Trevithick’s First Locomotive—Blenkinsop’s Locomotive—Hedley’s “Puffing Billy”—Stephenson’s Locomotive—The Link Motion—Stockton and Darlington Railway, 1825—Hackworth’s “Royal George”—“Stourbridge Lion”—“John Bull”—Baldwin’s Locomotives—Westinghouse Air Brakes—Janney Car Coupling—The Woodruff Sleeping Car—Railway Statistics.
The fact that more patents have been granted in the class of carriages and wagons than in any other field, shows that means of transportation has engaged the largest share of man’s inventive genius, and has been most closely allied to his necessities. The moving of passengers and freight seems to be directly related to the progress of civilization, and the factor whose influence has been most felt in this field is the steam locomotive. Sir Isaac Newton in 1680 proposed a steam carriage propelled by the reaction of a jet of steam. Dr. Robinson in 1759 suggested the steam carriage to Watt. Cugnot in 1769 built a steam carriage. Symington, in 1770, and Murdock, in 1784, built working models, and in 1790 Nathan Read also made experiments in steam transportation, but the Nineteenth Century dawned without any other results than a few abandoned experiments, and the criticism and disappointment of the inventors in this field.
The father of the locomotive and the first inventor of the Nineteenth Century who directed his energy to its development was Richard Trevithick, of Camborne, Cornwall. In 1801 he built his first steam carriage, adapted to carry seven or eight passengers, which was said to have ““gone off like a bird”,” but broke down, and was taken to the home of Capt. Vivian, who afterward became a partner of Trevithick. An old lady, upon seeing this novel and, to her, frightful engine, is said to have cried out: ““Good gracious! Mr. Vivian, what will be done next? I can’t compare it to anything but a walking, puffing devil.”” On the 24th of March, 1802, Trevithick and Vivian obtained British patent No. 2,599 for their steam carriage, and a second one was built in 1803 which was popularly known as Capt. Trevithick’s “Puffing Devil.” In 1804, at Pen y Darran, South Wales, a third engine was built, which was the first steam locomotive ever to run on rails. It is seen in the illustration, No. 93. It had a horizontal cylinder inside the boiler, a cross head sliding on guides in front of the engine, the cross head being connected to a crank on a rear gear wheel, which in turn meshes with an intermediate gear wheel above and between two other gear wheels on the running wheels. A fly wheel was on the crank shaft. The steam was discharged into the chimney, and the whole engine weighed five tons, and it ran, when loaded, at five miles an hour. In 1808 Trevithick built a circular railway at London within an inclosure, and charged a shilling for admission to his steam circus and a ride behind his locomotive. The engine here employed was the “Catch Me Who Can,” and had a vertical cylinder and piston, without the toothed gear wheels shown in the illustration.
In Fig. 94 is shown Blenkinsop’s locomotive of 1811. This was employed at the Middleton Colliery in hauling coal. It had cog wheels engaging teeth on the side of the rail. The fire was built in a large tube passing through the boiler and bent up to form a chimney. Two vertical cylinders were placed inside the boiler, and the pistons were connected by cross heads, and, by connecting rods, to cranks on the axles of small cog wheels engaging with the main cog wheels. It drew thirty tons weight at three and three-quarter miles an hour.
In 1813 “Puffing Billy” was built by Wm. Hedley. There were (see Fig. 95) four smooth drive wheels running on smooth rails, which wheels were coupled together by intermediate gear wheels on the axle, and all propelled by a gear wheel in the middle, driven by a connecting rod from the walking beam overhead. Hedley’s locomotive was used on the Wylam railway, and was said to have been at work more or less until 1862.
Most prominent among those who took an active interest in the development of the locomotive were George Stephenson and his son, Robert. Stephenson’s first locomotive was tried on the Killingworth Railway on July 27, 1814. In 1815 Dodds and Stephenson patented an arrangement for attaching the connecting rods to the driving wheels, which took the place of cog wheels heretofore employed, and in the following year Stephenson, in connection with Mr. Losh, patented the application of steam cushion-springs for supporting the weight of the locomotive in an elastic manner.
In 1825 the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in England, was opened for traffic, with George Stephenson’s engine, “Locomotion,” and was put permanently into service for the transportation of freight and passengers.
In 1827 Hackworth produced the “Royal George” (see Fig. 96), whose cylinders were arranged vertically at the rear end of the boiler, and whose pistons emerged from the cylinders at the lower ends of the latter, and imparted their power through connecting rods to cranks on the opposite ends of the axle of the rear driving wheels in a more direct manner than heretofore, and doing away with the overhead mechanism heretofore employed in most engines. Hackworth also improved the steam blast, put on the bell, and greatly simplified and modernized the appearance of the locomotive.
In 1829 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was completed, and the directors offered a prize of £500 for the best locomotive. George Stephenson’s “Rocket,” shown in Fig. 97, attained a speed of 241⁄6 miles an hour, and took the prize. Its success, however, was marred by the first railroad fatality, for it ran over and killed a man on this occasion. It embodied, as leading features, the steam blast and the multitubular boiler, which latter was six feet long and had twenty-five three-inch tubes. The fire box was surrounded by an exterior casing that formed a water jacket, which, by means of pipes, was in open communication with the water space of the boiler.
The first practical locomotive to run on a railroad in the United States was the “Stourbridge Lion,” seen in Fig. 98. This was imported from England, and arrived in New York in May, 1829, and was tried in that year on a section of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company’s railroad. The boiler was tubular, and the exhaust steam was carried into the chimney by a pipe in front of the smoke stack as shown. It had vertical cylinders of thirty-six inch stroke, with overhead grasshopper beams and connecting rods.
