  VARIOUS INVENTIONS. "About 1804 Captain Trevithick put up in Dolcoath Mine a stone-crushing mill, having large cast-iron rollers, for breaking into small pieces the large stones of ore; it was spoken of as the first ever used for such a purpose; the same form of crusher is still used in the mines. It caused a great saving compared with breaking by a hand hammer." "I saw at the Weith Mine in 1805 a portable high-pressure engine, made by Captain Trevithick. "It was called a puffer; the cylinder was in the boiler; the steam about 30 lbs. on the inch above the atmosphere. A wooden shed sheltered the engine and man. "The facility of manufacture and cheapness of those engines caused them to be much used in the mines, and also elsewhere." Mrs. Trevithick, about the time we are speaking of, accompanied her husband through one of the Staffordshire china manufactories. Trevithick said to the manufacturer, "You would grind your clay much better by using my cast-iron rolls and high-pressure steam-engine." The manufacturer begged him to accept a set of china. Mrs. Trevithick was disappointed at hearing her husband say "No! I have only told you what was passing in my mind." Driving rolling-mills was among the early applications of the high-pressure steam-engines; but pulverizing "Mr. Giddy, "Sir,—Yours of the 13th this day came to hand. I left Wales about eight weeks since, and put an engine to work in Worcester, of 10-horse power, for driving a pair of grist-stones, and a leather-dressing machine, and another in Staffordshire for winding coals; each of them works exceedingly well. "From Coalbrookdale I went to Liverpool, where a founder had made two of them, which also worked exceedingly well; one other was nearly finished, and three others begun. Some Spanish merchants there saw one of them at work, and said that as soon as they returned to Spain they would send an order for twelve engines, of 12-horse power, for South America. In South America and the Spanish West Indies water is very scarce; in several places there is scarcely water for the inhabitants to drink, therefore there is no water for any engine. By making inquiry, I found that ten mules would roll as much cane in an hour as would produce 250 gallons of cane-juice, which they boil until the water is evaporated, and the sugar produced. "I told them that the engine-boiler might be fed with this juice, and by a cock in the bottom of the boiler constantly turning, and by taking a greater or smaller stream from it, they might make the juice as rich as they liked. In this process the juice would be so far on towards sugar, and the fire that worked the engine would cost nothing, because it would have taken the same quantity of fuel under the sugar-pans to evaporate the water, as it would in the engine-boiler. "The steam from the engine might be turned around the outside of the furnace for distilling rum, as the distilleries require but a slow heat. "I think the steam would answer a good purpose around the outside of the pan. "If this method answers, the cost of working the engine would be nothing, and the engine would be then working, as it were, without fire or water. "The Spaniards told me that if this plan answers, they would take a thousand engines for South America and the Spanish West Indies. I shall be very much obliged to you for your opinion on this business. These merchants make a trade of buying up sugar mills and pans, with every other thing they want from England, and exchange them with the Spaniards for sugar. "At Manchester I found two engines had been made and put to work; they worked very well: three more are in building. From there I went to Derbyshire. The great pressure-engine I expect will be at work before the middle of October. A foundry at Chesterfield is building a steam-engine as a sample; two foundries in Manchester are at full work on them, and one in Liverpool. There are six engines nearly finished at Coalbrookdale, and seven in a foundry at Bridgenorth. "I am making drawings for several other foundries. Any number of them would sell. A vast number are now being erected, and no other engine is erected where these are known. The engine for the West India Docks was neglected during my absence from the Dale, but I expect it will be ready to send off in ten days. "In about three weeks I shall be in London to set it up. It will please you very much, for it is a very neat and complete job, and I have no doubt will answer every purpose exceedingly well. At Newcastle I found four engines at work, and four more nearly ready; six of these were for winding coal, one for lifting water, and one for grinding corn. "That grinding corn was an 11-inch cylinder, driving two pair of 5-feet stones 120 rounds per minute; ground 150 winchesters of wheat in twelve hours with 12 cwt. of small coal. It worked exceedingly well, and was a very complete engine, only the stroke was much too short, not more than 2 feet 6 inches, which made very much against the duty. "The other engine that was lifting water had a 5½-inch "This work it did with very great ease. I believe you will find this an exceeding good duty for a 5½-inch cylinder engine. "Below I send a copy of Mr. Homfray's and Mr. Wood's letters to me:— "Mr. Homfray's, of the 10th September.—'Our great engine goes on extremely well here, nothing can go better; the piston gives no trouble; it goes about three weeks, and we work it with blacklead and water; the cylinder is as bright as a looking-glass; it uses about 2 lbs. of blacklead in a week; about once in twelve or fifteen hours we put a small quantity of blacklead, mixed with a little water, through the hole in the cylinder screw, and we never use any grease. We rolled last week 140 tons of iron with it, and it will roll as fast with the both pair of rolls, as they can bring to it.' "Mr. Wood's letter, September 12th.