GUN-CARRIAGE--IRON SHIPS--HYDRAULIC CRANE--ICE MAKING--DRAINAGE
OF HOLLAND--CHAIN-PUMP--OPEN-TOP CYLINDER--HAYLE HARBOUR--PATENT
RIGHTS--PETITION TO PARLIAMENT.
"Richard Trevithick, of the parish of Saint Erth, in the county of
Cornwall, civil engineer, maketh oath and saith that he hath invented
new methods for centering ordnance on pivots, facilitating the
discharge of the same, and reducing manual labour in time of action.
That he is the true inventor thereof, and that the same hath not been
practised by any other person or persons whomsoever to his knowledge
or belief.
"Sworn, 10th November, 1827, before me, Rd. Edmonds."
"This gun is worked by machinery balanced on pivots giving it
universal motion, by one man, with the facility of a soldier's musket.
On one side a man puts in a copper charge of powder; on the opposite
side a man drops a ball in a bag down the gun, as it stands muzzle
up. The gunner, who sits on the seat behind the gun, points it and
pulls the trigger. The firing causes it to run up an inclined plane at
an angle of 25° for the purpose of breaking the recoil; it runs down
again with its muzzle at the port, requiring no wadding, swabbing,
cartridge, or ramming, but runs in, out, primes, cocks, shuts the
pan, and breaks the recoil of itself; and by three men can be fired
three times in a minute with accuracy. The gun-carriage is a tube 3
feet long and 3 feet diameter, made of wrought-iron plate 1/4 of an
inch thick, centered on a pivot to the deck, with the gunner's seat
attached, from which he looks through the case. As the gun requires
no tackle, and but a man on each side to work it, only a space of 5
feet 6 inches is required from centre to centre of ports, therefore
a single-deck ship will carry a greater number of guns than are now
carried on a double-deck ship, be worked with one-third of the hands,
and be fired five times as fast as at present. A frigate would mount
fifty 42-pound guns on one deck, with 150 men, and would discharge in
the same time a greater weight of ball with greater precision than
five 74-gun ships."[135]
[Footnote 135: Description in Trevithick's handwriting.]
[Illustration: TREVITHICK'S GUN-CARRIAGE AND FRICTION SLIDES,
1827.]
"HAYLE, CORNWALL, _21st February, 1828_.
"MY LORD COCHRANE,[136]
"With great pleasure I read in the papers the announcement of your
arrival again in England, and am much gratified to find a person of
your superior natural and practical talents, so rare to be obtained,
to whom I may communicate my views.
"I have proposed to Government to build an iron ship, and a gun on
a new principle, which are to undergo an investigation, and have
lodged a drawing of the ship and a model of the gun with my friend Mr.
Gerard, a gentleman who returned with me from America, and who will
present to you this letter with the above-mentioned drawing and model.
"I have had an iron boat made for the purpose of sending it to London,
to show the method of constructing ships on this plan, roomy, strong,
and cheap. Also a wrought-iron ship with a steam-engine on an improved
principle, which in a few days will be laid on the stocks at the Hayle
Foundry iron manufactory."
[Footnote 136: Rough draft, by Trevithick, of unfinished letter.]
Though Lord Cochrane was just the person to be interested in such
schemes, it does not appear that he took any part in them. At that time
he was at work on his own particular ideas for marine propulsion.
"MY DEAR SIR, "LONDON, _February, 1828_.
"Immediately after the receipt of your last, which I only received
after twelve o'clock on the 7th, I went to the Ordnance Office, where,
though Colonel Gossett was no longer an official personage, I had
the good luck to meet him. He told me that the model of the gun was
at Woolwich, and could not be got at in time to stop the progress of
the other patent, and which he considered of but little moment, as
he thought it very unlikely there could be any collision between the
two inventions. He likewise said that from the official changes that
had taken place in the office, much loss of time might be incurred by
recalling the model, which was in train of being examined. To-day I
have received a letter addressed to you from the Ordnance, by which
it appears that your model has passed through an unsuccessful ordeal
before the special committee.
"'SIR, "'OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, _21st February, 1828_.
"'I am directed by the Master General to acquaint you that the Select
Committee of Artillery Officers, to whom your model of a 42-pounder
carronade and carriage on a new principle were referred, have reported
that on examination of the invention, they consider it to be wholly
inapplicable to practical purposes. Your model is at the Ordnance
Office, and will be delivered on your sending for it.
"'I am, Sir,
"'Your most obedient humble servant,
"'LOWNDES.
"'R. TREVITHICK, Esq.'
"My poor mother, who I regret to say has been very delicate ever since
your departure, and is now again confined to bed, desires me to say
that she is very sorry she is not Master General of the Ordnance, to
give it a fair _practical_ trial, as she thinks Captain Trevithick's
opinions, though she cannot pronounce his name, may be fairly placed
in opposition to that of the special committee of artillery officers.
"Ever faithfully yours,
"J. M. GERARD."
The recoil gun-carriage was his first occupation after twelve years of
travel in countries where mechanical appliances were less thought of
than weapons of war. He commenced this, his second era of inventions,
with what he called a new thing, though it was but an extension of his
schemes of 1809, when he patented iron vessels, hollow sliding masts
and yards, self-reefing sails, and sliding keels.
The model gun was of brass, resting on a railway formed of two inclined
bars of iron, up which the recoil propelled it into a convenient
position for cleaning and loading. Its own gravity caused it to fall
into the required place for being again fired. The slides also served
as friction-bars to regulate the recoil.
The gun and the slides carrying it were enclosed in a wrought-iron box,
having openings in the front and rear for the passage of the muzzle
and the breech. The muzzle front of the box was pivoted to the deck by
a strong bolt as a centre of motion, whilst its rear was supported on
two small wheels resting on the deck, allowing the gun to change its
line of horizontal fire by sweeping from the centre pivot. The gunner's
seat moved with the carriage, from which he could elevate or depress
the muzzle by a lever. The gun was self-priming and self-cocking;
the powder charge was enclosed in a copper case. Captain Moncrieff's
patent gun-carriage of the present day is described in words somewhat
like those used by Trevithick forty years before. "The recoil lifted
a weight smoothly and without friction; the gun and the weight were
held in the position arrived at by a catch until the gun was loaded and
ready to fire again."[137]
[Footnote 137: See 'The Times,' August 12th, 1870.]
