Stories of Invention, Told by Inventors and their FriendsHale, Edward Everett
History
Stories of Invention, Told by Inventors and their Friends
Hale, Edward Everett
Inventions; Inventors; Technology -- Juvenile literature
It was determined to award the premium to the successful engine on the
following day, the 14th, on which occasion there was an unusual
assemblage of spectators. The owners of the "Novelty" pleaded for
another trial, and it was conceded. But again it broke down. Then Mr.
Hackworth requested the opportunity for making another trial of his
"Sanspareil." But the judges had now had enough of failures, and they
declined, on the ground that not only was the engine above the
stipulated weight, but that it was constructed on a plan which they
could not recommend for adoption by the directors of the company. One of
the principal practical objections to this locomotive was the enormous
quantity of coke consumed or wasted by it,--about six hundred and
ninety-two pounds per hour when travelling,--caused by the sharpness of
the steam-blast in the chimney, which blew a large proportion of the
burning coke into the air.
The "Perseverance" of Mr. Burstall was found unable to move at more than
five or six miles an hour, and it was withdrawn from the contest at an
early period. The "Rocket" was thus the only engine that had performed,
and more than performed, all the stipulated conditions; and it was
declared to be entitled to the prize of £500, which was awarded to the
Messrs. Stephenson and Booth[20] accordingly. And farther to show that
the engine had been working quite within its powers, George Stephenson
ordered it to be brought upon the ground and detached from all
incumbrances, when, in making two trips, it was found to travel at the
astonishing rate of thirty-five miles an hour.
The "Rocket" had thus eclipsed the performances of all locomotive
engines that had yet been constructed, and outstripped even the sanguine
expectations of its constructors. It satisfactorily answered the report
of Messrs. Walker and Rastrick, and established the efficiency of the
locomotive for working the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and indeed
all future railways. The "Rocket" showed that a new power had been born
into the world, full of activity and strength, with boundless capability
of work. It was the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam-blast,
and its combination with the multitubular boiler, that at once gave
locomotion a vigorous life, and secured the triumph of the railway
system. As has been well observed, this wonderful ability to increase
and multiply its powers of performance with the emergency that demands
them, has made this giant engine the noblest creation of human wit, the
very lion among machines.
The success of the Rainhill experiment, as judged by the public, may be
inferred from the fact that the shares of the company immediately rose
ten per cent, and nothing farther was heard of the proposed twenty-one
fixed engines, engine-houses, ropes, etc. All this cumbersome apparatus
was thenceforth effectually disposed of.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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