THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE 



showing the steam pressure about forty-five pounds to 

 the square inch. 



7. The engine must be delivered, complete and 

 ready for trial, at the Liverpool end of the railway, 

 not later than October i, 1829. 



8. The price of the engine must not exceed £$3^- 

 What strikes one as most peculiar in this set of re- 

 quirements and specifications is the first clause — that 

 of the engine consuming its own smoke; for even at 

 the present time this is considered a difficult problem. 

 But this was not so considered by the inventors of that 

 time, their great stumbling-block being the high speed 

 required. Ten miles an hour struck most of them as 

 absurd and out of the question. 



One eminent person, who was to become later one 

 of England's leading engineers, stated pubHcly that 

 '^if it proved to be possible to make a locomotive go 

 ten miles an hour, he would undertake to eat a stewed 

 engine- wheel for his breakfast." It is not recorded 

 whether or not this terrible threat was carried out. 



But there was more than one engineer and engine- 

 builder who took a more sanguine view of the prize 

 offer. The firm of Braithwait & Ericsson signified its 

 intention of competing, with a locomotive that they 

 named the Novelty. Another firm entered the contest 

 with an engine called the Sans-pareil; still another 

 firm entered the Perseverance; and George Stephenson 

 was on hand with the now-famous Rocket. 



In the series of trials that followed, the Sans-pareil 

 and the Perseverance were so clearly outclassed by 

 the other two competing locomotives that they need 



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