The iron boat mentioned in his note to Lord Cochrane as being made at
Hayle, was "for the purpose of sending to London to show the method of
constructing ships on this plan, roomy, strong, and cheap," and was
thus spoken of in a newspaper of the 26th April, 1829. "The 'Scotsman'
alludes to the intended construction of iron steamboats at Glasgow by
Mr. Neilson:--"For fear of the public being misled on this subject,
we beg to state that so far back as last Christmas twelvemonths we
saw Trevithick, of Cornwall, superintending the construction of an
iron man-of-war launch, with the avowed intention of applying a
similar principle of construction to the building of fast-sailing iron
steamboats." This intimation, in 1829, to the since famous Glasgow
iron-ship builders, that they could not claim the invention because
Trevithick had made such a boat in 1827, was probably in ignorance of
Trevithick's patent and models of 1809,[138] explaining the advantages
of ships of iron, either under sail or under steam, for commerce or
for fighting-ships. The improved high-pressure steam-engine then in
hand for iron ships was but the perfecting of his plans of twenty years
before.[139]
[Footnote 138: See vol. i., p. 302.]
[Footnote 139: See vol. i., p. 329.]
"LAUDERDALE HOUSE, HIGHGATE, _April 19th, 1830_.
"MR. GILBERT,
"Sir,--I find by looking into the 'Art of Gunnery' that a 42-lb. shot
discharged at the rate of 2000 feet a second in vacuum would send it
to the height of 63,360 feet, which multiplied by the weight of the
shot would be 2,661,120 lbs., with 12 lbs. of powder; and as guns,
after being heated to about the heat of boiling water, will recoil
their usual distance with half their first charge of powder, it proves
that one-half the powder at first is lost in heating the gun to about
212°, which is a great deal under the heat of fired powder, therefore
only 6 lbs. of powder effective force is applied to the ball. Now
suppose this 6 lbs. of powder to be one quarter part carbon, 1-1/2 lb.
is all the heat that can possibly be applied to perform this duty;
then 1 lb. of carbon would be equal to 1,774,080 lbs. of duty actually
performed; but if you take into calculation the great loss of power
by the powder not being instantly all set on fire, with the gun so
much below the heat of fired powder, the windage by the sides of the
shot, the ball flying from the powder, and the immense power remaining
in the gun at the time of the ball leaving its muzzle; if this was
applied expansively, as in a cylinder, it may fairly be said to have
double this power, or 3,548,160 lbs. for 1 lb. of carbon consumed,
which, multiplied by 84, being the pounds in 1 bushel of carbon,
gives 300 millions of duty. If it was applied to the best advantage,
say on a piston, calling powder one thousand atmospheres, it would far
exceed that duty. A gun 9 feet long and 7-inch bore has 16 feet of
cold sides, and condenses at first one-half of its force by its cold
sides and loses 150 millions in a 200th part of a second, while the
ball passes from the breech to the muzzle. This gives 221,760 lbs.
condensed by each foot of surface sides in so short a time. Binner
Downs cylinder was taken as condensing 2500 lbs. for each surface
foot in six seconds; therefore, without taking into account the great
difference in time, there is eighty-eight times as much power lost
by each foot of cold sides of the gun as by the cylinder sides. This
shows what a considerable power is lost by cold sides where the vapour
is so rare. Boulton and Watt's engine, doing twenty millions, performs
with 1 lb. of coal a duty of 240,000 lbs., or about 1/14th part of
what is done by 1 lb. of carbon in powder. The water evaporated by the
boiler is 7 lbs. thrown into steam by 1 lb. of coal, and a duty of
33,750 lbs. for each pound of water evaporated.
"Suppose 1 lb. of powder to contain 12 oz. of nitre and 4 oz. of
carbon, and 1/24th part of the nitre to be a fixed water, which would
be half an ounce of water in every pound of powder, making the carbon
eight times as much as the water; from this data 1 lb. of water in
powder would perform a duty of 28,385,280 lbs.
lbs.
1 lb. of carbon in powder 3,548,160 } 14 times the consumption
1 lb. of coal in Boulton and Watt's }
engine 240,000 } by the engine.
1 foot of cold sides of the gun 221,760 { 88 times as much loss
1 " " of the cylinder 33,750 { by the cold sides of
{ the gun
1 lb. of coal for 7 lbs. of water in { 14 times as much coal
steam { for water into steam
1 lb. of carbon for 8 oz. of water in powder { as for water in
powder { powder.
"By this it appears that heat is loaded with fourteen times as much
water in steam-engines as in powder, and does only 1/14th part of the
duty of the water in powder. It is possible to heat steam independent
of water, because if we work with steam of ten atmospheres, it would
have ten times the capacity for heat, being in proportion to its
gravity. The boiler standing on its end, with the fire in the bottom,
and the water 1 foot thick above it, with a great number of small
tubes from bottom to top, having great surface sides to heat the steam
above the water, by working with a low chimney and slow fire, the
tubes in the steam part of the boiler would not exceed 600° or 700° of
heat, which would not injure them; as less water would be generated
into steam, a very small part of the boiler would be sufficient for
it; and as the coal required would be less, the boiler required would
be very small. I state the foregoing to remind you that but little is
yet known of what heat may be capable of performing; as this data so
far exceeds whatever has been calculated on the power of heat before,
when compared with steam in an engine.
"The power is sure, if we can find how to conduct it.
"I remain, Sir,
"Your very humble servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK.
"If you can spare time please to write to me."
The foregoing may be classed either under cannon or steam-engine;
TREVITHICK combined them under the general laws of expansion
by heat. Three years had passed since the committee of artillery
officers sitting on his gun had given a verdict of no go; yet the
subject was not forgotten, and his calculations enabled him to discover
the explosive force, and the speed of the projectile in different parts
of the gun, things which are now ascertained by mechanical tests and
measures.
If a 7-inch cannon 9 feet long loses by absorption of heat during
the time of the passage of the shot to the muzzle one-half of the
expansive force of the powder, it is time to wrap our guns as well
as our steam-engines in non-conductors. The greater heat of exploded
powder than of steam caused eighty-eight times the amount of loss from
abstracted heat, and yet the force from a pound of carbon in powder,
was fourteen times as much as the Watt engine gave from a pound of coal.
