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
"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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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