At this time a curious belief had become current among the inventors

to the effect that if a smooth-surface rail and a smooth-surface wheel

were used, there would not be sufficient friction between the two to

make it possible to haul loads, or more than barely move the locomotive

itself. Learned mathematicians proved conclusively on paper by endless

hair-splitting calculations that the thing was impossible,--that

any locomotive strong enough to propel itself along a smooth iron

rail would be heavy enough to break the strongest rail, and smash

the roadbed. In the face of these arguments the idea of smooth rails

and smooth wheels was abandoned for the time. Trevithick himself was

convinced, and turned his attention to the perfecting of an engine

with toothed drive-wheels running on a track with rack-rails. But this

engine soon jolted itself and its track into the junk-heap without

doing anything to solve the problem of locomotion.

Shortly after this, a man named Chapman, of Newcastle, built a road and

stretched a chain from one end to the other, this chain being arranged

to pass around a barrel-wheel on the locomotive, which thus pulled

itself along, just as some of the boats on the Rhine do at the present

time. But the machinery for operating this engine was clumsy and

unsatisfactory, and the road proved a complete failure.

Perhaps the most remarkable locomotive ever conceived and constructed

was one built by Brunton, of Derbyshire, in 1813. This machine was

designed to go upon legs like a horse, and was a combination of steam

wagon and mechanical horse. The wagon part of the combination ran upon

a track like an ordinary car, while the mechanical legs were designed

to trot behind and "kick the wagon along." "The legs or propellers,

imitated the legs of a man or the fore-legs of a horse, with joints,

and when worked by the machine alternately lifted and pressed against

the ground or road, propelling the engine forward, as a man shoves a

boat ahead by pressing with a pole against the bottom of a river." This

machine was able to travel at a rate somewhat slower than that at which

a man usually walks; and its tractive force was that of four horses.

But after it had demonstrated its impotency by crawling along for a few

miles, it terminated its career by "blowing up in disgust," killing and

injuring several by-standers.

The much disputed point as to whether a smooth-wheeled locomotive would

be practical on smooth rails was not settled until 1813. An inventor

named Blackett, of Wylam, who with his engineer, William Hedley, had

built several steam locomotives which only managed to crawl along the

tracks under the most favorable conditions, wishing to determine if it

were the fault of locomotives or the system on which they worked that

accounted for his failures, constructed a car which was propelled by

six men working levers geared to the wheels, like the modern hand-car.

In this way he determined that there was sufficient adhesion between

smooth rails and smooth wheels for locomotives to haul heavy loads

behind them, even on grades of considerable incline. The experiments of

Blackett settled this question beyond the possibility of controversy,

and removed a very important obstacle from the path of future

inventors. Among these inventors was young George Stephenson, who was

rapidly making a reputation for himself as a practical engineer.

[Illustration: GEORGE STEPHENSON]

STEPHENSON SOLVES THE PROBLEM

Stephenson was born on June 9, 1781, in the small colliery village

of Wylam, on the river Tyne. His parents were extremely poor, and

as the boy was sent to work as soon as he was large enough to find

employment of any kind, he was given no education, even to the extent

of learning the alphabet. It was only after he had spent many years

in the colliery, and had finally worked himself up from the position

of "picker" at three pence a day to that of fireman, that he was able

to spend the necessary time and pennies to acquire something of an

education. Then he attended a night school, learned his alphabet,

was able to scrawl his name at eighteen years of age, and a little

later could read, write, and do sums in arithmetic.

But if deficient in letters, there was one field in which he had no

superior,--that was in the practical handling of a steam-engine.

His position in the mine gave him a chance to study the workings of

the engines then in use, and at every opportunity, on holidays and

after working-hours, he was in the habit of dismantling his engine,

and carefully studying every detail of its construction. Thus by the

time he had reached his majority he was a skillful engineer, besides

having many new ideas that had developed during his examinations

of the machinery. But besides his knowledge of engineering, he was

an accomplished workman in other fields. He was a good shoemaker,

watch-and clock-repairer, and tailors' cutter, at all of which trades

he worked at odd times to increase his income. Thus he was a veritable

jack-of-all-trades; with the unusual qualification, that he was master

of _one_.

By the time he was twenty-six years old he was holding the position

of engineer to a coal-mining company, and had acquired the confidence

of his employers to such an extent that he was permitted to build a

locomotive for them--a thing that had been his ambition for several

years. This was in 1807, the same year that Robert Fulton demonstrated

the possibilities of steam navigation.

In the construction of this engine Stephenson introduced several novel

features of his own inventing, although on the whole no new principles

were involved; and in practice this engine showed several points

of superiority over its predecessors. It would draw eight loaded

wagons of thirty tons' weight at the rate of four miles an hour on

an ascending grade of one in four hundred and fifty feet. But it had

two very radical defects--it would not keep up steam and the noise of

the steam-pipe exhausting into the open air frightened the horses of

the neighborhood to such a degree that the authorities ordered the

inventor either to stop running his engine, or suppress its noise. As

an experiment, therefore, Stephenson arranged the exhaust pipes so that

they opened into the smokestack, where the sound would be muffled.

But when the engine was now tried he found to his surprise that this

single expedient had solved both difficulties, the exhausting steam

causing such an improvement in the draught of his furnace that double

the quantity of steam was generated. This discovery helped to simplify

later experiments, for the difficulty of keeping up steam had been one

of the great obstacles encountered by the inventors.

Stephenson's second locomotive was an improvement over his first in

many ways, but it was still far from being the practical machine that

was to supplant horse-power. It could haul heavier loads than teams of

horses, and was more convenient for certain purposes; but it was no

more economical.

As yet the only use to which locomotives had been put was that

of hauling cars in coal-mines. Indeed, the only railroads then

constructed were those used in mines, the idea of utilizing such

roads for passenger and freight traffic not having occurred to anyone

until about 1820. Then the Englishman, Thomas Gray, suggested

the construction of such a road between Liverpool and Manchester,

advocating steam as the motive power. His idea was looked upon as

visionary, and as he persisted in his efforts to interest prominent

people in the scheme, he came to be very generally regarded as an

enthusiastic but somewhat crackbrained fanatic.

But meanwhile the coal railroads were being extended to such lengths

that they were assuming the proportions of modern railroads. The

motive power on most of the roads was horses, although here and there

a traction engine using chain or cable, was employed for certain

purposes. In 1825, however, Stephenson began the construction of an

improved locomotive, this time at his own modest establishment; and a

little later this engine made the trial that really demonstrated the

possibilities of steam locomotion, although this was not universally

recognized until the success of the _Rocket_ a few years later.

A great deal of excitement and speculation arose throughout the country

when the trial day approached. Great crowds assembled from every

direction to witness the trial; some, more sanguine, came to witness

the success, but far the greater portion came to see the bubble burst.

The proceedings began at Busselton incline, where the stationary engine

drew a train up the incline on one side and let it down on the other.

The wagons were then loaded.

"At the foot of this plane a locomotive, driven by Mr. Stephenson

himself, was attached to the train. It consisted of six wagons loaded

with coal and flour, next a passenger coach (the first ever run upon

a railroad) filled with the directors and their friends, then twenty

wagons fitted up with temporary seats for passengers, and lastly came

six wagons loaded with coal, making in all twenty-eight vehicles.

The word being given that all was ready, the engine began to move,

gradually at first, but afterward, in part of the road, attaining a

speed of twelve miles an hour. At that time the number of passengers

amounted to four hundred and fifty, which would, with the remainder

of the load, amount to upwards of ninety tons. The train arrived at

Darlington, eight and three-quarter miles, in sixty-five minutes.

Here it was stopped and a fresh supply of water obtained, the six

coal-cars for Darlington detached, and the word given to go ahead. The

engine started, and arrived at Stockton, twelve miles, in three hours

and seven minutes including stoppages. By the time the train reached

Stockton the number of passengers amounted to over six hundred."

From this description it will be seen that the coal roads had been

extended to form interurban railways. In this connection it is

interesting to note the increase of traffic that developed on this

particular road in the years immediately following the invention of

the practical locomotive. When the road was projected it was estimated

that its maximum carrying capacity would not exceed 10,000 tons of coal

yearly. A few years later, when locomotives had come into use, the

regular yearly carriage amounted to 500,000 tons.

[Illustration: A CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN LOCOMOTIVE BUILDING.

Fig. 1.--The Blenkinsop locomotive, built in 1812-13 to work on the

rack Railway between Leeds and the Middleton colliery, a distance of

3.5 miles. This was the first commercially successful enterprise in

which steam locomotives were employed. Fig. 2.--Model of locomotive

engine No. 1 of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, England, built by

Messrs R. Stevenson & Company in 1825. This engine ran successfully

for 21 years. Fig. 3.--The locomotive "Royal George" which worked on

the Stockton and Darlington Railway 1827-1842. It will be observed

that each of these engines antedated Stevenson's famous "Rocket." Fig.

4.--Shows, by way of contrast with these earliest types of locomotive,

the "Twentieth Century Limited" train of the New York Central Railroad,

and a racing automobile, either of which can easily make better time

than a mile a minute, as against the two or three miles per hour of

their prototypes.]

The passenger coach on this first train, the first of its kind

ever constructed for the special purpose of carrying passengers, was

remarkable for its simplicity. One writer described it as "a modest

and uncouth-looking affair, made more for strength than for beauty.

A row of seats ran along each side of the interior, and a long table

was fixed in the centre, the access being by the doorway behind, like

an omnibus. This vehicle was named the _Experiment_, and was the only

carriage for passengers upon the road for some time."