"MR. GIDDY, "LONDON, NO. 42, ST. MARY AXE, _June 18th, 1828_.
"Sir,--A few days since a Mr. Linthorn called on me and requested me
to accompany him to Cable Street, near the Brunswick Theatre, to see
a crane worked by the atmosphere, in a double-acting engine attached
to it. He has a patent, and has entered into a contract with the St.
Katharine's Dock Company to work their cranes, 140 in number, by a
steam-engine of sufficient power to command the whole of them, by
placing air-pipes around the docks, with a branch to each crane. To
each crane is fixed a 10-inch cylinder, 20-inch stroke, double-acting.
The atmosphere pressing on the piston like steam, the air is drawn
from the pipes by a large air-pump and steam-engine.
"On being requested to give my opinion on this plan, after seeing
one crane worked, I informed them of the disappointment that the
ironmaster, Mr. Wilkinson, in Shropshire, several years since
experienced, on the resistance of air in passing through long pipes
from his blast-engine to his furnaces. He said he was aware of that
circumstance, and it had since been further proved in London by one of
the gas companies attempting to force gas a considerable distance, and
who also failed.
"He thought that forcing an elastic fluid, and drawing it by a vacuum,
were very different things, and that the error was removed by drawing
in place of forcing. For my part I am not convinced on this head; but
am still of opinion that the result on trial will be found nearly the
same. However, let that be as it may, the expense and complication of
the machine, having a double engine, with its gear attached to every
separate crane, together with the immense quantity of air thrown into
the air-pump from 140 double engines of 10 inches diameter, 20-inch
stroke, eighty strokes per minute, and considering the numerous air
leaks in such an extent of pipes and machines, must reduce the effect
of the pressure of the atmosphere on each piston to a comparatively
small power, unless the air-pump and steam-engine are beyond all
reasonable bounds.
"Those objections I made them acquainted with, and said that, before
they went to such an expense, it would be a safer plan to first make
further inquiry, so that their first experiment might be on a sure
plan, for the other dock companies were looking for the results of
this experiment.
"At the time I was informed of this plan, a thought struck me that
it might be accomplished by another mode preferable to this: by a
steam-engine to force water in pipes round the dock, to say 30 or 40
lbs. to the inch, more or less, and to have a worm-shaft, working in
a worm-wheel, the same as a common roasting-jack, and apply to the
worm-shaft a spouting arm like Barker's mill; the worm-shaft standing
perpendicular would work the worm-wheel fixed in the chain-barrel
shaft of the crane.
"This would make a very simple and cheap machine, and produce a
circular motion at once, instead of a piston alternating motion to
drive a rotary motion. My report had some weight with them; inquiry
is to be made into the plan proposed by me, so as to remunerate
me, provided my plan is considered good. Mr. Linthorn wishes an
investigation before scientific and able judges, and requested me to
name some one. I must again make free in asking the favour of your
advice (which you have so ably given me for thirty years) on this
plan. Mr. Linthorn intends to request Dr. Wollaston to accompany you,
any day convenient to you. In the meantime, should you see him, it
might not be amiss to mention it to him; and should you be able to
attend for an hour or two to this business, I would thank you to drop
me a note, saying when it may be convenient. There is a memorandum of
an agreement between Mr. Linthorn and me; but the plan I suggest is
only at present made public to him and yourself.
"Your most obedient servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK."
The reduction of friction by the use of an air-vacuum engine for
working cranes, as designed by Mr. Linthorn, in lieu of an air-pressure
engine, was doubted by Trevithick.
The Mont Cenis pneumatic-pressure machines which the writer saw at work
lost much power by friction before experience had taught remedies.
The pneumatic vacuum tubes which propelled the trains on the South
Devon Railway, failed to give the power that was expected. Sir William
Armstrong's hydraulic cranes, brought into use not many years after the
date of Trevithick's letter, have been found effective. The writer, not
knowing that Trevithick had before recommended hydraulic cranes for
warehouses, accompanied Sir William over his works, then being erected
near Newcastle-on-Tyne, and talked with him on the detail of his crane
designs.
Trevithick thought of giving circular motion to the crane chain-barrel
by the attachment of a screw-propeller, acted on by the force of a
current of water at a pressure of 30 or 40 lbs. to the inch. Sir
William Armstrong's arrangement was quite different; the merit due to
Trevithick was for having pointed out the suitability of water as a
means of conveying power through warehouses where fire was inadmissible.
"MR. GILBERT, "LONDON, 42, ST. MARY AXE, _June 29th, 1828_.
"Sir,--Fancy and whim still prompt me to trouble you, and perhaps
may continue to do until I exhaust your patience. A few days since
I was in company where a person said that 100,000_l._ a year was
paid for ice, the greatest part of which was brought by ships
sent on purpose to the Greenland seas. A thought struck me at the
moment that artificial cold might be made very cheap by the power
of steam-engines; by compressing air in a condenser surrounded by
water, and an injection to the same, so as to instantly cool down
the highly-compressed air to the temperature of the surrounding air,
and then admitting it to escape into liquid. This would reduce the
temperature to any state of cold required.
"I remain, Sir,
"Your very humble servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK."
Trevithick's ideas for making ice have since been patented and made
useful, though the detail of the operation has been improved by
experience.
The Dutch, extending the use of steam on the Rhine and also in
sea-going ships, wished Trevithick to see what was going on in
Holland, where his nephew, Mr. Nicholas Harvey, was actively engaged
in engineering. He had not money enough for the journey, and borrowed
2_l._ from a neighbour and relative, Mr. John Tyack. During his walk
home a begging man said to him, "Please your honour, my pig is dead;
help a poor man." Trevithick gave him 5_s._ out of the 40_s._ he had
just begged for himself. How he managed to reach Holland his family
never knew; but on his return he related the honour done him by the
King at sundry interviews, and the kindness of men of influence in
friendly communion and feasting.
"MR. GILBERT, "LONDON, _July 31st, 1828_.
"Sir,--The night before last I arrived from Holland, where I spent ten
days. I found my relative there, Mr. Nicholas Harvey, the son of John
and Nancy Harvey. He is the engineer to the Steam Navigation Company
at Rotterdam. They have a ship 235 feet long, 1500 tons burthen,
with three 50-inch cylinders double, also two other vessels 150 feet
long, each with two 50-inch cylinders double, ready to take troops to
Batavia. The large ship with three engines cost 80,000_l._ The Steam
Navigation Company built them, and many others of different sizes.
