Page:Inland Transit - Cundy - 1834.djvu/57

 place, is to relieve the piston from all resistance to the moving power. This renders it unnecessary to use steam of a very high pressure, inasmuch as it will have no resistance to overcome, except the friction of the piston with the cylinder, and the ordinary resistance of the load which it may have to move. Engines constructed upon this principle, not requiring, therefore, steam of a great pressure, have been generally called 'low-pressure engines.' The re-conversion of the steam into water requires a constant and abundant supply of cold water, and a fit apparatus for carrying away the water which becomes heated, in cooling the steam, and for supplying its place by a fresh quantity of cold water. It is obvious, that such an apparatus is incompatible with great simplicity and lightness, nor can it be applied to cases where the engine is worked under circumstances in which a fresh supply of water cannot be had.

The re-conversion of steam into water, or, as it is technically called, the condensation of steam, is, however, by no means necessary to the effective operation of a steam-engine. From what has been above said, it will be understood that this effect relieves the piston of a part of the resistance which is opposed to its motion. If that part of the resistance were not removed, the pressure of steam acting upon the other side would be affected in no other way than by having a greater load or resistance to overcome; and, if at pressure were proportionately increased, the effective power of the machine would remain the same. It follows, therefore, that if the steam upon that side of the piston towards which the motion is made were not condensed or expelled, the steam urging the piston forwards on the other side would require to have a degree of intensity greater than the steam in a low