About this time the now famous Liverpool and Manchester Railway was

projected. It was elaborately planned and carried out at an enormous

expense. The construction of the road-bed was given special attention,

although as yet the question of what motive power should be used had

not been decided. Most of the directors and engineers favored the use

of horses. The few that were in favor of steam did not favor the use

of locomotives, but a system that would now be called a relay-cable

system. According to this plan the road of about thirty miles was to

be divided into nineteen sections, over each of which a stationary

steam-engine was to work a chain or cable. But when the board of

engineers appointed to investigate the possibilities of this system

reported on the matter, it was found that there were several vital

defects in such a system. For example, should any one of the sections

of cable break or become inoperative, the entire line would have to

stand idle; and furthermore, the cost of building and maintaining these

nineteen stations offered serious financial obstacles.

It is an interesting fact that until the report of this board was made

"not a single professional man of eminence could be found who preferred

the locomotive over the fixed engine, George Stephenson only excepted."

But with the glaring defects of the cable road, and the enormous cost

of maintenance impressed upon the directors, the idea of the locomotive

became at once more attractive, and the performance of Stephenson's

locomotive was more carefully investigated. The upshot of these

investigations was the offer of a prize of £500 for a locomotive that,

on a certain day would perform certain duties named under the eight

following headings:--

1. The engine must effectually consume its own smoke.

2. The engine, if of six tons' weight, must be able to draw, day by

day, twenty tons' weight, including the tender, and water-tank, at ten

miles an hour, with a pressure of steam upon 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 completely out of the control of the

engineer.

4. The engine and boiler must be supported upon 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 although drawing a

proportionately less load behind it; if of only four and one-half tons

it might be put on four wheels.

6. A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing the steam

pressure about forty-five pounds to the square inch.

7. The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial, at the

Liverpool end of the railway, not later than October 1, 1829.

8. The price of the engine must not exceed £550.

What strikes one as most peculiar in this set of requirements and

specifications is the first clause--that of the engine consuming its

own smoke; for even at the present time this is considered a difficult

problem. But this was not so considered by the inventors of that time,

their great stumbling-block being the high speed required. Ten miles an

hour struck most of them as absurd and out of the question.

One eminent person, who was to become later one of England's leading

engineers, stated publicly that "if it proved to be possible to make

a locomotive go ten miles an hour, he would undertake to eat a stewed

engine-wheel for his breakfast." It is not recorded whether or not this

terrible threat was carried out.

But there was more than one engineer and engine-builder who took a more

sanguine view of the prize offer. The firm of Braithwait & Ericsson

signified its intention of competing, with a locomotive that they named

the _Novelty_. Another firm entered the contest with an engine called

the _Sans-pareil_; still another firm entered the _Perseverance_; and

George Stephenson was on hand with the now-famous _Rocket_.

In the series of trials that followed, the _Sans-pareil_ and the

_Perseverance_ were so clearly outclassed by the other two competing

locomotives that they need not be considered here; but the _Novelty_

and the _Rocket_ were close competitors. The _Novelty_, indeed,

made such a good showing, and afterwards proved to be such a good

locomotive, that although it lost the contest, many competent judges

have since regarded it as equal to the _Rocket_, if not superior, in

principle. Be that as it may, later experiments proved conclusively

that the cause of failure on the final day of the prize contest was

due to defects in workmanship rather than to defective principle of

construction.

The _Novelty_ has been described as having the appearance of "a

milk-can set in the rear end of a wagon, with a little smokestack in

front looking like a high dashboard." It carried its supply of fuel

and water in the "wagon-box" part of the engine frame, in front of the

boiler, so that it required no tender. On its first trial, running

without any load, it reached a speed of twenty-four miles an hour--a

speed more than double the "stewed engine-wheel" limit. But at each

subsequent trial, although it hauled loads for short distances, some

part of its machinery became disabled, so that it was necessarily

regarded as inferior to its more stable rival, the _Rocket_.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: CUGNOT'S TRACTION ENGINE AND THE "NOVELTY" LOCOMOTIVE.

These vehicles are shown together here because of their similarity

of plan of construction. Cugnot's original engine (upper figure) was

built in France in 1769. The vehicle shown above was made in 1770,

after Cugnot's designs, for the French Government. It was intended for

the transportation of artillery, and the specifications called for a

carrying capacity of about 4½ tons and a speed of 2¼ miles per hour

on level ground. Cugnot's original engine had attained this speed on

a common road while carrying four persons; notwithstanding which fact

the machine above shown was for some reason never given a trial. It is

now preserved in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in Paris. It is

particularly noteworthy that the successful road engine of Cugnot was

constructed in 1769, the year in which James Watt took out the first

patents on his steam engine. Just 60 years elapsed before Stephenson's

"Rocket" convinced the world of the feasibility of transportation by

steam-power.

The locomotive shown in the lower figure competed in the famous tests

of 1829 against the "Rocket" and the "Sans Pareil." It excited much

interest, attaining a speed of almost 32 miles per hour when running

light, but owing to breakdowns was unable to fulfill the required tests

and was therefore withdrawn from the competition. It was afterwards

used commercially.]

The _Sans-pareil_ was considerably over the maximum weight and

according to a strict interpretation of the stipulations, should not

have been allowed to contest; but although this question of over-weight

was waived by the judges, and the engine given a fair trial, it showed

such a capacity for consuming fuel without any corresponding ability to

perform work, that it was decided inferior to the _Novelty_ and the

_Rocket_. The _Perseverance_ was clearly outclassed by all the other

competing engines, as its maximum speed was only five or six miles an

hour.

The most consistent performer, and the final prize-winner, as everyone

knows, was Stephenson's _Rocket_, the direct ancestor of all modern

locomotives. The boiler of this locomotive was horizontal, as in

modern locomotives, cylindrical, and had flat ends. It was six feet in

length and a little over three feet in diameter. The upper half of the

boiler was used as a reservoir for steam, the lower half being filled

with water and having copper pipes running through it. The fire-box,

two feet wide and three feet high, was placed immediately behind the

boiler. Just above this, and on each side, were the cylinders, two

in number, acting obliquely downward on the two front wheels of the

engine, the piston-rod connecting with the driver by a bar pinned to

the outside of the wheel, as in modern American locomotives.

The engine with its load of water weighed a trifle over four

tons--seemingly little more than a toy-locomotive, as compared with

the modern monsters more than thirty times that weight. But for its

size the little _Rocket_ was a marvelous performer, even as judged by

recent standards. On the first day of the contests over the two miles

of trial tracks, it covered twelve miles in considerably less than an

hour, shuttling back and forth over the road. The next day, as none

of the other engines was in condition to exhibit, Stephenson offered

to satisfy the curiosity of the great crowd that had gathered--a

crowd that contained representatives from all over the world--by an

unofficial trial of the _Rocket_. He coupled the little engine to a

car, loaded on thirty-six passengers, and took them for a spin over the

road at the rate of from twenty-six to thirty miles an hour.

The following day some of the competing locomotives were still unable

to exhibit, and again the _Rocket_ was given a semi-official trial.

Hauling a car loaded with thirteen tons' weight, it ran back and forth

over the two-mile road, covering thirty-five miles in one hour and

forty-eight minutes including stoppages. The maximum velocity attained

was about twenty-nine miles an hour. As this performance was duplicated

on the day of the official trial, the _Rocket_ was declared the winner,

and awarded the prize.

[Illustration: THE FAMOUS LOCOMOTIVES "ROCKET" AND "SANS PAREIL."

Stevenson's celebrated "Rocket" is known to everyone as the winner of

the competition for the prize of 500 pounds offered in 1829 by the

Directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The "Sans Pareil,"

which, like the "Rocket," is still preserved at the South Kensington

Museum in London, competed unsuccessfully for the prize. Though not

equal to the "Rocket" it was in many respects a well-made locomotive.

It was purchased by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company and

saw many years of active service.]

Naturally there were many minor defects in the construction of

this first locomotive, although most of them were too trivial and

unimportant to affect the excellence of the machine as a whole. But it

had one serious defect: the inclination of the cylinders caused the

entire machine to rise and fall on its springs at every double stroke,

producing great unsteadiness when running at any considerable speed.

This was corrected a few months later by the suggestion of Timothy

Hackworth, who drew plans for a locomotive having horizontal cylinders

to be used on the Stockton & Darlington Railway. His plans were

submitted to Stephenson, who constructed an engine from them called the

_Globe_, which differed from the _Rocket_ in having the cylinders not

only horizontal, but placed on the inside of the wheels. A little later

Stephenson built the _Planet_ on much the same lines as the _Globe_,

and this engine became the model for engine builders the world over. It

is an interesting fact that American engineers adopted, and still cling

to, Stephenson's original plan of having the cylinders act on rods

attached to the outside of the wheels as in the _Rocket_, while English

engineers have always built their locomotives with the cylinders on the

inside, as arranged on the _Planet_.

Since the time of the _Planet_ the general shape and arrangement of

most locomotives has remained unchanged. In America the inclemencies of

the climate compelled the invention of the cab; and it was here also

that the bell, whistle, pilot, and sand-box were first introduced. But

by 1850 the present type of locomotive had been produced; and although

constant modifications are being introduced, the general appearance of

the locomotive remains the same, the difference being mostly in the

bulk.

IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVES IN RECENT YEARS

During the closing years of the nineteenth century the general

improvements in the rolling-stock of railroads, and the constantly

increasing demand for faster passenger service, stimulated

manufacturers to attempt numerous improvements as well as many changes

in the size of the more recent types of locomotives. In a general way

these changes may be summarized as follows: A great increase in the

size and weight, with increased speed and tractive power; the use

of larger boilers with thicker shells; the substitution of steel

for cast-iron in certain parts of the locomotive, thereby greatly

increasing the strength; and finally, the economizing of steam by

compounding.

