One ton of engine to-day does the
work of eight or ten in the time of Watt: one pound of fuel or of
steam gives to-day ten times the power then obtained from it. A
steamship now crosses the Atlantic in one-eighth the time required by
the famous "liner" of the "Black Ball Line." The wastes of the engine
have been brought down from above eighty per cent. to eight; and a
half-ounce of fuel on board ship will now transport a ton of cargo
over a mile of ocean.
FREDERICK E. SICKELS gave us the first practicable form of expansion
gear in 1841; GEORGE H. CORLISS gave a new type of engine of marvelous
perfection and economy in 1849; Noble T. Green, Wm. Wright and many
less well known but no less meritorious inventors have since done
their part in the transformation of the old engine of Watt into the
modern wonder of concentrated and economical power, and marvel of
accurate and beautiful design and workmanship. The "trip cut-off,"
with reduced clearances, increased boiler pressure, higher rates of
expansion, accelerated speeds of engine, better construction in all
respects, as well as improved design, have enabled us to avail
ourselves to the utmost of the principles of Watt, and our mills, our
railways, our steamers and our fields, even, have gained almost as
extraordinarily by these advances, since the days of the great
inventor, as through his immediate labors.
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