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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1914)
First Locomotive Built by George Stephenson Attained a Speed of Three Miles an Hour. So Noisy That Public Complained. "John Bull" His First Ameri can Locomotive Still in Existence. mm lyic Jsjr BT JOHN ELFRETH W ATKINS. WASHINGTON, July 25. (Special.) Today the Iron horse celebrates the 100th anniversary of Its birth. George Stephenson's engine, Blucher. July 25, 1814, convinced a dubious British public that It was a practical locomotive. In the obscure little min ing town of "West Moor, England, this equally obscure engineer had been puzzling his brain for a year or more endeavoring to provide an economical means for hauling coal from the Kill lngworth collieries to the riverside. Horses at that time were expensive. With a view to saving the cost of the keep of aa many aa possible, he tried to perfect one or two mechanical de vices as a substitute. These did not satisfy the self-made engineer. His further efforts resulted in the Inven tion of the steam locomotive. This post commonplace chain of events led to the construction of one of the greatest world-revolutionizing Inventions of history. The result of George Stephenson's perseverance was the epoch-making Blucher. TZ oefoVe. " The Mea was only quickened in the mind of Stephenson, Locomotives, of course, had been quicken Those, however, which had been invent ed would carry themselves Just so far and no farther. They were merely big toys. It remained for him to demon strate that steam could be made to propel an engine and draw a load be au b. . , , On her maiden trip on the tracks of Killlngworth colliery the Blucher drew up an incline and at a speed of three miles an hour a load of SO tons, dis tributed among eight cars. Further more, and what was of most Impor tance, she continued to run success fully and without hitch. Declared a Nuisance. But Stephenson's pathway was not trewn with laurels, as the result of his achievement The noise of the es- casement of steam from the Blucher's machinery drowned the plaudits.whicb. that ls almost impossibie to render fJreman " vla(re colIlery of Wy hls associates may have wished to be- an account of them. On thing sug- NorthumberUnd George s birth- stow upon "ii". a" ....,... of the law gave warning to the In- ventor that this din was a nuisance and that steps must be taken for Its abatement. It was complained that Blucher's economic advantage over horsepower was hardly appreciable, that her speed barely exceeded that of a horse's walk, and that steam power remained equal ln point of cost with horse power. Meanwhile Stephenson himself was undaunted. He began thus early to , .... v... hi. .,i, Ha revca "is kduiuo " j mm ... .i.nIru f KiUUC iciiiaiucy uv.i ---" ....... LIEUTENANT PORTE'S ATTEMPT TO (Continued From First Page.) endless sequence during similar condi tions of the air. Leniou From tne Flight of Birds. This is the real work that is opening tip the "air lanes" for future air travel. Nature provides both the facility and wer to navicate the air regularly a"r":,'r:f h.w high . . to fly to depend on wind currents nearer the ocean will not be left to speculation and guesswork. Often a 15-mile wind at the surface has a 30 mlle current speeding across the skies at a height of 5000 feet Now sanity dictates that an air craft which uses up Its fuel by driving against the wind is not of practical use. It will only begin to be navigated when It embark on currents that carry it rapidly to its destination. A migrating bird still far outstrips an air craft in endurance and distance traveled. Why should a bird beat an engine? The answer 1 that the bird selects the wind blowing ln the direction it wants to travel. The creature covers distance with the speed of the wind. That is the natural and simple way by which air liners will maintain a sched ule superior to rail or water. The sys tem of using the air ls no longer the- or)-. How Snlmet Flew Across Channel. Both airships and aeroplanes all over Europe are timing their flights to travel with the assistance of the prevailing winds ever since Henri Salmet flew from London to Paris without stop. 232 miles, ln two hours and 60 minutes, above the clouds, with a useless com pass. He was shot from England into France