Book Description

Excerpt from The Model Engineer's Handybook: A Practical Manual on Model Steam Engines The modern engine, which now claims our attention, is the result of numerous successive improvements. The application of steam as a motive power was probably originally made by Hero, who, 150 D.C., constructed, or at least described, an Eolipile. This was a hollow sphere, with hollow bent arms attached; water was placed inside the Sphere and heated when steam generated, it issued from the arms and caused the Sphere to rotate, by reacting on the air. A model of this, the primogenitor of the modern steam-engine, can be bought at many opticians' shops for about one shilling, and in the streets of London for one penny. The first known practical application of steam to perform useful work was made by Thomas Savery, in 1698, who ar ranged what was then called a fire-engin e, to raise water to a height of about 19 feet. Savery's engine acted on the principle of the barometer; the water was forced upwards by atmospheric pressure into an empty receiver, and was after wards carried higher by steam pressure. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.