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Papin seems to have been the first who conserved the idea of the cylinder and piston, which he made to act on atmospheric principles that is to say, he took a cylinder with a piston moving up and down in it, and found that by removing the air from under the piston in the cylinder, that the pressure of the atmosphere would drive it down to the bottom of the cylinder: this he performed by admitting steam, and then condensing it rapidly, so causing the required vacuum.
Just at the close of the seventeenth century Savery devised the first commercial steam-engine, or rather steam fountain, which applied cold water to the outside of the cylinder to condense the steam inside and produce a vacuum; while Papin, one of the Huguenot refugees to whom industrial England owed so much, planned the first cylinder and piston engine.
The operation succeeded wonderfully, and, shortly afterward, Papin, being desirous of rendering the experiment complete, put his boat on the Weser; but the stupid boatmen of this river drew his craft ashore and broke it and its engine in pieces. This catastrophe ruined Papin, and annihilated all his hopes.
Thomas Savery and Denis Papin, both of them men of high attainments and great ingenuity, made important improvements before the end of the seventeenth century.
When we study of the life of Papin, we marvel at the culture which placed him on a level with the most learned men of his times: as physician, physiologist, and mathematician, he was distinguished and honored by the universities of England and Germany.
Of the little buildings bunched beside the church, not the least important was the post-office, kept by Papin Baby, who was also keeper of the bridge which was almost at the door of the office. This bridge crossed a stream that ran into the large river, forming a harbour. It opened in the middle, permitting boats and vessels to go through. Baby worked it by a lever.
Feray d'Essonnes, president of the Syndical Chamber of Conductors, Enginemen, and Stokers, and by Prof. Comberousse, of the Central School, who broadly outlined the life of Papin. Along about four o'clock, the Minister of Commerce and the Industries, followed by all the invited guests, repaired to the court, and the veil that hid the statue was then lifted amid acclamation.
We were skirting the brink of a deep ravine, when we saw Henry and the broad-chested pony coming toward us at a gallop. "Here's old Papin and Frederic, down from Fort Laramie!" shouted Henry, long before he came up. We had for some days expected this encounter. Papin was the bourgeois of Fort Laramie.
Raymond suddenly became inspired. I looked at him as he rode by my side; his face had actually grown intelligent! "This is the country for me!" he said; "if I could only carry the buffalo that are killed here every month down to St. Louis I'd make my fortune in one winter. I'd grow as rich as old Papin, or Mackenzie either. I call this the poor man's market.
Papin died about the year 1710, a disappointed man, about the same time as Newcomen. Thomas Newcomen, ironmonger and blacksmith, of Dartmouth, England, had first succeeded in getting his engine to work.
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