Steam-car′riage.
A term of somewhat general import.
A steam-driven carriage.
It was originally constructed for common roads; afterward for tram
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road; then for rails.
(See locomotive.) It has now been again adapted to common roads.
See road-locomotive; road-roller; traction-engine.
Savery proposed the use of the high-pressure steam-engine for propelling carriages.
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Cugnot's steam-carriage. |
Dr. Robinson, in 1759, suggested to
Watt the use of steam for the purpose; the latter afterward specified it in general terms in one of his patents, but never practically carried out the idea.
Cugnot, a Frenchman, constructed a steamcar-riage in 1769, and exhibited it before
Marshal Saxe.
It carried four persons at the rate of 2 to 3 miles an hour, but, owing to the smallness of the boiler, it was necessary to stop every 12 or 15 minutes to get up steam.
He made a second carriage, of which several successful trials were made in the streets of
Paris, but this, having upset while going at the rate of about 3 miles an hour, was considered as dangerous, and locked up in the arsenal.
It is still to be seen in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at
Paris.
Cugnot was born in 1729, and died in 1804.
In 1769,
Moore, a London linen-draper, patented an invention of this kind; and in 1772,
Oliver Evans obtained an exclusive right from the
State of Maryland for the use of a steamcar-riage devised by him.
In 1786,
William Symington constructed a model of a steamcarriage, but afterward devoted his attention to steamnaviga-tion.
In 1784,
Murdoch, an assistant of
Watt, invented a steamcarriage, which he tested on a road in
Cornwall; and in 1789,
Thomas Allen, of
London, proposed a plan for constructing steam-carriages.
Trevethick and
Vivian, engineers of
Cornwall, patented a high-pressure steam-carriage in 1802.
It was a four-wheeled carriage, the wheels of the fore-carriage being small and having a narrower track than the large driving-wheels which sustained the body.
The cylinder was horizontal, and in the rear of the hind axle.
The piston-rod was forked to admit the crank, which turned a shaft having a spur-wheel gearing into a similar wheel on the driving-wheel axle.
A fly-wheel was placed on the crank-shaft.
The boiler was below the cylinder, and fed from the rear.
The specification cites bellows for the fire and a feed-water pump for the boiler, with divers accessories, showing a careful attention to the requirements of the case.
A steam-carriage of this description was publicly used for a considerable time previous to the introduction of railways, in the neighborhood of Euston Square,
London, the terminus in after years of the
London and Birmingham Railway.
Trevethick was a very ingenious and skillful engineer, and is known as the predecessor of
Brunel in the construction of a tunnel under the
Thames, which he had nearly succeeded in completing when the work was terminated by an irruption of water; as the inventor of a locomotive railway-engine employed in the vicinity of Merthyr Tydvil in 1804; of mining-engines and machinery and coining apparatus for the silver regions of
Peru; of ore-refining furnaces; and of various improvements in
steam-engines, hydraulic engines, propelling and towing vessels, discharging and stowing ships' cargoes, floating-docks, construction of docks, buoys, steam-boilers, heating apartments, etc.
See locomotive.
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Trevethick's steam-carriage (longitudinal section). |
Griffith's steam-carriage, patented 1821.
The engine part of the carriage was supported on two driving-wheels.
The boiler consisted of tiers of water-tubes arranged in the fire-box.
The upper row of tubes, being filled with steam and exposed to the furnace heat, may be compared to some of the modern superheaters.
The connection from the piston to the driving-axle was by sweep-rods, the lower ends of which were provided with driving pinions and detents operating upon toothed gear attached to the driving-wheel axle.
The engine was suspended by slings inside the frame.
The machine was one of a chain of inventions, but was not otherwise practically useful.
Burstall and
Hill's steam-carriage, 1824.
This machine bears some resemblance to the former, having the engine and boiler behind the carriage, and applying the power to the hind wheels.
The engine had two double-acting vertical cylinders, and the pistons were connected to working-beams, whose other ends were attached to rocking-standards, which became inclined toward the cylinders as the pistons rose, and allowed the latter to move in a vertical line.
At a point on each working-beam, between its connections to the piston and rock-post respectively, was attached the connecting-rod, which was keyed to the crank on the driving-axle.
The cranks were at an angle of 90°, and dispensed with a fly-wheel.
The machine was not successful.
James, of
Birmingham, England, from 1824 to 1832, appears to have constructed several steam-carriages.
He caused the engines and their framework to oscillate upon an axis, and connected these engines to the induction and eduction steam-pipes by means of hollow axles moving in stuffing-boxes, which, together with the body of the carriage, were suspended on springs bolted to the axle trees.
The cylinders were 4 in number, and the crank was a 4-throw, the cranks being arranged at angles of 90°.
The machine was a mechanical success, but was commercially a failure.
Gordon's steam-carriage, 1824, had feet which were dropped, propelled, and lifted in regular succession.
Gurney's steam-carriage of 1825 employed legs or crutches which were operated in a similar manner to the preceding.
In his patent of 1831 he abandoned the legs, and substituted horizontal steam-cylinders below the body of the carriage and act-
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ing upon cranks on the hind axle.
The boiler and furnace were behind the carriage, with the fireman's seat in the rear.
The carriage was steered by a wheel in front, the shaft of which acted by gearing upon the fifth wheel of the fore-carriage.
Mr. Gurney seems to have been more persevering and successful than most of his predecessors, and had the benefit of their experience.
He built several carriages on his plan, which ran regularly on the
Cheltenham and
Gloucester road for some months.
Hancock's steam-carriage, 1827, had 3 wheels, and the power was applied through the medium of 2 oscillating engines, whose piston-rods were connected to the crank-axle of the fore-wheel.
There were several other details that might be mentioned, did space permit.
The third engine built by
Hancock seems to have been well constructed, and ran for hire in the neighborhood of
London.
It was called the “Infant.”
In following the record chronologically, we find the names of
Gough,
Summers and Ogle, Boase and Rawe,
Heaton,
Napier,
Palmer,
Gibbs and Applegath, Church, Redmund,
Squire and Macaroni, and Hills.
This brings us down to 1833.
Hills seems to have been the most successful of the whole series of inventors.
He traversed many of the roads leading out of
London, traveling as much as 128 miles per day, at double the speed of ordinary stages.
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Ware's steam engine and carriage. |
Fig. 5648 is
Ware's combined steam carriage and engine.
More recent inventions of this class will be found under locomotive; road-locomotive; Street-Railway; traction-engine.
