The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson / Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway Locomotive

EARLY INVENTORS IN LOCOMOTION.

CHAPTER I.

SCHEMERS AND PROJECTORS.

It is easy to understand how rapid transit from place to place should, from the earliest times, have been an object of desire. The marvelous gift of speed conferred by Fortunatus's Wishing Cap was what all must have envied: it conferred power. It also conferred pleasure. "Life has not many things better than this," said Samuel Johnson as he rolled along in the post-chaise. But it also conferred comfort and well-being; and hence the easy and rapid transit of persons and commodities became in all countries an object of desire in proportion to their growth in civilization.

We have elsewhere[2] endeavored to describe the obstructions to the progress of society occasioned by the defective internal communications of Britain in early times, which were to a considerable extent removed by the adoption of the canal system, and the improvement of our roads and highways, toward the end of last century. But the progress of industry was so rapid—the invention of new tools, machines, and engines so greatly increased the productive wealth of the nation—that some forty years since it was found that these roads and canals, numerous and excellent though they might be, were altogether inadequate for the accommodation of the traffic of the country, which was increasing in almost a direct ratio with the increased application of steam-power to the purposes of productive industry.

The inventive minds of the nation, always on the alert—the "schemers" and the "projectors," to whom society has in all times been so greatly indebted—proceeded to apply themselves to the solution of the problem of how the communications of the country were best to be improved; and the result was, that the power of steam itself was applied to remedy the inconveniences which it had caused.

Like most inventions, that of the Steam Locomotive was very gradually made. The idea of it, born in one age, was revived in the ages that followed. It was embodied first in one model, then in another—the labors of one inventor being taken up by his successors—until at length, after many disappointments and many failures, the practicable working locomotive was achieved.

The locomotive engine was not, however, sufficient for the purposes of cheap and rapid transit. Another expedient was absolutely essential to its success—that of the Railway: the smooth rail to bear the load, as well as the steam-engine to draw it.

Expedients were early adopted for the purpose of diminishing friction between the wheels of vehicles and the roads along which they were dragged by horse-power. The Romans employed stone blocks with that object; and the streets of the long-buried city of Pompeii still bear the marks of the ancient Roman chariot-wheels, as the stone track for heavy vehicles on our modern London Bridge shows the wheel-marks of the wagons which cross it. These stone blocks were merely a simple expedient to diminish friction, and were the first steps toward a railroad.

The railway proper doubtless originated in the coal districts of the North of England and Wales, where it was found useful in facilitating the transport of coals from the pits to the shipping-places. At an early period the coal was carried to the boats in panniers, or in sacks upon horses' backs. Next carts were used, and tram-ways of flag-stone were laid down, along which they were easily hauled. The carts were then converted into wagons, and mounted on four wheels instead of two.

Still farther to facilitate the haulage of the wagons, pieces of planking were laid parallel upon wooden sleepers, or imbedded in the ordinary track. It is said that these wooden rails were first employed by a Mr. Beaumont, a gentleman from the South, who, about the year 1630, adventured in the northern mines with about thirty thousand pounds, and after introducing many improvements in the working of the coal, as well as in the methods of transporting it to the staithes on the river, was ruined by his enterprise, and "within a few Years," to use the words of the ancient chronicler, "he consumed all his Money, and rode Home upon his light Horse."[3]

The use of wooden rails gradually extended, and they were laid down between most of the collieries on the Tyne and the places at which the coal was shipped. Roger North, in 1676, found the practice had become extensively adopted, and he speaks of the large sums then paid for way-leave—that is, the permission granted by the owners of lands lying between the coal-pits and the river-side to lay down a tram-way for the purpose of connecting the one with the other.

A century later, Arthur Young observed that not only had these roads become greatly multiplied, but formidable works had been constructed to carry them along upon the same level. "The coal wagon-roads from the pits to the water," he says, "are great works, carried over all sorts of inequalities of ground, so far as the distance of nine or ten miles. The tracks of the wheels are marked with pieces of wood let into the road for the wheels of the wagons to run on, by which one horse is enabled to draw, and that with ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals."[4]

Saint Fond, the French traveler, who visited Newcastle in 1791, described the colliery wagon-ways in that neighborhood as superior to any thing of the kind he had seen. The wooden rails were formed with a rounded upper surface, like a projecting moulding, and the wagon-wheels being "made of cast iron, and hollowed in the manner of a metal pulley," readily fitted the rounded surface of the rails. The economy with which the coal was thus hauled to the shipping-places was urged by Saint Fond as an inducement to his own countrymen to adopt a like method of transit.[5]

Similar wagon-roads were early laid down in the coal districts of Wales, Cumberland, and Scotland. At the time of the Scotch rebellion in 1745, a tram-road existed between the Tranent coal-pits and the small harbor of Cockenzie, in East Lothian; and a portion of the line was selected by General Cope as a position for his cannon at the battle of Prestonpans.

