Part 2

2. A new mode of constructing the wheels of locomotive engines and cars. In this the hub and spokes were of cast-iron, cast together. The spokes were cast without a rim, and terminated in segment flanges, each spoke having a separate flange disconnected from its neighbors. By this means, it was claimed, the injurious effect of the unequal expansion of the materials composing the wheels was lessened or altogether prevented. The flanges bore against wooden felloes, made in two thicknesses, and put together so as to break joints. Tenons or pins projected from the flanges into openings made in the wooden felloes, to keep them in place. Around the whole the tire was passed and secured by bolts. The above sketch shows the device.

3. A new mode of forming the joints of steam and other tubes. This was Mr. Baldwin's invention of ground joints for steam-pipes, which was a very valuable improvement over previous methods of making joints with red-lead packing, and which rendered it possible to carry a much higher pressure of steam.

4. A new mode of forming the joints and other parts of the supply-pump, and of locating the pump itself. This invention consisted in making the single guide-bar hollow and using it for the pump-barrel. The pump-plunger was attached to the piston-rod at a socket or sleeve formed for the purpose, and the hollow guide-bar terminated in the vertical pump-chamber. This chamber was made in two pieces, joined about midway between the induction and eduction-pipes. This joint was ground steam-tight, as were also the joints of the induction-pipe with the bottom of the lower chamber, and the flange of the eduction-pipe with the top of the upper chamber. All these parts were held together by a stirrup with a set-screw in its arched top, and the arrangement was such that by simply unscrewing this set-screw the different sections of the chamber, with all the valves, could be taken apart for cleaning or adjusting. The cut below illustrates the device.

It is probable that the five engines built during 1834 embodied all, or nearly all, these devices. They all had the half-crank, the ground joints for steam-pipes (which was first made by him in 1833), and the pump formed in the guide-bar, and all had the four-wheeled truck in front, and a single pair of drivers back of the fire-box. On this position of the driving-wheels, Mr. Baldwin laid great stress, as it made a more even distribution of the weight, throwing about one-half on the drivers and one-half on the four-wheeled truck. It also extended the wheel-base, making the engine much steadier and less damaging to the track. Mr. William Norris, who had established a locomotive works in Philadelphia in 1832, was at this time building a six-wheeled engine with a truck in front and the driving-wheels placed in front of the fire-box. Considerable rivalry naturally existed between the two manufacturers as to the comparative merits of their respective plans. In Mr. Norris's engine, the position of the driving-axle in front of the fire-box threw on it more of the weight of the engine, and thus increased the adhesion and the tractive power. Mr. Baldwin, however, maintained the superiority of his plan, as giving a better distribution of the weight and a longer wheel-base, and consequently rendering the machine less destructive to the track. As the iron rails then in use were generally light, and much of the track was of wood, this feature was of some importance.

To the use of the ground joint for steam-pipes, however, much of the success of his early engines was due. The English builders were making locomotives with canvas and red-lead joints, permitting a steam pressure of only sixty pounds per inch to be carried, while Mr. Baldwin's machines were worked at one hundred and twenty pounds with ease. Several locomotives imported from England at about this period by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the State Road (three of which were made by Stephenson) had canvas and red-lead joints, and their efficiency was so much less than that of the Baldwin engines, on account of this and other features of construction, that they were soon laid aside or sold.

In June, 1834, a patent was issued to Mr. E. L. Miller, by whom Mr. Baldwin's second engine was ordered, for a method of increasing the adhesion of a locomotive by throwing a part of the weight of the tender on the rear of the engine, thus increasing the weight on the drivers. Mr. Baldwin adopted this device on an engine built for the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company, May, 1835, and thereafter used it largely, paying one hundred dollars royalty for each engine. Eventually (May 6, 1839) he bought the patent for nine thousand dollars, evidently considering that the device was especially valuable, if not indispensable, in order to render his engine as powerful, when required, as other patterns having the driving-wheels in front of the fire-box, and therefore utilizing more of the weight of the engine for adhesion.

In making the truck and tender wheels of these early locomotives, the hubs were cast in three pieces and afterward banded with wrought-iron, the interstices being filled with spelter. This method of construction was adopted on account of the difficulty then found in casting a chilled wheel in one solid piece.

April 3, 1835, Mr. Baldwin took out a patent for certain improvements in the wheels and tubes of locomotive engines. That relating to the wheels provided for casting the hub and spokes together, and having the spokes terminate in segments of a rim, as described in his patent of September 10, 1834. Between the ends of the spokes and the tires wood was interposed, and the tire might be either of wrought-iron or of chilled cast-iron. The intention was expressed of making the tire usually of cast-iron chilled. The main object, however, was declared to be the interposition between the spokes and the rim of a layer of wood or other substance possessing some degree of elasticity. This method of making driving-wheels was followed for several years.

