put inside frames to the truck and supports to the 

 iron frame, I at once went to Parkesburg to see 

 Brandt, and, if possible, get his influence with the 

 commissioners to allow the trial. He was greatly- 

 surprised on reading the note, and could not imagine 

 what influence had been brought to bear; he re- 

 turned with me to the city and said all he could to 

 induce the commissioners to allow the trial. No; 

 they had laid the subject before their engineers 

 and several reliable mechanics; the verdict was 

 unanimous that at any speed beyond a walk the engine 

 would certainly jump the track. 



Mr. Brandt in his characteristic way asked Mr. 

 Cameron if he could not sit steadier on a three-leg 

 than a four-leg chair on an uneven floor. 



Mr. Cameron replied, "that is not the question; it 

 is the oscillation caused by the alternate action of the 

 pistons in the widespread cylinders that we fear." 



I urged that the inequalities of the road would only 

 be felt half as much with the weight carried on the 

 center of the truck; that the weight would always be 

 equally divided among all four wheels; that the 

 engine would run steadier and be less liable to leave 

 the track. 



They would not yield; side supports must be applied 

 before the engine would be allowed to go on the road. 

 The position of the cradle carrying the center-pin 

 socket or step where it passed under the iron frame of 

 the engine was about 10 inches distant from it, and 

 it was only about 5 inches wide. It would not be 

 impossible to build on this, and to the frame so as to 

 adopt the Jervis roller; but I was bent on having a 

 trial without any side support, and this could not be 

 done without connivance with Brandt. 



After hours had been wasted in these discussions I 

 suggested suspending from the frame of the engine a 

 kind of pendulum in the shape of a segment of a 

 wheel that would represent about 14 inches diameter, 

 with sufficient length of its periphery, which was to 

 rest in a grooved box secured to the cradle to allow 

 the truck to turn the shortest curves, in fact the Jervis 

 roller or wheel enlarged from about 2 to 14 inches 

 diameter. Gravity would always keep it in position. 

 This plan was approved; it could be applied without 

 delaying the delivery of the engine, only requiring 

 two holes to be drilled in each iron frame to secure 

 the joint or axle, and a like number in the cradle to 

 fasten the grooved step; these wheel segment supports 

 were forged of wrought iron about 1 inch thick, 

 [figure 71.] 



Figure 72. — Matthias W. Baldwin (1795- 

 1866). From Memorial of Matthias II'. Baldwin 

 (Philadelphia, 1867), frontispiece. 



I have spoken of connivance with Brandt; when I 

 told him of my intention of slotting the axle-hole so 

 as to allow a play up and down of about 1% inches 

 he was much amused, but insisted on having a 

 template sent him, that he could have an extra pair 

 made without slotting the holes, saying he would 

 be on the engine when first steamed up, and if the 

 engineers and wise mechanics were right, he would 

 have a solid pair ready to put in; the slots were hid 

 by large washers, and to keep these sham supports 

 firmly in place the spaces above and below the axis 

 were filled with soft white pine. 



I have no memorandum at hand of the date the 

 engine was put on the road, but it was not later than 

 the first of September, 1835. Supposing all dif- 

 ficulties in the way of a fair trial of the engine had 

 been overcome, and while my brother was engaged 

 in loading the engine on to the truck and removing 

 it to the railroad, I was surprised at finding in our 

 city office a note from Mr. Charles Chauncey, who 

 at that time was one of the most prominent of Phila- 

 delphia counselors-at-law in patent cases, a>king an 

 immediate interview, stating that Matthias W, 



175 



