Oliver Evans
Oliver Evans | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | April 15, 1819 New York City, New York, USA | (aged 63)
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Inventor, engineer |
Spouses | Sarah Tomlinson
(m. 1783–1816)Hetty Ward (m. 1818–1819) |
Children | 7 |
Signature | |
Oliver Evans (September 13, 1755 – April 15, 1819) was an American inventor, engineer, and businessman born in rural
Born in
Evans was a visionary who produced designs and ideas far ahead of their time. He was the first to describe vapor-compression refrigeration and propose a design for the first refrigerator in 1805, but it would be three decades until his colleague Jacob Perkins would be able to construct a working example. Similarly, he drew up designs for a solar boiler, machine gun, steam-carriage gearshift, dough-kneading machine, perpetual baking oven, marine salvage process, quadruple-effect evaporator, and a scheme for urban gas lighting, ideas and designs which would not be made reality until some time after his death. Evans had influential backers and political allies, but lacked social graces and was disliked by many of his peers. Disappointed and then angry at the perceived lack of recognition for his contributions, Evans became combative and bitter in later years, which damaged his reputation and left him isolated. Despite the importance of his work, his contributions were frequently overlooked (or attributed to others after his death) so he never became a household name alongside the other steam pioneers of his era.
Early life, 1755–83
Oliver Evans was born in Newport, Delaware on September 13, 1755, to Charles and Ann Stalcop Evans. His father was a cordwainer by trade, though he purchased a large farm to the north of Newport on the Red Clay Creek and moved his family there when Oliver was still in his infancy.[1] Oliver was the fifth of twelve children; he had four sisters and seven brothers.[2] Little else is known of Evans's early life, and surviving records provide few details as to his formative years. The nature and location of his early education have not been preserved, however, his literacy was demonstrably strong from a young age, both as a writer and an avid reader on technical subjects.[3] Aged 17, Evans was apprenticed to a wheelwright and wagon-maker in Newport. An anecdote from the period recalls that his master, an illiterate and extremely frugal man, forbade Evans the use of candles to illuminate his reading in the evenings. Evans found another way by collecting scraps and shavings of wood from his work during the day to serve as fuel for small fires.[4] The Revolutionary War began when Evans was 19. He enlisted in a Delaware militia company but saw no active service during the war.[3]
By the age of 22, Evans moved out of wheel-making and became a specialist in forming the fine wire used in textile cards, which was used to comb fibers in preparation for the spinning process to make thread or yarn. A desire to increase the efficiency of this process led him to his first invention—a machine that would bend wire into teeth and cut them off rapidly to aid the assembly of cards.[5] George Latimer, then a justice of the peace in Newport, saw its potential and tasked a blacksmith with creating the machine, which became one of Evans's early successes when it was introduced in 1778. Evans wished to go further in mechanizing the production of textile cards by developing a machine that could puncture the leather into which the wire teeth were inserted. His invention greatly speeded the card manufacturing process, producing around 1,500 teeth every minute, though Evans himself was unable to find financial backing to commercialize his invention.[3] Nevertheless, over the next two decades card manufacturing innovations inspired by Evans led to the development of automated textile card production, then in great demand due to the growth of the Southern cotton industry. Early pioneers of mechanized textile-card production, including Giles Richards and Amos Whittemore, are thought to have borrowed heavily from his original designs.[6]
Evans also began experimenting in this period with
Developing the automatic flour mill, 1783–90
Evans's attention turned to
In 1783, two of Evans's brothers began building a mill in Newport on part of the family's farm estate which they purchased from their father, and Evans was recruited to oversee its construction on the Red Clay Creek. When the mill opened in 1785 it was of a conventional design, but over the next five years, Evans began to experiment with inventions to reduce the reliance upon labor for milling. Moving wheat from the bottom to the top of the mill to begin the process was the most onerous task of all in contemporary mills. Evans's first innovation was a
Despite their technical complexity, neither device was revolutionary by the standards of the time. However, the total vision of their design was. Evans was attempting a radical shift in thinking about the manufacturing process, treating it as a continuous integrated whole rather than a series of isolated processes. Thus, manufacturing could be a fully automated production line. The missing link was materials handling, and Evans's mill designs sought to feed materials continuously through a system without the need for any human intervention. This was the first fully automated industrial process,[17][18] and the idea of continuous production was proved to be a critical ingredient of the industrial revolution, and would ultimately lay the foundation for modern mass production.[19][20]
Constructing the machinery to realize this vision was complicated. Evans struggled to find the money to pay the highly skilled carpenters needed to construct his complex machines.
