Mr. Blenkinsop of Leeds then took out his patent in 1811 for a rack-work rail and cogged wheel; but before this Mr. Blackett of Wylam had obtained a plan of Trevithick’s engine and had one constructed. He had met Trevithick at London, and it was as early as 1804 that he obtained the plan. The engines, therefore, of Mr. Blackett which Stephenson saw, came, so to speak, in direct line from Trevithick, except that Mr. Blackett’s second engine was a combination of Blenkinsop’s and Trevithick’s. Some progress was made, but when on that memorable day George Stephenson, the engine-wright of Killingworth, said, “I think I could build a better engine than that,” no very effective or economical working locomotive was in existence. Back therefore went George Stephenson to his home. He had seen what others had done, and with his knowledge of machinery and his love for engine work he would now try what he could do. Would he succeed? CHAPTER II. GLANCING BACKWARDS AND STRUGGLING FORWARDS. “My lord, will you spend the money to build a Travelling Engine?” “Why? what would it do?” “Haul coals to the Tyne, my lord. The present system of hauling by horses is very costly.” “It is. But how would you manage it by a Travelling Engine?” Thereupon George Stephenson the engine-wright proceeded to explain. In some such manner as this we can imagine that Stephenson opened up the subject to Lord Ravensworth, the chief partner in the Killingworth Colliery; and he won his lordship over. Stephenson had already improved the colliery engines, and Lord Ravensworth had formed a high opinion of his abilities. So after consideration he gave the required consent. Now, let us endeavour to imagine the position. The steam engine, of which the locomotive is one form, had been invented years before. The Marquis of Worcester made something of a steam engine which apparently was working at Vauxhall, South-west London, in 1656. It is said that he raised water forty feet, and by this we may infer that his apparatus was a steam-pump. He describes it in his work “Century of Inventions,” about 1655, and he is generally accredited with being the inventor of the steam engine. It was, however, a very primitive affair, the boiler being the same vessel as that in which the steam accomplished its work. Captain Savery took the next step. He was the first to obtain a patent for applying steam power to machinery. This was in 1698, and he used a boiler distinct from the vessel where the steam was to exert its power. Savery’s engines appear to have been used to drain mines. His engines acted in this way—the steam was condensed in a vessel and produced a vacuum which raised the water; then the steam pressing upon it raised it further in another receptacle.