Chap. 8.]

Their first Engine.

465

and Newcomen had not lived. The spirit of inquiry that was abroad intheir days, and the number of ingenious men engaged in devising meansto employ steam as a motive agent, would assuredly have soon brought itinto use. Indeed, every improvement in the apphcation of steam seemsto have been always perceived by some Contemporary projectors, amongwhom the contest of maturing it was, as in a race, one of speed. “ Watt[observes Prof. Renwick] found a competitor in Gainsborough, and but afew weeks would have placed Stevens on the very eminence where Fultonnow Stands.” The circumstances of the times, the increase of English manufactures, and the general want of some Substitute for animal labor,were all then favorable to the introduction of the steam-engine. “ Hadthe mines of Cornwall been still wrought near the surface, Savery orNew-comen would hardly have found a vent for their engines. Had not themanufacturers of England been wanting in labor-saving rnachinery, thedouble-acting engine of Watt would have been suited to no useful appli-cation. A very few years earlier than the voyage of Fulton [to Albany]the Hudson could not have furnished trade or travdl to Support a steamboat, and the Mississippi was in possession of dispersed hordes of savages.”

No. 196. Newcomen and Cawley’s Engine. A. D. 1705.

L

The above figure will sufficiently explain the principles and Operationof Newcomen and Cawley’s first engine ; and, when compared with those

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