



Produced by Richard Tonsing, Dave Morgan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net






[Illustration:

  PLATE I.

  THE GREAT WHEEL IN ACTION.
]




                       DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS

                                 OF THE

                           NINETEENTH CENTURY


              Who saw what ferns and palms were pressed
              Under the tumbling mountain’s breast,
              In the safe herbal of the coal?
              But when the quarried means were piled,
              All is waste and worthless, till
              Arrives the wise selecting Will,
              And, out of slime and chaos, Wit
              Draws the threads of fair and fit.
              Then temples rose, and towns, and marts,
              The shop of toil, the hall of arts;
              Then flew the sail across the seas
              To feed the North from tropic trees;
              The storm-wind wove, the torrent span,
              Where they were bid the rivers ran;
              New slaves fulfilled the poet’s dream,
              Galvanic wire, strong-shouldered steam.

                                                  EMERSON.




                       DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS
                                 OF THE
                           NINETEENTH CENTURY


                                   BY

                        ROBERT ROUTLEDGE, B.Sc.,
 SOMETIME ASSISTANT EXAMINER IN CHEMISTRY AND IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY TO
                        THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON


                           THIRTEENTH EDITION
             REVISED AND PARTLY RE-WRITTEN, WITH ADDITIONS


          CONTAINING FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS


                                 LONDON
                   GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED
                         BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
                                  1900




                                PREFACE.


In the following pages an attempt has been made to present a popular
account of remarkable discoveries and inventions which distinguish the
XIXth century. They distinguish it not merely in comparison with any
previous century, but in comparison with all the centuries that have
preceded, in regard to far-reaching intellectual acquisitions, and to
material achievements, which together have profoundly affected our ways
of thinking and our habits of life. In the latter, the enormously
increased facilities of locomotion and international communication due
to railways and steam navigation have wrought the greatest changes.
These inventions depending primarily upon that of the steam engine, this
first claims our notice, although properly assignable to a period
preceding our era by a few years. Again, much of our material
advancement is connected with improvements in the manufacture of iron
and its applications in the form of steel, which have been especially
the work of the last half of the century. So great has been the progress
in this department, that for the present edition it has been found
necessary to re-write altogether the article devoted to it. Our social
conditions have also been greatly modified by the celerity of verbal
intercourse afforded by the telegraph and the telephone, and these
inventions have received appropriate notice in this work. In every
branch of science also we have reason to be proud of the discoveries our
era can claim, for they vastly excel in number and are not inferior in
range to those of all the ages taken together. From so large a field,
selection was of course necessary; and the instances selected have been
those which appeared to some extent typical, or those which seemed to
have the most direct bearing on the general advance of our time. The
topics comprise chiefly those great applications of mechanical
engineering and arts, and of physical and chemical science, in which
every intelligent person feels concerned; while some articles are
devoted to certain purely scientific discoveries that have excited
general interest.

The author has aimed at giving a concise but clear description of the
several subjects; and that without assuming on the part of the reader
any knowledge not usually possessed by young persons of either sex who
have received an ordinary education. The design has been to treat the
subjects as familiarly as might be consistent with a desire to impart
real information; while the popular character of the book has not been
considered a reason for regarding accuracy as unnecessary. On the
contrary, pains have been taken to consult the best authorities; and it
is only because the sources of information to which the author is under
obligation are so many, that he cannot acknowledge them in detail.

The present edition has been revised throughout, and such changes have
been made as were required to bring the matter into accordance with the
progress that has taken place since this book was first published in
1876. But details given in the former editions have at the same time
been retained where they served to indicate the successive stages of
improvement. It would, for example, be impossible in a section on steam
navigation, to omit some notice of the _Great Eastern_, and therefore
the drawings and the account of the construction of that remarkable ship
that appeared in the first edition, have been left with but slight
alterations in the present volume, although the vessel has since been
broken up. On the other hand, two sections are devoted to projects which
the XIXth century has not seen realised; but the XXth century will in
all probability shortly witness the completion of one or other of the
great canal schemes; and if the first submarine tunnel is destined not
to be one connecting England with the Continent, it will be one uniting
Great Britain with her sister isle.

      1899.

                  *       *       *       *       *

For permission to make use of illustrations in this volume the author’s
and publishers’ thanks are due to the several proprietors of _The
Graphic_ (for Plates I., XI., and XII.)—of _The Engineer_ (for sketch
design of the Great Wheel, map and views of the Tower Bridge)—of _The
Scientific American_ (map of North Sea Canal); also to Mr. Walter B.
Basset (for Plate V.)—to “The Cassier Magazine Company” (for Edison’s
Kinetographic Theatre and the Hotchkiss Gun)—to “The Century Company”
(for portrait of M. Tesla, from a photograph by Sarony)—to “The
Incandescent Gas Light Company” (for cuts of burners, etc.)—to _The
Engineering Magazine_, and _The Engineering News_, both of New York—to
the Remington Company—to Mr. W. W. Greener, of Birmingham (for cuts of
rifles, etc., from his comprehensive book on “The Gun”)—to _The
Photogram_, Limited—to the Proprietors of _Nature_—to the Linotype
Company—and to Captains Hadcock and Lloyd (for illustrations of modern
artillery from their great work on the subject).




