52 CURES THE PUMPING ENGINE. CHAP. IV. 



was that he should select his own workmen. There 

 was, as he knew, a good deal of jealousy amongst the 

 " regular " men that a colliery brakesman should pretend 

 to know more about their engine than they themselves 

 did, and attempt to remedy defects which the most 

 skilled men of their craft, including the engineer of the 

 colliery, had failed to do. But George made the con- 

 dition a sine qua non. "The workmen," said he, " must 

 either be all Whigs or all Tories." There was no help 

 for it, so Dodds ordered the old hands to stand aside. 

 The men grumbled, but gave way ; and then George 

 and his party went in. 



The engine was taken entirely to pieces. The cistern 

 containing the injection water was raised ten feet ; the 

 injection cock, being too small, was enlarged to nearly 

 double its former. size, and it was so arranged that it 

 should be shut off quickly at the beginning of the stroke. 

 These and other alterations were necessarily performed 

 in a rough way, but, as the result proved, on true 

 principles. Stephenson also, finding that the boiler 

 would bear a greater pressure than five pounds to the 

 inch, determined to work it at a pressure of ten pounds, 

 though this was contrary to the directions of both New- 

 comen and Smeaton. The necessary alterations were 

 made in about three days, and many persons came to 

 see the engine start, including the men who had put 

 her up. The pit being nearly full of water, she had 

 little to do on starting, and, to use George's words, 

 "came bounce into the house." Dodds exclaimed, 

 Why, she was better as she was ; now, she will knock 

 the house down." After a short time, however, the 

 engine got fairly to work, and by ten o'clock that night 

 the water was lower in the pit than it had ever been 

 before. The engine was kept pumping all Thursday, 

 and by the Friday afternoon the pit was cleared of 

 water, and the workmen were " sent to the bottom," as 



