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diff --git a/25454.txt b/25454.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fc4a66 --- /dev/null +++ b/25454.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1080 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Introduction of the Locomotive Safety Truck, by +John H. White + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Introduction of the Locomotive Safety Truck + Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology: Paper 24 + +Author: John H. White + +Release Date: May 12, 2008 [EBook #25454] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTRO. OF LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY TRUCK *** + + + + +Produced by Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper, David Wilson and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +INTRODUCTION OF +THE LOCOMOTIVE +SAFETY TRUCK + +_by John H. White_ + + +Paper 24 pages 117-131, from +CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM +OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY + +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM +Bulletin 228 + +Smithsonian Institution +Washington, D.C., 1961 + + + + +Contributions from +The Museum of History and Technology: +Paper 24 + +Introduction of +The Locomotive Safety Truck + +_John H. White_ + + + + + INTRODUCTION OF + THE LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY TRUCK + + _John H. White_ + + + _Pioneer railroading was dangerous. With increased speed and density + of traffic came an increase in catastrophic wrecks that forced + operators to take heed for the safety of their passengers and + freight. This safety was painfully achieved through the slow process + of improving equipment part by part._ + + _Antedating such spectacular post-Civil War advances as the steel + rail, automatic coupler, and airbrake, was the invention of the + safety truck for locomotives. Intended to lead the bobbing, weaving + locomotive around curves on the rough track of the early roads, it + did much to reduce the all too numerous derailments that were a + major cause of accidents._ + + The Author: _John H. White, is associate curator, in charge of land + transportation, in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of History + and Technology, United States National Museum._ + + + + +American railroads of the early 19th century were cheaply and hastily +built. They were characterized by inferior roadbeds, steep grades, sharp +curves, and rough track. In spring, poor drainage and lack of ballast +might cause the track to sink into the soggy roadbed and produced an +unstable path. In winter this same roadbed could freeze into a hard and +unyielding pavement on which the rolling stock was pounded to pieces. + +In those pioneering times the demand for new roads left little capital +to improve or expand existing lines; therefore equipment was needed that +could accommodate itself to the existing operating conditions. + +The first locomotives used in this country had been imported from +England. Designed for well-ballasted track with large-radius curves and +gentle gradients, they all too frequently left the rails, and the +unsuitability of the essentially rigid British design soon became +apparent. + +The challenge posed by the American roadbed was met by American +mechanics. By the mid-1830's a distinctive American locomotive had +evolved that might best be described by the word "flexible." The basic +features of its running gear were a bar frame and equalizing levers to +provide vertical relief and a leading truck to provide lateral relief. +Of these devices the truck was probably the most important, and more +readily than any one component distinguished the American running gear +from that used by the British before 1860. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 1.--Design drawing showing the 4-wheel leading +truck, developed in 1831 by John B. Jervis, applied to the _Brother +Jonathan_. This locomotive, one of the earliest to use a leading truck, +was built in June 1832 by the West Point Foundry Association for the +Mohawk and Hudson Rail Road. The truck is attached to the locomotive +frame by a center pin, but the forward weight of the locomotive is +carried by a roller which bears on the frame of the truck. +(_Smithsonian photo 36716-a_)] + +It was John B. Jervis who is generally credited with first applying the +truck to the locomotive. His design, shown in figure 1, was developed in +1831-32. Its merits quickly became apparent, and by 1835 it had been +universally recognized in this country. The truck successfully led the +locomotive around sharp curves, the resultant 3-point suspension enabled +the machine to traverse even the roughest of tracks, and, altogether, +the design did far less damage to the lightly built U.S. lines than did +the rigid, imported engines.