. . .sure which the water exerts upon other bodies in dilating itself by heat; instead of which I before employed the suction only, the effects of which are more limited."

From documents which have been preserved in the Royal Society, it appears that Newcomen was acquainted with Papin's writings, and therefore probably first derived from them the suggestion which he subsequently realised in the atmospheric engine. Among some papers of Dr. Hooke's have been found notes for the use of Newcomen, on Papin's method of transmitting the force of a stream or fall of water to a distance by pipes. Hooke dissuaded Newcomen from attempting any machine on this principle, which, as first proposed by Papin, was impracticable. He exposed the fallacy of Papin's first project in several discourses before the Royal Society, and considered his improved edition of it, though free from fallacy, as impracticable.

Papin's project for producing a vacuum under a piston by condensi. . . Read More