442
Moreland’s
[Book IV.
his secretary, at the house of the latter, on some state business timt requiredthe utmost secrecy. It was not tili the matter had beeil opened that theProtector becaine aware of a third person being in the room, when he issaid to have drawn his dagger, and would have dispatched the supposedintruder, had not Thurloe guaranteed silence on the part of his sleepingattendant. This was Samuel Moreland , the inventor of the plunger pump.He was then employed by and in the confidence of the secretary, and wasasleep, or affected to be so, during the interview. On this or some otheroccasion, he overheard the discussion of a plan to take off the exiled king;to whom he disclosed the whole, and was rewarded with a title at therestoration.
It is not known when Moreland first turned his attention to mechanics:probably not tili the restoration. As a favorite of Charles II , and a groomof the privy chamber, he must often have met Worcester at court; whilefrom their congenial habits and pursuits as mechanicians, they were mostlikely on familiär terms with each other. As master of mechanics to theking, Moreland was no doubt one of those who visited and examined themachine erected by Worcester at Vauxhall, and as a matter of course heoften perused the Century of Inventions. He has not however had theingenuousness to mention any of these things ; but notwithstanding this, \vecannot believe so far as his applications of steam are concerned, that he wasnot indebted either to the machine itself, to the Century, or to personal in-tercourse with Worcester , and probably to them all. The first invention ofMoreland thatwe hear of is the pump that he patented in 1675, and on which,according to one writer, he had previously spent twelve years. This carriesthe date back to about 1663, the year in which the Century was published.It is not at all unlikely that this famous pamphlet first indueed Moreland (as well as manv others) to turn his attention to mechanical discoveries,and furnished him with materials to work upon. In the manuscript volumepresented by him to the French king in 1683, (see page 273) and nowpreserved in the British museum, there is a very short chapter on fire orsteam engines, of which the following is a translation :—
“ The Principles of the new Force of Fire, invented by the Chevalier More-land, in the year 1682, and presented to his most Christian Majesty, 1683.
“ Water being evaporated by the force of fire, these vapors immediatelyrequire a greater space (about two thousand times) than the water occu-pied before, and too forcible to be always imprisoned, will burst a pieceof cannon. But being governed according to the rules of statics, and re-duced by Science to measure, weight and balance, then they will peace-ably carry their bürden, (like good horses) and thus become of great useto mankind ; particularly to raise water according to the following table,which shows the number of pounds which can be raised 1800 times perhour to six inches in height, by cylinders half filled with water, as wellas the different diameters and depths of those cylinders :—
CYLINDERS.
Diameter in Feet.
l -
Length in Feet.
- 2
Pounds weight to beraised.
- 15
2 -
-
- 4
-
-
- 120
3 -
-
- 6
-
-
- 405
4 -
_
- 8
-
-
- 960
5 -
-
- 10
-
-
- 1875
6 -
-
- 12
-
-
- 3240