—'We are going on, as it is likely we always shall, in the old dog-trot way, puddling and rolling from the beginning of the week till the end of it. Your engine is the favourite engine with every man about the place, and Mr. Homfray says it is the best in the kingdom.' "I have not the smallest doubt but that I can make a piston without any friction or any packing whatever, that needs not to have the cylinder screw taken up once in seven years. It is a very simple plan, and will be perfectly tight; it is by restoring an equilibrium on both sides of the piston. I expect to see you in London soon, and then will give you the plan for inspection before I put it in practice. "I am very much obliged to you for recommending these engines in Cornwall, but you have not stated in what manner they are to be applied; whether to work pumps, or barrels, or both. They may be made both winding and pumping engines at the same time, if so required. "A rotative engine will cost more than an up-and-down-stroke, on account of the expense of the fly-wheel and axle. An engine capable of lifting 180 gallons of water per minute 20 fathoms would cost, when complete and at work, patent "The engines first sent to Cornwall, must be from Coalbrookdale; then they will be well executed, but from Wales it would not be so. "You may depend on having a real good engine sent down, with sufficient openings given to the passages. "The engineer from the Dale has been lately in London, and has just returned; he gives a wonderful account of the engines working in London. There are twelve now at work there. They have well established their utility in different parts of the kingdom, and any number would sell. The founders intend to make a great number, of different sizes, and send them to different markets for sale, completely finished, as they stand. "You do not say anything about wheels to the engine for Penberthy Crofts. There are several engines here nearly finished; if they suit in size for Penberthy, one may be sent down in four or five weeks, otherwise it may be two months. "I am, Sir, "Direct for me at the Talbot Inn, Coalbrookdale." Trevithick worked hard and successfully in making his steam-engines useful, and firmly believed that he could and would make them universal labourers. Even the Spanish merchants, unacquainted with steam, talked of giving an order for several engines for South America; and their glowing account of the wide field open to him may have been instrumental to his going to At that time several of his engines were at work in Wales, Worcester, Staffordshire, Coalbrookdale, Manchester, Derbyshire, Liverpool, Cornwall, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Twelve were at work in London, and so familiar were people with them, that founders intended to construct them of different sizes, and send them for sale at the large market or county towns; their cost complete, ready for work, to be 200l., more or less, according to size, with a range of application unlimited. His one letter, casually written sixty-seven years ago, mentions them as grinding corn, dressing leather, winding coal, crushing sugar-cane, prepared to boil sugar, and distil rum; pumping water, rolling iron, railway locomotion, portable steam fire-engine, portable steam-crane, mine engines on wheels; so that it may almost be said he was not too sanguine in hoping to send in 1804 a thousand of his engines to South America, for in those cursory remarks he draws attention to no less than thirty-six high-pressure steam-puffers at work. The Penberthy Croft Mine portable engine could be placed on wheels or otherwise, according to the wish of the purchaser, as though steam locomotion was an every day occurrence in 1804. "Mr. Giddy, "Sir,—From calculating the quantity of blast given to a blast-furnace, I find a considerable quantity more of coal consumed by the same quantity of air in this way, than by the "A blast-furnace that burns 100 tons of coal per week is blown by a 5-feet diameter air-cylinder, 4-feet stroke, ten strokes per minute, double-power, giving about 1600 square feet of air per minute, to consume 100 tons of coal, besides giving a melting heat to 350 tons of ore and limestone. "Crenver engine has 7200 square feet of air to burn 56 tons of coal per week, which is above eight times the quantity of air used by air fire-places to what is used in a blast-furnace, and of course must carry off a great proportion of the heat to the top of the stack, that might be saved if the engine-fire was a blast instead of an air fire. "But suppose the idea to be carried still further, by making an apparatus to condense and take the whole of the heat into the cylinder instead of its passing up the chimney. By having a very small boiler, and a blast-cylinder to blow the whole of the blast into the bottom of the boiler, under a cylinder full of small holes under the water, to make the heated air give all its heat to the water. in context "The furnace must be made in a tight cast-iron cylinder. Both the fire-door and the hole through which the blast enters must be quite tight, as the pres "From the great quantity of coal burnt in blast-furnaces you will find that a very small blast-cylinder would work a 63-inch cylinder double. If there is as much heat in a square foot of air as in steam of the same temperature, the saving will be beyond all conception; but for my own part I cannot calculate from theory what the advantages will be, if any, and for that reason, before I drop or condemn the idea, I must request you will have the goodness, when you have an hour to spare, to turn your thoughts to this subject, and inform me of your sentiments on it. "Perhaps it is like many other wild fancies that fly through the brain, but I did not like to let it go unnoticed without first getting your opinion. I hope you will excuse me for so often troubling you. "St. Ives plans will be delivered to them on Tuesday, when I expect they will be forwarded to you. "I hear there is a good course of ore in the adit end at Wheat Providence Mine. "A Mr. Sheffield, of Cumberland, writes to Mr. Gould that he has turned idle his air-furnaces, and smelted his ores by a blast near a year since. "His furnace is but 10 feet high and 4 feet diameter, and it melts 28 tons of ore, of from 4 to 5 in the 100 per week, and makes a regel of from 65 to 70 in the 100, and answers beyond what we calculated for them. "Suppose a furnace 20 feet high and 4 feet diameter, it would smelt eight times the quantity of his, which would be near 900 tons per month, or nearly double the quantity raised by any one mine in the country. The expense of the ... would be very trifling. "To-morrow Dolcoath account will be held, when I expect to have orders to begin to erect a furnace on the spot. "This trial of Mr. Sheffield's has put it out of my power to get a patent, and now I do not know how to get paid. "I should be content with 5 per cent. on the profits gained by this plan, and would conduct the business for the mines without salary. Should you chance to fall on the subject with his Lordship, be pleased to mention something about the mode of my payment, as his Lordship is by far the