put the Carbondale Railroad under construction. The road extends
from the head of the Delaware & Hudson Canal at Honesdale, Pa., to
the coal mines belonging to the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company
at Carbondale, a distance of about sixteen miles. This line was
opened, probably in 1829, and was operated partly by stationary
engines, and partly by horses. The road is noted chiefly for being
the one on which a locomotive was first used in this country. This
was the "Stourbridge Lion," which was built in England under the
direction of Mr. Horatio Allen, who afterward was president of the
Novelty Works in New York, and who is still (1889) living near New
York at the ripe age of eighty-seven. Before the road was opened,
he had been a civil engineer on the Carbondale line. In 1828 Mr.
Allen went to England, the only place where a locomotive was then
in daily operation, to study the subject in all its practical
details. Before leaving this country he was intrusted by the
Delaware & Hudson Canal Company with the commission to have rails
made for that line, and to have three locomotives built on plans
to be decided by him when in England. This, it must be remembered,
was before the celebrated trial of the "Rocket" on the Liverpool
& Manchester Railway, which was not made until 1829. Previous to
that trial, it had not been decided what type of boiler was the
best for locomotives. The result of Mr. Allen's investigations was
to produce in his mind a decided confidence in the multitubular
boiler which is now universally used for locomotives. Other persons
of experience recommended a boiler with small riveted flues of as
small diameter as could be riveted. An order was therefore given
to Messrs. Foster, Rastrick & Co., at Stourbridge, for one engine
whose boiler was to have riveted flues of comparatively large
size, and another order was given to Messrs. Stephenson & Co., of
Newcastle-on-Tyne, for two locomotives with boilers having small
tubes. The engine built by Foster, Rastrick & Co. was named the
"Stourbridge Lion." It was sent to this country and was tried at
Honesdale, Pa., on August 9, 1829. On its trial trip it was managed
by Mr. Allen, to whom belongs the distinction of having run the
first locomotive that was ever used in this country. In 1884 he
wrote the following account of this trip:
When the time came, and the steam was of the right pressure,
and all was ready, I took my position on the platform of the
locomotive alone, and with my hand on the throttle-valve handle
said: "If there is any danger in this ride it is not necessary
that the life and limbs of more than one should be subjected to
that danger."
The locomotive, having no train behind it, answered at once to
the movement of the hand; ... soon the straight line was run
over, the curve was reached and passed before there was time
to think as to its not being passed safely, and soon I was
out of sight in the three miles' ride alone in the woods of
Pennsylvania. I had never run a locomotive nor any other engine
before; I have never run one since.
[Illustration: Horatio Allen.]
The two engines contracted for with Messrs. Stephenson & Co. were
made by them, and Mr. Allen has informed the writer that they were
built on substantially the same plans that were afterward embodied
in the famous "Rocket." They were shipped to New York and for a
time were stored in an iron warehouse on the east side of the city,
where they were exhibited to the public. They were never sent to
the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company's road, and it is not now known
whatever became of them. If they had been put to work on their
arrival here the use of engines of the "Rocket" type would have
been anticipated on this side the Atlantic.
The first railroad which was undertaken for the transportation of
freight and passengers in this country, on a comprehensive scale,
was the Baltimore & Ohio. Its construction was begun in 1828. The
laying of rails was commenced in 1829, and in May, 1830, the first
section of fifteen miles from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills was
opened. It was probably about this time that the animated sketch
of the car given by Peter Parley was made. From 1830 to 1835 many
lines were projected, and at the end of that year there were over a
thousand miles of road in use.
Whether the motive power on these roads should be horses or steam
was for a long time an open question. The celebrated trial of
locomotives on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, in England, was
made in 1829. Reports of these trials, and of the use of locomotive
engines on the Stockton & Darlington line, were published in this
country, and, as Mr. Charles Francis Adams says, "The country,
therefore, was not only ripe to accept the results of the Rainhill
contest, but it was anticipating them with eager hope." In 1829 Mr.
