rial 



v-* ? 



JVJ 



Figure 9. — Running gear and truck designed by John L. Whetstone, as shown in the drawing for U.S. patent 



27850, issued April 10, 1O60. 



Levi Bissell produced the basic patent for such 

 a truck in 1857. Zerah Colburn in September of 

 that year had suggested to Bissell that he develop a 

 2-vv'heel truck. Such a device, he believed, would 

 be well received in Britain.^* He was quite correct, 

 as will shortly be seen. 



In nearly every respect Bissell's 2-wheel truck (see 

 fig. 7) followed the idea of the original patent for the 

 4-wheel truck, which he claimed as the basis for the 

 present invention. The pintle was located behind 

 the truck axle, near the front driving-wheel a.xle, 



Peunoyer, "Messrs. Harrison, Winans & Eastwick, St. Peters- 

 burg, Russia," Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 

 no. 47, September 1938, p. 46; and Joseph Harrison, Jr., The 

 Locomotive Engine, and Philadelphia^ s Share in its Early Improve- 

 ments, Philadelphia, 1872, p. 52. 



18 Zerah Colburn, Locomotive Engineering and the Mechanism of 

 Railways, . . . , London, 1871, p. 99. Zerah Colburn (1832- 

 1870) was one of the best informed and most vocal authorities 

 on 19th-century American locomotive construction. He not 

 only designed advanced machines while working at the New 

 Jersey Locomotive Works but also advocated many reforms in 

 locomotive design. He published the Railroad Advocate in 

 New York City for several years. In 1858 he became editor 

 of The Engineer and in 1866 founded the technical journal 

 Engineering. 



and the weight was carried by incline planes that 

 also served as the centering device. 



A study of the patent drawing in figure 7 reveals 

 several interesting points. Note that the V's, and 

 thus the point of bearing, are slightly in front of the 

 center line of the truck axle. It was suggested in the 

 patent specification that the V's might be placed to 

 the front, rear, or directly over the axle, but in most 

 actual applications they were placed directly over the 

 axle. Note also that the locomotive shown on the figure 

 is obviously a standard high-wheel American type 

 which has suffered the rather awkward substitution 

 of a pony truck for its regular 4-wheel arrangement. 

 It is probable that few if any American types were so 

 rebuilt. 



Bissell was granted U.S. patent 21936 on November 

 2, 1858. British patent 2751 was issued for the same 

 device on December 1, 1858. A few months later, in 

 the summer of 1859, service tests of Bissell's new truck 

 began in England. 



First known use of the truck was on the British East- 

 ern Counties Railway No. 248, a rigid-frame 2-4-0 

 built by Kitson in 1855. The leading wheels of the 

 engine, as originally constructed, were attached to the 

 frame in the same manner as the drivers and thus had 



PAPER 24: INTRODUCTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY TRUCK 



127 