Evans lacked patience, however, and coupled with a prickly disposition, was prone to display frustration and bewilderment towards those who could not immediately see the value of his ideas. His ideas and designs were often far ahead of their time, and the idea of a fully automated production process was difficult for contemporaries to comprehend. Evans recalled when some Brandywine millers happened to visit the Red Clay Creek mill in the early years of its operation after it was fully automated. He was alone at the mill that day and making hay in a nearby field, and purposely stayed out of sight so his visitors could observe the mill running independently without human supervision. Evans then appeared and at great length explained how the feat they witnessed was possible, and was convinced that the chance visit would bring about a breakthrough with the Brandywine millers. However, he was frustrated at reports that the millers returned to Wilmington and reported that the Evans mill was "a set of rattletraps, unworthy the notice of any man of sense".[25] Disinterest continued even after Evans convinced a Brandywine miller to have his mill converted.[B]
After years of persistence and attempts at marketing, Evans's designs were finally given a trial on larger scales and adopted elsewhere. A breakthrough came in 1789 when the Ellicotts, a progressively minded Quaker family in
Writer and merchant, 1790–1801
Having secured
His early years in Philadelphia though were dominated by writing. Initially, Evans intended to write a pamphlet to assist millers in the construction of milling machinery, as well as promote his own automated designs. However, Evans became so engrossed in the project that he ultimately devoted several years to writing a comprehensive book on milling technology that included long chapters on the basic principles of
The guide's list of subscribers was topped by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolph when the first edition appeared in print in 1795.[36] The book proved very popular and remained a staple manual for millers for over half a century, undergoing several revisions and fifteen printed editions between 1795 and 1860. The book's popularity rested on its detailed practical explanations of mill design and construction, and as the principal guidebook for American milling it would not be superseded until after the Civil War.[37]
After the publication of the Guide, Evans concentrated on his work as a milling supply merchant and gaining financial security through licensing his patented designs. With enough millers now using Evans's machinery, adoption began to accelerate rapidly after 1800, as did his considerable wealth from the license fees.
Developing the high-pressure steam engine, 1801–06
Steam engines appeared in the United States as a source of power in the late 18th century, and living in Delaware and Philadelphia meant Evans was exposed to early examples of their application there. John Fitch had launched the first rudimentary steamboat onto the Delaware River in the late 1780s,[41] and the Philadelphia waterworks was by 1802 operating two low-pressure steam engines to pump water from the Schuylkill River, but these were rare examples and most instances of this new technology were to be found in Europe.[42] Much of the development of steam power had occurred in Great Britain, with Thomas Newcomen and James Watt instrumental in developing and commercializing steam power there and elsewhere in Europe, with several hundred of machines operating there in industrial and labor-saving applications by 1800.[43]
Evans had first begun to consider the potential applications of steam power for transportation while still an apprentice in the 1780s, and had developed rudimentary designs for 'steam carriages' in the 1790s. In 1801, Evans definitively began work on making his long-held dream of a steam carriage a reality,[44] although British engineers such as Richard Trevithick had already begun work on such ideas. Other early steam engineers, most notably Watt contemporary, William Murdoch, had developed plans for a steam-propelled carriage incorporating a heavy flywheel, in which pressure was converted directly to rotary power, however it became apparent in experimentation that a low-pressure, rotary steam engine would never be powerful enough to propel a carriage of any weight forward.[45] Evans's attention thus turned to a reciprocating engine, not only for his steam carriage ideas, but also for industrial application. Importantly, Evans became an early proponent, like Trevithick, of 'strong steam' or high-pressure engines, an idea long resisted by Watt and earlier steam pioneers because the necessary iron making and metal working technology was lacking in America. Evans recognized that a high-pressure steam engine would be essential to the development of a steam carriage because they could be built far smaller while providing similar or greater power outputs to low-pressure equivalents.[46] Some experiments with high-pressure steam engines had been made in Europe, most notably Trevithick's Puffing Devil, in 1801, and his later London Steam Carriage of 1803, which circumvented Watt's condenser patent by simply removing it. The prevailing fear of early steam engineering, however, was that no boiler could safely contain high-pressure steam.[47] Watt, for example, wanted to have Trevithick imprisoned because of the danger his high-pressure engines introduced. Evans ignored the potential drawbacks, and developed similarly different designs of engines operating at high-pressure while eliminating Watt's condenser. His designs also incorporated a grasshopper beam, a double-acting cylinder, and four steam valves, very similar to Trevithick's designs. Each valve was independently operated by one of four cams. The resulting design was a high-pressure steam engine that had a higher power-to-weight ratio than Newcomen engines, setting it among the ranks of other engineers' engines in their quest to make locomotives and steamboats practical.[48] These engines were also mechanically simpler than condensing engines, making them less costly to build and maintain, and did not require large volumes of condensing water. These features made the engines equally well suited for a variety of industrial applications.[49]
As with the automated mill, Evans's ideas were harshly criticized by other engineers—most notably some of the Philadelphia engineering community including the influential
Constructing his designs proved far more difficult than Evans initially envisaged—with just six working steam engines in the United States at this time, and a handful of workshops with any experience making them, it took Evans much of his savings and two years to yield a working example to display to the public in 1803.
