Wonderful Inventions - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1868 edition. Excerpt: ... the steam-engine. jteam-power, it has been well observed, has opened on the world an era of progress, and is destined to continue a leading characteristic of it On this planet, man is the noblest work of God, and the evolution of steam-power is by far the noblest work of man. In its present and prospective efforts on the physical, intellectual, and moral advancement of our species, there is nothing that comes near it It is a generator and transmitter of force--a mover and even maker of machines, so that its powers are illimitable; and, as the Steam-engine is improved, so must its fruits increase both in quantity and quality. More power may be got from steam escaping from engines than it gives out within them. Yet this mighty power is invisible. Thus, the mechanical force of a jet of high-pressure steam has been shown by Professor Faraday causing it to sustain an egg, which was seen dancing about in the air without anything apparently to support it. Space and time are borne down before this power; both wind and tide may oppose it, but the vessel plunges onward; we seem to ride upon the " wings of the wind," and, however rapid may be the march of Time, we can almost tell to an instant when we shall overtake him. This giant power thrusts the iron arm into the bowels of the earth, and throws up its treasures by thousands of tons, emptying the dark mine of its wealth, then heaping on the surface, melting with its hot breath the weighty metal, rolling and beating it out into massive bars, or drawing it through its crushing fingers until it becomes almost as thin as a lady's girdle. As if struck by the wand of a magician, the iron ship springs out of the shapeless mass of ore, by the process of steam; is launched on the deep, as if in mockery...