_THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE._
"Those projects which abridge distance have done most for the
civilization and happiness of our species."--MACAULAY.
THE SECOND PERIOD OF APPLICATION--1800-'40.
STEAM-LOCOMOTION ON RAILROADS.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--The First Railroad-Car, 1825.]
Introductory.--The commencement of the nineteenth century found the
modern steam-engine fully developed in all its principal features, and
fairly at work in many departments of industry. The genius of
Worcester, and Morland, and Savery, and Desaguliers, had, in the first
period of the application of the power of steam to useful work,
effected a beginning which, looked upon from a point of view which
exhibits its importance as the first step toward the wonderful results
to-day familiar to every one, appears in its true light, and entitles
those great men to even greater honor than has been accorded them. The
results actually accomplished, however, were absolutely insignificant
in comparison with those which marked the period of development just
described. Yet even the work of Watt and of his contemporaries was but
a mere prelude to the marvellous advances made in the succeeding
period, to which we are now come, and, in extent and importance, was
insignificant in comparison with that accomplished by their successors
in the development of all mechanical industries by the application of
the steam-engine to the movement of every kind of machine.
The first of the two periods of application saw the steam-engine
adapted simply to the elevation of water and the drainage of mines;
during the second period it was adapted to every variety of useful
work, and introduced wherever the muscular strength of men and
animals, or the power of wind and of falling water, which had
previously been the only motors, had found application. A history of
the development of industries by the introduction of steam-power
during this period, would be no less extended and hardly less
interesting than that of the steam-engine itself.
The way had been fairly opened by Boulton and Watt; and the year 1800
saw a crowd of engineers and manufacturers entering upon it, eager to
reap the harvest of distinction and of pecuniary returns which seemed
so promising to all. The last year of the eighteenth century was also
the last of the twenty-five years of partnership of Boulton & Watt,
and, with it, the patents under which that firm had held the great
monopoly of steam-engine building expired. The right to manufacture
the modern steam-engine was common to all. Watt had, at the
commencement of the new century, retired from active business-life.
Boulton remained in business; but he was not the inventor of the new
engine, and could not retain, by the exercise of all his remaining
power, the privileges previously held by legal authorization.
The young Boulton and the young Watt were not the Boulton & Watt of
earlier years; and, had they possessed all of the business talent and
all of the inventive genius of their fathers, they could not have
retained control of a business which was now growing far more rapidly
than the facilities for manufacturing could be extended in any single
establishment. All over the country, and even on the Continent of
Europe, and in America, thousands of mechanics, and many men of
mechanical tastes in other professions, were familiar with the
principles of the new machine, and were speculating upon its value for
all the purposes to which it has since been applied; and a multitude
of enthusiastic mechanics, and a larger multitude of visionary and
ignorant schemers, were experimenting with every imaginable device, in
the vain hope of attaining perpetual motion, and other hardly less
absurd results, by its modification and improvement. Steam-engine
building establishments sprang up wherever a mechanic had succeeded in
erecting a workshop and in acquiring a local reputation as a worker in
metal, and many of Watt's workmen went out from Soho to take charge of
the work done in these shops. Nearly all of the great establishments
which are to-day most noted for their extent and for the importance
and magnitude of the work done in them, not only in Great Britain, but
in Europe and the United States, came into existence during this
second period of the application of the steam-engine as a prime mover.
The new establishments usually grew out of older shops of a less
pretentious character, and were managed by men who had been trained by
Watt, or who had had a still more awakening experience with those who
vainly strove to make up, by their ingenuity and by great excellence
of workmanship, the advantages possessed at Soho in a legal monopoly
and greater experience in the business.
It was exceedingly difficult to find expert and conscientious workmen,
and machine-tools had not become as thoroughly perfected as had the
steam-engine itself. These difficulties were gradually overcome,
however, and thenceforward the growth of the business was increasingly
rapid.
Every important form of engine had now been invented. Watt had
perfected, with the aid of Murdoch, both the pumping-engine and the
rotative steam-engine for application to mills. He had invented the
trunk engine, and Murdoch had devised the oscillating engine and the
ordinary slide-valve, and had made a model locomotive-engine, while
Hornblower had introduced the compound engine. The application of
steam to navigation had been often proposed, and had sometimes been
attempted, with sufficient success to indicate to the intelligent
observer an ultimate triumph. It only remained to extend the use of
steam as a motor into all known departments of industry, and to effect
such improvements in details as experience should prove desirable.
The engines of Hero, of Porta, and of Branca were, it will be
remembered, non-condensing; but the first plan of a non-condensing
engine that could be made of any really practical use is given in the
"Theatrum Machinarum" of Leupold, published in 1720. This sketch is
copied in Fig. 41. It is stated by Leupold that this plan was
suggested by Papin. It consists of two single-acting cylinders, _r s_,
receiving steam alternately from the same steam-pipe through a
"four-way cock," _x_, and exhausting into the atmosphere. Steam is
furnished by the boiler, _a_, and the pistons, _c d_, are alternately
raised and depressed, depressing and raising the pump-rods, _k l_, to
which they are attached by the beams, _h g_, vibrating on the centres,
_i i_. The water from the pumps, _o p_, is forced up the stand-pipe,
_q_, and discharged at its top. The alternate action of the
steam-pistons is secured by turning the "four-way cock," _x_, first
into the position shown, and then, at the completion of the stroke,
into the reverse position, by which change the steam from the boiler
is then led into the cylinder, _s_, and the steam in _r_ is discharged
into the atmosphere.[44]
[44] _Vide_ "Theatrum Machinarum," vol. iii., Tab. 30.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Leupold's Engine, 1720.]
Leupold states that he is indebted to Papin for the suggestion of the
peculiar valve here used. He also proposed to use a Savery engine
without condensation in raising water. We have no evidence that this
engine was ever built.
The first rude scheme for applying steam to locomotion on land was
probably that of Isaac Newton, who, in 1680, proposed the machine
shown in the accompanying figure (42), which will be recognized as
representing the scientific toy which is found in nearly every
collection of illustrative philosophical apparatus. As described in
the "Explanation of the Newtonian Philosophy," it consists of a
spherical boiler, _B_, mounted on a carriage. Steam issuing from the
pipe, _C_, seen pointing directly backward, by its reaction upon the
carriage, drives the latter ahead. The driver, sitting at _A_,
controls the steam by the handle, _E_, and cock, _F_. The fire is seen
at _D_.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Newton's Steam-Carriage, 1680.]
When, at the end of the eighteenth century, the steam-engine had been
so far perfected that the possibility of its successful application to
locomotion had become fully and very generally recognized, the problem
of adapting it to locomotion on land was attacked by many inventors.