Oruktor Amphibolos
Evans received a patent for his new steam engine in 1804, and set about looking for commercial applications. The first of his proposals was for the Lancaster Turnpike Company. He proposed to construct a steam wagon with the capacity to carry 100 barrels of flour between Philadelphia and Lancaster in two days, which by his estimation would greatly increase profits compared to the equivalent five horse wagons, for whom the trip took three days. Evans declared in his proposal that "I have no doubt but that my engines will propel boats against the current of the Mississippi, and waggons [sic] on turnpike roads with great profit."[57] With the company unsure of the reliability and cost of the technology, the proposal was rejected.[58]
Despite this setback, within a year Evans had found a client. The
"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines, from one city to another, almost as fast as birds fly, fifteen or twenty miles in an hour"[65]
The Italian automobile model company, Brumm, made a 1/43 scale model of this steam carriage in their 'Old Fire' series, a series of 8 models of important early steam vehicles. It is no longer in production. It is fairly basic but it seems faithful representation judging by the images of the original to be found online. A rarely modelled example of a vehicle from this period.
Steam Engineer's Guide
Evans frequently quarrelled with fellow inventors and engineering peers over steam technology in the mid-1800s.[66] His increasing frustration led to his premature publication of what he had hoped would be the equivalent of his earlier manual for millers—the petulantly titled The Abortion of the Young Steam Engineer's Guide. The Steam Engineer's Guide was significantly shorter than this first book and less structured in its approach. A third of the book is devoted to an ongoing argument between Evans and John Stevens (another prominent steam engineer of the day), much of which had previously appeared in the journal The Medical Repository and to which now Evans added various additional criticisms of Stevens' contentions.[67] Evans concludes his book by renouncing inventing and any further work on his designs, complaining of the ingratitude of the public and the unprofitability of the endeavour, although this would prove to be just one of many such assertions by Evans over the coming years.[68] Regardless, the Steam Engineer's Guide proved to be a popular work, though not on the same scale as his guide to milling, however it was the first book in the United States to make accessible to anyone ideas and techniques for steam engineering.[69]
The book begins with an introductory discussion of the principles of steam engines and the relevant physical principles, as well as designs for the Evans high-pressure steam engine, boilers, screw-mills and others.[70] Evans developed a similar suite of tools and tables for potential steam engineers as he had for potential millers, such as tables itemizing the heat and pressure tolerances of various metals, instructions for assembling the basic components of a steam-powered system, and schematics for useful components such as valves and boilers. Evans also used the book to justify the safety of high-pressure steam engines if properly constructed, despite the fact that by this time Evans himself had experienced several boiler explosions in his workshop.[71] However, thermodynamics were little understood in his time. As such, many of Evans's theoretical contentions, including the 'grand principle' of steam he develops to guide the mathematical modelling of pressure and fuel in steam engines, were substantially flawed. Although Evans was to be quite successful in the development of high-pressure steam engines (and his designs were widely used), his theoretical understanding of them was limited and he was generally unable to accurately predict the inputs and outputs of his machines.[72] The guide also indulged in a far wider range of topics of interest to Evans, including a compendium of inventions from others which he deemed to be worthy of further circulation—such as a straw-cutter and flour press developed by his brother Evan, and a horse-drawn scraper and earth mover invented by Gershom Johnson.[73] Evans also used the opportunity to encourage government sponsorship of research:
"If government would, at the expense of uncertainty, employ ingenious persons, in every art and science, to make with care every experiment that might lead to the extension of our knowledge of principles, carefully recording the experiments and results so that they might be fully relied on, and leaving readers to draw their own inferences, the money would be well expended; for it would tend greatly to aid the progress of improvement in the arts and sciences."[74]
This suggestion stemmed from the observation that many engineers relied on the basic principles of physics and mechanics to guide their work, and yet this often required inventors and engineers to become scientists as well to obtain experimental data—something that they were rarely qualified or resourced to do. Short of government funding of such research, Evans also attempted to create in the aftermath of the Steam Engineer's Guide what he called 'The Experiment Company', which would be a private research consortium to conduct reliable experiments and gather data for the benefits of subscribed members.[61] The venture failed and Evans could find no paying stockholders to launch it, possibly due to Evans committing the new venture to developing a steam wagon of his own design.[75] The Franklin Institute would be founded in Philadelphia a few years after Evans's death on similar principles.[76]
Refrigeration
