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[Illustration: BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.
[Bird's-Eye View.]]
BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE
OF
LOCOMOTIVES.
M. BAIRD & Co.,
PHILADELPHIA.
MATTHEW BAIRD,
GEORGE BURNHAM,
CHARLES T. PARRY,
EDWARD H. WILLIAMS,
WILLIAM P. HENSZEY,
EDWARD LONGSTRETH.
PRESS OF
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
PHILADELPHIA.
SKETCH OF THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.
THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS dates its origin from the inception of
steam railroads in America. Called into existence by the early
requirements of the railroad interests of the country, it has grown
with their growth and kept pace with their progress. It has reflected
in its career the successive stages of American railroad practice, and
has itself contributed largely to the development of the locomotive as
it exists to-day. A history of the Baldwin Locomotive Works,
therefore, is, in a great measure, a record of the progress of
locomotive engineering in this country, and as such cannot fail to be
of interest to all who are concerned in this important element of our
material progress.
MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN, the founder of the establishment, learned the
trade of a jeweler, and entered the service of Fletcher & Gardiner,
Jewelers and Silversmiths, Philadelphia, in 1817. Two years later he
opened a small shop, in the same line of business, on his own account.
The demand for articles of this character falling off, however, he
formed a partnership, in 1825, with David Mason, a machinist, in the
manufacture of bookbinders' tools and cylinders for calico-printing.
Their shop was in a small alley which runs north from Walnut Street,
above Fourth. They afterwards removed to Minor Street, below Sixth.
The business was so successful that steam-power became necessary in
carrying on their manufactures, and an engine was bought for the
purpose. This proving unsatisfactory, Mr. Baldwin decided to design
and construct one which should be specially adapted to the
requirements of his shop. One of these requirements was that it should
occupy the least possible space, and this was met by the construction
of an upright engine on a novel and ingenious plan. On a bed-plate
about five feet square an upright cylinder was placed; the piston-rod
connected to a cross-bar having two legs, turned downward, and sliding
in grooves on the sides of the cylinder, which thus formed the guides.
To the sides of these legs, at their lower ends, was connected by
pivots an inverted U-shaped frame, prolonged at the arch into a single
rod, which took hold of the crank of a fly-wheel carried by upright
standards on the bed-plate. It will be seen that the length of the
ordinary separate guide-bars was thus saved, and the whole engine was
brought within the smallest possible compass. The design of the
machine was not only unique, but its workmanship was so excellent, and
its efficiency so great, as readily to procure for Mr. Baldwin orders
for additional stationary engines. His attention was thus turned to
steam engineering, and the way was prepared for his grappling with the
problem of the locomotive when the time should arrive.
This original stationary engine, constructed prior to 1830, has been
in almost constant service since its completion, and at this day is
still in use, furnishing all the power required to drive the machinery
in the erecting-shop of the present works. The visitor who beholds it
quietly performing its regular duty in a corner of the shop, may
justly regard it with considerable interest, as in all probability the
indirect foundation of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and permitted
still to contribute to the operation of the mammoth industry which it
was instrumental in building up.
The manufacture of stationary steam-engines thus took a prominent
place in the establishment, and Mr. Mason shortly afterward withdrew
from the business.
In 1829-30 the use of steam as a motive power on railroads had begun
to engage the attention of American engineers. A few locomotives had
been imported from England, and one (which, however, was not
successful) had been constructed at the West Point Foundry, in New
York City. To gratify the public interest in the new motor, Mr.
Franklin Peale, then proprietor of the Philadelphia Museum, applied to
Mr. Baldwin to construct a miniature locomotive for exhibition in his
establishment. With the aid only of the imperfect published
descriptions and sketches of the locomotives which had taken part in
the Rainhill competition in England, Mr. Baldwin undertook the work,
and on the 25th of April, 1831, the miniature locomotive was put in
motion on a circular track made of pine boards covered with hoop iron,
in the rooms of the Museum. Two small cars, containing seats for four
passengers, were attached to it, and the novel spectacle attracted
crowds of admiring spectators. Both anthracite and pine-knot coal were
used as fuel, and the exhaust steam was discharged into the chimney,
thus utilizing it to increase the draught.
The success of the model was such that, in the same year, Mr. Baldwin
received an order for a locomotive from the Philadelphia, Germantown
and Norristown Railroad Company, whose short line of six miles to
Germantown was operated by horse-power. The Camden and Amboy Railroad
Company had shortly before imported a locomotive from England, which
was stored in a shed at Bordentown. It had not yet been put together;
but Mr. Baldwin, in company with his friend, Mr. Peale, visited the
spot, inspected the detached parts, and made a few memoranda of some
of its principal dimensions. Guided by these figures and his
experience with the Peale model, Mr. Baldwin commenced the task. The
difficulties to be overcome in filling the order can hardly be
appreciated at this day. There were few mechanics competent to do any
part of the work on a locomotive. Suitable tools were with difficulty
obtainable. Cylinders were bored by a chisel fixed in a block of wood
and turned by hand. Blacksmiths able to weld a bar of iron exceeding
one and one-quarter inches in thickness, were few, or not to be had.
