378 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



was, however, retained for ordinary steam vessels, with results 

 quite satisfactory. The third invention was a steam fire en- 

 gine. The first, an experimental engine, was followed by four 

 others, completed, one of which, sent to Prussia, proved so 

 efficient that the designer received, in recognition of its value, 

 an honorary membership in the Berlin Institute. Another en- 

 gine, employed in London, "extinguished the fires, but was ob- 

 jected to and rejected on account of the quantity of water it 

 required; and it was nearly thirty years before London would 

 have another steam fire engine, inferior to Ericsson's. 



In 1829, while it was still undecided whether stationary or 

 locomotive traction should be adopted for the railway between 

 Liverpool and Manchester, a prize of five hundred .pounds was 

 offered for the best locomotive. Although five months were 

 given to the competitors in which to prepare themselves, 

 Ericsson did not learn of the offer till within seven weeks of 

 the day of trial. Stephenson brought out his " Rocket " en- 

 gine, with every appointment perfect and tested. Ericsson 

 produced his " Novelty," graceful in design and structure, and 

 with every part planned on sound principles, but built in haste 

 and untested. It suffered two breakdowns in the trial, caused 

 by undetected faults in workmanship ; but not before it had 

 passed the " Rocket " and reached a speed of thirty-two miles 

 an hour. Ericsson withdrew it in disgust, and the prize went 

 to Stephenson. But every one admired the beauty of the 

 " Novelty" ; the judges spoke of its appearance as being very 

 much in its favour, and commended the ingenuity with which 

 the machinery was so contrived as to work out of sight, and the 

 compactness of its form ; and John Scott Russell, the eminent 

 English engineer, wrote in the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1840 

 that " the 4 Novelty ' had to be withdrawn through a series of 

 unfortunate accidents which had no reference to the character 

 or capabilities of the engine. And we well recollect that it 

 made a profound impression on the public mind at the time. 

 On the first day of the trial it went twenty-eight miles an hour 

 (without any attached load), and did one mile in seven seconds 

 under two minutes." Two other elegant locomotives were 

 built by Ericsson, but they failed to give entire satisfaction 

 in the working, and this field of construction was left to 

 Stephenson. 



In 1830 Captain Ericsson devised the centrifugal fan blower 