In Fig. 99 is shown the “John Bull,” now in the National Museum at Washington, D. C. It was built by Stephenson & Co. for the Camden & Amboy Railroad, and was brought over from England and put into service in 1831. During the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, after a long rest in the Washington Museum, it made its way under its own steam to Chicago, drawing a train of two cars a distance of 912 miles without assistance. It further distinguished itself while there by carrying 50,000 passengers over the exhibition tracks, and although sixty-two years of age at the time, showed itself quite capable of performing substantial work.
Most of the early locomotives used in America were imported from England, but our inventors soon commenced making them for themselves. The Baldwin Locomotive Works, of Philadelphia, has had a notable career in the field of locomotive construction. “Old Ironsides,” built in 1832, was the first Baldwin locomotive, and it did duty for over a score of years. It is shown in Fig. 100. It had four wheels and weighed a little over five tons. The drive wheels were 54 inches in diameter, and the cylinder 91⁄2 inches in diameter, 18 inches stroke. The wheels had heavy cast iron hubs with wooden spokes and rims and wrought iron tires, and the frame was of wood placed outside the wheels. The boiler was 30 inches in diameter and had 72 copper flues 11⁄2 inches in diameter, 7 feet long. The price of the locomotive was $4,000, and it attained a speed of 30 miles an hour, with its train.
In Fig. 101 is shown a standard type of passenger locomotive of the period of 1863, and in Fig. 102 is illustrated the period of 1881, which latter represents perhaps the greatest epoch of railroad building in the history of the world. According to Poor’s Manual, $1,000,000 a day was the estimated cash outlay on this account for the three years up to the close of 1882, during which period 28,019 miles of railroad were opened up in the United States, or more than enough to girdle the entire earth. Some idea of the wonderful growth of the railroad industry during this period is given by the following tables, which represent the yearly production of locomotives by the Baldwin Company alone for forty years prior to this period:
| 1842 | 14 | 1856 | 59 | 1870 | 280 |
| 1843 | 12 | 1857 | 66 | 1871 | 331 |
| 1844 | 22 | 1858 | 33 | 1872 | 442 |
| 1845 | 27 | 1859 | 70 | 1873 | 437 |
| 1846 | 42 | 1860 | 83 | 1874 | 205 |
| 1847 | 39 | 1861 | 40 | 1875 | 130 |
| 1848 | 20 | 1862 | 75 | 1876 | 232 |
| 1849 | 30 | 1863 | 96 | 1877 | 185 |
| 1850 | 37 | 1864 | 130 | 1878 | 292 |
| 1851 | 50 | 1865 | 115 | 1879 | 398 |
| 1852 | 49 | 1866 | 118 | 1880 | 517 |
| 1853 | 60 | 1867 | 127 | 1881 | 555 |
| 1854 | 62 | 1868 | 124 | 1882 | 563 |
| 1855 | 47 | 1869 | 235 | 1883 | 557 |
The present capacity of the Baldwin works is one thousand locomotives a year, and they have built up to this date about fifteen thousand locomotives, or nearly one-half of all the locomotives in use in the United States.
The successive steps of the development in detail of the various features of the locomotive are distributed over a long period, and are somewhat difficult to trace. The turning of the exhaust steam into the smoke stack was done by Trevithick as early as 1804, but its effect was greatly increased by Hackworth about 1827, who augmented its power by directing it into the chimney through a narrow orifice. This and the tubular locomotive boiler by Seguin in 1828, the link-motion in 1832, the steam whistle by Stephenson in 1833, the Giffard injector in 1858, and the Westinghouse air brake of 1869, are the most prominent features of the locomotive.
The link motion has been claimed both for the younger Stephenson and W. T. James, of New York, the latter being probably its real inventor. Its purpose is to reverse the engine and also to cut off steam in either direction, so that it may act expansively. The form of link motion most generally used is shown in Fig. 103, and is known as Stephenson’s. A B are two eccentrics projecting in opposite directions from the center of the common drive shaft, their rods being connected at their outer ends by a curved and slotted link C D. In the slot of this link plays a pin E, carried by a pendent swinging lever G F, which lever is jointed at its lower end to the slide valve rod H. A T-shaped lever I L K M has one arm at I connected by a rod with the slotted link at C. The opposite arm is provided with a counter weight at K to balance the weight of the link C D and eccentric rods, and the upright arm is connected at M to a rod operated by a hand lever P within easy access of the engineer. When the link C D is lowered the eccentric B imparts its throw to pendent lever G F and valve rod H, and the eccentric A will only swing the end C of the link without imparting any effect to the valve. When link C D is drawn up so that pin E is in the bottom of the slot, the eccentric A is active and B inactive, and as A has an opposite throw to B, the action of the valve is reversed. If link C D be drawn half way up, the pin E becomes the center of the oscillation of the link, and the valve rod is not moved at all. By adjusting the link nearer to or further from the central position, the throw of the slide valve may be made shorter or longer, and the steam cut off at a later or earlier period in the stroke of the piston.
Fig. 104 is a type of the best modern express locomotive. This is the famous 999 of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. Its cylinders are 19 × 24 inches, driving wheels 861⁄2 inches in diameter, weight 62 tons, steam pressure 190 pounds. This engine hauls the Empire State Express at a speed of 64.22 miles an hour, excluding stops, or more than a mile a minute.
