Denis Papin
pneumatics
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Pressure cooker, safety valve
- Denis Papin’s early prototypes exploded,
- so he added a safety valve
- regulated by adjusting
- the position of a weight on a lever.
- Thus he perfected his “steam digester”
- intended to render bones brittle for grinding
- but showing how future locomotives
- would be powered and regulated
- and how to cook potatoes in ten minutes
- and a whole chicken in fifteen.
Related technology
- Denis Papin didn’t invent the steam bomb;
- he wasn’t interested in armaments.
- He didn’t invent the autoclave;
- he wasn’t trying to sterilize instruments.
- He didn’t invent the steam engine;
- although he thought of moving pistons in cylinders.
Relief
- to forget or think
- over choices that grind
- but seem, eventually,
- to disappear, give me a break
A job involving emotional and physical distress is called a pressure cooker. Your safety valve is your ability to quit or take time off; if you cannot, you could explode.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia: