At first the
British types and patterns were followed, but it was not long
before American designers began to depart from the British models
and to evolve a distinctively American type. In the development
of this type great names have been written into the industrial
history of America, among which the name of Matthias Baldwin of
Philadelphia probably ranks first. But there have been hundreds
of great workers in this field. From Stephenson's Rocket and the
little Tom Thumb of Peter Cooper, to the powerful "Mallets" of
today, is a long distance--not spanned in ninety years save by
the genius and restless toil of countless brains and hands.
If the locomotive could not remain as it was left by Stephenson
and Cooper, neither could the stationary steam engine remain as
it was left by James Watt and Oliver Evans. Demands increasing
and again increasing, year after year, forced the steam engine to
grow in order to meet its responsibilities. There were men living
in Philadelphia in 1876, who had known Oliver Evans personally;
at least one old man at the Centennial Exhibition had himself
seen the Oruktor Amphibolos and recalled the consternation it had
caused on the streets of the city in 1804. It seemed a far cry
back to the Oruktor from the great and beautiful engine, designed
by George Henry Corliss, which was then moving all the vast
machinery of the Centennial Exhibition.
Pages:
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94