. The early American locomotives were so similar in every essential feature to the en gines of English make that it seems quite probable that they were constructed as a close copy of that model. Later, however, the Amer ican inventive genius came to the front, ex hibiting itself in such radical departures from the imported machines that it was no longer necessary to bring locomotives from Europe. Taking these evidences of development the im provements upon the locomotives of English W: were reached in about the following order: four-wheel swiveling truck, or bogie, was substituted for the pair of fixed carrying wheels in 1832; the cross-head pump for supplying feed water to the boiler was invented in 1833; the half-crank driving axle took the place of the crank-axle in 1834; outside connection to the driving wheels was introduced in 1835; the coupling of two pairs of driving-wheels was patented by H. R. Campbell in 1836; counterbalance weights for the revolving and reciprocating parts were first used in 1837; equalizing beams connecting the driving springs were first applied by Eastwick and Harrison in the same year; the use of lap-welded wrought-iron boiler tubes first took place in 1838; and of bar-frames of forged iron with forged pedestals, in 1840; the wooden cabs with glass windows originated during the winter of 1840-41, having been invented in New Eng land, where the excessively cold weather neces sitated some such protection for the engine men; the Baldwin flexible-beam truck was in vented in 1842; the first °ten-wheel') locomotive, with six coupled wheels and a leading four wheeled truck, was used in 1846; the Mogul locomotive, with six coupled wheels and a lead ing two-wheeled truck, came into use in 1861, while the Consolidation type, consisting of eight coupled wheels and a leading two-wheeled truck, an engine which was designed by Alex ander Mitdiell of the Lehigh Valky Railroad, was first built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1866. Among the other features of the locomotive which have been added from time to time, and all of which appealed to the eye of the foreign manufacturer as peculiarly American inventions, are the pilot, or °cow the bell, the boiler covering of elan ished or Russian iron, the large headlights and the directness and visibility of the pipes and other appurtenances. Up to within as recent a time as the early seventies the so-called type of locomotive, with its four coupled wheels and its four-wheeled truck, was the class of engine most generally adopted by railroad men in the United States. In fact, ever since the day of its first construction by Campbell, in 1836, it had been continuously used for almost every kind of general service—for the carrying of passengers as well as for freight and switching purposes, and it was not until the demand of the public upon the railways in creased so greatly as to create the need of more powerful locomotives that special engines for freight service were constructed. It was to meet these requirements that the Mogul and ten-wheel types were adopted during the sixties, and that the Consolidation engines became the standard for the heaviest freight service be tween 1870 and 1880. During the seventies, the maximum load per axle was limited by the strength of the track to approximately 12 tons. This period, however, witnessed the general introduction of steel rails and steel tires; and the way was thus paved for a great increase m the weight and capacity of locomotives. Rail way men became convinced of the superiority of the large locomotive, with its high tractive force and liberal heating surface; and the weight of the engines was increased to the limit permitted by the strength of tracks and bridges. If, in the beginning, the building of these excessively heavy engines was largely an experiment, it was not long before their practicability had become so well established that their size and weight continued to increase untilcars were made that were capable of carrying loads of 50 tons or even more, in special cases; and locomotives were constructed with over 30 tons weight per axle. Such power ful locomotives were more costly and difficult of construction, but when the practicable economies in the matter of transportation which were made possible only by the use of cars of such great carrying capacity were taken into consideration, the balance was so strongly in favor of the big cars and the heavy, powerful locomotives, that railroad men found no reason to hesitate because of the question of first cost.
Since the beginning of the art of locomotive construction in the United States, American en gine designers have been actuated by one desire: To produce a machine with sufficient flexibility of wheel-base to enable it to pass sharp curva ture and adapt itself to the unevenness of track surfaces resulting from the action of severe frosts, as well as to facilitate the matter of repairs by striving to make every part so accessible that it might be removed without affecting the other parts of the engine.
Among the locomotive-builders whose ex periments contributed to this result and who also played an important part in the work of increasing the capacity of the American engine were several establishments that either disap peared altogether or that discontinued the manufacture of this kind of machine to enter lines of business in which the competition was less intense. To speak of these firms recalls such names as the Norris Brothers of Philadel phia, whose work, in the early days of the in dustry, presented the most active competition to such builders as Baldwin and Rogers. After many business vicissitudes this firm ceased to exist in 1865; and in 1873 their plant was in corporated in the Baldwin Locomotive Works. In Baltimore, in the old days, there were two works, those of Ross Winans and the Den meads. Boston had several plants, notably those of Seth Wilmarth, John Souther's Globe Works, the McKay and Aldus Works at East Boston and the Hinckley Locomotive and Ma chine Works, which was one of the representa tive houses in the industry up to 1888 or 1889. In fact, New England has always been a sec tion of the country most actively interested in the work of locomotive building, the prin cipal plants, in addition to those already named, being the works of Ballard Vail, at Andover, Mass.; Corliss and Nightingale, of Providence, R. I., a firm which, although George H. Cor liss, the great engine builder, was at its head, proved less successful in the building of loco motives than in other branches of the trade; A. Latham and Company, of White River Junc tion, Vt.; the Locks and Canal Works, at Lowell, Mass.; the Amoskeag Locomotive Works, at Manchester, N. H.; the Lawrence Locomotive Works, at Lawrence, Mass.; the Taunton Locomotive Works, and the Mason Machine Works, at Taunton, Mass.; and the Portland, Me., Locomotive and Car Company.
Among other sections of the country New Jersey has been a special field for the manu facture of locomotives. The plant of William Swinburne, at Paterson, afterward known as the New Jersey Locomotive Works, and later as the Grant Locomotive Works, was one of the offshoots from the Rogers Works. For years it conducted business most successfully. Finally, in 1885, the Grant Locomotive Works found that it was impossible to meet the de mands of modern requirements with its antiquated shop and inadequate facilities. Hence the works at Paterson were closed and the company removed to Chicago, where, after they had reorganized with new capital and thoroughly modern shops, they continued in operation until 1893. The financial depression of that year was too much for them, however, and the entire plant was sold to the Siemens and Halske Electric Company of Chicago. For a time it was operated both for the manufacture of electrical equipment and locomotives, but the business at last proved so unprofitable that the plant was closed. Among the other New Jer sey manufacturers of locomotives were Breese, Kneeland and Company, who operated the Jer sey City Locomotive Works, and Van Cleeve, McKean and Dripps, whose shops were located at Trenton.
For several years the firm of Eastwidc and Harrison built locomotives at Newcastle, Del., and, when they failed in 1840, they were suc ceeded by the Newcastle Manufacturing Com pany, a concern that gained both wealth and international fame by their railway operations in Russia. In the West there were several manufacturers of note, some important works being located at Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago and San Francisco. The Rome Loco motive Works, at Rome, N. Y., started under favorable auspices, but, after several years of more or less disastrous operations, went out of business in 1891.