Illustrated Catalogue of Locomotives; Baldwin Locomotive Works — John Shaqi
Illustrated Catalogue of Locomotives; Baldwin Locomotive WorksBaldwin Locomotive Works
History
Illustrated Catalogue of Locomotives; Baldwin Locomotive Works
Baldwin Locomotive Works
Baldwin locomotives; Locomotives -- Catalogs
The period under consideration was marked also by the introduction of
the French & Baird stack, which proved at once to be one of the most
successful spark-arresters thus far employed, and which was for years
used almost exclusively wherever, as on the cotton-carrying railroads
of the South, a thoroughly effective spark-arrester was required. This
stack was introduced by Mr. Baird, then a foreman in the Works, who
purchased the patent-right of what had been known as the Grimes stack,
and combined with it some of the features of the stack made by Mr.
Richard French, then Master Mechanic of the Germantown Railroad,
together with certain improvements of his own. The cone over the
straight inside pipe was made with volute flanges on its under side,
which gave a rotary motion to the sparks. Around the cone was a casing
about six inches smaller in diameter than the outside stack. Apertures
were cut in the sides of this casing, through which the sparks in
their rotary motion were discharged and thus fell to the bottom of
the space between the straight inside pipe and the outside stack. The
opening in the top of the stack was fitted with a series of V-shaped
iron circles perforated with numerous holes, thus presenting an
enlarged area, through which the smoke escaped. The patent-right for
this stack was subsequently sold to Messrs. Radley & Hunter, and its
essential principle is still used in the Radley & Hunter stack as at
present made.
In 1845, Mr. Baldwin built three locomotives for the Royal Railroad
Committee of Wuertemberg. They were of fifteen tons weight, on six
wheels, four of them being sixty inches in diameter and coupled. The
front drivers were combined by the flexible beams into a truck with
the smaller leading wheels. The cylinders were inclined and outside,
and the connecting-rods took hold of a half-crank axle back of the
fire-box. It was specified that these engines should have the
link-motion which had shortly before been introduced in England by the
Stephensons. Mr. Baldwin accordingly applied a link of a peculiar
character to suit his own ideas of the device. The link was made
solid, and of a truncated V-section, and the block was grooved so as
to fit and slide on the outside of the link.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account