In securing a higher efficiency and a greater economy in the use of steam, the most recent developments in the locomotive have been in the application of the principle of the compound expansion engine, in which two or more cylinders of different diameters are used, the steam at high pressure acting in the smaller cylinder, and being then exhausted into and acting expansively upon the piston of the larger cylinder. A fine example of the compound locomotive is shown in Fig. 105. The cylinders are arranged in pairs, the small high pressure cylinder above, and the larger low pressure cylinder below, both piston rods engaging a common cross head. The application of this principle of the compound engine is said to involve a saving in coal of over 25 per cent.
Prominent among modern improvements in steam railways is the air brake. This invention is chiefly the result of the ingenuity of Mr. George Westinghouse, Jr., who, beginning his experiments in 1869, took out his first patents on the automatic air brake March 5, 1872, Nos. 124,404 and 124,405, which have since been followed up by many others in perfecting the system. The principle of the air brake is to store up compressed air in a reservoir on the locomotive by means of a steam pump. This air passing through a train pipe connected by hose couplings between cars charges an auxiliary reservoir under each car. This reservoir is arranged beside a cylinder having a piston and a triple valve. Pressure in the train pipe is maintained constantly, and the power to work the piston to apply the brakes comes from the auxiliary reservoir beside it, which is set into action by a sudden reduction of pressure in the train pipe by the engineer through a special form of valve on the locomotive. The air brake is capable of stopping a train at average speed within the distance of its own length, and so great a safeguard to life and property is it, that its application to a certain number of cars on every train is made compulsory by law.
The automatic car coupling is another important life-saving improvement. Many thousands of these have been patented, but the “Janney” coupling, patented April 29, 1873, No. 138,405, is the most representative type. The year 1900 is to witness the compulsory adoption of automatic car couplings on all cars. The “block system” of signals, by which no train is admitted on to a given section of track until the preceding train has left that section, improved switches, which are not dependent upon the memory of men, and steel rails, which constitute nine-tenths of all tracks and serve to increase the stability of the track, are further modern safeguards against danger.
Sleeping cars were invented by Woodruff, and patented Dec. 2, 1856, Nos. 16,159 and 16,160. These, with the palace cars of Pullman and Wagner, the special refrigerator cars for perishable goods, cars for cattle, and cars for coal, multiply the equipment, swell the traffic, and supply every want of the great railroad systems of modern times.
The first railroad in the United States was built near Quincy, Mass., in 1826. The Pacific Railway, the first of our half a dozen transcontinental railways, was completed in 1869. The great Trans-Siberian Railway is nearing completion, and in the Twentieth Century a Trans-Sahara Railway will probably relieve the burdens of the camel, as it has already done those of the horse.
At the end of the year 1898 there were in use in the United States 36,746 locomotives, 1,318,700 cars, and the mileage in tracks, including second track and sidings, was 245,238.87, which, if extended in a straight line, would build a railway to the moon. The money investment represented in capital stock and bonds was $11,216,886,452. The gross earnings for the year 1898 were $1,249,558,724. The net earnings were $389,666,474. Tons of freight moved were 912,973,853. Receipts from freight were $868,924,526. Number of passengers carried was 514,982,288. Receipts from passengers were $272,589,591, and dividends paid were $94,937,526. Add to the above the elevated railroads and street railroads, which are not included, and the immensity of the railroad business in the United States becomes apparent. In 1898 the United States exported 468 locomotives, worth $3,883,719. Mulhall estimates that the steam horse power of railroads in the world amounted in 1896 to 40,420,000, of which the United States had more than one-third. He also states that the railways in the United States carry every day, in merchandise, a weight equal to that of the whole of the seventy millions of persons constituting its population; that the total railway traffic of the world in 1894 averaged ten million passengers and six million tons of merchandise daily; and that the total railway capital of the world reached in that year, 6,745 million sterling, or about thirty-three billion dollars.
It is said that the highest railway speed ever attained by steam prior to 1900 was by locomotive No. 564 of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, made during part of a run from Chicago to Buffalo. In this run 86 miles were made at an average rate of 72.92 miles an hour. The train load was 304,500 pounds, and the 86 mile run included one mile at 92.3 miles an hour, eight miles at 85.44 miles an hour, and thirty-three miles at 80.6 miles an hour. On May 26, 1900, however, an experiment on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, made by Mr. F. U. Adams between Baltimore and Washington, demonstrated that by sheathing the train to prevent retardation by the air, an average speed of 78.6 miles an hour was obtained, and for five miles on a down grade a speed of 102.8 miles an hour was reached.
The largest and most powerful locomotives in the world are those being built for the Pittsburg, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad for hauling long trains of iron and ore, one of which has just been completed. Its cylinders are 24 × 32 inches; drive wheels, 54 inches diameter; weight, 125 tons; draw bar pull 56,300 pounds, and hauling capacity 7,847 tons. One of these mammoth engines is capable of drawing a train of box cars, loaded with wheat, and more than a mile long, at a speed of ten miles an hour. This load of wheat would represent the yield of 14 square miles of land. No doubt it would greatly astonish our forefathers to know that at the end of the century we would have iron horses capable of carting away, at a single load, the products of 14 square miles of the country side, and do it at a gait faster than that of their local mail coach.
Early Experiments—Symington’s Boat—Col. John Stevens’ Screw Propeller—Robt. Fulton and the “Clermont”—First Trip to Sea by Stevens’ “Phœnix”—“Savannah,” the First Steam Vessel to Cross the Ocean—Ericsson’s Screw Propeller—The “Great Eastern”—The Whaleback Steamers—Ocean Greyhounds—The “Oceanic,” Largest Steamship in the World—The “Turbinia”—Fulton’s “Demologos,” First War Vessel—The Turret Monitor—Modern Battleships and Torpedo Boats—Holland Submarine Boat.
