VI 



THE MASTER WORKER 



WE have already pointed out at some length 

 that, in the hands of Watt, the steam 

 engine came at once to be a relatively 

 perfect apparatus, and that only three really important 

 modifications have been applied to it since the day of its 

 great perfecter. These modifications, as already named, 

 are the doing away with the walking beam, the utiliza- 

 tion of high pressure steam, and the development of the 

 compound engine. Each of these developments re- 

 quires a few words of explanation. 



The retention of the heavy walking beam for so long 

 a time after the steam engine of Watt had been applied 

 to the various purposes of machinery, illustrates the 

 power of a pre-conceived idea. With the Newcomen 

 engine this beam was an essential, since it was necessary 

 to have a weight to assist in raising the piston. But with 

 the introduction of steam rather than air as the actual 

 power to push the piston, and in particular with the 

 elaboration of the double-chamber cylinder, with steam 

 acting equally on either side of the piston, the necessity 

 for retaining this cumbersome contrivance no longer 

 existed. Yet we find all the engines made by Watt 

 himself, and nearly all those of his contemporaries, 

 continuing to utilize this means of transmitting the 



[no] 