This company has been anxious to get me to Holland, having heard of
the duty performed by the Cornish engines. They were anxious to know
what might be done towards draining and relieving Holland from its
ruinous state.
"Immediately on arrival I joined the Dutch company, and entered into
bonds with them.
"I give you, as near as I can, the present state of the country. About
250 years since, a strong wind threw a bank of sand across the mouth
of the river Rhine, which made it overflow its banks; 80,000 lives
were lost, and about 40,000 acres of land, which remain to this time
under 12 feet of water.
"About 100 years since the head and surface of the river Rhine was
5 feet below what it now is. The under floors of houses in Holland
are nearly useless, and in another century must be totally lost,
unless something is done to prevent it. The river at present is
nearly overflowing its banks. In consequence of the rise of water,
the windmill engines cannot lift it out. To erect steam-engines,
they never could believe would repay the expense. Nearly one-half
of Holland is at present under water, either totally or partially,
because the ground kept dry in winter is flooded in summer.
"About six years since it was in contemplation to recover the 40,000
acres before mentioned, and a company was formed of the King and the
principal men in Holland, to drain this by windmills, which they
estimated would cost 250,000_l._, and making the banks and canals
450,000_l._ more, when made by men's labour, and seven years to
accomplish it.
"This seven years was a great objection, because of the unhealthy
state of the country while draining. The water is about 18 inches
every year, to be lifted on an average 10 feet high. I have been
furnished with correct calculations and drawings from this company.
"They expected to have drained 40,000 acres in seven years, at a cost
of 700,000_l._, which, when drained, would have sold at 50_l._ per
acre, about two millions.
"I find, from the statement given me, of 18 inches of water to be
lifted 10 feet high, it would require about one bushel of coal to lift
the water from one acre of ground for one year, and that a 63-inch
cylinder double would perform the work of 40,000 acres, when working
with high steam and condensing, at an expense of less than 3000_l._
per year. Engines in boats would cut and make the embankments and
canals, without the help of men. I proposed six cylinders of 60 inches
diameter, double power, which would drain the water in one year;
and also four others for cutting the canals and making embankments.
The expense would not exceed 100,000_l._ and one year, instead of
700,000_l._ and seven years. Above 60,000 acres more are to be drained.
"It was also proposed by Government to cut open the river Rhine to
1000 yards wide and 6 feet deep for 50 or 60 miles in length; they
supposed it would cost them ten millions sterling. I proposed to make
iron ships of 1000 tons burthen, with an engine in each, which would
load them, propel, and also empty them for about 1_d._ per ton. Each
ton will be about a square yard, and the cutting the river Rhine 1000
yards wide, 6 feet deep, 50 or 60 miles in length, will not cost one
and a half million, and be accomplished in a short time. I further
proposed that all this rubbish be carried into the sea of the Zuyder
Zee, which would make dry, by embanking with the rubbish, nearly
1,000,000 acres of good land, capable of paying ten times the sum of
cutting open the river Rhine.
"All this would add 100 per cent. more to the surface of Holland, and
at this time it is much wanted, because their settlements abroad are
free almost of the mother-country, and they have too many inhabitants
for the land at present. I made them plans for carrying the whole into
effect, and have closed my agreement with them.
"In a few days I shall go to Cornwall, and promised to return again
to Holland within a month. I saw Mr. Hall and the engineer of the
Dock Company to-day. They are satisfied that the plan for working the
cranes is a good one. I am to see them again on Monday next; after
which I shall return home, where I hope to see you, to consult you on
the best plan for constructing the machines for lifting the water,
cutting the canals, and making the dykes.
"I remain, Sir,
"Your very obedient servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK."
In this mere outline of a life it is impossible to go fully into the
merit of Trevithick's plans for doubling the land surface of Holland.
A drainage company was formed in London with a board of directors,
some of whom thought that a new kind of engine should be invented and
patented as a means of excluding others from carrying on similar but
competing operations. Trevithick, always ready to invent new things,
though never forgetting his experience with old things, instinctively
returned to the Dolcoath engines, and recommended them as suitable
for the pumping work; but finally a new design was determined on, and
Harvey and Co., of Hayle, received orders for the construction, with
the greatest possible dispatch, of a pumping engine for Holland.
This happening shortly after the writer had been taken from the Bodmin
school, he was desired to help in the erection of this engine, and
after working-hours made a drawing of its original form.
Plate XV. _a_, iron barge; _b_, wood frame supporting pump; _c_,
open-top steam-cylinder 3 feet diameter, 8-feet stroke; _d_, piston
guide-wheel; _e_, connecting rod; _f_, fly-wheel; _g_, cranked axle
working air-pump bucket; _h_, connecting rod for air-pump bucket;
_i_, air-pump; _j_, condenser; _k_, steam and exhaust nozzles; _l_,
eccentrics working steam and exhaust valves; _m_, steam-pipe; _n_,
cylindrical boiler, with internal fire-tube; _o_, external brick flues;
_p_, chimney; _q_, feed-pump; _r_, feed-pipe; _s_, cup or rag-wheel;
_t_, rag-chain, with iron balls; _u_, pump-barrel, 3 feet diameter;
_v_, wheel guiding balls into bottom of pump-barrel; _w_, launder.
[Illustration: PLATE 15
TREVITHICK'S CHAIN AND BALL PUMP.
London: E. & F. N. Spon, 48, Charing Cross Kell Bro^s. Lith London
]
After a few successful though noisy trials, an alteration was made in
the endless chain and in the guide-roller near the pump bottom. An
amount of slack in the chain caused the balls to knock on passing this
roller before entering the pump bottom. A chain having long links or
bars of iron of uniform length, from ball to ball, jointed together
by cross-pins, was substituted for the short link chain, and passed
over a revolving hollow square frame at the bottom of the pump, in
place of the curved roller-guide in the drawing. Each of the four sides
of this square hollow frame was of the same length as the jointed link,
and the balls lay in the hollow of the frame without touching it,
contact being only on the links. The balls were thus guided directly
into the bottom of the pump on their upward course with a rigid chain,
and the swing and knocking was avoided. This pump was in principle the
traditional rag-and-chain pump of a hundred years before; yet no trace
of its use is met with during Trevithick's life in Cornwall. The early
pump had rag balls, in keeping with the mechanical ignorance of the
time, and suitable to man's power.
