AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



531 



Tiftoft, Marquis of Worcester, in the middle of the 17th cen- 

 tury — 200 years ago — was undoubtedly inventor of the steam 

 engine. His account of it (published in 1663,) although by no 

 means fit to give us any distinct notions of its structure and ope- 

 ration, is exact as far as it goes, and agrees precisely with what 

 we now know of the steam engine. It is number sixty-eight of 

 his Century of Inventions. He says : " This admirable method, 

 which I propose of raising water by the force of fire, has no bounds 

 if the vessels be strong enough ; for I have taken a cannon and 

 having filled it full of water and shut up its muzzle and touch- 

 hole, and exposed it to heat for 24 hours, when it burst with a 

 great explosion. Having afterwards discovered a method of forti- 

 fying vessels internally, and combined them in such a way that 

 they filled and acted alternately, I have made the water spout 

 in a stream uninterrupted forty feet high. One vessel of rarified 

 water raised forty of cold water. The person who conducted the 

 operation had nothing to do but to turn two cocks; so that one 

 vessel of water being consumed, another begins to force and then 

 to fill itself with cold water, and so on in succession." 



The subject of " Locks" was ordered to be continued at the next 



meeting of the Club, on the second Wednesday of June. 



The Club adjourned. 



H. MEIGS, Secretary. 



June 25, 1856. 



Present — Messrs Tillman, Butler, Leonard, Stetson, Chambers, 

 Breisach, Porter, Fisher, Lamothe, Paige, and others. 



The Chairman, S. D. Backus, being absent, the Club elected 

 Mr. Tillman, chairman, pro tem. Henry Meigs, Secretary. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. 



Mr. Secretary Leonard introduced Mr. Page to the Club. Mr. 

 Page exhibited his model window sash fastenings. He had endea- 

 vored to improve on old methods, had actually contrived forty- 

 eight methods, all of which he deemed comparative failures; but 

 he now presented one which he gladly exposed to mechanical 

 criticism. The upper and lower sashes are governed by a touch 

 so as to remain arrested at any point of opening desired. The 