There is no way of determining the exact amount of increase in the

weight of engines during the last decade, but the figures of some of

the great manufacturing establishments will give a fair idea of this

increase in a general way. In one of these establishments the average

weight of a locomotive turned out ten years ago was 92,000 pounds for

the engine alone, without the tender. At the present time the engines

being manufactured by the same firm average 129,000 pounds, an increase

of 37,000 pounds, or something over forty per cent. This average

weight, however, gives but an inadequate conception of the size of the

largest locomotives now being manufactured. The "hundred-ton" engine

has become a commonplace. In 1909 a locomotive weighing, with its

tenders, 300 tons was manufactured for passenger traffic on the Santa

Fé lines.

In America there seems to be no limit to the sizes that may be reached;

or at least up to the present time this limit has not been attained. In

England and several of the Continental countries a great difficulty has

been found to exist in the unlimited size of locomotives, in the fact

that the bridges and tunnels of these railroads are, almost without

exception, so low that any very great vertical increase in the size of

the engine is out of the question without reconstructing many miles of

bridges and tunnels at an enormous cost.

The increased demand for greater speed has also caused a marked

increase in the amount of steam pressure per square inch in the

boilers. In 1870 the average was about 130 pounds; by 1890 this had

been increased to about 160 pounds; while at the present time steam is

used frequently at a pressure of 225 pounds. Naturally this increase

in pressure compels the use of heavier steel boiler plates. In 1890

the usual thickness of the steel sheets was one-half inch; but at the

present time it is no unusual thing to use plates seven-eighths of an

inch in thickness.

But probably the most important improvement in locomotive construction

in recent years is the introduction of the compounding principle in the

use of steam--a system whereby practically the entire energy of the

steam is utilized, instead of a considerable portion of it being a dead

loss, as in the older type of engine. As every one knows, the passage

of the steam through a single cylinder of an engine does not exhaust

its entire energy. In the compounding system this exhausted steam is

made to pass through one or more cylinders after coming from the first,

the energy of all these cylinders being utilized for the production of

power.

The application of this principle of compounding is not new even in

the field of locomotive construction. As early as 1846 patents for

a compound locomotive were taken out in the United States, and such

an engine built in 1867; but it is only since 1890 that compound

locomotives have become popular in this country. In these compound

locomotives the two cylinders are of unequal diameter, so proportioned

"that the steam at high pressure in the smaller cylinder exerts upon

the piston approximately the same force that is exerted by steam at a

lower pressure in the larger cylinder. Steam is admitted first into the

smaller cylinder, where it expends a portion of its initial energy, and

then passes into the larger cylinder, where it performs an equal amount

of work by exerting a diminished pressure upon a larger surface. This

is the principle of compounding, the relative sizes and positions of

the cylinders being varied according to the conditions to be met by the

engine, or the ideas of the designer or builder, or of the purchaser.

While in the marine and stationary engine the compound principle has

been carried with success and economy to three and four stages of

expansion in the use of steam, it has not been found practicable to go

beyond two stages in compound locomotives."

In a pamphlet issued recently by one of the leading locomotive works of

the country, some points of interest concerning the compound locomotive

were stated concisely as follows:

"In stationary-engine practice the chief measure of the boiler

efficiency is the economical consumption of coal. In most stationary

engines the boilers are fired independently, and the draft is formed

from causes entirely separate and beyond the control of the escape

of steam from the cylinders. Hence any economy shown by the boilers

must of necessity be separate and distinct from that which may be

effected by the engine itself. In a locomotive, however, the amount

of work depends entirely upon the weight on the driving wheels, the

cylinder dimensions being proportioned to this weight, and, whether

the locomotive is compound or single expansion, no larger boiler can

be provided, after allowing for the wheels, frame and mechanism, than

the total limit of weight permits. The heating surface and grate areas

in both compound and single-expansion locomotives of the same class

are practically the same, and the evaporative efficiency of both

locomotives is chiefly determined by the action of the exhaust, which

must be of sufficient intensity in both cases to generate the amount

of steam necessary for utilizing to the best advantage the weight on

the driving wheels. This is a feature that does not appear in any

stationary engine, so that the compound locomotive cannot be judged

by stationary standards, and the only true comparison to be made is

between locomotives of similar construction and weight, equipped in one

case with compound and in the other with single-expansion cylinders.

"No locomotive, compound or single-expansion, will haul more than its

adhesion will allow. The weight on driving wheels is the limiting

factor in the problem which confronts the locomotive engineer. Power

can, of course, be increased by building a larger engine and augmenting

this weight but in the present construction of tracks and bridges the

limit of driving wheel load has almost been reached. Hence in modern

locomotive practice the goal before the designer and engineer is to

obtain maximum efficiency for the minimum weight admissible.

"It is not claimed for compound locomotives that a heavier train can

be hauled at a given speed than with a single-expansion locomotive of

similar weight and class; but the compound will, at very slow speed,

on heavy grades, keep a train moving where a single-expansion will

slip and stall. This is due to the pressure on the crank-pins of the

compound being more uniform throughout the stroke than in the case

of the single-expansion locomotive, and also to the fact that, when

needed, live steam can be admitted to the low-pressure cylinders."

Of course, the principal reason for compounding the locomotive is

to economize steam, and this is unquestionably accomplished; but

nevertheless the comparative economy of compound and single-expansion

locomotives was for some time a mooted question. Numerous tests have

been made with these two classes of engines, and the widest ranges of

differences were shown in many instances. In some cases the compounds

seem to show a saving of some forty per cent. in fuel; but this is by

no means a determinative factor in the daily use of an engine. It is

found that repairs on the compound are more difficult to make, and

consequently more expensive than on the single-expansion engines; but

on the whole it is very generally conceded that the compound saves its

owners from ten to twenty-five per cent. over the older type.

The rapid increase of the size, and consequent coal-consuming capacity,

of the modern locomotive has added another problem to engineering--that

of keeping the yawning maw of the fire-box supplied with coal. There

is a limit to the amount of work that the fireman can do, and the great

engines in use at present tax even the strongest fireman to the utmost.

If the size or speed of locomotives is increased very materially in

the future it will be necessary to have two men, instead of one, as

firemen, or to use mechanical stokers, or to find some other kind of

fuel. In point of fact the mechanical stoker has been recently tried

with success, and this will probably help in solving the problem. But

there is also the strong probability that the use of liquid fuel will

become more and more popular. At the present time many locomotives

in the West and Southwest, as well as in Europe and in Asia, have

been equipped with burners for the consumption of crude petroleum. No

modification in the construction of the locomotive is required for

this change of fuel except some slight alteration in the arrangement

of the brickwork of the fire-box, and the introduction of the burners.

These, however, are simple arrangements that throw into the fire-box, a

spray of steam and vaporized oil, which burns freely and generates an

intense and steady heat. With this kind of fuel the fireman need not be

considered, as the largest engine thus equipped may be "fired" with far

less labor than is required on the smallest coal-burning, narrow-gauge

locomotive.

THE WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE

The application of steam as a motive power for running trains of cars

solved one great problem; but it created another. The second one was

the problem of how to stop the trains once they had started. On short

trains made up of the light cars used at first, the hand brakes were

sufficiently effective for practical purposes. But as trains were

increased in length and weight and were run at high speeds, it became

imperative to find some means of stopping such trains quickly and with

certainty.

With a hand brake working on each pair of trucks, as on passenger

coaches, it was possible to make reasonably quick stops when there were

enough members of the train crew to work all the brakes simultaneously.

But in practice it was found impossible to maintain this ideal

condition. For emergency stops the brakemen were summoned by signals

of the whistle given by the engineer, and there was necessarily some

little interval of time after this signal before the most alert crew

could begin the relatively slow process of applying the brakes.

The engineer himself could give valuable aid in stopping the train by

reversing his engine, the locomotive acting as a brake to check the

oncoming cars. But this check acted only at the forward part of the

train, and being applied suddenly, caused the rear cars to rush against

the forward cars with terrific force, sometimes driving in the bumpers

and wrecking the train. Obviously an ideal system of brakes must be

one that acted upon all the cars of the train simultaneously and under

control of the engineer; and presently such a system was invented by

Mr. George Westinghouse.

Other inventors had tried to produce a practical system of brakes,

such as those using steam as a working force, or systems of hand-wound

springs; but Mr. Westinghouse utilized compressed air, and from the

first his brakes proved effective.

His first air brake, operated successfully in 1869, was the "straight

air brake" type--one that has now been replaced almost universally by

the automatic. In this brake system there was an air reservoir on the

locomotive, and steam was used for making the compression. From this

reservoir a line of gas pipe ran through the cab of the engine beneath

the tender and under each car, the space between the cars being bridged

by rubber tubes and easily-adjusted couplings. This line of pipe,

called the train pipe, was connected near the centre of each car with

a cylinder which contained a piston with a stem which acted upon the

brake shoes by means of a series of levers and connecting rods.

In the cab, placed conveniently for the engineer, was a valve by means

of which he could cause the compressed air to flow into the train

pipe and thus act upon the brake cylinders of the cars. This could be

done gradually for making a slow stop, or with full force as the case

required, and the brakes could be released by turning the valve to a

point which opened a vent and allowed the air to escape.

The effect of this invention was revolutionary. Stopping the train

was no longer dependent upon manual labor applied intermittently at

different points, but was placed entirely in the hands of the engineer

who applied the required power almost simultaneously at all points

along his line of cars. Thus the brakeman was relieved of one of his

perilous tasks, which on freight trains took a heavy toll in loss of

lives.

