174 president's address. 



and the other parts of the engine were built by local blacksmiths, 

 carpenters and plumbers, under the direction of an engineer. 



The engine was first fixed on a boiler of a haystack form, but 

 the vibration of the engines so loosened the joints that it was 

 found advisable to seciire the cylinder to strong wooden beams 

 above the boiler. At a later date the engine was fixed on a 

 separate foundation by the side of the boiler, and as time went 

 on, iron pipes were substituted for lead, and, the wagon boiler 

 was introduced to take the place of the haystack. 



Am.ong the first erectors of the Newcomen engine were the 

 Hornblowers in Cornwall. Newcomen visited Mr. Potter of 

 Bromsgrove and erected an engine near Dudley Castle in 1712. 

 This is the historical engine in which injection in the cylinder was 

 first VLsed. 



In the vicinity lived Joseph Hornblower, an engineer, who 

 became acquainted with Newcomen's engine, and who was sent 

 for into Cornwall about 1720 to 1725, to erect an atmospheric 

 engine at Wheal Rose Mine near Redruth. 



It may be interesting here to observe, on the authority of 

 Cyrus Eedding, a great-grandson of Joseph Hornblower and 

 author of " Yesterday and to-day," etc., etc., that the Newcomen 

 engine was not such a simple machine as only to require the 

 attention of boys, as stated in popular histories, but that it 

 required the united exertion of three men to start the engine. 



A secomd engine, it aj)pears, was erected by Hornblower at 

 Wheal Bus}^, or Chacewater Mine ; a third at Polgooth. Joseph 

 Hornblower then left the county, and his sou Jonathan came 

 down and erected his first engine at Wheal Virgin about 1743. 

 The fourth son of Joseph was Jonathan Carter, the inventor of 

 the compound engine and the double beat steam valves, who died 

 at Penryn in 1 8 1 .5. 



From 1720 to 1740 few engines were erected in Cornwall 

 because of the high duty on sea-borne coal. In 1 74 1 an act of 

 parliament was passed for the remission of the duty on coal used 

 for fire engines for draining tin and copper mines in the county 

 of Cornwall. The effect of the passing of this act was that by 

 the year 1758 many engines had been brought into use; one 

 engine at Herland had a 70-in. cylinder. 