It was necessary for Mr. Baldwin to do much of the work with his own
hands, to educate the workmen who assisted him, and to improvise tools
for the various processes.
The work was prosecuted, nevertheless, under all these difficulties,
and the locomotive was finally completed, christened the "Old
Ironsides," and tried on the road, November 23, 1832. The
circumstances of the trial are fully preserved, and are given, further
on, in the extracts from the journals of the day. Despite some
imperfections, naturally occurring in a first effort, and which were
afterward, to a great extent, remedied, the engine was, for that early
day, a marked and gratifying success. It was put at once into service,
as appears from the Company's advertisement three days after the
trial, and did duty on the Germantown road and others for over a score
of years.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--THE "OLD IRONSIDES," 1832.]
The "Ironsides" was a four-wheeled engine, modeled essentially on the
English practice of that day, as shown in the "Planet" class, and
weighed, in running order, something over five tons. The rear or
driving-wheels were fifty-four inches in diameter on a crank-axle
placed in front of the fire-box. The cranks were thirty-nine inches
from centre to centre. The front wheels, which were simply carrying
wheels, were forty-five inches in diameter, on an axle placed just
back of the cylinders. The cylinders were nine and one-half inches in
diameter by eighteen inches stroke, and were attached horizontally to
the outside of the smoke-box, which was D-shaped, with the sides
receding inwardly, so as to bring the centre line of each cylinder in
line with the centre of the crank. The wheels were made with heavy
cast-iron hubs, wooden spokes and rims, and wrought-iron tires. The
frame was of wood, placed outside the wheels. The boiler was thirty
inches in diameter, and contained seventy-two copper flues, one and
one-half inches in diameter and seven feet long. The tender was a
four-wheeled platform, with wooden sides and back, carrying an iron
box for a water-tank, inclosed in a wooden casing, and with a space
for fuel in front. The engine had no cab. The valve-motion was given
by a single loose eccentric for each cylinder, placed on the axle
between the crank and the hub of the wheel. On the inside of the
eccentric was a half-circular slot, running half-way around. A stop
was fastened to the axle at the arm of the crank, terminating in a pin
which projected into the slot. This pin would thus hold the eccentric
at one end or the other of the half-circular slot, and the engine was
reversed by moving the eccentric about the axle, by means of movable
hand-levers set in sockets in the rock-shafts, until it was arrested
and held by the pin at one end or the other of the slot. The
rock-shafts, which were under the footboard, had arms above and below,
and the eccentric-straps had each a forked rod, with a hook, or an
upper and lower latch or pin, at their extremities, to engage with
the upper or lower arm of the rock-shaft. The eccentric-rods were
raised or lowered by a double treadle, so as to connect with the upper
or lower arm of the rock-shaft, according as forward or backward gear
was desired. A peculiarity in the exhaust of the "Ironsides" was that
there was only a single straight pipe running across from one cylinder
to the other, with an opening in the upper side of the pipe, midway
between the cylinders, to which was attached at right angles the
perpendicular pipe into the chimney. The cylinders, therefore,
exhausted against each other; and it was found, after the engine had
been put in use, that this was a serious objection. This defect was
afterwards remedied by turning each exhaust-pipe upward into the
chimney, substantially as is now done. The steam-joints were made with
canvas and red-lead, as was the practice in English locomotives, and
in consequence much trouble was caused, from time to time, by leaking.
The price of the engine was to have been $4000, but some difficulty
was found in procuring a settlement. The Company claimed that the
engine did not perform according to contract; and objection was also
made to some of the defects alluded to. After these had been corrected
as far as possible, however, Mr. Baldwin finally succeeded in
effecting a compromise settlement, and received from the Company $3500
for the machine.
We are indebted for the sketch of the "Ironsides" from which the
accompanying cut is produced, as well as for other valuable
particulars in regard to the engine, to Mr. H. R. Campbell, who was
the Chief Engineer of the Germantown and Norristown Railroad when the
"Ironsides" was placed in service, and who is thoroughly familiar with
all the facts in regard to the engine. Much of the success of the
machine was due to his exertions, as, while the President of the
Company was inclined to reject it as defective, Mr. Campbell was
earnest in his efforts to correct its imperfections, and his influence
contributed largely to retain the engine on the road.
The results of the trial and the impression produced by it on the
public mind may be gathered from the following extracts from the
newspapers of the day:
The _United States Gazette_ of Nov. 24th, 1832, remarks:
"A most gratifying experiment was made yesterday afternoon on the
Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad. The beautiful
locomotive engine and tender, built by Mr. Baldwin, of this city,
whose reputation as an ingenious machinist is well known, were
for the first time placed on the road. The engine traveled about
six miles, working with perfect accuracy and ease in all its
parts, and with great velocity."
