Marquis of Edward Somerset Worcester

“ Accidents are now, however, but of rare occurrence; and it is more than probable, that the great improvements which have been made in the boiler and safety-valve will effectually secure these parts of the engine from a recurrence of such tremendous explosions as characterised the first introduction of steam navigation. And, lastly, the political economist must hail with the most heartfelt gratification, the introduction of so able and efficient a substitute for animal labour as the steam-engine. ”

“ Having however, in the notes appended to this work, fully demonstrated not only the practicability of applying the major part of the inventions there described, but the absolute application of many of them, though under other names, to some of the most useful purposes of life; we shall leave it to the public to judge, whether the man who first discovered a mode of applying steam as a mechanical agent, an invention alone sufficient to immortalize the age in which he lived, deserves the name of a fantastic projector. ”

“ From the great weight of an ordinary locomotive engine as well as the construction of its impelling wheel, it must be evident that the employment of this species of prime mover on the public roads would be in the highest degree destructive; and as such that its use will for some years to come be partially confined to the mining districts, in which the greatest facilities are offered for its general adoption. Indeed, we find in one neighbourhood alone, and within a space of less than thirty square miles, more than twenty miles of road admirably adapted for this species of conveyance ”

“ The glass tube and bulb b is shewn with its piston a, the rod being hollow and closed by a screw c. If steam be generated by the spirit lamp d, the air will speedily be expelled, and after this is effected, the screw c may be closed, and a working stroke produced by artificial condensation.
We come now to a new and distinct era in the history of this important invention, and in noticing the labours of Mr. Watt, we may almost speak [118] of his engine as the gigantic offspring of a hand giving birth to an automaton, no less powerful than that of the fabled enchanters of the olden time. ”

“ There are but few persons who will disallow the utility of an invention, whose object is to prevent, as much as possible, the frequent and terrible accidents which occur from the present mode of attaching horses to carriages, and other vehicles; that these might in a great measure be avoided, by the application of the Marquis's invention, and a legislative enactment to secure its adoption, there can be no doubt. ”

“ It may now be adviseable to trace the history of the steam-engine through some of its earlier modifications; and we shall find that, although the present form of this stupendous machine almost deserves the title of an invention, yet that many steps have been taken, and much labour and much ingenuity expended, before it was brought to that point from which the more modern improvements may be said to have begun. ”

“ When steam of great elasticity is required, the weight is placed at the extremity of the lever, and as such, acts with greater force on the safety-valve, than when removed to a point nearer to the axis on which it revolves: so that should low pressure steam, or that which has a less expansive force, be required, it will only be necessary to remove it nearer towards the axis on which it turns. ”

“ An artificial fountain, to be turned like an hour-glass, by a child, in the twinkling of an eye, it yet holding great quantities of water, and of force sufficient to make snow, ice, and thunder; with the chirping and singing of birds, and showing of several shapes and effects, usual to fountains of pleasure.
NOTE.
That a fountain may be made upon the principle of an hour-glass, and that when the upper division is exhausted, the lower may be elevated by a crank and lever, the fluid passing through the centre of its axis, we may easily conceive ”

“ In the high [126] pressure engine, the condenser is taken away; and the steam, instead of being converted into water by artificial cold in a close vessel, is allowed to escape into the atmosphere from one side of the piston, while it is acting forcibly on the other.
The advantages of the high pressure engine over that used with a condenser, are cheapness in construction, and a saving of the whole expense attendant on procuring a sufficient supply of condensing water, which in some cases is an object of considerable importance. ”

“ How to raise water constantly with two buckets only, day and night, without any other force than its own motion, using not so much as any force, wheel, or sucker, nor more pullies than one, on which the cord or chain rolleth, with a bucket at each end. ”