on a swift wind, traveling more accurately than the airman, who real ized his good fortune and gave himself Into the keeping of nature. In practical locomotion this surpassed all human travel. It was fully equal to the mi grating birds and It demonstrated be yond doubt their method of traveling vast distances. Germany ha already mapped out her future airship routes to and from America on what 1 known of the prevailing wind of the Atlantic. Pro fessor Hugo Hergesell's report to the German admiralty of his soundings of ocean air currents in 1903 and lSOJgave the definite Information that airships bound for America can use the trade o c 0 s ' hope while even his friends abandoned his locomotive in deitpalr. He stoutly contended that it would eventually supersede every other tractive power. So it was with confidence and faith that he turned his attention toward the Improvement of the Blucher. He had made it his rule to keep In formed on all similar appliances ud devices with which other inventors were toying. As a result he was prob ably the best posted man on the sub ject of locomotives in the world. Be sides, he was a fine mechanic and could personally work out his theories. Hln Lordship' Patronage Gives. Another point, which is of infinite importance, he received solid financial backing from Lord Ravenswortn ana his partners, the owners of the Kil lingsworth colliery. They furnished him with the money requisite for the building of his engine and the contin uance of the work. Stephenson, therefore, had only to aPP'y nls "" lu icv-i. and the road on wnicn it was iu iu. The chief features of the first locomo tive, which he desired to improve, re- ated to the djsposal of the exhaust from the engine and to the adhes on of the wheels to the rails. He had turned the exhaust into the smokestack. This more than redoubled the generation of steam, but at the same time made such a racket that the public redoubled its complaint of It. Likewise, the Blu cher's wheels were roughened with Knit heads and other protuberances to Dolt . " make them take hold of the rails. But the constant friction of the wheels when thus spiked1 so wrenched and racked the locomotive that it was kept constantly out of repair. In his second machine Stephenson introduced the steam blast. This helped In abating the awful noise that had kept up while Blucher was under -,- He substituted smooth wheels and demonstrated that they would run smooth Tails. In addition he made h.n.., ln tne machinery so numerous jested anotner to nis mina aim maxicac.ie composite was the result. Of the grcatest Importance was his appli- cation Df the ball and socket Joint to connectlng rods where attached to the piston and his addition of crank Dins to the cra"nk axles. By this ar rangement he overcame upon uneven roads much of the difficulty caused by the rigidity of the machinery. Like a Story Book Hero. During all of this time George Bte- Dhenson was undergoing an evo- , . - lutlon quite as remarkabel as that of - wind with certainty, even during- Win- ter months, as far north as the Axores. because that wind always blow In this general direction throughout the year. This is as simple a proposition as a low-powered steamer making us OI the Gulf stream to Increase it ped and save fuel. An airseip traveling mile. by HI own power would rross the ocean in two days. Th net- ural drlft 0l the whole air from Amer- DISTANCES FLOWN. Lieutenant Frank Milling and passenger. 260 miles. In Texa. 1913 (Wright's army biplane). Lieutenants Canter and Boeh mer, German army officers, 878 miles, Berlin to Plauen, 6 hour minutes. World record non-stop flight with passenger. Roland Garres. St Raphael, France, to Bizerta, Tuni. oro lng the Mediterranean, a dUtance of 966 miles, the longest non stop water flight yet made. It represents a distance equal to that from Philadelphia to Charleston, S. C. He was 7 hour and 6S minutes in the air, (Morane monoplane, 60 h. p.) Victor Stoeffler, 16 hours, cros country (Aviatik monoplane). Bruno Langer, 18 hours over an aerodrome (Etrich biplane). Oscar Frlederlch and passenger, Paris to London, nonstop (Etrich biplane). Anatole Seguin, Paris to Ber lin and back, non-stop, 10 hours 51 minutes (Farman biplane). Anatole Seguin, Paris to Bor deaux and back, non-stop, 646 miles, ln 13 hours 5 minutes (Far man biplane). Victor Stoeffler, Warsaw to Berlin, non-stop, 341 miles, 4 hours 2 minutes (Aviatik). Adolph Relterer and passenger, Berlin to Copenhagen, non-stop, 229 miles (Etrich). Herr Landmann, at Berlin, June 28, non-top, 21 hours 49 min utes. Claimed as the world's record. THE STTVDAY his locomotive. HU life reads like that of the story book hero, who never fails to rise from poverty and ignorance to glory and wealth. His childhood and youth had been quite inglorious enough to please the most fanciful story teller, and hie rise In life was singularly spectacular, until, eventual ly, he was offered by the King a peer age, which he declined. He was the son of poor but respect- . f A HIs father had been place. Here the family had occupied a mean little cottage, which stood beside the dusty wooden tramway on which coal wagonB were drawn daily by horses from the coal pit to the loading quay. It Is rather a symbolic picture that of this young boy born directly in the environment which he afterward so miraculously transformed. At the age of s he kept the cows of a neighboring widow. The bent of his mind appeared even then to have exhibited Itself, for It Is recorded of him that hi favorite amusement was lea to Europe impllfie the return voyage exactly as this fact ls now a necessary medium for Lleutenanl porte'a attempt. All this means that airships will orten arrive far ahead of their sched- ules. When the higher air ourronts over tne ocean have been thoroughly ounded and charted an air craft nav- at 6000 feet may frequently , r.nn. i- as hours. The con- 'iutey and duration in the speed and direction of the higher Atlantic air currents will have an Immense value for establishing the permanency of travel across the "big pond," a dem onstrated for centuries by the remark able flights of migrating birds over the ocean. Count Zeppelin' advent ln the race to cross the Atlantic by air ls fore shadowed in the construction of larger and larger airships. These huge craft must have tremendous lifting power to rise Into the higher and swifter air currents and remain there throughout a voyaga. Their ability to do this ls demonstrated by the most modern of his great vessels, which has already remained for 80 hour at 6500 feet with a full load without losing any ef ficiency. No attempt Is promised for a Zeppelin ocean flight this year, but this speediest of all airships ls a far more finished production than a mum moth aeroplane, and with its multiple motors Is much better equipped for ocean passage. The vital part that wind plays with air travel over sea I best Illustrated by an Imaginary trip across the ocean with th typ of aeroplane which builders have conceived. From wast to east, with the general drift of the air in these latitudes, the trial would be favorable for an "aeroplane of ton nage," when we know how to construct it by a new principle. This machine, with a reserve of engines, fuel, oil and food for at least one-third more than w. .... a time of the trie might LIIO t3 l.U,(.VV . r fly at a peed of TO to 80 miles an hour, It would mean getting oyr sea In 40 hours. If th machine traveled at 8000 feet, where soundings show that ths air cur rents have anaverage flow of 40 mile an hour, the crossing would require only 33 hours. The aeroplane's own speed, in the thinner air of high alti tudes, ls greater than near the water. It would attempt to fly over estab- OREGONTAX, PORTLAND. est? s osf Jsfjd 77-J. erecting clay engines. He found the clay In the nearby bogs and from the hemlock which grew about he shaped his makebelleve steam pipes. Six years later he was taken on as an assistant to his father In firing a sta tionary engine used at the mine. A few years later he acted as plugman on a new coal pit opened on the Duke of Newcastle's property. Then be befiame fireman and shortly afterward engine man. He devoted himself to the study of the stationary engine and Its gear ing. He took the machine apart In leis ure hours for the purpose of mastering its parts. The engine became a kind of pet with him and he was never weary of watching and examining it. Illiterate Till 10. All of this time he was wholly unedu cated. Realizing his disadvantages he began let attend the village night school. Here he displayed a genius for figures, although he was 19 before he had learned to read and write his own name. At this time his wages were 18 shillings a week. At this period he married and com menced to experience repeated finan cial discouragement. To add to his dis tress his young wife soon died and left !ilm with the care of a little son. But shortly afterward his affairs took a turn for the better. The lessees of Killlngworth colliery engaged him to repair a pumping en gine. He was successful where all others had failed, and received ten pounds as a gift. From then on lie became englneman to the Killlngworth works. His skill as an engine doctor was noised abroad and he was called upon to cure all of the old wheezy ma chines In the district. Now he was ascending the hill of prosperity and ready for his great work. And his age was only S3 years. Two years after the "Blucher" had made her first trip on the Killlngworth track, while the colliery engineers lighed steamship or airship routes and to summon assistance by wireless if compelled to alight on the sea. Ac curate bulletins of the weather would enable It to make the best of the wind situation. The adventure might be accom plished with not fewer than five skilled operators, who would combine In relay work. Duplicate controls be Ing ln every cabin, each of the travel W having a cabin to himself, can thus spend ths time of the passage In com- Champion Mule of A LL roads look alike to "Poncho," champion mule of the Forest Servlco. According to field officers oi - . . the service Poncho Is "some mule na tale of his exploits as a bearer of bur dens for uncle aam are many "run- derful. Poncho is here pictured laden with a pair of toolhouses, the cubic mass of which is about double that of the mule. Thi burden doesn't worry Poncho any. however. Poncho is used to awkward burdens. He is also noted for his dig nity, which no combination of circum I ? . ...I. .. i, ...in . . M.'.' '. "'. -U, I.-' ' ' H I II ni ,i , --flPS . d nVsssi. 4 JULY 26, 1914. stood by and Jeered her. Stephenson was still working for her final per- fectlon. He had made various Im- provements, but ne was not completely satisfied. Steam springs were intro duced for the purpose of easing the engine weight upon her axles. Atten tion was given to the improvement of the tracks. Plans were made for per fecting rail Joints, so that their ends would not separate. His locomotive was in dally use upon the Killlngworth railway, but it did not come up to Ste phenson's Ideals. About this time peo ple became awakened to the prac ticability of the use of steam for all manner of land conveyances, and the Inventor's enthueiasm was refired. The First Pnnm-ncer Trnln. In 126, 11 years after he had tried out the "Blucher," Stephenson partlc- ipated in the celebration f the opening of England's first passenger railway the Stockton ft Darlington. He was appointed chief engineer of the road, and drove the engine "Locomotion," which he had built especially for It. The train to which he harnessed his engine consisted of six wagons loaded with flour and coal. After these came a passenger coach the first In ex istence. It w&s ln reality an old stage coach taken off its usual supports and mounted upon wheels taken from a coal car. The directors rode in this coach over the entire eight miles of the railway's length. Behind them were 21 wagons fitted up for other passengers, and, lastly, six wagon loads of coal, making ln all 38 cars. The train traveled at a steady pace of from four to six miles an hour. On Its arrival in Sto-'kton great crowds gath ered in the street to see and cheer It. rrtl i H i ,ii H.na I.......-.! & Kirf.Kf. Eventual.y a epeed of eight miles an ..,.,., hr.nr waw attained hour was attainea The Liverpool & Manchester line was CROSS THE OCEAN BY AIR .1... R.it thiM tr In show j -- -- immediately the tremendous advantage of the airship over the most nigniy developed aeroplane as a mean of comfort wnicr. tne mooern wonu . mands for travel. Lieutenant Port' flight may depend entirely on the meteorological condi tion ovsr the North Atlantic. That fact has caused us to begin talking here In America about the necessity for mapping the air ocean, so fcht the air man may go aloft with hi chart and the Forest Service stances has ever succeeded in ruffling, and his tasks, however arduous, are performed with a seriousness befitting the king of mules. Toolboxes, such as are shown on Pon cho's back in the accompanying pic ture, are distributed through the Na tional forests at convenient points and are stocked with a variety of useful Implements, such as shovels, axes, etc., for the use of rangers engaged ln fight ing forest fires, and also with a supply of tinned provisions for the sustenance of the men on "fire duty." chartered to share the Increased com- merce. Stephenson was offered the post of chief engineer of this new rail- way. and upon accepting offered to construct a new engine that would at- tain a greater speed than that of "Lo- ti0n." comotion. Pnrllamcut Would Have Donhted. "When I went to Liverpool to plan a line from thence to Manchester," said he, "I pledged myself to the directors to attain a speed of ten miles an hour. I said I had no doubt the locomotive mIgnt De made to go much faster, but that we had better do moaorate i mo beginning. The directors said that I was quite right, for that It when they went to Parliament to obtain the grant, I talked of going at a greater rate than ten miles an hour, it wouiq It was put a cross upon the concern not an easy task for me to keep the engine down to ten miles." Nor did he. His famous locomotive Rocket, on her first trial, covered IS miles in 43 minutes, carrying three times her own weight. She weighed seven and a half tons and subsequently hauled 41 tons at a speed of 14 miles an hour. She represented ine cuimin- tion ot stepnensons wo. mm - rnmotlve. Strange to .l.t. . h . ..,.. him fame as a locomotive builder along lines that are almost as far removed from his other efforts as though he had never before constructed one. The multitubular boiler and the steam blast were the essential of his latest success. His steady experlmen- tation with exhaust steam to relieve noise had finally met with success, and h had at last quelled popular objec- tlon to the noise upon- the public high- ways. Applying his steam blast, he made tlie exnaust a mon nn-m-.- tag the draught Other Inventors naa not realized that their engines made eteam faster when the exhaust was turned out into the open air. Kaklbited Now In Washington. In ths National Museum at Washing ton is the oldest iron horse In the v. ... Hpmlsnhprp .... Tnlm Blll ThU rugged patriarch Is another of Gforge Stephenson's products. It Is the direct ancestor of the whole mod- era Amsrlcan species of locomotives. rn America" t.su.c u. H..H. er the success which at- I - t i rr, ... f , . . tended the demonstrations of the loco- nls aata concerning currents and be in a position somewhat c,u"lI,a,lf navllta,or. Some Preparations Neeessnry. Some idea of the vast extent of the labor In preparation for navigating th air will be found in tne tonowing branch of the work: Systematic oundings of all air level by weather stations. Result by hours telegraphed to cen tral stations Central Utions' preparation of air charts of different levels. Transforming the ordinary weather map Into an aerographic chart Weather stations' frequent wirel reports to air craft in the air. .Practical demonstration of the use of wireless weather Information after It ls received on board. New aerographic navigating lntru- ments used on board airships. Longltude and latitude determined in , , . m me air uy .ej '',,,';. ' latitude dufr?? ttroa: ss ft Bea; . ,h wind the spferoT1" oVAr T " "" 1 THE AMERICA. Pilot Lieutenant John Cyril Porte. Assistant George E. A. Hallett Designer and builder Glenn H. Curtiss. Backer Rodman Wanamaker. Dimensions, Upper wings spread 72 feet Lower wings spreaa. Width of wing Total wing area Length of the hull . . Beam width Thickness of hull.... 46 feet 7 feet 98 feet tt feet 4 feet H Inch Weights. Pounds. TVlrht of the hull . . . 