Difference between revisions of "Humphrey Potter"
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1689-1718. Brother of John (b. c.1687) and [[Isaac Potter]] ((1690–1735). Nephew of Humphrey Potter of Bromsgrove, who was known to fellow Baptist [[Thomas Newcomen]]. | |||
An oft-repeated story claims that a boy named Humphrey Potter, charged with operating the valves on a Newcomen engine, installed a simple system to automatically open and close the valves. The story seems to have originated with Dr John Theophilus Desaguliers. He wrote:- | |||
'They used before to work with a Buoy in the Cylinder inclos’d in a pipe, which Buoy rose when the Steam was strong, and open’d the Injection, and made a Stroke *; thereby they were only capable of giving six, eight, or ten Strokes in a minute, ’till a Boy, Humphry Potter, who attended the Engine, added (what he call’d a Scoggan) a Catch that the Beam Q always open’d: and then it would go 15 or 16 Strokes in a Minute.' ‘Scoggan 1713’ was added in the margin. | |||
Humphrey Potter was involved with early Newcomen engines, but he was not a boy in 1713, being 24. James Greener suggests that the date 1713 likely refers to the obsolescence of the buoy rather than the invention of the scoggan. | |||
1717 Humphrey and Isaac Potter sailed to Venice in June to assemble a 'fire engine' at Anguillara. Humphrey drowned there seven months later. | |||
The above information is largely drawn from a Newcomen Society Paprer by James Greener<ref>James Greener (2018) The First and Third Engines, The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 88:1, 80-111, DOI: 10.1080/17581206.2018.1525881 </ref> | |||
== See Also == | == See Also == | ||
Revision as of 12:45, 9 January 2020
1689-1718. Brother of John (b. c.1687) and Isaac Potter ((1690–1735). Nephew of Humphrey Potter of Bromsgrove, who was known to fellow Baptist Thomas Newcomen.
An oft-repeated story claims that a boy named Humphrey Potter, charged with operating the valves on a Newcomen engine, installed a simple system to automatically open and close the valves. The story seems to have originated with Dr John Theophilus Desaguliers. He wrote:-
'They used before to work with a Buoy in the Cylinder inclos’d in a pipe, which Buoy rose when the Steam was strong, and open’d the Injection, and made a Stroke *; thereby they were only capable of giving six, eight, or ten Strokes in a minute, ’till a Boy, Humphry Potter, who attended the Engine, added (what he call’d a Scoggan) a Catch that the Beam Q always open’d: and then it would go 15 or 16 Strokes in a Minute.' ‘Scoggan 1713’ was added in the margin.
Humphrey Potter was involved with early Newcomen engines, but he was not a boy in 1713, being 24. James Greener suggests that the date 1713 likely refers to the obsolescence of the buoy rather than the invention of the scoggan.
1717 Humphrey and Isaac Potter sailed to Venice in June to assemble a 'fire engine' at Anguillara. Humphrey drowned there seven months later.
The above information is largely drawn from a Newcomen Society Paprer by James Greener[1]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ James Greener (2018) The First and Third Engines, The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 88:1, 80-111, DOI: 10.1080/17581206.2018.1525881