“ Mr. Fulton, of the United States, the inventor of the Torpedo, recommends the use of a gun-harpoon for fixing this destructive engine on the side of a ship; but this plan appears liable to two objections: the resistance that would be offered by the water, should the harpoon be fired from a considerable distance; and the certainty of discovery from the report of the cannon, on a near approach to the hull of the vessel. The methods most eligible for this object appear to be, either to let the machine float with the tide, and by striking against the side of the vessel discharge a gun-lock ”

“ A quantity of drawn tubes being first cut into the given lengths, metal collars must then be soldered on the extremity of each length, with an orifice of sufficient size to allow the tallow and wick to pass through the whole series of tubes. They must then be connected together by a screw cut in each alternate end, and the whole, thus formed, passed through a steam pipe of sufficient size to prevent the tallow chilling in its passage through the moulds. When cold, each joint of the mould must be separately unscrewed and the candles separated by a sharp knife. ”

“ By its use he is enabled to traverse the waters both against wind and tide, with nearly as much certainty, and, as the machinery is now constructed, with much less danger, than by the most eligible road conveyance. It too frequently, however, happens that the faults of any new invention are unjustly magnified, while its real advantages are seldom duly appreciated; and this axiom has been fully verified, in the clamour so unjustly raised against the application of the steam-engine to nautical purposes. ”

“ How to bring up water balance-wise, so that as little weight or force as will turn a balance, will be only needful, more than the weight of the water within the buckets, which counterpoise and empty themselves one into the other, the uppermost yielding its water (how great a quantity soever it holds) at the same time when the lowermost taketh it in, though it be an hundred fathom high.
NOTE.
An engine answering the above description may be composed of a series of ladles or buckets, the handles of which being hollow will admit a passage for the water by elevating the bucket end. ”

“ We have hitherto considered the steam as passing direct from the boiler to the cylinder B; this, however, is in reality effected by a more circuitous route, as it is in the first instance admitted to the steam-case of the larger cylinder by the pipe C, and passing round a similar case, encircling the cylinder B, it is then made to enter at E. The pipe at D is merely intended to form a communication for carrying back to the boiler [129] any water that may be produced by condensation in the steam-case, before the engine arrives at a proper temperature for working. ”

“ How to bring a force to weigh up an anchor, or to do any forcible exploit in the narrowest or lowest room in any ship, where few hands shall do the work of many; and many hands applicable to the same force, some standing, others sitting, and, by virtue of their several helps, a great force augmented in little room, as effectual as if there were sufficient space to go about with an axle-tree, and work far from the centre. ”

“ To illustrate the great advantages possessed [136] by the steam-engine, even in its rudest state, over every other species of prime mover yet enumerated, it may now be advisable to examine its effective force when employed in the working of pumps. It has been found that one hundred weight of coals burned in an engine on the old construction, would raise at least twenty thousand cubic feet of water twenty-four feet high; an engine with a twenty-four inch cylinder doing the work of seventy four horses. ”

“ There are few who profess the science of cheating at cards or dice, or to be encouragers of those who do; and it may fairly be conceded that there are not two periods in our regal annals, in which this detestable meanness had become fashionable enough to sanction a nobleman in inscribing to the King and his Parliament a method by which it might be advantageously effected. ”

“ In the year 1661, John Joachim Becher published a Latin folio, the title of which was "Characters for the Universal Knowledge of Languages: a Stenographic Invention hitherto unheard of." This unheard of invention consists of a method by which a native of any country may make himself understood by all foreigners by writing in his own language, and be enabled also to comprehend what they write in theirs. ”

“ Masterman, appears to promise the best results of any rotatory engine yet invented, the friction being much less than in any other apparatus in which steam is employed as a prime mover. In this engine, Mr. Masterman proposes to employ water, or the fluid metal mercury as the immediate agent, which he effects by inclosing it in the tubular rim of a large wheel, furnished with valves opening in one direction. This wheel, as is shewn in the opposite diagram, is made to revolve on a hollow axis connected with the steam boiler. The arms or spokes which radiate from the axis are also hollow ”