500 Weight hull supports (ma chlnery, oil, men) 4,600 DISTANCES. Mile T7lvat Ian NV w f on ndl and to Azores 1.18 Second lap Azores to Vigo, Spain Third lap Vigo, Spain, to Ireland (via Bay of Biscay) 128 Total 2,684 Estimated Time. First lap 20 hours 1 Second lap 16 hours i55 hour Third lap. 9 ho jura i Stopovers. . Time limit.. Prize .10 hours J 72 hours 850.000 motivee ln England, an American en- glneer. Robert L. Stevens, emfiarked for England In 1830 to order one of these queer-craft for his American line, the Camden ft Amboy, In New Jersey. Soon after Stevens arrival at me Stephenson locomotive works at New- castle-on-Tyne he witnessed a demon stration trip of one of George stepnen son's newest engines. Its performance pleased him so much that he ordered a iml)ar engine to be built Imemdlately for his company. Thus was the iirst American order given to the pioneer locomotive builders at Newcastls-on-Tyne. John Bull breathed his first breath of life in May, MM, and the next month was shipped to Philadelphia. The bill of lading showed that the price paid was 784. or 13800. When the Jersey machinists finally got the parts assem- bled they dubbed It John Bull, and the name stuck thereafter. When first set up John Bull weighed a trifle over 10 tons, or 3X.408 pounds. A locomotive now being built for one of our northern linos weighs 13 times as muoh. The boiler of John Bull wait IS feet long and only 80 Inches In diameter. The four 60-Inch driving wheels were mainly of wood. The fire box was constructed .for burning wood. ..i.niiful alons the Jersey shore of r the Delaware. Steam waa raised in John Bull the last week in August 1SS1. The first cars drawn by him were two stage coach bodies, mounted upon truck'. They have been described aa a cross between a hayrack and an open street- oar of todayi but tne two pairs of big wneai, wr close together under the c4nter ( tn, floor. They were of thn EnEnh pattern, and in general ar- ranf-ement modern English railway coar,es have deviated from them but .nhtly. They were originally mal t t,e drlvn Dy norses, tor our grem- great-grandparents had little faith In the success of steam upon their rall wa . John Bull was the progenitor espe cially of that type of American Ion. inn ttve which has survived through the '! -' 1ULM . V w 1 1 n I . ... ... . boiler, horizontal cynnaer sou srais draught, caused by the exhaust "f ktmtm. V t-tf best type of American hat I VflM l T A f" l f 1 C M fl 1 OC O Ml . I I V e. - 'Copyright. 1814. by John Klfreth Watkhm the ship' speed over the ground to get the vessel's direction when the drift Is so strong that the compass is useless. Th ship exact poaltlon In space. found without refsrenc to th ground by wireless communication between two station on th ground How the distance and direction of on ship in the air Is found by another (hip. aa actually demonstrated In maneuver. Demonstration of communicating weather report by relaying from air ship to airship. Conserving the buoyancy of airships to Insure endurance getting 30 per cent more endurance out of the ship by conserving gas running low near the ground the first part of th Jour nay. Radius of action; It meaning In cruising, fast flight and high flying. The folly of naively lng In the aeroplane an aerial transport for cross ing the ocean becomes apparent by tho absence of tho airship s navlgenng afl- vntfe"; The aeroplane cannot take B II W ' ' . W1J . m .. .up of the winds. If larger aeroplanes much from the airship's advanced sgrg bhytv:K range of Its receiving wireless etntlon A long range means a colossal aero plane, which mut be built after other principle than .those we now know. The aeroplane I affected by wind that do not hinder the alrahlp. An un favorable wind retard speed and makes th aeroplane' direction un steady. It pilot do not comprehend other than th few obvious feature of the wind' action over the land. Thr- were long Ignored and caused the ma jority of the aeroplane accident. But Lieutenant Porte I not blind to the great hasard of hi adventure. He realise the danger of storm and thn scant opportunity of preventing tin wind from losing him In the vast void. Doubtless he trusts to timing his start with a favoring breese and puts his faith in th very swlftnea ot hi flight With hi great experience on the sea and In the air he feels quali fied to pronounce upon the airworthi ness of hi craft and It engines, and he ballave tbey will stand the test The only note of misgiving In his whole preparation ha been, "God help ua If my compasses fall!" A for the rest he faces hi ordeal with th traditional fortitude of an Englishman. He I willing to risk all for th immortality that comes to htm if nature smile on th pioneer and permit him to point t'i way to new achievements for civilisation. But it he frown he will accept the conse quence Ilk a brave man. Spaed him on hi way!