                               CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE

 INTRODUCTION                                                          1

 STEAM ENGINES                                                         3
     THE LOCOMOTIVE                                                   14
     PORTABLE ENGINES                                                 24
     THE STEAM HAMMER                                                 25

 IRON                                                                 29
     IRON IN ARCHITECTURE                                             72
     BIG WHEELS                                                       81

 TOOLS                                                                85
     THE BLANCHARD LATHE                                              96
     SAWING MACHINES                                                  98

 RAILWAYS                                                            101
     THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS                                       114
     THE PACIFIC RAILWAY                                             116
     INCLINED RAILWAYS                                               125

 STEAM NAVIGATION                                                    129
     RIVER AND LAKE STEAMBOATS OF AMERICA                            144

 SHIPS OF WAR                                                        149

 FIRE-ARMS                                                           169
     THE MILITARY RIFLE                                              178
     RIFLED CANNON                                                   190
     MACHINE GUNS                                                    218

 TORPEDOES                                                           227

 SHIP CANALS                                                         249
     THE SUEZ CANAL                                                  251
     THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL                                       262
     THE NORTH SEA CANAL                                             271
     THE PANAMA AND NICARAGUA CANAL PROJECTS                         272

 IRON BRIDGES                                                        276
     GIRDER BRIDGES                                                  280
     SUSPENSION BRIDGES                                              284
     CANTILEVER BRIDGES                                              291
     THE TOWER BRIDGE, LONDON                                        297
     THE GREAT BROOKLYN BRIDGE                                       303

 PRINTING MACHINES                                                   305
     LETTERPRESS PRINTING                                            306
     PATTERN PRINTING                                                321

 HYDRAULIC POWER                                                     324

 PNEUMATIC DISPATCH                                                  340

 ROCK BORING                                                         349
     THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL                                           351
     ROCK-DRILLING MACHINES                                          355
     THE CHANNEL TUNNEL                                              364
     THE ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY                                         371

 LIGHT                                                               380
     SOME PHENOMENA OF LIGHT                                         382
     VELOCITY OF LIGHT                                               384
     REFLECTION OF LIGHT                                             388
     REFRACTION                                                      397
     DOUBLE REFRACTION AND POLARISATION                              399
     CAUSE OF LIGHT AND COLOUR                                       408

 THE SPECTROSCOPE                                                    416
     CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS                                 436

 ROENTGEN’S X RAYS                                                   445

 SIGHT                                                               452
     THE EYE                                                         454
     VISUAL IMPRESSIONS                                              468

 ELECTRICITY                                                         481
     ELEMENTARY PHENOMENA OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM               483
     THEORY OF ELECTRICITY                                           487
     ELECTRIC INDUCTION                                              488
     DYNAMICAL ELECTRICITY                                           490
     INDUCED CURRENTS                                                502
     MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY                                             507
     THE GRAMME MAGNETO-ELECTRIC MACHINE                             511
     ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND ELECTRIC POWER                            519
     THE NEW ELECTRICITY                                             538

 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH                                              547
     TELEGRAPHIC INSTRUMENTS                                         553
     TELEGRAPHIC LINES                                               572
     THE TELEPHONE                                                   581

 LIGHTHOUSES                                                         593

 PHOTOGRAPHY                                                         607
     PHOTOGRAPHY IN COLOURS                                          630

 PRINTING PROCESSES                                                  632
     STEREOTYPING                                                    632
     LITHOGRAPHY                                                     636
     OTHER PROCESSES                                                 640
     THE LINOTYPE MACHINE                                            645

 RECORDING INSTRUMENTS                                               653
     THE PHONOGRAPH                                                  665

 AQUARIA                                                             675
     THE CRYSTAL PALACE AQUARIUM                                     677
     THE BRIGHTON AQUARIUM                                           682

 GOLD AND DIAMONDS                                                   687
     GOLD                                                            687
     DIAMONDS                                                        696

 NEW METALS                                                          714

 INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA                                       724
     INDIA-RUBBER                                                    724
     GUTTA-PERCHA                                                    728

 ANÆSTHETICS                                                         731

 EXPLOSIVES                                                          740

 MINERAL COMBUSTIBLES                                                751
     COAL                                                            751
     PETROLEUM                                                       757
     PARAFFIN                                                        761

 COAL-GAS                                                            764

 COAL-TAR COLOURS                                                    781

 THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF THE AGE                                   801

 NOTES                                                               811

 INDEX                                                               813




                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


           FIG.                                                     PAGE

                Heading—Rain, Steam, and Speed (after Turner)          1

             1. Portrait of James Watt                                 3

             2. Newcomen’s Steam Engine                                4

             3. Watt’s Double-action Steam Engine                      5

             4. Governor and Throttle-Valve                            6

          4_a_. Watt’s Parallel Motion                                 8

             5. Slide Valve                                            9

             6. Section of Gifford’s Injector                         11

             7. Bourdon’s Pressure Gauge                              12

             8. Steam Generator                                       13

             9. Section of Locomotive                                 15

            10. Stephenson’s Link Motion                              17

         10_a_. G. N. R. Express Passenger Locomotive                 19

         10_b_. Joy’s Valve Gear                                      20

            11. Locomotive after Explosion                            22

            12. Hancock’s Steam Omnibus                               22

            13. Nasmyth’s Steam Hammer                                27

            14. Merryweather’s Steam Fire-Engine                      28

            15. A Foundry                                             29

            16. Aerolite in the British Museum                        31

            17. Blast Furnace                                         41

            18. Section and Plan of Blast Furnace (obsolete type)     42

            19. Section of a Reverberatory Furnace                    45

            20. Fibrous Fracture of Wrought Iron                      47

            21. Cup and Cone                                          49

            22. Section of Blast Furnace                              51

            23. Experiments at Baxter House                           58

            24. Bessemer Converter                                    63

            25. Model of Bessemer Steel Apparatus                     65

            26. Section of Regenerative