The application of steam for the propulsion of boats engaged the attention of inventors along with the very earliest development of the steam engine itself. Blasco de Garay in 1543, the Marquis of Worcester in 1655, Savary in 1698, Denys Papin in 1707, Dr. John Allen in 1730, Jonathan Hulls in 1737, Bernouilli and Genevois in 1757, William Henry (of Pennsylvania) in 1763, Count D’Auxiron and M. Perier in 1774, the Marquis de Jouffroy in 1781, James Rumsey (on the Potomac) in 1782, Benjamin Franklin and Oliver Evans in 1786 and 1789, John Fitch in 1786, and also again in 1796, and William Symington in 1788-89 were the early experimenters. Papin’s boat was said to have been used on the Fulda at Cassel, and was reported to have been destroyed by bargemen, who feared that it would deprive them of a livelihood. Allen, Rumsey, Franklin, and Evans (1786) proposed to employ a backwardly discharged column of water issuing from a pump. Jonathan Hulls and Oliver Evans (1789) had stern wheels. Bernouilli, Genevois, and the Marquis de Jouffroy used paddles on the duck’s foot principle, which closed when dragged forward, and expanded when pushed to the rear. Fitch’s first boat employed a system of paddles suspended by their handles from cranks, which, in revolving, gave the paddles a motion simulating that which the Indian imparts to his paddle. Symington’s boat of 1788 (Patrick Miller’s pleasure boat) had side paddle wheels. Symington’s next boat, built in 1789, and also owned by Patrick Miller, was of the catamaran type, i. e., it had two parallel hulls with paddle wheels between them.
Such was the state of this art when the Nineteenth Century commenced its wonderful record. No practical steam vessel had been constructed, as the efforts in this direction were handicapped by the crudeness of all the arts, and were to be regarded as experiments only, most of which had to be abandoned. The seed of this invention, however, had been sown in the fertile soil of genius, conception of its great possibilities had fired the zeal of the inventors in this field, and the new century was shortly to number among its great resources a practical and efficient steamboat.
The first steamboat of the Nineteenth Century was the “Charlotte Dundas,” built by William Symington in 1801, see Fig. 106, and used on the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1802. She had a double acting “Watt engine,” which transmitted power by a connecting rod to a crank on the paddle-wheel shaft. The boat had a single paddle wheel in the middle near the stern, and was intended only for canal use, in the place of horses. It was abandoned for fear of washing the banks.
In 1804 Col. John Stevens constructed a boat on the Hudson, driven by a Watt engine, and having a tubular boiler of his own invention and a twin screw propeller. The engine, boiler, and twin screws are shown in Fig. 107. The same year Oliver Evans used a stern paddle wheel boat on the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It was driven by a double acting high pressure engine, and geared so as to rotate wagon wheels by which it was transported on land, as well as the paddle wheels when on the water. It was in primitive form both a locomotive and a steamboat.
In 1807 Robert Fulton built the “Clermont,” and permanently established steam navigation on the Hudson River between New York and Albany. Fulton in 1802-1803, while living in Paris with Mr. Joel Barlow, and with the aid and encouragement of Chancellor Livingston, of New Jersey, had built an earlier steamboat 86 feet long, and although it broke down owing to defects in the strength of the hull, he was so encouraged that he ordered Messrs. Boulton & Watt, of England, to send to America a new steam engine, and upon his return to America he built the “Clermont.” This vessel, although not the first steamboat, was nevertheless the first to make a voyage of any considerable length, and to run regularly and continuously for practical purposes, and Fulton was the first inventor in this field whose labors were not to be classed as an abandoned experiment. The “Clermont” as originally built was quite a different looking boat from that usually given in the histories. A model of the original construction is to be found in the National Museum at Washington. In the winter of 1807-8 she was remodeled as shown in Fig. 108. She then appeared as a side wheel steamer, whose wheels were provided with outer guards and enclosed in side wheel houses, and whose shaft had outer bearings in the guards, which were not in the original boat. The hull was 133 feet long, 18 feet beam, and 7 feet depth. The “Clermont’s” engines were coupled to the crank shaft by a bell crank, and the paddle wheel shaft was separated from the crank shaft, but connected with it by gearing. The cylinders were 24 inches in diameter, and 4 foot stroke. The paddle wheels had buckets 4 feet long with a dip of 2 feet. She made the first trip from New York to Albany of 150 miles in 32 hours, and returned in 30 hours, which was the first voyage of any considerable length ever made by steam power.
The honor of inventing the steamboat has been claimed for many inventors, and that many worthy experimenters had been working in this field, and that Fulton had the benefit of their experience is true. The fact is, however, that the evolution of any great, invention is a slow and cumulative process, the product of many minds, and while the proposers, suggesters, and experimenters are entitled to their share of the credit, it is the man who achieves success and gives to the public the benefit of his labors whom the world honors, and in this connection the name of Fulton stands pre-eminent, for although the “Clermont” was 264 years later than the steamboat of Blasco de Garay, the “Clermont” marks the beginning of practical steam navigation, and whatever the claims of other inventors may be, it is certain that steam navigation, established by Fulton in 1807, on the Hudson, preceded the practical use of the steamboat in any other country by at least five years, for it was not until 1812 that Henry Bell, of Scotland, built the “Comet,” that plied between Glasgow and Greenock, on the Clyde, and not until 1814 was a steam packet used for hire on the Thames in England.
