day by day, twenty tons' weight (including the tender and water-tank) at
_ten miles_ an hour, with a pressure of steam on the boiler not
exceeding fifty pounds to the square inch.
3. The boiler must have two safety-valves, neither of which must be
fastened down, and one of them be completely out of the control of the
engine-man.
4. The engine and boiler must be supported on springs, and rest on six
wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding fifteen feet to the top of
the chimney.
5. The engine, with water, must not weigh more than six tons; but an
engine of less weight would be preferred on its drawing a proportionate
load behind it; if of only four and a half tons, then it might be put on
only four wheels. The company will be at liberty to test the boiler,
etc., by a pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds to the square inch.
6. A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing the steam
pressure above forty-five pounds per square inch.
7. The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial, at the
Liverpool end of the railway, not later than the 1st of October, 1829.
8. The price of the engine must not exceed L550.
Many persons of influence declared the conditions published by the
directors of the railway chimerical in the extreme. One gentleman of
some eminence in Liverpool, Mr. P. Ewart, who afterward filled the
office of Government Inspector of Post-office Steam Packets, declared
that only a parcel of charlatans would ever have issued such a set of
conditions; that it had been _proved_ to be impossible to make a
locomotive engine go at ten miles an hour; but if it ever was done, he
would undertake to eat a stewed engine-wheel for his breakfast.
[8] When heavier and more powerful engines were brought upon the road,
the old "Rocket," becoming regarded as a thing of no value, was sold in
1837. It has since been transferred to the Museum of Patents at South
Kensington, London, where it is still to be seen.
Transcriber's Notes:
Page 30--imployed changed to employed.
Page 31--subsequenty changed to subsequently.
Page 47--build changed to building.
Page 147--suggestor changed to suggester.
Page 166--supgestion changed to suggestion.
Footnote 7--Changed question mark for a period.
Inconsistencies in hyphenated words have been made consistent.
Obvious printer errors, including punctuation, have been corrected
without note.
End of Project Gutenberg's Little Masterpieces of Science:, by Various