properest person to begin with about my pay, for after his Lordship has agreed to the sum, and Dolcoath Mine the first to try the experiment, I think all the county will give way to what he might propose. But I wish something to be fixed on before all the agents in the mines know how to be smelters themselves, after which I expect no favour, unless first arranged. "I remain, Sir, How great was the practical insight his genius gave him, and how imperfectly his followers have acted on this advice given sixty years ago! The chimney that at its top would ignite paper, threw to waste four and a half times more heated air than was requisite to supply the quantity of heat which passed through the working cylinder in steam, and at a temperature nearly four times greater than the temperature of the steam. It needs only to observe the burnt appearance of a steamboat funnel of the present day to know how wasteful we still are, or how very ignorant of improved methods of economizing fuel. To prevent this waste of heat up the chimney be proposed to do away with the chimney altogether; the fire-place was to be a close one, having a blast under the fire-bars of a strength sufficient to force the air, heated by its passage through the fire, direct through a small valve into the water in the boiler, by which From the following it appears that this plan of Trevithick's is now coming into use as something quite new:— "In your last impression, under the head of 'Air and Steam combined, as a Motive Power,' you state 'the invention was described to be that of Mr. Warsop, but we have recently heard that a few years back (1865) the same invention had been protected in an earlier patent than Mr. Warsop's, by Mr. Bell Galloway.'" Trevithick thought of patenting a plan for reducing copper ore by the use of a blast, in preference to the usual air-furnace and chimney, but something similar had been tried by Mr. Gould, and he therefore proposed to erect a blast-furnace in Dolcoath Mine, receiving a portion of the saving of fuel as his remuneration. Such a furnace worked there for many years, until copper smelting was removed from Cornwall to Wales. The plans for a breakwater at St. Ives were for an undertaking that has since been in many hands, but without success, except perhaps for the convenient making of members of Parliament. Some slight progress has been made by engineers and contractors, but vessels are not willingly taken to the port, and ratepayers grumble at unprofitable harbour taxes. "Dear Trevithick, "I have not lost any time in mentioning your wishes respecting a compensation for the plan of smelting copper to Lord Dedunstanville, who intends mentioning the affair in his next letter to Mr. Reynolds. Lord Dedunstanville wishes you "I am very sorry that anyone should have executed the plan of reducing copper ore by a blast-furnace before you had put into practice the idea suggested to me ten years ago. It ascertains, however, that the contrivance will succeed, although you are certainly reduced to ask moderate terms, and I know not what can be more moderate than those you have asked, except that I would recommend some limit as to time. "The plan you suggest for an engine on a new construction is, I fear, very doubtful. "According to the data furnished to me, the air in the blast would be to that in a common fire-place as 6¼ to 1 very nearly, provided their densities were the same; but you have measured one entering the furnace at the common temperature, and the other going to the stack so hot as to set on fire a piece of paper held at the top. Thus the increase of temperature that augments the elasticity of a fluid confined, would expand it in the same degree. It is therefore uncertain from these statements which furnace consumes the greater quantity of air. I apprehend the general principles of an engine worked by hot air, through the medium of a blast, would be as follows:— "Let any quantity of air be driven into a furnace with the pressure of an atmosphere, and let it be there expanded ten times. It should then be taken off ten times as quick, but in that case no power whatever would be produced, so the external atmosphere would balance the internal. Now, let the blast be two atmospheres strong, and let them be expanded ten times, and be taken off ten times as fast, each stroke will be opposed by one, equal in all to ten; subtract two for the blast, there remain eight. "But air so hot would burn every vegetable or animal substance, and such a furnace I suppose could scarcely be kept air-tight. If the heated air is made to act on water, then it becomes a mere question of how much absolute heat is given out by the fuel, and whether that excess is more than sufficient to compensate the burden of the blast; for the water will absorb an immense quantity of heat in changing itself into steam, and "I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying that this plan will certainly not do. Write to me by all means whenever anything strikes you, and you may always depend on having my best advice. "I am, dear Sir, Trevithick saw without apparent reasoning, while his friend's reasonings failed to make plain the full bearing of the questions, and so cramped the position as to make a change of front difficult—an operation in which Trevithick excelled. We learn, however, that in 1801 he suggested a blast in copper-ore furnaces, and in 1811 was on the verge of a discovery that has since revolutionized the iron-smelter's art by the use of hot blast. Wasted heat from a blast-furnace 10 feet high led him to the conclusion that by doubling the height of the furnace, enabling the cold mineral thrown in at the top to take up the heat wasted through the top of the low furnace, seven-eighths of the coal would be saved. His idea of sending blast through the furnace of his steam-boiler to economize heat could have been readily applied to the iron furnace, and we should have had the modern hot-blast iron furnaces. [Rough draft.] "Gentlemen, "Your favour of the 15th February, with a sketch of your brewery, I have received; and from which I find the head of water is 30 feet above the brewery, which makes it difficult to erect the chain and buckets so as to take advantage of the "To erect a machine so high, to engage the whole fall, would be, I fear, more expense than the power you would get would warrant; therefore I would recommend it to be made use of in a cylinder, in the same way as we use falls of water of 200 feet in our Cornish copper mines. We allow