This relatively simple, and usually effective, system had two grave

defects. The first of these lay in the fact that if there was a

leak--even a very small one--anywhere along the line of the train pipe

or the brake cylinders, the brakes would not work, the compressed air

being exhausted into the atmosphere instead of acting on the brake

cylinders. The common accident of having his train "break in two"

rendered the engineer powerless to stop the cars, and disastrous

"runaways" sometimes resulted. The second defect, which became more

and more apparent as the length of trains was increased, was the

impossibility of applying the air to the brakes of the rear cars as

quickly as to those near the engine, since the compressed air could not

travel the length of the train pipe instantaneously, on account of the

frictional resistance.

These defects were quickly recognized by Mr. Westinghouse, and in

1876, seven years after he applied his first invention, he produced

his automatic air brake which overcame them effectually. In this brake

the train pipe and the air reservoir were retained as in the straight

air brake system, but in addition each car was equipped with a storage

reservoir of sufficient size to supply the brake cylinder. In place

of the older arrangement in which the train pipe simply retained air

at atmospheric pressure when not in use, the new system kept the air

in the train pipe under a considerable pressure at all times when the

brake was not in use. And, reversing the conditions of the straight air

brake, the engineer in order to apply the brakes let out the air in

the train pipe instead of forcing air into it, a "triple valve" on each

car performing the work of operating the brake cylinder automatically.

The advantage of this system over the older one is obvious. Whereas the

detachment of a portion of the train, or a leak in any part of the air

brake system heretofore had left the engineer helpless, exactly the

reverse condition was produced in the new system. Any leakage of air,

either from a break or a defect, caused every brake on the entire train

to be applied to the wheels and brought the train to a stop. Moreover,

with the new system it was now possible to equip each car with a valve

which would lessen the pressure of air in the train pipe so that

the train could be brought to a stop by the trainmen in the rear or

intermediate coaches as readily as by the engineer.

This system worked perfectly on passenger trains; but on long freight

trains the resistance to the passage of the escaping air through the

train tube was so great that if an emergency required the full force

of the brake to be applied suddenly, the brakes of the rear cars did

not come into use until several seconds after those of the forward

cars. The result was that the momentum of the rear cars caused them

to strike the forward cars with great violence. But Mr. Westinghouse

overcame this defect by an ingenious use of the triple valve mechanism

of each car, whereby the application of the emergency brake by the

engineer caused the air in the train pipe on each car to be discharged

simultaneously into the brake cylinder. In this manner the discharge

of air not only allowed the brakes to act, but assisted them in doing

so. This was only the case, however, when the emergency application of

the brake was made, this system of venting on each car into the brake

cylinder not being brought into play when ordinary stops were made.

Thus the engineer in this quick-action automatic air brake has really

two brakes at his command, one for making ordinary stops, the other for

emergencies.

In 1891 a so-called high-speed air brake was perfected, this brake

being really a modified quick-action automatic brake. This modification

consists of the addition of an automatic pressure-reducing valve

connected with each brake cylinder. In the high-speed air brake as

applied when the train is running rapidly, the highest possible

pressure is applied at once to the wheels, but this pressure is

lessened by the automatic pressure-reducing valves as the speed

diminishes. This method of applying the brakes is the most effective

way of getting the full benefit of their stopping power. This

high-speed brake, therefore, represents the highest perfection in

train-stopping devices.

We have referred here specifically to the air brake as used on steam

railroads. In another chapter the subject has been touched upon in

connection with electric railroads. In such brakes the compression

of the air is accomplished by electricity instead of steam, but the

general principles involved are the same as those just described.

It should not be understood that the Westinghouse air brake was the

only one, or the only type of brake, devised and brought to practical

perfection. For a time a vacuum brake, which utilized atmospheric

pressure, offered keen rivalry. But eventually the type of brake

perfected by Mr. Westinghouse, modified in certain details in the

various countries of Europe and America, gained precedence, which it

still retains.

AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS

The perfection of the air brake removed one great source of danger

that menaced the crews of freight trains. There still remained another

almost as great, particularly in the matter of maiming its victims,

when not actually killing them. This was the old method of coupling

freight cars as practiced in America. There were few old-time trainmen,

indeed, who could show a complete set of full length digits, the

buffers of the old-fashioned couplings being responsible for the lost

and shortened members.

The freight brakeman has to make scores of couplings on every trip. And

he literally took his life in his hands upon each and every occasion of

making a coupling by the old method.

This old form of couplings consisted of two buffers--one on each

car--joined together by an iron link about fifteen inches long, a

movable pin inserted at either end holding the link in place and thus

joining the cars. When a coupling was to be made the brakeman raised

the pin in the buffer of the stationary car and tilted it at an angle

in the pin-hole at the top of the buffer so that, while it remained

raised, the jar of the striking buffers at the moment of coupling

caused it to fall into place and complete the coupling. The link

was left hanging in the moving car which was being shunted in to be

coupled; but in this position the projecting end was so low that it

would miss the hole in the opposite buffer, and thus fail to make the

coupling, unless raised and inserted just at the moment before the

buffers came together.

This raising and inserting of the link was the dangerous part of making

a coupling. It could only be done by the brakeman while standing

between the cars. And he must raise the link, insert it, and remove

his hand in a fraction of a second if the car was moving at a fair

rate of speed, otherwise his fingers or hand would be caught between

the buffers and crushed. And a crushed hand or arm meant subsequent

amputation, for the force of the collision between the buffers crushed

the bones beyond repair.

There was a way in which the coupling could be made whereby the hand

was not endangered. This was by using a stick for raising and guiding

the link into the buffer. Some railroads at first furnished sticks for

this purpose. But no brakeman would stoop to use them. Had he done so

he would have been hooted and jeered off the road by his train mates.

And so his pride made him risk his limbs and his life, and fostered the

recklessness of the old-time brakeman.

But in 1879 Mr. Eli Janney, of Pittsburg, patented an automatic

car-coupler that was both simple and effective; and in 1887 the Master

Car Builders' Association accepted this type of coupler. A little later

the U. S. Government, influenced by the appalling loss of life among

the brakemen, passed laws compelling all cars to be equipped with some

form of automatic coupling device, and naturally the Janney coupling

was the one adopted. In using this coupling the brakeman did not have

to step into the dangerous position between the cars, either for making

the coupling, or disconnecting the car. The act of coupling was done

automatically, while the uncoupling was effected by the use of a lever

operated from the side of the car.

A somewhat technical description of this coupling is as follows:

"The Janney coupling consists of a steel jaw fitted on one side with a

knuckle or L-shaped lever turning on a vertical pin; this knuckle when

being swung inward lifts a locking pin which subsequently drops and so

prevents the return of the knuckle. An identical coupler is fitted to

the end of the adjacent vehicle, and, so long as both or either of the

knuckles are open when the vehicles come into contact, coupling will

be effected; to uncouple, it is only necessary to raise either of the

locking pins, by means of a chain or lever at the side of the vehicle.

The knuckles have each a hole in them to permit of the use of the

old link and pin coupler, when such a fitting is met with. At first,

this coupling gave some trouble through the locking pins occasionally

creeping upward, but in the larger model, which represents the later

form, there is an automatic locking pawl that prevents this motion;

owing, however, to the pawl being attached to the lifting shackle, it

in no way interferes with the pin being raised when disconnecting."

Even before the invention of the Janney coupling a semi-automatic

coupling device had been used extensively on passenger cars. But this

device which in effect was that of two crooked fingers hooked together,

allowed the ends of the coaches to swing and roll in a manner most

disagreeable to many passengers. The Janney couplings corrected this,

since these couplings in their improved form hold the ends of the cars

as in a vice.

A COMPARISON--THE OLD AND THE NEW

Stephenson's locomotive and its tender, when loaded to full capacity

with fuel and water, weighed seven and three-quarter tons. The

locomotive itself was a trifle over seven feet long. In 1909 the

Southern Pacific Railway purchased a Mallet Compound locomotive which,

with its tender, weighs three hundred tons, or approximately forty

times the weight of the little _Rocket_. This great locomotive is over

sixty-seven feet long, or some nine times the length of the _Rocket_,

and will haul more than twelve hundred tons back of the tender.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.

The lower figure represents a longitudinal section of a modern French

locomotive, for comparison with the sections of the famous engines of

1829. The weight of the "Rocket," with its four-wheel tender which

carried 264 gallons of water and 450 pounds of coke was 4¼ tons. The

French locomotive with its tender in working order, carrying 3300

gallons of water and five tons of coal, weighs 99 tons, and the length

of the engine and tender is 56.3 feet.]

The cylinders of the _Rocket_ were eight inches in diameter, with a

seventeen inch stroke; the high-pressure cylinders of this Mallet

locomotive are twenty-six inches in diameter, and the low-pressure

cylinders are forty inches. But curiously enough the driving wheels of

the two engines show little discrepancy, those of the _Rocket_ being

fifty-six inches in diameter, as against fifty-seven for those of the

larger engine. The total heating surface of the _Rocket_ was one

hundred and thirty-eight square feet, that of the new locomotive 6,393

square feet. To heat this great surface oil is used for fuel, so that

the task for the fireman is lighter than on many locomotives less than

one-half the size.

On this locomotive there are two sets of cylinders driving two sets

of driving wheels on each side, making a total of sixteen drivers in

all. From the size of these drivers it is evident that the engine is

designed for strength rather than speed, although of course relatively

high speed can be attained if desired. On the section of road over

which it operates there is a maximum grade of one hundred and sixteen

feet per mile, and it was for negotiating such grades with full loads

that the locomotive was designed.

