What strikes one as most peculiar in this set of requirements and specifications is the first clause--that of the engine consuming its own smoke; for even at the present time this is considered a difficult problem. But this was not so considered by the inventors of that time, their great stumbling-block being the high speed required. Ten miles an hour struck most of them as absurd and out of the question. One eminent person, who was to become later one of England's leading engineers, stated publicly that "if it proved to be possible to make a locomotive go ten miles an hour, he would undertake to eat a stewed engine-wheel for his breakfast." It is not recorded whether or not this terrible threat was carried out. But there was more than one engineer and engine-builder who took a more sanguine view of the prize offer. The firm of Braithwait & Ericsson signified its intention of competing, with a locomotive that they named the _Novelty_. Another firm entered the contest with an engine called the _Sans-pareil_; still another firm entered the _Perseverance_; and George Stephenson was on hand with the now-famous _Rocket_. In the series of trials that followed, the _Sans-pareil_ and the _Perseverance_ were so clearly outclassed by the other two competing locomotives that they need not be considered here; but the _Novelty_ and the _Rocket_ were close competitors. The _Novelty_, indeed, made such a good showing, and afterwards proved to be such a good locomotive, that although it lost the contest, many competent judges have since regarded it as equal to the _Rocket_, if not superior, in principle. Be that as it may, later experiments proved conclusively that the cause of failure on the final day of the prize contest was due to defects in workmanship rather than to defective principle of construction. The _Novelty_ has been described as having the appearance of "a milk-can set in the rear end of a wagon, with a little smokestack in front looking like a high dashboard." It carried its supply of fuel and water in the "wagon-box" part of the engine frame, in front of the boiler, so that it required no tender. On its first trial, running without any load, it reached a speed of twenty-four miles an hour--a speed more than double the "stewed engine-wheel" limit. But at each subsequent trial, although it hauled loads for short distances, some part of its machinery became disabled, so that it was necessarily regarded as inferior to its more stable rival, the _Rocket_. [Illustration] [Illustration: CUGNOT'S TRACTION ENGINE AND THE "NOVELTY" LOCOMOTIVE.