THE CENTENARY OF STEAM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1727, 29 December 1887, Page 3

THE CENTENARY OF STEAM.

••New York Times."

&0f all the inventions of ancient omodem timei Hone have more ini^rtantly or bentficently Influenced the affairs of mankind tbam tbe doub'eaotfng high-pressure steam engine, tbe locomotive, the steam railway sjretem, and the steamboat, all of whloh inventions are of American origin. The first three are directly and the last indirectly associated with a patent that wag granted by the State of Maryland m 1787, being the very year of tbe framing of tbe Con- 1 •titntlon of the United States. In view j of the momeiitous nature of the services' which these four inventions have rendered to the material and national Interests of the people of the United States, it ia to be hoped that neither they nor their origin will be forgotten m the coming celebration of the csntennlal of the framing of tbe Constitution. The high-pressure Bteam engine m its stationary form is almost ouiquitons m"• America. lo all great Iron and steel works, In all factories, m all plants for Hshiiog cities with electricity, m brief, wherever m the United Sutes great power In compact form is wanted, there will be found the highpressure steam engine furnithitig all the power that is required, and more, too, If more is demanded, became it appears to be equal to every human requisition. Bat go beyond America. Go to l-reat Britain, and the American steam engine •—although It ii not termed American In Great Britain — will be fonnd fast anperseding tbe English engine — m other words, James Watt's condensing engine. It is tha same the world over. On all the earth there is not a steam looomotive that could turn a wheel but for the faot that, In common with every Iceomotive from the earliest introduction of that invention, it Jb simply the American Bteam engine pat on wheels, and it was first pat on wheels by Us American inventor, Oliver Evans, being the same Oliver Evani to' whom the Stats of Maryland ((ranted tbe before mentioned patent of 1787.

He is the same OHver Evans whom Elijah Galloway, the British writer on the steam engine, compared with Janus Watt as to the authorship of the locomotfre, or rather " steam carriage," as the locomotive was m those days termed After showing the unfitnesa of Mr Watt's low-pressure steam engine for locomotive purposes, Mr Galloway, mere than fifty years ago, wrote : — *' We have made theae remarks m this place la order to set at rest the title of Mr Watt to the invention of steam carriages, and taking for our role that ibe partj who first attempted them m practice by meohanioal arrangements of fall own is entitled to the reputation of belDg their Inventor. Mr Oliver Evans, of Amerioa, appears to as to be the person to whom that honor is due." He is .the same Oliver Evans whom the 'Mechanics' Magtzine' of London, the landing journal of its kind at that period, bad m mind whea, m its Dumber of September, 1830, it published the official leport of the competitive trial between the steam carriages Bcoket, Fan Parlel, Novelty, acd others on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. In that trial the Company's engine developed about fifteen milea.in on hour and spurts of sti'l higher speed. Tfce " Magezine " points to the results of the trial, and then, under the heading of ' The Firat Projeotor of Steam Travelling," it declares that all that bad been accomplished bad been anticipated and Us feasibility practically exemplified over a quarter of a centnry before by Oliver Evans, an Americen citizen. The "Magazine" showed that many years | before tha trial Mr Evans had offered to famish steam oarrlages that on level xailwsye ahoald run at the rats of 300 miles m ft day, or he would not ask pay therefor. Tha writer will state that this ofor by Mr Grans was made m November, 1812, at which date not « British steam carriage bad yet accomplished seven miles In an hoar,

In 1809 Mr Evan* endeavored to establish a steam railway both for freight and passenger traffic between New Y'-rk and Phllade'pbla, offering to invest BCOdol per mile m the enterprise. At the date of his effort there was not a railway m the world over ten miles long, nor dtea there appear to have bean another hatnan being who op to that date bad entertained even the tnotigbt of a steam railway for passenger and fre.'ght traffic In view of all tbfi, is it at all surprising that the British * Mechanics' Mr.gszloe' declared Oliver Evans, an American, to be tbe first; projector cf ste»m railway travelling f In 1804 Mr Evans made a most noteworthy demonstration, his objeot being to practically exemplify that locomotion oonld be imparted by his high-pro»are steam ■engine* to both carriages and boats, and -the reader will see that tbe date of the demonstration was three years before Fulton moved a boat by means of Watt's lowpressure steam engine. The machine used involved the original dooblo-acling high-pressure steam engine, tbe original steam locomotive, and the original highpressure steamboat. The whole mass weighed over twenty tons. Notwlthjitandiog there was no railway, except a temporary one laid over a slough m the pat ft, Mr Evans's engine moved this great weight with ease from the south-east corner of Ninth and Market streota, m the city of Philadelphia, one and a-half miles to the River Rchojlkill. There the machine was launohed into the river, and the land wheels being taken eff and a paddle-wheel attached to the stern and connected with the engine, the new steamboat aped awiy down tbe river until It emptied into tbe Dataware, whence it turned upward until it reached Philadelphia. Although this strati ge etaf t was eqoare both at bow and ntorn it nevertheless passed the up-bound ships and other sailing vessels m tho river, the -wind being to them ahead. Tbe writer repeats that this thorough demonstration by Oliver Evans o£, the poßaiblUty of navigation by steam was made three years before Fulton. Bat for more than a quarter of a century prior to this demonstration Mr Evans had tiaie and again asserted that vessels could be thus navigated. He did not contend with John Pitch, but on tbs contraiy, tried to aid hfro, and advised him to use other means than oars to propel his boat. Bat Fitch was wedded to his own methods. In 3805 Mr Evans published a book on tbe steam engine, mainly devoted to its form thereof. la

tbla book he gives directions bow to propel boati by means of his engine against the current of the Mississippi, Prior to this publication be associated himself with some «Jtfjjenß of Kentucky — one of whom orse the grandfather of the present General Oraaneey M'Koever, United State! Army — the pojrpoeea being to build « steamboat to ran on the Mississfppl. The boat was actually built m Kentucky and floated to New Orlesns. The engine was bailt m Philadelphia by Mr Evans, sod sent tD New Orleans, bat before the engine arrived out the boat was destroyed by fire or hurricane. The engins then put to sawing timber, and 4t operated so succefafolly that Mr Stackhouee, the engineer who went out with it, reported on bis return from the South that for the thirteen months prior ' to his leaving the engine had been constantly at work, cot having Jost a single . day.

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