The improvement in locomotive tubes consisted in driving a copper ferrule or thimble on the outside of the end of the tube, and soldering it in place, instead of driving a ferrule into the tube, as had previously been the practice. The object of the latter method had been to make a tight joint with the tube-sheet; but, by putting the ferrule on the outside of the tube, not only was the joint made as tight as before, but the tube was strengthened, and left unobstructed throughout to the full extent of its diameter. This method of setting flues has been generally followed in the works from that date to the present, the only difference being that, at this time, with iron tubes, the end is swedged down, the copper ferrule brazed on, and the iron end turned or riveted over against the copper thimble and the flue-sheet, to make the joint perfect.

Early in 1835, the new shop on Broad Street was completed and occupied. Mr. Baldwin's attention was thenceforward given to locomotive building exclusively, except that a stationary engine was occasionally constructed.

In May, 1835, his eleventh locomotive, the "Black Hawk," was delivered to the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company. This was the first outside-connected engine of his build. It was also the first engine on which the Miller device of attaching part of the weight of the tender to the engine was employed. On the eighteenth engine, the "Brandywine," built for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad Company, brass tires were used on the driving-wheels, for the purpose of obtaining more adhesion; but they wore out rapidly and were replaced with iron.

Fourteen engines were constructed in 1835; forty in 1836; forty in 1837; twenty-three in 1838; twenty-six in 1839; and nine in 1840. During all these years the general design continued the same; but, in compliance with the demand for more power, three sizes were furnished, as follows:

First-class. Cylinders, 12-1/2 x 16; weight, loaded, 26,000 pounds. Second-class. " 12 x 16; " " 23,000 " Third-class. " 10-1/2 x 16; " " 20,000 "

The first-class engine he fully believed, in 1838, was as heavy as would be called for, and he declared that it was as large as he intended to make. Most of the engines were built with the half-crank, but occasionally an outside-connected machine was turned out. These latter, however, failed to give as complete satisfaction as the half-crank machine. The drivers were generally four and a half feet in diameter.

A patent was issued to Mr. Baldwin, August 17, 1835, for his device of cylindrical pedestals. In this method of construction, the pedestal was of cast-iron, and was bored in a lathe so as to form two concave jaws. The boxes were also turned in a lathe so that their vertical ends were cylindrical, and they were thus fitted in the pedestals. This method of fitting up pedestals and boxes was cheap and effective, and was used for some years for the driving and tender wheels.

As showing the estimation in which these early engines were held, it may not be out of place to refer to the opinions of some of the railroad managers of that period.

Mr. L. A. Sykes, engineer of the New Jersey Transportation Company, under date of June 12, 1838, wrote that he could draw with his engines twenty four-wheeled cars with twenty-six passengers each, at a speed of twenty to twenty-five miles per hour, over grades of twenty-six feet per mile. "As to simplicity of construction," he adds, "small liability to get out of order, economy of repairs, and ease to the road, I fully believe Mr. Baldwin's engines stand unrivalled. I consider the simplicity of the engine, the arrangement of the working-parts, and the distribution of the weight, far superior to any engine I have ever seen, either of American or English manufacture, and I have not the least hesitation in saying that Mr. Baldwin's engine will do the same amount of work with much less repairs, either to the engine or the track, than any other engine in use."

L. G. Cannon, President of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad Company, writes, "Your engines will, in performance and cost of repairs, bear comparison with any other engine made in this or any other country."

Some of Mr. Baldwin's engines on the State Road, in 1837, cost, for repairs, only from one and two-tenths to one and six-tenths cents per mile. It is noted that the engine "West Chester," on the same road, weighing twenty thousand seven hundred and thirty-five pounds (ten thousand four hundred and seventy-five on drivers), drew fifty-one cars (four-wheeled), weighing two hundred and eighty-nine net tons, over the road, some of the track being of wood covered with strap-rail.

The financial difficulties of 1836 and 1837, which brought ruin upon so many, did not leave Mr. Baldwin unscathed. His embarrassments became so great that he was unable to proceed, and was forced to call his creditors together for a settlement. After offering to surrender all his property, his shop, tools, house, and everything, if they so desired,--all of which would realize only about twenty-five per cent. of their claims,--he proposed to them that they should permit him to go on with the business, and in three years he would pay the full amount of all claims, principal and interest. This was finally acceded to, and the promise was in effect fulfilled, although not without an extension of two years beyond the time originally proposed.

In May, 1837, the number of hands employed was three hundred, but this number was reducing weekly, owing to the falling off in the demand for engines.

These financial troubles had their effect on the demand for locomotives, as will be seen in the decrease in the number built in 1838, 1839, and 1840; and this result was furthered by the establishment of several other locomotive works and the introduction of other patterns of engines.

