work on a little model, having tin +steam-cylinders and pistons connected to the driving-wheels by an +intermediate system of gearing. The scheme was afterwards given up, +and was not revived by Watt for a quarter of a century. + +Watt studied chemistry, and was assisted by the advice and instruction +of Dr. Black, who was then making the researches which resulted in the +discovery of "latent heat." His proposal to repair the model Newcomen +engine in the college collections led to his study of Desaguliers's +treatise, and of the works of Switzer and others. He thus learned what +had been done by Savery and by Newcomen, and by those who had improved +the engine of the latter. + +In his own experiments he used, at first, apothecaries' phials and +hollow canes for steam reservoirs and pipes, and later a Papin's +digester and a common syringe. The latter combination made a +non-condensing engine, in which he used steam at a pressure of 15 +pounds per square inch. The valve was worked by hand, and Watt saw +that an automatic valve-gear only was needed to make a working +machine. This experiment, however, led to no practical result. He +finally took hold of the Newcomen model, which had been obtained from +London, where it had been sent for repairs, and, putting it in good +working order, commenced experiments with that. + +The Newcomen model, as it happened, had a boiler which, although made +to a scale from engines in actual use, was quite incapable of +furnishing steam enough to work the engine. It was about nine inches +in diameter; the steam-cylinder was two inches in diameter, and of six +inches stroke of piston, arranged as in Fig. 24, which is a picture of +the model as it now appears. It is retained among the most +carefully-preserved treasures of the University of Glasgow. + +[Illustration: FIG. 24.--The Newcomen Model.] + +Watt made a new boiler for the experimental investigation on which he +was about to enter, and arranged it in such a manner that he could +measure the quantity of water evaporated and of steam used at every +stroke of the engine. + +He soon discovered that it required but a very small quantity of steam +to heat a very large quantity of water, and immediately attempted to +determine with precision the relative weights of steam and water in +the steam-cylinder when condensation took place at the down-stroke of +the engine, and thus independently proved the existence of that +"latent heat," the discovery of which constitutes, also, one of the +greatest of Dr. Black's claims to distinction. Watt at once went to +Dr. Black and related the remarkable fact which he had thus detected, +and was, in turn, taught by Black the character of the phenomenon as +it had been explained to his classes by the latter some little time +previously. Watt found that, at the boiling-point, his steam, +condensing, was capable of heating six times its weight of water such +as was used for producing condensation. + +Perceiving that steam, weight for weight even, was a vastly greater +absorbent and reservoir of heat than water, Watt saw plainly the +importance of taking greater care to economize it than had previously +been customary. He first attempted to economize in the boiler, and +made boilers with wooden "shells," in order to prevent losses by +conduction and radiation, and used a larger number of flues to secure +more complete absorption of the heat from the furnace-gases. He also +covered his steam-pipes with non-conducting materials, and took every +precaution that his ingenuity could devise to secure complete +utilization of the heat of combustion. He soon found, however, that he +was not working at the most important point, and that the great source +of loss was to be found in defects which he noted in the action of the +steam in the cylinder. He soon concluded that the sources of loss of +heat in the Newcomen engine--which would be greatly exaggerated in a +small model--were: + +First, the dissipation of heat by the cylinder itself, which was of +brass, and was both a good conductor and a good radiator. + +Secondly, the loss of heat consequent upon the necessity of cooling +down the cylinder at every stroke, in producing the vacuum. + +Thirdly, the loss of power due to the pressure of vapor beneath the +piston, which was a consequence of the imperfect method of +condensation. + +He first made a cylinder of non-conducting material--wood soaked in +oil and then baked--and obtained a decided advantage in economy of +steam. He then conducted a series of very accurate experiments upon +the temperature and pressure of steam at such points on the scale as +he could readily reach, and, constructing a curve with his results, +the abscesses representing temperatures and the pressures being +represented by the ordinates, he ran the curve backward until he had +obtained closely-approximate measures of temperatures less than 212°, +and pressures less than atmospheric. He thus found that, with the +amount of injection-water used in the Newcomen engine, bringing the +temperature of the interior, as he found, down to from 140° to 175° +Fahr., a very considerable back-pressure would be met with. + +Continuing his examination still further, he measured the amount of +steam used at each stroke, and, comparing it with the quantity that +would just fill the cylinder, he found that at least _three-fourths +was wasted_. The quantity of cold water necessary to produce the +condensation of a given weight of steam was next determined; and he +found that one pound of steam contained enough heat to raise about six +pounds of cold water, as used for condensation, from the temperature +of 52° to the boiling-point; and, going still further, he found that +he was compelled to use, at each stroke of the Newcomen engine, _four +times as much injection-water as should suffice to condense a cylinder +full of steam_. This confirmed his previous conclusion that +three-fourths of the heat supplied to the engine was wasted. + +Watt had now, therefore, determined by his own researches, as he +himself enumerates them,[36] the following facts: + + [36] Robison's "Mechanical Philosophy," edited by Brewster. + +"1. The capacities for heat of iron, copper, and of some sorts of +wood, as compared with water. + +"2. The bulk of steam compared with that of water. + +"3. The quantity of water evaporated in a certain boiler by a pound of +coal. + +"4. The elasticities of steam at various temperatures greater than +that of boiling water, and an approximation to the law which it +follows at other temperatures. + +"5. How much water in the form of steam was required every stroke by a +small Newcomen engine, with a wooden cylinder 6 inches in diameter and +12 inches stroke. + +"6. The quantity of cold water required in every stroke to condense +the steam in that cylinder, so as to give it a working-power of about +7 pounds on the square inch." + +After these well-devised and truly scientific investigations, Watt was +enabled to enter upon his work of improving the steam-engine with an +intelligent understanding of its existing defects, and with a +knowledge of their cause. Watt soon saw that, in order to reduce the +losses in the working of the steam in the steam-cylinder, it would be +necessary to find some means, as he said, to keep the cylinder "always +as hot as the steam that entered it," notwithstanding the great +fluctuations of temperature and pressure of the steam during the up +and the down strokes. He has told us how, finally, the happy thought +occurred to him which relieved him of all difficulty, and led to the +series of modifications which at last gave to the world the modern +type of steam-engine. + +He says:[37] "I had gone to take a walk on a fine Sabbath afternoon. I +had entered the Green by the gate at the foot of Charlotte street, and +had passed the old washing-house. I was thinking upon the engine at +the time, and had gone as far as the herd's house, when the idea came +into my mind that, as steam was an elastic body, it would rush into a +vacuum, and, if a communication were made between the cylinder and an +exhausted vessel, it would rush into it, and might be there condensed +without cooling the cylinder. I then saw that I must get rid of the +condensed steam and injection-water if I used a jet, as in Newcomen's +engine. Two ways of doing this occurred to me: First, the water might +be run off by a descending pipe, if an offlet could be got at the +depth of 35 or 36 feet, and any air might be extracted by a small +pump. The second was, to make the pump large enough to extract both +water and air." "I had not walked farther than the Golf-house, when +the whole thing was arranged in my mind." + + [37] "Reminiscences of James Watt," Robert Hart; "Transactions of + the Glasgow Archæological Society," 1859. + +Referring to this invention, Watt said to Prof. Jardine:[38] "When +analyzed, the invention would not appear so great as it seemed to be. +In the state in which I found the steam-engine, it was no great effort +of mind to observe that the quantity of fuel necessary to make it work +would forever prevent its extensive utility. The next step in my +progress was equally easy--to inquire what was the cause of the great +consumption of fuel. This, too, was readily suggested, viz., the waste +of fuel which was necessary to bring the whole cylinder, piston, and +adjacent parts from the coldness of water to the heat of steam, no +fewer than from 15 to 20 times in a minute." It was by pursuing this +train of thought that he was led to devise the separate condenser. + + [38] "Lives of Boulton and Watt," Smiles. + +On Monday morning Watt proceeded to make an experimental test of his +new invention, using for his steam-cylinder and piston a large brass +surgeon's-syringe, 1-3/4-inch diameter and 10 inches long. At each end +was a pipe leading steam from the boiler, and fitted with a cock to +act as a steam-valve. A pipe led also from the top of the cylinder to +the condenser, the syringe being inverted and the piston-rod hanging +downward for convenience. The condenser was made of two pipes of thin +tin plate, 10 or 12 inches long, and about one-sixth of an inch in +diameter, standing vertically, and having a connection at the top +with a horizontal pipe of larger size, and fitted with a +"snifting-valve." Another vertical pipe, about an inch in diameter, +was connected to the condenser, and was fitted with a piston, with a +view to using it as an "air-pump." The whole was set in a cistern of +cold water. The piston-rod of the little steam-cylinder was drilled +from end to end to permit the water to be removed from the cylinder. +This little model (Fig. 25) worked very satisfactorily, and the +perfection of the vacuum was such that the machine lifted a weight of +18 pounds hung upon the piston-rod, as in the sketch. A larger model +was immediately afterward constructed, and the result of its test +confirmed fully the anticipations which had been awakened by the first +experiment. + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Watt's Experiment.] + +Having taken this first step and made such a radical improvement, the +success of this invention was no sooner determined than others +followed in rapid succession, as consequences of the exigencies +arising from the first change in the old Newcomen engine. But in the +working out of the forms and proportions of the details of the new +engine, even Watt's powerful mind, stored as it was with +happily-combined scientific and practical information, was occupied +for years. In attaching the separate condenser, he first attempted +surface-condensation; but this not succeeding well, he substituted the +jet. Some provision became at once necessary for preventing the +filling of the condenser with water. + +Watt at first intended adopting the expedient which had worked +satisfactorily with the less effective condensation of Newcomen's +engine--i. e., leading a pipe from the condenser to a depth greater +than the height of a column of water which could be counterbalanced by +the pressure of the atmosphere; but he subsequently employed the +air-pump, which relieves the condenser not only of the water, but of +the air which also usually collects in considerable volume in the +condenser, and vitiates the vacuum. He next substituted oil and tallow +for water in the lubrication of the piston and keeping it steam-tight, +in order to avoid the cooling of the cylinder incident to the use of +the latter. Another cause of refrigeration of the cylinder, and +consequent waste of power in its operation, was seen to be the +entrance of the atmosphere, which followed the piston down the +cylinder at each stroke, cooling its interior by its contact. This the +inventor concluded to prevent by covering the top of the cylinder, +allowing the piston-rod to play through a "stuffing-box"--which device +had long been known to mechanics. + +He accordingly not only covered the top, but surrounded the whole +cylinder with an external casing, or "steam-jacket," and allowed the +steam from the boiler to pass around the steam-cylinder and to press +upon the upper surface of the piston, where its pressure was variable +at pleasure, and therefore more manageable than that of the +atmosphere. It also, besides keeping the cylinder hot, could do +comparatively little harm should it leak by the piston, as it could be +condensed, and thus readily disposed of. + +When he had concluded to build the larger experimental engine, Watt +determined to give his whole time and attention to the work, and hired +a room in an old deserted pottery near the Broomielaw. Here he worked +with a mechanic--John Gardiner, whom he had taken into his +employ--uninterruptedly for many weeks. Meantime, through his friend +Dr. Black, probably, he had made the acquaintance of Dr. Roebuck, a +wealthy physician, who had, with other Scotch capitalists, just +founded the celebrated Carron Iron-Works, and had opened a +correspondence with him, in which he kept that gentleman informed of +the progress of his work on the new engine. + +This engine had a steam-cylinder, Watt tells us, of "five or six" +inches diameter, and of two feet stroke. It was of copper, +smooth-hammered, but not bored out, and "not very true." This was +encased in another cylinder of wood. In August, 1765, he tried the +small engine, and wrote Dr. Roebuck that he had had "good success," +although the machine was very imperfect. "On turning the +exhausting-cock, the piston, when not loaded, ascended as quick as the +blow of a hammer, and as quick when loaded with 18 pounds (being 7 +pounds on the inch) as it would have done if it had had an injection +as usual." He then tells his correspondent that he was about to make +the larger model. In October, 1765, he finished the latter. The +engine, when ready for trial, was still very imperfect. It +nevertheless did good work for so rude a machine. + +Watt was now reduced to poverty, and, after borrowing considerable +sums from friends, he was finally compelled to give up his scheme for +the time, and to seek employment in order to provide for his family. +During an interval of about two years he supported himself by +surveying, and by the work of exploring coal-fields in the +neighborhood of Glasgow for the magistrates of the city. He did not, +however, entirely give up his invention. + +In 1767, Dr. Roebuck assumed Watt's liabilities to the amount of +£1,000, and agreed to provide capital for the prosecution of his +experiments and to introduce his invention; and, on the other hand, +Watt agreed to surrender to Dr. Roebuck two-thirds of the patent. +Another engine was next built, having a steam-cylinder seven or eight +inches in diameter, which was finished in 1768. This worked +sufficiently well to induce the partners to ask for a patent, and the +specifications and drawings were completed and presented in 1769. + +Watt also built and set up several Newcomen engines, partly, perhaps, +to make himself thus thoroughly familiar with the practical details of +engine-building. Meantime, also, he prepared the plans for, and +finally had built, a moderately large engine of his own new type. Its +steam-cylinder was 18 inches in diameter, and the stroke of piston was +5 feet. This engine was built at Kinneil, and was finished in +September, 1769. It was not all satisfactory in either its +construction or its operation. The condenser was a surface-condenser +composed of pipes somewhat like that used in his first little model, +and did not prove to be satisfactorily tight. The steam-piston leaked +seriously, and repeated trials only served to make more evident its +imperfections. He was assisted in this time of need by both Dr. Black +and Dr. Roebuck; but he felt strongly the risks which he ran of +involving his friends in serious losses, and became very despondent. +Writing to Dr. Black, he says: "Of all things in life, there is +nothing more foolish than inventing;" and probably the majority of +inventors have been led to the same opinion by their own experiences. + +"Misfortunes never come singly;" and Watt was borne down by the +greatest of all misfortunes--the loss of a faithful and affectionate +wife--while still unable to see a successful issue of his schemes. +Only less disheartening than this was the loss of fortune of his +steadfast friend, Dr. Roebuck, and the consequent loss of his aid. It +was at about this time, in the year 1769, that negotiations were +commenced which resulted in the transfer of the capitalized interest +in Watt's engine to the wealthy manufacturer whose name, coupled with +that of Watt, afterward became known throughout the civilized world, +as the steam-engine in its new form was pushed into use by his energy +and business tact. + +Watt met Mr. Boulton, who next became his partner, in 1768, on his +journey to London to procure his patent, and the latter had then +examined Watt's designs, and, at once perceiving their value, proposed +to purchase an interest. Watt was then unable to reply definitely to +Boulton's proposition, pending his business arrangements with Dr. +Roebuck; but, with Roebuck's consent, afterwards proposed that Boulton +should take a one-third interest with himself and partner, paying +Roebuck therefor one-half of all expenses previously incurred, and +whatever he should choose to add to compensate "for the risk he had +run." Subsequently, Dr. Roebuck proposed to transfer to Boulton and to +Dr. Small, who was desirous of taking interest with Boulton, one-half +of his proprietorship in Watt's inventions, on receiving "a sum not +less than one thousand pounds," which should, after the experiments on +the engine were completed, be deemed "just and reasonable." Twelve +months were allowed for the adjustment of the account. This proposal +was accepted in November, 1769. + +[Illustration: Matthew Boulton.] + +MATTHEW BOULTON, who now became a partner with James Watt, was the son +of a Birmingham silver stamper and piecer, and succeeded to his +father's business, building up a great establishment, which, as well +as its proprietor, was well known in Watt's time. Watt, writing to Dr. +Roebuck before the final arrangement had been made, urged him to close +with Boulton for "the following considerations: + +"1st. From Mr. Boulton's own character as an ingenious, honest, and +rich man. 2dly. From the difficulty and expense there would be of +procuring accurate and honest workmen and providing them with proper +utensils, and getting a proper overseer or overseers. If, to avoid +this inconvenience, you were to contract for the work to be done by a +master-workman, you must give up a great share of the profit. 3dly. +The success of the engine is far from being verified. If Mr. Boulton +takes his chance of success from the account I shall write Dr. Small, +and pays you any adequate share of the money laid out, it lessens your +risk, and in a greater proportion than I think it will lessen your +profits. 4thly. The assistance of Mr. Boulton's and Dr. Small's +ingenuity (if the latter engage in it) in improving and perfecting the +machine may be very considerable, and may enable us to get the better +of the difficulties that might otherwise damn it. Lastly, consider my +uncertain health, my irresolute and inactive disposition, my inability +to bargain and struggle for my own with mankind: all which disqualify +me for any great undertaking. On our side, consider the first outlay +and interest, the patent, the present engine, about £200 (though there +would not be much loss in making it into a common engine), two years +of my time, and the expense of models." + +Watt's estimate of the value of Boulton's ingenuity and talent was +well-founded. Boulton had shown himself a good scholar, and had +acquired considerable knowledge of the languages and of the sciences, +particularly of mathematics, after leaving the school from which he +graduated into the shop when still a boy. In the shop he soon +introduced a number of valuable improvements, and he was always on the +lookout for improvements made by others, with a view to their +introduction in his business. He was a man of the modern style, and +never permitted competitors to excel him in any respect, without the +strongest efforts to retain his leading position. He always aimed to +earn a reputation for good work, as well as to make money. His +father's workshop was at Birmingham; but Boulton, after a time, found +that his rapidly-increasing business would compel him to find room for +the erection of a more extensive establishment, and he secured land at +Soho, two miles distant from Birmingham, and there erected his new +manufactory, about 1762. + +The business was, at first, the manufacture of ornamental metal-ware, +such as metal buttons, buckles, watch-chains, and light filigree and +inlaid work. The manufacture of gold and silver plated-ware was soon +added, and this branch of business gradually developed into a very +extensive manufacture of works of art. Boulton copied fine work +wherever he could find it, and often borrowed vases, statuettes, and +bronzes of all kinds from the nobility of England, and even from the +queen, from which to make copies. The manufacture of inexpensive +clocks, such as are now well known throughout the world as an article +of American trade, was begun by Boulton. He made some fine +astronomical and valuable ornamental clocks, which were better +appreciated on the Continent than in England. The business of the Soho +manufactory in a few years became so extensive, that its goods were +known to every civilized nation, and its growth, under the management +of the enterprising, conscientious, and ingenious Boulton, more than +kept pace with the accumulation of capital; and the proprietor found +himself, by his very prosperity, often driven to the most careful +manipulation of his assets, and to making free use of his credit. + +Boulton had a remarkable talent for making valuable acquaintances, and +for making the most of advantages accruing thereby. In 1758 he made +the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin, who then visited Soho; and in +1766 these distinguished men, who were then unaware of the existence +of James Watt, were corresponding, and, in their letters, discussing +the applicability of steam-power to various useful purposes. Between +the two a new steam-engine was designed, and a model was constructed +by Boulton, which was sent to Franklin and exhibited by him in London. + +Dr. Darwin seems to have had something to do with this scheme, and the +enthusiasm awakened by the promise of success given by this model may +have been the origin of the now celebrated prophetic rhymes so often +quoted from the works of that eccentric physician and poet. Franklin +contributed, as his share in the plan, an idea of so arranging the +grate as to prevent the production of smoke. He says: "All that is +necessary is to make the smoke of fresh coals pass descending through +those that are already ignited." His idea has been, by more recent +schemers, repeatedly brought forward as new. Nothing resulted from +these experiments of Boulton, Franklin, and Darwin, and the plan of +Watt soon superseded all less well-developed plans. + +In 1767, Watt visited Soho and carefully inspected Boulton's +establishment. He was very favorably impressed by the admirable +arrangement of the workshops and the completeness of their outfit, as +well as by the perfection of the organization and administration of +the business. In the following year he again visited Soho, and this +time met Boulton, who had been absent at the previous visit. The two +great mechanics were mutually gratified by the meeting, and each at +once acquired for the other the greatest respect and esteem. They +discussed Watt's plans, and Boulton then definitely decided not to +continue his own experiments, although he had actually commenced the +construction of a pumping-engine. With Dr. Small, who was also at +Soho, Watt discussed the possibility of applying his engine to the +propulsion of carriages, and to other purposes. On his return home, +Watt continued his desultory labors on his engines, as already +described; and the final completion of the arrangement with Boulton, +which immediately followed the failure of Dr. Roebuck, took place some +time later. + +Before Watt could leave Scotland to join his partner at Soho, it was +necessary that he should finish the work which he had in hand, +including the surveys of the Caledonian canal, and other smaller +works, which he had had in progress some months. He reached Birmingham +in the spring of 1774, and was at once domiciled at Soho, where he set +at work upon the partly-made engines which had been sent from Scotland +some time previously. They had laid, unused and exposed to the +weather, at Kinneil three years, and were not in as good order as +might have been desired. The _block-tin_ steam-cylinder was probably +in good condition, but the iron parts were, as Watt said, "perishing," +while he had been engaged in his civil engineering work. At leisure +moments, during this period, Watt had not entirely neglected his plans +for the utilization of steam. He had given much thought, and had +expended some time, in experiments upon the plan of using it in a +rotary or "wheel" engine. He did not succeed in contriving any plan +which seemed to promise success. + +It was in November, 1774, that Watt finally announced to his old +partner, Dr. Roebuck, the successful trial of the Kinneil engine. He +did not write with the usual enthusiasm and extravagance of the +inventor, for his frequent disappointments and prolonged suspense had +very thoroughly extinguished his vivacity. He simply wrote: "The +fire-engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than +any other that has yet been made; and I expect that the invention will +be very beneficial to me." + +The change of the "atmospheric engine" of Newcomen into the modern +steam-engine was now completed in its essential details. The first +engine which was erected at Kinneil, near Boroughstoness, had a +steam-cylinder 18 inches in diameter. It is seen in the accompanying +sketch. + +[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Watt's Engine, 1774.] + +In Fig. 26, the steam passes from the boiler through the pipe _d_ and +the valve _c_ to the cylinder-casing or steam-jacket, _Y Y_, and above +the piston, _b_, which it follows in its descent in the cylinder, +_a_, the valve _f_ being at this time open, to allow the exhaust into +the condenser, _h_. + +The piston now being at the lower end of the cylinder, and the +pump-rods at the opposite end of the beam, _y_, being thus raised and +the pumps filled with water, the valves _c_ and _f_ close, while _e_ +opens, allowing the steam which remains above the piston to flow +beneath it, until, the pressures becoming equal above and below, the +weight of the pump-rods overbalancing that of the piston, the latter +is rapidly drawn to the top of the cylinder, while the steam is +displaced above, passing to the under-side of the piston. + +The valve _e_ is next closed, and _c_ and _f_ are again opened; the +down-stroke is repeated. The water and air entering the condenser are +removed at each stroke by the air-pump, _i_, which communicates with +the condenser by the passage _s_. The pump _q_ supplies +condensing-water, and the pump _A_ takes away a part of the water of +condensation, which is thrown by the air-pump into the "hot-well," +_k_, and from it the feed-pump supplies the boiler. The valves are +moved by valve-gear very similar to Beighton's and Smeaton's, by the +pins, _m m_, in the "plug-frame" or "tappet-rod," _n n_. + +The engine is mounted upon a substantial foundation, _B B_. _F_ is an +opening out of which, before starting the engine, the air is driven +from the cylinder and condenser. + +The inventions covered by the patent of 1769 were described as +follows: + +"My method of lessening the consumption of steam, and consequently +fuel, in fire-engines, consists in the following principles: + +"1st. That the vessel in which the powers of steam are to be employed +to work the engine--which is called 'the cylinder' in common +fire-engines, and which I call 'the steam-vessel'--must, during the +whole time that the engine is at work, be kept as hot as the steam +which enters it; first, by inclosing it in a case of wood, or any +other materials that transmit heat slowly; secondly, by surrounding +it with steam or other heated bodies; and thirdly, by suffering +neither water nor other substances colder than the steam to enter or +touch it during that time. + +"2dly. In engines that are to be worked, wholly or partially, by +condensation of steam, the steam is to be condensed in vessels +distinct from the steam-vessel or cylinder, though occasionally +communicating with them. These vessels I call condensers; and while +the engines are working, these _condensers_ ought at least to be kept +as cold as the air in the neighborhood of the engines, by application +of water or other cold bodies. + +"3dly. Whatever air or other elastic vapor is not condensed by the +cold of the condenser, and may impede the working of the engine, is to +be drawn out of the steam-vessels or condensers by means of pumps, +wrought by the engines themselves, or otherwise. + +"4thly. I intend in many cases to employ the expansive force of steam +to press on the pistons, or whatever may be used instead of them, in +the same manner as the pressure of the atmosphere is now employed in +common fire-engines. In cases where cold water cannot be had in +plenty, the engines may be wrought by this force of steam only, by +discharging the steam into the open air after it has done its office. + +"5thly. Where motions round an axis are required, I make the +steam-vessels in form of hollow rings or circular channels, with +proper inlets and outlets for the steam, mounted on horizontal axles +like the wheels of a water-mill. Within them are placed a number of +valves that suffer any body to go round the channel in one direction +only. In these steam-vessels are placed weights, so fitted to them as +to fill up a part or portion of their channels, yet rendered capable +of moving freely in them by the means hereinafter mentioned or +specified. When the steam is admitted in these engines between these +weights and the valves, it acts equally on both, so as to raise the +weight on one side of the wheel, and, by the reaction of the valves +successively, to give a circular motion to the wheel, the valves +opening in the direction in which the weights are pressed, but not in +the contrary. As the vessel moves round, it is supplied with steam +from the boiler, and that which has performed its office may either be +discharged by means of condensers, or into the open air. + +"6thly. I intend in some cases to apply a degree of cold not capable +of reducing the steam to water, but of contracting it considerably, so +that the engines shall be worked by the alternate expansion and +contraction of the steam. + +"Lastly, instead of using water to render the piston or other parts of +the engine air or steam-tight, I employ oils, wax, resinous bodies, +fat of animals, quicksilver, and other metals, in their fluid state." + +In the construction and erection of his engines, Watt still had great +difficulty in finding skillful workmen to make the parts with +accuracy, to fit them with care, and to erect them properly when once +finished. And the fact that both Newcomen and Watt met with such +serious trouble, indicates that, even had the engine been designed +earlier, it is quite unlikely that the world would have seen the +steam-engine a success until this time, when mechanics were just +acquiring the skill requisite for its construction. But, on the other +hand, it is not at all improbable that, had the mechanics of an +earlier period been as skillful and as well-educated in the manual +niceties of their business, the steam-engine might have been much +earlier brought into use. + +In the time of the Marquis of Worcester it would have probably been +found impossible to obtain workmen to construct the steam-engine of +Watt, had it been then invented. Indeed, Watt, upon one occasion, +congratulated himself that one of his steam-cylinders only lacked +_three-eighths_ of an inch of being truly cylindrical. + +The history of the steam-engine is from this time a history of the +work of the firm of Boulton & Watt. Newcomen engines continued to be +built for years after Watt went to Soho, and by many builders. A host +of inventors still worked on the most attractive of all mechanical +combinations, seeking to effect further improvements. Some inventions +were made by contemporaries of Watt, as will be seen hereafter, which +were important as being the germs of later growths; but these were +nearly all too far in advance of the time, and nearly every successful +and important invention which marked the history of steam-power for +many years originated in the fertile brain of James Watt. + +The defects of the Newcomen engine were so serious, that it was no +sooner known that Boulton of Soho had become interested in a new +machine for raising water by steam-power, than inquiries came to him +from all sides, from mine-owners who were on the point of being +drowned out, and from proprietors whose profits were absorbed by the +expense of pumping, and who were glad to pay the £5 per horse-power +per year finally settled upon as royalty. The London municipal +water-works authorities were also ready to negotiate for +pumping-engines for raising water to supply the metropolis. The firm +was therefore at once driven to make preparations for a large +business. + +The first and most important matter, however, was to secure an +extension of the patent, which was soon to expire. If not renewed, the +15 years of study and toil, of poverty and anxiety, through which Watt +had toiled, would prove profitless to the inventor, and the fruits of +his genius would have become the unearned property of others. Watt +saw, at one time, little hope of securing the necessary act of +Parliament, and was greatly tempted to accept a position tendered him +by the Russian Government, upon the solicitation of his old friend, +Dr. Robison, then a Professor of Mathematics at the Naval School at +Cronstadt. The salary was £1,000--a princely income for a man in +Watt's circumstances, and a peculiar temptation to the needy +mechanic. + +Watt, however, went to London, and, with the help of his own and of +Boulton's influential friends, succeeded in getting his bill through. +His patent was extended 24 years, and Boulton & Watt set about the +work of introducing their engines with the industry and enterprise +which characterized their every act. + +In the new firm, Boulton took charge of the general business, and Watt +superintended the design, construction, and erection of their engines. +Boulton's business capacity, with Watt's wonderful mechanical +ability--Boulton's physical health, and his vigor and courage, +offsetting Watt's feeble health and depression of spirits--and, more +than all, Boulton's pecuniary resources, both in his own purse and in +those of his friends, enabled the firm to conquer all difficulties, +whether in finance, in litigation, or in engineering. + +It was only after the successful erection and operation of several +engines that Boulton and Watt became legally partners. The understood +terms were explicitly stated by Watt to include an assignment to +Boulton of two-thirds the patent-right; Boulton paying all expenses, +advancing stock in trade at an appraised valuation, on which it was to +draw interest; Watt making all drawings and designs, and drawing +one-third net profits. + +As soon as Watt was relieved of the uncertainties regarding his +business connections, he married a second wife, who, as Arago says, by +"her various talent, soundness of judgment, and strength of +character," made a worthy companion to the large-hearted and +large-brained engineer. Thenceforward his cares were only such as +every business-man expects to be compelled to sustain, and the next +ten years were the most prolific in inventions of any period in Watt's +life. + +From 1775 to 1785 the partners acquired five patents, covering a large +number of valuable improvements upon the steam-engine, and several +independent inventions. The first of these patents covered the now +familiar and universally-used copying-press for letters, and a +machine for drying cloth by passing it between copper rollers filled +with steam of sufficiently high temperature to rapidly evaporate the +moisture. This patent was issued February 14, 1780. + +[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Watt's Engine, 1781.] + +In the following year, October 25, 1781, Watt patented five devices by +which he obtained the rotary motion of the engine-shaft without the +use of a crank. One of these was the arrangement shown in Fig. 27, and +known as the "sun-and-planet" wheels. The crank-shaft carries a +gear-wheel, which is engaged by another securely fixed upon the end of +the connecting-rod. As the latter is compelled to revolve about the +axis of the shaft by a tie which confines the connecting-rod end at a +fixed distance from the shaft, the shaft-gear is compelled to revolve, +and the shaft with it. Any desired velocity-ratio was secured by +giving the two gears the necessary relative diameters. A fly-wheel was +used to regulate the motion of the shaft.[39] Boulton & Watt used the +sun-and-planet device on many engines, but finally adopted the crank, +when the expiration of the patent held by Matthew Wasborough, and +which had earlier date than Watt's patent of 1781, permitted them. +Watt had proposed the use of a crank, it is said, as early as 1771, +but Wasborough anticipated him in securing the patent. Watt had made a +model of an engine with a crank and fly-wheel, and he has stated that +one of his workmen, who had seen the model, described it to +Wasborough, thus enabling the latter to deprive Watt of his own +property. The proceeding excited great indignation on the part of +Watt; but no legal action was taken by Boulton & Watt, as the +overthrow of the patent was thought likely to do them injury by +permitting its use by more active competitors and more ingenious men. + + [39] For the privilege of using the fly-wheel to regulate the motion + of the engine, Boulton & Watt paid a royalty to Matthew Wasborough, + who had patented it, and who held also the patent for its + combination with a crank, as invented by Pickard and Steed. + +The next patent issued to Watt was an exceedingly important one, and +of especial interest in a history of the development of the economical +application of steam. This patent included: + +1. The expansion of steam, and six methods of applying the principle +and of equalizing the expansive power. + +2. The double-acting steam-engine, in which the steam acts on each +side of the piston alternately, the opposite side being in +communication with the condenser. + +3. The double or coupled steam-engine--two engines capable of working +together, or independently, as may be desired. + +4. The use of a rack on the piston-rod, working into a sector on the +end of the beam, thus securing a perfect rectilinear motion of the +rod. + +5. A rotary engine, or "steam-wheel." + +The efficiency to be secured by the expansion of steam had long been +known to Watt, and he had conceived the idea of economizing some of +that power, the waste of which was so plainly indicated by the violent +rushing of the exhaust-steam into the condenser, as early as 1769. +This was described in a letter to Dr. Small, of Birmingham, in May of +that year. When experimenting at Kinneil, he had tried to determine +the real value of the principle by trial on his small engine. + +Boulton had also recognized the importance of this improved method of +working steam, and their earlier Soho engines were, as Watt said, made +with cylinders "double the size wanted, and cut off the steam at +half-stroke." But, though "this was a great saving of steam, so long +as the valves remained as at first," the builders were so constantly +annoyed by alterations of the valves by proprietors and their +engineers, that they finally gave up that method of working, hoping +ultimately to be able to resume it when workmen of greater +intelligence and reliability could be found. The patent was issued +July 17, 1782. + +Watt specified a cut-off at one-quarter stroke as usually best. + +Watt's explanation of the method of economizing by expansive working, +as given to Dr. Small,[40] is worthy of reproduction. He says: "I +mentioned to you a method of still doubling the effect of steam, and +that tolerably easy, by using the power of steam rushing into a +vacuum, at present lost. This would do a little more than double the +effect, but it would too much enlarge the vessels to use it all. It is +peculiarly applicable to wheel-engines, and may supply the want of a +condenser where force of steam is only used; for, open one of the +steam-valves and admit steam, until one-fourth of the distance between +it and the next valve is filled with steam, shut the valve, and the +steam will continue to expand and to pass round the wheel with a +diminishing power, ending in one-fourth its first exertion. The sum of +this series you will find greater than one-half, though only +one-fourth steam was used. The power will indeed be unequal, but this +can be remedied by a fly, or in several other ways." + + [40] "Lives of Boulton and Watt," Smiles. + +It will be noticed that Watt suggests, above, the now well-known +non-condensing engine. He had already, as has been seen, described it +in his patent of 1769, as also the rotary engine. + +Watt illustrates and explains his idea very neatly, by a sketch +similar to that here given (Fig. 28). + +Steam, entering the cylinder at _a_, is admitted until one-fourth the +stroke has been made, when the steam-valve is closed, and the +remainder of the stroke is performed without further addition of +steam. The variation of steam-pressure is approximately inversely +proportional to the variation of its volume. Thus, at half-stroke, the +pressure becomes one-half that at which the steam was supplied to the +cylinder. At the end of the stroke it has fallen to one-fourth the +initial pressure. The pressure is always nearly equal to the product +of the initial pressure and volume divided by the volume at the given +instant. In symbols, + + _PV_ + _P´_ = ----. + _V´_ + +It is true that the condensation of steam doing work changes this law +in a marked manner; but the condensation and reëvaporation of steam, +due to the transfer of heat to and from the metal of the cylinder, +tends to compensate the first variation by a reverse change of +pressure with change of volume. + +[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Expansion of Steam.] + +The sketch shows this progressive variation of pressure as expansion +proceeds. It is seen that the work done per unit of volume of steam as +taken from the boiler is much greater than when working without +expansion. The product of the mean pressure by the volume of the +cylinder is less, but the quotient obtained by dividing this quantity +by the volume or weight of steam taken from the boiler, is much +greater with than without expansion. For the case assumed and +illustrated, the work done during expansion is one and two-fifths +times that done previous to cutting off the steam, and the work done +per pound of steam is 2.4 times that done without expansion. + +Were there no losses to be met with and to be exaggerated by the use +of steam expansively, the gain would become very great with moderate +expansion, amounting to twice the work done when "following" full +stroke, when the steam is cut off at one-seventh. The estimated gain +is, however, never realized. Losses by friction, by conduction and +radiation of heat, and by condensation and reëvaporation in the +cylinder--of which losses the latter are most serious--after passing a +point which is variable, and which is determined by the special +conditions in each case, augment with greater rapidity than the gain +by expansion. + +In actual practice, it is rarely found, except where special +precautions are taken to reduce these losses, that economy follows +expansion to a greater number of volumes than about one-half the +square root of the steam-pressure; i. e., about twice for 15 or 20 +pounds pressure, three times for about 30 pounds, and four and five +times for 60 or 65 and for 100 to 125 pounds respectively. Watt very +soon learned this general principle; but neither he, nor even many +modern engineers, seem to have learned that too great expansion often +gives greatly-reduced economy. + +The inequality of pressure due to expansion, to which he refers, was a +source of much perplexity to Watt, as he was for a long time convinced +that he must find some method of "equalizing" the consequent irregular +effort of the steam upon the piston. The several methods of +"equalizing the expansive power" which are referred to in the patent +were attempts to secure this result. By one method, he shifted the +centre as the beam vibrated, thus changing the lengths of the arms of +that great lever, to compensate the change of moment consequent upon +the change of pressure. He finally concluded that a fly-wheel, as +first proposed by Fitzgerald, who advised its use on Papin's engine, +would be the best device on engines driving a crank, and trusted to +the inertia of a balance-weight in his pumping-engines, or to the +weight of the pump-rods, and permitted the piston to take its own +speed so far as it was not thus controlled. + +The double-acting engine was a modification of the single-acting +engine, and was very soon determined upon after the successful working +of the latter had become assured. + +Watt had covered in the top of his single-acting engine, to prevent +cooling the interior of the cylinder by contact with the comparatively +cold atmosphere. When this had been done, there was but a single step +required to convert the machine into the double-acting engine. This +alteration, by which the steam was permitted to act upon the upper and +the lower sides of the piston alternately, had been proposed by Watt +as early as 1767, and a drawing of the engine was laid before a +committee of the House of Commons in 1774-'75. By this simple change +Watt doubled the power of his engine. Although invented much earlier, +the plan was not patented until he was, as he states, driven to take +out the patent by the "plagiarists and pirates" who were always ready +to profit by his ingenuity. This form of engine is now almost +universally used. The single-acting pumping-engine remains in use in +Cornwall, and in a few other localities, and now and then an engine is +built for other purposes, in which steam acts only on one side of the +piston; but these are rare exceptions to the general rule. + +The subject of his next invention was not less interesting. The +double-cylinder or "compound" engine has now, after the lapse of +nearly a century, become an important and usual type of engine. It is +impossible to determine precisely to whom to award the credit of its +first conception. Dr. Falk, in 1779, had proposed a double-acting +engine, in which there were two single-acting cylinders, acting in +opposite directions and alternately on opposite sides of a wheel, with +which a rack on the piston-rod of each geared. + +Watt claimed that Hornblower, the patentee of the "compound engine," +was an infringer upon his patents; and, holding the patent on the +separate condenser, he was able to prevent the engine of his +competitor taking such form as to be successfully introduced. The +Hornblower engine was soon given up. + +Watt stated that this form of engine had been invented by him as early +as 1767, and that he had explained its peculiarities to Smeaton and +others several years before Hornblower attempted to use it. He wrote +to Boulton: "It is no less than our double-cylinder engine, worked +upon our principle of expansion." He never made use of the plan, +however; and the principal object sought, apparently, in patenting +this, as well as many other devices, was to secure himself against +competition. + +The rack and sector patented at this time was soon superseded by the +parallel-motion; and the last claim, the "steam-wheel" or rotary +engine, although one was built of considerable size, was not +introduced. + +After the patent of 1782 had been secured, Watt turned his attention, +when not too hard-pressed by business, to other schemes, and to +experimenting with still other modifications and applications of his +engine. He had, as early as 1777, proposed to make a steam-hammer for +Wilkinson's forge; but he was too closely engaged with more important +matters to take hold of the project with much earnestness until late +in the year 1782, when, after some preliminary trials, he reported, +December 13th: "We have tried our little tilting-forge hammer at Soho +with success. The following are some of the particulars: Cylinder, 15 +inches in diameter; 4 feet stroke; strokes per minute, 20. The +hammer-head, 120 pounds weight, rises 8 inches, and strikes 240 blows +per minute. The machine goes quite regularly, and can be managed as +easily as a water-mill. It requires a very small quantity of +steam--not above half the contents of the cylinder per stroke. The +power employed is not more than one-fourth of what would be required +to raise the quantity of water which would enable a water-wheel to +work the same hammer with the same velocity." + +He immediately set about making a much heavier hammer, and on April +26, 1783, he wrote that he had done "a thing never done +before"--making his hammer strike 300 blows a minute. This hammer +weighed 7-1/2 hundredweight, and had a drop of 2 feet. The +steam-cylinder had a diameter of 42 inches and 6 feet stroke of +piston, and was calculated to have sufficient power to drive four +hammers weighing 7 hundredweight each. The engine made 20 strokes per +minute, the hammer giving 90 blows in the same time. + +This new application of steam-power proving successful, Watt next +began to develop a series of minor inventions, which were finally +secured by his patent of April 27, 1784, together with the steam +tilt-hammer, and a steam-carriage, or "locomotive engine." + +The contrivance previously used for guiding the head of the +piston-rod--the sectors and chains, or rack--had never given +satisfaction. The rudeness of design of the contrivance was only +equalled by its insecurity. Watt therefore contrived a number of +methods of accomplishing the purpose, the most beautiful and +widely-known of which is the "parallel-motion," although it has now +been generally superseded by one of the other devices patented at the +same time--the cross-head and guides. As originally proposed, a rod +was attached to the head of the piston-rod, standing vertically when +the latter was at quarter-stroke. The upper end of this rod was +pivoted to the end of the beam, and the lower end to the extremity of +a horizontal rod having a length equal to one-half the length of the +beam. The other end of the horizontal rod was coupled to the frame of +the engine. As the piston rose and fell, the upper and lower ends of +the vertical rod were swayed in opposite directions, and to an equal +extent, by the beam and the lower horizontal rod, the middle point at +which the piston-rod was attached preserving its position in the +vertical line. This form was objectionable, as the whole effort of the +engine was transmitted through the parallel-motion rods. Another form +is shown in the sketch given of the double-acting engine in Fig. 31, +which was free from this defect. The head of the piston-rod, _g_, was +guided by rods connecting it with the frame at _c_, and forming a +"parallelogram," _g d e b_, with the beam. Many varieties of +"parallel-motion" have been devised since Watt's invention was +attached to his engines at Soho. They usually are more or less +imperfect, guiding the piston-rod in a line only approximately +straight. + +The cross-head and guides are now generally used, very much as +described by Watt in this patent as his "second principle." This +device will be seen in the engravings given hereafter of more modern +engines. The head of the piston-rod is fitted into a transverse bar, +or cross-head, which carries properly-shaped pieces at its +extremities, to which are bolted "gibs," so made as to fit upon guides +secured to the engine-frame. These guides are adjusted to precise +parallelism with the centre line of the cylinder. The cross-head, +sliding in or on these guides, moves in a perfectly straight line, +and, compelling the piston-rod to move with it, the latter is even +more perfectly guided than by a parallel-motion. This arrangement, +where properly proportioned, is not necessarily subject to great +friction, and is much more easily adjusted and kept in line than the +parallel-motion when wear occurs or maladjustment takes place. + +By the same patent, Watt secured the now common "puppet-valve" with +beveled seat, and the application of the steam-engine to driving +rolling-mills and hammers for forges, and to "wheel-carriages for +removing persons or goods, or other matters, from place to place." For +the latter purpose he proposes to use boilers "of wood, or of thin +metal, strongly secured by hoops or otherwise," and containing +"internal fire-boxes." He proposed to use a condenser cooled by +currents of air. + +It would require too much space to follow Watt in all his schemes for +the improvement and for the application of the steam-engine. A few of +the more important and more ingenious only can be described. Many of +the contracts of Boulton & Watt gave them, as compensation for their +engines, a fraction--usually one-third--of the value of the fuel saved +by the use of the Watt engine in place of the engine of Newcomen, the +amount due being paid annually or semiannually, with an option of +redemption on the part of the purchaser at ten years' purchase. This +form of agreement compelled a careful determination, often, of the +work done and fuel consumed by both the engine taken out and that put +in its place. It was impossible to rely upon any determination by +personal observation of the number of strokes made by the engine. Watt +therefore made a "counter," like that now familiar to every one as +used on gas-meters. It consists of a train of wheels moving pointers +on several dials, the first dial showing tens, the second hundreds, +the third thousands, etc., strokes or revolutions. Motion was +communicated to the train by means of a pendulum, the whole being +mounted on the beam of the engine, where every vibration produced a +swing of the pendulum. Eight dials were sometimes used, the counter +being set and locked, and only opened once a year, when the time +arrived for determining the work done during the preceding +twelve-month. + +The application of his engine to purposes for which careful adjustment +of speed was requisite, or where the load was subject to considerable +variation, led to the use of a controlling-valve in the steam-pipe, +called the "throttle-valve," which was adjustable by hand, and +permitted the supply of steam to the engine to be adjusted at any +instant and altered to any desired extent. It is now given many forms, +but it still is most usually made just as originally designed by Watt. +It consists of a circular disk, which just closes up the steam-pipe +when set directly across it, or of an elliptical disk, which closes +the pipe when standing at an angle of somewhat less than 90° with the +line of the pipe. This disk is carried on a spindle extending through +the pipe at one side, and carrying on its outer end an arm by means +of which it may be turned into any position. When placed with its face +in line with the pipe, it offers very little resistance to the flow of +steam to the engine. When set in the other position, it shuts off +steam entirely and stops the engine. It is placed in such position at +any time, that the speed of the engine is just that required at the +time. In the engraving of the double-acting engine with fly-wheel +(Fig. 31), it is shown at _T_, as controlled by the governor. + +[Illustration: FIG. 29.--The Governor.] + +The governor, or "fly-ball governor," as it is often distinctively +called, was another of Watt's minor but very essential inventions. Two +heavy iron or brass balls, _B B´_, were suspended from pins, _C C´_, +in a little cross-piece carried on the head of a vertical spindle, _A +A´_, driven by the engine. The speed of the engine varying, that of +the spindle changed correspondingly, and the faster the balls were +swung the farther they separated. When the engine's speed decreased, +the period of revolution of the balls was increased, and they fell +back toward the spindle. Whenever the velocity of the engine was +uniform, the balls preserved their distance from the spindle and +remained at the same height, their altitude being determined by the +relation existing between the force of gravity and centrifugal force +in the temporary position of equilibrium. The distance from the point +of suspension down to the level of the balls is always equal to 9.78 +inches divided by the square of the number of revolutions per +second--i. e., _h_ = 9.78 (1/_N_^2) = 0.248 (1/_N_^2) meters. + +The arms carrying the balls, or the balls themselves, are pinned to +rods, _M M´_, which are connected to a piece, _N N´_, sliding loosely +on the spindle. A score, _T_, cut in this piece engages a lever, _V_, +and, as the balls rise and fall, a rod, _W_, is moved, closing and +opening the throttle-valve, and thus adjusting the supply of steam in +such a way as to preserve a nearly fixed speed of engine. The +connection with the throttle-valve and with the cut-off valve-gear is +seen not only in the engraving of the double-acting Watt engine, but +also in those of the Greene and the Corliss engines. This contrivance +had previously been used in regulating water-wheels and windmills. +Watt's invention consisted in its application to the regulation of the +steam-engine. + +Still another useful invention of Watt's was his "mercury +steam-gauge"--a barometer in which the height of the mercury was +determined by the pressure of the steam instead of that of the +atmosphere. This simple instrument consisted merely of a bent tube +containing a portion of mercury. One leg, _B D_, of this U-tube was +connected with the steam-pipe, or with the boiler by a small +steam-pipe; the other end, _C_, was open to the atmosphere. The +pressure of the steam on the mercury in _B D_ caused it to rise in the +other "leg" to a height exactly proportioned to the pressure, and +causing very nearly two inches difference of level to the pound, or +one inch to the pound actual rise in the outer leg. The rude sketch +from Farey, here given (Fig. 30), indicates sufficiently well the form +of this gauge. It is still considered by engineers the most reliable +of all forms of steam-gauge. Unfortunately, it is not conveniently +applicable at high pressure. The scale, _A_, is marked with numbers +indicating the pressure, which numbers are indicated by the head of a +rod floating up with the mercury. + +A similar gauge was used to determine the degree of perfection of +vacuum attained in the condenser, the mercury falling in the outer leg +as the vacuum became more complete. A perfect vacuum would cause a +depression of level in that leg to 30 inches below the level of the +mercury in the leg connected with the condenser. In a more usual form, +it consisted of a simple glass tube having its lower end immersed in a +cistern of mercury, as in the ordinary barometer, the top of the tube +being connected with a pipe leading to the condenser. With a perfect +vacuum in the condenser, the mercury would rise in the tube very +nearly 30 inches. Ordinarily, the vacuum is not nearly perfect, and, a +back pressure remaining in the condenser of one or two pounds per +square inch, the atmospheric pressure remaining unbalanced is only +sufficient to raise the mercury 26 or 28 inches above the level of the +liquid metal in the cistern. + +[Illustration: FIG. 30. Mercury Steam Gauge. Glass Water Gauge.] + +To determine the height of water in his boiler, Watt added to the +gauge-cocks already long in use the "glass water-gauge," which is +still seen in nearly every well-arranged boiler. This was a glass +tube, _a a´_ (Fig. 30), mounted on a standard attached to the front of +the boiler, and at such a height that its middle point was very little +below the proposed water-level. It was connected by a small pipe, _r_, +at the top to the steam-space, and another little pipe, _r´_, led into +the boiler from its lower end below the water-line. As the water rose +and fell within the boiler, its level changed correspondingly in the +glass. This little instrument is especially liked, because the +position of the water is at all times shown to the eye of the +attendant. If carefully protected against sudden changes of +temperature, it answers perfectly well with even very high pressures. + +The engines built by Boulton & Watt were finally fitted with the crank +and fly-wheel for application to the driving of mills and machinery. +The accompanying engraving (Fig. 31) shows the engine as thus made, +combining all of the essential improvements designed by its inventor. + +In the engraving, _C_ is the steam-cylinder, _P_ the piston, connected +to the beam by the link, _g_, and guided by the parallel-motion, _g d +c_. At the opposite end of the beam a connecting-rod, _O_, connects +with the crank and fly-wheel shaft. _R_ is the rod of the air-pump, by +means of which the condenser is kept from being flooded by the water +used for condensation, which water-supply is regulated by an +"injection-handle," _E_. A pump-rod, _N_, leads down from the beam to +the cold-water pump, by which water is raised from the well or other +source to supply the needed injection-water. The air-pump rod also +serves as a "plug-rod," to work the valves, the pins at _m_ and _R_ +striking the lever, _m_, at either end of the stroke. When the piston +reaches the top of the cylinder, the lever, _m_, is raised, opening +the steam-valve, _B_, at the top, and the exhaust-valve, _E_, at the +bottom, and at the same time closing the exhaust at the top and the +steam at the bottom. When the entrance of steam at the top and the +removal of steam-pressure below the piston has driven the piston to +the bottom, the pin, _R_, strikes the lever, _m_, opening the steam +and closing the exhaust valve at the bottom, and similarly reversing +the position of the valves at the top. The position of the valves is +changed in this manner with every reversal of the motion of the piston +as the crank "turns over the centre." + +[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Boulton & Watt's Double-Acting Engine, 1784.] + +The earliest engines of the double-acting kind, and of any +considerable size, which were built to turn a shaft, were those which +were set up in the Albion Mills, near Blackfriars' Bridge, London, in +1786, and destroyed when the mills burned down in 1791. There were a +pair of these engines (shown in Fig. 27), of 50 horse-power each, and +geared to drive 20 pairs of stones, making fine flour and meal. +Previous to the erection of this mill the power in all such +establishments had been derived from windmills and water-wheels. This +mill was erected by Boulton & Watt, and capitalists working with +them, not only to secure the profit anticipated from locating a +flour-mill in the city of London, but also with a view to exhibiting +the capacity of the new double-acting "rotating" engine. The plan was +proposed in 1783, and work was commenced in 1784; but the mill was not +set in operation until the spring of 1786. The capacity of the mill +was, in ordinary work, 16,000 bushels of wheat ground into fine flour +per week. On one occasion, the mill turned out 3,000 bushels in 24 +hours. In the construction of the machinery of the mill, many +improvements upon the then standard practice were introduced, +including cast-iron gearing with carefully-formed teeth and iron +framing. It was here that John Rennie commenced his work, after +passing through his apprenticeship in Scotland, sending his chief +assistant, Ewart, to superintend the erection of the milling +machinery. The mill was a success as a piece of engineering, but a +serious loss was incurred by the capitalists engaged in the +enterprise, as it was set on fire a few years afterward and entirely +destroyed. Boulton and Watt were the principal losers, the former +losing £6,000, and the latter £3,000. + +The valve-gear of this engine, a view of which is given in Fig. 27, +was quite similar to that used on the Watt pumping-engine. The +accompanying illustration (Fig. 32) represents this valve-motion as +attached to the Albion Mills engine. + +[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Valve-Gear of the Albion Mills Engine.] + +The steam-pipe, _a b d d e_, leads the steam from the boiler to the +chambers, _b_ and _e_. The exhaust-pipe, _g g_, leads from _h_ and _i_ +to the condenser. In the sketch, the upper steam and the lower exhaust +valves, _b_ and _f_, are opened, and the steam-valve, _e_, and +exhaust-valve, _c_, are closed, the piston being near the upper end of +the cylinder and descending. _l_ represents the plug-frame, which +carries tappets, 2 and 3, which engage the lever, _s_, at either end +of its throw, and turn the shaft, _u_, thus opening and closing _c_ +and _e_ simultaneously by means of the connecting-links, 13 and 14. A +similar pair of tappets on the opposite side of the plug-rod move the +valves, _b_ and _f_, by means of the rods, 10 and 11, the arm, _r_, +when struck by those tappets, turning the shaft, _t_, and thus moving +the arms to which those rods are attached. Counterbalance-weights, +carried on the ends of the arms, 4 and 15, retain the valves on their +seats when closed by the action of the tappets. When the piston nearly +reaches the lower end of the cylinder, the tappet, 1, engages the arm, +_r_, closing the steam-valve, _b_, and the next instant shutting the +exhaust-valve, _f_. At the same time, the tappet, 3, by moving the +arm, _s_, downward, opens the steam-valve, _e_, and the exhaust-valve, +_c_. Steam now no longer issues from the steam-pipe into the space, +_c_, and thence into the engine-cylinder (not shown in the sketch); +but it now enters the engine through the valve, _e_, forcing the +piston upwards. The exhaust is simultaneously made to occur at the +upper end, the rejected steam passing from the engine into the space, +_c_, and thence through _c_ and the pipe, _g_, into the condenser. + +This kind of valve-gear was subsequently greatly improved by Murdoch, +Watt's ingenious and efficient foreman, but it is now entirely +superseded on engines of this class by the eccentric, and the various +forms of valve-gear driven by it. + +[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Watt's Half-Trunk Engine, 1784.] + +The "trunk-engine" was still another of the almost innumerable +inventions of Watt. A half-trunk engine is described in his patent of +1784, as shown in the accompanying sketch (Fig. 33), in which _A_ is +the cylinder, _B_ the piston, and _C_ its rod, encased in the +half-trunk, _D_. The plug-rod, _G_, moves the single pair of valves by +striking the catches, _E_ and _F_, as was usual with Watt's earlier +engines. + +Watt's steam-hammer was patented at the same time. It is seen in Fig. +34, in which _A_ is the steam-cylinder and _B_ its rod, the engine +being evidently of the form just described. It works a beam, _C C_, +which in turn, by the rod, _M_, works the hammer-helve, _L J_, and the +hammer, _L_. The beam, _F G_, is a spring, and the block, _N_, the +anvil. + +[Illustration: FIG. 34.--The Watt Hammer, 1784.] + +Watt found it impossible to determine the duty of his engines at all +times by measurement of the work itself, and endeavored to find a way +of ascertaining the power produced, by ascertaining the pressure of +steam within the cylinder. This pressure was so variable, and subject +to such rapid as well as extreme fluctuations, that he found it +impossible to make use of the steam-gauge constructed for use on the +boiler. He was thus driven to invent a special instrument for this +work, which he called the "steam-engine indicator." This consisted of +a little steam-cylinder containing a nicely-fitting piston, which +moved without noticeable friction through a range which was limited by +the compression of a helical spring, by means of which the piston was +secured to the top of its cylinder. The distance through which the +piston rose was proportional to the pressure exerted upon it, and a +pointer attached to its rod traversed a scale upon which the pressure +per square inch could be read. The lower end of the instrument being +connected with the steam-cylinder of the engine by a small pipe +fitted with a cock, the opening of the latter permitted steam from the +engine-cylinder to fill the indicator-cylinder, and the pressure of +steam was always the same in both cylinders. The indicator-pointer +therefore traversed the pressure-scale, always exhibiting the pressure +existing at the instant in the cylinder of the engine. When the engine +was at rest and steam off, the indicator-piston stood at the same +level as when detached from the engine, and the pointer stood at 0 on +the scale. When steam entered, the piston rose and fell with the +fluctuations of pressure; and when the exhaust-valve opened, +discharging the steam and producing a vacuum in the steam-cylinder, +the pointer of the indicator dropped below 0, showing the degree of +exhaustion. Mr. Southern, one of Watt's assistants, fitted the +instrument with a sliding board, moved horizontally backward and +forward by a cord or link-work connecting directly or indirectly with +the engine-beam, and thus giving it a motion coincident with that of +the piston. This board carried a piece of paper, upon which a pencil +attached to the indicator piston-rod drew a curve. The vertical height +of any point on this curve above the base-line measured the pressure +in the cylinder at the moment when it was made, and the horizontal +distance of the point from either end of the diagram determined the +position, at the same moment, of the engine-piston. The curve thus +inscribed, called the "indicator card," or indicator diagram, +exhibiting every minute change in the pressure of steam in the engine, +not only enabled the mean pressure and the power of the engine to be +determined by its measurement, but, to the eye of the expert engineer, +it was a perfectly legible statement of the position of the valves of +the engine, and revealed almost every defect in the action of the +engine which could not readily be detected by external examination. It +has justly been called the "engineers' stethoscope," opening the +otherwise inaccessible parts of the steam-engine to the inspection of +the engineer even more satisfactorily than the stethoscope of the +physician gives him a knowledge of the condition and working of organs +contained within the human body. This indispensable and now familiar +engineers' instrument has since been modified and greatly improved in +detail. + +The Watt engine had, by the construction of the improvements described +in the patents of 1782-'85, been given its distinctive form, and the +great inventor subsequently did little more than improve it by +altering the forms and proportions of its details. As thus practically +completed, it embodied nearly all the essential features of the modern +engine; and, as we have seen, the marked features of our latest +practice--the use of the double cylinder for expansion, the cut-off +valve-gear, and surface-condensation--had all been proposed, and to a +limited extent introduced. The growth of the steam-engine has here +ceased to be rapid, and the changes which followed the completion of +the work of James Watt have been minor improvements, and rarely, if +ever, real developments. + +Watt's mind lost none of its activity, however, for many years. He +devised and patented a "smoke-consuming furnace," in which he led the +gases produced on the introduction of fresh fuel over the already +incandescent coal, and thus burned them completely. He used two fires, +which were coaled alternately. Even when busiest, also, he found time +to pursue more purely scientific studies. With Boulton, he induced a +number of well-known scientific men living near Birmingham to join in +the formation of a "Lunar Society," to meet monthly at the houses of +its members, "at the full of the moon." The time was thus fixed in +order that those members who came from a distance should be able to +drive home, after the meetings, by moonlight. Many such societies were +then in existence in England; but that at Birmingham was one of the +largest and most distinguished of them all. Boulton, Watt, Drs. Small, +Darwin, and Priestley, were the leaders, and among their occasional +visitors were Herschel, Smeaton, and Banks. Watt called these meetings +"Philosophers' meetings." It was during the period of most active +discussion at the "philosophers' meetings" that Cavendish and +Priestley were experimenting with mixtures of oxygen and hydrogen, to +determine the nature of their combustion. Watt took much interest in +the subject, and, when informed by Priestley that he and Cavendish had +both noticed a deposit of moisture invariably succeeding the explosion +of the mixed gases, when contained in a cold vessel, and that the +weight of this water was approximately equal to the weight of the +mixed gases, he at once came to the conclusion that the union of +hydrogen with oxygen produced water, the latter being a chemical +compound, of which the former were constituents. He communicated this +reasoning, and the conclusions to which it had led him, to Boulton, in +a letter written in December, 1782, and addressed a letter some time +afterward to Priestley, which was to have been read before the Royal +Society in April, 1783. The letter was not read, however, until a year +later, and, three months after, a paper by Cavendish, making the same +announcement, had been laid before the Society. Watt stated that both +Cavendish and Lavoisier, to whom also the discovery is ascribed, +received the idea from him. + +The action of chlorine in bleaching organic coloring-matters, by (as +since shown) decomposing them and combining with their hydrogen, was +made known to Watt by M. Berthollet, the distinguished French chemist, +and the former immediately introduced its use into Great Britain, by +inducing his father-in-law, Mr. Macgregor, to make a trial of it. + +The copartnership of Boulton & Watt terminated by limitation, and with +the expiration of the patents under which they had been working, in +the first year of the present century; and both partners, now old and +feeble, withdrew from active business, leaving their sons to renew the +agreement and to carry on the business under the same firm-style. + +Boulton, however, still interested himself in some branches of +manufacture, especially in his mint, where he had coined many years +and for several nations. + +Watt retired, a little later, to Heathfield, where he passed the +remainder of his life in peaceful enjoyment of the society of his +friends, in studies of all current matters of interest in science, as +well as in engineering. One by one his old friends died--Black in +1799, Priestley, an exile to America, in 1803, and Robison a little +later. Boulton died, at the age of eighty-one, August 17, 1809, and +even the loss of this nearest and dearest of his friends outside the +family was a less severe blow than that of his son Gregory, who died +in 1804. + +Yet the great engineer and inventor was not depressed by the +loneliness which was gradually coming upon him. He wrote: "I know that +all men must die, and I submit to the decrees of Nature, I hope, with +due reverence to the Disposer of events;" and neglected no opportunity +to secure amusement or instruction, and kept body and mind constantly +occupied. He still attended the weekly meetings of the club, meeting +Rennie and Telford, and other distinguished men of his own and the +succeeding generation. He lost nothing of his fondness for invention, +and spent many months in devising a machine for copying statuary, +which he had not perfected to his own satisfaction at the time of his +death, ten years later. This machine was a kind of pentagraph, which +could be worked in any plane, and in which the marking-pencil gave +place to a cutting-tool. The tracing-point followed the surface of the +pattern, while the cutting-point, following its motion precisely, +formed a fac-simile in the material operated upon. + +In the year 1800 he invented the water-main which was laid down by the +Glasgow Water-Works Company across the Clyde. The joints were +spherical and articulated, like those of the lobster's tail. + +His workshop, of which a sketch is hereafter given, as drawn by the +artist Skelton, was in the garret of his house, and was well supplied +with tools and all kinds of laboratory material. His lathe and his +copying-machine were placed before the window, and his writing-desk in +the corner. Here he spent the greater part of his leisure time, often +even taking his meals in the little shop, rather than go to the table +for them. Even when very old, he occasionally made a journey to London +or Glasgow, calling on his old friends and studying the latest +engineering devices and inspecting public works, and was everywhere +welcomed by young and old as the greatest living engineer, or as the +kind and wise friend of earlier days. + +He died August 19, 1819, in the eighty-third year of his age, and was +buried in Handsworth Church. The sculptor Chantrey was employed to +place a fitting monument above his grave, and the nation erected a +statue of the great man in Westminster Abbey. + +This sketch of the greatest of all the inventors of the steam-engine +has been given no greater length than its subject justifies. Whether +we consider Watt as the inventor of the standard steam-engine of the +nineteenth century, as the scientific investigator of the physical +principles upon which the invention is based, or as the builder and +introducer of the most powerful known instrument by which the "great +sources of power in Nature are converted, adapted, and applied for the +use and convenience of man," he is fully entitled to preëminence. His +character as a man was no less admirable than as an engineer. + +Smiles, Watt's most conscientious and indefatigable biographer, +writes:[41] + + [41] "Life of Watt," p. 512. + +[Illustration: FIG. 35.--James Watt's Workshop. (From Smiles's "Lives +of Boulton and Watt.")] + +"Some months since, we visited the little garret at Heathfield in +which Watt pursued the investigations of his later years. The room had +been carefully locked up since his death, and had only once been swept +out. Everything lay very much as he left it. The piece of iron which +he was last employed in turning, lay on the lathe. The ashes of the +last fire were in the grate; the last bit of coal was in the scuttle. +The Dutch oven was in its place over the stove, and the frying-pan in +which he cooked his meals was hanging on its accustomed nail. Many +objects lay about or in the drawers, indicating the pursuits which had +been interrupted by death--busts, medallions, and figures, waiting to +be copied by the copying-machine--many medallion-moulds, a store of +plaster-of-Paris, and a box of plaster casts from London, the contents +of which do not seem to have been disturbed. Here are Watt's ladles +for melting lead, his foot-rule, his glue-pot, his hammer. Reflecting +mirrors, an extemporized camera with the lenses mounted on pasteboard, +and many camera-glasses laid about, indicate interrupted experiments +in optics. There are quadrant-glasses, compasses, scales, weights, and +sundry boxes of mathematical instruments, once doubtless highly +prized. In one place a model of the governor, in another of the +parallel-motion, and in a little box, fitted with wooden cylinders +mounted with paper and covered with figures, is what we suppose to be +a model of his calculating-machine. On the shelves are minerals and +chemicals in pots and jars, on which the dust of nearly half a century +has settled. The moist substances have long since dried up; the putty +has been turned to stone, and the paste to dust. On one shelf we come +upon a dish in which lies a withered bunch of grapes. On the floor, in +a corner, near to where Watt sat and worked, is a hair-trunk--a +touching memorial of a long-past love and a long-dead sorrow. It +contains all poor Gregory's school-books, his first attempts at +writing, his boy's drawings of battles, his first school-exercises +down to his college-themes, his delectuses, his grammars, his +dictionaries, and his class-books--brought into this retired room, +where the father's eye could rest upon them. Near at hand is the +sculpture-machine, on which he continued working to the last. Its +wooden frame is worm-eaten, and dropping into dust, like the hands +that made it. But though the great workman is gone to rest, with all +his griefs and cares, and his handiwork is fast crumbling to decay, +the spirit of his work, the thought which he put into his inventions, +still survives, and will probably continue to influence the destinies +of his race for all time to come." + +The visitor to Westminster Abbey will find neither monarch, nor +warrior, nor statesman, nor poet, honored with a nobler epitaph than +that which is inscribed on the pedestal of Chantrey's monument to +Watt: + + NOT TO PERPETUATE A NAME, + WHICH MUST ENDURE WHILE THE PEACEFUL ARTS FLOURISH, + BUT TO SHOW + THAT MANKIND HAVE LEARNT TO HONOR THOSE WHO BEST DESERVE THEIR + GRATITUDE, + THE KING, + HIS MINISTERS, AND MANY OF THE NOBLES AND COMMONERS OF THE REALM, + RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO + JAMES WATT, + WHO, DIRECTING THE FORCE OF AN ORIGINAL GENIUS, + EARLY EXERCISED IN PHILOSOPHIC RESEARCH, + TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF + THE STEAM-ENGINE, + ENLARGED THE RESOURCES OF HIS COUNTRY, INCREASED THE POWER OF MAN, + AND ROSE TO AN EMINENT PLACE + AMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOLLOWERS OF SCIENCE AND THE REAL + BENEFACTORS OF THE WORLD. + + BORN AT GREENOCK, MDCCXXXVI. + + DIED AT HEATHFIELD, IN STAFFORDSHIRE, MDCCCXIX. + +[Illustration: Tomb of James Watt.] + + +SECTION II.