wagons, but could convince no one else of this possibility."*

* Coleman Sellers, "Oliver Evans and His Inventions," "Journal of
the Franklin Institute", July, 1886: vol. CXXII, p. 3.


Evans was then living in Delaware, where he was born, and where
he later worked out his inventions in flour-milling machinery and
invented and put into service the high-pressure steam engine. He
appears to have moved to Philadelphia about 1790, the year of
Franklin's death and of the Federal Patent Act; and, as we have
seen, the third patent issued by the Government at Philadelphia
was granted to him. About this time he became absorbed in the
hard work of writing a book, the "Millwright and Miller's Guide",
which he published in 1795, but at a heavy sacrifice to himself
in time and money. A few years later he had an established engine
works in Philadelphia and was making steam engines of his own
type that performed their work satisfactorily.

The Oruktor Amphibolos, or Amphibious Digger, which came out of
his shop in 1804, was a steamdriven machine made to the order of
the Philadelphia Board of Health for dredging and cleaning the
docks of the city. It was designed, as its name suggests, for
service either in water or on shore. It propelled itself across
the city to the river front, puffing and throwing off clouds of
steam and making quite a sensation on the streets.

Evans had never forgotten his dream of the "steam wagon." His
Oruktor had no sooner begun puffing than he offered to make for
the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Company steamdriven