At the same time that Fulton was in Paris making his first experiments with the steamboat, Col. John Stevens, the most celebrated boat builder and engineer of his day, was actively experimenting in America in the same line. Having in 1804 made the first application of steam to the screw propeller, he in 1807 built the “Phœnix,” which was driven by paddle wheels. The “Phœnix” was constructed shortly after Fulton’s boat, but was barred from use on the Hudson by the exclusive monopoly obtained by Fulton and Livingston from the State Legislature, and she was accordingly taken from New York to Philadelphia by sea, which was the first ocean voyage by a steam vessel.
The first steamboat on the Mississippi was the “Orleans,” of 100 tons, built at Pittsburg by Fulton and Livingston in 1811. She had a stern wheel, and went from Pittsburg to New Orleans in 14 days.
Although the first trip out to sea was made in 1808 by Col. Stevens’ son in taking the “Phœnix” from New York to Philadelphia, no attempt had been made to cross the ocean until 1819. In this year the “Savannah,” an American steamer of 380 tons, performed this feat, and had the honor of being the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic. In 1824 the “Enterprise,” an English steamer, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and went to India.
FIG. 109.—SCREW PROPELLER OF THE “ROBT. F. STOCKTON,” ERICSSON’S PATENT, 1836.
The screw propeller employed by Colonel Stevens in 1804 was not a new invention with him, as popularly supposed, but had its origin early in the preceding century, being a mere development of the ancient wind wheel. In 1836 it was further developed by Francis P. Smith and by Capt. John Ericsson, then living in England. Ericsson took out British patent No. 7,149, of 1836, and United States patent No. 588, of Feb. 1, 1838, and built several screw steamers, and through Capt. Robert F. Stockton, of the United States Navy, succeeded in having a screw steamer, the “Robert F. Stockton,” built in accordance with the plans of his patent and sent to the United States. The arrangement of her machinery is seen in Fig. 109. She had two propellers on the same axis, but revolving in opposite directions, one being on the central shaft and the other on a concentric tube. The engines were coupled directly to the propeller shafts, which feature was one of Ericsson’s improvements, and has continued to be the approved form to this day.
In the early history of steam navigation the side wheel steamer was the favorite, and was employed for ocean travel as well as for inland waters. In 1840 the “Brittania,” the first Cunarder, commenced the career of that celebrated line. This vessel had side wheels, as did also the “United States,” shown in Fig. 110, which was the first American steamer built expressly for the Atlantic trade. In 1852 the United States mail steamer “Arctic,” of the Collins line, was regarded as the greyhound of the Atlantic, her time being 9 days, 17 hours and 12 minutes. She also had side wheels.
Side wheel steamers for inland waters, and screw propellers for sea service, however, in time established their fitness for their respective scenes of action. In side wheel steamers the most notable improvements have been in stiffening the hull by braces, and the adoption of feathering paddle wheels, whose function is to cause the paddles to enter and leave the water in vertical position without dragging dead water. Manley in 1862, and Morgan in 1875, patented practical forms of the feathering paddle wheel. In screw propellers, Woodcroft in 1832, and Griffiths at a later period, made valuable improvements. The surface condenser was used by Hall in 1838 on the steamship “Wilberforce,” and Sickels in 1841 invented the drop cut-off.
| FIG. 111.— | “GREAT EASTERN,” SCREW AND PADDLE WHEELS, 1858. LENGTH, 692 FEET, SPEED 12 KNOTS. | |
| “OCEANIC,” TWIN SCREW, 1899. LENGTH, 704 FEET, SPEED, 20 KNOTS. |
In 1854 the “Great Eastern” was begun and was finished in 1858. This was the largest steam vessel ever built up to this time, and has continued to hold the record for size up to the year 1899, when her dimensions were exceeded by the “Oceanic,” which ships are put in comparison in Fig. 111. The length of the “Great Eastern” was 692 feet, beam 83 feet, depth 571⁄2 feet, draft 251⁄2 feet, displacement 27,000 tons, and speed 12 knots. She was designed by the English engineer Brunel, and was intended for the Australian trade. She had both a screw propeller and paddle wheels at the side, with four engines coupled to each. The paddle wheel engines had steam cylinders 74 inches in diameter, with 14 foot stroke, and those of the screw engines were 84 inches in diameter and 4 foot stroke. Collectively they were of 10,000 horse power. The paddle wheels were 56 feet in diameter, and the screw propeller 24 feet. On her first voyage to New York, across the Atlantic, in 1860, she carried from 15 to 24 pounds of steam and consumed 2,877 tons of coal. Her cost was $3,831,520. This mammoth vessel was too large and unwieldy for the uses for which she was designed, and proved a bad investment. She served, however, a most useful purpose, by virtue of her great bulk, steadiness, and carrying capacity, for relaying the Atlantic cable in 1866, and others in 1873-1874.
In 1874 the “Castalia” was built. This was a steamer with two parallel hulls, decked across, and designed for greater steadiness in crossing the English Channel. The “Bessemer” steamer, designed for the same purpose, and built about the same time, had four paddle wheels, and the entire cabin was hung on pivots, so that it could not partake of the sea motion.
