﻿MECHANICAL 
  TEANSPOTIT 
  — 
  MITMAK 
  

  

  513 
  

  

  job 
  ahead. 
  It 
  is 
  perhaps 
  a 
  wonder 
  that 
  he 
  did 
  not 
  take 
  the 
  first 
  

   boat 
  back 
  to 
  England. 
  There 
  was 
  no 
  skilled 
  help 
  for 
  him 
  to 
  call 
  on, 
  

   no 
  one 
  who 
  had 
  the 
  slightest 
  idea 
  of 
  steam-engine 
  construction. 
  

   Accordingly 
  he 
  had 
  to 
  instruct 
  as 
  the 
  work 
  progressed. 
  This 
  all 
  

   took 
  time, 
  and 
  18 
  months 
  or 
  more 
  passed 
  before 
  the 
  engine 
  was 
  ready- 
  

   to 
  be 
  steamed 
  up 
  early 
  in 
  the 
  spring 
  of 
  1755. 
  

  

  On 
  this 
  eventful 
  day, 
  when 
  the 
  first 
  steam 
  engine 
  in 
  America 
  was 
  

   to 
  be 
  set 
  in 
  motion, 
  an 
  interested 
  group 
  of 
  colonists 
  came 
  to 
  the 
  mine. 
  

   They 
  saw 
  standing 
  on 
  the 
  very 
  edge 
  of 
  the 
  shaft 
  an 
  odd 
  looking 
  stone 
  

   building, 
  shingle-roofed, 
  some 
  20 
  to 
  30 
  feet 
  square 
  and 
  30 
  feet 
  high. 
  

   Sticking 
  out 
  through 
  one 
  wall 
  and 
  over 
  the 
  mine 
  opening 
  was 
  a 
  heavy 
  

   beam 
  terminating 
  in 
  

   a 
  vertical 
  arc, 
  like 
  an 
  

   enormous 
  carpenter's 
  

   hammer 
  with 
  the 
  

   claw 
  sticking 
  up- 
  

   wards 
  holding 
  be- 
  

   tween 
  its 
  prongs 
  a 
  

   pump 
  rod 
  which 
  dis- 
  

   appeared 
  down 
  into 
  

   the 
  mine. 
  Entering 
  

   the 
  engine 
  house, 
  the 
  

   visitors 
  beheld 
  a 
  roar- 
  

   ing 
  furnace 
  and 
  over 
  

   it 
  a 
  spherical 
  copper 
  

   boiler 
  10 
  feet 
  in 
  di- 
  

   ameter, 
  partly 
  in- 
  

   closed 
  in 
  brickwork. 
  

   Looking 
  higher, 
  they 
  

   saw 
  directly 
  over 
  the 
  

   boiler 
  and 
  connected 
  

   to 
  it 
  by 
  a 
  short 
  pipe, 
  

   a 
  huge 
  cast-iron 
  cyl- 
  

   inder, 
  3 
  feet 
  in 
  diam- 
  

   eter 
  and 
  8 
  feet 
  high, 
  supported 
  on 
  heavy 
  wooden 
  beams, 
  stretching 
  

   across 
  and 
  anchored 
  into 
  the 
  building 
  walls. 
  Still 
  higher 
  rose 
  the 
  

   piston 
  rod, 
  connected 
  by 
  links 
  to 
  another 
  huge 
  claw 
  hammer 
  on 
  the 
  

   inner 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  heavy 
  beam 
  that 
  the 
  visitors 
  first 
  observed. 
  

   Near 
  the 
  cylinder, 
  but 
  several 
  feet 
  above 
  it, 
  they 
  saw 
  a 
  small 
  water 
  

   tank 
  from 
  the 
  bottom 
  of 
  which 
  descended 
  a 
  small 
  pipe 
  with 
  two 
  

   branches, 
  one 
  going 
  over 
  the 
  top 
  and 
  the 
  other 
  into 
  the 
  bottom 
  of 
  

   the 
  cylinder, 
  the 
  first 
  to 
  form 
  a 
  water 
  seal 
  between 
  the 
  piston 
  and 
  

   cylinder 
  wall 
  to 
  hold 
  in 
  the 
  steam, 
  and 
  the 
  second 
  to 
  supply 
  condens- 
  

  

  FlGURE 
  4.— 
  Josiah 
  Hornblower, 
  1729-1809. 
  The 
  pioneer 
  in 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  

   steam 
  in 
  America 
  

  

  