﻿530 
  

  

  ANNUAL 
  REPOET 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  19 
  2 
  9 
  

  

  attended 
  school 
  until 
  he 
  was 
  14 
  years 
  old 
  and 
  then 
  was 
  apprenticed 
  

   to 
  a 
  wheelwright 
  or 
  wagonmaker. 
  Being 
  much 
  of 
  a 
  student 
  he 
  let 
  

   no 
  opportunity 
  pass 
  to 
  acquire 
  knowledge 
  such 
  as 
  the 
  books 
  of 
  the 
  

   time 
  afforded, 
  devouring 
  them 
  by 
  the 
  light 
  of 
  a 
  fire 
  of 
  wood 
  shavings 
  

   when 
  denied 
  candlelight 
  by 
  his 
  illiterate 
  and 
  stingy 
  master. 
  As 
  

   early 
  as 
  1772, 
  when 
  only 
  17 
  years 
  old, 
  he 
  had 
  begun 
  thinking 
  of 
  

   possible 
  ways 
  of 
  moving 
  wagons 
  by 
  other 
  means 
  than 
  animal 
  power. 
  

  

  Figure 
  7.— 
  Oliver 
  Evans, 
  1755-1819. 
  Ardent 
  champion 
  of 
  steam 
  locomotion 
  and 
  

   founder 
  of 
  America's 
  steam-engine 
  industry 
  

  

  He 
  was 
  about 
  to 
  give 
  up 
  such 
  ideas 
  as 
  unsolvable 
  problems 
  when 
  

   his 
  brother 
  told 
  him 
  what 
  some 
  neighboring 
  blacksmith's 
  boys 
  had 
  

   done. 
  They 
  had 
  stopped 
  up 
  the 
  touchhole 
  of 
  a 
  gun 
  barrel, 
  put 
  in 
  

   some 
  water, 
  rammed 
  down 
  a 
  tight 
  wad, 
  and 
  putting 
  the 
  breech 
  in 
  

   the 
  blacksmith's 
  fire 
  were 
  able 
  to 
  generate 
  steam 
  so 
  that 
  the 
  gun 
  

   discharged 
  with 
  a 
  report 
  like 
  that 
  of 
  gunpowder. 
  

  

  