HISTORY OF STEAM. 277 



the Captain having partaken of <: potations deep," threw the wine bottle 

 into the fire ; this, however, happened to have a small portion of wine 

 left in it, which was immediately converted into steam by the heat; on 

 perceiving which, he immediately thought of trying what effect would 

 be produced by immersing the neck in water ; and having some ready 

 before (brought, it is said, for washing his hands), he forthwith tried the 

 experiment, and that the steam which filled the flask was condensed, and 

 that the water rushed up into the flask to supply the vacuum caused by 

 this condensation. This casual experiment is said to have given to 

 Savery the idea of constructing an apparatus on this plan for raising 

 water. Savery by this perceived that he had only to form a vacuum, 

 by means of condensing steam he could then raise water thirty-four feet. 

 It also occurred to him, that he might employ the expansive power of 

 steam as used in De Caus's engine, and thus force the water still 

 higher. 



All this Savery effected, and by so doing led the way for the brilliant 

 inventions that were afterwards made in the construction of the steam 

 engine ; this invention was principally devoted to raising water from 

 mines, and bore the name of the " miner's friend." With all its 

 advantages, however, this engine did not perform well, and in 1750 

 Thomas Newcomen, a smith, and John Crawley, a plumber, both of 

 Dartmouth, took out a patent, which they shared with Savery. The 

 next improvement was made by Humphrey Potter, when a boy ; who, it is 

 said, from an idle feeling to save himself a little trouble, made an im- 

 provement in the uniform mode of the opening and shutting the cocks, 

 by making the engine work its own. In 1718, Mr. Henry Beighton 

 improved upon the idea of Potter, by the application of a piece of 

 mechanism called a "hand gear;" this is a rod suspended from the 

 beam of the Engine, having projecting pins, which act upon a number of 

 levers, and thus effected what had been previously done by hand, or by 

 Potter's rude contrivance. Such was the state in which the steam 

 engine was found by the great James Watt ; he was at this time a 

 mathematical instrument maker at Glasgow, who being employed by the 

 University of that city to repair a model of Newcomen and Crawley 's 

 engine, perceived the great loss occasioned by the injection of the con- 

 densation water into the cylinder, by which it was considerably reduced 

 in temperature, and when the steam was again admitted, a great portion 

 of it was condensed by the cold cylinder, which caused a great ex- 

 penditure of fuel. This suggested to him the condensing of the steam 

 in a separate vessel, by which the cylinder would always be maintained 