one-third loss for friction and leakage in those machines; but your machine being so very small, the loss will exceed that proportion; therefore I cannot promise you above one-half of the real weight and fall to be performed on your machinery, and that must be by a well-executed machine, for a small defect would destroy the value of so trifling a power. "As there is no expansion in water, it will be somewhat difficult to make the machine turn the centres with a fly-wheel, for if the valve shuts a little too early or too late for the turn of the crank over the centre, the fly-wheel's velocity must break something by confining the water between the piston and the bottom of the cylinder, which, after the valve is shut, cannot make its escape, and not having an elastic principle, the piston will strike as dead on the water as on a piece of iron, because, unless the valve is shut by the engine before the stroke is finished, it cannot shut at all. "I know persons who have attempted to put fly-wheels on pressure-engines of this kind, but never yet has one been made to work rotative. I do not see much difficulty in making an engine of this kind to work a crank and fly-wheel, by connecting an air-vessel with the cylinder to receive the pressure and contract and expand and shut the valves, the same as in steam-engines. "A machine on this plan ought to be placed as near the low level as possible. If I furnish you with drawings and directions for the executing of the work yourselves, I shall charge you fifteen guineas for them. If I send the machine finished, the charge will be 50l. "Your objections respecting steam-engines I do not doubt are correct, when executed by persons who do not understand the construction of them. In England some persons privately "Some persons have worked those engines under a pressure above 100 lbs. on the square inch, but in general practice I do not exceed 20 lbs., finding under this pressure the piston will stand six or eight weeks, and the joints remain perfect, and no risk of bursting the boiler, it being made of wrought iron, and proved by pressure before sent off; but cast-iron boilers may, by defects not discernible, and are very apt to break by the water being left low in the boiler, and if heated red hot, exploding without the smallest notice; but wrought-iron boilers, when defective, give way only partially, without injury to anyone. With respect to the erecting and management of the engine, you need not have an engineer, for any common tradesman can do this from the drawings and directions sent with the engine; for, as I before informed you, farmers and their labourers set up and keep in order the thrashing-machine engines without my going on the spot or sending any person to assist them. I never saw a steam-engine rolling malt, therefore cannot judge the quantity the engine would roll, only by a comparison with horse labour, against the consumption of coal, which will be in some cases as about 42 lbs. to one horse; but where great speed is required in the machine, the coal will be less, as steam-engines make more revolutions in a minute than horse mills, therefore the work is done with less friction. "I have several times applied the steam, after it has worked the engine, to boil water and other purposes, with as good effect as if the engine had not been there, therefore the work of the engine will be a clear profit. "You say about a 1-horse engine. The boiler would be so small that it would not be worth applying that steam to any "I find that it does not answer either the purpose of the vendor or the user of an engine, to make less than a 2-horse power, as the expense on a very small engine is nearly as much as one of the power I use for thrashing, those being only 80l., and a 2-horse is 60l. Respecting the mashing with steam, I never before heard of it, but from the theory of the plan I think it cannot fail to answer a far better purpose than any other that can possibly be applied for extracting the essence of the malt. However, should it not answer your purpose, it is only the loss of the expense of a few yards of 1-inch lead pipe. "In an engine of the size used for thrashing, if the fire is kept brisk, it will boil, by the steam sent into a separate vessel, near 300 gallons of water per hour. "The room required to work in is about 7 feet diameter, and 12 feet high. It would be useless to put you to the expense of drawings, until you have made up your minds on what you intend to have done. "I am,Gentlemen, "To Robinson and Buchanan, Brewers, Engineers of the present day do not volunteer such general information without charge, or give such a variety of practical mechanism slightly but clearly described, and principles reduced to practice. An endless chain with buckets is a form of water-wheel not then in use. A water-pressure engine for so small a quantity of water, with a fall of about 30 feet, would cause a loss of 50 per cent. from friction and small defects. The non-elastic character of water made it unsuitable for a machine requiring a fly-wheel. Air-vessels should be used to lessen the rigidity of [Rough draft.] "Gentlemen, "I have yours of the 20th November. The letter you directed for Truro never came to hand. I find by your letter that you have been trying to put into practice the hints I gave you about the chain and buckets, and that you expect it will answer if properly executed. You are not the first that has picked up my hints, and stuck fast in their execution. I make it a rule never to send a drawing until I have received my fee, and when you remit to me fifteen guineas I will furnish you with proper drawings and directions to enable you to make and erect the machine. "I remain, Gentlemen, "Robinson and Buchanan, Brewers, What a pocket encyclopÆdia of inventions! from which, as by stealth, Robinson and Buchanan selected the least applicable, declining a suitable steam-engine at a very small cost, rather than pay an engineer for his opinion. [Rough draft.] "Sir Charles Hawkins, Bart.,, "Sir,—I have received yours of the 7th, respecting the small breakwater at St. Ives. As far as I can judge from a rough calculation, I think it an undertaking likely to pay well; "I have received a letter from Sir John Sinclair requesting correct drawings and statements of the thrashing engine to be forwarded to the President of the Board of Agriculture, which I shall attend to. He also says that he has sent my letter to the Navy Board, in hopes that the experiment of propelling vessels by