V

FROM CART TO AUTOMOBILE

The use of the wheel as a means of reducing friction dates from

prehistoric times. The introduction of this device must have marked a

veritable revolution in transportation, but unfortunately we have no

means of knowing in what age or country the innovation was effected. We

only know that the Chinese have used wheelbarrows and carts from time

immemorial, and that sundry very ancient pictures and sculptures of

the Egyptians and Babylonians prove that these peoples were entirely

familiar with wheeled vehicles.

The earliest form of wheel was doubtless a solid disk, and such a wheel

is still in use in many places in the East; but the wheels of the

Assyrian chariot were spoked after the modern fashion, and provided

with rims of metal. The introduction of the wagon spring, however, was

a comparatively modern innovation. The use of springs very considerably

reduces the resistance, thus adding to the efficiency of wheeled

vehicles; but the reduction is not very obvious unless the roads are

tolerably good, nor is it probable that the ancient nations could

readily have measured the effect even had the idea of springs suggested

itself.

As regards good roads, these are, to be sure, no modern invention,

since the Romans had carried the art of road-building to a very high

degree of perfection. The integrity of the Roman Empire depended very

largely upon the highways that linked all parts of its circumference

with the Imperial centre; and in a perfectly literal sense all its

roads led to Rome. The Roman roadbed was constructed of several layers

of stone, and it was one of the most resistant and permanent structures

ever devised. As late as the sixteenth century of our era there were

no roads worthy of the name in England except the remains of those

constructed many centuries before by the Roman occupants. It was not

until well toward the close of the eighteenth century that Macadam and

Telford devised methods of road-making whereby broken stone and gravel,

pounded to form a smooth surface, gave the modern world roadbeds that

were in any way comparable to those early ones of the Romans.

This development of road-building corresponded, naturally enough,

with an advance in the art of carriage building, and the increased

popularity of stage coaches. We are told that about 1650 the average

rate of speed of the stage wagons in England was only four miles an

hour; whereas the stage coaches moved over the improved roadbeds of

the nineteenth century at an average speed of about eight miles an

hour, which was sometimes increased to eleven miles. After about the

year 1836, however, the stage coach was rapidly displaced by the steam

railway, and the interest in roadbeds somewhat abated until brought

again prominently to public attention by the users of bicycles and

automobiles.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BICYCLE

It is rather surprising to learn that in point of time the automobile

antedates the bicycle. Yet such, as we shall see in a moment, is

the fact. Every one is aware, however, that the bicycle came into

popularity at a time when the very existence of the automobile had been

practically forgotten, and that subsequently it lost its popularity

almost over night when the automobile came to its own. Viewing the

subject retrospectively, perhaps the most singular thing is that both

vehicles were so long delayed in making their way to public favor.

There were, however, sundry very practical obstacles placed in the

way of the larger vehicle; and the bicycle was not at first a device

calculated to prove attractive to the average wayfarer.

[Illustration: THE HOBBY-HORSE OF 1820 CONTRASTED WITH THE MOTOR CYCLE

OF TO-DAY.

For a brief period about 1820 the hobby horse was very popular with

English dandies. Our illustration reproduces a contemporary print. The

(1909) motor cycle shown in the small picture is compassing a mile in

40 seconds.]

The very earliest bicycle appears to have been the so-called hobby

horse or dandy horse introduced about the year 1818 by Baron von Drais

in France. It was a primitive vehicle, the user of which half rode

and half ran, propulsion being effected simply by thrusting the feet

against the ground. In effect the rider of the hobby horse ran with a

stride greatly lengthened through the partial support afforded by the

saddle, and with correspondingly increased speed. He could, of course,

on occasion coast down hill or on a level surface when considerable

momentum had been acquired, and supports for his feet were provided to

facilitate this end. At first the machine promised to become popular,

but it was soon ridiculed out of court.

Something like twenty years later--that is to say about the year

1840--a treadle-bicycle was invented by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, an

English blacksmith. The machine did not become popular, however, and

it was not until simple cranks were fitted to the front wheel of the

bicycle that this form of vehicle came into anything like general

use. This very simple expedient was first suggested, seemingly, by

Pierre Lallament, a Frenchman, in 1866. His machine came to be known

in England as the bone shaker, and doubtless it deserved its name, for

as yet neither the wire suspension wheel nor the rubber tire had been

invented. Both these improvements were quickly introduced, however;

the suspension wheel by Mr. E. A. Cowper, in 1868. The first rubber

tires, used about 1870, were solid, and it was not until 1888 that the

Irishman, Mr. J. B. Dunlap, introduced the pneumatic tire. Meantime the

geared bicycle, with which every one is nowadays familiar, had been

introduced in 1879 by Mr. H. J. Lawson and brought to the familiar form

of the "safety" in 1885 by Mr. Starley. The combination of low wheels

geared to any desired speed with pneumatic tires was the finishing

stroke.

The problem of making the bicycle a relatively speedy vehicle had

indeed been solved by the use of a large wheel--sometimes sixty inches

in diameter--operated by a simple crank after the manner of the early

machine of Lallament; but while bicycles of this type attained a

considerable measure of popularity, the danger of taking a "header"

on encountering any obstacle in the road was one that seemed to the

average person to out-measure the pleasure or benefit to be derived

from rapid transit thus attained. The safety bicycle, however,

practically eliminated this danger. It was, moreover, comparatively

easy to balance; and not long after its introduction in perfected form,

with pneumatic tires, it had made an appeal to which all the world

responded. For a few years the safety bicycle was the most conspicuous

of vehicles on every country road, and partisans of outdoor life

believed that the health and stamina of the generation were to be

increased immensely by the new vehicle.

Nor were these anticipations altogether visionary, as undoubtedly

the bicycle did do much to improve the average health of nearly all

classes of citizens. But its popularity was too suddenly acquired to

be permanent, and at the very moment when it was most used, another

vehicle was suddenly developed which was to lead to its practical

abandonment by the great mass of people for whom it might have been

supposed to afford a means of permanent recreation.

[Illustration: THE EVOLUTION OF THE BICYCLE.

Fig. 1.--The hobby horse or dandy horse, the forerunner of the bicycle,

which was patented in France in 1818 by Charles, Baron von Drais.

Fig. 2.--The so-called "Bone Shaker" invented about 1865 by Pierre

Lallement. Fig. 3.--"Phantom" bicycle introduced in England about 1869,

its most important improvement consisting of wire spokes in tension in

place of rigid spokes. Fig. 4.--"Bantam" bicycle introduced in 1893.

Its peculiarity is an epicyclic gearing through which the wheel is

made to revolve more rapidly than the cranks. Fig. 5.--An early safety

bicycle introduced in 1876. The crank and lever driving apparatus is

similar to that of a machine made by Kirkpatrick MacMillan in 1839.

Fig. 6.--"Kangaroo" bicycle patented in England by W. Hillman in 1884.

The peculiarity consists in the use of a chain gearing to increase

the speed of the wheel. The principle is precisely that of the modern

bicycle, though the application of the chain to the front wheel made a

cumbersome apparatus.]

THE COMING OF THE AUTOMOBILE

The vehicle that effected this sudden eclipse of the bicycle is, as

everyone knows, that form of power-driven carriage known in England as

the motor car, and in France and America as the automobile. The first

form of this vehicle to gain popularity was a tricycle driven by a

small steam motor. But almost immediately the recently devised gas

engine was called into requisition, and after that the development of

the automobile was only a matter of detail. But, as so often happens

with practical inventions, there are disputed questions of priority

regarding the application of the gasoline engine to this particular

use. The engine itself was perfected, as we have elsewhere seen, about

1876, by the German, Dr. Otto.

It appears that in 1879 an American, Mr. George B. Selden, applied for

a patent designed to cover the use of the internal combustion engine as

a motor for road vehicles. Owing to technical complications the patent

was not actually issued until the year 1895. Meantime at least as early

as 1885 Herr Daimler in Germany had used the gasoline motor for the

practical propulsion of a tricycle; and not long after that date the

right to use his patents had been acquired in France by Messrs. Panhard

and Levassor. These men soon applied the Daimler motor to four-wheeled

vehicles of various types, and almost at a bound the automobile as we

know it was developed. Early in the '90's the custom of having annual

road races was introduced, and before the century had closed the

automobile was everywhere a familiar object on the roads of Europe and

America.

While the introduction of the automobile is thus a comparatively recent

event, it should be known that the idea of using mechanical power

to propel a road vehicle is by no means peculiar to our generation.

Practical working automobiles were constructed long before any person

now living was born. The very first person to construct such a vehicle

was probably the Frenchman, Cugnot, who manufactured a steam-driven

wagon, using the old Newcomen type of engine, in the very year--by a

curious coincidence--in which James Watt took out his first patent for

a perfected steam engine; that is to say, in the year 1769.

Cugnot's automobile was a heavy four-wheeled affair intended for

military service. It actually progressed along the road at the rate

of three or four miles an hour. But the problem of carrying fuel and

water had not been solved, and either for that reason or because

the authorities in charge lacked imagination and did not regard the

device as offering advantages over traction by horses, nothing came of

Cugnot's effort except the scientific demonstration that the idea of

a self-propelled vehicle was not merely the dream of a visionary. A

second automobile truck of similar design, made by Cugnot a year or two

later, may be seen to this day in the Museum of Arts and Measures in

Paris.

A few years later--namely in 1785--an Englishman, William Murdoch by

name, whose interest in steam engines is evidenced by the fact that he

was in the employ of Bolton and Watt, manufactured a small tricycle

driven by a Watt engine. This vehicle, running under its own power,

developed a good degree of speed; and had not Murdoch's employers

forbidden him to continue his experiments, the practical automobile

might perhaps have gained popularity an entire century earlier than it

did.

[Illustration: THE EXTREMES OF AUTOMOBILE DEVELOPMENT.