Dr. Robison had, as far back as in 1759, proposed it to James Watt
during one of their conferences, at a time when the latter was even
more ignorant than the former of the principles which were involved in
the construction of the steam-engine, and this suggestion may have had
some influence in determining Watt to pursue his research; thus
setting in operation that train of thoughtful investigation and
experiment which finally earned for him his splendid fame.
In 1765, that singular genius, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, whose celebrity was
acquired by speculations in poetry and philosophy as well as in
medicine, urged Matthew Boulton--subsequently Watt's partner, and just
then corresponding with our own Franklin in relation to the use of
steam-power--to construct a steam-carriage, or "fiery chariot," as he
poetically styled it, and of which he sketched a set of plans. A young
man named Edgeworth became interested in the scheme, and, in 1768,
published a paper which had secured for him a gold medal from the
Society of Arts. In this paper he proposed railroads on which the
carriages were to be drawn by horses, _or by ropes from steam-winding
engines_.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Read's Steam-Carriage, 1790.]
Nathan Read, of whom an account will be given hereafter, when
describing his attempt to introduce steam-navigation, planned, and in
1790 obtained a patent for, a steam-carriage, of which the sketch seen
in Fig. 43 is copied from the rough drawing accompanying his
application. In the figure, _A A A A_ are the wheels; _B B_, pinions
on the hubs of the rear wheels, which are driven by a ratchet
arrangement on the racks, _G G_, connected with the piston-rods; _C o_
is the boiler; _D D_, the steam-pipes carrying steam to the
steam-cylinder, _E E_; _F F_ are the engine-frames; _H_ is the
"tongue" or "pole" of the carriage, and is turned by a horizontal
steering-wheel, with which it is connected by the ropes or chains, _I
K_, _I K_; _W W_ are the cocks, which serve to shut off steam from the
engine when necessary, and to determine the amount of steam to be
admitted. The pipes _a a_ are exhaust-pipes, which the inventor
proposed to turn so that they should point backward, in order to
secure the advantage of the effort of reaction of the expelled steam.
(!)
Read made a model steam-carriage, which he exhibited when endeavoring
to secure assistance in furtherance of his schemes, but seems to have
given more attention to steam-navigation, and nothing was ever
accomplished by him in this direction.
These were merely promising schemes, however. The first actual
experiment was made, as is supposed, by a French army-officer,
NICHOLAS JOSEPH CUGNOT, who in 1769 built a steam-carriage, which was
set at work in presence of the French Minister of War, the Duke de
Choiseul. The funds required by him were furnished by the Compte de
Saxe. Encouraged by the partial success of the first locomotive, he,
in 1770, constructed a second (Fig. 44), which is still preserved in
the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, Paris.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Cugnot's Steam-Carriage, 1770.]
This machine, when recently examined by the author, was still in an
excellent state of preservation. The carriage and its machinery are
substantially built and well-finished, and exceedingly creditable
pieces of work in every respect. It surprises the engineer to find
such evidence of the high character of the work of the mechanic
Brezin a century ago. The steam-cylinders were 13 inches in diameter,
and the engine was evidently of considerable power. This locomotive
was intended for the transportation of artillery. It consists of two
beams of heavy timber extending from end to end, supported by two
strong wheels behind, and one still heavier but smaller wheel in
front. The latter carries on its rim blocks which cut into the soil as
the wheel turns, and thus give greater holding power. The single wheel
is turned by two single-acting engines, one on each side, supplied
with steam by a boiler (seen in the sketch) suspended in front of the
machine. The connection between the engines and the wheels was
effected by means of pawls, as first proposed by Papin, which could be
reversed when it was desired to drive the machine backward. A seat is
mounted on the carriage-body for the driver, who steers the machine by
a train of gearing, which turns the whole frame, carrying the
machinery 15 or 20 degrees either way. This locomotive was found to
have been built on a tolerably satisfactory general plan; but the
boiler was too small, and the steering apparatus was incapable of
handling the carriage with promptness.
The death of one of Cugnot's patrons, and the exile of the other, put
an end to Cugnot's experiments.
Cugnot was a mechanic by choice, and exhibited great talent. He was a
native of Vaud, in Lorraine, where he was born in 1725. He served both
in the French and the German armies. While under the Marechal de Saxe,
he constructed his first steam locomotive-engine, which only
disappointed him, as he stated, in consequence of the inefficiency of
the feed-pumps. The second was that built under the authority of the
Minister Choiseul, and cost 20,000 livres. Cugnot received from the
French Government a pension of 600 livres. He died in 1804, at the age
of seventy-nine years.
Watt, at a very early period, proposed to apply his own engine to
locomotion, and contemplated using either a non-condensing engine or
an air-surface condenser. He actually included the locomotive-engine
in his patent of 1784; and his assistant, Murdoch, in the same year,
made a working-model locomotive (Fig. 45), which was capable of
running at a rapid rate. This model, now deposited in the Patent
Museum at South Kensington, London, had a flue-boiler, and its
steam-cylinder was three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and the
stroke of piston 2 inches. The driving-wheels were 9-1/2 inches
diameter.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Murdoch's Model, 1784.]
Nothing was, however, done on a larger scale by either Watt or
Murdoch, who both found more than enough to claim their attention in
the construction and introduction of other engines. Murdoch's model is
said to have run from 6 to 8 miles an hour, its little driving-wheels
making from 200 to 275 revolutions per minute. As is seen in the
sketch, this model was fitted with the same form of engine, known as
the "grasshopper-engine," which was used in the United States by
Oliver Evans.
"To Oliver Evans," says Dr. Ernest Alban, the distinguished German
engineer, "was it reserved to show the true value of a long-known
principle, and to establish thereon a new and more simple method of
applying the power of steam--a method that will remain an eternal
memorial to its introducer." Dr. Alban here refers to the earliest
permanently successful introduction of the non-condensing
high-pressure steam-engine.
OLIVER EVANS, one of the most ingenious mechanics that America has
ever produced, was born at Newport, Del., in 1755 or 1756, the son of
people in very humble circumstances.
[Illustration: Oliver Evans.]
He was, in his youth, apprenticed to a wheelwright, and soon exhibited
great mechanical talent and a strong desire to acquire knowledge. His
attention was, at an early period, drawn to the possible application
of the power of steam to useful purposes by the boyish pranks of one
of his comrades, who, placing a small quantity of water in a
gun-barrel, and ramming down a tight wad, put the barrel in the fire
of a blacksmith's forge. The loud report which accompanied the
expulsion of the wad was an evidence to young Evans of great and (as
he supposed) previously undiscovered power.