--THE CONTEMPORARIES OF JAMES WATT. + +In the chronology of the steam-engine, the contemporaries of Watt have +been so completely overshadowed by the greater and more successful +inventor, as to have been almost forgotten by the biographer and by +the student of history. Yet, among the engineers and engine-builders, +as well as among the inventors of his day, Watt found many +enterprising rivals and keen competitors. Some of these men, had they +not been so completely fettered by Watt's patents, would have probably +done work which would have entitled them to far higher honor than has +been accorded them. + +WILLIAM MURDOCH was one of the men to whom Watt, no less than the +world, was greatly indebted. For many years he was the assistant, +friend, and coadjutor of Watt; and it is to his ingenuity that we are +to give credit for not only many independent inventions, but also for +the suggestions and improvements which were often indispensable to the +formation and perfection of some of Watt's own inventions. + +Murdoch was employed by Boulton & Watt in 1776, and was made +superintendent of construction in the engine department, and given +general charge of the erection of engines. He was sent into Cornwall, +and spent in that district much of the time during which he served the +firm, erecting pumping-engines, the construction of which for so many +years constituted a large part of the business of the Soho +establishment. He was looked upon by both Boulton and Watt as a +sincere friend, as well as a loyal adherent, and from 1810 to 1830 was +given a partner's share of the income of the firm, and a salary of +£1,000. He retired from business at the last of the two dates named, +and, dying in 1839, was buried near the two partners in Handsworth +Church. + +Murdoch made a model, in 1784, of the locomotive patented by Watt in +that year. He devised the arrangement of "sun-and-planet wheels," +adopted for a time in all of Watt's "rotative" engines, and invented +the oscillating steam-engine (Fig. 36) in 1785, using the "D-slide +valves," _G_, moved by the gear, _E_, which was driven by an eccentric +on the shaft, without regard to the oscillation of the cylinder, _A_. +He was the inventor of a rotary engine and of many minor machines for +special purposes, and of many machine-tools used at Soho in building +engines and machines. He seems, like Watt, to have had special +fondness for the worm-gear, and introduced it wherever it could +properly take the place of ordinary gearing. Some of the machines +designed by Watt and Murdoch, who always worked well together, were +found still in use and in good working condition by the author when +visiting the works at Soho in 1873. The old mint in which, from 1797 +to 1805, Boulton had coined 4,000 tons of copper, had then been pulled +down, and a new mint had been erected in 1860. Many old machines +still remained about the establishment as souvenirs of the three great +mechanics. + +[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Murdoch's Oscillating Engine, 1785.] + +Outside of Soho, Murdoch also found ample employment for his inventive +talent. In 1792, while at Redruth, his residence before finally +returning to Soho, he was led to speculate upon the possibility of +utilizing the illuminating qualities of coal-gas, and, convinced of +its practicability, he laid the subject before the Royal Society in +1808, and was awarded the Rumford gold medal. He had, ten years +earlier, lighted a part of the Soho works with coal-gas, and in 1803 +Watt authorized him to extend his pipes throughout all the buildings. +Several manufacturers promptly introduced the new light, and its use +extended very rapidly. + +Still another of Murdoch's favorite schemes was the transmission of +power by the use of compressed air. He drove the pattern-shop engine +at Soho by means of air from the blowing-engine in the foundery, and +erected a pneumatic lift to elevate castings from the foundery-floor +to the canal-bank. He made a steam-gun, introduced the heating of +buildings by the circulation of hot water, and invented the method of +transmitting packages through tubes by the impulse of compressed air, +as now practised by the "pneumatic dispatch" companies. He died at the +age of eighty-five years. + +Among the most active and formidable of Watt's business rivals was +JONATHAN HORNBLOWER, the patentee of the "compound" or double-cylinder +engine. A sketch of this engine, as patented by Hornblower in 1781, is +here given (Fig. 37). It was first described by the inventor in the +"Encyclopædia Britannica." It consists, as is seen by reference to the +engraving, of two steam-cylinders, _A_ and _B_--_A_ being the low and +_B_ the high pressure cylinder--the steam leaving the latter being +exhausted into the former, and, after doing its work there, passing +into the condenser, as already described. The piston-rods, _C_ and +_D_, are both connected to the same part of the beam by chains, as in +the other early engines. These rods pass through stuffing-boxes in the +cylinder-heads, which are fitted up like those seen on the Watt +engine. Steam is led to the engine through the pipe, _G Y_, and cocks, +_a_, _b_, _c_, and _d_, are adjustable, as required, to lead steam +into and from the cylinders, and are moved by the plug-rod, _W_, which +actuates handles not shown. _K_ is the exhaust-pipe leading to the +condenser. _V_ is the engine feed-pump rod, and _X_ the great rod +carrying the pump-buckets at the bottom of the shaft. + +The cocks _c_ and _a_ being open and _b_ and _d_ shut, the steam +passes from the boiler into the upper part of the steam-cylinder, _B_; +and the communication between the lower part of _B_ and the top of _A_ +is also open. Before starting, steam being shut off from the engine, +the great weight of the pump-rod, _X_, causes that end of the beam to +preponderate, the pistons standing, as shown, at the top of their +respective steam-cylinders. + +The engine being freed from all air by opening all the valves and +permitting the steam to drive it through the engine and out of the +condenser through the "snifting-valve," _O_, the valves _b_ and _d_ +are closed, and the cock in the exhaust-pipe opened. + +[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Hornblower's Compound Engine, 1781.] + +The steam beneath the piston of the large cylinder is immediately +condensed, and the pressure on the upper side of that piston causes it +to descend, carrying that end of the beam with it, and raising the +opposite end with the pump-rods and their attachments. At the same +time, the steam from the lower end of the small high-pressure cylinder +being let into the upper end of the larger cylinder, the completion of +the stroke finds a cylinder full of steam transferred from the one to +the other with corresponding increase of volume and decrease of +pressure. While expanding and diminishing in pressure as it passes +from the smaller into the larger cylinder, this charge of steam +gradually resists less and less the pressure of the steam from the +boiler on the upper side of the piston of the small cylinder, _B_, and +the net result is the movement of the engine by pressures exerted on +the upper sides of both pistons and against pressures of less +intensity on the under sides of both. The pressures in the lower part +of the small cylinder, in the upper part of the large cylinder, and in +the communicating passage, are evidently all equal at any given time. + +When the pistons have reached the bottoms of their respective +cylinders, the valves at the top of the small cylinder, _B_, and at +the bottom of the large cylinder, _A_, are closed, and the valves _c_ +and _d_ are opened. Steam from the boiler now enters beneath the +piston of the small cylinder; the steam in the larger cylinder is +exhausted into the condenser, and the steam already in the small +cylinder passes over into the large cylinder, following up the piston +as it rises. + +Thus, at each stroke a small cylinder full of steam is taken from the +boiler, and the same weight, occupying the volume of the larger +cylinder, is exhausted into the condenser from the latter cylinder. + +Referring to the method of operation of this engine, Prof. Robison +demonstrated that the effect produced was the same as in Watt's +single-cylinder engine--a fact which is comprehended in the law +enunciated many years later by Rankine, that, "so far as the +theoretical action of the steam on the piston is concerned, it is +immaterial whether the expansion takes place in one cylinder, or in +two or more cylinders." It was found, in practice, that the Hornblower +engine was no more economical than the Watt engine; and that erected +at the Tin Croft Mine, Cornwall, in 1792, did even less work with the +same fuel than the Watt engines. + +Hornblower was prosecuted by Boulton & Watt for infringement. The suit +was decided against him, and he was imprisoned in default of payment +of the royalty, and fine demanded. He died a disappointed and +impoverished man. The plan thus unsuccessfully introduced by +Hornblower was subsequently modified and adopted by others among the +contemporaries of Watt; and, with higher steam and the use of the Watt +condenser, the "compound" gradually became a standard type of +steam-engine. + +Arthur Woolf, in 1804, re-introduced the Hornblower or Falck engine, +with its two steam-cylinders, using steam of higher tension. His first +engine was built for a brewery in London, and a considerable number +were subsequently made. Woolf expanded his steam from six to nine +times, and the pumping-engines built from his plans were said to have +raised about 40,000,000 pounds one foot high per bushel of coals, when +the Watt engine was raising but little more than 30,000,000. In one +case, a duty of 57,000,000 was claimed. + +The most successful of those competitors of Watt who endeavored to +devise a peculiar form of pumping-engine, which should have the +efficiency of that of Boulton & Watt, and the necessary advantage in +first cost, were WILLIAM BULL and RICHARD TREVITHICK.[42] The +accompanying illustration shows the design, which was then known as +the "Bull Cornish Engine." + + [42] For an exceedingly interesting and very faithful account of + their work, _see_ "Life of Richard Trevithick," by F. Trevithick, + London, 1872. + +[Illustration: FIG. 88.--Bull's Pumping-Engine, 1798.] + +The steam-cylinder, _a_, is carried on wooden beams, _b_, extending +across the engine-house directly over the pump-well. The piston-rod, +_c_, is secured to the pump-rods, _d d_, the cylinder being inverted, +and the pumps, _e_, in the shaft, _f_, are thus operated without the +intervention of the beam invariably seen in Watt's engines. A +connecting-rod, _g_, attached to the pump-rod and to the end of a +balance-beam, _h_, operates the latter, and is counterbalanced by a +weight, _i_. The rod, _j_, serves both as a plug-rod and as an +air-pump connecting-rod. A snifting-valve, _k_, opens when the engine +is blown through, and relieves the condenser and air-pump, _l_, of all +air. The rod, _m_, operates a solid air-pump piston, the valves of the +pump being placed on either side at the base, instead of in the +pump-bucket, as in Watt's engines. The condensing-water cistern was a +wooden tank, _n_. A jet "pipe-condenser," _o_, was used instead of a +jet condenser of the form adopted by other makers, and was supplied +with water through the cock, _p_. The plug-rod, _q_, as it rises and +falls with the pump-rods and balance-beam, operates the +"gear-handles," _r r_, and opens and closes the valves, _s s_, at the +required points in the stroke. The attendant works these valves by +hand, in starting, from the floor, _t_. The operation of the engine is +similar to that of a Watt engine. It is still in use, with a few +modifications and improvements, and is a very economical and durable +machine. It has not been as generally adopted, however, as it would +probably have been had not the legal proscription of Watt's patents so +seriously interfered with its introduction. Its simplicity and +lightness are decided advantages, and its designers are entitled to +great credit for their boldness and ingenuity, as displayed in their +application of the minor devices which distinguish the engine. The +design is probably to be credited to Bull originally; but Trevithick +built some of these engines, and is supposed to have greatly improved +them while working with Edward Bull, the son of the inventor, William +Bull. One of these engines was erected by them at the Herland Mine, +Cornwall, in 1798, which had a steam-cylinder 60 inches in diameter, +and was built on the plan just described. + +Another of the contemporaries of James Watt was a clergyman, EDWARD +CARTWRIGHT, the distinguished inventor of the power-loom, and of the +first machine ever used in combing wool, who revived Watt's plan of +surface-condensation in a somewhat modified form. Watt had made a +"pipe-condenser," similar in plan to those now often used, but +had simply immersed it in a tank of water, instead of in a +constantly-flowing stream. Cartwright proposed to use two concentric +cylinders or spheres, between which the steam entered when exhausted +from the cylinder of the engine, and was condensed by contact with +the metal surfaces. Cold water within the smaller and surrounding the +exterior vessel kept the metal cold, and absorbed the heat discharged +by the condensing vapor. + +Cartwright's engine is best described in the _Philosophical Magazine_ +of June, 1798, from which the accompanying sketch is copied. + +[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Cartwright's Engine, 1798.] + +The object of the inventor is stated to have been to remedy the +defects of the Watt engine--imperfect vacuum, friction, and +complication. + +In the figure, the steam-cylinder takes steam through the pipe, _B_. +The piston, _R_, has a rod extending downward to the smaller +pump-piston, _G_, and upward to the cross-head, which, in turn, drives +the cranks above, by means of connecting-rods. The shafts thus turned +are connected by a pair of gears, _M L_, of which one drives a pinion +on the shaft of the fly-wheel. _D_ is the exhaust-pipe leading to the +condenser, _F_; and the pump, _G_, removes the air and water of +condensation, forcing it into the hot-well, _H_, whence it is returned +to the boiler through the pipe, _I_. A float in _H_ adjusts an +air-valve, so as to keep a supply of air in the chamber, to serve as a +cushion and to make an air-chamber of the reservoir, and permits the +excess to escape. The large tank contains the water supplied for +condensing the steam. + +The piston, _R_, is made of metal, and is packed with two sets of cut +metal rings, forced out against the sides of the cylinder by steel +springs, the rings being cut at three points in the circumference, and +kept in place by the springs. The arrangement of the two cranks, with +their shafts and gears, is intended to supersede Watt's plan for +securing a perfectly rectilinear movement of the head of the +piston-rod, without friction. + +In the accounts given of this engine, great stress is laid upon the +supposed important advantage here offered, by the introduction of the +surface-condenser, of permitting the employment of a working-fluid +other than steam--as, for example, alcohol, which is too valuable to +be lost. It was proposed to use the engine in connection with a still, +and thus to effect great economy by making the fuel do double duty. +The only part of the plan which proved both novel and valuable was the +metallic packing and piston, which has not yet been superseded. The +engine itself never came into use. + +At this point, the history of the steam-engine becomes the story of +its applications in several different directions, the most important +of which are the raising of water--which had hitherto been its only +application--the locomotive-engine, the driving of mill-machinery, and +steam-navigation. + +Here we take leave of James Watt and of his contemporaries, of the +former of whom a French author[43] says: "The part which he played in +the mechanical applications of the power of steam can only be compared +to that of Newton in astronomy and of Shakespeare in poetry." Since +the time of Watt, improvements have been made principally in matters +of mere detail, and in the extension of the range of application of +the steam-engine. + + [43] Bataille. "Traité des Machines à Vapeur," Paris, 1847. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE._ + + "Those projects which abridge distance have done most for the + civilization and happiness of our species."--MACAULAY. + +THE SECOND PERIOD OF APPLICATION--1800-'40. + +STEAM-LOCOMOTION ON RAILROADS. + + +[Illustration: FIG. 40.--The First Railroad-Car, 1825.] + +Introductory.--The commencement of the nineteenth century found the +modern steam-engine fully developed in all its principal features, and +fairly at work in many departments of industry. The genius of +Worcester, and Morland, and Savery, and Desaguliers, had, in the first +period of the application of the power of steam to useful work, +effected a beginning which, looked upon from a point of view which +exhibits its importance as the first step toward the wonderful results +to-day familiar to every one, appears in its true light, and entitles +those great men to even greater honor than has been accorded them. The +results actually accomplished, however, were absolutely insignificant +in comparison with those which marked the period of development just +described. Yet even the work of Watt and of his contemporaries was but +a mere prelude to the marvellous advances made in the succeeding +period, to which we are now come, and, in extent and importance, was +insignificant in comparison with that accomplished by their successors +in the development of all mechanical industries by the application of +the steam-engine to the movement of every kind of machine. + +The first of the two periods of application saw the steam-engine +adapted simply to the elevation of water and the drainage of mines; +during the second period it was adapted to every variety of useful +work, and introduced wherever the muscular strength of men and +animals, or the power of wind and of falling water, which had +previously been the only motors, had found application. A history of +the development of industries by the introduction of steam-power +during this period, would be no less extended and hardly less +interesting than that of the steam-engine itself. + +The way had been fairly opened by Boulton and Watt; and the year 1800 +saw a crowd of engineers and manufacturers entering upon it, eager to +reap the harvest of distinction and of pecuniary returns which seemed +so promising to all. The last year of the eighteenth century was also +the last of the twenty-five years of partnership of Boulton & Watt, +and, with it, the patents under which that firm had held the great +monopoly of steam-engine building expired. The right to manufacture +the modern steam-engine was common to all. Watt had, at the +commencement of the new century, retired from active business-life. +Boulton remained in business; but he was not the inventor of the new +engine, and could not retain, by the exercise of all his remaining +power, the privileges previously held by legal authorization. + +The young Boulton and the young Watt were not the Boulton & Watt of +earlier years; and, had they possessed all of the business talent and +all of the inventive genius of their fathers, they could not have +retained control of a business which was now growing far more rapidly +than the facilities for manufacturing could be extended in any single +establishment. All over the country, and even on the Continent of +Europe, and in America, thousands of mechanics, and many men of +mechanical tastes in other professions, were familiar with the +principles of the new machine, and were speculating upon its value for +all the purposes to which it has since been applied; and a multitude +of enthusiastic mechanics, and a larger multitude of visionary and +ignorant schemers, were experimenting with every imaginable device, in +the vain hope of attaining perpetual motion, and other hardly less +absurd results, by its modification and improvement. Steam-engine +building establishments sprang up wherever a mechanic had succeeded in +erecting a workshop and in acquiring a local reputation as a worker in +metal, and many of Watt's workmen went out from Soho to take charge of +the work done in these shops. Nearly all of the great establishments +which are to-day most noted for their extent and for the importance +and magnitude of the work done in them, not only in Great Britain, but +in Europe and the United States, came into existence during this +second period of the application of the steam-engine as a prime mover. + +The new establishments usually grew out of older shops of a less +pretentious character, and were managed by men who had been trained by +Watt, or who had had a still more awakening experience with those who +vainly strove to make up, by their ingenuity and by great excellence +of workmanship, the advantages possessed at Soho in a legal monopoly +and greater experience in the business. + +It was exceedingly difficult to find expert and conscientious workmen, +and machine-tools had not become as thoroughly perfected as had the +steam-engine itself. These difficulties were gradually overcome, +however, and thenceforward the growth of the business was increasingly +rapid. + +Every important form of engine had now been invented. Watt had +perfected, with the aid of Murdoch, both the pumping-engine and the +rotative steam-engine for application to mills. He had invented the +trunk engine, and Murdoch had devised the oscillating engine and the +ordinary slide-valve, and had made a model locomotive-engine, while +Hornblower had introduced the compound engine. The application of +steam to navigation had been often proposed, and had sometimes been +attempted, with sufficient success to indicate to the intelligent +observer an ultimate triumph. It only remained to extend the use of +steam as a motor into all known departments of industry, and to effect +such improvements in details as experience should prove desirable. + +The engines of Hero, of Porta, and of Branca were, it will be +remembered, non-condensing; but the first plan of a non-condensing +engine that could be made of any really practical use is given in the +"Theatrum Machinarum" of Leupold, published in 1720. This sketch is +copied in Fig. 41. It is stated by Leupold that this plan was +suggested by Papin. It consists of two single-acting cylinders, _r s_, +receiving steam alternately from the same steam-pipe through a +"four-way cock," _x_, and exhausting into the atmosphere. Steam is +furnished by the boiler, _a_, and the pistons, _c d_, are alternately +raised and depressed, depressing and raising the pump-rods, _k l_, to +which they are attached by the beams, _h g_, vibrating on the centres, +_i i_. The water from the pumps, _o p_, is forced up the stand-pipe, +_q_, and discharged at its top. The alternate action of the +steam-pistons is secured by turning the "four-way cock," _x_, first +into the position shown, and then, at the completion of the stroke, +into the reverse position, by which change the steam from the boiler +is then led into the cylinder, _s_, and the steam in _r_ is discharged +into the atmosphere.[44] + + [44] _Vide_ "Theatrum Machinarum," vol. iii., Tab. 30. + +[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Leupold's Engine, 1720.] + +Leupold states that he is indebted to Papin for the suggestion of the +peculiar valve here used. He also proposed to use a Savery engine +without condensation in raising water. We have no evidence that this +engine was ever built. + +The first rude scheme for applying steam to locomotion on land was +probably that of Isaac Newton, who, in 1680, proposed the machine +shown in the accompanying figure (42), which will be recognized as +representing the scientific toy which is found in nearly every +collection of illustrative philosophical apparatus. As described in +the "Explanation of the Newtonian Philosophy," it consists of a +spherical boiler, _B_, mounted on a carriage. Steam issuing from the +pipe, _C_, seen pointing directly backward, by its reaction upon the +carriage, drives the latter ahead. The driver, sitting at _A_, +controls the steam by the handle, _E_, and cock, _F_. The fire is seen +at _D_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Newton's Steam-Carriage, 1680.] + +When, at the end of the eighteenth century, the steam-engine had been +so far perfected that the possibility of its successful application to +locomotion had become fully and very generally recognized, the problem +of adapting it to locomotion on land was attacked by many inventors. + +Dr. Robison had, as far back as in 1759, proposed it to James Watt +during one of their conferences, at a time when the latter was even +more ignorant than the former of the principles which were involved in +the construction of the steam-engine, and this suggestion may have had +some influence in determining Watt to pursue his research; thus +setting in operation that train of thoughtful investigation and +experiment which finally earned for him his splendid fame. + +In 1765, that singular genius, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, whose celebrity was +acquired by speculations in poetry and philosophy as well as in +medicine, urged Matthew Boulton--subsequently Watt's partner, and just +then corresponding with our own Franklin in relation to the use of +steam-power--to construct a steam-carriage, or "fiery chariot," as he +poetically styled it, and of which he sketched a set of plans. A young +man named Edgeworth became interested in the scheme, and, in 1768, +published a paper which had secured for him a gold medal from the +Society of Arts. In this paper he proposed railroads on which the +carriages were to be drawn by horses, _or by ropes from steam-winding +engines_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Read's Steam-Carriage, 1790.] + +Nathan Read, of whom an account will be given hereafter, when +describing his attempt to introduce steam-navigation, planned, and in +1790 obtained a patent for, a steam-carriage, of which the sketch seen +in Fig. 43 is copied from the rough drawing accompanying his +application. In the figure, _A A A A_ are the wheels; _B B_, pinions +on the hubs of the rear wheels, which are driven by a ratchet +arrangement on the racks, _G G_, connected with the piston-rods; _C o_ +is the boiler; _D D_, the steam-pipes carrying steam to the +steam-cylinder, _E E_; _F F_ are the engine-frames; _H_ is the +"tongue" or "pole" of the carriage, and is turned by a horizontal +steering-wheel, with which it is connected by the ropes or chains, _I +K_, _I K_; _W W_ are the cocks, which serve to shut off steam from the +engine when necessary, and to determine the amount of steam to be +admitted. The pipes _a a_ are exhaust-pipes, which the inventor +proposed to turn so that they should point backward, in order to +secure the advantage of the effort of reaction of the expelled steam. +(!) + +Read made a model steam-carriage, which he exhibited when endeavoring +to secure assistance in furtherance of his schemes, but seems to have +given more attention to steam-navigation, and nothing was ever +accomplished by him in this direction. + +These were merely promising schemes, however. The first actual +experiment was made, as is supposed, by a French army-officer, +NICHOLAS JOSEPH CUGNOT, who in 1769 built a steam-carriage, which was +set at work in presence of the French Minister of War, the Duke de +Choiseul. The funds required by him were furnished by the Compte de +Saxe. Encouraged by the partial success of the first locomotive, he, +in 1770, constructed a second (Fig. 44), which is still preserved in +the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, Paris. + +[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Cugnot's Steam-Carriage, 1770.] + +This machine, when recently examined by the author, was still in an +excellent state of preservation. The carriage and its machinery are +substantially built and well-finished, and exceedingly creditable +pieces of work in every respect. It surprises the engineer to find +such evidence of the high character of the work of the mechanic +Brezin a century ago. The steam-cylinders were 13 inches in diameter, +and the engine was evidently of considerable power. This locomotive +was intended for the transportation of artillery. It consists of two +beams of heavy timber extending from end to end, supported by two +strong wheels behind, and one still heavier but smaller wheel in +front. The latter carries on its rim blocks which cut into the soil as +the wheel turns, and thus give greater holding power. The single wheel +is turned by two single-acting engines, one on each side, supplied +with steam by a boiler (seen in the sketch) suspended in front of the +machine. The connection between the engines and the wheels was +effected by means of pawls, as first proposed by Papin, which could be +reversed when it was desired to drive the machine backward. A seat is +mounted on the carriage-body for the driver, who steers the machine by +a train of gearing, which turns the whole frame, carrying the +machinery 15 or 20 degrees either way. This locomotive was found to +have been built on a tolerably satisfactory general plan; but the +boiler was too small, and the steering apparatus was incapable of +handling the carriage with promptness. + +The death of one of Cugnot's patrons, and the exile of the other, put +an end to Cugnot's experiments. + +Cugnot was a mechanic by choice, and exhibited great talent. He was a +native of Vaud, in Lorraine, where he was born in 1725. He served both +in the French and the German armies. While under the Maréchal de Saxe, +he constructed his first steam locomotive-engine, which only +disappointed him, as he stated, in consequence of the inefficiency of +the feed-pumps. The second was that built under the authority of the +Minister Choiseul, and cost 20,000 livres. Cugnot received from the +French Government a pension of 600 livres. He died in 1804, at the age +of seventy-nine years. + +Watt, at a very early period, proposed to apply his own engine to +locomotion, and contemplated using either a non-condensing engine or +an air-surface condenser. He actually included the locomotive-engine +in his patent of 1784; and his assistant, Murdoch, in the same year, +made a working-model locomotive (Fig. 45), which was capable of +running at a rapid rate. This model, now deposited in the Patent +Museum at South Kensington, London, had a flue-boiler, and its +steam-cylinder was three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and the +stroke of piston 2 inches. The driving-wheels were 9-1/2 inches +diameter. + +[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Murdoch's Model, 1784.] + +Nothing was, however, done on a larger scale by either Watt or +Murdoch, who both found more than enough to claim their attention in +the construction and introduction of other engines. Murdoch's model is +said to have run from 6 to 8 miles an hour, its little driving-wheels +making from 200 to 275 revolutions per minute. As is seen in the +sketch, this model was fitted with the same form of engine, known as +the "grasshopper-engine," which was used in the United States by +Oliver Evans. + +"To Oliver Evans," says Dr. Ernest Alban, the distinguished German +engineer, "was it reserved to show the true value of a long-known +principle, and to establish thereon a new and more simple method of +applying the power of steam--a method that will remain an eternal +memorial to its introducer." Dr. Alban here refers to the earliest +permanently successful introduction of the non-condensing +high-pressure steam-engine. + +OLIVER EVANS, one of the most ingenious mechanics that America has +ever produced, was born at Newport, Del., in 1755 or 1756, the son of +people in very humble circumstances. + +[Illustration: Oliver Evans.] + +He was, in his youth, apprenticed to a wheelwright, and soon exhibited +great mechanical talent and a strong desire to acquire knowledge. His +attention was, at an early period, drawn to the possible application +of the power of steam to useful purposes by the boyish pranks of one +of his comrades, who, placing a small quantity of water in a +gun-barrel, and ramming down a tight wad, put the barrel in the fire +of a blacksmith's forge. The loud report which accompanied the +expulsion of the wad was an evidence to young Evans of great and (as +he supposed) previously undiscovered power. + +Subsequently meeting with a description of a Newcomen engine, he at +once noticed that the elastic force of confined steam was not there +utilized. He then designed the non-condensing engine, in which the +power was derived exclusively from the tension of high-pressure steam, +and proposed its application to the propulsion of carriages. + +About the year 1780, Evans joined his brothers, who were millers by +occupation, and at once employed his inventive talent in improving the +details of mill-work, and with such success as to reduce the cost of +attendance one-half, and also to increase the fineness of the flour +made. He proved himself a very expert millwright. + +In 1786 he applied to the Pennsylvania Legislature for a patent for +the application of the steam-engine to driving mills, and to the +steam-carriage, but was refused it. In 1800 or 1801, Evans, after +consultation with Professor Robert Patterson, of the University of +Pennsylvania, and getting his approval of the plans, commenced the +construction of a steam-carriage to be driven by a non-condensing +engine. He soon concluded, however, that it would be a better scheme, +pecuniarily, to adapt his engine, which was novel in form and of small +first cost, to driving mills; and he accordingly changed his plans, +and built an engine of 6 inches diameter of cylinder and 18 inches +stroke of piston, which he applied with perfect success to driving a +plaster-mill. + +This engine, which he called the "Columbian Engine," was of a peculiar +form, as seen in Fig. 46. The beam is supported at one end by a +rocking column; at the other, it is attached directly to the +piston-rod, while the crank lies beneath the beam, the connecting-rod, +1, being attached to the latter at the extreme end. The head of the +piston-rod is compelled to rise and fall in a vertical line by the +"Evans's parallelogram"--a kind of parallel-motion very similar to +one of those designed by Watt. In the sketch (Fig. 46), 2 is the +crank, 3 the valve-motion, 4 the steam-pipe from the boiler, _E_, 5 6 +7 the feed-pipe leading from the pump, _F_. _A_ is the boiler. The +flame from the fire on the grate, _H_, passes under the boiler between +brick walls, and back through a central flue to the chimney, _I_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Evans's Non-condensing Engine, 1800.] + +Subsequently, Evans continued to extend the applications of his engine +and to perfect its details; and, others following in his track, the +non-condensing engine is to-day fulfilling the predictions which he +made 70 years ago, when he said: + +"I have no doubt that my engines will propel boats against the current +of the Mississippi, and wagons on turnpike roads, with great +profit...." + +"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by +steam-engines from one city to another, almost as fast as birds can +fly, 15 or 20 miles an hour.... A carriage will start from Washington +in the morning, the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at +Philadelphia, and sup in New York the same day.... + +"Engines will drive boats 10 or 12 miles an hour, and there will be +hundreds of steamers running on the Mississippi, as predicted years +ago."[45] + + [45] Evans's prediction is less remarkable than that of Darwin, + elsewhere quoted. + +In 1804, Evans applied one of his engines in the transportation of a +large flat-bottomed craft, built on an order of the Board of Health of +Philadelphia, for use in clearing some of the docks along the +water-front of the city. Mounting it on wheels, he placed in it one of +his 5-horse power engines, and named the odd machine (Fig. 47) +"Oruktor Amphibolis." This steam dredging-machine, weighing about +40,000 pounds, was then propelled very slowly from the works, up +Market Street, around to the Water-Works, and then launched into the +Schuylkill. The engine was then applied to the paddle-wheel at the +stern, and drove the craft down the river to its confluence with the +Delaware. + +[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Evans's "Oruktor Amphibolis," 1804.] + +In September of the same year, Evans laid before the Lancaster +Turnpike Company a statement of the estimated expenses and profits of +steam-transportation on the common road, assuming the size of the +carriage used to be sufficient for transporting 100 barrels of flour +50 miles in 24 hours, and placed in competition with 10 wagons drawn +by 5 horses each. + +In the sketch above given of the "Oruktor Amphibolis," the engine is +seen to resemble that previously described. The wheel, _A_, is driven +by a rod depending from the end of a beam, _B´ B_, the other end of +which is supported at _E_ by the frame, _E F G_. The body of the +machine is carried on wheels, _K K_, driven by belts, _M M_, from the +pulley on the shaft carrying _A_. The paddle-wheel is seen at _W_. +Evans had some time previously sent Joseph Sampson to England with +copies of his plans, and by him they were shown to Trevithick, Vivian, +and other British engineers. + +Among other devices, the now familiar Cornish boiler, having a single +internal flue, and the Lancashire boiler, having a pair of internal +flues, were planned and used by Evans. + +At about the time that he was engaged on his steam dredging-machine, +Evans communicated with Messrs. McKeever & Valcourt, who contracted +with him to build an engine for a steam-vessel to ply between New +Orleans and Natchez on the Mississippi, the hull of the vessel to be +built on the river, and the machinery to be sent to the first-named +city to be set up in the boat. Financial difficulties and low water +combined to prevent the completion of the steamer, and the engine was +set at work driving a saw-mill, where, until the mill was destroyed by +fire, it sawed lumber at the rate of 250 feet of boards per hour. + +Evans never succeeded in accomplishing in America as great a success +as had rewarded Watt in Great Britain; but he continued to build +steam-engines to the end of his life, April 19, 1819, and was +succeeded by his sons-in-law, James Rush and David Muhlenberg. + +He exhibited equal intelligence and ingenuity in perfecting the +processes of milling, and in effecting improvements in his own +business, that of the millwright. When but twenty-four years old, he +invented a machine for making the wire teeth used in cotton and +woolen cards, turning them out at the rate of 3,000 per minute. A +little later he invented a card-setting machine, which cut the wire +from the reel, bent the teeth, and inserted them. In milling, he +invented a whole series of machines and attachments, including the +elevator, the "conveyor," the "hopper-box," the "drill," and the +"descender," and enabled the miller to make finer flour, gaining over +20 pounds to the barrel, and to do this at half the former cost of +attendance. The introduction of his improvements into Ellicott's +mills, near Baltimore, where 325 barrels of flour were made per day, +was calculated to have saved nearly $5,000 per year in cost of labor, +and over $30,000 by increasing the production. He wrote "The Young +Steam-Engineer's Guide," and a work which remained standard many years +after his death, "The Young Millwright's Guide." Less fortunate than +his transatlantic rival, he was nevertheless equally deserving of +fame. He has sometimes been called "The Watt of America." + +The application of steam to locomotion on the common road was much +more successful in Great Britain than in the United States. As early +as 1786, William Symmington, subsequently more successful in his +efforts to introduce steam for marine propulsion, assisted by his +father, made a working model of a steam-carriage, which did not, +however, lead to important results. + +In 1802, Richard Trevithick, a pupil of Murdoch's, who afterward +became well known in connection with the introduction of railroads, +made a model steam-carriage, which was patented in the same year. The +model may still be seen in the Patent Museum at South Kensington.[46] + + [46] _See_ "Life of Trevithick." + +In this engine, high-pressure steam was employed, and the condenser +was dispensed with. The boiler was of the form devised by Evans, and +was subsequently generally used in Cornwall, where it was called the +"Trevithick Boiler." The engine had but one cylinder, and the +piston-rod drove a "cross-tail," working in guides, which was +connected with a "cross-head" on the opposite side of the shaft by two +"side-rods." The connecting-rod was attached to the cross-head and the +crank, "returning" toward the cylinder as the shaft lay between the +latter and the cross-head. This was probably the first example of the +now common "return connecting-rod engine." The connection between the +crank-shaft and the wheels of the carriage was effected by gearing. +The valve-gear and the feed-pumps were worked from the engine-shaft. +The inventor proposed to secure his wheels against slipping by +projecting bolts, when necessary, through the rim of the wheel into +the ground. The first carriage of full size was built by Trevithick +and Vivian at Camborne, in 1803, and, after trial, was taken to +London, where it was exhibited to the public. _En route_, it was +driven by its own engines to Plymouth, 90 miles from Camborne, and +then shipped by water. It is not known whether the inventor lost faith +in his invention; but he very soon dismantled the machine, sold the +engine and carriage separately, and returned to Cornwall, where he +soon began work on a railroad-locomotive. + +In 1821, Julius Griffiths, of Brompton, Middlesex, England, patented a +steam-carriage for the transportation of passengers on the highway. +His first road-locomotive was built in the same year by Joseph Bramah, +one of the ablest mechanics of his time. The frame of the carriage +carried a large double coach-body between the two axles, and the +machinery was mounted over and behind the rear axle. One man was +stationed on a rear platform, to manage the engine and to attend to +the fire, and another, stationed in front of the body of the coach, +handled the steering-wheel. The boiler was composed of horizontal +water-tubes and steam-tubes, the latter being so situated as to +receive heat from the furnace-gases _en route_ to the chimney, and +thus to act as a superheater. The wheels were driven, by means of +intermediate gearing, by two steam-engines, which, with their +attachments, were suspended on helical springs, to prevent injury by +jars and shocks. An air-surface condenser was used, consisting of +flattened thin metal tubes, cooled by the contact of the external air, +and discharging the water of condensation, as it accumulated within +them, into a feed-pump, which, in turn, forced it into the lowest row +of tubes in the boiler. + +The boiler did not prove large enough for continuous work; but the +carriage was used experimentally, now and then, for a number of years. + +During the succeeding ten years the adaptation of the steam-engine to +land-transportation continued to attract more and more attention, and +experimental road-engines were built with steadily-increasing +frequency. The defects of these engines revealing themselves on trial, +they were one by one remedied, and the road-locomotive gradually +assumed a shape which was mechanically satisfactory. Their final +introduction into general use seemed at one time only a matter of +time; their non-success was due to causes over which the legislator +and the general public, and not the engineer, had control, as well as +to the development of steam-transportation on a rival plan. + +In 1822, David Gordon patented a road-engine, but it is not known +whether it was ever built. At about the same time, Mr. Goldsworthy +Gurney, who subsequently took an active part in their introduction, +stated, in his lectures, that "elementary power is capable of being +applied to propel carriages along common roads with great political +advantage, and the floating knowledge of the day places the object +within reach." He made an ammonia-engine--probably the first ever +made--and worked it so successfully, that he made use of it in driving +a little locomotive. + +Two years later, Gordon patented a curious arrangement, which, +however, had been proposed twelve years earlier by Brunton, and was +again proposed afterward by Gurney, and others. This consisted in +fitting to the engine a set of jointed legs, imitating, as nearly as +the inventor could make them, the action of a horse's legs and feet. +Such an arrangement was actually experimented with until it was found +that they could not be made to work satisfactorily, when it was also +found that they were not needed. + +During the same season, Burstall & Hill made a steam-carriage, and +made many unsuccessful attempts to introduce their plan. The engine +used was like that of Evans, except that the steam-cylinder was placed +at the end of the beam, and the crank-shaft under the middle. The +front and rear wheels were connected by a longitudinal shaft and bevel +gearing. The boiler was found to have the usual defect, and would only +supply steam for a speed of three or four miles an hour. The result +was a costly failure. W. H. James, of London, in 1824-'25, proposed +several devices for placing the working parts, as well as the body of +the carriage, on springs, without interfering with their operation, +and the Messrs. Seaward patented similar devices. Samuel Brown, in +1826, introduced a gas-engine, in which the piston was driven by the +pressure produced by the combustion of gas, and a vacuum was secured +by the condensation of the resulting vapor. Brown built a locomotive +which he propelled by this engine. He ascended Shooter's Hill, near +London, and the principal cause of his ultimate failure seems to have +been the cost of operating the engine. + +From this date forward, during several years, a number of inventors +and mechanics seem to have devoted their whole time to this promising +scheme. Among them, Burstall & Hill, Gurney, Ogle & Summers, Sir +Charles Dance, and Walter Hancock, were most successful. + +Gurney, in the year 1827, built a steam-carriage, which he kept at +work nearly two years in and about London, and sometimes making long +journeys. On one occasion he made the journey from Meksham to Cranford +Bridge, a distance of 85 miles, in 10 hours, including all stops. He +used the mechanical legs previously adopted by Brunton and by Gordon, +but omitted this rude device in those engines subsequently built. + +Gurney's engine of 1828 is of interest to the engineer as exhibiting a +very excellent arrangement of machinery, and as having one of the +earliest of "sectional boilers." The latter was of peculiar form, and +differed greatly in design from the sectional boiler invented a +quarter of a century earlier by John Stevens, in the United States. + +[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Gurney's Steam-Carriage.] + +In the sketch (Fig. 48) this boiler is seen at the right. It was +composed of bent [<]-shaped tubes, _a a_, connected to two cylinders, +_b b_, the upper one of which was a steam-chamber. Vertical tubes +connected these two chambers, and permitted a complete and regular +circulation of the water. A separate reservoir, called a separator, +_d_, was connected with these chambers by pipes, as shown. From the +top of this separator a steam-pipe, _e e e_, conveyed steam to the +engine-cylinders at _f_. The cranks, _g_, on the rear axle were turned +by the engines, and the eccentric, _h_, on the axle drove the +valve-gearing and the valve, _i_. The link, _k l_, being moved by a +line, _l l_, led from the driver's seat, the carriage was started, +stopped, or reversed, by throwing the upper end of the link into gear +with the valve-stem, by setting the link midway between its upper and +lower positions, or by raising it until the lower end, coming into +action on the valve-stem, produced a reverse motion of the valve. The +pin on which this link vibrated is seen at the centre of its +elliptical strap. The throttle-valve, _o_, by which the supply of +steam to the engine was adjusted, was worked by the lever, _n_. The +exhaust-pipe, _p_, led to the tank, _q_, and the uncondensed vapor +passed to the chimney, _s s_, by the pipe, _r r_. The force-pump, _u_, +taking feed-water from the tank, _t_, supplied it to the boiler by the +pipe, _x x x_, which, _en route_, was coiled up to form a "heater" +directly above the boiler. The supply was regulated by the cock, _y_. +The attendant had a seat at _z_. A blast-apparatus, 1, was driven by +an independent engine, 2 3, and produced a forced blast, which was led +to the boiler-furnace through the air-duct, 5 5; 4 4 represents the +steam-pipe to the little blowing-engine. The steering-wheel, 6, was +directed by a lever, 7, and the change of direction of the perch, 8, +which turned about a king-bolt at 9, gave the desired direction to the +forward wheels and to the carriage. + +This seems to have been one of the best designs brought out at that +time. The boiler, built to carry 70 pounds, was safe and strong, and +was tested up to 800 pounds pressure. A forced draught was provided. +The engines were well placed, and of good design. The valve was +arranged to work the steam with expansion from half-stroke. The +feed-water was heated, and the steam slightly superheated. The boiler +here used has been since reproduced under new names by later +inventors, and is still used with satisfactory results. Modifications +of the "pipe-boiler" were made by several other makers of +steam-carriages also. Anderson & James made their boilers of +lap-welded iron tubes of one inch internal diameter and one-fifth inch +thick, and claimed for them perfect safety. Such tubes should have +sufficient strength to sustain a pressure of 20,000 pounds per square +inch. If made of such good iron as the makers claimed to have put into +them, "which worked like lead," they would, as was also claimed, when +ruptured, open by tearing, and discharge their contents without +producing the usual disastrous consequences of boiler explosions. + +The primary principle of the sectional boiler was then well +understood. The boilers of Ogle & Summers were made up of pairs of +upright tubes, set one within the other, the intervening space being +filled with water and steam, and the flame passing through the inner +and around the outer tube of each pair. + +One of the engines of Sir James Anderson and W. H. James was built in +1829. It had two 3-1/2-inch steam-cylinders, driving the rear wheels +independently. In James's earlier plan of 1824-'25, a pair of +cylinders was attached to each of the two halves into which the rear +axle was divided, and were arranged to drive cranks set at +right-angles with each other. The later machine weighed 3 tons, and +carried 15 passengers, on a rough graveled road across the Epping +Forest, at the rate of from 12 to 15 miles per hour. Steam was carried +at 300 pounds. Several tubes gave way in the welds, but the carriage +returned, carrying 24 passengers at the rate of 7 miles per hour. On a +later trial, with new boilers, the carriage again made 15 miles per +hour. It was, however, subject to frequent accidents, and was finally +withdrawn. + +WALTER HANCOCK was the most successful and persevering of all those +who attempted the introduction of steam on the common road. He had, in +1827, patented a boiler of such peculiar form, that it deserves +description. It consisted of a collection of flat chambers, of which +the walls were of boiler-plate. These chambers were arranged side by +side, and connected laterally by tubes and stays, and all were +connected by short vertical tubes to a horizontal large pipe placed +across the top of the boiler-casing, and serving as a steam-drum or +separator. This earliest of "sheet flue-boilers" did excellent +service on Hancock's steam-carriages, where experience showed that +there was little or no danger of disruptive explosions. + +Hancock's first steam-carriage was mounted on three wheels, the +leading-wheel arranged to swivel on a king-bolt, and driven by a pair +of oscillating cylinders connected with its axle, which was "cranked" +for the purpose. The engines turned with the steering-wheel. This +carriage was by no means satisfactory, but it was used for a long +time, and traveled many hundreds of miles without once failing to do +the work assigned it. + +By this time there were a half-dozen steam-carriages under +construction for Hancock, for Ogle & Summers, and for Sir Charles +Dance. + +In 1831, Hancock placed a new carriage on a route between London and +Stratford, where it ran regularly for hire. Dance, in the same season, +started another on the line between Cheltenham and Gloucester, where +it ran from February 21st to June 22d, traveling 3,500 miles and +carrying 3,000 passengers, running the 9 miles in 55 minutes usually, +and sometimes in three-quarters of an hour, and never meeting with an +accident, except the breakage of an axle in running over heaps of +stones which had been purposely placed on the road by enemies of the +new system of transportation. Ogle & Summers's carriage attained a +speed, as testified by Ogle before a committee of the House of +Commons, of from 32 to 35 miles an hour, and on a rising grade, near +Southampton, at 24-1/2 miles per hour. They carried 250 pounds of +steam, ran 800 miles, and met with no accident. Colonel Macerone, in +1833, ran a steam-carriage of his own design from London to Windsor +and back, with 11 passengers, a distance of 23-1/2 miles, in 2 hours. +Sir Charles Dance, in the same year, ran his carriage 16 miles an +hour, and made long excursions at the rate of 9 miles an hour. Still +another experimenter, Heaton, ascended Lickey Hill, between Worcester +and Birmingham, on gradients of one in eight and one in nine, in +places; this was considered one of the worst pieces of road in +England. The carriage towed a coach containing 20 passengers. + +Of all these, and many others, Hancock, however, had most marked +success. His coach, called the "Infant," which was set at work in +February, 1831, was, a year later, plying between London "City" and +Paddington. Another, called the "Era," was built for the London and +Greenwich Steam-Carriage Company, which was mechanically a success. +The company, however, was financially unsuccessful. In October, 1832, +the "Infant" ran to Brighton from London, carrying a party of 11, at +the rate of 9 miles per hour, ascending Redhill at a speed of 5 miles. +They steamed 38 miles the first day, stopping at night at Hazledean, +and reached Brighton next day, running 11 miles per hour. Returning +with 15 passengers, the coach ran 1 mile in less than 4 minutes, and +made 10 miles in 55 minutes. A run from Stratford to Brighton was made +in less than 10 hours, at an average speed of 12 miles an hour running +time, the actual running time being less than 6 hours. The next year +another carriage, the "Enterprise," was put on the road to Paddington +by Hancock for another company, and ran regularly over two weeks; but +this company was also unsuccessful. In the summer of 1833 he brought +out still another steam-coach, the "Autopsy" (Fig. 49), which he ran +to Brighton, and then, returning to London, man[oe]uvred the carriage +in the crowded streets without difficulty or accident. He went about +the streets of London at all times, and without hesitation. The coach +next ran between Finsbury Square and Pentonville regularly for four +weeks, without accident or delay. In the sketch, a part of the side is +broken away to show the machinery. The boiler, _A B_, supplies steam +through the steam-pipe, _H K_, to the steam-engine, _C D_, which is +coupled to the crank-shaft, _F_. _E_ is the feed-pump. The rear axle +is turned by the endless chain seen connecting it with the +engine-shaft, and the rear wheels, _S_, are thus driven. A blower, +_T_, gives a forced draught. The driver sits at _M_, steering by the +wheel, _N_, which is coupled to the larger wheel, _P_, and thus turns +the forward axle into any desired position. In 1834, Hancock built a +steam "drag" on an Austrian order, which, carrying 10 persons and +towing a coach containing 6 passengers, was driven through the city +beyond Islington, making 14 miles an hour on a level, and 8 miles or +more on rising ground. In the same year he built the "Era," and, in +August, put the "Autopsy" on with it, to make a steam-line to +Paddington. These coaches ran until the end of November, carrying +4,000 passengers, at a usual rate of speed of 12 miles per hour. He +then sent the "Era" to Dublin, where, on one occasion, it ran 18 miles +per hour. + +[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Hancock's "Autopsy," 1833.] + +In 1835 a large carriage, the "Erin," was completed, which was +intended to carry 20 passengers. It towed three omnibuses and a +stage-coach, with 50 passengers, on a level road, at the speed of 10 +miles an hour. It drew an omnibus with 18 passengers through +Whitehall, Charing Cross, and Regent Street, and out to Brentford, +running 14 miles an hour. It ran also to Reading, making 38 miles, +with the same load, in 3 hours and 8 minutes running time. The stops +_en route_ occupied a half-hour. The same carriage made 75 miles to +Marlborough in 7-1/2 hours running time, stopping 4-1/2 hours on the +road, in consequence of having left the tender and supplies behind. + +In May, 1836, Hancock put all his carriages on the Paddington road, +and ran regularly for over five months, running 4,200 miles in 525 +trips to Islington, 143 to Paddington, and 44 to Stratford, passing +through the city over 200 times. The carriages averaged 5 hours and 17 +or 18 minutes daily running time. A light steam-phaeton, built in +1838, for his own use, made 20 miles an hour, and was driven about the +city, and among horses and carriages, without causing annoyance or +danger. Its usual speed was about 10 miles an hour. Altogether, +Hancock built nine steam-carriages, capable of carrying 116 passengers +in addition to the regular attendants.[47] + + [47] For a detailed account of the progress of steam on the highway, + _see_ "Steam on Common Roads," etc., by Young, Holley, & Fisher, + London, 1861. + +In December, 1833, about 20 steam-carriages and traction road-engines +were running, or were in course of construction, in and near London. +In our own country, the roughness of roads discouraged inventors; +and in Great Britain even, the successful introduction of +road-locomotives, which seemed at one time almost an accomplished +fact, finally met with so many obstacles, that even Hancock, the most +ingenious, persistent, and successful constructor, gave up in despair. +Hostile legislation procured by opposing interests, and the rapid +progress of steam-locomotion on railroads, caused this result. + +In consequence of this interruption of experiment, almost nothing was +done during the succeeding quarter of a century, and it is only within +a few years that anything like a business success has been founded +upon the construction of road-locomotives, although the scheme seems +to have been at no time entirely given up. + +The opposition of coach-proprietors, and of all classes having an +interest in the old lines of coaches, was most determined, and the +feeling evinced by them was intensely bitter; but the advocates of the +new system of transportation were equally determined and persevering, +and, having right on their side, and the pecuniary advantage of the +public as their object, they would probably have succeeded ultimately, +except for the introduction of the still better method of +transportation by rail. + +In the summer of 1831, when the war between the two parties was at its +height, a committee of the British House of Commons made a very +complete investigation of the subject. This committee reported that +they had become convinced that "the substitution of inanimate for +animal power, in draught on common roads, is one of the most important +improvements in the means of internal communication ever introduced." +They considered its practicability to have been "fully established," +and predicted that its introduction would "take place more or less +rapidly, in proportion as the attention of scientific men shall be +drawn, by public encouragement, to further improvement." The success +of the system had, as they stated, been retarded by prejudice, adverse +interests, and prohibitory tolls; and the committee remark: "When we +consider that these trials have been made under the most unfavorable +circumstances, at great expense, in total uncertainty, without any of +those guides which experience has given to other branches of +engineering; that those engaged in making them are persons looking +solely to their own interests, and not theorists attempting the +perfection of ingenious models; when we find them convinced, after +long experience, that they are introducing such a mode of conveyance +as shall tempt the public, by its superior advantages, from the use of +the admirable lines of coaches which have been generally established, +it surely cannot be contended that the introduction of steam-carriages +on common roads is, as yet, an uncertain experiment, unworthy of +legislative attention." + +Farey, one of the most distinguished mechanical engineers of the +time, testified that he considered the practicability of such a system +as fully established, and that the result would be its general +adoption. Gurney had run his carriage between 20 and 30 miles an hour; +Hancock could sustain a speed of 10 miles; Ogle had run his coach 32 +to 35 miles an hour, and ascended a hill rising 1 in 6 at the speed of +24-1/2 miles. Summers had traveled up a hill having a gradient of 1 in +12, with 19 passengers, at the rate of speed of 15 miles per hour; he +had run 4-1/2 hours at 30 miles an hour. Farey thought that +steam-coaches would be found to cost one-third as much as the +stage-coaches in use. The steam-carriages were reported to be safer +than those drawn by horses, and far more manageable; and the +construction of boilers adopted--the "sectional" boiler, as it is now +called--completely insured against injury by explosion, and the +dangers and inconveniences arising from the frightening of horses had +proved to be largely imaginary. The wear and tear of roads were found +to be less than with horses, while with broad wheel-tires the +carriages acted beneficially as road-rollers. The committee finally +concluded: + +"1. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an +average rate of 10 miles per hour. + +"2. That at this rate they have conveyed upward of 14 passengers. + +"3. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and attendants, +may be under three tons. + +"4. That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination +with facility and safety. + +"5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers. + +"6. That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed) +nuisances to the public. + +"7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance +than carriages drawn by horses. + +"8. That, as they admit of greater breadth of tire than other +carriages, and as the roads are not acted on so injuriously as by the +feet of horses in common draught, such carriages will cause less wear +of roads than coaches drawn by horses. + +"9. That rates of toll have been imposed on steam-carriages, which +would prohibit their being used on several lines of road, were such +charges permitted to remain unaltered." + +THE RAILROAD, which now, by the adaptation of steam to the propulsion +of its carriages, became the successful rival of the system of +transportation of which an account has just been given, was not a new +device. It, like all other important changes of method and great +inventions, had been growing into form for ages. The ancients were +accustomed to lay down blocks of stone as a way upon which their +heavily-loaded wagons could be drawn with less resistance than on the +common road. This practice was gradually so modified as to result in +the adoption of the now universally-practised methods of paving and +road-making. The old tracks, bearing the marks of heavy traffic, are +still seen in the streets of the unearthed city of Pompeii. + +In the early days of mining in Great Britain, the coal or the ore was +carried from the mine to the vessel in which it was to be embarked in +sacks on the backs of horses. Later, the miners laid out wagon-roads, +and used carts and wagons drawn by horses, and the roads were paved +with stone along the lines traversed by the wheels of the vehicles. +Still later (about 1630), heavy planks or squared timber took the +place of the stone, and were introduced into the north of England by a +gentleman of the name of Beaumont, who had transferred his property +there from the south. A half century later, the system had become +generally introduced. By the end of the eighteenth century the +construction of these "tram-ways" had become well-understood, and the +economy which justified the expenditure of considerable amounts of +money in making cuts and in filling, to bring the road to a uniform +grade, had become well-recognized. Arthur Young, writing at this time, +says the coal wagon-roads were "great works, carried over all sorts +of inequalities of ground, so far as the distance of nine or ten +miles," and that, on these tram-ways of timber, "one horse is able to +draw, and that with ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals." The +wagon-wheels were of cast-iron, and made with grooved rims, which +fitted the rounded tops of the wooden rails. But these wooden rails +were found subject to rapid decay, and at Whitehaven, in 1738, they +were protected from wear by cast-iron plates laid upon them, and this +improvement rapidly became known and adopted. A tram-road, laid down +at Sheffield for the Duke of Norfolk, in 1776, was made by laying +angle-bars of cast-iron on longitudinal sleepers of timber; another, +built by William Jessup in Leicestershire, in 1789, had an edge-rail, +and the wheels were made with flanges, like those used to-day. The +coned "tread" of the wheel, which prevents wear of flanges and reduces +resistance, was the invention of James Wright, of Columbia, Pa., 40 +years later. The modern railroad was simply the result of this gradual +improvement of the permanent way, and the adaptation of the +steam-engine to the propulsion of its wagons. + +At the beginning of the nineteenth century, therefore, the +steam-engine had been given a form which permitted its use, and the +railroad had been so far perfected that there were no difficulties to +be anticipated in the construction of the permanent way, and inventors +were gradually preparing, as has been seen, to combine these two +principal elements into one system. Railroads had been introduced in +all parts of Great Britain, some of them of considerable length, and +involving the interests of so many private individuals that they were +necessarily constructed under the authorization of legal enactments. +In the year 1805 the Merstham Railway was opened to traffic, and it is +stated that on that occasion one horse drew a train of 12 wagons, +carrying 38 tons of stone, on a "down gradient" of 1 in 120, at the +rate of 6 miles per hour. + +[Illustration: Richard Trevithick.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 50.--Trevithick's Locomotive, 1804.] + +RICHARD TREVITHICK was the first engineer to apply steam-power to the +haulage of loads on the railroad. Trevithick was a Cornishman by +birth, a native of Redruth. He was naturally a skillful mechanic, and +was placed by his father with Watt's assistant, Murdoch, who was +superintending the erection of pumping-engines in Cornwall; and from +that ingenious and accomplished engineer young Trevithick probably +acquired both the skill and the knowledge which, with his native +talent, enterprise, and industry, enabled him to accomplish the work +which has made him famous. He was soon intrusted with the erection and +management of large pumping-engines, and subsequently went into the +business of constructing steam-engines with another engineer, Edward +Bull, who took an active part, with the Hornblowers and others, in +opposing the Boulton & Watt patents. The termination of the suits +which established the validity of Watt's patent put an end to their +business, and Trevithick looked about for other work, and, not long +after, entered into partnership with a relative, Andrew Vivian, who +was also a skillful mechanic; they together designed and patented the +steam-carriage already referred to. Its success was sufficiently +satisfactory to awaken strong confidence of a perfect success on the +now common tram-roads; and Trevithick, in February, 1804, had +completed a "locomotive" engine to work on the Welsh Pen-y-darran +road. This engine (Fig. 50) had a cylindrical flue-boiler, _A_, like +that designed by Oliver Evans, and a single steam-cylinder, _B_, set +vertically into the steam-space of the boiler, and driving the +outside cranks, _L_, on the rear axle of the engine by very long +connecting-rods, _D_, attached to its cross-head at _E_. The +guide-bars, _I_, were stayed by braces leading to the opposite end of +the boiler. No attempt was made to condense the exhaust-steam, which +was discharged into the smoke-pipe. The pressure of steam adopted was +40 pounds per square inch; but Trevithick had already made a number of +non-condensing engines on which he carried from 50 to 145 pounds +pressure. + +In the year 1808, Trevithick built a railroad in London, on what was +known later as Torrington Square, or Euston Square, and set at work a +steam-carriage, which he called "Catch-me-who-can." This was a very +plain and simple machine. The steam-cylinder was set vertically in the +after-end of the boiler, and the cross-head was connected to two rods, +one on either side, driving the hind pair of wheels. The exhaust-steam +entered the chimney, aiding the draught. This engine, weighing about +10 tons, made from 12 to 15 miles an hour on the circular railway in +London, and was said by its builder to be capable of making 20 miles +an hour. The engine was finally thrown from the track, after some +weeks of work, by the breaking of a rail, and, Trevithick's funds +having been expended, it was never replaced. This engine had a +steam-cylinder 14-1/2 inches in diameter, and a stroke of piston of 4 +feet. Trevithick used no device to aid the friction of the wheels on +the rails in giving pulling-power, and seems to have understood that +none was needed. This plan of working a locomotive-engine without such +complications as had been proposed by other engineers was, however, +subsequently patented, in 1813, by Blackett & Hedley. The latter was +at one time Trevithick's agent, and was director of Wylam Colliery, of +which Mr. Blackett was proprietor. + +Trevithick applied his high-pressure non-conducting engine not only to +locomotives, but to every purpose that opportunity offered him. He put +one into the Tredegar Iron-Works, to drive the puddle-train, in 1801. +This engine had a steam-cylinder 28 inches in diameter, and 6 feet +stroke of piston; a boiler of cast-iron, 6-3/4 feet in diameter and 20 +feet long, with a wrought-iron internal tube, 3 feet in diameter at +the furnace-end and 24 inches beyond the furnace. The steam-pressure +ranged from 50 to 100 pounds per square inch. The valve was a four-way +cock. The exhaust-steam was carried into the chimney, passing through +a feed-water heater _en route_. This engine was taken down in +1856.[48] + + [48] "Life of Trevithick." + +In 1803, Trevithick applied his engine to driving rock-drills, and +three years later made a large contract with the Trinity Board for +dredging in the Thames, and constructed steam dredging-machines for +the work, of the form which is still most generally used in Great +Britain, although rarely seen in the United States--the +"chain-and-bucket dredger." + +A little later, Trevithick was engaged upon the first and unsuccessful +attempt to carry a tunnel under the Thames, at London; but no sooner +had that costly scheme been given up, than he returned to his favorite +pursuits, and continued his work on interrupted schemes for +ship-propulsion. Trevithick at last left England, spent some years in +South America, and finally returned home and died in extreme poverty, +April, 1833, at the age of sixty-two, without having succeeded in +accomplishing the general introduction of any of his inventions. + +Trevithick was characteristically an inventor of the typical sort. He +invented many valuable devices, but brought but few into even +experimental use, and reaped little advantage from any of them. He was +ingenious, a thorough mechanic, bold, active, and indefatigable; but +his lack of persistence made his whole life, as Smiles has said, "but +a series of beginnings." + +It is at about this period that we find evidence of the intelligent +labors of another of our own countrymen--one who, in consequence of +the unobtrusive manner in which his work was done, has never received +the full credit to which he is entitled. + +COLONEL JOHN STEVENS, of Hoboken, as he is generally called, was born +in the city of New York, in 1749; but throughout his business-life he +was a resident of New Jersey. + +[Illustration: Colonel John Stevens.] + +His attention is said to have been first called to the application of +steam-power by seeing the experiments of John Fitch with his steamer +on the Delaware, and he at once devoted himself to the introduction of +steam-navigation with characteristic energy, and with a success that +will be indicated when we come to the consideration of that subject. + +But this far-sighted engineer and statesman saw plainly the +importance of applying the steam-engine to land-transportation as well +as to navigation; and not only that, but he saw with equal +distinctness the importance of a well-devised and carefully-prosecuted +scheme of internal communication by a complete system of railroads. In +1812 he published a pamphlet containing "Documents tending to prove +the superior advantages of Railways and Steam-Carriages over +Canal-Navigation."[49] At this time, the only locomotive in the world +was that of Trevithick and Vivian, at Merthyr Tydvil, and the railroad +itself had not grown beyond the old wooden tram-roads of the +collieries. Yet Colonel Stevens says, in this paper: "I can see +nothing to hinder a steam-carriage moving on its ways with a velocity +of 100 miles an hour;" adding, in a foot-note: "This astonishing +velocity is considered here merely possible. It is probable that it +may not, in practise, be convenient to exceed 20 or 30 miles per hour. +Actual experiment can only determine this matter, and I should not be +surprised at seeing steam-carriages propelled at the rate of 40 or 50 +miles an hour." + + [49] Printed by T. & J. Swords, 160 Pearl Street, New York, 1812. + +At a yet earlier date he had addressed a memoir to the proper +authorities, urging his plans for railroads. He proposed rails of +timber, protected, when necessary, by iron plates, or to be made +wholly of iron; the car-wheels were to be of cast-iron, with inside +flanges to keep them on the track. The steam-engine was to be driven +by steam of 50 pounds pressure and upward, and to be non-condensing. + +Answering the objections of Robert R. Livingston and of the State +Commissioners of New York, he goes further into details. He gives 500 +to 1,000 pounds as the maximum weight to be placed on each wheel; +shows that the trains, or "suits of carriages," as he calls them, will +make their journeys with as much certainty and celerity in the darkest +night as in the light of day; shows that the grades of proposed roads +would offer but little resistance; and places the whole subject before +the public with such accuracy of statement and such evident +appreciation of its true value, that every one who reads this +remarkable document will agree fully with President Charles King, who +said[50] that "whosoever shall attentively read this pamphlet, will +perceive that the political, financial, commercial, and military +aspects of this great question were all present to Colonel Stevens's +mind, and that he felt that he was fulfilling a patriotic duty when he +placed at the disposal of his native country these fruits of his +genius. The offering was not then accepted. The 'Thinker' was ahead of +his age; but it is grateful to know that he lived to see his projects +carried out, though not by the Government, and that, before he +finally, in 1838, closed his eyes in death, at the great age of +eighty-nine, he could justly feel assured that the name of Stevens, in +his own person and in that of his sons, was imperishably enrolled +among those which a grateful country will cherish." + + [50] "Progress of the City of New York." + +Without having made any one superlatively great improvement in the +mechanism of the steam-engine, like that which gave Watt his +fame--without having the honor even of being the first to +propose the propulsion of vessels by the modern steam-engine, or +steam-transportation on land--he exhibited a far better knowledge of +the science and the art of engineering than any man of his time; and +he entertained and urged more advanced opinions and more statesmanlike +views in relation to the economical importance of the improvement and +the application of the steam-engine, both on land and water, than seem +to be attributable to any other leading engineer of that time. + +Says Dr. King: "Who can estimate if, at that day, acting upon the +well-considered suggestion of President Madison, 'of the signal +advantages to be derived to the United States from a general system of +internal communication and conveyance,' Congress had entertained +Colonel Stevens's proposal, and, after verifying by actual experiment +upon a small scale the accuracy of his plan, had organized such a +'general system of internal communication and conveyance;' who can +begin to estimate the inappreciable benefits that would have resulted +therefrom to the comfort, the wealth, the power, and, above all, to +the absolutely impregnable union of our great Republic and all its +component parts? All this Colonel Stevens embraced in his views, for +he was a statesman as well as an experimental philosopher; and whoever +shall attentively read his pamphlet, will perceive that the political, +financial, commercial, and military aspects of this great question +were all present to his mind, and he felt that he was fulfilling a +patriotic duty when he placed at the disposal of his native country +these fruits of his genius." + +WILLIAM HEDLEY, who has already been referred to, seems to have been +the first to show, by carefully-conducted experiment, how far the +adhesion of the wheels of the locomotive-engine could be relied upon +for hauling-power in the transportation of loads. + +His employer, Blackett, had applied to Trevithick for a +locomotive-engine to haul coal-trains at the Wylam collieries; but +Trevithick was unable, or was disinclined, to build him one, and in +October, 1812, Hedley was authorized to attempt the construction of an +engine. It was at about this time that Blenkinsop (1811) was trying +the toothed rail or rack, the Messrs. Chapman (December, 1812) were +experimenting with a towing-chain, and (May, 1813) Brunton with +movable legs. + +Hedley, who had known of the success met with in the experiments of +Trevithick with smooth wheels hauling loads of considerable weight, in +Cornwall, was confident that equal success might be expected in the +north-country, and built a carriage to be moved by men stationed at +four handles, by which its wheels were turned. + +This carriage was loaded with heavy masses of iron, and attached to +trains of coal-wagons on the railway. By repeated experiment, varying +the weight of the traction-carriage and the load hauled, Hedley +ascertained the proportion of the weight required for adhesion to that +of the loads drawn. It was thus conclusively proven that the weight of +his proposed locomotive-engine would be sufficient to give the +pulling-power necessary for the propulsion of the coal-trains which it +was to haul. + +When the wheels slipped in consequence of the presence of grease, +frost, or moisture on the rail, Hedley proposed to sprinkle ashes on +the track, as sand is now distributed from the sand-box of the modern +engine. This was in October, 1812. + +Hedley now went to work building an engine with smooth wheels, and +patented his design March 13, 1813, a month after he had put his +engine at work. The locomotive had a cast-iron boiler, and a single +steam-cylinder 6 inches in diameter, with a small fly-wheel. This +engine had too small a boiler, and he soon after built a larger +engine, with a return-flue boiler made of wrought-iron. This hauled 8 +loaded coal-wagons 5 miles an hour at first, and a little later 10, +doing the work of 10 horses. The steam-pressure was carried at about +50 pounds, and the exhaust, led into the chimney, where the pipe was +turned upward, thus secured a blast of considerable intensity in its +small chimney. Hedley also contracted the opening of the exhaust-pipe +to intensify the blast, and was subjected to some annoyance by +proprietors of lands along his railway, who were irritated by the +burning of their grass and hedges, which were set on fire by the +sparks thrown out of the chimney of the locomotive. The cost of +Hedley's experiment was defrayed by Mr. Blackett. + +Subsequently, Hedley mounted his engine on eight wheels, the +four-wheeled engines having been frequently stopped by breaking the +light rails then in use. Hedley's engines continued in use at the +Wylam collieries many years. The second engine was removed in 1862, +and is now preserved at the South Kensington Museum, London. + +GEORGE STEPHENSON, to whom is generally accorded the honor of having +first made the locomotive-engine a success, built his first engine at +Killingworth, England, in 1814. + +[Illustration: George Stephenson.] + +At this time Stephenson was by no means alone in the field, for the +idea of applying the steam-engine to driving carriages on common roads +and on railroads was beginning, as has been seen, to attract +considerable attention. Stephenson, however, combined, in a very +fortunate degree, the advantages of great natural inventive talent and +an excellent mechanical training, reminding one strongly of James +Watt. Indeed, Stephenson's portrait bears some resemblance to that of +the earlier great inventor. + +George Stephenson was born June 9, 1781, at Wylam, near +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was the son of a "north-country miner." When +still a child, he exhibited great mechanical talent and unusual love +of study. When set at work about the mines, his attention to duty and +his intelligence obtained for him rapid promotion, until, when but +seventeen years of age, he was made engineer, and took charge of the +pumping-engine at which his father was fireman. + +When a mere child, and employed as a herd-boy, he amused himself +making model engines in clay, and, as he grew older, never lost an +opportunity to learn the construction and management of machinery. +After having been employed at Newburn and Callerton, where he first +became "engine-man," he began to study with greater interest than ever +the various steam-engines which were then in use; and both the +Newcomen engine and the Watt pumping-engine were soon thoroughly +understood by him. After having become a brakeman, he removed to +Willington Quay, where he married, and commenced his wedded life on 18 +or 20 shillings per week. It was here that he became an intimate +friend of the distinguished William Fairbairn, who was then working as +an apprentice at the Percy Main Colliery, near by. The "father of the +railroad" and the future President of the British Association were +accustomed, at times, to "change works," and were frequently seen in +consultation over their numerous projects. It was at Willington Quay +that his son Robert, who afterward became a distinguished civil +engineer, was born, October 16, 1803. + +In the following year Stephenson removed to Killingworth, and became +brakeman at that colliery; but his wife soon died, and he gladly +accepted an invitation to become engine-driver at a spinning-mill near +Montrose, Scotland. At the end of a year he returned, on foot, to +Killingworth with his savings (about £28), expended over one-half of +the amount in paying his father's debts and in making his parents +comfortable, and then returned to his old station as brakeman at the +pit. + +Here he made some useful improvements in the arrangement of the +machinery, and spent his spare hours in studying his engine and +planning new machines. He a little later distinguished himself by +altering and repairing an old Newcomen engine at the High Pit, which +had failed to give satisfaction, making it thoroughly successful after +three days' work. The engine cleared the pit, at which it had been +vainly laboring a long time, in two days after Stephenson started it +up. + +In the year 1812, Stephenson was made engine-wright of the +Killingworth High Pit, receiving £100 a year, and it was made his duty +to supervise the machinery of all the collieries under lease by the +so-called "Grand Allies." It was here, and at this period, that he +commenced a systematic course of self-improvement and the education of +his son, and here he first began to be recognized as an inventor. He +was full of life and something of a wag, and often made most amusing +applications of his inventive powers: as when he placed the watch, +which a comrade had brought him as out of repairs, in the oven "to +cook," his quick eye having noted the fact that the difficulty arose +simply from the clogging of the wheels by the oil, which had been +congealed by cold. + +Smiles,[51] his biographer, describes his cottage as a perfect +curiosity-shop, filled with models of engines, machines of various +kinds, and novel apparatus. He connected the cradles of his neighbors' +wives with the smoke-jacks in their chimneys, and thus relieved them +from constant attendance upon their infants; he fished at night with a +submarine lamp, which attracted the fish from all sides, and gave him +wonderful luck; he also found time to give colloquial instruction to +his fellow-workmen. + + [51] "Lives of George and Robert Stephenson," by Samuel Smiles. New + York and London, 1868. + +He built a self-acting inclined plane for his pit, on which the +wagons, descending loaded, drew up the empty trains; and made so many +improvements at the Killingworth pit, that the number of horses +employed underground was reduced from 100 to 16. + +Stephenson now had more liberty than when employed at the brakes, and, +hearing of the experiments of Blackett and Hedley at Wylam, went over +to their colliery to study their engine. He also went to Leeds to see +the Blenkinsop engine draw, at a trial, 70 tons at the rate of 3 miles +an hour, and expressed his opinion in the characteristic remark, "I +think I could make a better engine than that to go upon legs." He very +soon made the attempt. + +Having laid the subject before the proprietors of the lease under +which the collieries were worked, and convinced Lord Ravensworth, the +principal owner, of the advantages to be secured by the use of a +"traveling engine," that nobleman advanced the money required. +Stephenson at once commenced his first locomotive-engine, building it +in the workshops at West Moor, assisted mainly by John Thirlwall, the +colliery blacksmith, during the years 1813 and 1814, completing it in +July of the latter year. + +This engine had a wrought-iron boiler 8 feet long and 2 feet 10 inches +in diameter, with a single flue 20 inches in diameter. The cylinders +were vertical, 8 inches in diameter and of 2 feet stroke of piston, +set in the boiler, and driving a set of wheels which geared with each +other and with other cogged wheels on the two driving-axles. A +feed-water heater surrounded the base of the chimney. This engine drew +30 tons on a rising gradient of 10 or 12 feet to the mile at the rate +of 4 miles an hour. This engine proved in many respects defective, and +the cost of its operation was found to be about as great as that of +employing horse-power. + +Stephenson determined to build another engine on a somewhat different +plan, and patented its design in February, 1815. It proved a much +more efficient machine than the "Blücher," the first engine. + +[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Stephenson's Locomotive of 1815. Section.] + +This second engine (Fig. 51) was also fitted with two vertical +cylinders, _C c_, but the connecting-rods were attached directly to +the four driving-wheels, _W W´_. To permit the necessary freedom of +motion, "ball-and-socket" joints were adopted, to unite the rods with +the cross-heads, _R r_, and with the cranks, _R´ Y´_; and the two +driving-axles were connected by an endless chain, _T t´_. The cranked +axle and the outside connection of the wheels, as specified in the +patent, were not used until afterward, it having been found impossible +to get the cranked axles made. In this engine the forced draught +obtained by the impulse of the exhaust-steam was adopted, doubling the +power of the machine and permitting the use of coke as a fuel, and +making it possible to adopt the multi-tubular boiler. Small +steam-cylinders, _S S S_, took the weight of the engine and served as +springs. + +It was at about this time that George Stephenson and Sir Humphry +Davy, independently and almost simultaneously, invented the +"safety-lamp," without which few mines of bituminous coal could to-day +be worked. The former used small tubes, the latter fine wire gauze, to +intercept the flame. Stephenson proved the efficiency of his lamp by +going with it directly into the inflammable atmosphere of a dangerous +mine, and repeatedly permitting the light to be extinguished when the +lamp became surcharged with the explosive mixture which had so +frequently proved fatal to the miners. This was in October and +November, 1815, and Stephenson's work antedates that of the great +philosopher.