Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-13
FIRST i. S. ENGINE
! WAS USED IN MINE
Jersey Copper "Magnate"
Imported Power Machine
From England.
BY L. F. LoREE.

nish power for the propulsion of Robert
Faltonis Clermont and of the first steam
locomotive to run on an American rail-
read, the Delaware e. Hudson Co.'S
Stourbridge Lion is familiar to all, yet
the history of the first engine furnish
ing power to reach our shores and of
its service in raising water from cop
per mine is known to but few. W.T.
this most important event in American
industrial development has not received
due recognition in the annals Of An1eft-
can history is and probably ever viii
remain a mystery
Much, if not all, of our great me
chantcal development is directly trace
able as beginning with this atmospheric
engine, or FIRE engine" as It was then
termed, and to the farsighted man who
brought it to America, installed It and
with it drove the first machinery oper-
ated in this country by other than man.
animal, wind or water power.
Slave Discovered Copper.
About TIA or IT'S an old slave Of
Aren't Schuyler, son Of Philip Pieterse
Schuyler of Albany, then the owner of
q large tract of land in New Arbadoes
Neck. now North Arlington, N. j.. found
and took to his master q heavy green
ISL stone which, when sent to England
and assayed, proved to be rich speci-
men of copper ore.
The story of this discovery is enriched
by Q tradition that Schuyler, delighted
with the report of the assay, rewarded
the slave by granting him his freedom
and urged him to make three requests
which could be granted in addition.
After considerable elaboration the old
Negro requested that he might be al
lowed to remain all his days with his
master: that he might have all the to-
bacco he could smoke, and that he
might have a dressing gown like his
masters, with big brass buttons"
Upon being urged to ask for some
thing more commensurate with his
great service to his master, he thought
he would be satisfied with little mere
tobacco" This is said to have been
the first mine of value discovered after
nearly century of vain prospecting
In all parts of the New Netherlands.
Shaft Sunk In 1875.
Mining by means of drifts or tunnels
into the side hill began almost imrnedi-
ately after the receipt of the assay,
and when first worked near the surface
Is said TO have been highly profitable.
This method continued until about 1885,
. when the first shaft was sunk Tue
first agreement with the miner, &C
cording to book of that time, allowed
him one-third of the ore for mining and
raising it to the surface, where it was
done up in quarter barrels, whereof
six made a ton" AS England did not
permit the smelling and refining of ores
in the colonies, the entire product of
the mine was transported across the
ocean.
After the death of Aren't Schuyler in
1871 or 1882, the management of the
mine was taken over by son, Col.
yAe1s Csa1., d. s,akA II XII
self and his two brothers, to whom the
property had been left. Operations
. were continued vigorously for about
Is years, when the shafts had reached
such depth that further mining became
improbable owing to the difficulty in
pumping water from them by hand and
horsepower, and operations were sus-
pended.
! News of the new fire engines" as
pherie engines were called, and of their
successful operation in the mining dis
trictS of England reached Col. Schuyler,
To whom they seemed to afford an OPP
portnnity to resume profitable opera.
ton of the mine. He accordingly placed
an order for one of these engines
through his London agent in 1913 or
1749, and requested that an experienced
engineer accompany it to America to
assemble and put it in operation.
First Built in f712.
Joseph Hornblower and his sons, who
were engaged at the time in building
or atmospheric engines in Cornwall,
were given the order for the engine for
the Schuyler mine.
The laws of England at that time
prohibited the expectation, even to the
colonies, of mechanics or machinery
calculated to build up industries which
might rival those of the mother country.
Although fire engines were not spe-
gcifcally included in the prohibition. it
is more than probable, as was the case
half century later when Fulton or
dered the engine for his Clermont, that
the government looked with disfayor
upon the shipment Of this engine.
Col. Schuyler, through his promi-
nence and favor as a member for a
time of the Council of New Jersey and
his vast wealth, had sufficient inlil-
ence to get the tacit consent of the au-
thorittes for its expectation. The time
required for this approval probably was
the principal reason for the delay of four
years in the construction and shipment
OF the engine. Additional credence is
given this Supposition by the silence of
the press OF the day on subject 50 i'm
portant as the introduction of steam
PbENA AAVO SAAE 4AClA Vi <1ulSIICdh
duStry.
The engine was completed and for
warded to London for transhipment to
New York early in 1853. With it were
sent many duplicate and triplieate parts
and supply of cast iron pipe, there
being at the time no facilities for the
manufacture or repair of parts in
America.
Carried in American Ship.
After a wait of two or three weeks
In London, Mr. HornbloWer sailed for
America with several mechanics, the
engine and supplies in the scow Irene
She was brig-rigged vessel with a
driver or try-rail bent on rings to a
supplementary mast just abaft the
mainmast and closely resembling bark
She was commended by Capt. Nicholas
Garrison, native Of Staten Island.
This stout little craft was built on
Staten Island in 1748 by the United
Brethren, religious body of Moravians
for the easier conveyance OF their
colonists to the American settlements.
and appropriately named Irene. for her
mission of peace. Although the engine
was built in England by an English
man 1t was carried to our shores in an
American bottom commanded by q ma
tive American.
With the engine safely at its destina-
ton Mr.. Hornblower's task. instead of
being over, had just begun. There
were no skilled mechanics in America
or at least at the mines, and upon him
fell with the assistance of the few
mechanics he brought with him, the
entire work OF assembly installation and
operation.
AS a consequence he had to locate
plan and direct the construction of the
engine house and superintend the as
semblage of the boiler, engine and
pumping machinery. Stone for the
foundation had to be quarried and pre-
naraA CIav had he I,,o ,..of-oI