St. Landry democrat., 1882-07-08
A WONDERFUL CREATURE.

A WONDERFUL CREATURE.
One day lonely prisoner sat medita
ting in his cell in the Tower of London
He was Marquis of Worcester, no
blems n of high rank and large fortune
who had been imprisoned for politca
offense. But he had always been IL me-
chanic, and had passed the happies
hours of his life in his workshop. As
ne watched, sad and almost hopeless il
his prison, he noticed that the cover Of
a kettle that was boiling on the fire
was raised up, and that cloud of vapor
escaped.
He examined the curious fact, and al
last asked himself-what is it that lifts
the coyer-what power is there hidden
in the boiling kettle? 1t was evidently
the white vapor; it was steam. The
Marquis of Worcester had made Won
derful discovery, and when he was lib
Grated he gave much Of his time to tic
study of the new power. He felt the
great value of steam to mankind; and in
his work, "a Century of Inventions, -
thanked God that he had been permit
ted to discover one of the "secrets of
nature
No one before him seems ever to have
! thought Of making steam useful. The
white vapor had risen from every boil
ing vessel since the first use of fire. 1t
was familiar to the Jew, Assvrian,
, Greek and Roman. A Greek man Of
| science was even acquainted with some
of its powers, and employed it to fright
en- one of his neighbors for whom he
had no good will. He placed a boiler in
his cellar, and drove the steam through
pipes around his neighbor's house, shak-
ing it with loud noise
But no one had thought of confining
the vapor in a pipe, and making it
labor. No one in Shakspeare's time
had fancied that there was giant
strength in boiling water; no one fore
saw in 1860 that all the chief labors of
the future would be carried on by the
aid of a boiling kettle. But soon the
idea suggested by the Marquis of
Worcester seems to have excited the
curiosity Of other intelligent men. He
left no machine behind him, if he had
ever made one. His only object was to
force up water. He wrote an account
of his machine in 1868, and soon after
died. In 1851, Morland used steam to
raise water. Its power began to be dis
covered; it would burst, it was said, a
gun, and intlict serious injuries. .s
Next, about 1857, Papin, French
Huguenot exiled to London, almost in
vented a real steam-engine. He filled
pipe, or cylinder half full of water; a
piston or rod of iron rested on the
water. A fire was kindled underneath,
the water boiled, the steam drove the
piston to the top of the cylinder, where
it was secured by apeg or,latch.s The
fire was then taken away, the cold
once more condensed the steam into
water, the latch was let loose, and the
piston descended to its former position. |
Papin in this way raised weight of
sixty po.nds. He was full of ardor, |
believed that he could raise ten thou
sand pounds, and even suggested al
But as yet the rude machine consisted |
only of pipe, piston and a latch that
was removed by an attendant. Soon
after, in 1896, Sayery invented the first
real steam engine 1t consisted of two
boilers, a cylinder, stream of cold
water to condense the steam, and was
intended to pump water into cities,
houses and ships. Savery addressed his
describing his engine, to
King William, who had examined his
machine with interest at Hampton
Court. In the year 100 the steam-en-
CINE was in its infancy.
1t grew slowly. Savery's engine was
but was still for nearly
century imperfect and almost useless.
1t could only move a piston or rod up
md down. No one had yet discovered
! way to make it turn a wheel. Until
he American Revolution and the age of
Washington and Franklin, the imper-
ect machine seemed of little real value.
James Watt, a young Scotch me-
,hanic, almost made it what it is. He
s the author of the modern steam-cn-
sine. He was the son of maker of
instruments. He was
ickly, studious and always fond of me- 1
'hanical contrivances; at six years old
le is said to have worked out problems j
n geometry in the sand; at fourteen he
made an electrical machine; and at fif- !
cen, Arago tells us, studied the steam t
hat came from tea-kettle and planned t
ONE of his future labors. He was born I
n 1856. l
His chief discovery was how to make ,
he piston turn a wheel, and this he did /
y using the crank. His machines be-
anne capable of turning mills, moving 6
pindles, and pumping out mines. He |
ounded a great factory of steam J.
ngines that were sod all over the t