Despite an incomplete understanding of the principles behind them, in some ways Evans's thinking about the potential for steam engines was once again far ahead of its time. In the postscript of the Steam Engineer's Guide, Evans noted that drawing a vacuum on water reduces its boiling point and cools it. He further observed that a vacuum would have the same effect upon ether, and the resulting cooling should be sufficient to produce ice. He went on to describe a piston vacuum pump apparatus to produce this effect, and also showed that a compression cylinder, or the compression stroke of the vacuum pump, should produce heat in a condenser.[67] Thus Evans had produced the first detailed and theoretically coherent design for a vapor-compression refrigerator, identifying all the major components (expander, cooling coil, compressor and condenser) of a refrigeration cycle, leaving some to credit him as the 'grandfather of refrigeration'.[77] Although Evans never developed a working model of his designs, and there is no evidence that he ever attempted to, Evans in his later life worked and associated extensively with fellow inventor Jacob Perkins on steam engines and the potential for refrigeration.[78] Perkins would later develop and build a refrigeration device for which he received patents in 1834–1835, employing much the same principles originally put forward by Evans.[79]
Mars Works, 1806–12
Having, in his view, perfected many of his ideas and designs for steam engines, Evans turned his attention once more to the commercial propagation of his inventions. His first steam engines had been constructed on an ad-hoc basis, often with improvised tools and workers, and he had relied heavily on blacksmiths and other metal-working shops in Philadelphia with little experience in the more precise metal-work required to build steam engines.[80] In particular, Evans soon realized that unlike his milling machines of wood and leather he would need specialist skills, precision tools and a large foundry in order to build steam machines on a commercial basis. Thus, Evans constructed the Mars Works on a large site a few blocks north of his store in Philadelphia.[81] The choice of name, after the Roman god of war, is thought to have been aspirational and a challenge to the Soho Foundry near Birmingham in the United Kingdom, famous for building the Watt and Boulton engines.[82][83] Indeed, the completed Mars Works was one of the largest and best equipped outfits of its kind in the United States—by contemporary accounts it featured a substantial foundry, moldmaker's shop, blacksmith's shops, millstone maker, a steam engine works and a large steam engine of its own to grind materials and work wrought iron. With over thirty-five staff, the Mars Works produced a wide range of manufactures ranging from working steam engines to cast iron fittings, as well as milling and farming machines for Evans's now well-established agricultural clientele.[84] Steam engine orders alone proved insufficient to support the extensive business costs; hence the works became highly experienced in producing all kinds of heavy machinery, contributing to Philadelphia's emergence as a leading center for such work in the 19th century.[85] Indeed, the works even received military orders, casting naval cannons during the War of 1812.[86] Evans also proved highly innovative in designing steam power solutions for his clients. In one example where the Mars Works was commissioned to build engines for wool processing factories in Middletown, Connecticut, Evans designed a network of accompanying pipes with radiators to heat the factory with engine exhaust.[87]
Although there are no records as to the designs of the early steam engines produced by the Mars Works, Evans's most famous engine design appeared around 1812. Called the Columbian Engine as a patriotic gesture, it would prove to be the most advanced and successful steam engine design created by Evans—he brought to bear his now extensive experience in designing and building high-pressure steam engines.
Pittsburgh Steam Engine Company
As the reputation of the Mars Works grew, so too did the demand for its products. After a few years the Mars Works began exporting its engines inland. Oliver Evans's son George was the first such order, having moved to Pittsburgh in 1809 to operate the Pittsburgh Steam Flour Mill. George and the mill were highly successful, and generated a great deal of interest in Evans's engines across the interior.
The location of the Pittsburgh factory in the Mississippi River watershed was important in the development of high-pressure steam engines for the use in steamboats, and the new company began to promote its engines for river transport. Evans had long been a believer in the application of steam engines for maritime purposes. In his book of 1805, Evans had stated:
"The navigation of the river Mississippi, by steam engines, on the principles here laid down, has for many years been a favorite subject of the author, and among the fondest wishes of his heart"[95]
Evans had long been an acquaintance of
Notable examples of river steamboats that were constructed by the Pittsburgh and Mars Works include the Franklin, the Aetna and the Pennsylvania. Another, christened the Oliver Evans but renamed the Constitution by its eventual owners, was lost along with the eleven crew members when its boiler exploded near Point Coupee, Louisiana.[100] Evans was deeply distressed by the news, although he defended the safety of high-pressure engines and cited any explosions as an extremely rare occurrences.[101]
Patent battles
Evans found himself in battles to protect his intellectual property many times throughout his career, but he pursued the cause most doggedly during his latter years. His first and most successful patents concerning flour-milling proved the most problematic to defend, and Evans' battles proved influential in setting precedent for the newly established area of federal patent law. His original patent for his automated flour-mill expired in January 1805, but Evans believed that the fourteen year patent term was too brief and petitioned the