At the left, William Murdock's automobile of about the year 1781.

Murdock made several experimental models which worked successfully,

but strangely enough Bolton and Watt, his employers, discouraged

his efforts and induced him ultimately to abandon the invention,

which nevertheless had demonstrated the possibility of propelling a

vehicle by steam power. At the right, the original model of Richard

Trevethick's road locomotive, constructed in 1797. The success of

this model led Trevethick to construct a steam carriage which was

successfully tried on the roads in England in 1801. The small picture

in the upper corner shows the modern craft that is the outgrowth of

these crude vehicles--the winning automobile in the Vanderbilt race on

Long Island in 1909.]

As the case stands, however, the automobile of Murdoch failed as

signally as had that of Cugnot to gain general recognition. But it is

quite possible that a knowledge of the device had come to the attention

of another Englishman, Richard Trevithick by name, who was at once a

practical experimenter of great skill and a man of fertile imagination.

Trevithick, himself the inventor of a high-pressure steam engine,

adjusted his engine to a large road vehicle, and in the year 1804

exhibited this automobile on the roads of Cornwall, and subsequently

in London, where it would probably have made its way had not the

inventor been an extremely erratic genius, who presently shut up his

coach and turned his attention to another form of vehicle. This, it

will be observed, was full twenty-five years before that memorable

date on which Stephenson launched his famous _Rocket_. Nothing came of

Trevithick's experiment at the moment, beyond the demonstration of a

principle--which indeed was much; but it was not long before various

other inventors took up the idea, and as early as 1824 a number of

automobiles, some of them weighing as much as three or four tons, were

in successful operation on the highways of England. Some of these even

gave regular passenger service, and attained the unprecedented speed

of twelve or fourteen miles an hour. All this, it will be observed,

was before the first locomotive running on rails had attracted any

attention. Stephenson had indeed begun his experiments, but up to this

time they had been confined exclusively to tramways in connection with

collieries.

In the year 1829 Stephenson made his famous demonstrations with the

_Rocket_, a locomotive running on rails, which attained a speed of

thirty miles an hour, contrary to all the predictions of the wiseacres,

who had declared the inventor a lunatic for hoping to attain even ten

miles. We have already noted that the railway on which the test was

made was not built with the expectation of utilizing steam power, that

being regarded as a dreamer's vision. Lord Darlington prevented the

construction of the road for a time because it chanced to run near his

fox covers; and legislative permission was finally secured only with

the proviso that the railway was to avoid the region of the preserves.

Stephenson with difficulty secured permission to make an experiment

on the railway with his engine, in competition with other would-be

inventors; and it was his unexpected success that turned the scale in

favor of steam power. But even the startling success of the Rocket did

not make a great impression upon the British public, the incident being

given but slight notice in the periodicals of the day, and no mention

being made of it in the _Annual Register_.

All this is of interest as showing the attitude of a conservative

public toward the steam locomotive running on a railway, and as

partially explaining the antagonism to self-propelled road vehicles

which found, most unfortunately, an exponent in no less a personage

than the Duke of Wellington, then prime minister. The opinion and

attitude of the duke were made evident in 1829, in connection with a

steam automobile invented by a Mr. Gurney, which was capable of running

on an ordinary road at a rate of at least ten miles an hour. The duke

was old, and age had strengthened his inherent conservatism. He lent

a ready ear to the claims--largely instigated, no doubt, by persons

interested in horse traffic--that the automobile on an ordinary road

was a menace to public safety, and no doubt his influence had a large

share in helping on the unfavorable public opinion and the adverse

legislation which were presently to block the further progress of the

motor car.

Doubtless also the amazing success of the railway locomotive tended

to attract the attention of the public away from the automobile, and

thus made possible the passage of restrictive laws. In any event, the

motor car, notwithstanding its demonstrated possibilities, virtually

passed from the scene at about the time when the railway locomotive

made its spectacular entrance. That public interest in the matter did

not subside immediately, however, is evidenced by the fact that such a

book as Gordon's _Treatise on Elementary Locomotion by Means of Steam

Carriages on Common Roads_ passed through three editions between the

years 1832 and 1836.

AN EXTRAORDINARY PIECE OF LEGISLATION

Indeed, notwithstanding legislative rebuffs, here and there an inventor

kept up his experiments, and in 1861 the automobile had attained so

much prominence as to be given parliamentary attention. Four years

later, in 1865, an extraordinary law was passed which deserves to be

remembered as one of the greatest monuments of legislative folly ever

recorded in connection with an economic question. This law provided

that, in the case of any locomotive moving on a public highway, the

number of persons required to drive the engine should be increased to

three, and that the vehicle should be preceded by a man with a red flag.

The latter provision suggests at first sight that the British

legislator had here been moved to curiously un-British facetiousness;

but there was really no such intent, as another provision of the

law, limiting the maximum speed to four miles an hour, sufficiently

testifies.

Other laws of similar tenor supported this one, and the validity of

these decrees was finally sustained through an appeal to the Court of

Queen's Bench, which brought forth the decision that the law applied to

every type of self-propelled vehicle from the traction engine to the

Bateman steam tricycle. Naturally this decision gave the quietus to

automobile--or, to use the more English word, motor car--progress in

Great Britain.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: AN ENGLISH STEAM COACH OF 1827 AND A NEW YORK TAXICAB OF

1909.

The steam coach constructed in 1827 by Sir Goldsworthy Gurney was the

prototype of several others which entered upon regular and successful

service between various English cities, and which are said to have

maintained an average speed of about 12 miles and a maximum speed of

a little over 20 miles an hour. The above figure reproduced from a

contemporary lithograph shows the carriage that operated between London

and Bath. It weighed about 2 tons and carried six inside and 12 outside

passengers.]

It appears, then, that the idea of an automobile travelling on an

ordinary highway preceded that of the locomotive railway. It was,

indeed, by far the more natural idea of the two, since tramways were at

that time but little used outside of collieries. And it seems scarcely

open to doubt that the repressive legislation was directly responsible

for deflecting the progress of mechanical invention away from what

seemed the more natural direction of development. It is always

hazardous in such a case to attempt to guess what might-have-been under

different circumstances; but considering the practical results already

achieved as early as 1824, one can scarcely avoid the conviction

that had legislation favored, instead of opposing, the inventor, the

automobile might have been developed in Great Britain as rapidly as

railway traffic; in which event the middle of the nineteenth century

would have seen the world at least as near the horseless age as we are

in reality at the close of the first decade of the twentieth century.

What this would have meant in its economic bearings on civilization

during the past fifty years, the least imaginative reader can in some

measure picture for himself.

In opposition to this view it might be urged that the real progress

of the automobile has taken place since 1885, when the Daimler oil

engine was substituted for the steam engine in connection with motor

vehicles. But in reply to this it must be remembered that the workable

gas engine had been invented as early as 1860, and that the Otto

engine, of which the Daimler is a modification, was patented as early

as 1876. These developments, it will be noted, took place at just about

the time when the new interest in the automobile had been aroused,

as evidenced by the repressive British legislation just referred

to. It can be but little in question that had the early interest in

the British automobile been maintained, inventive genius would long

since have provided a suitable motor. There was no incentive for the

English inventor during those long years when the automobile was under

legislative ban; and in the meantime the idea of the highway automobile

seems not to have taken possession of other nations.

When that idea did make its way, it was very soon put into tangible

operation, as everybody knows. And the fact that England made no

progress whatever in this line until the repressive laws were repealed

in 1896, whereas France, Germany, and America had leaped far ahead in

the meantime, is in itself demonstrative. Moreover, as regards the

question of a motor for the automobile, it should not be forgotten

that the steam-engine is by no means obsolete. The victories of Mr.

Ross' machine at Ormonde in 1905, and of the Stanley steamer in 1906

(a mile in 28-1/5 seconds), show that steam is distinctly a factor,

notwithstanding the popularity of the gasoline engine. The steam motor

might have served an admirable purpose until such time as a better

power had been developed.

However, it is futile to dwell on might-have-beens. Let us rather

consider for a moment the spectacular development of the automobile

with particular reference to its striking capacities as an eliminator

of space.

SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF AUTOMOBILE RACING

A mile in 34-1/5 seconds. That is the automobile record established

at Ormonde Beach in January, 1905. The record mile was made by Mr.

H. L. Bowden, of Boston, with a machine of peculiar construction. It

consisted essentially of two four-cylinder motors adjusted to one

machine, giving an engine of 120 horse-power. The machine weighed

2,650 pounds, exceeding thus by more than four hundred pounds the

usually prescribed limits of weight. The record, therefore, stood

as a performance in a class by itself. But that is something that

interests only the specialist. For the general public it suffices that

an automobile propelled by a gasoline engine covered a mile in 34-1/5

seconds, or at the rate of one hundred and five miles an hour.

This record was made on Wednesday, January 25, 1905. A little

earlier on the same day the previous automobile record of a mile in

thirty-nine seconds--made at Ormonde by Mr. William K. Vanderbilt,

Jr., in 1904--had been twice broken; first by Mr. Louis Ross, who made

the mile in his 40 horse-power steam auto of "freak" construction

in thirty-eight seconds; and by Mr. Arthur McDonald, driving a 90

horse-power car belonging to Mr. S. F. Edge. Mr. McDonald's record was

a mile in 34-2/5 seconds, and this stood for a time as the new record

for cars of regulation weight.