Horatio Allen, who had been in England the year before to learn all
that could then be learned about steam locomotion, reported to the
South Carolina Railway Company in favor of steam instead of horse
power for that line. The basis of that report, he says, "Was on the
broad ground that in the future there was no reason to expect any
material improvement in the breed of horses, while, in my judgment,
the man was not living who knew what the breed of locomotives was
to place at command."
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Peter Cooper's Locomotive, 1830.]
As early as 1829 and 1830, Peter Cooper experimented with a little
locomotive on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (Fig. 4). At a meeting
of the Master Mechanics' Association in New York, in 1875--at the
Institute which bears his name--he related with great glee how on
the trial trip he had beaten a gray horse, attached to another car.
The coincidence that one of Peter Parley's horses is a gray one
might lead to the inference that it was the same horse that Peter
Cooper beat, a deduction which perhaps has as sound a basis to rest
on as many historical conclusions of more importance.
The undeveloped condition of the art of machine construction at
that time is indicated by the fact that the flues of the boiler of
this engine were made of gun-barrels, which were the only tubes
that could then be obtained for the purpose. The boiler itself is
described as about the size of a flour-barrel. The whole machine
was no larger than a hand-car of the present day.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--"South Carolina," 1831, and Plan of its
Running Gear.]
In the same year that Peter Cooper built his engine, the South
Carolina Railway Company had a locomotive, called the "Best
Friend," built at the West Point Foundry for its line. In 1831
this company had another engine, the "South Carolina" (Fig. 5),
which was designed by Mr. Horatio Allen, built at the same shop.
It was remarkable in having eight wheels, which were arranged in
two trucks. One pair of driving-wheels, _D D_ and _D′ D′_, and a
pair of leading-wheels, _L L_ and _L′ L′_, were attached to frames,
_c d e f_ and _g h i j_, which were connected to the boiler by
kingbolts, _K K′_, about which the trucks could turn. Each pair of
driving-wheels had one cylinder, _C C′_. These were in the middle
of the engine and were connected to cranks on the axles _A_ and _B_.
The "De Witt Clinton" (Fig. 6) was built for the Mohawk & Hudson
Railroad, and was the third locomotive made by the West Point
Foundry Association. The first excursion trip was made with
passengers from Albany to Schenectady, August 9, 1831. This is
the engine shown in the silhouette engraving of the "first[10]
railroad train in America" which in recent years has been so widely
distributed as an advertisement.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--The "De Witt Clinton," 1831.]
In 1831 the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company offered a premium
of $4,000 "for the most approved engine which shall be delivered
for trial upon the road on or before the 1st of June, 1831; and
$3,500 for the engine which shall be adjudged the next best." The
requirements were as follows:
The engine, when in operation, must not exceed three and one-half
tons weight, and must, on a level road, be capable of drawing day
by day fifteen tons, inclusive of the weight of wagons, fifteen
miles per hour.
In pursuance of this call upon American genius, three locomotives
were produced, but only one of these was made to answer any
useful purpose. This engine, the "York," was built at York, Pa.,
and was brought to Baltimore over the turnpike on wagons. It was
built by Davis & Gartner, and was designed by Phineas Davis,
of that firm, whose trade and business was that of a watch and
clock maker. After undergoing certain modifications, it was found
capable of performing what was required by the company. After
thoroughly testing this engine, Mr. Davis built others, which were
the progenitors of the "grasshopper" engines (Fig. 7) which were
used for so many years on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. It is a
remarkable fact that three of these are still in use on that road,
and have been in continuous service for over fifty years. Probably
there is no locomotive in existence which has had so long an
_active_ life.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--"Grasshopper" Locomotive. (From an old
photograph.)]
In August, 1831, the locomotive "John Bull," which was built by
George & Robert Stephenson & Company, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
was received in Philadelphia, for the Camden & Amboy Railroad &
Transportation Company. This is the old engine which was exhibited
by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at the Centennial Exhibition
in 1876. After the arrival of the "John Bull" a very considerable
number of locomotives which were built by the Stephensons were
imported from England. Most of them were probably of what was known
as the "Planet" class (Fig. 8), which was a form of engine that
succeeded the famous "Rocket."
