A history of the growth of the steam-engine . shut off steam from the engine when necessary, and STEAM-LOCOMOTION ON RAILROADS. 151 to determine the amount of steam to be admitted. Thepipes a a are exhaust-pipes, which the inventor proposedto turn s6 that they should point backward, in order to se-cure the advantage of the effort of reaction of the expelledsteam. (!) Read made a model steam-carriage, which he exhibitedwhen endeavoring to secure assistance in furtherance of hisschemes, but seems to have given more attention to steam-navigation, and nothing was ever accomplished by him inthis di
A history of the growth of the steam-engine . shut off steam from the engine when necessary, and STEAM-LOCOMOTION ON RAILROADS. 151 to determine the amount of steam to be admitted. Thepipes a a are exhaust-pipes, which the inventor proposedto turn s6 that they should point backward, in order to se-cure the advantage of the effort of reaction of the expelledsteam. (!) Read made a model steam-carriage, which he exhibitedwhen endeavoring to secure assistance in furtherance of hisschemes, but seems to have given more attention to steam-navigation, and nothing was ever accomplished by him inthis direction. These were merely promising schemes, however. Thefirst actual experiment was made, as is supposed, by aFrench army-officer, Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, who in1769 built a steam-carriage, which was set at work in pres-ence of the French Minister of War, the Duke de funds required by him were furnished by the Comptede Saxe. Encouraged by the partial success of the firstlocomotive, he, in 1770, constructed a second (Fig. 44),. Fio. 44.—Ougnots Steam-Carriage, 17T0. which is still preserved in the Conservatoire des Arts etMetiers, Paris. This machine, when recently examined by the author,was still in an excellent state of preservation. The carriageand its machinery are substantially built and well-finished,and exceedingly creditable pieces of work in every surprises the engineer to find such evidence of the high 153 THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE. character of the work of the mechanic Brezin a century steam-cylinders were 13 inches in diameter, and theengine was evidently of considerable power. This locomo-tive was intended for the transportation of artillery. Itconsists of two beams of heavy timber extending from endto end, supported by two strong wheels behind, and one stillheavier but smaller wheel in front. The latter carries onits rim blocks which cut into the soil as the wheel turns,and thus give greater holding power. The single wheel isturned
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidc, booksubjectsteamengines