[52] The controversy which arose between the supporters of +the rival claims of the two inventors was very earnest, and sometimes +bitter. The friends of the young engineer raised a subscription, +amounting to above £1,000, and presented it to him as a token of their +appreciation of the value of his simple yet important contrivance. Of +the two forms of lamp, that of Stephenson is claimed to be safest, the +Davy lamp being liable to produce explosions by igniting the explosive +gas when, by its combustion within the gauze cylinder, the latter is +made red-hot. Under similar conditions, the Stephenson lamp is simply +extinguished, as was seen at Barnsley, in 1857, at the Oaks Colliery, +where both kinds of lamp were in use, and elsewhere. + + [52] _Vide_ "A Description of the Safety-Lamp invented by George + Stephenson," etc., London, 1817. + +Stephenson continued to study and experiment, with a view to the +improvement of his locomotive and the railroad. He introduced better +methods of track-laying and of jointing the rails, adopting a +half-lap, or peculiar scarf-joint, in place of the then usual +square-butt joint. He patented, with these modifications of the +permanent way, several of his improvements of the engine. He had +substituted forged for the rude cast wheels previously used,[53] and +had made many minor changes of detail. The engines built at this time +(1816) continued in use many years. Two years later, with a +dynamometer which he designed for the purpose, he made experimental +determinations of the resistance of trains, and showed that it was +made up of several kinds, as the sliding friction of the axle-journals +in their bearings, the rolling friction of the wheels on the rails, +the resistance due to gravity on gradients, and that due to the +resistance of the air. + + [53] The American chilled wheel of cast-iron, a better wheel than + that above described, has never been generally and successfully + introduced in Europe. + +These experiments seemed to him conclusive against the possibility of +the competition of engines on the common highway with locomotives +hauling trains on the rail. Finding that the resistance, with his +rolling-stock, and at all the speeds at which he made his experiments, +was approximately invariable, and equivalent to about 10 pounds per +ton, and estimating that a gradient rising but 1 foot in 100 would +decrease the hauling power of the engine 50 per cent., he saw at once +the necessity of making all railroads as nearly absolutely level as +possible, and, consequently, the radically distinctive character of +this branch of civil engineering work. He persistently condemned the +"folly" of attempting the general introduction of steam on the common +road, where great changes of level and an impressible road-bed were +certain to prove fatal to success, and was most strenuous in his +advocacy of the policy of securing level tracks, even at very great +expense. + +Taking part in the contest, which now became a serious one, between +the advocates of steam on the common road and those urging the +introduction of locomotives and their trains on an iron track, he +calculated that a road-engine capable of carrying 20 or 30 passengers +at 10 miles per hour, could, on the rail, carry ten times as many +people at three or four times that speed. The railway-engine finally +superseded its predecessor--the engine of the common road--almost +completely. + +In 1817, Stephenson built an engine for the Duke of Portland, to haul +coal from Kilmarnock to Troon, which cost £750, and, with some +interruptions, this engine worked on that line until 1848, when it was +broken up. On November 18, 1822, the Hetton Railway, near Sunderland, +was opened. George Stephenson was the engineer of the line--a short +track, 8 miles long, built from the Hetton Colliery to the docks on +the bank of the river Wear. On this line he put in five of the +"self-acting inclines"--two inclines worked by stationary engines, the +gradients being too heavy for locomotives--and used five +locomotive-engines of his own design, which were called by the people +of the neighborhood, possibly for the first time, "the iron horses." +These engines were quite similar to the Killingworth engine. They drew +a train of 17 coal-cars--a total load of 64 tons--about 4 miles an +hour. Meantime, also, in 1823, Stephenson had been made engineer of +the Stockton & Darlington Railroad, which had been projected for the +purpose of securing transportation to tide-water for the valuable +coal-lands of Durham. This road was built without an expectation on +the part of any of its promoters, Stephenson excepted, that steam +would be used as a motor to the exclusion of horses. + +Mr. Edward Pearse, however, one of the largest holders of stock in the +road, and one of its most earnest advocates, became so convinced, by +an examination of the Killingworth engines and their work, of the +immense advantage to be derived by their use, that he not only +supported Stephenson's arguments, but, with Thomas Richardson, +advanced £1,000 for the purpose of assisting Stephenson to commence +the business of locomotive-engine construction at Newcastle. This +workshop, which subsequently became a great and famous establishment, +was commenced in 1824. + +For this road Stephenson recommended wrought-iron rails, which were +then costing £12 per ton--double the price of cast rails. The +directors, however, stipulated that he should only buy one-half the +rails required from the dealers in "malleable" iron. These rails +weighed 20 pounds to the yard. After long hesitation, in the face of a +serious opposition, the directors finally concluded to order three +locomotives of Stephenson. The first, or "No. 1," engine (Fig. 52) was +delivered in time for the opening of the road, September 27, 1825. It +weighed 8 tons. Its boiler contained a single straight flue, one end +of which was the furnace. The cylinders were vertical, like those of +the earlier engines, and coupled directly to the driving-wheels. The +crank-pins were set in the wheels at right angles, in order that, +while one engine was "turning the centre," the other might exert its +maximum power. The two pairs of drivers were coupled by horizontal +rods, as seen in the figure, which represents this engine as +subsequently mounted on a pedestal at the Darlington station. A +steam-blast in the chimney gave the requisite strength of draught. +These engines were built for slow and heavy work, but were capable of +making what was then thought the satisfactorily high speed of 16 miles +per hour. The inclines on the road were worked by fixed engines. + +[Illustration: FIG. 52.--Stephenson's No. 1 Engine, 1825.] + +On the opening day, which was celebrated as a holiday by the people +far and near, the No. 1 engine drew 90 tons at the rate of 12, and at +times 15, miles an hour. + +[Illustration: FIG. 58.--Opening of the Stockton and Darlington +Railroad, 1815. (After an old engraving.)] + +Stephenson's engines were kept at work hauling coal-trains, but the +passenger-coaches were all drawn for some time by horses, and the +latter system was a rude forerunner, in most respects, of modern +street-railway transportation. Mixed passenger and freight trains were +next introduced, and, soon after, separate passenger-trains drawn by +faster engines were placed on the line, and the present system of +railroad transportation was now fairly inaugurated. + +A railroad between Manchester and Liverpool had been projected at +about the time that the Stockton & Darlington road was commenced. The +preliminary surveys had been made in the face of strong opposition, +which did not always stop at legal action and verbal attack, but in +some instances led to the display of force. The surveyors were +sometimes driven from their work by a mob armed with sticks and +stones, urged on by land-proprietors and those interested in the lines +of coaches on the highway. Before the opening of the Stockton & +Darlington Railroad, the Liverpool & Manchester bill had been carried +through Parliament, after a very determined effort on the part of +coach-proprietors and landholders to defeat it, and Stephenson urged +the adoption of the locomotive to the exclusion of horses. It was his +assertion, made at this time, that he could build a locomotive to run +20 miles an hour, that provoked the celebrated rejoinder of a writer +in the _Quarterly Review_, who was, however, in favor of the +construction of the road and of the use of the locomotive upon it: +"What can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous, than the prospect +held out of locomotives traveling _twice as fast_ as stage-coaches? We +would as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer themselves to be +fired off upon one of Congreve's ricochet-rockets, as trust themselves +to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate." + +It was during his examination before a committee of the House of +Commons, during this contest, that Stephenson, when asked, "Suppose, +now, one of your engines to be going at the rate of 9 or 10 miles an +hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the way +of the engine, would not that be a very awkward circumstance?" +replied, "Yes, _very_ awkward--_for the coo!_" And when asked if men +and animals would not be frightened by the red-hot smoke-pipe, +answered, "But how would they know that it was not _painted?_" The +line was finally built, with George Rennie as consulting, and +Stephenson as principal constructing engineer. + +His work on this road became one of the important elements of the +success, and one of the great causes of the distinction, which marked +the life of these rising engineers. The successful construction of +that part of the line which lay across "Chat Moss," an unfathomable +swampy deposit of peat, extending over an area of 12 square miles, and +the building of which had been repeatedly declared an impossibility, +was in itself sufficient to prove that the engineer who had +accomplished it was no common man. Stephenson adopted the very simple +yet bold expedient of using, as a filling, compacted turf and peat, +and building a road-bed of materials lighter than water, or the +substance composing the bog, and thus forming a _floating_ embankment, +on which he laid his rails. To the surprise of every one but +Stephenson himself, the plan proved perfectly successful, and even +surprisingly economical, costing but little more than one-tenth the +estimate of at least one engineer. Among the other great works on this +remarkable pioneer-line were the tunnel, a mile and a half long, from +the station at Liverpool to Edgehill; the Olive Mount deep-cut, two +miles long, and in some places 100 feet deep, through red sandstone, +of which nearly 500,000 yards were removed; the Sankey Viaduct, a +brick structure of nine arches, of 50 feet span each, costing £45,000; +and a number of other pieces of work which are noteworthy in even +these days of great works. + +Stephenson planned all details of the line, and even designed the +bridges, machinery, engines, turn-tables, switches, and crossings, +and was responsible for every part of the work of their construction. + +Finally, the work of building the line approached completion, and it +became necessary promptly to settle the long-deferred question of a +method of applying motive-power. Some of the directors and their +advisers still advocated the use of horses; many thought stationary +hauling-engines preferable; and the remainder were, almost to a man, +undecided. The locomotive had no outspoken advocate, and few had the +slightest faith in it. George Stephenson was almost alone, and the +opponents of steam had secured a provision in the Newcastle & Carlisle +Railroad concession, stipulating expressly that horses should there be +exclusively employed. The directors did, however, in 1828, permit +Stephenson to put on the line a locomotive, to be used, during its +construction, in hauling gravel-trains. A committee was sent, at +Stephenson's request, to see the Stockton & Darlington engines, but no +decided expression of opinion seems to have been made by them. Two +well-known professional engineers reported in favor of fixed engines, +and advised the division of the line into 19 stages of about a mile +and a half each, and the use of 21 fixed engines, although they +admitted the excessive first-cost of that system. The board was +naturally strongly inclined to adopt their plan. Stephenson, however, +earnestly and persistently opposed such action, and, after long +debate, it was finally determined "to give the traveling engine a +chance." The board decided to offer a reward of £500 for the best +locomotive-engine, and prescribed the following conditions: + + 1. The engine must consume its own smoke. + + 2. The engine, if of 6 tons weight, must be able to draw after it, + day by day, 20 tons weight (including the tender and water-tank) at + 10 miles an hour, with a pressure of steam on the boiler not + exceeding 50 pounds to the square inch. + + 3. The boiler must have two safety-valves, neither of which must be + fastened down, and one of them completely out of the control of the + engine-man. + + 4. The engine and boiler must be supported on springs, and rest on 6 + wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding 15 feet to the top of + the chimney. + + 5. The engine, with water, must not weigh more than 6 tons; but an + engine of less weight would be preferred, on its drawing a + proportionate load behind it; if of only 4-1/2 tons, then it might + be put only on 4 wheels. The company to be at liberty to test the + boiler, etc., by a pressure of 150 pounds to the square inch. + + 6. A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing the + steam-pressure above 45 pounds to the square inch. + + 7. The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial, at + the Liverpool end of the railway, not later than the 1st of October, + 1829. + + 8. The price of the engine must not exceed £550. + +This circular was printed and published throughout the kingdom, and a +considerable number of engines were constructed to compete at the +trial, which was proposed to take place October 1, 1829, but which was +deferred to the 6th of that month. Only four engines, however, were +finally entered on the day of the trial. These were the "Novelty," +constructed by Messrs. Braithwaite & Ericsson, the latter being the +distinguished engineer who subsequently came to the United States to +introduce screw-propulsion, and, later, the monitor system of +iron-clads; the "Rocket," built from Stephenson's plans; and the +"Sanspareil" and the "Perseverance," built by Hackworth and Burstall, +respectively. + +The "Sanspareil," which was built under the direction of Timothy +Hackworth, one of Stephenson's earlier foremen, resembled the engine +built by the latter for the Stockton & Darlington road, but was +heavier than had been stipulated, was not ready for work when called, +and, when finally set at work, proved to be very extravagant in its +use of fuel, partly in consequence of the extreme intensity of its +blast, which caused the expulsion of unconsumed coals from the +furnace. + +The "Perseverance" could not attain the specified speed, and was +withdrawn. + +[Illustration: FIG. 54.--The "Novelty," 1829.] + +The "Novelty" was apparently a well-designed and for that time a +remarkably well-proportioned machine. _A_, in Fig. 54, is the boiler, +_D_ the steam-cylinders, _E_ a heater. Its weight but slightly +exceeded three tons, and it was a "tank engine," carrying its own fuel +and water at _B_. A forced draught was obtained by means of the +bellows, _C_. This engine was run over the line at the rate of about +28 miles an hour at times, but its blowing apparatus failed, and the +"Rocket" held the track alone. A later trial still left the "Rocket" +alone in the field. + +The "Rocket" (Fig. 55) was built at the works of Robert Stephenson & +Co., at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The boiler was given considerable +heating-surface by the introduction of 25 3-inch copper tubes, at the +suggestion of Henry Booth, secretary of the railroad company. The +blast was altered by gradually closing in the opening at the extremity +of the exhaust-pipe, and thus "sharpening" it until it was found to +have the requisite intensity. The effect of this modification of the +shape of the pipe was observed carefully by means of syphon +water-gauges attached to the chimney. The draft was finally given such +an intensity as to raise the water 3 inches in the tube of the +draught-gauge. The total length of the boiler was 6 feet, its +diameter 40 inches. The fire-box was attached to the rear of the +boiler, and was 3 feet high and 2 feet wide, with water-legs to +protect its side-sheets from injury by overheating. The cylinders, as +seen in the sketch, were inclined, and coupled to a single pair of +driving-wheels. A tender, attached to the engine, carried the fuel and +water. The engine weighed less than 4-1/2 tons. + +[Illustration: FIG. 55.--The "Rocket," 1829.] + +The little engine does not seem to have been very prepossessing in +appearance, and the "Novelty" is said to have been the general +favorite, the Stephenson engine having few, if any, backers among the +spectators. On its first trial, it ran 12 miles in less than an hour. + +After the accident which disabled the "Novelty," the "Rocket" came +forward again, and ran at the rate of from 25 to 30 miles an hour, +drawing a single carriage carrying 30 passengers. Two days later, on +the 8th of October, steam was raised in a little less than an hour +from cold water, and it then, with 13 tons of freight in the train, +ran 35 miles in 1 hour and 48 minutes, including stops, and attained a +speed of 29 miles an hour. The average of all runs for the trial was +15 miles an hour. + +This success, far exceeding the expectation of the most sanguine of +the advocates of the system, and greatly exceeding what had been +asserted by opponents to be the bounds of possibility, settled +completely the whole question, and the Manchester & Liverpool road was +at once equipped with locomotive engines. + +The "Rocket" remained on the line until 1837, when it was sold, and +set at work by the purchasers on the Midgeholme Railway, near +Carlisle. On one occasion, on this road, it was driven 4 miles in +4-1/2 minutes. It is now in the Patent Museum at South Kensington, +London. + +In January, 1830, a single line of rails had been carried across Chat +Moss, and, six months later, the first train, drawn by the "Arrow," +ran through, June 14th, from Liverpool to Manchester, making the trip +in an hour and a half, and attaining a maximum speed of over 27 miles +an hour. The line was formally opened to traffic September 15, 1830. + +This was one of the most notable occasions in the history of the +railroad, and the successful termination of the great work was +celebrated, as so important an event should be, by impressive +ceremonies. Among the distinguished spectators were Sir Robert Peel +and the Duke of Wellington. Mr. Huskisson, a Member of Parliament for +Liverpool, was also present. There had been built for the line, by +Robert Stephenson & Co., 7 locomotives besides the "Rocket," and a +large number of carriages. These were all brought out in procession, +and 600 passengers entered the train, which started for Manchester, +and ran at times, on smooth portions of the road, at the rate of 20 +and 25 miles an hour. Crowds of people along the line cheered at this +strange and to them incomprehensible spectacle, and the story of the +wonderful performances of that day on the new railroad was repeated in +every corner of the land. A sad accident, the precursor of thousands +to follow the introduction of the new method of transportation, while +it repressed the rising enthusiasm of the people and dampened the +ardor of the most earnest of the advocates of the railroad, occurring +during this trip, assisted in making known the power of the new motor +and the danger attending its use as well. The trains stopped for water +at Parkside, and occasion was taken to send the "Northumbrian," an +engine driven by George Stephenson himself, on a side track, with the +carriage containing the Duke of Wellington, and the other engines and +trains were all directed to be sent along the main track in view of +the Duke and his party. While this movement was in process of +execution, Mr. Huskisson, who had carelessly stood on the main line +until the "Rocket," which led the column, had nearly reached him, +attempted to enter the carriage of the Duke. He was too late, and was +struck by the "Rocket," thrown down across the rail, and the advancing +engine crushed a leg so seriously that he died the same evening. +Immediately after the accident, he was placed on the "Northumbrian," +and Stephenson made the 15 miles to the destination of the wounded man +in 25 minutes--a speed of 36 miles an hour. The news of this accident, +and the statement of the velocity of the engine, were published +throughout the kingdom and Europe; and the misfortune of this first +victim of a railroad accident was one of the causes of the immediate +adoption and rapid spread of the modern railway system. + +This road, which was built in the hope of securing 400 passengers per +day, almost immediately averaged 1,200, and in five years reported +500,000 passengers for the year.[54] The success of this road insured +the general introduction of railroads, and from this time forward +there was never a doubt of their ultimate adoption to the exclusion +of every other system of general internal communication and +transportation. + + [54] Smiles. + +For some years after this his first great triumph, George Stephenson +gave his whole time to the building of railroads and the improvement +of the engine. He was assisted by his son Robert, to whom he gradually +surrendered his business, and retired to Tapton House, on the Midland +Railway, and led a busy but pleasant life during the remaining years +of his existence. + +Even as early as 1840, he seems to have projected many improvements +which were only generally adopted many years later. He proposed +self-acting and continuous systems of brake, and considered a good +system of brake of so great importance, that he advocated their +compulsory introduction by State legislation. He advised moderate +speeds, from considerations both of safety and of expense. + +A few years after the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester road, +great numbers of schemes were proposed by ignorant or designing men, +which had for their object the filling of the pockets of their +proposers rather than the benefit of the stockholders and the public; +and the Stephensons were often called upon to combat these crude and +ill-digested plans. Among these was the pneumatic system of +propulsion, already referred to as first proposed by Papin, in +combination with his double-acting air-pump, in 1687. It had been +again proposed in the early part of the present century by Medhurst, +who proposed a method of pneumatic transmission of small parcels and +of letters, which is now in use, and, 15 years later, a railroad to +take the place of that of Stephenson and his coadjutors. The most +successful of several attempts to introduce this method was that of +Clegg & Samuda, at West London, and on the London & Croydon road, and +again in Ireland, between Kingstown and Dalkey. A line of pipe, _B B_, +seen in Fig. 56, two feet in diameter, was laid between the rails, _A +A_, of the road. This pipe was fitted with a nicely-packed piston, +carrying a strong arm, which rose through a slit made along the top of +the pipe, and covered by a flexible strip of leather, _E E_. This arm +was attached to the carriage, _C C_, to be propelled. The pressure of +the atmosphere being removed, by the action of a powerful pump, from +the side toward which the train was to advance, the pressure of the +atmosphere on the opposite side drove the piston forward, carrying the +train with it. Stephenson was convinced, after examining the plans of +the projectors, that the scheme would fail, and so expressed himself. +Those who favored it, however, had sufficient influence with +capitalists to secure repeated trials, although each was followed by +failure, and it was several years before the last was heard of this +system. + +[Illustration: FIG. 56.--The Atmospheric Railroad.] + +A considerable portion of several of the later years of Stephenson's +life was spent in traveling in Europe, partly on business and partly +for pleasure. During a visit to Belgium in 1845, he was received +everywhere, and by all classes, from the king down to the humblest of +his subjects, with such distinction as is rarely accorded even to the +greatest men. He soon after visited Spain with Sir Joshua Walmsley, to +report on a proposed railway from the capital to the Bay of Biscay. On +this journey he was taken ill, and his health was permanently +impaired. Thenceforward he devoted himself principally to the +direction of his own property, which had become very considerable, and +spent much of his time at the collieries and other works in which he +had invested it. His son had now entirely relieved him of all business +connected with railroads, and he had leisure to devote to +self-improvement and social amusement. Among his friends he claimed +Sir Robert Peel, his old acquaintance, now Sir William, Fairbairn, Dr. +Buckland, and many others of the distinguished men of that time. + +In August, 1848, Stephenson was attacked with intermittent fever, +succeeded by hæmorrhage from the lungs, and died on the 12th of that +month, at the age of sixty-six years, honored of all men, and secure +of an undying fame. Soon after his death, statues were erected at +Liverpool, London, and Newcastle, the cost of the second of which was +defrayed by private subscriptions, including a contribution of about +$1,500 by 3,150 workingmen--one of the finest tributes ever offered to +the memory of a great man. + +But the noblest monument is that which he himself erected by the +establishment of a system of education and protection of his +working-people at Clay Cross. He made it a condition of employment +that every employé should contribute from five to twelve pence each +fortnight to a fund, to which the works also made liberal +contributions. From that fund it was directed that the expenses of +free education of the children of the work-people, night-schools for +those employed in the works, a reading-room and library, medical +treatment, and a benevolent fund were to be defrayed. Music and +cricket-clubs, and prize funds for the best garden, were also founded. +The school, public hall, and the church of Clay Cross, and this noble +system of support, are together a nobler monument than any statue or +similar structure could be. + +The character of George Stephenson was in every way admirable. Simple, +earnest, and honorable; courageous, indomitable, and industrious; +humorous, kind, and philanthropic, his memory will long be cherished, +and will long prove an incentive to earnest effort and to the pursuit +of an honorable fame with hundreds of the youth who, reading his +simple yet absorbing story, as told by his biographer, shall in later +years learn to know him. + +[Illustration: FIG. 57.--Stephenson's Locomotive, 1833.] + +After the death of his father, Robert Stephenson continued, as he had +already done for several years, to conduct the business of building +locomotives, as well as of constructing railroads. The work of +locomotive engine-building was done at Newcastle, and for many years +those works were the principal engine-building establishment of the +world. + +After their introduction on the Liverpool & Manchester road, the +engines of the firm of Robert Stephenson & Co. were rapidly modified, +until they assumed the form shown in Fig. 57, which remained standard +until their gradual increase in weight compelled the builders to place +a larger number of wheels beneath them, and make those other changes +which finally resulted in the creation of distinct types for special +kinds of work. In the engine of 1833, as shown above, the cylinders, +_A_, are carried at the extreme forward end of the boiler, and the +driving-wheels, _B_, are coupled directly to the connecting-rod of the +engine and to each other. A buffer, _C_, extends in front, and the +rear end of the boiler is formed into a rectangular fire-box, _D_, +continuous with the shell, _E_, and the flame and gases pass to the +connection and smoke-pipe, _F_, _G_, through a large number of small +tubes, _a_. Steam is led to the cylinders by a steam-pipe, _H H_, to +which it is admitted by the throttle-valve, _b_. A steam-dome, _I_, +from which the steam is taken, assists by giving more steam-space far +above the water-line, and thus furnishing dry steam. The exhaust steam +issues with great velocity into the chimney from the pipe, _J_, giving +great intensity of draught. The engine-driver stands on the platform, +_K_, from which all the valves and handles are accessible. Feed-pumps, +_L_, supply the boiler with water, which is drawn from the tender +through the pipes, _e_, _f_. + +The valve-gear was then substantially what it is to-day, the +"Stephenson link" (Fig. 58). On the driving-axle were keyed two +eccentrics, _E_, so set that the motion of the one was adapted to +driving the valve when the engine was moving forward, and the other +was arranged to move the valve when running backward. The former was +connected, through its strap and the rod, _B_, to the upper end of a +"strap-link," _A_, while the second was similarly connected with the +lower end. By means of a handle, _L_, and the link, _n_, and its +connections, including the counterweighted bell-crank, _M_, this link +could be raised or depressed, thus bringing the pin on the link-block, +to which the valve-stem was connected, into action with either +eccentric. Or, the link being set in mid-gear, the valve would cover +both steam-ports of the cylinder, and the engine could move neither +way. As shown, the engine is in position to run backward. A series of +notches, _Z_, into either of which a catch on _L_ could be dropped, +enabled the driver to place the link where he chose. In intermediate +positions, between mid-gear and full-gear, the motion of the valve is +such as to produce expansion of the steam, and some gain in economy of +working, although reducing the power of the engine. + +[Illustration: FIG. 58.--The Stephenson Valve-Gear, 1833.] + +The success of the railroad and the locomotive in Great Britain led to +its rapid introduction in other countries. In France, as early as +1823, M. Beaunier was authorized to construct a line of rails from the +coal-mines of St. Étienne to the Loire, using horses for the traction +of his trains; and in 1826, MM. Seguin began a road from St. Étienne +to Lyons. In 1832, engines built at Lyons were substituted for horses +on these roads, but internal agitations interrupted the progress of +the new system in France, and, for 10 years after the opening +of the Manchester & Liverpool road, France remained without +steam-transportation on land. + +In Belgium the introduction of the locomotive was more promptly +accomplished. Under the direction of Pierre Simon, an enterprising and +well-informed young engineer, who had become known principally as an +advocate of the even then familiar project of a canal across the +Isthmus of Darien, very complete plans of railroad communication for +the kingdom were prepared, in compliance with a decree dated July 31, +1834, and were promptly authorized. The road between Brussels and +Mechlin was opened May 6, 1837, and other roads were soon built; and +the railway system of Belgium was the first on the Continent of +Europe. + +The first German railroad worked with locomotive steam-engines was +that between Nuremberg and Fürth, built under the direction of M. +Denis. The other European countries soon followed in this rapid march +of improvement. + +In the United States, public attention had been directed to this +subject, as has already been stated, very early in the present +century, by Evans and Stevens. At that time the people of the United +States, as was natural, closely watched every important series of +events in the mother-country; and so remarkable and striking a change +as that which was taking place in the time of Stephenson, in methods +of communication and transportation, could not fail to attract general +attention and awaken universal interest. + +Notwithstanding the success of the early experiments of Evans and +others, and in spite of the statesmanlike arguments of Stevens and +Dearborn, and the earnest advocacy of the plan by all who were +familiar with the revelations which were daily made of the power and +capabilities of the steam-engine, it was not until after the opening +of the Manchester & Liverpool road that any action was taken looking +to the introduction of the locomotive. Colonel John Stevens, in 1825, +had built a small locomotive, which he had placed on a circular +railway before his house--now Hudson Terrace--at Hoboken, to prove +that his statements had a basis of fact. This engine had two "lantern" +tubular boilers, each composed of small iron tubes, arranged +vertically in circles about the furnaces.[55] This exhibition had no +other effect, however, than to create some interest in the subject, +which aided in securing a rapid adoption of the railroad when once +introduced. + + [55] One of these sectional boilers is still preserved in the + lecture-room of the author, at the Stevens Institute of Technology. + +The first line of rails in the New England States is said to have been +laid down at Quincy, Mass., from the granite quarry to the Neponset +River, three miles away, in 1826 and 1827. That between the coal-mines +of Mauch Chunk, Pa., and the river Lehigh, nine miles distant, was +built in 1827. In the following year the Delaware & Hudson Canal +Company built a railroad from their mines to the termination of the +canal at Honesdale. These roads were worked either by gravity or by +horses and mules. + +The competition at Rainhill, on the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, +had been so widely advertised, and promised to afford such conclusive +evidence relative to the value of the locomotive steam-engine and the +railroad, that engineers and others interested in the subject came +from all parts of the world to witness the trial. Among the strangers +present were Mr. Horatio Allen, then chief-engineer of the Delaware & +Hudson Canal Company, and Mr. E. L. Miller, a resident of Charleston, +S. C., who went from the United States for the express purpose of +seeing the new machines tested. + +Mr. Allen had been authorized to purchase, for the company with which +he was connected, three locomotives and the iron for the road, and had +already shipped one engine to the United States, and had set it at +work on the road. This engine was received in New York in May, 1829, +and its trial took place in August at Honesdale, Mr. Allen himself +driving the engine. But the track proved too light for the locomotive, +and it was laid up and never set at regular work. This engine was +called the "Stourbridge Lion"; it was built by Foster, Rastrick & Co., +of Stourbridge, England. During the summer of the next year, a small +experimental engine, which was built in 1829 by Peter Cooper, of New +York, was successfully tried on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, at +Baltimore, making 13 miles in less than an hour, and moving, at some +points on the road, at the rate of 18 miles an hour. One carriage +carrying 36 passengers was attached. This was considered a +working-model only, and was rated at one horse-power. + +Ross Winans, writing of this trial of Cooper's engine, makes a +comparison with the work done by Stephenson's "Rocket," and claims a +decided superiority for the former. He concluded that the trial +established fully the practicability of using locomotives on the +Baltimore & Ohio road at high speeds, and on all its curves and heavy +gradients, without inconvenience or danger. + +This engine had a vertical tubular boiler, and the draught was urged, +like that of the "Novelty" at Liverpool, by mechanical means--a +revolving fan. The single steam-cylinder was 3-1/4 inches in diameter, +and the stroke of piston 14-1/2 inches. The wheels were 30 inches in +diameter, and connected to the crank-shaft by gearing. The engine, on +the trial, worked up to 1.43 horse-power, and drew a gross weight of +4-1/2 tons. Mr. Cooper, unable to find such tubes as he needed for his +boiler, used gun-barrels. The whole machine weighed less than a ton. + +Messrs. Davis & Gartner, a little later, built the "York" for this +road--a locomotive having also a vertical boiler, of very similar form +to the modern steam fire-engine boiler, 51 inches in diameter, and +containing 282 fire-tubes, 16 inches long, and tapering from 1-1/2 +inches diameter at the bottom to 1-1/4 at the top, where the gases +were discharged through a combustion-chamber into a steam-chimney. +This engine weighed 3-1/2 tons. + +They subsequently built several "grasshopper" engines (Fig. 59), some +of which ran many years, doing good work, and one or two of which are +still in existence. The first--the "Atlantic"--was set at work in +September, 1832, and hauled 50 tons from Baltimore 40 miles, over +gradients having a maximum rise of 37 feet to the mile, and on curves +having a minimum radius of 400 feet, at the rate of 12 to 15 miles an +hour. This engine weighed 6-1/2 tons, carried 50 pounds of steam--a +pressure then common on both continents --and burned a ton of +anthracite coal on the round trip. The blast was secured by a fan, and +the valve-gear was worked by cams instead of eccentrics. This engine +made the round trip at a cost of $16, doing the work of 42 horses, +which had cost $33 per trip. The engine cost $4,500, and was designed +by Phineas Davis, assisted by Ross Winans. + +[Illustration: FIG. 59.--The "Atlantic," 1882.] + +Mr. Miller, on his return from the Liverpool & Manchester trial, +ordered a locomotive for the Charleston & Hamburg Railroad from the +West Point Foundery. This engine was guaranteed by Mr. Miller to draw +three times its weight at the rate of 10 miles an hour. It was built +during the summer of 1830, from the plans of Mr. Miller, and reached +Charleston in October. The trials were made in November and December. + +[Illustration: FIG. 60.--The "Best Friend," 1830.] + +This engine (Fig. 60) had a vertical tubular boiler, in which the +gases rose through a very high fire-box, into which large numbers of +rods projected from the sides and top, and passed out through tubes +leading them laterally outward into an outside jacket, through which +they rose to the chimney. The steam-cylinders were two in number, 8 +inches in diameter and of 16 inches stroke, inclined so as to connect +with the driving-axle. The four wheels were all of the same size, +4-1/2 feet in diameter, and connected by coupling-rods. The engine +weighed 4-1/2 tons. The "Best Friend," as it was called, did excellent +work until June, 1831, when the explosion of the boiler, in +consequence of the recklessness of the fireman, unexpectedly closed +its career. + +A second engine (Fig. 61) was built for this road, at the West Point +Foundery, from plans furnished by Horatio Allen, and was received and +set at work early in the spring of 1831. The engine, called the "West +Point," had a horizontal tubular boiler, but was in other respects +very similar to the "Best Friend." It is said to have done very good +work. + +[Illustration: FIG. 61.--The "West Point," 1831.] + +The Mohawk & Hudson Railroad ordered an engine at about this time, +also, of the West Point Foundery, and the trials, made in July and +August, 1831, proved thoroughly successful. + +This engine, the "De Witt Clinton," was contracted for by John B. +Jervis, and fitted up by David Matthew. It had two steam-cylinders, +each 5-1/2 inches in diameter and 16 inches stroke of piston. The +connecting-rods were directly attached to a cranked axle, and turned +four coupled wheels 4-1/2 feet in diameter. These wheels had cast-iron +hubs and wrought-iron spokes and tires. The tubes were of copper, +2-1/2 inches in diameter and 6 feet long. The engine weighed 3-1/2 +tons, and hauled 5 cars at the rate of 30 miles an hour. + +Another engine, the "South Carolina" (Fig. 62), was designed by +Horatio Allen for the South Carolina Railroad, and completed late in +the year 1831. This was the first eight-wheeled engine, and the +prototype, also, of a peculiar and lately-revived form of engine. + +In the summer of 1832, an engine built by Messrs. Davis & Gartner, of +York, Pa., was put on the Baltimore & Ohio road, which at times +attained a speed, unloaded, of 30 miles an hour. The engine weighed +3-1/2 tons, and drew, usually, 4 cars, weighing altogether 14 tons, +from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills, a distance of 13 miles, in the +schedule-time, one hour. + +[Illustration: FIG. 62.--The "South Carolina," 1831.] + +Horatio Allen's engine on the South Carolina Railroad is said to have +been the first eight-wheeled engine ever built. + +It was at about the time of which we are now writing that the first +locomotive was built of what is now distinctively known as the +American type--an engine with a "truck" or "bogie" under the forward +end of the boiler. This was the "American" No. 1, built at the West +Point Foundery, from plans furnished by John B. Jervis, Chief +Engineer, for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad. Ross Winans had already +(1831) introduced the passenger-car with swiveling trucks.[56] It was +completed in August, 1832, and is said by Mr. Matthew to have been an +extremely fast and smooth-running engine. A mile a minute was +repeatedly attained, and it is stated by the same authority,[57] that +a speed of 80 miles an hour was sometimes made over a single mile. +This engine had cylinders 9-1/2 inches diameter, 16 inches stroke of +piston, two pairs of driving-wheels, coupled, 5 feet in diameter each; +and the truck had four 33-inch wheels. The boiler contained tubes 3 +inches in diameter, and its fire-box was 5 feet long and 2 feet 10 +inches wide. Robert Stephenson & Co. subsequently built a similar +engine, from the plans of Mr. Jervis, and for the same road. It was +set at work in 1833. In both engines the driving-wheels were behind +the fire-box. This engine is another illustration of the fact--shown +by the description already given of other and earlier engines--that +the independence of the American mechanic, and the boldness and +self-confidence which have to the present time distinguished him, were +among the earliest of the fruits of our political independence and +freedom. + + [56] "History of the First Locomotives in America," Brown. + + [57] "Ross Winans _vs._ The Eastern Railroad Company--Evidence." + Boston, 1854. + +These American engines were all designed to burn anthracite coal. The +English locomotives all burned bituminous coal. + +Robert L. Stevens, the President and Engineer of the Camden & Amboy +Railroad, and a distinguished son of Colonel John Stevens, of Hoboken, +was engaged, at the time of the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester +Railroad, in the construction of the Camden & Amboy Railroad. It was +here that the first of the now standard form of _T_-rail was laid +down. It was of malleable iron, and of the form shown in the +accompanying figure. It was designed by Mr. Stevens, and is known in +the United States as the "Stevens" rail. In Europe, where it was +introduced some years afterward, it is sometimes called the +"Vignolles" rail. He purchased an engine of the Stephensons soon after +the trial at Rainhill, and this engine, the "John Bull," was set up on +the then uncompleted road at Bordentown, in the year 1831. Its first +public trial was made in November of that year. The road was opened +for traffic, from end to end, two years later. This engine had +steam-cylinders 9 inches in diameter, 2 feet stroke of piston, one +pair of drivers 4-1/2 feet in diameter, and weighed 10 tons. This +engine, and that built by Phineas Davis for the Baltimore & Ohio +Railroad, were exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, +in the year 1876. + +[Illustration: FIG. 63.--The "Stevens" Rail. Enlarged Section.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 64.--"Old Ironsides," 1832.] + +Engines supplied to the Camden & Amboy Railroad subsequent to 1831 +were built from the designs of Robert L. Stevens, in the shop of the +Messrs. Stevens, at Hoboken. The other principal roads of the country, +at first, very generally purchased their engines of the Baldwin +Locomotive Works, then a small shop owned by Matthias W. Baldwin. +Baldwin's first engine was a little model built for Peale's Museum, to +illustrate to the visitors of that then well-known place of +entertainment the character of the new motor, the success of which, +at Rainhill, had just then excited the attention of the world. This +was in 1831, and the successful working of this little model led to +his receiving an order for an engine from the Philadelphia & +Germantown Railroad. Mr. Baldwin, after studying the new engine of the +Camden & Amboy road, made his plans, and built an engine (Fig. 64), +completing it in the autumn of 1832, and setting it in operation +November 23d of that year. It was kept at work on that line of road +for a period of 20 years or more. This engine was of Stephenson's +"Planet" class, mounted on two driving-wheels 4-1/2 feet in diameter +each, and two separate wheels of the same size, uncoupled. The +steam-cylinders were 9-1/2 inches in diameter, 18 inches stroke of +piston, and were placed horizontally on each side of the smoke-box. +The boiler, 2-1/2 feet in diameter, contained 72 copper tubes 1-1/2 +inches in diameter and 7 feet long. The engine cost the railroad +company $3,500. On the trial, steam was raised in 20 minutes, and the +maximum speed noted was 28 miles an hour. The engine subsequently +attained a speed of over 30 miles. In 1834, Mr. Baldwin completed for +Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston, a six-wheeled engine, the "E. L. +Miller" (Fig. 65), with cylinders 10 inches in diameter and 16 inches +stroke of piston. He made the boiler of this engine of a form which +remained standard many years, with a high dome over the fire-box. At +about the same time, he built the "Lancaster," an engine resembling +the "Miller," for the State road to Columbia, and several others were +soon contracted for and built. By the end of 1834, 5 engines had been +built by him, and the construction of locomotive-engines had become +one of the leading and most promising industries of the United States. +Mr. William Norris established a shop in Philadelphia in 1832, which +he gradually enlarged until it, like the Baldwin Works, became a large +establishment. He usually built a six-wheeled engine, with a +leading-truck or bogie, and placed his driving-wheels in front of the +fire-box. + +[Illustration: FIG. 65.--The "E. L. Miller," 1834.] + +At this time the English locomotives were built to carry 60 pounds of +steam. The American builders adopted pressures of 120 to 130 pounds +per square inch, the now generally standard pressures throughout the +world. In the years 1836 and 1837, Baldwin built 80 engines. They were +of three classes: 1st, with cylinders 12-1/2 inches in diameter and of +16 inches stroke, weighing 12 tons; 2d, with cylinders 12 by 16, and +a weight of 10-1/2 tons; and 3d, engines weighing 9 tons, and having +steam-cylinders of 10-1/2 inches diameter and of the same stroke. The +driving-wheels were usually 4-1/2 feet in diameter, and the cylinder +"inside-connected" to cranked axles. A few "outside-connected" engines +were made, this plan becoming generally adopted at a later period. + +The railroads of the United States were very soon supplied with +locomotive-engines built in America. In the year 1836, William Norris, +who had two years before purchased the interest of Colonel Stephen H. +Long, an army-officer who patented and built locomotives of his own +design, built the "George Washington," and set it at work. This +engine, weighing 14,400 pounds, drew 19,200 pounds up an incline 2,800 +feet long, rising 369 feet to the mile, at the speed of 15-1/2 miles +an hour. This showed an adhesion not far from one-third the weight on +the driving-wheels. This was considered a very wonderful performance, +and it produced such an impression at the time, that several copies of +the "George Washington" were made, on orders from British railroads, +and the result was the establishment of the reputation of the +locomotive-engine builders of the United States upon a foundation +which has never since failed them. The engine had Jervis's +forward-truck, now always seen under standard engines, which had +already been placed under railroad-cars by Ross Winans. + +In New England, the Locks & Canals Company, of Lowell, began building +engines as early as 1834, copying the Stephenson engine. Hinckley & +Drury, of Boston, commenced building an outside-connected engine in +1840, and their successors, the Boston Locomotive Works, became the +largest manufacturing establishment of the kind in New England. Two +years later, Ross Winans, the Baltimore builder, introduced some of +his engines upon Eastern railroads, fitting them with upright boilers, +and burning anthracite coal. + +The changes which have been outlined produced the now typical American +locomotive. It was necessarily given such form that it would work +safely and efficiently on rough, ill-ballasted, and often +sharply-winding tracks; and thus it soon became evident that the two +pairs of coupled driving-wheels, carrying two-thirds the weight of the +whole engine, the forward-truck, and the system of "equalizing" +suspension-bars, by which the weight is distributed fairly among all +the wheels, whatever the position of the engine, or whatever the +irregularity of the track, made it the very best of all known types of +locomotive for the railroads of a new country. Experience has shown it +equally excellent on the smoothest and best of roads. The +"cow-catcher," placed in front to remove obstacles from the track, the +bell, and the heavy whistle, are characteristics of the American +engine also. The severity of winter-storms compelled the adoption of +the "cab," or house, and the use of wood for fuel led to the invention +of the "spark-arrester" for that class of engines. The heavy grades on +many roads led to the use of the "sand-box," from which sand was +sprinkled on the track, to prevent the slipping of the wheels. + +In the year 1836, the now standard chilled wheel was introduced for +cars and trucks; the single eccentric, which had been, until then, +used on Baldwin engines, was displaced by the double eccentric, with +hooks in place of the link; and, a year later, the iron frame took the +place of the previously-used wooden frame on all engines. + +The year 1837 introduced a period of great depression in all branches +of industry, which continued until the year 1840, or later, and +seriously checked all kinds of manufacturing, including the building +of locomotives. On the revival of business, numbers of new +locomotive-works were started, and in these establishments originated +many new types of engine, each of the more successful of which was +adapted to some peculiar set of conditions. This variety of type is +still seen on nearly all of the principal roads. + +The direction of change in the construction of locomotive-engines at +the period at which this division of the subject terminates is very +well indicated in a letter from Robert Stephenson to Robert L. +Stevens, dated 1833, which is now preserved at the Stevens Institute +of Technology. He writes: "I am sorry that the feeling in the United +States in favor of light railways is so general. In England we are +making every succeeding railway stronger and more substantial." He +adds: "Small engines are losing ground, and large ones are daily +demonstrating that powerful engines are the most economical." He gives +a sketch of his latest engine, weighing _nine tons_, and capable, as +he states, of "taking 100 tons, gross load, at the rate of 16 or 17 +miles an hour on a level." To-day there are engines built weighing 70 +tons, and our locomotive-builders have standard sizes guaranteed to +draw over 2,000 tons on a good and level track. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE._ + + "Voilà la plus merveilleuse de toutes les Machines; le Mécanisme + ressemble à celui des animaux. La chaleur est le principe de son + mouvement; il se fait dans ses différens tuyaux une circulation, + comme celle du sang dans les veines, ayant des valvules qui + s'ouvrent et se ferment à propos; elles se nourrit, s'évacue d'elle + même dans les temps réglés, et tire de son travail tout ce qu'il lui + faut pour subsister. Cette Machine a pris sa naissance en + Angleterre, et toutes les Machines à feu qu'on a construites + ailleurs que dans la Grande Brétagne ont été exécutées par des + Anglais."--BELIDOR. + +THE SECOND PERIOD OF APPLICATION--1800-1850 (CONTINUED). THE +STEAM-ENGINE APPLIED TO SHIP-PROPULSION. + + +Among the most obviously important and most inconceivably fruitful of +all the applications of steam which marked the period we are now +studying, is that of the steam-engine to the propulsion of vessels. +This direction of application has been that which has, from the +earliest period in the history of the steam-engine, attracted the +attention of the political economist and the historian, as well as the +mechanician, whenever a new improvement, or the revival of an old +device, has awakened a faint conception of the possibilities attendant +upon the introduction of a machine capable of making so great a force +available. The realization of the hopes, the prophecies, and the +aspirations of earlier times, in the modern marine steam-engine, may +be justly regarded as the greatest of all the triumphs of mechanical +engineering. Although, as has already been stated, attempts were made +at a very early period to effect this application of steam-power, they +were not successful, and the steamship is a product of the present +century. No such attempts were commercially successful until after the +time of Newcomen and Watt, and at the commencement of the nineteenth +century. It is, indeed, but a few years since the passage across the +Atlantic was frequently made in sailing-vessels, and the dangers, the +discomforts, and the irregularities of their trips were most serious. +Now, hardly a day passes that does not see several large and powerful +steamers leaving the ports of New York and Liverpool to make the same +voyages, and their passages are made with such regularity and safety, +that travelers can anticipate with confidence the time of their +arrival at the termination of their voyage to a day, and can cross +with safety and with comparative comfort even amid the storms of +winter. Yet all that we to-day see of the extent and the efficiency of +steam-navigation has been the work of the present century, and it may +well excite our wonder and our admiration. + +The history of this development of the use of steam-power illustrates +most perfectly that process of growth of this invention which has been +already referred to; and we can here trace it, step by step, from the +earliest and rudest devices up to those most recent and most perfect +designs which represent the most successful existing types of the +heat-engine--whether considered with reference to its design and +construction, or as the highest application of known scientific +principles--that have yet been seen in even the present advanced state +of the mechanic arts. + +The paddle-wheel was used as a substitute for oars at a very early +date, and a description of paddle-wheels applied to vessels, curiously +illustrated by a large wood-cut, may be found in the work of Fammelli, +"De l'artificioses machines," published in old French in 1588. +Clark[58] quotes from Ogilby's edition of the "Odyssey" a stanza +which reads like a prophecy, and almost awakens a belief that the +great poet had a knowledge of steam-vessels in those early times--a +thousand years before the Christian era. The prince thus addresses +Ulysses: + + [58] "Steam and the Steam-Engine." + + "We use nor Helm nor Helms-man. Our tall ships + Have Souls, and plow with Reason up the deeps; + All cities, Countries know, and where they list, + Through billows glide, veiled in obscuring Mist; + Nor fear they Rocks, nor Dangers on the way." + +Pope's translation[59] furnishes the following rendering of Homer's +prophecy: + + [59] "Odyssey," Book VIII., p. 175. + + "So shalt thou instant reach the realm assigned, + In wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind; + + ... + + Though clouds and darkness veil the encumbered sky, + Fearless, through darkness and through clouds they fly. + Though tempests rage, though rolls the swelling main, + The seas may roll, the tempests swell in vain; + E'en the stern god that o'er the waves presides, + Safe as they pass and safe repass the tide, + With fury burns; while, careless, they convey + Promiscuous every guest to every bay." + +It is stated that the Roman army under Claudius Caudex was taken +across to Sicily in boats propelled by paddle-wheels turned by oxen. +Vulturius gives pictures of such vessels. + +This application of the force of steam was very possibly anticipated +600 years ago by Roger Bacon, the learned Franciscan monk, who, in an +age of ignorance and intellectual torpor, wrote: + +"I will now mention some wonderful works of art and nature, in which +there is nothing of magic, and which magic could not perform. +Instruments may be made by which the largest ships, with only one man +guiding them, will be carried with greater velocity than if they were +full of sailors," etc., etc. + +Darwin's poetical prophecy was published long years before Watt's +engine rendered its partial fulfillment a possibility; and thus, for +many years before even the first promising effort had been made, the +minds of the more intelligent had been prepared to appreciate the +invention when it should finally be brought forward. + +The earliest attempt to propel a vessel by steam is claimed by Spanish +authorities, as has been stated, to have been made by Blasco de Garay, +in the harbor of Barcelona, Spain, in 1543. The record, claimed as +having been extracted from the Spanish archives at Simancas, states +the vessel to have been of 200 tons burden, and to have been moved by +paddle-wheels; and it is added that the spectators saw, although not +allowed closely to inspect the apparatus, that one part of it was a +"vessel of boiling water"; and it is also stated that objection was +made to the use of this part of the machine, because of the danger of +explosion. + +The account seems somewhat apocryphal, and it certainly led to no +useful results. + +In an anonymous English pamphlet, published in 1651, which is supposed +by Stuart to have been written by the Marquis of Worcester, an +indefinite reference to what may probably have been the steam-engine +is made, and it is there stated to be capable of successful +application to propelling boats. + +In 1690, Papin proposed to use his piston-engine to drive +paddle-wheels to propel vessels; and in 1707 he applied the +steam-engine, which he had proposed as a pumping-engine, to driving a +model boat on the Fulda at Cassel. In this trial he used the +arrangement of which a sketch has been shown, his pumping-engine +forcing up water to turn a water-wheel, which, in turn, was made to +drive the paddles. An account of his experiments is to be found in +manuscript in the correspondence between Leibnitz and Papin, preserved +in the Royal Library at Hanover. Professor Joy found there the +following letter:[60] + + "Dionysius Papin, Councillor and Physician to his Royal Highness the + Elector of Cassel, also Professor of Mathematics at Marburg, is + about to dispatch a vessel of singular construction down the river + Weser to Bremen. As he learns that all ships coming from Cassel, or + any point on the Fulda, are not permitted to enter the Weser, but + are required to unload at Münden, and as he anticipates some + difficulty, although those vessels have a different object, his own + not being intended for freight, he begs most humbly that a gracious + order be granted that his ship may be allowed to pass unmolested + through the Electoral domain; which petition I most humbly support. + + G. W. LEIBNITZ. + "HANOVER, _July 13, 1707_." + +This letter was returned to Leibnitz, with the following indorsement: + + "The Electoral Councillors have found serious obstacles in the way of + granting the above petition, and, without giving their reasons, have + directed me to inform you of their decision, and that, in consequence, + the request is not granted by his Electoral Highness. + + H. REICHE. + "HANOVER, _July 25, 1707_." + + [60] _Scientific American_, February 24, 1877. + +This failure of Papin's petition was the death-blow to his effort to +establish steam-navigation. A mob of boatmen, who thought they saw in +the embryo steamship the ruin of their business, attacked the vessel +at night, and utterly destroyed it. Papin narrowly escaped with his +life, and fled to England. + +In the year 1736, Jonathan Hulls took out an English patent for the +use of a steam-engine for ship-propulsion, proposing to employ his +steamboat in towing. In 1737 he published a well-written pamphlet, +describing this apparatus, which is shown in Fig. 66, a reduced +fac-simile of the plate accompanying his paper. + +[Illustration: FIG. 66.--Hulls's Steamboat, 1736.] + +He proposed using the Newcomen engine, fitted with a +counterpoise-weight and a system of ropes and grooved wheels, which, +by a peculiar ratchet-like action, gave a continuous rotary motion. +His vessel was to have been used as a tow-boat. He says, in his +description: "In some convenient part of the Tow-boat there is placed +a Vessel about two-3rds full of water, with the Top closed; and this +Vessel being kept Boiling, rarifies the Water into a Steam, this Steam +being convey'd thro' a large pipe into a cylindrical Vessel, and there +condensed, makes a Vacuum, which causes the weight of the atmosphere +to press down on this Vessel, and so presses down a Piston that is +fitted into this Cylindrical Vessel, in the same manner as in Mr. +Newcomen's Engine, with which he raises Water by Fire. + +"_P_, the Pipe coming from the Furnace to the Cylinder. _Q_, the +Cylinder wherein the steam is condensed. _R_, the Valve that stops the +Steam from coming into the Cylinder, whilst the Steam within the same +is condensed. _S_, the Pipe to convey the condensing Water into the +Cylinder. _T_, a cock to let in the condensing Water when the Cylinder +is full of Steam and the Valve, _P_, is shut. _U_, a Rope fixed to the +Piston that slides up and down in the Cylinder. + +"_Note._ This Rope, _U_, is the same Rope that goes round the wheel, +_D_, in the machine." + +In the large division of his plate, _A_ is the chimney; _B_ is the +tow-boat; _C C_ is the frame carrying the engine; _Da_, _D_, and _Db_ +are three wheels carrying the ropes _M_, _Fb_, and _Fa_, _M_ being the +rope _U_ of his smaller figure, 30. _Ha_ and _Hb_ are two wheels on +the paddle-shafts, _I I_, arranged with pawls so that the +paddle-wheel, _I I_, always turns the same way, though the wheels _Ha_ +and _Hb_ are given a reciprocating motion; _Fb_ is a rope connecting +the wheels in the vessel, _Db_, with the wheels at the stern. Hulls +says: + +"When the Weight, _G_, is so raised, while the wheels _Da_, _D_, and +_Db_ are moving backward, the Rope _Fa_ gives way, and the Power of +the Weight, _G_, brings the Wheel _Ha_ forward, and the Fans with it, +so that the Fans always keep going forward, notwithstanding the Wheels +_Da_, _D_, and _Db_ move backward and forward as the Piston moves up +and down in the Cylinder. _L L_ are Teeth for a Catch to drop in from +the Axis, and are so contrived that they catch in an alternate manner, +to cause the Fan to move always forward, for the Wheel _Ha_, by the +power of the weight, _G_, is performing his Office while the other +wheel, _Hb_, goes back in order to fetch another stroke. + +"_Note._ The weight, _G_, must contain but half the weight of the +Pillar of Air pressing on the Piston, because the weight, _G_, is +raised at the same time as the Wheel _Hb_ performs its Office, so that +it is in effect two Machines acting alternately, by the weight of one +Pillar of Air, of such a Diameter as the Diameter of the Cylinder is." + +The inventor suggests the use of timber guards to protect the wheels +from injury, and, in shallow water, the attachment to the +paddle-shafts of cranks "to strike a Shaft to the Bottom of the River, +which will drive the Vessel forward with the greater Force." He +concludes: "Thus I have endeavoured to give a clear and satisfactory +Account of my New-invented Machine, for carrying Vessels out of and +into any Port, Harbour, or River, against Wind and Tide, or in a Calm; +and I doubt not but whoever shall give himself the Trouble to peruse +this Essay, will be so candid as to excuse or overlook any +Imperfections in the diction or manner of writing, considering the +Hand it comes from, if what I have imagined may only appear as plain +to others as it has done to me, viz., That the Scheme I now offer is +Practicable, and if encouraged will be Useful." + +There is no positive evidence that Hulls ever put his scheme to the +test of experiment, although tradition does say that he made a model, +which he tried with such ill success as to prevent his prosecution of +the experiment further; and doggerel rhymes are still extant which +were sung by his neighbors in derision of his folly, as they +considered it. + +A prize was awarded by the French Academy of Sciences, in 1752, for +the best essay on the manner of impelling vessels without wind. It was +given to Bernouilli, who, in his paper, proposed a set of vanes like +those of a windmill--a screw, in fact--one to be placed on each side +of the vessel, and two more behind. For a vessel of 100 tons, he +proposed a shaft 14 feet long and 2 inches in diameter, carrying +"eight wheels, for acting on the water, to each of which it" (the +shaft) "is perpendicular, and forms an axis for them all; the wheels +should be at equal distances from each other. Each wheel consists of 8 +arms of iron, each 3 feet long, so that the whole diameter of the +wheel is 6 feet. Each of these arms, at the distance of 20 inches from +the centre, carries a sheet-iron plane (or paddle) 16 inches square, +which is inclined so as to form an angle of 60 degrees, both with the +arbor and keel of the vessel, to which the arbor is placed parallel. +To sustain this arbor and the wheels, two strong bars of iron, between +2 and 3 inches thick, proceed from the side of the vessel at right +angles to it, about 2-1/2 feet below the surface of the water." He +proposed similar screw-propellers at the stern, and suggested that +they could be driven by animal or by steam-power. + +But a more remarkable essay is quoted by Figuier[61]--the paper of +l'Abbé Gauthier, published in the "Mémoires de la Société Royale des +Sciences et Lettres de Nancy." Bernouilli had expressed the belief +that the best steam-engine then known--that of Newcomen--was not +superior to some other motors. Gauthier proposed to use that engine in +the propulsion of paddle-wheels placed at the side of the vessel. His +plan was not brought into use, but his paper embodied a glowing +description of the advantages to be secured by its adoption. He states +that a galley urged by 26 oars on a side made but 4,320 toises (8,420 +meters), or about 5 miles, an hour, and required a crew of 260 men. A +steam-engine, doing the same work, would be ready for action at all +times, could be applied, when not driving the vessel, to raising the +anchor, working the pumps, and to ventilating the ship, while the fire +would also serve to cook with. The engine would occupy less space and +weight than the men, would require less aliment, and that of a less +expensive kind, etc. He would make the boiler safe against explosions +by bands of iron; would make the fire-box of iron, with a water-filled +ash-pit and base-plate. His injection-water was to come from the sea, +and return by a delivery-pipe placed above the water-line. The chains, +usually leading from the end of the beam to the pump-rods, were to be +carried around wheels on the paddle-shaft, which were to be provided +with pawls entering a ratchet, and thus the paddles, having been given +several revolutions by the descent of the piston and the unwinding of +the chain, were to revolve freely while the return-stroke was made, +the chain being hauled down and rewound by the wheel on the shaft, the +latter being moved by a weight. The engine was proposed to be of 6 +feet stroke, and to make 15 strokes per minute, with a force of 11,000 +pounds. + + [61] "Les Merveilles de la Science." + +A little later (1760), a Swiss clergyman, J. A. Genevois, published +in London a paper relating to the improvement of navigation,[62] in +which his plan was proposed of compressing springs by steam or other +power, and applying their effort while recovering their form to +ship-propulsion. + + [62] "Some New Enquiries tending to the Improvement of Navigation." + London, 1760. + +It was at this time that the first attempts were made in the United +States to solve this problem, which had begun to be recognized as one +of the greatest which had presented itself to the mechanic and the +engineer. + +WILLIAM HENRY was a prominent citizen of the then little village of +Lancaster, Pa., and was noted as an ingenious and successful +mechanic.[63] He was still living at the beginning of the present +century. Mr. Henry was the first to make the "rag" carpet, and was the +inventor of the screw-auger. He was of a Scotch and North-of-Ireland +family, his father, John Henry, and his two older brothers, Robert and +James, having come to the United States about 1720. Robert settled, +finally, in Virginia, and it is said that Patrick Henry, the patriot +and orator, was of his family. The others remained in Chester County, +Pa., where William was born, in 1729. He learned the trade of a +gunsmith, and, driven from his home during the Indian war (1755 to +1760), settled in Lancaster. + + [63] _Lancaster Daily Express_, December 10, 1872. This account is + collated from various manuscripts and letters in the possession of + the author. + +In the year 1760 he went to England on business, where his attention +was attracted to the invention--then new, and the subject of +discussion in every circle--of James Watt. He saw the possibility of +its application to navigation and to driving carriages, and, on his +return home, commenced the construction of a steam-engine, and +finished it in 1763. + +Placing it in a boat fitted with paddle-wheels, he made a trial of the +new machine on the Conestoga River, near Lancaster, where the craft, +by some accident, sank,[64] and was lost. He was not discouraged by +this failure, but made a second model, adding some improvements. Among +the records of the Pennsylvania Philosophical Society is, or was, a +design, presented by Henry in 1782, of one of his steamboats. The +German traveler Schöpff visited the United States in 1783, and at Mr. +Henry's house, at Lancaster, was shown "a machine by Mr. Henry, +intended for the propelling of boats, etc.; 'but,' said Mr. Henry, 'I +am doubtful whether such a machine would find favor with the public, +as every one considers it impracticable against wind and tide;' but +that such a Boat _will_ come into use and navigate on the waters of +the Ohio and Mississippi, he had not the least doubt of, but the time +had not yet arrived of its being appreciated and applied." + + [64] Bowen's "Sketches," p. 56. + +John Fitch, whose experiments will presently be referred to, was an +acquaintance and frequent visitor to the house of Mr. Henry, and may +probably have there received the earliest suggestions of the +importance of this application of steam. About 1777, when Henry was +engaged in making mathematical and philosophical instruments, and the +screw-auger, which at that time could only be obtained of him, Robert +Fulton, then twelve years old, visited him, to study the paintings of +Benjamin West, who had long been a friend and protégé of Henry. He, +too, not improbably received there the first suggestion which +afterward led him to desert the art to which he at first devoted +himself, and which made of the young portrait-painter a successful +inventor and engineer. West's acquaintance with Henry had no such +result. The young painter was led by his patron and friend to attempt +historical pictures,[65] and probably owes his fame greatly to the +kindly and discerning mechanic. Says Galt, in his "Memoirs of Sir +Benjamin West" (London, 1816): "Towards his old friend, William Henry, +of Lancaster City, he always cherished the most grateful affection; +he was the first who urged him to attempt historical composition." + + [65] Some of West's portraits, including those of Mr. and Mrs. + Henry, were lately in the possession of Mr. John Jordan, of + Philadelphia. + +When, after the invention of Watt, the steam-engine had taken such +shape that it could really work the propelling apparatus of a paddle +or screw vessel, a new impetus was given to the work of its +adaptation. In France, the Marquis de Jouffroy was one of the earliest +to perceive that the improvements of Watt, rendering the engine more +compact, more powerful, and, at the same time, more regular and +positive in its action, had made it, at last, readily applicable to +the propulsion of vessels. The brothers Périer had imported a Watt +engine from Soho, and this was attentively studied by the marquis,[66] +and its application to the paddle-wheels of a steam-vessel seemed to +him a simple problem. Comte d'Auxiron and Chevalier Charles Mounin, of +Follenai, friends and companions of Jouffroy, were similarly +interested, and the three are said to have often discussed the scheme +together, and to have united in devising methods of applying the new +motor. + + [66] Figuier. + +In the year 1770, D'Auxiron determined to attempt the realization of +the plans which he had conceived. He resigned his position in the +army, prepared his plans and drawings, and presented them to M. +Bertin, the Prime Minister, in the year 1771 or 1772. The Minister was +favorably impressed, and the King (May 22, 1772) granted D'Auxiron a +monopoly of the use of steam in river-navigation for 15 years, +provided he should prove his plans practicable, and they should be so +adjudged by the Academy. + +A company had been formed, the day previous, consisting of D'Auxiron, +Jouffroy, Comte de Dijon, the Marquis d'Yonne, and Follenai, which +advanced the requisite funds. The first vessel was commenced in +December, 1772. When nearly completed, in September, 1774, the boat +sprung a leak, and, one night, foundered at the wharf. After some +angry discussion, during which D'Auxiron was rudely, and probably +unjustly, accused of bad faith, the company declined to advance the +money needed to recover and complete the vessel. They were, however, +compelled by the court to furnish it; but, meantime, D'Auxiron died of +apoplexy, the matter dropped, and the company dissolved. The cost of +the experiment had been something more than 15,000 francs. + +The heirs of D'Auxiron turned the papers of the deceased inventor over +to Jouffroy, and the King transferred to him the monopoly held by the +former. Follenai retained all his interest in the project, and the two +friends soon enlisted a powerful adherent and patron, the Marquis +Ducrest, a well-known soldier, courtier, and member of the Academy, +who took an active part in the prosecution of the scheme. M. Jacques +Périer, the then distinguished mechanic, was consulted, and prepared +plans, which were adopted in place of those of Jouffroy. The boat was +built by Périer, and a trial took place in 1774, on the Seine. The +result was unsatisfactory. The little craft could hardly stem the +sluggish current of the river, and the failure caused the immediate +abandonment of the scheme by Périer. + +Still undiscouraged, Jouffroy retired to his country home, at +Baume-les-Dames, on the river Doubs. There he carried on his +experiments, getting his work done as best he could, with the rude +tools and insufficient apparatus of a village blacksmith. A Watt +engine and a chain carrying "duck-foot" paddles were his propelling +apparatus. The boat, which was about 14 feet long and 6 wide, was +started in June, 1776. The duck's-foot system of paddles proved +unsatisfactory, and Jouffroy gave it up, and renewed his experiments +with a new arrangement. He placed on the paddle-wheel shaft a +ratchet-wheel, and on the piston-rod of his engine, which was placed +horizontally in the boat, a double rack, into the upper and the lower +parts of which the ratchet-wheel geared. Thus the wheels turned in +the same direction, whichever way the piston was moving. The new +engine was built at Lyons in 1780, by Messrs. Frères-Jean. The new +boat was about 140 feet long and 14 feet wide; the wheels were 14 feet +in diameter, their floats 6 feet long, and the "dip," or depth to +which they reached, was about 2 feet. The boat drew 3 feet of water, +and had a total weight of about 150 tons. + +At a public trial of the vessel at Lyons, July 15, 1783, the little +steamer was so successful as to justify the publication of the fact by +a report and a proclamation. The fact that the experiment was not made +at Paris was made an excuse on the part of the Academy for withholding +its indorsement, and on the part of the Government for declining to +confirm to Jouffroy the guaranteed monopoly. Impoverished and +discouraged, Jouffroy gave up all hope of prosecuting his plans +successfully, and reëntered the army. Thus France lost an honor which +was already within her grasp, as she had already lost that of the +introduction of the steam-engine, in the time of Papin. + +About 1785, John Fitch and James Rumsey were engaged in experiments +having in view the application of steam to navigation. + +Rumsey's experiments began in 1774, and in 1786 he succeeded in +driving a boat at the rate of four miles an hour against the current +of the Potomac at Shepherdstown, W. Va., in presence of General +Washington. His method of propulsion has often been reinvented since, +and its adoption urged with that enthusiasm and persistence which is a +peculiar characteristic of inventors. + +Rumsey employed his engine to drive a great pump which forced a stream +of water aft, thus propelling the boat forward, as proposed earlier by +Bernouilli. This same method has been recently tried again by the +British Admiralty, in a gunboat of moderate size, using a centrifugal +pump to set in motion the propelling stream, and with some other +modifications which are decided improvements upon Rumsey's rude +arrangements, but which have not done much more than his toward the +introduction of "Hydraulic or Jet Propulsion," as it is now called. + +In 1787 he obtained a patent from the State of Virginia for +steam-navigation. He wrote a treatise "On the Application of Steam," +which was printed at Philadelphia, where a Rumsey society was +organized for the encouragement of attempts at steam-navigation. + +Rumsey died of apoplexy, while explaining some of his schemes before a +London society a short time later, December 23, 1793, at the age of +fifty years. A boat, then in process of construction from his plans, +was afterward tried on the Thames, in 1793, and steamed at the rate of +four miles an hour. The State of Kentucky, in 1839, presented his son +with a gold medal, commemorative of his father's services "in giving +to the world the benefit of the steamboat." + +JOHN FITCH was an unfortunate and eccentric, but very ingenious, +Connecticut mechanic. After roaming about until forty years of age, he +finally settled on the banks of the Delaware, where he built his first +steamboat. + +In April, 1785, as Fitch himself states, at Neshamony, Bucks County, +Pa., he suddenly conceived the idea that a carriage might be driven by +steam. After considering the subject a few days, his attention was led +to the plan of using steam to propel vessels, and from that time to +the day of his death he was a persistent advocate of the introduction +of the steamboat. At this time, Fitch says, "I did not know that there +was a steam-engine on the earth;" and he was somewhat disappointed +when his friend, the Rev. Mr. Irwin, of Neshamony, showed him a sketch +of one in "Martin's Philosophy." + +Fitch's first model was at once built, and was soon after tried on a +small stream near Davisville. The machinery was made of brass, and the +boat was impelled by paddle-wheels. A rough model of his steamboat was +shown to Dr. John Ewing, Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, +who, August 20, 1785, addressed a commendatory letter to an ex-Member +of Congress, William C. Houston, asking him to assist Fitch in +securing the aid of the General Government. The latter referred the +inventor, by a letter of recommendation, to a delegate from New +Jersey, Mr. Lambert Cadwalader. With this, and other letters, Fitch +proceeded to New York, where Congress then met, and made his +application in proper form. He was unsuccessful, and equally so in +attempting to secure aid from the Spanish minister, who desired that +the profits should be secured, by a monopoly of the invention, to the +King of Spain. Fitch declined further negotiation, determined that, if +successful at all, the benefit should accrue to his own countrymen. + +In September, 1785, Fitch presented to the American Philosophical +Society, at Philadelphia, a model in which he had substituted an +endless chain and floats for the paddle-wheels, with drawings and a +descriptive account of his scheme. This model is shown in the +accompanying figure. + +[Illustration: FIG. 67.