Light Steam Archive -- Books

Light Steam Archive --Books

The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria from the original Greek, translated for and edited by Bennet

Woodcroft. London, Taylor Walton and Maberly, 1851. 111 pages, about 50 illustrations. Written about

AD300. First book describing a steam engine.

Account of Blasco de Garay's 1543 steamship.

          Henry Dircks, The Life, Times and Scientific Labors of [Edward Somerset] the Second Marquis of
        Worcester, to which is added, a reprint of his Century of Inventions, 1663. London, 1865. 558 pp. The
          reprinted Century of Inventions and comments, about 220 pages, are the good bits of this. The rest can
          certainly be done, if anyone is interested in the English Civil War. [

Thomas Savery, The Miners Friend, or an Engine to Raise Water by Fire, London 1702.

          Mårten Triewald, Beskrifning om eld- och luftmachin vid Dannemora grufvor (A Short Description of the
          Fire- and Air- Machine at the Dannemora Mines.), Stockholm, 1734. English translation. Triewald worked
          in Britain before returning to build the first steam engine in Sweden. 60 pages, one illustration. Includes
          some biographical material.

Thomas H. Marshall, James Watt (1736-1819), London, 1925, Leonard Parsons Ltd.

Robert Hart, Reminiscences of James Watt, Glasgow, 1859. Contributed by John W. Stephens.

John Lord, Capital and Steam Power 1750-1800 London, 1923. 242 pages. Good history of the
economic aspects of the early steam engine. [

Francis B. Stevens, "The First Steam Screw Propellors to Navigate the Waters of any Country," The
Stevens Indicator, 10 (April 1893), pp. 101-129.

H.W. Dickinson, Robert Fulton: Engineer and Artist, his life and works. London, 1913. 327 pp including
some pictures and tables. Parts are fairly technical.

Thompson Westcott, The Life of John Fitch, inventor of the steamboat Philadelphia, 1857. 415 pages,
about 10 engravings.

Oliver Evans, The Abortion of the Young Steam Engineer's Guide, 1805. 139 pages, tables and
illustrations.

          Sadi Carnot, Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power,
          Translated by R.H. Thurston, New York, 1890. 260 pages, including 1 picture, tables, formulas, and
          supplementary material. Carnot's work was originally published in 1824 and, although long ignored, forms
          the scientific basis of modern thermodynamics. Very important book.

Dionisyus Lardner, The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated; with an account of its invention and progressive

improvement, and its application to Navigation and Railways; including also a Memoir of Watt. 7th edition,

London, 1840. 522 pages, many illustrations. Written for a popular audience, but very complete. [Tanveer

Rahman (Chapter 13,14); Fatima Rahmetullah (Appendix)]

          Robert H. Thurston, A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine New York, 1878. 490 pages, 147
          illustrations and 15 portraits. Thurston was a prominent engineer, and the book is well written. [Jacob Ben
          Efron, David Drahms]

Robert H. Thurston, Robert Fulton: his life and its results, New York, 1891. 192 pages, about 10-15
pictures. Thurston was himself a prominent steam engineer.

Andrew Carnegie, James Watt. New York, 1905. 241 pages. Carnegie was a very successful capitalist.

William H. Brown, The History of Locomotives in America, 1871,

Sir Charles Parsons, The Steam Turbine, Cambridge, 1911. 57 pages, about 40 pictures and technical
drawings. Parsons was largely responsible for the commercial success of the steam turbine.