In these rude wooden tracks we find the germ of the modern railroad. Improvements were gradually made in them. Thus, at some collieries, thin plates of iron were nailed upon their upper surface, for the purpose of protecting the parts most exposed to friction. Cast-iron rails were also tried, the wooden rails having been found liable to rot. The first iron rails are supposed to have been laid down at Whitehaven as early as 1738. This cast-iron road was denominated a "plate-way," from the plate-like form in which the rails were cast. In 1767, as appears from the books of the Coalbrookdale Iron Works, in Shropshire, five or six tons of rails were cast, as an experiment, on the suggestion of Mr. Reynolds, one of the partners; and they were shortly after laid down to form a road.

In 1776, a cast-iron tram-way, nailed to wooden sleepers, was laid down at the Duke of Norfolk's colliery near Sheffield. The person who designed and constructed this coal line was Mr. John Curr, whose son has erroneously claimed for him the invention of the cast-iron railway. He certainly adopted it early, and thereby met the fate of men before their age; for his plan was opposed by the laboring people of the colliery, who got up a riot, in which they tore up the road and burned the coal-staith, while Mr. Curr fled into a neighboring wood for concealment, and lay there perdu for three days and nights, to escape the fury of the populace.[6] The plates of these early tram-ways had a ledge cast on their outer edge to guide the wheel along the road, after the manner shown in the preceding cut.

In 1789, Mr. William Jessop constructed a railway at Loughborough, in Leicestershire, and there introduced the cast-iron edge-rail, with flanches cast upon the tire of the wagon-wheels to keep them on the track, instead of having the margin or flanch cast upon the rail itself; and this plan was shortly after adopted in other places. In 1800, Mr. Benjamin Outram, of Little Eaton, Derbyshire (father of the distinguished General Outram), used stone props instead of timber for supporting the ends or joinings of the rails. Thus the use of railroads, in various forms, gradually extended, until they became generally adopted in the mining districts.

Such was the growth of the railroad, which, it will be observed, originated in necessity, and was modified according to experience; progress in this, as in all departments of mechanics, having been effected by the exertions of many men; one generation entering upon the labors of that which preceded it, and carrying them onward to farther stages of improvement. The invention of the locomotive was in like manner made by successive steps. It was not the invention of one man, but of a succession of men, each working at the proper hour, and according to the needs of that hour; one inventor interpreting only the first word of the problem which his successors were to solve after long and laborious efforts and experiments. "The locomotive is not the invention of one man," said Robert Stephenson at Newcastle, "but of a nation of mechanical engineers."

Down to the end of last century, and indeed down almost to our own time, the only power used in haulage was that of the horse. Along the common roads of the country the poor horses were "tearing their hearts out" in dragging cumbersome vehicles behind them, and the transport of merchandise continued to be slow, dear, and in all respects unsatisfactory. Many expedients were suggested with the view of getting rid of the horse. The power of wind was one of the first expedients proposed. It was cheap, though by no means regular. It impelled ships by sea; why should it not be used to impel carriages by land?

The first sailing-coach was invented by one Simon Stevinius, or Stevins, a Fleming, toward the end of the sixteenth century. Pierre Gassendi gives an account of its performances as follows:

The sailing-coach, however, was only a curiosity. As a practicable machine, it proved worthless, for the wind could not be depended upon for land locomotion. The coach could not tack as the ship did. Sometimes the wind did not blow at all, while at other times it blew a hurricane. After being used for some time as a toy, the sailing-coach was given up as impracticable, and the project speedily dropped out of sight.

But, strange to say, the expedient of driving coal-wagons by the wind was revived in Wales about a century later. On this occasion, Sir Humphry Mackworth, an ingenious coal-miner at Neath, was the projector. Waller, in his "Essay on Mines," published in 1698, takes the opportunity of eulogizing Sir Humphry's "new sailing-wagons, for the cheap carriage of his coal to the water-side, whereby one horse does the work of ten at all times; but when any wind is stirring (which is seldom wanting near the sea), one man and a small sail do the work of twenty."[8] It does not, however, appear that any other coal-owner had the courage to follow Sir Humphry's example, and the sailing-wagon was forgotten until, after the lapse of another century, it was revived by Mr. Edgeworth.