Evans and his agents set about aggressively collecting
The most bitter legal battle began in 1809. Evans sued Samuel Robinson—a miller near Baltimore who was using Evans's improvements without a license to produce a very modest amount of flour—for damages of $2,500. That sum was deemed unjustifiably high and harsh by many, and Evans's actions rallied the Baltimore community against him, and when the case was finally heard in 1812 many appeared in support of the defendant.[107] Evans's detractors presented evidence and witnesses at the trial to press the argument that Evans did not truly invent much of what his patents protected. Although the hopper-boy was undoubtedly original, the use of bucket chains and Archimedean screws had been used since ancient times and Evans had only modified some of their features and adapted them for use in a milling context. A now retired Thomas Jefferson weighed into the debate in letters to both Evans and his detractors, questioning the philosophy of patent law and what truly defined 'invention' and 'machine' (and to some extent the validity of his claims) but ultimately defended the purpose of patent law, which was to incentivize innovation by rewarding inventors for their development and sharing of new technology. And Jefferson noted that though Evans's designs consisted of devices that had long existed beforehand, everyone had access to these and yet only Evans had thought to modify and use them in conjunction to build an automatic mill.[108] Ultimately the jury found in favor of Evans, but it was a pyrrhic victory as Evans had put most of the milling community offside in the process, and ultimately reduced his claim against Robinson to $1,000.[109] In response, prominent Evans critic Isaac McPherson, made submission to Congress in the wake of the trial entitled Memorial to the Congress of Sundry Citizens of the United States, Praying Relief from the Oppressive Operations of Oliver Evans' Patent,[110] seeking to limit the compensation Evans could seek for his patent's use or for Congress to void it altogether. Although the Senate drafted a bill that would roll-back some of Evans's patent rights, it did not pass, and he continued to vigorously pursue his patent fees.[111] It would not be until the Patent Act of 1836 that many of these issues, including what constituted originality in the context of a patent, would be addressed.[112]
Later life and death, 1812–19
Although Evans had always suffered from bouts of depression, and bitterness towards those he felt did not appreciate his inventions, such sentiments seemed to peak in his later years. During one of his many legal battles in 1809, comments from the presiding judge sent Evans into a particular fury in which he dramatically incinerated many schematics and papers regarding his inventions, both prior and future. Evans declared at the time that inventing had led only to heartache, disappointment and under-appreciation; and committed himself to business and material acquisition for the sake of his family.[113] Ultimately what was burned represents only a small proportion of what survives from Evans, and he did continue his interest in inventing, but the tone of Evans's later life was undoubtedly one of hostility and disappointment.[114]
Evans gradually withdrew from the operations of his workshops, with his son George managing operations in Pittsburgh and his sons-in-law James Rush and John Muhlenberg likewise in Philadelphia. The Mars Works was by now an established entity, receiving prestigious commissions such as the engines for the Philadelphia Mint in 1816.[115] Records indicate the Mars Works would turn out more than one hundred steam engines by the time of Evans death.[62] In retirement Evans became increasingly consumed with pursuing his patent dues from those using his technology, which was now widespread. In 1817 he stated that his time was "wholly engrossed by law suits".[116] Evans had become somewhat obsessed and took on a siege mentality, penning to his numerous lawyers (at its height he had fifteen working on his various cases across the United States) his final work, known as Oliver Evans to His Counsel: Who are Engaged in Defence of His Patent Rights, for the Improvements He Has Invented: Containing a Short Account of Two Out of Eighty of His Inventions, Their Rise and Progress in Despite of All Opposition and Difficulties, and Two of His Patents with Explanations.[117] Evans undertook travel to distant areas of the country in order to find offenders. On a trip to Vermont, Evans visited various mills and then promptly engaged a lawyer there to press charges against twenty-two of them for perceived breaches of his patent rights.[118]
In his last years Evans compiled a list, since lost, of all his inventions—eighty in total, as alluded to in the title of his last publication to his lawyers. Some of his unfinished ideas that are known include a scheme for the
In 1816 his wife Sarah died, although the cause is unrecorded. Evans remarried two years later in April 1818 to Hetty Ward, who was many years his junior and the daughter of the New York innkeeper. In these last years Evans lived in New York with his new wife.
Legacy
Undoubtedly, Evans' contributions to milling were profound and the most rapidly adopted. Within his lifetime American milling had undergone a revolution, and his designs allowed mills to be built on industrial-scales with far greater efficiency. Now a more profitable enterprise, the number of mills increased dramatically across the United States.
