Perkins* Steam Engine. 43 



mechanical contrivances which he has invented, in order to 

 overcome the difficulties with which he had to contend ; his 

 engine was a beautiful piece of mechanism ; its appearance 

 was such as caused it to operate like a charm on his numerous 

 visiters, and many were consequently, induced to take an in- 

 terest in, and expend large sums of money, to perfect an in- 

 strument from which they calculated to derive large profits. 

 Is it not astonishing, that men of intelligence should not 

 quickly perceive the difference, between condensible steam, 

 and incondensible air ? I have already remarked that at the 

 beginning of the stroke, the barometer indicated a high de- 

 gree of exhaustion ; it sometimes rose to twenty-four inches* 

 yet his piston, if made to approach the end of his cylin- 

 der, as closely as in a well made steam engine, could not, 

 from the density of the contained air, pass the dead point. 

 His first engine, you know, raised water ten or twelve feet 

 high, and this was employed to drive a water wheel ; in this 

 arrangement, he did not discover how soon his rarified air lost 

 its power ; but when he endeavored to make his engine work 

 with a piston, he began to experience this unanticipated diffi- 

 culty. By a very clever contrivance, he, apparently y; over- 

 came this obstruction, but not without great waste of gas. 

 He attached to his engine, a large separate condenser, in 

 which he burnt his gas, professedly, for the greater convenience 

 of condensation ; but it was, in effect, nothing more than 

 lengthening his cylinder, which would have produced the 

 same result in a way much more simple ; but to have had a 

 ten foot cylinder, with one foot stroke, would at once have torn 

 off the mask, by which the true features of the contrivance 

 were concealed ; a catastrophe, which the inventor, very nat- 

 urally endeavored, as long as possible to avoid. The con- 

 sumption of gas was enormous ; but as he made his own or 

 drew it directly from the city pipes, no one but himself could 

 tell how much he used. 



Fascinated with the beauty of the machine, there are ma- 

 ny who yet declare it to be no failure, and that Brown has 

 been used very ill by the Gas-engine Company. One gen- 

 tleman, who had lost much money in this concern, called 

 on me the other day, and expressed great regret that the gas- 

 engine had not been in my hands ; I told him that this would 

 have produced but one advantage, that of having lost less 

 money by the concern, as it was not from want of mechan- 

 ical skill, that 5rown did not succeed, but because the laws 



