A History of the Growth of the Steam-EngineThurston, Robert Henry
History
A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine
Thurston, Robert Henry
Steam-engines -- History
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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