Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-04-13
The Locomotive.

We give below the concluding
portion of Mr.. John Patterson's val
liable article upon the LOGON olive
You will not fail to remember
that long before the Rainhill trials
of 1929, the Stockton and Darling
ton line had been regularly worked
with Locomotive Engines. The
Rocket" has no claim whatever,
to be regarded as the first Locomo-
tive, but the Rocket " was the first
Engine which contained in itself
all the essential features of the
modern Locomotive. 1t had tu-
bular boiler and fre-box, resem-
bling very much the fre-box of the
Locomotive of to-day. 1t had
single pair of driving wheels and
was mounted on springs, and du-
ring the Rainhill trial ran faster,
than any Locomotive had ever
done before, attaining as it did
at one time a little over % miles per
hour. Previous to this time no one
had ever travelled faster than a horse
could carry him. Imagine then
the surprise of the people assembled
to witness the failure of steam as
means of travel, to see the Rocket
careering over the surface Of the
earth at the rate of 20 miles per
hour, and it is because of the Won
derful performance of the Rocket
on this occasion and the influence
it has had on the railway system
that we assign it place as the most
remarkable steam engine ever con-
structed.
In Nicholas Woods treatise on
the steam engine, published in 1882,
we find the following dimensions
assigned the Rocket at her trial
in 1929, viz: diameter of cylinder s
inches, length of stroke 49, inches,
diameter of driving wheels 4 feet 81
inches, heating surface of fre-box
20 square feet, that of the tubes, %
in number, 1873 feet or 1878 square
feet in all, with a CRATE surface of 6
square feet, the weight Of the engine
81, full was 4 J tons, that Of the ten
der or equal to s tons in all; and Mr..
Wood says she was capable of
evaporating 1875, lbs. Of water per
hour; the boiler was fed by q long
stroked pump, on the right or off
side of the engine; the slide valve
were worked by what is known to
engineers as the gale motion; the
draft was caused by the exhaust
just as it is at the present time, lex
cepting the use of the blower yet
the Rocket as she is now at Kensing-
ton, England, embraces but very
little of the original. Mr.. G. K.
Stephenson, who drove the Rocket
many hundreds of miles, says she
was altered many times, while yet on
the Liverpool and Manchester, and
she must have been, for we read that
in 1888, in conveying the election
news that she attained speed Of
nearly 60 miles per hour, since the
success of the Rocket at Rainhill
Locomotives and railways have
rapidly increased throughout the
civilized world, but especially in
this country two or three important
improvements have been added to
the Locomotive since that time, viz:
the Link motion in 1912, the using
of coal it 1854, and the Injector in
1859; but practically the Locomotive
is the same in principle to-day as
when she left the hands of the Ste
phensons, and this no doubt has led
many to believe that Stephenson
was the first inventor.
The first Locomotive that ever run
in America was the Lion, built by
Foster, Rastrick & Co., of Stowbridge,
England, in 1929, for the Hudson
canal company the second was the
John Bull by Stephenson. Great
interest attaches to this one as it was
calculated to draw from 60 to so tons
at speed of five miles per hour on
the Mohawk and Hudson R'y. The
first built in America was named
the Best Friend, and was constructed
by n. n. Daniels in 1880, but on the
18th of June, 1881 burst her boiler.
We will close our article on the
Locomotive by presenting few
salient facts us to the progress of
railways on the American Continent.
In 1880 there were % miles of rail
road in the United States. In 1881
there were o6,497 miles, and 5000
Locomotives were employed. In
1876, our latest authority, $4,000
persons were employed on American
Ry's, the total number of miles
run by trains were 81 ,567 900 and
the number of Passengers carried
were 163,079000 of which number
of employers and passengers 1890
were killed.
If in the foregoing | have not
tired both yourself and readers |
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