From Sail to Steam 21 



brought crude attempts at steam-driven 

 machinery to the point where Watt could 

 add, not perhaps the finishing touches 

 they are not yet but at any rate the 

 touch of reliability and economy in the 

 use of this potent genii. 



It is very interesting to see how the 

 locomotive and the marine steam engine 

 seem to march together from the period 

 of Watt's really effective stationary 

 engine. The latter was being largely 

 employed on the pumping of water from 

 the mines, and particularly in winding 

 up the cages containing coal, at the end 

 of the eighteenth century. 



Proposals were made to Watt that he 

 should turn his thoughts to making a 

 marine engine and also a locomotive. 

 Watt shook his head, and by some it 

 is said that he pooh-poohed both ideas, 

 saying they were quite impracticable. I 

 cannot find any proof of this, and I 

 think we should be more nearly correct 

 if we assumed that Watt had not the 





