Loco-mo′tive.
A self-moving, traveling steamengine.
Watt's patents of 1769 and 1784 included the uses of
steam-engines for running carriages on land, but he never made any such.
A locomotive was made by Cugnot, a Frenchman, in 1769.
It is still preserved in the museum of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at
Paris, and is described as having a copper boiler, much like a common kettle, and a pair of 13-inch single-acting cylinders, which operated a single driving-wheel roughened on its periphery.
Hornblower's steamcarriage had the same date, 1769.
Symington showed a model of a steam-carriage in
Edinburgh in 1770.
It was a long-coupled, fourwheeled carriage, the boiler and engine behind, a coach-body on the usual springs, and in front the guard, who governed the fore-wheels by a lever.
To the piston-rod was attached a rack gearing into a pinion on the driving-wheel axle.
The writer cannot state whether the said pinion was a ratchet, and allowed the rack to
slip back on its return stroke, or whether it was thrown out of gear in returning while the cylinder on the other side became effective.
Its mode of coupling the power to the running-gear resembled, in some respects, his steamboat.
In 1784,
William Murdoch of
Redruth, Cornwall, England, while in charge of the Boulton and Watt pumping-engine, made a locomotive wherein a lamp supplied the heat.
Determining to give it a trial on a road, he lit the lamp beneath the boiler, and as soon as the working parts were thrown into gear, the thing started and got away from him, he following it along the lane at full speed.
The night was dark, and the locomotive met and scared the elergyman of the parish, who raised a cry of distress, thinking he had met the Evil One.
This locomotive was exhibited before the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1850, 66 years after its construction.
Oliver Evans of
Philadelphia obtained a patent in
Maryland in 1787 for the exclusive right to make steam-wagons for roads and railways.
The details of the invention are not known to the writer.
His descendants in the third generation are yet inventing.
He is entitled to the credit of first making the double-acting high-pressure steam-engine a success.
In 1801, he built a floating dredging-machine, to which he fitted wheels connected with the engine, and conveyed it 1 1/2 miles to the place of launching.
See high-pressure steamengine.
It is stated that about 1803,
a Mr. Fredericks made a locomotive for a silver-mine in
Hanover.
The principles of construction are unknown.
In 1806, a locomotive to be driven by hot air was constructed by Niepce at
Chalons,
France.
Trevethick's locomotive had a single cylinder, laid horizontally below the bottom or front part of the boiler, its reciprocating piston-rod being connected by another rod with a crank, at the midlength of an axle which carried a fly-wheel and a pair of cog-wheels, which geared into other spur-wheels on the axle of the driving-wheels.
The engine was run upon a railway at Merthyr-Tydvil, in 1802, and drew ten tons in addition to its own load at the rate of five miles per hour.
Vivian was associated with
Trevethick in the patent.
It was high-pressure, non-condensing, and exhausted into the chimney.
It may be considered the first locomotive to run on rails or trams.
Blenkinsop's locomotive, in 1811, gave still better satisfaction to its owners, and it was usefully employed at the
Middleton Colliery in hauling coals on a tramway, the engine having spur-wheels working into a rack on one side of the track.
The engine (
A,
Fig. 2984) was otherwise supported on four wheels.
The fire was built in a large tube passing through the boiler, and the tube was bent up at the end to form a chimney.
Two vertical cylinders were placed above the boiler, and the pistons were connected by cross-heads and connecting-rods to cranks on the axles of spur-pinions, which geared into the main spur-wheel, which formed the driver.
It was long used on a colliery railway between
Leeds and
Middletown, 3 1/2 miles distant, and perhaps was the first successful locomotive in regular use. It drew trains of 30 tons weight 3 3/4 miles per hour.
In 1812,
Blackett made a series of experiments which proved that the expedient of a pinion and rack-rail was unnecessary; and
Chapman patented a
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A, Blenkinsop's locomotive (1811). B, Hedley's locomotive (1813）> |
locomotive with eight wheels driven by gearing, for the purpose of increasing the tractive adhesion.
In the same year, Brunton invented a means of driving a locomotive by two propellers consisting of jointed rods intended to imitate the action of the hind legs of a horse.
Analogous contrivances were adopted by
Gordon and
Gurney.
In the spring of 1813,
William Hedley built a locomotive with four smooth drive-wheels, to run on a smooth rail.
The machine failed to accomplish much, on account of its small boiler.
Hedley thereupon the same year built another engine (shown at
B,
Fig. 2984), having a return-flue boiler, and mounted on eight driving-wheels, which were coupled together by intermediate gear-wheels on the axles, and all propelled by a gear in the center, driven by a pitman from the walking-beam.