The following quotation is from "The Early History of Locomotives
in this Country," issued by the Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works:
These locomotives, which were imported from England, doubtless
to a very considerable extent, furnished the types and patterns
from which those which were afterward built here were fashioned.
But American designs very soon began to depart from their
British prototypes, and a process of adaptation to the existing
conditions of the railroads in this country followed, which
afterward "differentiated" the American locomotives more and more
from those built in Great Britain. A marked feature of difference
between American and English locomotives has been the use of a
"truck" under the former.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--The "Planet."]
In all of the locomotives which have been illustrated, excepting
the "South Carolina," the axles were held by the frames so that
the former were always parallel to each other. In going around
curves, therefore, there was somewhat the same difficulty that
there would be in turning a corner with an ordinary wagon if both
its axles were held parallel, and the front one could not turn on
the kingbolt. The plan of the wheels and running gear of the "South
Carolina" shows the position that they assumed on a curved track
(Fig. 5). It will be seen that, by reason of their connection to
the boiler by kingbolts, _K K′_, the two pairs of wheels could
adjust themselves to the curvature of the rails. This principle
was afterward applied to cars, and nearly all the rolling-stock in
this country is now constructed on this plan, which was proposed
by Mr. Allen in a report dated May 16, 1831, made to the South
Carolina Canal & Railroad Company; and an engine constructed on
this principle was completed the same year.
In the latter part of the year 1831 the late John B. Jervis
invented what he called "a new plan of frame, with a
bearing-carriage for a locomotive engine," for the use of the
Mohawk & Hudson Railroad. Jervis's engine is shown by Figure 9. In
a letter published in the _American Railroad Journal_ of July 27,
1833, he described the objects aimed at in the use of the truck as
follows:
The leading objects I had in view, in the general arrangement
of the plan of the engine, did not contemplate any improvement
in the power over those heretofore constructed by Stephenson &
Company,[11] but to make an engine that would be better adapted
to railroads of less strength than are common in England; that
would travel with more ease to itself and to the rail on curved
roads; that would be less affected by inequalities of the rail,
than is attained by the arrangement in the most approved engines.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--John B. Jervis's Locomotive, 1831, and Plan
of its Running Gear.]
In Jervis's locomotive the main driving-axle, _A_, shown in the
plan of the wheels and running gear, was rigidly attached to the
engine-frame, _a b c d_, and only one truck, or "bearing-carriage,"
_e f g h_, consisting of the two pairs of small wheels attached to
a frame, was used. This was connected to the main engine-frame by a
kingbolt, _K_, as in Allen's engine.
The position of its wheels on a curve, and the capacity of the
truck, or "bearing-carriage," to adapt itself to the sinuosities of
the track are shown in the plan. The effectiveness of the single
truck for locomotives, in accomplishing what Mr. Jervis intended
it for, was at once recognized, and its almost general adoption on
American locomotives followed.
In 1834, Ross Winans, of Baltimore, patented the application of the
principle which Mr. Allen had proposed and adopted for locomotives
"to passenger and other cars." He afterward brought a number of
actions at law against railroads for infringement of his patent,
which was a subject of legal controversy for twenty years. Winans
claimed that his invention originated as far back as 1831, and was
completed and reduced to practice in 1834. The dispute was finally
carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, and was decided
against the plaintiff, after an expenditure of as much as $200,000
by both sides. It involved the principle on which nearly all cars
in this country are now and were then built; and, as one of the
counsel for the defendants has said, "It was at one time a question
of millions, to be assured by a verdict of a jury."
In 1836, Henry R. Campbell, of Philadelphia, patented the use of
two pairs of driving-wheels and a truck, as shown in Figure 10. The
driving-wheels were coupled by rods, as may be seen below. This
plan has since been so generally adopted in this country that it
is now known as the "American type" of locomotive, and is the one
almost universally used here for passenger, and to a considerable
extent for freight, service. An example of a modern locomotive of
this type is represented by Figure 11.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Campbell's Locomotive.]