The employment of steam-power as a means of land locomotion was the subject of much curious speculation long before any practical attempt was made to carry it into effect. The merit of promulgating the first idea with reference to it probably belongs to no other than the great Sir Isaac Newton. In his "Explanation of the Newtonian Philosophy," written in 1680, he figured a spherical generator, supported on wheels, and provided with a seat for a passenger in front, and a long jet-pipe behind, and stated that "the whole is to be mounted on little wheels, so as to move easily on a horizontal plane, and if the hole, or jet-pipe, be opened, the vapor will rush out violently one way, and the wheels and the ball at the same time will be carried the contrary way." This, it will be observed, was but a modification of the earliest known steam-engine, or Œolopile, of Hero of Alexandria. It is not believed that Sir Isaac Newton ever made any experiment of his proposed method of locomotion, or did more than merely throw out the idea for other minds to work upon.

The idea of employing steam in locomotion was revived from time to time, and formed the subject of much curious speculation. About the middle of last century we find Benjamin Franklin, then agent in London for the United Provinces of America, Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, and Erasmus Darwin, of Lichfield, engaged in a correspondence relative to steam as a motive power. Boulton had made a model of a fire-engine, which he sent to London for Franklin's inspection; and though the original purpose for which the engine had been contrived was the pumping of water, it was believed to be practicable to employ it also as a means of locomotion. Franklin was too much occupied at the time by grave political questions to pursue the subject; but the sanguine and speculative mind of Erasmus Darwin was inflamed by the idea of a "fiery chariot," and he pressed his friend Boulton to prosecute the contrivance of the necessary steam machine.[9]

Erasmus Darwin was in many respects a remarkable man. In his own neighborhood he was highly esteemed as a physician, and by many intelligent readers of his day he was greatly prized as a poet. Horace Walpole said of his "Botanic Garden" that it was "the most delicious poem upon earth," and he declared that he "could read it over and over again forever." The doctor was accustomed to write his poems with a pencil on little scraps of paper while riding about among his patients in his "sulky." The vehicle, which was worn and bespattered outside, had room within it for the doctor and his appurtenances only. On one side of him was a pile of books reaching from the floor to nearly the front window of the carriage, while on the other was a hamper containing fruit and sweetmeats, with a store of cream and sugar, with which the occupant regaled himself during his journey. Lashed on to the place usually appropriated to the "boot" was a large pail for watering the horses, together with a bag of oats and a bundle of hay. Such was the equipage of a fashionable country physician of the last century.

Dr. Darwin was a man of large and massive person, bearing a rather striking resemblance to his distinguished townsman, Dr. Johnson, in manner, deportment, and force of character. He was full of anecdote, and his conversation was most original and entertaining. He was a very outspoken man, vehemently enunciating theories which some thought original and others dangerous. As he drove through the country in his "sulky," his mind teemed with speculation on all subjects, from zoonomy, botany, and physiology, to physics, æsthetics, and mental philosophy. Though his speculations were not always sound, they were clever and ingenious, and, at all events, they had the effect of setting other minds a-thinking and speculating on science and the methods for its advancement. From his "Loves of the Plants"—afterward so cleverly parodied by George Canning in his "Loves of the Triangles"—it would appear that the doctor even entertained a theory of managing the winds by a little philosophic artifice. His scheme of a steam locomotive was of a more practical character. This idea, like so many others, first occurred to him in his "sulky."

He then goes on to throw out various suggestions as to the form and arrangement of the machine, the number of wheels on which it was to run, and the mode of applying the power. The text of this letter is illustrated by rough diagrams, showing a vehicle mounted on three wheels, the foremost or guiding wheel being under the control of the driver; but in a subsequent passage he says, "I think four wheels will be better."

After farther explaining himself, he goes on to say:

It will be observed from these remarks that the doctor's notions were of the crudest sort, and, as he obviously contemplated but a modification of the Newcomen engine, then chiefly employed in pumping water from mines, the action of which was slow, clumsy, and expensive, the steam being condensed by injection of cold water, it is clear that, even though Boulton had taken up and prosecuted Darwin's idea, it could not have issued in a practicable or economical working locomotive.

But, although Darwin himself—his time engrossed by his increasing medical practice—proceeded no farther with his scheme of a "fiery chariot," he succeeded in inflaming the mind of his young friend, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, who had settled for a time in his neighborhood, and induced him to direct his attention to the introduction of improved means of locomotion by steam. In a letter written by Dr. Small to Watt in 1768, we find him describing Edgeworth as "a gentleman of fortune, young, mechanical, and indefatigable, who has taken a resolution to move land and water carriages by steam, and has made considerable progress in the short space of time that he has devoted to the study."