See “Who invented the locomotive-engine?”
London, 1858, written by
O. D. Hedley, the son of the inventor.
Hedley's locomotive was objected to by residents of
Newcastle, on account of the smoke.
He therefore passed the smoke into a large receiver (
a), and turned the exhaust-steam upon it. From the receiver the steam and smoke were conveyed by a pipe (
b) to the chimney, which device soon developed into the steam-blast.
“Puffing Billy” was at work more or less until 1862, when it was laid up as a memorial in the
British Patent Office Museum.
Hedley died in 1842.
In 1815,
Dodds and
Stephenson patented an engine (shown by side and end views,
Fig. 2985), in which the power might be applied either through wrists, at angles of 90° to each other on the driving-wheel, or an endless chain working in gearing on the axles.
A patent was taken out in the succeeding year by Losh and
Stephenson, embracing, among other features, a series of cylinders communicating with the water in the boiler, and having pistons with rods at their lower ends, which were caused to press upon axles having vertically movable bearings, so as to keep the wheels down when running on an uneven track.
Their first engine is stated to have been made for the
Killingworth Railway, and their engines were employed on iron tracks by the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, and, later, at the
Newcastle collieries.
The locomotive in the Stockton and Darlington Railway had two vertical cylinders, and the driving-shaft had cranks at an angle of 90°. The axles of the wheels were coupled by an endless chain passing around both axles.
In 1829, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, then the most extensive and finished work of the kind ever undertaken, was completed, and the directors offered a reward of pound 500 for the best locomotive, which should fulfill certain imposed conditions.
Among these were, that it was to consume its own smoke, draw three times its own weight at a rate of not less than 10 miles an hour, and the boilerpressure was not to exceed 50 pounds per square inch.
The weight was not to exceed six tons, nor the cost pound 550.
Three engines competed for the prize: the “Rocket,” constructed by
George Stephenson; the “Sanspareil,” by
Timothy Hackworth; the “Novelty,” by
Messrs. Braithewaite and
Ericsson.
The “Rocket” weighed 4 tons 5 cwt., and its tender, with water and coke, 3 tons 4 cwt. It had two loaded carriages attached, weighing a little over 9 tons 10 cwt. The greatest velocity attained was 24 1/6 miles per hour, and the average consumption of coke per hour 217 pounds. See
A, Fig. 2986.
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The “Sanspariel” attained a speed of 22 2/3 miles per hour, but with an expenditure of fuel per hour of 692 pounds.
The “Novelty” carried its own water and fuel.
In consequence of successive accidents to the working arrangements, this engine was withdrawn from competition.
A fourth engine, the “Perseverance,” by Burstall, not being adapted to the track, was withdrawn.
The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, September 15, 1829, was an era in civilization, and perhaps the first victim to the iron horse was slain on that day, —
Mr. Huskisson, Home
Secretary in the
British Cabinet.
Eight locomotives were used on that day, and while the engines were watering at the
Parkside station some of the guests descended to the road.
While
Mr. Huskisson was talking to the
Duke of
Wellington, the famous “Rocket” came by, knocked down
Mr. Huskisson, and the wheels passed over his left leg. He was placed on board the “Northumbrian,” driven by
George Stephenson, who conveyed him 15 miles in 25 minutes, at the rate of 36 miles an hour, the most marvelous achievement yet.
Mr. Huskisson died the same night at
Eccles.
The “Rocket” engine was superseded in 1837, being condemned for life to the collieries.
Here it proved itself capable of a rate of 60 miles an hour; but being again convicted of levity while on duty, it was cashiered and its place filled by heavier machines of 12 tons.
After a few years of inglorious retirement, some one, not totally oblivious of how it would look in history, recalled the old soldier from his limbo, and now he enjoys the company of his elder brother,
Hedley's “Puffing Billy,” in the
English Patent Museum.
In
Fig. 2986,
A is an elevation of the “Rocket.”
The boiler
a is a cylinder 6 feet long, and has 25 tubes.
This feature was due to
Mr. Henry Booth, though a tubular boiler had been patented by
M. Seguin in
France, in 1828.
The fire-box
b has two tubes, communicating with the boiler below and above, and is surrounded by an exterior casing, into which the water from the boiler flows and is maintained at the same level as that in the boiler.
B is a longitudinal vertical section of a modern English locomotive.
The boiler is surrounded by two casings, one within the other, united by stays.
The tubes
a are of brass, 124 in number, and the boiler has longitudinal stays connecting the ends.
b is the smoke-box, into which the blast-pipe
c discharges.
d is the steam-dome, into which the steam from the upper part of the boiler enters, its amount being governed by a regulator controlled by a which.