--Fitch's Model, 1785.] + +In March, 1786, Fitch was granted a patent by the State of New Jersey, +for the exclusive right to the navigation of the waters of the State +by steam, for 14 years. A month later, he was in Philadelphia, seeking +a similar patent from the State of Pennsylvania. He did not at once +succeed, but in a few days he had formed a company, raised $300, and +set about finding a place in which to construct his engine. Henry +Voight, a Dutch watchmaker, a good mechanic, and a very ingenious man, +took an interest in the company, and with him Fitch set about his +work with great enthusiasm. After making a little model, having a +steam-cylinder but one inch in diameter, they built a model boat and +engine, the latter having a diameter of cylinder of three inches. They +tried the endless chain, and other methods of propulsion, without +success, and finally succeeded with a set of oars worked by the +engine. In August, 1786, it was determined by the company to authorize +the construction of a larger vessel; but the money was not readily +obtained. Meantime, Fitch continued his efforts to secure a patent +from the State, and was finally, March 28, 1787, successful. He also +obtained a similar grant from the State of Delaware, in February of +the same year, and from New York, March 19. + +Money was now subscribed more freely, and the work on the boat +continued uninterruptedly until May, 1787, when a trial was made, +which revealed many defects in the machinery. The cylinder-heads were +of wood, and leaked badly; the piston leaked; the condenser was +imperfect; the valves were not tight. All these defects were remedied, +and a condenser invented by Voight--the "pipe-condenser"--was +substituted for that defective detail as previously made. + +The steamboat was finally placed in working order, and was found +capable, on trial, of making three or four miles an hour. But now the +boiler proved to be too small to furnish steam steadily in sufficient +quantity to sustain the higher speed. After some delay, and much +distress on the part of the sanguine inventor, who feared that he +might be at last defeated when on the very verge of success, the +necessary changes were finally made, and a trial took place at +Philadelphia, in presence of the members of the Convention--then in +session at Philadelphia framing the Federal Constitution--August 22, +1787. Many of the distinguished spectators gave letters to Fitch +certifying his success. Fitch now went to Virginia, where he succeeded +in obtaining a patent, November 7, 1787, and then returned to ask a +patent of the General Government. + +A controversy with Rumsey now followed, in which Fitch asserted his +claims to the invention of the steamboat, and denied that Rumsey had +done more than to revive the scheme which Bernouilli, Franklin, Henry, +Paine, and others, had previously proposed, and that Rumsey's +_steamboat_ was not made until 1786. + +The boiler adopted in Fitch's boat of 1787 was a "pipe-boiler," which +he had described in a communication to the Philosophical Society, in +September, 1785. It consisted (Fig. 68) of a small water-pipe, winding +backward and forward in the furnace, and terminating at one end at the +point at which the feed-water was introduced, and at the other uniting +with the steam-pipe leading to the engine. Voight's condenser was +similarly constructed. Rumsey claimed that this boiler was copied from +his designs. Fitch brought evidence to prove that Rumsey had not built +such a boiler until after his own. + +[Illustration: FIG. 68.--Fitch and Voight's Boiler, 1787.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 69.--Fitch's First Boat, 1787.] + +Fitch's first boat-engine had a steam-cylinder 12 inches in diameter. +A second engine was now built (1788) with a cylinder 18 inches in +diameter, and a new boat. The first vessel was 45 feet long and 12 +feet wide; the new boat was 60 feet long and of but 8 feet breadth of +beam. The first boat (Fig. 69) had paddles worked at the sides, with +the motion given the Indian paddle in propelling a canoe; in the +second boat (Fig. 70) they were similarly worked, but were placed at +the stern. There were three of these paddles. The boat was finally +finished in July, 1788, and made a trip to Burlington, 20 miles from +Philadelphia. When just reaching their destination, their boiler gave +out, and they made their return-trip to Philadelphia floating with the +tide. Subsequently, the boat made a number of excursions on the +Delaware River, making three or four miles an hour. + +[Illustration: FIG. 70.--John Fitch, 1788.] + +Another of Fitch's boats, in April, 1790, made seven miles an hour. +Fitch, writing of this boat, says that "on the 16th of April we got +our work completed, and tried our boat again; and, although the wind +blew very fresh at the east, we reigned lord high admirals of the +Delaware, and no boat on the river could hold way with us." In June +of that year it was placed as a passenger-boat on a line from +Philadelphia to Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown, and Trenton, +occasionally leaving that route to take excursions to Wilmington and +Chester. During this period, the boat probably ran between 2,000 and +3,000 miles,[67] and with no serious accident. During the winter of +1790-'91, Fitch commenced another steamboat, the "Perseverance," and +gave considerable time to the prosecution of his claim for a patent +from the United States. The boat was never completed, although he +received his patent, after a long and spirited contest with other +claimants, on the 26th of August, 1791, and Fitch lost all hope of +success. He went to France in 1793, hoping to obtain the privilege of +building steam-vessels there, but was again disappointed, and worked +his passage home in the following year. + + [67] "Life of John Fitch," Westcott. + +[Illustration: FIG. 71.--John Fitch, 1796.] + +In the year 1796, Fitch was again in New York City, experimenting with +a little _screw_ steamboat on the "Collect" Pond, which then covered +that part of the city now occupied by the "Tombs," the city prison. +This little boat was a ship's yawl fitted with a screw, like that +adopted later by Woodcroft, and driven by a rudely-made engine. + +Fitch, while in the city of Philadelphia at about this time, met +Oliver Evans, and discussed with him the probable future of +steam-navigation, and proposed to form a company in the West, to +promote the introduction of steam on the great rivers of that part of +the country. He settled at last in Kentucky, on his land-grant, and +there amused himself with a model steamboat, which he placed in a +small stream near Bardstown. His death occurred there in July, 1798, +and his body still lies in the village cemetery, with only a rough +stone to mark the spot. + +Both Rumsey and Fitch endeavored to introduce their methods in Great +Britain; and Fitch, while urging the importance and the advantages of +his plan, confidently stated his belief that the ocean would soon be +crossed by steam-vessels, and that the navigation of the Mississippi +would also become exclusively a steam-navigation. His reiterated +assertion, "The day will come when some more powerful man will get +fame and riches from my invention; but no one will believe that poor +John Fitch can do anything worthy of attention," now almost sounds +like a prophecy. + +During this period, an interest which had never diminished in Great +Britain had led to the introduction of experimental steamboats in that +country. PATRICK MILLER, of Dalswinton, had commenced experimenting, +in 1786-'87, with boats having double or triple hulls, and propelled +by paddle-wheels placed between the parts of the compound vessel. +James Taylor, a young man who had been engaged as tutor for Mr. +Miller's sons, suggested, in 1787, the substitution of steam for the +manual power which had been, up to that time, relied upon in their +propulsion. Mr. Miller, in 1787, printed a description of his plan of +propelling apparatus, and in it stated that he had "reason to believe +that the power of the Steam-Engine may be applied to work the wheels." + +In the winter of 1787-'88, William Symmington, who had planned a new +form of steam-engine, and made a successful working-model, was +employed by Mr. Miller to construct an engine for a new boat. This was +built; the little engine, having two cylinders of but four inches in +diameter, was placed on board, and a trial was made October 14, 1788. +The vessel (Fig. 72) was 25 feet long, of 7 feet beam, and made 5 +miles an hour. + +[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Miller, Taylor, and Symmington, 1788.] + +In the year 1789, a large vessel was built, with an engine having a +steam-cylinder 18 inches in diameter, and this vessel was ready for +trial in November of that year. On the first trial, the paddle-wheels +proved too slight, and broke down; they were replaced by stronger +wheels, and, in December, the boat, on trial, made seven miles an +hour. + +Miller, like many other inventors, seems to have lost his interest in +the matter as soon as success seemed assured, and dropped it to take +up other incomplete plans. More than a quarter of a century later, the +British Government gave Taylor a pension of £50 per annum, and, in +1837, his four daughters were each given a similar annuity. Mr. +Miller received no reward, although he is said to have expended over +£30,000. The engine of Symmington was condemned by Miller as "the most +improper of all steam-engines for giving motion to a vessel." Nothing +more was done in Great Britain until early in the succeeding century. + +In the United States, several mechanics were now at work besides +Fitch. Samuel Morey and Nathan Read were among these. Nicholas +Roosevelt was another. It had just been found that American mechanics +were able to do the required shop-work. The first experimental +steam-engine built in America is stated to have been made in 1773 by +Christopher Colles, a lecturer before the American Philosophical +Society at Philadelphia. The first steam-cylinder of any considerable +size is said[68] to have been made by Sharpe & Curtenius, of New York +City. + + [68] _Rivington's Gazette_, February 16, 1775. + +SAMUEL MOREY was the son of one of the first settlers of Orford, N. H. +He was naturally fond of science and mechanics, and became something +of an inventor. He began experimenting with the steamboat in 1790 or +earlier, building a small vessel, and fitting it with paddle-wheels +driven by a steam-engine of his own design, and constructed by +himself.[69] He made a trial-trip one Sunday morning in the summer of +1790, a friend to accompany him, from Oxford, up the Connecticut +River, to Fairlee, Vt., a distance of several miles, and returned +safely. He then went to New York, and spent the summer of each year +until 1793 in experimenting with his boat and modifications of his +engine. In 1793 he made a trip to Hartford, returning to New York the +next summer. His boat was a "stern-wheeler," and is stated to have +been capable of steaming five miles an hour. He next went to +Bordentown, N. J., where he built a larger boat, which is said to have +been a side-wheel boat, and to have worked satisfactorily. His funds +finally gave out, and he gave up his project after having, in 1797, +made a trip to Philadelphia. Fulton, Livingston, and Stevens met Morey +at New York, inspected his boat, and made an excursion to Greenwich +with him.[70] Livingston is said[71] to have offered to assist Morey +if he should succeed in attaining a speed of eight miles an hour. + + [69] _Providence Journal_, May 7, 1874. Coll., N. H. Antiquar. Soc., + No. 1; "Who invented the Steamboat?" William A. Mowry, 1874. + + [70] Rev. Cyrus Mann, in the _Boston Recorder_, 1858. + + [71] Westcott. + +Morey's experiments seem to have been conducted very quietly, however, +and almost nothing is known of them. The author has not been able to +learn any particulars of the engines used by him, and nothing definite +is known of the dimensions of either boat or machinery. Morey never, +like Fitch and Rumsey, sought publicity for his plans or notoriety for +himself. + +NATHAN READ, who has already been mentioned, a native of Warren, +Mass., where he was born in the year 1759, and a graduate of Harvard +College, was a student of medicine, and subsequently a manufacturer of +chain-cables and other iron-work for ships. He invented, and in 1798 +patented, a nail-making machine. He was at one time (1800-1803) a +Member of Congress, and, later, a Justice of the Court of Common +Pleas, and Chief Justice in Hancock County, Me., after his removal to +that State in 1807. He died in Belfast, Me., in 1849, at the age of +ninety years. + +In the year 1788 he became interested in the problem of +steam-navigation, and learned something of the work of Fitch. He first +attempted to design a boiler that should be strong, light, and +compact, as well as safe. His first plan was that of the "Portable +Furnace-Boiler," as he called it; it was patented August 26, 1791. As +designed, it consisted, as seen in Figs. 73 and 74, which are reduced +from his patent drawings, of a shell of cylindrical form, like the now +common vertical tubular boiler. _A_ is the furnace-door, _B_ a heater +and feed-water reservoir, _D_ a pipe leading the feed-water into the +boiler,[72] _E_ the smoke-pipe, and _F_ the steam-pipe leading to the +engine. _G_ is the "shell" of the boiler, and _H_ the fire-box. The +crown-sheet, _I I_, has depending from it, in the furnace, a set of +water-tubes, _b b_, closed at their lower ends, and another set, _a +a_, which connect the water-space above the furnace with the +water-bottom, _K K_. _L_ is the furnace, and _M_ the draught-space +between the boiler and the ash-pit, in which the grates are set. + + [72] This is substantially an arrangement that has recently become + common. It has been repatented by later inventors. + +[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Read's Boiler in Section, 1788.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Read's Multi-Tubular Boiler, 1788.] + +This boiler was intended to be used in both steamboats and +steam-carriages. The first drawings were made in 1788 or 1789, as were +those of a peculiar form of steam-engine which also resembled very +closely that afterward constructed in Great Britain by Trevithick.[73] +He built a boat in 1789, which he fitted with paddle-wheels and a +crank, which was turned by hand, and, by trial, satisfied himself that +the system would work satisfactorily. + + [73] "Nathan Read and the Steam-Engine." + +He then applied for his patent, and spent the greater part of the +winter of 1789-'90 in New York, where Congress then met, endeavoring +to secure it. In January, 1791, Read withdrew his petitions for +patents, proposing to incorporate accounts of new devices, and renewed +them a few months later. His patents were finally issued, dated August +26, 1791. John Fitch, James Rumsey, and John Stevens, also, all +received patents at the same date, for various methods of applying +steam to the propulsion of vessels. + +Read appears to have never succeeded in even experimentally making his +plans successful. He deserves credit for his early and intelligent +perception of the importance of the subject, and for the ingenuity of +his devices. As the inventor of the vertical multi-tubular fire-box +boiler, he has also entitled himself to great distinction. This boiler +is now in very general use, and is a standard form. + +In 1792, Elijah Ormsbee, a Rhode Island mechanic, assisted pecuniarily +by David Wilkinson, built a small steamboat at Winsor's Cove, +Narragansett Bay, and made a successful trial-trip on the Seekonk +River. Ormsbee used an "atmospheric engine" and "duck's-foot" paddles. +His boat attained a speed of from three to four miles an hour. + +In Great Britain, Lord Dundas and William Symmington, the former as +the purveyor of funds and the latter as engineer, followed by Henry +Bell, were the first to make the introduction of the steam-engine for +the propulsion of ships so completely successful that no interruption +subsequently took place in the growth of the new system of +water-transportation. + +Thomas, Lord Dundas, of Kerse, had taken great interest in the +experiments of Miller, and had hoped to be able to apply the new motor +on the Forth and Clyde Canal, in which he held a large interest. +After the failure of the earlier experiments, he did not forget the +matter; but subsequently, meeting with Symmington, who had been +Miller's constructing engineer, he engaged him to continue the +experiments, and furnished all required capital, about £7,000. This +was ten years after Miller had abandoned his scheme. + +Symmington commenced work in 1801. The first boat built for Lord +Dundas, which has been claimed to have been the "first practical +steamboat," was finished ready for trial early in 1802. The vessel was +called the "Charlotte Dundas," in honor of a daughter of Lord Dundas, +who became Lady Milton. + +[Illustration: FIG. 75.--The "Charlotte Dundas," 1801.] + +The vessel (Fig. 75) was driven by a Watt double-acting engine, +turning a crank on the paddle-wheel shaft. The sectional sketch below +exhibits the arrangement of the machinery. _A_ is the steam-cylinder, +driving, by means of the connecting-rod, _B C_, a stern-wheel, _E E_. +_F_ is the boiler, and _G_ the tall smoke-pipe. An air-pump and +condenser, _H_, is seen under the steam-cylinder. + +In March, 1802, the boat was brought to Lock No. 20 on the Forth and +Clyde Canal, and two vessels of 70 tons burden each taken in tow. Lord +Dundas, William Symmington, and a party of invited guests, were taken +on board, and the boat steamed down to Port Glasgow, a distance of +about 20 miles, against a strong head-wind, in six hours. + +The proprietors of the canal were now urged to adopt the new plan of +towing; but, fearing injury to the banks of the canal, they declined +to do so. Lord Dundas then laid the matter before the Duke of +Bridgewater, who gave Symmington an order for eight boats like the +Charlotte Dundas, to be used on his canal. The death of the Duke, +however, prevented the contract from being carried into effect, and +Symmington again gave up the project in despair. A quarter of a +century later, Symmington received from the British Government £100, +and, a little later, £50 additional, as an acknowledgment of his +services. The Charlotte Dundas was laid up, and we hear nothing more +of that vessel. + +[Illustration: FIG. 76.--The "Comet," 1812.] + +Among those who saw the Charlotte Dundas, and who appreciated the +importance of the success achieved by Symmington, was HENRY BELL, who, +10 years afterward, constructed the Comet (Fig. 76), the first +passenger-vessel built in Europe. This vessel was built in 1811, and +completed January 18, 1812. The craft was of 30 tons burden, 40 feet +in length, and 10-1/2 feet breadth of beam. There were _two_ +paddle-wheels on each side, driven by engines rated at three +horse-power. + +Bell had, it is said, been an enthusiastic believer in the advantages +to be secured by this application of steam, from about 1786. In 1800, +and again in 1803, he applied to the British Admiralty for aid in +securing those advantages by experimentally determining the proper +form and proportions of machinery and vessel; but was not able to +convince the Admiralty of "the practicability and great utility of +applying steam to the propelling of vessels against winds and tides, +and every obstruction on rivers and seas where there was depth of +water." He also wrote to the United States Government, urging his +views in a similar strain. + +Bell's boat was, when finished, advertised as a passenger-boat, to +leave Greenock, where the vessel was built, on Mondays, Wednesdays, +and Fridays, for Glasgow, 24 miles distant, returning Tuesdays, +Thursdays, and Saturdays. The fare was made "four shillings for the +best cabin, and three shillings for the second." It was some months +before the vessel became considered a trustworthy means of conveyance. +Bell, on the whole, was at first a heavy loser by his venture, +although his boat proved itself a safe, stanch vessel. + +Bell constructed several other boats in 1815, and with his success +steam-navigation in Great Britain was fairly inaugurated. In 1814 +there were five steamers, all Scotch, regularly working in British +waters; in 1820 there were 34, one-half of which were in England, 14 +in Scotland, and the remainder in Ireland. Twenty years later, at the +close of the period to which this chapter is especially devoted, there +were about 1,325 steam-vessels in that kingdom, of which 1,000 were +English and 250 Scotch. + +But we must return to America, to witness the first and most complete +success, commercially, in the introduction of the steamboat. + +The Messrs. Stevens, Livingston, Fulton, and Roosevelt were there the +most successful pioneers. The latter is said to have built the +"Polacca," a small steamboat launched on the Passaic River in 1798. +The vessel was 60 feet long, and had an engine of 20 inches diameter +of cylinder and 2 feet stroke, which drove the boat 8 miles an hour, +carrying a party of invited guests, which included the Spanish +Minister. Livingston and John Stevens had induced Roosevelt to try +their plans still earlier,[74] paying the expense of the experiments. +The former adopted the plan of Bernouilli and Rumsey, using a +centrifugal pump to force a jet of water from the stern; the latter +used the screw. Livingston going to France as United States Minister, +Barlow carried over the plans of the "Polacca," and Roosevelt's +friends state that a boat built by them, in conjunction with Fulton, +was a "sister-ship" to that vessel. In 1798, Roosevelt patented a +double engine, having cranks set at right angles. As late as 1814 he +received a patent for a steam-vessel, fitted with paddle-wheels having +adjustable floats. His boat of 1798 is stated by some writers to have +been made by him on joint account of himself, Livingston, and Stevens. +Roosevelt, some years later, was again at work, associating himself +with Fulton in the introduction of steam-navigation of the rivers of +the West.[75] + + [74] "Encyclopædia Americana." + + [75] "A Lost Chapter in the History of the Steamboat," J. H. B. + Latrobe, 1871. + +In 1798, the Legislature of New York passed a law giving Chancellor +Livingston the exclusive right to steam-navigation in the waters of +the State for a period of 20 years, _provided_ that he should succeed, +within a twelve-month, in producing a boat that should steam four +miles an hour. + +Livingston did not succeed in complying with the terms of the act, +but, in 1803, he procured the reënactment of the law in favor of +himself and Robert Fulton, who was then experimenting in France, after +having, in England, watched the progress of steam-navigation there, +and then taken a patent in this country. + +[Illustration: Robert Fulton.] + +ROBERT FULTON was a native of Little Britain, Lancaster County, Pa., +born 1765. He commenced experimenting with paddle-wheels when a mere +boy, in 1779, visiting an aunt living on the bank of the +Conestoga.[76] During his youth he spent much of his time in the +workshops of his neighborhood, and learned the trade of a watchmaker; +but he adopted, finally, the profession of an artist, and exhibited +great skill in portrait-painting. While his tastes were at this time +taking a decided bent, he is said to have visited frequently the house +of William Henry, already mentioned, to see the paintings of Benjamin +West, who in his youth had been a kind of protégé of Mr. Henry; and he +may probably have seen there the model steamboats which Mr. Henry +exhibited, in 1783 or 1784, to the German traveler Schöpff. In later +years, Thomas Paine, the author of "Common Sense," at one time lived +with Mr. Henry, and afterward, in 1788, proposed that Congress take up +the subject for the benefit of the country. + + [76] _Vide_ "Life of Fulton," Reigart. + +Fulton went to England when he came of age, and studied painting with +Benjamin West. He afterward spent two years in Devonshire, where he +met the Duke of Bridgewater, who afterward so promptly took advantage +of the success of the "Charlotte Dundas." + +While in England and in France--where he went in 1797, and resided +some time--he may have seen something of the attempts which were +beginning to be made to introduce steam-navigation in both of those +countries. + +At about this time--perhaps in 1793--Fulton gave up painting as a +profession, and became a civil engineer. In 1797 he went to Paris, and +commenced experimenting with submarine torpedoes and torpedo-boats. In +1801 he had succeeded so well with them as to create much anxiety in +the minds of the English, then at war with France. + +He had, as early as 1793, proposed plans for steam-vessels, both to +the United States and the British Governments, and seems never +entirely to have lost sight of the subject.[77] While in France he +lived with Joel Barlow, who subsequently became known as a poet, and +as Embassador to France from the United States, but who was then +engaged in business in Paris. + + [77] _Vide_ "Life of Fulton," Colden. + +When about leaving the country, Fulton met Robert Livingston +(Chancellor Livingston, as he is often called), who was then (1801) +Embassador of the United States at the court of France. Together they +discussed the project of applying steam to navigation, and determined +to attempt the construction of a steamboat on the Seine; and in the +early spring of the year 1802, Fulton having attended Mrs. Barlow to +Plombières, where she had been sent by her physician, he there made +drawings and models, which were sent or described to Livingston. In +the following winter Fulton completed a model side-wheel boat. + +[Illustration: FIG. 77.--Fulton's Experiments.] + +January 24, 1803, he delivered this model to MM. Molar, Bordel, and +Montgolfier, with a descriptive memoir, in which he stated that he +had, by experiment, proven that side-wheels were better than the +"chaplet" (paddle-floats set on an endless chain).[78] These gentlemen +were then building for Fulton and Livingston their first boat, on +L'Isle des Cygnes, in the Seine. In planning this boat, Fulton had +devised many different methods of applying steam to its propulsion, +and had made some experiments to determine the resistance of fluids. +He therefore had been able to calculate, more accurately than had any +earlier inventor, the relative size and proportions of boat and +machinery. + + [78] A French inventor, a watchmaker of Trévoux, named Desblancs, + had already deposited at the Conservatoire a model fitted with + "chaplets." + +[Illustration: FIG. 78.--Fulton's Table of Resistances.] + +The author has examined a large collection of Fulton's drawings, among +which are sketches, very neatly executed, of many of these plans, +including the chaplet, side-wheel, and stern-wheel boats, driven by +various forms of steam-engine, some working direct, and some geared to +the paddle-wheel shaft. Figs. 77 and 78 are engraved from two of these +sheets. The first represents the method adopted by Fulton to determine +the resistance of masses of wood of various forms and proportions, +when towed through water. The other is "A Table of the resistance of +bodies moved through water, taken from experiments made in England by +a society for improving Naval architecture, between the years 1793 and +1798" (Fig. 78). This latter is from a certified copy of "The Original +Drawing on file in the Office of the Clerk of the New York District, +making a part of the Demonstration of the patent granted to Robert +Fulton, Esqr., on the 11th day of February, 1809. Dated this 3rd +March, 1814," and is signed by Theron Rudd, Clerk of the New York +District. Resistances are given in pounds per square foot. + +Guided by these experiments and calculations, therefore, Fulton +directed the construction of his vessel. It was completed in the +spring of 1803. But, unfortunately, the hull of the little vessel was +too weak for its heavy machinery, and it broke in two and sank to the +bottom of the Seine. Undiscouraged, Fulton at once set about repairing +damages. He was compelled to direct the rebuilding of the hull. The +machinery was little injured. In June, 1803, the reconstruction was +completed, and the vessel was set afloat in July. The hull was 66 feet +long, of 8 feet beam, and of light draught. + +August 9, 1803, this boat was cast loose, and steamed up the Seine, in +presence of an immense concourse of spectators. A committee of the +National Academy, consisting of Bougainville, Bossuet, Carnot, and +Périer, were present to witness the experiment. The boat moved but +slowly, making only between 3 and 4 miles an hour against the current, +the speed through the water being about 4-1/2 miles; but this was, all +things considered, a great success. + +The experiment was successful, but it attracted little attention, +notwithstanding the fact that its success had been witnessed by the +committee of the Academy and by many well-known savants and mechanics, +and by officers on Napoleon's staff. The boat remained a long time on +the Seine, near the palace. The water-tube boiler of this vessel (Fig. +79) is still preserved at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers at +Paris, where it is known as Barlow's boiler. Barlow patented it in +France as early as 1793, as a steamboat-boiler, and states that the +object of his construction was to obtain the greatest possible extent +of heating-surface. + +Fulton endeavored to secure the pecuniary aid and the countenance of +the First Consul, but in vain. + +Livingston wrote home, describing the trial of this steamboat and its +results, and procured the passage of an act by the Legislature of the +State of New York, extending a monopoly granted him in 1798 for the +term of 20 years from April 5, 1803, the date of the new law, and +extending the time allowed for proving the practicability of driving a +boat four miles an hour by steam to two years from the same date. A +later act further extended the time to April, 1807. + +[Illustration: FIG. 79.--Barlow's Water-Tube Boiler, 1793.] + +In May, 1804, Fulton went to England, giving up all hope of success in +France with either his steamboats or his torpedoes. Fulton had already +written to Boulton & Watt, ordering an engine to be built from plans +which he furnished them; but he had not informed them of the purpose +to which it was to be applied. This engine was to have a +steam-cylinder 2 feet in diameter and of 4 feet stroke. The engine of +the Charlotte Dundas was of very nearly the same size; and this fact, +and the visit of Fulton to Symmington in 1801, as described by the +latter, have been made the basis of a claim that Fulton was a copyist +of the plans of others. The general accordance of the dimensions of +his boat on the Seine with those of the "Polacca" of Roosevelt is also +made the basis of similar claims by the friends of the latter. It +would appear, however, that Symmington's statement is incorrect, as +Fulton was in France, experimenting with torpedoes, at the time (July, +1801[79]) when he is accused of having obtained from the English +engineer the dimensions and a statement of the performance of his +vessel. Yet a fireman employed by Symmington has made an affidavit to +the same statement. It is evident, however, from what has preceded, +that those inventors and builders who were at that time working with +the object of introducing the steamboat were usually well acquainted +with what had been done by others, and with what was being done by +their contemporaries; and it is undoubtedly the fact that each +profited, so far as he was able, by the experience of others. + + [79] Woodcroft, p. 64. + +While in England, however, Fulton was certainly not so entirely +absorbed in the torpedo experiments with which he was occupied in the +years 1804-'6 as to forget his plans for a steamboat; and he saw the +engine ordered by him in 1804 completed in the latter year, and +preceded it to New York, sailing from Falmouth in October, 1806, and +reaching the United States December 13, 1806. + +The engine was soon received, and Fulton immediately contracted for a +hull in which to set it up. Meantime, Livingston had also returned to +the United States, and the two enthusiasts worked together on a larger +steamer than any which had yet been constructed. + +In the spring of 1807, the "Clermont" (Fig. 80), as the new boat was +christened, was launched from the ship-yard of Charles Brown, on the +East River, New York. In August the machinery was on board and in +successful operation. The hull of this boat was 133 feet long, 18 +wide, and 9 deep. The boat soon made a trip to Albany, running the +distance of 150 miles in 32 hours running time, and returning in 30 +hours. The sails were not used on either occasion. + +[Illustration: FIG. 80.--The Clermont, 1807.] + +This was the first voyage of considerable length ever made by a +steam-vessel; and Fulton, though not to be classed with James Watt as +an inventor, is entitled to the great honor of having been the first +to make steam-navigation an every-day commercial success, and of +having thus made the first application of the steam-engine to +ship-propulsion, which was not followed by the retirement of the +experimenter from the field of his labors before success was +permanently insured. + +[Illustration: FIG. 81.--Engine of the Clermont, 1808.] + +The engine of the Clermont (Fig. 81) was of rather peculiar form, the +piston, _E_, being coupled to the crank-shaft, _O_, by a bell-crank, +_I H P_, and a connecting-rod, _P Q_, the paddle-wheel shaft, _M N_, +being separate from the crank-shaft, and connected with the latter by +gearing, _O O_. The cylinders were 24 inches in diameter by 4 feet +stroke. The paddle-wheels had buckets 4 feet long, with a dip of 2 +feet. Old drawings, made by Fulton's own hand, and showing the engine +as it was in 1808, and the engine of a later steamer, the Chancellor +Livingston, are in the lecture-room of the author at the Stevens +Institute of Technology. + +The voyage of the Clermont to Albany was attended by some ludicrous +incidents, which found their counterparts wherever, subsequently, +steamers were for the first time introduced. Mr. Colden, the +biographer of Fulton, says that she was described, by persons who had +seen her passing by night, "as a monster moving on the waters, defying +wind and tide, and breathing flames and smoke." + +This first steamboat used dry pine wood for fuel, and the flames rose +to a considerable distance above the smoke-pipe. When the fires were +disturbed, mingled smoke and sparks would rise high in the air. "This +uncommon light," says Colden, "first attracted the attention of the +crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide were averse +to its approach, they saw with astonishment that it was rapidly coming +toward them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery +and paddles was heard, the crews (if what was said in the newspapers +of the time be true), in some instances, shrank beneath their decks +from the terrific sight, and left their vessels to go on shore; while +others prostrated themselves, and besought Providence to protect them +from the approach of the horrible monster which was marching on the +tides, and lighting its path by the fires which it vomited." + +In the Clermont, Fulton used several of the now characteristic +features of the American river steamboat, and subsequently introduced +others. His most important and creditable work, aside from that of +the introduction of the steamboat into every-day use, was the +experimental determination of the magnitude and the laws of +ship-resistance, and the systematic proportioning of vessel and +machinery to the work to be done by them. + +The success of the Clermont on the trial-trip was such that Fulton +soon after advertised the vessel as a regular passenger-boat between +New York and Albany.[80] + + [80] A newspaper-slip in the scrap-book of the author has the + following: + + "The traveler of today, as he goes on board the great steamboats St. + John or Drew, can scarcely imagine the difference between such + floating palaces and the wee-bit punts on which our fathers were + wafted 60 years ago. We may, however, get some idea of the sort of + thing then in use by a perusal of the steamboat announcements of + that time, two of which are as follows: + + ["_Copy of an Advertisement taken from the Albany Gazette, dated + September, 1807._] + + "The North River Steamboat will leave Pauler's Hook Ferry [now + Jersey City] on Friday, the 4th of September, at 9 in the morning, + and arrive at Albany on Saturday, at 9 in the afternoon. Provisions, + good berths, and accommodations are provided. + + "The charge to each passenger is as follows: + + "To Newburg dols. 3, time 14 hours. + " Poughkeepsie " 4, " 17 " + " Esopus " 5, " 20 " + " Hudson " 5-1/2, " 30 " + " Albany " 7, " 36 " + + "For places, apply to William Vandervoort, No. 48 Courtlandt Street, + on the corner of Greenwich Street. + + "_September 2, 1807._ + + ["_Extract from the New York Evening Post, dated October 2, 1807._] + + "Mr. Fulton's new-invented _Steamboat_, which is fitted up in a neat + style for passengers, and is intended to run from New York to Albany + as a Packet, left here this morning with 90 passengers, against a + strong head-wind. Notwithstanding which, it was judged she moved + through the waters at the rate of six miles an hour." + +During the next winter the Clermont was repaired and enlarged, and in +the summer of 1808 was again on the route to Albany; and, meantime, +two new steamboats--the Raritan and the Car of Neptune--had been built +by Fulton. In the year 1811 he built the Paragon. Both of the two +vessels last named were of nearly double the size of the Clermont. A +steam ferry-boat was built to ply between New York and Jersey City in +1812, and the next year two others, to connect the metropolis with +Brooklyn. These were "twin-boats," the two parallel hulls being +connected by a "bridge" or deck common to both. The Jersey ferry was +crossed in fifteen minutes, the distance being a mile and a half. +To-day, the time occupied at the same ferry is about ten minutes. +Fulton's ferry-boat carried, at one load, 8 carriages, and about 30 +horses, and still had room for 300 or 400 foot-passengers. Fulton also +designed steam-vessels for use on the Western rivers, and, in 1815, +some of his boats were started as "packets" on the line between New +York and Providence, R. I. + +Meantime, the War of 1812 was in progress, and Fulton designed a steam +vessel-of-war, which was then considered a wonderfully formidable +craft. His plans were submitted to a commission of experienced naval +officers, among whom were Commodores Decatur and Perry, Captain John +Paul Jones, Captain Evans, and others whose names are still familiar, +and were favorably commended. Fulton proposed to build a steam-vessel +capable of carrying a heavy battery, and of steaming four miles an +hour. The ship was to be fitted with furnaces for red-hot shot. Some +of her guns were to be discharged below the water-line. The estimated +cost was $320,000. + +The construction of the vessel was authorized by Congress in March, +1814; the keel was laid June 20, 1814, and the vessel was launched +October 29th of the same year. + +[Illustration: FIG. 82.--Launch of the "Fulton the First," 1804.] + +The "Fulton the First," as she was called, was considered an enormous +vessel at that time. The hull was double, 156 feet long, 56 feet wide, +and 20 feet deep, measuring 2,475 tons. In the following May the ship +was ready for her engine, and in July was so far completed as to +steam, on a trial-trip, to the ocean at Sandy Hook and back--53 +miles--in 8 hours and 20 minutes. In September of the same year, with +armament and stores on board, the same route was traversed again, the +vessel making 5-1/2 miles an hour. The vessel, as thus completed, had +a double hull, each about 20 feet longer than the Clermont, and +separated by a space 15 feet across. Her engine, having a +steam-cylinder 48 inches in diameter and of 5 feet stroke of piston, +was furnished with steam by a copper boiler 22 feet long, 12 feet +wide, and 8 feet high, and turned a wheel between the two hulls which +was 16 feet in diameter, and carried "floats" or "buckets" 14 feet +long, and with a dip of 4 feet. The engine was in one of the two +hulls, and the boiler in the other. The sides, at the gun-deck, were 4 +feet 10 inches thick, and her spar-deck was surrounded by heavy +musket-proof bulwarks. The armament consisted of 30 32-pounders, which +were intended to discharge red-hot shot. There was one heavy mast for +each hull, fitted with large latteen sails. Each end of each hull was +fitted with a rudder. Large pumps were carried, which were intended to +throw heavy streams of water upon the decks of the enemy, with a view +to disabling the foe by wetting his ordnance and ammunition. A +submarine gun was to have been carried at each bow, to discharge shot +weighing 100 pounds, at a depth of 10 feet below the water-line. + +This was the first application of the steam-engine to naval purposes, +and, for the time, it was an exceedingly creditable one. Fulton, +however, did not live to see the ship completed. He was engaged in a +contest with Livingston, who was then endeavoring to obtain permission +from the State of New Jersey to operate a line of steamboats in the +waters of the Hudson River and New York Bay, and, while returning from +attending a session of the Legislature at Trenton, in January, 1815, +was exposed to the weather on the bay at a time when he was ill +prepared to withstand it. He was taken ill, and died February 24th of +that year. His death was mourned as a national calamity. + +From the above brief sketch of this distinguished man and his work, it +is seen that, although Robert Fulton is not entitled to distinction as +an inventor, he was one of the ablest, most persistent, and most +successful of those who have done so much for the world by the +introduction of the inventions of others. He was an intelligent +engineer and an enterprising business-man, whose skill, acuteness, and +energy have given the world the fruits of the inventive genius of all +who preceded him, and have thus justly earned for him a fame that can +never be lost. + +Fulton had some active and enterprising rivals. + +Oliver Evans had, in 1801 or 1802, sent one of his engines, of about +150 horse-power, to New Orleans, for the purpose of using it to propel +a vessel owned by Messrs. McKeever and Valcourt, which was there +awaiting it. The engine was actually set up in the boat, but at a low +stage of the river, and no trial could be made until the river should +again rise, some months later. Having no funds to carry them through +so long a period, Evans's agents were induced to remove the engine +again, and to set it up in a saw-mill, where it created great +astonishment by its extraordinary performance in sawing lumber. + +Livingston and Roosevelt were also engaged in experiments quite as +early as Fulton, and perhaps earlier. + +The prize gained by Fulton was, however, most closely contested by +Colonel JOHN STEVENS, of Hoboken, who has been already mentioned in +connection with the early history of railroads, and who had been since +1791 engaged in similar experiments. In 1789 he had petitioned the +Legislature of the State of New York for a grant similar to that +accorded to Livingston, and he then stated that his plans were +complete, and on paper. + +[Illustration: FIG. 83.--Section of Steam-Boiler, 1804.] + +In 1804, while Fulton was in Europe, Stevens had completed a +steamboat, 68 feet long and of 14 feet beam, which combined novelties +and merits of design in a manner that exhibited the best possible +evidence of remarkable inventive talent, as well as of the most +perfect appreciation of the nature of the problem which he had +proposed to himself to solve. Its boiler (Fig. 83) was of what is now +known as the water-tubular variety. It was quite similar to some now +known as sectional boilers, and contained 100 tubes 2 inches in +diameter and 18 inches long, each fastened at one end to a central +water-leg and steam-drum, and plugged at the other end. The flames +from the furnace passed around and among the tubes, the water being +inside them. The engine (Fig. 84) was a _direct-acting high-pressure_ +condensing engine, having a 10-inch cylinder, 2 feet stroke of piston, +and drove a _screw_ having four blades, and of a form which, even +to-day, appears quite good. The whole is a most remarkable piece of +early engineering. + +[Illustration: FIG. 84.--Engine, Boiler, and Screw-Propellers used by +Stevens, 1804.] + +A model of this little steamer, built in 1804, is preserved in the +lecture-room of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the +Stevens Institute of Technology; and the machinery itself, consisting +of the high-pressure "sectional" or "safety" tubular boiler, as it +would be called to-day, the high-pressure condensing engine, with +rotating valves, and twin screw-propellers, as just described, is +given a place of honor in the model-room, or museum, where it +contrasts singularly with the mechanism contributed to the collection +by manufacturers and inventors of our own time. The hub and blade of a +single screw, also used with the same machinery, is likewise to be +seen there. + +[Illustration: FIG. 85.--Stevens's Screw Steamer, 1804.] + +Stevens seems to have been the first to fully recognize the importance +of the principle involved in the construction of the sectional +steam-boiler. His eldest son, John Cox Stevens, was in Great Britain +in the year 1805, and, while there, patented another modification of +this type of boiler. In his specification, he details both the method +of construction and the principles which determine its form. He says +that he describes this invention as it was made known to him by his +father, and adds: + +"From a series of experiments made in France, in 1790, by M. Belamour, +under the auspices of the Royal Academy of Sciences, it has been found +that, within a certain range the elasticity of steam is nearly doubled +by every addition of temperature equal to 30° of Fahrenheit's +thermometer. These experiments were carried no higher than 280°, at +which temperature the elasticity of steam was found equal to about +four times the pressure of the atmosphere. By experiments which have +lately been made by myself, the elasticity of steam at the temperature +of boiling oil, which has been estimated at about 600°, was found to +equal 40 times the pressure of the atmosphere. + +"To the discovery of this principle or law, which obtains when water +assumes a state of vapor, I certainly can lay no claim; but to the +application of it, upon certain principles, to the improvement of the +steam-engine, I do claim exclusive right. + +"It is obvious that, to derive advantage from an application of this +principle, it is absolutely necessary that the vessel or vessels for +generating steam should have strength sufficient to withstand the +great pressure from an increase of elasticity in the steam; but this +pressure is increased or diminished in proportion to the capacity of +the containing vessel. The principle, then, of this invention consists +in forming a boiler by means of a system, or combination of a number +of small vessels, instead of using, as in the usual mode, one large +one; the relative strength of the materials of which these vessels +are composed increasing in proportion to the diminution of capacity. +It will readily occur that there are an infinite variety of possible +modes of effecting such combinations; but, from the nature of the +case, there are certain limits beyond which it becomes impracticable +to carry on improvement. In the boiler I am about to describe, I +apprehend that the improvement is carried to the utmost extent of +which the principle is capable. Suppose a plate of brass of one foot +square, in which a number of holes are perforated; into each of which +holes is fixed one end of a copper tube, of about an inch in diameter +and two feet long; and the other ends of these tubes inserted in like +manner into a similar piece of brass; the tubes, to insure their +tightness, to be cast in the plates; these plates are to be inclosed +at each end of the pipes by a strong cap of cast-iron or brass, so as +to leave a space of an inch or two between the plates or ends of the +pipes and the cast-iron cap at each end; the caps at each end are to +be fastened by screw-bolts passing through them into the plates; the +necessary supply of water is to be injected by means of a forcing-pump +into the cap at one end, and through a tube inserted into the cap at +the other end the steam is to be conveyed to the cylinder of the +steam-engine; the whole is then to be encircled in brickwork or +masonry in the usual manner, placed either horizontally or +perpendicularly, at option. + +"I conceive that the boiler above described embraces the most eligible +mode of applying the principle before mentioned, and that it is +unnecessary to give descriptions of the variations in form and +construction that may be adopted, especially as these forms may be +diversified in many different modes." + +Boilers of the character of those described in the specification given +above were used on the locomotive built by John Stevens in 1824-'25, +and one of them remains in the collections of the Stevens Institute of +Technology. + +The use of such a boiler 70 years ago is even more remarkable than the +adoption of the screw-propeller, in such excellent proportions, 30 +years before the labors of Smith and of Ericsson brought the screw +into general use; and we have, in this strikingly original +combination, as good evidence of the existence of unusual engineering +talent in this great engineer as we found of his political and +statesmanlike ability in his efforts to forward the introduction of +railways. + +Colonel John Stevens designed a peculiar form of iron-clad in the year +1812, which has been since reproduced by no less distinguished and +successful an engineer than the late John Elder, of Glasgow, Scotland. +It consisted of a saucer-shaped hull, carrying a heavy battery, and +plated with iron of ample thickness to resist the shot fired from the +heaviest ordnance then known. This vessel was secured to a swivel, and +was anchored in the channel to be defended. A set of screw-propellers, +driven by steam-engines, and situated beneath the vessel, where they +were safe against injury by shot, were so arranged as to permit the +vessel to be rapidly revolved about its centre. As each gun was +brought into line of fire, it was discharged, and was then reloaded +before coming around again. This was probably the earliest embodiment +of the now well-established "Monitor" principle. It was probably the +first iron-clad ever designed. It has recently been again brought out +and introduced into the Russian navy, and is there called the +"Popoffka." + +The first of Stevens's boats performed so well, that he immediately +built another one, using the same engine as before, but employing a +larger boiler, and propelling the vessel by _twin screws_, the latter +being another instance of his use of a device brought forward long +afterward as new, and frequently adopted. This boat was sufficiently +successful to prove the practicability of making steam-navigation a +commercial success; and Stevens, assisted by his sons, built a boat +which he named the "Ph[oe]nix," and made the first trial in 1807, but +just too late to anticipate Fulton. This boat was driven by +paddle-wheels. + +[Illustration: FIG. 86.--Stevens's Twin-Screw Steamer, 1805.] + +The Ph[oe]nix, being shut out of the waters of the State of New York +by the monopoly held by Fulton and Livingston, was used for a time +between New York and New Brunswick, and then, anticipating a better +pecuniary return, it was concluded to send her to Philadelphia, to ply +on the Delaware. + +At that time no canal offered the opportunity to make an inland +passage; and in June, 1808, Robert L. Stevens, a son of John, started +with her to make the passage by sea. Although meeting a gale of wind, +he arrived at Philadelphia safely, having been the first to trust +himself on the open sea in a vessel relying entirely upon steam-power. + +From this time forward the Stevenses, father and sons, continued to +construct steam-vessels; and, after the breaking down of the Fulton +monopoly by the courts, they built the most successful steamboats that +ran on the Hudson River. + +After Fulton and Stevens had thus led the way, steam-navigation was +introduced very rapidly on both sides of the ocean; and on the +Mississippi the number of boats set afloat was soon large enough to +fulfill Evans's prediction that the navigation of that river would +ultimately be effected by steam-vessels. + +The changes and improvements which, during the 20 years succeeding the +time of Fulton and of John Stevens, gradually led to the adoption of +the now recognized type of "American river-boat" and its steam-engine, +were principally made by that son of the senior Stevens, who has +already been mentioned--ROBERT L. STEVENS--and who became known later +as the designer and builder of the first well-planned iron-clad ever +constructed, the Stevens Battery. Much of his best work was done +during his father's lifetime. + +[Illustration: Robert L. Stevens.] + +He made many extended and most valuable, as well as interesting, +experiments on ship-propulsion, expending much time and large sums of +money upon them; and many years before they became generally +understood, he had arrived at a knowledge not only of the laws +governing the variation of resistance at excessive speeds, but he had +determined, and had introduced into his practice, those forms of least +resistance and those graceful water-lines which have only recently +distinguished the practice of other successful naval architects. + +Referring to his invaluable services, President King, who seems to +have been the first to thoroughly appreciate the immense amount of +original invention and the surprising excellence of the engineering of +this family, in a lecture delivered in New York in 1851, gave, for the +first time, a connected and probably accurate description of their +work, upon which nearly all later accounts have been based. + +Young Stevens began working in his father's machine-shop in 1804 or +1805, when a mere boy, and thus acquired at a very early age that +familiarity with practical details of work and of business which is +essential to perfect success. It was he who introduced the now common +"hollow water-line" in the Ph[oe]nix, and thus anticipated the claims +of the builders of the once famous "Baltimore clippers," and of the +inventors of the "wave-line" form of vessels. In the same vessel he +adopted a feathering paddle-wheel and the guard-beam now universally +seen in our river steamboats. + +As usually constructed, this arrangement of float is as shown in Fig. +87. The rods, _F F_, connect the eccentrically-set collar, _G_, +carried on _H_, a pin mounted on the paddle-beam outside the wheel, or +an eccentric secured to the vessel, with the short arms, _D D_, by +which the paddles are turned upon the pins, _E E_. _A_ is the centre +of the paddle-wheel, and _C C_ are arms. Circular hoops, or bands, +connect all of the arms, each of which carries a float. They are all +thus tied together, forming a very firm and powerful combination to +resist external forces. + +[Illustration: FIG. 87.--The Feathering Paddle-Wheel.] + +The steamboat Philadelphia was built in the year 1813, and the young +naval architect took advantage of the opportunity to introduce several +new devices, including screw-bolts in place of tree-nails, and +diagonal knees of wood and of iron. Two years later he altered the +engines of this boat, and arranged them to work steam expansively. A +little later he commenced using anthracite coal, which had been +discovered in 1791 by Philip Ginter, and introduced at Wilkesbarre, +Pa., in the smith-shops, some years before the Revolution. It had been +used in a peculiar grate devised by Judge Fell, of that town, in 1808. +Oliver Evans also had used it in stoves even earlier than the latter +date, and at about the same time it had been used in the +blast-furnace[81] at Kingston. Stevens was the first of whom we have +record who was thoroughly successful in using, as a steam-coal, the +new and almost unmanageable fuel. He fitted up the boiler of the +steamboat Passaic for it in 1818, and adopted anthracite as a +steaming-coal. He used it in a cupola-furnace in the same year, and +its use then rapidly became general in the Eastern States. + + [81] Bishop. + +Stevens continued his work of improving the beam-engine for many +years. He designed the now universally-used "skeleton-beam," which is +one of the characteristic features of the American engine, and placed +the first example of this light and elegant, yet strong, construction +on the steamer Hoboken in the year 1822. He built the Trenton, which +was then considered an extraordinarily powerful, fast, and handsome +vessel, two years afterward, and placed the two boilers on the +guards--a custom which is still general on the river steamboats of the +Eastern States. In this vessel he also adopted the plan of making the +paddle-wheel floats in two parts, placing one above the other, and +securing the upper half on the forward and the lower half on the after +side of the arm, thus obtaining a smoother action of the wheel, and +less loss by oblique pressures. + +In 1827 he built the North America (Fig. 88), one of his largest and +most successful steamers, a vessel fitted with a pair of engines each +44-1/2 inches in diameter of cylinder and 8 feet stroke of piston, +making 24 revolutions per minute, driving the boat 15 to 16 miles an +hour. Anticipating difficulty in keeping the long, light, shallow +vessel in shape when irregularly laden, and when steaming at the high +speed expected to be obtained when her powerful engine was exerting +its maximum effort, he adopted the expedient of stiffening the hull by +means of a truss of simple form. This proved thoroughly satisfactory, +and the "hog-frame," as it has since been inelegantly but universally +called, is still one of the peculiar features of every American +river-steamer of any considerable size. It was in the North America, +also, that he first introduced the artificial blast for forcing the +fires, which is still another detail of now usual practice. + +[Illustration: FIG. 88.--The North America and Albany, 1827-'30.] + +Stevens next turned his attention to the engine again, and adopted +spring bearings under the paddle-shaft of the New Philadelphia in +1828, and fitted the steam-cylinder with the "double-poppet" valve, +which is now universally used on beam-engines. This consists of two +disk-valves, connected by the valve-spindle. The disks are of unequal +sizes, the smaller passing through the seat of the larger. When +seated, the pressure of the steam is, in the steam-valve, taken on the +upper side of the larger and the lower side of the smaller disk, thus +producing a partial balancing of the valve, and rendering it easy to +work the heaviest engine by the hand-gear. The two valve-seats are +formed in the top and the bottom, respectively, of the steam-passage +leading to the cylinder; and when the valve is raised, the steam +enters at the top and the bottom at the same time, and the two +currents, uniting, flow together into the steam-cylinder. The same +form of valve is used as an exhaust-valve. + +At about the same time he built the now standard form of return +tubular boilers for moderate pressures. In the figure, _S_ is the +steam and _W_ the water space, and _F_ the furnace. The direction of +the currents of smoke and gas are shown by the arrows. + +[Illustration: FIG. 89.--Stevens's Return Tubular Boiler, 1832.] + +Some years later (1840), Stevens commenced using steam-packed pistons +on the Trenton, in which steam was admitted by self-adjusting valves +behind the metallic packing-rings, setting them out more effectively +than did the steel springs then (and still) usually employed. + +His pistons, thus fitted, worked well for many years. A set of the +small brass check-valves used in a piston of this kind, built by +Stevens, and preserved in the cabinets of the Stevens Institute of +Technology, are good evidence of the ingenuity and excellent +workmanship which distinguished the machinery constructed under the +direction of this great engineer. + +[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Stevens's Valve-Motion.] + +The now familiar "Stevens cut-off," a peculiar device for securing the +expansion of steam in the steam-cylinder, was the invention (1841) of +Robert L. Stevens and a nephew, who inherited the same constructive +talent which distinguished the first of these great men--Mr. Francis +B. Stevens. In this form of valve-gear, the steam and exhaust valves +are independently worked by separate eccentrics, the latter being set +in the usual manner, opening and closing the exhaust-passages just +before the crank passes its centre. The steam-eccentric is so placed +that the steam-valve is opened as usual, but closed when but about +one-half the stroke has been made. This result is accomplished by +giving the eccentric a greater throw than is required by the motion of +the valve, and permitting it to move through a portion of its path +without moving the valve. Thus, in Fig. 90, if _A B_ be the direction +of motion of the eccentric-rod, the valve would ordinarily open the +steam-port when the eccentric assumes the position _O C_, closing when +the eccentric has passed around to _O D_. With the Stevens valve-gear, +the valve is opened when the eccentric reaches _O E_, and closes when +it arrives at _O F_. The steam-valve of the opposite end of the +cylinder is open while the eccentric is moving from _O M_ to _O K_. +Between _K_ and _E_, and between _F_ and _M_, both valves are seated. +_H B_ is proportional to the lift of the valve, and _O H_ to the +motion of the valve-gear when out of contact with the valve-lifters. +While the crank is moving through an arc, _E F_, steam is entering the +cylinder; from _F_ to _M_ the steam is expanding. At _M_ the stroke is +completed, and the other steam-valve opens. The ratio (E M)/(E L) is +the ratio of expansion. + +This form of cut-off motion is still a very usual one, and can be seen +in nearly all steamers in the United States not using the device of +Sickles. It was at about this time, also, that Stevens, having +succeeded his father in the business of introducing the steam-engine +in land-transportation, as well as on the water, adopted the use of +steam expansively on the locomotives of the Camden & Amboy Railroad, +which was controlled and built by capital furnished principally by the +Messrs. Stevens. He at the same time constructed eight-wheeled engines +for heavy work, and adopted anthracite coal as fuel. In the latter +change he was thoroughly successful, and the same improvement was made +with engines built for fast traffic in 1848. + +The most remarkable of all the applications of steam-power proposed by +Robert L. Stevens was that known as the Stevens Steam Iron-Clad +Battery. As has already been stated, Colonel John Stevens had +proposed, as early as 1812, to build a circular or saucer-shaped +iron-clad, like those built 60 years later for the Russian Navy. +Nothing was done, however, although the son revived the idea in a +modified form 20 years afterward. In the years 1813-'14, the war with +England being then in progress, he invented, after numerous and +hazardous experiments, an _elongated shell_, to be fired from ordinary +smooth-bored cannon. Having perfected this invention, he sold the +secret to the United States, after making experiments to prove their +destructiveness so decisive as to leave no doubt of the efficacy of +such projectiles. + +As early as 1837 he had perfected a plan of an iron-clad war-vessel, +and in August, 1841, his brothers, James C. and Edwin A. Stevens, +representing Robert L., addressed a letter to the Secretary of the +Navy, proposing to build an iron-clad vessel of high speed, with all +its machinery below the water-line, and having submerged +screw-propellers. The armament was to consist of the most powerful +rifled guns, loading at the breech, and provided with elongated shot +and shell. In the year 1842, having contracted to build for the United +States Government a large war-steamer on this plan, which should be +shot and shell proof, Robert L. Stevens built a steamboat at +Bordentown, for the sole purpose of experimenting on the forms and +curves of propeller-blades, as compared with side-wheels, and +continued his experiments for many months. After some delay, during +which Mr. Stevens and his brothers were engaged with their experiments +and in perfecting their plans, the keel of an iron-clad was laid down +in a dry-dock which had been constructed for the purpose at great +cost. This vessel was to have been 250 feet long, of 40 feet beam, and +28 feet deep. The machinery was designed to furnish 700 indicated +horse-power. The plating was proposed to be 4-1/2 inches thick--the +same thickness of armor as was adopted 10 years later by the French +for their comparatively rude constructions. + +In 1854, such marked progress had been made in the construction of +ordnance that Mr. Stevens was no longer willing to proceed with the +original plans, fearing that, were the ship completed, it might prove +not invulnerable, and might throw some discredit upon its designer, as +well as upon the navy of which it was to form a part. The work, which +had, in those years of peace, progressed very slowly and +intermittently, was therefore stopped entirely, the vessel given up, +and in 1854 the keel of a ship of vastly greater size and power was +laid down. The new design was 415 feet long, of 45 feet beam, and of +something over 5,000 tons displacement. The thickness of armor +proposed was 6-3/4 inches--2-1/4 inches thicker than that of the +first French and British iron-clads--and the machinery was designed by +Mr. Stevens to be of 8,624 indicated horse-power, driving twin-screws, +and propelling the vessel 20 miles or more an hour. As with the +preceding design, the progress of construction was intermittent and +very slow. Government advanced funds, and then refused to continue the +work; successive administrations alternately encouraged and +discouraged the engineer; and he finally, cutting loose entirely from +all official connections, went on with the work at his own expense. + +The remarkable genius of the elder Stevens was well reflected in the +character of his son, and is in no way better exemplified than by the +accuracy with which, in this great ship, those forms and proportions, +both of hull and machinery, were adopted which are now, twenty-five +years later, recognized as most correct under similar conditions. The +lines of the vessel are beautifully fair and fine, and are what J. +Scott Russell has called "wave-lines," or trochoidal lines, such as +Rankine has shown to be the best possible for easy propulsion. The +proportion of length to midship dimensions is such as to secure the +speed proposed with a minimum resistance, and to accord closely with +the proportions arrived at and adopted by common consent in present +transoceanic navigation by the best--not to say radical--builders. + +The death of Robert L. Stevens occurred in April, 1856, when this +larger vessel had advanced so far toward completion that the hull and +machinery were practically finished, and it only remained to add the +armor-plating, and to decide upon the form of fighting-house and upon +the number and size of guns. The construction of the vessel, which had +proceeded slowly and intermittently during the years of peace, as +successive administrations had considered it necessary to continue the +payment of appropriations, or had stopped temporarily in the absence +of any apparent immediate necessity for continuance of the work, was +again interrupted by his death. + +The name of Robert L. Stevens will be long remembered as that of one +of the greatest of American mechanics, the most intelligent of naval +architects, and as the first, and one of the greatest, of those to +whom we are indebted for the commencement of the mightiest of +revolutions in the methods and implements of modern naval warfare. +American mechanical genius and engineering skill have rarely been too +promptly recognized, and no excuse will be required for an attempt +(which it is hoped may yet be made) to place such splendid work as +that of the Messrs. Stevens in a light which shall reveal both its +variety and extent and its immense importance. + +While Fulton was introducing the steamboat upon the waters of New York +Bay and the Hudson River, and while the Stevenses, father and sons, +were rapidly bringing out a fleet of steamers on the Delaware River +and Bay, other mechanics were preparing to contest the field with them +as opportunity offered, and as legislative acts authorizing monopoly +expired by limitation or were repealed. + +About 1821, Robert L. Thurston, John Babcock, and Captain Stephen T. +Northam, of Newport, R. I., commenced building steamboats, beginning +with a small craft intended for use at Slade's Ferry, on an arm of +Narragansett Bay, near Fall River. They afterward built vessels to ply +on Long Island Sound. One of their earliest boats was the Babcock, +built at Newport in 1826. The engine was built by Thurston and +Babcock, at Portsmouth, R. I. They were assisted in their work by +Richard Sanford, and with funds by Northam. The engine was of 10 or 12 +inches diameter of cylinder, and 3 or 4 feet stroke of piston. The +boiler was a form of "pipe-boiler," subsequently (1824) patented by +Babcock. The water used was injected into the hot boiler as fast as +required to furnish steam, no water being retained in the +steam-generator. This boat was succeeded, in 1827-'28, by a larger +vessel, the Rushlight, for which the engine was built by James P. +Allaire, at New York, while the boat was built at Newport. The boilers +of both vessels had tubes of cast-iron. The smaller of these boats was +of 80 tons burden; it steamed from Newport to Providence, 30 miles, in +3-1/2 hours, and to New York, a distance of 175 miles, in 25 hours, +using 1-3/4 cord of wood.[82] Thurston and Babcock subsequently +removed to Providence, where the latter soon died. Thurston continued +to build steam-engines at this place until nearly a half-century +later, dying in 1874.[83] The establishment founded by him, after +various changes, became the Providence Steam-Engine Works. + + [82] _American Journal of Science_, March, 1827; _London Mechanics' + Magazine_, June 16, 1827. + + [83] "New Universal Cyclopædia," vol. iv., 1878. + +James P. Allaire, of New York, the West Point Iron Foundery, at West +Point, on the Hudson River, and Daniel Copeland and his son, Charles +W. Copeland, on the Connecticut River, were also early builders of +engines for steam-vessels. Daniel Copeland was probably the first +(1850) to adopt a slide-valve working with a lap to secure the +expansion of steam. His steamboats were then usually stern-wheel +vessels, and were built to ply on several routes on the Connecticut +River and Long Island Sound. The son, Charles W. Copeland, +went to West Point, and while there designed some heavy marine +steam-machinery, and subsequently designed several steam +vessels-of-war for the United States Navy. He was the earliest +designer of iron steamers in the United States, building the Siamese +in 1838. This steamer was intended for use on Lake Pontchartrain and +the canal to New Orleans. It had two hulls, was 110 feet long, and +drew but 22 inches of water, loaded. The two horizontal non-condensing +engines turned a single paddle-wheel placed between the two hulls, +driving the boat 10 miles an hour. The hull was constructed of plates +of iron 10 feet long, formed on blocks after having been heated in a +furnace constructed especially for the purpose. The frames were of +T-iron, which was probably here used for the first time. The same +engineer, associated with Samuel Hart, a well-known naval constructor, +built, in 1841, for the United States Navy, the iron steamer Michigan, +a war-vessel intended for service on the great northern lakes. This +vessel is still in service, and in good order. The hull is 162-1/2 +feet in length, 27 feet in breadth, and 12-1/2 feet in depth, +measuring 500 tons. The frames were made of T-iron, stiffened by +reverse bars of L-iron. The keel-plate was 5/8 inch thick, the bottom +plates 3/8, and the sides 3/16 inch. The deck-beams were of iron, and +the vessel, as a whole, was a good specimen of iron-ship building. + +During the period from 1830 to 1840, a considerable number of the now +standard details of steam-engine and steamboat construction were +devised or introduced by Copeland. He was probably the first to use +(on the Fulton, 1840) an independent engine to drive the blowing-fans +where an artificial draught was required. He made a practice of +fitting his steamers with a "bilge-injection," by means of which the +vessel could be freed of water, through the condenser and air-pump, +when leaking seriously; the condensing-water is, in such a case, taken +from inside the vessel, instead of from the sea. This is probably an +American device. It was in use in the United States previously to +1835, as was the use of anthracite coal on steamers, which was +continued by Copeland in manufacturing and in air-furnaces, as well as +on steamboats. He also modified the form of Stevens's double-poppet +valve, giving it such shape that it was comparatively easy to grind it +tight and to keep it in order. + +In 1825, James P. Allaire, of New York, built compound engines for the +Henry Eckford, and subsequently constructed similar engines for +several other steamers, one of which, the Sun, made the trip from New +York to Albany in 12 hours 18 minutes. He used steam at 100 pounds +pressure. Erastus W. Smith afterward introduced this form of engine on +the Great Lakes, and still later they were introduced into British +steamers. The machinery of the steamer Buckeye State was constructed +at the Allaire Works, New York, in 1850, from the designs of John +Baird and Erastus W. Smith, the latter being the designing and +constructing engineer. The steamer was placed on the route between +Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit, in 1851, and gave most satisfactory +results, consuming less than two-thirds the fuel required by a similar +vessel of the same line fitted with the single-cylinder engine. The +steam-cylinders of this engine were placed one within the other, the +low-pressure exterior cylinder being annular. They were 37 and 80 +inches in diameter respectively, and the stroke was 11 feet. Both +pistons were connected to one cross-head, and the general arrangement +of the engine was similar to that of the common form of beam-engine. +The steam-pressure was from 70 to 75 pounds--about the maximum +pressure adopted a quarter of a century later on transatlantic lines. +This steamer was of high speed, as well as economical of fuel. + +In the year 1830, there were 86 steamers on the Hudson River and in +Long Island Sound. + +During the early part of the nineteenth century, the introduction of +the steamboat upon the waters of the great rivers of the interior of +the United States was one of the most notable details of its history. +Inaugurated by the unsuccessful experiment of Evans, the building of +steamboats on those waters, once commenced, never ceased; and a +generation after Fitch's burial on the shore of the Ohio, his last +wish--that he might lie "where the song of the boatman would enliven +the stillness of his resting-place, and the music of the steam-engine +soothe his spirit"--was fulfilled day by day unceasingly. + +Nicholas J. Roosevelt was, as has been already stated, the first to +take a steamboat down the great rivers. His boat was built at +Pittsburgh in 1811, under an arrangement with Fulton and Livingston, +from Fulton's plans. It was called the "New Orleans," was of about 200 +tons burden, and was propelled by a stern-wheel, assisted, when the +winds were favorable, by sails carried on two masts. The hull was 138 +feet long, 30 feet beam, and the cost of the whole, including engines, +was about $40,000. The builder, with his family, an engineer, a pilot, +and six "deck-hands," left Pittsburgh in October, 1811, reaching +Louisville in 70 hours (steaming about 10 miles an hour), and New +Orleans in 14 days, steaming from Natchez. + +The next steamers built on Western waters were probably the Comet and +the Vesuvius, both of which were in service some time. The Comet was +finally laid aside, and the engine used to drive a mill, and the +Vesuvius was destroyed by the explosion of her boilers. As early as +1813 there were two shops at Pittsburgh building steam-engines. +Steamboat-building now became an important and lucrative business in +the West; and it is stated that as early as 1840 there were a thousand +steamers on the Mississippi and its tributaries. + +In the Washington, built at Wheeling, Va., in 1816, under the +direction of Captain Henry M. Shreve, the boilers, which had +previously been placed in the hold, were carried on the main-deck, and +a "hurricane-deck" was built over them. Shreve substituted two +horizontal direct-acting engines for the single upright engine used by +Fulton, drove them by high-pressure steam without condensation, and +attached them, one on each side the boat, to cranks placed at right +angles. He adopted a cam cut-off expanding the steam considerably, and +the flue-boiler of Evans. At that time the voyage from New Orleans to +Louisville occupied three weeks, and Shreve was made the subject of +many witticisms when he predicted that the time would ultimately be +shortened to ten days. It is now made in four days. The Washington was +seized at New Orleans, in 1817, by order of Livingston, who claimed +that his rights included the monopoly of the navigation of the +Mississippi and its tributaries. The courts decided adversely on this +claim, and the release of the Washington was the act which removed +every obstacle to the introduction of steam-navigation throughout the +United States. + +The first steamer on the Great Lakes was the Ontario, built in 1816, +at Sackett's Harbor. Fifteen years later, Western steamboats had taken +the peculiar form which has since usually distinguished them. + +The use of the steam-engine for ocean-navigation kept pace with its +introduction on inland waters. Begun by Robert L. Stevens in the +United States, in the year 1808, and by his contemporaries, Bell and +Dodd, in Great Britain, it steadily and rapidly advanced in +effectiveness and importance, and has now nearly driven the sailing +fleet from the ocean. Transatlantic steam-navigation began with the +voyage of the American steamer Savannah from Savannah, Ga., to St. +Petersburg, Russia, _via_ Great Britain and the North-European ports, +in the year 1819. Fulton, not long before his death, planned a vessel, +which it was proposed to place in service in the Baltic Sea; but +circumstances compelled a change of plan finally, and the steamer was +placed on a line between Newport, R. I., and the city of New York; and +the Savannah, several years later, made the voyage then proposed for +Fulton's ship. The Savannah measured 350 tons, and was constructed by +Crocker & Fickett, at Corlears Hook, N. Y. She was purchased by Mr. +Scarborough, of Savannah, who placed Captain Moses Rogers, previously +in command of the Clermont and of Stevens's boat, the Ph[oe]nix, in +charge. The ship was fitted with steam-machinery and paddle-wheels, +and sailed for Savannah April 27, 1819, making the voyage successfully +in seven days. From Savannah, the vessel sailed for Liverpool May +26th, and arrived at that port June 20th. During this trip the engines +were used 18 days, and the remainder of the voyage was made under +sail. From Liverpool the Savannah sailed, July 23d, for the Baltic, +touching at Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and other ports. At +St. Petersburg, Lord Lyndock, who had been a passenger, was landed; +and, on taking leave of the commander of the steamer, the +distinguished guest presented him with a silver tea-kettle, suitably +inscribed with a legend referring to the importance of the event which +afforded him the opportunity. The Savannah left St. Petersburg in +November, passing New York December 9th, and reaching Savannah in 50 +days from the date of departure, stopping four days at Copenhagen, +Denmark, and an equal length of time at Arundel, Norway. Several +severe gales were met in the Atlantic, but no serious injury was done +to the ship. + +The Savannah was a full-rigged ship. The wheels were turned by an +inclined direct-acting low-pressure engine, having a steam-cylinder 40 +inches in diameter and 6 feet stroke of piston. The paddle-wheels were +of wrought-iron, and were so attached that they could be detached and +hoisted on board when it was desired. After the return of the ship to +the United States, the machinery was removed and was sold to the +Allaire Works, of New York. The steam-cylinder was exhibited by the +purchasers at the "World's Fair" at New York thirty years later. The +vessel was employed, as a sailing-vessel, on a line between New York +and Savannah, and was finally lost in the year 1822. Under sail, with +a moderate breeze, this ship is said to have sailed about three knots, +and to have steamed five knots. Pine-wood was used as the fuel, which +fact accounts for the necessity of making the transatlantic voyage +partly under sail. + +Renwick states that another vessel, ship-rigged and fitted with a +steam-engine, was built at New York in 1819, to ply between New York +and Charleston, and to New Orleans and Havana, and that it proved +perfectly successful as a steamer, having good speed, and proving an +excellent sea-boat. The enterprise was, however, pecuniarily a +failure, and the vessel was sold to the Brazilian Government after the +removal of the engine. In 1825 the steamer Enterprise made a voyage to +India, sailing and steaming as the weather and the supply of fuel +permitted. The voyage occupied 47 days. + +Notwithstanding these successful passages across the ocean, and the +complete success of the steamboat in rivers and harbors, it was +asserted, as late as 1838, by many who were regarded as authority, +that the passage of the ocean by steamers was quite impracticable, +unless possibly they could steam from the coasts of Europe to +Newfoundland or to the Azores, and, replenishing their coal-bunkers, +resume their voyages to the larger American ports. The voyage was, +however, actually accomplished by two steamers in the year just +mentioned. These were the Sirius, a ship of 700 tons and of 250 +horse-power, and the Great Western, of 1,340 tons and 450 horse-power. +The latter was built for this service, and was a large ship for that +time, measuring 236 feet in length. Her wheels were 28 feet in +diameter, and 10 feet in breadth of face. The Sirius sailed from Cork +April 4, 1838, and the Great Western from Bristol April 8th, both +arriving at New York on the same day--April 23d--the Sirius in the +morning, and the Great Western in the afternoon. + +The Great Western carried out of Bristol 660 tons of coal. Seven +passengers chose to take advantage of the opportunity, and made the +voyage in one-half the time usually occupied by the sailing-packets of +that day. Throughout the voyage the wind and sea were nearly ahead, +and the two vessels pursued the same course, under very similar +conditions. Arriving at New York, they were received with the greatest +possible enthusiasm. They were saluted by the forts and the men-of-war +in the harbor; the merchant-vessels dipped their flags, and the +citizens assembled on the Battery, and, coming to meet them in boats +of all kinds and sizes, cheered heartily. The newspapers of the time +were filled with the story of the voyage and with descriptions of the +steamers themselves and of their machinery. + +A few days later the two steamers started on their return to Great +Britain, the Sirius reaching Falmouth safely in 18 days, and the Great +Western making the voyage to Bristol in 15 days, the latter meeting +with head-winds and working, during a part of the time, against a +heavy gale and in a high sea, at the rate of but two knots an hour. +The Sirius was thought too small for this long and boisterous route, +and was withdrawn and replaced on the line between London and Cork, +where the ship had previously been employed. The Great Western +continued several years in the transatlantic trade. + +Thus these two voyages inaugurated a transoceanic steam-service, which +has steadily grown in extent and in importance. The use of steam-power +for this work of extended ocean-transportation has never since been +interrupted. During the succeeding six years the Great Western made 70 +passages across the Atlantic, occupying on the voyages to the westward +an average of 15-1/2 days, and eastward 13-1/2. The quickest passage +to New York was made in May, 1843, in 12 days and 18 hours, and the +fastest steaming was logged 12 months earlier, when the voyage from +New York was made in 12 days and 7 hours. + +Meantime, several other steamers were built and placed in the +transatlantic trade. Among these were the Royal William, the British +Queen, the President, the Liverpool, and the Great Britain. The +latter, the finest of the fleet, was launched in 1843. This steamer +was 300 feet long, 50 feet beam, and of 1,000 horse-power. The hull +was of iron, and the whole ship was an example of the very best work +of that time. After several voyages, this vessel went ashore on the +coast of Ireland, and there remained several weeks, but was finally +got off, without having suffered serious injury--a remarkable +illustration of the stanchness of an iron hull when well built and of +good material. The vessel was repaired, and many years afterward was +still afloat, and engaged in the transportation of passengers and +merchandise to Australia. + +The "Cunard Line" of transatlantic steamers was established in the +year 1840. The first of the line--the Britannia--sailed from Liverpool +for New York, July 4th of that year, and was followed, on regular +sailing-days, by the other three of the four ships with which the +company commenced business. These four vessels had an aggregate +tonnage of 4,600 tons, and their speed was less than eight knots. +To-day, the tonnage of a single vessel of the fleet exceeds that of +the four; the total tonnage has risen to many times that above given. +There are 50 steamers in the line, aggregating nearly 50,000 +horse-power. The speed of the steamships of the present time is double +that of the vessels of that date, and passages are not infrequently +made in eight days. + +The form of steam-engine in most general use at this time, on +transatlantic steamers, was that known as the "side-lever engine." It +was first given the standard form by Messrs. Maudsley & Co., of +London, about 1835, and was built by them for steamers supplied to the +British Government for general mail service. + +The steam-vessels of the time are well represented in the accompanying +engraving (Fig. 91) of the steamship Atlantic--a vessel which was +shortly afterward (1851) built as the pioneer steamer of the American +"Collins Line." This steamship was one of several which formed the +earliest of American steamship-lines, and is one of the finest +examples of the type of paddle-steamers which was finally superseded +by the later screw-fleets. The "Collins Line" existed but a very few +years, and its failure was probably determined as much by the evident +and inevitable success of screw-propulsion as by the difficulty of +securing ample capital, complete organization, and efficient general +management. This steamer was built at New York--the hull by William +Brown, and the machinery by the Novelty Iron-Works. The length of the +hull was 276 feet, its breadth 45 feet, and the depth of hold 31-1/2 +feet. The width over the paddle-boxes was 75 feet. The ship measured +2,860 tons. The form of the hull was then peculiar in the fineness of +its lines; the bow was sharp, and the stern fine and smooth, and the +general outline such as best adapted the ship for high speed. The main +saloon was about 70 feet long, and the dining-room was 60 feet in +length and 20 feet wide. The state-rooms were arranged on each side +the dining "saloon," and accommodated 150 passengers. These vessels +were beautifully fitted up, and with them was inaugurated that +wonderful system of passenger-transportation which has since always +been distinguished by those comforts and conveniences which the +American traveler has learned to consider his by right. + +[Illustration: FIG. 91.