File:Bulletin - United States National Museum (1956) (14781575291).jpg

Identifier: bulletinunitedst2101956unit (find matches)
Title: Bulletin - United States National Museum
Year: 1877 (1870s)
Authors: United States National Museum Smithsonian Institution United States. Dept. of the Interior
Subjects: Science
Publisher: Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, (etc.) for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt Print. Off.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
esummer of 1808 in London on a small circular railway laiddown on part of the ground now occupied by Euston Square.The public was charged admission to enter a small enclosure 77 to view the demonstration or ride in a small car pulled by thelocomotive. As on his 1804 locomotive, a single cylinder projectingpartly within the end of the boiler was used, but it was verti-cal instead of horizontal. The rear wheels only were driven,actuated by long, return connecting rods attached to theends of a wide crosshead. Because of the necessary arrange-ment of the cranks on the ends of the rear axle, it was en-tirely possible for the engine to stop on dead center. This waslikewise a fault of the 1804 locomotive, which had a singlecrank. The engine is said to have weighed 8 tons and to havetraveled at a speed of 12 miles an hour, but troubles with thetrack ultimately brought the demonstrations to a halt. Nodimensions are known today of the original Catch-me-who-can, which has long since disappeared.
Text Appearing After Image:
Figure 62.—Model of Trevi-thick Cafch - me - who - can,1808. Stephenson Locomotive Rocket, 1829 Probably the most famous of Robert Stephensons manylocomotives, the Rocket, winner of the Rainhill Trials inOctober 1829, is represented in the Museum collection bya nonoperable model (figure 63) that, with its tender, is alittle less than 1V2 feet long. The model was transferred tothe Museum (USNM 244890) from the U. S. Departmentof the Interior in 1906. The original Rocket, the considerably altered remains ofwhich now appear on exhibition in the Science Museum atSouth Kensington, was constructed by Stephenson at New-castle-upon-Tyne to compete for the £500 prize offered bythe Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The Rocket turnedout to be the only one of the five competing machines tofinish the trials. Its success was especially important becauseit showed beyond doubt that steam locomotives were suitablefor general railway work, and also because they could attainspeeds not previously know

Note About Images