The Steam Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated

The Steam Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated is a book by the Rev. Dionysius Lardner, with an historical sketch of its invention and progressive improvement, its applications to navigation and railways, and plain maxims for railway speculators. The book carries additions and notes by James Renwick, professor of natural experimental philosophy and chemistry in Columbia College, New York. The text describes a single cylinder in which steam was introduced alternately above and below the piston, being at the same time withdrawn by the condenser at the opposite side.

The text says that in the United States, where steam navigation had its origin, less objection was felt to the use of high-pressure engines. The text says that the limited bulk, small original cost, and simplicity of structure of high-pressure engines strongly recommended them, more especially for the purposes of river navigation. The text says the original type of nearly all the engines used in steam navigation was that constructed at Soho by Watt and Bolton for Mr. Fulton, and first used by him upon the Hudson river. The text says a column of water, whose base is one square inch, and whose height is 34 feet, weighs about 15lbs.