National Republican., 1883-05-05
As Read From the Full and Interesting
Records Of the Patent Office.
The Quaint and Clumsy Concerns Pro-
duced by the First Inventors.
The Numberless Improvements Which Make Up the
Grand Whole Of Perfect Locomotive.
A study OF tho Many Models and Their
Specifications.

TO pass. And yet Trevethick's locomotive
the first one ever built, and ominently sue
cessful. was really not the locomotive of to-
day. That began with the corrected copy of
Stephenson's Blucher, in 1914, and reissued,
perfected, as far as the times went, as the
Rocket in 1925. The difference between the
Rocket and the Treyethick represented the
progress of mechanical invention in twenty
five years-at the beginning of this century
of invention. IL Is really the fifty years of
Europe equal 20 q cycle Of Cathay. But the
difference between the Rocket of 1925 and the
great passenger locomotives Of the great rail-
ways Of the present day represents an advance
ment which the previous twenty-five years
gave not even the hint of
A description Of tho Trevothick and of the
Rocket will best show the difference. The idea
that at that date, 1904, hampercd locomotive
invention was that the smooth surface of the
driving wheel could not have adhesive power
enough to cause the engine TO move forward
over the smooth surface of the rail. Hence
the great Cornish miner had to construct his
locomotive with reference to this idea. The
machine resembles stage coach. 1t had four
wheels. IL had one horizontal cylinder,
which, with bosler and furnace box,was placed
on the rear of the hind axle. The motion of the
piston was communicated to a separate crank
axle, from which, through the medium Of
spur gear. the axle of the driving wheel de-
rived the motion. The steam racks and force
pump and the bellows, generating combustion,
were worked of the same crank axle This
was the first gh-pressure engine constructed
on the principle of moving piston by the
elasticity of the team against the pressure of
the atmosphere. Cugrots locomotive, in
vented 1859, was high pressure engine, act
ing by the impulsion of two single acting cyl
inders, the pistons of which acted alternately
ON the single front wheels, but it was not sue
cessful-had inhererent defects, and hence was
never practically applied.
In 1913 Blankett, by experime nting and
finding that smooth wheel had traction
power on smooth rails, opened the way for Ste
phenson, who in 1914, built the Blucher. He
improved this by discovering the steam blast,
discharging the surplus steam into the smoke
stack. He next invented the ball and socket
joint in his connecting rods where they were
attached to the pistons and or ank pins upon
the crank axles, which rectifed the rigidity
of the machinery. Another improvement
was by continuing motion by the spur wheel
system and supplying its place by inserting
into the axle two cranks ut right angles to
each other. Finally he connected the front and
hind wheels by rods outside of the wheels in
stead of rods and cranks inside, as had been
his first idea. With these and other'minor
improvements he constantly worked on till
1925, when all his devices eliminated in the
Rocket
This famous engine may truthfully be said
to be the first Of its kind-the parent of the
locomotive. Its boiler was cylindrical in
shape, with fiat ends. 1t was six feet
in length and three feet in diame-
ter, the upper half of tho boiler being
used as reservoir for steam and the lower
half being filled with water. Through
the lower part twenty-five copper tubes,
three inches in diameter, extended, with
both ends open, one presented to the
furnace or frebox and the other end
opening to the chimney. The frebox, two
faaN 10 a,,I Al-an g.. l. oN.. l..l.
diately behind the boiler, was also surrounded
with water. The cylinders, two in number
were placed ON each side Of the boiler in an
oblique position, the one end being nearly
even with the top of the boiler and the other
end pointing toward the center Of the fore
most driving pair of wheels, with which the
connection was made from the piston rod by q
pin to the outside of the wheel. Its weight
was about four tons. The difference between
the Trevethick and the Rocket is thus seen
to be so great as to almost bring them out of
the same class
With the Rocket substantially as a
model, there sprang up two great types Of the
locomotive, the American and the European,
or, it might properly be said the English.
The first successful American-built engine,
although very small, had the same general
principles, and was, indeed, only a smaller
and simpler type of tho famous Arabian. No.
l, of the Baltimore and Ohio railway.
Since that day there has been a constant
progress toward improvement and perfection
Of the locomotive, until to-day il is confessed
by almost everybody that there is very little
room for improvement.
The three essential parts of a locomotive
are the boiler, the engine, and the running
gear. The Improvement in these three parts
may be traced from 1887 to 1880 by an exam
ination of the models in the patent office, or,
better still, by examination of the drawings
and specifications. The principal improved
devices have been, as concerns the boiler to
increase its steaming capacity, to provide
better smoke stacks, safety valves steam
whistles, to allow of passing steam from the
boiler to heat water, when the throttle is
shut; throttle valves, exhaust 'nozzles and
exhaust regulators. In the engine the prog
ress of invention has been TO increase the
speed and tractive power, in the better posi-
tion of the cylinders, in valves preventing
the wire drawing of the steam, in the lubri-
cation of the valve seat and cylinders, in tho
improvement of the link motion and valve
motion. The running gear or wagon has
been advanced by inventions in trucks,
pilots, sand boxes, cabs, tenders, and increase
of wheels. One driving axle has been re-
placed by two and the driving wheels from
four to eight and ten.
The most important of the improvements
TO tho locomotive, each of which effected
revolution in the motive problem, were, after
Stephenson's two cylinders, that of Gilling-
nun duu WlniuSj OF bdlulllOret VINO eUecleu
variable expansion by using separate &C.
centres for each point of cutoff. In 1897
Marc Seguin, French engineer, caused loco
motive boilers TO generate steam in sufficient
quantities to meet the requirements of high
pressure engines by devising fire tube boilers,
and thus increasing the heating surface neces-
sary for rapid evaporation.
The models of locomotives in the patent
Office do not go back further than 1887, mod
els received previous to that time having been
destroyed. The Oldest there now is one
patented by Ross Wnans, July 20, 1887. This
represents broad fat table, out of which
rises heavy, massive, vertical boiler. 1t has
two cylinders, four driving wheels, and no
truck. The heavy, cumbersome springs of
the Arabian appear in this locomotive in
the same position, above the wheels. The
Improvement patented was modification of
the one previously obtained by Gillingham
and Winans. The whole affair, judging from
the model, must have been far clumsier and
uglier than the Arabian, Davis's patent,
which still is an effective locomotive.
In 1910, June "a, Asa Whitney patented
device, and the model represents a machine
which begins TO look like the locomotive of
to-day. There is a familiar guse about IL
that becomes interesting after one has waded
through seas of the old-fashioned kind. The
boiler here is horizontal, and the motion is
communicated to the drivers (eight in mum
ber) through the medium of a cog. That par
ticular device which gave this engine the
peculiar and appropriate name Of the grass
hopper appears in the model The grass
hounar 1oanmntives anntfnuad In onaratinn