[86] He anticipated the use of high-pressure steam, as afterwards employed in the locomotive by Trevithick, in the following passage:--“I intend,” he said, “in many cases to employ the expansive force of steam to press on the piston, or whatever is used instead of one, in the same manner as the weight of the atmosphere is now employed in common fire-engines. In some cases I intend to use both the condenser and this force of steam, so that the powers of these engines will as much exceed those pressed only by the air, as the expansive power of the steam is greater than the weight of the atmosphere. In other cases, when plenty of cold water cannot be had, I intend to work the engines by the force of steam only, and to discharge it into the air by proper outlets after it has done its office.”--Watt to Small, March, 1769. Boulton MSS. In order to master thoroughly the details of the ordinary Newcomen engine, and to ascertain the extent of its capabilities as well as of its imperfections, Watt undertook the erection of several engines of this construction; and during his residence at Kinneil took charge of the Schoolyard engine near Boroughstoness, in order that he might thereby acquire a full practical knowledge of its working. Mr. Hart, in his interesting ‘Reminiscences of James Watt,’ gives the following account: “My late brother had learned from an old man who had been a workman at Dr. Roebuck’s coal-works when Mr. Watt was there, that he had erected a small engine on a pit they called Taylor’s Pit. The workman could not remember what kind of engine it was, but it was the fastest-going one he ever saw. From its size, and from its being placed in a small timber-house, the colliers called it ‘the Box Bed.’ We thought it likely to have been the first of the patent engines made by Mr. Watt, and took the opportunity of mentioning this to him at our interview. He said he had erected that engine, but he did not wish at the time to venture on a patent one until he had a little more experience.”[87] [87] Mr. Hart’s “Reminiscences of James Watt,” in ‘Transactions of the Glasgow Archæological Society,’ Part I. 1859. At length he proceeded to erect the trial engine after his new patent, and made arrangements to stay at Kinneil until the work was finished. It had been originally intended to erect it in the little town of Boroughstoness; but as prying eyes might have there watched his proceedings, and as he wished to avoid display, being determined, as he said, “not to puff,” he fixed upon an outhouse behind Kinneil, close by the burn-side in the glen, where there was abundance of water and secure privacy. The materials were brought to the place, partly from Watt’s small works at Glasgow, and partly from Carron, where the cylinder--of eighteen inches diameter and five feet stroke--had been cast; and a few workmen were placed at his disposal.