The
machine of Savery was the best of all; but that was only a somewhat
improved and manageable rearrangement of the engines of Papin and
Worcester. And, after all, Papin, the greatest man of science perhaps
of his time, died in poverty; Worcester languished in prison his whole
life, and the later efforts of his widow brought nothing by way of a
return for his invention; nor did either they or their successor,
Morland, make the introduction of the engine either general or
remunerative.
Savery, coming on the stage at more nearly the right time to seize
upon an opportunity, gained more than either of his predecessors; but
we have no evidence that he ever acquired any large compensation or
met with any remarkable business success in the introduction of the
rude engine which bore his name; nor did Desaguliers, the great
philosopher, or even Smeaton, the great engineer, of the later years
of that century, make any great success of it. It was reserved for
Watt to reap the harvest. But, though he so effectively reaped where
his predecessors had sown, Watt is not the greatest of the inventors
of the steam engine, if we rate his standing by the magnitude of the
improvement which marked his reconstruction of the engine.
It was NEWCOMEN who made the modern steam engine.
When Newcomen came forward the labors of Worcester in Great Britain
had sufficed to attract the attention of all intelligent men to the
character of the problem to be solved, and to convince them of its
importance and promise.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114