Although several key elements of Evans's designs—such as bucket elevators and Archimedean screws—were merely modified rather than invented by him, the combination of many machines into an automated and continuous production line was a unique idea that would prove pivotal to both the Industrial Revolution and the development of mass production. Scientific and technical historians now generally credit Evans as the first in a line of industrialists that culminated with Henry Ford and the modern assembly line.[127][128] His concept of industrial automation was far ahead of its time, and the paradigm shift within manufacturing towards that concept would take more than a century to be fully realized. However continuous process manufacturing would spread from Evans's milling designs, first to related industries such as brewing and baking, then eventually to a wide variety of products, as technology and prevailing opinion caught up. Evans contributions were later deemed to be so important that eminent industrial historian Sigfried Giedion would conclude that in this respect, Evans "opens a new chapter in the history of mankind".[129]
Restored Evans Mills |
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Colvin Run Mill in Fairfax County, VA |
Keefe-Mumbower Mill in Montgomery County, PA |
Newlin Mill in Delaware County, PA |
Peirce Mill in Washington, D.C. |
Sugar Loaf Mill in Augusta County, VA |
Washington's Gristmill in Fairfax County, VA |
Yates Mill in Wake County, NC |
Evans' contributions to steam were not as ground-breaking as his earlier work in milling but he played a critical role by inventing and propagating the high-pressure steam engine in the United States. Evans' engines, particularly the Columbian, were highly influential in early steam-power applications in United States (particularly in the evolution of steamboats and steam-powered industrial processes).[130] Yet once more Evans was ahead of the curve with many of his ideas, and his death during steam's infancy in the United States meant that it would be some time before many of his ideas would come to fruition.[131] For example, although a leading advocate for high-pressure engines, it would not be until the 1830s that such engines definitively replaced low-pressure designs.[132] And Evans' dream of a steam wagon, notwithstanding the brave attempt of the Oruktor Amphibolos, would not see widespread adoption until even later. And unlike his earlier contributions, Evans was just one of many brilliant minds in steam technology. It would be another inventor, Richard Trevithick, working totally independently of Evans who would develop the high-pressure engine that would make that dream possible.[133]
And yet despite his formidable record and undoubted importance in the history of technology, Evans never became a household name. In this respect Evans was his own worst enemy. He was deeply affected by a perceived lack of recognition and appreciation from his peers for his work, and his bouts of depression would lead him to act in the extreme, prematurely ending projects and vowing to give up inventing many times over the course of his life.[134] In time these feelings turned to bitterness and vengeance towards those who criticized or doubted him, and led him to become notoriously bombastic and combative, often aggrandizing his accomplishments and fiercely denouncing critics (such as the wild exaggerations as to the success of the Oruktor Amphibolos at the end of his life).[63] While his relentless pursuit of patent rights did indeed force people to pay him his due, the process badly damaged his reputation and made him many enemies. A leading Philadelphia merchant summed it up in 1802, stating "few if any [millers] are inclined to give pompous blockhead, Oliver Evans, the credit of inventing any of the useful contrivances in milling for which he now enjoys patents."[114]
And yet in spite of his anguish and the weight of his detractors, Evans was steadfastly persistent in the pursuit of his ideas, a quality which Evans felt would ultimately see him triumph. The French translator of the Young Steam Engineer's Guide agreed, concluding "posterity will place his name among those who are most truly distinguished for their eminent services rendered to their country and to humanity."[135]
References
Notes
- ^ Evans would later write at length on his design vision:"[The machines] perform every necessary movement of the grain, and meal, from one part of the mill to another, and from one machine to another, through all the various operations, from the time the grain is emptied from the wagoner's bag ... until completely manufactured into flour ... without the aid of manual labor, excepting to set the different machines in motion."[16]
- ^ A large assembly of interested millers stood in astonishment as they watched the fully automated mill in progress, with one eventually exclaiming "It will not do! It cannot do! It is impossible that it should do!"[26]
- ^ "In Trevithick's boiler the feed water was heated by the exhaust steam, which some have supposed was an idea borrowed from Evans, but no proof has been adduced that the Cornish engineer had heard of the prior American invention. We therefore conclude that it was original with Trevithick, but he was not the first inventor."[51]
Citations
- ^ Ferguson, p. 11.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, p. 2.
- ^ a b c Ferguson, p. 12.
- ^ Howe, p. 68.
- ^ Thomson, p. 29.
- ^ Kittredge, pp. 13–15.
- ^ Carey, p. 114.
- ^ Carey, p. 114-115.
- ISBN 978-0-8122-4677-3.
- ^ Storck & Teague, Ch.12.
- ^ Smith, p. 6.
- ^ Hazen, Theodore. "The Automation of Flour Milling in America". Pond Lily. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ^ Klein, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 19.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Evans 1805, p. 204.
- ^ Jacobson, Howard B.; Joseph S. Roueek (1959). Automation and Society. New York, NY: Philosophical Library. p. 8.
- OCLC 1104810110
- ^ Hobsbawm, p. 154.
- ^ Carnes, pp. 77–80.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 22.
- ^ Latimer, p. 210.
- ^ Latimer, pp. 207–217.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Howe, p. 73.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, p. 23.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 25–26.
- ^ Smith, p. 8.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 27.
- ^ Ferguson & Baer, p. 6.
- ^ Carey, Mathew (1792). The American Museum. 12 (May): 225–226.
