LOCOMOTIVE, a self-propelling vehicle, usually a vehicle consisting of a steam engine and boiler, mounted on wheels and so con nected as to be capable of self-propulsion along a track.
The steam locomotive has been in commercial use since the early part of the 19th century. It was about the year 1825 that manufacturers in Europe and in America began earnestly the construction of locomotives. Prior to this time what locomotives had been built were the results of individual inventors. A Frenchman, Mr. Nicholas Cagnot, exhibited the first model of a steam locomotive, or steam forms which lack the firm cellulose skeleton. The method of locomotion is similar to that of the simpler animals. Thus some kinds creep; for example, the slime-molds (myxomy cetes) get about by directing their protoplasmic streaming in one constant direction, as do some of the Amoeba among animals. Other plants, or their reproductive spores, swim freely in water in a manner so similar to that of animals that they are called zoospores, and these are very characteristic in the Alga or Seaweeds. The motion is effected either by the action of innumerable cilia, tiny hairs which all in unison beat the water more strongly in one direction than another, or else by flagella, resembling tails, except that instead of pushing the spore, they pull it behind them by an action the reverse of that of the tail of a fish. The movements of both cilia and i carriage as it is more often described. The exhibition took place in 1763 and is the first of which we have any record. In 1769 Mr. Cag not built a locomotive, that might be better described as a self-moving steam engine, which was to run on common roads. It had a speed of less than four miles per hour with stops every 15 minutes to build up the steam pressure. Cagnot's second engine was more successful and created considerable attention. While run ning, the engine at a speed of three miles per hour it overturned. The public authorities, who considered it dangerous and a menace to public safety, ordered it locked up. William Murdock of England built a steam carriage in 1784. It had a copper boiler, ran on three wheels and used high pressure steam. Among
the earliest and probably the first engine built to run on the public highway in the United States was that designed and built by Salem Reed of Salem, Mass., in 1790.
We of to-day are inclined to think of these inventions as the forerunners of our steam automobiles and think of the locomotive as operating on rails. In 1802 Richard Trevethick patented the application of the non-condensing engine to the propulsion of carriages on rail roads. On 1 Feb. 1804 his engine bearing his name was run on the Merthyr Tydvil Railway in South Wales. The boiler of this locomo tive was of the cylindrical type with internal furnace and flue. The steam cylinder which was eight inches in diameter had the relatively long stroke of four feet and six inches. The driving wheels were plain and were driven by means of a connecting rod and crank through a train of gears. The locomotive drew its load of 10 tons, besides the wagons at the rate of 5 miles per hour. It is interesting to note that Trevethick's locomotive was the first to be used for drawing wagons and the Merthyr Tydvil Railway can justly claim the honor of being the first railway company in the world. An act of Parliament established it in 1803. The Tom Thumb built in 1829 by Peter Cooper was the first locomotive used on rails in America. During the same year an English locomotive, The Stourbridge Lion, was im ported. Many types of locomotives combining ingenious ideas besides those referred to were The first successful locomotive was built up of a strong rectangular frame upon which the boiler and engine were supported. Axles were fastened to the frame and the two pairs of wheels kept in parallel motion. The first radical change was to extend the base by sup porting the front end on a four-wheeled truck, or "bogie° and the back end upon a pair of drivers. Later two pairs of drivers were coupled up and considerable improvement re sulted. Subsequently more drivers were added and in some cases a small pair of wheels were placed under the rear end of the boiler.