The _Chronicle_ of the same date noticed the trial more at length, as
follows:
"It gives us pleasure to state that the locomotive engine built
by our townsman, M. W. Baldwin, has proved highly successful. In
the presence of several gentlemen of science and information on
such subjects, the engine was yesterday placed upon the road for
the first time. All her parts had been previously highly finished
and fitted together in Mr. Baldwin's factory. She was taken apart
on Tuesday and removed to the Company's depot, and yesterday
morning she was completely together, ready for travel. After the
regular passenger cars had arrived from Germantown in the
afternoon, the tracks being clear, preparation was made for her
starting. The placing fire in the furnace and raising steam
occupied twenty minutes. The engine (with her tender) moved from
the depot in beautiful style, working with great ease and
uniformity. She proceeded about half a mile beyond the Union
Tavern, at the township line, and returned immediately, a
distance of six miles, at a speed of about twenty-eight miles to
the hour, her speed having been slackened at all the road
crossings, and it being after dark, but a portion of her power
was used. It is needless to say that the spectators were
delighted. From this experiment there is every reason to believe
this engine will draw thirty tons gross, at an average speed of
forty miles an hour, on a level road. The principal superiority
of the engine over any of the English ones known, consists in the
light weight,--which is but between four and five tons,--her
small bulk, and the simplicity of her working machinery. We
rejoice at the result of this experiment, as it conclusively
shows that Philadelphia, always famous for the skill of her
mechanics, is enabled to produce steam-engines for railroads
combining so many superior qualities as to warrant the belief
that her mechanics will hereafter supply nearly all the public
works of this description in the country."
On subsequent trials, the "Ironsides" attained a speed of thirty miles
per hour, with its usual train attached. So great were the wonder and
curiosity which attached to such a prodigy, that people flocked to see
the marvel, and eagerly bought the privilege of riding after the
strange monster. The officers of the road were not slow to avail
themselves of the public interest to increase their passenger
receipts, and the following advertisement from _Poulson's American
Daily Advertiser_ of Nov. 26, 1832, will show that as yet they
regarded the new machine rather as a curiosity and a bait to allure
travel than as a practical, every-day servant:
"NOTICE.--The locomotive engine (built by M. W. Baldwin, of this
city) will depart daily, _when the weather is fair_, with a train
of passenger cars. _On rainy days horses will be attached._"
This announcement did not mean that in wet weather horses _would be
attached to the locomotive_ to aid if in drawing the train, but that
the usual horse-cars would be employed in making the trips upon the
road without the engine.
Upon making the first trip to Germantown with a passenger train with
the Ironsides, one of the drivers slipped upon the axle, causing the
wheels to track less than the gauge of the road and drop in between
the rails. It was also discovered that the valve arrangement of the
pumps was defective, and they failed to supply the boiler with water.
The shifting of the driving wheel upon the axle fastened the
eccentric, so that it would not operate in backward motion. These
mishaps caused delay, and prevented the engine from reaching its
destination, to the great disappointment of all concerned. They were
corrected in a few days, and the machine was used in experimenting
upon its efficiency, making occasional trips with trains to
Germantown. The road had an ascending grade, nearly uniform, of
thirty-two feet per mile, and for the last half-mile of forty-five
feet per mile, and it was found that the engine was too light for the
business of the road upon these grades.
Such was Mr. Baldwin's first locomotive; and it is related of him that
his discouragement at the difficulties which he had undergone in
building it and in finally procuring a settlement for it was such that
he remarked to one of his friends, with much decision, "That is our
last locomotive."
It was some time before he received an order for another, but
meanwhile the subject had become singularly fascinating to him, and
occupied his mind so fully that he was eager to work out his new ideas
in a tangible form.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--HALF-CRANK.]
Shortly after the "Ironsides" had been placed on the Germantown road,
Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston, S. C, came to Philadelphia and made a
careful examination of the machine. Mr. Miller had, in 1830,
contracted to furnish a locomotive to the Charleston and Hamburg
Railroad Company, and accordingly the engine "Best Friend" had been
built under his direction at the West Point Foundry, New York. After
inspecting the "Ironsides," he suggested to Mr. Baldwin to visit the
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad and examine an English locomotive which had
been placed on that road in July, 1831, by Messrs. Robert Stephenson &
Co., of Newcastle, England. It was originally a four-wheeled engine of
the "Planet" type, with horizontal cylinders and crank-axle. The front
wheels of this engine were removed about a year after the machine was
put at work, and a four-wheeled swiveling or "bogie" truck
substituted. The result of Mr. Baldwin's investigations was the
adoption of this design, but with some important improvements. Among
these was the "half-crank," which he devised on his return from this
trip, and which he patented September 10, 1834. In this form of crank,
shown in Figure 2, the outer arm is omitted, and the wrist is fixed in
a spoke of the wheel. In other words, the wheel itself formed one arm
of the crank. The result sought and gained was that the cranks were
strengthened, and, being at the extremities of the axle, the boiler
could be made larger in diameter and placed lower. The driving axle
could also be placed back of the fire-box, the connecting rods passing
by the sides of the fire-box and taking hold inside of the wheels.
