ΤΟ

WILLIAM HASLEDINE PEPYS, Esq.

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL AND LINNEAN SOCIETIES; A VICEPRESIDENT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, OF THE

ASTRONOMICAL SO

CIETY, &c. &c. AND HON. SECRETARY OF THE LONDON

INSTITUTION:

As a Tribute of Respect for his high Scientific Attainments, and liberal encouragement of Philosophical Learning; this Historical Account of one of the most valuable applications of Science to the Arts and Manufactures of a great Commercial Nation, is, with his permission, respectfully inscribed,

By his much obliged,

and faithful humble Servant,

CHARLES FREDERICK PARTINGTON.

The principal object to be attained by the employment of the Steam Engine, as well as every other species of machinery, being the reduction of animal labour, it may be advisable, before we proceed to the more immediate subject of the present work, to compare the various species of artificial power that have hitherto been employed for that purpose; and by this method we may be enabled to calculate with certainty and precision, on the most economical mode of producing a given force. To form, however, an accurate estimate of the saving thus effected, it will be necessary to examine, though but briefly, the amount of animal force and its result as applied to machinery.

From the most accurate observations, it appears, that the physical powers of the human race differ very widely, not only in various individuals, but also in different climates; the value of a man therefore, as a working machine, will not be so great beneath the torrid zone as in the more temperate climate of Europe. This will serve to illustrate the great advantage which our Colonists, particularly in the West Indies, would derive from the more general employment of inanimate force; the day labour of a negro in the

sugar

countries, amounting to little more than onethird of that performed by an European mechanic.

A labourer working ten hours per day, can raise in one minute a weight equivalent to 3750 pounds one foot high, or about sixty cubic feet of water in the same time; while the power of a horse working eight hours per day, may be correctly averaged at 20,000 pounds. Smeaton states, that this animal, by means of pumps, can raise two hundred and fifty hogsheads of water ten feet high in an hour. It is a well known fact, also, that men when trained to running, are able on the average of several days being taken, to outstrip the fleetest horse; and yet it will be seen from the above statement, that his force, if properly applied, is at least six times that of the most powerful man.

The use of water as an impelling power, both for the turning of machinery and other purposes connected with the useful arts, appears to have been known at a very early period. Vitruvius describes a variety of machines for this purpose, the earliest of which were employed merely to raise a portion of the fluid by which they were impelled. The

most simple method of applying this element as a mechanical agent, evidently consisted in the construction of a wheel, the periphery of which was composed of a number of floatboards. This, on being exposed to the action of a running stream, was afterwards employed to give motion to a variety of mills, and is at the present time employed in almost every species of machinery.

Among the most celebrated hydraulic machines, we may enumerate the Machine of Marly, This, when first constructed, appears to have produced one-eighth of the power expended, so that seven-eighths of its power were usually lost. This misapplied power has been injurious to the engine; and the wear it has occasioned, has reduced the mechanical effect very materially. But this may be considered as an extreme case, and we select it merely as an instance of that total ignorance of the first principles of mechanics, which characterized some foreign engineers of the last century.

It may, however, be advisable to examine the ratio of power expended in comparison with that of the effect produced in some of the most simple hydraulic machines; and by