--The Atlantic, 1851.] + +The machinery of these ships was, for that time, remarkably powerful +and efficient. The engines were of the side-lever type, as +illustrated in Fig. 92, which represents the engine of the Pacific, +designed by Mr. Charles W. Copeland, and built by the Allaire Works. + +[Illustration: FIG. 92.--The Side-Lever Engine, 1849.] + +In this type of engine, as is seen, the piston-rod was attached to a +cross-head working vertically, from which, at each side, links, _B C_, +connected with the "side-lever," _D E F_. The latter vibrated about a +"main centre" at _E_, like the overhead beam of the more common form +of engine; from its other end, a "connecting-rod," _H_, led to the +"cross-tail," _W_, which was, in turn, connected to the crank-pin, +_I_. The condenser, _M_, and air-pump, _Q_, were constructed in the +same manner as those of other engines, their only peculiarities being +such as were incident to their location between the cylinder, _A_, and +the crank, _I J_. The paddle-wheels were of the common "radial" form, +covered in by paddle-boxes so strongly built that they were rarely +injured by the heaviest seas. + +These vessels surpassed, for a time, all other sea-going steamers in +speed and comfort, and made their passages with great regularity. The +minimum length of voyage of the Baltic and Pacific, of this line, was +9 days 19 hours. + +During the latter part of the period the history of which has been +here given, the marine steam-engine became subject to very marked +changes in type and in details, and a complete revolution was effected +in the method of propulsion. This change has finally resulted in the +universal adoption of a new propelling instrument, and in driving the +whole fleet of paddle-steamers from the ocean. The Great Britain was a +screw-steamer. + +The screw-propeller, which, as has been stated, was probably first +proposed by Dr. Hooke in 1681, and by Dr. Bernouilli, of Groningen, at +about the middle of the eighteenth century, and by Watt in 1784, was, +at the end of the century, tried experimentally in the United States +by David Bushnell, an ingenious American, who was then conducting the +experiments with torpedoes which were the cause of the incident which +originated that celebrated song by Francis Hopkinson, the "Battle of +the Kegs," using the screw to propel one of his submarine boats, and +by John Fitch, and by Dallery in France. + +Joseph Bramah, of Great Britain, May 9, 1785, patented a +screw-propeller identical in general arrangement with those used +to-day. His sketch exhibits a screw, apparently of very fair shape, +carried on an horizontal shaft, which passes out of the vessel through +a stuffing-box, the screw being wholly submerged. Bramah does not seem +to have put his plan in practice. It was patented again in England, +also, by Littleton in 1794, and by Shorter in 1800. + +John Stevens, however, first gave the screw a practically useful +form, and used it successfully, in 1804 and 1805, on the single and +the twin screw boats which he built at that time. This propelling +instrument was also tried by Trevithick, who planned a vessel to be +propelled by a steam-engine driving a screw, at about this time, and +his scheme was laid before the Navy Board in the year 1812. His plans +included an iron hull. Francis Pettit Smith tried the screw also in +the year 1808, and subsequently. + +Joseph Ressel, a Bohemian, proposed to use a screw in the propulsion +of balloons, about 1812, and in the year 1826 proposed its use for +marine propulsion. He is said to have built a screw-boat in the year +1829, at Trieste, which he named the Civetta. The little craft met +with an accident on the trial-trip, and nothing more was done. + +The screw was finally brought into general use through the exertions +of John Ericsson, a skillful Swedish engineer, who was residing in +England in the year 1836, and of Mr. F. P. Smith, an English farmer. +Ericsson patented a peculiar form of screw-propeller, and designed a +steamer 40 feet in length, of 8 feet beam, and drawing 3 feet of +water. The screw was double, two shafts being placed the one within +the other, revolving in opposite directions, and carrying the one a +right-hand and the other a left-hand screw. These screws were 5-1/4 +feet in diameter. On her trial-trip this little steamer attained a +speed of 10 miles an hour. Its power as a "tug" was found to be very +satisfactory; it towed a schooner of 140 tons burden at the rate of 7 +miles, and the large American packet-ship Toronto was towed on the +Thames at a speed of 5 miles an hour. + +Ericsson endeavored to interest the British Admiralty in his +improvements, and succeeded only so far as to induce the Lords of the +Admiralty to make an excursion with him on the river. No interest was +awakened in the new system, and nothing was done by the naval +authorities. A note to the inventor from Captain Beaufort--one of the +party--was received shortly afterward, in which it was stated that +the excursionists had not found the performance of the little vessel +to equal their hopes and expectations. All the interests of the then +existing engine-building establishments were opposed to the +innovation, and the proverbial conservatism of naval men and naval +administrations aided in procuring the rejection of Ericsson's plans. + +Fortunately for the United States, it happened, at that time, that we +had in Great Britain both civil and naval representatives of greater +intelligence, or of greater boldness and enterprise. The consul at +Liverpool was Mr. Francis B. Ogden, of New Jersey, a gentleman who was +somewhat familiar with the steam-engine and with steam-navigation. He +had seen Ericsson's plans at an earlier period, and had at once seen +their probable value. He was sufficiently confident of success to +place capital at the disposal of the inventor. The little screw-boat +just described was built with funds of which he furnished a part, and +was named, in his honor, the Francis B. Ogden. + +Captain Robert F. Stockton, an officer of the United States Navy, and +also a resident of New Jersey, was in London at the time, and made an +excursion with Ericsson on the Ogden. He was also at once convinced of +the value of the new method of application of steam-power to +ship-propulsion, and gave the engineer an order to build two iron +screw-steamboats for use in the United States. Ericsson was induced, +by Messrs. Ogden and Stockton, to take up his residence in the United +States.[84] The Stockton was sent over to the United States in April, +1839, under sail, and was sold to the Delaware & Raritan Canal +Company. Her name was changed, and, as the New Jersey, she remained in +service many years. + + [84] This distinguished inventor is still a resident of New York + (1878). + +The success of the boat built by Ericsson was so evident that, +although the naval authorities remained inactive, a private company +was formed, in 1839, to work the patents of F. P. Smith, and this +"Ship-Propeller Company" built an experimental craft called the +Archimedes, and its trial-trip was made October 14th of the same year. +The speed attained was 9.64 miles an hour. The result was in every +respect satisfactory, and the vessel, subsequently, made many voyages +from port to port, and finally circumnavigated the island of Great +Britain. The proprietors of the ship were not pecuniarily successful +in their venture, however, and the sale of the vessel left the company +a heavy loser. The Archimedes was 125 feet long, of 21 feet 10 inches +beam, and 10 feet draught, registering 232 tons. The engines were +rated at 80 horse-power. Smith's earlier experiments (1837) were made +with a little craft of 6 tons burden, driven by an engine having a +steam-cylinder 6 inches in diameter and 15 inches stroke of piston. +The funds needed were furnished by a London banker--Mr. Wright. + +Bennett Woodcroft had also used the screw experimentally as early as +1832, on the Irwell, near Manchester, England, in a boat of 55 tons +burden. Twin-screws were used, right and left handed respectively; +they were each two feet in diameter, and were given an expanding +pitch. The boat attained a speed of four miles an hour. + +Experiments made subsequently (1843) with this form of screw, and in +competition with the "true" screw of Smith, brought out very +distinctly the superiority of the former, and gave some knowledge of +the proper proportions for maximum efficiency. In later examples of +the Woodcroft screw, the blades were made detachable and adjustable--a +plan which is still a usual one, and which has proved to be, in some +respects, very convenient. + +When Ericsson reached the United States, he was almost +immediately given an opportunity to build the Princeton--a large +screw-steamer--and at about the same time the English and French +Governments also had screw-steamers built from his plans, or from +those of his agent in England, the Count de Rosen. In these latter +ships--the Amphion and the Pomona--the first horizontal direct-acting +engines ever built were used, and they were fitted with double-acting +air-pumps, having canvas valves and other novel features. The great +advantages exhibited by these vessels over the paddle-steamers of the +time did for screw-propulsion what Stephenson's locomotive--the +Rocket--did for railroad locomotion ten years earlier. + +Congress, in 1839, had authorized the construction of three +war-vessels, and the Secretary of the Navy ordered that two be at once +built in the succeeding year. Of these, one was the Princeton, the +screw-steamer of which the machinery was designed by Ericsson. The +length of this vessel was 164 feet, beam 30-1/2 feet, and depth 21-1/2 +feet. The ship drew from 16-1/2 to 18 feet of water, displacing at +those draughts 950 and 1,050 tons. The hull had a broad, flat floor, +with sharp entrance and fine run, and the lines were considered at +that time remarkably fine. + +The screw was of gun-bronze, six-bladed, and was 14 feet in diameter +and of 35 feet pitch; i. e., were there no slip, the screw working as +if in a solid nut, the ship would have been driven forward 35 feet at +each revolution. + +The engines were two in number, and very peculiar in form; the +cylinder was, in fact, a _semi_-cylinder, and the place of the +piston-rod, as usually built, was taken by a vibrating shaft, or +"rock-shaft," which carried a piston of rectangular form, and which +vibrated like a door on its hinges as the steam was alternately let +into and exhausted from each side of it. The great rock-shaft carried, +at the outer end, an arm from which a connecting-rod led to the crank, +thus forming a "direct-acting engine." + +The draught in the boilers was urged by blowers. Ericsson had adopted +this method of securing an artificial draught ten years before, in one +of his earlier vessels, the Corsair. The Princeton carried a XII-inch +wrought-iron gun. This gun exploded after a few trials, with terribly +disastrous results, causing the death of several distinguished men, +including members of the President's cabinet. + +The Princeton proved very successful as a screw-steamer, attaining a +speed of 13 knots, and was then considered very remarkably fast. +Captain Stockton, who commanded the vessel, was most enthusiastic in +praise of her. + +Immediately there began a revolution in both civil and naval +ship-building, which progressed with great rapidity. The Princeton was +the first of the screw-propelled navy which has now entirely displaced +the older type of steam-vessel. The introduction of the screw now took +place with great rapidity. Six steamers were fitted with Ericsson's +screw in 1841, 9 in 1842, and nearly 30 in the year 1843. + +In Great Britain, France, Germany, and other European countries, the +revolution was also finally effected, and was equally complete. Nearly +all sea-going vessels built toward the close of the period here +considered were screw-steamers, fitted with direct-acting, +quick-working engines. It was, however, many years before the +experience of engineers in the designing and in the construction and +management of this new machinery enabled them to properly proportion +it for the various kinds of service to which they were called upon to +adapt it. Among other modifications of earlier practice introduced by +Ericsson was the surface-condenser with a circulating pump driven by a +small independent engine. + +The screw was found to possess many advantages over the paddle-wheel +as an instrument for ship-propulsion. The cost of machinery was +greatly reduced by its use; the expense of maintenance in working +order was, however, somewhat increased. The latter disadvantage was, +nevertheless, much more than compensated by an immense increase in the +economy of ship-propulsion, which marked the substitution of the new +instrument and its impelling machinery. + +When a ship is propelled by paddles, the motion of the vessel creates, +in consequence of the friction of the fluid against the sides and +bottom, a current of water which flows in the direction in which the +ship is moving, and forms a current following the ship for a time, and +finally losing all motion by contact with the surrounding mass of +water. All the power expended in the production of this great stream +is, in the case of the paddle-steamer, entirely lost. In +screw-steamers, however, the propelling instrument works in this +following current, and the tendency of its action is to bring the +agitated fluid to rest, taking up and thus restoring, usefully, a +large part of that energy which would otherwise have been lost. The +screw is also completely covered by the water, and acts with +comparative efficiency in consequence of its submersion. The rotation +of the screw is comparatively rapid and smooth, also, and this permits +the use of small, light, fast-running engines. The latter condition +leads to economy of weight and space, and consequently saves not only +the cost of transportation of the excess of weight of the larger kind +of engine, but, leaving so much more room for paying cargo, the gain +is found to be a double one. Still further, the quick-running engine +is, other things being equal, the most economical of steam; and thus +some expense is saved not only in the purchase of fuel, but in its +transportation, and some still additional gain is derived from the +increased amount of paying cargo which the vessel is thus enabled to +carry. The change here described was thus found to be productive of +enormous direct gain. Indirectly, also, some advantage was derived +from the greater convenience of a deck clear from machinery and the +great paddle-shaft, in the better storage of the lading, the greater +facility with which the masts and sails could be fitted and used; and +directly, again, in clear sides unencumbered by great paddle-boxes +which impeded the vessel by catching both sea and wind. + +The screw was, for some years, generally regarded as simply auxiliary +in large vessels, assisting the sails. Ultimately the screw became +the essential feature, and vessels were lightly sparred and were given +smaller areas of sail, the latter becoming the auxiliary power. + +In November of the year 1843, the screw-steamer Midas, Captain Poor, a +small schooner-rigged craft, left New York for China, on probably the +first voyage of such length ever undertaken by a steamer; and in the +following January the Edith, Captain Lewis, a bark-rigged +screw-vessel, sailed from the same port for India and China. The +Massachusetts, Captain Forbes, a screw-steamship of about 800 tons, +sailed for Liverpool September 15, 1845, the first voyage of an +American transatlantic passenger-steamer since the Savannah's pioneer +adventure a quarter of a century before. Two years later, American +enterprise had placed both screw and paddle steamers on the rivers of +China--principally through the exertions of Captain R. B. Forbes--and +steam-navigation was fairly established throughout the world. + +On comparing the screw-steamer of the present time with the best +examples of steamers propelled by paddle-wheels, the superiority of +the former is so marked that it may cause some surprise that the +revolution just described should have progressed no more rapidly. The +reason of this slow progress, however, was probably that the +introduction of the rapidly-revolving screw, in place of the +slow-moving paddle-wheel, necessitated a complete revolution in the +design of their steam-engines; and the unavoidable change from the +heavy, long-stroked, low-speed engines previously in use, to the light +engines, with small cylinders and high piston-speed, called for by the +new system of propulsion, was one that necessarily occurred slowly, +and was accompanied by its share of those engineering blunders and +accidents that invariably take place during such periods of +transition. Engineers had first to learn to design such engines +as should be reliable under the then novel conditions of +screw-propulsion, and their experience could only be gained through +the occurrence of many mishaps and costly failures. The best +proportions of engines and screws, for a given ship, were determined +only by long experience, although great assistance was derived from +the extensive series of experiments made with the French steamer +Pelican. It also became necessary to train up a body of engine-drivers +who should be capable of managing these new engines; for they required +the exercise of a then unprecedented amount of care and skill. +Finally, with the accomplishment of these two requisites to success +must simultaneously occur the enlightenment of the public, +professional as well as non-professional, in regard to their +advantages. Thus it happens that it is only after a considerable time +that the screw attained its proper place as an instrument of +propulsion, and finally drove the paddle-wheel quite out of use, +except in shoal water. + +Now our large screw-steamers are of higher speed than any +paddle-steamers on the ocean, and develop their power at far less +cost. This increased economy is due not only to the use of a more +efficient propelling instrument, and to changes already described, but +also, in a great degree, to the economy which has followed as a +consequence of other changes in the steam-engine driving it. The +earliest days of screw-propulsion witnessed the use of steam of from 5 +to 15 pounds pressure, in a geared engine using jet-condensation, and +giving a horse-power at an expense of perhaps 7 to 10, or even more, +pounds of coal per hour. A little later came direct-acting engines +with jet-condensation and steam at 20 pounds pressure, costing about 5 +or 6 pounds per horse-power per hour. The steam-pressure rose a little +higher with the use of greater expansion, and the economy of fuel was +further improved. The introduction of the surface-condenser, which +began to be generally adopted some ten years ago, brought down the +cost of power to from 3 to 4 pounds in the better class of engines. At +about the same time, this change to surface-condensation helping +greatly to overcome those troubles arising from boiler-incrustation +which had prevented the rise of steam-pressure above about 25 pounds +per square inch, and as, at the same time, it was learned by engineers +that the deposit of lime-scale in the marine boiler was determined by +temperature rather than by the degree of concentration, and that all +the lime entering the boiler was deposited at the pressure just +mentioned, a sudden advance took place. Careful design, good +workmanship, and skillful management, made the surface-condenser an +efficient apparatus; and, the dangers of incrustation being thus +lessened, the movement toward higher pressures recommenced, and +progressed so rapidly that now 75 pounds per square inch is very +usual, and more than 125 pounds has since been attained. + +The close of this period was marked by the construction of the most +successful types of paddle-steamers, the complete success of +transoceanic steam-transportation, the introduction of the +screw-propeller and the peculiar engine appropriate to it, and, +finally, a general improvement, which had finally become marked both +in direction and in rapidity of movement, leading toward the use of +higher steam-pressure, greater expansion, lighter and more +rapidly-working machinery, and decidedly better design and +construction, and the use of better material. The result of these +changes was seen in economy of first cost and maintenance, and the +ability to attain greater speed, and to assure greater safety to +passengers and less risk to cargo. + +The introduction of the changes just noted finally led to the last +great change in the form of the marine steam-engine, and a revolution +was inaugurated, which, however, only became complete in the +succeeding period. The non-success of Hornblower and of Wolff, and +others who had attempted to introduce the "compound" or +double-cylinder engine on land, had not convinced all engineers that +it might not yet be made a successful rival of the then standard type; +and the three or four steamers which were built for the Hudson River +at the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century are said to +have been very successful vessels. Carrying 75 to 100 pounds of steam +in their boilers, the Swiftsure and her contemporaries were by that +circumstance well fitted to make that form of engine economically a +success. This form of engine was built occasionally during the +succeeding quarter of a century, but only became a recognized standard +type after the close of the epoch to the history of which this chapter +is devoted. That latest and greatest advance in the direction of +increased efficiency in the marine steam-engine was, however, +commenced very soon after Watt's death, and its completion was the +work of nearly a half-century. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_THE STEAM-ENGINE OF TO-DAY._ + + ... "And, last of all, with inimitable power, and 'with whirlwind + sound,' comes the potent agency of steam. In comparison with the + past, what centuries of improvement has this single agent comprised + in the short compass of fifty years! Everywhere practicable, + everywhere efficient, it has an arm a thousand times stronger than + that of Hercules, and to which human ingenuity is capable of fitting + a thousand times as many hands as belonged to Briareus. Steam is + found in triumphant operation on the seas; and, under the influence + of its strong propulsion, the gallant ship-- + + 'Against the wind, against the tide, + Still steadies with an upright keel.' + + It is on the rivers, and the boatman may repose on his oars; it is + on highways, and exerts itself along the courses of land-conveyance; + it is at the bottom of mines, a thousand feet below the earth's + surface; it is in the mills, and in the workshops of the trades. It + rows, it pumps, it excavates, it carries, it draws, it lifts, it + hammers, it spins, it weaves, it prints. It seems to say to men, at + least to the class of artisans: 'Leave off your manual labor; give + over your bodily toil; bestow but your skill and reason to the + directing of my power, and I will bear the toil, with no muscle to + grow weary, no nerve to relax, no breast to feel faintness!' What + further improvement may still be made in the use of this astonishing + power it is impossible to know, and it were vain to conjecture. What + we do know is, that it has most essentially altered the face of + affairs, and that no visible limit yet appears beyond which its + progress is seen to be impossible."--DANIEL WEBSTER. + + +THE PERIOD OF REFINEMENT--1850 TO DATE. + +By the middle of the present century, as we have now seen, the +steam-engine had been applied, and successfully, to every great +purpose for which it was fitted. Its first application was to the +elevation of water; it next was applied to the driving of mills and +machinery; and it finally became the great propelling power in +transportation by land and by sea. + +At the beginning of the period to which we are now come, these +applications of steam-power had become familiar both to the engineer +and to the public. The forms of engine adapted to each purpose had +been determined, and had become usually standard. Every type of the +modern steam-engine had assumed, more or less closely, the form and +proportions which are now familiar; and the most intelligent designers +and builders had been taught--by experience rather than by theory, for +the theory of the steam-engine had then been but little investigated, +and the principles and laws of thermo-dynamics had not been traced in +their application to this engine--the principles of construction +essential to successful practice, and were gradually learning the +relative standing of the many forms of steam-engine, from among which +have been preserved a few specially fitted for certain specific +methods of utilization of power. + +During the years succeeding the date 1850, therefore, the growth of +the steam-engine had been, not a change of standard type, or the +addition of new parts, but a gradual improvement in forms, +proportions, and arrangements of details; and this period has been +marked by the dying out of the forms of engine least fitted to succeed +in competition with others, and the retention of the latter has been +an example of "the survival of the fittest." This has therefore been a +Period of Refinement. + +During this period invention has been confined to details; it has +produced new forms of parts, new arrangements of details; it has +devised an immense variety of valves, valve-motions, regulating +apparatus, and a still greater variety of steam-boilers and of +attachments, essential and non-essential, to both engines and boilers. +The great majority of these peculiar devices have been of no value, +and very many of the best of them have been found to have about equal +value. All the well-known and successful forms of engine, when equally +well designed and constructed and equally well managed, are of very +nearly equal efficiency; all of the best-known types of steam-boiler, +where given equal proportions of grate to heating-surface and equally +well designed, with a view to securing a good draught and a good +circulation of water, have been found to give very nearly equally good +results; and it has become evident that a good knowledge of principles +and of practice, on the part of the designer, the constructor, and the +manager of the boiler, is essential in the endeavor to achieve +economical success; that good engineering is demanded, rather than +great ingenuity. The inventor has been superseded here by the +engineer. + +The knowledge acquired in the time of Watt, of the essential +principles of steam-engine construction, has since become generally +familiar to the better class of engineers. It has led to the selection +of simple, strong, and durable forms of engine and boiler, to the +introduction of various kinds of valves and of valve-gearing, capable +of adjustment to any desired range of expansive working, and to the +attachment of efficient forms of governor to regulate the speed of the +engine, by determining automatically the point of cut-off which will, +at any instant, best adjust the energy exerted by the expanding steam +to the demand made by the work to be done. + +The value of high pressures and considerable expansion was recognized +as long ago as in the early part of the present century, and Watt, by +combining skillfully the several principal parts of the steam-engine, +gave it very nearly the shape which it has to-day. The compound +engine, even, as has been seen, was invented by contemporaries of +Watt, and the only important modifications since his time have +occurred in details. The introduction of the "drop cut-off," the +attachment of the governor to the expansion-apparatus in such a manner +as to determine the degree of expansion, the improvement of +proportions, the introduction of higher steam and greater expansion, +the improvement of the marine engine by the adoption of +surface-condensation, in addition to these other changes, and the +introduction of the double-cylinder engine, after the elevation of +steam-pressure and increase of expansion had gone so far as to justify +its use, are the changes, therefore, which have taken place during +this last quarter-century. It began then to be generally understood +that expansion of steam produced economy, and mechanics and inventors +vied with each other in the effort to obtain a form of valve-gear +which should secure the immense saving which an abstract consideration +of the expansion of gases according to Marriotte's law would seem to +promise. The counteracting phenomena of internal condensation and +reëvaporation, of the losses of heat externally and internally, and of +the effect of defective vacuum, defective distribution of steam, and +of back-pressure, were either unobserved or were entirely overlooked. + +It was many years, therefore, before engine-builders became convinced +that no improvement upon existing forms of expansion-gear could secure +even an approximation to theoretical efficiency. + +The fact thus learned, that the benefit of expansive working has a +limit which is very soon reached in ordinary practice, was not then, +and has only recently become, generally known among our steam-engine +builders, and for several years, during the period upon which we now +enter, there continued the keenest competition between makers of rival +forms of expansion-gear, and inventors were continually endeavoring to +produce something which should far excel any previously-existing +device. + +In Europe, as in the United States, efforts to "improve" standard +designs have usually resulted in injuring their efficiency, and in +simply adding to the first cost and running expense of the engines, +without securing a marked increase in economy in the consumption of +steam. + + +SECTION I.--STATIONARY ENGINES. + +"STATIONARY ENGINES" had been applied to the operation of +mill-machinery, as has been seen, by Watt and by Murdoch, his +assistant and pupil; and Watt's competitors, in Great Britain and +abroad, had made considerable progress before the death of the great +engineer, in its adaptation to its work. In the United States, Oliver +Evans had introduced the non-condensing high-pressure stationary +engine, which was the progenitor of the standard engine of that type +which is now used far more generally than any other form. These +engines were at first rude in design, badly proportioned, rough and +inaccurate as to workmanship, and uneconomical in their consumption of +fuel. Gradually, however, when made by reputable builders, they +assumed neat and strong shapes, good proportions, and were well made +and of excellent materials, doing their work with comparatively little +waste of heat or of fuel. + +One of the neatest and best modern designs of stationary engine for +small powers is seen in Fig. 93, which represents a "vertical +direct-acting engine," with base-plate--a form which is a favorite +with many engineers. + +The engine shown in the engraving consists of two principal parts, the +cylinder and the frame, which is a tapering column having openings in +the sides, to allow free access to all the working parts within. The +slides and pillow-blocks are cast with the column, so that they cannot +become loose or out of line; the rubbing surfaces are large and easily +lubricated. Owing to the vertical position, there is no tendency to +side wear of cylinder or piston. The packing-rings are self-adjusting, +and work free but tight. The crank is counterbalanced; the crank-pin, +cross-head pin, piston-rod, valve-stem, etc., are made of steel; all +the bearing surfaces are made extra large, and are accurately fitted; +and the best quality of Babbitt-metal only used for the +journal-bearings. + +[Illustration: FIG. 93.--Vertical Stationary Steam-Engine.] + +The smaller sizes of these engines, from 2 to 10 horse-power, have +both pillow-blocks cast in the frame, giving a bearing each side of +the double cranks. They are built by some constructors in quantities, +and parts duplicated by special machinery (as in fire-arms and +sewing-machines), which secures great accuracy and uniformity of +workmanship, and allows of any part being quickly and cheaply +replaced, when worn or broken by accident. The next figure is a +vertical section through the same engine. + +[Illustration: FIG. 94.--Vertical Stationary Steam-Engine. Section.] + +Engines fitted with the ordinary rigid bearings require to be erected +on a firm foundation, and to be kept in perfect line. If, by the +settling of the foundation, or from any other cause, they get out of +line, heating, cutting, and thumping result. To obviate this, modern +engines are often fitted with self-adjusting bearings throughout; this +gives the engine great flexibility and freedom from friction. The +accompanying cuts show clearly how this is accomplished. The +pillow-block has a spherical shell turned and fitted into the +spherically-bored pillow-block, thus allowing a slight angular motion +in any direction. The connecting-rod is forged in a single piece, +without straps, gibs, or key, and is mortised through at each end for +the reception of the brass boxes, which are curved on their backs, and +fit the cheek-pieces, between which they can turn to adjust themselves +to the pins, in the plane of the axis of the rod. The adjustment for +wear is made by wedge-blocks and set screws, as shown, and they are so +constructed that the parts cannot get loose and cause a break-down. +The cross-head has adjustable gibs on each side, turned to fit the +slides, which are cast solidly in the frame, and bored out exactly in +the line with the cylinder. This permits it freely to turn on its +axis, and, in connection with the adjustable boxes in the +connecting-rod, allows a perfect self-adjustment to the line of the +crank-pin. The out-board bearing may be moved an inch or more out of +position in any direction, without detriment to the running of the +engine, all bearings accommodating themselves perfectly to whatever +position the shaft may assume. + +The ports and valve-passages are proportioned as in locomotive +practice. The valve-seat is adapted to the ordinary plain slide or +D-valve, should it be preferred, but the balanced piston slide-valve +works with equal ease whether the steam-pressure is 10 or 100 pounds, +and at the same time gives double steam and exhaust openings, which +greatly facilitates the entrance of the steam to, and its escape from, +the cylinder, thus securing a nearer approach to boiler-pressure and a +less back-pressure, saving the power required to work an ordinary +valve, and reducing the wear of valve-gear. + +This is a type of engine frequently seen in the United States, but +more rarely in Europe. It is an excellent form of engine. The vertical +direct-acting engine is sometimes, though rarely, built of very +considerable size, and these large engines are more frequently seen in +rolling-mills than elsewhere. + +Where much power is required, the stationary engine is usually an +horizontal direct-acting engine, having a more or less effective +cut-off valve-gear, according to the size of engine and the cost of +fuel. A good example of the simpler form of this kind of engine is the +small horizontal slide-valve engine, with independent cut-off valve +riding on the back of the main valve--a combination generally known +among engineers as the Meyer system of valve-gear. This form of +steam-engine is a very effective machine, and does excellent work when +properly proportioned to yield the required amount of power. It is +well adapted to an expansion of from four to five times. Its +disadvantages are the difficulty which it presents in the attachment +of the regulator, to determine the point of cut-off by the heavy work +which it throws upon the governor when attached, and the rather +inflexible character of the device as an expansive valve-gear. The +best examples of this class of engine have neat heavy bed-plates, +well-designed cylinders and details, smooth-working valve-gear, the +expansion-valve adjusted by a right and left hand screw, and +regulation secured by the attachment of the governor to the +throttle-valve. + +The engine shown in the accompanying illustration (Fig. 95) is an +example of an excellent British stationary steam-engine. It is simple, +strong, and efficient. The frame, front cylinder-head, cross-head +guides, and crank-shaft "plumber-block," are cast in one piece, as has +so generally been done in the United States for a long time by some of +our manufacturers. The cylinder is secured against the end of the +bed-plate, as was first done by Corliss. The crank-pin is set in a +counterbalanced disk. The valve-gear is simple, and the governor +effective, and provided with a safety-device to prevent injury by the +breaking of the governor-belt. An engine of this kind of 10 inches +diameter of cylinder, 20 inches stroke of piston, is rated by the +builders at about 25 horse-power; a similar engine 30 inches in +diameter of cylinder would yield from 225 to 250 horse-power. In +this example, all parts are made to exact size by gauges standardized +to Whitworth's sizes. + +[Illustration: FIG. 95.--Horizontal Stationary Steam-Engine.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 96.--Horizontal Stationary Steam-Engine.] + +In American engines (as is seen in Fig. 96), usually, two supports are +placed--the one under the latter bearing, and the other under the +cylinder--to take the weight of the engine; and through them it is +secured to the foundation. As in the vertical engine already +described, a valve is sometimes used, consisting of two pistons +connected by a rod, and worked by an ordinary eccentric. By a simple +arrangement these pistons have always the same pressure inside as out, +which prevents any leakage or blowing through; and they are said +always to work equally as well and free from friction under 150 pounds +pressure as under 10 pounds per square inch, and to require no +adjustment. It is more usual, however, to adopt the three-ported valve +used on locomotives, with (frequently) a cut-off valve on the back of +this main valve, which cut-off valve is adjusted either by hand or by +the governor. + +Engines of the class just described are especially well fitted, by +their simplicity, compactness, and solidity, to work at the high +piston-speeds which are gradually becoming generally adopted in the +effort to attain increased economy of fuel by the reduction of the +immense losses of heat which occur in the expansion of steam in the +metallic cylinders through which we are now compelled to work it. + +One of the best known of recent engines is the Allen engine, a +steam-engine having the same general arrangement of parts seen in the +above illustration, but fitted with a peculiar valve-gear, and having +proportions of parts which are especially calculated to secure +smoothness of motion and uniformity of pressure on crank-pin and +journals, at speeds so high that the inertia of the reciprocating +parts becomes a seriously-important element in the calculation of the +distribution of stresses and their effect on the dynamics of the +machine. + +In the Allen engine,[85] the cylinder and frame are connected as in +the engine seen above, and the crank-disk, shaft-bearings, and other +principal details, are not essentially different. The valve-gear[86] +differs in having four valves, one at each end on the steam as well as +on the exhaust side, all of which are balanced and work with very +little resistance. These valves are not detachable, but are driven by +a link attached to and moved by an eccentric on the main shaft, the +position of the valve-rod attachment to which link is determined by +the governor, and the degree of expansion is thus adjusted to the work +of the engine. The engine has usually a short stroke, not exceeding +twice the diameter of cylinder, and is driven at very high speed, +generally averaging from 600 to 800 feet per minute.[87] This high +piston-speed and short stroke give very great velocity of rotation. +The effect is, therefore, to produce an exceptional smoothness of +motion, while permitting the use of small fly-wheels. Its short stroke +enables entire solidity to be attained in a bed of rigid form, making +it a very completely self-contained engine, adapted to the heaviest +work, and requiring only a small foundation. + + [85] The invention of Messrs. Charles T. Porter and John F. Allen. + + [86] Invented by Mr. John F. Allen. + + [87] Or not far from 600 times the cube root of the length of + stroke, measured in feet. + +The journals of the shaft, and all cylindrical wearing surfaces, are +finished by grinding in a manner that leaves them perfectly round. The +crank-pin and cross-head pin are hardened before being ground. The +joints of the valve-gear consist of pins turning in solid ferrules in +the rod-ends, both hardened and ground. After years of constant use +thus, no wear occasioning lost time in the valve-movements has been +detected. + +High speed and short strokes are essential elements of economy. It is +now well understood that all the surfaces with which the steam comes +in contact condense it. + +Obviously, one way to diminish this loss is to reduce the extent of +surface to which the steam is exposed. In engines of high speed and +short stroke, the surfaces with which the steam comes in contact, +while doing a given amount of work, present less area than in ordinary +engines running at low speed. Where great steadiness of motion is +desired, the expense of coupled engines is often incurred. +Quick-running engines do not require to be coupled; a single engine +may give greater uniformity of motion than is usually obtained with +coupled engines at ordinary speeds. The ports and valve-movements, the +weight of the reciprocating parts, and the size and weight of the +fly-wheels, should be calculated expressly for the speeds chosen. + +The economy of the engine here described is unexcelled by the best of +the more familiar "drop cut-off" engines. + +An engine reported upon by a committee of the American Institute, of +which Dr. Barnard was chairman, was non-condensing, 16 inches in +diameter of cylinder, 30 inches stroke, making 125 revolutions per +minute, and developed over 125 horse-power with 75 pounds of steam in +the boiler, using 25-3/4 pounds of steam per indicated horse-power, +and 2.87 pounds of coal--an extraordinarily good performance for an +engine of such small power. + +The governor used on this engine is known as the Porter governor. It +is given great power and delicacy by weighting it down, and thus +obtaining a high velocity of rotation, and by suspending the balls +from forked arms, which are given each two bearing-pins separated +laterally so far as to permit considerable force to be exerted in +changing speeds without cramping those bearings sufficiently to +seriously impair the sensitiveness of the governor. This engine as a +whole may be regarded as a good representative of the high-speed +engine of to-day. + +Since this change in the direction of high speeds has already gone so +far that the "drop cut-off" is sometimes inapplicable, in consequence +of the fact that the piston would, were such a valve-gear adopted, +reach the end of its stroke before the detached valve could reach its +seat; and since this progress is only limited by our attainments in +mechanical skill and accuracy, it seems probable that the +"positive-motion expansion-gear" type of engine will ultimately +supersede the now standard "drop cut-off engine." + +The best known and most generally used class of stationary engines at +the present time is, however, that which has the so-called "drop +cut-off," or "detachable valve-gear." The oldest well-known form of +valve-motion of this description now in use is that known as the +Sickels cut-off, patented by Frederick E. Sickels, an American +mechanic, about the year 1841, and also built by Hogg, of New York, +who placed it upon the engine of the steamer South America. The +invention is claimed for both Hogg and Sickels. It was introduced by +the inventor in a form which especially adapted it to use with the +beam-engine used on the Eastern waters of the United States, and was +adapted to stationary engines by Messrs. Thurston, Greene & Co., of +Providence, R. I., who made use of it for some years before any other +form of "drop cut-off" came into general use. The Sickels cut-off +consisted of a set of steam-valves, usually independent of the +exhaust-valves, and each raised by a catch, which could be thrown out, +at the proper moment, by a wedge with which it came in contact as it +rose with the opening valve. This wedge, or other equivalent device, +was so adjusted that the valve should be detached and fall to its seat +when the piston reached that point in its movement, after taking +steam, at which expansion was to commence. From this point, no steam +entering the cylinder, the piston was impelled by the expanding vapor. +The valve was usually the double-poppet. Sickels subsequently invented +what was called the "beam-motion," to detach the valve at any point in +the stroke. As at first arranged, the valve could only be detached +during the earlier half-stroke, since at mid-stroke the direction of +motion of the eccentric rod was reversed and the valve began to +descend. By introducing a "wiper" having a motion transverse to that +of the valve and its catch, and by giving this wiper a motion +coincident with that of the piston by connecting it with the beam or +other part of the engine moving with the piston, he obtained a +kinematic combination which permitted the valve to be detached at any +point in the stroke, adding a very simple contrivance which enabled +the attendant to set the wiper so that it should strike the catch at +any time during the forward movement of the "beam-motion." + +On stationary engines, the point of cut-off was afterward determined +by the governor, which was made to operate the detaching mechanism, +the combination forming what is sometimes called an "automatic" +cut-off. The attachment of the governor so as to determine the degree +of expansion had been proposed before Sickels's time. One of the +earliest of these contrivances was that of Zachariah Allen, in 1834, +using a cut-off valve independent of the steam-valve. The first to so +attach the governor to a _drop cut-off_ valve-motion was George H. +Corliss, who made it a feature of the Corliss valve-gear in 1849. In +the year 1855, N. T. Greene introduced a form of expansion-gear, in +which he combined the range of the Sickels beam-motion device with the +expansion-adjustment gained by the attachment of the governor, and +with the advantages of flat slide-valves at all ports--both steam and +exhaust. + +Many other ingenious forms of expansion valve-gear have been invented, +and several have been introduced, which, properly designed and +proportioned to well-planned engines, and with good construction and +management, should give economical results little if at all inferior +to those just named. Among the most ingenious of these later devices +is that of Babcock & Wilcox, in which a very small auxiliary +steam-cylinder and piston is employed to throw the cut-off valve over +its port at the instant at which the steam is to be cut off. A very +beautiful form of isochronous governor is used on this engine, to +regulate the speed of the engine by determining the point of cut-off. + +In Wright's engine, the expansion is adjusted by the movement, by the +regulator, of cams which operate the steam-valves so that they shall +hold the valve open a longer or shorter time, as required. + +Since compactness and lightness are not as essential as in portable, +locomotive, and marine engines, the parts are arranged, in stationary +engines, with a view simply to securing efficiency, and the design is +determined by circumstances. It was formerly usual to adopt the +condensing engine in mills, and wherever a stationary engine was +required. In Europe generally, and to some extent in the United +States, where a supply of condensing water is obtainable, condensing +engines and moderate steam-pressures are still employed. But this type +of engine is gradually becoming superseded by the high-pressure +condensing engine, with considerable expansion, and with an +expansion-gear in which the point of cut-off is determined by the +governor. + +[Illustration: FIG. 97.--Corliss Engine.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 98--Corliss Engine Valve-Motion.] + +The best-known engine of this class is the Corliss engine, which is +very extensively used in the United States, and which has been copied +very generally by European builders. Fig. 97 represents the Corliss +engine. The horizontal steam-cylinder is bolted firmly to the end of +the frame, which is so formed as to transmit the strain to the main +journal with the greatest directness. The frame carries the guides for +the cross-head, which are both in the same vertical plane. The valves +are four in number, a steam and an exhaust valve being placed at each +end of the steam-cylinder. Short steam-passages are thus secured, and +this diminution of clearance is a source of some economy. Both sets of +valves are driven by an eccentric operating a disk or wrist-plate, _E_ +(Fig. 98), which vibrates on a pin projecting from the cylinder. Short +links reaching from this wrist-plate to the several valves, _D D_, _F +F_, move them with a peculiarly varying motion, opening and closing +them rapidly, and moving them quite slowly when the port is either +nearly open or almost closed. This effect is ingeniously secured by so +placing the pins on the wrist-plate that their line of motion becomes +nearly transverse to the direction of the valve-links when the limit +of movement is approached. The links connecting the wrist-plate with +the arms moving the steam-valves have catches at their extremities, +which are disengaged by coming in contact, as the arm swings around +with the valve-stem, with a cam adjusted by the governor. This +adjustment permits the steam to follow the piston farther when the +engine is caused to "slow down," and thus tends to restore the proper +speed. It disengages the steam-valve earlier, and expands the steam to +a greater extent, when the engine begins to run above the proper +speed. When the catch is thrown out, the valve is closed by a weight +or a strong spring. To prevent jar when the motion of the valve is +checked, a "dash-pot" is used, invented originally by F. E. Sickels. +This is a vessel having a nicely-fitted piston, which is received by a +"cushion" of water or air when the piston suddenly enters the cylinder +at the end of the valve-movement. In the original water dash-pot of +Sickels, the cylinder is vertical, and the plunger or piston descends +upon a small body of water confined in the base of the dash-pot. +Corliss's air dash-pot is now often set horizontally. + +[Illustration: FIG. 99.--Greene Engine.] + +In the Greene steam-engine (Fig. 99), the valves are four in number, +as in the Corliss. The cut-off gear consists of a bar, _A_, moved by +the steam-eccentric in a direction parallel with the centre-line of +the cylinder and nearly coincident as to time with the piston. On this +bar are tappets, _C C_, supported by springs and adjustable in height +by the governor, _G_. These tappets engage the arms _B B_, on the ends +of rock-shafts, _E E_, which move the steam-valves and remain in +contact with them a longer or shorter time, and holding the valve open +during a greater or less part of the piston-stroke, as the governor +permits the tappets to rise with diminishing engine-speed, or forces +them down as speed increases. The exhaust-valves are moved by an +independent eccentric rod, which is itself moved by an eccentric set, +as is usual with the Corliss and with other engines generally, at +right angles with the crank. This engine, in consequence of the +independence of the steam-eccentric, and of the contemporary movement +of steam valve-motion and steam-piston, is capable of cutting off at +any point from beginning to nearly the end of the stroke. The usual +arrangement, by which steam and exhaust valves are moved by the same +eccentric, only permits expansion with the range from the beginning to +half-stroke. In the Corliss engine the latter construction is +retained, with the object, in part, of securing a means of closing the +valve by a "positive motion," should, by any accident, the closing not +be effected by the weight or spring usually relied upon. + +[Illustration: FIG. 100.--Thurston's Greene-Engine Valve-Gear.] + +The steam-valve of the Greene engine, as designed by the author, is +seen in Fig. 100, where the valve, _G H_, covering the port, _D_, in +the steam-cylinder, _A B_, is moved by the rod, _J J_, connected to +the rock-shaft, _M_, by the arm, _L K_. The line, _K I_, should, when +carried out, intersect the valve-face at its middle point, under _G_. + +The characteristics of the American stationary engine, therefore, are +high steam-pressure without condensation, an expansion valve-gear with +drop cut-off adjustable by the governor, high piston-speed, and +lightness combined with strength of construction. The pressure most +commonly adopted in the boilers which furnish steam to this type of +engine is from 75 to 80 pounds per square inch; but a pressure of 100 +pounds is not infrequently carried, and the latter pressure may be +regarded as a "mean maximum," corresponding to a pressure of 60 pounds +at about the commencement of the period here considered--1850. + +Very much greater pressures have, however, been adopted by some +makers, and immensely "higher steam" has been experimented with by +several engineers. As early as 1823, Jacob Perkins[88] commenced +experimenting with steam of very great tension. As has already been +stated, the usual pressure at the time of Watt was but a few pounds--5 +or 7--in excess of that of the atmosphere. Evans, Trevithick, and +Stevens, had previously worked steam at pressures of from 50 to 75 +pounds per square inch, and pressures on the Western rivers and +elsewhere in the United States had already been raised to 100 or 150 +pounds, and explosions were becoming alarmingly frequent. + + [88] Perkins was a native of Newburyport, Mass. He was born July 9, + 1766, and died in London, July 30, 1849. He went to England when + fifty-two years of age, to introduce his inventions. + +Perkins's experimental apparatus consisted of a copper boiler, of a +capacity of about one cubic foot, having sides 3 inches in thickness. +It was closed at the bottom and top, and had five small pipes leading +from the upper head. This was placed in a furnace kept at a high +temperature by a forced combustion. Safety-valves loaded respectively +to 425 and 550 pounds per square inch were placed on each of two of +the steam-pipes. + +Perkins used the steam generated under these great pressures in a +little engine having a piston 2 inches in diameter and a stroke of 1 +foot. It was rated at 10 horse-power.[89] + + [89] It was when writing of this engine that Stuart wrote, in 1824: + "Judging from the rapid strides the steam-engine has made _during + the last forty years_ to become a universal first-mover, and from + the experience that has arisen from that extension, we feel + convinced that every invention which diminishes its size without + impairing its power brings it a step nearer to the assistance of the + 'world's great laborers,' the husbandman and the peasant, for whom, + as yet, it performs but little. At present, it is made occasionally + to tread out the corn. What honors await not that man who may yet + direct its mighty power to plough, to sow, to harrow, and to reap!" + The progress of the steam-engine during those forty years does not + to-day appear so astounding. The sentiment here expressed has lost + none of its truth, nevertheless. + +In the year 1827, Perkins had attained working pressures, in a +single-acting, single-cylinder engine, of upward of 800 pounds per +square inch. At pressures exceeding 200 pounds, he had much trouble in +securing effective lubrication, as all oils charred and decomposed at +the high temperatures then unavoidably encountered, and he finally +succeeded in evading this seemingly insurmountable obstacle by using +for rubbing parts a peculiar alloy which required no lubrication, and +which became so beautifully polished, after some wear, that the +friction was less than where lubricants were used. At these high +pressures Perkins seems to have met with no other serious difficulty. +He condensed the exhaust-steam and returned it to the boiler, but did +not attempt to create a vacuum in his condenser, and therefore needed +no air-pump. Steam was cut off at one-eighth stroke. + +In the same year, Perkins made a compound engine on the Woolf plan, +and adopted a pressure of 1,400 pounds, expanding eight times. In +still another engine, intended for a steam-vessel, Perkins adopted, or +proposed to adopt, 2,000 pounds pressure, cutting off the admission at +one-sixteenth, in single-acting engines of 6 inches diameter of +cylinder and 20 inches stroke of piston. The steam did not retain +boiler-pressure at the cylinder, and this engine was only rated at 30 +horse-power.[90] + + [90] Galloway and Hebert, on the Steam-Engine. London, 1836. + +Stuart follows a description of Perkins's work in the improvement of +the steam-engine and the introduction of steam-artillery by the +remark: + +" ... No other mechanic of the day has done more to illustrate an +obscure branch of philosophy by a series of difficult, dangerous, +and expensive experiments; no one's labors have been more deserving +of cheering encouragement, and no one has received less. Even in +their present state, his experiments are opening new fields for +philosophical research, and his mechanism bids fair to introduce +a new style into the proportions, construction, and form, of +steam-machinery." + +Perkins's experience was no exception to the general rule, which +denies to nearly all inventors a fair return for the benefits which +they confer upon mankind. + +Another engineer, a few years later, was also successful in +controlling and working steam under much higher pressures than are +even now in use. This was Dr. Ernst Alban, a distinguished German +engine-builder, of Plau, Mecklenburg, and an admirer of Oliver Evans, +in whose path he, a generation later, advanced far beyond that great +pioneer. Writing in 1843, he describes a system of engine and boiler +construction, with which he used steam under pressures about equal to +those experimentally worked by Jacob Perkins, Evans's American +successor. Alban's treatise was translated and printed in Great +Britain,[91] four years later. + + [91] "The High-Pressure Steam-Engine," etc. By Dr. Ernst Alban. + Translated by William Pole, F. R. A. S. London, 1847. + +Alban, on one occasion, used steam of 1,000 pounds pressure. His +boilers were similar in general form to the boiler patented by Stevens +in 1805, but the tubes were horizontal instead of vertical. He +evaporated from 8 to 10 pounds of water into steam of 600 to 800 +pounds pressure with each pound of coal. He states that the +difficulty met by Perkins--the decomposition of lubricants in the +steam-cylinder--did not present itself in his experiments, even when +working steam at a pressure of 600 pounds on the square inch, and he +found that less lubrication was needed at such high pressures than in +ordinary practice. Alban expanded his steam about as much as Evans, in +his usual practice, carrying a pressure of 150 pounds, and cutting off +at one-third; he adopted greatly increased piston-speed, attaining 300 +feet per minute, at a time when common practice had only reached 200 +feet. He usually built an oscillating engine, and rarely attached a +condenser. The valve was the locomotive-slide.[92] The stroke was made +short to secure strength, compactness, cheapness, and high speed of +rotation; but Alban does not seem to have understood the principles +controlling the form and proportions of the expansive engine, or the +necessity of adopting considerable expansion in order to secure +economy in working steam of great tension, and therefore was, +apparently, not aware of the advantages of a long stroke in reducing +losses by "dead-space," in reducing risk of annoyance by hot journals, +or in enabling high piston-speeds to be adopted. He seems never to +have attained a sufficiently high speed of piston to become aware that +the oscillating cylinder cannot be used at speeds perfectly +practicable with the fixed cylinder. + + [92] Invented by Joseph Maudsley, of London, 1827. + +Alban states that one of his smallest engines, having a cylinder 4-1/2 +inches in diameter and 1 foot stroke of piston, with a piston-speed of +but 140 to 160 feet per minute, developed 4 horse-power, with a +consumption of 5.3 pounds of coal per hour. This is a good result for +so small an amount of work, and for an engine working at so low a +speed of piston. An engine of 30 horse-power, also working very +slowly, required but 4.1 pounds of coal per hour per horse-power. + +The work of Perkins and of Alban, like that of their predecessors, +Evans, Stevens, and Trevithick, was, however, the work of engineers +who were far ahead of their time. The general practice, up to the time +which marked the beginning of the modern "period of refinement," had +been but gradually approximating that just described. Higher pressures +were slowly approached; higher piston-speeds came slowly into use; +greater expansion was gradually adopted; the causes of losses of heat +were finally discovered, and steam-jacketing and external +non-conducting coverings were more and more generally applied as +builders became more familiar with their work. The "compound engine" +was now and then adopted; and each experiment, made with higher steam +and greater expansion, was more nearly successful than the last. + +Finally, all these methods of securing economy became recognized, and +the reasons for their adoption became known. It then remained, as the +final step in this progression, to combine all these requisites of +economical working in a double-cylinder engine, steam-jacketed, well +protected by non-conducting coverings, working steam of high pressure, +and with considerable expansion at high piston-speed. This is now done +by the best builders. + +One of the best examples of this type of engine is that constructed by +the sons of Jacob Perkins, who continued the work of their father +after his death. Their engines are single-acting, and the small or +high-pressure cylinder is placed on the top of the larger or +low-pressure cylinder. The valves are worked by rotating stems, and +the loss of heat and burning of packing incident to the use of the +common method are thus avoided. The stuffing-boxes are placed at the +end of long sleeves, closely surrounding the vertical valve-stems +also, and the water of condensation which collects in these sleeves is +an additional and thorough protection against excessively high +temperature at the packing. The piston-rings are made of the alloy +which has been found to require no lubrication. + +Steam is usually worked at from 250 to 450 pounds, and is generated in +boilers composed of small tubes three inches in diameter and +three-eighths of an inch thick, which are tested under a pressure of +2,500 pounds per square inch. The safety-valve is usually loaded to +400 pounds. The boiler is fed with distilled water, obtained +principally by condensation of the exhaust-steam, any deficiency being +made up by the addition of water from a distilling apparatus. Under +these conditions, but 1-1/4 pound of coal is consumed per hour and per +horse-power. + +THE PUMPING-ENGINE in use at the present time has passed through a +series of changes not differing much from that which has been traced +with the stationary mill-engine. The Cornish engine is still used to +some extent for supplying water to towns, and is retained at deep +mines. The modern Cornish engine differs very little from that of the +time of Watt, except in the proportions of parts and the form of its +details. Steam-pressures are carried which were never reached during +the preceding period, and, by careful adjustment of well-set and +well-proportioned valves and gearing, the engine has been made to work +rather more rapidly, and to do considerably more work. It still +remains, however, a large, costly, and awkward contrivance, requiring +expensive foundations, and demanding exceptional care, skill, and +experience in management. It is gradually going out of use. This +engine, as now constructed by good builders, is shown in section in +Fig. 101. + +A comparison with the Watt engine of a century earlier will at once +enable any one to appreciate the extent to which changes may be made +in perfecting a machine, even after it has become complete, so far as +supplying it with all essential parts can complete it. + +[Illustration: FIG. 101.--Cornish Pumping-Engine, 1880.] + +In the figure, _A_ is the cylinder, taking steam from the boiler +through the steam-passage, _M_. The steam is first admitted above the +piston, _B_, driving it rapidly downward and raising the pump-rod, +_E_. At an early period in the stroke the admission of steam is +checked by the sudden closing of the induction-valve at _M_, and the +stroke is completed under the action of expanding steam assisted by +the inertia of the heavy parts already in motion. The necessary weight +and inertia is afforded, in many cases, where the engine is applied to +the pumping of deep mines, by the immensely long and heavy pump-rods. +Where this weight is too great, it is counterbalanced, and where too +small, weights are added. When the stroke is completed, the +"equilibrium valve" is opened, and the steam passes from above to the +space below the piston, and an equilibrium of pressure being thus +produced, the pump-rods descend, forcing the water from the pumps and +raising the steam-piston. The absence of the crank, or other device +which might determine absolutely the length of stroke, compels a very +careful adjustment of steam-admission to the amount of load. Should +the stroke be allowed to exceed the proper length, and should danger +thus arise of the piston striking the cylinder-head, _N_, the movement +is checked by buffer-beams. The valve-motion is actuated by a +plug-rod, _J K_, as in Watt's engine. The regulation is effected by a +"cataract," a kind of hydraulic governor, consisting of a +plunger-pump, with a reservoir attached. The plunger is raised by the +engine, and then automatically detached. It falls with greater or less +rapidity, its velocity being determined by the size of the +eduction-orifice, which is adjustable by hand. When the plunger +reaches the bottom of the pump-barrel, it disengages a catch, a weight +is allowed to act upon the steam-valve, opening it, and the engine is +caused to make a stroke. When the outlet of the cataract is nearly +closed, the engine stands still a considerable time while the plunger +is descending, and the strokes succeed each other at long intervals. +When the opening is greater, the cataract acts more rapidly, and the +engine works faster. This has been regarded until recently as the most +economical of pumping-engines, and it is still generally used in +freeing mines of water, and in situations where existing heavy +pump-rods may be utilized in counterbalancing the steam-pressure, and, +by their inertia, in continuing the motion after the steam, by its +expansion, has become greatly reduced in pressure. + +In this engine a gracefully-shaped and strong beam, _D_, has taken +the place of the ruder beam of the earlier period, and is carried on a +well-built wall of masonry, _R_. _F_ is the exhaust-valve, by which +the steam passes to the condenser, _G_, beside which is the air-pump, +_H_, and the hot-well, _I_. The cylinder is steam-jacketed, _P_, and +protected against losses of heat by radiation by a brick wall, _O_, +the whole resting on a heavy foundation, _Q_. + +The Bull Cornish engine is also still not infrequently seen in use. +The Cornish engine of Great Britain averages a duty of about +45,000,000 pounds raised one foot high per 100 pounds of coal. More +than double this economy has sometimes been attained. + +[Illustration: FIG. 102.--Steam-Pump.] + +A vastly simpler form of pumping-engine without fly-wheel is the now +common "direct-acting steam-pump." This engine is generally made use +of in feeding steam-boilers, as a forcing and fire pump, and wherever +the amount of water to be moved is not large, and where the pressure +is comparatively great. The steam-cylinder, _A R_, and feed-pump, _B +Q_ (Fig. 102), are in line, and the two pistons have usually one rod, +_D_, in common. The two cylinders are connected by a strong frame, +_N_, and two standards fitted with lugs carry the whole, and serve as +a means of bolting the pump to the floor or to its foundation. + +The method of working the steam-valve of the modern steam-pump is +ingenious and peculiar. As shown, the pistons are moving toward the +left; when they reach the end of their stroke, the face of the piston +strikes a pin or other contrivance, and thus moves a small auxiliary +valve, _I_, which opens a port, _E_, and causes steam to be admitted +behind a piston, or permits steam to be exhausted, as in the figure, +from before the auxiliary piston, _F_, and the pressure within the +main steam-chest then forces that piston over, moving the main +steam-valve, _G_, to which it is attached, admitting steam to the +left-hand side of the main piston, and exhausting on the right-hand +side, _A_. Thus the motion of the engine operates its own valves in +such a manner that it is never liable to stop working at the end of +the stroke, notwithstanding the absence of the crank and fly-wheel, or +of independent mechanism, like the cataract of the Cornish engine. +There is a very considerable variety of pumps of this class, all +differing in detail, but all presenting the distinguishing feature of +auxiliary valve and piston, and a connection by which it and the main +engine each works the valve of the other combination. + +[Illustration: FIG. 103.--The Worthington Pumping-Engine, 1876. +Section.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 104.--The Worthington Pumping-Engine.] + +In some cases these pumps are made of considerable size, and are +applied to the elevation of water in situations to which the Cornish +engine was formerly considered exclusively applicable. The +accompanying figure illustrates such a pumping-engine, as built for +supplying cities with water. This is a "compound" direct-acting +pumping-engine. The cylinders, _A B_, are placed in line, working one +pump, _F_, and operating their own air-pumps, _D D_, by a bell-crank +lever, _L H_, connected to the pump-buckets by links, _I K_. Steam +exhausted from the small cylinder, _A_, is further expanded in the +large cylinder, _B_, and thence goes to the condenser, _C_. The +valves, _N M_, are moved by the valve-gear, _L_, which is actuated by +the piston-rod of a similar pair of cylinders placed by the side of +the first. These valves are balanced, and the balance-plates, _R Q_, +are suspended from the rods, _O P_, which allow them to move with the +valves. By connecting the valves of each engine with the piston-rod +of the other, it is seen that the two engines must work alternately, +the one making a stroke while the other is still, and then itself +stopping a moment while the latter makes its stroke. + +Water enters the pump through the induction-pipe, _E_, passes into the +pump-barrel through the valves, _V V_, and issues through the +eduction-valves, _T T_, and goes on to the "mains" by the pipe, _G_, +above which is seen an air-chamber, which assists to preserve a +uniform pressure on that side the pump. This engine works very +smoothly and quietly, is cheap and durable, and has done excellent +duty. + +Beam pumping-engines are now almost invariably built with crank and +fly-wheel, and very frequently are compound engines. The accompanying +illustration represents an engine of the latter form. + +[Illustration: FIG. 105.--Double-Cylinder Pumping-Engine, 1878.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 106.--The Lawrence Water-Works Engine.] + +_A_ and _B_ are the two steam-cylinders, connected by links and +parallel motion, _C D_, to the great cast-iron beam, _E F_. At the +opposite end of the beam, the connecting-rod, _G_, turns a crank, +_H_, and fly-wheel, _L M_, which regulates the motion of the engine +and controls the length of stroke, averting all danger of accident +occurring in consequence of the piston striking either cylinder-head. +The beam is carried on handsomely-shaped iron columns, which, with +cylinders, pump, and fly-wheel, are supported by a substantial stone +foundation. The pump-rod, _I_, works a double-acting pump, _J_, and +the resistance to the issuing water is rendered uniform by an +air-chamber, _K_, within which the water rises and falls when +pressures tend to vary greatly. A revolving shaft, _N_, driven from +the fly-wheel shaft, carries cams, _O P_, which move the lifting-rods +seen directly over them and the valves which they actuate. Between the +steam-cylinders and the columns which carry the beams is a well, in +which are placed the condenser and air-pump. Steam is carried at 60 or +80 pounds pressure, and expanded from 6 to 10 times. + +[Illustration: FIG. 107.--The Leavitt Pumping-Engine.] + +A later form of double-cylinder beam pumping-engine is that invented +and designed by E. D. Leavitt, Jr., for the Lawrence Water-Works, and +shown in Figs. 106 and 107. The two cylinders are placed one on each +side the centre of the beam, and are so inclined that they may be +coupled to opposite ends of it, while their lower ends are placed +close together. At their upper ends a valve is placed at each end of +the connecting steam-pipe. At their lower ends a single valve serves +as exhaust-valve to the high-pressure and as steam-valve to the +low-pressure cylinder. The pistons move in opposite directions, and +steam is exhausted from the high-pressure cylinder directly into the +nearer end of the low-pressure cylinder. The pump, of the +"Thames-Ditton" or "bucket-and-plunger" variety, takes a full supply +of water on the down-stroke, and discharges half when rising and half +when descending again. The duty of this engine is reported by a board +of engineers as 103,923,215 foot-pounds for every 100 pounds of coal +burned. The duty of a moderately good engine is usually considered to +be from 60 to 70 millions. This engine has steam-cylinders of 17-1/2 +and 36 inches diameter respectively, with a stroke of 7 feet. The pump +had a capacity of about 195 gallons, and delivered 96 per cent. Steam +was carried at a pressure of 75 pounds above the atmosphere, and was +expanded about 10 times. Plain horizontal tubular boilers were used, +evaporating 8.58 pounds of water from 98° Fahr. per pound of coal. + +STEAM-BOILERS.--The steam supplied to the forms of stationary engine +which have been described is generated in steam-boilers of exceedingly +varied forms. The type used is determined by the extent to which their +cost is increased in the endeavor to economize fuel by the pressure of +steam carried, by the greater or less necessity of providing against +risk of explosion, by the character of the feed-water to be used, by +the facilities which may exist for keeping in good repair, and even by +the character of the men in whose hands the apparatus is likely to be +placed. + +As has been seen, the changes which have marked the growth and +development of the steam-engine have been accompanied by equally +marked changes in the forms of the steam-boiler. At first, the same +vessel served the distinct purposes of steam-generator and +steam-engine. Later, it became separated from the engine, and was then +specially fitted to perform its own peculiar functions; and its form +went through a series of modifications under the action of the causes +already stated. + +When steam began to be usefully applied, and considerable pressures +became necessary, the forms given to boilers were approximately +spherical, ellipsoidal, or cylindrical. Thus the boilers of De Caus +(1615) and of the Marquis of Worcester (1663) were spherical and +cylindrical; those of Savery (1698) were ellipsoidal and cylindrical. +After the invention of the steam-engine of Newcomen, the pressures +adopted were again very low, and steam-boilers were given irregular +forms until, at the beginning of the present century, they were again +of necessity given stronger shapes. The material was at first +frequently copper; it is now usually wrought-iron, and sometimes +steel. + +The present forms of steam-boilers may be classified as plain, flue, +and tubular boilers. The plain cylindrical or common cylinder boiler +is the only representative of the first class in common use. It is +perfectly cylindrical, with heads either flat or hemispherical. There +is usually attached to the boiler a "steam-drum" (a small cylindrical +vessel), from which the steam is taken by the steam-pipe. This +enlargement of the steam-space permits the mist, held in suspension by +the steam when it first rises from the surface of the water, to +separate more or less completely before the steam is taken from the +boiler. + +[Illustration: FIG. 108.--Babcock & Wilcox's Vertical Boiler.] + +Flue-boilers are frequently cylindrical, and contain one or more +cylindrical flues, which pass through from end to end, beneath the +water-line, conducting the furnace-gases, and affording a greater area +of heating-surface than can be obtained in the plain boiler. They are +usually from 30 to 48 inches in diameter, and one foot or less in +length for each inch of diameter. Some are, however, made 100 feet and +more in length. The boiler is made of iron 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch in +thickness, with hemispherical or carefully stayed flat heads, and +without flues. The whole is placed in a brickwork setting. These +boilers are used where fuel is inexpensive, where the cost of +repairing would be great, or where the feed-water is impure. A +cylindrical boiler, having one flue traversing it longitudinally, is +called a Cornish boiler, as it is generally supposed to have been +first used in Cornwall. It was probably first invented by Oliver Evans +in the United States, previous to 1786, at which time he had it in +use. The flue has usually a diameter 0.5 or 0.6 the diameter of the +boiler. A boiler containing two longitudinal flues is called the +Lancashire boiler. This form was also introduced by Oliver Evans. The +flues have one-third the diameter of the boiler. Several flues of +smaller diameter are often used, and when a still greater proportional +area of heating-surface is required, tubes of from 1-1/4 inch to 4 or +5 inches in diameter are substituted for flues. The flues are usually +constructed by riveting sheets together, as in making the shell or +outer portion. They are sometimes welded by British manufacturers, but +rarely if ever in the United States. Tubes are always "lap-welded" in +the process of rolling them. Small tubes were first used in the United +States, about 1785. In portable, locomotive, and marine steam-boilers, +the fire must be built within the boiler itself, instead of (as in the +above described stationary boilers) in a furnace of brickwork exterior +to the boiler. The flame and gases from the furnace or fire-box in +these kinds of boiler are never led through brick passages en route to +the chimney, as often in the preceding case, but are invariably +conducted through flues or tubes, or both, to the smoke-stack. These +boilers are also sometimes used as stationary boilers. Fig. 108 +represents such a steam-boiler in section, as it is usually exhibited +in working drawings. Provision is made to secure a good circulation of +water in these boilers by means of the "baffle-plates," seen in the +sketch, which compel the water to flow as indicated by the arrows. +The tubes are frequently made of brass or of copper, to secure rapid +transmission of heat to the water, and thus to permit the use of a +smaller area of heating-surface and a smaller boiler. The steam-space +is made as large as possible, to secure immunity from "priming" or the +"entrainment" of water with the steam. This type of steam-boiler, +invented by Nathan Read, of Salem, Mass., in 1791, and patented in +April of that year, was the earliest of the tubular boilers. In the +locomotive boiler (Fig. 109), as in the preceding, the characteristics +are a fire-box at one end of the shell and a set of tubes through +which the gases pass directly to the smoke-stack. Strength, +compactness, great steaming capacity, fair economy, moderate cost, and +convenience of combination with the running parts, are secured by the +adoption of this form. It is frequently used also for portable and +stationary engines. It was invented in France by M. Seguin, and in +England by Booth, and used by George Stephenson at about the same +time--1828 or 1829. + +[Illustration: FIG. 109.