(106.)

Savery proposed, in his original patent, in 1698, to apply his steam engine as a general prime mover for all sorts of machinery, by causing it to raise water to make an artificial fall, by which overshot water-wheels might be driven. This proposal was not acted on during the lifetime of Savery, but it was at a subsequent period partially carried into effect. Mr. Joshua Rigley erected several steam engines on this principle at Manchester, and other parts of Lancashire, to impel the machinery of some of the earliest manufactories and cotton mills in that district. The engines usually raised the water from sixteen to twenty feet high, from whence it was conveyed to an overshot wheel, to which it gave motion. The same water was repeatedly elevated by the engine, so that no other supply was necessary, save what was sufficient to make good the waste. These engines continued in use for some years, until superseded by improved machines.[22]