steam may be tried under its sanction and expense. "Perhaps it might be proper to wait the answer of the Navy Board before writing to Mr. Praed about propelling the canal boats. I am very much obliged to you for writing to Captain Gundry, about the Wheal Friendship engine. I expect to have a portable steam-whim and stamps at work at my own expense in a few days, which will prove for itself its utility; that being the only way to introduce new things. I would be very much obliged to you to say if Mr. Halse is to pay me for my past attendance at St. Ives about the breakwater. Enclosed you have a letter to Sir John Sinclair, unsealed for your inspection, which, if you approve of, please to forward. "I remain, Sir, Trevithick's skill did not prevent his being reasonably modest, or cause him to be envious of others; neither did his dear-bought experience, that one's own pocket must pay for making public one's own inventions, prevent his again soliciting the assistance of persons of influence, though it does not seem that [Rough draft.] "Mr. Rastrick, "Sir,—I have been waiting your answer to my last, and especially that part respecting the West India engine, as I have not nor could not answer their letter to me without first hearing from you; therefore must beg you will be so good as to answer me by return of post on that subject. If they get impatient about the time, and refuse to take the engine, I have no doubt the Plymouth people will take it and several others; but I very much wish to send one to the West Indies, as there is a large field open there for engines of this kind. I have received an order for a thrashing engine for Lord de Dunstanville, of Tehidy; and as I wish those thrashing engines to be known through the country, I intend to take one of the engines ordered for Padstow and send it to Tehidy. One of the Padstow farmers can wait until you make another for him. Therefore I would thank you to send the first finished by ship from Bristol for Portreath or Hayle. Send a drum with everything complete, of which you are a better judge than I. Probably about 3 feet in diameter and 3½ feet long will be sufficient. "There must be a fly-wheel with a notch to carry the rope, and also a small notch-wheel on the drum-axle. I think 6½ feet diameter for the fly, and 9½ inches diameter for the small wheel, will give speed enough to the drum. Mind to cast a lump, or screw on a balance, of about 1 cwt., on one side of the fly-wheel. There must be two stands on the boiler, and a crank-axle, or otherwise a crank-pin, in the fly-wheel, whichever you please; with a shaft 3 feet long with a carriage. "The engine is to stand in a room under the barn, about 7½ feet high, 7 feet wide, and 14 feet long. The fly-wheel will stand across the narrow way of the room. The rope will go up through the floor, and the drum be shifted by a screw, hori "I do not bind you to the size of the drum or wheels, only the room that the fly-wheel works in is but 7 feet wide. "Now to Mr. Richards' mill. "Query 1st.—The length of the piston, and the small variation that the beam will give it, is so trifling that it will not be felt. "The cylinders that have been working on their sides for seven years past, are now working as well as any engine with upright cylinders, which is a proof that the little rubbing is of no consequence. "Query 2nd.—The passage in the cock is equal to the passage we make in our large engines, which is only one-fortieth part of the piston; and as we shall work with high steam, we do not mind the pressing through the steam-passage; and as the steam will be very much expanded, it will not be felt in the passage to the condenser. I know where we have removed cylinders and put larger ones on the same nozzles and condensing work, and the engines did good duty. "Query 3rd.—I find by experience that if you give double the quantity of injection to an engine one stroke, and none the other, that the quicksilver in the gauge will stand nearly the same; the cold sides of the condenser are sufficient to work an engine a great many strokes without any injection. "Query 4th.—You may put a hanging to the air-pump bucket, and foot-valve; either that or a rising one will do very well, but I think the rising cover and wood face on the top, best. "Query 5th.—The air-pump bucket is large enough. At Wheal Alfred they have a 64-inch cylinder; the air-pump is 20 inches, and the stroke is half that of the engine. They were afraid that it was too small; they then put another of 14 inches by the side of the first, the same stroke. The quicksilver tube stands as high with the one 20-inch bucket as with the two buckets; the engine works best with the one bucket. I have "Query 6th.—My reason for making the forcing pump with duck-valves is, because they do not bum like the others, and we find them seldom out of repair; but make it whichever way you think best, and work it in any way you like. "Query 7th.—I mean by ¾ expansive, that the steam is to be shut off from the cylinder when the piston has moved up from the bottom one quarter of its stroke. Make the cam to your own mind. "Query 8th.—I do not think the engine will require a heavier fly-wheel, as the stones will act as a fly, and the power, though so very irregular, will be so sudden in its changes, that the speed of the machinery will not let it be felt. If you make a crank, you may make the fly-wheel 3 or 4 feet more in diameter. But if with a pin in the fly-wheel, the beam would come down on the top of it; therefore, I think it will be better to put a crank, and put the fly-wheel in the middle of the shaft. "Query 9th.—The steam will be raised to 25 lbs. to the inch above the atmosphere, or 40 lbs. to the inch on a vacuum; but I think you need not calculate for much more strength on that account. It is not the power that breaks the machinery, but bangs, and not the uniform weight that this will give. "Query 10th.—Twenty strokes per minute I propose, which I think a fair speed. "Query 11th.—The fire-bars must be of wrought iron; we find them answer much better than cast iron. Let them be 5/8ths of an inch from bar to bar, 1 inch thick at the top, 3/8ths of an inch at the bottom, 2 inches deep, 4 feet long, with bits on them at the ends, to prevent their getting too close together. I find the nearer the fire is to the door, the better and handier it is to work. All the large engines are in this way, and we do not find the door or front plate get hot, as they are lined with brick. Cast the door with a rib to hold a brick on its edge. Tube, 2 feet 9 inches by 1 foot 11 inches; manhole, 15 by 10 inches. "Query 12th.