Subsequently meeting with a description of a Newcomen engine, he at
once noticed that the elastic force of confined steam was not there
utilized. He then designed the non-condensing engine, in which the
power was derived exclusively from the tension of high-pressure steam,
and proposed its application to the propulsion of carriages.
About the year 1780, Evans joined his brothers, who were millers by
occupation, and at once employed his inventive talent in improving the
details of mill-work, and with such success as to reduce the cost of
attendance one-half, and also to increase the fineness of the flour
made. He proved himself a very expert millwright.
In 1786 he applied to the Pennsylvania Legislature for a patent for
the application of the steam-engine to driving mills, and to the
steam-carriage, but was refused it. In 1800 or 1801, Evans, after
consultation with Professor Robert Patterson, of the University of
Pennsylvania, and getting his approval of the plans, commenced the
construction of a steam-carriage to be driven by a non-condensing
engine. He soon concluded, however, that it would be a better scheme,
pecuniarily, to adapt his engine, which was novel in form and of small
first cost, to driving mills; and he accordingly changed his plans,
and built an engine of 6 inches diameter of cylinder and 18 inches
stroke of piston, which he applied with perfect success to driving a
plaster-mill.
This engine, which he called the "Columbian Engine," was of a peculiar
form, as seen in Fig. 46. The beam is supported at one end by a
rocking column; at the other, it is attached directly to the
piston-rod, while the crank lies beneath the beam, the connecting-rod,
1, being attached to the latter at the extreme end. The head of the
piston-rod is compelled to rise and fall in a vertical line by the
"Evans's parallelogram"--a kind of parallel-motion very similar to
one of those designed by Watt. In the sketch (Fig. 46), 2 is the
crank, 3 the valve-motion, 4 the steam-pipe from the boiler, _E_, 5 6
7 the feed-pipe leading from the pump, _F_. _A_ is the boiler. The
flame from the fire on the grate, _H_, passes under the boiler between
brick walls, and back through a central flue to the chimney, _I_.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Evans's Non-condensing Engine, 1800.]
Subsequently, Evans continued to extend the applications of his engine
and to perfect its details; and, others following in his track, the
non-condensing engine is to-day fulfilling the predictions which he
made 70 years ago, when he said:
"I have no doubt that my engines will propel boats against the current
of the Mississippi, and wagons on turnpike roads, with great
profit...."
"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by
steam-engines from one city to another, almost as fast as birds can
fly, 15 or 20 miles an hour.... A carriage will start from Washington
in the morning, the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at
Philadelphia, and sup in New York the same day....
"Engines will drive boats 10 or 12 miles an hour, and there will be
hundreds of steamers running on the Mississippi, as predicted years
ago."[45]
[45] Evans's prediction is less remarkable than that of Darwin,
elsewhere quoted.
In 1804, Evans applied one of his engines in the transportation of a
large flat-bottomed craft, built on an order of the Board of Health of
Philadelphia, for use in clearing some of the docks along the
water-front of the city. Mounting it on wheels, he placed in it one of
his 5-horse power engines, and named the odd machine (Fig. 47)
"Oruktor Amphibolis." This steam dredging-machine, weighing about
40,000 pounds, was then propelled very slowly from the works, up
Market Street, around to the Water-Works, and then launched into the
Schuylkill. The engine was then applied to the paddle-wheel at the
stern, and drove the craft down the river to its confluence with the
Delaware.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Evans's "Oruktor Amphibolis," 1804.]
In September of the same year, Evans laid before the Lancaster
Turnpike Company a statement of the estimated expenses and profits of
steam-transportation on the common road, assuming the size of the
carriage used to be sufficient for transporting 100 barrels of flour
50 miles in 24 hours, and placed in competition with 10 wagons drawn
by 5 horses each.
In the sketch above given of the "Oruktor Amphibolis," the engine is
seen to resemble that previously described. The wheel, _A_, is driven
by a rod depending from the end of a beam, _B' B_, the other end of
which is supported at _E_ by the frame, _E F G_. The body of the
machine is carried on wheels, _K K_, driven by belts, _M M_, from the
pulley on the shaft carrying _A_. The paddle-wheel is seen at _W_.
Evans had some time previously sent Joseph Sampson to England with
copies of his plans, and by him they were shown to Trevithick, Vivian,
and other British engineers.
Among other devices, the now familiar Cornish boiler, having a single
internal flue, and the Lancashire boiler, having a pair of internal
flues, were planned and used by Evans.
At about the time that he was engaged on his steam dredging-machine,
Evans communicated with Messrs. McKeever & Valcourt, who contracted
with him to build an engine for a steam-vessel to ply between New
Orleans and Natchez on the Mississippi, the hull of the vessel to be
built on the river, and the machinery to be sent to the first-named
city to be set up in the boat. Financial difficulties and low water
combined to prevent the completion of the steamer, and the engine was
set at work driving a saw-mill, where, until the mill was destroyed by
fire, it sawed lumber at the rate of 250 feet of boards per hour.
Evans never succeeded in accomplishing in America as great a success
as had rewarded Watt in Great Britain; but he continued to build
steam-engines to the end of his life, April 19, 1819, and was
succeeded by his sons-in-law, James Rush and David Muhlenberg.
He exhibited equal intelligence and ingenuity in perfecting the
processes of milling, and in effecting improvements in his own
business, that of the millwright. When but twenty-four years old, he
invented a machine for making the wire teeth used in cotton and
woolen cards, turning them out at the rate of 3,000 per minute. A
little later he invented a card-setting machine, which cut the wire
from the reel, bent the teeth, and inserted them. In milling, he
invented a whole series of machines and attachments, including the
elevator, the "conveyor," the "hopper-box," the "drill," and the
"descender," and enabled the miller to make finer flour, gaining over
20 pounds to the barrel, and to do this at half the former cost of
attendance. The introduction of his improvements into Ellicott's
mills, near Baltimore, where 325 barrels of flour were made per day,
was calculated to have saved nearly $5,000 per year in cost of labor,
and over $30,000 by increasing the production. He wrote "The Young
Steam-Engineer's Guide," and a work which remained standard many years
after his death, "The Young Millwright's Guide." Less fortunate than
his transatlantic rival, he was nevertheless equally deserving of
fame. He has sometimes been called "The Watt of America."
The application of steam to locomotion on the common road was much
more successful in Great Britain than in the United States. As early
as 1786, William Symmington, subsequently more successful in his
efforts to introduce steam for marine propulsion, assisted by his
father, made a working model of a steam-carriage, which did not,
however, lead to important results.
