Corliss moved from New York to Providence, RI, to seek
funding to market and produce the stitching machine but his plans changed when
he became interested in steam engines. As a result, he took a job at Fairbanks,
Bancroft, and Company as a draftsman for their steam engine and boiler
manufacturing firm. He rose in seniority, was able to work on his own projects
at the company, and after a few years, left to pursue his own ideas as senior
partner in Corliss, Nightingale, and Co. His new ideas improved steam engine
design which benefited the entire world.
Corliss invented a valve that allowed steam to quickly
pressurize a piston, moving it back and forth before the steam could condense.
He also created governors that would control the steam and exhaust. These
advances reduced waste heat and allowed the engine to operate with more uniform
motion and lowered fuel costs. He designed, developed, and patented the Corliss
Engine based on these improvements.
The Inventors Hall of Fame notes that the efficient shuttle
valve in the Corliss Engines "paved the way for the widespread use of
steam power in nineteenth-century America."
In 1856, Corliss opened the Corliss Steam Engine Company in
Providence, RI. The steam engines he produced were used in many industrial
applications, and were soon exported to Scotland for use in cotton mills. He
opened a second production facility in England and oversaw both locations. Over
time, the Corliss Engine was used worldwide, and once the patents expired,
Corliss-type engine designs were adopted by many manufacturers.
Corliss's most well-known achievement was the Centennial
Engine. Built for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, PA, this
steam engine powered all of the machinery in Machinery Hall for the six month
expo. It stood forty feet tall and weighed six-hundred-tons, making it the
largest steam engine, and based on its maximum power rating, the most powerful
at the time.
With much celebration, President Ulysses S. Grant and
Emperor Don Pedro II of Brazil activated the Centennial Corliss engine using
hand cranks to kick off the beginning of the Expo. After the expo closed, the
engine was sold to the Pullman Company, where it operated for 30 more years. This
low-speed engine was also significant as it marked the end of an era for steam
engines, as high-speed steam engines became popular in the late 1880s.
Awards and medals from around the world indicate the extent
to which Corliss impacted daily life during the industrial age. He personally
held an honorary M.A. from Brown University, Boston's Academy of Arts and
Sciences 1870 Rumford Medal, and the Institute of France's 1879 Montyon prize,
which at the time, was the highest honor known for mechanical achievements. He
was also made an "Officer of the Order of Leopold" in 1886 by the
King of Belgium.
The Corliss engine also received numerous awards. It won the
highest prize at the 1867 Paris Exhibition, beating more than a hundred of the
world's most noted engine builders. At the 1873 Vienna Exposition, despite not
even being on exhibition, the engine won the "Grand Diploma of Honor"
- the top award - since Corliss's innovations were in almost every steam engine
exhibited.
corliss boiler room steam engine group by George H. Corliss
