Chapter VIII: The Philosophy of the Steam-Engine

ITS APPLICATION; ITS TEACHINGS RESPECTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF
THE ENGINE AND ITS IMPROVEMENT 457

Origin of all Energy, 457; the Progress of Energy through
Boiler and Engine, 458; Conditions of Heat-Development in the
Boiler, 458; the Steam in the Engine, 458; the Expansion of
Steam, 459; Conditions of Heat-Utilization, 460; Loss of Power
in the Engine, 462; Conditions affecting the Design of the
Steam-Engine, 466; the Problem stated, 466; Economy as affected
by Pressure and Temperature, 467; Changes which have already
occurred, 468; Direction of Changes now in Progress, 470;
Summary of Facts, 471; Characteristics of a Good Steam-Engine,
473; Principles of Steam-Boiler Construction, 476.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FRONTISPIECE: The Grecian Idea of the Steam-Engine.

FIG. PAGE
1. Opening Temple-Doors by Steam, B. C. 200 6
2. Steam Fountain, B. C. 200 7
3. Hero's Engine, B. C. 200 8
4. Porta's Apparatus, A. D. 1601 14
5. De Caus's Apparatus, A. D. 1605 15
6. Branca's Steam-Engine, A. D. 1629 17
7. Worcester's Steam-Fountain, A. D. 1650 21
8. Worcester's Engine, A. D. 1665 22
9. Wall of Raglan Castle 22
10. Huyghens's Engine, 1680 26
11. Savery's Model, 1698 34
12. Savery's Engine, 1698 35
13. Savery's Engine, A. D. 1702 37
14. Papin's Two-Way Cock 42
15. Engine Built by Desaguliers in 1718 43
16. Papin's Digester, 1680 48
17. Papin's Engine 50
18. Papin's Engine and Water-Wheel, A. D. 1707 53
19. Newcomen's Engine, A. D. 1705 59
20. Beighton's Valve-Gear, A. D. 1718 63
21. Smeaton's Newcomen Engine 65
22. Boiler of Newcomen Engine, 1763 67
23. Smeaton's Portable-Engine Boiler, 1765 73
24. The Newcomen Model 84
25. Watt's Experiment 89
26. Watt's Engine, 1774 98
27. Watt's Engine, 1781 104
28. Expansion of Steam 108
29. The Governor 115
30. Mercury Steam-Gauge and Glass Water-Gauge 117
31. Boulton & Watt's Double-Acting Engine, 1784 119
32. Valve-Gear of the Albion Mills Engine 121
33. Watt's Half-Trunk Engine, 1784 122
34. The Watt Hammer, 1784 123
35. James Watt's Workshop 129
36. Murdoch's Oscillating Engine, 1785 134
37. Hornblower's Compound Engine, 1781 136
38. Bull's Pumping-Engine, 1798 139
39. Cartwright's Engine, 1798 141
40. The First Railroad-Car, 1825 144
41. Leupold's Engine, 1720 148
42. Newton's Steam-Carriage, 1680 149
43. Read's Steam-Carriage, 1790 150
44. Cugnot's Steam-Carriage, 1770 151
45. Murdoch's Model, 1784 153
46. Evans's Non-Condensing Engine, 1800 156
47. Evans's "Oruktor Amphibolis," 1804 157
48. Gurney's Steam-Carriage 163
49. Hancock's "Autopsy", 1833 168
50. Trevithick's Locomotive, 1804 175
51. Stephenson's Locomotive of 1815. Section 187
52. Stephenson's No. 1 Engine, 1825 191
53. Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railroad, 1815 192
54. The "Novelty," 1829 197
55. The "Rocket," 1829 198
56. The Atmospheric Railroad 202
57. Stephenson's Locomotive, 1833 203
58. The Stephenson Valve-Gear, 1833 206
59. The "Atlantic," 1832 210
60. The "Best Friend," 1830 211
61. The "West Point," 1831 212
62. The "South Carolina," 1831 213
63. The "Stevens" Rail and Enlarged Section 215
64. "Old Ironsides," 1832 216
65. The "E. L. Miller," 1834 217
66. Hulls's Steamboat, 1736 226
67. Fitch's Model, 1785 236
68. Fitch & Voight's Boiler, 1787 238
69. Fitch's First Boat, 1787 238
70. John Fitch, 1788 239
71. John Fitch, 1796 240
72. Miller, Taylor & Symmington, 1788 242
73. Read's Boiler in Section, 1788 245
74. Read's Multi-Tubular Boiler, 1788 245
75. The "Charlotte Dundas," 1801 247
76. The "Comet," 1812 248
77. Fulton's Experiments 253
78. Fulton's Table of Resistances 254
79. Barlow's Water-Tube Boiler, 1793 256
80. The "Clermont," 1807 258
81. Engine of the "Clermont," 1808 258
82. Launch of the "Fulton the First," 1804 262
83. Section of Steam-Boiler, 1804 264
84. Engine, Boiler, and Screw-Propellers used by Stevens, 1804 265
85. Stevens's Screw Steamer, 1804 265
86. John Stevens's Twin-Screw Steamer, 1805 269
87. The Feathering Paddle-Wheel 272
88. The "North America" and "Albany," 1827-'30 274
89. Stevens's Return Tubular Boiler, 1832 275
90. Stevens's Valve-Motion 276
91. The "Atlantic," 1851 290
92. The Side-Lever Engine, 1849 291
93. Vertical Stationary Steam-Engine 308
94. Vertical Stationary Steam-Engine. Section 309
95. Horizontal Stationary Steam-Engine 312
96. Horizontal Stationary Steam-Engine 313
97. Corliss Engine 319
98. Corliss Engine Valve-Motion 320
99. Greene Engine 321
100. Thurston's Greene-Engine Valve-Gear 322
101. Cornish Pumping-Engine, 1880 329
102. Steam-Pump 331
103. The Worthington Pumping-Engine, 1876. Section 333
104. The Worthington Pumping-Engine 334
105. Double-Cylinder Pumping-Engine, 1878 335
106. The Lawrence Water-Works Engine 336
107. The Leavitt Pumping-Engine 337
108. Babcock & Wilcox's Vertical Boiler 341
109. Stationary "Locomotive" Boiler 342
110. Galloway Tube 343
111. Harrison's Sectional Boiler 345
112. Babcock and Wilcox's Sectional Boiler 346
113. Root Sectional Boiler 347
114. Semi-Portable Engine, 1878 348
115. Semi-Portable Engine, 1878 349
116. The Portable Steam-Engine, 1878 354
117. The Thrashers' Road-Engine, 1878 355
118. Fisher's Steam-Carriage 356
119. Road and Farm Locomotive 357
120. The Latta Steam Fire-Engine 361
121. The Amoskeag Engine. Section 363
122. The Silsby Rotary Steam Fire-Engine 364
123. Rotary Steam-Engine 365
124. Rotary Pump 366
125. Tank Engine, New York Elevated Railroad 369
126. Forney's Tank-Locomotive 370
127. British Express Engine 371
128. The Baldwin Locomotive. Section 372
129. The American Type of Express Engine, 1878 374
130. Beam Engine 380
131. Oscillating Steam-Engine and Feathering Paddle-Wheel 381
132. The Two "Rhode Islands," 1836-1876 383
133. A Mississippi Steamboat 384
134. Steam-Launch, New York Steam-Power Company 386
135. Launch-Engine 387
136. Horizontal, Direct-acting Naval Screw Engine 389
137. Compound Marine Engine. Side Elevation 390
138. Compound Marine Engine. Front Elevation and Section 391
139. Screw-Propeller 400
140. Tug-Boat Screw 401
141. Hirsch Screw 401
142. Marine Fire-Tubular Boiler. Section 403
143. Marine High-Pressure Boiler. Section 404
144. The Modern Steamship 407
145. Modern Iron-Clads 410
146. The "Great Eastern" 415
147. The "Great Eastern" at Sea 416