In 1802, Richard Trevithick, a pupil of Murdoch's, who afterward
became well known in connection with the introduction of railroads,
made a model steam-carriage, which was patented in the same year. The
model may still be seen in the Patent Museum at South Kensington.[46]
[46] _See_ "Life of Trevithick."
In this engine, high-pressure steam was employed, and the condenser
was dispensed with. The boiler was of the form devised by Evans, and
was subsequently generally used in Cornwall, where it was called the
"Trevithick Boiler." The engine had but one cylinder, and the
piston-rod drove a "cross-tail," working in guides, which was
connected with a "cross-head" on the opposite side of the shaft by two
"side-rods." The connecting-rod was attached to the cross-head and the
crank, "returning" toward the cylinder as the shaft lay between the
latter and the cross-head. This was probably the first example of the
now common "return connecting-rod engine." The connection between the
crank-shaft and the wheels of the carriage was effected by gearing.
The valve-gear and the feed-pumps were worked from the engine-shaft.
The inventor proposed to secure his wheels against slipping by
projecting bolts, when necessary, through the rim of the wheel into
the ground. The first carriage of full size was built by Trevithick
and Vivian at Camborne, in 1803, and, after trial, was taken to
London, where it was exhibited to the public. _En route_, it was
driven by its own engines to Plymouth, 90 miles from Camborne, and
then shipped by water. It is not known whether the inventor lost faith
in his invention; but he very soon dismantled the machine, sold the
engine and carriage separately, and returned to Cornwall, where he
soon began work on a railroad-locomotive.
In 1821, Julius Griffiths, of Brompton, Middlesex, England, patented a
steam-carriage for the transportation of passengers on the highway.
His first road-locomotive was built in the same year by Joseph Bramah,
one of the ablest mechanics of his time. The frame of the carriage
carried a large double coach-body between the two axles, and the
machinery was mounted over and behind the rear axle. One man was
stationed on a rear platform, to manage the engine and to attend to
the fire, and another, stationed in front of the body of the coach,
handled the steering-wheel. The boiler was composed of horizontal
water-tubes and steam-tubes, the latter being so situated as to
receive heat from the furnace-gases _en route_ to the chimney, and
thus to act as a superheater. The wheels were driven, by means of
intermediate gearing, by two steam-engines, which, with their
attachments, were suspended on helical springs, to prevent injury by
jars and shocks. An air-surface condenser was used, consisting of
flattened thin metal tubes, cooled by the contact of the external air,
and discharging the water of condensation, as it accumulated within
them, into a feed-pump, which, in turn, forced it into the lowest row
of tubes in the boiler.
The boiler did not prove large enough for continuous work; but the
carriage was used experimentally, now and then, for a number of years.
During the succeeding ten years the adaptation of the steam-engine to
land-transportation continued to attract more and more attention, and
experimental road-engines were built with steadily-increasing
frequency. The defects of these engines revealing themselves on trial,
they were one by one remedied, and the road-locomotive gradually
assumed a shape which was mechanically satisfactory. Their final
introduction into general use seemed at one time only a matter of
time; their non-success was due to causes over which the legislator
and the general public, and not the engineer, had control, as well as
to the development of steam-transportation on a rival plan.
In 1822, David Gordon patented a road-engine, but it is not known
whether it was ever built. At about the same time, Mr. Goldsworthy
Gurney, who subsequently took an active part in their introduction,
stated, in his lectures, that "elementary power is capable of being
applied to propel carriages along common roads with great political
advantage, and the floating knowledge of the day places the object
within reach." He made an ammonia-engine--probably the first ever
made--and worked it so successfully, that he made use of it in driving
a little locomotive.
Two years later, Gordon patented a curious arrangement, which,
however, had been proposed twelve years earlier by Brunton, and was
again proposed afterward by Gurney, and others. This consisted in
fitting to the engine a set of jointed legs, imitating, as nearly as
the inventor could make them, the action of a horse's legs and feet.
Such an arrangement was actually experimented with until it was found
that they could not be made to work satisfactorily, when it was also
found that they were not needed.
During the same season, Burstall & Hill made a steam-carriage, and
made many unsuccessful attempts to introduce their plan. The engine
used was like that of Evans, except that the steam-cylinder was placed
at the end of the beam, and the crank-shaft under the middle. The
front and rear wheels were connected by a longitudinal shaft and bevel
gearing. The boiler was found to have the usual defect, and would only
supply steam for a speed of three or four miles an hour. The result
was a costly failure. W. H. James, of London, in 1824-'25, proposed
several devices for placing the working parts, as well as the body of
the carriage, on springs, without interfering with their operation,
and the Messrs. Seaward patented similar devices. Samuel Brown, in
1826, introduced a gas-engine, in which the piston was driven by the
pressure produced by the combustion of gas, and a vacuum was secured
by the condensation of the resulting vapor. Brown built a locomotive
which he propelled by this engine. He ascended Shooter's Hill, near
London, and the principal cause of his ultimate failure seems to have
been the cost of operating the engine.
From this date forward, during several years, a number of inventors
and mechanics seem to have devoted their whole time to this promising
scheme. Among them, Burstall & Hill, Gurney, Ogle & Summers, Sir
Charles Dance, and Walter Hancock, were most successful.
Gurney, in the year 1827, built a steam-carriage, which he kept at
work nearly two years in and about London, and sometimes making long
journeys. On one occasion he made the journey from Meksham to Cranford
Bridge, a distance of 85 miles, in 10 hours, including all stops. He
used the mechanical legs previously adopted by Brunton and by Gordon,
but omitted this rude device in those engines subsequently built.
Gurney's engine of 1828 is of interest to the engineer as exhibiting a
very excellent arrangement of machinery, and as having one of the
earliest of "sectional boilers." The latter was of peculiar form, and
differed greatly in design from the sectional boiler invented a
quarter of a century earlier by John Stevens, in the United States.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Gurney's Steam-Carriage.]
In the sketch (Fig. 48) this boiler is seen at the right. It was
composed of bent [<]-shaped tubes, _a a_, connected to two cylinders,
_b b_, the upper one of which was a steam-chamber. Vertical tubes
connected these two chambers, and permitted a complete and regular
circulation of the water. A separate reservoir, called a separator,
_d_, was connected with these chambers by pipes, as shown. From the
top of this separator a steam-pipe, _e e e_, conveyed steam to the
engine-cylinders at _f_. The cranks, _g_, on the rear axle were turned
by the engines, and the eccentric, _h_, on the axle drove the
valve-gearing and the valve, _i_. The link, _k l_, being moved by a
line, _l l_, led from the driver's seat, the carriage was started,
stopped, or reversed, by throwing the upper end of the link into gear
with the valve-stem, by setting the link midway between its upper and
lower positions, or by raising it until the lower end, coming into
action on the valve-stem, produced a reverse motion of the valve. The
pin on which this link vibrated is seen at the centre of its
elliptical strap. The throttle-valve, _o_, by which the supply of
steam to the engine was adjusted, was worked by the lever, _n_. The
exhaust-pipe, _p_, led to the tank, _q_, and the uncondensed vapor
passed to the chimney, _s s_, by the pipe, _r r_. The force-pump, _u_,
taking feed-water from the tank, _t_, supplied it to the boiler by the
pipe, _x x x_, which, _en route_, was coiled up to form a "heater"
directly above the boiler. The supply was regulated by the cock, _y_.
