I had also an order from Elliott Brothers of London, to prepare a new and enlarged edition of the pamphlet descriptive of the Richards Indicator. I determined to make this a comprehensive book, embracing new information required by the steam engineer, so far as I knew it. This was published simultaneously in London and New York in the summer of 1874.
I was enabled also to turn to account the report of the experiments of M. Regnault, which I had been at so much trouble to get, and with the help of English authorities to prepare and embody in this book Tables of the Properties of Saturated Steam, which the American Society of Mechanical Engineers honored me by adopting as its standard.
I felt warranted in giving to this edition an amended title, as follows: “A treatise on the Richards Steam Engine Indicator, and the Development and Application of Force in the Steam Engine.”
This also was a job requiring much time and undivided application. It is needless to say that without this long and entire rest from business neither of these tasks could have been undertaken.
I found in the Astor Library a remarkable old book, entitled “Canon triangulorum,” published at Frankfurt in 1612, containing a Table of Natural Trigonometrical Functions, computed for every minute of arc, and extended to the fifteenth place of decimals. The column of versed sines enabled me to prepare tables exhibiting the rates of acceleration and retardation of the motion of a piston controlled by a crank, neglecting the effect of the angular vibration of the connecting-rod. This effect was afterwards shown separately. For my treatment of this subject, I must refer the reader to the book itself.
A little incident in connection with this work, which made a deep impression on my mind, and has since afforded me some food for reflection, seems worth relating. The printing was done in London, and I did not see the proof, so I had to take especial pains with the copy, having no opportunity to revise it. I was living in Harlem, and at one time having no suitable envelope for mailing, and none being obtainable there, I took a Third Avenue horse-car for an eight-mile ride down to the New York post office, intending to get some envelopes at a stationery store on Beekman Street, and mail the portion of the copy which I then had ready at the general post office. I had hardly taken my seat when Mr. Allen got into the car. He was living in Mott Haven, and I had not seen him for a long time. Besides ourselves the car was nearly if not quite empty. He came and sat down by me, and I opened my copy and read to him something in which I knew he would be interested. He said to me, in his gentle way, “You would not express it exactly that way, would you?” On the instant it flashed on my mind that I had made a stupid blunder, and I replied, “I guess I wouldn’t,” and, thanking him for calling my attention to it, I left the car, and returned home and corrected it. I have quite forgotten what the point was, and if I remembered it, I would not tell. But I have often asked myself who sent Mr. Allen there, saving me from publishing a mortifying blunder. I expect some sweet spirit will tell me before long.
The Prototype of the Modern High-speed Engine, Fly-wheel Side.
The Prototype of the Modern High-speed Engine, Crank Side.