Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/387

 STEPHENSON 3T5 escape of the steam. Hence originated the steam blast, the most important improvement in the locomotive up to that time, and it was embodied in Stephenson's next engine, com- pleted in 1815. For some years Stephenson had been experimenting with the fire damp in the mines, and in 1815 he completed a miner's safety lamp, which is still in use in the Killingworth collieries. The invention of a safety lamp by Sir Humphry Davy was nearly simultaneous, and to him the mining proprie- tors presented a service of plate worth 2,000, at the same time awarding 100 to Stephen- son. This led to a protracted discussion as to the priority of the invention, and in 1817 Ste- phenson's friends presented 1,000 to him. Having brought the locomotive to a consid- erable degree of perfection, Stephenson next turned his attention to .the improvement of railways, his opinion being that both were parts of one mechanism, and that the employ- ment of steam carriages on common roads was impracticable. For the purpose of making railways solid and level, and preventing jerks at the junction of the rails, he took out in 1816 a patent for an improved rail and chair, and recommended the employment of heavier rails and the substitution of wrought for cast iron. In connection with these improvements he add- ed considerably to the lightness and strength of 'the locomotive, simplified the construction of the working parts, and substituted steel springs for the small cylinders on which the )iler had at first rested. His next important undertaking was the construction of a railway eight miles in length for the owners of the Het- ton colliery, which was successfully opened on Nov. 18, 1822, the level parts being traversed by five of Stephenson's locomotives, while sta- tionary engines were employed to overcome the heavy grades. In 1820 an act of parlia- ment was obtained for a railway between Stock- ton and Darlington, of which Stephenson, who made the preliminary surveys and specifica- tions, was in 1823 appointed engineer-. The line was intended to be worked by stationary engines for the steep gradients, with horse power on the level portions ; but at Ste- phenson's urgent request the act was amend- ed so as to permit the use of locomotives on all parts of the road, which was opened Sept. 27, 1825. In 1824, in connection with Edward Pease, he opened an establishment for the manufacture of locomotives at Newcas- tle-upon-Tyne. In 1825 he was appointed prin- cipal engineer of the Liverpool and Manches- ter line, made the preliminary surveys, and in June 1826, began the construction of the road, which employed him during the next four years. Of the engineering difficulties suc- cessfully overcome, the most important was the crossing at Chatmoss, a bog 4 m. in length, on which the road was made to float. TVhile this road was building, the most eminent engineers srsisted in recommending stationary engines place of locomotives, which they declared unsafe and incapable of attaining high speed ; and the clumsy expedient of a series of sta- tionary machines l^ in. apart, dragging the trains by ropes, would have been adopted but for the energy of Stephenson and a few of his friends. He finally prevailed on the directors to offer a prize of 500 for the most effective locomotive engine for the purposes of the road ; and at a trial which took place near Liver- pool, Oct. 6, 1829, his engine, the Rocket, con- structed by himself and his son Robert, was adjudged to be the best of the four entered, having averaged a speed of 14 m. an hour, and even attained one of 29 m. The dis- tinguishing features of the Rocket, the first high-speed locomotive of the standard mod- ern type, were the multitubular boiler, which was not Stephenson's invention, but was first applied by him to locomotives; the blast pipe ; and the direct connection of the steam cylinders to one axle and one pair of wheels. At the opening of the road, Sept. 15, 1830, eight locomotives constructed at the Stephen- son works were employed, and Mr. Huskisson, having been accidentally struck down and fatally injured by the Rocket, was conveyed in the Northumbrian, driven by George Ste- phenson, from Parkside to Eccles, 15 m., at the then unprecedented rate of 36 m. an hour. Stephenson was almost incessantly employed for the next 15 years on new roads, and was called three times to Belgium and once to Spain as a consulting engineer. With his increasing wealth he also engaged exten- sively and profitably in coal mining and lime works, particularly in the -neighborhood of Tapton park, an elegant seat in Derbyshire, where he passed his latter years. He de- clined the honor of knighthood. See "Life of George Stephenson," by Samuel Smiles (8vo, London, 1857 ; 8th ed., including Robert Stephenson, 1864; again enlarged, 1868). -II. Robert, a railway engineer, son of the pre- ceding, born at Willington, near Newcastle- upon-Tyne, Oct. 16, 1803, died in London, Oct. 12, 1859. After several years' schooling at Newcastle, and a preparatory training in the collieries, he went in 1822 to the univer- sity of Edinburgh. He returned home in 1823, and accepted in 1824 an engagement as engi- neer in South America. In 1827, after a short tour in the United States and Canada, he re- turned to England, and was employed in the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester railway, and in connection with his father in the improvement of locomotives. After be- ing engaged on several minor railway lines, he was appointed engineer of the London and Birmingham road, which under his direction was completed in 1838 ; and thenceforth for many years he was almost exclusively occupied with similar undertakings at home and abroad. Among his most remarkable works are the high level bridge over the Tyne at Newcastle, the viaduct over the Tweed valley at Berwick, the Conway bridge, and above all the Britan-