Part 2 (1/2)

Several s the trial, for the machine could not be completely controlled, but it was considered on the whole to be fairly successful and worthy of further attention The suggestion was made that provided it could be ht be used to drag cannon into the field instead of using horses for that purpose Consequently, Cugnot was ordered by the Duc de Choiseul, Minister of War, to proceed with the construction of an improved and more powerful machine This vehicle, which was finished in 1770, cost twenty thousand livres It was in two parts, a wagon and an engine The wagon was carried on theels and had a seat for the steers-wheel in front of the wagon The two parts were united by aof the fore part, was actuated by spur gearing on the upright steersman's shaft in close proximity to the seat, by e to turn in either direction, at an angle of frorees In front was a round copper boiler, having a furnace inside, two s brass cylinders co with the boiler by the stea-wheel, ratchet wheels were fixed, and as one of the pistons descended, the piston-rod drew a crank, the pawl of which, working into the ratchet-wheel, caused the driving-wheel to , the same movement placed the piston on the other side in a position fora stroke, and turned the four-way cock, so as to open the second cylinder to the steam and the first cylinder to the at the leading wheel tothe first piston to its original position In order to run the vehicle backwards, the paasthe position of the spring which pressed upon it; then, when the engine was started, the pawl caused the driving-wheel to turn a quarter of a revolution in the opposite direction with every stroke of the piston

This uished assembly, that included the Duc de Choiseul; General Gribeauval, First Inspector-General of Artillery; the Compte de Saxe, and others

Subsequently, other trials of it were enerally The heavy over-balancing weight of the engine and boiler in front rendered it difficult to control On one of its trips it ran into a wall in turning a corner and was partly wrecked Further experiments with it were abandoned, and in 1800 it was deposited in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metier, Paris, where it still re lost his not's public services were considered to entitle hiave him a pension of six hundred livres, but the French Revolution co on, he was deprived even of that pittance, and he lived in abject e was then in the arsenal, and a revolutionary con of terror, tried to take it out and reduce it to scrap, but was driven off When Napoleon came to the throne, he restored the pension and increased it to one thousand livres

In addition to his inventions, Cugnot wrote several works on military art and fortification

WILLIAM MURDOCK

Born in Bellow Mill, near Old cuust 21, 1754 Died at Sycamore Hill, November 15, 1839

Murdock was the son of John Murdoch, a ht up to his father's trade, helping to build and put up mill machinery A curious production of the father and son, at this period, was a wooden horse, worked byMurdock traveled about the country When he enty-three years of age he entered the e firhout his active life

Watt recognized in hiarded On his part he devoted himself unreservedly to the interests of his employers In 1777 he was sent to Cornwall to look after the puines set up by the fir period he lived at Redruth For soineer and superintendent at the Soho foundry While living at Redruth, in 1792, he began a series of experiases of coal, wood, peat, and other substances, and in 1799 put up a gas- apparatus at Soho In 1803 he fitted the Soho factory with a gas-lighting system Other inventions that are credited to hiine, athe force of coun

[Illustration: WILLIAM MURDOCK]

His early training and all his surroundings naturally and inevitably interested Murdock in the subject of steaan to experiress is shown in a letter that Thoent in Cornwall of Boulton & Watt, wrote to his e, ”William Murdock desires ine of three-quarter-inch diameter and one and one-half inch stroke, that he has applied to a sly” He had made and run this model in 1784, and it is still in existence, and in the possession of the Messrs

Richard and George Tangye, England

This h-pressure principle, and ran on three wheels, the single front one for steering The vertical boiler, nearly over the rear axle, was heated by a spirit-lah The axle was cranked in the middle and turned by a rod connected to a bea from the top of the cylinder Yet it developed considerable speed It is interesting to note that the use of the crank for converting the reciprocating ine into rotary was patented by Pickard in 1780, and Murdock's was probably its first application to self-propelled carriages

The first experiine was made in Murdock's house at Redruth, when the locole wheel, placed in front of the engine, fixed in such a position as to enable it to run round a circle

Dr S story concerning this machine He says: ”Another experih the engine was, it fairly outran the speed of its inventor One night, after returning from his duties at the mine at Redruth, Murdock ith histo the church, about a ht and level Having lit the laine with the inventor after it Shortly after he heard distant shouts of terror It was too dark to perceive objects, but he found, on following up the machine, that the cries had proceeded fro the walk, hadand fiery little monster, which he declared he took to be the Evil One in propria persona!”

But Murdock was too useful a man to Boulton & Watt to be allowed to have free rein, and his inclination toward steah it would appear Watt thought the roads of that time an insurmountable obstacle to the development of road vehicles, and wanted Murdock to devote his time toto Watt from Truro, in Septeet a patent on a new model, and how he persuaded hie that was afterward shown as able to travel freely around a roos upon it His was probably the first high-pressure steah only a small model, it did its proportionate ell

Watt continued to oppose Murdock's scheested that he should be allowed an advance of five hundred dollars to enable him to prosecute his experiine capable of drawing a post chaise, carrying two passengers and the driver, at four ested that he should be taken as partner into the locomotive business, for which Boulton and Watt were to provide the necessary capital This proposition was never carried out Again, in 1786, Watt said: ”I wish Williaht to do as we do, to ton and Sadler throay their ti shadows” Murdock continued to speculate about steam locomotion on common roads, but never carried his ideas further He retired from the employment of Boulton & Watt in 1830, and practically retired from all work at the same time

Murdock seems to have had a very clear idea of the possibilities of steam propulsion on the coht well have been expected to have solved the problem in 1796 quite as completely as his successors did in 1835 But he was a quarter of a century ahead of the time Even the moderate public interest that existed later on had not manifested itself at all in his day and the condition of the English highways offered almost insuperable obstacles to steam vehicular travel

Personally his lack of self-assertiveness and his feeling of dependence upon Boulton and Watt also held hiators pointing the way for others

OLIVER EVANS

Born in 1755 or 1756, in Newport, Del Died in Philadelphia, April 21, 1819

Little has been preserved respecting the early history of Oliver Evans, who has been aptly styled ”The Watt of A people, and he had only an ordinary coe of fourteen he was apprenticed to a right or wagonht tis in the fireplace

While yet an apprentice his attention was turned to the subject of propelling land carriages without aniard to steah his experi hiscard-teeth by hand, and in connection therewith developed several labor-saving improvements He also invented improvements in the construction of machinery of flour mills that effected a complete revolution in the manufacture of flour These improvements consisted of the elevator, the conveyor, the hopper-boy, the drill and the descender, which various machines were applied in different mills so as to perforrain andof fully one-half in the labor ofthe flour better These improvements were not accepted by theyears before he could finally persuade the manufacturers of the utility of his inventions In the end, however, he lived to see his inventions generally introduced, and he profited largely thereby

[Illustration: OLIVER EVANS]