It thus appears that Mr. Vanderbilt's record was reduced first by

one second, then by 4-1/5 seconds, and finally by 4-2/5 seconds on

the same day. Obviously the conditions were peculiarly favorable on

that day, or else a very marked improvement in the construction of

racing automobiles had taken place within a single year. The latter is

doubtless the true explanation, since, according to all reports, the

conditions at Ormonde Beach that year were not peculiarly favorable,

but rather the reverse. The fact, too, that the five mile record was

reduced to the low figure of three minutes seventeen seconds--this also

by Mr. Arthur McDonald--on the day preceding that on which the mile

record was so completely smashed, corroborates the idea of improved

mechanism rather than improved conditions. In any event, the jump from

39 to 34-1/5 seconds is a notable one; as will be evident from a simple

computation which shows that the record holders of 1905 would have run

away from the champion of 1904 at the rate of no less than nineteen

feet for each second of the mile.

Let us pass at once--omitting transition stages--from these records to

the new mark set on March 16th, 1910, at Ormonde Beach by Mr. Barney

Oldfield. Driving a Benz automobile of two hundred horse-power, he

compassed the mile in 27.33 seconds. The new record has a peculiar

interest, not merely because it is the fastest mile ever made by an

automobile, but because it is in all probability the fastest mile

ever travelled by a human being who lived to tell the tale. A few

unfortunates, falling from balloons, or from mountain cliffs, may have

passed through space at a yet more appalling speed; but they lost

consciousness, never to regain it, long before the mile was compassed.

The automobile driver retains his senses throughout his breakneck

mile--they are keenly on the alert indeed--and comes away unscathed to

tell the story of what must be a truly thrilling experience.

[Illustration: A RACING AUTOMOBILE.

In this 200-horse-power Benz car Barney Oldfield reduced the world's

mile record to 27. 33 seconds--a speed of 131.72 miles an hour--and the

two-mile record to 55.87 seconds. The mile record was made at Ormonde

Beach, Florida, March 16, 1910; the two-mile record at the same place a

few days later.]

Nor is it merely in contrast with other human experiences that the new

performance takes on "record" proportions. It is at least doubtful

whether any member of the animal kingdom ever passed through a mile of

space at such a speed as that attained by Mr. Oldfield. The fastest

quadruped on the globe is almost unquestionably the thoroughbred

horse. But the fastest mile ever compassed by a horse--Salvator's

straightway dash in 1:35½--is a snail's pace in comparison with Mr.

Oldfield's speed. Salvator covered a little over fifty-five feet per

second; the racing motor covered a trifle over 193 feet--thus gaining

138 feet in each second.

The trotting horse at its best--a mile in 1:58½--is of course much

slower still; Lou Dillon's record mile being made at the rate of 44½

feet per second. Dan Patch, the swiftest pacer, in his mile in 1:56

made just one foot per second more than the trotter. Both pacer and

trotter, it should be added, made their records with the aid of a

wind-shield, without which their best performances are some seconds

slower.

If we make comparisons with different varieties of man-made records,

we find that the swiftest human runner covers his mile at the rate of

about twenty-one feet per second; the skater brings this up to about

thirty-four feet; and the bicyclist attains the acme of muscle-motor

speed with his eighty feet per second. In the case of the bicyclist,

the wind-shield pace-maker on the auto-cycle plays an important part.

But even so the cyclist would be left behind one hundred and thirteen

feet each second by the flying automobile.

All these types of record maker, therefore, are quite outclassed. If we

could not find any real competition for the automobile in the animate

world, we must seek it in bird-land. Here, it might be supposed, the

space devourer would find a match. But it is not quite certain that

such is the case. The old-time books on natural history tell us,

to be sure, of flight speeds that make the new records seem slow.

They credited the European swift, for example, with two hundred and

fifty miles an hour. But more recent observers, made cautious by the

scientific spirit of our age, are disposed to discredit such estimates,

which confessedly are little better than guesses.

The only officially timed bird flights are the flights of homing

pigeons; and here the record credits the homing bird with only one

hundred miles an hour. This means 124 feet a second, as against the

motor's 193. According to these figures, the automobile could give the

pigeon a start of almost two thousand feet and yet sweep forward and

overtake it in its flight, before it passed the mile-post. Perhaps the

comparison is not quite fair, since no doubt the pigeon may perform

some individual miles of its journey at more than the average speed;

but it may well be doubted whether its maximum ever reaches the

mile-rate of 27.33 seconds.

It is within the possibilities, however, that some other birds have

even surpassed this speed. The falcon, for example, is probably a

swifter bird than the pigeon, at least for short distances. Some one

indeed has credited the hawks with a speed of one hundred and fifty

miles an hour. But this, I feel sure, is a great exaggeration. I once

saw a hen harrier pursue a prairie-chicken, without seeming to gain

appreciably for a long distance; yet the prairie-chicken is by no means

among the speediest of birds. Many of our ducks, for example, quite

outclass it; indeed I should be disposed to admit that the teal or the

canvasback at full speed might give the automobile a race.

There is, to be sure, one way in which the bird might get the better of

a machine, thanks to its capacity to rise to a height. This would be

by taking a sloping course downward. The little shore-lark often gives

an exhibition of the possibilities open to the bird in this direction.

After rising to a cloudlike height it soars about for a time singing,

then suddenly sweeps downward, and, closing its wings, launches itself

directly toward the earth, falling with meteoric speed till it almost

reaches the surface, when it makes a parachute of its wings and swoops

away in safety. During this performance the little lark is, I veritably

believe, the swiftest-moving animate thing in all the world. But there

is a reason why the bird could not increase its speed indefinitely by

imitating the lark's feat in a modified form, and this is the obstacle

of atmospheric pressure. Air moving at the rate of sixty feet a second

constitutes a serious storm; at ninety feet it becomes a tornado, and

at one hundred and fifty feet it is a tornado at its worst--a storm

that tears up trees and overthrows houses, and against which no man can

stand any more than that he could breast the current of Niagara. Now,

of course, it is all one whether the air moves at this rate against you

or whether you move at a corresponding rate against the air--action

and reaction being equal. Therefore a very serious check is put upon

the bird's flight; and it is this consideration which makes it seem

doubtful whether any bird, except when aided by a strong wind, can

attain such speeds as have been suggested.

Of course, atmospheric pressure affects the automobile no less than the

bird. In record-breaking speed tests of the automobile, machine and

driver are in effect subjected to the influence of a veritable tornado.

Theoretically it seems almost incredible that any power could drive a

ton of metal against the air at such a speed; practically we see the

feat accomplished. But the automobilist has tales to tell of the power

of the wind against his face that are easily credible. Even at ordinary

speed in a touring-car, as most of us can testify, the wind blows a

gale, veritably forcing tears from the eyes of the novice and blowing

them back over his ears. To modify the antagonism of the wind, the

constructors of racing motor cars adopt a model suggested originally by

the body of a bird or of a fish, and long since made familiar by the

shipbuilder.

A MIRACULOUS TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY

Most of the automobiles, as everybody is aware, are propelled by

gasoline engines. This is not their least wonderful feature. To the

ordinary observer it seems quite incredible that a little whiff of air

mixed with the fumes of a few drops of gasoline should produce a power

that can drive pistons with such force as to throw forward what is

virtually a bullet weighing more than a ton.

The power that propels this amazing projectile consisted in the

aggregate of a few cubic feet of gaseous vapors. The forward motion

of the piston sucked a whiff of the gasoline vapor and air into the

cylinder; the backward motion of the piston compressed this gas; an

electric spark ignited it; the heat of the electric spark enabled the

gasoline molecules to unite with the oxygen molecules with explosive

suddenness; the conflagration thus started spread instantly to other

parts of the compressed gas; the myriad particles of the gas rebounding

from one another at inconceivable speed, pressed with the aggregate

power of multitudes upon the cylinder, and drove it back with terrific

force; then an escape valve opened; the return thrust of the piston

drove out the exploded gas, and one revolution of the engine was

complete.

Over and over again this cycle was repeated; each revolution requiring

for its performance but a bare fraction of the time required to

describe it. The thing is simple enough in practice, but it is a

marvelous mechanism when you stop to think of it. That such power

should be latent in a seemingly harmless whiff of gas is one of

Nature's miracles. And that man should have constructed an engine so

nicely adjusted in all its parts as to utilize this power is little

less than a miracle of mechanics.

A word should be said about another interesting mechanism that pertains

not indeed to the speed of the automobile, but to an accurate record

of that speed. That is an electrical timing-device with which absolute

accuracy of timing is assured. A moment's reflection will show that it

would be quite impossible to time the automobile moving at record speed

by the old stop-watch method. The nervous impulse through which the

mandate of the brain is conveyed to the hand, and thus made to operate

on the stop-watch, travels along the nerve of the arm at the rate of

not much more than a hundred feet a second. The delay thus involved,

added to the time required for the brain itself to act on the message

from the eye, is distinctly appreciable, and every one is aware that

individuals differ as to their reaction time.

The practical result, therefore, is that timers are often at variance

to the extent of as much as two-fifths of a second. Now in two-fifths

of a second, as we have seen, the record motor car covers a distance

of over 77 feet. Obviously such latitude in measurement could not be

permitted. Hence an electric device has been elaborated which tests the

speed with absolute accuracy, recording it automatically on a strip of

tape. Therefore the fractional seconds are now stated in hundredths

instead of in mere quarters or fifths, and we may be confident--as we

could not always be regarding the old-time records--that the different

fractions of a second represent an actual difference of speed.

It may be of interest to make a further comparison between the speed of

the record automobile and the fastest speed ever attained by a railway

locomotive--namely, a mile in thirty seconds. The gap is by no means an

insignificant one. A mile in thirty seconds means 176 feet a second.