This arrangement of the crank also involved the placing of the
cylinders outside the smoke-box, as was done on the "Ironsides."
By the time the order for the second locomotive was received, Mr.
Baldwin had matured this device and was prepared to embody it in
practical form. The order came from Mr. E. L. Miller in behalf of the
Charleston and Hamburg Railroad Company, and the engine bore his name,
and was completed February 18, 1834. It was on six wheels; one pair
being drivers, four and a half feet in diameter, with half-crank axle
placed back of the fire-box as above described, and the four front
wheels combined in a swiveling truck. The driving-wheels, it should be
observed, were cast in solid bell-metal. The combined wood and iron
wheels used on the "Ironsides" had proved objectionable, and Mr.
Baldwin, in his endeavors to find a satisfactory substitute, had
recourse to brass. June 29, 1833, he took out a patent for a
cast-brass wheel, his idea being that by varying the hardness of the
metal the adhesion of the drivers on the rails could be increased or
diminished at will. The brass wheels on the "Miller," however, soon
wore out, and the experiment with this metal was not repeated. The "E.
L. Miller" had cylinders ten inches in diameter; stroke of piston,
sixteen inches; and weighed, with water in the boiler, seven tons
eight hundredweight. The boiler had a high dome over the fire-box, as
shown in Figure 3; and this form of construction, it may be noted, was
followed, with a few exceptions, for many years.
The valve-motion was given by a single fixed eccentric for each
cylinder. Each eccentric-strap had two arms attached to it, one above
and the other below, and, as the driving-axle was back of the
fire-box, these arms were prolonged backward under the footboard, with
a hook on the inner side of the end of each. The rock-shaft had arms
above and below its axis, and the hooks of the two rods of each
eccentric were moved by hand-levers so as to engage with either arm,
thus producing backward or forward gear. This form of single
eccentric, peculiar to Mr. Baldwin, was in the interest of simplicity
in the working parts, and was adhered to for some years. It gave rise
to an animated controversy among mechanics as to whether, with its
use, it was possible to get a lead on the valve in both directions.
Many maintained that this was impracticable; but Mr. Baldwin
demonstrated by actual experience that the reverse was the case.
Meanwhile the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had given Mr. Baldwin an
order for a locomotive for the State Road, as it was then called, from
Philadelphia to Columbia, which, up to that time, had been worked by
horses. This engine, called the "Lancaster," was completed in June,
1834. It was similar to the "Miller," and weighed seventeen thousand
pounds. After it was placed in service, the records show that it
hauled at one time nineteen loaded burden cars over the highest grades
between Philadelphia and Columbia. This was characterized at the time
by the officers of the road as an "unprecedented performance." The
success of the machine on its trial trips was such that the
Legislature decided to adopt steam-power for working the road, and Mr.
Baldwin received orders for several additional locomotives. Two others
were accordingly delivered to the State in September and November
respectively of that year, and one was also built and delivered to the
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company during the same season. This
latter engine, which was put in service October 21, 1834, averaged
twenty-one thousand miles per year to September 15, 1840.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--BALDWIN ENGINE, 1834.]
Five locomotives were thus completed in 1834, and the new business was
fairly under way. The building in Lodge Alley, to which Mr. Baldwin
had removed from Minor Street, and where these engines were
constructed, began to be found too contracted, and another removal was
decided upon. A location on Broad and Hamilton Streets (the site, in
part, of the present works) was selected, and a three-story L-shaped
brick building, fronting on both streets, erected. This was completed
and the business removed to it during the following year (1835). The
original building still stands, forming the office, drawing-room, and
principal machine-shops of the present works.
These early locomotives, built in 1834, were the types of Mr.
Baldwin's practice for some years. Their general design is shown in
Figure 3. All, or nearly all of them, embraced several important
devices, which were the results of his study and experiments up to
that time. The devices referred to were patented September 10, 1834,
and the same patent covered the four following inventions, viz.:
1. The half-crank, and method of attaching it to the driving-wheel.
(This has already been described.)
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--BALDWIN COMPOUND WOOD AND IRON WHEELS, 1834.]
2. A new mode of constructing the wheels of locomotive engines and
cars. In this the hub and spokes were of cast-iron, cast together. The
spokes were cast without a rim, and terminated in segment flanges,
each spoke having a separate flange disconnected from its neighbors.
By this means, it was claimed, the injurious effect of the unequal
expansion of the materials composing the wheels was lessened or
altogether prevented. The flanges bore against wooden felloes, made in
two thicknesses, and put together so as to break joints. Tenons or
pins projected from the flanges into openings made in the wooden
felloes, to keep them in place. Around the whole the tire was passed
and secured by bolts. The above sketch shows the device.
3. A new mode of forming the joints of steam and other tubes. This was
Mr. Baldwin's invention of ground joints for steam-pipes, which was a
very valuable improvement over previous methods of making joints with
red-lead packing, and which rendered it possible to carry a much
higher pressure of steam.