In later years great improvements have been made in reducing the weight of the engines, in forced blast, steam steering gear, anchor hoisting devices, water-tight bulkheads, surface condensers, electric lights, and signalling devices. By the year 1880 the standard form of marine engine for large powers had become the compound double cylinder type, expanding steam from an initial pressure as high as 90 pounds. In 1890 triple expansion engines had become common, employing three cylinders, and using steam with an initial pressure as high as 180 pounds. In 1890 McDougal’s whale-back steamers were introduced. See United States patents No. 429,467 and 429,468, June 3, 1890, and No. 500,411, June 27, 1893.
In no country in the world are such fine examples of side wheel steamers to be found as in the United States, and in no country are there such splendid reaches of inland waters as theatres for their performances. The “Priscilla,” shown in Fig. 112, of the Fall River Line, plying on Long Island Sound, and the “Adirondack,” on the Hudson, are fine examples of this type. The “Priscilla,” which is said to be the largest river boat in the world, is 440 feet 6 inches long and 93 feet breadth over the guards. She is driven by double compound inclined engines, has feathering paddle wheels 35 feet in diameter and 14 feet face, and her speed is over 20 miles an hour. The “Adirondack,” whose engines and feathering paddle wheel are shown in Fig. 113, is 412 feet long and 90 feet breadth over guards. The engines and paddle wheels of the “Adirondack” are distinctly representative of the modern American side wheel steamer.
The largest and in many respects the highest type of marine architecture is to be found in the modern ocean greyhound for transatlantic trade. In recent years the rival companies have vied with each other in the effort to excel, and steamships of larger size, greater speed, and more perfect equipment have followed each other, until it would seem that the limit had been reached. In the accompanying table the largest and most recent steamers are placed in comparison with the “Great Eastern.”
| DIMENSIONS OF THE LARGEST OCEAN STEAMERS. | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME OF SHIP. | DATE. | LENGTH OVER ALL. |
BEAM. | DEPTH. | DRAUGHT. | DIS- PLACE- MENT. |
MAXIMUM SPEED. |
|||||
| FEET. | FEET. | FEET. | FEET. | TONS. | KNOTS. | |||||||
| Great Eastern | 1858 | 692 | 83 | 57 | 1⁄2 | 25 | 1⁄2 | 27,000 | 12 | |||
| Paris | 1888 | 560 | 63 | 42 | 26 | 1⁄2 | 13,000 | 20 | ||||
| Teutonic | 1890 | 585 | 57 | 1⁄2 | 42 | 26 | 12,000 | 20 | ||||
| Campania | 1893 | 625 | 65 | 41 | 1⁄2 | 28 | 19,000 | 22 | ||||
| St. Paul | 1895 | 554 | 63 | 42 | 27 | 14,000 | 21 | |||||
| Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse | 1897 | 649 | 66 | 43 | 29 | 20,000 | 22 | .35 | ||||
| Oceanic | 1899 | 704 | 68 | 49 | 32 | 1⁄2 | 28,500 | 20 | ||||
| Deutschland | 1900 | 686 | 1⁄2 | 67 | 1⁄3 | 44 | 29 | 22,000 | 23 | 1⁄2 | ||
The “Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse,” owned by the North German Lloyd Company, and built in 1897, is shown in Fig. 114, and for three years held the record as the fastest steamship afloat. The “Kaiser Wilhelm” was followed by the “Oceanic,” in 1899, of the White Star Company, which is the largest ocean steamer ever built, exceeding the proportions of the “Great Eastern.” Just what the dimensions of the “Oceanic” mean, as given in the preceding tables, can be best illustrated by the accompanying Fig. 115, in which she is juxtaposed with several blocks of large buildings on Broadway, New York, opposite City Hall Park. If the “Oceanic” were placed on end beside Washington’s Monument, at the United States Capital, she would tower 150 feet above the top of the same. An ordinary brick house four rooms deep and three stories high could be built with its length crosswise in her hull. There is accommodation for 410 first-class passengers, 300 second-class passengers, and 1,000 third class, and as her crew will number 390, the total number of souls on board, when she carries her full complement, will be 2,100.
The latest achievement in marine architecture, however, is the “Deutschland,” built for the Hamburg-American Company. The “Deutschland” is not quite so large as the “Oceanic,” but is of higher speed, her maximum speed of 231⁄2 knots an hour exceeding that of any other ocean steamer. The “Savannah,” the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic, made the trip in 1819 in 26 days. The “Deutschland” in her eastward trip September 4, 1900, crossed the Atlantic in 5 days 7 hours and 38 minutes, which is the fastest time on record. The “Deutschland” is of 35,640 horse power, her two bronze propellers are 23 feet diameter, and weigh 30 tons, and her propeller shafts are 25 inches in diameter. The cranks of her propeller shafts, like those of the “Kaiser Wilhelm” and the “Oceanic,” are set according to the Schlick system, to reduce vibration. The “Deutschland’s” engines are seen in Fig. 92, and in general appearance the ship resembles the “Kaiser Wilhelm.” Still larger and possibly swifter steamships are in process of construction, viz.: the “Kaiser Wilhelm II.,” by the North German Lloyd Company, and a mammoth unnamed ship by the White Star Line, whose length of 750 feet will exceed all others.
