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[14] [15] In the United States the 'Iron Horse' was a component of national, [16] state histories, [17] of the Civil War, [18] even as a component of constitutional history. [ 19 ] It began to decline in use, at least in North American colloquial expression, with the decline in rail transport as the primary mode of transport.
A railway pioneer is someone who has made a significant contribution to the historical development of the railway (US: railroad). This definition includes locomotive engineers, railway construction engineers, operators of railway companies, major railway investors and politicians, of national and international importance for the development of rail transport.
1860 – Lenoir 2 cycle engine [8] 1872 – Brayton Engine; 1877 – Nicolaus Otto patents a four-stroke internal combustion engine (U.S. patent 194,047). [9] 1882 – James Atkinson invents the Atkinson cycle engine, now common in some hybrid vehicles. 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the first supercharger.
Diagram of Priestman oil engine from The Steam engine and gas and oil engines (1900) by John Perry Petrol–electric Weitzer railmotor, first 1903, series 1906. The earliest recorded example of the use of an internal combustion engine in a railway locomotive is the prototype designed by William Dent Priestman, which was examined by William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin in 1888 who described it as ...
(Savery engines were re-introduced in the 1780s to recirculate water to water wheels driving textile mills, especially in periods of drought). c. 1705 ( 1705 ) : Thomas Newcomen develops the atmospheric engine , which, unlike the Savery pump, employs a piston in a cylinder; the vacuum pulling the piston down to the bottom of the cylinder when ...
A locomotive is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train.If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the use of these self-propelled vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains, but rare for freight trains.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were tighter restrictions on road steam haulage, including speed, smoke and vapour limits [9] and a 'wetted tax', where the tax due was proportional to the size of the wetted area of the boiler; this made steam engines less competitive against domestically produced internal combustion engined units (although ...
Over 100 Newcomen engines were installed around England by 1735, and it is estimated that as many as 2,000 were in operation by 1800 (including Watt versions). John Smeaton made numerous improvements to the Newcomen engine, notably the seals, and by improving these was able to almost triple their efficiency. He also preferred to use wheels ...