--Stationary "Locomotive" Boiler.] + +Since the efficiency of a steam-boiler depends upon the extent of +effective heating-surface per unit of weight of fuel burned in any +given time--or, ordinarily, upon the ratio of the areas of heating and +grate surface--peculiar expedients are sometimes adopted, having for +their object the increase of heating-surface, without change of form +of boiler and without proportionate increase of cost. + +One of these methods is that of the use of Galloway conical tubes +(Fig. 110). These are very largely used in Great Britain, but are +seldom if ever seen in the United States. The Cornish boiler, to which +they are usually applied, consists of a large cylindrical shell, 6 +feet or more in diameter, containing one tube of about one-half as +great dimensions, or sometimes two of one-third the diameter of the +shell each. Such boilers have a very small ratio of heating to grate +surface, and their large tubes are peculiarly liable to collapse. To +remove these objections, the Messrs. Galloway introduced stay-tubes +into the flues, which tubes are conical in form, and are set in either +a vertical or an inclined position, the larger end uppermost. The area +of heating-surface is thus greatly increased, and, at the same time, +the liability to collapse is reduced. The same results are obtained by +another device of Galloway, which is sometimes combined with that just +described in the same boiler. Several sheets in the flue have +"pockets" worked into them, which pockets project into the +flue-passage. + +[Illustration: FIG. 110.] + +Another device is that of an American engineer, Miller, who surrounds +the furnace of cylindrical and other boilers with water-tubes. The +"fuel-economizers" of Greene and others consist of similar collections +of tubes set in the flues, between the boiler and the chimney. + +"_Sectional_" boilers are gradually coming into use with high +pressures, on account of their greater safety against disastrous +explosions. The earliest practicable example of a boiler of this class +was probably that of Colonel John Stevens, of Hoboken, N. J. Dr. +Alban, who, forty years later, attempted to bring this type into +general use, and constructed a number of such boilers, did not +succeed. Their introduction, like that of all radical changes in +engineering, has been but slow, and it has been only recently that +their manufacture has become an important branch of industry. + +A committee of the American Institute, of which the author was +chairman, in 1871, examined several boilers of this and the ordinary +type, and tested them very carefully. They reported that they felt +"confident that the introduction of this class of steam-boilers will +do much toward the removal of the cause of that universal feeling of +distrust which renders the presence of a steam-boiler so objectionable +in every locality. The difficulties in thoroughly inspecting these +boilers, in regulating their action, and other faults of the class, +are gradually being overcome, and the committee look forward with +confidence to the time when their use will become general, to the +exclusion of older and more dangerous forms of steam-boilers." + +The economical performance of these boilers with a similar ratio of +heating to grate surface is equal to that of other kinds. In fact, +they are usually given a somewhat higher ratio, and their economy of +fuel frequently exceeds that of the other types. Their principal +defect is their small capacity for steam and water, which makes it +extremely difficult to obtain steady steam-pressure. Where they are +employed, the feed and draught should be, if possible, controlled by +automatic attachments, and the feed-water heated to the highest +attainable temperature. Their satisfactory working depends, more than +in other cases, on the ability of the fireman, and can only be secured +by the exercise of both care and skill. + +Many forms of these boilers have been devised. Walter Hancock +constructed boilers for his steam-carriage of flat plates connected by +stay-bolts, several such sections composing the boiler; and about the +same time (1828) Sir Goldsworthy Gurney constructed for a similar +purpose boilers consisting of a steam and a water reservoir, placed +one above the other, and connected by triangularly-bent water-tubes +exposed to the heat of the furnace-gases. Jacob Perkins made many +experiments looking to the employment of very high steam-pressures, +and in 1831 patented a boiler of this class, in which the +heating-surfaces nearest the fire were composed of iron tubes, which +tubes also served as grate-bars. The steam and water space was +principally comprised within a comparatively large chamber, of which +the walls were secured by closely distributed stay-bolts. For +extremely high pressures, boilers composed only of tubes were used. +Dr. Ernst Alban described the boiler already referred to, and its +construction and operation, and stated that he had experimented with +pressures as high as 1,000 pounds to the square inch. + +The Harrison steam-boiler, which has been many years in use in the +United States, consists of several sections, each of which is made up +of hollow globes of cast-iron, communicating with each other by necks +cast upon the spheres, and fitted together with faced joints. Long +bolts, extending from end to end of each row, bind the spheres +together. (_See_ Fig. 111.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 111.--Harrison's Sectional Boiler.] + +An example of another modern type in extensive use is given in Fig. +112, a semi-sectional boiler, which consists of a series of inclined +wrought-iron tubes, connected by T-heads, which form the vertical +water-channels, at each end. The joints are faced by milling them, and +then ground so perfectly tight that a pressure of 500 pounds to the +square inch is insufficient to produce leakage. No packing is used. +The fire is made under the front and higher end of the tubes, and the +products of combustion pass up between the tubes into a +combustion-chamber under the steam and water drum; hence they pass +down between the tubes, then once more up through the space between +the tubes, and off to the chimney. The steam is taken out at the top +of the steam-drum near the back end of the boiler. The rapid +circulation prevents to some extent the formation of deposits or +incrustations upon the heating-surfaces, sweeping them away and +depositing them in the mud-drum, whence they are blown out. Rapid +circulation of water, as has been shown by Prof. Trowbridge, also +assists in the extraction of the heat from the gases, by the +presentation of fresh water continually, as well as by the prevention +of incrustation. + +[Illustration: FIG. 112.--Babcock and Wilcox's Sectional Boiler.] + +Attempts have been made to adapt sectional boilers to marine engines; +but very little progress has yet been made in their introduction. The +Root sectional boiler (Fig. 113), an American design, which is in +extensive use in the United States and Europe, has also been +experimentally placed in service on shipboard. Its heating-surface +consists wholly of tubes, which are connected by a peculiarly formed +series of caps; the joints are made tight with rubber "grummets." + +[Illustration: FIG. 113.--Root Sectional Boiler.] + + +SECTION II.--PORTABLE AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. + +Engines and boilers, when of small size, are now often combined in one +structure which may be readily transported. Where they have a common +base-plate simply, as in Fig. 114, they are called, usually, +"semi-portable engines." These little engines have some decided +advantages. Being attached to one base, the combined engine and boiler +is easily transported, occupies little space, and may very readily be +mounted upon wheels, rendering it peculiarly well adapted for +agricultural purposes. + +[Illustration: FIG. 114.--Semi-Portable Engine, 1878.] + +The example here shown differs in its design from those usually seen +in the market. The engine is not fastened to or upon the boiler, and +is therefore not affected by expansion, nor are the bearings +overheated by conduction or by ascending heat from the boiler. The +fly-wheel is at the base, which arrangement secures steadiness at the +high speed which is a requisite for economy of fuel. The boilers are +of the upright tubular style, with internal fire-box, and are +intended to be worked at 150 pounds pressure per inch. They are fitted +with a baffle-plate and circulating-pipe, to prevent priming, and also +with a fusible plug, which will melt and prevent the crown-sheet of +the boiler burning, if the water gets low. + +[Illustration: FIG. 115.--Semi-Portable Engine, 1878.] + +Another illustration of this form of engine, as built in small sizes, +is seen below. The peculiarity of this engine is, that the cylinder is +placed in the top of the boiler, which is upright. By this arrangement +the engine is constantly drawing from the boiler the hottest and +driest steam, and there is thus no liability of serious loss by +condensation, which is rapid, even in a short pipe, when the engine is +separate from the boiler. + +The engine illustrated is rated at 10 horse-power, and makers are +always expected to guarantee their machines to work up to the rated +power. The cylinder is 7 by 7 inches, and the main shaft is directly +over it. On this shaft are three eccentrics, one working the pump, one +moving the valves, and the third one operating the cut-off. The +driving-pulley is 20 inches in diameter, and the balance-wheel 30 +inches. The boiler has 15 1-1/4-inch flues. It is furnished with a +heater in its lower portion. The boiler of this engine is tested up to +200 pounds, and is calculated to carry 100 pounds working pressure, +though that is not necessary to develop the full power of the engine. +The compactness of the whole machine is exceptional. It can be set up +in a space 5 feet square and 8 feet high. The weight of the 10 +horse-power engine is 1,540 pounds, and of the whole machine 4,890 +pounds, boxed for shipment. Every part of the mechanism usually fits +and works with the exactness of a gun-lock, as each piece is carefully +made to gauge. + +Portable engines are those which are especially intended to be moved +conveniently from place to place. The engine is usually attached to +the boiler, and the feed-pump is generally attached to the engine. The +whole machine is carried on wheels, and is moved from one place to +another, usually by horses, but sometimes by its own engine, which is +coupled by an engaging and disengaging apparatus to the rear-wheels. +English builders have usually excelled in the construction of this +class of steam-engine, although it is probable that the best American +engines are fully equal to them in design, material, and construction. + +The later work of the best-known English builders has given economical +results that have surprised engineers. The annual "shows" of the Royal +Agricultural Society have elicited good evidence of skill in +management as well as of excellence of design and construction. Some +little portable engines have exhibited an economical efficiency +superior to that of the largest marine engines of any but the compound +type, and even closely competing with that form. The causes of this +remarkable economy are readily learned by an inspection of these +engines, and by observation of the method of managing them at the +test-trial. The engines are usually very carefully designed. The +cylinders are nicely proportioned to their work, and their pistons +travel at high speed. Their valve-gear consists usually of a plain +slide-valve, supplemented by a separate expansion-slide, driven by an +independent eccentric, and capable of considerable variation +in the point of cut-off. This form of expansion-gear is very +effective--almost as much so as a drop cut-off--at the usual grade of +expansion, which is not far from four times. The governor is usually +attached to a throttle-valve in the steam-pipe, an arrangement which +is not the best possible under variable loads, but which produces no +serious loss of efficiency when the engine is driven, as at +competitive trials, under the very uniform load of a Prony strap-brake +and at very nearly the maximum capacity of the machine. The most +successful engines have had steam-jacketed cylinders--always an +essential to maximum economy--with high steam and a considerable +expansion. The boilers are strongly made, and are, as are also all +other heated surfaces, carefully clothed with non-conducting material, +and well lagged over all. The details are carefully proportioned, the +rods and frames are strong and well secured together, and the bearings +have large rubbing-surfaces. The connecting-rods are long and +easy-working, and every part is capable of doing its work without +straining and with the least friction. + +In handling the engines at the competitive trial, most experienced and +skillful drivers are selected. The difference between the performances +of the same engine in different hands has been found to amount to from +10 to 15 per cent., even where the competitors were both considered +exceptionally skillful men. In manipulating the engine, the fires are +attended to with the utmost care; coal is thrown upon them at regular +and frequent intervals, and a uniform depth of fuel and a perfectly +clean fire are secured. The sides and corners of the fire are looked +after with especial care. The fire-doors are kept open the least +possible time; not a square inch of grate-surface is left unutilized, +and every pound of coal gives out its maximum of calorific power, and +in precisely the place where it is needed. Feed-water is supplied as +nearly as possible continuously, and with the utmost regularity. In +some cases the engine-driver stands by his engine constantly, feeding +the fire with coal in handfuls, and supplying the water to the heater +by hand by means of a cup. Heaters are invariably used in such cases. +The exhaust is contracted no more than is absolutely necessary for +draught. The brake is watched carefully, lest irregularity of +lubrication should cause oscillation of speed with the changing +resistance. The load is made the maximum which the engine is designed +to drive with economy. Thus all conditions are made as favorable as +possible to economy, and they are preserved as invariable as the +utmost care on the part of the attendant can make them. + +These trials are usually of only three or five hours' duration, and +thus terminate before it becomes necessary to clean fires. The +following are results obtained at the trial of engines which took +place in July, 1870, at the Oxford Agricultural Fair: + + KEY: + A: Number. + B: Diameter. + C: Stroke. + D: Nominal. + E: Dynamometric. + F: Point of cut off. + G: Revolutions per minute. + H: Pounds coal per horse-power per hour. + + ---------------+-------------+-----+--------------+------+------+---- + MAKERS' NAME | CYLINDERS. | | HORSE-POWER. | | | + AND +-----+-------+ +-------+------+ | | + RESIDENCE. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H + ---------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------+------+------+---- + | |Inches.| In. | | | | | + Clayton, | | | | | | | | + Shuttleworth | 1 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 4.42 | ... |121.65|3.73 + & Co., Lincoln | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | + Brown & May, | | | | | | | | + Devizes | 1 | 7-3/16| 12 | 4 | 4.19 | 11.48|125.65|4.44 + | | | | | | | | + Reading Iron- | | | | | | | | + Works Company, | 1 | 5-3/4 | 14 | 4 | 4.16 | ... |145.7 |4.65 + Reading | | | | | | | | + ---------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------+------+------+---- + +These were horizontal engines, attached to locomotive boilers. + +At a similar exhibition held at Bury, in 1867, considerably better +results even than these were reported, as below, from engines of +similar size and styles: + + KEY: + A: Number. + B: Diameter. + C: Stroke. + D: Nominal. + E: Dynamometric. + F: Point of cut off. + G: Revolutions per minute. + H: Pounds coal per horse-power per hour. + + ---------------+-------------+-----+--------------+------+------+---- + MAKERS' NAME | CYLINDERS. | | HORSE-POWER. | | | + AND +-----+-------+ +-------+------+ | | + RESIDENCE. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H + ---------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------+------+------+---- + | |Inches.| In. | | | | | + Clayton, | | | | | | | | + Shuttleworth | 1 |10 | 20 | 10 | 11.00| 3.10 | 71.5 | 4.13 + & Co., Lincoln | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | + Reading Iron- | | | | | | | | + Works Company, | 1 | 8-5/8 | 20 | 10 | 10.43| 1.4 |109.4 | 4.22 + Reading | | | | | | | | + ---------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------+------+------+---- + +With all these engines steam-jackets were used; the feed-water was +highly and uniformly heated by exhaust-steam; the coal was selected, +finely broken, and thrown on the fire with the greatest care; the +velocity of the engines, the steam-pressure, and the amount of +feed-water, were very carefully regulated, and all bearings were run +quite loose; the engine-drivers were usually expert "jockeys." + +The next illustration represents the portable steam-engine as built by +one of the oldest and most experienced manufacturers of such engines +in the United States. + +In the boilers of these engines the heating-surface is given less +extent than in the stationary engine-boiler, but much greater than in +the locomotive, and varies from 10 to 20 square feet per horse-power. +The boilers are made very strong, to enable them to withstand the +strains due to the attached engine, which are estimated as equivalent +to from one-tenth to one-fifth that due to the steam-pressure. The +boiler is sometimes given even double the strength usual with +stationary boilers of similar capacity. The engine is mounted, in this +example, directly over the boiler, and all parts are in sight and +readily accessible to the engineer. + +[Illustration: FIG. 116.--The Portable Steam-Engine, 1878.] + +One of these engines, of 20 horse-power, has a steam-cylinder 10 +inches in diameter and 18 inches stroke of piston, making 125 +revolutions per minute, and has 9 square feet of grate-surface and 288 +feet of heating-surface. It weighs about 4-1/2 tons. Steam is carried +at 125 pounds. + +In the class of engines just described, the draught is obtained by the +blast of the exhaust-steam which is led into the chimney. Such engines +are now sold at from $120 to $150 per horse-power, according to size +and quality, the smaller engines costing most. The usual consumption +of fuel is from 4 to 6 pounds per hour and per horse-power, burning +from 15 to 20 pounds on each square foot of grate, and each pound +evaporating about 8 pounds of water. A usual weight is, for the larger +sizes, 500 pounds per horse-power. + +[Illustration: FIG. 117.--The Thrashers' Road-Engine, 1878.] + +These engines are sometimes arranged to propel themselves, as in the +Mills "Thrashers'" road-engine or locomotive, of which the +accompanying engraving is a good representation. This engine is +proportioned for hauling a tank containing 10 barrels, or more, of +water and a grain-separator over all ordinary roads, and to drive a +thrashing-machine or saw-mill, developing 20 or 25 horse-power. This +example of the road-engine has a boiler built to work at 250 pounds of +steam; the engine is designed for a maximum power of 30 horses. + +This engine has a balanced valve and automatic cut-off, and is fitted +with a reversing-gear for use on the road. The driving-wheels are of +wrought-iron, 56 inches diameter and 8 inches wide, with cast-iron +driving-arms. Both wheels are drivers on curves as well as on straight +lines. The engine is guided and fired by one man, and the total weight +is so small that it will pass safely over any good country bridge. A +brake is attached, to insure safety when going down-hill. Although +designed to move at a speed of about three miles per hour, the +velocity of the piston may be increased so that four miles per hour +may be accomplished when necessary. + +[Illustration: FIG. 118.--Fisher's Steam-Carriage.] + +This is an excellent example of this kind of engine as constructed at +the present time. The strongly-built boiler, with its heater, the +jacketed cylinder, and light, strong frame of the engine, the steel +running-gear, the carefully-covered surfaces of cylinder and boiler, +and excellent proportions of details, are illustrations of good modern +engineering, and are in curious contrast with the first of the class, +built a century earlier by Smeaton. + +Steam-carriages for passengers are now rarely built. Fig. 118 +represents that designed by Fisher about 1870 or earlier. It was only +worked experimentally. + +[Illustration: FIG. 119.--Road and Farm Locomotive.] + +The above is an engraving of a road and farm locomotive as built by +one of the most successful among several British firms engaged in this +work. + +The capacity of these engines has been determined by experiment by the +author in the United States, and abroad by several distinguished +engineers. + +The author made a trial of one of these engines at South Orange, N. +J., to determine its power, speed, and convenience of working and +man[oe]uvring. The following were the principal dimensions: + + Weight of engine, complete, 5 tons 4 cwt. 11,648 pounds. + Steam-cylinder--diameter 7-3/4 inches. + Stroke of piston 10 inches. + Revolution of crank to one of driving-wheels 17 + Driving-wheels--diameter 60 inches. + " breadth of tire 10 inches. + " weight, each 450 pounds. + Boiler--length over all 8 feet. + " diameter of shell 30 feet. + " thickness of shell 7/16 inch. + " fire-box sheets, outside, thickness 1/2 inch. + Load on driving-wheels, 4 tons 10 cwt. 10,080 pounds. + +The boiler was of the ordinary locomotive type, and the engine was +mounted upon it, as is usual with portable engines. + +The steam-cylinder was steam-jacketed, in accordance with the most +advanced practice here and abroad. The crank-shaft and other +wrought-iron parts subjected to heavy strains were strong and plainly +finished. The gearing was of malleableized cast-iron, and all +bearings, from crank-shaft to driving-wheel, on each side, were +carried by a single sheet of half-inch plate, which also formed the +sides of the fire-box exterior. + +The following is a summary of the conclusions deduced by the author +from the trial, and published in the _Journal of the Franklin +Institute_: A traction-engine may be so constructed as to be easily +and rapidly man[oe]uvred on the common road; and an engine weighing +over 5 tons may be turned continuously without difficulty on a circle +of 18 feet radius, or even on a road but little wider than the length +of the engine. A locomotive of 5 tons 4 hundredweight has been +constructed, capable of drawing on a good road 23,000 pounds up a +grade of 533 feet to the mile, at the rate of four miles an hour; and +one might be constructed to draw more than 63,000 pounds up a grade of +225 feet to the mile, at the rate of two miles an hour. + +It was further shown that the coefficient of traction with +heavily-laden wagons on a good macadamized road is not far from .04; +the traction-power of this engine is equal to that of 20 horses; the +weight, exclusive of the weight of the engine, that could be drawn on +a level road, was 163,452 pounds; and the amount of fuel required is +estimated at 500 pounds a day. The advantages claimed for the +traction-engine over horse-power are: no necessity for a limitation of +working-hours; a difference in first cost in favor of steam; and in +heavy work on a common road the expense by steam is less than 25 per +cent. of the average cost of horse-power, a traction-engine capable of +doing the work of 25 horses being worked at as little expense as 6 or +8 horses. The cost of hauling heavy loads has been estimated at 7 +cents per ton per mile. + +Such engines are gradually becoming useful in steam-ploughing. Two +systems are adopted. In the one the engine is stationary, and hauls a +"gang" of ploughs by means of a windlass and wire rope; in the other +the engine traverses a field, drawing behind it a plough or a gang of +ploughs. The latter method has been proposed for breaking up +prairie-land. + +Thus, thirty years after the defeat of the intelligent, courageous, +and persistent Hancock and his coworkers in the scheme of applying the +steam-engine usefully on the common road, we find strong indications +that, in a new form, the problem has been again attacked, and at least +partially solved. + +One of the most important of the prerequisites to ultimate success in +the substitution of steam for animal power on the highway is that our +roads shall be well made. As the greatest care and judgment are +exercised, and an immense outlay of capital is considered justifiable, +in securing easy grades and a smooth track on our railroad routes, we +may readily believe that similar precaution and outlay will be found +advisable in adapting the common road to the road-locomotive. It would +seem to the engineer that the natural obstacles generally supposed to +stand in the way have, after all, no real existence. The principal +inconvenience that may be anticipated will probably arise from the +carelessness or avarice of proprietors, which may sometimes cause them +to appoint ignorant and inefficient engine-drivers, giving them charge +of what are always excellent servants, but terrible masters. +Nevertheless, as the transportation of passengers on railroads is +found to be attended with less liability to loss of life or injury of +person than their carriage by stage-coach, it will be found, very +probably, that the general use of steam in transporting freight on +common roads may be attended with less risk to life or property than +to-day attends the use of horse-power. + +The STEAM FIRE-ENGINE is still another form of portable engine. It is +also one of the latest of all applications of steam-power. The steam +fire-engine is peculiarly an American production. Although previously +attempted, their permanently successful introduction has only occurred +within the last fifteen years. + +[Illustration: FIG. 120.--The Latta Steam Fire-Engine.] + +As early as 1830, Braithwaite and Ericsson, of London, England, built +an engine with steam and pump cylinders of 7 and 6-1/2 inches +diameter, respectively, with 16 inches stroke of piston. This machine +weighed 2-1/2 tons, and is said to have thrown 150 gallons of water +per minute to a height of between 80 and 100 feet. It was ready for +work in about 20 minutes after lighting the fire. Braithwaite +afterward supplied a more powerful engine to the King of Prussia, in +1832. The first attempt made in the United States to construct a steam +fire-engine was probably that of Hodge, who built one in New York in +1841. It was a strong and very effective machine, but was far too +heavy for rapid transportation. The late J. K. Fisher, who throughout +his life persistently urged the use of steam-carriages and +traction-engines, designing and building several, also planned a +steam fire-engine. Two were built from his design by the Novelty +Works, New York, about 1860, for Messrs. Lee & Larned. They were +"self-propellers," and one of them, built for the city of +Philadelphia, was sent to that city over the highway, driven by its +own engines. The other was built for and used by the New York Fire +Department, and did good service for several years. These engines were +heavy, but very powerful, and were found to move at good speed under +steam and to man[oe]uvre well. The Messrs. Latta, of Cincinnati, soon +after succeeded in constructing comparatively light and very effective +engines, and the fire department of that city was the first to adopt +steam fire-engines definitely as their principal reliance. This change +has now become general. + +The steam fire-engine has now entirely displaced the old hand-engine +in all large cities. It does its work at a fraction of the cost of the +latter. It can force its water to a height of 225 feet, and to a +distance of more than 300 feet horizontally, while the hand-engine can +seldom throw it one-third these distances; and the "steamer" may be +relied upon to work at full power many hours if necessary, while the +men at the hand-engine soon become fatigued, and require frequent +relief. The city of New York has 40 steam fire-engines. One engine to +every 10,000 inhabitants is a proper proportion. + +In the standard steam fire-engine (Fig. 120) reciprocating engines and +pumps are adopted, as seen in section in Fig. 121, in which _A_ is the +furnace, and _B_ the set of closely-set vertical fire-tubes in the +boiler. _C_ is the combustion-chamber, _D_ the smoke-pipe, and _R_ the +steam-space. _E_ is the steam-cylinder, and _F_ the pump, which is +seen to be double-acting. There are two pairs of engines and pumps, +working on cranks, set at right angles, and turning a balance-wheel +seen behind them. _G_ is the feed-pump which supplies water to the +boiler, _H_ the air-chamber which equalizes the water-pressure, which +reaches it through the pipe, _I J_. _K_ is the feed-water tank, under +the driver's seat, _L_, which, with the engines and boiler, are +carried on the frame, _M M_. The fireman stands on the platform, _N_. +When it is necessary to move the machine, an endless chain connects +the crank-shaft with the rear-wheels, and the engine, with pumps shut +off, is thus made to drive the wheels at any desired speed. + +[Illustration: FIG. 121.--The Amoskeag Engine. Section.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 122.--The Silsby Rotary Steam Fire-Engine.] + +A self-propelling engine by the Amoskeag Company had the following +dimensions and performance: Weight, 4 tons; speed, 8 miles per hour; +steam-pressure, 75 pounds per square inch; height of stream from +1-1/4-inch nozzle, 225 feet; 1-3/4-inch nozzle, 150 feet; distance +horizontally, 1-1/4-inch nozzle, 300 feet; 1-3/4-inch, 250 feet--a +performance which contrasts wonderfully with that of the hand-worked +fire-engine which these engines have now superseded. + +It has recently become common to construct the steam fire-engine with +rotary engine and pump (Fig. 122). The superiority of a rotary motion +for a steam-engine is apparently so evident that many attempts have +been made to overcome the practical difficulties to which it is +subject. One of these difficulties, and the principal one, has been +the packing of the part which performs the office of the piston in the +straight cylinder. Robert Stephenson once expressed the opinion that a +rotary engine would never be made to work successfully, on account of +this difficulty of packing. The most palpable of the advantages of the +rotary engine are the reduction in the size of the engine, claimed to +result from the great velocity of the piston; the avoidance of great +accidental strains, especially noticed in propelling ships; and a +great saving of the power which is asserted to be expended in the +reciprocating engine in overcoming the inertia while changing the +direction of the motions. These advantages adapt the rotary engine, in +an especial manner, to the driving of a locomotive or steam +fire-engine. + +[Illustration: FIG. 123.--Rotary Steam-Engine.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 124.--Rotary Pump.] + +In the Holly rotary engine, seen in Fig. 123, eccentrics and +sliding-cams, which are frequently used in rotary engines, and which +are objectionable on account of their great friction, are avoided. +Corrugated pistons, or irregular cams, _C D_, are adopted, forming +chambers within the cases. In the engine the steam enters at _A_, at +the bottom of the case, and presses the cams apart. The only packing +used is in the ends of the long metal cogs, which are ground to fit +the case and are kept out by the momentum of the cams, assisted by a +slight spring back of the packing-pieces. The friction on the pump +(Fig. 124) is said to be less than in the engine. This is the reason +given in support of the claim that the rotary engine forces water to a +given distance with from one-fourth to one-third the steam-pressure +necessary to drive all reciprocating engines. The smaller amount of +power necessary to do the work, the less strain and consequent wear +and tear upon the whole machine, are said to make it more durable and +reliable. The pump being chambered, its liability to injury by the use +of dirty or gritty water is lessened, and it is stated that it will +last for years, pumping gritty water that would soon cut out a +piston-pump. The pump used with this engine is, as shown in the above +illustration, somewhat similar to the rotary engine driving it. Each +of the revolving pistons has three long teeth bearing against the +cylinder, and packed, to prevent leakage, like the engine-cams. They +are carried on steel shafts coupled to the engine-shafts. The water +enters at _E_ and is discharged at _F_, and the passages are purposely +made large in order that sand, chips, and dirt, which may enter with +the water, may pass through. + +The rotary engine is gradually coming into use for various special +purposes, where small power is called for, and where economy of fuel +is not important; but it has never yet competed, and may perhaps never +in the future compete, with the reciprocating-piston engine where +large engines are required, or where even moderate economy of fuel is +essential. This form of engine has assumed so little importance, in +fact, in the application of the steam-engine, that comparatively +little is known of its history. Watt invented a rotary engine, and +Yule many years afterward (1836) constructed such engines at Glasgow. +Lamb patented another in 1842, Behrens still another in 1847. Napier, +Hall, Massey, Holly, La France, and others, have built engines of this +class in later times. Nearly all consist either of cams rotating in +gear, as in those above sketched, or of a piston set radially in a +cylinder of small diameter, which turns on its axis within a much +larger cylinder set eccentrically, the piston, as the former turns, +sliding in and out of the smaller cylinder as its outer edge slides in +contact with the inner surface of the larger. In some forms of rotary +engine, a piston revolves on a central shaft, and a sliding abutment +in the external cylinder serves to separate the steam from the exhaust +side and to confine the steam expanding while doing work. Nearly all +of these combinations are also used as pumps. + +Fire-engines, made by the best-known American builders of engines, +with reciprocating engines and pumps, such as are in general use in +the United States, have become standard in general plan and +arrangement of details. These are probably the best illustrations of +extreme lightness, combined with strength of parts and working power, +which have ever been produced in any branch of mechanical +engineering. By using a small boiler crowded with heating-surface, +very carefully proportioned and arranged, and with small water-spaces; +by adopting steel for running-gear and working parts wherever +possible; by working at high piston-speed and with high +steam-pressure; by selecting fuel with extreme care--by all these +expedients, the steam fire-engine has been brought, in this country, +to a state of efficiency far superior to anything seen elsewhere. +Steam is raised with wonderful promptness, even from cold water, and +water is thrown from the nozzle at the end of long lines of hose to +great distances. But this combination of lightness with power is only +attained at the expense of a certain regularity of action which can +only be secured by greater water and steam capacity in the boiler. The +small quantity of water contained within the boiler makes it necessary +to give constant attention to the feed, and the tendency, almost +invariably observed, to serious foaming and priming not only compels +unintermitted care while running, but even introduces an element of +danger which is not to be despised, even though the machine be in +charge of the most experienced and skillful attendants. Even the +greatest care, directed by the utmost skill, would not avail to +prevent frequent explosions, were it not for the fact that it rarely, +if ever, happens that accidents to such boilers occur from low water, +unless the boiler is actually completely emptied of water. In driving +them at fires, they frequently foam so violently that it is utterly +impossible to obtain any clew to the amount of water present, and the +attendant usually keeps his feed-pump on and allows the foaming to go +on. As long as water is passing into the boiler it is very unlikely +that any portion will become overheated and that accident will occur. +Such management appears very reckless, and yet accident from such a +cause is exceedingly rare. + +The changes which have been made in LOCOMOTIVE-CONSTRUCTION during the +past few years have also been in the direction of the refinement of +the earlier designs, and have been accompanied by corresponding +changes in all branches of railroad-work. The adjustment of parts to +each other and proportioning them to their work, the modification of +the minor details to suit changes of general dimensions, the +improvement of workmanship, and the use of better material, have +signalized this latest period. Special forms of engine have been +devised for special kinds of work. Small, light tank-engines (Fig. +125), carrying their own fuel and water without "tenders," are used +for moving cars about terminal stations and for making up trains; +powerful, heavy, slow-moving engines, of large boiler-capacity and +with small wheels, are used on steep gradients and for hauling long +trains laden with coal and heavy merchandise; and hardly less powerful +but quite differently proportioned "express"-engines are used for +passenger and mail service. + +[Illustration: FIG. 125.--Tank-Engine, New York Elevated Railroad.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 126.--Forney's Tank-Locomotive.] + +A peculiar form of engine (Fig. 126) has been designed by Forney, in +which the whole weight of engine, tender, coal, and water, is carried +by one frame and on one set of wheels, the permanent weight falling on +the driving-wheels and the variable load on the truck. These engines +have also a comparatively short wheel-base and high pulling-power. The +lightest tank-engines of the first class mentioned weigh 8 or 10 tons; +but engines much lighter than these, even, are built for mines, where +they are sent into the galleries to bring out the coal-laden wagons. +The heaviest engines of this class attain weights of 20 or 30 tons. +The heaviest engine yet constructed in the United States is said to be +one in use on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, having a weight of +about 100,000 pounds, which is carried on 12 driving-wheels. + +[Illustration: FIG. 127.--British Express Engine.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 128.--The Baldwin Locomotive. Section.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 129.--The American Type of Express-Engine, 1878.] + +A locomotive has two steam-cylinders, either side by side within the +frame, and immediately beneath the forward end of the boiler, or on +each side and exterior to the frame. The engines are non-condensing, +and of the simplest possible construction. The whole machine is +carried upon strong but flexible steel springs. The steam-pressure is +usually more than 100 pounds. The pulling-power is generally about +one-fifth the weight under most favorable conditions, and becomes as +low as one-tenth on wet rails. The fuel employed is wood in new +countries, coke in bituminous coal districts, and anthracite coal in +the eastern part of the United States. The general arrangement and the +proportions of locomotives differ somewhat in different localities. +In Fig. 127, a British express-engine, _O_ is the boiler, _N_ the +fire-box, _X_ the grate, _G_ the smoke-box, and _P_ the chimney. _S_ +is a spring and _R_ a lever safety-valve, _T_ is the whistle, _L_ the +throttle or regulator valve, _E_ the steam-cylinder, and _W_ the +driving-wheel. The force-pump, _B C_, is driven from the cross-head, +_D_. The frame is the base of the whole system, and all other parts +are firmly secured to it. The boiler is made fast at one end, and +provision is made for its expansion when heated. Adhesion is +secured by throwing a proper proportion of the weight upon the +driving-wheel, _W_. This is from about 6,000 pounds on standard +freight-engines, having several pairs of drivers, to 10,000 pounds on +passenger-engines, per axle. The peculiarities of the American type +(Fig. 128) are the truck, _I J_, or bogie, supporting the forward part +of the engine, the system of equalizers, or beams which distribute the +weight of the machine equally over the several axles, and minor +differences of detail. The cab or house, _r_, protecting the +engine-driver and fireman, is an American device, which is gradually +coming into use abroad also. The American locomotive is distinguished +by its flexibility and ease of action upon even roughly-laid roads. In +the sketch, which shows a standard American engine in section, _A B_ +is the boiler, _C_ one of the steam-cylinders, _D_ the piston, _E_ the +cross-head, connected to the crank-shaft, _F_, by the connecting-rod, +_G H_ the driving-wheels, _I J_ the truck-wheels, carrying the truck, +_K L_; _N N_ is the fire-box, _O O_ the tubes, of which but four are +shown. The steam-pipe, _R S_, leads the steam to the valve-chest, _T_, +in which is seen the valve, moved by the valve-gear, _U V_, and the +link, _W_. The link is raised or depressed by a lever, _X_, moved from +the cab. The safety-valve is seen at the top of the dome, at _Y_, and +the spring-balance by which the load is adjusted is shown at _Z_. At +_a_ is the cone-shaped exhaust-pipe, by which a good draught is +secured. The attachments _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_--whistle, +steam-gauge, sand-box, bell, head-light, and "cow-catcher"--are nearly +all peculiar, either in construction or location, to the American +locomotive. The cost of passenger-locomotives of ordinary size is +about $12,000; heavier engines sometimes cost $20,000. The locomotive +is usually furnished with a tender, which carries its fuel and water. +The standard passenger-engine on the Pennsylvania Railroad has four +driving-wheels, 5-1/2 feet diameter; steam-cylinders, 17 inches +diameter and 2 feet stroke; grate-surface 15-1/2 square feet, and +heating-surface 1,058 square feet. It weighs 63,100 pounds, of which +39,000 pounds are on the drivers and 24,100 on the truck. The +freight-engine has six driving-wheels, 54-5/8 inches in diameter. The +steam-cylinders are 18 inches in diameter, stroke 22 inches, +grate-surface 14.8 square feet, heating-surface 1,096 feet. It weighs +68,500 pounds, of which 48,000 are on the drivers and 20,500 on the +truck. The former takes a train of five cars up an average grade of 90 +feet to the mile. The latter is attached to a train of 11 cars. On a +grade of 50 feet to the mile, the former takes 7 and the latter 17 +cars. Tank-engines for very heavy work, such as on grades of 320 feet +to the mile, which are found on some of the mountain lines of road, +are made with five pairs of driving-wheels, and with no truck. The +steam-cylinders are 20-1/8 inches in diameter, 2 feet stroke; +grate-area, 15-3/4 feet; heating-surface, 1,380 feet; weight with tank +full, and full supply of wood, 112,000 pounds; average weight, 108,000 +pounds. Such an engine has hauled 110 tons up this grade at the speed +of 5 miles an hour, the steam-pressure being 145 pounds. The adhesion +was about 23 per cent. of the weight. + +In checking a train in motion, the inertia of the engine itself +absorbs a seriously large portion of the work of the brakes. This is +sometimes reduced by reversing the engine and allowing the +steam-pressure to act in aid of the brakes. To avoid injury by +abrasion of the surfaces of piston, cylinder, and the valves and +valve-seats, M. Le Chatelier introduces a jet of steam into the +exhaust-passages when reversing, and thus prevents the ingress of +dust-laden air and the drying of the rubbing surfaces. This method of +checking a train is rarely resorted to, however, except in case of +danger. The introduction of the "continuous" or "air" brake, which can +be thrown into action in an instant on every car of the train by the +engine-driver, is so efficient that it is now almost universally +adopted. It is one of the most important safeguards which American +ingenuity has yet devised. In drawing a train weighing 150 tons at the +rate of 60 miles an hour, about 800 effective horse-power is required. +A speed of 80 miles an hour has been often attained, and 100 miles has +probably been reached. + +The American locomotive-engine has a maximum life which may be stated +at about 30 years. The annual cost of repairs is from 10 to 15 per +cent. of its first cost. On moderately level roads, the engine +requires a pint of oil to each 25 miles, and a ton of coal to each 40 +or 50 miles run. One of the best-managed railroads in the United +States reports expenses as follows for one month: + + Number "train-miles" run per ton of coal burned 53.95 + " " " " quart of oil used 34.44 + Passenger-cars hauled 1 mile per ton of coal 275.7 + Other " " " " " 634.8 + Cost repairs per mile run $2 43 + " fuel " " 3 64 + " oil and waste per mile run 62 + " wages of engine-men per mile run 6 22 + All other expenses per mile 1 91 + Total cost per "train-mile" run 14 82 + +Although the above sketch and description represent the construction +and performance of the standard locomotive of the present time, there +are indications that the compound arrangement of engines will +ultimately be adopted. This will involve a considerable change of +proportions, greatly increasing the volume and weight of +steam-cylinders, but enabling the designer to more than proportionally +decrease the weight of boiler and the quantity of fuel carried. There +is no serious objection to their use, however, and no insuperable +difficulty in the construction of the "double-cylinder" type of engine +for the locomotive. A few such engines have already been put in +service. In these engines the high-pressure cylinder is placed on one +side and the larger low-pressure cylinder on the other side of the +locomotive, thus having but two cylinders, as in the older plan. The +valve-gear is the Stephenson link, as in the ordinary engine. At +starting, the steam is allowed to act on both pistons; but after a few +revolutions the course of the steam is changed, and the exhaust from +the smaller cylinder, instead of passing into the chimney, is sent to +the larger cylinder, which is at the same time cut off from the main +steam-pipe. When the engine is ascending a steep gradient the steam +may, if necessary, be taken from the boiler into both cylinders, as +when starting. Compound engines of this kind have been used on the +French line of railroad from Bayonne to Biarritz. They were designed +by Mallet and built at Le Creuzot. The steam-cylinders are of 9-1/2 +and 15-3/4 inches diameter, and of 17-3/4 inches stroke of piston. The +four driving-wheels are 4 feet in diameter, and the total weight of +engine is 20 tons. The boiler has 484-1/2 square feet of +heating-surface, and is built to carry 10 atmospheres pressure. When +hauling trains of 50 tons at 25 miles an hour, these engines require +about 15 pounds of good coal per mile. + +The total length of the railways in operation in the United States on +the 1st day of January, 1877, was 76,640 miles,[93] being an average +of one mile of railway for every 600 inhabitants. The railways are as +follows: + + [93] January, 1884, over 120,000 miles. + + Miles. + + Alabama 1,722 + Alaska 0 + Arizona 0 + Arkansas 787 + California 1,854 + Colorado 950 + Connecticut 925 + Dakota 290 + Delaware 285 + Florida 484 + Georgia 2,308 + Idaho 0 + Illinois 6,980 + Indiana 4,072 + Indian Territory 281 + Iowa 3,937 + Kansas 3,226 + Kentucky 1,464 + Louisiana 539 + Maine 987 + Maryland 1,092 + Massachusetts 1,825 + Michigan 3,437 + Minnesota 2,024 + Mississippi 1,028 + Missouri 3,016 + Montana 0 + Nebraska 1,181 + Nevada 714 + New Hampshire 942 + New Jersey 1,594 + New Mexico 0 + New York 5,520 + North Carolina 1,371 + Ohio 4,680 + Oregon 251 + Pennsylvania 5,896 + Rhode Island 182 + South Carolina 1,352 + Tennessee 1,638 + Texas 2,072 + Utah 486 + Vermont 810 + Virginia 1,648 + Washington 110 + West Virginia 576 + Wisconsin 2,575 + Wyoming 459 + ------ + Total 76,640 + +In 1873 came the great financial crisis, with its terrible results of +interrupted production, poverty, and starvation, and an almost total +cessation of the work of building new railroads. The largest number of +miles ever built in any one year were constructed in 1872. The +greatest mileage is in Illinois, reaching 6,589; the smallest in Rhode +Island, 136, and in Washington Territory, 110. The State of +Massachusetts has one mile of railroad to 4.86 miles of territory, +this ratio being the greatest in the country. The longest road in +operation is the Chicago & Northwestern, extending 1,500 miles; the +shortest, the Little Saw-Mill Run Road in Pennsylvania, which is but +three miles in length. The total capital of railways in the country is +$6,000,000,000, or an average of $100,000 per mile. The earnings for +the year 1872 amounted to $454,969,000, or $7,500 per mile. The +largest net earnings recorded as made on any road were gained by the +New York Central & Hudson River, $8,260,827; the smallest on several +roads which not only earned nothing, but incurred a loss. + +The catastrophe of 1873-'74 revealed the fact that the latter +condition of railroad finances was vastly more common than had been +suspected; and it is still doubtful whether the existing immense +network of railroads which covers the United States can be made, as a +whole, to pay even a moderate return on the money invested in their +construction. At the period of maximum rate of extension of railroads +in the United States--1873--the reported lengths of the railroads of +Europe and America were as follows:[94] + + [94] _Railroad Gazette._ + + RAILROADS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1873. + + ----------------------------+------------+-------------+------------ + COUNTRIES. | Railroads, | Population. | Area, + | Miles. | | Sq. Miles. + ----------------------------+------------+-------------+------------ + United States | 71,565 | 40,232,000 | 2,492,316 + Germany | 12,207 | 40,111,265 | 212,091 + Austria | 5,865 | 35,943,592 | 227,234 + France | 10,333 | 36,469,875 | 201,900 + Russia in Europe | 7,044 | 71,207,794 | 1,992,574 + Great Britain, 1872 | 15,814 | 31,817,108 | 120,769 + Belgium | 1,301 | 4,839,094 | 11,412 + Netherlands | 886 | 3,858,055 | 13,464 + Switzerland | 820 | 2,669,095 | 15,233 + Italy | 3,667 | 26,273,776 | 107,961 + Denmark | 420 | 1,784,741 | 14,453 + Spain | 3,401 | 16,301,850 | 182,758 + Portugal | 453 | 3,987,867 | 36,510 + Sweden and Norway | 1,049 | 5,860,122 | 188,771 + Greece | 100 | 1,332,508 | 19,941 + ----------------------------+------------+-------------+------------ + +The railroads in Great Britain comprise over 15,000 miles of track now +being worked in the United Kingdom, on which have been expended +$2,800,000,000. This sum is equal to five times the amount of the +annual value of all the real property in Great Britain, and two-thirds +of the national debt. After deducting all the working expenses, the +gross net annual revenue of all the roads exceeds by $110,000,000 the +total revenue from all sources of Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Denmark, +Sweden and Norway. An army of 100,000 officers and servants is in the +employ of the companies, and the value of the rolling-stock exceeds +$150,000,000. + + +SECTION III.--MARINE ENGINES. + +The changes which have now become completed in the marine steam-engine +have been effected at a later date than those which produced the +modern locomotive. On the American rivers the modification of the +beam-engine since the time of Robert L. Stevens has been very slight. +The same general arrangement is retained, and the details are little, +if at all, altered. The pressure of steam is sometimes as high as 60 +pounds per square inch. + +[Illustration: FIG. 130.--Beam-Engine.] + +The valves are of the disk or poppet variety, rising and falling +vertically. They are four in number, two steam and two exhaust valves +being placed at each end of the steam-cylinder. The beam-engine is a +peculiarly American type, seldom if ever seen abroad. Fig. 130 is an +outline sketch of this engine as built for a steamer plying on the +Hudson River. This class of engine is usually adopted in vessels of +great length, light draught, and high speed. But one steam-cylinder is +commonly used. The cross-head is coupled to one end of the beam by +means of a pair of links, and the motion of the opposite end of the +beam is transmitted to the crank by a connecting-rod of moderate +length. The beam has a cast-iron centre surrounded by a wrought-iron +strap of lozenge shape, in which are forged the bosses for the +end-centres, or for the pins to which the connecting-rod and the links +are attached. The main centre of the beam is supported by a +"gallows-frame" of timbers so arranged as to receive all stresses +longitudinally. The crank and shaft are of wrought-iron. The +valve-gear is usually of the form already mentioned as the Stevens +valve-gear, the invention of Robert L. and Francis B. Stevens. The +condenser is placed immediately beneath the steam-cylinder. The +air-pump is placed close beside it, and worked by a rod attached to +the beam. Steam-vessels on the Hudson River have been driven by such +engines at the rate of 20 miles an hour. This form of engine is +remarkable for its smoothness of operation, its economy and +durability, its compactness, and the latitude which it permits in the +change of shape of the long, flexible vessels in which it is generally +used, without injury by "getting out of line." + +[Illustration: FIG. 131.--Oscillating Engine and Feathering +Paddle-Wheel.] + +For paddle-engines of large vessels, the favorite type, which has been +the side-lever engine, is now rarely built. For smaller vessels, the +oscillating engine with feathering paddle-wheels is still largely +employed in Europe. This style of engine is shown in Fig. 131. It is +very compact, light, and moderately economical, and excels in +simplicity. The usual arrangement is such that the feathering-wheel +has the same action upon the water as a radial wheel of double +diameter. This reduction of the diameter of the wheel, while retaining +maximum effectiveness, permits a high speed of engine, and therefore +less weight, volume, and cost. The smaller wheel-boxes, by offering +less resistance to the wind, retard the progress of the vessel less +than those of radial wheels. Inclined engines are sometimes used for +driving paddle-wheels. In these the steam-cylinder lies in an inclined +position, and its connecting-rod directly connects the crank with the +cross-head. The condenser and air-pump usually lie beneath the +cross-head guides, and are worked by a bell-crank driven by links on +each side the connecting-rod, attached to the cross-head. Such engines +are used to some extent in Europe, and they have been adopted in the +United States navy for side-wheel gunboats. They are also used on the +ferry-boats plying between New York and Brooklyn. + +[Illustration: FIG. 132.--The Two Rhode Islands, 1836-1876.] + +Among the finest illustrations of recent practice in the construction +of side-wheel steamers are those built for the several routes between +New York and the cities of New England which traverse Long Island +Sound. Our illustration exhibits the form of these vessels, and also +shows well the modifications in structure and size which have been +made during this generation. The later vessel is 325 feet long, 45 +feet beam, 80 feet wide over the "guards," and 16 feet deep, drawing +10 feet of water. The "frames" upon which the planking of the hull is +fastened are of white-oak, and the lighter and "top" timbers of cedar +and locust. The engine has a steam-cylinder 90 inches in diameter and +12 feet stroke of piston.[95] On each side the great saloons which +extend from end to end of the upper deck are state-rooms, containing +each two berths and elegantly furnished. The engine of this vessel is +capable of developing about 2,500 horse-power. The great wheels, of +which the paddle-boxes are seen rising nearly to the height of the +hurricane-deck, are 37-1/2 feet in diameter and 12 in breadth. The +hull of this vessel, including all wood-work, weighs over 1,200 tons. +The weight of the machinery is about 625 tons. The steamer makes 16 +knots an hour when the engine is at its best speed--about 17 +revolutions per minute--and its average speed is about 14 knots on +its route of 160 miles. The coal required to supply the furnaces of +such a vessel and with such machinery would be about 3 tons per hour. +or a little over 2-1/2 pounds per horse-power. The construction of +such a vessel occupies, usually, about a year, and costs a quarter of +a million dollars. + + [95] The steam-cylinders of the engines of steamers Bristol and + Providence are 110 inches in diameter and of 12 feet stroke. + +[Illustration: FIG. 133.--A Mississippi Steamboat.] + +The non-condensing direct-acting engine is used principally on the +Western rivers, driven by steam of from 100 to 150 pounds pressure, +and exhausts its steam into the atmosphere. It is the simplest +possible form of direct-acting engine. The valves are usually of the +"poppet" variety, and are operated by cams which act at the ends of +long levers having their fulcra on the opposite side of the valve, the +stem of which latter is attached at an intermediate point. The engine +is horizontal, and the connecting-rod directly attached to cross-head +and crank-pin without intermediate mechanism. The paddle-wheel is +used, sometimes as a stern-wheel, as in the plan of Jonathan Hulls of +one and a half century ago, sometimes as a side-wheel, as is most +usual elsewhere. One of the most noted of these steamers, plying on +the Mississippi, is shown in the preceding sketch. + +One of the largest of these steamers was the Grand Republic,[96] a +vessel 340 feet long, 56 feet beam, and 10-1/4 feet depth. The draught +of water of this great craft was 3-1/2 feet forward and 4-1/2 aft. The +two sets of compound engines, 28 and 56 inches diameter and of 10 feet +stroke, drive wheels 38-1/2 feet in diameter and 18 feet wide. The +boilers were steel. A steamer built still later on the Ohio has the +following dimensions: Length, 225 feet; breadth, 35-1/2 feet; depth, 5 +feet; cylinders, 17-3/8 inches in diameter, 6 feet stroke; three +boilers. The hull and cabin were built at Jeffersonville, Ind. She has +40 large state-rooms. The cost of the steamer was $40,000. + + [96] Burned in 1877. + +These vessels have now opened to commerce the whole extent of the +great Mississippi basin, transporting a large share of the products of +a section of country measuring a million and a half square miles--an +area equal to many times that of New York State, and twelve times that +of the island of Great Britain--an area exceeding that of the whole of +Europe, exclusive of Russia and Turkey, and capable, if as thoroughly +cultivated as the Netherlands, of supporting a population of between +three and four hundred millions of people. + +The steam-engine and propelling apparatus of the modern ocean-steamer +have now become almost exclusively the compound or double-cylinder +engine, driving the screw. The form and the location of the machinery +in the vessel vary with the size and character of the ship which it +drives. Very small boats are fitted with machinery of quite a +different kind from that built for large steamers, and war-vessels +have usually been supplied with engines of a design radically +different from that adopted for merchant-steamers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 134.--Steam-Launch, New York Steam-Power Company.] + +The introduction of _Steam-Launches_ and small pleasure-boats driven +by steam-power is of comparatively recent date, but their use is +rapidly increasing. Those first built were heavy, slow, and +complicated; but, profiting by experience, light and graceful boats +are now built, of remarkable swiftness, and having such improved and +simplified machinery that they require little fuel and can be easily +managed. Such boats have strong, carefully-modeled hulls, light and +strong boilers, capable of making a large amount of dry steam with +little fuel, and a light, quick-running engine, working without shake +or jar, and using steam economically. + +[Illustration: FIG. 135.--Launch-Engine.] + +The above sketch represents the engine built by a New York firm for +such little craft. This is the smallest size made for the market. It +has a steam-cylinder 3 inches in diameter and a stroke of piston of 5 +inches, driving a screw 26 inches in diameter and of 3 feet pitch. The +maximum power of the engine is four or five times the nominal power. +The boiler is of the form shown in the illustrations of semi-portable +engines, and has a heating-surface, in this case, of 75 square feet. +The boat itself is like that seen on page 386, and is 25 feet long, of +5 feet 8 inches beam, and draws 2-1/4 feet of water. These little +machines weigh about 150 pounds per nominal horse-power, and the +boilers about 300. + +Some of these little vessels have attained wonderful speed. A British +steam-yacht, the Miranda, 45-1/2 feet in length, 5-3/4 feet wide, and +drawing 2-1/2 feet of water, with a total weight of 3-3/4 tons, has +steamed nearly 18-1/2 miles an hour for short runs. The boat was +driven by an engine of 6 inches diameter of cylinder and 8 inches +stroke of piston, making 600 revolutions per minute, driving a +two-bladed screw 2-1/2 feet in diameter and of 3-1/3 feet pitch. Its +machinery had a total weight of two tons. Another English yacht, the +Firefly, is said to have made 18.94 miles an hour. A little French +yacht, the Hirondelle, has attained a speed of 16 knots, equal to +about 18-1/2 miles, an hour. This was, however, a much larger vessel +than the preceding. One of the most remarkable of these little +steamers is a torpedo-boat built for the United States navy. This +vessel is 60 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 5 feet deep; its screw is 38 +inches in diameter and of 5 feet pitch, two-bladed, and is driven, by +a very light engine and boiler, 400 revolutions per minute, the boat +attaining a speed of 19 to 20 miles an hour. Another little vessel, +the Vision, made nearly as great speed, developing 20 horse-power with +engine and boiler weighing but about 400 pounds. + +Yachts of high speed require such weight and bulk of engine that but +little space is left for cabins, and they are usually exceedingly +uncomfortable vessels. In the Miranda the weight of machinery is more +than one-half the total weight of the whole. An illustration of the +more comfortable and more generally liked pleasure-yacht is the Day +Dream. The length is 105 feet, and the boat draws 5-1/2 feet of +water. There are two engines, having steam-cylinders 14 inches in +diameter and of the same length of stroke, direct-acting, condensing, +and driving a screw, of 7 feet diameter and of 10-1/2 feet pitch, 135 +revolutions a minute, giving the yacht a speed of 13-1/2 knots an +hour. + +[Illustration: FIG. 136.--Horizontal, Direct-acting Naval +Screw-Engine.] + +In larger vessels, as in yachts, in nearly all cases, the ordinary +screw-engine is direct-acting. Two engines are placed side by side, +with cranks on the shaft at an angle of 90° with each other. In +merchant-steamers the steam-cylinders are usually vertical and +directly over the crank-pins, to which the cross-heads are coupled. +The condenser is placed behind the engine-frame, or, where a +jet-condenser is used, the frame itself is sometimes made hollow, and +serves as a condenser. The air-pump is worked by a beam connected by +links with the cross-head. The general arrangement is like that shown +in Figs. 137 and 138. For naval purposes such a form is objectionable, +since its height is so great that it would be exposed to injury by +shot. In naval engineering the cylinder is placed horizontally, as in +Fig. 136, which is a sectional view, representing an horizontal, +direct-acting naval screw-engine, with jet-condenser and double-acting +air and circulating pumps. _A_ is the steam-cylinder, _B_ the piston, +which is connected to the crank-pin by the piston-rod, _D_, and +connecting-rod, _E_. _F_ is the cross-head guide. The eccentrics, +_G_, operate the valve, which is of the "three-ported variety," by a +Stephenson link. Reversing is effected by the hand-wheel, _C_, which, +by means of a gear, _m_, and a rack, _k_, elevates and depresses the +link, and thus reverses the valve. + +[Illustration: FIG. 137.--Compound Marine Engine. Side Elevation.] + +The trunk-engine, in which the connecting-rod is attached directly to +the piston and vibrates within a trunk or cylinder secured to the +piston, moving with it, and extending outside the cylinder, like an +immense hollow piston-rod, is frequently used in the British navy. It +has rarely been adopted in the United States. + +[Illustration: FIG. 138.--Compound Marine Engine. Front Elevation and +Section.] + +In nearly all steam-vessels which have been built for the merchant +service recently, and in some naval vessels, the compound engine has +been adopted. Figs. 137 and 138 represent the usual form of this +engine. Here _A A_, _B B_ are the small and the large, or the +high-pressure and the low-pressure cylinders respectively. _C C_ are +the valve-chests. _G G_ is the condenser, which is invariably a +surface-condenser. The condensing water is sometimes directed around +the tubes contained within the casing, _G G_, while the steam is +exhausted around them and among them, and sometimes the steam is +condensed within the tubes, while the injection-water which is sent +into the condenser to produce condensation passes around the exterior +of the tubes. In either case, the tubes are usually of small diameter, +varying from five-eighths to half an inch, and in length from four to +seven feet. The extent of heating-surface is usually from one-half to +three-fourths that of the heating-surface of the boilers. + +The air and circulating pumps are placed on the lower part of the +condenser-casting, and are operated by a crank on the main shaft at +_N_; or they are sometimes placed as in the style of engine last +described, and driven by a beam worked by the cross-head. The +piston-rods, _T S_, are guided by the cross-heads, _V V_, working in +slipper-guides, and to these cross-heads are attached the +connecting-rods, _X X_, driving the cranks, _M M_. The cranks are now +usually set at right angles; in some engines this angle is increased +to 120°, or even 180°. Where it is arranged as here shown, an +intermediate reservoir, _P O_, is placed between the two cylinders to +prevent the excessive variations of pressure that would otherwise +accompany the varying relative motions of the pistons, as the steam +passes from the high-pressure to the low-pressure cylinder. Steam from +the boilers enters the high-pressure steam-chest, _X_, and is admitted +by the steam-valve alternately above and below the piston as usual. +The exhaust steam is conducted through the exhaust passage around into +the reservoir, _P_, whence it it is taken by the low-pressure +cylinder, precisely as the smaller cylinder drew its steam from the +boiler. From the large or low-pressure cylinder the steam is exhausted +into the condenser. The valve-gear is usually a Stephenson link, _g +e_, the position of which is determined, and the reversal of which is +accomplished, by a hand-wheel, _o_, and screw, _m n p_, which, by the +bell-crank, _k i_, are attached to the link, _g e_. The "box-framing" +forms also the hot-well. The surface-condenser is cleared by a +single-acting air-pump, inside the frame, at _T_. The feed-pump and +the bilge-pumps are driven from the cross-head of the air-pump. + +[Illustration: John Elder.] + +The successful introduction of the double-cylinder engine was finally +accomplished by the exertions of a few engineers, who were at once +intelligent enough to understand its advantages, and energetic and +enterprising enough to push it forward in spite of active opposition, +and powerful enough, pecuniarily and in influence, to succeed. The +most active and earnest of these eminent men was John Elder, of the +firm of Randolph, Elder & Co., subsequently John Elder & Co., of +Glasgow.[97] + + [97] _Vide_ "Memoir of John Elder," W. J. M. Rankine, Glasgow, 1871. + +Elder was of Scotch descent. His ancestors had, for generations, +shown great skill and talent in construction, and had always been +known as successful millwrights. John Elder was born at Glasgow, March +8, 1824, and died in London, September 17, 1869. He was educated at +the Glasgow High-School and in the College of Engineering at the +University of Glasgow, where, however, his attendance was but for a +short time. He learned the trade under his father in the workshops of +the Messrs. Napier, and became an unusually expert draughtsman. After +spending three years in charge of the drawing-office at the +engine-building works of Robert Napier, where his father had been +manager, Elder became a partner in the firm which had previously been +known as Randolph, Elliott & Co., in the year 1852. The firm commenced +building iron vessels in 1860. + +In the mean time, the experiments of Hornblower and Wolff, of Allaire +and Smith, and of McNaught, Craddock, and Nicholson, together with the +theoretical investigations of Thompson, Rankine, Clausius, and others, +had shown plainly in what direction to look for improvement upon then +standard engines, and what direction practice was taking with all +types. The practical deductions which were becoming evident were +recognized very early by Elder, and he promptly began to put in +practice the principles which his knowledge of thermo-dynamics and of +mechanics enabled him to appreciate. He adopted the compound engine, +and coupled his cranks at angles of 180°, in order to avoid losses due +to the friction of the crank-shaft in its bearings, by effecting a +partial counterbalancing of pressures on the journals. Elder was one +of the first to point out the fact that the compound engine had proved +itself more efficient than the single-cylinder engine, only when the +pressure of steam carried and the extent to which expansion was +adopted exceeded the customary practice of his time. His own practice +was, from the first, successful, and from 1853 to 1867 he and his +partners were continually engaged in the construction of steamers and +fitting them with compound engines. + +The engines of their first vessel, the Brandon, required but 3-1/4 +pounds of coal per hour and per horse-power, in 1854, when the usual +consumption was a third more. Five years later, they had built engines +which consumed a third less than those of the Brandon; and +thenceforward, for many years, their engines, when of large size, +exhibited what was then thought remarkable economy, running on a +consumption of from 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 pounds. + +In the year 1865 the British Government ordered a competitive trial of +three naval vessels, which only differed in the form of their engines. +The Arethusa was fitted with trunk-engines of the ordinary kind; the +Octavia had three steam-cylinders, coupled to three cranks placed at +angles of 120° with each other; and the Constance was fitted with +compound engines, two sets of three cylinders each, and each taking +steam from the boiler into one cylinder, passing it through the other +two with continuous expansion, and finally exhausting from the third +into the condenser. These vessels, during one week's steaming at sea, +averaged, respectively, 3.64, 3.17, and 2.51 pounds of coal per hour +and per horse-power, and the Constance showed a marked superiority in +the efficiency of the mechanism of her engines, when the losses by +friction were compared. + +The change from the side-lever single-cylinder engine, with +jet-condenser and paddle-wheels, to the direct-acting compound engine, +with surface-condenser and screw-propellers, has occurred within the +memory and under the observation of even young engineers, and it may +be considered that the revolution has not been completely effected. +This change in the design of engine is not as great as it at first +seemed likely to become. Builders have but slowly learned the +principles stated above in reference to expansion in one or more +cylinders, and the earlier engines were made with a high and low +pressure cylinder working on the same connecting-rod, and each machine +consisted of four steam-cylinders. It was at last discovered that a +high-pressure single-cylinder engine exhausting into a separate +larger low-pressure engine might give good results, and the compound +engine became as simple as the type of engine which it displaced. This +independence of high and low pressure engines is not in itself novel, +for the plan of using the exhaust of a high-pressure engine to drive a +low-pressure condensing engine was one of the earliest of known +combinations. + +The advantage of introducing double engines at sea is considerably +greater than on land. The coal carried by a steam-vessel is not only +an item of great importance in consequence of its first cost, but, +displacing its weight or bulk of freight which might otherwise be +carried, it represents so much non-paying cargo, and is to be charged +with the full cost of transportation in addition to first cost. The +best of steam-coal is therefore usually chosen for steamers making +long voyages, and the necessity of obtaining the most economical +engines is at once seen, and is fully appreciated by steamship +proprietors. Again, an economy of one-fourth of a pound per +horse-power per hour gives, on a large transatlantic steamer, a saving +of about 100 tons of coal for a single voyage. To this saving of cost +is to be added the gain in wages and sustenance of the labor required +to handle that coal, and the gain by 100 tons of freight carried in +place of the coal. + +For many years the change which has here been outlined, in the forms +of engine and the working of steam expansively, was retarded by the +inefficiency of methods and tools used in construction. With gradual +improvement in tools and in methods of doing work, it became possible +to control higher steam and to work it successfully; and the change in +this direction has been steadily going on up to the present time with +all types of steam-engine. At sea this rise of pressure was for a +considerable time retarded by the serious difficulty encountered in +the tendency of the sulphate of lime to deposit in the boiler. When +steam-pressure had risen to 25 pounds per square inch, it was found +that no amount of "blowing out" would prevent the deposition of +seriously large quantities of this salt, while at the lower pressures +at first carried at sea no troublesome precipitation occurred, and the +only precaution necessary was to blow out sufficient brine to prevent +the precipitation of common salt from a supersaturated solution. The +introduction of surface-condensation was promptly attempted as the +remedy for this evil, but for many years it was extremely doubtful +whether its disadvantages were not greater than its advantages. It was +found very difficult to keep the condensers tight, and boilers were +injured by some singular process of corrosion, evidently due to the +presence of the surface-condenser. The simple expedient of permitting +a very thin scale to form in the boiler was, after a time, hit upon as +a means of overcoming this difficulty, and thenceforward the greatest +obstacle to the general introduction was the conservative disposition +found among those who had charge of marine machinery, which +conservatism regarded with suspicion every innovation. Another trouble +arose from the difficulty of finding men neither too indolent nor too +ignorant to take charge of the new condenser, which, more complicated +and more readily disarranged than the old, demanded a higher class of +attendants. Once introduced, however, the surface-condenser removed +the obstacle to further elevation of steam-pressure, and the rise from +20 to 60 pounds pressure soon occurred. Elder and his competitors on +the Clyde were the first to take advantage of the fact when these +higher pressures became practicable. + +The lightness of engine and the smaller weight of boiler secured when +the simpler type of "compound" engine is used are great advantages, +and, when coupled with the fact that by no other satisfactory device +can great expansion and consequent economy of fuel be obtained at sea, +the advantages are such as to make the adoption of this style of +engine imperative for ship-propulsion. + +This extreme lightness in machinery has been largely, also, the result +of very careful and skillful designing, of intelligent construction, +and of care in the selection and use of material. British builders +had, until after the introduction of these later types of +vessels-of-war, been distinguished rather by the weight of their +machinery than for nice calculation and proportioning of parts. Now +the engines of the heavy iron-clads are models of good proportions, +excellence in materials, and of workmanship, which are well worthy of +study. The weight per indicated horse-power has been reduced from 400 +or 500 pounds to less than half that amount within the last ten years. +This has been accomplished by forcing the boilers--although thus, to +some extent, losing economy--by higher steam-pressure, a very much +higher piston-speed, reduction of friction of parts, reduction of +capacity for coal-stowage, and exceedingly careful proportioning. +The reduction of coal-bunker capacity is largely compensated by +the increase of economy secured by superheating, by increased +expansion, elevation of piston-speed, and the introduction of +surface-condensation. + +A good marine steam-engine of the form which was considered standard +15 or 20 years ago, having low-pressure boilers carrying steam at 20 +or 25 pounds pressure as a maximum, expanding twice or three times, +and having a jet-condenser, would require about 30 or 35 pounds of +feed-water per horse-power per hour; substituting surface-condensation +for that produced by the jet brought down the weight of steam used to +from 25 to 30 pounds; increasing steam-pressure to 60 pounds, +expanding from five to eight times, and combining the special +advantages of the superheater and the compound engine with +surface-condensation, has reduced the consumption of steam to 20, or +even, in some cases, 15 pounds of steam per horse-power per hour. +Messrs. Perkins, of London, guarantee, as has already been stated, to +furnish engines capable of giving a horse-power with a consumption of +but 1-1/4 pound of coal. Mr. C. E. Emery reports the United States +revenue-steamer Hassler, designed by him, to have given an ordinary +sea-going performance which is probably fully equal to anything yet +accomplished. The Hassler is a small steamer, of but 151 feet in +length, 24-1/2 feet beam, and 10 feet draught. The engines have +steam-cylinders 18.1 and 28 inches diameter, respectively, and of 28 +inches stroke of piston, indicating 125 horse-power; with steam at 75 +pounds pressure, and at a speed of but 7 knots, the coal consumed was +but 1.87 pound per horse-power per hour. + +The committee of the British Admiralty on designs of ships-of-war have +reported recently: "The carrying-power of ships may certainly be to +some extent increased by the adoption of compound engines in her +Majesty's service. Its use has recently become very general in the +mercantile marine, and the weight of evidence in favor of the large +economy of fuel thereby gained is, to our minds, overwhelming and +conclusive. We therefore beg earnestly to recommend that the use of +compound engines may be generally adopted in ships-of-war hereafter to +be constructed, and applied, whenever it can be done with due regard +to economy and to the convenience of the service, to those already +built." + +The forms of screws now employed are exceedingly diverse, but those in +common use are not numerous. In naval vessels it is common to apply +screws of two blades, that they may be hoisted above water into a +"well" when the vessel is under sail, or set with the two blades +directly behind the stern-post, when their resistance to the forward +motion of the vessel will be comparatively small. In other vessels, +and in the greater number of full-power naval vessels, screws of three +or four blades are used. + +The usual form of screw (Fig. 139) has blades of nearly equal breadth +from the hub to the periphery, or slightly widening toward their +extremities, as is seen in an exaggerated degree in Fig. 140, +representing the form adopted for tug-boats, where large surface near +the extremity is more generally used than in vessels of high speed +running free. In the Griffith screw, which has been much used, the hub +is globular and very large. The blades are secured to the hub by +flanges, and are bolted on in such a manner that their position may be +changed slightly if desired. The blades are shaped like the section of +a pear, the wider part being nearest the hub, and the blades tapering +rapidly toward their extremities. A usual form is intermediate between +the last, and is like that shown in Fig. 141, the hub being +sufficiently enlarged to permit the blades to be attached as in the +Griffith screw, but more nearly cylindrical, and the blades having +nearly uniform width from end to end. + +[Illustration: FIG. 139.--Screw-Propeller.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 140.--Tug-boat Screw.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 141.--Hirsch Screw.] + +The pitch of a screw is the distance which would be traversed by the +screw in one revolution were it to move through the water without +slip; i. e., it is double the distance _C D_, Fig. 140. _C D´_ +represents the helical path of the extremity of the blade _B_, and _O +E F H K_ is that of the blade _A_. The proportion of diameter to the +pitch of the screw is determined by the speed of the vessel. For low +speed the pitch may be as small as 1-1/4 the diameter. For vessels of +high speed the pitch is frequently double the diameter. The diameter +of the screw is made as great as possible, since the slip decreases +with the increase of the area of screw-disk. Its length is usually +about one-sixth of the diameter. A greater length produces loss by +increase of surface causing too great friction, while a shorter screw +does not fully utilize the resisting power of the cylinder of water +within which it works, and increased slip causes waste of power. An +empirical value for the probable slip in vessels of good shape, which +is closely approximate usually, is _S_ = 4(_M_/_A_), in which _S_ is +the slip per cent., and _M_ and _A_ are the areas of the midship +section and of the screw-disk in square feet. + +The most effective screws have slightly greater pitch at the periphery +than at the hub, and an increasing pitch from the forward to the rear +part of the screw. The latter method of increasing pitch is more +generally adopted alone. The thrust of the screw is the pressure which +it exerts in driving the vessel forward. In well-formed vessels, with +good screws, about two-thirds of the power applied to the screw is +utilized in propulsion, the remainder being wasted in slip and other +useless work. Its efficiency is in such a case, therefore, 66 per +cent. Twin screws, one on each side of the stern-post, are sometimes +used in vessels of light draught and considerable breadth, whereby +decreased slip is secured. + +As has already been stated, the introduction of the compound engine +has been attempted, but with less success than in Europe, by several +American engineers. + +The most radical change in the methods of ship-propulsion which has +been successfully introduced in some localities has been the adoption +of a system of "wire-rope towage." It is only well adapted for cases +in which the steamer traverses the same line constantly, moving +backward and forward between certain points, and is never compelled to +deviate to any considerable extent from the path selected. A similar +system is in use in Canada, but it has not yet come into use in the +United States, notwithstanding the fact that, wherever its adoption is +practicable, it has a marked superiority in economy over the usual +methods of propulsion. With chain or rope traction there is no loss by +slip or oblique action, as in both screw and paddle-wheel propulsion. +In the latter methods these losses amount to an important fraction of +the total power; they rarely, if ever, fall below a total of 25 per +cent., and probably in towage exceed 50 per cent. The objection to the +adoption of chain-propulsion, as it is also often called, is the +necessity of following closely the line along which the chain or the +rope is laid. There is, however, much less difficulty than would be +anticipated in following a sinuous route or in avoiding obstacles in +the channel or passing other vessels. The system is particularly well +adapted for use on canals. + +The steam-boilers in use in the later and best marine engineering +practice are of various forms, but the standard types are few in +number. That used on river-steamers in the United States has already +been described. + +[Illustration: FIG. 142.