{{cite journal}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Overview of the Gristmill". Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 25–28.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 30.
- ^ Evans 1795, p. 75.
- ^ Evans 1795, p. 115.
- ^ Thomson, p. 166.
- ^ Crèvecoeur, Michel G. J. (1801). Eighteenth-century Travels in Pennsylvania & New York, Vol. 1. Paris: Imprimerie de Crapelet. p. 377.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 33.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 35.
- ^ Thomson, p. 169.
- ^ Dickinson, pp. 93–94.
- ^ Musson, Albert Edward; Robinson, Eric (1969). Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. p. 72.
- ^ Evans 1805, p. 95.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 36.
- ^ Evans, Buckland & Lefer, pp. 37–40.
- ^ Evans, Buckland & Lefer, p. 37.
- ^ Thomson, p. 34.
- ^ Hunter, Louis C. (1985). A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730–1930, Vol. 2: Steam Power. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
- ^ Howe, p. 75.
- ^ Dickinson, p. 94.
- ^ a b Ferguson, p. 37.
- ^ Dickinson, pp. 94–95.
- ^ Howe, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 68–69.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 98.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 41.
- ^ Larson, Ch.7.
- ^ a b Evans, Buckland & Lefer, p. 38.
- ^ a b Carey, p. 115.
- ^ a b c Lubar, Steve (Spring 2006). "Was This America's First Steamboat, Locomotive, and Car?". Invention and Technology Magazine. 21 (4). AmericanHeritage.com. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 109–112.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 63–64.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 42–43.
- ^ a b Evans 1805, Appendix.
- ^ Evans 1805, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Atack, Bateman & Weiss, p. 286.
- ^ Evans 1805, Ch.12-18.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 140–142.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 44.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 43.
- ^ Evans 1805, p. 139.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, p. 100.
- ^ Sinclair, Bruce (1974). Philadelphia's Philosopher Mechanics: A History of the Franklin Institute. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 142–144.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-7061-1.
- The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. pp. 64–65.
- ISBN 0-618-08239-5.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 45.
- ^ Thomson, pp. 34–35.
- ^ a b Meyer, p. 44.
- ^ Klein, p. 36.
- ^ Wilson, Thomas (1823). Picture of Philadelphia, for 1824: Containing the "Picture of Philadelphia, for 1811. Philadelphia, PA: Thomas Town. p. 76.
- ^ Meyer, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 172–173.
- ^ a b Ferguson, p. 47.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Ferguson, Eugene S. (1962). "Kinematics of Mechanisms from the Time of Watt". Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology (228): 200–202.
- ^ Kirby, p. 173.
- ^ Halsey, pp. 737–738.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, p. 207.
- ^ Buck & Buck, p. 316.
- ^ Latrobe, Benjamin Henry; Van Horne, John C; Formwalt, Lee W. (1984–1988). The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Maryland Historical Society. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 513.
- ^ Evans 1805, p. vi.
- ^ Westcott, Thompson (1857). Life of John Fitch: The Inventor of the Steam-boat. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott. pp. 363–385.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, pp. 184–186.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 51.
- ^ Buck & Buck, pp. 316–317.
- ^ Thurston, George H. (1857). Pittsburgh as it is. Pittsburgh, PA: W.S. Haven. p. 72.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, p. 242.
- ^ Ochoa, p. 61.
- ^ Ochoa, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 52–53.
- ^ Ochoa, p. 62.
- ^ Ochoa, pp. 62–64.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 54.
- ^ see Matsuura, Jeffrey H. (2012). Jefferson vs. the Patent Trolls: A Populist Vision of Intellectual Property Rights. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 56.
- ^ McPherson, Isaac (December 28, 1813). "Memorial to the Congress of Sundry Citizens of the United States, Praying Relief from the Oppressive Operations of Oliver Evans' Patent". Niles' Weekly Register. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 58–59.
- ^ Federico, p. 586.
- ^ Bathe & Bathe, p. 154.
- ^ a b Ferguson, p. 53.
- ISBN 0-7385-2445-X.
- ^ Evans 1817, p. 46.
- ^ Evans 1813.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 59.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 60.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 62.
- ^ Howe, p. 82.
- ^ Oliver Evans burial sites Archived November 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine "April 15, 1819: Oliver Evans, Delaware inventor, died in New York and was buried at Zion Episcopal Church near the Bowery on lower Manhattan." Accessed on May 11, 2008.
- ^ Smith, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Storck & Teague, p. 171.
- ISBN 978-0-19-504365-5.
- ^ Smith, pp. 9–10.
- ^ Burlingame, Ch.1.
- ISBN 0-8018-3158-X.
- ISBN 9780393004892.
- ^ Carnes, p. 82.
- ^ Atack, Bateman & Weiss, pp. 286–287.
- ^ Halsey, p. 739.
- .
- ^ Gies, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Gies, p. 6.