Trevithick's pump with iron balls raised "7200 gallons of water 10 feet
high in a minute with 1-1/2 lb. of coal,"[140] retaining all the original
simplicity of the earlier rag-pump, having uniform circular motion and
constant stream, without the use of a single valve. The engine and pump
are thus described by him:--
[Footnote 140: See letter, vol. ii., p. 332.]
"The first engine that will be finished here for Holland will be a
36-inch cylinder and a 36-inch water-pump, to lift water about 8 feet
high. On the crank-shaft there is a rag-head of 8 feet diameter, going
8 feet per second, with balls of 3 feet diameter passing through the
water-pump, which will lift about 100 tons of water per minute. It is
in an iron boat, 14 feet wide, 25 feet long, 6 feet high, so as to be
portable and pass from one spot to another without loss of time. This
will drain 18 inches deep of water (the annual produce on the surface
of each acre of land) in about twenty minutes; to drain each acre with
about a bushel of coal costing 6_d._ per year. The engine is high
pressure and condensing."[141]
[Footnote 141: See Trevithick's letter, vol. ii., p. 315.]
It was something like the Newcomen open-topped cylinder of a
hundred years before, but with a heavy piston, on the top of which
a guide-wheel equal in diameter to the cylinder turned on a pin, to
which the main connecting rod was jointed. The guide-wheel prevented
any tendency to twist the piston from the angular positions of the
connecting rod, and allowed the crank-shaft to be brought comparatively
near to the cylinder top. The boiler was cylindrical, of wrought iron,
with internal fire-tube and external brick flues; and gave steam of
about 40 lbs. on the inch above the atmosphere, which, acting under the
piston, caused the up-stroke, an expansive valve reducing the average
pressure in the cylinder by one-half. The down-stroke was made by the
atmospheric pressure of 14 lbs. on the inch, on the piston, its lower
side being in vacuum, together with the weight of the thick piston and
connecting rod, and the momentum of the revolving parts.
My readers must not suppose that this was an attempt to revive the
discarded Newcomen engine; the likeness was only apparent; its power
was mainly from the use of strong expansive steam, giving motion
in the up-stroke through a rigid connecting rod, with controlling
and equalizing crank and fly-wheel. It was not, as the Newcomen,[142]
dependent for its power on the atmospheric pressure; and having no
cylinder cover, or parallel motion, or beam, was not a Watt engine,
though it had the Watt air-pump and condenser.
[Footnote 142: See vol. i., p. 5.]
The Dolcoath engines continued to work with open-topped cylinders a
quarter of a century after the Watt patent; and when they had passed
away, many of Trevithick's high-pressure steam-engines retained the
same form of outline, but had neither cylinder covers, parallel
motion, air-pump, nor vacuum. The agricultural engines of 1813[143] and
the South American engines of 1816[144] had neither cylinder cover nor
any other part of the Watt engine, yet they successfully competed with
it in power, economy, and usefulness.
[Footnote 143: See vol. ii., p. 37.]
[Footnote 144: See vol. ii., p. 208.]
This design reveals a stumbling-block that superficial people fall
over. The boiler in the boat was surrounded by brick flues, while a
life-long claim of Trevithick's is that before his tubular boiler with
internal fire, there could not be a successful steamboat, because brick
flues were dangerous in sea-going vessels, but in an iron boat in
smooth water it answered its purpose without in any respect falsifying
Trevithick's former claims or plans.
The chain pumping machine was in an iron barge, the 36-inch diameter
pump fixed just outside the bow, its lower end a foot in the water;
its height of 8 or 9 feet enabled the water from the pump-head to
flow through launders over the banks of the lakes to be drained. Some
of the directors came to Hayle to see it work, and were well pleased
at the constant stream of water rushing from the foaming pump-head
into the launders. The large size of the rag-wheel gave the rapidly
revolving chain and balls a great speed. In passing through the pump
each ball forced upwards the water above it, and drew up after it the
following water; before any ball had passed out at the top of the pump
the following ball had entered its bottom. The directors having desired
the writer to take the engine to Holland and set it to work with the
least possible delay, adjourned for refreshment before starting for
London. In those few minutes differences arose, resulting in the engine
remaining for months in the barge, and then going to the scrap heap.
Years afterwards others acted on Trevithick's drainage ideas, and
Harvey and Co. built Cornish pumping engines with steam-cylinders 112
inches in diameter, similar in principle to the Dolcoath engine[145] of
1816, which effectually drained the Haarlem lake.
[Footnote 145: See vol. ii., p. 168.]
The Rhine during 100 years, in its passage through the low flat lands,
had by deposit raised the level of its waters 5 feet, threatening to
overflow the embankments and drown the surrounding country, that to a
large extent was at a lower level than the river. All drainage from
such land had to be pumped over the river bank, in many places 10 feet
above the cultivated surface. Windmills had been used as pumping power,
and a company had contemplated laying out 700,000_l._ in windmills and
canals for drainage.
If the surface water averaged 18 inches in depth yearly, Trevithick
could by steam-engines drain an acre of land by the consumption of
a bushel of coal yearly. Four engines with cylinder of 63 inches in
diameter would drain 160,000 acres, and four smaller engines in barges
with suitable apparatus were to cut canals and construct embankments.
The deposit of a hundred years was also to be removed, and the Rhine
deepened 6 feet for a breadth of 1000 yards, and a length of 50 or 60
miles, by steam-dredgers, as used twenty years before in deepening
the Thames,[146] to be fixed in iron ships of a thousand tons burthen.
The cost of dredging from the bed of the river into a barge would be
1_d._ per ton; but this would be more than repaid by making with it an
embankment, enclosing the Zuyder Zee, which would then in its turn be
drained and made pasture land.
[Footnote 146: See vol. i., p. 243.]
Before leaving for America he had reported on the best means of
improving St. Ives Bay.[147] Hayle Harbour was a branch of it, and
he now suggested to Mr. Henry Harvey methods for deepening and
improving it. A rival company of merchants and engineers, known then
as Sandys, Carne, and Vivian, after many fights had recourse to law
on the question of the course of a stream which had been changed by
alterations during the making of wharfs and channels for ships.
