Corliss, George Henry
The highest known honors ever
accorded to any engineer have been given to him by foreign governments
and scientific societies.
Mr. Corliss was not fitted by any special education for his great work of taking the steam engine up where is was left by the imortal Watt, and bringing it to its present state of perfection. He never saw the inside of a machine shop until he was 24 years of age. He attended an ordinary village school at Greenwich untill he was 14 years of age, and a few years in various lines of leather business. The details of invention of the engine and its introduction in 1845 and in the years following, would fill a volume.
The
crowning achivement of George Corliss was the steam engine he built for
the 1876 Centenial Exposition held in Philadelphia. The engine seen at
the left was 44' 4'' feet
tall and weight over 600 tons. It was the largest steam engine ever
built at that time. It had a 2,500 hp output. The flywheel alone weight
56 tons and
was 30 feet in diameter. The steam engine powered the entire machinery
hall at the exposition and symbolized the growing industry. The engine
was started on opening day, and ran continously for the next 6
months.
Mr. Corliss was not fitted by any special education for his great work of taking the steam engine up where is was left by the imortal Watt, and bringing it to its present state of perfection. He never saw the inside of a machine shop until he was 24 years of age. He attended an ordinary village school at Greenwich untill he was 14 years of age, and a few years in various lines of leather business. The details of invention of the engine and its introduction in 1845 and in the years following, would fill a volume.
THE CORLISS ENGINE IN MACHINERY HALL
The
crowning achivement of George Corliss was the steam engine he built for
the 1876 Centenial Exposition held in Philadelphia. The engine seen at
the left was 44' 4'' feet
tall and weight over 600 tons. It was the largest steam engine ever
built at that time. It had a 2,500 hp output. The flywheel alone weight
56 tons and
was 30 feet in diameter. The steam engine powered the entire machinery
hall at the exposition and symbolized the growing industry. The engine
was started on opening day, and ran continously for the next 6
months.