The attendant had a seat at _z_. A blast-apparatus, 1, was driven by
an independent engine, 2 3, and produced a forced blast, which was led
to the boiler-furnace through the air-duct, 5 5; 4 4 represents the
steam-pipe to the little blowing-engine. The steering-wheel, 6, was
directed by a lever, 7, and the change of direction of the perch, 8,
which turned about a king-bolt at 9, gave the desired direction to the
forward wheels and to the carriage.
This seems to have been one of the best designs brought out at that
time. The boiler, built to carry 70 pounds, was safe and strong, and
was tested up to 800 pounds pressure. A forced draught was provided.
The engines were well placed, and of good design. The valve was
arranged to work the steam with expansion from half-stroke. The
feed-water was heated, and the steam slightly superheated. The boiler
here used has been since reproduced under new names by later
inventors, and is still used with satisfactory results. Modifications
of the "pipe-boiler" were made by several other makers of
steam-carriages also. Anderson & James made their boilers of
lap-welded iron tubes of one inch internal diameter and one-fifth inch
thick, and claimed for them perfect safety. Such tubes should have
sufficient strength to sustain a pressure of 20,000 pounds per square
inch. If made of such good iron as the makers claimed to have put into
them, "which worked like lead," they would, as was also claimed, when
ruptured, open by tearing, and discharge their contents without
producing the usual disastrous consequences of boiler explosions.
The primary principle of the sectional boiler was then well
understood. The boilers of Ogle & Summers were made up of pairs of
upright tubes, set one within the other, the intervening space being
filled with water and steam, and the flame passing through the inner
and around the outer tube of each pair.
One of the engines of Sir James Anderson and W. H. James was built in
1829. It had two 3-1/2-inch steam-cylinders, driving the rear wheels
independently. In James's earlier plan of 1824-'25, a pair of
cylinders was attached to each of the two halves into which the rear
axle was divided, and were arranged to drive cranks set at
right-angles with each other. The later machine weighed 3 tons, and
carried 15 passengers, on a rough graveled road across the Epping
Forest, at the rate of from 12 to 15 miles per hour. Steam was carried
at 300 pounds. Several tubes gave way in the welds, but the carriage
returned, carrying 24 passengers at the rate of 7 miles per hour. On a
later trial, with new boilers, the carriage again made 15 miles per
hour. It was, however, subject to frequent accidents, and was finally
withdrawn.
WALTER HANCOCK was the most successful and persevering of all those
who attempted the introduction of steam on the common road. He had, in
1827, patented a boiler of such peculiar form, that it deserves
description. It consisted of a collection of flat chambers, of which
the walls were of boiler-plate. These chambers were arranged side by
side, and connected laterally by tubes and stays, and all were
connected by short vertical tubes to a horizontal large pipe placed
across the top of the boiler-casing, and serving as a steam-drum or
separator. This earliest of "sheet flue-boilers" did excellent
service on Hancock's steam-carriages, where experience showed that
there was little or no danger of disruptive explosions.
Hancock's first steam-carriage was mounted on three wheels, the
leading-wheel arranged to swivel on a king-bolt, and driven by a pair
of oscillating cylinders connected with its axle, which was "cranked"
for the purpose. The engines turned with the steering-wheel. This
carriage was by no means satisfactory, but it was used for a long
time, and traveled many hundreds of miles without once failing to do
the work assigned it.
By this time there were a half-dozen steam-carriages under
construction for Hancock, for Ogle & Summers, and for Sir Charles
Dance.
In 1831, Hancock placed a new carriage on a route between London and
Stratford, where it ran regularly for hire. Dance, in the same season,
started another on the line between Cheltenham and Gloucester, where
it ran from February 21st to June 22d, traveling 3,500 miles and
carrying 3,000 passengers, running the 9 miles in 55 minutes usually,
and sometimes in three-quarters of an hour, and never meeting with an
accident, except the breakage of an axle in running over heaps of
stones which had been purposely placed on the road by enemies of the
new system of transportation. Ogle & Summers's carriage attained a
speed, as testified by Ogle before a committee of the House of
Commons, of from 32 to 35 miles an hour, and on a rising grade, near
Southampton, at 24-1/2 miles per hour. They carried 250 pounds of
steam, ran 800 miles, and met with no accident. Colonel Macerone, in
1833, ran a steam-carriage of his own design from London to Windsor
and back, with 11 passengers, a distance of 23-1/2 miles, in 2 hours.
Sir Charles Dance, in the same year, ran his carriage 16 miles an
hour, and made long excursions at the rate of 9 miles an hour. Still
another experimenter, Heaton, ascended Lickey Hill, between Worcester
and Birmingham, on gradients of one in eight and one in nine, in
places; this was considered one of the worst pieces of road in
England. The carriage towed a coach containing 20 passengers.
Of all these, and many others, Hancock, however, had most marked
success. His coach, called the "Infant," which was set at work in
February, 1831, was, a year later, plying between London "City" and
Paddington. Another, called the "Era," was built for the London and
Greenwich Steam-Carriage Company, which was mechanically a success.
The company, however, was financially unsuccessful. In October, 1832,
the "Infant" ran to Brighton from London, carrying a party of 11, at
the rate of 9 miles per hour, ascending Redhill at a speed of 5 miles.
