[12]
The latter, when perfected, will probably be the greatest
invention of the next half century.
Another of Murdock's' ingenious schemes, was his proposed method
of transmitting letters and packages through a tube exhausted by
an air-pump. This project led to the Atmospheric Railway, the
success of which, so far as it went, was due to the practical
ability of Murdock's pupil, Samuel Clegg. Although the
atmospheric railway was eventually abandoned, it is remarkable
that the original idea was afterwards revived and practised with
success by the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company.
In 1815, while Murdock was engaged in erecting an apparatus of
his own invention for heating the water for the baths at
Leamington, a ponderous cast-iron plate fell upon his leg above
his ankle, and severely injured him. He remained a long while at
Leamington, and when it was thought safe to remove him, the
Birmingham Canal Company kindly placed their excursion boat at
his disposal, and he was conveyed safely homeward. So soon as he
was able, he was at work again at the Soho factory.
Although the elder Watt had to a certain extent ignored the uses
of steam as applied to navigation, being too much occupied with
developing the powers of the pumping and rotary engine, the young
partners, with the stout aid of Murdock, took up the question.
They supplied Fulton in 1807 with his first engine, by means of
which the Clermont made her first voyage along the Hudson river.
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