CATALOGUE OF THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING COLLECTION. 77 



Street before 6. The number of passengers brought down, which was performed 

 in two trips, was estimated at upward of 200. A band of music enlivened the 

 scene, and great hilarity and good humor prevailed throughout the day. 



Mr. David Mathew, who was foreman of machinists in the West 

 Point Foundry, Beach Street, New York City, when the "Best 

 Friend" locomotive was built, writes the following particulars of 

 the engine in a letter written in 1859 to William H. Brown, author of 

 the " First Locomotive in America " : 



The " Best Friend " locomotive was a four-wheeled engine, all four-wheels 

 drivers. TSvo inclined cylinders at an angle, working down on a double crank 



piQ 34_ THE " BEST FRIEND " LOCOMOTI\'E, 1831. 



inside of the frame, with the wheels outside of the frame, each wheel connect- 

 ing together with outside rods. The wheels had iron hubs, wooden spokes, and 

 fellies with iron tires and iron web and pins in the wheels to connect the outside 



rods to. 



The boiler was a vertical one in the form of an old-fashioned porter bottle. 

 The furnace at the bottom was surrounded with water and all filled inside full 

 of what we call teats running out from the sides and top, with alternate stays 

 to support the crown of the furnace ; the smoke and gas passed out through the 

 sides at several points into an old jacket which had the chimney on it. The 

 boiler sat on a frame upon four wheels, with the connecting rods running by it 

 to come into the crank shaft. The cylinders were about 6 inches bore and 

 16 inches stroke and the driving wheels about 4i feet in diameter. The whole 

 machine weighed about 4i tons. 



Figured by present rules the traction force with 50 pounds boiler 

 pressure was about 400 pounds. Also, at a speed of 20 miles an 