Sources
Works by Evans
- Evans, Oliver (1795). The Young Mill-wright and Miller's Guide. Philadelphia, PA: Oliver Evans.
- Evans, Oliver (1805). The Abortion of the Young Steam Engineer's Guide. Philadelphia, PA: Fry & Kammerer.
- Evans, Oliver (1813). Patent Right Oppression Exposed; Or, Knavery Detected. In an Address, to Unite All Good People to Obtain a Repeal of the Patent Laws. Philadelphia, PA: R. Folwell and G. Allchin.
- Evans, Oliver (1817). Oliver Evans to His Counsel: Who are Engaged in Defence of His Patent Rights, for the Improvements He Has Invented : Containing a Short Account of Two Out of Eighty of His Inventions, Their Rise and Progress in Despite of All Opposition and Difficulties, and Two of His Patents with Explanations. Philadelphia, PA: Oliver Evans.
Biographies
- Bathe, Greville; Bathe, Dorothy (1935). Oliver Evans: A Chronicle of Early American Engineering. Philadelphia, PA: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
- Ferguson, Eugene S. (1980). Oliver Evans: Inventive Genius of the American Industrial Revolution. Wilmington, DE: Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation. ISBN 0-914650-18-1.
- Howe, Henry (1840). Memoirs of the Most Eminent American Mechanics: Also, Lives of Distinguished European Mechanics, Together with a Collection of Anecdotes, Descriptions, Etc., Etc. New York, NY: W.F. Peckham.
General Histories
- Buck, Solon J.; Buck, Elizabeth (1976). The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5202-5.
- Burlingame, Roger (1955). Machines That Built America, From The Automatic Flour Mills Of Oliver Evans To Henry Ford's System Of Mass Production. New York, NY: Signet.
- Carey, Charles W. (2009). American Inventors, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries. New York, NY: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4559-4.
- Carnes, Mark C. (2003). Invisible Giants: Fifty Americans Who Shaped the Nation But Missed the History Books. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 1-4223-5615-9.
- Dickinson, Henry W. (2011). A Short History of the Steam Engine. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-01228-7.
- Evans, Harold; Buckland, Gail; Lefer, David (2006). They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators. Boston, MA: Back Bay Books. ISBN 0-316-01385-4.
- Ferguson, Eugene S.; Baer, Christopher (1979). Little Machines: Patent Models in the Nineteenth Century. Greenville, DE: Hagley Museum.
- Goddard, Dwight (1906). Eminent Engineers. New York, NY: Derry-Collard Company.
- Hobsbawm, Eric J. (1999). Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day. London, UK: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-013749-1.
- Kirby, Richard S. (1990). Engineering in History. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-26412-2.
- Kittredge, Henry G.; Gould, Arthur C. (1886). History of the American Card-Clothing Industry. Worcester, MA: T.K. Earle.
- Klein, Maury (2008). The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-59691-677-7.
- Larson, Len (2008). Dreams To Automobiles. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris. ]
- Meyer, David R. (2006). Networked Machinists: High-Technology Industries in Antebellum America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8471-3.
- Smith, Andrew F. (2011). Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14093-5.
- Storck, John; Teague, Walter D. (1952). Flour for Man's Bread: A History of Milling. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-5878-1.
- Thomson, Ross (2009). Structures of Change in the Mechanical Age: Technological Innovation in the United States, 1790–1865. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9141-0.
Periodicals
- Atack, Jeremy; Bateman, Fred; Weiss, Thomas (1980). "The Regional Diffusion and Adoption of the Steam Engine in American Manufacturing". Journal of Economic History. 40 (2): 281–308. S2CID 155075985.
- Federico, P.J. (1945). "The Patent Trials of Oliver Evans". Journal of the Patent Office Society. 27: 586.
- Gies, Joseph (Fall 1990). "The Genius Of Oliver Evans". American Heritage of Invention & Technology. 6 (2).
- Halsey, Harlan I. (1981). "The Choice Between High-Pressure and Low-Pressure Steam Power in America in the Early Nineteenth Century". Journal of Economic History. 41 (4): 723–744. S2CID 155009913.
- Latimer, George A. (March 1873). "A Sketch of the Life of Oliver Evans". Harkness' Magazine. Wilmington, DE.
- Ochoa, Tyler T. (2002). "Patent and Copyright Term Extension and the Constitution: A Historical Perspective". Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA. 49: 19–128.
External links
- Oliver Evans, a brief biography at Inventors.about.com
- Oliver Evans, a biography from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
- Oliver Evans, a biography from PBS's 'Who Made America' series.
- Schematics and detailed explanations of Evans' Automatic-Mill and Hopper-Boy from Theodore Hazen.
- Reference Works on Oliver Evans, a comprehensive compilation from Theodore Hazen.
- The American Cyclopædia. 1879. .