From these comparatively small beginnings, the magnificent
equipment of our railroads has grown. From Peter Cooper's
locomotive, which weighed less than a ton, with a boiler the
size of a flour-barrel, and which had difficulty in beating a
gray horse, we now have locomotives which will easily run sixty
and can exceed seventy miles an hour, and others which weigh
seventy-five tons and over. A comparison of the engraving of Peter
Cooper's engine with that of the modern standard express passenger
locomotive (Fig. 11) shows vividly the progress which has been made
since that first experiment was tried--little more than half a
century ago. In that period there have been many modifications in
the design of locomotives to adapt them to the changed conditions
of the various kinds of traffic of to-day. An express train
travelling at a high rate of speed requires a locomotive very
different from one which is designed for handling heavy freight
trains up steep mountain grades. A special class of engines is
built for light trains making frequent stops, as on the elevated
railroads in New York, and those provided for suburban traffic
(Fig. 12)--and still others for street railroads (Fig. 13), for
switching cars at stations (Fig. 14), etc. [Pp. 110 and 113]. The
process of differentiation has gone on until there are now as many
different kinds of these machines as there are breeds of dogs or
horses.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--A Typical American Passenger Locomotive.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Locomotive for Suburban Traffic. By the
Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Locomotive for Street Railway. By the
Baldwin Locomotive Works.]
Nearly all the early locomotives had only four wheels. In some
cases one pair alone was used to drive the engine, and in others
the two pairs were coupled together, so that the adhesion of all
four could be utilized to draw loads. The four-wheeled type is
still used a great deal for moving cars at stations, and other
purposes where the speed is comparatively slow. But to run around
sharp curves the wheels of such engines must be placed near
together, just as they are under an ordinary street-car. This
makes the wheel-base very short, and such engines are therefore
very unsteady at high speeds, so that they are unsuited for any
excepting slow service. They have the advantage, though, that the
whole weight of the machine may be carried on the driving-wheels,
and can thus be useful for increasing their friction, or adhesion
to the rails. This gives such engines an advantage for starting and
moving heavy trains, at stations or elsewhere, which is the kind of
service in which they are usually employed.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Four-wheeled Switching Locomotive. By the
Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia.]
If the front end of the engine is carried on a truck, as in
Campbell's plan (Fig. 10)--which is the one that has been very
generally adopted in this country--the wheel-base can be extended
and at the same time the front wheels can adjust themselves to
the curvature of the track. This gives the running-gear lateral
flexibility. But as the tractive power of a locomotive is dependent
upon the friction, or adhesion of the wheels to the rails, it is
of the utmost importance that the pressure of the wheels on the
rails should be uniform. For this reason the wheels must be able
to adjust themselves to the vertical as well as the horizontal
inequalities of the track.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Driving Wheels, Frames, Spurs, etc., of
American Locomotive.]
Figure 15 shows the driving-wheels, axles, journal-boxes, and
part of the frame and springs of an American type of engine--the
circumference of the wheels only being shown. The axles _A A_ each
have journal-boxes or bearings, _B B_, in which they turn. These
boxes are held between the jaws _J J J J_ of the frames, and can
slide vertically in the spaces _c c c c_ between the jaws. The
frames are suspended on springs, _S S_, which bear on the boxes
_B B_. The vertical motion of the boxes and the flexibility of
the springs allow the wheels to adjust themselves to some extent
to the unevenness of the track. But, in order to distribute the
weight equally on the two wheels, the springs _S S_ on each side
of the engine are connected together by an equalizing lever, _E
E_. These levers each have a fulcrum, _F_, in the middle, and are
connected by iron straps or hangers, _h h_, to the springs. It is
evident that any strain or tension on one spring is transferred by
the equalizing lever to the other spring, and thus the weight is
equalized on both wheels.
