1853] 



ROBERT STEPHENSON, M. P. 



63 



large piece from the centre of the lake was for a few minutes 

 thrown up in a pile to the height often feet, in which position it 

 now lies." 



On September 20th, 1845, a very sudden rise occurred at 

 Cobouig. An eye-witness describes the scene in the following 

 words : — " I measured the rise of water at the time, and found it 

 to be two feet seven inches; the lake was quite calm ; a strong 

 current, like a tide, ran in and out of the harbour every ten mi- 

 nutes ; when the water approached the shore it ran no less than 

 300 feet up the sloping beach above our usual high water mark. 

 About the same time a similar phenomenon was observed at Graf- 

 ton, seven miles below Cobourg, but with this difference, the wa- 

 ter a few hundred feet from the shore was boiling as you see it 

 in the lesser rapids of the St. Lawrence. When stationed at 

 Whitby Harbour, some years ago, I observed a regular tide rising 

 and falling every ten minutes in a pretty strong current. I have 

 been a good deal on the back lakes, but never observed anything 

 of the kind there." 



The 5th July, 1850, witnessed a similar occurrence on the 

 northern shore of Lake Ontario, near the scene of the other con- 

 vulsions mentioned above. 



Eobert Stephenson, M. P. 



The Britannia Bridge has usually been considered as the 

 greatest triumph of Engineering skill in existence, and as 

 eclipsing all other of Stephenson's works; in originality and 

 boldness of conception, this is doubtless the case, but we doubt 

 whether, in wonderful results, and in their effects on the progress of 

 the world, it can at all be compared with the " Rocket ;" the 

 result of the determination recorded in our last paragraph, and 

 of which so little is popularly known that our American neigh- 

 bours have claimed the honours of the Liverpool and Manchester 

 competition in 1829, for Ericson, while many of his own 

 countrymen are ignorant as to whether the success was due to 

 Robert Stephenson or to his Father. 



In the Locomotive, as in other machines which have received 

 improvements from various persons, it is difficult — often impossible 

 — to determine the exact amount of merit due to each individual 

 improver, but of this there can be no doubt: to Robert Stephen- 

 son belongs the merit of combining and arranging principles — 

 many of which were, without doubt, previously known — into 

 such a form that no essential change in the machine has since 

 been made. As Watt perfected all that is unchangeable in the 

 Stationary Condensing Engine, so did Robert Stephenson com- 

 bine in the Rocket all the fixed principles which obtain in the 

 construction of the most finished and most powerful Locomotive 

 of the present day. Others have contributed to that success, and 

 we believe no one is more ready to acknowledge their merits than 

 is the inventor of the " Socket." 



We have already seen that Trevithiek had used the blast pipe, 

 and that Harkworth had subsequently applied it, but its value was 

 of little importance with boilers as constructed by them. Another 

 improvement, however, patented by a French Engineer in 1828, 

 although vital to the success of the machine, was of no value 

 withou it. 



♦Continued Irom page 40. 



The imperfect Locomotives of that date had been introduced 

 into France ; the first two were made by George Stephenson, and 

 arrived there in 1829, for the Lyons and St. Etienne Railway, of 

 which M. Siguin was Engineer. Their mean velocity did not 

 exceed 4 miles per hour; to increase this, M. Siguin felt the 

 necessity of increasing the evaporating power of his boiler, and 

 to effect that object resolved to apply the improvement above 

 alluded to, of which he was the patentee, to an Engine he was 

 abouc constructing (on the model of Stephenson's). His plan 

 consisted in dividing the current of heated air passing through 

 the boiler from the furnace to the chimney, into a number of 

 streamlets, flowing through a series of tubes immersed in the 

 water of the boiler. The amount of heating surface was thus 

 greatly increased. But another difficulty jjresented itself : the 

 evaporating surface to which we are indebted for our present 

 increased speed was there, but the friction of the air passing 

 through so many small tubes so much impeded the draft that 

 the height of the chimney being unavoidably limited, it became 

 necessary to apply a fan to stimulate it; by this expedient the 

 experiment was rendered partially successful. It is claimed by a 

 French Author that M. Pelletin suggested the application of 

 the steam jet in the chimney ; be that as it ma}', it had long been 

 used in England, though for the reason above named, only jDar- 

 tially so, as might be inferred by its absence in the Engines sent 

 to France. 



As the success of the Rocket has been considered the com- 

 mencement of the era of successful steam Locomotion, a description 

 of that Engine, of the others which entered into competition 

 with it, and of the result of the several trials, will not be out of 

 place, we therefore transfer the following particulars of them to 

 our pages : — 



Three Locomotives were put in for competition, viz : 



Enyine. Malce. 



Rocket, by R. Stephenson, Newcastle. 



Sanspariel by Timothy Hackworth, of Thildon. 



Novelty, ..by Braithwaite & Ericcson, London.* 



The Rocket was the first locomotive made in England with 

 multitubular boilers. They were adopted by Robert Stephen- 

 son, at the suggestion of Mr. Booth, then Secretary of the Liver- 

 pool and Manchester line, to whom their invention has commonly 

 been ascribed. 1 he boiler was cylindrical with flat ends, 6 feet 

 long, and 3 feet 4 inches in diameter ; the fire-box, at the rear of 

 the engine, was 2 feet by 3 feet broad, and 3 feet deep, inside mea- 

 sure, and was surrounded on the two sides, the front and the top 

 by an external case, affording a three-inch water space. The flue 

 consisted of 25 tubes, 3 inches diameter ; the cylinders, two in 

 number, placed obliquely next the fire-box, and working the fore- 

 wheels, were 8 inch by 16£ inch stroke; driving-wheels 4 feet 

 8£ inches in diameter; the exhaust pipes were originally arranged 

 to deliver the steam directly into the atmosphere, under the im- 

 pression, no doubt, that the abundance of heating surface unaided 

 would have commanded an abundance of steam. 



After some preliminary trials, however, previous to the com- 

 petition, during which the superior evaporating powers of the 

 Sanspareil, with a sharp blast from -the exhaust directed upwards 

 into the chimnej', became apparent, it was resolved to discharge 

 the exhaust steam of the Rocket into the chimney, and on the 

 eve of the first day of the trial the exhaust-pipes were diverted 

 into the chimney, with an upward termination. The fire-grate 

 surface was 6 feet, fire-box surface 20 feet, tube surface 117.75 

 feet. 



* Engravings of these Engines will appear in the next number of the 

 Journal. 



