168 president's adduess. 



themselves altogether to Cornwall, although Watt, always a 

 desponding man, wrote of the Cornish climate — "It rains here 

 prodigiously. When you come, bring with you a waxed linen 

 cloak for yourself and another for me, as there is no going out 

 now for a few miles without getting wet to the skin. When it 

 rains in Cornwall, and it rains often, it rains solid J ^ 



The single acting engine was only available for pumping, 

 although in exceptional cases the water pumped was used to turn 

 a water-wheel by which to work machinery. How then can I 

 claim for Cornwall the honour of the steam machinery that now 

 does the main work of the world ? Let us look at the double 

 acting engine as perfected and patented by Watt in 1784. Its 

 very appearance with its great rocking beam proves what is known 

 historically to be true — that it was the pumping engine of Corn- 

 wall that had been modified and adopted to rotatory motion. 

 And for half a century the beam seemed to be considered almost 

 a necessary part of a steam engine intended for any purpose. 

 Early steam ships were all fitted with beams which, in the case of 

 ocean-going boats, were subsequently modified by being placed 

 (shall I say upside down ?) below the cylinder instead of above 

 it. And to-day in many of the most powerful river boats of 

 North America the great rocking beam is still seen above the 

 deck, moving up and down as if it were an engine for pumping 

 water. 



It is also a singular fact that the first really successful model 

 locomotive was made in 1784 by William Murdock (.Watt's 

 foreman) and tried at Redruth in Cornwall. The model, which 

 was about 1 8 inches long, was fitted with what was called a 

 " grasshopper engine," i.e. worked, not with a whole beam but, 

 with half a beam. 



This same form of engine was also used in U.S. America by 

 Oliver Evans who unsuccessfully applied to the Pennsylvanian 

 Legislature in ] 786 for a patent for steam engines (high pressure) 

 for driving mills and steam carriages, and in 1 80U- 1 commenced 

 to construct a steam carriage and in 18i)4 did make a sort of 

 amphibean dredge which propelled itself through the streets and 

 also in the water. In this curious boat which had wheels to go 

 on land, and a stern paddle wheel propeller for water, he used 

 the grasshopper beam. So likewise the half beam was used by 



