The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson: Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway LocomotiveSmiles, Samuel
History
The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson: Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway Locomotive
Although the locomotive seemed about to be lost sight of, it was not
forgotten. In 1811, Mr. Blenkinsop, the manager of the Middleton
Collieries, near Leeds, revived the idea of employing it in lieu of
horses to haul the coals along his tram-way. Mr. Blenkinsop, in the
patent which he took out for his proposed engine, followed in many
respects the design of Trevithick; but, with the help of Matthew
Murray, of Leeds, one of the most ingenious mechanics of his day,
he introduced several important and valuable modifications. Thus
he employed two cylinders of 8 in. diameter instead of one, as in
Trevithick's engine. These cylinders were placed vertically, and
immersed for more than half their length in the steam space of the
boiler. The eduction pipes met in a single tube at the top, and threw
the steam into the air. The boiler was cylindrical in form, but of
cast iron. It had one flue, the fire being at one end and the chimney
at the other. The engine was supported on a carriage without springs,
resting directly upon two pairs of wheels and axles unconnected with
the working parts, and which merely served to carry the engine upon the
rails. The motion was effected in this way: the piston-rods, by means
of cross-heads, worked the connecting-rods, which came down to two
cranks on each side below the boiler, placed at right angles in order
to pass their centres with certainty. These cranks worked two shafts
fixed across the engine, on which were small-toothed wheels working
into a larger one between them; and on the axis of this large wheel,
outside the framing, were the driving-wheels, one of which was toothed,
and worked into a rack on one side of the railway.
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