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
Engines supplied to the Camden & Amboy Railroad subsequent to 1831
were built from the designs of Robert L. Stevens, in the shop of the
Messrs. Stevens, at Hoboken. The other principal roads of the country,
at first, very generally purchased their engines of the Baldwin
Locomotive Works, then a small shop owned by Matthias W. Baldwin.
Baldwin's first engine was a little model built for Peale's Museum, to
illustrate to the visitors of that then well-known place of
entertainment the character of the new motor, the success of which,
at Rainhill, had just then excited the attention of the world. This
was in 1831, and the successful working of this little model led to
his receiving an order for an engine from the Philadelphia &
Germantown Railroad. Mr. Baldwin, after studying the new engine of the
Camden & Amboy road, made his plans, and built an engine (Fig. 64),
completing it in the autumn of 1832, and setting it in operation
November 23d of that year. It was kept at work on that line of road
for a period of 20 years or more. This engine was of Stephenson's
"Planet" class, mounted on two driving-wheels 4-1/2 feet in diameter
each, and two separate wheels of the same size, uncoupled. The
steam-cylinders were 9-1/2 inches in diameter, 18 inches stroke of
piston, and were placed horizontally on each side of the smoke-box.
The boiler, 2-1/2 feet in diameter, contained 72 copper tubes 1-1/2
inches in diameter and 7 feet long. The engine cost the railroad
company $3,500. On the trial, steam was raised in 20 minutes, and the
maximum speed noted was 28 miles an hour. The engine subsequently
attained a speed of over 30 miles. In 1834, Mr. Baldwin completed for
Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston, a six-wheeled engine, the "E. L.
Miller" (Fig. 65), with cylinders 10 inches in diameter and 16 inches
stroke of piston. He made the boiler of this engine of a form which
remained standard many years, with a high dome over the fire-box. At
about the same time, he built the "Lancaster," an engine resembling
the "Miller," for the State road to Columbia, and several others were
soon contracted for and built. By the end of 1834, 5 engines had been
built by him, and the construction of locomotive-engines had become
one of the leading and most promising industries of the United States.
Mr. William Norris established a shop in Philadelphia in 1832, which
he gradually enlarged until it, like the Baldwin Works, became a large
establishment. He usually built a six-wheeled engine, with a
leading-truck or bogie, and placed his driving-wheels in front of the
fire-box.
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--The "E. L. Miller," 1834.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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