It may be interesting to note in familiar terms what these enormous traveling palaces comprehend in equipment. For the safety and comfort of passengers, the great length reduces the pitching, bilge keels prevent rolling, and the Schlick system of cranks neutralizes vibration in the engine. Strong bulkheads, and double bottoms with air-tight compartments, impart buoyancy in case of collision. Boilers are placed in separate water-tight compartments, so that damage to one does not disable the others. Powerful pumps are arranged to discharge inflowing water, and the best of life boats are provided. Spacious dining rooms, promenade decks, drawing rooms, pianos, library, smoking room, state rooms, cabins for children, toilets, baths, medicine stores, a printing office, and electric lights everywhere, furnish every want and satisfy every luxurious taste. The cuisine includes a refrigerating plant, the finest ranges, and provisions galore. It may be interesting to the housewife to see the market list of a modern transatlantic steamer. A specimen is partially represented in the following: 25,450 pounds of fresh meat, 3,250 pounds of fish, 6,370 pounds of game and poultry, 12,715 pounds of bread, 43 barrels of flour, 3,938 pounds of butter, 1,307 pounds of coffee, 2,790 pounds of sugar, 102 pounds of tea, 7,220 pounds of fresh fruit; 1,230 gallons of milk, 26,106 eggs, 29,180 oranges and lemons, 7,033 bottles of mineral water, 1,800 bottles of beer, 2,688 gallons of beer in casks, 1,240 bottles of wine, 630 bottles of champagne, 1,600 heads of lettuce, 800 jars of preserved fruits, and other things in proportion.
In the matter of size the “Oceanic” surpasses all previous efforts in ship building, but ocean steamers do not reach the highest speed attainable. The little “Turbinia,” a 40 ton craft equipped with a compound rotary steam turbine of the Parsons type, has attained a speed of 323⁄4 knots an hour. An even greater speed has recently been attained by the larger boat, “Hai Lung,” constructed in England for the Chinese Government, which vessel was equipped with reciprocating engines, and is credited with having made a run of 181⁄2 knots at an average speed of 35 knots an hour. The highest speed ever attained, however, is by the British torpedo boat “Viper,” which is 210 feet long, and, like the “Turbinia,” is equipped with the Parsons steam turbines. In a recent trial the “Viper” covered a measured mile at the rate of 37.1 knots, or about 43 miles an hour.
In many respects the most important branch of steam navigation in recent years has been its war vessels. The great navies of the world at the end of 1898[3] ranked as follows: England, 1,557,522 tons; France, 731,629 tons; Russia, 453,899 tons; United States, 303,070 tons; Germany, 299,637 tons; Italy, 286,175 tons, and they all owe their efficiency entirely to steam. The first steam war vessel was built in 1814 by Fulton for the defence of New York Harbor, during the then existing war times. She was known as the “Demologos” (voice of the people), or “Fulton the First.” As shown in the original designs, Fig. 116, she is a double ender, whose sides were to be 5 feet thick. In her middle was a channel way or well containing a protected paddle wheel 16 feet in diameter, 14 feet wide, and having a dip of 4 feet. A single cylinder engine turned the paddle wheel on one side, and was balanced by the boiler on the other side. Although intended to have only twenty guns, she was equipped, when finished, with thirty long 32-pounder guns and two Columbiad 100-pounders. It was proposed also to have submarine guns suspended from each bow. An engine was also to be used to discharge hot water on the enemy, and a furnace was to be provided for heating the cannon balls red hot. She was 156 feet long, 20 feet deep, and 56 feet broad, and was regarded as a very formidable vessel. Her cost was $278,544. Iron-clad floating batteries were first used in 1855 in the Crimean war, and shortly afterward the French built the first sea-going iron-clad, “Gloire,” followed in 1859 by the British iron-clad, “Warrior.”
[3] The figures represent a selective list which excludes about 15 per cent. of old and inefficient vessels.
The civil war in 1861 brought with it a novel and striking form of war vessel known as the “Monitor.”[4] It was built from plans of Capt. Ericsson, an engineer of the ripest experience, skill, and attainments, who had then come to make his home in the United States. He undertook to construct for the Navy Department of the United States some form of iron clad steam batteries of light draft, suitable to navigate the rivers and harbors of the Confederate States. The “Monitor” was the result. The salient features, shown in vertical cross section in Fig. 117, are a low deck projecting but a few inches above the water line, so as to present as little target as possible to the enemy, and a revolving and heavily armored turret containing the battery of guns. In 1862 the Confederate forces had reconstructed a steam vessel with a chicken-coop-shaped covering of armor, that proved a formidable engine of war, which was practically invulnerable to the attacks of ordinary war vessels, and was doing great damage to the Union vessels. In the spring of 1862 the “Monitor” met the “Merrimac” in engagement in Hampton Roads, and established the great value of the turret monitor.
[4] The revolving turret was invented and patented by Theodore R. Timby, No. 35,846, July 8, 1862, and No. 36,593, September 30, 1862.
Vessels of the “Monitor” type still form useful parts of the United States Navy, in which the “Monterey” and “Monadnock” are its most representative types. The “Monadnock,” which is a double-turret coast defence monitor, is shown in Fig. 118. Although regarded by some as unseaworthy on account of the low seaboard and small buoyancy, the monitor has cleared itself of such suspicion, for in the recent war with Spain both the “Monadnock” and “Monterey” sailed across the Pacific Ocean by way of Honolulu to Manila, a distance of 7,000 miles, and joined the fleet of Admiral Dewey without mishap or delay.