4. A new mode of forming the joints and other parts of the
supply-pump, and of locating the pump itself. This invention consisted
in making the single guide-bar hollow and using it for the
pump-barrel. The pump-plunger was attached to the piston-rod at a
socket or sleeve formed for the purpose, and the hollow guide-bar
terminated in the vertical pump-chamber. This chamber was made in two
pieces, joined about midway between the induction and eduction-pipes.
This joint was ground steam-tight, as were also the joints of the
induction-pipe with the bottom of the lower chamber, and the flange of
the eduction-pipe with the top of the upper chamber. All these parts
were held together by a stirrup with a set-screw in its arched top,
and the arrangement was such that by simply unscrewing this set-screw
the different sections of the chamber, with all the valves, could be
taken apart for cleaning or adjusting. The cut below illustrates the
device.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--PUMP AND STIRRUP.]
It is probable that the five engines built during 1834 embodied all,
or nearly all, these devices. They all had the half-crank, the ground
joints for steam-pipes (which was first made by him in 1833), and the
pump formed in the guide-bar, and all had the four-wheeled truck in
front, and a single pair of drivers back of the fire-box. On this
position of the driving-wheels, Mr. Baldwin laid great stress, as it
made a more even distribution of the weight, throwing about one-half
on the drivers and one-half on the four-wheeled truck. It also
extended the wheel-base, making the engine much steadier and less
damaging to the track. Mr. William Norris, who had established a
locomotive works in Philadelphia in 1832, was at this time building a
six-wheeled engine with a truck in front and the driving-wheels placed
in front of the fire-box. Considerable rivalry naturally existed
between the two manufacturers as to the comparative merits of their
respective plans. In Mr. Norris's engine, the position of the
driving-axle in front of the fire-box threw on it more of the weight
of the engine, and thus increased the adhesion and the tractive power.
Mr. Baldwin, however, maintained the superiority of his plan, as
giving a better distribution of the weight and a longer wheel-base,
and consequently rendering the machine less destructive to the track.
As the iron rails then in use were generally light, and much of the
track was of wood, this feature was of some importance.
To the use of the ground joint for steam-pipes, however, much of the
success of his early engines was due. The English builders were making
locomotives with canvas and red-lead joints, permitting a steam
pressure of only sixty pounds per inch to be carried, while Mr.
Baldwin's machines were worked at one hundred and twenty pounds with
ease. Several locomotives imported from England at about this period
by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the State Road (three of which
were made by Stephenson) had canvas and red-lead joints, and their
efficiency was so much less than that of the Baldwin engines, on
account of this and other features of construction, that they were
soon laid aside or sold.
In June, 1834, a patent was issued to Mr. E. L. Miller, by whom Mr.
Baldwin's second engine was ordered, for a method of increasing the
adhesion of a locomotive by throwing a part of the weight of the
tender on the rear of the engine, thus increasing the weight on the
drivers. Mr. Baldwin adopted this device on an engine built for the
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company, May, 1835, and thereafter
used it largely, paying one hundred dollars royalty for each engine.
Eventually (May 6, 1839) he bought the patent for nine thousand
dollars, evidently considering that the device was especially
valuable, if not indispensable, in order to render his engine as
powerful, when required, as other patterns having the driving-wheels
in front of the fire-box, and therefore utilizing more of the weight
of the engine for adhesion.
In making the truck and tender wheels of these early locomotives, the
hubs were cast in three pieces and afterward banded with wrought-iron,
the interstices being filled with spelter. This method of construction
was adopted on account of the difficulty then found in casting a
chilled wheel in one solid piece.
April 3, 1835, Mr. Baldwin took out a patent for certain improvements
in the wheels and tubes of locomotive engines. That relating to the
wheels provided for casting the hub and spokes together, and having
the spokes terminate in segments of a rim, as described in his patent
of September 10, 1834. Between the ends of the spokes and the tires
wood was interposed, and the tire might be either of wrought-iron or
of chilled cast-iron. The intention was expressed of making the tire
usually of cast-iron chilled. The main object, however, was declared
to be the interposition between the spokes and the rim of a layer of
wood or other substance possessing some degree of elasticity. This
method of making driving-wheels was followed for several years.
The improvement in locomotive tubes consisted in driving a copper
ferrule or thimble on the outside of the end of the tube, and
soldering it in place, instead of driving a ferrule into the tube, as
had previously been the practice. The object of the latter method had
been to make a tight joint with the tube-sheet; but, by putting the
ferrule on the outside of the tube, not only was the joint made as
tight as before, but the tube was strengthened, and left unobstructed
throughout to the full extent of its diameter. This method of setting
flues has been generally followed in the works from that date to the
present, the only difference being that, at this time, with iron
tubes, the end is swedged down, the copper ferrule brazed on, and the
iron end turned or riveted over against the copper thimble and the
flue-sheet, to make the joint perfect.