[1] + +The truck frame, fabricated from iron straps and castings, was attached +to the locomotive by a pin around which it might rotate. At first the +weight was received by rollers or chafing pads mounted on the side beams +of the truck. However, the friction of these bearing surfaces and their +location at a considerable distance from the center pin combined to +restrict the free movement of the truck. By the early 1850's the point +of bearing was transferred to the center plate, producing a truck that +turned more freely.[2] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 2.--The 4-wheel Bissell truck as shown in the +drawing for British patent 1273, issued May 5, 1857.] + +[Illustration: + + A--Truck frame + B--Equalizing lever + C--Locomotive frame + D--Double incline plane + (_Centering device_) + E--Truck bolster + F--Swivel pin + (_Pivot point_) + _Drawn by J. H. White. June, 1960_ + +FIGURE 3.--Typical 4-wheel Bissell Safety truck of 1860. This drawing is +based on plate 69 of Alexander L. Holley's, _American and European +Railway Practice in the Economical Generation of Steam_, New York, 1861. +(_Smithsonian photo 46946_)] + +For single axle engines this simple form of truck was entirely +satisfactory, but it proved less satisfactory for 4- and 6-coupled +machines. Also, as train speeds increased, so did the number of +derailments. Many of these could be traced to the inability of the +engine to negotiate curves at speed. Levi Bissell, a New York inventor +who investigated this problem in the 1850's, correctly analyzed the +difficulty. He observed that when the engine was proceeding on straight +tracks the leading truck tended to oscillate and chatter about the +center pin, and he noted that it was this action that imparted a fearful +pitching motion to the locomotive at speed. The derailments were traced +to the action of the truck as the engine entered a curve. + +This action can be more easily understood from reference to Bissell's +patent drawing in figure 2. For example, let us say that an 8-wheel +engine, fitted with a center-swing truck, enters a right-hand curve. The +left truck wheels bear hard against the left rail. The drivers jam +obliquely across the track, with the right front and left rear wheels +grinding into the rails. As a result, the locomotive tends to leave the +track in the direction of the arrow shown on the figure (bottom +drawing). It will be noted that the truck center pintle is in fact the +fulcrum for this leverage. Under such strain the truck wheels are +particularly likely to leave the rails when they encounter an +obstruction. Once derailed, the truck would then spin around on the +deadly center pin, throwing the locomotive over. + +In effect, then, the center pin of the conventional truck extended the +rigid wheelbase of the engine, and caused the truck to act much as +would a single set of leading wheels fitted rigidly to the engine frame +far ahead of the front driving wheels. Bissell proposed to correct the +faults of the conventional truck by fitting the locomotives with his +invention, the first practical safety truck to be patented. Since the +primary requirements were to keep the leading wheel axles at right +angles to the rails whether on a straight or curved track, and to allow +the driving axles to remain parallel, or nearly so, to the radial line +of the curve, he moved the center pin to a point behind the truck and +just in front of the forward driving axle. This shortened the wheelbase +of the engine and removed the danger of the pintle serving as a fulcrum +between the truck and the driving wheels, thus allowing them to assume a +comfortable position on a curve. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 4.--A 4-wheel safety truck fitted with A. F. +Smith's swing-bolster centering device. Built by the Hinkley Locomotive +Works. From Gustavus Weissenborn, _American Locomotive Engineering and +Railway Mechanism_, New York, 1871, pl. 88.] + +Since the truck could assume the correct angle when entering curves, it +was claimed in the patent specification that, unless all four wheels +were simultaneously lifted off the track, the truck could pass over +"quite a considerable obstruction."