[Footnote 147: See vol. i., p. 343.]
Trevithick made a model in wood, movable layers of which indicated
changes of level caused by workmen at different periods, giving a
different course to the river bed. Mr. Harvey's counsel, since known
as Lord Abinger and Sir William Follett, complimented Trevithick on
the facility of understanding the case by reference to the model. The
writer having carried the surveying chain, was present at the trial at
the Bodmin assizes in 1829.
"MR. GILBERT, "HAYLE FOUNDRY, _September 14th, 1829._
"Sir,--I expected to have seen you before this, but am detained by Mr.
Harvey's attorney to settle the Foundry Quay. As I made the drawing
and model of the disputed ground, and was examined in evidence in
court, it was thought proper that I should be present at the time
that Mr. Peters came to determine the boundary line between the two
companies. This cannot be concluded for ten days.
"As I have been so long detained I wish to await your arrival in
Cornwall for the purpose of trying the new engine while you are down,
and will thank you to inform me when you intend to be with us.
"I remain, Sir,
"Your very humble servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK."
Erskine, who had expressed the opinion favourable to Trevithick's
engine more than twenty years before,[148] was in this trial the counsel
for the opposing side. The verdict was in favour of Mr. Harvey, or
Trevithick's side.
[Footnote 148: See vol. ii., p. 129.]
A former chapter[149] speaks of promises to pay certain savings by the
use of Trevithick's inventions prior to his leaving for America. The
United Mines refused to continue the payment, and on Mrs. Trevithick's
application to Mr. Davies Gilbert for advice he kindly wrote to the
Williamses, who managed those mines, and received the following reply:--
[Footnote 149: See vol. ii., p. 108.]
"DEAR SIR, "SCORRIER HOUSE, _November 14th, 1820_.
"... with regard to Mrs. Trevithick's claims for savings on engines at
the United Mines, there is much to be said.
"Before Mr. Trevithick went abroad he sold half the patent right
to William Sims, our engineer, who very strongly recommended that
two of the engines at the United Mines should be altered to what he
considered his patent principle, but the alterations proved very
inferior to his expectations, and to this circumstance I attribute
much of the objections in question. Mr. Henry Harvey has perhaps
told you who the partners are in the patent, and when you next come
into this county I shall be much pleased to wait on you at Tredrea
that you may hear the whole of the case; and though the United Mines
adventurers are far from being a united body, I am very sure my sons,
who are their managers, are desirous to recommend what appears to them
right, and they will with myself be obliged for your opinion after you
have heard the whole matter on both sides.
"Dear Sir,
"Yours very sincerely,
"JNO. WILLIAMS.
"DAVIES GILBERT, Esq., M.P."
The opinion of Mr. Williams' elder son, Michael, has been given.[150]
Some of the family were quakers. No further money payment for the
saving of fuel followed this carefully civil note, until Trevithick,
on his return from America, called at Scorrier House in a very
threatening attitude on 31st October, 1827, when Mr. Williams, sen.,
said his reason for not continuing the payment was from his belief that
the term of the patent had expired. Then came the following lawyer's
letter:--
[Footnote 150: See letter from Mr. Michael Williams, vol. ii., p. 109.]
"SIR, "PENZANCE, _7th November, 1827_.
"I was at Captain Trevithick's yesterday, who observed to me he saw
you at Scorrier a few days ago, and requested you would be good enough
to settle the arrears on the savings on some of the engines in the
mines for which you acted, none having been paid for a year or two,
when you stated that the payment had been discontinued on account of
the patent having expired. I find on a reference to the patent that it
will not expire till May, 1830.
"I am, Sir,
"Your obedient servant,
"RD. EDMONDS.
"JOHN WILLIAMS, Esq., _Scorrier_."
"SIR, "HAYLE, _January 24th, 1828_.
"Yesterday I called on Mr. Williams, and after a long dispute
brought the old man to agree to pay me 150_l._ on giving him an
indemnification in full from all demands on Treskerby and Wheal
Chance Mines in future. He requested that you should make out this
indemnification. I could not possibly get them to pay more, and
thought it most prudent to accept their offer rather than risk a
lawsuit with them.
"I remain, Sir,
"Your obedient servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK.
"RD. EDMONDS, Esq.
"Treskerby and Wheal Chance were, I believe, the only mines that
paid for the use of the pole patent. Mr. John Williams, sen., of
Scorrier, was purser of those mines. The agreement was that patentees
should have one-fourth part of the savings of coal above twenty-six
millions. The one-half of this fourth part from these two mines for
some years was about 150_l._ per annum. This did not relate to the
boilers; Trevithick unfortunately did not take out a patent for
that improvement. The adventurers of two or three mines only had the
honesty to pay 100_l._ for each mine; others made use of it without
acknowledgment.
"RD. EDMONDS.
"PENZANCE, _12th January, 1853_."
Such were the recollections of the family solicitor many years after
the events had passed. The cylindrical high-pressure steam boiler and
engine was really included in the patent of 1802; but frequent detail
changes, consequent on size and position and local requirements, were
made up to 1811, when a perfected form was arrived at, which is still
in use. In principle it was unaltered and not materially different in
form, but being used for larger engines, looked different. The inventor
saw nothing in this difference, but the public did, and in the absence
of the only man who could prove their error refused to pay on the plea
of its not being patented. On his return from America he demanded
1000_l._ from each of the large Cornish mines, as a settlement in full
for all benefits derived from the use of the Trevithick high-pressure
steam-boiler. He had proved the weakness of the law years before, when
three eminent counsel had given opinions on the 1802 patent, one of
them believing the patent good, because the principle contained was
new; two of them feared that similarity of details might invalidate
it:[151] so he determined to apply to the Government for remuneration for
benefits that might be called national.
[Footnote 151: See vol. ii, p. 129.]
"MR. RD. EDMONDS, "HAYLE, _December 20th, 1827_.
"Sir,--I send the principal heads of what you will have to put in
form to lay before the House. It is very defective; but you will
be assisted by Captain Andrew Vivian, who can give dates and
particulars, having been engaged with Mr. Gilbert and Captain Matthew
Moyle in making out the duty performed at that time by Boulton and
Watt and Hornblower's engines. He can also give you the results of the
late improvements, with much more information than I can give. I saw
him yesterday for this purpose; he will assist you with all his power,
and will call on you at Penzance on Friday or Saturday. As I shall
with pleasure pay him for his trouble, you need not fear calling on
him for what assistance you need.
