



Produced by Don Kretz, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the DP Team




[Illustration]




SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 460




NEW YORK, OCTOBER 25, 1884

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XVIII, No. 460.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I.    CHEMISTRY. ETC.--Wolpert's Method of Estimating the
      Amount of Carbonic Acid in the Air.--7 Figures.

      Japanese Camphor.--Its preparation, experiments, and analysis
      of the camphor oil.--By H. OISHI.

II.   ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--Links in the History of the
      Locomotive.--With two engravings of the Rocket.

      The Flow of Water through Turbines and Screw Propellers.--By
      ARTHUR RIGG.--Experimental researches.--Impact on level
      plate.--Impact and reaction in confined channels.--4 figures.

      Improved Textile Machinery.--The Textile Exhibition at
      Islington.--5 figures.

      Endless Rope Haulage.--2 figures.

III.  TECHNOLOGY.--A Reliable Water Filter.--With engraving.

      Simple Devices for Distilling Water.--4 figures.

      Improved Fire Damp Detecter.--With full description and engraving.

      Camera Attachment for Paper Photo Negatives.--2 figures.

      Instantaneous Photo Shutter.--1 figure.

      Sulphurous Acid.--Easy method of preparation for photographic
      purposes.

IV.   PHYSICS. ELECTRICITY, ETC.--Steps toward a Kinetic
      Theory of Matter.--Address by Sir Wm. THOMSON at the Montreal
      meeting of the British Association.

      Application of Electricity to Tramways.--By M. HOLROYD
      SMITH.--7 figures.

      The Sunshine Recorder.--1 figure.

V.    ARCHITECTURE AND ART.--The National Monument at Rome.--With
      full page engraving.

      On the Evolution of Forms of Art.--From a paper by Prof.
      JACOBSTHAL.--Plant Forms the archetypes of cashmere
      patterns.--Ornamental representations of plants of two
      kinds.--Architectural forms of different ages.--20 figures.

VI.   NATURAL HISTORY.--The Latest Knowledge about Gapes.--How
      to keep poultry free from them.

      The Voyage of the Vettor Pisani.--Shark fishing In the Gulf
      of Panama.--Capture of Rhinodon typicus, the largest fish in
      existence.

VII.  HORTICULTURE, ETC.--The Proper Time for Cutting Timber.

      Raising Ferns from Spores.--1 figure.

      The Life History of Vaucheria.--Growth of alga vaucheria
      under the microscope.--4 figures.

VIII. MISCELLANEOUS.--Fires in London and New York.

      The Greely Arctic Expedition.--With engraving.

      The Nile Expedition.--1 figure.

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LINKS IN THE HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.


It is, perhaps, more difficult to write accurate history than anything
else, and this is true not only of nations, kings, politicians, or wars,
but of events and things witnessed or called into existence in every-day
life. In _The Engineer_ for September 17, 1880, we did our best to place a
true statement of the facts concerning the Rocket before our readers. In
many respects this was the most remarkable steam engine ever built, and
about it there ought to be no difficulty, one would imagine, in arriving at
the truth. It was for a considerable period the cynosure of all eyes.
Engineers all over the world were interested in its performance. Drawings
were made of it; accounts were written of it, descriptions of it abounded.
Little more than half a century has elapsed since it startled the world by
its performance at Rainhill, and yet it is not too much to say that the
truth--the whole truth, that is to say--can never now be written. We are,
however, able to put some facts before our readers now which have never
before been published, which are sufficiently startling, and while
supplying a missing link in the history of the locomotive, go far to show
that much that has hitherto been held to be true is not true at all.

When the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened on the 15th of
September, 1830, among those present was James Nasmyth, subsequently the
inventor of the steam hammer. Mr. Nasmyth was a good freehand draughtsman,
and he sketched the Rocket as it stood on the line. The sketch is still in
existence. Mr. Nasmyth has placed this sketch at our disposal, thus earning
the gratitude of our readers, and we have reproduced as nearly as possible,
but to a somewhat enlarged scale, this invaluable link in the history of
the locomotive. Mr. Nasmyth writes concerning it, July 26, 1884: "This
slight and hasty sketch of the Rocket was made the day before the opening
of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, September 12, 1830. I availed
myself of the opportunity of a short pause in the experimental runs with
the Rocket, of three or four miles between Liverpool and Rainhill, George
Stephenson acting as engine driver and his son Robert as stoker. The
limited time I had for making my sketch prevented me from making a more
elaborate one, but such as it is, all the important and characteristic
details are given; but the pencil lines, after the lapse of fifty-four
years, have become somewhat indistinct." The pencil drawing, more than
fifty years old, has become so faint that its reproduction has become a
difficult task. Enough remains, however, to show very clearly what manner
of engine this Rocket was. For the sake of comparison we reproduce an
engraving of the Rocket of 1829. A glance will show that an astonishing
transformation had taken place in the eleven months which had elapsed
between the Rainhill trials and the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway. We may indicate a few of the alterations. In 1829 the cylinders
were set at a steep angle; in 1830 they were nearly horizontal. In 1829 the
driving wheels were of wood; in 1830 they were of cast iron. In 1829 there
was no smoke-box proper, and a towering chimney; in 1830 there was a
smoke-box and a comparatively short chimney. In 1829 a cask and a truck
constituted the tender; in 1830 there was a neatly designed tender, not
very different in style from that still in use on the Great Western broad
gauge. All these things may perhaps be termed concomitants, or changes in
detail. But there is a radical difference yet to be considered. In 1829 the
fire-box was a kind of separate chamber tacked on to the back of the barrel
of the boiler, and communicating with it by three tubes; one on each side
united the water spaces, and one at the top the steam spaces. In 1830