Early in 1835, the new shop on Broad Street was completed and
occupied. Mr. Baldwin's attention was thenceforward given to
locomotive building exclusively, except that a stationary engine was
occasionally constructed.
In May, 1835, his eleventh locomotive, the "Black Hawk," was delivered
to the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company. This was the first
outside-connected engine of his build. It was also the first engine on
which the Miller device of attaching part of the weight of the tender
to the engine was employed. On the eighteenth engine, the
"Brandywine," built for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad
Company, brass tires were used on the driving-wheels, for the purpose
of obtaining more adhesion; but they wore out rapidly and were
replaced with iron.
Fourteen engines were constructed in 1835; forty in 1836; forty in
1837; twenty-three in 1838; twenty-six in 1839; and nine in 1840.
During all these years the general design continued the same; but, in
compliance with the demand for more power, three sizes were furnished,
as follows:
First-class. Cylinders, 12-1/2 x 16; weight, loaded, 26,000 pounds.
Second-class. " 12 x 16; " " 23,000 "
Third-class. " 10-1/2 x 16; " " 20,000 "
The first-class engine he fully believed, in 1838, was as heavy as
would be called for, and he declared that it was as large as he
intended to make. Most of the engines were built with the half-crank,
but occasionally an outside-connected machine was turned out. These
latter, however, failed to give as complete satisfaction as the
half-crank machine. The drivers were generally four and a half feet in
diameter.
A patent was issued to Mr. Baldwin, August 17, 1835, for his device of
cylindrical pedestals. In this method of construction, the pedestal
was of cast-iron, and was bored in a lathe so as to form two concave
jaws. The boxes were also turned in a lathe so that their vertical
ends were cylindrical, and they were thus fitted in the pedestals.
This method of fitting up pedestals and boxes was cheap and effective,
and was used for some years for the driving and tender wheels.
As showing the estimation in which these early engines were held, it
may not be out of place to refer to the opinions of some of the
railroad managers of that period.
Mr. L. A. Sykes, engineer of the New Jersey Transportation Company,
under date of June 12, 1838, wrote that he could draw with his
engines twenty four-wheeled cars with twenty-six passengers each, at a
speed of twenty to twenty-five miles per hour, over grades of
twenty-six feet per mile. "As to simplicity of construction," he adds,
"small liability to get out of order, economy of repairs, and ease to
the road, I fully believe Mr. Baldwin's engines stand unrivalled. I
consider the simplicity of the engine, the arrangement of the
working-parts, and the distribution of the weight, far superior to any
engine I have ever seen, either of American or English manufacture,
and I have not the least hesitation in saying that Mr. Baldwin's
engine will do the same amount of work with much less repairs, either
to the engine or the track, than any other engine in use."
L. G. Cannon, President of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad
Company, writes, "Your engines will, in performance and cost of
repairs, bear comparison with any other engine made in this or any
other country."
Some of Mr. Baldwin's engines on the State Road, in 1837, cost, for
repairs, only from one and two-tenths to one and six-tenths cents per
mile. It is noted that the engine "West Chester," on the same road,
weighing twenty thousand seven hundred and thirty-five pounds (ten
thousand four hundred and seventy-five on drivers), drew fifty-one
cars (four-wheeled), weighing two hundred and eighty-nine net tons,
over the road, some of the track being of wood covered with
strap-rail.
The financial difficulties of 1836 and 1837, which brought ruin upon
so many, did not leave Mr. Baldwin unscathed. His embarrassments
became so great that he was unable to proceed, and was forced to call
his creditors together for a settlement. After offering to surrender
all his property, his shop, tools, house, and everything, if they so
desired,--all of which would realize only about twenty-five per cent.
of their claims,--he proposed to them that they should permit him to
go on with the business, and in three years he would pay the full
amount of all claims, principal and interest. This was finally acceded
to, and the promise was in effect fulfilled, although not without an
extension of two years beyond the time originally proposed.
In May, 1837, the number of hands employed was three hundred, but this
number was reducing weekly, owing to the falling off in the demand for
engines.
These financial troubles had their effect on the demand for
locomotives, as will be seen in the decrease in the number built in
1838, 1839, and 1840; and this result was furthered by the
establishment of several other locomotive works and the introduction
of other patterns of engines.
The changes and improvements in details made during these years may be
summed up as follows:
The subject of burning coal had engaged much attention. In October,
1836, Mr. Baldwin secured a patent for a grate or fireplace which
could be detached from the engine at pleasure, and a new one with a
fresh coal fire substituted. The intention was to have the grate with
freshly ignited coal all ready for the engine on its arrival at a
station, and placed between the rails over suitable levers, by which
it could be attached quickly to the fire-box. It is needless to say
that this was never practiced. In January, 1838, however, Mr. Baldwin
was experimenting with the consumption of coal on the Germantown road,
and in July of the same year the records show that he was making a
locomotive to burn coal, part of the arrangement being to blow the
fire with a fan.
Up to 1838, Mr. Baldwin had made both driving and truck wheels with
wrought tires, but during that year chilled wheels for engine and
tender trucks were adopted. His tires were furnished by Messrs. S.
