A history of the growth of the steam-engine . e than enough toclaim their attention in the construction and introductionof other engines. Murdochs model is said to have runfrom 6 to 8 miles an hour, its little driving-wheels makingfrom 200 to 275 revolutions per minute. As is seen in thesketch, this model was fitted with the same form of engine,known as the grasshopper-engine, which was used in theUnited States by Oliver Evans. To Oliver Evans, says Dr. Ernest Alban, the distin-guished German engineer, was it reserved to show the truevalue of a long-known principle, and to establish thereon an
A history of the growth of the steam-engine . e than enough toclaim their attention in the construction and introductionof other engines. Murdochs model is said to have runfrom 6 to 8 miles an hour, its little driving-wheels makingfrom 200 to 275 revolutions per minute. As is seen in thesketch, this model was fitted with the same form of engine,known as the grasshopper-engine, which was used in theUnited States by Oliver Evans. To Oliver Evans, says Dr. Ernest Alban, the distin-guished German engineer, was it reserved to show the truevalue of a long-known principle, and to establish thereon anew and more simple method of applying the power ofsteam—a method that will remain an eternal memorial to 154 THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE. its introducer. Dr. Alban here refers to the earliest per-manently successful introduction of the non-condensinghigh-pressure steam-engine. Oliver Evans, one of the most ingenious mechanicsthat America has ever produced, was bom at Newport,Del., in 1755 or 1756, the son of people in very Oliver Evans. He was, in his youth, apprenticed to a wheelwright, andsoon exhibited great mechanical talent and a strong desireto acquire knowledge. His attention was, at an early pe-riod, drawn to the possible application of the power ofsteam to useful purposes by the boyish pranks of one of hiscomrades, who, placing a small quantity of water in a gun-ban-el, and ramming down a tight wad, put the bariel inthe fire of a blacksmiths forge. The loud report which STEAM-LOCOMOTION ON RAILROADS. 155 accompanied the expulsion of the wad was an evidence toyoung Evans of great and (as he supposed) previously un-discovered power. Subsequently meeting with a description of a Newcomenengine, he at once noticed that the elastic force of confinedsteam was not there utilized. He then designed the non-condensing engine, in which the power Was derived exclu-sively from the tension of high-pressure steam, and pro-posed its application to the propulsion of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidc, booksubjectsteamengines