[3] Bissell further claimed: + + In running on either a straight or curved track one of the truck + wheels often breaks off, and the truck swivels around on its center + pin in consequence, and throws the engine off the track, but with my + device one wheel, or even the two wheels on the opposite sides + diagonally of the truck might break off and still the truck would + not run off, because its position is set and it has no axis of + motion around which it could swing.... + +The other problem Bissell wished to correct was the oscillation and +chatter of the leading truck. This was accomplished by a simple +centering device in the form of a pair of V-shaped double incline planes +(D on fig. 3) situated at the center of the truck frame (A). The lower +planes of the pair were fastened to the truck frame and the upper, cast +in the form of a bridge, were attached to the locomotive frame (C) by a +center plate. But while the portion of the locomotive's weight assigned +to the leading wheels was borne at the center of the truck, as in the +conventional design, the center plate was no longer the point of +rotation. On a straight track the V's would be at their bottom position +and thus prevent the truck from vibrating.[4] When the locomotive +entered a curve the planes allowed its forward weight to bear +continuously on all four wheels, and at the same time controlled any +exaggerated swing caused by centrifugal force. + +The centering device is thus explained in the patent specification +(figure numbers are omitted): + + I therefore obviate this difficulty [the oscillation of the truck] + by providing two inclined planes ... formed double as shown and of + an angle proportioned to the weight of the forward part of the + locomotive and the velocity of the same.... The position of the + inclines is such that the blocks [V's] rest in the lowest part of + the double inclines when the engine is on a straight track, and on + coming onto a curve the inertia of the engine ... is expended in + going up the inclines, as the truck moves laterally toward the inner + part of the curve; and on coming onto a straight line the blocks, + descend to the bottom of the inclines and the engine is prevented + from acquiring a sidewise or oscillating motion. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 5.--Detail drawing of the radius-bar truck, +patented by William S. Hudson in 1864, as applied to the New Jersey +Railroad and Transportation Company No. 44. From Gustavus Weissenborn, +_American Locomotive Engineering and Railway Mechanism_, New York, 1871, +pl. 8.] + +Bissell applied for a U.S. patent on April 23, 1857. His petition was +initially denied. A weary debate of several months duration followed +between the patent examiner and Bissell's attorneys. + +During this time Bissell was busy promoting the application of his truck +even though he had no patent for protection. In May of 1857 he showed a +working model of his improvement to Gilbert M. Milligan, secretary of +the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey.[5] Samuel L. Moore, master +mechanic of that railroad, also inspected the model. Both were so +impressed that it was decided to fit the device to the locomotive +_Lebanon_, which at the time was undergoing repairs at the road's +Elizabeth Port, New Jersey, shops.[6] Although the engine was less than +18 months old, her tires were badly worn and she oscillated at high +speed. + +Early in June of that year a series of tests were held with the +_Lebanon_. Moore said of these trials:[7] + + After the said invention of Bissell had been applied the engine was + run out onto a curve which she turned apparently with nearly as much + facility as she would travel on a straight line, and the forward + part of the engine rose on the inclines as the truck entered the + curve and remained fixed while running around said curve and then + resumed its former position on entering a straight track, and the + trial was pronounced by all who saw it as most satisfactory, even by + those who before pronounced that it would be a failure. + + At a subsequent trial under a full pressure of steam and a velocity + of about thirty miles per hour the entering and leaving the curve + was equally satisfactory, the same being accurately observed by a + man located on the cow catcher. + + ... The engine was run at its greatest possible velocity at least + forty miles per hour on a straight track and the previous "shaking + of the head" [oscillation] was found to be entirely overcome, and + the engine run as steadily as a car would have done.... + + At one of the trials a bar of iron 3/4 x 4 inches was spiked down + across one of the _rails diagonally of the track_, ... and the + employees of the company took the precaution to fill in around the + track to facilitate getting the engine back again, supposing she + must jump off; however on passing over slowly she still kept the + track and the speed was increased until she passed over said bar ... + while under a considerable speed. + +Messrs. Moore and Milligan heartily endorsed the truck as a complete +success. Milligan predicted that[8] "the time is not far distant when +locomotives will be considered incomplete and comparatively unsafe +without this improvement particularly on roads which have many curves." + +[Illustration: FIGURE 6.