They steamed 38 miles the first day, stopping at night at Hazledean,
and reached Brighton next day, running 11 miles per hour. Returning
with 15 passengers, the coach ran 1 mile in less than 4 minutes, and
made 10 miles in 55 minutes. A run from Stratford to Brighton was made
in less than 10 hours, at an average speed of 12 miles an hour running
time, the actual running time being less than 6 hours. The next year
another carriage, the "Enterprise," was put on the road to Paddington
by Hancock for another company, and ran regularly over two weeks; but
this company was also unsuccessful. In the summer of 1833 he brought
out still another steam-coach, the "Autopsy" (Fig. 49), which he ran
to Brighton, and then, returning to London, man[oe]uvred the carriage
in the crowded streets without difficulty or accident. He went about
the streets of London at all times, and without hesitation. The coach
next ran between Finsbury Square and Pentonville regularly for four
weeks, without accident or delay. In the sketch, a part of the side is
broken away to show the machinery. The boiler, _A B_, supplies steam
through the steam-pipe, _H K_, to the steam-engine, _C D_, which is
coupled to the crank-shaft, _F_. _E_ is the feed-pump. The rear axle
is turned by the endless chain seen connecting it with the
engine-shaft, and the rear wheels, _S_, are thus driven. A blower,
_T_, gives a forced draught. The driver sits at _M_, steering by the
wheel, _N_, which is coupled to the larger wheel, _P_, and thus turns
the forward axle into any desired position. In 1834, Hancock built a
steam "drag" on an Austrian order, which, carrying 10 persons and
towing a coach containing 6 passengers, was driven through the city
beyond Islington, making 14 miles an hour on a level, and 8 miles or
more on rising ground. In the same year he built the "Era," and, in
August, put the "Autopsy" on with it, to make a steam-line to
Paddington. These coaches ran until the end of November, carrying
4,000 passengers, at a usual rate of speed of 12 miles per hour. He
then sent the "Era" to Dublin, where, on one occasion, it ran 18 miles
per hour.
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Hancock's "Autopsy," 1833.]
In 1835 a large carriage, the "Erin," was completed, which was
intended to carry 20 passengers. It towed three omnibuses and a
stage-coach, with 50 passengers, on a level road, at the speed of 10
miles an hour. It drew an omnibus with 18 passengers through
Whitehall, Charing Cross, and Regent Street, and out to Brentford,
running 14 miles an hour. It ran also to Reading, making 38 miles,
with the same load, in 3 hours and 8 minutes running time. The stops
_en route_ occupied a half-hour. The same carriage made 75 miles to
Marlborough in 7-1/2 hours running time, stopping 4-1/2 hours on the
road, in consequence of having left the tender and supplies behind.
In May, 1836, Hancock put all his carriages on the Paddington road,
and ran regularly for over five months, running 4,200 miles in 525
trips to Islington, 143 to Paddington, and 44 to Stratford, passing
through the city over 200 times. The carriages averaged 5 hours and 17
or 18 minutes daily running time. A light steam-phaeton, built in
1838, for his own use, made 20 miles an hour, and was driven about the
city, and among horses and carriages, without causing annoyance or
danger. Its usual speed was about 10 miles an hour. Altogether,
Hancock built nine steam-carriages, capable of carrying 116 passengers
in addition to the regular attendants.[47]
[47] For a detailed account of the progress of steam on the highway,
_see_ "Steam on Common Roads," etc., by Young, Holley, & Fisher,
London, 1861.
In December, 1833, about 20 steam-carriages and traction road-engines
were running, or were in course of construction, in and near London.
In our own country, the roughness of roads discouraged inventors;
and in Great Britain even, the successful introduction of
road-locomotives, which seemed at one time almost an accomplished
fact, finally met with so many obstacles, that even Hancock, the most
ingenious, persistent, and successful constructor, gave up in despair.
Hostile legislation procured by opposing interests, and the rapid
progress of steam-locomotion on railroads, caused this result.
In consequence of this interruption of experiment, almost nothing was
done during the succeeding quarter of a century, and it is only within
a few years that anything like a business success has been founded
upon the construction of road-locomotives, although the scheme seems
to have been at no time entirely given up.
The opposition of coach-proprietors, and of all classes having an
interest in the old lines of coaches, was most determined, and the
feeling evinced by them was intensely bitter; but the advocates of the
new system of transportation were equally determined and persevering,
and, having right on their side, and the pecuniary advantage of the
public as their object, they would probably have succeeded ultimately,
except for the introduction of the still better method of
transportation by rail.
In the summer of 1831, when the war between the two parties was at its
height, a committee of the British House of Commons made a very
complete investigation of the subject. This committee reported that
they had become convinced that "the substitution of inanimate for
animal power, in draught on common roads, is one of the most important
improvements in the means of internal communication ever introduced."
They considered its practicability to have been "fully established,"
and predicted that its introduction would "take place more or less
rapidly, in proportion as the attention of scientific men shall be
drawn, by public encouragement, to further improvement." The success
of the system had, as they stated, been retarded by prejudice, adverse
interests, and prohibitory tolls; and the committee remark: "When we
consider that these trials have been made under the most unfavorable
circumstances, at great expense, in total uncertainty, without any of
those guides which experience has given to other branches of
engineering; that those engaged in making them are persons looking
solely to their own interests, and not theorists attempting the
perfection of ingenious models; when we find them convinced, after
long experience, that they are introducing such a mode of conveyance
as shall tempt the public, by its superior advantages, from the use of
the admirable lines of coaches which have been generally established,
it surely cannot be contended that the introduction of steam-carriages
on common roads is, as yet, an uncertain experiment, unworthy of
legislative attention."
Farey, one of the most distinguished mechanical engineers of the
time, testified that he considered the practicability of such a system
as fully established, and that the result would be its general
adoption. Gurney had run his carriage between 20 and 30 miles an hour;
Hancock could sustain a speed of 10 miles; Ogle had run his coach 32
to 35 miles an hour, and ascended a hill rising 1 in 6 at the speed of
24-1/2 miles. Summers had traveled up a hill having a gradient of 1 in
12, with 19 passengers, at the rate of speed of 15 miles per hour; he
had run 4-1/2 hours at 30 miles an hour. Farey thought that
steam-coaches would be found to cost one-third as much as the
stage-coaches in use. The steam-carriages were reported to be safer
than those drawn by horses, and far more manageable; and the
construction of boilers adopted--the "sectional" boiler, as it is now
called--completely insured against injury by explosion, and the
dangers and inconveniences arising from the frightening of horses had
proved to be largely imaginary. The wear and tear of roads were found
to be less than with horses, while with broad wheel-tires the
carriages acted beneficially as road-rollers. The committee finally
concluded:
"1. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an
average rate of 10 miles per hour.
"2. That at this rate they have conveyed upward of 14 passengers.
"3. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and attendants,
may be under three tons.
"4. That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination
with facility and safety.
"5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers.
"6. That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed)
nuisances to the public.
"7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance
than carriages drawn by horses.
"8. That, as they admit of greater breadth of tire than other
carriages, and as the roads are not acted on so injuriously as by the
feet of horses in common draught, such carriages will cause less wear
of roads than coaches drawn by horses.
"9. That rates of toll have been imposed on steam-carriages, which
would prohibit their being used on several lines of road, were such
charges permitted to remain unaltered."
