The Steam Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated With an historical sketch of its invention and progressive improvement; its applications to navigation and railways; with plain axioms for railway speculators

CHAPTER I.

Chapter 189 wordsPublic domain

PRELIMINARY MATTER.

Motion the Agent in Manufactures. -- Animal Power. -- Power depending on physical Phenomena. -- Purpose of a Machine. -- Prime Mover. -- Mechanical qualities of the Atmosphere. -- Its Weight. -- The Barometer. -- Fluid Pressure. -- Pressure of rarefied Air. -- Elasticity of Air. -- Bellows. -- Effects of Heat. -- Thermometer. -- Method of making one. -- Freezing and Boiling Points. -- Degrees. -- Dilatation of bodies. -- Liquefaction and Solidification. -- Vaporisation and Condensation. -- Latent Heat of Steam. -- Expansion of Water in Evaporating. -- Effects of Repulsion and Cohesion. -- Effect of Pressure upon Boiling Point. -- Formation of a Vacuum by Condensation. Page 17