At this period all but three of the steam vessels of the navy were fitted with what were then known as ‘side-lever’ engines. This type was the first ever employed for marine purposes, and it had certain solid advantages which enabled it for a long time to remain the favourite and to resist innovation. So much was it considered to be par excellence the engine for ships that,
SIDE LEVER ENGINE.
surmounted by a crown, it formed the device for the uniform buttons of the engineers in the Royal Navy; in the merchant service it was similarly worn, but without the crown; and, with a lion over it, the East India Company’s engineers adopted it as a distinguishing badge of their class. But in the side-lever engine lightness and compactness were sacrificed to solidity and length of