But to give perfect vertical adjustment of such an engine to the
track, still another provision must be made. Everyone has observed
that a three-legged stool will always stand firm on any surface,
no matter how irregular, but one with four legs will not. Now if
the back end of a locomotive should rest on the fulcrums of the
equalizing levers, as shown in Figure 15, and the front end should
rest on the two sides of the truck, it would be in the condition
of the four legged stool. Therefore, instead of resting on the two
sides of the truck, locomotives are made to bear on the centre of
it, so that they are carried on it and on the two fulcrums of the
equalizing levers, which gives the machine the adjustability due
to the three-legged principle. When more than four driving-wheels
are used the springs are connected together by equalizing levers,
as shown in Figure 29 (p. 124), which represents a consolidation
engine as it appears before the wheels are put under it.
Having a vehicle which is adapted to running on a railroad track,
it remains to supply the motive power. This, in all but some very
few exceptional cases, is the expansive power of steam. What
the infant electricity has in store for us it would be rash to
predict, but for locomotives its steps have been thus far weak and
uncertain, and when we want a giant of steel or a race-horse of
iron our only sure reliance is steam. This is the breath of life
to the locomotive, which is inhaled and exhaled to and from the
cylinders, which act as lungs, while the boiler fulfils functions
analogous to the digestive organs of an animal. A locomotive is
as dependent on the action of its boiler for its capacity for
doing work as a human being on that of his stomach. The mechanical
appliances of the one and the mental and physical equipment of the
other are nugatory without a good digestive apparatus.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Longitudinal Section of a Locomotive
Boiler.
Fig. 17.--Transverse Section.]
A locomotive boiler consists of a rectangular fireplace or
fire-box, as shown at _A_, in Figure 16, which is a longitudinal
section, and Figure 17 a transverse section through the fire-box.
The fire-box is connected with the smoke-box _B_ by a large number
of small tubes, _a a_, through which the smoke and products of
combustion pass from the fire-box to the smoke-box, and from the
latter they escape up the chimney _D_. The fire-box and tubes are
all surrounded with water, so that as much surface as possible is
exposed to the action of the fire. This is essential on account of
the large amount of water which must be evaporated in such boilers.
To create a strong draught, the steam which is exhausted from the
cylinders is discharged up the chimney through pipes, and escapes
at _e_. This produces a partial vacuum in the smoke-box, which
causes a current of air to flow through the fire on the grate, into
the fire-box, through the tubes, and thence to the smoke-box and up
the chimney. Probably many readers have noticed, that of late years
the smoke-boxes of locomotives have been extended forward in front
of the chimneys. This has been done to give room for deflectors
and wire netting inside to arrest sparks and cinders, which are
collected in the extended front and are removed by a door or spout,
_L_, below.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Rudimentary Injector.]
To get the water into the boiler against the pressure of steam a
very curious instrument, called an injector, has been devised.
Formerly force-pumps were used, but these are now being abandoned.
The illustration (Fig. 18) shows what may be called a rudimentary
injector. _B_ is a boiler and _E_ a conical tube open at its
lower end--and connected to a water-supply tank by a pipe, _C_.
A pipe, _A_, is connected with the steam-space of the boiler and
terminates in a contracted mouth, _F_, inside of the cone _E_. If
steam is admitted to _A_, it flows through the pipe and escapes at
_F_. In doing so it produces a partial vacuum in _E_, and water
is consequently drawn up the pipe _C_ from the tank. The current
of steam now carries with it the water, and they escape at _G_.
After flowing for a few seconds the water has a high velocity and
the steam, mingling with the water, is condensed. The momentum
of the water soon becomes sufficient to force the valve _H_ down
against the pressure below it, and the jet of water then flows
continuously into the boiler. A very curious phenomenon of this
somewhat mysterious instrument is that if steam of a low pressure
is taken from one boiler it will force water into another against a
higher pressure. Figure 19 is a section of an actual injector used
on locomotives.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Injector used on Locomotives.]