One of the first-fruits of Edgeworth's investigations was his paper "On Railroads," which he read before the Society of Arts in 1768, and for which he was awarded the society's gold medal. He there proposed that four iron railroads be laid down on one of the great roads out of London; two for carts and wagons, and two for light carriages and stage-coaches. The post-chaises and gentlemen's carriages might, he thought, be made to go at eight miles an hour, and the stage-coaches at six miles an hour, drawn by a single horse. He urged that such a method of transport would be attended with great economy of power and consequent cheapness. Many years later, in 1802, he published his views on the same subject in a more matured form. By that time Watt's steam-engine had come into general use, and he suggested that small stationary engines should be fixed along his proposed railroad, and made, by means of circulating chains, to draw the carriages along with a great diminution of horse labor and expense.

It is creditable to Mr. Edgeworth's forethought that both the models proposed by him have since been adopted. Horse-traction of carriages on railways is now in general use in the towns of the United States; and omnibuses on the same principle regularly ply between the Place de la Concorde at Paris and St. Cloud, both being found highly convenient for the public, and profitable to the proprietors. The system of working railways by fixed engines was also regularly employed on some lines in the infancy of the railway system, though it has since fallen into disuse, in consequence of the increased power given to the modern locomotive, which enables it to surmount gradients formerly considered impracticable.

Besides his speculations on railways worked by horse and steam power, Mr. Edgeworth—unconscious of the early experiments of Stevins and Mackworth—made many attempts to apply the power of the wind with the same object. It is stated in his "Memoirs" that he devoted himself to locomotive traction by various methods for a period of about forty years, during which he made above a hundred working models, in a great variety of forms; and though none of his schemes were attended with practical success, he adds that he gained far more in amusement than he lost by his unsuccessful labors. "The only mortification that affected me," he says, "was my discovery, many years after I had taken out my patent [for the sailing-carriage], that the rudiments of my whole scheme were mentioned in an obscure memoir of the French Academy."

The sailing-wagon scheme, as revived by Mr. Edgeworth, was doubtless of a highly ingenious character, though it was not practicable. One of his expedients was a portable railway, of a kind somewhat similar to that since revived by Mr. Boydell. Many experiments were tried with the new wagons on Hare Hatch Common, but they were attended with so much danger when the wind blew strong—the vehicles seeming to fly rather than roll along the ground—that farther experiments were abandoned, and Mr. Edgeworth himself at length came to the conclusion that a power so uncertain as that of the wind could never be relied upon for the safe conduct of ordinary traffic. His thoughts finally settled on steam as the only practicable power for this purpose; but, though his enthusiasm in the cause of improved transit of persons and of goods remained unabated, he was now too far advanced in life to prosecute his investigations in that direction. When an old man of seventy he wrote to James Watt (7th August, 1813): "I have always thought that steam would become the universal lord, and that we should in time scorn post-horses. An iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road on the common construction." Four years later he died, and left the problem, which he had nearly all his life been trying ineffectually to solve, to be worked out by younger men.

Dr. Darwin had long before preceded him into the silent land. Down to his death in 1802, Edgeworth had kept up a continuous correspondence with him on his favorite topic; but it does not appear that Darwin ever revived his project of the "fiery chariot." He was satisfied to prophesy its eventual success in the lines which are perhaps more generally known than any he has written—for, though Horace Walpole declared that he could "read the Botanic Garden over and over again forever," the poetry of Darwin is now all but forgotten. The following was his prophecy, published in 1791, before any practical locomotive or steam-boat had been invented:

The prophecy embodied in the first two lines of the passage has certainly been fulfilled, but the triumph of the steam balloon has yet to come.

CHAPTER II.

EARLY LOCOMOTIVE MODELS.

The application of steam-power to the driving of wheel-carriages on common roads was in 1759 brought under the notice of James Watt by his young friend John Robison, then a student at the University of Glasgow. Robison prepared a rough sketch of his suggested steam-carriage, in which he proposed to place the cylinder with its open end downward, to avoid the necessity for using a working beam. Watt was then only twenty-three years old, and was very much occupied in conducting his business of a mathematical instrument maker, which he had only recently established. Nevertheless, he proceeded to construct a model locomotive provided with two cylinders of tin-plate, intending that the pistons and their connecting-rods should act alternately on two pinions attached to the axles of the carriage-wheels. But the model, when made, did not answer Watt's expectations; and when, shortly after, Robison left college to go to sea, he laid the project aside, and did not resume it for many years.

