A Description and a Draught of a New-Invented Machine

Published by [1860], 1860

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Seller: Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA, London, United KingdomMaggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA

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Hardcover

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for carrying Vessels or Ships Out of, or Into any Harbour, Port, or River, against Wind and Tide, or in a Calm. For which, HIs Majesty has Granted Letters Patent, for the Sole Benefit of the Author, for the Space of Fourteen Years. Small 4to. Limited Edition Facsimile Reprint. Folding frontispiece. Light browning, otherwise very good in half red skiver on marbled boards by Rivière, a little rubbed at the extremities. 48pp. N.p. [?London], n.d., As explained in a MS note on the first blank this is one of a Limited Edition of thirty-nine copies, this being one of twelve Small 4to. on "old paper", the rest 12mo. "size of the original edition". "Hulls is remembered principally for having patented the application of the atmospheric steam engine to marine propulsion. A communication from M. de Quet on mechanical propulsion of ships, published in 1734 in Volume VI of the Abridgement of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, may have spurred Hulls to attempt to apply the Newcomen engine for this purpose. The means to do so eluded him until a neighbour at nearby Batsford Park, Mr. Freeman, contributed about £160 to finance a patent application, granted to Hulls on 21 December 1736. As was required by the grant, Hulls published within three months [the present work]. He proposed a stern-wheeled paddle towboat carrying a boiler coupled to a vertical steam cylinder. Atmospheric pressure depressed a piston towards the bottom of the cylinder when the steam beneath it was suddenly condensed. Through a linkage of ropes over pulleys, this movement turned an adjacent layshaft and simultaneously raised a counterweight, the subsequent descent of which reversed the rotation of the layshaft as fresh steam was admitted beneath the piston. Friction ratchets on the layshaft converted this alternating motion to continuous rotation of the adjacent paddle-shaft mounted on a framework over the stern. When the water was sufficiently shallow, Hulls proposed to employ a pair of mechanical quanting poles operated by the same alternating motion. No conclusive evidence has survived to substantiate the tradition that Hulls experimented with such a vessel on the Avon at Evesham. Had his pamphlet provoked serious trial of his scheme history would certainly have noted it, but the intermittent motion of the Newcomen engine made it fundamentally unsuitable for continuous propulsion, whether on land or water." [ODNB]   Inscribed beneath limitation note, "No.5 Large Paper Copy, Robt. Napier Esqr. with Mr. J. Sheepshanks's Compts. Oct. 27 1860". Napier's bookplate to the front pastedown, together with that of the Scott Collection, Scott Catalogue No. 238. Sheepshanks is best remembered as a patron of British artists, forming a large collection commissioning works from such as Turner, Constable, Landseer, Roberts and Wilkie. He presented his collection to the nation in 1857. The highly suitable recipient, Robert Napier, was a marine engineer remembered as the "father of Clyde shipbuilding".…

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Bibliographic details

Title
A Description and a Draught of a New-Invented Machine
Author
HULLS (Jonathan)
Publisher
[1860]
Publication year
1860
Binding
Hardcover

Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA

London, United Kingdom

5-star seller

AbeBooks seller since May 15, 2015

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Store description

Established in 1853, Maggs Brothers is one of the world's oldest antiquarian booksellers still operating today. We sell books worldwide through the internet as well as from our regularly published catalogues, and we are delighted to welcome customers to our two premises in Bloomsbury and Mayfair.

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Travel Books, illustrated books, Illuminated manuscripts and miniatures, Bookbindings, Continental books including incunabula, Fine printing, Autographs and Manuscripts, English-language literature of all periods, books of the Far East including Japanese photobooks

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Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA, BA

Maggs Bros. Ltd., 48 Bedford Square
London, United Kingdom WC1B 3DR