No patriotic American citizen would expect to read an account of modern war vessels without finding special mention of those two splendid types of their class, the battleship “Oregon” and the armored cruiser “Brooklyn,” whose performances during the late war with Spain contributed so much to the honor and glory of the United States Navy, and demonstrated the skill and efficiency of our American shipbuilders. Before the war began the “Oregon” was stationed on the Pacific Coast, where she had been built, and it was desired that she should join the fleet of Admiral Sampson in Cuban waters. Leaving Puget Sound on March 6, 1898, this floating fortress of steel, weighted with her enormous guns and 18-inch thick armor, made the long journey of over 14,500 miles around the southern end of the western continent, and up to Jupiter Inlet on the Florida coast, arriving there on the 24th day of May, and was not delayed an hour on account of her machinery, the only stops being made for coal. Immediately after coaling at Key West she took her place in the blockading line at Santiago, and in the great battle of July 3 quickly developed a power greater than that attained on her trial trip and a speed only slightly less, easily distancing all other ships immediately engaged except the “Brooklyn,” and in connection with the “Brooklyn” forced the fleetest of the Spanish cruisers to surrender.
The “Oregon” is shown in Fig. 119. She is an armored battleship of the first class, built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, and launched Oct. 26, 1893. Her length is 348 feet, beam 691⁄4 feet, draft 24 feet, displacement 10,288 tons, maximum speed 16.79 knots, and coal capacity 1,594 tons. Her side armor is of steel plates 18 inches thick, and her deck is, 23⁄4 inches thick. On the turrets the armor is from 6 to 15 inches thick, and on the barbettes it is from 6 to 17 inches thick. Her engines are of the twin screw, vertical triple expansion direct acting inverted cylinder type. The stroke is 42 inches, and the diameters of the cylinders are 341⁄2, 48, and 75 inches, respectively. The battery consists of four 13-inch breech loading rifles, eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, four 6-inch, twenty 6-pounder rapid fire guns, six 1-pounder rapid fire, two Colts, one 3-inch rapid fire field gun, and three torpedo tubes. The 13-inch guns weigh 136,000 pounds each, are 39 feet 91⁄4 inches long, are set 18 feet above the water, can be moved through an arc of 270 degrees, and throw a projectile of 1,100 pounds a distance of 12 miles, and with a power which at 1,000 yards would perforate a mass of steel 21⁄2 feet in thickness. The cost of the “Oregon” was $3,180,000.
The “Brooklyn” is shown in Fig. 120, and enjoys the distinction of having borne the brunt of the fight of July 3, 1898, having been hit over forty times in that engagement without being disabled. She was built by the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, of Philadelphia, was launched Oct. 2, 1895, and cost $2,986,000. She is an armored cruiser, and is one of the latest and most speedy of that type. She is 400 feet 6 inches long, 64 feet 8 inches breadth, 24 feet draft, 9,215 tons displacement. Her engines are the twin-screw vertical triple expansion type, imparting a speed of 21.91 knots an hour. Her maximum indicated horse power is 18,769, and her coal capacity is 1,461 tons. Her battery consists of eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, twelve 5-inch rapid fire guns, twelve 6-pounder rapid fire, four 1-pounder rapid fire, four Colts, two 3-inch rapid fire field guns, and four Whitehead torpedo tubes. Her side armor is 3 inches thick, her turrets 51⁄2 inches, her barbettes from 4 to 8 inches, and her deck from 3 to 6 inches. She also has a water line protection of cocoa fibre to automatically close up an opening made by a shot.
Although not a steam vessel, it would be regarded as an omission not to mention among war vessels the “Holland” submarine boat, brought into notice in 1898 by the Spanish American war, and designed to dive below the surface and make attack below the water level. Torpedo boats of this type have been acquired by, and now form a part of, the United States Navy.
Among all the types of steam war vessels which have claimed popular attention the most interesting in proportion to its size is the torpedo boat, for none represent such concentrated pent-up energy and deadly effect as this little demon of the sea. A mere shell in construction, with engine and boiler built for highest speed, and crew suffering untold discomforts and dangers below, this modern engine of destruction, with the speed of an express locomotive, and the helplessness and deadly intent of a scorpion, darts up to the monster battleship under cover of darkness, and before being discovered discharges a torpedo and delivers a mortal wound in the side of the big ship which sends her to the bottom, perishing perhaps itself in the destruction which it works. The United States has 37 of these torpedo boats. The torpedo boat destroyer is a larger and swifter boat, whose special duty it is to overtake and destroy this dangerous little fighter.
FIG. 121.—SHIPPING OF ALL NATIONS. RATIO OF STEAM TO SAILS.
The growth of steam navigation during the present generation has been wonderfully rapid. The accompanying diagram, Fig. 121, from Mulhall’s “Industries and Wealth of Nations,” shows in 1860 30 per cent. of steam to 70 per cent. of sailing vessels, while in 1894 the ratio is 80 per cent. of steam to 20 of sailing vessels. The same authority estimated the total horse power of steam vessels in the merchant marine of the world in 1895 to be 12,005,000. Add to this the growth of the past five years, and about 4,000,000 horse power for the steam war vessels of the world’s navies, which were not included, and the total horse power of the steam vessels of the world would not be far from twenty million.
This cursory review, in a single chapter, cannot adequately treat this great subject, for a whole library is needed to cover the field. Suffice it to say, however, that among the great scenes and acts in the theatre of human action, no figure has occupied so much attention, and none played so important a part in the drama of life, as the steam vessel. Its stage setting has been the majestic waters of the earth, and on it the play of the great warships has vied in power and grandeur with the flash and vehemence of the lightning, and the whirl and turmoil of the elements. Tense with a deep meaning which no stage simulation could approximate, and with the smoke of conflict for a drop curtain, it has laid tragedies upon the pages of history, and changed the maps of the world; while behind the scenes the great passenger steamers, with their uninterrupted traffic of human freight, are more silently, but none the less surely, stirring the peoples of the earth into the homogeneous ferment of civilization, and slowly moulding nations into the solidarity of a common brotherhood.