The changes and improvements in details made during these years may be summed up as follows:

The subject of burning coal had engaged much attention. In October, 1836, Mr. Baldwin secured a patent for a grate or fireplace which could be detached from the engine at pleasure, and a new one with a fresh coal fire substituted. The intention was to have the grate with freshly ignited coal all ready for the engine on its arrival at a station, and placed between the rails over suitable levers, by which it could be attached quickly to the fire-box. It is needless to say that this was never practiced. In January, 1838, however, Mr. Baldwin was experimenting with the consumption of coal on the Germantown road, and in July of the same year the records show that he was making a locomotive to burn coal, part of the arrangement being to blow the fire with a fan.

Up to 1838, Mr. Baldwin had made both driving and truck wheels with wrought tires, but during that year chilled wheels for engine and tender trucks were adopted. His tires were furnished by Messrs. S. Vail & Son, Morristown, N. J., who made the only tires then obtainable in America. They were very thin, being only one inch to one and a half inches thick; and Mr. Baldwin, in importing some tires from England at that time, insisted on their being made double the ordinary thickness. The manufacturers at first objected and ridiculed the idea, the practice being to use two tires when extra thickness was wanted, but finally they consented to meet his requirements.

All his engines thus far had the single eccentric for each valve, but at about this period double eccentrics were adopted, each terminating in a straight hook, and reversed by hand-levers.

At this early period, Mr. Baldwin had begun to feel the necessity of making all like parts of locomotives of the same class in such manner as to be absolutely interchangeable. Steps were taken in this direction, but it was not until many years afterward that the system of standard gauges was perfected, which has since grown to be a distinguishing feature in the establishment.

In March, 1839, Mr. Baldwin's records show that he was building a number of outside-connected engines, and had succeeded in making them strong and durable. He was also making a new chilled wheel, and one which he thought would not break.

On the one hundred and thirty-sixth locomotive, completed October 18, 1839, for the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, the old pattern of wooden frame was abandoned, and no outside frame whatever was employed,--the machinery, as well as the truck and the pedestals of the driving-axles, being attached directly to the naked boiler. The wooden frame thenceforward disappeared gradually, and an iron frame took its place. Another innovation was the adoption of eight-wheeled tenders, the first of which was built at about this period.

April 8, 1839, Mr. Baldwin associated with himself Messrs. Vail and Hufty, and the business was conducted under the firm name of Baldwin, Vail & Hufty until 1841, when Mr. Hufty withdrew, and Baldwin & Vail continued the copartnership until 1842.

The time had now arrived when the increase of business on railroads demanded more powerful locomotives. It had for some years been felt that for freight traffic the engine with one pair of drivers was insufficient. Mr. Baldwin's engine had the single pair of drivers placed back of the fire-box; that made by Mr. Norris, one pair in front of the fire-box. An engine with two pairs of drivers, one pair in front and one pair behind the fire-box, was the next logical step, and Mr. Henry R. Campbell, of Philadelphia, was the first to carry this design into execution. Mr. Campbell, as has been noted, was the Chief Engineer of the Germantown Railroad when the "Ironsides" was placed on that line, and had since given much attention to the subject of locomotive construction. February 5, 1836, Mr. Campbell secured a patent for an eight-wheeled engine with four drivers connected, and a four-wheeled truck in front; and subsequently contracted with James Brooks, of Philadelphia, to build for him such a machine. The work was begun March 16, 1836, and the engine was completed May 8, 1837. This was the first eight-wheeled engine of this type, and from it the standard American locomotive of to-day takes its origin. The engine lacked, however, one essential feature; there were no equalizing beams between the drivers, and nothing but the ordinary steel springs over each journal of the driving-axles to equalize the weight upon them. It remained for Messrs. Eastwick & Harrison to supply this deficiency; and in 1837 that firm constructed at their shop in Philadelphia a locomotive on this plan, but with the driving-axles running in a separate square frame, connected to the main frame above it by a single central bearing on each side. This engine had cylinders twelve by eighteen, four coupled driving-wheels, forty-four inches in diameter, carrying eight of the twelve tons constituting the total weight. Subsequently, Mr. Joseph Harrison, Jr., of the same firm, substituted "equalizing beams" on engines of this plan afterward constructed by them, substantially in the same manner as since generally employed.

In the _American Railroad Journal_ of July 30, 1836, a wood-cut showing Mr. Campbell's engine, together with an elaborate calculation of the effective power of an engine on this plan, by William J. Lewis, Esq., Civil Engineer, was published, with a table showing its performance upon grades ranging from a dead level to a rise of one hundred feet per mile. Mr. Campbell stated that his experience at that time (1835-6) convinced him that grades of one hundred feet rise per mile would, if roads were judiciously located, carry railroads over any of the mountain passes in America, without the use of planes with stationary steam power, or, as a general rule, of costly tunnels,--an opinion very extensively verified by the experience of the country since that date.

