By Kelvin Martin, Age 12
“Toot! Toot!” said the steam locomotive at the station platform.
There had been many, many a day’s hard thinking and work to create this special day. As the driver sped up the train, his thoughts raced back to the day when Thomas Newcomen had invented, in 1712, the pump to get water out of the tin mines. James Watt had gotten ideas, and he then had improved it and down the line until right here, he was driving down the track at 20 miles per hour, a terrific speed in those days.
As Timothy, the driver, saw the pressure gauge lowering, he called through the speaker tube and ordered the men to scoop coal in the firebox.
A minute later, he saw the pressure gauge rise and the puffing that was heard sped up, and he soon saw the pressure gauge go into red and he yelled into the speaker tube again.
“You rascals,” he shouted. “Didn’t I tell you only ten scoops, and don’t you remember what Watt said about over 15 psi. You know, too, you don’t want to be killed by an explosion.”
And in so saying, he heard the relief valve screech above.
“We’re coming to a hill,” Timothy told the person beside him. “Pull the sand tap that lets sand to the track.”
That night in the station, Timothy told Watt, “The ride was fun. People were started talking about how easy work will be after this.”
“Sure,” answered Watt. “But I still think there might be better steam engines after this.” RR
This story was written about one of Watt’s engines that had steam pressure at about 15 psi. Watt didn’t make a high-pressure steam engine for fear of an explosion. Today steam engines have a pressure of over 1,000 psi (6,895 kilopascals).