All About Engines

3° All About Engines upper ends, and with the well or pit at their lower ends. Before starting all taps were closed. Steam was allowed to flow into one of the vessels, and then the supply shut off. The cock leading to the well was now opened, and cold water poured over the outside of the vessel. The steam inside was condensed to water. Since a cubic inch of water at 212° Fahr, forms 1,600 cubic inches of steam at the same temperature and pressure, a vacuum was pro- duced in the cylinder, and the water pressure of the atmosphere on the surface of the water in the well or mine forced it up the pipe until it filled the vessel. Connection with the well was then shut off, steam was again forced into the vessel, and the water driven up the pipe to the overflow. This pump lifted the water, and then forced it to a higher level. Both vessels were used, so that while one was filling with water the other was discharging. Several of Savery’s engines were set to work in Cornwall, and at least one in Staffordshire, at a coal mine near Wednesbury. But they were very liable to get out of order, and when attempts were made to force them the boiler blew up or the steam “ tore the engine to pieces.” Before they had been in use very long a better engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen, and of Savery’s engine there is little record beyond his own description. Thomas Newcomen was a blacksmith and iron worker who lived in the quaint old town of Dart- mouth, in Devonshire. He was not a man of educa- tion, but there is some reason to believe that he