This serves to obviate in great degree the effects of priming.
The steam-pipe
e has two branches, each entering one of the boxes containing the valves by which the flow of steam to the cylinders is controlled.
C is an express-engine designed by
Gooch for the Great Western Railway, where an unusual rate of speed is maintained.
The boiler has 305 tubes, 2 inches in diameter.
The cylinders are 18 inches diameter and 24 inches stroke, the driving-wheels 8 feet in diameter, the heating surface of the fire-box 153 square feet.
D is an express-engine designed by
Crampton for the same road.
It is adapted for the usual gage.
For details of English locomotives, which differ considerably in construction from those used in the
United States, the reader is referred to
Colburn's “Locomotive Engineering.”
The engines employed on the Irish mail-trains between
London and
Holyhead weigh 27 tons; the tenders 17 tons, carrying 2 tons of coke and 1,500 gallons of water.
The cylinders are of 16 inches diameter and 24-inch stroke.
The apparatus for feeding the fuel also provides for the combustion of the smoke.
The engine is supplied with water while running, from a trough beneath the rails, from which the water is scooped up by the tank.
The cost of a locomotive of this description is nearly pound 3,000.
It is said that one of them has been known to run 130 miles in 144 minutes.
Faulding's locomotive (
English) is designed to avoid the inertia of its working parts.
It has an oscillating cylinder on each side, which is, by a partition at its midlength, divided into two cylinders, each of whose pistons, coupled directly to the crankpins, propels one of the four driving-wheels, and is simultaneously driven outward and inward.
The crank-axles are at right angles with each other, so that each wheel is driven alternately.
The cylinders are carried on a frame supported by the journals of the driving-wheels, so as not to be affected by the motion of the springs.
The first locomotive run on rails outside of
England was the “
Stourbridge lion,” made by Stephen-
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son and brought from
England for the
Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad Company by
Horatio Allen.
This was in August, 1829.
It was soon found that English locomotives, adapted for gentle curves, were ill suited for the exigencies of American railroads, where curves of as small a radius as 200 feet were sometimes employed.
Mr. Peter Cooper, since so well and widely known, devised an engine which solved the difficulty.
This was in 1829.
The second locomotive built in the
United States for actual service was for the South Carolina Railroad, and made its first regular trip in March, 1831.
See Railway.
The
London “Engineer” describes an engine built for the
Mt. Cenis Railway as having four drivers and four horizontal wheels, which latter grasp between them a central rail with an amount of pressure regulated by springs, which are controlled by bars bearing upon them, and adjusted by means of a shaft extending across the engine and furnished with right and left handed screws.
This shaft carries on its end a worm-wheel, gearing into a worm connected with a hand-wheel on the foot-plate, by which the pressure is regulated.
This may be increased to 24 tons, 6 on each wheel.
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Baldwin locomotive (central longitudinal section). |
Fig. 2987 is a central longitudinal section of an approved form of American locomotive as made at the
Baldwin Locomotive Works,
Philadelphia.
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Baldwin locomotive (end elevation and transverse section). |
Fig. 2988 is a front elevation, one half of which shows a transverse section through the boiler.
The engine has four drivers, 60 3/4 inches in diameter, and a fourwheeled swing bolster truck, and weighs, with water and fuel, about 65,000 pounds. The flues, 144 in number, are 2 inches in diameter, and 11 feet 5 inches in length.
The fire-box, of
cast-steel, is 66 inches long, 34 1/2 inches wide, and 63 inches deep.
Waterspace 3 inches sides and back, 4 inches front.
Grates, castiron.
The cylinders are horizontal.
Valve-motion graduated to cut off at any point of the stroke.
The tires of
cast-steel, and the wheel-centers of cast-iron with hollow spokes and rims; the wrist-pins of caststeel, the connecting-rods of hammered iron.
The truck-wheels are 28 inches in diameter.
All the principal parts of the engine are interchangeable.
Attempts are being made, by adaptation of the furnace and boiler, to run locomotives by means of liquid fuel.
Differences also occur in the construction of the heating parts, according to the character of the fuel, — coal, coke, wood, peat, etc.
The ordinary speed attained on English railways is greater than that usual in this country.
The
Great Western express from
London to
Exeter travels at the rate of 43 miles an hour including stoppages, or 51 miles an hour while actually running.
Midway between some of the stations a speed of 60 miles is attained, and on experimental trips 70 miles an hour has been reached.
A speed of 75 miles is equivalent to 35 yards per second, so that if a row of stakes one yard apart were driven at the side of the road, they would at this velocity appear undistinguishable one from another.
