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Page 5
But they introduced into Cornwall a form of boiler hitherto unknown in
Great Britain, namely, the cylindrical flue boiler, which Oliver Evans
had invented and used in America years before the names of Trevithick
and Vivian were associated with the steam engine. Hence, they were
charged over fifty years ago with having stolen the invention of Mr.
Evans, and the charge has never been refuted. Hence when British
writers ignore the just claims of Oliver Evans and assert for
Trevithick and Vivian the authorship of the high pressure steam engine
and the locomotive, they thereby substantially acknowledge the
American origin of both inventions. They are not only of American
origin, but their author, although born in 1755, was nevertheless an
American of the second generation, seeing that he was descended from
the Rev. Dr. Evans Evans, who in the earlier days of the colony of
Pennsylvania came out to take charge of the affairs of the Episcopal
Church in Pennsylvania.
The writer has thus shown that with the patent granted by the State of
Maryland to Oliver Evans in 1787 were associated--first, the double
acting high pressure steam engine, which to-day is the standard steam
engine of the world; second, the locomotive, that is in worldwide use;
third, the steam railway system, which pervades the world; fourth, the
high pressure steamboat, which term embraces all the great ocean
steamships that are actuated by the compound steam engine, as well as
all the steamships on the Mississippi and its branches.
The time and opportunity has now arrived to assert before all the
world the American origin of these universally beneficent inventions.
Such a demonstration should be made, if only for the instruction of
the rising generation. Not a school book has fallen into the hands of
the writer that correctly sets forth the origin of the subject matter
of this paper. He apprehends that it is the same with the books used
in colleges and universities, for otherwise how could that parody on
the history of the locomotive, called "The Life of George Stephenson,
Railway Engineer," by Samuel Smiles, have met such unbounded success?
To the amazement of the writer, a learned professor in one of the most
important institutions of learning in the country did, in a lecture,
quote Smiles as authority on a point bearing on the history of the
locomotive! It is true that he made amends by adding, when his lecture
was published, a counter statement; but that such a man should have
seriously cited such a work shows the widespread mischief done among
people not versed in engineering lore by the admirably written romance
of Smiles, who as Edward C. Knight, in his Mechanical Dictionary,
truly declares, has "pettifogged the whole case." If, as Prof. Renwick
intimates, "conflicting national pride" has led the major part of
British writers to suppress the truth as to the origin of the high
pressure steam engine, the locomotive, and the steam railway system,
surely true national pride should induce the countrymen of Oliver
Evans to assert it. In closing this paper the writer will say, for the
information of the so-called "practical" men of the country, or, in
other words, those men whose judgment of an invention is mainly guided
by its money value, that Poor's Manual of Railroads in the United
States for 1886 puts their capital stock and their debts at over
$8,162,000,000. The value of the steamships and steamboats actuated by
the high pressure steam engine the writer has no means of
ascertaining. Neither can he appraise the factories and other plants
in the United States--to say nothing of the rest of the world--in
which the high pressure steam engine forms the motive power.
* * * * *
AUGUSTE'S ENDLESS STONE SAW.
It does not seem as if the band or endless saw should render the same
services in sawing stone as in working wood and metals, for the
reason that quite a great stress is necessary to cause the advance of
the stone (which is in most cases very heavy) against the blade. Mr.
A. Auguste, however, has not stopped at such a consideration, or,
better, he has got round the difficulty by holding the block
stationary and making the blade act horizontally. Fig. 1 gives a
general view of the apparatus; Fig. 2 gives a plan view; Fig. 3 is a
transverse section; Fig. 4 is an end view; Figs. 5, 6, and 7 show
details of the water and sand distributer; and Figs. 8, 9, and 10 show
the pulleys arranged for obtaining several slabs at once.
[Illustration: FIG. 1 AUGUSTE'S STONE SAW.]
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