THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE 



Shortly after this, a man named Chapman, of New- 

 castle, built a road and stretched a chain from one end 

 to the other, this chain being arranged to pass around 

 a barrel- wheel on the locomotive, which thus pulled 

 itself along, just as some of the boats on the Rhine do 

 at the present time. But the machinery for operating 

 this engine was clumsy and unsatisfactory, and the 

 road proved a complete failure. 



Perhaps the most remarkable locomotive ever con- 

 ceived and constructed was one built by Brunton, of 

 Derbyshire, in 1813. This machine was designed to 

 go upon legs like a horse, and was a combination of 

 steam wagon and mechanical horse. The wagon part 

 of the combination ran upon a track like an ordinary 

 car, while the mechanical legs were designed to trot 

 behind and "kick the wagon along." "The legs or 

 propellers, imitated the legs of a man or the fore-legs 

 of a horse, with joints, and when worked by the ma- 

 chine alternately lifted and pressed against the ground 

 or road, propelling the engine forward, as a man shoves 

 a boat ahead by pressing with a pole against the bot- 

 tom of a river." This machine was able to travel at a 

 rate somewhat slower than that at which a man usually 

 walks; and its tractive force was that of four horses. 

 But after it had demonstrated its impotency by crawl- 

 ing along for a few miles, it terminated its career by 

 "blowing up in disgust," killing and injuring several 

 by-standers. 



The much disputed point as to whether a smooth- 

 wheeled locomotive would be practical on smooth rails 

 was not settled until 1813. An inventor named Blackett, 



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