158 THE WATT AND THE TREVITHICK ENGINES. 



many persons still liked the old plans, and among them 

 the easy-going low-pressure eiiginemen. The conse- 

 quence was that the Watt engines under their manage- 

 ment refused the early doses of Trevithick's high steam, 

 not easily digesting it, and their obstinacy nearly 

 swamped Trevithick and his plans. 



" When a little boy, about 1812, I frequently carried my 

 father's dinner from Penponds to Dolcoath Mine. One day, not 

 finding him in the engine-house, I sought him in the account- 

 house, but not knowing him in a miner's working dress, refused 

 to give him his dinner. William West then worked with him. 

 I heard there was difficulty in making the new boilers and the 

 old engine work well ; engineers from other mines looked on 

 from a distance, not liking the risk of explosion. People 

 seemed to be against the new plans ; some labourers worked 

 with them." 



This narration sixty years after the events from 

 Mr. Richard Trevithick, the eldest son of the engineer, 

 shows that William West helped in applying high- 

 pressure steam to the Watt low-pressure engine, and 

 that but few sympathized with the innovators on old 

 customs ; but among them was Captain Jacob Thomas, 

 who successfully fed the old engine with strong steam. 



At that time the Watt engines in Cornwall had been 

 doing seventeen or eighteen millions ; Trevithick's 

 new boilers increased their duty to forty millions. 



" William Pooly 1 was working in Dolcoath before Captain 

 Trevithick's new boilers were put in, and helped to put them in. 



"The Shammal 45-inch engine was an open-top cylinder, 

 with a chain to the segment-head wooden beam. So was the 

 63-inch cylinder Stray Park engine, then called Wheal Gons 2 



1 William Pooly worked the Dol- 

 coath 76-inch engine in 1869; his 

 recollections were given in the old 

 engine-house, on the spot once occu- 



pied hy Watt and his 63-inch great 

 double engine. 



2 Smiles speaks of this as Bonze's. 



