Illustrated Catalogue of Locomotives; Baldwin Locomotive WorksBaldwin Locomotive Works
History
Illustrated Catalogue of Locomotives; Baldwin Locomotive Works
Baldwin Locomotive Works
Baldwin locomotives; Locomotives -- Catalogs
In May, 1835, his eleventh locomotive, the "Black Hawk," was delivered
to the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company. This was the first
outside-connected engine of his build. It was also the first engine on
which the Miller device of attaching part of the weight of the tender
to the engine was employed. On the eighteenth engine, the
"Brandywine," built for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad
Company, brass tires were used on the driving-wheels, for the purpose
of obtaining more adhesion; but they wore out rapidly and were
replaced with iron.
Fourteen engines were constructed in 1835; forty in 1836; forty in
1837; twenty-three in 1838; twenty-six in 1839; and nine in 1840.
During all these years the general design continued the same; but, in
compliance with the demand for more power, three sizes were furnished,
as follows:
First-class. Cylinders, 12-1/2 x 16; weight, loaded, 26,000 pounds.
Second-class. " 12 x 16; " " 23,000 "
Third-class. " 10-1/2 x 16; " " 20,000 "
The first-class engine he fully believed, in 1838, was as heavy as
would be called for, and he declared that it was as large as he
intended to make. Most of the engines were built with the half-crank,
but occasionally an outside-connected machine was turned out. These
latter, however, failed to give as complete satisfaction as the
half-crank machine. The drivers were generally four and a half feet in
diameter.
A patent was issued to Mr. Baldwin, August 17, 1835, for his device of
cylindrical pedestals. In this method of construction, the pedestal
was of cast-iron, and was bored in a lathe so as to form two concave
jaws. The boxes were also turned in a lathe so that their vertical
ends were cylindrical, and they were thus fitted in the pedestals.
This method of fitting up pedestals and boxes was cheap and effective,
and was used for some years for the driving and tender wheels.
As showing the estimation in which these early engines were held, it
may not be out of place to refer to the opinions of some of the
railroad managers of that period.
Mr. L. A. Sykes, engineer of the New Jersey Transportation Company,
under date of June 12, 1838, wrote that he could draw with his
engines twenty four-wheeled cars with twenty-six passengers each, at a
speed of twenty to twenty-five miles per hour, over grades of
twenty-six feet per mile. "As to simplicity of construction," he adds,
"small liability to get out of order, economy of repairs, and ease to
the road, I fully believe Mr. Baldwin's engines stand unrivalled. I
consider the simplicity of the engine, the arrangement of the
working-parts, and the distribution of the weight, far superior to any
engine I have ever seen, either of American or English manufacture,
and I have not the least hesitation in saying that Mr. Baldwin's
engine will do the same amount of work with much less repairs, either
to the engine or the track, than any other engine in use."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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