In the mean time, an ingenious French mechanic had taken up the subject, and proceeded to make a self-moving road engine worked by steam-power. It has been incidentally stated that a M. Pouillet was the first to make a locomotive machine,[13] but no particulars are given of the invention, which is more usually attributed to Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, a native of Void, in Lorraine, where he was born in 1729. Not much is known of Cugnot's early history beyond that he was an officer in the army, that he published several works on military science, and that on leaving the army he devoted himself to the invention of a steam-carriage to be run on common roads.

It appears from documents collected by M. Morin that Cugnot constructed his first carriage at the Arsenal in 1769, at the cost of the Comte de Saxe, by whom he was patronized and liberally helped. It ran on three wheels, and was put in motion by an engine composed of two single-acting cylinders, the pistons of which acted alternately on the single front wheel. While this machine was in course of construction, a Swiss officer, named Planta, brought forward a similar project; but, on perceiving that Cugnot's carriage was superior to his own, he proceeded no farther with it.

When Cugnot's carriage was ready, it was tried in the presence of the Duc de Choiseul, the Comte de Saxe, and other military officers. On being first set in motion, it ran against a stone wall which stood in its way, and threw it down. There was thus no doubt about its power, though there were many doubts about its manageableness. At length it was got out of the Arsenal and put upon the road, when it was found that, though only loaded with four persons, it could not travel faster than about two and a quarter miles an hour; and that, the size of the boiler not being sufficient, it would not continue at work for more than twelve or fifteen minutes, when it was necessary to wait until sufficient steam had been raised to enable it to proceed farther.

The experiment was looked upon with great interest, and admitted to be of a very remarkable character; and, considering that it was a first attempt, it was not by any means regarded as unsuccessful. As it was believed that such a machine, if properly proportioned, might be employed to drag cannon into the field independent of horse-power, the Minister of War authorized Cugnot to proceed with the construction of a new and improved machine, which was finished and ready for trial in the course of the following year. The new locomotive was composed of two parts, one being a carriage supported on two wheels, somewhat resembling a small brewer's cart, furnished with a seat for the driver, while the other contained the machinery, which was supported on a single driving-wheel 4 ft. 2 in. in diameter. The engine consisted of a round copper boiler with a furnace inside provided with two small chimneys, two single-acting 13-in. brass cylinders communicating with the boiler by a steam-pipe, and the arrangements for communicating the motion of the pistons to the driving-wheel, together with the steering-gear.

The two parts of the machine were united by a movable pin and a toothed sector fixed on the framing of the front or machine part of the carriage. When one of the pistons descended, the piston-rod drew with it a crank, the catch of which caused the driving-wheel to make a quarter of a revolution by means of the ratchet-wheel fixed on the axle of the driving-wheel. At the same time, a chain fixed to the crank on the same side also descended and moved a lever, the opposite end of which was thereby raised, restoring the second piston to its original position at the top of the cylinder by the interposition of a second chain and crank. The piston-rod of the descending piston, by means of a catch, set other levers in motion, the chain fixed to them turning a half-way cock so as to open the second cylinder to the steam and the first to the atmosphere. The second piston, then descending in turn, caused the driving-wheel to make another quarter revolution, restoring the first piston to its original position; and the process being repeated, the machine was thereby kept in motion. To enable it to run backward, the catch of the crank was arranged in such a manner that it could be made to act either above or below, and thereby reverse the action of the machinery on the driving-wheel. It will thus be observed that Cugnot's locomotive presented a simple and ingenious form of a high-pressure engine; and, though of rude construction, it was a highly-creditable piece of work, considering the time of its appearance and the circumstances under which it was constructed.

Several successful trials were made with the new locomotive in the streets of Paris, which excited no small degree of interest. Unhappily, however, an accident which occurred to it in one of the trials had the effect of putting a stop to farther experiments. Turning the corner of a street near the Madeleine one day, when the machine was running at a speed of about three miles an hour, it became overbalanced, and fell over with a crash; after which, the running of the vehicle being considered dangerous, it was thenceforth locked up securely in the Arsenal to prevent its doing farther mischief.

The merit of Cugnot was, however, duly recognized. He was granted a pension of 300 livres, which continued to be paid to him until the outbreak of the Revolution. The Girondist Roland was appointed to examine the engine and report upon it to the Convention; but his report, which was favorable, was not adopted; on which the inventor's pension was stopped, and he was left for a time without the means of living. Some years later, Bonaparte, on his return from Italy after the peace of Campo Formio, interested himself in Cugnot's invention, and expressed a favorable opinion of his locomotive before the Academy; but his attention was shortly after diverted from the subject by the Expedition to Egypt. Napoleon, however, succeeded in restoring Cugnot's pension, and thus soothed his declining years. He died in Paris in 1804, at the age of seventy-five. Cugnot's locomotive is still to be seen in the Museum of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers at Paris; and it is, without exception, the most venerable and interesting of all the machines extant connected with the early history of locomotion.

