22 BULLETIN 173, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The engine resembled the Newcomen beam engines in appearance, 

 with the piston rod and pump rod connected to the opposite ends of a 

 heavy walking beam. The huge double-acting cylinder was 33 inches 

 in diameter and permitted a 7-foot stroke. The valves were operated 

 by a "plug- frame", which was raised and lowered by the beam. The 

 engine was equipped with a separate condenser and condenser air 

 pump. 



THE EARLY STEAM ENGINE IN AMERICA 



The first steam engine in America was erected at the copper mine 

 of Col. John Schuyler, on Barbadoes Neck, N. J., in 1755. This was 

 an atmospheric engine of the Newcomen type and was built in Corn- 

 wall, England, by Joseph Hornblower and his sons, engineers and 

 engine builders. The engine was brought to America by Josiah 

 Hornblower, who erected it and operated it for many years. It was 

 disabled by fire in 1768, and in 1793 was broken up and disposed of. 

 A portion of the cylinder of the engine is exhibited in the National 

 Museum, (References: Nelson, William, Josiah Homhlower^ 1883; 

 Loree, L. F., "The First Steam Engine in America", in the Delaware 

 <& Hudson Co. Bulletin, July 15, Aug. 15, 1929.) 



The next engine of record is the one constructed at Philadelphia 

 in 1773 by Christopher Colles to pump water for a distillery there. 

 CoUes, a well-educated and ingenious Irishman and the pupil and 

 protege of Dr. Pococke, the Bishop of Ossory, came to America in 

 1765 after the bishop's death. In 1772 he delivered a series of lectures 

 at the hall of the American Philosophical Society on pneumatics, 

 hydrostatics, and hydraulics, illustrated by demonstrations of models 

 he had constructed, including models of steam engines. That the 

 pumping engine that Colles built in 1773 was cheaply made and did 

 not perform satisfactorily, though it demonstrated that he understood 

 the construction of engines, was reported by a committee of the 

 Philosophical Society. (Reference : Bishop, J. L., Histori/ of ATner- 

 ican Manufactures, vol. 1, pp. 576-577, 1866.) 



The next year, 1774, Colles contracted to build a reservoir for the 

 council of the City of New York. This work, the completion of 

 which was prevented by the war, was renewed in 1785 when surveys 

 were made by Colles and others. (Reference: Booth, Mary L., 

 History of the City of New Yorh, 1859.) 



A newspaper of Febiiiary 1775, however, announced that a large 

 cylinder for the steam engine of the waterworks was cast at the 

 foundry of Sharp and (Peter T.) Curtenius, the first performance 

 of the kind attempted in America (Bishop, vol. 1, pp. 534, 537). That 

 this engine was completed and operated can be inferred from an entry 

 in the journal of Isaac Bangs {Neio Jersey Historical Society Pro- 

 ceedings, vol. 8, p. 121, May 20, 1858), who visited the Schuyler mine 



