Today, a contemporary look at power technology, 170 years ago.
The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this
series about the machines that make our civilization run, and
the people whose ingenuity created them. The Rev. Dionysius
Lardner wrote technical handbooks in the early 1800s. His
Popular Lectures on the Steam Engine came out in 1828 -- about
40 years after James Watt had developed his new steam engine.
Lardner's book rapidly went through a series of English and
American editions. By 1836 he was dealing with everything from
the availability of coal to rules for railway investors. So what
do you suppose Lardner had to say about the impact of the new
engines? He showed some real vision, but he combined it with the
same optimistic short-sightedness we see all around us today. He
began by dramatizing the new engines. He said: In a [recent]
report it was announced that a steam engine ... erected ... in
Cornwall, had raised 125 millions of pounds, 1 foot high, with a
bushel of coals. ... T