A step had thus been taken toward a plan of locomotive having more adhesive power. Mr. Baldwin, however, was slow to adopt the new design. He naturally regarded innovations with distrust. He had done much to perfect the old pattern of engine, and had built over a hundred of them, which were in successful operation on various railroads. Many of the details were the subjects of his several patents, and had been greatly simplified in his practice. In fact, simplicity in all the working parts had been so largely his aim, that it was natural that he should distrust any plan involving additional machinery, and he regarded the new design as only an experiment at best. In November, 1838, he wrote to a correspondent that he did not think there was any advantage in the eight-wheeled engine. There being three points in contact, it could not turn a curve, he argued, without slipping one or the other pair of wheels sideways. Another objection was in the multiplicity of machinery and the difficulty in maintaining four driving-wheels all of exactly the same size. Some means, however, of getting more adhesion must be had, and the result of his reflections upon this subject was the project of a "geared engine." In August, 1839, he took steps to secure a patent for such a machine, and December 31, 1840, letters patent were granted him for the device. In this engine, an independent shaft or axle was placed between the two axles of the truck, and connected by cranks and coupling-rods with cranks on the outside of the driving-wheels. This shaft had a central cog-wheel engaging on each side with intermediate cog-wheels, which in turn geared into cog-wheels on each truck-axle. The intermediate cog-wheels had wide teeth, so that the truck could pivot while the main shaft remained parallel with the driving-axle. The diameters of the cog-wheels were, of course, in such proportion to the driving and truck wheels, that the latter should revolve as much oftener than the drivers as their smaller size might require. Of the success of this machine for freight service, Mr. Baldwin was very sanguine. One was put in hand at once, completed in August, 1841, and eventually sold to the Sugarloaf Coal Company. It was an outside-connected engine, weighing thirty thousand pounds, of which eleven thousand seven hundred and seventy-five pounds were on the drivers, and eighteen thousand three hundred and thirty-five on the truck. The driving-wheels were forty-four and the truck-wheels thirty-three inches in diameter. The cylinders were thirteen inches in diameter by sixteen inches stroke. On a trial of the engine upon the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, it hauled five hundred and ninety tons from Reading to Philadelphia--a distance of fifty-four miles--in five hours and twenty-two minutes. The Superintendent of the road, in writing of the trial, remarked that this train was unprecedented in length and weight both in America and Europe. The performance was noticed in favorable terms by the Philadelphia newspapers, and was made the subject of a report by the Committee on Science and Arts of the Franklin Institute, who strongly recommended this plan of engine for freight service. The success of the trial led Mr. Baldwin at first to believe that the geared engine would be generally adopted for freight traffic; but in this he was disappointed. No further demand was made for such machines, and no more of them were built.

In 1840, Mr. Baldwin received an order, through August Belmont, Esq., of New York, for a locomotive for Austria, and had nearly completed one which was calculated to do the work required, when he learned that only sixty pounds pressure of steam was admissible, whereas his engine was designed to use steam at one hundred pounds and over. He accordingly constructed another, meeting this requirement, and shipped it in the following year. This engine, it may be noted, had a kind of link-motion, agreeably to the specification received, and was the first of his make upon which the link was introduced.

Mr. Baldwin's patent of December 31, 1840, already referred to as covering his geared engine, embraced several other devices, as follows:

1. A method of operating a fan, or blowing-wheel, for the purpose of blowing the fire. The fan was to be placed under the footboard, and driven by the friction of a grooved pulley in contact with the flange of the driving-wheel.

2. The substitution of a metallic stuffing, consisting of wire, for the hemp, wool, or other material which had been employed in stuffing-boxes.

3. The placing of the springs of the engine truck so as to obviate the evil of the locking of the wheels when the truck-frame vibrates from the centre-pin vertically. Spiral as well as semi-elliptic springs, placed at each end of the truck-frame, were specified. The spiral spring is described as received in two cups,--one above and one below. The cups were connected together at their centres by a pin upon one and a socket in the other, so that the cups could approach toward or recede from each other and still preserve their parallelism.

4. An improvement in the manner of constructing the iron frames of locomotives, by making the pedestals in one piece with, and constituting part of, the frames.

5. The employment of spiral springs in connection with cylindrical pedestals and boxes. A single spiral was at first used, but, not proving sufficiently strong, a combination or nest of spirals curving alternately in opposite directions was afterward employed. Each spiral had its bearing in a spiral recess in the pedestal.

In the specification of this patent a change in the method of making cylindrical pedestals and boxes is noted. Instead of boring and turning them in a lathe, they were cast to the required shape in chills. This method of construction was used for a time, but eventually a return was made to the original plan, as giving a more accurate job.