--The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation +Company _No. 12_, built in 1868, was equipped with the radius bar truck, +a modification by William S. Hudson of the original Bissell truck. The +_General Darcy_ and several other engines built at the Jersey City shops +of the road, under the direction of John Headden, were fitted with the +Hudson truck. Note that the radius bar is connected to the truck frame +just behind the rear leading wheels. (_Smithsonian photo 46806-l_)] + +U.S. Patent Commissioner Charles Mason was so impressed by the evidence +of the New Jersey trials, reinforced by the arguments of Bissell's +attorneys, that he agreed to grant a United States patent.[9] It was +issued as no. 17913 on August 4, 1857, and reissued October 18, 1864 as +no. 1794. British patent 1273 had been issued earlier (May 5, 1857), and +patents were also secured in France, Belgium, Austria, and Russia. + +The Rogers Locomotive Works in 1858 was one of the earliest builders to +apply the improved truck. By 1860 they had fitted many of their engines +with it and were endorsing the device to prospective customers. + +In the same year the _American Railway Review_ noted that the truck was +in extensive use, stating:[10] + + ... the advantages of the arrangement are so obvious and its results + so well established by practice in this country and Europe that a + treatise on its principles will hardly be needed. + + It is no longer an experiment; and the earlier it is applied to all + engines, the better the running and repair accounts will look. + +The success of Bissell's invention prompted others to perfect safety +trucks for locomotives. Alba F. Smith came forward in 1862 with the +simple substitution of swing links (fig. 4) for the incline planes.[11] +A swing-bolster truck had been developed 20 years earlier for use on +railroad cars,[12] and while Smith recognized this in his patent, he +based his claim on the specific application of the idea to locomotive +trucks. That the swing links succeeded the incline planes as a centering +device was mainly because they were cheaper and simpler to construct, +and not, as has been claimed, that the V's wore out quickly.[13] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 7.--Bissell's 2-wheel truck of 1858 as shown by the +drawing for British patent 2751, issued December 1, 1858.] + +Smith's swing-bolster truck, with the heart pendant link, a later +refinement, became the dominating form of centering devices and was used +well into this century. It was to be superseded in more recent years by +the constant resistance and gear roller centering devices which, like +Bissell's invention, depended on the double incline plane principle. + +The British-born engineer William S. Hudson, superintendent of the +Rogers Works and an early proponent of the Bissell truck, in 1864 +obtained a patent[14] for improving Bissell's safety truck. Hudson +contended that since the Bissell arrangement had a fixed pivot point it +could traverse only one given radius accurately. He proposed to replace +the fixed pivot with a radius bar (see fig. 5) one end of which was +attached to the locomotive under the smoke-box and the other to rear of +the truck frame, at the same point of attachment as in the Bissell plan. +Thus, according to Hudson, the pivot point could move laterally so that +the truck might more easily accommodate itself to a curve of any radius. +He further claimed that a better distribution of weight was effected and +that the use of the radius bar relieved the center bearing casting of +much of the strain of propelling the truck. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 8.--A 2-wheel Bissell truck installed on the +Pennsylvania Railroad's _No. 91_. This engine originally an 0-8-0 Winans +Camel built in February 1854, was rebuilt by John P. Laird in 1867, at +which time the Bissell truck was added. Note that Hudson equalizing +lever was not used. (_Smithsonian photo 46806-k_)] + +The British journal _Engineering_, in an article otherwise friendly to +the inventor, expressed some skepticism as to the real merit of Hudson's +invention.[15] + + If Mr. Hudson's truck, ... be examined, it will be seen that the + radius link serves no other purpose than that of carrying the truck + along with the engine, and this could obviously be equally done by + the pivot or central pin of the truck itself. + +It is probable that few builders other than Rogers made use of the +Hudson radial link.