The Steam Engine, Vol. 1 of 2: Its Invention and Progressive Improvement, an Investigation of Its Principles, and Its Application to Navigation, Manufactures, and Railways (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Excerpt from The Steam Engine, Vol. 1 of 2: Its Invention and Progressive Improvement, an Investigation of Its Principles, and Its Application to Navigation, Manufactures, and Railways

I hope these remarks will tend to encourage those who pursue knowledge, whether with the energy of youth or the more steady enthusiasm of riper years and as all nature, so all art, must ever be the result of those immutable pro portions and laws of action which it has pleased our Creator to impress on matter, its objects are truly boundless. Our imperfection consists generally in not being able to foresee all the circumstances which have an influence on the effects of causes; but in proportion as we proceed in knowledge, we also acquire greater powers of perception: that which was at first difficult becomes easy, and the mind is often roused by the bright gleam of truth, breaking as it were accidentally upon a mass of obscure ideas, and rendering the true solution of the difficulty at once obvious; and as my gifted countryman Emerson has remarked, the labour and fatigue of seeking after it instantly vanishes.

I proceed now to give some idea of this work. It appears to be large for its object; but, though confined to a single source of power, that power is gigantic, and involves so many new and important doctrines in mechanical science and practice, that it was impossible in justice to comprise it in less space. The work is in Ten Sections.

In the First, the history of the progressive improvement of the steam engine is traced, from the period of its first suggestion by the Marquis of Worcester, to its present state of high perfection.

The Second Section presents an analysis of the nature of steam and of other species of vapour; the laws of their combination with heat, and of their elastic force, density, and comparative power; with the principles of calculating their velocity when in motion, loss of force by cooling, &c. In this section it is shown that water is of all other known fluids that best adapted for producing steam.

The Third Section treats of the laws of combustion, and of the effect of different species of fuel in producing steam; the proportions of fire places and chimneys of boilers, and the precautions necessary for their security and effect: the nature and application of safety apparatus is fully discussed. The section closes with a developement of the principles of condensing steam.

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