A History of the Growth of the Steam-EngineThurston, Robert Henry
History
A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine
Thurston, Robert Henry
Steam-engines -- History
Hedley now went to work building an engine with smooth wheels, and
patented his design March 13, 1813, a month after he had put his
engine at work. The locomotive had a cast-iron boiler, and a single
steam-cylinder 6 inches in diameter, with a small fly-wheel. This
engine had too small a boiler, and he soon after built a larger
engine, with a return-flue boiler made of wrought-iron. This hauled 8
loaded coal-wagons 5 miles an hour at first, and a little later 10,
doing the work of 10 horses. The steam-pressure was carried at about
50 pounds, and the exhaust, led into the chimney, where the pipe was
turned upward, thus secured a blast of considerable intensity in its
small chimney. Hedley also contracted the opening of the exhaust-pipe
to intensify the blast, and was subjected to some annoyance by
proprietors of lands along his railway, who were irritated by the
burning of their grass and hedges, which were set on fire by the
sparks thrown out of the chimney of the locomotive. The cost of
Hedley's experiment was defrayed by Mr. Blackett.
Subsequently, Hedley mounted his engine on eight wheels, the
four-wheeled engines having been frequently stopped by breaking the
light rails then in use. Hedley's engines continued in use at the
Wylam collieries many years. The second engine was removed in 1862,
and is now preserved at the South Kensington Museum, London.
GEORGE STEPHENSON, to whom is generally accorded the honor of having
first made the locomotive-engine a success, built his first engine at
Killingworth, England, in 1814.
[Illustration: George Stephenson.]
At this time Stephenson was by no means alone in the field, for the
idea of applying the steam-engine to driving carriages on common roads
and on railroads was beginning, as has been seen, to attract
considerable attention. Stephenson, however, combined, in a very
fortunate degree, the advantages of great natural inventive talent and
an excellent mechanical training, reminding one strongly of James
Watt. Indeed, Stephenson's portrait bears some resemblance to that of
the earlier great inventor.
George Stephenson was born June 9, 1781, at Wylam, near
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was the son of a "north-country miner." When
still a child, he exhibited great mechanical talent and unusual love
of study. When set at work about the mines, his attention to duty and
his intelligence obtained for him rapid promotion, until, when but
seventeen years of age, he was made engineer, and took charge of the
pumping-engine at which his father was fireman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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