THE RAILROAD, which now, by the adaptation of steam to the propulsion
of its carriages, became the successful rival of the system of
transportation of which an account has just been given, was not a new
device. It, like all other important changes of method and great
inventions, had been growing into form for ages. The ancients were
accustomed to lay down blocks of stone as a way upon which their
heavily-loaded wagons could be drawn with less resistance than on the
common road. This practice was gradually so modified as to result in
the adoption of the now universally-practised methods of paving and
road-making. The old tracks, bearing the marks of heavy traffic, are
still seen in the streets of the unearthed city of Pompeii.
In the early days of mining in Great Britain, the coal or the ore was
carried from the mine to the vessel in which it was to be embarked in
sacks on the backs of horses. Later, the miners laid out wagon-roads,
and used carts and wagons drawn by horses, and the roads were paved
with stone along the lines traversed by the wheels of the vehicles.
Still later (about 1630), heavy planks or squared timber took the
place of the stone, and were introduced into the north of England by a
gentleman of the name of Beaumont, who had transferred his property
there from the south. A half century later, the system had become
generally introduced. By the end of the eighteenth century the
construction of these "tram-ways" had become well-understood, and the
economy which justified the expenditure of considerable amounts of
money in making cuts and in filling, to bring the road to a uniform
grade, had become well-recognized. Arthur Young, writing at this time,
says the coal wagon-roads were "great works, carried over all sorts
of inequalities of ground, so far as the distance of nine or ten
miles," and that, on these tram-ways of timber, "one horse is able to
draw, and that with ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals." The
wagon-wheels were of cast-iron, and made with grooved rims, which
fitted the rounded tops of the wooden rails. But these wooden rails
were found subject to rapid decay, and at Whitehaven, in 1738, they
were protected from wear by cast-iron plates laid upon them, and this
improvement rapidly became known and adopted. A tram-road, laid down
at Sheffield for the Duke of Norfolk, in 1776, was made by laying
angle-bars of cast-iron on longitudinal sleepers of timber; another,
built by William Jessup in Leicestershire, in 1789, had an edge-rail,
and the wheels were made with flanges, like those used to-day. The
coned "tread" of the wheel, which prevents wear of flanges and reduces
resistance, was the invention of James Wright, of Columbia, Pa., 40
years later. The modern railroad was simply the result of this gradual
improvement of the permanent way, and the adaptation of the
steam-engine to the propulsion of its wagons.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, therefore, the
steam-engine had been given a form which permitted its use, and the
railroad had been so far perfected that there were no difficulties to
be anticipated in the construction of the permanent way, and inventors
were gradually preparing, as has been seen, to combine these two
principal elements into one system. Railroads had been introduced in
all parts of Great Britain, some of them of considerable length, and
involving the interests of so many private individuals that they were
necessarily constructed under the authorization of legal enactments.
In the year 1805 the Merstham Railway was opened to traffic, and it is
stated that on that occasion one horse drew a train of 12 wagons,
carrying 38 tons of stone, on a "down gradient" of 1 in 120, at the
rate of 6 miles per hour.
[Illustration: Richard Trevithick.]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--Trevithick's Locomotive, 1804.]
RICHARD TREVITHICK was the first engineer to apply steam-power to the
haulage of loads on the railroad. Trevithick was a Cornishman by
birth, a native of Redruth. He was naturally a skillful mechanic, and
was placed by his father with Watt's assistant, Murdoch, who was
superintending the erection of pumping-engines in Cornwall; and from
that ingenious and accomplished engineer young Trevithick probably
acquired both the skill and the knowledge which, with his native
talent, enterprise, and industry, enabled him to accomplish the work
which has made him famous. He was soon intrusted with the erection and
management of large pumping-engines, and subsequently went into the
business of constructing steam-engines with another engineer, Edward
Bull, who took an active part, with the Hornblowers and others, in
opposing the Boulton & Watt patents. The termination of the suits
which established the validity of Watt's patent put an end to their
business, and Trevithick looked about for other work, and, not long
after, entered into partnership with a relative, Andrew Vivian, who
was also a skillful mechanic; they together designed and patented the
steam-carriage already referred to. Its success was sufficiently
satisfactory to awaken strong confidence of a perfect success on the
now common tram-roads; and Trevithick, in February, 1804, had
completed a "locomotive" engine to work on the Welsh Pen-y-darran
road. This engine (Fig. 50) had a cylindrical flue-boiler, _A_, like
that designed by Oliver Evans, and a single steam-cylinder, _B_, set
vertically into the steam-space of the boiler, and driving the
outside cranks, _L_, on the rear axle of the engine by very long
connecting-rods, _D_, attached to its cross-head at _E_. The
guide-bars, _I_, were stayed by braces leading to the opposite end of
the boiler. No attempt was made to condense the exhaust-steam, which
was discharged into the smoke-pipe. The pressure of steam adopted was
40 pounds per square inch; but Trevithick had already made a number of
non-condensing engines on which he carried from 50 to 145 pounds
pressure.
In the year 1808, Trevithick built a railroad in London, on what was
known later as Torrington Square, or Euston Square, and set at work a
steam-carriage, which he called "Catch-me-who-can." This was a very
plain and simple machine. The steam-cylinder was set vertically in the
after-end of the boiler, and the cross-head was connected to two rods,
one on either side, driving the hind pair of wheels. The exhaust-steam
entered the chimney, aiding the draught. This engine, weighing about
10 tons, made from 12 to 15 miles an hour on the circular railway in
London, and was said by its builder to be capable of making 20 miles
an hour. The engine was finally thrown from the track, after some
weeks of work, by the breaking of a rail, and, Trevithick's funds
having been expended, it was never replaced. This engine had a
steam-cylinder 14-1/2 inches in diameter, and a stroke of piston of 4
feet. Trevithick used no device to aid the friction of the wheels on
the rails in giving pulling-power, and seems to have understood that
none was needed. This plan of working a locomotive-engine without such
complications as had been proposed by other engineers was, however,
subsequently patented, in 1813, by Blackett & Hedley. The latter was
at one time Trevithick's agent, and was director of Wylam Colliery, of
which Mr. Blackett was proprietor.
Trevithick applied his high-pressure non-conducting engine not only to
locomotives, but to every purpose that opportunity offered him. He put
one into the Tredegar Iron-Works, to drive the puddle-train, in 1801.
This engine had a steam-cylinder 28 inches in diameter, and 6 feet
stroke of piston; a boiler of cast-iron, 6-3/4 feet in diameter and 20
feet long, with a wrought-iron internal tube, 3 feet in diameter at
the furnace-end and 24 inches beyond the furnace. The steam-pressure
ranged from 50 to 100 pounds per square inch. The valve was a four-way
cock. The exhaust-steam was carried into the chimney, passing through
a feed-water heater _en route_. This engine was taken down in
1856.[48]
[48] "Life of Trevithick."