"Mr. Gerard and I propose to leave this for London on Saturday. If you
think it necessary to see me, let Captain Vivian know it, and all meet
at my house. I have sent you one of the monthly reports, in which you
will see John Lean's report of Dolcoath engines, from which I have
given you in my statement the average results and savings.
"I remain, Sir,
"Your very humble servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK.
"P.S.--I was at Dolcoath account on Monday, and made known to them
my intention of applying to Government, and not to individuals, for
remuneration. They are ready to put their signatures to the petition,
and so will all the county. I fear that it is as much as we shall do
to get it before the House in time."
The following petition was drawn up and put into the hands of his old
friend Davies Gilbert, then a Member of Parliament:--
"TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
"The Humble Petition of Richard Trevithick, of the Parish of Saint
Erth, in the County of Cornwall, Civil Engineer, 27th February, 1828,
"SHEWETH:
"That this kingdom is indebted to your petitioner for some of the
most important improvements that have been made in the steam-engine,
for which your petitioner has not hitherto been remunerated, and for
which he has no prospect of being ever remunerated except through the
assistance of your Honourable House.
"That the duty performed by Messrs. Boulton and Watt's improved
steam-engines in 1798, as appears by a statement made by Davies
Gilbert, Esq., and other gentlemen associated for that purpose,
averaged only fourteen millions and half (pounds of water lifted 1
foot high by 1 bushel of coals), although a chosen engine of theirs,
under the most favourable circumstances, at Herland Mine lifted
twenty-seven millions,[152] which was the greatest duty ever performed
till your petitioner's improvements were adopted, since which the
greatest duty has been sixty-seven millions, being more than double
the former duty. That prior to the invention of your petitioner's
boiler the most striking defect observable in every steam-engine was
in the form of the boiler, which in shape resembled a tilted waggon,
the fire applied under it, and the whole surrounded with mason-work.
That such shaped boilers were incapable of supporting steam of a high
pressure, and did not admit so much of the water to the action of the
fire as your petitioner's boiler does, and were also in other respects
attended with many disadvantages.
[Footnote 152: See Mr. Taylor's report on Herland engine, vol. ii. p.
118.]
"That your petitioner, who had been for many years employed in making
steam-engines on the principle of Boulton and Watt, and had made
considerable improvements in their machinery, directed his attention
principally to the invention of a boiler which should be free from
these disadvantages; and after having devoted much of his time and
spent nearly all his property in the attainment of this object, he at
length succeeded in inventing and perfecting that which has since been
generally adopted throughout the kingdom.
"That your petitioner's invention consists principally in introducing
the fire into the midst of the boiler, and in making the boiler of a
cylindrical form, which is the form best adapted for sustaining the
pressure of high steam.
"That the following very important advantages are derived from
this, your petitioner's, invention. This boiler does not require
half of the materials, nor does it occupy half the space required
for any other boiler. No mason-work is necessary to encircle the
boiler. Accidents by fire can never occur, as the fire is entirely
surrounded by water, and greater duty can be performed by an engine
with this boiler, with less than half the fuel, than has ever been
accomplished by any engine without it. These great advantages render
this small and portable boiler not only superior to all others used
in mining and manufacturing, but likewise is the only one which can
be used with success in steam-vessels or steam-engine carriages. The
boilers in use prior to your petitioner's invention could never with
any degree of safety or convenience be used for steam navigation,
because they required a protection of brick and mason work around
them, to confine the fire by which they were encircled, and it would
have been impossible, independent of the great additional bulk and
weight, that boilers thus constructed could withstand the rolling of
vessels in heavy seas; and notwithstanding every precaution the danger
of the fire bursting through the brick and mason work could never be
effectually guarded against.
"That had it not been for this, your petitioner's, invention, those
vast improvements which have been made in the use of steam could not
have taken place, inasmuch as none of the old boilers could have
withstood a pressure of above 6 lbs. to the inch, much less a pressure
of 60 lbs. to the inch, or even of above 150 lbs. to the inch when
necessary.
"That as soon as your petitioner had brought his invention into
general use in Cornwall, and had proved to the public its immense
utility, he was obliged in 1816 to leave England for South America
to superintend extensive silver mines in Peru, from whence he did
not return until October last. That at the time of your petitioner's
departure the old boilers were falling rapidly into disuse, and when
he returned he found they had been generally replaced by those of his
invention, and that the saving of coals occasioned thereby during that
period amounted in Cornwall alone to above 500,000_l._[153]
[Footnote 153: See Lean's report, vol. ii., p. 175.]
"That the engines in Cornwall, in which county the steam-engines used
are more powerful than those used in any other part of the kingdom,
have now your petitioner's improved boilers, and it appears from
the monthly reports that these engines, which in 1798 averaged only
fourteen and half millions now average three times that duty with the
same quantity of coals, making a saving to Cornwall alone of 2,781,264
bushels of coals, or about 100,000_l._ per annum. And the engines
at the Consolidated Mines in November, 1827, performed sixty-seven
millions, being forty millions more than had been performed by Boulton
and Watt's chosen engine at Herland, as before stated.
"That had it not been for your petitioner's invention, the greater
number of the Cornish mines, which produce nearly 2,000,000_l._ per
annum, must have been abandoned in consequence of the enormous expense
attendant on the engines previously in use.
"That your petitioner has also invented the iron stowage water-tanks
and iron buoys now in general use in His Majesty's navy, and with
merchant's ships.
"That twenty years ago your petitioner likewise invented the
steam-carriage, and carried it into general use on iron railroads.
"That your petitioner is the inventor of high-pressure steam-engines,
and also of water-pressure engines now in general use.
"That his high-pressure steam-engines work without condensing water,
an improvement essentially necessary to portable steam-engines, and
where condensing water cannot be procured.
"That all the inventions above alluded to have proved of immense
national utility, but your petitioner has not been reimbursed the
money he has expended in perfecting his inventions. That your
petitioner has a wife and large family who are not provided for.