While Cugnot was constructing his first machine at Paris, one Francis Moore, a linen-draper, was taking out a patent in London for moving wheel-carriages by steam. On the 14th of March, 1769, he gave notice of a patent for "a machine made of wood or metal, and worked by fire, water, or air, for the purpose of moving bodies on land or water," and on the 13th of July following he gave notice of another "for machines made of wood and metal, moved by power, for the carriage of persons and goods, and for accelerating boats, barges, and other vessels." But it does not appear that Moore did any thing beyond lodging the titles of his inventions, so that we are left in the dark as to what was their precise character.

James Watt's friend and correspondent, Dr. Small, of Birmingham, when he heard of Moore's intended project, wrote to the Glasgow inventor with the object of stimulating him to perfect his steam-engine, then in hand, and urging him to apply it, among other things, to purposes of locomotion. "I hope soon," said Small, "to travel in a fiery chariot of your invention." Watt replied to the effect that "if Linen-draper Moore does not use my engines to drive his carriages, he can't drive them by steam. If he does, I will stop them." But Watt was still a long way from perfecting his invention. The steam-engine capable of driving carriages was a problem that remained to be solved, and it was a problem to the solution of which Watt never fairly applied himself. It was enough for him to accomplish the great work of perfecting his condensed engine, and with that he rested content.

But Watt continued to be so strongly urged by those about him to apply steam-power to purposes of locomotion that, in his comprehensive patent of the 24th of August, 1784, he included an arrangement with that object. From his specification we learn that he proposed a cylindrical or globular boiler, protected outside by wood strongly hooped together, with a furnace inside entirely surrounded by the water to be heated except at the ends. Two cylinders working alternately were to be employed, and the pistons working within them were to be moved by the elastic force of the steam; "and after it has performed its office," he says, "I discharge it into the atmosphere by a proper regulating valve, or I discharge it into a condensing vessel made air-tight, and formed of thin plates and pipes of metal, having their outsides exposed to the wind;" the object of this latter arrangement being to economize the water, which would otherwise be lost. The power was to be communicated by a rotative motion (of the nature of the "sun and planet" arrangement) to the axle of one or more of the wheels of the carriage, or to another axis connected with the axle by means of toothed wheels; and in other cases he proposed, instead of the rotative machinery, to employ "toothed racks, or sectors of circles, worked with reciprocating motion by the engines, and acting upon ratched wheels fixed on the axles of the carriage." To drive a carriage containing two persons would, he estimated, require an engine with a cylinder 7 in. in diameter, making sixty strokes per minute of 1 ft. each, and so constructed as to act both on the ascent and descent of the piston; and, finally, the elastic force of the steam in the boiler must be such as to be occasionally equal to supporting a pillar of mercury 30 in. high.

Though Watt repeatedly expressed his intention of constructing a model locomotive after his specification, it does not appear that he ever carried it out. He was too much engrossed with other work; and, besides, he never entertained very sanguine views as to the practicability of road locomotion by steam. He continued, however, to discuss the subject with his partner Boulton, and from his letters we gather that his mind continued undetermined as to the best plan to be pursued. Only four days after the date of the above specification (i.e., on the 28th of August, 1784) we find him communicating his views on the subject to Boulton at great length, and explaining his ideas as to how the proposed object might best be accomplished. He first addressed himself to the point of whether 80 lbs. was a sufficient power to move a post-chaise on a tolerably good and level road at four miles an hour; secondly, whether 8 ft. of boiler surface exposed to the fire would be sufficient to evaporate a cube foot of water per hour without much waste of fuel; thirdly, whether it would require steam of more than eleven and a half times atmospheric density to cause the engine to exert a power equal to 6 lbs. on the inch. "I think," he observed, "the cylinder must either be made larger or make more than sixty strokes per minute. As to working gear, stopping and backing, with steering the carriage, I think these things perfectly manageable."

It will be observed from these explanations that Watt's views as to road locomotion were still crude and undefined; and, indeed, he never carried them farther. While he was thus discussing the subject with Boulton, William Murdock, one of the most skilled and ingenious workmen of the Soho firm—then living at Redruth, in Cornwall—was occupying himself during his leisure hours, which were but few, in constructing a model locomotive after a design of his own. He had doubtless heard of the proposal to apply steam to locomotion, and, being a clever inventor, he forthwith set himself to work out the problem. The plan he pursued was very simple and yet efficient. His model was of small dimensions, standing little more than a foot high, but it was sufficiently large to demonstrate the soundness of the principle on which it was constructed. It was supported on three wheels, and carried a small copper boiler, heated by a spirit-lamp, with a flue passing obliquely through it. The cylinder, of 3/4 in. diameter and 2 in. stroke, was fixed in the top of the boiler, the piston-rod being connected with the vibrating beam attached to the connecting-rod which worked the crank of the driving-wheel. This little engine worked by the expansive force of the steam only, which was discharged into the atmosphere after it had done its work of alternately raising and depressing the piston in the cylinder.

