This bold and successful piece of engineering would have made easy the introduction of these engines in New England.
Professor Charles B. Richards
The second engine had been built by a prominent iron works in New York, from Mr. Allen’s drawings, for a paint mill in South Brooklyn. Both names I have forgotten. Mr. Allen took me to see this engine soon after I came home. It had then been running for a year or more, and had given high satisfaction. Its local influence was found quite valuable to us. This engine is memorable for the following reason: Ten years afterwards, while building engines in Newark, I received from Mr. Mathieson, manager of the National Tube Works in McKeesport, Pa., a letter containing an invitation to make him a tender for two large Allen engines, the largest I had yet attempted, and which resulted in my building these engines for him. After they were successfully running, Mr. Mathieson told me how he came to write me. He said he was the superintendent of the iron works in New York in which Mr. Allen had this engine built, and was very much impressed by its advantages, especially after he saw it in operation; and in planning this mill these engines seemed to be just what he wanted.
Sectional and Front Elevations of One of the Two Pairs of Porter-Allen Engines in the Colt Armory, Hartford, Conn.
Porter-Allen Engines in the Colt Armory, Hartford, Conn. Front View
Porter-Allen Engines in the Colt Armory, Hartford, Conn. Rear View