﻿MECHANICAL 
  TRANSPORT 
  MITMAN 
  509 
  

  

  On 
  the 
  revival 
  of 
  learning 
  in 
  Europe 
  at 
  least 
  five 
  Italian 
  philoso- 
  

   phers 
  translated 
  Hero's 
  book, 
  but 
  with 
  one 
  exception 
  they 
  were 
  

   indifferent 
  to 
  practical 
  mechanics. 
  Baptista 
  Porta, 
  a 
  mathematician 
  

   of 
  Naples, 
  in 
  his 
  translation 
  and 
  commentary, 
  however, 
  did 
  suggest, 
  

   by 
  drawings 
  and 
  descriptions, 
  apparatus 
  for 
  using 
  steam 
  to 
  raise 
  

   water, 
  and 
  ItaHan 
  architects, 
  keenly 
  alert 
  for 
  means 
  of 
  effecting 
  foun- 
  

   tain 
  displays 
  then 
  in 
  vogue 
  for 
  villa 
  gardens, 
  were 
  the 
  first 
  to 
  attempt 
  

   practical 
  applications 
  of 
  the 
  idea. 
  This 
  happened 
  about 
  the 
  middle 
  

   of 
  the 
  sixteenth 
  century. 
  Italy 
  set 
  the 
  architectural 
  style 
  for 
  Europe 
  

   in 
  that 
  period, 
  and 
  Solomon 
  de 
  Cans, 
  a 
  French 
  architect 
  and 
  engineer, 
  

   while 
  in 
  Italy 
  for 
  ideas, 
  became 
  interested 
  in 
  the 
  steam-operated 
  

   fountain. 
  On 
  his 
  return 
  to 
  France 
  he 
  began 
  experimenting 
  and 
  both 
  

   talked 
  and 
  wrote 
  about 
  the 
  possibilities 
  of 
  steam, 
  advancing 
  a 
  proposi- 
  

   tion 
  for 
  utilizing 
  high-pressure 
  steam. 
  His 
  enthusiasm 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  

   broken 
  down 
  the 
  last 
  objection 
  to 
  experimentation 
  and 
  during 
  the 
  

   succeeding 
  100 
  years 
  philosophers, 
  the 
  clergy, 
  and 
  engineers 
  all 
  over 
  

   Europe 
  were 
  intensel}^ 
  busy. 
  

  

  The 
  Italian 
  chemist, 
  Branca, 
  used 
  a 
  jet 
  of 
  high-pressure 
  steam 
  to 
  

   turn 
  a 
  paddle 
  wheel. 
  Kircher, 
  a 
  Jesuit 
  and 
  teacher 
  of 
  philosophy 
  at 
  

   Rome, 
  designed 
  a 
  fountain 
  and 
  forced 
  the 
  water 
  by 
  steam 
  pressure 
  to 
  

   unusual 
  heights. 
  The 
  English 
  bishop 
  Wilkins, 
  a 
  brother-in-law 
  of 
  

   Oliver 
  Cromwell, 
  made 
  many 
  and 
  varied 
  experiments 
  with 
  aeolipiles 
  

   and 
  even 
  advanced 
  steam 
  propositions 
  in 
  his 
  sermons. 
  

  

  These 
  experimenters 
  had 
  just 
  about 
  reached 
  the 
  limit 
  of 
  possible 
  

   developments 
  with 
  the 
  resources 
  at 
  hand 
  when, 
  around 
  1650, 
  two 
  dis- 
  

   coveries 
  were 
  made 
  which, 
  although 
  they 
  had 
  nothing 
  to 
  do 
  with 
  

   steam 
  directly, 
  had 
  a 
  very 
  important 
  bearing 
  on 
  the 
  subsequent 
  devel- 
  

   opment 
  of 
  the 
  steam 
  engine. 
  They 
  were 
  the 
  inventions 
  of 
  the 
  mercury 
  

   barometer 
  by 
  the 
  Italian, 
  Torrecelli, 
  a 
  pupil 
  of 
  Galileo, 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  air 
  

   pump 
  by 
  Von 
  Guericke, 
  the 
  burgomaster 
  of 
  Magdeburg, 
  Germany, 
  

   By 
  the 
  former 
  it 
  was 
  definitely 
  proved 
  that 
  the 
  atmosphere 
  had 
  

   weight 
  and 
  by 
  the 
  latter 
  that 
  air 
  could 
  be 
  excluded 
  at 
  will 
  from 
  a 
  

   closed 
  vessel 
  so 
  as 
  to 
  obtain 
  a 
  vacuum. 
  Von 
  Guericke 
  went 
  further 
  

   and 
  rigged 
  up 
  a 
  vertical 
  cylinder 
  with 
  a 
  piston, 
  connecting 
  the 
  latter 
  

   by 
  a 
  cord 
  and 
  overhead 
  pulley 
  to 
  a 
  weight. 
  He 
  then 
  exhausted 
  the 
  

   air 
  under 
  the 
  piston 
  with 
  his 
  air 
  pump 
  and 
  immediately 
  the 
  piston 
  

   moved 
  downward, 
  lifting 
  the 
  weight. 
  

  

  Thirty 
  years 
  more 
  passed 
  and 
  then 
  Huygens, 
  the 
  Dutch 
  astrono- 
  

   mer, 
  improved 
  on 
  Von 
  Guericke's 
  idea 
  and 
  obtained 
  a 
  vacuum 
  under 
  a 
  

   piston 
  without 
  an 
  air 
  pump. 
  He 
  fitted 
  up 
  a 
  cylinder 
  with 
  nonreturn 
  

   valves 
  and 
  exploded 
  gunpowder 
  under 
  the 
  piston. 
  Most 
  of 
  the 
  gases 
  

   escaped 
  but 
  as 
  the 
  quantity 
  remaining 
  in 
  the 
  cylinder 
  cooled 
  a 
  vacuum 
  

   was 
  created 
  and 
  the 
  piston 
  went 
  down 
  just 
  as 
  with 
  Von 
  Guericke. 
  

   Both 
  of 
  these 
  experiments 
  demonstrated 
  that 
  the 
  weight 
  of 
  the 
  air 
  

   was 
  capable 
  of 
  doing 
  mechanical 
  work. 
  In 
  1690 
  Papin, 
  a 
  French 
  

  

  