A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine

by Robert Henry Thurston

By this time there were a half-dozen steam-carriages under construction for Hancock, for Ogle & Summers, and for Sir Charles Dance.

In 1831, Hancock placed a new carriage on a route between London and Stratford, where it ran regularly for hire. Dance, in the same season, started another on the line between Cheltenham and Gloucester, where it ran from February 21st to June 22d, traveling 3,500 miles and carrying 3,000 passengers, running the 9 miles in 55 minutes usually, and sometimes in three-quarters of an hour, and never meeting with an accident, except the breakage of an axle in running over heaps of stones which had been purposely placed on the road by enemies of the new system of transportation. Ogle & Summers’s carriage attained a speed, as testified by Ogle before a committee of the House of Commons, of from 32 to 35 miles an hour, and on a rising grade, near Southampton, at 241∕2 miles per hour. They carried 250 pounds of steam, ran 800 miles, and met with no accident. Colonel Macerone, in 1833, ran a steam-carriage of his own design from London to Windsor and back, with 11 passengers, a distance of 231∕2 miles, in 2 hours. Sir Charles Dance, in the same year, ran his carriage 16 miles an hour, and made long excursions at the rate of 9 miles an hour. Still another experimenter, Heaton, ascended Lickey Hill, between Worcester and Birmingham, on gradients of one in eight and one in nine, in places; this was considered one of the worst pieces of road in England. The carriage towed a coach containing 20 passengers.

Of all these, and many others, Hancock, however, had most marked success. His coach, called the “Infant,” which was set at work in February, 1831, was, a year later, plying between London “City” and Paddington. Another, called the “Era,” was built for the London and Greenwich Steam-Carriage Company, which was mechanically a success. The company, however, was financially unsuccessful. In October, 1832, the “Infant” ran to Brighton from London, carrying a party of 11, at the rate of 9 miles per hour, ascending Redhill at a speed of 5 miles. They steamed 38 miles the first day, stopping at night at Hazledean, and reached Brighton next day, running 11 miles per hour. Returning with 15 passengers, the coach ran 1 mile in less than 4 minutes, and made 10 miles in 55 minutes. A run from Stratford to Brighton was made in less than 10 hours, at an average speed of 12 miles an hour running time, the actual running time being less than 6 hours. The next year another carriage, the “Enterprise,” was put on the road to Paddington by Hancock for another company, and ran regularly over two weeks; but this company was also unsuccessful. In the summer of 1833 he brought out still another steam-coach, the “Autopsy” ([Fig. 49]), which he ran to Brighton, and then, returning to London, manœuvred the carriage in the crowded streets without difficulty or accident. He went about the streets of London at all times, and without hesitation. The coach next ran between Finsbury Square and Pentonville regularly for four weeks, without accident or delay. In the sketch, a part of the side is broken away to show the machinery. The boiler, A B, supplies steam through the steam-pipe, H K, to the steam-engine, C D, which is coupled to the crank-shaft, F. E is the feed-pump. The rear axle is turned by the endless chain seen connecting it with the engine-shaft, and the rear wheels, S, are thus driven. A blower, T, gives a forced draught. The driver sits at M, steering by the wheel, N, which is coupled to the larger wheel, P, and thus turns the forward axle into any desired position. In 1834, Hancock built a steam “drag” on an Austrian order, which, carrying 10 persons and towing a coach containing 6 passengers, was driven through the city beyond Islington, making 14 miles an hour on a level, and 8 miles or more on rising ground. In the same year he built the “Era,” and, in August, put the “Autopsy” on with it, to make a steam-line to Paddington. These coaches ran until the end of November, carrying 4,000 passengers, at a usual rate of speed of 12 miles per hour. He then sent the “Era” to Dublin, where, on one occasion, it ran 18 miles per hour.

Fig. 49.—Hancock’s “Autopsy,” 1833.

In 1835 a large carriage, the “Erin,” was completed, which was intended to carry 20 passengers. It towed three omnibuses and a stage-coach, with 50 passengers, on a level road, at the speed of 10 miles an hour. It drew an omnibus with 18 passengers through Whitehall, Charing Cross, and Regent Street, and out to Brentford, running 14 miles an hour. It ran also to Reading, making 38 miles, with the same load, in 3 hours and 8 minutes running time. The stops en route occupied a half-hour. The same carriage made 75 miles to Marlborough in 71∕2 hours running time, stopping 41∕2 hours on the road, in consequence of having left the tender and supplies behind.

In May, 1836, Hancock put all his carriages on the Paddington road, and ran regularly for over five months, running 4,200 miles in 525 trips to Islington, 143 to Paddington, and 44 to Stratford, passing through the city over 200 times. The carriages averaged 5 hours and 17 or 18 minutes daily running time. A light steam-phaeton, built in 1838, for his own use, made 20 miles an hour, and was driven about the city, and among horses and carriages, without causing annoyance or danger. Its usual speed was about 10 miles an hour. Altogether, Hancock built nine steam-carriages, capable of carrying 116 passengers in addition to the regular attendants.[47]

In December, 1833, about 20 steam-carriages and traction road-engines were running, or were in course of construction, in and near London. In our own country, the roughness of roads discouraged inventors; and in Great Britain even, the successful introduction of road-locomotives, which seemed at one time almost an accomplished fact, finally met with so many obstacles, that even Hancock, the most ingenious, persistent, and successful constructor, gave up in despair. Hostile legislation procured by opposing interests, and the rapid progress of steam-locomotion on railroads, caused this result.

In consequence of this interruption of experiment, almost nothing was done during the succeeding quarter of a century, and it is only within a few years that anything like a business success has been founded upon the construction of road-locomotives, although the scheme seems to have been at no time entirely given up.