—A governor will be required; perhaps as good a place as any for it, out of the way, will be on the cast iron that carries the beam; you may turn the fly-wheel whichever way you please. If this engine is worked with steam of 25 lbs. to the inch above the atmosphere, and the steam shut off at one-twentieth part of the ascending stroke of the piston, the power will be as three is to two of Boulton and Watt's single engines. "Only two pairs of stones for the present, but calculate those stones to stand in such a way that another pair may be placed, on a future day, if wanted. I have not seen Mr. Richards lately. I wish you to write a form of an order, in your next, such as you wish, and I will get him to write to you accordingly. Put the engine and drum for Lord de Dunstanville out of hand neat and well, as it will be well paid for; and make the stands, &c., in your own way. Mr. Richards' flour-mill engine may claim to be the first practical smoke-burner: keeping the fire much thinner at the inner end of the grate-bars than at the fire-door end of the grate, allowed of the freer passage of air through the thinner layer of coal, near the fire-bridge, causing the combustion of the passing gas. This idea has, since the date of Trevithick's letter, led to several smoke-burning patents. The boiler fire-tube was oval, 2 feet 9 inches by 1 foot 11 inches. The open-topped cylinder was supplied with a heavy and deep piston serving as a counterweight, and also as a guide in the cylinder for correcting the angle of the connecting rod. Experience had taught him that the cold sides of the condenser were sufficient to work an engine a great many strokes without a supply of injection; and he had already used high-pressure steam of 25 lbs. to the inch above the atmosphere, cut off from the cylinder when the piston had performed one quarter The simplicity of the engine is remarkable—a high-pressure, expansive, condensing engine, worked by a single four-way cock, without cylinder-cover, or parallel motion. The low first cost, and non-liability to derangement, were always kept in view; and his confirmed experience in the satisfactory working of horizontal cylinders prior to 1812 illustrates their extended application; for at that time scarcely any other engineer had constructed other than upright cylinder engines. No detail escaped his observant gaze. The fire-bars were to be 2 inches deep, 1 inch thick at the top edge, tapered to ¾ths of an inch at the bottom, giving the required strength, with free room for air, which in its passage cooled the bar, carrying the heat into the fire. Years before and after that period the fire-bar in common use by thoughtless people was a square iron bar that was always burning and bending. The letter is descriptive of the high-pressure steam-engine in the sixteenth year of its age; and its expansive steam, made practical by Trevithick's high-pressure boilers. This engine only took steam during the first quarter of its stroke, the remaining three-quarters were by the expansion. Had it taken steam only during one-twentieth of its stroke, it would have been more powerful than Boulton and Watt's low-pressure steam vacuum engine of the same size. [Rough draft.] "Sir, "I have your favour of the 3rd inst., informing me that Messrs. Fox and Williams have engaged to quarry the stone for "Jas. Green, Esq., St. David's Hill, Exeter. "N.B.—To what extent have Messrs. Fox engaged, and what parts of the work do they perform? I think more good might be done by loading, carrying, and discharging, than by quarrying only." Trevithick was equally ready with the application of steam-power either for pumping of water or for boring and removing rock. The use of chisels and rock-breakers in the Thames in 1803 "Sir, "I am in receipt of yours of the 22nd inst. Mr. Giddy informs me that Mr. Fox and Mr. Williams are to have 2s. 6d. per ton for making the breakwater at Plymouth, and he considers that they can do it for 2s., which he thought would give them 50,000l. profit. If you meet those gentlemen, I have to caution you not to LEARN THEM anything until you make a bargain, as I know Mr. Williams will endeavour to learn all he can and then you may go whistle. "If 6d. per ton will give 50,000l. profit, a halfpenny per ton would give upwards of 4000l. Would they agree to give you that for your labour only? However, this will depend in a great "Your well-wisher, "Mr. Rd. Trevithick, Camborne." Mr. Harvey knew Trevithick's weakness in money matters. Rennie had been employed to report on the proposed Plymouth Breakwater, and in 1811 was desired by Lord Melville, the head of the Admiralty, to proceed with the work. "The price paid in 1812 for taking and depositing rubble in the breakwater was 2s. 9d. per ton; it was afterwards reduced to 1s. per ton. A piece of ground was purchased from the Duke of Bedford at Oreston, up the Catwater, containing 25 acres of limestone, well adapted for the purposes of the work; and steps were taken to open out the quarry, to lay down railways to the wharves, to erect cranes." [Rough draft.] "Mr. Fox Jun., in context "Sir,—Since I was at Roskrow I have been making trial on boring lumps of Plymouth limestone at Hayle Foundry, and find that I can bore holes five times as fast with a borer turned round than by a blow or jumping-down in the usual way, and the edge of the boring bit was scarcely worn or injured by grinding against the stone, as might have been expected. I think the engine that is preparing for this purpose will bore ten "If this plan answers, the whole of the stones would be fit for service, even for building, and would all be nearly of the same size and figure. Each piece would be easily removed from the spot by an engine on a carriage working a crane, which would place them into the ship's hold at once. It would all stand on a plain surface, and might be had in one, two, three, or four tons in a stone, as might best suit the purpose, which would make the work from beginning to end one uniform piece. Steam machinery would accomplish more than nine-tenths of all the work, besides saving the expense of all the powder. I find that limestone will split much easier than moorstone, and I think that a very great saving in expense and time may be made if the plan is adopted. "Please to think of these hints and write me when and where I may see you to consult on the best method of making the "I am, Sir, The