Mr. Murdock's son informed the author that this model was invented and constructed in 1781, but, from the correspondence of Boulton and Watt, we infer that it was not ready for trial until 1784. The first experiment with it was made in Murdock's own house at Redruth, when it successfully hauled a model wagon round the room—the single wheel placed in front of the engine, and working in a swivel frame, enabling it to run round in a circle.

Another experiment was made out of doors, on which occasion, small though the engine was, it fairly outran the speed of its inventor. It seems that one night, after returning from his duties at the Redruth mine, Murdock determined to try the working of his model locomotive. For this purpose he had recourse to the walk leading to the church, about a mile from the town. It was rather narrow, and was bounded on each side by high hedges. The night was dark, and Murdock set out alone to try his experiment. Having lit his lamp, the water soon boiled, when off started the engine, with the inventor after it. Shortly after he heard distant shouts of terror. It was too dark to perceive objects; but he found, on following up the machine, that the cries proceeded from the worthy pastor of the parish, who, going toward the town, was met on this lonely road by the hissing and fiery little monster, which he subsequently declared he had taken to be the Evil One in propria persona!

Watt was by no means pleased when he learned that Murdock was giving his mind to these experiments. He feared that it might have the effect of withdrawing him from the employment of the firm, to which his services had become almost indispensable; for there was no more active, skillful, or ingenious workman in all their concern. Watt accordingly wrote to Boulton, recommending him to advise Murdock to give up his locomotive-engine scheme; but, if he could not succeed in that, then, rather than lose Murdock's services, Watt proposed that he should be allowed an advance of £100 to enable him to prosecute his experiments, and if he succeeded within a year in making an engine capable of drawing a post-chaise carrying two passengers and the driver at four miles an hour, it was suggested that he should be taken as partner into the locomotive business, for which Boulton and Watt were to provide the necessary capital.

Two years later (in September, 1786) we find Watt again expressing his regret to Boulton that Murdock was "busying himself with the steam-carriage." "I have still," said he, "the same opinion concerning it that I had, but to prevent as much as possible more fruitless argument about it, I have one of some size under hand, and am resolved to try if God will work a miracle in favor of these carriages. I shall in some future letter send you the words of my specification on that subject. In the mean time I wish William could be brought to do as we do, to mind the business in hand, and let such as Symington and Sadler throw away their time and money in hunting shadows." In a subsequent letter Watt expressed his gratification at finding "that William applies to his business." From that time Murdock as well as Watt dropped all farther speculation on the subject, and left it to others to work out the problem of the locomotive engine. Murdock's model remained but a curious toy, which he himself took pleasure in exhibiting to his intimate friends; and though he long continued to speculate about road locomotion, and was persuaded of its practicability, he refrained from embodying his ideas of it in any more complete working form.

Symington and Sadler, "the hunters of shadows" referred to by Watt, did little to advance the question. Of Sadler we know nothing beyond that in 1786 he was making experiments as to the application of steam-power to the driving of wheel-carriages. This came to the knowledge of Boulton and Watt, who gave him notice, on the 4th of July of the same year, that "the sole privilege of making steam-engines by the elastic force of steam acting on a piston, with or without condensation, had been granted to Mr. Watt by Act of Parliament, and also that among other improvements and applications of his principle he hath particularly specified the application of steam-engines for driving wheel carriages in a patent which he took out in the year 1784." They accordingly cautioned him against proceeding farther in the matter; and as we hear no more of Sadler's steam-carriage, it is probable that the notice had its effect.

The name of William Symington is better known in connection with the history of steam locomotion by sea. He was born at Leadhills, in Scotland, in 1763. His father was a practical mechanic, who superintended the engines and machinery of the Mining Company at Wanlockhead, where one of Boulton and Watt's pumping-engines was at work. Young Symington was of an ingenious turn of mind from his boyhood, and at an early period he seems to have conceived the idea of employing the steam-engine to drive wheel-carriages. His father and he worked together, and by the year 1786, when the son was only twenty-three years of age, they succeeded in completing a working model of a road locomotive. Mr. Meason, the manager of the mine, was so much pleased with the model, the merit of which principally belonged to young Symington, that he sent him to Edinburg for the purpose of exhibiting it before the scientific gentlemen of that city, in the hope that it might lead, in some way, to his future advancement in life. Mr. Meason also allowed the model to be exhibited at his own house there, and he invited many gentlemen of distinction to inspect it.