--Marine Fire-tubular Boiler. Section.] + +Fig. 142 is a type of marine tubular boiler which is in most extensive +use in sea-going steamers for moderate pressure, and particularly for +naval vessels. Here the gases pass directly into the back connection +from the fire, and thence forward again, through horizontal tubes, to +the front connection and up the chimney. In naval vessels the +steam-chimney is omitted, as it is there necessary to keep all parts +of the boiler as far below the water-line as possible. Steam is taken +from the boiler by pipes which are carried from end to end of the +steam-space, near the top of the boiler, the steam entering these +pipes through small holes drilled on the other side. Steam is thus +taken from the boiler "wet," but no large quantity of water can +usually be "entrained" by the steam. + +A marine boiler has been quite extensively introduced into the United +States navy, in which the gases are led from the back connection +through a tube-box around and among a set of upright water-tubes, +which are filled with water, circulation taking place freely from the +water-space immediately above the crown-sheet of the furnace up +through these tubes into the water-space above them. These +"water-tubular" boilers have a slight advantage over the +"fire-tubular" boilers already described in compactness, in steaming +capacity, and in economical efficiency. They have a very marked +advantage in the facility with which the tubes may be scraped or freed +from the deposit when a scale of sulphate of lime or other salt has +formed within them by precipitation from the water. The fire-tubular +boiler excels in convenience of access for plugging up leaking tubes, +and is much less costly than the water-tubular. The water-tube class +of boilers still remain in extensive use in the United States naval +steamers. They have never been much used in the merchant service, +although introduced by James Montgomery in the United States and by +Lord Dundonald in Great Britain twenty years earlier. Opinion still +remains divided among engineers in regard to their relative value. +They are gradually reassuming prominence by their introduction in the +modified form of sectional boilers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 143.--Marine High-Pressure Boiler. Section.] + +Marine boilers are now usually given the form shown in section in Fig. +143. This form of boiler is adopted where steam-pressures of 60 +pounds and upward are carried, as in steam-vessels supplied with +compound engines, cylindrical forms being considered the best with +high pressures. The large cylindrical flues, therefore, form the +furnaces as shown in the transverse sectional view. The gases rise, as +shown in the longitudinal section, through the connection, and pass +back to the end of the boiler through the tubes, and thence, instead +of entering a steam-chimney, they are conducted by a smoke-connection, +not shown in the sketch, to the smoke funnel or stack. In +merchant-steamers, a steam-drum is often mounted horizontally above +the boiler. In other cases a separator is attached to the steam-pipe +between boilers and engines. This usually consists of an iron tank, +divided by a vertical partition extending from the top nearly to the +bottom. The steam, entering the top at one side of this partition, +passes underneath it, and up to the top on the opposite side, where it +issues into a steam-pipe leading directly to the engine. The sudden +reversal of its course at the bottom causes it to leave the suspended +water in the bottom of the separator, whence it is drained off by +pipes. + +The most interesting illustrations of recent practice in marine +engineering and naval architecture are found in the steamers which are +now seen on transoceanic routes for the merchant service, and, in the +naval service, in the enormous iron-clads which have been built in +Great Britain. + +The City of Peking is one of the finest examples of American practice. +This vessel was constructed for the Pacific Mail Company. The hull is +423 feet long, of 48 feet beam, and 38-1/2 feet deep. Accommodations +are furnished for 150 cabin and 1,800 steerage passengers, and the +coal-bunkers "stow" 1,500 tons of coal. The iron plates of which the +sides and bottom are made are from 11/16 to one inch in thickness. The +weight of iron used in construction was about 5,500,000 pounds. The +machinery weighed nearly 2,000,000 pounds, with spare gear and +accessory apparatus. The engines are compound, with two +steam-cylinders of 51 inches and two of 88 inches diameter, and a +stroke of piston of 4-1/2 feet. The condensing water is sent through +the surface-condensers by circulating-pumps driven by their own +engines. Ten boilers furnish steam to these engines, each having a +diameter of 13 feet, a length of 13-1/2 feet, and a thickness of +"shell" of 13/16 inch. Each has three furnaces, and contains 204 +tubes of an outside diameter of 3-1/4 inches. All together, they +have 520 square feet of grate-surface and 17,000 square feet of +heating-surface. The area of cooling-surface in the condensers is +10,000 square feet. The City of Rome, a ship of later design, is 590 +feet long, "over all," 52 feet beam, 52 feet deep, and measures 8,300 +tons. The engines, of 8,500 horse-power, will drive the vessel 18 +knots (21 miles) an hour; they have six steam-cylinders (three high +and three low pressure), and are supplied with steam by 8 boilers +heated by 48 furnaces. The hull is of steel, the bottom double, and +the whole divided into ten compartments by transverse bulkheads. Two +longitudinal bulkheads in the engine and boiler compartments add +greatly to the safety of the vessel. + +The most successful steam-vessels in general use are these +screw-steamers of transoceanic lines. Those of the transatlantic lines +are now built from 350 to 550 feet long, generally propelled from 12 +to 18 knots (14 to 21 miles) an hour, by engines of from 3,000 to +8,000 horse-power, consuming from 70 to 250 tons of coal a day, and +crossing the Atlantic in from eight to ten days. These vessels are now +invariably fitted with the compound engine and surface-condensers. One +of these vessels, the Germanic, has been reported at Sandy Hook, the +entrance to New York Harbor, in 7 days 11 hours 37 minutes from +Queenstown--a distance, as measured by the log and by observation, of +2,830 miles. Another steamer, the Britannic, has crossed the Atlantic +in 7 days 10 hours and 53 minutes. These vessels are of 5,000 tons +burden, of 750 "nominal" horse-power (probably 5,000 actual). + +[Illustration: FIG. 144.--The Modern Steamship.] + +The modern steamship is as wonderful an illustration of ingenuity and +skill in all interior arrangements as in size, power, and speed. The +size of sea-going steamers has become so great that it is unsafe to +intrust the raising of the anchor or the steering of the vessel to +manual power and skill; and these operations, as well as the loading +and unloading of the vessel, are now the work of the same great +motor--steam. + +The now common form of auxiliary engine for controlling the helm is +one of the inventions of the American engineer F. E. Sickels, who +devised the "Sickels cut-off," and was first invented about 1850. It +was exhibited at London at the International Exhibition of 1851. It +consists[98] principally of two cylinders working at right angles upon +a shaft geared into a large wheel fastened by a friction-plate lined +with wood, and set by a screw to any desired pressure on the +steering-apparatus. The wheel turned by the steersman is connected +with the valve-gear of the cylinders, so that the steam, or other +motor, will move the rudder precisely as the helmsman moves the wheel +adjusting the steam-valves. This wheel thus becomes the +steering-wheel. The apparatus is usually so arranged that it may be +connected or disconnected in an instant, and hand-steering adopted if +the smoothness of the sea and the low speed of the vessel make it +desirable or convenient. This method was first adopted in the United +States on the steamship Augusta. + + [98] "Official Catalogue," 1862, vol. iv., Class viii., p. 123. + +The same inventor and others have contrived "steam-windlasses," some +of which are in general use on large vessels. The machinery of these +vessels is also often fitted with a steam "reversing-gear," by means +of which the engines are as easily man[oe]uvred as are those of the +smallest vessels, to which hand-gear is always fitted. In one of these +little auxiliary engines, as devised by the author, a small handle +being adjusted to a marked position, as to the point marked "stop" on +an index-plate, the auxiliary engine at once starts, throws the +valve-gear into the proper position--as, if a link-motion, into +"middle-gear"--thus stopping the large engines, and then it itself +stops. Setting the handle so that its pointer shall point to "ahead," +the little engine starts again, sets the link in position to go ahead, +thus starting the large engines, and again stops itself. If set at +"back," the same series of operations occurs, leaving the main engines +backing and the little "reversing engine" stopped. A number of forms +of reversing engine are in use, each adapted to some one type of +engine. + +The hull of the transatlantic steamer is now always of iron, and is +divided into a number of "compartments," each of which is water-tight +and separated from the adjacent compartments by iron "bulkheads," in +which are fitted doors which, when closed, are also water-tight. In +some cases these doors close automatically when the water rises in the +vessel, thus confining it to the leaking portion. + +Thus we have already seen a change in transoceanic lines from steamers +like the Great Western (1837), 212 feet in length, of 35-1/2 feet +beam, and 23 feet depth, driven by engines of 450 horse-power, and +requiring 15 days to cross the Atlantic, to steamships over 550 feet +long, 55 feet beam, and 55 feet deep, with engines of 10,000 +horse-power, crossing the Atlantic in 7 days; iron substituted for +wood in construction, the cost of fuel reduced one-half, and the speed +raised from 8 to 18 knots and over. In the earlier days of steamships +they were given a proportion of length to breadth of from 5 to 6 to 1; +in forty years the proportion increased until 11 to 1 was reached. + +The whole naval establishment of every country has been greatly +modified by the recent changes in methods of attack and defense; but +the several classes of ships which still form the naval marine are all +as dependent upon their steam-machinery as ever. + +[Illustration: H. B. M. Iron-Clad Captain. H. B. M. Iron-Clad +Thunderer. U. S. Iron-Clad Dictator. U. S. Iron-Clad Monitor. H. B. M. +Iron-Clad Giatton. French Iron-Clad Dunderberg. FIG. 145.--Modern +Iron-Clads.] + +It is only recently that the attempt seems to have been made to +determine a classification of war-vessels and to plan a naval +establishment which shall be likely to meet fully the requirements of +the immediate future. It has hitherto been customary simply to make +each ship a little stronger, faster, or more powerful to resist or to +make attack than was the last. The fact that the direction of +progress in naval science and architecture is plainly perceivable, and +that upon its study may be based a fair estimate of the character and +relative distribution of several classes of vessels, seems to have +been appreciated by very few. + +In the year 1870 the writer proposed[99] a classification of vessels +other than torpedo-vessels, which has since been also proposed in a +somewhat modified form by Mr. J. Scott Russell.[100] The author then +remarked that the increase so rapidly occurring in weight of ordnance +and of armor, and in speed of war-vessels, would probably soon compel +a division of the vessels of every navy into three classes of ships, +exclusive of torpedo-vessels, one for general service in time of +peace, the others for use only in time of war. + + [99] _Journal Franklin Institute_, 1870. H. B. M. S. Monarch. + + [100] London _Engineering_, 1875. + +"The first class may consist of unarmored vessels of moderate size, +fair speed under steam, armed with a few tolerably heavy guns, and +carrying full sail-power. + +"The second class may be vessels of great speed under steam, +unarmored, carrying light batteries and as great spread of canvas as +can readily be given them; very much such vessels as the Wampanoag +class of our own navy were intended to be--calculated expressly to +destroy the commerce of an enemy. + +"The third class may consist of ships carrying the heaviest possible +armor and armament, with strongly-built bows, the most powerful +machinery that can be given them, of large coal-carrying capacity, and +unencumbered by sails, everything being made secondary to the one +object of obtaining victory in contending with the most powerful of +possible opponents. Such vessels could never go to sea singly, but +would cruise in couples or in squadrons. It seems hardly doubtful that +attempts to combine the qualities of all classes in a single vessel, +as has hitherto been done, will be necessarily given up, although the +classification indicated will certainly tend largely to restrict naval +operations." + +The introduction of the stationary, the floating, and the automatic +classes of torpedoes, and of torpedo-vessels, has now become +accomplished, and this element, which it was predicted by Bushnell and +by Fulton three-quarters of a century ago would at some future time +become important in warfare, is now well recognized by all nations. +How far it may modify future naval establishments cannot be yet +confidently stated, but it seems sufficiently evident that the attack, +by any navy, of stationary defenses protected by torpedoes is now +quite a thing of the past. It may be perhaps looked upon as +exceedingly probable that torpedo-ships of very high speed will yet +drive all heavily-armored vessels from the ocean, thus completing the +historic parallel between the man-in-armor of the middle ages and the +armored man-of-war of our own time.[101] + + [101] _Vide_ "Report on Machinery and Manufactures, etc., at + Vienna," by the author, Washington, 1875. + +Of these classes, the third is of most interest, as exhibiting most +perfectly the importance and variety of the work which the +steam-engine is made to perform. On the later of these vessels, the +anchor is raised by a steam anchor-hoisting apparatus; the heavier +spars and sails are handled by the aid of a steam-windlass; the helm +is controlled by a steering-engine, and the helmsman, with his little +finger, sets in motion a steam-engine, which adjusts the rudder with a +power which is unimpeded by wind or sea, and with an exactness that +could not be exceeded by the hand-steering gear of a yacht; the guns +are loaded by steam, are elevated or depressed, and are given lateral +training, by the same power; the turrets in which the guns are incased +are turned, and the guns are whirled toward every point of the +compass, in less time than is required to sponge and reload them; and +the ship itself is driven through the water by the power of ten +thousand horses, at a speed which is only excelled on land by that of +the railroad-train. + +The British Minotaur was one of the earlier iron-clads. The great +length and consequent difficulty of man[oe]uvring, the defect of +speed, and the weakness of armor of these vessels have led to the +substitution of far more effective designs in later constructions. The +Minotaur is a four-masted screw iron-clad, 400 feet long, of 59 feet +beam and 26-1/2 feet draught of water. Her speed at sea is about +12-1/2 knots, and her engines develop, as a maximum, nearly 6,000 +indicated horse-power. Her heaviest armor-plates are but 6 inches in +thickness. Her extreme length and her unbalanced rudder make it +difficult to turn rapidly. With _eighteen men at the steering-wheel_ +and sixty others on the tackle, the ship, on one occasion, was 7-1/2 +minutes in turning completely around. These long iron-clads were +succeeded by the shorter vessels designed by Mr. E. J. Reed, of which +the first, the Bellerophon, was of 4,246 tons burden, 300 feet long by +56 feet beam, and 24-1/2 feet draught, of the 14-knot speed, with +4,600 horse-power; and having the "balanced rudder" used many years +earlier in the United States by Robert L. Stevens,[102] it can turn in +four minutes with eight men at the wheel. The cost of construction was +some $600,000 less than that of the Minotaur. A still later vessel, +the Monarch, was constructed on a system quite similar to that known +in the United States as the Monitor type, or as a turreted iron-clad. +This vessel is 330 feet long, 57-1/2 feet wide, and 36 feet deep, +drawing 24-1/2 feet of water. The total weight of ship and contents is +over 8,000 tons, and the engines are of over 8,500 horse-power. The +armor is 6 and 7 inches thick on the hull, and 8 inches on the two +turrets, over a heavy teak backing. The turrets contain each two +12-inch rifled guns, weighing 25 tons each, and, with a charge of 70 +pounds of powder, throwing a shot of 600 pounds weight with a velocity +of 1,200 feet per second, and giving it a _vis viva_ equivalent to the +raising of over 6,100 tons one foot high, and equal to the work of +penetrating an iron plate 13-1/2 inches thick. This immense vessel is +driven by a pair of "single-cylinder" engines having steam-cylinders +_ten feet_ in diameter and of 4-1/2 feet stroke of piston, driving a +two-bladed Griffith screw of 23-1/2 feet diameter and 26-1/2 feet +pitch, 65 revolutions, at the maximum speed of 14.9 knots, or about +17-1/2 miles, an hour. To drive these powerful engines, boilers having +an aggregate of about 25,000 square feet (or more than a half-acre) of +heating-surface are required, with 900 square feet of grate-surface. +The refrigerating surface in the condensers has an area of 16,500 +square feet--over one-third of an acre. The cost of these engines and +boilers was £66,500. + + [102] Still in use on the Hoboken ferry-boats. + +Were all this vast steam-power developed, giving the vessel a speed of +15 knots, the ship, if used as a "ram," would strike an enemy at rest +with the tremendous "energy" of 48,000 foot-tons--equal to the shock +of the projectiles of eight or nine such guns as are carried by the +iron-clad itself, simultaneously discharged upon one spot. + +But even this great vessel is less formidable than later vessels. One +of the latter, the Inflexible, is a shorter but wider and deeper ship +than the Monarch, measuring 320 feet long, 75 feet beam, and 25 +draught, displacing over 10,000 tons. The great rifles carried by this +vessel weigh 81 tons each, throwing shot weighing a half-ton from +behind iron-plating two feet in thickness. The steam-engines are of +about the same power as those of the Monarch, and give this enormous +hull a speed of 14 knots an hour. + +The navy of the United States does not to-day possess iron-clads of +power even approximating that of either of several classes of British +and other foreign naval vessels. + +The largest vessel of any class yet constructed is the Great Eastern +(Fig. 146), begun in 1854 and completed in 1859, by J. Scott Russell, +on the Thames, England. This ship is 680 feet long, 83 feet wide, 58 +feet deep, 28 feet draught, and of 24,000 tons measurement. There are +four paddle and four screw engines, the former having steam-cylinders +74 inches in diameter, with 14 feet stroke, the latter 84 inches in +diameter and 4 feet stroke. They are collectively of 10,000 actual +horse-power. The paddle-wheels are 56 feet in diameter, the screw 24 +feet. The steam-boilers supplying the paddle-engines have 44,000 +square feet (more than an acre) of heating-surface. The boilers +supplying the screw-engines are still larger. At 30 feet draught, this +great vessel displaces 27,000 tons. The engines were designed to +develop 10,000 horse-power, driving the ship at the rate of 16-1/2 +statute miles an hour. + +[Illustration: FIG. 146.--The Great Eastern.] + +The figures quoted in the descriptions of these great steamships do +not enable the non-professional reader to form a conception of the +wonderful power which is concentrated within so small a space as is +occupied by their steam-machinery. The "horse-power" of the engines is +that determined by James Watt as the maximum obtainable for eight +hours a day from the strongest London draught-horses. The ordinary +average draught-horse would hardly be able to exert two-thirds as much +during the eight hours' steady work of a working-day. The working-day +of the steam-engine, on the other hand, is twenty-four hours in +length. + +[Illustration: FIG. 147.--The Great Eastern at Sea.] + +The work of the 10,000 horse-power engines of the Great Eastern could +be barely equaled by the efforts of 15,000 horses; but to continue +their work uninterruptedly, day in and day out, for weeks together, as +when done by steam, would require at least three relays, or 45,000 +horses. Such a stud would weigh 25,000 tons, and if harnessed "tandem" +would extend thirty miles. It is only by such a comparison that the +mind can begin to comprehend the utter impossibility of accomplishing +by means of animal power the work now done for the world by steam. +The cost of the greater power is but about one-tenth that of +horse-power, and by its means tasks are accomplished with ease which +are absolutely impossible of accomplishment by animal power. + +It is estimated that the total steam-power of the world is about +15,000,000 horse-power, and that, were horses actually employed to do +the work which these engines would be capable of doing were they kept +constantly in operation, the number required would exceed 60,000,000. + +Thus, from the small beginnings of the Comte d'Auxiron and the Marquis +de Jouffroy in France, of Symmington in Great Britain, and of Henry, +Rumsey, and Fitch, and of Fulton and Stevens, in the United States, +steam-navigation has grown into a great and inestimable aid and +blessing to mankind. + +We to-day cross the ocean with less risk, and transport ourselves and +our goods at as little cost in either time or money as, at the +beginning of the century, our parents experienced in traveling +one-tenth the distance. + +It is largely in consequence of this ingenious application of a power +that reminds one of the fabled genii of Eastern romance, that the +mechanic and the laborer of to-day enjoy comforts and luxuries that +were denied to wealth, and to royalty itself, a century ago. + +The magnitude of our modern steamships excites the wonder and +admiration of even the people of our own time; and there is certainly +no creation of art that can be grander in appearance than a +transatlantic steamer a hundred and fifty yards in length, and +weighing, with her stores, five or six thousand tons, as she starts on +her voyage, moved by engines equal in power to the united strength of +thousands of horses; none can more fully awaken a feeling of awe than +an immense structure like the great modern iron-clads (Fig. 145), +vessels having a total weight of 8,000 to 10,000 tons, and propelled +by steam-engines of as many horse-power, carrying guns whose shot +penetrate solid iron 20 inches thick, and having a power of impact, +when steaming at moderate speed, sufficient to raise 35,000 tons a +foot high. + +Far more huge than the Monarch among the iron-clads even is that +prematurely-built monster, the Great Eastern (Fig. 147), already +described, an eighth of a mile long, and with steam doing the work of +a stud of 45,000 horses. + +Thus we are to-day witnessing the literal fulfillment of the +predictions of Oliver Evans and of John Stevens, and almost that +contained in the couplets written by the poet Darwin, who, more than a +century ago, before even the earliest of Watt's improvements had +become generally known, sang: + + "Soon shall thy arm, unconquered Steam, afar + Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; + Or, on wide-waving wings expanded, bear + The flying chariot through the fields of air." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE STEAM-ENGINE._ + +THE HISTORY OF ITS GROWTH; ENERGETICS AND THERMO-DYNAMICS. + + "Of all the features which characterize this progressive economical + movement of civilized nations, that which first excites attention, + through its intimate connection with the phenomena of production, is + the perpetual and, so far as human foresight can extend, the + unlimited growth of man's power over Nature. Our knowledge of the + properties and laws of physical objects shows no sign of approaching + its ultimate boundaries; it is advancing more rapidly, and in a + greater number of directions at once, than in any previous age or + generation, and affording such frequent glimpses of unexplored + fields beyond as to justify the belief that our acquaintance with + Nature is still almost in its infancy."--MILL. + + +The growth of the philosophy of the steam-engine presents as +interesting a study as that of the successive changes which have +occurred in its mechanism. + +In the operation of the steam-engine we find illustrated many of the +most important principles and facts which constitute the physical +sciences. The steam-engine is an exceedingly ingenious, but, +unfortunately, still very imperfect, machine for transforming the +heat-energy obtained by the chemical combination of a combustible with +the supporter of combustion into mechanical energy. But the original +source of all this energy is found far back of its first appearance in +the steam-boiler. It had its origin at the beginning, when all Nature +came into existence. After the solar system had been formed from the +nebulous chaos of creation, the glowing mass which is now called the +sun was the depository of a vast store of heat-energy, which was +thence radiated into space and showered upon the attendant worlds in +inconceivable quantity and with unmeasured intensity. During the past +life of the globe, the heat-energy received from the sun upon the +earth's surface was partly expended in the production of great +forests, and the storage, in the trunks, branches, and leaves of the +trees of which they were composed, of an immense quantity of carbon, +which had previously existed in the atmosphere, combined with oxygen, +as carbonic acid. The great geological changes which buried these +forests under superincumbent strata of rock and earth resulted in the +formation of coal-beds, and the storage, during many succeeding ages, +of a vast amount of carbon, of which the affinity for oxygen remained +unsatisfied until finally uncovered by the hand of man. Thus we owe to +the heat and light of the sun, as was pointed out by George +Stephenson, the incalculable store of potential energy upon which the +human race is so dependent for life and all its necessaries, comforts, +and luxuries. + +This coal, thrown upon the grate in the steam-boiler, takes fire, and, +uniting again with the oxygen, sets free heat in precisely the same +quantity that it was received from the sun and appropriated during the +growth of the tree. The actual energy thus rendered available is +transferred, by conduction and radiation, to the water in the +steam-boiler, converts it into steam, and its mechanical effect is +seen in the expansion of the liquid into vapor against the +superincumbent pressure. Transferred from the boiler to the engine, +the steam is there permitted to expand, doing work, and the +heat-energy with which it is charged becomes partly converted into +mechanical energy, and is applied to useful work in the mill or to +driving the locomotive or the steamboat. + +Thus we may trace the store of energy received from the sun and +contained in our coal through its several changes until it is finally +set at work; and we might go still further and observe how, in each +case, it is again usually re-transformed and again set free as +heat-energy. + +The transformation which takes place in the furnace is a chemical +change; the transfer of heat to the water and the subsequent phenomena +accompanying its passage through the engine are physical changes, some +of which require for their investigation abstruse mathematical +operations. A thorough comprehension of the principles governing the +operation of the steam-engine, therefore, can only be attained after +studying the phenomena of physical science with sufficient minuteness +and accuracy to be able to express with precision the laws of which +those sciences are constituted. The study of the philosophy of the +steam-engine involves the study of chemistry and physics, and of the +new science of energetics, of which the now well-grown science of +thermo-dynamics is a branch. This sketch of the growth of the +steam-engine may, therefore, be very properly concluded by an outline +of the growth of the several sciences which together make up its +philosophy, and especially of the science of thermo-dynamics, which is +peculiarly the science of the steam-engine and of the other +heat-engines. + +These sciences, like the steam-engine itself, have an origin which +antedates the commencement of the Christian era; but they grew with an +almost imperceptible growth for many centuries, and finally, only a +century ago, started onward suddenly and rapidly, and their progress +has never since been checked. They are now fully-developed and +well-established systems of natural philosophy. Yet, like that of the +steam-engine and of its companion heat-engines, their growth has by no +means ceased; and, while the student of science cannot do more than +indicate the direction of their progress, he can readily believe that +the beginning of the end is not yet reached in their movement toward +completeness, either in the determination of facts or in the +codification of their laws. + +When Hero lived at Alexandria, the great "Museum" was a most important +centre, about which gathered the teachers of all then known +philosophies and of all the then recognized but unformed sciences, as +well as of all those technical branches of study which had already +been so far developed as to be capable of being systematically taught. +Astronomical observations had been made regularly and uninterruptedly +by the Chaldean astrologers for two thousand years, and records +extending back many centuries had been secured at Babylon by +Calisthenes and given to Aristotle, the father of our modern +scientific method. Ptolemy had found ready to his hand the records of +Chaldean observers of eclipses extending back nearly 650 years, and +marvelously accurate.[103] + + [103] Their estimate of the length of the Saros, or cycle of + eclipses--over 19 years--was "within 19-1/2 minutes of the + truth."--DRAPER. + +A rude method of printing with an engraved roller on plastic clay, +afterward baked, thus making up ceramic libraries, was practised long +previous to this time; and in the alcoves in which Hero worked were +many of these books of clay. + +This great Library and Museum of Alexandria was founded three +centuries before the birth of Christ, by Ptolemy Soter, who +established as his capital that great Egyptian city when the death of +his brother, the youthful but famous conqueror whose name he gave it, +placed him upon the throne of the colossal successor of the then +fallen Persian Empire. The city itself, embellished with every +ornament and provided with every luxury that the wealth of a conquered +world or the skill, taste, and ingenuity of the Greek painters, +sculptors, architects, and engineers could provide, was full of +wonders; it was a wonder in itself. This rich, populous, and +magnificent city was the metropolis of the then civilized world. +Trade, commerce, manufactures, and the fine arts were all represented +in this splendid exchange, and learning found its most acceptable +home and noblest field within the walls of Ptolemy's Museum; its +disciples found themselves welcomed and protected by its founder and +his successors, Philadelphus and the later Ptolemies. + +The Alexandrian Museum was founded with the declared object of +collecting all written works of authority, of promoting the study of +literature and art, and of stimulating and assisting experimental and +mathematical scientific investigation and research. The founders of +modern libraries, colleges, and technical schools have their prototype +in intelligence, public spirit, and liberality, in the first of the +Ptolemies, who not only spent an immense sum in establishing this +great institution, but spared no expense in sustaining it. Agents were +sent out into all parts of the world, purchasing books. A large staff +of scribes was maintained at the museum, whose duty it was to multiply +copies of valuable works, and to copy for the library such works as +could not be purchased. + +The faculty of the museum was as carefully organized as was the plan +of its administration. The four principal faculties of astronomy, +literature, mathematics, and medicine were subdivided into sections +devoted to the several branches of each department. The collections of +the museum were as complete as the teachers of the undeveloped +sciences of the time could make them. Lectures were given in all +branches of study, and the number of students was sometimes as great +as twelve or thirteen thousand. The number of books which were +collected here, when the barbarian leaders of the Roman troops under +Cæsar burned the greater part of it, was stated to be 700,000. Of +these, 400,000 were within the museum itself, and were all destroyed; +the rest were in the temple of Serapis, and, for the time, escaped +destruction. + +The greatest of all the great men who lived at Alexandria at the time +of the establishment of the museum was Aristotle, the teacher of +Alexander and the friend of Ptolemy. It is to Aristotle that we owe +the systematization of the philosophical ideas of Plato and the +creation of the inductive method, in which has originated all modern +science. It is to the learned men of Alexandria that we are indebted +for so effective an application of the Aristotelian philosophy that +all the then known sciences were given form, and were so thoroughly +established that the work of modern science has been purely one of +development. + +The inductive method, which built up all the older sciences, and which +has created all those of recent development, consists, first, in the +discovery and quantitative determination of facts; secondly, when a +sufficient number of facts have been thus observed and defined, in the +grouping of those facts, and the detection, by a study of their mutual +relations, of the natural laws which give rise to or regulate them. +This simple method is that--and the only--method by which science +advances. By this method, and by it only, do we acquire connected and +systematic knowledge of all the phenomena of Nature of which the +physical sciences are cognizant. It is only by the application of this +Aristotelian method and philosophy that we can hope to acquire exact +scientific knowledge of existing phenomena, or to become able to +anticipate the phenomena which are to distinguish the future. The +Aristotelian method of observing facts, and of inductive reasoning +with those facts as a basis, has taught the chemist the properties of +the known elementary substances and their characteristic behavior +under ascertained conditions, and has taught him the laws of +combination and the effects of their union, enabling him to predict +the changes and the phenomena, chemical and physical, which inevitably +follow their contact under any specified set of conditions. + +It is this process which has enabled the physicist to ascertain the +methods of molecular motion which give us light, heat, or electricity, +and the range of action and the laws which govern the transfer of +energy from one of these modes of motion to another. It was this +method of study which enabled James Watt to detect and to remedy the +defects of the Newcomen engine, and it is by the Aristotelian +philosophy that the engineer of to-day is taught to construct the +modern steamship, and to predict, before the keel is laid or a blow +struck in the workshop or the ship-yard, what will be the weight of +the vessel, its cargo-carrying capacity, the necessary size and power +of its engines, the quantity of coal which they will require per day +while crossing the ocean, the depth at which the great hull will float +in the water, and the exact speed that the vessel will attain when the +engines are exerting their thousand or their ten thousand horse-power. + +It was at Alexandria that this mighty philosophy was first given a +field in which to work effectively. Here Ptolemy studied astronomy and +"natural philosophy;" Archimedes applied himself to the studies which +attract the mathematician and engineer; Euclid taught his royal pupil +those elements of geometry which have remained standard twenty-two +centuries; Eratosthenes and Hipparchus studied and taught astronomy, +and inaugurated the existing system of quantitative investigation, +proving the spherical form of the earth; and Ctesibius and Hero +studied pneumatics and experimented with the germs of the steam-engine +and of less important machines. + +When, seven centuries later, the destruction of this splendid +institution was signalized by the death of that brilliant scholar and +heathen teacher of philosophy, Hypatia, at the hands of the more +heathenish fanatics who tore her in pieces at the foot of the cross, +and by the dispersion of the library left by Cæsar's soldiers in the +Serapeum, a true philosophy had been created, and the inductive method +was destined to live and to overcome every obstacle in the path of +enlightenment and civilization. The fall of the Alexandrian Museum, +sad as was the event, could not destroy the new philosophical method. +Its fruits ripened slowly but surely, and we are to-day gathering a +plentiful harvest. + +Science, literature, and the arts, all remained dormant for several +centuries after the catastrophe which deprived them of the light in +which they had flourished so many centuries. The armies of the caliphs +made complete the shameful work of destruction begun by the armies of +Cæsar, and the Alexandrian Library, partly destroyed by the Romans, +was completely dispersed by the Patriarchs and their ignorant and +fanatical followers; and finally all the scattered remnants were +burned by the Saracens. But when the thirst for conquest had become +satiated or appeased, the followers of the caliphs turned their +attention to intellectual pursuits, and the ninth century of the +Christian era saw once more such a collection of philosophical +writings, collected at Bagdad, as could only be gathered by the power +and wealth of the later conquerors of the world. Philosophy once again +resumed its empire, and another race commenced the study of the +mathematics of India and of Greece, the astronomy of Chaldea, and of +all the sciences which originated in Greece and in Egypt. By the +conquest of Spain by the Saracens, the new civilization was imported +into Western Europe and libraries were gathered together under the +Moorish rulers, one of which numbered more than a half-million +volumes. Wherever Saracen armies had extended Mohammedan rule, +schools and colleges, libraries and collections of philosophical +apparatus, were scattered in strange profusion; and students, +teachers, philosophers, of all--the speculative as well as the +Aristotelian--schools, gathered together at these intellectual +ganglia, as enthusiastic in their work as were their Alexandrian +predecessors. The endowment of colleges, that truest gauge of the +intelligence of the wealthy classes of any community, became as +common--perhaps more so--as at the present time, and provision was +made for the education of rich and poor alike. The mathematical +sciences, and the wonderful and beautiful phenomena which--but a +thousand years later--were afterward grouped into a science and called +chemistry, were especially attractive to the Arabian scholars, and +technical applications of discovered facts and laws assisted in a +wonderfully rapid development of arts and manufactures. + +When, a thousand years after Christ, the centre of intellectual +activity and of material civilization had drifted westward into +Andalusia, the foundation of every modern physical science except that +now just taking shape--the all-grasping science of energetics--had +been laid with experimentally derived facts; and in mathematics there +had been erected a symmetrical and elegant superstructure. Even that +underlying principle of all the sciences, the principle of the +persistence of energy, had been, perhaps unwittingly, enunciated. + +Distinguished historians have shown how the progress of civilization +in Europe resulted in the creation, during the middle ages, of the now +great middle class, which, holding the control of political power, +governs every civilized nation, and has come into power so gradually +that it was only after centuries that its influence was seen and felt. +This, which Buckle[104] calls the intellectual class, first became +active, independently of the military and of the clergy, in the +fourteenth century. In the two succeeding centuries this class gained +power and influence; and in the seventeenth century we find a +magnificent advance in all branches of science, literature, and art, +marking the complete emancipation of the intellect from the artificial +conditions which had so long repressed its every effort at +advancement. + + [104] "History of Civilization in England," vol. i., p. 208. London, + 1868. + +Another great social revolution thus occurred, following another +period of centuries of intellectual stagnation. The Saracen invaders +were driven from Europe; the Crusaders invaded Palestine, in the vain +effort to recover from the hands of the infidels the Holy Sepulchre +and the Holy Land; and intestine broils and inter-state conflicts, as +well as these greater social movements, withdrew the minds of men once +more from the arts of peace and the pursuits of scholars. It is not, +then, until the beginning of the seventeenth century--the time of +Galileo and of Newton--that we find the nations of Europe sufficiently +quiet and secure to permit general attention to intellectual +vocations, although it was a half-century earlier (1543) that +Copernicus left to the world that legacy which revolutionized the +theories of the astronomers and established as correct the hypothesis +which made the sun the centre of the solar system. + +Galileo now began to overturn the speculations of the deductive +philosophers, and to proclaim the still disputed principle that the +book of Nature is a trustworthy commentary in the study of theological +and revealed truths, so far as they affect or are affected by science; +he suffered martyrdom when he proclaimed the fact that God's laws, as +they now stand, had been instituted without deference to the +preconceived notions of the most ignorant of men. Bruno had a few +years earlier (1600) been burned at the stake for a similar offense. + +Galileo was perhaps the first, too, to combine invariably in +application the idea of Plato, the philosophy of Aristotle, and the +methods of modern experimentation, to form the now universal +scientific method of experimental philosophy. He showed plainly how +the grouping of ascertained facts, in natural sequence, leads to the +revelation of the law of that sequence, and indicated the existence of +a principle which is now known as the law of continuity--the law that +in all the operations of Nature there is to be seen an unbroken chain +of effect leading from the present back into a known or an unknown +past, toward a cause which may or may not be determinable by science +or known to history. + +Galileo, the Italian, was worthily matched by Newton, the prince of +English philosophers. The science of theoretical mechanics was hardly +beginning to assume the position which it was afterward given among +the sciences; and the grand work of collating facts already +ascertained, and of definitely stating principles which had previously +been vaguely recognized, was splendidly done by Newton. The needs of +physical astronomy urged this work upon him. + +Da Vinci had, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, summarized +as much of the statics of mechanical philosophy as had, up to his +time, been given shape; he also rewrote and added very much to what +was known on the subject of friction, and enunciated its laws. He had +evidently a good idea of the principle of "virtual velocities," that +simple case of equivalence of work, in a connected system, which has +done such excellent service since; and with his mechanical philosophy +this versatile engineer and artist curiously mingled much of physical +science. Then Stevinus, the "brave engineer of Bruges," a hundred +years later (1586), alternating office and field work, somewhat after +the manner of the engineer of to-day, wrote a treatise on mechanics, +which showed the value of practical experience and judgment in even +scientific work. And thus the path had been cleared for Newton. + +Meantime, also, Kepler had hit upon the true relations of the +distances of the planets and their periodic times, after spending half +a generation in blindly groping for them, thus furnishing those great +landmarks of fact in the mechanics of astronomy; and Galileo had +enunciated the laws of motion. Thus the foundation of the science of +dynamics, as distinguished from statics, was laid, and the beginning +was made of that later science of energetics, of which the philosophy +of the steam-engine is so largely constituted. + +Hooke, Huyghens, and others, had already seen some of the principal +consequences of these laws; but it remained for Newton to enunciate +them with the precision of a true mathematician, and to base upon them +a system of dynamical laws, which, complemented by his announcement of +the existence of the force of gravitation, and his statement of its +laws, gave a firm basis for all that the astronomer has since done in +those quantitative determinations of size, weight, and distance, and +of the movements of the heavenly bodies, which compel the wonder and +admiration of mankind. + +The Arabians and Greeks had noticed that the direction taken by a body +falling under the action of gravitation was directly toward the centre +of the earth, wherever its fall might occur; Galileo had shown, by his +experiments at Pisa, that the velocity of fall, second after second, +varied as the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc., and that the distances +varied as the squares of the total periods of time during which the +body was falling, and that it was, in British feet, very nearly +sixteen times the square of that time in seconds. Kepler had proved +that the movements of the heavenly bodies were just such as would +occur under the action of central attractive forces and of centrifugal +force. + +Putting all these things together, Newton was led to believe that +there existed a "force of gravity," due to the attraction, by the +great mass of the earth, of its own particles and of neighboring +bodies, like the moon, of which force the influence extended as far, +at least, as the latter. He calculated the motion of the earth's +satellite, on the assumption that his theory and the then accepted +measurements of the earth's dimensions were correct, and obtained a +roughly approximate result. Later, in 1679, he revised his +calculations, using Picard's more accurate determination of the +dimensions of the earth, and obtained a result which precisely tallied +with careful measurements, made by the astronomers, of the moon's +motion. + +The science of mechanics had now, with the publication of Newton's +"Principia," become thoroughly consistent and logically complete, so +far as was possible without a knowledge of the principles of +energetics; and Newton's enunciations of the laws of motion, concise +and absolutely perfect as they still seem, were the basis of the whole +science of dynamics, as applied to bodies moving freely under the +action of applied forces, either constant or variable. They are as +perfect a basis for that science as are the primary principles of +geometry for the whole beautiful structure which is built up on them. + +The three perfect qualitative expressions of dynamical law are: + +1. Every free body continues in the state in which it may be, whether +of rest or of rectilinear uniform motion, until compelled to deviate +from that state by impressed forces. + +2. Change of motion is proportional to the force impressed, and in the +direction of the right line in which that force acts. + +3. Action is always opposed by reaction; action and reaction are +equal, and in directly contrary directions. + +We may add to these principles a definition of a force, which is +equally and absolutely complete: + +_Force_ is that which produces, or tends to produce, motion, or change +of motion, in bodies. It is measured statically by the weight that +will counterpoise it, or by the pressure which it will produce, and +dynamically by the velocity which it will produce, acting in the unit +of time on the unit of mass. + +The quantitative determinations of dynamic effects of forces are +always readily made when it is remembered that the effect of a force +equal to its own weight, when the body is free to move, is to produce +in one second a velocity of 32.2 feet per second, which quantity is +the unit of dynamic measurement. + +_Work_ is the product of the resistance met in any instance of the +exertion of a force, into the distance through which that force +overcomes the resistance. + +_Energy_ is the work which a body is capable of doing, by its weight +or inertia, under given conditions. The energy of a falling body, or +of a flying shot, is about 1/64 its weight multiplied by the square of +its velocity, or, which is the same thing, the product of its weight +into the height of fall or height due its velocity. These principles +and definitions, with the long-settled definitions of the primary +ideas of space and time, were all that were needed to lead the way to +that grandest of all physical generalizations, the doctrine of the +persistence or conservation of all energy, and to its corollary +declaring the equivalence of all forms of energy, and also to the +experimental demonstration of the transformability of energy from one +mode of existence to another, and its universal existence in the +various modes of motion of bodies and of their molecules. + +Experimental physical science had hardly become acknowledged as the +only and the proper method of acquiring knowledge of natural phenomena +at the time of Newton; but it soon became a generally accepted +principle. In physics, Gilbert had made valuable investigations before +Newton, and Galileo's experiments at Pisa had been examples of +similarly useful research. In chemistry, it was only when, a century +later, Lavoisier showed by his splendid example what could be done by +the skillful and intelligent use of quantitative measurements, and +made the balance the chemist's most important tool, that a science was +formed comprehending all the facts and laws of chemical change and +molecular combination. We have already seen how astronomy and +mathematics together led philosophers to the creation and the study of +what finally became the science of mechanics, when experiment and +observation were finally brought to their aid. We can now see how, in +all these physical sciences, four primitive ideas are comprehended: +matter, force, motion, and space--which latter two terms include all +relations of position. + +Based on these notions, the science of mechanics comprehends four +sections, which are of general application in the study of all +physical phenomena. These are: + +_Statics_, which treats of the action and effect of forces. + +_Kinematics_, which treats of relations of motion simply. + +_Dynamics_, or kinetics, which treats of simple motion as an effect of +the action of forces. + +_Energetics_, which treats of modifications of energy under the action +of forces, and of its transformation from one mode of manifestation to +another, and from one body to another. + +Under the latter of these four divisions of mechanical philosophy is +comprehended that latest of the minor sciences, of which the +heat-engines, and especially the steam-engine, illustrate the most +important applications--_Thermo-dynamics_. This science is simply a +wider generalization of principles which, as we have seen, have been +established one at a time, and by philosophers widely separated both +geographically and historically, by both space and time, and which +have been slowly aggregated to form one after another of the sciences, +and out of which, as we now are beginning to see, we are slowly +evolving wider generalizations, and thus tending toward a condition of +scientific knowledge which renders more and more probable the truth of +Cicero's declaration: "One eternal and immutable law embraces all +things and all times." At the basis of the whole science of energetics +lies a principle which was enunciated before Science had a birthplace +or a name: + +_All that exists, whether matter or force, and in whatever form, is +indestructible, except by the Infinite Power which has created it._ + +That matter is indestructible by finite power became admitted as soon +as the chemists, led by their great teacher Lavoisier, began to apply +the balance, and were thus able to show that in all chemical change +there occurs only a modification of form or of combination of +elements, and no loss of matter ever takes place. The "persistence" of +energy was a later discovery, consequent largely upon the experimental +determination of the convertibility of heat-energy into other forms +and into mechanical work, for which we are indebted to Rumford and +Davy, and to the determination of the quantivalence anticipated by +Newton, shown and calculated approximately by Colding and Mayer, and +measured with great probable accuracy by Joule. + +[Illustration: Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford.] + +The great fact of the conservation of energy was loosely stated by +Newton, who asserted that the work of friction and the _vis viva_ of +the system or body arrested by friction were equivalent. In 1798, +Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, an American who was then in the +Bavarian service, presented a paper[105] to the Royal Society of Great +Britain, in which he stated the results of an experiment which he had +recently made, proving the immateriality of heat and the +transformation of mechanical into heat energy. This paper is of very +great historical interest, as the now accepted doctrine of the +persistence of energy is a generalization which arose out of a series +of investigations, the most important of which are those which +resulted in the determination of the existence of a definite +quantivalent relation between these two forms of energy and a +measurement of its value, now known as the "mechanical equivalent of +heat." His experiment consisted in the determination of the quantity +of heat produced by the boring of a cannon at the arsenal at Munich. + + [105] "Philosophical Transactions," 1798. + +Rumford, after showing that this heat could not have been derived from +any of the surrounding objects, or by compression of the materials +employed or acted upon, says: "It appears to me extremely difficult, +if not impossible, to form any distinct idea of anything capable of +being excited and communicated in the manner that heat was excited and +communicated in these experiments, except it be motion."[106] He then +goes on to urge a zealous and persistent investigation of the laws +which govern this motion. He estimates the heat produced by a power +which he states could easily be exerted by one horse, and makes it +equal to the "combustion of nine wax candles, each three-quarters of +an inch in diameter," and equivalent to the elevation of "25.68 pounds +of ice-cold water" to the boiling-point, or 4,784.4 heat-units.[107] +The time was stated at "150 minutes." Taking the actual power of +Rumford's Bavarian "one horse" as the most probable figure, 25,000 +pounds raised one foot high per minute,[108] this gives the +"mechanical equivalent" of the foot-pound as 783.8 heat-units, +differing but 1.5 per cent. from the now accepted value. + + [106] This idea was not by any means original with Rumford. Bacon + seems to have had the same idea; and Locke says, explicitly enough: + "Heat is a very brisk agitation of the insensible parts of the + object ... so that what in our sensation is heat, in the object is + nothing but motion." + + [107] The British heat-unit is the quantity of heat required to heat + one pound of water 1° Fahr. from the temperature of maximum density. + + [108] Rankine gives 25,920 foot-pounds per minute--or 432 per + second--for the average draught-horse in Great Britain, which is + probably too high for Bavaria. The engineer's "horse-power"--33,000 + foot-pounds per minute--is far in excess of the average power of + even a good draught-horse, which latter is sometimes taken as + two-thirds the former. + +Had Rumford been able to eliminate all losses of heat by evaporation, +radiation, and conduction, to which losses he refers, and to measure +the power exerted with accuracy, the approximation would have been +still closer. Rumford thus made the experimental discovery of the real +nature of heat, proving it to be a form of energy, and, publishing +the fact a half-century before the now standard determinations were +made, gave us a very close approximation to the value of the +heat-equivalent. Rumford also observed that the heat generated was +"exactly proportional to the force with which the two surfaces are +pressed together, and to the rapidity of the friction," which is a +simple statement of equivalence between the quantity of work done, or +energy expended, and the quantity of heat produced. This was the first +great step toward the formation of a Science of Thermo-dynamics. +Rumford's work was the corner-stone of the science. + +Sir Humphry Davy, a little later (1799), published the details of an +experiment which conclusively confirmed these deductions from +Rumford's work. He rubbed two pieces of ice together, and found that +they were melted by the friction so produced. He thereupon concluded: +"It is evident that ice by friction is converted into water.... +Friction, consequently, does not diminish the capacity of bodies for +heat." + +Bacon and Newton, and Hooke and Boyle, seem to have anticipated--long +before Rumford's time--all later philosophers, in admitting the +probable correctness of that modern dynamical, or vibratory, theory of +heat which considers it a mode of motion; but Davy, in 1812, for the +first time, stated plainly and precisely the real nature of heat, +saying: "The immediate cause of the phenomenon of heat, then, is +motion, and the laws of its communication are precisely the same as +the laws of the communication of motion." The basis of this opinion +was the same that had previously been noted by Rumford. + +So much having been determined, it became at once evident that the +determination of the exact value of the mechanical equivalent of heat +was simply a matter of experiment; and during the succeeding +generation this determination was made, with greater or less +exactness, by several distinguished men. It was also equally evident +that the laws governing the new science of thermo-dynamics could be +mathematically expressed. + +Fourier had, before the date last given, applied mathematical analysis +in the solution of problems relating to the transfer of heat without +transformation, and his "Théorie de la Chaleur" contained an +exceedingly beautiful treatment of the subject. Sadi Carnot, twelve +years later (1824), published his "Réflexions sur la Puissance Motrice +du Feu," in which he made a first attempt to express the principles +involved in the application of heat to the production of mechanical +effect. Starting with the axiom that a body which, having passed +through a series of conditions modifying its temperature, is returned +to "its primitive physical state as to density, temperature, and +molecular constitution," must contain the same quantity of heat which +it had contained originally, he shows that the efficiency of +heat-engines is to be determined by carrying the working fluid through +a complete cycle, beginning and ending with the same set of +conditions. Carnot had not then accepted the vibratory theory of heat, +and consequently was led into some errors; but, as will be seen +hereafter, the idea just expressed is one of the most important +details of a theory of the steam-engine. + +Seguin, who has already been mentioned as one of the first to use the +fire-tubular boiler for locomotive engines, published in 1839 a work, +"Sur l'Influence des Chemins de Fer," in which he gave the requisite +data for a rough determination of the value of the mechanical +equivalent of heat, although he does not himself deduce that value. + +Dr. Julius R. Mayer, three years later (1842), published the results +of a very ingenious and quite closely approximate calculation of the +heat-equivalent, basing his estimate upon the work necessary to +compress air, and on the specific heats of the gas, the idea being +that the work of compression is the equivalent of the heat generated. +Seguin had taken the converse operation, taking the loss of heat of +expanding steam as the equivalent of the work done by the steam while +expanding. The latter also was the first to point out the fact, +afterward experimentally proved by Hirn, that the fluid exhausted from +an engine should heat the water of condensation less than would the +same fluid when originally taken into the engine. + +A Danish engineer, Colding, at about the same time (1843), published +the results of experiments made to determine the same quantity; but +the best and most extended work, and that which is now almost +universally accepted as standard, was done by a British investigator. + +James Prescott Joule commenced the experimental investigations which +have made him famous at some time previous to 1843, at which date he +published, in the _Philosophical Magazine_, his earliest method. His +first determination gave 770 foot-pounds. During the succeeding five +or six years Joule repeated his work, adopting a considerable variety +of methods, and obtaining very variable results. One method was to +determine the heat produced by forcing air through tubes; another, and +his usual plan, was to turn a paddle-wheel by a definite power in a +known weight of water. He finally, in 1849, concluded these +researches. + +[Illustration: James Prescott Joule.] + +The method of calculating the mechanical equivalent of heat which was +adopted by Dr. Mayer, of Heilbronn, is as beautiful as it is +ingenious: Conceive two equal portions of atmospheric air to be +inclosed, at the same temperature--as at the freezing-point--in +vessels each capable of containing one cubic foot; communicate heat to +both, retaining the one portion at the original volume, and permitting +the other to expand under a constant pressure equal to that of the +atmosphere. In each vessel there will be inclosed 0.08073 pound, or +1.29 ounce, of air. When, at the same temperature, the one has doubled +its pressure and the other has doubled its volume, each will be at a +temperature of 525.2° Fahr., or 274° C, and each will have double the +original temperature, as measured on the absolute scale from the zero +of heat-motion. But the one will have absorbed but 6-3/4 British +thermal units, while the other will have absorbed 9-1/2. In the first +case, all of this heat will have been employed in simply increasing +the temperature of the air; in the second case, the temperature of the +air will have been equally increased, and, besides, a certain amount +of work--2,116.3 foot-pounds--must have been done in overcoming the +resistance of the air; it is to this latter action that we must debit +the additional heat which has disappeared. Now, 2,116.3/(2-3/4) = 770 +foot-pounds per heat-unit--almost precisely the value derived from +Joule's experiments. Had Mayer's measurement been absolutely accurate, +the result of his calculation would have been an exact determination +of the heat-equivalent, provided no heat is, in this case, lost by +internal work. + +Joule's most probably accurate measure was obtained by the use of a +paddle-wheel revolving in water or other fluid. A copper vessel +contained a carefully weighed portion of the fluid, and at the bottom +was a step, on which stood a vertical spindle carrying the +paddle-wheel. This wheel was turned by cords passing over +nicely-balanced grooved wheels, the axles of which were carried on +friction-rollers. Weights hung at the ends of these cords were the +moving forces. Falling to the ground, they exerted an easily and +accurately determinable amount of work, _W_ × _H_, which turned the +paddle-wheel a definite number of revolutions, warming the water by +the production of an amount of heat exactly equivalent to the amount +of work done. After the weight had been raised and this operation +repeated a sufficient number of times, the quantity of heat +communicated to the water was carefully determined and compared with +the amount of work expended in its development. Joule also used a pair +of disks of iron rubbing against each other in a vessel of mercury, +and measured the heat thus developed by friction, comparing it with +the work done. The average of forty experiments with water gave the +equivalent 772.692 foot-pounds; fifty with mercury gave 774.083; +twenty with cast-iron gave 774.987--the temperature of the apparatus +being from 55° to 60° Fahr. + +Joule also determined, by experiment, the fact that the expansion of +air or other gas without doing work produces no change of temperature, +which fact is predicable from the now known principles of +thermo-dynamics. He stated the results of his researches relating to +the mechanical equivalent of heat as follows: + +1. The heat produced by the friction of bodies, whether solid or +liquid, is always proportional to the quantity of work expended. + +2. The quantity required to increase the temperature of a pound of +water (weighed _in vacuo_ at 55° to 60° Fahr.) by one degree requires +for its production the expenditure of a force measured by the fall of +772 pounds from a height of one foot. This quantity is now generally +called "Joule's equivalent." + +During this series of experiments, Joule also deduced the position of +the "absolute zero," the point at which heat-motion ceases, and stated +it to be about 480° Fahr. below the freezing-point of water, which is +not very far from the probably true value,-493.2° Fahr. (-273° C.), as +deduced afterward from more precise data. + +The result of these, and of the later experiments of Hirn and others, +has been the admission of the following principle: + +Heat-energy and mechanical energy are mutually convertible and have a +definite equivalence, the British thermal unit being equivalent to 772 +foot-pounds of work, and the metric _calorie_ to 423.55, or, as +usually taken, 424 kilogrammetres. The exact measure is not fully +determined, however. + +It has now become generally admitted that all forms of energy due to +physical forces are mutually convertible with a definite +quantivalence; and it is not yet determined that even vital and mental +energy do not fall within the same great generalization. This +quantivalence is the sole basis of the science of Energetics. + +The study of this science has been, up to the present time, +principally confined to that portion which comprehends the relations +of heat and mechanical energy. In the study of this department of the +science, thermo-dynamics, Rankine, Clausius, Thompson, Hirn, and +others have acquired great distinction. In the investigations which +have been made by these authorities, the methods of transfer of heat +and of modification of physical state in gases and vapors, when a +change occurs in the form of the energy considered, have been the +subjects of especial study. + +According to the law of Boyle and Marriotte, the expansion of such +fluids follows a law expressed graphically by the hyperbola, and +algebraically by the expression PV^{_x_} = A, in which, with +unchanging temperature, _x_ is equal to 1. One of the first and most +evident deductions from the principles of the equivalence of the +several forms of energy is that the value of x must increase as the +energy expended in expansion increases. This change is very marked +with a vapor like steam--which, expanded without doing work, has an +exponent less than unity, and which, when doing work by expanding +behind a piston, partially condenses, the value of _x_ increases to, +in the case of steam, 1.111 according to Rankine, or, probably more +correctly, to 1.135 or more, according to Zeuner and Grashof. This +fact has an important bearing upon the theory of the steam-engine, and +we are indebted to Rankine for the first complete treatise on that +theory as thus modified. + +Prof. Rankine began his investigations as early as 1849, at which time +he proposed his theory of the molecular constitution of matter, now +well known as the theory of molecular vortices. He supposes a system +of whirling rings or vortices of heat-motion, and bases his +philosophy upon that hypothesis, supposing sensible heat to be +employed in changing the velocity of the particles, latent heat to be +the work of altering the dimensions of the orbits, and considering the +effort of each vortex to enlarge its boundaries to be due to +centrifugal force. He distinguished between real and apparent specific +heat, and showed that the two methods of absorption of heat, in the +case of the heating of a fluid, that due to simple increase of +temperature and that due to increase of volume, should be +distinguished; he proposed, for the latter quantity, the term +heat-potential, and for the sum of the two, the name of thermo-dynamic +function. + +[Illustration: Prof. W. J. M. Rankine.] + +Carnot had stated, a quarter of a century earlier, that the efficiency +of a heat-engine is a function of the two limits of temperature +between which the machine is worked, and not of the nature of the +working substance--an assertion which is quite true where the material +does not change its physical state while working. Rankine now deduced +that "general equation of thermo-dynamics" which expresses +algebraically the relations between heat and mechanical energy, when +energy is changing from the one state to the other, in which equation +is given, for any assumed change of the fluids, the quantity of heat +transformed. He showed that steam in the engine must be partially +liquefied by the process of expanding against a resistance, and proved +that the total heat of a perfect gas must increase with rise of +temperature at a rate proportional to its specific heat under constant +pressure. + +Rankine, in 1850, showed the inaccuracy of the then accepted value, +0.2669, of the specific heat of air under constant pressure, and +calculated its value as 0.24. Three years later, the experiments of +Regnault gave the value 0.2379, and Rankine, recalculating it, made it +0.2377. In 1851, Rankine continued his discussion of the subject, and, +by his own theory, corroborated Thompson's law giving the efficiency +of a perfect heat-engine as the quotient of the range of working +temperature to the temperature of the upper limit, measured from the +absolute zero. + +During this period, Clausius, the German physicist, was working on the +same subject, taking quite a different method, studying the mechanical +effects of heat in gases, and deducing, almost simultaneously with +Rankine (1850), the general equation which lies at the beginning of +the theory of the equivalence of heat and mechanical energy. He found +that the probable zero of heat-motion is at such a point that the +Carnot function must be approximately the reciprocal of the "absolute" +temperature, as measured with the air thermometer, or, stated exactly, +that quantity as determined by a perfect gas thermometer. He confirmed +Rankine's conclusion relative to the liquefaction of saturated vapors +when expanding against resistance, and, in 1854, adapted Carnot's +principle to the new theory, and showed that his idea of the +reversible engine and of the performance of a cycle in testing the +changes produced still held good, notwithstanding Carnot's ignorance +of the true nature of heat. Clausius also gave us the extremely +important principle: It is impossible for a self-acting machine, +unaided, to transfer heat from one body at a low temperature to +another having a higher temperature. + +Simultaneously with Rankine and Clausius, Prof. William Thomson was +engaged in researches in thermo-dynamics (1850). He was the first to +express the principle of Carnot as adapted to the modern theory by +Clausius in the now generally quoted propositions:[109] + + [109] _Vide_ Tait's admirable "Sketch of Thermodynamics," second + edition, Edinburgh, 1877. + +1. When equal mechanical effects are produced by purely thermal +action, equal quantities of heat are produced or disappear by +transformation of energy. + +2. If, in any engine, a reversal effects complete inversion of all the +physical and mechanical details of its operation, it is a perfect +engine, and produces maximum effect with any given quantity of heat +and with any fixed limits of range of temperature. + +William Thomson and James Thompson showed, among the earliest of their +deductions from these principles, the fact, afterward confirmed by +experiment, that the melting-point of ice should be lowered by +pressure 0.0135° Fahr, for each atmosphere, and that a body which +contracts while being heated will always have its temperature +decreased by sudden compression. Thomson applied the principles of +energetics in extended investigations in the department of +electricity, while Helmholtz carried some of the same methods into his +favorite study of acoustics. + +The application of now well-settled principles to the physics of gases +led to many interesting and important deductions: Clausius explained +the relations between the volume, density, temperature, and pressure +of gases, and their modifications; Maxwell reëstablished the +experimentally determined law of Dalton and Charles, known also as +that of Gay-Lussac (1801), which asserts that all masses of equal +pressure, volume, and temperature, contain equal numbers of molecules. +On the Continent of Europe, also, Hirn, Zeuner, Grashof, Tresca, +Laboulaye, and others have, during the same period and since, +continued and greatly extended these theoretical researches. + +During all this time, a vast amount of experimental work has also been +done, resulting in the determination of important data without which +all the preceding labor would have been fruitless. Of those who have +engaged in such work, Cagniard de la Tour, Andrews, Regnault, Hirn, +Fairbairn and Tate, Laboulaye, Tresca, and a few others have directed +their researches in this most important direction with the special +object of aiding in the advancement of the new-born sciences. By the +middle of the present century, the time which we are now studying, +this set of data was tolerably complete. Boyle had, two hundred years +before, discovered and published the law, which is now known by his +name[110] and by that of Marriotte,[111] that the pressure of a gas +varies inversely as its volume and directly as its density; Dr. Black +and James Watt discovered, a hundred years later (1760), the latent +heat of vapors, and Watt determined the method of expansion of steam; +Dalton, in England, and Gay-Lussac, in France, showed, at the +beginning of the nineteenth century, that all gaseous fluids are +expanded by equal fractions of their volume by equal increments of +temperature; Watt and Robison had given tables of the elastic force of +steam, and Gren had shown that, at the temperature of boiling water, +the pressure of steam was equal to that of the atmosphere; Dalton, +Ure, and others proved (1800-1818) that the law connecting +temperatures and pressures of steam was expressed by a geometrical +ratio; and Biot had already given an approximate formula, when +Southern introduced another, which is still in use. + + [110] "New Experiments, Physico-Mechanical, etc., touching the + Spring of Air," 1662. + + [111] "De la Nature de l'Air," 1676. + +The French Government established a commission in 1823 to experiment +with a view to the institution of legislation regulating the working +of steam-engines and boilers; and this commission, MM. de Prony, +Arago, Girard, and Dulong, determined quite accurately the +temperatures of steam under pressures running up to twenty-four +atmospheres, giving a formula for the calculation of the one quantity, +the other being known. Ten years later, the Government of the United +States instituted similar experiments under the direction of the +Franklin Institute. + +The marked distinction between gases, like oxygen and hydrogen, and +condensible vapors, like steam and carbonic acid, had been, at this +time, shown by Cagniard de la Tour, who, in 1822, studied their +behavior at high temperatures and under very great pressures. He found +that, when a vapor was confined in a glass tube in presence of the +same substance in the liquid state, as where steam and water were +confined together, if the temperature was increased to a certain +definite point, the whole mass suddenly became of uniform character, +and the previously existing line of demarkation vanished, the whole +mass of fluid becoming, as he inferred, gaseous. It was at about this +time that Faraday made known his then novel experiments, in which +gases which had been before supposed permanent were liquefied, simply +by subjecting them to enormous pressures. He then also first stated +that, above certain temperatures, liquefaction of vapors was +impossible, however great the pressure. + +Faraday's conclusion was justified by the researches of Dr. Andrews, +who has since most successfully extended the investigation commenced +by Cagniard de la Tour, and who has shown that, at a certain point, +which he calls the "critical point," the properties of the two states +of the fluid fade into each other, and that, at that point, the two +become continuous. With carbonic acid, this occurs at 75 atmospheres, +about 1,125 pounds per square inch, a pressure which would +counterbalance a column of mercury 60 yards, or nearly as many metres, +high. The temperature at this point is about 90° Fahr., or 31° Cent. +For ether, the temperature is 370° Fahr., and the pressure 38 +atmospheres; for alcohol, they are 498° Fahr., and 120 atmospheres; +and for bisulphide of carbon, 505° Fahr., and 67 atmospheres. For +water, the pressure is too high to be determined; but the temperature +is about 775° Fahr., or 413° Cent. + +Donny and Dufour have shown that these normal properties of vapors and +liquids are subject to modification by certain conditions, as +previously (1818) noted by Gay-Lussac, and have pointed out the +bearing of this fact upon the safety of steam-boilers. It was +discovered that the boiling-point of water could be elevated far above +its ordinary temperature of ebullition by expedients which deprive the +liquid of the air usually condensed within its mass, and which prevent +contact with rough or metallic surfaces. By suspension in a mixture of +oils which is of nearly the same density, Dufour raised drops of water +under atmospheric pressure to a temperature of 356° Fahr.--180° +Cent.--the temperature of steam of about 150 pounds per square inch. +Prof. James Thompson has, on theoretical grounds, indicated that a +somewhat similar action may enable vapor, under some conditions, to be +cooled below the normal temperature of condensation, without +liquefaction. + +Fairbairn and Tate repeated the attempt to determine the volume and +temperature of water at pressures extending beyond those in use in the +steam-engine, and incomplete determinations have also been made by +others. + +Regnault is the standard authority on these data. His experiments +(1847) were made at the expense of the French Government, and under +the direction of the French Academy. They were wonderfully accurate, +and extended through a very wide range of temperatures and pressures. +The results remain standard after the lapse of a quarter of a century, +and are regarded as models of precise physical work.