"That Parliament granted to Messrs. Boulton and Watt, after the
expiration of their patent for fourteen years, an extension of their
privileges as patentees for an additional period, whereby they gained,
as your petitioner has been informed, above 200,000_l._
"That your petitioner therefore trusts that these his own important
inventions and improvements will not be suffered to go unrewarded
by the English nation, particularly as he has hitherto received no
compensation for the loss himself and his family have sustained by his
having thus consumed his property for the public benefit.
"Your petitioner therefore most humbly prays that your Honourable
House will be pleased to take his case into consideration, and to
grant him such remuneration or relief as to your Honourable House
shall seem meet.
"And your petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.
"RD. EDMONDS,
"_Solicitor, Penzance_."
From the Patent Office to the House of Commons was, for a petitioner,
as bad as out of the frying-pan into the fire. Trevithick solicited the
support of Members of Parliament until tired of running after friends,
and the petition became a dead letter, though the mining interests
of Cornwall had in twelve years saved 500,000_l._ by his unrewarded
inventions.
"LAUDERDALE HOUSE, HIGHGATE, _December 24th, 1831_.
"MR. GILBERT,
"Sir,--I find that Mr. Spring Rice cannot get the Lords of the
Treasury to agree to remunerate or assist me in any way. He appeared
to be much disappointed, and said that he would write to the Admiralty
Board on Thursday last, recommending them to adopt this engine. As yet
I have heard nothing respecting it, nor do I expect to during the holy
days; but in the interim I wish to look out for some moneyed man to
join in it, otherwise I fear I shall lose the whole. Can you assist in
recommending anyone you know? I wish Mr. Thompson would come into it,
he would be a good man. Can you furnish me with a copy of your report
to Mr. Spring Rice, or something relating thereto? It would be a great
assistance in getting some one to join.
"The sum required is small, and the risk is less; but the prospect is
great, beyond anything I ever knew offered on such easy terms. Waiting
your reply,
"I remain, Sir,
"Your very humble servant,
"RICHARD TREVITHICK."
"DEAR TREVITHICK, "EASTBOURNE, _December 26th, 1831_.
"I am sorry to find that you have not any prospect of assistance from
Government. I have not any copy or memorandum of my letter to Mr.
Spring Rice; but it was to the effect of first bearing testimony to
the large share that you have had in almost all the improvements on
Mr. Watt's engine, which have altogether about trebled its power; to
your having made a travelling engine twenty-eight years ago; of your
having invented the iron-tanks for carrying water on board ships, &c.
"I then went on to state that the great defect in all steam-engines
seemed to be the loss, by condensation, of all the heat rendered
latent in the conversion of water into steam; that high-pressure
engines owed their advantages mainly to a reduction of the relative
temperatures of this latent heat; that I had long wished to see the
plan of a differential engine tried, in which the temperatures and
consequently elasticities of the fluid might be varied on the opposite
sides of the piston, without condensation; that the engine you have
now constructed promised to effect that object; and that, in the
event of its succeeding at all, although it might not be applicable
to the drawing water out of mines, yet that for steam-vessels and
for steam-carriages its obvious advantages would be of the greatest
importance; and I ended by saying that although it was clearly
impossible for me to ensure the success of any plan till it had been
actually proved by experiment, yet judging theoretically, and also
from the imperfect trial exhibited on the Thames, I thought it well
worthy of being pursued. Your plan unquestionably must be to associate
some one with you (as Mr. Watt did Mr. Boulton), and I certainly think
it a very fair speculation for any such person as Mr. Boulton to
undertake.
"It is impossible for me to point out any individual, as never having
had the slightest connection with trade or with manufacture in any
part of my life, I am entirely unacquainted with mercantile concerns.
I cannot, however, but conjecture that you should make a fair and full
estimate of what would be the expense of making a decisive experiment
on a scale sufficiently large to remove all doubt; and that your
proposal should be, that anyone willing to incur that expense should,
in the event of success, be entitled to a certain share of your
patent. On such conditions some man of property may perhaps be found
who would undertake the risk; and if the experiment proves successful,
he will be sure to use every exertion afterwards for his own sake.
With every wish for your success,
"Believe me,
"Yours very sincerely and faithfully,
"DAVIES GILBERT."
The petition to Parliament for a national payment for national gains,
so hopefully taken up on his return from America, when experience had
proved the value of his inventions, after four weary years of deferred
expectation, was consigned to the tomb of forgetfulness.
Compare the petition of 1828 with a modern report.
"Prior to the invention of your petitioner's boiler, the most striking
defect observable in every steam-engine was in the form of the boiler
which in shape resembled a tilted wagon; your petitioner's invention
consists principally in introducing the fire into the midst of the
boiler, and in making the boiler of a cylindrical form, which is the
form best adapted for sustaining the pressure of high steam, and does
not require half of the materials, nor does it occupy half the space
required for any other boiler, and greater duty can be performed by
an engine with this boiler with less than half the fuel, than by any
engine without it, and is the only one that can be used with success
in steam-vessels, as none of the old boilers could have withstood a
pressure of above 6 lbs. on the inch, much less a pressure of 60 lbs.
or even of 150 lbs. when necessary."
A report of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in 1871 states, "by
placing compound engines in the 'Tasmania,' they had reduced the
consumption of coal to one-half the former quantity, doubled her
capacity for freight, and increased her speed."[154] Presuming that the
compound engines of the 'Tasmania' are like other engines known by that
name, having high-pressure steam in a comparatively small cylinder from
which it expands in a larger one, tubular boilers, surface condensers,
and screw-propeller, the saving admitted in the 'Tasmania' is just what
Trevithick's petition pointed out forty-three years ago--to lessen
by one-half the weight, space, and fuel in marine steam-engines--his
opinion being founded on the experience of a lifetime, for as early
as 1804 he wrote on the question of compound engines, "I think one
cylinder partly filled with steam would do equally as well as two
cylinders;"[155] and again in 1816, describing expansion, "The engine
is now working with 60 lbs. of steam, three-quarters of the stroke
expansive, and ends with the steam rather under atmosphere strong;"[156]
and in the same year worked the expansive compound engine at
Treskerby.[157]
[Footnote 154: See 'The Times,' October 26th, 1871, Half-yearly Report of
the Chairman.]
[Footnote 155: See vol. ii., p. 134.]
[Footnote 156: See vol. ii., p. 91.]
[Footnote 157: See vol. ii., p. 104.]