successful completion of the Mont Cenis Tunnel in 1871 was mainly due to an ingenious application of combined mechanical force to boring tools, before limited to man's strength; but the applied principle existed sixty years ago, and though not so perfect in detail, yet more comprehensive. Trevithick's high-pressure steam boring engine enabled him to penetrate the rock five times as fast as the quarryman's power. Ten holes, 2½ inches in diameter, 4 feet deep, could be bored in an hour, and he sagaciously suggested that in quarrying the limestone for the breakwater, a row of holes should be bored by his engine 4 feet in from the face of the rock, 2½ inches in diameter, 4 feet deep, and 12 inches apart; and by dropping into each hole two half-round pieces of iron, to be driven asunder by a steel wedge, large blocks would be forced off without the use of gunpowder. The high-pressure steam-puffer having bored the stone, moved itself toward the broken mass, lifted it into waggons, and again changing its powers from steam-crane to steam-locomotive, conveyed it to the port, and lifted it into the ship's hold. The whole operation was thus aptly described by the inventor, who then counted on contracting for the breakwater work:—"Steam machinery will accomplish more than nine-tenths of all the work, besides saving the expense of all the gunpowder." [Rough draft.] "Mr. Robert Fox, Jun., "Sir,—Since I was with you at Falmouth I have made a trial of boring limestone, and find that the men will bore a hole 1½ inch in diameter 1 inch deep in every minute, with a weight of 500 lbs. on the bit. I had no lump more than 12 inches deep; but to that depth I found that having a flat stem to the bit of the same width as the diameter of the hole, twisted like a screw, completely discharged the powdered limestone from the bottom of the hole without the least inconvenience. "From the time the two men were employed boring a hole 12 inches deep, I am convinced to a certainty that the engine at Hayle will bore as many holes in one day as will be sufficient to split above 100 tons of limestone, and would draw that 100 tons of stone from the spot and put them into the ship's hold in one other day. The engine would burn in two days 15 bushels of coal, four men would be sufficient to attend on the engine, cleave the stone, and put it into the ship's hold. I think it would not amount to above 9d. per ton, every expense included, but say 1s., which I am certain it will not amount to. Perhaps it may not be amiss to withhold the method of executing this work until the partners have more fully arranged with me the agreement as to what I was to receive for carrying the plan into execution. I do not wish that anyone but your father should be made acquainted with the plan, and have no doubt he will have sufficient confidence in the scheme to adopt it. I shall be glad to hear from you soon, as I intend to go to Padstow in a few days and shall not return under a fortnight. "Your humble servant, "N.B.—I this day received a letter from Mr. Gould, requesting to know what the expense of an engine and apparatus would be for clearing Falmouth Harbour, which I have sent by the post." It had been and still is the custom to bore rock either with a long and heavy jumper-chisel, lifted a foot or two, and falling by its own weight, pounding to powder a portion of the rock, or by the use of a much smaller chisel called a borer, struck by a hammer. Trevithick having made his steam-engine perform those jumper and borer movements, turned his attention to the improvement of the borer, and found that a revolving bit was more suitable for drilling limestone than the borer-chisel. The powdered stone was removed from the hole by giving a screw form to the stem of the bit. Many years afterwards precisely similar bits for boring wood were patented as new things, and are still used. Within five months of his first communication with the contractors for the Plymouth Breakwater he had designed and made an engine to bore, lift, and convey to the ship's hold 50 tons of stone daily at less than half the cost Rennie was then paying for it. [Rough draft.] "Sir, "I have your letter of the 31st January requesting to know the time in which the engine will be ready for the bridge at Exeter, and also about giving an additional power to it. "The engine shall be ready in six weeks from the end of January, and shall be capable of lifting the 10-inch bucket you have ordered instead of the 9-inch before proposed, which was to have delivered 500 gallons of water 12 feet high per minute; but now the engine shall be made to lift in the same proportion as a 9-inch is to a 10-inch bucket, which will be 617 gallons of water per minute instead of 500 gallons, as was before agreed on, and I shall charge you accordingly. I observe that you have ordered the pump, and from the description you give of it, I think it will answer very well. If you wish a perpendicular cylinder instead of a horizontal, I can construct it in that way, but it will not be so convenient for a portable engine. I have "I remain, Sir, Engineers nowaday are not in the habit of designing and constructing a steam-engine in six weeks, or willing to alter the agreed form from the horizontal to the vertical without charge. [Rough draft.] "Mr. Robert Fox, jun., informed me the other day that you had the sole direction of the work at Plymouth. Had I known it at the time you were at Scorier I should have communicated to you my ideas relating to the application of machinery there; but until a few days since I had an idea that the young Mr. Fox was about to take an active part in the management, which I now find was never his intention, only he very much wishes to have an experiment tried to see to what extent an engine was capable of performing as against men. An engine is now preparing for that purpose." "Sir, "On my return from Padstow this evening, where I have been for the last fortnight, I found your letter of the 11th inst. respecting the getting an apparatus ready for the Plymouth undertaking. Before I set about it I wish to see you and Mr. Fox, and will call any day you may appoint. Waiting your reply, "I remain, Sir, "Mr. Robert Fox, Jun., Falmouth" After three months of experimental scheming, without a thought of keeping his inventions secret, Trevi [Rough draft.] "Mr. Fox, "Sir,—I expect to be called to London immediately after the end of this month. The engine with the boring apparatus for Plymouth remains at Redruth. I very much wish