Vail & Son, Morristown, N. J., who made the only tires then obtainable
in America. They were very thin, being only one inch to one and a half
inches thick; and Mr. Baldwin, in importing some tires from England at
that time, insisted on their being made double the ordinary thickness.
The manufacturers at first objected and ridiculed the idea, the
practice being to use two tires when extra thickness was wanted, but
finally they consented to meet his requirements.
All his engines thus far had the single eccentric for each valve, but
at about this period double eccentrics were adopted, each terminating
in a straight hook, and reversed by hand-levers.
At this early period, Mr. Baldwin had begun to feel the necessity of
making all like parts of locomotives of the same class in such manner
as to be absolutely interchangeable. Steps were taken in this
direction, but it was not until many years afterward that the system
of standard gauges was perfected, which has since grown to be a
distinguishing feature in the establishment.
In March, 1839, Mr. Baldwin's records show that he was building a
number of outside-connected engines, and had succeeded in making them
strong and durable. He was also making a new chilled wheel, and one
which he thought would not break.
On the one hundred and thirty-sixth locomotive, completed October 18,
1839, for the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, the
old pattern of wooden frame was abandoned, and no outside frame
whatever was employed,--the machinery, as well as the truck and the
pedestals of the driving-axles, being attached directly to the naked
boiler. The wooden frame thenceforward disappeared gradually, and an
iron frame took its place. Another innovation was the adoption of
eight-wheeled tenders, the first of which was built at about this
period.
April 8, 1839, Mr. Baldwin associated with himself Messrs. Vail and
Hufty, and the business was conducted under the firm name of Baldwin,
Vail & Hufty until 1841, when Mr. Hufty withdrew, and Baldwin & Vail
continued the copartnership until 1842.
The time had now arrived when the increase of business on railroads
demanded more powerful locomotives. It had for some years been felt
that for freight traffic the engine with one pair of drivers was
insufficient. Mr. Baldwin's engine had the single pair of drivers
placed back of the fire-box; that made by Mr. Norris, one pair in
front of the fire-box. An engine with two pairs of drivers, one pair
in front and one pair behind the fire-box, was the next logical step,
and Mr. Henry R. Campbell, of Philadelphia, was the first to carry
this design into execution. Mr. Campbell, as has been noted, was the
Chief Engineer of the Germantown Railroad when the "Ironsides" was
placed on that line, and had since given much attention to the subject
of locomotive construction. February 5, 1836, Mr. Campbell secured a
patent for an eight-wheeled engine with four drivers connected, and a
four-wheeled truck in front; and subsequently contracted with James
Brooks, of Philadelphia, to build for him such a machine. The work was
begun March 16, 1836, and the engine was completed May 8, 1837. This
was the first eight-wheeled engine of this type, and from it the
standard American locomotive of to-day takes its origin. The engine
lacked, however, one essential feature; there were no equalizing beams
between the drivers, and nothing but the ordinary steel springs over
each journal of the driving-axles to equalize the weight upon them. It
remained for Messrs. Eastwick & Harrison to supply this deficiency;
and in 1837 that firm constructed at their shop in Philadelphia a
locomotive on this plan, but with the driving-axles running in a
separate square frame, connected to the main frame above it by a
single central bearing on each side. This engine had cylinders twelve
by eighteen, four coupled driving-wheels, forty-four inches in
diameter, carrying eight of the twelve tons constituting the total
weight. Subsequently, Mr. Joseph Harrison, Jr., of the same firm,
substituted "equalizing beams" on engines of this plan afterward
constructed by them, substantially in the same manner as since
generally employed.
In the _American Railroad Journal_ of July 30, 1836, a wood-cut
showing Mr. Campbell's engine, together with an elaborate calculation
of the effective power of an engine on this plan, by William J. Lewis,
Esq., Civil Engineer, was published, with a table showing its
performance upon grades ranging from a dead level to a rise of one
hundred feet per mile. Mr. Campbell stated that his experience at that
time (1835-6) convinced him that grades of one hundred feet rise per
mile would, if roads were judiciously located, carry railroads over
any of the mountain passes in America, without the use of planes with
stationary steam power, or, as a general rule, of costly tunnels,--an
opinion very extensively verified by the experience of the country
since that date.