[16] One of these was John Headden, whose _General +Darcy_, shown in figure 6, was fitted with the Hudson truck. + +Thus, by 1860 there had been perfected and adopted a successful 4-wheel +safety truck for 4-4-0's and 4-6-0's used in general mixed and passenger +service. But as the decade advanced, the need grew for heavy freight +engines that could be safely run at speed. Without a pilot truck, the +leading driving axle of the freight engine was generally overloaded. +While the application of a 4-wheel truck reduced this front-end overload +and permitted faster running it materially reduced the traction of the +drivers by bearing too great a portion of the total weight. This loss of +traction was of course highly undesirable and generally disqualified the +use of 4-wheel trucks for freight engines. What was needed was a truck +which would guide the 0-6-0's and 0-8-0's around curves and yet leave +the greater portion of the weight on the drivers. The 2-wheel, or pony, +truck met these requirements.[17] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 9.--Running gear and truck designed by John L. +Whetstone, as shown in the drawing for U.S. patent 27850, issued April +10, 1860.] + +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-wheel truck. Such a device, he believed, would be well +received in Britain.[18] 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 axle, 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 Eastern 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 no lateral +freedom. For the test the front pedestals, which held the journal boxes +of the leading wheels, were cut off and a Bissell pony truck was +substituted. About a year later Alexander L. Holley reported on the +success of the test.[19] The 248 had operated 17,500 miles, at speeds up +to 50 m.p.h., safely and satisfactorily. The engine not only rode more +steadily but showed a remarkable reduction in flange wear. The road was +so pleased that by 1866 they had equipped 21 locomotives with Bissell +trucks.[20] Several other British lines followed the example of the +Eastern Counties Railway. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 10.--The Hudson-Bissell truck permitted the +introduction of Mogul and Consolidation type freight locomotives. This +drawing shows a typical installation for a Consolidation of the 1880's. +Item A is the equalizing lever which connects the truck to the springs +of the front driving wheels. From figures 891-3 in J. G. A. Meyer, +_Modern Locomotive Construction_, New York, John Wiley, 1904, p. 543.] + +At first Bissell's 2-wheel truck received wider application in Europe +than in this country, because most American roads, despite the interest +in developing heavier freight locomotives, continued to depend upon the +4-4-0 as a dual-purpose machine. It was not until after 1870, when Mogul +and Consolidation types appeared in greater numbers, that the 2-wheel +truck became common in the United States. + +The first use, known to the writer, of the Bissell pony in this country +occurred in November or December of 1859 on the Memphis and Charleston +Railroad. D. H. Feger, master mechanic of the railroad reported, eight +months later, that since the locomotive had been fitted with the Bissell +truck "she has never left the rail and previous to her having this truck +she was off the rail almost daily."[21] In the same report Feger stated +that he planned to re-equip another locomotive in the same manner. + +[Illustration: + + ANTHRACITE COAL BURNING FREIGHT LOCOMOTIVE + ROGERS LOCOMOTIVE & MACHINE WORKS + +FIGURE 11.--The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company _No. 36_, +built by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works in 1863, was one of the +first locomotives to be equipped by this firm with a 2-wheel Bissell +truck. (_Smithsonian photo 46806-m_)] + +The Baldwin Locomotive Works in December 1860 built a group of rather +awkward looking 2-6-0's for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. +Equipped with Bissell trucks, these were undoubtedly among the very +first new locomotives to be so built. The first consolidation type was +built by Baldwin in 1866; it was equipped with a 2-wheel Bissell safety +truck. + +The Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works and the New Jersey Locomotive +and Machine Works, both of Paterson, New Jersey, in the early 1860's +began building Moguls; these are known to have had Bissell trucks. Other +builders followed their example, so that by the 1870's 2-wheel trucks +had become relatively common. + +It should be noted that the 2-wheel truck was not an absolute success +until it was equalized with the front driving axle. This arrangement was +perfected in 1864 by William S. Hudson, but before describing his +invention it will be helpful to discuss several earlier attempts to +equalize pony trucks with the drivers. + +In 1857 John P. Laird, then master mechanic of the Marietta and +Cincinnati Railroad, rebuilt an old Niles 8-wheeler into a curious 2-6-0 +on which only the two rear driving wheels were coupled. The front driver +was driven by