[112] + + [112] _See_ Porter on the Steam-Engine Indicator for the best set of + Regnault's tables generally accessible. + +Regnault found that the total heat of steam is not constant, but that +the latent heat varies, and that the sum of the latent and sensible +heats, or the total heat, increases 0.305 of a degree for each degree +of increase in the sensible heat, making 0.305 the specific heat of +saturated steam. He found the specific heat of superheated steam to be +0.4805. + +Regnault promptly detected the fact that steam was not subject to +Boyle's law, and showed that the difference is very marked. In +expressing his results, he not only tabulated them but also laid them +down graphically; he further determined exact constants for Biot's +algebraic expression, + + log. _p_ = _a_ - _b_A^{_x_} - _c_B^{_x_}; + +making _x_ = 20 + _t_° Cent.; _a_ = 6.264035; log. _b_ = 0.1397743; +log. _c_ = 0.6924351; log. A = [=1].9940493, and log. B = [=1].9983439; +_p_ is the pressure in atmospheres. Regnault, in the expression for the +total heat, H = A + _bt_, determined on the centigrade scale [theta] = +606.5 + 0.305 _t_ Cent. For the Fahrenheit scale, we have the +following equivalent expressions: + + H = 1,113.44° + 0.305 _t_° Fahr., if measured from 0° Fahr. + = 1,091.9° + 0.305 (_t_° - 32) Fahr.,; } if measured from + = 1,081.94° + 0.305 _t_° Fahr., } the freezing-point. + +For latent heat, we have: + + L = 606.5° - 0.695 _t_° Cent. + = 1,091.7°- 0.695 (_t_° - 32) Fahr. + = 1,113.94°- 0.695 _t_° Fahr. + +Since Regnault's time, nothing of importance has been done in this +direction. There still remains much work to be done in the extension +of the research to higher pressures, and under conditions which obtain +in the operation of the steam-engine. The volumes and densities of +steam require further study, and the behavior of steam in the engine +is still but little known, otherwise than theoretically. Even the true +value of Joule's equivalent is not undisputed. + +Some of the most recent experimental work bearing directly upon the +philosophy of the steam-engine is that of Hirn, whose determination of +the value of the mechanical equivalent was less than two per cent. +below that of Joule. Hirn tested by experiment, in 1853, and +repeatedly up to 1876, the analytical work of Rankine, which led to +the conclusion that steam doing work by expansion must become +gradually liquefied. Constructing a glass steam-engine cylinder, he +was enabled to see plainly the clouds of mist which were produced by +the expansion of steam behind the piston, where Regnault's experiments +prove that the steam should become drier and superheated, were no heat +transformed into mechanical energy. As will be seen hereafter, this +great discovery of Rankine is more important in its bearing upon the +theory of the steam-engine than any made during the century. Hirn's +confirmation stands, in value, beside the original discovery. In 1858 +Hirn confirmed the work of Mayer and Joule by determining the work +done and the carbonic acid produced, as well as the increased +temperature due to their presence, where men were set at work in a +treadmill; he found the elevation of temperature to be much greater in +proportion to gas produced when the men were resting than when they +were at work. He thus proved conclusively the conversion of +heat-energy into mechanical work. It was from these experiments that +Helmholtz deduced the "modulus of efficiency" of the human machine at +one-fifth, and concluded that the heart works with eight times the +efficiency of a locomotive-engine, thus confirming a statement of +Rumford, who asserted the higher efficiency of the animal. + +Hirn's most important experiments in this department were made upon +steam-engines of considerable size, including simple and compound +engines, and using steam sometimes saturated and sometimes superheated +to temperatures as high, on some occasions, as 340° Cent. He +determined the work done, the quantity of heat entering, and the +amount rejected from, the steam-cylinder, and thus obtained a coarse +approximation to the value of the heat-equivalent. His figure varied +from 296 to 337 kilogrammetres. But, in all cases, the loss of heat +due to work done was marked, and, while these researches could not, in +the nature of the case, give accurate quantitative results, they are +of great value as qualitatively confirming Mayer and Joule, and +proving the transformation of energy. + +Thus, as we have seen, experimental investigation and analytical +research have together created a new science, and the philosophy of +the steam-engine has at last been given a complete and well-defined +form, enabling the intelligent engineer to comprehend the operation of +the machine, to perceive the conditions of efficiency, and to look +forward in a well-settled direction for further advances in its +improvement and in the increase of its efficiency. + +A very concise _résumé_ of the principal facts and laws bearing upon +the philosophy of the steam-engine will form a fitting conclusion to +this historical sketch. + +The term "energy" was first used by Dr. Young as the equivalent of the +work of a moving body, in his hardly yet obsolete "Lectures on Natural +Philosophy." + +Energy is the capacity of a moving body to overcome resistance offered +to its motion; it is measured either by the product of the mean +resistance into the space through which it is overcome, or by the +half-product of the mass of the body into the square of its velocity. +Kinetic energy is the actual energy of a moving body; potential energy +is the measure of the work which a body is capable of doing under +certain conditions which, without expending energy, may be made to +affect it, as by the breaking of a cord by which a weight is +suspended, or by firing a mass of explosive material. The British +measure of energy is the foot-pound; the metric measure is the +kilogrammetre. + +Energy, whether kinetic or potential, may be observable and due to +mass-motion; or it may be invisible and due to molecular movements. +The energy of a heavenly body or of a cannon-shot, and that of heat or +of electrical action, are illustrations of the two classes. In Nature +we find utilizable potential energy in fuel, in food, in any available +head of water, and in available chemical affinities. We find kinetic +energy in the motion of the winds and the flow of running water, in +the heat-motion of the sun's rays, in heat-currents on the earth, and +in many intermittent movements of bodies acted on by applied forces, +natural or artificial. The potential energy of fuel and of food has +already been seen to have been derived, at an earlier period, from the +kinetic energy of the sun's rays, the fuel or the food being thus made +a storehouse or reservoir of energy. It is also seen that the animal +system is simply a "mechanism of transmission" for energy, and does +not create but simply diverts it to any desired direction of +application. + +All the available forms of energy can be readily traced back to a +common origin in the potential energy of a universe of nebulous +substance (chaos), consisting of infinitely diffused matter of +immeasurably slight density, whose "energy of position" had been, +since the creation, gradually going through a process of +transformation into the several forms of kinetic and potential energy +above specified, through intermediate methods of action which are +usually still in operation, such as the potential energy of chemical +affinity, and the kinetic forms of energy seen in solar radiation, the +rotation of the earth, and the heat of its interior. + +The _measure_ of any given quantity of energy, whatever may be its +form, is the product of the resistance which it is capable of +overcoming into the space through which it can move against that +resistance, i. e., by the product RS. Or it is measured by the +equivalent expressions (MV^{2})/2, or WV^{2}/2_g_, in which W is +the weight, M is the "mass" of matter in motion, V the velocity, and +_g_ the dynamic measure of the force of gravity, 32-1/6 feet, or 9.8 +metres, per second. + +There are three great laws of energetics: + +1. The sum total of the energy of the universe is invariable. + +2. The several forms of energy are interconvertible, and possess an +exact quantitative equivalence. + +3. The tendency of all forms of kinetic energy is continually toward +reduction to forms of molecular motion, and to their final dissipation +uniformly throughout space. + +The history of the first two of these laws has already been traced. +The latter was first enunciated by Prof. Sir William Thomson in 1853. +Undissipated energy is called "Entrophy." + +The science of thermo-dynamics is, as has been stated, a branch of the +science of energetics, and is the only branch of that science in the +domain of the physicist which has been very much studied. This branch +of science, which is restricted to the consideration of the relations +of heat-energy to mechanical energy, is based upon the great fact +determined by Rumford and Joule, and considers the behavior of those +fluids which are used in heat-engines as the media through which +energy is transferred from the one form to the other. As now accepted, +it assumes the correctness of the hypothesis of the dynamic theory of +fluids, which supposes their expansive force to be due to the motion +of their molecules. + +This idea is as old as Lucretius, and was distinctly expressed by +Bernouilli, Le Sage and Prévost, and Herapath. Joule recalled +attention to this idea, in 1848, as explaining the pressure of gases +by the impact of their molecules upon the sides of the containing +vessels. Helmholtz, ten years later, beautifully developed the +mathematics of media composed of moving, frictionless particles, and +Clausius has carried on the work still further. + +The general conception of a gas, as held to-day, including the +vortex-atom theory of Thomson and Rankine, supposes all bodies to +consist of small particles called molecules, each of which is a +chemical aggregation of its ultimate parts or atoms. These molecules +are in a state of continual agitation, which is known as heat-motion. +The higher the temperature, the more violent this agitation; the total +quantity of motion is measured as _vis viva_ by the half-product of +the mass into the square of the velocity of molecular movement, or in +heat-units by the same product divided by Joule's equivalent. In +solids, the range of motion is circumscribed, and change of form +cannot take place. In fluids, the motion of the molecules has become +sufficiently violent to enable them to break out of this range, and +their motion is then no longer definitely restricted. + +The laws of thermo-dynamics are, according to Rankine: + +1. Heat-energy and mechanical energy are mutually convertible, one +British thermal unit being the equivalent in heat-energy of 772 +foot-pounds of mechanical energy, and one metric _calorie_ equal to +423.55 kilogrammetres of work. + +2. The energy due to the heat of each of the several equal parts into +which a uniformly hot substance may be divided is the same; and the +total heat-energy of the mass is equal to the sum of the energies of +its parts.[113] + + [113] This uniformity is not seen where a substance is changing its + physical state while developing its heat-energy, as occurs with + steam doing work while expanding. + +It follows that the work performed by the transformation of the energy +of heat, during any indefinitely small variation of the state of a +substance as respects temperature, is measured by the product of the +absolute temperature into the variation of a "function," which +function is the rate of variation of the work so done with +temperature. This function is the quantity called by Rankine the +"heat-potential" of the substance for the given kind of work. A +similar function, which comprehends the total heat-variation, +including both heat transformed and heat needed to effect accompanying +physical changes, is called the "thermo-dynamic function." Rankine's +expression for the general equation of thermo-dynamics includes the +latter, and is given by him as follows: + + J_dh_ = _d_H = _kd_[tau] + [tau]_d_F = [tau]_d_[phi], + +in which J is Joule's equivalent, _dh_ the variation of total heat in +the substance, _kd_[tau] the product of the "dynamic specific heat" +into the variation of temperature, or the total heat demanded to +produce other changes than a transformation of energy, and [tau]_d_F +is the work done by the transformation of heat-energy, or the product +of the absolute temperature, [tau], into the differential of the +heat-potential. [phi] is the thermo-dynamic function, and +[tau]_d_[phi] measures the whole heat needed to produce, +simultaneously, a certain amount of work or of mechanical energy, and, +at the same time, to change the temperature of the working substance. + +Studying the behavior of gases and vapors, it is found that the work +done when they are used, like steam, in heat-engines, consists of +three parts: + +(_a._) The change effected in the total actual heat-motion of the +fluid. + +(_b._) That heat which is expended in the production of internal work. + +(_c._) That heat which is expended in doing the external work of +expansion. + +In any case in which the total heat expended exceeds that due the +production of work on external bodies, the excess so supplied is so +much added to the intrinsic energy of the substance absorbing it. + +The application of these laws to the working of steam in the engine is +a comparatively recent step in the philosophy of the steam-engine, and +we are indebted to Rankine for the first, and as yet only, extended +and in any respect complete treatise embodying these now accepted +principles. + +It was fifteen years after the publication of the first logical theory +of the steam-engine, by Pambour,[114] before Rankine, in 1859, issued +the most valuable of all his works, "The Steam-Engine and other Prime +Movers." The work is far too abstruse for the general reader, and is +even difficult reading for many accomplished engineers. It is +excellent beyond praise, however, as a treatise on the thermo-dynamics +of heat-engines. It will be for his successors the work of years to +extend the application of the laws which he has worked out, and to +place the results of his labors before students in a readily +comprehended form. + + [114] "Théorie de la Machine à Vapeur," par le Chevalier F. M. G. de + Pambour, Paris, 1844. + +William J. Macquorn Rankine, the Scotch engineer and philosopher, will +always be remembered as the author of the modern philosophy of the +steam-engine, and as the greatest among the founders of the science of +thermo-dynamics. His death, while still occupying the chair of +engineering at the University of Glasgow, December 24, 1872, at the +early age of fifty-two, was one of the greatest losses to science and +to the profession which have occurred during the century. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE STEAM-ENGINE._ + +ITS APPLICATION; ITS TEACHINGS RESPECTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE +ENGINE AND ITS IMPROVEMENT. + + "Oftentimes an Uncertaintie hindered our going on so merrily, but by + persevering the Difficultie was mastered, and the new Triumph gave + stronger Heart unto us."--RALEIGH. + + "If everything which we cannot comprehend is to be called an + impossibility, how many are daily presented to our eyes! and in + contemning as false that which we consider to be impossible, may we + not be depreciating a giant's effort to give an importance to our + own weakness?"--MONTAIGNE. + + "They who aim vigorously at perfection will come nearer to it than + those whose laziness or despondency makes them give up its pursuit + from the feeling of its being unattainable."--CHESTERFIELD. + + +As has been already stated, the steam-engine is a machine which is +especially designed to transform energy, originally dormant or +potential, into active and usefully available kinetic energy. + +When, millions of years ago, in that early period which the geologists +call the carboniferous, the kinetic energy of the sun's rays, and of +the glowing interior of the earth, was expended in the decomposition +of the vast volumes of carbonic acid with which air was then charged, +and in the production of a life-sustaining atmosphere and of the +immense forests which then covered the earth with their almost +inconceivably luxuriant vegetation, there was stored up for the +benefit of the human race, then uncreated, an inconceivably great +treasure of potential energy, which we are now just beginning to +utilize. This potential energy becomes kinetic and available wherever +and whenever the powerful chemical affinity of oxygen for carbon is +permitted to come into play; and the fossil fuel stored in our +coal-beds or the wood of existing forests is, by the familiar process +of combustion, permitted to return to the state of combination with +oxygen in which it existed in the earliest geological periods. + +The philosophy of the steam-engine, therefore, traces the changes +which occur from this first step, by which, in the furnace of the +steam-boiler, this potential energy which exists in the tendency of +carbon and oxygen to combine to form carbonic acid is taken advantage +of, and the utilizable kinetic energy of heat is produced in +equivalent amount, to the final application of resulting mechanical +energy to machinery of transmission, through which it is usefully +applied to the elevation of water, to the driving of mills and +machinery of all kinds, or to the hauling of "lightning" trains on our +railways, or to the propulsion of the Great Eastern. + +The kinetic heat-energy developed in the furnace of the steam-boiler +is partly transmitted through the metallic walls which inclose the +steam and water within the boiler, there to evaporate water, and to +assume that form of energy which exists in steam confined under +pressure, and is partly carried away into the atmosphere in the +discharged gaseous products of combustion, serving, however, a useful +purpose, _en route_, by producing the draught needed to keep up +combustion. + +The steam, with its store of heat-energy, passes through tortuous +pipes and passages to the steam-cylinder of the engine, losing more or +less heat on the way, and there expands, driving the piston before it, +and losing heat by the transformation of that form of energy while +doing mechanical work of equivalent amount. But this steam-cylinder is +made of metal, a material which is one of the best conductors of heat, +and therefore one of the very worst possible substances with which to +inclose anything as subtile and difficult of control as the heat +pervading a condensible vapor like steam. The process of internal +condensation and reëvaporation, which is the great enemy of economical +working, thus has full play, and is only partly checked by the heat +from the steam-jacket, which, penetrating the cylinder, assists by +keeping up the temperature of the internal surface and checking the +first step, condensation, which is an essential preliminary to the +final waste by reëvaporation. The piston, too, is of metal, and +affords a most excellent way of exit for the heat escaping to the +exhaust side. + +Finally, all unutilized heat rejected from the steam-cylinder is +carried away from the machine, either by the water of condensation, +or, in the non-condensing engine, by the atmosphere into which it is +discharged. + +Having traced the method of operation of the steam-engine, it is easy +to discover what principles are comprehended in its philosophy, to +learn what are known facts bearing upon its operation, and to +determine what are the directions in which improvement must take +place, what are the limits beyond which improvement cannot possibly be +carried, and, in some directions, to determine what is the proper +course to pursue in effecting improvements. The general direction of +change in the past, as well as at present, is easily seen, and it may +usually be assumed that there will be no immediate change of direction +in a course which has long been preserved, and which is well defined. +We may, therefore, form an idea of the probable direction in which to +look for improvement in the near future. + +Reviewing the operations which go on in this machine during the +process of transformation of energy which has been outlined, and +studying it more in detail, we may deduce the principles which govern +its design and construction, guide us in its management, and determine +its efficiency. + +In the furnace of the boiler, the quantity of heat developed in +available form is proportional to the amount of fuel burned. It is +available in proportion to the temperature attained by the products of +combustion; were this temperature no higher than that of the boiler, +the heat would all pass off unutilized. But the temperature produced +by a given quantity of heat, measured in heat-units, is greater as the +volume of gas heated is less. It follows that, at this point, +therefore, the fuel should be perfectly consumed with the least +possible air-supply, and the least possible abstraction of heat before +combustion is complete. High temperature of furnace, also, favors +complete combustion. We hence conclude that, in the steam-boiler +furnace, fuel should be burned completely in a chamber having +non-conducting walls, and with the smallest air-supply compatible with +thorough combustion; and, further, that the air should be free from +moisture, that greatest of all absorbents of heat, and that the +products of combustion should be removed from the furnace before +beginning to drain their heat into the boiler. A fire-brick furnace, a +large combustion-chamber with thorough intermixture of gases within +it, good fuel, and a restricted and carefully-distributed supply of +air, seem to be the conditions which meet these requisites best. + +The heat generated by combustion traverses the walls which separate +the gases of the furnace from the steam and water confined within the +boiler, and is then taken up by those fluids, raising their +temperature from that of the entering "feed-water" to that due the +steam-pressure, and expanding the liquid into steam occupying a +greatly-increased volume, thus doing a certain amount of work, besides +increasing temperature. The extent to which heat may thus be usefully +withdrawn from the furnace-gases depends upon the conductivity of the +metallic wall, the rate at which the water will take heat from the +metal, and the difference of temperature on the two sides of the +metal. Extended "heating-surface," therefore, a metal of high +conducting power, and a maximum difference of temperature on the two +sides of the separating wall of metal, are the essential conditions of +economy here. The heating-surface is sometimes made of so great an +area that the temperature of the escaping gases is too low to give +good chimney-draught, and a "mechanical draught" is resorted to, +revolving "fan-blowers" being ordinarily used for its production. It +is most economical to adopt this method. The steam-boiler is generally +constructed of iron--sometimes, but rarely, of cast-iron, although +"steel," where not hard enough to harden or temper, is better in +consequence of its greater strength and homogeneousness of structure, +and its better conductivity. The maximum conductivity of flow of heat +for any given material is secured by so designing the boiler as to +secure rapid, steady, and complete circulation of the water within it. +The maximum rapidity of transfer throughout the whole area of +heating-surface is secured, usually, by taking the feed-water into the +boiler as nearly as possible at the point where the gases are +discharged into the chimney-flue, withdrawing the steam nearer the +point of maximum temperature of flues, and securing opposite +directions of flow for the gases on the one side and the water on the +other. Losses of heat from the boiler, by conduction and radiation to +surrounding bodies, are checked as far as possible by non-conducting +coverings. + +The mechanical equivalent of the heat generated in the boiler is +easily calculated when the conditions of working are known. A pound of +pure carbon has been found to be capable of liberating by its perfect +combustion, resulting in the formation of carbonic acid, 14,500 +British thermal units, equivalent to 14,500 × 772 = 11,194,000 +foot-pounds of work, and, if burned in one hour, to 11194000/1980000 = +5.6 horse-power. In other words, with perfect utilization, but 10/56 = +0.177, or about one-sixth, of a pound of carbon would be needed per +hour for each horse-power of work done. But even good coal is not +nearly all carbon, and has but about nine-tenths this heat-producing +power, and it is usually rated as yielding about 10,000,000 +foot-pounds of work per pound. The evaporative power of pure carbon +being rated at 15 pounds of water, that of good coal may be stated at +13-1/2. In metric measures, one gramme of good coal should evaporate +about 13-1/2 grammes of water from the boiling-point, producing the +equivalent of about 3,000,000 kilogrammetres of work from the 7,272 +_calories_ of heat thus generated. A gramme of pure carbon generates +in its combustion 8,080 _calories_ of heat. Per hour and per +horse-power, 0.08, or less than one-twelfth, of a kilogram of carbon +burned per hour evolves heat-energy equal to one horse-power. + +Of the coal burned in a steam-boiler, it rarely happens that more than +three-fourths is utilized in making steam; 7,500,000 foot-pounds +(1,036,898 kilogrammetres) is, therefore, as much energy as is usually +sent to the engine per pound of good coal burned in the steam-boiler. +The "efficiency" of a good steam-boiler is therefore usually not far +from 0.75 as a maximum. Rankine estimates this quantity for ordinary +boilers of good design and with chimney-draught at + + 0.92 + E = ------------; + 1 + 0.5(F/S) + +in which F/S is the ratio of weight of fuel burned per square foot of +grate to the ratio of heating to grate surface; this is a formula of +fairly close approximation for general practice. + +The steam in the engine first drives the piston some distance before +the induction or steam valve is closed, and it then expands, doing +work, and condensing in proportion to work done as the expansion +proceeds, until it is finally released by the opening of the exhaust +or eduction valve. Saturated steam is modified in its action by a +process which has already been described, condensing at the beginning +and reëvaporating at the end of the stroke, thus carrying into the +condenser considerable quantities of heat which should have been +utilized in the development of power. Whether this operation takes +place in one cylinder or in several is only of importance in so far as +it modifies the losses due to conduction and radiation of heat, to +condensation and reëvaporation of steam, and to the friction of the +machine. It has already been seen how these losses are modified by the +substitution of the compound for the single-cylinder engine. + +The laws of thermo-dynamics teach, as has been stated, that the +proportion of the heat-energy contained in the steam or other working +fluid which may be transformed into mechanical energy is a fraction +(H_{1} - H_{2})/H_{1}, of the total, in which H_{1} and H_{2} are the +quantities of heat contained in the steam at the beginning and at the +end of its operation, measuring from the absolute zero of heat-motion. +In perfect gases, + + H_{1} - H_{2} [tau]_{1} - [tau]_{2} T_{1} - T_{2} + ------------- = --------------------- = -------------------- + H_{1} [tau]_{1} T_{1} + 461.2° Fahr. + +but in imperfect gases, and especially in vapors which, like steam, +condense, or otherwise change their physical state, this equality may +still exist, + + (H_{1} - H_{2})/H_{1} = ([tau]_{1} - [tau]_{2})/[tau]_{1}; + +and the fluid is equally efficient with the +perfect gas as a working substance in a heat-engine. In any case it is +seen that the efficiency is greatest when the whole of the heat is +received at the maximum and rejected at the minimum attainable +temperatures. + +Assuming this expression strictly accurate, a hot-air engine working +from 413.6° Fahr, or 874.8° absolute temperature, down to 122° Fahr, +or 583.2° absolute, should have an efficiency of 0.263, transforming +that proportion of available heat into mechanical work. The engines +of the steamer Ericsson closely approached this figure, and gave a +horse-power for each 1.87 pound of coal burned per hour. + +Steam expands in the steam-cylinder quite differently under different +circumstances. If no heat is either communicated to it or abstracted +from it, however, it expands in an hyperbolic curve, losing its +tension much more rapidly than when expanded without doing work, in +consequence both of its change of volume and its condensation. The +algebraic expression for this method of expansion is, according to +Rankine, PV^{1.111} = C, a constant, or, according to other +authorities, from PV^{1.135} = C to PV^{1.140} = C. The greater the +value of the exponent of V, the greater the efficiency of the fluid +between any two temperatures. The maximum value has been found to be +given where the steam is saturated, but perfectly dry, at the +commencement of its expansion. The loss due to condensation on the +cooled interior surface of the cylinder at the commencement of the +stroke and the subsequent reëvaporation as expansion progresses is +least when the cylinder is kept hot by its steam-jacket and when least +time is given during the stroke for this transfer of heat between the +metal and the vapor. + +It may be said that, all things considered, therefore, losses of heat +in the steam-cylinder are least when the steam enters dry, or +moderately superheated, where the interior surfaces are kept hottest +by the steam-jacket or by the hot-air jacket sometimes used, and where +piston-speed and velocity of rotation are highest.[115] The best of +compound engines, using steam of seventy-five pounds pressure and +condensing, usually require about two pounds of coal per +hour--20,000,000 foot-pounds of energy at the furnace--to develop a +horse-power, i. e., about ten times the heat-equivalent of the +mechanical work which they accomplish. Were the steam to expand like +the permanent gases, they would have a theoretical efficiency of about +one-quarter; actually, the efficiency is only one-tenth. The +steam-engine, therefore, utilizes about two-fifths the heat-energy +theoretically available with the best type of engine in general use. +By far the greater part, nearly all, in fact, of the nine-tenths +wasted is rejected in the exhaust steam, and can only be saved by some +such method as is hereafter to be suggested of retaining that heat and +returning it to the boiler. + + [115] In some cases, as in the Allen engine, the speed of piston has + become very high, approaching 800((stroke)^{1/3}). + +The mechanical power which has now been communicated to the mechanism +of the engine by the transfer of the kinetic energy of the hot steam +to the piston is finally usefully applied to whatever "mechanism of +transmission" forms the connection with the machinery driven by the +engine. In this transfer, there is some loss in the engine itself, by +friction. This is an extremely variable amount, and it can be made +very small by skillful design and good workmanship and management. It +may be taken at one-half pound per square inch of piston for good +engines of 100 horse-power and upward, but is often several pounds in +very small engines. It is least when the rubbing surfaces are of +different materials, but both of smooth, hard, close-grained metal, +well lubricated, and where advantage is taken of any arrangement of +parts which permits the equilibration of pressure, as on the +shaft-bearings of double and triple engines. The friction of a +steam-engine of large size and good design is usually between five and +seven per cent. of its total power. It increases rapidly as the size +of engine decreases. + +Having now traced somewhat minutely the growth of the steam-engine +from the beginning of the Christian era to the present time, having +rapidly outlined the equally gradual, though intermittent, growth of +its philosophy, and having shown how the principles of science find +application in the operation of this wonderful machine, we are now +prepared to study the conditions which control the intelligent +designer, and to endeavor to learn what are the lessons taught us by +science and by experience in regard to the essential requisites of +efficient working of steam and economy in the consumption of fuel. We +may even venture to point out definitely the direction in which +improvement is now progressing as indicated by a study of these +requisites, and may be able to perceive the natural limits to such +progress, and possibly to conjecture what must be the character of +that change of type which only can take the engineer beyond the limit +set to his advance so long as he is confined to the construction of +the present type of engine. + +First, we must consider the question: _What is the problem, stated +precisely and in its most general form, that engineers have been here +attempting to solve?_ + +After stating the problem, we will examine the record with a view to +determine what direction the path of improvement has taken hitherto, +to learn what are the conditions of efficiency which should govern the +construction of the modern steam-engine, and, so far as we may judge +the future by the past, by inference, to ascertain what appears to be +the proper course for the present and for the immediate future. Still +further, we will inquire, what are the conditions, physical and +intellectual, which best aid our progress in perfecting the +steam-engine. + +This most important problem may be stated in its most general, yet +definite, form as follows: + +_To construct a machine which shall, in the most perfect manner +possible, convert the kinetic energy of heat into mechanical power, +the heat being derived from the combustion of fuel, and steam being +the receiver and the conveyer of that heat._ + +The problem, as we have already seen, embodies two distinct and +equally important inquiries: + +The first: What are the scientific principles involved in the problem +as stated? + +The second: How shall a machine be constructed that shall most +efficiently embody, and accord with, not only those scientific +principles, but also all of those principles of engineering practice +that so vitally affect the economical value of every machine? + +The one question is addressed to the man of science, the other to the +engineer. They can be satisfactorily answered, even so far as our +knowledge at present permits, after studying with care the scientific +principles involved in the theory of the steam-engine under the best +light that science can afford us, and by a careful study of the +various steps of improvement that have taken place and of accompanying +variations of structure, analyzing the effect of each change, and +tracing the reasons for them. + +The theory of the steam-engine is too important and too extensive a +subject to be satisfactorily treated here in even the most concise +possible manner. I can only attempt a plain statement of the course +which seems to be pointed out by science as the proper one to pursue +in the endeavor to increase the economical efficiency of +steam-engines. + +The teachings of science indicate that _success in economically +deriving mechanical power from the energy of heat-motion will, in all +cases, be the greater as we work between more widely separated limits +of temperature, and as we more perfectly provide against losses by +dissipation of heat in directions in which it is unavailable for the +production of power_. + +Scientific research, as we have seen, has proved that, in all known +varieties of heat-engine, a large loss of effect is unavoidable from +the fact that we cannot, in the ordinary steam-engine, reduce the +lower limit of temperature, in working, below a point which is far +above the absolute zero of temperature--far above that point at which +bodies have no heat-motion. The point corresponding to the mean +temperature of the surface of the earth is above the ordinary lower +limit. + +The higher the temperature of the steam when it enters the steam +cylinder, and the lower that which it reaches before the exhaust +occurs, the greater, science tells us, will be our success, provided +we at the same time avoid waste of heat and power. + +Now, looking back over the history of the steam-engine, we may briefly +note the prominent improvements and the most striking changes of form, +and may thus endeavor to obtain some idea of the general direction in +which we are to look for further advance. + +Beginning with the machine of Porta, at which point we may first take +up an unbroken thread, it will be remembered that we there found a +single vessel performing the functions of all the parts of a modern +pumping-engine; it was, at once, boiler, steam-cylinder, and +condenser, as well as both a lifting and a forcing pump. + +The Marquis of Worcester divided the engine into two parts, using a +separate boiler. + +Savery duplicated that part of the engine of Worcester which performed +the several parts of pump, steam-cylinder, and condenser, and added +the use of water to effect rapid condensation, perfecting, so far as +it was ever perfected, the steam-engine as a simple machine. + +Newcomen and Calley next separated the pump from the steam-engine +proper, producing the modern steam-engine--the engine as a train of +mechanism; and in their engine, as in Savery's, we noticed the use of +surface condensation first, and subsequently that of the jet thrown +into the midst of the steam to be condensed. + +Watt finally effected the crowning improvements, and completed the +movement o£ "differentiation" by separating the condenser from the +steam-cylinder. Here this process of change ceased, the several +important operations of the steam-engine now being conducted each in a +separate vessel. The boiler furnished the steam, the cylinder derived +from it mechanical power, and it was finally condensed in a separate +vessel, while the power which had been obtained from it in the +steam-cylinder was transmitted through still other parts, to the +pumps, or wherever work was to be done. + +Watt, also, took the initiative in another direction. He continually +increased the efficiency of the machine by improving the proportions +of its parts and the character of its workmanship, thus making it +possible to render available many of those improvements in detail upon +which effectiveness is so greatly dependent and which are only useful +when made by a skillful workman. + +Watt and his contemporaries also commenced that movement toward higher +pressures of steam and greater expansion which has been the most +striking feature noticed in the progress of steam-engineering since +his time. Newcomen used steam of barely more than atmospheric pressure +and raised 105,000 pounds of water one foot high with a pound of coal +consumed. Smeaton raised the pressure somewhat and increased the duty +considerably. Watt started with a duty double that of Newcomen and +raised it to 320,000 foot-pounds per pound of coal, with steam at 10 +pounds pressure. To-day, Cornish engines of the same general plan as +those of Watt, but worked with 40 to 60 pounds of steam and expanding +three or four times, do a duty probably averaging, with the better +class of engines, 600,000 foot-pounds per pound of coal. The compound +pumping-engine runs the figure up to above 1,000,000. + +The increase in steam-pressure and in expansion since Watt's time has +been accompanied by a very great improvement in workmanship--a +consequence, very largely, of the rapid increase in perfection, and in +the wide range of adaptation of machine-tools--by higher skill and +intelligence in designing engines and boilers, by increased +piston-speed, greater care in obtaining dry steam, and in keeping it +dry until thrown out of the cylinder, either by steam-jacketing or by +superheating, or both combined; it has further been accompanied by a +greater attention to the important matter of providing carefully +against losses by radiation and conduction of heat. We use, finally, +the compound or double-cylinder engine for the purpose of saving some +of the heat usually lost in internal condensation and reëvaporation, +and precipitation of condensed vapor from great expansion. + +It is evident that, although there is a limit, tolerably well defined, +in the scale of temperature, below which we cannot expect to pass, a +degree gained in approaching this lower limit is more remunerative +than a degree gained in the range of temperature available by +increasing temperatures.[116] + + [116] The fact here referred to is easily seen if it is supposed + that an engine is supplied with steam at a temperature of 400° + above absolute zero and works it, without waste, down to a + temperature of 200°. Suppose one inventor to adapt the engine to the + use of steam of a range from 500° down to 200°, while another works + his engine, with equally effective provision against losses, between + the limits of 400° and 100°, an equal range with a lower mean. The + first case gives an efficiency of one-half, the second three-fifths, + and the third three-fourths, the last giving the highest effect. + +Hence the attempt made by the French inventor, Du Trembly, about the +year 1850, and by other inventors since, to utilize a larger +proportion of heat by approaching more closely the lower limit, was in +accordance with known scientific principles. + +We may summarize the result of our examination of the growth of the +steam-engine thus: + +_First._ The process of improvement has been one, primarily, of +"differentiation;"[117] the number of parts has been continually +increased; while the work of each part has been simplified, a separate +organ being appropriated to each process in the cycle of operations. + + [117] This term, though perhaps not familiar to engineers, expresses + the idea perfectly. + +_Secondly._ A kind of secondary process of differentiation has, to +some extent, followed the completion of the primary one, in which +secondary process one operation is conducted partly in one and partly +in another portion of the machine. This is illustrated by the two +cylinders of the compound engine and by the duplication noticed in the +binary engine. + +_Thirdly._ The direction of improvement has been marked by a continual +increase of steam-pressure, greater expansion, provision for obtaining +dry steam, high piston-speed, careful protection against loss of heat +by conduction or radiation, and, in marine engines, by surface +condensation. + +The direction which improvement seems now to be taking, and the proper +direction, as indicated by an examination of the principles of +science, as well as by our review of the steps already taken, would +seem to be: working between the widest attainable limits of +temperature. + +Steam must enter the machine at the highest possible temperature, must +be protected from waste, and must retain, at the moment before +exhaust, the least possible amount of heat. He whose inventive genius, +or mechanical skill, contributes to effect either the use of higher +steam with safety and without waste, or the reduction of the +temperature of discharge, confers a boon upon mankind. + +In detail: In the engine, the tendency is, and may probably be +expected to continue, in the near future at least, toward higher +steam-pressure, greater expansion in more than one cylinder, +steam-jacketing, superheating, a careful use of non-conducting +protectors against waste, and the adoption of still higher +piston-speeds. + +In the boiler: more complete combustion without excess of air passing +through the furnace, and more thorough absorption of heat from the +furnace-gases. The latter will probably be ultimately effected by the +use of a mechanically produced draught, in place of the far more +wasteful method of obtaining it by the expenditure of heat in the +chimney. + +In construction we may anticipate the use of better materials, and +more careful workmanship, especially in the boiler, and much +improvement in forms and proportions of details. + +In management, there is a wide field for improvement, which +improvement we may feel assured will rapidly take place, as it has now +become well understood that great care, skill, and intelligence are +important essentials to the economical management of the steam-engine, +and that they repay, liberally, all of the expense in time and money +that is requisite to secure them. + +In attempting improvements in the directions indicated, it would be +the height of folly to assume that we have reached a limit in any one +of them, or even that we have approached a limit. If further progress +seems checked by inadequate returns for efforts made, in any case, to +advance beyond present practice, it becomes the duty of the engineer +to detect the cause of such hinderance, and, having found it, to +remove it. + +A few years ago, the movement toward the expansive working of high +steam was checked by experiments seeming to prove positive +disadvantage to follow advance beyond a certain point. A careful +revision of results, however, showed that this was true only with +engines built, as was then common, in utter disregard of all the +principles involved in such a use of steam, and of the precautions +necessary to be taken to insure the gain which science taught us +should follow. The hinderances are mechanical, and it is for the +engineer to remove them. + +The last remark is especially applicable to the work of the engineer +who is attempting to advance in the direction in which, as already +intimated, an unmistakable revolution is now progressing, the +modification of the modern steam-engine to adapt it safely and +successfully to run at the high piston-speed, and great velocity of +rotation which have been already attained and which must undoubtedly +be greatly exceeded in the future. As there is no known and definite +limit to the economical increase of speed, and as the limit set by +practical conditions is continually being set farther back as the +builder acquires greater skill and attains greater accuracy of +workmanship and the power to insure greater rigidity of parts and +durability of wearing surfaces, we must anticipate a continued and +indefinite progress in this direction--a progress which must evidently +be of advantage, whatever may be the direction that other changes may +take. + +It is evident that this adaptation of the steam-engine to great speed +of piston is the work now to be done by the engineer. The requisites +to success are obvious, and may be concisely stated as follows: + +1. Extreme accuracy in proportions. + +2. Perfect accuracy in fitting parts to each other. + +3. Absolute symmetry of journals. + +4. Ample area and maximum durability of rubbing surfaces. + +5. Perfect certainty of an ample and continuous lubrication. + +6. A nicely calculated and adjusted balance of reciprocating parts. + +7. Security against injury by shock, whether due to the presence of +water in the cylinder or to looseness of running parts. + +8. A "positive-motion" cut-off gear. + +9. A powerful but sensitive and accurately-working governor +determining the degree of expansion.[118] + + [118] The author is not absolutely confident on the latter point. It + may be found more economical and satisfactory, ultimately, to + determine the point of cut-off by an automatic apparatus adjusting + the expansion-gear _by reference to the steam-pressure_, regulating + the speed by attaching the governor elsewhere. The author has + devised several forms of apparatus of the kind referred to. + +10. Well-balanced valves and an easy-working valve-gear. + +11. Small volume of "dead-space," or "clearance," and properly +adjusted "compression." + +It would seem sufficiently evident that the engine with detachable +("drop") cut-off valve-gear must, sooner or later, become an obsolete +type, although the substitution of springs or of steam-pressure for +gravity in the closing of the detached valve may defer greatly this +apparently inevitable change. The "engine of the future" will not +probably be a "drop cut-off engine." + +As regards the construction of the engine as a piece of mechanism, the +principles and practice of good engineering are precisely the same, +whether applied in the designing of the compound or of the ordinary +type of steam-engine. The proportioning of the two machines to each +other in such manner as to form an effective whole, by procuring +approximately equal amounts of work from both, is the only essential +peculiarity of compound-engine design which calls for especial care, +and the method of securing success in practice may be stated to be, +for both forms of engines, as follows: + +1. A good design, by which is meant-- + +_a._ Correct proportions, both in general dimensions and in +arrangement of parts, and proper forms and sizes of details to +withstand safely the forces which may be expected to come upon them. + +_b._ A general plan which embodies the recognized practice of good +engineering. + +_c._ Adaptation to the specific work which it is intended to perform, +in size and in efficiency. It sometimes happens that good practice +dictates the use of a comparatively uneconomical design. + +2. Good construction, by which is meant-- + +_a._ The use of good material. + +_b._ Accurate workmanship. + +_c._ Skillful fitting and a proper "assemblage" of parts. + +3. Proper connection with its work, that it may do that work under the +conditions assumed in its design. + +4. Skillful management by those in whose hands it is placed. + +_In general_, it may be stated that, to secure maximum economical +efficiency, steam should be worked at as high a pressure as possible, +and the expansion should be fixed as nearly as possible at the point +of maximum economy for that pressure. In general, the number of times +which the volume of steam may be expanded in the standard +single-cylinder, high-pressure engine with maximum economy, is not far +from 1/2 sqrt(P), where P is the pressure in pounds per square inch; +it rarely exceeds 0.75 sqrt(P). This may be exceeded in +double-cylinder engines. It is even more disadvantageous to cut off +too short than to "'follow' too far." With considerable expansion, +steam-jacketing and moderate superheating should be adopted, to +prevent excessive losses by internal condensation and reëvaporation; +and expansion should take place in double cylinders, to avoid +excessive weight of parts, irregularity of motion, and great loss by +friction. + +To secure this vitally important economy, it is advisable to seek some +practicable method of lining the cylinder with a non-conducting +material. This plan, as has been seen, was adopted by Smeaton, in +constructing Newcomen engines a century ago. Smeaton used wood on his +pistons, and Watt tried wood as a material for steam-cylinder linings. +That material is too perishable at temperatures now common, and no +metal has yet been substituted, or even discovered, which answers the +same purpose. The loss will also be reduced by increasing the speed of +rotation and velocity of piston. Where no effectual means can be found +of preventing contact of the steam with a good absorbent and conductor +of heat, it will be found best to sacrifice some of the efficiency due +to the change of state of the vapor, by superheating it and sending it +into the cylinder at a temperature considerably exceeding that of +saturation. With low steam and slowly-moving pistons, it is better to +pursue the latter course than to attempt to increase the efficiency of +the engine by greater expansion. + +External surfaces should be carefully covered by non-conductors and +non-radiators, to prevent losses by conduction and radiation of heat. +It is especially necessary to reduce back-pressure and to obtain the +most perfect vacuum possible without overloading the air-pump, if it +is desired to obtain the maximum efficiency by expansion, and it then +becomes also very necessary to reduce losses by "dead-spaces" and by +badly-adjusted valves. + +The piston-speed should be as great as can be sustained with safety. + +Good engines should not require more than W = (200/sqrt(P)) where W = +the weight of steam per hour and per horse-power; the best practice +gives about W = (180/sqrt(P)) in large engines with dry steam, high +piston-speed, and good design, construction, and management. + +The expansion-valve gear should be simple. The point of cut-off is +perhaps best determined by the governor. The valve should close +rapidly, but without shock, and should be balanced, or some other +device should be adopted to make it easy to move and free from +liability to cutting or rapid wear. + +The governor should act promptly and powerfully, and should be free +from liability to oscillate, and to thus introduce irregularities +which are sometimes not less serious than those which the instrument +is intended to prevent. + +Friction should be reduced as much as possible, and careful provision +should be made to economize lubricants as well as fuel. + +The Principles of Steam-Boiler Construction are exceedingly simple; +and although attempts are almost daily made to obtain improved +results by varying the design and arrangement of heating-surface, the +best boilers of nearly all makers of acknowledged standing are +practically equal in merit, although of very diverse forms. + +In making boilers, the effort of the engineer should evidently be: + +1. To secure complete combustion of the fuel without permitting +dilution of the products of combustion by excess of air. + +2. To secure as high temperature of furnace as possible. + +3. To so arrange heating-surfaces that, without checking draught, the +available heat shall be most completely taken up and utilized. + +4. To make the form of boiler such that it shall be constructed +without mechanical difficulty or excessive expense. + +5. To give it such form that it shall be durable, under the action of +the hot gases and of the corroding elements of the atmosphere. + +6. To make every part accessible for cleaning and repairs. + +7. To make every part as nearly as possible uniform in strength, and +in liability to loss of strength by wear and tear, so that the boiler +when old shall not be rendered useless by local defects. + +8. To adopt a reasonably high "factor of safety" in proportioning +parts. + +9. To provide efficient safety-valves, steam-gauges, and other +appurtenances. + +10. To secure intelligent and very careful management. + +In securing complete combustion, the first of these desiderata, an +ample supply of air and its thorough intermixture with the combustible +elements of the fuel are essential; for the second--high temperature +of furnace--it is necessary that the air-supply shall not be in excess +of that absolutely needed to give complete combustion. The efficiency +of a furnace in making heat available is measured by + + T - T´ + E = -------; + T - _t_ + +in which E represents the ratio of heat utilized to the whole +calorific value of the fuel, T is the furnace-temperature, T´ the +temperature of the chimney, and _t_ that of the external air. The +higher the furnace-temperature and the lower that of the chimney, the +greater the proportion of heat available. It is further evident that, +however perfect the combustion, no heat can be utilized if either the +temperature of the chimney approximates to that of the furnace, or if +the temperature of the furnace is reduced by dilution approximately to +that of the boiler. Concentration of heat in the furnace is secured, +in some cases, by special expedients, as by heating the entering air, +or as in the Siemens gas-furnace, heating both the combustible gases +and the supporter of combustion. Detached fire-brick furnaces have an +advantage over the "fire-boxes" of steam-boilers in their higher +temperature; surrounding the fire with non-conducting and highly +heated surfaces is an effective method of securing high +furnace-temperature. + +In arranging heating-surface, the effort should be to impede the +draught as little as possible, and so to place them that the +circulation of water within the boiler should be free and rapid at +every part reached by the hot gases. The directions of circulation of +water on the one side and of gas on the other side of the sheet +should, whenever possible, be opposite. The cold water should enter +where the cooled gases leave, and the steam should be taken off +farthest from that point. The temperature of chimney-gases has thus +been reduced in practice to less than 300° Fahr., and an efficiency +equal to 0.75 to 0.80 the theoretical has been attained. + +The extent of heating-surface simply, in all of the best forms of +boiler, determines the efficiency, and in them the disposition of that +surface seldom affects it to any great extent. The area of +heating-surface may also be varied within very wide limits without +very greatly modifying efficiency. A ratio of 25 to 1 in flue and 30 +to 1 in tubular boilers represents the relative area of heating and +grate surfaces as chosen in the practice of the best-known builders. + +The material of the boiler should be tough and ductile iron, or, +better, a soft steel containing only sufficient carbon to insure +melting in the crucible or on the hearth of the melting-furnace, and +so little that no danger may exist of hardening and cracking under the +action of sudden and great changes of temperature. + +Where iron is used, it is necessary to select a somewhat hard, but +homogeneous and tough, quality for the fire-box sheets or any part +exposed to flames. + +The factor of safety is invariably too low in this country, and is +never too high in Europe. Foreign builders are more careful in this +matter than our makers in the United States. The boiler should be +built strong enough to bear a pressure at least six times the proposed +working-pressure; as the boiler grows weak with age, it should be +occasionally tested to a pressure far above the working-pressure, +which latter should be reduced gradually to keep within the bounds of +safety. In the United States, the factor of safety is seldom more than +four in the new boilers, frequently much less, and even this is +reduced practically to one and a third by the operation of our +inspection-laws. + +The principles just enunciated are those generally, perhaps +universally, accepted principles which are stated in all text-books of +science and of steam-engineering, and are accepted by both engineers +and men of science. + +These principles are correct, and the deductions which have been here +formulated are rigidly exact, as applied to all types of heat-engine +in use; and they lead us to the determination, in all cases, of the +"modulus" of efficiency of the engine, i. e., to the calculation of +the ratio of its actual efficiency to that efficiency which it would +have, were it absolutely free from loss of heat by conduction or +radiation, or other method of loss of heat or waste of power, by +friction of parts or by shock. + +The best modern marine compound engines sometimes, as we have seen, +consume as little as two pounds of coal per horse-power and per hour; +but this is but about one-tenth the power derivable from the fuel, +were all its heat thoroughly utilized. This loss may be divided thus: +70 per cent. rejected in exhausted steam; 20 per cent. lost by +conduction and radiation and by faults of mechanism and design; and +only the 10 per cent. remaining is utilized. Thirty per cent. of the +heat generated in the furnace is usually lost in the chimney, and of +the remainder, which enters the engine, 20 per cent. at most is all +which we can hope to save any portion of by improvements effected in +our best existing type of steam-engine. It has already been shown how +the engineer can best proceed in attempting this economy. + +The direction in which further improvement must take place in the +standard type of engine is plainly that which shall most efficiently +check losses by internal condensation and reëvaporation by the +transfer of heat to and from the metal of the steam-cylinder. The +condensation of steam doing work is evidently not a disadvantage, but, +on the contrary, a decided advantage. + +A new type of engine can, if at all, probably only supersede the +common form when engineers can employ steam of very high pressure, and +adopt much greater range of expansion than is now usual. Great +velocity of piston and high speed of rotation are also essential in +the attempt to make any revolution in steam-engine construction a +success. + +When a new form of steam-engine is likely to be introduced, if at all, +can be scarcely even conjectured. It seems evident that its success is +to be secured, if a revolution is ever to occur, by the adoption of +high steam-pressures, of great piston speeds, by care and skill in +design, by the use of exceptionally excellent materials of +construction, by great perfection of workmanship, and by intelligence +in its management. + +Experiment and experience will probably lead gradually to the general +and safe employment of much higher steam-pressures and very greatly +increased piston-speeds, and may ultimately reveal and remove all +those difficulties which must invariably be expected to be met here, +as in all other attempts to effect radical changes, however important +they may be. + +[Illustration] + + + * * * * * + + + + +_Scientific Publications._ + + +=THE HUMAN SPECIES.= By A. DE QUATREFAGES, Professor of Anthropology +in the Museum of Natural History, Paris. 12mo, cloth, $2.00. + + The work treats of the unity, origin, antiquity, and original + localization of the human species, peopling of the globe, + acclimatization, primitive man, formation of the human races, fossil + human races, present human races, and the physical and psychological + characters of mankind. + + +=STUDENTS' TEXT-BOOK OF COLOR; or, MODERN CHROMATICS.= With +Applications to Art and Industry. With 130 Original Illustrations, and +Frontispiece in Colors. By OGDEN N. ROOD, Professor of Physics in +Columbia College. 12mo, cloth, $2.00. + + "In this interesting book Professor Rood, who, as a distinguished + Professor of Physics in Columbia College, United States, must be + accepted as a competent authority on the branch of science of which + he treats, deals briefly and succinctly with what may be termed the + scientific _rationale_ of his subject. But the chief value of his + work is to be attributed to the fact that he is himself an + accomplished artist as well as an authoritative expounder of + science."--_Edinburgh Review, October, 1879, in an article on "The + Philosophy of Color._" + + +=EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE.= By ALEXANDER BAIN, LL. D. 12mo, cloth, +$1.75. + + "This work must be pronounced the most remarkable discussion of + educational problems which has been published in our day. We do not + hesitate to bespeak for it the widest circulation and the most + earnest attention. It should be in the hands of every school-teacher + and friend of education throughout the land."--_New York Sun._ + + +=A HISTORY OF THE GROWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE.= By ROBERT H. THURSTON, +A. M., C. E., Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Stevens +Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J., etc. With 163 Illustrations, +including 15 Portraits. 12mo, cloth, $2.50. + + "Professor Thurston almost exhausts his subject; details of + mechanism are followed by interesting biographies of the more + important inventors. If, as is contended, the steam-engine is the + most important physical agent in civilizing the world, its history + is a desideratum, and the readers of the present work will agree + that it could have a no more amusing and intelligent historian than + our author."--_Boston Gazette._ + + +=STUDIES IN SPECTRUM ANALYSIS.= By J. NORMAN LOCKYER, F. R. S., +Correspondent of the Institute of France, etc. With 60 Illustrations. +12mo, cloth, $2.50. + + "The study of spectrum analysis is one fraught with a peculiar + fascination, and some of the author's experiments are exceedingly + picturesque in their results. They are so lucidly described, too, + that the reader keeps on, from page to page, never flagging in + interest in the matter before him, nor putting down the book until + the last page is reached."--_New York Evening Express._ + + +=GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY OF MUSCLES AND NERVES.= By Dr. I. ROSENTHAL, +Professor of Physiology at the University of Erlangen. With +seventy-five Woodcuts. ("International Scientific Series.") 12mo, +cloth, $1.50. + + "The attempt at a connected account of the general physiology of + muscles and nerves is, as far as I know, the first of its kind. The + general data for this branch of science have been gained only within + the past thirty years."--_Extract from Preface._ + + +=SIGHT=: An Exposition of the Principles of Monocular and Binocular +Vision By JOSEPH LE CONTE, LL. D., author of "Elements of Geology"; +"Religion and Science"; and Professor of Geology and Natural History +in the University of California. With numerous Illustrations. 12mo, +cloth, $1.50. + + "It is pleasant to find an American book which can rank with the + very best of foreign works on this subject. Professor Le Conte has + long been known as an original investigator in this department; all + that he gives us is treated with a master-hand."--_The Nation._ + + +=ANIMAL LIFE=, as affected by the Natural Conditions of Existence. By +KARL SEMPER, Professor of the University of Würzburg. With 2 Maps and +106 Woodcuts, and Index. 12mo, cloth, $2.00. + + "This is in many respects one of the most interesting contributions + to zoölogical literature which has appeared for some + time."--_Nature._ + + +=THE ATOMIC THEORY.= By AD. WURTZ, Membre de l'Institut; Doyen +Honoraire de la Faculté de Médecine; Professeur à la Faculté des +Sciences de Paris. Translated by E. CLEMINSHAW, M. A., F. C. S., F. I. +C., Assistant Master at Sherborne School. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. + + "There was need for a book like this, which discusses the atomic + theory both in its historic evolution and in its present form. And + perhaps no man of this age could have been selected so able to + perform the task in a masterly way as the illustrious French + chemist, Adolph Wurtz. It is impossible to convey to the reader, in + a notice like this, any adequate idea of the scope, lucid + instructiveness, and scientific interest of Professor Wurtz's book. + The modern problems of chemistry, which are commonly so obscure from + imperfect exposition, are here made wonderfully clear and + attractive."--_The Popular Science Monthly._ + + +=THE CRAYFISH.= An Introduction to the Study of Zoölogy. By Professor +T. H. HUXLEY, F. R. S. With 82 Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.75. + + "Whoever will follow these pages, crayfish in hand, and will try to + verify for himself the statements which they contain, will find + himself brought face to face, with all the great zoölogical + questions which excite so lively an interest at the present day." + + "The reader of this valuable monograph will lay it down with a + feeling of wonder at the amount and variety of matter which has been + got out of so seemingly slight and unpretending a + subject."--_Saturday Review._ + + +=SUICIDE=: An Essay In Comparative Moral Statistics. By HENRY +MORSELLI, Professor of Psychological Medicine in Royal University, +Turin. 12mo, Cloth, $1.75. + + "Suicide" is a scientific inquiry, on the basis of the statistical + method, into the laws of suicidal phenomena. Dealing with the + subject as a branch of social science, it considers the increase of + suicide in different countries, and the comparison of nations, + races, and periods in its manifestation. The influences of age, sex, + constitution, climate, season, occupation, religion, prevailing + ideas, the elements of character, and the tendencies of + civilization, are comprehensively analyzed in their bearing upon the + propensity to self-destruction. Professor Morselli is an eminent + European authority on this subject. It is accompanied by colored + maps illustrating pictorially the results of statistical inquiries. + + +=VOLCANOES: What they Are and what they Teach.= By J. W. JUDD, +Professor of Geology in the Royal School of Mines (London). With +Ninety-six Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00. + + "In no field has modern research been more fruitful than in that of + which Professor Judd gives a popular account in the present volume. + The great lines of dynamical, geological, and meteorological inquiry + converge upon the grand problem of the interior constitution of the + earth, and the vast influence of subterranean agencies.... His book + is very far from being a mere dry description of volcanoes and their + eruptions; it is rather a presentation of the terrestrial facts and + laws with which volcanic phenomena are associated."--_Popular + Science Monthly._ + + "The volume before us is one of the pleasantest science manuals we + have read for some time."--_Athenæum._ + + "Mr. Judd's summary is so full and so concise that it is almost + impossible to give a fair idea in a short review."--_Pall Mall + Gazette._ + + +=THE SUN.= By C. A. YOUNG, Ph. D., LL. D., Professor of Astronomy in +the College of New Jersey. With numerous Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, +$2.00. + + "Professor Young is an authority on 'The Sun,' and writes from + intimate knowledge. He has studied that great luminary all his life, + invented and improved instruments for observing it, gone to all + quarters of the world in search of the best places and opportunities + to watch it, and has contributed important discoveries that have + extended our knowledge of it. + + "It would take a cyclopædia to represent all that has been done + toward clearing up the solar mysteries. Professor Young has + summarized the information, and presented it in a form completely + available for general readers. There is no rhetoric in his book; he + trusts the grandeur of his theme to kindle interest and impress the + feelings. His statements are plain, direct, clear, and condensed, + though ample enough for his purpose, and the substance of what is + generally wanted will be found accurately given in his + pages."--_Popular Science Monthly._ + + +=ILLUSIONS: A Psychological Study.= By JAMES SULLY, author of +"Sensation and Intuition," etc. 12mo. Cloth. $1.50. + + This volume takes a wide survey of the field of error, embracing in + its view not only the illusions commonly regarded as of the nature + of mental aberrations or hallucinations, but also other illusions + arising from that capacity for error which belongs essentially to + rational human nature. The author has endeavored to keep to a + strictly scientific treatment--that is to say, the description and + classification of acknowledged errors, and the exposition of them by + a reference to their psychical and physical conditions. + + "This is not a technical work, but one of wide popular interest, in + the principles and results of which every one is concerned. The + illusions of perception of the senses and of dreams are first + considered, and then the author passes to the illusions of + introspection, errors of insight, illusions of memory, and illusions + of belief. The work is a noteworthy contribution to the original + progress of thought, and may be relied upon as representing the + present state of knowledge on the important subject to which it is + devoted."--_Popular Science Monthly._ + + +=THE BRAIN AND ITS FUNCTIONS.= By J. LUYS, Physician to the Hospice de +la Salpêtrière. With Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + + "No living physiologist is better entitled to speak with authority + upon the structure and functions of the brain than Dr. Luys. His + studies on the anatomy of the nervous system are acknowledged to be + the fullest and most systematic ever undertaken. Dr. Luys supports + his conclusions not only by his own anatomical researches, but also + by many functional observations of various other physiologists, + including of course Professor Ferrier's now classical + experiments."--_St. James's Gazette._ + + "Dr. Luys, at the head of the great French Insane Asylum, is one of + the most eminent and successful investigators of cerebral science + now living; and he has given unquestionably the clearest and most + interesting brief account yet made of the structure and operations + of the brain. We have been fascinated by this volume more than by + any other treatise we have yet seen on the machinery of sensibility + and thought; and we have been instructed not only by much that is + new, but by many sagacious practical hints such as it is well for + everybody to understand."--_The Popular Science Monthly._ + + +=THE CONCEPTS AND THEORIES OF MODERN PHYSICS.= By J. B. STALLO. 12mo. +Cloth, $1.75. + + "Judge Stallo's work is an inquiry into the validity of those + mechanical conceptions of the universe which are now held as + fundamental in physical science. He takes up the leading modern + doctrines which are based upon this mechanical conception, such as + the atomic constitution of matter, the kinetic theory of gases, the + conservation of energy, the nebular hypothesis, and other views, to + find how much stands upon solid empirical ground, and how much rests + upon metaphysical speculation. Since the appearance of Dr. Draper's + 'Religion and Science,' no book has been published in the country + calculated to make so deep an impression on thoughtful and educated + readers as this volume.... The range and minuteness of the author's + learning, the acuteness of his reasoning, and the singular precision + and clearness of his style, are qualities which very seldom have + been jointly exhibited in a scientific treatise."--_New York Sun._ + + +=THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD, THROUGH THE ACTION OF WORMS, WITH +OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR HABITS.= By CHARLES DARWIN, LL. D., F. R. S., +author of "On the Origin of Species," etc., etc. With Illustrations. +12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50. + + "Mr. Darwin's little volume on the habits and instincts of + earth-worms is no less marked than the earlier or more elaborate + efforts of his genius by freshness of observation, unfailing power + of interpreting and correlating facts, and logical vigor in + generalizing upon them. The main purpose of the work is to point out + the share which worms have taken in the formation of the layer of + vegetable mould which covers the whole surface of the land in every + moderately humid country. All lovers of nature will unite in + thanking Mr. Darwin for the new and interesting light he has thrown + upon a subject so long overlooked, yet so full of interest and + instruction, as the structure and the labors of the + earth-worm."--_Saturday Review._ + + "Respecting worms as among the most useful portions of animate + nature, Dr. Darwin relates, in this remarkable book, their structure + and habits, the part they have played in the burial of ancient + buildings and the denudation of the land, in the disintegration of + rocks, the preparation of soil for the growth of plants, and in the + natural history of the world."--_Boston Advertiser._ + + +=ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS.= A Record of Observations on the Habits of the +Social Hymenoptera. By Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M. P., F. R. S., etc., +author of "Origin of Civilization, and the Primitive Condition of +Man," etc., etc. With Colored Plates. 12mo, cloth, $2.00. + + "This volume contains the record of various experiments made with + ants, bees, and wasps during the last ten years, with a view to test + their mental condition and powers of sense. The principal point in + which Sir John's mode of experiment differs from those of Huber, + Forel, McCook, and others, is that he has carefully watched and + marked particular insects, and has had their nests under observation + for long periods--one of his ants' nests having been under constant + inspection ever since 1874. His observations are made principally + upon ants because they show more power and flexibility of mind; and + the value of his studies is that they belong to the department of + original research." + + "We have no hesitation in saying that the author has presented us + with the most valuable series of observations on a special subject + that has ever been produced, charmingly written, full of logical + deductions, and, when we consider his multitudinous engagements, a + remarkable illustration of economy of time. As a contribution to + insect psychology, it will be long before this book finds a + parallel."--_London Athenæum._ + + +=DISEASES OF MEMORY=: An Essay in the Positive Psychology. By TH. +RIBOT, author of "Heredity," etc. Translated from the French by +William Huntington Smith. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. + + "M. Ribot reduces diseases of memory to law, and his treatise is of + extraordinary interest."--_Philadelphia Press._ + + "Not merely to scientific, but to all thinking men, this volume will + prove intensely interesting."--_New York Observer._ + + "M. Ribot has bestowed the most painstaking attention upon his + theme, and numerous examples of the conditions considered greatly + increase the value and interest of the volume."--_Philadelphia North + American._ + + "To the general reader the work is made entertaining by many + illustrations connected with such names as Linnæus, Newton, Sir + Walter Scott, Horace Vernet, Gustave Doré, and many + others."--_Harrisburg Telegraph._ + + "The whole subject is presented with a Frenchman's vivacity of + style."--_Providence Journal._ + + "It is not too much to say that in no single work have so many + curious cases been brought together and interpreted in a scientific + manner."--_Boston Evening Traveller._ + + +=MYTH AND SCIENCE.= By TITO VIGNOLI. 12mo, cloth, price, $1.50. + + "His book is ingenious; ... his theory of how science gradually + differentiated from and conquered myth is extremely well wrought + out, and is probably in essentials correct."--_Saturday Review._ + + "The book is a strong one, and far more interesting to the general + reader than its title would indicate. The learning, the acuteness, + the strong reasoning power, and the scientific spirit of the author, + command admiration."--_New York Christian Advocate._ + + "An attempt made, with much ability and no small measure of success, + to trace the origin and development of the myth. The author has + pursued his inquiry with much patience and ingenuity, and has + produced a very readable and luminous treatise."--_Philadelphia + North American._ + + "It is a curious if not startling contribution both to psychology + and to the early history of man's development."--_New York World._ + + +=MAN BEFORE METALS.= By N. JOLY, Professor at the Science Faculty of +Toulouse; Correspondent of the Institute. With 148 Illustrations, +12mo. Cloth, $1.75. + + "The discussion of man's origin and early history, by Professor De + Quatrefages, formed one of the most useful volumes in the + 'International Scientific Series,' and the same collection is now + further enriched by a popular treatise on paleontology, by M. N. + Joly, Professor in the University of Toulouse. The title of the + book, 'Man before Metals,' indicates the limitations of the writer's + theme. His object is to bring together the numerous proofs, + collected by modern research, of the great age of the human race, + and to show us what man was, in respect of customs, industries, and + moral or religious ideas, before the use of metals was known to + him."--_New York Sun._ + + "An interesting, not to say fascinating volume."--_New York + Churchman._ + + +=ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE.= By GEORGE J. ROMANES, F. R. S., Zoölogical +Secretary of the Linnæan Society, etc. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75. + + "My object in the work as a whole is twofold: First, I have thought + it desirable that there should be something resembling a text-book + of the facts of Comparative Psychology, to which men of science, and + also metaphysicians, may turn whenever they have occasion to + acquaint themselves with the particular level of intelligence to + which this or that species of animal attains. My second and much + more important object is that of considering the facts of animal + intelligence in their relation to the theory of descent."--_From the + Preface._ + + "Unless we are greatly mistaken, Mr. Romanes's work will take its + place as one of the most attractive volumes of the 'International + Scientific Series.' Some persons may, indeed, be disposed to say + that it is too attractive, that it feeds the popular taste for the + curious and marvelous without supplying any commensurate discipline + in exact scientific reflection; but the author has, we think, fully + justified himself in his modest preface. The result is the + appearance of a collection of facts which will be a real boon to the + student of Comparative Psychology for this is the first attempt to + present systematically well-assured observations on the mental life + of animals."--_Saturday Review._ + + "The author believes himself, not without ample cause, to have + completely bridged the supposed gap between instinct and reason by + the authentic proofs here marshaled of remarkable intelligence in + some of the higher animals. It is the seemingly conclusive evidence + of reasoning; powers furnished by the adaptation of means to ends in + cases which can not be explained on the theory of inherited aptitude + or habit."--_New York Sun._ + + +=THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS.= By SHELDON AMOS, M. A., author of "The +Science of Law," etc. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75. + + "To the political student and the practical statesman it ought to be + of great value."--_New York Herald._ + + "The author traces the subject from Plato and Aristotle in Greece, + and Cicero in Rome, to the modern schools in the English field, not + slighting the teachings of the American Revolution or the lessons of + the French Revolution of 1793. Forms of government, political terms, + the relation of law, written and unwritten, to the subject, a + codification from Justinian to Napoleon in France and Field in + America, are treated as parts of the subject in hand. Necessarily + the subjects of executive and legislative authority, police, liquor, + and land laws are considered, and the question ever growing in + importance in all countries, the relations of corporations to the + state."--_New York Observer._ + + +=THE FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF MODERN PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHT, CRITICALLY +AND HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED.= By RUDOLPH EUCKEN, Ph. D., Professor in +Jena. With an Introduction by NOAH PORTER, President of Yale College. +One vol., 12mo, 304 pages. Cloth. Price, $1.75. + + President Porter declares of this work that "there are few books + within his knowledge which are better fitted to aid the student who + wishes to acquaint himself with the course of modern speculation and + scientific thinking, and to form an intelligent estimate of most of + the current theories." + + +=MIND IN THE LOWER ANIMALS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE.= By W. LAUDER +LINDSAY, M. D., F. R. S. E., etc. 2 vols., 8vo. Cloth, $4.00. + + "The author of this work, which, regarded merely as an accumulation + of verified and classified facts, is a unique and precious + contribution to the data of comparative psychology, claims that he + entered on his inquiry without any theory to defend, support, or + illustrate. We are bound to say that, while his general conclusions + are boldly and continually avowed, his claim of fairness and caution + is justified by his method of examining particular phenomena; that + he seems willing at all times to renounce any impression or belief + which is shown to be scientifically untenable."--_New York Sun._ + + "In this work--two volumes of over 500 pages--Dr. Lindsay marshals a + proportionately large number of facts against those philosophers who + maintain that the intelligence of man differs in kind and not simply + in degree from that of the lower animals. It is one purpose of his + book to show that the main differences between man and the lower + animals exist rather in their physical than in their mental + structure. In this way of thinking, all animals possess not the + semblance of, but the true substance of mind and will."--_New York + World._ + + "So far as we are aware there has been no treatise upon the subject + of animal intelligence so broad in its foundations, so well + considered, or so scientific in its methods of inquiry, as that + which has been prepared by Dr. W. Lauder Lindsay in two large + volumes, the first being devoted to a study of animal mind in + health, and the second to animal mind in disease. We may safely say + that his work is, in some respects, the most important essay of the + kind that has yet been undertaken. His observations have been + supplemented by a thorough mastery of the history and literature of + the subject, and hence his conclusions rest upon the broadest + possible foundation of safe induction. There is a good analytical + index to the book, as there ought to be to every work of the + kind."--_New York Evening Post._ + + +=THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.= By N. T. +LUPTON, LL. D., Professor of Chemistry in Vanderbilt University, +Nashville, Tenn. 18mo. Cloth. Price, 45 cents. + + +=A GLOSSARY OF BIOLOGICAL, ANATOMICAL, AND PHYSIOLOGICAL TERMS.= By +THOMAS DUNMAN. Small 8vo. Cloth. 161 pages. Price, $1.00. + + "It has been the author's task to furnish here a small and + convenient but very complete glossary of those terms; and he has + done this so well, both in his choice of terms for definition and in + his clear exposition of their etymological and technical meaning, as + to leave nothing to be desired in this direction."--_New York + Evening Post._ + + + _For sale by all booksellers, or any work sent by mail, post-paid, + on receipt of price._ + + D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, + 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street, New York. + + + + +SCIENTIFIC LECTURES AND ESSAYS. + + +=Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects.= By H. HELMHOLTZ, Professor +of Physics in the University of Berlin. First Series. Translated by E. +ATKINSON, Ph. D., F. C. S. With an Introduction by Professor TYNDALL. +With 51 Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00. + + _CONTENTS._--On the Relation of Natural Science to Science in + General.--On Goethe's Scientific Researches.--On the Physiological + Causes of Harmony in Music--Ice and Glaciers.--Interaction of the + Natural Forces.--The Recent Progress of the Theory of Vision.--The + Conservation of Force.--Aim and Progress of Physical Science. + + +=Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects.= By H. HELMHOLTZ. Second +Series. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + + _CONTENTS._--Gustav Magnus.--In Memoriam.--The Origin and + Significance of Geometrical Axioms.--Relation of Optics to + Painting.--Origin of the Planetary System.--On Thought in + Medicine.--Academic Freedom in German Universities. + + "Professor Helmholtz's second series of 'Popular Lectures on + Scientific Subjects' forms a volume of singular interest and value. + He who anticipates a dry record of facts or a sequence of immature + generalization will find himself happily mistaken. In style and + method these discourses are models of excellence, and, since they + come from a man whose learning and authority are beyond dispute, + they may be accepted as presenting the conclusions of the best + thought of the times in scientific fields."--_Boston Traveler._ + + +=Science and Culture, and other Essays.= By Professor T. H. HUXLEY, F. +R. S. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + + "Of the essays that have been collected by Professor Huxley in this + volume, the first four deal with some aspect of education. Most of + the remainder are expositions of the results of biological research, + and, at the same time, illustrations of the history of scientific + ideas. Some of these are among the most interesting of Professor + Huxley's contributions to the literature of science."--_London + Academy._ + + "It is refreshing to be brought into converse with one of the most + vigorous and acute thinkers of our time, who has the power of + putting his thoughts into language so clear and forcible."--_London + Spectator._ + + +=Scientific Culture, and other Essays.= By JOSIAH PARSONS COOKE, +Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in Harvard College. 12mo. Cloth, +$1.00. + + These essays are an outcome of a somewhat large experience in + teaching physical science to college students. Cambridge, + Massachusetts, early set the example of making the student's own + observations in the laboratory or cabinet the basis of all teaching, + either in experimental or natural history science; and this example + has been generally followed. "But in most centers of education," + writes Professor Cooke, "the old traditions so far survive that the + great end of scientific culture is lost in attempting to conform + even laboratory instruction to the old academic methods of + recitations and examinations. To point out this error, and to claim + for science-teaching its appropriate methods, was one object of + writing these essays." + + + _For sale by all booksellers; or sent by mail, post-paid, + on receipt of price._ + + New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of the Growth of the +Steam-Engine, by Robert H. 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