to see you on that business before I leave home, and would be much obliged by your dropping me a note by post, saying what day it would be convenient for me to wait on you. The rock-boring machine was completed, and reached the breakwater two months after his interview with the Foxes, who were prominent in the quarrying work. "The engine for Plymouth will be put to break the ground as soon as I can find time to go up there." He engaged that an engine should bore holes to split 100 tons of limestone a day; and that on the following day it should, as a locomotive and steam-crane, load that quantity in waggons, convey it from the quarry to the port of shipment, and then by steam-crane place it in the hold of a vessel. The whole of the work to be done by 11 cwt. of coal and four men. The gross cost would be 1s. per ton for breaking and removing, though at that time Mr. Rennie was paying 2s. 9d. a ton, which in after years was reduced to 1s., just what Trevithick said was a fair price. While this ready application of the high-pressure steam-engine was going on in England, it had also extended to, and was coining money in the Mint at Lima, where Trevithick contemplated going to look after it, intending to land at Buenos Ayres, and make his way across the continent of South America and the mountains of the Cordilleras as best he could, leaving the home field he had made so fertile to be reaped by others, and the stone-boring locomotive to be forgotten for many years. [Rough draft.] "Sirs, "Your very great neglect in not writing.... Herland engine will work, I expect, in about fifteen days. It is a plunger of 33 inches diameter, 10-feet stroke, with a double packing around the top of the plunger-pole, in the same way as the steam is turned into the stuffing box of a double engine to exclude the air, only there is a small tube from the bottom of "I am sorry to find by Mr. Uville's letter that the Mint engine does not go well. I wish you had put the fire under the boiler and through the tube, as I desired you to do, in the usual way of the long boilers; then you might have made your fire-place as large as you pleased, which would have answered the purpose and worked with wood just as well as with coal. I always told you that the fire-place in the boiler was large enough for coal, but not for wood; also if you found that the cock did not open and shut in proper time, to make the gear to it work the same as the Dolcoath puffer whim-engine instead of the circular gear. The boiler is strong enough and large enough to work this engine with 30 lbs. to the inch, thirty strokes per minute. I hope to leave Cornwall for Lima about the end of this month, and go by way of Buenos Ayres, and cross over the continent of South America, because I cannot get any other passage. None of the South Sea whalers will engage to take me to Lima, as they say they may touch at Lima or they may not. Unless I give them an immense sum they will not engage to drop me there. To be brought back to England after a two years' voyage without seeing Lima would be a very foolish trip. To make a certainty I shall take the first ship for Buenos Ayres, preparations for which I have already made." This unfinished rough draft was intended for one of the men who had gone to Lima, less fruitful in emergency than Trevithick, who, without a moment's hesitation, would have constructed a fire-place outside the boiler, when the internal tube fire-place was found to be too small for a wood fire. Trevithick's proposing sixty years ago to make his way over the almost unknown track from Buenos Ayres, on the Atlantic, to Lima, on the Pacific, was perhaps characteristic of his daring spirit, that turned all things to good account; but he dreamed not that his grandson and namesake would at this time be conducting the steam-horse on the [Rough draft.] "Gentlemen, "I received yours at Bridgenorth of the 19th July, ordering a steam-engine for rolling sugar-cane. I immediately set the founders to work on one for you, which is to be ready by my return to Bridgenorth about the end of September. I intend to ship it for Bristol, and will call on you on my journey down to Cornwall, as I intend to set it to work at Bristol for your inspection before it is put on board ship. The price I cannot accurately say at present, as the engine now making is on a new principle; and as it will be more simple in construction, I hope to be able to render it within the price before stated to you. As it is on a new plan I cannot fix the price until I know the cost of making. All I can say at present is that it shall not exceed what I stated to you in my former letter. "I remain, Sirs, "Messrs. Pinneys and Ames, Bristol." The engine for the sugar plantations in Jamaica, on an improved plan, was to be constructed in the short space of six weeks, and if a saving in cost was effected, the inventor would hand the whole of it to the purchaser. [Rough draft.] "Sir, "I received your favour of the 25th January, but did not answer it in due course, because I was then erecting a very large engine, which is the first on a new plan. This engine, which has been at work about a month, performs exceedingly well. The cost of erection and the consumption of coal are not above one-third of a Boulton and Watt's, to perform the same work. "Your obedient servant, "Dr. Moore, M.D., Exeter." A 4-horse-power portable high-pressure steam-puffer engine cost 105l., with internal fire-tube and machinery attached to the boiler, ready for work in half an hour after lighting the fire, consumed 21 lbs. of coal and 11 gallons of water for each hour's work, at a cost of threepence. The reader's attention has been very imperfectly drawn to the numerous subjects touched on in these remnants of Trevithick's correspondence between the years 1804 and 1816; among them may be traced the portable high-pressure steam-engine, the tubular cylindrical boiler of wrought iron, the economy of expansive working with steam of 100 lbs. on the inch, but limiting it to 20 lbs. when not in the charge of experienced workmen, and testing boilers by water pressure to four times the intended working pressure. The economy of heat in smelting furnaces and in the aËrated steam-engine were bold means to large results. The cheap 100l. steam-engine of 1812, with open-top cylinder and rigid simplicity of gear, resembling Newcomen's first atmospheric engine, was really a high-pressure steam expansive engine, with the germ of |
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