A step had thus been taken toward a plan of locomotive having more
adhesive power. Mr. Baldwin, however, was slow to adopt the new
design. He naturally regarded innovations with distrust. He had done
much to perfect the old pattern of engine, and had built over a
hundred of them, which were in successful operation on various
railroads. Many of the details were the subjects of his several
patents, and had been greatly simplified in his practice. In fact,
simplicity in all the working parts had been so largely his aim, that
it was natural that he should distrust any plan involving additional
machinery, and he regarded the new design as only an experiment at
best. In November, 1838, he wrote to a correspondent that he did not
think there was any advantage in the eight-wheeled engine. There being
three points in contact, it could not turn a curve, he argued, without
slipping one or the other pair of wheels sideways. Another objection
was in the multiplicity of machinery and the difficulty in maintaining
four driving-wheels all of exactly the same size. Some means, however,
of getting more adhesion must be had, and the result of his
reflections upon this subject was the project of a "geared engine." In
August, 1839, he took steps to secure a patent for such a machine, and
December 31, 1840, letters patent were granted him for the device. In
this engine, an independent shaft or axle was placed between the two
axles of the truck, and connected by cranks and coupling-rods with
cranks on the outside of the driving-wheels. This shaft had a central
cog-wheel engaging on each side with intermediate cog-wheels, which in
turn geared into cog-wheels on each truck-axle. The intermediate
cog-wheels had wide teeth, so that the truck could pivot while the
main shaft remained parallel with the driving-axle. The diameters of
the cog-wheels were, of course, in such proportion to the driving and
truck wheels, that the latter should revolve as much oftener than the
drivers as their smaller size might require. Of the success of this
machine for freight service, Mr. Baldwin was very sanguine. One was
put in hand at once, completed in August, 1841, and eventually sold to
the Sugarloaf Coal Company. It was an outside-connected engine,
weighing thirty thousand pounds, of which eleven thousand seven
hundred and seventy-five pounds were on the drivers, and eighteen
thousand three hundred and thirty-five on the truck. The
driving-wheels were forty-four and the truck-wheels thirty-three
inches in diameter. The cylinders were thirteen inches in diameter by
sixteen inches stroke. On a trial of the engine upon the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad, it hauled five hundred and ninety tons from
Reading to Philadelphia--a distance of fifty-four miles--in five hours
and twenty-two minutes. The Superintendent of the road, in writing of
the trial, remarked that this train was unprecedented in length and
weight both in America and Europe. The performance was noticed in
favorable terms by the Philadelphia newspapers, and was made the
subject of a report by the Committee on Science and Arts of the
Franklin Institute, who strongly recommended this plan of engine for
freight service. The success of the trial led Mr. Baldwin at first to
believe that the geared engine would be generally adopted for freight
traffic; but in this he was disappointed. No further demand was made
for such machines, and no more of them were built.
In 1840, Mr. Baldwin received an order, through August Belmont, Esq.,
of New York, for a locomotive for Austria, and had nearly completed
one which was calculated to do the work required, when he learned that
only sixty pounds pressure of steam was admissible, whereas his engine
was designed to use steam at one hundred pounds and over. He
accordingly constructed another, meeting this requirement, and shipped
it in the following year. This engine, it may be noted, had a kind of
link-motion, agreeably to the specification received, and was the
first of his make upon which the link was introduced.
Mr. Baldwin's patent of December 31, 1840, already referred to as
covering his geared engine, embraced several other devices, as
follows:
1. A method of operating a fan, or blowing-wheel, for the purpose of
blowing the fire. The fan was to be placed under the footboard, and
driven by the friction of a grooved pulley in contact with the flange
of the driving-wheel.
2. The substitution of a metallic stuffing, consisting of wire, for
the hemp, wool, or other material which had been employed in
stuffing-boxes.
3. The placing of the springs of the engine truck so as to obviate the
evil of the locking of the wheels when the truck-frame vibrates from
the centre-pin vertically. Spiral as well as semi-elliptic springs,
placed at each end of the truck-frame, were specified. The spiral
spring is described as received in two cups,--one above and one below.
The cups were connected together at their centres by a pin upon one
and a socket in the other, so that the cups could approach toward or
recede from each other and still preserve their parallelism.
4. An improvement in the manner of constructing the iron frames of
locomotives, by making the pedestals in one piece with, and
constituting part of, the frames.
5. The employment of spiral springs in connection with cylindrical
pedestals and boxes. A single spiral was at first used, but, not
proving sufficiently strong, a combination or nest of spirals curving
alternately in opposite directions was afterward employed. Each spiral
had its bearing in a spiral recess in the pedestal.
In the specification of this patent a change in the method of making
cylindrical pedestals and boxes is noted. Instead of boring and
turning them in a lathe, they were cast to the required shape in
chills. This method of construction was used for a time, but
eventually a return was made to the original plan, as giving a more
accurate job.
In 1842, Mr. Baldwin constructed, under an arrangement with Mr. Ross
Winans, three locomotives for the Western Railroad of Massachusetts,
on a plan which had been designed by that gentleman for freight
traffic. These machines had upright boilers, and horizontal cylinders
which worked cranks on a shaft bearing cog-wheels engaging with other
cog-wheels on an intermediate shaft. This latter shaft had cranks
coupled to four driving-wheels on each side. These engines were
constructed to burn anthracite coal. Their peculiarly uncouth
appearance earned for them the name of "crabs," and they were but
short-lived in service.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--BALDWIN SIX-WHEELS-CONNECTED ENGINE, 1842.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--BALDWIN FLEXIBLE-BEAM TRUCK,
1842.--ELEVATION.]
[Illustration: HALF PLAN.]