Watt's invention of the separate condenser, 1765; Watt's first patent, 1769; Watt's first working engine introduced into a manufactory, 1775; first steam engine erected in Ireland, 1791; first steamboat run on the Hudson, 1797; first steamboat abroad, 1801.
First regular steamboat ever run was from Albany to New York. The name of the boat was the North River, her builder was Robert Fulton, and she made the passage in 33 hours.
The first railroad was built in England, in 1811.
The first ocean steamer was the Savannah, an American craft of 350 tons, which sailed from New York for Liverpool, July 15, 1819, making the voyage in 26 days.
Such were the early beginnings of steam.
There are three principal kinds of engineers, locomotive, steamboat and stationary.
In this little book we propose to deal mainly with the duties of a locomotive engineer.
If one is a good locomotive engineer he can easily learn to manage the engine of a steamboat; and if he is skilled in either of these particulars he will have no difficulty with the biggest stationary engine ever built.
