Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-01-16

step. The next was to link the piston to q lever;
used to take water out of q NINE
We went on step by step until Watt made his
stationary steam engines, which were used in
all large manufactures, machine shops, &c, In
England, and imported to this country. Full
tons steamboat was driven by one Of Watts
engine inven ted by himself. The Ph@nix was
purely an American boat, both in construction
and in motive power. Fulton, who had been
AIRY engine. That was the reason why he was
so successful Drawings of the engines of the
Clermont and OF the Phoenix will be exhibited.
THE OCEAN TRIP OF THE PHOENIX.
II will have an engraving Of the Phoenix as she
appeared the day she arrived In the Delaware
after the first ocean trip ever made in the world
by a steam vessel" continued Mr.. Watkins.
''The trip was made from New York to Ph1la-
delphia in 1907. The boat was beached during
feet in a wheel. The wheel was rebuilt there
On the beach. Meanwhile, it was supposed
the vessel and its crew had been lost. Finally.
however, the Phoenix arrived safely in Phila-
delphia, under charge OF Robert l.. Stevens,
the inventor, who went around with her. These
Of Robert stevens, who heard the story Of the
trip from his uncle as I have told it to you.
Both these boats have been talking to you
of the propeller wheel was the next important
step: There are numerous claims of priority
for this invention. From what have read
am led to believe that the propeller-wheel as
we know it was of Chinese origin. Flat-bOats
were driven in Chinese waters by propellers
driven by hand at a very rapid speed, perhaps
got their idea from the Chinese or not don't
know, but l ain led 70 believe the first idea OF
old-fashioned smoke.jacks. These smoke
jacks were used In large hre-places, so that
current of wind would turn the spit used in
cooking meats.
THE FIRST PROPELLER BOAT.
81 am very well satisfied that the first steam.
boat ever driven by a propeller was driven
across the Hudson river from Hoboken to
New York about 1904 The engine was built by
the sa me man who built the engine OF the
Col nssa sea pna T
peller-wheel is now in existence at
the Stevens Institute of Technology at Ho-
boken. That boat was merely all experiment.
The claim that the stevens family make,
and think 1t very just, is that they were the
first to link propeller to a steam engine. Then
we come to another question. The propeller on
these early experimental boats was placed on
the sde sometimes one being placed on each
side Of the boat, SO as not to interfere with the
steering apparatus. This was not good place
to put It, because by the rocking OF the boat the
propeller was kept out of the water a por-
tion Of the time. 1t was conceded TO be neces-
Sary in order to make q successful propeller
ship that the propeller should be placed at the
stern Of the boat. So few experiments were
made ma in which the propeller was placed after
badly. To Robert l.. Stevens and Isaac Dripps,
master mechanic at his shops, think
belongs INC CFeUlt Oh OGlQR LQ0 I1TSL In
this country to successfully place the rudder
after the propeller, which made the boat steer
easily. This may have been done previously
abroad. It is interesting to note that this was
done for the first time here the iron steamboat
New Jersey which was the first iron steam vessel
to cross the Atlantic about 1889. There will be
exhibited In the museum one OF the plates of
the hull of this steamboat and also O model
made from the original drawings OF this pro-
the II which
was made under the direction of Isaac Drpps,
who is still alive, and who originally built the
wheel. or course after that experiments were
numerous. We will have engravings of almost
all the principal boats built during the early
years. 1t Is the design in all the work we do not
claims of rival inventors, but TO set out his
tory as we find 1t without any desire TO take
the part Of any inventor.
THE FIRST RAILROADS.
"Now, as to the railroads." said Mr. Watkins
81 won't attempt to say what was the first rail-
road built in America, for the reason that a
great many experiments in this connection
were going on in different parts of the
pretty well satisfied that among the earliest
ries, Massachusetts, to the Ncponset river q dis
strips OF granite put on the ground as you build
q cnrbstone, and upon these granite rails ran
sis 1n there h wss 70
built very early at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylva-
niu. II was laid with transverse cross.ties Of
hewn longitudinal rails OF wood. Upon these
rails were run cars used to take coal from the
mine to a coal wharf on the Lehigh river. The
Baltimore and Ohio was a very early railroad.
Twelve miles Of railroad, from the city of Balti.
more to Ellicotts Mills was perhaps the first
piece of railroad regularly operated In this
country. It's construction was begun in 1928.
1t is hoped We will be able to obtain from this
company one OF their old grasshopper engines
bition The first hundred miles of railroad
built and operated in this country was in South
Carolina, and upon that road the first three
American built locomotives were used; the
first about 1880. An engraving from the origi-
nal drawings OF each OF these locomotives will
be exhibited in my section.
THE JOHN BULL.
TThe Camden and Amboy railroad, which
was destined to be the great highway Of travel
between New York and Philadelphia" Mr..
Watkins went on, "ordered the engine sJohn
Bull which Is on exhibition here now through
It's president, Robert l: Stevens. who was sent
The engine was built by Stevenson & Son,
Newcast Ie,on-Tyne, was shipped in May and
| August, 1881. 1t was put together and run for
the first time early In September 1881. 1t is a
rather interesting fact to note that the man
der after the propeller. This engine when il
now is-with inside cylinders, four Srivin -
wheels and tubular boiler. The driving wheels
originally had east, Sas.-iron hubs aud locus.
| i've inches wide and Hanged, shrunk on
| like the tire VI an ordinary cart wheel There
was no headlight, Even at this day headlights
are used on very few locomotives abroad, Thert
was no bell and no pilot The steam pipes were
inside the boiler, and the dome was right oyel
| the fire-box. In the dome was a secret ynive
which the engineer could not reach. This valve
could be arranged so that the engineer could
not get steam up to high pressure
There was no cab, ind there is no cal
on English locomotives today. No tendel
came with the engine. To take its piacs
| when the first experiments were made :
tender was made Of an ordinary CONSTRUCTION
car, with y whisky barrel TO hold the water
which was fed TO the engine through hose mad,
by shoemaker out Of leather, connected WITT
the tank by waxed thread "
That engine was the type from which the loco
motives OF the present day have been derived
Other engines, Ike the grasshopper eneines wer
built. but they have disappeared. In the johl
1 Bull you will ind the horizontal cylinder
the tabular boiler, two engines one on eithe
side. These forms have stood the test az tim
and lived. When this engine arrived i'd fhi
country II was the most perfect LOCOMOTIVES Il
the world. II had been built by Stevenson |
Son as an Improvement on the Planet, whfc
| for number Of years afterwards led the er
Eines ct the old world. Considering the tim
and the requirements 1t was splendid engine
! II was used arst TO demonstrate to the lo9isll