Fire having been kindled under the boiler a, in the furnace d, " the nian who tends the work " places the cock n in the position represented in the drawing, when the water will have free access from the reservoir to the vessel c, which being filled, the handle p is turned back, so that the cock shall be relatively in the position shown at in; the steam then fairly enters through the pipe f, into the vessel e, and having no other•mode of escape presses on the surface of the water, which it forces up through the pipe g. During this operation, (the cock m having been placed as shown at n) the vessel b is filling from the reservoir, through the pipe I; so that the water in the vessel c being consumed, the man turns the handle o of the cock p, and admits the steam on the surface of water in b, shutting off; by the same operation, the communication between b and the reservoir; the other then begins to repeat the act of ftllisg the cistern, " and so successively, the fire being tended and kept constant." This conjectural device may serve to convey an idea of the Marquess's am biguously-described invention. No model or drawing of the aRparatus actually proposed by him has been discovered, so that any attempt at explanation must be left entirely to the imagination, assisted as it now is by the discoveries sub sequently made; beyond the mere announcement conveyed in the 68th item of his century, the labours of the Marquess upon the power of steam were intrin valueless, excepting in so far as they may have stimulated succeeding experimenters. He unquestionably conceived a great design, and declared its execution, but he left no beacon for their guidance and assistance : he was evi dently amen of much knowledge and ingenuity; but the apparent extravagancies scattered throughout his work, coupled with the bombast and obscurity of his expression, must have excited sceptical doubts, and given sanction to the suspicion then entertained of his capacity to realize his schemes. Several of them appeared to be in direct opposition to the rules of science then established and well understood, and his account partook too much of the marvellous, to win the confidence of his learned contemporaries, or that public encouragement which he importunately solicited, but failed to obtain. The Century of Inven tions was published three years after the formation of the Royal Society, and during the time of Mr. Boyle, Dr. Hooke, Dr. Wallis. Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Isaac Newton, and other persons illustrious for their learning and genius, so that he had not to complain of the ignorance of the age. in which he lived, whatever might have been its prejudices. It is not surprising, therefore, that with such pompously announced and unintelligible projects, he should defeat his own object to obtain public patronage, nor that he should have been considered the " fantastic mechanic," which Walpole calls him.
Nevertheless, his account of the " fire-water work" must be taken as the first veritable record of the steam-engine esat least a power without bounder, and to its author be ascribed the honour of suggesting it as such.
In 1683 Sir SAMUEL MORLAND, the son or a Baronet of the same name, submitted to Louis XIV of France, a contrivance for raising water by the aid of steam. No record remains of his apparatui, but as the account given by him in his manuscript, among the Harleian papers, affords ample evidence or his knowledge as to the application and force of steam, it is but just to include it in this sketch. It is written in the French language, and may be thus translated.
" The principles of the new power of fire, invented*by the Chevalier Morland in the year 1082, and presented to his most Christian Majesty, 1883.—Water being evaporated by the power of fire, the vapour shortly acquires a greater space (near 2000 times) than the water occupied before ; and were it to be al ways confined, would burst a piece of cannon. But being well regulated accord ing to the laws of gravity, and reduced by science to measure, to the weights and balance, then it carries its burdens peaceably, (like good horses,) and thus becomes of great use to mankind, particularly for the elevation of water, ac cording to the following table, which marks the number of pounds which may be raised 1800 times per hour, by cylinders half full of water, as well as the different diameters and depths of the said cylinders."
The tables need not be given, but his calculations upon the force of steam are very correct, and evidently the result of great care.
In 1898, Captain THOMAS SAvaity obtained a patent for a new invention for raising water and occasioning motion to all sorts of mill-work, by the impellant force of fire ; and the patent states that the invention will be of great use for draining of mines, serving towns with water, and fur working all sorts of mills. Previously to the date of this patent, he had erected several machines,,of which an account is given by him in a book entitled The Miner's Friend, published in 1702; and in June, 1699, he showed a working model of his engine to the Royal Society ; and in their Transactions for that year (No. 253, Vol. XXI.) there appears the following register: " Mr. Savery, June 140, 1699, entertained the Royal Society with showing a small model of his engine for raising water by the help of fire, which he set to work before them; the experiment succeeded according to expectation, and to their satisfaction." This is accompanied by a copper-plate figure, with references, by way of de scription, from whence it appears that the engine then shown by Captain Savery was for raising water not only by the expansive force of steam, like the Mar quess of Worcester's, but also by the condensation of the water being first raised by the pressure of the atmosphere to a given height from the well into the engine, and then forced out of the engine up the remaining height, by the ex pansive force of steam, in the same manner as proposed by the Marquess. This action wad performed alternately in two receivers ; so that while the vacuous space formed in one was drawing up water from the well, the pressure of the steam in the other was forcing up water into the reservoir ; but both receivers being sup plied by one suction-pipe and one forcing-pipe, the engine could be made to keep a continual stream, or so nearly so, as to suffer very little interruption.
The following figure and description, nearly in Savery's own words, will illus trate the nature of his engine.
The first thing is, to fix the engine in a good double furnace, so contrived that the flame of your fire may circulate round and encompass your boilers, as you do coppers for brewing. Before you make any fire, unscrew G and N, being the two Tall gauge pipes and cocks belonging to the two boilers ; and at the holes fill L, the large boiler, two-thirds full of water, and D, the small boiler, suite full. Then screw on the said pipes again, as fast and as tight as possible. Then light the fire at b, and when the water in L boils, open the cock of the first ves sel P, (shown in section,) which makes all the steam rising from the water in L, pass with irresistible force through 0 into P, pushing out all the air before it through the clack R; and when all gone out, the bottom of the vessel P will be very hot ; then shut the cock of the pipe of this vessel, and open the cock of the other vessel P, uniil that vessel has discharged its air through the clack R up the force-pipe S. In the mean time, a stream of cold water [supplied by a pipe connected with the discharging pipe, but not shown in the cut,] has been made to pass over the outside of the vessel P, which, by condensing the steam within, a vacuum or emptiness is created ; so that the water from the well must and will necessarily rise up through the sucking-pipe, (cut off below M,) lilting up the clack M, and filling the vessel p.