421
Chap. 5.:
and to Papin and Savery at the close. Perhaps it will be said, nitre wasnot made in England at that time, and therefore Ramseye could not havetaken the hint from such works; and that the Suggestion could only havebeen derived from a long practical experience in them, which he probablynever had. This may be true, and it is not improbable that he was merelyan agent in the business, having by his influence at court obtained thepatent for his own as well as the inventor’s benefit. The clause attachedto the 8th de vice, “ not in use withinÄs hingdome ,” implies that they werenot all of English origin. But whatever were the origin and details of thosefor raising water, it is clear that the subject of steam was then abroad inthe world, and ingenious men in various parts of Europe were exercisingtheir wits to employ it.
It appears to us from the caption of Ramseye’s patent, that No. 2 (raisingwater by fire) was not the first thing of the kind proposed in England,since if it were he would have said so, as well as of No. 8, (softening ironand copper)—and this further appears from what he remarks of No. 7,“ raising water from low places, mynes and coal pitts,” probably an im-provement upon No. 2, and differing from all previous applications ofsteam for the purpose ; hence we are told that it was a “ new waie,” one“never yet in use.” Had not steam therefore been previously applied toraise water, it is exceedingly probable that he would have attached a simi-lar remark to No. 2.
The Treatise on Art and Nature, mentioned page 321, is the oldestEnglish book we have met with that illustratesthe raising of water by steam with a cut. Theannexed figure is from page 30. It possiblymay have been deduced from the one given byDecaus, (No. 185) but we should thinknot;since, although the volume is a Compilation, andtwo thirds of it taken up with “ water-works,”there is nothing except this from which to infereven the slightest acquaintance with Decaus’sbook. It seems to have been copied withoutalteration from some other author. It is named“A conceited a Lamp, having the Image of a cocksitting on the top, out of whose mouth by theheat of the lamp either water or ayer may besent.” The device consists of an eolipile con-taining water and heated by a lamp of severalwicks. The image of the bird is hollow, andcommunicates by a species of three-way cockwith the steam, and also with a pipe that de-scends into the liquid; so that when the bird isturneö round tili an opening in the moveabledisk to which its lower part is attached coin-cides with another which communicates withthe steam in the upper part of the vessel, vaporissues from the mouth; and when it is turned tili the upper orifice of thepipe corresponds with the opening in the disk, then hot water is drivenout; and when the opening in the disk does not coincide with either,nothing can escape. After observing that an opening with a proper Stop-per should be made in the vessel, to charge it with water, the writer con-
No. 189. A. D. 1633—4.
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