In 1803, Trevithick applied his engine to driving rock-drills, and
three years later made a large contract with the Trinity Board for
dredging in the Thames, and constructed steam dredging-machines for
the work, of the form which is still most generally used in Great
Britain, although rarely seen in the United States--the
"chain-and-bucket dredger."
A little later, Trevithick was engaged upon the first and unsuccessful
attempt to carry a tunnel under the Thames, at London; but no sooner
had that costly scheme been given up, than he returned to his favorite
pursuits, and continued his work on interrupted schemes for
ship-propulsion. Trevithick at last left England, spent some years in
South America, and finally returned home and died in extreme poverty,
April, 1833, at the age of sixty-two, without having succeeded in
accomplishing the general introduction of any of his inventions.
Trevithick was characteristically an inventor of the typical sort. He
invented many valuable devices, but brought but few into even
experimental use, and reaped little advantage from any of them. He was
ingenious, a thorough mechanic, bold, active, and indefatigable; but
his lack of persistence made his whole life, as Smiles has said, "but
a series of beginnings."
It is at about this period that we find evidence of the intelligent
labors of another of our own countrymen--one who, in consequence of
the unobtrusive manner in which his work was done, has never received
the full credit to which he is entitled.
COLONEL JOHN STEVENS, of Hoboken, as he is generally called, was born
in the city of New York, in 1749; but throughout his business-life he
was a resident of New Jersey.
[Illustration: Colonel John Stevens.]
His attention is said to have been first called to the application of
steam-power by seeing the experiments of John Fitch with his steamer
on the Delaware, and he at once devoted himself to the introduction of
steam-navigation with characteristic energy, and with a success that
will be indicated when we come to the consideration of that subject.
But this far-sighted engineer and statesman saw plainly the
importance of applying the steam-engine to land-transportation as well
as to navigation; and not only that, but he saw with equal
distinctness the importance of a well-devised and carefully-prosecuted
scheme of internal communication by a complete system of railroads. In
1812 he published a pamphlet containing "Documents tending to prove
the superior advantages of Railways and Steam-Carriages over
Canal-Navigation."[49] At this time, the only locomotive in the world
was that of Trevithick and Vivian, at Merthyr Tydvil, and the railroad
itself had not grown beyond the old wooden tram-roads of the
collieries. Yet Colonel Stevens says, in this paper: "I can see
nothing to hinder a steam-carriage moving on its ways with a velocity
of 100 miles an hour;" adding, in a foot-note: "This astonishing
velocity is considered here merely possible. It is probable that it
may not, in practise, be convenient to exceed 20 or 30 miles per hour.
Actual experiment can only determine this matter, and I should not be
surprised at seeing steam-carriages propelled at the rate of 40 or 50
miles an hour."
[49] Printed by T. & J. Swords, 160 Pearl Street, New York, 1812.
At a yet earlier date he had addressed a memoir to the proper
authorities, urging his plans for railroads. He proposed rails of
timber, protected, when necessary, by iron plates, or to be made
wholly of iron; the car-wheels were to be of cast-iron, with inside
flanges to keep them on the track. The steam-engine was to be driven
by steam of 50 pounds pressure and upward, and to be non-condensing.
Answering the objections of Robert R. Livingston and of the State
Commissioners of New York, he goes further into details. He gives 500
to 1,000 pounds as the maximum weight to be placed on each wheel;
shows that the trains, or "suits of carriages," as he calls them, will
make their journeys with as much certainty and celerity in the darkest
night as in the light of day; shows that the grades of proposed roads
would offer but little resistance; and places the whole subject before
the public with such accuracy of statement and such evident
appreciation of its true value, that every one who reads this
remarkable document will agree fully with President Charles King, who
said[50] that "whosoever shall attentively read this pamphlet, will
perceive that the political, financial, commercial, and military
aspects of this great question were all present to Colonel Stevens's
mind, and that he felt that he was fulfilling a patriotic duty when he
placed at the disposal of his native country these fruits of his
genius. The offering was not then accepted. The 'Thinker' was ahead of
his age; but it is grateful to know that he lived to see his projects
carried out, though not by the Government, and that, before he
finally, in 1838, closed his eyes in death, at the great age of
eighty-nine, he could justly feel assured that the name of Stevens, in
his own person and in that of his sons, was imperishably enrolled
among those which a grateful country will cherish."
[50] "Progress of the City of New York."
Without having made any one superlatively great improvement in the
mechanism of the steam-engine, like that which gave Watt his
fame--without having the honor even of being the first to
propose the propulsion of vessels by the modern steam-engine, or
steam-transportation on land--he exhibited a far better knowledge of
the science and the art of engineering than any man of his time; and
he entertained and urged more advanced opinions and more statesmanlike
views in relation to the economical importance of the improvement and
the application of the steam-engine, both on land and water, than seem
to be attributable to any other leading engineer of that time.
Says Dr. King: "Who can estimate if, at that day, acting upon the
well-considered suggestion of President Madison, 'of the signal
advantages to be derived to the United States from a general system of
internal communication and conveyance,' Congress had entertained
Colonel Stevens's proposal, and, after verifying by actual experiment
upon a small scale the accuracy of his plan, had organized such a
'general system of internal communication and conveyance;' who can
begin to estimate the inappreciable benefits that would have resulted
therefrom to the comfort, the wealth, the power, and, above all, to
the absolutely impregnable union of our great Republic and all its
component parts? All this Colonel Stevens embraced in his views, for
he was a statesman as well as an experimental philosopher; and whoever
shall attentively read his pamphlet, will perceive that the political,
financial, commercial, and military aspects of this great question
were all present to his mind, and he felt that he was fulfilling a
patriotic duty when he placed at the disposal of his native country
these fruits of his genius."
WILLIAM HEDLEY, who has already been referred to, seems to have been
the first to show, by carefully-conducted experiment, how far the
adhesion of the wheels of the locomotive-engine could be relied upon
for hauling-power in the transportation of loads.
His employer, Blackett, had applied to Trevithick for a
locomotive-engine to haul coal-trains at the Wylam collieries; but
Trevithick was unable, or was disinclined, to build him one, and in
October, 1812, Hedley was authorized to attempt the construction of an
engine. It was at about this time that Blenkinsop (1811) was trying
the toothed rail or rack, the Messrs. Chapman (December, 1812) were
experimenting with a towing-chain, and (May, 1813) Brunton with
movable legs.