Lives of Boulton and Watt. Principally from the Original Soho Mss.: Comprising also a history of the invention and introduction of the steam engineSmiles, Samuel
History
Lives of Boulton and Watt. Principally from the Original Soho Mss.: Comprising also a history of the invention and introduction of the steam engine
Although, in the treatise referred to, Savery describes an engine with
two furnaces, the drawing which he presented to the Royal Society showed
only one; and it appears that in another of his designs he showed only
one cylindrical vessel instead of two. In order to exhibit the working
of his engine on a larger scale than in the model, he proceeded to erect
one in a potter’s house at Lambeth, where, Switzer says, though it was a
small engine, the water struck up the tiles and forced its way through the
roof in a manner that surprised all the spectators. Switzer mentions other
engines erected after Savery’s designs for the raising of water at Camden
House and Sion House, which proved quite successful. The former, he says,
was the plainest and best proportioned engine he had seen: it had only a
single condensing vessel; and “though but a small one in comparison with
many others of the kind that are made for coal-works, it is sufficient for
any reasonable family, and other uses required for it in watering middling
gardens.”[33] Four receivers full of water, or equal to 52 gallons, were
raised every minute, or 3110 gallons in the hour; whilst, in the case
of the larger engines with double receivers, 6240 gallons an hour might
easily be raised. The cost of the smaller engine was about fifty pounds,
and the consumption of coal about a bushel in the twenty-four hours,
supposing it was kept constantly at work during that time.
[33] Switzer, ‘Introduction to a General System of Hydrostaticks
and Hydraulicks,’ 237.
[Illustration: HUEL VOR, WITH REMAINS OF THE OLD WORKS.
[By R. P. Leitch.]]
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