a chain and sprocket, and the pilot wheels were equalized +with the front driving axle. The success or failure of the arrangement +has not been definitely determined, but whatever the outcome, Laird +continued his experiments when he became superintendent of motive power +for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1862. He abandoned the chain drive for +a more conventional arrangement of side rods, but the truck and his plan +of equalization were much the same as that tried earlier. Laird used two +equalizing levers, attached at one end to the front spring hangers and +at the other to the truck, but in a way to allow the truck to swing +horizontally. The fulcrum for each lever was mounted on the underside of +the front frame rail. A number of old 8-wheel Baldwin flexible-beam +engines and several Winans' Camels were rebuilt in this way. One of +these is shown in figure 8. Laird, however, eventually became +dissatisfied with his arrangement and re-equipped the engines with +Bissell trucks. + +[Illustration: + + LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE SAFETY TRUCK CO. + OF NEW YORK. + + Proprietors of the following Letters Patent granted to Levi Bissell, + Aug. 4, 1857, Nov. 2, 1858 (extended Nov. 2, 1872); A. W. Smith, + Feb. 11, 1862; D. R. Pratt. Oct. 16, 1860; W. S. Hudson, April 5, + 18[digits missing] and May 10, 1864. + + DRAWINGS FURNISHED AND LICENSES GRANTED ON APPLICATION. + + A. F. SMITH, President. M. F. MOORE, Sec'y and Agent + ALBERT BRIDGES. Treas. No 46 Cortlandt st. N. Y. + +FIGURE 12.--Notice of the Locomotive Safety Truck Company listing the +patents held by it. From _Railroad Gazette_, March 3, 1876.] + +John L. Whetstone on April 10, 1860, obtained U.S. patent 27850, which +strikingly anticipated the plan Hudson was to develop four years +later.[22] Whetstone did not use a Bissell truck and was in fact more +concerned in relieving the excess weight, often a 50% overload, from the +front axle of 0-6-0 locomotives and in distributing a portion of that +weight to a pony truck. His arrangement may be readily understood from +the patent drawing in figure 9. Probably the best features of the design +was the transverse H-beam that connected the spring hangers to the truck +frame, which in this case also served as the equalizing lever (note that +the ball "C" acts as the fulcrum). + +Hudson made use of this same device but in a more practical manner. He +found that while the Bissell pony truck could satisfactorily adjust +itself laterally and could lead the locomotive around curves, it could +not handle the varying loads imposed upon it by the rough trackage +typical of American railroads. At one moment an undue amount of weight +would fall upon the truck because the drivers were over a depression in +the roadbed. This condition overloaded the truck's springs and also +resulted in a momentary loss of adhesion, causing the drivers to slip. +Conversely, when the truck hit a depression too much weight was thrust +upon the driving wheels, and broken springs or other damage might +result. + +Hudson's ingenious remedy to this problem was simple and straightforward +(see fig. 10). A heavy equalizing lever that connected the truck to the +springs of the front driving wheels was placed on the longitudinal +centerline of the locomotive, with the fulcrum under the cylinder +saddle. Thus the truck and front driver reacted together to all the +inequalities and shocks offered by the roadbed. + +In October of 1863, under Hudson's direction, two 2-6-0's equipped with +Bissell trucks were built at the Rogers Works for the New Jersey +Railroad and Transportation Company. Probably some fault was found with +the suspension of these machines, numbered 35 and 36, for the next +2-6-0, numbered 39, built for the New Jersey road was equipped with +Hudson's equalizer. This engine, completed in January 1865, is believed +to be the first Mogul so equipped.[23] + +The Locomotive Engine Safety Truck Company (see fig. 11) was formed in +the 1870's, with A. F. Smith as president, to exploit the patents of +Bissell, Smith, and Hudson. For several years notices appeared in the +columns of the _Railroad Gazette_ reporting suits by the Company against +various railroads and locomotive builders for unauthorized use of their +patents. The _Gazette_ of May 29, 1875, carries a protest of the Company +against the Manchester Locomotive Works for unlicensed use of Smith's +patent of 1862. In the issue of August 28, 1875, is reported the +Company's success in establishing the validity of Smith's patent: + + Some important settlements for the use of the patent have lately + been made with the company, one of them being with the Western + Railroad Association, whose headquarters are at Chicago, which + includes the principal western roads. Through