The machine consisted of a carriage and locomotive behind, supported on four wheels. The boiler was cylindrical, communicating by a steam-pipe with the two horizontal cylinders, one on each side of the engine. When the piston was raised by the action of the steam, a vacuum was produced by the condensation of the steam in a cold-water tank placed underneath the engine, on which the piston was again forced back by the pressure of the atmosphere. The motion was communicated to the wheels by rack-rods connected with the piston-rod, which worked on each side of a drum fixed on the hind axle, the alternate action of which rods upon the tooth and ratchet wheels with which the drum was provided producing the rotary motion. It will thus be observed that Symington's engine was partly atmospheric and partly condensing, the condensation being effected by a separate vessel and air-pump, as patented by Watt; and though the arrangement was ingenious, it is clear that, had it ever been brought into use, the traction by means of such an engine would have been of the very slowest kind.

But Symington's engine was not destined to be applied to road locomotion. He was completely diverted from employing it for that purpose by his connection with Mr. Miller, of Dalswinton, then engaged in experimenting on the application of mechanical power to the driving of his double paddle-boat. The power of men was first tried, but the labor was found too severe; and when Mr. Miller went to see Symington's model, and informed the inventor of his difficulty in obtaining a regular and effective power for driving his boat, Symington—his mind naturally full of his own invention—at once suggested his steam-engine for the purpose. The suggestion was adopted, and Mr. Miller authorized him to proceed with the construction of a steam-engine to be fitted into his double pleasure boat on Dalswinton Lock, where it was tried in October, 1788. This was followed by farther experiments, which eventually led to the construction of the Charlotte Dundas in 1801, which may be regarded as the first practical steam-boat ever built.

Symington took out letters patent in the same year, securing the invention, or rather the novel combination of inventions, embodied in his steam-boat, but he never succeeded in getting it introduced into practical use. From the date of completing his invention, fortune seemed to run steadily against him. The Duke of Bridgewater, who had ordered a number of Symington's steam-boats for his canal, died, and his executors countermanded the order. Symington failed in inducing any other canal company to make trial of his invention. Lord Dundas also took the Charlotte Dundas off the Forth and Clyde Canal, where she had been at work, and from that time the vessel was never more tried. Symington had no capital of his own to work upon, and he seems to have been unable to make friends among capitalists. The rest of his life was for the most part thrown away. Toward the close of it his principal haunt was London, amid whose vast population he was one of the many waifs and strays. He succeeded in obtaining a grant of £100 from the Privy Purse in 1824, and afterward an annuity of £50, but he did not live long to enjoy it, for he died in March, 1831, and was buried in the church-yard of St. Botolph, Aldgate, where there is not even a stone to mark the grave of the inventor of the first practicable steam-boat.

While the inventive minds of England were thus occupied, those of America were not idle. The idea of applying steam-power to the propulsion of carriages on land is said to have occurred to John Fitch in 1785; but he did not pursue the idea "for more than a week," being diverted from it by his scheme of applying the same power to the propulsion of vessels on the water.[14] About the same time, Oliver Evans, a native of Newport, Delaware, was occupied with a project for driving steam-carriages on common roads; and in 1786 the Legislature of Maryland granted him the exclusive right for that state. Several years, however, passed before he could raise the means for erecting a model carriage, most of his friends regarding the project as altogether chimerical and impracticable. In 1800 or 1801, Evans began a steam-carriage at his own expense; but he had not proceeded far with it when he altered his intention, and applied the engine intended for the driving of a carriage to the driving of a small grinding-mill, in which it was found efficient. In 1804 he constructed at Philadelphia a second engine of five-horse power, working on the high-pressure principle, which was placed on a large flat or scow, mounted upon wheels. "This," says his biographer, "was considered a fine opportunity to show the public that his engine could propel both land and water conveyances. When the machine was finished, Evans fixed under it, in a rough and temporary manner, wheels with wooden axle-trees. Although the whole weight was equal to two hundred barrels of flour, yet his small engine propelled it up Market Street, and round the circle to the water-works, where it was launched into the Schuylkill. A paddle-wheel was then applied to its stern, and it thus sailed down that river to the Delaware, a distance of sixteen miles, in the presence of thousands of spectators."[15] It does not, however, appear that any farther trial was made of this engine as a locomotive; and, having been dismounted and applied to the driving of a small grinding-mill, its employment as a traveling engine was shortly forgotten.