PORTRAITS.

NO. PAGE
1. Edward Somerset, the Second Marquis of Worcester 20
2. Thomas Savery 31
3. Denys Papin 46
4. James Watt 80
5. Matthew Boulton 94
6. Oliver Evans 154
7. Richard Trevithick 174
8. Colonel John Stevens 178
9. George Stephenson 183
10. Robert Fulton 251
11. Robert L. Stevens 270
12. John Elder 393
13. Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford 434
14. James Prescott Joule 439
15. Prof. W. J. M. Rankine 443

["A Machine, receiving at distant times and from many hands new
combinations and improvements, and becoming at last of signal
benefit to mankind, may be compared to a rivulet swelled in its
course by tributary streams, until it rolls along a majestic river,
enriching, in its progress, provinces and kingdoms.

"In retracing the current, too, from where it mingles with the
ocean, the pretensions of even ample subsidiary streams are merged
in our admiration of the master-flood, glorying, as it were, in its
expansion. But as we continue to ascend, those waters which, nearer
the sea, would have been disregarded as unimportant, begin to rival
in magnitude and share our attention with the parent stream; until,
at length, on our approaching the fountains of the river, it appears
trickling from the rock, or oozing from among the flowers of the
valley.

"So, also, in developing the rise of a machine, a coarse instrument
or a toy may be recognized as the germ of that production of
mechanical genius, whose power and usefulness have stimulated our
curiosity to mark its changes and to trace its origin. The same
feelings of reverential gratitude which attached holiness to the
spot whence mighty rivers sprang, also clothed with divinity, and
raised altars in honor of, inventors of the saw, the plough, the
potter's wheel, and the loom."--STUART.]

THE GROWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE.