GEORGE STEPHENSON,
1781–1848.
Railway Engineer. Born at Wylam, Northumberland. Son of a colliery fireman. Constructed his first locomotive in 1814. Planned and constructed the first railways—Stockton and Darlington, 1815–25, Liverpool and Manchester, 1825–30. Was chief engineer to most of the lines constructed until 1840, when he retired, leaving his business to his son Robert.
But it is not only by steam that the standard of speed in locomotion has been displaced. |The Bicycle.| The invention and constant improvement of the bicycle has not only caused the rise of a most important industry in their manufacture (about half a million cycles are being turned out of the factories annually, representing a value of at least £5,000,000), but it has supplied a means of locomotion of incalculable convenience to persons of all classes and of both sexes. This invention must be reckoned a great boon, not only as a means of recreation to persons in crowded towns, to whom the cycle affords easy access to the country, but also to working-men living at a distance from their employment.
With respect to the mechanical propulsion of carriages along ordinary streets and highways, stringent regulations were in force until 1896, under which such carriages were not permitted to travel at a higher speed than four miles an hour. |Motor Carriages.| But the invention of “motor” carriages, propelled by steam, gas, oil, or electricity, convinced the authorities that these restrictions should be relaxed. This accordingly was done by Act of Parliament, and their removal was celebrated, on November 14, 1896, by the excursion of a number of horseless carriages from London to Brighton. Evil weather marred the display, nevertheless large numbers of persons turned out to witness it. It is too early to predict the extent to which horses may be displaced by motor carriages, but it can scarcely be doubtful that their obvious imperfections will yield to the ingenuity of inventors, so as to render them at least dangerous rivals to the old kind of equipage.
Before leaving the subject of terrestrial locomotion, allusion must be made to the project of carrying a tunnel under the Straits of Dover to the French coast, to enable trains to be run without interruption from Great Britain to the Continent. |The Proposed Channel Tunnel.| The tunnel, the favourite scheme of Sir Edward Watkin, Chairman of the South-Eastern Railway, was begun some years ago, and was actually carried for several hundred yards under the sea. But the strategic advantages of an island realm are too substantial to be sacrificed by the creation of a highway, command of which would certainly be insisted on by any Power or combination of Powers which, in the future, might overcome Great Britain in arms.
From a Photograph] [by permission of Curzon, Robey & Co.
THE MOTOR-CAR PARADE, November 14, 1896: THE START FROM THE HOTEL METROPOLE.
|Steam Navigation.| Turning now to locomotion by sea, or navigation, steam had been applied to the propulsion of vessels as early as 1802, and its use had been gradually extended till, in 1835, the first steamer with mails for Egypt and India was despatched from Falmouth; but it was not until the second year of the present reign, 1838, that the first vessel entirely propelled by steam crossed the Atlantic. Greatly as the appearance and strength of our mercantile marine fleet has been altered to meet the requirement of speed, a still greater contrast is presented in the construction of warships since the invention of rifled ordnance. When our Queen ascended the throne, the famous wooden walls of Old England were moved by sails alone. Greater speed was subsequently secured by the introduction of engine room to vessels of the old type, with paddles or screw-propellers. But experience proved how easily engines might be thrown out of gear by a single shot, a danger which grew more imminent with every fresh improvement in guns. |Ironclads.| Then began the long contest between armour-plating and projectiles: the armour had to be made thicker and ever thicker to resist the increasing weight and velocity of projectiles, until, by the reduction of masts and spars to the bare necessities of signalling, the submergence of the hull to reduce the vulnerable surface, the increase of engine space, and the reduction of the armament to a few pieces of great power, our battleships have lost almost all semblance of the fabrics which used to move in such stately manner under towers of canvas, and have acquired the character of floating forts. Still, Britannia rules the waves; her seamen, of whom it was predicted that the adoption of steam would deprive of their superiority, have no equals in the world; and her people have proved, by their enthusiasm in furnishing the necessary funds, that they will endure almost any sacrifice rather than suffer the British Navy to be second in power to any other.