this the company + receives its royalty on several hundred locomotives. + + +IN SUMMARY + +It can be stated that Hudson's modification of the Bissell truck is of +unquestioned importance, for without the introduction of the equalizer +it is doubtful if the 2-wheel pony truck would have been a complete +success on American railroads. Bissell's 4-wheel truck was extensively +employed, but it did not enjoy the universal popularity of the 2-wheel +truck, and in the 1880's was eclipsed by other forms of 4-wheel safety +trucks. The Hudson-Bissell pony truck, however, survived in its basic +form to recent times, when, in the late 1940's and early 1950's, the +last steam locomotives were constructed in this country. + + + 1. Three-point suspension in a 4-2-0 was easily gained--the center + plate of the truck and the two bearings of the driving wheel axle. + On a 4-4-0 the center plate served as one point, while the fulcrum + of each equalizing lever served as the other two points, thus + providing the desirable and highly stable 3-point suspension. + + 2. _American Railroad Journal_, 1853, vol. 9, p. 427. + + 3. Connecting both truck axles with an equalizing lever so that they + acted in sympathy with each other also did much to prevent + derailments on rough trackage. + + 4. Bissell states in the patent specification that inclined planes + had been previously applied to railroad car trucks. His claim + rested on the application of this device to locomotive trucks. + + 5. From a sworn statement of G. M. Milligan dated July 2, 1857. This + along with letters, petitions, receipts, and other such material + quoted in this discussion are from the Patent Office papers housed + in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. (hereafter referred to + as Patent Office papers). + + 6. The _Lebanon_ was a 4-4-0, used in freight service, that had been + built by the New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Company in December + 1855. + + 7. Letter dated July 2, 1857, from S. L. Moore (Patent Office papers). + + 8. Statement cited in footnote 5. + + 9. Letter dated July 11, 1857, Charles Mason to Levi Bissell (Patent + Office papers). + + 10. _American Railway Review_, February 9, 1860, vol. 2, p. 71. + + 11. U.S. patent 34377, February 11, 1862. + + 12. Davenport & Bridges, car builders of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in + 1841, obtained a U.S. patent for a swing-beam truck. + + 13. Gustavus Weissenborn in his authoritative _American Locomotive + Engineering and Railway Mechanism_ (New York, 1871, p. 131), + stated that when in use the V's soon acquired a polished surface + which seemed to defy wear. + + 14. U.S. patent 42662, May 10, 1864. + + 15. _Engineering_, July 12, 1867, vol. 4, p. 29. + + 16. John Headden, master mechanic of the New Jersey Railroad and + Transportation Company, built at the road's Jersey City shops + several locomotives equipped with Hudson's variety of the Bissell + truck. Headden, upon the death of Hudson, succeeded him in 1881 as + superintendent of the Roger Works. + + 17. It is believed that Harrison, Winans and Eastwick made one of the + first uses of a 2-wheel radial truck on a 2-6-0 built at the + Alexandrovsky Arsenal, St. Petersburg, in 1844-46. The success or + exact particulars of these machines is unknown. See John Jahn, + _Die Dampflokomotive in Entwicklungsgeschichtlicher Darstellung + Ihres Gesamtaufbaues_, Berlin, 1924, p. 239; Richard E. Peunoyer, + "Messrs. Harrison, Winans & Eastwick, St. Petersburg, 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 Improvements_, + 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_. + + 19. _American Railway Review_, June 8, 1860, vol. 2, p. 392. Holley + was a well known authority on locomotive engineering and the + author of several books on the subject. + + 20. _Engineering_ May 11, 1866, vol. 1, p. 313. By this time (1866), + the Eastern Counties Railway had become part of the Great Eastern + system. + + 21. _American Railway Review_ July 26, 1860, vol. 2, p. 38. + + 22. Whetstone was chief designer for Niles & Co., a Cincinnati + locomotive builder. His invention apparently did not receive a + test, since the company closed shortly before the patent was + granted. No other builder seemed interested. + + 23. Paul T. Warner, "Mogul Type Locomotives," _Railway and Locomotive + Historical Society Bulletin_ no. 100, April 1959. + + + + +U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1961 + +For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing +Office, Washington 25, D.C.--Price 20 cents + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Introduction of the Locomotive Safety +Truck, by John H. White + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTRO. 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