Fig. 14.—Four-wheeled Switching Locomotive. By the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia.
If the front end of the engine is carried on a truck, as in Campbell's plan (Fig. 10)—which is the one that has been very generally adopted in this country—the wheel-base can be extended and at the same time the front wheels can adjust themselves to the curvature of the track. This gives the running-gear lateral flexibility. But as the tractive power of a locomotive is dependent upon the friction, or adhesion of the wheels to the rails, it is of the utmost importance that the pressure of the wheels on the rails should be uniform. For this reason the wheels must be able to adjust themselves to the vertical as well as the horizontal inequalities of the track.
Fig. 15.—Driving Wheels, Frames, Spurs, etc., of American Locomotive.
Figure 15 shows the driving-wheels, axles, journal-boxes, and part of the frame and springs of an American type of engine—the circumference of the wheels only being shown. The axles A A each have journal-boxes or bearings, B B, in which they turn. These boxes are held between the jaws J J J J of the frames, and can slide vertically in the spaces c c c c between the jaws. The frames are suspended on springs, S S, which bear on the boxes B B. The vertical motion of the boxes and the flexibility of the springs allow the wheels to adjust themselves to some extent to the unevenness of the track. But, in order to distribute the weight equally on the two wheels, the springs S S on each side of the engine are connected together by an equalizing lever, E E. These levers each have a fulcrum, F, in the middle, and are connected by iron straps or hangers, h h, to the springs. It is evident that any strain or tension on one spring is transferred by the equalizing lever to the other spring, and thus the weight is equalized on both wheels.
But to give perfect vertical adjustment of such an engine to the track, still another provision must be made. Everyone has observed that a three-legged stool will always stand firm on any surface, no matter how irregular, but one with four legs will not. Now if the back end of a locomotive should rest on the fulcrums of the equalizing levers, as shown in Figure 15, and the front end should rest on the two sides of the truck, it would be in the condition of the four legged stool. Therefore, instead of resting on the two sides of the truck, locomotives are made to bear on the centre of it, so that they are carried on it and on the two fulcrums of the equalizing levers, which gives the machine the adjustability due to the three-legged principle. When more than four driving-wheels are used the springs are connected together by equalizing levers, as shown in Figure 29 ([p. 124]), which represents a consolidation engine as it appears before the wheels are put under it.
Having a vehicle which is adapted to running on a railroad track, it remains to supply the motive power. This, in all but some very few exceptional cases, is the expansive power of steam. What the infant electricity has in store for us it would be rash to predict, but for locomotives its steps have been thus far weak and uncertain, and when we want a giant of steel or a race-horse of iron our only sure reliance is steam. This is the breath of life to the locomotive, which is inhaled and exhaled to and from the cylinders, which act as lungs, while the boiler fulfils functions analogous to the digestive organs of an animal. A locomotive is as dependent on the action of its boiler for its capacity for doing work as a human being on that of his stomach. The mechanical appliances of the one and the mental and physical equipment of the other are nugatory without a good digestive apparatus.
Fig. 16.—Longitudinal Section of a Locomotive Boiler.
Fig. 17.—Transverse Section.