This would allow the champion automobile a lead of over seventeen

feet each second; and at the end of a mile the locomotive would be

distanced by 1040 feet. It is interesting to visualize the procession

that the automobile would leave behind if placed in competition with

the various kinds of champions whose feats have been mentioned. As the

automobile crossed the line the locomotive would be almost one-fifth

of a mile in the rear; 1,900 feet farther back would come the homing

pigeon; after a long gap Salvator, the first runner, would come

straggling along, having covered little more than one-fourth of a mile;

Lou Dillon would be just beyond her first fifth of a mile; the fastest

cyclist would be placed between the racer and the trotter; while

Hutchins, the swiftest runner at the distance, would have gone only 240

yards from the tape.

For distances greater than two miles, the locomotive record has not

as yet been surpassed by the automobile. A locomotive on the Plant

system, for example, is credited with a run of five miles in two and

one-half minutes (in 1901). But, of course, there is nothing except the

mere matter of speed that makes the locomotive engineer's performance

comparable to that of the chauffeur. The engineer is driving a machine

that runs on a fixed track. He has to do little more than keep up

steam and open the throttle. The chauffeur must pick his course, for

at any moment a soft spot in the sand may tend to deflect him. How

appalling may be the result of a slight deflection with a machine going

at great speed has been illustrated by the tragic accidents that have

marred the success of many important racing-events, and have led to

the oft-repeated question as to whether, after all, such speed tests

are worth while. It is a question that everyone must answer for

himself. The dangers are obvious; but, on the other hand, most athletic

competitions have an element of danger; and enthusiasts may well

contend that speed tests make for progress, and are largely responsible

for the great mechanical improvement that is in evidence.

VI

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRIC RAILWAYS

The United States has been preëminent in the development of street

railways of all kinds, from the earliest type of horse-car to the

modern city and interurban electric cars. Nevertheless, very few of

the great general underlying principles upon which these numerous

inventions are based have been discovered upon this side of the

Atlantic. American inventors have simply excelled in applying the known

general principles to practical mechanisms. But although the American

inventors have largely monopolized this field of progress, the names of

many Europeans also are connected with it. In several instances these

foreign inventors, as naturalized American citizens, have done their

work in America, being attracted to this country by the exceptional

opportunities offered.

In recent years the city of New York has not shown conspicuous activity

in adopting innovations and improvements on its street-railway lines.

Nevertheless, New York was the first city in the world to have a

passenger street railway. This, built in the early 20's, and running

along Fourth Avenue, had rails made of straps of iron laid on stone

ties. On this primitive line an omnibus horse-car, called the _John

Mason_, was operated. This car was built on the lines of the early

railway carriages, having three compartments, with doors opening at the

sides. It was, in short, an early type of the side-door cars now used

so universally on all European railways. The driver's seat was high in

the air as in the case of the ordinary omnibus, and there were seats on

the top for passengers.

For several years this primitive road remained the only street railway

in existence. But it did not prove a particularly good business

venture, and for some time capitalists were wary of investing their

money for the construction of other lines. Twenty years later, however,

a somewhat similar road, considerably improved, was built on Sixth

Avenue. This proved to be a financial success; other lines were soon

constructed, and the era of street railways opened.

The great advantage of these horse-car lines over the system of

omnibuses then in use lay in the fact that greater loads could be

hauled with the same expenditure of horse-power, regardless of weather

conditions. The contrast in this respect was particularly marked in

American cities where the streets, almost without exception, were badly

paved.

By 1850, several cities in the United States had installed street

railways; and by 1870 over a hundred lines had been built. Between 1870

and 1890 this number had been increased to over seven hundred, not

taking into account the numerous extensions that had been made to many

of the older lines.

CABLE SYSTEMS

Even in the early days of street-railway construction the extravagance

of the method of horse-power traction was fully appreciated, and the

numerous improvements in steam-engines stimulated attempts to adapt

the locomotive in some form to city railways. But there were many

difficulties in the use of the ordinary, or specially constructed,

locomotives in the crowded thoroughfares of the larger cities. It was

practically impossible to eliminate their smoke; and their puffing and

wheezing, which frightened horses, caused numerous accidents. But even

if these defects could be corrected, the locomotive was known to be an

expensive form of motive power, when applied to a single short car,

carrying at most only a few passengers and making frequent stops, as

was necessary in street-car traffic. The inventors, therefore, looked

about for other methods of applying steam power. But it was not until

1873 that this idea took the practical form of the cable road, on which

single cars could be operated by means of underground cables travelling

in slotted tubes, and propelled from a stationary power-plant.

The first practical cable system was made by Andrew S. Hallidie, and

his associates, who planned and put into operation the first cable

line in San Francisco. It proved to be entirely successful, and was

imitated almost immediately in most of the larger cities of the United

States, and in some European cities. Within a decade the number of

cable railways installed had so reduced the number of horses necessary

for operating street-car lines all over the country that there was an

appreciable depression in the market prices of such horses.

The importance of this method of transportation is shown in the fact

that between the years 1873 and 1890 more than a thousand different

patents directly connected with the operation of cable roads were

issued by the United States Patent Office. But by 1890 electric

traction had become practical, and the issuing of patents for cable

lines ceased as abruptly as it had begun. Before the close of the

century practically every important cable line in the United States had

changed its motive power to electricity. Thus in a brief quarter of a

century this method of street-car traction had come into existence,

revolutionized all hitherto known methods, and become obsolete.

EARLY SELF-CONTAINED SYSTEMS

In most of the earlier attempts to solve the problem of electrical

propulsion the motor vehicles were constructed on a self-contained

plan--that is, the power was generated on the locomotive itself,

just as in the case of the steam locomotive. As early as 1835 Thomas

Davenport, a blacksmith of Brandon, Vermont, constructed such a motor

operated by cells, and built a small circular railway in Springfield,

Massachusetts, on which he drove this electro-magnetic engine. This

miniature railroad was of no practical importance, but it has the

distinction of being the pioneer electric road.

Shortly after this, Prof. Moses G. Farmer, a distinguished American

inventor and investigator, constructed an electro-magnetic locomotive,

which drew a little car, and carried passengers, on a track a foot

and a half wide. The locomotive used about fifty Grove cells, which

developed a relatively small amount of energy at an enormous cost.

"In 1850-51," says Martin, "Mr. Thomas Hall, of Boston, exhibited a

small working-motor on a track forty feet long, at the Mechanics'

Charitable Fair in Boston, and while this was a mere toy, and used

but a couple of cells of battery, it sufficed to illustrate the

principles of a motor or locomotive with a single trial car. About this

time (1847) an interesting demonstration was also made with a small

working-model, one of the features of which has been most instrumental

in the success of the modern electric methods, that of the utilization

of the track as part of the return circuit for the current. Doctor

Colton, once a famous dentist in New York City, and noted for his early

application of laughing-gas in that work, was associated with Mr. Lilly

in the construction and operation of a small model locomotive which ran

around a circular track. The rails were insulated from each other, each

connecting with one pole of the battery. The current from the battery

was taken up by the wheels, whence it passed to the magnets, upon whose

alternating attraction and repulsion motion depended; then it returned

to the other rail, connected the other pole of the battery, and thus

completed the circuit necessary for the flow of the current. In like

manner in a great majority in use at present, the current passes from

one power-house to circuits of one polarity, through the trolley pole

to the motor or electro-magnetic propelling system, thence through the

wheels to the track, which completes the circuit by being connected to

the other pole or side of the dynamo at the power-house. The principles

are obviously identical, but it took more than a quarter of a century

to develop the proper method of application in all its details.

"The most serious and sustained attempt in the early period to

operate a self-sustained vehicle or car--which would correspond

with the storage-battery cars--was that due to Prof. C. C. Page,

of the Smithsonian Institution. About 1850, Professor Page devoted

considerable time to the development of electric engines or motors, in

which the reciprocating action of a system of magnets and solenoids

or armatures was applied by crank-shafts to driving a fly-wheel, to

which rotary motion was thus imparted. This reciprocal motion, as

in steam-engines, was one of the prevailing features of the early

electric-motor work in this country and in Europe; but it was not long

before its general inapplicability was realized, and it was abandoned

for the simpler and more direct rotation of the armature before or

between the poles of electro-magnets.

"On April 29, 1857, with an electric locomotive on which he had

installed a large reciprocating motor developing over 16 horse-power,

Professor Page made a trial trip along the track of the Washington

and Baltimore Railroad, starting from Washington. In order to obtain

current for energization, the motor was equipped with one hundred

cells of Grove nitric-acid battery, each having as one element a

platinum plate eleven inches square, dipped in the acid. Bladensburg,

a distance of about five and one-quarter miles, was reached in

thirty-nine minutes, and a maximum speed of nineteen miles an hour was

attained; the entire trip to and from Bladensburg occupied one hour

and fifty-eight minutes. But many disasters happened to the batteries.

Some of the cells cracked wide open, and jolts due to inequalities of

track threw the batteries out of working order. These experiments must

have been extremely costly, and no little discouragement among people

in general attended this failure; but Professor Page was not daunted,

and for some years continued his work on electric motors, displaying

great ingenuity, but not able, apparently, to give up the reciprocating

principle."

The invention of the commercial dynamo, shortly after the middle of

the nineteenth century, opened the era of practical electric-railway

construction on both sides of the Atlantic. The German experimenters,

Siemens and Halske, and later the American, Stephen D. Field, paved the

way by numerous experiments and discoveries. It was not until about

1880, however, that the idea of using a third rail for transmitting the

current was conceived. Hitherto, most of the inventors had attempted to

use one rail as a receiving part of the circuit to the motor, the other

rail completing the return part of the circuit. And it was several

years after the idea of the third rail had germinated before the

attempts to utilize one of the traction rails for conveying the current

was abandoned.

THE EDISON ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE