Steam engine pioneer Nathan Read (89) died in Belfast, Maine, US


Saturday 20th January 1849

Steam engine pioneer Nathan Read (89) died in Belfast, Maine, US. Graduating from Harvard College in 1781, Read was a tutor at Harvard for four years. In 1788 he began experimenting to discover some way of utilizing the steam engine for propelling boats and carriages. His efforts were mainly directed toward devising lighter, more compact machinery was common at this period of time. His greatest invention at that time was a substitute for the large working-beam. This was a cross-head beam which ran in guides and had a connecting-rod with which motion was communicated. The new cylinder that he invented to attach to this working-frame was double-acting. In order to make the boiler more portable he invented a multi-tubular form, and this he patented, together with the cylinder, chain-wheel, and other appliances. To prove the usefulness of the high-pressure steam engine, Read made several models of steamcar and steamboat in 1790. Read’s experiment was very successful; it proved that the engine he built functioned well. He also invented the chain-wheel for paddle wheels to propel the steamboat, and set up a shipbuilding factory with his friends in 1796.


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