Were the driving-wheels of the locomotive 7 feet in diameter, they would revolve 5 times in a second, each piston would traverse the cylinder 10 times per second, while there would be 20 discharges of waste-steam per second, causing a continuous sound instead of the “cough” which is heard when the engine is moving slowly.
Very high speeds have been attained, on special occasions, on American roads, probably fully equaling any time ever made in
England.
For instance, it is stated that a train conveying some officials of the New York Central Railroad made the distance from
Rochester to
Syracuse, 81 miles, in 61 minutes, said to be the fastest time ever made in
America.
The life of a locomotive-engine is stated in a paper read before the British Association at thirty years. Some of the small parts require renewal every six months. The boiler-tubes last five years, and the crank-axles six years; tires, boilers, and fire-boxes, seven to ten years. The side-frames, axles, and other parts, 30 years. During this period, the total cost of repairs is estimated at $24,450 in American money, the original cost of the engine being $8,490. It therefore requires for repairs in eleven years a sum equal to its original cost.
In this time it is estimated that an engine in average use has run 220,000 miles.
See
Clark's “Recent practice on the locomotive” ;
Tredgold on “Locomotive-engines,”
London, 1851; Heusinger and Clauss's “Locomotive Maschine,”
Wiesbaden, 1858; Weissenborn's “American Engineering,” New York, 1861; “The student's guide to the locomotive,”
London, 1849.
The following figures, from the
Railway Times, show the result of locomotive performance on the
Cleveland,
Columbus,
Cincinnati, and Indianapolis Railway, 397 miles, for the month of March, 1872, and may be interesting in this connection: —
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|
American locomotive (perspective view). |
| Miles run by passenger trains | 53,222 |
| Miles run by freight trains | 201,346 |
| Miles run by other trains | 67,446 |
| ——— |
| Total mileage | 322,014 |
| No.
of miles run to 1 pint of oil | 23.23 |
No.
of miles run to 1 ton of coal
（Miles run with coal, 158,018.) | 40.52 |
| Cost per mile run for repairs | 4.15 cents. |
| Cost per mile run for stores | .55 cents. |
| Cost per mile run for fuel | 7.40 cents. |
| Cost per mile run for E., F., and W. | 7.10 cents. |
| —— |
| Total cost per mile run | 19.20 cents. |
| Total pints of engine-oil used | 8,027 |
| Total pounds of tallow used | 3,693 1/2 |
| Total pounds of waste used | 1,951 |
| Total quarts of oil used | 1,928 1/2 |
| Total tons of coal used | 2,461 |
The principal parts of a locomotive are, —
| Air-brake. | Eccentric-straps. |
| Air-brake cylinder. | Equalizing-bar. |
| Air-pipe. | Feed-pipe. |
| Air-pump. | Fire-bars. |
| Air-valve. | Fire-box. |
| Ash-box. | Fire-door. |
| Axle-boxes. | Fire-grate. |
| Bell. | Flag. |
| Bell-cord. | Flag-staff. |
| Bell-crank. | Flues. |
| Bell-standards. | Flue-plates. |
| Blow-off cock. | Foot-board. |
| Boiler. | Frame. |
| Braces. | Gage-cocks. |
| Cab. | Galoot-spring. |
| Center-casting. | Grate-bars. |
| Check-valve. | Guides. |
| Chimney. | Hand-rail. |
| Clock. | Hangers. |
| Cone. | Head-light. |
| Convey-pipe. | Head-plate. |
| Coupling-bar. | Injector. |
| Coupling-pin. | Lamp. |
| Counterbalance. | Link-motion. |
| Cross-head. | Low-water alarm. |
| Crown-bars. | Main-rod. |
| Crown-sheet. | Man-hole. |
| Cylinder. | Man-hole plate. |
| Cylinder-cocks. | Oil-cups. |
| Discharge-valve. | Parallel-rods. |
| Dome. | Pet-cock. |
| Drivers. | Pilot. |
| Dry-pipe. | Pipes. |
| Eccentrics. | Piston. |
| Eccentric-rods. | Piston-rod. |
| Receiving-valve. | Steam-gage. |
| Reflector. | Swing-bolster. |
| Reverse-bar. | Tallow-cups. |
| Rocker-arm. | Throttle-bar. |
| Running-board. | Throttle-lever. |
| Safety-chain. | Throttle-valve. |
| Safety-valve. | Truck. |
| Sand-box. | Valve-gear. |
| Sand-pipe. | Water-cocks. |
| Slide-valve. | Water gage. |
| Smoke-box. | Wheels. |
| Smoke-stack. | Whistle. |
| Spark-arrester. | Whistle-cord. |
| Springs. | Whistle-valve. |
| Steam-dome. | Wrist. |
